statism watch

Well, there’s the TASER, the sound cannon – why not get a torture ray on top of it? How about a death beam? It’s not as though there’s anything else to spend taxpayer’s money on. What really need is more nightmarish sci-fi crowd control weapons, for when the public figures out how they’ve been had.

Flashback: Vancouver police get military sound cannon just in time for Olympics | Canada’s military peers into future, sees drone patrols, draft, insurgency | Portable heat ray weapon may end up in police hands | G20 protesters blasted by sonic cannon | RCMP tests Tasers that record video | American Citizens Attacked With Military Sound Cannons & Tear Gas At G20 | Sonic weapons used in Iraq positioned at congressional townhall meetings in San Diego county | UK: Police may be issued with new high-power Taser | TASER introduces 3-shot semiauto | Microwave weapon will rain pain from the sky | Safety Tests MIA for Taser’s Shocking New Shotgun | TASER launches new headcam for police – with ‘privacy mode’ | All officers need Tasers, police associations say | US police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons | Army Orders Pain Ray Trucks; New Report Shows ‘Potential for Death’ | TASER bracelets considered for airline passengers | ‘Peel and Stick’ Tasers Electrify Riot Control | Tasers: the next generation

David Hambling, Wired.com
November 13, 2009

The U.S. military spent tens of millions of dollars and years of work developing a microwave “pain beam,” but a combination of technical difficulties and political concerns kept the Pentagon from fielding the thing. Now, an Israeli team says they’re working on their own own portable version. And it’ll cost just $250,000.

The American weapon, known officially as the Active Denial System (pictured, above), heats the target’s skin with short microwaves. These only penetrate to about 1/64 of an inch. That’s enough to be extremely painful but (generally) harmless. In thousands of tests of the system, nobody has been able to stay in the beam for more than a few seconds.

The latest version developed by the Pentagon’s Joint Non-lethal Weapons Directorate is known as System 2. It weighs nine tons, and because some of the components require supercooling, it takes hours to prepare the weapon for action. A portable version would only require a fraction of the power of the 100-kilowatt System 2, however. The smaller device would also have a range of around 100 feet, heating an area perhaps four inches across, enough to stop or drive away an individual.

Existing Active Denial devices use a gyrotron, a type of free-electron maser. The heart of this a vacuum tube in which electrons are gyrated (hence gyrotron) in a very strong magnetic field. That field requires superconducting magnets, which need to be kept at ultra-low temperatures to function.

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Just like in 1976 – the GBS cases are starting to crop up. In other news, Health Canada has gotten around to approving the non-adjuvanted version of the H1N1 shot for everyone. This, after two weeks of engineered shortages and panic. And from what this journal has seen, the peak of the flu has probably already passed. Will we end up throwing most of the vaccine out, again?

Flashback: Swine flu cases drop in England | Teen Diagnosed With Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Swine Flu Shot | H1N1 overplayed by media, public health: MDs | Ask military to help with H1N1: Ottawa councillor | Special H1N1 vaccine for pregnant women now here | Elite Council Recording Suggests Creating False Scarcity To Drive Up Demand For H1N1 Vaccine | WHO pandemic definition too broad, doctor contends | Vaccine scarcity claims don’t add up | ‘No reason’ to delay seasonal flu shots, global health panel says | Flu Season Has Already Peaked in US, Little Benefit to H1N1 Jab: Study | Flu vaccine shortage expected to last a week | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Mass Rejection Of Swine Flu Vaccine Continues Throughout Europe | GlaxoSmithKline profit rises on flu drug | Swine Flu Scam Reaches New Heights With Obama’s Emergency Declaration | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | US Government Hijacks Kids TV To Propagandize For Swine Flu Shots | Swine flu vaccine approved in Canada | German Government to get special swine flu vaccine | Woman Says Seasonal Flu Shot Triggered Seizures, Rare Disorder | Harper’s hedge on H1N1 shot sparks confusion | Higher instance of severe H1N1 cases in natives, women | UK: National Health Service frontline staff shun H1N1 vaccine | US: Hospitals fear ‘Flumist’ H1N1 nasal vaccine could spread swine flu | New swine-flu wave hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert | Swine flu unlikely to become superbug | UK: Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals | Flu vaccine plan will be too slow: CMAJ | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Canada to order 50.4 million H1N1 vaccine doses – with adjuvant additive | Genetically modified Swine Flu hybrid may provide vaccine yield solution | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | UK Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll | Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist | Swine flu: How scared should we be? | Top Epidemiologist Slams Swine Flu Fearmongering | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe | Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic

Paul Joseph Watson, PrisonPlanet.com
November 13, 2009

Another case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome before mass vaccination program has even begun

A young woman in France has been diagnosed with the crippling illness Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) after a swine flu shot, following reports yesterday about a Virginia teen who was similarly struck down by the disease hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine.

The woman, identified only as a health worker, was diagnosed with GBS six days after she received the swine flu shot, according to the French health ministry.

Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said the case diagnosed was light and that the woman was recovering.

“News of the apparently vaccine-related illness is likely to dampen enthusiasm here for getting vaccinated against swine flu,” reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

France has been at the center of a Europe-wide resistance to getting the swine flu shot, after authorities initially announced their intention to vaccinate the entire population. Outrage peaked in central Europe following the revelation that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and government ministers, as well as the armed forces there, received a special additive-free H1N1 vaccine that didn’t contain ingredients such as mercury and squalene that were included in shots for the general public.

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This may be in part an attempt to head off the sort of international bank tax discussed this past week at the G20, and which the US came out in opposition too. But then, Geithner, US Secretary Treasury, was for an international reserve fund in early September. What’s going on? It looks like the US wants an accord to bind national central banks to hold more capital – while other nations want the IMF to oversee this function. Is this a sign of some nascent power struggle between the IMF and the Fed?

Flashback: Flaherty, USA say no to global financial tax, yes to continued ’stimulus’ at G20 | G20 to pledge continued ’stimulus’, examine international reserve fund | Gold prices surge as India buys IMF reserves | IMF chief wants global bank tax | IMF approves $13bn gold sale to boost lending fund | G20 agrees to continue economic stimulus measures; Geithner shops international reserve accord | More US Bank Failures and The Coming Deposit Insurance Bailout | Record quarterly profits and bonuses: Goldman Sachs makes out like a bandit on taxpayer’s dime | 10 U.S. banks fail stress test, but regulators confident | Barclays, Lloyd’s, RBS join Goldman-Sachs in the black | U.S. retail sales fall unexpectedly | Goldman-Sachs to repay TARP loan, resume private operations, bonuses, at “earliest time” possible | Which Banks Will Rule? | Geithner Said to Have Prevailed on the Bailout | Analyst: One Third Of Banks Could Collapse or Merge In 2009 | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Morgan Chase Exec Brags Bailout Is for Takeovers, Restructuring, Not Lending | Behind the panic: Financial warfare over the future of global bank power

Andrew Willis, Globe and Mail
November 13, 2009

Look for the pace of U.S. bank closures to pick up after U.S. regulators boosted their bailout fund by $45-billion on Thursday, a move that may mean Canadian banks go bargain shopping.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., of FDIC, won approval for a new regime that sees American banks prepay what they owe to government-regulated industry insurance fund. The banks will prepay three years of premium, a move that’s made palatable by favourable tax treatment. TD Waterhouse said in a report late Thursday that the move will put $45-billion in the agency’s coffers, and “comes in response to the rising number of U.S. bank failures, which has put a strain on the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund.”

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Flashback: Nobel Peace Laureate Obama Will Send 40K More Troops To War | Forces begin planning for Afghan withdrawal | No way to escape Afghan combat post-2011, Hillier says | Troops get non-combat role in Afghanistan after 2011 | Conservatives claim ‘no decision’ made on leaving some troops in Afghanistan past 2011 | Top US commander signals troop increase in Afghanistan | Obama rules out Afghanistan troop cuts | Obama’s effort in Afghanistan ‘just beginning’: U.S. defence secretary | U.S. military seeks ’second surge’ for Afghan mission | UK PM Gordon Brown plans troop surge in Afghanistan | Taliban flee new U.S. drive in Afghanistan | Obama adds another brigade to Afghanistan troop surge | Dismay at Obama plan to leave 50,000 US troops in Iraq after 2010 | Cost of Afghan mission jumps to $11.3-billion | New Canadian commander in Afghanistan welcomes U.S. troop influx | Obama eyes 3 more brigades for Afghanistan | Top U.S. general boosts troop pledge to Afghanistan | Afghan war boosts recruiting | Obama’s planned troop surge in Afghanistan could lead to more violence: ISAF | ‘Some’ Troops to stay in Afghanistan past 2011: McKay | Canadian military acquiring new helicopters, drones | Obama promises 10,000 more troops for Afghanistan

Associated Press
November 13, 2009

Gordon Brown uses BBC interview to launch impassioned defence of controversial military campaign

Britain’s prime minister suggested 5,000 more NATO troops could be deployed to the troubled country, while the Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing Friday that wounded six people near the Afghan capital.

Speaking during an interview with the BBC, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Washington and London need the 43 other nations involved in the International Security Assistance Force to step up to help share the burden.

“I think we can probably get another 5,000 forces into Afghanistan,” he said.

With 9,000 troops in the country, Britain is the second largest contributor to the international coalition behind the United States. But the war is increasingly unpopular at home. Some 232 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2001. Families and military commanders have blamed deaths on a lack of equipment, and there has been growing criticism that Mr. Brown has failed to show tangible benefits of the mission.

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To say the Taliban is ‘far from monolithic’ is an understatement – it’s a diverse group of various tribes, united only insofar as they’re fundamentalist Muslim, mercenary, and want the US out of their country. That’s just a term to give you a monolithic, shadowy enemy to hate and fear. But this is far from the most important thing in this article…

Notice how the BBC just mentions they want to integrate the Quetta Shura specifically? Quetta is on the route of the TAPI oil pipeline. It’s proposed that it run right through the middle this Pakistani city. Funny, that.

Flashback: How the US Funds the Taliban | Ex-diplomat says Afghanistan in ‘civil war,’ calls for US withdrawal | Ethnic hostility is a big, maybe the biggest, part of the Afghan war | Occupiers involved in drug trade: Afghan minister | Afghan leader’s corrupt brother paid by CIA, U.S. officials say | Pakistani Army working with ‘Good Taliban’ | French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban | Afghanistan Drug Raid Snares Border Police Commander | Afghanistan’s Hidden Heroin Addicts | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | US arms sent to Afghan forces ‘in Taliban hands’ | Canada, allies will never defeat Taliban, PM says | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | ‘Reconstruction’ efforts in Khandahar not apparent to Afghanis | Delta Force Officer: We Weren’t Allowed to Kill Osama Bin Laden | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President | Report: U.S. Gave Green Light For Taliban Prison Attack | The Lies that Led to War | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

Gordon Corera, BBC News
November 13, 2009

A reconciliation between the Afghan government and some Taliban leaders in the next two years has been proposed by UK officials in a memo seen by the BBC.

Reconciliation calls are not new but this would include the so-called Quetta Shura leadership, believed to direct much of the Taliban’s activity.

Proposed steps put forward in the memo include removing “reconciled Talibs” from the UN sanctions list.

The Foreign Office said it would not comment on allegedly leaked documents.

Any reconciliation would also include Taliban foot-soldiers and local commanders, the memo said.

Several governments are thought to have recommended policies to President Hamid Karzai ahead of his second term.

The memo was first reported by the German magazine Stern and by Hasht-e Sobh, a newspaper in Kabul.

Two sections of the memo have been passed to the BBC – one looking at regional relations and the other at peace and reintegration.

The sections do not include the author or recipient or the exact date, but it is believed to have been passed to the Afghan government within recent weeks.

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It’s probably important to remember that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the former leader of Jundallah, the mercenary group funded by the US – according to the London Telegraph, Seymour Hersh (NYT), and Robert Baer (CIA) among others – to carry out destabilization operations in and around Iran. It’s also quite interesting that, among the media furore over the release of KSM’s confession to anything and everything under the sun – likely in between continued waterboarding sessions and threats to ‘hurt’ his children – it was only the alternative media that picked up on the fact that he confessed to plotting against the Washington state Plaza Bank – an institution that wasn’t even built until three years after he was imprisoned. Any idea what happens to your mind when you’re tortured 183 times in one month? Bearing all that in mind, let the show begin.

Flashback: CIA waterboarded 2 al-Qaida suspects 266 times | Sept. 11 suspects want to “confess” | Guantanamo 9/11 suspects on trial

CBC News
November 13, 2009

The U.S. government plans to put alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees in Cuba on trial in a federal civilian court in New York City.

Another five detainees, including Toronto-born Omar Khadr, and Abd al-rahim al-Nashiri, a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors, will face military commissions.

Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed the plan at a Friday morning news conference.

“After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September the 11th will finally face justice. They will be brought to New York to answer to their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks away from where the twin towers once stood,” Holder said.

Holder said prosecutors expect to seek the death penalty in the civilian court cases.

“I have every confidence we can safely hold these trials in New York as we have so many previous terrorist trials,” Holder said.

Speaking earlier in Japan, where he is on an official visit, U.S. President Barack Obama said it was a legal and national security issue.

“I am absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be subjected to the most exacting demands of justice,” Obama said.

Trying Mohammed and the other detainees in civilian court, instead of a military tribunal, presents several potential hot issues for the U.S. government. The New York case may force the courts to deal with some counter-terrorism tactics, including interrogation tactics such as waterboarding. Mohammed is reported to have been waterboarded — a simulated drowning — 183 times in 2003, before the practice was banned.

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Since the release of photos of Khadr wounded and buried under rubble at the time he was alleged to have killed a US soldier, the resolve of the Obama and Harper administrations to likewise bury the issue has only increased. While Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is to face a high profile civilian trial in New York City, supposedly subject to full constitutional protections (blocks from the site of the former WTC), Khadr’s trial continues to grind through the ‘military justice’ system. “The only conceivable basis for prosecuting cases in the discredited military commission system is that the administration lacks the confidence that it can obtain a conviction in the legitimate courts,” said the ACLU’s Ben Wizner.

Flashback: Omar Khadr ‘innocent’ in death of U.S. soldier | Kuebler dropped as Omar Khadr’s lawyer | Supreme Court to hear government’s appeal of Khadr case | Ottawa to appeal Khadr ruling to top court | Harper hints at appeal of Khadr ruling | CSIS ignored Khadr’s human rights: Parliamentary report | Ottawa appeals court order to repatriate Omar Khadr | PM must press U.S. for Khadr’s return from Guantanamo, court rules | Khadr’s military lawyer reinstated | Pentagon fires Omar Khadr’s lawyer | Arar in Canada when ’seen’ by Khadr, hearing told | Khadr, interred in rubble, couldn’t have thrown grenade in firefight: Evidence | Stop ignoring Omar Khadr case: Opposition MPs to PM | Bid to dismiss Omar Khadr’s charges fails | CSIS faces review in Khadr case | Low Level Driver Convicted Of Terror Charges While Bin Laden’s Senior Body Guard Was Let Go | Protesters push for Omar Khadr’s release | ‘You don’t care about me,’ Omar Khadr sobs in interview tapes | Canada’s top court orders partial access to Khadr transcripts | Canada losing moral standing over treatment of Omar Khadr: Dallaire | Khadr Defence chips away at military prosecution

Mitch Potter, Michelle Shephard
November 13, 2009

Ottawa refuses to say whether it will repatriate him — even if ordered by Supreme Court

In the left photo (1), Omar Khadr is hidden under rubble from a collapsed roof. In the upper corner is an unnamed combatant killed by U.S. forces. In the right photo (2), Khadr is lying face down (body is highlighted), with his head pointing toward the combatant’s body and two bullet wounds in his back.

WASHINGTON–Promising open and fair trials for all the world to see, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday he is confident five prime suspects in the attacks of 9/11 will face the “ultimate punishment” of death after they are returned and tried near the scene of the crime in New York City.

In a milestone decision marking a crucial step in the winding down of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, Holder also revealed that Canadian detainee Omar Khadr will be prosecuted before a U.S. military tribunal – but the attorney general indicated the U.S. government will remain open to the possibility of returning detainee Omar Khadr to Canada, depending on the outcome of a Supreme Court hearing underway today in Ottawa.

The two dramas playing out in Ottawa and Washington leave the prosecutorial fate of Khadr as yet unresolved.

But the decision in Washington marked a turning point, effectively dividing high-profile detainees into two groups, one to face civilian prosecutors for alleged roles in the 2001 terrorists attacks that killed civilians on American soil and a second group – including Khadr – to face military justice on charges of attacks on military targets overseas.

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