KMEC "All About Money"
List of Interviews and podcast link
Interviews ( Fall 2015, 2016, 2017-present) conducted by host John Sakowicz and, at times, his co-host Sid Cooperrider. The list will be periodically updated.
Here is the link to the podcasts:
http://www.kmecradio.org/allaboutmoney/
Interviewees
Kevin Alexander Gray
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-03-02.mp3
Former Intelligence Analyst and Whistleblower Russell D. Tice
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-10-20.mp3
Anthrax, Ebola, and Bioterrorism with Doctor Meryl Nass
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-10-27.mp3
Political Cartoonist Shahid Mahmood
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-11-03.mp3
Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-11-10.mp3
Iniatives and Battlefields with Pete Davis
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-11-17.mp3
Gold with Nolan Watson
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-11-24.mp3
Did Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Get Fired? with William Hartung
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-12-01.mp3
Police Killings, Race, and Justice with Matthew Fogg
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-12-08.mp3
The Complicity of Psychologists in CIA Torture
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-12-15.mp3
Julia Carrera and BJ McManama
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2014-12-29.mp3
Anne Petermann, Genetically Engineered Trees
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-01-05.mp3
Christine Hong on North Korea
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-01-12.mp3
Cat Brooks and the call to Reclaim King’s Legacy
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-01-26.mp3
Art of the Deal
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-02-02.mp3
MendoVito: Claude Lewenz and Andrew Blake of The Village Stewards
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-02-09.mp3
Matthew Hoh on Obama's request for authorization for war with the Islamic State
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-02-16.mp3
NSA whistleblower Bill Binney Warns of KGB-Style Population Control by the NSA, CIA, and FBI. Part 1 of 2
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-02-23_1.mp3
NSA whistleblower Bill Binney Warns of KGB-Style Population Control by the NSA, CIA, and FBI. Part 2 of 2
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-02-23_2.mp3
Jennifer Loewenstein: Netanyahu is a Flaming Lunatic!
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-03-09.mp3
Melvin Goodman explains why CIA Director John Brennan's Restructuring Plan is Counter Productive
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-03-16_1.mp3
Ray McGovern: Why Obama is scared of CIA Director Brennan
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-03-16_2.mp3
Elizabeth Murray on Intelligence and the Constitution
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-03-23.mp3
Afghanistan and HR1466: Sonali Kolhatkar and Shahid Buttar
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-03-30.mp3
Tom Drake: American Exceptionalism and Moral Agency
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-04-02_1.mp3
Tom Drake: American Exceptionalism and Moral Agency 2
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-04-02_2.mp3
HR1466 and Bergdahl: Patrick Eddington and Matthew Hoh
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-04-06.mp3
Think you can't be framed? Think again!
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-04-20.mp3
Baltimore: Policing and the Pathology of Murder
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-04-27.mp3
Baltimore: Was the Curfew a Dress Rehearsal for Martial Law?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-05-11.mp3
Ray McGovern on Operation Merlin and Jeffrey Sterling
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-05-18.mp3
Coleen Rowley: Stand Up, Tell the Truth, and ultimately you'll be vindicated
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-05-04_2.mp3
Operation Merlin: Did the CIA Plant a Nuclear Throw Down on Iraq and Iran?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-05-25.mp3
Reclaiming the American Dream with Hedrick Smith
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-06-01.mp3
NSA Bulk Collection is Not Ending, FIFA and Corruption of International Finance
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-06-08.mp3
Patriot vs Freedom Act -- or is it a shell game?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-06-15.mp3
Blase Bonpane on Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-06-22.mp3
Crying Wolf: Are Terror Warnings Like Fake 911 Calls?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-07-06.mp3
U.S. Killer Drone Program
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-07-20.mp3
Iraqi Nuclear Scientist Debunks Nuclear Myths
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-07-27.mp3
Alice Slater with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-08-10.mp3
Stephen Janis, Real News Network on Firing of Police Chief Kelvin Sewell
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-08-17.mp3
AT&T Whistleblower Mark Klein on Company's Partnership with NSA
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-08-24.mp3
Obama in Alaska: Is It Just PR to Greenwash his Climate Legacy?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-08-31.mp3
Syria, A Refugee's Nightmare
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-09-14.mp3
Blase Bonpane on the Pope's Visit
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-09-21.mp3
Henry Rosemont, Jr. on US-China Relations
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-09-28.mp3
Ray McGovern on Drones, Whistleblowers and Executive Authority
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-10-19.mp3
Diane Roark and Melvin Goodman: Benghazi and Emails: The Ignored Substance Behind the Circus
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-10-26.mp3
Andrew Cockburn: Killer Drones: Analysis and Protest of the Bureaucracy of Murder
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-11-02.mp3
Steve Horn: What About the Keystone XL Clone?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-11-16.mp3
The Clinton Foundation Is a Money Laundering Operation for Influence Peddling by Dictators
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-11-23.mp3
Joseph Gerson: What About the Keystone XL Clone?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-11-09_gerson.mp3
Daphne Wysham: What About the Keystone XL Clone?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-11-09_wysham.mp3
9/11 Whistleblower Coleen Rowley
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-12-07.mp3
Lawrence Grandpre: Baltimore, History, and Color of Jesus
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-12-21.mp3
Patty Lovera on the Dow DuPont Merger
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-12-28_lovera.mp3
Chris Williams on the Paris Climate Talk Fraud
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2015-12-28_williams.mp3
Nick Buxton on Massive US Military Emissions
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-01-04.mp3
James S. Henry: Why China's Market is Collapsing
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-01-11.mp3
Hedrick Smith on the election
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-08-29.mp3
Andrew Hanauer on Global Tax Fairness, Predatory Lending, and Shell Companies
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-01-18.mp3
All About Money 2016-01-25
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-01-25.mp3
Richard Wolff on Sanders and Socialism
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-02-01.mp3
Jeff Cohen on Hillary Clinton's Progressive Record
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-02-08_cohen.mp3
Stephen Zunes on Hillary Clinton's War Record
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-02-08_zunes.mp3
Coleen Rowley on Presidential Candidates, Nuclear Weapons
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-02-15.mp3
Stephen Zunes on Hillary Clinton, USA, LIes and Double Standards
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-02-22.mp3
Josie Setzler on Torture, Guantanamo
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-02-29.mp3
All About Money 2016-03-07
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-03-07.mp3
Fukushima with Beyond Nuclear
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-03-14.mp3
Trump, AIPAC and Jewish Voice for Peace
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-03-21.mp3
Surveillance State with Bill Blunden
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-04-04_blunden.mp3
Surveillance State with Bill Binney
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-04-04_binney.mp3
Panama Papers with Tim Johnson
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-04-11_johnson.mp3
Panama Papers, UBS and Whistleblowing with Stephanie Gibaud
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-04-11_gibaud.mp3
All About Money 2016-04-18
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-04-18.mp3
All About Money 2016-04-25
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-04-25.mp3
All About Money 2016-05-02
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-05-02.mp3
All About Money 2016-05-09
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-05-09.mp3
Sister Megan Rice on Daniel Berrigan
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-05-16_rice.mp3
Father John Dear on Daniel Berrigan
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-05-16_dear.mp3
Ray McGovern on Daniel Berrigan
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-05-16_mcgovern.mp3
Els Cooperrider on Measure V
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-05-30_cooperrider.mp3
Robert Blackwill on Geoeconomics and His Latest Book
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-05-30_blackwill.mp3
Matt Stannard on Payday Loans and Postal Banking
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-06-06.mp3
Father John Dear on the Beatitudes of Peace
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-06-13.mp3
Former Senior NSA Executive Tom Drake
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-06-30_1.mp3
Former Senior NSA Executive Tom Drake
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-06-30_2.mp3
Peter Kraska and Carlos Miller: Police, Militarization and Photography
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-07-18.mp3
Marjorie Cohn on Killer Robots
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-07-25.mp3
Raed Jarrar on the DNC
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-08-01.mp3
Lenny Siegel on Leon Panetta at the DNC
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-08-08.mp3
Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Jennifer Harris
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-08-15.mp3
Peace Hero David Swanson
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-08-22.mp3
All About Money 2016-09-05
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-09-05.mp3
All About Money 2016-09-12
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-09-12.mp3
All About Money 2016-09-19
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-09-19.mp3
All About Money 2016-09-26
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-09-26.mp3
All About Money 2016-10-03
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-10-03.mp3
All About Money 2016-10-10
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-10-10.mp3
All About Money 2016-10-17
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-10-17.mp3
All About Money 2016-10-24
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-10-24.mp3
Bill Binney: Is Harold Martin a 2nd Ed Snowden?
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-10-31.mp3
All About Money 2016-11-07
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-11-07.mp3
All About Money 2016-11-14
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-11-14.mp3
Dakota Access Pipeline Connections
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-11-28.mp3
All About Money 2016-12-19
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2016-12-19.mp3
All About Money 2017-01-09
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2017-01-09.mp3
Rick Claypool on Trump\'s Transition Team
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2017-01-30.mp3
All About Money 2017-02-06
http://www.kmecradio.org/p/allaboutmoney/audio/allaboutmoney_2017-02-06.mp3
106 WEST STANDLEY STREET, UKIAH, CALIFORNIA
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KZYX Press Release
Ballot Initiatives: * GMO Labeling (Lost in CA) * Marijuana Legalization (Won in CO and WA) * But Why? * On KZYX, Friday, Nov 16 @ 9 AM, Pacific Time
Posted on Friday, 16 November 2012
Hits: 1915
Ballot Initiatives: * GMO Labeling (Lost in CA) * Marijuana Legalization (Won in CO and WA) * But Why? * On KZYX, Friday, Nov 16 @ 9 AM, Pacific Time
Last week, voters spoke. GMO Labeling failed to pass in California. Meanwhile, Marijuana Legalization passed in Washington and Colorado.
But why? GMO Labeling seems less controversial than Marijuana Legalization. Could big money be the reason why?
On Friday, at 9-10 AM, at here at KZYX, we'll explore the issue with guests Michele Simon and Martin Lee.
Broadcast heard at 88.1, 90.7, and 91.5 FM in the Counties of Mendocino, Humboldt, Lake, and Sonoma in northern California.
We're also heard streaming live from the web at www.kzyx.org
MICHELE SIMON, http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com, https://twitter.com/MicheleRSimon
Simon is a public health lawyer, president of Eat Drink Politics and author of "Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back." She said last week: "Prop 37 was attacked by a massive disinformation and propaganda campaign waged by the likes of Monsanto and PepsiCo, who out-spent the Yes side by 6 to 1. It’s hard to beat lies and deception, with the money to spread them." Simon wrote the piece "California Newspaper Editorial Boards Spread False Claims and Faulty Logic on Proposition 37." http://truefoodnow.org/2012/10/17/california-newspaper-editorial-boards-spread-false-claims-and-faulty-logic-on-proposition-37.
In her blog, Ms. Simon continued: "California’s Proposition 37, which would have required labeling of GMO foods, died a painful death. Despite polling in mid-September showing an overwhelming lead, the measure lost by 53 to 47 percent, which is relatively close considering the No side’s tactics.
"The opposition waged a deceptive and ugly campaign, fueled by more than $45 million, mostly from the leading biotech, pesticide, and junk food companies."
Ms. Simon makes the case that the corporate opposition to Prop 37 lied in the California Voters Guide, misused a federal seal, falsely quoted the FDA, misrepresented false academic affiliations, deployed unethical scare tactics, made wild claims about higher food prices, threatened "shakedown lawsuits", and got newspaper endorsements using dubious tactics.
MARTIN LEE
Lee is the author of the new book "Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana -- Medical, Recreational and Scientific" and the director of Project CBD, a medial science information service. He is also co-founder of the media watch group FAIR. He said last week: “Residents of Colorado and Washington made history on Election Day by voting to legalize the adult use of marijuana. It could mark the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition. From a historical perspective, marijuana prohibition is an aberration. For thousands of years men and women in many cultures have used cannabis as a folk medicine and a source of fiber and oil.
"It wasn't until well into the 20th century that U.S. legislators and their international counterparts imposed a global ban on 'the evil weed.' The first anti-marijuana laws in the United States were primarily a racist reaction against Mexican migrants. After millions of middle class Americans began smoking the herb in the 1960s, marijuana became the central focus of a deceitful war on drugs, a venal and destructive policy that fostered crime, police corruption, social discord, racial injustice and, ironically, drug abuse itself, while impeding medical advances and economic opportunities.
"The drug war that President Richard Nixon set in motion would escalate under Ronald Reagan and his Oval Office successors. Reefer madness has nothing to do with smoking marijuana -- for therapy or fun or any other reason -- and everything to do with how the U.S. government has stigmatized, prosecuted, and jailed users of this much maligned and much venerated plant. The fact that a disproportionate number of black and Latino youth are arrested and jailed for marijuana possession is reason enough to end the war on drugs.”
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KZYX Press Release
Galbraith on KZYX, Friday, Nov 30 @ 9 AM
Posted on Thursday, 29 November 2012
Hits: 2154
*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JAMIE GALBRAITH OF KZYX ***
On Friday, November 30, at 9 am, Pacific Time, "All About Money" returns to KZYX with leading economist and progressive, JAMES GALBRAITH, to talk about the reasons why the "fiscal cliff" is a scam. Stripped to essentials, the fiscal cliff is a device constructed to force a rollback of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as the price of avoiding tax increases for the rich and disruptive cuts in defense spending.
Broadcast is heard at 88.1, 90.7, and 91.5 FM in the Counties of Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, Humboldt in northern California, We also stream live from the web at www.kzyx.org.
Galbraith holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. His latest book is "Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis," (Oxford University Press, 2012.)
Galbraith recently wrote the piece "Six Reasons the Fiscal Cliff is a Scam," which states: "Stripped to essentials, the fiscal cliff is a device constructed to force a rollback of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as the price of avoiding tax increases and disruptive cuts in federal civilian programs and in the military. ... Is there a looming crisis of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, such that these programs must be reformed? No, there is not. Social insurance programs are not businesses. They are not required to make a profit; they need not be funded from any particular stream of tax revenues over any particular time horizon. ...
"Would the military sequestration programmed to start in January be a disaster? No, it would not be. Military spending is set in any event to decline – and it should decline as we adjust our military programs to our national security needs. The sequester is at worst harmless; at best it's an invitation to speed the process of moving away from a Cold War force structure to one suited to the modern world. ...
"Would the upper-end tax increases programmed to take effect in January be a disaster? No, they would not be. There is no evidence that the low tax rates on the wealthy encourage them to spend or invest, no evidence that higher tax rates would deter the spending and investment that they might otherwise do. ...
"Would the middle-class tax increases, end of unemployment insurance and the abrupt end of the payroll tax holiday programmed for the end of January risk cutting into the main lines of consumer spending, business profits and economic growth? Yes, over time it would. But the effects in the first few weeks will be minimal, and Congress could act on these matters separately, with a clean bill either before the end of the year or early in the new one." http://www.alternet.org/economy/6-reasons-fiscal-cliff-scam?paging=off
Galbraith also wrote the book "The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too," and a new preface to "The Great Crash, 1929," by John Kenneth Galbraith.
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KZYX Press Release
JAMAL ABDI AND JOSH RUEBNER, CONFIRMED GUESTS FOR FRIDAY'S SHOW ON THE U.S. SENATE RESOLUTION TO BACK ISRAEL
Posted on Tuesday, 05 March 2013
Hits: 2047
Jamal Abdi, policy director at the National Iranian Council, is now a confirmed guest for Friday's show, "All About Money", on KZYX, at 9 AM. He'll address the issue of whether the resolution is a back door for another bloody war for the United States in the Middle East.
Our guest for the second half of the show will address another important issue: Why does this U.S. Senate resolution exempt Israel from sequestration cuts in military and foreign aid? Our guest will be Josh Ruebner, national advocacy director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
* * *
Ruebner's piece ''Israel Lobby' to Push for Aid Despite Sequestration Cuts" was just published by "The Hill". It states: "The long-dreaded sequestration has arrived, bringing with it potentially catastrophic consequences for governmental programs designed to benefit those most in need. The NAACP estimates these across-the-board cuts will result in 100,000 fewer low-income children being prepared for school through Head Start, 17 million fewer 'Meals-on-Wheels' delivered to seniors suffering from food insecurity, and 1.6 million fewer unemployed Americans served through job training, education, and employment services.
"Yet, as thousands of 'Israel-first' citizen lobbyists descend on Capitol Hill, today (Tuesday) as part of the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) -- the largest and most influential of the many groups comprising the 'Israel lobby' -- concern for these millions of Americans will not be on its legislative agenda.
Instead, AIPAC will be lobbying to avert the impact of sequestration on record-breaking levels of U.S. military aid to Israel. It will also be pushing for legislation to boost the U.S.-Israel 'strategic alliance' and green light an Israeli attack on Iran, measures which will both inevitably entail demands for additional U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel.
"Israel stands to lose approximately $250 million of its $3.1 billion military aid package from the United States under the terms of the sequestration. The Jewish Week calls AIPAC’s gambit to exempt these cuts a 'very risky strategy at a time when millions of Americans will be feeling the bite of the sequestration debacle,' which 'could easily backfire and damage Israel far more than any cuts in its very generous grant aid program.' ...
"AIPAC demands that the United States underwrite approximately 20 percent of the Israeli military budget. Beyond the fiscal absurdity of this policy, what makes it even more galling is that U.S. taxpayers are thereby made complicit in Israel’s systematic violation of Palestinian human rights, its military occupation and illegal colonization of Palestinian land, and its apartheid policies toward Palestinians which deny them freedom and self-determination."
Josh Ruebner is author of the forthcoming Shattered Hopes: Why Obama Failed to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
Note: President Obama is currently scheduled to visit Israeli on March 20, though there have been reports that may be delayed.
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KZYX Press Release
KENDALL SMITH ON "ALL ABOUT MONEY", FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 @ 9 AM
Posted on Thursday, 24 January 2013
Hits: 1808
Former Mendocino County Supervisor and long-time aide to Congressman Mike Thompson, Kendall Smith, will be our guest on "All About Money" on Friday, January 23, at 9 AM.
We'll discuss Kendall's career in public service. We'll also discuss the most pressing issues that face Mendocino County from Kendall's perspective.
Finally, we'll discuss a an exciting new project of which Kendall is an important participant.
At its Annual Conference held in Pittsburgh, PA in July 2012, the National Association of Counties (NACo) approved an important policy resolution for the Reduction and Cleanup. It can be found on the NACo website.
As a member of the Environment, Energy and Land Use Committee, Kendall Smith was honored to introduce the item to the full Committee. This was a collaborative proposal involving the states of Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, and California. These Western states were pleased that after introduction and discussion, the Committee vote to support this timely resolution was unanimous. The resolution was then approved as official NACo policy by the full voting membership at the Annual Business Meeting.
The resolution gives national policy support to local jurisdictions, states, and federal agencies to advocate for enhanced resources for marine debris cleanup, including tsunami debris, and support for passage of local bans on single-use plastic bags.
Again, the resolution may be found on the NACo website. Additionally, recent press coverage on the growing tsunami debris problem is included. Interested persons will find this information useful especially as it relates to pending or future legislation and as an advocacy tool to assist in funding strategies for marine protection efforts.
Interested persons may also contact NACo directly for additional information. You may contact also contact Kendall Smith directly.
Kendall Smith wishes to thank NACo for its historical and future support for marine habitat protection efforts, including the acknowledgment to the significant challenges marine debris presents to local government.
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KZYX Press Release
THE AUSTRIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS ON KZYX, FRIDAY, FEB 8 @ 9 AM
Posted on Thursday, 07 February 2013
Hits: 1597
Ever wonder why the economies of Switzerland, Germany and Austria never seem to "crash"?
Guest, Professor Harry Veryser, chair of the Economics Department at Walsh College and recipient of the Will Herberg Award from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, will join host, John Sakowicz, at KZYX, on Friday, February 8, at 9 AM, and he will explain why boom and bust cycles are unnecessary and how the Austrian School of Economics breaks the cycle.
“Excellent . . . I highly recommend this book.” —RON PAUL
From Publisher's Weekly:
"Why is the boom-and-bust cycle so persistent? Why did economists fail to predict the economic meltdown that began in 2007—or to pull us out of the crisis more quickly? And how can we prevent future calamities?
"Mainstream economics has no adequate answers for these pressing questions. To understand how we got here, and how we can ensure prosperity, we must turn to an alternative to the dominant approach: the Austrian School of economics.
"Unfortunately, few people have even a vague understanding of the Austrian School, despite the prominence of leading figures such as Nobel Prize winner F. A. Hayek, author of The Road to Serfdom. Harry C. Veryser corrects that problem in this powerful and eye-opening book. In presenting the Austrian School’s perspective, he reveals why the boom-and-bust cycle is unnatural and unnecessary.
"Veryser tells the fascinating (but frightening) story of how our modern economic condition developed. The most recent recession, far from being an isolated incident, was part of a larger cycle that has been the scourge of the West for a century—a cycle rooted in government manipulation of markets and currency. The lesson is clear: the devastation of the recent economic crisis—and of stagflation in the 1970s, and of the Great Depression in the 1930s—could have been avoided. It didn’t have to be this way.
"Economics is not a mysterious science, Veryser shows. As the Austrian School teaches, it is simply the study of human action. Mainstream economics has failed because it has forgotten this fundamental truth. Economists have tried to put economics on a par with hard sciences like physics, reducing everything to numbers. But their complex mathematical models and cherished theories have only contributed to economic collapse.
"As the debate rages over the role of government in the economy, Harry Veryser presents the proper alternative to government interventionist approaches that have proved so ineffective. Too long unappreciated, the Austrian School of economics reveals the crucial conditions for a successful economy and points the way to a free, prosperous, and humane society."
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KZYX Press Release
Posted by John Sakowicz on
Saturday, September 2013
Hits: 3566
Scandal at USSTRATCOM -- Deputy Commander of U.S. Nukes Suspended (Update)
BREAKING NEWS
Another general in USSTRATCOM's chain of command, Major General Michael Carey, USAF, was fired.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/michael-carey-fired_n_4085154.html
Air Force officials said Maj. Gen. Michael Carey was fired for “personal misbehavior” while on temporary duty at an unspecified location outside his usual command. The officials would not describe the behavior, other than to say that it did not involve any sexual improprieties, drug use, gambling, or criminal conduct.
Carey oversaw the 20th Air Force, with a total of 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles at three locations across the U.S.
Last month, USSTRATCOM Deputy Commander, Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, was suspended for a possible gambling addiction and for using counterfeit gaming chips at an Indian casino.
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20131011/US-Nuclear-Missteps/
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To: General C. Robert Kehler, Commander, USSTRATCOM
From: John Sakowicz
Subject: Vice Adm.Tim Giardina
Date: 28 09 2013
Dear General Kehler, Commander, USSTRATCOM:
We met at your Christmas party at the Space Command at Peterson AFB in December 2010.
You may also remember that during these past few years I have copied you on press releases for some of my shows. I have done several shows here at KZYX, Mendocino County Community Radio, on the trillion-dollar cost of nuclear deterence, prompt global strike, missile defense, arms control, and the search for strategic stability in a constrained budget environment. My latest show (20 September) was about Israel's multibillion-dollar nuclear weapons industry.
With the latest scandal involving Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, Deputy Commander of USSRATCOM, I have four questions:
1.) When will you, General Kehler, issue a press release regarding the suspension of Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, Deputy Commander of USSRATCOM?
2.) If Vice Adm. Tim Giardina was suspended on September 3, why is it only now (28 September) that news of his suspension has become public information?
3.) When will the results of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's investigation into Vice Adm. Tim Giardina's misconduct be completed and released to the public?
4.) Does USSTRATCOM expect implications for its FY 2014 budget request as a result of the scandal involving Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, and other negative incidents, i.e., the unprecedented removal of 17 launch officers at the 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB due to a failed inspection on combat readiness?
Incidentally, a local young man, 2LT Max Walker, from Ukiah, CA, is currently assigned as a launch officer at Malmstron AFB. We a very proud of him here in Mendocino County.
Thank you.
John Sakowicz
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/us/vice-admiral-is-suspended-in-gambling-investigation.html?_r=0
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KZYX Press Release
Syria, False Flag Attacks, and the Business of War
Posted by John Sakowicz on
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
Hits: 2945
Earlier this week, Seymour Hersh published the article, "Whose Sarin?" in the London Review of Books (see link below). It was about how the Obama team cherry-picked intelligence on the use of sarin gas in Syria leading up to what they hoped would be the pretext for an American military intervention in Syria, which, of course, the American people strongly opposed.
Despite being a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigated journalist, who has also won two National Magazine Awards, and who is a five-time Polk winner and a recipient of the 2004 George Orwell Award, Hersh had to publish the article in the London Review of Books.
Why?
Because the Washington Post, the New Yorker, and the New York Times all turned Hersh down. His article was that disturbing.
See: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin
Hersh got his information for the article from whistle-blowing acting and former intelligence and military officers, who for security reasons, were not identified in the article. His sources were rock-solid.
After reading Hersh's article, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that the Obama Administration was fabricating the case for war against Syria, with the larger objective of picking a fight with Russia, which would also put Iran in a predicament.
"The cherry-picking was similar to the process used to justify the Iraq war," Hersh wrote.
Let me theorize for a moment.
Hersh's article may fit in with my September-October blog posts at the KZYX website about USSTRATCOM Deputy Commander, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, getting fired.
Giardina's surprising dismissal was closely followed by Major General Michael Carey, USAF, also getting fired.
Giardina was the number two guy at USSTRATCOM. It's unthinkable that he had character issues, as the Pentagon asserts. Absolutely unthinkable. The job is too important.
USSTRATCOM has command authority over our global strike and strategic deterrence -- the United States nuclear arsenal. The three legs of the nuclear triad are ICBMs, ballistic-missile submarines, and long-range bombers. Our total nuclear weapons inventory is 7,700 warheads (1,950 deployed strategic, 200 nonstrategic, and 2,650 non-deployed strategic).
Giardina? Deputy Commander of USSTRATCOM? Fired? For character issues?
No way.
Meanwhile, Carey, who oversaw the 20th Air Force, with a total of 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles at three locations across the U.S., was also presumably fired for character issues
It's unthinkable that Carey, too, had character issues as the Pentagon also asserted.
I know a little something about getting a low-level security clearance, and I don't for a moment believe the cover stories that were fabricated by the Pentagon for firing these two American military leaders at the top the nuclear chain of command. They had our nation's highest security clearances.
Giardina was alleged to have gambled with counterfeit gaming chips at an Indian casino. Carey was alleged to have been drunk in public.
Don't believe it.
What was the real reason Giardina and Carey were fired?
Were Giardina and Carey whistle-blowers about what I have been told was the unauthorized transfer of nuclear warheads from Dyess Air Force Base?
I wonder.
There's more.
Hersh's article, and the firings of Giardina and Carey, certainly fit in with some of the comments about a false flag attack that U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham made at a breakfast in October.
Yes, you read right. A false flag attack. A false flag attack involving a nuke on U.S. soil.
Sounds crazy.
But at an invitation-only breakfast on 9 September 2013, for pro-war, establishment Republican types, in Mount Pleasant, SC, Senator Graham said that if America didn't take military action against the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Iran would acquire a nuclear weapon by the end of 2014.
“I believe that if we get Syria wrong, within six months – and you can quote me on this – there will be a war between Iran and Israel over their nuclear program,” Graham said, according to U.S. News and World Report.
But his fear-mongering didn't stop there. Graham said this conflict will come home to – of all places – Charleston, S.C.
U.S. News and World report didn't report that part of Graham's speech.
“It won’t come to America on top of a missile, it’ll come in the belly of a ship in the Charleston harbor,” Graham said. In other words, Graham was predicting a false flag attack.
Still think this sounds crazy?
Graham warned South Carolinians about the threat of a "terrorist nuclear attack" at almost the same time that a high-level military source revealed that nuclear warheads were being shipped to South Carolina from Dyess Air Force base under an "off the record" black ops transfer.
Russian intelligence confirmed the transfer.
Yes, that's right. Russian intelligence.
On 8 October, Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) sent a report to President Putin and the General Staff -- a report that was leaked and is now circulating in the Kremlin -- that President Barack Obama, while in a rage, ousted four of the United States top ranking military officers after they refused to detonate a nuclear device “in or near” Charleston, South Carolina earlier in that week, and, instead, ordered that the warhead be exploded off the Atlantic Coast.
According to this report, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces Command (SMF) also notified both President Putin and the General Staff that on Tuesday, 8 October, at 01:58:11 GMT/UTC, an atomic device was exploded in the seabed off the US Atlantic Ocean, barely 1,000 km (620 miles) from Charleston, causing a 4.5 magnitude earthquake measurement that SMF experts equate to being a 1-kiloton yield, which is equal to the power of 1,000 tons of TNT.
This report noted that SMF experts are able in differentiate an earthquake from an atomic blast in that in an earthquake the ground starts shaking slowly as plates slide against each other, and then the seismic activity slow picks up as the ground really starts to move. In an atomic explosion scenario, however, the initial blast is extremely powerful, and the subsequent shaking of the ground grows progressively less severe as was the case with the 8 October blast.
The particular atomic device used, the SMF report continues, was a B61-11 Nuclear Bomb Low-Yield Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Weapon, otherwise known as a "mini nuke" which was deployed by the Clinton administration in the post-Cold-War era, but which had been rejected for deployment by Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush.
The SMF report continued that a B61-11 can penetrate and detonate below the earth's surface, creating a massive shock wave capable of destroying underground targets. In tests the bomb penetrates only 20 feet into dry earth, even when dropped from altitudes above 40,000 feet. But even this shallow penetration before detonation allows a much higher proportion of the explosion to transfer into ground shock relative to a surface burst.
And yes, there is a record of this 8 October seismological event. It's from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Back to Senator Graham.
Graham made the comments about a false flag attack, not once, but twice. Yes, twice. Prior to the breakfast in October in Mount Pleasant, Graham warned of a false flag attack in early-September back in Washington, D.C.
Graham's remarks were reported by the CBS affiliate in Charleston on 3 September, the day after Graham had a private meeting with President Obama.
Earlier in this blog post, I mentioned that a high level source inside the military had confirmed that Dyess Air Force Base did indeed move nuclear warheads to the East Coast of the United States in a secret transfer that had no paper trail.
According to the same source, the Dyess Air Force Commander authorized unknown parties to transfer the nuclear warheads to an unknown location that he believes to be South Carolina, where at least one of the warheads was picked up by other unknown parties. This source further confirmed that this warhead was a B61-11. This source finally confirmed that Vice Adm. Tim Giardina and Major General Michael Carey were fired because they discovered the transfer and objected to it.
There's more.
Senator Graham's two warnings about a false flag attack -- those statements reported by the CBS affiliate and the comments Graham made at the breakfast -- weren't the only reports of a false flag attack. Many other reports in the social media on an impending “event” engineered by the Obama team and intended to provoke war began appearing in the days following Graham's breakfast. (Social media, along with other cognitive and semantic networks, can be good predictors of catastrophic events when combined with the traffic from telecommunication networks, computer networks, and biological networks. See the work that the Network Science Center does at the U.S. Military Academy, or do a search on "network science". Network science is all about data mining and information visualization.)
What was the consensus of these reports in social media? It was generally expected that, after Obama failed to make the case for military intervention in Syria, somebody in either the White House or Pentagon, or both, would begin to consider a false flag attack on U.S. soil that had the potential to unleash a global war.
Why a false flag attack? Because the American people do not support more war in the Middle East. As the American people have made clear, our government has no business getting involved in Syria in the first place. And it has no business escalating that involvement through direct military intervention. The American people don’t want this war. Our allies don’t want this war. Our generals don’t want this war
More to the point, there is no compelling national interest served by getting involved in Syria.
The national defense is a core function of government outlined in our constitution. But by no logic does intervening in the Syrian conflict – on the side of terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, no less – act in defense of those interests. Intervening would, however, encroach on the sovereignty of another nation, incite anti-American fervor in the Middle East, provoke Russia (Syria's chief ally), and fundamentally would make the American people not more safe, but less safe -- in other words, the opposite of national defense.
I am now part of a group of investigative journalists, acting and former intelligence and military officers, and civilian intelligence and military contractors, all seeking to investigate why Vice Adm. Tim Giardina and Major General Michael Carey, USAF, were fired, and to restore their good name.
We are also interested in why two USMC generals, Major General. Charles M. Gurganus and Major General Gregg A. Sturdevant, were fired in exactly the same time frame as the firings of Giardina and Carey, which, of course, was the exact same time frame as Senator Graham's two warnings of a false flag attack.
Gurganus and Sturdevant were fired for alleged "failure of proper force protection".
We are also interested why three other high-ranking military were fired in this time frame. They are Brigadier General Bryan Roberts (alleged adultery and a physical altercation), Major General Ralph Baker (alleged alcohol and sexual misconduct charges), and Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette (alleged utterance of a racial slur).
It is unprecedented in U.S. history that seven high-ranking military officers were fired by the President in a three-month time frame.
There are many unanswered questions. And any one question spawns more questions.
For example, Russia's GRU says that Vice Admiral Giardina and Major General Carey were the first to note Obama’s transferring of nuclear weapons to Charleston outside of the normal chain of command. Did they, in fact, leak that information? And, if so, to whom did they leak that information? And what did those persons do with that information?
The GRU also thinks that Major Generals Gurganus and Sturdevant were about to be tasked with leading US Marine troops from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to begin the implementation of martial law after a possible false flag attack had taken place -- an order which, if they refused, would have resulted in their firings. Is this true? And, if so, why aren't these guys speaking out?
The GRU has a lot of questions, as does France’s highly respected dedefensa.org.
We'll do a show about all the above in the near future, here at KZYX, possibly with retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern. It will be part of our series about the business of war.
The business of war.
War? It's not about ideology, stupid. It's not about security. It's about money. All about money.
War is about the business of war -- just as President Eisenhower had warned in his last speech from the White House on 17 January 1961.
And war is about the secret government within a government that conducts the business of war -- just as President Kennedy warned in his speech to the American Newspaper Publishers Association at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on 27 April 1961.
Money is the connection to cover-ups, loose nukes, and Syria.
God bless Seymour Hersh. After 54 years as a journalist -- Hersh started his career in 1959 -- Hersh still has what it takes. He still has the juice.
John Sakowicz
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KZYX Press Release
Posted by John Sakowicz
on Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Hits: 2150
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: INTERVIEW WITH OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL'S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, CARLTON I. MANN
In what seems like the never-ending war against terrorism -- and in what civil libertarians have argued is also a war against its own citizens -- the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has just released a report that things have changed.
DHS says it has a new plan for its 240,000 employees and $60 billion budget.
In case you missed it, DHS Office of Inspector General's Carlton I. Mann, Chiief Operating Officer, interviewed with Federal News Radio's In Depth regarding their Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Performance Plan, available on the DHS website.
The interview was made public today, 29 October 2013.
A friend at the ACLU just forwarded the link to me. Here it is.
Link to Interview:
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/86/3493000/In-Depth-Show-Blog---October-28-2013
My friends at the ACLU also forwarded me this scary link of Laura K. Donohue at the Commonwealth Club of California discussing a little known extension of executive power under the U.S. Patriot Act. Ms. Donohue is a Professor of Law at Georgetown Law and the Director of Georgetown's Center for National Security and the Law.
Link to Interview:
http://fora.tv/2008/09/11/Laura_Donohue_The_Consequences_of_Counterterrorism#VYM6jkeYzxKuPtm5.99
This new extension of executive power gives the DHS power to freeze financial accounts of any suspected terrorist or anyone associated with a suspected terrorist before they have been proven guilty.
Very scary stuff.
And in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Back to Carlton I. Mann's interview -- Mann's interview follows a new, highly implausible report by the Department of Homeland Security Efficiency Review. The report claims the DHS is now more transparent and accountable. The report goes on to say DHS is also now leaner, smarter, and more responsive and better equipped to protect the nation.
See report:
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/MGMT/FY%202014%20BIB%20-%20FINAL%20-508%20Formatted%20%284%29.pdf
DHS more transparent and accountable?
Leaner? Smarter? More responsive? Better equipped to protect the nation?
Hmm. We'll see.
Past is often prologue. Let's look at DHS's history.
Regarding excess, waste, and ineffectiveness, the Department of Homeland Security has been dogged by persistent criticism ever since its inception following 9/11.
Excessive bureaucracy at DHS?
You bet!
A House of Representatives subcommittee estimated that as of September 2008 the Department wasted roughly $15 billion in failed contracts. In 2003, the Department came under fire after the media revealed that Laura Callahan, Deputy chief information officer at DHS with responsibilities for sensitive national security databases, had obtained her advanced computer science degrees through a diploma mill in a small town in Wyoming.
A diploma mill!
The Department was further blamed for up to $2 billion of waste and fraud after audits by the Government Accountability Office revealed widespread misuse of government credit cards by DHS employees, with purchases including beer brewing kits, $70,000 of plastic dog booties that were later deemed unusable, boats purchased at double the retail price (many of which later could not be found), and iPods ostensibly for use in "data storage" but which ended up in the sweaty little hands of DHS employees for personal use.
Regarding reports that the Department of Homeland Security was illegally engaging in data mining (ADVISE), the Associated Press reported on September 5, 2007, that DHS had scrapped an anti-terrorism data mining tool called ADVISE (Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement) after the agency's Privacy Office and Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that pilot testing of the system had been performed using data on real people without having done a Privacy Impact Assessment, a required privacy safeguard for the various uses of real personally identifiable information required by section 208 of the e-Government Act of 2002.
The OIG report noted that ADVISE was poorly planned, time-consuming for analysts to use, and lacked adequate justifications. The system, in development at Lawrence Livermore and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory since 2003, had cost the agency $42 million to date. Controversy over the program preceded the Privacy Office and OIG reports; in March 2007, the Government Accountability Office stated that "the ADVISE tool could misidentify or erroneously associate an individual with undesirable activity such as fraud, crime, or terrorism.
Fusion Centers were another fiasco at the Department of Homeland Security.
Fusion Centers are supposed to be terrorism prevention and response centers, many of which were created under a joint project between the Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs between 2003 and 2007. The Fusion Centers gather information not only from government sources, but also from their partners in the private sector.
Fusion Centers are supposed to be designed to promote information sharing at the federal level between agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice, US Military and state and local level government. As of July 2009, the Department of Homeland Security recognized at least seventy-two Fusion Centers. Fusion Centers may also be affiliated with an Emergency Operations Center that responds in the event of a disaster.
But hold on.
There are a large number of documented criticisms of Fusion Centers, including relative ineffectiveness at counterterrorism activities, the potential to be used for secondary purposes unrelated to counterterrorism, and their links to violations of civil liberties of American citizens and others.
David Rittgers of the Cato Institute has noted: "A long line of fusion center and DHS reports labeling broad swaths of the public as a threat to national security. The North Texas Fusion System labeled Muslim lobbyists as a potential threat; a DHS analyst in Wisconsin thought both pro- and anti-abortion activists were worrisome; a Pennsylvania homeland security contractor watched environmental activists, Tea Party groups, and a Second Amendment rally; the Maryland State Police put anti-death penalty and anti-war activists in a federal terrorism database; a fusion center in Missouri thought that all third-party voters and Ron Paul supporters were a threat. The list of false labeling of innocent people who are presumed to be terrorist threats goes on and on."
The Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) made news in 2009 for targeting supporters of third party candidates, pro-life activists, and conspiracy theorists as potential militia members. Anti-war activists and Islamic lobby groups were targeted in Texas, drawing criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Privacy Office has identified seven areas of risk to privacy presented by the Fusion Center program: 1) justification for Fusion Centers, 2) ambiguous lines of authority, rules, and oversight, 3) participation of the military and the private sector, 4) data mining, 5) excessive secrecy, 6) inaccurate or incomplete information, and 7) mission creep.
"Mission creep"...yes, it's as creepy as it sounds.
In early April 2009, the Virginia Fusion Center came under criticism for publishing a terrorism threat assessment which stated that certain universities are potential hubs for terror related activity. The report targeted historically black colleges and identified "hacktivism" as a form of terrorism.
Regarding DHS's mail interception program, in 2006, MSNBC reported that Grant Goodman, "an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words “by Border Protection” and carrying the official Homeland Security seal." The letter was sent by a devout Catholic Filipino woman with no history of supporting Islamic terrorism.
A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection "acknowledged that the agency can, will, and does open mail coming to U.S. citizens that originates from a foreign country whenever it's deemed necessary."
“All mail originating outside the United States Customs territory that is to be delivered inside the U.S. Customs territory is subject to Customs examination,” says the CBP Web site. That includes personal correspondence. “All mail means all mail,’” said John Mohan, a CBP spokesman, emphasizing the point.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to outline what criteria are used to determine when a piece of personal correspondence should be opened or to say how often or in what volume U.S. Customs might be opening mail.
Goodman's story provoked outrage in the blogosphere, as well as in the mainstream media. Reacting to the incident, Mother Jones remarked that "unlike other prying government agencies, Homeland Security wants you to know it is watching you". CNN observed that "on the heels of the NSA wiretapping controversy, Goodman's letter raises more concern over the balance between privacy and security."
Finally, a word about DHS morale.
In July 2006, the Office of Personnel Management conducted a survey of federal employees in all 36 federal agencies on job satisfaction and how they felt their respective agency was headed. DHS was last or near to last in every category including:
33rd on the talent management index
35th on the leadership and knowledge management index
36th on the job satisfaction index
36th on the results-oriented performance culture index
The low scores were attributed to major concerns about basic supervision, management and leadership within the agency. Examples from the survey reveal most concerns are about promotion and pay increase based on merit, dealing with poor performance, rewarding creativity and innovation, leadership generating high levels of motivation in the workforce, recognition for doing a good job, lack of satisfaction with various component policies and procedures and lack of information about what is going on with the organization.
A 2007 AP poll ranked DHS at the bottom of an index of consumer satisfaction among cabinet departments, and two of its agencies, FEMA and TSA, at the bottom, below the IRS.
Below the IRS!
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Let's go back to DHS Office of Inspector General Carlton I. Mann, Chief Operating Officer, and his interview today with Federal News Radio's In Depth regarding their Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Performance Plan, which is described in the link at the top of this post.
In the interview, Mann says the Annual Performance Plan is the DHS “roadmap” for the projects planned to evaluate DHS programs and operations in the future. In devising this plan, DHS endeavors to assess DHS’s progress in meeting the most critical issues it faces. This plan may describe more projects than may be completed in FY 2014, and it tries to take into account future developments and requests from DHS management and Congress that may occur as the year progresses.
As you'll hear in Mann's interview, the Department of Homeland Security has planned just over 90 new projects for FY 2014. The plan also includes over 100 projects carried forward from the prior fiscal year that are referred to as in progress projects. DHS has provided web links to give details on the background and objectives. Also, some projects initiated this year may carry over into FY 2015.
It's a lot to take in.
DHS says it has a new plan for its 240,000 employees and $60 billion budget, but when all is said and done, DHS may resemble more of a federal jobs program than an agency that truly protects our nation.
Is DHS yet another example of federal corporate welfare? Does DHS really contribute anything significant to "homeland security".
We'll ask that question in a f
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