The Gates of Hell

South Carolina Code of Laws Require ‘Subversives’ to Register

joshuah — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:50:51 +0000

Source: S.C. Code of Laws Title 23 Chapter 29 Subversive Activities Registration Act – www.scstatehouse.gov-LPITS

Title 23 – Law Enforcement and Public Safety

CHAPTER 29.

SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES REGISTRATION ACT

SECTION 23-29-10. Short title.

This chapter may be cited as the “Subversive Activities Registration Act.”

SECTION 23-29-20. Definitions.

For the purposes of this chapter the following words, phrases and terms are defined as follows:

(1) “Subversive organization” means every corporation, society, association, camp, group, bund, political party, assembly, body or organization, composed of two or more persons, which directly or indirectly advocates, advises, teaches or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States, of this State or of any political subdivision thereof by force or violence or other unlawful means;

(2) “Organization subject to foreign control” means every corporation, society, association, camp, group, bund, political party, assembly, body or other organization, composed of two or more persons, which comes within either of the following:

(a) it solicits or accepts financial contributions, loans or support of any kind directly or indirectly from, or is affiliated directly or indirectly with, a foreign government or a political subdivision thereof, an agent, agency or instrumentality of a foreign government or political subdivision thereof, a political party in a foreign country or an international political organization or

(b) its policies, or any of them, are determined by or at the suggestion of, or in collaboration with, a foreign government or political subdivision thereof, an agent, agency or instrumentality of a foreign government or a political subdivision thereof, a political party in a foreign country or an international political organization;

(3) “Foreign agent” means any person whose actions, or any of them, are determined by or at the suggestion of, or in collaboration with, a foreign government or political subdivision thereof, an instrumentality or agency of a foreign government or political subdivision thereof, a political party in a foreign country or an international political organization; and

(4) “Business” includes, but is not limited to, speaking engagements.

SECTION 23-29-30. Effect on freedom of press or speech.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize, require or establish censorship or to limit in any way or infringe upon freedom of the press or of speech as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and no regulation shall be promulgated hereunder having that effect.

SECTION 23-29-40. Organizations exempt from application of chapter.

The terms of this chapter do not apply to any labor union or religious, fraternal or patriotic organization, society or association, or their members, whose objectives and aims do not contemplate the overthrow of the government of the United States, of this State or of any political subdivision thereof by force or violence or other unlawful means.

SECTION 23-29-50. Registration by subversive and foreign-controlled organizations.

Every subversive organization and organization subject to foreign control shall register with the Secretary of State on forms prescribed by him within thirty days after coming into existence in this State.

SECTION 23-29-60. Registration of members of subversive and foreign-controlled organizations.

Every member of a subversive organization, or an organization subject to foreign control, every foreign agent and every person who advocates, teaches, advises or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States, of this State or of any political subdivision thereof by force or violence or other unlawful means, who resides, transacts any business or attempts to influence political action in this State, shall register with the Secretary of State on the forms and at the times prescribed by him.

SECTION 23-29-70. Forms and schedule for filing information.

Every organization or person coming within the provisions of this chapter shall file with the Secretary of State all information which he may request, on the forms and at the times he may prescribe.

SECTION 23-29-80. Promulgation of rules and regulations.

The Secretary of State may adopt and promulgate any rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the terms of this chapter, which may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter and may alter or repeal such rules and regulations.

SECTION 23-29-90. Penalties.

Any organization or person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or by both fine and imprisonment.

Source/Full Story: S.C. Code of Laws Title 23 Chapter 29 Subversive Activities Registration Act – www.scstatehouse.gov-LPITS

School bombing exposes Obama’s secret war inside Pakistan

joshuah — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:43:04 +0000

The discovery of three American soldiers among the dead in a suicide bombing at the opening of a girls’ school in the northwestern Pakistan town of Dir last week reignited the fears of many Pakistanis that Washington was set on invading their country.

Barack Obama has banned the Bush-era term “war on terror” and dithered about sending extra troops to Afghanistan, but across the border in Pakistan, the US president has dramatically stepped up the covert war against Islamic extremists.

US airstrikes in Pakistan, launched from unmanned drones, are now averaging three a week, triple the number last year. “We’re quietly seeing a geographical shift,” an intelligence officer said.

For the past month drones have pounded the tribal region of North Waziristan in apparent retaliation for the murder of seven CIA officers in Afghanistan by a Jordanian suicide bomber working with the Pakistani Taliban.

Last week America launched its first multiple drone attack, according to Pakistani security officials. Eighteen missiles were fired from eight unmanned aircraft in Dattakhel village, killing 16 people.

The discovery of the dead US soldiers revealed that America’s shadowy war in Pakistan not only involves drones but also small cadres of special operations soldiers.

Source/Full Story: Times Online

Sticker Shock: Experts Say World Food Program’s Afghan Relief Effort Overpriced

joshuah — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:18:14 +0000

The United Nations’ World Food Program, or WFP, is preparing to launch a mammoth, three-year relief operation in Afghanistan this year for 7.4 million people at a cost of $1.2 billion — but less than half of that amount will actually go to purchasing food for the war-ravaged country.

The majority of the money — nearly $730 million — is being spent on shipping, land transportation, handling, office construction and U.N. staffing and administration costs, according to program documents obtained by Fox News. Outside experts consulted by Fox News say that some of the costs are more than 100 percent higher than they need to be.

WFP’s response is that some of its costs are actually less than in the past, and that higher expenses are required because of the nature of the new relief operation. In other words, they say they’re inefficient because they need to be.

The WFP program is expected to come up for approval at a meeting of WFP’s 37–member Executive Board beginning on Feb. 8 in Rome. By far, the biggest share of the $1.2 billion relief tab is likely to come from the U.S., which picked up 47 percent of the cost of WFP’s previous Afghan relief program.

Just as arresting as the size of the new WFP program is the way the money is being spent. Less than 40 percent of the total is expected to purchase nearly 816,882 metric tons of food for the program, at a projected cost of $474.7 million.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com

U.S. missiles in Romania would threaten Russia

joshuah — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:57:58 +0000

U.S. plans to place elements of its global missile shield in Romania pose a real threat to Russia’s national security, a Russian military analyst said on Friday.

Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Thursday his country was ready to host U.S. medium-range interceptor missiles to counter a potential ballistic missile attack, but stressed that they would not be directed at Russia.

“We are talking about the placement of the land-based Aegis system in Romania by 2015 which uses the new Standard Missile interceptor, SM-3. This weaponry, without a doubt, could significantly reduce Russia’s deterrent capability,” said Col. (Ret.) Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine.

He said SM-3 missiles would be able to intercept Russian ballistic missiles shortly after launch and on their initial flight trajectory.

“Russia must warn Romania that if the elements of the U.S. missile shield are placed in the country they will become a target of Russia’s preventive missile strikes,” Korotchenko said.

Last year U.S. President Barack Obama scrapped plans for Poland and the Czech Republic to host missile shield elements to counter possible strikes from Iran. The missile shield plans infuriated Russia.

However, Washington has announced a new scheme for a more flexible system, with a combination of land- and sea-based interceptors, to be deployed in Central Europe by 2015.

U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden visited Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic last October to promote the new missile shield plan.

Warsaw and Prague have already expressed their support of the revamped U.S. strategy.

Korotchenko said that with ship-based SM-3s in the North, Black and Mediterranean seas, and mobile land-based SM-3s in Central Europe the western borders of Russia would be surrounded by U.S. missile interceptors by 2015.

Source/Full Story: ‘RIA Novosti’ newswire

CIA moonlights in corporate world

joshuah — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:34:54 +0000

In the midst of two wars and the fight against Al Qaeda, the CIA is offering operatives a chance to peddle their expertise to private companies on the side — a policy that gives financial firms and hedge funds access to the nation’s top-level intelligence talent, POLITICO has learned.

In one case, these active-duty officers moonlighted at a hedge-fund consulting firm that wanted to tap their expertise in “deception detection,” the highly specialized art of telling when executives may be lying based on clues in a conversation.

The never-before-revealed policy comes to light as the CIA and other intelligence agencies are once again under fire for failing to “connect the dots,” this time in the Christmas Day bombing plot on Northwest Flight 253.

Source/Full Story: POLITICO.com

Police want backdoor to Web users’ private data

joshuah — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:30:05 +0000

CNET has reviewed a survey scheduled to be released at a federal task force meeting on Thursday, which says that law enforcement agencies are virtually unanimous in calling for such an interface to be created. Eighty-nine percent of police surveyed, it says, want to be able to “exchange legal process requests and responses to legal process” through an encrypted, police-only “nationwide computer network.” (See one excerpt and another.)

The survey, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, is part of a broader push from law enforcement agencies to alter the ground rules of online investigations. Other components include renewed calls for laws requiring Internet companies to store data about their users for up to five years and increased pressure on companies to respond to police inquiries in hours instead of days.

But the most controversial element is probably the private Web
interface, which raises novel security and privacy concerns, especially
in the wake of a recent inspector general’s report (PDF) from the Justice Department. The 289-page report detailed
how the FBI obtained Americans’ telephone records by citing nonexistent
emergencies and simply asking for the data or writing phone numbers on
a sticky note rather than following procedures required by law.

Some companies already have police-only Web interfaces. Sprint Nextel operates what it calls the L-Site, also known as the “legal compliance secure Web portal.” The company even has offered a course that “will teach you how to create and track legal demands through L-site. Learn to navigate and securely download requested records.” Cox Communications makes its price list for complying with police requests public; a 30-day wiretap is $3,500.

Source/Full Story: CNET News

House Passes Cybersecurity Bill

joshuah — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:23:15 +0000

The House today overwhelmingly passed a bill aimed at building up the United States’ cybersecurity army and expertise, amid growing alarm over the country’s vulnerability online.

The bill, which passed 422-5, requires the Obama administration to conduct an agency-by-agency assessment of cybersecurity workforce skills and establishes a scholarship program for undergraduate and graduate students who agree to work as cybersecurity specialists for the government after graduation.

As officials puzzle over how to defend the nation from enemies that are often impossible to pinpoint, the lawmakers behind the bill said education and recruitment are crucial.

“Investing in cybersecurity is the Manhattan Project of our generation,” Representative Michael Arcuri, Democrat of New York, a sponsor of the bill said on the House floor Wednesday. “But this time around we are facing far greater threat. Nearly every high school hacker has the potential to hamper our unfettered access to the Internet. Just imagine what a rogue state could do.”

Source/Full Story: NYTimes.com

Netanyahu slaps down minister to end war of words with Syria

joshuah — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:08:34 +0000

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has slapped down his controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, for warning President Bashar al-Assad of Syria that his regime would collapse if he attacked the Jewish state.

Seeking to draw a line under a two-day war of words between Damascus and Jerusalem, Netanyahu’s spokesman clarified that Israel’s policy was to engage in “unconditional” talks with Syria.

Lieberman had earlier warned Assad of the consequences of going to war and suggested Israel would never return the Golan Heights, occupied since 1967.

“Assad should know that if he attacks, he will lose the war and that neither he nor his family will remain in power,” Lieberman said at a business conference. “Whoever thinks territorial concessions will disconnect Syria from the axis of evil is mistaken. Syria must be made to understand that it has to relinquish its demand for the Golan Heights.”

Syria insists it will only make peace with Israel if the entire Golan is returned.

Source/Full Story: guardian.co.uk

Avigdor Lieberman rubbing elbows with Condoleezza Rice

Google enlists NSA to fight off cyberattacks

joshuah — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:24:13 +0000

The world’s largest Internet search company and the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity.

Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.

Google and the NSA declined to comment on the partnership. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google’s policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans’ online communications. The sources said the deal does not mean the NSA will be viewing users’ searches or e-mail accounts or that Google will be sharing proprietary data.
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The partnership strikes at the core of one of the most sensitive issues for the government and private industry in the evolving world of cybersecurity: how to balance privacy and national security interests. On Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair called the Google attacks, which the company acknowledged in January, a “wake-up call.” Cyberspace cannot be protected, he said, without a “collaborative effort that incorporates both the U.S. private sector and our international partners.”

Source/Full Story: msnbc.com

Pakistani scientist found guilty of attempted murder

joshuah — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:19:56 +0000

Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui was convicted Wednesday of attempting to kill Americans in Afghanistan in 2008.

The jury found Siddiqui guilty of seven counts, including attempted murder and armed assault on U.S. officers.

The Manhattan jury began deliberations Monday afternoon and sent a note shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday saying they had reached a verdict.

Siddiqui listened to the verdict without emotion but let out an outburst once the jury was escorted out of the courtroom.

“This is a verdict from Israel, not America,” she said. “Anger should be directed to where it belongs. I can testify to this. I have proof.”

Authorities removed her from the courtroom. She will be sentenced May 6.
…
Prosecutors said Siddiqui shot at two FBI special agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, an Army captain and military interpreters while she was being held unsecured at an Afghan facility on July 18, 2008.

Authorities said Siddiqui used an officer’s rifle to fire two shots at the personnel, who were hidden from her view by a curtain. She hit no one. The warrant officer returned fire with a pistol, hitting Siddiqui at least once.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

Israeli version of Gaza attack doubted

joshuah — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:28:03 +0000

A new Israeli report defending the military’s conduct in the Gaza war was challenged tonight after evidence emerged apparently contradicting one of its key findings.

Israel submitted a 46-page report to the UN on Friday saying its forces abided by international law throughout the three-week war last year. It was meant to avert the threat of international prosecutions and to challenge a highly critical UN inquiry by South African judge Richard Goldstone, which accused both Israel and Hamas of “grave breaches” of the fourth Geneva convention, war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

The Israeli report looked in detail at a handful of incidents, including the attack on the al-Badr flour mill in northern Gaza, which was severely damaged.

The UN mine action team, which handles ordnance disposal in Gaza, has told the Guardian that the remains of a 500-pound Mk82 aircraft-dropped bomb were found in the ruins of the mill last January. Photographs of the front half of the bomb have been obtained by the Guardian.

This evidence directly contradicts the finding of the Israeli report, which challenged allegations that the building was deliberately targeted and specifically stated there was no evidence of an air strike. Goldstone, however, used the account of the air strike as a sign that Israel’s attack on the mill was not mere collateral damage, but precisely targeted and a possible war crime.

Source/Full Story: guardian.co.uk

IDF denies top officers used white phosphorous during Gaza war

joshuah — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:56:41 +0000

The Israel Defense Forces on Monday denied that two of its senior officers had been summoned for disciplinary action after headquarters staff found that the men exceeded their authority in approving the use of phosphorus shells during last year’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli government wrote in a recent report.

In an official response provided to the United Nations over the weekend in response to last September’s Goldstone Commission report, the government said that a brigadier general and another officer with the rank of colonel endangered human life during by firing white phosphorous munitions in the direction of a compound run by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

The government finding aknowledges, at least in part, allegations by international organizations.

But the IDF on Monday flatly denied the report. No phosphorous had been used during the war, said the IDF, nor hadGaza Division Commander Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col. Ilan Malka been subject to disciplinary action by GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant.
…
Many human rights organizations said that the IDF had illegally used the phosphorus munitions, which are shot from 155 mm. cannon, and that the material caused many burn injuries among the Palestinian population. The IDF responded that the munitions were permitted under international conventions and that similar shells are in use by other Western armies. The army also contended that the munitions were used in locations remote from heavily -populated areas.

Source/Full Story: Haaretz

Air Force: Test missile misses its Pacific target

joshuah — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:48:39 +0000

And why do we know this?

The Air Force says a missile-intercept test failed when a long-range missile launched from California missed a target missile launched from a Pacific island because of radar problems.

A statement posted on the Vandenberg Air Force Base Web site says the target missile was launched from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on Sunday at about 3:40 p.m. and the long-range interceptor missile was launched from California’s central coast shortly after.

The statement says both missiles launched and flew without trouble but the system’s sea-based X-band radar did not perform as expected and the interceptor missed its target.

The statement says officials from the Missile Defense Agency that conducted the test will conduct an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the failure.

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

US military responsibilities to expand

joshuah — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:47:03 +0000

The US will take on a broader range of military responsibilities, including defending space and cyberspace, in spite of growing pressure on budgets, a long-awaited administration report is set to conclude on Monday.

Robert Gates, US defence secretary, is due to unveil the Obama administration’s Quadrennial Defense Review, which shifts emphasis from the post-cold war doctrine that the US is able to fight two “major regional conflicts” at one time.

According to a December draft, the US military will restructure its forces to “prevail in today’s wars” and buy more of the helicopters and unmanned drones that have proved their worth in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the draft also highlights “a multiplicity of threats”, including cyberattacks and anti-satellite weapons, as well as terrorist groups and the prospect of more nuclear weapon states.

“It is no longer appropriate to speak of ‘major regional conflicts’ as the sole or even the primary template for sizing, shaping and evaluating US forces,” the draft says. “Rather, US forces must be prepared to conduct a wide variety of missions under a range of different circumstances.”

Source/Full Story: FT.com

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Aerospace sector fears China sanctions

joshuah — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:44:21 +0000

Aerospace executives and the US government reacted with concern on Sunday to a Chinese threat to impose sanctions on American groups involved in a $6.4bn arms deal with Taiwan.

Giovanni Bisignani, director-general of the International Air Transport Association, the global airline industry body, called for fresh talks between Beijing and Washington to avert a crisis over the arms package.

“At a moment in which the world is in crisis [and] China is playing a very important role in overcoming and pushing for recovery it would be a very, very difficult and unhappy situation” for sanctions to be imposed, he said, as industry leaders gathered in Singapore for Asia’s biggest air show.

The deal, to which the Obama administration gave the green light last week, includes 60 Black Hawk helicopters, 114 Patriot missiles and systems supplied by Boeing, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
…
A senior aerospace executive with knowledge of the situation said China was clearly “flexing its muscles” and that the sanctions threat would be felt most by Boeing, as the main overseas supplier of civil aircraft to China over the last decade. Beijing manages aircraft purchasing centrally and political factors have played a role in the past.

Source/Full Story: FT.com