Did 9/11 Really ‘Change Everything’?

Posted on by Duncan Toms

For the American public, maybe, but not for those in power – things were already set in motion:

* The Afghanistan war was planned before 9/11 (see this and this)

* The decision to launch the Iraq war was made before 9/11. Indeed, former CIA director George Tenet said that the White House wanted to invade Iraq long before 9/11, and inserted “crap” in its justifications for invading Iraq. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill – who sat on the National Security Council – also says that Bush planned the Iraq war before9/11. And top British officials say that the U.S. discussed Iraq regime change one month after Bush took office

* Cheney apparently even made Iraqi’s oil fields a national security priority before 9/11

* The Patriot Act was planned before 9/11

* Cheney dreamed of giving the White House the powers of a monarch long before 9/11

* Cheney and Rumsfeld actively generated fake intelligence which exaggerated the threat from an enemy in order to justify huge amounts of military spending long before 9/11. And see this

* Cheney and the rest of the neocons lamented – before 9/11 – that America could not truly project its power globally without the justification of a “new Pearl Harbor”

* The government’s spying on Americans began before 9/11 (confirmed here and here. And see this)

* The decision to threaten to bomb Iran was made before 9/11

* The government knew that terrorists could use planes as weapons — and had even run its own drills of planes being used as weapons against the World Trade Center and other U.S. high-profile buildings, using REAL airplanes — all before 9/11

* The government heard the 9/11 plans from the hijackers’ own mouths before 9/11

* Cheney was in charge of all counter-terrorism programs for the United States before (and on) 9/11. See this Department of State announcement, this CNN article and this essay

* It was known long before 9/11 that torture doesn’t work to produce accurate intelligence, but is an effective way to terrorize people

via Did 9/11 Really “Change Everything”? → Washington’s Blog.

Solar’s Power over GURU

Posted on by Duncan Toms

This interview with former Jazzmatazz trumpeter, Brownman, is full of horrible info on Solar’s dominance of GURU. Here’s a disturbing extract:

To be honest, I didn’t feel any fear about Solar until I actually saw him punch Guru in the face. Solar didn’t know I had seen this go down. It happened in a back alley behind a club after a gig in Europe. I was heading back to the hotel post-gig, cutting through the backalley of the club as a shortcut. After a gig Guru and Solar often stayed behind, and the rest of the group would head back to the hotel. So I’m walking down the alley heading to the hotel, and suddenly the back door of the club flies open and Guru comes stumbling out like he had been shoved, Solar right on his heels yelling at him like a little boy. By now, this was a fairly common occurrence for me to see, but what happened next left me paralyzed. Guru seemed to be quietly arguing back. Clearly he felt that whatever had happened didn’t merit such a response from Solar, and it seemed like he was trying to explain himself. Solar – who was already knee-deep into the habit of cutting off Guru and not letting him complete full sentences – asked him:
“are you talking back to me Guru? Are you?”.
“No Lord, but you just need to understand… ”
“oh *I* need to understand? Me? You’re telling me that *I* need to understand???!!! Shut up Guru. Shut up right now!”
“… ok, I will. But let me just explain…”
“What did I tell you Guru? I said SHUT YOUR MOUTH?”
“… but lord…”

BAM.

Solar swung on him… hit him in the mouth. And then again in the head. I was frozen. Far enough away that they couldn’t see me, but frozen in my tracks. I took a step forward, but I didn’t know what to do. And then Guru seemed to sort of shrug it off. Until that last year of his life, he was a tough, well-built guy, but I did think it was weird he didn’t fight back. And I’m pretty much a peace-loving pacifist… not a fighter… and none of this was my business. I was hired as the Jazzmatazz trumpet player, not as the Jazzmatazz judge and jury – so I swallowed hard and left, disturbed by what I’d seen.

Full interview here. It also goes into just how Solar gained so much power over the legendary rapper GURU.

Get closer to your favourite film stars – surf in their shit

Posted on by Duncan Toms

Peer deeply into the pristine ocean and you will see it is murky and grey. Waft aside the plastic bags floating past at Paradise Cove, wade into the ocean at Surfrider Beach, and you may glimpse traces of the matter that has gripped the coastal community: the effluent of the affluent.

At Broad Beach, whose beachfront homes have housed the likes of Redford, Spielberg, De Niro, DeVito and Stallone, workers struggle to erect a barrier to stop the might of the Pacific Ocean carrying off the contents of their septic tanks. For in the twin capital of detox and Botox, whose inhabitants are so removed from humanity’s grubby charm as to represent a distinct life form, one bodily function remains to be conquered: defecation.

via Why septic tanks are a washout in Malibu | From the Guardian | The Guardian.