This is part of Zeitgeist - The Movie (subtitles available)
30 Jun 2008
Chemtrails
AIR FORCE PILOT ADMITS SPRAYING
People continue to become ill as high levels of chemicals show up in random testing of soil and water supplies, after witnesses photograph KC-135s and KC-10s outfitted with what appears to be a “spraying device.” The circular device is obviously not a refueling probe. A former Air Force pilot tells a reporter, “Yeah, we have them, but were not supposed to talk about it.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District tentatively identifies the powder wafting down from the sky as "cedar pollen." But a biologist retorts that December is not the season when cedar pollen normally appears. And when pollen appears in the spring, it does not “explode.” Several witnesses saw a yellow cloud “exploding” in the skies over the Lake Arrowhead area.
According to a press story, community after community continue to report that hundreds of people are becoming ill at the same time-usually following heavy chemtrail activity. Three physicians report an increasing number of patients being seen for similar illness.
“Persistent hacking coughs, upper respiratory and intestinal distress, pneumonia, extreme fatigue, lethargy, dizziness, disorientation, splitting headaches, elevated arthritis symptoms and unexplainable nosebleeds are just a few of the symptoms these doctors have described. These doctors have said they are seeing larger numbers of patients with these complaints during or within days after the times that the physicians themselves have observed a larger number of chemtrails in the skies above mountain communities.”
Pharmacist Ed Burrows is sick himself. Since early December he has been suffering from a respiratory ailment that has includes a “gooey phlegm” that, despite his best efforts, he has been unable to relieve. Burrows said the issue is raising “high concern” for him that his health may be “jeopardized.” Burrows says he “feels that it is directly related” to recent chemtrail activity.
“Our government's refusal to level with the people indicates that whatever it is they are polluting our environment with must be dangerous and/or unhealthy. There is no need to be secretive if what you are doing is beneficial,” he says. “As the former owner and pharmacist of the Lake Gregory Pharmacy for more than two decades, this is the first time in those 22 years I've witnessed so many in our community suffering with respiratory ailments with no apparent cause… ” [Alpenhorn News Dec 7/05]
Iraq to award oil contracts to foreign firms
Iraq will award contracts to 41 foreign oil firms in a bid to boost production that could give multinationals a potentially lucrative foothold in huge but underdeveloped oil fields, an official said on Sunday.
"We chose 35 companies of international standard, according to their finances, environment and experience, and we granted them permission to extract oil," oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told AFP.
Six other state-owned oil firms from Algeria, Angola, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam will also be awarded extraction deals, Jihad said.
The agreements, to be signed on June 30, are expected to be short-term arrangements although the ministry has yet to provide a timeframe.
The deal paves the way for global energy giants to return to Iraq 36 years after late dictator Saddam Hussein chased them out, and is seen as a first step to access the earth's third largest proven crude reserves.
"They will have the first right to develop the fields," said Jihad, adding that competitive bidding would come later once the nation's long-delayed hydrocarbon law is passed by parliament.
Iraq wants to ramp up production by 500,000 barrels per day from the current average production of 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), a level about equal to before the US-led invasion in March 2003. Read more on AFP
29 Jun 2008
US Preparing the Iranian Battlefield
Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed.
Sarkozy tightens his grip over French state TV
Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to increase government control over state TV yesterday sparked an outcry from his political opponents who accused him of tightening a Berlusconi-style grip on the airwaves and dragging France back into its dark age of postwar censorship and propaganda.
The French president's proposed "cultural revolution" for France's five state TV channels prompted an uproar when he announced that in future, he and his cabinet would appoint the head of French state TV, instead of an independent body.
Sarkozy, known as the Téléprésident, prides himself on his numerous TV appearances, carefully studies his own ratings and has privately confided that he would have liked to have been a TV executive. So it was no surprise that he took direct control of the project to overhaul French state TV. He argued that a government appointment of the head of France Televisions was more "democratic". This has reopened the festering row over the president's influence over the media and closeness to his press and TV baron friends who are willing to lean on, censor or even sack journalists who displease him.
28 Jun 2008
Expense Allowance Abuse by Members of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in Brussels earns approx. 14,700 euros per month (~£11,587), according to this RTL Report (in German with English subtitles). How much the MEPs have to work (or don't work) for their €14,700 is the subject of this on-site RTL investigation in Brussels. The video is about MEPs who sign in on attendance lists and then disappear immediately for their weekend. RTL investigating journalists were thrown out of the EU building in Brussels during their work.
A quarter of British adults to face 'anti-paedophile' tests
A quarter of the adult population faces an "anti-paedophile" test in an escalation of child protection policies, according to a report.
The launch of a new Government agency will see 11.3million people vetted for any criminal past before they are approved to have contact with children aged under 16.
But the increase in child protection measures is so great it is "poisoning" relationships between the generations, according to respected sociologist Professor Frank Furedi.
From next year the new Independent Safeguarding Authority will require any adult who come into contact with children or vulnerable adults either through their work or in voluntary groups to be vetted.
But Prof Furedi's report, Licensed to Hug, highlighted examples of when adult-child relationships were distorted by the need for CRB checks already being required by schools and other organisations.
In one example, a woman could not kiss her daughter goodbye on a school trip because she had not been vetted.
In another, a mother was surprised to be told by another parent that she and her husband were "CRB checked" when their children played together.
The CRB said yesterday that it will process 3.6million checks this year - up from 3.4million last year - of which 20 per cent were for volunteers.
Vince Gaskell, the bureau's chief executive, said he did not believe that CRB checks were poisoning the relationship between adults and children. Telegraph
The CRB’s aim is to help organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors by identifying candidates who may be unsuitable to work with children or other vulnerable members of society. CBR website
China's guns are out for Olympic rainclouds
Their mission is to protect the honour of a nation. But their targets are not fighter jets or bombers; they are the rain clouds and smog that threaten to spoil the Beijing Olympics.
The Beixing gunners are among 100 villagers around the Chinese capital who are on standby to “seed” clouds - forcing them to shed or retain their rain - before the opening ceremony of the Games on August 8.
Guided by the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, they will fire shells containing silver iodide and other chemicals into any clouds seen heading towards the roofless Bird's Nest national stadium. More on the Times Online website.
EU Constitution author says referendums can be ignored
Future referendums will be ignored whether they are held in Ireland or elsewhere, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the European Union Constitution said.
The former President of France drafted the old Constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters three years ago before being resurrected as the Lisbon EU Treaty, itself shunned by the Irish two weeks ago.
Mr Giscard d'Estaing told the Irish Times that Ireland's referendum rejection would not kill the Treaty, despite a legal requirement of unanimity from all the EU's 27 member states.
"We are evolving towards majority voting because if we stay with unanimity, we will do nothing," he said.
"It is impossible to function by unanimity with 27 members. This time it's Ireland; the next time it will be somebody else."
"Ireland is one per cent of the EU".
Mr Giscard d'Estaing also admitted that, unlike his original Constitutional Treaty, the Lisbon EU Treaty had been carefully crafted to confuse the public.
"What was done in the [Lisbon] Treaty, and deliberately, was to mix everything up. If you look for the passages on institutions, they're in different places, on different pages," he said.
"Someone who wanted to understand how the thing worked could with the Constitutional Treaty, but not with this one."
France and Germany are putting pressure on Ireland to hold a second referendum which would allow the Lisbon Treaty to come into force before European elections on June 4 2009.
27 Jun 2008
Iraq: The Continuous War
This German documentary details the work that American troops are actively involved in Iraq as a reporter embedded with them. It details there views and opinions as to the why the war is being waged and how the war is being fought on the ground. WATCH IT!
Human Rights in China
On June 23, Huang Qi's lawyer Ding Xikui (丁锡奎) filed an application with the Chengdu public security authorities requesting permission to meet with his client. On June 24, when Huang's wife Zeng Li (曾丽) and lawyer Ding went to the Chengdu public security authorities to follow up on the application, they were handed a decision dated June 23, which stated: "because this case involves state secrets [国家秘密] and Huang Qi illegally holding state secrets, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China [中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法], Article 96, para. 2, the application of Ding Xikui to meet with criminal suspect Huang Qi is denied."
Human Rights in China and OLYMPIC WATCH and BBC
Forced-March to the Polls in Zimbabwe
The world is unlikely to recognize the result of Zimbabwe's single-candidate runoff election, and many voters will cast a ballot simply because they fear the painful consequences of refusing to do so. But as of late Thursday, all signs were that Robert Mugabe's regime will stage an electoral farce on Friday. The runoff was necessitated by the fact that Mugabe's electoral commission declared that the incumbent had finished second in the March 29 presidential vote, but that the man who won that race — opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai — had fallen just short of a majority. But the campaign of systematic violence and repression against his Movement for Democratic Change, and the regime's repeatedly insistence that it will remain in power regardless of the election's outcome, prompted Tsvangirai to withdraw his candidacy. TIME
26 Jun 2008
CNN host Glenn Beck: I Wouldn’t Detain Terror Suspects, I’d ‘Shoot Them All In The Head’
Today on his radio show, CNN host Glenn Beck expressed his disdain of the recent Supreme Court ruling granting terror suspects the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts, exclaiming that if he were President, he would do away with detaining and prosecuting terrorism suspects altogether. Instead, a President Beck would “shoot them all in the head [if] we think that they are against us.”
The Pope wears Prada?
The Devil may wear Prada — but the Pope does not, according to the Vatican.
However L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, categorically denied reports today that the shoes were a Prada product, saying this was "of course false". Times Online
Whether it's Prada and Gucci, or just fancy ecclesiastical tailoring, Pope Benedict XVI is his own man when it comes to dressing. Washingtonpost.com
and see:the big daddy weave and Prada
Blonde Haired Al-Qaeda Scare
The ABC report appeared on World News With Charles Gibson this past Monday. Gibson stated:
"Intelligence officials say it is their number one concern. Caucasians from a European country who have graduated from an al Qaeda training camp. Such potential terrorists would be dressed in western clothing, drawing little notice as they board a plane bound for the US, coming to launch an attack. There’s no indication such an attack is imminent, but this scenario is of great concern to experts in and out of the government."
In addition, an article from the London Telegraph today relates that police in Yorkshire have identified a 12 year old blonde haired schoolboy as an Al Qaeda extremist after he sent links to beheading videos posted on the internet to his classmates.
The boy was reported to police by his school, who also indicated that he had an "unnatural interest in guns and weapons".
Clearly the child is a hardcore terrorist.
Apes Deserve Human Rights, Spanish Leaders Say
Spanish apes are one step closer to receiving the same rights to life and freedom humans have.
The environmental committee of Spain's parliament approved resolutions that urge the European country to comply with the Great Apes Project — a plan developed by philosophers and scientists who say the animals deserve the same rights as their closest genetic relatives, the Reuters news agency reported.
"This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, told Reuters. "We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening."
FOXNews.com (photo:Oscar López Jiménez)
25 Jun 2008
UFO sightings prompt demands for inquiry
A flurry of UFO sightings (in the UK) have led to calls for the Ministry of Defence to launch an official inquiry.
UFO experts believe the incidents, which happened in Shropshire, south Wales and Worcestershire earlier this month, are "particularly significant" because they included observations made by the crew of a police helicopter and military personnel.
Corporal Mark Proctor told The Sun he witnessed a "fleet" of objects objects zig-zagging across the sky at about 11pm.
The 38-year-old soldier, a member of the 1st Battalion Irish Regiment, said: "I was on duty in the guard room when the other boys outside began shouting.
"I went out to see what the commotion was about and could see 13 craft in the skies. They were like rotating cubes with multiple colours."
Obama asks contributors to help Clinton with debt
Sen. Barack Obama has asked top contributors to help his former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, retire her debt, an Obama campaign source said Tuesday.
Obama did not direct members of his National Finance Committee to contribute to Clinton's campaign, the source said, but asked them to do so if they were so inclined.
Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination this month.
She has amassed a campaign debt of about $22 million, but about $12 million of that is money the New York senator loaned to the campaign herself.
Individual donors can contribute $2,300 to individual candidates.
Clinton and Obama have scheduled a joint campaign appearance Friday in Unity, New Hampshire. CNN.com
24 Jun 2008
Who's That Hiding In My Fox 5 News Logo?
“The more familiar we are with people, faces, colors, geometrical shapes, odors, foods, and many other things, the more we like them (for a review, see Bornstein 1989). Robert Zajonc termed this phenomenon the mere exposure effect to indicate that the mere repeated exposure to an object suffices to increase one’s liking for it (Zajonc 1968). It now appears that mere exposure to an object is especially likely to increase liking for that object when people are unaware of this exposure (Bornstein 1989; Bornstein and D’Agostino 1992). More on IntelStrike
Activists Try to Free Indian Widower Jailed for Raising Orphan Bear
It was supposed to be a heartwarming tale of a man who brought an orphaned bear cub home from the forests of eastern India to become part of the family, consoling his small daughter who had just lost her mother.
But when wildlife officials saw the story in the local media last week, it turned to tragedy.
Ram Singh Munda, 35, was arrested and jailed for violating wildlife laws, the bear was sent to a zoo where it has refused to eat, and the abandoned six-year-old daughter has been shipped off to a state-run boarding school.
Now animal rights activists, impressed by Munda's compassion, are trying to win his freedom and reunite the family.
"We strongly condemn the manner in which the forest department officials arrested the poor and illiterate man who was not aware of the government's rules and regulations," Jiban Ballav Das, the head of People for Animals in India's Orissa state, said Tuesday.
Munda, a laborer from the indigenous tribes that live in the forests some 125 miles north of the state capital Bhubaneswar, said he found the sloth bear cub last year while gathering firewood.
He brought the bear home, named her Rani, or Queen, and she became a member of the family, which was still struggling to overcome the death of Munda's wife the previous year.
Boy George denied U.S. visa
DJ and pop star Boy George has been denied a visa to enter the United States, his Web site said Tuesday.
U.S. immigration authorities denied the visa because George, 48, faces trial in November in London on charges of false imprisonment relating to an April 2007 incident, according to a statement from Boy George's management, posted on his site.
"George is astounded at the decision and is having his lawyers here in the States look at it in the hope that someone will change their mind," the statement read.
Boy George, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was charged in London last November with false imprisonment following a complaint from a 28-year-old man, police said. The incident happened in East London the previous April, police said.
George is free on unconditional bail and is not barred from travelling as he awaits trial, his management said. His upcoming schedule includes a series of U.S. club dates in July and August. CNN.com and www.boygeorgeuk.com
Teenagers, the U.S. Army Wants You
- $1,000 per month to enlist before graduation
- Help pay for college
- $40,000 enlistment bonus
- Waiver for recruits who have an arrest record
Tenth-graders swarmed around recruiter Dwayne DeVane as he handed out American flags, water bottles, bumper stickers, key chains and the most sought-after treasures -- decks of cards bearing the U.S. Army logo.
It was career day at Corcoran High School in Syracuse.
While students paid scant attention to representatives of some big local employers, such as National Grid and Iroquois Nursing Home, the fatigue-wearing DeVane drew a steady crowd for two hours.
"When you go into the Army, do they really pay for your school?" asked 16-year-old Phylicia Coley.
"Your schooling will be covered," DeVane assured her.
The Army's pitch is resonating with young men and women in Upstate New York, even as the war in Iraq drags into its sixth year and becomes increasingly unpopular.
23 Jun 2008
George Carlin - Religion is bullshit
He's a Dead Fish.... George Carlin May 12 1937 - June 22 2008
Also see Life is Worth Losing (74 min.)
U.K. to Begin Microchipping Prisoners
As a way to reduce prison crowding, many British prisoners are currently released under electronic monitoring, carried out by means of an ankle bracelet that transmits signals like those used by mobile phones.
Now the Ministry of Justice is exploring the possibility of injecting prisoners in the back of the arm with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip that contains information about their name, address and criminal record. Such chips, which contain a built-in antenna, could be scanned by special readers. The implantation of RFID chips in luggage, pets and livestock has become increasingly popular in recent years.
In addition to monitoring incarcerated prisoners, the ministry hopes to use the chips on those who are on probation or other conditional release. By including a satellite uplink system in the chip, police would be able to use global positioning system (GPS) technology to track subjects' exact locations at all times. According to advocates of such a measure, this could help keep sex offenders away from "forbidden" zones like schools.
22 Jun 2008
Day of drama in Harare
It was inevitable something dramatic would have to happen.
The electoral playing field had become so one-sided, the incidents of violence and murder against his supporters so widespread, that Morgan Tsvangirai had to do something.
On Sunday afternoon he called a press conference in his Strathaven home in Harare's central suburbs and announced that his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was pulling out of the presidential run-off scheduled for Friday, 27 June.
In the week preceding this announcement, the city had become numbed by the ongoing violence and ruling party Zanu-PF's brand of aggressive campaigning.
Whole constituencies comfortably won in the 29 March poll were being overrun by Zanu-PF's youth militias. Mob rule reigned even in the townships.
Those affiliated with the opposition - elected MPs, councillors, organising secretaries, activists - were being systematically targeted.
One youth was dragged out of his councillor relative's home in Chitungwiza, a satellite town south of Harare, and the axe used to break down their door was embedded in his skull. An opposition mayor had his young wife kidnapped and murdered.
It was against this background that Sunday promised something dramatic from the opposition.
MDC: URGENT APPEAL FOR MEDICAL SUPPLIES AND FUNDS
Faced with a rapidly escalating, brutal campaign of violence perpetrated by the Mugabe regime, Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change has issued an urgent appeal for medical supplies as well as funds for medical costs, food and legal assistance.
Their appeal comes in the wake of a vicious crackdown on opposition activists and supporters that began with the planned day of prayer on Sunday 11 March and continues to make headlines worldwide. More information here.
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)
"14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands. Thanks to everyone who danced with me."
Netherlands vs. Russia (1-3)
We lost....
STUDIO ERWIN OLAF (see commissioned > Dutch National Soccer Team 'New Warriors')
Fight the Power
A demonstrator talks to riot police during a rally against proposed education reforms, in Valparaiso, Chile (REUTERS)
Army crisis as 10,000 British troops are unfit to fight
More than ten thousand British soldiers are unfit for frontline duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Telegraph has learnt.
Senior officers fear that the cumulative effect of "tour fatigue" – the pressure of supplying troops to combat zones continuously for over five years – is beginning to take its toll on the Army.
The MoD admits that 8,500 soldiers from the 59,000-strong "Field Army", which is composed of operationally deployable units such as tank, artillery and infantry regiments, are classified as unfit to serve at the front.
When the remaining members of the 101,800-strong Army are taken into account, the figure is likely to be in excess of 10,000.
Every one of the Army's 36 infantry battalions is affected.
21 Jun 2008
Secret of the 'lost' tribe that wasn't
They are the amazing pictures that were beamed around the globe: a handful of warriors from an 'undiscovered tribe' in the rainforest on the Brazilian-Peruvian border brandishing bows and arrows at the aircraft that photographed them.
Or so the story was told and sold. But it has now emerged that, far from being unknown, the tribe's existence has been noted since 1910 and the mission to photograph them was undertaken in order to prove that 'uncontacted' tribes still existed in an area endangered by the menace of the logging industry.
The disclosures have been made by the man behind the pictures, José Carlos Meirelles, 61, one of the handful of sertanistas – experts on indigenous tribes – working for the Brazilian Indian Protection Agency, Funai, which is dedicated to searching out remote tribes and protecting them.
'Chinese YouTube' shut down amid censor fears
One of the most popular video-sharing websites in China has been shut down, prompting fears the Government may be tightening its control over the internet.
The site, 56.com, which usually offers YouTube-style video, has been suspended for more than two weeks. A message on the home page blames a server upgrade, but it would be unusual for such routine maintenance to take so long.
Executives at the company refused to explain the delay, according to the Wall Street Journal, prompting concern that it may have fallen foul of regulators. 56.com is one of the three largest video-sharing sites in China, and along with similar sites has been closely scrutinised by the Government in recent months.
Mandela still on U.S. terrorism list
South African Ambassador to the United States Welile Nhlapo said he was in talks with the State Department and lawmakers to resolve the issue by Mandela's birthday on July 18.
Lawmakers in April introduced legislation in Congress to remove Mandela from the list, a step that is normally a government administrative matter, because they were frustrated by the time the process was taking.
19 Jun 2008
Japanese Car That Runs 100% on Water
How long do we give our country's wealth to other oil producing nations? How long do we give our country's wealth to protecting oil infrastructures? The cost to fight the war in Iraq would have bought one of these cars (or electric car) for every home in the United States!! How many of our sons and daughters have to die to protect oil? Do you really believe that the government is really doing everything it can to get us off oil? Send this video to everyone you can. Oh and by the way Al Gore will be pleased to know, no CO2 emissions, which means this car fights Global Warming.
Repression against animal rights activists
At around 7:00 am on May 21, 2008, members of the Austrian elite police force (WEGA) stormed several apartments across the country. Some of the residents were woken up in their beds at gunpoint. A total of twenty-three (23) apartments, houses and offices were searches in Vienna, Lower Austria, Styria and Tirol. In many of the apartments the WEGA kicked in the doors. The officers stormed the apartments like in bad Hollywood movies. Only after the residents had been intimidated, "secured" on the wall and/or put in handcuffs did the police start the searches.
All the arrestees are active in the animal rights movement in Austria. The offices of at least 4 animal rights group were search by police. The 10 people, a few of which are currently on hunger strike, are still in custody. On a bail hearing on June 6th, the judge decided to keep them in jail for at least 4 weeks further.
18 Jun 2008
Kalinovski Square
Kalinovski square is an "underground" documentary about a suppressed people fighting for their freedom. The starting point of this documentary, takes place in Minsk - the capital of the former Soviet Republic of Belarus, which often is referred to as the last dictatorship in Europe!
Ahmadinejad to OPEC: Dump weak dollar
Iran urges the OPEC member states again to convert their cash reserves into a basket of currencies rather than the tumbling US dollar.
Speaking at a ceremony to open the 29th ministerial meeting of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his proposal made about six months ago in a rare summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries's heads of states.
"The fall in the value of US dollar is one of the pressing problems of the world today," warned the Iranian president at the conference in Isfahan on Tuesday.
He further expressed concern over the adverse effect of the dollar depreciation on the international community, especially energy exporting countries through increasing the price of commodities like wheat, rice and oilseeds.
Brown welcomes French return to NATO
Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcomed France's decision to move towards full integration with NATO, saying on Wednesday he hoped for a new era of cooperation among military allies.
"I welcome the decision that President (Nicolas) Sarkozy has made, that he will wish to bring France back into the inner core of NATO," Brown told parliament during prime minister's questions.
"I believe that that can move forward over the next year and I believe that cooperation within NATO can be enhanced."
Sarkozy on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping overhaul of France's defence structure, saying he wanted to create a more mobile, better-equipped army. He plans to sharply increase spending to achieve that goal.
He also said France would boost its military cooperation within the European Union and advocate "full participation in NATO structures", leaving open whether it would rejoin the alliance's military command structure.
King Alfred Plan
The arrest, detention, encampment, and the extermination of blacks in America.
king alfred plan on wikipedia
The 9/11 Chronicles: Truth Rising
Don't settle for the YouTube version of The 9/11 Chronicles: Truth Rising trailer. Visit Prison Planet.tv now and check out the high definition versions available for viewing and download.
"Disposable Heroes": Suicide-Linked Drugs Tested on Veterans
An ABC News and Washington Times investigation reveals vets are being recruited for government tests on drugs with violent side effects.
Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and The Washington Times has found.
The report will air on Good Morning America and will also appear in The Washington Times on Tuesday. (Click here to read "The Washington Times" coverage of "Disposable Heroes.")
In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.
"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration.
More on t r u t h o u t
17 Jun 2008
Fox anchor claims Iranian missile could possibly ‘hit some military installations’ in the U.S.
In an interview with former UN ambassador John Bolton today, Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett asserted that Iran’s Shahab missile “could actually hit — I think — some military installations in the United States.” “Absolutely,” replied Bolton, clarifying that it was “U.S. forces stationed in the region” that could be threatened by such a missile. Watch it:
The current range of Iran’s Shahab missiles is said to be 1,200 miles, but the United States and Iran are much more than 1,200 miles apart. The approximate distance between Tehran and Washington, D.C. is actually 6,340 miles.
Program Alumni – International Visitor Leadership Program
Forty-eight (48) Chiefs of State and Current Heads of Government are International Visitor Leadership Program Alumni. .......!
16 Jun 2008
Coldplay steals song
It seems not everyone's happy about Coldplay's track Viva La Vida, least of all the band Creaky Boards who claim in this video that they wrote it. The clip also alleges that Chris Martin nicked the tune when he saw them live at New York's CMJ music festival in October 2007. A case of musical theft? Hmm, maybe not. Coldplay have denied the allegation, saying that their track was written and demoed in March 2007, a full six months before Creaky Boards say Chris saw them play.
Blogger arrests hit record high
Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.
In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.
More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.
Citizens have faced arrest and jail for blogging about many different topics, said the World Information Access (WIA) report.
Arrested bloggers exposed corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticised public policies and took political figures to task.
Michael Reagan advocates the mass murder of 9/11 Truthers
“ We ought to find the people who are doing this, take them out and shoot them. Really. You take them out, they are traitors to this country, and shoot them. You have a problem with that? Deal with it. You shoot them. You call them traitors, that’s what they are, and you shoot them dead. I’ll pay for the bullets.” - Michael Reagan, 6-10-08
More on the Reagan Death Threat Website
UPDATE: Last week, radio talk show host Michael Reagan called for his listeners to track down and murder anti-war activist, Mark Dice. After Dice downloaded the show’s free podcast and posted the 3 minute and 21 second clip on YouTube, Reagan filed a copyright infringement claim to remove the clip in an attempt to prevent it from circulating.
Friday June 13th Dice received a call from Reagan’s producer demanding the clip be removed, claiming they hold the copyright, and Dice explained that it falls under fair use laws, and the clip is evidence of a crime. More on Infowars.com
Elian Gonzalez joins Cuba's youth Communists
The Cuban boy at the center of an international custody battle eight years ago has joined Cuba's Young Communist Union.
Elian Gonzalez said he will never let down ex-President Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro, according to the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde.
Raul Castro succeeded Fidel as president earlier this year.
Now 14, Elian was 6 when his relatives in Miami, Florida, lost their fight to keep him in the United States and he was returned to Cuba in mid-2000 with his father.
Elian had survived a boating accident off the Florida coast that killed his mother, who was attempting to get to the U.S.
Juventud Rebelde says in its Sunday edition that the boy was among 18,000 people who joined the group Saturday.
14 Jun 2008
EU Treaty: Nicolas Sarkozy plans to bypass Irish no vote
Mr Sarkozy takes over the EU's rotating presidency in July and will be tasked with resurrecting, for a second time, Lisbon Treaty proposals first contained in the European Constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters three years ago.
Diplomats and officials have no intention of letting the Irish no vote sink a blueprint to boost the EU's powers on the international stage and to create a President of Europe.
Gordon Brown has already phoned Paris to promise Mr Sarkozy that Britain will ignore Ireland to continue parliamentary ratification of the EU Treaty.
13 Jun 2008
Pope Benedict XVI sets up anti-terrorist squad
The Swiss Guards have been given anti-terrorism training, and now carry SIG P75 pistols and Heckler-Koch MP5 sub-machine guns, as well as their traditional halberds.
Vatican security forces now include an anti-bomb squad and a rapid response team, according to Domenico Giani, the head of the Holy See's 130-man gendarmerie.
The Vatican will also work more closely with Interpol to gather information on any threats, he said.
The deal with Europol, the pan-European police agency, will give the Vatican access to a large data bank of suspects and information on the latest anti-terrorism techniques.
EU in turmoil as Ireland votes No to Lisbon Treaty
The future of the European Union was tonight clouded in uncertainty after Ireland voted No to the Lisbon Treaty.
Amid wild cheers from No campaigners, the results were revealed at 5pm with 862,415 votes against and 752,451 in favour, giving a majority of 109,964 against.
Despite the result, EU leaders were tonight vowing to press ahead with ratifying the treaty.
Supreme court ruling on right to trial puts Guantánamo future in doubt
The future of the infamous Guantánamo detention centre was thrown into doubt yesterday after the US supreme court delivered the most serious blow yet to President George Bush's policy of holding prisoners indefinitely without trial.
The justices, in a historic ruling, said the 270 prisoners, held for more than six years for alleged links with al-Qaida and the Taliban, have a constitutional right to take their cases to civilian courts on the US mainland.
Lawyers for the prisoners yesterday hailed the ruling as a vindication of their battle to have Guantánamo, in Cuba, closed.
Travelling in Rome, Bush said he did not agree with the ruling. "We'll abide by the court's decision. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it," he said.
The nine-member supreme court normally has a rightwing bent but Justice Anthony Kennedy, a maverick conservative who holds the balance of power, joined his more liberal colleagues to provide a 5-4 majority.
12 Jun 2008
Robert Mugabe's militia burn opponent’s wife alive
The men who pulled up in three white pickup trucks were looking for Patson Chipiro, head of the Zimbabwean opposition party in Mhondoro district. His wife, Dadirai, told them he was in Harare but would be back later in the day, and the men departed.
An hour later they were back. They grabbed Mrs Chipiro and chopped off one of her hands and both her feet. Then they threw her into her hut, locked the door and threw a petrol bomb through the window.
The killing last Friday – one of the most grotesque atrocities committed by Robert Mugabe’s regime since independence in 1980 – was carried out on a wave of worsening brutality before the run-off presidential elections in just over two weeks. It echoed the activities of Foday Sankoh, the rebel leader in the Sierra Leone civil war that ended in 2002, whose trade-mark was to chop off hands and feet.
Ireland in crunch EU treaty vote
People in the Irish Republic are voting in a referendum on whether to ratify the European Union reform treaty, in a poll anxiously watched across the EU.
All of the main Irish parties back the treaty but the No campaign has been putting up a strong challenge.
With many voters undecided, opinion polls suggest the result will be close.
The document, known as the Lisbon Treaty, replaces a more ambitious draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
It provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Council and a strengthened foreign affairs post.
11 Jun 2008
Secret Plan To Kill Internet Leaked?
ISP’s have resolved to restrict the Internet to a TV-like subscription model where users will be forced to pay to visit selected corporate websites by 2012, while others will be blocked, according to a leaked report. Despite some people dismissing the story as a hoax, the wider plan to kill the traditional Internet and replace it with a regulated and controlled Internet 2 is manifestly provable.
"Bell Canada and TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP’s all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These ‘other’ sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet," warns a report that has spread like wildfire across the web over the last few days.
The article, which is accompanied by a You Tube clip, states that Time Magazine writer "Dylan Pattyn" has confirmed the information and is about to release a story - and that the move to effectively shut down the web could come as soon as 2010.
Watch the clip.
Safe Deposit Raids
Detectives also found heroin and cocaine, evidence linked to child sex abuse and forged passports.
The Met Police believe criminals used the centres in Park Lane, Hampstead and Edgware to store criminal assets.
Armed police continue to guard the buildings as specialist officers search the 7,000 safety deposit boxes.
So far only a third of the boxes have been opened and the finds have also included a firearm, counterfeit currency, several works of Renaissance art and a substantial amount of high value jewellery.
Speaking after the raids Commander Allan Gibson said: "Search teams have been working around the clock to open all the boxes at the location and are progressing well, although we are likely to remain at the locations for some time yet. BBC NEWS
Huh? ... Wikipedia:
A safe deposit box (sometimes incorrectly called a safety deposit box) is a type of safe usually located in groups inside a bank vault or in the back of a bank or post office. It usually holds things such as valuable gemstones, precious metals, currency, or important documents such as wills or property deeds that a person might feel afraid to leave at home due to fear of theft, fire, flood, tampering or other reasons. In the typical arrangement, a renter pays the bank a fee for the use of the box, which can be opened only with production of the assigned key, the bank's guard key, the proper signature, or perhaps a code of some sort. Additionally, some banks are using biometric dual control security to complement the already increased security procedures.
10 Jun 2008
Bishop denies impotent paraplegic church wedding
A paraplegic man was recently denied a church marriage by a bishop in Italy because he was impotent, say reports. The 26-year-old man ultimately had to go for a civil marriage on Saturday in Viterbo.
"No bishop, no priest can celebrate a wedding when he knows of admitted impotence as it is a motive for annulment (of the marriage),'' the Australian quoted Salvatore de Ciuco, spokesman for Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli of Viterbo in central Italy, as telling SkyTG24 television.
The groom has been paraplegic since he was involved in a 
The curate of the parish, who was banned from marrying the couple, was present at their civil ceremony. (ANI) Netindia123.com
This also happened in Brazil: "Means of Productions" (pictured)
The Vatican Manipulation of Marriage
Because the correct understanding of marriage is essential to life, and many Catholics live with deep guilt regarding the Catholic laws on marriage:
Iran war drumbeat grows louder
Recent media reports suggest that Iran may come under attack because of its nuclear program.
According to an article on the BBC, fears of an Israeli or American military strike against Iran’s nuclear sites have cooled last December after the release of a report by American intelligence agencies which said that Iran had stopped trying building nuclear weapons in late 2003.
But negotiations with Tehran - and sanctions against it - have not stopped its uranium enrichment activities, which its critics claim are aimed at making an atomic bomb.
That’s why talks of war against Iran have started again.
Israel, believed to be the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has never believed that Iran has stopped trying to build nuclear weapons.
9 Jun 2008
Israel's Messianic Jews Under Attack
Ortiz didn't give it a thought. His Jewish neighbours liked him, and so did Ariel's mayor, who found Ortiz, originally from Brooklyn, useful in recruiting funds and political support from American and German Evangelicals for this stone-clad settlement on a breezy hilltop inside Palestinian territory.
But somebody disliked Ortiz and his beliefs enough to try to kill him and his family. By chance, Ortiz and his wife Leah were gone on March 20th when an unknown person dropped off a bomb disguised as a holiday gift package loaded with candy and chocolates. When Ortiz's 15 year-old son Ami plucked off a chocolate, it detonated a bomb powerful enough to blow out all the apartment's windows apartment and to be heard a mile away. The bomb was packed with nails, screws and needles. Doctors found over 100 piece of metal embedded in the boy's body by the blast, which sheared off the skin and muscle on his legs and chest. The teenager survived, but still faces six more operations of skin grafts and the removal of shrapnel from his eyes. Whoever did it, says Ortiz, knew "that we adults wouldn't open up the Purim package — it would be the kids."
TIME and also see Operation Outreach with a profile of David Ortiz
8 Jun 2008
America's Medicated Army
For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines.
Data contained in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope. Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there than in Iraq, military officials say.
EUROPE: No Asylum, Now Go To Jail
Asylum-seekers whose bid to live in the European Union has been rejected could be detained for up to 18 months under a new law approved by the bloc's 27 governments.
The so-called returns directive sets common rules across the Union for the treatment of failed asylum-seekers prior to their expulsion from EU territory. Its most controversial provision is that it allows for those awaiting deportation to be locked up for a maximum of 18 months.
Human rights activists fear that people who have not committed any offence will be routinely held for lengthy periods as a result.
The law was rubber-stamped by the EU's justice and interior ministers at a Jun. 5-6 meeting. However, it will have to be endorsed by the European Parliament, the bloc's only directly elected institution, before it can come into effect. Members of the Parliament (MEPs) are due to decide what stance to take on it Jun. 18.
More than 220 camps for detaining asylum-seekers are currently in operation across the EU; in total, they have a capacity for holding 30,000 people. While many EU countries allow for detention of between 12 and 18 months, some states such as Britain, the Netherlands, Greece and Denmark stipulate no maximum length of detention. In Malta, many asylum-seekers were found to have been held for five years, according to a 2006 study.
Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group
How much influence do private networks of the rich and powerful have on government policies and international relations? One group, the Bilderberg, has often attracted speculation that it forms a shadowy global government. As part of the BBC's Who Runs Your World? series, Bill Hayton tries to find out more.
The chairman of the secretive - he prefers the word private - Bilderberg Group is 73-year-old Viscount Etienne Davignon, corporate director and former European Commissioner.
"It is unavoidable and it doesn't matter," he says. "There will always be people who believe in conspiracies but things happen in a much more incoherent fashion."
In an extremely rare interview, he played down the importance of Bilderberg in setting the international agenda. "What can come out of our meetings is that it is wrong not to try to deal with a problem. But a real consensus, an action plan containing points 1, 2 and 3? The answer is no. People are much too sensible to believe they can do that."
6 Jun 2008
The Denver Alien
The Colorado Film School instructor who analyzed a video that purportedly shows a space alien swears the footage is real.
"There is no doubt in my mind that (Stan Romanek, a Colorado native who has reported UFO sightings,) did not post-produce this material. In other words, it's not a trick done in special effects," Jerry Hofmann, a professional film editor with more than 30 years of experience, said Thursday. "I have equipment that will test to see if that shot was recorded originally on that tape, which it was," he said.
However, Hofmann said there's no way for him to know whether or not the little gray alien, which was videotaped peeping through a window, is the real thing.
But Hofmann thinks it is.
"The chances are that we are not alone," he said. "That's the conclusion I've come to." Rocky Mountain News
Recognition at last for Japan's Ainu
It meant "Land of the Ainu", a reference to the fair-skinned, long-haired people who had lived there for hundreds of years.
The Ainu were hunters and fishermen with animist beliefs. But their communities and traditions were eroded by waves of Japanese settlement and subsequent assimilation policies. Today only small numbers of Ainu remain, and they constitute one of Japan's most marginalised groups.
On Friday they will have something to celebrate.
Japan's parliament is to adopt a resolution that, for the first time, formally recognises the Ainu as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture".
In a nation that has always preferred to perceive itself as ethnically homogenous, it is a highly significant move.
"This resolution has great meaning," says Tadashi Kato, director of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido. "It has taken the Japanese government 140 years to recognise us as an indigenous people."
More on BBC, also see Wikipedia and the Ainu museum