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Post by K on Dec 5, 2007 18:13:47 GMT -5
When they came for the Jews and the blacks, I turned away When they came for the writers and the thinkers and the radicals and the protestors, I turned away When they came for the gays, and the minorities, and the utopians, and the dancers, I turned away And when they came for me, I turned around and around, and there was nobody left...[glow=red,2,300]Albert Einstein once said that problems cannot be solved by the same level of intelligence that created them and so it is with the global conspiracy. How can we break through the programming that holds humanity in servitude by succumbing to the same programming in challenging that system??[/glow] Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) INFOGRAM 7-08 February 21, 2008 NOTE: This INFOGRAM will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response- Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by e-mail at emr-isac@dhs.gov. Domestic Extremism Update Homegrown individuals and groups are seven times more likely than transnational people to commit terrorist acts in the United States, a panel recently reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) learned that domestic extremists tend to fall into five general categories: political, religious (including abortion), environmental, animal rights, and youth culture. Of growing concern, however, are the American men and women who may be radicalized by hateful information found in distributed hard-copy materials and also searchable through Internet web sites. There is particular apprehension among counterterrorism specialists that Americans between the ages of 15 and 25 will take comfort in "like-minded souls" and increase the numbers of fanatic activists willing to execute terror strikes on U.S. soil. For over six years, security and intelligence echelons of the nation have been preoccupied with the probability of domestic al-Qaeda sleeper cells being activated to initiate additional terrorist attacks. But researchers are persuaded that domestic extremists will be responsible for future carnage and damage to the critical infrastructures of this country. Considering this possibility, the EMR-ISAC identified several indicators of individuals preparing to conduct heinous actions for their misguided cause. The EMR-ISAC offers the following common indicators of nefarious planning to assist Emergency Services Sector personnel to protect themselves and others in the performance of duties: · Carries false or suspicious identity documents. · Makes overt attempts to blend and avoid scrutiny. · Endeavors to keep physically fit for personal protection. · Develops excellent skills in computers and the Internet. · Uses Internet search engines to print maps and other critical information. · Practices surveillance and counter-surveillance techniques. · Trains with easily obtainable weaponry and explosives. · Acquires the components for improvised explosive devices. For more information about domestic terrorism, see this link to the Institute for Counterterrorism: www.ict.org.il/index.php?sid=...ic%20terrorism. IAFC Seeks Best Practices in Critical Infrastructure Protection The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), in coordination with its public-safety partners on the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) Coordinating Council and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is seeking model practices in ESS critical infrastructure protection (CIP) and critical infrastructure resilience (CIR) efforts. Infrastructure protection for the emergency services sector comprises the protection of human, physical, and communication/cyber elements that maintain and improve the ability of the sector to protect and preserve its own integrity in an imminent or ongoing emergency. Submissions received by March 3, 2008, will be reviewed by a panel of peers for possible inclusion in a set of model procedures that will be associated with the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and its subordinate Emergency Services Sector-Specific Plan. The goal of this project is to provide models that will help local and regional entities develop effective and comprehensive emergency plans that include how best to protect the protectors. The proposal form outlining the project scope and submission criteria is available on the IAFC website at: www.iafc.org/associations/468...oposalForm.pdf. Please email your proposal submission by 3 March to adavison@iafc.org. AHB Training Aids The presence of Africanized honey bees (AHB) in at least eight U.S. states has challenged Emergency Services Sector (ESS) organizations in some jurisdictions to create training materials and institute response plans to protect personnel, the foremost of ESS critical infrastructures. Considering this development, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) includes in this article links to training materials meant to help ESS departments and agencies prepare for this menace. Africanized honey bees (also known as "killer bees") are hybrids of the African honey bee with various European honey bees. As of 2002, they began their spread from Brazil, eventually arriving in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Southwest Arkansas, New Orleans, California, and Oklahoma. They have been seen as far as Kansas City, Missouri, although they are more commonly found farther to the south. The Africanized bees are more likely than European bees to attack a perceived threat and attack relentlessly in larger numbers, e.g., 50,000 Africanized bees versus 200 European bees might attack if their hive is upset. The venom of Africanized honey bees is no more potent than that of European honey bees, but the vastly greater number of stings causes more deaths. After responding to a number of attacks by AHBs, members of the Kissimmee Fire Department in Osceola County, Florida, were issued hoods or "sting shields" to wear with their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The bees, which are attracted to carbon dioxide, were lighting on responders' faces and crawling under their helmets. Personnel also learned that lights and sirens on apparatus and vehicles can attract the bees, so they turn them off as they near an incident scene. If it is necessary to perform a rescue, victims are sprayed with Class A foam to suffocate the bees because the application of water alone causes the bees to relocate only momentarily. Working with Dr. William Kern of the University of Florida, the Osceola County Emergency Services Department created AHB awareness and emergency response PowerPoint presentations and an AHB Standard Operating Guideline (SOG). To assist ESS personnel across the country, the department agreed to share these training materials as well as an mpeg (movie file) of a stinging AHB and stinging European honey bee. The training materials can be accessed at: www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/KillerBeeSOG.pdf (91 Kb) www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pp...awareness1.ppt (7.6 Mb) www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pp..._response1.ppt (14.4 Mb) www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/me...eSting1min.mpg (14.0 Mb) Lt. David Langston of the Osceola County Department of Fire Rescue and Emergency Services Training Branch, who assisted in developing the training materials, can be contacted at dlan3@osceola.org. The EMR-ISAC also appreciates the input of Lt. Joan Robinson, EMS Coordinator, Kissimmee Fire Department. Thefts of Catalytic Converters In February 2007, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) wrote that increasing thefts of copper from electrical lines, substations, and distribution lines were degrading the reliability of the regional electrical grid and could potentially disrupt Emergency Services Sector (ESS) communications and operations. Such thefts continue nationwide because the stolen materials command high prices from scrap-metal dealers. To keep emergency leaders apprised of another emerging trend that can degrade assets, thieves are stealing catalytic converters, a component of automotive exhaust systems, because prices of precious metals continue to rise. Law enforcement reports indicate that there has been a dramatic increase in thefts of the components in recent months. Although catalytic converters have only small traces of the metals platinum, palladium and/or rhodium, stolen converters can be resold for up to $200 each to scrap-metal dealers. The units do not have serial numbers that can be used for tracking. Because the converters are mounted on the exterior undercarriage of vehicles, they can be removed in several minutes with any standard metal cutting tool. According to a report from msnbc.com, the theft of a vehicle's catalytic converter not only renders an exhaust system inoperable, it can be dangerous: "On some of these cars, if that pipe gets cut off near some wiring or a fuel line or a gas tank-which in some cases are not shielded-there is a possibility of a fire and/or explosion." An individual was arrested several months ago after being caught stealing the converters from vehicles in the impound lot of a state highway patrol. A Baltimore County, Maryland, police auto theft team sergeant told msnbc.com, "Unless you can garage your vehicle 24 hours a day, anyone can climb under your car and cut off the catalytic converter." The EMR-ISAC asserts that thefts of the converters from emergency services' staff cars, cruisers, unmarked vehicles, and SUVs, i.e., ESS assets, would necessitate repairs that take vehicles out of service, create a potential explosion hazard, and affect departments' resilience and "response-ability." FAIR USE NOTICE This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Reporting Notice DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by e-mail at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov. The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm. For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by e-mail at NICC@dhs.gov. When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact. The National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Infrastructure Protection is the central point for notifications regarding infrastructure threats, disruptions, intrusions, and suspicious activities. Emergency Services Sector personnel are requested to report any incidents or attacks involving their infrastructures using at least the first and second points of contact seen below: 1) NICC - Voice: 202-282-9201, Fax: 703-487-3570, E-Mail:nicc@dhs.gov 2) Your local FBI office - Web: www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm 3) EMR-ISAC - Voice: 301-447-1325, E-Mail: emr-isac@dhs.gov, fax: 301-447- 1034, Web: www.usfa.dhs.gov/subjects/emr-isac, Mail: J-247, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD 21727 curtmaynardsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/emergency-management-and-response.htmlMartial Law 911 - Alex Jones www.youtube.com/watch?v=auR4RumZEnQ&feature=related
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Post by K on Dec 20, 2007 19:07:48 GMT -5
Thursday, December 20, 2007 In Chicago, tourists consulting maps and those with cameras are now to be considered to be with al-Qaeda. Chicago’s “Bureau of Strategic Deployment” has issued an “awareness bulletin” advising snitches to turn in people using binoculars, cameras, and maps to the Deployment Operation Center, apparently part and parcel of the Ministry of Homeland Security. “See Something, Say Something, Call 991,” posters demand of the citizenry.
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Post by K on Dec 20, 2007 19:11:43 GMT -5
Kris Alingod - AHN News Writer New Orleans, LA (AHN) -- Protesters fought with police on Thursday in New Orleans as the City Council met over whether to approve a federal plan to replace three public housing complexes with a mix-use development. Police confronted protesters marching to the council chambers at City Hall with stun devices and chemical sprays. The chambers had a capacity of less than 300 people. Officials earlier increased security surrounding the chambers in anticipation of the protests. Police also made arrests, and one woman had to be taken away in a stretcher after she was sprayed with chemicals, according to the Associated Press. The Housing Authority of New Orleans last Friday postponed plans to raze three public housing complexes damaged by Hurricane Katrina because it wants city officials to weigh in on the issue of where to put low-income families who will be left homeless by the demolition. The agency, together with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), had plans to begin demolishing 4,600 government-subsidized apartments and replace them with 744 similarly subsidized homes. The council passed a resolution last month supporting legislation that called for the replacement of public housing destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, but the HUD, which is reportedly spending $762 million for the redevelopment, has proposed a quicker redevelopment plan that reduces the number of public housing units to make way for 1,000 market-rate and tax-credit homes. Protests and lawsuits have been filed against the HUD over the demolition plans, which opponents claim requires the council's approval and reduces public housing in the city by as much as 82 percent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GPjNhVUzqkResidents of the St. Bernard Housing Development served food and danced to the music of the Hot 8 Brass Band in a 'Party With a Purpose' to protest the planned demolition of 4,600 units of public housing in New Orleans. New Orleans police attacked the peaceful, festive event without provocation and dragged away a journalist and two protesters. Footage from Jacqueline Soohen and Richard Rowley of Big Noise Films, Michael Boedigheimer and Luisa Doucas of JoLu Productions, and the Yes Men.
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Post by K on Dec 20, 2007 19:18:46 GMT -5
Gun Owners of America Summary of Gun Control Free Market News December 20, 2007 This past year was one of the most dangerous on record. Headlines blared what many feared would happen after the Democrats took over the Congress: “New bill has a good chance of becoming the first major gun control law in more than a decade.” That “new bill” is known as the Veterans Disarmament Act, and the battle against it has been intense, as it would disarm hundreds of thousands of military veterans who are suffering the ailments that frequently follow combat stress. But you should know that there was only ONE MAJOR GUN LOBBY that was actively working to stop this legislation… ONLY ONE GROUP that has been fighting the bill sponsored by notorious gun grabbers like Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and Senator Chuck Schumer. That one major lobby group is Gun Owners of America. In April, Newsweek noted that GOA had “launched a public campaign to block the [Veterans Disarmament Act] warning that the proposal could ‘block millions of additional, honest gun owners from buying firearms.’” As noted by Newsweek, GOA’s main weapon in this fight has been the grassroots. Next year, GOA will continue fighting the Veterans Disarmament Act. That’s where you will find GOA… on the front lines in the war to defend our rights. But Senators Chuck Schumer and Ted Kennedy want to do more than just disarm the veterans who fought so bravely for our country. Some of the other attacks we could expect include: more bullet bans; more aggressive behavior by the BATFE; a prohibition on gun shows; and, mandatory “biometric” technology (expensive, unproven firearms that only the actual owner can use — rendering them useless to your loved ones if your home is invaded while you are away). And, of course, the gun grabbers will never cease working on their perennial favorites, such as a new semi-auto ban, a complete nationwide outlawing of private sales between individuals, banning additional guns such as .50 caliber rifles, and raising hunting age limits so that our children will never experience our heritage… and so much more. Whether you realized what GOA was up to in 2007, GOA has been YOUR VOICE in the media, YOUR LOBBYIST on Capitol Hill, and one of your CHIEF ADVOCATES in the courts. This e-mail will give you just a glimpse of what GOA was up to in 2007, and then show you how you can become an important part of this effort to preserve our gun rights for future generations. GOA WAS YOUR VOICE IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE IN 2007 As the nation watched the horrifying images coming from Virginia Tech on April 16, gun control advocates heightened their calls for greater restrictions. GOA spokesmen spent countless hours on Capitol Hill and in the media. In just the first two weeks following the shooting, GOA appeared in several hundred news outlets across the country — including newspaper articles, radio talk shows and TV debates.You can go to www.gunowners.org/svtb.htm to see many of the TV debates that GOA spokesmen engaged in — debates ranging from Fox News to CNN to MSNBC and more. GOA HAS BEEN YOUR LOBBYIST ON CAPITOL HILL 1. Stalling the Veterans Disarmament Act. The April shooting jumpstarted anti-gun legislation sponsored by Rep. McCarthy and Senator Chuck Schumer. In the name of stopping bad guys like the Virginia Tech gunman, the Veterans Disarmament Act would disarm hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Americans — not to mention military veterans! Gun Owners of America activated its grassroots network at every stage of the legislative battle (while still restricting our low-volume e-mail alerts to only what is truly needed to keep gun owners on top of the situation). This resulted in thousands upon thousands of e-mails and phone calls being generated into Congress in opposition to the Veterans Disarmament Act. All year long, the media reported that Gun Owners of America was the ONE GUN LOBBY that was fighting the Veterans Disarmament Act. By October, Gun Owners had garnered several important allies in the fight against the gun control bill. The Politico newspaper stated, “Gun Owners of America… has launched grassroots efforts across the nation, backed by military groups such as the Military Order of the Purple Heart and the American Legion. “By the end of 2007, the pressure that GOA and its activists applied – plus, the work of Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — had resulted in the Veterans Disarmament Act being stalled in the Senate. 2. GOA killed anti-gun Kennedy immigration bill. GOA helped kill an anti-gun immigration bill that was introduced by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA). The bill contained harmful language which, in the hands of a future anti-gun administration, would allow gun shops to be shut down and classified as “criminal gangs.”GOA ginned up the grassroots in favor of a killer amendment that brought the huge debate over the amnesty bill to a screeching halt. That one amendment is credited by Capitol Hill insiders as being THE BIGGEST reason this anti-gun bill was defeated by a 53-46 vote in the Senate. 3. GOA lobbied to defang BATFE. When the Senate recently came within a couple of hours of unanimously approving anti-gun Michael Sullivan for the position of BATFE Director, GOA sent an emergency fax to every Senate office, urging them to oppose the Sullivan nomination. Thankfully, one senator filed an official objection to Sullivan, and his nomination was temporarily stalled. GOA then generated a massive outpouring of opposition from its activists, which resulted in other Senators placing a “hold” on the Sullivan nomination. The anti-gun appointment has now been put off until next year. GOA HAS BEEN AN ADVOCATE FOR GUN OWNERS IN THE COURTS 1. GOA and the Supreme Court. Gun Owners Foundation (the legal arm of GOA) began preparing an amicus brief for the U.S. Supreme Court after the justices decide to take up Washington, D.C.’s appeal when its gun ban was declared unconstitutional. An appellate court ruled in March that the city’s draconian gun ban violated the Second Amendment of the Constitution. The DC v. Heller case will likely be heard next spring. 2. GOA protects the rights of gun owners. Gun Owners Foundation is also continuing its defense of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean — the two border patrol agents who were convicted of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler on the U.S. side of the border. GOF attorneys filed an amicus brief earlier in the year which argued that Ramos and Compean were falsely convicted of “firing a gun during the commission of a crime” — a crime that doesn’t even exist in federal law. 3. GOA beat the Brady Bunch in court. Finally, GOA won a huge bout with the Brady Campaign in the courts! Shortly after last year’s elections, the Brady Campaign asked the Federal Election Commission to shut down GOA’s ability to post its candidate ratings on the Internet. Meanwhile, Gun Owners of America was leading a coalition of organizations in amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court – challenging the FEC. When the high court ruled in our favor, it took the wind out of Brady’s sails — as the court’s opinion essentially forced the FEC to dismiss the case against GOA. This means that GOA will be able to continue posting candidate ratings without restraint. www.gunowners.org
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Post by K on Dec 22, 2007 16:26:25 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Big Brother Britain: How much do you earn? Are you gay?[/glow] 'Town Hall chiefs have been ordered to find out Every town hall has been ordered to send out surveys demanding local residents' personal information and opinions. The forms will ask householders to give details of their children, mortgage, ethnic background, religion and sexual orientation. Civil rights campaigners yesterday called the survey 'intrusive and very sinister', pointing out that any information handed over will not be kept confidential.' The forms will ask householders to give details of their children, mortgage, ethnic background, religion and sexual orientation. Civil rights campaigners yesterday called the survey 'intrusive and very sinister', pointing out that any information handed over will not be kept confidential. www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=503767&in_page_id=1770
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Post by K on Jan 8, 2008 15:40:15 GMT -5
SWAT Goons Dispatched On Homeschoolers in Colorado Kurt Nimmo Truth News January 7, 2008
In Garfield County, Colorado, not only will the state determine if you should take your child to a doctor after a mishap, but if you don’t comply with their on-high directives, they will dispatch a SWAT team to ensure compliance.
According to Tom Shiflett, a Vietnam vet, his son was injured during horseplay, WorldNetDaily reports. Shiflett’s son, John, “was grabbing the door handle of a car as his sister was starting to drive away slowly. He slipped, fell to the ground and hit his head…. There were no broken bones, no dilated eyes, or any other noticeable problems.”
After a neighbor called an ambulance, paramedics “were allowed to see the boy, and found no significant impairment, but wanted to take him to the hospital for an evaluation anyway. Fearing the hospital’s bills, the family refused to allow that.”
According to friends of the family, Tom Shiflett, who has 10 children including six still at home, and served with paramedics in Vietnam, was monitoring his son’s condition himself.
The paramedic and magistrate, however, ruled that that wasn’t adequate, and dispatched the officers to take the boy, John, to a hospital, where a doctor evaluated him and released him immediately.
But this was not sufficient for the sheriff’s office and social services. “Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team” were subsequently unleashed in response, “punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family’s home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy… accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak.”
It appears Shiflett and his family were made an example, as in part they “live by faith and homeschool,” social behavior anathema to the NWO and its minions in Colorado government and so-called social services and various control commissariats, conversely known as child kidnapping services.
“While people can debate whether or not the father should have brought his son to the ER — it seems like this was not the kind of emergency that warrants this kind of outrageous conduct by government officials,” a spokesman for the Home School Legal Defense Association told WND.
During the SWAT raid for non-compliance, the “boy’s parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed… all because a paramedic was upset the family preferred to care for their son themselves.”
Of course, caring for your own is unacceptable, same as it was in the Soviet Union. Mr. Shiflett and his family learned first-hand that all of us are serfs and when the state barks “jump,” our only response should be “how high, sir?” Our children are property of the state and we will not be allowed to care for them — or for that matter, school them at home — and government intervention will be mandatory, otherwise SWAT goons will be dispatched to kick in the door and act like what they are, Gestapo goons revisited.
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 16:28:02 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'[/glow] Hi-tech 'satellite' tagging planned in order to create more space in jails Civil rights groups and probation officers furious at 'degrading' scheme By Brian Brady, Whitehall Editor Published: 13 January 2008 Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails. Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and prison overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the use of satellite and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals. But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle, the tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in the community, to help enforce home curfews. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of rice, are able to carry scanable personal information about individuals, including their identities, address and offending record. The tags, labelled "spychips" by privacy campaigners, are already used around the world to keep track of dogs, cats, cattle and airport luggage, but there is no record of the technology being used to monitor offenders in the community. The chips are also being considered as a method of helping to keep order within prisons. A senior Ministry of Justice official last night confirmed that the department hoped to go even further, by extending the geographical range of the internal chips through a link-up with satellite-tracking similar to the system used to trace stolen vehicles. "All the options are on the table, and this is one we would like to pursue," the source added. The move is in line with a proposal from Ken Jones, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), that electronic chips should be surgically implanted into convicted paedophiles and sex offenders in order to track them more easily. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is seen as the favoured method of monitoring such offenders to prevent them going near "forbidden" zones such as primary schools. "We have wanted to take advantage of this technology for several years, because it seems a sensible solution to the problems we are facing in this area," a senior minister said last night. "We have looked at it and gone back to it and worried about the practicalities and the ethics, but when you look at the challenges facing the criminal justice system, it's time has come." The Government has been forced to review sentencing policy amid serious overcrowding in the nation's jails, after the prison population soared from 60,000 in 1997 to 80,000 today. The crisis meant the number of prisoners held in police cells rose 13-fold last year, with police stations housing offenders more than 60,000 times in 2007, up from 4,617 the previous year. The UK has the highest prison population per capita in western Europe, and the Government is planning for an extra 20,000 places at a cost of £3.8bn – including three gigantic new "superjails" – in the next six years. More than 17,000 individuals, including criminals and suspects released on bail, are subject to electronic monitoring at any one time, under curfews requiring them to stay at home up to 12 hours a day. But official figures reveal that almost 2,000 offenders a year escape monitoring by tampering with ankle tags or tearing them off. Curfew breaches rose from 11,435 in 2005 to 43,843 in 2006 – up 283 per cent. The monitoring system, which relies on mobile-phone technology, can fail if the network crashes. A multimillion-pound pilot of satellite monitoring of offenders was shelved last year after a report revealed many criminals simply ditched the ankle tag and separate portable tracking unit issued to them. The "prison without bars" project also failed to track offenders when they were in the shadow of tall buildings. The Independent on Sunday has now established that ministers have been assessing the merits of cutting-edge technology that would make it virtually impossible for individuals to remove their electronic tags. The tags, injected into the back of the arm with a hypodermic needle, consist of a toughened glass capsule holding a computer chip, a copper antenna and a "capacitor" that transmits data stored on the chip when prompted by an electromagnetic reader. But details of the dramatic option for tightening controls over Britain's criminals provoked an angry response from probation officers and civil-rights groups. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "If the Home Office doesn't understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don't need a human-rights lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass. "Degrading offenders in this way will do nothing for their rehabilitation and nothing for our safety, as some will inevitably find a way round this new technology." Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said the proposal would not make his members' lives easier and would degrade their clients. He added: "I have heard about this suggestion, but we feel the system works well enough as it is. Knowing where offenders like paedophiles are does not mean you know what they are doing. "This is the sort of daft idea that comes up from the department every now and then, but tagging people in the same way we tag our pets cannot be the way ahead. Treating people like pieces of meat does not seem to represent an improvement in the system to me." The US market leader VeriChip Corp, whose parent company has been selling radio tags for animals for more than a decade, has sold 7,000 RFID microchips worldwide, of which about 2,000 have been implanted in humans. The company claims its VeriChips are used in more than 5,000 installations, crossing healthcare, security, government and industrial markets, but they have also been used to verify VIP membership in nightclubs, automatically gaining the carrier entry – and deducting the price of their drinks from a pre-paid account. The possible value of the technology to the UK's justice system was first highlighted 18 months ago, when Acpo's Mr Jones suggested the chips could be implanted into sex offenders. The implants would be tracked by satellite, enabling authorities to set up "zones", including schools, playgrounds and former victims' homes, from which individuals would be barred. "If we are prepared to track cars, why don't we track people?" Mr Jones said. "You could put surgical chips into those of the most dangerous sex offenders who are willing to be controlled." The case for: 'We track cars, so why not people?' The Government is struggling to keep track of thousands of offenders in the community and is troubled by an overcrowded prison system close to bursting. Internal tagging offers a solution that could impose curfews more effectively than at present, and extend the system by keeping sex offenders out of "forbidden areas". "If we are prepared to track cars, why don't we track people?" said Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). Officials argue that the internal tags enable the authorities to enforce thousands of court orders by ensuring offenders remain within their own walls during curfew hours – and allow the immediate verification of ID details when challenged. The internal tags also have a use in maintaining order within prisons. In the United States, they are used to track the movement of gang members within jails. Offenders themselves would prefer a tag they can forget about, instead of the bulky kit carried around on the ankle. The case against: 'The rest of us could be next' Professionals in the criminal justice system maintain that the present system is 95 per cent effective. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is unproven. The technology is actually more invasive, and carries more information about the host. The devices have been dubbed "spychips" by critics who warn that they would transmit data about the movements of other people without their knowledge. Consumer privacy expert Liz McIntyre said a colleague had already proved he could "clone" a chip. "He can bump into a chipped person and siphon the chip's unique signal in a matter of seconds," she said. One company plans deeper implants that could vibrate, electroshock the implantee, broadcast a message, or serve as a microphone to transmit conversations. "Some folks might foolishly discount all of these downsides and futuristic nightmares since the tagging is proposed for criminals like rapists and murderers," Ms McIntyre said. "The rest of us could be next." source: news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3333852.ece
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 16:56:36 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]NO FLY LISTS AND NO DRIVE LISTS.[/glow] Real ID: From “No Fly” to “No Drive” Lists? Kurt Nimmo Truth News Monday January 14, 2008 ABC breaks the ice for us: in the future, and not too far into it, the process of getting and renewing a driver’s license will become more difficult, stressful, and fraught with all manner of unnecessary nonsense supposedly designed to protect us from terrorists, or rather CIA patsies paraded about to frighten us into submission, and as well prevent illegals from taking to the roads, never mind Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and West Virginia allow illegals to hold a license, thus demonstrating the above is little more than a threadbare excuse. Of course, when the rubber meets the road, we discern the real reason — a national ID, complete with RFID and possibly biometrics, is all about easing us into the control grid. According to apparatchik Michael Chertoff and the commissariat of Homeland Security, the whole affair is a matter of national security. “We are now over six years from 9/11,” Chertoff impatiently declared, “we live every day with the problems of false identification. Simply kicking this problem down the road year after year after year for further discussion, further debate and analysis is a time-tested Washington way of smothering any proposal with process.” In other words, never mind that most people oppose Real ID and civil libertarians warn of vexing abuse, Chertoff and the neocons are itching to get us all in lumbering databases, the next step in a plan that will ultimately result in the chipping of the population at large. “I think the time has come to bite the bullet,” Chertoff continued, “and get the kind of secure identification I am convinced the American public wants to have,” or rather the government tells them they must have, as most people hate the idea and eighteen states have passed legislation rejecting the law and Congress has refused to put any money into implementing it. But never mind. It is a win-win situation for AOL, Microsoft, Verizon and Yahoo, all who stand to clean up if Chertoff manages to force his card on Americans at large. “The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) sent a letter to Congress this week begging for more federal funding for Real ID,” Privacy Digest noted last October. In addition to the above corporate culprits, we can add Digimarc and Northrop Grumman, “companies that specialize in creating high-tech ID cards, as well as Choicepoint and LexisNexis, data brokers that make their money selling personal information about you to advertisers and the government. These companies stand to make millions in contracts from states who are struggling with a federal mandate to overhaul their licensing systems and share more data by the May 2008 deadline,” a date right around the corner, thus explaining Chertoff’s impatience. “Real ID is so unpopular because in addition to being a $23 billion unfunded mandate, it will build a vast national database of personal information, expose us to a greater risk of identity theft, and move us ever closer to a total surveillance society.’ It may also be a way to keep “terrorists” off the roadways — not the Muslim cave dwelling brand of terrorist, mind you, but the kind that exercises his or her right to petition the government under that rusty old anachronism, the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. As we know, thousands of Americans are on the Federal Aviation Administration’s No-Fly List and the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center has compiled a terrorist watch list of over 700,000 people. Moreover, as Dave Lindorff writes, the government is in the business of passing this information out to private companies. “The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI made its list of people with even remote links to terrorism — having associated, perhaps inadvertently, with a terror suspect, for example — available to a wide range of private companies, from banks and rental-car companies to casinos.” And who exactly are these primary terrorists, the ones you don’t want to associate with, that is if you ever want to fly again? They are “law-abiding Americans” who were detained and questioned — we used to call this harassment — “based on their political viewpoints,” according to Nancy Chang, a senior litigation attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “I think what they are doing is harassing people who are opposing the war and publicly speaking out against administration policy,” John Dear, a Jesuit priest and member of the Catholic peace group Pax Christi, told Lindorff. Back in 2003, we learned that the FBI “collected extensive information on the tactics, training and organization of antiwar demonstrators and … advised local law enforcement officials to report any suspicious activity at protests to its counterterrorism squads,” the New York Times reported. Of course, this is simply a continuation of the FBI’s COINTELPRO, initiated in the 1960s to “neutralize” the opposition — i.e., render activists not only politically impotent, but often wreck their lives as well. In 2006, we discovered that COINTELPRO didn’t go away, as the official history would have it, but lives on to this day at the Pentagon. “An antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations,” reported the New York Times. The database, known as Talon, “showed that the military used a variety of sources to collect intelligence leads on antiwar protests, including an agent in the Department of Homeland Security, Google searches on the Internet and e-mail messages forwarded by apparent informants with ties to protest groups.” In short, the FBI and the Pentagon are still in the business of compiling lists and checking them twice, and many if not most of these people end up grounded, as noted above. Now we have Chertoff and ABC telling us the same rules may soon apply to driving a car. As Chertoff told ABC, the Real ID is about preventing “terrorists” from driving — with illegal immigration tacked on as a selling point — and, if the behavior of the FBI and the Pentagon are any indicator, the real terrorists are not Muslim guys who were trained on U.S. military bases and had a fondness for cruising topless bars, but are antiwar activists and other troublemakers. Soon enough, many of us – those who believe the Constitution says what it means — may be reduced to walking to work and the grocery store… that is until a Real ID card will be required to hold job or buy a loaf of bread. source: www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/140108ID.htm
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 17:02:39 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]China blogger beaten to death[/glow] China blogger beaten to death CNN Monday January 14, 2008 Authorities have fired an official in central China after city inspectors beat to death a man who filmed their confrontation with villagers, China's Xinhua news agency reports. The killing has sparked outrage in China, with thousands expressing outrage in Chinese Internet chat rooms, often the only outlet for public criticism of the government. The incident has also alarmed advocates of press freedom, who say municipal authorities had no right to attack a man for simply filming them. Police have detained 24 municipal inspectors and are investigating more than 100 in the death of Wei Wenhua, a 41-year-old construction company executive, Xinhua reported on Friday. The swift action by officials reflects concerns that the incident could spark larger protests against authorities, whose heavy-handed approach often arouses resentment. On Monday Wei happened on a confrontation in the central Chinese province of Hubei between city inspectors and villagers protesting over the dumping of waste near their homes. A scuffle developed when residents tried to prevent trucks from unloading the rubbish, Xinhua said. When Wei took out his cell phone to record the protest, more than 50 municipal inspectors turned on him, attacking him for five minutes, Xinhua said. Wei was dead on arrival at a Tianmen hospital, the report said. Qi Zhengjun, chief of the urban administration bureau in the city of Tianmen, lost his job over the incident, Xinhua reported Friday. The beating was condemned online. "It's no longer news that urban administrators enforce the law with violence," said an editorial on the news Web site Northeast News, according to The Associated Press. "But now someone has been beaten to death on site. It has brought us not surprise, but unspeakable anger." Chen Yizhong, a columnist on Xinhua's Web site, asked why violence by city inspectors is allowed to continue. "Cities need administration, but urban administrators need to be governed by law first," he wrote. An international press freedom group, Reporters Without Borders, protested the killing. "Wei is the first 'citizen journalist' to die in China because of what he was trying to film," the group said in a statement. "He was beaten to death for doing something which is becoming more and more common and which was a way to expose law-enforcement officers who keep on overstepping their limits." source: edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/11/china.blogger/index.html?iref=topnews
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 17:11:30 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]California wants to control home thermostats[/glow] Felicity Barringer IHT Saturday January 12, 2008 The conceit in the 1960s show "The Outer Limits" was that outside forces had taken control of your television set. Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled device that will be required in new or substantially modified houses and buildings to manage electricity shortages. The proposed rules are contained in a document circulated by the California Energy Commission, which for more than three decades has set state energy efficiency standards for home appliances, like water heaters, air conditioners and refrigerators. The changes would allow utilities to adjust customers' preset temperatures when the price of electricity is soaring. Customers could override the utilities' suggested temperatures. But in emergencies, the utilities could override customers' wishes. Final approval is expected next month. "You realize there are times - very rarely, once every few years - when you would be subject to a rotating outage and everything would crash including your computer and traffic lights, and you don't want to do that," said Arthur Rosenfeld, a member of the energy commission. Reducing individual customers' electrical use - if necessary, involuntarily - could avoid that, Rosenfeld said. "If you can control rotating outages by letting everyone in the state share the pain," he said, "there's a lot less pain to go around." While the proposals have received little attention in California, the Internet and talk radio are abuzz with indignation at the idea. The radio-controlled thermostat is not a new technology, though it is constantly being tweaked; the latest iterations were on display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Pacific Gas and Electric, the major utility in Northern California, already has a pilot program in Stockton that allows customers to choose to have their air-conditioning systems attached to a radio-controlled device to reduce use during periods when electricity rates are at their peak. But the idea that a government would mandate use of these devices and reserve the power to override a building owner's wishes galls some people. "This is an outrage," one Californian said in an e-mail message to Rosenfeld. "We need to build new facilities to handle the growth in this state, not become Big Brother to the citizens of California." source: www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/11/america/calif.php
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 17:15:02 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]California Toll Agency Wants Power to Seize Cars[/glow] The Newspaper Friday, January 11, 2008 Toll road officials in San Francisco, California want the authority to seize any vehicle accused of “cheating” on toll payments. A Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) presentation yesterday called for new powers that would ensure that the agency collected the maximum amount of revenue each year. BATA will ask the state legislature to adopt legislation granting BATA the authority to locate and tow away any vehicle it says has not paid up. It also would like the authority to revoke the driver’s license of a vehicle owner accused of not paying a notice of violation. Despite the tough talk, however, the tolling agency grudgingly admits some violations are not actually the fault of the motorist. “These violations mainly result from the toll lane equipment not reading the tag of a FasTrak customer,” BATA Deputy Executive Director Andrew B. Fremier wrote in a memo to committee members. “There are a number of reasons that the lane equipment may not read a tag of a FasTrak customer, including the tag reader in the lane becomes misaligned… or the toll tag malfunctions.” In 2005, FasTrak system overcharged at least 600 motorists crossing the Bay Bridge between San Francisco and Oakland because ACS, the company in charge of the program, allowed its laser scanning devices to become dirty. In most cases, when the toll transponders fail, customers have their credit card on file billed based on a photographic scan of their vehicle’s license plate. This usually is not a problem unless the credit card expiration date arrives and the automatic billing function fails, or the scanner misreads the plate. When such problems occur, the tolling authority can impose fines of up to $93,000 as several Orange County FasTrak users learned. BATA also is seeking legislation that will force automobile dealers to issue license plates to customers when they purchase a new vehicle. It also wants the authority to take money out of the paycheck of anyone accused of not paying a fine. FasTrak is not unique in having difficulties with the accuracy of its toll system. Similar issues have been reported with toll roads throughout the country, including the imposition of substantial fines. www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/110108_seize.htm
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 17:19:28 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]A New Digital Cold War?[/glow] Sound of Hope Monday January 14, 2008 Just when it seemed that cyberspace was safe again, there is reason to believe that a new cyber army is waging war. In 2005 the Pentagon logged over 79,000 intrusion attempts into their network. From this about 1,300 were successful, including the penetration of computers linked to the Army's 101st and 82nd air force and 4th infantry divisions. The attacks aren't directed at just one government agency either. In August and September of the same year, Chinese hackers penetrated US State Department computers in several countries. As a result, hundreds of computers had to be replaced or taken offline for months, to make the necessary provisions. Jim Melnick, a retired Pentagon computer network analyst, told Time magazine that the Chinese military holds hacking competitions to identify and recruit talented members for a "cyber army." Chinese military documents and generals' speeches contain elements that support this claim. Namely, China has expressed its ambition to extend its efforts to cripple an enemy's "financial, military and communications capabilities early in a conflict." A study conducted by the Pentagon has found that China's military regards offensive computer operations as critical in the first stages of war. In fact, cyber attacks by China are said to be so frequent and aggressive that President George W. Bush has raised the subject with Chinese Communist leader Hu Jintao when they met at the Apec summit in Sydney, Australia. Hu denies that China is responsible for the attack. But is there truly a cyber war and if so, who is winning? SOH radio network's Dong Xiang investigates, interviewing Larry Greenblat, lead instructor at the Internetwork Defense and Information Security Training and Consulting company. SOH: We are joined today by Larry Greenblat, Lead Instructor for Internetwork Defense and Information Security Training and Consulting company. Welcome to the show. Larry Greenblat: Thank you. SOH: Is a cyber war a too far fetched and exaggerated statement to make? LG: I don't think so. I work with many government employees and contractors and they say much of what you just said that there's a big concern, especially over the past 18 months, the Chinese have really stepped up their attacks, probing everywhere on our internet. SOH: So if there is a cyber war, how serious is it? LG: If it is not a cyber war yet, it is definitely the beginning of a cyber war, so I don't know where to draw the line that we're waiting for some digital "Pearl Harbour" to signal the beginning of it. SOH: What damage can a hacker do to the US government, apart from taking away personal identity or disabling electricity? LG: They can do a number of those things, including what you just mentioned. They use… systems to access the operating interface, which is connected to the Internet. Take power plants that are run via Internet based applications, for example. So technically they could take over power plants but it doesn't stop there. Since 1987 more money has been represented in electronics than in any other form. When you think about what money is, people tend to think of it as paper or gold. But it's not true anymore. Since 1987, it's all gone electronic. So the wealth of the world is at stake. SOH: When we talk about hacking a common understanding is that people from China or other countries, can log into a network and pretend they are us. How do they do that? Don't we have firewalls and controls prevent them from getting in? LG: We do our best, but there is a principal called "six signal," I don't know if you are familiar with this, but it's a quality control system that seems to be a matrix that if you hit theoretically perfect quality, that for every million something, you'd have 3.4 defects. Now that's pretty good when you're talking about manufacturing clothing — it's a great target. But when your operating systems or your application has millions and millions of lines of code, even if we're to have perfect theoretically "six signal" level of quality, we would still have thousands of potential software defects. It's just very difficult to make something perfect when you have millions of parts. SOH: Because we have so complicated computer programs that control our daily lives, there's always some flaws and people can take advantage of that? LG: Exactly. SOH: What can we do about it? LG: We can look for the well-known flaws. Once something is exposed, then we can try to patch that but it's theoretically impossible to close all these doors and perhaps the worst thing is invalid input attacks. What happens is that in a compute database, they ask you to enter a name. They don't always check to see that you just enter in your name, you might enter a million characters so that'll be a buffer overflow and they can overrate computer information. Or they could just answer "My name is," a sequel command to change the database. So if you go to the the national vulnerability database website (nvd.nest.gov), they report a new discovered vulnerability everyday and it's almost always the result of an invalid input. SOH: Looks like there's a war, or fierce competition, going on. Who's behind it? LG: It's hard to say. I think it's just young hackers who are above the law and interested in knowing what's going on in any country's national interest. But international interest is what I'm hoping will stay protected. Right now these hacker kids are a little confused, they feel the road's up and they are seeing the folly in their old ways. Maybe they are a little misguided on how to use their skills, but I believe that they will rise above it before they grow up. There are rumours that China is at the top of the peak in this. SOH: What do you mean that China is at the top of the peak, because it is so technologically advanced or more manpower or money? LG: Both. I don't know if it is necessary money, but they certainly have manpower. We have a difficult time recruiting children to be engineers and they have got a much bigger pool to choose from. That's a big challenge, probably our toughest challenge - I don't think it is money per se. SOH: In the middle of 2007 we heard reports that Chinese hackers are attacking the Pentagon, they also allegedly attacked the government system in Britain and German. But the US government reaction is usually to play it down – why is that? Is it because it is not that serious or what's going on there? LG: I'm not really certain but perhaps they don't just want to panic people. So I have, as I said, the pleasure to work with many government employees and they certainly are aware of these problems. Some of them are almost alarmed about this, but to release these type of information it would bring the cost of widespread panic – I don't know if there is any advantage to that. SOH: In my hands, I have a Times magazine article that was published in September, 2007. There is something pretty scary when I read it. It said that one guy called Sammy who worked on cyber defense at the Pentagon since 1980s, told Congress in a testimony on April 25th in the same year that a massive cyber attack could leave 70 per cent of the U.S. without electrical power for six months. That is a very serious threat. LG: This is a bit like the concern about the power plants. I believe there is a special taskforce that deals with system vulnerability. The Department of Energy and other power plants have hired government red teams or ethical penetration testers, to test whether someone could break in and they were 100% successful in every attempt. Someone said what you mean by successful is mirrors and what you see in those mirrors and they are able to tamper with them. SOH: Compared to that, looks like the war in Iraq is a distraction? LG: That's my feeling and partly many other people's feelings too. I think that the war in Iraq is obviously very important for oil and oilfields, but a similar danger is that most money is transferred electronically. If somebody could that take over and hijack the internet, we would have much more serious problems SOH: As a lot of people know that I'm from China. I know that the Chinese army always consider the U.S. as its potential enemy in the future, probably over the Taiwan Straight conflict or some other issues, but they always treat U.S. as a potential enemy. Do you think so far that the U.S. Government is doing enough to defend our cyber world? LG: You know what, I'm afraid to speak about this and they can only reveal so much to me. I do have faith in the skill of the people who I work with, but the question is more like: are they overwhelmed? That's my concern that there is just so much that they can do, because of that distraction in Iraq and other things that are eating up resources so I'm optimistic but cautious. SOH: Optimistic but cautious…we don't have much time. I would like to touch base on your teaching method. I'm reading your biography and it seems are a creator of the cyber kung-fu information security training program series. I know you are a senior kung-fu instructor as well as a network security instructor. I keep wondering what kung-fu has to do with the network security? LG: I got the idea when I was teaching martial arts and was a network operator teaching SISCO and networking. I had a student study Tai-chi with me and he was also an information security professional. He said; "you should get into this, your teaching methods are all very, very close computer security. This way you mix your martial arts idea in." So it just started, I came up with the idea of cyber kung-fu and it just a kind of "pop" in me and as funny as I thought the word was the 'cyber' comes from Greek. It does not mean computers, rather it means to steal. So the important thing in information security is directive control. For somebody to take the helm of the ship and steer it is governance. Governance also comes from Greek. Another misunderstood word is kung-fu. Many people think it's some type of martial arts, but it literally means something like to spend time and energy on a field where you improve. I just mixed the concepts together to teach people how to defend themselves and take the wheel. SOH: Give us an example of how you apply teaching of kung-fu to network security. I mean is there anything connection other than the theory and principles? LG: I was involved in a lot of street fights and one of my favourite examples was to start telling people the importance of showing that you are here, the things that you know, what you don't know, and it's the things that you don't know that bring trouble. "No, no, that's not true," I say, as I left out the bully and fourth choice. There are the things that you think you know that turn out to be wrong. So when you watch alternate fights, everyone says "Oh, you have to fight on the ground". I say "No, that's not how the fights end on the street. They don't tell you ready, set, go! The other time when you look down on your watch, they hit you." – that's how computer security works. They don't tell you they will attack, you think it was a packet from your network, but it turns out you were wrong. SOH: Surprise attack…that's why you mention "cyber virtual Pearl Harbour." A surprise attack – it's the most vulnerable part, you say? LG: And invalid input attacks too. It goes back to when I thought I was processing a guy's name, "What's your name?," and they didn't enter their name. They enter in a sequel command to have me delete everything in my machine or something like that. So it's the things you think you know that turn out to be wrong and prove to be the most dangerous. SOH: Applications of ancient martial theory into today's technology world. Thank you very much Larry. LG: Thank you. www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/140108Digital.htm
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 17:27:59 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]$200 Dollar a Barrel Oil Is Bilderberg Plan To Destroy Middle Class[/glow]
Elitists use peak oil scam, market turmoil, threat of Iran war to hike profits, torpedo middle class Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet Monday, September 17, 2007
The global elite are conspiring to send oil prices crashing through the $200 dollar a barrel mark as part of an organized agenda to hike profits, bring about a global economic crash and torpedo the middle class, and they're not afraid to attack Iran as a means of achieving their goal.
Crude oil prices returned to near record high prices today after having surged past the $80 a barrel benchmark on Thursday.
Now there is serious debate about oil crashing not just the $100 dollar, but the $200 dollar a barrel level in the next two years.
(Already at the 100 dollar a barrel point)
The 24/7 Wall Street blog, which is affiliated with both Dow Jones' Markethingych and The Wall Street Journal, carried an article over the weekend that entertained the possibility of oil tipping the $200 mark, citing experts in the industry who expect the $95 a barrel level to be surpassed by the end of the year if the recent stock market turmoil continues.
The ultra-secretive Bilderberg Group, a consortium of power brokers from banking, business, politics, academia and oil, met in Munich Germany in May 2005 when crude oil prices were around the $40 a barrel mark.
During the conference, Henry Kissinger told his fellow attendees that the elite had resolved to ensure that oil prices would double over the course of the next 12-24 months, which is exactly what has happened.
During their 2006 meeting in Ottawa Canada, Bilderberg agreed to push for $105 a barrel before the end of 2008. This information was gleaned from sources inside Bilderberg who have proven reliable in the past.
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Post by K on Jan 14, 2008 17:42:38 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Illegal immigrants will be rounded-up by roaming prison vans[/glow] Prison vans are to cruise the streets of Britain searching for illegal - immigrants. The "mobile detention centres" will aim to catch recently arrived foreigners as they emerge from peoplesmuggling lorries. Immigration officers will hold the suspects inside the vans until background checks are performed. If they are found to be here illegally, they will be taken by police to a major detention centre in Oakington, Cambridgeshire, before being repatriated. The sheer number of bogus arrivals has meant police have been too busy to do the job. The first vans are due to be launched in Northamptonshire following a successful try-out in ports along the South Coast. The vehicles were ordered by Immigration Minister Liam Byrne after the Government was embarrassed by two incidents last September. Police caught 16 illegal Iraqi immigrants leaving a lorry in Flore, Northamptonshire, but, instead of alerting the authorities, told them to travel almost 100 miles to a detention centre in Croydon and sign on as asylum-seekers. The previous week, five African men had been found in a lorry in Long Buckby, Northamptonshire. On that occasion, the police actually gave them a lift to a railway station before asking them to catch a train to Croydon. Northampton North MP Sally Keeble, who had raised the incidents with Mr Byrne, said: "They were stupid situations - no one would expect desperate people to travel halfway across the country to hand themselves in. "These vans are a good idea and will help to take the pressure off local police and services." New Government figures reveal that the number of illegal stowaways has more than doubled in just three years. In 2003, the number of people found entering the country clandestinely was 3,127. By 2006, it was 7,552. Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "We will need to see whether this measure changes much in practice or whether it is another gimmick." But last night, questions were being asked as to how staff at the Border & Immigration Agency would find the time to roam the streets in prison vans. A leaked secret Government memo last week revealed that immigration officers had been ordered to stop deporting foreign students who overstay their visas, suggesting that they were too busy to do so. And last month, a leaked document from the Prison Service revealed that immigration bosses had "no interest" in deporting foreign prisoners who had served less than a year behind bars. By TOM HARPER - More by this author » Last updated at 20:48pm on 12th January 2008 www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=507878&in_page_id=1770
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Post by K on Jan 17, 2008 16:53:49 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Government’s Proposed Cyber Security Policy Would Police All Internet Activity[/glow] Ann Shibler JBS Thursday January 17, 2008 Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell is proposing a plan that would give the government complete access to the content of any international or domestic email, file transfer, or web search, without probable cause or any warrants — in direct opposition to the Fourth Amendment. Follow this link to the original source: "Dancing Spychief Wants to Tap into Cyberspace" Appearing only in the print version of the New Yorker magazine on January 13 is Lawrence Wright’s six-months-in-the-making, 15,000-word article profiling Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. Featured prominently in the article and catching the eye of several journalists is a description of McConnell’s development of a so-called cyber security policy. Basically, McConnell wants to funnel everything that happens online through the NSA, eviscerating online privacy and the Fourth Amendment in the process. McConnell said that privacy will have to take a back seat in the name of security. He insists that he simply must have the ability to read all information crisscrossing the United States on the Internet in order to "protect" the United States from "abuse." To justify this unlimited, unrestrained, and extrajudicial invasive prying, with accompanying disregard for "probable cause" and "warrants" as required by the Constitution, he claims that in the past six years U.S. intelligence agencies have stopped "many, many" terrorist attacks. Proof of this claim is woefully lacking and, in any case, McConnell is not averse to exaggeration. As further justification for his snooping scheme, Wired points out that McConnell "regurgitates the hoary myth that computer crime costs America $100 billion a year." In September 2007, Kevin Poulsen, writing at Wired’s "Threat Level" blog did great work pointing out that that number was based on little more than unfounded rumor. According to some reports, the snooping plan is set to be unveiled officially in the upcoming State of the Union address. How invasive will the new plan be? According to Lawrence Wright: In order for cyberspace to be policed, Internet activity will have to be closely monitored. Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the authority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer, or Web search. "Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation," he said. Giorgio warned me, "We have a saying in this business: 'Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.'" Apparently, Wright thinks extensive monitoring is already occurring, as he contacted and gives space to former AT&T technician and whistleblower Mark Klein who alleges that he personally installed data switching systems in the company’s exchange that copied all Internet traffic to the National Security Agency. (More on Klein here and here.) Klein claims: "My job was to connect circuits into the splitter device which was hard-wired to the secret room. And effectively, the splitter copied the entire data stream of those internet cables into the secret room — and we're talking about phone conversations, email web browsing, everything that goes across the internet. I know that whatever went across those cables was copied and the entire data stream was copied," he said. "We are talking about domestic as well as international traffic." Previous claims by the Bush administration that only international communications were being intercepted were not accurate, he said. "I know the physical equipment, and I know that statement is not true. It involves millions of communications, a lot of it domestic communications that they are copying wholesale." The McConnell plan is another indication that the Bush administration has abandoned any pretense to supporting the idea of limited government under the law. They have instead embraced the idea of the total state in a move that is pregnant with frightful consequences. Already, the U.S. has been judged by two groups, in a lengthy report, to be an endemic surveillance state. Those findings were reviewed by author Wilton D. Alston in an online exclusive for The New American magazine. What he found was alarming: "Even with my background in researching and writing on the subject of privacy and surveillance, I was still taken aback," by the state of privacy in America, he wrote. Astoundingly, McConnell would have the American people trust him and the government not to abuse the authority they 'must have" in order to "protect" U.S. networks. Are they kidding? This is another egregious example of total disregard for the Constitution and for the Fourth Amendment. Lest we forget, the Fourth Amendment is part of the legal framework that has secured liberty for all Americans since the founding era and officials of the government ought to be working to make sure that the freedoms that great charter guarantees remain secure. Instead, on the pretense of claiming to ensure the physical security of the people, the Bush administration has been deliberately undermining the security of their constitutional liberties. This trend must be stopped. Please alert your Senators and Representatives in Congress of this looming threat to freedom and ask them to oppose any legislation that would empower the NSA or other intelligence agencies to begin conducting the type of systematic and invasive spying on Americans that the McConnell plan envisions. Also, please subscribe to our email alerts to be kept informed of pending legislative action on this and other subjects. And, please consider joining the John Birch Society and working with other Americans to keep this country free and independent — as this nation’s founders intended. www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/170108Internet.htm-------------------------------------------------------- [glow=red,2,300]Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of monitoring workers' competence and productivity[/glow] Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker's productivity, competence and physical wellbeing, it was revealed today. A patent application has been filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor their employees' performance by measuring their body temperature, heart rate, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. But unions are concerned that employees could be sacked on the basis of the computer's assessment of their physiological state. It is understood that this is the first time that a company has proposed to devlop this big-brother-style software for mainstream workplaces. Similar monitoring technology has previously been limited to pilots, firefighters and Nasa astronauts. Microsoft has submitted a patent application in the US for a "unique monitoring system" that could link workers to their computers. The application states that wireless sensors could read heart rate, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature movement, facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure. The system could also "automatically detect frustration or stress in the user" and "offer and provide assistance accordingly." Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker's weight, age and health. If the system picked up that the worker had an increased heart rate, or showed facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help. Civil liberties groups, privacy lawyers and the Information Commissioner have all strongly criticised the potential of the system for "taking the idea of monitoring people at work to a new level." Hugh Tomlinson QC, an expert on data protection law at Matrix Chambers told The Times: "This system involves intrusion into every single aspect of the lives of the employees. It raises very serious privacy issues." And Peter Skyte, a national officer for the union Unite, said: "This system takes the idea of monitoring people at work to a new level with a new level of invasiveness but in a very old-fashioned way because it monitors what is going in rather than the results." The Information Commissioner's Office said: "Imposing this level of intrusion on employees could only be justified in exceptional circumstances." The US Patent Office has confirmed that the application was published last month - 18 months after being filed. And patent lawyers said that it could be granted within a year. Microsoft refused to commment on the application, but said: "We have over 7,000 patents worldwide and we are proud of the quality of these patents and the innovations they represent. "As a general practice, we do not typically comment on pending patent applications because claims made in the application may be modified through the approval process." www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=508510&in_page_id=1770
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