Bush Alters "Doomsday" Plan

This LA Times article gives me the willies -- more Bush cultists set to run the show if/when shit really hits the fan.

Bad Cookies

Excerpt:

The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them.

These files, known as "cookies," disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake. Nonetheless, the issue raises questions about privacy at a spy agency already on the defensive amid reports of a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States.

Whitley Strieber's latest

Always interesting to hear what Whitley's saying, and I'm glad he's revisiting the "Visitors."

An excerpt:

A few days after the event, I believe, on the Wednesday, I drove into New York City to see my doctor. He listened to my story and examined me. There occured during that examination one of the most agonizing experiences I have ever known. He took one glance at the condition of my rectum and blurted out, "you've been raped." I was so terribly, terribly humiliated by this that it has taken me these twenty long years even to put those words down on paper. Only last June did I utter them to another person, when I told Anne what he had said, and told a psychologist I am thinking of working with this spring. And now I have said it.

Holiday Wishes

I delve into a lot of dark territory here, but in the spirit of the holidaze I'll offer up a piece of poetry I find very uplifting.

Have a wonderful holiday, whatever it is you celebrate.

Sometimes

Sometimes things don't go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don't fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.

A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can't leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.

Sometimes our best intentions do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.

-- Sheenagh Pugh

Missing Black Boxes in WTC Attacks Found

One of the most important news items to emerge in some time. Too bad it will get no play in the MSM.

An excerpt:

9/11: Missing Black Boxes in World Trade Center Attacks Found by Firefighters, Analyzed by NTSB, Concealed by FBI

By DAVE LINDORFF

One of the more puzzling mysteries of 9-11 is what ever happened to the flight recorders of the two planes that hit the World Trade Center towers. Now it appears that they may not be missing at all.

Counterpunch has learned that the FBI has them.

Flight recorders (commonly known as black boxes, though these days they are generally bright orange) are required on all passenger planes. There are always two-a flight data recorder that keeps track of a plane's speed, altitude, course and maneuvers, and a cockpit voice recorder which keeps a continuous record of the last 30 minutes of conversation inside a plane's cockpit. These devices are constructed to be extremely durable, and are installed in a plane's tail section, where they are least likely suffer damaged on impact. They are designed to withstand up to 30 minutes of 1800-degree heat (more than they would have faced in the twin towers crashes), and to survive a crash at full speed into the ground.

All four of the devices were recovered from the two planes that hit the Pentagon and that crashed in rural Pennsylvania. In the case of American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon, the FBI reports that the flight data recorder survived and had recoverable information, but the voice recorder was allegedly too damaged to provide any record. In the case of United Airlines Flight 93, which hit the ground at 500 mph in Pennsylvania, the situation was reversed: the voice recorder survived but the flight data box was allegedly damaged beyond recovery.

But the FBI states, and also reported to the 9-11 Commission, that none of the recording devices from the two planes that hit the World Trade Center were ever recovered.

There has always been some skepticism about this assertion, particularly as two N.Y. City firefighters, Mike Bellone and Nicholas De Masi, claimed in 2004 that they had found three of the four boxes, and that Federal agents took them and told the two men not to mention having found them. (The FBI denies the whole story.) Moreover, these devices are almost always located after crashes, even if not in useable condition (and the cleanup of the World Trade Center was meticulous, with even tiny bone fragments and bits of human tissue being discovered so that almost all the victims were ultimately identified). As Ted Lopatkiewicz, director of public affairs at the National Transportation Safety Agency which has the job of analyzing the boxes' data, says, "It's very unusual not to find a recorder after a crash, although it's also very unusual to have jets flying into buildings."

Now there is stronger evidence that something is amiss than simply the alleged non-recovery of all four of those boxes. A source at the National Transportation Safety Board, the agency that has the task of deciphering the date from the black boxes retrieved from crash sites-including those that are being handled as crimes and fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI-says the boxes were in fact recovered and were analyzed by the NTSB.

"Off the record, we had the boxes," the source says. "You'd have to get the official word from the FBI as to where they are, but we worked on them here."

More at link.

Eye of Sauron

I thought I'd stick with the LOTR analogies for a bit longer, particularly after reading the ongoing coverage of the Bush Cult's illegal spying on U.S. citizens. I think this image says all that needs to be said.

The Ayahuasca-Alien Connection

A fascinating look at the UFOs depicted in ayahuasca art and visions.

An excerpt:

The spaceship motif has an important place in Pablo's visions. As we saw earlier, when the curandera who cured his sister gave him ayahuasca, Pablo saw a huge flying saucer making a tremendous noise that made him panic (Vision 7). Don Manuel Amaringo, Pablo's older brother, has a similar story. He told me - with tears in his eyes - that the main icaro he employed to cure many people he learned from a fairy called Altos Cielos Nieves Tenebrosas, who came in a blue spaceship:

She asked me: 'Do you want to listen to my song?' She sang and that song I have always kept in my heart.

In spite of the frequency with which Pablo depicts spaceships, he is sparse in his commentary about them. Pablo says that these vehicles may take many shapes, are able to attain infinite speed, and can travel underwater or under the earth. The beings travelling in them are like spirits, having bodies more subtle than ours, appearing and disappearing at will. They belong to advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that live in perfect harmony. Great Amerindian civilizations like the Maya, Tiahuanaco, and Inca had contact with these beings. Pablo says that he saw in his journeys with ayahuasca that the Maya knew about this brew, and that they left for other worlds at some point in their history, but are about to return to this planet. In fact he says that some of the flying saucers seen by people today are piloted by Maya wise men.

Hosanna Church Update - Dec. 19th, 2005

A full index of articles on this case can be found here.

If you've been wondering about the status of the Hosanna Church case, you're in good company. Many individuals have emailed me asking if I had any new information on the case that has virtually disappeared from the news.

Well, thanks to several sources, I have some updates. First, just the news from this weekend, then some commentary:

(The article is, unfortunately, not available on the paper's website.)

From the Sunday Star, Hammond, LA:

DA: Hosanna trial priority

by Sylvia Schon, Daily Staff Writer

AMITE-- One of the highest profile criminal cases to ever hit the 21st Judicial District Court may go to trial in 2006.

Prosecutors are still exploring the evidence in the Hosanna Church sexual abuse case where seven defendants are accused of aggravated rape involving children and abuse of animals at the Ponchatoula church.

"There is just a tremendous amount of material for the office to read and dissect and categorize. We are in the process of doing that. We have an obligation to review everything," District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said Friday.

Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

The case drew national attention this summer with local officials and media interviews on national television.

A grand jury indicted seven of the nine in June for various accounts of aggravated rape.

The seven are: Louis Lamonica, the self-professed preacher in the Ponchatoula church; his wife, Robbin Lamonica; former Tangihopa Parish Sheriff's Deputy Chris Labat; Austin Aaron Bernard III, Patricia Pierson, Alan Pierson and Paul Fontenot.

Bernard is the only one of the seven that has not yet bonded out of the Tangihopa Parish Jail.

Two others, Lois Mabry (sic) and Nicole Bernard, face charges related to the allegations.

Several defendants were attacked by other prisoners while in the jail.

Louisiana law requires monitoring of those who bond out of jail on a charge of rape while waiting for trial, Perrilloux said.

At least one defendant is being monitored by a GPS system, but all are subject to some sort of monitoring, Perrilloux said.

The story broke in May after Louis Lamonica confessed to Livingston Parish deputies that he and others had been educating children about sexual relations and sexual misconduct with animals.

Authorities were also alerted by a call from Nicole Bernard in Ohio who related more about the case. She told deputies she fled from Louisiana in fear for her child and that counseling with her child raised allegations of sexual abuse.

Perrilloux said he hopes to get the case to trial in the coming year.

"In my discussion with Don Wall (assistant district attorney), I told him we want to make it a priority," Perrilloux said.

So that's the latest news. Not much there, eh?

But there is much more going on behind the scenes and beneath the surface, according to multiple sources who have contacted me in the past months. I've held back on much of the information because my sources fear for their safety. But every source has said essentially the same thing: the "political machine" in the region is powerful and corrupt to the core, and the climate of fear is oppressive.

My next post will touch on a seemingly unconnected case that may actually shed considerable light on the prosecutorial team. Stay tuned.

And again, anyone with relevant information should feel free to contact me via email. If you have physical documents you'd like to send, I will provide you with my post office box.

All information I receive is being held in strictest confidence, and is duplicated and stored in multiple secure locations. Please feel free to remain anonymous.

Return of the King

Although I support democracy (as rare as it is these days), if I had to establish a Kingdom, I might allow the Heir of Elendil to take the crown:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916567/from/RSS/

Viggo Mortensen isn’t backing off his stinging critique of George Bush.

The “Lord of the Rings” hottie took some heat for criticizing the president’s policies lately, and in a recent interview, Mortensen is unrepentant.

“I’m not anti-Bush; I’m anti-Bush behavior,” Mortensen told Progressive magazine. “In other words, I’m against cheating, greed, cruelty, racism, imperialism, religious fundamentalism, treason, and the seemingly limitless capacity for hypocrisy shown by Bush and his administration.”

Mortensen also blasted the administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina and discussed why he supported anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who has protested the war in Iraq since her son was killed there. “Cindy Sheehan and how badly Katrina was bungled are two shots to the heart,” he said. “I hope the beast does fall down soon."

Amen, Aragorn.



All that is gold does not glitter
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken
The crownless again shall be king

Disco Inferno

The Nation discusses music as an instrument of torture against detainees.

This is nothing new -- recall the use of rabbit slaughter sounds against the Branch Davidians and rock music blasted at Manuel Noriega.

It's easy to make light of this type of torture, but it's deceptively brutal.

War Profiteer Knows How to Party

The New York Daily News estimates that the bat mitzvah Brooks threw for his daughter over the weekend cost an estimated $10 million. Virtually every musician that you might guess would appeal to a 50-something Long Island CEO was flown in by private jet: Aerosmith, Tom Petty, the Eagles' Don Henley and Joe Walsh, who performed with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Kenny G. As a likely concession to his daughter's tastes, Brooks also booked 50 Cent, DJ AM (Nicole Richie's fiancée) and rap diva Ciara.

According to Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove, Brooks was so pumped for Aerosmith that he changed his wardrobe for their performance from a “black-leather, metal-studded suit -- accessorized with biker-chic necklace chains and diamonds from Chrome Hearts jewelers -- into a hot-pink suede version of the same lovely outfit.” The CEO then reportedly mounted the stage, clowned with Steven Tyler and insisted that his teenage nephew be permitted to sit in on drums.

Grotesque as it may be, Brooks' blowout is merely one of the more visible symbols of rampant war profiteering in the post-9/11 era. Our study showed that defense contractor CEOs received raises on average of 200 percent between 2001 and 2004, compared to only 7 percent for average large company CEOS.

Dispatch from the jungle

The Professor is off doing some research in the jungles of Belize. Well, not all research, and not all jungle -- there's plenty of Belikin beer involved, interrupted by the occasional rum punch.

The above photos are from the Mayan site known as Lamanai, or place of the sunken crocodile. The ruin was actually occupied by the Maya until AD 1650. It's rather remote, requiring an hour's boat ride up a river.

Can I get an "Amen"?

One of the most penetrating analyses of the underlying motives of the Bush Cult I have yet to see.

From caribmon's post at Dailykos:

The recent revelations about the virulent spread of death squads ravaging Iraq have only confirmed for many people the lethal incompetence of the Bush Regime, whose brutal bungling appears to have unleashed the demon of sectarian strife in the conquered land. The general reaction, even among some war supporters, has been bitter derision: "Jeez, these bozos couldn't boil an egg without causing collateral damage."

But what if the truth is even more sinister? What if this murderous chaos is not the fruit of rank incompetence but instead the desired product of carefully crafted, efficiently managed White House policy?

Precisely! We have a winner!

If we analyze the spreading chaos in Iraq from a perspective of qui bono -- i.e. "who benefits?" -- the picture painted is quite clear. Not only is the Bush Cult not grossly incompetent, out of touch, and inept, but, in fact, they are brilliant strategists. And they've gotten everything they wanted.

Permanent bases? Not likely, unless Iraq degenerates into a permanent state of chaos and civil war. How to insure permanent chaos and civil war? Enter death squads, torture teams, psyops (recall the British soldiers caught with costumes, fake beards, and explosives), and voila! A country so unstable and violent that the U.S. is required to remain. Permanently.

And while we're there, we'll conveniently siphon off the black gold/Texas tea.

The Bush Cult has conceived and executed a plan to destabilize and permanently occupy a precious piece of resource-rich land that has been coveted by Western countries since the beginning of the oil economy.

It's a wrap. They got the brass ring. Whether or not the administration crumbles under it's perverse criminality, the U.S. is never going to pull out of Iraq. Yes, some troops will come home. But if you think any administration -- even a Democratic one -- is going to voluntarily extract itself from the second largest source of oil on the planet, I've got a copy of the Carter Doctrine I'd like you to read.

Bush in Iraq, Slouching Toward Genocide

Bush's messianic push for "complete victory" in Iraq is indeed what Robert Parry calls an "invitation to genocide" of the Sunni minority.

It's all part of the plan -- permanent war and permanent occupation until Jesus Christ himself lifts up King George and his faithful servants into the clouds.

Let's just hope those clouds aren't mushroom shaped.