In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or 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.

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. Link

56 is kind of stretching it to claim "accidentally".

This Can't Be Happening

To readers of the This Can't Be Happening! website:

In a curious coincidence, the day that this site published an article on the string of steps that this government has taken to put in place the legal niceties to Prepare for a Potential Declaration of Martial Law, including a sidebar on the possibility of an assassination of Pat Tillman,
my site suddenly ceased allowing me to access it for any further editorial changes.

I have been in repeated contact with the help desk (sic) at Earthlink, and have been informed that the site's pages have been "Fatally Corrupted."They advised me that I might have to rebuild the site and start over.

When I pointed out that the site itself is still up and available to readers, and so should be recoverable on the server, they said that they would attempt to fix it, making it a "priority" item. That was yesterday. More...

YouTube video-fingerprinting due in September

YouTube will unveil FBI-quality video-fingerprinting technology in September. Well, that's what Google hopes. Or, rather, Google wants a judge to think that's what it hopes.

On Friday, with Google facing a three-pronged copyright trial at a federal court in New York City, a company lawyer told the presiding judge that its YouTube video-sharing site would unveil a long-delayed video recognition system this fall, "hopefully in September." According to the lawyer, Philip Beck, the system will be as sophisticated as fingerprinting technology used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Associated Press reports. That would be the fingerprinting technology the FBI uses for fingerprints - not low-quality web videos.

Google, which purchased YouTube late last year, has long said a high-end video recognition system was in the works, but this is the closest it's come to saying when the thing will actually arrive. Of course, "the fall" is hardly an exact date.The Register

Textbooks rewrite history to fit Putin’s vision

As Russia flexes its foreign policy muscles against the West and President Putin enjoys record approval ratings, the Kremlin is turning its attention to schools to instil a new sense of nationalism in children. Two new manuals for teachers have been accused of glossing over the horrors of the Soviet Union and of including propaganda to promote Mr Putin’s vision of a strong state.

One, for social studies teachers, presents as fact Mr Putin’s view that the Soviet collapse was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”. It describes the United States as bent on creating a global empire and determined to isolate Russia from its neighbours.

Many of those behind the second book, a history of Russia from 1945 to 2006, have close links to the Kremlin. Its final chapter is titled Sovereign Democracy, a term coined by a key Kremlin aide, Vladislav Surkov, as an ideological justification for Mr Putin’s authoritarian rule. London Times

Tales of Angst, Alienation and Martial law Roasting Marshmallows on the American Reichstag Fire to Come

In this summer of angst and grim foreboding about what further assaults against common sense and common decency the Bush administration might inflict upon the people of the world, how many times during the day do those of us -- still possessed of mind, heart and conscience -- take pause, hoping we've seen the worst of it, then, fearing we haven't yet, attempt to push down the dread rising within us, so that we might simply make it through the day and be able to rest at night?

Accordingly, those who have been paying attention are aware that the outward mechanisms of martial law are in place. We shudder knowing that Bush has issued an executive decree that grants him dictatorial power in the event of some nebulously defined national emergency. In addition, the knowledge nettles us that a vast network of internment camps bristle across the length of the U.S., standing at wait for those who might raise objections to the fascistic fury unloosed by the American empire's version of the Reichstag fire. Information Liberation

U.S. Outfitting B-2's with Monster Bunker Buster Bombs - Iran May Be Target

The U.S. is retrofitting its B-2 Stealth bombers with massive bunker-buster bombs - a move that could be a prelude to an attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities.

Iran has refused to comply with international demands that it stop its nuclear weapons programs.

Experts have noted that a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program could be difficult due to the large number of installations - some of which are buried deep underground in hardened bunkers.

Apparently the U.S. has big plans for Iran. Newsmax

U.S. Missile Defense Agency opens new facility in Alabama

The head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has inaugurated a new facility at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, the agency said in a press release.

Air Force Lt. General Henry Obering III officiated at the commissioning of the $44.4 million building, which will accommodate 1,000 MDA workers as part of a base realignment initiative that will see about 5,500 agency employees move to the Tennessee Valley by 2011. Some 8,500 people currently work for the MDA.

"This is the physical manifestation of the first major milestone of MDA's move to the Tennessee Valley," he said. Since June, the Redstone Arsenal has been the headquarters of the Space and Missile Defense Command.

Congress recently adopted a resolution making the creation of an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system official government policy, and has allocated some $8.6 billion in the 2008 budget for its development. RIA Novosti

Chinese servicemen arrive in Russia for regional security exercise

Six Il-76 transport aircraft landed Tuesday in Russia with 287 servicemen of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and military hardware to participate in a regional antiterrorism exercise, Peace Mission 2007.

The exercise will take place in the first half of August in the Chelyabinsk region, the Urals, with about 5,000 servicemen from Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China and Uzbekistan under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The Chinese servicemen will be deployed to the staging area in four trains August 2-3.RIA Novosti

Iran 'biggest threat to Mid-East'

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that Iran poses the biggest threat to US Middle East interests, as she begins a major regional tour.

Ms Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates are meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab ministers at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The meeting comes after Washington confirmed plans for a massive arms deal for the region.

The tour is aimed at uniting US allies against Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. Ms Rice denied Iranian claims that US policies were spreading fear in the Middle East. BBC

Funny I always thought USRAEL are the real proven threat!

Incarceration Nation: The Rise of a Prison-Industrial Complex

"I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator" - Mother Jones

Consider this disturbing fact: the United States now has the world's highest incarceration rate outside of North Korea. Out of 1,000 people, more Americans are behind bars than anywhere in the world except in Kim Jong-Il's Neo-Stalinist state. The US has a higher incarceration rate than China , Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe and Burma - countries American politicians often berate for their human rights violations.

Well over two million Americans are behind bars. Let us agree that violent criminals and sex offenders should be in jail, but most Americans are not aware that over one million people spend year after year in prison for non-violent and petty offenses: small-time drug dealing, street hustling, prostitution, bouncing checks and even writing graffiti. Texas, with its boot-in-your-butt criminal justice system, is now attempting to incarcerate people who get drunk at bars - even if they are not disturbing the peace and intend to take a taxi home. populistamerica.com

Pentagon to implant microchips in soldiers

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.

ABC: Americans Want To Be Surveilled

An ABC poll has revealed that two thirds of Americans are willing to accept heightened government intrusion on privacy and support the increased use of surveillance cameras to solve crime. ABC states that 71 percent of Americans favor the increased use of surveillance cameras, while 25 percent oppose it.

Critics, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, have opposed such systems, arguing that they invade privacy, and could be used to track innocent people. Nonetheless, majority support for surveillance cameras crosses political, ideological and population groups, albeit with differences in degree, the reports suggests.

The report makes reference to London's surveillance network, known as the "Ring of Steel," which is said to have aided in the capture of suspects, including those accused of a pair of attempted car bombings in June

American gestapo

The last place you expect to run into a federal government goon squad is the Blue Ridge Parkway, the scenic highway that runs through Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

But the abuse of power spawned by the Bush administration and the rights robbing USA Patriot Act runs rampant throughout the federal bureaucracy, as I learned this week while traveling the Parkway to get to an assignment photographing a summer music festival for my newspaper.

The festival, FloydFest, draws thousands of people each July to a picturesque patch of land just off the Parkway not far from the Blue Ridge hamlet of Floyd, VA. Now in its sixth year, the festival enjoys a national reputation. It also provides an opportunity for the National Park Service police to harass patrons of the festival.

For the last two years, the Park Service has brought in its "CIT" (Criminal Interdiction Team) from Asheville, North Carolina, to police crowds that use the Parkway to reach the festival. The team, composed of swaggering young officers with little regard for due process or civil rights, is the embodiment of federal excess. More...

California City to Transform Red Light Cameras Into Spy Cameras

Privacy advocates have long viewed red light cameras with the suspicion that the devices were the first step down a path of increased surveillance. Those fears may come true as the city of Oakland, California has revealed that it is working with the state legislature to secure a change in the law that will allow red light cameras to become full-scale surveillance cameras. In a memo from the Oakland Police Department dated June 26, Police Chief Wayne G. Tucker recommended that the city's lobbyist be ordered to advocate a new law in Sacramento.

"The legislation would also allow the use of those (red light camera) images for evidentiary purposes other than the enforcement of red light violations, such as reckless driving, assaults, public nuisance activity, drug dealing, etc."

The request came in conjunction with a plan to allow camera vendor Redflex to operate 20 video cameras at intersections 24-hours a day. The city council unanimously approved this ticketing contract with the Australian company on July 17 which is expected to generate several million in new revenue. More...

US promises Israel much more military aid

The United States will reinforce the military capability of Israel and Saudi Arabia in a strategy intended to deter Iran.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, confirmed yesterday that US military aid would rise by 25 per cent over the next decade, from £12 billion to £15 billion a year.

Meanwhile, US military sources reported that Saudi Arabia was on the verge of signing a deal to buy approximately £12 billion of arms and support equipment. The Saudi kingdom has an internal jihadist problem, yet Washington still values the support it gives for the mission in Iraq and for other policies across the Middle East.

Normally, Israel opposes US military links with Arab nations but on this occasion Mr Olmert said that he appreciated the need for beefing up the military capability of moderate states such as Saudi Arabia. London Telegraph

Neocons Salivate Over Hillary

It should come as no surprise prominent neocons are gushing over Hillary Clinton, as noted by the Seattle Times. Fred Barnes of the neocon house organ, the Weekly Standard, couldn’t contain his admiration for the Bilderberger Queen. Ditto for Rich Lowry of National Review, David Brooks, and the Joseph Goebbels of the neocon movement, Charles Krauthammer.

“She excels,” Lory praised. “Clinton has run a nearly flawless campaign and has done more than any other Democrat to show she’s ready to be president,” that is to say any other neocon, or neolib, not that there is a whole heck of a lot of difference, as the neocons understand. Clinton has repeatedly indicated her desire to “confront” Iran, that is to say bomb the country, or at least starve it into submission, and that naturally warms the cockles of psychopathic neocon hearts, or lack thereof.Kurt Nimmo

Wikilobbying

Stephen gives us proof of what happens when you bring democracy to information.

Decider Guy Demands Further Erosion of the Fourth

If Bush and the neocons have their way, your cell phone will be an official government surveillance device. Of course, your cell phone and computer connected to the internet are already surveillance devices, it is just that Bush and the neocons want to enshrine this fact in law.

“President Bush used his weekly radio address Saturday to urge Congress to modernize a law that governs the interception of communications between suspected terrorists abroad,” reports Voice of America, the official propaganda organ of the U.S. government. In other words, the NSA, CIA, and the Pentagon, through so-called modernization, will be able to legally monitor all “terrorist” communications, that is to say anybody who opposes the government. As we know, the NSA has done this for decades. Bush is simply advertising to make it all this incessant snooping legal and above board. Kurt Nimmo

Beware of Mr Brown. He's after your rights

It is precisely because the Prime Minister appears so earnest and reasonable - is so solicitous, so keen to discover common ground, so conscious of our tradition of rights and freedom, and so strategic in the presentation of his case - that he represents a far greater threat to civil liberties than did his predecessor.

Gordon Brown would never say 'civil liberties arguments are made for another age', because it is too crass. Of course the arguments should be heard, their moral force acknowledged and their proponents saluted, but then gently nudged out of the way by the imperatives of security. The exceptionalism that Tony Blair pleaded is, in confronting what Brown called the 'generation-long challenge to defeat al-Qaeda related terrorist violence', still intact.

He has asked for 56 days' detention without charge and has placed ID cards, now referred to as 'ID security' - cleverly linking the cards to ideas of personal protection - at the heart of the counter-terrorist strategy. Neither measure is proven to add to our capacity to fight terror, yet both represent the gravest possible menace to the store of freedom in this country. In the name of security, the state increases its power over the individual and will be soon be in a position to apply it in areas of our life that have nothing to do with the fight against al-Qaeda. That is why a Labour government again attempts to entrench ID cards in the armoury of terror measures, even though they clearly did not stop Madrid and would not have stopped the 7/7 bombers. London Observer

Bush Wants Terrorism Law Updated

President Bush wants Congress to modernize a law that governs how intelligence agencies monitor the communications of suspected terrorists.

"This law is badly out of date," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, provides a legal foundation that allows information about terrorists' communications to be collected without violating civil liberties.

Democrats want to ensure that any changes do not give the executive branch unfettered surveillance powers. AP

Pakistan says draft US 9/11 law could harm relations

Draft US anti-terrorism legislation could undermine relations with Pakistan because of its allegations about terrorist safe havens and nuclear proliferation networks, the foreign ministry said.

The US Congress Friday approved a bill to implement key anti-terrorism recommendations of the independent probe into the September 11 attacks in 2001 that will become law if President George W. Bush signs it.

Pakistan says the new law could undermine relations between the "war on terror" allies because it contained "unsubstantiated" allegations.

"The draft bill... contains references and provisions that cast a shadow on the existing cooperation between Pakistan and US," the ministry said in a statement at the weekend. AFP

Parliaments, not voters, to ratify new EU treaty

The new European Union treaty has several hurdles to jump before it can become law.

• Ireland, where voters rejected the Nice Treaty in 2001, looks set for another vote next year. "I'm assuming we will have to have a referendum," Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, told opposition leaders last month.

Ireland's shock 2001 rejection of the original treaty forced Dublin to seek an amendment ensuring the country could not be dragged unwillingly into EU military action. After obtaining it, a second referendum was held, and a majority voted yes. The Irish would again be expected to vote yes to the new treaty.

• Denmark is another country where a new vote could take place. The Danes have rejected a key EU treaty before in a referendum - the Maastricht Treaty - though approved it in a second vote after Copenhagen obtained an opt-out from the euro and from moves towards a common EU defence. London Telegraph

Britain's Brown has no Iraq pull-out plan for Bush

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not unveil a plan for an early withdrawal of British troops from Iraq in talks with U.S President George. W Bush on Sunday, Brown's spokesman said.

Brown sets out later on Sunday for his first meeting with Bush since succeeding Tony Blair as prime minister last month.

Speculation has been rife in British media that Brown could distance himself from Blair's policy on Iraq. Opposition to the war contributed to the pressure on Blair, a staunch supporter of U.S. policy there, to step down early after a decade in power. Reuters

How MI5 had me kidnapped and thrown into CIA's Dark Prison

James Bond interviewed informants in nightclubs and luxury hotels.

Le Carré's George Smiley preferred park benches or safe houses in Belgravia. But when Bisher Al-Rawi met the men from MI5, they chose somewhere more prosaic: a table in the basement section of McDonald's in Kensington, West London.

"I always had a Filet-O-Fish," Al-Rawi says drily. "They would only drink. One supposes they didn't like the food."

It wasn't the only difference between Britain's real and fictional spies. Having risked his life and reputation to inform MI5 about Islamic radicalism in London in the months after 9/11, Al-Rawi was betrayed. UK Daily Mail

Scientists’ Tests Hack Into Electronic Voting Machines in California and Elsewhere

Computer scientists from California universities have hacked into three electronic voting systems used in California and elsewhere in the nation and found several ways in which vote totals could potentially be altered, according to reports released yesterday by the state.

The reports, the latest to raise questions about electronic voting machines, came to light on a day when House leaders announced in Washington that they had reached an agreement on measures to revamp voting systems and increase their security.

The House bill would require every state to use paper records that would let voters verify that their ballots had been correctly cast and that would be available for recounts. NY Times

and Most vote machines lose test to hackers

It's the 1930s All Over Again

Jittery stock markets, an economy drunk on credit, and politicians calling for varieties of dictatorship: what a sense of déjà vu! Let us recall that the world went bonkers for about ten years way back when. The stock market crashed in 1929, thanks to the Federal Reserve, and with it fell the last remnants of the old liberal ideology that government should leave society and economy alone to flourish. After the federal Great Depression hit, there was a general air in the United States and Europe that freedom hadn't worked. What we needed were strong leaders to manage and plan economies and societies.

And how they were worshipped. On the other side of the world, there were Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini, but in the United States we weren't in very good shape either. Here we had FDR, who imagined himself capable of astonishing feats of price setting and economy boosting. Of course he used old-fashioned tricks: printing money and threatening people with guns. It was nothing but the ancient despotism brought back in pseudo-scientific garb. Lew Rockwell.com

'Brown's EU fraud exposed by letter'

The new European Union Treaty has been designed to "keep the advances" of the old constitution "that we would not have dared present directly", a senior Brussels figure has admitted.

Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European Parliament and a close ally of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made the admission in a letter to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the discarded EU Constitution.

Mr Poettering stressed that the new treaty, while complicated, would preserve the constitution by a different, more indirect method. London Telegraph

Cheney's Finger Is Already on the Trigger

On July 16, the London Guardian reported that President Bush, under the powerful influence of Vice President Dick Cheney, has tilted in favor of military action against Iran before he leaves office. According to the Guardian account, a series of meetings during June and July, involving top White House, Pentagon, and State Department officials, was used by the Vice President to assert that the diplomatic track, ostensibly pressed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, had failed to produce any results, and that no future U.S. administration would have the courage to act militarily against Tehran. President Bush, according to the account, went along with Cheney, and once again, the prospects for a new Persian Gulf preemptive war loom large over Washington.

Highly informed sources contacted by EIR confirmed and elaborated on the Guardian leak, which came from circles close to the White House who are adamantly opposed to the prospects of an American or Israeli preventive strike against targets inside Iran. EIR's sources confirmed that President Bush had, indeed, tilted back towards supporting Cheney's position that Iran's alleged nuclear weapons sites must be hit preemptively, and that one of the most persuasive arguments mounted by Cheney and his neo-con allies, is that unless the U.S. strikes against Tehran, Israel will launch an attack, and this will create an even bigger mess for Washington. EIR

Bush Subpoenas Moore Over Cuba Trip In 'Sicko'

Michael Thursday said the Bush administration has served him with a subpoena regarding his trip to Cuba during the making of his new film, "Sicko."

The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who appeared Thursday on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," said he was notified about the subpoena at the network's studios in Burbank, Calif.

"I haven't even told my own family yet," Moore said. "I was just informed when I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me."

Moore filmed the trip as part of his film comparing the U.S. healthcare system with government healthcare systems in other countries.

He took three Sept. 11, 2001, emergency rescue workers to Guantanamo Bay "because I heard the al-Qaida terrorists we have in the camps there, detained, are receiving free dental, medical, eye care, the whole deal, and our own (Sept. 11) rescue workers can't get that in New York City." UPI

France to "triple" CCTV surveillance across the country

French interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie announced Thursday the government is planning to " triple" the existing CCTV surveillance capacities across the country, with a view to curbing the risks of terrorism and acts of violence.

After chairing a meeting over the issue, the minister told the press she intended to develop CCTV surveillance "as a priority within the framework of an upcoming law on interior security orientation and programming (LOPSI)" which is expected to be submitted to the council of ministers in autumn.

In order to "cover as much territory as possible," she said, there is a need for "enhanced networking with all those" who are already using this technology, notably citing "local authorities, Paris transport authorities (RATP), French national railway company (SNCF), and large shopping complexes." Xinhua

House may pass security bill today

The House is expected to pass a homeland security bill and send it to President Bush as early as today. Last night, the Senate approved the package of security measures recommended by the 9/11 Commission, shifting more federal money to high-risk states and cities and requiring more stringent screening of air and sea cargo.

The measure passed by a 85-8 vote.

House passage would give Democrats a much-needed legislative victory just a week before Congress adjourns for its August recess.

Along with a boost in the minimum wage, which went into effect on Tuesday, the 9/11 Commission bill would be at the top of the Democratic majority's achievement list if President Bush signs it into law. AP

White House runs conference call on executive privilege for right-wing bloggers

At the urging of top conservative bloggers, the White House set up a Friday morning conference call to promote its message on the subject of executive privilege, RAW STORY has found.

"The White House hosted a blogger conference call to discuss the issues surrounding the Bush administration's use of executive privilege in the probe of the firings of eight federal prosecutors," wrote Ed Morrissey, who produces the blog Captains Quarters. "The White House arranged the call based on a recommendation by this blog, in order to familiarize the blogosphere with the legal and political arguments on which the administration will rely to prevail in the upcoming fight regarding the contempt citations Congress seems likely to approve."

The White House did not immediately respond to queries about the conference call from RAW STORY. Raw Story

Internet censorship spreading: OSCE study

State restrictions on use of the Internet have spread to more than 20 countries that use catch-all and contradictory rules to help keep people off line and stifle feared political opposition, a new report says.

In "Governing the Internet", the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) presented case studies of Web censorship in Kazakhstan and Georgia and referred to similar findings in nations from China to Iran, Sudan and Belarus.

"Recent moves against free speech on the Internet in a number of countries have provided a bitter reminder of the ease with which some regimes, democracies and dictatorships alike, seek to suppress speech that they disapprove of, dislike, or simply fear," the report by the 56-nation OSCE said. Reuters

Martial Law Threat is Real: Lucky that the Military is Breaking Down

The looming collapse of the US military in Iraq, of which a number of generals and former generals, including former Chief of Staff Colin Powell, have warned, is happening none too soon, as it may be the best hope for preventing military rule here at home.

From the looks of things, the Bush/Cheney regime has been working assiduously to pave the way for a declaration of military rule, such that at this point it really lacks only the pretext to trigger a suspension of Constitutional government. They have done this with the active support of Democrats in Congress, though most of the heavy lifting was done by the last, Republican-led Congress. More...

XXXtreme Danger: U.S. Wars for Zionist AIPAC

AIPAC is behind the $2 trillion to be spent on the War in Iraq. Now it's pushing another disastrous War in Iran. 5 Aircraft Carriers are headed to the Gulf for Israel right now. The dollar has crashed, interest rates are going up, the world hates us, and Israel runs our nation. Does anyone have any questions?

Saudis building nuclear capacity?

A website has revealed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is conducting a secret nuclear program with the help of a number of Pakistani scientists.
Sawt Al-Salam reported that a team of Pakistani nuclear scientists who entered Saudi Arabia for the Hajj ceremony during 2003-2005 were transferred from Mecca to Riyadh and Jeddah to participate in and make extensive plans for a Saudi nuclear program. According to Fars news agency, the news website quoted German security officials as saying, "Saudi Arabia began its nuclear program in the 1990s, and especially after Pakistan joined the 'nuclear club' in 1998." More... Allo... Mohamed Baradei... are you there?

Russian construction of Iran nuclear plant in 'crisis'

Russian and Iranian officials held talks on Wednesday aimed at salvaging a long-delayed project to build Iran's first nuclear power plant from a "crisis," Russia's state nuclear contractor said.

Disputes over payment for the Bushehr plant, which Tehran hopes will be the crown jewel of a civilian nuclear power program, have led to increasing signs that Moscow is putting the brakes on the project.

"We are now in a crisis situation, and the current stage of talks is aimed at finding a way out of it," Irina Yesipova, spokeswoman for state nuclear power plant builder Atomstroiexport, told AFP.

Snow demands reporter change 'twisted words' in article

White House press secretary Tony Snow took time out from answering questions at Wednesday's briefing to lecture a veteran reporter on journalism and demand that he change the "twisted words" in an article he had written.

Towards the end of the briefing Snow called on Les Kinsolving, a long time correspondent and talk radio host, famous for his sometimes bizarre questions and cantankerous attitude, whose website touts him "as one of the few who has the guts to ask probing questions and even providing comic relief." Kinsolving asked Snow whether the President thinks it would be a good idea for all Americans to prepare an emergency survival kit for a possible terrorist attack or natural disaster.

Snow quickly said he couldn't comment, and then proceeded to take time out to lecture Kinsolving on his job, "Let me just point out," Snow said, "that you need to ask questions that bear on the President's responsibilities." Raw Story

Docs contradict Gonzales sworn testimony.

The "Gang of Eight", prominent congressional leaders of both parties, were briefed about the President's terrorist surveillance program immediately before it's intended expiration date, documents just exposed reveal.

The documents directly contradict the sworn testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, heightening the questions of his credibility and fueling the rumours of perjury charges.

"A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony." according to the Associate Press.

Associated Press

At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval. Raw Story

CNN Censors You Tube Debate Question On Impeachment

CNN is congratulating itself profusely for its YouTube debate, and they showed a lot of excellent questions. But they refused to show the #1 video as voted on by visitors to CommunityCounts. The hands-down winning question was on impeachment.

Among the candidates, Dennis Kucinich of course wins the impeachment contest because he is the author of H.Res. 333, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney. Chris Dodd gets points for answering the question, but he gave the wrong answer when he said it would "divert the attention" of Congress.

US Senators back web censorship

US senators issued a bipartisan call for filtering and monitoring technologies on the Internet.

In a meeting where civil liberties groups were not invited, Democrats and Republicans said that the web needed to be censored to protect children.

Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Vice Chairman Ted 'The Internet is made out of tubes" Stevens argued that Internet was a dangerous place where parents alone could not protect their children.

While parents can buy filtering and monitoring technologies to screen out offensive content and to monitor their child’s online activities, the use of these technologies was far from universal and may not be fool-proof, Inouye said The Inquirer

Al-Qaeda not 'monolithic' group: US officials

A US intelligence official repeated Wednesday a description of Al-Qaeda in Iraq as an "affiliate" group to Osama bin Laden's organization, in a careful assessment of the groups' closeness.

A day after President George W. Bush sought to directly tie bin Laden to the Iraq group, CIA officer Edward Gistaro said the the two groups shared ideologies but that Al-Qaeda deferred to the Iraq branch to make decisions on the ground there.

"As the president described yesterday, we're dealing with an Al-Qaeda that has a decentralized command-and-control structure. And I don't want to leave a false impression that we're talking about a monolithic organization," Gistaro told congressional panels. AFP

ABC News Building Evacuated in D.C.

A building housing the Washington bureau of ABC News was evacuated Thursday because of a suspicious envelope containing a white powdery substance, District of Columbia authorities said.

D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter said there was no note or address on the small envelope. No one has reported any medical symptoms, he said.

Firefighters and police were on the scene trying to determine whether the packet poses a threat, and the downtown building was evacuated as a precaution, Etter said. Associated Press

FBI Wants Its Own Stasi

In a move startlingly similar to that of the East German government during the Cold war, the FBI wants to recruit thousands of covert informants in the US and work with the CIA to train them in an effort to expand and adopt more aggressive intelligence capabilities.

ABC's The Blotter reports that according to a recent unclassified report to Congress, the FBI, driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush, wants to recruit more than 15,000 informants in the US, entailing a complete overhaul of its database systems at a cost of around $22 million.

The FBI expects its informants to provide secrets about possible terrorists and foreign spies, although some may also be expected to aid with criminal investigations, in the tradition of law enforcement confidential informants. The FBI did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Congress: P2P networks harm national security

Politicians charged on Tuesday that peer-to-peer networks can pose a "national security threat" because they enable federal employees to share sensitive or classified documents accidentally from their computers.

At a hearing on the topic, Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said, without offering details, that he is considering new laws aimed at addressing the problem. He said he was troubled by the possibility that foreign governments, terrorists or organized crime could gain access to documents that reveal national secrets. News.com

The CIA COvenant: Nazis in Washington

* From the end of World War II, the American CIA imported thousands of Nazis into the United States to work for them, many on the list of wanted war criminals

*One of the most important of these was Heinrich Mueller, once head of Hitler's Gestapo. Mueller was recruited by Colonel James Critchfield who ran the CIA's "Gehnel Organization' in Munich.

* Mueller kept journals and this book is a translation of three years (1948-1951) of notes and observations made of top CIA officials, President Truman, top U.S. government officials, plans for murder, thefts, kidnappings, wholesale thefts of public money and a terrifying pattern of uncontrolled ambition, unchecked by any person or agency.

* Also included are CIA and other agency's activities that have never been revealed.

*Mueller's deals in stolen Nazi art for the CIA are covered in detail.

*Also to be found are the steps the frightened CIA have taken to prevent the publication, sales or distribution of this work. THE VOICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE

Russia-U.K. row may be due to Gazprom expansion

Worsening Russia-U.K. relations could be partly due to energy giant Gazprom's new role in the Sakhalin II project in Russia's Far East, the head of the Audit Chamber said Wednesday.

The natural gas monopoly bought a controlling stake in the vast oil and gas project late last year from Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell at a lowball price following pressure from regulators. London and Moscow are currently embroiled in a tit-for-tat row over Moscow's refusal to extradite a murder suspect.

Sergei Stepashin said: "Gazprom joined the project, and this may not have pleased everyone. This must have been a factor in the harsh reaction [to the extradition refusal] from our British partners." RIA Novosti

Bush takes over federal science

Through an Executive Order that gives political appointees final say regarding science-based federal agency regulations and the appointment of an anti-educationist to head the Office of Management and Budget, US President George W. Bush is attempting to insulate his administration from congressional accountability while effectively turning federal scientists into White House puppets, a group of scientists warned today.

Union if Concerned Scientists and OMB Watch urged Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) to question the President's nominee US Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) on his opinion of Bush administration Executive Order 13422, which goes into effect today.

The executive order bans any regulation from moving forward without the approval of an agency's regulatory policy officer, who would be a political appointee. Press Esc

FBI Proposes Building Network of U.S. Informants

The FBI is taking cues from the CIA to recruit thousands of covert informants in the United States as part of a sprawling effort to boost its intelligence capabilities.

According to a recent unclassified report to Congress, the FBI expects its informants to provide secrets about possible terrorists and foreign spies, although some may also be expected to aid with criminal investigations, in the tradition of law enforcement confidential informants. The FBI did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

The FBI said the push was driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush ordering the bureau to improve its counterterrorism efforts by boosting its human intelligence capabilities. ABC News

EU constitution is back and more dangerous than ever

Do you remember the European Constitution? Yes, the one rejected by the French and Dutch? That same European Constitution on which the Labour Government promised the British people a referendum before the last General Election?

Well, it's back with a vengeance. Like some old Hammer horror movie, the constitution has returned from the dead, now repackaged as a 'treaty'.

But the so-called 'new' EU Treaty has all the same ingredients as the old constitution. In fact, it was revealed yesterday that it is 96 per cent identical to the old constitution. UK Daily Mail

No "Conspiracy Theory": OKC Mayor Signed North American Union Document

Mayor Mick Cornett endorsed "The Declaration of North American Integration"

Ridiculing claims by the establishment media that the North American Union plan is a "conspiracy theory," an activist has brought to light a document signed by the Mayor of Oklahoma City, which was also approved by 90 other officials, that endorses an economic and political integration of the U.S. with Canada and Mexico. Jerome Corsi has the goods,

The endorsement by a major city mayor of a document described as "The Declaration of North American Integration" represents a long-term effort by local governments to bypass state and federal governments and work directly with Mexico and Canada to create agreements that integrate the continent below the radar screen, charges an activist.

Adam Rott, founder of watchdog blog Oklahoma Corridor Watch, brought to light the document signed by Mayor Mick Cornett.

US judge refuses to stop states from probing domestic spying

A US judge Tuesday refused pleas by federal lawyers to stop officials in five states from investigating what roles telecommunications firms played in anti-terror domestic spying.

San Francisco District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker rejected arguments that federal authority trumps state powers in the matter and that the probes amounted to unconstitutional meddling in foreign affairs policy.

The motions for "summary judgment' by federal lawyers were based on rules that prohibit interference with federal foreign affairs powers or discriminating against the federal government, or conflicting with a congressional mandate. AFP