#OWS Fnks Are Outed

What can you say about people who betray your trust?  Not a whole lot.  What can you do?  That depends on how egregious the betrayal.  In these times when a stark, survivalist mentality seems normal, it would seem "right action" requires a bit of thought and investigation. It does occur to me, however, that if the agency which is supposed to be tracking cyber crimes COMMITS them, an investigation would make sense.

Meet the Guy Who Snitched on Occupy Wall Street to the FBI and NYPD

By Adrian Chen

Oct 15, 2011 4:47 P

The Occupy Wall Street protests have been going on for a month. And it seems the FBI and NYPD have had help tracking protesters' moves thanks to a conservative computer security expert who gained access to one of the group's internal mailing lists, and then handed over information on the group's plans to authorities and corporations targeted by protesters.

Since the Occupy Wall Street protest began on September 17, New York security consultant Thomas Ryan has been waging a campaign to infiltrate and discredit the movement. Ryan says he's done contract work for the U.S. Army and he brags on his blog that he leads "a team called Black Cell, a team of the most-highly trained and capable physical, threat and cyber security professionals in the world." But over the past few weeks, he and his computer security buddies have been spending time covertly attending Occupy Wall Street meetings, monitoring organizers' social media accounts, and hanging out with protesters in Lower Manhattan.

As part of their intelligence-gathering operation, the group gained access to a listserv used by Occupy Wall Street organizers called September17discuss.  […]  On Friday, Ryan leaked thousands of September17discuss emails to conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, who is now using them to try to smear Occupy Wall Street as an anarchist conspiracy to disrupt global markets.

What may much more alarming to Occupy Wall Street organizers is that while Ryan was monitoring September17discuss, he was forwarding interesting email threads to contacts at the NYPD and FBI, including special agent Jordan T. Loyd, a member of the FBI's New York-based cyber security team. 
[…]  On September 26th, Ryan forwarded another email thread to Agent Loyd. But this time he clued in the NYPD as well, sending the email to Dennis Dragos, a detective with the NYPD Computer Crimes Squad.

[…]  Interestingly, it was Ryan who revealed himself as a snitch. We learned of these emails from the archive Ryan leaked yesterday in the hopes of undermining the Occupy Wall Street movement. In assembling the archive of September17discuss emails, it appears he accidentally included some of his own forwarded emails indicating he was ratting out organizers.

"I don't know, I just put everything I had into one big package," Ryan said when asked how the emails ended up in the file posted to Andrew Breitbart's blog. Some security expert.

[…]  Did the FBI and/or NYPD ask him to monitor Occupy Wall Street? Was he just forwarding the emails on out of the goodness of his heart? In a phone interview with us, Ryan denied being an informant. "I do not work with the FBI," he said.

Ryan said he knows Loyd through their mutual involvement in the Open Web Application Security Project, a non-profit computer security group of which Ryan is a board member. Ryan said he sent the emails to Loyd unsolicited simply because "everyone's curious" about Occupy Wall Street, and he had a ground-eye view. "Jordan never asked me for anything."

Was he sending every email he got to the authorities? Ryan said he couldn't remember how many he'd passed on to the FBI or NYPD, or other third parties. Later he said that he only forwarded the two emails we noticed, detailed above.

[…]  But regardless of how many emails Ryan sent—or whether Loyd ever asked Ryan to spy on Occupy Wall Street—Loyd was almost certainly interested in the emails he received. Loyd has helped hunt down members of the hacktivist collective Anonymous, and he and his colleagues in the FBI's cyber security squad have been monitoring their involvement in Occupy Wall Street.

http://gawker.com/5850054/

Stop the Chamber from Wrecking America

I hope you can take a moment to sign this petition.  The so-called Chamber of Commerce has interfered with every progressive cause and elections to date, and is up to its teeth in anti-health care reform activities, outsourcing jobs and denying climate change.  It is particularly interesting that several big corporate players ALSO want to wash their hands of this sordid organization, i.e. Apple, Exelon Energy, Pacific Gas & Electric, Nike, and Public Service Company of New Mexico.  Apparently the CEOs of these companies are looking beyond the bottom line towards a sustainable future for ALL.

Please also alert your friends and neighbors to the reality of this organization.  They are not out to support small businesses, but to maintain status quo for the itsy bitsy minority on the top of the pyramid.  Here are excerpts from VR's home page:

UPDATE: Chamber Supporters Make Death Threats. On December 11, 2009, we filed a request with the FBI in Washington for a federal investigation into a campaign of death threats against us by supporters of the Chamber and Tom Donohue. Read the complete letter here. We provided hundreds of emails to the FBI and have asked for for a determination of who is behind the threats and prosecution of those who have made the threats. We have also asked the FBI to investigate whether the Chamber is engaged in a smear and intimidation campaign against our organization and people associated with it in order to obstruct justice. It is against the law to intimidate and threaten someone who makes a criminal complaint to the Department of Justice, which we made in our October 5, 2009 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. Read all about it here on Huffington Post.
UPDATE: Tom Donohue has been palling around with the president of China in order to promote the outsourcing of American jobs. As Mr. Donohue told VentureOutsource publication, outsourcing is good for business and the Chamber is “fighting to preserve their right to [outsource].”
UPDATE: Reward Increased To $200,000 For Information Leading To The Arrest And Conviction Of Chamber CEO Tom Donohue. Click Here For Reward Poster.
We have had enough and it is time to Stop The Chamber. Therefore, we demand the following:

• Fire Tom Donohue. Mr. Donohue is the Chamber's corrupter in chief who single handedly turned the Chamber into a pay-to-play vehicle for right-wing causes and corporate dishonesty. As Eliot Spitzer put it, "Tom Donohue has never once found a crime that he couldn't justify, as long as it was committed by one of his dues-paying members."
  
• Drop Corporate Support for the Chamber. [...]
  
• Launch A Criminal Investigation Against The Chamber For Fraud, False Tax Filings And Campaign Finance Violations. [...]
  
• Ask Congress To Investigate The Chamber. [...]  Public Citizen. http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2305 Send a letter to Congress here.
  
• Reorganize The Chamber. [...]
  
• Speak Out Against The Chamber. [...]

Thank you, Velvet Revolution!

www.StopTheChamber.com

Preemptive Strike on the First Amendment

Sticks & stones may break my bones but urine is WAAAAAAAAAY over the line! It's all too ridiculously predictable, like a terrible movie. Don't you wish we change the ending?

Storm Troopers at the RNC

By Ray McGovern
September 8, 2008

[...] When I flew into St. Paul on the evening of Aug. 30, I encountered a din in local media about “preemptive strikes” on those already congregating there to demonstrate against the Iraq war and injustice against the poor in our country.

St. Paul’s Pioneer Press expressed surprise that “despite preemptive police searches” and arrests, a group calling itself “the RNC Welcoming Committee” was still intent on “disrupting the convention.”

[...] Ironically, it was FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley, living in the St. Paul area, who served warning of precisely that in her hard-hitting Feb. 26, 2003, letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, three weeks before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. [NYT, March 6, 2003]

Confronting Mueller on a number of key issues (like “What is the FBI’s evidence with respect to the claimed connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq?”), Rowley warned of the trickle-down effect of “the administration’s new policy of ‘preemptive strikes’”:

“I believe it would be prudent to be on guard against the possibility that the looser ‘preemptive strike’ rationale being applied to situations abroad could migrate back home, fostering a more permissive attitude on the part of law enforcement officers in this country.”

Rowley called Mueller’s attention to the abuses of civil rights that had already occurred since 9/11, and pointedly warned “particular vigilance may be required to head off undue pressure (including subtle encouragement) to detain or ‘round up’ suspects.”

[...] The “preemption” began on Friday, Aug. 29, well before the RNC began on Monday, Sept. 1.

An academic doing research on social movement organizations, who for several months has been observing the main protesters — the RNC Welcoming Committee, the Coalition to March on the RNC and End the War, and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign — provided this account:

“On Friday evening the space in St. Paul that was being rented by the Welcoming Committee was raided by riot police, who knocked in the door with automatic weapons drawn, forced the 60-70 activists inside onto the floor, handcuffed them, then proceeded to confiscate all the banner-making supplies and movement literature. [Is this how a democratic country treats its citizens?]

“Over the course of several hours the cops interrogated, photographed, ran warrant checks, and eventually, released everyone one by one. Then they closed down the space for a code violation. The next morning a city code inspector arrived and found no basis for closing the space.

“Saturday morning was one of escalation and terror. The Ramsey County Sheriff Department, together with the St. Paul police, Homeland Security, and the FBI raided four private houses. At 8:00 AM, dozens of cops in SWAT gear broke down the door of one house where about a dozen activists were staying. They were awakened with rifle barrels in their faces and forced to lie face down for more than an hour. [my bold]

“The cops stole all the computers and other electronic devices in the house, and core members of the Welcoming Committee sleeping there were arrested. It being a holiday weekend, those arrested for alleged crimes could not arrive in court until Wednesday, at the earliest. Thus, those trying to organize demonstrations will be in jail for the entire time the RNC is going on. Four other houses were raided and dozens of activists were detained.”

The academic who wrote the report appealed to those concerned over “this enormous police over-kill” to contact the Twin Cities’ mayors and demand an end to the “witch hunt.”

He added, “The people who were arrested were some of the gentlest, most dedicated activists I’ve ever met.” A far cry from the “criminal enterprise” described by notorious Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.[...]

[... St. Paul City Councilman Dave] Thune objected in particular to Fletcher’s deputies using battering rams to knock down doors, then entering with guns drawn, and forcing people to the ground, [my bold] as they did on Friday night.

[...] On the fringes there was some property damage and further arrests. What violence there was bore the earmarks of provocation by the likes of Sheriff Fletcher and his Homeland Security, FBI, and, according to one well-sourced report, Blackwater buddies.

That’s right. Agent provocateurs.

Primary targets of the repression were the alternative media, [my bold] including any and all those who might have a camera to record the brutality — as was successfully done at the RNC in New York four years ago.

The manner in which Amy Goodman and the two producers of “Democracy Now!” were deliberately mistreated was clearly to serve as a warning that the rules had gone up in smoke — the First Amendment be damned.

[...] I observed no violence at all; yet, the police/FBI/national guard/and who-knows-who-else decided they needed to clear the streets. My friends and I narrowly escaped being tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, or worse. It was an overwhelming show of force — not to protect, but to intimidate.

[...] After the widespread kidnapping, torture, indefinite imprisonment, and our cowardly Congress’ empowerment of the president to imprison sine die anyone he might designate an “enemy combatant” — after all that...well, it seems to me that reading a person his/her rights takes on more, not less, importance.

Not to mention the massive repression then under way right outside the convention hall.

[...] The young protesters had some success in exposing infiltrators in their ranks. During confrontations, members of the Welcoming Committee, in particular, took copious photos of law enforcement officers and then memorized the faces. [my bold]

This tactic worked like a charm in one of the St. Paul parks, when a man who looked like a protester — dark clothes, backpack, a bit disheveled — walked by.

One of the protesters recognized the man’s face and searched through her camera until she found a photo of the man actually performing the raid on the Welcoming Committee’s headquarters on Friday night.

The young protesters asked the man, and two associates, to leave the park, at which point the three hustled into a nearby unmarked sedan.

The license plate, observed by a Pioneer Press reporter, traced back to the detective unit of the Hennepin County sheriff’s office, according to the county’s Central Mobile Equipment Division.

Protesters later picked two other men out of the day’s planned march — one because he was wearing brand-new tennis shoes. [Ah! The shoes always give cops away. Or jeans that look ironed.] The two left without indicating whether they were with the organs of public safety.[...]

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He is a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/090808a.html
Hey, kids, special treat! They took everything but the kitchen sink. Read it yourself and believe it or not.
Police document

Warrant for Minneapolis raid

What Happened at Wounded Knee?

With all the excitement about Barack Obama, it's time to hear from one of the elders we can rely on for a unique and well thought out point of view. Leonard Peltier discusses the necessity for a new inquiry into what happened in 1973 at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. I don’t think that’s too much to ask a president of the people, do you? Happy Birthday, Leonard, and may you be free soon!

An Open Letter to Barack Obama

Symbolism Alone Will Not Bring Change

By LEONARD PELTIER

I have watched with keen interest and renewed hope as your campaign has mobilized millions of Americans behind your message of changing a political system that serves a small economic elite at the expense of the peoples of the United States and the world. Your election as president of the United States, where slaves and Indians were long considered less than human under the law, will undoubtedly constitute a historic moment in race relations in the United States.

Yet symbolism alone will not bring about change. Our young people, black and Native alike, suffer from police brutality and racial profiling, underfunded schools, and discrimination in employment and housing. I sincerely hope your campaign will inspire some hope among our youth to struggle for a better future. I am, however, concerned that your recent statement on the Sean Bell verdict, in which the New York police officers who fired 50 shots at a young man on the eve of his wedding were acquitted of criminal charges, displays a rather myopic view of the law. Until the law is harnessed to protect the victims of state violence and racism, it will serve as an instrument of repression, just as the slave codes functioned to sustain and legitimize an inhuman institution.

As I can testify from experience, the legal institutions of this nation are far from racial and political neutrality. When judges align with the repressive actions and policies of the executive branch, injustice is rationalized and cloaked in judicial platitudes. As you may know, I have now served more than three decades of my life as a political prisoner of the federal government for a crime I did not commit. I have served more time than the maximum sentence under the guidelines under which I was sentenced, yet my parole is continually denied (on the rare occasions when I am afforded a hearing) because I refuse to falsely confess. Amnesty International, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, my Guatemalan sister Rigoberta Menchu, and many of your friends and supporters have recognized me as a political prisoner and called for my immediate release. Millions of people around the world view me as a symbol of injustice against the indigenous peoples of this land, and I have no doubt that I will go down in history as one of a long line of victims of U.S. government repression, along with Sacco and Vanzetti, the Haymarket Square martyrs, Eugene Debs, Bill Haywood, and others targeted by for their political beliefs. But neither I nor my people can afford to wait for history to rectify the crimes of the past.

As a member of the American Indian Movement, I came to the Pine Ridge Oglala reservation to defend the traditional people there from human rights violations carried out by tribal police and goon squads backed by the FBI and the highest offices of the federal government. Our symbolic occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973 inspired Indians across the Americas to struggle for their freedom and treaty rights, but it was also met by a fierce federal siege and a wave of violent repression on Pine Ridge. In 1974, AIM leader Russell Means campaigned for tribal chairman while being tried by the federal government for his role at Wounded Knee. Although Means was barred from the reservation by decree of the U.S.-client regime of Richard Wilson, he won the popular vote, only to be denied office by extensive vote fraud and control of the electoral mechanisms. Wilson’s goons proceeded to shoot up pro-Means villages such as Wanblee and terrorize traditional supporters throughout the reservation, killing at least 60 people between 1973 and 1975.

It is long past time for a congressional investigation to examine the degree of federal complicity in the violent counterinsurgency that followed the occupation of Wounded Knee. The tragic shootout that led to the deaths of two FBI agents and one Native man also led not only to my false conviction, but also the termination of the Church Committee, which was investigating abuses by federal intelligence and law enforcement agents, before it could hold hearings on FBI infiltration of AIM. Despite decades of attempts by my attorneys to obtain government documents related to my case, the FBI continues to withhold thousands of documents that might tend to exonerate me or reveal compromising evidence of judicial collusion with the prosecution.

I truly believe the truth will set me free, but it will also signify a symbolic break from America’s undeclared war on indigenous peoples. I hope and pray that you possess the courage and integrity to seek out the truth and the wisdom to recognize the inherent right of all peoples to self-determination, as acknowledged by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While your statements on federal Indian policy sound promising, your vision of “one America” has an ominous ring for Native peoples struggling to define their own national visions. If freed from colonial constraints and external intervention, indigenous nations might well serve as functioning models of the freedom and democracy to which the United States aspires.

Yours in the struggle.

Until freedom is won,

Leonard Peltier
# 89637-132
U.S.P. Lewisburg,
P.O. Box 1000,
Lewisburg, PA USA 17837

Special Note:

Please Help Support the LPDOC for Leonard's Freedom

As Leonard Peltier marks his 64th birthday on Sept. 12, the LPDOC is redoubling its efforts to win his freedom. We are planning an ambitious organizing drive in our new Fargo office to persuade North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, to investigate the federal government's role in the violent counterinsurgency on the Pine Ridge Reservation from 1973-1976, the FBI's withholding of thousands of pages of documents related to the AIM activist, and the unfair federal trial in Fargo which led to Leonard's conviction in 1977.

Leonard is suffering from partial blindness, diabetes, a heart condition, high blood pressure, and prostate problems. He needs your help.

We need your help too, if we are to do the work that needs to be done to obtain justice for one of the longest-serving political prisoners in the world. At the moment, we are barely keeping up with our rent and phone bills, our two full-time staff members are working without pay, and we badly need a new photocopier. Due to the damaging actions of a former LPDC employee, who removed valuable office equipment and contributor records, we are rebuilding our committee virtually from scratch. We have found an experienced volunteer editor for our Spirit of Crazy Horse newspaper, but in order to resume publication, we will need your support.

If you are able to contribute $20 or more for this campaign, you will receive a free subscription to the newsletter to keep abreast on developments in Peltier's campaign and in Indian Country generally. Please contribute as generously as you are able, and also take the time to write and/or call Sen. Dorgan With your help, we can win Leonard's freedom from the same city in which it was taken away. Even if you are unable to contribute at this time, please send us your name and address to help us rebuild our list of supporters at the state and national level.

Please send your donation to:

LPDOC
PO Box 7488
Fargo, ND 58106
701-235-2206

Thank You,
Betty Ann Peltier-Solano,
Executive Director
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee

http://www.counterpunch.org/peltier08282008.html
http://indigenist.blogspot.com/

Let's All Sing "The Wheels on the Bus!"

Who is accountable to whom? Doesn't Homeland Security get briefed on FBI matters, and vice versa? Wasn't that the one "resolution" that came out of the 9/11 report, that agencies shouldn't keep each other out of the loop, if that happened here? Are we back on the 9/11 merry-go-around of everyone else being responsible except for whoever happens to be before the committee on some particular day? I mean, WHAT THE F*CK!
From the Frederick News Post: Bruce Ivins performed a juggling demonstration at Baker Park during Frederick's St. Patrick's Day celebration in 1984. Ivins, 62, died Tuesday of an apparent overdose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine. He wrote at least eight letters to the editor between March 5, 1998 and August 24, 2006.
Daschle criticizes FBI's handling of anthrax probe
1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, whose office was a target of the anthrax attacks in 2001, said Sunday the suicide of the government's main suspect does not mean the case is over.
Daschle said the FBI has not given him any new updates. He also raised questions about the quality of the investigation, noting that the government recently paid out almost $6 million to a former Army scientist, Steven Hatfill, who accused authorities of unfairly targeting him in the anthrax case.
"From the very beginning I've had real concerns about the quality of the investigation," Daschle said in a broadcast interview. "Given the fact that they already paid somebody else $5 million for the mistakes they must have made gives you some indication of the overall caliber and quality of the investigation."
Five people died and 17 others were sickened when anthrax-laced letters began showing up at congressional offices, newsrooms and post offices soon after Sept. 11, 2001.
"I think the American people deserve more of an accounting on this investigation and some appreciation of how to bring this to closure," Daschle said. "I don't know anything about the most recent development, and that's unfortunate. I think all of us, not only those of us directly affected, but all of us need to know more than we do today."
[...] Tom Ridge, Bush's Homeland Security secretary at the time of the anthrax attacks, said he did not know what evidence the FBI had uncovered against Ivins. [my bold]
"But I know that they were relentless, relentless, both domestically and overseas, both with the notion that it could have been a part of a broader terrorist network, but it could also have been the act of a deranged individual or two," Ridge said.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jK3ePTDtVA2aNAzOUN_AzsD8ScdgD92ATLVO2

Murderous Psychopath or Sacrificial Lamb?

Isn't it wrong that someone in such an extremely sensitive position would have a social worker and "a long history of homicidal threats"? If you or I make political or "suggestive remarks" to the wrong person, we get fired, but someone who handles chemical warfare materials is given a pass for not reporting anthrax contaminations for FIVE MONTHS in his lab!!! Me thinks something stinks in DC and Maryland, my friends. So read for yourselves, first the LA Times, with video report in the link, then the Huffington Post and a view from friends & neighbors, courtesy of the AP:
Apparent suicide in anthrax case
By David Willman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 1, 2008
A top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him for the attacks, the Los Angeles Times has learned.
Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who for the last 18 years worked at the government's elite biodefense research laboratories at Ft. Detrick, Md., had been informed of his impending prosecution, said people familiar with Ivins, his suspicious death and the FBI investigation.
Ivins, whose name had not been disclosed publicly as a suspect in the case, played a central role in research to improve anthrax vaccines by preparing anthrax formulations used in experiments on animals.
Regarded as a skilled microbiologist, Ivins also helped the FBI analyze the powdery material recovered from one of the anthrax-tainted envelopes sent to a U.S. senator's office in Washington.
Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital after ingesting a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine, said a friend and colleague, who declined to be identified out of concern that he would be harassed by the FBI.
[...] The extraordinary turn of events followed the government's payment in June of a settlement valued at $5.82 million to a former government scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, who was long targeted as the FBI's chief suspect despite a lack of any evidence that he had ever possessed anthrax.
The payout to Hatfill, a highly unusual development that all but exonerated him in the mailings, was an essential step to clear the way for prosecuting Ivins, according to lawyers familiar with the matter.
Federal investigators moved away from Hatfill -- for years the only publicly identified "person of interest" -- and ultimately concluded that Ivins was the culprit after FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III changed leadership of the investigation in late 2006.
[...] By spring of this year, FBI agents were still contacting Ivins' present and former colleagues. At USAMRIID and elsewhere, scientists acquainted with Ivins were asked to sign confidentiality agreements in order to prevent leaks of new investigative details.
Ivins, employed as a civilian at Ft. Detrick, earlier had attracted the attention of Army officials because of anthrax contaminations that Ivins failed to report for five months. In sworn oral and written statements to an Army investigator, Ivins said that he had erred by keeping the episodes secret -- from December 2001 to late April 2002. [my bold] He said he had swabbed and bleached more than 20 areas that he suspected were contaminated by a sloppy lab technician.
"In retrospect, although my concern for biosafety was honest and my desire to refrain from crying 'Wolf!' . . . was sincere, I should have notified my supervisor ahead of time of my worries about a possible breach in biocontainment," Ivins told the Army. "I thought that quietly and diligently cleaning the dirty desk area would both eliminate any possible [anthrax] contamination as well as prevent unintended anxiety at the institute."
The Army chose not to discipline Ivins regarding his failure to report the contamination. [my bold] Officials said that penalizing Ivins might discourage other employees from voluntarily reporting accidental spills of "hot" agents.
[...] "That's bull----," said one former senior USAMRIID official. "If there's contamination, you always reswab. And you would remember doing it."
The former official told The Times that Ivins might have hedged regarding reswabbing out of fear that investigators would find more of the spores inside or near his office.
Ivins' statements were contained within a May 2002 Army report on the contamination at USAMRIID and was obtained by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
Soon after the government's settlement with Hatfill was announced June 27, Ivins began showing signs of serious strain.
One of his longtime colleagues told The Times that Ivins, who was being treated for depression, indicated to a therapist that he was considering suicide.
[...] Ivins was committed to a facility in Frederick for treatment of his depression. On July 24, he was released from the facility, operated by Sheppard Pratt Health System. A telephone call that same day by The Times verified that Ivins' government voice mail was still functioning at the bacteriology division of USAMRIID.
The scientist faced forced retirement, planned for September, said his longtime colleague, who described Ivins as emotionally fractured by the federal scrutiny.
"He didn't have any more money to spend on legal fees. He was much more emotionally labile, in terms of sensitivity to things, than most scientists. . . . He was very thin-skinned."
[...] The eldest of his two brothers, Thomas Ivins, said he was not surprised by the events that have unfolded.
"He buckled under the pressure from the federal government," Thomas Ivins said, adding that FBI agents came to Ohio last year to question him about his brother.
"I was questioned by the feds, and I sung like a canary" about Bruce Ivins' personality and tendencies, Thomas Ivins said.
"He had in his mind that he was omnipotent."
Ivins' widow declined to be interviewed when reached Thursday at her home in Frederick. The couple raised twins, now 24.
The family's home is 198 miles -- about a 3 1/2 -hour drive -- from a mailbox in Princeton, N.J., where anthrax spores were found by investigators.
All of the recovered anthrax letters were postmarked in that vicinity.
david.willman@latimes.com
Willman reported from Los Angeles and Washington. Times researcher Janet Lundblad contributed to this report.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-anthrax1-2008aug01,0,3772533.story
Here's the Huffington Post coverage of the story:
Anthrax Scientist Suspected By FBI Kills Himself: Report
MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES JORDAN | August 1, 2008
WASHINGTON — Anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and severely rattled the post-9/11 nation may have been part of an Army scientist's warped plan to test his cure for the deadly toxin, officials said Friday. The brilliant but troubled scientist committed suicide this week, knowing prosecutors were closing in.
The sudden naming of scientist Bruce E. Ivins as the top _ and perhaps only _ suspect in the anthrax attacks marks the latest bizarre twist in a case that has confounded the FBI for nearly seven years. Last month, the Justice Department cleared Ivins' colleague, Steven Hatfill, who had been wrongly suspected in the case, and paid him $5.8 million.
Ivins worked at the Army's biological warfare defense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., for 35 years until his death on Tuesday. He was one of the government's leading scientists researching vaccines and cures for anthrax exposure. But he also had a long history of homicidal threats, according to papers filed last week in local court by a social worker.
[...] The Justice Department said Friday only that "substantial progress has been made in the investigation." The statement did not identify Ivins.
However, several U.S. officials said prosecutors were focusing on the 62-year-old Ivins and planned to seek a murder indictment and the death penalty. Authorities were investigating whether Ivins, who had complained about the limits of testing anthrax drugs on animals, had released the toxin to test the treatment on humans.
The officials all discussed the continuing investigation on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/01/anthrax-scientists-suspec_n_116251.html
This just in from the AP:
Ivins had mild persona, but some saw dark side
By DAVID DISHNEAU – 12 hours ago
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Bruce E. Ivins was a juggler, a gardener, a church musician, a Red Cross volunteer — and a suspected multiple murderer, according to federal authorities.
Some people who knew him scoffed at the government's assertion that Ivins sent the anthrax letters that killed five people and sickened 17 in the fall of 2001. But court documents indicate the outwardly mild-mannered Ivins had a menacing side.
Documents show that Ivins recently received psychiatric treatment, and that he was ordered last week to stay away from Jean C. Duley, a social worker who counseled him. In her handwritten application for a protective order, Duley wrote that Ivins had stalked and threatened to kill her and had a long history of homicidal threats.
[...] Some who knew Ivins said the scrutiny of the investigation was too much for him to bear. But they also asserted his innocence.
"The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways," his attorney, Paul F. Kemp, said in a statement. "In Dr. Ivins' case, it led to his untimely death."
[...] Dr. W. Russell Byrne, a colleague who worked in the bacteriology division of the Fort Detrick research facility, said Ivins was "hounded" by FBI agents who raided his home twice, and he was hospitalized for depression earlier this month.
[...] "I think he was just psychologically exhausted by the whole process," Byrne said.
Still, Byrne did not think the probe would result in charges being filed. "If he was about to be charged, no one who knew him well was aware of that, and I don't believe it," Byrne said.
Neighbor Bonnie Duggan, who brought her daughter, Natalie, to Ivins' home near Fort Detrick on occasion to see the family's elaborate gardens, was also incredulous at the charges.
"It's not the Bruce that I knew," Duggan said. "It doesn't jibe with anything about the Bruce that was my neighbor."
[...] Ivins could frequently be seen walking around his neighborhood for exercise. He volunteered with the American Red Cross of Frederick County, and he played keyboard and helped clean up after Masses at St. John's the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, where a dozen parishioners gathered Friday after morning Mass to pray for him.
The Rev. Richard Murphy called Ivins "a quiet man ... always very helpful and pleasant."
An avid juggler, Ivins gave juggling demonstrations around Frederick in the 1980s.
"One time, he demonstrated his juggling skills by lying on his back in the department and juggling with his hands," said Byrne, who described Ivins as "eccentric."
Whenever a colleague would leave the bacteriology division, Ivins would write a song or poem for that person and perform it, accompanying himself on keyboard, Byrne said.
Ivins had several letters to the editor published in The Frederick News-Post over the last decade. He denounced taxpayer funding for assisted suicide, pointed readers to a study that suggested a genetic component for homosexuality and said he had stopped listening to local radio station WFMD because he was offended by the language and racially charged commentary of its hosts.
He also commented on the growing political influence of conservative Christians, [my bold] and he was willing to criticize his church.
"The Roman Catholic Church should learn from other equally worthy Christian denominations and eagerly welcome female clergy as well as married clergy," Ivins wrote.
Byrne said Ivins appeared to be at peace and that he expressed no interest in the anthrax mailings, even after some letters were sent to Fort Detrick for analysis.
"There are people who you just know are ticking bombs," Byrne said. "He was not one of them."
Associated Press writers Chrissie Thompson in Frederick, Md., Ben Nuckols in Baltimore and the AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hoIfsuWqM7DNKzhcHdaSNvdfQ9ggD92A18RG0

NYPD RACIST Cops Ignore 1977 Law, Disenfranchise Citizens, Illegally Collect DNA and Defile Mayor La Guardia's Legacy

If I understand Mr. Hentoff correctly, NYC citizens are being entrapped because of their generous natures! What kind of a world do we live in when cops, who say they are public servants and want to make life better for us all, instead just pretend to be friends in order to advance their status in the corrupt system? I hope you enjoy this Village Voice report from the forever righteous Nat Hentoff, followed by a bit of levity.

The NYPD's Secret Crusade Against Marijuana

Furthers a Racist Agenda

The Village Voice

by Nat Hentoff, May 6th, 2008 12:00 AM
[...] I have never seen such systematic dishonesty and contempt for the law as those documented in the 102-page report, "Marijuana Arrest Crusade: Racial Bias and Police Policy in New York City 1997-2007," by Professor Harry Levine of Queens College and Deborah Peterson Small, executive director of Break the Chains.

In 2007 alone, there were 39,700 misdemeanor arrests for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. But such possession hasn't been a crime in New York State since the Marijuana Reform Act of 1977. Under that law, which is still in effect, an offender can usually expect to get only a ticket, punishable by a fine of not more than $100.
But most of the 353,000 New Yorkers arrested for having these small amounts from 1997 to 2006 got much more than a ticket: They were handcuffed, photographed, and fingerprinted, held overnight, arraigned in criminal court, plagued with permanent criminal records, and charged with the crime of having marijuana "burning or open to public view."
Since most of these people arrested had the pot hidden in a pocket, backpack, or purse, how did these stop-and-frisks turn into an arrest for "burning" marijuana" or having it "open to public view"?
As "Marijuana Arrest Crusade" demonstrates, this is done "by tricking and intimidating" suspects to take out the concealed marijuana, so that police officers can then claim they saw it "open to public view." In fact, a longtime Legal Aid supervisor quoted in the study says that this process happens "all the time." And such routine deception by the police to set someone up for arrest on a criminal-misdemeanor charge is perfectly legal.
[...] There is much more detailed information in the report on the impact of these arrests, which—as described in last week's column— greatly and disproportionately affect black and Latino youths. [my bold, throughout] Part 7, "Head Start for Unemployment and Prison," notes that these arrests "can limit the opportunity for young people to obtain employment and access to some schools, and for student aid."
The report also notes something that I've pointed out in this space before: "Mayor Bloomberg and other prominent politicians [and the FBI] have urged collecting DNA from everyone arrested for anything whatsoever, including, therefore, marijuana possession."
–The findings come—as the tables and graphs demonstrate—from arrest data compiled by New York State and the FBI, along with "interviews with police, public defenders, legal aid attorneys, private attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and people arrested for possessing marijuana."
[...] The report points out that the "39,700 misdemeanor marijuana possession arrests" in 2007 were "the fourth largest number of arrests in New York history." And yet, "because the New York Police Department has released almost no information about these arrests, they have attracted little media attention. To this day, few New Yorkers know that for over a decade their city has been on a historically unprecedented marijuana arrest crusade."
[...] In the March 24 edition of The New York Sun—in the article "Turf War Between NYPD and FBI Centers on Terrorism," by Dafna Linzer—Commissioner Kelly, ironically enough, is quoted as follows: "People have information, and they want to control information. Controlling information is power, and they don't want to let it go—it is as fundamental as that."

Also fundamental is Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis's requirement for combating official lawlessness in a free society: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Will the sunlight of public exposure finally begin to disinfect the NYPD, which under this rancid policy—promulgated by several New York mayors and police commissioners—has been contemptuously violating the letter and the intent of the Marijuana Reform Act for 10 straight years? [...]

HARRY J. ANSLINGER
"The Father of the Drug War"
Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics 1930-1962

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0819,blunt-justice,433852,4.html
It's Friday night. Here's a little fun, courtesy of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who offers common sense and a defense for rational lawmaking and the Mickey Mouse of law enforcement, Harry Anslinger, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Anslinger via voice over by [I think?] Woody Harrelson, and Cannamation Films.

Michael Scheuer Shares His Hubris

Although the headline might lead you to believe Mr. Scheuer has become a humanist, the rest of the article shows he is no apologist but simply trying to distance himself from the most outrageous activities that occurred under his watch. I used to think this author of Imperial Hubris was motivated by a clear-eyed understanding of what lines our nation should not cross. Perhaps we have different ideas (and ideals) regarding how deeply the foundation for a moral and ethical civilization must be to create a government of the people, by the people and for the people. But think for yourself, and read on:
'Extraordinary-rendition' procedure unreliable, says CIA vet who created it
COLIN FREEZE
From Monday's Globe and Mail
April 14, 2008 at 4:27 AM EDT
DURHAM, N.C. — The creator of the CIA's "extraordinary-rendition" program says he has always distrusted interrogation intelligence flowing from the controversial practice, given that the admissions it produced were usually "very tainted" by foreign agencies who jailed suspects at the behest of the United States.
Michael Scheuer, an outspoken anti-terrorism crusader, took part in a Duke University law-school panel on Friday. There, experts debated the future of the highly controversial snatch, jail and interrogate program that he created, and whether it should survive beyond the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, which has often justified rendition as an intelligence gold mine.
In Canada, rendition has become synonymous with the process that resulted in Ottawa's Maher Arar spending a year in a Syrian jail, where he was beaten with electric cables during the first phases of his captivity. Canadian officials have apologized to the telecommunications engineer and compensated him with $10-million (U.S.), upholding that he was wrongly smeared in intelligence exchanges emanating from Canada, prior to the U.S. decision to render him.
[...] In addition to Mr. Arar's case in Canada, high-profile renditions controversies have arisen in Germany and Italy. Mr. Scheuer made a point of saying he would personally put the German suspect back on a rendition plane, but did not say the same that about the other two cases. The program he conceived was restricted to targeting only the highest level terrorism suspects, he said.
Questioned about the Arar affair, Mr. Scheuer asserted that that rendition was not technically a CIA job, but rather an FBI initiative, by agents working in cahoots with unspecified agencies north of the border.
That prompted a response from Canadian lawyer Ron Atkey, who was in attendance to give a speech about the years he spent inside the Arar Commission battling government secrecy to reveal what Canada knew about the CIA rendition program.
Mr. Atkey pointed out Canadian agencies were found to have had no foreknowledge of the U.S. decision to put Mr. Arar on a Gulfstream jet and fly him to the Middle East, after his 2002 arrest in a New York airport.
"The biggest piece of baloney," Mr. Scheuer said. "They [the Canadians] were totally surprised like Captain Renault in Casablanca," he quipped. [my bold]
The allusion referred to a scene in the 1942 film, where a duplicitous French gendarme shuts down an illegal casino operation in Morocco - saying "I'm shocked, shocked to find out that gambling is going on in here!" even as he is handed a big win from the roulette wheel.
Mr. Scheuer went on to describe certain U.S. newspaper reporters as "scurrilous" traitors for revealing details of the rendition program.[...]
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080414.wrendition14/BNStory/International/home

Wikipedia on Mr. Scheuer: [...] is a former CIA employee. In his 22-year career, he served as the Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station (aka "Alec Station"), from 1996 to 1999, the Osama bin Laden tracking unit at the Counterterrorist Center. He then worked again as Special Advisor to the Chief of the bin Laden unit from September 2001 to November 2004.
Scheuer resigned in 2004. He is currently a news analyst for CBS News and a terrorism analyst for the Jamestown Foundation's online publication Global Terrorism Analysis.^[1] He also makes radio and television appearances and teaches a graduate-level course on Al-Qaeda at Georgetown University. He also participates in conferences on terrorism and national security issues, such as the New America Foundation's December 2004 conference, "Al Qaeda 2.0: Transnational Terrorism After 9/11."

COINTELPRO, The Millenium Edition

Alert to all forward thinking citizens who "think outside the box," (which is growing tighter every day). You might be visited (perhaps without your knowledge) by bullies pretending to be patriots. I'm forwarding advice provided by NYMAA (New York Metro Anarchist Alliance) in response to the March 6 Times Square bombing:
Responses to FBI targeting of Nonviolent Activists
Many of you know that over the last week, the FBI has been calling and visiting members of the War Resisters League, Students for a Democratic Society and Movement for a Democratic Society in and around New York City.
So far, we know of at least 10 people who have had visits and/or phone calls. These visits are ostensibly to gather information about the March 6th incident in Times Square.
The conservative group Move America Forward has tried to implicate the WRL, which may or may not have contributed to these inquiries. (see http://www.moveamericaforward.org/index.php/DailyFile/behind_the_scenes_anti_war_activists_exposed/ [or < http://tinyurl.com/3bm5as/s//3bm5as/>] -- about half way down the page).
Some members of these clearly nonviolent groups have consulted with lawyers and wanted to keep everyone informed. It is important that folks know their rights in relation to these inquiries. We activists are providing this information to help demystify FBI investigative techniques and make all concerned aware of the rights of those who are approached by agents.
Take a minute to read the Center for Constitutional Rights publication, "If an Agent Knocks: Federal Investigators and Your Rights," which you can find here:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/agent.knocks.htmlappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/agent.knocks.html
[or < http://tinyurl.com/2j7rg8/>]
According to the publication: "It is important, if agents try to question you, not to answer or make any statements, at least not until after you have consulted a lawyer. Announce your desire to consult a lawyer, and make every reasonable effort to contact one as quickly as possible."
In short, if you are contacted:
- Aside from providing your name and address, you do not have to speak to law enforcement agents, nor do you have to let them in your home or workplace without a warrant
- Experience shows that the more information you give, the more questions, visits, etc will come
- On being contacted by any law enforcement agent seeking an "interview" the safest thing to say is, "Excuse me, but I'd like to talk to my lawyer before I say anything to you" or, "I have nothing to say to you. I will talk to my lawyer and have her [or him] contact you."
- Ask for business cards and/or note the agents' names, badge numbers, and agency affiliation (FBI, NYPD, etc.)
In addition:
If you receive voicemail asking you to call the FBI, forward the information to your attorney. Do not return the call prior to discussing it with your lawyer.
Avoid talking to the press about an ongoing investigation - talking to the press is another means of opening a channel of communication with law enforcement. The press, the Internet and email are all inherently insecure.
Attorneys associated with the Mass Defense Commiittee of the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild volunteered to provide consultations to people who receive calls or visits. Please contact Susan Howard, NYC Chapter Coordinator at 212-679-6018 - nlgnyc at igc.org .

Dealing With The Fear Factor

Anarchists cry foul on bombing probe
by patrick arden / metro new york, MAR 14, 2008
MANHATTAN. Soon after a bicyclist threw a homemade bomb at the Times Square military recruiting station last week, press reports claimed the suspect had ties to anarchist groups.
Now local activists are complaining about a pattern of police harassment.
[...] “People have been visited at their homes, and some think that their places have been broken into,” he said. “They’re scaring everybody.”
[...] Lawyer Ron Kuby said he’s heard from activists who’ve been questioned by the NYPD, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and, perhaps, the FBI’s Joint Terrorist Task Force.
“These people, I think, are not suspects,” Kuby said. “The police are contacting anybody and everybody who was loosely affiliated with New York’s garden community, squatter community and anarchist community from about 1985 to date. They’re just trying to track everybody down to see if anybody has any information.”
Eric Laursen, a member of the New York Metro Alliance of Anarchists, believes law enforcement officials are overreacting.
“They’re targeting suspects based on the stereotype of violent bomb-throwing anarchists,” he said. “The only thing that was damaged was the door.”…
http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/#email
Here is my comment to NY Metro, which may or may not be published:

There is a long history of using the word “anarchist” to throw panic into a potentially inflammable situation, which is rather ironic since the objects of the story are accused of “bomb-throwing.” As with any political, religious or even social organization, differing points of view are the norm and this is true for so-called radical politics. But a headline like “anarchists cry foul,” leads us to feel justified in demonizing a monolithic organization, and be comforted in thinking “they” are freaking out over supposedly justifiable activities by the police force. But the feelings evoked by choosing such words may not reflect the situation accurately. We do not know what happened early that morning, but we do know some things about the NYC Police Department, thanks to recently released documents. The “Red Squad,” in particular has used a variety of illegal tactics, including infiltrating organizations, (even as benign as the Quakers) advocating and provoking chaos, turmoil and generally pushing less stable group members into doing things they wouldn’t have done on their own. If anything, the tactics and behavior of agents provocateurs represent more accurately what people think “anarchists” are about. I’d suggest news organizations use a more cautious approach in labeling citizens who take exception to the status quo. Things change, and one day you may find yourself supporting a position you once feared or found abhorrent.

An Update on InfraGard...The Corporate Deputies Prepare for Bioterrorism

So while we on the left piddle our time away arguing about who is more power crazy, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, the Corporatists are continuing to consolidate their power and influence in our communities as well as at work.
From InfraGard’s own site, read and educate yourself about what the FBI is providing to the business community to train them to be deputies "in case of emergency." What kind of emergency? What ever the powers that be want, be it a race war, punks gone wild laughing in the streets, feminist lesbos kissing in public, crazed environmentalists or anarchists damaging PROPERTY!!!! It doesn't need to be defined now, just be forewarned: it's coming. InfraGard is an FBI program dedicated to promoting ongoing dialogue and timely communication between the private sector and the FBI concerning critical infrastructure protection issues. The FBI and InfraGard members are engaged in this cooperative undertaking in recognition that a public/private strategic partnership is of vital importance to our nation’s security.
All InfraGard participants are committed to the proposition that a robust exchange of information about threats to and actual attacks on these critical infrastructures is an important element for successful infrastructure protection efforts. Each member must subscribe to the National InfraGard Code of Ethics as well as to the National InfraGard By-Laws in addition to those adopted by the Member Alliance. [my bold]
The goal of InfraGard is to enable the flow of information so that the owners and operators of infrastructure assets can better protect themselves and so that the United States government can better discharge its law enforcement and national security responsibilities.
The Metro NYC InfraGard Member Alliance is incorporated under the laws of the State of New York as a not for profit corporation. Sponsorship opportunities are available, and will qualify as tax deductible under United States Internal Revenue code section 501 (c) (3)*.
Here's a brief alert to the members:
BIO5 Researcher Identifies Cities at Risk for Bioterrorism
Boise, ID, is considered high risk, while Tucson ranks low.
By University Communications March 3, 2008
A University of Arizona researcher has created a new system to dramatically show American cities their relative level of vulnerability to bioterrorism.
Walter W. Piegorsch, an expert on environmental risk, has placed 132 major cities – from Albany, N.Y., to Youngstown, Ohio – on a color-coded map that identifies their level of risk based on factors including critical industries, ports, railroads, population, natural environment and other factors.
Piegorsch is the director of a new UA graduate program in interdisciplinary statistics and a professor of mathematics in the College of Science, as well as a member of the UA’s BIO5 Institute.
The map marks high-risk areas as red (for example, Houston and, surprisingly, Boise, ID), midrange risk as yellow (San Francisco) and lower risk as green (Tucson). The map shows a wide swath of highest-risk urban areas running from New York down through the Southeast and into Texas. Boise is the only high-risk urban area that lies outside the swath.
The model employs what risk experts call a benchmark vulnerability metric, which shows risk managers each city’s level of risk for urban terrorism.
Piegorsch says terrorism vulnerability involves three dimensions of risk – social aspects, natural hazards and construction of the city and its infrastructure.
He concludes that the allocation of funds for preparedness and response to terrorism should take into account these factors of vulnerability.
Read Full Article

http://nym-infragard.us/nuke/