James Bamford, author and renowned expert on the NSA, has a lot of surprising information for us regarding our dear Homeland's spying upon us -- the job is being outsources to foreign countries, including two with strong Israeli ties:
But wait, there's more ....
Something else you might not know is that there is now evidence that Israel is using a new type of horrible weapon in Gaze, with the cutesy acronm of DIME, which stands for Dense Inert Metal Explosive, designed by the US Air Force (who else?) in 2006.
Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor who worked at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza during the Israeli assault:
When it comes to the DIME weapons, we have seen a substantial number of amputations, where the amputees do not have shrapnel injuries. On the contrary, they have torn apart their legs, often one or two or even three limbs, their arm also. Some of them are beyond salvage, because the amputations are so high and so fierce that it also affects the lower part of the body. Some are survivable. But typical for these amputations is that there is no sign of metal fragments or shrapnel. It is only this very brutal amputations caused by some extreme power and small rice grain, rice, corn, pieces of some kind of substance, not metal, but—you know, the DIME weapon is a mixture of metals, nickel and cobalt, in a composite cast, not in a metal cast. And that’s explaining why you don’t see shrapnel.
The additional effect in animal studies on the DIME weapon is that the residuals in the muscle in mice will cause a very severe form of muscle cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma, which easily spreads to the lungs. This remains to be shown.
I underline we don’t have proof, but we have strong evidence that these amputations we’ve been seeing in Gaza for the last eleven days must come from some type of weapon that we don’t know of.
Nice, huh? God Bless the U.S. of Arms International Inc.
The next item falls under the "It's a Start" category:
Qatar, Mauritania suspend ties with Israel
(RTTNews) - Qatar and Mauritania have decided
to suspend their political and economic ties with Israel in protest against the Israeli attack on Gaza.
Now all we need is a real "coalition of the willing" to make an international pariah out of this murderous, war-criminal country.
A few New Zealanders are getting in on the action:
An Israeli citizen residing in Kaikoura, New Zealand has informed Ynet Friday that a local pub, the Strawberry Tree, placed a sign outside its door reading, "Israelis not welcome before shelling (in Gaza) stops".
Two other Israeli tourists encountered a similar restriction at a café located in another part of the country.
Kaikoura, located on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, is a tourist hub known for its dolphin shows.
One Israeli who was denied service calls the pub-owner's political views "extreme" and points out that the guy once worked as a photojournalist in Gaza. Hm, there might be some connection there, methinks ....
And Amnesty International is saying that an immediate arms embargo is needed in Israel, especially in light of enormous supply of fresh new killing devices the U.S. is shipping to the Israelis:
"We know that the Wehr Elbe, a German-owned cargo ship, left the USA on 20 December 2008 with a large consignment - 989 containers - of high explosives and other munitions," said Malcolm Smart. "Hired and now legally controlled by the US Military Sealift Command, it is destined for the Israeli port of Ashdod and was due to transit via Greece, though its latest reported position indicates that the shipment’s route may have changed."
989 containers. WOW. That's a LOT of stuff. You could fill quite a few Wal-Marts with that. Think about it. Gee, I guess maybe Israel's running low. After all, shooting fish in a barrel can take a lot of ammo.
And lastly, it looks as though the Israel "offensive" (there's an apt word) will be winding down just in time for Barack Obama's inauguration, just as they told us a little while ago:
Last night on The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC correspondent Richard Engel discussed Israel’s refusal to let reporters into Gaza. "I’ve called everyday and said ‘when are we going to be allowed in?’" he said, adding that one Israeli official "had an interesting explanation" for the situation. The official told Engel that Israel doesn’t want reporters in Gaza documenting the humanitarian situation or revealing military tactics. Israel is trying to "manage the image" of the war, Engel reported, adding this:
ENGEL: This official told me he expects this operation, while negotiations are taking place, will last several more days. And that after that, reporters would eventually be allowed in. But at that stage, Israel is assuming the United States will mostly be focused on all of the coverage around the inauguration, and that viewers simply won’t care at that point.
I have a dream. I have a dream that Barack Obama's administration will take a look at our relationship with Israel and ask one question: "WHY?"
What is the U.S. getting out of this relationship?
I know what Israel's getting out of it.
But what is the U.S. getting out of it? Somebody needs to answer that question and take a good hard look at why we support these murderous motherf*ckers no matter what they do.
Have a good weekend.