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Zebra 3 Report by Joe Anybody
Monday, 8 October 2007
Mystery 'tin whiskers' ruining electronics
Mood:
 d'oh
Now Playing: Lead free solder is causing problems - there called
Topic: TECHNOLOGY
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/239488/3/ Mystery 'tin whiskers' ruining electronics Jordan Robertson - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Saturday, October 06, 2007 | SAN JOSE, Calif. -- They've ruined missiles, silenced communications satellites and forced nuclear power plants to shut down. Pacemakers, consumer gadgets and even a critical part of a space shuttle have fallen victim. The culprits? Tiny splinters -- whiskers, they're called -- that sprout without warning from tin solder and finishes deep inside electronics. By some estimates, the resulting short-circuits have leveled as much as $10 billion in damage since they were first noticed in the 1940s. Now some electronics makers worry the destruction will be more widespread, and the dollar amounts more draining, as the European Union and governments around the world enact laws to eliminate the best-known defense -- lead -- from electronic devices. "The EU's decision was irresponsible and not based on sound science," said Joe Smetana, a principal engineer and tin whisker expert with French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA. "We're solving a problem that isn't and creating a bunch of new ones." Typically measuring under a millimeter long, tin whiskers look like errant strands of static-charged hair, erupting in every direction from tin-based materials like solder. Their cause is hotly debated. Other metals also grow whiskers, but not like tin. Trouble arises when the whiskers bridge separate parts of increasingly miniaturized circuit boards. They also can flake off and interfere with sensitive optics. While scientists debate their cause, they agree on one thing: Small amounts of lead mixed with the tin have been remarkably effective at preventing whisker eruptions for decades. Lead, however, is a serious health concern. In children, it can cause learning or behavioral problems and has been associated with anemia and kidney problems. In adults, exposure has been linked to high blood pressure and reproductive organ damage. Last year, Europeans barred the toxic metal from most electronics to prevent its being incinerated or accumulating in dumps after computers and other gadgets are tossed out. Similar measures are being considered or are already in place in other countries, including Japan, China, South Korea, Argentina, Australia and the United States. Some companies say the EU rules threaten the reliability of their products, exposing them to unknown risks and possibly threatening people's safety. But EU officials say the regulations banning lead, cadmium, mercury and three other hazardous substances are needed to protect people and the environment. They also note that many types of electronics are exempt from the law, including military and other national security equipment, medical devices, and servers, data storage computers and telecommunications gear that use leaded solders. Exemptions are also granted when alternatives to the hazardous materials don't exist yet, or because the substances can't be replaced without jeopardizing safety. Still, even some companies with exemptions say it's getting harder to buy the leaded parts. They worry about the increased risk of pure-tin parts, the culprit behind the most devastating tin-whisker-related failures. "Over time (the failures) are just going to get worse and worse and worse," said Jim McElroy, executive director of International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, or iNEMI, a group of big electronics makers, government agencies and other parties active in tin whisker research. "Even if the military is exempt forever, they will be forced to convert because they can't get the components they want," he said. "And that will eventually happen across the board." Tin whiskers have left a trail of destruction in a string of important machinery, chronicled in an extensive database of publicly disclosed failures kept by researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Last year, for example, NASA engineers testing parts for the space shuttle Endeavour discovered that millions of tin whiskers were causing an electronic box to inaccurately point the shuttle's engine, knocking the rocket's trajectory off-kilter, according to Henning Leidecker, chief engineer of the electronic parts office of NASA's Goddard and a tin whisker expert. It turns out NASA had approved the pure-tin-coated clamps used for holding circuit boards in place back when the electronics were made in the 1980s, before NASA adopted its current rule requiring a small amount of lead in its tin coatings. "These whiskers have the potential to destroy missions," Leidecker said. Failures blamed on tin whiskers have run the gamut of devices and manufacturers. In the 1980s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recalled some pacemakers because of a high failure rate caused by tin whiskers. In 1998, PanAmSat Corp.'s $250 million Galaxy IV communications satellite, which provided service to tens of millions of pagers across North America and thousands of pay-at-the-pump gas station machines, was deemed a total loss after two processors failed. The main spacecraft control processor, which governs the satellite's positioning and other functions, failed for an unknown reason, and the backup couldn't be used because tin whiskers had shorted it out a year before. At least 10 other satellite failures have been blamed on tin whiskers, according to the NASA database. Over the past two decades, also according to the NASA database, nuclear power plants have been temporarily shut down at least seven times after tin whiskers in the alarm system circuit boards triggered false alarms, alerting managers to threats that didn't exist. There have been no reported injuries. "There's a real loss of money because the plant is shut down and stays down, and it also presents a situation where workers are taught not to believe the alarms," Leidecker said. "Are you comfortable with that? I am not." The military also isn't immune. Whisker-related malfunctions have been reported in the radar used aboard fighter jets, in the target-detection system of certain missiles, along with various unspecified problems in other parts of the U.S. military's missile programs. Little is known about those failures, other than the part that failed and the cause. Most involve military secrets and are only known because they're revealed in technical forums by defense contractors, who incur heavy repair expenses for malfunctioning tin-whisker-infested equipment and are active in scientific circles looking for a fix that doesn't involve lead. Tin whisker experts said the industry is working fast to come up with a lead-free solution. So far, other materials have shown to be effective in preventing tin whiskers, but not as powerfully as lead. One promising remedy is tin-silver-copper solders, said George Galyon, a senior technical staff member at IBM Corp. However, Galyon noted that lead-free solders often require much higher temperatures, which can warp circuit boards and cause materials to degrade. Despite the setbacks, he said the major players realize anti-lead laws give them no choice. "It's whistling in the wind if you think we're turning this back," he said. "China's full-bent on it, the major markets are into it. The world flipped over in one fell swoop." On the Net: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center tin whisker page: http://nepp.nasa.gov/whisker/ iNEMI page: http://www.inemi.org/cms/ |
. READ MORE . ON TIN WISKERS ... IN A RECENT ARTICLE HERE (10-10-07)
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 3:53 PM PDT
Updated: Wednesday, 10 October 2007 12:41 PM PDT
Sunday, 7 October 2007
FCC won't probe disclosure of phone records
Mood:
 irritated
Now Playing: SPYING on citizens deemed OK to do - 'Terrorism' is why!?
Topic: CIVIL RIGHTS
http://www.news.com/FCC-wont-probe-disclosure-of-phone-records/2100-1036_3-6212116.html?tag=html.alert.comp Published: October 6, 2007, 4:00 PM PDT FCC won't "probe disclosure of phone records" The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission declined to investigate reports that phone companies turned over customer records to the National Security Agency, citing national security concerns, according to documents released on Friday. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin turned down a congressional request for an investigation as a top intelligence official concluded it would "pose an unnecessary risk of damage to the national security," according to a letter National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell sent to Martin on Tuesday. Intelligence officials "support your determination not to initiate an investigation," McConnell wrote to Martin. At issue are reports last year that some big telephone companies allowed the U.S. government access to millions of telephone records for an antiterrorism program. The reports have prompted scrutiny by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Democratic Rep. Edward Markey, the chairman of a key Energy and Commerce subcommittee, asked Martin to investigate. In his response, Martin included Tuesday's letter from McConnell. A representative for the FCC declined further comment. Markey, of Massachusetts, said McConnell's stance was "unsurprising given that this administration has continually thwarted efforts by Congress to shed more light on the surveillance program." "I believe the agency could conduct its own examination of such reports in a way that safeguards national security," Markey said in a statement. The Energy and Commerce Committee also asked AT&T, Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications International on Tuesday to describe how U.S. government agencies sought to obtain information about customer telephone and Internet use.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 11:26 PM PDT
Updated: Sunday, 7 October 2007 11:27 PM PDT
Friday, 5 October 2007
BLACKWATER USA - Waxman wants truth & more information
Mood:
 happy
Now Playing: INVESTIGATE BLACKWATER NOW
Topic: WAR
Iraqi Corruption Showdown brewing
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/05/iraq.corruption/ - NEW: Rep. Henry Waxman demands documents on Iraq contractor
- Waxman accuses State Department of covering up "an epidemic of corruption"
- State Department says it will provide information if it is kept classified
- Ex-Iraqi official estimates the total lost to corruption at $18 billion
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Democrats' top investigator in Congress reacted angrily Friday to a report that the former Blackwater USA employee accused of killing an Iraqi vice presidential guard was hired by another U.S. contractor weeks later. The report comes alongside Rep. Henry Waxman's warning of a "confrontation" with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over how much Americans should be able to learn about corruption in Iraq. In a sharply worded letter, Waxman demanded Rice turn over a long list of documents related to the contractor, Andrew Moonen. "Serious questions now exist about whether the State Department may have withheld from the U.S. Defense Department facts about this Blackwater contractor's shooting of the Iraqi guard that should have prevented his hiring to work on another contract in support of the Iraq War," wrote Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Moonen is accused of fatally shooting an Iraqi guard and fleeing the scene, according to a Congressional memo describing the investigation report. He was fined, fired and flown home from Iraq, and the company later paid $20,000 in compensation to the victim's family.
Moonen returned to the United States within a few days of the incident, his attorney said, but in February he returned to Kuwait working for Combat Support Associates (CSA), a company spokesman said. CNN reported Thursday night that CSA said it was unaware of the December incident when it hired Moonen, because the State Department and Blackwater kept the incident quiet and out of Moonen's personnel records.
Waxman wrote it is "hard to reconcile this development" with previous assertions State Department officials have made in recent days.
Waxman earlier accused Rice and the State Department of a cover-up of what he called "an epidemic of corruption" in Iraq in general. He branded the State Department's anti-corruption efforts "dysfunctional, under-funded and a low priority." Waxman further blasted the department for trying to keep secret details of corruption in Iraq, especially relating to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. "Corruption is increasing in Iraq, and the State Department can't keep us from knowing that -- can't censor that -- just because it might embarrass or hurt our relationship with [al-]Maliki," Waxman said at the House committee hearing.  Watch Waxman ask why negative comments must be said behind closed doors » Deputy Secretary of State Larry Butler repeatedly refused to answer questions from Waxman about Iraqi corruption but offered full disclosure if his testimony would be kept secret. Asked if he believes the Iraqi government has the political will or the capability to root out corruption, Butler responded, "Mr. Chairman, questions which go to the broad nature of our bilateral relationship with Iraq are best answered in a classified setting." But he was more forthcoming when talking about efforts that al-Maliki has taken to improve matters, commending the prime minister for dispatching Iraqi forces to surround a refinery to ensure oil did not end up on the black market. But Waxman appeared unmoved. "Why can you talk about the positive things and not the negative things?" he asked. "Shouldn't we have the whole picture?" "I'd be very pleased to answer those questions in an appropriate setting," Butler replied. Waxman laughed and asked, "An appropriate setting for positive things is a congressional hearing, but for negative things, it must be behind closed doors?" "As you know, this goes to the very heart of diplomatic relations and national security," Butler said. "It goes to the very heart of propaganda," Waxman said, putting funding for anti-corruption activities through June 15, 2006, at $65 million, "or less than 0.003 percent of the total" spent by the Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Fund. The State Department said details of anti-corruption efforts must be secret to protect investigators and Iraqi allies. In a letter to Rice last week, Waxman called the department's position "ludicrous." Fellow Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky agreed. "It's pretty clear that the administration just wants to muzzle any comments that reflect negatively on the [al-]Maliki government," he said. Earlier, the former head of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity, Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, told the hearing that al-Maliki had protected family members from corruption investigations, citing Salam al-Maliki, Iraq's former transportation minister and the prime minister's cousin. Al-Radhi resigned last month and fled Iraq after he and his family were attacked and 31 of his anti-corruption employees were killed. He said corruption has affected "virtually every agency and ministry, including some of the most powerful officials in Iraq." "Corruption has stopped possible advances by the government on the political level, on economic reconstruction, on basic services, amenities and infrastructure and on the rule of law," he told the committee, estimating the total lost to corruption at $18 billion. In Baghdad, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh acknowledged his country is plagued with a "high level" of corruption, but he said officials are trying to rein in the problem. U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office, said there appeared to be no U.S. plan for countering the corruption. He urged Congress to consider conditioning future appropriations on such a plan "so we can achieve some results rather than have just more efforts." Waxman questioned whether Iraq's government was "too corrupt to succeed." If so, he added, "We need to ask if we could, in good conscience, continue to ... prop up his regime." CNN's Bob Constantini contributed to this report.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 6:02 PM PDT
Impeachment Joe Anybody - Col Ted Westhusing - Petraeus guy
Mood:
 on fire
Now Playing: My feelings on Impeachment & my cousin Ted
Topic: WAR
I posted this on www.BlueOregon.com just minutes ago under the topic of the Impeachment issue & my House Representative Earl Blumenauer I repaeat my cousins words <see last paragraph of this post of mine for his quote> 
This isn’t rocket science
Crimes have been committed
They need to be investigated its that simple.
My cousin shot himself in the head in Baghdad in 2005 in his trailer
He was in a war that was waged based on lies and cooked information
He was a high ranking US Military official, training the Iraqi police force His death bed note said "Death before Dishonor"
He was working with "contractors” & his commanding officer was that General Petraeus guy.
He got nowhere with Petraeus.
He was disgusted, it was fruitless, (sound familiar to anyone)
He was the highest ranking officer to die in Iraq (he was, but now I’m not sure in that recently there is so many dieing over there)
Here is a news story on my cousin
http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2440&print=true
Get this He killed himself out of disgust for this immoral war.
Geeee morals what’s that ? I have written Earl about this war
And about illegal spying on citizens, and other violations by this administration Either you act like Petraeus did to my cousin Ted, or you do what is ethical and just. Its one or the other. I have been sticking up for Earl for years on Indy Media and other places as I also do for Ralph Nader....
But I draw my line now, due to his stubborn refusal to know right form wrong
He is pretty much almost irritated by us wanting Impeachment I stand by my cousins words "I will not be sullied any more"
This man Bush deserves nothing but a trial.
It makes no difference if it is popular, or worth it, or if it will stick and he be removed As Bonnie Tinker said at the town hall meeting, "the time for Justice is always now" My cousin Ted thought so
John Bradach’s nephew thought so
And with the sincerity that Joe Walsh (The Lone Vet) has asked numerous times so courageously, "How many more must die before you wake up and do something?"
Apparently it could be millions (or more) For this rocket science program has The Blumenauer clan touting that they care.
But if they did they would be out wearing a red shirt.
I have been there 10 weeks in a row, it is in sacrifice of my lunch hour I do this to bring Justice to the table at Earls office, in hopes that guys just like my cousin Ted and John's nephew, and the Iraq refugees I just recently met can have a little peace and a chance to live another day. I need my representative to represent me.
It’s amazing my cousin a Col. shot himself to keep his honor. Yet Earl and Willie all sit around and pretend they care but their hands are tied.
I wish my cousin had his hands tied that fateful day
I wish Earl (Willie) could see the difference between crimes worthy of Impeachment vs. rocket science spin.
So many are dead. So many are dieing.
And I read out here bickering over fine print law, and justification to do what ever they want (fill in blank) at their own whim n peril, with no remorse
Its plain and its simple - Our country is murdering the Iraqi population. If your against this reckless administration trashing the constitution and international law then come on out and put your BLOOD red "Impeach" shirt on and stand for justice and honesty OR.... bicker and hem n haw over sally said, she said, and/or fine print rules of Congress and Executive law.
But like my cousin Ted, who was a professor at West Point said, “This is wrong I will die before I listen to Petraeus and Bush for one more day” (my words) BANG! One shot to his head.
Ya got really love this frickin war and the men who keep it going
I can see why these Representative (rocket scientists) don’t get it
Its so hard to know right form wrong. Ya know the suicide rate is escalating over there?
And the horror stories from Refugee’s and Veterans are Horrific (actually mind numbing)
Those torture pictures alone scarred me for life, yet Bush uses back room signage statements (more fine print) to use rendition and sick torture methods, scrapping Geneva, and habeas corpus and as much as spits on the constitution
Oh "we don’t want to start a circus by bringing up Impeachment"….noooooo!
I would rather be at a circus than this blood bath….. millions are now dead! One side for Peace Justice, and Impeachment One side for Law Breaking and Blood, Death, Murder, and Suicide Provocateurs
(who all for war profiteering/greed/oil/power) Pick your sides, no need to bring your rocket scientific stuff …..its either, your on one side or the other. That said to help clarify the right n wrong part, read this short clip Ted wrote before he died, notice the part to Petraeus his “cdrs”
Sounds to me like Move On was “Right On”! (quote) Thanks for telling me it was a good day until I briefed you. [Redacted name]—You are only interested in your career and provide no support to your staff—no msn [mission] support and you don’t care. I cannot support a msn that leads to corruption, human right abuses and liars. I am sullied—no more. I didn’t volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves. I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored. I trust no Iraqi. I cannot live this way. All my love to my family, my wife and my precious children. I love you and trust you only. Death before being dishonored any more. Trust is essential—I don’t know who trust anymore. [sic] Why serve when you cannot accomplish the mission, when you no longer believe in the cause, when your every effort and breath to succeed meets with lies, lack of support, and selfishness? No more. Reevaluate yourselves, cdrs [commanders]. You are not what you think you are and I know it.
COL Ted Westhusing
Life needs trust. Trust is no more for me here in Iraq. http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/10/blumenauer-resp.html?cid=85210388#comment-85210388
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 2:24 AM PDT
Updated: Friday, 5 October 2007 2:27 AM PDT
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
United States is preparing an imminent military attack on Iran.
Mood:
 loud
Now Playing: Russian nuclear experts leave - heading for cover from a USA attack?
Topic: WAR
Iranian and Israeli news outlets are reporting that Russia has evacuated its entire staff of nuclear engineers and experts who were working at the Bushehr nuclear reactor, increasing speculation that the United States is preparing an imminent military attack on Iran. According to the Khorramshar News Agency, which represents ethnic Arabs in opposition to Ahmadinejad's regime who live near the reactor, the Russians packed their bags and left on Friday. DEBKAfile offers three different scenarios to explain the sudden withdrawal of the experts. a) Russian-Iranian negotiations about how work will proceed on Bushehr have again hit a roadblock. This is highly unlikely because Vladimir Putin is set to visit Iran later in the month to sign a set of nuclear accords. b) The Russians have learned that an Iranian attack against American interests in the Persian Gulf or Israel is imminent. This is extremely doubtful because any preemptive Iranian attack would give Israel and the U.S. the pretext they are desperately searching for to launch a devastating bombing campaign. c) Moscow or Tehran have been tipped off that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is imminent and the Russians are getting their people out of harm's way. This seems to be the most plausible scenario, especially since reports emerged Friday from numerous "unnamed" worldwide intelligence sources that military action is just around the corner.
With every passing week, war rhetoric and maneuvering escalates as an assault on Iran seems all but inevitable. This past weekend, Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said there was no alternative to a military option and that plans should be enacted for a "limited strike against their nuclear facilities." Veteran newsman Seymour Hersh reports that the Bush administration has switched targets from Iran's nuclear facilities to instead target the Revolutionary Guard in a series of planned "surgical" air strikes. "During a video conference over the summer, Bush allegedly told Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq, that he was considering striking Iranian targets across the border and that the British "were on board," reports AFP.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 6:51 PM PDT
Updated: Wednesday, 3 October 2007 6:54 PM PDT
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
BLACKWATER USA - FREAKIN - PAID KILLERS
Mood:
irritated
Now Playing: Topics on BLACKWATER (three dozen links below) from CNN
Topic: WAR
Today, October 02, 2007, 2 hours ago Katy Helvenston never wants Blackwater or America to forget her boy. Scott Helvenston was a decorated Navy man who, at age 17, became one of the youngest Navy SEALs in U.S. history. Today, October 02, 2007, 3 hours ago The founder and chief executive of Blackwater USA defended his company against allegations that his contractors were trigger-happy mercenaries Tuesday, saying that his personnel have distinguished records and have never intentionally killed civilians. Today, October 02, 2007, 3 hours ago A 2004 crash that killed everyone on board -- three crew members and three U.S. troops -- was caused by pilots from a Blackwater plane taking a low-level run through a mountain canyon in Afghanistan, testimony revealed Tuesday. Today, October 02, 2007, 9 hours ago Erik Prince, the chairman and CEO of Blackwater USA, appeared Tuesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Yesterday, October 01, 2007, 11:19:00 PM One group of Blackwater USA contractors was involved in two separate shootings on September 16, according to a senior Iraqi National Police official who contributed to a report detailing the second shooting. Yesterday, October 01, 2007, 11:00:00 PM Blackwater USA guards have used deadly force weekly in Iraq and have inflicted "significant casualties and property damage," according to a congressional staff report released Monday that cites internal company and State Department documents. Yesterday, October 01, 2007, 9:00:00 PM The security company's chief will tell a House committee that it is effective in a difficult climate. Will Democrats buy it? Thursday, September 27, 2007, 4:34:00 AM Private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a congressional probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq, the House Oversight Committee said Thursday in a report. Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 7:45:00 PM Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday he wants closer oversight of Pentagon contractors in Iraq and has dispatched a team there to review military procedures. Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 8:28:00 PM A House lawmaker on Tuesday complained to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the alleged muzzling of State Department officials in inquiries involving Blackwater USA and Iraq's government. Sunday, September 23, 2007, 3:13:00 AM The Iraqi government said it will file criminal charges against employees of security firm Blackwater USA who were involved a gun battle in Baghdad in which civilians were killed, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Sunday. Saturday, September 22, 2007, 7:57:00 PM Allegations that Blackwater USA -- whose operations were suspended after 20 Iraqi civilians were shot to death last weekend -- was "in any way associated or complicit in unlawful arms activities are baseless," the company asserted Saturday. Saturday, September 22, 2007, 7:55:00 PM Iraqi investigators have a videotape that shows Blackwater USA guards opened fire against civilians without provocation in an incident last week in which 11 people died, a senior Iraqi official said Saturday. He said the case had been referred to the Iraqi judiciary. Friday, September 21, 2007, 8:00:00 AM American convoys protected by Blackwater USA resumed, four days after the U.S. Embassy suspended land travel by its diplomats in response to its alleged killing of civilians Friday, September 21, 2007, 3:48:00 AM The security firm Blackwater USA is starting to resume normal operations in Iraq after a hiatus sparked by concerns among Iraqi and U.S. government officials over its actions. Thursday, September 20, 2007, 12:14:00 AM A joint U.S.-Iraq commission will focus on security contractors in Iraq after an uproar over a Baghdad firefight involving Blackwater USA, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday. Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 5:08:00 AM Ground movements of American civilians in most of Iraq were on hold Tuesday after an uproar over a Baghdad firefight involving American security firm Blackwater USA. Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 8:47:00 PM Private security firm Blackwater USA has issued the following statement in response to accusations leveled at it about an incident Sunday in Baghdad, Iraq: Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 7:00:00 AM The Iraqi government said Tuesday it would review the status of private security companies as anger over the alleged involvement of Blackwater USA in a fatal shooting Thursday, February 08, 2007, 12:17:00 AM A manager for a private security contractor warned executives that he lacked proper equipment in Iraq a day before four of its employees were killed and two were left hanging from a bridge, a House committee disclosed Wednesday. Tuesday, September 20, 2005, 12:12:00 AM A U.S. State Department employee and three employees of a security contractor were killed Monday in northern Iraq when their vehicle was hit by a suicide car bomber, a U.S. official in Baghdad said Tuesday. Thursday, April 21, 2005, 9:59:00 PM A suicide car bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 24 others Friday near a Shiite Muslim mosque in Baghdad, police sources said. Thursday, April 21, 2005, 8:21:00 AM Seven Blackwater USA employees, all Americans, died Thursday in Iraq, the company said. Thursday, April 21, 2005, 12:39:00 AM The Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for shooting down a helicopter Thursday and killing all 11 people onboard -- one of them apparently executed after surviving the crash. Monday, April 11, 2005, 2:10:00 PM More than a year after four U.S. civilian workers were killed in Iraq, a lawsuit against the workers' employer is pending as the company and the plaintiffs contest which court should hear the case. Thursday, March 31, 2005, 5:06:00 AM A translator with U.S., Romanian and Iraqi citizenship was with three Romanian journalists who were kidnapped this week in Baghdad, a senior Romanian official said Thursday. Tuesday, July 06, 2004, 5:44:00 PM Islamic insurgent groups in Iraq are taking an unexpected step to give an inside view of their terror attacks on Westerners by sharing video not only of the assaults, but also of the planning behind them. Thursday, April 01, 2004, 5:49:00 PM Blackwater Security Consulting -- whose four employees were viciously killed and their corpses mutilated by a mob in Fallujah, Iraq -- is one of a growing number of private security contractors that are hiring veterans for jobs previously assigned to the military. Thursday, April 01, 2004, 3:21:00 AM Top U.S. officials in Baghdad Thursday decried the killings of four U.S. security contractors in Fallujah, vowed to hunt down the perpetrators and promised to pacify the restive anti-U.S. hotbed. .
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 6:57 PM PDT
Updated: Tuesday, 2 October 2007 7:04 PM PDT
Monday, 1 October 2007
10 Things You Didn't Know About Sputnic
Mood:
 don't ask
Now Playing: They left the dog to die is one thing I didnt know (#8)
Topic: ANYBODY * ANYDAY
10 Things YouDidn't Know About Sputnik By Danielle Burton Posted September 28, 2007 Compiled by the U.S. News library staff http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2007/09/28/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-sputnik.html 1. The former Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957. 2. The satellite was the size of a basketball and weighed approximately 180 pounds. 3. It traveled at 18,000 mph, 500 miles above the Earth's surface. 4. It orbited the Earth every 98 minutes, flying over the United States seven times a day. 5. Shortly after its launch, the New York Times explained that the literal translation of "sputnik" is "something that is traveling with a traveler." Additionally, "the traveler is the earth, traveling through space, and the companion 'traveling with' it is the satellite." 6. Carrying only a simple radio transmitter, the satellite emitted a "beep...beep...beep" signal back to Earth for 23 days, until Oct. 27, 1957—when its battery reportedly died. 7. Sputnik remained in orbit until Jan. 4, 1958, when it re-entered and burned up in Earth's atmosphere. 8. Sputnik II was launched on Nov. 3, 1957, carrying the first living thing into space: a dog named Laika. This satellite was six times as heavy as the first, coming in at over 1,100 pounds. Unfortunately, there was no plan in place to get the dog safely back to Earth, and it died in space. 9. Americans were caught off guard by these Soviet advances, occurring at the height of the Cold War. Wonder and awe over the technological advancements combined with feelings of panic and paranoia. Many wondered whether the Soviets now had the ability to launch missiles that could reach the United States. Many also wondered how long it would take the United States to catch up. 10. In response, the space race between the two countries heated up. The United States stepped up its own space plan, launching its first satellite (the Explorer I, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts) on Jan. 31, 1958. Later that year, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which created NASA. Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica Online
NASA
New York Times
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 11:26 AM PDT
Updated: Monday, 1 October 2007 11:30 AM PDT
Sunday, 30 September 2007
An Iraq War Veteran reflects on the Sept. 15 march in DC
Mood:
 incredulous
Now Playing: Sept 15 2007 - War protesting In Washington DC
Topic: PROTEST!
An Iraq war veteran reflects on the Sept. 15 march
‘The first time I put on that uniform I hoped I would wear it with honor. On Sept. 15, I finally did.’
By Michael Prysner The writer is an Iraq war veteran. 
The writer was arrested at the Capitol on Sept. 15 along with 195 others.
Photo: Stanley Rogouski
|
On the morning of Sept. 15, I held in my hands a uniform that was issued to me nearly five years ago. I remembered the first time I held it, wondering if I would ever wear it home, wondering if it would be stained by blood or shredded by bullets. It looks much different now than the first time I put it on—it is faded from 12 months of desert sand and sun. The elbows and knees are worn from lying in the street. The boots are tattered from kicking down doors and walking over cities of rubble. As I put it on for the first time since I returned from Iraq, I finally felt as if I was putting it on for a purpose. For so many years, that uniform has not stood for justice and freedom. It is the uniform that the Iraqi people saw stomp through their towns. It is the uniform that drove humvees and manned machine guns. It is the uniform that dragged people from their homes and interrogated them in prison camps. But on the streets of Washington, D.C., the uniform took on new meaning. It was no longer worn with the intention of fighting for the government, but fighting against it. For me, and for my brothers and sisters in Iraq Veterans Against the War, the uniform that once symbolized fear and destruction would now be worn in the spirit of justice and resistance. 
Photo: Bill Hackwell
![Capitol police [Lin]](http://www.pephost.org/images/content/pagebuilder/57275.jpg)
Photo: Sharat G. Lin
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In March of 2003, our government ordered us to put on that uniform, march into a foreign land and take it from those who lived there. On Sept. 15, we put on that same uniform to march to the Capitol and face those who sent us to war. A significant factor in ending the war in Vietnam was the ability of protesters and GIs to strike fear in the heart of the government. Countless citizens and soldiers threw their bodies into the gears of the war machine, and made the ruling class realize that instead of fighting their war, we would fight them. This war will end when the government begins to fear the masses—when the army they sent to spread imperialism becomes the army that marches to their offices and charges through the police barricades. The first time I put on that uniform, I hoped I would wear it with honor. On Sept. 15, I finally did. I could finally do something right while wearing it. The nearly 200 people arrested on that day—many of whom were Iraq war veterans—showed the government that we will do more than just march. We will defy them at every turn; we will not fade away, but only grow in numbers and intensity. The longer this war rages on, the more we will resist and the more we will sacrifice. Wearing that uniform at the steps of the Capitol, I knew that the most important action that I could do was to advance towards the barricade, and help light the spark that will empower people to stop this government. For the first time, that uniform was worn fighting a just war. When I emerged from jail that night, I saw hundreds of cheering supporters outside. Then, I knew that sooner or later we will win this war against imperialism. And I have never felt prouder wearing that uniform. Get involved with ANSWER!
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 9:46 PM PDT
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Blackwater, Killings, and Coverups - "CNN Report"
Mood:
incredulous
Now Playing: Contractors & Corruption - Welcome to Bush World
Topic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT
OUT OF CONTROL - CORRUPT MERCERNARIES 
Family members of the slain Blackwater employees listen during a congressional hearing earlier this year. Blackwater 'impeded' probe into contractor deathshttp://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/27/iraq.blackwater/index.html WASHINGTON (CNN) 9/26/07-- Private military contractor Blackwater USA "delayed and impeded" a congressional probe into the 2004 killings of four of its employees in Falluja, Iraq, according to the House oversight committee said Thursday in a report. Blackwater contractors Jerry Zovko, Scott Helvenston, Mike Teague and Wesley Batalona were ambushed, dragged from their vehicles and killed on March 31, 2004. The burned and mutilated remains of two of the men were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River, an image that fueled American outrage and triggered the first of two attempts to retake the city from Sunni Arab insurgents. The company stalled the committee's investigation into the incident by "erroneously claiming" documents related to the incident were classified, trying to get the Defense Department to make previously unclassified documents classified and "asserting questionable legal privileges," according to a report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Democratic staff. According to Blackwater's reports on the killings, the men killed in Falluja had been sent into the area without proper crew, equipment or even maps. One company document found a "complete lack of support" for its Baghdad office from executives at the company's headquarters in North Carolina, the committee report states. "According to these documents, Blackwater took on the Falluja mission before its contract officially began, and after being warned by its predecessor that it was too dangerous. It sent its team on the mission without properly armored vehicles and machine guns. And it cut the standard mission team by two members, thus depriving them of rear gunners," the report states. In a written response to the report, Blackwater called it "a one-sided version of this tragic incident." "What the report fails to acknowledge is that the terrorists determined what happened that fateful day in 2004," the company said. "The terrorists were intent on killing Americans and desecrating their bodies. Documents that the committee has in its possession point out that the Blackwater team was betrayed and directed into a well-planned ambush." The report notes that members of the now-defunct Iraqi Civil Defense Corps "led the team into the ambush, facilitated blocking positions to prevent the team's escape, and then disappeared." Blackwater did not discuss details of the report's findings, noting the incident is still the subject of a lawsuit by the slain contractors' families. The committee's chairman, California Democrat Henry Waxman, has scheduled a hearing Tuesday on Blackwater's operations in Iraq. The company's chairman, Erik Prince, is scheduled to testify at that hearing. The committee previously disclosed that the day before the fatal mission, the manager of Blackwater's Baghdad office warned his bosses he lacked armored vehicles, radio gear and ammunition. During February's hearing and in a subsequent written response, Blackwater general counsel Andrew Howell told the committee that documents on the attack had been classified by the U.S. government. But the Pentagon later told the committee the documents had not been classified. In addition, Blackwater made "multiple attempts" to get the Defense Department to declare company and Coalition Provisional Authority reports on the incident classified, the report states. The Pentagon refused. The families of the slain men have sued Blackwater Security Consulting, one of the most familiar of hundreds of private military contractors operating in Iraq. The families allege the company failed to provide their relatives with adequate gear and weaponry. Blackwater has denied the allegations and argued the men agreed to assume the risks of working in a war zone. Thursday's report adds to the intense scrutiny the company has faced since it was involved in shootings September 16 in western Baghdad. Iraqi authorities said Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy opened fire indiscriminately, killing as many as 20 civilians. Blackwater said its employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on the convoy. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Thursday told a Senate committee that "something went tragically wrong" in the Baghdad incident, and that the State Department and Iraqi authorities are conducting a thorough investigation. He said Blackwater guards had fired their weapons on 56 of the 1,873 escort missions they have conducted in Iraq in 2007, "And each such incident is reviewed by management officials to ensure that procedures were followed." "I personally was grateful for the presence of my Blackwater security detail, largely comprised of ex-Special Forces and other military, when I served as ambassador to Iraq," Negroponte told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday in response to questions. "Their alert and controlled posture kept me safe -- to get my job done."
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 4:29 PM PDT
Updated: Thursday, 27 September 2007 4:31 PM PDT
Monday, 24 September 2007
America's Shame -
Mood:
 down
Now Playing: Fucking over Iraqi children - America The Proud And Rightous
Topic: WAR
The Statue of Liberty Should Weep author: Felicity Arbuthnot | When children fainted in school, the reason was usually: 'It's not my turn to eat today' - courtesy USA and Britain. |
New York based Judith Karpova risks losing everything she has, or going to jail for a long time. Her crime? She went to Iraq in February 2003 as a Human Shield. She was prepared to risk her life to attempt to avert an illegal war, invasion and illegal occupation.
'The charges (are) that I violated the travel ban against Iraq' states Ms Karpova: 'No hearing was ever held. The strangest part of the decision involves the fact that the Director of OFAC changed between 2004 and 2005. Most oddly, the court resolves the issue of whether OFAC violated impartiality, by both bringing the charges and finding me guilty.'
The charge was not alone violation of the travel ban, but boosting the Iraqi economy. It is shocking to read of the plight of Ms Karpova at the hands of the U.S. 'Justice' system. I was in Iraq and Baghdad at the same time as the Human Shields. Did they break the US/UK driven UN embargo (which was to force Saddam to give up the weapons of mass destruction they knew he did not have) did they aid Iraq financially?
Well if you call going to the local soukh to buy local produce, aiding Iraq, yes. If you call giving a few Dinars to children as young as five, forced out of school to sell cigarettes, clean shoes, as a result of the embargo (in a country which valued education above all and with Palestine had the highest PhD's per capita on earth) yes, they put a little extra food on a family table, a miniscule amount more money circulated in the soukh, in a country where many families often ate in rota, one giving up food for a day, to give a little more for the others.
When children fainted in school, the reason was usually: 'It's not my turn to eat today' - courtesy USA and Britain.
When they visited the hospitals and held grief stricken parents, watching their children die, for want of often the simplest medications, vetoted by the US and UK and gave them another few Dinars to try and find that life saver, on the blck market, did they re-charge the Iraqi ecomomy?
With the equivalent of usually about $5? No they re-charged, a small life, if they were in time. Don't forget, all Iraq's bank accounts were frozen, state and private.Did they aid Iraq by the few dollars a night, they paid the family owned hotels, they stayed at near Firdos Square, where Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled?
If you count giving a small living to a family, who had somehow kept the hotels going, from love and pride, through the thirteen grinding embargo years, in an outward looking country, which welcomed visitors with open arms, who now barely ever came, yes. And they gave them their pride back.
Did they aid Iraq by buying the occasional meal in the small hotel restaraunts? Yes, as above and they gave the Chef his pride back. Inventive meals were produced again, when even hotels could afford only most basic ingredients.
Imagination was challenged and wonders were produced from little, in gratitude also to those who came in solidarity, in a country where 'embargo related causes' (U.N.) were estimated to have killed one and a half million people (majority the under fives, the sick and the elderly) in thirteen years.
Did they aid Iraq by their presence? Yes. The people, the children (broadly, half the population is under fifteen) had known nothing but thirteen years of deprivation (Iraq imported seventy percent of almost everything prior to the embargo) and thirteen years of illegal US and UK bombings. Iraq's children were diagnosed by child psychiatrists from the West as 'the most traumatised child population on earth', as a result.
These children who had known nothing but fear and deprivation from the West, suddenly learned, either first hand, or from the media, that not all westerners were George W. Bush and Tony Blair, but there were those who were prepared to risk their lives, with them, as they waited again for the bombs to fall. They learned of the 'greater love that no man (or woman) has' than to be prepared to suffer, even die, for another.
Lastly, Ms Karpova and those who travelled to Iraq, acted explicitly in the true spirit of that which the United Nations was meant to stand, declared in San Franciso on the 26th June 1945, betrayed by the U.S. and U.K. from Hiroshima Day 1990 (the date of the imposition of the embargo) to now (there was no U.N, mandate for the invasion of Iraq) :
'We the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save successive generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind - and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small - and to establish conditions under which justice and respect arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.'
Further: 'And to these ends, to practice tolerance and live together as good neighbours and unite our strength to maintain international peace a security and to ensure, but the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used .....' And to: ' ... take effective, collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace and to bring about by peaceful means ... justice and international law, adjustment or settlement or settlement of international disputes or situtuations which might lead to a breach of the peace'.
Ms Karpova and those prepared to risk so much in travelling to Iraq on the eve of war, uniquely embody the wonderous aspiration of the San Franciso declaration, so shamefully trashed, broken and ignored by Washington and Whitehall.
It is the architects of the Iraq disaster in the latter who should be in Court. Ms Karpova and those prepared to stand for right in a far away place, should be honoured by their countries, the United Nations and be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Should the Court do anything but laud and aquit her, even the Statue of Liberty should weep - or topple.
Ms Karpova can be reached at:  dahlia@wildblue.net
Her lawyer, Michael Sussman at: sussman@frontiernet.net
Also check out the case of Doctor Dhafir, who was born in Iraq and and has been a US citizen for over 30 years. On February 26, 2003 the US government arrested Doctor Dhafir and charged him with violating the economic sanctions against Iraq.
More information check out  http://www.dhafirtrial.net/ |
 homepage: http://www.arbuthnot4iraq.blogspot.com
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 4:53 PM PDT
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