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President Obama reached out to Africa on Saturday with a wide-ranging address praising the continent's steady achievements, but he called its persistent violent conflicts "a millstone around Africa's neck."

"Despite the progress that has been made -- and there has been considerable progress in parts of Africa -- we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled," Obama said in a speech to the parliament of Ghana, a western African nation seen as a model of democracy and growth for the rest of the continent.

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan nation to gain independence, in 1957, and Obama continually cited the nation during his speech for its stability, political strides and painstaking economic progress. Its stability stands in contrast to other hot spots on the continent, such as Zimbabwe, where the society is in economic and political turmoil; Sudan, where fighting rages in the Darfur region; and Somalia, where a shaky transitional government is now battling an Islamic insurgency.

Ghana, with a population of 24 million, was once a major slave trading center. Obama visited the Cape Coast Castle, a British outpost where slaves were held until shipped overseas, along with his daughters. Watch Obama's remark after touring Cape Coast Castle »

"I think it was particularly important for Malia and Sasha, who are being raised in a very blessed way, that history can take some cruel turns," he said. "And hopefully, one of the things that was imparted to them during this trip is their sense of obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears."

Obama, whose father was Kenyan, compared the history to that of the Holocaust, Nazi Germany's efforts to exterminate the Jews of Europe during World War II.

"It's one of those things that you don't forget about," he told CNN in an interview scheduled to air Monday on "Anderson Cooper 360."

"I think it's important that the way we think about it, the way it's taught, is not one in which there's simply a victim and a victimizer, and that's the end of the story," he said. "I think the way it has to be thought about, the reason it's relevant, is whether it's what's happening in Darfur or what's happening in the Congo or what's happening in too many places around the world, the capacity for cruelty still exists." Watch how Ghana is celebrating the Obamas' visit »

But he told lawmakers that Ghana now shows "a face of Africa that is too often overlooked by a world that sees only tragedy or the need for charity." While the nation-building the country exemplifies may lack "drama of the 20th century's liberation struggles," he said "it will ultimately be more significant."

As he has in past remarks, including his Cairo address last month about U.S.-Muslim relations, Obama stressed the superiority of governments that "respect the will of their own people," saying they foster more prosperity and stability than governments that don't. Watch Obama deliver speech to Ghanaian lawmakers »

"No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt," he said. "No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there."

Even Kenya, his father's homeland, continues to struggle with tribalism and corruption, he said. That eastern African nation "had a per-capita economy larger than South Korea's when I was born" and now, he says, it has been "badly outpaced."

But he said Kenya has restored stability after the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election. South Africa has had high voter turnout in recent elections, and Zimbabwe's Election Support Network has defended the right to vote. Watch report on Ghanaians' reaction to Obama's remarks »

"Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans, and not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions," he said. He said his administration will work "to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don't, and that is exactly what America will do."

As for the economy and opportunity, he said African nations need to stop focusing on one particular commodity, such as oil or cocoa, and "promote multiple export industries, develop a skilled work force, and create space for small and medium-sized businesses that create jobs."

He cited "our $3.5 billion food security initiative" and said "new methods and technologies for farmers -- not simply sending American producers or goods to Africa" is what is needed. See where Ghana is located »

Obama also made reference to climate and energy challenges, saying the developed world should work with Africa to confront such problems. He said Africa has much potential to exploit its wind and solar power and geothermal energy and biofuels.

"When children are being killed because of a mosquito bite, and mothers are dying in childbirth, then we know that more progress must be made."

He said his administration has committed $63 billion to fight disease, praising the "strong efforts" of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Watch Ed Henry's report Obama's emotional visit to Africa »

Obama welcomed efforts by the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States to help resolve conflict. He said the United States "will stand behind efforts to hold war criminals accountable" and that the Pentagon's Africa Command will fight "common challenges to advance the security of America, Africa and the world." Watch Obama's remarks as his visit to Ghana concludes »

"We all have many identities -- of tribe and ethnicity; of religion and nationality. But defining oneself in opposition to someone who belongs to a different tribe, or who worships a different prophet, has no place in the 21st century," he said.

The highly controversial no-warrant surveillance program initiated after the September 11 terrorist attacks relied on a "factually flawed" legal analysis inappropriately provided by a single Justice Department official, according to a report to Congress on Friday.

The report was compiled by the inspectors general of the nation's top intelligence agencies, the Pentagon and the Justice Department.

The report, mandated by Congress, provides fresh context to information previously leaked in press accounts and buttressed by both congressional testimony and books written by former officials involved in the surveillance effort.

The 38-page unclassified version of the document reaches a cautious conclusion, stating that any use of the information collected under the surveillance program "should be carefully monitored."

The program, launched by President Bush in the weeks after the September 11 attacks, allowed for -- without court approval -- the interception of communications into and out of the United States if there was a "reasonable basis" that one of the parties was a terrorist.

The report, though not critical of the program's objectives, sharply criticizes the legal advice provided to the White House by the Justice Department.

Among other things, the report cites a Justice Department conclusion that "it was extraordinary and inappropriate that a single DOJ attorney, John Yoo, was relied upon to conduct the initial legal assessment" of the surveillance program.

"The lack of oversight and review of Yoo's work ... contributed to a legal analysis of the [program] that at a minimum was factually flawed," it says.

The report says Yoo largely circumvented both his boss, Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Yoo, described by Bybee in the report as "the White House's guy" on national security, also provided the legal justification for the CIA's controversial harsh interrogation program. Yoo's legal rationale was later repudiated by the Justice Department.

The bitter debate within the Justice Department over the legal basis for the warrantless surveillance and related intelligence efforts is highlighted in references to the much-documented dramatic account of a March 2004 confrontation in Ashcroft's hospital room. Deputy Attorney General James Comey defied then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales by refusing to sign off on the reauthorization of the program.

The report notes that several members of Congress -- including then-House Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Nancy Pelosi -- were briefed on the program on October 25, 2001, and a total of 17 times before the program became public in 2005.

The document repeats the public assertion by former National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden that no member of Congress had urged that the program be stopped.

The new report makes clear that the President's Surveillance Program was only a small part of the counterterrorism intelligence efforts in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and its impact even today remains unclear.

Most of the intelligence officials interviewed by the inspectors general had, according to the report, "difficulty citing specific instances where PSP reporting had directly contributed to counterterrorism successes."

The report was compiled by inspectors general of five agencies despite the apparent refusal by key figures -- including Yoo, former Attorney General John Ashcroft and former CIA Director George Tenet -- to be interviewed by investigators.

Governments and companies should limit the snooping they do on web users.

So said Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, who said that growing oversight of browsing could have a pernicious effect.

A greater part of the value of the web lay in the lack of constraints on what people could do with it.

He also warned that attempts to censor what people could say or what they could do online were ultimately doomed to failure.

Open triumph

"When you use the internet it is important that the medium should not be set up with constraints," he said.

The internet, said Sir Tim, should be like a blank piece of paper. Just as governments and companies cannot police what people write or draw on that sheet of paper so they should not be restricted from putting the web to their own uses.

"The canvas should be blank," he said

While governments do need some powers to police unacceptable uses of the web; limits should be placed on these powers, he said.

Two days of talks in Costa Rica aimed at ending the political crisis in Honduras have ended without agreement.

Mediators from the host country said the two sides had agreed to resume talks shortly but some regional leaders said they saw little sign of progress.

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti had refused to meet but held separate talks with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

Correspondents say the former allies' positions remain far apart.

Mr Zelaya, who was removed from Honduras at gun point in a coup last month, continues to describe Mr Micheletti as a criminal, while Mr Micheletti's interim government has said Mr Zelaya will be arrested if he tries to return to the country.

Both men left the talks on Thursday, leaving delegations behind to continue the discussions.
Mr Zelaya flew to the Dominican Republic, where he is hoping to gather more support, and Mr Micheletti has returned to Honduras.

On arriving back in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, Mr Micheletti said: "We are in agreement with his [Mr Zelaya's] return here - but to be sent directly to the courts."

Shortly after his return, Mr Micheletti announced he had accepted the resignation of his de facto Foreign Minister, Enrique Ortez, for using racially offensive language about US President Barack Obama.

Mr Ortez was reported to have described Mr Obama as "negrito" - meaning "little black man" - which Mr Micheletti said was "a scandalous epithet".

'Timid measures'

On Friday, Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela and one of Mr Zelaya's key supporters, said the talks in Costa Rica were dead and that it was "horrible" to see the "usurper" Mr Micheletti being treated with deference by Mr Arias.

'Timid measures'

On Friday, Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela and one of Mr Zelaya's key supporters, said the talks in Costa Rica were dead and that it was "horrible" to see the "usurper" Mr Micheletti being treated with deference by Mr Arias.

Mr Chavez also criticised what he said were "timid measures" by the US in response to the crisis and demanded to know why they had not recalled their ambassador imposed sanctions.

The BBC's Charles Scanlon in the region says much will now depend on what Washington decides to do next.

The US has already cut some aid to Honduras but has not exerted its full economic and diplomatic muscle, says our correspondent.

The political crisis erupted after Mr Zelaya attempted to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution.

Opponents said that could have led to the removal of the current one-term limit on serving as president and so paved the way for Mr Zelaya's possible re-election.

He was forced out of Honduras at gunpoint on 28 June.

A Japanese rail firm has introduced a system to check that staff are smiling enough at all times.

Computerised scanners around 15 Tokyo stations will measure the smile's curvature to ensure it is broad enough.

Those failing to measure up - literally - will be advised to look less serious and more cheerful.

The system will also be introduced at a hospital in Osaka to check staff friendliness and at a truck stop to measure the tiredness of drivers.

The BBC's Roland Buerk, in Tokyo, says that the Japanese highly value customer service.
It is standard practice, our correspondent explains, for smartly-dressed train conductors to bow as customers enter and leave train carriages.

The software has been developed by Japanese firm Omron.

They suggests that future applications may include shops - where they could be positioned to measure the reaction of customers to products on display.

BBC

A car bomb has killed four people and injured 40 at a market on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police sources told the BBC.

All of those killed or injured in the blast in Kukchali, a mixed Sunni-Shia area to the east of Mosul, are believed to be civilians.

Mosul, with its volatile ethnic and religious mix, has seen numerous attacks by insurgents.

The blast comes less than two weeks after US troops left Iraqi cities.

Correspondents say the bomb went off in an area with a predominantly Shia population, thought to be from Iraq's Shabak community.

On Wednesday two car bombs went off outside Shia mosques in Mosul, killing at least 14 people and injuring about 30. According to Reuters news agency, Shabak areas were targeted in both attacks.

Mosul, a city of about 1.8 million people about 400km (250 miles) north-west of the capital Baghdad, is mainly populated by Iraqi Arabs with Kurdish and other ethnic minorities.

US and Iraqi officials have described the city as al-Qaeda in Iraq's last major urban stronghold in the country.

BBC

Former Vice President Al Gore declared that the Congressional climate bill will help bring about “global governance.”

“I bring you good news from the U.S., “Gore said on July 7, 2009 in Oxford at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, sponsored by UK Times.

“Just two weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey climate bill,” Gore said, noting it was “very much a step in the right direction.” President Obama has pushed for the passage of the bill in the Senate and attended a G8 summit this week where he agreed to attempt to keep the Earth’s temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C.

Gore touted the Congressional climate bill, claiming it “will dramatically increase the prospects for success” in combating what he sees as the “crisis” of man-made global warming.

“But it is the awareness itself that will drive the change and one of the ways it will drive the change is through global governance and global agreements.” (Editor’s Note: Gore makes the “global governance” comment at the 1min. 10 sec. mark in this UK Times video.)

Gore’s call for “global governance” echoes former French President Jacques Chirac’s call in 2000.

On November 20, 2000, then French President Chirac said during a speech at The Hague that the UN’s Kyoto Protocol represented “the first component of an authentic global governance.”

“For the first time, humanity is instituting a genuine instrument of global governance,” Chirac explained. “From the very earliest age, we should make environmental awareness a major theme of education and a major theme of political debate, until respect for the environment comes to be as fundamental as safeguarding our rights and freedoms. By acting together, by building this unprecedented instrument, the first component of an authentic global governance, we are working for dialogue and peace,” Chirac added.

Former EU Environment Minister Margot Wallstrom said, “Kyoto is about the economy, about leveling the playing field for big businesses worldwide.” Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper once dismissed UN’s Kyoto Protocol as a “socialist scheme.”

‘Global Carbon Tax’ Urged at UN Meeting

In addition, calls for a global carbon tax have been urged at recent UN global warming conferences. In December 2007, the UN climate conference in Bali, urged the adoption of a global carbon tax that would represent “a global burden sharing system, fair, with solidarity, and legally binding to all nations.”

“Finally someone will pay for these [climate related] costs,” Othmar Schwank, a global tax advocate, said at the 2007 UN conference after a panel titled “A Global CO2 Tax.”

The 2007 UN conference was presented with a report from the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment titled “Global Solidarity in Financing Adaptation.” The report stated there was an “urgent need” for a global tax in order for “damages [from climate change] to be kept from growing to truly catastrophic levels, especially in vulnerable countries of the developing world.”

The tens of billions of dollars per year generated by a global tax would “flow into a global Multilateral Adaptation Fund” to help nations cope with global warming, according to the report.

Schwank said a global carbon dioxide tax is an idea long overdue that is urgently needed to establish “a funding scheme which generates the resources required to address the dimension of challenge with regard to climate change costs.”

‘Redistribution of wealth’

The environmental group Friends of the Earth advocated the transfer of money from rich to poor nations during the 2007 UN climate conference.

“A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources,” said Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth.

[Editor's Note: Many critics have often charged that proposed climate tax and regulatory “solutions” were more important to the promoters of man-made climate fears than the accuracy of their science. Former Colorado Senator Tim Wirth reportedly said, "We've got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing — in terms of economic policy and environmental policy."]

Early Friday morning, MSNBC followed up on a theory posted Thursday on the Huffington Post which alleged that a secret CIA program shut down in June by director Leon Panetta could have been related to a purported effort led by Vice President Dick Cheney to assassinate intelligence targets abroad.

This past March, as RAW STORY reported, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the Bush Administration was running an “executive assassination ring” which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

“It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on,” Hersh stated. “Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us.”

“The revelation from seven Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee that they were misled about a critical CIA program has sparked a debate that touches on the most sensitive areas of national security policy,” Huffington Post’s Sam Stein wondered aloud Thursday. “What program, exactly, was being kept secret?”

Panetta admitted that the CIA had been “concealing significant actions” from Congress since 2001.

Stein wrote that one “theory being bandied about concerns an ‘executive assassination ring’ that was allegedly set up and answered to former Vice President Dick Cheney,” though his article didn’t cite sources for the claim. The reporter spoke to Rep. Anna Eshoo, (D-Calif.), a signatory to the CIA letter, about the theory.

Asked if this was the basis of her letter to Panetta, Eshoo said she could not discuss what was a “highly classified program.” She did, however, note that when Panetta told House Intelligence Committee members what it was that had been kept secret, “the whole committee was stunned, even Republicans.” A Republican committee member told Who Runs Gov’s Greg Sargent it was something they hadn’t heard before.

MSNBC took another shot at asking Eshoo about it on Friday morning.

After correspondent Contessa Brewer summed up the “Cheney assassination ring” backstory, MSNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan remarked, “That’s one of those ‘it’s horrifying and not surprising’ in the same sentence for a lot of folks I know.”

Ratigan asked Eshoo,

“No, I can’t,” Eshoo responded, “it’s highly classified and I can’t discuss it.”

Ratigan shot back, “Right, cause my theory is we were about to invade Canada, we were going to pick up St. Bart’s from the French, or Cheney had a private army.”

Eshoo kept firm, and wouldn’t divulge details about the program. She did, however, drop some clues.

Some of my colleagues have, in many ways, pooh-poohed it and said it wasn’t this and it wasn’t that. I believe that’s a complete mischaracterization of what director Leon Panetta informed the committee.

Now, I give him credit for coming up to the Hill the day after he was informed about this program. I also think it’s quite curious that his own people didn’t brief him when he first became director after he was confirmed.

….

But what I can tell you is that people were instructed not to inform the Congress. Now, that’s in direct violation of the law. The National Security Act… When the committee was informed by Director Panetta, everyone was stunned across the board, Republicans and Democrats. As well as we should be in terms of having something absolutely concealed from all members of Congress. The top leadership of the Congress didn’t know. So this is serious.

A report in Friday’s Washington Post, however, seemed to throw water on the “secret CIA program may be an assassination ring” theory.

Paul Kane and Ben Pershing penned:

The program remains classified, and those knowledgeable about it would describe it only vaguely yesterday. Several current and former administration officials called it an “on-again, off-again” attempt to create a new intelligence capability and said it was related to the collection of information on suspected terrorists that was instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Congressional Republicans said no briefing about the program was required because it was not a major tool used against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. They accused Democrats of using the matter to divert attention away from Pelosi’s accusation that CIA officials intentionally misled her in 2002 about the agency’s interrogations of suspected terrorists.

But Democrats waved away such claims and said they may open a congressional investigation of the concealment of the program.

“Current and former administration officials familiar with the program said it was not directly related to previously disclosed high-priority programs such as detainee interrogations or the warrantless surveillance of suspected terrorists on U.S. soil,” the Post reporters added. “It was a intelligence-collection activity run by the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, officials said. It was not a covert action, which by law would have required a presidential finding and a report to Congress.”

A “former top Bush administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the issue,” told the Post, “This characterization of something that began in 2001 and continued uninterrupted for eight years is just wrong. Honest men would question that characterization. It was more off and on.”

The paper adds, “The official said he was certain that, if the nature of the program could be revealed, it would be seen as ‘no big deal.’”

Another report out late Thursday also seemed to rule out the “Cheney’s private army” theory.

Newsweek reports that “Panetta has ordered an internal inquiry into the agency’s handling of a contentious and still highly classified intelligence program that has caused a heated dispute between the CIA and Democrats on the House intelligence committee. The move by Panetta appears to be an implicit acknowledgment by the agency that it should have disclosed information about the post-9/11 secret program to Congress much earlier than it did.”

More from Newsweek:

One question Congressional Democrats still want answered: was the program an idea CIA officials had just talked about as a possibility, or had they actually put it into operation? If it was just talk, as some in the intelligence community insist, the argument could be made that there was no requirement to notify Congress. “This program came in post-9/11, and it was indeed on-again, off-again,” the official said. “You could argue that it never really took shape.” The implication is that whatever the details of the program, it carried risks that some officials at the agency strongly felt might not be worth taking.

“You’ve got a lot of people [at the agency] who, after September 11, were thinking of creative ways of doing things,” said one former senior CIA official. “That doesn’t mean you have to run up and tell Congress about it.”

….

Three officials familiar with still-secret details of the dispute said Panetta was not himself complicit in authorizing or covering up the program. One of the officials described the CIA director as a good guy for having voluntarily informed Congress about the information. Two officials also said there was no reason to believe that information about the secret program was about to come out in the media; rather, they give Panetta credit for finding out about it and quickly reporting what he knew to the Hill.

Forced abortions. Mass sterilization. A “Planetary Regime” with the power of life and death over American citizens.

The tyrannical fantasies of a madman? Or merely the opinions of the person now in control of science policy in the United States? Or both?

These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology — informally known as the United States’ Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that:

* Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;

* The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food;

* Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;

* People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.

* A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.

Impossible, you say? That must be an exaggeration or a hoax. No one in their right mind would say such things.

Well, I hate to break the news to you, but it is no hoax, no exaggeration. John Holdren really did say those things, and this report contains the proof. Below you will find photographs, scans, and transcriptions of pages in the book Ecoscience, co-authored in 1977 by John Holdren and his close colleagues Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich. The scans and photos are provided to supply conclusive evidence that the words attributed to Holdren are unaltered and accurately transcribed.

Of course, Holdren wrote these things in the framework of a book he co-authored about what he imagined at the time (late 1970s) was an apocalyptic crisis facing mankind: overpopulation. He felt extreme measures would be required to combat an extreme problem. Whether or not you think this provides him a valid “excuse” for having descended into a totalitarian fantasy is up to you: personally, I don’t think it’s a valid excuse at all, since the crisis he was in a panic over was mostly in his imagination. Totalitarian regimes and unhinged people almost always have what seems internally like a reasonable justification for actions which to the outside world seem incomprehensible.

The former speaker of the US House of Representatives has said that the US should “sabotage” Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure as part of its efforts to bring down the government.
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Avi Lewis for the Fault Lines programme, Republican Newt Gingrich said targeting Iran’s refinery would spark an economic crisis that would destabilise the government in Tehran.

He said the US should “use covert operations … to create a gasoline-led crisis to try and replace the regime”.

“I think we have a vested interest, the world has a vested interest, in a responsible Iranian government, just as we have a vested interest in a responsible North Korean government,” he said.

In depth

Newt Gingrich speaks to Al Jazeera on Iran

While Barack Obama, the US president, has attempted diplomatic engagement with Iran following years of icy relations, some of his administration’s critics have been calling for destabilisation instead.

But Gingrich qualified that such a tactic to destabilise would only be “one piece out of many”.

“I think that the Reagan strategy in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s is the right strategy: we use economic, diplomatic, psychological pressures to try to change the regime.”

WMR has learned that the National Security ‘Q’ Group, responsible for security, has grown to an immense security and counter-intelligence force, with an estimated one thousand government employees, contractors, and paid informants. NSA’s Security force is reportedly primarily tasked with plugging any leaks of classified or other information that points to U.S. government’s involvement with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
featured stories NSA Security running amok to plug leaks about 9/11


The US government has allegedly set up a special security wing with the sole task of distancing Washington from any involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.


NSA Security has doggedly pursued a number of NSA employees, some in ’sting’ operations, others in frequent polygraphs and repeated security interviews where threats are made by thuggish NSA security agents with and without the presence of FBI agents, and others in constant surveillance operations at their homes, churches, and other locations away from the Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters of the agency.

The most egregious NSA Security operation against an NSA employee was the 2004 arrest of NSA analyst Ken Ford, Jr. Ford became a target of opportunity for NSA Security and the FBI after Vice President Dick Cheney noted his name on an NSA signals intelligence report on Saddam Hussein’s government that stated that there was no proof from interceptions of Iraqi communications that Saddam Hussein possessed ‘weapons of mass destruction.’

Cheney and other neocons in the Bush White House arranged for a ’sting’ operation to be mounted as retribution against Ford. Ford was charged with taking classified papers home from NSA headquarters, something that is quite impossible considering the stringent security in place at one of the most-secured complexes in the world.

U.S. President Barack Obama warned Iran on Friday the world will not wait indefinitely for it to end its nuclear defiance, saying Tehran had until September to comply or else face consequences.

Obama, speaking at the end of a G8 summit in Italy, said leaders had sent a message condemning the “appalling” events surrounding Iran’s disputed presidential election and expressing solidarity against Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

He said he hoped Iran would enter negotiations on the issue and that leaders would review the situation again at a G20 meeting of developed and developing countries in Pittsburgh in September.

Matt Spetalnick
The Washington Post
Read entire article

All over the news are claims of web attacks in which North Korea is “suspected.” Why are they suspected? Because “the South’s spy agency has said the hacking may be linked to North Korea.” Ah, well, that clinches it.

The level of disinformation is almost beyond belief. If we make it as far as the tenth paragraph of the article, we read this:

One online expert was quoted as telling a South Korean daily that tracking the spread of the malicious software showed it had originated from an IP address based in United States.

Long before we’ve gotten to that paragraph, however, we’ve read such things as: “the attacks…served as a reminder that Pyongyang has been planning for cyber warfare.” Really? Only if they had anything to do with North Korea, about which the evidence is not only non-existent, but, based on the previous quoted statement, positively contra-indicated.

Elsewhere we read:

The attacks will likely be regarded by the North’s leadership as a victory for Kim Jong-il — even if Pyongyang was not behind them — because they hurt the country’s traditional foes, adding a new dimension to the threat level posed by the reclusive state.

which is not only speculative but also bizarrely convoluted, since the “threat…posed by the reclusive state” is only relevant if this was an “attack” by North Korea. And, by the way, that threat is described elsewhere in the article as having had “negligible” impact. Talk about having it both ways!

And what about that bit about how North Korea has been “planning for cyber warfare”? It’s linked to yet another bit of speculation/possible disinformation:

An expert on North Korea at the Heritage Foundation, Bruce Klingner, said the North had in operation a military unit with up to 1,000 skilled computer hackers created 10 years ago.

Ah, the Heritage Foundation, that well-known source of independent, unbiased information. And, based as they are in Washington, D.C., sure to be the world’s best source of information on the inner workings of North Korea.

Atheo News

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev illustrated his call for a supranational currency to replace the dollar by pulling from his pocket a sample coin of a “united future world currency.”

“Here it is,” Medvedev told reporters today in L’Aquila, Italy, after a summit of the Group of Eight nations. “You can see it and touch it.”

The coin, which bears the words “unity in diversity,” was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations, Medvedev said.

The question of a supranational currency “concerns everyone now, even the mints,” Medvedev said. The test coin “means they’re getting ready. I think it’s a good sign that we understand how interdependent we are.”

Medvedev has repeatedly called for creating a mix of regional reser

ve currencies as part of the drive to address the global financial crisis, while questioning the U.S. dollar’s future as a global reserve currency. Russia’s proposals for the G-20 meeting in London in April included the creation of a supranational currency.

Lyubov Pronina
Bloomberg

Police killed 400 Uighurs in the capital of China’s Xinjiang region during ethnic unrest there, exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer claimed yesterday.

Ms Kadeer said Uighur sources within “East Turkestan”, the separatist name for the northwest region, had told her 400 Uighurs had died “as a result of police shootings and beatings” in Urumqi since violence erupted there on Sunday.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal Asia, the president of the World Uighur Congress said unrest was spreading across the region and unconfirmed reports indicated more than 100 Uighurs had been killed in Kashgar, another major city in Xinjiang.

Chinese authorities have said 156 people died in Sunday’s violence in Urumqi. They have not made clear how many of the victims were Han Chinese and how many were Uighur, or how they died.

"Uighurs have contacted me to report that the Chinese authorities are in the process of conducting a house-to-house search of Uighur homes and are arresting male Uighurs," Ms Kadeer wrote.

"They say that Uighurs are afraid to walk the streets in the capital of their homeland."

China has blamed Ms Kadeer for instigating the violence, which she strongly denies.

In Urumqi yesterday, hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighbourhoods and the central square, where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets.

Notes dropped by helicopter over the regional capital yesterday carried an appeal for calm from Xinjiang's Communist Party secretary. "Secretary Wang urges everybody to return home, return to their work units and return to their communities," read the text in bold Chinese characters.

Uighurs say the riots were triggered by the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers killed in a brawl in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan. The troubles

tarted when rumours began to spread that Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim Uighur migrant workers at the toy plant had raped Chinese women.

Allegations were also posted online, and travelled through the Han community.

Police eventually said the charges were untrue. But as word spread of further alleged sexual assaults, enraged Han workers attacked their Uighur co-workers. State media say two Uighurs were killed and dozens injured. Uighur groups say the death toll was higher.

The Uighurs' employment at the toy plant was part of a labour program promoted by the government in part as a way to help forge bonds between Uighur migrants and Han Chinese workers in eastern China.

Police said on Tuesday that they had detained 13 men - three from Xinjiang and 10 Han Chinese - in connection with the factory clash.

The animosity and distrust between Han Chinese and Uighurs have been exacerbated by a series of violent acts last year attributed by the government to Uighur terrorists. Many Uighurs complain that ethnic discrimination against them has been rising.

"Many observers see growing ethnic tensions and polarisation between ethnic groups," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, a US-based advocacy group. "There's widespread cultural prejudice."

For activist Uighurs overseas, the factory clash has become a rallying event - one mentioned frequently as a trigger for the continuing unrest in Urumqi by both Han and Uighur residents. One video was posted on YouTube with the title "Chinese Commies Massacre Innocent Uyghur Workers 3," and a caption saying it shows Han Chinese with clubs beating Uighurs as they tried to flee. The veracity of the video could not be determined.

The authorities have been trying to control the most recent unrest by blocking the internet, including social networking sites such as Facebook, and limiting access to texting services on mobile phones.

The Australian

CCTV
How did we go from using closed-circuit cameras to monitor launches of V2 rockets to watching society 24/7? There are about 30 million surveillance cameras in the United States watching you 24/7 and generating 4 billion hours of footage a week. The government and law enforcement (probably corporate America too) are the biggest users of this technology and claim they use it to reduce crime, but i have not seen any survey or study of this. These eyes in the sky do not prevent crime they just watch it happen and will eventually monitor the law abiding citizen's behavior. I can just image the future with these flying cameras passing by our home's window or was that book i read? Also what about those red light cameras, i hate them so much, what are they supposed to prevent some kind accident or make not want to beat the yellow light (lol i am just jk)? It is just a money scam just like those stupid toll roads its other way to remind you that you are not free.


Radio Frequency Identification Chips
You might think they you don't own any RFID chips, but you actually do. These chips are used in supermarkets and stores to keep track of their stock, but they can also be used to monitor what kind of products you like. These chips are really small and are about the same size as a grain of rice and can be inserted into clothing,food,and pretty much everything you buy. The RFID is not turned off after you leave the store it is still sending out a signal after the purchase.

Your Phone Company
Throw away your alligator clips because in the 21st century there is no need for that barbaric tools for surveillance. I think everybody already knows that telecom companies were granted immunity and help the government spy on your mobile and lan line phone calls. Communications can also be blocked and that just opens the door for disinformation and lovely propaganda.

If you did not figured it out by now that china is a blueprint on how the rest of the world should be developed then you have not opened your eyes to this fact. It is the biggest social, psychological, and scientific experiment in history and as the days pass by it gets brutally more tyrannical. It has nothing to do with communism because all it is a false paradigm created by the shadow elite:

There does exist and has existed for a generation, an international anglophile network which operates some extent, in the way radical right believes the communist act. In fact, this network which we may identify as the round table groups, has no aversion to cooperating with communist, or any other groups, and frequently does so. I know of the operations of this network because i have studied it for twenty years and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960's to examine its papers and secret records. I have no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have for much of my life, been close to it and to many of its instruments. The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies on, perhaps, of the right and the other of the left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. instead, the two parties should be almost identical.
Carror Quigley

History professor at the Foreign Service Schools of Georgetown University whom Clinton honored in his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, July 16, 1992.

Dozens of baby girls in southern China have reportedly been taken from parents who broke family-planning laws, and then sold for adoption overseas. An investigation by the state-owned Southern Metropolis News found that about 80 girls in one county had been sold for $3,000 (£1,800). The babies were taken when the parents could not pay the steep fines imposed for having too many children. Local officials may have forged papers to complete the deals, the report said. Parents in rural areas are allowed two children, unlike urban dwellers who are allowed one. But if they have more than that, they face a fine of about $3,000 -several times many farmers' annual income.
BBC

• Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.
  
  
• Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.
  
  
• Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.
  
  
• View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

The Senate does not plan to make any serious moves toward approving a climate change bill until September, a month later than its leaders’ previous expectation.

Sen. Barbara Boxer today told reporters that she will not draft a climate change bill in her Environment and Public Works Committee until September, throwing the timetable for action in the chamber into doubt on one of President Obama’s top legislative goals.

According to published reports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., agreed to move his deadline for Boxer’s and other committees to complete work on a climate change bill to Sept. 28, more than a week later than his original target of Sept. 18. The change came after a meeting Wednesday evening between Reid, Boxer and Carol Browner, Obama’s assistant for energy and climate change, Congressional Quarterly reported.

Edward Felker
The Washington Times
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