simuvac's blog

Microwave ray gun controls crowd with noise

Microwave ray gun controls crowds with noise

17:06 03 July 2008
NewScientist.com news service
David Hambling

A US company claims it is ready to build a microwave ray gun able to beam sounds directly into people's heads.

The device – dubbed MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) – exploits the microwave audio effect, in which short microwave pulses rapidly heat tissue, causing a shockwave inside the skull that can be detected by the ears. A series of pulses can be transmitted to produce recognisable sounds.

The device is aimed for military or crowd-control applications, but may have other uses.

Lev Sadovnik of the Sierra Nevada Corporation in the US is working on the system, having started work on a US navy research contract. The navy's report states that the effect was shown to be effective.
Scarecrow beam?

U.S. deserter wins appeal

U.S. deserter wins appeal
Refugee board ordered to take another look at war dodger's failed asylum bid
'Officially condoned military misconduct falling well short of a war crime may support a claim to refugee protection,' judge writes
July 04, 2008
Colin Perkel
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada's refugee board has been ordered to take another look at an American deserter's failed bid for asylum in an unprecedented court ruling that could affect scores of other U.S. soldiers who have refused to fight in Iraq.

In Friday's decision, which came as Americans celebrated Independence Day, the Federal Court found the Immigration and Refugee Board made mistakes in turning down Joshua Key's claim for asylum.

"It's quite a statement," Key, 30, told The Canadian Press from his home in Saskatchewan.

"It makes us feel good – probably everybody within this whole process."

A married father of four, Key served as a combat engineer for eight months in Iraq 2003. He said American soldiers committed savage acts against civilians and routinely killed innocent people.

NY Post applauds fight against first responders

We already know the Post is a piece of shit newspaper, but this editorial sinks to new lows.

911 Junk Science

June 29, 2008

All the rhetoric about health crises affecting Ground Zero workers post-9/11 has finally been put to a fact test.

And the data tell a different story.

For years, this page has been warning that the no-questions-asked benefits demanded by such as Sen. Hillary Clinton and Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler for anyone claiming a 9/11-related illness were an invitation to fraud.

Sure enough, that's the case. And the cost to taxpayers could run into the billions.

Lawyers defending the city against a mass lawsuit say that a detailed review of medical records for nearly 10,000 litigants (of the 40,000 people who worked at Ground Zero) shows that 30 percent only have nominal health issues.

And 306 have admitted openly that they have no past or current health problems.

FAIR covers Mark Dice case

Talk Show Host Calls for Murder
Michael Reagan says activist should be killed for treason

6/24/08

Nationally syndicated conservative radio host Michael Reagan called for the murder of a political activist on June 10. Reagan, a frequent guest on cable news shows and the son of President Ronald Reagan, singled out 9/11 activist Mark Dice by name and called several times for his assassination.

audio symbol (Click here to listen to a 3 minute audio clip.)

Reagan had learned that political activists had reportedly been sending letters and DVDs to troops in Iraq, advancing the theory that the U.S. government had carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks. For promoting this unpopular view, the talkshow host advocated that these activists should be killed as "traitors":

Silvio Berlusconi's 'iron fist' laws approved

Hmmm. I'm beginning to see a global pattern...

Silvio Berlusconi's 'iron fist' laws approved
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last updated: 7:48 AM BST 25/06/2008

Soldiers could be sent into Italy's cities, illegal immigrants will be imprisoned and all non-serious court cases will be frozen for a year under new measures approved by Italy's senate.

The senate voted 166 to 123 to approve a wide-ranging package of measures which will allow Silvio Berlusconi to govern Italy with an iron fist.

Mr Berlusconi, 71, will now be able to use as many as 3,000 soldiers for up to six months in order to fight crime. Previously, the use of the army had to be agreed by the parliament beforehand. The first destination for the troops is likely to be Naples, where Mr Berlusconi faces violent opposition to his plans for dealing with the city's rubbish crisis.

In Their Own Words: Admissions from the people who wrote the 9/11 Commission Report that it was compromised

Quotations from Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 911 Commission, by Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton

"We were set up to fail" (14).

"The chief obstacle was the White House, which argued that the congressional inquiry was continuing, and that an independent investigation would distract the government from waging the ongoing war on terrorism" (17).

"The two sides decided to split the difference, allowing eighteen months for the inquiry—a period of time that proved insufficient" (20).

"The White House also suggested some candidates for executive director for our staff. The importance of this position cannot be overstated" (22).

"…we seriously only considered one candidate: Philip Zelikow…. Zelikow was a controversial choice. In the 1990s, as an academic, he had co-authored, with Condoleezza Rice, a book about German unification, and he later assisted Stephen Hadley in running the National Security Council transition for the incoming Bush administration in 2000-2001" (28).

"…our office space and employees had to be cleared by the FBI and CIA to handle top-secret information…" (34)

Obama's foreign policy team includes Zelikow's co-author William Perry and 9/11 Commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton

More proof that Obama is just the other side of the same neocon coin:

"The Democratic White House hopeful has scheduled the inaugural meeting Wednesday of what he's calling his Senior Working Group on National Security. It includes former members of Congress and high-ranking Clinton administration officials.

Among them are three who advised Hillary Rodham Clinton and had served in her husband's Cabinet _ former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher and former Defense Secretary William Perry.

Obama also was meeting Wednesday with nearly 40 retired admirals and generals to discuss the state of the military and the challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere....

Former Pentagon leaders are among Obama's possible vice presidential picks, those who have been consulted on the search have said. The first-term Illinois senator may look for a military or national security expert to help counter Republican candidate John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war.

RFK Must Die: A chat with filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/emrfk-must-dieem----a-cha_b_106094.html

Filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan isn't sure whom he should thank more for pumping up the publicity on his new documentary film "RFK Must Die," which is currently showing at the Pioneer Theater in New York and debuts tonight on TV's WNYC 25 as well as airings on the Documentary Channel.

Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton deserves a shout-out for awkwardly raising the spectre of Bobby Kennedy's assassination in relation to the presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama. "Oh absolutely," says O'Sullivan from London, where he is based with his wife, who works in Japanese television. But Emilio Estevez deserves even more credit.

"Maybe the film "Bobby" started to bring Bobby Kennedy back into the public eye," says O'Sullivan about that acclaimed 2006 drama Estevez wrote and directed about Kennedy's last day.

Naval War College Professor Supports JFK Conspiracy Theory in Harvard University Press Book

The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
by David Kaiser

"Neither a random event nor the act of a lone madman—the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was an appalling and grisly conspiracy. This is the unvarnished story.

With deft investigative skill, David Kaiser shows that the events of November 22, 1963, cannot be understood without fully grasping the two larger stories of which they were a part: the U.S. government’s campaign against organized crime, which began in the late 1950s and accelerated dramatically under Robert Kennedy; and the furtive quest of two administrations—along with a cadre of private interest groups—to eliminate Fidel Castro.

Petraeus will turn his attention to hunt for Bin Laden

Propaganda to prepare us for a possible McCain victory in November?

Petraeus's Next Job: Finish Hunt for Bin Laden
If He Succeeds as He Has in Iraq It Could Reshape Presidential Race

General Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee here that is weighing President Bush's proposal to promote him to head of the Central Command that one of his first actions would be to visit Pakistan and meet with leaders there to discuss strategies for taking back control of the tribal border provinces where Osama bin Laden and his deputies lurk.

Report: Military used harsh methods on 9/11 terror suspect

Report: Military used harsh methods on 9-11 terror suspect
Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 12:29 PM PT

By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer

A new report by the Justice Department Inspector General details many of the harsh and intentionally humiliating techniques that the U.S. military used against Mohammed Al-Qahtani, a Saudi detainee at the Guantanamo Bay military prison who many US officials believe was meant to be the 20th hijacker on September 11, 2001.

The 438-page IG report focuses on the FBI's involvement in detainee interrogations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it also provides a window into the methods used by the Defense Department and the CIA on uncooperative detainees such as Al-Qahtani.

Quoting military records and reports, the Justice Department Inspector General said that a "special projects team" of the U.S. military interrogated Al-Qahtani between November 2002 and January 2003.

Their methods included:

Without restraint: 9/11 videos and the pursuit of truth

This is a fairly long but relatively fair review of 9/11 Truth films by a professor of Film and Communication Studies at Seton Hall. Follow the link for the entire review.

copyright 2008, Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media
Jump Cut, No. 50, spring 2008

Without restraint: 9/11 videos and the pursuit of truth
by Christopher Sharrett

DHS detention center exercise in Iowa?

(UPDATE: Looks like it was "Immigra!" after all: Up to 700 arrests estimated in Postville raid - rep.)

Questions Surround Homeland Security's Presence in Waterloo

May 9, 2008--People in Waterloo are trying to figure out what sort of operation federal officials are conducting in town. This week, the Department of Homeland Security took-over and sealed-off the grounds of the National Cattle Congress on the west side of Waterloo.

Thursday night, our crew went to investigate, but security guards told them to stay across the street from the property. Our camera caught pictures of elaborate ventilation systems going into the buildings. There were dozens of cars coming in and out with license plates from surrounding states, and even as far away as Georgia and Texas.

Domestic spying far outpaces terrorism prosecutions

Domestic spying far outpaces terrorism prosecutions
As more Americans are watched, fewer cases are made. The trend concerns civil liberties groups as well as some lawmakers and legal experts.
By Richard B. Schmitt
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 12, 2008

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court -- one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing -- has continued to decline, in some cases precipitously.

The trends, visible in new government data and a private analysis of Justice Department records, are worrisome to civil liberties groups and some legal scholars. They say it is further evidence that the government has compromised the privacy rights of ordinary citizens without much to show for it.

FBI discovers counterfeit computer hardware capable of remotely disabling US military systems

Check out the last paragraph in particular.

May 9, 2008
F.B.I. Says the Military Had Bogus Computer Gear
By JOHN MARKOFF

SAN FRANCISCO — Counterfeit products are a routine threat for the electronics industry. However, the more sinister specter of an electronic Trojan horse, lurking in the circuitry of a computer or a network router and allowing attackers clandestine access or control, was raised again recently by the F.B.I. and the Pentagon.

The new law enforcement and national security concerns were prompted by Operation Cisco Raider, which has led to 15 criminal cases involving counterfeit products bought in part by military agencies, military contractors and electric power companies in the United States. Over the two-year operation, 36 search warrants have been executed, resulting in the discovery of 3,500 counterfeit Cisco network components with an estimated retail value of more than $3.5 million, the F.B.I. said in a statement.

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