Posts Tagged ‘Kansas’
Monday, May 17th, 2010
SOTT Focus: ‘Ashteria’ is a Pretext to Shut Down International Air Travel
Andres Perezalonso & Niall Bradley
Sott.net
Sun, 16 May 2010 09:29 EDT
© SOTT.net
The pathocracy’s desperate push for control is leading many otherwise intelligent people to believe they are seeing things that are not really there. On April 15 British airports were told by the British Civil Aviation Authority to begin grounding flights. At the same time, the Air Traffic Control Service for the UK (Nats) imposed restrictions on where planes could fly after the government’s Meteorological Office warned that ash could damage jet engines. By April 17 most routes in northern Europe were suspended and the shutdown had spread to TransAtlantic flights. All the while Europeans were subject to nauseating platitudes from politicians about passengers’ safety being their "paramount concern." If jet engines could not withstand the "dangerous ash cloud" that had magically disguised itself as clear blue skies, why then was NATO playing multiple war games over European airspace during the lockdown? At least 60 aircraft (including fighter jets) from Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, USA, France, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and Sweden took part in the Brilliant Mariner maritime exercise… while all commercial jets were grounded (because "safety was our paramount concern"). In fact, there may have been more military exercises taking place during this time.
If passenger safety was the primary consideration throughout this fiasco, why then has the airline industry and the relevant regulatory authorities repeatedly suppressed the findings of independent studies that sound the alarm over a very real danger facing passengers and crew alike during air travel?
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SOTT Focus: Satire: Leaked Reports Declare Obama’s Unwritten Novel Wins the Lost Man Booker Prize
Ignatious O’Reilly
Sott.net
Fri, 14 May 2010 08:18 EDT
© unknown
Obama shares ideas for his new book with critics
London – Leaked reports reveal that on Wednesday, début Hawaiian novelist Barack Hussein Obama II, 49, will win the Lost Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards, with "No Peace for the wicked!". It will be the first time in it’s 41-year history that an unwritten book will claim the award.
He will receive a designer bound copy of his novel (once it is published) at a gala dinner in London and can expect not only overnight literary fame but also a sharp rise in much needed popularity he has lost in the run-up to House of Representatives and Senate elections.
The Lost Man Booker Prize is a one-off prize to honour the books which missed out on the opportunity to win the Booker Prize in 1970.
To pre-empt any potential controversy, Booker organizers have announced that they have a written certificate dated 1970 that clearly shows Obama had an intention to write a book about peace one day. The organizers have stated however, that this certificate will never be released to the public and they should just take their word for it.
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Best of the Web: The Culture of Critique reviewed by Stanley Hornbeck
Stanley Hornbeck
Heretical.com
Sat, 15 May 2010 18:50 EDT
In The Culture of Critique, Kevin MacDonald advances a carefully researched but extremely controversial thesis: that certain 20th century intellectual movements – largely established and led by Jews – have changed European societies in fundamental ways and destroyed the confidence of Western man. He claims that these movements were designed, consciously or unconsciously, to advance Jewish interests even though they were presented to non-Jews as universalistic and even utopian. He concludes that the increasing dominance of these ideas has had profound political and social consequences that benefited Jews but caused great harm to gentile societies. This analysis, which he makes with considerable force, is an unusual indictment of a people generally thought to be more sinned against than sinning.
The Culture of Critique is the final title in Prof. MacDonald’s massive, three-volume study of Jews and their role in history. The two previous volumes are A People That Shall Dwell Alone and Separation and its Discontents, published by Praeger in 1994 and 1998. The series is written from a sociobiological perspective that views Judaism as a unique survival strategy that helps Jews compete with other ethnic groups. Prof. MacDonald, who is a psychologist at the University of California at Long Beach, explains this perspective in the first volume, which describes Jews as having a very powerful sense of uniqueness that has kept them socially and genetically separate from other peoples. The second volume traces the history of Jewish-gentile relations, and finds the causes of anti-Semitism primarily in the almost invariable commercial and intellectual dominance of gentile societies by Jews and in their refusal to assimilate. The Culture of Critique brings his analysis into the present century, with an account of the Jewish role in the radical critique of traditional culture.
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Best of the Web: About anti Semitism
Nahida
Uprooted Palestinians
Wed, 12 May 2010 01:38 EDT
This letter was my response to a Jewish friend (supporter of Palestine), who got upset upon hearing severe criticism, disdain and sarcasm against "Israel" and "Israelis"
He felt that people as they criticise "Israel" should not forget the "humanity" of "Israelis", he also felt that this was a typical behaviour of anti Semitism which caused him to feel angry and frightened
About anti Semitism
Talking about anti-Semitism, and the accusation of anti-Semitism, is to many people a very sensitive issue, nevertheless, I feel the need to highlight some points:
As a Palestinian and as a Muslim, with first hand experience of racism, whether here in UK or in occupied Palestine, I do understand what it means to be subjugated to it; thus, I deeply empathise with those who suffer from the menace of racism and discrimination, those who are abused verbally, physically, emotionally, or otherwise for no other reason than the fact that they are "different".
And I also do understand the awful feeling and dreadful sensation of being subjugated to subtle racist looks or remarks, only felt by you and not the people around you.
However, I do see a huge difference between a racist remark directed at a person or a group for their beliefs, race, or whatever that which makes them different, and between a snarl, a sneer or sarcasm against an occupying criminal entity called "Israel" and its people, for their CRIMES
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Best of the Web: Knowledge, Truth and Human Action: America Hits the Wall
John Kozy
Global Research
Sun, 16 May 2010 16:41 EDT
© na
"Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true." [paraphrased Buddhist saying]
Americans have a problem with the truth. They seem to be unable to accept it, which is difficult to understand at a time in history when knowledge plays a larger and larger role in determining human action. Recognition of this problem is widespread. Beliefs and lies somehow always overwhelm truth, even when they are so contradictory that any effective action becomes impossible. A kind of national, psychological paralysis occurs. Nothing can be done because one belief contradicts another, and for some unknown reason, the facts don’t matter. Even during those times when an overwhelming belief does compel action, Americans rush headlong into it neglecting the adage that headlong often means wrong.
The number of programs enacted by the Congress that don’t work is huge. The war on drugs which began in 1969 has shown no measurable results; yet it continues unabated and has resulted in destabilizing other nations, especially Mexico. Various immigration reforms have proven so ineffective that the people are turning to their own solutions. Tough on crime programs have been enacted numerous times without any measurable reduction in criminal behavior. Educational reforms have proven to be illusionary. Inconclusive wars have been and continue to be fought. No one, it appears, ever wants to measure anything by its results. The nation continues to do the same things over and over again expecting different results, an activity Einstein described as insanity.
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Tags: action, air traffic control, america, Ash Cloud, australia, Believe, Bosnia, Britain, british airports, California, Candidate Disappears, civil aviation authority, clear blue skies, commercial jets, Dannevirke, Detroit, Florida, gas station, God, Grand Rapids, international air travel, Ireland, Israel, Japan, John Kozy, Kansas, Larry Sanger, Las Vegas, Man, man booker prize, maritime exercise, mexico, Michigan, New York, New Zealand, news, nothing, Ohio, Old, Osaka, Othello, Quot, Read More, Russia, Semitism, South Korea, St. Peter, Stabbed, Sudan, Texas, Truth, UK, unwritten novel, US, Vatican Posted in research | No Comments »
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Monday, April 19th, 2010
Yasha Levine
AlterNet.org
Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:16 EDT
Oh the irony! The real communists in America are behind the Tea Party fake revolution
The Koch family, America’s biggest financial backers of the Tea Party, would not be the billionaires they are today were it not for the godless empire of the USSR.
The Tea Party movement’s dirty little secret is that its chief financial backers owe their family fortune to the granddaddy of all their hatred: Stalin’s godless empire of the USSR. The secretive oil billionaires of the Koch family, the main supporters of the right-wing groups that orchestrated the Tea Party movement, would not have the means to bankroll their favorite causes had it not been for the pile of money the family made working for the Bolsheviks in the late 1920s and early 1930s, building refineries, training Communist engineers and laying down the foundation of Soviet oil infrastructure.
The comrades were good to the Kochs. Today Koch Industries has grown into the second-largest private company in America. With an annual revenue of $100 billion, the company was just $6.3 billion shy of first place in 2008. Ownership is kept strictly in the family, with the company being split roughly between brothers Charles and David Koch, who are worth about $20 billion apiece and are infamous as the largest sponsors of right-wing causes. They bankroll scores of free-market and libertarian think tanks, institutes and advocacy groups. Greenpeace estimates that the Koch family shelled out $25 million from 2005 to 2008 funding the "climate denial machine," which means they outspent Exxon Mobile three to one.
I first learned about the Kochs in February 2009, when my colleague Mark Ames and I were looking into the strange origins of the then-nascent Tea Party movement. Our investigation led us again and again to a handful of right-wing advocacy groups directly tied to the Kochs. We were the first to connect the dots and debunk the Tea Party movement’s "grassroots" front, exposing it as billionaire-backed astroturf campaign run by free-market advocacy groups FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity, both of which are closely linked to the Koch brothers.
But the Tea Party movement — and the Koch family’s obscene wealth — go back more than half a century, all the way to grandpa Fredrick C. Koch, one of the founding members of the far-right John Birch Society which was convinced that socialism was taking over America through unions, colored people, Jews, homosexuals, the Kennedys and even Dwight D. Eisenhower.
These days, the Kochs paint themselves as true-believer Libertarians of the Austrian School. Charles Koch, the elder brother who runs the family business in Wichita, Kansas, quotes the wisdom of proto-libertarian "economist" Ludwig von Mises, but also sees himself as an economist in his own right. In 2007, Charles made his contribution to the body of free-market thought with an economic theory he calls "Market-Based Management" (a term he trademarked).
David Koch is the highbrow brother who lives in New York. He ran as the Libertarian party candidate for president in 1980 and says his dream is to "minimize the role of government, to maximize the role of private economy and to maximize personal freedoms." Apparently everyone’s a free-market enthusiast at Koch Industries, including its spokeswoman, who recently wrote a letter to the New York Times stating that "it’s a historical fact that economic freedom best fosters innovation, environmental protection and improved quality of life in a society." It might be true somewhere for someone, but not for the Kochs — they owe it all to socialism and totalitarianism.
Here is a better historical fact, one that the Kochs don’t like to repeat in public: the family’s initial wealth was not created by the harsh, creative forces of unfettered capitalism, but by the grace of the centrally planned economy of the Soviet Union. The Koch family, America’s biggest pushers of the free-market Tea Party revolution, would not be the billionaires they are today were it not for the whim of one of Stalin’s comrades.
The story of how the Koch family amassed its socialist wealth starts at the turn of the 20th century with the birth of Fredrick C. Koch. Fred was born in a tiny north Texas town to a Dutch immigrant and newspaper publisher. The historical record is not clear about the family’s wealth, but it appears that great-granddaddy Koch was not hurting for cash, because Fred Koch turned out to be a smart kid and was able to study in MIT and graduate with a degree in chemical engineering. A few years later, in 1925, Fred started up the Winkler-Koch Engineering Company with a former classmate, quickly developing and patenting a novel process to refine gasoline from crude oil that had a higher yield than anything on the market. It was shaping up to be an American success story, where anything was possible with a bit of elbow grease and good ol’ ingenuity.
The sky was the limit — until the free market rained on Fred’s parade.
See, Fred was living through the Roaring Twenties, a time of big business, heavy speculation and zero government regulation. Much like today, cartels were free to form and free to fix — and so they did. Sensing a threat to their royalty-revenue stream from Winkler-Koch’s superior refining technology, the reigning oil cartel moved in to teach the young Koch how the laissez-faire business model worked in the real world.
"[W]hen he tried to market his invention, the major oil companies sued him for patent infringement. Koch eventually won the lawsuits (after 15 years in court), but the controversy made it tough to attract many U.S. customers," according to Hoover’s Company Records service. Just like that, Winkler-Koch Engineering found itself squeezed out of the American market. They had a superior product at a cheaper price, but no one to sell it to.
Luckily, there was one market where opportunity beckoned and innovation was rewarded: the Soviet Union.
Stalin’s first Five-Year Plan was just kicking into action a nation-wide industrialization effort, and Soviet planners needed smart, industrious college grads like Fred Koch. The Soviet Union was desperately trying to increase its oil refining capacity, so oil engineers were especially in high demand — and well paid, too.
"We are the world’s greatest market, and we are prepared to order a large amount of goods and pay for them," Joseph Stalin told an American journalist in 1932. Stalin wasn’t kidding. From 1926 to 1929, the Soviet oil industry bought $20 million worth of equipment. And Koch was about to get in on the action.
In 1929, after hosting a delegation of Soviet planners in Wichita, Kansas, Winkler and Koch signed a $5 million contract to build 15 refineries in the Soviet Union. According to Oil of Russia, a Russian oil industry trade magazine, the deal made Winkler-Koch into Comrade Stalin’s number-one refinery builder. It provided equipment and oversaw construction:
The first Winkler – Koch plants were set up in Tuapse in 1930. The cracking unit operated commendably, and would in the future be the type preferred by the heads of the Soviet Union’s petroleum industry when purchasing new cracking equipment. In 1931, two Winkler – Koch cracking units were launched in Baku, another two in Batumi, and six at once in Grozny; the last had a combined refining capacity of 900,000 tons per year. In 1932, a Winkler – Koch unit commenced operations in Yaroslavl.
At the time, the Soviet Union’s oil industry was a total mess. Equipment built by Western engineering firms was always breaking down or didn’t work at all. Western engineers were constantly being accused of espionage or sabotage, real or imagined, and booted out of the country. Soviet workers suspected of colluding with the foreigners were simply taken out back and shot. Winkler-Koch made sure it was running a tight, efficient operation. Unlike his Western competitors, Koch pleased his Soviet clients by ensuring top quality and helping the cause of socialism.
The Soviet oil planners were delighted with Koch’s refineries. The communists were so impressed they kept giving Winkler-Koch business and regularly sent Soviet engineers to train in Wichita. It was a sign of growing mutual trust.
By the time he got out in 1933, Koch earned $500,000, which was a ton of money for a kid fresh out of college. This nut of money served as the foundation for the family’s future assets, which Koch no doubt started acquiring at rock-bottom prices. After all, 1933 was one of the two worst years of the Great Depression — all assets were priced to go at 90 percent off. In the end, the capitalist-hating socialists ended up treating Koch fairly, way better than the monopolistic thrashing he got from his native land. So you’d think he’d at least something good to say about the Soviet Union when he got home.
Nope, not at all. He hated the commies, but for some reason he kept it to himself until the late 1950s (possibly because he was still doing work for the Soviet Union). Then, after coming back from a trip to the Soviet Union in 1956, he flew off the handle. According to a 1956 AP article, Fred Koch was among 11 prominent residents of Wichita, Kansas who traveled to Moscow "in an effort to convince the Russian people that Soviet propaganda about capitalists is untrue." Sounds like the perfect cover for a business trip.
It’s not clear what he was actually doing there. But whatever the outcome — maybe he didn’t get the contract he was expecting or maybe he got swindled out of some investment or maybe he plain hated the thaw of post-Stalin Russia — Fred Koch came back a pissed-off anti-communist and joined up with the right-wing Birchers. He bankrolled a John Birch Society chapter in Wichita and attempted to open a Bircher bookstore, which wasn’t too popular and had to close.
He warned of a massive communist conspiracy to take control of America, saying that the Reds were eroding American universities, churches, political parties, the media and every branch of government. "Maybe you don’t want to be controversial by getting mixed up in this anti-communist battle," Koch said in said in a speech to a Women’s Republican Club in 1961. "But you won’t be very controversial lying in a ditch with a bullet in your brain."
In 1961, Koch published a pamphlet titled "A Businessman Looks At Communism," in which he recounted his travels with a "hardcore Communist" named Jerome Livshitz. It was from Livshitz that Fred Koch first learned about the commie conspiracy to take over America:
The government detailed a little man by the name of Jerome Livshltz to go around to our various installations with me. Livshitz had taken part in the revolution of 1905, and had spent twelve years in the U.S.A. as a revolutionary, most of the time in jails….
In the months I traveled with him he gave me a liberal education in Communist techniques and methods. He told me how the Communists were going to infiltrate the U.S.A. in the schools, universities, armed forces and to use his words, "Make you rotten to the core." I believe that due to his American experience he was one of the original architects of the Communist plan of subversion of the U.S.A.
My associate and I pulled him from under an overturned car in Tiflis, and he was amazed. "Why did you save my life?" he said. "We are enemies. I would not have saved yours. Perhaps when the turn there, I will spare your lives." He told me that if his own mother stood in the way of the revolution he would strangle her with his bare hands. This is the mark of a hard-core Communist. They will do anything — anything.
Fred Koch’s paranoia continued to spiral out of control until his ticker quit in 1967. But by that time his son, Charles G. Koch, had already taken over control of the family business. He appropriated his father’s communist paranoia and made it the basis of the family’s free-market business philosophy.
"Once, my father ran a business in the ex-Soviet Union, and all engineers who worked with my father were imprisoned by Stalin later. My father, who had experienced this, became an anti-communist and thought the value of economical freedom and prosperity was more important than ever before," Charles said during an interview with a Korean newspaper in 2008, leaving out the part how evil socialist cash was the foundation of the Koch family’s wealth.
Once he took over, it was clear that Charles had big plans for Koch Industries. He was going to push the limits of corporate growth by plowing 90 percent of the company’s profits back into the till and diversifying to the max. It worked. The company expanded at an unreal rate: its revenues increased from $100 million in 1966 to $100 billion in 2008 – that’s 1,000-fold growth.
Today, it operates thousands of miles of pipelines in the United States, refines 800,000 barrels of crude oil daily, buys and sells the most asphalt in the nation, is among the top 10 cattle producers, and is among the 50 largest landowners. Koch Industries also poured hundreds of millions of dollars into right-wing organizations like Institute for Humane Studies, the Cato Institute, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the Bill of Rights Institute, the Reason Foundation, Citizens for a Sound Economy and the Federalist Society – all of them promoting the usual billionaire-friendly ideas of the free market, deregulation and smaller government.
If that expansion looks too fast to be legit, that’s because it was.
William Koch, the third brother who had a falling-out with Charles and David back in the ’80s over Charles’ sociopathic management style, appeared on 60 Minutes in November 2000 to tell the world that Koch Industries was a criminal enterprise: "It was – was my family company. I was out of it," he says. "But that’s what appalled me so much… I did not want my family, my legacy, my father’s legacy to be based upon organized crime."
Charles Koch’s racket was very simple, explained William. With its extensive oil pipe network, Koch Industries’ role as an oil middleman – it buys crude from someone’s well and sells it to a refinery – makes it easy to steal millions of dollars worth of oil by skimming just a little off the top of each transaction, or what they call "cheating measurements" in the oil trade. According to William, wells located on federal and Native American lands were the prime targets of the Koch scam.
"What Koch was doing was taking all these measurements and then falsifying them on the run sheets," said Bill Koch. "If the dipstick measured five feet 10 inches and one half inch, they would write down five feet nine and one half inches."
That may not sound like much, but Bill Koch said it added up. "Well, that was the beauty of the scheme. Because if they’re buying oil from 50,000 different people, and they’re stealing two barrels from each person. What does that add up to? One year, their data showed they stole a million and a half barrels of oil."
In 1999, William decided to take his brothers down. He sued Koch Industries in civil court under the False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to file suit on behalf of the federal government. William Koch accused the company of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in oil from federal lands.
The band of brothers settled the case two years later, with Charles agreeing to pay $25 million in penalties to the federal government to have the suit dismissed. It turned out to be a great deal for Charles and David, considering that in the 1980s their "adjustments" allowed Koch Industries to siphon off 300 million gallons of oil without paying. It was pure profit – free money – to the tune of $230 million.
At the trial, 50 former Koch gaugers testified against the company, some in video depositions. They said employees even had a term for cheating on the measurements. "We in the company referred to it as the Koch Method because it was a system for cheating the producer out of oil," said one of the gaugers, Mark Wilson.
Ah, finally! Have we stumbled onto the secret to the family’s success? At the bottom of it all, is the Koch Method that funds all the libertarians nothing but old-fashioned theft? Or, as Koch hero Ludwig von Mises might ask, "Is the Koch Method just an unceasing sequence of single thefts?"
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/207112-The-Totalitarian-Communist-Roots-of-the-Tea-Party-Movement
Tags: advocacy groups, alternet, america, Baku, business, David Koch, equipment, exxon mobile, family fortune, Fred Koch, industry, Jerome Livshitz, Jerome Livshltz, Joseph Stalin, Kansas, koch family, koch industries, Mark Ames, market, Moscow, oil, oil infrastructure, Quot, refining, Russia, Soviet, soviet oil, Time, U.S., U.S.A., Union, Wichita Posted in activism, nation | No Comments »
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Thursday, April 8th, 2010
TSA Passenger Aircraft Cargo Screening Briefs
[8 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
TSA Passenger Aircraft Cargo Screening Briefs from 2008 and 2009.
U.S. Army Intelligence: Subversion and Espionage Directed Against the Army (SAEDA)
[7 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
FOUO U.S. Army 902d MI GROUP Subversion and Espionage Directed Against the Army (SAEDA) Brief.
Third U.S. Fusion Center Requests Removal of Document from Public Intelligence
[7 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
The following message was received on April 5, 2010 from a Captain Brad Carnduff of the Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center. This is the third notice we have received from a U.S. fusion center. The previous two notices, from the Virginia Fusion Center and the Rocky Mountain Information Network, were both received in the month of February. This notice is unique in that it requests the identity of the “person, group or organization who forwarded this Daily Intelligence Note to your attention”. It also asks that we “contact the STIC prior to posting” similar material in the future.
Massachusetts Sheriff Brief: Chemical & Detergent Suicides
[7 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
Detergent suicide is a newer method of committing suicide that appears to be gaining in popularity. According to reports suicide rates are on the increase. One method that appears to be on the rise is the use of common house hold chemicals to make a lethal gaseous combination.This combination of ingredients yields Hydrogen Sulfide Gas (H2S).
Idaho Sheriff Warning: Hydrogen Sulfide Suicide
[7 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
In our Ada County Case, on 5-13-09 a blue Toyota Scion was observed at the Lookout Point near Lucky Peak Dam on Highway 21. The vehicle had “Hazardous Materials” warnings that appeared to be printed on a home computer taped to the outside of the car. The warnings indicated that the car contained Hydrogen Sulfide gas and that one breath can kill. The lone occupant of the vehicle, a 29-year-old male, was slumped over in the driver’s seat.
KCTEW Bulletin: (U//FOUO) Hydrogen Sulfide Suicides
[7 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
Hydrogen sulfide is considered a broad spectrum poison, meaning ‐ that it can poison several different systems in the body, although the nervous system is most affected. The toxicity of H2S is comparable with that of hydrogen cyanide. It forms a complex bond with iron in the mitochondrial cytochrome enzymes, thereby blocking oxygen from binding and stopping cellular respiration.
LA-RTTAC (U//FOUO) Hazards Posed to First Responders by Hydrogen Sulfide Suicides
[7 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
(U//FOUO) Suicides involving hydrogen sulfide gas are increasing. Incidents have been reported in the Joint Regional Intelligence Center area of responsibility (JRIC AoR), most recently in Castaic, California on 23 February 2010. First responders should be aware of the indicators of hydrogen sulfide suicides, and should follow their agencies’ response and personal protection procedures to mitigate risk.
(U//FOUO) Hydrogen Sulfide: A Potential First Responder Hazard
[6 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
(U//FOUO) DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) and the Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC) assess that an intentional release of hydrogen sulfide gas most likely would be by a person using it to commit suicide, thus not exposing large numbers of people. The gas is, however, highly toxic and easy to produce from commonly available materials—properties that could make it attractive for use in a terrorist attack. DHS/I&A and JRIC have no information that terrorists are planning an attack in the United States using hydrogen sulfide gas.
(U//FOUO) Two Arrested for Conspiring to Commit Terrorist Acts Overseas
[5 Apr 2010 | One Comment | ]
(U//FOUO) On 3 October 2009, US citizen David Headley (aka Daood Gilani) was arrested by FBI Chicago and charged with conspiracy to conduct acts outside the United States that would constitute the offenses of murder and maiming. Additionally, Headley was charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorism.
Illinois Statewide Terrorism & Intelligence Center Officer Safety Alert: Hydrogen Sulfide Suicide Method
[4 Apr 2010 | One Comment | ]
(U/FOUO) The Statewide Terrorism & Intelligence Center (STIC) has previously reported on an emerging suicide method in which two chemicals are mixed, producing Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a colorless, flammable gas with a distinct odor similar to rotten eggs. This method is increasing in popularity and is not geographically isolated.
U.S. Army Helicopter Airframe Maintenance Standards
[4 Apr 2010 | One Comment | ]
U.S. Army Helicopter Airframe Maintenance Standards from January 8, 2004.
(U//LES) Radio Frequency Jammers Used to Disrupt Communication Devices
[4 Apr 2010 | One Comment | ]
(U//LES) Radio frequency jammers are devices designed to prevent communication devices from operating by deliberately broadcasting disruptive radio transmissions on the frequencies used by the targeted devices. Radio frequency jammers have been used to interfere with communications between law enforcement officers.
Confidential Texas Police CJIS Mobile Data Terminal Training Manual
[3 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
Confidential Harris County Texas Police CJIS Mobile Data Terminal Manual, For Law Enforcement Use Only, 2009.
(U//FOUO) FBI-DHS Sovereign Citizen Group Calls for Removal of U.S. Governors
[3 Apr 2010 | 3 Comments | ]
(U//FOUO) According to recent FBI reporting, an identified sovereign citizen extremist group is advocating a plan to remove state governors from office. This organization authored a “Restore America Plan” that consists of a multi-step process beginning with notices issued to state governors demanding they vacate their positions within three days. As of 31 March, over 30 governors have received such notices. The plan calls for the removal of any governor who fails to comply. DHS has no specific information that this removal refers to a specific plan to use violence; however, law enforcement should be aware that this could be interpreted as a justification for violence or other criminal actions. According to the group’s plan, other steps involve establishing bogus courts, calling of “de jure” grand juries, and issuing so-called “legal orders” to gain control of the state. The plan notes that this call to action depends on the participation of identified sovereign citizens or other unidentified violent antigovernment extremists whose cooperation is not assured.
(U//FOUO) FBI-DHS Moscow Metro Bombings Joint Intelligence Bulletin
[3 Apr 2010 | 2 Comments | ]
(U/FOUO) According to Russian government and open source reporting, two female suicide bombers attacked two trains on the Moscow metro on 29 March by detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that were worn on their bodies. Initial reporting indicates 38 people may have been killed and 102 injured.
(U//FOUO) DHS Moscow Metro Bombings Snapshot
[1 Apr 2010 | One Comment | ]
Bombings(U) Moscow, Russia –Two female suicide bombers detonated explosives in Moscow’s subway system.
(U) Facts:
–(U) Two unidentified female suicide bombers detonated explosives in Moscow’s subway system
–(U) Explosions occurred on 29 March at Lubyanka and Park Kultury train stations in downtown Moscow at approximately 0800 and 0845 local Moscow time (2400 & 0045 EDT)
–(U) Preliminary reports indicate 37 killed, 102 injured
–(U) Russian media reports that an unexploded suicide belt was discovered at Park Kultury Station(U) No group has claimed responsibility at this time. However, Doku Umarov, a self-proclaimed Chechen militant leader, posted an Internet video warning of potential attacks in Russia in February.
Maiden Lane LLC, Maiden Lane II LLC, Maiden Lane III LLC Balance Sheets
[1 Apr 2010 | No Comment | ]
Maiden Lane LLC, Maiden Lane II LLC, Maiden Lane III LLC Balance Sheets from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as of January 29, 2010.
Northern California Regional Intelligence Center High School Pipe Bomb Warning
[1 Apr 2010 | One Comment | ]
(U//LES) On 24 August 2009, 17 year old Alex Youshock walked into the Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California with 10 homemade pipe bombs and one chainsaw. San Mateo Police Department (SMPD) responded to the scene and detained the suspect who is currently cooperating with law enforcement. 2 pipe bombs did detonate without injuring anyone and the remaining 8 were successfully diffused by San Mateo Sheriff’s Bomb Squad.
New York State Intelligence Center Gang Intelligence Newsletter November 2009
[31 Mar 2010 | One Comment | ]
FOUO/LES New York State Intelligence Center Gang Intelligence Newsletter, November 2009.
Oakland Police Department Officer Shooting Brief March 21, 2009
[31 Mar 2010 | 2 Comments | ]
Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department Brief on Oakland Police Department Officer Involved
Public Intelligence
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Monday, March 29th, 2010
by Michael Boldin
Now that Heath Care legislation has passed, the obvious question for opponents is this: Now What? My answer is best summed up with just one word:
Marijuana.
No, I don’t mean that you should go out and smoke away your anger and frustration. Instead, you should feel empowered. The best way to explain this is by telling the story of a disabled mother from Northern California.
ANGEL’S STORY
Angel Raich has been permanently disabled since 1995. She has an inoperable brain tumor, a seizure disorder and other serious medical conditions. In 1997, her doctor felt that marijuana would be an effective medication.
Angel used homegrown marijuana, and she and her physician claim that it’s helped significantly. You may not agree with Angel’s choice, but it’s one made in accordance with California state law, which allows for such use. The federal government, however, has not shown much respect for state laws in recent decades, and chose to take action. After DEA agents seized and destroyed all six of her marijuana plants, she sued to stop them from doing so again.
The suit went all the way to the Supreme Court, and in Gonzales v Raich, Angel lost. The 2005 ruling made clear that the federal government did not recognize state laws authorizing the use of marijuana – in any situation.
THE COMMERCE CLAUSE
The court ruled that control over a plant grown and consumed on one’s own property was authorized under the “Interstate Commerce Clause” of the Constitution. Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution empowers Congress to “regulate…commerce among the several states.” It has never been amended.
Like any legal document, if the words of the Constitution mean today what they meant at the moment it was signed, we must understand just what those words meant at the time of its ratification.
There’s been a lot of scholarly research on this clause, especially the word “commerce” itself. Without getting into the long details of it all, it means this: Congress is authorized to make uniform national rules on the trade and exchange of goods (and related activities like their transportation) that cross state borders. On top of it, the word “regulate” meant to “make regular” – that is, to specify how these transactions may be conducted. Regulate did not mean ban, prohibit, or mandate. These words have different meanings.
With this in mind, the Supreme Court, which is not a set of nine infallible gods, ruled incorrectly. But rule, they did. Thus, all three federal branches agreed that State-level laws allowing marijuana were a no-go. In his dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas gave a stark warning:
“If the Federal Government can regulate growing a half-dozen cannabis plants for personal consumption…then Congress’ Article I powers…have no meaningful limits. Whether Congress aims at the possession of drugs, guns, or any number of other items, it may continue to appropria[te] state police powers under the guise of regulating commerce.”
RESIST DC
Even though she lost the case, Angel indicated she’d continue to use marijuana. At the time of the ruling, there were 10 states that had such laws. Not one of them has been repealed. Since then, another 4 states have passed similar laws, and many others are considering them, including South Dakota, Kansas, and New Hampshire.
Today, over half a million people are registered users of medical marijuana, and estimates say that millions more use the plant without registration. What’s been the result? The federal government will occasionally arrest some high-profile users, but taken in the perspective of the multitudes consuming the plant, the threat is quite low.
And, in mid-2009, recognizing a need for “efficient and rational use of its limited investigative and prosecutorial resources,” the Justice Department announced that it would back off the prosecution of medical marijuana patients even further.
HUH?
 You might be asking, “How does this apply to healthcare mandates?” Well, the answer is pretty simple. When enough states pass laws defying federal laws, and enough people actively defy them too, D.C. simply doesn’t have the manpower to arrest and prosecute all of us.
This kind of activism – while it clearly carries personal risk – should be a real blueprint for people that have been consistently unable to find constitutional relief in Congress, the Executive, or the Courts.
Marijuana users: Love ‘em or hate ‘em, but show some respect for them, as many have suffered greatly for doing what they believe is right. People who believe strongly about other issues, like health care mandates, would do well to learn from them.
What should be done about federal control over health care? The same thing that should be done for every unconstitutional federal law, regulation, or mandate – Nullify Now!
Michael Boldin [send him email] is the founder of the Tenth Amendment Center
Copyright © 2010 by TenthAmendmentCenter.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
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Tags: angel, ANGEL RAICH, California, california angel, california state law, care, CLAUSE, Commerce, commerce clause of the constitution, congress, court, D.C., DC Even, dea agents, Gonzales, gonzales v raich, government, inoperable brain tumor, interstate commerce clause, justice clarence thomas, Kansas, marijuana, marijuana plants, Michael Boldin, New Hampshire, Northern California, S STORY, seizure disorder, South Dakota, state, use, word Posted in Laws, activism, nation | 2 Comments »
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