The surveillance power demanded by President Bush would not necessarily provide any better protection from terrorism, but it would certainly expand executive branch power.

On December 17 of last year, during his weekly radio address, President Bush confirmed reports by the New York Times and CNN that, following the 9/11 attacks, he had given the National Security Agency (NSA) authorization to eavesdrop on Americans communicating with people overseas. The president said that ordering such electronic surveillance without judicial warrants is “fully consistent” with his “constitutional responsibilities and authorities,” and charged that the media exposure of this secret program is illegal and “damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk.” (more…)

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s FifthEstate and the Globe & Mail, the “Toronto terror cell” arrested in June for allegedly plotting massive acts of terrorism against Canadian targets included not just one, but two Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) moles. This second Muslim man in the pay of Canada’s security forces is said to have been involved in the accused terrorists’ alleged efforts to construct powerful explosives.

Following the early June arrest of 18 young Toronto-area men on terrorism charges, government and media sources repeated ad nauseam that only prompt action by the security and intelligence services prevented a major terrorist atrocity. (more…)

Elixir of power poisons world leaders to believe they are above moral law

A comment that was not meant to be heard and has since been subject to an intense spin effort betrays the true arrogance of so-called “world leaders” and their apologist media mouthpieces. Vladimir Putin’s adulation for Israeli President Moshe Katsav’s alleged rape of ten women goes right to the root of the nature of unquestioned power. (more…)

Denies attending any elite conferences in the House of Commons. Is he lying again?

Tony Blair was questioned in the House of Commons yesterday on his involvement with the secretive Bilderberg Group. Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Baker asked Blair to provide a full answer to a previous 12th October question about Bilderberg and whether Mr Blair had had any involvement in Bilderberg Conferences since he became Prime Minister in 1997. (more…)

Asked by a moderator how many US soldiers had died in Iraq this month, Republican incumbent Geoff Davis answered “17″. The actual number is 71.

Just another “stay the course,” idiot that doesn’t have a clue what’s happening in Iraq yet wants to hold public office.

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Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

In a notice dated Wednesday, the Justice Department listed 196 pending habeas cases, some of which cover groups of detainees. The new Military Commissions Act (MCA), it said, provides that “no court, justice, or judge” can consider those petitions or other actions related to treatment or imprisonment filed by anyone designated as an enemy combatant, now or in the future. (more…)

Robert Steele was the second-ranking civilian (GS-14) in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence from 1988-1992. Steele is a former clandestine services case officer Central Intelligence Agency. He is the founder and CEO of OSS.Net, Inc. as well as the Golden Candle Society.

I am forced to conclude that 9/11 was at a minimum allowed to happen as a pretext for war (see my review of Jim Bamford’s “Pretext for War”), and I am forced to conclude that there is sufficient evidence to indict (not necessarily convict) Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and others of a neo-conservative neo-Nazi coup d’etat and kick-off of the clash of civilizations (see my review of “Crossing the Rubicon” as well as “State of Denial”). Most fascinatingly, the author links Samuel Huntington, author of “Clash of Civilizations” with Leo Strauss, the connecting rod between Nazi fascists and the neo-cons.

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Just last month, the Senate Intelligence Committee — chaired by Bush-ally Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) — concluded that there was absolutely no relationship between Saddam Hussein and the late al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Nevertheless, in an interview with a South Bend, Indiana television station yesterday, Vice President Cheney falsely asserted that Zarqawi was proof of a connection between Iraq and al Qaeda.

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Cheney’s statement is a lie. Here’s precisely what the Senate Intelligence Committee found: (more…)

SEOUL, South Korea - Thousands of citizens and soldiers rallied Friday in the North Korean capital to cheer the country’s recent nuclear test, North Korea’s official news agency reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, meanwhile, was reported to have told a visiting Chinese delegation that the communist nation wasn’t planning more nuclear tests. (more…)

Amid reports of more possible nuclear tests by Pyongyang regime, Russia has deployed surveillance aircraft to monitor North Korean territory, a top air force official said on Thursday.

“We have A-50 aircraft, which fulfil the same function as American Air-borne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Today, we can track all targets from zero to 40,000 metres,” Russian Air Chief Gen Vladimir Mikhailov said. (more…)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed regret about his country’s nuclear test to a Chinese delegation and said Pyongyang would return to international nuclear talks if Washington backs off a campaign to financially isolate the country, a South Korean newspaper reported Friday.

“If the U.S. makes a concession to some degree, we will also make a concession to some degree, whether it be bilateral talks or six-party talks,” Kim was quoted as telling a Chinese envoy, the mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo reported, citing a diplomatic source in China.

Kim told the Chinese delegation that “he is sorry about the nuclear test,” the newspaper reported. (more…)

The first long-term government study of preschoolers who take Ritalin, the popular attention deficit disorder drug, warns of side effects but also found benefits in children with severe problems.

The drug isn’t approved for use in children under age 6, and the researchers said those youngsters need close monitoring. Preschoolers are more likely than older children to develop side effects, experts said.

• Flashback: Creating Little Speed Freaks

The research was done because of concerns over reports that soaring numbers of preschoolers are being given psychiatric drugs, including Ritalin.

The study’s message is, proceed with caution, said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. (more…)

280 cameras to be installed on campuses as part of an effort to keep children safe

A week after a spate of violence in Baltimore schools, officials announced Thursday their latest strategy to keep children safe: blanketing campuses with digital surveillance cameras.

The city’s school system and Police Department have received a $500,000 federal grant, which must be matched with local money, to install 280 cameras at 10 schools. Over the summer, the city spent $1.1 million to install about 575 cameras in 11 other schools, averaging 52 cameras per school. (more…)

Fingerprinting technology is the most reliable and cost effective biometric authentication technology but it’s not being deployed on a wide scale because people still imagine that criminals are the only ones that have to surrender their fingerprints, according to Sagem.

Users are resisting the switch to fingerprint authentication technologies because they still see the process of giving a fingerprint as somehow related to being caught by the police, according to Gilles Novel, manager for secure terminals and transactions at Sagem Australasia.

“We have to shift mentality away from where people are scared [of giving their fingerprints],” Novel told ZDNet Australia. “The problem we have faced is that people think ‘if I enrol my fingerprint there has to be, one way or the other, a link to the police’. They think criminal activity instead of their own privacy.” (more…)

Federal agents tell ABC News a man in Milwaukee has admitted sending phony NFL terror threats as part of a “writer’s duel.”

The agents say the Milwaukee man and a second suspect in Texas attempted to “outdo” the other in producing the scariest terror threat. (more…)