What's wrong with Fusion Centers

If the federal government announced it was creating a new domestic intelligence agency made up of over 800,000 operatives dispersed throughout every American city and town, filing reports on even themost common everyday behaviors, Americans would revolt. Yet this is exactly what the Bush administrationis trying to do with its little-noticed National Strategy for Information Sharing, which establishes state, local and regional “fusion centers” as a primary mechanism for the collection and disseminationof domestic intelligence.1In November 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union issued a report entitled “What’s Wrong with Fusion Centers.”2 Extrapolating from a few troublesome incidents and comments made by state andfederal officials, and mindful of the nation’s long history of abuse with regard to domestic “intelligence”gathering at all levels of government, we warned about the potential dangers of these rising new institutions.We pointed out that, while diverse and often still in the early stages of formation, they oftenseem to be characterized by ambiguous lines of authority, excessive secrecy, troubling private-sectorand military participation, and an apparent bent toward suspicionless information collection and datamining. We urged policymakers to examine this incipient network of institutions closely and, at a minimum,to put rigorous safeguards in place to ensure that fusion centers would not become the meansfor another wave of such abuses.In the six months since our report, new press accounts have borne out many of our warnings. In justthat short time, news accounts have reported overzealous intelligence gathering, the expansion ofuncontrolled access to data on innocent people, hostility to open government laws, abusive entanglementsbetween security agencies and the private sector, and lax protections for personally identifiable information.Overall, it is becoming increasingly clear that fusion centers are part of a new domestic intelligence apparatus. The elements of this nascent domestic surveillance system include:• Watching and recording the everyday activities of an ever-growing list of individuals• Channeling the flow of the resulting reports into a centralized security agency• Sifting through (“data mining”) these reports and databases with computers to identify individualsfor closer scrutinySuch a system, if allowed to permeate our society, would be nothing less than the creation of a total surveillancesociety.Recent reports have confirmed each of these elements.MONITORING EVERYDAY BEHAVIORIn April 2008, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times both reported on a new Los AngelesPolice Department order that compels LAPD officers to begin reporting “suspicious behaviors” in additionto their other duties—creating a stream of “intelligence” about a host of everyday activities that,according to documents, will be fed to the local fusion center.3FUSION CENTER UPDATE 1FUSION CENTER UPDATE

Whose Country is it anyway?

A political-economic oligarchy has taken over

the United States of America
By Prof. John Kozy
Global Research, July 4, 2009

A political-economic oligarchy has taken over the United States of America. This oligarchy has institutionalized a body of law that protects businesses at the expense of not only the common people but the nation itself.
CNN interviewed a person recently who was seriously burned when his vehicle burst into flames because a plastic brake-fluid reservoir ruptured. Having sued Chrysler, he was now concerned that its bankruptcy filing would enable Chrysler to avoid paying any damages. A CNN legal expert called this highly likely, since the main goal of reorganization in bankruptcy is preserving the company’s viability and that those creditors who could contribute most to attaining that goal would be compensated first while those involved in civil suits against the company would be placed lowest on the creditor list since compensating them would lessen the chances of the company’s surviving. This rational clearly implies that the preservation of companies is more important than the preservation of people. Of course, similar cases have been reported before. The claims of workers for unpaid wages have often been dismissed as have their contracts for benefits.
But there is an essential difference between a business that lends money or delivers products or services to another company and the employees who work for it. Business is an activity that supposedly involves risk. Employment is not. Neither is unknowingly buying a defective product. Workers and consumers do not extend credit to the companies they work for or buy products from. They are not in any normal sense of the word “creditors.” Yet that distinction is erased in bankruptcy proceedings which preserve companies at the public’s expense. ( learn more at )

Police departments with

heavy artillery

Federal program donates surplus weapons

Veronica Cintron


WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Like other law enforcers, West Springfield officers carry the usual handguns, handcuffs, pepper spray and ammunition.
Unlike most police departments, this particular police force is also equipped with 2 grenade launchers, 4 M-14 semi-automatic rifles and one M-21 sniper rifle.

According to the Boston Globe, West Springfield is one of 82 Massachusetts police departments that have obtained military surplus weapons over the last 15 years as part of a federal program.
West Springfield Police Chief Thomas Burke told 22News, the grenade launchers can be used to fire tear gas in the event of a riot or a standoff.

He says his officers are trained to use them if needed. "We haven't had to use this particular type of weapon but we have it in case we did," he said.
Chief Burke added that taxpayers already paid for the guns and it would be a waste to have them destroyed. For the department, owning these weapons also means not having to wait for State Police to respond to a major emergency.
The bottom line, he said it's better to be prepared than sorry.
There are a handful of western Massachusetts police departments that have obtained military weapons from this federal program. Westfield has more than 30 rifles. Monson has 6 and Belchertown has 4

The Bush's really believe in the USA or

The Bush's leave

before the fall of the USA

US EMBASSY DENIES THE EXISTENCE OF

BUSH LANDHOLDINGS IN PARAGUAY

The Chaco takes up about 60% of Paraguay and has less than 3% of the population. It is desolate and beyond what we think of as backward or "civilized." It is in this vast and remote region-- no towns, no roads, people don't even speak Spanish here-- that Bush is rumored to have bought his gigantic estate. When rumors first started surfacing about it people assumed he would be using it as a backup in case he had to escape the war crimes charges that could well come after he is out of office. In Latin America the suspicion is that he was making a play for the area's huge acquifer which is said to be more valuable than an oil field, at least for those who think in terms of generations when doing their financial planning. That the two Bush daughters have been down here a few times has added fuel to the fire. I reported the rumors at Down With Tyranny but I wasn't certain it was actually true, even after reading quotes from the governor of the province and other Paraguayan public officials.
Since I got to Paraguay I've been trying to track down the ranch-- with no luck. Some people swear it is true--as did the Paraguayan consul in the U.S. I had spoken to-- and some say it is just a fake rumor. In any case, everyone agrees it would be virtually impossible to find out for sure because the region is so vast and remote. The desk clerk at the Sheraton suggested I hire a private plane to find it since there aren't even roads, let alone buses. ( learn more at )

Update Bush Family Residence in Paraguay?

Written by April Howard

�Upside Down World October 11, 2006 Note:

all links are to Spanish/Portuguese websites apart from the final "Moonshine" link.

The Governor of Alto Paraguay, Erasmo Rodr刕uez Acosta has admitted to hearing that George Bush Sr. owns land in the Chaco region of Paraguay, in Paso de Patria. Acosta says that rumor has it that Bush owns near to 70 thousand hectares (173,000 acres) as part of an ecological reserve and/or ranch. However, the governor said he had no documents to prove the rumor. Acosta said that some stories credited the land to the Fundaci� Patria, which Bush would be a member of.
The spokespeople of the organization were not available to comment. Supposedly, Timothy Towell, the U.S. Ambassador in Asunci� (the capital of Paraguay) is the present administrator of the land. First accounts signaled that Bush had acquired 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) in the Chaco zone of Fuerte Olimpo, near the Bolivian Border. A spark of the interest in this property may have been Jenna Bush's private visit to Paraguay with Unicef, which started Saturday, October 7, 2006. Supposedly Jenna will travel to the ranch to ''observe'' several indigenous villages are located on the property. http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/457/0/
Also see: Moonshine http://rigint.blogspot.com/2006/10/moonshadow.html

The Great Bank Robbery:

How the Federal Reserve

is destroying America
By Robert Bridge
Global Research, June 30, 2009

Russia Today

As global leaders struggle to rescue their nations from economic breakdown, the legitimacy of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is under attack. Perhaps the problem lies with the Fed.
A large part of the “super” in the American superpower is based on the modern creed of liberal democracy, which serves as the motor of free-market capitalism. And the lubricant that keeps this colossal machine humming at full speed 24/7 is the US dollar. So before we risk any conjectures on the future prospects of America’s versatile banknote, which presently serves as the ‘world’s reserve currency,’ perhaps we should know more about who controls it.
In the Fed We Trust
It usually comes as a shock to people – especially diehard Americans who place infinite trust in their sacred Constitution – when they discover that the US dollar is not a product of the American government. That’s right, fellow consumers, that crumpled wad of dollars in your pocket is the product of the U.S. Federal Reserve, and despite the very official title, is about as “federal” as Federal Express. The reality is that the U.S. Federal Reserve is a profit-making venture just like Wal-Mart, General Motors or McDonald’s.
Yet the US Constitution clearly states (Article 1, Section 8) that one of the many functions of government is to “coin money, regulate the value thereof.” Indeed, this task was deemed so important that the Founding Fathers mentioned it ahead of the obligation to “raise and support armies.” The Constitution says absolutely nothing about outside parties being responsible for printing money or regulating interest rates. ( learn more at )

The Truth Behind The Iraq “Sovereignty”

Propaganda Hundreds of thousands of U.S.

troops to remain stationed at dozens of U.S.

military bases throughout the country
By Paul Joseph Watson
Global Research, July 1, 2009Prison Planet - 2009-06-30

The corporate media is getting all giddy and affording blanket coverage to the story of Iraqis who are “regaining their sovereignty” as U.S. troops are pulled out from Iraqi cities. This is of course lurid and baseless propaganda - hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq stationed at the dozens of military bases that have been built across the country.
“As of now, there are approximately 130,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. Most of the U.S. soldiers that had been deployed in Iraqi cities are being returned to garrison elsewhere in country. The United States Air Force controls Iraq’s airspace. The United States Navy controls Iraq’s territorial waters,” points out the Cryptogon blog.
“Sovereignty: No. Propaganda: Yes.”
After the “official” full withdrawal date of 2011, which Admiral Mike Mullen has indicated isn’t even guaranteed, “Mr. Obama plans to leave behind a “residual force” of tens of thousands of troops to continue training Iraqi security forces, hunt down foreign terrorist cells and guard American institutions,” reported the New York Times back in February.
“Residual force” is a euphemism for “occupying army,” since only the most stupidly naive could ever believe that Iraq is now nothing more than a subservient client state of the new world order empire.
A senior military officer spelled it out more plainly to the Los Angeles Times, “When President Obama said we were going to get out within 16 months, some people heard, ‘get out,’ and everyone’s gone. But that is not going to happen,” the officer said. ( learn more at )

The Launching of U.S. Cyber

Command (CYBERCOM).

Offensive Operations

in Cyberspace
By Tom Burghardt
Global Research, July 1, 2009Antifascist Calling... - 2009-06-30

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed a memorandum on June 23 that announced the launch of U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM). A scheme by securocrats in the works for several years, the order specifies that the new office will be a "subordinate unified command" under U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM).
According to the memorandum, CYBERCOM "will reach initial operating capability (IOC) not later than October 2009 and full operating capability (FOC) not later than October 2010."
Gates has recommended that this new Pentagon domain be led by Lt. General Keith Alexander, the current Director of the ultra-spooky National Security Agency (NSA). Under the proposal, Alexander would receive a fourth star and the new agency would be based at Ft. Meade, Maryland, NSA's headquarters.
Gates' memorandum specifies that CYBERCOM "must be capable of synchronizing warfighting effects across the global security environment as well as providing support to civil authorities and international partners." (learn more at )

H.R. 675: Building Obama’s

Civilian National Security Force
By Kurt Nimmo
Global Research, June 29, 2009

Infowars.com - 2009-06-23

In January, without any recognizable corporate media coverage, Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat, introduced H.R. 675. The bill would amend title 10 of the United States Code and extend to civilian employees of the Department of Defense the authority to execute warrants, make arrests, and carry firearms. The bill was referred to the Armed Services Committee on January 26, 2009.
Filner’s bill would amend the United States code with the following: “Sec. 1585b. Law enforcement officers of the Department of Defense: authority to execute warrants, make arrests, and carry firearms… for any offense against the United States.” (Emphasis added.)
The Posse Comitatus Act, passed on June 18, 1878 after the end of Reconstruction, limits the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The Act prohibits members of the federal uniformed services from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain “law and order” on non-federal property within the United States.
H.R. 675 sidesteps Posse Comitatus by defining “law enforcement officer of the Department of Defense” as “a civilian employee of the Department of Defense,” including federal police officers, detectives, criminal investigators, special agents, and game law enforcement officers classified by the Office of Personnel Management Occupational Series 0083 (the United States Office of Personnel Management is described as an “independent agency” of the U.S. government that manages the civil service of the federal government).

In 2005, the Office of Personnel Management partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to create a “21st century human resources management system that fully supports the Department’s vital mission,” according to then Office of Personnel Management Associate Director for Strategic Human Resources Policy Ron Sanders.
At approximately the same time, the DoD issued a Defense Directive 1404.10 (read PDF) that establishes a “DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce” and rescinds a prior Clinton era directive dealing with the emergency use of civilian personnel. The Obama administration describes the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce as follows:
Members of the DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce shall be organized, trained, cleared, equipped, and ready to deploy in support of combat operations by the military; contingencies; emergency operations; humanitarian missions; disaster relief; restoration of order; drug interdiction; and stability operations of the Department of Defense in accordance with DoDD 3000.05
“This new directive is odd, coming as it does after campaign promises by Obama to establish a paramilitary ‘civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded’ as our military,” writes Doug Ross.
According to Sec. Def. Robert Gates, defeating terrorism will require the use of more “soft power,” with civilians contributing more in communication, economic assistance, political development and other non-military areas. “Gates called for the creation of new government organizations, including a permanent group of civilian experts with a wide range of expertise who could be sent abroad on short notice as a supplement to U.S. military efforts. And he urged more involvement by university and other private experts,” the Associated Press reported in late 2007.
It should be noted that the original Civilian Expeditionary Workforce directive mentions the term “overseas” no fewer than 33 times, while the Obama revision does not mention “overseas” at all. In other words, the revised directive is designed for “emergency operations” in the United States.
Both H.R. 675 and the DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce directive will establish civilian “soft power” under the direction of the Pentagon. Obama is now actively working to create a paramilitary “civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the military. In order to skirt Posse Comitatus, Obama’s paramilitary brownshirts will be organized and run out of the Office of Personnel Management with orders coming from the Pentagon.
In the recent past, the Pentagon sent operatives to snoop on anti-war and patriot demonstrations — for instance, Alex Jones’ protest at the Federal Reserve was monitored by the Pentagon . In the not too distant future they will likely send “civilians” with firearms and the power to arrest “rightwing extremists” who represent, according to the Department of Homeland Security and numerous federalized police agencies, “offense against the United States.”

Inquiring minds are reading Bernanke

Flubs Tryout, Still Up for Leading Role

by Caroline Baum.

Most often I agree with Caroline, but not this time.
After trashing (and rightfully so) Bernanke's last appearance before Congress, Caroline somehow arrives at the following conclusion.It would be hard to find someone more suited for the job of Fed chairman than Bernanke. His performance yesterday has nothing to do with his unique qualifications for the position. ... Unless President Barack Obama wants a solo pilot, he would do well to tap Bernanke for a second term. Let's take a look at the qualifications of which Baum speaks.
Ten Qualifications
1) Bernanke is either a liar or has a memory problem. I believe the former. Either way, there is a problem when a Fed chairman cannot recall a conversation with another Fed governor over something as critical as the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch merger. See Bernanke Suffers From Selective Memory Loss; Paulson Calls Bank of America "Turd in the Punchbowl" for my take.
2) Bernanke claims to be a student of the great depression yet amazingly concludes the cause was misguided Fed policy after the stock market crash. This is nonsense. The cause of the great depression and the cause of the current depression (yes we are in a depression), is the massive expansion of credit and debt fostered by the Fed itself. Bernanke is no student of history, he is a dunce.

3) Bernanke has on many occasions promised transparency. This is an outright lie. There is no transparency and Bloomberg has filed freedom of information lawsuits requesting information that should have been disclosed. Moreover, Congress had to subpoena the Fed in regards to the Bank of America / Merrill Lynch shotgun wedding which is how we know about Bernanke's selective memory loss. What else is Bernanke hiding?

4) Bernanke is creative. Some might think creativity is a positive attribute. It is, for a design engineer. Unfortunately creativity is not a good attribute for a Fed chairman. This whole mess was sponsored by the Fed when Greenspan got creative with interest rate policy. Bernanke is light-years more creative than Greenspan as witnessed by an amazing array of Fed lending facilities and the ballooning of the Fed's balance sheet swapped for garbage collateral. The unintended consequences of Bernanke's extraordinary actions are coming down the road. We do not even know what those consequences are. However, we do know that the Fed has no exit policy, and will come up with one by the seat of Bernanke's pants on the fly. Given there is no need for the Fed at all, the last thing we need is for a creative Fed.

5) Bernanke supports policies of theft. Proof of this is easy to establish. Bernanke favors a policy of 2% inflation, and inflation is theft. How so? Inflation benefits those with first access to money: governments, banks, and the wealthy. Government benefits when property taxes rise more than wages, banks benefit by borrowing money into existence, and the already wealthy benefit by being next in line for access to cheap money. By the time those low on the totem pole have access to cheap money, asset prices are already through the moon. Moreover, those with enough common sense to avoid the bubbles, get nothing for their money sitting in the bank. The middle class has been ravished by inflation, and Bernanke supports that inflation.

Please note that Bernanke cannot even follow his own mandate. Wherewas Bernanke when property and commodity prices were soaring? The answer is he was ignoring them. Thus we see the one sided nature of Bernanke's policies. He let home prices soar, and now that they are crashing looks to support them. By the way, this is not just Bernanke, this is a symptom of central bankers in general.

6) Bernanke cannot dissent. As a member of the Greenspan Fed, Bernanke went along with everything Greenspan did. It is clear Greenspan failed. Thus it is clear that Bernanke failed by supporting Greenspan's policies.

7) Bernanke supports policies of outright fraud. Fractional reserve lending is a fraud. Please consider Murray N. Rothbard and the Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar in which Rothbard condemned fractional reserve banking as a violation of contract. "In my view, issuing promises to pay on demand in excess of the amount of the goods on hand is simply fraud, and should be so considered by the legal system. For this means that a bank issues "fake" warehouse receipts — warehouse receipts, for example, for ounces of gold that do not actually exist in the vaults. This is legalized counterfeiting; this is the creation of money without the necessity of production, to compete for resources against those who have produced. In short, I believe that fractional-reserve banking is disastrous both for the morality and for the fundamental bases and institutions of the market economy...."

8) Bernanke could not spot the housing bubble. Amazingly Bernanke thought the housing bubble was "well contained" right before it exploded in his face. Of course there is another possibility: Bernanke is a liar and knew it was not contained but did not want to say so.

9) Bernanke has no idea where interest rates should be. Of course no one else does either. But Bernanke thinks he does. The result is overshooting interest rate policy in both directions, just as Greenspan did. This is the Fed Uncertainty Principle Corollary Number One in action: The Fed has no idea where interest rates should be. Only a free market does. The Fed will be disingenuous about what it knows (nothing of use) and doesn't know (much more than it wants to admit), particularly in times of economic stress.

10) Bernanke is a power grabbing hack. This is the Fed Uncertainty Principle Corollary Number Two in action: The government/quasi-government body most responsible for creating this mess (the Fed), will attempt a big power grab, purportedly to fix whatever problems it creates. The bigger the mess it creates, the more power it will attempt to grab. Over time this leads to dangerously concentrated power into the hands of those who have already proven they do not know what they are doing.
Summary:
Bernanke is a disingenuous liar with a memory problem. He is also an economic dunce who does not understand the cause of great depression nor could he spot a housing/credit bubble visible to nearly every blogger in the country. However, like his mentor Greenspan, Bernanke believes that every problem can be cured by throwing money at it. Finally, he is a creative, political power grabbing hack who gives memorable speeches about throwing money out of helicopters.
I have to hand it to Caroline. That is indeed a unique set of qualifications.
Bernanke’s four-year term ends in February, let us hope he is gone. Better yet, it's time to Audit the Fed Then End It!

U.S. Intelligence Reports Continue to

Confuse Political Dissent with Terrorism
April 15th, 2009 by Harley Geiger

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intelligence assessment was published to the Internet this week, warning that opposition to federal government policies could foment a resurgence of “rightwing extremism.” The DHS report is the latest indication that many law enforcement agencies regard advocacy groups as intelligence targets and lawful political dissent as a potential sign of terrorism.
In addition to the recession and the election of Barack Obama, the DHS report identified opposition to illegal immigration, expanded social programs, abortion and gun control as factors galvanizing radicalization. No specific groups are listed; instead, the DHS report broadly characterizes these potential terrorists as either “primarily hate-oriented” or “mainly anti-government.” Some conservatives and libertarians take the report as an indictment of their values. However, this is not a left-versus-right issue, and those blogs framing it that way are missing the point. Rather, the real problem is figuring out how lawful dissent squares with efforts to fight terrorism and the persistent inability of domestic intelligence agencies to adequately draw the distinction. ( learn more at )

US states’ budget crisis sets stage for

new attack on the working class
by Tom Eley

By Tuesday, many US state governments must pass budgets for the coming fiscal year. The state capitals are now the scene of bitter feuding among governors and legislators over how the deficits will be met. But there is unanimity that the working class must foot the bill.
Forty-six states confront significant deficits, and their collective shortfall for 2010 stands at more than $130 billion. This comes after a $104 billion deficit in 2009, for a two-year total of $234 billion in red ink—$91 billion more than President Barack Obama’s stimulus package allocated to all municipalities and the 50 states for the next two years.
At its heart, the state budget crises are driven by the recession and the impoverishment of the working class. Layoffs and wage cuts are rapidly diminishing returns on state and local taxation—income, sales, and property taxes. At the same time, increasing numbers of unemployed workers and their families are turning to state-administered social safety programs already woefully unprepared for hard times.
Now, as the fiscal year approaches its June 30 end, the budget crisis is being used by Democratic and Republican governors alike to launch a new attack in the social position of the working class. This will be carried out through cuts to social programs, education, and transportation; layoffs and wage and benefit cuts for state workers; and regressive forms of taxation targeting the spending and income of working class households. ( learn more at )

175 California Hotels In Default; Sheraton Keahou

Bay Resort in Hawaii Defaults; More Defaults Coming

Hotel owners are facing the same problems as homeowners, being upside down on their properties with no good escape. Please consider Hotel foreclosures jump in California. ( learn more at )

Embrace Deflation - It's The Cure, Not The Problem

Concern over Japanese deflation is increasing. Please consider Japan Succumbs to Deflation as Consumer Prices Fall Record 1.1%.Japan’s consumer prices fell at a record pace in May, adding to the risk that deflation will become entrenched and hamper a rebound from the nation’s worst postwar recession.
Prices excluding fresh food slid 1.1 percent from a year earlier after dropping 0.1 percent in the preceding two months, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. It was the sharpest decrease since comparable figures were first compiled in 1971. (http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)

Computers choosing the

NO FLY LIST

Report Assessing the Impact of the Automatic Selectee and No Fly Lists

Who's A Low Level Terrorist?

Are You?

June 25th, 2009 2:53:55 PM
By Emily Spence

Recently, an American Civil Liberties Union report pointed out, "Anti-terrorism training materials currently being used by the Department of Defense (DoD) teach its personnel that free expression in the form of public protests should be regarded as ? low level terrorism?.? [1]
Despite that DoD officials removed the offensive section from their educational resources at the urging of ACLU members, the DoD stance is still troubling since a longstanding practice to designate peaceful, law abiding activists as dangerous and treasonable still exists in many government departments and agencies. Indeed the participants of the first antiwar protest against the Vietnam incursion, put together in the mid-1960's by peaceable Quakers and FOR members after having discussed Gandhi's Salt March as a model for a nonviolent demonstration, faced government operatives filming them face by face from rooftops as they moved en masse down Broadway to the UN Plaza. (My mother, a pacifist married to a World War II Conscientious Objector, and I, a child at the time of the march, both were in attendance. When the film crew focused on us, she stood tall, faced the agents with their telephoto lens, glared in disdainful defiance and, simultaneously, throw the corner of her coat over my face. Afterwards, she muttered, "How dare they try to intimidate us!")