John Sez: Author Jeremy Scahill is still hot on the trail of XE (formerly Blackwater) and the killers-for-hire company’s clandestine actions being conducted at the behest of the Obama administration. The latest shocking report by Scahill wonders why no one seems to want to comment on exactly what XE is up to in Pakistan; or why,  when the question is posed by the press, a massive game of ‘pass-the-buck’ is perpetrated on the journalist who begs the question, much in the style of a classic cover up.

Even more concerning is the intimidation tactics being used by the Joint Chief of Staff’s office to scare Scahill off the story. A representative of Admiral Mullin (the chief muckety-muck of the Joint Chiefs) called Scahill to categorically deny Scahill’s findings – before the story itself was even published!

This pre-emptive strike on a journalist tells me that Scahill is very close to the truth of the matter, or he’s close enough to the mark  make some very powerful people very uncomfortable. Either way, this attempt to chill the freedom of the press and speech is dangerious.

Respect to Mr. Scahill – he is a very courageous man who should be the template for all modern journalists. Imagine if we saw this kind of dogged reporting on the TV news every night...

Story from Rebel Reports:

Why Is the State Department Speaking for JSOC?

By Jeremy Scahill

Interesting chain of command issues seem to be emerging in the official “denials” being offered about my story in The Nation magazine on Blackwater and the Joint Special Operations Command operations in Pakistan. A few hours before the piece was published, I received a call—unprompted—from the office of Admiral Mike Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I had not called them. The representative that called would not officially—named and on-the-record—deny the story. Instead, I was offered a comprehensive denial from a “defense official” on “background.”

The DoD spokesman Geoff Morell was asked about it on Tuesday. He said the appropriate agency to address this was the State Department, but he did characterize the story as “conspiratorial:”

""REPORTER: Thank you for taking the question.  Does the Pentagon have any comment on a report in The Nation today that, puts Blackwater, now Xe Services, firmly at the center of a covert operation in Karachi in Pakistan, from an anonymous source within the military.  And my question is —
MR. MORRELL:  Yes, I — I —
REPORTER:  The question is, you keep denying covert operations in Pakistan, but isn’t this yet more evidence of one?
MR. MORRELL:  Okay, the best person to address this would be the State Department spokesman, who has already put out a statement, or a correction, basically saying these accusations are entirely false. Okay?  But I — for more clarity and more specificity, I urge you to talk to them. As for what we are doing in Afghanistan — or in Pakistan, rather, I think we have been incredibly forthright about this.  And we have basically, I think, a few dozen forces on the ground in Pakistan who are involved in a train-the-trainer mission.  These are Special Operations Forces.  We’ve been very candid about this.  They are — they have been for months, if not years now, training Pakistani forces so that they can in turn train other Pakistani military on how to — on certain skills and operational techniques.  And that’s the extent of our — our, you know, military boots on the ground in Pakistan. Despite whatever conspiratorial theories that, you know, magazines or broadcast outlets may want to cook up, there is nothing to it. And obviously, we’ve also made it perfectly clear that we are willing and able and happy to help the Pakistani military in any other ways that they may see fit.  But at this point, that’s the extent to which they would like our help, in terms of American boots on the  ground.  And so we are totally respectful of that.  And that’s what it’s limited to at this point. ""

Since when is the State Department spokesman the official spokesperson for JSOC? Since when is the DoS the appropriate party to address allegations regarding US military operations?

READ MORE

 
 
John Sez: It seems that Tony Blair definitively knew that the whole WMD in Iraq story was based on bad intelligence, and yet he led his country into an alliance of war with the US against Iraq.

That being said, if Blair knew about this intelligence is there any doubt at all that Bush and company knew what Blair knew – and probably a whole lot more as well. The only question left is this: why are these people not being brought before a trail or tribunal for lying their respective countries into war against a sovereign nation and causing millions of deaths in the process? Wouldn’t that send a clear and simple message that the people of the world will no longer tolerate half-assed, greedy dictators to spill the blood of innocent lives (while raking in untold billions in profit)?

Or is that just the message that the powers that be are afraid will resonate with people around the world?

Story from the Daily Mail:

Blair lied and lied again: Mandarins reveal that 10 days before Iraq invasion PM knew Saddam couldn't use WMDs
By Tim Shipman

The full extent of how Tony Blair misled the public about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction before and after the Iraq War was laid bare yesterday.

The Chilcot Inquiry heard that just ten days before the invasion of Iraq Mr Blair was told Saddam had no way of using weapons of mass destruction.

And weapons experts revealed that the former Prime Minister took Britain to war based on intelligence that his own spies rated just 'four out of ten' for accuracy.

On the eve of the conflict, intelligence chiefs told Mr Blair that the Iraqi dictator had no warheads capable of delivering chemical weapons, dramatically undermining the Prime Minister's case for war.

Yet Mr Blair gave the go-ahead for the invasion despite strong evidence that Iraq was no threat to Britain.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1230824/Iraq-fourth-WMD-risk-list-inquiry-hears.html#ixzz0Y6jWqiTA
 
 
John Sez: Wow, just a few days after ‘Climategate” breaks and now we have even more pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

The next few weeks should be interesting for this story.

Story from the Telegraph:

Climategate: the scandal spreads, the plot thickens, the shame deepens…

Wow! The scandal just gets juicier and juicier. Now it seems that the Kiwis may have been at it too – tinkering with raw data to make “Global Warming” look scarier than it really is. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That; Ian Wishart)

The alleged villains this time are the climate scientists at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NiWA) – New Zealand’s answer to Britain’s Climate Research Unit. And to judge by this news alert by the Climate Science Coalition of NZ, both institutions share a similarly laissez-faire attitude to scientific accuracy.

READ MORE

 
 
John Sez: It seems that hackers have broke into the e-mail system of the University of East Anglia (the most prominent center for research into the supposed theory of ‘global warming’) and what they found and later released are thousands of correspondences that seem to indicate that the most prominent people in the movement have fudged scientific data, manipulated research to suit their agenda, concealed evidence that went against their theory, made a concerted effort to publicly demonize anyone who argued with their agenda, and even suppressed doubt from scientists in their own community about the theory of global warming itself.

One could say that the data recovered by the hackers is a fake perpetrated by those who oppose the theory…after all, the debate (where it is allowed to happen) is hot and heavy. But representatives of The University of East Anglia have admitted to the press that these are indeed their e-mails.

In other words, everything that we have been told by proponents of the global warming theory is a potential fraud.

Science, no matter the discipline, is always plagued by a certain amount of politics and internal pressure. But the outright lies which have built up the case for global warming have caused a great deal of global damage.

The entire ‘climate bill’ passed by Congress a few months ago (which basically sets up a frame work for  a new economic stock market of sorts centered around carbon emissions as well as an excuse for the government to spy on your home with carbon emission monitors) and similar laws passed in numerous countries around the world, the amount of money that has gone to organizations who are supposedly on the ‘right side’ of the debate and into the pockets of the already super-wealthy (like Al Gore), and the hundreds of billions  of tax dollars which have been sunk into projects to combat something which may not even exist, are now shown in a new light – a light that tears down the wall put up by the cronies of the corporations and politicians who have been fronting this special interest group, and replaces it with a large, open field of debate which will hopefully destroy this fraudulent movement once and for all.

Now don’t get me wrong – I know full well that the amount of pollution on our planet can only prove disastrous to everything that lives upon it. We can only rape the planet for so long, before ‘mother’ decides to scold her children.

But imagine if all the energy, money and political power were going towards stopping the real reasons our planet is falling apart (in my opinion the massive dumping of waste by corporations, the suppression of real alternative energy by the powers that be, the amount of junk floating around in our orbit, and the wanton destruction of the last remaining bits of untamed land are great places to focus these resources) instead of backing a fraudulent neo-religion, which does nothing more than allow for a destruction of civil liberties and moves massive amounts of wealth into the same pockets of those who have screwed up our planet in the first place.

What a wonderful world.

For the full story read here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

And here is video break down of the story and what it could mean from film maker and radio host, Alex Jones:

 
 
John Sez: Our government has been ratteling sabers at Iran for the better part of two years, doing everything they can to piss off Iran enough to have them make some sort of ‘first move’ to justify a retaliatory attack. The attempt in the UN (and in the news media) to demonize Iran as some sort of Nuclear nuthouse about to explode in the direction of the US failed because anyone who pays attention (and doesn’t have their head stuck up their butt) knows that Iran has followed ALL guidelines according to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; this includes the so-called ‘secret’ facility that the TV news was stammering about a month or so ago. Don’t take my word for it, READ THE TREATY.

Russia has already come out and said that it will back Iran if the US attacks – no surprise considering that Russia and Iran have very stable trade agreements in place. Additionally, the only country that has any nuclear weapons in the region is Israel, who DID NOT sign on to the Nuclear Non-proliferation agreement, yet we haven’t seized any synagogs or properties owned by the Jewish State, and we still give them millions out of our tax dollars.

Let’s ask these questions:                                                   

What has Iran done to us that we want to start a war with them right now (and, no, the hostage situation with our embassy doest count – that was 30 years ago and only happened after a bloody revolution against the US backed and installed evil dictator, the Shah of Iran)?

Does Iran have any reason to trust the US at its word at this time (Look at a map. Find the countries that we lied ourselves into a war in. Look between them. Ahhhh….now you get it!)?

Why are we so dogged about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but Israel (again, the only nuclear power in the region and who did not sign on to the nuclear non-proliferation agreement, and is currently embroiled in a scandal over war crimes they committed in Gaza) gets a pass?

Do we really want to go toe to toe with Russia right now, considering how beaten up and thinned out our military is?

Is there really any justifiable reason to do so?

If you answer these questions (or knew the answers already), then you’ll understand why this is a bad idea and totally unjustified, and perhaps gain a new perspective (and an excellent starting point for further research) into what is going on in the region. Now it’s your job to figure out why.

If you choose NOT to answer these questions, and are still gung ho about a confrontation with Iran (and Russia) then you are a moron and need to take yourself out of the conversation – this one is for the grown-ups only.

Story from Cnews:

U.S. moves to seize 4 mosques linked to Iran
By Adam Goldman

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors Thursday took steps to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a non-profit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.

In what could prove to be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors filed a civil complaint in federal court seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets of the Alavi Foundation and an alleged front company.

The assets include Islamic centres in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres in Virginia, and a 36-storey office tower in New York.

Seizing the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which has been accused by the U.S. government of bankrolling terrorism and seeking a nuclear bomb.

A telephone call and email to Iran’s UN Mission seeking comment were not immediately answered.

It is extremely rare for U.S. law enforcement authorities to seize a house of worship, a step fraught with questions about the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.

READ MORE

 
 
John Sez: Author Jeremy Scahill in a recent interview with Rachel Maddow on Obama and Blackwater poses an interesting proposition. With all the bad that Blackwater has done, ranging to bribery to outright mass murder, why are they still garnering contracts from the federal government worth billions of dollars? One would think that Nobel Peace Prize recipient Obama would put his foot down and cancel the contracts of these goons and psychopaths. One would think that, but one would be proven wrong as Blackwater is still on the job.

Scahill offers up the premise that the reason that these murderers for hire are still in business due to their knowing a whole lot of dirty little secrets about the wars we are fighting and, perhaps, knowing where all the bodies are buried so to speak. Basically his claim is that the government is being blackmailed by Blackwater in order to keep them on the payroll.

At first, such an accusation would seem ludicrous on its face. But considering what lengths Obama has gone through to protect the last administration from facing a huge variety of charges (including war crimes) and how hard he has fought to keep the torture photos from ever seeing the light of day, it makes all too perfect sense that he would do the same for the cream-of-the-scumbag crop known as Blackwater (or Xe, or whatever they are calling themselves these days), all in the name of saving the Federal government ‘embarrassment’.

I guess this may be more of that change we can believe in, eh?

Story from Raw Story:

Scahill: Obama may be afraid of Blackwater

Despite news reports that the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater has seen its contracts dry up and its influence wane, the company continues to do brisk business in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and the Obama administration may be too afraid of the firm to do anything about it, says investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill.

"You know who's guarding Hillary Clinton in Afghanistan right now? Blackwater," Scahill told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Tuesday night. "You know who guards members of Congress? Blackwater. They have half a billion dollars in contracts in Afghanistan right now. CIA, State Department, Defense Department. Why is President Obama keeping these guys on the payroll? There has never been a company in recent history that made the case that corporations are corrupt, evil organizations [better] than Blackwater."

Scahill was on The Rachel Maddow Show discussing the New York Times' revelation that senior Blackwater executives allegedly arranged for bribes of up to $1 million for Iraqi politicians in a bid to retain its contracts and silence criticism of the company in the wake of the Nissour Square massacre in 2007, in which 17 Iraqi civilians died after Blackwater guards opened fire.

READ MORE

 
 
John Sez: As I mentioned recently, the whole health care reform debacle is a sham; nothing more than the government forcing all Americans to buy health insurance out of their own pocket (much in the same way as auto and homeowner’s insurance) from the same insurance companies who have been screwing us all along, then taxing us on top of that for the privilege of being forced to purchase health insurance out of our own pocket.

One of the more nefarious parts of the recently passed bill is that those who do not buy this government mandated insurance will face fines, tax penalties, and potential jail time.

But Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner himself, he would never allow jail time for those who can’t or won’t by this health insurance, right? Let’s see what the President said about that very subject in a recent interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News:

“What I think is appropriate is that in the same way that everybody has to get auto insurance and if you don't, you're subject to some penalty, that in this situation, if you have the ability to buy insurance, it's affordable and you choose not to do so, forcing you and me and everybody else to subsidize you, you know, there's a thousand dollar hidden tax that families all across America are -- are burdened by because of the fact that people don't have health insurance, you know, there's nothing wrong with a penalty.”

Hmmmmm…so can we expect to see our prisons filling up with ‘insurance resistors” in the near future?

It seems to me that many people seem to still think that this is all a good idea, but my guess is that the majority of those people really have no idea what is actually in the bill. It seems that there is this assumption (both from the left and right) that this is some sort of pre-cursor to socialized medicine. In truth, when the corporations dictate a mandate to purchase their products and the government is in the business of enforcing such a mandate, it is nothing more that outright corporatist-fascism.
 
 
John Sez: It’s bad enough that our mainstream media are (very obviously, in my opinion) bought and sold by the powers that be. But now the executive branch is is using movie-mafia tactics to put the muscle on independent journalism…then telling them that they can’t tell anyone that it was done.

This is yet another bad sign that the government is actively working to stamp out dissent and to stop the migration of people from the ‘approved’ news mouthpieces to the largely uncontrolled net-based news sources.

As an aside, kudos to CBS. Although they are part of the big media machine, someone at the company is allowing for some hard hitting news reports to get out on the air lately. Pats on the back to the responsible party or parties.

Story from CBS:

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists
Posted by Declan McCullagh

In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.

READ MORE
 
 
John Sez: A lot of information (and misinformation on both sides of the political aisle) is being bandied around about the so called health care reform bill passed (over the weekend after the sun went down no less) by Congress. It’s a HUGE stack of paper, and I’ll admit to only having read about a fifth of it so far, so I will reserve comments about specific parts of the bill. Having said that, I really do think that the whole thing is a political smoke screen which does very little of what is claimed by talking heads who get the greatest amount of television airtime.

I will admit upfront that I am a proponent of a full-coverage, tax dollar paid health care coverage system similar to what Europe has. Opponents of such an idea will point to some countries that have such a system and gripe that we’ll have long lines and many will not receive the proper care, but seem to forget that we are America and we need to find a way to do it better – to be the model for that kind of system, not just a follower of all that is wrong with such a project.

Others might say that it will cost too much in taxes and that Europeans are taxed more as a result, but think about how we are taxed already (let’s take an envelope as an example – the land the tree is on is taxed, the guy who cuts the tree down is taxed, the company which hires the guy is taxed, the fuel used to power the chain-saw is taxed, the chain saw is taxed, the people and machinery that turns the wood to paper are taxed, the person who ships the envelopes is taxed, the vehicle and fuel for the vehicle which ships the envelope are taxed, the person/machine/fuel/ink/adhesive which makes up the packaging for the box of envelopes are taxed, the store which sells the product is taxed, the people who work at the store are taxed, then the product is finally sold to a consumer who – of course – pays a tax on the item. And THEN we pay our income/property/business/state taxes. Hell, as a homeowner I even pay a frikkin STREETLIGHT tax for the one I never asked for which is sitting at the edge of my property hidden by a copse of trees which prevents it from shedding all that much taxable light– no joke) and it seems ludicrous that we cannot afford such a universal coverage plan. If we really are that short on cash in the treasury (and it seems we are) let’s stop meddling around in the Middle East/Africa/South America/Asia, bombing brown people, and stop funding anything in any other country – see, deficit solved and more for us.

It all comes down to this: regardless of what a great many people seem to believe, this is not a universal health care plan paid for by your taxes which will make sure that all Americans get proper medical treatment when they need to. Generally speaking, this is a program designed to ensure that you MUST purchase insurance, out of your own pocket in ADDITION to you tax contribution, from an insurance company (the same ones that have screwed us citizens all these years) for your coverage – failure to do so will result in monetary penalties (up to almost 3% of your income but no more than the total amount the package would cost you if you decided to purchase it) or even legal penalties (fines and imprisonment are mentioned) for those who ‘evade’ getting mandatory health care.

This is not reform or a universal (some call it ‘socialist’ health care package) health care, it is simply the legal mechanism the government is using to mandate that everyone must purchase insurance OR ELSE – then they can turn around and say, “ooooh, lookie, we got everyone health insurance”. All the other rhetoric about how the insurance companies hate it, and how it will cover so many people, or that there are death panels and so on are red herrings compared with the fact that this is nothing more than trying to build some sort of unwieldy contraption on a crumbling and shaky foundation and hoping the whole thing doesn’t collapse under its own weight until the politicos can figure out who to blame for the mess – pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, but look at all the pretty bells and whistles.


The whole thing is a farce
 
 
John Sez: Back in mid October, there was a conference held at the Council of Foreign Relations where the Swine Flu vaccine was discussed (video of the pertinent part at bottom of post). One of the speakers makes the point (which the attendees seem to think is funny) that the way to get people to take the vaccine is to CREATE a scarcity scare so people would rush to line up thinking they might not get the shot.

A few seconds later there is a mention that there already is a shortage of the Vaccine, but the speaker corrects that statement, saying that initially 2 shots were supposed to be given for each person but because they are only giving one dose per person there is really double the amount of vaccine and thus no real shortage.

Now, folks, think about this for a second: haven’t we been hearing for the last month how we were short on vaccines so we should rush out and line up to get it? Is anyone out there getting pissed at being played by these contemptible bastards in suits?