Monday, May 21, 2012

Conspiracy Uncovered

Cigarette companies secretly formed a group which they called the National Association of State Fire Marshals to push for flame retardants in furniture. Companies that manufacture flame retardants formed an equally deceptive "advocacy" group that they called Citizens for fire safety to push for laws requiring furniture flame retardants.

These secret alliances pushing an agenda with hidden motives are conspiracies. They happen all the time. Yet, we are told, it is crazy to believe that people get together in secret to plan and to manipulate policy to suit their purposes.

Are You Safe on That Sofa? - NYTimes.com

Never forget that Bradley Manning, not gay marriage, is the issue

Never forget that Bradley Manning, not gay marriage, is the issue:

"Remember Bradley Manning."

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Indefinite military detention without trial struck down by NY court

New York federal district judge Katherine Forrest yesterday struck down a provision in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Bill, signed into law by President Obama on New Year's Eve of last year, that would allow the US military to indefinitely detain anyone, without charge or trial, indefinitely.
The lawsuit was brought against President Barack Obama and other government officials by seven journalists and activists including Christopher Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky, Jennifer Bolen, Alexa O'Brien, Kai Warg All, and Hon. Brigitta Jonsdottier, M.P., as well as US Day of Rage. The plaintiffs charged that the law was already having chilling effect on free speech by exposing them to the risk of imprionment without trial. The judge ruled that the legislation indeed violates both the first (right to free speech and association) and the fifth (right to due process) amendments to the Constitution.


Columnist Glenn Greenwald, a steadfast critic of post 9/11 federal courts, almost immediately lauded the decision, calling it "extraordinary and encouraging." Greenwald has consistently criticized the President's signing of NDAA, but said that he had not covered the lawsuit in his writings, saying frankly that he hadn't expected it to succeed. Other critics of the legislation have included Charles C. Krulak and Joseph P. Hoar (retired four-star Marine generals), Jonathan Turley (professor of law at George Washinton University), the ACLU, and Human Rights Watch.

This is an amazing victory. However, despite Greenwald's enthusiastic support of the decision, the constitutional lawyer was careful to note that "this is only a preliminary injunction (though the court made it clear that she believes plaintiffs will ultimately prevail). It will certainly be appealed and can be reversed. There are still other authorities (including the AUMF) which the DOJ can use to assert the power of indefinite detention."

Thank you for reading the Newark Progressive Examiner. To keep up to date on issues affecting New Jersey, click "subscribe" above. It's free. You can also find the Newark Progressive Examiner on Facebook.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The meaning of the word terrorist

Likely victory for MeK shills - Salon.com:

"The group that was pointed to less than a decade ago as proof of Saddam’s Terrorist Evil is now glorified by both political parties in Washington and — now that it’s fighting for the U.S. and Israel rather than for Saddam — is no longer a Terror group." Glenn Greenwald

Monday, May 14, 2012

Flashback: US Planned War in Afghanistan BEFORE 9/11 - John Galt - Open Salon

Flashback: US Planned War in Afghanistan BEFORE 9/11 - John Galt - Open Salon

From Nobel to Nobel: A letter to Barack Obama | Veterans Today

A former Nobel Peace prize recipient writes a letter to Barack Obama and asks him to change course.

From Nobel to Nobel: A letter to Barack Obama | Veterans Today

Operation Dark Heart

The Pentagon-censored copy of Operation Dark Heart, alongside the unredacted original.

Redacted and Unredacted Side-by-Side of ‘Operation Dark Heart’ - ProPublica

This war on terrorism is bogus

"The 9/11 attacks gave the US an ideal pretext to use force to secure its global domination." Michael Meacher

Michael Meacher: This war on terrorism is bogus | Politics | The Guardian:

Obama on gay marriage: Are we really supposed to be buying this?

"Barack Obama... has gone in the course of less than a decade from full throated support of gay marriage to full opposition on religious grounds, back to full support. Are we really supposed to be buying this?"

Newsweek finally goes where none have gone before: Hot Air

Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored Book’s Reprint - NYTimes.com

Old news but interesting. The Pentagon censored the contents of this book, but not after 10,000 copies were printed. The Pentagon purchased and destroyed those but some advance copies survived. Those copies commanded a premium price on ebay. One of the redactions: the location of the Central Intelligence Agency’s training facility — Camp Peary, Va., a fact discoverable from Wikipedia.

Secrets in Plain Sight in Censored Book’s Reprint - NYTimes.com

Afghanistan attack planned before 9/11

US military intervention had been planned for Afghanistan before 9/11. It was scheduled to begin before the snow began to fall in Afghanistan, by the middle of October at the latest.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | US 'planned attack on Taleban'

Friday, May 11, 2012

Obama’s Torture Problem by David Cole | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

"Looking forward, not back," as Obama as said he will do regarding past war crimes is only a rewriting of history -- trying to pretend that past crimes do not exist.

Obama’s Torture Problem by David Cole | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

Shakespeare knew

While you here do snoring lie
Open-eyed conspiracy
His time doth take
If of life you keep a care
Shake off slumber, and beware
Awake, awake!

William Shakespeare, The Tempest

Obama begins to capitalize on gay marriage pronouncement

One day after Barack Obama announced that he personally was in favor of gay marriage, his campaign came out with a video ad showing him in a favorable light on this issue versus his rival Mitt Romney. (In case you forgot, he's the high school bully who likes to torture animals.)

Biden's "gaffe" which supposedly forced Obama's hand has quickly resulted in a galvanizing campaign issue and a boatload of cash.


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Aggressors or Victims?

"These terrorists keep trying. They keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people. What this incident makes clear is that this country has to continue to remain vigilant against those that would seek to attack this country. And we will do everything necessary to keep America safe." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding thwarted terrorist bomb attack.


This statement was released the same week that US bombs killed a mother and five children in Afghanistan. Aren't we the ones who keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people? What happened to this country's sense of decency and sense of reality? How are we the victims when we bomb an innocent family and then have one of our own CIA employees devise a bomb attack that we then stop? Are we desperately trying to maintain our victim status in the face of all evidence?

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

What's at stake? Bureaucratic embarrassment or national security?

Media silent when administration targets sources - Edward Wasserman - MiamiHerald.com:
There’s Thomas Drake, a career official of the National Security Agency, who faced 35 years in prison for telling a Baltimore Sun reporter about what The New York Times called “a potential billion-dollar computer boondoggle.” At stake was bureaucratic embarrassment, not national security. (The case against Drake collapsed last summer.)
Often, when claiming the right to privacy (or 'state secrets'), it is the embarrassment that bureaucrats would be put through, not national security, that is at stake. Should the American people be kept in the dark just because some bureaucrat didn't do his job and doesn't want that generally known?

The American character - Salon.com

The American character - Salon.com:

As we learned from the bloodthirsty need for war over the last decade among America’s chickenhawks (or, similarly, from the violent homophobic attacks of closeted, self-hating gay men), sensations of weakness and impotence — the defining attributes of what Zakaria calls “scared, fearful losers” — are typically compensated with the vicarious feelings of power, nobility and bravery that come from celebrations of state violence and other forms of risk-free aggression.
Glenn Greenwald

Thursday, May 3, 2012

"I Was a Propaganda Intern in Iraq"–Fmr. Lincoln Group Intern Describes Paying Iraqi Press to Plant Pro-American Articles Secretly Written by U.S. Military

"I Was a Propaganda Intern in Iraq"–Fmr. Lincoln Group Intern Describes Paying Iraqi Press to Plant Pro-American Articles Secretly Written by U.S. Military

Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal - Salon.com

Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal - Salon.com

Who is it who relentlessly spread “false conspiracy theories” of Saddam-engineered anthrax attacks and Iraq-created mushroom clouds and a Ba’athist/Al-Qaeda alliance — the most destructive conspiracy theories of the last generation?  And who is it who demonized as “conspiracy-mongers” people who warned that the U.S. Government was illegally spying on its citizens, systematically torturing people, attempting to establish permanent bases in the Middle East, or engineering massive bailout plans to transfer extreme wealth to the industries which own the Government?  The most chronic and dangerous purveyors of “conspiracy theory” games are the very people Sunstein thinks should be empowered to control our political debates through deceit and government resources:  namely, the Government itself and the Enlightened Elite like him.

It is this history of government deceit and wrongdoing that renders Sunstein’s desire to use covert propaganda to “undermine” anti-government speech so repugnant.  The reason conspiracy theories resonate so much is precisely that people have learned — rationally — to distrust government actions and statements.

Tangible Information: The word "Conspiracy Theory" was invented by CIA

Tangible Information: The word "Conspiracy Theory" was invented by CIA

The virtue of uncertainty is not a comfortable idea, but then a citizen-based democracy is built upon participation, which is the very expression of permanent discomfort. The corporatist system depends upon the citizen's desire for inner comfort. Equilibrium is dependent upon our recognition of reality, which is the acceptance of permanent psychic discomfort. And the acceptance of psychic discomfort is the acceptance of consciousness.
John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilization

William Safire -- Lying and Beating the Drums of War

Why do people still trust the media? William Safire wrote a series of articles for the NY Times and elsewhere claiming that Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks. No such link has ever been established, yet he had this incredible platform to a multitude of gullible people. He insisted that Mohammed Atta met with Iraqi intelligence in Prague, that we would find weapons of mass destruction, and that we would be greeted as liberators. All of this was proven false. Who is the Ultimate Enemy here?

Essay - The Ultimate Enemy - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

Foreign Policy -- Driven by End-Times Prophecy

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Good vs. Evil

"An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation. We must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homeland." - Adolf Hitler

George Bush had many similar quotes on fighting evil. It seems that the more we believe in an external evil that must be fought at all costs, the more evil proliferates in the world. What if, instead, we focused on increasing the good in the world, instead of fighting evil?

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Why Do Liberals Keep Sanitizing the Obama Story? - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic

Why Do Liberals Keep Sanitizing the Obama Story? - Conor Friedersdorf - Politics - The Atlantic

The Osama-Obama Drama | The Nation

The Osama-Obama Drama | The Nation: Robert Dreyfuss
Did the killing of Osama bin Laden really change much? Was it worth it to kill him, if the result was the destabilization of Pakistan, the undermining of its current civilian government, the provocation to Pakistan’s substantial hard-core Islamist constituents, the breakdown of US-Pakistan relations and the fact that now it’s a lot more difficult for the United States to get out of Afghanistan safely and easily because Pakistan is no longer cooperating with the United States?

Sure, it’s a political plus for Obama to tell revenge-minded American voters that bin Laden is dead—even if we have to listen to Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, repeatedly use the word “kill” when talking about bin Laden, as if it were a video game.