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TBR News April 28, 2008

The Voice of the White House Washington , D.C. , April 28, 2008 : “Following my comments on bill collectors, there was considerable response, as I understand it, and I am therefore setting down more comments on the subject that might be of interest to readers. You have a mortgage, a telephone, a car, credit cards, a doctor or medical establishment, an internet server, an insurance policy, a boat, an aircraft, and you travel on American commercial airlines, rent cars, check in at vacation hotels, fly for business, use an ATM machine for cash withdrawals, and perhaps one or all of your children are in school or perhaps have been chucked out of school for violation of various State, Federal or school laws or rules of conduct. You might have relatives in a nursing home, send money by Western Union or use Google or check out books from the local library. What do all these things have in common? Why every scrap of information from any of the above is all on record in a huge data bank located outside of Bethesda , Maryland . Who has access to this credit bank? The Department of Defense, the Justice Department and their FBI, the NSA, the IRS, and the DHS on the Federal side and every credit company, insurance agency and bill collecting agency on the civil side. Approved entities pay their entry fees and they can learn anything about anyone as long as it is in the huge files of the data bank. And I mean all of it; the entire enchilada. Does this surprise anyone? It shouldn’t. The idea is that all of the federal regulatory agencies contribute to this bank and all the credit bureaus and official city and state agencies also pour tons of material into it, with the understanding that they can get anything on anyone at anytime. It is possible to avoid all of this domestic spying a la the German Gestapo but most of the avoidance techniques are relatively unknown to the unsuspecting and innocent American population. Informing them of their possibilities might be an interesting project for someone. The concept of leading a free, surveillance-free existence far from the drooling governmental snoops, perverts and knuckle-draggers is a heady one to contemplate.” The Oil Crisis Gas hits $3.60 a gallon, crude nears $120 on supply outages April 28, 2008 by John Wilen Associated Press NEW YORK - Gas prices hit $3.60 a gallon and oil futures rose to their own new record near $120 a barrel on Monday as labor actions overseas threatened crude supplies. Oil prices later retreated to alternate between gains and losses as the dollar stabilized against foreign currencies. At the pump, the national average price Americans pay to gas up rose 0.4 cent overnight to a record $3.603 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. While prices are 66 cents higher than a year ago, their rate of increase has slowed some since last week, when prices jumped more than 2 cents a day several times. That could suggest that a price peak is near, analysts said. "I've got to think we're close to the end on increases," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research Inc. in Cambridge , Mass. However, Lynch thinks prices could rise another 10 cents to 15 cents before they reach that peak and begin falling. Gas prices are rising in part because refiners are making the seasonal switch-over from making winter-grade gasoline to the more expensive, but less polluting, fuel they must sell during the summer. Supplies tend to fall while refiners are doing this as they try to sell off all of their winter gasoline. But short supplies of a key ingredient used in the manufacture of summer grade gas have contributed to the increases, as has an intentional slowing of gasoline production by many refiners due to low profit margins on the fuel. Refiners have to buy the crude they turn into gasoline and other fuels, and crude prices have risen much faster over the past year than gas prices. Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose to a record $119.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange overnight, then retreated to trade up 59 cents at $119.11 a barrel. Oil prices alternated between positive and negative territory, buffeted by the dollar, which was mixed against foreign currencies, and concerns about supplies. When the dollar holds its ground, commodities such as oil become less effective hedges against inflation. Many analysts believe oil's meteoric rise from around $65 a barrel a year ago is due in large part to a protracted decline in the value of the greenback. Energy investors will be closely watching the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday on interest rates; lower rates tend to weaken the dollar. If, as expected, the Fed lowers a key interest rate by another quarter percentage point and signals that it will temporarily hold off on any future rate cuts, the dollar could strengthen, and oil might fall. "A quarter point cut could suggest ... we're getting to a point where the dollar might bottom out," Lynch said. An unexpectedly large cut, or a suggestion that rates might be cut further, however, could fuel oil to new heights. Meanwhile, Monday, labor actions that cut crude supplies from the North Sea and Nigeria supported prices. BP PLC on Sunday shut down the Forties Pipeline System that carries more than 700,000 barrels of oil a day to the U.K. because of a 48-hour walkout by employees at a refinery in central Scotland . "With the refinery being shut down, it will affect supplies from the North Sea , and that has a potentially significant impact," said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney . "That comes at the same time that there's production disruptions from Nigeria , so the combined effect of those is the immediate factor that's put pressure on oil prices." In Nigeria , workers at an ExxonMobil Corp. joint venture cut production by an unspecified amount to demand more pay. Militant attacks on oil infrastructure have also cut production of Nigeria 's light, sweet crude, which is easily refined. After years of attacks, Nigeria 's output is dropping and the country can produce only about 75 percent of its official capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day. In other Nymex trading Monday, May gasoline futures fell 1.01 cent to $3.0436 a gallon, while May heating oil futures rose 0.66 cent to $3.3094 a gallon. May natural gas futures rose 20.5 cents to $11.168 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London , Brent crude futures rose 63 cents to $116.97 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. --- Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna , Gillian Wong in Singapore and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report. ODAC - The Oil Depletion Analysis Centre (info@odac-info.org) http://odac-info.org/newsletter/2008/04/25 Welcome to the ODAC Newsletter, a weekly roundup from the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, the UK registered charity dedicated to raising awareness of peak oil. The ghost of Corporal Jones stalked the land this week, as Britain braced for the two-day strike at Grangemouth refinery in Scotland . ‘Don’t panic! Don’t panic!’ went the cry from everybody from Business Secretary John Hutton to the AA, as petrol stations started to run dry north of the border - evoking memories of the fuel protests that brought the country to a standstill back in 2000. But there is plenty to worry about. Although the strike is only set for Sunday and Monday, management had already ordered a shutdown on safety grounds, and this has forced the closure of the Forties Pipeline System which lands 700,000 barrels per day. This in turn could halt production at up to 70 North Sea platforms, affecting not just oil but also gas. Meanwhile it could take up to a month to return the refinery to full capacity. This week’s commentary from John Hall Associates explains the background. It was just one more bull factor that pushed the oil price to yet another record high of $119.90 this week. Others included more attacks in the Niger delt], soaring demand in the Middle East , and perhaps even the growing backlash against biofuels. But the big news of the week is the announcement that Saudi Arabia has shelved plans to expand production capacity beyond 12.5 mb/d by 2009. Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi justified the decision on the basis that there would not be the demand (arguable), and King Abdullah has recently declared that his country should save some oil for future generations (entirely sensible), but even the moderately skeptical will take this as further evidence that Saudi Arabia is struggling. The announcement has all the more impact coming just one week after the news that Russia has peaked – according to one Lukoil executive – and that advisors to the Nigerian government believe that country’s output will fall by a third by 2015 . No wonder that both the IEA and OPEC said the price is heading higher! White House: No short-term fix to high fuel prices April 28, 2008 by Tabassum Zakaria Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday there was no short-term fix to record-high gasoline prices and the United States should try to increase domestic production and seek alternative fuel sources. "We are very aware of the high price of gasoline and the impact it is having on people across the country and on businesses in particular," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "So to that end, we have to continue to try to increase domestic production and exploration here in environmentally friendly ways," she said. "Increasing supply in the face of very high demand, I should say high and growing demand, and demand that's growing around the world, is one thing that we need to look at," she said. "But the other thing is increasing efficiencies. And I think that the trucking industry and the airline industry feel these impacts quite acutely," Perino said. Truckers will drive their big rigs through downtown Washington on Monday and hold a rally in front of the Capitol to protest high diesel fuel prices, which average a record $4.24 a gallon, according to the AAA travel group. It costs about $1,200 at the pump to fill up a tractor trailer. Rising fuel costs could increase the cost of goods transported by trucks, including food, retail and manufactured goods. Perino said it will take time to develop technologies that will allow for vehicles to travel farther on a gallon of gasoline. "It's going to take a while to get those technologies changing, but we're trying to move farther and faster, especially in regards to SUVs, light trucks and passenger cars in the meantime," she said. The administration last week announced higher vehicle fuel efficiency requirements for U.S. cars and trucks. Perino said that the national average retail price for gasoline which hit above $3.60 a gallon was "entirely too high, but I think it would be disingenuous and unfortunate for American consumers for them to be led to believe that there is a short-term fix. There is not going to be one." (Editing by Matthew Lewis) The Real Matrix *The Pentagon Invades Your Life* by Nick Turse Rick is a midlevel manager in a financial services company in New York City . Each day he commutes from Weehawken , New Jersey , a suburb only a stone's throw from the Big Apple, where he lives with his wife, Donna, and his teenage son, Steven. A late baby boomer, Rick just missed the Vietnam era's antiwar protests, but he's been against the war in Iraq from the beginning. He thinks the Pentagon is out of control and considers the military-industrial complex a danger to the country. If you asked him, it's a subject on which he would rate himself as knowledgeable. He puts effort into educating himself on such matters. He reads liberal websites, subscribes to progressive-minded magazines, and is a devotee of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In fact, he has no idea just how deep the Pentagon rabbit hole goes or how far down it his family already is. Rick believes that, despite its long reach, the military-industrial complex is a discrete entity far removed from his everyday life. Now, if this were 1961, when outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the country about the "unwarranted influence" of the "military-industrial complex" and the "large arms industry" already firmly entrenched in the United States , Rick might be right. After all, he doesn't work for one of the Pentagon's corporate partners, like arms maker Lockheed Martin. He isn't in the Army Reserve. He's never attended a performance of the Marine Corps band (not to mention the Army's, Navy's, or Air Force's music groups). But today's geared-up, high-tech Complex is nothing like the olive-drab outfit of Eisenhower's day: It reaches deeper into American lives and the American psyche than Eisenhower could ever have imagined. The truth is that, at every turn, in countless, not-so-visible ways Rick's life is wrapped up with the military. So wake up with Rick and sample a single spring morning as the alarm on his Sony (Department of Defense contractor) clock interrupts his final dream of the night. Donna is already up and dressed in fitness apparel by Danskin (a Pentagon supplier that received more than $780,000 in DoD dollars in 2004 and another $456,000 in 2005) and Hanes Her Way (made by defense contractor and cake seller Sara Lee Corporation, which took in more than $68 million from the DoD in 2006). Committed to a healthy lifestyle, she's wearing sneakers from (DoD contractor) New Balance and briskly jogging on a treadmill made by (DoD contractor) True Fitness Technology. Rick drags himself to the bathroom (fixtures by Pentagon contractor Kohler, purchased at defense contractor Home Depot). There, he squeezes the Charmin, brushes with Crest toothpaste, washes his face with Noxzema; then, hopping into the shower, he lathers up with Zest and chooses Donna's Herbal Essences over Head & Shoulders -- "What the hell," he mutters, "I deserve an organic experience." (The manufacturer of each of these products, Procter & Gamble, is among the top 100 defense contractors and raked in a cool $362,461,808 from the Pentagon in 2006.) In go his (DoD supplier) Bausch and Lomb contact lenses and down goes a Zantac (from DoD contractor GlaxoSmithKline) for his ulcer. Heading back to the bedroom, he finds Donna finished with her workout and making the bed -- with the TV news on -- and lends her a hand. (Their headboard was purchased from Thomasville Furniture, the mattress from Sears, the pillows were made by Harris Pillow Supply, all Pentagon contractors.) They exchange grim glances as, on their Samsung set (another DoD contractor) the Today Show chronicles the latest in chaos in Iraq . "Thank god we never supported this war," Rick says, thinking of the antiwar rally Donna and he attended even before the invasion was launched. NBC, which produces the Today Show, is owned by General Electric, the 14th-largest defense contractor in the United States , to the tune of $2.3 billion from the DoD in 2006, and has worked on such weapons systems as the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and F/A-18 Hornet multimission fighter/attack aircraft, both in use in Iraq . A Who's Who of Your Life Of course, the Pentagon has long poured U.S. tax dollars into private coffers to arm and outfit the military and enable it to function. At the time of Eisenhower's farewell address, New York Times reporter Jack Raymond noted that the Pentagon was spending "$23,000,000,000 a year for services and procurement of guns, missiles, airplanes, electronic devices, vehicles, tanks, ammunition, clothing and other military goods." Today, that would equal around $200 billion. In 2007, the Department of Defense's stated budget was $439 billion. Counting the costs of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , the number jumps to over $600 billion. Factoring in all the many related activities carried out by other agencies, actual U.S. national security spending is nearly $1 trillion per year. Back in Eisenhower's day, arms dealers and mega-corporations, such as Lockheed and General Motors, held sway over the corporate side of the military-industrial complex. Companies like these still play an extremely powerful role today, but they are dwarfed by the sheer number of contractors that stretch from coast to coast and across the globe. Looking at the situation in 1970, almost 10 years after Eisenhower's farewell speech, Sidney Lens, a journalist and expert on U.S. militarism, noted that there were 22,000 prime contractors doing business with the U.S. Department of Defense. Today, the number of prime contractors tops 47,000 with subcontractors reaching well over the 100,000 mark, making for one massive conglomerate touching nearly every sector of society, from top computer manufacturer Dell (the 50th-largest DoD contractor in 2006) to oil giant ExxonMobil (the 30th) to package-shipping titan FedEx (the 26th). In fact, the Pentagon payroll is a veritable who's who of the top companies in the world: IBM; Time-Warner; Ford and General Motors; Microsoft; NBC and its parent company, General Electric; Hilton and Marriott; Columbia TriStar Films and its parent company, Sony; Pfizer; Sara Lee; Procter & Gamble; M&M Mars and Hershey; Nestlé; ESPN and its parent company, Walt Disney; Bank of America; and Johnson & Johnson among many other big-name firms. But the difference between now and then isn't only in scale. As this list suggests, Pentagon spending is reaching into previously neglected areas of American life: entertainment, popular consumer brands, sports. This penetration translates into a remarkable variety of forms of interaction with the public. Rick and Donna's home is full of the fruits of this incursion. As they putter around in their kitchen, getting ready for the day ahead, they move from the wall cabinets (purchased at DoD contractor Lowe's Home Center) to the refrigerator (from defense contractor Maytag), choosing their breakfast from a cavalcade of products made by Pentagon contractors. These companies that, quite literally, feed the Pentagon's war machine, are the same firms that fill the shelves of America 's kitchens. Today, just about every supermarket staple -- from Ballpark Franks (Sara Lee) and Eggo waffles (Kelloggs) to Jell-O (Kraft) and Coffee Mate (Nestle) -- has ties to the Pentagon. The same holds for many household appliances. In Rick and Donna's dining room, a small Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner buzzes around the floor. Rick thought it would be cute to have the little mechanical device trolling around the house making their hectic lives just a tad easier. Little did he know that Roomba's manufacturer, iRobot, takes in U.S. tax dollars ($51 million of them from the DoD in 2006, more than a quarter of the company's revenue) and turns them into PackBots, tactical robots used by U.S. troops occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, and Warrior X700s -- 250-pound semiautonomous robots armed with heavy weapons such as machine guns, that may be deployed in Iraq this year. In addition to selling millions of Roombas to civilian consumers, the company uses government tax dollars to make money on the civilian side of its business. According to the company's December 2006 annual report (which listed as its "Research Support Agencies" the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [DARPA], the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, and the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center), government funding "allows iRobot to accelerate the development of multiple technologies." Yet iRobot retains "ownership of patents and know-how and [is] generally free to develop other commercial products, including consumer and industrial products, utilizing the technologies developed during these projects." It's a very sweet deal. And iRobot is hardly alone. Entering the Digital World with Guns Blazing Sitting on the dining room table is Rick's HP (Hewlett-Packard) notebook computer. HP is another company that has grown its civilian know-how with generous military contracts, like the multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal it signed in 2005 with DARPA to "develop technologies to improve the performance of mission-critical computer networks used during combat and other vital operations." A spokesman for the company noted, "Our work for DARPA is aimed at significantly improving the performance of the Internet.... If we can successfully create new approaches to the way Internet traffic is detected and routed, we may start seeing the Internet used as the de facto communications and information network in areas where it previously would've been thought too risky." Success would certainly translate into more lucrative civilian work, as well. Meanwhile, Rick and Donna's son, Steven, is still upstairs, having a hard time tearing himself away from his computer game. His room is a veritable showcase of the new entertainment/sports/high tech/pop culture dimension of the twenty-first-century Complex: there are NASCAR posters (in 2005, more than $38 million in taxpayer money was spent on U.S. armed forces' racecars); National Football League (NFL) jerseys and baseball caps (the NFL has partnered with the Pentagon to create military profiles aired during TV broadcasts of regular and postseason games, while individual NFL teams have hosted "military appreciation" events); X-Men comic books (the Pentagon teamed up with Marvel Comics to produce limited-edition, "military-exclusive" comic books, with pro-Pentagon themes, that are now sought after by civilian collectors); and a wastebasket filled with empty Mountain Dew bottles (the Air Force was one of the sponsors of the Dew Action Sports Tour, a traveling show featuring skateboarding, BMX, and freestyle motocross contests). During Ike's time, when civilian firms like Ford and AT&T were the big military suppliers, the payroll showed an utter lack of cool companies. Now, the Pentagon is reaching into virgin territory in new ways with new partners. Today, hip firms like Apple, Google, and Starbucks are also on DoD contractors' lists. And while Ike's complex was typified by brass bands and patriotic parades, today's variant is a flashy digitized world of video games, extreme sports, and everything cool that appeals to potential young recruits. Steven finally shuts down Tropico: Paradise Island -- a nation-building simulation video game where the player, as "El Presidente," attempts to lure tourists to his/her fun-in-the-sun resort. Neither father nor son is remotely aware that the software maker, Breakaway Games, does taxpayer-funded work for such military clients as DARPA, the Joint Forces Command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the United States Air Force -- as well as having developed 24 Blue, a simulator used to improve aircraft carrier-based operations. They are blissfully unaware of even the existence of Breakaway's Pentagon-funded video game that could conceivably lead to more effective bombing of targets abroad. Steven grabs his iPod MP3 player (from DoD contractor Apple Computer) and heads downstairs to leave with his father. On his way to the door, Rick goes to his bookshelf and scans a selection of progressive texts whose publishers just happen to be DoD contractors, including a reissue of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin), Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America by Lou Dubose and Molly Ivins (Random House), and Jon Stewart's America (The Book) (Warner Books), before choosing the Hugo Chavez-approved Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky (ahem, Metropolitan Books from Macmillan publishers). As the last one out, Donna sets the ADT alarm system. (ADT took in more than $16 million from the Pentagon in 2006, while its parent company, Tyco International, cleaned up to the tune of over $187 million.) The Pentagon on Wheels Rick and Steven hop into the Saturn parked in the driveway. Rick is proud of his car choice -- after all, Saturn has such a people-friendly (even anti–Detroit establishment) vibe. Admittedly, he is aware that General Motors owns not only the Saturn but the Hummer brand -- the civilian version of the U.S. military's Humvee -- but he believes that, in this world, you can't be squeaky-clean perfect. But Hummer isn't the half of it. How could Rick have known that, in 1999, GM formally entered the Army's COMBATT (COMmercially BAsed Tactical Truck) vehicle development program? Or that GM actually had its own military division, General Motors Defense, when his Saturn was made? Nor could Rick have known that GM Defense formed a joint venture with defense giant General Dynamics to create the GM-GDLS Defense Group (which was awarded in excess of $1.5 billion in DoD contract dollars in 2005). Or that GM took in $87 million from the Pentagon in 2006. Or that, in 2007, GM entered into a 50-year lease agreement to build a $100 million test track on the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds. Or that the maker of his Saturn's tires, Goodyear, was America 's 69th-largest defense contractor in 2004, with DoD contracts worth nearly $357 million. Rick might be an aging baby boomer, but he still tries to look cool (to Steven's embarrassment). As he pulls the Saturn out of the driveway, he dons a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Oakley supplies goggles and boots to U.S. troops. And while the military purchased goggles from firms such as the American Optical Company during the 1940s, it's unlikely that anyone ever called that company's designs "badass," as Powder, a skiing magazine that runs Army recruitment ads on its website, called one of Oakley's products. Driving along, Rick glances over at his son. "Are those the Wolverine boots we just got you?" "Yeah, Dad," answers Steven, looking down at his now-ratty footwear. Rick's already thinking about the next pair he'll need to buy his son, not about the five-year, multimillion-dollar contract the company signed in 2003 to supply the Army with an upgraded infantry combat boot, or the other deals, worth tens of millions of dollars, that Wolverine signed with the Pentagon in 2004, 2006, and 2007. As they drive to his school, Steven perks up. "That's it, Dad!" he says, pointing at a Ford Escape that just pulled into the high school parking lot. "Whaddaya say, Dad? Next year, when I get my license?" Rick remembers hearing on the radio that Ford makes an Escape hybrid-electric vehicle. "You know what, son? I think maybe we just might look into it." He experiences a little burst of satisfaction. Not only can he feel like a good dad, but as a bonus he can even help the environment. (Ford Motor Company and its subsidiaries have, of course, garnered rafts of defense contracts and aided the Army and Navy in various projects.) Overjoyed, Steven shoots his father a big smile as he opens the car door, "Alright! Well, I'll see you tonight, Dad." "Do you have your cell phone?" Rick asks. Steven whips a Motorola from his pocket. (Motorola made almost $308 million from the Department of Defense in 2004, while the phone's service provider, Verizon, took home more than $128 million in DoD contracts, and $50 million more from the Department of Homeland Security, in 2006.) The Real Matrix With Steven at school, Rick heads for work. He gives the local Exxon station (ExxonMobil took in more than $1.17 billion in DoD dollars in 2006) a pass and instead pulls into Shell, which likes to portray itself as a kinder, greener oil giant. As he signs the receipt of his Bank of America credit card (a firm which issues special credit cards to Pentagon employees to streamline the process of buying supplies for the DoD), Rick has no way of knowing that Shell's parent company, N.V. Koninklijke Nederlansche, was the 31st-largest defense contractor in 2006, reaping more than $1.15 billion dollars in DoD contracts. Entering the Holland Tunnel on his way to Manhattan , Rick realizes that, with Steven driving next year, he can start taking mass transit to work. The PATH train into the city -- recently restored under the watchful eye of Bechtel, the 15th-largest defense contractor of 2004 and the recipient of more than $1.7 billion in DoD contracts that year -- will, he believes, lessen his "footprint" on the planet. Keep in mind, Rick is now only a couple of hours into his long day. In fact, no part of the hours to come will be lacking in products produced by Pentagon contractors -- from the framed photographs of Donna and Steven on his desk (taken by an Olympus camera and printed on Kodak paper) to the beer he drinks with lunch (Budweiser) to most of the products around his office, including: 3M Post-It notes, Microsoft Windows software, Lexmark printers, Canon photocopiers, AT&T telephones, Maxwell House Coffee, Kidde fire extinguishers, Xerox fax machines, IBM servers, paper from International Paper, Duracell batteries, an LG Electronics refrigerator, and paper towels by Marcal Paper Mills. Rick is, of course, a fiction, but the rest of us aren't -- and neither is the existence of the real Matrix. In the 1999 sci-fi movie classic of the same name, the Matrix is an artificial reality (resembling the Western world at the dawn of the twenty-first century) created by sentient machines. Humans, who are grown as energy sources and wired in to the Matrix using cybernetic implants, are kept in a coma-like state -- ignorant of the very existence of the artificial reality that they "live" in. In explaining the situation to Neo, the movie's protagonist, Morpheus, a leader of a group of unplugged free humans who wage a guerrilla struggle against the machines, reveals: "The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." At one point in his farewell speech, Eisenhower presaged this point, suggesting, "The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- [of the conjunction of the military establishment and the large arms industry] is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government." But only Hollywood has yet managed to capture the essence of today's omnipresent, all-encompassing, cleverly hidden system of systems that invades all our lives; this new military-industrial-technological-entertainment-academic-scientific- media-intelligence-homeland security-surveillance-national security-corporate complex that has truly taken hold of America. Nick Turse is the associate editor of Tomdispatch.com. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Adbusters, the Nation, and regularly for Tomdispatch. His first book, The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, has just been published in Metropolitan Books' American Empire Project series. His website is NickTurse.com. SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Volume 2008, Issue No. 41 April 28, 2008 RESOURCES ON THE ISRAELI STRIKE IN SYRIA The September 6, 2007 Israeli strike against a suspected Syrian nuclear facility remains a puzzle despite the confident assertion by U.S. intelligence officials last week that the target was a Syrian reactor constructed for the production of plutonium with the assistance of North Korea . An extensive, frequently updated collection of open source materials on the subject -- including foreign and domestic news reports, satellite imagery and analysis -- has been compiled by Allen Thomson in "A Sourcebook on the Israeli Strike in Syria , 6 September 2007 " (currently 812 pages in a 15 MB PDF file): http://www.fas.org/man/eprint/syria.pdf An updated bibliography of Syrian nuclear science research, from reactor safety to laser isotope separation, was prepared by researcher Mark Gorwitz. See "Syrian Nuclear Science Bibliography: Open Literature Citations," April 2008: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/syria/biblio.pdf A list of all cooperative agreements between the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, also compiled by Mr. Gorwitz, is here: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/syria/iaea-syria.pdf The web site of the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria is here: http://www.aec.org.sy/index_e.php A NEW AMBASSADOR FROM BAHRAIN The next ambassador from Bahrain to the United States will be a Jewish woman named Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, according to a report in GulfNews.com last week. "Huda is Bahrain 's nominee for the post and this is of course very good news for Bahrain 's deep-rooted values of tolerance and openness," said Faisal Fouladh of the Shura Council, the upper house of Bahrain 's legislature. The Shura Council currently includes 11 women, including one Christian. See " Bahrain set to name Jewish woman envoy" by Habib Toumi, GulfNews, April 25: http://archive.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/10208344.html Alone among Muslim countries, Bahrain and Bosnia have Jewish diplomats in senior positions, said Stephen S. Schwartz of the Center for Islamic Pluralism (www.islamicpluralism.org). HEARING ON SECRET LAW The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing April 30 on the subject of "secret law." "It's been nearly forty years since Professor Kenneth Davis stated in his seminal treatise on administrative law that 'Secret law is an abomination'," according to a Committee announcement. "The upcoming hearing will examine the extent to which this abomination is gradually becoming a common state of affairs, and its effect on our democracy." The hearing will be chaired by Sen. Russ Feingold. I will be testifying, along with J. William Leonard, the former director of the Information Security Oversight Office, and a diverse group of others. See "Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic and Accountable Government": http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=3305 PRESIDENTIAL CLAIMS OF EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, AND MORE FROM CRS Noteworthy new reports from the Congressional Research Service that have not been made readily available to the public include the following. " Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa ," updated March 10, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34003.pdf "High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices: Threat Assessments," updated March 26, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32544.pdf "Second FY2008 Supplemental Appropriations for Military Operations, International Affairs, and Other Purposes," April 15, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34451.pdf " Iraq : Regional Perspectives and U.S. Policy," updated April 4, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33793.pdf "Operation Iraqi Freedom: Strategies, Approaches, Results, and Issues for Congress," March 28, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL34387.pdf "Major U.S. Arms Sales and Grants to Pakistan Since 2001" (fact sheet), updated April 23, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/pakarms.pdf "Pakistan-U.S. Relations," updated March 27, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33498.pdf "Presidential Claims of Executive Privilege: History, Law, Practice and Recent Developments," updated April 16, 2008 : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/RL30319.pdf The Alzheimer’s Poster Boy John McCain’s ‘Serious’ Foreign Policy April 27, 2008 by Glenn Greenwald Salon John McCain was on a conference call with right-wing bloggers yesterday and boasted: I think that people should understand that I will be Hamas’s worst nightmare. What possible reason would a U.S. President have for turning himself and our country into a “nightmare” for Hamas, let alone its “worst nightmare”? Hamas is a single-issue Palestinian group, focused exclusively on its “territorial dispute” with Israel (and, in light of its victory in the U.S.-demanded election, is also now preoccupied with governing the Palestinian Authority). Is there anyone who thinks that Hamas has tried to, will try to, or ever could attack the U.S. ? Hamas is an enemy of Israel , not the U.S. Is that a distinction we even recognize any more? What exactly is the point of feeding Israel billions of dollars every year in military aid if we’re going to deem every one of its fights to be our fight, and every one of its enemies to be our Enemy? Is that actually what Americans want to do: insinuate ourselves even more into other endless, intractable religious and ethnic conflicts in the Middle East ? More disturbingly still, this chest-beating threat from McCain is merely the latest in a long line of adolescent, mindlessly belligerent war cries emanating from the Serious foreign policy candidate. In a GOP debate in May of last year, he bellowed that he would “follow [Osama bin Laden] to the gates of hell” only thereafter, according to ABC News, to then “crack[] a smile which gave the impression to some viewers that perhaps he viewed his own answer as being over the top.” But he’s since repeated that demonic formulation on numerous occasions, followed by the same creepy, self-satisfied smirk: And here was McCain’s sober, Serious prescription in 2006 for ending sectarian warfare in Iraq : One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, “Stop the bullshit.” Add to that his merry singing of the joys of dropping bombs on the Iranian people, and it’s clear that McCain’s foreign policy approach seems even more childishly bellicose than the current occupant of the Oval Office. There’s a reason that Bill Kristol and Joe Lieberman are such ardent supporters. Is there anyone outside of Lieberman and John Bolton who thinks that what we need are more cartoon-like imperial threats to the world about how we’re going to pummel and smash everyone if they don’t step into line? Is that mentality going to reduce complex religious and geostrategic threats or severely worsen them? McCain’s foreign policy approach actually seems to be a less restrained and less complex rendition of Bush’s “Bring-em-on” swagger that has really worked miracles in Iraq . Whatever adjectives might describe McCain’s barren, cliched tough guy decrees, Serious — or “moderate” — isn’t it. UPDATE: Also, it would be great to know what McCain plans to do, exactly, to turn himself into Hamas’ “worst nightmare.” Will he invade Gaza ? Bomb targets in the not-yet-settled-by-Israel-parts of the West Bank ? Have the CIA engage in covert “regime change” efforts to remove Hamas, the democratically elected government, and replace it with rulers whom McCain likes better? Will we be an even more active participant in the endless Israeli-Palestinian dispute? What are McCain’s plans specifically for unleashing new “nightmares” on Hamas? Glenn Greenwald was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York . He is the author of the New York Times Bestselling book “How Would a Patriot Act?,” a critique of the Bush administration’s use of executive power, released in May 2006. His second book, “A Tragic Legacy“, examines the Bush legacy. © Salon.com 10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't) MoveOn http://pol.moveon.org/mccain10/ 1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.¹ 2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq , Russia and China . Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."² 3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.³ 4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."⁴ 5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.⁵ 6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.⁶ 7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."⁷ 8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.⁸ 9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America 's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."⁹ 10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.¹⁰ Sources: 1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008 http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html "McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008 http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/ 2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia , China , Iraq ," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us "Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/ 3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/ 4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/ 5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action CouncilÂ® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008 http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007 "McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007 http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/ 6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008 http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80 "McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home 7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022 "Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008 http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/ 8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/ "McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251 9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008 http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html "Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/ "McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran ,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008 http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/ 10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008 http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/ Poll Shows American Jewish rejection of Neo-cons American Jewish Committee A new survey of American Jewish opinion, released by the American Jewish Committee, demonstrates several important propositions: (1) right-wing neocons (the Bill Kristol/Commentary/ AIPAC/Marty Peretz faction) who relentlessly claim to speak for Israel and for Jews generally hold views that are shared only by a small minority of American Jews; (2) viewpoints that are routinely demonized as reflective of animus towards Israel or even anti-Semitism are ones that are held by large majorities of American Jews; and (3) most American Jews oppose U.S. military action in the Middle East -- including both in Iraq and against Iran. It is beyond dispute that American Jews overwhelmingly oppose core neoconservative foreign policy principles. Hence, in large numbers, they disapprove of the way the U.S. is handling its "campaign against terrorism" (59-31); overwhelmingly believe the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq (67-27); believe that things are going "somewhat badly" or "very badly" in Iraq (76-23); and believe that the "surge" has either made things worse or has had no impact (68-30). When asked whether they would support or oppose the United States taking military action against Iran, a large majority -- 57-35% -- say they would oppose such action, even if it were being undertaken "to prevent [Iran] from developing nuclear weapons." While Jews hold views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which are quite pessimistic about the prospects for Israel 's ability to achieve a lasting peace with its "Arab neighbors," even there, a plurality (46-43) supports the establishment of a Palestinian state. In the realm of U.S. domestic politics, it is even clearer that right-wing neoconservatives are a fringe segment of American Jewish public opinion. By a large margin, American Jews identify as some shade of liberal rather than conservative (43-25), and overwhelmingly identify themselves as Democrats rather than Republicans (58-15). And, most strikingly, by a 3-1 margin (61-21), they believe that Democrats, rather than Republicans, are "more likely to make the right decision about the war in Iraq ," and by a similarly lopsided margin (53-30), believe that Democrats are "more likely to make the right decision when it comes to dealing with terrorism." They have overwhelmingly favorable views of the top 3 Democratic presidential candidates, and overwhelmingly negative views of 3 out of the top 4 GOP candidates (Giuliani being the sole exception, where opinion is split). Contrary to the bottomless obssession which most neocon pundits and office-holders have with All Matters Israel, the principal political concerns of most American Jews have nothing to do with the Middle East . Thus, they identify "economy/jobs" (22) and "health care" (19) -- not Terrorism -- as "the most important problem facing the U.S. today." Still, most American Jews agree that "[c]aring about Israel is a very important part of [their] being a Jew" -- a common, innocuous and indisputable attribute that typically triggers noxious charges of anti-Semitism if pointed out by those who oppose the neoconservative agenda. One of the defining traits of war-loving neoconservatives is that their unrelenting and exclusive fixation on the Middle East places them loudly at the center of any foreign policy debates. That tenacity -- combined with their reckless exploitation of "anti-Israel" and anti-Semitism accusations as instruments in their political rhetoric and their corresponding, deceitful equation of their own views with being "pro-Israel" -- often casts the appearance that they are some sort of spokespeople for the "pro-Israel" agenda or the Jewish viewpoint. Manifestly, they are nothing of the sort. Even among American Jews, they comprise only a small minority, and their generally discredited militarism is widely rejected by most Jews as well. It is always worth underscoring these points, which are so frequently (and deliberately) obscured, and this comprehensive poll provides potent -- actually quite conclusive -- evidence for doing so. This survey was conducted for the American Jewish Committee by Synovate (formerly Market Facts), a leading survey-research organization. Respondents were interviewed by telephone between November 6 - November 25, 2007 ; no interviewing took place on the Sabbath. The sample consisted of 1,000 self-identifying Jewish respondents selected from the Synovate consumer mail panel. The respondents are demographically representative of the United States adult Jewish population on a variety of measures. The margin of error for the sample as a whole is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Rabbi Joel Timmerman It think it is imperative that the American public realizes that much of what the media reports concerning Jewish subjects deals almost entirely with matters concerning Zionists and their political Likudist members. In America , the great bulk of the nation’s Jewish population are Reformed Jews, not Zionists, and the two are poles apart. We Reformed Jews are Americans first and Jews second while the Zionists and Likudists (among which are the neo-cons) represent a very small, but very vocal minority. And clearly are Zionists first and Americans second. Reformed Jews are not rabid supporters of the Zionist goals. While most of us support the state of Israel , we do not support Zionist expansionist views, strongly desire there to be genuine peace in the Middle East , do not support a neo-Nazi ‘Greater Israel’ program and disagree with the neo-cons and their deliberate disruption of American legitimate attempts to secure a lasting peace in the Middle East . The Reformed Jewish community is now very much concerned lest the activity of a minority of Jews is able to brand the rest of the Jewish community in America as fanatic troublemakers. Joel Timmerman Conspiracy Corner: Blessed Prozac Moments! The Motherships are Back! http://rocketarena4.com/ In the Living Bible, Jesus Christ predicts his return in the clouds. (UFOs) “And the nations of the world will see me return in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And I shall send forth my angels with sound of a mighty trumpet blast, and they shall gather the chosen ones from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.” Matthew 24-30 There is a deliberate upswing in UFO sighting reports. During January of 2008, not far from President Bush’s’ ranch a huge Mothership was sighted by witnesses in Texas . Hundreds of reports have been made by all types of people from pilots to police to various businessmen. Steve Allen, a pilot and freight company owner, said: “People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible belt, and everyone is afraid it’s the end of times.” He described the object he saw as a mile long and half a mile wide. “It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts,” he said. Steve and other witnesses claim the Mothership was a mile long. Numerous independent and credible eye witnesses including pilots claim to have seen craft a thousand feet to a mile long in our skies. Japan Air Lines flight 628, a cargo jet with a pilot, co-pilot and one crew member claim they were intercepted by a UFO just north of Anchorage , Alaska , about 8 PM , on November 7, 1986 . It was when a huge UFO many times larger than their 747 that could jump miles in a few seconds. It was picked up by numerous radars and investigated by the FAA. (See Filer’s Files #7) Any alien civilization advanced enough to send starships throughout the universe has certainly mastered nanotechnology. This would mean that their starships do not have to be very large; and they could be sent by the millions to explore inhabited planets. Desolate moons would perhaps be the best bases for such nanoships. These huge craft that I choose to call Motherships are bigger than any flying machine ever built by man. Frequently they are seen launching smaller generally disc shaped craft estimated to be thirty feet in diameter. One or two eyewitnesses can cause a person in court to be convicted and sentenced to death. We can produce hundreds of eye witnesses who are frequently experienced pilots and police who will testify to gigantic airships bigger than anything ever built by man. It is logical to assume they are visiting Earth from other planets for important reasons. It is apparent that we have a wonderful world, with plenty of water, crops, vegetation, minerals, energy, excellent temperatures, and various kinds of animals and fish. Our world is a wonderful place to visit, an oasis in space for alien life forms. It is certainly the best planet in our Solar System for building strong life forms. Interestingly, descriptions of alien life forms often describe emaciated, sick, weak and aliens unable to reproduce. Earth may carry the label, as the place to get medical treatment, a warm sun, good water and food the important spark of life, perhaps the most important ability in the universe. Thousands of abductees claim the aliens are mostly interested in our ability to reproduce offspring. The Bible and many ancient scriptures inform us that God made a wonderful Earth that, God saw that it was good. “The sons of God saw that the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” Genesis 6. I agree that some UFO sightings are mistakes in identification such as aircraft or satellites. But if you flying a 747 and the craft next to you is ten times larger, you are pretty sure it is not a mistake. If any reasonable person looks at the evidence, it should be obvious that the reality of sightings reported by normal people are real objects. The only reason to deny the existence of these Motherships is psychological reluctance to admit there are fantastic technological craft visiting us. Comment: The subject of flying saucers was the first 20^th century popular conspiracy cult, to be followed by that of the Kennedy assassination in 1963 and now, the 9/11 tragedy occupies the energies of the small of mind. I have to report that last week, a flying saucer landed on my birdbath to take on fuel when our cat ate it. And in case readers find any of this amusing and entertaining, herewith is something even funnier to amuse you when the price of your gas goes to $5 a gallon: http://www.raptureready.com/rr-end-time.html Try to read this one sitting down and not after a heavy meal. BH Letters to the Editor Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:36:29 +0000 From: stellakone6_2006@yahoo.fr Subject: Please i need urgent help To: stellakone6_2006@yahoo.fr CC: isaac.ben@brin.com; sergey@glbcom.net; smarterchild@hotmail.com; felixps@hotmail.com; bebo_judo55@hotmail.com; layla_ashby72@hotmail.com; Cool@hotmail.Com; davidbrin@sbcglobal.net; simurgh@hotmail.com; wxtao-cn@hotmail.com; wanli@mail.jlu.edu.cn; tbrnews@hotmail.com; law222@hotmail.com; emily87bath@hotmail.com; farrukh15@hotmail.com; crow_steve@hotmail.com; onebigfriggingdude@hotmail.com; sergeygt@hotmail.com; craig.llinks@hotmail.com; beamdriver@hotmail.com; justinsteiner@hotmail.com; nat_lib_libya@hotmail.com; dezigner101@hotmail.com; 23554selvaathithan@hotmail.com; athithan.netcash@gmail.com; carwit_@hotmail.com; davidaslindsay@hotmail.com; adu.du@hotmail.com; bpadier@sanantonio.gov; abuse@msn.com; roman@enterprise.net; jayrad72@hotmail.com; lifejaw@aol.com Dearest , Greetings; I write to intimate you of a matter that requires an urgent attention. But briefly, I am Ms Stella Kone, the first and surviving daughter of late Dr Richarson Kone, he was until death the chairman/CEO of the Sierra-Leone national Gold & Diamond Mining Corporation. It is my pleasure communicating with you for the first time and believing that it will lead to a better relationship between us. I also hope you will not impede this trust and confidence I repose in you. I send this letter from Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire where I have an official refugee status with my mother who unfortunately died after our six (6) months arrival here after leaving our country due to an event that took place on Febuary 2001 which led to the arrest and detention of my father and six other men after a face off with the Sierra- Leone government on allegation of subversive activities and treasonable offences which was nothing but a mere political persecution. After five months in the military detention camp my father was announced dead by the government special press release. Though I do not know to what extent you are familiar with the event and crisis in Sierra Leone , however during the disturbance and prior to my father's death he gave Mummy all the documents for the secret deposit he made in a security company in Abidjan . The deposit is US$ 4.3 Million US Dollars, he made the deposit in one trunk box(cash), but the real contents of the box was not disclosed to the security company officials as this was deposited as personal effects.(for security reasons) . However I have gone to the security company to confirm the deposit and establish ownership, please I need your assistance urgently in moving this fund abroad for investment. When the fund is properly secured, we will jointly invest it in any business you consider profitable. I will be very glad for your resolved assistance, I will kindly appreciate if we can talk and emerge words with action. With all honesty to the stated data in my message, l assure you of the genuity of this proposal. I will particularly be happy if you can handle this transaction in the most confidential and honest manner since the rest of my life solely depends on this fund. It is the fear of betrayal from anyone around us here that confirms my decision to contact a neutral individual like you, and I want you to educate me on investment potential in your country since I would not like to invest or stay in any of the African country,except otherwise. I will not hesitate to give you your due percentage or any negotiable of the total sum for your assistance. So if you will be able to assist me, please do urgently reply me for further clarification and confirmation and in order to stop further contacts. Thanks for your anticipated co-operation, May GOD bless you. Your Sincerely, Stella Kone. *Response* Dear Stella: Please permit me to extend to you my deepest sympathy for your current deplorable condition. As I was just notified that I have won the national lotteries of: the Netherlands , Ireland , Botswana and Mexico , I would be pleased to send you the sum of $120,000,000 by return mail. If you will be kind enough to give me a current address, the money will come as soon as possible. Would you like large bills? I could also pay you in Japanese Occupation Currency if you so desire. And, indeed, God has heard your prayers! Ottkar Minge, Director of Responses Green Zone Follies Baghdad , 25 April 08: “We are getting bombarded fairly regularly, now, and the command structure is frantic to put a stop to it. No sooner do they cleanse a suspect launch area (which consists of the use of flamethrowers and bulldozers on poor neighborhoods) than the Evil Ones move to a new location. But aside from a few dead colonels and damaged pool halls, the real menace here is from the Christian Loonies. Yes, kids, these vile creeps have penetrated even into the ranks of the military and in fact, lead it. Many, but not all, of our young officers are part and parcel of a plan, concocted with the full approval and entire cooperation of the degenerate occupant of the Offal Office to Christianize our officer corps. We have shavetails and captains running amok in the field, demanding Total Obedience to Jesus the Lord from the sorely tried troops. Lousy food, no leave, heavily censored mail, chances of death or dismemberment at any time and to put the cherry on the sundae, we now have drooling Jesus freak officers and their mandatory prayer sessions (while under fire) to cope with. A really joyful story to relate on this subject. One Captain of an Infantry unit who used to dole out daily rants of nuttiness got caught out by some of his men while in the latrine. They smashed his head in with a heavy socket wrench, cut off his testicles and shoved them down his dead throat with the butt end of his big crucifix that he waved around when the shooting stopped. When he was found, the flies were having a field day and you couldn’t get downwind from the bloated mess or you’d puke. Another soul saved for the Lord! And close the coffin and put in the usual note for the Stateside undertaker not to open it under any circumstances. I do feel sorry for the victims of these crazies, I do indeed. We do need more affirmative actions in the latrines to stop this crap.” Barrage of rockets fired at Baghdad's Green Zone BAGHDAD , Apr 27 (Reuters) A barrage of about a dozen rockets struck near Baghdad 's fortified Green Zone diplomatic and government compound this evening in what appeared to be one of the biggest strikes in weeks. The rockets could be heard whistling past from the east of the Iraqi capital as they flew in the direction of the riverside compound and exploded, Reuters correspondents on the opposite river bank said. The strikes took place during a heavy sandstorm. US forces normally use helicopters to retaliate against fighters who target the Green Zone, but sandstorms prevent the helicopters from flying, letting fighters strike with impunity. US and Iraqi forces say Shi'ite militiamen have fired more than 700 rockets and mortars over the past month, many aimed at the Green Zone and most fired from the capital's Sadr City slum, stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. US forces have occupied the part of Sadr City closest to the centre in an effort to reduce the rocket attacks, but have not moved further into the slum. Senate Panel Moves Against FCC Media-Ownership Rules April 25, 2008 by Jim Puzzanghera The Los Angles Times WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission defied some in Congress last year by easing a ban on ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same city. On Thursday, the lawmakers took the first step toward getting even The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved a rare “resolution of disapproval” to invalidate the FCC’s new rules, as concerns about media consolidation escalated in the wake of News Corp.’s negotiations to buy a second New York newspaper. “We really do literally have five or six major corporations in this country that determine for the most part what Americans see, hear and read every day,” said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), the lead sponsor of the resolution. “I don’t think that’s healthy for our country.” Dorgan has 25 senators behind his bill, including Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois , and is confident it will pass the Senate. A similar bill has been proposed in the House. The Bush administration has threatened a veto, but Dorgan could try to attach the resolution to a must-pass bill to make it harder for the White House to block. Despite warnings from Dorgan and other lawmakers that he was acting rashly, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin pushed a plan through the agency in December allowing ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast TV or radio station in the 20 largest markets, with some limitations. Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5, was among the newspaper companies to back the changes, saying the struggling industry needed more freedom to consolidate with TV and radio stations in local markets. To allow Tribune to close its deal to go private last year, the FCC granted the company a permanent waiver for its newspaper and broadcast combination in Chicago and two-year waivers for combinations in Los Angeles , New York , South Florida and Hartford , Conn. If the FCC’s new cross-ownership rules are invalidated, Tribune could be forced to sell some of its properties when the temporary waivers expire. Martin, a Republican, defended the change in the cross-ownership rule Thursday. “I think it’s important that we try to reform our media ownership rules to reflect the changes in the marketplace . . . particularly the challenges that the newspaper industry faces,” he told reporters. News Corp.’s pursuit of Newsday, a Tribune newspaper based in Melville on Long Island , has provided ammunition to opponents of media consolidation. In New York , News Corp. already owns the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, which is considered a national rather than a local paper, and two TV stations. News Corp.’s deal for Newsday, valued at $580 million, probably would undergo an antitrust review by the Justice Department. A Newsday purchase also would complicate News Corp.’s attempts to renew FCC licenses for its TV stations in the New York market, which expired last year. Comment: Poor Rupert Murdoch. He took over the prestigious Wall Street Journal recently and immediately lost most of the really excellent reporters and finally forced the editor out. Given his long record of trashing papers and turning them into failing tabloids, we now see that Congress and many others are getting tired of Rupert and his failing FOX television network highlighted by the boring lecher, O’Reilly. Rupert is in his late ‘70s and he will soon enough end up in dignity pants, talking to dead relatives while the living ones destroy his empire. Sic transit Gloria mundi! Rabid Clintonesque Moments Hillary, the war chick April 26, 2008 by Pepe Escobar Asia Times PHILADELPHIA - When that phone rings at 3am at the White House, what does a true red-blooded Madam President do? She calls her generals and orders them to "obliterate" Iran . In other words: she orders the killing of 70 million people. It's 10pm right outside Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton's victory rally at the Hyatt in downtown Philadelphia , and Mei-ling Wang is very, very angry. Fervent Hillary and Senator Barack Obama supporters in the streets try to out-shout and out-perform each other after Clinton beat Obama in the Philadelphia presidential primary, but that's not what's bothering Wang. She embodies the quintessence of the Asian-American dream. A master's from Harvard, a PhD at the University of Maryland , an associate professor at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia . But she chose not to simply follow the "get rich is glorious" way as extolled by the late Chinese "Helmsman" Deng Xiaoping. As a co-director of the Social Exclusion Knowledge Network, she's been all over the developing world working with the poor, the homeless, the downtrodden, the excluded. And she has a few rash words to say to the Clintons . I've stumbled on Clinton supporters and asked them why she has lied about so many important issues. They told me everybody lies. I am a teacher. I told them 'look me in the eye. Would you say to your children that it is OK to lie'?" Wang defends Obama as a "true American hero", stressing "in the beginning, he had nothing. The kind of people we Americans admire is the little guy, not somebody who has used her husband's [Bill's] resources, or someone who has a rich wife like [Republican Senator John] McCain." Hillary won in Pennsylvania propped up essentially by old (second only to Florida ) Catholic (40% of the vote) women (almost 60% of the vote). Blue-collar white men - "bitter" or not - also helped. Pennsylvania - even more rural than Ohio - is a state where the majority of voters (55%) have not even finished high school. What the throng outside Hillary's victory rally made clear is what's being confirmed by most polls. At least one in four Hillary voters are that stubborn; they will never vote for Obama if he clinches the nomination. Not only happy to use all the tricks in the Karl Rove slash and burn political playbook, thus committing a potential disaster inside the Democratic Party, Hillary had to extend her slash and burn approach to the Middle East. The (nuclear) postman never rings twice On ABC's Good Morning America, Hillary was asked what she would do as president if Iran attacked Israel with nuclear weapons. The premise of the question in itself is preposterous. Iran does not possess a single nuclear weapon; it is not trying to assemble a nuclear weapon (even US intelligence admits it); and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already stressed, echoing the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, that a nuclear weapon - which implies the genocide of civilians - is "against Islamic rules". Khamenei has stressed "our nuclear bomb and our explosive powers are our faith, our youth and our people who have been present on the most difficult scenes with utmost power and faith and will continue to do so". Hillary, anyway, was undeterred. She said: "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel , we would be able to totally obliterate them." She admits this is "a terrible thing to say", but doesn't question the much-hyped Iranian threat for the hype it truly is, adding that "those people who run Iran" need to understand her tough talk. Thus she positions herself as the sender of a wise message that "perhaps will deter them from doing something that would be reckless, foolish and tragic". Not a world from Hillary about Israeli neo-colonization and collective punishment in the West Bank and Gaza . Not a word about Israel 's several hundred nuclear warheads - the only country in the Middle East to actually possess nuclear weapons, and to have announced not so subtly it would have no problems using them. Mei-ling Wang has every reason to be angry with what she characterizes as Hillary's "lies". This is further evidence that as the acrimony inside the Democratic Party spreads like a poisonous virus, Hillary by now has become virtually indistinguishable from the presumptive Republican nominee, McCain. McCain, not happy to just contemplate a hundred-year war in Iraq , has already sung his now famous "Bomb, bomb, Iran " Beach Boys rip-off. Hillary lip-synchs she wants to finish the war in Iraq , but then goes for the "obliteration" of Iran . Both candidates are obviously pandering towards the Zio-cons and the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobby in the US . But most of all, Hillary is hedging her bets in terms of the buildup towards a possible attack on Iran, now that Vice President Dick Cheney is free to pursue his ultimate goal with pliable, opportunistic, counterinsurgency ace General David Petraeus promoted to head US Central Command. Hillary's positioning spells Imperial Washington in all its glory - and hubris. Not only McCain; a president Hillary will mean more wars in the Middle East . So much for Hillary's rhetoric about "peace in the Middle East ". But the real tragedy is that none of the vociferous street supporters outside the victory party rally in downtown Philadelphia , or her voters at large, are aware of the true colors of Hillary, the war chick. Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.