Saturday, January 28, 2006

It's 2006... Happier New Year! :-) You go Oo-go, you go on goin' on about what's been goin' on and on and on and goin' wrong...




"I'm a b-boy, standing in my b-boy stance..."

- K-OS, "B-Boy Stance"



(...)


Man, I love this dood.

K-OS for sure, but I also mean Hugo Chavez.

He's having so much fun being a badass.

And really, I think that's the key, and of special interest to special interest doom and gloom prognosticators, of which at times I am one.

Sure, we may all be screwed, but really, we may not be either.

"What we've got here is... failure to communicate."

- from the movie "Cool Hand Luke"


And yet, I am constantly amazed by the mainstream press Mr. Chavez gets for his mass-media mooning of American Imperialism. Unbelievable.

"Before September 11th 2001 America had a secret history. Secret especially from its own people. But now America’s secrets are history, and its history is public knowledge. It’s street talk."

- Arundhati Roy, "Confronting Empire"


And so it is, Ms. Roy, so it is.

(Actually it might be "Mrs." Roy since she's married, drat the luck. First Anglina "two-divorces and then Brad-freakin'-Pitt!" Jolie and now this. Drat the luck.)

Either way, it appears that the trillions of dollars the U.S. spends on espionage and and military and economic strong-arming are finally scratching the surface of collective consciousness, and bully for us: it ain't like we haven't seen a tonne of flix that show us a tonne of clues.

"Military intelligence" has long been seen as an oxymoron, and despite their phenomenal PR work, you've gotta admit that every war since World War II has been at best a mistake made to benefit war-profiteers on the take. Taxes are high, poverty rates are high, and apparently the army's own accountants are high...

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."

- Donald Rumsfeld, quoted on CBS News, 29/Jan/02


(sigh)

So, the evil and incompetent military-industrial complex has wrought one hell of a worldwide mess, and finally, almost all of us understand it. Maybe not on a conscious level, but we're never surprised when something trickles to the surface and is finally admitted widely in the press, and our sense of reason merely confirms our worst fears using our best judgment.

"Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'..."


- Bob Dylan, "The Times They Are A-Changin'"


And that's good to know.

Sure, old Bob may have scribbled this timeless ditty in 1963, but hey, he was simply ahead of his time.

That was the year President John F. Kennedy was killed, probably the first martyr for the battle against military-industrial complex dominance. He had big plans to scale back the insanity having just inherited the Presidency from the man who coined the term "military-industrial complex", President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his farewell speech to the nation. Since the Warren Commission cover-up of JFK's assasination and the "magic-bullet/lone-gunman" nonsense we've been mighty suspicious of the U.S. Government's desire to be honest, and if they couldn't honestly investigate the murder of America's favorite President, then what else could they lie about?

In fact, that may have been the original mass-market "conspiracy theory".

JFK II: The Bush Connection

- http://jackblood.netfirms.com/home/multimedia.html


But here we are today, in 2006, with just a couple of years to stave off the endless tyrannical rule of Republican dictators waging wars on invisible enemies that will last generations.

It can happen, I hope it doesn't, but it sure can...

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

- Joseph Stalin


Of course, as long as there are good people willing to throw good effort behind it, and good people willing to throw good effort behind them, it's entirely possible that this nightmare can be avoided.

Black Box Voting.org

- http://www.blackboxvoting.org/


Either way, back to K-OS and Hugo, both defiantly popping-off in their own ways, and both defiantly standing in their b-boy stances. K-OS named his album "Joyful Rebellion", and ironically around the same time Talib Kweli released his album called "The Beautiful Struggle".

Neat.

Seems we've got to have a bit of fun around here, after all, the best parties are fun, and if Saving The World can't be a blast, then what's the point?

We'll make the world we create, and dour revolutions like Mao and Pol Pot had only resulted in big sucky dictatorships with millions of people enslaved and killed.

Boo.

So, I cheer on Chavez, for his cheery "screw you" puts a smile on my face, and on the faces of billions of other faces we almost never get to see.

Until now.




Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez surrounded by bodyguards greets the crowd upon his arrival during the 6th World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Jan 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)



Yahoo! News

Chavez Says He Will Jail U.S. Spies

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 27, 10:49 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called the U.S. government an "immoral empire" and repeated accusations of spying Friday, threatening to arrest any American officials caught gathering intelligence on his military.


Chavez's warning came hours after his vice president, Jose Vicente Rangel, accused officials at the U.S. Embassy of involvement in a spying case involving several Venezuelan naval officers who allegedly passed sensitive information to the Pentagon.

Chavez focused his speech to thousands of activists on summoning a global "battle" to resist what he termed U.S. imperialism.

The frequent and vocal critic of U.S. global policy used especially harsh terms to describe the U.S. government, calling it a "perverse, murderous, genocidal, immoral empire."


He addressed the spying accusations for the first time since the allegations came to light earlier this week.

"We've just discovered a case, one more espionage case," Chavez told the audience of activists who are attending the World Social Forum in Caracas this week.

"I warn the U.S. government: the next time we detect a soldier or civilian official — but above all American soldiers — trying to obtain information about our armed forces, we're going to put them in prison."

Chavez has repeatedly accused the U.S. government of spying and plotting to oust him, while U.S. officials have firmly denied the allegations.

The latest accusations have brought new tension to an already rocky relationship between Washington and Chavez's government.

The U.S. Embassy declined comment on Rangel's remarks Friday. The U.S. State Department has called the allegations an internal matter for the Venezuelan government.

In his speech at a Caracas coliseum, Chavez called for activists to form "a great international anti-imperialist front to do battle in the entire world."

"The battle must be waged in the entire world. We have to link all of our causes — unity," Chavez said.

Activists chanted Chavez's name when he entered the arena. They held a banners reading "No to imperialism" and another with an image of Cuban revolution leader Che Guevara.

Chavez waved to the throng and blew kisses to the assembly, timed to coincide with the annual market-friendly World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.


Washington has raised concern about the health of democracy under Chavez and has accused him of destabilizing the region. Chavez has shrugged off the claims, saying his government is democratic and it is the U.S. that is a destabilizing force.

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SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060128/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_us



(...)



BONUS: Live in Caracas...


The World Social Forum is a week-long gathering of 300,000 people from around the world taking place in Caracas, Venezuela. Luis Rodriguez, a contribuing editor at Rock & Rap Confidential and the best-selling Latino author in the U.S., files this report (for more, check www.luisjrodriguez.com/blog):

Friday, January 27, 2006

The Poor and the World Social Forum

When Cheri Honkala spoke about the woman in Tennessee with a debilitating disease who lost her health care from the state when 300,000 people were removed from TennCare, her voice cracked and she brought home the tremendous toll that poverty and government neglect can have on a person, on families, on whole communities. Cheri is head of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. This week around 100 members of PPEHRC are in Caracas, Venezuela as delegates to the World Social Forum.

Cheri's words joined those of migrant workers, families who have had their children taken away by the government because they were poor, a mother who lost a son in the War on Iraq, and disabled Iraqi war veterans against the war. These people came here to voice the often misunderstood or misrepresented story of being poor in the richest, most powerful country in the world.


At a press conference on Thursday, January 26, across from the US Tent near the Museum of Bellas Artes in Caracas, the mostly Spanish-language media heard one heart-felt story after another of homelessness, government neglect, repression, imprisonment (the US has more prisoners than any other country in the world), and lack of media coverage that the poor in the US face every day.

The Venezuelan press seemed most eager to understand this phenomena of poverty in the US, news of which rarely comes their way from US media outlets. It was also clear that most Americans don't get an accurate account of the Venezuelan revolutionary process, nor the immense leadership of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in helping make "another world possible."

Presently, Chavez is being demonized in much of the US press as a murderous dictator (he hasn't murdered anybody, and he was elected in nationwide elections). We don't get the news about the tremendous support Chavez has among the poor, the marginalized, the forgotten.


One purpose behind the Poor People's Campaign's presence here is to defeat the lies about US poor (mostly by the media not talking about them) and the lies about the Venezuelan poor (again, by keeping this away from media attention). If an exchange of truths about our two countries is the main thing we achieve, it would have been worth all the work, funds, travails, and tears in making sure the US poor had a presence in the World Social Forum.

Later that night, I did a poetry reading and talk in Spanish and English to about 250 people at the US tent. The lights blew out and I had a hard time reading my text, but it was still a spirited and well-received event. It is important to make sure poetry becomes part of these types of gatherings. For beside the poverty of material things and the necessities of life, the poor everywhere face a poverty of spirit, of hopes, of imagination.

The World Social Forum is about creating and emphasizing a politics of imagination, of hope, of spirit--as well as meeting the material and health needs of all people. It's about establishing foundations for a healthy and balanced earth, for healthy and balanced people, across borders, languages, races, religions, and political affiliations.

As globalization (capitalism in the age of electronics) spreads from one nation to another, bringing more misery, war, and poverty, there is a growing response that is also global in nature for peace, justice, equity, and a dignifed life for every human being. From the indigenous groups that came here from every part of the hemisphere to the people fighting for health care in Ohio, whatever differences exist between the poor is nothing compared to what we have in common--hunger and the need to create effective organization and policies in our international efforts to eradicate poverty once and for all.



posted by Luis J. Rodriguez at 9:24 AM

SOURCE - www.rockrap.com







BONUS: Lively up Caracas...




U.S. anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan hugs a supporter before speaking about the U.S. war in Iraq at the 6th World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006. Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said she was considering running for office against Sen. Diane Feinstein while she waited for the California lawmaker to back a filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)



Sheehan Considers Challenging Feinstein

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

CARACAS, Venezuela - Cindy Sheehan, the peace activist who set up camp near President Bush's Texas ranch last summer, said Saturday she is considering running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record) to protest what she called the California lawmaker's support for the war in Iraq.

"She voted for the war. She continues to vote for the funding. She won't call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops," Sheehan told The Associated Press in an interview while attending the World Social Forum in Venezuela along with thousands of other anti-war and anti-globalization activists.


"I think our senator needs to be held accountable for her support of George Bush and his war policies," said Sheehan, whose 24-year-old soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.

Feinstein's campaign manager, Kam Kuwata, said the senator "doesn't support George Bush and his war policies."

"She has stated publicly on numerous occasions that she felt she was misled by the administration at the time of the vote," Kuwata said by phone from California.

But with troops committed, Feinstein believes immediate withdrawal is not a responsible option, Kuwata said.

"Senator Feinstein's position is, let's work toward quickly turning over the defense of Iraq to Iraqis so that we can bring the troops home as soon as possible," he said.

Sheehan accused Feinstein of being out of touch with Californians on the issue.

She said she would decide whether to run after talking with her three other adult children. The Democratic primary will be held in June, and candidates must submit their statements for the voter guide by Feb. 14.

Kuwata said Feinstein and Sheehan appear to have a fundamental disagreement over whether troops should be pulled out right now. "That's why they have elections, and if she decides to file (paperwork to run), so be it," he said.

Sheehan said running in the Democratic primary would help make a broader point.

"If I decided to run, I would have no illusions of winning, but it would bring attention to all the peace candidates in the country," she said.

Sheehan, 48, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., said she would head to Washington on Sunday for protests against Bush's State of the Union address on Monday, and then return to California to discuss her idea of running against Feinstein with her son and two daughters.

"I can't see — if they think it's going to help peace — that they would be opposed to me doing it," she said.


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SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060128/ap_on_el_se/sheehan_senate

Friday, January 27, 2006

It's 2006... Happier New Year! :-) "Documents Show Army Seized Wives As Tactic" (Yahoo! News)









Yahoo! News

Documents Show Army Seized Wives As Tactic

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent 36 minutes ago


The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.

In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife."

The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American journalist Jill Carroll on Jan. 7 and threatened to kill her unless all Iraqi women detainees are freed.

The U.S. military on Thursday freed five of what it said were 11 women among the 14,000 detainees currently held in the 2 1/2-year-old insurgency. All were accused of "aiding terrorists or planting explosives," but an Iraqi government commission found that evidence was lacking.

Iraqi human rights activist Hind al-Salehi contends that U.S. anti-insurgent units, coming up empty-handed in raids on suspects' houses, have at times detained wives to pressure men into turning themselves in.

Iraq's deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim Ali, dismissed such claims, saying hostage-holding was a tactic used under the ousted Saddam Hussein dictatorship, and "we are not Saddam." A U.S. command spokesman in Baghdad, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, said only Iraqis who pose an "imperative threat" are held in long-term U.S.-run detention facilities.

But documents describing two 2004 episodes tell a different story as far as short-term detentions by local U.S. units. The documents are among hundreds the Pentagon has released periodically under U.S. court order to meet an American Civil Liberties Union request for information on detention practices.

In one memo, a civilian Pentagon intelligence officer described what happened when he took part in a raid on an Iraqi suspect's house in Tarmiya, northwest of Baghdad, on May 9, 2004. The raid involved Task Force (TF) 6-26, a secretive military unit formed to handle high-profile targets.

"During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target's surrender," wrote the 14-year veteran officer.

He said he objected, but when they raided the house the team leader, a senior sergeant, seized her anyway.

"The 28-year-old woman had three young children at the house, one being as young as six months and still nursing," the intelligence officer wrote. She was held for two days and was released after he complained, he said.


Like most names in the released documents, the officer's signature is blacked out on this for-the-record memorandum about his complaint.

Of this case, command spokesman Johnson said he could not judge, months later, the factors that led to the woman's detention.

The second episode, in June 2004, is found in sketchy detail in e-mail exchanges among six U.S. Army colonels, discussing an undisclosed number of female detainees held in northern Iraq by the Stryker Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division.

The first message, from a military police colonel, advised staff officers of the U.S. northern command that the Iraqi police would not take control of the jailed women without charges being brought against them.

In a second e-mail, a command staff officer asked an officer of the unit holding the women, "What are you guys doing to try to get the husband — have you tacked a note on the door and challenged him to come get his wife?"

Two days later, the brigade's deputy commander advised the higher command, "As each day goes by, I get more input that these gals have some info and/or will result in getting the husband."

He went on, "These ladies fought back extremely hard during the original detention. They have shown indications of deceit and misinformation."

The command staff colonel wrote in reply, referring to a commanding general, "CG wants the husband."

The released e-mails stop there, and the women's eventual status could not be immediately determined.


Of this episode, Johnson said, "It is clear the unit believed the females detained had substantial knowledge of insurgent activity and warranted being held."

___

On the Net:

First document: http://www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/t2614_2616.pdf

E-mail exchange: http://www.aclu.org/projects/foiasearch/pdf/DOD044843.pdf

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SOURCE - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060128/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_leveraging_wives











Thursday, January 26, 2006

It's 2006... Happier New Year! :-) "24" Torturous Subplots Later, And Maybe, Just Maybe, We'll Figure Out We're The Terrorists...













Infowars.com

'24' hours of torture-loving

Adam B. Kushner / Washington Examiner | January 26 2006


The new season of "24" has begun and my fellow devotees already have glowing things to say about it. I find the shows so compelling that I never watch them on network television; I wait for the DVD so I can watch them without interruption.

But when I finally get to watch this season, I will come to it with a new sense of skepticism. You see, "24" may not express overt political partisanship, but there's little doubt about its cheap, manipulative messages. For one thing, it rather dislikes people who express doubts about the efficacy, pervasiveness and immediacy of the threat posed by terrorism. Fair enough. For another, the show is ardently, unambiguously, proselytizingly pro-torture.


The arguments for using torture against our enemies in the war on terrorism are straightforward enough. They mostly involve utilitarian calculations of when we can dispense with human freedom in order to protect it. The arguments against using torture are much more subtle. They involve absolutist thoughts about morality and a priori notions of human worth and dignity.

The latter is the better argument. First, American political thought is based on the very concept of freedom protected by law - and it is inalienable, not just limited to American citizens. Second, even the most barbaric terrorists are humans and to dehumanize them specifically to justify torture is exculpate them from responsibility for their actions. Third, it is better - on the rarest of occasions where we have information about a possible strike and a prisoner we know can tell us about it - to break the law that forbids torture than to pass a law that allows it that will surely be abused. (Even though no such law currently exists, the rationale behind this line of thought has already led to abuses by the United States government all across the world; imagine if this sort of behavior were actually formally blessed by Congress.)

But this sort of argumentation about morality - heady and fundamental stuff to ponder in the war on terrorism - is simply trod upon in "24." It is reserved for indecisive, eggheaded technocrats who don't know what it's like to fight terrorists or stop their schemes. The protagonist, Jack Bauer and "24" writ large, are peddling the idea that these people - strawmen, really - are so misguided as not even to merit a counterargument. No, rebuttal in "24" comes by way of its bad guys.


Spoiler alert: What follows will give away essential plots from seasons one through four of "24." If you haven't seen them and think you might, you ought to stop reading now.

During the course of the show's run, there are at least a dozen characters who have been tortured, often in the very office where Bauer's character works, called Counterterrorist Unit. They often are tortured as a matter of first resort and, if they have any, they always yield useful information immediately. Here are a few examples:

Season two opens with a Korean man who, under torture, reveals that a nuclear attack is scheduled to hit Los Angeles that day. In season four, a professional (nonideological) accomplice to a terrorist network comes into the protection of an Amnesty International lawyer obviously meant to be well-intentioned but myopic; when Bauer gets rid of the lawyer (by pretending he has released the accomplice from custody), he recaptures the man and breaks several fingers until he gets useful information.

Season four even sees the secretary of defense, meant to represent a steely and smart man, approve the "interrogation" of his own son, who he believes may have had a role in his kidnapping.

None of this renders "24" any less of a compelling show. But it does make it easy for me and other viewers - even those of us with deep moral problems with torture - to forget not only that these hypothetical scenarios are unspeakably rare, but that torture almost never yields useful information (under coercion, a prisoner will say anything). I can't wait for the DVD of season five, but I know I'll be careful to watch for its manipulations.


REAL SOURCE - http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/torture_24_hours_of_torture_loving.htm







Wikipedia

The Lone Gunmen

Pilot Episode "predicts" 9/11

In a foreshadowing of the September 11, 2001 attacks, subsequent conspiracy theories, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the plot of the March 4, 2001 pilot episode of the series depicts a secret U.S. government agency plotting to crash a Boeing 727 into the World Trade Center via remote control for the purpose of increasing the military defence budget and blaming the attack on foreign "tin-pot dictators" who are "begging to be smart-bombed." This episode aired in Australia less than two weeks before the 9/11 attacks, on August 30.

This alone has made the DVD extremely popular for such a short-lived series (see below).


SOURCE - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lone_Gunmen


UPDATE: Filmed in January 2000, and aired on 3/4/2001, the makers of "The Lone Gunmen" show that the idea of crashing planes into buildings isn't anything new. As a matter of fact, their representation is eerily familiar given what we know today about the Wargames taking place on September 11th, 2001.

The Lone Gunmen Clip: Click Here

SOURCE - http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20050830185334880



Freeview Video: Live In Studio With Dean Haglund

Alex is joined in studio by actor, comedian, inventor and former star of The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, Dean Haglund about martial law in America and new developments in the September 11th cover-up. Dean and Alex swap stories on the CIA spying on Hollywood, government influence in television and more.

Click here for the free video clip.

REAL SOURCE - http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2005/301205deanhaglund.htm











BBC News

Monday, 8 October, 2001, 12:36 GMT 13:36 UK

Army turns to Hollywood for advice

American intelligence specialists are reported to have "secretly" sought advice on handling terrorist attacks from Hollywood film-makers.


According to the trade paper Variety, a discussion group between movie and military representatives was held at the University of Southern California last week.

The group is said to have been set up by the US Army to discuss future terrorist activity in the wake of the attacks of 11 September.

Among those reported to have been involved were Die Hard screenwriter Steven E De Souza and Joseph Zito, director of Delta Force One and Missing in Action.


Other, more conventional, feature makers were also said to have been present, including Randal Kleiser, who made Grease.

Expertise

Such a scenario - where the army turns to the creators of film fantasy for advice about real-life disaster - would seem an unusual, not to say unlikely, reversal of roles.

But Variety argues that there is much the masters of screen suspense can offer the US Army in the way of tactical advice.

In particular, says Variety, the entertainment industry can offer expertise in understanding plot and character, as well as advice on scenario training.

The US Army is also behind the university's Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT).

The ICT calls upon the resources and talents of the entertainment industry and computer scientists to help with virtual reality scenario simulation.

Variety reported that the ICT's creative director James Korris confirmed that the meetings between the film-makers and the US Army were taking place.

However, the paper added that Mr Korris had refused to give details as to what specific recommendations had been made to the US government.

SOURCE - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1586468.stm







Mother Jones Magazine

Operation Hollywood

News: How the Pentagon bullies movie producers into showing the U.S. military in the best possible light.

David Robb
Interviewed By Jeff Fleischer


September 20, 2004

To keep the Pentagon happy, some Hollywood producers have been known to turn villains into heroes, remove central characters, change politically sensitive settings, or add military rescues to movies that require none. There are no bad guys in the military. No fraternization between officers and enlisted troops. No drinking or drugs. No struggles against bigotry. The military and the president can’t look bad (though the State Department and Canada can).

“The only thing Hollywood likes more than a good movie is a good deal,” David Robb explains, and that’s why the producers of films like “Top Gun,” “Stripes” and “The Great Santini” have altered their scripts to accommodate Pentagon requests. In exchange, they get inexpensive access to the military locations, vehicles, troops and gear they need to make their movies.

During his years as a journalist for Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, Robb heard about a quid-pro-quo agreement between the Pentagon and Hollywood studios, and decided to investigate. He combed through thousands of Pentagon documents, and interviewed dozens of screenwriters, producers and military officials. The result is his new book, "Operation Hollywood."


Robb talked with MotherJones.com about deal-making that defines the relationship between Hollywood and the Pentagon.


[cont'd...]


SOURCE - http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2004/09/09_403.html







The Telegraph

'Gangster US' accused over torture

By David Rennie, in Strasbourg
(Filed: 25/01/2006)

An investigator for Europe's leading human rights watchdog accused America yesterday of "gangster tactics" in its war on terrorism, notably the illegal transfer of terrorist suspects to countries likely to torture them.

Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, told the Council of Europe that the US, with European complicity, had shipped possibly more than 100 suspects to countries where they faced torture.


"The entire continent is involved," Mr Marty told its parliamentary assembly.

He presented colleagues with an interim report dominated by newspaper cuttings and buttressed with evidence from an Italian inquiry into the alleged 2003 kidnapping by the CIA of a radical Egyptian cleric, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, in Milan.

Mr Marty said it was "highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware" of such abductions.

He accused Britain of particular complicity on the basis of a leaked secret memo from Sir Michael Wood, the chief legal adviser to the Foreign Office. In the 2003 memo Sir Michael asserted that there was no legal barrier to using foreign intelligence obtained under torture.

The document was handed to Mr Marty and the Council of Europe by Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan who has become a fierce critic of British foreign policy. Giving evidence to the Strasbourg assembly, he said that, as envoy in Tashkent after September 11, 2001, he read CIA intelligence, shared with MI6, derived from torture sessions.

Later he said Britain was "much more deeply implicated" than other European nations in CIA extraordinary renditions, or the transfer of detainees outside normal judicial channels.

Several British members of the assembly, which gathers MPs from 46 countries, criticised Mr Marty's report.

Michael Hancock, a Liberal Democrat, said it needed to have "more substance. . . many of the issues are clouded in myth and a desire to kick America."

Denis MacShane, the former Europe minister, said the report had "more holes than a Swiss cheese".

The Council of Europe, which is independent of the European Union, was set up in 1949 as a guardian of human rights in Europe.

david.rennie@telegraph.co.uk

SOURCE - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/25/wtort25.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/01/25/ixportal.html



Wednesday, January 25, 2006

It's 2006... Happier New Year! :-) Google vs. IBM: Holocaustic Analysis, Anyone?





Infowars.com

Google Agrees to Censor Results in China

Associated Press | January 25, 2006
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

Google Inc. launched a search engine in China on Wednesday that censors material about human rights, Tibet and other topics sensitive to Beijing _ defending the move as a trade-off granting Chinese greater access to other information.


Within minutes of the launch of the new site bearing China's Web suffix ".cn," searches for the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement showed scores of sites omitted and users directed to articles condemning the group posted on Chinese government Web sites.

Searches for other sensitive subjects such as exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, Taiwan independence, and terms such as "democracy" and "human rights" yielded similar results.

In most such cases, only official Chinese government sites or those with a ".cn" suffix were included.

Google, which has as it's motto "Don't Be Evil," says the new site aims to make its search engine more accessible in China, thereby expanding access to information.

Yet the move has already been criticized by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which also has chided Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com for submitting to China's censorship regime.


"When a search engine collaborates with the government like this, it makes it much easier for the Chinese government to control what is being said on the Internet," said Julien Pain, head of the group's Internet desk.

However, technology analyst Duncan Clark said such criticisms probably wouldn't generate problems for Google's business elsewhere, given weak responses to previous cooperation between foreign Internet companies and Chinese authorities.

Past incidents "haven't seemed to gel into anything that could dissuade Google," said Clark, the managing director of Beijing-based consultancy BDA China Ltd.

Chinese Internet users said Mountain View, Calif.-based Google Inc.'s move was inevitable given Beijing's restrictions on the Internet, which the government promotes for commerce but heavily censors for content deemed offensive or subversive.

"Google has no choice but to give up to the Party," said one posting on the popular information technology Web site PCONLINE, signed simply "AS."

Google's move was prompted by frequent disruptions of the Chinese- language version of its search engine registered under the company's dot-com address in the United States.

Government filtering has blocked access or created lengthy delays in response time.

Google's senior policy counsel Andrew McLaughlin defended the new site as better serving Chinese customers.

"In deciding how best to approach the Chinese _ or any _ market, we must balance our commitments to satisfy the interests of users, expand access to information, and respond to local conditions," McLaughlin said in an e-mailed statement, .

McLaughlin said search results would be removed based on local laws, regulations or policies.

"While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission," he said.

There was no indication that Google would disable access to its .com site within China.

McLaughlin said the company wouldn't host its e-mail or blogging services in China that can be mined for information about users, and would inform users if information had been deleted from searches. Such messages appeared in searches for Falun Gong and other sensitive topics.

Clark said Google likely hopes to avoid the bad publicity incurred by Yahoo last year after it provided the government with the e-mail account information of a Chinese journalist who was later convicted of violating state secrecy laws.

"They want to avoid those kinds of headlines," he said.

Google hopes the move will shore up its competitiveness against both foreign competitors such as Yahoo and domestic ones like Baidu.com Inc., a Beijing-based company in which Google owns a 2.6 percent stake. Baidu.com is currently China's most popular search engine.

China has more than 100 million Web surfers and the audience is expected to swell.

Wang Lijian, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Information Industry which oversees Internet licensing, said he had not heard of Google's decision and had no comment.

REAL SOURCE - http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/google_agrees_censor_results_in_china.htm








CNET News

Probing IBM's Nazi connection

By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 28, 2001, 4:00 a.m. PT

Since its publication in February, Edwin Black's book "IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation" has stirred unprecedented controversy among students of the Holocaust, American enterprise and information technology.

On the book's release, Holocaust survivors filed suit against IBM for its alleged role in the Holocaust; Gypsies earlier this month threatened their own lawsuit.


Though the first suit was withdrawn and the second has yet to be filed, hundreds of critics and historians have weighed in against the company, with others coming to its defense. The range of the controversy can be gleaned from the pages of BusinessWeek alone, which in a March review excoriated the "illogical, overstated, padded, and sloppy" book for fostering "a new myth--the automated Holocaust," and in an April commentary said the "enlightening" book "should be required reading for every first-year MBA student."

At the heart of Black's argument is that information technology--in the form of IBM's Hollerith punch-card machines--provided the Nazis with a unique and critical tool in their task of cataloguing and dispatching their millions of victims.

As the book's title suggests, Black attempts to establish that IBM didn't merely vend its products to Hitler--as did many American companies--but maintained a strategic alliance with the Third Reich in which it licensed, maintained and custom-designed its products for use in the machinery of the Holocaust.

IBM has responded to questions about its relationship with the Nazis largely by characterizing the information as old news.

"The fact that Hollerith equipment manufactured by (IBM's German unit) Dehomag was used by the Nazi administration has long been known and is not new information," IBM representative Carol Makovich wrote in an e-mail interview. "This information was published in 1997 in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing and in 1998 in Washington Jewish Week."


Watson and members of the ICC board meet with Hitler in 1937. IBM also maintains, in a February statement to which it refers most questions on the matter, that the Nazis took control of its German unit before and throughout the war, and that the company "does not have much information about this period or the operations of Dehomag." Black vehemently disputes both claims.

IBM also defended Chairman Thomas Watson for his dealings with Hitler and his regime.

"As chairman of a major international company and a strong supporter of international trade, he met and corresponded with senior government officials from many, many countries, Hitler and Germany among them, in the 1930s," Makovich wrote. "As far as we know, the nature of the contacts between IBM executives and German government officials during the 1930s were similar to those with other government officials in other countries and consistent with IBM practices in the various countries in which the company did business during that era."

CNET News.com's Paul Festa discussed the issues with Black in a recent interview.

Q: What first got you interested in this subject?
A: When I first went to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., I went with my parents, both of whom are Holocaust survivors. The first thing you see in the Holocaust museum is IBM's Hollerith tabulator. And on the front of the Hollerith is a large nameplate: IBM. For me these two words, IBM and Holocaust, did not compute.

I was literally frozen for some time staring at the machine, thinking of IBM and looking back at the map of Europe. And then it came to me. We have investigated the military intelligence, the diplomatic dispatches, the financial dealings, and the actual mechanisms of genocide, but no one has yet explored information technology. Indeed, until the current age in which we find ourselves, the Computer Age, where we have an understanding that information technology can make the pivotal difference in any campaign of peace or persecution--until the Computer Age, we could not even formulate the questions.

How did you go about researching IBM's role?
We assembled a team of 100, including researchers, historians, translators, archivists, children of Holocaust survivors, and World War II intelligence people. They worked in seven countries in some 50 archives and yielded 20,000 documents, which I organized and cross-indexed. Then some 35 historians reviewed every line of my manuscript before publication.

IBM engineered a strategic business alliance...extending right through the war that endowed the Hitler regime with the technology and the tools it needed to expedite...all six phases of Hitler's war against the Jews. But I finally assembled this dark puzzle that had eluded the 15 million people who have seen this machine in the Holocaust museum. I finally connected the dots. And those dots are that IBM engineered a strategic business alliance and joint planning program with Nazi Germany from the very first moment in 1933 and extending right through the war that endowed the Hitler regime with the technology and the tools it needed to expedite and, in many ways, automate, all six phases of Hitler's war against the Jews. Those six phases are identification, expulsion, confiscation, ghettoization, deportation and ultimately even extermination.

Five years ago I started working on this seriously and two years ago went 24/7 with the team of 100. I spent those first years in the project finding out that virtually nothing's been written on IBM's role in the Holocaust. Indeed, many of the documents and facts I discovered seem to be boring, innocuous corporate details. It's only when juxtaposed with other facts from other countries and archives that these shards of glass come together to form this heartbreaking picture window, exposing the tremendous vista of IBM's global relationship with Nazi Germany.

IBM claims that its German subsidiary came under Nazi control both before and during World War II.
We're not just talking about the German subsidiary. We're talking about the Swiss, the Swedish, the Italian, the Spanish, the Polish, the Romanian and Brazilian subsidiaries--more than 20 subsidiaries located across Europe and elsewhere. This was, in fact, a global commitment by IBM to support the Hitler machine as it conquered Europe and as it destroyed ethnic peoples: Gypsies, Jews and others.

IBM would want to say they lost control of their German subsidiaries. That's clearly false. Thomas Watson and the New York office micromanaged every aspect of their subsidiaries in Europe and especially in Germany, their most profitable foreign operation. The New York office was aware of all uses for their machines in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe from the moment Hitler came to power in 1933 until about the fall of 1941, two years after World War II started.

Remember, IBM custom-designed the machines, custom-designed the applications and custom-printed the punch cards. There were no universal punch cards or machine wiring. Programs to identify Jews, Jewish bank accounts, barrels of oil, Luftwaffe flights, welfare payments, train schedules into camps, and even the concentration camp information--all these had to be tailored for each application.

Even after America entered the war, when the Nazis appointed the custodian, all the original IBM managers were in place. The Reich just locked the profits for a few years just as any receiver would be for any company in receivership. IBM collected all the money after the war.

Do you have examples following the start of World War II in 1939?
Look at some facts. In September 1939, Germany invades Poland. It's a bloody, heinous invasion. The rape of Poland was known everywhere. The starvation and brutalization of the Polish people was Page 1 news everywhere, including The New York Times. War had been predicted for years. It was no surprise.

On September 13, 1939, The New York Times reports on Page 1 that 3 million Jews are going to be "immediately removed" from Poland, and they appear to be candidates for "physical extermination." On September 9, the German managers of IBM Berlin send a letter to Thomas Watson with copy to staff in Geneva via phone that, due to the "situation," they need high-speed alphabetizing equipment. IBM wanted no paper trail, so an oral agreement was made, passed from New York to Geneva to Berlin, and those alphabetizers were approved by Watson, personally, before the end of the month.

That month he also approved the opening of a new Europe-wide school for Hollerith technicians in Berlin. And at the same time he authorized a new German-based subsidiary in occupied Poland, with a printing plant across the street from the Warsaw Ghetto at 6 Rymarska Street. It produced some 15 million punch cards at that location, the major client of which was the railroad.

We have a similar example involving Romania in 1941, and The Sunday Times has actually placed the IBM documents up on their Web site. You can get to the URL through EdwinBlack.com at either Reviews or Media. When Nazi Germany went into France, IBM built two new factories to supply the Nazi war machine. This is the 1941-'42 era, in Vichy, France, which was technically neutral. When Germany invaded Holland in May 1940, IBM rushed a brand-new subsidiary into occupied Holland. And it even sent 132 million punch cards in 1941, mainly from New York, to support the Nazi activity there. Holland had the highest rate of Jewish extermination in all of Europe; 72 percent of Jews were killed in Holland, compared to 24 percent in France, where the machines did not operate successfully.

What exactly did the Nazis need IBM's equipment for?
When Hitler came to power in 1933, his desire to destroy European Jewry was so ambitious an enterprise, it required the resources of a computer. But in 1933 no computer existed. What did exist was the Hollerith punch-card system. It was invented by a German-American in Buffalo, New York, for the Census Bureau. This punch-card system could store all the information about individuals, places, products, inventories, schedules, in the holes that were punched or not punched in columns and rows.

This is the same technology we saw in Florida in the presidential election. The Hollerith system reduced everything to number code. Over time, the IBM alphabetizers could convert this code to alphabetical information. IBM made constant improvements for their Nazi clients.

American entry into the war

What was IBM's involvement with the Nazis once America had entered the war?
In October of '41, the whole world knew America was about to enter the war. We had been preparing to enter since 1933, debating it. War fever became most intense from 1937. The question was always, "Can we stay out of the war?" No one knew exactly when. Our entry was of course precipitated by the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7. Shortly before that, with sudden new trading-with-the-enemy regulations in force--this is October 1941--Watson issued a cable to all IBM's European subsidiaries, saying in effect: "Don't tell us what you're doing and don't ask us any questions." He didn't say, "Don't send machines into concentration camps." He didn't say, "Stop organizing the military forces of Nazi Germany." He didn't say, "Don't undertake anything to harm innocent civilians."

IBM would want to say they lost control of their German subsidiaries. That's malarkey. They never lost control. He then bifurcated the management of IBM Europe--one manager in Geneva, named Werner Lier, and the other one in New York, in his office, named J.L. Schotte. So all communications went from Switzerland to New York. Ultimately there was a Hollerith Department called Hollerith Abteilung--German for department--in almost every concentration camp. Remember, the original Auschwitz tattoo was an IBM number.

Watson stopped all communications with Nazi Germany directly. And in point of fact, he danced on the head of a pin to obey U.S. law. It was the legal participation in genocide--legal because it was pursued through foreign subsidiaries from 1942 to 1945.

Do you contend that IBM played a role beyond the concentration camps--that it was part of the German war effort against the U.S. and other allies?
IBM's role in organizing the German war machine is well documented in the book. IBM put the blitz in blitzkrieg. The whole war effort was organized on Hollerith machines from 1933 to 1945. This is when information technology comes to warfare. At the same time, IBM was supporting the entire German war machine directly from New York until the fall of 1941, and through its overseas subsidiaries thereafter, Big Blue was supporting the Allied war machine to the hilt.

IBM was in charge of the draft. IBM was one of the few outside the Pentagon who knew the exact date of the Normandy invasion; they were calculating the weather. IBM machines broke the Enigma Code. Much of what could do with a computer during the late 20th century could be done with Hollerith machines, but slower.

Describe your relationship with IBM as you were researching this book.
When I first contacted IBM, I said I would share all my documentation with them and, in exchange, I'd like to see their archive. Originally, I was approved. The PR people overruled the archivist, Paul Lasewicz. Then a group of historians wrote to IBM CEO Lou Gerstner, demanding I be allowed access and calling IBM's refusal an obstruction of Holocaust history.

Rather than destroy the documents, IBM said it was giving them to "an academic institution" for study. But where did these documents end up? Not the Holocaust Museum in Washington, not the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, not the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati. An IBM PR man gave them to New York University, to a Biblical archaeologist. They gave them to professor Lawrence Schiffman, a Dead Sea Scrolls expert. He had six boxes in his closet, unaware of what was in them. But he was familiar with my prior Holocaust work and immediately arranged to let me see the materials.

I also arranged to view documents in Stuttgart, and IBM blocked that and closed the facility the day I got there. When word got out about my book they transferred those Stuttgart documents to an archive in Germany, but they can't be seen until some elaborate inventory is completed.

IBM still refuses to open archives concerning France, Holland, Brazil, Poland, Italy and Spain, and other units. In other words, all their archives are still closed. As I told IBM corporate PR, "Make me work hard, make me work harder, I will get all this information."

Is your research ongoing, or is this case closed as far as you're concerned?
I'm constantly getting new information. Just a few days ago, I received extraordinary documents from Poland about something called the Hollerith Gruppe. These were unveiled on June 25 to scholars at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York. The Hollerith Gruppe organized every single aspect of Polish existence and Jewish existence. These Krakow machines depended upon a guaranteed supply of millions of punch cards. The Hollerith machines did far more than identify people.

My book is not about census. The machines also ran the railroads. They organized the "extermination by labor" campaign, where people were worked to death based on their job skills and location. Slaves were shuttled from place to place based on Hollerith cross-tabulations. Millions and millions of people went through Nazi concentration camps during the 12-year Reich. But at the height of the Hitler regime, the entire camp capacity was three to five hundred thousand. That's extraordinary traffic management.
After publication, we also obtained the names of prisoners IBM trained to work in the extermination by labor program, and we discovered that a two-story building at Dachau still standing is the Hollerith Building where at least two dozen machines were stationed. Really, there is quite a bit, and it all only deepens the documentation.

IBM: Muted response

How has IBM responded to your book?
With virtual silence and an initial press release designed to confuse people. First the company said they hadn't read the book, but at the same time it said there was nothing new in the book. Can't have it both ways. My book was five weeks on the best-seller list, and they said they hadn't read it almost two months after publication. And yet IBM PR declined to make a statement when asked by Public Radio in Washington. That initial statement, by the way, claimed historians have known about this for decades. That's not true. There is not a single book or scholarly paper anywhere in existence that even mentions the Hollerith Department in concentration camps. This murder system was unknown.

IBM put the blitz in blitzkrieg. The whole war effort was organized on Hollerith machines. IBM PR also said the company lost control of their German subsidiary when the Nazis came to power. That's completely false. The book quotes the incidents chapter and verse.

The architect of IBM's denial of Holocaust involvement is PR manager Carol Makovich. She has developed a carefully crafted, confidential, 12-page memo that she faxes or e-mails to reviewers and writers. CNET received a copy. There are a few elderly historians who are skeptical about the book. They don't understand the power of relational databases, and information technology confuses them. IBM quotes this handful, hoping that message will influence reporters on deadline. We have indeed received about six negative reviews in newspapers, but also about 380 positive ones through the world. At least 100 of these laudatory reviews are up on my Web site. IBM won't even deny a single fact in my book. They just hope the subject will go away. It won't.

On Holocaust Day, in April of this year, an article ran in about 20 papers across the U.S. saying that IBM must apologize, that IBM should learn from its past and open archives. But IBM refuses to open the archives and confront its own past. I think IBM's corporate PR has given ruinous advice to IBM about handling this. No one wants to blame the current IBM for what happened 60 years ago. Why not just come clean and move on?

What do you think accounts for IBM's association with the Nazis? What was their motivation?
It was never about the Nazism. It was never about the anti-Semitism. It was only about the money. They didn't hate Poles when they opened up a subsidiary in war-torn Poland. They didn't hate the Dutch when they opened up the subsidiary in Holland just before the Nazis moved in, or the French when they ramped up the subsidiary in occupied France. They didn't hate the Brits or the Americans when Hollerith machines were used to target the V2 rockets. It wasn't personal--it was just business.

Why single out IBM out of all the other companies, American and otherwise, that did business with the Nazis?
I haven't singled anyone out. IBM was virtually the only supplier of punch-card technology. There were many people supplying oil, supplying weapons. It wasn't me who singled IBM out. IBM distinguished itself as the dominant provider of this special technology and sued any company which tried to horn in on their profit stream. During the war, IBM litigated against Bull in France, Powers in Europe, and even sued the German printer Euler in 1942, trying to stop them from printing cards.

IBM is circulating a review by The New York Times that argues you failed to "demonstrate that IBM bears some unique or decisive responsibility for the evil that was done." What's your response to that statement?
The gentleman who wrote that review is a social commentator--he's not a historian. He just wasn't sure. No problem. But some 380 reviews thus far have said that we have indeed made our case, and many historians and other experts use the term "ironclad" and "incontrovertible." In fact, 35 leading historians and Holocaust experts unanimously endorsed the book and its findings on the date of publication. And their comments are up on my Web site. I wonder why IBM doesn't circulate the reviews of Newsweek, The Washington Post, Midstream, The Sunday Times, and dozens more. It's sad.

IBM only had a unique and decisive role for what they were involved in. There was a distinct difference between trading with the enemy, which many companies engaged in, and the strategic alliance and joint planning campaign that IBM engaged in. For example, Standard Oil planned and built a complete petroleum supply line for Nazi Germany and supplied it well into the war--throughout the war. But Hitler knew about the combustion engine and about fuel before Standard Oil ever sold him gasoline. A British company was selling uniforms to the Third Reich. Hitler knew how to sew a uniform.

IBM did more than just sell equipment. Watson and IBM controlled the unique technical magic of Hollerith machines. They controlled the monopoly on the cards and the technology. And they were the ones that had to custom-design even the paper forms and punch cards--they were custom-designed for each specific purpose. That included everything form counting Jews to confiscating bank accounts, to coordinating trains going into death camps, to the extermination by labor campaign.

That's why even the paper forms in the prisoner camps had Hollerith notations and numbered fields checked. They were all punched in. For example, IBM had to agree with their Nazi counterparts that Code 6 in the concentration camps was extermination. Code 1 was released, Code 2 was transferred, Code 3 was natural death, Code 4 was formal execution, Code 5 was suicide. Code 7 was escape. Code 6 was extermination.

All of the money and all the machines from all these operations was claimed by IBM as legitimate business after the war. The company used its connections with the State Department and the Pentagon to recover all the machines and all the bank accounts. They never said, "We do not want this blood money." They wanted it all.

What's your opinion of the various lawsuits that have been brought against IBM on behalf of Holocaust survivors?
I read about seven such lawsuits--in the U.S., Poland, France, Switzerland. If they all disappeared it would be fine with me because I believe that IBM's responsibility is not a matter of money reparations, it's a matter of revealing its innermost secrets. But IBM prefers hiding behind the image of defending lawsuits to coming clean about their documentation.

Everyone approaches the Holocaust in their way. Some prefer memorials, others ignore what happened and wish it would go away, and some prefer lawsuits. I'm an investigative reporter and believe the best reparation is illumination. Interestingly, the reason the Gypsies said they sued was that IBM has continuously ignored their requests for information. IBM has never apologized and never opened up their archives. The company is arrogant with all who demand answers, and then these people turn to the courts. Once again, someone is giving IBM terrible advice.

SOURCE - http://news.com.com/2009-1082-269157.html


(...)


BONUS: Chin-checkmate...







NewsMax.com

Americans Fund Slave Labor

Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com
Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003

WASHINGTON – Americans during the past Christmas season shelled out millions for merchandise made by slave labor. It was “the season to be merry,” as Americans unwittingly snapped up bargains on the backs of prisoners whose only crime was to question the authority of their communist masters. Often they were beaten and literally worked to death without adequate food or health care.


Chinese dissident Harry Wu has exposed the goings-on behind the “Bamboo Curtain” in the book “Troublemaker,” published by NewsMax.com.

It is against U.S. law to sell goods made by slave labor. Wu shows how the Chinese dictatorship hides the fact that slave labor makes much of what you buy.

It’s that “Made in China” label you see on sweaters, hardware, toys or whatever at your neighborhood shopping mall. At least at the mall, the shopper can look for the label and decide whether to buy. What frustrates some shoppers is that it’s often difficult if not impossible to find anything they want that was not made in China by slave labor.


And it’s getting worse. The author cites official reports showing that China’s exports to the United States in 1985 were $3.8 billion. By 1994, China was exporting $31 billion to America, while the U.S. was selling only $9 billion in goods and business to China.

That money is aiding China in its military buildup to crush the United States. The plot has been fully documented in the book “Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Plan to Destroy America,” also available from NewsMax. That book is the Chinese army's secret strategy, translated from the original Chinese documents, written by a top army official.

Wu compares the Chinese slave camps to the Nazi concentration camps (more on that in a future report), all to produce goods for the American market. The communist regime in Beijing is using the profits from American shoppers to build the military machine to destroy the freest society on Earth — a prosperous society enjoyed by those same American consumers.

The authorities have names for the stages in the slave camps. Harry Wu went through three stages, first for 19 years and then a second time when he risked his life to go back to China so he and his associates could document (often through film smuggled out of China) the stomach-turning conditions to which the Chinese have subjected their slave laborers.

# 1. Reform through labor (laogai).

# 2. Re-education through labor (laojiao).

# 3. Forced labor placement (jiuye).

Wu calls the entire system “laogai.” He estimates 50 million prisoners have been sent to the system since the communists grabbed power in China in 1949.


Laogai – the phrase burns Wu’s soul, makes him crazy, makes him “want to grab Americans and Europeans and Australians and Japanese by the shirt and scream, ‘Don’t you know what’s going on over there?’ I want the word ‘laogi’ to be known all over the world in the same way that ‘gulag’ has become synonymous with the horrors of Stalin’s prison system.”

Wu witnessed two Public Security officers beating a prisoner with a construction beam. The rumble of mine cars drowned his screams of pain. “In the dark pits,” he writes, “the dust billowed from the face of the mine, where men cut the coal. The floor of the mine was wet, with an evil odor. The prisoners bent forward, knowing they would have to work for twelve hours, until they had achieved their daily quota.”

Soon, Wu thought, he would be back in California “with my nice shower, the fresh hot water, the soap, the thick towel, but these guys were condemned to live like this for the rest of their lives … minute by minute, day by day, year by year.”

And remember, America, you’re paying the bill for this. Those millions of freedom-loving Chinese are forever living under the jackboot of butchers who are building a military machine to kill millions of us.

Is this living hell comparable to the infamous Nazi concentration camps? According to Wu, you bet it is. NewsMax deals with that next.



[cont'd...]



SOURCE - http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/1/8/191237.shtml



It's 2006... Happier New Year! :-) "My Little Girl Is My World"





22/JAN/06


My little girl, is my world,
I wanna be the oyster,
She can be the pearl,
Show her a new way,
To a brighter day,
Tell her it'll be okay,
Show her I'll always stay,
She's got a piece of my heart,
She can keep forever,
She's got the tools to play fools,
She's just that clever,
I'll never sever the bond,
We'll keep going strong,
And if I gotta move on,
She'll still know it was on,
And, as the dawn breaks,
And, my heart aches, as I stare,
She's just sleeping there,
And I'm quietly just stroking her hair,
This love is filling me,
Killing and thrilling me,
But I'm willing, and able,
To be stable,
When we chilling B...

(chorus)

My little girl,
Is my world...
You're my,
Little girl,
My,
Little girl,.

My little girl,
Is my world...
You're my,
Little girl,
My,
Little girl...

(x2)

Sometimes, it's hard,
Sometimes, I'm soft,
Sometimes, I feel, like a heel,
For taking off,
Wanna be there,
Wanna be fair,
Wanna see, she can see me,
When she stare,
Wanna open my heart,
Wanna open her eyes,
So she realize, a prize,
Don't put up with no lies,
So she realize, the truth,
Beauty-blessed, shouldn't be stressed,
And if I confess, the rest,
She can put me to the test,
And rest assured, I miss her,
Wanna hug, and kiss her,
Show her bliss, and peace,
Still all her pain, as I caress her,
Undress her real slow,
Inside, and out,
She's down to ride,
So I'm flexin' to go, the right route...

(chorus)

My little girl,
Is my world...
You're my,
Little girl,
My,
Little girl,.

My little girl,
Is my world...
You're my,
Little girl,
My,
Little girl...

(x2)

As the days, go by,
Time, stands still,
The bubble ain't trouble,
The world needs some skill,
Gotta handle my biz,
Gotta weather the storm,
Transform the norm,
Rebirth from the hurt, and reborn,
Through the scorn and the misery,
Love and the hate,
I'll test fate,
'Til I can see we relate,
'Til I can see we great,
Don't settle,
Put the pedal to the metal, as we move,
Whispers hot, like, a kettle,
And there ain't no medal for this,
Just bliss, and peace of mind,
And I don't mind my find,
When peace, hard to find,
And so, love is blind,
But my eyes open,
Scopin' for hopin',
As I'm ropin' the whirlwind,
That's been spoken,
What can you do?
When she trust you?
Better stay you,
And stay true,
So that's how I'm gonna do...

(chorus)

My little girl,
Is my world...
You're my,
Little girl,
My,
Little girl,.

My little girl,
Is my world...
You're my,
Little girl,
My,
Little girl...

(x2)


- Black Krishna, "My Little Girl Is My World"



Tuesday, January 24, 2006

It's 2006... Happier New Year! :-) "We know!!! LIAR! LIAR! We show!!! FIRE! FIRE!"





Saw "Hustle and Flow" last nite (it's wikkid)...

Read Rolling Stone's "Special Year End Double Issue" on mavericks, troublemakers and renegades (it's wikkid)...

Feelin' the slow-flow comin' out of H-Town (it's wikkid)...

Puttin' it down (it's wikkid)...



(...)


24/Jan/06

Chap Muzik to BKrunk


Troublemakers, they inspire,
Take us higher,
Walk the wire, or retire a liar,
What's your desire?
See the fire, in ya belly,
At the liar, on ya telly,
Holla on the celly, like Nelly,
At homie, ridin' on Pirelli's,
Sell these dreams like a pimp, man,
Show'em ya pimp, hand,
It's simp, man,
Got game, or you just a wimp, man,
A gimp, man,
Pulp Fictional playa-hater,
Or relater to the haters,
Spittin' at'em over cross-faders,
Like Lord Vader,
I see the force, is strong, in you,
I see a longing, for, Dark-slidin' thru,
But when ridin' to,
A beat, frees ya mind,
To nevermind, the grind,
For the blind,
Make'em rewind...

So...

(chorus)

We know!!! (echo)
LIAR! LIAR!
We know!!! (echo)
LIAR! LIAR!
We show!!! (echo)
FIRE! FIRE!
Let's go!!! (echo)
FIRE! FIRE!

(x2)

Walkin' away,
From the day,
I walk away from the way,
I wanna walk away,
From how I wanna walk a day,
Walking away, too fast,
To put'em on blast,
To put'em up last, is quick-fast,
A quick way to fast,
And fade away,
On layaway,
Lay away,
From the way ya Lay Lady Lay,
After lay,
See, the playa's just play away,
And pay in a way,
That makes'em gay in a way,
Prissin' and preenin',
Like Keenan in drag,
From back in the day,
Backin' away, from the way,
Seein' the way ain't the way,
Unless you do it yo' way,
Guess I'm sayin',
Play,
Playa play...

So...

(chorus)

We know!!! (echo)
LIAR! LIAR!
We know!!! (echo)
LIAR! LIAR!
We show!!! (echo)
FIRE! FIRE!
Let's go!!! (echo)
FIRE! FIRE!

(x2)

Quick,
Look fast,
Slick,
Shook fast,
Click,
Shoot, blast!
Clique,
Shoot, last?
So who,
Shoot first?
Got that sexual FEMA,
Impotent schema,
Katrina day-dreama,
Peelin' off, like excema,
Seein' faces crackin',
Places lackin',
Nuthin' but attackin' crack'n',
Wackin', like they do in Iraq'n',
Smackin' us in the vision,
Division,
On television,
Superstition,
Super-slows,
God-given intuition,
Went for ammunition over nutrition,
With military precision,
Police-stated facelift,
New Orleans the first,
Incision...

So...

(chorus)

We know!!! (echo)
LIAR! LIAR!
We know!!! (echo)
LIAR! LIAR!
We show!!! (echo)
FIRE! FIRE!
Let's go!!! (echo)
FIRE! FIRE!

(x2)

- Black Krishna, "We show!!! FIRE! FIRE!"


(...)


The Boston Globe

White House slowing Katrina inquiry, senators say

By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press Writer | January 24, 2006

WASHINGTON --The White House is crippling a Senate inquiry into the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina by barring administration officials from answering questions and failing to hand over documents, senators leading the investigation said Tuesday.


In some cases, staff at the White House and other federal agencies have refused to be interviewed by congressional investigators, said the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In addition, agency officials won't answer seemingly innocuous questions about times and dates of meetings and telephone calls with the White House, the senators said.

A White House spokesman said the administration is committed to working with separate Senate and House investigations of the Katrina response but wants to protect the confidentiality of presidential advisers.

"No one believes that the government responded adequately," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. "And we can't put that story together if people feel they're under a gag order from the White House."

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the committee's Republican chair, said she respects the White House's reluctance to reveal advice to President Bush from his top aides, which is generally covered by executive privilege.

Still, she criticized the dearth of information from agency officials about their contacts with the White House.

"We are entitled to know if someone from the Department of Homeland Security calls someone at the White House during this whole crisis period," Collins said. "So I think the White House has gone too far in restricting basic information about who called whom on what day."

She added, "It is completely inappropriate" for the White House to bar agency officials from talking to the Senate committee.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the administration's deputy homeland security adviser, Ken Rapuano, has briefed House and Senate lawmakers on the federal response. A "lessons learned" report from Homeland Security Adviser Frances Fragos Townsend also is expected in coming weeks, Duffy said.

But he defended the administration's decision to prohibit White House staffers or other presidential advisers from testifying before Congress.

"There is a deliberate process, and the White House has always said it wants to cooperate with the committee but preserve any president's ability to get advice from advisers on a confidential basis," Duffy said. "And that's a critical need for any U.S. president and that is continuing to influence how we cooperate with the committees."

Collins and Lieberman sidestepped questions about whether they plan to subpoena the White House to get the information they seek, though Collins said she does not believe subpoenaing the Homeland Security Department is necessary.

The Senate inquiry is scheduled to conclude in March with a report detailing steps the federal government took -- and didn't take -- to prepare for the Aug. 29 storm.

Investigators have interviewed about 260 witnesses from federal, state and local governments and the private sector. Additionally, the committee has received an estimated 500,000 documents -- including e-mails, memos, supply orders and emergency operation plans -- outlining Katrina-related communications among all levels of government.

But Lieberman said the Justice and Health and Human Services departments "have essentially ignored our document requests for months" while HHS has refused to allow interviews of its staff. He described the Homeland Security response as "too little, too late."

Collins offered a rosier view of Homeland Security's cooperation, noting that Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson and department chief of staff John Wood were scheduled to talk to investigators later this week.

A special House committee created to review the government's readiness for Katrina is to release its findings by Feb. 15. Although Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the panel's chairman, earlier considered subpoenaing the White House, the panel backed away after the Rapuano briefing.

However, Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., is pushing to subpoena Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in response to the Pentagon's reluctance to release his correspondence about the storm.

Davis spokesman David Marin said Rumsfeld's papers may not be necessary, saying, "We have more than enough information to find serious fault with the administration's preparation for and response to Katrina. And we will."

------

On the Net:

Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov

Department of Health and Human Services: http://www.hhs.gov

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov

© Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SOURCE - http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/01/24/white_house_slowing_katrina_inquiry_senators_say/