09 Justice – Page 145 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/08/16

Chuck Spinney: The S&P Downgrade Market Plunge Myth

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corporations, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Media, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney Sounds Off....

The S&P Downgrade Market Plunge Myth

Monday 15 August 2011

by: Dean Baker, Truthout | News Analysis

The Wall Street crew that wants to cut your Social Security and Medicare benefits are sensing that victory is in sight. They have managed to knock jobs completely off the agenda and have made deficit reduction the near exclusive focus of economic policy in Washington. They are now setting the stage to have the Congressional “super committee” produce a deal that will mean large cuts in both programs.

The backdrop for these cuts is that the country is in crisis and that we have no choice. A central part of this story is that the stock market crashed last week in response to the Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgrade of US government debt. The Wall Street crew and their allies in the media and Congress will tell the country that if we don't have the cuts in Social Security and Medicare demanded by S&P then we run the risk of further downgrades. This raises the prospect of further market panics and the complete wreckage of the economy.

This story has as much credibility as John Edwards' tales of marital bliss during his presidential campaign.

Read rest of article.

Phi Beta Iota: A couple of things are clear, the first being that Barack Obama is not in charge of anything, the second being that New York–Wall Street, Goldman Sachs, the Koch Brothers–is. From the Tea Party funded and manipulated by the Koch brothers, to the idiotic lack of intellent analysis from the newspapers and broadcast stage, what we have here is theater. The truth is nowhere to be found between New York and Washington.

2011/08/14

Chuck Spinney: What Caused the Fukushima Meltdowns?

05 Energy, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

The Tsunami or the Earthquake Preceding the Tsunami?????

Below is another pathbreaking report in Counterpunch on the Fukushima question. Fukushima may be off the front pages, but the catastrophe is still generating serious questions with profound ramifications. In a few days, I will forward another blaster will showing how the some of these ramifications this catastrophe reaching into the good ole USA. In the meantime, I urge you to read this report.

Chuck Spinney
Nice, France

The Fukushima Daiichi Reactors Were in Meltdown After the Earthquake, But Before the Tsnumami Hit

TEPCO's Darkest Secret

By DAVID McNEILL and JAKE ADELSTEIN

It is one of the mysteries of Japan’s ongoing nuclear crisis: How much damage did the March 11 earthquake do to the Fukushima Daiichi reactors before the tsunami hit? The stakes are high: If the quake structurally compromised the plant and the safety of its nuclear fuel, then every other similar reactor in Japan will have to be reviewed and possibly shut down. With virtually all of Japan’s 54 reactors either offline (35) or scheduled for shutdown by next April, the issue of structural safety looms over the decision to restart every one in the months and years after.

. . . . . .

Problems with the fractured, deteriorating, poorly repaired pipes and the cooling system had been pointed out for years. In 2002, whistleblower allegations that TEPCO had deliberately falsified safety records came to light and the company was forced to shut down all of its reactors and inspect them, including the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant. Sugaoka Kei, a General Electric on-site inspector first notified Japan’s nuclear watchdog, Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) in June of 2000. The government of Japan took two years to address the problem, then colluded in covering it up — and gave the name of the whistleblower to TEPCO.

Read full report….

Nuclear/Climate Change: CLOSED 17 May 2011

2011/08/14

Patrick Meier: On Synchrony, Technology and Revolutions – The Political Power of Synchronized Resistance

09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence

On Synchrony, Technology and Revolutions: The Political Power of Synchronized Resistance

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Patrick Meier

Synchronized action is a powerful form of resistance against repressive regimes. Even if the action itself is harmless, like walking, meditation or worship, the public synchrony of that action by a number of individuals can threaten an authoritarian state. To be sure, synchronized public action demonstrates independency which may undermine state propaganda, reverse information cascades and thus the shared perception that the regime is both in control and unchallenged.

Read full posting–includes a TED video.

2011/08/132011/08/13

Koko: CIA 9/11 Cover-Up? Business As Usual

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 09 Terrorism, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, IO Impotency

A CIA 9/11 Cover-Up?

Did the CIA keep mum about two 9/11 hijackers because it tried and failed to recruit them? Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, authors of ‘The Eleventh Day,' on whether there’s any truth behind ex-Bush official Richard Clarke’s claim.

Daily Beast, 12 April 2011

EXTRACT

At the heart of the suggestion that the agency intentionally withheld information was the discovery by the Justice Department’s inspector-general of a draft cable—one that was prepared but never sent—by an FBI agent on attachment to the CIA’s bin Laden unit.

The CIA’s “screw-up” explanation of its lamentable failure to act remains at best unconvincing, at worst indicative that it conceals a very different, secret scenario.

Read full article…

An Explosive New 9/11 Charge

Review: Wedge–From Pearl Harbor to 9/11–How the Secret War between the FBI and CIA Has Endangered National Security

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Intelligence (Most)

2011/08/132011/08/15

Marcus Aurelius: Richard Clarke Slams CIA on 9/11

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, Corruption, Government

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

Public Intelligence Net has consolidated two separate items that I repeat below. Net interest is high, this consolidated version is more reliable.

Phi Beta Iota: Worth a full read. Comments at end below the line.

Richard Clarke Says CIA Tried to Recruit 9/11 Terrorists

An Explosive New 9/11 Charge (Daily Beast):

In a new documentary, former national-security aide Richard Clarke suggests the CIA tried to recruit 9/11 hijackers—then covered it up. Philip Shenon on George Tenet’s denial.

With the 10^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a month away, former CIA Director George Tenet and two former top aides are fighting back hard against allegations that they engaged in a massive cover-up in 2000 and 2001 to hide intelligence from the White House and the FBI that might have prevented the attacks.

The source of the explosive, unproved allegations is a man who once considered Tenet a close friend: former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who makes the charges against Tenet and the CIA in an interview for a radio documentary timed to the 10^th anniversary next month. Portions of the Clarke interview were made available to The Daily Beast by the producers of the documentary.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Richard Clarke Slams CIA on 9/11”

2011/08/12

John Robb: Can Middle Class Be Saved? Too Late.

03 Economy, 06 Family, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence

Great article. Starts with Citigroup's Plutonomy report (the report has been ruthlessly removed from the Web by Citi's lawyers) — wherein they show that, in the US, the middle class doesn't really exist. In reality, there are only two groups, a small percentage of rich households (that drive all consumption and investment) and the rest (that live hand to mouth). The last time this happened (in the 1920s) a global depression was the inevitable result

Can the Middle Class Be Saved?

The Great Recession has accelerated the hollowing-out of the American middle class. And it has illuminated the widening divide between most of America and the super-rich. Both developments herald grave consequences. Here is how we can bridge the gap between us.

By Don Peck

The Atlantic, September 2011

Read article….

2011/08/10

Steven Aftergood: When Secrecy Gets Out of Hand

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Media, Military

“WHEN SECRECY GETS OUT OF HAND“

The government's relentless pursuit of people suspected of mishandling or leaking classified information underscores the need to combat the misuse of classification authority, wrote J. William Leonard, the former director of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times today.

“The Obama administration, which has criminally prosecuted more leakers of purportedly classified information than all previous administrations combined, needs to stop and assess the way the government classifies information in the first place.”

“Classifying information that should not be kept secret can be just as harmful to the national interest as unauthorized disclosures of appropriately classified information,” he wrote. See “When Secrecy Gets Out of Hand” by J. William Leonard, Los Angeles Times, August 10.

Mr. Leonard recently filed a complaint with the new ISOO director, John Fitzpatrick, based on his assessment that a document that served as a basis for criminal prosecution in the case of Thomas Drake should never have been classified at all.