Owl: Radioactive Panic on West Coast Likely – Government Continues to Lie to Public About Actual Facts and Probable Trends

07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 11 Society, Corruption, Government
Who? Who?

Connecting Some Dots: Fukishima, the World Economy and NDAA

The on-going catastrophic, massive release of nuclear radiation from Fukishima offers a high probability of being cataclysmic in its effects and implications for the world economy, the health of millions of people and the continued freedom, such as it is, of US citizens, and may trump by far all other crises, in the light of the article:

Fukushima, Washington Hides ‘Black Swan’ of Economic Collapse

Some chilling items from it:

Radioactivity in the west coast of the US:

“Due to increasing reports of nuclear contamination found in pollen across the U.S. West Coast, babies with elevated becquerel levels of nearly 10 times normal (presumably from mother’s milk), and a statistically unusual number of children with flu-like symptoms who won’t respond to conventional medical protocol, the truth about Fukushima could easily break out into a national panic significant enough to trigger an economic collapse of the U.S. economy and dollar, according to Consolo.

That’s “what we found from Freedom of Information Act requests . . . transmissions between the U.S. government, the Chinese, the Russians and the Japanese from the beginning of the disaster until now, and that includes NRC (National Regulatory Commission) transcripts of phone calls,” Consolo explained.

“They were well aware of high the levels were, and that they were coming over here,” she added.  “In fact, infants in California were exposed to 40,000 becquerels (symbol Bq: the human body has 4,400 Bq, on average, from decaying potassium) of iodine 131—that causes thyroid cancer—from Mar. 17 to the beginning of April.”

Evidence of government agencies covering up full health effects of Fukishima on US west coast:

“And there was an actual letter that came from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) telling physicians in California not to put people on potassium iodide (KI),” Consolo continued.  “And the only thing that I can draw from that is they didn’t want to panic people; they didn’t want them to know how bad the situation is.  But the problem is that the situation is ongoing.

From the U.S. FDA Web site.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that all children internally contaminated with (or likely to be internally contaminated with) radioactive iodine take KI, unless they have known allergies to iodine. Children from newborn to 18 years of age are the most sensitive to the potentially harmful effects of radioactive iodine.

Consolo also noted that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suddenly stopped testing rainwater, soil and milk for contamination two weeks following the disaster.  But private tests conducted after the EPA stopped its testing, including ones performed by the University of California at Berkeley, in particular, reported “in November, that the levels of cesium in cow’s milk are actually 150 percent higher than they were in April of last year,” she paraphrased.

Consolo intimated that the EPA stopped testing because its reports would eventually become available to the public through the inevitable Freedom of Information requests, giving rise to the speculation for the stoppage among many others in the nuclear community as a possible reason for the EPA’s withdrawal and the progressively worsening data it would need to conceal through time.”

Why Obama Took on the Risks of Quickly Signing Anti-Constitutional Legislation:

“And the threat to U.S. national security as well as the implications to the global economy a nuclear contamination multiple-times more devastating than Chernobyl poses to America may have been the impetus for President Obama’s rapid-fire signing of the Executive Orders of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in January and the National Defense Resources Preparedness Act (NDRPA) in March, possibly suggesting that President Obama’s motives for these pair of politically catastrophic actions (during an election year) were, in a sense, mischaracterized as a executive branch power grab by media instead of an unpredictable dialogue that could trigger an immediate crisis of panic if the rational for an obvious abrogation (suspension) of the Constitution were made public.”

Chuck Spinney: Global Moral Downside of Privatizing US Military Support

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Military
Chuck Spinney

In the late 1980s, under the leadership of Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, the Pentagon began to privatise many of  the military's support services that had traditionally be done soldiers, sailors, and airmen — laundries, dining halls, security guards, cleaning latrines, some supply functions, etc.  It was argued at the time that this would save money and free up troops for combat duties, thus increasing the tooth-to-tail ratio of our military forces.  According to this logic, fact that we were fielding an army that could not feed itself or wash its own laundry was deemed to be a cost-effective contributor to combat power.  Of course, the only real result was to transfer another large part of the defense budget to the defense contractors and open up vast new opportunities for price gouging.

It is an undeniable fact that, despite a massive move to privatization of support functions by the Pentagon, the tooth-to-tail ratio continued to get worse during the 1990s and in the subsequent decade, the daily cost per unit of deployed combat power, be it troops marching in the mud, flying hours, ship steaming hours, or tank miles driven, etc continued to increase at a rate much faster than the overall defense budget increased.<

As a result, two relatively low-tempo, small wars (compared to Korea or Vietnam) — i.e., Iraq and Afghanistan — have now cost more than any war America has fought, save WWII (in inflation adjusted dollars).  Privatization  — the neoliberal panacea for all things according to the adherents of the Chicago School of economics — may have created bloated profits for the MICC, fomented the rise of private armies, like Blackwater, and increased the corruption that naturally takes place among war profiteers, but the result has been a disaster for our nation.<

The below article in Le Monde Diplomatique is a good, albeit disgusting, example of how the privatization of public enterprise works in the real world of America's permanent war economy.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Global Moral Downside of Privatizing US Military Support”

DefDog: Words That Might Get You Labeled a Terrorist

Government, Idiocy
DefDog

Interesting reading…

Revealed: Hundreds of words to avoid using online if you don't want the government spying on you (and they include ‘pork', ‘cloud' and ‘Mexico')

Department of Homeland Security forced to release list following freedom of information request

Agency insists it only looks for evidence of genuine threats to the U.S. and not for signs of general dissent

Daniel Miller

Mail  Online, 26 May 2012

The Department of Homeland Security has been forced to release a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor social networking sites and online media for signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S.

The intriguing the list includes obvious choices such as ‘attack', ‘Al Qaeda', ‘terrorism' and ‘dirty bomb' alongside dozens of seemingly innocent words like ‘pork', ‘cloud', ‘team' and ‘Mexico'.

Released under a freedom of information request, the information sheds new light on how government analysts are instructed to patrol the internet searching for domestic and external threats.

The words are included in the department's 2011 ‘Analyst's Desktop Binder‘ used by workers at their National Operations Center which instructs workers to identify ‘media reports that reflect adversely on DHS and response activities'.

Department chiefs were forced to release the manual following a House hearing over documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit which revealed how analysts monitor social networks and media organisations for comments that ‘reflect adversely' on the government.

However they insisted the practice was aimed not at policing the internet for disparaging remarks about the government and signs of general dissent, but to provide awareness of any potential threats.

Mini-Me: Horne and Fetzer on The Two NPIC Zapruder Film Events: Analysis and Implications

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

The Two NPIC Zapruder Film Events: Analysis and Implications

by Douglas Horne (with Jim Fetzer)

The authenticity of the Zapruder film and of the other home movies purportedly taken of the assassination in Dealey Plaza has been hotly contested since I (Jim Fetzer) first organized and moderated the first Zapruder Film Symposium during the JFK Lancer Conference in 1996.  We have accumulated an enormous quantity of confirming evidence since that time, where those who want to know what actually happened are better off reading the compilation of witness reports from those who were present, which John P. Costella, Ph.D., has compiled, “What happened on Elm Street? The Eyewitnesses Speak”, than they are watching the extant version of the film.  Indeed, John, who earned his Ph.D. in electromagnetism and is an expert on the laws of optics and the physics of moving objects, has a brilliant visual introduction to the study of Zapruder film fakery, “JFK Assassination Film Hoax: A Simple Introduction”.

Some of the most stunning proof of alteration comes from one of the most prominent figures in the extant film, Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who was assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy.  As the volley of shots that blew JFK’s brains out to the back rear is virtually complete, Hill rushed forward to protect Jackie.  As he has consistently maintained for nearly fifty years now, he climbed up on the limo, where she was reaching across the trunk to pick up a chunk of Jack’s skull and brains, pushed her back down into the seat, lay cross her and JFK’s body, peered into a massive, fist-sized hole in the back of his head, and gave his colleagues a “thumbs d0wn”, all before the limousine had reached the Triple Underpass.  Yet, in the Zapruder film and the complementary photograph shown here–which also has to have been fabricated–we only see him climbing on the back of the limo and reaching out toward Jackie before it zooms toward Parkland Hospital and passes beneath the underpass.  What Clint Hill has been reporting–in written reports as well as during spoken presentations–contradicts the extant version of the film.

Read full article with additional photographs.

See Also:

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Tom Atlee: Dialogue and Deliberation Resource Center

Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence
Tom Atlee

The Greatest Dialogue and Deliberation Resource Center

Dear friends,

Many of you already know about the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD).  But I'll bet most of you have not checked out NCDD's incredible (as in unbelievably gigantic and useful) online Resource Center.  It is my own first stop when I'm looking for a process or resource having anything to do with powerful conversations.  People often ask me for stories about community conversations, and I send them to the NCDD Resource Center.  There are materials there for beginners and experts, practitioners and activists, journalists and artists, mediators, anarchists, business consultants… you name it!  It is as democratic and useful as a library or a sidewalk – everybody is welcome.  It is totally free and always expanding.  Anyone interested in any aspect of making a difference with conversations can get familiar with it – and have fun exploring.  I think it is one of the most amazing “secrets” of the dialogue and deliberation movement.

I'll stop raving about it now to give you a few minutes to check it out.  Below is a writeup to get you started.  Have fun!

Coheartedly,
Tom

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NCDD's Resource Center –
http://ncdd.org/rc

The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD) has been cataloguing resources about and for dialogue and deliberation since 2002.  At http://ncdd.org/rc, you can access more than 2,600 discussion guides, assessment tools, case studies, public engagement programs and organizations, articles, books, videos, and more.

Dialogue and deliberation are innovative processes that bring people together across divides to discuss, decide, and collaborate on today's toughest issues.  NCDD's Resource Center was designed to connect you with the information, guidance, theory, and examples you need to engage people effectively.

You can use the search field, categories and tags, or additional sidebar navigation options to hone in. We especially recommend you use the “I’m Looking For…” sidebar box that lets you cross-search categories and tags. Use the site map at http://ncdd.org/rc/contents to see a full list of all the categories and tags, or just look over the most recently added resources at http://ncdd.org/rc/resources.  Do you know of a great resource on dialogue, deliberation, or public engagement that should be added to NCDD's Resource Center?  Use the form at http://ncdd.org/rc/add to submit your favorites!
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John Robb: The Official US Process of Death by Powerpoint

Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military
John Robb

The US President's Hit List or “Death by PowerPoint”

Posted: 29 May 2012 12:01 PM PDT

Last Friday, I wrote a post on how:

– US national security agencies increasingly use computerized analysis of collected data to designate a person as an enemy combatant.

– The US currently uses non-judicial Presidential “hit lists” to simplify the killing of people (including US citizens) designated as enemy combatants.

– The US is rapidly increasing its use of drones to kill enemy combatants nearly anywhere in the world 24x7x365.

The scary part is that the combination of these trends is the path of least resistance to an automated totalitarianism.

For those of you out of the loop on what is going on, it probably seemed to be a bit of a stretch.  Particularly, the idea that the President could put American citizens on a military hit list without going through a judicial process.

If you were skeptical on the existence of a hit list, here's an article from today's (almost on cue) New York Times.

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Mini-Me: “Inside Job” Director Charles Ferguson: Wall Street Has Turned the U.S. into a “Predatory Nation”

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement
Who? Mini-Me?

Huh?

“Inside Job” Director Charles Ferguson: Wall Street Has Turned the U.S. into a “Predatory Nation”

Two years after directing the Academy Award-winning documentary, “Inside Job,” filmmaker Charles Ferguson returns with a new book, “Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America.” Ferguson explores why no top financial executives have been jailed for their role in the nation’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We also discuss Larry Summers and the revolving door between academia and Wall Street, as well as the key role Democrats have played in deregulating the financial industry. According to Ferguson, a “predatory elite” has “taken over significant portions of economic policy and of the political system, and also, unfortunately, major portions of the economics discipline.” Click here to see Part 2 of this interview. [includes rush transcript]

Charles Ferguson, the Academy Award-winning director of Inside Job, a documentary about the financial crisis. His film on the war in Iraq, No End in Sight, was nominated for an Academy Award. His new book is called Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America.

WATCH VIDEO

Phi Beta Iota:  We strongly disagree on where the blame should be placed.  The two-party tyranny, and corrupt Senators and Representatives, are the ones who have committed treason in betrayal of the public trust.  Nothing Wall Street has done would have been possible without the combination of “control fraud” (failure of  the Executive to enforce laws and regulations) and corruption (outright legalization of crime by corrupt Members in return for specified 5% bribes).  There is nothing wrong with the United States of America that cannot be fixed, and fixed quickly, merely by flushing the two-party tyranny and all political incumbents (both executive and legislative), down the toilet.  This is a state and local problem as well, not just a national problem.

noble gold