121Contact

May 27 2012 Dept. of Homeland Security Forced to Release List of Keywords Used to Monitor Social Networking Sites

Forbes reports: Dept. of Homeland Security Forced to Release List of Keywords Used to Monitor Social Networking Sites

And 121Contact comments: Make no mistake, the DHSS word list is an attack on our domestic security. Whether or not it is a practice drill, this exercise by law enforcement is a toxic  intrusion and a threat to our security. This Homeland Security response marks an epidemic of paranoia that pervades the DHS, FEMA, USCG, CBP, USSS, NOC, ICE, CIA, DEA, SBI, FBI, ATF, CIS, FAMS, TSA, FAA, and the UN.

Are we to be taken hostage  by this breach of our constitution? We think the police would be focused on organized crime, gangs, looting, shootings, riots, and national security, not on the recovery  of certain words and phrases. We cannot recall an outbreak, or plague, of government intrusion in the name of emergency response that equals this plume of infection of our ‘free’ space.  

What’s next in this assassination of freedom? Is the agent/air marshall sitting next to me reporting me for saying, “This word screening makes for an explosive political standoff.”?

[The full list is on the Forbes site.]

May 13 2012 Be fair to Lt. Col. Dooley: Was his Military College Islam course fair?

OK, let's be fair. Let's judge him by his own words. Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley is the instructor whose course was suspended by the military when complaints were made about it's portayal of Islam and Muslims.

Was he being fair when he said:

a) “Islam has already declared war on the West” [1]

b) “Islam (as it currently defines itself) is an ideology rather than solely a religion” [1]

c) [We have the] “option once again of taking war to a civilian  population wherever necessary (the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki being applicable to the Mecca and Medina destruction DP in Phase Ill).” [1]

a) paints Islam as monolithic and, therefore, paints each and every Muslim as our enemy,

b) frees us from constitutional considerations concerning freedom of religion, and

c) gives us freedom from guilt about killing innocent civilians, should we choose to bomb/nuke/annihilate men, women, and children going about their daily business, unrelated to any combat situation.

Fair? Not really.

How on earth did the U.S. Military allow this bigoted hate monger access to our officers? His lies and distortions can be easily recognized and just as easily dissembled by anyone with a bit of intelligence. Who let this dog out? Doesn't anyone with even a bit of intelligence pay attention to what is being proposed as training material?

I guess not. Today's New York Times ran an article that included this evidence of ignorance on the part of our training personnel: "A lesson given by an American police instructor to a class of Iraqi trainees neatly encapsulated the program’s failings. There are two clues that could indicate someone is planning a suicide attack, the instructor said: a large bank withdrawal and heavy drinking. The problem with that advice...was that few Iraqis have bank accounts and an extremist Sunni Muslim bent on carrying out a suicide attack is likely to consider drinking a cardinal sin. [NYTimes]

Hang down your head, Dooley. Hang down your head and cry for the pain you are trying to initiate; for the insult your teachings deliver to over 1.6 billion Muslims; for...ah, fahgeddaboudid. You probably will never understand anything outside your tiny worldview.

[1] These are direct quotes from his PDF presentation file: dooley_counter_jihad_op_design_v11.pdf

May 13, 2012 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

May 12 2012 Whitney Biennial: How do you REALLY feel?

            

N and I hit the biennial with Ben yesterday. We had free passes so we figured the impact of a truly awful (as predicted by us based upon past esperience) would shield us from major trauma, but NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's Ben's take:

And one last comment about the Biennial, and then I'll put it to rest. I mean Bruce,
this is a major museum for American art, and that mishmash of nonsense is the best
they can come up with? You and I have seen better 'lousy' artworks in our accidental
gallery-hoppings downtown. I'd just like to have 20 minutes with the Whitney's board
of directors and staff of curators, before I'd ban the whole kaboodle of them to new
careers as Wal-Mart checkers in Fargo or Tuscaloosa. The thing is, even with the few
good artists on display, the show was mostly 4 floors of the OBLIGATORY BULLSHIT! The
usual construction-site diorama with wires hanging from the ceiling, a gossimer cobweb
thingy, torn clothes draped in the breeze, weird sculptures done by autistics, slide
shows of meaningless family pics via noisy projectors, (and watch out for the soccer
ball on the floor!), badly focused videos from any 3rd rate nightclub in the city,
'performers' who can't sing OR play the piano, AND, let's not forget the MUST-HAVE
room full of eclectic garage-sale junk from someone's basement, randomly arrayed!
Yeah... ART! At least according to the Whitney. Worst compilation by a big NYC museum
that I've ever seen? Probably. And so I was EMBARRASSED! And a bit ashamed. (For the
tourists and visitors who payed 25 bucks to walk through that mess. And you know me,
I talk to everyone, and the few folks I chatted with at the Whitney yesterday, who
were politely mostly scratching their heads... I implored them to skip the Guggenheim
or MoMA, and just walk over to the MET, where whether for some modern or old, they'll
find some great art and get back to reality!)

But then for some friends who are art-lovers, I'm actually recommending that they see
the Biennial. Just to see HOW BAD the show is, and how 9th rate the Whitney has become.

And OKAY/OKAY, I can hear you groaning for me to SHUT THE FUCK UP! And so I will!

 

I gotta say, even thought there were a few pieces I really did like, this was the weakest biennial I've ever seen, and I'm glad we didn't have to pay.

b

p.s. by some fluke I lost all my pics from the day (Yes, the camera is new and I am old). I stole this one from the net. 

Yes, we get it. It evokes countless paintings of artists studios, but it's REAL, not painted (including a rather boring (perhaps bored of talking to all the bored patrons passing through) live artist to talk to.. We get it. It evokes artists who could/can draw/paint/evoke, and affect...

I guess we were hoping for more.

May 12 2012 U.S. Advocated Nuclear Attack on Mecca: total war on Islam

Bigotry has become part of the fabric of the United States Military and Police Departments. Anti-Muslim propaganda is being made part of the training of officers. Mainstream Islam is being portrayed as an enemy of the U.S. Blind, unfounded fear of 'the other' is being encouraged.

The American national media has been slow to follow up on the few stories that have appeared. (Is Wired part of mainstream media?)  It was Wired that broke the most recent story, "U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam."  The article points out that "For the better part of the last decade, a small cabal of self-anointed counter-terrorism experts has been working its way through the U.S. military, intelligence and law enforcement communities, trying to convince whoever it could that America’s real terrorist enemy wasn’t al-Qaida — but the Islamic faith itself.

The instructor, Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley, still has his job as the military 'investigates.'The the commandant” of the school is Maj. Gen. Joseph Ward.

The FBI and police departments have also hosted trainings which espouse blanket anti-Muslim distortions and lies.  "FBI Teaches Agents: ‘Mainstream’ Muslims Are ‘Violent, Radical’" Counterterrorism agents are taught that “main stream” [sic] American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers; that the Prophet Mohammed was a “cult leader”; and that the Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than a “funding mechanism for combat.”

Police officers in New York City were shown the film The Third Jihad whose violent imagery and shots of executed children makes the claim that American Muslims of all stripes are in the midst of an effort to seize control of the country; the third phase of an ongoing "1,400-year war". [The Guardian] Police Commissioner Ray Kelly downplayed the importance of the training and lied about the number of officers who had seen the film.

Bigotry and fear are greater threats to America than Muslim extremists. They have the power to tear us apart, eat away at our constitution, and turn us into a police state. Major General Frederick Rudesheim's report on how Dooley's course was approved in the first place is due May 24, 2012.

 

 

footnoted:

Dooley was not the only one spewing hateful rhetoric during his eight-week course.

Others included:

Shireen Burki, an “independent consultant/trainer and writer on subjects relating to as [sic] South Asia/Middle East; counter terrorism and strategic communication”  who called Obama “bin Laden’s dream candidate” and called Islam “an Imperialist/Conquering Religion.”

Stephen Coughlin, an individual who was fired from his position consulting the military Joint Staff who said that al Qaeda helped overthrow Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Qaddafi as part of a scheme to take over the world while mocking those who disagreed.

John Guandolo, a former FBI employee who told World Net Daily that Obama has fallen under the influence of Islamic extremists and attempted to justify the Crusades by saying they “were initiated after hundreds of years of Muslim incursion into Western lands.”

 

 

 

 

 

May 8, 2012 NRA invades Iraq: New gun laws ensure peace and tranquility

In a startling development the U.S. National Rifle Association has successfully invaded Iraq.No American media has reported on the issue, nor have they reported on the the following:

CRI (1) reports that the Iraqi government on Sunday legalized the possession of one gun in each house in the country, as Iraqi army soldiers started the gradual handover of security control to the police, government officials said.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said in a statement that the Iraqi security authority "decided to license a rifle or a pistol in each house, on condition that the owner must register it (the gun) in the nearest police station."

Violence in Iraq has ebbed from its climax in 2006 and 2007 when sectarian conflicts pushed the country to the brink of a civil war, but sporadic shootings and bombings still occur across the country.

That Maliki's government decided the best way to still the violence is to arm each household can only be explained by a coordinated and evidently successful  attack by the NRA. 
No NRA spokesperson agreed to comment. (Actually, no NRA spokesperson was asked to comment.)

1) China Radio International , (CRI) is the only overseas broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CRI was founded on December 3, 1941 and is owned and operated by the state. CRI is one of the "three central media organizations in China" along with China National Radio (CNR) and China Central Television (CCTV).

 

May 1 2012 Karzia/Obama: A Harmony of Erosion of Civil Liberties

The Afghan Peace Volunteers remind us that “Today, Afghanistan and the U.S. initialed and locked the text of the strategic partnership agreement,” said Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi. “This means the text is closed…”

The Obama administration's continued assault on civil liberties gained a new partner as Karzai agreed to keep the U.S./Afghanistan agreement a secret from the public. How many troops will remain? For how long? Will U.S. assassinations/drone strikes in Afghanistan continue? By whose orders? What will the level of military aid be?

The Public: That's the Afghan citizen whose life is directly affected by this agreement. They have a right to know. You Think!?

The Public: That's you, boss. You who are supposed to be intelligently informed so that you may better govern yourselves. Democracy gives you the vote, but with less and less knowledge of what your elected representatives do (enact, attack, choose to assassinate, support, agree to) your vote becomes more meaningless. (with your power to vote). You have a right to know. You Think!?

"A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." - James Madison, 1822  OMG, he could actually see into the future...

We brought Democracy to Afghanistan, but we stifle one of the most important powers of the people: the right to know. We are beginning to live the farce and generate the tragedy that Madison envisioned.

For those too lazy to click the links: The Afghan Peace Volunteers are a grassroots group of ordinary Afghans seeking a life of non-violence, the unity of all people, equality, and self-reliance. ‘I wish to live without wars.’ An Afghan boy Abdulai, 15 year old student and farmer... [Read more of this review]

 

 

April 1 2012 Getting Rachel Maddow's "Drift", The Constitution, and you.

Rachel Maddow's "Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power"  is a sometimes humorous look (she can't help it) at:

1-the depressing distance the American Government has put between itself (especially the Executive) and the Constitution,

2-the depressing extent to which the Military operates beyond the knowledge and control of the legislature (let's hear it for the Contractors, public and private), and

3-the depressing state of our Nuclear Arsenal and its attendant, uselessly rising, costs.

One of the first things many Iraqi refugees we met in New York said, with uniform incredulity, was "There's no war here." This book goes a long way to explaining why.

It is the unmooring of the American people from the realities of our foreign policy actions that is most worrisome to me.

Did you know that in the last 2 years there were 182 U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan? [New America Foundation] Some 1,280 people died in these dronings. Most of America knows nothing about this.

U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye the number of nations in which U.S. Special Forces will be operating in 2012 "will likely reach 120." [Nick Turse, Salon] This includes operations in which there are only Contractors with no legal accountability.

Unfortunately, Maddow's proscription for change fails to move me to more optimism. Her ideas are fine. "Let's do away with the secret military" is a good thought, but how? How can this trend of out-of-popular-control be reversed?

It will take a transformation of the American psyche. More facts will help. Exposing the truth of the extralegal, extraconstiturional, beyond oversight mechanisms [like Maddow's "Drift"] will help, but the change must be deeper than statistics. Our failure to act to oppose and change these systems is not just a deficit of information. It is a moral failure. I must admit that the solution eludes me.

 

March 29 2012 You can easily help prevent destruction in Iraq and Turkey

We've done a lot to destroy much of Iraq. YOU CAN HELP PREVENT FURTHER DESTRUCTION OF THE SOUTHERN MARSHES. A proposed dam on the Tigris River in Mesopotamia will have a devastating effect on parts of Turkey and Iraq. Particularly, the unique antique town Hasankeyf, with a past of at least 10,000 year of continuous settlement, in the mainly Kurdish populated Southeast of Turkey and  Marshlands in South of Iraq, the largest wetlands of the Middle East cultivated by Millions of “Marsh Arabs“, are threatened by the Ilisu Dam. It is one of the most controversial dams in the world.
[IRAQ CIVIL SOCIETY]  HAS THE FULL STORY.

Sign the petition at: UNESCO

The marshes, ordered destroyed by Sadaam, [in an attempt to drive out Shi'a opposition groups in southern Iraq] were a  part of a traditional culture that depended upon them for their livelihood. Rich in fish and fowl, they were referred to as the original Garden of Eden.

For some time, there have been efforts to develop plans to restore the Mesopotamian marshes and return the Ma'dan people to their ancestral homes. There are now two major projects to restore the Marshes. The first to start working was AMAR (Assisting Marsh Arabs and Refugees), which is helping the Ma'dan people to survive in the refugee camps in Iran, and has also done a considerable amount of research on the ecology and hydrology of the Marshes from the scientific literature. The second project, Eden Again, is a more recently initiated program sponsored by the Iraq Foundation and the U.S. Department of State to develop a viable plan to restore the Marshes. The Eden Again Project, led by project directors Dr. Azzam and Dr. Suzanne Alwash, and project manager Michelle Stevens, is developing a hydrological model to determine how much water will be needed to restore the marshlands, how to reintroduce the ecologically important springtime flood pulse, and how best to wash out accumulated salts and pollutants. Project members are also examining remote sensing data from satellite photos to define habitat types within the marshlands, and are compiling a list of focal plant and animal species that can serve as biological indicators of successful habitat restoration. Eden Again is also working with representatives of the Ma'dan people to find out what they need in order for them to eventually return to their homes in the Marshes. According to Dr. Stevens, the two projects, AMAR and Eden Again, have been working together to come up with a comprehensive plan to restore the Marshes. Whereas AMAR tends to emphasize human needs more strongly, Eden Again is more focused on restoring the environment of the Marshes. There is, however, considerable overlap between the efforts of the two projects, which gives both the potential to devise a truly comprehensive program to restore the Mesopotamian marshlands to their former splendor. [Iowa State University] http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/marshes.htm

March 26 2012 ...governmental infrastructure complicit in the growth of anti-muslim sentiment...?

Is the U.S. governmental infrastructure complicit in the growth of anti-muslim sentiment?  

An internal FBI investigation into its counter terrorism training has purged hundreds of bureau documents of instructional material about Muslims, some of which characterized them as prone to violence or terrorism. [wired.com] This spread of bias at the top of law enforcement cannot help but trickle down in the worst way.

New York City's Mayor ( M. Bloomberg)and its Police Commissioner (R.  Kelly) both defend the patently illegal spying on Mosques, Muslim Community and College groups, and individual Muslims in all walks of life without any other reason save that they are Muslim. [Huffington Post] This effectively plans the seeds of bias in the general population.

The difference in the speed of attention paid by federal law enforcement to the cases of Shaima Alawadi and Trayvon Martin emphasizes alack of concern about anti-Muslim violence. The former murder remains a local issue, while the latter has attracted Federal attention. Shaima's murder, as a hate crime requires, by the  1994 Federal law#103-322A, the same level of attention from the Feds.

The 50% increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2011 alone [The Atlantic] would seem to indicate that the Feds, and New York City's self-appointed illegal spies, should focus a bit more on American terrorists who target Muslims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 3 2012 Shaima Alawadi is not Trayvon Martin.

Shaima Alawadi is not Trayvon Martin, and the responses to their murders are not the same. Who is demonstrating against the terrorism that killed Shaima? Where are the Muslims and their supporters? Why aren't they in the streets insisting that the government pay more attention to anti-Muslim terrorism?

Is it too early to expect U.S. Muslims to follow the proscription to "promote good; forbid evil"? Promoting good is not passive. It calls for one to enter the public sphere and take part in the fight for justice for all. The price of silence is extraordinarily high.

Our government is spending inordinate amounts of money spying on Muslims because they are Muslims. How about a more focus on the terrorists who are actually killing Muslims?