Glenn: I believe that these attacks on WikiLeaks are a literal war over who controls the Internet and the purposes to which it can be used [UPDATE]

the more i read about the insane and completely unjustified vendetta being waged against wikileaks and julian assange, the more i'm inclined to agree with glenn... what we're witnessing is a concerted effort to neuter the internet, arguably the only bastion of un-"spun" information left to us peasants...

[UPDATE and BUMPED]

thanks to marcy who offers this from ian welsh...

Let’s just state the obvious here: we’re seeing the end of the open internet with what is being done to Wikileaks. It’s one thing for Amazon to toss them, it’s another thing entirely to refuse to propagate their domain information. This has been coming for quite some time, and Wikileaks is not the first domain to be shut down in the US, it is merely the highest profile. Combined with the attempt to make NetFlix pay a surcharge or lose access to customers, this spells the end of the free internet.

The absurdity, the sheer Orwellian stupidity of this is epitomized by the State Department telling students at elite colleges not to read the leaks, or they won’t get jobs at State. As if anyone who isn’t curious to read what is in the leaks, who doesn’t want to know how diplomacy actually works, is anyone State should hire. In a sane world, the reaction would be the opposite: no one who hadn’t read them would be hired.

This is reminiscent of the way the old Soviet Union worked, with everyone being forced to pretend they don’t know what they absolutely do know, and blind conformity prized over ability.

it's 9/11 time for the internet, i'm afraid...

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Meanwhile, extrajudicial assassination remains OK because our leaders SAY it's OK

sad...

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit aimed at preventing the United States from targeting U.S.-born anti-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki for death.

U.S. District Judge John Bates said in a written opinion Tuesday that al-Awlaki's father does not have the authority to sue on his son's behalf. But he says the case raises serious issues about whether the United States can plan to kill one of its own citizens.

Al-Awlaki has urged Muslims to kill Americans and has been linked to several terrorist attacks, including last year's shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. He's believed to be hiding in Yemen.

Administration officials have confirmed to The Associated Press that al-Awlaki is on a capture or kill list.

but, wait...! LOOK OVER THERE...! isn't that JULIAN ASSANGE arriving at magistrate court in london...?


Stefan Rousseau/Press Association, via Associated Press
The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was driven into Westminster
Magistrates Court in London on Tuesday.

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More absolute, in-your-face, blatant hypocrisy

the biggest purveyor of arms, weapons and defense systems on the planet complains about arms sales and there's no mention of that fact in the article...? god, ya just gotta love context-free news...!

U.S. Strains to Stop Arms Flow

Just a week after President Bashar al-Assad of Syria assured a top State Department official that his government was not sending sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah, the Obama administration lodged a confidential protest accusing Syria of doing precisely what it had denied doing.

“In our meetings last week it was stated that Syria is not transferring any ‘new’ missiles to Lebanese Hizballah,” noted a cable sent by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in February, using an alternative spelling for the militant group. “We are aware, however, of current Syrian efforts to supply Hizballah with ballistic missiles. I must stress that this activity is of deep concern to my government, and we strongly caution you against such a serious escalation.”

A senior Syrian Foreign Ministry official, a cable from the American Embassy in Damascus reported, flatly denied the allegation. But nine months later, administration officials assert, the flow of arms had continued to Hezbollah. According to a Pentagon official, Hezbollah’s arsenal now includes up to 50,000 rockets and missiles, including some 40 to 50 Fatah-110 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and most of Israel, and 10 Scud-D missiles. The newly fortified Hezbollah has raised fears that any future conflict with Israel could erupt into a full-scale regional war.

[...]

The Syrian episode offers a glimpse of the United States’ efforts to prevent buildups of arms — including Scud missiles, Soviet-era tanks and antiaircraft weapons — in some of the world’s tensest regions.[emphasis added]

meanwhile, in the good ol' u.s. of a, business goes on as usual...

US Plans $60 Billion Arms Sale to S. Arabia -- Biggest Ever

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$3.8 TRILLION leaves Russia in the first 9 months of 2010

that's an astounding figure... where the hell is it going and what the hell is it being used for...?

Russian financial institutions reported 120 trillion roubles ($3.8 trillion) of suspicious transactions to the anti-money laundering watchdog in the first nine months of 2010, the Kommersant daily reported on Monday.

Russian businessmen sent hundreds of billions of dollars abroad in the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, though such a high volume of suspicious transactions could fuel fears of increased capital flight and money laundering.

Kommersant cited an unidentified spokesman for the anti-money laundering watchdog as saying banks, insurance companies and financials services companies had made 5.6 million filings about suspect transactions in the first nine months.

The paper said the volume of the suspicious transactions was more than double the 57 trillion rouble figure reported for the same period of last year and is over three times Russia's nominal gross domestic product. Kommersant quoted bankers and analysts as saying the high figure could be due to increased economic activity as Russia emerges from the worst crisis in over a decade, and to better reporting of suspicious transactions.

this is being reported as more or less "incidental" news but it seems to me to be one humongous story...

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“Brilliant…Riveting…The amount of material the filmmaker covers and unifies is astounding…

Human Resources diagnoses the 20th century.”

- Stephen Soldz, Professor, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis;

President, Psychologists for Social Responsibility

"Powerful…Must See…It will leave you Spellbound.”

- Andrew Goliszek, Author, In the Name of Science:

A History of Secret Programs, Medical Research, and Human Experimentation

“An important work…terrifiying in its implications….

Human Resources is a must see for those of us who still take democracy seriously.”

- Bruce E. Levine, Author Commonsense Rebellion:

Taking Back Your Life from Drugs, Shrinks, Corporations, and a World Gone Crazy

“It scared the shit out of me…A powerful and methodical

dissection of the dominant culture.”

- Derrick Jensen, Author, Endgame

“A masterful examination of the mechanization of human existence…

It is a rare occasion when watching a film can help open not only our eyes, but our minds.”

- Andrew Marshall, Centre for Research on Globalization

“A Masterpiece. Unless you weep, you may be damaged by this film.

Viewer discretion, and love, advised.
- David Ker Thomson, Professor,

Language and Thinking Program at Bard College

"Scott Noble's work is a pioneering development in documentary filmmaking in its content,

documentary technique, and even distribution method. Watch his stuff, use it, and build on it."

- Chris Simpson, Professor, School of Communication, American University

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More info that suggests that Assange is being framed by those who want to silence him

more and more and more and more interesting...

Assange Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group

Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden has a significant history of work with anti-Castro groups, at least one of which is US funded and openly supported by a former CIA agent convicted in the mass murder of seventy three Cubans on an airliner he was involved in blowing up.

Anna Ardin (the official complainant) is often described by the media as a “leftist”. She has ties to the US-financed anti-Castro and anti-communist groups. She published her anti-Castro diatribes (see here and here) in the Swedish-language publication Revista de Asignaturas Cubanas put out by Misceláneas de Cuba. From Oslo, Professor Michael Seltzer points out that this periodical is the product of a well-financed anti-Castro organization in Sweden. He further notes that the group is connected with Union Liberal Cubana led by Carlos Alberto Montaner whose CIA ties were exposed here.

Quelle surprise, no? Shamir and Bennett went on to write about Ardin’s history in Cuba with a US funded group openly supported by a real terrorist: Luis Posada Carriles.

In Cuba she interacted with the feminist anti-Castro group Las damas de blanco (the Ladies in White). This group receives US government funds and the convicted anti-communist terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is a friend and supporter. Wikipedia quotes Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Argentine Madres de Plaza de Mayo as saying that “the so-called Ladies in White defend the terrorism of the United States.”

Who is Luis Posada Carriles? He’s a mass murderer, and former CIA agent.

Luis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles (born February 15, 1928) (nicknamed Bambi by some Cuban exiles)[1] is a Cuban-born Venezuelan anti-communist extremist. A former Central Intelligence Agency agent,[2] Posada has been convicted in absentia of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots in the Americas, including: involvement in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed seventy-three people;[3][4] admitted involvement in a string of bombings in 1997 targeting fashionable Cuban hotels and nightspots;[5][6][7] involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion; [and] involvement in the Iran-Contra affair…

Luis Posada Carilles is so evil that even the Bush administration wanted him behind bars:

In 2005, Posada was held by U.S. authorities in Texas on the charge of illegal presence on national territory before the charges were dismissed on May 8, 2007. On September 28, 2005 a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Posada cannot be deported, finding that he faces the threat of torture in Venezuela.[11] His release on bail on April 19, 2007 had elicited angry reactions from the Cuban and Venezuelan governments.[12] The U.S. Justice Department had urged the court to keep him in jail because he was “an admitted mastermind of terrorist plots and attacks”, a flight risk and a danger to the community.[7]

Who is Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden? She’s a gender equity officer at Uppsula University – who chose to associate with a US funded group openly supported by a convicted terrorist and mass murderer. She just happens to have her work published by a very well funded group connected with Union Liberal Cubana – whose leader, Carlos Alberto Montaner, in turn just happened to pop up on right wing Colombian TV a few hours after the right-wing coup in Honduras. Where he joined the leader of the failed coup in Ecuador to savage Correa, the target of the coup. Montnaner also just happened to vociferously support the violent coup in Honduras, and chose to show up to sing the praises of the Honduran junta. Jean-Guy Allard, a retired Canadian journalist who now writes for Cuba’s Gramma, captured the moment

A strange pair appeared on NTN 24, the right-wing Colombian television channel aligned to the Fox Broadcasting Company the U.S. A few hours after the coup attempt in Quito, Ecuador, CIA agent Carlos Alberto Montaner, a fugitive from Cuban justice for acts of terrorism, joined with one of the leaders of the failed Ecuadorian coup, ex-Lieutenant Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez, to attack President Rafael Correa…

On the margin of his media news shows, Montaner’s is known for his fanatic support of the most extreme elements of the Cuban-American mafia.

Last year, in the wake of the coup d’état against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, June 28, he became an fervent supporter of the dictator Roberto Micheletti, along with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and another Cuban-American terrorist and CIA collaborator, Armando Valladares.

Montaner showed up repeatedly in Tegucigalpa to “defend human rights,” and at the same time to applaud the fascist Honduran regime when it unleashed its police on demonstrations by the National Resistance Front.

Oh…and the “rape” charge that’s smeared Julian Assange’s name around the world? On Thursday James D. Catlin, the Melbourne barrister who represented Assange in London, wrote:

Apparently having consensual sex in Sweden without a condom is punishable by a term of imprisonment of a minimum of two years for rape. That is the basis for a reinstitution of rape charges against WikiLeaks figurehead Julian Assange that is destined to make Sweden and its justice system the laughing stock of the world and dramatically damage its reputation as a model of modernity.

Sweden’s Public Prosecutor’s Office was embarrassed in August this year when it leaked to the media that it was seeking to arrest Assange for rape, then on the same day withdrew the arrest warrant because in its own words there was “no evidence”. The damage to Assange’s reputation is incalculable. More than three quarters of internet references to his name refer to rape. Now, three months on and three prosecutors later, the Swedes seem to be clear on their basis to proceed. Consensual sex that started out with a condom ended up without one, ergo, the sex was not consensual.

I’ve spent much of my professional life as a psychiatrist helping women (and men) who are survivors of sexual violence. Rape is a hideous crime. Yet in Assange’s case his alleged victim – the gender equity officer at Uppsula University – chose to throw a party for her alleged assailant – after they’d had the sex that even Swedish prosecutors concede was consensual. Barrister Caitlin again:

[The] phenomena of social networking through the internet and mobile phones constrains Swedish authorities from augmenting the evidence against Assange because it would look even less credible in the face of tweets by Anna Ardin and SMS texts by Sofia Wilén boasting of their respective conquests after the “crimes”.

In the case of Ardin it is clear that she has thrown a party in Assange’s honour at her flat after the “crime” and tweeted to her followers that she is with the “the world’s coolest smartest people, it’s amazing!”. Go on the internet and see for yourself. That Ardin has sought unsuccessfully to delete these exculpatory tweets from the public record should be a matter of grave concern. That she has published on the internet a guide on how to get revenge on cheating boyfriends ever graver. The exact content of Wilén’s mobile phone texts is not yet known but their bragging and exculpatory character has been confirmed by Swedish prosecutors. Neither Wilén’s nor Ardin’s texts complain of rape.

Small world, isn’t it? Julian Assange is the human face of Wikileaks – the organization that’s enabled whistle-blowers to reveal hideous war crimes and expose much of America’s foreign policy to the world.

He just happens to meet a Swedish woman who just happens to have been publishing her work in a well-funded anti-Castro group that just happens to have links with a group led by a man at least one journalist describes as an agent of the CIA: the violent secret arm of America’s foreign policy.

And she just happens to have been expelled from Cuba, which just happens to be the global symbol of successful defiance of American foreign policy.

And – despite her work in Sweden upholding the human right of gender equity – in Cuba she just happens to end up associating with a group openly supported by an admitted CIA agent who himself committed mass murder when he actively participated in the terrorist bombing of a jetliner carrying a Cuban sports team…an act that was of a piece with America’s secret foreign policy of violent attacks against Cuban state interests.

And now she just happens – after admittedly consensual sex – to have gone to Swedish authorities to report the sex ended without a condom…which just happens to be the pretext for Interpol to issue a “Red Notice” informing the world’s police forces of charges against Julian Assange.

Who just happens to be the man America’s political class – the people who run America’s foreign policy – have been trying to silence. And who happens to be the man some of them have been calling to have murdered.

With a lust for vengeance like that, one could be forgiven for concluding they’ve just happened to have taken a page from Anna’s revenge manual.

(via firedoglake...)

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Sunday photoblogging - springtime in Buenos Aires

i say goodbye to this wonderful city on wednesday after 6 1/2 years... i just took a long walk through parque saavedra, soaking up the ambience and watching all the people enjoying themselves as porteños seem to know how to do so well... of all the places i have been to over the past years, argentinos and porteños have the knack of just "being" better than any other people i have ever spent time with, except, perhaps, for greeks and italians... i'm gonna miss it here - a LOT...!

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Same ol' shit...

all i've got to post on is the same old b.s. i've been posting on for months and, frankly, i'm really tired of it...

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Is the U.S. engaging in cyberwarfare against Wikileaks? [UPDATE]

[UPDATE]

according to raw story, the wikileaks website that was relocated to switzerland has since been taken down as well... the wikileaks url is now at the following link - http://213.251.145.96/...

when you get to the part about the massive 10GB/s denial of service stream, you have to ask yourself, who is capable of that kind of attack...?

Amid international pressure and a series of crushing denial of service attacks, the site WikiLeaks.org has finally slipped underneath the waves. It's DNS host, EveryDNS.com, killed the domain early late Thursday night, according to an update posted to WikiLeaks' Twitter account.

The host cited "mass attacks," the whistleblower organization said.

The take-down is another in a long line of setbacks for WikiLeaks, which has in past months completely upturned historical precedent in the successful release of more secret US government information than anyone else ever before it.

[...]

Word of the take-down came days after the site said it was feeling the effects of a series of massive denial of service attacks, which is what forced the switch-over to American servers. One sustained attack exceeded 10 Gigabits per second, according to WikiLeaks.

"According to a study by Internet security company Arbor Networks, the average denial of service attack over the past year was 349 megabits per second, 28 times slower than the stream Wikileaks reported," CBS New York noted.

[...]

Update: The site has relocated to Switzerland, and is now available at Wikileaks.ch. Read more about the move at the New York Times here.

wikileaks has always claimed to have massive back-up in place... i guess this will be the test...

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Dylan Ratigan - money for nothing

from realecontv...

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The complete disgrace of Amazon kicking Wikileaks off its servers

glenn once again talks about the appalling hypocrisy between what our fair country preaches and what it practices...

Talking Points Memo -- in an article headlined: "How Lieberman Got Amazon To Drop Wikileaks" -- detailed that Lieberman's "staffers . . . called Amazon to ask about it, and left questions with a press secretary including, 'Are there plans to take the site down?'" Shortly thereafter, "Amazon called them back . . . to say they had kicked Wikileaks off." Lieberman's spokeswoman said: "Sen. Lieberman hopes that the Amazon case will send the message to other companies that might host Wikileaks that it would be irresponsible to host the site."

That Joe Lieberman is abusing his position as Homeland Security Chairman to thuggishly dictate to private companies which websites they should and should not host -- and, more important, what you can and cannot read on the Internet -- is one of the most pernicious acts by a U.S. Senator in quite some time. Josh Marshall wrote yesterday: "When I'd heard that Amazon had agreed to host Wikileaks I was frankly surprised given all the fish a big corporation like Amazon has to fry with the federal government." That's true of all large corporations that own media outlets -- every one -- and that is one big reason why they're so servile to U.S. Government interests and easily manipulated by those in political power. That's precisely the dynamic Lieberman was exploiting with his menacing little phone call to Amazon (in essence: Hi, this is the Senate's Homeland Security Committee calling; you're going to be taking down that WikiLeaks site right away, right?). Amazon, of course, did what they were told.

and here we have jay rosen talking about why an organization like wikileaks even exists and why our completely degraded approach to journalism and transparency makes it necessary...

Jay Rosen on Wikileaks: "The watchdog press died; we have this instead." from Jay Rosen on Vimeo.

(thanks to glenn greenwald...)

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The U.S., under Obama, stifled Spanish torture prosecution of Bush officials

the money quote...

Spain has been in a furor for three days over the revelations.

The revelations have "created deep concern about the independence of judges in Spain and the manipulation of the entire criminal justice system by a foreign power."

read daniel tencer's article in raw story here...

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The Fed wants to act to make the foreclosure crisis and predatory lending WORSE...?

what the hell is wrong with these people...?

Fed wants to strip a key protection for homeowners

As Americans continue to lose their homes in record numbers, the Federal Reserve is considering making it much harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures and escape predatory home loans with onerous terms.

The Fed's proposal to amend a 42-year-old provision of the federal Truth in Lending Act has angered labor, civil rights and consumer advocacy groups along with a slew of foreclosure defense attorneys.

They're not only asking the Fed to withdraw the proposal, they also want any future changes to the law to be handled by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which begins its work next year.

In a letter to the Fed's Board of Governors, dozens of groups that oppose the measure, including the National Consumer Law Center, the NAACP and the Service Employees International Union, say the proposal is bad medicine at the wrong time.

"At the depths of the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, we are surprised that the Fed has proposed rules that would eviscerate the primary protection homeowners currently have to escape abusive loans and avoid foreclosure: the extended right of rescission."

Because the public comment period on the Fed's proposal is still open until Dec. 23, a spokesman declined comment on the matter.

But in a September passage in the Federal Register, the Fed said the proposal was designed to "ensure a clearer and more equitable process for resolving rescission claims raised in court proceedings" and reflects what most courts already require.

Since 1968, the Truth in Lending Act has given homeowners the right to cancel, or rescind illegal loans for up to three years after the transaction was completed if the buyer wasn't provided with proper disclosures at the time of closing.

Attorneys at AARP have used the rescission clause for decades to protect older homeowners stuck in predatory loans with costly terms. The provision is also helping struggling homeowners to fight a wave of foreclosure cases in which faulty and sometimes-fraudulent disclosures were used.

The violations must be of a material nature to invalidate a loan under the extended-rescission clause. To do so, homeowners — usually those facing financial problems or foreclosure — hire an attorney to scour their mortgage documents for possible violations regarding the actual cost of the loan or payment terms.

If problems are found, a notice of rescission is sent to the creditor, which can either admit to the alleged violation or contest it in court.

Creditors that end up rescinding a loan are then required to cancel their "security interest," or lien, on the property.

Once that occurs, the homeowner must then pay the outstanding loan balance back to the lender — minus the finance charges, fees and payments already made.

Dropping the lien provides homeowners with a defense against foreclosure and allows them to refinance to pay the outstanding loan amount.

Critics say the proposed change by the Fed would render the rescission clause useless. The Fed proposal would require homeowners who seek a loan rescission through the courts, to pay off the entire loan balance before the lender cancels the lien.

so, you can't come up with the money to re-finance until you get out of the current loan and you can't get out of the current loan until the lien is released... now, THERE'S a catch-22...

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A dumbed-down, morally bankrupt society

black friday is an allegory for what the united states has become...

The Madness of a Lost Society



(thanks to information clearing house...)

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Richard Stengel at Time interviews Julian Assange

very interesting...

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Glenn on the critics of Wikileaks

there's lots more but this kind of sums it up...

[W]hat I'm finding truly stunning about the increasingly bloodthirsty two-minute hate session aimed at Julian Assange, also known as the new Osama bin Laden [is that the] ringleaders of this hate ritual are advocates of -- and in some cases directly responsible for -- the world's deadliest and most lawless actions of the last decade. And they're demanding [Julian] Assange's imprisonment, or his blood, in service of a Government that has perpetrated all of these abuses and, more so, to preserve a Wall of Secrecy which has enabled them. To accomplish that, they're actually advocating -- somehow with a straight face -- the theory that if a single innocent person is harmed by these disclosures, then it proves that Assange and WikiLeaks are evil monsters who deserve the worst fates one can conjure, all while they devote themselves to protecting and defending a secrecy regime that spawns at least as much human suffering and disaster as any single other force in the world. That is what the secrecy regime of the permanent National Security State has spawned.

those who make it their business to speak for our country have never let a little thing like utter hypocrisy stand between them and their propaganda...

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Soldiers keep on warrin'... Powers keep on lyin' while your people keep on dyin'

i had forgotten how much i like this song and how much i like stevie wonder...

People keep on learnin'
Soldiers keep on warrin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long

Powers keep on lyin'
While your people keep on dyin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long

I'm so darn glad he let me try it again
Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin'
Till I reach the highest ground

Teachers keep on teachin'
Preachers keep on preachin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long
Oh no

Lovers keep on lovin'
Believers keep on believin'
Sleepers just stop sleepin'
Cause it won't be too long
Oh no

I'm so glad that he let me try it again
Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin'
Till I reach my highest ground...Whew!
Till I reach my highest ground
No one's gonna bring me down
Oh no
Till I reach my highest ground
Don't you let nobody bring you down (they'll sho 'nuff try)
God is gonna show you higher ground
He's the only friend you have around

pretty topical stuff for 1973 - and today as well...

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They don't need it, they don't deserve it and they won't spend it

robert reich...

The President met with Republican leaders at the White House this morning to talk about whether the Bush tax cuts should be extended to top taxpayers, at Republicans want.

No decision has been reached, but this is the first test of the President's resolve with the new Congress - and he should be tough as nails. The economics and politics both dictate it.

Taxpayers in the top 1 percent don't need it (they are now getting almost a quarter of all national income, the highest percent since 1928).

They don't deserve it (they got the lion's share of the benefits of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, and have had no reason to expect a continuation of their windfall).

They won't spend it to stimulate the economy (top earners save a much higher proportion of their income than the middle class).

And giving it to them blows a giant hole in the budget (the Joint Tax Committee estimates the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 1 percent to be $61 billion in 2011 alone.)

In political terms, a strong stand enables the President to clearly demonstrate who's side he's on (the working and middle class that's still bearing the brunt of this lousy economy) and who's side the Republicans are on (the powerful and privileged who brought much of this on, and who are now doing just fine).

The only compromise he should be prepared to make is to extend the Bush tax cuts to the bottom 99 percent (rather than the bottom 98 percent), and for two years rather than ten.

"he should be tough as nails"... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...! trust me, i ain't holding my breath...

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