Room 641A- you need to know about this

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underpants (1000+ posts)

Fri Feb-15-08 02:49 PM Response to Original message

57. Room 641A- you need to know about this

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/underpants/10... In 2003, Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency, according to a former AT&T technician. It was fed by fiber-optic cables that siphoned copies of e-mails and other online traffic from one of the largest Internet hubs in the United States, the former employee says in court filings. Neither AT&T nor the federal government has admitted even the existence of a secret room, and the Justice Department is arguing that the cases should be dismissed because their subject matter is a state secret. The communications company, meanwhile, says it is prevented from properly defending itself because of national security reasons and dismisses the employee who briefly saw the room and worked on supporting equipment as a "line technician who . . . never had access to the 'secret room' he purports to describe." <--- that is as scarey an excuse as it is laughable The allegations by Mark Klein, who worked for AT&T's WorldNet Service, underscore the government's dependence on major telecommunications providers to physically tap optic fibers that carry electronic signals around the globe. Some of the evidence also suggests that the NSA efforts were not limited to overseas e-mail communications and included the collection of purely domestic traffic. "I conclude that AT&T has constructed an extensive -- and expensive -- collection of infrastructure that collectively has all the capability necessary to conduct large-scale covert gathering of -based communications information, not only for communications to overseas locations, but for purely domestic communications as well," said Marcus, a veteran computer network executive who worked at GTE, Genuity and other companies before joining the FCC. James X. Dempsey, policy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the evidence gleaned from the AT&T case appears to confirm that "there is a massive surveillance capability built into the network" by the federal government. But, Dempsey added, "the mere fact that the capability has been built and utilized still does not answer the fundamental question -- has it been exercised under constitutional parameters? That, in a way, is what these cases are trying to get to."

Ghost Dog (1000+ posts)

Fri Feb-15-08 11:08 PM Response to Reply #57

113. In this context, check out Miami-based Terremark Inc:

http://www.terremark.com/about/video-podcast.aspx http://www.terremark.com/industry-solutions/government.... "Terremark's Managed Routing Service (MRS) leverages the massive global network connectivity provided by the world's largest telecommunications companies located within our carrier-neutral facility. With direct access to the backbones of the world's leading carriers, we connect you directly to the heart of the Internet, consistently delivering the quality of service required for Streaming Multimedia, Voice over IP and other demanding applications. Our ultra secure and reliable facilities are complete with redundant systems and infrastructure. Our highly trained Network Management staff can proactively monitor your service, 24x7x365. In addition, our high-performance Network Analysis Modules (NAMs) offer proactive monitoring and quick troubleshooting that provides our engineers with visibility into all layers of the network. This enables us to analyze traffic flows for applications, hosts, conversations and network-based services such as Quality of Service (QoS) and Voice over IP (VoIP)."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x93692#93803

The Plosser Dip: potential for core inflation to remain elevated; signs the Fed's credibility is weakening; deeper rate cuts.

UpInArms (1000+ posts)

Wed Feb-06-08 09:22 PM Response to Original message

107. Dow ends day at psychologically important number 12,200 even

Dow 12,200.10 65.03 (0.53%) Nasdaq 2,278.75 30.82 (1.33%) S&P 500 1,326.45 10.19 (0.76%) 10-Yr Bond 3.614% 0.027 NYSE Volume 3,799,418,500 Nasdaq Volume 2,357,679,250 how handy!

Wed 6 Feb 2008 DU-SMW (briefing.com):

With the major indices closing near their worst levels of the day, then, Wednesday's session can indeed be labeled a disappointment by market bulls. Most media sources will attribute comments from Philadelphia Fed President Plosser as the catalyst for the downturn. The fact of the matter is that the market was already fading from its highs (the Dow +125; the Nasdaq +29; and the S&P +15) when comments from Mr. Plosser hit the wires around 13:30 ET.

In particular, Mr. Plosser expressed concerns about the potential for core inflation to remain elevated and conceded that there may be early signs the Fed's credibility is weakening. Soon after, though, he also noted that one can "never say never" about deeper rate cuts. In other words, it was a typical "on the one hand, on the other hand" type of delivery that usually characterizes Fed speeches.

The market, after Tuesday's sell-off, focused on the negative elements of his remarks, namely the inflation concerns, and continued sliding in the early afternoon. There was a brief upturn following the Plosser dip, which goes to show the market wasn't as rattled by the remarks as some contended, yet that rebound try also ran out of steam as growth concerns continued to prevail. Once again, the losses were fairly broad-based. The health care sector (+0.03%) eked out a slight gain and was the only sector to close the session with a gain. Strikingly, the utilities sector (-0.15%) and the consumer staples sector (-0.27%) exhibited relative strength, which fits with their defensive appeal in times of uncertainty and slower growth. The energy sector (-1.58%) suffered the biggest loss on Wednesday as a bearish inventory report sparked a 1.5% drop in crude futures to $87.09. Earlier in the day, the Dept. of Energy reported crude stockpiles rose 7.05 million barrels versus an expected build of 2.6 million barrels. The larger than expected build played into concerns about an economic slowdown. Many of the transportation stocks caught a bid, though, with the drop in oil prices and outperformed the market. Separately, the financial sector, which fell 1.06%, underperformed again with big losses in the exchange space taking a toll. Shares of CME Group (CME 485.25, -103.55) plummeted 17% in the wake of a report that the Dept. of Justice issued a comment letter suggesting the separation of clearing operations from the futures exchanges. Technology, down 1.4%, was another influential weak spot that weighed on the broader market. True to recent form, the big-cap technology issues were out of favor as evidenced by the 1.8% decline in the Nasdaq 100 that preceded Cisco's (CSCO 23.08, -0.18) earnings report after the close.

/... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3170603#3171482

"The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -- Thomas Jefferson

greyhound1966 (1000+ posts)

Wed Feb-06-08 08:15 AM Response to Reply #28

72. "It is good that Americans don't understand their economic or banking systems,

if they did, we would have revolution tomorrow" - Henry Ford 100% of every dollar the IRS collects is paid to a private bank as interest on money they never had to loan. We are about to understand the true cost of our ignorance.

redqueen (1000+ posts)

Wed Feb-06-08 03:16 PM Response to Reply #72

107. "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies...

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around . . . will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered . . . The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." -- Thomas Jefferson -- The Debate Over The Recharter Of The Bank Bill, (1809) "What is the robbing of a bank compared to the FOUNDING of a bank?" Bertolt Brecht

greyhound1966 (1000+ posts)

Thu Feb-07-08 05:16 AM Response to Reply #107

185. Brilliant!

/... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2821847

foto: Costa norte de Fuerteventura desde la Bocaina.

A music video called "YES WE CAN"

Sat Feb-02-08 05:30 PM

Original message

MUST SEE: Musicians/Actors turn Obama's NH speech into a music video called "YES WE CAN"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4349153 Edited on Sat Feb-02-08 05:36 PM by Bleachers7 This is amazing. This is a star studded cast. http://www.dipdive.com

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yq0tMYPDJQ
abc News "What's the Buzz" Interview with Will.i.am about celeb-filled music video Yes We Can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBn7FEtn0E8

The Evolution of Evil By Joel S. Hirschhorn: Perhaps a global political apocalypse has already arrived.

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February 1, 2008

The Evolution of Evil By Joel S. Hirschhorn: Perhaps a global political apocalypse has already arrived.

Activists and dissidents should understand that evil forces and tyrannical governments have evolved. Just as human knowledge and science expand, so do the strategies and instruments used by rulers, elites and plutocrats. By learning from history and using new technology they have smarter tools of tyranny. The best ones prevent uprisings, revolutions and political reforms. Rather than violently destroy rebellious movements, they let them survive as marginalized and ineffective efforts that divert and sap the energy of nonconformist and rebellious thinkers. Real revolution remains an energy-draining dream, as evil forces thrive.

Most corrupt and legally sanctioned forms of tyranny hide in plain sight as democracies with free elections. The toughest lesson is that ALL elections are distractions. Nothing conceals tyranny better than elections. Few Americans accept that their government has become a two-party plutocracy run by a rich and powerful ruling class. The steady erosion of the rule of law is masked by everyday consumer freedoms. Because people want to be happy and hopeful, we have an epidemic of denial, especially in the present presidential campaign. But to believe that any change-selling politician or shift in party control will overturn the ruling class is the epitome of self-delusion and false hope. In the end, such wishful thinking perpetuates plutocracy. Proof is that plutocracy has flourished despite repeated change agents, promises of reform and partisan shifts.

The tools of real rebellion are weak. Activists and dissidents look back and see successful rebellions and revolutions and think that when today’s victims of tyranny experience enough pain and see enough political stink they too will revolt. This is wrong. They think that the Internet spreads information and inspiration to the masses, motivating them to revolt. This is wrong. They await catastrophic economic or environmental collapse to spur rebellion. This too is wrong.

Why are these beliefs wrong? Power elites have an arsenal of weapons to control and manipulate social, political and economic systems globally: corruption of public officials that make elections a sham; corporate mainstream media that turn news into propaganda; manipulation of financial markets that create fear for the public and profits for the privileged; false free trade globalization that destroys the middle class; rising economic inequality that keep the masses time-poor and financially insecure; intense marketing of pharmaceuticals that keep people passive; and addictive consumerism, entertainment and gambling that keep people distracted and pacified.

The biggest challenge for dissidents and rebels is to avoid feel-good therapeutic activism having virtually no chance of removing evil and tyranny. Idealism without practicality tactics without lofty goals, and symbolic protests pose no threat to power elites. Anger and outrage require great strategic thinking from leaders seeking revolution, not mere change. And social entrepreneurs that use business and management skills to tackle genuine social problems do nothing to achieve political reforms. To the extent they achieve results they end up removing interest in overthrowing political establishments that have allowed the problems to fester.

What is the new tool of tyranny? Technological connectivity achieved through advanced communications and computer systems, especially the rise of wireless connectivity. The global message to the masses is simple: Buy electronic products to stay plugged in. Connectivity may give pleasure, but it gives even more power to elites, rulers and plutocrats. It allows them to coordinate their efforts through invisible cabals, to closely monitor everything that ordinary people and dissidents do, and to cooperatively and clandestinely adjust social, financial and political systems to maintain stability and dominance.

In this dystopian world all systems are integrated to serve upper class elites and the corporate state, not ordinary people. When ordinary people spend their money to be more shackled to connectivity products, they become unwitting victims of largely invisible governmental and corporate oppressive forces. They are oblivious that their technological seduction exacerbates their political and economic exploitation. Though some 70 percent believe the country is on the wrong track, they fail to see the deeper causes of the trend. And if Americans were really happy and content with their consumer culture, then why are they stuffing themselves with so many antidepressants, sleeping pills and totally unhealthy foods? In truth, the vast majority of people are in denial about the rotten system they are trapped in (aka The Matrix). They are manipulated to keep hope alive through voting, despite the inability of past elections to stop the slide into economic serfdom.

/... http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/print_friendly.php?p=opedne_joel_s___080201_the_evolution_of_evi.htm

Espías y Armas Estadounidenses en las Islas Canarias

Espías y Armas Estadounidenses en las Islas Canarias

• Vuelos de Rendición: 32 escalas en Tenerife de aviones fletados por la CIA para el traslado por medio mundo de supuestos terroristas, detenidos sin cargos oficiales y sin la menor cobertura legal, y llevados a centros secretos u oficiales propios o de terceros países con el fin de burlar las leyes y someterlos a interrogatorios humillantes y torturas.
  
  
• Buques de Suministro: buques de los escuadrones de preposición de la Armada estadounidense, que participaban en acciones de abastecimiento de armas -incluidas químicas- a los conflictos armados en Afganistán e Irak, realizaron 35 escalas en los puertos de Las Palmas, Santa Cruz y Arrecife sólo entre noviembre de 2002 y marzo de 2005.
  
  
• Puestos de Espionaje: presencia en los entornos de los aeropuertos canarios de Los Rodeos y Gando de los denominados Centros de Tecnología de Inteligencia Contraterrorista (CTIC), dependientes del gabinete de Defensa de la administración Bush.

cf. el



Convenio de Cooperación para la Defensa, firmado por España y Estados Unidos en 1988, y reforzado y ampliado en 2003 con el Protocolo de Enmienda.

·
·
·

Dice textualmente el artículo 2 del mencionado Convenio: "España concede a Estados Unidos de América el uso de instalaciones de apoyo y otorga autorizaciones de uso en el territorio, mar territorial y espacio aéreo españoles para objetivos dentro del ámbito bilateral o multilateral".

... Pero también se acordaron medidas de cooperación en materia antiterrorista, gracias a las cuales los servicios de espionaje de ambos países se intercambian información y pueden llegar a trabajar conjuntamente en determinadas operaciones, principalmente en la lucha contra el terrorismo de cariz islamista radical.

Con la cobertura de los acuerdos bilaterales y la buena relación de los servicios secretos, Estados Unidos pensó que no tendría incovenientes en usar a Canarias como una base crucial e imprescindible para su enorme despliegue militar.

Vuelos, buques y escuchas

En este contexto y según el reciente informe del eurodiputado italiano Claudio Fava, son 32 las escalas en Tenerife de los aviones fletados por la CIA para el traslado por medio mundo de supuestos terroristas, detenidos sin cargos oficiales y sin la menor cobertura legal, y llevados a centros secretos u oficiales propios o de terceros países con el fin de burlar las leyes y someterlos a interrogatorios humillantes y torturas. Asimismo, el Gobierno central confirmaba el año pasado a requerimiento de PSC, IU e ICV que buques de los escuadrones de preposición de la Armada estadounidense, que participaban en acciones de abastecimiento de armas -incluidas químicas- a los conflictos armados en Afganistán e Irak, realizaron 35 escalas en los puertos de Las Palmas, Santa Cruz y Arrecife sólo entre noviembre de 2002 y marzo de 2005.

El último episodio conocido es la presencia en los entornos de los aeropuertos canarios de Los Rodeos y Gando de los denominados Centros de Tecnología de Inteligencia Contraterrorista (CTIC), dependientes del gabinete de Defensa de la administración Bush, que motivó dos iniciativas de solicitud de información el pasado mes de abril del grupo de IU-ICV, tanto en el Parlamento español como en el de la Unión Europea. El despliegue de estos centros y el paso por Canarias de los buques con armamento entrarían en las competencias de los convenios, pero no así los vuelos de la CIA.

/... http://canarias.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15712/index.php

Notes:

• Miércoles, 3 de mayo de 2000

  El nuevo Gobierno pedirá renegociar el Convenio de Defensa con EEUU.
  Aznar desea un replanteamiento de la presencia militar norteamericana en España en función de nuestra plena integración en OTAN - EEUU ha transmitido su deseo de potenciar el uso de la base de Rota - Exteriores buscará el apoyo de Washington para conseguir un puesto en el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU en el 2003.
• Convenio de Cooperacion para la Defensa entre el Reino de España y los Estados Unidos de America, de 1 de Diciembre de1988.
  
• Acuerdo administrativo de desarrollo del Convenio de cooperación para la defensa entre el Reino de España y los Estados Unidos de América, de 1 de diciembre de 1988, hecho en Madrid el 10 de abril de 2002. - Boletín Oficial del Estado de 16 de Julio de 2007.
  
• Protocolo de enmienda del Convenio de Cooperación para la defensa entre el Reino de España y los Estados Unidos de América, de 1 de diciembre de 1988, hecho en Madrid el 10 de abril de 2002. - Boletín Oficial del Estado de 21 de febrero de 2003.
• Acuerdos bilaterales: Derechos reconocidos a favor de las Fuerzas Armadas de España en los Estados Unidos de América.

Oil companies, Oil-Services companies and Oil-Rich countries. Another twist in the ongoing "ironical consequences of outsourcing" saga.

Oil-services companies such as Schlumberger, the world's largest, closely followed by the likes of Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford International and Smith International, undertake much of the actual boots-on-the ground exploration and production engineering and maintenance work that provide oil companies (and by extension society at large) around the world with their life-blood. At administrative and management levels, other service companies are contracted to provide everything an oil company needs from project design and management through accountancy and legal services, marketing, supply and of course customer relations requirements (the infamous help-desk in Bangalore and similar). The oil company itself is on course to be transformed into little more than a hard, extremely wealthy core providing finance and strategic management to the aforesaid exploration and production projects. Everything else can be outsourced.

One ironic consequence of this is that oil-rich countries and other title-holders to potential underground petroleum and gas resources find they too can turn to the same outsourced-services providers as the oil companies, in the process cutting out the oil companies themselves, and their take, as middlemen. Nils Pratley's Viewpoint "The growing fly in Big Oil's ointment" in the financial pages of the Guardian, 1 Feb 2008, puts it this way: "Oil-rich nations no longer feel the need to ring a member of the Big Oil club when they want to exploit their natural resources." Such national oil majors as Aramco of Saudi Arabia and others across Asia, Africa and Latin America, as well as Norway and, effectively, Russia come to mind as model alternatives quite independent of mostly G7-based Big Oil but highly dependent on the flotilla of services companies attending them.

Another rather ironic but, it is to be hoped, healthy consequence could be summed up in the nicely Orwellian-sounding phrase: "Small business good; Big business bad."

Consider this: This division of labour, as it were, amongst a plethora of much smaller services companies (the largest, Schlumberger itself, is but a quarter of the size of Exxon) opens up the field of services provision to the kinds of open competition, manouverability and innovation only smaller businesses can provide. Such flexibility and diversity is surely both ecologically and economically more sound than the monolithic-titanic model Big Oil may have been more accustomed to up to now, and will undoubtedly thrive to the point of eventually rendering the Big companies themselves obsolete.

Always within limits set by effective regulation, such breaking-down of large and very-large corporations into leaner, more efficient and competitive relative tiddlers able to react quickly to such changing conditions and requirements as, for example, new energy projects would appear to be both natual and intelligent at this point in history and should be encouraged and applied in all areas of a healthy economy.

The Exxons and Wal-Marts of this world need to be broken up and cut down to size. The liberation of creative economic energy this would release is what will be needed if we're to power the next wave of economic evolution heading into what will clearly now be a fragile and potentially fractious future.

· ecologicando

http://ecologicando.blogspot.com/2008/02/oil-companies-oil-services-companies.html

notes:
Philadelphia Oil Service Index (^OSX)