To date, the story has been retold on numerous web sites, in a book, and in a play. He has also been discussed occasionally on the radio show Coast to Coast AM. In this respect, the Titor story may be unique in terms of broad appeal from an originally limited medium, an Internet discussion board.

The first post appeared on the Time Travel Institute forums on November 2, 2000, under the name TimeTravel_0. At the time the posts had nothing to do with future events and the name “John Titor” was not being used. Instead, the posts discussed time travel in general, the first one being the “six parts” description of what a time machine would need to have to work (see below) and responses to questions about how such a machine would work. Early messages tended to be short.

Soon after, TimeTravel_0 claimed to be a time traveler from the future and began posting varying descriptions of his time. Gradually he began answering questions posted in the forum and started to reveal a more complex picture of the future. Although most of his posts concerned the condition of the world in the future, Titor also responded to questions both in the forums and in IRC, and sometimes posted images purporting to be of the time travel device or its manual. He also sometimes talked about more current events; for instance, in an early post he stated that “The breakthrough that will allow for [time travel] technology will occur within a year or so [2001] when CERN brings their larger facility online”.

The name “John Titor” was not introduced until January 2001, when TimeTravel_0 began posting at the Art Bell BBS Forums (which required a name or pseudonym for every account). The Titor posts ended in late March 2001. Eventually, a number of the threads became corrupted; but Titor’s posts had been saved on subscribers’ hard drives and were copied to Anomalies.net, along with new discussions of the science behind Titor’s time travelling as well as his predictions. Around 2003, various websites reproduced Titor’s posts, re-arranging them into narratives. Not all refer to the original dates posted.

On numerous occasions Titor posted comments that appeared to be tongue-in-cheek: when asked why his images were of such low quality, he replied that he was “not a photographer”, and when asked if “Titor” was his real name, he replied that it was “a real name”.

In his online postings, Titor claimed to be an American soldier from the year 2036, based in Tampa in Hillsborough County, Florida, who was assigned to a governmental time-travel project. Purportedly, Titor had been sent back to 1975 to retrieve an IBM 5100 computer which he said was needed to “debug” various legacy computer programs in 2036; a reference to the UNIX 2038 timeout error. The 5100 runs the APL, and BASIC programming languages. Titor had been selected for this mission specifically, given that his paternal grandfather was directly involved with the assembly and programming of the 5100.

Titor claimed to be on a stopover in the year 2000 for “personal reasons”; i.e., to collect pictures lost in the (future) civil war and to visit his family, of whom he spoke often. Titor also said he had been, for a few months, trying to alert anyone that would listen about the threat of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease spread through beef products and about the possibility of civil war within the United States. When questioned about them by an online subscriber, Titor also expressed an interest in unexplained mysteries such as UFOs (which in his time were still as yet unexplained). Titor suggested that UFOs and alien visitors may well be time travelers from much further into the future than his own time, who possessed superior time machines to his own.

Titor described the time machine on several occasions. In an early post, he described it as a “stationary mass, temporal displacement unit powered by two top-spin, dual positive singularities”, producing a “standard off-set Tipler sinusoid”. The earliest post was more explicit, saying it contained:

• Two magnetic housing units for the dual micro singularities
• An electron injection manifold to alter mass and gravity micro singularities
• A cooling and X-ray venting system
• Gravity sensors, or a variable gravity lock
• Four main caesium clocks
• Three main computer units

According to the posts, the device was installed in the rear of a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette convertible and later moved to a 1987 truck having four-wheel drive.

Titor further claimed that the “Everett-Wheeler model of quantum physics” was correct. This model, better known as the many-worlds interpretation, posits that every possible outcome of a quantum decision actually occurs in a separate “universe”. Titor stated that this was the reason the grandfather paradox would not occur; following the logic of the argument, Titor would be killing a different John Titor’s grandfather in a timeline other than his own.

“…The grandfather paradox is impossible. In fact, all paradox is impossible. The Everett-Wheeler-Graham or multiple world theory is correct. All possible quantum states, events, possibilities, and outcomes are real, eventual, and occurring. The chances of everything happening someplace at sometime in the superverse is 100%.”

The most immediate of Titor’s predictions was of an upcoming civil war in the United States having to do with “order and rights”. He described it as beginning in 2004, with civil unrest surrounding the United States presidential election, 2004. This civil conflict that he characterizes as “having a Waco type event every month that steadily gets worse” will be “pretty much at everyone’s doorstep” and erupts by 2008.

Titor claimed that as a 13-year old, in 2011, he fought with the “Fighting Diamondbacks”, a shotgun infantry unit of Florida, for at least four years. However, in other posts he describes himself as hiding from the war. As a result of the war, the United States splits into five regions based on various factors and differing military objectives. This civil war, according to Titor, will then end in 2015 with a brief, but intense, World War III:

“In 2015, Russia launches a nuclear strike against the major cities in the United States (which is the “other side” of the civil war from my perspective), China, and Europe. The United States counter attacks. The US cities are destroyed along with the AFE (American Federal Empire)…thus we (in the country) won. The European Union and China were also destroyed.

Titor refers to the exchange as “N Day”. Washington, D.C. and Jacksonville, Florida are specifically mentioned as being hit. After the war, Omaha, Nebraska is the nation’s new capital city.

Titor is vague as to the exact motivations and causes for World War III. At one point he characterized hostilities as being led by “border clashes and overpopulation” but also points to the present conflict between Arabs and Jews as a harbinger of World War III:

“Real disruptions in world events begin with the destabilization of the West as a result of degrading US foreign policy and consistency. … The Jewish population in Israel is not prepared for a true offensive war. They are prepared for the ultimate defense. Wavering western support for Israel is what gives Israel’s neighbors the confidence to attack. The last resort for a defensive Israel and its offensive Arab neighbors is to use weapons of mass destruction. In the grand scheme of things, the war in the Middle East is a part of what’s to come, not the cause.”

The posts were met with skepticism when they were being posted, but it was impossible to prove beforehand that they would not happen. Because Titor claimed the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics was correct, effectively meaning that his travel was from a parallel universe and that things could occur differently than he had predicted, his claims were unfalsifiable. Most of them have failed.

One of Titor’s earliest claims was that CERN would discover the basis for time travel sometime around 2001. This event did not occur. An article about miniature black holes being created by CERN (a recurring theme, also ascribed to Fermilab and Brookhaven at various times) was taken by some to be evidence of this claim; but these events did not occur either. Civil war did not break out after the 2004 presidential election, despite the political unrest involved with it.

A particularly obvious example involves the Olympics, whereof Titor claimed: “As a result of the many conflicts, no, there were no official Olympics after 2004.” The uneventful staging of the 2006 Winter Olympics refutes this claim; however, there were arguments as to whether or not Titor was referring exclusively to the Summer Olympics. A successful realization of the 2008 Summer Olympics has once again determined the inaccuracy of this claim.

In the context of the demonstration image provided by John Titor, the laser pointer’s beam being “bent” reveals the obvious inconsistency of objects near the beam not appearing to be bent as well. The framing of the window visible in the background, for instance, should appear distorted in proximity to a large gravity gradient, but it does not. Some have speculated the “beam” is an optical fiber.

Titor claimed that he was sent back to obtain an IBM 5100 because it could translate several types of computer code. According to IBM engineer Bob Dubke, Titor’s statements regarding the IBM 5100′s little-known ability to emulate and debug mainframe systems were correct . Supporters state that this information was not publicly available in 2000 or 2001 when Titor made his declaration, and Titor himself stated that this feature was “discovered” as late as 2036.

However, this emulation capability was widely known in the industry and commented on in depth in numerous publications dealing with both the 5100 and programmable microcode in general. References to this fact were also available on the Internet as early as 1999 and therefore predated Titor’s postings. This is a fairly obscure bit of trivia, however, which suggests that whoever was making the posts either was familiar with the machine specifically or else had at least a general interest in retrocomputing.

“Apparently, APL was a difficult task for IBM to accomplish with an interpreter in the 5100, so instead they wrote an emulation program so that the S/360 mainframe version of APL could be run instead — The 5100 is like a desktop IBM S/360 mainframe computer which only runs APL.”

Numerous commentators have pointed out the broad similarities between the Titor story and Pat Frank’s classic post-apocalyptic science fiction novel Alas, Babylon. Alas, Babylon takes place in a small town in Florida just before and after a nuclear war and describes the struggle to survive as a family in the aftermath. In the book, the protagonist lives in the mythical town of “Fort Repose”, while Titor claimed to live in the “Fort”, formerly the University of Florida (UF). An examination of the claims also suggests several inconsistencies within the story. For instance, in some posts Titor claims that money is widely used and people still have credit cards, despite his statement that centralized banking no longer exists (though that of course would not exclude the possibilitiy of private currencies being used). In another posting he speculated that today’s dollar would be usable in his time, but that this would be after the reorganization of the federal government according to his own history, potentially making the currency worthless. In most cases, he claims to have been given his basic education at UF, but in another post claims to be home-schooled.

An Italian TV program (Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza) aired an investigation of the John Titor story on May 19, 2008. Mike Lynch, the private detective hired to investigate, found that there were no registry traces, even far in the past, of any John Titor or Titor family. In addition, the John Titor Foundation had no office and its address is a rented post box; no tapes, recordings, or evidence of Titor were found; and only Larry Haber (an advocate and owner of the commercial rights about all concerns involving John Titor) confirmed his existence. Lynch’s conclusion is that John Titor may be John Rick Haber, a computer expert who is or was Larry Haber’s brother.

The 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry, which was first into Baghdad, Iraq, in 2003, started its controversial assignment Wednesday.

The First Raiders will spend 2009 as the first active-duty military unit attached to the U.S. Northern Command since it was created. They will be based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, and focus primarily on logistics and support for local police and rescue personnel, the Army says.

The plan is drawing skepticism from some observers who are concerned that the unit has been training with equipment generally used in law enforcement, including beanbag bullets, Tasers, spike strips and roadblocks.

That kind of training seems a bit out of line for the unit’s designated role as Northern Command’s CCMRF (Sea Smurf), or CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force. CBRNE stands for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive incidents.

According to Northern Command‘s Web site, the CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force is a team that will ultimately number about 4,700 personnel from the different military branches that would deploy as the Department of Defense’s initial response force.

Its capabilities include search and rescue, decontamination, medical, aviation, communications and logistical support. Each CCMRF will be composed of three functional task forces — Task Force Operations, Task Force Medical and Task Force Aviation — that have individual operational focus and mission skills, the Web site says.

The Army says the unit would be deployed to help local, state or federal agencies deal with such incidents, not take the lead. The law enforcement-type training is not connected to its new mission, it says.

Use of active-duty military as a domestic police force has been severely limited since passage of the Posse Comitatus Act following the Civil War.

Bloggers are criticizing the new force, saying that because it has been training in law enforcement tactics it could be be used for domestic law enforcement.

Troops may be trained in non-lethal tactics, but they are not trained for what they may have to deal with in domestic situations, said Gene Healy, a vice president of the conservative think-tank Cato Institute.

Healy said civilian police and, if circumstances are extreme, National Guard troops under the command of state governors should keep the peace.

“Federal troops should always be a last resort, never a first responder,” he said.

Critics also point to a General Accounting Office study in 2003 that found that domestic security missions put a strain on a military stretched thin by two simultaneous wars, and that a unit’s readiness for combat is reduced if the members have to take time out to respond to an emergency at home.

The U.S. military “is not a Swiss Army knife,” ready to fight the Taliban one week, respond to a hurricane the next and put down a major political protest the third week, Healy said.

The Army says the non-lethal training is an outgrowth of missions that troops have faced around the world in recent years.

“We need a lot more in our toolbox in order to deal with angry people on the street,” said Col. Barry Johnson of U.S. Army North.

The units are well-trained in the skills they might need to assist the Northern Command, and that won’t weaken the unit when and if it goes back to Iraq.

The designation of a specific unit as the CCMRF is a step forward, he said.

The active-duty military has long had units capable of handling chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or other domestic emergencies, such as hurricanes, Johnson said. But they were assigned as needed. Now they will have a unit that knows in advance that it might be called upon to respond in a domestic emergency.
From Larry Shaughnessy at CNN.com

The move – which came as Berlin announced a new rescue package for an ailing mortgage bank – is sure to anger France, which, holding the European Union presidency, tried to create the illusion of a common front at a weekend summit in Paris. Instead, the message coming loud and clear from Berlin is that it is every man for himself. Or as President Nicolas Sarkozy would prefer not to say:sauve qui peut.

The massive liquidity crisis in the banking system has already nudged the Irish Republic and Greece into unilateral – and probably illegal under EU law – action to guarantee the deposits in national banks. Faced with a choice between the possible collapse of their banking systems and violating EU competition rules, the two countries opted for what they saw as the lesser evil. Now Germany, which at the weekend rejected French plans for an EU lifeboat fund, has taken the decisive protective step, and it is said to be plain that other European states will have to follow suit.

Early today the Danish Government guaranteed all bank deposits in Denmark as part of a deal with banks to set up a liquidation fund. There had been a ceiling on the guarantee.

Yesterday Peer Steinbrück, the German Finance Minister, said of his own country’s move: “This is an important signal to calm the situation and head off disproportionate reactions, and which would make our crisis management or crisis prevention even more difficult.”

Berlin insiders say that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, did not make a spur-of-the-moment decision but had been pondering the move since the Hypo Real Estate bank first ran into serious trouble. The Munich-based group is the second-largest commercial property lender in Germany and it seemed set to go down ten days ago, hit by the problems of its Irish subsidiary Depfa. Then the Government came up with €35 billion of liquidity to be provided by a consort-ium of banks and the Bundesbank, while banks and the Government would stump up €35 billion of credit guarantees. The alternative was to see the bank go down and suck the real economy into the maelstrom.

The new deal announced last night gives Hypo Real estate an additional €15 billion credit on top of the €35 billion. Of the extra credit €14 billion of that extra credit will be underwritten to 60 per cent by the commercial banks and 40 per cent by the Government. The hope is that this will be sufficient to head off a run on the bank.

But even before she went to the Paris summit to argue against a “Euro-tarp” – a troubled asset relief programme – or bailout plan, Mrs Merkel knew that matters were unravelling at home. The original rescue plan for Hypo Real Estate was clinched in a phone call eight days ago between her and Josef Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank.

She persuaded him to tell Germany’s bankers to up their contribution to the rescue from €7 billion to €8.5 billion. She was determined that the Government should not shoulder all of the burden. But then Mr Ackermann reported back – the banks were willing to cough up only €3 billion for the rescue. Hypo Real Estate made matters worse by announcing that it had got its figures wrong – it could need as much as €100 billion by the end of next year and €20 billion by the end of the coming week.

Since then – more specifically since an allnight session of the Bundesbank on Thursday – she has known that she has to come out on behalf of the savers, the taxpayers and even more important the voters. Germany faces a general election next year and they will tip out any Government that is seen to be throwing their money at sinking banks or bungling its handling of the economy.

“We won’t allow the crisis in a single institution to become a crisis for the whole system,” the Chancellor said. The Germans will abolish the current limit guaranteeing 90 per cent of all bank deposits up to €20,000 per account – essentially the same measure taken by the Irish that triggered dismay from its partners, especially the British. The €20,000 sum is the lowest possible guarantee under EU law; other countries have higher limits.

The scope of the guarantee is huge. “It covers all savings deposits and private giro accounts, a total value of €568 billion,” Torsten Albig, spokesman for the Finance Minister, said.

The primary task of the Government is to stop a financial meltdown that destroys all consumer confidence in the economy. “People are asking: what is going to happen to my savings?” says Rüdiger Ditz, economics commentator of Der Spiegel. “Is an investment secure? And what is going to happen to us when there is no backbone to the system any more and the money just evaporates?” It is difficult to deal with the crisis using conventional political instruments, he says.

“It is about the loss of confidence of ordinary people, the fear of fear itself,” he says, “and nothing is more irritating than the massive capital flight of the Germans to supposedly safe havens such as Ireland.”

The underpinnings of Chancellor Merkel’s decision emerged in an interview with the Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble. History had taught Germany, he said, that a sustained economic crisis created political havoc.

“We learnt from the worldwide economic crisis of the 1920s and 1930s that an economic crisis can result in an incredible threat for all of society,” he said. “The consequence of that depression was Adolf Hitler.” Only one thing trumps German anger at the perceived abuse of taxpayers’ money: the fear that the 1930s will return.

From Timesonline.co.uk

In June, the Competition Review Panel released their report, Compete to Win. It went well beyond its original mandate of competition and investment policy, delivering a full corporate economic plan. They called for a major overhaul in competition rules in the airline and uranium sectors, as well as broadcasting and telecommunications. The report also proposed ending the prohibition on bank mergers and called upon Canadians to adapt a more globally competitive mindset. It was welcomed by many in the business community, with some even stating that the panel didn’t go far enough. Many believe that, once implemented, these recommendations will boost the standard of living and improve Canada’s economy. Others have described the report as self-serving, with the purpose of creating an even more favorable climate for foreign corporations to operate inside the country.

The panel completely ignores the problems associated with globalization, and in turn offers more as the solution to Canada’s economic woes. Louis Erlichman, the research director for the IAMAW, said, “The Panel calls for further dismantling of Canada’s virtually non-existent controls on foreign investment. Canada has long been one of the world’s most open and foreign-dominated economies.” He went on to say, “the Panel proposes weakening the Competition Act and the Competition Bureau to make it even easier for corporations to cut deals and fix prices.” Many believe that instead of further deregulation and privatization, there needs to be more limits placed on foreign ownership.

It is through globalization that corporations have further strengthened their power and grip over our lives. In her book, The Quick and the Dead, bestselling author Linda McQuaig says, “The concept of Globalization was a particularly important strategy in Canada , where there was really little else to help in selling the public on the changes business wanted.” NAFTA symbolizes a major move towards globalization, and it has furthered enabled corporations to take advantage of the lack of labor rights and environmental standards in some poorer countries. It has also granted new corporate investment rights and protections, which in some cases gives U.S. and Mexican investors more rights than Canadian citizens. Chapter 11 of NAFTA gives corporations the right to sue governments if they feel that their investments have been restricted. Corporations have used this new found power to challenge national and domestic laws, as well as governmental decisions.

In their report, the Competition Review Panel also acknowledged the SPP’s progress as being too slow. The SPP has received mixed reviews, with many in the business community disappointed that their recommendations are not being implemented fast enough. The SPP is the brain child of the business elite, and it has been dominated by corporate interests. It has carried on where NAFTA left off. In June of 2006, the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) was created, and it includes some of the top North American corporations. The NACC’s function is to ensure that corporate concerns are being addressed inside the SPP framework. In April of 2008, they released their report, Meeting the Global Challenge. Perhaps sensing the demise of the SPP, the report stated, “No matter what form the partnership may take, the experience of the NACC over the past two years demonstrates the clear benefits of the close cooperation on both strategic and specific issues among North America ’s business communities, as well as its governments.” What ever direction deeper continental integration may take us in, rest assured that big business will have a seat at the table and will be calling the shots.

Some of the recommendations from the Compete to Win report have become key elements of the Conservatives election campaign. Only days after the election on October 14, Canada is set to enter into negotiations with the European Union in regards to deeper economic integration. Another minority government might serve Canada well, keeping the government in check. It is not just the takeover of Canada, trade deals such as NAFTA have also allowed corporations to go more global in their quest for increased profits. It is obvious that Harper fully embraces the principles of globalization, and with him as Prime Minister, the corporate takeover of Canada will only continue.

From Dana Gabriel at GlobalResearch.ca

The problem may be especially acute in the presidential battleground states. In Ohio, more than 5 percent of home mortgages are seriously delinquent or in the foreclosure process, and there were more than 67,000 foreclosure actions in the first half of 2008. Michigan and Florida have also been hard hit.

There are a large number of advocacy groups and other programs that work to ensure that minorities, the disabled and students are able to cast ballots. Because the foreclosure crisis is so recent, not much work has been done to ensure that people who lose their homes do not also lose their chance to vote.

Many of the hardest-hit neighborhoods are low- income and minority areas, which tend to vote Democratic. That means officials have to be extra vigilant to ensure that Republicans do not use foreclosure lists to challenge voters. There was a dust-up recently in Michigan, after a progressive Web site quoted the Republican chairman of Macomb County as saying that his party planned to do just that. He and the party insist there are no such plans, but the Barack Obama campaign has filed suit to block foreclosure-based challenges.

Whatever happens in Macomb County, where nearly one in every 100 households is in foreclosure, it is likely that in at least some parts of the country there will be challenges to voters who have lost their homes. There is also a real danger that voters who are in foreclosure will be misled or intimidated into not casting ballots.

It is important that state and local elections officials do everything they can to help people caught up in foreclosure to cast ballots. They should make clear that in many circumstances, people in foreclosure still have the right to vote where they have been living. The rules vary by state. They should also widely advertise how people who leave their homes can change their registration, to vote from their new addresses.

Election officials should also ensure that there are enough poll workers to handle the disputes and confusion that could arise — and that they are properly instructed in the law.

Jennifer Brunner, Ohio’s secretary of state, is doing a good job. She has sent an advisory out to local boards of election reminding them that the fact that a voter is involved in a foreclosure is not, by itself, sufficient basis for challenging his or her right to vote.

It has been a long time since there were property requirements for voting. Election officials must not impose them now, by disenfranchising people because they have lost, or are losing, their homes.

From The New York Times

FEMA

Some people have referred to it as the “secret government” of the United States. It is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. This government organization has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress, it has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transportation systems, and can suspend the Constitution.

Not only is it the most powerful entity in the United States, but it was not even created under Constitutional law by the Congress. It was a product of a Presidential Executive Order. No, it is not the U.S. military nor the Central Intelligence Agency, they are subject to Congress. The organization is called FEMA, which stands for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Originally conceived in the Richard Nixon Administration, it was refined by President Jimmy Carter and given teeth in the Ronald Reagan and George Bush Administrations.

FEMA had one original concept when it was created, to assure the survivability of the United States government in the event of a nuclear attack on this nation. It was also provided with the task of being a federal coordinating body during times of domestic disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. Its awesome powers grow under the tutelage of people like Lt. Col. Oliver North and General Richard Secord, the architects on the Iran-Contra scandal and the looting of America’s savings and loan institutions. FEMA has even been given control of the State Defense Forces, a rag-tag, often considered neo-Nazi, civilian army that will substitute for the National Guard, if the Guard is called to duty overseas.

THE MOST POWERFUL ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Though it may be the most powerful organization in the United States, few people know it even exists. But it has crept into our private lives. Even mortgage papers contain FEMA’s name in small print if the property in question is near a flood plain. FEMA was deeply involved in the Los Angeles riots and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the black helicopter traffic reported throughout the United States, but mainly in the West, California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado, are flown by FEMA personnel. FEMA has been given responsibility for many new disasters including urban forest fires, home heating emergencies, refugee situations, urban riots, and emergency planning for nuclear and toxic incidents. In the West, it works in conjunction with the Sixth Army.

FEMA was created in a series of Executive Orders. A Presidential Executive Order, whether Constitutional or not, becomes law simply by its publication in the Federal Registry. Congress is by-passed. Executive Order Number 12148 created the Federal Emergency Management Agency that is to interface with the Department of Defense for civil defense planning and funding. An “emergency czar” was appointed. FEMA has only spent about 6 percent of its budget on national emergencies, the bulk of their funding has been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to assure continuity of government in case of a major emergency, foreign or domestic. Executive Order Number 12656 appointed the National Security Council as the principal body that should consider emergency powers. This allows the government to increase domestic intelligence and surveillance of U.S. citizens and would restrict the freedom of movement within the United States and grant the government the right to isolate large groups of civilians. The National Guard could be federalized to seal all borders and take control of U.S. air space and all ports of entry.

Here are just a few Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation. General Frank Salzedo, chief of FEMA’s Civil Security Division stated in a 1983 conference that he saw FEMA’s role as a “new frontier in the protection of individual and governmental leaders from assassination, and of civil and military installations from sabotage and/or attack, as well as prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis.”

FEMA’s powers were consolidated by President Carter to incorporate:

the National Security Act of 1947, which allows for the strategic relocation of industries, services, government and other essential economic activities, and to rationalize the requirements for manpower, resources and production facilities;

the 1950 Defense Production Act, which gives the President sweeping powers over all aspects of the economy;

the Act of August 29, 1916, which authorizes the Secretary of the Army, in time of war, to take possession of any transportation system for transporting troops, material, or any other purpose related to the emergency; and

the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which enables the President to seize the property of a foreign country or national.

These powers were transferred to FEMA in a sweeping consolidation in 1979.

HURRICANE ANDREW FOCUSED ATTENTION ON FEMA

FEMA’s deceptive role really did not come to light with much of the public until Hurricane Andrew smashed into the U.S. mainland. As Russell R. Dynes, director of the Disaster Research Center of the University of Delaware, wrote in The World and I, “…The eye of the political storm hovered over the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA became a convenient target for criticism.” Because FEMA was accused of dropping the ball in Florida, the media and Congress commenced to study this agency. What came out of the critical look was that FEMA was spending 12 times more for “black operations” than for disaster relief. It spent $1.3 billion building secret bunkers throughout the United States in anticipation of government disruption by foreign or domestic upheaval. Yet fewer than 20 members of Congress , only members with top security clearance, know of the $1.3 billion expenditure by FEMA for non-natural disaster situations. These few Congressional leaders state that FEMA has a “black curtain” around its operations. FEMA has worked on National Security programs since 1979, and its predecessor, the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency, has secretly spent millions of dollars before being merged into FEMA by President Carter in 1979.

FEMA has developed 300 sophisticated mobile units that are capable of sustaining themselves for a month. The vehicles are located in five areas of the United States. They have tremendous communication systems and each contains a generator that would provide power to 120 homes each, but have never been used for disaster relief.

FEMA’s enormous powers can be triggered easily. In any form of domestic or foreign problem, perceived and not always actual, emergency powers can be enacted. The President of the United States now has broader powers to declare martial law, which activates FEMA’s extraordinary powers. Martial law can be declared during time of increased tension overseas, economic problems within the United States, such as a depression, civil unrest, such as demonstrations or scenes like the Los Angeles riots, and in a drug crisis. These Presidential powers have increased with successive Crime Bills, particularly the 1991 and 1993 Crime Bills, which increase the power to suspend the rights guaranteed under the Constitution and to seize property of those suspected of being drug dealers, to individuals who participate in a public protest or demonstration. Under emergency plans already in existence, the power exists to suspend the Constitution and turn over the reigns of government to FEMA and appointing military commanders to run state and local governments. FEMA then would have the right to order the detention of anyone whom there is reasonable ground to believe…will engage in, or probably conspire with others to engage in acts of espionage or sabotage. The plan also authorized the establishment of concentration camps for detaining the accused, but no trial.

Three times since 1984, FEMA stood on the threshold of taking control of the nation. Once under President Reagan in 1984, and twice under President Bush in 1990 and 1992. But under those three scenarios, there was not a sufficient crisis to warrant risking martial law. Most experts on the subject of FEMA and Martial Law insisted that a crisis has to appear dangerous enough for the people of the United States before they would tolerate or accept complete government takeover. The typical crisis needed would be threat of imminent nuclear war, rioting in several U.S. cites simultaneously, a series of national disasters that affect widespread danger to the populous, massive terrorist attacks, a depression in which tens of millions are unemployed and without financial resources, or a major environmental disaster.

THREE TIMES FEMA STOOD BY READY FOR EMERGENCY

In April 1984, President Reagan signed Presidential Director Number 54 that allowed FEMA to engage in a secret national “readiness exercise” under the code name of REX 84. The exercise was to test FEMA’s readiness to assume military authority in the event of a “State of Domestic National Emergency” concurrent with the launching of a direct United States military operation in Central America. The plan called for the deputation of U.S. military and National Guard units so that they could legally be used for domestic law enforcement. These units would be assigned to conduct sweeps and take into custody an estimated 400,000 undocumented Central American immigrants in the United States. The immigrants would be interned at 10 detention centers to be set up at military bases throughout the country.

REX 84 was so highly guarded that special metal security doors were placed on the fifth floor of the FEMA building in Washington, D.C. Even long-standing employees of the Civil Defense of the Federal Executive Department possessing the highest possible security clearances were not being allowed through the newly installed metal security doors. Only personnel wearing a special red Christian cross or crucifix lapel pin were allowed into the premises. Lt. Col. North was responsible for drawing up the emergency plan, which U.S. Attorney General William French Smith opposed vehemently. The plan called for the suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the government over to FEMA, appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and the declaration of Martial Law. The Presidential Executive Orders to support such a plan were already in place. The plan also advocated the rounding up and transfer to “assembly centers or relocation camps” of a least 21 million American Negroes in the event of massive rioting or disorder, not unlike the rounding up of the Jews in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The second known time that FEMA stood by was in 1990 when Desert Storm was enacted. Prior to President Bush’s invasion of Iraq, FEMA began to draft new legislation to increase its already formidable powers. One of the elements incorporated into the plan was to set up operations within any state or locality without the prior permission of local or state authorities. Such prior permission has always been required in the past. Much of the mechanism being set into place was in anticipation of the economic collapse of the Western World. The war with Iraq may have been conceived as a ploy to boost the bankrupt economy, but it only pushed the West into deeper recession.

The third scenario for FEMA came with the Los Angeles riots after the Rodney King brutality verdict. Had the rioting spread to other cities, FEMA would have been empowered to step in. As it was, major rioting only occurred in the Los Angeles area, thus preventing a pretext for a FEMA response.

On July 5, 1987, the Miami Herald published reports on FEMA’s new goals. The goal was to suspend the Constitution in the event of a national crisis, such as nuclear war, violent and widespread internal dissent, or national opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad. Lt. Col. North was the architect. National Security Directive Number 52 issued in August 1982, pertains to the “Use of National Guard Troops to Quell Disturbances.”

The crux of the problem is that FEMA has the power to turn the United States into a police state in time of a real crisis or a manufactured crisis. Lt. Col. North virtually established the apparatus for dictatorship. Only the criticism of the Attorney General prevented the plans from being adopted. But intelligence reports indicate that FEMA has a folder with 22 Executive Orders for the President to sign in case of an emergency. It is believed those Executive Orders contain the framework of North’s concepts, delayed by criticism but never truly abandoned.

The crisis, as the government now see it, is civil unrest. For generations, the government was concerned with nuclear war, but the violent and disruptive demonstrations that surrounded the Vietnam War era prompted President Nixon to change the direction of emergency powers from war time to times of domestic unrest. Diana Raynolds, program director of the Edward R. Murrow Center, summed up the dangers of FEMA today and the public reaction to Martial Law in a drug crisis: “It was James Madison’s worst nightmare that a righteous faction would someday be strong enough to sweep away the Constitutional restraints designed by the framers to prevent the tyranny of centralized power, excessive privilege, an arbitrary governmental authority over the individual. These restraints, the balancing and checking of powers among branches and layers of government, and the civil guarantees, would be the first casualties in a drug-induced national security state with Reagan’s Civil Emergency Preparedness unleashed. Nevertheless, there would be those who would welcome NSC (National Security Council) into the drug fray, believing that increasing state police powers to emergency levels is the only way left to fight American’s enemy within. In the short run, a national security state would probably be a relief to those whose personal security and quality of life has been diminished by drugs or drug related crime. And, as the general public watches the progression of institutional chaos and social decay, they too may be willing to pay the ultimate price, one drug free America for 200 years of democracy.”

The first targets in any FEMA emergency would be Hispanics and Blacks, the FEMA orders call for them to be rounded up and detained. Tax protesters, demonstrators against government military intervention outside U.S. borders, and people who maintain weapons in their homes are also targets. Operation Trojan Horse is a program designed to learn the identity of potential opponents to martial law. The program lures potential protesters into public forums, conducted by a “hero” of the people who advocates survival training. The list of names gathered at such meetings and rallies are computerized and then targeted in case of an emergency.

The most shining example of America to the world has been its peaceful transition of government from one administration to another. Despite crises of great magnitude, the United States has maintained its freedom and liberty. This nation now stands on the threshold of rule by non-elected people asserting non-Constitutional powers. Even Congress cannot review a Martial Law action until six months after it has been declared. For the first time in American history, the reigns of government would not be transferred from one elected element to another, but the Constitution, itself, can be suspended.

The scenarios established to trigger FEMA into action are generally found in the society today, economic collapse, civil unrest, drug problems, terrorist attacks, and protests against American intervention in a foreign country. All these premises exist, it could only be a matter of time in which one of these triggers the entire emergency necessary to bring FEMA into action, and then it may be too late, because under the FEMA plan, there is no contingency by which Constitutional power is restored.

]]> http://darknews.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/fema-the-secret-government/feed/ 0 Mickey FEMA http://darknews.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/earliest-reference-describes-jesus-as-magician/ http://darknews.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/earliest-reference-describes-jesus-as-magician/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:34:29 +0000 Mickey Yarber http://darknews.wordpress.com/?p=23 ]]>

Jesus

A team of scientists led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio recently announced that they have found a bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that is engraved with what they believe could be the world’s first known reference to Jesus Christ.

If the word “Christ” refers to the Biblical Jesus Christ, as is speculated, then the discovery may provide evidence that Christianity and paganism at times intertwined in the ancient world.

The full engraving on the bowl reads, “DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS,” which has been interpreted by the excavation team to mean either, “by Christ the magician” or, “the magician by Christ.”

“It could very well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the primary exponent of white magic,” Goddio, co-founder of the Oxford Center of Maritime Archaeology, said.

He and his colleagues found the object during an excavation of the underwater ruins of Alexandria’s ancient great harbor. The Egyptian site also includes the now submerged island of Antirhodos, where Cleopatra’s palace may have been located.

Both Goddio and Egyptologist David Fabre, a member of the European Institute of Submarine Archaeology, think a “magus” could have practiced fortune telling rituals using the bowl. The Book of Matthew refers to “wisemen,” or Magi, believed to have been prevalent in the ancient world.

According to Fabre, the bowl is also very similar to one depicted in two early Egyptian earthenware statuettes that are thought to show a soothsaying ritual.

“It has been known in Mesopotamia probably since the 3rd millennium B.C.,” Fabre said. “The soothsayer interprets the forms taken by the oil poured into a cup of water in an interpretation guided by manuals.”

He added that the individual, or “medium,” then goes into a hallucinatory trance when studying the oil in the cup.

“They therefore see the divinities, or supernatural beings appear that they call to answer their questions with regard to the future,” he said.

The magus might then have used the engraving on the bowl to legitimize his supernatural powers by invoking the name of Christ, the scientists theorize.

Goddio said, “It is very probable that in Alexandria they were aware of the existence of Jesus” and of his associated legendary miracles, such as transforming water into wine, multiplying loaves of bread, conducting miraculous health cures, and the story of the resurrection itself.

While not discounting the Jesus Christ interpretation, other researchers have offered different possible interpretations for the engraving, which was made on the thin-walled ceramic bowl after it was fired, since slip was removed during the process.

Bert Smith, a professor of classical archaeology and art at Oxford University, suggests the engraving might be a dedication, or present, made by a certain “Chrestos” belonging to a possible religious association called Ogoistais.

Klaus Hallof, director of the Institute of Greek inscriptions at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy, added that if Smith’s interpretation proves valid, the word “Ogoistais” could then be connected to known religious groups that worshipped early Greek and Egyptian gods and goddesses, such as Hermes, Athena and Isis.

Hallof additionally pointed out that historians working at around, or just after, the time of the bowl, such as Strabon and Pausanias, refer to the god “Osogo” or “Ogoa,” so a variation of this might be what’s on the bowl. It is even possible that the bowl refers to both Jesus Christ and Osogo.

Fabre concluded, “It should be remembered that in Alexandria, paganism, Judaism and Christianity never evolved in isolation. All of these forms of religion (evolved) magical practices that seduced both the humble members of the population and the most well-off classes.”

“It was in Alexandria where new religious constructions were made to propose solutions to the problem of man, of God’s world,” he added. “Cults of Isis, mysteries of Mithra, and early Christianity bear witness to this.”

The bowl is currently on public display in the exhibit “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures” at the Matadero Cultural Center in Madrid, Spain, until November 15.

Source: MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26972493/

The revelation is not only of interest to rights groups that monitor Internet censorship. The discovery also likely intrigues law enforcement and intelligence agencies in other countries, because they have been bothered by the growing use of Skype, which claims 338 million users across the world.

By its very nature, Skype is difficult to wiretap. Skype routes calls and chats between computers over the Internet, avoiding traditional phone networks. And the contents are supposedly encrypted, raising concerns in law enforcement that Skype could let criminals to communicate without fear of eavesdropping.

The FBI has argued for applying US wiretapping law to Internet phone calls. The bureau got a favorable court ruling in 2006, but it’s not clear whether it applies to systems like Skype that skip telephone networks.

In the other camp, privacy advocates and security experts are concerned that Skype, while presented by the company as a secure channel of communication, has some kind of “back door” that allows eavesdropping. Whether Skypetapping is already going on in the US and Europe is a matter that the company has equivocated on for years.

“For a couple of years, maybe more, people have had the suspicion … that Skype pretends to be secure but actually isn’t,” said Bruce Schneier, the chief security technology officer of BT Group PLC, the British telecom carrier.

“The Chinese eavesdropping on Skype text messages only adds to the PR problems, the image problems, that Skype has among those who care about security,” Schneier added.

On Wednesday, Nart Villeneuve at the University of Toronto revealed that a Chinese version of Skype’s application is being used for wholesale surveillance of text messages.

The software is distributed by Skype’s Chinese partner, Tom Online Inc. Skype has acknowledged since 2006 that this version looks for certain sensitive words in text chats, and blocks those messages from reaching their destination.

What Villeneuve found was that the Tom-Skype program also passes the messages caught by the filter to a cluster of servers on Tom’s network. Because of poor security on those servers, he was able to retrieve more than a million stored messages. The filter appears to look for words like “Tibet,” “democracy” and “milk powder” — China is in the throes of a food scandal involving tainted milk.

This directly contradicts a blog posting on Skype’s Web site, which says that the software discards the filtered messages, and neither displays nor transmits them anywhere.

A Skype spokeswoman was not available for comment Thursday. Skype has earlier given contradictory statements on the eavesdropping issue.

It has told The Associated Press that it “cooperates fully with all lawful requests from relevant authorities.” But when asked by CNET’s News.com in June whether it could accommodate a wiretapping request, it said it could not, because of the way its system works: Skype calls are encrypted, and only the two computers at each end have the keys to decrypt them.

Yet both Schneier and Simson Garfinkel, an associate of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University who has studied Skype’s security, believe it would actually be trivial for the company to listen in on conversations.

“I can think of five or six different ways to eavesdrop on Skype. It’s not that hard if you are the Skype company and want to provide legal access to law enforcement,” Garfinkel said.

It’s unclear whether Skype has an obligation to help law enforcement under US law. Peter Swire, who served as the Clinton administration’s privacy czar for two years and is now a professor of law at Ohio State University, said that while he knows of no US court ruling that has required Skype to comply with wiretapping requests, it’s conceivable that the company is voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement.

Skype told News.com that it had not received a subpoena or court order to perform eavesdropping.

Yet German technology site Heise Online reported in July that Austrian officials claimed to be able to listen to Skype conversations. The relative quietness of the law enforcement community on the issue in recent years could be the result of such cooperation.

By Peter Svennson, AP Technology Writer