AFP.com

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama said on Wednesday that a nuclear Iran would pose a “grave threat” and that the world must prevent it from obtaining the atomic bomb.

“A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Obama said.

“A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation, not just in the Middle East but around the world,” Obama said on the latest leg of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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Miya Shay | ABC 13.com

In order to pass their political driving test, successful politicians need to be masters of one tricky manoeuvre in particular - the U-turn.

Max Deveson | BBC.com

The contenders in this year’s US presidential election are no exceptions - both John McCain and Barack Obama have engaged in some nifty repositioning.

Mr McCain’s U-turns have mostly increased his appeal to the Republican Party’s base, placing him on a rightward trajectory.

Barack Obama has been performing a more traditional manoeuvre: running to the left during the primaries, when party activists need to be wooed, then shifting to the centre once the nomination is clinched.

Flip-flopping politicians will always attract charges of hypocrisy and opportunism: it may be worth it if it helps them win over undecided voters in the middle, but when the goal is to shore up their political base, the benefits are much less clear.

Here are some examples.

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Within a July 18, 2008 Freedom of Information Act response from the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB indicates that it possesses no records indicating how wreckage recovered from the 4 aircraft used during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 was positively identified as belonging to the 4 planes reportedly hijacked that day or even if such wreckage was positively identified at all.

View FOIA response.

Within a similar March 18, 2008 FOIA response from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI states the following:

“The identity of the three hijacked aircraft has never been in question by the FBI, NTSB or FAA”

Visit History Commons 9-11 Timeline ( originally Cooperative Research) 

Most of the new entries in the 9/11 Timeline this week are about the 7/7 London bombings, and in particular the alleged mastermind, Haroon Rashid Aswat. Aswat recruited militant fighters in London in the late 1990s, when his activities were known to British intelligence. He also attempted to set up terrorist training camps in the US, but the Justice Department blocked his indictment on these charges in 2002. He was falsely thought to have been killed in Afghanistan in 2003, monitored meeting the leaders of another British plot in 2004, and the British prevented the US from capturing him in South Africa in 2005.

He called the bombers shortly before the attacks, and the US may have monitored these calls. Some reports, apparently incorrect, said he had been arrested in Pakistan following the bombings, although he was actually captured in Zambia shortly after, at which point the British authorities showed a surprising lack of interest in him. A counterterrorism expert then said he had been a long-term British intelligence asset, and the British failed to charge him upon his return to Britain, although a British court approved his extradition to the US in 2006.

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American Monitor

“In the United States of America there is a hidden government about which you know nothing.”

So begins a revealing television exposé aired by CNN in 1991. The hour-long Special Assignment presented the findings of a yearlong CNN investigation into the ultra-secretive Continuity of Government (COG) program, commonly referred to as the “doomsday government” or the “shadow government”.

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Police photo of Alex Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair editor and writer, after his arrest earlier this week for trespassing at Bohemian Grove.

Pat Murphy, San Francisco Sentinel editor and publisher, reports that Vanity Fair writer and editor Alex Shoumatoff was arrested earlier this week for trespassing at “the world famous Bohemian Grove, the exclusive getaway of some of the world’s most powerful men who gather there every year in July for two weeks.” Mr. Murphy pokes fun at Shoumatoff — making light of his weight and Pebble Beach sweater — and then tells us Shoumatoff was writing a story about “the Club’s plans to thin its Douglas fir and diseased oak trees to help prevent the type of forest fires that have swept Big Sur and Northern California,” an assignment he apparently accepted at the behest of Jock Hooper, described by Murphy as “a disgruntled former member of the Bohemian Club.”

Mr. Murphy makes a big deal out of Hooper’s “eccentric” concern for trees while completely ignoring a far larger story — the very existence of the “Bohemian Club,” who attends, and what happens there.

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Leading Data Security Expert Joins Press Conference, Case, Notes Fraudulent Patterns That Should Have Triggered Investigation
Motion to Proceed with Targeted Discovery in Case Explained as Effort to Help Protect Integrity of ‘08 Election…

TheBradBlog.com
At a press conference this morning in Columbus, Ohio, Cliff Arnebeck, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case of King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell, announced that he is filing a motion to “lift the stay in the case [and] proceed with targeted discovery in order to help protect the integrity of the 2008 election.”

“We anticipate Mr. Rove will be identified as having engaged in a corrupt, ongoing pattern of corrupt activities specifically affecting the situation here in Ohio.”
Arnebeck will also “be providing copies of document hold notices to the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the U.S. Justice Department for Karl Rove emails from the White House.”

This case has the potential to put some of the most powerful people in the country in jail, according to Arnebeck, as he was joined by a well-respected, life-long Republican computer security expert who charged that the red flags seen during Ohio’s 2004 Presidential Election would have been cause for “a fraud investigation in a bank, but it doesn’t when it comes to our vote.”

“This entire system is being programmed in secret by programmers who have no oversight by anybody,” the expert charged, as Arnebeck detailed allegations of complicity by a number of powerful GOP operatives and companies who had unique access both to the election results as reported in 2004, as well as to U.S. House and Senate computer networks even today.

The presser was attended by some of the corporate-controlled media, including the head of the Ohio AP bureau, the Columbus Dispatch, and IndyMedia. Listening in by phone were ABC News, our friends from RAW STORY, and I, your humble blogger. I recorded the presser, so I have no links for the quotes in this post, but I transcribed them word-for-word and can vouch for their accuracy.
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EILEEN SULLIVAN | AssociatedPress.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — European terrorists are trying to enter the United States with European Union passports, and there is no guarantee officials will catch them every time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.

Chertoff’s comments on Capitol Hill comes as the country is entering a potentially vulnerable period with the presidential nominating conventions coming up next month; the presidential election in November; and the transition to a new administration in January — all of which may be attractive targets for terrorists.
In his last scheduled appearance before the House Homeland Security Committee, Chertoff said that the more time and space al-Qaida and its allies have to recruit, train, experiment and plan, the more problems the U.S. and Europe will face down the road.
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Ray McGovern’s statement on the Alex Jones show (6/24) never got the attention it deserved. For those who never caught the show or listened to the MP3, here is what McGovern said;

“I’d be more interested in exploring how this thing could get underway. Now, the Iranians are no dopes. They’re not gonna be provoked into doing the kind of attack on Israel or US forces that would give us an excuse, and the Israelis an excuse to really zap ‘em, and what I mean by really zap them is; go after the lion’s share of their nuclear-related activities in Iran.

And so what’s likely to happen? Well, I think more likely than anything would be a kind of, what we call in the trade here, in the intelligence trade, a False Flag attack. Ok? You get a boat all painted up with Iranian colors, and you sink a US destroyer escort in the gulf… wow! You kill a bunch of Americans… that could set things off.

Now who would do that? Who has an interest? Cui bono? We used to say. Who would have an interest, who would profit from that kind of thing? It’s very clear that the state of Israel would, because many of those extreme leaders think that they have to move against Iran before Bush leaves office.“

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David Edwards and Nick Juliano | RawStory.com

The post-9/11 airline watch list that is supposed to keep terrorists off of airplanes has swelled to more than 1 million names, including at least one investigative reporter who had been critical of the Transportation Security Agency, which maintains the watch list.CNN’s Drew Griffin reported on the bloating of the watch list, which an ACLU count pegged at 1,001,308 names Wednesday afternoon. Griffin’s is one of those names, he says.

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 Paul Joseph Watson | InfoWars.com

Presidential frontrunner Barack Obama has called for a “civilian national security force” as powerful as the U.S. military, comments that were ignored by the vast majority of the corporate media but compared by one journalist to the Nazi Hitler Youth.

“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded,” Obama told a Colorado Springs audience earlier this month.

World Net Daily editor Joseph Farah asked if he was the only journalist in America who found Obama’s statement troubling.

“If we’re going to create some kind of national police force as big, powerful and well-funded as our combined U.S. military forces, isn’t this rather a big deal?” wrote Farah.

“Are we talking about creating a police state here? The U.S. Army alone has nearly 500,000 troops. That doesn’t count reserves or National Guard. In 2007, the U.S. Defense budget was $439 billion. Is Obama serious about creating some kind of domestic security force bigger and more expensive than that? If not, why did he say it? What did he mean?”

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Blood Platelets are desperately needed to help Greg fight his Leukemia. Please call North Shore Hospital and indicate that you wish to donate your blood for Greg Quibell.

For more information, please contact us at feal@aol.com orAR1CB2@aol.com

What are Platelets?Platelets are blood cells that help control bleeding. When a blood vessel is damaged, platelets collect at the site of the injury and temporarily repair the tear. Platelets then activate substances in plasma which form a clot and allow the wound to heal.Because platelets can be stored for only five days, the need for platelet donations is vast and continuous.

In order to donate, you must be at least 17-years-old, be in good health, weigh at least 110 pounds and not have taken aspirin or medication containing aspirin 48 hours prior to donating.

Kim Zetter | Wired.com

New York state is in the process of replacing its lever voting machines with new voting equipment, but the state revealed recently that it has found problems with 50 percent of the roughly 1,500 ImageCast optical-scan machines (shown in the video above) that Sequoia Voting Systems has delivered to the state so far — machines that are slated to be used by dozens of counties in the state’s September 9 primary and November 4 presidential election.
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Some depositors wait for hours in line, then complain of difficulty getting their money. Police are called at branches in Encino and Northridge.

By Andrea Chang, E. Scott Reckard and Kathy M. Kristof, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
July 16, 2008
Depositors of failed IndyMac Bank endured long waits in the summer heat for a second day Tuesday, with crowds becoming irate at several branches and customers with large accounts complaining of serious problems in getting their money.

Banking experts said the chaotic scenes risked touching off runs on other banks unless federal regulators quickly cashed out insured accounts and gave depositors accurate information about their funds.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Pasadena-based IndyMac late Friday and has assured depositors that accounts with $100,000 held in a single name or $250,000 in a retirement account are safe.

But many customers have said that when they checked their balances online, tens of thousands of dollars appeared to be missing. And when they went to branches in search of answers, they encountered lines hundreds of people deep and unhelpful staff members. On Tuesday, reports of unruly crowds brought police to branches in Encino and Northridge, although there were no arrests or injuries.
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Aaron Dykes | InfoWars.com 

In a response to PNAC associate Robert Kagan, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has suggested that a ‘compelling crisis’ such as Pearl Harbor or 9/11 may help bolster America’s stature in the world, which, Wolfowitz clearly hints, has been damaged by the Bush administration:

“America’s future leadership role may depend even more on how threatening the world appears. Historically, that leadership role has often emerged out of a compelling crisis: Pearl Harbour, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage crisis, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, or the attacks of 9/11.

Such a role would imply even more U.S. troops around the world and the need to maintain and even expand the state of crisis. In other words, it would be a continuation of the so-called ‘Wolfowitz Doctrine,’ a military-first approach to world dominance where the U.S. would function unilaterally as a pre-emptive security arm for world conflicts. However, despite Wolfowitz’s pre-war boast that Iraqis would “greet us as liberators,” the phony WMDs episode has likely soured public support for such pre-emptive action.

“Kagan acknowledges, ‘an American problem,’ due to ‘errors of commission and omission, not only in recent years but throughout America’s history’ — a tendency towards unilateralism and a ‘proclivity to use force’…”

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download FOIA documents 

In response to a Freedom of Information Act Request submitted by Kevin Ryan, Mick Harrison and Paul Smith, the government has disclosed documents confirming that Pakistani ISI General Ahmed - the guy who wired 100,000 dollars to lead hijacker Atta — met with Wolfowitz, Feith, Peter Rodman (PNAC), and others the week of he week of 9/11.

Nick Juliano | RawStory.com

Update: Conyers gives Rove 5 days to comply before pursuing ‘all available options’

Former White House adviser Karl Rove has ignored a subpoena from congressional Democrats to testify about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department and his alleged role in the prosecution of a former governor of Alabama.A House subcommittee voted 7-1 Thursday to reject Rove’s claim that executive privilege freed him from an obligation to testify, leaving open the possibility the Republican political guru will be held in contempt.During the hearing, Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) revealed that Rove was out of the country. According to the liberal blog ThinkProgress, Rove’s lawyer’s confirmed that Rove was out of the country on a trip scheduled long before the subpoena was sent.Karl Rove failed to appear before the House Judiciary subcommittee. His lawyer revealed that he was out of the country.This video is from U.S. House, broadcast July 10, 2008.

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As CNN reports (see video), Congress is forking over $100 million for “security expenses” in Denver and St. Paul this summer. CNN’s Ed Lavendera says the types of weapons being purchased are “top secret” and this does not sit well with the ACLU, who is suing both cities to find out how the money is being spent. “In Minnesota where republicans are holding their convention, the ACLU says it’s trying to find out how security money is being spent but law enforcement agencies insist these weapons should be kept secret so they have the upper hand in keeping the convention safe,” explains Lavendera.
In other words, members of both factions of the globalist political party will be safe from agents provocateurs who are routinely dispatched to break a few windows and burn trash in the street in order to give the cops an excuse to attack peaceful demonstrators.

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I’ve been sitting on this interview for a while, but after viewing the latest BBC piece on WTC7, I feel the time has come to release it in its entirety.

After locating Barry in mid 2007, Jason and I visited him and he graciously granted us an interview during a lunch break. He had agreed to grant us an interview under the conditions that we, at no time, associate his interview with his place of employment.

Jason and I were so thrilled with the content of the interview that we decided to release a few bits and pieces of it on both our show and Alex’s.

A few months later, as the film was nearing completion, I called Barry again to touch base and see how things were going. It took him a bit to remember who I was, but as soon as he did, he began complaining about phone calls to his place of employment and that he was in danger of losing his job. He requested to have his interview pulled from Loose Change, and I honored his request.

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