fufor's unregelmässige news

Whale found deep in Amazon jungle
Saturday, 17 November 2007
By Gary Duffy

A 5.5m long minke whale has been spotted more than 1600km (994 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean, deep inside the Amazon rain forest.

The whale ran aground earlier this week but after being freed with the help of vets and biologists it disappeared shortly afterwards.

It is the second time this week in Brazil that a lost animal has been spotted in an unexpected location.

The minke whale ran aground on a sandbar deep inside the Amazon.

Local people had been splashing water on the whale's back and fin while it was exposed to the hot Amazon sun.

The whale is said to weigh about 12 tons.

Reports of a mysterious animal in the area had been causing alarm among locals near to the Tapajos river, a tributary of the Amazon.

Experts say the animal could have been in the area for a couple of months.

After the whale was freed, helicopters and boats were involved in a search of the area but nothing was found.

A biologist said it was thought the animal became separated from its group and swam upstream, until it ran aground near Santarem in Para state.

While it is not unprecedented, it is unusual for whales to venture so far into fresh water.

Beach alligator

The whale is not the only animal to get lost in Brazil this week.

On Thursday a young reptile - which was 1.5m long - turned up at a popular beach in Rio de Janeiro and had to be rescued by firemen.

They had been searching for the alligator for some time and had closed Barra beach, but despite this some swimmers insisted on entering the water.

The caiman, or yellow stomach alligator as it is known in Brazil, was taken to a local zoo for treatment for a broken leg.

This endangered species is normally found in freshwater swamps and marshes, and the fire service in Rio said it was the first time they had rescued one from the sea.
http://tinyurl.com/27xyut

Stopping Cars with Radiation
A beam of microwave energy could stop vehicles in their tracks.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
By Brittany Sauser

Researchers at Eureka Aerospace are turning a fictional concept from the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious into reality: they're creating an electromagnetic system that can quickly bring a vehicle to a stop. The system, which can be attached to an automobile or aircraft carrier, sends out pulses of microwave radiation to disable the microprocessors that control the central engine functions in a car. Such a device could be used by law enforcement to stop fleeing and noncooperative vehicles at security checkpoints, or as perimeter protection for military bases, communication centers, and oil platforms in the open seas.

The system has been tested on a variety of stationary vehicles and could be ready for deployment in automobiles within 18 months, says James Tatoian, the chief executive officer of Eureka Aerospace and the project's leader.



To bring an opposing vehicle to a halt, the 200-pound device is attached to the roof of a car. The car's alternator serves as the system's power source, whose direct-current (DC) power feeds into a power supply. This generates a stream of 50-nanosecond-duration pulses of energy. These pulses are amplified to 640 kilovolts using a 16-stage Marx generator.

The 640 kilovolts of DC power are then converted into microwaves using an oscillator that consists of a pair of coupled transmission lines and several spark-gap switches. Finally, a specially designed antenna beams the microwave energy toward an opposing vehicle through a part of the car, such as the windshield, window, grill, or spacing between the hood and main body, that is not made of metal. (Metal acts as a shield against microwave energy.)

The radiated microwave energy will upset or damage the vehicle's electronic systems, particularly the microprocessors that control important engine functions, such as the ignition control, the fuel injector, and the fuel-pump control. However, electronic control modules were not built into most cars until 1972, hence the system will not work on automobiles made before that year.

The concept of disabling vehicles' electronic system with microwaves was first tested in 1997 by the U.S. Army using bulky and heavy military equipment. But the Eureka Aerospace system is only six to eight feet long (antennae included) and not quite three feet wide. "It is much more efficient and compact than anything previously used in military vehicles," says Tatoian.

The device's peak power output is two gigawatts, although the average power emitted in a single shot is about 100 watts. Each radiated pulse lasts about 50 nanoseconds. All the test cars' engines were shut off using a single pulse at a distance of approximately 15 meters, making the total energy output 100 joules, says Tatoian. His company is currently developing a more compact high-power microwave pulse system with the goal of disabling engines at ranges from as far away as 200 meters.

"I have no doubt that if you set up a microprocessor and get a high-powered, well-focused beam of energy on [a car], you can disrupt its operation," says Peter Fisher, a professor of physics and the division head in particle and nuclear experimental physics at MIT. But to be able to deploy such a system safely will take some work, he says.

Imagine if a police officer is in a high-speed chase near a shopping mall and turns on one of these systems to stop the perpetrator: a lot of elevators have microprocessor controls, so if the officer is pointing the device in the direction of the mall, he or she could end up trapping 12 people in an elevator, says Fisher. Many other electronic systems, such as an automated teller machine or a security system, could also be disrupted.

Furthermore, Fisher cautions that, while the system may seem like an easier and more efficient solution than spike strips, it could still cause a huge accident if a car is disabled and a driver loses steering control. The system could pose a safety concern as well: radiation can burn human skin, and microwaves have long been suspected of being a cancer-causing agent.

At the moment, the most practical application for the system would be in the U.S. Army or Marine Corp, for perimeter protection of areas that are generally remote, says Fisher. Initial funding for the project came from the U.S. Marine Corp, but now Eureka Aerospace is looking to other governmental agencies for financial support as the company continues to work to make the device smaller, lighter, and more efficient. (Tatoian says that details regarding future work with the military are confidential.)
http://tinyurl.com/3x62xe

It’s Treason: Dems Stay Silent on Bush White House Crimes
By Richard W. Behan, AlterNet
Posted on November 16, 2007

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.
--Article III, Section 3, United States Constitution (emphasis added)

The mainstream Democrats -- represented, say, by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden, and Christopher Dodd -- have not levied war against the United States. Their treason lies instead in committing the second offense: They adhere to enemies of the country, giving them aid and comfort.

The enemies are President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney. Like no other president and vice president in history, these men attacked their country.

It was not our geography George Bush and Richard Cheney invaded. Instead they abandoned and subverted the bedrock institution of our constitutional democracy: the rule of law. By word and deed, Mr. Bush repeatedly and arrogantly sets himself above the law, claiming obedience to be a matter of presidential choice. Mr. Cheney orchestrates, coaches, applauds and iterates.

This cannot stand if the country we know and cherish is to survive. George Bush and Richard Cheney are literally enemies of the state; long before now and by any measure of constitutional justice, they should have been impeached and removed from office.

Abjectly, continuously and stubbornly refusing to hold them accountable, however, the mainstream Democrats adhere to this criminal president and vice president: Nothing they have asked for has been denied, no barriers placed in their way. That is giving them aid and comfort, and that is treason. George Bush and Richard Cheney took the country to war illegally, with a deliberate, carefully designed and executed package of fear-mongering propaganda: lies, distortions and deceptions. No informed citizen entertains the slightest doubt about this.

Lying to the people and the Congress was the most despicable violation of the rule of law by Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, but many more followed: torturing prisoners, denying habeas corpus, spying on U.S. citizens, nullifying new laws with "signing statements" and so on and on. The litany of impeachable offenses is long and painful, but the so-called "War on Terror," these men insist, makes all of it acceptable, even necessary. Nearly six years have elapsed since the Bush administration first defeated the rule of law. For most of these years, a Republican Congress saw fit not to intervene, or even to question this behavior, so effective was the administration's propaganda campaign and so firm were the bonds of partisanship. But now the mainstream Democrats control the Congress.

Also during these six years, the truth emerged, and now we can see the "War on Terror" truly for what it is -- an overarching megalie, an untruth of such unimaginable scope and magnitude it recalibrates for an entire nation the perception of reality. (Aryan supremacy was the megalie of Nazi Germany.) No one should be surprised that the threat of terrorism has increased, not diminished, since 9/11: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were not even remotely intended to combat it.

We know the Bush administration, when it took office, was indifferent to terrorism, brushing aside explicit warnings about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden; we know the president was planning instead, at least six months before 9/11, to invade both Afghanistan and Iraq; we know of a National Security Council memorandum dated Feb. 3, 2001, concerning the "capture of new and existing oil and gas fields" in Iraq; we have acquired with a lawsuit the maps of Iraqi oil fields Vice President Cheney's "Energy Task Force" was studying a month later; we have learned how the privatized structure of Iraq's postwar oil industry was designed by the Bush administration a year before the war began; we know the administration was negotiating pipeline rights-of-way with the Taliban, unsuccessfully, until five weeks before 9/11; we know the final threat to them was a "carpet of bombs"; we are aware of President Bush twice refusing offers from the Taliban to surrender Osama bin Laden, before and after the carpet of bombs was unleashed; we've read of the five "megabases" in Iraq to house 100,000 troops for as long as 50 years; we've learned the U.S. Embassy compound under construction in Baghdad will be ten times larger than any other in the world; and we know Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, and British Petroleum/Amoco are poised to claim immense profits from 81 percent of Iraq's undeveloped oil fields.

Are these the activities and outcomes of a "War on Terror?"

We also know President Bush, a month before 9/11 in August of 2001, notified the governments of Pakistan and India he would launch a military mission into Afghanistan "before the end of October."

Between the dates of the president's announcement and his order to attack, the Trade Towers and the Pentagon were struck by the hijacked airliners. Seizing in a heartbeat this spectacular opportunity to disguise and launch the preplanned invasions, the Bush administration concocted the megalie, and the "War on Terror" was born.

The "War on Terror" is a conscious and ingenious masquerade for the geostrategic pursuit and control of Middle Eastern oil and gas resources. The facts place this beyond dispute. Mr. Bush's claim of "taking the fight directly to the terrorists … and the states that harbor them" was yet one more intentional deception, as subsequent events fully demonstrated. In Afghanistan the state was overthrown instead of apprehending the terrorists -- Osama bin Laden remains at large -- and in Iraq, when we invaded, there were no terrorists at all. But today both "states" are fitted with puppet governments and dotted with permanent U.S. military bases in close proximity to their hydrocarbon assets.

Only the Bush administration continues to natter about a bogus "War on Terror." Others are more candid:

* Republican Sen. Senator Charles Hagel: "People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are. They talk about America's national interest. What the hell do you think they're talking about? We're not there for figs." (Speaking at Catholic University, Sept. 24, 2007)
* Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his book The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World: "I'm saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: The Iraq war is largely about oil."
* Democratic Sen. Jon Tester: "We're still fighting a war in Iraq and people who are honest about it will admit we're there over oil." (Associated Press, Sept. 24, 2007)
* Gen. John Abizaid, retired CENTCOM commander: "Of course it's about oil, we can't really deny that." (Speaking at Stanford University, Oct. 13, 2007)

The criminal fraudulence of the "War on Terror" is fully documented, but the contemporary press has been derelict in failing to expose the mega-lie and publicize it. The mainstream Democrats are equally derelict in ignoring it. Failing to hold President Bush accountable for his crimes constitutes the most profound obstruction of justice. And failing to contradict his hideous megalie clearly reinforces the president's hand: the mainstream Democrats are now accomplices.

The damage done by the Democrats' treason is equally great in prospect. Without exposing the lie of the war in Iraq and acting upon the exposure, there is no credible and reliable way to stop the administration's insane intention of attacking Iran. The proffered rationales -- and the fraudulence -- are identical, as the Democrats stride toward complicity in yet another illegal and immoral war.

Why can't the mainstream Democrats speak sublime truth to demonic power? Doing so, they claim, would be too "divisive" and jeopardize the party's success in next year's election.

This strategy is politically suicidal. A Democratic sweep in 2008 grows dimmer every day.

The rank-and-file Republicans who continue to believe Mr. Bush's lies about the "War on Terror" will not vote for a Democrat. The rank-and-file Democrats who see through the lies are increasingly enraged by the insipid waffling of their mainstream candidates. And roughly half the American people don't bother to vote at all, repelled by the tawdry attack ads and negativity of bitterly partisan, superficial, sophomoric and issue-avoidance politicking.

If the mainstream Democrats do nothing to change this, they will wind up where they're headed -- disappointed and defeated in 2008 -- and they will deserve it. Only by exposing and acting on the truth about the war can they change any Republican minds, regain the support of disenchanted Democrats and attract the politically inert, indifferent Americans. A new style of politics needs badly to be engaged, one that is dedicated not merely to winning elections, but to a genuine concern for truth, for justice, for the rule of law and for integrity in public service.

The most direct and honorable way of invoking such a style is by impeaching George Bush and Richard Cheney. Never in our history have the high crimes and misdemeanors been so flagrant, and the people of our country know it.

Yes, congressman Kucinich sought with a "member's privilege" motion to initiate an impeachment proceeding on the floor of the House of Representatives. But Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer moved immediately to kill the initiative, only to be thwarted by a Republican trick. Finally, Nancy Pelosi, desperate to avoid a floor debate, managed to have the matter referred to the Judiciary Committee, where Chairman John Conyers has been sitting on the original bill since last April. The giving of aid and comfort to the enemies will, seemingly, continue.

But the mainstream Democrats now face a carpe diem moment of truly historic measure: If they choose, they can foreswear their treason. It was a majority, bipartisan vote that sent the impeachment bill to Judiciary, and that is all the political cover the Democrats need to take the next courageous and necessary step.

For the sake of the rule of law, for the sake of the integrity of the Congress, for the sake of the country's future and incidentally for the sake of a potential Democratic victory in 2008, the politics of truth and justice must be showcased. The Judiciary Committtee must hold hearings immediately, to see if impeachment is in fact warranted -- and polls say the greater part of the country thinks it is.

If the mainstream Democrats will not do this, if their treason continues, then decent and thinking citizens everywhere -- concerned patriots all -- can only weep for their country.
http://tinyurl.com/yqmzzg

Attacking Iran: Americans will kill even their own
by Mohamed Elmasry
(Saturday, November 17, 2007)

"Today’s gold is oil. And today’s Columbus and his brothers are George W. Bush, his administration, and his allies. But the doctrine and motivation are the same. For the sake of looting-for-profit, death, suffering and destruction are all justifiable. Any measure of lying is also acceptable in the process, along with the despicable tools of distorted religion, propaganda, war-mongering and hate speech that aggressor-criminals wield to lure a misinformed public to their side."

To penetrate the mindset of the Bush administration on whether it will attack Iran or not, you must read a perceptive book by Canadian historian Prof. R. T. Naylor.

At first glance, Naylor’s "Canada in the European Age, 1453-1919" (first published in 1987 and reprinted in 2006 by McGill - Queen’s University Press) [1] might seem dated and irrelevant to current affairs topics like the American invasion of Iraq, or the risk of war against Iran.

But this book prophetically illuminates the mind of Washington and, for me at least, leads to the sad conclusion that Iran will be attacked.

The background to my conclusion is rooted in the doctrine of colonization: looting other people’s wealth and enslaving them, while killing outright those who resist. And this seems to be the dominant doctrine in Washington today.

It is a doctrine that has never changed from the earliest days of European settlement of the Americas. The cost of colonialist looting was, and still is, considered limitless - so high, in fact, that the price tag includes scarifying the lives of your own people.

Naylor is an excellent storyteller. But the story he tells is a tragic one of unbridled human greed, a passion for obtaining wealth at any cost and using brute force power to loot, rob, kill and enslave other people whom their aggressors deem to be less-than-human.

In 1503 Christopher Columbus explained his motive for "discovering" the Americas. "Gold is a wonderful thing," he wrote. "Whoever possesses it, is lord of all he wants. By means of gold one can even get souls into Paradise."

Today’s gold is oil. And today’s Columbus and his brothers are George W. Bush, his administration, and his allies. But the doctrine and motivation are the same. For the sake of looting-for-profit, death, suffering and destruction are all justifiable. Any measure of lying is also acceptable in the process, along with the despicable tools of distorted religion, propaganda, war-mongering and hate speech that aggressor-criminals wield to lure a misinformed public to their side.

"The Spanish Crown decreed that Columbus’s success was God’s reward for its having just completed the destruction of the Moorish (Muslim) kingdom of Grenada," writes Naylor.

Columbus extracted gold and agricultural wealth through the forced labor of indigenous peoples, while capital expenses for vast plantations were raised through the sale of Indians from the Americas as slaves in Europe.

Many indigenous and Aboriginal people perished in the colonial gold mines and many more were shipped off to Spain as slaves, "slavery being the one enterprise from which quick and dependable profits could be made."

When Columbus first arrived in Espanola the population was thought to be well over a million, but a mere 50 years later survivors may have numbered as few as 500. Those Indians considered unsuited for slavery had their hands cut off, were thrown to the dogs, or were simply impaled on swords if their captors were in a hurry, Naylor continues.

"It was said that the traffic in slaves was so heavy that one could sail from the Bahamas to Espanola guided by the trail of jettisoned bodies. Jamaica suffered a similar fate. In 1509 its population was thought to be equal to that of Espanola, but a decade later its Indian population was largely extinct."

"As to gold, by 1509 some $5 million worth (valued at pre-1971 prices) had been extracted ... at a cost of about 1.5 million Indian lives."

Columbus was not only a war criminal but a consummate liar as well, Naylor notes: "When Cuba was ‘discovered’ he forced his men to sign a disposition certifying that they had reached the mainland of China."

Increasing mistrust in Spain and revolt in the Caribbean, however, resulted in Columbus and his brothers being returned to Spain, humiliated, in chains. Yet their successors in the New World maintained "order" with similar cruelty by burning natives alive.

Today’s situation in Iraq is not unlike the legacy of Columbus. Nearly five years after the American invasion, more than 20 per cent of Iraqis (numbering in excess of five million people) have been killed, wounded, displaced within their own country, exiled as refuges abroad, or have lost one or more next-of-kin. The rest of Iraq’s population exists with little or no security, clean water, electricity, or accessible education for their children. But the oil -- their oil that is -- is looted every day by the Americans. In the meantime the Americans are busy preparing to attack yet another country, spreading more looting, more death, more suffering, and more destruction next door in Iran.

Washington’s horrendous agenda lays an intolerable burden on decent peace-loving people everywhere, who wonder now how to stop another crime in the making. Unfortunately, they may not able to stop it, but the effort is still vital and they can be proud of having tried.
Note:
[1]. Canada in the European Age, 1453-1919
by R. T. Naylor
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0773530916/mmn-20/
http://tinyurl.com/yq7t9t