'Intelligence Agencies Know Al Qaeda Doesn't Exist'

Believe The Al Qaeda Myth And Surrender Your Liberties

Why is it that you so often see journalists in the UK claiming Al Qaeda doesn't exist? Or at least, Al Qaeda doesn't exist in the all powerful, worldwide way we are told it does by BushCo and the NeoCon fear-mongers.

That is, Al Qaeda as the New Nazis.

In the US and Australia, few if any journalists are brave enough to speak out on the 'Al Qaeda' truth their intelligence and secret services sources have been telling them for years. Why is that? What are they afraid of?

So here's yet another example of an extremely well known British journalist smashing the Al Qaeda mythology, this time in the Daily Mail :

...we're talking to the Taliban, one of the twin bogeymen with which the Government has sought to frighten us into acceptance of an entanglement of 'security' measures which have yet to prevent a single outrage.

No doubt we would talk to 'al Qaeda' too, if such an organisation existed, but - as all intelligence men know - it is a vague collection of rival factions, lumped together to scare the ill-informed into surrendering their liberties.

So much for the Great War on Terror, which has neither saved our way of life nor defeated Islamist extremism. What did you expect from the very same people who surrendered to the IRA, a genuine threat that really did exist (and still does) and which we could have beaten? What a lot of hogwash we are fed.

Amen to that.

UK : No More 'War On Terror'

Reluctance To Link Terror Attacks To Religion

For more than a year, the British government has been quietly phasing out the use of the ridiculous term 'War on Terror' to describe suicide bombing attacks and police and military action to track down and prosecute those responsible, before and after the events.

Now the war against the 'War on Terror' is official :

(England's chief prosecutor) Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless "death cult."

The Director of Public Prosecutions said: 'We resist the language of warfare, and I think the government has moved on this. It no longer uses this sort of language."

London is not a battlefield, he said.

"The people who were murdered on July 7 were not the victims of war. The men who killed them were not soldiers," Macdonald said. "They were fantasists, narcissists, murderers and criminals and need to be responded to in that way."

The term "Islamic terrorist" will also no longer be used. Officials believe it is unhelpful because it appears to directly link the religion to terrorist atrocities.

Sir Ian McDonald is also opposed to the push by ministers to extend the 28 day period in which a terror suspect can be held without charge or trial.

Danish Bank Predicts Ron Paul Presidency In 2008, UK Depression, Deeper Financial Crisis For US

They're known in banking circles as "black swan sightings". We'd probably call them worst case scenarios. They are the 'outrageous predictions' some banks make as part of their general forecasting of the economic road ahead.

How bad can regional economies get in a 12 month period? How high could oil prices go? Will world credit dry up? And what will be the fallout if such predictions come true?

Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank's black swan sightings for 2008 are indeed grim, and in some cases absolutely mind-boggling. Ron Paul winning the presidency of the United States would come about, predicts Saxo, in the event of a massive self-immolation of the American stock market and the beginning of a new Great Depression.

Saxo claims they have recent form on black swan sightings, with "almost a quarter of our outrageous predictions for 2007 were close to or 100 percent accurate" :

“Our outrageous predictions are not a science, but are meant to incite thought and debate in the market...”

Here's some of Saxo Bank's Outrageous Predictions For 2008 :

* Ron Paul elected as president of the US in 2008

* S&P500 falls 25 per cent from its 2007 high

* Plunges and then small gains in the value of the Euro and UK Pound

* At least three of the largest 10 US home builders will go bankrupt

* Chinese stock market falls 40 per cent by late summer

* Grain Prices to double again, having already doubled in the past 12 months

* Oil rockets to $175 a barrel

Bhutto's Death Sounds More And More Like A Gangland Hit Job

Media Claims Two Snipers, Five Bullets, One Suicide Bombing

Pakistan TV has aired footage which reportedly shows a gunman near Bhutto's vehicle shooting her

Benazir Bhutto escaped at least four assassination attempts in only ten weeks, including the one that 'welcomed' her back to Pakistan, killing more than 140 people, injuring hundreds more, in October.

Whoever put the contract out on Bhutto made sure she wasn't going to escape again.

Thaindia is now claiming that Bhutto was targeted by more than one gunman :

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, 54, was shot at and killed by at least two snipers before a suicide bomb attack on the periphery of her carcade.

Police confirmed that the snipers fired five bullets from AK-47 assault rifles. Two of the bullets hit Benazir in the neck, while a third hit her forehead. No one was near her car when the shots were fired at her. Two of her key political aides, including PPP leader and spokesperson Sherry Rehman and her security aide, were also grievously injured in the attack.

This report could simply be more purposeful disinformation aimed at adding to the general confusion of what happened. Is there enough contradictory versions of what happened floating around in the media now? Take your pick. The assassin in the crowd did it. The sunroof did it. The suicide bomber did it. The two snipers did it.

The only version of events that makes next to no sense is that of the Pakistan government officials. What were they thinking claiming The Sunroof Did It? Even if they believed it was true, they must have known they were going to be mocked? Reporters at a press conference where 'The Sunroof Did It' explanation was announced reportedly yelled and abused the Pakistan government official who had to unfurl this extremely dubious explanation.

Of course, all of this confusion doesn't mean Musharraf did it, but perhaps the world is supposed to be convinced that Musharraf was involved.

It's impossible to imagine how Pervez Musharraf can hold elections on January 8. But if delays the elections, the streets protests and the standard military crackdown on such protests, will spark exactly the kind of chaos, death tolls, media coverage and general outrage that will likely see him driven from power. With US special forces already set to increase their numbers inside Pakistan, there is the likelihood that China, Iran, Russia and India will also get involved in the aftermath of Musharraf's downfall.

This is only going to get even uglier.

2007 : The Year The World's Weather Got Really Freaky

According to this story from the Associated Press, 2007 will go down in history as the year of record-breaking, 'normal'-shattering, totally bizarre weather events.

January 2007 was the hottest January worldwide since such record-keeping began.

2007 is likely to be the hottest year on record for the Northern Hemisphere.

More than 260 highest all-time temperature records in the US were broken or tied.

April 2007 was the warmest April in England since the mid-1600s.

New York City was hit by a tornado.

Oman and Iran were hit by extremely cyclonic events.

US lakes were found to be shrinking.

South Africa had the first notable snowfalls in more than two decades.

Reunion Island recorded 155 inches of rain 72 hours, an historical record.

The Arctic dramatically warmed, with new records for the volume of ice found to be melting.

In August, 60 percent of the United States was under drought, or found to be "abnormally dry".

Los Angeles recorded its driest year in decades.

Australia continued suffering through the worst drought in a century.

China, Wales and England clocked up historical levels of rainfall.

Southern California saw severe winds, snow, hail and torrential rain all in the same day, back in March.

The Northwest Passage through the Arctic opened up enough to allow ships to pass through.

And that's just for starters. There are more plenty stunning record weather events detailed in the story here.

All right, fess up, who's been playing around with Yakuza weather machines?

Just from where I live in Sydney, the number of fast-forming freakishly large storms has been amazing to witness. In one week, last month, I think I saw something like 9 big storms sweeping in over the city from my balcony, busting open, dumping huge amounts of rain and then disappearing, usually within a matter of minutes. Then there were the storms that hit during the night.

During long drives through Western Australia, I heard countless stories from locals about how horrifically dry the farm lands had become. The wheat fields were crisp and barren. Town after town had removed public taps due to water shortages. I found a town on the coast that was almost totally sustained by bottled water, which was piled in pallets in a stack ten feet high and forty feet long in the front of the local supermarket. Then there was the morning I woke up in a camp ground near Margaret River when the temperature was supposed to 33 Celsius. By 11am it was heading past 45 Celsius. Truly scary stuff.

On the plus side, I went to visit friends in the outer western suburbs of Sydney and saw a landscape transformed. The local bushland I had roamed as a kid had always been tinderbox dry and scrubby. On Christmas Day, the bush was lush and kangaroos were gorging on the greenery. The scrubby old bush I had bashed through on motor bikes as a kid looked like it was seriously considering becoming rainforest.

Now here comes 2008. Normal weather would be a nice change.

Mum, Dad, You Really Suck

Have you ever had a baby look at you like you're a complete idiot?

It might not be your imagination, after all. New research indicates that babies are more than capable of forming critical judgements of adults, particularly their parents :

Interpersonal interaction is a major survival feature of the human species and so it's not surprising that we come hard-wired with the mental power to track relationships. The big news is that we also start very early to track how others play out those rules, even when the interaction has nothing to do with us.

Babies have far more social smarts than we give them credit for.

Babies are also adept social butterflies, born with the rules of engagement etched on their brains.

Pediatrician T. Barry Brazleton has shown that there is a certain set rhythm to the social interactions of mothers and babies. They engage (what we often call "play"), then the baby cuts out and has down time, and then they start up again. The baby is designed to participate in this inter-personal tango (and so are adults), and mothers quickly know that something is wrong if the baby doesn't connect with her.

Psychologist J. Kiley Hamlin and colleagues of Yale University recently showed 6- to 10-month old babies various social situations using triangles, squares and circles that play acted helping or hindering each other. The babies clearly disliked the objects that didn't help out. The psychologists concluded that babies are good judges of character, even when they're not directly involved in the action.

This research is a surprise because no one thought babies were paying that much attention to the acts of others. And no one realized baby judgments were so harsh.

Go Here For The Full Story

Aide Claims Bhutto Had Bullet Wound In Her Head

If the story of how Benazir Bhutto died was not already confusing enough, a close aide to the Pakistan opposition leader is claiming hospital staff and Pakistan government officials are lying when they claim she was not shot and that she died from a head injury resulting from her ducking back into her vehicle during the assassination attempt.

The aide said that Bhutto's head had a bullet wound, right through her skull :

"I was actually part of the party which bathed her body before the funeral," said Ms Rehman, who added that her car was used to transport Ms Bhutto to hospital.

"There was a bullet wound I saw that went in from the back of her head and came out the other side.

"We could not even wash her properly because the wound was still seeping. She lost a huge amount of blood,'' she said.

Ms Rehman accused the Government of mounting a cover-up over Ms Bhutto's death.

"The hospital was made to change its statement. They never gave a proper report," she said.

"I believe the interior ministry is saying that she died from some concussion that may have taken place against the sunroof.

"This is ridiculous, dangerous nonsense because it is a cover-up of what actually happened."

The details and conjectures over Bhutto's assassination will be picked through for years to come. Just like JFK's assassination, there is grainy footage, conflicting reports about the injury and controversy about who carried out the assassination, and who ordered it.

The Taliban-Linked Leader Pakistan Government Says Killed Bhutto Denies Involvement : "We Don't Kill Women"

'Bhutto Was Not Killed By Assassin's Bullets'

Bhutto Shot In Neck And Chest Seconds Before Suicide Bombing

Will 2008 Be The Year Of The Pakistan Civil War?

Eyewitness Photographer Claims Bhutto Ducked Down Inside Vehicle Before Gun Shots And Suicide Bombing

Car-Human-Truck Sandwich

You think it's going to be gruesome, and you think you just can't stand to watch it any longer, because you think you know what the mess is going to look like. But keep watching, right to the end.

Bhutto Said Osama Bin Laden Was Dead Eight Weeks Before Her Assassination

A blood-chilling interview with Benazir Bhutto only weeks before her death. She works her way through a list of those she knows want her dead, and have threatened to kill her. Bhutto mentions Omar Sheikh, who she clearly states "murdered Osama Bin Laden."

Did she say too much?






As the Jazz From Hell blog points out, a new 'coming soon' video from Osama Bin Laden is being pumped in the mainstream media. Just in case you thought Bhutto was telling the truth. Or that she said too much.

Osama Bin Laden's non-living status is regarded as a fact by many in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Editorialists in Pakistan newspapers occasionally mock Western leaders for living in fear of a terrorist who has already been killed.

If that is so, who's making all these 'new' Osama Bin Laden videos?

And who is Omar Sheikh, the "murderer" of Bin Laden? The London Times ran a remarkable story linking Sheik to Pakistan's security services (ISI) in April 2002. The story claims that Sheik was a hired gun for the ISI and was involved in the murder of reporter Daniel Pearl.

An excerpt from The Times report :

“Sheikh was their (the ISI’s) man and he was brought in to deal with Pearl. The ISI knew everything.” The Karachi police, who deeply distrust the ISI, leaked details of their interrogation of Sheikh in which he talked about his ISI connections. As a result, ISI operatives broke into the newsroom of The News, Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper, in February in an apparent attempt to prevent publication of a leak in which Sheikh was reported to have said that the ISI helped him to finance, plan and execute last December’s attack on the Indian parliament.

The News is edited by Shaheen Sehbai, the first local journalist Pearl contacted when he arrived in Pakistan. Failing to prevent publication of Sheikh’s confession, the ISI demanded an apology from Sehbai, who has fled to America fearing for his life.

M J Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a security and terrorism policy assessment group that has been researching Pearl’s murder, said: “Sheikh is a vital key that can open all the doors to the Al-Qaeda network, to the links between the Pakistani military intelligence establishment and the terror groups, and can destroy General Musharraf’s credibility with Washington.

He is a vital piece in the jigsaw and for that reason it is highly unlikely the US will ever be allowed to interrogate him.” The full story of the kidnapping of Pearl will probably never come to light. What is clear is that Sheikh has for long been very close to the ISI and that it regarded him as an asset. The whole affair has been a setback and embarrassment to Musharraf and has destabilised the country.

Small wonder that Musharraf is said to have told Wendy Chamberlain, the American ambassador, that he would rather “hang Sheikh myself than have him extradited”.

Pakistan has received more than $10 billion from the United States to supposedly fight the 'War on Terror'. India claims that Pakistan has spent a great deal of that money re-arming, instead of hunting down terrorists in the tribal lands bordering Afghanistan.

'Bhutto Was Not Killed By Assassin's Bullets'

Eyewitness Photographer Says Bhutto Ducked Before Gun Fire And Bomb Blast

Pakistan Government : Bhutto Hit Her Head On Sunroof!

Totally contradicting a number of eyewitness reports, including members of Benazir Bhutto's opposition who were with her yesterday, Pakistan government officials and hospital staff are now claiming Bhutto was not hit and killed by bullets fired by an alleged suicide bomber.

Reports yesterday claimed Bhutto was hit in the neck and chest (or back) by an assassin's bullets, shortly before a suicide bomber allegedly detonated himself.

Now the official story is Bhutto bumped her head?

Mystery shrouds the death of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto. In an explosive revelation, Pakistan's Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz on Friday said that Bhutto did not die of bullet wounds.

Nawaz said that Bhutto died from a head injury. At least seven doctors from the Rawalpindi General Hospital – where the leader was rushed immediately after the attack – say there were no bullet marks on Bhutto's body.

The doctors have submitted a report to the Pakistan government in which they say that no post-mortem was performed on Bhutto’s body and they had not received any instructions to perform one.

“The report says she had head injuries – an irregular patch – and the X-ray doesn’t show any bullet in the head. So it was probably the shrapnel or any other thing has struck her...That damaged her brain, causing it to ooze and her death. The report categorically says there’s no wound other than that,” Nawaz told a Pakistani news channel.

Eyewitness Photographer Says Bhutto Ducked Before Bullets Were Fired Or Suicide Bomber Exploded :

A photographer, who captured the suicide bomb explosion in Rawalpindi on Thursday, today described his horror on seeing Benazir Bhutto being blasted to death less than 30 feet from him.

John Moore, 40, covering the rally for the Getty press agency, took the two stark images just seconds apart. In the first, Bhutto waves from her car. In the second, it is blasted apart by a suicide bomber.

According to The Mirror, the US-born photographer told how the crowd had begun to disperse after Bhutto appeared to leave the area before she reappeared to wave from the sunroof of her car.

He said: 'I was shocked she would do that because she was obviously aware of the extreme dangers of all of her public appearances.

'The way the crowd was standing, there was no clear way for the car to pass. So, it was moving very slowly with someone in front trying to clear a way.

'I had taken a couple of frames, but the crowd was pushing me as people at the back tried to get closer and those at the front tried to move out of the way of her convoy.

'I looked up to try and steady myself and get a proper footing, and as I did, I saw Bhutto ducked down in the car.

'Knowing what I know now, she must have seen the bomber in the crowd and known she was in danger. Right then, I heard at least two gunshots, I think it could have been three.

'Then the bomb went off."

These contradictions in the original news stories and the Musharraf government's official version of events will do little to appease Bhutto's outraged supporters.

UPDATE : I was being unnecessarily sarcastic above when I said that the official story from the Pakistan government is that Benazir Bhutto died from hitting her head...but now that is exactly what Sky News is reporting :

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose funeral was held today, died from injuries she suffered when hitting her vehicle's sunroof, it has been claimed.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said a post mortem found no bullets or shrapnel in her body.

He was speaking at a press conference at which video was shown of Ms Bhutto's last moments.

It was previously announced Ms Bhutto had died as a result of being hit in the neck and chest by shots fired by an assassin.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry has also blamed al Qaeda and the Taliban for the 54-year-old's death.

At least an injury from hitting the sunroof fits in with the eyewitness account of the photographer quoted above and the footage of her vehicle yesterday that showed little substantial damage from the bomb blast.


Musharraf's Police Said To Have Abandoned Posts Before Attacks

Dozens Killed As Pakistan Rocked By Violence And Rioting

Hundreds Of Vehicles, Shops Torched, 'Shoot To Kill', Flights And Trains Cancelled

Bhutto Was Part Of BushCo "Democratic Facade" In Pakistan - Rice Negotiated Bhutto's Return

The American Police State Is Now A Reality

120,000 Americans Murdered Since 9/11, But Not One Death From Domestic Terrorism

New Anti-Dissent, Anti-Free Speech Laws Disguised As 'The Fight Against Terror'

The so-called 'conspiracy theorists' have been harping on about the coming 'American Police State' since the early 1990s, three White House administrations ago. Some, like Alex Jones, accurately predicted before 9/11 that a major domestic terrorism event would ease the passage of laws that constitute a police state of the mind and of the judiciary regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans controlled the White House.

And now it's a reality, as this remarkable and downright disturbing story from the Washington Times explains :

Congress is perched to enact the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 20007 (Act)," probably the greatest assault on free speech and association in the United States since the 1938 creation of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

Sponsored by Rep. Jane Harman, California Democrat, the bill passed the House of Representatives on Oct. 23 by a 404-6 vote under a rule suspension that curtailed debate.

To borrow from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, the First Amendment should not distract Congress from doing important business.

Denuded of euphemisms and code words, the Act aims to identify and stigmatize persons and groups who hold thoughts the government decrees correlate with homegrown terrorism, for example, opposition to the Patriot Act or the suspension of the Great Writ of habeas corpus.

The Act will inexorably culminate in a government listing of homegrown terrorists or terrorist organizations without due process; a complementary listing of books, videos, or ideas that ostensibly further "violent radicalization;" and a blacklisting of persons who have intersected with either list.

Political discourse will be chilled and needed challenges to conventional wisdom will flag. There are no better examples of sinister congressional folly.

The Act inflates the danger of homegrown terrorism manifold to justify creating a marquee National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Ideologically Based Violence (Commission) in the legislative branch. Since September 11, 2001, no American has died from homegrown terrorism, while about 120,000 have been murdered.

Prior to September 11, homegrown terrorism consisted largely of Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, the Unibomber and the D.C. Metropolitan area snipers. The Act, nevertheless, counterfactually finds "homegrown terrorism ... poses a threat to domestic security" that "cannot be easily prevented through traditional federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts."

The commission's Big Brother task is to discover ideas and political associations, including connections to non-U.S. persons and networks, that promote "violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States." And "violent radicalization" is defined as "the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change."

Under the Act, William Lloyd Garrison would have been guilty of promoting "violent radicalization" for publishing the anti-slavery Liberator in 1831, which "facilitated" John Brown.

...Martin Luther King, Jr. would have fallen under the Act's suspicion for denouncing Jim Crow and practicing civil disobedience....

The commission will certainly hold choreographed public hearings. Witnesses will testify that non-Christian ideas or vocal challenges to the status quo promote "an extremist belief system" that facilitates ideologically based violence. Internet communications, the media, schools, religious institutions and home life will be scrutinized for promoting pernicious thoughts.

Lengthy lists of persons, organizations and thoughts to be shunned will be compiled.

The lives of countless innocent citizens will be shattered.

The Full Story Is Here

If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to worry about, goes the old refrain. But will you actually be told what thoughts and opinions and attitudes are 'wrong' or dangerous?

Will 2008 Be The Year Of The Pakistan Civil War?

By Darryl Mason

Whatever President Bush was expecting to mark the beginning of his last year in the White House, it is hard to believe he was expecting a Pakistan civil war. During his brief, extremely tense statement today on the Bhutto assassination, Bush was clearly rattled, and he literally ran from the podium as soon as he finished speaking, without taking questions. He disappeared into what would have to have been one extremely tense and nerve-wracking security meeting.

Pakistan is alive with chaos, destruction and death tonight. Court houses and government buildings are burning, police are being shot, mass demonstrations are already beginning. 'Revenge' attacks will only increase the chaos and death toll. President Musharraf's declaration of three days of national mourning is unlikely to do much to contain the fury and violence.

Russian government ministers are already warning of an onslaught of terrorism in Pakistan, and the United Nations Security Council is in an emergency meeting.

But how far will the Pakistan opposition go? How much revenge will they allow their supporters to unleash, and will opposition leaders even be able to rein in the blood lust of their own people?

They've already had spokesmen all over the cable news channels (Sky News in particular) blaming Musharraf directly for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, claiming that his military and security services ignored their pleas for help in keeping Bhutto safe and for failing to round up "known enemies" of the woman who was set to become prime minister after the January 8, 2008 elections.

The fallout for Bush's 'War on Terror' plans will be intense and hard to control. Bhutto's death is now being talked of as the "wrench" thrown into Bush's plans for Pakistan in 2008. The old plans are useless, worthless.

Bhutto was the key for Bush to get his special forces established in Pakistan so they could work their way through the Taliban-aligned tribal lands, chasing out militant leaders, busting up isolated training camps and cutting off the flow of new recruits for the Taliban's war against NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Bhutto was the way into Pakistan for the US, in a way that was least likely to outrage Pakistanis in majority numbers. Now she is gone, the US will likely move in with force behind them, and above them.

Pakistanis were already learning that the US was planning to ramp up its special forces numbers inside the country, days before Bhutto was assassinated. It will be easy for the opposition to claim that Bhutto's death was the work of someone else other than simply 'Al Qaeda militants'.

Then there, is course, the fact that Pakistan is heavily armed with nuclear weapons.

If revolutionary actions by the opposition led to the fall of Musharraf, would they take over? Or would extremists inside the security services and military step in and try to stop the takeover?

Pakistanis lost the last vestiges of tolerance for Musharraf's military dictatorship when he declared martial law in November. He must be only days, if not hours, away from announcing that martial law is back in force.

It's all but impossible to imagine how Musharraf could allow the elections to go ahead in only 11 days time, and utterly impossible to imagine how he could win the election now even if he did.

The chaos and death to come between now and New Years' Day may only be the start.

Pakistan will be the new front of the 'War on Terror' in 2008 and the US must already be scrambling to dramatically increase its special forces numbers inside the country, not just to go after the Taliban allies in the tribal lands, but to keep whoever is in control of the country in a month's time, in place of Musharraf, well away from the nuclear triggers.

If it comes down to a question of who will control Pakistan should Musharraf's regime falls, Russia and China will also feel duty-bound to get involved, along with India. The Great Game continues.

MORE TO COME...

'Surge' Of US Special Forces Expected In Pakistan In Early 2008


UPDATE : Will 2008 Be The Year Of The Pakistan Civil War?


In the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a 'surge' of US Special Forces for Pakistan's remote tribal lands is unlikely to face heavy opposition from President Musharraf, who will be busy trying to stop his own name, and that of his political party, from being linked with Bhutto's assassins.

The shock of Bhutto's death, so close to the January 8 elections which were tipped to see her elected prime minister, is also likely to lessen public opposition to the increase of US troops inside Pakistan.

This report, published today in The Australian newspaper, appeared on the Murdoch media portal news.com.au within half an hour of the confirmation of the announcement of Bhutto's death (excerpts) :

US Special Forces are to increase their presence in Pakistan amid assessments that the country is to become the central battlefield for al-Qaida as it is driven from Iraq.

"Pakistan should be carefully watched because it could prove to be a significant flashpoint in the coming year," US think tank Strategic Forecasting said in an evaluation of al-Qaida's tactics as the Islamist group comes under mounting pressure in Iraq.

With the "rapid spread of Talibanisation" in Pakistan's insurgent northwest, the country would become "especially important if the trend in Iraq continues to go against the jihadis and they are driven from Iraq", the assessment said.

"As the global headquarters for the al-Qaida leadership, Pakistan has long been a significant stronghold on the ideological battlefield."

The Stratfor assessment coincided with reports from Washington suggesting US Special Forces would expand their presence in Pakistan in the new year.

The boost in US forces was part of an effort to train and support Pakistan's army in its fight to stem the al-Qaida and Taliban-linked insurgency.

The Washington reports reflected Pentagon frustration with the Pakistani counter-insurgency effort, and said the head of the US Special Operations Command, Admiral Eric T. Olson, had made a series of visits to the country for discussions with senior military leaders.

"The first US (Special Forces) personnel could be on the ground in Pakistan early in the new year", the report said.

US Central Command chief Admiral William Fallon said the US forces would provide training and mentoring based on the US experience with the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

...the US reports coincided with the disclosure of an ambitious 15-year "anti-terror investment plan" for Pakistan that has been high on the agenda of US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in recent visits to Islamabad.

Bhutto's murder is set to lead to the opening of a new front in the 'War on Terror' inside Pakistan, which has the potential to be as deadly, and terror-ridden, as the current wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.


More Blogs By Darryl Mason

Go Here For The Latest Stories From 'Your New Reality'

Go Here For The Latest Stories From 'The Orstrahyun'

Go Here To Read The Latest Chapter From Darryl Mason's Online Novel About Life After The Bird Flu Pandemic

Bhutto Shot In Neck And Chest Seconds Before Suicide Bombing

Co-Ordinated Assassinations Aimed At Bhutto And Another Opposition Leader

No Bullet Proof Glass In Bhutto's Vehicle?


A few minutes before she was attacked by a gunman and suicide bomber, Benazir Bhutto praised a crowd a supporters at a rally.

This Daily Mail report claims Benazir Bhutto was shot twice, in the neck and the chest, as she entered a vehicle shortly after giving a speech. Seconds later, a suicide bomber detonated himself next to her vehicle :

A reporter at the scene said he saw body parts and flesh scattered at the back gate of the Liaqat Bagh park where Bhutto had spoken.

He counted about 20 bodies, including police, and could see many other wounded.

Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October after eight years self-imposed exile.

She had been running for parliament and hoped to become prime minister if her party won enough legislative seats.

At her homecoming reception in the port city of Karachi, suicide bombing attacks killed 140 people.

This Wednesday, at a rally in Peshawar, police stopped a would-be suicide bomber with explosives around his neck.

Another, far more fierce critic of Pakistan's President Musharraf was also targeted by assassins a few hours earlier, with snipers shooting into the crowd at a speech by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. At least four were killed in that attack.

Some reports are now claiming that President Musharraf was sitting by Bhutto's hospital bed shortly before she died.

Footage screened on Sky News showed Bhutto climbing into a white four wheel drive vehicle shortly after finishing her speech and driving away. The white four wheel drive was reportedly hit by a suicide bomber after Bhutto was shot, but the vehicle showed minimal damage from the bombing. One passenger seat window was broken, while other windows of the vehicle appeared completely undamaged. Didn't the vehicle have bullet proof windows? Aren't bullet proof windows standard now for vehicles carrying any politicians who are likely to face the threat of violence anywhere in the world? What sort of shitty security is this?

Other footage on Sky News revealed any chance of a forensic investigation to gather evidence of who was responsible for the bombing, and assassination, was lost when fire crews began hosing pieces blood, flesh and pieces of the damaged vehicles from the road.

Bhutto's dream of a new, more democratic Pakistan, free of military rule, is over. She has given her life trying to set her people free. Here are her words on her return to Pakistan in October, after eight years in exile :

"The people that you see outside are the real image of Pakistan.

"These are the decent, hard-working, middle classes and working classes of Pakistan who want to be in power so that they can build a moderate modern nation where everybody has equality.

This is the real Pakistan, and if we get democracy, this is the face of Pakistan the world will see, not the face of extremists who have thrived under dictatorships."

"I hope I can live up to the great expectations which people here have.

"...certain people who have gained a lot through dictatorship....They have presided over the rise of extremism, they have created safe havens in the tribal areas of Pakistan for the Taliban and other militants, and they fear my return."

Pakistan : Bhutto Assassinated In Suicide Bombing

Opposition Blames Musharraf Government For Terror Attacks

Musharraf : 'Terror Is Destroying Pakistan'



Terrible. What an horrific way for Pakistan to start 2008, a year that was supposed to mark the end of pseudo-military dictatorship and the beginning of real democracy. Elections that may well have seen Benazir Bhutto elected were to be held on January 8. Russian government ministers are warning her death will mark the beginning of a new storm of terror attacks, aimed at President Musharraf.

Benazir Bhutto's millions of supporters are obviously not going to take this well. She was seen by many as the saviour of Pakistan :

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, a party aide and a military official said.

"At 6:16 p.m. she expired," said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto's party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack. A senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, confirmed that Bhutto had died.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.

More details :

The Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi yesterday, her party said.

A official from the Pakistan People's Party, Rehman Malik, said: "She has been martyred."

Russia's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Losyukov, predicted a "wave of terrorism" would result.

"An act of terror is a bad sign," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, Russia's most senior Asia diplomat, told Itar-Tass news agency. "We hereby offer our condolences. This will for certain trigger a wave of terrorism."

Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Bhutto, 54, as she was leaving the rally in a park before blowing himself up.

"The man first fired at Bhutto's vehicle," said a police officer, Mohammad Shahid. "She ducked and then he blew himself up."

At least 16 people were killed in the attack, which occurred on the same day gunmen killed four supporters of another former Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, in Islamabad, police said.

Sharif was several kilometres from the shooting and was on his way to Rawalpindi after attending a rally. He blamed supporters of the pro-Musharraf party for the violence, but a spokesman for the party denied that its workers were involved.

"This all happened at the behest of the Government," Sharif told supporters on the outskirts of Rawalpindi. "They are 100 per cent responsible, but we are not scared of such actions."

Earlier Sharif, who was overthrown by Mr Musharraf in a 1999 coup and allowed back into the country last month after seven years in exile, had called for a revolution to unseat the pro-Musharraf party.

"You have to bring about a revolution," Sharif told a crowd of about 10,000 supporters in Gujjar Khan town in Punjab province.

Musharraf will face enormous pressure to launch a real war against extremists and terrorists in Pakistan now, particularly in the tribal lands bordering with Afghanistan.

In recent weeks there have been a growing number of reports that the US has wanted to deploy hundreds of special forces troops into Pakistan's tribal lands to round up militants and Islamic extremists. Musharraf, and the majority of Pakistanis, were deeply opposed to seeing US special forces 'officially' sent into their country.

Benazir Bhutto's death is likely to further the US case for sending troops into Pakistan, as Musharraf will be widely claimed now to be unable to deal effectively with the plague of terrorism.

Only a few days ago, during meetings with Afghanistan's president Karzai, Musharraf was quoted as saying that terrorism is destroying Pakistan :

...in an apparently warm atmosphere before Musharraf was to host a state dinner for Karzai, he underlined the need for intelligence cooperation with Afghanistan to fight the militant threat.

He said the neighbours had to stop "this menace of extremism and terrorism which is destroying both our countries" and called on their respective intelligence agencies to work hand-in-hand.

Terror attacks have killed more than 770 people in Pakistan during 2007.

Bhutto would have clearly understood the great danger she faced from terrorists, considering they almost killed her during the worst terror attacks ever seen in Pakistan when she returned home in October.

Musharraf will find it all but impossible to deny his supporters are responsible for the assassination of Bhutto, though he will likely ramp up his earlier claims that terrorism in Pakistan is mostly the responsibility of "foreigners".

MORE TO COME....

Pakistan Used Billions In Foreign Aid To Fight Terror To Re-Arm Against India

December 25 : Musharraf Promises Free And Fair Elections For January 8, Says "Foreign Terrorists" Will Not Be Allowed To Hijack Pakistan Democracy

Opposition Claimed Musharraf Government Was Planning To Rig Elections

Bhutto Recently Hailed As 2nd Most Influential Woman In The World

Tony Blair's Cosmetics Bill? It's No Longer A Secret

The Freedom of Information Act in Britain has unveiled a wealth of shocking, hilarious and downright weird 'official secrets' over the decades. Here's some of the highlights :

* The Thatcher Government concocted a plan to search for the Loch Ness monster using a team of dolphins

* Foreign diplomats – who have diplomatic immunity – were accused of rapes, sexual assaults, child abuse and murders while working in Britain

* Politicians are spending £2.2bn a year of taxpayers’ money on private management consultants

* Tax inspectors are routinely offered bonuses to encourage them to collect as much money as possible

* Tony Blair spent nearly £2,000 of taxpayers' money on cosmetics over six years

* Killings carried out by strangers have increased by a third since Tony Blair came to power

* A clandestine British torture programme existed in postwar Germany, “reminiscent of the concentration camps”

* Britain helped Israel to obtain its nuclear bomb 40 years ago, by selling it 20 tonnes of heavy water

* The NHS has been giving girls as young as 13 contraceptive injections and implants that make them infertile for up to three years, in an attempt to cut teenage pregnancies

* Police in England and Wales spend £21m a year on interpreters

* Six British military policemen died at the hands of an Iraqi mob in Majar al-Kabir because nearby reinforcements decided it was too dangerous to rescue them

* Robert Maxwell was being investigated for war crimes and was to be interviewed by police just before he drowned

* Countries with poor human rights records and those on the front line in the War on Terror, including Iraq, were targeted by the Ministry of Defence as the most lucrative places for British arms companies to sell weapons

* Police were instructed to let off offenders with a caution if they commit any one of more than 60 types of crime, ranging from assault to some types of theft, criminal damage and underage sex.

* In one year hundreds of 10»year»old children were charged with crimes including serious sexual offences, robbery, actual bodily harm and assaulting a police officer

* The Elgin Marbles were damaged by two schoolboys fighting in the British Museum in 1961. One of the boys fell and knocked off part of a centaur's leg

Go Here For A More Complete List

"Led By A Bottle More Like..."

You know Jesus would think this is funny :




As well as being just about the funniest movie ever made, 'Life Of Brian' is also one of the most beautifully filmed biblical epics, as the opening scenes more than prove.

Have a great Christmas dedicated readers and occasional viewers. I hope you get to spend Christmas with the people you love, and those who love you.

2008 is going to be one of the best years of our lifetimes. I'll tell you why after New Year's Day.

Because this isn't work, there will be no holiday taking here. The updates through the next week should be about as regular as always, and there'll be a new chapter or two of the free online serialised novel ED Day going up over the Christmas 'break', in case you're stuck for something to read. And feel free to leave a comment over there telling me what you think of the story.

If you're not already reading ED Day, you can begin with Chapter One here.

Love to you and yours.

GPS Jesus



Stealing the baby Jesus from Nativity scenes won't be so easy from now on. At least in Miami. Baby Jesus has been fitted with a tracking device, as have his mum and 'dad' :

A statue of the infant Jesus on display near Miami in Florida is being fitted with a Global Positioning System navigation device, according to U.S. media reports on Sunday. 　

　The high-tech replacement was donated by a Cincinnati attorney who read the story that the original figurine was stolen in early December, said the reports.

"I don't anticipate this will ever happen again," said Dina Cellini, who oversees the display, "but we may need to rely on technology to save our savior."

The statues of Mary and Joseph were also expected to get GPS devices installed in them.

Moreover, a plexiglass screen was also planned to be set up around the nativity scene to help keep the statues from disappearing.

Reality is always so much more strange than fiction.

Happy Christmas (War Is Over) By George W. Bush

It's easy to imagine that John Lennon would think this is a masterpiece :

First Christmas Linked To Earth-And-Sun God Worshipping Hippies

So where did Christmas really come from? The Pagans, of course :

A recently discovered pagan shrine dedicated to Rome's legendary founder Romulus and his brother Remus is being linked by a scholar to the first celebration of Christmas held on the date that still marks the festivity today.

Last month Italian archaeologists unveiled an underground grotto which they believe ancient Romans worshipped as the place where a wolf nursed the legendary twins.

Now, a top Italian scholar says that because of that shrine, 4th century Emperor Constantine chose the site to build the church where Christmas was first marked on Dec. 25. The choice was part of efforts in the early days of Christianity to link pagan practices to Christian celebrations.

"This is very probably the church where the first Christmas was celebrated," Andrea Carandini, a professor of archaeology at Rome's La Sapienza University, told reporters Friday. "Now we know why."

The discovery helps explain the transition from paganism to Christianity, scholars said.

"The church was built to christianize these pagan places of worship," Carandini said. "It was normal to put a church near these places to try to 'save' them."

The Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity a lawful religion in AD 313. In AD 325, Constantine chose December 25 as the date to celebrate Christmas to end the feuding over which day really marked the birth of Jesus Christ, and to allow various Christian festivals so popular through the Roman Empire to coincide on the same day. But Constantine chose December 25 because it was the day that marked the birth of the Roman sun god.

1700 years later, Christmas Day is the most widely and enthusiastically celebrated family and feast holiday in the world. We remember the birth of Christ, but we've forgotten all about the Pagans role in the creation of this day when we drink too much and say things we later regret to relatives we rarely see. Which I'm very much looking forward to doing, on both counts.

Crucify Him!



Nail a Santa Claus to a couple of pieces of wood, have a rant about Christmas being ruined by consumerism and suddenly you're the focus of widely circulating Associated Press story :

"Santa has been perverted from who he started out to be," (Art) Conrad said. "Now he's the person being used by corporations to get us to buy more stuff."

For his far flung friends who may not be able to see the holiday decor up close, Conrad used a photo of his crucified Santa for his Christmas cards, along with the message "Santa died for your MasterCard."

While some might be offended by the display, that's part of the plan. Conrad says he's also making a comment on political correctness and people's fears of saying what they really think.

I have no such fears : if you feel pressured into blowing money buying people junk for Christmas that you don't want to buy, and they probably don't want to receive, you're not a victim, you're a willing participant in the Great Santa Consumerism Conspiracy. Nobody's holding a gun to your head when you're clocking up two grand you can't afford on your credit cards. Just Say No. Well, next year maybe...

Does this mean next Easter we'll be seeing the Easter Bunny stuffed into a manger in some donkey stable as a statement against the chocolatisation of Good Friday?

Santa Ditches Sleigh For Rocket

Reindeer heads explode once they get beyond 90,000 feet :

A Russian Progress spacecraft blasted off Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan delivering vital supplies, as well as presents and goodies for Christmas and New Year's, to the International Space Station.

Packed with fuel, food, oxygen and technical gear, the craft successfully entered orbit and began the three-day journey to the permanently manned ISS...

...it is carrying presents for US commander Peggy Whitson and NASA flight engineer Dan Tani.

The third crew member, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko, was likely to be especially excited about the delivery. He will get not only traditional Russian New Year's presents, but something for his 46th birthday...

Among his gifts will be favourite films and music, plus some home video shot by his relatives back on Earth

In addition to the presents the crew were to be treated to "nuts and honey and we also traditionally send the station fresh citrus fruits -- grapefruits and oranges..."

I wonder how long it will before one of those streets where every house is absolutely soaked in Christmas lights and neon decorations can be seen from space?

The 'Bad Things' That Are Actually Good For You

Here's the top ten things that were, and still sometimes are, hyped as being bad for you. Turns out they're all very beneficial to the human being, though most are better in smaller doses :

Beer

Chocolate

Coffee

Sunlight

Sex

Maggots

Cannabis

LSD

Red wine

Anger

Background on why all these things are actually good for you here.

Flashback : Israel Intelligence Kicked Off "Iraq Did 9/11" Propaganda Only Days After Attacks

Israel Sent Warning Of Massive, Unprecedented Attack To US Six Weeks Before 9/11

This story, citing Israeli intelligence sources, appeared in the influential Jane's publication only eight days after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., and, as the story reveals, seven weeks after Israel warned the US that massive terror attacks were coming.

The key passages :

Israel’s military intelligence service, Aman, suspects that Iraq is the state that sponsored the suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Directing the mission, Aman officers believe, were two of the world’s foremost terrorist masterminds: the Lebanese Imad Mughniyeh, head of the special overseas operations for Hizbullah, and the Egyptian Dr Ayman Al Zawahiri, senior member of Al-Qaeda and possible successor of the ailing Osama Bin Laden. The two men have not been seen for some time. Mughniyeh is probably the world’s most wanted outlaw. Unconfirmed reports in Beirut say he has undergone plastic surgery and is unrecognisable. Zawahiri is thought to be based in Egypt. He could be Bin Laden’s chief representative outside Afghanistan. The Iraqis, who for several years paid smaller groups to do their dirty work, were quick to discover the advantages of Al-Qaeda.

The Israeli sources claim that for the past two years Iraqi intelligence officers were shuttling between Baghdad and Afghanistan, meeting with Ayman Al Zawahiri. According to the sources, one of the Iraqi intelligence officers, Salah Suleiman, was captured last October by the Pakistanis near the border with Afghanistan.

The Iraqis are also reported to have established strong ties with Imad Mughniyeh. "We’ve only got scraps of information, not the full picture," admits one intelligence source, "but it was good enough for us to send a warning six weeks ago to our allies that an unprecedented massive terror attack was expected."

Our sources believe that it will be very difficult to get to the bottom of this unprecedented terror operation. However, they believe the chief of the Iraqi SSO is Qusai Hussein, the dictator’s son, and his organisation is the most likely to have been involved.

How to counter this kind of terrorism? "To fight these bastards you don’t need a military attack," said an experienced Israeli commando officer. "You only need to adopt Israel’s assassination policy."

Strange, you never hear the six week warning from Israel to the United States about the coming "massive" "unprecedented terror attack" mentioned anywhere much at all. Israel's assassination policy was adopted in Iraq and Afghanistan through a special 'black' unit under Donald Rumsfeld's control.

48 Hours After 9/11, Thomas L. Friedman Hypes The 'War On Terror' : "We Have To Fight The Terrorists As If There Are No Rules"

CIA Withheld Important Al Qaeda Information From 9/11 Commission - What Exactly Was On Those Interrogation Videos That Were Destroyed?

Christmas In Iran



To paraphrase that old Live Aid song : Do They Know It's Christmas Time In Iran?

Yes :

...we can tell from the abundance of Christmas cards and trees and wrappings and ornaments and Santa Claus suits that Iran has a capitalist, consumer-oriented economy, with a large enough Christian community to support a whole host of retailers, wholesalers, distributors, suppliers, importers, and tree farms. And if we glance back at that incredible first shot of Tehran at the foot of the snow-covered Alborz Mountains, we can even say with certitude that the area around Tehran has just the right terrain, soil, and climate for the new-cut Christmas trees you see.

We can also deduce from such things as Christmas trees being sold on Tehran sidewalks and big Merry Christmas signs hanging in Tehran stores that while American aggression in Iraq may have had the tragic "blowback" effect of driving out 90% of all Christians who once lived there, Muslim tolerance towards Christians is still alive and well in Iran. And this tolerance on the part of Iran’s supposedly "mad mullahs" starts at the top with Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and permeates all the way down...

The main gist of this story is about how we in The West are being conditioned by our mainstream media to believe that Iran is full of Islamic extremists who froth at Western culture and spend their weekends secretly building nuclear bombs, when they aren't dancing around burning American and Israeli flags.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

But knowing that most Iranians love American culture, and are huge buyers of Western produced and market products doesn't fit in with the propaganda and hate-soaked cliches. And it doesn't get us mentally prepared for the cascade of civilian casualties any attacks on Iran will bring. We aren't supposed to think of them as being pretty much like us.

It'd be nice to see a Christmas eve news story on Christmas celebrations in Iran for a change, instead of the usual miserable gray streets and faces of London.

The Secret Police At Little Green Footballs

What a nasty little snitch Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs is. He would have been right at home behind the Iron Curtain, spying on his neighbours and calling the authorities at the first sign of dissent. Johnson didn't like an e-mail he received - the e-mailer sent the message "EOM", whatever that is supposed to mean - so he took action.

Here's what Charles Johnson did, in his own words :

"...when I traced the (e-mailer's) IP address, I discovered that this Ron Paul fan works for a web design agency in Philadelphia..I notiified (sic) them about what one of their employees is doing on company time."

That's downright creepy. And how does Johnson know this e-mailer was sending messages on company time and not on his/her lunch break? He doesn't. But he contacted the e-mailer's employer and snitched on them anyway.

Of course, Johnson's hero Michelle Malkin likes to do this sort of thing as well.

What a wonderful little totalitarian Bushite Johnson has become, considering he started his blog absolutely hating Bush's guts, referring to him as 'Shrub' and promoting the Bush mockery site BushOrChimp.com. Here's Charles Johnson back when he used to think Bush was an idiot :

"It's all about money, I'm sure. Not money for you and me, money for the Shrub's cronies and his corporate puppetmasters."

"The man is a dangerously ignorant puppet."

"Bush's (reaction to 9/11) speech last night was just pathetic. I really hope he can find it in himself to rise to the challenge and act courageously, for once in his spoiled rich party boy life."

Sounds an awful lot like someone with Bush Derangement Syndrome, doesn't he?

Tony Blair : Just Another War Industry Whore

Former British prime minister Tony Blair couldn't wait to send his country to war against the people of Iraq in early 2003, even though President Bush gave him a number of opportunities to abide by the wishes of the British public and not get involved.

But then, Tony Blair is one of the global war industry's biggest salesmen, and Iraq, with billions in new oil dollars flowing after the fall of Saddam Hussein, was set to become one of the biggest markets for British weapons of war. It didn't quite work out that way.

The UK Guardian reveals Blair's abominable role in the Saudi arms deal scandal :

Tony Blair's personal role as prime minister in halting the Saudi arms sale bribery investigation is revealed in court documents which the Guardian is publishing in full on its website.

Government memos stamped "Secret" reveal that the then attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, twice tried in vain to stop Blair interfering in the criminal investigation.

....Blair wrote a "Secret and Personal" letter to Goldsmith on December 8 2006, demanding he stop the investigation. He said he was concerned about the "critical difficulty" in negotiations over a new Typhoon fighter sales contract...

Go Here To Read The Full Story And To See The Court Documents

Tony Blair could barely hold himself back from rushing to Libya in May, to sew up massive new weapons deals with international pariah, and leading terrorism supporter, Muammar Gaddafi, as soon as Gadaffi agreed to give up his weapons of mass destruction program. By promising to ditch his own WMDs and instead buy British and French WMDs, Gaddafi was welcomed back into the international community.

Now Tony Blair, as a Middle East envoy, is hoping for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, so he can eventually sell British weapons to the Palestinians, who will have plenty to spend with more than $7 billion in reconstruction funds from international donors.

Blair will be granted a knighthood if he continues to sell so many British arms.

Werewolf Boy On The Loose In Moscow



Yes, you may think that headline is an exaggeration, but strangely enough, it is mostly true. Another incredible example of a very Russian phenomenon - abandoned or lost children who are raised by wolves and then run and hunt with them in isolated forests :

Russian police are hunting a "werewolf boy" - who snarls and bites - after he escaped from a Moscow clinic just a day after being rescued from the wild.

Doctors expressed shock saying he was found living with a pack of wolves in a remote forest in the Kaluga region of central Russia.

"He's clearly dangerous to other people," said a police spokesman yesterday.

"He's got typical wolf-like habits and behaviour.

"He has very strong and sharp teeth, which could really endanger someone if he bites."

Such cases are not uncommon in Russia where there have been regular reports of 'Mowgli' children abandoned by their parents who are cared for by animals.

The boy moves around with his legs half bent, said Tvoi Den newspaper. "He was running with wolves and searching for food with them."

After 24 hours he had evaded security men at the clinic and escaped. He is now believed to be on the loose in Moscow region.

The Full Story Is Here

Lakota Indian Nation Plans To Breakaway From North America

Moves For A New 'United State' Inside The US

Russia's President Putin To Lead International UN Moves To Legitimise Lakota Sovereignty?

By Darryl Mason




This story could fizzle out in the coming days, or it could become one of the biggest of 2008. Gut instinct tells me this is not going away anytime soon, particularly if the Lakota get international backing for their drive to form a new nation inside the United States, which they may well do, from Russia's President Putin (see bottom third of this post for more) :

The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us."

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.

They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.

Some news reports are claiming that Bolivia's indigenous president Evo Morales has said he is "very, very interested" in the Lakota move for sovereign nation status. We may also see the indigenous leaders of countries like Venezuela, and other South American countries, supporting the Lakota.

The Lakota representatives are claiming that treaties signed with the United States more than 150 years ago are "worthless words on worthless paper."

The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life," the reborn freedom movement says.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal..

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent..."

In September, 2007, presumably guessing at what was coming, the United States opposed the adoption by the United Nations of a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children," Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

story continues after...
-------------------------

More Blogs By Darryl Mason

Go Here For The Latest Stories From 'Your New Reality'

Go Here For The Latest Stories From 'The Orstrahyun'

Go Here To Read The Latest Chapter From Darryl Mason's Online Novel About Life After The Bird Flu Pandemic

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story continues...


Lakota Indians Have Refused Government Payoff For 130 Years

Despite living in abject poverty, the Lakota have consistently refused to allow the United States government to buy their nation's land, for more than 130 years. The original purchase offer has sat in a bank and swollen to more than $570 million. But they refuse to sell. How can they sell up, they say, the "sky and air is not for sale", their land is sacred.

Regardless of need, opposition to taking the money consistently runs more than 90 percent in newspaper surveys, said Tim Giago, publisher of the Lakota Journal.

Talk of the cash reminds the Sioux of the gold-seeking explorers who swarmed into the land seven years after President Andrew Johnson signed the Black Hills treaty.

The resulting military battles culminated in Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn in 1876.

Congress responded by telling the Sioux: Give up the Black Hills, or lose federal food, medicine and blankets, rations pledged earlier to compensate for disrupting their hunting lands with westward expansion. Only 10 percent of the adult male Sioux population signed the treaty giving up the land, but Congress enacted it into law in 1877.

A federal judge, later echoed by the Supreme Court, blasted the government's deal, saying: "A more ripe and rank case of dishonorable dealing will never, in all probability, be found in our history."

The original 1868 treaty still exists, and is treasured by Sioux Indian elders. It promises the land will be "for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupancy of the Sioux."

This is the key treaty the Lakota say has been broken.

A reader of the Rapid City Journal supplies some fascinating background to this story :

The Lakota (Brother) Peoples were a confederacy of twelve tribes who inhabited the high plains from Western Wisconsin to Eastern Montana, and from South Dakota north into Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Lakota spoke a Siouxan language and, along with many other tribes who were not Lakota, they were referred to by the French Canadian fur trappers who were the first Europeans to meet them, as the “Sioux.”

In 1869 several of the Lakota tribes met with the United States representatives to negotiate a treaty at Fort Laramie, which the U.S promptly began violating. The treaty set up what was called “The Great Sioux Reservation,” which, at that time, included most of North and South Dakota and part of eastern Montana. Other Lakota tribes living farther east, who were collectively called the “Dakota,” had already signed treaties on their own with the U.S. several years before.

In that treaty the U.S. agreed to respect the territorial soverginty of the western Sioux Nations. But when the government needed to put the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Sioux Reservation... the government needed to take back a big hunk of the reservation.

A plot was worked out that involved General Philip Sheridan and Colonel George Custer, and several other leading officials in the Territory to fake a gold discovery in the Black Hills, which were the most sacred lands on earth to the Lakota, the sacred Paha Sapa, the center of the world.

A supposedly innocent survey party arranged the gold discovery using a few lumps of quartz, a hand-full of placer gold dust from Montana, and a shot gun, and when they returned to civilization with the evidence they deliberately let everyone know about it in the newspapers, thus starting a massive gold rush.

The Lakota, of course, defended their lands against the invading gold hunters, and the U.S. Army, of course, was called in to protect the gold seakers, not the Indians.

This started the war that culminated in the Little Bighorn massacre, and the flight of about half of the Sioux peoples into Canada that winter. The United States then terminated the Great Sioux Reservation and replaced it with a double hand-full of very small reservations scattered across the territory on some of the worst land the government could find.

Russian President Putin To Lead International Support For Lakota Sovereignty?

And here's one of the strangest parts of this remarkable story, at least from my end. I've had twelve e-mails today from regular Russian readers of this blog who claim that there is a strong rumour (that is, an official government 'leak') doing the rounds over there that Vladimir Putin is planning to give his official support to the Indian nation, and in 2008 will announce support for future trade deals with the Lakota nation.

Why would Putin do this?

According to e-mailers, because he is furious at the the US support for Kosovo's declaration of independence. There's some background here on why this angers Putin so, but basically boils down to Putin viewing the United States' involvement in Kosovo's drive for independence as being a way of causing chaos and weakening stability along Russia's borders in Eastern Europe.

Supporting the Lakota's push for independence, and rounding up support in the UN Security Council, could be Putin's way of striking back at BushCo. for its Kosovo dealings.

Now, I have no idea if any of this Russia Will Back Lakatos thing is true, but it will certainly shake things up on an international scale in 2008 if Putin does indeed do these things.

But how would this move for independence by the Lakota play out in terms of United States' sovereignty? That is already being threatened by the creeping introduction of the so-called North American Union.

But the Lakota are not alone. There are also movements within the states of California and Vermont to officially breakaway from the rest of the United States.

If the Lakota are able to keep up momentum, and force the international media to take notice, and if they won the support of Russia, as odd as that may now sound, they may find the United Nations willing to back them in their drive for independence. Though you would expect such a reality to take many years, if not many decades, to come to fruition.

There is at least one major point in their favour. The paperwork of the original treaties still exist, and can be challenged in federal and international courts.

A New Country Is Being Born - Lakota Nation Declares Independence From The United States

Lakota Have Refused To Take US Government Payment For Their Sacred Lands Since The 1870s

I've Met Osama 20 Times And He's Lovely"

Before 9/11, it was not illegal to hold views like these :

There is one thing I wish to explain about jihad the non-believers, Jews and Americans in the western world are determined to prevent it to come back again. Jihad is still valid today and will be for all time. The West is full of poison. The western society is controlled by the Jews with music, TV, houses, cars, free sex takes Muslims away from the true Islam keeps Islam week and in the third world.

The West lives in the dark in a narrow sort of living.

As a Muslim young and fit my responsibility is to protect my brothers from aggressive non-believers and not let them destroy it.

The Western World has mastered the art of propaganda.... global ignorance stresses me at times.

The Muslim world is ready for war but...it is not the answer.

I have told you about the non-Muslims they send a lot of spies here especially to Osama Bin Ladens Arab organisation which is where I am.

I have met Osama bin Laden about 20 times he is a lovely brother....the only reason the West call him the most wanted terrorist is because he got the money to take action.

After 9/11, such talk helps to get you tagged by the President of the United States as "the worst of the worst" and by Australian government ministers as a "murderer", and helps land you five years in Guantanamo Bay.

The above quotes are excerpts from letters written by convicted Australian 'terrorist supporter' David Hicks, who was released from Guantanamo Bay in April, after five years of being held without charge.

A special deal was cut between the then Australian prime minister John Howard and US Vice President Dick Cheney to get Hicks out of Gitmo. Howard needed Hicks released from Gitmo because he was, in early 2007, becoming an enormous election liability.

Many Australians had a problem with one of their own citizens being held by the US, without charge, for five years, and subjected to extended isolation and psychological and physical torture. Howard knew what was happening to Hicks, and admitted he could Hicks released any time he wanted. As he eventually proved.

On New Years Eve, David Hicks will be released from the Australian prison where he served a further nine months, after being convicted of supporting terrorism. He has been banned from talking to the media, and federal police are now pushing for Hicks to be placed under a curfew and monitored around the clock.

Go Here For More Background On The David Hicks Saga And Further Excerpts From His Pre-9/11 Letters

'Digital Death' Leaves Only The Empty Shell Of The Partner Behind

The following story is a few months old, but it becomes only more relevant with each passing month. It discusses a growing rise in relationship breakdowns fueled by video game addiction. But unfortunately it doesn't have anything of value to say about the millions of couples around the world today who sit down together most nights and explore virtual worlds together, instead of plonking down silently in front of the television. These are couples who have two versions of their partner - the online warrior avatar, for example, and the real world person.

The Video Game Widow. Addiction to video games will likely feature prominently in divorce cases in the years to come, but is a husband locking himself away from the wife and escaping into a virtual fantasy world all that different from disappearing down the pub for a few hours every night, as was the way with many husbands in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s?

In both scenarios, the relationship is in trouble, and one partner wants to get away from the other. The video game provides an easy, tempting and exciting excuse.

Some excerpts :

Though their spouses and partners haven't gone to the great beyond, these particular widows and widowers say their loved ones have gone someplace that's almost as distant and unreachable. Some have left this world for the "World of Warcraft," others have forsaken this life for "Second Life" and still others have been taken away by "EverQuest," "Final Fantasy XI" and "Dark Age of Camelot."

As the ranks of those playing video games in general — and massively multiplayer online games in particular — continue to grow, so grow the ranks of those who refer to themselves as "game widows."

They are the husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends of gamers whose playing habits have consumed their lives. The bereaved say their mates have suffered a kind of digital death that has left only the shell of the person they loved behind. And like a real death, it has left the people who remain heartbroken, scared and angry.

"I felt like I wasn't even married anymore," says Sherry Myrow, 29, of Toronto. Her husband had become obsessed with playing "WoW," a hugely popular online role-playing game that now boasts some nine million subscribers world-wide. "He wasn't eating or sleeping. He wasn't cooking — and he loves cooking. He became this person who wasn't interested in life if it didn't have to do with 'World of Warcraft'."

Jennifer Newberry sounds both discouraged and exhausted when she talks about her husband's addiction to "WoW," a game he has, at times, played up to 18 hours a day.

"Before he got into this game he had lots of other interests," she says. "He was into music and cars, he was active, outdoorsy, he used to hang out with friends. Now he's agoraphobic and won't go out of the basement."

"It wasn't like being in a relationship," Shelly Quintana says of life with her husband at the height of his gaming addiction, "it was like living with a zombie."

Certainly video game addiction has been a much-discussed topic in recent months. This summer, a Reno couple was arrested after they let their two children nearly starve to death while they played a role-playing video game. And in June, the American Medical Association considered a proposal to declare video game addiction a formal psychiatric disorder.

...it's the overwhelming number of relatively ordinary tales of loneliness and despair in the wake of a mate's compulsive gaming that make this phenomenon truly heartbreaking.

He's sitting 2 computers away from me, playing WoW. 11 years together, 2 kids and now a $1,000 bill for marriage therapy that's not really working. I'm done, have been for awhile. It's not just WoW, before WoW it was Final Fantasy, and before that SOCOM….I've been the invisible woman in my home for over 3 years...and honestly I'm done. I deserve a man who wants to spend time with me not his stupid games.

Quintana knows the feeling. She recalls being halfway around the world, visiting family in New Zealand, when she called the husband she hadn't seen for weeks. But he wasn't exactly happy to hear from her.

"He said, 'I'll have to call you back I'm in the middle of a raid,' " she says, referring to the group events that take place within 'WoW.' "It was horribly painful."

"With these MMORPGs, they will swallow almost anybody...They're so user-friendly and so appealing to even a non-gamer that pretty much anyone can get sucked into them."

Dr. Hilarie Cash, a Redmond-based therapist and one of the few who specializes in Internet and computer addiction, believes that, in the future, gaming addiction will be declared an official mental disorder. She also believes that 12-step programs to help gameaholics kick their habits will be commonplace. Until then, she says widows have a particularly difficult battle.

The widows say that, even more frustrating, are the people who tell them that they should simply leave their gamers and move on. While it seems many a divorce has come from homes divided by gaming, many of the widows say it's not that simple.

"They say 'why don't you get a divorce' and 'why did you even marry a gamer?'" says Quintana. "But I didn't marry a gamer, I married a man. I married somebody I loved."

Read The Whole Story Here

Merry Tripping Christmas

In this clip from the evergreen children's TV special, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, Mrs Claus takes us on a little trip. It's like something off the screens of a Pink Floyd concert in 1967.



Who said fat, bearded old loners can't pull the babes?

2020 : Our Science Fiction Future

In ARS Technica, the results of a study where 700 technology experts were "asked to evaluate an assortment of scenarios in an attempt to determine potential trends for 2020" reveals that even those at the cutting edge of technology really don't know much about how our everyday lives will unfold in 13 years time. If anything, the majority of the technology experts

But then, if we go back 13 years to 1993, what did we really know of the technology and events that would shape our world today?

Text messaging didn't exist, even in mainstream science fiction. Mobile phones were still bricks. Video cameras were getting smaller, but few predicted the rise of YouTube and phones that had an entire television studio inside a fist-sized tool. Social networking sites existed in 1993, but not with video, music and brain-frying page designs.

Of course, flying cars and mainstream commercial jet packs were discussed in the early 1990s as very likely in our 2007 world to deal with city traffic congestion. Still no sign of either.

Robot armies were predicted, however, and they are becoming real right now, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Robots have made their first human kills in Middle East war zones recently, not that anyone really noticed.

And even though there were plenty of think tank predictions about a larger war breaking out in the Middle East, next to nobody predicted that Iran would form an alliance with China and Russia, that the United States military would get its arsed kicked by an insurgency in Iraq and that Israel would get hammered in a humiliating war against Hezbollah.

It is, however, interesting to note that the report airs the views and opinions of a few hundred internet researchers, techies from Google and IBM and reps from the World Wide Web Consortium, who were all online before 1993. If anybody knows what's coming, you would expect it to be people like this.

So let's take a look at where they think we'll be in 13 years time :

Expressing belief that some who reject technology will perpetrate terrorist attacks against technological infrastructure, almost 60 percent of respondents agreed with the following scenario:

"By 2020, the people left behind (many by their own choice) by accelerating information and communications technologies will form a new cultural group of technology refuseniks who self-segregate from "modern" society. Some will live mostly "off the grid" simply to seek peace and a cure for information overload while others will commit acts of terror or violence in protest against technology."

Respondent Thomas Narten, a member of IBM's Internet Engineering Task Force, believes that "by becoming valuable infrastructure, the Internet itself will become a target," and FirstGov developer Martin Kwapinski feels that "random acts of senseless violence and destruction will continue and expand due to a feeling of 21st century anomie, and an increasing sense of of lack of individual control."

Over half of the poll respondents believe that immersive fantasy worlds will completely absorb users, leading to virtual reality addiction. Fifty-two experts agreed with the following scenario:

"By the year 2020, virtual reality on the internet will come to allow more productivity from most people in technologically-savvy communities than working in the "real world." But the attractive nature of virtual- reality worlds will also lead to serious addiction problems for many, as we lose people to alternate realities."

Although some self-described MMORPG "addicts" might be inclined to argue that this particular prediction has already come to pass, compulsive gaming has yet to become a widespread phenomenon with clear societal implications. Technology consultant Robert Eller responded, "we may see a vast blurring of virtual/real reality with many participants living an in-effect secluded lifestyle. Only in the online world will they participate in any form of human interaction."

Just under half of the respondents worry about artificial intelligence run amok, leading to the potential subjugation of humanity. 42 experts agreed with the following scenario:

"By 2020, intelligent agents and distributed control will cut direct human input so completely out of some key activities such as surveillance, security and tracking systems that technology beyond our control will generate dangers and dependencies that will not be recognized until it is impossible to reverse them. We will be on a "J-curve" of continued acceleration of change."

52 percent of respondents agree that the "free flow of information will completely blur current national boundaries as they are replaced by city-states, corporation-based cultural groupings and/or other geographically diverse and reconfigured human organizations tied together by global networks."

46 percent of respondents believe that "transparency builds a better world, even at the expense of privacy," and 42 percent agree that "worldwide network interoperability will be perfected" by 2020, making mobile communication "available to anyone anywhere on the globe at an extremely low cost."

52 percent agree with the assertion that "The Internet opens worldwide access to success," and 42 percent believe that "English will displace other languages" by 2020.

Not one single word about where the monkey we are now teaching to count, successfully, will be in 13 years time. Parliament?

The Chemtrails Conspiracy Is Real?

Germany Military Accused Of Using Chemtrails To Distort Radar, Alter Weather Conditions

Fighting Global Warming By Blocking The Sun

Chemtrails is a decade old and heavily documented conspiracy : military and/or private airplanes are being used to spray chemicals into the atmosphere. Unlike the contrails left by jets, chemtrails do not disperse quickly, and sometimes thicken to fill the sky with clouds. Chemtrails, according to the most commonly discussed views of the believers in the conspiracy, are being sprayed to alter the weather, to fight global warming, to test biological weapons or to simply poison people.

A news report aired in Germany appears to confirm that chemical trails are being sprayed out the back of military aircraft, for the purposes of testing anti-radar technology, or altering the weather. And the Germany military is being accused of altering weather radar charts to cover up their handiwork.





Remarkably, young American school children know more about the reality of chemtrails than most adults to. Why? Because they're using text books that teach them that laying chemtrails across the sky may be a way of stopping global warming, by blocking sun light :

The chemtrails section is found in the Centre Point Learning Science I Essential Interactions science book.

Under "Solutions for Global Warming", section 5.19 features a photo of a big multi-engine jet sporting a familiar orange/red paint scheme.

The caption reads: "Figure 1- Jet engines running on richer fuel would add particles to the atmosphere to create a sunscreen".

The logo on the plane says: "Particle Air".

Here's a remarkably balanced report from an American news channel on the 'reality' of chemtrails in California :






There are literally. thousands of photos of chemtrails on Google Images. Some are vastly more impressive than others.

What's All This Crap?

Baby Jesus gets into the modern Christmas spirit of getting, then demanding better :



It's pretty well the perfect ad. Short, sharp, funny, and controversial.

The Big Con : Bill Clinton Wants To Tour The World With Pappa Bush To Undo Damage Of George W. Bush's Presidency

Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton : Two Families, Three Decades In The White House, The Very Best Of Friends



Hillary Clinton likes to give the impression that she stands utterly opposed to President George W. Bush, and that she believes he has ruined the United States during his seven years in power.

But it's all a lie. The Clintons and the Bushes are really the best of friends, as we pointed out on this blog almost two years ago.

Such good friends in fact, that Bill Clinton has announced that his wife's "number one priority" on taking control of the White House would be to send him and former President George H.W. Bush on a world tour to declare the United States is "open for business and cooperation":

Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that the first thing his wife Hillary will do when she reaches the White House is dispatch him and his predecessor, President George H.W. Bush, on an around-the-world mission to repair the damage done to America's reputation by the current president - Bush's son, George W. Bush.

"Well, the first thing she intends to do, because you can do this without passing a bill, the first thing she intends to do is to send me and former President Bush and a number of other people around the world to tell them that America is open for business and cooperation again," Clinton said in response to a question from a supporter about what his wife's "number one priority" would be as president.

Her "number one priority", eh? Sure, nothing more important than bilking the US taxpayers for a victory lap of the world by the Bush-Clinton 'family' regime.

And this announcement is supposed to help Hillary Clinton get elected?

Are these people insane?


story continues after...
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They're supposed to be enemies. But they're really good friends

More than 40% of Americans have never known the White House without a Clinton or Bush in the West Wing. Fatigue and nervousness amongst young American voters of what the president himself called "Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton" is now one of the biggest hurdles Hillary Clinton has to overcome, but more likely than not the families will find a way to install her in the West Wing at the end of next year.

So Bill and Hillary Clinton are now claiming that President George W. Bush has screwed up the country so badly that he, Pappa Bush and a host of other dignitaries will have to tour the world to announce that the bad times are over?

How fascinating it is to see that not so long ago, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were sharing quality phone time on how to run the White House.

From YNR, January 2006 :

Mr Bush said he checked in with Mr Clinton occasionally.

"And you know, he says things that make it obvious … that we're kind of, you know, on the same wavelength about the job of the presidency," he said.

And what "wavelength" is that? President Bush didn't explain.

And now, less than two years later, Bill Clinton is announcing that if his wife wins the White House, he will be sent on a diplomatic mission to try and undo the damage done by his "brother" George W.?

Please. How stupid do these people think we are?

More on the very close relationships in the Bush-Clinton Presidential Family :

US President George W. Bush thinks it's funny that Senator Hilary Clinton could be the next President of the United States.

Despite the fact that both her and her husband Bill Clinton have savaged the Bush 2 Administration, and mocked the President for being dumb and careless and out of touch, there are no hard feelings from the Bush Family.

Bill Clinton spends an awful amount of time doing charity gigs with his former rival and fellow ex-President George Herbert Walker Bush. They've become great friends and current President Bush thinks of Bill as a member of the family now.

"That's a good relationship," Bush said of his dad's flourishing mateship with "my new brother".

President Bush thought it was "fun" to watch his father and Clinton together at the funeral of Pope John Paul.

When asked about who might be the next President of the United States, Bush mused about how future historians might look back and view the decades when only a few key members of two old American families held the most powerful office in the world as "Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton", he said.

Who needs elections?

The Bush-Clinton Family Album : W. On Bill "He's My Brother"


Guess who they're laughing at? YOU

UPDATE : To the surprise of absolutely no-one, except perhaps Bill Clinton, Pappa Bush has now nixed the idea of hitting the road with Clinton to badmouth his presidential son's legacy.

The Big Hungry

Global Food Shortages Coming Soon To An Empty Grocery Store Shelf Near You

During the Great Depression in the 1930s, many were out of work, many had no money and few luxury items, but in Western nations at least, relatively few starved to death.

Even in the backyards of inner city suburbs, people kept chickens, grew vegetables and maintained fruit trees. Just outside of most major cities were large farming communities, where, if you were particularly cash poor, you sometimes had the option of trading antique furniture or jewelry for enough meat and vegetables to last your family for a few more weeks.

As the world slips quickly to the edge of a new, and perhaps even greater Depression, mass starvation in the West is no longer the science-fictional idea it once was. Urban farms are mostly gone now, inner city suburbs boast few food gardens, and fruit tress in suburban backyards have been replaced by decorative plants that produce nothing to eat.

We are now told that we have, for many years, been enjoying food prices way below what we should have been paying. Fruit, vegetables, meat, have all been so cheap off the grocery store shelves that growing your own food supply has been all to easy to dismiss as a complete waste of time.

That late 20th century comfort of never running short of food, and not having to be particularly rich in order to eat like a king appears to be heading for oblivion.

We are now entering an age of global food shortages and rapidly increasing food prices :

In an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift, the world food supply is dwindling rapidly and food prices are soaring to historic levels, the top food and agriculture official of the United Nations warned Monday.

Wheat prices have risen by $130 per ton, or 52 percent, since a year ago...

The changes created "a very serious risk that fewer people will be able to get food," particularly in the developing world, said Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The agency's food price index rose by more than 40 percent this year, compared with 9 percent the year before - a rate that was already unacceptable, he said.At the same time, reserves of cereals are severely depleted....

World wheat stores declined 11 percent this year, to the lowest level since 1980. That corresponds to 12 weeks of the world's total consumption - much less than the average of 18 weeks consumption in storage during the period 2000-2005. There are only 8 weeks of corn left, down from 11 weeks in the earlier period. Prices of wheat and oilseeds are at record highs, Diouf said.

On the supply side, these include the early effects of global warming, which has decreased crop yields in some crucial places, and a shift away from farming for human consumption toward crops for biofuels and cattle feed.

Demand for grain is increasing with the world population, and more is diverted to feed cattle as the population of upwardly mobile meat-eaters grows.

"You can debate why this is all happening, but what's most important to us is that it's a long-term trend, reversing decades of decreasing food prices...

Climate specialists say that the vulnerability will only increase as further effects of climate change are felt. "If there's a significant change in climate in one of our high production areas, if there is a disease that effects a major crop, we are in a very risky situation," said Mark Howden of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra.

Already "unusual weather events," linked to climate change - such as droughts, floods and storms - have decreased production in important exporting countries like Australia and Ukraine...

"In the U.S., Australia, and Europe, there's a very substantial capacity to adapt to the effects on food - with money, technology, research and development," Howden said.

"In the developing world, there isn't."The recent scientific papers concluded that farmers could adjust to 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) to 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees) of warming by switching to more resilient species, changing planting times, or storing water for irrigation, for example.

"Many people assume that we will never have a problem with food production on a global scale, but there is a strong potential for negative surprises."

Part of the current problem is an outgrowth of prosperity. More people in the world now eat meat, diverting grain from humans to livestock. A more complicated issue is the use of crops to make biofuels, which are often heavily subsidized. A major factor in rising corn prices globally is that many farmers in the United States are now selling their corn to make subsidized ethanol.

Expect a heavy marketing campaign from the mainstream media in 2008 pushing vegetarianism to convince the more prosperous that they shouldn't eat so much meat. This campaign is already well underway in the United Kingdom.

Part of this campaign will be the introduction of new terminology like 'guilt steaks' to induce negative feelings about the consumption of meat. Meat eaters in the West will be told that their hunger for animal flesh is causing starvation across the Third World.

The spread of bird flu will continue to turn consumers off poultry as a regular part of their weekly diet.

More here on why wheat harvest across the world are plunging.

US Food Inflation Now At A 25 Year High

Advertising Age has a list of its favourite magazine covers for 2007. Here's three of the best covers they chose. Go to AdAge for the background story on each cover, and the rest of the list :

US Army 'Mutiny' In Iraq : The Human Carnage Behind The Controversy


The Iraq War The Media Will Not Show You. Just another couple of "sacrifices"

Kelly Kennedy Of The US Army Times files an exceptional piece of reportage on the story behind the 'mutiny' of a platoon in Iraq. The full story must be read, but here's a couple of excerpts :

(Spc. Jerry) DeNardi’s platoon had already faced misery that seemed unbearable. When five soldiers with 2nd Platoon were trapped June 21 after a deep-buried roadside bomb flipped their Bradley upside-down, several men rushed to save the gunner, Spc. Daniel Agami, pinned beneath the 30-ton vehicle. But they could only watch — and listen to him scream — as he burned alive. The Bradley was far too heavy to lift, and the flames were too high to even get close. The four others died inside the vehicle. Second Platoon already had lost four of its 45 men since deploying to Adhamiya 11 months before. June 21 shattered them.

Though their commanders moved them from the combat outpost to safer quarters, members of 2nd Platoon would stage a revolt they viewed as a life-or-death act of defiance. With all they had done and all they had seen, they now were consumed with an anger that ate at the memory of the good men they were when they arrived in Iraq.

Although we rarely hear about such events in the media, many American troops are not safe in their bases, and must contend with daily rocket, mortar and gunfire attacks. Even such an ordinarily everyday thing as going to a Burger King for a meal can turn into an epic, haunting nightmare :

Spc. Gerry DeNardi stood at the on-base Burger King, just a few miles from downtown Baghdad, hoping for a quick taste of home.

Camp Taji encompasses miles of scrapped Iraqi tanks, a busy U.S. airstrip and thousands of soldiers living in row upon row of identical trailers. Several fast-food stands, a PX and a dining facility the size of a football field compose Taji’s social hub.

The mortar round hit before he could pick up his order.

“I turned around and all of Burger King and me went flying,” DeNardi said.

He’d lived through daily explosions in 11 months with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, at nearby Combat Outpost Apache, a no-frills fortress smack in the middle of Adhamiya’s hostile streets. He had rushed through flames to try to save friends and carried others to the aide station only to watch them die.

“I’m not getting killed at Burger King,” he thought, and he dived for a concrete bunker. People were screaming. DeNardi saw a worker from Cinnabon hobbling around, so he climbed out of the bunker, pulled shrapnel out of the man’s leg and bandaged him.

“Lightning doesn’t strike twice,” DeNardi said, “so I went back. But there were body parts everywhere.” The first man’s leg had been blown off, his other leg was barely attached and he had a chest wound. “He was going to die,” DeNardi said.

The other wounded man had shrapnel to his neck. DeNardi peeled off his own shirt and fashioned a bandage out of it as other soldiers started streaming in to help.

Then, “all clear” sounded over the loudspeakers as medics arrived and took over.

“I’m covered in blood, but I still have my hamburger receipt,” DeNardi said. “I went back to Burger King the next day, but they wouldn’t give me my burger.”

But it is the tales of the patrols along IED-infested back streets that explain the events that led to the 'mutiny.'

Imagine being sent out on a patrol along a road where you know there is a massive buried bomb waiting for you, and you've already seen numerous friends die in roadside bombings.

The revelation is not that a platoon refused to follow a direct order, it is that when faced by such obviously suicidal missions, for minimum strategic gain, that such 'mutinies' do not happen more often.

The survivors of this platoon, at least, learned a truth that was easy to reconcile. Being alive, staying alive, is better than any promotion they lost as a result of their 'mutiny'.

And the greatest prize of all is getting to go back home alive. It is the most vital mission as the Iraq War stumbles towards its conclusion.

When the soldiers refuse to give their lives, and the lives of their friends, for the war, the war ends.

Toilet Worms "Happy"

There is an expert for everything. Even to determine how "happy" worms are :

A New Zealand inventor has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure.

Coll Bell was told to get an expert's report on the mental impact on the tiger worms being used after an official became concerned during a site visit.

He says the official felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way.

Mr Bell was told he had to get someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms were happy.

A vermiculture consultant was called in and she has found the worms are in excellent health and breeding happily.

I'm sure Coll Bell must have felt like someone had dosed his morning coffee with hallucinogens when he was told that he might be in trouble because he was treating his worms unfairly.

Somebody call the police, I threw a couple of worms from my compost to a bird this morning, because it was smart enough to come down and hang around when it saw me digging. I will go quietly. I'm too crippled with guilt now at my cold inwormity to put up a fight.

Those Stupid Humans, They're Just Asking For It

If you've never seen Tim Burton's movie Mars Attacks, you should give a whirl. It's one of the more bizarre big budget movies you'll ever see, it's got Jack Nicholson as President Of The United States, plus a brutal alien invasion. What more could you want?

Mars Attacks pops into the mind while reading this story, because dissenting scientists are basically fearing the exact same scenario that you'll find in Mars Attacks : We beam invitations into outer space and alert advanced extraterrestrials to our presence, and they come for a visit and kick our arses :

...for a small group of scientists who are harnessing increasingly powerful technologies in a trans-galactic search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, the prospect of catastrophe has stirred an angry debate.

Two senior scientists have resigned from an elite international study group in protest over a lack of public discussion about the possible consequences of attracting the attention of aliens by sending signals deep into space. "We're talking about initiating communication with other civilisations, but we know nothing of their goals, capabilities or intent," warned John Billingham, a former NASA scientist who has quit an extraterrestrial study group set up by the International Academy of Astronautics.

The scientists involved are all acutely aware of the dangers of ridicule in their discussions of ET and his more sinister cousins. Yet recent advances in radio telescope technologies, and a substantial flow of private funding into ET-related projects, has transformed the "search for extraterrestrial intelligence".

...critics argue that listening for signals and actively seeking out alien life are very different pursuits. At the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Alexander Zaitsev, chief scientist at the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, has been using a 70m-wide radio telescope in the Crimea to beam signals to nearby star systems - a practice known as "active Seti".

It is the steady shift from listening to transmitting that has divided the Seti community and raised awkward questions that no one has yet been able to answer. Who will speak for Earth if an alien civilisation replies? And are we really in danger of inviting Armageddon? Bernard Lovell, the British founder of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, once remarked that it was a "dangerous assumption" that any alien life would turn out to be friendly.

Obviously it hasn't occurred to any of these people that while there may well indeed be advanced alien civilisations out there in the universe, they may have already checked us out and decided, "You know, let's not tell them about us just yet. They might want to come and visit."

If you tuned into alien TV broadcasts and saw the extraterrestrial version of the Iraq War, terrorism, starving populations, brawling politicians and road rage, would you be all that keen to want to let them know you're down here? And would you take them up on their invitations to come and say hello?

George Carlin's Uncomfortable Truths

"They don't give a fuck about you. The real owners of this country don't care about you. They don't care about you at all. At all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. And that's what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick being jammed up their arseholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth. It's called The American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."

Gullible's Travels



Incredible. Three years on, and the National Geographic Society has to deny, once again, in what has become a yearly event, that it uncovered the skeleton of a giant.

The above photo is obviously a piece of photoshopping, note the spade in the man's hand that has no blade, but the NGS is still trying to deal with the controversy kicked off by a report in an Indian magazine :

Recent exploration activity in the northern region of India uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size," the report read.

The story went on to say the discovery was made by a "National Geographic Team (India Division) with support from the Indian Army since the area comes under jurisdiction of the Army."

The account added that the team also found tablets with inscriptions that suggest the giant belonged to a race of superhumans that are mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic poem from about 200 B.C.

"They were very tall, big and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it," the report said, repeating claims that initially appeared in 2004.

Voice editor P. Deivamuthu admitted to National Geographic News that his publication was taken in by the fake reports.

The monthly, which is based in Mumbai (Bombay), published a retraction after readers alerted Deivamuthu to the hoax, he said.

"We are against spreading lies and canards," Deivamuthu added. "Moreover, our readers are a highly intellectual class and will not brook any nonsense."

More Uncovered 'Giant' Skeletons Here

Merry Christmas, Palestine



The reality of life in the Holy Land is a long way from the Christmas cards :

BETHLEHEM — At first glance, Tawfiq Salsaa's wooden nativity scene seems like the perfect gift from Bethlehem, Christ's birthplace. But a closer look shows a wall separating baby Jesus and Virgin Marry from the three wise men.

"I was inspired by our own wall," the Palestinian carpenter, 65, told Reuters on Thursday, December 13.

"I wanted to give the world an idea of how we live in the Holy Land," added Salsaa as he sat in his small workshop surrounded by wooden carvings.

With his carvings, Salsaa aims to chip away at a sentimental image of Bethlehem portrayed in Christmas cards and carols worldwide to show the hardships faced by Palestinians in the town.

Modern Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus 2,000 years ago, is encircled by Israeli checkpoints, walls and fences built on Arab land.

The barrier, a mix of electronic fences and concrete walls, will eventually snake some 900 kilometers along the occupied West Bank and leave even larger swathes of its territory on the Israeli side.

The Israeli wall separates Bethlehem, a mixed Muslim and Christian town and one of the largest in the Palestinian territories, from the nearby holy city of Al-Quds.

Visitors must clear Israeli military security before passing through the wall.

The Israeli measures, in place since 2000, have led to a catastrophic decline in the number of Christian pilgrimages to the town, on which its economy depends.

The number of visiting tourists at Christmas time nosedived from 90,000 a decade ago to less than 3,000 last year.

The truth cuts deep for some Israelis.

The New Terrorism : Killing Speed Cameras

By Darryl Mason

What was once an act of vandalism is now an act of terrorism, requiring the deployment of anti-terrorist police, and the use of anti-terror police powers to pursue the prosecution of those responsible.

A vandal who once destroyed public property, or revenue-raising machinery of the government, only six or seven years ago would have been fined, perhaps given a good behaviour bond, or parole, if the vandal was a repeat offender.

But in the Age Of Terror, the person(s) responsible for the destruction of speed cameras in France are now being pursued by anti-terror police, and may find themselves being held without change, for extended periods of interrogation. When, or if, they wind up in court, they are likely to find themselves being prosecuted under the same laws as those used against real terrorists.

So how did vandalism become comparable to acts of violence aimed at killing innocent people?

First the news story in question :

French anti-terrorist police are hunting a “guerrilla” organisation that is blowing up speed cameras and demanding a ransom from the State.

Police are taking seriously claims from the Nationalist Revolutionary Army Faction (FNAR) that it is responsible for the destruction of six radar installations on roads in the Paris region over the past six months.

Dozens of France’s 1,100 roadside speed cameras have been destroyed or vandalised since they were introduced in 2003 – later than in most neighbouring countries. The devices have contributed to a sharp drop in road deaths, but many drivers still consider their presence “unFrench” and a breach of their civil rights.

Many believe they were created to fill the state coffers with tens of millions of euros in fines a year. Many motorists rejoiced last month when officials reported that speed readings could be exaggerated if the cameras in the steel-encased units were slightly misaligned with the road. The Government said that the report was wrong.

Do speed cameras save lives? Probably, though the debate still rages.

The "reported" claims that there is an organised group blowing up these cameras, and demanding ransoms to stop doing so, sounds like pure garbage. Most speed camera vandalism in the UK, and across Europe, is carried out by someone with a truck and a heavy chain, or a damn good hacksaw.

President Sarkozy explains what the tagging of speed camera vandals as 'terrorists' worthy of investigation by anti-terror police is really all about.

Attacks on them are not amusing and are an afront to the authority of the state, he said.

Does this then mean that, in France, for now, acting in a manner that the president determines to be an "afront to the authority of the state" is equal to acts of terrorism?

Clearly it does, if the French president is to be believed.

Anti-terror police, or anti-terror police resources, are now being put to more use pursuing anti-war protesters, animal rights activists and vandals, along with British poets, than going after what we were led to believe were the real terrorists - Islamic extremists planning violent attacks against innocent people.

But the anti-terror laws in France, in the UK, in the US, in Canada, China, Russia and Australia are all worded loosely enough to allow authorities to go after anyone deemed to be a threat to the state, or to the smooth daily operations of corporations, along with those who seek to incite acts of violence, and even violent thought.

So far, police and anti-terror officials in the UK, the US, Canada, France and Australia have not rounded up thousands of non-violent dissenters. Yet. But both Russia and China use anti-terror laws very similar to those in place in the West to arrest and jail anti-government activists.

All Russia and China have to do is brand the anti-government protesters as "terrorists" and "threats to the authority of the state", like those French anti-speed camera 'guerrillas', and western governments are forced to acquiesce in their protests.

Many Americans and Brits are now growing increasingly fearful that dissent against the government is making them targets of anti-terrorist police and investigators, and there is plenty of proof already to say that they are right to think so.

But shoving animal rights protesters, pro-peace activists and speed camera vandals into the same legal category as those who kill innocent people for political or ideological reasons is clearly the mark of a government moving towards totalitarianism. And it is a disgusting insult to the many thousands of families in Western nations who have lost friends, neighbours and relatives to the brutality of real terrorists.

Fox News Idiot-In-Chief Admits Iraq War Was "Wrong" And "All About The Oil"

This video is from late 2006, but it's still worth viewing, just to see how little has changed in the pro-and-against arguments regarding the Iraq War.

Watch Fox News' grand idiot, Bill O'Reilly, admit that he believes the Iraq War was "wrong", that it was all about "the oil" and, despite his usual demands of "Yes Or No" answers, that the entire Iraq fiasco is very complicated. It's only "very complicated" when O'Reilly is put on the spot trying to answer a question for which there is obviously no simple answer. Usually O'Reilly berates guests on his own show when they refuse to answer "Yes" or "No" to the very same questions Letterman throws at O'Reilly in this video.

O'Reilly also tries to make out that the whole debate between him and David Letterman is "entertainment" or simply fake, but it is clear that Letterman is very serious, which obviously unnerves O'Reilly.




O'Reilly, it should be remembered was the man who demanded Americans "Shut Up" about their criticisms of the Iraq War back in 2003. Now he rattles off the key criticisms that most sane people believed were important and relevant to raise and question and debate before the Iraq War actually began.

And why do people like O'Reilly always say goodbye with that Hitler-style salute?

Bill O'Reilly got creamed by Letterman during the interview, so O'Reilly had to hype himself up to his own viewers. He hilariously claims he "went behind enemy lines" to go on Letterman, but that he owed it to his viewers to do so. O'Reilly went on Letterman to promote his book and to give himself the opportunity to show how 'persecuted' he is by all those Evil Lefties.




Bill O'Reilly Declares US Defeated In Iraq : "You Can't Win"

Bill O'Reilly's Bizarre Sex Scandal - Threesomes, Vibrators And Falafel

O'Reilly's Iraq Meltdown : "You're Dead. I Shoot You Right Between The Eyes."

Why Your Cat Wants To Eat You

Cat Parasite May Have Infected The Brains Of 3 Billion People

Have Cats Shaped The Cultures Of Humanity For Their Own Purposes?



By Darryl Mason

Did we domesticate cats? Or did they domesticate us? The story goes that domesticated cats helped us to become farmers, because they kept the rodent population down in the fields, and in the grain storehouses. So it would appear that we saw this animal eating rodents and made the connection that having them around the farm, keeping them as pets, would be of benefit to us.

But what if cats somehow encouraged us to take up farming because the availability of spilled grains and seeds would increase the number of rodents that they could eat? Meaning, they would no longer have to embark on long, sometimes fruitless hunts for food in all that cold, dewy grass.

They could just hang around the farm, keep warm inside by the fire when they were particularly cute and purry, raise their families, chase off the competition, mark their territory and wait for the rodents to come to them.

Are we slaves to the cats? Or more importantly, are we, like the rodents, simply future meals for them?

I'd answer that question but the cat in the room here is giving me a dirty look, and it's already taken to standing on my throat in the middle of the night.

And after reading this story, I'm beginning to wonder how long I've got left.

You see, the cat gave me a gift, some time ago. Probably within days of it entering this house, where it now lives because its former owners are no longer able to care for it.

The gift the cat gave to me is a parasite called Taxoplasma gondii, and it's infected my brain.

Cats give the same parasite to mice and rats. It gets into their brains as well. The mice and rats lose their ancient, DNA-ingrained 'flight response' to the smell of cat's piss. In fact, they start to like it. They hang around, even when they know a cat is nearby. Their brains have been altered. They are now easier for the cat to catch, and eat. And when the cat eats these rodents infected by the parasite, the parasite returns home to the gut of the cat, where it needs to return to survive.

More than 60 million Americans are also infected with the parasite, and worldwide the infection rate may be as high as 50% of all humans. More than three billion people.

Here's some more deeply disturbing facts about the feline-derived parasite that can gain control of your brain :

Toxo can infect many species, but it undergoes sexual reproduction only in cat digestive tracts. Once the parasite reproduces, the cat passes it in its feces, where the next unwitting host picks it up by digesting it (intentionally or unintentionally). Then the cycle starts again. In the long run, Toxo must find its way back to a cat’s stomach to survive. So the parasite has evolved a complicated system for taking over its hosts’ brains to increase the likelihood that they’ll be eaten by cats.

..Joanne Webster, professor of parasite epidemiology at Imperial College London, has found that Toxo actually causes rats to become attracted to the smell of cat urine.

Might Toxo explain why some humans develop an unhealthful attraction to cats and apparently become immune to the smell of their urine?

..Joanne Webster says the connection isn’t much of a stretch: “In our evolutionary past, perhaps we were eaten by cats, too,” she says.

Some more info on how cats control rats via the toxoplasma gondii parasite :

That cat urine frightens rats is an elementary fact of rodent life. It doesn't even matter if they've never seen a cat; the forces of evolution have hard-wired it into their brains, leaving less fearful rats in their nemeses' bellies.

What, then, could attract rats to cat pee? None other than toxoplasma gondii, a parasite carried by cats. If a rat is infected by t. gondii, cat urine doesn't seem so bad anymore; it's even kind of attractive. Even more impressively, Stanford University researchers have found that the rats otherwise behave normally, with all their usual fears intact. The response is so specific that cats and t. gondii seem almost like a single organism -- which, in a sense, they are.

When it jumps to rats -- and, for that matter, to humans, in whom it's linked to schizophrenia -- toxoplasma gondii goes right to the brain and concentrates in the amygdala, a region associated with fear.

This story from LiveScience goes even further, suggesting the cat gut parasite "might have helped shape entire human cultures by manipulating the personalities of infected individualities" :

Infection by a Toxoplasma gondii could make some individuals more prone to some forms of neuroticism and could lead to differences among cultures if enough people are infected, says Kevin Lafferty, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In a survey of different countries, Lafferty found that people living in those with higher rates of T. gondii infection scored higher on average for neuroticism, defined as an emotional or mental disorder characterized by high levels of anxiety, insecurity or depression.

Good Christ, I'm well on my way to becoming a Crazy Cat Lady!

You do know that there is no scientific explanation for why cats purr, don't you? You know why they do it? Because we like it. We respond to that sound. They purr, and then we make a fuss and we pet them and feed them. Anyway, back to how cats control our minds...

One recent study showed that the parasite makes normally cautious rats outgoing and more prone to engage in reckless behavior, such as hanging around areas frequently marked by cat urine, making the rats easy targets.

Studies by researchers in the Czech Republic have suggested T. gondii might have subtle but long-term effects on its human hosts. The parasite is thought to have different, and often opposite effects in men versus women, but both genders appear to develop a form of neuroticism called "guilt proneness."

Guilt proneness. Cat owners know what that is. The guilt they feel when, only a few minutes after feeding their cat, one pitiful meow will send them rushing to refill the food bowl. Or to let the cat in and out of the house twenty fucking times in one evening.

Other studies have also found links between the parasite and schizophrenia. T. gondii infection is known to damage astrocytes, support cells in the brain that are also affected during schizophrenia.

In light of such studies, Lafferty wondered whether high rates of T. gondii infection in a culture could shift the average personality of its individuals.

"In populations where this parasite is very common, mass personality modification could result in cultural change," Lafferty said.

The distribution of T. gondii could explain differences in cultural aspects that relate to ego, money, material possessions, work and rules, Lafferty added.

"There could be a lot more to this story," Lafferty said. "Different responses to the parasite by men and women could lead to many additional cultural effects that are, as yet, difficult to analyze."

Other factors could also influence infection rates, including how a culture's attitudes about having cats as pets and the hygiene practices of its people.

Despite its association with neuroticism, Lafferty doesn't think all of the cat parasite's effects on human culture are bad.

"After all, they add to our cultural diversity," he said.

Yes, Mr Lafferty, that's what the cats want you to think. After all, they've already gained control of the brains of half the world's population.

The Pope Vs Al Gore

Pope Rallies Against Monumental Rise Of New Climate Change 'Religion'

Warns People Not To Fall Victim To False Ideology And Scare Mongering

It's good to see the Pope stepping up to the plate and warning how dangerous it is to believe in dubious ideology, to be taken in by scare mongering and to accept things as truth without firm evidence. Err, okay!

The Vatican has rush-released passages from a speech the Pope is not due to give until January 1, where he voices his concerns that the new Climate Change Faith has gone too far.

It is probably no accident that this release of some headline storming Pope quotes comes barely two days after Al Gore accepted his Nobel Prize and became World King For The New Paganism.

Here's the Pope, amusingly, warning people not to get taken in by scare mongering :

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering.

The German-born Pontiff said that while some concerns may be valid it was vital that the international community based its policies on science rather than the dogma of the environmentalist movement.

The 80-year-old Pope said the world needed to care for the environment but not to the point where the welfare of animals and plants was given a greater priority than that of mankind.

"Humanity today is rightly concerned about the ecological balance of tomorrow...

"It is important for assessments in this regard to be carried out prudently, in dialogue with experts and people of wisdom, uninhibited by ideological pressure to draw hasty conclusions, and above all with the aim of reaching agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances.

"If the protection of the environment involves costs, they should be justly distributed, taking due account of the different levels of development of various countries and the need for solidarity with future generations.

"Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken."

Efforts to protect the environment should seek "agreement on a model of sustainable development capable of ensuring the well-being of all while respecting environmental balances", the Pope said.

It's going to be entertaining to watch the Pope Vs Al Gore battle unfold in the next few years.

The Pope has to move now, and fast, to try and stem the rising tide of popularity of the new earth worship. If the oceans begin swallowing up cities, and massive crop failures lead to starvation in Western nations, the Pope does not want people to be blaming global warming. This sort of stuff is supposed to be the work of a wrathful God, not pollution.

For a rapidly rising number of people, believing that the destructive forces of nature can be tamed by the actions of man is a hell of a lot more appealing than seeking humble forgiveness from an invisible entity for a multitude of supposed sins.

What Al Gore preaches, unlike the Pope, is that worship of the earth itself will save humanity, instead of worship of God.

For the leader of a once world-dominating religion losing millions of followers each and every year, the new climate change 'religion' is very dangerous indeed.

Why go to church on a cold Sunday morning to save your soul when you can install solar panels and stay warm in a cosy bed to ward off Armageddon instead?

Messages Of Madness

Psychokillers used to post letters explaining their actions to newspapers, or scrawl their manifestos in their own blood in soggy notebooks. Now they post online, and give vivid warnings of the violence they plan to unleash :

The gunman responsible for shootings at two religious centres in Colorado warned of his plans for the rampage in anti-Christian rants posted on the internet, it was reported overnight.

Matthew Murray, who shot dead four people in separate attacks on a missionary training centre and mega-church on Sunday, published more than a dozen writings online before his shooting spree, KUSA TV reported in Denver.

"You Christians brought this on yourselves," Murray reportedly wrote on a website for people who have left Pentecostal and fundamentalist religious organisations, shortly before the second of his two attacks.

"I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill. ... God, I can't wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don't care if I live or die in the shoot-out.

"All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."

He was armed with two handguns, an assault rifle, around 1000 rounds of ammunition and several smoke grenades as he began his assault on the church, which was packed with around 7000 worshippers.

It was originally reported that the 24 year old gunman was killed by a security guard. A coroner has hastily declared that while Murray was shot a number of times, he took his own life by shooting himself in the head.

On the day of the shootings, he posted his goodbyes to those he had spent the past few months corresponding with :

"You guys were awesome. It's time for me to head out and teach these (expletive) a lesson," he wrote.

"Thanks for listening and all ... even though even many of you ex-Pentecostals don't understand ... (sic) See you all on the other side, we're leaving this nightmare behind to a better place."

Messages like those above will be used by those who want to close down free and anonymous access to the internet. The killers in the Virginia Tech and the recent Finland massacres also posted substantial screeds and warnings on the internet.

Expect the debate that leads to a tightening of access to the internet to include all of these vivid warnings of violence. An argument will be raised, and championed by the mainstream media, that because young people can post anonymously and say whatever they want, and find like-minded youth, such anonymous freedoms encourage them to think they can behave in anti-social ways, particularly when it comes to violence.

It Can Carry Drinks, But Can It Shoot A Gun?



Like most who were raised on science fiction movies, TV and fiction in the 1970s, I've been eagerly awaiting the age of the robot. But now it's here, well, it's fairly disturbing. It shouldn't be, but it is.

Who wouldn't want an Asimo, like the one above, to help around the house, walk the dog, push the lawnmower or drag the bins up to the street?

Still, it's just plain weird the way that little thing gets around, like it's tip-toeing all the time, and it still looks like it's got a little kid trapped inside it.

Maybe we were expecting them to be more jerky, like C3-PO?

So they can serve drinks, and walk around, and run, and climb stairs and answer the door.

But here's the really important question : Can they shoot guns?

Or more importantly, how far along is this tech in the testing phases of fully automated robot soldiers? Presumably, far more advanced than what we've been told so far.

It's great to see the robots here and working. But all those SF movies and novels sure did plant some fertile seeds in the paranoid mind garden.

How long will robots be 'happy' to do our bidding? How intelligent should we let them become? How smart do they have to be before they start thinking 'Humans? We don't need no stinking humans. We can make our own robots.'

We better be nice to them. Just in case.

The Terror Of 11

What is it with the 11th of the month and 'Al Qaeda?'

January 11, 1998 - Sidi Hahmed massacre, Algeria. 120 - 400 killed.

September 11, 2001 - New York, Washington DC, USA, terror attacks. Almost 3000 killed.

April 11, 2002 - Synagogue truck bombing, Tunisia. At least 21 killed.

March 11, 2004 - Train bombings in Madrid, Spain. More than 190 killed.

July 11, 2006 - Train bombings in Mumbai, India. More than 200 killed.

April 11, 2007 - Car bombings in Algiers, Algeria. More than 30 killed.

December 11, 2007 - Car bombings in Algiers, Algeria. More than 60 killed.


Terror attacks happen on many other days of other months, obviously. ETA, in Spain, also detonated quite a few bombs over the decades on the 11th day of different months.

There's probably no pattern at all to be found. But the 11th day of the month seems to be the day when terror attacks, primarily by so-called 'Al Qaeda' terrorists, really grab the world headlines, mostly due to the high fatality rates.

Warning : You Have Exceeded Your Lifetime Allotment Of Carbon Credits

As part of the research for a seven year long writing project now nearing completion, every day I get five to ten Google Alerts for the words "Philip K Dick". PKD is the now thoroughly mainstream and cannonised American writer responsible for the stories that became the movies BladeRunner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, among the many, and by 'inspiration' (read idea theft) The Truman Show, The Island and about a dozen time-traveling and fake reality TV shows. Dick literally invented reality TV as we know it today, but that's another story.

Clearing out the Google Mail archives I came across this op-ed piece from the LA Times, back in June. It's a green guilt-laden rant, with the chilling words "green sinner" in the opening sentence. But here's the PKD-related chunk I wanted to bring to your attention :

If Philip K. Dick, the man who inspired "Blade Runner," were alive, he would be scribbling dystopian environmental novels in which every newborn child is assigned a lifetime carbon debit card — like wartime ration cards. You only get to use so much plastic, or burn so much wood or eat so much imported food...before you use up your carbon points and you're out of the game. Dick's characters wouldn't be stock traders, they'd be carbon traders, blackmailing starving Sudanese villagers online for their carbon points in exchange for rice and water.

So far, green crusading has been sweet persuasion, everyone pointing out — nicely — how you can feel virtuous and conscientious: Please don't buy wood products from rain forest rapists. Be a hero — recycle your plastic and paper. Thank you for not pouring your dreck into the ocean.

Well, nuts to that. A Dickian dystopia is bearing down on us. The government and the greenies are afraid of making you feel guilty. Not me.

A lifetime assignment of carbon credits. How close are we to this? Very close indeed. And much closer, in fact, because this story about charging a 'carbon fee' for new born babies scored international headlines. It's part of the softening up process to make people think 'They're right. I should pay a big fat carbon fine for having children. After all, Al Gore is right, we are the problem.'

As was mentioned here more than a year ago, we are quickly moving into an age where carbon credits will become our international currency. And being assigned a set amount of carbon credits on the day a child is born will surely become part of that new global economy.

This will allow those who can afford to pollute to continue polluting freely, as long as they can find poor people they can convince, or pressure, into selling up their carbon credits and embracing a carbon-free lifestyle. Think of it like camping in a tent, without candles and barbecues, forever.

The sensor in your apartment alerts the carbon police, a private security force employed, and deployed, by the International Carbon Bank. You are expelling or creating too much CO2. Turn off that TV and stop moving or you will be fined. If you refuse to stop emitting carbon, you will be sent for re-education. If you still refuse to live carbon-free after re-education, you will be offered voluntary termination, which will grant your children 10,000 carbon credits. Carbon credits can be exchanged for university-level education and green-life training.

Break Out The Jet Bottles, We Gotta Get Airborne



You'll be seeing more innovative uses of standard military machinery like this when the Arctic Wars become reality in the next decade.

Equipped with skis and "jet assisted take off bottles", the massive C130 Hercules aircraft lifted off the an unprepared snow plain near the Shackleton Glacier, Antarctica, last week.

(From Stuff)


March 2006 : The Future Arctic Wars Come Into Focus

April 2007 : Arctic Wars Heat Up As Canada Makes Move On Disputed Territory

June 2007 : The Coming Arctic Wars - Russia Annexes Huge Territory For Oil And Gas Exploration

11

It's the 11th of the month.

History changing events seem to have a habit of occurring on the eleventh day of a month.

So what will happen today?

Here's some of the historical events of previous December 11ths :

1792 -French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.

1917 - British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire

1931 - The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.

1936 - Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain...

1937 - Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations

1941 - World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.

1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.

1961 - Melvin Calvin Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for process of photosynthesis.

1964 - Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fired a mortar shell at the building during the speech.

1972 - Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon.

1981 - El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.

1994 - First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya

1997 - The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.

2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.

2005 - Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.

2006 - The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Of course, you can say that any day of any month hold varying degrees of significance for historical events. But 11s do seem to be particularly active dates.

We'll update later and see what's gone down.

WW2-Era American BioWeapons Programs Pre-empted AIDS-Like Virus

Consider the following story is about the level of research and tech that existed in the mid-1940s, more than 60 years ago, and then consider the species-altering advances in DNA research and cloning that have advanced so dramatically across the decades since then.

From Time Magazine, June 3, 1946 :

During a routine House debate on naval appropriations last week, Representative Albert Thomas opened his mouth a millimeter too wide. Out popped a shocker. Said Thomas: "We have something far more deadly than the atomic bomb. We have it today—not tomorrow—and furthermore, it's in usable shape." Then Representative Harry Sheppard, chairman of the Naval Appropriations subcommittee, let out more.

Said Sheppard: "This nation is in possession of scientific factors which place it in an enviable position. The scientific factors at hand would result in devastation equal to, if not greater than, the atomic bomb. Remember, there are different kinds of devastation."

Two novel and dreadful weapons have long been discussed, in whispers.

Radiant Death. One of them, radioactive poisons, was mentioned briefly and guardedly in the Smyth Report. Wrote Professor Smyth: ". . . The fission products produced in one day's run of a 100,000 kw. chain-reacting pile might be sufficient to make a large area uninhabitable." The three plutonium piles at Richland, Wash. are enormously more powerful. If Professor Smyth's estimate was right, each pile has been producing, every day for more than a year, enough radioactive poisons to depopulate many "large areas."

Biological Warfare also had impressive scientific scripture behind it. Wrote General H. H. Arnold in the book One World or None: "It is worth while pointing out that biological warfare, consisting of the spreading of disease, could occupy a position similar to atomic warfare."

Living Killers. For three years, U.S. biological warfare research has been carried on at the University of California under Navy auspices. Virtually nothing has been published about it except that the principal disease under study was "hundreds of years old and one of the greatest killers." But the day after Thomas' original break, other Congressmen, popeyed and anonymous, announced that the Navy had a weapon which could wipe out "all forms of life" in a large city. "It is a germ proposition and is sprayed from airplanes that can fly high enough to be reasonably safe from ground fire. It is quick and certain death."*

While germs are usually specialists, attacking only a limited number of species, some form of biological warfare might be only too practicable. Chances are that pestilence-spreaders would not use old, familiar diseases, but would create new ones by modifying standard bacteria or viruses. With modern knowledge of genetics and biochemistry, this should not be impossible. Human beings would have little natural resistance against such synthetic diseases, which might conceivably spread, in a biological chain reaction, through the world's entire population. Perhaps suitable diseases have already been created in several countries, their organisms kept alive in secret, guarded incubators.

The only defense would be mass immunization in advance. A nation planning aggression would protect its own soldiers and citizens before loosing its high-bred germs upon enemies and innocent bystanders. If all went well, its territory would be left an island of health in a world of poisonous corpses.

So far, no nation's agents had publicly reported such a suspicious "health campaign."

The armageddon-like destruction of atom bombs on two Japanese cities, and the firestorms that engulfed numerous German cities and towns, killing hundreds of thousands of people in minutes, did not turn these men's minds away from weapons of mass destruction. These events inspired them to come up with something even more deadly.

The Biblical Google Earth

Some extraordinary examples of digital art from the Sydney and New York-based "creative collective" 'The Glue Factory'. These images were commissioned pieces, and sold recently, after being exhibited in Miami, for nearly $40,000 per set. They were displayed in a dark room on light boxes, so viewers would stand over them and look down on the biblical events depicted. Hence, the title of the exhibition 'God's Eye View'.

Here's the Crucifixion :



Here's Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat :


Here's the parting of the Red Sea. The detail is extraordinary. You can clearly see the rush of people making their move for freedom as the waters part. Beautiful :



“We like to disorientate audiences a little with all our work. And with this piece we felt technology now allows events which may or may not have happened to be visualized and made to appear dramatically real,” say The Glue Society’s James Dive.

“As a method of representation satellite photography is so trusted, it has been interesting to mess with that trust.”

More on 'God's Eye View' here :

The Glue Society's co-founder, Jonathan Kneebone, said God's Eye View was not intended to be a theological statement. "Art has always depicted religious events and this is simply a new way to do it," he said. "We're playing with the whole idea that if you can capture something from a satellite it must exist."

Kneebone described the four pictures as digital "jigsaw puzzles" made by piecing together real satellite images. The picture of the Red Sea, for example, uses photographs of Niagara Falls to create the impression of tonnes of foaming water.

The Glue Factory is reportedly working on new fake satellite images, for release next year, that will depict historical events, presumably large scale ones, as well as a series of mythical events.

This kind of art is really going to inspire image manipulators to take their work up to new levels of quality and inspiration. Presumably, some who will read that The Glue Factory is working on new images depicting events from mythological history will beat them to the punch.

The Glue Factory has an archive of its artwork and print and TV ads here.

That's got to be one of the news photos of the year.

Massive Ice Storm Freezes Mid-US States :

An ice storm slickened roads and sidewalks, grounded hundreds of flights, and cut power to tens of thousands Sunday in a swath from the Southern Plains to the Great Lakes as even colder weather threatened. The wintry weather was expected to continue through midweek, and ice storm warnings stretched from Texas to Pennsylvania.

That's one big ice storm.

Ice heavy weather on this side of the world as well. Suburbs west of Sydney were smashed, literally, by a devastating hail storm. In some streets, every single parked car had its window smashed by ice balls four and five inches in diameter.

Microwave Beam Stops Cars Dead

Of course it's perfectly safe for the humans riding in the vehicles that this new weapon is aimed at (so they say) :

The same microwave radiation that reheats pizza can be used to fry the electrical systems in cars, stopping them dead in their tracks.

Emitted from a rooftop device, the radiation could be used by law enforcement officers to put an end to dangerous car chases or by military personnel as a non-lethal way of disabling vehicles that get too close for comfort.

The technology uses the same kind of energy used in microwave ovens, but at a different frequency. Ovens typically operate at 2.45 Ghz, whereas the high-power car-stopping system is at 300 megahertz. In both cases, the radiation is above common radio frequencies and is not harmful to humans.

"There are no biological effects," said Tatoian. "We comply with every standard in the literature as far as biological impact."

To disable cars, the device first generates energy that is amplified using a generator. The energy is converted to microwave radiation and then directed, by way of a specially designed antenna, at the offender in a narrow beam.

The higher the frequency of the radiation, the more directed the beam, which allows the user to aim the energy at vulnerable car parts, such as light bulb filaments, lug nuts, frame bolts, or windshield antenna.

Having access to these locations is crucial because newer cars are made with lots of plastic parts, have rustproof paint that prevents electricity from conducting, and have computers already designed to withstand the electromagnetic energy coming from the car engine.

One beam pulsed in a burst lasting just 50 nanoseconds is enough to disrupt a vehicle's electrical system. The radiation can overload wires or damage or upset the car's central microprocessor.

Invisible beams will soon be able to disable your car, if you don't do what you're told.

The Virus Of Inspiration

From the online novel ED Day :

What if we're the last ones?" Johnny said one night, when we were both shattered, barely able to speak after a long, post-barbecue boozing session in the park. "What if we're the last people left on the whole planet?'

We know it's not true, it can't be true, but it feels true. Right now. If we're not the last ones, where is everybody else?

All those billions of years that life has flopped and shuffled around, here on Earth, on other planets and moons and comets, or floating in the black and eternal void of space, the lifetime of humans is nothing much more than a flash of light in a long day of sunbeams.

Who were we? This thing called humanity? A million year long footnote in the history of the planet. Not much more.

Nothing, really.

Crocodiles have already clocked up tens of millions of years, some sharks a hundred million years and more.

Some of the viruses that infect our guts and make our noses run have been around for billions more years than we've been here. We were always so vulnerable. And the viruses liked us that way.

They have always been inside us.

I had a dream about viruses the other night.

I dreamed that they made us, that they evolved humans, that they brought us down from the trees, as a vehicle for themselves. As a way to get around, to grow stronger, to experiment and learn, to spread and to multiply, and to cross the vast oceans that they might never have breached without us.

They gave us the idea to make fire, to run, to hunt with tools, to build boats and planes, and then rocket ships.

I dreamed about a virus that gets into the brains of humans, it’s called inspiration. The virus gives us ideas, allows us to think in fresh ways, to come up with new things. The virus helped to grow our brains. It shaped our minds. Not for the benefit of humanity. That’s just what the virus wants us to think. What it lets us think.

The inspiration of creation was for the benefit of the viruses. So they could spread across the earth, and then off the earth, into space.

Maybe God is a virus.


Go Here To Read The Full Chapter - Depopulation And The God Virus

US Intelligence Agencies Go To 'War' On BushCo. And The NeoCons

What The CIA Missed

It's becoming abundantly clear that there is a rebellion within the American intelligence agencies and senior ranks of the military against BushCo. and its NeoCon 'War On Iran' cheerleaders :

The "jungle telegraph" in Washington is booming with news of the Iran NIE. I am told that the reason the conclusions of the NIE were released is that it was communicated to the White House that "intelligence career seniors were lined up to go to jail if necessary" if the document's gist were not given to the public. Translation? Someone in that group would have gone to the media "on the record" to disclose its contents.

The 'Iran NIE' report was sat on by Vice President Dick Cheney for a year. He didn't like the bad-good news in the report. How can you pummel the minds of Americans into thinking that War On Iran is necessary when the combined weight of 16 US intelligence agencies show that Cheney, Bush and a whole fleet of NeoCons have been lying through their fangs?

The intelligence agencies themselves decided to release the report, that destroyed NeoCons claims that Iran already has nuclear weapons, or at least a nuclear weapons program, and severely undermined the case they were steadily building for American military air strikes on Iran's nuclear energy centres.

According to this story, the 'War On Iran' option is now toast :

A new US report that assesses that Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 has foiled any plans for military action against the Islamic republic, a cabinet official told Time magazine on Thursday.

"It looks like this ends the military option against Iran for now. Israel won't attack alone. Iran's facilities are too many and spread too far apart."

Israel war hawks will big-talk about striking Iran on their own, but they won't do it. They know what kind of hell such an attack will unleash upon themselves, and they can no longer rely on the US to offer complete protection.


In a report called 'The Spies Strike Back', the Washington Post reveals that the rebellion of intelligence agencies against BushCo. over Iran is very real, and a remarkably blatant challenge to Bush's power, and authority :

Domestically, the most significant fact about the NIE is its public manifestation. The White House was powerless to prevent publication of a document that made Bush aides unhappy and uncomfortable. The administration went along because it knew that the document -- and any attempt to suppress it -- would have been immediately leaked.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte (formerly the director of national intelligence) subtly but clearly pointed to the administration's fear of disclosure when he recalled in an interview on PBS's "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" that "there was a time when one simply did not publicize any of this activity, nor was it leaked."

The intelligence community has made itself a separate agency of government, answerable essentially to itself. This NIE makes clear that for better or worse, spy agencies today make the finished product of policy rather than providing the raw materials.

That significant change in the ways of Washington should not go unremarked, even if on balance the consequences of publication of the assessment are positive: As its authors clearly intended, the document removes any basis for the U.S. military strikes on Iran that many of us have argued would be unwise and unnecessary.

The CIA may have done the right thing in regards to the 'Iran NIE', but the agency still has a hell of a lot of ground to make up to the American people. According to this story :

The CIA never gets anything right. The agency's litany of mistakes is remarkable.

Over the course of its 60-odd years, it failed to notice the Soviets getting the atom bomb in 1949, was blind to the Chinese invasion of North Korea, the 1956 revolt in Hungary, and Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.

The CIA sponsored the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, then failed to spot the Soviet missiles there in 1962.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the agency was responsible for installing Saddam Hussein's Baath party in Iraq, and Mohammad Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran.

Then it missed the Iranian revolution of 1979, and Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The list of howlers goes on: the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the explosion of an atom bomb by India in 1998, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and then its bogus intelligence on Iraq in 2002-03, most of which was based on the cock-and-bull fantasies of a source named "Curveball".

Failing to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union is the one I like the most. This was the very thing the entire intelligence apparatus of the West had been dedicated to destroying for 50 years, yet no one had any idea the USSR was about to fall in on itself.

So what then to make of the CIA's support for the public release of the ultra-controversial National Intelligence Assessment on Iran, that has revealed Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons and is highly unlikely to be pursuing a nuclear weapons program?

Was this just a case of the intelligence agencies fulfilling their oath to protect Americans first and foremost? Or was it payback against BushCo. for being shafted with the blame for the 9/11 attacks and the NeoCon-supplied false intelligence around which the case for the Iraq War was built?

It sure sounds like payback, and a successful attempt to destroy the BushCo. propaganda campaign that was busily preparing Americans for the 'reality' of attacks on Iran.

The Washington Note takes a solid, close look at the detail of the National Intelligence Estimate and confidently predicts that the NIE means that BushCo. will now not be able to go to war on Iran.

Questions


Why Did This Chinese Man's Sweat Turn A Fluorescent Shade Of Green?


Is Ron Paul The Only American Presidential Candidate Slamming The Fear Mongering Surrounding Global Warming And Urging People To Take A Closer Look At The Scientific Evidence For Themselves?


Does A Thorough Translation Of The Gospel Of Judas Reveal That Judas Was A Demon, Who Sacrificed Jesus To Please Other Demons?


If The Teenager Responsible For Nebraska's 'Single Worst Day Of Violence In History' Carried Out His Massacre Believing He Would Famous, Why Does The Media Go Out Of Its Way To Prove That He Was Correct?


Are The NeoCons Who Just Can't Stop Lying About Iran And Nuclear Weapons Now Some Of The Most Paranoid And Disturbed Conspiracy Theorists You Could Ever Hope To Find?


Did The Ancient Impact Of A Comet Kick Start The Plate Tectonics Of Our Planet?


Will Police Soon Be Able To Totally Fry Your Car, Disable It And Destroy Its Electrical System With Microwave Weapons From 600 Feet Away?


Did The CIA Destroy Two Interrogation Video Tapes Of Al Qaeda Suspects Because They Showed Illegal Acts Of Torture, Or Because The Suspects Revealed Information About The 9/11 Attacks That Can Be Never Be Made Public?


Did Visionary American Writer Not Only Predict The Current Reality Of A Surveillance Society But Also The Future Of Personalized Digital Advertising As Well?


Did American President Roosevelt Really Provoke The Pearl Habour Attack By Japan In 1941, Fail To Provide Ample Warning Of What He Knew Was Coming And Then Try To Cover Up His Failure In The Mother Of All Conspiracies?


If Two Out Of Three Israelis Oppose Attacking Iran, Why Are There So Many People In The United States Claiming That Israel Wants And Needs To Attack Iran?


Does American Presidential Candidate Rudy Guiliani Really Have Close Business With A Man Who Has Disturbing Ties To The Terrorists Who Carried Out 9/11?


Did Leonardo Da Vinci Really Hide The 'Face Of God' In Some Of His Most Famous Paintings?


Why Do So Many Young Men Who Carry Out Gun Massacres Have A History Of Using Psychiatric Drugs? And Are These Drugs Partly Responsible For The Actions Of Those Who Carried Out Such Horrific Massacres As Columbine, Virginia Tech And The Omaha Mall?


Are We Less Than A Couple Of Years Away From Having Real-Life Robocops Roaming The Streets Of Our Cities?


Is A Former Italian President Who Was Involved In The Use Of 'False Flag' Terrorism Actually Now Claiming That The 9/11 Attacks Could Only Have Been Perpetuated By The Likes Of The CIA And Mossad?


How Will Pro-Iraq War Propagandists Spin The News That Some 60% Of American Military Families Now Believe The War Has Not Been Worth The Sacrifices And That Bush Has Failed Them?


Do Chimpanzees Have Memories Far Superior To Humans? And Does That Mean They're Smarter?


If A Bird Flu Pandemic Became Reality And Hundreds Of Thousands Of People Were Dying, Would Governments Use Planes To Spray Vaccine Across Entire Cities In An Attempt At Mass Vaccination?

The Age Of Thought Crime Has Begun

UK : 'Extremist' Poetry Worth Nine Months In Jail

By Darryl Mason

So it's official. Thought crimes in the UK now do exist, and you can receive long jail sentences for committing a thought crime.

This isn't Orwell's 1984. It's worse :

23-year-old former Heathrow shop assistant who called herself the "lyrical terrorist" and scrawled her extremist thoughts on till receipts has been handed a nine-month suspended jail sentence.

Samina Malik became the first woman convicted under new terrorism legislation after writing poems entitled How To Behead and The Living Martyrs.

Malik, described as an "unlikely but committed" Islamic extremist, was last month convicted by an jury at the Old Bailey of a charge under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

She worked at WH Smith at Heathrow, where she scribbled her extremist lyrics on till receipts. On one she wrote: "The desire within me increases every day to go for martyrdom."

But Malik told the jury she only adopted her "lyrical terrorist" nickname because she thought it was "cool" and insisted: "I am not a terrorist."

Malik had tears in her eyes as she left the dock, while her mother wept during the court hearing. The judge said Malik's crime was on the "margins" of the offence of which she was found guilty. He said Malik was of "good character" and from a "supportive and law-abiding family who are appalled by the trouble that you are in".

"The Terrorism Act and the restrictions it imposes on the personal freedom exist to protect this country, its interests here and abroad, its citizens, and those who visit here. Its protection embraces us all. Its restrictions apply to us all, whatever our personal religious or political beliefs."

He told Malik that if she had been convicted of the more serious charge of possessing an article for terrorist purposes - of which the jury cleared her - she would have faced a jail term. But he said, while a custodial sentence was merited, she had already faced "extremely rigorous" bail conditions which were "tantamount to house arrest".

The court heard that she also spent five months in custody after being arrested in October last year. Malik's sentence was suspended for 18 months, with the condition that she be supervised for the whole period and undertake unpaid work.

Some examples of the 'Lyrical Terrorist's poetry :

"For the living martyrs are awakening/ And kuffars [non-believers] world soon to be shaking."

"Let us make jihad/ Move to the front line/ To chop chop head of kuffar swine."

A second poem was called How to Behead. "It's not as messy or as hard as some may think/ It's all about the flow of the wrist," it read.

Another section said: "No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream/ But ignore the donkey's ass/ And continue to slice back and forth/ You'll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe/ But don't stop/ Continue with all your might."

You don't have to agree with or need to defend the ideas and intent of the poem in question.

Most people would, perhaps rightly, be appalled by the writings of the 'Lyrical Terrorist', but so what? If you're offended by gangsta rap songs about revenge by AK47, do you want the writers to do nine months in jail?



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Stating opinions and beliefs that are deemed offensive or against the state are now worth nine months in jail in England. Or in the case of the 'Lyrical Terrorist', five months in custody waiting for trail.

Does thought crime prosecution stop there? With the persecution of stated beliefs and opinions? What happens when the state decides to seize the Letters To The Editor archives of a newspaper and trawl through a decade's worth of unpublished anger to find and charge every letter writer who ever penned words like these : "That bastard Tony Bloody Blair! I could cut his head off!"

Is the work of Shakespeare safe? With his calls for "The first thing we do, is kill all the lawyers..."?

And what about those half-drunk late nights when perhaps someone like you visited a blog or online newspaper, was outraged by what was read, and raged on about revenge and violence and threats of death? Digital archives held by the likes of Google, and data-mining agencies, stretch back six or seven years, or in some cases, much longer.

Could you be tracked down and persecuted for something you don't even remember writing three or four years ago?

This is not about punishing a dangerous person, this is about intimidating the masses and getting people used to the reality that they can be prosecuted for the thoughts in their head, if they dare to put them into written words.

The Age Of Thought Crimes has begun.

Freemason Grand Master Admits Washington DC Is Freemason Central

Dan Brown Takes A Deep Dive Into Washington's Secret History In Da Vinci Code Sequel



Washington DC is, according to those who've taken the time to notice, filled with the symbolism of the Freemasons. For good reasons. The entire district of Columbia was originally planned and built by Freemasons, using ancient geometric designs. There's even a beautiful Freemason temple, just down the road from the White House.

The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown's next book reportedly dives deep into the 'secret history' of Washington DC. Although it was originally to have been called 'The Solomon Key' and was due for release this year, it is now expected to be renamed and will be hitting bookstores instead in March 2008.

The Grand Master-elect of the Washington DC Grand Lodge, Akram Elias, has revealed that Dan Brown was in contact, while researching the new novel, but he "cut it short". The Washington Freemasons are now nervously waiting to see what Brown writes about their institution and its most curious involvement in the history of the United States, and some of its most important historical events.

Of the new, now untitled novel, Brown wrote "this new novel will explore the hidden history of our nation's capital."

The Washington DC Freemasons have now launched their own counter-publicity campaign, to try and sheer off the level of surprise that revelations in Brown's new novel may induce in Americans, many of whom remain completely unaware that their capital is basically an historical Freemason central.

From Brisbane Times :

Washington has strong historic roots in Freemasonry - an old and widespread fraternity which traditionally practised secret rituals.

The first US president after whom the city is named, George Washington, was a Mason, as were his fellow founding fathers James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, plus James Hoban, the architect of the White House.

The broad steps, stone sphinxes and colonnades of a Masonic temple dominate a corner of 16th Street near the city centre - one of a number of Masonic lodges in the capital - and just a stone's throw from the White House.

Elias cites theories that the city's streets themselves are laid out in the shape of secret Masonic signs. "It may be a coincidence, but there are indications that are difficult to ignore," he said.

Establishing the nation's capital, George Washington is said to have demanded that it be laid out in a symbolic square.

"It's fascinating. If you take an aerial view of Washington, you cannot but see the perfect square and the compass which are the universal symbols of Freemasonry, meaning rectitude and equality," he said.

"Was it on purpose? I don't know, but I think it's difficult to ignore those mysterious aspects," he added. "It adds another level of mystery to the city of Washington."

The shape of a square and compass is also formed by drawing a line on the map between two of the city's major landmarks, the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial, and along the walls of the White House and the Jefferson Memorial.

At the centre of these stands the George Washington monument, a vast brick obelisk whose dimensions themselves are symbolic: 555 feet high by 55 wide (170 metres by 17).

Inside the Capitol building, the heart of US lawmaking which sits at the dead centre of the square city boundaries, lies a cornerstone laid by George Washington himself, dressed in his ceremonial apron, in a Masonic ritual in 1793.

Digging into the 'secret history' of a private men's club, obsessed with geometry, will probably not set the world on fire like the 'secret history' claims about Jesus in the Da Vinci Code did.

With open membership, family day activities, websites, temple tours, and brochures filled with smiling faces, the Freemasons will probably welcome all the publicity that Brown's new book will bring, and the new membership.

Inside The Freemasons' Washington Headquarters

The Dan Brown Effect

The Secrets Of 'The Solomon Key' Revealed (Sort Of)

BushCo. Abandons John Bolton Over Iranian Nuclear Weapons Propaganda

Bush Official : "He Doesn't Represent The US Government...We Very Much Disagree With Him"

By Darryl Mason

Professional War On Iran cheerleader, and former US ambassador, John Bolton, has been abandoned by the US State Department over his repeated claims that the United States is planning to launch air strikes on Iran's nuclear energy facilities and research centres.

In an interview on Australian television on Wednesday night, Undersecretary of State, Nicholas Burns, was questioned about Bolton acting as a representative of the US government in preparing Americans, and the world, for air strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran that Bolton has repeatedly claimed were where Iran was developing clandestine nuclear weapons.

In an interview on Australia's Lateline program in September, John Bolton said :

"We're not talking about a war such as we had in Iraq. We're talking about, quite likely, a limited air strike against, for example, the uranium enrichment facilities at Natanz, or the uranium conversion facility at Isfahan, or the heavy water reactor at Arak, that would prevent Iran from getting from uranium in the ground to highly enriched uranium in a nuclear warhead. That is the kind of attack that we're talking about.

"The notion that living under the threat of a possible use of Iranian nuclear weapons is acceptable may appeal to some people but it's not the kind of life I want to live and I don't think it's the kind of life that people in Israel, for example, or other American friends and allies in the region are happy to live with."

To an Australian audience, it was clear Bolton was talking as an American well-placed to know the inside track of the US government's stance on Iran, and he made no effort to point out that his claims and beliefs were not representative of the Bush administration.

On Wednesday night, in an interview on the same program, Nicholas Burns was clearly aware of the comments by Bolton from September, and he moved quickly to distance his administration from the Attack Iran Now stance promoted by Bolton, and from Bolton himself :

"John Bolton is a former official of the US government. He doesn't represent the US government.

"The comments he made....they don't reflect our government policy."

"He said he disagrees with us. Well, we very much disagree with him..."

Burns tried to calmly spin the stunning revelations that Iran does not have, and is not currently pursuing, a nuclear weapons program in the National Intelligence Estimate made public on Monday.


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Burns is now fully pushing the line of his boss, Condoleezza Rice, that diplomacy is the only line the US government is currently pursuing on Iran :

"We understand that this is a very important issue for world security. We're trying to do the right thing by seeking a diplomatic solution. We have been at this for a number of years, and we think diplomacy is the best way forward."

"I've been saying, and Secretary Rice has been saying for the better part of two years, that a diplomat solution is possible..."

"We have to look for ways to sit down with the Iranians..."

Iran has offered to sit down with the US for talks a number of times in 2007, but President Bush has refused such offers, claiming that Iran has to first abandon its nuclear weapons programs. Programs we now know do not actually exist.

Think Progress takes an extended look at the farcical claims now being made by John Bolton, that there is a conspiracy within the entire US intelligence community against NeoCons like him, and that some 16 US intelligence agencies are "wrong" in their assessment that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, and are not currently pursuing nuclear weapons.

Once again, NeoCons like Bolton have been exposed as serial liars, obsessed with their mission of getting President Bush to strike Iran before he leaves the White House in January, 2009.

The sudden, and unexpected, release of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear energy programs should be viewed as a declaration of war on the NeoCons' fading credibility, and an extremely public attempt to destroy what remains of their power, and influence, in Washington today.


US Intelligence Agencies Strike Back At NeoCon Propaganda War On Nuclear Iran

October 2007 : Bolton Gushes, Fantasises About The Days When The US Overthrew Democratically Elected Governments Around The World

September 2007 : Bolton Says US Has No Choice Left But To Attack Iran Immediately, Overthrow Regime

June 2006 : Bolton Says United Nations Is An "Effective Tool" Of US

Zappa On Censorship

"We're Heading Towards A Fascist Theocracy"

Frank Zappa died 14 years ago, on December 4. To mark the annniversary of this brilliant musician and songwriter and film-makers death, here's a vid of Zappa debating Robert Novak on music and censorship back in the 1980s. Novak could not possibly be any more square or boring, and John Lofton from the Washington Times is hysterical. It's incredible to think now the 'shocking' music under discussion is by Prince, Twisted Sister and Van Halen.

Zappa walks into an ambush, but thoroughly wipes the floor with both Novak and Lofton :



There are many, many Zappa clips on YouTube, but there are also a growing collection of Frank Zappa interviews. He had something to say on just about every subject, and you'd be hard pressed to find a famous musician today who talks so openly, so bravely, about such things as censorship, war, peace, biowarfare and the global war industries. This video from the mid-1980s gets pretty wild :

Flashback : NeoCon Admits Iraq War Was Illegal

Richard Perle was one of the primary NeoCons who filled the news chat shows and the airwaves promoting what his fellow NeoCons regarded as the emergency-level need for the US to go to war on Iraq, all the way through 2002 and early 2003.

As any person who followed the build-up to the War On Iraq knows, the invasion and occupation was an illegal act, against the norms of international law.

The conservative media and NeoCon shills claim to this day that the War On Iraq was not illegal, but straight out of the memory hole comes this story where Richard Perle himself admits that the invasion and occupation was, in fact, illegal :

International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal.

In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."

President George Bush has consistently argued that the war was legal either because of existing UN security council resolutions on Iraq - also the British government's publicly stated view - or as an act of self-defence permitted by international law.

But Mr Perle, a key member of the defence policy board, which advises the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable.

"They're just not interested in international law, are they?" said Linda Hugl, a spokeswoman for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which launched a high court challenge to the war's legality last year. "It's only when the law suits them that they want to use it."

This story is from November, 2003. It's remarkable how quickly, and easily, such stories fall from our minds, and the headlines. By any measure, most mainstream news stories about the War On Iraq since March, 2003, should have made reference to the illegality of the invasion and occupation. Few, if any, did.

The Art Of Consumerism

Seattle artist Chris Jordan has taken the staid non-visual realm of consumer statistics and created a brilliantly realized series of art works. His aim was to take a look at "contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics" and the results are massive prints that presumably have to be seen in person to be fully comprehended.

Americans consume five million sheets of office paper every five minutes. A lot of paper. But what does it look like? Jordan shows you. As he does with the 170,000 Energizer 'disposable' batteries that churn off production lines every fifteen minutes, or the 60,000 plastic bags used up every five seconds, or the 106,000 aluminum cans consumed every thirty seconds, or the 2.3 million Americans in prison or the 426,000 cell phones cast side every single day (statistics cited by Chris Jordan).

Jordan explains :

"This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. My underlying desire is to emphasize the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming."

Here's a couple of his remarkable images. Below is the full image of some 30,000 handguns, representing the 29,569 handgun-related deaths in the US in 2004. The image that follows is a detail from the piece :







A detail from a Jordan image comprised of the 100,000 soft drink cans consumed in the United States every 30 seconds :




You can see Chris Jordan's gallery here. It's well worth a look.

Putin The World's Most Popular Leader?

Russian President Warns World Is "Plunging Into An Abyss Of Permanent Conflicts"

Mike Whitney asks, for good reason, if Russian president Vladimir Putin is the most popular leader in the world today, and explains how Putin leads like few other heads of state :

Vladamir Putin is arguably the most popular leader in Russian history, although you'd never know it by reading the western media. According to a recent survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal, Putin's personal approval rating in November 2007 was 85% making him the most popular head of state in the world today. Putin's popularity derives from many factors. He is personally clever and charismatic. He is fiercely nationalistic and has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of ordinary Russians and restore the country to its former greatness. He has raised over 20 million Russians out of grinding poverty, improved education, health care and the pension system, (partially) nationalized critical industries, lowered unemployment, increased manufacturing and exports, invigorated Russian markets, strengthened the ruble, raised the overall standard of living, reduced government corruption, jailed or exiled the venal oligarchs, and amassed capital reserves of $450 billion.

Russia is no longer “up for grabs” like it was after the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin put an end to all of that. He reasserted control over the country's vast resources and he's using them to improve the lives of his own people.

This is a real departure from the 1990s, when the drunken Yeltsin steered Russia into economic disaster by following Washington's neoliberal edicts and by selling Russia's Crown Jewels to the vulturous oligarchs. Putin put Russia's house back in order; stabilized the ruble, strengthened economic/military alliances in the region, and removed the corporate gangsters who had stolen Russia's national assets for pennies on the dollar.

The oligarchs are now all either in jail or have fled the country.

Russia is no longer “for sale”.

Well, that last fact alone explains why Putin gets slaughtered so often in the Western corporate media. The media's owners can no longer shove their snouts as deep into Russia's troughs as they did in the early 1990s, so Putin must be a totalitarian shitbag.

Whitney also points out that it is the nefarious Council on Foreign Relations who is masterminding the talking points that result in so much bad press for Putin in the West.

Here's two key recent quotes from Putin that didn't get a lot of attention from the corporate media. Too close to the bone perhaps?

“The unipolar world refers to a world in which there is one master, one sovereign; one center of authority, one center of force, one center of decision-making. At the end of the day this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.… What is even more important is that the model itself is flawed because at its basis there is and can be no moral foundations for modern civilization.”

"We are seeing a greater and greater disdain for the basic principles of international law....We are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts. I am convinced that we have reached that decisive moment when we must seriously think about the architecture of global security."

We'll take a wild guess and predict that the United States under Bush, or Clinton, or Guiliani, will not be invited to contribute to that global security "architecture", but China, Pakistan and Iran most certainly will.


Putin's Russia United Party Scores "Landslide Victory" In Elections

Russia Suspends Key European Arms Treaty

Gas Giant Gazprom Prepares To Dump US Dollar In Favour Of Rubles As Dollar Tanks

Russia Test Fires Two Nuclear Ballistic Missiles

Gorbachev Says US Is Targeting Russia, Not Iran

Chinese State Media Carries Gorbachev Claims That US European Missile Shield Is To Contain Russia, Not To Protect From Iranian Missiles

Russian Army Chief : We Are Not Obliged To Defend World From "Evil Americans"

Quick, Mr Bush, Secure Those Nukes!

NeoCon Fear-Mongering Of Islamists 'Winning' Pakistan's Nukes Keeps The 'War On Terror' Rolling Along


By Darryl Mason

The idea of people using democracy to choose their leaders the world over is a nice idea.

But the guardians of world peace, or the self-appointed rulers of the world to be more precise, know the Bush 'Democracy For All' dream is actually closer to a nightmare. Particularly when it comes to Pakistan.

How can the people of Pakistan be allowed to unanimously choose their own leaders, when those leaders will have access to a nuclear arsenal? Well, they can't be allowed to do this, because the leaders chosen might be Al Qaeda-crazed Islamists, posing as moderates. That's the new NeoCon songsheet for Pakistan.

It's a big concern. And it exposes the sham of 'Democracy For All' for what it really is. A nice idea, but little more than rhetoric and blue sky fantasies, meant to inspire change, and dreams of freedom and liberty, but only for those who meet the western standards. Democracy is, despite what Bush says, a prize for only those who meet the western standard, particularly when the winners also win a nuclear arsenal.

Ask the people of Palestine who voted unanimously for Hamas early in 2006 what they think of the democracy they were encouraged to embrace by the Bush administration. You don't have to accept the beliefs of Hamas to realize that the Palestinians got screwed when they embraced democracy.

But that's another issue entirely.

The NeoCon architect of the Iraq troop "surge" plan is now pushing Bush with a new plan to get in and seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal now, just in case 'Islamists' win power or stage a coup in Pakistan, sooner or later. There's no time to waste, apparently :

The man who devised the Bush administration's Iraq troop surge has urged the US to consider sending elite troops to Pakistan to seize its nuclear weapons if the country descends into chaos.

In a series of scenarios drawn up for Pakistan, Frederick Kagan, a former West Point military historian, has called for the White House to consider various options for an unstable Pakistan.

These include: sending elite British or US troops to secure nuclear weapons capable of being transported out of the country and take them to a secret storage depot in New Mexico or a "remote redoubt" inside Pakistan; sending US troops to Pakistan's north-western border to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida; and a US military occupation of the capital Islamabad, and the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan if asked for assistance by a fractured Pakistan military, so that the US could shore up President Pervez Musharraf and General Ashfaq Kayani, who became army chief this week.

"These are scenarios and solutions. They are designed to test our preparedness. The United States simply could not stand by as a nuclear-armed Pakistan descended into the abyss,"Kagan, who is with the American Enterprise Institute, a thinktank with strong ideological ties to the Bush administration, told the Guardian. "We need to think now about our options in Pakistan."

Kagan argued that the rise of Sunni extremism in Pakistan, coupled with the proliferation of al-Qaida bases in the north-west, posed a real possibility of terrorists staging a coup that would give them access to a nuclear device.

Most would rightly assume that any number of special forces teams from a variety of countries concerned with Pakistan's nukes getting into the wrong hands have already secured Pakistan's arsenal, or at least put in place the means to track where each and every missile goes, and who is looking after them.

China, for example, Russia, and India, being within range, all have clear motivations to stop Pakistan's nukes getting into the hands of those they feel cannot be trusted.

Are we really expected to believe that Pakistan's nukes are just sitting there, and that if a bunch of Osamanites seize control they are going to somehow have access to nuclear missiles that they can fire at whoever they want?

This is beyond absurd.

And Kagan is giving interviews about all this?

Does he have a new book out?

Or is he just continuing his mission of ramping up the fears of The Looming Threat which is never allowed to fade or dissipate in any way whatsoever?

In 2001, it was Afghanistan. In 2002, it was Iraq. In 2005 and 2006, it was Iran, but that didn't work out so well. Now it's Pakistan, and we know for a fact they actually do have nuclear weapons.

Beyond anything else, Kagan's fear-mongering is insulting to the people of Pakistan, who will never vote in a bunch of extremists to run their country.

And it's a laughable insult, but an insult all the same, to President Musharraf and his military who would crush completely anything that even looked like a Sunni extremist coup plot gathering steam inside Pakistan's borders.

But the 'War On Terror' will only last for generations, as the NeoCons promised, if they can keep finding new ways to bring fear and terror to the peoples of the West. After all, we are the primary targets of the NeoCon propaganda and psy-ops, much more than the Muslim extremists are.

If enough of us don't believe in the unending Islamist threat, the 'War On Terror' comes to an end.

Death Of A Legend

Even after Jackass, after all the videos of X-Treme dirt bike riders turning backflips, the footage below of 1970s daredevil Evel Knievel taking a Triumph over the fountains at Caesar's Palace and crashing heavily is still wonderfully spectacular, and shocking. You can actually see shattered and fractured limbs and joints flailing about inside that leather jumpsuit.






The story behind the Caesar's Palace jump that helped to make Knievel an international legend in an excellent example of self-promotion and initiative :

While in Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch Dick Tiger fight a middleweight title fight, Knievel first saw the fountains at Caesars Palace and decided to jump them. To get an audience with the casino's CEO Jay Sarno, Knievel created a fictitious corporation called Evel Knievel Enterprises and three fictitious lawyers to make phone calls to Sarno. Knievel also placed phone calls to Sarno claiming to be from ABC-TV and Sports Illustrated inquiring about the jump. Sarno finally agreed to meet Knievel and the deal was set for Knievel to jump the fountains on December 31, 1967. After the deal was set, Knievel tried to get ABC to air the event live on Wide World of Sports. ABC declined, but said that if Knievel had the jump filmed and it was as spectacular as he said it would be, they would consider using it later.

Knievel used his own money to have actor/director John Derek produce a film of the Caesars' jump. To keep costs low, Derek used his then-wife, Linda Evans, as one of the camera operators. It was Evans who filmed Knievel's famous landing. On the morning of the jump, Knievel stopped in the casino and placed a single $100 dollar bet on the blackjack table (which he lost), stopped by the bar and got a shot of Wild Turkey and then headed outside where he was joined by several members of the Caesars staff, as well as two scantily clad showgirls. After doing his normal pre-jump show and a few warm up approaches, Knievel began his real approach. When he hit the takeoff ramp, he felt the motorcycle unexpectedly decelerate. The sudden loss of power on the takeoff caused Knievel to come up short and land on the safety ramp which was supported by a van. This caused the handlebars to be ripped out of his hands as he tumbled over them onto the pavement where he skidded into the Dunes parking lot. As a result of the crash, Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist and both ankles and a concussion that kept him in a coma for 29 days.

Evel Knievel died yesterday, at 69, decades after his last motorcycle jump.

I can still remember, vividly, the night in the mid-1970s when Evel Knievel appeared on the Australia's The Done Lane Show. It was like seeing a super hero being interviewed.

Evel Knievel said that night there were three things he'd always wanted to do, but had never achieved : jump a motorcycle over the Grand Canyon, jump out of a plane at five thousand feet, without a parachute, and land in a haystack (a big haystack) and make love to Elizabeth Taylor.

To the delight of many young Australian males, Evel Knievel also described the extent of physical injuries he'd suffered in more than two dozen high speed motorcycle crashes - broken legs, broken arms, broken pelvis, broken back, broken jaw, skull fractures, all his ribs broken repeatedly, numerous comas, bone splinters bursting through his skin.

Back then, you weren't warned not to try this at home, so the next morning after Evel's appearance, and all that fantastic footage of him leaping motorcycles over cars, buses and Mack trucks, tens of thousands of young Australian boys hit the streets on their bicycles looking for something to jump over. There were injuries, thousands no doubt, but they didn't hit the front pages of the newspapers, or make the evening news. There were no video of mobile phones to capture all that amateur stunt work. It was done solely for the appreciation of friends.

Some parents encouraged this sort of wonderfully reckless thrill-seeking, and a gang of dads in my hometown built a ramp at the local school fete so one brave ten year old could jump his bicycle about 30 feet, to the roar of the crowd (well, about a hundred people). Life in small town Australia in the 1970s.

My own reckless imitations of Evel Knievel reached their peak by jumping a Malvern Star Dragster over a parked car. When I landed, the frame snapped in half and I lost a tooth on the handlebars. Great fun.

Although Knievel became more famous for his crashes and injuries than for his successful jumps, he completed more than 100 successful jumps. Here's one of them :




That may look pretty tame today, but at the height of his fame, in the 1970s, Knievel could pull a 100,000 strong crowd to watch an event, after the pre-show and all the build-up, that basically lasted a handful of seconds, and with no instant slo-mo playback on the big screen.

Nobody would have been surprised than Knievel himself that he lived to be nearly 70 years old.