17 Jul, Wed, 10:13:12 BELVOIR-SUN1.IERN.DISA.MIL Netscape 3 Other
No referrer on this one. Defense Intelligence Systems Agency.
17
Jul 02
Quotably Big Brother
“Don’t get enamored of the truth. There’s no money in it.”
— George Herbert Walker Bush
If you’ve ever seen the documentary Feed you’ll see what degenerates the Bushes are. When Papa Bush didn’t know the camera was rolling he talked at length with Larry King about the types of psychoactive drugs he was on including sleeping pills like Halcyon. When I worked at a photolab here in Austin I saw some pictures of George Bush the First looking very intoxicated. His hair was greasy and mussed up. He face looked like melting wax, sweaty and puffy.
17
Jul 02
Richard Boucher, little Mussolini
Regarding the detainment of Joel Mowbray by State Department thugs:
On Friday, after Mr. Mowbray cited the cable and said he had it with him, Mr. Boucher said:
“I do have to point out, sir, that you’ve written a lot of things and said a lot of things recently. You said that visas are decided by travel agents, and that’s not true, is it? You said that this is the only country that we do accept documents from third parties, and that’s not true, is it? You’ve said that performance of Foreign Service officers is measured on courtesy, and that’s not true, is it? So let’s be careful about the facts.”
Mr. Mowbray responded, “I am being careful, and no need to smear the work.”
I’d like to punch Boucher in his smug prep-school face.
17
Jul 02
The Disappeared: US Military Tribunals
Ex-U.S. officials warn that U.S. policies threaten repression:
“When I was in the Carter administration, I was in Argentina and I saw mothers in the streets protesting, asking for the names of those being held, those who had disappeared,” Christopher said.
“We must be very careful in this country of not holding people without revealing their names. It leads to the ‘disappeared,”‘ he said. “The names of people should be revealed so that relatives will know what has become of their loved ones. It’s a good precaution against having the ‘disappeared.”‘
16
Jul 02
Mind boggling
It blows my mind that a dupe like John Walker Lindh can get 20 years in the federal pen for being a footsoldier for the Taleban, and yet the very people who created the Taleban, Osama bin Laden, Al Quaeda, Saddam Hussein, ad nauseum, still draw breath and a fat government paycheck. I’m talking about corrupt individuals in the highest places of power in this country. What are we fighting for here? The opportunity to get eaten by wolves in sheep’s clothing? The freedom to be enslaved? Humbug.
15
Jul 02
The Beast Wants Loose
The Pentagon wants to weaken congressional oversight, the checks and balances of our system, and wants more ‘freedom’.
The Pentagon has proposed eliminating requirements for filing hundreds of reports on its activities to Congress every year. Pentagon officials also are drafting proposals to ban strikes by contract workers, eliminate federal personnel rules protecting civilian workers at the Pentagon and bypass environmentalists in Congress.
Some proposals are more provocative. They include allowing the Pentagon to send its initiatives directly to Capitol Hill before other agencies could review them. Once there, the legislation would require Congress to vote quickly, with only limited debate.
15
Jul 02
Boooo! Lindh lawyers make deal
John Walker Lindh’s lawyers made a deal with prosecutors and Lindh pled guilty to aiding the Taleban effectively ending the trial. This is disappointing since it gives the US propaganda machine an apparent win in case that should have been used to showcase the routine cruelty and bloodthirst of the mercenary American military. Those pictures of Lindh strapped to that cot and bound like some sort of S&M slave were disturbing. This deal means that the US will not be held accountable for the mistreatment of an American citizen. As part of the plea agreement, Lindh withdrew any claims of mistreatment by the military. Stupid. Stupid.
15
Jul 02
Mowbray vs. the State Department
One of the 23,000 fascist cogs employed in the Pentagon visited us today. Who was it? I don’t now, but I do know what they were looking for.
15 Jul, Mon, 12:07:17 WCS2-PENT.NIPR.MIL Netscape 3 Other
15 Jul, Mon, 12:07:17 WCS2-PENT-2.NIPR.MIL MSIE 5 Windows NT
They got here via this referrer, a google search for the terms “Joel Mowbray” reporter. Joel Mowbray is of course the NRO reporter who was detained at the State Department last Friday for asking the wrong questions. There was another State Department briefing today, maybe someone wanted to see how this detainment went over. I have no idea, but it’s still interesting to me.
15
Jul 02
/me looks askance at neighbors
Great. This is all I need. Next time I wear my Green Party shirt someone’ll probably call the Gestapo on me. If I were an Arab-American I would be crapping my drawers right now.
US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies:
The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report “suspicious activity”.
Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.
As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism. It is a Department of Justice project.
Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits.
A pilot program, described on the government Web site www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage. Assuming the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.
Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states. According to a 1992 report by Harvard University’s Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports.