France is becoming stranger and stranger …
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-france-shooting-guns-idUSBRE82M14620120323
Nor, adds Buigne, is it surprising that Merah was able to assemble such an arsenal.
“It is not odd that he fell through the cracks because we live in a free and liberal society not a police state. You need a court order to conduct a search.”
Though bloody rampages such as Merah’s remain rare in France – the last time a lone gunman killed so many people was in Nanterre in 2002 – police say the use of illegal arms in violent crime is on the rise. In 2010, police confiscated 2,710 guns, 79 percent more than in 2009.
The southern port city of Marseille, where rival drug gangs sometimes settle their scores with Kalashnikovs, is one of the places worst affected in France.
In 2011 alone, gang warfare there killed 16 people and wounded 13, and Kalashnikovs are increasingly the weapon of choice, according to David-Olivier Reverdy, a spokesman for the Unity police union.
“In Marseille and the surrounding area almost all the score-settling is carried out using weapons used in wars,” he told Reuters. “If you don’t have a ‘Kalash’ you’re a bit of a loser.”

Posted by: somebody | Mar 23 2012 21:28 utc | 4

My Iran-Israel rant, now that the Syria-entrance seem to fail, the old war is back on the table of Israel and USA.
The USA & Israel are getting eager to lauch an attack on Iran, and use their nuclear program as a pre-requisite.
Israeli government needs a foreign threat to rally the voters around their leaders. This we have seen in USA too, it is a well known strategy for staying in power, reiforcing the “them and us” sentiment in the public. People go to work in the morning to a job at the Pentagon where they get paid to influence people by spreading hate thru the media, fuelling sectarian divisions and generally frightning people. Israel goes all out in making sure the Iranian fulfill their role as the enemy.
By threatening Iran, Israel are actually attempting to pressure Iran to restart their military nuclear program. If there is anything that can motivate for developing nuclear bombs, it is the threat of war from another nuclear military power like Israel.
It would be prudent of Iran to put their nuclear facilities underground, so we don’t get a nuclear disaster like Tjernobyl as Israel launches their bombing campaign.
The Israeli claim that Iran has a military nuclear programme, can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. And Israel wants that, or rather, the Likud party, the far-right zionist party with Benjamin Netanjahu, are deperate to stay in power. So they create a military threat, first imaginary, then probably real. And that is really the core, it is Iran who is under threat, not Iran being a threat.
The fact that Iran has no military nuclear programme, yet, as long as Benjamin Netanjahu can make the world believe it, it really doesn’t matter, and it might actually become true. It might even be prudent of the Iranians to start right now in developing a deterrent against the Israeli threat. They are cerainly forced to reconsider their stance on nuclear weapons, though hopefully not.
Actually, as the US attitude towards Iran is to assume they are bad, and sanction them until they disclose their nuclear weapons programme. So they might as well start developing it, so they have something to show the inspectors from the IAEA, and then they can dismantle it, in exchange for lifting sanctions. That is probably the only way they can get rid of the sanctions. Iran is caught in a catch 22 situation. Thay cant disclose a program they don’t have.

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 23 2012 22:04 utc | 6

re: alexander @6 and iran’s “need” for nuke weapons
maybe there’s such a thing as “right and wrong”
maybe it’s just flat wrong to develop nuclear weapons
maybe, if humanity insists on doing the wrong thing, humanity will not surive
maybe the iranians know all this
maybe the iranians would rather die with a clean conscience than live with radioactive blood on their hands
.
is any of that even remotely possible?

Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 23 2012 22:21 utc | 8

Should be ‘Opposition Culture’ above…sorry!

Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Mar 23 2012 22:36 utc | 10

to Alexander @11…
so humanity’s being lead back to the law of the jungle by israel and america…
honor, decency, trust in your fellow man… all that’s obsolete, and the only guiding principle left is, “might makes right, especially if you can turn a buck”.
you got to hope the iranians have enough faith in… whatever… to hold out.

Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 23 2012 23:56 utc | 12

@xcroc #5
a really interesting form of blowback
also all these colored revolutions produce a generation of technically skilled people whose political evolution is uncontrollable by the West

Posted by: claudio | Mar 24 2012 0:49 utc | 14

more france
the view from germany
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/toulouser-terrorist-das-kalifat-im-badezimmer-11693947.html

Posted by: somebody | Mar 24 2012 7:23 utc | 16

France is waking up now asking some logical questions
“Il n’aura pas fallu attendre bien longtemps pour que les critiques sur l’opération de police effectuée par le Raid contre Mohamed Mehra ne suscite des interrogations et polémiques. Ce matin, dans un entretien à Sud-Ouest, le fondateur du GIGN, Christian Prouteau, question en effet la nature de l’intervention policière et sa durée, se demandant publiquement « comment se fait-il que la meilleure unité de police ne réussisse pas à arrêt un homme tout seul ? ».
Selon le fondateur du GIGN, les forces de l’ordre hier auraient pu piéger Mohamed Mehra, notamment en lui balançant du gaz lacrymogène qui l’aurait neutralisé en quelques minutes alors que « au lieu de ça, ils ont balancé des grenades à tour de bras. Résultat : ça a mis le forcené dans un état psychologique qui l’a incité à continuer sa guerre ».”
Christian Prouteau should know …

Posted by: somebody | Mar 24 2012 8:07 utc | 18

this from 2007
http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2007/02/18/7997-toulouse-c-etaient-bien-des-terroristes.html
Olivier, chef du réseau
De lourds soupçons pèsent au contraire sur les six hommes mis en examen et habitant dans la région Midi-Pyrénées. Olivier Corel, un Français né en Syrie, qui habite à Artigat, dans l’Ariège, est suspecté d’être à la tête du réseau toulousain. Il est considéré par les policiers comme le chef idéologique des jeunes interpellés mercredi. Il avait visiblement une forte influence sur les autres membres du réseau, âgés de 25 à 30 ans.
Issus des quartiers de la Reynerie, de Papus, des Izards, Stéphane Lelièvre, Imad Djebali, Mohamed Megherbi et Sabri Essid, ainsi que l’Albigeois Thomas Barnouin, partageaient leur vie entre petits boulots et prières à la mosquée. Ils s’étaient mis en tête de résister aux Américains présents en Irak. Rien pour le moment ne permet de conclure qu’ils préparaient des actions terroristes en France. Aucune arme, ni aucun explosif, n’ont d’ailleurs été découvert lors des perquisitions. Evoquant leur foi en Allah, ils désiraient combattre aux côtés de « leurs frères ».
Chez l’un d’eux, un testament a même été trouvé, faisant état d’une volonté de « vouloir mourir en martyr ». Tous étaient dans le même état d’esprit, selon les enquêteurs.
Récenmment convertis à l’Islam, ils se seraient radicalisés. Leurs voyages réguliers en Syrie, officiellement pour y apprendre l’arabe littéraire, n’auraient été qu’une étape d’un long processus d’apprentissage fanatique. Ils entretenaient des relations avec d’autres groupes, ailleurs en France et en Europe.
« Le réseau comprenait de cinquante à soixante personnes, à Toulouse, en région parisienne, en Belgique », précise un enquêteur. Neuf hommes avaient été interpellés vendredi en Belgique ; ils ont été relâchés, en attendant un complément d’enquête. Selon les policiers, le réseau démantelé cette semaine serait le même que celui qui avait acheminé une jeune kamikaze belge en Irak, où elle a commis un attentat suicide en 2005.
L’apprentissage en syrie
La filière toulousaine, elle, fonctionnait depuis plusieurs mois, et aurait recruté une dizaine d’apprentis djihadistes, dont certains auraient rallié la Syrie en bus. « Il y avait une première phase d’endoctrinement, explique un enquêteur. Puis, les jeunes étaient envoyés en Égypte, pour des séjours de plus en plus longs. » Une phase de préparation, plus dure, était ensuite organisée : stages sportifs, conditionnement à base de vidéos de combats de djihad. Les candidats djihadistes devaient compléter leur «formation» en Égypte, dans une école du Caire, avant d’atteindre l’Irak, via la Syrie.
Les membres du réseau toulousain étaient étroitement surveillés depuis plusieurs mois par les renseignements généraux, la police judiciaire et la sous-direction antiterroriste (SDAT).
C’est l’interpellation, à leur arrivée à Roissy, mardi, de Thomas Barnouin et Sabri Essid, qui a déclenché la vaste opération à Toulouse.
So how come this guy is out of prison (he is Syrian, by the way)?
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/olivier-corel-a-man-who-was-arrested-in-2007-with-10-other-news-photo/141764711

Posted by: somebody | Mar 24 2012 10:34 utc | 20

you never know which way this works
“Olivier Corel, le gourou de Mohamed Merah, est-il un agent provocateur de la « coopération » policière franco-syrienne ?”
http://paris.indymedia.org/spip.php?article10403
remember, they cooperated with Syria on the fight against terrorism, as they did with Libya …
and there could be several secret services involved.
it is classical blowback, there are a few people who might have lit this particular fuse.
the people who planned this wanted the publicity. After they exhausted the “legitimate” target – soldiers – they used the target they knew would bring the utmost publicity and emotionality – Jewish kids. Maybe they wanted the emotional connection between Jewish kids and Muslim French soldiers.
I do not think people who plan this have any feelings I am pretty sure neither Sarkozy nor any other head of state would want to be involved in the details of this.
It is pretty clear by now that the version of the lone gunman cannot be kept up. There are several reasons why people might have been lying.
It was utter incompetence at best.

Posted by: somebody | Mar 24 2012 13:49 utc | 22

The Free Syrian Army “expresses annoyance at lack of International arms”.

Syrian rebels battling the regime led by President Bashar al-Assad are running out of ammunition as black market supplies dry up, neighboring countries tighten their borders and international promises of help fail to materialize, according to rebel commanders and defected soldiers

Since the highly publicized rout of Free Syrian Army fighters from the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs three weeks ago, rebels also have been on the run within the country, staging retreats across a swath of territory in Idlib and from the eastern city of Deir al-Zour. “In Baba Amr, the fighters put up a good fight,” he said. “But it caused major destruction, and many civilians died. Now we are strategizing to make sure we don’t make the same mistake again.”

As they withdraw deeper into remote mountainous terrain, away from the population centers where they rely on the sympathies of residents for food and support, some rebels are also going hungry.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-rebels-running-out-of-ammunition-as-government-presses-offensive/2012/03/22/gIQA05CNUS_story.html
Seems like the rebellion misjudged. Who could have predicted that Syrians would not want to walk down the Iraq route. Incompetence on full display.

Posted by: Colm O’ Toole | Mar 24 2012 14:03 utc | 24

Thanks much Uncle$. Facts laid bare indeed. A lot of good info but this blared into my mind:

A single US-based institutional investor with no conceivable ties to al-Qaeda purchased 95 percent of the UAL puts on September 6 as part of a trading strategy that also included buying 115,000 shares of American on September 10. [my bold]

puts the culpability a lot closer to home.
But then again, as if we didn’t already know!

Posted by: juannie | Mar 24 2012 19:17 utc | 26

@all – sorry for not posting – caught a bronchitis (I guess from the kids last week) and the (hurtful) coughing plus the wuzzy side effects of the medication make straight thinking/writing impossible.
– the Mali issue – looks like a U.S. initiated coup to me
– the French issue – the guy was under observation and had a history of visiting Afghanistan, problems in jail, U.S. no-fly list etc that should have made all the red lights blinking. Still his passport showed he even went to Israel. All we know of his “confession” is what he allegedly told the special police unit which has intimate connections with Sarkozy.
The case stinks to heaven. Very likely an “October surprise” managed and produced by Sarkozy and his helpers.
Back to bed …

Posted by: b | Mar 24 2012 19:54 utc | 28

Florida’s “stand your ground law” was passed because of some high-profile carjackings in the state where drivers and passengers where killed–a German couple being one such case, if you remember. Before the law passed it was questionable whether it was legal to use deadly force to defend yourself outside your home. The question in the Zimmerman case is did he exceed the authority the law gave him to self-defense.

Posted by: Optimax | Mar 24 2012 21:31 utc | 30

Uncle $cam…..#45…..
Every American should read the Asia Times piece on 9/11 insider trading. Truth is, you gotta be a fuckin’ moron to believe the crock of shit we have been fed as an explanation for the events of 9/11.
The crime is so horrendous, and so epic, that to doubt the official narrative is a terrifying mental and emotional endeavor. Yet, on its face, the whole “official” narrative is ridiculous to the extreme. There is simply no rational or logical reason to accept the chain of “coincidences” that comprise the storyline of the official narrative. It is simply inconcievable that so many coincidences and overlapping contributing factors and elements could unfold as they would have us believe they did.
Its horseshit. And when one gets over the fear of being labeled a kook, or a conspiracy theorist, a sensible and analytical examination of the official narrative exposes it as a fantastic and impossible fiction, totally unbelievable.
An epic crime, probably the most sinister and deep reaching in mankind’s history. Dick Cheney knows the truth, and we should waterboard it out of him, or worse, if thats what it takes.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Mar 24 2012 22:07 utc | 32

There are some bad things appearing when you do a little search on the San Onofre

On Friday, a local newspaper reported a third incident involving a veteran worker at the plant who lost his balance while trying to retrieve a flashlight and tumbled into a reactor pool. The man reportedly did not suffer significant radiation exposure. Edison may review its procedures for working around the reactor pool, officials said.
Some critics saw the incidents as a sign of greater problems.
“To have this many failures is to have a real breakdown in quality assurance, maintenance and safety culture,” said Dan Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, which follows the nuclear industry.
In 2008, the plant received a string of citations over such issues as failed emergency generators, improperly wired batteries and falsified fire safety data, records show.

Its pretty bad taking a bath in the reactor pool, but having improperly wired batteries, and generators not working, is a potential catastrophe.

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 24 2012 23:27 utc | 34

Come to think of it, there is something very alarming about the level of corrotion uncovered. In the pressurized steam turbine system, there shouldn’t be any corrotion, or at least very little. This could possible be an indication that they are using low quality heavy water, or even low quality fuel rods.
I guess the fuel-rods used in this plant are inactive metal-containers with some form of uranium-salt in them, since uranium in the inert metal form would be more expensive to produce. Problem probably being when the uranium-soup leaks out, and if that soup is acidic and corrosive.. that’s what i guess is going on here. But I’m no nuclear scientist. Anyway, when pipes go in less than a year, something is badly wrong.
When there is that level of corriosive processes going on in the system, so as to bring up problems in less than two years, it leaves me to believe that we are looking at a imminent disaster without the need for an earthquake.

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 25 2012 0:18 utc | 36

Global Post article about survivors of Staff Sgt. Bales’ –and whomever else was involved…– massacre. Wounded survivors are being treated in a US military hospital, and reporters were told they could meet with them. But once they got there, there reporters were allowed to take photos only and not speak to the people.

Local Afghan journalists are among those searching for the truth. While several local reporters have visited the scene, they said actual eyewitnesses have been difficult to find, because most villagers are reluctant to talk and authorities have prevented journalists from visiting wounded survivors.
US officials in Afghanistan gave several Afghan journalists permission last week to visit survivors of the massacre, who are being treated at the hospital at Kandahar Airfield, a major military base in southern Afghanistan. But when the journalists arrived they ISAF officials only allowed them to take a few photographs and then asked them to leave.
“The wounded survivors, who saw everything of the massacre, are crucial to the story,” said one of the frustrated reporters. “But the Americans didn’t allow us to talk to them.”

Posted by: jawbone | Mar 25 2012 1:17 utc | 38

As to the Toulouse killings: the fact that the affair could lead to the return of Sarkozy in the election is entirely the fault of the campaign being run by his pretend opponent the pseudo-socialist Hollande who agrees with Sarkozy on almost every important question, including the “necessity” of cutting the living standards and the civil and social rights of the French people.
Both Sarkozy and his opponents are committed to imperialism, neo-liberalism and the surrender of sovereignty to high finance, as a result elections do turn on matters of style and political tricks. The good news is that it doesn’t matter because the candidates and their parties are equally bad- for France and for the world in general.

Posted by: bevin | Mar 25 2012 1:31 utc | 40

Susan says @41…

“Cheney …A total waste of a heart.”

no doubt about it… but he’s still a puzzle, mostly because he was mouthing off about peak oil in london in 1999, yet he had signed PNAC’s Statement of Principles in 1997.
exxon signs on with PNAC’s parent, the AEI, in 1998, and exxon has been one of the primary deniers of peak oil.
so what’s cheney doing, mouthing off about impending oil shortages after he’s signed on with PNAC, which needed a new pearl harbor as an excuse to grab oil? …i mean, wouldnt anyone with any sense at all be denying peak oil if it was the motive for the 9/11 project?
could cheny still have been outside the inner circle when he made that speech in london in 1999?
it’s a puzzle, but you got to admit, nobody’s been a more dogged defender of the neocon party line since 9/11, and cheney has shut his yap about peak oil.

Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 25 2012 3:56 utc | 42

yeah the French act is beginning to reek
this here is Wikipedia’s definition of Counterterrorism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-terrorism
“To select the effective action when terrorism appears to be more of an isolated event, the appropriate government organizations need to understand the source, motivation, methods of preparation, and tactics of terrorist groups. Good intelligence is at the heart of such preparation, as well as political and social understanding of any grievances that might be solved. Ideally, one gets information from inside the group, a very difficult challenge for HUMINT because operational terrorist cells are often small, with all members known to one another, perhaps even related.[5]
Counterintelligence is a great challenge with the security of cell-based systems, since the ideal, but nearly impossible, goal is to obtain a clandestine source within the cell. Financial tracking can play a role, as can communications intercept, but both of these approaches need to be balanced against legitimate expectations of privacy.”
and this is the Herzliya Institute for Counter-Terrorism’s analysis of Mohamed Merah and Forsane Alizza
http://www.ict.org.il/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=99fFLwpcQLQ%3D&tabid=320
They kind of give themselves away by translating the cavaliers of pride as
“Ideology & Goals
The following are essential points about the radical Islamic group, Forsane Alizza:
Known as “Les Cavaliers de la Fierté” in French, and “The Camel Jockeys”
in English.”
They corrected the translation in the first paragraphe ….

Posted by: somebody | Mar 25 2012 9:12 utc | 44

About Bush, and the ICC, it’s not gonna happen, his mind is gone.

When president Bush left office three years ago, it was announced that he would establish a “Freedom Institute” to dedicate the rest of his life to confronting tyranny, and advancing freedom around the world.

Those plans seem to be hampered by some even more bizarre conduct

Every weekday at noon inside a North Dallas shopping mall, the 43rd president of the United States sits down at his usual table in the food court with two plates of magic fries, a jumbo Mello Yellow and a grande chimichanga with extra queso. “When he first started showin’ up at the mall, people would always come over and ask for his autograph or whatever,” said Daryl Vanderveen, a 19-year-old cashier at Sbarro Pizza. “But now that he’s here so much nobody even looks up from their lunch.”
Sources interviewed for this article said that Mr. Bush spends at least eight hours of each day at the Preston Hollow Shopping Center, a popular retail destination near his home in suburban Dallas. “Other than that chimichanga lunch he doesn’t really have a set routine,” said one source. “Sometimes he’ll hang around Lenscrafters trying on glasses or head over to Abercrombie & Fitch and watch the girls fold pants. Last week I saw him inside Pottery Barn sleeping in a leather recliner.”
But some mall employees are beginning to complain about the former president. “The other day I was taking a smoke break near the fountain and he just kept asking me stupid stuff like, ‘Guess how fast I could get a hot dog in the White House,’” said Amber Kaul, who works part-time at the T-Mobile kiosk. “So finally I’m like, ‘I dunno, ten minutes?’ And he’s all like ‘more like two minutes’ and then he snaps his fingers and gives me this cocky look like I’m supposed to care.” Donna Simpson, a barista at the mall Starbucks, said the former president is often a distraction from her work. “He sits down over there with a pencil and a piece of paper and supposedly starts working on his ‘Freedom Institute,’” said Ms. Simpson. “But after about five minutes he comes over, takes a seat at the counter and starts telling how there’s Milk Duds on Air Force One or how Dick Cheney has a glass eye. I’m like, ‘Dude, there’s about 50 people in line right now, go away!’”
Nestor Martinez, a 20-year-old mall security guard, confirmed that on at least two occasions he’s had to speak to the former president about his behavior. “We started getting complaints that he was hanging around the men’s room asking guys if they wanted to have their picture taken with him,” said Mr. Martinez. “When I told him to stop, he said, ‘Let’s go sort it out over a game of Donkey Kong.’ So after my shift we went over to the arcade and I beat him in a best of three. Then he got all pissy and said Donkey Kong sucks anyways.”
Two sources have confirmed that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was recently enlisted by friends and former aides to speak to Mr. Bush about the situation. “She asked him point blank if it was true that he’d spent an entire afternoon doing nothing but riding up and down the escalators,” said the source. “The president got really defensive and refused to give Condi a straight answer.”
When the president left office nearly three years ago, it was announced that he would establish a “Freedom Institute” and work full-time toward promoting democracy and human rights throughout the world. But some close friends and former advisors admit privately that Mr. Bush has not made progress on either front. “He told me he was going to dedicate the rest of his life to confronting tyranny,” said one prominent GOP fundraiser. “I’m not sure how you do that by hanging around the mall challenging strangers to games of Ms. Pac-Man.”
In response to questions about the president’s schedule, a spokesman released the following statement. “The president continues to work towards advancing freedom around the world.”

Really, I’m not making this up.

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 25 2012 13:08 utc | 46

Yeah, but it was a good piece though. 🙂

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 25 2012 13:28 utc | 48

@ 47 b real good to see your around, hope your doing well. When are you coming back to your blog (AC)? Your detective work would do wonders to clear all the smoke surrounding Somalia and other hotspots right about now … 🙂

Posted by: thirsty | Mar 25 2012 14:27 utc | 50

from the url posted by Colm O’ Toole @51…

“…He (the hezbollah guy) then says that Israelis have yet to learn that they can’t win a war in Lebanon because they’re fighting people with a homeland. In his view, having actual land to defend is critical.”
“He continues by pointing out that in 1982, 50,000 trained and well-equipped Palestinian troops couldn’t keep the Israelis out of Beirut for a week. But by his count, less than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters did the job alone for 34 days in 2006. “Palestinians can’t fight because they have no homes to defend.” “

that’s interesting when applied to america… will the returning mercenaries be assigned to their home territories, and, if so, whose side will they fight on, the government’s or their people’s side?
will the returning mercenaries be assigned to places far from their homes where they have no roots, on the theory that they’ll be more willing to shoot people who are not friends and neighbors? …will their “foreignness” be a disadvantage, when they’re fighting people who are defending their homes?

Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 25 2012 15:52 utc | 52

List of Arab towns and villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestinian exodus
paul simon sings about homelessness

Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 25 2012 16:15 utc | 54

1. A report from 1999 fixes death by firearms in France (accident / suicide / murder / unclear), hasn’t changed much since.
About 7% of *all* deaths are violent – 6% are traffic related incl. some other accidents, e.g. sports, plus 1% suicide (= 7%).
Of that 7%, 6% are by firearms.
That leaves tiny smidgins after the decimal point and some zeros for murder by fire-arms.
Therefore, it is not a worry for social policy makers, they always dismiss it with loud groans or by leaving the room. Their *number one* priority is to reduce road deaths , with a minor space for home/sports/nature accidents provided they could be easily, cheaply, prevented. It is considered that the suicidal will find means anyway, and chasing guns will not help. Add in that those shot tend to be low-lifes. Nobody in high up Gov (afaik) has ever questioned the experts on these matters.

Posted by: Noirette | Mar 25 2012 16:18 utc | 56

@50 – thx – all’s well – planning on resuming those pursuits soon – still trying to figure out how to allocate enough time for online activities but will find a way to catch up and start making regular posts there again

Posted by: b real | Mar 25 2012 17:29 utc | 58

get well, b

Posted by: remembererringgiap | Mar 25 2012 17:46 utc | 60

Re: My #25 (above) as with others I recently posted
Lets not forget the, Intelligence Czar Can Waive SEC Rules

Now, the White House’s top spymaster can cite national security to exempt businesses from reporting requirements
President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye.
Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn’t be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision.
The timing of Bush’s move is intriguing. On the same day the President signed the memo, Porter Goss resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency amid criticism of ineffectiveness and poor morale at the agency. Only six days later, on May 11, USA Today reported that the National Security Agency had obtained millions of calling records of ordinary citizens provided by three major U.S. phone companies. Negroponte oversees both the CIA and NSA in his role as the administration’s top intelligence official.

From top to bottom..

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 25 2012 18:23 utc | 62

the hateful rhetoric of these maggots?
Nice talk, leads to the same verbal violence, of dehumanizing doe it not? But your right there is much evidence that this kind of talk leads to such things as the Rwandan genocide, for example.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3257748.stm

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 25 2012 19:18 utc | 64

Interesting background info on the Toulouse case:
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/243251-Sarkozy-s-Backers-To-Use-Toulouse-Attacks-To-Steal-French-Election-UPDATE-

Posted by: absinthe | Mar 25 2012 19:43 utc | 66

re Noirette
Yes, of course there are too many weapons in France. Shoot-outs between the police and others are very common.
That is true, but it is not the problem here. Whatever the control of weapons, the problem is the accuracy of the police in identifying villains. They are notoriously racist, and inefficient. Whenever you see them holding someone against the wall, it is always a black or a Maghrebi, never a white.
It remains a possibility that they took someone who was on their list, and who was on the edge, but who actually hadn’t done anything. The confession is only reported by the police.
It’s all too easy: a Muslim terrorist, who has been killed – very convenient. Even Sarkozy has understood the danger: he said that it was not a reflection on French Muslims.
But it is not going to stop there. The French are quite racist; they have a vision of what they are, which is an artificial vision of the past. Multiculturalism is not part of it. There is a real danger of an explosion of anti-Islam feeling.
Much more dangerous in France than in the US, where the death of an Iraqi woman for reason that she was Muslim doesn’t have consequences.

Posted by: alexno | Mar 25 2012 20:34 utc | 68

oh, I forgot,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Sarkozy#Family_background
Sarkozy is the son of Pál István Ernő Sárközy de Nagy-Bócsa[3] (Hungarian: nagybócsai Sárközy Pál [nɒɟ͡ʝboːt͡ʃɒi ʃaːrkøzi paːl] ( listen); in some sources Nagy-Bócsay Sárközy Pál István Ernő),[4] a Hungarian aristocrat, and Andrée Jeanne “Dadu” Mallah (b. Paris, 12 October 1925), who is of half Greek Jewish and half French Catholic origin.[5][6] They were married at Saint-François-de-Sales, Paris XVII, on 8 February 1950 and divorced in 1959.[7]

Posted by: somebody | Mar 25 2012 21:34 utc | 70

re 70
Everyone knows that Sarkozy is himself a descendant of an immigrant. He is OK because he has infiltrated French society.
Muslims retain their names, and thus are an obvious target.
I take it badly, the way that Jews conceal themselves, by changing their names, and then attack Muslims. Denis MacShane, British politician, for example, is not, as you might imagine, a Scot, but rather a Polish Jew. Very anti-Muslim.
Dishonest, in my view, in not exposing the origins of his thinking.

Posted by: alexno | Mar 25 2012 22:06 utc | 72

Pat Lang has finally found a war that he can fight in his own back yard. Will this be his “Iraq”? Skittles = WMD

Posted by: Maracatu | Mar 25 2012 23:44 utc | 74

According to the Quran, muslims are not supposed to change their name.

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 26 2012 8:22 utc | 76

re 75
oh, look alexno, the last time I checked international discourse on multiculturalism, the agreement was that everybody should be free to choose their identity, it should not be something imposed on you.
So they are, and should be. That is obvious; it doesn’t need saying. On this blog, one is allowed to be a little more subtle normally.
We are talking about the practical effects on other people. Muslim names stand out a mile, and make them a target. Pretend to be a Scotsman, and you can pass.

Posted by: alexno | Mar 26 2012 8:41 utc | 78

Ehud Barak Sadam Hussein Osama Bin Laden

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 26 2012 12:09 utc | 80

Uncle $cam @ 62:
Thanks for all that. That Negroponte was more of a “cover up czar” then anything remotely related to “real” US interests… that was one of the horrors of the Bush years.
In my opinion, especially here (US), most people don’t really begin to comprehend what money (currency) really is. They think of it, only, as the value… or measure, of what each individual “has”. Then, from there, what they can “afford”, or not.
Money, here, doesn’t reflect… or even attempt to reflect, the value an individual contributes. And… since (especially) Federal Reserve (which is a complete misnomer BTW) was created, was never intended to reflect value created.
Money, here (and many other places) is a con game, by which people unwittingly “agree”, by virtue of citizenship, to play within the rules defined by it. And, it’s a fixed game.
For those who haven’t read it, I highly recomend:
The Creature from Jekyll Island
Author: G. Edward Griffin
The book is detailed account of how/why the “Federal Reserve” came to be. And, from that… how US “money supply”, and it’s workings, flow from absurd… surreal, assumptions grounding the functioning of all the US Currency “stuff”.
Alert folks can more or less figure this out, by context, just keeping their eyes open and “living” here. It’s difficult, however, because there is so much… “trust” in banks, Treasury, and stuff like what you linked to above WRT Negroponte’s gifted authority in that particular scam… it all seems like an inescapable, no win game.
It isn’t. But that’s a whole other story.
That particular book does a great job of connecting all the dots.
What it doesn’t do, however, is indicate how to “win” in this game, by playing within “the rules”… to overcome the constraints “seemingly” imposed by this stuff.
Good starting point, however. And… from the picture painted there, most honest folks will begin to… at least at conceptual level, see what an honest money system “should” look like.
To me, it is sooooo off the charts bizarre, that… in the WTC “stuff” linked and described in this thread, but also, in those few short Bush years… Enron & the Ca. Energy scam, the decimation of home owner’s property values similarly concieved as a “transfer of wealth”, or really… a taking…
One, after another, after another, all made possible by massively promulgated lies AND the money “trick”… that somehow, soooo many people, are just hanging around, “waiting”, for a “recovery”.
Yet… they barely conceive what it is they are hoping to “recover” from. They do not realize that “recovery” is really, all them, the whole citizenry, working to refinance “those guys” for the next go around, just like the others.
The crooks who did/do pull this off, have terms to describe it, among them… “The Greatest Country in the History of the World”.
And then, to really lock it in… the big scare to keep it all in place: “We are a Christian Nation”.
Or, in other word’s, they all are doing “God’s will”. And that one, believed… can be a life’s sentence. Christ (no pun intended)… Rome has had a good part of the world conned, for 2k years, that somehow “blessing” a little piece of bread and eating it, somehow… is salvation, or grace, or something like that.
How much of one’s humanity, and it’s potential, is “sacrificed” in believing that? It’s so childish, so contrary to even common sense, and so utterly dis-empowering for the individual. Yet, 2k years, folks fork up their $$ to finance this racket.
Really, if one wants to go this way… con games are the EZ way out. You can get money, doing ’em. Don’t get anything else that satisfies one in life, but you can “get” money, that way.
…
People soooooo need to wake up.

Posted by: jdmckay | Mar 26 2012 13:26 utc | 82

b real, yes, do, please post again.
Why doesn’t the French Left run on “Security for everybody”? somebody asked.
Because Marine Le Pen is doing it. (In her own way.)
Because it implies stigmatizing certain groups (in their minds), as on the whole they are internationalist, pro EU – if hesitantly by now – not anti-immigrants, and non-punitive. This last as compared to the Sark – that would be the noble part.
Kum-ba-ya.
Because it costs money they wish to spend on other things, e.g. education.
Because they are dopes, and don’t perceive that crime (petty crime, burglary, drugs, bandits, general insecurity, etc.) are mining parts of France very badly, and the top to middle figures or influential members in the Socialist party are rich, well-off, or stable, live in safe areas, are immune and have lost contact completely with what used to be their ‘base.’
Because they have no clue how to proceed.
Mélenchon (Left Front) has great difficulty with this issue. He stresses that all this insecurity would not exist, if schools / social aid / equal chances / etc. were properly organized. He has proposed re-organizing the police (paying more), fighting white collar crime, etc. but mostly attacks present arrangements.

Posted by: Noirette | Mar 26 2012 15:55 utc | 84

Well, the French left will have to think about a security strategy fast or it will be 5 more years of Sarkozy
http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/al-jazeera-a-recu-une-video-des-tueries-de-mohamed-merah-26-03-2012-1924724.php
this will not get out of people’s mind soon …
don’t tell me a confused kid from the sudwest of France planned this effective campaign all for himself …

Posted by: somebody | Mar 26 2012 18:44 utc | 86

In approximately the same time frame as the three attacks in France, which resulted in the deaths of four adults and three children, the Israeli military killed 26 Palestinian civilians, including many women and children. There was, however, no presidential speech lamenting the barbarity and cruelty of those attacks. On the contrary, they were largely ignored by the entire world (except by Israel, which cheered them). Strangely enough, it took the murders at the Jewish school in Toulouse for any official mention of the regular murder and torture of Palestinians by Israeli forces to be made.

And when mention was made, the Israeli government was furious, accusing the EU foreign minister, Baroness Ashton, of comparing the murders of Jewish children in France to the murders of Palestinian children in Palestine (how DARE she!). Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s hate-filled foreign minister, even demanded that she resign for her outburst of humanity and common sense. For the Israeli government, nothing can ever be allowed to diminish, if only by comparison, the suffering of Jewish people anywhere at any time. For reference, here are the offending words of the EU foreign minister:

“We remember young people who have been killed in all sorts of terrible circumstances – the Belgian children having lost their lives in a terrible tragedy and when we think of what happened in Toulouse today, when we remember what happened in Norway a year ago, when we know what is happening in Syria, when we see what is happening in Gaza and in different parts of the world – we remember young people and children who lose their lives.”

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 26 2012 19:43 utc | 88

OT – Cheney got his heart transplant. Although some are saying he is to old to save, I’m hoping he lives long enough to be indicted for war crimes.

Posted by: spinoza | Mar 26 2012 21:06 utc | 90

spinoza: Absolutely, he really should.

Earlier this week former US Vice-President Dick Cheney, the dominant, hands-on operative in the two-term presidency of George W. Bush, cancelled a speaking engagement in Toronto on April 24. Through a spokesperson Cheney indicated he was frightened to return to Canada after his experience last September 26 at the Vancouver Club. After promoting his book to a small local audience Cheney spent several hours hiding out in the posh venue trying to outwait several hundred citizen jurists, some of whom were planning to attempt a citizens’ arrest of the credibly-accused war criminal right on the spot.

Posted by: Alexander | Mar 26 2012 21:26 utc | 92

re 90
OT – Cheney got his heart transplant. Although some are saying he is to old to save, I’m hoping he lives long enough to be indicted for war crimes.
Me, I think it must be terrible for the relatives to think that their loved one has died in order to provide Dick Cheney with a heart. They must be beaming hatred, and hope that the heart will stop.

Posted by: alexno | Mar 26 2012 21:31 utc | 94

“What do William Kristol, Norman Podhoretz, Elliot Abrams, and Robert Kagan have in common? Yes, they are all die-hard hawks who have gained control of U.S. foreign policy since the 9/11 attacks. But they are also part of one big neoconservative family — an extended clan of spouses, children, and friends who have known each other for generations.
All in the Neocon Family by jim lobe, a jewish american, appearing at alternet

Posted by: retreatingbladestall | Mar 26 2012 21:43 utc | 96

re 93
@ alexno 91
what i’d like to know, is… how did france go from “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” to mainstays of the neocon PNAC project?
The main change is that from Chirac to Sarkozy, who is notoriously pro-American. His first holiday, as president, was among the US elite on the New England coast. He has retreated from that since, but still…
The change of French foreign policy precedes Sarkozy. I remember a meeting at the Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, where I was told it was no longer the policy of France to oppose the US.

Posted by: alexno | Mar 26 2012 21:56 utc | 98

re 99, see 98.
It’s easy for the French government to go from a policy of accepting immigrants, to one of forbiding them entry.
The policy will not have much effect. Maghrebis are there, and governemnt acts will not uproot them.

Posted by: alexno | Mar 26 2012 22:41 utc | 100