At a dinner party, it's the empty chair that garners the most curiosity. In this case the chair belongs to Turkmenistan which did not participate in the Astana summit discussed below, culminating in the pact to preserve the Aral Sea.
Yet they're hardly immune to the problems afflicting their neighbors. 80-90% desert, Turkmenistan has the lowest operational resources of groundwater of all the Central Asian states.
The other piece missing from the Astana pact is Russia. The Central Asian states agreed, as they have in the past, that the way to resolve their water problems is by diverting waters from the rivers of Siberia.
How does Russia feel about this? It has "yet to come up with any official reaction to the Siberian river diversion scheme. However, some officials have indicated that Russia, or at least some regions, may eventually face shortages of quality drinking water.In the meantime, competition for water is increasing in Central Asia at an alarming rate, adding tension to what is already a volatile region." JO
KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN, UZBEKISTAN, AND TAJIKISTAN SIGN PACT TO PRESERVE ARAL SEA
China/Kazakh SCO Joint Anti-Terrorism Exercises
Report Urges FAA To Act Regarding False 9/11 Testimony
Nafeez Ahmed on What the 9/11 Families Are Saying
U.S. Considers New Military Command for Africa
Australian City of Perth Belongs to Aborigines
With the arrival of Peak Oil, the curtain has closed on Act 1 of the drama Petroleum Man. What will happen in Act 2? Chekhov said, "If there's a gun on the wall at the beginning of the play, by the end it must go off." In the world's nuclear arsenal are many guns on the wall. If life copies art, will there be an Act 3 in which the players, having learned their lesson the hard way, live sustainably? To explore these and other questions... FTW's Act 2 Blog. Read, comment, take heart! Orkin
Friday, September 29, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
MESSAGE FROM MIKE TO BLOG READERS
The following message was sent by Mike after I sent him some of your comments by way of encouragement. For some reason, the paragraph key is not behaving. Sorry. Jenna Orkin MESSAGE FROM MIKE To all of you who have sent your love and personal messages I can only say that you have saved my life more than once. You did that because you showed that you understood me and I -- who have such a hard time with it -- could actually feel the love.
I wish I could tell you all more about what my life is like here at the moment but I just can´t for reasons that maybe someday I´ll be able to ´splain to you. These are terrible times for the planet and I fear they are going to get worse. Right now I am in something of an unavoidable limbo that seems to have no end. But it will, I´m sure. I mean, who the Hell am I to say, I´m 55 and have been through enough. I don´t need no more freaking evolutions. As always, my arms are too short to box with God. How quickly my head will take me to a place where I´ll think I´ve failed, or I didn´t do enough. How quickly isolation from friends amidst the trials of learning a new language and culture can sap one´s strength.How absolutely and magnificently lucky I am to have these words from people like you to remind me of all the things I have to be grateful for and give me a much needed attitude adjustment.We are, and always will be connected.
Mike
I wish I could tell you all more about what my life is like here at the moment but I just can´t for reasons that maybe someday I´ll be able to ´splain to you. These are terrible times for the planet and I fear they are going to get worse. Right now I am in something of an unavoidable limbo that seems to have no end. But it will, I´m sure. I mean, who the Hell am I to say, I´m 55 and have been through enough. I don´t need no more freaking evolutions. As always, my arms are too short to box with God. How quickly my head will take me to a place where I´ll think I´ve failed, or I didn´t do enough. How quickly isolation from friends amidst the trials of learning a new language and culture can sap one´s strength.How absolutely and magnificently lucky I am to have these words from people like you to remind me of all the things I have to be grateful for and give me a much needed attitude adjustment.We are, and always will be connected.
Mike
Saturday, September 23, 2006
VENEZUELA: U.S: Close Military Office; Denies Arab Terrorists; U.S. Puppet Runner; Documents U.S Aid; Proposal for Indefinite Re-election Rejected
Friday, September 22, 2006
American People Must Free Their Country: Hugo Chavez
Jenna Orkin
Five months after Mike Ruppert declared in what would become his farewell speech to America that the 'paradigm is the enemy, ' Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, speaking from the same stage at Cooper Union, proclaimed that the planet cannot endure any more consumerism.
"Capitalism destroys ecological balance," the President declared, "and not just because of bombs.... The U.S. spends approximately $600 million p.a. on the military, five times Venezuela's Gross Domestic Product."
Careening from sublime heights of oratory to ridiculous references to the smell of sulphur when Bush was nearby, the President held a roaring, U.S. and Venezuela flag-waving crowd rapt til past eleven o'clock. (The event was late getting started because of no-nonsense security measures including detailed inspection with a flashlight of a visitor's keys.)
"I don't prepare speeches," he explained unnecessarily as he engaged audience member Roger Toussaint, President of the Transport Workers' Union, in impromptu dialogue about how New York City's bus system worked: Were the busses owned by the Mayor? The question manifested more than idle curiosity; recently Venezuela struck an oil-for-expertise deal with London Mayor Ken Livingstone. "But I'm very disciplined," Chavez added, another attribute he shares with his country's new guest, Ruppert. Also acknowledged in the audience were Ramsay Clarke, four Hassidic rabbis and the lawyer and investigative journalist Eva Golinger.
"Capitalism is the road to hell" for education, the President continued, a field for which the U.N. recommends that 7% of GDP be used. Venezuela uses close to 10%. Some of their schools are in old buildings whose structures are still good. The day before, Chavez was at a school that had been built for 2000 but because of privatization, the population had fallen to 200. The day Chavez visited, the school re-opened for 1200.
Students in Venezuela are given paper, pencils and wherever feasible, computer labs. In primary schools the students get breakfast, lunch and a snack. To get children used to going to school, there are "Simon sitos" (sp? not on google) such as the one attended by Chavez' 2-year-old grandchild.
Venezuela also has almost a million adults of all ages finishing high school (more are in college) who hadn't been able to in their youth because of the need to work. They study from videos in their own communities.
The President reminisced about Laurenzo Perez, his friend in fourth grade, who had to leave school to sell tripe. Now the father of twelve children, he is still poor. Had he had enough money, he could have been an engineer. To prevent more such cases, Venezuela offers scholarships to needy students of 100$ a month.
In all, more than 60% of the Venezuelan population is in school, including from the indigenous populations to whom supplies are brought via donkey.
It occurred to this reporter that Chavez is living out an idealistic child's fantasies of "what I would do if I was President." When he likes a book, as he did Don Quixote, he distributes thousands of copies to the population. (Don Quixote is often in his thoughts; Castro is the Don, he said, though a skinny one these days.)
Indeed, children are an abiding theme of the President's reforms. Last month Venezuela opened the largest pediatric cardiac facility in the world where needy children from all over South America can be treated for free. Soon their mothers will also be able to be housed for free in a nearby hotel. The hospital is equipped to perform four thousand surgeries a year, more than double the number of the previous largest facility.
The theme then turned to a less happy subject: the recent activities of the United States.
Referring as he did often in his speech, to illustrious predecessors on the stage of Cooper Union, the President quoted Mark Twain who in 1901 said the imperial eagle should not dig its claws into foreign countries.
What the U.S. is doing in Iraq and what Israel did in Lebanon, Chavez said, was terrorism. In the interest of fairness he also mentioned Caracazonas, (caracazanos? neither is on google) asking rhetorically, "How could we do that?" The U.S. used biological and chemical weapons in Fallujah, he said; even rats and cockroaches died. "This is genocide."
(At another speech the following morning Chavez reported that it hadn't been easy for him to come to New York; some of his assistants hadn't been allowed in. These were efforts to dissuade him from coming, he alleged, going on to threaten that If the United States attempts a coup as they did in 2002, Venezuela would stop providing the 1 1/2 million b.p.d. of oil that they currently sell here; oil would shoot up to $150-200 p.b.)
He did respect President Jimmy Carter who gave back the Panama Canal although as a consequence, his life was threatened. Chavez also pointed out that Kennedy had proposed an alliance with Cuba to help the poor and look what happened to him.
The speech was laced with fond references to Castro who had lost forty pounds from an intestinal hemorrhage whereas Chavez himself, he said, looks like a fatted ox. He spoke of visiting Castro and telling him he couldn't die. "Who said I'm dying?" Castro responded.
Current policy makes the United States the biggest threat to world peace according to world opinion, Chavez asserted, while also calling for substantive debate among presidents. The present norm of giving speeches, he said, amounts to 'a dialogue of the deaf.'
But he ended on an optimistic note: Eight years ago, the world was asleep. It is now waking up.
The following morning the President spoke at Mt. Olivet Church in Harlem about the Citgo program to distribute heating oil to low-income communities. Last winter Citgo gave out 40 million gallons of oil to 180,000 households. This year that amount will be multiplied by two and a half to 100 million gallons of oil going to 459,000 households, including indigenous peoples. After the President's speech several of these, from the Unangax tribe in Alaska, performed traditional dances wearing beaded headdresses and facial designs representing family lineage across the cheeks and 'puberty lines' on the chin. These are painted on boys at the age of seven and on girls at menarche.
Although 10% of U.S. oil comes from Alaska, gas there is more than 8$ p.g. Some people go without food in order to heat their houses said Jolene Petticrew, teacher of the dancers, in an interview. Others who lack gas to run their boats and 'four-wheelers' must forego hunting.
Chavez explained that the distribution system in Alaska eliminates the middleman, a bane of capitalism.
He also explained his program for distributing oil among his own neighbors: In exchange, Cuba sends Venezuela doctors and medicine; Uruguay sends prefabricated houses; Argentina sends incubators, nuclear energy for medicine and agricultural machines as well as pregnant cows that have been bred to produce 20 liters of milk p.d. as well as to give birth only to females.
He also touched on the theme of coca which he said is used for making non-fattening bread, tea and toothpaste.
Quoting Martin Luther King: "I have a dream," Chavez ended with a reference to the Noam Chomsky book Hegemony or Survival, that he had mentioned at the U.N. on Wednesday. He said that there are two superpowers today: 1) the United States and 2) the rest of the world. For the sake of the rest of the world, the people of the United States must bring down the current administration and free this country.
Five months after Mike Ruppert declared in what would become his farewell speech to America that the 'paradigm is the enemy, ' Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, speaking from the same stage at Cooper Union, proclaimed that the planet cannot endure any more consumerism.
"Capitalism destroys ecological balance," the President declared, "and not just because of bombs.... The U.S. spends approximately $600 million p.a. on the military, five times Venezuela's Gross Domestic Product."
Careening from sublime heights of oratory to ridiculous references to the smell of sulphur when Bush was nearby, the President held a roaring, U.S. and Venezuela flag-waving crowd rapt til past eleven o'clock. (The event was late getting started because of no-nonsense security measures including detailed inspection with a flashlight of a visitor's keys.)
"I don't prepare speeches," he explained unnecessarily as he engaged audience member Roger Toussaint, President of the Transport Workers' Union, in impromptu dialogue about how New York City's bus system worked: Were the busses owned by the Mayor? The question manifested more than idle curiosity; recently Venezuela struck an oil-for-expertise deal with London Mayor Ken Livingstone. "But I'm very disciplined," Chavez added, another attribute he shares with his country's new guest, Ruppert. Also acknowledged in the audience were Ramsay Clarke, four Hassidic rabbis and the lawyer and investigative journalist Eva Golinger.
"Capitalism is the road to hell" for education, the President continued, a field for which the U.N. recommends that 7% of GDP be used. Venezuela uses close to 10%. Some of their schools are in old buildings whose structures are still good. The day before, Chavez was at a school that had been built for 2000 but because of privatization, the population had fallen to 200. The day Chavez visited, the school re-opened for 1200.
Students in Venezuela are given paper, pencils and wherever feasible, computer labs. In primary schools the students get breakfast, lunch and a snack. To get children used to going to school, there are "Simon sitos" (sp? not on google) such as the one attended by Chavez' 2-year-old grandchild.
Venezuela also has almost a million adults of all ages finishing high school (more are in college) who hadn't been able to in their youth because of the need to work. They study from videos in their own communities.
The President reminisced about Laurenzo Perez, his friend in fourth grade, who had to leave school to sell tripe. Now the father of twelve children, he is still poor. Had he had enough money, he could have been an engineer. To prevent more such cases, Venezuela offers scholarships to needy students of 100$ a month.
In all, more than 60% of the Venezuelan population is in school, including from the indigenous populations to whom supplies are brought via donkey.
It occurred to this reporter that Chavez is living out an idealistic child's fantasies of "what I would do if I was President." When he likes a book, as he did Don Quixote, he distributes thousands of copies to the population. (Don Quixote is often in his thoughts; Castro is the Don, he said, though a skinny one these days.)
Indeed, children are an abiding theme of the President's reforms. Last month Venezuela opened the largest pediatric cardiac facility in the world where needy children from all over South America can be treated for free. Soon their mothers will also be able to be housed for free in a nearby hotel. The hospital is equipped to perform four thousand surgeries a year, more than double the number of the previous largest facility.
The theme then turned to a less happy subject: the recent activities of the United States.
Referring as he did often in his speech, to illustrious predecessors on the stage of Cooper Union, the President quoted Mark Twain who in 1901 said the imperial eagle should not dig its claws into foreign countries.
What the U.S. is doing in Iraq and what Israel did in Lebanon, Chavez said, was terrorism. In the interest of fairness he also mentioned Caracazonas, (caracazanos? neither is on google) asking rhetorically, "How could we do that?" The U.S. used biological and chemical weapons in Fallujah, he said; even rats and cockroaches died. "This is genocide."
(At another speech the following morning Chavez reported that it hadn't been easy for him to come to New York; some of his assistants hadn't been allowed in. These were efforts to dissuade him from coming, he alleged, going on to threaten that If the United States attempts a coup as they did in 2002, Venezuela would stop providing the 1 1/2 million b.p.d. of oil that they currently sell here; oil would shoot up to $150-200 p.b.)
He did respect President Jimmy Carter who gave back the Panama Canal although as a consequence, his life was threatened. Chavez also pointed out that Kennedy had proposed an alliance with Cuba to help the poor and look what happened to him.
The speech was laced with fond references to Castro who had lost forty pounds from an intestinal hemorrhage whereas Chavez himself, he said, looks like a fatted ox. He spoke of visiting Castro and telling him he couldn't die. "Who said I'm dying?" Castro responded.
Current policy makes the United States the biggest threat to world peace according to world opinion, Chavez asserted, while also calling for substantive debate among presidents. The present norm of giving speeches, he said, amounts to 'a dialogue of the deaf.'
But he ended on an optimistic note: Eight years ago, the world was asleep. It is now waking up.
The following morning the President spoke at Mt. Olivet Church in Harlem about the Citgo program to distribute heating oil to low-income communities. Last winter Citgo gave out 40 million gallons of oil to 180,000 households. This year that amount will be multiplied by two and a half to 100 million gallons of oil going to 459,000 households, including indigenous peoples. After the President's speech several of these, from the Unangax tribe in Alaska, performed traditional dances wearing beaded headdresses and facial designs representing family lineage across the cheeks and 'puberty lines' on the chin. These are painted on boys at the age of seven and on girls at menarche.
Although 10% of U.S. oil comes from Alaska, gas there is more than 8$ p.g. Some people go without food in order to heat their houses said Jolene Petticrew, teacher of the dancers, in an interview. Others who lack gas to run their boats and 'four-wheelers' must forego hunting.
Chavez explained that the distribution system in Alaska eliminates the middleman, a bane of capitalism.
He also explained his program for distributing oil among his own neighbors: In exchange, Cuba sends Venezuela doctors and medicine; Uruguay sends prefabricated houses; Argentina sends incubators, nuclear energy for medicine and agricultural machines as well as pregnant cows that have been bred to produce 20 liters of milk p.d. as well as to give birth only to females.
He also touched on the theme of coca which he said is used for making non-fattening bread, tea and toothpaste.
Quoting Martin Luther King: "I have a dream," Chavez ended with a reference to the Noam Chomsky book Hegemony or Survival, that he had mentioned at the U.N. on Wednesday. He said that there are two superpowers today: 1) the United States and 2) the rest of the world. For the sake of the rest of the world, the people of the United States must bring down the current administration and free this country.
Why the Blog Seems FTW-Centric
Jenna Orkin
This is in response to a criticism just posted that the blog is 'self-involved' referring inordinately to tampering with the FTW website and other recent events.
The reason for that is that if the website goes awry after business hours, the blog is often the only means by which notification can go out to readers. The blog is also the forum through which FTW staff and readers can respond to tampering with FTW affairs. There is considerable interest on all sides in doing so.
Further arguments could be made in self-defense of the blog's apparent solipsism but I believe they're unnecessary as most readers already understand them.
This is in response to a criticism just posted that the blog is 'self-involved' referring inordinately to tampering with the FTW website and other recent events.
The reason for that is that if the website goes awry after business hours, the blog is often the only means by which notification can go out to readers. The blog is also the forum through which FTW staff and readers can respond to tampering with FTW affairs. There is considerable interest on all sides in doing so.
Further arguments could be made in self-defense of the blog's apparent solipsism but I believe they're unnecessary as most readers already understand them.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Alleviating FTW Readers' Concerns: Update
The fraudulent email sent last night is just that. My understanding is that sensitive information is stored in a separate location.
Thanks as always for your observations.
Thanks as always for your observations.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
FRAUDULENT EMAIL SENT FROM FTW
Today, September 20, 2006, FTW subscribers received a fraudulent email disguised as and FTW email alert. Long story short, [the FTW website has been tampered with]*—again. The email is 200% bogus. How do I know? Because I speak with Mike Ruppert every day, and I can verify that he is not “able to live fairly well here” as this ruse states in the first sentence. Not only do I know that Mike did not write this email because its style and tone are not his, but I am profoundly familiar with the nature of his life in Caracas which is spare, austere, and extremely limited on a number of levels, including financial.
Mike recently had his laptop repaired, not because the CIA or FBI downloaded anything into it but because it had mechanical problems, and he did not have his recovery disk with him. HE DOES NOT NEED A NEW LAPTOP; the one he just got back from the computer repair shop works just fine!
FTW has survived this kind of harassment many times, and we will do so once more. We regret this kind of nonsense going into the inboxes of our subscribers, and we thank you for your loyal support.
Carolyn Baker
Managing Editor
From The Wilderness
* phrase inserted by FTW Admin
Mike recently had his laptop repaired, not because the CIA or FBI downloaded anything into it but because it had mechanical problems, and he did not have his recovery disk with him. HE DOES NOT NEED A NEW LAPTOP; the one he just got back from the computer repair shop works just fine!
FTW has survived this kind of harassment many times, and we will do so once more. We regret this kind of nonsense going into the inboxes of our subscribers, and we thank you for your loyal support.
Carolyn Baker
Managing Editor
From The Wilderness
* phrase inserted by FTW Admin
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The Other Energy Speech: James Woolsey at NYU
Jenna Orkin
Now that Truthout has published Al Gore's speech yesterday at NYU, let's not overlook his opening act, former CIA Director James Woolsey.
Having learned from Reagan that the American people are suckers for one-liners, Woolsey started with several self-deprecating jokes to 'warm up the audience' as it's called in the game-show world.
Then he got down to business. "Wiping the smile off his face," as your mother used to say, he sounded like Will Ferrell impersonating a certain tough-talking, down-home-wannabe President.
The recent attacks in Yemen were conducted by Al Qaeda which also attacked the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia. The sulphur clearing towers, through which 6-7 million barrels pass per day, are vulnerable if they're merely 'within mortar range.' The Saudis were able to fend off the attack on their facility. But with 6-7 million b.p.d. off-line we would be up to $200 p.b. oil.
Saudi Arabia earns 160 billion p.a., a good portion of which goes to Wahhabis who are 'equivalent to' Al Qaeda as the Trotskyites were to the Stalinists - [Commies, terrorists, what's the difference?] - except that they differ on who should be in charge. They are against apostates, homosexuals and Jews. (NYU, where Woolsey was speaking, is in Greenwich Village, a gay Mecca within New York City which is a Jewish Mecca. Woolsey knew his audience: If he'd tossed out a baseball, chances are it would have been fumbled by one of the above.) The Wahhabis use this income for madrassas to spread their dubious philosophy. So in this war against terrorism we pay for both sides.
The solution, according to Woolsey, lies in ethanol.
Debt is the number 1 problem in developing countries whose chief industry is agriculture; if something is to be done about it, then something must be done about the price of oil.
The U.S. will borrow $320 billion this year just to import oil. Replacing a quarter of that with ethanol doubles farm income. Thus ethanol is the answer to the prayers of a number of factions across the political spectrum from environmentalists to businesspeople to a coalition of 85 evangelicals who recently held a press conference on climate change.
Segueing into his history with Al Gore, Woolsey said that several decades ago, he was summoned by a 'young Congressman' to explain Code 50, computerized war games with the Soviets so as to figure out how to design U.S. forces. The young Congressman asked Woolsey, who had worked at the Pentagon, what the underlying assumptions of the Code were. Woolsey knew he was dealing with a different sort of Congressman.
So, he concluded his introduction, in the ethanol solution the United States is seeing "a growing coalition of evangelicals, venture capitalists, do-gooders, tree-huggers, sod-busters and Al Gore."
There was no question period; hence no opportunity to point out that oil at its height offered an 'energy returned on energy invested' (EROEI) of 30:1. The EROEI of ethanol is barely above one. Like all the other apparent panaceas to the energy/imminent economic crisis, this one dissolves upon closer inspection. The Powers That Be are looking for alternative means to old ends; they are not acknowledging that it is the ends themselves which will have to change.
Now that Truthout has published Al Gore's speech yesterday at NYU, let's not overlook his opening act, former CIA Director James Woolsey.
Having learned from Reagan that the American people are suckers for one-liners, Woolsey started with several self-deprecating jokes to 'warm up the audience' as it's called in the game-show world.
Then he got down to business. "Wiping the smile off his face," as your mother used to say, he sounded like Will Ferrell impersonating a certain tough-talking, down-home-wannabe President.
The recent attacks in Yemen were conducted by Al Qaeda which also attacked the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia. The sulphur clearing towers, through which 6-7 million barrels pass per day, are vulnerable if they're merely 'within mortar range.' The Saudis were able to fend off the attack on their facility. But with 6-7 million b.p.d. off-line we would be up to $200 p.b. oil.
Saudi Arabia earns 160 billion p.a., a good portion of which goes to Wahhabis who are 'equivalent to' Al Qaeda as the Trotskyites were to the Stalinists - [Commies, terrorists, what's the difference?] - except that they differ on who should be in charge. They are against apostates, homosexuals and Jews. (NYU, where Woolsey was speaking, is in Greenwich Village, a gay Mecca within New York City which is a Jewish Mecca. Woolsey knew his audience: If he'd tossed out a baseball, chances are it would have been fumbled by one of the above.) The Wahhabis use this income for madrassas to spread their dubious philosophy. So in this war against terrorism we pay for both sides.
The solution, according to Woolsey, lies in ethanol.
Debt is the number 1 problem in developing countries whose chief industry is agriculture; if something is to be done about it, then something must be done about the price of oil.
The U.S. will borrow $320 billion this year just to import oil. Replacing a quarter of that with ethanol doubles farm income. Thus ethanol is the answer to the prayers of a number of factions across the political spectrum from environmentalists to businesspeople to a coalition of 85 evangelicals who recently held a press conference on climate change.
Segueing into his history with Al Gore, Woolsey said that several decades ago, he was summoned by a 'young Congressman' to explain Code 50, computerized war games with the Soviets so as to figure out how to design U.S. forces. The young Congressman asked Woolsey, who had worked at the Pentagon, what the underlying assumptions of the Code were. Woolsey knew he was dealing with a different sort of Congressman.
So, he concluded his introduction, in the ethanol solution the United States is seeing "a growing coalition of evangelicals, venture capitalists, do-gooders, tree-huggers, sod-busters and Al Gore."
There was no question period; hence no opportunity to point out that oil at its height offered an 'energy returned on energy invested' (EROEI) of 30:1. The EROEI of ethanol is barely above one. Like all the other apparent panaceas to the energy/imminent economic crisis, this one dissolves upon closer inspection. The Powers That Be are looking for alternative means to old ends; they are not acknowledging that it is the ends themselves which will have to change.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Smoking Gun May Implicate Christy Todd Whitman in Felonies
Jenna Orkin*
EPA Senior Policy Analyst Hugh Kaufman revealed today what he called a "smoking gun," documents showing that Administrator Christy Todd Whitman committed a felony when she reassured New Yorkers that their air was safe to breathe following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
The internal documents, obtained by Congressman Jerrold Nadler whose district includes Ground Zero, consist of notes written in preparation for the EPA Inspector General's Report of August, 2003. That report showed that at least one EPA press release was edited by the White House Council on Environmental Quality to replace cautionary statements about asbestos with reassurances.
In the notes, EPA Spokesperson Tina Kreisher is asked whether there was a 'conscious effort' to reassure the public. Ms. Kreisher responded that there was such an effort and that it came both from the Administrator and the White House.
The newly unearthed notes are particularly damning, Kaufman says, because Whitman had a personal financial interest in getting Lower Manhattan up and running again. She owned millions of dollars' worth of bonds from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which in turn owned the WTC site. A letter from Whitman dated January 19, 2001 to Ann Wolgast, an EPA Ethics official, states that Whitman understood that certain of her family's financial interests, including the PA bonds, presented potential conflicts of interest. Thus when she took office on February 1, 2001, she recused herself from cases involving the PA, among other companies.
She therefore broke the law by getting involved in the World Trade Center case at all, Kaufman says. The case should have been handled by her Deputy, Linda Fisher, who had 25 years' experience.
On September 13, 2006, Congressman Nadler, along with Congressmen Weiner and Pascrell, wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez requesting that a Special Counsel be appointed to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought against former Administrator Whitman as well as against other government officials for possibly endangering the lives of thousands of people following the attacks.
"Christie Whitman repeatedly declared the air safe, and now thousands of people are sick, and some have died, from World Trade Center contamination," Nadler said. "To add insult to injury, she just went on 60 Minutes and tried to blame everybody else for her misdeeds. She must be held accountable."
Kaufman says that Whitman may also have been motivated by a second conflict of interest from which, however, she did not recuse herself: She owned $250,000 stock in Citigroup which in turn owned Travellers' Insurance, a major downtown insurance company. Her husband John had worked for Citigroup before running a spinoff, Sycamore, which managed Citigroup's Far East branch.
Kaufman was the Chief Investigator for the EPA Ombudsman's Office until Whitman shut that office down by folding it into the Inspector General's office. The move ended the transparency which had been the hallmark of Ombudsman investigations; the IG Office focussed on enforcement. However Nikki Tinsley, the IG in charge of the highly critical report on the World Trade Center, is also no longer in office.
The documents obtained contain enough evidence, Kaufman says, to warrant hiring a Special Prosecutor. Possible crimes include wrongful endangerment and manslaughter. "The heroes should have their day in court and all enemies, foreign and domestic, should be held accountable."
*One of twelve original plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the EPA.
EPA Senior Policy Analyst Hugh Kaufman revealed today what he called a "smoking gun," documents showing that Administrator Christy Todd Whitman committed a felony when she reassured New Yorkers that their air was safe to breathe following the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
The internal documents, obtained by Congressman Jerrold Nadler whose district includes Ground Zero, consist of notes written in preparation for the EPA Inspector General's Report of August, 2003. That report showed that at least one EPA press release was edited by the White House Council on Environmental Quality to replace cautionary statements about asbestos with reassurances.
In the notes, EPA Spokesperson Tina Kreisher is asked whether there was a 'conscious effort' to reassure the public. Ms. Kreisher responded that there was such an effort and that it came both from the Administrator and the White House.
The newly unearthed notes are particularly damning, Kaufman says, because Whitman had a personal financial interest in getting Lower Manhattan up and running again. She owned millions of dollars' worth of bonds from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which in turn owned the WTC site. A letter from Whitman dated January 19, 2001 to Ann Wolgast, an EPA Ethics official, states that Whitman understood that certain of her family's financial interests, including the PA bonds, presented potential conflicts of interest. Thus when she took office on February 1, 2001, she recused herself from cases involving the PA, among other companies.
She therefore broke the law by getting involved in the World Trade Center case at all, Kaufman says. The case should have been handled by her Deputy, Linda Fisher, who had 25 years' experience.
On September 13, 2006, Congressman Nadler, along with Congressmen Weiner and Pascrell, wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez requesting that a Special Counsel be appointed to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought against former Administrator Whitman as well as against other government officials for possibly endangering the lives of thousands of people following the attacks.
"Christie Whitman repeatedly declared the air safe, and now thousands of people are sick, and some have died, from World Trade Center contamination," Nadler said. "To add insult to injury, she just went on 60 Minutes and tried to blame everybody else for her misdeeds. She must be held accountable."
Kaufman says that Whitman may also have been motivated by a second conflict of interest from which, however, she did not recuse herself: She owned $250,000 stock in Citigroup which in turn owned Travellers' Insurance, a major downtown insurance company. Her husband John had worked for Citigroup before running a spinoff, Sycamore, which managed Citigroup's Far East branch.
Kaufman was the Chief Investigator for the EPA Ombudsman's Office until Whitman shut that office down by folding it into the Inspector General's office. The move ended the transparency which had been the hallmark of Ombudsman investigations; the IG Office focussed on enforcement. However Nikki Tinsley, the IG in charge of the highly critical report on the World Trade Center, is also no longer in office.
The documents obtained contain enough evidence, Kaufman says, to warrant hiring a Special Prosecutor. Possible crimes include wrongful endangerment and manslaughter. "The heroes should have their day in court and all enemies, foreign and domestic, should be held accountable."
*One of twelve original plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the EPA.
Friday, September 15, 2006
DOE/Gas Shortages; Sun/Wind/Solar; Water Labels/Shortages; SARS/Bribes; Funds/Radios
DOE Predicts Gas Shortages
Living on Sun, Wind, Solar
Courtesy, Larabraveheart
Water Labels on Food Could Ease Shortages
China SARS Hero Gets Life for Accepting Bribes
Funds Stalled for Interoperable (sic) Radios The inability of the police and fire departments to communicate because of radio incompatibility was a major factor in the loss of life on 9/11 and an issue about which families were up in arms during the Commission hearings.
Living on Sun, Wind, Solar
Courtesy, Larabraveheart
Water Labels on Food Could Ease Shortages
China SARS Hero Gets Life for Accepting Bribes
Funds Stalled for Interoperable (sic) Radios The inability of the police and fire departments to communicate because of radio incompatibility was a major factor in the loss of life on 9/11 and an issue about which families were up in arms during the Commission hearings.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Mike Ruppert's Response to Bill Shanley
Dear Bill:
Thank you so much for your piece paying, what Carolyn Baker called, tribute to me. I have a couple of comments.
First, I´m glad that you had the energy to engage in that dialogue with a reporter whose only out was saying that there was no evidence. The more evidence you showed him, the more he didn´t see it. I stopped having such arguments in the early 1980s over the CIA´s involvement in the drug trade. I won´t even go near such arguments now but I do agree that your effort might have helped some people understand that we are not just fighting governmental criminality. First we have to defeat human psychopathology. The world doesn´t want to be saved because it would have to take a good hard look at itself in the process. That´s a contest I removed myself from some years ago just to preserve my own sanity and energy.
I chose instead, the approach of looking for those in whom the first obstacle had already been overcome. It´s a smaller audience for sure, but one that has been much easier to build upon over the years.
My second observation is entirely personal.
The word ¨tribute¨ makes me defensive. It is a large word signifying a large honor earned as a result of large achievement. I see no such large achievement in my life. Instead, I see only failure.
Please understand that when I unintentionally began this life 30 years ago my goal was not to improve the world at all. My goal -- my need -- was to ¨restore¨ a system of government and ethics -- a cosmology -- that would make it OK for me to have a personal life again, to trust something, anything, enough to love it with all of my defenses down. That´s the way I loved LAPD and the way I loved a woman named Teddy.
All I wanted was a place where I could feel safe and happy again. The fact that what I found it necessary to do, just to feel safe again, was to change my country and the world is the great irony. It is the Sissyphean saga of my life. Man vs the Gods.
I did a radio show recently and an old friend, Lisa Melyan of Portland, came on the air and said that she hoped that someday I got the quiet house and the dog that I have always wanted. Implied in that was that she hoped that I would finally find a place where I could go to sleep and wake up feeling confident that everything would not be torn away and rewritten while I slept.
The Amazon reviews of Rubicon have been a marvelous and humbling affirmation of my life´s work. So have the words from people like Megan Quinn and Mike Kane who have told me how many lives I have changed for the better.
But in terms of a wounded young policeman, struggling to make sense of a world gone mad, I am not a success and therefore unworthy of tribute. I don´t feel much safer today than I did thirty years ago. What I know from my experience is that when I am safe, you and my fellow countrymen, who I love so much, will be safe too.
My exit from the US in 2006 was remarkably similar to my exit from LAPD in 1978. I don´t see much progress when looking through those lenses.
My biggest demons have always been inside, not outside. Yes, we have changed things a bit. yes, we have taught and educated and led and inspired. But I, like any artist, can never divorce myself from that oh-so-clear interior vision of a ¨Perfect 10¨, Don Quixote´s ¨impossible dream¨, the Grail.
In that sense all humans will always be failures. It is supposed to be that way. But once that ¨red pill¨ is swallowed there is no turning back. And while the Matrix still functions I am not a success. I am a failure.
best regards,
Mike Ruppert
Thank you so much for your piece paying, what Carolyn Baker called, tribute to me. I have a couple of comments.
First, I´m glad that you had the energy to engage in that dialogue with a reporter whose only out was saying that there was no evidence. The more evidence you showed him, the more he didn´t see it. I stopped having such arguments in the early 1980s over the CIA´s involvement in the drug trade. I won´t even go near such arguments now but I do agree that your effort might have helped some people understand that we are not just fighting governmental criminality. First we have to defeat human psychopathology. The world doesn´t want to be saved because it would have to take a good hard look at itself in the process. That´s a contest I removed myself from some years ago just to preserve my own sanity and energy.
I chose instead, the approach of looking for those in whom the first obstacle had already been overcome. It´s a smaller audience for sure, but one that has been much easier to build upon over the years.
My second observation is entirely personal.
The word ¨tribute¨ makes me defensive. It is a large word signifying a large honor earned as a result of large achievement. I see no such large achievement in my life. Instead, I see only failure.
Please understand that when I unintentionally began this life 30 years ago my goal was not to improve the world at all. My goal -- my need -- was to ¨restore¨ a system of government and ethics -- a cosmology -- that would make it OK for me to have a personal life again, to trust something, anything, enough to love it with all of my defenses down. That´s the way I loved LAPD and the way I loved a woman named Teddy.
All I wanted was a place where I could feel safe and happy again. The fact that what I found it necessary to do, just to feel safe again, was to change my country and the world is the great irony. It is the Sissyphean saga of my life. Man vs the Gods.
I did a radio show recently and an old friend, Lisa Melyan of Portland, came on the air and said that she hoped that someday I got the quiet house and the dog that I have always wanted. Implied in that was that she hoped that I would finally find a place where I could go to sleep and wake up feeling confident that everything would not be torn away and rewritten while I slept.
The Amazon reviews of Rubicon have been a marvelous and humbling affirmation of my life´s work. So have the words from people like Megan Quinn and Mike Kane who have told me how many lives I have changed for the better.
But in terms of a wounded young policeman, struggling to make sense of a world gone mad, I am not a success and therefore unworthy of tribute. I don´t feel much safer today than I did thirty years ago. What I know from my experience is that when I am safe, you and my fellow countrymen, who I love so much, will be safe too.
My exit from the US in 2006 was remarkably similar to my exit from LAPD in 1978. I don´t see much progress when looking through those lenses.
My biggest demons have always been inside, not outside. Yes, we have changed things a bit. yes, we have taught and educated and led and inspired. But I, like any artist, can never divorce myself from that oh-so-clear interior vision of a ¨Perfect 10¨, Don Quixote´s ¨impossible dream¨, the Grail.
In that sense all humans will always be failures. It is supposed to be that way. But once that ¨red pill¨ is swallowed there is no turning back. And while the Matrix still functions I am not a success. I am a failure.
best regards,
Mike Ruppert
Monday, September 11, 2006
GROUND ZERO September 11, 2006 8:35 A.M.
Health Effects of 9/11: Sundance Channel, 10 P.M. Monday, September 11, 2006
GROUND ZERO September 11, 2006 8:35 A.M.
Jenna Orkin
Silent crowd standing eight deep. On the top floor of a building to the left a sign reads, "Dissent is Patriotic." Next to it, a peace symbol. In the tradition of sneakers flung over street lamps, high in the fence surrounding what used to be called "the pit," someone has placed a rosary.
A solemn drum beat as an unseen Scottish brigade from the Fire Department begins a funeral march. The crowd-silence deepens. In the distance, the Star-Spangled Banner rises. A woman to the left cries as does another woman to the right. What is it about music that brings out the deepest emotions? Freud said it was the words with which the music was associated. Say the words of the Star-Spangled Banner (if you know them) without the music; see what happens.
Nasal tones. An oboe? No, it's Mayor Bloomberg. The list of names. After several, I move on.
In front of the Path Station, two men in 911 Truth T-shirts hold a banner proclaiming the Bush Regime was responsible. A woman with a poster of a lost loved one shouts, "Traitors!" Then, to passers-by, "These people want to destroy the Constitution and have Shariah law. Islamic fascists were responsible for 9/11. America is good."
The banner-bearers get into a shouting match with her. Winning converts one at a time? In Alice in Wonderland, the Red Queen asks, "What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?"
But most activists operate on a principle not of arithmetic but of exponential progression: "If I email ten people and each of those people emails ten people..." A reasonable principle that somehow never works.
Someone walks around with a sign that reads, "9/11/2006: Five years of the Clinton legacy."
Someone else wears a T-shirt that reads, "Bush was responsible. Bed bugs bite in Brooklyn." Asked what that's about he explains, "They found bedbugs in a police precinct in Brooklyn. I wanted to lighten the message a little."
A well-known activist's T-shirt reads, "Planehuggers did 9/11." By that he means, he says, "The people who think real planes hit the towers."
Perhaps people deliberately design T-shirts in order to provoke questions.
Every camera in the area has now come to check out the shouting match which other members of 911 Truth have joined. All this energy going to argue with one strident woman.
A young 911 Truth member says to a fellow activist, "Get all the people in 911 T-shirts. We shouldn't be part of this."
A man in a black Harley Davidson T-shirt complains to the people in 911 Truth T-shirts, "It's a moment of silence." Then, to his friend, "I gotta slap somebody."
A Japanese woman points to her sign that says "Peace" in Japanese and English.
More drums, this time not in horizontal Scottish style but vertical, Japanese style. Four Buddhist monks and a gaunt Western woman of about sixty stake out space for a mini-concert.
A woman asks a 911 Truth member, "Do you have another DVD?" She shows him the one she'd been given which has been crushed by a hostile passer-by.
The shouting match is over; the crowd disperses. Nobody won.
GROUND ZERO September 11, 2006 8:35 A.M.
Jenna Orkin
Silent crowd standing eight deep. On the top floor of a building to the left a sign reads, "Dissent is Patriotic." Next to it, a peace symbol. In the tradition of sneakers flung over street lamps, high in the fence surrounding what used to be called "the pit," someone has placed a rosary.
A solemn drum beat as an unseen Scottish brigade from the Fire Department begins a funeral march. The crowd-silence deepens. In the distance, the Star-Spangled Banner rises. A woman to the left cries as does another woman to the right. What is it about music that brings out the deepest emotions? Freud said it was the words with which the music was associated. Say the words of the Star-Spangled Banner (if you know them) without the music; see what happens.
Nasal tones. An oboe? No, it's Mayor Bloomberg. The list of names. After several, I move on.
In front of the Path Station, two men in 911 Truth T-shirts hold a banner proclaiming the Bush Regime was responsible. A woman with a poster of a lost loved one shouts, "Traitors!" Then, to passers-by, "These people want to destroy the Constitution and have Shariah law. Islamic fascists were responsible for 9/11. America is good."
The banner-bearers get into a shouting match with her. Winning converts one at a time? In Alice in Wonderland, the Red Queen asks, "What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?"
But most activists operate on a principle not of arithmetic but of exponential progression: "If I email ten people and each of those people emails ten people..." A reasonable principle that somehow never works.
Someone walks around with a sign that reads, "9/11/2006: Five years of the Clinton legacy."
Someone else wears a T-shirt that reads, "Bush was responsible. Bed bugs bite in Brooklyn." Asked what that's about he explains, "They found bedbugs in a police precinct in Brooklyn. I wanted to lighten the message a little."
A well-known activist's T-shirt reads, "Planehuggers did 9/11." By that he means, he says, "The people who think real planes hit the towers."
Perhaps people deliberately design T-shirts in order to provoke questions.
Every camera in the area has now come to check out the shouting match which other members of 911 Truth have joined. All this energy going to argue with one strident woman.
A young 911 Truth member says to a fellow activist, "Get all the people in 911 T-shirts. We shouldn't be part of this."
A man in a black Harley Davidson T-shirt complains to the people in 911 Truth T-shirts, "It's a moment of silence." Then, to his friend, "I gotta slap somebody."
A Japanese woman points to her sign that says "Peace" in Japanese and English.
More drums, this time not in horizontal Scottish style but vertical, Japanese style. Four Buddhist monks and a gaunt Western woman of about sixty stake out space for a mini-concert.
A woman asks a 911 Truth member, "Do you have another DVD?" She shows him the one she'd been given which has been crushed by a hostile passer-by.
The shouting match is over; the crowd disperses. Nobody won.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Hoffman/NIST; Revolution Not Televised; Rich Countries/Water Shortage; WTC Pix; Ky Court/Cops Lie
Jim Hoffman's Response to the Latest NIST Report
Putting aside the question of whether the physical evidence issue is a losing battle, Jim Hoffman is one of its premiere generals.
The Revolution Will Not be Televised
Documentary about coup attempt against Hugo Chavez
New WTC Pictures
Rich Countries Face Water Shortage
Kentucky Court to Decide: Can Cops Lie To Gain Entry?
Putting aside the question of whether the physical evidence issue is a losing battle, Jim Hoffman is one of its premiere generals.
The Revolution Will Not be Televised
Documentary about coup attempt against Hugo Chavez
New WTC Pictures
Rich Countries Face Water Shortage
Kentucky Court to Decide: Can Cops Lie To Gain Entry?
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Russian Tanker/W. Africa; Warming/Typhoons; Iran/Terror; U.S. Lacks Iran Intel; Pakistan Arrests; Bush/N.Korea; Uranium/N.J.
Russian Tanker Seized Off Coast of West Africa
While "terrorists" have been blowing up pipelines from Ingushetia to Nigeria, recent maritime skirmishes have more often been overtly government-sponsored.
The seizure of a Russian tanker off the coast of Guinea (by 'unidentified armed men') takes place six days after a Russian patrol boat killed a Japanese crab fisherman aboard a boat which Russia claimed was poaching in disputed waters. The shooting was the first of its kind in fifty years. During the same week, Iran asked the UAE to return a drilling rig which was owned by a Romanian company, claiming the rig was still under rental contract to an Iranian company. Then, in a second 'commercial dispute' Iran fired on another Romanian rig.
When "disputes" erupt into government-perpetrated gunfire and death, we have crossed over from the realm of commerce into harbingers, if not acts, of undeclared war.
Iran Boosted by War on Terror
U.S. Lacks Iran Arms Intelligence, Report Says
Warming Reportedly Behind China's Killer Typhoons
Pakistan Arrests 6 Suspects for Attack on U.S. Consulate
Bush Declines Comment on Further North Korean Nuclear Tests
Uranium Lost in New Jersey
While "terrorists" have been blowing up pipelines from Ingushetia to Nigeria, recent maritime skirmishes have more often been overtly government-sponsored.
The seizure of a Russian tanker off the coast of Guinea (by 'unidentified armed men') takes place six days after a Russian patrol boat killed a Japanese crab fisherman aboard a boat which Russia claimed was poaching in disputed waters. The shooting was the first of its kind in fifty years. During the same week, Iran asked the UAE to return a drilling rig which was owned by a Romanian company, claiming the rig was still under rental contract to an Iranian company. Then, in a second 'commercial dispute' Iran fired on another Romanian rig.
When "disputes" erupt into government-perpetrated gunfire and death, we have crossed over from the realm of commerce into harbingers, if not acts, of undeclared war.
Iran Boosted by War on Terror
U.S. Lacks Iran Arms Intelligence, Report Says
Warming Reportedly Behind China's Killer Typhoons
Pakistan Arrests 6 Suspects for Attack on U.S. Consulate
Bush Declines Comment on Further North Korean Nuclear Tests
Uranium Lost in New Jersey