Julian Gillard won't back David Hicks

I thought it was little johnny who took the hard line - oh but I forget doesn't matter what side of politics they are all the bloody same

PM's hard line on Hicks
Mary Kostakidis

THE Gillard government is grappling with a United Nations inquiry into its alleged failure to protect David Hicks's human rights. But it has indicated to his supporters that it accepts the United States' denial of his torture and warned the proceeds of his book may be confiscated.

A confidential, 107-page document submitted to the UN on Hicks's behalf by the Sydney barrister Ben Saul details alleged breaches of international law by the US and Australian governments, including a failure to protect his right to a fair trial and freedom from torture.

Hicks says he was brutally bashed, sustained fractured bones and was subjected to sexual abuse and other torture while held captive in Guantanamo Bay as a terrorism suspect.
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But the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has taken a hard line on Hicks while responding to a letter from a human rights group, the Justice Campaign, whose signatories include the former judges John Dowd and Elizabeth Evatt and a former Guantanamo Bay guard, Brandon Neely. Their letter asks for an open investigation into Hicks's alleged torture and ''illegal'' conviction and calls for an end to any proceeds-of-crime action against his book, Guantanamo: My Journey.

In her response to one of the signatories, the NSW MP and Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore, the Prime Minister says two US investigations have found no evidence of torture, adding: ''At this stage, I do not intend to establish an inquiry into Mr Hicks' detention.''

Hicks was convicted of providing material support for terrorism but his legal team said he only accepted this under a plea bargain because he was desperate to be released from Guantanamo Bay in 2007.

Gillard tells Moore that while Hicks is entitled to publish his book, any profits may be confiscated. Such action would be at the discretion of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Gillard adds that she cannot comment on Hicks's conviction because it was under US law.

Her senior ministers Robert McClelland and Kevin Rudd, while in opposition in 2003, were strident in their criticism of the Howard government's treatment of Hicks, pointing to the illegitimacy of the military commissions which allowed evidence obtained under torture and hearsay evidence.

Now McClelland is Attorney-General. In response to questions about the legitimacy of the conviction and the torture claims, his office reiterated the findings of the two US torture investigations.

But a spokesman revealed: ''Mr Hicks has submitted a communication to the UN Human Rights Committee, which the government will respond to.'' He added: ''That's all we have to say at this stage.''

Saul, working for Hicks in conjunction with Gilbert & Tobin, said there was ''a contradiction in the government's response compared to when they were in opposition''. He said he was not surprised ''they cut a deal'' with Mamdouh Habib - the cleared terrorism suspect who alleges he was abused while held captive in Egypt - to avoid ''inevitable political embarrassment given Habib had launched proceedings in the Federal Court''.

Launching court action is not an option for Hicks. He waived this right as part of the plea bargain.

The military commission under which Hicks's conviction was secured was disbanded by the US President, Barack Obama, who said it did not establish a legitimate legal framework. Hicks's US military defence lawyer, Major Michael Mori, had said there was no doubt his client was assaulted and mistreated.

Saul says the offence of which Hicks was convicted did not exist in law at the time.

Key hearsay evidence against Hicks was subsequently repudiated by the British Guantanamo detainee Feroz Abbasi. He said he regretted his fabrications about Hicks but had co-operated with interrogators because he was being abused and drugged and they had convinced him that Hicks was providing evidence against him.

Asked why this evidence was not referred to in the UN complaint, Saul said: ''None of this was included in the charge sheet as there was no trial, no indication of the provenance of the evidence and no testing of the evidence.''

The government had six months to respond to the UN but it has sought a three-month extension to mid-August.

The leading silk Brett Walker, SC, meanwhile, is understood to be lining up to take on the government should the proceeds-of-crime action be launched. Legal opinions other than Saul's have indicated that proceeds-of-crime action against Hicks's book would struggle because of the difficulty in establishing ''the soundness and validity'' of his conviction in Guantanamo Bay. They also argue it may be hard to deny public interest in Hicks's story, which prosecutors must consider when launching proceeds-of-crime cases.

Mary Kostakidis is a journalist and was appointed by the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, to the National Consultation Committee that inquired into the protection of human rights in Australia. She is also a supporter of The Justice Campaign.

Source

Operation Empire State Rebellion Begins

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!
I was in front of the Chase building in lower Manhattan not 10 mins ago. Only 3 people are there. One wearing the guy Fawkes mask so i knew I was in the right place. Right now I'm at Zicotti Park where they are supposedly camping until demands are met. No signs of protesting here.
America you are weak! No wonder the empire collapsed! Everyone is asleep at the wheel!

On June 14th at 1pm EST, a group of activists will begin occupation of Liberty Park (recently renamed Zuccotti Park) in lower Manhattan’s Financial District, a few blocks from Wall Street (14971 Broadway, 10007). A Google Map featuring the event states the following:

“This Flag Day, Tuesday June 14th, we will launch a non-violent movement with this list of demands:

* End the campaign finance and lobbying racket
* Break up the Fed & Too Big to Fail banks
* Enforce RICO laws against organized criminal class
* Order Ben Bernanke to step down”

Gary Roland, an organizer of the action, says they will occupy the park “indefinitely, to express non-violent dissent to the further consolidation of wealth into the hands of international corporations by the corrupted two-party oligarchy. This is a non-violent action that seeks to express dissent and raise awareness of the failures of our current political discourse, until our demands are satisfied.”

This action is in solidarity with a decentralized movement that is rallying around the above list of demands. There are public protests taking place in at least 22 other cities on June 14th to help launch this movement. A call to action states the following:

Acts of Resistance: What Are You Going To Do On June 14th to Rebel Against Economic Tyranny?

The big banks have sold us out.
Democrats and Republicans have sold us out.
No one is defending our interests.

Our future is going up in flames.

It’s time for us to stand up and defend ourselves.

Trillions of dollars in fraudulent activity by the big banks on Wall Street caused our current economic crisis. Paid off politicians from both parties, along with secret deals made by the Federal Reserve, gave trillions of taxpayer dollars and subsidies to the very people who caused our crisis. After taking our tax dollars, they had the audacity to give themselves all-time recording-breaking bonuses and consolidate wealth in unprecedented fashion within the economic top 0.01% of the population.

While a record number of Americans are currently living in poverty and on food stamps; while millions of American families have been foreclosed upon; while health care, food and gas costs are skyrocketing; while over 200 million Americans are living paycheck to paycheck struggling to make ends meet, the super-wealthy have never had it better. We now have the most severe inequality of wealth in American history. The depravity of the Robber Barons has been outdone.

As their current policies prove, economic central planners have become so arrogant and tyrannical in their shortsighted greed. They think we are an ignorant and apathetic population that they can continue to exploit without fear of rebellion.

We are finally declaring that we have had enough. We will not remain passive while global banking interests destroy our future. We know the systemic causes of our current crisis and we are going to strike at the root.

On this Flag Day, June 14th, Operation Empire State Rebellion (#OpESR) will launch. #OpESR is a decentralized non-violent resistance movement to end the system of political bribery (campaign finance and lobbying) and break up the big banks centered at the Federal Reserve.

To coincide with the launch of this movement, people have begun organizing acts of resistance throughout the US. We are calling upon you to take an action of your own. Whether it’s taking part in a local public protest, withdrawing your money from one of the big six banks, starting a community group or passing out fliers. Anything you can do to rebel against the system of economic tyranny in a non-violent manner is welcome.

As a first step, please join the actions against the banks in one of the cities shown here, or use the ‘schedule an action’ tool to create your own.”

Operation Empire State Rebellion Engaged: Ctrl+Alt+Bernanke

As one of the forces behind this movement, Anonymous has just released a new video announcing the launch of Operation Empire State Rebellion, which calls for the resignation of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. They have also called for public protests beginning on June 14th, continuing “until Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke steps down.” To make their case, they have presented a list of recent scandalous Federal Reserve actions. Here is the video (full video transcript can be found on Zero Hedge.)

More at Source

NATO trying to assassinate Moammar Gaddafi

Why the NATO powers are trying to assassinate Moammar Gaddafi
Protecting civilians or western oil companies?
June 13, 2011
By Brian Becker
Wikileaks-released State Department cables from November 2007 and afterwards show the real reason for the mounting U.S. hostility to the Libyan government prior to the current civil war.

NATO has been dropping devastating bunker-busting bombs on Muammar Gaddafi's home in an attempt to assassinate him. One son and several grandchildren have died but Gaddafi has survived. The State Department cables give background to the hostility directed against Gaddafi by the United States and other NATO powers.

One State Department cable from November 2007 (Wikileaks reference ID 07TRIPOLI967) sounds the alarm of “growing evidence of Libyan resource nationalism” by the Gaddafi government. This was almost identical language employed by the U.S. and British governments against Iranian Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh when he nationalized Iran’s oil field in 1951. Mossadegh was overthrown by a 1953 CIA coup that restored the Shah to the throne. It allowed U.S. and British oil companies to re-take ownership over Iran’s oil until the 1979 revolution.

The crime of “resource nationalism”

Condemning “Libyan resource nationalism” is diplomatic language. The U.S. government was furious that Gaddafi was moving to rein in and limit the power and profits of the western-owned oil giants that he permitted to come back into the country after George W. Bush in 2004 lifted economic sanctions against Libya.

The same cable refers to an angry speech that Gaddafi made in 2006 which was interpreted as a virtual act of war by the oil companies and the U.S. and western governments.

Gaddafi's speech included these unacceptable words: “Oil companies are controlled by foreigners who have made millions from them—now, Libyans must take their place to profit from this money.”

Oil reserves in Libya are largest in Africa

Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the ninth largest in the world with 41.5 billion barrels as of 2007. The U.S. government and oil industry surveys conclude that Libya has 63 years of reserves at current production rates if no new reserves were to be found. But Libya is considered to have many unexplored reserves. Libya has been a big prize for the western oil giants both because of the quantity of oil and of the particularly high quality of Libyan oil.

In 2008, according to another leaked State Department cable, Gaddafi summoned Conoco-Phillips Chief Executive Jim Mulva to a meeting in Sirte, Libya. There he threatened to expel U.S. oil companies and “threatened to dramatically reduce Libya’s oil production.”

The oil companies and the State Department, as the cables indicate, were increasingly agitated by Gaddafi’s interference with their operations. The Washington Post, which is a big cheerleader for the U.S./NATO bombing campaign, published a story on June 11, 2011, about the leaked Libya cables: “Labor laws were amended to ‘Libyanise’ the economy, and oil firms were pressed to hire Libyan managers, finance people and human resource directors.”

Gaddafi 2009 speech suggested nationalizing Libyan oil

Another Wikileaks-released State Department cable from Jan. 30, 2009, (Wikileaks reference ID 09TRIPOLI71) discusses a January 2009 speech by Gaddafi, stating, “Muammar al-Qadhafi suggested that Libya and other oil exporting states could nationalize their oil production in view of sharply plummeting petroleum prices.”

The U.S. government fully backed the Saudi monarchy and the Mubarak dictatorship, but turned on Libya—not because the regime violated human rights or democracy, but because Gaddafi sought to limit their power. The oil companies, however annoyed they were by having to work with the Libyan government, would have certainly continued their current business operations. The opening of a civil war inside of Libya in February 2011, however, gave a perfect pretext to overthrow the regime and place in power a government that the NATO powers hope will serve as a client regime.

In any country, Libya included, the masses of people can have many valid and legitimate grievances against their government. Even those who support Gaddafi against the NATO bombers probably have grievances. But the U.S., British, French and Italian governments are at war to protect their own interests. Protecting civilians and promoting democracy is of zero concern to Conoco-Phillips, Exxon-Mobil or any of the other oil giants.

The Wikileaks-released State Department cables make it clear that the basis for U.S. hostility to the Gaddafi regime was about who should control Libya’s vast oil reserves. Should it be Libya or should it be the biggest capitalist oil enterprises from western countries?

“Those who dominate Libya’s political and economic leadership are pursuing increasingly nationalistic policies in the energy sector that could jeopardize efficient exploitation of Libya’s extensive oil and gas reserves,” the November 2007 cable states.

Anti-Gaddafi rebels in Washington, D.C.

In mid-May 2011, just six weeks after the NATO bombing of Libya began, leaders of the anti-Gaddafi rebel movement came to Washington, D.C., for “talks.” They spoke at the U.S.-Libya Business Council. The big oil companies were present. The rebels have employed a public relations/lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C., called the Harbour Group.

The principals of the Harbour Group include Hillary Clinton’s staff director from the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Another served as a spokesperson for the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan and other conservative Republicans. The third served as a public relations figure in the last three Democratic presidential conventions, according to Reuters.

“Now you can figure out who’s going to win, and the name is not Gaddafi,” Nansan Saleri, the founder of the Houston-based Quantico Reservoir Impact company told the Washington Post. Saleri, former head of reservoir management at Saudi Aramco, explained why the company wouldn’t do business in Libya until now. “Everything in Libya—everything—had to be approved by Gaddafi or one of his sons,” he told the Post. Saleri continued, “Certain things about the mosaic are taking shape. The western companies are positioning themselves.” Within five years, he predicted, “Libyan production is going to be higher than right now and investments are going to come in.”

Libya today is resisting the new colonialism. The colonizers assign noble names such as “protecting civilians” to their military mission. But their role in Africa and the Middle East during the past decades and centuries deprive such propaganda of any credibility. They rely though on the uniformity of the corporate-owned media coverage about their “humanitarian motives” to disguise their crass and cynical plans in Libya and elsewhere.

Be a sponsor of this nationwide speaking tour featuring Cynthia McKinney. Funds are urgently needed.

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Source and good further reading articles

Secret GM wheat experiments begin in Australia

by Neev M. Arnell

(NaturalNews) Australia's first trial of genetically modified wheat and barley is under way near Narrabri, New South Wales in the south-eastern area of the country. The goal of the GM wheat is said to be more nutritious bread (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/gm-wheat-...).

How exactly the genes were altered to create this alleged more nutritious bread remains a secret. All that is known is that 14 different strains of wheat and barley will be grown. Some strains will allow researchers to look at enriching the crops with extra nutrients, and others will look at using nitrogen in the soil more efficiently, which could mean higher productivity with less fertilizer.

The CSIRO, which is running the three-year experiment, said the gene combinations in the trial are secret because they are subject to commercial-in-confidence agreements that protect the interests of the government research agencies involved and a U.S. company, Arcadia Biosciences.

Environmental groups and organic farmers oppose the GM trial, arguing that it is quite possible, and even likely, for the GM wheat and barley to mix with natural strains and 'contaminate' some of Australia's wheat crop with the genetic modification.

Environmental group Greenpeace opposes the trial, furthermore, because the safety of the modified crops for human and animal consumption has not been tested in any scientific trials.

The CSIRO says it will follow the safety requirements of the license issued by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator.

"The risk assessment concluded that this proposed limited and controlled release ... poses negligible risks to the health and safety of people or the environment as a result of gene technology," the gene technology regulator said.

Certain safety measures will also be taken, according to Dr. Matthew Morell, a researcher with the CSIRO's Future Food division.

"[The GM crops] will be separated from other crops by 200 meters, and wheat pollen travels about one meter, so it is highly unlike any will be found beyond that,' Morell said. 'Because these are patented technologies, there is still a need for restricting the details in terms of protecting commercial information."

Greenpeace is not buying it, saying that GM trail crops can easily break containment through human error, as past cases show. In one instance, seeds from a GM canola crop in NSW appear to have spilled from trucks driving down roads near an experimental farm, spreading the seeds and potentially contaminating organic farms.

"The Australian government's decision to go ahead with GM wheat field trials," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Laura Kelly, "amounts to a covert decision taken on behalf of Australia's wheat farmers, consumers and export markets that Australian wheat will be GM."

Source

Fukushima mutant rabbit

An earless bunny has been discovered just outside the radiation zone of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.
Rabbit born without ears at Fukushima
Could be first sign of side-effects
Fears of new radiation leak from plant

FRESH fears over a nuclear leak at the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima plant have re-ignited after a rabbit born close to the facility was found to have no ears.

Locals have been left wondering whether this earless bunny - found near the facility at the end of last month - was the first sign of side-effects from the nuclear catastrophe.

The Fukushima plant suffered terrible damage when a tsunami, triggered by an earthquake, swept through the facility in March, destroying reactors.

Following a blast at the plant that caused initial leaks, officials warned people living near Fukushima to stay indoors, turn off airconditioning and stop drinking tap water.

Since then experts have been nervously watching radiation levels around the plant.

The Japanese government has already more than doubled the estimate for the amount of radiation released by the plant.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also said during a briefing in Tokyo that it was now believed that reactor cores in some of the units melted more quickly than previously thought.

Meanwhile, more than 90,000 people are still living in shelters three months after the tsunami and only a fraction of the debris has been removed. The confirmed death toll from the disaster yesterday reached 15,413 while another 8069 people remain missing.

Source

Giant Rats in Brisbane (Rodent Kind)

Army of rats 'the size of possums' invade Goodna
Anna Chisholm
OVER-SIZED rats are taking up residence southwest of Brisbane at Goodna, as residents slowly move back into their flood-affected homes.

The Courier-Mail website was overwhelmed with comments from readers complaining of large rats creating havoc in homes from Caboolture and Narangba to the inner-city today.

Residents at Bellbowrie, Indooroopilly, Yeronga and Hendra also reported the number of rodents were on the increase.

Ipswich City Council plans to unleash a force of fox-terriers and pest control council workers to stop the pests next week.

Goodna residents have complained rats "the size of possums" were nesting in their homes because of the cooler weather.

The situation is believed to be worse because many flood-affected homes are unoccupied.

Australian pest control service 1300 Pest Control CEO Paul Byres said the rats posed a real threat to homes in the area.

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"They chew through power cords, plastic, electrical wiring and can potentially start house fires," Mr Byres said.

"They carry all sorts of disease, from a health point of view - any sort of faecal or urine traces they leave on surfaces - the bacteria spreads very easily and can cause sickness."

He said residents from surrounding areas, like Willawong northeast of Goodna, were shocked at how bold the rats were.

"People are intimidated by them, some get pretty comfortable if there's enough of them around.

"One woman rang and said there was one on her front step, it just sat there looking at her.

"If you've got things like chickens, dry dog food they'll come to your home."

Goodna Councillor Paul Tully said rats had become a real problem as residents returned to their homes after the floods.

``A lot of absentee landlords have done nothing to clean up their properties - you've got long grass and other mess they're attracted to,'' Cr Tully said.

``There might have been an initial clean up by volunteers but the grass hasn't been cut and the insides of the houses - nothing's been done by the rental parties, they've moved on and the rats have moved in.''

He said there had been "a whole stack" of complaints.

"The flood was in the middle of summer – good breeding season for the rats and they've obviously taken over," he said.

"It's not the rat city of the world but it's a real problem – we're committed to ensuring it doesn't get any worse."

Cr Tully said the council-deployed pest control forces would combat the problem.

"Fox-terriers are excellent for detecting and chasing rats, they will move from house to house," he said.

"They're bloody big rats – imagine a ringtail or brushtail possum… these are Goodna rats born and bred.

"Rats are pretty resilient I'm told they can survive a flood quite easily and can move back – they don't have a lot of natural predators."

Cr Tully said only 1 in 20 flooded homes had been reoccupied and even his own family would not be moving back to their home.

“We were with a company that paid us out our insurance but we won’t be going back to that very home.’’

“We’ll be using the money to re-buy.

“My wife and children were away at the time of the flood and the emotional difficulty of going back to that very house and rebuilding it on the flood plain has just sort of overwhelmed us.’’

Goodna resident Keiron Butler told the Queensland Times there had been a surge in rats on his property.

“Some are as big as possums, they’re massive things,” Mr Butler said.

Mr Butler is a greyhound breeder of 38 years and says the rats pose a threat to his five-year-old greyhound Rodger if they have poison in their system from baits, but Rodger the rat-catcher wants to catch them.

For more on the army of "rats the size of possums" invading a Queensland suburb go to the Courier-Mail.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/army-of-rats-the-size-of-possums-invade-goodna/story-e6frfkvr-1226073239261#ixzz1PCG2bQ3c

Carbon release and global warming

CLIMATE SCIENCE
Carbon release and global warming now and in the ancient past
by Staff Writers
Liverpool UK (SPX) Jun 10, 2011

The present rate of greenhouse carbon dioxide emissions through fossil fuel burning is higher than that associated with an ancient episode of severe global warming, according to new research. The findings are published online this week by the journal Nature Geoscience.

Around 55.9 million years ago, the Earth experienced a period of intense global warming known as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), which lasted for around 170,000 years. During its main phase, average annual temperatures rose by around 5 degrees C.

Scientists believe that the warming may have been initially triggered by an event such as the baking of organic-rich sediments by igneous activity that released the potent greenhouse gas, methane.

This initial temperature increase warmed ocean bottom waters which allowed the break down of gas hydrates (clathrates), which are found under deep ocean sediments: this would have greatly amplified the initial warming by releasing even more vast volumes of methane. As the methane diffused from the seawater into the atmosphere it would have been oxidised to form carbon dioxide, another potent and longer-lived greenhouse gas.

Adam Charles and his PhD supervisor, Dr Ian Harding, both palaeoceanographers at the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES) based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, co-authored the report.

Dr Harding said: "The PETM has been seen by many as a natural test bed for understanding modern man-made global warming, despite it not being a perfect analogy. However, the total amount of carbon released during this climatic perturbation and its rate of release have been unclear."

To help fill this gap in knowledge, the researchers measured carbon isotope ratios of marine organic matter preserved in sediments collected in Spitsbergen. The sedimentary section is important because it records the entirety of the PETM, from its initiation to through the recovery period, and as such is the most complete record of the warming event so far known in high northern latitudes.

Based on their carbon isotope measurements and computer simulations of the Earth system, the researchers estimated that the rate of carbon emissions during the PETM peaked at between 300 million and 1,700 million metric tonnes per year, which is much slower than the present carbon emission rate.

"Our findings suggest that humankind may be causing atmospheric carbon dioxide to increase at rates never previously seen on Earth, which would suggest that current temperatures will potentially rise much faster than they did during the PETM," concluded Dr Harding.

The authors of report published by Nature Geoscience are Ying Cui, Lee Kump, Christopher Junium, Aaron Diefendorf, Katherine Freeman and Nathan Urban (Pennsylvania State University), Andy Ridgwell (University of Bristol), and Adam Charles and Ian Harding (SOES). This research was supported by The Worldwide Universities Network, Pennsylvania State University, and the US National Science Foundation..

Cui, Y., Kump, L. R., Ridgwell, A. J., Charles, A. J., Junium, C. K., Diefendorf, A. F., Freeman, K. H., Urban, N. M. and Harding, I. C. Slow release of fossil carbon during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Nature Geoscience (Published online, 5 June 2011). DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1179

Source

US bankrolls shadow Internet

US bankrolls 'shadow Internet for dissidents' abroad

(AFP) – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON — The US government is financing the development of "shadow" Internet systems to enable dissidents abroad to get around government censors, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said the covert effort also includes attempts to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries.

The operation involves a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of young entrepreneurs are fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype "Internet in a suitcase," the report said.

Financed with a $2.0 million State Department grant, the suitcase could be secreted across a border and quickly set up to allow wireless communications over a wide area with a link to the global Internet, the paper noted.

Some projects involve technology being developed in the United States while others pull together tools that have already been created by hackers from the so-called liberation technology movement, The Times said.

The State Department is financing the creation of stealth wireless networks that would enable activists to communicate outside the reach of governments in countries like Iran, Syria and Libya, the paper said.

The US government has also spent at least $50 million to create an independent cellphone network in Afghanistan using towers on protected military bases inside the country, The Times said.

It is intended to offset the Taliban?s ability to shut down the official Afghan services, the report noted.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved

To the Point reply:
'Internet in a Suitcase'
by nano Tuesday, Jun 14 2011, 4:03am
international / mass media / commentary

The trillions in DEBT Obama administration has just spent more money it doesn’t have (over $50m) – keep printing Ben -- in a desperate bid to maintain its version of reality in nations that wish to preserve their cultural integrity. A portable peer (with satellite link) communications apparatus, dubbed, “internet in a suitcase,” is being developed by misguided enthusiasts and techno freaks for LYING, criminal American agencies and the Pentagon mis/disinformation arm – I would certainly think twice before assisting KNOWN civilian killing criminal governments regardless of the amount of toilet paper money offered.

The government funded project is really to ensure the constant flow of US misinformation around the globe, especially in nations that refuse the US version of reality.

The ‘project’ is currently being sold to the public as a helpful device for ‘dissidents’ notwithstanding the FACT that Obama has the record for prosecuting dissident whistle blowers in the USA! The real purpose of the ‘suitcase’ device is to maintain communication links with CIA handlers and other subversive elements that wish to foment civil unrest and destabilise nations the US wishes to overthrow. The entire exercise is as transparent as a pair of whore’s knickers!

I leave you to take NOTHING at face value that issues from the KNOWN, LYING CRIMINAL White House and Pentagon. The FACT is the USA is the world’s leading civilian killing therefore terrorist nation – hence the desperate need to constantly distract with misinformation and propaganda. Remember Obama’s many pledges and promises all of which have been broken or reversed – a president without integrity and a spineless population that deserves everything it gets!

Reprehensible FRAUD, Obama, is really the champion of the neo-con Status Quo; a president you can truly believe in -- if you’re demented!

Meanwhile the global hacker community continues its campaign against the forces that really rule America, the Banking elites and Corporatists. The IMF and World Bank, two heinous slave creating institutions, have been severely compromised – who’s next?

The digital war that currently rages against the ‘man,’ against the ‘machine’ has only one outcome, those with superior skill and speed ALWAYS prevail in the digital arena. Take it under advisement you stinking criminal bastards, your END is nigh – the hacker elite is a genus, a breed that would never assist ANY criminal government.

But please do your damnedest best, you fifth raters; offer the best resistance you are able to muster and then REALISE that you and the ‘man,’ who you suck, are FUCKED!

Hack the world!
We are Many – We are ONE – we are UNSTOPPABLE!

Source

Death By Debt

by Chris Martenson

Source

One of the conclusions that I try to coax, lead, and/or nudge people towards is acceptance of the fact that the economy can't be fixed. By this I mean that the old regime of general economic stability and rising standards of living fueled by excessive credit are a thing of the past. At least they are for the debt-encrusted developed nations over the short haul -- and, over the long haul, across the entire soon-to-be energy-starved globe.

The sooner we can accept that idea and make other plans the better. To paraphrase a famous saying, Anything that can't be fixed, won't.

The basis for this view stems from understanding that debt-based money systems operate best when they can grow exponentially forever. Of course, nothing can, which means that even without natural limits, such systems are prone to increasingly chaotic behavior, until the money that undergirds them collapses into utter worthlessness, allowing the cycle to begin anew.

All economic depressions share the same root cause. Too much credit that does not lead to enhanced future cash flows is extended. In other words, this means lending without regard for the ability of the loan to repay both the principal and interest from enhanced production; money is loaned for consumption, and poor investment decisions are made. Eventually gravity takes over, debts are defaulted upon, no more borrowers can be found, and the system is rather painfully scrubbed clean. It's a very normal and usual process.

When we bring in natural limits, however, (such as is the case for petroleum right now), what emerges is a forcing function that pushes a debt-based, exponential money system over the brink all that much faster and harder.

But for the moment, let's ignore the imminent energy crisis. On a pure debt, deficit, and liability basis, the US, much of Europe, and Japan are all well past the point of no return. No matter what policy tweaks, tax and benefit adjustments, or spending cuts are made -- individually or in combination -- nothing really pencils out to anything that remotely resembles a solution that would allow us to return to business as usual.

At the heart of it all, the developed nations blew themselves a gigantic credit bubble, which fed all kinds of grotesque distortions, of which housing is perhaps the most visible poster child. However, outsized government budgets and promises, overconsumption of nearly everything imaginable, bloated college tuition costs, and rising prices in healthcare utterly disconnected from economics are other symptoms, too. This report will examine the deficits, debts, and liabilities in such a way as to make the case that there's no possibility of a return of generally rising living standards for most of the developed world. A new era is upon us. There's always a slight chance , should some transformative technology come along, like another Internet, or perhaps the equivalent of another Industrial Revolution, but no such catalysts are on the horizon, let alone at the ready.

At the end, we will tie this understanding of the debt predicament to the energy situation raised in my prior report to fully develop the conclusion that we can -- and really should -- seriously entertain the premise that there's just no way for all the debts to be paid back. There are many implications to this line of thinking, not the least of which is the risk that the debt-based, fiat money system itself is in danger of failing.
Too Little Debt! (or, Your One Chart That Explains Everything)

[Note: this next section is an excerpt from a recent Martenson Blog entry, so if this seems familiar to any site members, it's because you've seen it before.]

If I were to be given just one chart, by which I had to explain everything about why Bernanke's printed efforts have so far failed to actually cure anything and why I am pessimistic that further efforts will fall short, it is this one:

There's a lot going on in this deceptively simple chart so let's take it one step at a time. First, "Total Credit Market Debt" is everything - financial sector debt, government debt (federal, state, and local), household debt, and corporate debt - and that is the bold red line (data from the Federal Reserve).

Next, if we start in January 1970 and ask the question, "How long before that debt doubled and then doubled again?" we find that debt has doubled five times in four decades (blue triangles).

Then if we perform an exponential curve fit (blue line) and round up, we find a nearly perfect fit with a R2 of 0.99. This means that debt has been growing in a nearly perfect exponential fashion through the 1970's, the 1980's, the 1990's and the 2000's. In order for the 2010 decade to mirror, match, or in any way resemble the prior four decades, credit market debt will need to double again, from $52 trillion to $104 trillion.

Finally, note that the most serious departure between the idealized exponential curve fit and the data occurred beginning in 2008, and it has not yet even remotely begun to return to its former trajectory.

This explains everything.

It explains why Bernanke's $2 trillion has not created a spectacular party in anything other than a few select areas (banking, corporate profits), which were positioned to directly benefit from the money. It explains why things don't feel right, or the same, and why most people are still feeling quite queasy about the state of the economy. It explains why the massive disconnects between government pensions and promises, all developed and doled out during the prior four decades, cannot be met by current budget realities.

Our entire system of money, and by extension our sense of entitlement and expectations of future growth, were formed during and are utterly dependent on exponential credit growth. Of course, as you know, money is loaned into existence and is therefore really just the other side of the credit coin. This is why Bernanke can print a few trillion and not really accomplish all that much, because the main engine of growth expects, requires, and is otherwise dependent on credit doubling over the next decade.

To put this into perspective, a doubling will take us from $52 to $104 trillion, requiring close to $5 trillion in new credit creation each year of that decade. Nearly three years has passed without any appreciable increase in total credit market debt, which puts us roughly $15 trillion behind the curve.

What will happen when credit cannot grow exponentially? We already have our answers; it's been the reality for the past three years. Debts cannot be serviced, the weaker and more highly leveraged participants get clobbered first (Lehman, Greece, Las Vegas housing, etc.), and the dominoes topple from the outside in towards the center. Money is dumped in, but traction is weak. What begins as a temporary program of providing liquidity becomes a permanent program of printing money needed in order for the system to merely function.
Debt and Europe

The debt situation in Europe is fairly typical of the developed world and mirrors the debt chart of the US seen above. There's entirely too much debt, and most of the unserviceable amounts are concentrated in certain spots (i.e., PIIGS), while the amounts owed are concentrated in the German, French, and British banks.

This New York Times graphic did an excellent job of summing everything up:

(Source - click to view larger graphic at source)

Here is a slightly less-complicated image that expresses the same dynamic:

If everybody owes everybody else, then kicking the can down the road only works if there's more wealth, more growth, and sufficient economic activity down that road to service the past debts. If any one participant drops the baton in the debt relay race, the absurdity of the situation becomes unavoidable and the cause is lost.

When we hold this view, it is abundantly clear that adding more debt along the way only increases the burdens and is therefore ultimately counterproductive, although it does grant the gift of additional time to avoid facing the truth.

When all of the most indebted countries are stacked up, we see that all but Russia carry a total indebtedness greater than 100% of GDP and that nine are carrying debt levels higher than any that have ever been repaid historically.

(Source) Note: 260% debt-to-GDP is the all time record for repayment, accomplished by England between 1815 and 1900, but required both massive cuts in spending and an industrial revolution.

Without mincing words, the world does not face a crisis of liquidity, nor a crisis of insufficient debt, but one of entirely too much debt. That's the entire predicament in three words: too much debt.

More debt is only going to compound the predicament, yet that is what the world's central banks and political structures are busy manufacturing. More debt.

Of course, debt is only one component of the story; there are also liabilities to consider. The above chart merely graphs the legally defined debts involved. If we bother to add back in the liability components, which are pensions, social security and government medical plans, the predicament is seen to be three to six times larger:

Whereas the prior chart showed all debts incurred by all sectors of each nation, the above chart only displays government debt and liabilities. For reference, the red bars, above, are the amounts that you read about in the paper when commentators note that the US, for example, still has a debt-to-GDP ratio that is under 100%. It's a comforting tale, but not an accurate description of the situation.

Again, there are no historical examples of any country ever digging itself out from so deep a hole, and yet we find that the entire developed world has bravely pushed itself deep into unknown territory, seemingly without any serious discussions about whether or not this made sense.
Where We Are Now

So here we are, just a few weeks away from the end of the second round of quantitative easing (QE II) , with massive public debts and liabilities having only grown larger instead of shrinking during the Great Recession, everybody in nearly the same boat, and no clear plan for how all the sovereign debts will be funded from current productive cash flows (i.e., existing GDP).

This is why so many commentators, myself included, are convinced that more thin-air money printing is on the way. My thesis, laid out back in early March is that the Fed will stop QE II on schedule and that the financial markets will react exceptionally poorly to this loss of support. Commodities will tank first, then stocks, then bonds; from riskiest and most-leveraged to least.

It is time to face the music; the levels of indebtedness now require permanent support from thin-air money in order to avoid a deflationary collapse. Given this reality, we explore key questions in detail in Part II of this report: Understanding the Endgame:

How will the global debt crisis play out?
What does a world economy without growth look like?
What steps should we, as individuals, need to take in preparation?
How can investors safeguard their purchasing power during the coming rout in the finanical markets?

Graphs and enroll for Part 2

Bilderberg 2011 - What do they want?

Interview with author, researcher and public speaker Daniel Estulin on the Bilderberg Group
The 2011 Bilderberg conference will be held in St.Moritz, Switzerland between 9-12 June at the Kampinski Grand Hotel des Bains

The Bin Laden Fable Is a Contrived Hoax

I know Prison Planet but still consider the story

10 Facts That Prove The Bin Laden Fable Is a Contrived Hoax
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com [1]
Monday, May 9, 2011

Merely a week after President Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden, there is literally a deluge of evidence that clearly indicates the whole episode has been manufactured for political gain and to return Americans to a state of post-9/11 intellectual castration so that they can be easily manipulated in the run up to the 2012 election. Here are ten facts that prove the Bin Laden fable is a contrived hoax….

1) Before last Sunday’s raid, every intelligence analyst, geopolitical commentator or head of state worth their salt was on record [2] as stating that Osama Bin Laden was already dead, and that he probably died many years ago, from veteran CIA officer Robert Baer, to former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, to former FBI head of counterterrorism Dale Watson. In addition, back in 2002 Alex Jones was told directly [3] by two separate high level sources that Bin Laden was already dead and that his death would be announced at the most politically opportune moment. Top US government insider Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik, a man who held numerous different influential positions under five different Presidents, serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under the Nixon, Ford and Carter, told the Alex Jones Show last week that Bin Laden died of marfan syndrome [4] shortly after he was visited by CIA physicians at the American Hospital in Dubai [5] in July 2001.

2) The official narrative of how the raid unfolded completely collapsed within days of its announcement. [6] First there had been a 40 minute shootout, then there was no shootout and just one man was armed, first Bin Laden was armed then he was not, first Bin Laden used his wife as a human shield and then he did not. First the compound was described as a “$1 million dollar mansion” then it turned out to be a rubbish-strewn dilapidated compound that was worth less than a quarter of that. Almost every single aspect of the official narrative has changed since Obama first described the raid last Sunday as the White House struggles to keep its story straight.

3) The alleged body of Bin Laden was hastily dumped in the sea to prevent any proper procedure of identification. The White House claimed this was in accordance with normal Islamic burial rituals, however numerous Muslim scholars all over the globe disputed this claim [7], pointing out that Muslims can only be buried at sea if they die at sea. While the White House claimed that Bin Laden’s death on May 1st was proven by DNA and facial recognition evidence, such proof was never released for public scrutiny and the Obama administration refused to release photos of Bin Laden’s dead body, suggesting a cover-up.

4) Despite the fact that the White House released “situation room” photos which purported to show Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and the rest of Obama’s security staff watching the raid which killed Bin Laden live, it was later admitted by CIA director Leon Panetta [8] that Obama could not have seen the raid because the live feed was cut off before the Navy SEALS entered the compound. The photos were described by many as having “historical significance,” forming a “captivating” record of Obama’s greatest success and being the “defining moment” [9] of his Presidency. One image showed Hillary Clinton with her hand over her mouth as if witnessing an anxious or crucial moment in the raid. Media reports at the time claimed that the photos represented the moment when “The leader of the free world saw the terror chief shot in the left eye.” However, the photos were staged as a PR stunt for public consumption [10], nobody in the photos ever saw Bin Laden killed live, nor did they see the Navy SEALS even enter the compound.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

[11]

Stock up with Fresh Food that lasts with eFoodsDirect (AD) [12]

5) As even mainstream journalists began to cast suspicion on the official narrative [13] behind the raid, the media reported that Al-Qaeda itself had confirmed every detail of Obama’s address the the nation. However, the conduit for such a claim was in fact an organization called SITE, which is a notorious Pentagon propaganda front run by the daughter of an Israeli spy that has been caught on numerous occasions releasing fake cartoonish “Al-Qaeda” videos [14] at the most politically expedient times for both the Bush and Obama administrations. The SITE organization is nothing more than a contractor for the U.S. government, receiving some $500,000 a year annually from Uncle Sam, and yet the corporate media instantly swallowed and regurgitated the claim that “Al-Qaeda” had confirmed the official story after SITE directed them to an anonymous posting on an Islamic website.

6) Almost every single neighbor [15] that lived near the alleged Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad that was interviewed by news reporters said with absolute certainty that they had never seen Bin Laden and that they knew of no evidence whatsoever to suggest he lived there. Since the town is a staging ground for the Pakistani military, which has a training facility situated virtually a stone’s throw away from the alleged Bin Laden compound, residents were required to show ID when they moved into the area. Pakistani troops and anti-terror police in the town refused to confirm that Bin Laden had lived in the house. Barack Obama himself admitted to 60 Minutes that the White House was only 55/45 sure that Osama lived there before the raid and this uncertainty prompted concerns that the US Navy SEALS sent in could have targeted a “prince from Dubai” or some other individual that was not Bin Laden.

7) The videos released by the White House this past weekend which purport to show Osama Bin Laden making Al-Qaeda tapes in October-November 2010 are almost identical to footage first released by Pentagon front group SITE nearly four years ago [16]. Remember, a May 2010 Washington Post story reported how the CIA had admitted to making fake Bin Laden videos [17]. Despite the White House’s insistence that the footage of Bin Laden is recent, he looks younger and healthier than tapes released almost a decade ago [18], having apparently dyed his beard black. A separate video that purports to show Bin Laden in his compound flicking through satellite TV channels depicts a much older looking man with a gray beard. Analysts have pointed out that the man has different shaped ears [19] to real Osama pictures from back in 2001. A doctor has also pointed out the fact [20] that the man in the tapes released Saturday has no problem moving his left arm, whereas video from 2001 clearly illustrates how Bin Laden was unable to move his left upper extremity because of a permanent injury probably related to damage to the peripheral nerves. Why the cameraman would film the back of Bin Laden’s head as he watches television is also dubious. Residents in the town of Abbottabad claim the man in the “television” video is not Osama, with one individual claiming that the man labeled by the White House as being Bin Laden is actually his neighbor, a man named Akhbar Han.

8: Despite the fact that numerous neo-cons came out on the days after the alleged raid to erroneously assert [21] that torturing terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay led to the discovery of Bin Laden, Osama himself, the supposed world’s most wanted terrorist and a treasure trove of terror information [22], despite the fact that he was unarmed, was not taken in for questioning, he was instantly shot in the head according to the official narrative.

9) The US government has been caught on several occasions within the past decade staging military operations for the purposes of generating contrived, pro-war sentiment amongst the American public. Both the “rescue” of Jessica Lynch and the death of Pat Tillman were complete fables [23], scripted and staged at complete odds with the truth and unleashed on Americans as part of a psychological warfare offensive to elicit support for the war on terror, almost identical to what we’re seeing now with the Bin Laden sideshow. Given the fact that the US government has been caught red-handed scripting tales of pure fiction in order to justify the war on terror, notably in the cases of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman, why on earth should we believe them now?

10) Despite the fact that Obama announced last Sunday on live television that the world was now “safer” because Bin Laden was dead, his administration, with the aid of the fearmongering mass media, instantly seized upon the situation to terrify Americans into being afraid of imminent “reprisal” terror attacks inside the United States [24], later claiming that Bin Laden had formulated an “aspirational rather than operational” plan to derail US trains that travel over 500mph, although no trains in the US can actually travel at such speeds. This led “terror experts” to salivate over how TSA agents were now needed in shopping malls [25] to stick their hands down Americans’ pants, while New York Senator Chuckie Schumer called for the no fly list to be expanded to trains and subways [26]. Obama hurried to ground zero for a photo op [27] as he desperately tried to use the Bin Laden hoax to whip up phony patriotism as a means of boosting his flagging poll numbers. Others, like Democrat Bill Richardson [28], exploited the situation to try and push through policies that had no connection to Bin Laden or terrorism at all, like cap and trade. The haste with which the whole Bin Laden fable was exploited for political points scoring and as a psychological ploy to return Americans to a post-9/11 state of intellectual castration was painfully transparent, clearly suggesting that the entire farce was planned well in advance to achieve precisely those goals in the run up to 2012.

*********************

Source

Chile Volcano

Wow Have a look at these photos - Mother Nature is spectacular indeed.
The pics are too big to post here but worth a go look see.

Source

Bitcoin - virtual economy to watch - closely

What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the first digital currency that is completely distributed. The network is made up of users like yourself so no bank or payment processor is required between you and whoever you're trading with. This decentralization is the basis for Bitcoin's security and freedom.



See where it goes a good idea but we need to be sure to be sure.

Source

Climate Change "Get Up" Thank You

Congratulations! Last Sunday the news bulletins reported Australians had called out with a resounding 'Yes' to cutting carbon pollution.

It was an incredible day as almost 45,000 Australians in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra stood together for a clean energy future for our children and our grandchildren.

Did you see the news coverage? From 12 year old Jack speaking at the Sydney rally, to 92 year old Beth being sung happy birthday by 10,000 people - check out this video of the day's best moments:
In Adelaide, a few people came with a sign which read 'No Carbon Tax' and they moved to the front of the crowd right in front of the stage and the cameras.

So I talked to them. I introduced myself, we shook hands and talked about our different views. It turns out we had more common groud than we expected. This particular group wanted climate action, they just weren't sure a tax was the way. I want climate action and I think getting our biggest polluters to pay to clean up and using the money to invest in renewables is a good start. So we laughed a bit that we agreed with each other and I gave them signs that said 'Say Yes to Climate Action' and they held them through the rally instead.

I think this story shows how important it is to have the conversation with people about what a price on carbon pollution really is. More often then not when we have this conversation we find that many in the community have been misinformed.

That's why we have to bypass the media and take the facts directly to our friends, family and neighbours. Can you join us in our new effort to try to have 1 million of these conversations this week?

http://www.getup.org.au/1-million-conversations

We've put together a community letter that explains that the carbon tax will be something the 1,000 biggest polluters pay, not households. Money from the carbon price should be invested in measures that make an environmental difference like investment in clean energy sources such as wind and solar and in innovation to find new ways to make our economy low carbon.

Together we can defeat the scare tactics and lies of big industry set on protecting their already super-sized profits, and instead choose a safe climate future.

Congratulations on an amazing weekend. Here's to keeping up the fight all the way until we have a price on pollution!

Thank you.

Skye, for the GetUp Team

Message to NATO

Greetings, members of NATO. We are Anonymous.

In a recent publication, you have singled out Anonymous as a threat to "government and the people". You have also alleged that secrecy is a 'necessary evil' and that transparency is npt always the right way forward.

Anonymous would like to remind you that the government and the people are, contrary to the supposed foundations of "democracy", distinct entities with often conflicting goals and desires. It is Anonymous' position that when there is a conflict of interest between the government and the people, it is the people's will which must take priority. The only threat transparency poses to government is to threaten government's ability to act in a manner which the people would disagree with, without having to face democratic consequences and accountability for such behaviour. Your own report cites a perfect example of this, the Anonymous attack on HBGary. Whether HBGary were acting in the cause of security or military gain is irrelevant - their actions were illegal and morally reprehensible. Anonymous does not accept that the government and/or the military has the right to be above the law and to use the phoney cliche of "national security" to justify illegal and deceptive activities. If the government must break the rules, they must also be willing to accept the democratic consequences of this at the ballot box.We do not accept the current status quo whereby a government can tell one story to the people and another in private. Dishonesty and secrecy totally undermine the concept of self rule. How can the people judge for whom to vote unless they are fully aware of what policies said politicians are actually pursuing?

When a government is elected, it is said to "represent" the nation it governs. This essentially means that the actions of a government are not the actions of the people in government, but are actions taken on behalf of every citizen in that country. It is unacceptable to have a situation in which the people are, in many cases, totally and utterly unaware of what is being said and done on their behalf - behind closed doors.

Anonymous and WikiLeaks are distinct entities. The actions of Anonymous were not aided or even requested by WikiLeaks. However, Anonymous and WikiLeaks do share one common attribute: They are no threat to any organization - unless that organization is doing something wrong and attempting to get away with it.

We do not wish to threaten anybody's way of life. We do not wish to dictate anything to anybody. We do not wish to terrorize any nation.

We merely wish to remove power from vested interests and return it to the people - who, in a democracy, it should never have been taken from in the first place.
The government makes the law. This does not give them the right to break it. If the government was doing nothing underhand or illegal, there would be nothing "embarassing" about Wikileaks revelations, nor would there have been any scandal emanating from HBGary. The resulting scandals were not a result of Anonymous' or Wikileaks' revelations, they were the result of the CONTENT of those revelations. And responsibility for that content can be laid solely at the doorstep of policymakers who, like any corrupt entity, naively believed that they were above the law and that they would not be caught.

A lot of government and corporate comment has been dedicated to "how we can avoid a similar leak in the future". Such advice ranges from better security, to lower levels of clearance, from harsher penalties for whistleblowers, to censorship of the press.

Our message is simple: Do not lie to the people and you won't have to worry about your lies being exposed. Do not make corrupt deals and you won't have to worry about your corruption being laid bare. Do not break the rules and you won't have to worry about getting in trouble for it.

Do not attempt to repair your two faces by concealing one of them. Instead, try having only one face - an honest, open and democratic one.

You know you do not fear us because we are a threat to society. You fear us because we are a threat to the established hierarchy. Anonymous has proven over the last several years that a hierarchy is not necessary in order to achieve great progress - perhaps what you truly fear in us, is the realization of your own irrelevance in an age which has outgrown its reliance on you. Your true terror is not in a collective of activists, but in the fact that you and everything you stand for have, by the changing tides and the advancement of technology, are now surplus to requirements.

Finally, do not make the mistake of challenging Anonymous. Do not make the mistake of believing you can behead a headless snake. If you slice off one head of Hydra, ten more heads will grow in its place. If you cut down one Anon, ten more will join us purely out of anger at your trampling of dissent.

Your only chance of defeating the movement which binds all of us is to accept it. This is no longer your world. It is our world - the people's world.

We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us...

http://anonnews.org/?p=press&a=item&i=1001

E. Coli Outbreak Tied to Deadly New Strain

The new bacteria is a hybrid of two existing ones that have combined to form a super-virulent strain.

By Eric Niiler | Thu Jun 2, 2011 05:40 PM ET

The outbreak of a deadly form of E. coli bacteria in Germany has medical experts racing to pinpoint its source -- perhaps on a Spanish vegetable farm -- as well as how this new strain could have evolved.

Researchers now say the new bacteria is a hybrid of two existing ones that have combined to form a super-virulent strain.

BLOG: E. Coli: Mankind's Microscopic Minions

The World Health Organization reports the bacteria has killed 18 people and sickened more than 1,500 people in six nations, with the highest number of patients from Germany. U.S. authorities report two travelers returning from Germany contracted the disease and remain seriously ill, but have not spread the infection to others.

"You have an E. coli that's quite nasty and then it got genes from another toxic E. coli and it's become even nastier," said Paul Wigley, professor of food-borne diseases at the University of Liverpool.
Wigley said that the new strain is a combination of entero-aggregative E. coli (EAEC), which is an emerging microbe associated with diarrhea in developing nations, and entero-hemorrhagic e.coli (EHEC), which is similar to the one that caused the deadly hamburger outbreak of E. coli O157.

"It can hang around for a long time in the gut, invade pretty well and produce a toxin that damages the kidneys and can lead to bloody diarrhea," Wigley said.

ANIMAL PLANET: Top 10 Deadliest Outbreaks

The bacteria likely came from human or animal waste that came in contact with food. A Beijing lab that sequenced the genome of the bacteria with the help of German health officials said Wednesday that it appears to be resistant to many antibiotics. In fact, using antibiotics, which break apart the bacteria's cells, can release more toxins into the body, Wigley said.

"All you can do is supportive therapy, give patients fluid replacement, blood transfusions, and if kidney failure, then kidney dialysis." Officials with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta caution against panic and are careful not to call it a "super-bug" that can jump borders at will.

"We are talking about a food-borne outbreak," said Christopher Braden, director of CDC's division of food-borne, water-borne and environmental diseases. "There's a potential for this to be transmitted person to person, but no indication that it's happened."

BLOG: E. Coli: Not Just for Carnivores Anymore

Braden noted that so far, the disease has not affected children as much as adults, and that women are suffering more than men.

"Maybe it's coming from something kids don't normally eat, or something about this organism that doesn't affect kids as adults," Braden said. "We still don't know."

European health officials initially said they believed the source of the outbreak was contaminated vegetables grown in Spain, but have since backed off that claim. There are also reports that organically-grown vegetables like cucumbers were to blame since they rely on manure fertilizers.

In the meantime, several nations have banned food grown in Spain, while Russia has stopped all European produce imports.

Source

Fukushima Water Has More Radiation

Fukushima Water Has More Radiation Than Released Into Air
The water level in basements and trenches at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima plant rose and may contain more radiation than is known to have been released into the atmosphere in the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

The amount of contaminated water rose to about 105 million liters (28 million gallons) from 100 million liters on May 18, and may start overflowing after June 20, the company known as Tepco said in a statement today. Radiation in the water is estimated at 720,000 terabecquerels, general manager Junichi Matsumoto said at a media briefing in Tokyo.

Tepco has pumped millions of liters of water to cool three reactors that melted down at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out power and backup generators, crippling its cooling systems. With Japan's rainy season in full swing, heavy downpours threaten to flood the plant and leak more radiation into the sea, soil and air.

"The risk of overflow is as serious as the meltdown of reactor fuel rods that's already happened," Tetsuo Ito, the head of the Atomic Energy Research Institute at Kinki University in western Japan, said in a phone interview. "Tepco should've acknowledged this risk weeks ago and could've taken any urgent measures."

A water de-contamination unit being built at the plant will start operating after June 15 and an underground tank capable of holding 10 million liters will be ready by the middle of August, Tepco said in today's statement.

Radiation in Atmosphere

Tepco shares fell 6.2 percent today to 286 yen, the lowest level since at least September 1974. The stock has fallen 87 percent since the day before the quake, erasing 3 trillion yen ($37 billion) of the company's market value.

Much of the water poured into reactors and spent-fuel pools has overflowed or leaked into basements, connecting tunnels and services trenches at the plant, which has six reactors housed in separate building.

Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission said on April 12 an estimated 630,000 terabecquerels of radiation had been released into the atmosphere. The country's government the same day raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis to the highest level on an international scale.

The government aims to release the latest radiation data early next week, Goshi Hosono, a special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said on June 1.

Failure of cooling systems for reactors and water pools storing spent fuel rods led to explosions and fires at the Fukushima plant, causing radiation leaks that forced the evacuation of more than 50,000 households and contaminated drinking water and food.

Japan's government halted shipments of tea from four prefectures near Tokyo after detecting radioactive cesium that exceeded regulatory limits, the Yomiuri newspaper reported today.

--With assistance from ???? in Tokyo. Editor: Aaron Sheldrick

Source

Climate Change Get Up Aussie's and Protest

Last night Tony Abbott told mining executives to step up their lobbying efforts against action on climate change.

The big polluters know we're starting to make ground in our campaign for a price on pollution and they think they can throw more money into advertising to silence our voices. This Sunday, in capital cities right across the country we must show that we won't be silenced.

All week, the tabloid papers have screamed that Cate Blanchett shouldn't voice her support for climate action, while the same papers have blindly reported billionaire mining magnates like Clive Palmer and Gina Reinhardt.

That's why it's so important we show up on Sunday. At family rallies across the country, we'll stand shoulder to shoulder for our vision of an Australia where our children can enjoy clean air and our workers can build clean energy technology. Please add your voice, and your family's, in Sydney:

Where: Prince Alfred Park (next to Central Station)
When: 11am June 5
RSVP at www.getup.org.au/sydneyclimateaction

We've just learned that anti-climate-action rallies are being planned for Sunday too. They'll say that tackling climate change will send our economy back to the stone age, that big companies should be able to pollute for free. They will say they represent the community, but we can prove them wrong. Let's make sure the evening news on Sunday shows that for every person who rallied against a price on pollution, dozens more Australians stood together to call for action.

While they're shouting angry slogans and misinformation, we'll hold a positive, family-friendly gathering to stand up for our vision for clean energy and preserving a safe climate for our kids.

Our events will have face-painting, balloons and ice-cream for the kids - and great live music before and after the rally. Think of it as a great impetus to get out of the house and start Sunday in beautiful surrounds with other families. Please click here to RSVP:

www.getup.org.au/sydneyclimateaction

Hope to see you on Sunday,
the GetUp team.

PS - Bob Brown today issued this statement explaining why this Sunday is so important.

“The future of the Great Barrier Reef, the ski fields, Kakadu and the Eastern seaboard is at stake. The coal barons are in Canberra. Big polluters are lobbying. Help balance it up. For the sake of the Earth, join your nearest rally for climate action this weekend – as thousands of Australians tell Canberra the time for real action is now!” - Senator Bob Brown.

As the Independents and Greens continue crucial negotiations with the Government over how strong the price on pollution will be, every extra voice amplifies the case for strong action. Please click here to RSVP for Sunday's day of action: www.getup.org.au/sydneyclimateaction

Results

Goldman Sachs-Timothy Geithner-Thick as Thieves

By Robert Scheer

What was Timothy Geithner thinking back in 2008 when, as president of the New York Fed, he decided to give Goldman Sachs a $30 billion interest-free loan as part of an $80 billion secret float to favored banks? The sordid details of that program were finally made public this week in response to a court order for a Freedom of Information Act release, thanks to a Bloomberg News lawsuit. Sorry, my bad: It wasn’t an interest-free loan; make that .01 percent that Goldman paid to borrow taxpayer money when ordinary folks who missed a few credit card payments in order to finance their mortgages were being slapped with interest rates of more than 25 percent.

One wonders if Barack Obama was fully aware of Geithner’s deceitful performance at the New York Fed when he appointed him treasury secretary in the incoming administration. The president was probably ignorant of this particular giveaway, as were key members of Congress. “I wasn’t aware of this program until now,” Barney Frank, D-Mass., who at the time chaired the House Financial Services Committee, admitted in referring to Geithner’s “single-tranche open-market operations” program. And there was no language in the Dodd-Frank law supposedly reining in the banks that compelled the Fed to reveal the existence of this program.

It was merely one small part of that reckless policy of throwing mad money at the banks while ignoring the plight of homeowners whom the banks had swindled, a plan pursued by both the Bush and the Obama administrations that set the stage for the current slide into a double-dip recession. On Tuesday it was reported that home values have continued an eight-month decline back to their lowest point since the recession began. With housing in deep trouble there can be no rebound of consumer confidence or job creation, and the first-quarter growth rate was an anemic 1.8 percent even as Wall Street profits and bonuses flourished. Wages are stagnant, unemployment claims have recently risen and, as The Wall Street Journal headlined on Tuesday, “Economists Downgrade Prospects for Growth.” That same edition of the Journal reported that 44.6 million Americans now survive on food stamps, an 11 percent increase in that misery index over the past year, while Geithner’s friends at Goldman are doing quite well.

Actually, Goldman wasn’t even a bank and was therefore ineligible for those massive government handouts until Geithner helped gain approval for the instant conversion of Goldman from an investment house to a commercial bank. Goldman was granted that status, and with it access to the Fed’s lending, soon after the privilege had been denied to the fellow investment bank Lehman Brothers (the $30 billion mentioned above was in addition to the $43.5 billion Goldman borrowed from other Fed programs). Although Lehman was allowed to go belly up, Geithner engineered the massive bailout of AIG, a move that turned out to be a cover for passing money to AIG’s clients, including the aforementioned Goldman Sachs. The man’s intentions were clear, even if all the secret details were not, when Obama picked him to be his point man in salvaging an economy that Geithner had done much to wreck.

Geithner’s priorities were all too obvious from his days in the Clinton administration’s Treasury Department when he worked first under former Goldman honcho Robert Rubin and then Lawrence Summers, who took six-figure speaking fees from Goldman and other banks while he was an adviser to candidate Obama. It was the recommendation of Rubin and Summers that landed Geithner the job as president of the New York Fed, where he faithfully followed the policy lead of Goldman-CEO-turned-Treasury-Secretary Henry Paulson.

It was back then and is now accurate to speak, as a New York Times headline once put it, of U.S. politics dominated by “The Guys From ‘Government Sachs’ ”—but on an international scale. From the crisis in Greece, where Goldman manufactured toxic tax-based derivatives with abandon, to its betting against the success of the mortgage-based derivatives that Goldman designed and sold to others, the company was nothing short of a massive wrecking ball in the international economy.

Oh yes, what did Goldman do with that taxpayer money it borrowed back in 2008? It needed the money to cover the lousy bets of its Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities trading unit, which had lost $320 million. Typical of the Goldman dealings in that arena was the $1.3 billion solicited from Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya sovereign wealth fund, which according to a report in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal lost 98 percent of its value and almost cost some Goldman executives doing business in Tripoli their lives.

But they survived, as the guys from Goldman always do. With the general “no banker left behind” program pursued by Geithner under both George W. Bush and Obama, the theory was that saving the banks would save the country. The first part worked out brilliantly, but the second act never occurred.

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Poisoned Earth, Poisoned Bodies

New Hope. New Options. A New Future.
Our world is full of toxic pollutants: radiation, man made mercury, petroleum distillates in our makeup, our hand and body lotions, our hair products and even in our drinking water (where jet fuel was recently discovered in “small” and “acceptable” amounts).

Chemicals of every kind and in every combination surround us in our homes, in our cars, at work, in our clothes, and in the air we breathe. Plastics leech deadly chemicals into our bottled drinking water, our soft drinks and the frozen foods we microwave and boil.

The effect is deadly. The effect is cumulative (it builds up continually). the effect is long term. The effect, if we do nothing and continue to use these things the way we always have, is irreversible. People in America are suffering diabetes and thyroid problems in epidemic proportions – and the problem is only going to continue to get worse.

Garden chemicals manufactured by chemical giants like Monsanto and Dupont saturate our soil, our ecosystem, seeping into our ground water, our wells and our aquifers. Phosphates from golf courses run off into our rivers and streams, our ponds and our eddies and algae blooms from the unnaturally high amount of nutrients, choking out native species and causing death.

Dispersants from BP mixed with oil destroy the plankton, and kill the whales, the dolphins, the coral, infect the crabs, the shrimp and harm swimmers and children playing on the sandy shores. Fish are dying and local, state and federal government officials say it’s all ok.

…But wait, I’m not finished – it gets worse! There’s lead in our environment, and arsenic, and the millions upon millions of old and excreted drugs, steroids and antibiotics flushed down our toilets every single day not being cleaned by our municipal water companies – then there’s the fracking (oil companies fracturing rock in rural and not so rural areas and injecting tons and tons of cheap toxic cancer causing deadly chemicals deep into the earth to dissolve and squeeze out whatever little “oil” (they call it oil, but it’s not) that they can.

So how many parts per million of “this” and how many parts per million of “that” and how many parts per million of ten thousand toxins combined together, all interacting in God only god knows which ways, are we absorbing into our bodies through food, our lungs through breathing and our skin through contact with everything in our environment?

The CDC, the FDA, the AMA and the big pharmaceutical companies all say it’s under control – there’s nothing wrong – there’s a another pill for that – and television networks, radio networks and all major newspapers are all owned by just five powerful men.

We the people, those of us who are awake and thinking, know what’s really going on. We know what we’re seeing, what we’re feeling, and see the ill effects upon ourselves, our families, our neighbors and our friends.

That’s why Trisha Springstead and ESP Botanicals created this site, and this blog. …More later. We’re just setting up. There are steps that we as individuals can take to help clean up our own lives if we care. There are options that we as communities can choose to act now to unite our voices and fight back. We must fight because nobody is fighting for us, and nothing will change unless we gather our forces and work together as one.

Civic groups, church organizations, neighborhood watches, veterans organizations, wherever we find people working together who are willing to take a stand for our planet, our country, our counties and our towns – together, we can make a difference.

We can also make a difference in our homes and our yards by choosing more wisely the products we use – organics in our gardens, old recipes for cleaning within our homes and while doing our laundry, choosing safe effective alternatives to keep our cats and dogs flea free, avoiding GMOs (those are Genetically Modified Organisms created by Monsanto – certain corns, soy beans, and even strawberries doctored with fish genes are included!) in our packaged foods. Avoiding all foods containing high fructose corn syrup is a start too, because it fools the body into thinking it wants to eat more, which in turn only makes us gain weight and is a major factor in developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other health problems.

This site and blog are all about you – and me – and all of us – working for a happier healthier cleaner world for tomorrow, starting today!

Hi, I’m Dave Curtis – Trisha Springstead’s webmaster, and I’m glad to be taking part in this mission. All my life I’ve loved the forests and the mountains and the rivers and the trees. All my life I’ve loved all of the animals that live in the wild and in our homes as family pets.

Our children are our future, and I don’t want to hear another adolescent ever say again that they wouldn’t bring a child into this polluted world. I want us to be the generation that stops it. Our parents didn’t see it coming, or were kept too distracted and busy to pay it any mind, but we see it and have to take a stand, and if it’s a last stand, let’s make it a good one we can brag about to our grandchildren about instead of having to hang our head down in shame knowing that we knew, and did nothing.

This is not a blog about doom. This is a blog about a light at the end of a tunnel. It’s a blog about a difference that we can make together, marching side by side into the future to make things right. This is a blog about light.

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Cyber Combat: Act of War

Pentagon Sets Stage for U.S. to Respond to Computer Sabotage With Military Force
By SIOBHAN GORMAN And JULIAN E. BARNES

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war, a finding that for the first time opens the door for the U.S. to respond using traditional military force.
The Pentagon's first formal cyber strategy, unclassified portions of which are expected to become public next month, represents an early attempt to grapple with a changing world in which a hacker could pose as significant a threat to U.S. nuclear reactors, subways or pipelines as a hostile country's military.

In part, the Pentagon intends its plan as a warning to potential adversaries of the consequences of attacking the U.S. in this way. "If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks," said a military official.

Recent attacks on the Pentagon's own systems—as well as the sabotaging of Iran's nuclear program via the Stuxnet computer worm—have given new urgency to U.S. efforts to develop a more formalized approach to cyber attacks. A key moment occurred in 2008, when at least one U.S. military computer system was penetrated. This weekend Lockheed Martin, a major military contractor, acknowledged that it had been the victim of an infiltration, while playing down its impact.

The report will also spark a debate over a range of sensitive issues the Pentagon left unaddressed, including whether the U.S. can ever be certain about an attack's origin, and how to define when computer sabotage is serious enough to constitute an act of war. These questions have already been a topic of dispute within the military.

One idea gaining momentum at the Pentagon is the notion of "equivalence." If a cyber attack produces the death, damage, destruction or high-level disruption that a traditional military attack would cause, then it would be a candidate for a "use of force" consideration, which could merit retaliation.
The Pentagon's document runs about 30 pages in its classified version and 12 pages in the unclassified one. It concludes that the Laws of Armed Conflict—derived from various treaties and customs that, over the years, have come to guide the conduct of war and proportionality of response—apply in cyberspace as in traditional warfare, according to three defense officials who have read the document. The document goes on to describe the Defense Department's dependence on information technology and why it must forge partnerships with other nations and private industry to protect infrastructure.

The strategy will also state the importance of synchronizing U.S. cyber-war doctrine with that of its allies, and will set out principles for new security policies. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization took an initial step last year when it decided that, in the event of a cyber attack on an ally, it would convene a group to "consult together" on the attacks, but they wouldn't be required to help each other respond. The group hasn't yet met to confer on a cyber incident.

Pentagon officials believe the most-sophisticated computer attacks require the resources of a government. For instance, the weapons used in a major technological assault, such as taking down a power grid, would likely have been developed with state support, Pentagon officials say.
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The move to formalize the Pentagon's thinking was borne of the military's realization the U.S. has been slow to build up defenses against these kinds of attacks, even as civilian and military infrastructure has grown more dependent on the Internet. The military established a new command last year, headed by the director of the National Security Agency, to consolidate military network security and attack efforts.

The Pentagon itself was rattled by the 2008 attack, a breach significant enough that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs briefed then-President George W. Bush. At the time, Pentagon officials said they believed the attack originated in Russia, although didn't say whether they believed the attacks were connected to the government. Russia has denied involvement.

The Rules of Armed Conflict that guide traditional wars are derived from a series of international treaties, such as the Geneva Conventions, as well as practices that the U.S. and other nations consider customary international law. But cyber warfare isn't covered by existing treaties. So military officials say they want to seek a consensus among allies about how to proceed.

"Act of war" is a political phrase, not a legal term, said Charles Dunlap, a retired Air Force Major General and professor at Duke University law school. Gen. Dunlap argues cyber attacks that have a violent effect are the legal equivalent of armed attacks, or what the military calls a "use of force."

"A cyber attack is governed by basically the same rules as any other kind of attack if the effects of it are essentially the same," Gen. Dunlap said Monday. The U.S. would need to show that the cyber weapon used had an effect that was the equivalent of a conventional attack.

James Lewis, a computer-security specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has advised the Obama administration, said Pentagon officials are currently figuring out what kind of cyber attack would constitute a use of force. Many military planners believe the trigger for retaliation should be the amount of damage—actual or attempted—caused by the attack.

For instance, if computer sabotage shut down as much commerce as would a naval blockade, it could be considered an act of war that justifies retaliation, Mr. Lewis said. Gauges would include "death, damage, destruction or a high level of disruption" he said.

Culpability, military planners argue in internal Pentagon debates, depends on the degree to which the attack, or the weapons themselves, can be linked to a foreign government. That's a tricky prospect at the best of times.

The brief 2008 war between Russia and Georgia included a cyber attack that disrupted the websites of Georgian government agencies and financial institutions. The damage wasn't permanent but did disrupt communication early in the war.

A subsequent NATO study said it was too hard to apply the laws of armed conflict to that cyber attack because both the perpetrator and impact were unclear. At the time, Georgia blamed its neighbor, Russia, which denied any involvement.

Much also remains unknown about one of the best-known cyber weapons, the Stuxnet computer virus that sabotaged some of Iran's nuclear centrifuges. While some experts suspect it was an Israeli attack, because of coding characteristics, possibly with American assistance, that hasn't been proven. Iran was the location of only 60% of the infections, according to a study by the computer security firm Symantec. Other locations included Indonesia, India, Pakistan and the U.S.

Officials from Israel and the U.S. have declined to comment on the allegations.

Defense officials refuse to discuss potential cyber adversaries, although military and intelligence officials say they have identified previous attacks originating in Russia and China. A 2009 government-sponsored report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said that China's People's Liberation Army has its own computer warriors, the equivalent of the American National Security Agency.

That's why military planners believe the best way to deter major attacks is to hold countries that build cyber weapons responsible for their use. A parallel, outside experts say, is the George W. Bush administration's policy of holding foreign governments accountable for harboring terrorist organizations, a policy that led to the U.S. military campaign to oust the Taliban from power in Afghanistan.

Write to Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman@wsj.com

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Good Read

The War on Cyber Attacks

Attacks of varying severity have rattled nations in recent years.

June 2009: First version of Stuxnet virus starts spreading, eventually sabotaging Iran's nuclear program. Some experts suspect it was an Israeli attempt, possibly with American help.

November 2008: A computer virus believed to have originated in Russia succeeds in penetrating at least one classified U.S. military computer network.

August 2008: Online attack on websites of Georgian government agencies and financial institutions at start of brief war between Russia and Georgia.

May 2007: Attack on Estonian banking and government websites occurs that is similar to the later one in Georgia but has greater impact because Estonia is more dependent on online banking.