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.]

March 25 2012 Dick Cheney's Heart

Dear Doctor,

I hereby give legal consent for the recovery of my organs, tissues and eyes for the purposes of transplantation at the time of my death except for the following:

• The appropriately named Dick Cheney,
• Donald Bombsfeld,
• ...

March 3 2012 Do you support Civilian Trials for terrorists? Open your eyes.

For those of you who so passionately support civilian trials of suspected terrorists I suggest two things:  1) a visit to FreeTarek.com, and 2) take a long hard look at our post-9/11 Justice system. You might try a visit to the Center for Consitutional Rights.

Bragging about the conviction rate of terrorists in civilian courts ignores the abolition of defendants' rights in this War on Terror that justifies so much, accomplishes so little, and alienates so many. It also has a high likelihood of putting innocent people in jail, or perhaps worse, in the endless limbo of indefinite detention.

We headed out to see Karen Malpede's Another Life at the Irondale Center last night. It'll be there until 3/24 and it's worth seeing; for the inspired writing, passionate performances, and sadly accurate skewering of America's pathetic, violent, and irrational response to 9/11.

Since October, 2009 Tarek Mehanna has been held in pre-trial 23-hour solitary confinement because he is a suspected terrorist.

Tarek's web site presents his case  quite clearly. His brother spoke after the play last night and we found him credible. Of course we haven't attended the trial, haven't read all the relevant documents, etc., and don't know if he is really guilty or not. But it is not hard to believe that he was set up, knocked down like a bowling pin, and stuck away for what could be the rest of his life. All this on what appears to be flimsy evidence at best, and possible a fabrication.

The sad state of the U. S. Constitution today:

• extraordinary rendition to make sure that torture is not done on American soil,
• the right of the President, without judicial oversight, to declare a person a valid target for assassination,
• the FBI's right to declare someone a terrorism suspect, and thereby negate his/her constitutional rights,
• the Government's, Federal and Local (e.g. New York City's Police Department) illegal surveillance and wiretapping,
• the classification of many First Amendment activities as “material support” to groups the U.S. has labeled as terrorist organizations.

Yes, the list is longer, and yes it is frightening. A whisper of fear rises at the thought of dark consequences for even mentioning his name.

Military trials for terrorists may be an abomination, but civilian trials aren't necessarily better if the interpretation of our Constitution is so distorted as to make the rights of defendants disappear.

Feb 28 2012 Mad Men: The Falling Man and 9/11

So this reporter asks me, under the guise of "I do not want to start a controversy where none exists," how I, one who lost someone on 9/11,  feel about the poster.

The first time I saw one of these posters it made me sick to my stomach..a little.

There was a day, that day, a crisp morning, when I stood beneath the towers taking photos on 9/11. I stopped when I realized I had just captured the image of a woman in a white dress, twisting down, down...I own that image in a way I detest. This was all before we knew that my nephew, Supreme Court Officer Mitch Wallace, was at the site; moments before the South Tower collapsed upon him and so many others.

I also, less frequently now, get nauseous when a low flying jet passes overhead. Living under a Brooklyn flyway lets me deal with this quite often.

If an advertising campaign (which I am now, I guess, a part of) evokes images of a horrid day, then so be it. I cannot stop the jets from flying low. I cannot stop images that remind me of 9/11 from being created.

I refuse to spend my entire existance looking through the lens of 9/11. There is more to me than grief and anger. I can only do my little bit to make for more peaceful tomorrows.

 

Nov 1 2011 Ground Zero: A Monument to Violence?

Ground Zero: A Monument to Violence?
Nov 1, 2011 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

It is with great anger and sadness that I write this piece about the monument ‘they’ are planning to site at Ground Zero.  It will carry the Green Beret motto and depict a lone U.S. commando on horseback in the Afghan mountains; a monument to violence at the very spot at which so many victims of violence were murdered. 

My anger is directed both at the group of cowardly members of Wall Street banking firms (they ask to remain anonymous) who have privately financed this monument to violence,  and to the bureaucrats  that are allowing this to go forward. Where was the public hearing?  Where was the sensitivity? 

In a particularly callous statement one of the private backers was quoted by CNN as saying, “We wanted to do [this]…because every day since 9/11, we've had to look at that hole in the ground." A statement seemingly cold to the fact that for so many Ground Zero is much more than a ‘hole in the ground.’ 

My sadness stems from the lack of compassion inherent in this proposal. We have just witnessed 10 years of useless loss and devastation as a result of our invasion and occupation of Iraq and the ongoing operations in Afghanistan. The American lives lost are countable, as are the wounded soldiers who gave so much for so little. The ‘collateral damage’ (as the military likes to refer to innocent civilians killed or wounded in or as a result of war) was enormous. Millions of displaced persons, hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, and countless wounded and traumatized victims follow in the wake of the wars. 

And this speaks nothing of the tax dollars that went from the American people into the pockets of those who profit handsomely from military actions. Don’t forget: the US10 billion dollars a month we spent (for ten years) in Iraq, did not just vanish into the air. And now we are spending that much on both Iraq and Afghanistan.   

My hope is that we can stop the statue from ever sitting at Ground Zero, and let our government, and those heartless bankers know we need monuments to peaceful solutions, not to violent profit taking.

Aug 25 2011 Iraqi-on-Iraqi Violence: Who profits?

Aug 25 2011 Iraqi-on-Iraqi Violence: Who profits?

Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

Today was a good day in Iraq. Only 6 attacks across the country were reported as Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and others turn up the heat during this ‘peaceful month’ of Ramadan. Last Monday at least 70 were killed and 200 were wounded. No claim of responsibility for these attacks was made, but Iraqi and US government officials, as well as on-the-ground reporting puts most of the blame on AQI.

Why are Iraqis killing Iraqis? Well, some of the killing, especially by AQI is done by non-Iraqis, but there is no need to beg the question. It is obvious that violence aimed at destabilizing the government security forces provides a reason for Maliki to request that US troops stay past the deadline because if there are no attacks then there is no need for US troops. This has fueled rumors of government involvement in some of the violence.

The recent announcement of US withdrawal may have triggered this current rise in attacks, but last year’s Ramada saw a parallel series of attacks by Al Qaeda. The similar coordination of the attacks across a wide area of Iraq is particularly troubling since it signals an Al Qaeda network that is widespread and coordinated despite US government claims of a weakened AQI.

 In the street: Baghdad is returning to life; restaurants, hotels, a new mall…but folks still don’t feel safe.

Many are fearful of a return to 2006 levels of civil war and violence, and this feeds some growing sentiment for US troops to remain, but most Iraqis still want America to pull out.

The focus of the attacks have changed. They’ve moved from high visibility targets with attacks aimed at garnering international publicity to attacks on local government, infrastructure, police, and army aimed at destabilizing localities and both reinforcing the fear of and establishing the strength of AQI. There has also been an increase of Shia-on-Shia violence as factions seek to position themselves for the post-US era.

 Add to all of this the increasing number of small-scale attacks on individual politicians by individuals and groups vying for power and you describe an Iraq ‘mildly’ out of control: if you can call between 300 and 500 attacks per month ‘mild’.

 The future? Hey. I’ve no crystal ball, but I think we’re looking at instability that will last for at least a generation…yes, 2030 is my horizon for peace in Iraq. At that time any Iraqi under 50 will have lived their entire lives in a state of war.

 It’s no wonder that a fog of hopelessness is settling over Iraq…One can only pray that the fledgling peace movements in Iraq will not succumb.

[thanks to Annie Gowan Washington Post http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/july-dec11/iraq2_08-16.html  , 

Michael Knights WIfNEP http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=1703

 

 

 Mohammed Towfeek CNN

 

Aug 5 2011 Iraq, Ramadan, and Evil, (plus some notes about the MEK).

Ramadan:  For so many Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a time of deep reflection and sacrifice. As in other faiths, fasting is used to increase spirituality, discipline, and consciousness of God's mercy. [Obama] A time dedicated to faith, to God, to the path.

In Iraq the lie has been put to Ramadan with an upsurge in violence reminiscent of an earlier, bloodier time. Who puts this lie? 

A small number of people, for sure. While the overwhelming majority of Iraqis enter a month of quiet reflection there exists a poisoned knot of maniacal people whose values have acquired an importance beyond the value of human life.

When what you believe in becomes more important than human life you have crosse the line to evil. Maybe even Evil.

We pray the good people of Iraq remain steadfast in thier commitment to peace and not be led into the further violence of revenge.

---and now for something completely different---

In the news, below, you see a mentions of an attack on the prominent Shia cleric Iyad Jamaluddin. It calls him a former legislator. It does not mention that he is a supporter of the Shia resistance movement in Iran (aka the mujahedin khalq, aka MEK).

(MEK), or the People's Mujahedeen Organization, was founded in 1965 as an urban guerrilla group opposed to the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It participated in the 1979 Revolution but later broke with revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini over ideology and direction. In 1981, it went underground.

Now based in Iraq and Europe, the MEK is a Marxist-Islamist opposition group that seeks the overthrow of Iran's theocratic government.

Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/02/the-mujahedeen-e-khalq-controversy.html#ixzz1U8UxHSrL

Many of their members are hiding from Iranian wrath in the North of Iraq. Iyad has called upon the Maliki government to protect them from attacks by

A rumor: he is a CIA operative. This is a totally unfounded, by me, rumor. It makes some sense in that the CIA supports the MEK and so does Jamaluddin.

 

Today in Iraq:

Baghdad:
#1: Four Iraqis have been killed in two successive bomb attacks targeting a shop selling alcohol in western Baghdad, police and health officials said. A police officer said 13 other people were injured in the blasts, which occurred in the capital's Rissala neighbourhood. He said the first bomb went off near the shop, while the second came a few minutes later as police and residents rushed to the scene. Three policemen were among those killed.

Three policemen have been injured, 15 others including 7 civilians, were injured in an explosive charge blast close to an alcohol shop south of Baghdad, a security source reported on Wednesday.

#2: Three persons have been injured, when a Katusha rocket fell close to east Baghdad’s Rusafa Prison early on Wednesday, a security source reported. “A Katusha rocket fell close to east Baghdad’s Rusafa Prison, not far from the Interior Ministry’s Headquarters on Wednesday morning, wounding 3 civilians that happened to be close to the area where the rocket fell,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, giving no further details.

Iraq’s former Legislature, Iyad Jamaluddin, has been injured when a rocket fell on his house in Baghdad’s Jadiriya district on Tuesday night, a security source reported on Wednesday. “A rocket fell on Tuesday night on the house of former Legislature, Iyad Jamaluddin in central Baghdad’s Jadiriya district, seriously wounding him and setting his house on fire,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Two policemen were wounded when a Katyusha rocket landed in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.


Hilla:
#1: Gunmen killed two taxi drivers late on Tuesday in middle of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, a local police source said.


Abu Ghraib:
#1: Two persons, one military officer, were killed and six wounded, 3 of them were soldiers, in a double bomb blasts in Abu Ghraib area, west Baghdad. The first explosion took place in front of billiard hall, while the second one occurred in the same place when army patrol arrived.


Tikrit:
#1: “An explosive charge blew of on Tuesday night against armed men, who were carrying it in their car in northern Tikrit, the center of Salahal-Din Province,” killing two of them and seriously wounding a third one,” the security source reported, charging that the armed men belong to al-Qaeda organization.


Samarra:
#1: In another incident, an explosive charge blew off on Wednesday morning against a police patrol, in central Samarra city of Salahal-Din Province, wounding a policeman and setting fire to a police car, the security source said.


Baiji:
#1: “Two other explosive charges blew off early on Wednesday against an electric pole, carrying high-tension power south of Beiji, also in Salahal-Din Province, bringing down the pole and damaging another.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two soldiers were gravely wounded today by a bomb blast directed against their patrol south of Kirkuk, security sources said.

#2: Gunmen opened fire late on Tuesday and killed an off-duty Iraqi army officer in southwest Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a source from Kirkuk's police operation centre said.

#3: A sticky bomb attached to a civilian car seriously wounded one man in southern Kirkuk, a source from Kirkuk's police operation centre said.

Aug 4 2011 Teaching 9/11: a dangerous exercise

We ran across an ad for a tele-conference about "Teaching 9/11" and were appalled when we read the list of materials, and extrapolated from that the content of the conference. 

The materials listed in the references and referenced organizations are the thinnest of ways to teach about 9/11. They have nothing to do with the WHY of 9/11; the politics, psychology, foreign policy, culture, and religion (and how religion can be subverted).

Instead, the materials focus on: the artistic response to 9/11, the themes of service and volunteerism, time-lines, and artifacts of the events of that day. All well and good, but as a main focus this buries important  truths of 9/11 beneath a cloud of facts and events that came after the attacks.

Teaching from such a viewpoint serves to limit the thoughts of students and enhance their blindness toward the harsh truths that lie beneath the surface of these superficial facts, time-lines, etc. of that day. Herein lie the seeds of collective disconnection from our logical and compassionate selves. And yes, one can be logical and compassionate at the same time. The danger? Another generation of people with the power to vote who lack a compassionate understanding of what that power can do to innocent civilians.

If you want real lessons for your students about 9/11 then set up an event with 121Contact and allow your students to see some of the harsh realities associated with that day and its consequent effects on innocent civilians.

Aug 4, 2011 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

Aug 2 2011 Obama, the Media, and the Muslim Invasion

Those who propagate fear of Muslims and fear of the Islamic takeover of Western society are aided by both the media's propagated perception of Muslims and US (Obama's) foreign policy.

What is being taken over, anyway? Why the American/European way of life. Our very moral fibre. This is a very strong argument since it can easily be shown that our moral standards are declining,  Western values are being corroded. But is that the fault of the Muslim Invasion?

We think  not.

First of all: there is not invasion.  In Europe only France (8%)  and Belgium (5.8%) have notable Muslim populations. Example: UK: 2.8% [BBC] In the US there are about  5,000,000 Muslims, making up some 1.6% of the population. Almost half of these are native born Americans of African descent. NY has the highest state percentage: 4.7%. For comparison, Jews number about 2.6% of the US population, [JewishVirtualLibrary] and they hardly constitute a threat to 'the American way.'

Tarak Barkawi's work points to an important role the media plays in this hysteria. He is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge. Negative portrayals of Muslims predominate in mainstream media. Most articles refer to violence propagated my Muslims, and controversy over Muslim participation in society gets far more coverage than positive contributions of Muslims.

So what is the cause of the erosion of our values? Look not to Islam. Look to neo-Capitalism.

Our society is becoming simpler by the day as all values are subsumed by the one value: the bottom line. What is 'right' is becoming synonymous with what is profitable, and the people be damned.

With US and European unemployment soaring (officially at 9.2%, but over 16% and climbing), the values of the dollar steeply declining, commodity prices rising...well it's no wonder folks are freaking out.

Finding scapegoats to blame for our troubles is not new. The latest target happens to be Muslims, and they fit the bill perfectly. They have members who are self-proclaimed terrorists who make headlines, they have distinctive dress and rituals, and they are generally voiceless, having not made significant inroads into the media.

And, oh yes, let's not forget Bush-Obama wars, especially the expensive Iraq and Afghanistan engagements. The 'enemy' is Islamic. Every day we reinforce the idea of violent Muslims among us even though our foreign policy, our leaders, and our soldiers are the instigators of the violence. It is hard to train soldiers to kill friends, so the portrayal of Muslims as enemies is critical to the war effort. When such a small percentage of the population puts on the uniform it becomes important to spread the 'enemy' stereotype broadly within the population.

And the wars, again, point to Capitalism as the culprit. These are wars of profit and their prolongation increases profits to the tune of some US$10 billion dollars a month. After all, the money spent on war does not just go up into the air. It goes into people's/corporations pockets.

Blame Capitalism, not Muslims.

 



Aug 1 2011 Bush - Obama in Iraq: 8 YEARS = US$ 800 BILLION, and what cost to innocent civilians?

It's the economy. Of course. Never mind that Details emerge of the U.S. raid first reported yesterday, in which it now appears U.S. forces killed 3 members of an innocent family and wounded 7 other people. The dead are Sheik Hamid Hassan and two of his relatives. The victims fired on their assailants thinking they were terrorists. The U.S. has not said whether the intended target of the raid, named Firas Yasin Ahmad, was captured or was even determined to have been nearby. "Adel al-Sumaidaie, who heads the security committee of the provincial council of Salaheddin where Rufayat is located, described the raid as a "massacre against civilians. We will not let them (US troops) go free after this action -- We will chase them in all the international courts because of the criminal action they have carried out today."

The US military said the attack in the northern province of Salahuddin targeted what it called 'wanted terrorists.' But local officials say the raid targeted the house of tribal leader Sheikh Hami d Hassan and his household, who did not have links with any militants; [PressTV] another error in the fog of war.

The NYTimes front page was all about money today, and the heroic efforts of politicians  to keep the US economy from shattering. No mention of the $800 billion, however. Money lost to war is best not spoken of, lest we encourage people to think  about the horrors we engender in our constant national persuit of dollars, oil, and whatever else we can get our hands on...

Think not of the enemies we created yesterday when we slaughtered an innocent family.