Lieberman: Report on Army mind tricks `weird'

One of the U.S. senators allegedly targeted by an Army unit using psychological operations to help get more money and troops for the Afghanistan war says he doesn't believe he's been "brainwashed."
Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut tells CNN's "State of the Union" that he was supporting money and troop levels in Afghanistan long before the Army unit is reported to have begun its operations.
Rolling Stone's website reported last week that the Army unit was told to manipulate senators and other visiting officials. The story has led the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan to order an investigation.
Lieberman says he doesn't think there's much to the story and calls it "weird."

Mass. company making diesel with sun, water, CO2

A Massachusetts biotechnology company says it can produce the fuel that runs Jaguars and jet engines using the same ingredients that make grass grow.
Joule Unlimited has invented a genetically-engineered organism that it says simply secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based company says it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand at unprecedented rates, and can do it in facilities large and small at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels.
What can it mean? No less than "energy independence," Joule's web site tells the world, even if the world's not quite convinced.
"We make some lofty claims, all of which we believe, all which we've validated, all of which we've shown to investors," said Joule chief executive Bill Sims.
"If we're half right, this revolutionizes the world's largest industry, which is the oil and gas industry," he said. "And if we're right, there's no reason why this technology can't change the world."
The doing, though, isn't quite done, and there's skepticism Joule can live up to its promises.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientist Philip Pienkos said Joule's technology is exciting but unproven, and their claims of efficiency are undercut by difficulties they could have just collecting the fuel their organism is producing.
Timothy Donohue, director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says Joule must demonstrate its technology on a broad scale.
Perhaps it can work, but "the four letter word that's the biggest stumbling block is whether it `will' work," Donohue said. "There are really good ideas that fail during scale up."
Sims said he knows "there's always skeptics for breakthrough technologies."
"And they can ride home on their horse and use their abacus to calculate their checkbook balance," he said.
Joule was founded in 2007. In the last year, it's roughly doubled its employees to 70, closed a $30 million second round of private funding in April and added John Podesta, former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, to its board of directors.
The company worked in "stealth mode" for a couple years before it recently began revealing more about what it was doing, including with a patent last year for its production of diesel molecules from its cyanobacterium. This month, it released a peer-reviewed paper it says backs its claims.
Work to create fuel from solar energy has been done for decades, such as by making ethanol from corn or extracting fuel from algae. But Joule says they've eliminated the middleman that's makes producing biofuels on a large scale so costly.
That middleman is the "biomass," such as the untold tons of corn or algae that must be grown, harvested and destroyed to extract a fuel that still must be treated and refined to be used. Joule says its organisms secrete a completed product, already identical to ethanol and the components of diesel fuel, then live on to keep producing it at remarkable rates.
Joule claims, for instance, that its cyanobacterium can produce 15,000 gallons of diesel full per acre annually, over four times more than the most efficient algal process for making fuel. And they say they can do it at $30 a barrel.
A key for Joule is the cyanobacterium it chose, which is found everywhere and is less complex than algae, so it's easier to genetically manipulate, said biologist Dan Robertson, Joule's top scientist.
The organisms are engineered to take in sunlight and carbon dioxide, then produce and secrete ethanol or hydrocarbons — the basis of various fuels, such as diesel — as a byproduct of photosynthesis.
The company envisions building facilities near power plants and consuming their waste carbon dioxide, so their cyanobacteria can reduce carbon emissions while they're at it.
The flat, solar-panel style "bioreactors" that house the cyanobacterium are modules, meaning they can build arrays at facilities as large or small as land allows, the company says. The thin, grooved panels are designed for maximum light absorption, and also so Joule can efficiently collect the fuel the bacteria secrete.
Recovering the fuel is where Joule could find significant problems, said Pienkos, the NREL scientist, who is also principal investigator on a Department of Energy-funded project with Algenol, a Joule competitor that makes ethanol and is one of the handful of companies that also bypass biomass.
Pienkos said his calculations, based on information in Joule's recent paper, indicate that though they eliminate biomass problems, their technology leaves relatively small amounts of fuel in relatively large amounts of water, producing a sort of "sheen." They may not be dealing with biomass, but the company is facing complicated "engineering issues" in order to recover large amounts of its fuel efficiently, he said.
"I think they're trading one set of problems for another," Pienkos said.
Success or failure for Joule comes soon enough. The company plans to break ground on a 10-acre demonstration facility this year, and Sims says they could be operating commercially in less than two years.
Robertson talks wistfully about the day he'll hop into the Ferrari he doesn't have, fill it with Joule fuel and gun the engine in an undeniable demonstration of the power and reality of Joule's ideas. Later, after leading a visitor on a tour of the labs, Robertson comes upon a poster of a sports car on an office wall, and it reminds him of the success he's convinced is coming. He motions to the picture.
"I wasn't kidding about the Ferrari," he says.


By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press

White House condemns 'intimidation' by Iran

The White House is condemning what it calls an "organized intimidation campaign" by the Iranian government against opposition leaders and other activists.
In a statement released Sunday, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor accused Iran of "blatant violation of the universal rights of its citizens."
An international human rights group said Sunday that Iranian security forces had abducted two opposition leaders and their wives.
Vietor said Tehran's intimidation campaign included "arrests of political figures, human rights defenders, political activists, student leaders, journalists and bloggers," as well as jamming satellite transmissions and blocking Internet traffic.
The spokesman called for Iranian leaders to "allow active dialogue among its citizens, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly without fear."

GOP governors undermine Obama's agenda in states

 Their ranks swollen after the last election, Republican governors from Florida to Alaska are undermining President Barack Obama's agenda at every turn ahead of the Democrat's 2012 re-election campaign.
Some are rejecting federal money for high-speed rail. Many are fighting the president's health care law. And several are going after the Democratic Party's bedrock constituency, pushing laws that would weaken the power of unions.
Not that any Republican governor will acknowledge that this is politics at play — even if it is.
"Republican governors are doing what they said they would as candidates," insisted Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who led the GOP's campaign efforts last fall and may seek the party's presidential nomination. "All this goes back to our commitment in the last election that we're going to get control of spending for the sake of the taxpayers."

"It's not a conspiracy. It's not that we're doing this for a political reason to go after the president," added first term Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. "We have fundamental disagreements. We have different perspectives."

But left unsaid in interviews with governors attending this weekend's National Governors Association meeting was this: Republicans, particularly in places with many electoral votes, like the Midwest, are fully aware that stymieing Obama's plans in the states could weaken him just as he tries to make the case to the country that he should get a second term.
One Republican governor has gone so far as to privately liken GOP governors' efforts to providing "oversight of the Obama administration."
All that provides fodder for Democrats to criticize.
"They are so obsessed with the short-term political game of keeping the president from succeeding that they've taken their eyes off of the big goal ... which is creating jobs and moving our states and country out of this recession," said Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.
Could the GOP effort to undercut Obama backfire?
"Yes. I think it already has," said Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, a Democrat. "Americans aren't anxious to refight the fights of the last two years. They want to move on."
The president's conflicts with GOP governors date to his first years in office. Many Republican governors opposed Obama's economic stimulus plan. Some also objected to his Gulf Coast oil-drilling moratorium.
After big GOP gains in November, Obama is running into even more roadblocks.
GOP governors now control most of the 26 states that have sued to stop Obama's health care overhaul, his signature domestic accomplishment. They say it would cost their states too much money. Last month in Florida, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled the law was unconstitutional.
Some GOP-led states — such as Alaska, where Republican Sean Parnell is governor — have refused to implement the law in light of that ruling. But the Justice Department wants the judge to order the states to follow the law pending an appeal.
"We cannot sustain it. We can't afford it," said Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, who also has assailed Environmental Protection Agency efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. "We believe that the federal government just needs to get out of the way and let us run the states."
Obama's high-speed rail plan has run into trouble, too. Democrats say the projects — mostly funded by the federal government — would create jobs; Republicans worry about cost overruns and the long-term expense.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, both Republicans elected in November, have killed two major projects that their Democratic predecessors had approved. And Florida's new governor, Rick Scott, is refusing to accept a $2.4 billion federal block grant for high-speed trains between Tampa and Orlando; the state would have to provide $300 million.
Scott said he worries about cost overruns, and would rather use the money to protect the state's ports. He's showing no signs that he will reconsider his opposition even though the federal government has given him a revised proposal and a week to change his mind.
"What each state is doing is figuring out the needs of their states," Scott said. "I'm focused on what's good for my citizens." He said that's not Obama's high-speed rail plan or "Obamacare."
Going to the heart of Obama's political base, Republican governors' efforts to hamper unions have been on full display in the past few weeks.
Protests have raged in Wisconsin and Ohio over proposals that would limit bargaining rights for many public workers, efforts that Walker and Kasich insist are necessary to rein in costs amid budget crises.
"This is not about going after somebody," Kasich said, arguing the measure is about "restoring power to taxpayers."
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels stripped power from unions six years ago but saw nowhere near the outcry that his counterparts have. Democrats in his state successfully blocked a GOP bill last week that would have prohibited union membership from being a condition of employment.
Obama, himself, waded into the Wisconsin dispute recently by arguing that limiting bargaining rights "seems like more of an assault on unions."
GOP governors are fighting other Obama policies as well; states like Wyoming are challenging the EPA's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican, said longstanding environmental feuds between the states and Washington have worsened during the Obama administration because of its emphasis on renewable energy over oil and gas. The White House, Mead said, has a "view that we need cleaner energy at the expense of all the energy and production that we have now. We need both."
It's a safe bet there will be even more tussling between Republican governors and Obama between now and November 2012.


By LIZ SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer

Melissa Leo

It just goes to show that the Hollywood Stars care for nothing when it comes to personal behavior. When will Hollywood wake up and realize that American acting today is just second-rate entertainment behind video games and music. Acting today can be perform by amateurs from all sectors of society, just just those Hollywood Stars of the Oscars. When most people win the coveted award they thank Jesus, Melissa Leo likes to show her achievment with foul language during prime time television.

Joshua Webb
Feb. 27, 2011

Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years : Regional war could spark "unprecedented climate change," experts predict.

Even a regional nuclear war could spark "unprecedented" global cooling and reduce rainfall for years, according to U.S. government computer models.
Widespread famine and disease would likely follow, experts speculate.

During the Cold War a nuclear exchange between superpowers—such as the one feared for years between the United States and the former Soviet Union—was predicted to cause a "nuclear winter."

In that scenario hundreds of nuclear explosions spark huge fires, whose smoke, dust, and ash blot out the sun for weeks amid a backdrop of dangerous radiation levels. Much of humanity eventually dies of starvation and disease.

Today, with the United States the only standing superpower, nuclear winter is little more than a nightmare. But nuclear war remains a very real threat—for instance, between developing-world nuclear powers, such as India and Pakistan.

To see what climate effects such a regional nuclear conflict might have, scientists from NASA and other institutions modeled a war involving a hundred Hiroshima-level bombs, each packing the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT—just 0.03 percent of the world's current nuclear arsenal. (See a National Geographic magazine feature on weapons of mass destruction.)

The researchers predicted the resulting fires would kick up roughly five million metric tons of black carbon into the upper part of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere.
In NASA climate models, this carbon then absorbed solar heat and, like a hot-air balloon, quickly lofted even higher, where the soot would take much longer to clear from the sky.

(Related: "'Nuclear Archaeologists' Find World War II Plutonium.")

Reversing Global Warming?

The global cooling caused by these high carbon clouds wouldn't be as catastrophic as a superpower-versus-superpower nuclear winter, but "the effects would still be regarded as leading to unprecedented climate change," research physical scientist Luke Oman said during a press briefing Friday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

Earth is currently in a long-term warming trend. After a regional nuclear war, though, average global temperatures would drop by 2.25 degrees F (1.25 degrees C) for two to three years afterward, the models suggest.

At the extreme, the tropics, Europe, Asia, and Alaska would cool by 5.4 to 7.2 degrees F (3 to 4 degrees C), according to the models. Parts of the Arctic and Antarctic would actually warm a bit, due to shifted wind and ocean-circulation patterns, the researchers said.
After ten years, average global temperatures would still be 0.9 degree F (0.5 degree C) lower than before the nuclear war, the models predict.

(Pictures: "Red Hot" Nuclear-Waste Train Glows in Infrared.)

Years Without Summer
For a time Earth would likely be a colder, hungrier planet.

"Our results suggest that agriculture could be severely impacted, especially in areas that are susceptible to late-spring and early-fall frosts," said Oman, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"Examples similar to the crop failures and famines experienced following the Mount Tambora eruption in 1815 could be widespread and last several years," he added. That Indonesian volcano ushered in "the year without summer," a time of famines and unrest. (See pictures of the Mount Tambora eruption.)

All these changes would also alter circulation patterns in the tropical atmosphere, reducing precipitation by 10 percent globally for one to four years, the scientists said. Even after seven years, global average precipitation would be 5 percent lower than it was before the conflict, according to the model.

In addition, researcher Michael Mills, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, found large decreases in the protective ozone layer, leading to much more ultraviolet radiation reaching Earth's surface and harming the environment and people.

"The main message from our work," NASA's Oman said, "would be that even a regional nuclear conflict would have global consequences."

Charles Q. Choi

for National Geographic News

Published February 22, 2011

It’s Wii too rude

A RAUNCHY game for the Nintendo Wii has outraged parents who say it promotes orgies and lesbian sex to kids as young as 12.

The girls are seen with the Wii remote dangling suggestively between their lips. Players then hide the "Wiimote" inside their clothes before the others spank their bottoms to control a flying cartoon character on screen.
The men strip off for the girls as part of another task.

One version of the promotional video, already seen by 375,000 people on YouTube, ends with the lads swapping partners and apparently going off to have sex. An alternative ending has all four romping together. The game is due for release on the Wii and PlayStation 3 next month.
But parents say the 12+ certificate is a disgrace. Laura Pearson, 52, from Birmingham, said: "I have a 13-year-old daughter. If I knew she was playing a highly-charged sexual game I would be appalled."
A spokeswoman for French makers Ubisoft said: "We Dare is intended for an adult audience." She said the age rating was set by an independent European panel.

By FELIX ALLEN

Published: 26 Feb 2011

Obama Issues Government Shutdown Threat

Anatomy of a Government Shutdown

“Of course a shutdown is possible because that's what the Republicans are threatening us with on national TV, Meet the Press or one of those dandies or whatever the show was. The Republican leader was asked, and I'm paraphrasing, 'is there going to be a government shutdown?' and he wouldn't respond to the question. So, this isn't Schumer or Reid or Hoyer. Of course it's a possibility. That's what we're trying to avoid."

-- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talking to reporters

President Obama warned of stopped Social Security checks and issued a formal veto threat Tuesday to the Republican spending plan currently being debated in the House, setting the stage for a potential government shutdown next month.

Democrats in the last congress did not pass a budget at all, so the government has run on a series of stopgap spending extensions since October. The current one expires March 4.

Republicans, now in control of the House, have worked up a plan to fund the government to the end of the year that reduces spending $61 billion from 2010 levels and $100 billion from what Obama has requested. The House will have a second day of contentious debate on the spending plan as hard-line deficit hawks and pro-spending liberals take turns trying to amend the bill.

Despite all the falderal, final passage is anticipated Thursday, and attention is already shifting to the Senate.

There, the 47-member Republican minority is suggesting that their cuts will look different than the ones made by their friends in the House, but that they will try to match the volume of reductions. That provides a chance for the Senate GOP to start working on a compromise with moderate Democrats to find the 13 votes needed to push through a plan (more if ultra hawks like Sen. Rand Paul fly away).

Knowing the way the Senate operates, Power Play predicts that the final Senate legislation will be halfway between the Obama proposal and the House bill. That’s just how they roll.

Then, the House has to decide whether it can accept the compromise legislation. This would be the first chance for a government shutdown.

Senators are working up a short-term spending measure to provide more time for negotiations, but even that will be controversial among the most conservative members of the House. But there would likely be enough moderate Republicans and Democrats to back a very short-term extension – perhaps three weeks – to finish the negotiations.

It will then be up to a similar coalition of Blue Dog Democrats and most Republicans to put through the Senate plan over Tea Party protests. This is when things will get very dicey for the House leadership. There are many in their caucus who would much rather see the government shut down than yield in their pledge to slash spending.

But, some legislation will emerge from Congress, with cuts likely a little deeper than those passed by the Senate – a compromise of the compromise. Then it’s up to Obama to decide if he will accept.

Remember, because Democrats failed to pass a budget last year, the responsibility falls to Obama for any potential government shutdown. Unlike 1995 when the battle was over President Bill Clinton refusing to sign a Republican-passed budget, Obama will be put in the position of refusing to sign a stopgap spending proposal necessary because his party didn’t act in the previous year. This is not a long-term priority issue. This is an emergency appropriation.

Another major difference from 1995 is that with a Democratic Senate, Obama will have his chance to work his will before the legislation gets to his desk.

Hanging over all of this is the administration’s demand that Congress increase the federal debt limit from the current $14.3 trillion. Speaker John Boehner’s team has enhanced the Republican bargaining position here by detaching the debt limit issue from the budget. The House previously made such increases a part of spending bills, but the GOP is setting the issue aside for consideration.

That gives Republicans more time to pressure Obama for cuts  – potentially as late as May.

Sen. Pat Toomey today will defend in a speech the Republican position that not increasing the debt limit does not necessarily mean defaulting on U.S. obligations. In 1995, President Bill Clinton used the default trigger as his reason for shutting down the government.

In Obama’s press conference Tuesday, he warned of an end to Social Security checks and veterans pension payments if Republicans didn’t produce a “responsible” spending plan.

But despite Democratic confidence that another shutdown would be a repeat of 1995 when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich lost his showdown with Bill Clinton, Obama seems unlikely to veto a spending plan and shut down the government rather than sign a measure produced with some bipartisan support and relating to only 15 percent of the budget for half of one year.

Chemtrail conspiracy theory

The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that some trails left by aircraft are actually chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for a purpose undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs directed by government officials.^[1]
As a result, official agencies have received thousands of complaints from people who have demanded an explanation.^[1][2] The existence of chemtrails has been repeatedly denied by government agencies and scientists around the world, who say the trails are normal contrails.^[3][4]
The United States Air Force maintains that the theory is a hoax which "has been investigated and refuted by many established and accredited universities, scientific organizations, and major media publications".^[5] The British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has stated that chemtrails "are not scientifically recognised phenomena".^[3] The Canadian Leader of the Government in the House of Commons has stated that "The term 'chemtrails' is a popularised expression, and there is no scientific evidence to support their existence."^[6]
The term chemtrail is derived from "chemical trail" in the similar fashion that contrail is an abbreviation for condensation trail. It does not refer to common forms of aerial spraying such as crop dusting, cloud seeding, skywriting, or aerial firefighting.^[7] The term specifically refers to aerial trails allegedly caused by the systematic high-altitude release of chemical substances not found in ordinary contrails, resulting in the appearance of uncharacteristic sky tracks. Supporters of this theory speculate that the purpose of the chemical release may be for solar radiation management, population control,^[1] weather control,^[2] or biological warfare/chemical warfare and claim that these trails are causing respiratory illnesses and other health problems.

(Wikipedia)

Army to probe psy-ops allegations in Rolling Stone

 A military officer trained in using psychological tactics to influence the emotions and actions of enemy troops told CNN Thursday her unit was ordered to used those skills to manipulate visiting lawmakers into securing more troops and funding for the war in Afghanistan.
After a fellow officer questioned the legality of using "psychological operations" on elected U.S. officers, both received reprimands that could threaten their military careers, she said.
"We're not allowed to do that against any U.S. citizen, whether it is a congressman or my neighbor three doors down," said Texas National Guard Maj. Laural Levine. "That is the first thing you are taught -- never target Americans, ever."
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is ordering an investigation into allegations made by the leader of Levine's unit, Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes. The allegations are contained in a scathing Rolling Stone magazine report that was published Wednesday.
Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan did not offer an outright denial of the story and said the probe would focus on "determining the facts and circumstances raised" in it.
Holmes told the magazine that a military team at Afghanistan's Camp Eggers was ordered by Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops, to perform psychological operations on visiting VIPs over a four-month period last year.
When the team devoted to what is known as information operations refused on grounds that it was illegal, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation, the magazine said.
"My job in psy-ops is to play with people's heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave," Holmes, the head of the "information operations" unit, told Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings, who also wrote an article last year that led to the dismissal of Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
"I'm prohibited from doing that to our own people," he said. "When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressmen, you're crossing a line."
Caldwell said in a statement to Rolling Stone that he "categorically denies the assertion that the command used an Information Operations Cell to influence distinguished visitors."
But Holmes told the magazine he was reprimanded for refusing to carry out orders.
Lapan, the Pentagon spokesman, said it was not necessarily improper for an information operations unit to create a dossier on visiting VIPs.
"It all depends on the circumstance and how it's done," he said. "It's the actions, not just the assignment."
He said the investigation will determine whether any of those actions were illegal.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates did not respond directly to the allegations contained in the Rolling Stone article. But his office issued a writen statement.
"Secretary Gates is aware of the allegations in the Rolling Stone article and believes it is important to determine what the facts are," the statement read, "so he fully supports General Petraeus's deision to investigate this matter before drawing any conclusions."
The Department of Defense describes the role of psychological operations as the following: "Induce or reinforce foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to the U.S. or friendly nation objectives by planning and conducting operations to convey information to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals."
Federal law delineates the boundaries of such operations and states they "will not target U.S. citizens at any time, in any location globally, or under any circumstances."
Holmes told Rolling Stone that Caldwell wanted the information operations team to provide a "deeper analysis of pressure points we could use to leverage" visiting lawmakers for increased funding.
The magazine said that Caldwell's chief of staff also asked Holmes how the general could secretly manipulate the lawmakers without their knowledge. "How do we get these guys to give us more people? What do I have to plant inside their heads?" he said, according to Hastings' article.
The report said that among those singled out in the campaign were Sens. John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Reed told CNN's John King that he wasn't aware of any attempt by military personnel to manipulate him psychologically during trips to Afghanistan. The Democratic senator from Rhode Island said he's traveled to Afghanistan 11 times in within the past decade.
"I never experienced anything unusual last year in contrast with my other visits," said Reed.

Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services, said he was "confident the chain of command will review any allegation that information operations have been improperly used in Afghanistan."

(By the CNN Wire Staff

February 24, 2011 6:44 p.m. EST)

Anonymous vows to take leaking to the next level

WikiLeaks could have one foot in the online grave.
It's been months since its last major leak, and its staff members -- former and current -- say it's so thinly staffed and broke that it can't dissect a massive file a whistle-blower handed over, allegedly naming rich and influential global players guilty of tax crimes.
Founder Julian Assange, described as a megalomaniac in a tell-all book by the group's former spokesman, is facing extradition to Sweden on sex crime charges. Many observers predict he'll face extradition to the United States next.
That could mean time is running out to pay for Assange to appear at your dinner party (via video message), but it's a reason to purchase a "Free Assange" T-shirt, now available from WikiLeaks' online store.
It may take more than a few shirts to pull WikiLeaks out of the red. Financial institutions stopped doing business with the site after it published a trove of confidential U.S. diplomatic cables late last year, and donations have been stymied.
Assange, out on bond in London Wednesday, set up a Facebook page this month with a PayPal link and a plea: "I need your help. Please give." Last week, he told the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve that WikiLeaks is losing about $600,000 a week. A judge Thursday ordered that Assange can be extradited to Sweden.
Where that money is going, or what it's paying for, is unclear.
"WikiLeaks could well be a flash in the pan. It's not exactly a site with an apparent solid business plan or stable group of founders," said Jonathan Zittrain, an internet law and computer science professor at Harvard University.
"But the idea that leaks can happen, whether by a turncoat employee or an Exxon Valdez-sized spill of data due to a hack, is more enduring."
So, if WikiLeaks wilts, what will grow in its place?

"Let us teach you a lesson you'll never forget: You don't mess with Anonymous."
--Anonymous to HBGary Federal

Several leak-loving sites claim to be WikiLeaks' heir apparent. Greenleaks.org and GreenLeaks are battling to become the top site for whistle-blowers with dirt on environmental issues.
WikiLeaks' ex-spokesman and Assange's former right-hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, has launched OpenLeaks, a secret information catch-all.
His memoir, out this month, "Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website," describes WikiLeaks as an organization that lost its original goal to reveal small, important leaks and instead became wrapped up in Assange's pursuit of big leaks like the Afghanistan and Iraq war diaries and the cables.
Watch Domscheit-Berg describe Assange as a megalomaniac OpenLeaks says it will be more transparent than WikiLeaks about the way it operates. Most significant, it wouldn't openly publish information but rather would give it to reporters and human rights organizations to disseminate.
But perhaps the most controversial incarnation of the WikiLeaks model comes from Anonymous, the hacker collective globally infamous for disrupting the websites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal in December.
The hackers said the attacks were revenge after the companies cut ties to WikiLeaks. Since then, Anonymous has grown more sophisticated, and experts say it's reasonable to fear that they could do more than wait for someone to give them secret documents. They could hack into highly sensitive military and corporate computer systems themselves.
This month, Anonymous launched anonleaks.ru, a site that features a searchable database of what appear to be tens of thousands of internal e-mails from a U.S.-based internet security firm whose website was also defaced.
Reportedly, the CEO of HBGary Federal told reporters his Twitter account was hijacked, and his home address and Social Security number appeared in his Twitter feed.

This is thuggery at this point
--Jim Butterworth of HBGary Inc.

A message to HBGary Federal from Anonymous appeared on the company's hacked website: "Let us teach you a lesson you'll never forget: You don't mess with Anonymous."
A letter from Anonymous directly to HBGary Federal was posted on the Web's largest pirate site. "We feel it's time we took the game to the next level," it said.
The information posted on anonleaks.ru, which CNN cannot authenticate, suggests that HBGary Federal offered to attack or undermine adversaries of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Bank of America, including spreading bogus information about Anonymous.
Assange has said that WikiLeaks is planning a "megaleak" about a major bank, and there's been much speculation that Bank of America is the target.
Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri said it has no relationship with HBGary Federal. A senior U.S. Chamber of Commerce official said the same. The New York Times, USA Today and Salon have detailed the battle between Anonymous and HBGary.
HBGary Federal's site is down, and phone numbers to its Colorado office are not working.
But HBGary Federal's sister company, HBGary Inc., based in Sacramento, California, also had its servers hacked. Content from HBGary Inc. appears on anonleaks.ru as well.
"What has happened here is a crime. We were hacked," said Jim Butterworth, a vice president at HBGary Inc. "But it's more than that. Our employees are getting calls from (Anonymous) making physical threats. People were concerned about their physical safety."
Butterworth, who says he's been placed in charge of determining what left the company vulnerable to hacking, said HBGary is working with law enforcement.
Continually over the past two weeks, Anonymous has "pounded" HBGary Inc.'s servers, trying to again to gain access, he said. Office fax machines have been clogged with faxes touting the Anonymous mantra: "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. ..."
"This is thuggery at this point," Butterworth said.

Anonymous is not trying to be WikiLeaks. They are trying to be a new kind of site
--Gregg Housh, on behalf of Anonymous

The only time CNN has been able to engage with anyone claiming to be Anonymous came in December, around the time of the Master Card and Visa attacks, via two instant messages that appeared to be from different people.
One wrote that Anonymous considered its actions to be a "demonstration against all things people were unable to change using legal means."
"Our primary goal is freedom of information. Any and all information."
Read more about Anonymous
Since December, Boston-based hacker Gregg Housh has been the only public face associated with Anonymous. He says he's not part of the hackers' current activities but merely monitors their chat portals.
"Anonymous is going to keep doing whatever they want to do to people who piss them off," Housh said of anonleaks.ru.
Anonleaks.ru is using "ru" because the domain is less easily tracked by the U.S. government, Housh said. The domain is not meant to imply that anonleaks is run from Russia.
The site's hackers also want the world to understand this: "Anonleaks is not trying to be WikiLeaks," Housh said. "They are trying to be a new kind of site."
Chris Ridder, lawyer and fellow with Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society, agrees.
"It's definitely a new kind of site, you can say that. Like, possibly illegal-kind-of-new," Ridder said.
Although few people may have heard of HBGary, that's no reason to dismiss anonleaks.ru.

Their army is so much bigger
--Hacking analyst Jose Nazario on Anonymous' capabilities

"Today it's a small firm hardly anyone has heard of," Ridder said. "What would make anyone think that they wouldn't (next) hack into the military's database or a corporation that matters to a wide group of people? The question is one of intent. What will Anonymous do down the road?"
There's no doubt Anonymous has the technology to do what it wishes, said Jose Nazario, an analyst with Massachusetts Arbor Networks, a firm that monitors activity on the Web for private clients, mostly businesses trying to deter hacking. He has been watching Anonymous' users gather in chat channels for months.
"Their army is so much bigger," he said, thanks to Anonymous' own redesigned hacking tools and beefed-up Web applications.
Anonymous has made it easier for anyone to give them permission to log in remotely to computers and use the machines in a large-scale hacking effort, Nazario said. "I was watching a (chat) channel recently where thousands (of users) were present, laughing, debating what to do. It used to be hundreds."

The thought of an army of prankster hackers breaking into your e-mails, credit card records or business is disturbing. But it would be a mistake to portray members of Anonymous as cackling evil-doers, Ridder and Zittrain said.
Instead, Ridder said, Anonymous is driving Web culture. "They are making a significant mark on what it means to put information online."
Improvement in technology is a given, and access to data will become increasingly more flexible, Zittrain said. Efforts to stop the group, whether through a lawsuit or an indictment, will have implications that go far beyond one company's battle with a group of hackers.

They say it could forever hamper what has always been the cornerstone of the Web: anonymity.

(By Ashley Fantz, CNN

February 24, 2011 8:52 a.m. EST)

Indiana state prosecutor fired over remarks about Wisconsin protests

An Indiana deputy attorney general lost his job Wednesday after commenting online that authorities should use "live ammunition" to run off the throngs of protesters railing over union collective bargaining rights two states away in Wisconsin.
The former state prosecutor, Jeffrey Cox, attached the comment "Use Live Ammunition" in response to a Feb. 19 Twitter posting by a writer for Mother Jones magazine. The writer, Adam Weinstein, wrote that riot police officers had been ordered to clear protesters from the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison.
The rumored 2 a.m. Sunday expulsion of protesters in Madison never happened.
Mother Jones on Wednesday published an article about Cox's Twitter posting and other inflammatory remarks the former state prosecutor had made online. By the end of the day, Cox had been fired from his job.
"Civility and courtesy toward all members of the public are very important to the Indiana Attorney General's Office," the agency said in a prepared statement. "We respect individuals' First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility."
Cox's initial Twitter remark Saturday night set off a pointed online exchange between the prosecutor and the author of the Mother Jones article.
Cox, according to Weinstein, called the demonstrators "political enemies" and "thugs" who were threatening to injure elected officials.
"You're damned right I advocate deadly force," Cox purportedly wrote, according to the Mother Jones article. He also called the author a "typical leftist," and wrote, "liberals hate police."
Cox, who was contacted by Mother Jones Sunday morning, confirmed that he was an Indiana deputy attorney general.
"All my comments on twitter & my blog are my own and no one else's," Cox wrote, according to Mother Jones. "You will probably try to demonize me. But that comes with the territory."
After his firing, Cox's tone appeared more conciliatory.
"I think that in this day and age that tweet was not a good idea." Cox told CNN affiliate WRTV in Indianapolis

"And in terms of that language," Cox said. "I'm not going to use it any more."

(By the  CNN Wire Staff

February 23, 2011 9:57 p.m. EST)

New Pathogen Found in Roundup Ready GM Crops Causes Spontaneous Abortions and Infertility in Livestock?

Via: Institute of Science in Society:
An open letter appeared on the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance founded and run by Judith McGeary to save family farms in the US [1, 2]. The letter, written by Don Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue University, to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, warns of a pathogen “new to science” discovered by “a team of senior plant and animal scientists”. Huber says it should be treated as an “emergency’’, as it could result in “a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies.”
The letter appeared to have been written before Vilsack announced his decision to authorize unrestricted commercial planting of GM alfalfa on 1 February, in the hope of convincing the Secretary of Agriculture to impose a moratorium instead on deregulation of Roundup Ready (RR) crops.
The new pathogen appears associated with serious pervasive diseases in plants – sudden death syndrome in soybean and Goss’ wilt in corn – but its suspected effects on livestock is alarming. Huber refers to “recent reports of infertility rates in dairy heifers of over 20%, and spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45%.”
This could be the worst nightmare of genetic engineering that some scientists including me have been warning for years [3] (see Genetic Engineering Dream or Nightmare, ISIS publication): the unintended creation of new pathogens through assisted horizontal gene transfer and recombination.
Huber writes in closing: “I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure.”
The complete letter is reproduced below.
Dear Secretary Vilsack:
A team of senior plant and animal scientists have recently brought to my attention the discovery of an electron microscopic pathogen that appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread, very serious, and is in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and corn-suggesting a link with the RR gene or more likely the presence of Roundup. This organism appears NEW to science!
This is highly sensitive information that could result in a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies. On the other hand, this new organism may already be responsible for significant harm (see below). My colleagues and I are therefore moving our investigation forward with speed and discretion, and seek assistance from the USDA and other entities to identify the pathogen’s source, prevalence, implications, and remedies.
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We are informing the USDA of our findings at this early stage, specifically due to your pending decision regarding approval of RR alfalfa. Naturally, if either the RR gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen, then such approval could be a calamity. Based on the current evidence, the only reasonable action at this time would be to delay deregulation at least until sufficient data has exonerated the RR system, if it does.
For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks. Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman’s terms, it should be treated as an emergency.
A diverse set of researchers working on this problem have contributed various pieces of the puzzle, which together presents the following disturbing scenario:
Unique Physical Properties
This previously unknown organism is only visible under an electron microscope (36,000X), with an approximate size range equal to a medium size virus. It is able to reproduce and appears to be a micro-fungal-like organism. If so, it would be the first such micro-fungus ever identified. There is strong evidence that this infectious agent promotes diseases of both plants and mammals, which is very rare.
Pathogen Location and Concentration
It is found in high concentrations in Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, distillers meal, fermentation feed products, pig stomach contents, and pig and cattle placentas.
Linked with Outbreaks of Plant Disease
The organism is prolific in plants infected with two pervasive diseases that are driving down yields and farmer income-sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soy, and Goss’ wilt in corn. The pathogen is also found in the fungal causative agent of SDS (Fusarium solani fsp glycines).
Implicated in Animal Reproductive Failure
Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of this organism in a wide variety of livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility. Preliminary results from ongoing research have also been able to reproduce abortions in a clinical setting.
The pathogen may explain the escalating frequency of infertility and spontaneous abortions over the past few years in US cattle, dairy, swine, and horse operations. These include recent reports of infertility rates in dairy heifers of over 20%, and spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45%.
For example, 450 of 1,000 pregnant heifers fed wheatlege experienced spontaneous abortions. Over the same period, another 1,000 heifers from the same herd that were raised on hay had no abortions. High concentrations of the pathogen were confirmed on the wheatlege, which likely had been under weed management using glyphosate.
Recommendations
In summary, because of the high titer of this new animal pathogen in Roundup Ready crops, and its association with plant and animal diseases that are reaching epidemic proportions, we request USDA’s participation in a multi-agency investigation, and an immediate moratorium on the deregulation of RR crops until the causal/predisposing relationship with glyphosate and/or RR plants can be ruled out as a threat to crop and animal production and human health.
It is urgent to examine whether the side-effects of glyphosate use may have facilitated the growth of this pathogen, or allowed it to cause greater harm to weakened plant and animal hosts. It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders. To properly evaluate these factors, we request access to the relevant USDA data.
I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure.
Sincerely,
COL (Ret.) Don M. Huber
Emeritus Professor, Purdue University
APS Coordinator, USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS)


Cryptogon
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Supreme Court Immunizes Vaccine Makers Against Lawsuits

In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court voted to protect pharmaceutical companies from liability when their vaccines cause debilitating injuries and death. The high court majority considers vaccines “unavoidably unsafe” and was worried about drug makers being sued and obligated to compensate their vaccine victims. Instead of opting to protect children, the Supreme Court chose to safeguard the financial interests of the multi-billion dollar vaccine industry.
The ruling was a defeat for Hannah Bruesewitz, who suffered from a severe brain injury, developmental delays, and a lifelong seizure disorder after receiving a mandated DPT vaccine. She was denied compensation by the U.S. Court of Claims, which administers the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Established by Congress in 1986, this program was designed as a non-adversarial way for vaccine victims to be compensated for their injuries caused by compulsory vaccinations. However, during the past several years, this “non-adversarial” program has degenerated into a hostile and expensive legal battle for parents seeking restitution for their losses; nearly 4 out of every 5 cases are rejected.
After being rejected by the U.S. Court of Claims (following several years of adversarial litigation), Hannah’s attorneys sued in civil court, providing evidence that the DPT vaccine manufacturer, Wyeth-Lederle, had the technology to produce a less reactive, purified pertussis vaccine but declined to do so. However, the Supreme Court has now declared that justice cannot be sought in American courtrooms.
According to Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center, “This is a sad day for all Americans forced by law to use dozens of doses of vaccines or be barred from school or health insurance or employment. The only leverage left to American consumers to ensure that vaccines with the fewest health risks are produced is to oppose vaccine mandates and work to defend vaccine exemptions in all public health laws.”

Neil Z. MillerNatural News
Feb 24, 2011

Why Has Google Been Collecting Kids' Social Security Numbers Under the Guise of an Art Contest?

As the director of The Cartel documentary, one of the things I learned was how poorly the traditional news media cover issues pertaining to children, in that case corruption in public education. Since the film's release, I often get contacted about other aspects of child protection that I would have never imagined -- stories that don't seem to get attention elsewhere.  Like this.
What you're about to read hasn't been reported anywhere, and when it was brought to my attention, I could hardly believe it. 
It turns out that the company sporting the motto "don't be evil" has been asking parents nationwide to disclose their children's personal information, including Social Security Numbers, and recruiting schools to help them do it -- all under the guise of an art contest. It's called, "Doodle-4-Google," a rather catchy, kid-friendly name if I do say so myself. The company is even offering prize money to schools to enlist their help with the promotion. Doesn't it sound like fun?  Don't you want your kid to enter too?
What could be wrong with filling out a few entry forms?
A national, commercial database of names and addresses of American children, especially one that includes their dates of birth and SSNs, would be worth many millions to marketing firms and retailers.  
Of course, data collection is not the reason Google gives for doing this competition. Their FAQ says it's because "We love to encourage and celebrate the creativity of young people..." etc. If that's so, then why on earth would the contest's original Parent Consent Form ask for the child's city of birth, date of birth and last four digits of the child's SSN?  Along with complete contact info of the parents. 
You see what Google knows and many parents don't know is that a person's city of birth and year of birth can be used to make a statistical guess about the first five digits of his/her social security number.  Then, if you can somehow obtain those last four SSN digits explicitly -- voila, you've unlocked countless troves of personal information from people who didn't even understand that such a disclosure was happening.
This kind of data can be linked with other databases to target advertising. It's worth many times more than what Google will spend on prizes (each State Finalist gets a T-shirt!). 
In fairness, we have no evidence that Google will use or sell this information for marketing purposes. For that matter, it's possible they could throw the data away. (Care to guess the odds?) But to be absolutely clear, there's no evidence Google has done anything with this information at all, nefarious or otherwise.
It's also clear that children's social security numbers shouldn't be required for an art contest.
There's a second chapter to this story. Some of the people who tipped me off to it were wondering if the solicitation of children's Social Security Numbers was even legal. And so they sent emails to the Federal Trade Commission, the website InsideGoogle.com and a couple of other places. That email went out on February 17.  Twenty-six hours later Google released an updated Parental Consent form without requiring the last four digits of the child's SSN, although the form still inexplicably asks for the child's city of birth.
Meanwhile, the original PDF can still be found on lots of school websites, like this one. In other words, many schools are still distributing the original form, and many parents are no doubt still forking over their kids' social security numbers to Google.
At least the contest "privacy notice" is clear enough: "participation constitutes consent to the storage, use and disclosure of the Entrant's entry details...."  It should really be called the "privacy waiver." 
I sent all of this to Google's press office, and after 48 hours, they had offered no response.
So in closing, three simple ideas for you, gentle reader, to take away.  (1) City of birth, when coupled with year of birth, can be correlated to social security numbers, so don't give it out just because a box appears on a form. (2) No public contest should ask for any part of a social security number, especially involving kids. (3) For internet searches, have you tried Yahoo! or Bing lately? (They're probably both improved since you last tried them.) You just might find what you're looking for.
------------
Update (2/22/11, 9:38pmET):
Google's Spokesperson just contacted me with the following response:

This year we started accepting doodles from kids even if their school hadn't registered for the contest. To help us keep entries distinct and remove duplicate entries from any particular student, we asked parents for limited information, including the last 4 digits of a student's social security number. We later updated our forms when we recognized that we could sufficiently separate legitimate contest entries while requesting less information. To be clear, these last 4 digits were not entered into our records and will be safely discarded.
As for the city of birth:
The city of birth helps us identify whether contestants are eligible for the contest, as winners must be either U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents of the U.S. The information isn't used for any other purpose.

Couple things:
1.) I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist by disposition, but doesn't "these last 4 digits were not entered into our records and will be safely discarded," sound like a contradiction? (How can they delete something that is not in their records?) Even taking just the first part, we're supposed to believe Google didn't enter demographic data that it had been supplied? Isn't this the same Google that promotes itself as the master of targeted marketing campaigns?
2.) If they simply want to limit the contest to citizens and permanent legal residents, why not ask that question as a "yes/no"? Then, they could ask more specific questions of the winners, right? Instead, Google's wants every child's city of birth upfront? That's really necessary?
Maybe the kids should all just say, "Springfield."
----------
Update (2/23/11, 8:30pmET):
A follow-up clarification came from a Google spokesperson:

To be clear, all data concerning students that is collected by Doodle 4 Google is used only to administer the contest. We received this information on paper because parents who downloaded the original Parent Consent form had to print it, fill it out, and mail it to us. The last 4 digits of the social security number were not entered into our contest records, and as indicated, any forms containing this information will be safely discarded. We have asked for city of birth all 4 years of the contest to date, as it helps us determine eligibility. For example, if the city is not in the U.S., we can flag it for possible future follow-up. The question also gives us a higher degree of confidence at this early stage that an actual parent or guardian is completing the form (it's easier to check 'Yes' than to know an actual city of birth). As indicated previously, this information is not used for any other purpose.

Bob BowdonHuffington Post
Feb 24, 2011

Electronic banking conspiracy

• The Theory of Electronic Conspiracy is said to be a variant of modern New World Order conspiracy theories. The theory consists of the belief that a secret group has attempted for centuries to reach world domination, even if the result by design would be world destruction. According to this theory, the worldwide dominion has been planned from antiquity and follows the following phases:^[68]

1. The substitution of precious metal-based coin currency by paper currency. This process began in the Renaissance, with the beginning of the use of tickets which allowed for people to have a tangible good (such as silver or gold pieces) by paper—a more virtual, but comfortable, medium which the state was committed to provide the equivalent amount of precious metal if such was required.
2. The appearance of virtual money, with credit cards: money approaches wholly virtual status. Money is no longer a tangible paper- or metal-based object but rather a series of numbers recorded in magnetic stripes.
3. The proliferation of Internet and Electronic commerce: credit cards are no longer required in order to purchase or sell goods and services from an Internet-connected computer.
4. The concentration of the worldwide bank into few hands, by means of continuous international banking fusions.
5. The worldwide implementation of an electronic identity card.
6. The great worldwide blackout. A tremendous disaster will take place when, after a great electrical blackout on a planetary scale, the data of all electronic accounts erase simultaneously. After this event, chaos and poverty will immediately ensue throughout the planet; and civilization will revert to its primitive forms of slavery to survive. This is the last aim of the "secret organization" which has spent centuries guiding this process. The worldwide blackout will be preceded by partial blackouts that would only be tests and "signals" to communicate that different phases of the process are being fulfilled. An example of these partial blackouts would be those that have been produced almost simultaneously in different parts around the world; and, at the beginning of the 21st century, shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks: the blackouts in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. (Wikipedia)