1. The chemistry of nano-thermite and high explosives – like brought down the 3 WTC buildings:
“Transcript from Visibility 9-11; A Basic Chemistry Lesson with Dr. Niels Harrit“
http://www.911blogger.com/node/19836
2. Sunjata on Rescue Me:
“Rescue Me‘s New Season Heats Up With 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
Franco first reveals his theories in Tuesday’s episode when being interviewed by a visiting French journalist who’s writing a book on 9/11. In a two-minute monologue (which you can watch in full below), Franco suggests the attacks were part of a “massive neo-conservative government effort” that wants to achieve “American global domination.” To do so, they must create war to control Middle Eastern oil, a prospect that would be sped up by “a new Pearl Harbor.”
Sunjata, who can — and did — speak at length about that idea and other research on which he bases his beliefs, admits evidence is often circumstantial, but he questions why further probes were never made. “I feel like all of the investigations started with specific conclusions and entertained evidence that only supported that conclusion while omitting other evidence and treating viable theories as conspiracy. I find that intellectually disingenuous and suspect,” he says.
Personal beliefs aside, these notions create great drama for the show, particularly since few others share Franco’s sentiments. His truckmates are anything but shy in calling him out, he has words with a widowed FDNY wife, and he eventually comes to blows with fellow firefighters from another house. Still, Sunjata says it’s important to ask the question, no matter what you believe.
“Charlie Sheen, Rosie O’Donnell, Willie Nelson, Marion Cotillard, Gov. Jesse Ventura — people who would fall in the celebrity category who have opened their mouths to ask questions about this issue — are greeted with vehement criticism,” he says, noting that there may be some backlash. “I am prepared for a negative reaction, but I feel like this is an act of moral and social conscience for me. After I had done a certain amount of research and had a number of very serious, troubling, unanswered questions rolling around in my own mind, I didn’t feel I could in good conscience not say something about it and still continue to presume to portray the memories of the heroes that we lost that day on the show.”
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Rescue-Me-Interview-1005022.aspx?rss=news&partnerid=spi&profileid=05
3. Spain is going ahead with it!
“Spanish prosecutors will seek criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales and five high-ranking Bush administration officials for sanctioning torture at Guantánamo.
If U.S. courts and prosecutors will not address the matter because of a lack of jurisdiction, foreign courts appear only too happy to step in.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-13/the-bush-six-to-be-indicted
4. “Wikipedia editors livid over new [Active Thermitic Material] paper
Activist editors at Wikipedia have changed the name of the “World Trade Center Controlled Demolition Hypothesis” page to “World Trade Center Demolition Conspiracy Theories”, are removing all links to the paper “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe” recently published in the refereed Open Chemical Physics Journal (including from the 9/11 Truth Movement page and even Dr. Steven Jones’ page), and have banned and/or restricted some users that re-add the links and question their policy.
See the discussion thread at TruthAction.org- many links to relevant pages at Wikipedia; the “Talk” page is very revealing of their bias, hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty:
…
misprision of felony?
Could these gatekeepers at Wiki be setting themselves up as accessories to the coverup of a mass murder?
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One thing that has always bothered me about the “controlled demolition hypothesis” entry on wikipedia, even before the title change, is the comment “The controlled demolition hypothesis has been dismissed in the structural engineering literature.” At this point there are probably MORE experts who have explicitly expressed support for the controlled demolition hypothesis then the official one. The wiki entry makes it appear as if the few shills from NIST in addition to Eagar, Blanchard etc. represent the entire scientific community.”
http://www.911blogger.com/node/19833
5. “The Obama administration can no longer dodge the bullet of the war crimes committed while George W. Bush was in office. It is clear that the president is reluctant to act, fearing that this can of worms, if opened, could afflict Republicans and Democrats alike.
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Political realities explain his posturing. The deep, dark secret of the Democrats is that the party leadership wanted war with Iraq just as much as most Republicans, and it has been prominent Democrats who have been pushing hardest for military action against Iran. Many Democrats have spoken out in favor of “extraordinary rendition” and the so-called “enhanced interrogation” methods that are nothing more than euphemisms for torture.“
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/truth-and-reconciliation/
6. “[W]hat lengths men will go in order to carry out, to their extreme limit, the rites of a collective self-worship which fills them with a sense of righteousness and complacent satisfaction in the midst of the most shocking injustices and crimes.”
- Love and Living, Thomas Merton”
http://original.antiwar.com/jamail/iraq-in-fragments/
7. Ugh:
“A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration.
The bill’s draft states that “the president may order a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shutdown of Internet traffic” and would give the government ongoing access to “all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access.”
…
“I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t include communications systems, which are certainly critical infrastructure,” CDT General Counsel Greg Nojeim told eWEEK. “The president would decide not only what is critical infrastructure but also what is an emergency.”
Adds Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “Essentially, the Act would federalize critical infrastructure security. Since many systems (banks, telecommunications, energy)are in the hands of the private sector, the bill would create a major shift of power away from users and companies to the federal government.”
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cybersecurity_Act_seeks_broad_powers_0413.html
8. “Anti-war Briton Emma Sky is helping to reshape Iraq
She is the modern-day Gertrude Bell – a strong-minded woman having a unique impact on Iraq and influencing decisions taken by the United States since the invasion. Emma Sky, who lives in Battersea, South London, when she is not roaming around a war zone in her role as political adviser, has the ear of General Ray Odierno, commander of US forces in Iraq, making her potentially the most influential Briton in the country.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6083011.ece
9. “Obama Maintains His Perfect Batting Average for Appointing Failed Insiders to Key Economic Posts
Other than Paul Volcker, who Obama has already sidelined (and I know not everyone likes Volcker), all of his economic advisors have been insiders who directly helped to create the current economic crisis.
Summers failed as the main guy who pushed for deregulation of derivatives, lowered bank fractional reserve lending requirements, etc.
Geithner is the guy who – as chief overseer of the banks located in Manhattan when he was head of the New York Fed bank – gave the big banks a free pass.
You can go through the entire list of appointees and the story is the same.
Now, Obama is naming the current head of Fannie Mae, Herb Allison, as the new head of the TARP bailout program. Allison has done such a great job at Fannie Mae that it has only required hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailouts.
Obama is certainly giving us change.”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/04/obama-continues-perfect-batting-average.html
10. “War, Oil and Gas Pipelines: Turkey is Washington’s Geopolitical Pivot
The recent visit of US President Obama to Turkey was far more significant than the President’s speech would suggest. For Washington Turkey today has become a geopolitical “pivot state” which is in the position to tilt the Eurasian power equation towards Washington or significantly away from it depending on how Turkey develops its ties with Moscow and its role regarding key energy pipelines.
If Ankara decides to collaborate more closely with Russia, Georgia’s position is precarious and Azerbaijan’s natural gas pipeline route to Europe, the so-called Nabucco Pipeline, is blocked. If it cooperates with the United States and manages to reach a stable treaty with Armenia under US auspices, the Russian position in the Caucasus is weakened and an alternative route for natural gas to Europe opens up, decreasing Russian leverage against Europe.
For Washington the key to bringing Germany into closer cooperation with the US is to weaken German dependence on Russian energy flows. Twice in the past three winters Washington has covertly incited its hand-picked President in Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko to arrange an arbitrary cut off of Russian gas flows to Germany and other EU destinations. The only purpose of the actions was to convince EU governments that Russia was not a reliable energy partner. Now, with the Obama visit to Ankara, Washington is attempting to win Turkish support for its troubled Nabucco alternative gas pipeline through Turkey from Azerbaijan which would theoretically at least lessen EU dependence on Russian gas.
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Turkey is one of the only routes energy from new sources can cross to Europe from the Middle East, Central Asia or the Caucasus. If Turkey — which has considerable influence in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Ukraine, the Middle East and the Balkans — is prepared to ally with the United States, Russia is on the defensive and German ties to Russia weaken considerably. If Turkey decides to cooperate with Russia instead, Russia retains the initiative and Germany is dependent on Russian energy. Since it became clear in Moscow that US strategy was to extend NATO to Russia’s front door via Ukraine and Georgia, Russia has moved to use its economic “carrot” its vast natural gas resources, to at the very least neutralize Western Europe, especially Germany, towards Russia. It is notable in that regard that the man chosen as Russia’s President in December 1999 had spent a significant part of his KGB career in Germany.
Turkey and the US Game
It is becoming clear that Obama and Washington are playing a deeper game. A few weeks before the meetings, when it had become obvious that the Europeans were not going to bend on the issues such as troops for Afghanistan or more economic stimulus that concerned the United States, Obama scheduled the trip to Turkey.
During the recent EU meetings in Prague Obama actively backed Turkey’s application for EU membership knowing well that that put especially France and Germany in a difficult position as EU membership would allow free migration which many EU countries fear. Obama deliberately confronted EU states with this knowing he was playing with geopolitical fire, especially as the US is no member of the EU. It was a deliberate and cheap way to score points with the Erdogan government of Turkey.
During the NATO meeting, a key item on the agenda was the selection of a new alliance secretary-general. The favorite was former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Turkey opposed him because of his defense of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed published in a Danish magazine. NATO operates on consensus, so any one member can block Rasmussen. The Turks backed off the veto, and in return won two key positions in NATO, including that of deputy secretary-general.
Turkey thereby boosted its standing in NATO, got Obama to vigorously defend the Turkish application for membership in the European Union, which of course the United States does not belong to. Obama then went to Turkey for a key international meeting that will allow him to further position the United States in relation to Islam.
“
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13171
11. Awesome:
“The ultimate reaping of what one sows: right-wing edition
Right-wing polemicists today are shrieking in self-pitying protest over a new report from the Department of Homeland Security sent to local police forces which warns of growing “right-wing extremist activity.” The report (.pdf) identifies attributes of these right-wing extremists, warning that a growing domestic threat of violence and terrorism “may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration” and “groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.”
Conservatives have responded to this disclosure as though they’re on the train to FEMA camps.
…
When you cheer on a Surveillance State, you have no grounds to complain when it turns its eyes on you. If you create a massive and wildly empowered domestic surveillance apparatus, it’s going to monitor and investigate domestic political activity. That’s its nature.
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I can’t wait until these limited-government, super-principled “conservatives” start putting these bumper stickers back on their cars:
For now, though, one can’t help but note that these “conservatives” seem so very angry about a federal government program designed to do nothing other than protect the glorious Homeland from Terrorists. And we know that this is the purpose of the DHS program because that’s what the Government said its purpose is. So what else is there to know? That’s the lesson we all learned over the last eight years: Bush said that all of his secret surveillance programs were only directed at Al Qaeda, so how can anyone say otherwise?
Apparently, though, the Right has forgotten these important lessons about Trusting Our Political Leaders and instead is now embracing a newfound and quite disturbing devotion to Terrorist Rights. To borrow from Sarah Palin, they are apparently more worried about whether the Timothy McVeighs and Eric Rudolphs of the world can plan their next violent attack without interference from the DHS than they are in having the Government keep us all Safe. What kind of twisted, warped, subversive political movement prioritizes Terrorist Rights over the Safety of Americans like this?
[And on Spain ... ]
In comments, Jim White highlights a fact from Horton’s story that I intended but neglected to mention: the Spanish “advised the Americans that they would suspend their investigation if at any point the United States were to undertake an investigation of its own into these matters.” As White points out, that is how war crimes investigations are intended to proceed under numerous treaty provisions by which the U.S. has bound itself: namely, the country whose officials commit the crimes have the primary obligation to investigate and hold the criminals accountable. But other treaty signatories are not only entitled, but required, to commence such proceedings if the violating country refuses or otherwise fails to do so.
Thus, the only way to object to what Spain is doing here is if one: (a) suffers from total ignorance of the basic provisions of Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture; (b) believes that the U.S. has no obligation to abide by its treaties even though the U.S. Constitution provides that such treaties are “the supreme law of the land”; and/or (c) believes that the U.S. need not abide by rules we impose on other countries, such as when we prosecuted other countries’ leaders for war crimes in the past. None of those is a particularly noble excuse.“
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
12. More government lies:
“America’s 20% Unemployment Rate
Nevertheless, an honest man would count anyone who would like to work as unemployed. The U.S. Government compiles data on these uncounted unemployed Americans, but does not mention it in news releases. It can be found in Table A-12 on the Department of Labor’s website where it shows an unemployment rate of 16% for Feb. 2009.[2] It explains why these unemployed Americans are not included in their official unemployment rate:
“Marginally attached workers are persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past. Discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached, have given a job-market related reason for not looking currently for a job. Persons employed part time for economic reasons are those who want and are available for full-time work but have had to settle for a part-time schedule.”
In typical government doublespeak, it notes they are not “looking for work” but want work and “have looked for work in the recent past.” As a result, these people who want to work are not counted as unemployed. This 16% figure does not include a few million Americans who excluded by the survey parameters for these reasons:
-Students seeking work are never counted as unemployed. So anyone taking college classes at night and seeking a full-time day job is not counted as unemployed.
-Pensioners seeking work are never counted as unemployed. This includes those who receive a minimal monthly pension because they retired early, often forcibly. Soldiers in the U.S. military can retire with a small pension as young as age 37, yet they must find work to support their family. However, they are classified as retired and not counted as unemployed.
-Anyone seeking a full-time job who works a few unpaid hours a week at a family farm or small business is not counted as unemployed.
-People seeking their first job, such as recent high school and college graduates, and housewives are excluded. The logic is that since they were never employed, they are not unemployed.
These games allow the U.S. Government to report a current unemployment rate of just 8.1%, even though its own data of unemployed Americans who want to work indicates an unemployment rate of around 20%. This should concern all Americans because the unemployed burden society by collecting welfare or resorting to crime. A recent surge in Social Security Disability claims indicates another path the desperate unemployed are seeking.”
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22415.htm
