IRAQ: Most NGOs Losing Face 07/23 09:44 Inter Press Service By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail* BAGHDAD, Jul 23 (IPS) - Welcomed at first after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, most NGOs have run into scepticism and mistrust. Few remain to help....

Leaking news & docs 07/23 07:37 flashback: Key lawmakers - including Pelosi - were briefed on waterboarding, other torture techniques & the CIA’s secret prisons in 2002 [WashPost] Not only did they approve of these things, they encouraged them. major investigative series: Deadly denial: Nuclear weapons workers who risked their safety in the Cold War now must fight for compensation [Rocky Mountain [...]

[exclusive] ?Prisoner Boxes? in Iraq 07/23 20:58 First Published Photographs of Wooden Imprisonment Crates >>> In Iraq, some prisoners/detainees are kept in wooden crates known as “prisoner boxes,” so I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the US Central Command asking for the following: “Vanity Fair (Feb 2005 issue) has reported the [...]

tagged with: iraq

Conyers Tries To Kill Impeachment Hearings Before They Start 07/23 20:59 John Conyers is now taking the position that no one at Friday's impeachment hearing can accuse Bush or Cheney of any crime, or any impeachable offense, or dishonorable conduct, or even lying.Moreover, Conyers is now saying that he will shut the hearing down if anyone does accuse the boys of crimes, impeachable offenses, or otherwise being naughty.As David Swanson summarizes it:"Apparently the rules of Congress are designed to allow impeachable offenses to be discussed only in impeachment hearings. Apparently this didn't occur to Chairman Conyers when he decided to hold a non-impeachment impeachment hearing. As a result, his hearing may be quickly shut down, and he will have a choice of holding a real impeachment hearing, resigning, or dropping the pretense that he intends to resist Cheney and Bush in any way whatsoever."What can we do? Well, the traditional advice is to call Conyers (202-225-5126) and demand a real impeachment hearing where Bush and Cheney's crimes will be thorou (...)

Kucinich vs. The Establishment: Impeachment Hearing On Friday 07/23 07:37 Kucinich vs. The Establishment: Impeachment Hearing On Friday Congressman, supported by majority of American people, bravely out to ensure Bush goes down in

The New Air Force 2? 07/23 07:37 I'm not sure if anyone else noticed this, but I think it's pretty significant in one way or another. So, if you take a look at the pictures and video footage of Barack Obama's trip to Amman, Jordan, those of you who are sensitive to this sort of thing might notice something strange about the aircraft he was walking out of. For me, the tip off was the sound the plane was making. Having spent some time with the squadron, something in my brain told me it wasn't a C-130 and it wasn't a 53 or a 47. "But surely," my consciousness told me, "they wouldn't risk the safety of a presidential candidate on something most 'experts' say is so dangerous..." Then I pulled out my trusty TiVo remote and confirmed my suspicions. Obama flew from Iraq to Amman on an MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Transport squadron 162 -- the newest Osprey squadron to deploy to Iraq. I'm kicking over some rocks as we speak to see if this was by happenstance or by design. Was the Corps strategically placing (...)

Obama MV-22 Flight Update 07/23 20:58 OK, so according to Marine Public Affairs, I was wrong...or should I say the veteran crew chief who told me during one of my flights in the Osprey was wrong. Turns out, Obama was picked up at LZ Washington in the Green Zone in the MV-22. He was flown to Ramadi, where he met with tribal sheiks there who were part of the Anbar Awakening movement. Then he reboarded the Osprey and flew to Amman. This is logical on several levels. First, if he's going to a Marine AO for meetings with Anbar officials, it stands to reason the Corps would pick him up in an Osprey rather than a 46. The trip is faster and at a higher altitude, so at least tactically, it's safer. Also, the Osprey is the most capable aircraft for the long trip from Ramadi to Amman. A 46 would suck for that distance and the 53 wouldn't be a whole lot better. And you can't land a C-130 at Ramadi. Hence the Osprey flight. Marine officials, though at first skeptical themselves, didn't see a publicity stunt on this one. But I am (...)

Gates Questions Contractor Training 07/23 20:58 I'm not sure how I feel about this... From this afternoon's Military.com headlines: Use of Contractors for Training Faces Review Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a top-level review of the Pentagon's use of private security contractors, including the controversial Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater Worldwide, to train American troops. "Why have we come to rely on contractors to provide combat or combat-related security training ... Are we comfortable with this practice?" Gates asked in a July 10 memo to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The defense boss also requested more detail on how much each of the military branches is spending on contractor-supplied training and whether the services have established "appropriate red lines" governing "what types of security training are permitted to be contracted out." He expects initial answers sometime this week, Gates said in a letter Friday to Virginia Sen. Jim Webb. A Mullen spokesman confirmed that a resp (...)

| William Burroughs, Malcolm McNeill Art | Ah Puch Is Here graphic novel 07/23 20:58 0 reviews

AGPix.com Viewing Platform 07/23 07:36 86 reviews

YouTube - ごましお（2007年6月11日） 07/23 07:36 0 reviews

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/images/9/91/Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooongcat.JPG 07/23 07:36 45 reviews

Cinema Redux 07/23 20:58 27 reviews

Time Lapse of Ants Eating A Gecko&Video 07/23 20:58 5 reviews

The Capture of Karadzic, India's Leadership, Colombian Security 07/23 07:37 In Wednesday's roundup: the capture of Radovan Karadzic; India's government survives; and Colombian security.

tagged with: india
War Resurfaces on the Campaign Trail 07/23 07:37 Despite the sputtering U.S. economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to dominate debate on the presidential campaign trail.

Israel's View on the U.S. Elections 07/23 09:45 Jerusalem-based journalist and author Yossi Klein Halevi discusses the U.S. presidential race as perceived by Israelis.

Colombia Considers Amendment to Allow Third Presidential Term 07/23 20:58 "Supporters of President Αlvaro Uribe of Colombia are pushing for a referendum that would permit him to run for a third term to continue his fight against Marxist guerrillas," reports The New York Times.  "Polls indicate that if Mr. Uribe were to run for re-election in 2010, he would easily win. But he is limited to two terms. To permit him to legally seek a third term, Congress would have to approve a referendum and voters would then have to agree to change the Constitution." Juan Carlos Hidalgo, project coordinator for Latin America, comments: "Colombia has changed dramatically since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002. Thanks to increased security and stability, Colombia is today a vibrant country with a thriving economy. This success has led his allies in Congress to push for a referendum to change the Constitution for a second time to allow him another term as president. However, changing the rules in the middle of the game isn't good for democracy, regardless (...)

Ethanol Mandate Takes Hit 07/23 20:58 "The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future," reports The New York Times. "Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. A decision is expected in the next few weeks. Mr. Perry says the billions of bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed than as fuel.  Feed prices have soared in the last two years as fuel has begun competing with food for cropland." In "Wishful Thinking Is No Magical Energy Elixir" Cato Senior Fellow Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren, Cato senior fellow and editor of Cato's Regulation magazine, write: "Ethanol will not lead to energy independence. If all the corn produced in America in 2005 were dedicated to ethanol production (and only 14.3 percent of it (...)

Obama's Health Plan Sparks Debate 07/23 20:58 "In speech after speech, Senator Barack Obama has vowed that he will lower the country's health care costs enough to 'bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family'," reports The New York Times. "Moreover, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has promised that his health plan will be in place 'by the end of my first term as president of the United States.' Whether Mr. Obama can deliver is a matter of considerable dispute among health analysts and economists. While there is consensus that the American health care system is bloated with waste, eliminating enough to save $2,500 per family would require simultaneous and synergistic solutions to a host of problems that have proved intractable for decades." Michael Tanner, Cato senior fellow and coauthor of Healthy Competition: What's Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It, comments: "Obama's campaign has variously estimated the cost of his plan to taxpayers as between $50 billion and $65 billion per year... Mor (...)

American Inequality Highlighted by 10-Year Gap in Life Expectancy 07/23 20:58 The American Human Development Index has applied to the US a measuring aproach used to calculate quality of life in a respective country. Using official government statistics, the study points out that the US finds itself ranked 42nd in global life expectancy and 34th in survival of infants to age. Suicide and murder are among the top 15 causes of death and although the US is home to just 5 per cent of the global population it accounts for 24 per cent of the world’s prisoners. Summary By Dilated_Rebel

Corporations take over the Democratic National Convention 07/23 20:58 Americans with political views to the left of Augusto Pinochet have traditionally supported the Democratic Party as their viable option, so to speak. Yet given the Democrats’ intimate relationship with corporate interests it is increasingly difficult to prove how the party is in any significant way politically independent (i.e. democratic) or distinguishable from the Republicans. As a signal to their left-wing supporters that the Party plans to slap them in the face the moment they are installed in the White House in 2009, the Democrats have sold advertising space for millions of dollars to the usual rogue’s gallery of corporate barons. To underscore the point, telecoms such as AT&T, fresh from the unpopular FISA bill that brought them immunity from violating the civil rights of their customers, will have their logos emblazoned on every available space at the Convention. Summary By stevenmartin

Top war crimes suspect Karadzic arrested in Serbia 07/23 20:58 Serbian President, Boris Tadic, announced the arrest of war crimes suspect, former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic. Serb forces reportedly apprehended Karadzic in a security sweep on July 21st. The ex-Bosnian Serb leader has been a fugitive in hiding for the past decade, reportedly hiding out in Serbian monasteries on the eastern Bosnian border. Criminal charges range from genocide to war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian Civil War, including the Srebrenica Massacre. Summary By grady

tagged with: war
Crossing the line for Zeb Mountain 07/23 20:58 United Mountain Defense, Mountain Justice and Three Rivers Earth First are organizing direct action on the front lines of the war between the coal industry and Appalachia. No one is reporting it, and no one would hear about it without the help of independent bloggers and journalists. A lot of people I talk to about Mountain Top Removal basically say “It’s not my fault, and it’s not my problem – I don’t live there!”. But it is our problem, and it is our fault. Chances are you get your electricity from a power plant that burns coal stripped from the mountains of Kentucky, Virginia, or Tennessee. Check your direct connection to Mountain Top Removal right here. Then spread the word. Summary By OCoileain

Inside the biggest immigration raid in U.S. history 07/23 20:58 This is an inside account of the huge Postville ICE raid. On Monday, May 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., in an operation involving some 900 agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a raid of Agriprocessors Inc, the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant located in the town of Postville, Iowa. The raid — officials boasted — was “the largest single-site operation of its kind in American history.” Erik Camayd-Freixas was a court interpreter hired to process the hundreds of illegal workers charged with immigration offenses, as well as “aggravated identity theft” and “Social Security fraud.” Camayd-Freixas felt morally compromised by assisting in what he saw as a gross violation of human rights. Afterward, he researched the incident in depth, finding that an entire community was devastated by the raid. Families were torn apart and children traumatized by the disappearance of friends. (...)

Hemp, The Bush That George(Washington) Grew 07/23 07:37 Hemp The Bush That George Grew By Kenyon Gibson cannabissatival@hotmail.com mina@minawear.com 3-6-4 The first recorded planting of hemp by a colonial power in the New World took place in 1545, by Spaniards in Chile. Less than a hundred years later the Pilgrims followed suit in New England. Hemp was an essential item, and was quick to take root [...]

Flight carrying members of Congress makes emergency landing 07/23 07:37 A Continental Airlines flight carrying seven members of Congress from Houston to Washington was forced to make an emergency landing after it lost cabin pressure Tuesday afternoon. Flight carrying members of Congress makes emergency landing 08:15 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 By T.J. Aulds, Michelle Homer & Mark Greenblatt / 11 News Click to watch the 11 [...]

Kucinich vs. The Establishment: Impeachment Hearing On Friday 07/23 20:58 Congressman, supported by majority of American people, bravely out to ensure Bush goes down in history as liar and war criminal as Democrats rally to his defense

Navy prosecutor In gitmo case: fourth plane shot down 07/23 20:58 Some interesting information emerged from the Guantanamo Bay naval base yesterday in the form of a direct admission from a US prosecutor that the fourth plane was "shot down".

Robertson Advocates Israel Striking Iran Before The 2008 Election 07/23 20:58 Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson sharply criticized the ?moderate tone? the Bush administration has allegedly taken toward Iran and its nuclear weapons program.

Watchdog: Leaked photos show troops fly in squalor 07/23 20:58 A government watchdog has uncovered pictures that suggest US troops on their way to battlefields in Afghanistan travel in squalor while top military and government officials are cocooned in "comfort capsules."

Turley fears Dems will let alleged ?Bush crimes? stay buried forever 07/23 20:58 "The Democrats are trying very hard to show ... that they're not going to re-open these issues and that the Bush crimes will remain buried for all time."

Fliers Complain About X-Rated Security Screenings 07/23 20:58 TSA Agents Forced Woman To Remove Nipple Rings, Pulled Pants Off Disabled Man

?Spying? requests exceed 500,000 07/23 20:58 More than 500,000 official "spying" requests for private communications data such as telephone records were made last year, a report says.

Cop may face charges in taser case 07/23 20:58 The officer, since fired, could end up facing criminal charges in Pikes' January death after medical examiners ruled it a homicide.

Toy Company Developing Weapon that Fires Variable Speed Bullets for U.S. Military 07/23 07:37 Via: New Scientist: A gun that fires variable speed bullets and which can be set to kill, wound or just inflict a bruise is being built by a US toy manufacturer. The weapon is based on technology used to propel toy rockets. Lund and Company Invention, a toy design studio based near Chicago, makes toy rockets that [...]

Plane Carrying Ron Paul, Six Other Congressmen Makes Emergency Landing 07/23 07:37 Via: CNN: A plane carrying Texas Rep. Ron Paul and six other members of Congress was forced to make an emergency landing Tuesday due to mechanical issues. According to the Federal Avaiation Administration (FAA), Continental Airlines flight 458, a Boeing 737 en route to Washington, DC from Houston made a rapid decent in New Orleans when the [...]

FEMA Seeks Immunity from Suits Over Trailer Atrocities 07/23 07:37 Via: AP: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is requesting immunity from lawsuits filed on behalf of Gulf Coast hurricane victims who claim they were exposed to dangerous fumes while living in government-issued trailers. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt is scheduled to hear FEMA’s bid to be dismissed from a series of consolidated cases filed against [...]

To Cryptogon Readers Who Recently Bought Mountain House #10 Can Freeze-Dried Foods from Nitro-Pak 07/23 07:37 As of August 1, your investment may increase in value by as much as 15%. Via: Nitro-Pak: PRICE INCREASE NOTICE— All Mountain House #10 can freeze-dried foods & units are going up August 1, 2008 by as much as 15%. … Current processing time for most non-can food orders is currently taking 2-4 business days to ship. Orders with #10 [...]

Oil: Trading Opportunity 07/23 07:37 WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. Oil longs, lock and load. WTI @ $126 even, stop $125.70. I already provided the strategy and background for this in a previous post. Watch yourself. You’ve got bearish engulfing on the weekly… Either that weekly stochastic is going to go for a full oscillation [...]

EEstor Blogger 07/23 07:37 I have alerts set up for EEstor news, none of which I post anymore on Cryptogon. However, I know that several of you are also interested in EEstor, so I thought I’d mention that someone has set up a blog dedicated exclusively to EEstor related information: bariumtitanate.blogspot.com.

Bush, Thinking Cameras Were Turned Off: ?Wall Street Got Drunk? 07/23 09:45 It looks and sounds to me like the monkey got drunk: Alternate links 1, 2.

WACHOVIA BANK IN FLORIDA DISTRIBUTING COUNTERFEIT $100 BILLS 07/23 20:59 We already knew that Wachovia was/is in deep trouble. And there is no way that this is a coincidence. Ten counterfeit $100 bills in one transaction, from a struggling bank, in the middle of a banking crisis!? No way. I know. I know. People will say, “If this was a conspiracy to keep a large, struggling bank [...]

Pentagon User Searches for Infomation About Wachovia Distributing Counterfeit Money 07/23 20:59 The Pentagon—Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA)—user (host: host-141-116-70-190.ptr.hqda.pentagon.mil, ip: 141.116.70.190) conducted the following Google search: wachovia passing out counterfeit bills. The Pentagon user visited the following Cryptogon pages: WACHOVIA BANK IN FLORIDA DISTRIBUTING COUNTERFEIT $100 BILLS Mysterious $100 ?Supernote? Counterfeit Bills Appear Across World

SAIC User Searches for Infomation About Wachovia Distributing Counterfeit Money 07/23 20:59 The SAIC user (host: proxy1.east.saic.com, ip: 198.151.13.8) conducted the following Google search: customers claim that wachovia is handing out counterfeit bills. The SAIC user visited the following Cryptogon pages: / (Home)

Exposing Bush?s Historic Abuse of Power 07/23 20:59 Please see my heavily referenced post on MAIN CORE for more “current history” on this matter. The full text of this Salon piece follows. Via: Salon: Exposing Bush’s historic abuse of power Salon has uncovered new evidence of post-9/11 spying on Americans. Obtained documents point to a potential investigation of the White House that could rival Watergate. By Tim Shorrock Jul. [...]

Putin wants closer military ties with Venezuela 07/23 07:37 For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

U.S. Perpetuates Mass Killings In Iraq 07/23 07:37 For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

tagged with: iraq
Obama: The real power behind the throne-to-be 07/23 09:45 For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

Is Africa a Cold War Battleground? 07/23 09:45 For more details, please click on the link to read the article.

tagged with: africa, war