“New York is already a target for terrorists – we announce that every day and talk about it every day. To add something unnecessary to that makes no sense, and the president has made, I believe, an irresponsible decision.”

- Giuliani: 9/11 Trials in NYC Will Lead to More Terrorism
NewsMax.com
2009-11-13

… and warning people daily about the threat is the responsible way to address the possibility that they may be terrorized..?

The weakness of domestic criminal law is however evident in the face of transnational terrorists groups whose scope spreads across many borders. The challenge is compounded when States actively or passively support terrorism. Though traditionally State responsibility has been the vehicle through which pressure is exerted on States sponsoring terrorism, the lethal capabilities of terrorists demonstrated by the September 11, 2001 attacks has fundamentally changed the landscape.

- War on the Enemy: Self-Defence and State-Sponsored Terrorism
Jackson N. Maogoto

I think it reads better substituting “business” for “terrorists” and “terrorism”.

Ronald Reagan praised mujahideen as “freedom fighters”, and four mainstream Western films, the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights, the 1988 action films Rambo III, The Beast and the 2007 biographical movie Charlie Wilson’s War, portrayed them as heroic.

- Mujahideen: Afghanistan
Wikipedia
2009-11-17

“… but don’t think I’m some kind of role model.” – Osama bin Laden

In any case, since 1947 America has been the chief and pioneering perpetrator of “preemptive” state terror, exclusively in the Third World and therefore widely dissembled. Besides the unexceptional subversion and overthrow of governments in competition with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Washington has resorted to political assassinations, surrogate death squads and unseemly freedom fighters (e.g., bin Laden). It masterminded the killing of Lumumba and Allende; and it unsuccessfully tried to put to death Castro, Khadafi, Saddam Hussein (and bin Laden?).

- Untimely reflections upon the state of the world
by Arno Mayer for The Daily Princetonian
2001-10-05

If you can fund terrorism overseas, imagine how easy it’d be to fund it at home. Just saying.

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

- War Is A Racket
by Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC

A veteran Seattle police officer was fatally shot Saturday night as he and a rookie officer sat in their patrol car in the Central District. The officer who was killed was identified as Tim Brenton, 39, a nine-year veteran of the Seattle Police Dept.

. . .

“This is an assassination and every resource is being used to bring it to a conclusion,” he [Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel] said.

- Seattle cop is assassinated but his partner survives
Associated Press
2009-11-02

Young people kill other young people, poor people kill other poor people, gang members kill other gang members, and so on. Thus, contrary to stratification theories, a particular murder is not so much the outcome of the differential distribution of attributes as it is an interaction governed by patterns of social relations between people similar in stature and status.

- Mind Hacks’ Social Networks of Murder quoting
Murder by Structure by Papachristos AV

The connotations of the word murder suggest some level of intimacy; the word assassination connotes a political act. If you want to shape public perception of an event, choose the words which preclude an explanation (murder suggests intrigue; assassination is an open-and-shut case).

Given the very low likelihood that an “assassin” would have anything to gain by killing a police officer (notice that the partner survived – the killer[s] did not make much of effort to eliminate a prime witness and an immediate threat with a gun) and the low ratio of psychotically insane individuals in proportion to individuals who may have a grudge against a nine-year veteran of the police force, I would tend to toward wondering whether Officer Brenton perhaps had some enemies on the force or elsewhere…

As with any city, Seattle has its share of dirty cops.

Update:

The approach of the suspect vehicle also seems to have carefully planned to avoid that camera, as it approached from the rear, opened fire from the side, then backed up and drove away in the direction from which it came. SPD spokesperson Mark Jamieson told me this morning that the events “would lead someone to believe that they were trying to avoid detection.”

- SPD: Murderer’s approach, escape shows detailed planning
2009-11-04 12:14

• Use soap bubbles to distract babies and younger children. Parents can hold a plastic bubble-making wand in front of their child’s mouth and let them “blow away the hurt.” For crying babies, making a bubble will give them something to focus on besides the pain.
• Try relaxation exercises. Tell older kids and teens to breathe out slowly as if they are blowing up a big balloon. Or ask children to use their imaginations to create a vision of a fun place like the beach or park.
• Apply a numbing cream or patch. Ask your doctor for a prescription and apply it to your child before you go to the office. Make sure you put it in the place where the shot will go — the arm or the thigh.

- Take the Sting Out of Your Child’s Flu Shots
by Randy Dotinga
2009-10-18

Don’t forget to tell your little ones that it’s for the best, even if it does mean they’re being exposed to toxic chemicals and the risk of debilitating disease or life-long allergies (vaccine adjuvants provoke immune system responses and vaccines themselves include extraneous components like peanut oil… do the math) because you fell for some media hype which is meant, if nothing else, to enrich soulless pharmaceutical corporations.

Investigators are examining the possibility of other conspirators, “including the possibility that even some of the media outlets may have had some knowledge about this,” Alderden said.

Documents show that a media outlet has agreed to pay money to the Heenes with regards to the balloon incident, Alderden said. He didn’t name the media outlet, but said it was a show that blurs “the line between entertainment and news.” It wasn’t clear whether the deal was signed before or after the alleged hoax, or whether that media outlet was a possible conspirator.

- Sheriff: Boy-in-balloon was hoax, charges expected
by Dan Elliot for The Associated Press
2009-10-18

The boy’s parents are attention-whores who have been on television in the past (and no doubt wish to remain on television indefinitely) and the balloon “mysteriously became untethered”… is anyone surprised that this was a hoax?

You were surprised? I’ve got a few investment opportunities for you…

Because, whether you know it or not, you can’t handle the truth.

The death of Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard was one of 4,257 (and counting) US casualties in Iraq. The difference between his and the 4,256 before it: a picture taken by an Associated Press photographer moments after he sustained the mortal wound.

The photo, included as part of a tribute to the late soldier, was distributed by the Associated Press to major newspapers throughout the United States.

Secretary of Defense Gates today blasted the AP for carrying the image, calling it “appalling” and lacking in “common decency” — and many news outlets (at E&P we are now surveying this) are refusing to run it.

Just one example: this paper carried the package but in an editor’s note explains that it refused to run the picture finding it in “poor taste.” Others, such as the Salt Lake Tribune, have followed this path, deleting the photo from galleries that they run with the story.

- Rare AP Photo Captures Deadly Attack on U.S. Marine in Afghanistan – Pentagon Protests
by Greg Mitchell for The Huffington Post

David Bauder of the Associated Press writes that the Huffington Post article “provoked a vigorous debate” – and goes on to quote a former Marine who states that “Death and the ugliness of war is not something we look forward to but a necessity to put the war in its proper context”. I am in agreement, but I would like to know how it is that some might be opposed to the decision to print what happened just as the camera saw it.

Would these people settle for sloppy forgeries in lieu of actual photographs?

Are they aware of the gravity which news censorship carries in shaping public opinion?

… or are they drinking the Bush-Cheney wars-are-meant-to-be-funded-and-not-seen Kool-aid?

Ah, the casual, comfortable flip-flop: A symbol of summertime, an emblem of relaxation – and a harbinger of death?

OK, well, that may be overstating it a little bit – but not by too terribly much, health experts say.

. . .

Most disturbing of all, the flip-flops provided shelter to the potentially lethal germ Staphylococcus aureus. That’s serious, said Dr. Philip M. Tierno Jr., director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. He said the presence of this germ can be especially problematic if you have an open cut or blister on your foot, or if you handle your flip-flops a lot with your hands.

“That particular organism can give you a serious infection like a boil, or more serious, it could possess toxins,” Tierno told TODAY. “They can make you very sick or kill you.”

- Can your flip-flops kill you?
by Laura T. Coffey for MSN.com

Wait, the deadly Staphylococcus aureus? Last I heard, it was common: (and while there’s no reason to disbelieve that a common bacterium can kill, there’s no reason to start quoting experts and pretending that the presence of the organism is newsworthy, either)

Staphylococcus aureus is the most common cause of staph infections. It is a spherical bacterium, frequently part of the skin flora found in the nose and on skin. About 20% of the population are long-term carriers of S. aureus.

- Staphylococcus aureus at Wikipedia

I can scarcely find words for how disgusted I am with this disinformation campaign – apparently the old adage is true: “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” (and if all you have is a two-bit degree in journalism, the only tool in your arsenal must be scare tactics)

Seriously, how stupid does Laura T. Coffey think her readership is? Is she equally mentally deficient?

Protect yourself from disinformation and the terrified mob, not the latest media scare.

Rupert Murdoch’s credible and upstanding News Corporation (proud owner of such trustworthy outlets as Fox News) seems to have a penchant for “digging deep” to get scandalously-entertaining information:

According to one source with direct knowledge of the Scotland Yard evidence, News of the World journalists were systematically using private investigators who would break the law to obtain information, hacking into thousands of mobile phones and supplying raw material which was then converted into stories that made no reference to their real source.

- Trail of hacking and deceit under nose of Tory PR chief
by Nick Davies for guardian.co.uk

Stealing confidential information for news stories is illegal – basing news stories on entirely confabulated information, on the other hand, is not.

Update 7/11/2009:

Now the shit has hit the fan as more disclosures have surfaced and the English press is full of it. Barely a peep over here. Single column on page 12 of the New York Times. Nothing in the Dirty Diggers papers. And what makes you think the media over here is just one giant collection of scumbags, whether they be right wing or centrist (there’s no left winger papers here.) Thank God for the fucking internet.

- Wizened of oz dodges bullet in US
at AdScam/The Horror!

Thank God, indeed.

A few notable ‘net mentions here in the USA:

• Murdoch press, cellphone hacking, private investigators, celebrities, hoo boy at Wired.com (a property of Condé Nast Publications)
• Tabloid Accused of Hacking Into Private Voicemails of Rich and Famous at ABC News (a property of The Walt Disney Company)

A strong propaganda media presence is necessary for the perpetuation of your regime political party – lest your subjects forget whom to alternately fear and worship.

If your regime happens to operate within a plutocratic semblance of a republic democracy, the next best thing to broadcasting your superiority will be denigrating your opposition.

Where your regime’s political party’s members foul up, be certain that your propaganda media outlet creates the impression that they were members of an alternate regime political party.

After the laughable labeling of disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford as a Democrat, Intershame thought we’d look back at the other times Fox News has mistakenly mislabeled Republicans. Note what each mislabeled politician was going through when Fox News wrongly identified them as Democrats. It’s these details that make it hard to believe this is coincidence…

- Habitually Mislabeling Politicians
at Intershame.com

Follow the attribution or take the following link to see Fox News habitually mislabeling politicians.

Update: via Cynical-C

Update: Drones killing people attending the funerals of people killed by drones.

“Three missiles were fired by drones as people were dispersing after offering funeral prayers for Niazi Wali,” the official said, referring to a militant commander killed in an earlier drone attack.

- Dozens dead in US drone strike at BBC News

On Sept. 10, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war. Not on foreign terrorists, “the adversary’s closer to home. It’s the Pentagon bureaucracy,” he said.

- The War On Waste at CBSNews.com

In fiscal 1999, a defense audit found that about $2.3 trillion of balances, transactions and adjustments were inadequately documented. These “unsupported” transactions do not mean the department ultimately cannot account for them, she advised, but that tracking down needed documents would take a long time. Auditors, she said, might have to go to different computer systems, to different locations or access different databases to get information.

-
Reforming Financial Management System Can Save Big
at US Department of Defense

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

- Dwight Eisenhower (Farewell Speech)

Should the United States start another war – one to “keep the peace” in Iran?

… can you afford that?

If they misplaced $2.3 trillion, surely they could misplace the cost of a single assassination…

Many points worth considering are made in this documentary.