Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 3048 – Public Intelligence Blog

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

We Have the Moral High Ground by Cindy Sheehan

“Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love…” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1958

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal…” Dr. King, 1967

Phi Beta Iota Salute: Cindy Sheehan is an “average American” similar in many ways to the New Jersey mothers that started the 9-11 Truth Movement and refused the government “pay-off” that came with a quit claim and an oath of silence.

Click on the photograph to read her moving words replete with personal integrity.

2009/08/202009/08/22

Journal: Junk Politics, Brand Obama, and Empire as Usual–From the Left, a Slam Heard Round the World

05 Civil War, 6 Star Top 10%, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics

John Richard Pilger (born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist and documentary maker. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US.^[1]^[2] Based in London, he is known for his polemical campaigning style: “Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job, who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour.”

Below is a slam on “Brand Obama” as a continuation of Empire as Usual that is being heard around the world. It is rocketing through the YouTube circles, being Twittered, and could well be the first real articulation of the left waking up to the fact that Wall Street owns the White House. The Brzezinski/CIA backdrop is touched upon–we anticipate Bob Gates being “sacrificed” and John Hamry replacing him in January, all as part of Washington “theater for the masses.” John Hamry is of course Zbigniew Brzezinski's caretaker or ward, take your pick. “Junk Politics” and “Empire of Illusion” are touchstone phrases.

EXCERPT (SHORT)

Continue reading “Journal: Junk Politics, Brand Obama, and Empire as Usual–From the Left, a Slam Heard Round the World”

2009/08/202009/08/20

Journal: CIA Blows–Blackwater, $5M Bar Bill, and Reprise of Rendition Atrocities

09 Terrorism, 10 Security, Ethics, Government

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is more of a laughingstock around the world than most realize. From being called “useful idiots” (tontos utiles) in Latin America to much, much worse in the Middle East, it appears to have become a bloated bureaucracy incapable of achieving anything of positive significance. Intelligence is an inherently governmental function, and clandestine and covert intelligence especially so. Both require the very highest standards of integrity and professional skill. CIA appears to be lacking in both, and nothing has changed under Leon Panetta. It is in our view high time that the President and Congress require a full General Accountability Office (GAO) of every aspect of CIA operations, as well as those of the National Security Agency (NSA).

Below are three headlines that turn our stomach.

Continue reading “Journal: CIA Blows–Blackwater, $5M Bar Bill, and Reprise of Rendition Atrocities”

2009/08/192009/08/20

Journal: Senator Moves to Stop Scientific Ghostwriting

07 Health, Ethics

By NATASHA SINGER

Published: August 18, 2009

A growing body of evidence suggests that doctors at some of the nation’s top medical schools have been attaching their names and lending their reputations to scientific papers that were drafted by ghostwriters working for drug companies — articles that were carefully calibrated to help the manufacturers sell more products.

Continue reading “Journal: Senator Moves to Stop Scientific Ghostwriting”

2009/08/192009/08/20

Journal: Freshmen Dems torn by party, voters on health care

07 Health

By MIKE BAKER and BOB LEWIS , 08.19.09, 03:09 AM EDT

The newcomers are caught in a crossfire between their congressional leaders to the left and conservative constituents to the right, and they hold clout that could determine if health care legislation passes – and in what form.

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“I hope the freshmen have their eyes open to what's going on out here – to see that they need to represent the people that put them in office,” he said.

Continue reading “Journal: Freshmen Dems torn by party, voters on health care”

2009/08/18

Journal: DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

Methods & Process, Technologies

By ANDREW POLLACK

Published: August 17, 2009

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

. . . . . . .

Tania Simoncelli, science adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union, said the findings were worrisome.

“DNA is a lot easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints,” she said. “We’re creating a criminal justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology.”

. . . . . . .

From a pooled sample of many people’s DNA, the scientists cloned tiny DNA snippets representing the common variants at each spot, creating a library of such snippets. To prepare a DNA sample matching any profile, they just mixed the proper snippets together. They said that a library of 425 different DNA snippets would be enough to cover every conceivable profile.

2009/08/182009/08/18

Journal: Starting this year, Americans will have to get government approval to travel by air….

Ethics, Government, Law Enforcement

Starting this year, Americans will have to get government approval to travel by air. As Privacy Journal revealed last fall, henceforth “Permission Now Needed to Travel Within U.S.” Getting a reservation and checking-in for air travel will soon require Transportation Security Administration authorization. That permission is by no means assured: For example, if your name matches a “no-fly” list, even mistakenly, you can be denied the right to a reserve a seat on a flight. If your name is on a “selectee” list, you and your possessions will be searched more thoroughly before you can board. What is going on here?

Phi Beta Iota Editorial Comment: The USA still does not have a reliable watch list.

Continue reading “Journal: Starting this year, Americans will have to get government approval to travel by air….”

Category: Journal ISSN 1078-1935

Journal: We Have the Moral High Ground