Monday, January 30, 2006
Welcome to the Neighborhood

Look who's coming to my hometown of Aurora, Colorado. IT'S THE NSA, YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAH! The place of my birth (specifically, Fitzsimmons Army Medical Hospital, just like John "the Chump not Champ" Kerry) and the city of residence for 28 of my 30 years.

According to William M. Arkin, in an online piece today over at the WashingtonPost.com, Aurora, CO is set to become the American epicenter for national domestic spying. From the piece:

In May, Dana Priest reported here in The Washington Post that the CIA was planning to shift much of its domestic operations to Aurora, Colorado.

...

Aurora is already a reconnaissance satellite downlink and analytic center focusing on domestic warning. The NSA and CIA join U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) in Colorado. NORTHCOM is post 9/11 the U.S. military command responsible for homeland defense.

The new NSA operation is located at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, at a facility commonly known as the Aerospace Data Facility.

...

According to Government Executive Magazine -- thanks DP -- "NSA is building a massive data storage facility in Colorado, which will be able to hold the electronic equivalent of the Library of Congress every two days." This new NSA data warehouse is the hub of "data mining" and analysis development, allowing the eavesdropping agency to develop and make better use of the unbelievabytes of data it collects but does not exploit.


Growing up, we used to refer to the cluster of "globes" which house the satellite dishes at Buckley Air Force Base (pictured above), as giant teed-up "golf balls" and they are probably Aurora's most recognizable landmark. They are afterall big ass fuckin' balls situated in the eastern plains (not the mountainy parts CO is known for). They're hard to miss is what I'm saying.

FUN FACT: Aurora is affectionately called "Saudi Aurora" by many from other parts of Colorado, as there was a spell there in the mid-90's where we received some pretty negative national attention for a multiple homicide at a Chucky Cheeses (located about a half a block from the home that I grew up in) and similar such tragedies. For those extra curious, Columbine High School is about 20-30 minutes SW of Aurora depending on day and time.

To the kids over at the NSA, I say welcome and don't you be no super secret strangers you hear, drop on by a conversation or few. You know the numbers.

As far as us natives and such is concerned, if you just so happen to meet yourself a brand new friend who just moved to the area from say, I don't know, somewhere around the Maryland area and they claim to work for the Department of Defense be very careful about what you say to them. Or better yet, as discretely as you possibly can, excuse yourself and slip out the back.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 1:48 PM   0 comments
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Are the Dumb leading the Dumber?

Today, in an online piece posted over at Counterpunch by the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Reagan administration, Paul Craig Roberts, entitled "Polls Show Many Americans are Simply Dumber Than Bush" he asks:

Why does any American think that spying without a warrant has any more effect in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which Bush is disobeying, requires the executive to obtain from a secret panel of federal judges a warrant for spying on Americans. The purpose of the law is to prevent a president from spying for partisan political reasons. The law permits the president to spy first (for 72 hours) and then come to the court for permission. As the court meets in secret, spying without a warrant is no more effective in reducing the threat of terrorism than spying with a warrant.

Instead of explaining this basic truth, the media has played along with the Bush administration and formulated the question as a trade-off between civil liberties and protection from terrorists. This formulation is false and nonsensical. Why does the media enable the Bush administration to escape accountability for illegal behavior by putting false and misleading choices before the people?


EXACTLY!!! The propaganda and noise coming predominately from the Right is designed to allow those who wish, as well as the unsuspecting, to exist within an alternate "reality". Plastic Facts, Plastic Patriotism. This is why many on the left often refer to themselves as "reality-based" or of the "reality-based community". It is to the benefit of those currently in control of the levers of power that Americans, as a whole, be illinformed or misinformed. See Jack Aramoff partner Michael Scanlon's comments for more on how the "Wackos", as he puts it, from their conservative base are controlled. This should shed some light on the overall strategy for you.

FISA was created with the specific intent of "balancing" national security with the unalienable rights guaranteed to all those who reside within the borders of the United States by our Constitution. However, FISA itself is little more then just accepted doctrine and at this time is only considered "legal" because it has never been directly challenged in a court of law. This is how the lines of tyranny are first blurred and then shifted.

Paul then continues with this analysis of the current political climate in the Middle East as a result of US intervention:

It is extraordinary that anyone would think Americans are safer as a result of Bush invading two Muslim countries and constantly threatening two more with military attack. The invasions and threats have caused a dramatic swing in Muslim sentiment away from the US. Prior to Bush's invasion of Iraq, a large majority of Muslims had a favorable opinion of America. Now only about 5 percent do.

A number of US commanders in Iraq and many Middle East experts have told the American public that the three year-old war in Iraq is serving both to recruit and to train terrorists for al Qaeda, which has grown many times its former size. Moreover, the US military has concluded that al Qaeda has succeeded in having its members elected to the new Iraqi government.

...

And now with the triumph of Hamas in the Palestinian election, we see the total failure of Bush's Middle Eastern policy. Bush has succeeded in displacing secular moderates from Middle Eastern governments and replacing them with Islamic extremists. It boggles the mind that this disastrous result makes Americans feel safer!


A pretty good read, hitting on the heart of the problem, propaganda. Recommended.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 4:27 PM   0 comments
Thursday, January 26, 2006
WIWNT: News for You 01/26/06

Today's blog entries and articles from around the internets that I found interesting.

Torture
The AP is reporting that "A European Parliament investigation into alleged CIA secret prisons could ask Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to testify, although it has no legal power to subpoena them". Good luck with that. The US Congress can't even get the Bush administration's top mine safety official to cooperate, you think Cheney and Rumsfeld are going to appear before a foreign entity. Hold your breath, I dare you. See for yourself here.


MSM: free press at fair market value
The Palm Beach Daily News is reporting that on Tuesday, former anchor of CNN's NewsNight, Aaron Brown gave an impassioned speech at The Society of the Four Arts. Brown had this analysis of today's main stream news outlets, "Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news." Anyone willing to spend 30 seconds with Bill O'Reilly knows exactly what he's talking about. If you want the ratings, you've got to be willing to sell your soul to the Springer formula. Garbage sells. See for yourself here.

The New Republic online has a neat little piece on FoxNews.com's science columnist Steven Milloy. Turns out that Milloy just so happens to be one of those despicable hacks willing whore out his column for anybody willing to pay a little bit for it. Tobacco overlord Phillip Morris was willing to pay to the tune of $92,500 each year for "consulting" in at least 2000 and 2001. What are the results of Milloy's "consulting"? Secondhand smoke is apparently not all that bad. Thank goodness, oh and according to Milloy, global warming is a hoax but we all knew that. See for yourself here (subscription req'd).

More detail from the Huffington Post. See for yourself here.

Then there's this, which is freakin' hilarious, and demonstrates exactly how much credibility the independent grassroots organization Accuracy In Media truly deserves. According to AIM, Fox News is in danger of becoming one more cog in the leftwing media machine which has been so successful of late champion leftist causes. That's right kids, Fox News, just another pinko commie outfit. See for yourself here


The Jokes on US: Operation Iraqi Liberation
Just one day after Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld categorically denied claims from a Pentagon draft report which suggested that the US Army was stretched thin, the top US Commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, acknowledged that the US Army was, in fact, stretched. However, he said, the Army is capable of accomplishing their mission and any recommendation to reduce troops further would be dictated by the situation on the battlefield, the AP reports. Rrrriiiiight!?! See for yourself here.

MSNBC has more on that Pentagon draft report. See for yourself here.

From ThinkProgress, according to Secretary Rumsfeld, what's the reason why we are in this unfortunate position of having our Army stretched so thin? It's Clinton's fault, of course. Kind of like the imaginary WMD's were Clinton's fault as well, or the events of 9/11 were his fault. Of course the response to Katrina wasn't Clinton's fault. That was the fault of local officials. For an administration that doesn't want to get dragged into the blame game, they sure do spend a lot of time blaming others. Although, covering your ass after your incompetence and/or neglegence has resulted in the death of thousands of American citizens/soldiers/marines does require quite a bit of work with all the shifting of blame and "stonewalling". It must be awesome to be so incompetent; nothing is ever your fault. IT'S EVERYBODY ELSES FAULT EXCEPT MINE. To the Bush administration, may only a few thousand more Americans die as a result. See for yourself here


Terminator Seeds
Seriously, to what possible benefit do these freakseeds serve other then to assure that peasant farmers be forever at the mercy of the multinational agribusinesses. This is just about as despicable as it gets. See for yourself here.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 12:51 PM   0 comments
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Lost Comments

I'm having a little bit of trouble getting HaloScan's comments to 'stick' with the new coding, some tweaking is definately going to be required. If you've posted a comment in the past, but cannot find it now, I apologize. It's something I'm working on.

Thanks,
Damond
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 5:06 PM   0 comments
WIWNT: News for You 01/25/06

Today's blog entries and articles from around the internets that I found interesting.

Presidential Impeachment
From Night Ridder, according to a poll released last week by Zogby International, 52% of Americans favor impeaching President Bush if the NSA program which he authorized included spying on Americans without a warrant. See for yourself here.


Big Brother Bush-style
From Reuters, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, has asked AG Alberto Gonzales "what steps are being taken to protect Americans' privacy rights as the Justice Department demands information about Internet searches". See for yourself here.


Mine Safety
ThinkProgress has video of the Bush administration's top mine safety official, David Dye, walking out in the middle of his appearance in front of a Senate subcommittee looking into the tragedy of the Sago mining disaster. See for yourself here.

According to the New York Times, Sen Arlen Specter, "can't recollect it ever happening before" but plans to, "find a way to take appropriate note of it." See for yourself here.


Katrina: Administration's Response
According to the New York Times, as is the norm with this White House when ever a tragedy occurs as a result of theinegligencece oincompetencece, rather then get to the "why" in an effort to prevent it from ever happening again, they prefer to "stonewall" any investigation. Because, you see, if we pretend it didn't happen, it'll just go away. The Presidency of Bush 43: A Seemingly Endless Series of On-Going Investigations! See for yourself here.


Bilking Taxpayers and Shielding Defense Contractors
Rawstory is reporting that the Pentagon has suspended a senior fraud investigator who has crusaded against military contractor overcharges for "insubordination". Their source is Eric Rosenberg for the Hearst News Service. According to Rawstory, Rosenberg's article, which went out to Hearst member papers, has not appeared in any of them to date. See for yourself here.

According to the New York Times, "A new audit of American financial practices in Iraq has uncovered irregularities including millions of reconstruction dollars stuffed casually into footlockers and filing cabinets, an American soldier in the Philippines who gambled away cash belonging to Iraq, and three Iraqis who plunged to their deaths in a rebuilt hospital elevator that had been improperly certified as safe." See for yourself here.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 12:03 PM   0 comments
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
WIWNT: News for You 01/24/06

Today's blog entries and articles from around the internets that I found interesting.

Presidential Impeachment
According to Insight magazine, the White House is bracing for potential impeachment hearings. Possible charges to be leveled against the President are said to include false reports to Congress as well as the President's authorizing of NSA to engage in domestic spying without a court warrant as is required by the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. See for yourself here.


Domestic Spying

Glenn Greenwald has a great entry today essentially debunking the White House's latest go at defending it's warrantless Domestic Spying program. He recalls an attempt in 2002 by Republican Sen Mike DeWine of Ohio to introduce legislation that would amend FISA to lower the standard for non-citizens from "probable cause" to essentially "reasonable cause". The measure failed. See for yourself here.

Digby over at Hullabaloo goes further. See for yourself here

Media Matters has more as well. See for yourself here

Today student protestors at a Georgetown Law School Forum stood in silence with their backs turned to AG Gonzales as he attempted to defend the administrations warrantless domestic spying program, reports the AP. See for yourself here.



Chemically Preserving Humanity
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the EPA is set to expand pesticide testing to include pregnant women and children. See for yourself here. See the Press Release. For more, go here.


Torture
Reuters is reporting that the US has outsourced its torturing of detainees while European governments have turned a blind eye. See for yourself here.


Supreme Court
ABC News is reporting that on the day that Chief Justice John Roberts was being sworn in to his current position, Associate Justice Scalia was playing tennis at an outing sponsored by the Federalist Society. Scalia was the only justice absent at the swearing in. See for yourself here.


Halliburton
According to MarketWatch, Halliburton subsidiary KBR has just been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to support its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million. See for yourself here.


Katrina
The Washington Post is reporting that the White House began to receive detailed warnings about the potential impact of Katrina to the Gulf Coast region as much as 48hrs prior to the storm reaching land. These warnings included "eerily prescient predictions of breached levees, massive flooding, and major losses of life and property, documents show." See for yourself here.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 12:13 PM   0 comments
Monday, January 23, 2006
WIWNT: News for You 01/23/06

Today's blog entries and articles from around the internets that I found interesting.

Bush is Grrrrrrreat!
According to a new poll out today from the American Research Group 36% of American's approve of Bush's overall performance, while a nearing 2-1 majority, 58% of Americans, disapprove. Keep up the great work you lame duck. See for yourself here.


National Security/Big Brother, Bush-style
From the AP, Bush continues to defend using the once foreign-only spy agency the NSA to spy domestically on American citizens in what would appear to any competent person to be in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Fortunately for Bush, about half of all American's appear to be absolute morons. Keep buying what he's selling you dupes. Maybe, if you pray hard enough you can make it acceptable for the rest of us too. See for yourself here.

mcjoan over at the DailyKos reveals exactly how familiar Deputy Director of National Intelligence General Michael Hayden really is with the Fourth Amendment. He's not totally wrong, but he appears to be unfamiliar with the amendment in it's entirety. See for yourself here. See, that's the key. You've got to read the whole thing, every letter, every word. Or maybe thats the way things are done now, I don't know, the rules for what's acceptable have definately worked their way into the shady area since the Republican seizure of power, so maybe I'm just guilty of being of a pre-9/11 mindset.


Radioactive Jack
White House spokesweasels claim that they know of no existing photos which would place the President and embattled Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff together, but that if any photographs do exist they were most likely taken at a large gathering like a Chanukah party, which are often attended by litterally billions of people that the President doesn't know, has never heard of, and those in which he has no desire to ever meet. The weasels suggesting this are completely full of shit. Part and parcel, I'd say, of this administration of secrecy, manipulation, torture, and deception. Keep that bullshit coming fellas, making the case that Bush 43 was one of the worst Presidents in American history, if not THE worst, is gonna be a "Slam Dunk", to borrow a phrase from Bush bestowed Medal of Freedom recipient George Tenet.

In an article posted yesterday over at Time magazine, we have our second confirmation of a news organization which has viewed approximately 5 photos which show President Bush with embattled Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. See for yourself here.

It is the belief of Judd over at ThinkProgress.com that Jack Abramoff himself may be shopping these photos around to different news agencies as he is apparently feeling a bit of a financial pinch. See for yourself here.

ThinkProgress.com has also revealed that the White House has apparently "misinformed" the AP in regards to a meeting on May, 9 2001 between President Bush, Jack Abramoff, 21 state legislators, and several of Jack Abramoff's tribal clients. In June of last year, White House spokesweasel Erin Healy said that there were no records which would indicate that Abramoff was in attendance. Of the 5 photographs that Time magazine claims to have viewed, one of the photographs would suggest that those remarks are, how do you say in America, "moderately inaccurate". Abramoff was paid $25,000 by his tribal clients to arrange this meeting minus one. See for yourself here.


Iran: Nuclear Showdown
From the AP, "Iran will immediately retaliate if referred to the U.N. Security Council next week by forging ahead with developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program, a senior envoy said Monday." See for yourself here.


Support for the Troops
Big Iraq War no-bid contract winner, and Vice-President Cheney's semi-on-hold employer, Halliburton is in the news again for another greed inspired despicable act. No, this time it's not for ripping us off to the tune $50 per 2"x4", or for meals they never served, or even for knowingly serving food well beyond it's expiration date. No, this time they've exposed our troops to contaminated water, and then apparently refused to notify anyone about it. See for yourself here. Halliburton is on our side, right!?!

Oh, and just in case you didn't know, Dick Cheney still receives a modest, but healthy, income from Halliburton. Approximately $200K a year +bonuses.


Advanced Electioneering
At least one of the MSM outlets, the Washington Post, finally seems to be paying attention to the fact that electronic voting machines without any type of a paper trail may not be as secure as once believed. See for yourself here. NO SHIT, huh!?! You know there were quite a number of critics suggesting the very same thing oh, about two, two and a half years ago. So that would lead me to believe that after a couple more years pass we can get to the part where largely Democratic districts in states like Ohio were severly under-supplied with healthy voting machines. Then maybe another year passes and they can get to the vote count irregularities. That would be neat. To see some of these news outlets scurry along to report on such trivial matters as say the questionable outcome of a presidential election, or the use of phony-to-questionable intelligence in the build up to war on a sovereign nation. Oh well, time to check in to see what's going on with that missing groom. I hear now that they were drinking Absinthe and thats why everybody was all fuckered up (for those unaware, Absinthe is the drink in the NIN "Perfect Drug" video, and is said to be a root cause to van Gogh's madness. It is only illegal to sell the liquor in the states. Possession and purchase, not so much).
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 1:05 PM   0 comments
Friday, January 20, 2006
WIWNT: News for You 01/20/06

Here are some of today's blog entries and articles from around the net that I found interesting.

Jack Abramoff
The Washingtonian is reporting that they have viewed at least 5 photographs of President Bush with indicted Republican lobbyist, and 2004 Bush Pioneer, Jack Abramoff. See for yourself here.

Fired Up! is reporting that one of the many investigations surrounding Jack Abramoff is going all the way to Hong Kong. Former house majority leader Tom DeLay and possible replacement Rep Roy Blunt both seem to have connections. See for yourself here.


CIA Leak
Reuters is reporting that lawyer's for Dick Cheney's indicted former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby are planning to issue subpoenas to journalists and news organizations for documents to be used at his trial involving the leak of a CIA operative's name. This is expected to delay proceedings. See for yourself here.


National Security/Big Brother, Bush-style
Google continues to resist a Justice Department subpoena for records of all customer searches during a specific week in an effort to uncover how accessible adult websites are to kids. The Justice Department claims that this is the best way to get the necessary information. Google claims that they cannot comply because this will jeopardize some of their trade secrets, the information Justice is looking for cannot be ascertained in this way, oh and that whole plastic customer privacy thing too. See for yourself here, and here.

From the Washington Post, true American patriot Karl Rove has come out of hiding for a minute to defend domestic spying and accuse critics of being of a pre-9/11 mindset unable to adjust to this new and substantial thre....blah, blah, blah. You know, YOU LEAKED THE NAME OF A COVERT CIA AGENT WHOSE JOB IT WAS TO MONITOR THE PROLIFERATION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND THEN YOU REPEATEDLY LIED ABOUT IT. On the subject of national security, you've proven that you are not to be trusted. As far as the legality of the program, I have so far been unable to successfully locate anything in your bio which would validate your credentials as a constitutional legal expert, SO SHUT UP! And climb back down into your despicable little spider hole. See for yourself here.

According to the AP, former Pentagon analyst Lawrence A. Franklin was sentenced to 12 years in prison for providing classified information to an Israeli diplomat and members of a pro-Israel lobbying group. Franklin previously worked with many top Pentagon officials, including Douglas Feith. See for yourself here.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 7:06 PM   0 comments
"If you're not doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about"

It's a rediculous argument and akin to, "if you don't disagree with us you've nothing to fear."

Well, as Joe over at AmericaBlog points out, the same totalitarian argument that the Bush administration is pimping this month to justify their super-secret warrantless domestic spying program, is now being floated by at least one of the cell-phone records dealers to justify their business practice.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"If you're not involved in suspicious activities or infidelity, and you are not trying to hide from someone because of debt, or involved in a criminal activity, there really is no reason to be concerned about your call records."


Did you get that? If you're not doing anything wrong, then what do you have to hide?

Oh I don't know. Maybe I'm a woman trying to get away from an abusive spouse? May I'm a police detective who doesn't want criminals knowing who my informants are? Maybe I'm a business competitor who doesn't want you to know who all my clients are?


For those who are unaware, earlier this month John over at AmericaBlog was able to purchase the cell phone records of former presidential candidate, and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Wesley Clarkwithout permission or knowledge, for a mere $89.95.

For more background on this issue AmericaBlog has more on the jist of it here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 5:09 PM   0 comments
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
HD V2: Let the blogging begin

No posts recently as I've been getting the site updated. So far I'm pretty happy with the way that it looks both on my Mac and the PC at work. Still working on the bugs in the layout and adding links, but as far as the overall composition and color scheme, this is it. Hope you find it pleasing. I find it oddly soothing. Lots of stuff coming down the pike politically, so much to write about it. Now that I'm, for the most part, all set up and ready to go, real blogging begins on Friday.
posted by MindSquash the Brain Worm @ 5:23 PM   0 comments

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