Cooper cranks up "The Bush Culture of Fear Again"
First there is the issue of the boat known as "Joe Cool" (which indicates to me an affection for at least cigarettes, probably more than cigarettes). Why this is an issue of "Keeping them Honest" is a really good question. The authorities did what they were supposed to do. It's probably murder, it's more than likely drug related and quite frankly hijackings at see, piracy if you will, is not as unusal as one might think, especially in Southern Florida. Most anyone that owns a boat and travels the area usually carries weapons because drug dealers are an issue and will board a boat in a heartbeat if it suits them. So, this is a very sad story, but, not that unusual really. There have been plenty of other hijackings at sea before, this is just another one. Cooper neglected to ask Nick Spangler from the Miami Herald how often this sort of crime happens and whether this is a resurfacing of what might be a chronic occurrance due to drug cartels, etc. This was a sensational piece to get the attention of the public so Cooper could go on and bring up a stupid subject by Homeland Security.
THINK SOLAR AND WIND as a real alternative to power grid issues when Homeland Security fails to do their job. Thanks for the reason to alternative energy, Andy.
COOPER: Right. It is a bizarre tale. And, certainly, there's a lot to be figured out in the next couple days. Nick Spangler, we will keep talking to you. Appreciate it. Keep covering it for "The Miami Herald."
Mystery at Sea in Missing Boater Case (click here)
By CURT ANDERSON – 10 hours ago
MIAMI (AP) — A boat trip that began as a routine charter to the Bahamas turned horribly wrong somewhere on the high seas when four crew members vanished and the two men who hired the vessel were plucked out of a life raft.
Kirby Logan Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo are in custody on federal charges while rescuers conduct a massive search in heavy rain for the crew of the 47-foot fishing charter Joe Cool. Neither Archer, who was a fugitive, nor Zarabozo is charged in the disappearances.
"All I can say at this point is that the investigation is continuing," FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said.
The pair were found in a life raft Monday about 12 miles from where the fishing boat was drifting. Authorities found no one on board and no mechanical problems with the vessel.
A key to some handcuffs was found on the boat, and a substance appearing to be blood was found on the vessel's stern, according to an FBI affidavit.
Archer and Zarabozo paid $4,000 cash to charter the Joe Cool on Sunday to Bimini, Bahamas, where they told the boat's operators they had female companions waiting for them. The Coast Guard says that GPS navigation devices on the boat show that it veered sharply south toward Cuba about halfway into the 50-mile trip....
Then there was this rant about some Homeland Security statement about a video game which could be real. This time it's a 'society crash and burn scenario' whereby electric power grids go down and could stay down for months on end causing a melt down of the social fabric in the USA resulting in neighbor turning againt neighbor and the like. Jeanne Meserve should be ashamed of herself for being a part of this mess. I honestly don't know what the point is regarding the 'terror scenario' from Homeland Security and this hideous terrifying of the public, except to do exactly that.
I guess if there was a complete failure of the power grids for the nation, there would be a run on SOLAR PANELS at Home Depot. Hello? Anyone for a wind farm?
We want to tell you now about an alarming new gap in this country's armor that could leave you and millions more literally in the dark, without power. And we're not just talking about for days. We're talking about for months.The government recently war-gamed the scenario. And what it found is truly terrifying, as CNN's Jeanne Meserve explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is an electric generator. It is vital because it is the kind that power companies use to bring electricity to your home. It shudders and shakes, then goes up in smoke, destroyed just as effectively as if with a smuggled bomb. But all it took was a computer, some patient work, and the click of a mouse.
ROBERT JAMISON, NATIONAL PROTECTION AND PROGRAMS ACTING UNDERSECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: What's new here is that, through a cyber-attack, you can actually get in and cause physical damage to equipment. That's the new piece of this.
MESERVE: This previously classified video of a test cyber-attack on a power plant control system has sent shockwaves through the federal government and the power industry. Could a large-scale simultaneous cyber-attack knock out power to a huge part of the country for months? The nightmare scenario: At first, it would be inconvenient, lights out, businesses shut, no teller machines, no gas pumps. By day three, stores would be out of food, emergency generators out of gas. After 10 days, with no hope of power being restored, people want to evacuate, but where to, with what fuel? And with no emergency services, medicine, heating or air conditioning, lives could be lost. Listen to what economist Scott Borg projects if such a nightmare scenario played out, with a loss of power to a third of the country for three months.
SCOTT BORG, DIRECTOR AND CHIEF ECONOMIST, U.S. CYBER CONSEQUENCES UNIT: It's equivalent to 40 to 50 large hurricanes striking all at once. It's greater economic damage than any modern economy has ever suffered.
MESERVE (on camera): Even the Great Depression? BORG: It's greater than the Great Depression.
MESERVE (voice-over): The potential damage is so severe, the Department of Homeland Security asked CNN not to divulge certain technical details about the government experiment, dubbed Aurora. The test was conducted last March at the Idaho National Lab. We can say that the research involved hacking into a replica of a power plant's control system. Researchers changed the operating cycle of the generator, sending it out of control, until it self-destructed. Since the test, the Department of Homeland Security has been working feverishly with the electric industry to thwart such an attack. (on camera): Can you say right now that this vulnerability has been eliminated?
JAMISON: No, I can't say it's been eliminated, but I can say that a lot of risk has been taken off the table.
MESERVE (voice-over): But the job of protecting power plants is hard, because control systems that open and close valves and switches, and govern the load are increasingly connected to the Internet for efficiency reasons, making them vulnerable. Joe Weiss is an expert on power plant control systems and has been sounding the alarm for five years. (on camera): So, the same systems we're using here are being used in Iran, Pakistan?
JOE WEISS, MANAGING PARTNER, APPLIED CONTROL SOLUTIONS: Very -- very, very possibly.
MESERVE: Which means people there know how to run them?
WEISS: Absolutely.
MESERVE: They know how to bring them down? WEISS: Absolutely. They have the same training, the same passwords. MESERVE (voice-over): And security experts say it would be virtually impossible to figure out who attacked. In 2002, the current director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, and former CIA Director James Woolsey were among more than 50 computer and security experts who begged President Bush for a massive cyber-defense program to avoid a national disaster. Five years later, there is no such program.
JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: We need to get on this and get on it quickly.
MESERVE: "Keeping Them Honest," we looked at how much is being spent on cyber-security. Across the federal government, it is projected there will be a slight increase next year, but Homeland Security's cyber-security budget is expected to decrease, with only $12 million budgeted for protecting control systems. DHS points out that its own research uncovered the power plant vulnerability, and action it is taking with industry is reducing the risk. But the question remains, can the U.S. close the cyber-security holes before the hackers find them?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And, Jeanne, I just want to repeat something that you yourself just said in this report and your guest also said, that -- that people in Iran and other countries have the same technology and have the -- they know how to operate these systems and they know how to shut them down. There are those who are going to see this report and say, look, why are you -- why -- why is CNN reporting this? Aren't we giving terrorists a road map? How do you -- how do you respond?
MESERVE: Well, first of all, the vulnerability to control systems has been talked about for years. And, until this video, not much was being done about it. We have complied with DHS' request that we not report certain details. And experts say this scenario is one that is chatted about all the time on the Internet.
COOPER: And -- and $12 million for cyber-security for the Department of Homeland Security, that seems like a -- I mean, that's nothing.
MESERVE: That's just for control systems, that part of the budget. The electric industry, I should say, has done more than most sectors of the economy. But we will be talking to them and to DHS, the rest of the administration, and Congress to find out why more isn't being spent. One expert suggests, until the video, the threat was just too theoretical.
COOPER: Well, it's amazing that you have a guy, James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, saying, we begged the administration years ago to get on this, and it still hasn't happened. We will see if anything happens after this report.Jeanne, appreciate the reporting. Straight ahead tonight: another kind of threat, the one that might be hiding in your medicine cabinet. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
The beat goes on I guess. The Bush White House will no doubt do whatever they can to spark their Culture of Fear to benefit Giuliani. Don't know why, all he has to do is call Judy and get that 'feel good feeling' all over again.
Nothing about Iraq, huh, Cooper? Maybe because 'the soveriegnty' of Iraq and Bush's 'nation building' just isn't working:
Senate backs separating Iraq into 3 regions (click here)
Biden's nonbinding bill, which draws bipartisan support, calls for a decentralized nation that empowers areas.
By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 27, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Implicitly criticizing the Bush administration's reliance on the Iraqi central government to unify the country, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed the decentralization of Iraq into semi-autonomous regions. The nonbinding measure sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) -- which supports a "federal system" that would divide Iraq into sectarian-dominated regions -- won unusually broad bipartisan support, passing 75 to 23.It attracted 26 Republicans, 47 Democrats and both independents....
Wave of Violence Kills 50 in Iraq (click here)
Wednesday September 26, 2007 11:16 PM
By ROBERT H. REID
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - A wave of bombings and shootings swept Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 50 people and raising fears that al-Qaida had launched a promised new offensive. The U.S. military acknowledged that violence was on the upswing and blamed it on the terror movement.
Also Wednesday came the announcement that Iraqi and American troops raided the Iraqi military academy the day before and arrested cadets and instructors allegedly linked to the kidnap-slaying of the former superintendent and the abduction of his replacement, who was later freed.
Police reported at least six car bombings around the country Wednesday, an increase over the pattern of attacks in recent weeks, though U.S. officials insisted that violence was still below levels of last year....
The best part of this program was when the former President, Bill Clinton stated, the issue over the MoveOn.Org Petraeus ad was a bait and switch for a reason to distract from the real issues of the country. I have to agree. I can't believe the same tactics used by Tom Delay regarding Terry Schivo is still used today to attempt to control public opinion.
Speaking of Tom Delay, evidently a couple of the charges against him and his co-conspirators have been dropped or something like but the remainder are ready to go to trial. At issue and to delay Delay's outcome is a ruling awaiting Appeals Court Ruling on Delay's co-conspirators. It's an odd set of circumstances regarding the charges that WERE dropped. Evidently, it is a crime to conspire against the electorate, BUT, in Delay's case the law was passed AFTER the crime was committed. Imagine that, Tom Delay's behavior was criminal enough to inspire the necessity for a law. They should call it "Delay's Law" but I guarantee they won't.
Court lets DeLay indictment dismissal stand (click here)
By JANET ELLIOTTCopyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
AUSTIN — Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said Wednesday that his office is ready to go to trial on remaining charges against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay after the state's highest criminal court upheld its earlier dismissal of a separate charge.
"We're preparing for trial," Earle said.
But Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who represents DeLay, said he doesn't expect any trial until another Texas appeals court rules on a case involving accused co-conspirators John Colyandro and Jim Ellis.
DeGuerin said Colyandro and Ellis' case, which was argued to a panel of Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals more than a year ago, "has to do with the balance of the case" against DeLay.
Although DeLay is not directly involved in the case pending at the Austin appeals court, the outcome is likely to affect charges of money-laundering and conspiracy to launder money.
The Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected Earle's motion for a rehearing on its June dismissal of a charge that DeLay conspired to violate state election laws in 2002. The court held that such a charge wasn't made a crime until 2003....
enough
First there is the issue of the boat known as "Joe Cool" (which indicates to me an affection for at least cigarettes, probably more than cigarettes). Why this is an issue of "Keeping them Honest" is a really good question. The authorities did what they were supposed to do. It's probably murder, it's more than likely drug related and quite frankly hijackings at see, piracy if you will, is not as unusal as one might think, especially in Southern Florida. Most anyone that owns a boat and travels the area usually carries weapons because drug dealers are an issue and will board a boat in a heartbeat if it suits them. So, this is a very sad story, but, not that unusual really. There have been plenty of other hijackings at sea before, this is just another one. Cooper neglected to ask Nick Spangler from the Miami Herald how often this sort of crime happens and whether this is a resurfacing of what might be a chronic occurrance due to drug cartels, etc. This was a sensational piece to get the attention of the public so Cooper could go on and bring up a stupid subject by Homeland Security.
THINK SOLAR AND WIND as a real alternative to power grid issues when Homeland Security fails to do their job. Thanks for the reason to alternative energy, Andy.
COOPER: Right. It is a bizarre tale. And, certainly, there's a lot to be figured out in the next couple days. Nick Spangler, we will keep talking to you. Appreciate it. Keep covering it for "The Miami Herald."
Mystery at Sea in Missing Boater Case (click here)
By CURT ANDERSON – 10 hours ago
MIAMI (AP) — A boat trip that began as a routine charter to the Bahamas turned horribly wrong somewhere on the high seas when four crew members vanished and the two men who hired the vessel were plucked out of a life raft.
Kirby Logan Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo are in custody on federal charges while rescuers conduct a massive search in heavy rain for the crew of the 47-foot fishing charter Joe Cool. Neither Archer, who was a fugitive, nor Zarabozo is charged in the disappearances.
"All I can say at this point is that the investigation is continuing," FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said.
The pair were found in a life raft Monday about 12 miles from where the fishing boat was drifting. Authorities found no one on board and no mechanical problems with the vessel.
A key to some handcuffs was found on the boat, and a substance appearing to be blood was found on the vessel's stern, according to an FBI affidavit.
Archer and Zarabozo paid $4,000 cash to charter the Joe Cool on Sunday to Bimini, Bahamas, where they told the boat's operators they had female companions waiting for them. The Coast Guard says that GPS navigation devices on the boat show that it veered sharply south toward Cuba about halfway into the 50-mile trip....
Then there was this rant about some Homeland Security statement about a video game which could be real. This time it's a 'society crash and burn scenario' whereby electric power grids go down and could stay down for months on end causing a melt down of the social fabric in the USA resulting in neighbor turning againt neighbor and the like. Jeanne Meserve should be ashamed of herself for being a part of this mess. I honestly don't know what the point is regarding the 'terror scenario' from Homeland Security and this hideous terrifying of the public, except to do exactly that.
I guess if there was a complete failure of the power grids for the nation, there would be a run on SOLAR PANELS at Home Depot. Hello? Anyone for a wind farm?
We want to tell you now about an alarming new gap in this country's armor that could leave you and millions more literally in the dark, without power. And we're not just talking about for days. We're talking about for months.The government recently war-gamed the scenario. And what it found is truly terrifying, as CNN's Jeanne Meserve explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is an electric generator. It is vital because it is the kind that power companies use to bring electricity to your home. It shudders and shakes, then goes up in smoke, destroyed just as effectively as if with a smuggled bomb. But all it took was a computer, some patient work, and the click of a mouse.
ROBERT JAMISON, NATIONAL PROTECTION AND PROGRAMS ACTING UNDERSECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: What's new here is that, through a cyber-attack, you can actually get in and cause physical damage to equipment. That's the new piece of this.
MESERVE: This previously classified video of a test cyber-attack on a power plant control system has sent shockwaves through the federal government and the power industry. Could a large-scale simultaneous cyber-attack knock out power to a huge part of the country for months? The nightmare scenario: At first, it would be inconvenient, lights out, businesses shut, no teller machines, no gas pumps. By day three, stores would be out of food, emergency generators out of gas. After 10 days, with no hope of power being restored, people want to evacuate, but where to, with what fuel? And with no emergency services, medicine, heating or air conditioning, lives could be lost. Listen to what economist Scott Borg projects if such a nightmare scenario played out, with a loss of power to a third of the country for three months.
SCOTT BORG, DIRECTOR AND CHIEF ECONOMIST, U.S. CYBER CONSEQUENCES UNIT: It's equivalent to 40 to 50 large hurricanes striking all at once. It's greater economic damage than any modern economy has ever suffered.
MESERVE (on camera): Even the Great Depression? BORG: It's greater than the Great Depression.
MESERVE (voice-over): The potential damage is so severe, the Department of Homeland Security asked CNN not to divulge certain technical details about the government experiment, dubbed Aurora. The test was conducted last March at the Idaho National Lab. We can say that the research involved hacking into a replica of a power plant's control system. Researchers changed the operating cycle of the generator, sending it out of control, until it self-destructed. Since the test, the Department of Homeland Security has been working feverishly with the electric industry to thwart such an attack. (on camera): Can you say right now that this vulnerability has been eliminated?
JAMISON: No, I can't say it's been eliminated, but I can say that a lot of risk has been taken off the table.
MESERVE (voice-over): But the job of protecting power plants is hard, because control systems that open and close valves and switches, and govern the load are increasingly connected to the Internet for efficiency reasons, making them vulnerable. Joe Weiss is an expert on power plant control systems and has been sounding the alarm for five years. (on camera): So, the same systems we're using here are being used in Iran, Pakistan?
JOE WEISS, MANAGING PARTNER, APPLIED CONTROL SOLUTIONS: Very -- very, very possibly.
MESERVE: Which means people there know how to run them?
WEISS: Absolutely.
MESERVE: They know how to bring them down? WEISS: Absolutely. They have the same training, the same passwords. MESERVE (voice-over): And security experts say it would be virtually impossible to figure out who attacked. In 2002, the current director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, and former CIA Director James Woolsey were among more than 50 computer and security experts who begged President Bush for a massive cyber-defense program to avoid a national disaster. Five years later, there is no such program.
JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: We need to get on this and get on it quickly.
MESERVE: "Keeping Them Honest," we looked at how much is being spent on cyber-security. Across the federal government, it is projected there will be a slight increase next year, but Homeland Security's cyber-security budget is expected to decrease, with only $12 million budgeted for protecting control systems. DHS points out that its own research uncovered the power plant vulnerability, and action it is taking with industry is reducing the risk. But the question remains, can the U.S. close the cyber-security holes before the hackers find them?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And, Jeanne, I just want to repeat something that you yourself just said in this report and your guest also said, that -- that people in Iran and other countries have the same technology and have the -- they know how to operate these systems and they know how to shut them down. There are those who are going to see this report and say, look, why are you -- why -- why is CNN reporting this? Aren't we giving terrorists a road map? How do you -- how do you respond?
MESERVE: Well, first of all, the vulnerability to control systems has been talked about for years. And, until this video, not much was being done about it. We have complied with DHS' request that we not report certain details. And experts say this scenario is one that is chatted about all the time on the Internet.
COOPER: And -- and $12 million for cyber-security for the Department of Homeland Security, that seems like a -- I mean, that's nothing.
MESERVE: That's just for control systems, that part of the budget. The electric industry, I should say, has done more than most sectors of the economy. But we will be talking to them and to DHS, the rest of the administration, and Congress to find out why more isn't being spent. One expert suggests, until the video, the threat was just too theoretical.
COOPER: Well, it's amazing that you have a guy, James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, saying, we begged the administration years ago to get on this, and it still hasn't happened. We will see if anything happens after this report.Jeanne, appreciate the reporting. Straight ahead tonight: another kind of threat, the one that might be hiding in your medicine cabinet. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
The beat goes on I guess. The Bush White House will no doubt do whatever they can to spark their Culture of Fear to benefit Giuliani. Don't know why, all he has to do is call Judy and get that 'feel good feeling' all over again.
Nothing about Iraq, huh, Cooper? Maybe because 'the soveriegnty' of Iraq and Bush's 'nation building' just isn't working:
Senate backs separating Iraq into 3 regions (click here)
Biden's nonbinding bill, which draws bipartisan support, calls for a decentralized nation that empowers areas.
By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 27, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Implicitly criticizing the Bush administration's reliance on the Iraqi central government to unify the country, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly endorsed the decentralization of Iraq into semi-autonomous regions. The nonbinding measure sponsored by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) -- which supports a "federal system" that would divide Iraq into sectarian-dominated regions -- won unusually broad bipartisan support, passing 75 to 23.It attracted 26 Republicans, 47 Democrats and both independents....
Wave of Violence Kills 50 in Iraq (click here)
Wednesday September 26, 2007 11:16 PM
By ROBERT H. REID
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - A wave of bombings and shootings swept Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 50 people and raising fears that al-Qaida had launched a promised new offensive. The U.S. military acknowledged that violence was on the upswing and blamed it on the terror movement.
Also Wednesday came the announcement that Iraqi and American troops raided the Iraqi military academy the day before and arrested cadets and instructors allegedly linked to the kidnap-slaying of the former superintendent and the abduction of his replacement, who was later freed.
Police reported at least six car bombings around the country Wednesday, an increase over the pattern of attacks in recent weeks, though U.S. officials insisted that violence was still below levels of last year....
The best part of this program was when the former President, Bill Clinton stated, the issue over the MoveOn.Org Petraeus ad was a bait and switch for a reason to distract from the real issues of the country. I have to agree. I can't believe the same tactics used by Tom Delay regarding Terry Schivo is still used today to attempt to control public opinion.
Speaking of Tom Delay, evidently a couple of the charges against him and his co-conspirators have been dropped or something like but the remainder are ready to go to trial. At issue and to delay Delay's outcome is a ruling awaiting Appeals Court Ruling on Delay's co-conspirators. It's an odd set of circumstances regarding the charges that WERE dropped. Evidently, it is a crime to conspire against the electorate, BUT, in Delay's case the law was passed AFTER the crime was committed. Imagine that, Tom Delay's behavior was criminal enough to inspire the necessity for a law. They should call it "Delay's Law" but I guarantee they won't.
Court lets DeLay indictment dismissal stand (click here)
By JANET ELLIOTTCopyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
AUSTIN — Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle said Wednesday that his office is ready to go to trial on remaining charges against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay after the state's highest criminal court upheld its earlier dismissal of a separate charge.
"We're preparing for trial," Earle said.
But Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who represents DeLay, said he doesn't expect any trial until another Texas appeals court rules on a case involving accused co-conspirators John Colyandro and Jim Ellis.
DeGuerin said Colyandro and Ellis' case, which was argued to a panel of Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals more than a year ago, "has to do with the balance of the case" against DeLay.
Although DeLay is not directly involved in the case pending at the Austin appeals court, the outcome is likely to affect charges of money-laundering and conspiracy to launder money.
The Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected Earle's motion for a rehearing on its June dismissal of a charge that DeLay conspired to violate state election laws in 2002. The court held that such a charge wasn't made a crime until 2003....
enough
posted by The Revolt and Revolting at 1:30 AM
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