Saturday, September 1, 2007

IRS offering Refunds? Guess again!

Ok, I know alot of you are smart enough to figure this out but I thought I would share this with everyone.

IRS Notification - Fiscal Activity
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $185.49. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service

However, if you look closely you will see that the URL is not IRS.gov, it is in fact http://www.frisco.ch

The domain search returns this info about the domian.

Domain name:
frisco.ch

Holder of domain name:
Nestlé Suisse S.A.
Plater Roman
Finance Service Center
Case Postale 352
CH-1800 Vevey
Switzerland
Contractual Language: French

Technical contact:
namics ag
hostmaster X
Teufener Strasse 19
CH-9000 St. Gallen
Switzerland

Name servers:
nrdns1.solnet.ch [212.101.4.212]
nrdns2.solnet.ch [212.101.3.212]

Now I know your thinking to yourself, why would you even bother to click on this?

Well I am here to tell you there are people out there that will click on it and fill out all the info, and get robbed to high heaven! After laughing at this letter for 10 minutes or so, my brother said to me, "With all the complaining you do about how evil the government is, and what not, why don't you write something about this."

So on that note I have, look folks, it is as easy as this, if you wouldn't give your info to a stranger on the street, don't give it to a web site that has sent you an email! Even if it looks real, talk 10 minutes of your time, call the place from whence the email appears to have come from, and ask questions! This is not rocket science!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Chinese Secret Society Challenges Illuminati

By Henry Makow Ph.D. June 29, 2007
By Henry Makow Ph.D.
A Chinese secret society with 6 million members, including 1.8 million Asian gangsters and 100,000 professional assassins, have targeted Illuminati members if they proceed with world depopulation plans, according to Tokyo-based journalist Benjamin Fulford, 46.
They contacted Fulford, a Canadian expat, after he warned that the Illuminati plan to reduce the Asian population to just 500 million by means of race-specific biological weapons.
"The Illuminati, with the exception of Japan, is very much a white man's game," Fulford says.
The secret society confirmed Fulford's information and asked for advice. He provided them with a list of 10,000 people associated with the Illuminati, mainly members of the Bilderberg, CFR and Skull and Bones. Neo Cons are also high priority targets.
"I have promised that not a single person will die if they negotiate in good faith," Fulford says.
Fulford is the former Asian Pacific bureau chief for Forbes magazine. He quit in disgust when Forbes refused to run a damaging story about one of its advertisers. Fulford has since written 15 books in Japanese. His most recent is a scathing dissection of the 9-11 Hoax.
Fulford says Japan has been controlled in secret by the Illuminati through the use of murder and bribery. Underground sources tell him the Americans have murdered over 200 Japanese politicians and influential citizens since the end of WW2.
Among the victims are former Prime Ministers Tanaka, Takeshita, Ohira and Obuchi. They were all murdered using a special drug that induces strokes. The Illuminati have been warned that the Chinese secret society will not tolerate any more murders. It has also extended its protection to truth seekers in the West.
AN ANCIENT SOCIETY
The Chinese Secret Society is called the "The Green and the Red Societies," Fulford says.
It "can be found in the history books. When the Manchus invaded China in 1644, the Ming army became an underground society aimed at overthrowing the Qing (Manchu) and restoring the Ming. They supported the Boxer Rebellion but were put down by imperialist powers. Later, with the help of overseas Chinese and the Japanese imperial family, the society managed to overthrow the last Emperor and install Sun Yat Sen in his place. They last appear in the history books as the Green Gang and the Red Gang that fiercely fought the Communists in Shanghai in the 1940's. They were defeated by the Communists in 1949 and once again became an underground organization."
"Since 1949 they have steadily increased their influence throughout China and the rest of the world. They have members at the very highest levels of the Chinese government but they are by nature anti- establishment, and are not an official Chinese government organization. ..
"The society has deep roots in Japan because of the link between Yakuza crime gangs and the Japanese imperial family. The Japanese imperial family are descended from 6th century Korean invaders. The original invaders had trouble putting down the native Jomon peoples so they brought over a tough, warlike minority people from the Asian mainland. These are the ancestors of the Yakuza. They have historically been used for secret work and for jobs like collecting taxes. When the Japanese decided to help overthrow the last Chinese dynasty, they used the Yakuza as a go-between with the Chinese secret society, many of whose members were gangsters. To this day many of the senior leaders of this group are actually Japanese, not Chinese."
"It must be made very clear though that it is not a crime gang. Although many members are Triad and Yakuza members, over 2/3 thirds of the members are intellectuals such as university professors, researchers and government bureaucrats. Each member earns their own living and membership in the society is like belonging to an emergency fire brigade. Their book of rules reads like a book of ethics filled with instructions to do things like help the weak, fight injustice, help your comrades etc."
"They approached me and asked if they could help after I made a speech in Tokyo describing the Bush regimes' use of race-specific biological weapons. For me it was like a ghost from the history books appearing right in front of me. At first I thought of silly things like having them play 911 truth videos in Chinatowns around the world. However, then I remembered the scene from the movie Kill Bill where Uma Thurman snatches out her opponent's eye. I soon realized these people could save the world by directly attacking the eye at the top of the pyramid on the one-dollar bill."
"Think about it, the illuminati and their top servants have a total membership of about 10,000 whereas the Chinese group has over 6 million members. That is 600-to-one odds. Furthermore, the 6 million have the names and addresses of the 10,000 while the 10,000 do not know who or where the 6 million are."
FULFORD ON THE ILLUMINATI
"Below is a brief a summary of the intelligence I have received from sources including: former Japanese Prime Ministers, senior Yakuza gangsters, senior Japanese Freemasons, Western intelligence agencies etc.
"First the illuminati are really inbred families of European and North American traditional aristocracy and banking families. They control the U.S., England, Europe (except for Scandinavian countries, Germany and Italy; Italy kicked them out in the 1970's),Japan, Africa, Iran, Canada and Mexico. They do not control China, Russia (Putin kicked them out for the first time since 1917), India, South East Asia, South America, Cuba etc.
"Their goal is to create a world government. Until 2 years ago the plan was the New World Order. That was outlined pretty clearly in the Project for a New American Century. However, with the debacle in Iraq, the secret government of the West changed to a new plan that is a world government based on the EU. To do this they will sabotage the U.S. economy.
"However, there is a big schism in the secret government. Jay Rockefeller and Philip Rothschild support one faction, the Global Warming Faction. Opposing them is the War on Terrorism Faction supported by David Rockefeller and the JP Morgan descendents (Bush, Harriman, Walker etc.). The warming people want to sell 500 nuclear power plants to China and a similar amount to the rest of the world. The terrorism guys want to keep U.S. dominance by maintaining control over oil. Putin was a huge setback for them.
"They are also neo-Nazis who want to reduce the amount of colored people in the world by at least half through disease, starvation and war. The Chinese secret society got wind of this and is preparing to stop them."
GERMANY ITALY AND SCANDINAVIA NOT ILLUMINATI?
I challenged Fulford on Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and possibly Russia not being controlled by the Illuminati. He replied that "the quality of my intelligence varies":
"I can say with certainty that China, Russia and India are free. When Putin kicked out Nieslev and Bereshovsky and arrested Khordokovsky, he basically kicked the Rockefellers and Rothschilds out of Russia. I have good Russian sources and am confident Putin is a nationalist who is fighting the Illuminati with all his might. When ex-NSA chief Bobby Inman spoke at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan on June 26th he made it very clear he expected a protracted struggle with Russia.
"India kicked them out in Ghandi's day and they have never been allowed back. Having liberated themselves after 300 years of Illuminati (East India Company) rule, they do not intend to let themselves fall under their control again.
"There have been many attempts by the Illuminati to infiltrate and dominate China. They financed Chairman Mao but he then kicked them out in the 1960' s (that is why China and the USSR nearly went to war then). They are now trying to create a financial crisis in China that would open the way for them to infiltrate the Chinese financial system. They will not succeed. Italy basically purged itself during the big P2 Masonic lodge scandal back in the 80's and re-infiltration has only been partly successful. Germany is part of the Nato alliance and is thus indirectly controlled. There is a powerful branch of the Rothschild family operating there.
"However, Germany does not appear on a top-secret Illuminati power flow chart I have obtained. As far as Iran is concerned, I know they financed Ayatollah Khomeini and Iran appears on the flow chart I have. My understanding is they want to provoke a conflict between Islam and the West so they can consolidate their control over the Muslim and Christian worlds before finishing world conquest by taking over China and India."
CONCLUSION
Fulford says a meeting is being arranged with Russia's Vladimir Putin to make sure the KGB also cooperates in this plan to snatch the eye out of the pyramid.
"So far, I have told the Illuminati that they are no longer allowed to murder Japanese politicians. I now plan to extend this protection to all politicians in the West. If the illuminati assassinate or attempt to assassinate Ron Paul, Barak Obama or any politician, may God have mercy on their souls."
"Since I am a peace-loving, laid-back Canadian suddenly put in a situation of great responsibility, I feel I must act as a servant of the weakest people and creatures on the planet. I have also been negotiating in secret with the Illuminati in the hopes of arranging for them to cede power without any bloodshed in exchange for a general amnesty.
'Trust me on this, the illuminati have failed because of their racism. Although other peoples understand that theWest is a slave society, those living there do not realize it. The illuminati do not control China, India or now Russia. They are about to lose power. We are like people living in Berlin before the collapse of the Berlin wall. The illuminati are like the Wizard of Oz; once you pull aside the curtain you are surprized by how weak they really are. They rely on illusion. Once the illusion is gone, they are just a bunch of weak old men.
"I do believe we now have a real chance to end the New World Order and start the New Age. The New Age would be one where war, poverty and environmental destruction would only be found in the history books."
I applaud Benjamin Fulford's courage, idealism and defiance. However, he is new to this subject and may have been mislead. He shouldn't use Illuminati teminology like "New Age" . The Illuminati control the central banks of Russia, China, India and Venezuela. They control the EU. Germany may not appear on the Illuminati chart because it is at the top. Barak Obama is a Zionist stooge. The Illuminati Li Ka-Shing (and family) has had a major role in China. Heck, the Communists are Illuminati. I thought the Illuminati controlled organized crime. I can't imagine a genuinely benevolent secret society. It would be encouraging if this were one.
It's possible Fulford is sincere but is being used to confuse and/or create divisions. Possibly they want to ramp up domestic terrorism as an excuse for martial law. Now, Orientals as well as Muslims could be on the watch list. This secret society is challenging the traitorous Western Establishment. We're talking about the State Apparatus! So please be critical. It may or may not be what he says. Time will tell.
In any case, it's time we refused to bow down to tyranny and called a spade a spade. Imagine, in Japan he writes the truth in the mainstream media! Maybe some day, we'll do that in America. Benjamin Fulford is an inspiration and deserves our thanks.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales


By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 1:41am BST 09/08/2007
The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.
Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.
Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.
It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.
Xia Bin, finance chief at the Development Research Centre (which has cabinet rank), kicked off what now appears to be government policy with a comment last week that Beijing's foreign reserves should be used as a "bargaining chip" in talks with the US.
"Of course, China doesn't want any undesirable phenomenon in the global financial order," he added.
He Fan, an official at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, went even further today, letting it be known that Beijing had the power to set off a dollar collapse if it choose to do so.
"China has accumulated a large sum of US dollars. Such a big sum, of which a considerable portion is in US treasury bonds, contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency. Russia, Switzerland, and several other countries have reduced the their dollar holdings.
"China is unlikely to follow suit as long as the yuan's exchange rate is stable against the dollar. The Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars once the yuan appreciated dramatically, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar," he told China Daily.
The threats play into the presidential electoral campaign of Hillary Clinton, who has called for restrictive legislation to prevent America being "held hostage to economic decicions being made in Beijing, Shanghai, or Tokyo".
She said foreign control over 44pc of the US national debt had left America acutely vulnerable.
Simon Derrick, a currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon, said the comments were a message to the US Senate as Capitol Hill prepares legislation for the Autumn session.
"The words are alarming and unambiguous. This carries a clear political threat and could have very serious consequences at a time when the credit markets are already afraid of contagion from the subprime troubles," he said.
A bill drafted by a group of US senators, and backed by the Senate Finance Committee, calls for trade tariffs against Chinese goods as retaliation for alleged currency manipulation.
The yuan has appreciated 9pc against the dollar over the last two years under a crawling peg but it has failed to halt the rise of China's trade surplus, which reached $26.9bn in June.
Henry Paulson, the US Tresury Secretary, said any such sanctions would undermine American authority and "could trigger a global cycle of protectionist legislation".
Mr Paulson is a China expert from his days as head of Goldman Sachs. He has opted for a softer form of diplomacy, but appeared to win few concession from Beijing on a unscheduled trip to China last week aimed at calming the waters.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

9/11 Firefighter Sets the Historical Record Straight

By Manny Badillo, Victim’s Family Member, August 7th, 2007

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Firefighter John Schroeder, assigned to Engine Company 10 directly across the street from the World Trade Center complex, holds back tears and describes his first-hand experience on Sept. 11th. His story directly contradicts many aspect of the National Commission on Terrorist attacks though corroborates many other eyewitness testimony.

“Standing outside the firehouse with my buddies, we were talking about how beautiful the day was. Then just like that, our lives changed forever. Some of those guys I would never see again.”

In this exclusive interview, Firefighter Schroeder recollects in great detail how he was one of the first firefighters to rush to the complex. “We first assembled on West Street, where we saw someone burnt beyond recognition. We were like ‘What is going on here?’ and then went straight into the Marriot building” From there, Firefighter Schroeder made his way to the lobby of the North Tower. “It looked like a bomb went off, and we started making our way up the stairs to rescue as many people as we could.”

As they were making there way up the floors, Firefighter Schroeder heard a huge explosion. “The elevators just blew right out. We couldn’t believe it. The plane hits 80 floors up but the elevators explode at least five minutes later? It was unreal.”

Firefighter Schroeder made it all the way up to the 23rd floor before barely hearing on the failing radios that another plane was coming in. That plane would hit the South Tower though for some reason “We were tossed like a rag doll by another explosion in our building. People were making there way down the stairwells burnt like you couldn’t believe. We were all shocked because it seemed as if there was fire everywhere, on so many floors. It just didn’t make sense”.

The stairwells were black, and at that point, firefighters were making the decision to head back down stairs. In making there way down to the third floor, they were not able to find an exit. “The lobby was like a war zone. We could not find our way out. Then, all of a sudden, one of the maintenance workers had a key that opened a back door that got us out of there. He saved my life.” That worker was Willie Rodriguez. “I want to thank him from the bottom of my heart.

Firefighter Schroeder today has lost 40% of his lung capacity. “We haven’t been treated properly at all. From the day of the attack, our physical and mental health has deteriorated and it seems as if no one cares. To lose friends, to have to recover their bodies in the days after, to be offered no protections against that horrific-smelling dust that was everywhere even though the government said the air was OK to breathe is just not right.” Some of Firefighter’s Schroeder’s best friends have gotten out of the FDNY altogether while others accepted money and trips to help. “I stayed right here and did the right thing and now it feels as if I’m suffering the most. Where is our government to help the one’s with the toughest jobs on that day and the days after?”

John Schroeder, we want to thank you for being as brave as your job requires in speaking out about your experiences on Sept/ 11th. You have set the historical record straight by explaining your story. This Nation is forever greatful to you as your account will help to save and protect many more lives.

Today, tens of thousands of such 9/11 first responders are in dire need of medical care due to the environmental conditions after the 3 towers imploded at Ground Zero. Diagnosed with cancers and debilitating respiratory illnesses, these true American heroes have been denied the financial benefits required to save their lives. While suffering and deteriorating, their health crisis has been ignored by state and federal policy. Many have already died.

Composed of family members, friends and fellow Americans of individuals who perished on that fateful day, We are Change will fight to raise awareness and consciousness to the first responder's illnesses and hardships. We are determined to put a face to the thousands of forgotten victims of the 9/11 attacks 6 years later.

We Are CHANGE version




Loose Change Version




RSVP Today for the 9/11 First Responder Fundraiser in NYC on 09/11/2007.
343 Brothers

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Bush Confirms He Will Seek More Dictatorial Power

After securing supreme status for his office and a six month window to implement whatever surveillance methods he wishes, Bush says his work is not yet complete

Steve Watson
Infowars.net

Tues
day, August 7, 2007


While Constitutional experts and even sectors of the corporate mainstream media have denounced the latest power grab by the Bush administration as "unnecessary and highly dangerous", the President himself has confirmed that he will seek even more authority from Congress and will attempt to pass more legislation aimed at granting the government unquestionable power over the people.

Legislation signed Sunday gives the government the green light to install permanent backdoors in communications systems that allow warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, a blatant violation of the 4th amendment.

The administration has a 6 month window in which to impose any surveillance program it chooses and that program will go unchallenged and remain legally binding in perpetuity - it cannot be revoked. Under the definitions of the legislation, Bush has been granted absolute dictator status for a minimum of 6 months, dovetailing with a recent Presidential Decision Directive that also appoints Bush as a supreme dictator during an announced emergency.

The bill was passed on Friday after the president jawboned Congress, saying lawmakers could not leave for their August recess at the weekend unless they "pass a bill that will give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect the United States."

Despite these huge freedom crushing steps, Bush says he is not done:

"While I appreciate the leadership it took to pass this bill, we must remember that our work is not done," Bush said in his Sunday statement. "This bill is a temporary, narrowly focused statute to deal with the most immediate shortcomings in the law."

The statement continues:

"When Congress returns in September the Intelligence committees and leaders in both parties will need to complete work on the comprehensive reforms requested by Director McConnell, including the important issue of providing meaningful liability protection to those who are alleged to have assisted our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001."

This basically means that the administration will push for liability for ISP's and cell phone companies in order to head off court cases brought by the ACLU and others, including retroactive protection which would neutralize all attempts to challenge the administration's wiretapping activities spanning back to 9/11.

Constitutional expert and Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin has slammed the statement and pointed out the use of Orwellian doublespeak by Bush whereby he effectively admits to breaking the law and illegally spying on American citizens without actually saying so:

"Apparently 'allegedly helped us stay safe' is Bush Administration code for telecom companies and government officials who participated in a conspiracy to perform illegal surveillance... Because what they did is illegal, we do not admit that they actually did it, we only say that they are alleged to have done it."

As the popular left leaning blog Think Progress has pointed out, even the corporate controlled mainstream media has editorialized against the FISA legislation, with the New York Times today calling it an “unnecessary and dangerous expansion of President Bush’s powers.”:

USA Today:

A skittish Congress allowed itself to be stampeded last week into granting the president unfettered surveillance power. When it returns to Washington, it should do what it can to make sure that the sun goes down on this flawed measure.

Washington Post:

To call this legislation ill-considered is to give it too much credit: It was scarcely considered at all. Instead, it was strong-armed through both chambers by an administration that seized the opportunity to write its warrantless wiretapping program into law — or, more precisely, to write it out from under any real legal restrictions.

The New York Times:

While serving little purpose, the new law has real dangers. It would allow the government to intercept, without a warrant, every communication into or out of any country, including the United States. Instead of explaining all this to American voters — the minimal benefits and the enormous risks — the Democrats have allowed Mr. Bush and his fear-mongering to dominate all discussions on terrorism and national security.

The Los Angeles Times:

You know something’s wrong with this Congress when a Democratic champion of privacy rights feels compelled to vote for Republican legislation that compromises those rights. That’s what California Sen. Dianne Feinstein did last week when she joined a stampede to approve a temporary “fix” sought by the Bush administration in a law governing electronic surveillance.

San Francisco Chronicle:

No-limits spying is on a roll. In rushed votes, both the House and Senate meekly accepted a White House plan to vastly expand phone and e-mail eavesdropping. The changes were sold as a key step in tracking foreign terrorists and their allies on American soil. But the shift guts any semblance of oversight, leaving the picking and choosing of targets to spy agencies.

The Boston Globe:

The administration maintains that technological changes have created problems with the 1978 law. But never has Bush demonstrated why the terms of that law, which permitted officials to get warrant approvals up to 72 hours after they started a wiretap, are no longer workable. This and other questions could have been answered if Congress had demanded an open debate on the administration’s bill. Its failure to do so is a shameful abdication of its own responsibility. It’s difficult to maintain a system of checks and balances when one branch simply checks out.

Rocky Mountain News:

Now the authority to approve wiretaps rests with the attorney general - hardly a reassuring prospect given Alberto Gonzales’ performance in that office - and the director of national intelligence. … Given the administration’s expansive view of its own powers, this FISA rewrite could allow much wider eavesdropping, with little outside oversight.

Sacramento Bee:

After the 9/11 attacks, President Bush did an end run around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which prohibits eavesdropping on Americans without judicial oversight. Instead of going to Congress to change the law, Bush decided to simply monitor without warrants the international phone calls and e-mails of people inside the United States. Six years later, the Bush administration belatedly has gone to Congress. But instead of promoting modernization in the law, the administration has ginned up new fears about terrorist attacks and cowed Congress into passing hasty, ill-considered changes.

Seattle Post Intelligencer:

The redeeming aspect of the political theater involving Americans’ rights to privacy is that Congress wrote itself an option for a better ending in six months.

The latest power grabs represent a move to legalize already existing covert programs that are in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States. The neocon administration has brought its crimes out into the open and the puppet Congress, rather than holding it accountable, is actively legalizing criminality.

Ward Churchill Fired From The University of Colorado



I received a phone call this morning that blew me away! It was from a Republican Organization telling me Ward
Churchill was fired and it was a victory for the Republican Party. Then he proceeded to ask me for funding to help them with firing other people they do not agree with!

Ok, here we go, I do not care if this man questioned the innocence of some of the 9/11 victims and compared their role in what he describes as ongoing genocidal American imperialism to the role played by Adolf Eichmann in organizing the Holocaust. That is his right as an American citizen, and how dare anyone harm this man, physically or monetarily for his views! You call this a victory? A victory for what, the death of all our civil liberties?

I am not like what every one has to say, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it!

A special meeting of the University of Colorado Board of Regents was
convened at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 24, 2007, at CU-Boulder’s
University Memorial Center to consider a recommendation by CU President
Hank Brown to terminate Professor Ward Churchill. The
Board of Regents considered President Brown’s recommendation in
executive session and reconvened in public session this afternoon to
announce its decision.

Following is information related to the
decision by the Board of Regents,in addition to background information
about the University of Colorado’sPrivilege and Tenure Process, which
governed university action in the monthspreceding today’s decision by
the Board of Regents. The following information includes:

The University of Colorado Board of Regents today voted to accept
President Hank Brown’s recommendation to dismiss Professor Ward
Churchill from the faculty of CU-Boulder for conduct that fell below
minimum standards of professional integrity.

The vote concluded nearly two and a half years of an extensive
faculty review process to investigate charges of research misconduct
against Professor Churchill. More than 20 tenured faculty members from
CU and other institutions served on three separate panels. Each panel
conducted a thorough review of his work and faculty involved found
evidence showing Professor Churchill engaged in research misconduct,
and that it required serious sanction.

“The university has an obligation to ensure its faculty’s work is
above reproach, said CU president Hank Brown. “Academic freedom
requires academic integrity, responsibility and accountability.”

The record of the case www.cu.edu/churchillcase shows a pattern of
serious, repeated and deliberate research misconduct that fell below
the minimum stand of professional integrity, involving fabrication,
falsification, improper citation and plagiarism.

The university’s review of Professor Churchill focused on his
professional activities, not his statements about victims of September
11, 2001. Professor Churchill, like every United States citizen, has
the right to make controversial political statements. Early in the
investigation, the university determined his speech was protected by
the First Amendment.

The University of Colorado values academic freedom as the bedrock of
any university. But for academic freedom to thrive, it must be
accompanied by academic and professional integrity.

The lengthy review process adhered to shared governance procedures
established by the faculty and adopted by the Regents. During the more
than two years the investigative process has taken, Professor Churchill
had the opportunity to present his position. The process allowed him to
make his case in writing, in person, with his attorney and with his own
witnesses.

The board’s decision to dismiss is final. Professor Churchill will
receive one year’s salary as a tenured professor, but will be
immediately relieved of his faculty post and responsibilities.

The University of Colorado is a three-university system with
campuses in Boulder and Colorado Springs, and a Denver and Health
Sciences Center campus located in downtown Denver and at the Anschutz
Medical Campus in Aurora. CU is a premier teaching and research
university, ranked sixth among public institutions in federal research
expenditures by the National Science Foundation. Academic prestige is
marked by CU’s four Nobel laureates, seven MacArthur “genius” Fellows,
18 alumni astronauts, 19 Rhodes Scholars and CU-Boulder’s ranking of
11th best public university and 34th best overall university in the
world by the Institute for Higher Education. - Source The University of
Colorado Press

Wikipedia on Ward Churchill

This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American writer,
Vietnam veteran and political activist. He is a former professor of
ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who was widely
discussed and criticized in the mass media in 2005, for a 2001 essay in
which he questioned the innocence of many of the people killed in the
World Trade Center attacks, labeling them as "technocrats" and "little
Eichmanns.". He has "decided to publish largely in alternative presses
or journals, not in the university presses or mainstream peer-reviewed
journals often favored by more conventional academics." In addition to
his academic writing, Churchill has written for several general
readership magazines of political opinion. His work is primarily about
the U.S. and its historical treatment of political dissenters and of
American Indian peoples.

New Immigration Bill in the Works

Mary Benoit
JBS
Tuesday Aug 7, 2007

Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA) has announced that he is ready to unveil an immigration bill designed to replace the now-doomed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act.

Follow this link to the original source: "Effort to revive immigration reform"

COMMENTARY:
Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA) must have listened as a child to the old adage "if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again." At least, so it would seem, as the Senator has announced his intention to unveil a new piece of legislation that would replace the immigration reform act (S. 1639) that failed to pass the Senate in June.

Until Spector's bill is introduced in the Senate there is little way of knowing how similar it may be to Senator Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) immigration package that would have — among other things — placed millions of illegal immigrants on a path toward citizenship, implemented an enhanced guestworker program, and increased the number of annual H1-B visa applicants.

One aspect of the Spector plan that has been revealed, however, is his intent to appease amnesty-opposing lawmakers by not placing illegal immigrants on a path toward citizenship, but rather to eliminate their status as fugitives from justice. In essence, would this not still be an amnesty program? The answer is yes. Any forgiveness of illegal entry into the United States, or acknowledgement that the illegal population would not be required to return to their country of origin, would be a textbook definition of amnesty.

The Senate learned in June how well an immigration/amnesty agenda resonated with the American people. One may recall how, on the day of a critical vote on S. 1639, the Capitol switchboard was actually shut down due to the high influx of calls, many of which were constituents urging their senators to reject the bill.

Yet even with all the public opposition it looks as if the Senate may be ready for round 2. They can bank on a similar response from grassroots organizations, such as The John Birch Society, if any immigration proposal supports amnesty or any amnesty-like provisions.

We will keep our readers updated with any new developments in this story.

Gore Refuses to Debate Global Warming Theory

Newsmax
Tuesday Aug 7, 2007

Best-selling author Dennis Avery is the next prominent figure to challenge the facts Al Gore is promoting in his global warming crusade. Mr. Avery is co-author of "Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1,500 Years." Both Al Gore and Dennis Avery have New York Times best-selling books on global warming, but with opposite conclusions.

The list of Al Gore detractors continues to grow as his extreme rhetoric and conclusions get dissected by scientists, economists, and researchers. Avery joins Lord Christopher Monckton (former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher advisor), Bjorn Lomborg (Danish economist), author Michael Crichton, Prof. S. Fred Singer (former director of the U.S. National Weather Service), Tim Ball, Ph.D. (historical climatologist), Prof. Ian Clark (University of Ottawa), and Prof. Richard Lindzen (MIT) among others.

Gore claims recent climate change is the result of human activities, and society must give up most of its energy supply to prevent global catastrophe. Conversely, Avery amassed physical evidence of past warming/cooling cycles and experimental evidence demonstrating variations in solar activity affect Earth's constantly varying temperatures.

"My book says our warming is natural, unstoppable -- and not very dangerous anyway," stated Avery.

"These books represent the two leading explanations for the Earth's recent temperature changes-and they conflict. If global warming truly is the most important public policy issue of our day, then it is high time the public got to hear the arguments from both sides matched up against each other," continued Avery.

Gore has refused all debate challengers to date. Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute, noted, "Maybe it's because climate alarmists tend to lose when they debate climate realists. Or because most scientists do not support climate alarmism." The Heartland Institute has run more than $500,000 of ads in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Times promoting a debate.

Fox News Uncovers Ron Paul's Most Shocking Skeleton in the Closet


Desperate debunkers resort to attacking Congressman on amount of money he requests for shrimp research, while Giuliani's rampant corruption is ignored

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, August 7, 2007


Fox News are so desperate to dig up any dirt on Ron Paul, that one of their flagship shows last night resorted to attacking him over the amount of federal funding he requested for shrimp research.

Watch the video.

Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul — who is campaigning as a critic of congressional overspending — has revealed that he is requesting $400 million worth of earmarks this year," reported the Brit Hume show.

The Wall Street Journal reports Paul's office says those requests include $8 million for the marketing of wild American shrimp and $2.3 million to pay for research into shrimp fishing.

A spokesman says, "Reducing earmarks does not reduce government spending, and it does not prohibit spending upon those things that are earmarked. What people who push earmark reform are doing is they are particularly misleading the public — and I have to presume it's not by accident."
The Texas Lone Star Times also ran with the shrimp hit piece, which originated with an article in the Wall Street Journal.

If Ron Paul's biggest skeleton in the closet is the amount of money his district spends on shrimp research, then the establishment media are going to have a difficult time maintaining their assault on his credibility as they panic in fear at the Congressman's runaway popularity.

Their desperation in scraping the barrel to uncover any dirt on Paul previously yielded the equally shocking scandal of one his aides having written fifteen years ago about crime figures and black people - another feeble jab that fizzled into nothing.

Compare the egregious and rampant corruption of Rudy Giuliani with Ron Paul's shrimp overspend and ask yourself why Fox News isn't running hit pieces on the Nosferatu of the Republican presidential race.

As we reported yesterday, Fox News attempted to smear Paul by debunking the 9/11 truth movement and then associating it with the Texas Congressman.

Change Confronts Mayor Bloomberg on Subway

WeAreChange.org News
August 6, 2007
Mike Knarr

Bloomberg Takes the Ride of His Life

Mayor Bloomberg takes the subway periodically, about once a month according to his staff, so that he can be with the people. Unfortunately he picked the day when WeAreChange.org and Infowars.com reporters were outside City Hall. The ride lasted about 15 minutes and Luke, Tom, Nate and several other concerned citizens used every minute to bring up questions from parking tickets to 9/11.

Luke started in with an attack on the Ground Zero Memorial. Why are you disrespecting the family members by moving the memorial off the grounds of the World Trade Center? Read a great article about this and the massive money spent by Pataki and Bloomberg after 9/11 here by Debra Burlingame. www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008478
Debra Burlingame is the sister of Captain Charles “Chic” Burlingame, III, pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He participated in the very pentagon drill which envisioned just such an attack and she died under mysterious circumstances in a fire later after investigating the money trail. It’s all just a coincidence.

Luke moved on by adding that 45% of the remains have not been found, why do you want to build on holy ground? By the way family members this year are just asking to go down the ramp but Bloomberg said in an earlier interview ,“It doesn't work. And you know we just have to get used to the fact that there's a lot of construction going on there.” I guess everyone is supposed to move on and stop bugging the government about trivial issues like this. Why are you ignoring the rescue workers who are sick and dieing? How did building 7 come down? The EPAs lies are causing the deaths of thousands of first responders. Still no response from the Mayor.

With the film ban going into effect there was plenty of questions about the constitutionality of it all. Even Keith Olbermann said it was the worst constitutional attack he could think of. Questions came fast and furious like, why do you want to destroy the constitution? You want to run for President, aren't you concerned with destroying the constitution? Nate was right on the mark when he added, "If it's unconstitutional it's null and void, you know we will win in court don't you?" Luke reminded Mayor Bloomberg that he has money invested in a media company and doesn't he see the conflict of interest, "you want to ban filming?"

Other points were made like, your just trying to put fear into us hoping we won't film, we will continue to film even if you declare martial law. Your making criminals out of ordinary citizens by arresting bicycle riders (See the Critical Mass Video by WeAreChange) and now people with cameras. Stop selling out to the corporate banks, sir. There's lots of questions, It's you opportunity as mayor to actually address these questions.

The Mayor’s goons make a big deal about the fact that our reporters do not have official New York City issued press passes. However this does not excuse the Mayor from not answering the questions put forth even if they are from his constituency. However this just shows that the media is controlled and if they were to ask these questions they might fear having their passes revoked.

Tom Foti said it best when he said "Until we get answers, this is how it’s going to be"




Watch what happens at the end with an NYPD officer. You have to see it to believe it!

New York police must turn over surveillance reports

Reuters
Tuesday Aug 7, 2007

The New York Police Department must release undercover police reports on protester activity planned for the 2004 Republican National Convention, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

The ruling came in response to two lawsuits filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union for protesters.

The police department argued the arrests were justified due to information gleaned from a surveillance operation by undercover officers who attended protester meetings before the convention, but have not released the details.

In an affidavit in May, NYPD intelligence division head David Cohen argued the reports were protected by law enforcement privilege and releasing the reports would identify undercover officers and jeopardize undercover investigations.

But on Monday U.S. Magistrate Judge James Francis said field intelligence reports could be redacted so as to not reveal "the identities of undercover officers or disclosing confidential NYPD tactics and strategies."

In response to the ruling, NYCLU lawyer Chris Dunn called the police surveillance of political activity "troubling."

The judge ruled other documents on the NYPD's plans and strategies for the convention did not have to be released.

A police department spokesman did not immediately comment.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Oklahoma Police Kill 5-Year Old Boy While Shooting at Snake

Sunday, August 05, 2007

NOBLE, Okla. — A stray bullet fired by a police officer trying to shoot a snake hit and killed a 5-year-old boy fishing at a nearby pond, officials said.

Austin Haley was fishing with his grandfather, Jack Tracy, Friday evening when Tracy said he heard a shot and saw a bullet hit the water just a few feet in front of the boat dock where he was standing.

Moments later, a second shot was fired that hit Austin in the head.

A Noble police officer who had responded to a report of a snake in a tree apparently fired the deadly shot while trying to kill the snake, according to City Manager Bob Wade.

Tracy said he initially thought he and his grandson were under attack by someone trying to kill them, so he put the boy into the back of a 4-wheeler and drove to his daughter's house about 200 yards away.

"Then two officers came out of the brush over there," he told The Oklahoman. "They didn't tell us they were the ones who had been shooting or that they had shot him. They didn't admit a doggone thing."

The boy was taken to an Oklahoma City hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A resident of the Crest Lane neighborhood called police after discovering a large snake in a tree, Wade said.

"I was told that they tried several ways to get the snake down, but it was still hissing at them and firmly lodged," Wade said. "What I was told is that the owner of the home either suggested or agreed that they should go ahead and shoot the snake, and then everything happened from there."

Wade refused to identify the officer suspected of firing the shots but said the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

"This is so bizarre it has to be fully investigated. ... We're pretty sure circumstantially that it is the bullet from the police officer's gun, but it might be a bullet from someone else," Wade said.

A state investigation has been launched into the shooting, and it appears the fatal shot was fired by the officer, said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown.

"We have no reason to believe it's not," Brown said. "But there certainly will be an investigation."

Tracy has little doubt about what happened.

"I'm not saying the cop shot him on purpose," Tracy said. "It was an accident. But let me tell you — if I had a kid and put him in this car and didn't put him in a car seat and he got killed on the way to town, they'd charge me with murder ... and what this cop did is a lot worse than that."

Ron Paul Remains Longshot for GOP Nom???

Friday, August 03, 2007
By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer


AUSTIN, Texas — Ron Paul may be the political butterfly of the 2008 presidential campaign. An obscure congressman from Southeast Texas for most of his political career, Paul has metamorphosed into the favorite of those looking for a candidate outside the political mainstream.

Legions of die-hard fans formed across the country after Republican candidate debates and Internet blogs exposed his contrarian views.

Paul, 71, remains one of the longest of long shots for the GOP nomination, but that hasn't deterred supporters from making cold calls to voters in early contest states, plastering the Internet with plaudits, and loudly challenging Paul's White House rivals at campaign stops.

"I honestly believe that Congressman Ron Paul, as crazy as it might sound, I believe he is the father of the modern Republican Party," said Jason Stoddard, 31, an Austin, Texas, entrepreneur who has no formal ties to Paul's campaign but has made more than a thousand calls to Iowa voters urging their support.

The enthusiasm of admirers like Stoddard has boosted Paul's national profile and helped his campaign raise $3 million over the past three months _ a fraction of the double-digit millions chalked up by the top-tier candidates, but a respectable sum for an underdog.

That enthusiasm, however, hasn't translated into widespread support in presidential polls for Paul, who was a Libertarian Party candidate for president two decades ago and is best known as a champion of small government, low taxes and minimal foreign intervention.

National opinion polls of Republican primary voters generally show his support at about 2 percent. And while he's accumulated a cache of campaign dollars, Paul's not spending most of it. He has spent just $650,000 this year, the third-least of all 2008 presidential candidates, according to federal campaign finance reports.

"Most of the oxygen is being taken up, especially on the Republican side, by those who look like they might have a prayer of winning in a Democratic year," said University of Texas political scientist Bruce Buchanan.

An obstetrician-gynecologist and former Air Force flight surgeon, Paul stands out from the other Republican candidates on several scores, including his long-held opposition to the Iraq war. As a result, he might benefit from President Bush's near-record unpopularity and the growing public discontent with the war, said Michael Tanner, a policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.

But potential supporters may find some of the 10-term congressman's other views more difficult to accept, including calls for a return to the gold standard and a radically smaller government with no Education Department, Energy Department or Internal Revenue Service.

Paul also is just as likely to turn off as many voters as he turns on with positions that straddle both liberal and conservative camps. He opposes the death penalty and votes against military appropriations. He also opposes abortion and gun control. He's known on Capitol Hill as "Dr. No."

Paul spokesman Jesse Benton acknowledged that Paul has formidable challenges to overcome before the first votes for the nomination are cast in about five months. The campaign just bought its first radio ads in Iowa and New Hampshire and has nearly tripled its staff to 25 in the past month.

"We realize the odds are still pretty long for Dr. Paul, but we think that Ron is a real legitimate player now that people are starting to pay attention," Benton said.

As comedian Stephen Colbert put it when Paul appeared in June on his mock right-wing talk show, "You are an enigma wrapped in a riddle nestled in a sesame seed bun of mystery."

Could some one please explain to me how Ron Paul is the "Underdog/Longshot" when he has won every poll after every debate?? I am tired of seeing this propaganda on Fox News and other mainstream news web sites and TV stations! Show the real numbers and stop lying to the American People!

ABC Reset Republican Debate Tally After Ron Paul Win?

Free Market News
Sunday, August 5, 2007

ABC TV apparently reset its tally of who won the Republican debate it broadcast on August 5, Sunday morning.

At 10 AM EST, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) was winning the debate with over 1,000 votes. Mitt Romney was next with 106. After the debate at approximately 11:10 AM EST when the tally was rechecked, ABC showed Ron Paul had just 445 votes. Second was “Nobody Won. I’m Voting Democratic.”

Of course, it could all be an innocent gliche, and perhaps ABC will explain these tallies or see fit to rectify them. But it has long been FMNN’s contention, along with others, that Ron Paul, an old fashioned Jeffersonian conservative, would serve as a metaphor and magnifying glass for America’s current political difficulties and expanding corruption.

The debate itself was apparently little promoted. In fact, ABC marketed the debate so shallowly that Drudgereport.com didn’t seem to carry a blurb about it on its front page, and neither did Google News.

To set the stage for the debate, ABC moderators began with polling numbers that showed Ron Paul at just two percent, yet the numbers on the ABC website, at 10 AM EST and again at the end of the debate (before the tally was reduced), showed him winning the debate, as he has before, by a wide margin.

A search of Internet sites revealed some confusion about the debates times and where it was airing. Posted one confused would-be viewer: "What a bizzare time to hold a debate and what a screwy format for a debate. It won’t air in my area until 11:00 am."

Ron Paul will likely win the online debate poll by large numbers in any case. But changing poll numbers always generates questions. ABC is said to have manipulated its comment boards before as regards Ron Paul. (Edited after posting.)

NYC Man Cited for 1775 Submarine

Authorities Responded After Antique Replica Drifted Too Close to Cruise Ship



















The Brooklyn native manning the 8-foot-by-4-foot fiberglass and wood submarine, a replica of a 1775 model called the "Turtle," was cited by police after drifting too close to the Queen Mary 2. (NYPD)

A man in a Revolutionary War-era submarine was cited by the U.S. Coast Guard for drifting into a security zone, and for unsafe sailing in New York's East River near the Queen Mary 2 luxury liner, the Coast Guard and New York City Police Department said Friday.

The man in the replica vessel was identified as 35-year-old Philip "Duke" Riley of Brooklyn, N.Y., according to Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Seth Johnson.

Authorities said it was the second time Riley had floated the vessel in the vicinity of the cruise ship. The submarine, which reportedly did not have a mechanical propulsion system, was being towed by two other men in a rowboat.

"A makeshift submarine discovered at about 10:30 this morning by an NYPD Intelligence detective onboard the Queen Mary 2 in New York Harbor is the creative craft of three adventuresome individuals," NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced in an afternoon press release. "It does not pose any terrorist threat."

While Kelly said the Queen Mary 2 will be inspected to ensure the boat's integrity, and Riley and the two other men could further face NYPD charges, he chalked up the incident as a case of "marine mischief."

Riley was questioned by police after a guard on the Queen Mary 2 spotted the 8-by-4-foot fiberglass and wood submarine, a replica of a 1775 model called the "Turtle," within 200 feet of the ship. The U.S. Coast Guard also responded to the scene.

Oxygen tanks were discovered inside the vessel, but no threatening devices or materials were found onboard.

The "Turtle," invented in Connecticut by David Bushnell, was the first combat submarine designed to plant explosives on the sides of ships, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

A photo gallery posted July 17, 2007, on the photo-sharing Web site flickr.com titled "Adventures With an Egg" shows a "Turtle" submarine making a test run in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, near the spot where Riley was apprehended by authorities today.

The photo slideshow also links to the Web site www.dukeriley.info, the namesake of which is described as "the man behind the madness." On that site, Riley describes himself as an "artist" and "patriot," who combines "populist myths and reinvented historical obscurities with contemporary social dilemmas."

The statement concludes, "Throughout my projects, I profile the space where water meets the land, traditionally marking the periphery of urban society, what lies beyond rigid moral constructs, a sense of danger and possibility."

Thursday, August 2, 2007

HOMELAND SEC COMMITTEE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE MARTIAL LAW PLAN!

Here we go again! Our fearless leader says he has a plan for the country that
will help preserve the Government (All 3 Branches) but even our own
Congressmen are not allowed to see it! Don't believe me, see it for yourself!


Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Retired general censured in Tillman case


By RICHARD LARDNER and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writers 27 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Army censured a retired three-star general Tuesday for a "perfect storm of mistakes, misjudgments and a failure of leadership" after the 2004 friendly-fire death in Afghanistan of Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

Army Secretary Pete Geren asked a military review panel to decide whether Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger, who led Army special forces operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, should also have his rank reduced.

In a stinging rebuke, Geren said Kensinger "failed to provide proper leadership to the soldiers under his administrative control" when the Army Ranger and former pro football star was killed in 2004.

Geren said that while Kensinger was "guilty of deception" in misleading investigators, there was no intentional Pentagon cover-up of circumstances surrounding Tillman's death — at first categorized by the military as being from enemy fire.

"He let his soldiers down," Geren said at Pentagon news conference. "General Kensinger was the captain of that ship, and his ship ran aground."

Geren said he has directed a review panel of four-star generals to decide whether Kensinger, a three-star, should also have his rank reduced. If Kensinger is demoted to major general, his monthly retirement pay of $9,400 would be cut by about $900, according to Army officials.

"Had he performed his job properly, had he performed his duty, we wouldn't be standing here today," Geren said.

Kensinger, who retired in February 2006, received a letter of censure from Geren that said he "subverted the trust" that had been placed in him and "caused lasting damage to the reputation and credibility of the U.S. Army."

Geren said he considered recommending a court-martial for Kensinger but ruled it out.

Kensinger, whose line of authority included the Army Rangers, also failed to properly notify the Tillman family a fratricide investigation had begun shortly after he was killed, did not initiate a required safety investigation.

Kensinger's lawyer, Charles W. Gittins, did not return numerous phone and e-mail messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. But in correspondence with Army officials weeks before Geren's announcement, Kensinger denied misleading investigators.

Kensinger, a 1970 West Point graduate, was the top officer at Army Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, N.C., from August 2002 through December 2005.

Geren's actions fail to end a three-year controversy that has damaged the ground service's image. Even as the Army's top civilian was telling reporters he did not know exactly when he'd receive a recommendation from the review board on Kensinger's rank, members of Congress were already judging whether the Army had gone far enough.

Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Mike Honda, both Democrats from Tillman's home state of California, said there still too many unanswered questions.

"We still don't know the full story about the way the Pentagon and this administration managed this tragedy," Boxer said in a statement. "In my view, the Army should reconsider today's announcement and instead move forward with harsher penalties."

In a separate statement, Honda called Geren's actions "necessary and long overdue" but added "they do nothing to lift the appearance of cover-up that continues to envelop the Pat Tillman story."

The punishment of Kensinger stands in contrast to the light touch given other senior officers who were involved in a litany of mistakes that came after members of Tillman's units accidentally killed him in the early evening hours of April 22, 2004.

Army Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who oversees the military's most sensitive counterterrorism operations, received no punishment. McChrystal has been cited for passing on misleading information that led to a Silver Star award to Tillman.

Brig. Gen. James Nixon, Tillman's former regimental commander, was issued a "memorandum of concern" for his "well-intentioned but fundamentally incorrect decision" to keep information about Tillman's death limited to just his staff.

Nixon is now a top official at U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla.

Geren said that investigations have conclusively shown that accidental fire from U.S. troops was responsible for the death in Afghanistan of Tillman, who had walked away from a $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to become an Army Ranger.

The Army initially suggested that Tillman, 27, had been killed in a firefight with enemy militia forces. The Army then arranged a ceremony to award Tillman a Silver Star for bravery.

Five weeks after his death, the Army notified the Tillman family that Tillman died from rounds fired in error by U.S. troops.

Geren cited "multiple actions on the part of multiple soldiers" in compounding the confusion that surrounded the death.

But there "was never any effort to mislead or hide" or keep embarrassing information from the public, Geren said.

He said Tillman deserved the Silver Star, the military's third- highest award for valor in combat, despite the circumstances surrounding his death.

He could understand how the Tillman family and other Americans might reach the conclusion that there was a cover-up, Geren said.

"The facts just don't support this conclusion," he said. "There was no cover-up."

But he said, "We have made mistakes over and over and over, an incredible number of mistakes in handling this. We have destroyed our credibility in their eyes as well as in the eyes of others."

Tillman's family has insisted there was a cover-up that went as high as former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Geren was asked whether there was any indication Rumsfeld was aware that Tillman's death was by friendly fire before that information was made public.

"I have no knowledge of any evidence to that end," Geren replied.

Aside from his decision to censure Kensinger, Geren said that he was accepting recommendations by Gen. William Wallace, who the Army secretary tasked to review a March report by the Pentagon inspector general into Tillman's death.

Based on Wallace's findings, Nixon and three other officers received a memorandum of concern. The others are:

_Retired Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, who led one of the early Army investigations. Jones was criticized for incorrectly characterizing Tillman's actions in describing why he should be awarded a Silver Star.

_Brig. Gen. Gina Farrisee, director of military personnel management at the Pentagon, for failing to ensure that the concerns of a medical examiner were properly resolved.

_Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey, Tillman's battalion commander, for his handling of the punishment against the rangers involved in the shooting of Tillman.

Three other officers also received punishments but because they were below the rank of general officer, the Army did not release their names.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a subpoena Monday night for testimony from Kensinger, said committee spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot. The subpoena is currently in the hands of U.S. marshals who are trying to deliver it in advance of Wednesday's committee hearing on the Tillman affair, Lightfoot said.

___

Associated Press writer Scott Lindlaw contributed to this report from San Francisco.

Will Bush cancel the 2008 election?

There. Someone finally said this, in print. Their conclusion?

"From the public side, the only conceivable counter-force might be a national strike or an effective long-term campaign of general non-cooperation... For only one thing is certain: denial will do nothing."

Bravo, gentlemen.

— Ed.

by Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis
July 30, 2007

It is time to think about the "unthinkable."

The Bush Administration has both the inclination and the power to cancel the 2008 election.

The GOP strategy for another electoral theft in 2008 has taken clear shape, though we must assume there is much more we don't know.

But we must also assume that if it appears to Team Bush/Cheney/Rove that the GOP will lose the 2008 election anyway (as it lost in Ohio 2006) we cannot ignore the possibility that they would simply cancel the election. Those who think this crew will quietly walk away from power are simply not paying attention.

The real question is not how or when they might do it. It's how, realistically, we can stop them.


In Florida 2000, Team Bush had a game plan involving a handful of tactics. With Jeb Bush in the governor's mansion, the GOP used a combination of disenfranchisement, intimidation, faulty ballots, electronic voting fraud, a rigged vote count and an aborted recount, courtesy of the US Supreme Court.

A compliant Democrat (Al Gore) allowed the coup to be completed.

In Ohio 2004, the arsenal of dirty tricks exploded. Based in Columbus, we have documented more than a hundred different tactics used to steal the 20 electoral votes that gave Bush a second term. More are still surfacing. As a result of the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal lawsuit (in which we are plaintiff and attorney) we have now been informed that 56 of the 88 counties in Ohio violated federal law by destroying election records, thus preventing a definitive historical recount.

As in 2000, a compliant Democrat (John Kerry) allowed the coup to proceed.

For 2008 we expect the list of vote theft maneuvers to escalate yet again. We are already witnessing a coordinated nationwide drive to destroy voter registration organizations and to disenfranchise millions of minority, poor and young voters.

This carefully choreographed campaign is complemented by the widespread use of electronic voting machines. As reported by the Government Accountability Office, Princeton University, the Brennan Center, the Carter-Baker Commission, US Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and others, these machines can be easily used to flip an election. They were integral to stealing both the 2000 and 2004 elections. Efforts to make their source codes transparent, or to require a usable paper trail on a federal level, have thus far failed. A discriminatory Voter ID requirement may also serve as the gateway to a national identification card.

Overall, the GOP will have at its command even more weapons of election theft in 2008 than it did in Ohio 2004, which jumped exponentially from Florida 2000. The Rovian GOP is nothing if not tightly organized to do this with ruthless efficiency. Expect everything that was used these past two presidential elections to surface again in 2008 in far more states, with far more efficiency, and many new dirty tricks added in.

But in Ohio 2006, the GOP learned a hard lesson. Its candidate for governor was J. Kenneth Blackwell. The Secretary of State was the essential on-the-ground operative in the theft of Ohio 2004.

When he announced for governor, many Ohioans joked that "Ken Blackwell will never lose an election where he counts the votes."

But lose he did….along with the GOP candidates for Secretary of State, Attorney-General and US Senate.

By our calculations, despite massive grassroots scrutiny, the Republicans stole in excess of 6% of the Ohio vote in 2006. But they still lost.

Why? Because they were so massively unpopular that even a 6% bump couldn't save them. Outgoing Governor Bob Taft, who pled guilty to four misdemeanors while in office, left town with a 7% approval rating (that's not a typo). Blackwell entered the last week of the campaign down 30% in some polls.

So while the GOP still had control of the electoral machinery here in 2006, the public tide against them was simply too great to hold back, even through the advanced art and science of modern Rovian election theft.


In traditional electoral terms, that may also be the case in 2008. Should things proceed as they are now, it's hard to imagine any Republican candidate going into the election within striking distance. The potential variations are many, but the graffiti on the wall is clear.

What's also clear is that this administration has a deep, profound and uncompromised contempt for democracy, for the rule of law, and for the US Constitution. When George W. Bush went on the record (twice) as saying he has nothing against dictatorship, as long as he can be dictator, it was a clear and present policy statement.

Who really believes this crew will walk quietly away from power? They have the motivation, the money and the method for doing away with the electoral process altogether. So why wouldn't they?

The groundwork for dismissal of both the legislative and judicial branch has been carefully laid. The litany is well-known, but worth a very partial listing:

The continuation of the drug war, and the Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act and other dictatorial laws prompted by the 9/11/2001 terror attacks, have decimated the Bill of Rights, and shredded the traditional American right to due process of law, freedom from official surveillance, arbitrary violence, and far more.

The current Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales, has not backed away from his announcement to Congress that the Constitution does not guarantee habeas corpus. The administration continues to act on the assumption that it can arrest anyone at any time and hold them without notification or trial for as long as it wants.

The establishment of the Homeland Security Agency has given it additional hardware to decimate the basic human rights of our citizenry. Under the guise of dealing with the "immigration problem," large concentration camps are under construction around the US.

The administration has endorsed and is exercising its "right" to employ torture, contrary to the Eighth Amendment and to a wide range of international treaties, which Gonzales has labeled "quaint."

With more than 200 "signing statements" the administration acts on its belief that the "unitary executive" trumps the power of the legislative branch in any instance it chooses. This belief has been further enforced with the administration's use of a wide range of precedent-setting arguments to keep its functionaries from testifying before Congress.

There is much more. In all instances, the 109th Congress---and the public---have rolled over without significant resistance.

Most crucial now are Presidential Directive #51, Executive Orders #13303, #13315, #13350, #13364, #13422, #13438, and more, by which Bush has granted himself an immense arsenal of powers for which the term "dictatorial" is a modest understatement.

The Founders established our government with checks and balances. But executive orders have accumulated important precedent. The Emancipation Proclamation by which Lincoln declared an end to slavery in the South, was issued under the "military necessity" of adding blacks to the Union Army, a step without which the North might not have won the Civil War. Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order #8802 established the Fair Employment Practices Commission. Harry Truman's Executive Order #9981 desegregated the military.

Most to the point, FDR's Executive Order #9066 ordered the forcible internment of 100,000 people of Japanese descent into the now infamous concentration camps of World War II.

There is also precedent for a president overriding the Supreme Court. In the 1830s Chief Justice John Marshall enshrined the right of the Cherokee Nation to sovereignty over its ancestral land in the Appalachian Mountains. But President Andrew Jackson scorned the decision. Some 14,000 native Americans were moved at gunpoint to Oklahoma. More than 3,000 died along the way.

All this will be relevant should Team Bush envision a defeat in the 2008 election and decide to call it off. It's well established that Richard Nixon---mentor to Karl Rove and Dick Cheney---commissioned the Huston Plan, which detailed how to cancel the 1972 election.

Today we must ask: who would stop this administration from taking dictatorial power in the instance of a "national emergency" such as a terror attack at a nuclear power plant or something similar?

Nothing in the behavior of this Congress indicates that it is capable of significant resistance. Impeachment seems beyond it. Nor does it seem Congress would actually remove Bush if it did put him on trial.

Short of that, Bush clearly does not view anything Congress might do as a meaningful impediment. After all, how many divisions does the Congress command?

The Supreme Court, as currently constituted, would almost certainly rubber stamp a Bush coup. If not, like Jackson, he could ignore it as easily as he would ignore Congress.

What does that leave? There is much idle speculation now about what the armed forces would do. We also hear loose talk about "90 million gun owners."

From the public side, the only conceivable counter-force might be a national strike or an effective long-term campaign of general non-cooperation.

But we can certainly assume the mainstream media will give lock-step support to whatever the regime says and does. It's also a given that those likely to lead the resistance will immediately land in those new prisons being built by Halliburton et. al.

So how do we cope with the harsh realities of such a Bush/Cheney/Rove dictatorial coup?

We may have about a year to prepare. Every possible scenario needs to be discussed in excruciating detail.

For only one thing is certain: denial will do nothing.

--
HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES is at www.solartopia.org, along with SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, A.D. 2030. The FITRAKIS FILES are at www.freepress.org (where this article was originally published), along with HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICA'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008, which Bob and Harvey co-wrote.

Source URL: http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2722

Pentagon to implant microchips in soldiers

Adam Thomas
Press Esc
Monday July 30, 2007

The Department of Defense is planning to implant microchips in soldiers' brains for monitoring their health information, and has already awarded a $1.6 million contract to the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B) at Clemson University for the development of an implantable "biochip".

Soldiers fear that the biochip, about the size of a grain of rice, which measures and relays information on soldiers vital signs 24 hours a day, can be used to put them under surveillance even when they are off duty.

But Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, C3B director and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering claims the that the invivo biosensors will save lives as first responders to the trauma scene could inject the biochip into the wounded victim and gather data almost immediately.

He believes that the device has other long-term potential applications, such as monitoring astronauts’ vital signs during long-duration space flights and reading blood-sugar levels for diabetics.

“We now lose a large percentage of patients to bleeding, and getting vital information such as how much oxygen is in the tissue back to ER physicians and medical personnel can often mean the difference between life and death,” said Guiseppi-Elie. “Our goal is to improve the quality and expediency of care for fallen soldiers and civilian trauma victims.” The biochip also may be injected as a precaution to future traumas."

Clemson scientists have formulated a gel that mimics human tissue and reduces the chances of the body rejecting the biochip, which has been a problem in the past.

The researcher predicts the biochip is five years away from human trials, and the DoD could start implanting microchips in soldiers bodies soon after.

Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Missing

In 56 of Ohio's 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been "accidentally" destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them -- it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen.


- Steven Rosenfeld - July 30, 2007


Two-thirds of Ohio counties have destroyed or lost their 2004 presidential ballots and related election records, according to letters from county election officials to the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner.


The lost records violate Ohio law, which states federal election records must be kept for 22 months after Election Day, and a U.S. District Court order issued last September that the 2004 ballots be preserved while the court hears a civil rights lawsuit alleging voter suppression of African-American voters in Columbus.


The destruction of the election records also frustrates efforts by the media and historians to determine the accuracy of Ohio's 2004 vote count, because in county after county the key evidence needed to understand vote count anomalies apparently no longer exists.


"The extent of the destruction of records is consistent with the covering up of the fraud that we believe occurred in the presidential election," said Cliff Arnebeck, a Columbus attorney representing the King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association, which filed voter suppression suit. "We're in the process of addressing where to go from here with the Ohio Attorney General's office."


"On the one hand, people will now say you can't prove the fraud," he said, "but the rule of law says that when evidence is destroyed it creates a presumption that the people who destroyed evidence did so because it would have proved the contention of the other side."


Brunner's office confirmed the 2004 ballots were missing, but declined to comment.


"Because this case is still pending, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is unable to comment on this," said Jeff Ortega, a spokesperson. "Ultimately, whether the boards of elections are in violation of a federal court order is a matter for the court to decide."


The missing presidential election records were discovered this past spring by Brunner, a Democrat and former judge who was elected Secretary of State in 2006. Her predecessor, Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell, was sued in August 2006 by a Columbus community organization that alleged the former Secretary of State and other "unnamed" officials "selectively and discriminatorily designed and implemented procedures for the allocation of voting machines in a manner to create a shortage. For certain urban precincts where large numbers of African-Americans resided," according to the complaint.


Under federal and Ohio law, all ballots and election records from federal races must be preserved for 22 months after Election Day, which fell on Sept. 2, 2006. While election integrity activists and reporters from a Columbus website, FreePress.org, had sought the ballots and other election records soon after the presidential election, Blackwell would not allow county boards to release the ballots, citing court challenges to the 2004 results and a 2005 suit from the League of Women Voters alleging the state was not following the newest federal election law, the Help America Vote Act. By spring 2006, after the League's lawyers stipulated they were not challenging the 2004 election results, some counties began to release their 2004 election records. Scrutiny of those records raised questions about the conduct of the election and some county vote totals.


On Aug. 23, 2006, lawyers for the King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association notified the Secretary of State's office of their voter suppression suit. The following day Blackwell's office sent letters to all 88 of Ohio's county Boards of Election, notifying them of the suit. It is customary for public officials to preserve potential evidence when notified of pending litigation. Blackwell negotiated with opposing attorneys and agree to send a directive to election boards saying the ballots should be retained. Ian Urbina, a New York Times reporter working on the story, reported that Blackwell said he would be creating a process whereby county election officials could eventually review and dispose of the 2004 ballots.


On Sept. 11, 2006, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley ordered the election boards "to preserve all ballots from the 2004 Presidential election, on paper and in any other format, including electronic data, unless and until such time otherwise instructed by this Court."


Two months after Marbley's order, Blackwell lost the race for governor to Democrat Ted Strickland and Brunner was elected Secretary of State. During the following winter and spring, Brunner and the state's attorneys began negotiating a settlement for the voter suppression suit, according to lawyers involved in those talks. Part of that agreement, which has not yet been brought before the federal district court, was the creation of a statewide repository of the 2004 presidential ballots. When conducting an inventory and attempting to collect those records, Brunner's office learned that seven counties had no ballots to turn over and 56 counties only had partial records from the 2004 vote.


"This is not just a violation of a 22-month ballot retention law. It is a violation of a court order," Arnebeck said. "Blackwell told the New York Times that he would create a clearance procedure before destroying any ballots. The combination of Blackwell's directive and my letter should have been enough to give the counties notice."


What happened to the 2004 ballots


The presidential ballots and election records were lost, misplaced, damaged by water, taken to landfills -- all apparently by mistake, due to miscommunications, or because the local election administrators were not aware of the state ballot preservation law or the federal court order, according to letters to Brunner's office from the various county election boards.


"Our staff unintentionally discarded boxes containing Ballot Pages as requested in (Brunner's) Directive 2007-07 due to unclear and misinterpreted instructions," wrote Butler County Board of Election Director Betty McGary and Deputy Director Lynn Kinkaid in a May 9 memo. "Several boxes containing all the wire-bound ballot pages were discarded into a Rumpke dumpster. The dumpster would have been emptied into the local landfill."


"The Hamilton County (Cincinnati) Board of Elections was unable to transfer the unvoted precinct ballots and soiled precinct ballots," wrote John Williams, Hamilton County Director of Elections on May 16, 2007. "To the best if my knowledge, the above ballots were inadvertently shredded between January 19th and 26th of '06 in an effort to make room for the new Hart voting system."


"No one could remember the disposition of said ballots," wrote Mike Keeley, of Clermont County's Board of Elections on May 10, 2007, referring to the "unvoted" or unused ballots from the 2004 presidential election.


Since the 2004 election, a handful of media organizations, civil rights groups, attorneys, historians and authors have been investigating how the president won in Ohio by 118,775 votes. These inquiries have had two primary focuses: examining Republican-led voter suppression tactics and problems with the vote count, suggesting vote count fraud.


The partisan voter suppression tactics have been easier to document. Before the election, Blackwell, who was co-chair of the state's Bush-Cheney campaign, issued numerous administrative orders that fueled an extreme partisan climate. One of the most notable came as Ohio was seeing large voter registration drives in mid-2004. Blackwell issued an order, which he later rescinded under pressure, saying only voter registrations on 80-pound paper would be accepted and processed. At the time, Republican Gov. Robert Taft told reporters that directive could disenfranchise 100,000 voters. The state Republican Party also threatened to send thousands of poll challengers to local precincts, to ensure only properly registered voter exercised that right.


On Election Day in many Ohio cities, the turnout -- or voter accommodation rate -- in these traditional Democratic strongholds was markedly lower than in nearby suburbs, where Republicans have tended to be the majority. In Columbus, the King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association sued saying African-American voters in Franklin County were disenfranchised because urban precincts received fewer voting machines per capita than the whiter, wealthier suburbs. They noted urban precincts had many more voting machines during the spring primary.


Ohio's Secretary of State and Attorney General are engaged in settlement talks in the neighborhood association suit, suggesting the voter suppression claims have merit. In contrast, the case for Republican vote count fraud in the rural areas has been much harder to prove, even as the certified vote count is problematic in some counties.


Compared to Ohio's Democratic urban core, turnout in the Republican districts was higher than the 2000 election. Moreover, in a handful of counties there were vote count anomalies that made post-election observers question whether Bush's vote was padded. The most notable example is more than 10,000 voters from several Bible belt counties who voted for Bush and voted in favor of gay marriage, if the results are true. In a dozen rural counties, virtually unknown Democrats at the bottom of the ballot received more votes that Kerry, an oddity in a presidential year.


Reporters associated with FreePress.org and Arnebeck's legal team hoped the court order preserving the 2004 ballots would enable them to investigate how these results occurred. Depending on the ballot type and vote-counting machine used, they have theories about how Bush's vote could have been inflated. But because many of these rural counties apparently have destroyed the very 2004 election records that would clarify what happened, it is now virtually impossible to determine what happened.


In Warren County, where county election officials said on Election Day that the FBI had declared a homeland security alert -- which they later retracted -- ballots were diverted to a warehouse before counting. The local media was not allowed to observe the vote count. According to a letter from the Warren County Board of Election to Brunner's office, the election board cannot find 22,000 unused ballots from the election.


"The missing records reveal where the fraud occurred," said Arnebeck. "You take as an example, Warren County. It is well documented that there was a phony homeland security alert and that was the excuse for excluding the public and the press from observing what was going on during Election Day. So the missing unused ballots would suggest that ballots were remade to fit the desired result."


"The same situation occurred in Clermont County," he said. "We have sworn affidavits from people who saw white stickers placed over the Kerry-Edward ovals in this optical scan county," he said, referring to one way of masking a would-be Kerry vote, because optical-scan machines read ink marks on paper ballots. "So the missing unused ballots would suggest they were used to remake ballots to reflect the desired vote for Bush."


Many rural Ohio counties did not have vote count problems, Arnebeck said. But enough did have significant problems that called for further investigation.


"The Attorney General says the rural counties all say human error was to blame (for the missing ballots)," he said. "There are some counties where ballots are missing and we don't believe anything was wrong with the vote count. But there are others where that human error covers up what we think was vote count fraud."


Another big category of votes that will never be explained are the nearly 129,000 ballots that were rejected by voting machines and not counted. Many of these 2004 ballots -- a mix of computer punch cards, paper ballots to be marked by ink and electronic votes -- are among the incomplete 2004 election records. One post-election analysis found 94,000 of these ballots come from Democratic-majority precincts, and estimated these that ballots could have cost Kerry an additional 26,000 votes.