Sunday 31st August 2008: -

• David Kelly’s closest female confidante on why he COULDN’T have killed himself - A female confidante of Dr David Kelly raised disturbing new questions last night over how the Ministry of Defence weapons inspector was able to kill himself. After his body was discovered in woods near his Oxfordshire home in July 2003, a Government inquiry led by Lord Hutton ruled that he committed suicide by slashing his left wrist with a knife and taking an overdose of co-proxamol, a painkiller commonly used for arthritis. He was said to be anguished about being named as the source of a BBC report, which alleged that Tony Blair ‘sexed up’ a dossier justifying the invasion of Iraq. But five years after his death at 59, his close friend, American military linguist Mai Pederson, has come forward to dispute this account.

RELATED: See our archive The 'Suicide' of Dr David Kelly

RELATED: See our popular archive The Diana Assassination

• UK Police plan 'supermarket cells' to hold shoplifters and drunks - Supermarket police cells could be set up in shopping malls and town centres to hold shoplifters, drunks and other short-term offenders. The short-term lockups could hold prisoners for up to four hours where they would be finger-printed, photographed and have a DNA sample taken. They would allow beat bobbies to remove offenders from circulation without spending too long off the street themselves. Offenders held in the cells could then either be released with a fine, or referred for further action or charging. The so-called "supermarket cells" have already been piloted in Selfridges on Oxford Street. The plans are outlined in the a review of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act as part of the first major shakeup of law-enforcement powers in more than 20 years.

• Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war - As the nation focuses on Sen. John McCain’s choice of running mate, President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war. Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that has received scant attention — and was buried itself in the very newspaper that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the United States remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and “associated organizations.” Part of a proposal for Guantanamo Bay legal detainees, the provision before Congress seeks to “acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of Americans.”

• CIA memos reveal doubts over ‘key’ Lockerbie witness - A Libyan “double agent” who was central to the CIA’s investigation into the Lockerbie bombing exaggerated his importance in Tripoli’s intelligence apparatus and gave little information of value, yet is still living at the US taxpayers’ expense in a witness protection programme, according to previously unseen CIA cables. Five months before the destruction of Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988, 27-year-old Majid Giaka turned up at the US embassy in Malta and “expressed a desire to relocate … in return for sensitive information on Libya”, in the words of a cable sent by a CIA case officer to his headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the same day. Mr Giaka claimed he was an agent of Libya’s feared Jamahiriya security organisation, but it later turned out that he worked in the agency’s garage.

• Lord Halifax tried to negotiate peace with the Nazis - Lord Halifax, Britain's Foreign Secretary at the outbreak of the Second World War, secretly met with an Old Etonian who tried to broker a peace deal with the Nazis, according to newly-declassified security files. The files reveal that shortly after the outbreak of war Halifax helped with the travel arrangements of John Lonsdale Bryans, who believed he could bring down Hitler by making contact with prominent anti-Nazi Germans including Ulrich von Hassell, the former German ambassador in Rome. Initially Lonsdale Bryans thought he could drum up support for an anti-Nazi coup in Germany. But he subsequently changed tactic and tried to contact Adolf Hitler in a bid to negotiate a peace.

• Antipsychotic Drugs Boost Stroke Risk - All antipsychotic drugs can increase the risk of stroke, but the risk is greatest among older patients with dementia, British researchers report. Concerns about the risk of stroke and antipsychotics were first raised in 2002, especially in people with dementia. In 2004, Britain's Committee on Safety of Medicines recommended that antipsychotics not be used in people with dementia. And, in 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered manufacturers of atypical antipsychotics to add a black box warning to their products about the increased risk for stroke.

• Complacency warning on water bug - A consumer watchdog has warned that there is "no room for complacency" after 45,000 people in north Wales were told to boil their drinking water. Welsh Water issued its third warning in three years after a rise in bacteria was detected at a treatment plant. The company says the warning for customers in Gwynedd and Anglesey will stay in place for at least two weeks. Diane McCrea, chair of the Consumer Council for Water Wales, said clean and safety water must be the priority. Mrs McCrea said the council's job as consumer champion was to challenge the water company on customers' behalf to deliver "the safe quality drinking water that they expect and deserve". She said: "I understand that the company is in the process of upgrading the treatment works which is involved in this outbreak.

Thursday 28th August 2008: -

• ACLU: DNC Protesters Arrested, Shackled, Denied Attorneys, Forced To Plead Guilty: Denver police used pre-printed forms to issue charges, misled arrestees - The ACLU has accused the Denver Police Department of violating the constitutional rights of protesters arrested in the vicinity of the Democratic National Convention by denying them access to lawyers, forcing them to plead guilty to inappropriate charges and placing some of them in leg shackles. The charges are detailed in a letter (Click here for PDF) which at time of writing is yet to appear on the website of ACLU Colorado but has been obtained by alternative news website Raw Story.

• Inside Edition Smears Jones For Malkin Confrontation: Tabloid TV show characterizes confrontation as “hateful attack”, establishment media portrays vile concentration camp maven Malkin as poor sweet little victim - Despite promises to remain impartial and tell the truth about what really happened, Inside Edition unsurprisingly characterized Alex Jones’ DNC confrontation of Michelle Malkin as a “hateful attack,” while the Dallas Morning News engaged in outright libel by claiming Jones had chanted “kill Michelle Malkin,” a brazen lie that is still doing the rounds on neo-con blogs.

• Woman Knocked to the Ground & Kidnapped by Gestapo Storm Troopers at the DNC - This one needs to be watched twice or even three times folks. Observe the blunt force and velocity at which the baton strikes this woman. The force/velocity must be around 300-350 pounds per square inch.

• Jacqui Smith's 'Stasi': Now council posts 'Wanted' pictures of litterbugs and keeps them on file - Town hall snoopers armed with police powers are issuing 'wanted' photographs of suspected litterbugs, it emerged last night. Litter wardens given police-style accreditation by the Government are using cameras to snap alleged offenders. They are then shamed in local newspapers. Colchester Borough Council in Essex said it would make it easier to find offenders and make them pay a £75 fine. It also said the images would be stored to help identify repeat offenders. Four 'street care officers' can stop members of public, demand personal information, take photographs and issue fines under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme, details of which were revealed in the Daily Mail. Hundreds of town hall workers and security guards have been given sweeping powers allowing them to hand out fines for a large number of offences, stop cars and seize alcohol from under-age drinkers.

• Number plate cameras at UK airport - Automatic number plate recognition cameras are being installed at Manchester Airport. Five of the cameras, which can read more than 500,000 registration plates each day, will be placed around the complex. Manchester Airport Commander Supt Peter Turner said they would add an "extra level of security". They will help police check whether there is reason to investigate vehicles at the airport. Supt Turner said: "It gives us an extra level of security around the airport and makes the environment far safer. "It will record every vehicle which enters or leaves the airport and allows us to track people we would like to intercept."

• UK Anti-terror laws hold kid boozers - Thirty under-age teenage drinkers have been arrested by police using anti-terrorist legislation. Youngsters who use borrowed, stolen or forged IDs to get into pubs and clubs are being held under the new laws - which makes it an offence to misrepresent documents for ID purposes. In six weeks 30 youngsters have been held. One case has gone to court. Police said they have the backing of licensed traders.

• Cops respond to 999 call by sending text message - A couple who rang police to report a burglary were told to investigate themselves - by text. Lloyd and Suzanne Bishop phoned 999 at 5am when they spotted a raider breaking into a neighbour's padlocked shed and then escaping over a fence. But they were stunned an hour later when police sent a text asking them to investigate the break-in. The message read: "Lloyd. Following on from your call earlier on to the police, please can you contact us if you are able to establish what has been stolen and where from? At this time we're struggling to get the police to attend general calls for service, many thanks."

• British families pay almost £800 per year in 'dishonest' green taxes - Every family in Britain is paying nearly £800 a year in a 'dishonest' green tax grab, a shocking report said last night. Hard-pressed households are forking out the staggering sum on flights, fuel and for their cars even though it is 'unnecessary', said low tax campaigners. Figures published by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) suggest hard-working Britons pay £19.6billion a year too much in tax aimed at covering its carbon footprint.

• Government pockets £200 million in council rents - The Treasury will keep almost £200million of council tenants' rent this year, instead of using it to build new housing or repair existing properties. The move, revealed yesterday, sparked fury from town hall chiefs who said the cash was desperately needed to deal with soaring housing waiting lists. For the first time since 2001 the Treasury intends to collect £195,816,938 more than it pays out from housing revenue. The Local Government Association said: "At a time when more families are finding it difficult to get access to housing, it is unacceptable. "This money could be spent building thousands of new council homes for people in genuine need."

• EU calls for a quieter Proms - The BBC is being forced to make musicians play more quietly during Proms concerts and rehearsals to comply with an EU safety directive. Under the directive which came into effect in April, the broadcaster must ensure performers are not exposed to excessive levels of noise. Noise control officers have been sitting in on rehearsals to take volume measurements and ensure orchestras keep below 140 decibels – the noise of a gunshot of firecracker.

• Obama Speech Stage Resembles Ancient Greek Temple - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple. The stage, similar to structures used for rock concerts, has been set up at the 50-yard-line, the midpoint of Invesco Field, the stadium where the Denver Broncos' National Football League team plays.

• McKinnon loses European appeal: Nasa hacker bound for the US - IT LOOKS LIKE 'Nasa Hacker' Gary McKinnon will be extradited to the US to face computer abuse and cyber-terrorism charges, after the European Court of Human Rights denied his appeal this morning. It's now been six and a half years since he was first arrested. At the end of last month the British Law Lords denied McKinnon's appeal to avoid being sent to the US, leading his lawyers to take up the matter with the European Court of Human Rights. The self confessed 'bumbling hacker' from North London will be extradited to the US to face trial within two weeks. If convicted he faces up to 70 years in jail, ten years for each of the seven systems he allegedly compromised while seeking information on government UFO cover ups.

• Met's knife crime policy attacked - The Metropolitan Police has been criticised for its use of stop and search in tackling knife crime. Laura Richards, former head of the Met's homicide prevention unit, told the BBC stop and search could make gangs stronger and the problem worse. Ms Richards said the Met had ignored recommendations from numerous reports on how to tackle knife crime - such as targeting known individuals. The Met defended its tactics, saying it had community support. Last month the Met set up a special taskforce in London using stop and search, sending teams of officers into stabbing hotspots.

Wednesday 27th August 2008: -

• Neo-Con Media Whores Still Can’t Get Facts Straight On Malkin Incident - Neo-Con media whores are still having difficulty getting their facts straight on Alex Jones’ confrontation of Michelle Malkin on Monday at the DNC, and remain persistent with their bald faced lie that Jones advocated violence against the columnist. “If you repeat a lie long enough, and loud enough, it becomes truth,” said Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and it appears as though Neo-Con bloggers have taken the words of one of their heroes to heart. That’s right - drooling, Mom’s basement dwelling, fake right-wing hacks are still reporting that Alex Jones and/or his supporters shouted “kill Michelle Malkin” even after we exposed the individuals concerned to be agent provocateurs intent on demonizing legitimate protesters by making inflammatory statements.

• More Evidence Malkin Crew Set-up Alex Jones - Calling into his nationally syndicated radio show today from the DNC in Denver, Alex Jones provided more evidence that Michelle Malkin and her dirty tricks crew attempted to set-up him up. Alex revealed that he has video footage documenting the set-up and this will be made public upon his return from Denver. As we reported yesterday, several people associated with Malkin and apparently taking orders from her people attempted to claim Alex threatened the neocon blogger by chanting “Kill Malkin,” a lie parroted by neocon bloggers. As it turns out, two individuals not associated with Alex Jones, described as “frat boys,” were responsible for making the threatening comment and then attempted to claim Alex made the comment. Several videos of the confrontation provide conclusive evidence that Alex did not make the comment. Fox News commentator John Gibson tried to claim Alex had “mind controlled” the crowd into calling for the murder of Malkin.

• '9/11 Truth' activists march through Denver - Around 100 activists convinced that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were perpetrated by dark and mysterious actors within the US government marched across the city Tuesday in a sanctioned protest that resulted in no confrontations with police. Members of the so-called "9/11 Truth" movement gathered outside Denver's city hall proceeding to snake through cordoned off streets towards the Pepsi Center, where the Democratic National Convention is being held this week. Radio host Alex Jones, who runs the conspiracy theory Web site infowars.com and is a leader of the movement led demonstrators in chants of "9/11 was and inside job" and "Down with the New World Order."

• LATEST LOOSE CHANGE CIRCULAR: -

  Fabled Enemies trailer

Fabled Enemies is unlike any 9/11 documentary ever put together.  Rather than focusing on the physical anomalies at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, this film follows the intelligence ties of Osama Bin Laden, the alleged hijackers, and those who were actually detained on 9/11.

The movie delves deeply into the roles of seperate Nations that were involved in supporting the 9/11 attacks.  From Israel to Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, and even the United States itself, no one is spared in this scathing expose that pulls no punches.  Sit back and get ready to learn how members of the FBI had their investigations into Bin Laden obstructed and shut down, how the hijackers were trained at US bases, that military drills crippled our defense and facilitated the attacks, how the Shadow Government was actually activated that day, and much much more.

Join Alex Jones productions and Jason Bermas one of the creators of Loose Change, in his Directorial debut on September 1st , as he loads new ammo for the Infowar.

Click here to view the trailer.

-The LC Team

To order by phone or for more information please contact us at 413.282.0059 or visit www.loosechange911.com

Now taking pre-orders for Fabled Enemies here:
http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/enemies.html

• Child protection database to be used by police to trace criminals - A vast computer database with details of every child in England is to be used by the police in the fight against crime. The £224million Contact-Point system was originally intended to ensure none of the 11million under-18s slipped through the child protection net. But the latest government guidance reveals that it can be accessed 'for the prevention or detection of crime' and 'the prosecution of offenders'.

• Jersey abuse compensation claims blocked - Compensation claims from victims of the Jersey sexual abuse scandal are being blocked by the island's government. Talks between island authorities and the lawyers of dozens of victims of abuse at the former Haut de la Garenne care home have broken down after no agreement was reached on the establishment of a legal basis for damages, which could cost Jersey tens of millions of pounds.

• Four-year-olds could be taught sex education under plans to cut teenage pregnancy rate - Children could be taught sex education from the age of four, under plans by MPs. They are calling on the Government to ensure that advice on relationships, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases is compulsory in all primary and secondary schools. It is the latest campaign aimed at cutting Britain's teenage pregnancy rate, which remains among the highest in Europe despite repeated attempts by ministers to reduce it.

• After thousands of patients needlessly go blind, NICE boss is 'genuinely sorry' for delays in sight-saving drugs - The head of the NHS rationing watchdog yesterday said he was 'genuinely sorry' for a delay in approving a new treatment for blindness. But campaigners said Andrew Dillon's comments would be of little consolation to the thousands of Britons who have lost their sight in the two years it took NICE to make its final decision. The watchdog has now approved Lucentis, which is used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration, a condition which affects 26,000 new sufferers every year.

• Doctors 'keep cancer drugs quiet' - Doctors are keeping cancer patients in the dark about expensive new drugs that could extend their lives, a poll shows. A quarter of specialists polled by Myeloma UK said they hid facts about treatments for bone marrow cancer that may be difficult to obtain on the NHS. Doctors said they did not want to "distress, upset or confuse" patients if drugs had not yet been approved by the NHS drugs watchdog NICE. Primary Care Trusts can provide drugs ahead of NICE approval but many do not.

Bank Holiday Monday 25th August 2008: -

• NIST Concludes “Fire” Caused WTC 7 “Collapse” when FEMA Report Concluded Fuel Tank Explosion had “low probability” of Knocking Down Tower - NIST has finally released their final report into the collapse of Building 7, which collapsed inexplicably on 9/11. The New York Times quoted Sunder who said, “[The] reason for the collapse of World Trade Center 7 is no longer a mystery… It did not collapse from explosives or fuel oil fires.” Earlier, Sunder was scratching his head, saying, “We’ve had trouble getting a handle on Building No. 7.” Similarly, the collapse baffled FEMA who lamely concluded, “The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the total diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence.” In other words, despite the fact that FEMA claimed a diesel fuel explosion would have been improbable, NIST is now asserting that mere “fires” knocked down WTC 7? As NIST admits, this would be the “first known instance of fire causing the total collapse of a tall building.”

• UK Government 'criminalising young' - The government is too quick to criminalise young people for petty offences where informal punishment could be more effective, says a report. Ex-Youth Justice Board chairman Prof Rod Morgan criticised an "extensive net widening" of the use of summary powers such as cautions and on-the-spot fines. His report for King's College, London, urged assessment of the development. The Ministry of Justice said there was a reluctance to bring young people to court unless necessary. The report for the college's Centre for Crime and Justice Studies said: "There is a good deal of anecdotal evidence, for example, that behaviour, particularly that of children and young people, is being criminalised which arguably would be better dealt with informally (school-related misbehaviour, for example) and in previous times was."

• Elderly 'go hungry in hospital' - Elderly people are going hungry in hospital because staff fail to ensure they are fed, a charity has said. An Age Concern study of 110 English and Welsh NHS trusts found 43% did not run protected mealtimes - where non-urgent work stops to make sure patients eat. Age Concern's Patrick South said: "Tackling malnutrition should be a top priority for all NHS trusts." A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We recognise that protected mealtimes are an issue."

• UK Government Spills Personal Data of Millions - The U.K. government has lost the personal information of up to four million citizens in one year alone. The astonishing figures, calculated by the BBC, added up as Whitehall departments slowly released their annual reports for the year to April. And the trend has not stopped - in the latest revelation, HM Revenue & Customs, which infamously lost the details of 25 million child benefits claimants last November on two unencrypted discs, experienced 1,993 data breaches between 1 October last year and 24 June.

• NHS hit by new data losses - THE loss of confidential personal data has become so widespread that patients' groups last night launched a campaign to tighten up security in the NHS. The move comes as Scotland on Sunday reveals hundreds of cases of breaches concerning patients' notes. Two lost USB computer memory sticks containing clinical information are among almost 200 cases of missing patient data in the past three years, ScoADVERTISEMENTttish health boards have admitted. The memory sticks were stolen from an office at NHS Dumfries and Galloway in May. The disclosure, released following a Freedom of Information request by this newspaper, follows a series of damning revelations about missing personal data that have shaken public confidence in Government computer systems.

Sunday 24th August 2008: -

OFFICIAL FILM WEBSITE: www.nosmokewithoutfire.co.uk

Saturday 23rd August 2008: -

• Scientists and scientific explanations - In light of NIST’s WTC7 report, it would be good to have a look at DRG’s excellent debunking of the widely held misconception that a document by scientists makes it an ipso facto scientific document. From page 23 of “Debunking 911 Debunking:” Having looked at two ways in which people, as illustrated by journalists, can avoid confronting the evidence that 9/11 was an inside job, I now look at a third: the assumption that if an explanation is given by scientists, it is a scientific explanation.

• Bad Faith: WTC 7 and the Official Lies - With the release of the NIST final report on Building 7 we can safely say that the government remains committed to the ongoing cover-up, and that crucial evidence was simply ignored, fairy tales were manufactured, and that’s good enough for a lot of media. Perhaps a super-majority of media. As media, “the press,” will not perform its function as society’s government watchdog, and will not pursue the gaping holes in this wizard’s curtain, it’s basically left to us — you and me — to clear up this matter for our fellow citizens. We are at a serious disadvantage, and yet the task is not so daunting as rabid “debunkers” would have you believe. Let’s defer to one of their own, the former head of NIST’s Fire Science Division (the federal government organization which produced the sham report linked above).

• Two Powerful Forces Should Have Made WTC 7 Tip Over - World Trade Center building 7 was not a square or a rectangle, but a trapezoid.  As such, the larger side of the building would be heavier and more massive. NIST claims that column 79 collapsed, leading to the collapse of the whole building.

• Texas to Track Truant Students with GPS - Court authorities here will be able to track students with a history of skipping school under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System monitoring. But at least one group is worried the ankle bracelets will infringe on students’ privacy. Linda Penn, a Bexar County justice of the peace, said she anticipates that about 50 students from four San Antonio-area school districts — likely to be mostly high schoolers — will wear the anklets during the six-month pilot program announced Friday. She said the time the students wear the anklets will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

• Death of patriotism: How national pride is 'under threat by a global super-elite' - Patriotism is back in fashion. With the Union flag flying high over Beijing after the golden success of our Olympic athletes, the British public has been given a rare opportunity to indulge in unbridled expressions of national pride. Yet, in our ever more globalised world, instinctive patriotism is being diluted. The concept of nationhood has been undermined by mass immigration and the imposition of the dogma of multi-culturalism. Our economy is increasingly tied up with the global financial system, dominated by multinational giants which see borders as irrelevant. Supra-national bodies, such as the UN and the EU, have a mounting influence over our political governance. The idea of national interest is sliding towards the dustbin of history. Only last month, in a rhetorical and extravagant speech to the Israeli parliament, Gordon Brown called on the nations of the world to ensure that our era becomes ‘the century of the global community’. In one overblown passage, he pledged to ‘make a reality of the vision of a global society in which we create global civic institutions that turn words of friendship into bonds of human solidarity’. Not to be outdone, David Cameron has joined this enthusiasm for earnest globalism.

• 'Digital doubles' replace actors - New film-making technology lets technicians create computer models of actors which can 'stand-in' for them. Peter Bowes reports.

COMMENTARY: This is nothing new, but bear it in mind next time a 'Bin Laden' (or some other 'boogeyman') video comes out...

speaking of which...

• Osama No2 in film rant - A new al-Qaeda video yesterday paid tribute to four of the terror group's commanders killed in a recent US air strike. Osama bin Laden's right-hand man Ayman Al-Zawahiri hailed them as martyrs and urged other Muslims into a holy war. One of those killed in Pakistan last month was Abu Khabab al-Masri, who had a £2.5million bounty on his head from the US. Al-Zawahiri and bin Laden are believed to be hiding in the rugged tribal regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Friday 22nd August 2008: -

• NIST WTC 7 Report: Shameful, Embarrassing And Completely Flawed: NIST Claims “New Phenomenon” Occurred For First Time Ever In Collapse Of WTC 7. Yet fails to address why ground zero workers and media outlets had prior knowledge of an “extraordinary event” never before observed an hour in advance, plus myriad of other ignored issues - In its final report on the collapse of WTC 7 that news outlets are reporting “puts 9/11 conspiracy theories to bed,” NIST claims that the never before observed “new phenomenon” of “thermal expansion” was to blame for the destruction of the building, a completely ludicrous conclusion in a report that simply ignores eyewitness testimony and hard evidence that points to the deliberate demolition of the structure. NIST completely fails to address prior knowledge of the building’s collapse, including why news outlets like the BBC and CNN reported that the building had collapsed an hour before it actually fell, as well as firefighters on the scene who are heard on video saying, “Keep your eye on that building, it’ll be coming down soon.”

• Debunking NIST's Conclusions about WTC 7: Easy as Shooting Fish in a Barrel - Debunking NIST's conclusions about WTC 7 is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. NIST lamely tried to explain the symmetrically collapse as follows: WTC 7’s collapse, viewed from the exterior (most videos were taken from the north), did appear to fall almost uniformly as a single unit. This occurred because the interior failures that took place did not cause the exterior framing to fail until the final stages of the building collapse. The interior floor framing and columns collapsed downward and pulled away from the exterior frame. There were clues that internal damage was taking place, prior to the downward movement of the exterior frame, such as when the east penthouse fell downward into the building and windows broke out on the north face at the ends of the building core. The symmetric appearance of the downward fall of the WTC 7 was primarily due to the greater stiffness and strength of its exterior frame relative to the interior framing. NIST can't have it both ways. If the exterior frame was so stiff and strong, then it should have stopped the collapse, or - at the very least - we would have seen a bowing effect where tremendous opposing forces were battling each other for dominance in determining the direction of the fall.

• As federal agency declares 'new phenomenon' downed WTC 7, activists cry foul - According to a federal agency report released Thursday, a "new phenomenon" known as thermal expansion was directly responsible for the mysterious collapse of World Trade Center 7 on Sept. 11, 2001. This study, posed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology -- a federal scientific agency which promotes technical industrial standards -- marks the first 'official' government theory on the collapse. The building's demise occurred some seven hours after the twin towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, and has been the source of numerous conspiracy theories key to the "9/11 Truth" movement, most of which argue that the symmetrical, seven-second collapse was brought about by a controlled demolition. Dr. Shyam Sunder, director of Institute's building and fire research laboratory, oversaw the government's three-year research efforts. The report aims to disprove the controlled demolition argument. However, Richard Gage, founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth and a member of the American Institute of Architects, doesn't believe a word of the theory. His group, which has swelled to over 400 architectural and engineering professionals, immediately responded to the Institute's claim in a press conference.

• CNN: Conspiracy theorists 'not swayed' by WTC7 explanation - What really happened at 7 W.T.C. on Sept. 11, 2001? Government investigators say they know the truth. Fires, and not controlled demolition, caused the collapse of the tower, claims a new report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The institute, a federal scientific agency which promotes technical industrial standards, is the first government agency to present an all-encompassing theory of the building's demise. But that theory is being met with consternation among those who believe something more sinister was afoot on 9/11. "It has been a mystery since 9/11," said CNN's Deborah Feyerick in a Friday report. "Why did World Trade Center building seven collapse nearly seven hours after the twin towers fell? "Was it diesel fuel in the building? Or planted explosives, a controlled demolition of government offices as conspiracy theorists allege in films like Loose Change?" No, says Dr. Shyam Sunder, who directed NIST's team of researchers in the investigation. Fire triggered a "new phenomenon" -- thermal expansion of structural steel, which caused a cascade of collapsing floors, ultimately bringing the building down symmetrically, into its own footprint.

• 9/11 Tower 7 mystery 'solved' - THE mystery surrounding the collapse of a third World Trade Centre tower just hours after the September 11 attacks has been solved, according to scientists. The 47-storey Tower Seven building collapsed seven hours after the attack and has been the subject of conspiracy theories. On September 11, the structure was set ablaze by falling debris from the burning towers. But sceptics say that would not have caused the steel and concrete structure to collapse and have claimed that it was blown up intentionally. However scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology say they have got to the bottom of the mystery after a three year probe.

• LATEST 'ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM' CIRCULAR: -

  Scott Forbes Witnessed a power-down in the South Tower of the WTC the weekend prior to 9/11. Watch him here in his first ever video interview. An excerpt from the new Feature length Documentary - The Elephant In The Room 
  
  Watch the clip on YouTube Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brSXmZVVCMI

  
  Watch in High Resolution here: 
  http://exposureroom.com/members/DeadDean.aspx/assets/4699ca30ca86491d808696e1cce2c9bd/
  
  THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM - Available to Watch and buy 1st September 2008 exclusively at:
  http://www.nosmokewithutfire.co.uk
  Myspace 
  http://www.myspace.com/theelephantintheroom
  Facebook group
  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10962741034
  
  The Elephant in the Room is a documentary following British filmmaker Dean Puckett through his journey into the 9/11 Truth Movement: a global movement of 'conspiracy theorists' who believe that the official explanation about what happened on 9/11 is totally or partially inaccurate. The filmmakers travel from middle England, across Europe and to New York for the six year anniversary of the attacks, where the film takes one final twist as we are introduced to the 9/11 first responders who are suffering from various grave health difficulties due to the toxic dust that they breathed in trying to help their country during the weeks after this tragic event. Told with a personal hands on approach that avoids advancing any one position, the film asks the question: are these crazy conspiracy theorists? Or is 9/11 Truth a credible political movement? 

• Zero: An Investigation Into 9/11 (Cert 12A) - If Mr Bush and Mr Blair are still musing over their "legacy", well, here it is - the 9/11 "truth" movement, of which this film, from Italian directors Franco Farcassi and Francesco Trento, is the latest example. It represents a sizeable body of opinion, holding that everything that we were told about that awful day, every syllable, every dot, every comma, every jot, every tittle, was a great big lie. Our rulers brought this fatuous exercise in silly conspiracy theorism on themselves and us, having foisted the definite untruth of WMD on the world. After all, why should we believe anything proclaimed by the governments of Washington and London which endorsed that mendacity?

• New video game ripped by kin of those who died at WTC - Artist Douglas Stanley uses World Trade Center in 30th anniversary version of famed Space Invaders game. It may be art, but loved ones of those killed in the attack on the World Trade Center think it's "disgusting." To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his Space Invaders video game, Paris-based artist Douglas Stanley has unveiled an installation in Germany depicting the twin towers under attack. "The World Trade Center attacks mark a deep cut in our recent history that is still being processed," said Stanley, attempting to explain his installation at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. In the large interactive installation, players must shoot invading space aliens out of the sky to keep them from destroying the towers. Stanley, a French-American, said the installation shows an "ambiguous juxtaposition of this mythical game and the historical events of Sept. 11."

• Coalition air strikes kill 76 Afghan civilians: interior ministry - A US-led coalition military operation in western Afghanistan on Friday killed 76 civilians, including 50 children and 19 women, the Afghan interior ministry said. The coalition confirmed it carried out an operation that included air strikes in the western province of Herat but said 30 Taliban rebels were killed only and said it knew of no civilian deaths. The Afghan defence ministry meanwhile gave yet another toll -- five civilians and 25 rebels dead.

• Data fiasco firm PA Consulting is at heart of £20bn ID card scheme - Fresh questions have been raised over the Government's ID card project as it emerged that the firm at the centre of the criminal data fiasco is at the heart of the £20bn project. PA Consulting, which lost a memory stick containing Home Office data on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales and 43,000 of the country's most serious offenders, has been paid more than £240m for Government contracts in recent years, figures show. This includes £100m by the Home Office for the ID scheme and other work and £35m to work on new biometric visas for the Foreign Office. Home Office ministers have placed the company at the very centre of the controversial ID card project. Its consultants were each paid £160 an hour for working on the mechanics of the ID system as well as for pushing it through the legislative process, documents released by the Government show.

• Home Office suspends PA Consulting contract: Loss of memory stick highlights appalling security processes - The Home Office is to suspend its three-year contract with PA Consulting following the loss of a memory stick containing data on 84,000 criminals. PA Consulting was contracted by The Home Office last year to track prolific offenders through the criminal justice system. The JTrack programme (PDF) is aimed at providing law enforcement agencies with tools to compare offenders' data. PA Consulting provided application support and trained users on the system.

• Cholesterol pill taken by thousands linked to increased risk of cancer - A cholesterol lowering pill taken by thousands of Britons has been linked to an increased risk of cancer. Drug safety chiefs in the US are investigating a report of possible higher cancer rates among patients taking Inegy, a pill combining two kinds of medication. The Food and Drug Administration said it was reviewing data from a trial which found a 'larger percentage' of patients treated with the drug developed and died of cancer than those taking dummy medication.

• 'Let's concrete over greenbelt land', says the Tory think-tank that wants to abandon the North - Vast chunks of the countryside should be ripped up so Britain can build enough homes for its swelling population, according to one of the Tories' favourite think-tanks. A top executive at Policy Exchange says, in an article released tomorrow, that the green belt was 'not sacred' and advocated concreting over fields to help provide affordable houses. Dr Oliver Hartwich's comments come just days after he infuriated David Cameron with an 'insane' suggestion that deprived Northern cities should be abandoned. He was the co-author of a report which concluded that industrial heartlands such as Liverpool, Bradford and Sunderland did not deserve regeneration cash because they were beyond revival.

• China-Tibet Propaganda Opera Staged During Olympics: A Chinese theater has staged a propaganda opera on China-Tibet history to coincide with the Olympics. The Beijing games have been dogged by protests against China's heavy-handed rule over Tibet. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing - Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950 but China's claims on the Himalayan Kingdom go back centuries. One historical reference is the 6th century marriage of Chinese princess Wen Cheng to the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo. A Peking Opera theatre in Beijing has chosen the last days of the Beijing Olympics to stage an opera depicting China's version of the marriage.

• Positive thinkers 'avoid cancer' - Women who have a positive outlook may decrease their chances of developing breast cancer, say Israeli researchers. The small study, published in the BioMed Central journal, also found that getting divorced, or being bereaved could increase the risk. But the researchers admitted that women were questioned after their diagnosis, which might significantly change their outlook on life.

Wednesday 20th August 2008: -

RELATED: See our 7/7 London Bombings archive, set up on the morning of July 7th 2005... learn how 7/7 bears the hallmarks of a false flag government orchestrated attack on the British public.

• Potential Obama VP Is Pro-War, Pro-Patriot Act Neo-Con: Evan Bayh served with John McCain on neocon Committee for the Liberation of Iraq to propagandize for invasion in 2003 - The man who many are tipping to become Barack Obama’s running mate is a pro-war, pro-patriot act, Bilderberg member who was an honorary co-chair of the neocon Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a group that aggressively propagandized for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Ladies and gentlemen - meet Senator Evan Bayh. “Top Democratic Party officials are expecting Sen. Barack Obama to select Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh as his running mate as early as midweek,” according to US News and World Report. So exactly where do the sympathies of the Indiana Senator lie and do they jive with Barack Obama’s proclaimed platitude to be offering “change” in the upcoming presidential election?

• US accused of war crimes over torture methods - The use of torture by the US Government in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 has come under increasing criticism. In 1863 at the height of the US civil war, president Abraham Lincoln set the principles for interrogation of prisoners with a famous instruction “military necessity does not admit of cruelty”. It took the September 11 attacks to change those principles and Vice-President Dick Cheney said the US would now have to work through the dark side. In response, government lawyers drew up the so-called torture memos that would ultimately unleash the abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib and at a host of secret CIA “black sites”. In his new book, lawyer Philippe Sands argues that the responsible officials, and the lawyers who advised them, should be charged with war crimes. Popular TV drama ‘24′ regularly show terror suspects being tortured so the hero can save the day but does this reflect a new tolerance of torture tactics in the United States?

• BBC: Some residents ‘furious’ over NYC terror checks - ‘Operation Sentinel,’ a project of the New York Police Department which would have every vehicle in Manhattan tracked by a series of license plate scanners, is cause for fury among some New York City residents. Details of the program were reported by RAW STORY on August 12. A similar security grid is being developed for Washington, D.C. In an August 19 report, BBC’s Wendy Urquhart found that while some are accepting of the plan’s invasive measures, others are not taking the news so lightly.

• Girl cops suspended after 'beating man who left car door open' - Two policewomen have been suspended after allegedly beating a motorist who refused to shut his door. The pair are said to have attacked Marlon Smith by spraying him with Mace, then punching, kicking and pistol-whipping him, according to court officials. When other police arrived one of the officers was said to have her gun pointed at Smith's face. New York cops Michelle Anglin, 37, and Koleen Robinson, 24, were stripped of their badges and weapons and charged with gang assault.

• Man arrested and locked up for five hours after taking photo of police van ignoring 'no entry' sign - When Andrew Carter saw a police van ignore no-entry signs to reverse up a one-way street to reach a chip shop, he was understandably moved to protest to the driver. Particularly as he lives on the road and always goes out of his way to obey the signs. But his complaint brought a volley of abuse from PC Aqil Farooq. And when Mr Carter took a picture of the van then tried to photograph the officer, PC Farooq rushed out of the shop and knocked his camera to the ground. Mr Carter was then arrested and bundled into the van over claims he had 'assaulted' an officer with his camera, resisted arrest and was drunk and disorderly. He was held in a police cell for five hours before being released on bail at midnight. Mr Carter, 44, lodged a complaint and has since received a personal apology from PC Farooq and Rob Beckley, deputy chief constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

• AM finds dumped medical documents - An NHS Trust is to investigate after an AM found patient documents in the communal area of a block of flats. Darren Millar, Tory AM for Clwyd West, noticed the papers when collecting mail from the apartment he uses in Cardiff Bay when the Welsh assembly sits. He said the documents were on top of black bin bags and referred to patients and medical students. Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust said it could only investigate fully when Mr Millar contacted them with information. Mr Millar said the names, addresses and dates of birth of patients were visible among to 40 to 50 sheets of paper.

• Russia’s financial crisis of 1998 plotted by IMF - As it turns out, the default, which hit Russia ten years ago, was not merely a consequence of the ungifted economic policy of the Russian government during the second half of the 1990s. The devaluation of the Russian ruble occurred because of the efforts taken by the International Monetary Fund, which triggered the massive economic crisis in Russia nationwide and impoverished the majority of Russians in an instant. “The weak position of the federal budget became the main reason of the black August in 1998. In the summer of 1998 the Finance Ministry could fund only a half of its spending with the help of taxes. The other half was funded at the expense of borrowings. When markets stopped lending money to the ministry, the federal budget was unable to function properly,” Sergei Aleksashenko, who took the position of the first deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia in 1998, said.

• India investigates drug trial baby deaths - India is to investigate the deaths of 49 babies who died during clinical drugs trials conducted in the capital New Delhi over the past two and a half years. All the deaths occurred at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences, better known in the country by its acronym AIIMS. It has now been forced by the federal health ministry to set up an internal five-member commission of inquiry, which will report on the deaths within a week. The deaths were brought to the public's attention after a medical non-governmental organisation demanded information from the government. The figures released showed that 4,142 babies had been used for tests since the start of 2006 and 49 had died.

• Fruit juice 'could affect drugs' - Drinking fruit juices may not be as healthy an option as thought - they could reduce the effectiveness of some medicines, it is being claimed. Research presented at a US conference suggested a chemical in grapefruit juice could stop anti-allergy drugs being absorbed properly. A University of Western Ontario team said oranges, and possibly apples, had similar ingredients. Grapefruit juice is already known to interfere with blood pressure drugs. Some medications carry a warning that taking them alongside grapefruit juice could cause an overdose.

• French troops 'killed by Nato jets' - Reports that 10 French soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan after being mistakenly attacked by Nato aircraft are to be "looked into," officials for the military alliance have said. France's Le Monde newspaper quoted French soldiers who had survived the ambush near Kabul on Monday saying they were hit in a "friendly fire" incident.

• Pervert Gary Glitter fakes illness to stay in Thailand - Shamed Gary Glitter refused to get on a flight to the UK last night - claiming he was having a heart attack. The brazen pop star - freed from jail in Vietnam after molesting two girls - collapsed dramatically as he rowed with officials. Glitter, 64, demanded to be taken to hospital from Bangkok airport. But immigration officers believed it was just a stunt to avoid his deportation to London. He wants to stay on in Thailand. Earlier, Glitter flew out of Vietnam in the lap of luxury, sipping a cuppa in business class. The disgraced ex-pop star looked as if he didn't have a care in the world as he casually flicked through a magazine.

Tuesday 19th August 2008: -

• IRELAND: State plans ID cards 'by stealth': Civil liberties groups wary of plan to issue 3m public service cards - The government plans to issue “at least” 3m public service cards over the next four years, raising concerns that the new “travel pass” which it proposes to give to 640,000 people in 2009 will form the basis of Ireland’s first national identity card. Documents supplied to companies tendering to provide the public services card state that the Department of Social and Family Affairs (DSFA) will need 900,000 initially rising to 3m in the next four years. Civil liberties groups are concerned that the free travel card will be turned into a national identity card by stealth.

• UK ID card 'propaganda' backfires as students revolt - Trust Britain’s youth to be characteristically ungrateful. The Government goes to all the effort of making a website for 16 to 25- year-olds to express their views on identity cards, and all they get in return is a solid mixture of scorn, sneering and scepticism smattered across their fancy new forums. In a bid to get the country’s youngsters on board the controversial scheme, the Home Office has launched MyLifeMyId.org, where 16 to 25 year olds “can have their say about identity issues in the UK.” But anyone browsing the discussions on the site would be hard pushed to find a single positive comment, with contributors branding the controversial scheme as “creepy,” “dirty” and “illegal” and the website itself as an “online propaganda machine”.

COMMENTARY: LOL... nice one!  Keep it up!

• USA: Schools replacing photo ID cards with biometrics - Schools in Clovis, N.M. are being outfitted with fingerprint scanners in an effort to do away with ID cards, however, the new system has some students and their families worried over security issues, according to a Clovis News Journal article. The new system is being used as a way to replace the ID cards and PINs that were used for meals and library book check-out.

• Nurses threaten court action if NICE restricts £100-a-week arthritis drugs - Astonishing pain: Arthritis sufferers may be left in more pain if NICE restricts access to £100-a-week drug. A profit-hungry drugs industry driven by executives' bonuses is to blame for new drugs being judged too pricey for the NHS, the head of the Government's drugs' rationing body has said. In an astonishing attempt to shift the spotlight onto the pharmaceutical industry, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the beleaguered National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, accused drug companies of driving up the price of vital new medicines in order to boost profits and protect executive bonuses.

• Florida Man Dies After Cop Taser - A Florida man has died after being repeatedly 'shocked' by a police Taser gun. Kenneth Oliver, 45, of Miami-Dade, was targeted after causing a commotion at a friend's house. It is reported he had been shouting and banging on a front door in the early morning. Mr Oliver's friend Johnnie Mosely said he had considered letting him into his home, but his daughters were frightened by Mr Oliver's behaviour. He called police and said officers, who arrived several minutes later, used a Taser gun at least four times. Miami-Dade police say Mr Oliver went into shock while he was in custody and was pronounced dead at a hospital later that morning.

• Court orders woman to pay £16,000 for file-sharing - A woman has been ordered to pay out £16,000 for engaging in the unlawful sharing of a computer game on the internet, according to the game publisher's lawyers. The payout could lead to games owners taking more action against file-sharers in the UK. TopWare Interactive took the action against Isabella Barwinska of London over the sharing of its game Dream Pinball 3D, which can cost as little as £9 to buy. The Patents County Court in London ruled that the 32-year-old mother should pay Topware damages of £6,086.56 plus costs and disbursements of £10,000, according to a statement from the firm's lawyers, Davenport Lyons.

Monday 18th August 2008: -

• Teachers distrust CCTV in the classroom - Nearly a quarter of teachers are worried about hidden surveillance cameras in their schools, according to research published today. In a survey of 249 primary and secondary teachers in state and private schools across the UK nearly 10% say CCTV is operating in toilets, and almost a quarter worry that hidden cameras have been installed within the building. The survey, conducted by the Association of Teachers and Lectures (ATL), found that most of the CCTV cameras in schools cover the grounds and entrances to building, although 85% of schools have CCTV in their buildings.

• Buttock-clenching at the bus stop: The nanny state's new bid to get us all fit - A bizarre Government-funded campaign is being launched to encourage people to exercise while they’re waiting for a bus. According to the campaign’s organisers, those minutes spent at the bus stop watching the traffic go by could be spent more usefully – by standing on one leg, pointing your toes or clenching your buttocks. But the latest attempt to get Britain fit has been slammed by an MP as ‘a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money’. And one angry passenger said last night: ‘Fares are ridiculously high as it is. So why don’t they use the money they’re spending on this nonsense to cut the cost of bus travel?’ Leaflets and posters setting out six Pilates-style exercise moves to do at the bus stop are being distributed to passengers travelling on buses between Blackburn and Manchester.

Sunday 17th August 2008: -

• Rounded up into torture camps: the 'undesirables' China doesn't want you to see - The bleak concrete walls topped with razor wire and the sentries in towers at the gates are a chilling reminder of a different era. On the nearby roads, heavily armed guards patrol relentlessly, checking both drivers and pedestrians, constantly alert. Meanwhile, less than 30 miles away, the world's attention is focused on the world-famous 'Bird's Nest' Olympic stadium and the other venues where a global audience of two billion is watching the Games and enjoying the spectacle of the 'new' China.

• Britain 'ignores child sex tourism': British paedophiles abuse children abroad, and too little is being done to prevent the offences, says report - Children are being put at risk by the Government's failure to deal with British paedophiles overseas, according to a new report being published today. Sex offenders are able to travel the world abusing children virtually unchecked, according to the report, which accuses Britain of turning a blind eye to the activities of child molesters abroad. While British authorities await the return on Tuesday of convicted paedophile Gary Glitter after his release from prison in Vietnam, the report from Ecpat (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) accuses the Government of ignoring scores of similar offenders who are abusing children in countries that are often unable to police their activities.

• DVD PRE-ORDER: Fabled Enemies: A New Film By Loose Change Filmmaker Jason Bermas - 7 years after 911 the supposed mastermind behind the attacks is still at large, and the nation is entrenched in multiple Wars in the Middle East. Is Bin Laden the Evil behind the attack or a mere front man in a larger picture, a Bogeyman? We are told we are fighting a War on Terror, and that the Terrorists hate us for our freedom. If that is the case, why do our leaders take more and more of those freedoms away every day?

• How Big Brother watches your every move: In our ever-growing surveillance society, the average Briton is being recorded 3,000 times a week - With every telephone call, swipe of a card and click of a mouse, information is being recorded, compiled and stored about Britain's citizens. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has now uncovered just how much personal data is being collected about individuals by the Government, law enforcement agencies and private companies each day. In one week, the average person living in Britain has 3,254 pieces of personal information stored about him or her, most of which is kept in databases for years and in some cases indefinitely. The data include details about shopping habits, mobile phone use, emails, locations during the day, journeys and internet searches.

• Border guards refuse to use passport robots - MEMBERS of Britain’s 5,000-strong border force are to boycott newly installed “passport control robots” at airports after the security services expressed fears they would not stop terrorists entering the country. The boycott follows an admission by senior UK Border Agency officials last month that the intelligence services and police doubt the viability of the facial recognition and passport-checking machines, which aim to automate the job of passport control officers. Ministers want the “robots” to replace most frontline airport immigration officers over the next five years. The disclosure is a blow to Gordon Brown, who last year trumpeted plans to improve border security with the so-called e-borders scheme.

• Red Bull puts heart at risk, says study: A single can of energy drink Red Bull could raise the risk of a heart attack and stroke, researchers claim - An Australian study found the sugar free version of the caffeine-loaded beverage causes the blood to become sticky and increases the chance of a life threatening clot. Dr Scott Willoughby, who tested the drink on students, said: “One hour after they drank Red Bull, their blood systems were no longer normal. They were abnormal like we would expect in a patient with cardiovascular disease. “If you add in other risk factors for cardiovascular disease - stress or high blood pressure - this could be potentially deadly.”

• NICE BOSS ANGER AT HIGH DRUG PRICES - Pharmaceutical companies are driving up the price of vital new medicines in order to boost their profits and protect their executive bonuses, the chairman of the body which advises on drugs cost-effectiveness has warned. Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, the chairman of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), complained that the industry was subject to "perverse incentives" to hike prices. His intervention, in an interview with The Observer, came after Nice faced scathing criticism for refusing to sanction the use of new kidney drugs by the NHS on the grounds of cost.

Saturday 16th August 2008: -

• Dan Rather announces Giuliani has "flight data recorder" from WTC: Another on-air oddity from Dan Rather - Observations: Rather's language suggests he has knowledge of a news clip in custody of CBS in which Giuliani "holds up" what he claims is a "flight data recorder" from the WTC wreckage - Rather introduces this clip, but immediately a BBC-style "technical problem" prevents its being aired - Giuliani would not make such an announcement to the national media casually--much less "hold up" the object in question--without confirmation that what had been found was indeed a "flight data recorder" and not the remains of some other electronic appliance from the debris. This episode supports claims by FDNY personnel and an NTSB "insider" that the WTC "black boxes" were in fact found, and suggests the actual moment the blackout curtain descends on this matter in the corporate media.

SEE THE VIDEO: Click here /// COMMENTARY: Apparently there was a 'technical problem'... hmm, very reminiscent of the BBC Jane Standley incident where they deviated from the official script and announced the collapse of WTC early, then had a 'technical problem' and the story went away (until the 9/11 truth movement caught wind of the incident last year!).

(RELATED: See our 9/11 archive and our affiliated site 911truthskipton.com)

• Sky News uses footage of ruins of South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, says it is Georgia’s key town of Gori - Sky New lies giving ruins of South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, for Georgia’s key town of Gori, which they say Russian bombed. The channel simply used the footage of Tskhinvali, which was literally ruined as a result of Georgia’s attacks, to make reports about the situation in the town of Gori, which the Russian aviation supposedly bombed. Pravda.ru journalists concluded that the footage of destruction, fires and crying civilians used by Sky News in its Gori report was identical to the footage aired by Russian TV channel Zvezda (Star) when it reported about Tskhinvali.

• Fox News cuts American child for thanking Russian troops - A 12-year-old American girl visiting relatives during the conflict in South Ossetia has thanked Russian soldiers for saving her from the Georgian attack. However, America’s Fox News attempted to cut her and her aunt off air. Amanda Kokoeva was in a cafe in Tskhinvali when the firing from Georgian troops began. She managed to get back to her uncle’s basement where she spent the night. In a lull, she then managed to flee across the border to Russia, before boarding a plane bound for San Francisco.

• UK Government loses another 45,000 people's private details - The personal details of 45,000 people, including dates of birth, criminal records, National Insurance numbers and court information, were lost by a single Government department last year. The Ministry of Justice's (MoJ) annual accounts show the data was lost in nine separate incidents in the past financial year. The worst incident, in June last year, saw the loss of names, addresses and some bank details of 27,000 people working for suppliers to the MoJ. On another occasion officials at the Ministry of Justice mislaid a an "inadequately protected" laptop containing the job applications of 13 people who were applying for judicial posts. The losses are the latest in a list of data blunders by Government departments, which included the loss of two CDs containing the entire child benefit database of 25 million families. The CDs are still missing.

• Fears after 40,000 innocent children added to DNA profile database by the Government - Nearly 40,000 innocent children have been put on the DNA database for life, it was revealed last night. It fuels fears the Government is building up its enormous store of genetic profiles "by stealth". The figure slipped out during a written Parliamentary answer by Home Office minister Meg Hillier. She said 303,393 children had had their profiles put on the database following their arrest. Of those, 39,095 - or 12.8 per cent - had "not been convicted, received a warning or reprimand and had no charge against them". Lib Dem Chris Huhne said: "These startling figures show the Government is building a national DNA database by stealth. "There is no excuse for storing the DNA of innocent adults let alone children."

• Council bosses threaten children with prosecution ... for playing football in the street - Playing with a football in the street is a rite of passage for most young boys. But in one particular town, a kickabout could land them on the wrong side of the law. A council in Newark, Nottinghamshire, has sent out letters warning that children face prosecution and fines of up to £100 if they annoy neighbours with ball games.

• Council warning on child obesity - Social services may have to take action over children who are overweight if the UK's obesity problems continue to grow, council chiefs have warned. The Local Government Association (LGA) questioned whether parental neglect should include child obesity, in the same way as under-nourishment. Examples of some councils coping with a fatter population include larger school furniture and wider crematoria. It has been estimated that 1m children will be obese in England by 2012.

• ITV1 in new phone vote fix scandal - Viewers were urged to vote for a comedy award although David Walliams and Matt Lucas had already won, a new probe into faked TV phone-ins revealed yesterday. Fans rang premium-rate lines unaware they were watching a pre-recorded segment of ITV1's 2004 British Comedy Awards. Their votes had no impact on the People's Choice prize, already given to Little Britain. The findings - passed to watchdog Ofcom - come from an independent probe into the 2004 and 2005 shows.

• Lifeboat's banned for saving drowning girl - A lifeboat crew has been banned - for saving a drowning schoolgirl. Furious coastguard bosses have locked up the 17ft inflatable. They said the four-strong volunteer crew should never have put to sea because of fears over the safety of the boat's hull. But the Hope Cove coastguard team, South Devon, defied orders not to take out the boat when they saw the 13-year-old being swept out to sea. Station officer Ian Pedrick, 49, asked permission but lost radio contact with headquarters. The girl was just 150 yards out to sea and the crew decided to brave heavy surf to reach her.

Friday 15th August 2008: -

• Obama Fanatics Slam Author For Questioning 9/11: Establishment phonies, NY Times attempt to stoke feigned controversy over Corsi’s skepticism of official story, seemingly unaware that his doubts are shared by the majority of Americans - An army of frenzied Barack Obama acolytes have been busy attempting to smear writer Jerome Corsi, author of Obama Nation, by citing his skepticism towards the official 9/11 story, seemingly ignorant of the fact that such doubts are shared by the majority of Americans. The New York Times also got in on the act with a sneering attempt to validate the attack on Corsi, which is being supported by Obama’s own campaign staff. The coordinated smear attempt is obviously born out of the concern that Corsi’s 2004 book, Unfit for Command, basically sank John Kerry’s presidential bid because it was the inspiration behind the Swift Boat Veteran’s For Truth campaign.

• Cells topped with barbed wire to be used to hold protesters rounded up in mass arrests - A CBS news crew has uncovered a huge warehouse holding facility in Denver, consisting of steel cages topped with barbed wire, ready to receive thousands of protesters at this year’s Democratic National Convention. “This is a building filled with metal holding cells,” described CBS reporter Rick Sallinger. “We showed up at the facility unannounced today, the doors were wide open, and we managed to shoot for several minutes until a Denver sheriff’s captain asked us to leave.”

• British libel laws stifle free speech, claims UN - Britain's libel laws are damaging free speech around the world as wealthy businessmen and celebrities increasingly turn to UK courts to sue their critics abroad, the United Nations has warned. The UN's Committee on Human Rights criticises "libel tourism", where foreign businessmen and millionaires use the High Court in London to sue foreign publishers under defamation laws. Its report claimed that UK defamation law had discouraged critical media reporting on public interest matters, damaging the ability of journalists to get their work published. The committee also criticised the way the British Official Secrets Act 1989 had been used to stop former Crown employees from bringing issues of public interest into the public domain and said that provisions in the Terrorism Act 2006 regarding encouragement of terrorism were vague and could have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

• UK: Binmen won't go extra 18ins to get my rubbish - A pensioner was left fuming after binmen refused to take his waste because his bin was too far from the kerb. Gordon Morris fell foul of a barmy new council rule that states containers must be no further than 3ft3ins from the roadside - to save staff time on their rounds. The 70-year-old's wheely bin was 18 inches beyond the limit, so it was not emptied. Angry Gordon, who pays £1,800-a-year in council tax, said: "It's utterly ridiculous. "They refused to move my bin because it was 18 inches further away from the kerb than it should have been.

• Common moisturiser 'could cause skin cancer' - Moisturisers used by millions of people each day could be responsible for causing a variety of skin cancers, according to a study. Until now, few have been tested for their potential to cause cancer and most have sun protection factors aimed at cutting down on harmful UV rays blamed for causing the disease. However, scientists in the US have inadventently stumbled upon potential proof that they may be doing more harm than good. Tests on mice have revealed that they can increase the carcinogenic effects of sunlight - and the skin cancers they generate are common in humans. The discovery was made by American scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey who were looking at the beneficial properties of caffeine for the skin.

• Missing Karadzic laptop found in Belgrade street - WAR crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic's missing laptop has been found in a street in the Serb capital Belgrade. The ex-Bosnian Serb president claimed it was taken on his arrest. He says it contains details of secret deals with western countries which he plans to expose.

• Clintons shocked and saddened after politician friend and confidant is shot dead at party HQ - A man recently fired from his job burst into the office of a leading US Democratic politician and shot him dead. Bill Gwatney, chairman of the Arkansas Democratic party, died four hours after being shot three times at the state's party HQ in Little Rock. The man suspected of being the killer, named today as Timothy Dale Johnson, fled in his pick-up truck but was shot dead by police after a 30-mile chase.

Wednesday 13th August 2008: -

• NHS should not save patients' lives if it costs too much, says watchdog - Patients cannot rely on the NHS to save their lives if the cost of doing so is too great, the Government's medicines watchdog has ruled for the first time. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has said the natural impulse to go to the aid of individuals in trouble – as when vast resources are used to save a sailor lost at sea – should not apply to the NHS.

• Arrogant, illogical and totally out of touch, NICE must be scrapped ...it's killing too many people - Patronising. Bullying. Intimidating. That is how the body which makes life-and-death decisions on the rationing of NHS drugs was described in yesterday's Daily Mail - by two of the very experts who advise it. These same patients' representatives complained of a flawed and irrational decision-making process at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) which paid no heed to their views and ignored the needs of patients. Their complaints cannot be ignored. They come just days after NICE's misguided and barbaric decision to ban four kidney cancer drugs that are widely available in Europe and the U.S. and can double life expectancy for those who suffer from the condition.

• Court throws out dumping charge - A COUNCIL which prosecuted a man for allegedly dumping rubbish was criticised for wasting money after a court threw out the case. Gwynedd Jones Evans, 60, had denied leaving rubbish n in a public car park. Conwy County Council took him to court after an environmental health officer claimed to have spotted bin bags and a chest of drawers next to a bin in Station Road car park at Llanfairfechan last April. The official, Rhiannon Roberts, said that in one of the bags were three letters addressed to Mr G J Evans with his address at Esplanade, Penmaenmawr. But, after hearing the only prosecution witness, defence solicitor Brian Cunningham told Llandudno magistreates that there was no evidence Mr Jones Evans left the rubbish.

• Targeting terror... and fly-tipping - Late in 2005, when the London bombings of July 7 were still fresh in our minds, the Government demanded a new power in the fight against terrorism. Charles Clarke, then home secretary, said it was vital that police and security services could access the phone, email and internet records of those who might be plotting similar attacks. Without these measures Europe would be fighting Islamic extremists 'with both hands tied behind our backs', he said. With the memory of the 2004 Madrid bombings also still raw, the EU agreed, passing Directive 2006/24/EC, which ordered all member states to change their domestic laws. It said all communication records should be kept for a minimum of 12 months. And if someone was suspected of involvement in a terror attack or 'serious' crime, these should be handed over to the authorities. If our government had stuck to these guiding principles, it is unlikely many eyebrows would have been raised. But, seeking to implement the directive almost three years on, ministers yesterday revealed that they want to go much further. All public bodies, not just the police, should have access to the records, they said. And not just to catch those responsible for 'serious crimes'. Suspicion of any offence will provide justification to snoop through a year's email, phone and internet records. To make matters worse, the public will be expected to pay.

• Town hall snoopers want bedroom access to check tax discount pensioners are living alone - Town hall snoopers are demanding access to people's bedrooms, it has emerged. Officials say they need to enter and inspect properties where a council tax discount is claimed. Seven and a half million people - a large number of them pensioners - are entitled to 25 per cent off their annual bill because they live on their own. The Conservatives warned that householders are being pressured into signing a declaration agreeing to an internal inspection of their homes in order to prove they really are single.

• Council snoopers to get new powers to seize phone and email records - with taxpayers footing the £50m bill - Council snoopers will be given even greater powers to pry into our phone, email and internet records - landing the taxpayer with a bill of almost £50million. Town halls, along with the police, security services, health authorities and other public bodies, will have access to ' communication' records of anyone suspected of involvement in even the most minor crime. The powers, which stem from an EU directive supposedly designed to catch terrorists, will even allow police to track down those who have told friends they are planning to harm themselves. But it will cost the taxpayer £46.58million over eight years to compensate mobile phone companies and internet firms for storing and providing the data. Critics said the measure took Britain a step closer to becoming a surveillance state.

• FBI 'sorry' for breach of journo's phone records - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has apologized to editors of two United States newspapers for a recently uncovered breach of reporters' phone records while working in Indonesia in 2004. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III called over the weekend the top editors at The Washington Post and the New York Times to express regret that agents had not followed procedures when seeking telephone records under a process that allowed them to bypass a grand jury review in emergency cases. FBI officials said the incident came to light as part of the review by the Justice Department inspector general's office into the bureau's improper collection of phone records through "emergency" records demands issued to phone providers.

• British journalist 'forcibly restrained' during protest - A British TV journalist described today how he was "forcibly restrained" and dragged across a street as Chinese police stopped him reporting on a pro-Tibet protest in Beijing. John Ray, of ITV News, said he was left with cuts and bruises after being "slung" in the back of a police van by officers arresting activists from Students for a Free Tibet. Mr Ray was taken away by officers as members of the campaign group handcuffed themselves to each other at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, near the National Stadium in Beijing. The reporter, who became ITV News' China correspondent in 2006, said: "I was held in a restaurant and physically and forcibly restrained there. "I tried to explain to these people that I was a journalist but they dragged me out and slung me in in the back of a police van and held me there for another few minutes.

• Health and safety killjoys ban get-well cards in hospital ... because they clutter up wards - The "get well soon" card has long been accepted as a way of cheering up a loved one stuck in hospital. John Nickolls sent one to his Aunt Edna as she recovered after a fall and expected to see it beside her bed when he visited. To his surprise, however, there was no sign of it or of any other cards on the ward.

• THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM - Full Film available to watch for free or buy on DVD from the 1st September 2008. Exclusively at : http://www.nosmokewithoutfire.co.uk
  
  Brand New Exclusive Clip !!!
  excerpt from the film featuring Cynthia McKinney  a former US congresswoman for the State of Georgia and the current Green Party presidential candidate. She has consistently asked the question 'What did the Bush administration know and when did it know it?" regarding the tragic events of September 11th
  
  Watch Now:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PalVqU5vY
  
  High Resolution version - http://exposureroom.com/members/DeadDean.aspx/assets/549dde82432b491ba25f418067d293f0/
  
  Watch the Original Trailer
  You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYLWFDS62jA
  High Resolution version here - http://exposureroom.com/members/DeadDean.aspx/assets/8af622c95bc84a79bbbc34946b302fcc/
  
  The Elephant in the Room is a documentary following British filmmaker Dean Puckett through his journey into the 9/11 Truth Movement: a global movement of 'conspiracy theorists' who believe that the official explanation about what happened on 9/11 is totally or partially inaccurate. The filmmakers travel from middle England, across Europe and to New York for the six year anniversary of the attacks, where the film takes one final twist as we are introduced to the 9/11 first responders who are suffering from various grave health difficulties due to the toxic dust that they breathed in trying to help their country during the weeks after this tragic event. Told with a personal hands on approach that avoids advancing any one position, the film asks the question: are these crazy conspiracy theorists? Or is 9/11 Truth a credible political movement?
  
  Buy it. Copy it. Spread the word.
  
  VISIT THE NEW LOOK OFFICIAL WEBSITE :
  http://www.nosmokewithoutfire.co.uk
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• LATEST LOOSE CHANGE CIRCULAR: -

Loose Change Supporter,

As the years pass since the September 11, 2001 attacks, it can get harder and harder to maintain the enthusiasm and energy we need to fight for an independent investigation into 9/11.  However, we can't give in until we reach our goal.  The movement continues to grow and first responders, victims and their families, and our great country deserve the truth! 

We call upon you to again help support the cause by supporting the 2008 Now or Never events in New York City.  This year we are focusing our efforts on supporting the many injured first responders who selflessly risked their lives on that fateful day and have been ignore, rejected, and mistreated by our government.  By bringing the spotlight to these sick and dying heroes, we hope to get them the medical treatment they deserve while opening the eyes of thousands more to the need for an independent investigation. 

We need your help now to make this happen.  If you are in the New York City area, or can be there this September, help us by buying tickets to the 9/11 Conference and Benefit Concert.  All day tickets are only $25, and any money that doesn't go to putting on the event will to the FealGood Foundation to help first responders.  We have booked some amazing hip hop artists for the event that include Talib Kweli, Dead Prez, Paris, Saigon, and more.  These artists are volunteering their time to this event, so for only $25, you can support first responders and see a top-notch show.  Buy your tickets now, before they sell out!

If you're not going to be in New York, or can't make it to New York, your help is still vital.  You can help by donating to the event and first responders.  We've put together some great thank you gifts to help motivate you and spread the word.  So, check out our 2008 Now or Never Donations Page to help out.

Every little bit counts and without your support we can't make this happen.  So, help out now!

-The LC Team

• Shell rebuked for 'greenwash' over ad for polluting oil project - The Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell misled the public about the green credentials of a vastly polluting oil project in Canada, in an attempt to assure consumers of its good environmental record, a media watchdog will rule today. In an embarrassing rejection of Shell's "greenwash", the Advertising Standards Authority said the company should not have used the word "sustainable" for its controversial tar sands project and a second scheme to build North America's biggest oil refinery. Both projects would lead to the emission of more greenhouse gases, the ASA said, ruling the advert had breached rules on substantiation, truthfulness and environmental claims.

• Charles warns of GMO crops "disaster" - Prince Charles said the widespread use of genetically modified crops would the "biggest disaster environmentally of all time" in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday. The 59-year-old heir to the throne is well known for his support of organic farming but his comments during an interview with the Daily Telegraph are his most outspoken attack yet on GMO foods. His views will strike a chord in Britain where biotech crops have faced significant opposition, with concerns centred on both food safety and possible environmental impacts. Charles said multinational food companies were conducting a "gigantic experiment with nature and the whole of humanity which has gone seriously wrong."

• Water prices leap up to 25 per cent by 2015 - Water firms want to raise their prices by up to 25 per cent above the rate of inflation, it was revealed yesterday. Draft business plans suggest that over a five-year period many intend to raise their prices in real terms every 12 months for millions of families. The companies submitted their figures for 2009-10 to 2014-15 to regulator Ofwat and yesterday it became clear that consumers face soaring bills.

• Cameron rejects Northern city claim - Tory leader David Cameron has branded a report by a Conservative-leaning think tank which suggested people should abandon northern cities as "complete rubbish". Mr Cameron attempted to calm northern voters by attacking the report which wrote off some towns and cities as "beyond revival". The report by the Policy Exchange claimed regeneration had failed and people should leave cities such as Liverpool, Sunderland and Bradford and relocate to the south-east. The Policy Exchange is widely described as David Cameron's favourite think-tank. But Mr Cameron distanced himself from the think tank and said its ideas would not be adopted as party policy.

Tuesday 12th August 2008: -

• Russian Cameraman: CNN Aired Misleading Footage: Broadcaster showed Georgian forces attacking South Ossetia, claimed it was Russians attacking Gori - CNN is airing misleading footage of the war between Georgia and Russia, skewing public opinion in favor of the Georgians, according to a Russia Today cameraman interviewed this morning. The Russia Today satellite TV company aired the interview on its English language news channel but the story is yet to appear on the Internet or in any other news outlet. The Russian cameraman charged that CNN had used his footage of Georgian forces attacking Russian civilians in Tskhinvali, the provincial capital of South Ossetia, but then claimed it showed Russians attacking Georgians in the Georgian town of Gori.

• Fakery at the Olympic Games: Opening Ceremony singer lip-synched song because actual singer wasn't pretty enough while CGI fireworks added to telecast - The skies may be clearing up over Beijing, but the face China tried to paint on the 2008 Olympic Games is breaking out in blemishes. Main Street of Happyville turns out to be a collection of expensively-built facades, with nothing behind them. Or worse, something awful behind them: a series of very large lies - and the worst of it is that the Chinese hosts don't even appear to realize how bad they may end up looking to the rest of the world.

• EU bureaucrats outnumber British army two to one, say campaigners - A study released by the Open Europe think tank, which wants to control the influence and scale of the EU, has found that 170,000 people now work for EU institutions. The group claimed that the difficulty of finding out how many officials worked in Brussels showed a lack of transparency and left the EU open to “influence from lobbyists.” Open Europe said the figure is nearly six times more than the 32,000 Brussels bureaucrats which EU bosses have traditionally claimed are needed to run the EU.

• Some Web Firms Say They Track Behavior Without Explicit Consent - Several Internet and broadband companies have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers, according to letters released yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. And Google, the leading online advertiser, stated that it has begun using Internet tracking technology that enables it to more precisely follow Web-surfing behavior across affiliated sites. The revelations came in response to a bipartisan inquiry of how more than 30 Internet companies might have gathered data to target customers. Some privacy advocates and lawmakers said the disclosures help build a case for an overarching online-privacy law.

• Cancer Institute Warns of Cell Phone Risks - The head of a prominent cancer research institute has issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer. The warning came from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Herberman says his warning is based on early unpublished data. He argues that people should take action now — especially when it comes to children. “Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn’t wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later,” Herberman said.

• Hacker wins US extradition delay - A Briton accused of hacking into secret military computers has won a two-week stay on his extradition to the US. Glasgow-born Gary McKinnon won a stay until 28 August at the European Court of Human Rights after losing an appeal at the House of Lords last month. The unemployed man could face life in jail if convicted of accessing 97 US military and Nasa computers. The 42-year-old admitted breaking into the computers from his London home but said he sought information on UFOs. A brief statement by his solicitors announced said he has been granted "interim relief" until that date "for his application to be heard before the full chamber".

RELATED VIDEO: Gary McKinnon on the Richard and Judy show - 21/07/2006

• Drunk rape victims' payouts cut - Anti-rape campaigners have reacted with anger after it emerged some victims who were drinking had their payouts cut. In the past year, 14 rape victims were told by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority they would receive reduced compensation payments. Campaigners demanded the Government now examine past cases of rape to see if "old and silly prejudices" had affected final decisions.

• UK soldier dies in Afghan attack - A UK soldier has been killed and two more hurt when a suicide bomber drove a car into a Nato convoy in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. The attack on the outskirts of Kabul on Monday also killed three civilians and wounded 12 more, Afghan police say. The British soldier, who died from his injuries after being evacuated to hospital, was from 16 Signal Regiment. His next of kin have been informed. Some 115 UK personnel have now died on operations in Afghanistan since 2001.

Monday 11th August 2008: -

• USA: Keep Big Brother out of my trash: We don't need government to regulate everything - Ever-perceived by the rest of the nation as perched on the fringe of rationality, San Francisco is about to flip its lid once again. The lid's color, if it's any comfort, is green – as in one of the three recycling bins into which its residents will be forced to sort their food waste. The consequences for the unwilling, if the mayor has his way? Fines up to $1,000 from the garbage police. I kid you not. Mayor Gavin Newsom is taking the leap from voluntary environmental engagement to an enforced one. You will recycle, or you'll be outed, says the legislation drafted by the city's Department of the Environment.

• Video shows police punching teen 13 times in face, then tasering him - An 18-year-old was punched in the face 13 times by a deputy police officer, whose dashboard video camera caught the incident on tape, WYFF Channel 4 News reported. The video shows undercover Deputy Brian Tollison pulling over a truck driven by a drug suspect and beating the teenage driver while what appears to be a back-up deputy held down him down. Once back-up deputies arrived, 18-year-old Jeremy Rucker was pulled out of the truck and tasered and kicked while lying prone on the ground.

Sunday 10th August 2008: -

• Scourge of bent coppers looks into Met chief - A leading prosecutor of corrupt police officers has been drafted in to advise the inquiry into allegations of misconduct by Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner. Richard Latham QC, a part-time judge, is assisting Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the chief inspector of constabulary, in his investigation into £3m of Met police contracts granted to Andy Miller, a close friend and skiing companion of Blair. The Flanagan inquiry was set up by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, last month after The Sunday Times revealed the concerns about Blair’s conduct.

• Pressure grows on Met boss after fresh claims of racism: Met's most senior Asian officer will make allegations public at his tribunal - and has also stoked a corruption row - Sir Ian Blair's leadership of Scotland Yard looked increasingly fragile last night as Britain's most senior Asian police officer announced that he was launching a legal claim against the Metropolitan Police over allegations of racial discrimination. Following legal advice, assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur has taken the decision to launch formal proceedings in a case that he says raises fresh questions about corruption. He also claims that the commissioner 'misled' the public over his role in the cash-for-honours investigation.

• Call to adopt UK Bill of Rights - The government should adopt a Bill of Rights for the UK, a cross-party committee of MPs and peers has urged. The Joint Committee on Human Rights said the bill should go further than current human rights legislation. The bill should give greater protection to groups such as children, the elderly and those with learning difficulties, it said in a report. Labour and the Conservatives agree on the need for a new Bill of Rights, but differ on what areas it should cover. The Conservatives have said they would bring in such a bill to replace the Human Rights Act.

• Chaos as £13bn NHS computer system falters - A £13bn overhaul of the NHS records system has suffered so many problems that hospitals have struggled to keep track of people requiring operations, patients with suspected MRSA and potential cancer sufferers needing urgent consultations. Glitches in the roll-out of the Connecting for Health computer system have also resulted in delays at accident and emergency departments, soaring complaints and failures to identify child-abuse victims.

• Water firms are the biggest river polluters - BRITAIN’S water companies are this weekend revealed as the worst polluters of the country’s rivers and beaches - responsible for more than 300 offences in the past five years. Despite a crackdown by the Environment Agency, water companies have killed thousands of fish and spoilt rivers with illegal discharges of sewage. Officials say fines are not big enough to be a deterrent. The water companies have been identified as repeat offenders by the agency in its annual league table of the worst polluters. They account for more serious water pollution offences than any other sector.

• George Clooney plans to film story of Bin Laden's driver - George Clooney, already one of Hollywood's leading liberal voices, has embarked on what may be one of his most controversial projects: the story of Osama bin Laden's driver. Clooney's production company, Smokehouse, has bought the rights to a book about Salim Hamdan, an inmate at Guantánamo Bay who last week was sentenced to jail for his role in helping the al-Qaeda leader. The book, The Challenge, is by journalist Jonathan Mahler and tells the story of Hamdan's capture and trial, defended by a US navy lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. It has had a big critical success.

• Science close to unveiling invisible man - INVISIBILITY devices, long the realm of science fiction and fantasy, have moved closer after scientists engineered a material that can bend visible light around objects. The breakthrough could lead to systems for rendering anything from people to large objects, such as tanks and ships, invisible to the eye – although this is still years off. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, whose work is funded by the American military, have engineered materials that can control light’s direction of travel. The world’s two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature, are expected to report the results this week.

• Taxes buy stress bed - Civil servants have used taxpayers' money to buy a £679 BED so they can have a lie-down when they feel stressed. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn approved the purchase in case any of his department feel faint. But it's taxpayers who will feel faint when they discover the bed is among furnishings costing £55million bought by Whitehall chiefs in the last three years. Civil Service bosses also spent £33million on new vehicles, £1million on art works and more than £500,000 on POT PLANTS.

• £11BN TO BURN: FUEL campaign Govt hands Big 6 FREE fuel permits Regulator fury as 5m poor ripped off But they CHARGE YOU £9 a unit Worst-hit could be given £2,000 each - Greedy power firms are raking in an £11BILLION windfall from a scheme meant to curb greenhouse gases. Figures uncovered by The People's fuel campaign show The Big Six energy giants are ripping off consumers over permits. The permits, which tell the firms how much fossil fuel they are allowed to burn, are given to them by the Government FREE. But they pass on a CHARGE of £9 a unit to electricity users which is what they reckon the value of the permits will be in five years when they will have to pay for them.

• UK economy 'worse than thought' - The CBI, the UK's largest employers' organisation, has warned that the UK economy is deteriorating faster than it previously thought. There was "no doubt that the mood has darkened in the last two or three months," its director general Richard Lambert warned members in a letter. Forecasters, including the CBI, had been "over-optimistic" about the economic outlook, he added. High inflation and slowing growth have prompted fears of a possible recession.

• eBay traders accuse site of selling out: Sellers fear online auctions will die after a decision to allow fixed-price marketing by major retailers - Going, going, gone? Furious fans have accused eBay, the website that brought auctions to the internet, of betrayal. They are upset by a decision to lurch away from the website's original format and instead allow major retailers to list thousands of products at fixed prices. The trend, they warn, marks the beginning of the end for the online auction - leaving eBay looking less like a car-boot sale and more like a shopping mall.

• A working mother’s first job is to be our scapegoat - According to a Cambridge University report published last week, “The shine has come off Supermum” and most people now believe that a woman who works harms family life - ergo, that a woman’s place is in the home. This conclusion is based on an analysis of three decades’ worth of social attitude surveys by Jacqueline Scott, a Cambridge professor of empirical sociology. “While British attitudes are more egalitarian than in the 1980s, there are signs that support for gender equality may have hit a high point some time during the 1990s,” says Scott. “When it comes to the clash between work and family life, doubts about whether a woman should be doing both are starting to creep in.” She added: “The idea of women juggling high-powered careers while also baking cookies and reading bedtime stories is increasingly seen to be unrealisable.”

• West Yorkshire Truth Campaign: Next public campaign meetings...

  LEEDS Tuesday 12th August 2008, 8.00pm: held at the Original Oak Pub, Headingley, Leeds LS6 2DG.Meeting location and directions 
  SKIPTON Thursday 4th September 2008, 8.00pm: held at The Narrowboat Pub, 38 Victoria Street, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 1JE. Meeting location and directions 
  BRADFORD Thursday 11th September 2008, 7.15pm: held at the Just Church, 2 Ashgrove, Great Horton Road, Bradford, opposite Bradford University's Richmond Building. Meeting location and directions 

Saturday 09th August 2008: -

• Britain and Ireland could be forced to share one European Commission seat - Britain would be forced to share a European Commissioner with Ireland under plans being drawn up by France. With France now at the helm of the six-month rotating EU Presidency, President Nicholas Sarkozy is looking for ways to cut the number of national representatives in the European Commission. But critics say it is a back door plan to reduce our influence in Europe, and that it proves the EU wants to push on with the Lisbon Treaty despite its rejection by the Irish.

• Rebel MPs seek new oath - THE oath of allegiance to the Queen should be scrapped and MPs required to pledge to serve their constituents instead, according to a cross-party group. MPs and AMs have to swear an oath to the monarch, and although several have raised objections to the system in the past, there has never been a mainstream campaign for change. Now a group of 22 MPs, including Newport West’s Paul Flynn and Gower MP Martin Caton, have signed a Commons motion calling for the oath to be reformed. But traditionalists, including former Tory party chairman Lord Tebbit, said the campaign was “an attack on the State”. Lord Tebbit said he thought the MPs would “rather be swearing allegiance to Brussels”.

COMMENTARY: How about our MP's swear allegiance directly to the citizens of the UK and our Bill of Rights, rather than going through either our fake German Blooded Queen or corrupt bureaucrats in Brussels? (I mean talk about being 'between a rock and a hard-place'!)... just a thought.

• Jersey abuse case: 'Old boy network' is obstructing police investigation: An "old boy network" of officials is deliberately obstructing police investigating decades of alleged abuse at care homes in Jersey, according to the police officer who spearheaded the inquiry - Deputy Chief Officer Lenny Harper angrily hit out at the figures who he says have engaged in a "day by day attack" on the inquiry team and the alleged victims of abuse at Haut de la Garenne and other island institutions. In his most outspoken criticism of the Jersey authorities, Mr Harper told the Telegraph: "I can quite clearly say that the investigation is being held up. There are people on the island who just don't want us going down the route of this inquiry." Mr Harper, who handed over the reins of the investigation to his successor on Thursday and officially leaves the Jersey force at the end of the month, also revealed fresh details of why he is so convinced that someone deliberately concealed the bones and teeth of five children, perhaps after murdering them.

COMMENTARY: Whatever country this takes place, we see how this is just the tip of a massive iceberg (just like everything else we see in the mainstream news!) ///  FURTHER RESEARCH: Read the book 'The Franklin Cover up' by former US Republican Nebraska State Senator John W. Decamp.  Also check out the documentary Conspiracy of Silence which was made by Yorkshire Television in the early 1990's and was suppressed for many years by the American political establishment, now available on Google Video.  We know it's nasty stuff, but this information needs to get out!

• Nasty truth about NICE: It's the body that rations NHS drugs. But this leading cancer specialist says its decisions are deeply flawed - This is nothing less than an outrageous - and heartbreaking - decision. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), which decides which drugs should be available on the National Health Service, has ruled that four new drugs be denied to kidney cancer patients because they are too expensive. As a result, many patients in the advanced stages of this disease - about 3,600 at the moment - will die more quickly.

COMMENTARY: Note the Orwellian style 'DoubleSpeak' title of the organisation, NICE.  Just like in the USA where we had the Constitution-butchering 2001 'Patriot Act' (nothing patriotic about it), or the story we highlighted here in the UK in 2005 regarding aptly named 'Freedom Bags'.  And we aren't pointing out some ironic pattern going on here... this is the modus operandi of the New World Order and it is used by design to distort and manipulate the way we feel and therefore behave.  To label their malevolent tricks as harmless, so that even when you criticise them, there is the implanted suggestion that they are positive (or 'NICE' in this case) /// FURTHER RESEARCH: George Orwell incorporated such concepts in his book 1984 - See Newspeak and Doublethink articles at Wikipedia.

• Plastic flowers banned from cemetery for posing a 'health and safety risk' - Grieving families have been told not to put plastic flowers in a garden of remembrance because they pose a health and safety risk. Council officials have banned plastic memorials in case they get caught in mowers. Workmen removed several displays from a cemetery in Keynsham, near Bristol, and moved them to the chapel of rest for collection by loved ones. Retired school teacher Graham Lees, 60, regularly visits the Garden of Remembrance in Keynsham Cemetery, near Bristol, to pay his respects to his late father Ernest. He said Keynsham Town Council's plan had been 'very upsetting' for his entire family and is now demanding the decision is overturned. 'In the 42 years since I started visiting my father's final resting place I have always seen artificial flowers placed on graves throughout the cemetery, so to say it is unsafe now is total rubbish,' he said.

COMMENTARY: Why not ban them by using the claim that the plastic used is bad for the environment?... it works for everything else.

• Foreign energy firms 'picking the pockets' of British consumers - British households are having their "pockets picked" by foreign energy firms to subsidise customers in their own countries, the Government’s new consumer champion has said. In his first comments as Gordon Brown’s consumer advocate, Ed Mayo claimed a lack of competition in the European energy markets meant millions of British families were being ripped off. Britain’s energy bills have risen more quickly than on the Continent, where governments have manipulated markets to protect customers. More than 11 million households have their power supplied by foreign-owned companies. Mr Mayo said households were suffering because foreign companies — often owned by the state — faced no competition at home.

• Plea for 'secret detention' probe - Human rights group Liberty joined forces with its American counterpart to demand a public inquiry into allegations that a terror suspect has been secretly detained in a British territory. The activists wrote to Foreign Secretary David Miliband urging him to launch a formal investigation into claims about US activities on Diego Garcia, the UK territory in the Indian Ocean. Last month the news magazine Time published allegations by a former senior US official that at least one terror suspect was imprisoned on the island in a secret jail, known as a "black site". The island had already been implicated as a "staging post" in secret flights transporting suspects from one country to another, as part of so-called extraordinary rendition measures.

• UK: Taser use up as more officers given authority to use them - New figures show the number of Taser uses and discharges has increased as more police officers have the authority to use them. The third quarter statistics from a 12 month trial, which extended the use of Taser to specially trained units in the fight against crime, reveal the devices were used 159 times and discharged 26 times in the last three months. Overall Tasers have been used 411 times and discharged 57 times since the trial began in September 2007. Specially trained units, who are not firearms officers but are police that could face violent circumstances requiring conflict management, have been taking part in a 12 month trial across ten forces. Figures also published today include a breakdown of all Taser use across England and Wales since it was first introduced in April 2004. Statistics revealed a total of 2,662 uses and 834 discharges.

• BBC sorry after TV data is stolen - The BBC has apologised after a memory stick containing the personal details of hundreds of children who had applied to take part in a TV show was stolen. Around 250 children had asked to be part of Gastronauts, a food programme aimed at eight to 12-year-olds. It is thought the data pen was stolen from a vehicle belonging to a member of staff at Objective Productions, the independent company making the show. The BBC said there was "no evidence" the information had been misused. BBC Children's controller Richard Deverell wrote to parents to explain the circumstances behind the loss.

• Home repossessions up by 48% on last year: 18,900 properties seized in first half of 2008 // Number of householders who are in arrears also up - The number of homes seized by lenders jumped by 48% in the first half of this year as borrowers, squeezed by the credit crunch and rising mortgage costs, defaulted at levels not seen since the early 1990s property crash. The Council of Mortgage Lenders said 18,900 properties were repossessed between January and June, compared with 12,800 in the same period in 2007, the highest figure for 12 years. The number of households falling three months or more behind on mortgage payments is also spiralling upwards, rising to 155,600 in the first half of the year from 129,600 last year.

• The government polls and surveys that cost the taxpayer more than £1m a week - More than £1million a week is being spent on Government focus groups, surveys and opinion polls to find what voters think. In all, £55million has been paid out over the past year for a bewildering range of citizens' juries, telephone and internet polls and consumer surveys.

• Now bricklayers and gardeners face 'illegal' criminal record checks when applying for work - Applicants for everyday jobs such as drivers and bricklayers have been subjected to unlawful checks to see if they have a criminal record, it was claimed yesterday. Managers looking to fill such positions have been using the Criminal Records Bureau to find out the background of applicants. But checks should only be made by companies wanting to identify people who are not suitable to work with children or vulnerable adults.

• Gun-control groups fear top activist was NRA spy - A gun-control activist who championed the cause for more than a decade and served on the boards of two anti-violence groups is suspected of working as a paid spy for the National Rifle Association, and now those organizations are expelling her and sweeping their offices for bugs. The suggestion that Mary Lou McFate was a double agent is contained in a deposition filed as part of a contract dispute involving a security firm. The muckraking magazine Mother Jones, in a story last week, was the first to report on McFate's alleged dual identity. The NRA refused to comment to the magazine and did not respond to calls Tuesday from The Associated Press. Nor did McFate.

• UFO sightings in UK this year reach 150: Reported UFO sightings are at their highest level for years - with authorities now hearing about four mysterious objects in Britain's skies every week - So far this year 150 apparent 'flying saucers' have been reported to police, military bases and the Ministry of Defence, compared to just 135 for the whole of 2007, and 97 the year before. The figures, released after a request under the Freedom of Information Act, suggest that 2008 will be a bumper year for alien activity. Malcolm Robinson, founder of the research group Strange Phenomena Investigations said: "Something really bizarre is happening in the skies over the UK. "I've been dealing in sightings for 30 years and we currently have something very real which mankind cannot explain." A spokesman for the MoD said as long as sightings presented no threat to British airspace, they were not investigated further. The MoD remained 'open-minded' about aliens, he added.

COMMENTARY: See how UFO reports are automatically liked in with theories about Space Aliens... I'm sorry but even if there is any truth to an ET aspect, it is patently obvious that this is a smokescreen of ridicule that is used to discredit anyone who reports a sighting of REAL 'nuts and bolts' aircraft as 'kooky'.  Whatever Big Brother technology is being used is likely going to be used by government AGAINST its citizenry (i.e. used when we resist all of the other stuff that we expose daily on this website!), so we DO need to monitor what is going on in the skies.  But we must be wary of those who link in reports of Aliens and other such goings on.  And silly buggers such as we have in the UK making unsubstantiated half-arsed claims about Spacemen just make things worse too, often by design ///  RELATED: See our ETH archive.

Friday 08th August 2008: -

• Russia and Georgia on the brink of war as four planes are shot down and 15 civilians killed in South Ossetia fighting - The Caucasus teetered on the brink of all-out war today as Russia sent tanks and fighter jets into the breakaway region of South Ossetia to support it against an invasion by Georgia. At least 15 civilians were reported to have been killed in heavy fighting in the province’s capital of Tskhinvali between separatist rebels and Georgian forces. Georgia had attacked with aircraft and heavy artillery to regain control of the region and troops fired missiles into the city. Buildings were ablaze, and it was reported that a hospital was hit by Georgian shelling.

• AUSTRALIA: Call to crack down on police taser use - CIVIL rights advocates have seized on Federal Government plans for legal bans on torture to argue for tighter controls on the use of tasers by police. The Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, said yesterday the Government was taking steps to ratify the optional protocol to the United Nations convention against torture, which would allow international inspectors to visit Australian prisons. He said the Government was also considering making torture an offence under federal law, which would bolster state prohibitions and might also apply to Australians overseas. The president of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry O'Gorman, called on the Government to push for stricter state rules on the use of tasers by police. Tasers - electronic stun guns used to paralyse offenders - are used by police in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia. Mr O'Gorman said they were extremely painful, potentially lethal and overused by police.

• Man Dies Days After Police Use Taser To Subdue Him: Police Say Man Acted 'Extremely Irrational' In Confrontation - A man who police used a Taser gun on during a confrontation in Hemet died Thursday at a Hemet hospital, sheriff's officials said. Deputies responding to a call about a mentally disturbed individual in the 45200 block of Florida Avenue in southeast Hemet about 3:50 p.m. Saturday came upon the man who "was extremely irrational," Hemet Sgt. David Kurylowicz said Saturday.

• Prosecutor calls for Highway Patrol Taser investigation - Christian County Prosecutor Ron Cleek confirmed that he requested the Missouri Highway Patrol launch an independent investigation into the July 19 incident in Ozark when Ozark Police used a Taser on a Branson teenager. Cleek said he arrived at the decision after discussing the matter with Sheriff Mike Robertson and Ozark Police Chief Lyle Hodges. "My office will file felony charges if it is determined that unwarranted (force) was used," Cleek said in a news release.

• New clinics to increase MMR jabs uptake - SPECIAL drop-in clinics are being launched to make it easier for parents to ensure children get their MMR jab. South West Essex Primary Care Trust, covering Basildon and Thurrock, is spending £35,000 on the clinics in an effort to increase the uptake of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The announcement came as the Government’s chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, wrote to trusts asking them to help cut the risk of a measles epidemic. Ruth Osborn, trust spokesman, said: “We are arranging a programme of drop-in clinics, starting in September. “We’re investing in these to make it easier for parents to access doctors and nurses to get the vaccine. We really would encourage parents to give their children the first vaccine and the pre-school booster to make sure it’s effective. “Measles, in particular, can have very serious, even fatal, effects and it’s very important we make sure children are vaccinated to avoid an outbreak.” Scare stories the vaccine could cause autism have resulted in fewer children having the jab – despite the fact a study published by the Health Protection Agency has dismissed evidence of a link.

• L'Oreal denies 'whitening' Beyoncé Knowles' skin in cosmetics ad - The light-skinned woman with the flowing blonde hair would like you to buy some hair dye. But a closer look at the advertisement for the cosmetics giant L'Oréal reveals that all is not well with the face of its campaign. It appears that L'Oréal has caused not just her hair but her skin to change colour as well. In an advertisement published in the September issues of several glossy fashion magazines, the singer Beyoncé exhibits a skin colour several tones lighter than her natural hue. After the metamorphosis was highlighted on a celebrity website, the company issued a statement denying any wrongdoing.

Thursday 07th August 2008: -

• New European spying proposals 'threaten British security': MI5 and MI6 could be forced to share their intelligence with the rest of Europe under new proposals from the EU - Under the plans, seen by the Daily Telegraph, all countries would feed secret information into a central intelligence unit so that any member state can use it. But the proposals risk hard won intelligence gathered by British agents being leaked by less scrupulous security services, particularly in the former Communist states of Eastern Europe. Although the Government has contributed to the proposals being drawn up, Britain's security services are likely to put up stiff opposition to the plans.

• Unmanned drone planes set to spy on Britons - Unmanned spy planes could soon be used to carry out covert surveillance on UK citizens, under controversial new Government plans. The MoD is working with defence firm BAE Systems to make so-called UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) safe enough to be used to help police operations in the UK. The sophisticated unmanned aircraft are able to get clear images of the ground even when flying at up to 50, 000 feet.

• Britain seeking wider use of flight passenger data - BRITAIN IS fighting EU plans to place restrictions on the police force's ability to use personal information collected from airline passengers. New legislation being drafted in Brussels would only allow EU states to use so-called "passenger name records" (PNR) data to investigate terrorism and organised crime. The legislation seeks to harmonise the collection and use of PNR data across the EU to help combat serious crime, while at the same time ensuring European citizen's right to privacy.

COMMENTARY: Incidentally Devon and Cornwall Police is riddled with the corrupt organisation Common Purpose UK - see our relevant archive for background info.

• Anti-War Website Operator Threatened By Armed Thugs: Information Clearing House editor victim of home invasions, warnings to “stop what he is doing on the Internet, NOW!” - The operator of a leading alternative news and strongly anti-war website has become the target of nefarious thugs apparently in the employ of the U.S. government who have continually harassed him and ordered him to shut down his website. Tom Feeley, owner and editor of InformationClearingHouse.info, has endured public harassment, home invasions, death threats and threats to his family simply for running a website. Counterpunch writer Mike Whitney has circulated an e mail describing what happened to Feeley in an attempt to draw attention to the matter.

• True Great Escape hero Eric "Digger" Dowling dies - A hero of the Great Escape has died - the day before his 93rd birthday. Squadron Leader Eric "Digger" Dowling earned his nickname by helping to excavate the tunnels through which 76 prisoners of war escaped in 1944. He also forged documents and drew maps. The breakout inspired the 1963 film starring Steve McQueen - in which Charles Bronson's character is said to be based on Eric. But his son Peter said Donald Pleasance's forger character was "closest" to his father.

• Nepal arrests nearly 600 Tibetan exiles at anti-China protests - Nepalese police Thursday arrested hundreds of Tibetans taking part in anti-China protests a day ahead of the official start of the Olympic Games in Beijing, as Nepalese government hinted of even tougher action against the protestors. The arrests in the capital Kathmandu came during the biggest anti-China protests organised by Tibetan exiles in Nepal since their protests began in March.

• Protesters 'hack' official Olympics website - It's been claimed that hackers have tapped into the official website of the Beijing Olympic Games to colour some of its headlines orange in support of a protest against human rights abuse in China. Danish human rights activist and artist Jens Galschiot is pushing people to get involved in The Color Orange project ahead of and during the Olympic Games, which start tomorrow. He wants athletes, politicians, journalists and others in Beijing to display something orange, and is urging people around the world to hang up orange cloth strips on sculptures, lampposts, fences and other visible places in cities as a way of criticising China over its human rights abuses.

COMMENTARY: Holy crap! China must be bad if even Bush thinks they have a problem with Human Rights!

• Doubts remain as case against 'anthrax killer' is revealed - Prosecutors in Washington have made public the first details of their case against the government scientist suspected of carrying out the 2001 anthrax attacks. But doubt still persisted about the FBI's handling of the affair – including even whether Bruce Ivins was in fact responsible for the attacks that killed five people.

RELATED: See our Problem > Reaction > Solution archive

• LATEST LOOSE CHANGE CIRCULAR - 07/08/2008: -

We are writing you in the hopes of grabbing your attention regarding an important event that is coming up for the anniversary of September 11th, 2001.

The 9/11 Relief Fund was designed to go to victims’ family members, rescue workers who dug through the asbestos, and projects underway in hospitals for all Americans that were affected. However, like many things, this fund was squandered by Washington politicians. As a result, thousands of sick rescue workers are bed-ridden at home and in hospitals, and are passing away at an alarming rate.

We Are Change, a non-profit organization based in NYC, along with a coalition of the FealGood Foundation, (which aids sick 9/11 first responders) Louder Than Words (the creators of Loose Change) and SMT Studios in NYC would like to invite you to the most important benefit you may ever attend...

The 2008 NOW or NEVER First Responders Relief Benefit at the Manhattan Center Stages, Grand Ballroom in NYC on September 12, 2008. Events are taking place from the 10th – 12th, and we would be honored to have you in attendance.

If you can't make it but would  like to donate to support the cause, head to the Loose Change Store and make a donation to support first responders and this event.

For more details about the event, visit http://2008nowornever.com or click here to download an informational pdf.

More to come.  Buy your tickets now before they sell out.

Thanks for your support.  We hope to see you in New York City.

-The LC Team

Tuesday 05th August 2008: -

• Bush faked letter linking Iraq with 9/11 that led US and Britain into war, Pulitzer prize-winner claims in explosive new book - American President George Bush was accused of committing an 'impeachable' offence by ordering the CIA to fake a letter linking Iraq to al Qaeda - the 'missing link' that led the US and Britain into war. The explosive charge that Bush committed 'one of the greatest lies in modern American political history' is made in a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, released today. In the book, Suskind suggests that Bush's actions were worse than the Watergate scandal. In 'The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism', Suskind says he spoke on the record with U.S. intelligence officials who stated that Bush was informed unequivocally in January 2003 that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. Yet, he claims, Bush decided to invade Iraq three months later — with the forged letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam clinching American reasons for going to war.

RELATED ARCHIVE: The Downing Street Memo.

• McCain After 9/11: Wrong About Everything - This recently posted video of John McCain on the Letterman Show 18 October 2001, roughly a month after 9/11, suggests McCain knew about the Bush plan to take on Iraq. In addition to his cracks about killing Bin Laden by Halloween and intimidating "these people into going back to selling camels," he also floats the line that the anthrax used in the U.S. mail attacks "may have come from Iraq" and says the Bush administration was determined to hold the countries from which the terrorists came responsible. In retrospect, it's clear that McCain, our experience candidate, got pretty much everything wrong and was selling Bush's disastrous foreign policy, as he still is today.

• Ron Paul Fears Staged Iran Pretext Could Bring National Draft - Congressman Ron Paul fears that a staged incident exploited as a pretext to attack Iran may be the precursor to a national draft, as he responded to Sy Hersh’s astounding report that Dick Cheney proposed faking a Gulf of Tonkin style incident by killing Americans in the Straits of Hormuz and blaming it on Iran. “The influence is still there that they want it to happen, they probably themselves don’t have a day set to do it but they’re waiting for an opportunity and something will come along,” Paul told the Alex Jones Show. “They’re capable of doing anything,” said Paul, refering to the consideration unveiled in the Downing Street Memo, where Bush and Blair discussed painting a U2 spy plane in UN colors and goading Saddam to have it shot down as a pretext to invade Iraq.

• Major International Transport Hub Censors Political Websites: While media accuses China of blacklisting sensitive information, censorship is taking place right here at home - While establishment media outlets in the UK spent most of last week reporting on China’s censorship of political websites in anticipation of the Olympic games, they ignored the fact that London’s St. Pancras International, one of the biggest transport hubs in the west, has already implemented stringent filters that block users of their wi-fi service from accessing even mildly political websites. Traveling through St. Pancras in order to board the Eurostar on my way to Switzerland, I had an extra couple of hours that I thought I would fill by checking in on some of my favorite alternative news websites. Upon clicking on my favorites menu and selecting prison planet.com, I was quickly met with a white screen and bold black text informing me that the website in question was blocked and could not be accessed.

• PUPILS AGE 12 GET NICOTINE PATCHES: Parents' praise and anger for controversial drug scheme School war on smoking - Kids as young as 12 are getting nicotine patches through school in a bid to stop them smoking. Schools are signing up to a Government campaign to tackle worrying levels of addiction in youngsters. But trying to stop pupils wrecking their health is proving controversial. Some parents are angry at what they see as teachers interfering in their role - and at children being treated with an addictive drug.

• Vitamin C Slows Cancer - High-dose vitamin C injections could reduce cancer growth by a massive 50%, new research suggests. A new report has found that antioxidant vitamin C, also known as ascorbate or ascorbic acid, slows cancer growth and even diminishes the size of brain, ovarian and pancreatic cancer tumours, say researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The injections were important, as when we take vitamin C supplements or eat foods containing vitamin C, natural physical controls regulate the amount of vitamin C our bodies are able to absorb.

• Alexander Solzhenitsyn dies - Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the man who brought the horror of the Soviet prison and labour camps to the world's attention. He was a towering literary figure who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1970. He himself spent eight years in labour camps. It was his novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" about the realities of camp life which first brought him fame. He spent 20 years in exile in the US and returned home only in 1994, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Sunday 03rd August 2008: -

• Families who overfill their bins fined more than shoplifters under Government-backed plans - Ministers have endorsed bigger punishments for families who break wheelie bin rules than for shoplifters. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn backed on-the-spot fines of up to £110 for those who overfill their bins, leave them out too early, or put out sacks of 'side waste' alongside. The price of defying rubbish regulations is £30 higher than the £80 fixed penalty fine given to shoplifters or those involved in drunken disorder in city centres.

• The £110 fine for overfilling your bin: Householders are to face on-the-spot fines of more than £75 and up to £110 for overfilling their bins, the Government has instructed local authorities - Guidance issued by the Government has told councils to impose fixed penalties of "no less than £75" and up to £110, potentially a more severe penalty than the £80 fine that police often hand out to those guilty of drunk and disorderly conduct and shoplifters. The move represents a departure from previous practice when councils were left to determine their own levels of bin fines. The Conservative Party condemned the move as a "new stealth tax" after uncovering the guidance contained in the Flycapture Enforcement manual produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Offences for which the spotfines can be imposed include leaving a wheelie bin lid ajar, putting the bin out on the wrong night or leaving it in the wrong place.

• Ministers spend £2million on 'spin' TV documentaries to raise profile of Blunkett's Bobbies - Ministers were plunged into a damaging new 'spin' row today after it emerged they have lavished almost £2m of taxpayers' cash on television documentaries. The two most controversial broadcasts, both funded by the Home Office, raise the profiles of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and immigration staff. Both PCSOs - nicknamed Blunkett's Bobbies after the Home Secretary who created them – and immigration officials have come under fire in recent years and are in need of positive coverage.

COMMENTARY: I myself have seen some really obviously fake TV documentaries where kids are 'attacking' the 'overwhelmed' Community Support officers in residential areas - totally staged for the supposedly 'hidden' cameras to make the audience feel like we need them on the streets.

• Innocent MP fingerprinted after his uncle's murder discovers his details are still on DNA database one year on - A Tory MP fingerprinted after the murder of his 80-year-old uncle claimed last night that he is an innocent victim of Labour’s ‘Big Brother’ surveillance state. Police visited the Commons to take fingerprints and a DNA sample from London MP Greg Hands after the killing last year. But Mr Hands, 42, is now demanding to know why, one year on and despite repeated requests, his details have not been removed from the national DNA database. He said that he and hundreds of thousands of other innocent Britons were being ‘stigmatised’ by the database, which is estimated to contain the records of more than four million individuals, including about 900,000 not convicted of any crime.

• Media Blackout On Cheney Iran False Flag Story - The mainstream American corporate press has once again proven itself to be no better than the state controlled media in places like Communist China or Zimbabwe, by steadfastly refusing to print even a mention of the huge story concerning veteran journalist Seymour Hersh’s recent comments that the vice president wanted to carry out a false flag operation to provoke a war with Iran. The outright complicity of the corporate media in blackballing this story reminds us how the neocon cabal in the White House has consistently been able to conspire, lie and twist the truth for its own ill gotten gains without facing any substantial public scrutiny. As we reported Thursday, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh revealed how the neocons convened around Dick Cheney and brainstormed ways to kick off World War IV.

• Anthrax Suspect Was Involuntarily Committed to Psychiatric Hospital Shortly Before His Death - Bruce E. Ivins, the anthrax researcher who supposedly committed suicide, and who the government is now trying to blame for the anthrax attacks, was involuntarily committed to 2 psychiatric hospitals shortly before his death. Specifically, a month before his death, he was involuntarily committed to the Frederick Memorial Hospital and then transferred to Sheppard Pratt, another psychiatric facility. Was Ivins crazy? Maybe. Or maybe he was sent to a psych facility for the same reasons that the Soviet Union committed dissidents to psych hospitals. Maybe Ivins couldn’t stand it anymore, and was about to blow the whistle on the real anthrax killers, so they ginned up some claims that he was dangerous and had him hospitalized.

• 'UK duped by US on torture' - Britain was "duped on a colossal scale" by the US into allowing torture on UK territory, it was claimed yesterday. Time magazine said at least one terror suspect had been imprisoned and interrogated by the US on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. America has a base on the island. It quoted an anonymous US official who claimed "highvalue prisoners" had been held and questioned there.

• Renewed fears over terrorist renditions after flight to Guantanamo lands at RAF base - Fears that the UK is still being used as a stop-off point for the CIA’s controversial terrorist renditions resurfaced last week when a flight to Guantanamo Bay landed at an RAF base. Mystery surrounds the mission of the US military aircraft which touched down at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk last Sunday amid tight security, refuelled and then flew on to the prison camp in Cuba. The Government denies that it has allowed America to use British airports as part of its rendition policy used to move terror suspects to interrogation centres around the globe. However, a fleet of aircraft linked to the programme have been flying in and out of Britain, unchecked by the UK authorities.

• 'Lost MI5 fax could have stopped 7/7': The crucial missed warning - A chance to stop the 7/7 bombers may have been missed when a secret services fax to police went missing. A damning report is expected to reveal that the MI5 document, sent to West Yorkshire police, raised suspicions about ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan and accomplice Shehzad Tanweer.

PERSPECTIVE: It gets much worse than this.  See our 7/7 London Bombings archive.

• Karadzic protected by US until he broke 'deal': Belgrade report - Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic was protected by the United States until a CIA phone bug caught him breaking the terms of his "deal", the Serb newspaper Blic reported Saturday, quoting a US intelligence source. The newspaper claims Karadzic was secretly granted immunity in return for keeping a low profile. "Karadzic, indicted for genocide and war crimes, was under US protection until 2000, when the CIA intercepted his telephone conversation that clearly proved he personally chaired a meeting of his old political party," the daily quoted a "well-informed US intelligence source" as saying.

• Utah Congressmen Mailed “9/11 Conspiracies”, Hand Them Over To Capitol Police - An otherwise uninteresting article in the Salt Lake Tribune, about Utah representatives receiving different kinds of mail, has thrown up some disturbing information regarding letters about 9/11 truth. Amongst the stories about Congressmen receiving letters from people who use “Star Trek” stationery, and from kids wanting homework outlawed, we find the following little tidbit: “Others have written in about 9/11 conspiracies, global takeovers or secret CIA mind-control techniques that “got so crazy we actually had to hand them over to Capitol Police,” he (Legislative assistant Omar Raschid) said.” Apparently not accepting the government’s version of events surrounding 9/11 may land you in trouble with the cops if you’re writing from Utah. Questioning the collapse of WTC 7 for example, an incident that was totally ignored by the 9/11 Commission Report, could get you reported.

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