statism watch

It emerges that the USA’s National Security Agency has rewritten the Windows ‘Security Advisor’ application in some way for Windows 7. Is your system compromised? It’s hard to tell from the article – the NSA, it seems to suggest, may have simply been doing a bugfix, or rewriting the installation wizard, or some similar seemingly innocuous thing. However, it does point out that the NSA has been working with Microsoft since the development of Windows XP, which is one interesting factoid. And there’s stuff all over the web about the advapi.dll Windows system encryption library, which when decompiled has a digital key labelled NSAKEY. Is your system compromised? Considering the fact that the NSA has been wiretapping the entire country for years now, you may want to consider trying an open source Linux distribution like Ubuntu before you ‘upgrade’ to Windows 7. Here’s a way to try it that can be uninstalled at any time.

Flashback: Cybersecurity Is Framework For Total Government Regulation & Control Of Our Lives | Showdown in NSA Wiretap Case: Judge Threatens Sanctions Against Justice Department | Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate | NSA Surveillance Exploding, Americans Wiretapped Beyond Congressional Limits | Put NSA in Charge of Cyber Security, Or the Power Grid Gets It | Following Bush lead, Obama moves to block challenge to wiretapping program | Cybersecurity law would give feds unprecedented net control | Munk Centre researchers discover botnet, call for international cyberspace ‘legal regime’ | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | Obama tries to kill lawsuit challenging wiretapping program, fails | Whistleblower: NSA even collected credit card records | Do We Need a New Internet? | Defense Contractors See $$$ in Cyber Security | RCMP to helm a Canadian “cyber-security strategy” | ‘Einstein’ replaces ‘Big Brother’ in Internet surveillance | Law Professor tells tech conference: plans to shut down Internet already on deck | Whistle-Blower: Feds Have a Backdoor Into Wireless Carrier — Congress Reacts

Kevin Whitelaw, NPR.org
November 17, 2009

The National Security Agency has been working with Microsoft Corp. to help improve security measures for its new Windows 7 operating system, a senior NSA official said on Tuesday.

The confirmation of the NSA’s role, which began during the development of the software, is a sign of the agency’s deepening involvement with the private sector when it comes to building defenses against cyberattacks.

“Working in partnership with Microsoft and (the Department of Defense), NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft’s operating system security guide without constraining the user’s ability to perform their everyday tasks,” Richard Schaeffer, the NSA’s Information Assurance Director, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a statement prepared for a hearing held this morning in Washington. “All this was done in coordination with the product release, not months or years later in the product cycle.”

The partnership between the NSA and Microsoft is not new.

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The Taliban seem quite insistent on this point. And considering that Blackwater/Xe deny having any Pakistani contracts – but then have been blatantly caught lying and do in fact have security contracts in Peshawar – it looks like they may just be right. Here’s a question. Considering their documented history of crimes, does anyone believe for a moment that Blackwater is above flase flag attacks to advance foreign policy in the region? If the CIA or the Pakistani ISI (well documented as a CIA franchise operation) say jump, Xe is going to say ‘how high’. But we don’t need to trust the Taliban – we can just read the mainstream news to see what kind of an operation they run:

Flashback: Report: Blackwater approved plan to pay off Iraqi officials | Taliban Chief Blames Blackwater, ISI for Peshawar Blast | Bomb kills dozens in Pakistan as Hillary Clinton arrives | Ex-employees claim Blackwater pimped out young Iraqi girls | Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Implicated in Murder | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | Not very cricket: Witnesses report Pakistani security abandoned convoy prior to attack | Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Implicated in Murder | Blackwater, mired in Iraq controversy, changes its name to ‘Xe’ | Official: Blackwater contract for Iraq not renewed | Blackwater Guards facing Charges in Case of 17 Dead Iraqi Citizens | Blackwater-linked firm to train Canadian troops | Madsen: CIA collusion with “Al Qaeda” financiers and attack planners | Canadian troops continue gearing up, to receive US counter-insurgency training | Blackwater Worldwide, Wal-Mart of modern war

Daniel Tencer, Rawstory.com
November 17, 2009

The Pakistani arm of the Taliban has denied responsibility for a recent series of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, instead pointing the finger at Xe Services, the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater, as well as the country’s own security services.

“The Tehreek-e-Taliban are not responsible for the bombings, but Blackwater and Pakistan’s spy agency are behind them,” said Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq, according to a translation from Al-Jazeera English.

”The dirty Pakistani intelligence agencies, for the sake of creating mistrust and hatred among people against the Taliban, are carrying out blasts at places like the Islamic university, Islamabad, and the Khyber bazaar, Peshawar,” the Associated Press quoted Tariq as saying.

The Taliban’s new talking point is likely an attempt to capitalize on anti-American conspiracy theories circulating among the Pakistani public.

Blackwater’s “operatives are often viewed by Pakistanis as akin to CIA agents and local conspiracy theories sometimes assert that the US with the help of Blackwater, rather than the Taliban, are responsible for the suicide attacks,” reports the Christian Science Monitor.

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Again? Enough already, we get it. And you know what, DSK? We’re cool with our own national currencies without handing control of the global monetary supply to your privately held central bank. Thanks, but no thanks.

Flashback: U.S. urges China to strengthen currency | George Soros Calls for World Currency and “New World Architecture” | U.S. dollar sags on global financial leaders’ omission | G20 Meet To Finalize Dumping Of Dollar This Weekend? | Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Central Banks Shift Reserves | Fisk: Nations to hasten demise of dollar in new world order | US dollar set to be eclipsed, World Bank president predicts | Bilderberg Wants Global Currency Now | Dollar to fall under scrutiny at G20 summit | UN wants new global currency to replace dollar | G20 agrees to continue economic stimulus measures; Geithner shops international reserve accord | China Set to Buy $50 Billion in IMF Notes | Medvedev Unveils “World Currency” Coin At G8 | China calls anew for super-sovereign currency | China explores buying $50bn in IMF bonds | Chinese economists deem huge holding of US bonds “risky” as Geithner visits | A Bigger, Bolder Role Is Imagined For the IMF | UK PM reveals G20 plan to boost IMF by $1 trillion, hails new world order (again) | UN & IMF Back Agenda For Global Financial Dictatorship | U.N. panel says world should ditch dollar | IMF poised to print billions of dollars in ‘global quantitative easing’ | Gordon Brown seeks sweeping reforms to give IMF global ’surveillance role’ | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Globalists Exploit Financial Meltdown In Move Towards One World Currency | World needs new Bretton Woods, says Brown | IMF prescribes state regulation of ‘global financial order’ | Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda | Banks face “new world order,” consolidation: report

Steve Watson, Infowars.net
November 17, 2009

Global financial body wants complete overhaul as soon as possible

The head of the International Monetary Fund has once again called for a new global currency to replace the Dollar, adding that the momentum to instigate such a system is fading.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a forum on Tuesday that he wishes to see an emboldened IMF pave the way for the emergence of a global currency based on the monetary body’s special drawing right (SDR).

“That probably has to be a basket,” Strauss-Kahn said of the eventual replacement for the dollar. “In a globalized world there is no domestic solution,” he added.

The IMF head said that the world can no longer rely on a currency issued by a single country to ensure global financial stability.

Strauss-Kahn also said that China should re-value its currency in order to straighten out global economic distortions and imbalances. [Ed. Note: Note how this is exactly what Obama announced today as well.]

Strauss-Kahn said that since the G20 summit in March, where agreements were made to reform the global monetary system, political willingness to carry out such an overhaul has waned.

Former IMF chief, Michel Camdessus, added that “time is of the essence” for global monetary reform. Camdessus said that he backs a shift of power to big emerging economies to act as a corollary of a strengthened role for the SDR.

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Note that gold shot up to $1,150 the day after this news. Wonder what Obama’s constituencies will think once they figure out he’s killing the dollar?

Flashback: Soros: China Will Lead New World Order | China Set to Buy $50 Billion in IMF Notes | China calls anew for super-sovereign currency | No one talking about dumping dollar: China minister | China explores buying $50bn in IMF bonds | Chinese economists deem huge holding of US bonds “risky” as Geithner visits | A Bigger, Bolder Role Is Imagined For the IMF | UK PM reveals G20 plan to boost IMF by $1 trillion, hails new world order (again) | UN & IMF Back Agenda For Global Financial Dictatorship | IMF poised to print billions of dollars in ‘global quantitative easing’ | Gordon Brown seeks sweeping reforms to give IMF global ’surveillance role’ | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Globalists Exploit Financial Meltdown In Move Towards One World Currency | World needs new Bretton Woods, says Brown | IMF prescribes state regulation of ‘global financial order’ | Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda | Banks face “new world order,” consolidation: report

Geoff Dyer, Edward Luce, Financial Times
November 17, 2009

Obama made his comments after a three-hour meeting on Tuesday in Beijing with President Hu Jintao

President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged China to strengthen its currency as tensions over exchange rates and trade broke through a carefully orchestrated show of co-operation between Washington and Beijing.

Mr Obama made his comments after a three-hour meeting on Tuesday in Beijing with President Hu Jintao, during which both leaders pledged to work together on a long list of pressing international issues.

However, the US president also joined in the growing chorus of international voices calling on China to allow the renminbi to appreciate.

“I was pleased to note the Chinese commitment made in past statements to move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate over time,” he said at a joint appearance with Mr Hu in the Great Hall of the People. Such a move would “make an essential contribution to the global rebalancing effort”.

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Oh, don’t worry Canada – it’s just one old guy that’s died so far. Right? Wrong. What’s that figure quoted? 1 severe vaccine injury in 100,000? Not to even mention that this is riskier by more than a factor of 10 over the 1 in 1,000,000 or 1,500,000 figure this journal had been hearing previously. So there’s proof that this being massively under-reported. And for some perspective on that figure, recall that Dr. Richard Schabas, chief medical officer of health for Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, said “A healthy child in Canada is about 20 times more likely to be killed by a car than by the H1N1 virus.”

Flashback: French Woman Gets Crippling Illness After H1N1 Vaccine | 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

CBC News
November 17, 2009

Serious reactions ‘very rare,’ official says

A Quebec man in his 80s died after being vaccinated against swine flu, officials said Tuesday.

They said it was too soon to determine whether the vaccine played a role in the death of the man, who had underlying health issues.

Quebec’s director of public health protection, Dr. Horacio Arruda, declined to say what region the man was from or when he died, citing confidentiality concerns.

Arruda could not say why the man had received the vaccine. People over the age of 65 are not among the priority groups currently being vaccinated in the province. [Ed. Note: Because you've created a stampede?]

He said final test results to confirm whether the vaccine played a role in the man’s death are expected in December.

Arruda said he was confident the incident would not discourage people from being vaccinated against H1N1 flu.

“I understand that everyone is worried,” Arruda said, but stressed that serious reactions are “very rare phenomena.”

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StatismWatch has been noticing a pattern in Ms. Stoddardt’s reporting – that while she will identify a few isolated horror stories, she then goes on to validate the existence of these liberty-destroying programs as a whole. Take the case of the virtual strip-search machines being put in place at Canadian airports as an example. Justifed by the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s office. Why is that, Ms. Stoddardt? And why did you greenlight Facebook’s keeping private data indefinitely? Why does your expanded privacy law allow for DNA collection and live surveillance feeds once a ‘Section 1′-styled test has been dispensed with? And why don’t you let Canadians know that the demands for biometric data, and DNA, the aforementioned digital strip search, and the notion of GPS tracked vehicles that’s being floated, and the no-fly list, and the laptop searches, and the cameras going in everywhere – why don’t you just mention to Canadians (whose privacy it’s your office’s job to protect) that it’s not for ‘terrorists’. Why don’t you tell Canadians it’s for them. Could the fate of your predecessor, Mr. Radwanski, have anything to do with this? It’s unlikely that anyone could accuse him of producing a report equivocal about the threats to the privacy and liberty of Canadians. When it comes to your aims, this journal, unfortunately, has its doubts since the net effect of their media coverage of your reports is to make Canadians stand down. Since you’ve our best interests at heart perhaps you could ask yourself this simple question- do you want to enable a system that will train the next generation to know their place, tracked and traced? Do you want to be a functionary or a revolutionary for privacy?

Flashback: Abdelrazik vows to clear name from ‘unjust’ UN no-fly list | Former US congresswoman, presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney barred from boarding plane to human rights conference | Retired B.C. woman surprised to find herself on international no-fly list | U.S. air-security rules cause Canadian turbulence | Montreal man changing name to escape U.S. no-fly list | Ottawa warns on gold-backed Web trades | Family of Canadian stranded by no-fly list to make public appeal| Canada to launch no-fly list in June

Tonda MacCharles, The Toronto Star
November 17, 2009

Ottawa is collecting too much information through anti-money laundering agency and failing to regulate no-fly list, Privacy Commissioner says in annual report

OTTAWA – Were you the person who recently cashed a government-issued cheque for under $300 at your local trust company?

You probably never expected to be flagged as suspicious, but you were, says Canada’s privacy commissioner in a new audit of Canada’s financial watchdog agency.

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart’s annual report, tabled in Parliament Tuesday, warns that Ottawa, in the drive to combat terrorism and money-laundering with the aid of modern technology, has developed a “seemingly insatiable appetite for personal information about individuals.”

Tackling what she called two of the most serious threats to privacy, Stoddart combed through the past year’s activities of FINTRAC, the powerful agency that is responsible for tracking financial transactions among Canada’s banks, trust companies, law firms and other money-handling institutions.

As well, she audited how Canada’s air carriers and transport authorities manage the “no-fly” list — known in official Ottawa as the “passenger protect” list.

Her conclusions echo previous warnings that in its post-9/11 efforts to be on the watch for terrorists, the federal government has often gone overboard.

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