Welcome to the blog of Indian 007

Like a beacon unto the world ...

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Gore: Global warming skeptics are this generation’s racists


By Caroline May - The Daily Caller, 28/8/2011
 
 
One day climate change skeptics will be seen in the same negative light as racists, or so says former Vice President Al Gore.

In an interview with former advertising executive and Climate Reality Project collaborator Alex Bogusky broadcast on UStream on Friday, Gore explained that in order for climate change alarmists to succeed, they must “win the conversation” against those who deny there is a crisis. (RELATED: Bill McKibben: Global warming to blame for Hurricane Irene)

“I remember, again going back to my early years in the South, when the Civil Rights revolution was unfolding, there were two things that really made an impression on me,” Gore said. “My generation watched Bull Connor turning the hose on civil rights demonstrators and we went, ‘Whoa! How gross and evil is that?’ My generation asked old people, ‘Explain to me again why it is okay to discriminate against people because their skin color is different?’ And when they couldn’t really answer that question with integrity, the change really started.”

The former vice president recalled how society succeeded in marginalizing racists and said climate change skeptics must be defeated in the same manner.

“Secondly, back to this phrase ‘win the conversation,’” he continued. “There came a time when friends or people you work with or people you were in clubs with — you’re much younger than me so you didn’t have to go through this personally — but there came a time when racist comments would come up in the course of the conversation and in years past they were just natural. Then there came a time when people would say, ‘Hey, man why do you talk that way, I mean that is wrong. I don’t go for that so don’t talk that way around me. I just don’t believe that.’ That happened in millions of conversations and slowly the conversation was won.”

“We have to win the conversation on climate,” Gore added.

When Bogusky questioned the analogy, asking if the scientific reasoning behind climate change skeptics might throw a wrench into the good and evil comparison with racism, Gore did not back down.

“I think it’s the same where the moral component is concerned and where the facts are concerned I think it is important to get that out there, absolutely,” Gore said.

Gore also took shots at Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has lambasted climate change alarmists on the presidential campaign trail, and at other politicians who dare to question the veracity of global warming science.

“This is an organized effort to attack the reputation of the scientific community as a whole, to attack their integrity, and to slander them with the lie that they are making up the science in order to make money,” Gore said.
 

Saturday, August 27, 2011

14 Conspiracy Theories That The Media Now Admits Are Conspiracy Facts

 
 
How many times have you heard the mainstream media dismiss certain points of view as "conspiracy theories"?  It seems as though one of the easiest ways to brush something off is to label it as something that only "conspiracy theorists" would believe.  Well, you know what?  A whole lot of the time the "conspiracy theorists" are right and the mainstream media is wrong.  In fact, we owe a great debt to "conspiracy theorists" because they will go places and investigate things that the mainstream media would never even touch.  The reality is that the mainstream media only tells us what the government and the big corporations want us to hear, and much of the time it is those in the alternative media that are left with the task of trying to figure out what the real truth is.  So don't look down on conspiracy theories or conspiracy theorists.  In a world where almost everything we are told is a lie, the truth can be very difficult to find.

The following are 14 conspiracy theories that the media now admits are conspiracy facts....

#1 Fukushima Uninhabitable
Back in April, I published an article entitled "Much Of Northern Japan Uninhabitable Due To Nuclear Radiation?"  At the time, almost everyone in the mainstream media was insisting that Fukushima was nothing like Chernobyl and that those that lived near Fukushima would be able to return to their homes fairly soon.
Well, it turns out that those of us that feared the worst were right after all.  Just consider the following quote from the New York Times....
Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday.
#2 U.S. Military Attack On Libya
At the beginning of this year, nobody would have dreamed that the U.S. military would have attacked Libya this year.
But it happened.  At first those that tried to warn about an upcoming conflict with Libya were called kooks, and even up until recently many in the media were still trying to deny that NATO was arming and training the rebels.
Well, the truth is that NATO had special forces on the ground even before the conflict began.
The "rebel groups" (which include large numbers of al-Qaeda fighters) would have been soundly defeated by Gaddafi if not for relentless air strikes by the U.S. military and NATO.
Instead of a straightforward invasion like we saw in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military and NATO systematically developed, trained and equipped "rebel groups" within the country and have used them as the ground forces for this campaign.
That way the goals of the U.S. and EU could still be achieved, but in the end they would have less blood on their hands.
As the conflict winds down, now even the New York Times is admitting that we have trained and equipped the rebels....
“We always knew there would be a point where the effectiveness of the government forces would decline to the point where they could not effectively command and control their forces,” said the diplomat, who was granted anonymity to discuss confidential details of the battle inside Tripoli.
“At the same time,” the diplomat said, “the learning curve for the rebels, with training and equipping, was increasing. What we’ve seen in the past two or three weeks is these two curves have crossed.”
Sadly, there is still a very good chance that U.S. troops could end up on the ground in Libya.
Many prominent officials are already calling for the U.S. and the EU to provide occupation forces.  Richard Haas, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, has authored an opinion piece for the Financial Times entitled "Libya Now Needs Boots on the Ground".
If that happens, it will likely end up being a situation very similar to what we have today in Iraq.

#3 Widespread Use Of RFID Chips In Humans
The doubters said it would never happen.  They said we would never see the day when RFID chips were implanted in humans on a widespread basis.
Well, today there are examples of this all over the world.  One of the most stunning examples recently has come out of Mexico.  According to the Washington Post, "thousands of worried Mexicans" have been having "satellite and radio-frequency tracking products" implanted in their skin in order to protect themselves against abduction.

#4 $2000 Gold
It was only a matter of months ago that we were told that gold was "in a bubble" at $1400 or $1500 an ounce.
Well, gold recently crossed the $1900 an ounce barrier, and appears poised to go much higher as global financial instability intensifies.

#5 Obama Wants To Impose Backdoor Amnesty
Those that warned that Barack Obama was going to impose amnesty for illegal immigrants by executive fiat were called "nuts" and "conspiracy theorists".
Well, it has happened.  The Obama administration has now instituted "backdoor amnesty" for illegal immigrants and even plans to provide them with work permits.

#6 U.S. Government Provides Weapons For Mexican Drug Cartels
For a long time there were those that claimed that the U.S. government was providing guns to Mexican drug cartels, but nobody wanted to listen.
Well, it is all now a matter of public record.  It turns out that the U.S. government facilitated the transfer of thousands of guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
The following is a brief excerpt from a CBS News report that discusses the fierce opposition that many ATF agents expressed to allowing thousands of guns to be given into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels....
On the phone, one Project Gunrunner source (who didn't want to be identified) told us just how many guns flooded the black market under ATF's watchful eye. "The numbers are over 2,500 on that case by the way. That's how many guns were sold - including some 50-calibers they let walk."
50-caliber weapons are fearsome. For months, ATF agents followed 50-caliber Barrett rifles and other guns believed headed for the Mexican border, but were ordered to let them go. One distraught agent was often overheard on ATF radios begging and pleading to be allowed to intercept transports. The answer: "Negative. Stand down."
CBS News has been told at least 11 ATF agents and senior managers voiced fierce opposition to the strategy. "It got ugly..." said one. There was "screaming and yelling" says another. A third warned: "this is crazy, somebody is gonna to get killed."
Amazingly, three of the key ATF officials involved in putting thousands of guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels were recently promoted.

#7 Fluoride Is Harmful
Incredibly, the federal government is finally admitting that high levels of fluoride in our drinking water can be harmful.  In fact, the feds have reduced the "recommended amount" of fluoride in our drinking water for the first time in 50 years.
We probably won't see them ban fluoride any time soon, but for them to even acknowledge a problem with fluoride is a major step.  In a recent article on CNN, it was reported that the federal government is now saying that high levels of fluoride in the water have now officially been linked with fluorosis....
The Department of Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Agency are proposing the change because of an increase in fluorosis -- a condition that causes spotting and streaking on children's teeth.
#8 The Federal Reserve Favors The Big Banks
We were always told by the media that the Federal Reserve was "above politics" and that it did not show favoritism.
Well, we all know now that the Fed is deeply corrupt and about the only people that they actually help are their friends.
It turns out that the Federal Reserve very quietly showered the big banks and their friends with hundreds of billions of dollars in loans at rates that were substantially below market during the financial crisis.  While Wall Street was being flooded with easy loans, none of the small banks that were deeply suffering and no average Americans got any money.

#9 Cell Phones Linked To Cancer
For years, "conspiracy theorists" have been claiming that cell phone use can cause cancer.
Well, the mainstream media is starting to catch up.  Some very startling scientific studies have come out recently that are hard to ignore.
The following is an excerpt from a recent CNN article about one of these studies....
At the highest exposure levels -- using a mobile phone half an hour a day over a 10-year period -- the study found a 40 percent increased risk of glioma brain tumors.
#10 The Credit Rating Agencies Are Corrupt
We have all been taught that the credit rating agencies are supposed to be objective.
But in the real world things are not that simple.
For example, just a short time after long-term U.S. government debt was downgraded, the head of Standard & Poor's is resigning, and is being replaced by Douglas Peterson, the former COO of Citigroup.
Do you think the former COO of Citigroup is going to come down hard on his former comrades over at the big Wall Street banks?
Also, a whistleblower has come forward with some stunning revelations about Moody's.  The following is what former analyst William Harrington says was going on over at that credit agency during the financial crisis....
"The track record of management influence in committees speaks for itself -- it produced hollowed-out (collateralized debt obligation) opinions that were at great odds with the private opinions of committees and which were not durable for even a short period after publication"
#11 Prescription Drugs Kill A Lot Of Americans
Growing up, I never even imagined that prescription drugs could be dangerous.  I had complete faith in the medical community and the government to only allow drugs on the market that were fully tested and proven to be 100% safe.
Well, I was dead wrong.  The truth is that adverse reactions to prescription drugs kill a huge number of Americans every year.  A recent Vanity Fair article entitled "Deadly Medicine" began with the following statement....
Prescription drugs kill some 200,000 Americans every year. Will that number go up, now that most clinical trials are conducted overseas—on sick Russians, homeless Poles, and slum-dwelling Chinese—in places where regulation is virtually nonexistent, the F.D.A. doesn’t reach, and “mistakes” can end up in pauper’s graves?
#12 Bisphenol-A Is Linked To Infertility
A very common chemical known as bisphenol-A is found in thousands upon thousands of our plastic products.  It also turns out that it has some really nasty effects on the human body.
Fortunately, some in the mainstream media are beginning to acknowledge this.  Back in October, one of the largest UK newspapers published an article entitled "Bisphenol-A now linked to male infertility" which made the following unequivocal statement about the dangers of BPA....
Bisphenol-A (BPA), known as the "gender bending" chemical because of its connection to male impotence, has now been shown to decrease sperm mobility and quality.
#13 The "Super Congress" Is In The Pocket Of Wall Street Interests
The amount of money that has been donated to the campaigns of those on the "Super Congress" is absolutely astounding.
Just check out what a recent CNBC article had to say about the matter....
Overall, according to the center's research, the dozen super committee members have raised more than $50 million from the finance, insurance and real estate sector since the 1990 election cycle.
How much influence do you think 50 million dollars is going to buy?

#14 The Targeting Of Christian Groups
We are increasingly hearing from the Obama administration and some members of Congress that we need to be really concerned about "homegrown terrorists" and "Christian extremists".
For example, during a recent Congressional hearing U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee warned that "Christian militants" might try to "bring down the country" and that such groups need to be investigated.
In addition, according to a shocking document obtained by Oath Keepers, the FBI is now instructing store owners to report many new forms of "suspicious activity" to them.  According to the document, "suspicious activity" now includes making "extreme religious statements" and believing in "radical theology".
Not only that, a Department of Homeland Security report on "right wing extremism" from April 2009 lists the following people as potential terrorists....
-those that believe in "end times" prophecies
-those that believe abortion is wrong
-those that stockpile food, ammunition or weapons
-those that are against same-sex marriage
-those that believe in "New World Order" conspiracy theories
I don't know about you, but when the federal government starts targeting people based on their religious beliefs, that makes me very nervous.
This world is officially going crazy.  So don't blame "conspiracy theorists" for wanting to dig around and get the facts.  The mainstream media sure doesn't give us much of the truth.
As the world continues to fall apart and as the propaganda from the mainstream media gets even more blatant, the hunger for the truth is only going to grow.
Who knows?  Perhaps before it is all over you will be a "conspiracy theorist" too.

Source: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/14-conspiracy-theories-that-the-media-now-admits-are-conspiracy-facts

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Rick Perry -- Big Pharma president?

by: Christina Luisa, Tuesday, August 23, 201, Naturalnews.com 

(NaturalNews) Rick Perry has officially announced he is running for president, and we now face the possibility having a tyrant in control of our country. Not only does Perry have a bad track record - including having the death and harm of young women on his hands -- he "has shown himself to be the most duplicitous, deceptive politician that I have ever studied in the history of the United States." - Alex Jones (listen to more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSBX...)

There are many reasons that you don't want this man holding office of any kind, least of all president. If you don't remember the forced vaccinations of young girls with Gardasil back in 2006 and 2007, let's get you up to speed.

Perry's undeniably shady history

In February of 2007, the governor of Texas issued an executive order that bypassed the will of the Texas people and the entire legislature, mandating the vaccination of young girls -- in Grade 6 in Texas -- with the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

Merck, the pharmaceutical company in charge of the villainous venture and the chief distributor of the vaccine, was the same drug company that was reported to have given thousands of dollars to Perry's campaign efforts (http://www.politicolnews.com/gardas...).

The vaccine was given FDA approval in June 2006 then rushed to the market without proper testing through clinical trials, as more of an experiment than a vaccine that was proven effective. Only 8 months later Gov. Perry signed the executive order mandating this vaccine to all young girls (and later young boys were also made to be vaccinated).

These fraudulent vaccines were billed to be paid for by honest taxpayers. Although there are over 25 million people in the state of Texas, as a justification for his actions, Perry reported that there were only 391 deaths of women by cervical cancer -- which have not been proven to be caused by the HPV virus to begin with.

Perry caused countless young women to needlessly suffer

Gov. Rick Perry knowingly lied and told Texas families that he had the power to force their young girls to be vaccinated with Gardasil, the same vaccine that he knew was killing people in the few test trials that were run on it.

Not only was this fraud of a vaccine completely worthless as a medical method meant to protect girls from cervical cancer, it was obviously lethal - a fact that was proved after there were countless cases of adverse reactions and multiple deaths reported after the vaccine was administered.

In fact, only four months after Perry signed his order for mandated Gardasil vaccines, there were 13 cases of adverse vaccine reactions reported to the VAERS system, a database of Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting system. There were thousands more negative reactions reported that were never touched by the mainstream media. By this alone, Rick Perry should have dismantled his executive order - but did he? Certainly not.

Alex Jones has put out an excellent video that exposes Rick Perry's links to vaccines. Watch it now at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSBX...

An advocacy group called Judicial Watch reported through documents they received under the Freedom of Information Act that thousands of girls reported adverse reactions to the vaccine shortly after receiving the shot (http://www.politicolnews.com/india-...).

By June 2008 there were multiple reports surfacing of girls having convulsions, going into comas and dying after being given the vaccine. Still, Perry did not remove his mandated vaccine law in Texas until he was finally forced to do so by lawmakers and parents that had given up their right to make their own decisions about the tremendous risk of the Gardasil vaccine and been wrongfully informed it was proven to prevent cervical cancer.

In one reported case, a 19-year-old girl was given the vaccine and was found dead in her bed the next morning. Over 10 young mothers reported spontaneous abortions occurred after the vaccine was administered to them, and countless more were seriously damaged or made significantly physically ill as a the result of the Gardasil vaccine.

It is on record that Gardasil caused many deaths in school-aged girls around the world -- from India and Indonesia to Australia, all of which have all halted the administration of Gardasil vaccines completely due to the deaths.

Many of these young women developed the same reactions as those caused by the swine flu vaccine, which was proved to be neurologically damaging. While all of this was happening, Merck was lobbying the federal government to make the HPV Gardasil vaccine mandatory throughout the entire country.

Read about the nearly 3,500 complaints about Gardasil that were filed with FDA's Vaccine Adverse Event Report System after its approval here:
http://www.naturalnews.com/022140.h...

The dirty money connection: Is Perry a Big Pharma lackey?

One of the main Merck lobbyists, Mike Toomey, served as Perry's chief of staff; in other words, a former man of top power for the governor now works for Merck, the same Big Pharma company that funded the campaign for Perry.

Perry used dictatorial power to mandate - with a lack of any public debate or approval -- the mass vaccination of young girls with a dangerous drug that earned millions of dollars in profit money for Merck.

Parents were never given sufficient information on the nature, safety and effectiveness of Gardasil, yet Perry still bypassed legislature to sign an order that allowed for the thousands of girls to be injected with lethal chemicals made by one of his sufficient campaign contributors. Perry acted as Merck's ace in the hole, and now he will be their man in the White House if the corrupt company has their way.

This article is not merely about revealing the medical madness that occurred under Perry's reign as governor - it's about exposing the truth about Perry's deceitful actions. Share this information with everyone you know.

We cannot allow this man to become president by any means. Speak up now, or expect to soon be surrendering more health freedoms to a medical system that is owned and controlled by Big Pharma, all under the dictatorship of this deceptive tyrant of a man.

Click here (http://www.naturalnews.com/021571.html) to view a CounterThink cartoon NaturalNews published a few years ago in response to the financial connection between Merck and Gov. Perry and to illustrate the pure insanity of having young girls line up to get vaccinations for a disease that can be prevented a hundred other ways that are EFFECTIVE and SAFE.

Read more about the HPV vaccine extortion and the connection between having a Big Pharma lackey in office and the corruption of a medical system that uses patients as profit centers here: http://www.naturalnews.com/021572.html

More reason Perry should be kept out of office

Not only has Gov. Perry tried to force young women all over Texas to be injected with the dangerous Gardasil vaccine, he is a big-time globalist, has raised taxes and fees in Texas numerous times throughout his stint as governor and has massively increased the size of government spending and government debt in Texas. He has also been trying to force the Trans-Texas Corridor down the throats of the Texas people for highly questionable reasons.

Perry is also what is referred to as a "big government" politician. When Rick Perry became the governor of Texas in 2000, the total spending by the Texas state government was approximately $49 billion. Ten years later it was around 90 billion. Does this seem like a reduction in the size of government?

The debt of the state of Texas is spinning completely out of control. The total debt of the Texas government has more than doubled since Rick Perry became governor. What would the US national debt look like after four or eight years of Rick Perry?

According to usdebtclock.org, the debt to GDP ratio in Texas is 22.9% and the debt per citizen is $10,645. In California - a state that is totally financially wrecked -- the debt to GDP ratio is just 18.7% and the debt per citizen is only $9932. As Alex Jones mentions on InfoWars.com, as a presidential candidate, these are numbers Perry will want to attempt to keep under wraps.

Rick Perry has also been leading the effort to lease roads in Texas to foreign companies and to turn roads that are already free to travel into toll roads. If you research the subterfuge surrounding his plans to further develop the Trans-Texas Corridor -- which would be part of the planned NAFTA superhighway system -- you will quickly understand why Rick Perry has no right to be anywhere close to The White House.

Read more about why Rick Perry should never become president here: http://www.infowars.com/14-reasons-...

Sources and further reading/research:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/va...

http://www.naturalnews.com/022140.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/021572.html

http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-...

http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/...

http://www.infowars.com/14-reasons-...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/1694809...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSBX...

http://www.infowars.com/rick-perry-...

http://atmenow.com/2011/07/28/human...

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

9/11/11 - 7 Reasons To Brace For Impact

by Zen Gardner, August 21, 2011, www.beforeitsnews.com

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not looking good for this 10th anniversary of 9/11. All the indicators are there to tell us they need a massive distraction and excuse to take this idiotic war on terror to horrific new levels and even more Orwellian internal controls and crackdowns.

Why They'll Do It Now

1. The illusion is wearing thin and ratings show it.

Obama's 'house of corporate banking thugs' administration is tanking in public perception. The matrix-generated veil of lies is disintegrating as economic realities hit home. His and congress' ratings are at record lows. His political opponents have even announced publicly to watch out for a false flag.

2. They've done it before at similar times.
Clinton did Waco then used it to justify Oklahoma City. Now there's an interesting precedent. Bush 2 was just a neocon nincompoop stooge, but his ratings were in the basement on 9/10 and soared on 9/11...another two-termer like the criminal Clinton shoed in by false flag catastrophe.

3. The demonization of all Americans as potential terrorists.
As we've seen with the Norway patsy repeat, the enemy is now arch-anythings. Arch conservatives, activists, Christians, militia, military vets, religious whack jobs, disgruntled taxpayers, people who don't want to get x-rayed or fondled by the TSA, people with guns, cars with Ron Paul stickers, children selling lemonade without a license...it's beyond wrong.

4. Martial law is just a click away.
Now, how would a leader (really cabal) in power possibly stay in power with an election he (the staged figurehead) appears bound to lose....WHILE the PTBs have this craving need to abolish the last vestiges of civil liberties in the name of "homeland security"? Got any ideas?

Now don't give Obummer one iota of credit for anything except being a perfect patsy and mind control subject. He's a 'keeper' in those categories...which is why they'll wanna "keep" him in.

Nothing's written in stone, but it sometimes gets close. 
I will be shocked if there are elections next year. It's way too easy to find a way around them in this climate. They're gonna declare martial law, and..maybe..call for a constitutional convention which is as close to a political oxymoron as you'll ever get. It's got to look "democratic" after all. Ha.

Never mind "Homeland Security" antics, FEMA's activities and the militarization zones appearing around the country are a dead giveaway. This "global unrest" they're pointing to now as a precedent to prepare American police I'm not sure is organic at all. Yes, people are mad, but they're being instigated and herded into a form of expression that only spells more fascism worldwide.

5. 9/11 - Build on the emotional impact
Never before events promoting the 9/11 myth are being scheduled around the country. Bad sign. Who would do that? In Dallas for example a big event is scheduled for 9/10. Why this year? Are mainstream people really in the mood to celebrate death and destruction and war and more war while their worlds crumble about them? What are they rallying for? More Islamophobia, support for killing innocent Libyans, and then jack 'em up to endorse wars with Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran?

So wrong on so many levels. But they're already doing this in the mainstain media. It's a set up.

All this is fabricated by bastards behind the scenes who see the rest of us a dumb cattle. This is misdirection. Complete social engineering at its worst. But it works. We've been asphyxiated from truth, and the effects are setting in.

But see the "opportunity"? What if on that very day, while these limp attempts to arouse fading emotions are on display and heightened by a complicit media, there IS an event?!
Wham!
6. The Demonization of "Truthers" and an alternative media crackdown
OK, we've seen this coming for a long time. But just imagine who they'd blame an "event" on--especially in such an emotionally super-charged environment. Don't have to be a prophet to see the potential.

Norway set the stage. White man goes ape-shit with clear conscience...due to political views. Huh?

They've wanted to get a stronger handle on the internet and clamp down on truth-spreading websites and blogs for a long time. They just need an excuse. Wikileaks softened the ground on this in the public mind, as have other alternative media issues, but watch them run the gamut if something big does take place. They're trigger happy and getting their ducks in a row.

That's what they do. And the Truthers need to be demonized and silenced..they're getting too close now. The 9/11 Truth movement has gained monumental momentum....BECAUSE it's the Truth! And they know it.
7. Not A Reason--Just please be prepared--for anything.
I don't mean to bring on negative intentions and manifest anything by pointing out these possibilities....BUT...to be forewarned is to be forearmed. And if it's not now, it's soon.

Don't get hung up on the date or any details. I just think people should be prepared...and now....and I mean not only psychologically and spiritually, but practically. Where are you and your family gonna be on that day? Do you have a plan on where to meet loved ones in the case of calamity? Do you have food and water, protection, community?

These should all be in place now, but if you haven't done these things yet, DO! It gives peace of mind at the least.

"Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."

In Love, Zen

Monday, August 22, 2011

The Creature from Jekyll Island

by G. Edward Griffin

The following is a fascinating talk by G. Edward Griffin on the corrupt and criminal institution called the Federal Reserve System. Federal Reserve System is said to be the biggest scam ever happened in the history of America and is primarily responsible for the destruction of America and a number of other coutries, particularly third world countries. Griffin describes the history of the Fed from its very inception and expose its fraudulent functions and real objectives. I was really astonished at his great oratory skill in narrating the economic and political history of how the Fed came into existence, just like a story unfolds. He avoids all those economic jargons typically used by media and academic professionals and makes it understandable to common man. I would highly recommend this video lecture to all and its worth spending that 1 hour 45 minutes because it will surely educate you about the destructive nature of feeding a monster like the Fed.

Griffin explains in concise terms the reasons why the Federal Reserve should be ABOLISHED:

1. It's incapable of accomplishing its stated objectives.
2. It's a cartel operating against the public interest
3. It's the supreme instrument of usury.
4. It generates our most unfair tax.
5. It encourages war.
6. It destabilizes the economy.
7. It is an instrument of totalitarianism.

I wish this talk be given as some introductory course in every Economics school and to those economics 'pundits' who appear on TV channels during times of economic collapse to explain away the causes for the disaster without ever touching on the root cause of the problem. It's a very good primer for all those students of Economics because this is never taught in any Economics schools or Economics text books.

The Creature from Jekyll Island - Edward Griffin


Thursday, August 18, 2011

10 New Ways That The Government Will Be Spying On You And Controlling Your Behavior

The American Dream, (www.endoftheamericandream.com)


Are you ready for Big Brother 2.0? If you think that the hundreds of ways that the government watches, monitors, tracks and controls us now are bad, just wait until you see what is coming. We live in an age when paranoia is running wild. As technology continues to develop at an exponential pace, governments all over the globe are going to discover a multitude of new ways to spy on us and control our behavior. In a world where everyone is a "potential terrorist", we are told that things like liberty, freedom and privacy are "luxuries" that we can no longer afford. We are assured that if we just allow the government to watch all of us and investigate all of us that somehow that will keep us all safe. But it isn't just the government that is watching us. Now we are being taught to spy on one another and to report any trace of "suspicious activity" to the government immediately. The entire civilized world is being transformed into one giant prison grid, and many of the new technologies that are now being introduced are going to make things even worse.

The following are 10 new ways that the government will be spying on you and controlling your behavior....

#1 Are you ready for "electronic skin tattoos"? One team of researchers has created an extremely thin, extremely flexible "smart skin" that will open up a whole new world of possibilities. Wearing "skin-mounted electronics" might seem like a great idea to tech geeks, but it also could create a whole lot of new problems. The following is how an article in one UK newspaper described this new breakthrough....

The "epidermal electronic system" relies on a highly flexible electrical circuit composed of snake-like conducting channels that can bend and stretch without affecting performance. The circuit is about the size of a postage stamp, is thinner than a human hair and sticks to the skin by natural electrostatic forces rather than glue.

Yes, this kind of technology would be a great way to connect wirelessly to the Internet and it would be helpful for doctors that need to monitor their patients, but the potential for abuse is also there.

Once this type of technology becomes widespread, governments will be able to monitor the location and activities of their citizens like never before.

In addition, this type of technology could one day become mandated by governments. For example, someday you may be required to have an "electronic skin tatoo" in order to prove your identity or to participate in commerce.

Also, it is not too far of a stretch to imagine that "skin-mounted electronics" could be used to control large populations. Just remember, if you connect yourself physically to the Internet, that also means that the Internet is connected to you.

#2 According to a shocking document obtained by Oath Keepers, the FBI is now instructing store owners to report many new forms of "suspicious activity" to them. According to the document, "suspicious activity" now includes....

-paying with cash

-missing a hand or fingers

-"strange odors"

-making "extreme religious statements"

-"radical theology"

-purchasing weatherproofed ammunition or match containers

-purchasing meals ready to eat

-purchasing night vision devices, night flashlights or gas masks

According to WorldNetDaily, this document is part of a "series of brochures" that will be distributed "to farm supply stores, gun shops, military surplus stores and even hotels and motels."

#3 The U.S. military has developed an invisible "pain ray" that is remarkably effective. The following is how a recent article posted on Alternet described this weapon....

It sounds like a weapon out of Star Wars. The Active Denial System, or ADS, works like an open-air microwave oven, projecting a focused beam of electromagnetic radiation to heat the skin of its targets to 130 degrees. This creates an intolerable burning sensation forcing those in its path to instinctively flee (a response the Air Force dubs the "goodbye effect").

Sadly, this weapon is already being used in American prisons. How long will it be before it is used on the general population?

#4 Be careful about what you put up on Facebook or Twitter. Law enforcement agencies all over the globe are now focusing on social media as never before. For example, the NYPD has just created a special "social media" unit dedicated to looking for criminals on Facebook and Twitter.

#5 Facial recognition technology has now come of age. With the millions of security cameras that are going up all over the world, such technology is proving to be very useful for law enforcement authorities. In fact, police in London are using it to track down people that were involved in the London riots. The following is an excerpt from a recent CBC report that described these efforts....

Facial recognition technology being considered for London's 2012 Games is getting a workout in the wake of Britain's riots, with officers feeding photographs of suspects through Scotland Yard's newly updated face-matching program.

Facial recognition technology is rapidly going to become part of our everyday lives. In fact, now even Facebook is using it. Eventually it is going to become very difficult to avoid the reach of this technology.

#6 "Smart meters" are going into homes all over North America and Europe. These smart meters monitor your home every single minute of every single day and they transmit very sophisticated data about your personal behavior back to the utility company.

They are already being used by police all over the United States in drug cases. If a smart meter catches you using an "unusual" amount of energy there is a good chance that your home will be raided.

The European Parliament has set a goal of having smart meters in the homes of 80 percent of all electricity consumers by the year 2020, and Barack Obama is working very hard to get them into as many American homes as he can.

#7 Our children are being trained to accept being under surveillance almost constantly. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is spending huge amounts of money to install surveillance cameras in the cafeterias of U.S. public schools so that government control freaks can closely monitor what our children are eating.

#8 Perhaps you thought that only Tom Cruise had to worry about "pre-crime". Well, now "pre-crime" is popping up in the real world too. The Florida State Department of Juvenile Justice has announced that it will begin using analysis software to predict crime by young delinquents and will place "potential offenders" in specific prevention and education programs.

#9 According to the ACLU, state police in Michigan are now using "extraction devices" to download data from the cellphones of motorists that they pull over. This is taking place even if those pulled over are not accused of doing anything wrong.

The following is how an article on CNET News described the capabilities of these "extraction devices"....

The devices, sold by a company called Cellebrite, can download text messages, photos, video, and even GPS data from most brands of cell phones. The handheld machines have various interfaces to work with different models and can even bypass security passwords and access some information.

#10 LRAD sound cannons are already been used by law enforcement authorities to disperse large crowds inside the United States. So how much "damage" can sound do? Well, it turns out that sound can actually do a whole lot of damage. The following is how Alternet describes these cruel weapons....

The Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, built by American Technology Corporation, focuses and broadcasts sound over ranges of up to hundreds of yards. LRAD has been around for years, but Americans first took notice when police used it in Pittsburgh to ward off protesters at the 2009 G-20 summit. It is generally used in two ways: as a megaphone to order protesters to disperse; or, if they disobey, as an “ear-splitting siren” to drive them away. While LRAD may not be deadly, it can permanently damage hearing, depending on how it’s used.

LRAD sound cannons do not discriminate. When they are being used to disperse protesters, any innocent bystanders in the area will be affected as well. If anyone gets too close to an LRAD sound cannon while it is in use, permanent damage can result. Small children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Sadly, the use of LRAD sound cannons is becoming more common. In fact, they have even been used to break up college block parties.

So is this the kind of world that you want to live in?

Do you want your children and grandchildren to live in a world where liberty and freedom are all but forgotten?

This world is headed toward a very dark place. These "Big Brother" technologies are going to become even more pervasive and even more oppressive. If this trend is not stopped now, someday these technologies will get into some very evil hands, and then all hell will be unleashed.

Source: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/big-brother-2-0-10-new-ways-that-the-government-will-be-spying-on-you-and-controlling-your-behavior

Friday, August 12, 2011

Raw Milk Lineup

Commentary by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, 8/3/2011

Cartoon creator Mike Adams, www.counterthink.com

One of the most astounding elements of yesterday's SWAT-style armed raid on Rawesome Foods in Venice, California is the simple fact that both California and the U.S. government are completely and utterly bankrupt. They're running on financial fumes, and at the federal level, a total debt default was just narrowly avoided (and it will come back again in a few months). But even though these government entities are fiscally and morally bankrupt, when it comes to making decisions about how to spend the money they're confiscated from taxpayers, they prioritize things like terrorizing health food buyer's clubs such as Rawesome Foods. (http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_R...)

On the scale of harm to the public, the actions of the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry are legendary. Over 100,000 Americans are killed each year by FDA-approved drugs, and yet there's absolutely no action whatsoever being taken to arrest the CEOs of the drug companies who knowingly sell dangerous drugs that kill people.

Where are the arrests of the CDC officials who pushed useless flu vaccines, knowing that they, too, would cause neurological destruction and even death in some children?

Where are the arrests of the food company executives who knowingly lace their products with MSG, aspartame, sodium nitrite, hydrogenated oils and other poisons that promote degenerative disease?

How about the crackdowns on the evil GMO corporations that have unleashed genetic pollution across our planet in their greedy quest for profit at the expense of life on Earth?

No, the great police state government that now runs America doesn't bother the real criminals who get away with murder every single day by poisoning the food, the medicine and the crops. They all have legal immunity because the system won't bother dealing with their large-scale crimes. Instead, the power of the corrupt police state is exercised against small, local farms and food businesses which remain the only option through which everyday people can find real food that isn't artificially modified or contaminated with chemical additives.

What we witnessed at Rawesome Foods yesterday was an act of government-sponsored terrorism leveled against a health food buyer's club with the sole intent of destroying food. It's as if we're all watching an Orwellian BOOK BURNING!

Except they weren't burning books; they were pouring raw milk down the drain and destroying up to $50,000 worth of wholesome, organic, farm-fresh food. Keep in mind this is happening at a time when starvation is on the rise in America -- and our own government is running around DESTROYING FOOD!

Government thugs are the real terrorists today

These people are terrorists, folks. The California Dept. of Agriculture, the LA County Sheriff's office, the FDA, the CDC... these people are outright terrorists who represent a clear and present a href=http://www.naturalnews.com/danger.html">danger to the lives and safety of the American people. They should be arrested at gunpoint by the citizens and charged with the crimes they have committed: Theft, kidnapping, destruction of property, conspiracy to commit felony crimes, trespassing and more (see below).

Even Bin Laden did not terrorize everyday people the way that these government criminals have done. The California government and U.S. feds have outdone Osama Bin Laden! They've out-terrorized the terrorists! They have targeted innocent citizens at gunpoint and thrown them in jail, destroyed their businesses, confiscated their computers and charged them with felony crimes.

This is government-inspired insanity, folks. And just so you know, this is also the upshot of the new Food Safety Modernization Act which will only see even MORE armed raids on health food stores and farms. So all those people who ignorantly supported the Food Safety Bill have ultimately supported acts of terrorism against the American people. (Told ya so! This is what happens when you give MORE power to a corrupt government that respects no law and no rights...)

Denying access to livesaving foods

Even more, those members of the Rawesome Foods buying club who depend on the facility for their farm-fresh food products are now left without that option. The food they had once planned to buy has now been poured down the drain by California state authorities and federal thugs working for the FDA and CDC (both of which are criminal organizations which respect no law and have long abandoned science).

Remember: They are destroying this raw milk because they don't want you to be able to drink it! Meanwhile, all the things that admittedly cause disease and kill you -- MSG, aspartame, chemotherapy, contaminated flu vaccines, etc. -- are all perfectly legal to keep on consuming.

Big Government, you see, isn't really interested in protecting your health. But it's extremely interested in protecting Big Business and reminding the commoners that they are total slaves and must do what they're told or be arrested at gunpoint.

America devolves into lawless anarchy, courtesy of the government itself

With these raids, we are witnessing the collapse of the rule of law in America and the rise of Big Government tyranny against innocent citizens and honest small businesses. The anarchy being unleashed today originates with the government itself which respects no law. Obama launches wars in Libya in total violation of the law; the ATF runs guns into Mexico in complete violation of the law (http://www.naturalnews.com/032934_A...); the FDA routinely violates law by knowingly allowing deadly pharmaceuticals to remain on the market; the DEA routinely conducts illegal raids against legal medical marijuana clinics... need I go on?

We are living under lawless government tyranny where state and federal thugs commit any crimes they wish -- right out in the open! -- and they don't even care when they're caught because they know the zombie-brained public is too droned out on daytime television and fluoridated water to do anything about it.

Resist or lose your freedom forever

If we do not take immediate action to resist this, we will all become slaves of the state, and we will be forced to eat dead foods, take CDC-recommended vaccine shots and survive on FDA-enforced pharmaceutical medications. That's the government plan for you, and that's why they are engaged in a full-on assault against home gardening, organic farms, raw milk producers and food freedom organizations.

These are acts of war being waged against farmers and small business owners. What these government thugs are doing to Rawesome Foods is exactly what the occupying British soldiers did to the original colonists who suffered under decades of government oppression before finally revolting and fighting for their freedom.

Out-of-control oppressive governments, of course, do everything they can to destroy freedom, oppress free thinking and enslave the people. And they take special measures to silence those who challenge their false authority.

No doubt they are trying to plot some way to raid NaturalNews as well, given that we are one of the few honest news organizations left that's actually covering these important stories about runaway government tyranny against the People. Don't be surprised if government thugs attempt to seize our servers and concoct some fictional charges against me personally in their desire to silence what is now becoming one of the strongest voices of commonsense rebellion across the internet: NaturalNews.com.

We serve the interests of the People, and we respect law, liberty and the natural law rights to individually choose our own food, our own medicine and the pursuit of happiness. That commitment to principle, it seems, makes us an enemy of the corrupt thug-infested government which has zero tolerance for free speech or informed members of the public who can still manage to think for themselves.

I'm in good company, of course. If I wind up in front of a firing squad with Paul Craig Roberts on one side and Ron Paul on the other, I'll know we ultimately won. Because freedom is an infectious idea, and once the flame of freedom has been ignited in new minds, it cannot be so easily extinguished with mere bullets -- no matter who they're aimed at.

I don't expect the USA to last very much longer, folks. The acceleration of the economic implosion combined with the rapid erosion of the rule of law is thrusting us into an irreversible path toward total collapse. No matter what happens, I will hold fast to the principles of freedom, liberty and limited government upon which our nation was founded. I can only pray that enough of us will survive the coming collapse long enough to help erect a new Republic that restores the freedoms and liberties which once made this nation the greatest in the world.

And for God's sake, let us all remember to write in sections about food freedom and freedom for natural medicine in whatever future Bill of Rights we may collectively create (which, hopefully, will be based on the original Bill of Rights, but simply expanded to protect even MORE rights of the People).

We who respect law are the real patriots. Those in Washington who brazenly ignore the law are the real terrorists. As things move forward in this crazy world, keep that in mind.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Schmidle Muddle of the Osama Bin Laden Take Down

by Joshua Foust on 8/4/2011, Registan.net

A special guest post by C. Christine Fair

On Monday, August 1, the New Yorker ran a piece by Nicholas Schmidle, a young freelance journalist, which proffered a breathtakingly detailed account of the Bin Laden Take-down in May of 2011. I have known Schmidle since the summer of 2006, when we met at my office at the United States Institute of Peace. He explained that he had a fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs that would allow him to live in Pakistan and write about his experiences for two years.

Mr. Schmidle had one serious problem: he was not an accredited journalist, which meant the Pakistani government was disinclined to give him a journalism visa. He sought my advice. I explained to him that visa issues are not my bailiwick but I outlined some of the key issues he could consider if and when he sets out upon his newfound adventure. Though he didn’t know much about Pakistan, Mr. Schmidle struck me as a fast study.

In the end, Dr. Shireen Mazari (an outspoken, anti-American polemicist) agreed to host Mr. Schmidle at the think-tank she ran at the time. However, it was a bargain with the devil: he still was not a journalist and he got his visa at the behest of a dubious shill for Pakistan’s intelligence agency.

Over the next few years, I watched Mr. Schmidle’s reporting. He had an eye for the key issues and he covered many important stories that others overlooked. I met him episodically in Islamabad when I came to Pakistan. In January 2008, Mr. Schmidle published a piece in the New York Times Magazine called the “Next-Gen Taliban.” In that article, he ventured into Quetta to attend an opening ceremony for the campaign office of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), which he described in anodyne terms as a “a hard-line Islamist party.”

Mr. Schmidle wrote that the men in attendance mostly spoke Pashto but “knowing Urdu, I could understand enough [of their Pashto] to realize that they weren’t rehashing the typical J.U.I. rhetoric.” That made the rest of the article immediately suspect. I knew Mr. Schmidle, and knew that his language skills in Urdu were functional at best and, even if he had superb Urdu skills (and he did not), this would not render Pashto comprehensible in the slightest. (It is not an Indo-Aryan language like Urdu and therefore has a grammar and syntax that is starkly different from Urdu.) While one may recognize some Urdu words, without grammar and syntax the content of the discussion would have been opaque to Mr. Schmidle. Indeed, Pakistanis who have spent their entire life in the country speaking Urdu cannot understand Pashto and would never make the absurd claim to do so. How could Mr. Schmidle understand, must less interpret, what was going on without knowledge of Pashto or a translator? It seemed to me that things were not as they were reported.

I had a similar feeling this week when I began perusing Mr. Schmidle’s account of the Bin Laden raid. The account was deeply detailed. He described how the commander of the team, whom he called James “sat on the floor, squeezed among ten other SEALs, Ahmed [the translator], and Cairo [the malimois]. (The names of all the covert operators mentioned in this story have been changed.) James, a broad-chested man in his late thirties, does not have the lithe swimmer’s frame that one might expect of a SEAL—he is built more like a discus thrower.”

Schmidle detailed “James’” apparel and personal effects: he was sporting “a shirt and trousers in Desert Digital Camouflage, [carrying] a silenced Sig Sauer P226 pistol, along with extra ammunition; a CamelBak, for hydration; and gel shots, for endurance. He held a short-barrel, silenced M4 rifle.” He even inventoried the contents of this fellow’s pockets.

Mr. Schmidle then recalls, in riveting detail, the harrowing movements of the helicopters and how “the interior of the Black Hawks rustled alive with the metallic cough of rounds being chambered.” When the first helicopter encountered problems, Schmidle exposits how the pilot reoptimized his plans and aimed for “for an animal pen in the western section of the compound.” He next tells his readers how the SEALs in the ill-fated bird “braced themselves as the tail rotor swung around, scraping the security wall. The pilot jammed the nose forward to drive it into the dirt and prevent his aircraft from rolling onto its side. Cows, chickens, and rabbits scurried.”

He even describes how the translator Ahmed hollered in Pashto at the locals that a security operation was ongoing to allay their suspicions about the nature of the cacophony in the cantonment town. (This detail caught my eye as the majority of persons in Abbottabad, where the raid took place, speak Hindko rather than Pashto.) He account is replete with quotes and other minute details obtained from persons seemingly involved directly in the assault and presumably speaking to him in person.

The article was in fact so detailed that it left the unmistakable impression that Mr. Schmidle had interviewed at least a few of the SEALs involved in the raid. During an NPR interview, Steve Inskeep explains that indeed Schmidle had spent time with the SEALs who were on the mission to get Bin Laden. NPR subsequently issued a correction for reasons noted below.

If not Navy SEALS, then perhaps he met some Navy Otters?

All of this makes for a gripping read. Too gripping I thought to myself. As it turned out, there is one very serious problem with Mr. Schmidle’s account: Schmidle never met any of the SEALs involved, as reported (with great tact and restraint) by Paul Farhi on August 3.

Farhi reached the same conclusion as I had: “a casual reader of the article wouldn’t know that [he had not interviewed the SEALS]; neither the article nor an editor’s note describes the sourcing for parts of the story. Schmidle, in fact, piles up so many details about some of the men, such as their thoughts at various times, that the article leaves a strong impression that he spoke with them directly.”

Surely a journalist or an editor with a commitment to informing—rather than amusing—a public would understand that disclosing this simple fact is critical to allowing readers to determine how much credibility they should put into this account. In the absence of such disclosure, we are left asking whether this was second or third-hand information? Who are the people that he spoke to and how credible is their information?

Such an egregious exercise of incaution raises a number of questions about the entire report.

Schmidle has demurred from tackling this serious issue of credibility, integrity and veracity directly. During a “live chat” with Mr. Schmidle on the New Yorker’s website yesterday, several persons including myself tried to ask Mr.Schmidle to explain this egregious oversight. (I posed the question four times throughout the course of the “live chat.” The moderator did not post a single one. (Earlier in the day, Schmidle and I exchanged emails wherein I expressed my dismay at his reportage.)

Many of us were following this in real time via twitter. I was not alone: others—including other journalists—tried to ask other tough questions but the moderator did not post them either. I also tried to post a comment to this effect along with other readers’ comments. That comment has not yet been posted.

Finally, after a volley of fatuous queries to which Schmidle responded with a peculiar degree of detail, the moderator finally let one person raise the issue that he neither met any of the SEALS involved nor indicated as much in his report.

Unfortunately for the credibility of this exercise, this person was Erin Simpson—a friend of Mr. Schmidle. Ms. Simpson had earlier defended him during a twitter exchange with me wherein she responded to my vexed queries that “he’s a good friend.” She further intimated that someone involved in the operation may have spoken to him because he is a “GO’s kid.” The latter point references the fact that his father, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Robert E. Schmidle Jr., is the deputy commander of the U.S. Cyber Command.

Schmidle answers Ms. Simpson in a familiar voice: “Hi Erin. Good question. I’ll just say that the 23 SEALs on the mission that evening were not the only ones who were listening to their radio communications.”

The response was risible and hardly addressed how he could have acquired such details of the operation through such means.

That the moderator passed on only softball questions and that this one question was posed by a “close friend,” raises more questions than the “live chat” could have answered.

What’s at Stake?

One may ask at first blush why a feel-good story about the Bin Laden raid is problematic or even merits sustained critique. From an American point of view, the story reads like the film script Schmidle may well aspire to write. It confirms all that we wanted to know about the raid and the bravado of our SEALS. The shooter, who finally killed Bin Laden, even managed to mutter “For God and Country” in the femtoseconds that his synapses took to pull the trigger, according to Schmidle.

However, there are implications that go well beyond Mr. Schmidle’s limits of journalism integrity and his own personal aggrandizement and professional aspirations.

First, many Muslims across the world fundamentally doubt the events of the Bin Laden raid. Some believe Bin Laden is still alive. Others believe he died long ago. Others believe that the events of May 2 were staged to allow the Obama administration to make an exit from Afghanistan. As Mr. Schmidle’s is the first (and so far only) account of the drama, these problems cast a pale of doubt upon the events that transpired that evening.

Second is the simple fact of Mr. Schmidle parentage. His father, as noted above, is the deputy commander of the U.S. Cyber Command. Given the conspiratorial propensities of many within and beyond the Muslim world, Schmidle’s ties to this organization by virtue of his father would recast any serious inaccuracy in his report as a U.S. military psychological operation to deliberately misinform the world about the operation.

The reasons for this are at least two-fold. First is the charge of U.S. Cyber Command itself, which in it the lexicon of the U.S. Department of Defense is “pulling together existing cyberspace resources, creating synergy that does not currently exist and synchronizing war-fighting effects to defend the information security environment.” While the organization appears dedicated to protecting cyber infrastructure, others may interpret its role as using cyberspace to spread disinformation. Second, cynics may justifiably wonder what influence if any his father had in the article. Schmidle explains this to Farhi “’He knew I was working on it,’ the younger Schmidle says, ‘but we both decided it was best not to discuss it in advance. We wanted to maintain distinct lines of operation.’” I have no reason to not believe this. However, given that questions that now hover about his report will other readers be so inclined?

Finally, whether or not the shooter actually said “For God and For Country” is another important question that affects the way in which the United States and is citizenry are seen across the world. The conflict with Bin Laden has been waged in lamentably civilizational terms focusing upon the clash of Islam and the presumably non-Islamic west. Since 9/11, countries with Muslim minorities have been gripped by Islamophobia with some states outlying headscarves and minarets and others seeking to restrict the erection of new mosques. Anti-immigration concerns in Europe are thinly disguised efforts to deter future Muslims from migrating. Success in the war of terrorism seems to be equated with success in turning back the spread of Islam. Several states in the United States have even introduced ludicrous and shameful bills to outlaw Sharia.

How would a proclamation that Bin Laden was killed “for God and for country” be read in a place like Pakistan where the war on terror has been largely seen as a war on Islam and Muslims? If this was in fact uttered, as an American, I am saddened that eliminating the world’s most notorious killer was done “for God” first and country second. If it wasn’t uttered, such a gratuitous detail hardly helps the United States make its case that it opposes terrorists not Muslims.

A Story Too Good to Check?

Whether Americans and our allies like it or not, Pakistan and Pakistan’s populations are critical to U.S. interests. This will be true for the foreseeable future. Journalists have an important function: informing our publics. Journalists’ reportage shapes how Americans see their country abroad and understand the countries with which the United States engages. It shapes our support for war, for foreign aid, for particular bilateral relations. The U.S. experience with the Iraq war illustrates the extreme limits of how a supine and incompetent press became the vehicle to mobilize an angry public for an ill-conceived and unjustifiable war of choice. The United States will long pay the price for strategic error.

Journalists have an equally important, if less appreciated, role in shaping how the outside world sees us. With the internet, the entire world reads our press, watches our television and hears our radio broadcasts. Media hype and hysteria, xenophobia, Islamophobia and more quotidian issues of inaccuracy and incaution with handling sensitive pieces of information are for the whole world to see and to judge us.

With stakes this high, should not the standards of journalistic integrity be even higher? I should think yes. The New Yorker should immediately right this wrong by publishing an editor’s note disclosing the simple fact that he never interviewed the SEALS in involved in the raid.

C. Christine Fair is an assistant professor at Georgetown University and the author of Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States.

Source: http://www.registan.net/index.php/2011/08/04/the-schmidle-muddle-of-the-osama-bin-laden-take-down/