Thursday, December 30, 2004
PR Meets Psy-Ops in War on Terror
"Massive misinformation" from Arab news networks such as Al-Jazeera is hampering the US effort in Iraq, Rumsfeld told the troops during his Christmas Eve visit to Mosul: "Everything we do here is harder because of television stations like Al Jazeera and Al Arabiyah." In remarks that were not quoted in the American press, the defense secretary went on to tell the troops, "We don't go out and hire journalists and propagandize and lie and put people on payroll so that they'll say what you want. We just don't do that and they do and that's happening" (which is itself meta-misinformation.) Meanwhile, the Pentagon's multimillion-dollar solution -- the CIA-funded Iraqi news network, Al-Iraqiya (featuring "Iraqi programs that make you laugh, cry, and learn") -- has become "an irrelevant mouthpiece for [coalition] propaganda" according to one of its own former correspondents, veteran news reporter Don North. [from MetaFilter.com]
AARP Against Bush Plans for Social Security
There’s nothing wrong with Social Security that a few changes can’t fix
After 65 years Social Security is, like America, facing the challenges of aging. Fewer workers will be paying into the system to support those who receive benefits. By 2040 there will be just two workers for each retiree, compared with more than three today, seriously affecting the solvency of the system. But just how dire is the financial picture? Will Social Security be there for our grandchildren?
Designed to provide a basic income for retirees and their families, Social Security has done remarkably well in achieving that goal and is considered the most successful government program in the nation’s history.
After 65 years Social Security is, like America, facing the challenges of aging. Fewer workers will be paying into the system to support those who receive benefits. By 2040 there will be just two workers for each retiree, compared with more than three today, seriously affecting the solvency of the system. But just how dire is the financial picture? Will Social Security be there for our grandchildren?
Designed to provide a basic income for retirees and their families, Social Security has done remarkably well in achieving that goal and is considered the most successful government program in the nation’s history.
Russia to Launch Satellite to Communicate With Aliens
Russian satellite experts have developed new panels that will allow people to send messages into space where they can be intercepted by interstellar civilizations. The new generation satellite, Glonass-M, is set to be launched on Dec. 25, with six initial information panels.
Russians will be able to send their space ads for free, but the company will determine which ones they accept.
The Krasnoyarsk satellite company that created the new panels said they had come up with the new way to make use of satellites — apart from their primary function, “satellites can be used as interstellar postmen,” the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The satellite will orbit at distance of 20,000 kilometers and can theoretically remain in space forever. Information in the form of drawings or script can be placed on special aluminum sheets with an area of 12cm x 26cm.
Russians will be able to send their space ads for free, but the company will determine which ones they accept.
The Krasnoyarsk satellite company that created the new panels said they had come up with the new way to make use of satellites — apart from their primary function, “satellites can be used as interstellar postmen,” the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The satellite will orbit at distance of 20,000 kilometers and can theoretically remain in space forever. Information in the form of drawings or script can be placed on special aluminum sheets with an area of 12cm x 26cm.
Military Lab Proposed Gay-Aphrodisiac Chemical Weapon
Thanks to a FOIA request from the Sunshine Project, a fascinating document has now come to light. In June 1994, the US Air Force Wright Laboratory wrote a proposal titled "Harassing, Annoying, and 'Bad Guy' Identifying Chemicals." While listing the categories of chemical weapons they planned to develop, the military scientists wrote:
Chemicals that effect [sic] human behavior so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely effected [sic]. One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior.
The Air Force Lab was quite serious about the proposal, listing a timetable and estimate of expenses for the overall project.
Total cost through fiscal year 2000: $7.5 million
Having enemy soldiers throw down their guns and start humping each other: Priceless
The document is here [PDF format]
Other documents about the US "non-lethal" weapons program are here
Chemicals that effect [sic] human behavior so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely effected [sic]. One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior.
The Air Force Lab was quite serious about the proposal, listing a timetable and estimate of expenses for the overall project.
Total cost through fiscal year 2000: $7.5 million
Having enemy soldiers throw down their guns and start humping each other: Priceless
The document is here [PDF format]
Other documents about the US "non-lethal" weapons program are here
Federal Court Rules Minnesota Can't Regulate VoIP Internet Calls
A Minnesota agency may not regulate calls through cyberspace as it does calls through traditional phone lines, a federal appeals court ruled.
The Tuesday order by the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upholds a lower-court ruling and is a win for fledgling companies like Vonage Holdings Corp. of Edison, N.J., which provides Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission had argued that VoIP companies were providing phone-like service and therefore should be regulated as phone companies are. But those businesses said they provide an information service rather than a telecommunications service.
VoIP converts the sound of a voice into packets of data, sends them across the Internet, and reassembles them into sound on the other end of a call.
The Tuesday order by the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upholds a lower-court ruling and is a win for fledgling companies like Vonage Holdings Corp. of Edison, N.J., which provides Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission had argued that VoIP companies were providing phone-like service and therefore should be regulated as phone companies are. But those businesses said they provide an information service rather than a telecommunications service.
VoIP converts the sound of a voice into packets of data, sends them across the Internet, and reassembles them into sound on the other end of a call.
US Businesses Overseas Threatened by Rising Anti-Americanism
The Bush administration's foreign policy may be costing U.S. corporations business overseas--according to a new survey of 8,000 international consumers released this week by the Seattle-based Global Market Insite (GMI) Inc.
Brands closely identified with the U.S., such as Marlboro cigarettes, America Online (AOL), McDonald's, American Airlines, and Exxon-Mobil are particularly at risk. GMI, an independent market research company, conducted the survey in eight countries December 10-12 with consumers over the internet.
One third of all consumers in Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom said that U.S. foreign policy, particularly the "war on terror" and the occupation of Iraq, constituted their strongest impression of the United States.
Brands closely identified with the U.S., such as Marlboro cigarettes, America Online (AOL), McDonald's, American Airlines, and Exxon-Mobil are particularly at risk. GMI, an independent market research company, conducted the survey in eight countries December 10-12 with consumers over the internet.
One third of all consumers in Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom said that U.S. foreign policy, particularly the "war on terror" and the occupation of Iraq, constituted their strongest impression of the United States.
Uncensored Restoration of Battleship Potemkin Premieres
A newly reconstructed version of the 1925 Soviet film Battleship Potemkin will premiere at Berlin Film Festival.
The film, by Sergei Eisenstein, dramatised a mutiny on the Russian ship showing how it inspired a failed 1905 uprising against the country's czars.
It now includes Russian graphics and words from revolutionary Leon Trotsky, which were censored in the 1920s.
The festival, which is showing the film next year, said no complete print of the original movie survived.
The film, by Sergei Eisenstein, dramatised a mutiny on the Russian ship showing how it inspired a failed 1905 uprising against the country's czars.
It now includes Russian graphics and words from revolutionary Leon Trotsky, which were censored in the 1920s.
The festival, which is showing the film next year, said no complete print of the original movie survived.
AIDS Action Befriends Bush
"It's mind-boggling: Marsha Martin, the executive director of AIDS Action - the AIDS community's largest, most visible, and wealthiest Washington lobby, with a multi-million dollar budget - has jumped into bed with the Bush-Rove Republicans with both feet," political journalist Doug Ireland writes on his blog Direland. "In a perfectly scandalous act of betrayal of the AIDS community, Martin is one of a small committee sponsoring a pricey celebration of Bush's November victory, and that of the Republicans in Congress. And guess who gets the money from this orgy of felicitations to the GOP? A front group for Big Pharma that crusades against giving cheap, generic AIDS-fighting meds to the world's poorest victims of the AIDS pandemic." The event is a benefit for the Aids Responsibility Project, which counts as "partners" the giant trade association Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Daimler Chrysler, drug maker Pfizer, U.S. Agency for International Development and the free-market website Tech Central Station.
Arthur Schopenhauer: The Art Of Controversy
If you find that you are being worsted, you can make a diversion - that is, you can suddenly begin to talk of something else, as though it had a bearing on the matter in dispute, and afforded an argument against your opponent. This may be done without presumption if the diversion has, in fact, some general bearing on the matter; but it is a piece of impudence if it has nothing to do with the case, and is only brought in by way of attacking your opponent.
Navy SEALs Sue Associated Press Over Iraq Photos
Six Navy SEAL special operations commandos and the wives of two of them sued The Associated Press and one of its reporters on Tuesday for publishing photos taken from a Web site that appeared to show the SEALs abusing prisoners in Iraq.
The suit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, said the pictures did not depict abuse and instead put the lives of the soldiers at risk by exposing their faces to the world.
"We haven't been served yet, so we haven't seen the complaint," said Associated Press attorney Dave Tomlin, who is representing the news agency and reporter Seth Hettena. "But we believe AP's use of the photos and the manner in which they were obtained were entirely lawful and proper."
The plaintiffs are identified only as "Six Navy SEALs and Two Jane Does," and the suit indicates they have been allowed to file anonymously by court order.
The suit, filed in San Diego Superior Court, said the pictures did not depict abuse and instead put the lives of the soldiers at risk by exposing their faces to the world.
"We haven't been served yet, so we haven't seen the complaint," said Associated Press attorney Dave Tomlin, who is representing the news agency and reporter Seth Hettena. "But we believe AP's use of the photos and the manner in which they were obtained were entirely lawful and proper."
The plaintiffs are identified only as "Six Navy SEALs and Two Jane Does," and the suit indicates they have been allowed to file anonymously by court order.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Agencies Clash on Fingerprint Database
Despite some improvement, the Justice, State and Homeland Security departments are at an impasse over such basic issues as whether two or 10 fingers should be printed at U.S. borders and which law enforcement agencies should have access to immigration information.
"Progress toward the longer-term goal of making all biometric fingerprint systems fully interoperable has stalled," Fine's report concluded.
"Progress toward the longer-term goal of making all biometric fingerprint systems fully interoperable has stalled," Fine's report concluded.
Images of the Dec. 26th Tsunami
Video 1 2 3
Visualizations 1 2
Devastating quake redraws map
Sunday's destruction was unleashed by a 'megathrust' - a huge, sudden juddering movement beneath the ocean floor. Here, a buildup of pressure caused the Indian Ocean floor to lurch some 15 metres towards Indonesia, burrowing under its tectonic plate and triggering the ferocious swells that smashed the surrounding shores.The movement is likely to have altered the geography of neighbouring islands such as Simeulue, the Nicobar and Andaman islands, and Sumatra itself, says Bill McGuire, a geophysicist at University College London, UK. "In terms of the specific position of Sumatra on the planet, it will have moved," he says. "Things have shifted literally within minutes."
Visualizations 1 2
Devastating quake redraws map
Sunday's destruction was unleashed by a 'megathrust' - a huge, sudden juddering movement beneath the ocean floor. Here, a buildup of pressure caused the Indian Ocean floor to lurch some 15 metres towards Indonesia, burrowing under its tectonic plate and triggering the ferocious swells that smashed the surrounding shores.The movement is likely to have altered the geography of neighbouring islands such as Simeulue, the Nicobar and Andaman islands, and Sumatra itself, says Bill McGuire, a geophysicist at University College London, UK. "In terms of the specific position of Sumatra on the planet, it will have moved," he says. "Things have shifted literally within minutes."
Michigan Now Open for New Jersey's Trash
Wayne County, already the dumping ground for all of Toronto's trash, is fast becoming the destination for New Jersey's construction waste, too.
To the ire of local and state officials, Canadian National Railway Co. this month began shipping as much as 1,000 tons of demolition debris -- broken walls, gnarled metal and the like -- 600 miles every day from the Garden State to Rockwood, a one stoplight community of 3,400 residents that hugs the border of Monroe County.
"Everyone is just disgusted," said Rockwood resident Dieter Schulz, a landlord. "It's terrible. Why is Michigan the dumping ground for everyone?"
The garbage flap began with rumors, remains stoked with mystery, but is almost certain to end in court. Along the way, the private deal could reshape Michigan's decade-long fight against out-of-state waste.
To the ire of local and state officials, Canadian National Railway Co. this month began shipping as much as 1,000 tons of demolition debris -- broken walls, gnarled metal and the like -- 600 miles every day from the Garden State to Rockwood, a one stoplight community of 3,400 residents that hugs the border of Monroe County.
"Everyone is just disgusted," said Rockwood resident Dieter Schulz, a landlord. "It's terrible. Why is Michigan the dumping ground for everyone?"
The garbage flap began with rumors, remains stoked with mystery, but is almost certain to end in court. Along the way, the private deal could reshape Michigan's decade-long fight against out-of-state waste.
Steve Perry Adventures
Welcome to the Perry-Tales fan fiction site of make believe. This site is dedicated to the greatest voice in music, Steve Perry. If you are offended by fan fiction, any characterization of Steve or role playing, then this site is NOT for you. To the others, join us in this new Journey, and we shall gather under the banner of Perry-Tales! Enter all who desire something new and different.
Certain Things Have Come to My Attention
It has further come to my attention that the specter of my botched appearance before the Senate will end my political career, and may very well personally destroy me.
These revelations have shocked and bewildered me. How could I have done these things? How could I have remained unaware of them?
Are there two of me? Do I have an evil twin? Multiple personalities? A degenerative brain disease? Perhaps I'm psychotic?
Another equally troubling question is this: How could someone of my fundamental incapacity have come so close to heading the department of the United States government charged with protecting our country from acts of terrorism? Is anyone else horrified by this? Is anyone besides me even slightly bothered?
[thanks to Rod]
These revelations have shocked and bewildered me. How could I have done these things? How could I have remained unaware of them?
Are there two of me? Do I have an evil twin? Multiple personalities? A degenerative brain disease? Perhaps I'm psychotic?
Another equally troubling question is this: How could someone of my fundamental incapacity have come so close to heading the department of the United States government charged with protecting our country from acts of terrorism? Is anyone else horrified by this? Is anyone besides me even slightly bothered?
[thanks to Rod]
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed [oh and, also see :] [from MetaFilter.com]
Diamond teaches geography at U.C.L.A. and is well known for his best-seller “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. In “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” Diamond looked at environmental and structural factors to explain why Western societies came to dominate the world. In “Collapse,” he continues that approach, only this time he looks at history’s losers—like the Easter Islanders, the Anasazi of the American Southwest, the Mayans, and the modern-day Rwandans. We live in an era preoccupied with the way that ideology and culture and politics and economics help shape the course of history. But Diamond isn’t particularly interested in any of those things—or, at least, he’s interested in them only insofar as they bear on what to him is the far more important question, which is a society’s relationship to its climate and geography and resources and neighbors. “Collapse” is a book about the most prosaic elements of the earth’s ecosystem—soil, trees, and water—because societies fail, in Diamond’s view, when they mismanage those environmental factors.
Diamond teaches geography at U.C.L.A. and is well known for his best-seller “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. In “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” Diamond looked at environmental and structural factors to explain why Western societies came to dominate the world. In “Collapse,” he continues that approach, only this time he looks at history’s losers—like the Easter Islanders, the Anasazi of the American Southwest, the Mayans, and the modern-day Rwandans. We live in an era preoccupied with the way that ideology and culture and politics and economics help shape the course of history. But Diamond isn’t particularly interested in any of those things—or, at least, he’s interested in them only insofar as they bear on what to him is the far more important question, which is a society’s relationship to its climate and geography and resources and neighbors. “Collapse” is a book about the most prosaic elements of the earth’s ecosystem—soil, trees, and water—because societies fail, in Diamond’s view, when they mismanage those environmental factors.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Recovered: Complete Fox News Series on Israeli Spying in US
Fox News' surprising and crucial December 2001 series on Israeli spy operations in the US was yanked off the Web soon after it triggered howls of rage from Israel and its supporters.
The transcripts of all four segments and the video of two segments have been widely mirrored on the Web since the story aired, but the first two video segments were thought lost until now. The entire series - video and text - is now available at the Information Clearing House:
Carl Cameron Investigates: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.?
The transcripts of all four segments and the video of two segments have been widely mirrored on the Web since the story aired, but the first two video segments were thought lost until now. The entire series - video and text - is now available at the Information Clearing House:
Carl Cameron Investigates: Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.?
Satan Worshipper, Witch Testing Religious Liberty
A religious liberties lawsuit brought by a Satan worshipper, a Wiccan witch, a white supremacist, and an adherent of an ancient Viking religion is drawing the impassioned support of major national religious groups as it approaches a hearing before the Supreme Court.
The case is potentially the most important religious liberties case on this year's docket, impacting how far a state can go to accommodate the religious practices of its citizens and whether Congress can require states to be more accommodating.
The case was filed by a group of Ohio inmates - Jon Cutter, J. Lee Hampton, John Gerhardt, John Miller, and Daryl Blankenship - who are demanding access to religious books, medallions, and costumes, as well as the right to worship in groups while in custody.
Ohio prison officials have dismissed their religious claims as a cover for gang activities, noting as an example that one of the plaintiffs belongs to a church that has been linked to the Ku Klux Klan. Their lawyer countered that they are sincere: Mr. Blankenship, who practices a polytheistic Nordic religion called Asatru, fasted for weeks in protest of prison rules and was hospitalized.
The case is potentially the most important religious liberties case on this year's docket, impacting how far a state can go to accommodate the religious practices of its citizens and whether Congress can require states to be more accommodating.
The case was filed by a group of Ohio inmates - Jon Cutter, J. Lee Hampton, John Gerhardt, John Miller, and Daryl Blankenship - who are demanding access to religious books, medallions, and costumes, as well as the right to worship in groups while in custody.
Ohio prison officials have dismissed their religious claims as a cover for gang activities, noting as an example that one of the plaintiffs belongs to a church that has been linked to the Ku Klux Klan. Their lawyer countered that they are sincere: Mr. Blankenship, who practices a polytheistic Nordic religion called Asatru, fasted for weeks in protest of prison rules and was hospitalized.
Russia develops new nuclear missile systems, Putin states
Putin, speaking to armed forces chiefs, said although international terrorism was one of Russia's main security threats the country had also to keep its nuclear defenses in sound condition.
"We know that we have only to weaken our attention to such components of our defenses as the nuclear-missile shield, and new threats to us could appear," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. He said research and successful testing of new nuclear-missile systems technology was being conducted, informs Reuters.
"We know that we have only to weaken our attention to such components of our defenses as the nuclear-missile shield, and new threats to us could appear," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. He said research and successful testing of new nuclear-missile systems technology was being conducted, informs Reuters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)