Please watch the following video on the "NAFTA Superhighway".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cQ0YyepLgA
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
War on Global Warming
Weather Channel Founder Wants To Sue Al Gore For Global Warming Fraud Coleman says man-made climate change advocates would lose landmark court case
Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet March 14, 2008
digg_url = 'http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2008/031408_warming_fraud.htm';
A landmark court case that would destroy the so-called "consensus" behind man-made global warming could be in the works after Weather Channel founder John Coleman expressed his intention to sue Al Gore for fraud.
Companies that sell "carbon credits" on the basis that they offset carbon emissions could also be in the firing line as Coleman stated his conviction that man-made advocates would lose the case if a fair debate, something that the establishment is loathe to allow, was allowed to take place.
"Since we can't get a debate, I thought perhaps if we had a legal challenge and went into a court of law, where it was our scientists and their scientists, and all the legal proceedings with the discovery and all their documents from both sides and scientific testimony from both sides, we could finally get a good solid debate on the issue," Coleman said. "I'm confident that the advocates of 'no significant effect from carbon dioxide' would win the case."
Coleman said that any degree of warming that has taken place over the last 25 years is beginning to be offset by a recent cooling trend. China, the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has just experienced its coldest winter for 100 years.
"I think if we continue the cooling trend a couple of more years, the general public will at last begin to realize that they've been scammed on this global-warming thing," said Coleman.
Coleman questioned whether carbon dioxide caused temperature increase, a point borne out by ice core samples that show increases in carbon dioxide in the environment are a result and not a cause of higher temperatures, lagging behind by as much as 800 years.
"Does carbon dioxide cause a warming of the atmosphere? The proponents of global warming pin their whole piece on that," he said.
"The compound carbon dioxide makes up only 38 out of every 100,000 particles in the atmosphere."
"That's about twice as what there were in the atmosphere in the time we started burning fossil fuels, so it's gone up, but it's still a tiny compound," Coleman said. "So how can that tiny trace compound have such a significant effect on temperature?
"My position is it can't," he continued. "It doesn't, and the whole case for global warming is based on a fallacy."
Coleman's call for a court case to take on the global warming orthodox comes in the same week that the Carnegie Institute urged the need to reduce carbon emissions to zero within decades, a move that would devastate the third world and likely end human civilization as we know it, returning man back to the stone age.
Paul Joseph Watson / Prison Planet March 14, 2008
digg_url = 'http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2008/031408_warming_fraud.htm';
A landmark court case that would destroy the so-called "consensus" behind man-made global warming could be in the works after Weather Channel founder John Coleman expressed his intention to sue Al Gore for fraud.
Companies that sell "carbon credits" on the basis that they offset carbon emissions could also be in the firing line as Coleman stated his conviction that man-made advocates would lose the case if a fair debate, something that the establishment is loathe to allow, was allowed to take place.
"Since we can't get a debate, I thought perhaps if we had a legal challenge and went into a court of law, where it was our scientists and their scientists, and all the legal proceedings with the discovery and all their documents from both sides and scientific testimony from both sides, we could finally get a good solid debate on the issue," Coleman said. "I'm confident that the advocates of 'no significant effect from carbon dioxide' would win the case."
Coleman said that any degree of warming that has taken place over the last 25 years is beginning to be offset by a recent cooling trend. China, the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has just experienced its coldest winter for 100 years.
"I think if we continue the cooling trend a couple of more years, the general public will at last begin to realize that they've been scammed on this global-warming thing," said Coleman.
Coleman questioned whether carbon dioxide caused temperature increase, a point borne out by ice core samples that show increases in carbon dioxide in the environment are a result and not a cause of higher temperatures, lagging behind by as much as 800 years.
"Does carbon dioxide cause a warming of the atmosphere? The proponents of global warming pin their whole piece on that," he said.
"The compound carbon dioxide makes up only 38 out of every 100,000 particles in the atmosphere."
"That's about twice as what there were in the atmosphere in the time we started burning fossil fuels, so it's gone up, but it's still a tiny compound," Coleman said. "So how can that tiny trace compound have such a significant effect on temperature?
"My position is it can't," he continued. "It doesn't, and the whole case for global warming is based on a fallacy."
Coleman's call for a court case to take on the global warming orthodox comes in the same week that the Carnegie Institute urged the need to reduce carbon emissions to zero within decades, a move that would devastate the third world and likely end human civilization as we know it, returning man back to the stone age.
Campaign Finance
When politicians and big donors get cozy, the rest of us end up paying for their sweetheart deals.
By Michael Crowley
A landmark court case that would destroy the so-called "consensus" behind man-made global warming could be in the works after Weather Channel founder John Coleman expressed his intention to sue Al Gore for fraud.Companies that sell "carbon credits" on the basis that they offset carbon emissions could also be in the firing line as Coleman stated his conviction that man-made advocates would lose the case if a fair debate, something that the establishment is loathe to allow, was allowed to take place."Since we can't get a debate, I thought perhaps if we had a legal challenge and went into a court of law, where it was our scientists and their scientists, and all the legal proceedings with the discovery and all their documents from both sides and scientific testimony from both sides, we could finally get a good solid debate on the issue," Coleman said. "I'm confident that the advocates of 'no significant effect from carbon dioxide' would win the case."Coleman said that any degree of warming that has taken place over the last 25 years is beginning to be offset by a recent cooling trend. China, the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has just experienced its coldest winter for 100 years."I think if we continue the cooling trend a couple of more years, the general public will at last begin to realize that they've been scammed on this global-warming thing," said Coleman.Coleman questioned whether carbon dioxide caused temperature increase, a point borne out by ice core samples that show increases in carbon dioxide in the environment are a result and not a cause of higher temperatures, lagging behind by as much as 800 years."Does carbon dioxide cause a warming of the atmosphere? The proponents of global warming pin their whole piece on that," he said."The compound carbon dioxide makes up only 38 out of every 100,000 particles in the atmosphere.""That's about twice as what there were in the atmosphere in the time we started burning fossil fuels, so it's gone up, but it's still a tiny compound," Coleman said. "So how can that tiny trace compound have such a significant effect on temperature?"My position is it can't," he continued. "It doesn't, and the whole case for global warming is based on a fallacy."Coleman's call for a court case to take on the global warming orthodox comes in the same week that the Carnegie Institute urged the need to reduce carbon emissions to zero within decades, a move that would devastate the third world and likely end human civilization as we know it, returning man back to the stone age.
From rd.com
By Michael Crowley
A landmark court case that would destroy the so-called "consensus" behind man-made global warming could be in the works after Weather Channel founder John Coleman expressed his intention to sue Al Gore for fraud.Companies that sell "carbon credits" on the basis that they offset carbon emissions could also be in the firing line as Coleman stated his conviction that man-made advocates would lose the case if a fair debate, something that the establishment is loathe to allow, was allowed to take place."Since we can't get a debate, I thought perhaps if we had a legal challenge and went into a court of law, where it was our scientists and their scientists, and all the legal proceedings with the discovery and all their documents from both sides and scientific testimony from both sides, we could finally get a good solid debate on the issue," Coleman said. "I'm confident that the advocates of 'no significant effect from carbon dioxide' would win the case."Coleman said that any degree of warming that has taken place over the last 25 years is beginning to be offset by a recent cooling trend. China, the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has just experienced its coldest winter for 100 years."I think if we continue the cooling trend a couple of more years, the general public will at last begin to realize that they've been scammed on this global-warming thing," said Coleman.Coleman questioned whether carbon dioxide caused temperature increase, a point borne out by ice core samples that show increases in carbon dioxide in the environment are a result and not a cause of higher temperatures, lagging behind by as much as 800 years."Does carbon dioxide cause a warming of the atmosphere? The proponents of global warming pin their whole piece on that," he said."The compound carbon dioxide makes up only 38 out of every 100,000 particles in the atmosphere.""That's about twice as what there were in the atmosphere in the time we started burning fossil fuels, so it's gone up, but it's still a tiny compound," Coleman said. "So how can that tiny trace compound have such a significant effect on temperature?"My position is it can't," he continued. "It doesn't, and the whole case for global warming is based on a fallacy."Coleman's call for a court case to take on the global warming orthodox comes in the same week that the Carnegie Institute urged the need to reduce carbon emissions to zero within decades, a move that would devastate the third world and likely end human civilization as we know it, returning man back to the stone age.
From rd.com
China, Mexico Partner on Port.
The following was found at utu.org. Pay attention, folks! Kinda goes along with the NAFTA Superhighway. How long do you think any of us will have jobs?
Plans have been finalized by Mexico to develop Punta Colonet as a West Coast Mexican alternative to the U.S. ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, reports Jerome Corsi at worldnetdaily.com.
The proposal includes a deep-water Pacific Ocean port on Mexico's Baja California peninsula about 150 miles south of Tijuana that could serve as a destination for the 30 million containers headed to North America from China and the Far East each year.
The on-again, off-again plan to develop Punta Colonet has been discussed before as the number of containers from China grows and multi-national corporations out-sourcing their North American manufacturing to China are looking for cuts in transportation costs.
The lure of Punta Colonet is the cheaper Mexican transportation labor available if Chinese containers arrive there to be moved into the interior of the United States, rather than the more expensive U.S. labor in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The model to develop Punta Colonet is based on Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, two Mexican ports on the Pacific south of Texas, which have been developed by Hutchison Ports Holdings, a Chinese port operations firm with close ties to the communist Chinese government and military.
As WND has reported, containers from China off-loaded at Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas bypass the labor costs of the U.S. Longshoreman Union dock workers, United Transportation Union railroad workers, and U.S. truck drivers.
Manuel Rodriguez Arregui, Mexico's Secretary of Transportation, announced in February his intention to publish in June a request for proposals for the operation of a deep-water port at Punta Colonet. His goal is to see work on the port begin next year so the port could open for business in 2010 and be completed no later than 2015.
The plans are to take advantage of a public-private partnership, or PPP, in which private developers would work with government officials to use government powers to acquire whatever land or other rights were needed for the port to be developed. The capital for the project would be provided by the private developers, who in turn would seek long-term contracts to operate and derive revenue from the port.
In turn, the proposals submitted by private development companies can be expected to pay the government of Mexico one-time up-front seven-figure sums for the rights to develop the project and operate it for as long as 45 years after completion.
The project, which may take as much as $9 billion in private capital to develop, will involve some 7,000 acres at Punta Colonet, about as large as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach combined.
The goal is to construct a modern port capable of handling annually eight million containers or 20-foot equivalent units, according to a report published by the San Diego Union-Tribune, which was based on an interview the newspaper conducted with Eugenio Elorduy Walther, the governor of Baja California in Mexico.
The containers will then move to the interior of the United States on a 180-mile rail line that is expected to connect the port at Punta Colonet with existing rail systems at Yuma, Ariz. The San Diego Union-Tribune also reported Hutchison Port Holdings has now bought property at Punta Colonet and Union Pacific is seeking options on a railroad right-of-way in Yuma.
The Los Angeles Times said a competitive bid may be organized by Mexican Carlos Slim Helu, the world's second-richest man with a net worth Forbes estimated in 2006 at over $30 billion.
The consortium would involve teaming up with Miguel Favela, the general director of Mexican operations for cargo terminal operator MTC Holdings of Oakland.
Favela told the Los Angeles Times Slim's IDEAL infrastructure company, Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SA de CV, and the Mexican mining and railroad giant Grupo Mexico could team up to grab the deal.
WND has previously reported plans being implemented in China to ship millions more containers to North America every year.
The Chinese are investing $15 billion to develop Yangshan, a reclaimed island the size of 470 soccer fields that lies in the East China Sea off Shanghai, with a plan by 2010 to operate 30 berths accommodating post-Panamex megaships, each capable of carrying up to 12,500 containers, three or four times the size of the typical container ships now operating.
Currently handling 20 million containers a year, Yangshan is expected by 2010 to export up to 30 million containers a year, with the vast majority destined for North America.
WND has also reported the Canadian government is developing plans to open West Coast ports including Vancouver and Prince Rupert as part of Canada's publicly declared "Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative" transportation policy.
Plans have been finalized by Mexico to develop Punta Colonet as a West Coast Mexican alternative to the U.S. ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, reports Jerome Corsi at worldnetdaily.com.
The proposal includes a deep-water Pacific Ocean port on Mexico's Baja California peninsula about 150 miles south of Tijuana that could serve as a destination for the 30 million containers headed to North America from China and the Far East each year.
The on-again, off-again plan to develop Punta Colonet has been discussed before as the number of containers from China grows and multi-national corporations out-sourcing their North American manufacturing to China are looking for cuts in transportation costs.
The lure of Punta Colonet is the cheaper Mexican transportation labor available if Chinese containers arrive there to be moved into the interior of the United States, rather than the more expensive U.S. labor in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The model to develop Punta Colonet is based on Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, two Mexican ports on the Pacific south of Texas, which have been developed by Hutchison Ports Holdings, a Chinese port operations firm with close ties to the communist Chinese government and military.
As WND has reported, containers from China off-loaded at Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas bypass the labor costs of the U.S. Longshoreman Union dock workers, United Transportation Union railroad workers, and U.S. truck drivers.
Manuel Rodriguez Arregui, Mexico's Secretary of Transportation, announced in February his intention to publish in June a request for proposals for the operation of a deep-water port at Punta Colonet. His goal is to see work on the port begin next year so the port could open for business in 2010 and be completed no later than 2015.
The plans are to take advantage of a public-private partnership, or PPP, in which private developers would work with government officials to use government powers to acquire whatever land or other rights were needed for the port to be developed. The capital for the project would be provided by the private developers, who in turn would seek long-term contracts to operate and derive revenue from the port.
In turn, the proposals submitted by private development companies can be expected to pay the government of Mexico one-time up-front seven-figure sums for the rights to develop the project and operate it for as long as 45 years after completion.
The project, which may take as much as $9 billion in private capital to develop, will involve some 7,000 acres at Punta Colonet, about as large as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach combined.
The goal is to construct a modern port capable of handling annually eight million containers or 20-foot equivalent units, according to a report published by the San Diego Union-Tribune, which was based on an interview the newspaper conducted with Eugenio Elorduy Walther, the governor of Baja California in Mexico.
The containers will then move to the interior of the United States on a 180-mile rail line that is expected to connect the port at Punta Colonet with existing rail systems at Yuma, Ariz. The San Diego Union-Tribune also reported Hutchison Port Holdings has now bought property at Punta Colonet and Union Pacific is seeking options on a railroad right-of-way in Yuma.
The Los Angeles Times said a competitive bid may be organized by Mexican Carlos Slim Helu, the world's second-richest man with a net worth Forbes estimated in 2006 at over $30 billion.
The consortium would involve teaming up with Miguel Favela, the general director of Mexican operations for cargo terminal operator MTC Holdings of Oakland.
Favela told the Los Angeles Times Slim's IDEAL infrastructure company, Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SA de CV, and the Mexican mining and railroad giant Grupo Mexico could team up to grab the deal.
WND has previously reported plans being implemented in China to ship millions more containers to North America every year.
The Chinese are investing $15 billion to develop Yangshan, a reclaimed island the size of 470 soccer fields that lies in the East China Sea off Shanghai, with a plan by 2010 to operate 30 berths accommodating post-Panamex megaships, each capable of carrying up to 12,500 containers, three or four times the size of the typical container ships now operating.
Currently handling 20 million containers a year, Yangshan is expected by 2010 to export up to 30 million containers a year, with the vast majority destined for North America.
WND has also reported the Canadian government is developing plans to open West Coast ports including Vancouver and Prince Rupert as part of Canada's publicly declared "Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative" transportation policy.
SCHOOL DAZE
A 6th-grade teacher in Jackson, Miss., asked her class to take a survey to determine which of their classmates were most likely to get pregnant, die and contract AIDS before graduation from high school.
Now the father of the honor student selected as most likely to get pregnant wants the teacher fired, according to local station WAPT.
Curtis Lyons said he found out about the survey when his daughter came home from Chastain Middle School Monday.
"She was humiliated," Lyons said. "She's an honor student."A 6th-grade teacher in Jackson, Miss., asked her class to take a survey to determine which of their classmates were most likely to get pregnant, die and contract AIDS before graduation from high school.
Now the father of the honor student selected as most likely to get pregnant wants the teacher fired, according to local station WAPT.
Curtis Lyons said he found out about the survey when his daughter came home from Chastain Middle School Monday.
"She was humiliated," Lyons said. "She's an honor student."
According to the father, students were given a survey in science class that asked them to select students they thought were most likely to die, get pregnant, or contract AIDS.
The names of all students were included on the survey and the class associated the names with the scenarios.
Once the results were tallied, Lyons said, the teacher told his daughter that the statistics showed that her classmates believed that she was one of four girls most likely to become pregnant.
"I don't think she should be teaching kids," Lyons said. "Those questions were out of place and inappropriate. I want to know what was the lesson in that?"
"What happened to most likely to succeed?" he asked. "Do you feel this is what should be done in schools? How would you feel if the teacher told your son he would DIE before 19 or daughter she would have a baby before she finish high school? We should all be outraged."
School officials said they are investigating the matter.
Lyons said he wants the teacher fired and he wants an apology from the school board.
The previous article can be found at worldnetdaily.com.
Now the father of the honor student selected as most likely to get pregnant wants the teacher fired, according to local station WAPT.
Curtis Lyons said he found out about the survey when his daughter came home from Chastain Middle School Monday.
"She was humiliated," Lyons said. "She's an honor student."A 6th-grade teacher in Jackson, Miss., asked her class to take a survey to determine which of their classmates were most likely to get pregnant, die and contract AIDS before graduation from high school.
Now the father of the honor student selected as most likely to get pregnant wants the teacher fired, according to local station WAPT.
Curtis Lyons said he found out about the survey when his daughter came home from Chastain Middle School Monday.
"She was humiliated," Lyons said. "She's an honor student."
According to the father, students were given a survey in science class that asked them to select students they thought were most likely to die, get pregnant, or contract AIDS.
The names of all students were included on the survey and the class associated the names with the scenarios.
Once the results were tallied, Lyons said, the teacher told his daughter that the statistics showed that her classmates believed that she was one of four girls most likely to become pregnant.
"I don't think she should be teaching kids," Lyons said. "Those questions were out of place and inappropriate. I want to know what was the lesson in that?"
"What happened to most likely to succeed?" he asked. "Do you feel this is what should be done in schools? How would you feel if the teacher told your son he would DIE before 19 or daughter she would have a baby before she finish high school? We should all be outraged."
School officials said they are investigating the matter.
Lyons said he wants the teacher fired and he wants an apology from the school board.
The previous article can be found at worldnetdaily.com.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Watching in Chicago
Taken from breibart.com, an article by the AP. How long until they have these in every city? It SOUNDS like a good thing, but how long until someone (or some organization) abuses the privacy policies?
CHICAGO (AP) - A car circles a high-rise three times. Someone leaves a backpack in a park. Such things go unnoticed in big cities every day. But that could change in Chicago with a new video surveillance system that would recognize such anomalies and alert authorities to take a closer look.
On Thursday, the city and IBM Corp. are announcing the initial phase of what officials say could be the most advanced video security network in any U.S. city. The City of Broad Shoulders is getting eyes in the back of its head.
"Chicago is really light years ahead of any metropolitan area in the U.S. now," said Sam Docknevich, who heads video-surveillance consulting for IBM.
Chicago already has thousands of security cameras in use by businesses and police—including some equipped with devices that recognize the sound of a gunshot, turn the cameras toward the source and place a 911 call. But the new system would let cameras analyze images in real time 24 hours a day.
"You're talking about creating (something) that knows no fatigue, no boredom and is absolutely focused," said Kevin Smith, spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
For example, the system could be programmed to alert the city's emergency center whenever a camera spots a vehicle matching the description of one being sought by authorities.
The system could be programmed to recognize license plates. It could alert emergency officials if the same car or truck circles the Sears Tower three times or if nobody picks up a backpack in Grant Park for, say, 30 seconds.
IBM says this approach might be more effective than relying on a bleary-eyed employee to monitor video screens. "Studies have shown people fall asleep," Docknevich said.
It is unclear when the system will be fully operational. Existing cameras could be equipped with the new software, but additional cameras probably will be added as well, Smith said.
"The complexity of the software is going to define how quickly we are able to do this," he said.
Chicago's announcement comes as it is vying to bring the 2016 games to town. A purportedly security-enhancing surveillance system is something city officials could trumpet to International Olympic Committee.
"The eventual goal is to have elaborate video surveillance well in advance of the 2016 Olympics," said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide Inc., the company providing the wireless connectivity for the project.
Neither Smith nor IBM would reveal the cost of the network, but Smith said much of it would be paid by the Department of Homeland Security. The cost of previous surveillance efforts has run into the millions of dollars. Just adding devices that allow surveillance cameras to turn toward the sound of gunfire was as much as $10,000 per unit.
Some critics question whether such systems are effective and whether they could lead to an unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Jonathan Schachter, a public policy lecturer at Northwestern University, said there are no studies that show cameras reduce crime. And the idea that placing cameras near "strategic assets" would prevent a terrorist attack is "absurd," he said.
Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said he was concerned that more cameras and more sophisticated technology would lead to abuses of authority.
"It is incumbent on the city to ensure that there are practices and procedures in place to sort of watch the watchers," he said.
CHICAGO (AP) - A car circles a high-rise three times. Someone leaves a backpack in a park. Such things go unnoticed in big cities every day. But that could change in Chicago with a new video surveillance system that would recognize such anomalies and alert authorities to take a closer look.
On Thursday, the city and IBM Corp. are announcing the initial phase of what officials say could be the most advanced video security network in any U.S. city. The City of Broad Shoulders is getting eyes in the back of its head.
"Chicago is really light years ahead of any metropolitan area in the U.S. now," said Sam Docknevich, who heads video-surveillance consulting for IBM.
Chicago already has thousands of security cameras in use by businesses and police—including some equipped with devices that recognize the sound of a gunshot, turn the cameras toward the source and place a 911 call. But the new system would let cameras analyze images in real time 24 hours a day.
"You're talking about creating (something) that knows no fatigue, no boredom and is absolutely focused," said Kevin Smith, spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
For example, the system could be programmed to alert the city's emergency center whenever a camera spots a vehicle matching the description of one being sought by authorities.
The system could be programmed to recognize license plates. It could alert emergency officials if the same car or truck circles the Sears Tower three times or if nobody picks up a backpack in Grant Park for, say, 30 seconds.
IBM says this approach might be more effective than relying on a bleary-eyed employee to monitor video screens. "Studies have shown people fall asleep," Docknevich said.
It is unclear when the system will be fully operational. Existing cameras could be equipped with the new software, but additional cameras probably will be added as well, Smith said.
"The complexity of the software is going to define how quickly we are able to do this," he said.
Chicago's announcement comes as it is vying to bring the 2016 games to town. A purportedly security-enhancing surveillance system is something city officials could trumpet to International Olympic Committee.
"The eventual goal is to have elaborate video surveillance well in advance of the 2016 Olympics," said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide Inc., the company providing the wireless connectivity for the project.
Neither Smith nor IBM would reveal the cost of the network, but Smith said much of it would be paid by the Department of Homeland Security. The cost of previous surveillance efforts has run into the millions of dollars. Just adding devices that allow surveillance cameras to turn toward the sound of gunfire was as much as $10,000 per unit.
Some critics question whether such systems are effective and whether they could lead to an unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Jonathan Schachter, a public policy lecturer at Northwestern University, said there are no studies that show cameras reduce crime. And the idea that placing cameras near "strategic assets" would prevent a terrorist attack is "absurd," he said.
Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said he was concerned that more cameras and more sophisticated technology would lead to abuses of authority.
"It is incumbent on the city to ensure that there are practices and procedures in place to sort of watch the watchers," he said.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
About Blackwater
From democracynow.org's website....
The company that most embodies the privatization of the military industrial complex—a primary part of the Project for a New American Century and the neoconservative revolution is the private security firm Blackwater. Blackwater is the most powerful mercenary firm in the world, with 20,000 soldiers, the world’s largest private military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, including helicopter gunships, and a private intelligence division. The firm is also manufacturing its own surveillance blimps and target systems. Blackwater is headed by a very right-wing Christian-supremist and ex-Navy Seal named Erik Prince, whose family has had deep neo-conservative connections. Bush’s latest call for voluntary civilian military corps to accommodate the “surge” will add to over half a billion dollars in federal contracts with Blackwater, allowing Prince to create a private army to defend Christendom around the world against Muslims and others. One of the last things Dick Cheney did before leaving office as Defense Secretary under George H. W. Bush was to commission a Halliburton study on how to privatize the military bureaucracy. That study effectively created the groundwork for a continuing war profiteer bonanza. During the Clinton years, Erik Prince envisioned a project that would take advantage of anticipated military outsourcing. Blackwater began in 1996 as a private military training facility, with an executive board of former Navy Seals and Elite Special Forces, in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina. A decade later it is the most powerful mercenary firm in the world, embodying what the Bush administration views as “the necessary revolution in military affairs”—the outsourcing of armed forces. In his 2007 State of the Union address Bush asked Congress to authorize an increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next five years. He continued, “A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer civilian reserve corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them.” This is, however, precisely what the administration has already done—largely, Jeremy Scahill points out, behind the backs of the American people. Private contractors currently constitute the second-largest “force” in Iraq. At last count, there were about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, 48,000 of which work as private soldiers, according to a Government Accountability Office report. These soldiers have operated with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints and are politically expedient, as contractor deaths go uncounted in the official toll. With Prince calling for the creation of a “contractor brigade” before military audiences, the Bush administration has found a back door for engaging in an undeclared expansion of occupation. Blackwater currently has about 2,300 personnel actively deployed in nine countries and is aggressively expanding its presence inside US borders. They provide the security for US diplomats in Iraq, guarding everyone from Paul Bremer and John Negroponte to the current US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad. They’re training troops in Afghanistan and have been active in the Caspian Sea, where they set up a Special Forces base miles from the Iranian border. According to reports they are currently negotiating directly with the Southern Sudanese regional government to start training the Christian forces of Sudan. Blackwater’s connections are impressive. Joseph Schmitz, the former Pentagon Inspector General, whose job was to police the war contractor bonanza, has moved on to become the vice chairman of the Prince Group, Blackwater’s parent company, and the general counsel for Blackwater. Bush recently hired Fred Fielding, Blackwater’s former lawyer, to replace Harriet Miers as his top lawyer; and Ken Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor who led the impeachment charge against President Clinton, is now Blackwater’s counsel of record and has filed briefs with Supreme Court to fight wrongful death lawsuits brought against Blackwater. Cofer Black, thirty-year CIA veteran and former head of CIA’s counterterrorism center, credited with spearheading the extraordinary rendition program after 9/11, is now senior executive at Blackwater and perhaps its most powerful operative. Prince and other Blackwater executives have been major bankrollers of the President, of former House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, and of former Senator, Rick Santorum. Senator John Warner, the former head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Blackwater, “our silent partner in the global war on terror.”
The company that most embodies the privatization of the military industrial complex—a primary part of the Project for a New American Century and the neoconservative revolution is the private security firm Blackwater. Blackwater is the most powerful mercenary firm in the world, with 20,000 soldiers, the world’s largest private military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, including helicopter gunships, and a private intelligence division. The firm is also manufacturing its own surveillance blimps and target systems. Blackwater is headed by a very right-wing Christian-supremist and ex-Navy Seal named Erik Prince, whose family has had deep neo-conservative connections. Bush’s latest call for voluntary civilian military corps to accommodate the “surge” will add to over half a billion dollars in federal contracts with Blackwater, allowing Prince to create a private army to defend Christendom around the world against Muslims and others. One of the last things Dick Cheney did before leaving office as Defense Secretary under George H. W. Bush was to commission a Halliburton study on how to privatize the military bureaucracy. That study effectively created the groundwork for a continuing war profiteer bonanza. During the Clinton years, Erik Prince envisioned a project that would take advantage of anticipated military outsourcing. Blackwater began in 1996 as a private military training facility, with an executive board of former Navy Seals and Elite Special Forces, in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina. A decade later it is the most powerful mercenary firm in the world, embodying what the Bush administration views as “the necessary revolution in military affairs”—the outsourcing of armed forces. In his 2007 State of the Union address Bush asked Congress to authorize an increase in the size of our active Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 in the next five years. He continued, “A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer civilian reserve corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them.” This is, however, precisely what the administration has already done—largely, Jeremy Scahill points out, behind the backs of the American people. Private contractors currently constitute the second-largest “force” in Iraq. At last count, there were about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, 48,000 of which work as private soldiers, according to a Government Accountability Office report. These soldiers have operated with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints and are politically expedient, as contractor deaths go uncounted in the official toll. With Prince calling for the creation of a “contractor brigade” before military audiences, the Bush administration has found a back door for engaging in an undeclared expansion of occupation. Blackwater currently has about 2,300 personnel actively deployed in nine countries and is aggressively expanding its presence inside US borders. They provide the security for US diplomats in Iraq, guarding everyone from Paul Bremer and John Negroponte to the current US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad. They’re training troops in Afghanistan and have been active in the Caspian Sea, where they set up a Special Forces base miles from the Iranian border. According to reports they are currently negotiating directly with the Southern Sudanese regional government to start training the Christian forces of Sudan. Blackwater’s connections are impressive. Joseph Schmitz, the former Pentagon Inspector General, whose job was to police the war contractor bonanza, has moved on to become the vice chairman of the Prince Group, Blackwater’s parent company, and the general counsel for Blackwater. Bush recently hired Fred Fielding, Blackwater’s former lawyer, to replace Harriet Miers as his top lawyer; and Ken Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor who led the impeachment charge against President Clinton, is now Blackwater’s counsel of record and has filed briefs with Supreme Court to fight wrongful death lawsuits brought against Blackwater. Cofer Black, thirty-year CIA veteran and former head of CIA’s counterterrorism center, credited with spearheading the extraordinary rendition program after 9/11, is now senior executive at Blackwater and perhaps its most powerful operative. Prince and other Blackwater executives have been major bankrollers of the President, of former House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, and of former Senator, Rick Santorum. Senator John Warner, the former head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Blackwater, “our silent partner in the global war on terror.”
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