Archive for June, 2009
Iran: The Media Loves a Revolution
Michael Wolff, Newser: More than murder, corruption, war, scandal, it’s revolution that the media adores. Revolution’s the ultimate conflict and the ultimate upset. Even more, the media loves a revolution that produces media — that is, pictures. Even better when you don’t have to send a camera crew, as with the YouTube video of the dying Iranian woman, Neda Agha-Soltan. Curiously, it may not matter whose side is revolting. The 1979 revolution in Iran, even with America cast as the enemy of the revolution, was covered with as much excitement by the US press as the current one.
This is surely one of the major dangers of revolution: the maximum number of cock-sure-sounding people with little idea of what they are talking about — the nature of revolution being, after all, maximum confusion — talking as much as possible about it.
The imperative, from the media point of view, is to reduce…
Free Speech vs. Surveillance in the Digital Age
Amy Goodman, TruthDig: Tools of mass communication that were once the province of governments and corporations now fit in your pocket. Cell phones can capture video and send it wirelessly to the Internet. People can send eyewitness accounts, photos and videos, with a few keystrokes, to thousands or even millions via social networking sites. As these technologies have developed, so too has the ability to monitor, filter, censor and block them.
A Wall Street Journal report this week claimed that the “Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world’s most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale.” The article named Nokia Siemens Networks as the provider of equipment capable of “deep packet inspection.” DPI, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, “enables Internet Service Providers to intercept virtually all of…
Military Command Created to Oversee Cyberspace
Julian E. Barnes, LA Times: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Tuesday ordered the creation of a military command to oversee cyberspace in order to better defend military computer networks as well as pool capabilities for attacking the networks of other countries.
For now, the U.S. Cyber Command will remain a part of the military’s Strategic Command, which also oversees the nation’s nuclear arsenal. But experts said the move is likely to be a precursor to setting up an independent command.
In a memo signed Tuesday, Gates said the command would help the Defense Department secure “freedom of action in cyberspace.” The U.S.’ “increasing dependency on cyberspace, alongside a growing array of cyber threats and vulnerabilities, adds a new element of risk to our national security,” Gates wrote.
Pentagon officials emphasized the Department of Homeland Security would retain the lead role in defending government computers, while the new command would focus on the…
Nixon Supported Abortion … For Interracial Babies
CHARLIE SAVAGE, NY Times: On Jan. 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down laws criminalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence.
Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases — like interracial pregnancies, he said. “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding, “Or a rape.”
Nine months later, Nixon forced the firing of the special prosecutor looking into the Watergate affair, Archibald Cox, and prompted the resignations of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus. The next day, Ronald Reagan, who was then governor of California and would later be president, told…
9/11 Defender Killed in DC Metro Crash
I wonder if this man knew something that certain people didn’t want him to share? This is a tragic accident indeed, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t anticipating the various conspiracy angles that are bound to stem from this.
9/11 Defender Killed in DC Metro Crash
I wonder if this man knew anything that others didn’t want him to know. I’m sure this is simply a tragic coincidence, but it will no doubt raise some interesting conspiracy angles.
Chris Anderson’s ‘Free’ Contains Apparent Plagiarism
In the course of reading Chris Anderson’s new book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price (Hyperion, $26.99), for a review in an upcoming issue of VQR, we have discovered almost a dozen passages that are reproduced nearly verbatim from uncredited sources. These instances were identified after a cursory investigation, after I checked by hand several dozen suspect passages in the whole of the 274-page book. This was not an exhaustive search, since I don’t have access to an electronic version of the book. Most of the passages, but not all, come from Wikipedia. Anderson is the author of the best-selling 2006 book The Long Tail and is the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine. The official publication date for Free is July 7.
Examples of the passages in question follow. The words and phrases that are found in both Free and the apparent original source are highlighted. Note that narrowest possible criteria…
Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists
WASHINGTON — Documents gathered by lawyers for the families of Sept. 11 victims provide new evidence of extensive financial support for Al Qaeda and other extremist groups by members of the Saudi royal family, but the material may never find its way into court because of legal and diplomatic obstacles.
The case has put the Obama administration in the middle of a political and legal dispute, with the Justice Department siding with the Saudis in court last month in seeking to kill further legal action. Adding to the intrigue, classified American intelligence documents related to Saudi finances were leaked anonymously to lawyers for the families. The Justice Department had the lawyers’ copies destroyed and now wants to prevent a judge from even looking at the material.
The Saudis and their defenders in Washington have long denied links to terrorists, and they have mounted an aggressive and, so far, successful campaign to beat…
Where Are They Now? Bush Administration Edition
Wondering what happened to all of the beloved figures from the Bush administration? They didn’t just ride off into the sunset; since Obama’s victory, former Bush officials have been raking in prestigious academic and corporate posts, making huge sums from book deals and speaking fees, and joining the nation’s top public relations and law firms. Salon surveys what various notable Bushies have been doing of late:
Karl Rove, aka “Bush’s brain,” has signed a seven-figure deal to write a memoir for Simon & Schuster. Condoleezza Rice inked a $2.5 million book deal in addition to lucrative speaking engagements, and accepted a post as a professor of political science at Stanford University.
Former press secretary Ari Fleischer is president of Ari Fleischer Communications, which “brings to the world of sports the lessons of how to successfully handle the toughest situations with the most aggressive reporters.” Clients include Major League Baseball and the Green Bay…
Beyond Blu-Ray: 2,000 Movies On One Disc
Just as we were all getting used to watching movies on Blu-Ray, Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia has developed a DVD that holds 1.6 terabytes of data — or about 2,000 movies. There is nothing like having your entire movie collection on one disc.
All this is made possible by adding a fourth and fifth dimension to an optical disc. By doing this, a range of different colored wavelengths can read the same physical location. Current DVDs use a red laser, while Blu-Ray DVDs naturally use a blue laser.
Researchers at Swinburne University say that a commercial release is still five years away, even though an exclusive agreement has already been signed with Samsung.
‘Young Con’ Rappers On Fox
Conservative rap has officially become its own mini-genre. The trend continued a week ago with a rap duo known as the “Young Cons” giving an in-studio performance on Mike Huckabee’s show on Fox News. The two Dartmouth students rapped about abortion, the evils of government, Jimmy Carter, and the lack of women with “integrity.” Huckabee’s take: “Russell Simmons, eat your heart out!”
New Nixon Tapes Released
So you think the perpetual campaign is a new phenomenon? Then consider this excerpt from the newly released secret tapes of Richard Nixon after his thumping reelection in 1972.
“The campaign is over,” the president told chief of staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman on Jan. 15, 1973 — five days before he took the oath of office for a second term. “But there’s another campaign now,” the president went on. “It never stops — does it?”
With Watergate still a gathering storm, Nixon, who would resign in disgrace some 19 months later, urged Haldeman to “take a deep look at PR” as he maneuvered to cut a deal with the communist North against stiff resistance from South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.
Their conversation can be heard on some 154 hours of tapes made public Tuesday by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, from January and February of 1973. In addition to the proposed peace…
Anti-Fluoride Extremists ‘Threaten to Kill MP’
Anti-fluoride extremists have threatened to kill a Victorian government minister and blow up a regional water authority. As anger over fluoridating Geelong’s water supply mounted today, Labor minister Lisa Neville has been targeted along with water and health officials.
A death threat was left with a bottle of water on the verandah of Ms Neville’s house on Saturday night, a government spokeswoman said. Anti-fluoride activists have also threatened to blow up Barwon Water’s treatment plants as the authority begins on Monday adding fluoride to the water supply in Geelong, 70 kilometres southwest of Melbourne.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) received a threatening letter in the mail last week. All three threats are being investigated by police.
A government spokeswoman said Ms Neville, who is the member for Bellarine, returned home on Saturday night to find the bottle of water and a note on her front verandah. It read: “We’re going to kill…
What If Government’s Surveillance Tech was Open Source?
“It’s not enough for governments to watch people; people have to watch governments.”
The EFF’s Brad Templeton warns that “Cheap, ubiquitous sensing has the potential to turn the worlds of privacy and civil rights upside-down. His solution? “Learning from the bottom-up approaches of the open source community.
Christine Peterson coined the term “open source,” and she’s now proposing the same collaborative sharing approach to sensing technology “to improve both security and the environment, while preserving even strengthening privacy, freedom, and civil liberties…” (And this article also includes video of her full presentation at O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention.)
The Open Source Sensing initiative welcomes individuals and organizations, and warns that “We have a short window of opportunity for guiding this technology to protect both our security and our privacy.”
Peterson says that in the long term, “open source defensive technologies will likely be the only ones capable of keeping up with rapidly-advancing offensive technologies, just as open…
What If Government’s Surveillance Tech was Open Source?
“It’s not enough for governments to watch people; people have to watch governments.”
The EFF’s Brad Templeton warns that “Cheap, ubiquitous sensing has the potential to turn the worlds of privacy and civil rights upside-down. His solution? “Learning from the bottom-up approaches of the open source community.
Christine Peterson coined the term “open source,” and she’s now proposing the same collaborative sharing approach to sensing technology “to improve both security and the environment, while preserving even strengthening
privacy, freedom, and civil liberties…” (And this article also includes video of her full presentation at O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention.)
The Open Source Sensing initiative welcomes individuals and organizations, and warns that “We have a short window of opportunity for guiding this technology to protect both our security and our privacy.”
Peterson says that in the long term, “open source defensive technologies will likely be the only ones capable of keeping up with rapidly-advancing offensive technologies, just as open source…
Rep. Barney Franks Files A Bill To Decriminalize Possession Of Marijuana
A controversial law in Massachusetts could go national if Congressman Barney Frank gets his way.
Frank has filed a bill that would eliminate federal penalties for personal possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana.
It would also make the penalty for using marijuana in public just $100.
“I think John Stuart Mill had it right in the 1850s,” said Congressman Frank, “when he argued that individuals should have the right to do what they want in private, so long as they don’t hurt anyone else. It’s a matter of personal liberty. Moreover, our courts are already stressed and our prisons are over-crowded. We don’t need to spend our scarce resources prosecuting people who are doing no harm to others.”
Frank filed a similar bill last year, but it failed.
American Airlines Exposes Bush’s Big Lie: Flights 11 and 77 Did Not Fly on 9/11
American Airlines itself is the source for information that AA Flights 11 (North Tower) and 77 (Pentagon) did not fly on 911. These flights are critical to the the government’s crumbling cover up! Without those flights, Bush and his murderous co-conspirators will have to revise the big lie. They will have to concoct yet another cover story from the ground up! A cover up is on the brink of collapse when those guilty of capital crimes and high treason either turn on one another or are forced to revise the lie!
Already several demonstrable lies (many referenced in previous EC articles) are probable cause to begin a Federal Grand Jury investigation of George W. Bush’s role in 911. Bush should be compelled by subpoena and Federal Marshals to testify under oath before an independent Federal Grand Jury. The AA revelations demand it!
WikiScanner discovered that American Airlines changed their Wikipedia entry to…
