Wednesday, May 31, 2006

aangirfan: Mervyn Jenkins

aangirfan: Mervyn Jenkins

The Weekly Spin, May 31, 2006

THE WEEKLY SPIN, May 31, 2006

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THIS WEEK'S NEWS

== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. It's Clobberin' Time
2. Scandals, Scandals, Scandals.

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Shredding Policy Haunts British American Tobacco
2. Donations Tie Drug Firms and Nonprofits
3. Questioning the NY Times' Nuclear Option
4. Iraq the Most Deadly War for Reporters
5. Pentagon Primes Propaganda Plan
6. Publicis PR Affiliate Seeking to Mute Bad PR?
7. "Fake TV News" Report Now in PDF Form
8. CMD Report "Fake TV News" Triggers FCC Investigation
9. Lincoln Logs More Propaganda Work in Iraq

--------------------------------------------------------------------

== BLOG POSTINGS ==

1. IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME
by Sheldon Rampton

Our senior researcher, Diane Farsetta, is one "bad mamma jamma"
according to Ed Husar of "The Quincy Dump," who interviewed her for
his blog about the Fake TV News report that she co-wrote and
researched with Dan Price.
"The Quincy Dump" is focused on the problem of media
consolidation in Quincy, Illinois, which Husar says is "one of nine
communities in the country where one company is allowed to own
television, radio and the only newspaper in the same market. It is
because of this cross ownership that so much Quincy media news goes
unreported and Quincy media ethics go unchecked." Quincy Newspapers
Incorporated owns WSJV-TV, a Fox Network affiliate in South Bend,
Indiana that broadcast one of the video news releases featured in
Diane and Dan's report.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4834

2. SCANDALS, SCANDALS, SCANDALS.
by Conor Kenny

The biggest news in the Capitol this week was undoubtedly the May 20
raid of the congressional offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.)
by FBI agents. The agents were part of a “public corruption and
government fraud squad” and stayed for 17 hours, searching and
cataloguing evidence in the bribery investigation surrounding
Jefferson, in which two of his associates have already pleaded
guilty. The FBI filed an affidavit to support their application for
a search warrant that spelled out their evidence against Jefferson.
We’ve gone through it line by line and entered all the details
into Jefferson’s Congresspedia profile. You’ve really got to
read it to believe it.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4828

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==

1. SHREDDING POLICY HAUNTS BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/judge-tells-tobacco-giant-to-hand-over-documents/2006/05/30/1148956346933.html
British American Tobacco (BAT) has suffered a major legal setback
after a Sydney judge found that the company's "document retention
policy," under which sensitive documents were shredded, had been
developed "in furtherance of the commission of a fraud." In a case
before the New South Wales Dust Diseases Tribunal, Justice Jim
Curtis heard uncontested evidence from former BAT solicitor Fred
Gulson that the policy was designed so that the company could shred
potentially damaging documents. Curtis said that the policy created
"the pretence of a rational non-selective housekeeping policy." The
case before the tribunal will hear argument on whether BAT should
bear part of the compensation costs of a lung cancer victim who was
a smoker and was exposed to asbestos. BAT has been directed to
produce relevant documents within two weeks for a trial that
commences on June 26.
SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, May 30, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4840

2. DONATIONS TIE DRUG FIRMS AND NONPROFITS
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/14687073.htm
"The American Diabetes Association, a leading patient health group,
privately enlisted an Eli Lilly & Co. executive to chart its growth
strategy and write its slogan. The National Alliance on Mental
Illness, an outspoken patient advocate, lobbies for treatment
programs that also benefit its drug-company donors. ... Although
patients seldom know it, many patient groups and drug companies
maintain close, multimillion-dollar relationships while disclosing
limited or no details about the ties," reports Thomas Ginsberg. In
some cases, companies have "loaned" the services of their executives
to advise or even lead patient groups. Ginsberg's investigation
found that "the groups rarely disclose such ties when commenting or
lobbying about donors' drugs. They also tend to be slower to
publicize treatment problems than breakthroughs. And few openly
questioned drug prices."
SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, May 28, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4839

3. QUESTIONING THE NY TIMES' NUCLEAR OPTION
http://counterpunch.org/montague05272006.html
Peter Montague, of the environmental publication Rachel's News,
responds to the New York Times' pro-nuclear power editorial from May
13, 2006. The newspaper claimed that "nuclear power is looking
better," due to high energy prices and global warming. Montague
writes, "Even after taking into consideration the large quantities
of fossil fuels required for mining, processing, and enriching fuel,
and in plant construction, operation, waste disposal and plant
decommissioning, nuclear power could reduce carbon dioxide emissions
by some amount while generating electricity. The question is, are
there better ways to achieve the same result?" The Times suggested
that nuclear waste be stored at surface sites "for the next 50 to
100 years," as longer-term storage is developed. Montague argues,
"Fifty years of study and experiment have yielded no useful
solutions." He also warns, "The connection between nuclear power and
nuclear bombs simply cannot be broken." With regard to federal
subsidies, Montague asks, "Why aren't we willing to spend $77
billion to subsidize energy-saving measures, and the development of
existing minimally-polluting technologies?" The business publication
Forbes agrees, stating, "Nuclear is not profitable without a raft of
government subsidies."
SOURCE: CounterPunch, May 27-29, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4838

4. IRAQ THE MOST DEADLY WAR FOR REPORTERS
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002577061
The Iraq war "is now the deadliest war for reporters in the past
century," reports Editor and Publisher. Seventy-one journalists and
26 media support staff have been killed in Iraq since 2003. That
compares to 69 journalists killed in World War II, 63 in Vietnam and
17 in Korea. In addition, at least 42 journalists have been
kidnapped in Iraq, according to Reporters Without Borders. As the
New York Times notes, "it is Iraqi journalists who have been most at
risk. Just this month, three Iraqi reporters were killed in a
two-week period." The news comes as CBS reports that two of its crew
members were killed in Iraq. Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman
James Brolan are believed to be "the first embedded journalists to
die since 2003."
SOURCE: Editor and Publisher, May 29, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4837

5. PENTAGON PRIMES PROPAGANDA PLAN
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060529/29propaganda.htm
The Pentagon's new "strategic communications roadmap" will soon be
approved, according to U.S. News and World Report. The plan seeks to
"create a culture" that sees strategic communications as "not just
public affairs, information operations or psychological operations,
legislative affairs or public diplomacy, but ... the totality of
that that you have to work to be effective," explained Lt. Gen. Gene
Renuart of the Joint Staff. The Pentagon has already established a
Strategic Communications secretariat, to "research important or
contentious issues, such as the recent Dubai ports debate"; a
Strategic Communications Integration Group "will decide how to
handle those issues." In 2004, the U.S. Strategic Command
established a Joint Information Operations Center in San Antonio,
Texas, to send support teams "to the various combatant commands in
the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America." And the Special
Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, sends psychological operations
units around the world.
SOURCE: U.S. News and World Report, May 29, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4835

6. PUBLICIS PR AFFILIATE SEEKING TO MUTE BAD PR?
http://www.thailabour.org/wnews/051103a.html
Last July, labor activist Junya Lek Yimprasert took up the cause of
five women workers dismissed by the Thai subsidiary of the global PR
firm Publicis Groupe. She described alleged sexual discrimination
and intimidation at the firm's Bankok office to reporter Stephen
Frost of CSR Asia (PDF). Two months later, Publicis filed a
complaint of "defamation by propagation" in Bankok against
Yimprasert, ostensibly for posting the CSR Asia article on her Thai
Labour Campaign's (TLC) website. In Thailand, such a complaint is
investigated and potentially prosecuted in criminal court, according
to our own conversation with Publicis legal counsel Russell Kelley.
The Southern Bankok Criminal Court prosecutor summoned Yimprasert
and brought charges. The court set a concilation date for May 31,
2006, with trial dates in November 2006. "I think the prosecution is
pursuing the case because it feels there are grounds to do so,"
Kelley told PR Watch. Meanwhile, a global appeal has been launched
on behalf of Yimprasert, accusing Publicis of attempting to
intimidate TLC into silence.
SOURCE: Thai Labour Campaign, October 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4836

7. "FAKE TV NEWS" REPORT NOW IN PDF FORM
http://www.prwatch.org/pdfs/NFNPDFExt6.pdf
With the U.S. Federal Communications Commission investigating the
television stations that CMD documented airing corporate video news
releases, you might want to read through the report that started it
all. Luckily, "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed" is now
available in PDF format! Download it from our website, print it out
and take it along on your summer holiday. It's 114 pages long --
chock full of important information, harrowing tales of media
deception, and some great puns. The URL to download the report is:
www.prwatch.org/pdfs/NFNPDFExt6.pdf
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, May 26, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4829

8. CMD REPORT "FAKE TV NEWS" TRIGGERS FCC INVESTIGATION
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aIeR2Prf88nE&refer=us
Bloomberg reports that, in direct response to CMD's groundbreaking
exposé 'Fake TV News,' the "Federal Communications Commission
Chairman Kevin Martin ordered a probe of dozens of television
stations. ... The April report by the non-profit Center for Media
and Democracy found at least 77 stations, including 23 affiliates of
Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network and seven Sinclair Broadcast Group
Inc. stations, ignored an FCC warning to disclose sponsors. The
maximum fine for each violation is $32,500, rising to $325,000 for
multiple infractions, said FCC spokesman Clyde Ensslin. 'If the
investigation leads to significant fines, the FCC could cause
stations to put disclosures in place that make clearer the corporate
role in local news,' said analyst Blair Levin of Stifel Nicolaus &
Co. in Washington. 'It depends how hard Martin wants to push it.'"
SOURCE: Bloomberg, May 25, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4826

9. LINCOLN LOGS MORE PROPAGANDA WORK IN IRAQ
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/world/middleeast/24propaganda.html
It was reported previously that Rear Adm. Scott Van Buskirk's review
of U.S. propaganda efforts in Iraq found that no regulations were
violated by the "multipronged campaign." According to the New York
Times, the three-page summary of the Pentagon review calls the
military's covert authorship of Iraqi newspaper articles
"appropriate," but suggests new guidelines to "determine when
attribution may be appropriate." Without mentioning the Lincoln
Group, the PR firm that planted the pro-U.S. stories, the review
emphasizes the importance of "proper oversight" of contractors on
propaganda programs. The review is critical of the U.S.-created
Baghdad Press Club, saying the military's "direct oversight of an
apparently independent news organization and remuneration for
articles that are published will undoubtedly raise questions focused
on 'truth and credibility,' that will be difficult to deflect." The
New York Times reports, "Several Pentagon officials said the Lincoln
Group and other contractors were still involved in placing
propaganda messages in Iraqi publications and on television."
SOURCE: New York Times, May 24, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4824

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[political-research] Israel's UN Ambassador: World War III Has Already Begun


<http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482080279&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull>

Comment:

This is yet another in a succession of statements from Israeli government and Israeli lobby leaders which make it obvious that Israel is the prime mover behind the campaign to instigate World War III and World IV. It continues to amaze me that so many Americans still do not understand that the Iraq War was the opening shot in a grand strategy that has been discussed explicitly and at length in the open writings of Israelis and neoconservatives for the last few decades. The mainstream media and much of the alternative media have been witting collaborators with Israel and the neocons in covering up this basic fact of life.

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Saddam witness accuses prosecutor of bribing him


Saddam witness accuses prosecutor of bribing him

FBI Raid Hits a Constitutional Nerve

FBI Raid Hits a Constitutional Nerve

[political-researchp] Forwarded Article: Manhattan Democrats Unhappy With Hillary



Manhattan Democrats Unhappy With Hillary

Manhattan Democrats are so unhappy with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's move to the right and her budding relationship with conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch that they are turning their backs on her campaign for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

"She is not in Arkansas anymore," Yayoi Tsuchitani, campaign chairwoman of the Village Independent Democrats told the New York Daily News, which reports that her group voted this month to back Jonathan Tasini, Clinton's little-known Democratic challenger for her Senate seat.

"This is New York we are dealing with, and the majority of New Yorkers are against the war," Tsuchitani added.

According to the Daily News, the Downtown Independent Democrats also voted recently to endorse Tasini, an anti-war 49-year-old freelance writer and longtime labor organizer from upper Manhattan. . . .

To read the rest of this article Click Here.




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[imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1406 (10 messages)

imra Wed May 31 00:34:05 2006 Volume 2 : Issue 1406

In this issue of the imra daily Digest:

IDF Forces Thwart Projectile Rocket Attack In Gaza
Excerpts: Kuwaiti youth politically arroused.
Disappointing outlook for Jordan's Information
and Communications Technology" 30 May 2006
ABBAS AND HIS MEDIA CONDEMN
ISRAEL FOR KILLING PALESTINIAN ROCKETEERS
PM Olmert's Bureau: no intention to
appoint deputy ministers
Israel Denies Rift with US Over JSF Program
Our World: Abbas's newest big lie
Saudis Flout Vow to US to End Israel Boycott
Tourism to Israel Jumps 30 Per
Cent in January-April 2006
Cabinet Communique
Cabinet Communique does not list withdrawal
plan as a main issue on Olmert's US visit

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: IDF Forces Thwart Projectile Rocket Attack In Gaza

May 30th, 2006
IDF SPOKESPERSON ANNOUNCEMENT

IDF forces thwart rocket attack in Gaza

Early this morning, May 30th 2006, an IDF force operating in the Gaza Strip
identified a terror cell in the northern Gaza Strip attempting to launch
rockets at Israel. The force, supported by the IAF helicopters, opened fire
at the cell and an exchange of gunfire ensued.

The IDF will continue to act with determination and employ all means at its
disposal to combat terrorists and defend the citizens of Israel.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Excerpts: Kuwaiti youth politically arroused.
Disappointing outlook for Jordan's Information
and Communications Technology" 30 May 2006

Excerpts: Kuwaiti youth politically arroused.Disappointing outlook for
Jordan's Information and Communications Technology" 30 May 2006

+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 30 May '06:
"The future is Orange: Kuwaiti youth press for change", by Omar Hasan (AFP)
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
" 'They branded us as children. Yes, we are. But children who love their
country and are determined to force positive change' "
" 'In seven days this group of young activists succeeded in bringing down
the government' "
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS
KUWAIT CITY: They have been cursed by their opponents as spoiled children
and hailed by their supporters as heroes. They call themselves the voice of
Kuwaiti youth, and they have broken their silence. Wearing orange T-shirts
and waving orange banners and Kuwaiti flags, hundreds of "frustrated" young
people launched their campaign for political reform in a rare protest
outside the seat of government on May 5.
Since then, they have been branded the "Orange Movement" or the "Orange
Youth," with some even calling them the "Orange Revolution."
"We are a group of young people, from school, university and young
graduates," one of their leaders, 29-year-old Khaled al-Fadalah, told AFP as
dozens of activists gathered outside the election registration center.
..."Our beginning was spontaneous," Fadalah said. "We were discussing the
political crisis in Kuwait at a restaurant. We said we should act. We
decided to hold a protest at the council of ministers." The orange protest
began with the sending of text messages. Then, through Internet bloggers and
mobile phone calls, they set a date and a time. "... It was very
successful," ... the orange activists then staged an overnight vigil
outside Parliament ahead of the crucial May 15 debate. A number of
pro-reform MPs visited them at what later came to be known as the "Square of
Will."
About 1,000 members of the orange movement and others disrupted the
Parliament session when the government backed a motion to send the
constitutional court its own bill that would trim the number of
constituencies to 10.
They applauded as 29 opposition MPs walked out of the session, and chanted
slogans like "we want it five" and "down with the government" - forcing
ministers and pro-government MPs to leave the chamber before completing the
vote.
Two days later, the protesters held a large public rally at the same spot,
followed on May 19 by another at which opposition MPs pledged to back a
request to question Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
"They branded us as children. Yes, we are. But children who love their
country and who are determined to force positive change," activist Abdullah
Buftain told thousands at the rally.
"We acted out of frustration at widespread corruption in every government
institution and at every level," said Fadalah.
On the day Parliament was dissolved, veteran opposition former MP Ahmad
al-Saadun hailed the orange youth "as leaders of the Kuwaiti people who
brought all political groups under one umbrella."
"In seven days, this group of young activists succeeded in bringing down the
government. This week is historic for Kuwait, when the people exercised
their right of change," Saadun said.
The orange activists and opposition MPs consider that the government has
"failed" at a popular level.
The activists plan to play a key role in the June 29 parliamentary
elections, though no Orange Movement member is standing because they are all
under 30, the legal age for candidates.
Outside the election registration center, activists have managed to speak to
candidates, urging them to support a bill to reduce the number of
constituencies and to fight corruption.
The group is now using the Internet to name candidates it alleges are
corrupt or who oppose reform.
The orange activists have created two lists for candidates.
Their "white list" contains the names of reformists, including the 29
opposition former MPs who have formed a new group called Alliance for
Change, while the "black list" names hopefuls they allege are
pro-government.

+++JORDAN TIMES 30 May '06"
"Editorial:Just do IT"
SUBJECT:

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"most (progress) would have happened anyway"
"lion's share in results and revenues has been in communications"
"dreamed of ... Jordan becoming a new major hub of outsourcing"
Jordan's IT industry seems to be suffering from early fatigue"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXCERPTS:
... Information and Communications Technology Minister (said) the ICT sector
represents 10 per cent of the annual gross domestic product . . .While
indeed progress has been made, most of it ...would have happened anyway,
sooner or later.
.... the lion's share of the results - and revenues - has been achieved in
communications, and not in information technology per se.. . .But if the
doubling - and tripling - of mobile penetration was in the natural order of
things, the development of specific niche IT products that could identify -
"brand" is the in word - Jordan as a regional model was not.
It would be unfair and untrue to say that Jordanian companies are not coming
up with groundbreaking products, highly appreciated abroad.They are, ...But
they are too few, employ too few people, are still quite unknown and
voiceless ... ..
At the time of the first IT Forum ...some dreamed of the sector employing
thousands of young people, in call centres among others, and of Jordan
becoming a new major hub for outsourcing.It didn't happen.
Perhaps it was for the best; do we really want all those low-paid, mainly
temporary jobs?
... The fact remains that, after a couple of golden years, Jordan's IT
industry seems to be suffering from early fatigue.
The e-government plan is still stuttering, far from delivering on its many
promises, and with it is a much-needed sweeping and radical - not cosmetic -
reform of the public administration.
PC penetration is still alarmingly low, and public-private sector
initiatives to help families purchase computers have been timid and yielded
little fruit.
In sum, the sector needs to raise its profile dramatically and gather steam
if it wants to keep up with what is happening around us.

Sue Lerner - Associate - IMRA

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: ABBAS AND HIS MEDIA CONDEMN
ISRAEL FOR KILLING PALESTINIAN ROCKETEERS

ABBAS AND HIS MEDIA CONDEMN ISRAEL
FOR KILLING PALESTINIAN ROCKETEERS

BY MICHAEL WIDLANSKI Tuesday, 30 May, 2006

Palestinian leaders and media roundly condemned Israel today for
killing a group of Palestinian Arab terrorists who were shooting rockets and
mortars into Israel, calling the men "martyrs," "citizens" and
"resisters"-all positive terms in Arabic.

"Planes of the Israeli occupation shot at a group of four resisters in
Beit Lahiya (part of Gaza) killing four of them," declared Voice of
Palestine radio in its noontime (5am NY) broadcast Tuesday, later citing the
names of all the men and calling them martyrs.

"President Mahmoud Abbas strongly condemned the barbarous slaughter"
committed by Israel, declared VOP anchorman Nizar Al-Ghul. He said three
other Palestinians had been killed in other combat.

It was the fourth day in a row that Dr. Abbas and his strongly
controlled media have lionized those shooting at Israel, while calling
Israeli leaders "war criminals."

On the average, there have been three to five rocket attacks into Israel
in recent days, and there have been several attempted suicide bomber
penetrations each week.

Abbas, generally considered a "moderate," has not condemned these
attacks, nor the continued attempts by Palestinian organizations-Hamas,
Islamic Jihad and even his own Fatah movement-to smuggle suicide bombers
into Israeli cities.

Two such men-one strapped with a bomb, and the other his field
guide-were captured on the Number 60 Road from Nablus towards Ramallah and
Jerusalem late Sunday.

In the meantime, the moderate Abbas is continuing his hiwar
watani-national dialogue-with Hamas and Jihad, trying to get them to
recognize Fatah supremacy and tactical leadership, despite the Hamas victory
in the January legislative voting.

� 2006 Michael Widlanski Associates-Material may be cited

Dr. Michael Widlanski is a specialist in Arab politics and communication
whose doctorate dealt with the Palestinian broadcast media. He is a former
reporter, correspondent and editor, respectively, at The New York Times
,The Cox Newspapers-Atlanta Constitution, and The Jerusalem Post.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PM Olmert's Bureau: no intention to
appoint deputy ministers

Statement From PM Olmert's Bureau Regarding the Appointment of Deputy
Ministers
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Tuesday, 30 May, 2006

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Bureau wishes to make it clear that there is no
intention to appoint deputy ministers and that all reports regarding
promises to this effect are incorrect.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Israel Denies Rift with US Over JSF Program

[IMRA: The following denial declines to address the issues actually raised
by the press reports, namely that the US refuses to permit Israel to
incorporate its own enhancements into the planes it purchases in the project
so that the Israeli planes have an edge over the planes that the US will be
selling to Israel's Arab neighbors.]

JSF Project
(Source: Israeli Ministry of Defense; issued May 22, 2006)
[With thanks to www.defense-aerospace.com]

Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Jacob Toren, defined the press
report attesting to a crisis on the JSF project as totally baseless.

"It is a concoction" he said. "Israel is part of the JSF Project. Project
review meetings are taking place and there is a continuous progress."

He added that discussions on the final configuration of the plane for the
Israeli Air Force have not been finalized yet.

-ends-

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Our World: Abbas's newest big lie

Our World: Abbas's newest big lie
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 29, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482068828&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Fresh from her tete-a-tete with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas last week, Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni instructed her press flack to tell her fellow cabinet
ministers to remain mum on Abbas's latest "diplomatic" gambit. In the words
of her communications director Shai Ben Maor, Abbas's decision to turn a
document written by convicted Palestinian murderers and attempted murderers
sitting in Israeli prisons into the centerpiece of his diplomatic policy is
"an internal Palestinian issue" and so Israel should not be weighing in on
it.

What is the context of Abbas's new initiative regarding which Israel is
supposed to have no official position?

After receiving the Bush Administration's full-throated endorsement during
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to Washington,
DC last week, Abbas sprang into action. Following Bush's characterization of
Abbas as a man who "favors and speaks for peace and negotiations," Abbas -
who has never lifted a finger and indeed pledged never to lift a finger to
fight Hamas, Fatah or any other terrorist organization - announced that he
has a new plan.

Abbas's plan has two central components. First, he wants to get the PA's
Hamas government to accept the document authored by convicted murderers and
attempted murderers. Second, Abbas wants Israel to allow him to raise, arm
and field a new militia with 10,000 soldiers to supplement the 20,000
soldiers Abbas already hired in the lead-up to the Palestinian elections in
January.

Both the Israeli and the international media have referred to the convicted
terrorists' declaration as a "peace plan." London's Daily Telegraph's
summation of what its editors considered the main points of the declaration
represents more or less what all the mass media organs in Israel and abroad
have been saying.

The Telegraph's report claims that the plan has six main components. In its
words, those components are: "A negotiated settlement with Israel if the
Jewish state withdraws from land occupied since the 1967 Middle East war;
continued resistance, focusing on peaceful means, on land occupied since
1967 - the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem; an independent
Palestinian state on all land occupied since 1967, with Jerusalem as its
capital; a unity Palestinian government uniting all factions, including
Hamas and Fatah; guarantee the right of return of Palestinian refugees to
their former homes inside Israel and the release of all Palestinian
prisoners in Israel; speeding up efforts to incorporate Hamas and Islamic
Jihad into the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which has
negotiated past interim peace accords."

IF ONE were to take these terms at face value, perhaps this could be seen as
a step forward. But just the barest scrutiny shows that what the jailed
terrorists announced was nothing more than a new restatement of their
declaration of war against Israel and a recommitment to their goal of
destroying the Jewish State.

It is true that the document speaks specifically of Israel's retreat from
Judea and Samaria as well as Jerusalem. Yet led by convicted mass murderer,
Fatah head and darling of the Israeli Left, Marwan Barghouti, the terrorists
reiterated the "liberation of the land," that is, all of Israel, as their
real objective.

The Telegraph's assertion that the "resistance" to Israel is supposed to be
largely by "peaceful means" leads a reader to assume this means that the
terrorists are calling for an end to terrorism. Nothing could be further
from the truth. In six separate
clauses of the declaration, the terrorists make clear their continued
commitment to carrying out acts of terrorism against Israel as part of their
strategy for destroying the Jewish state. Those acts of terrorism are
supposed to be conducted in conjunction with civil disturbances,
negotiations with Israel run by Abbas (something that Iran and its client
the Palestinian Islamic Jihad does not accept), as well as an international
diplomatic campaign in cooperation with NGO allies intended to delegitimize
and demonize Israel.

Far from calling for an end to terrorism, the terrorists called for the
establishment of a new joint terrorist organization called the "Popular
Resistance Front" that is to be composed of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah
terrorists. As they put it in their declaration, this new group's job will
be "to lead and engage in resistance against the occupation and to unify and
coordinate action and resistance and to form a unified political reference
for the front."

It is unclear what the difference will be between this proposed terrorist
organization and the Popular Resistance Committees that Barghouti and his
Hamas and Islamic Jihad colleagues formed in the months that preceded the
outbreak of their terror war in September 2000.

The Telegraph notes that the imprisoned terrorists insist that Israel accept
the so-called "right of return" of the so-called "refugees," but the
newspaper, like its Israeli media counterparts, fails to recognize the true
significance of this repeated demand. These murderers are demanding that in
exchange for a temporary cessation of terror attacks against its citizens,
Israel agree to its national destruction. The so-called "right of return" is
a demand that Israel accept the unimpeded immigration of millions of
hostile, foreign- born Arabs to its sovereign territory.

THESE MURDERERS devote an inordinate amount of attention in their
declaration to detailing their desire to incorporate
Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the Abbas-led PLO. They repeatedly call for
unity between the "nationalist and Islamic" factions. That is, they call for
unity in their ranks for the purpose of advancing their war for the
destruction of Israel.

Finally, in a decidedly self-serving fashion, the convicted murderers
emphatically call for their own release from Israeli jails and see their
release as "a sacred national duty."

In short, much as one would expect, convicted Palestinian mass murderers
from various terrorist organizations met in an Israeli prison yard to
recommit themselves and their followers to their war for the destruction of
Israel. And, much as one would expect, the international and Israeli press
presented this declaration of war as a peace plan.

ABBAS TOOK the media by storm with his bold declaration last Thursday that
if Hamas does not accept the prisoners' declaration within 10 days he will
bring it before the Palestinian public as a referendum. "What a bold
effort!" the press exclaimed excitedly. Buoyed by his success, Abbas
announced the second half of his plan. In order to ensure Hamas realizes
that he means business, Abbas renewed his demand that Israel allow him to
receive arms and ammunition for his loyal troops. He further announced his
intention to increase the size of his current personal army - Force 17 -
from 2,500-3,000 men to 10,000 men.

There is very little new in the convicted terrorists' declaration or in
Abbas's embrace of their declaration. Abbas has been embracing declarations
of war against Israel since he joined Fatah as Yasser Arafat's deputy in
1959. There is also nothing new about Abbas's demand that Israel either
supply him with arms or enable others to supply him with arms even though
such arms and ammunition have been directly involved in the murder of scores
of Israeli citizens since 1996.

What is new is the response of Israel's government.

Since 2000, the government has refused Palestinian requests for guns and
ammunition. Yet, last week, Olmert's government allowed Abbas to receive
arms and ammunition for Force 17 from Jordan and Egypt. Not only did the
government allow forces committed to Israel's destruction to receive arms
and ammunition, well placed sources claim that Defense Minister Amir
Peretz's office was the source of the misinformation campaign that has
dubbed the prisoners' declaration of war a peace plan.

In misleading Israel's citizenry about the content of the murderers' war
declaration and in enabling the rearmament and quadrupling of the size of
Abbas's personal army, the Israeli government and the Israeli and
international media have also been egged on by the Bush Administration. US
military envoy to the Hamas-led PA, General Keith Dayton has reportedly been
a major supporter of Peretz's desire to arm Abbas's men. The Americans have
been pushing to have this militia deployed in northern Gaza where its
members will purportedly stop Kassam missiles from being fired at Israel
even though Abbas, their commander has adopted a plan that calls for
continued attacks against Israel.

It is hard to find polite words to describe an Israeli government that
embraces enthusiastically a declaration of war against its country and
enables its enemy to arm and field armies that have been trained to kill its
citizens. It is hard not to view US support for the so-called "peace plan"
as a repudiation of the Bush Doctrine.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Saudis Flout Vow to US to End Israel Boycott

Saudis Flout Vow to US to End Israel Boycott
By Michael Freund The Jerusalem Post, May 30, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482069432&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFullDespite renewed assurances given to Washington that it is no longerenforcing a trade boycott against the Jewish state, Saudi Arabia continuesto prohibit Israeli-made goods from entering its territory, The JerusalemPost has learned.And while a senior US trade official sought to assure Congress last weekthat the embargo had in fact been removed, the Post found ample evidence toindicate that it remains in place."If a product is made in Israel, then it is a problem. It is not allowedhere," Muhammad al-Matrafi, a spokesman for the Director's Office of theKing Khalid Airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, said by phone on Monday."That is the law here in Saudi Arabia, and we do not allow those kinds ofthings into the kingdom," he said, adding, "If there is any mention ofIsrael on the container or on the product, then it can not enter SaudiArabia."A Saudi customs official at the Persian Gulf port of Ras
Tanurah was equallyadamant that no Israeli-made goods would be permitted to enter the country."There is still a ban on Israeli products, and anything declared as comingfrom Israel will not be allowed," said the customs official, who gave hisname only as Capt. Hosni. "Some people may try to say that a product wasmade elsewhere, but if there is anything which shows it was made in Israel,then it is a problem," he said.Another Saudi customs official at the Al Durah land crossing on theSaudi-Jordanian border reaffirmed that the ban on Israeli-made goods remainsin place. Asked by phone if products made in Israel could be brought intothe desert kingdom, he angrily replied, "No, no, no. Absolutely not," beforehanging up.The Saudi position appears to contradict assurances given last week by USDeputy Trade Representative Susan Schwab. In written responses to questionsraised by members of the Senate Finance Committee, Schwab said that SaudiArabia had told Washington that it was abiding by its
pledge to end theboycott of the Jewish state.In November 2005, the Saudis promised the Bush administration that theywould remove restrictions on trade with Israel, after Washington conditionedRiyadh's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) on such a move.But, as the Post first reported on March 7, the Saudis went ahead and playedhost to a major international conference aimed at intensifying theanti-Israel boycott, raising concerns in Congress about Riyadh's compliancewith its commitments.In addition, an official Saudi delegation took part in a meeting of the ArabLeague's boycott office in Damascus earlier this month."We have raised this issue directly with senior Saudi officials on severaloccasions, both in Riyadh and in Washington," Schwab told the Senators lastweek. "In all cases, we have received assurances that Saudi Arabia fullyunderstands and remains committed to its WTO obligations, including the WTOobligation to treat all WTO members according to WTO rules."The WTO
bars members from engaging in discriminatory trade practices, suchas embargoes or boycotts.Nonetheless, the Post has also found that a report authored by a former USdiplomat and issued recently by one of the largest banks in Saudi Arabiareaffirms that the country's boycott of Israel remains in place, despiteRiyadh's accession to the WTO.The 44-page document, "Saudi Arabia and the WTO," was prepared by BradBourland, chief economist at the Saudi Samba Financial Group.Bourland previously worked for the US State Department for 18 years,including as first secretary of the American Embassy in Riyadh, where he wasresponsible for analyzing the Saudi economy on behalf of the US government.In a question-and-answer section Bourland's report notes that, "SaudiArabia's trade stance toward Israel does not change due to WTO accession...The primary Arab League boycott of Israel remains in place."

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Tourism to Israel Jumps 30 Per
Cent in January-April 2006

Spokesperson's OfficeMinistry of Tourism
www.tourism.gov.il
Reference: 2006-0005-414
3 Sivan 5766

30 May 2006

Press Release

Tourism to Israel Jumps 30 Per Cent in January-April 2006
695,000 Visitors Enter the Country in First Four Months of the Year

695,000 tourists entered Israel in the period January-April 2006, a 30 per
cent rise over the same period last year. Tourist traffic from North America
surged 34 per cent compared to the first four months of 2005. 174,000
visitors arrived from the United States (up 42 per cent) making that country
the largest source of tourism to Israel.

"30 per cent growth in tourism is encouraging, and only emphasizes the need
for further investment in the industry to realize our goal of bringing three
million visitors to the country this year," says Israeli Minister of Tourism
Isaac Herzog.

Significant increases in tourism were recorded from the following countries:
Russia (+48 per cent), Ukraine (+41 per cent), Italy (+30 per cent), Austria
(+70 per cent) and the United Kingdom (+26 per cent).

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Cabinet Communique

Cabinet Communique
(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 30.10.05:

1. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - on behalf of the Cabinet - took leave of
outgoing National Security Council (NSC) Chairman Giora Eiland and paid
tribute to him as, "an outstanding IDF major-general who, as NSC Chairman
for the past 2,5 years, was involved in central diplomatic issues, including
the disengagement. On behalf of the entire Cabinet, I would like to thank
you for your lengthy service both in the IDF and as NSC Chairman."

2. Defense Minister Amir Peretz, IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni briefed ministers on current security and
diplomatic issues.

Defense Minister Peretz and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Halutz referred to
last night's special IDF operation in the Gaza Strip against Islamic Jihad
rocket-launching cells. At least four Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed;
nine additional Palestinians were wounded. In this context, artillery fire
at launch areas in the northern Gaza Strip was resumed Sunday. They also
discussed the foiling of attempted infiltrations from the Gaza Strip and
Sinai ( http://tinyurl.com/lj5er ), operational activities in Judea and
Samaria ( http://tinyurl.com/nf5zp ) and the recent escalation in the north
( http://tinyurl.com/qp4al ). Regarding the latter, the manner in which
Hizbullah attempted to stop the firing by appealing to a third party
underscores both the rapid and painful blows that the IDF inflicted on
Hizbullah and the organization's desire to avoid further escalation.
Defense Minister Peretz said that he has instructed the IDF and the security
forces to be on alert, especially in order to thwart possible kidnappings.

Foreign Minister Livni briefed ministers on her recent visit to Turkey
( http://tinyurl.com/q4ghn & http://tinyurl.com/mg4ln ).

3. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert briefed ministers on his recent visit to the
United States ( http://tinyurl.com/fsdyt & http://tinyurl.com/l7c59 ) and
noted that there was a strong degree of agreement on the three main issues
on the visit's agenda - the Iranian issue, policy vis-?-vis the Hamas
government and the diplomatic process. On the Iranian issue, there is a
common bilateral understanding that Iran cannot be allowed to achieve a
non-conventional capability and that Israel cannot be exposed to such a
capability. Regarding the Hamas government, the clear American position
opposes any cooperation, recognition and granting of assistance.

4. The Cabinet approved various amendments to the draft 2006 state budget
and to the draft 2006 Economic Arrangements Law; see
http://tinyurl.com/ndd8t for details.

5. Pursuant to its authority under the 1959 Civil Service Law
(Appointments), the Cabinet decided to appoint Gideon Siterman as
Director-General of the Transportation and Road Safety Ministry.

6. Pursuant to its authority under the 1959 Civil Service Law
(Appointments), the Cabinet decided to appoint Eitan Broshi as
Director-General of the Science, Technology, Culture and Sports Ministry.

7. Pursuant to its authority under the 1965 Broadcasting Authority Law, the
Cabinet decided to appoint Motti Shklar as Director-General of the Israel
Broadcasting Authority, effective 1.6.06.

8. Pursuant to its authority under the 1955 Rabbinical Courts Judges Law,
the Cabinet chose Minister Eli Yishai as a member of the Rabbinical Courts
Judges Appointments Committee, in addition to Justice Minister Haim Ramon.

9. The Cabinet discussed the establishment of a senior civil service
appointments advisory committee; see http://tinyurl.com/ndd8t for details.

10. The Cabinet discussed the issue of temporary housing sites for residents
of the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria (the implementation of changes in the
development and public institution budgets). The Cabinet decided to
authorize Construction and Housing Ministry Director-General Aryeh Bar - in
coordination with the Finance Ministry Budget Director and the SELA
Disengagement Authority - to enact changes in the disengagement budgets
designated for infrastructures development and the establishment of public
institutions at the temporary housing sites for residents of the Gaza Strip
and northern Samaria provided that all projects included in Cabinet
decisions are implemented and that there is no deviation from approved
budgetary frameworks.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Cabinet Communique does not list withdrawal
plan as a main issue on Olmert's US visit

Cabinet Communique
(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 30.10.05:

...
3. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert briefed ministers on his recent visit to the
United States ( http://tinyurl.com/fsdyt & http://tinyurl.com/l7c59 ) and
noted that there was a strong degree of agreement on the three main issues
on the visit's agenda - the Iranian issue, policy vis-a-vis the Hamas
government and the diplomatic process. On the Iranian issue, there is a
common bilateral understanding that Iran cannot be allowed to achieve a
non-conventional capability and that Israel cannot be exposed to such a
capability. Regarding the Hamas government, the clear American position
opposes any cooperation, recognition and granting of assistance.

...

------------------------------

From: imra-owner@imra.org.il
Subject: IMRA Subscription Info

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------------------------------

End of [imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1406 (10 messages)
**********

[political-research] Re: [catapult] 500 hours of 9/11 amatuer film - includes shots of

The number of cartoons of perported 175 seems to have stabilized at
around 30.
Some of these are really the same "scene" from closer angles.
The WESCAM camera system is known for this capability.
http://911closeup.com/nico
http://911tvfakery.blogspot.com/
http://covertoperations.blogspot.com/2006/05/arguing-no-planes.html
xxxx wrote:
>
>
> The 500 Hours of 9/11
>
> 911archive.net/Google
>
> A vast archive of images from the Sept. 11 attack and its aftermath,
> assembled by Steven Rosenbaum, a Manhattan producer of documentaries,
> can be sampled on the Internet at www.911archive.net/Google. The
> future of the collection is uncertain.
>
> By GLENN COLLINS
> <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/glenn_collins/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
> Published: May 30, 2006
>
> A brown fedora rests abandoned in ground zero dust: owner's fate,
> unknown. In images shot from space, a plume of smoke rises miles above
> the World Trade Center. Two workers cling to a scaffold that dangles
> from an office building beneath the inferno. A handheld video camera,
> pointing at a north tower in flames, shakily veers to show the second
> hijacked jet striking the other tower.
>
> Skip to next paragraph
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/nyregion/30archive.html?_r=1&oref=slogin#secondParagraph>
>
>
>
> Multimedia
>
> Video: Preserving 9/11 Footage
> <http://nytimes.feedroom.com/?fr_story=236ce1b3f6e42ee3bb8287d6df7b67e48849461a>
>
>
>
> Video: Preserving 9/11 Footage
> <http://nytimes.feedroom.com/?fr_story=236ce1b3f6e42ee3bb8287d6df7b67e48849461a>
>
>
> Enlarge this Image
> <javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/05/30/nyregion/30archiveCA02ready.html',
> '30archiveCA02ready',
> 'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')>
> <javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/05/30/nyregion/30archiveCA02ready.html',
> '30archiveCA02ready',
> 'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')>
> James Estrin/The New York Times
>
> Steven Rosenbaum and Pamela Yoder, his business partner and wife, at
> their Manhattan office last month. They hope to find a permanent
> repository for their archive.
>
> Those images, captured largely by amateurs, are moments from more than
> 500 hours of videos and films, the largest collection of raw visual
> data from what historians say is the best-documented catastrophe in
> history. About 1,700 clips from the collection have attracted more
> than a million hits in the three months since they were put on Google
> Video.
>
> The 7,000-gigabyte archive was assembled by Steven Rosenbaum, a
> Manhattan-based documentary producer. In the days after the terrorist
> attacks, he put up posters and fliers and placed an ad in The Village
> Voice urgently requesting images that captured the attack, its
> aftermath and the mood of the city.
>
> Now his collection is the largest asset of his dormant television
> production company, CameraPlanet, and Mr. Rosenbaum is working out an
> agreement with the Bank of America, the company's primary lender. He
> wants to structure a deal with a donor, buyer or partner that would
> keep the collection from being sold piecemeal, would repay the
> company's debt of more than $500,000 and would make the videos
> available to researchers, filmmakers and the public.
>
> As the fifth anniversary of the attack approaches, Mr. Rosenbaum is
> hardly alone among 9/11 collectors in struggling with financing, and
> with the need to find a permanent home for a repository and provide
> greater access to it.
>
> Beyond at least 260 major private and institutional collections, an
> estimated 100,000 people have squirreled away 9/11 materials. They
> range from video and document collections to flags, badges, roadside
> shrines, electronic archives of trade center blogs and even
> compilations of conspiracy theory materials.
>
> As yet, the logical repository for ground zero materials, the planned
> World Trade Center memorial and museum, has no place to store them,
> and it faces a budgetary and leadership crisis as well.
>
> Beyond that, seeming to profit from 9/11 is still taboo. David N.
> Redden, a vice chairman of Sotheby's in Manhattan, said his auction
> house has not been offered Sept. 11 collections to sell.
>
> "Things from that day should be unsalable," he said, "and anything
> that is ghoulish is beyond the pale."
>
> Among all the archives, Mr. Rosenbaum's video collection may be unique
> in that it can be sampled by anyone with access to the Web, at
> www.911archive.net/Google <http://www.911archive.net/Google>.
>
> It is "an extraordinary compilation of perspectives, a very important
> archive to keep together," said Jan Seidler Ramirez, chief curator of
> the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.
>
> Mr. Rosenbaum, 42, said that two appraisers had valued his archive in
> excess of $1 million.
>
> "This collection is about five years of my life," Mr. Rosenbaum said.
> "It's not about money. We don't have the resources to make it
> available to researchers and other documentarians, and we are very
> selective in giving approval to use our video."
>
> Mr. Rosenbaum's Google video clips are low-resolution teasers of
> longer sequences, and some have been encoded so that they cannot be
> downloaded, allowing Mr. Rosenbaum alone to approve uses of the full
> high-resolution images.
>
> Seventy-six people contributed to the collection, which is owned by
> Mr. Rosenbaum and his business partner and wife, Pamela Yoder.
>
> The archive's value is greatly enhanced, they say, by videotaped
> interviews with those who provided their pictures, "because in 40
> years everyone who shot this video will be gone, and we think the
> circumstances are as important as the videos," Ms. Yoder said.
>
> A few of the clips have been used in documentaries, including a film
> produced and directed by Mr. Rosenbaum, "Seven Days in September." In
> a review in 2002, A. O. Scott of The New York Times called it "an
> almost unbearably powerful documentary."
>
> When another director of documentaries, Ric Burns, made a film about
> the trade center, he was also allowed to use some of Mr. Rosenbaum's
> images.
>
> Archives like this, Mr. Burns said, are tremendous assets.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

[political-research] Bloglines - Osama Tape Appears Fake, Experts Conclude



9/11 Blogger - Blogging 9/11 Related Alternative News
All comments are welcome! but please avoid hate speech and profanity, and use references when possible.

Osama Tape Appears Fake, Experts Conclude

By George Washington

Here's the newest press release from Scholars for 9/11 Truth.

The latest audio tape attributed to Osama bin Laden appears to be one more installment in a succession of evidence fabricated by the US government to deceive the American people, according to Scholars for 9/11 Truth. "This tape is only the latest in a series of fabrications intended to mislead the American people," said James H. Fetzer, the society's founder. "The closer we get to revealing the truth about 9/11, the more furiously the government fights to conceal it!" He said members of Scholars and other experts had detected evidence of fakery.

In this new recording, a voice attributed to Osama bin Laden asserts that Zacarias Moussaoui was not involved in 9/11, which he knew to be the case because he had personally assigned the 19 hijackers involved in those events. The Osama of this tape thereby implicitly confesses his responsibility for orchestrating the attacks. However, in a tape released on December 27, 2001, the authenticity of which is not in doubt, Osama denied having had anything to do with 9/11. "Moreover," Fetzer added, "some of the 19 hijackers he 'personally assigned' have turned up alive and well."

To be sure, this new tape is not the first one in which bin Laden appears to take responsibility for the attacks. As David Ray Griffin, a prominent member of Scholars, points out, "The Osama on the video tape that appeared on December 13, 2001, confessed to planning the 9/11 attacks. But he is far darker and much heavier than the real Osama bin Laden. People can see the difference by looking up 'The Fake bin Laden Video Tape' on Google."

Griffin's point is supported by a work-in-progress by members of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, which appears on its web site under the heading, "9/11: Have we been lied to?" It offers evidence of fakery in some of the videos based upon various physical properties of the figures that are presumed to be Osama, pointing out that there are differences in the ears, cheeks, eyebrows, length of the nose and shape of the nostrils. "The use of computer analysis can 'fine tune' these questions of facial characteristics," Fetzer said, "but the gross differences already show they are not the same."

Content Inconsistencies

"Another problem with the video of December 13, 2001," Griffin pointed out, "was that its stocky bin Laden praised two of the alleged hijackers, Wail M. Al-Shehri and Salem al-Hazmi, by name, and yet both the London Telegraph and the Saudi embassy reported several days after 9/11 that al-Hazmi was still alive and working in Saudi Arabia. Given the fact that the earlier video in which Osama confessed was clearly a fake, we should be suspicious of this latest apparent confession."

A professor at Duke, Bruce Lawrence, who has published Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, expressed profound skepticism about a tape that was released January 17, 2006, in a report that appeared two days later. "There's nothing in this from the Koran," Lawrence said. "He's, by his own standards, a faithful Muslim who quotes scripture in defense of his actions. There's no quotation from the Koran in the excerpts we got, no reference to specific events, no reference to past atrocities." Lawrence also observed the tape ran only 10 minutes, whereas the shortest previous tape, at 18 minutes, was nearly twice as long.

Fetzer noted that many of the same anomalous properties are found in the latest tape. "Compared to Osama's past performances," he observed, "this message is too short, too direct, and full of falsehoods. It was even described on CBS News by Bob Schieffer as 'almost American'." A translation of the text of the tape has also been released by IntelCenter, a private company that does contract work for the US government. "I suppose I would be accused of being a 'conspiracy theorist' to suggest there is any connection," Fetzer added.

Authentic Voice/Fake Content

Informed that Reuters news agency has reported confirmation that the voice on the tape is indeed that of Osama bin Laden, Fetzer replied, "The fact that the voice is his does not prove that the tape is authentic. We have had phony tapes before using voices that were authentic. Mark Bingham, a passenger on Flight 93, is supposed to have called his mother and said, 'Hi, Mom, this is Mark Bingham!' His mother confirmed it was his voice, but does anyone seriously believe that Mark Bingham would have used his last name in identifying himself to his mother?"

Griffin agreed, adding, "Back in 1999, William Arkin published an article entitled, 'When Seeing and Hearing isn't Believing' (which can also be accessed on Google). Describing the new technology of 'voice morphing' (or 'voice synthesizing'), Arkin explained that, if audio technicians have a recording of your voice, then they can create a tape in which your voice‹your authentic voice!‹says anything they wish."

In a press release on April 22, 2006, the Scholars observed that a tape played at the trail of Zacarias Moussaoui included discussion among the passengers about using a drink cart to break down the cabin door alleged to have been picked up on a cockpit voice recorder, which does not record conversations in the passenger cabin. "This is not the first and certainly will not be the last time that the American government plays the American people for suckers," Fetzer said.

"We have just acquired new evidence that the Pentagon video tapes were processed and manipulated in an apparent effort to distort or conceal what happened there on 9/11," Fetzer observed. "Apparently, whenever the government feels the need to bolster the official myth about 9/11, it simply fabricates a new tape! Anybody who wants to keep score should visit our web site.""





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[political-research] "We are determined" - Ahmadinedshad

Just to keep you updated on the issue.

Maybe I should repeat for your online audience, that Merkel by now has
let Mr. Ahmadinedshad know, that it is completely unacceptable to
create a Jewish state on German soil; while our minister of foreign
affairs has extended his imaginary hand towards the Iranian president
heartily to Germany for the upcoming World Soccer Championship

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,418660,00.html

SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD

"We Are Determined"

In an interview with SPIEGEL, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
discusses the Holocaust, the future of the state of Israel, mistakes
made by the United States in Iraq and Tehran's nuclear conflict with
the West.

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Re: Re: [911InsideJobbers] Re: That's all folks. Case solved.

Here is a profile on them:
http://www.weidlinger.com/Hart/Pages/staff/staff_profile.html




>
> Why you getting all fired up?I thought all I was doing was putting
> another
> company, Weidlinger Associates into the frame for providing the public
> with the official story and probably cgi stuff too - along with all the
> other media sources. Nico is a master at researching companies, so who is
> behind this company? If we don't keep looking for openings we stand
> still. ----- Original Message -----
> > From: xxxx To: 911InsideJobbers@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 9:22 PM Subject: Re: [911InsideJobbers] Re:
>
> > That's all folks. Case solved.
> > So are you basically refuting the webfairy findings and the Holmgren
>
> > thesis and the Nico research, and all the SPOOKED blogs, and taking us
>
> > back to SQUARE ONE, reading the NY Times, the disinformation sheet of
> > the PTB, the NWO, the CFR, the CIA, etc. and asking us to accept this
> > POV or expecting us to refute you or are you just trying to be funny?
> > HUH? or HA,HA! Mr Ray A. in bklyn In a message dated 5/29/2006
> > 3:06:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ron_winn@lineone.net writes:
> > > This is my observations from drawings that appear in the book
> > > "102 Minutes" these drawings are from simulations done by
> > > Weidlinger Associates. They are drawings showing the planes about
> > > to enter the buildings until [I assume] the planes came to rest.
> > > The timings go up in increments of 8 seconds. Six stages are
> > > shown and the first 0 seconds is impact time.[evidently these
> > > drawings appeared in the New York Times] The only conclusion
> > > from these drawings is that the cores did not prevent the forward
> > > motion of both planes. That is how Weidlinger Associates reckon
> > > it happened. Sounds like a German company. Anyone we know?
> > > > ----- Original Message

[911InsideJobbers] RE: 05/18: ABC forum censorship

Nico wrote (May 19):

> Here is a rare W-ABC 7 edit with the same CGI plane which accidentally
> "comes out" (from behind) of building,
> shortly before the real fireball starts.
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=fEukLepgUPM&search=wtc
>
> I recommend to save or record that part of video (though it's tough to get
> to the source coode), because YOUTUBE is another neocon front, controlled
> by 3 ex-paypal people, to sniff on 'profiling'.
>
> Play slow motion, or decompile it into frames and you can clearly see it.

I didn't read this on this list, which I've stayed off of, but on a new one,
"truthabout911", to which I was recently invited by a John Berkowitz. I've
spent the evening browsing through the more than 750 messages of its first
month of existence, and it was pretty much a waste of time except for a
couple of postings by xxxxxxxx, and xxxxxx's forwarding of the above-
quoted posting by Nico. I started to watch the video with some skepticism,
but was somewhat shocked to see that the alleged emergence was in fact easy
to see without slow motion or decompilation - it's quick, but quite visible.

I still had the question, however, whether the thing coming out of the
building was the same thing that had approached it from the other side.
So I took two screen shots, before and after so to speak, and then copied
the extrusion and the equivalently sized leftmost tip of the approaching
object to two JPG files, "2.jpg" and "1.jpg" respectively, which I have
now uploaded to the Files area of this list - this in preference to sending
them to Nico and Rosalee privately, on the chance that someone else might
be interested in having a look at this. The two snippets aren't exactly
identical, but there's a suggestive similarity and the emerging object
certainly resembles the approaching one far more closely than it does
the exploding fireball that follows several frames later.

Another of the few interesting things among the messages of the new list
was finding out that others hadn't been able to send certain messages
to Yahoo lists on May 15, the same day I sent my last message to this
list and it didn't appear. I assumed I'd been moderated, but perhaps
this wasn't the case. It's not urgent, I'll post it again later.


xxxxxxx

LiveScience.com - The Most Important Exercise Tip

LiveScience.com - The Most Important Exercise Tip

amw.com | Unknown Tiffany Souers Killer - Fugitive

amw.com Unknown Tiffany Souers Killer - Fugitive

2nd Clemson Engineering student murdered in 2006. Is this related to 9/11 Scholars for Truth?

----------------------------------------------------------
Article published May 30, 2006
Clemson student's death shocks neighbors, college communityBy JACOB JORDANAssociated Press Writer
Neighbors of a 20-year-old Clemson University student who was strangled with a bikini top at her off-campus apartment were dealing with the news of her death while trying to figure out why local authorities are telling them so little about what happened.Tiffany Souers was killed early Friday, but authorities have released few details about her death. The junior who was taking summer classes, was found on her apartment bedroom floor by her former roommate and her boyfriend, who had come by to return a key. The top was still around her neck, authorities said.Investigators have not received the results of a sexual assault test and there are no clear suspects or motive, prosecutor Bob Ariail said Tuesday. He wouldn't talk about the timeline of events leading up to Souers' death, whether she had any prior relationships or if she knew her attacker. There was no sign of forced entry.Souers, a civil engineering student from Ladue, Mo., was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at Clemson, an agricultural and engineering school in the northwestern corner of the state about 30 miles west of Greenville. She also helped a local charity craft its bylaws and was planning an internship later this summer."This was an aspiring young girl who was an all-American kid from all appearances," Ariail said. "That does tug at your heartstrings."Neighbors said her apartment was quiet and they didn't hear anything unusual the night she was killed."I never expected anything like that to happen here," said 22-year-old Justin Garrick, who lives in the apartment directly above Souers'. "They're never loud or anything."Souers' building is in the back of a sprawling three-story apartment complex about three miles from campus. Orange tiger paws representing Clemson's mascot are painted on the pavement and students tan at the pool, exercise at the community center during all hours of the night and routinely leave their doors unlocked."Sometimes we were bad and left keys under the mat," said Kimberly Perry, 21, who will be a senior in the fall. "It was just kind of shocking. That kind of thing doesn't happen around here very often."Souers' ground-level apartment is down a narrow hallway that is dark even during the daylight hours. It opens away from the complex's center to a parking lot, which is bordered by a construction site.A red piece of evidence tape still dangled from Souers' door Tuesday.Some neighbors were disappointed local authorities didn't let them know what was going on. Residents said they saw the coroner's vehicle and several police cruisers, but even those questioned by police had to learn from media reports what had happened.Neighbor Roeun Eang said she and a friend spent two nights at a nearby hotel after hearing about the killing."I was just kind of freaking out a little bit," Eang said.By Tuesday, the apartment complex had sent out a letter informing residents of Souers' death. It also instructed residents to keep doors locked and identify visitors."With the circumstances surrounding Tiffany's death are unknown at this time, we urge everyone to exercise common sense security precautions," according to the letter.Ariail, who was taking media questions because local police were swamped with calls, advised residents to be mindful, but not concerned."I don't think they should be afraid to go back to their apartments," Ariail said.He said the entire police force in Central, which is just a few miles from the heart of campus, was working on the case. Other state and local authorities also were assisting in the investigation."It was frustrating I couldn't give them more help," said Seth Chinnis, a neighbor who was questioned by authorities. "I was 50 feet away."

Feministe � Massacre? What Massacre?

Feministe � Massacre? What Massacre?

Daily Kos: F**k the "Reality Based Community"

Daily Kos: F**k the "Reality Based Community"

Restless Mania: Better Than Cable News

Restless Mania: Better Than Cable News

Think Progress � VIDEO: Bush Caught In Lie About Snow Resignation

Think Progress � VIDEO: Bush Caught In Lie About Snow Resignation

[political-researchp] Bloglines - Benefit for a whistleblower


CANNONFIRE
Joseph Cannon (cannonfiremail@yahoo.com)

Benefit for a whistleblower

By Joseph

There are, to my knowledge, four great "insider" whistleblowers in the area of computerized electoral fraud: 1. "Dieb Throat" (readers of Brad Friedman will understand the reference), 2. Wendy Orange (she quit ES&S over the use of uncertified software), 3. Clinton Curtis (but of course!) and 4. Stephen Heller.

Heller's in trouble. From his web page:

Stephen Heller is a whistleblower; he is alleged to have seen and then exposed legal documents proving that Diebold Election Systems, Inc., the country's leading manufacturer of electronic voting machines and voting machine software, was using illegal, uncertified software in their California voting machines, thereby defrauding the state of California, the taxpayers of California, and disenfranchising the voters of California. On February 21, 2006, Stephen was charged in Los Angeles Superior Court with 3 felonies: felony access to computer data, commercial burglary and receiving stolen property. He pleaded not guilty. This is an outrageous abuse of the law and of power.
The guy happened to come across these incriminating documents while working a temporary gig in the offices of the lawyers used by Diebold. Heller doesn't have much money. But he does have a whole lot of legal bills.

And that's why some people of good will are trying to help the guy out. If you live in Southern California area and you're looking for something to do on Friday, you may want to check out an extremely well-reviewed and popular piece of comedic theater called Straight Up With a Twist. The Friday night show is a benefit for Heller. The show's at the Grove Theater in Burbank (818) 288-3855.

Have some laughs. Save democracy.




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news from Daryl Bradford Smith

news from Daryl Bradford Smith

Conspiracy Central exposes itself

[political-researchp] Bloglines - Another Inconvenient Truth


The American Street
Current events and progressive politics from people across the United States

Another Inconvenient Truth

Iain Murray is a lying shill. There is simply no other way to put it. Murray, a "fellow" at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, earlier today carried CEI's big-oil-financed smear campaign against Al Gore over to The Corner where he burped up this preposterous bit of nonsense: Al Gore justifies his enjoyment of [...]




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