The recent revelation of the "Intelligence Operations" division of the U.S. military paying for favorable news in the Iraqi media of the American war effort in Iraq has highlighted yet another little known secret activity of military intelligence.
Military intelligence is involved in many little known and some very strange suspected areas of intelligence activity, study and weapons development.
One strange but little known program is the remote Predator drone aircraft program. From a military base in Nevada, these drone aircraft are operated by flight controllers and collect intelligence or even fire a small but deadly missile at important targets that U.S. forces cannot easily patrol. The explosion death of the number three Al Qaeda head may have been from one of these drone Predator crafts firing a missile. Using high speed satellite communications, these Predator drones patrol both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as conduct intelligence activity in Iran, Syria and Western Pakistan where Al Qaeda training bases still exist from the 1980's when the Reagan Administration's CIA spent millions on a covert war to create an Mujaheeden insurgency to battle the Soviet invasion. Osama Bin Laden was recruited to train Islamic fighters to battle the secular Soviet backed puppet government in Afghanistan. These bases still remain today in rough and mountainous areas of Pakistan, and are patrolled by U.S. Predator drones for Al Qaeda activity. In Iraq, these drones can fire a missile at insurgent targets or prevent roadside bombs from being set up.
Other military intelligence using satellite technology, is the program to weaponize space. One project known as Rods From The Gods, fires cylinders from a satellite at a rate equal to a machine gun firing millions of rounds a minute. In one version, the cylinders would have almost a nuclear weapons type blast effect on earth targets. Other little known military intelligence projects involve weapons tests on experimental weapons that use light or sound as weapons.
Iran has great interest in satellites. A Russian built rocket has placed one Iranian satellite in orbit. However, Iran is working on it's own kerosine powered rocket to launch it's own satellites. Once this is perfected, Iran could target American targets for the future development of nuclear warheads which could be put into orbit to attack U.S. targets. Within two to five years, Iran may be capable of an attack by a small number of number of nuclear warheads against American targets.
During the Reagan Administration, and still currently continuing are efforts of military intelligence to develop missile defense systems. Since these violate existing antiballistic missile treaties, the Russian military has recently developed a hypersonic missile that is the world's fastest that cannot be shot down by the existing antimissile defenses. This is creating a new arms race of weapons that are not vulnerable to antimissile defenses.
But in the area of suspected intelligence operations come some of the most strange examples of military intelligence operations documented and known.
During the Vietnam War, young looking military intelligence officers were susposedly used to infiltrate high schools, colleges and antiwar organizations to collect intelligence on antiwar, antimilitary and other efforts that may have hurt support for the Vietnam War. Today, the antiwar efforts may be compromised by paid military infiltrations to disrupt these organizations to prevent the antiIraq War efforts from gaining much strength. The military may have found that internal sabotage of antiwar organizations is the most effective way to combat efforts that could hurt prowar efforts by the military.
But a far stranger form of military intelligence involves the use of strange psychic phenomenon such as Remote Viewing. Under the directorship of Gen. Stubblebine and Gen. Dozier, a program known as Stargate involved research by Dr. David Morehouse, a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Operations officer to study psychic efforts to use Remote Viewing to visualize first Soviet military operations. Today some organizations such as PSI Tech have 14 members who use this psychic phenomenon to study terrorists and possible terrorist attacks.
The Soviets have spent even more time and effort on Remote Viewing and other strange psychic phenomenon for military intelligence research purposes. In one claimed secret study, a Soviet university professor could conjure up a fist in his mind and smash a sheet metal plate leaving a giant fist imprint on it. In other research, Kirlian photography was used in research by Soviet Dr. Mikhail Gaiken to illustrate 700 rays of energy that seem to come the acupuncture points in the body that Chinese medicine has long documented. Other Soviet efforts involved the use of Pavlitan generators to store or use psychic energy for unbelievably strange experiments. Named after the Czech inventor, the Pavlitan generators were purportedly able to use psychic enrgy to instant strike flies dead, cause plants to grow at astonishing rates or to clean up pollution from dirty water. In 20 highly secretive Soviet military intelligence sites, KGB head, Yuri Andropov spent 500 million rubles on psychic research on weapons applications. In some telepathy experiments, subjests in a hypnotic trance could be awakened by remote telepathy hundreds of miles away. And other other effors to use telepathy as a weapon had some astonishing results that have been reported since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
But by far, the most strange military intelligence exists in area of UFO research by both the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. While the U.S. is known to have a highly secretive military intelligence research site in the area in which the claimed Area 51 UFO crash occured, far more bizarre Soviet efforts to research UFO s exist since the days of Josef Stalin. Stalin authorized a bizarre plan to shoot down UFOS to conduct research into their propulsion and weapons systems to develop the world's most advanced weapons. There are documented U.S. spy plane photos of Soviet military sites solely intended to study UFOs. And at least one highly respected Soviet Cosmonaut has claimed that Soviet MIG fighter planes have challenged UFOs to shoot them down for weapons research purposes. In one instance, a Soviet MIG jet was shot by a light ray that caused it to glow for nearly two weeks until the glow slowly disappeared. In a Soviet aircraft hangar, no good explanation could be found for this strange glow.
But in the weirdest case, in September 1989, it was claimed that in the Russian city of Voronezh, a UFO landed in downtown Zavodsk Square in the daylight, and several ten foot humanoids left the craft along with some four foot robots. At the same exact time in Hungary, another craft landed at an airbase and the robots fored ray guns at MIG aircrafts and when the 10 foot humanoids were fired at by airbase guards they avoided death by disappearing. It is claimed that hundreds of witnesses exist to these events, which to say the least are extremely strange. But in other cases, 300 to 900 foot UFOs have claimed to have been witnessed by many in the former Iron Curtain states, far more than here in the U.S. In the U.S. only former President Jimmy Carter has claimed to have seen a UFO, with Ronald Reagan a stronger believer in their existence. But George Bush, a former CIA director was noted for strong efforts to classify as much information as possible about UFO sightings or research by the U.S. military.
How much of some of the more strange events are true or not is certainly open to debate. But the fact is clear, there is some highly unusual activity that military intelligence of nations is responsible for, so any new revelations of military intelligence that is unusual should not really be all that surprising to an open mind.
Senin, 05 Desember 2005
Minggu, 04 Desember 2005
Strange But True #2
In a big surprise to U.S. Border Control agents, it was recently discovered that their uniforms are actually manufactured in Mexico. The manufacturer, VF Solutions from Nashville, no doubt profits from the low $1.50 an hour wages in Mexico. But it also raises the hypocrisy issue of many Americans on immigration issues. Racist sentiments often play into anti-immigrant sentiments. Yet, when a labor cost savings can be realized, then American manufacturers or even consumers welcome the cost savings. Many legal immigrants from Mexico or other South American states often find their first work in food services related employment before stepping up to better jobs in the U.S. economy.
The recent corruption scandal involving a Republican Congressman from California accepting defense contractor bribes, raises the question whether other defense contractor corruption has existed before. Well, yes. Past scandals involved one defense contractor and a diesel glow plug wire that sells at autoparts stores for about $20, was sold to the Pentagon at about $400 each. The company even claimed the product was it's own, when in fact it was actually manufactured by Bosche and identical to the autoparts store version. Another scandal involved a $400 charge for one inch pieces of metal with two holes drilled in it. And of course many here, remember the no-bids contracts for reconstruction from Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, in Iraq. No only has much of the work not been completed, but the Pentagon was billed large fees for cases of soda pop and other items that have nothing to do with the reconstruction projects in Iraq.
How does China manage those great prices on some items? Well besides cutting corners on environmental rules, in which the air is so polluted in 500 Chinese cities that it's the same as a child smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, only paying as little as 24 cents an hour labor, undervalueing their currency theYuen by an additional 40% below our American dollar by fixing it's value against our dollar, rather floating it on world currency markets and Chinese workers suffering from workplace safety problems. Besides factories, the world's most unsafe workplaces are the mines are in China. Last week 161 Chinese miners lost their lives in a coalmine disaster, with 42 still missing as of this morning. With such a national thirst for energy to drive China's factories, safety standards in Chinese mines are very lax, and contribute to very tragic accidents such as in the Chinese coalmine.
Liz Sheridan, the character actress who played the next door neighbor on ALF and Jerry Seinfield's mother on Seinfeld was the former girlfriend of James Dean. James Dean has now been dead for 50 years, killed in a September 30, 1955 car crash. For all his popularity, and for all the legend surrounding James Dean, he only starred in just three films, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, GIANT and EAST OF EDEN.
Speaking of ALF, few know much about the problems of Max Wright, who played the likable long-suffering father, Willie on ALF. Max Wright had an arrest for drunken driving in 2000, but landed himself in far worst scandal when on August 5, 2005, the National Enquirer photographed Wright in a crackhouse lighting a crackpipe with homeless gay men.
In Oregon, State Representative Kelley Wirth, D-Corvallis, finally resigned and was replaced by a former schooolboard member. It won't be hard to fill the shoes of Wirth. Wirth resigned after being arrested on meth possession, following a police investigation into an attempted murder plot against her where a girlfriend of a Oregon Capitol janitor she was having an affair with attemped to run her down with an automobile and severely injured Wirth's legs. There was an apparent argument at the janitor's house, despite a sexual harrassment allegation against Wirth by the janitor, and this argument helped to promote the murder attempt on Wirth's life. Before leaving office, Wirth was involved in a new controversy when she dramaticly increased the salaries of her legislative staff, nearly draining the funds appropriated to an expense account. Wirth even put her mother on this payroll. But after another round of public pressure forced Wirth to back down. Kelley Wirth was interestingly the only member of the legislature to vote against toughening state laws regarding substances that could be made into meth drugs. For all her fault's, at least Kelley Wirth is not a hypocrite.
There you have it, installment two of Strange But True. All Strange. All True. Strange But True.
The recent corruption scandal involving a Republican Congressman from California accepting defense contractor bribes, raises the question whether other defense contractor corruption has existed before. Well, yes. Past scandals involved one defense contractor and a diesel glow plug wire that sells at autoparts stores for about $20, was sold to the Pentagon at about $400 each. The company even claimed the product was it's own, when in fact it was actually manufactured by Bosche and identical to the autoparts store version. Another scandal involved a $400 charge for one inch pieces of metal with two holes drilled in it. And of course many here, remember the no-bids contracts for reconstruction from Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, in Iraq. No only has much of the work not been completed, but the Pentagon was billed large fees for cases of soda pop and other items that have nothing to do with the reconstruction projects in Iraq.
How does China manage those great prices on some items? Well besides cutting corners on environmental rules, in which the air is so polluted in 500 Chinese cities that it's the same as a child smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, only paying as little as 24 cents an hour labor, undervalueing their currency theYuen by an additional 40% below our American dollar by fixing it's value against our dollar, rather floating it on world currency markets and Chinese workers suffering from workplace safety problems. Besides factories, the world's most unsafe workplaces are the mines are in China. Last week 161 Chinese miners lost their lives in a coalmine disaster, with 42 still missing as of this morning. With such a national thirst for energy to drive China's factories, safety standards in Chinese mines are very lax, and contribute to very tragic accidents such as in the Chinese coalmine.
Liz Sheridan, the character actress who played the next door neighbor on ALF and Jerry Seinfield's mother on Seinfeld was the former girlfriend of James Dean. James Dean has now been dead for 50 years, killed in a September 30, 1955 car crash. For all his popularity, and for all the legend surrounding James Dean, he only starred in just three films, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, GIANT and EAST OF EDEN.
Speaking of ALF, few know much about the problems of Max Wright, who played the likable long-suffering father, Willie on ALF. Max Wright had an arrest for drunken driving in 2000, but landed himself in far worst scandal when on August 5, 2005, the National Enquirer photographed Wright in a crackhouse lighting a crackpipe with homeless gay men.
In Oregon, State Representative Kelley Wirth, D-Corvallis, finally resigned and was replaced by a former schooolboard member. It won't be hard to fill the shoes of Wirth. Wirth resigned after being arrested on meth possession, following a police investigation into an attempted murder plot against her where a girlfriend of a Oregon Capitol janitor she was having an affair with attemped to run her down with an automobile and severely injured Wirth's legs. There was an apparent argument at the janitor's house, despite a sexual harrassment allegation against Wirth by the janitor, and this argument helped to promote the murder attempt on Wirth's life. Before leaving office, Wirth was involved in a new controversy when she dramaticly increased the salaries of her legislative staff, nearly draining the funds appropriated to an expense account. Wirth even put her mother on this payroll. But after another round of public pressure forced Wirth to back down. Kelley Wirth was interestingly the only member of the legislature to vote against toughening state laws regarding substances that could be made into meth drugs. For all her fault's, at least Kelley Wirth is not a hypocrite.
There you have it, installment two of Strange But True. All Strange. All True. Strange But True.
Sabtu, 03 Desember 2005
The Cold Reality Of Warfare
For political purposes, to salvage his collapsing public approval standing, and to offer the traditional consistency standards that all American Presidents have to offer on foreign policy matters, Mr. Bush has undergone daily efforts to promote his administration's goals in Iraq and on the economy. However, with the death of 10 Marines in Iraq to a boobytrap, and the deaths of 11 more Iraqi soldiers to a roadside bomb, the cold reality of war once again sets in.
It doesn't matter how well any President will try to defend a war like Viernam, like LBJ and Nixon did, or that Bush is in Iraq, in any insurgent war, these forces will always alter their strategy to up American casualties, in an attempt to drive America out. This is the frustration that the administration must feel. No matter what propaganda face is put on the war effort, or claims of Iraqi soldier improvements, the insurgents will one up these efforts.
At first the administration was way too slow to armor the Humvees, which became a sort of police patrol vehicle in Iraq. And this lack of armor foreced many National Guard units to use sandbags and pieces of plywood to create what they called "plwood coffins" with their Humvees. But now insurgent forces are using a stronger Hezbollah designed explosive that can cut right through this armor. And Thursday's death of 10 Marines came from a new bombmaking idea, in which four shells were tied together to create a bobbytrap that could spray shrapnel over an entire football field size area.
And the kidnapping of some Christian peaceworkers by insurgents means that even Westerners who support a withdrawal of American forces are seen as a target of insurgent forces to further their ultimate political and military goals.
The cold reality of warfare is that no matter what a far superior military like the U.S. can do in the way of aircraft or high tech warfare, a low tech insurgency will attempt to match those efforts in very low tech ways. Insurgents have no airforce, helicopters, navy or tanks, but in a crude way will attempt to match the efforts. The combat means will not even match in the same battle field capability, but in the psychological effect to create terror and to break the will of the American public.
After Vietnam, many in America were very reluctant to enter another long running insurgent war. During the Reagan Administration many thought America should not be afraid to flex it's military muscles again. But a huge miscalculation of the political right, necoconservatives and others, was that the high tech weapons of the this age could defeat any low tech insurgency. But once again, just like in Vietnam, a determined low tech force has proven they can tie down America in a long running insurgent war. These insurgents believe that the U.S. will soon stop fighting and simply go home. And they are right. No American will to continue to fight this sort of war really exists. There just is no appetite for this type of war among many Americans.
The cold and hard reality of war is that an enemy will match the U.S. as well as they can. And any use of America ground forces, is an invitation for the insurgents to follow the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese example, and to continue to battle the U.S. until the American will is broken and then the U.S. will simply go home and hand a victory to the insurgents. Instead of securing peace, this only encourages other insurgents that this type of conflict can be won. The French and American defeat in Vietnam. The Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. And the problems in Iraq, all serve to establish this as a reality of history to inspire insurgents everywhere.
It doesn't matter how well any President will try to defend a war like Viernam, like LBJ and Nixon did, or that Bush is in Iraq, in any insurgent war, these forces will always alter their strategy to up American casualties, in an attempt to drive America out. This is the frustration that the administration must feel. No matter what propaganda face is put on the war effort, or claims of Iraqi soldier improvements, the insurgents will one up these efforts.
At first the administration was way too slow to armor the Humvees, which became a sort of police patrol vehicle in Iraq. And this lack of armor foreced many National Guard units to use sandbags and pieces of plywood to create what they called "plwood coffins" with their Humvees. But now insurgent forces are using a stronger Hezbollah designed explosive that can cut right through this armor. And Thursday's death of 10 Marines came from a new bombmaking idea, in which four shells were tied together to create a bobbytrap that could spray shrapnel over an entire football field size area.
And the kidnapping of some Christian peaceworkers by insurgents means that even Westerners who support a withdrawal of American forces are seen as a target of insurgent forces to further their ultimate political and military goals.
The cold reality of warfare is that no matter what a far superior military like the U.S. can do in the way of aircraft or high tech warfare, a low tech insurgency will attempt to match those efforts in very low tech ways. Insurgents have no airforce, helicopters, navy or tanks, but in a crude way will attempt to match the efforts. The combat means will not even match in the same battle field capability, but in the psychological effect to create terror and to break the will of the American public.
After Vietnam, many in America were very reluctant to enter another long running insurgent war. During the Reagan Administration many thought America should not be afraid to flex it's military muscles again. But a huge miscalculation of the political right, necoconservatives and others, was that the high tech weapons of the this age could defeat any low tech insurgency. But once again, just like in Vietnam, a determined low tech force has proven they can tie down America in a long running insurgent war. These insurgents believe that the U.S. will soon stop fighting and simply go home. And they are right. No American will to continue to fight this sort of war really exists. There just is no appetite for this type of war among many Americans.
The cold and hard reality of war is that an enemy will match the U.S. as well as they can. And any use of America ground forces, is an invitation for the insurgents to follow the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese example, and to continue to battle the U.S. until the American will is broken and then the U.S. will simply go home and hand a victory to the insurgents. Instead of securing peace, this only encourages other insurgents that this type of conflict can be won. The French and American defeat in Vietnam. The Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. And the problems in Iraq, all serve to establish this as a reality of history to inspire insurgents everywhere.
Jumat, 02 Desember 2005
The "Real" Meaning Of Christmas
The Christmas holiday is a fun holiday to enjoy. It often brings out the very best in persons. Giving to others. Sharing. Concern for the poor. Some countries such as Japan, in which only a mere 1% of persons are Christian have one of the biggest Christmas holiday celebrations. Yet in this country, this purely secular holiday from derived from pagan traditions is yearly made into a political struggle by the religious right who falsely claim this day celebrates the birthday of Christ, which of course it never did.
The early Pilgrims who settled America outlawed this pagan holiday practice. In fact, as late as 1870 anyone in Boston who took this pagan day off could be fired from work. It was only very late in the nineteenth century in Alabama that this pagan derived secular holiday became officially recognized. Alabama was also an area with many Southern Baptists, a church that was founded by cotton and tobacco industry interests who establish a religion to justify slavery in America. It is not surprising that many present day Southern Baptist leaders such as Rev. Pat Robertson seek to mislead their followers into making Christmas a political cause by falsely claiming that it is the birthday of Jesus. The Southern Baptist faith was founded on misleading and abusing Scripture to support slavery, so misuse for other political causes is no great leap for this church. And despite the claims of Southern Baptist, or other modern Christian leaders, the truth is in fact that no good evidence exists whatsoever that Jesus was born on this date. The truth is the December 25, date only has a significance to pagan followers, and not Christians.
Around 90 AD, a pagan cult known as a mystery religion celebrating the pagan god, Mithra, began to flourish in the Roman controlled MidEast. This god was supposed born on December 25, which was seen as the winter solistice, or a date on which was the shortest of the year, with the least amount of sunlight. After that date, the days began to get longer, and since many pagan religions were based on sun worship, an increase in sunlight was seen as a rebirth of the sun. From this pagan history, it is absolutely absurd for some Christians to falsely contend that December 25, is the birthday of Jesus or even any true form of a Christian holiday.
The Scriptures even forbid holidays honoring God other than the Sabbath. Yet those who claim to be Christian often ignore this as well.
Instead of simply enjoying this holiday as a day off from work, or a reason to give to others, many in the Christian right are beginning their yearly attempts to make this into another political cause to promote more of their false propaganda, which is unScriptural, based on manmade beliefs and causes, and was nothing in common with God's true lessons from Scripture.
The early Pilgrims who settled America outlawed this pagan holiday practice. In fact, as late as 1870 anyone in Boston who took this pagan day off could be fired from work. It was only very late in the nineteenth century in Alabama that this pagan derived secular holiday became officially recognized. Alabama was also an area with many Southern Baptists, a church that was founded by cotton and tobacco industry interests who establish a religion to justify slavery in America. It is not surprising that many present day Southern Baptist leaders such as Rev. Pat Robertson seek to mislead their followers into making Christmas a political cause by falsely claiming that it is the birthday of Jesus. The Southern Baptist faith was founded on misleading and abusing Scripture to support slavery, so misuse for other political causes is no great leap for this church. And despite the claims of Southern Baptist, or other modern Christian leaders, the truth is in fact that no good evidence exists whatsoever that Jesus was born on this date. The truth is the December 25, date only has a significance to pagan followers, and not Christians.
Around 90 AD, a pagan cult known as a mystery religion celebrating the pagan god, Mithra, began to flourish in the Roman controlled MidEast. This god was supposed born on December 25, which was seen as the winter solistice, or a date on which was the shortest of the year, with the least amount of sunlight. After that date, the days began to get longer, and since many pagan religions were based on sun worship, an increase in sunlight was seen as a rebirth of the sun. From this pagan history, it is absolutely absurd for some Christians to falsely contend that December 25, is the birthday of Jesus or even any true form of a Christian holiday.
The Scriptures even forbid holidays honoring God other than the Sabbath. Yet those who claim to be Christian often ignore this as well.
Instead of simply enjoying this holiday as a day off from work, or a reason to give to others, many in the Christian right are beginning their yearly attempts to make this into another political cause to promote more of their false propaganda, which is unScriptural, based on manmade beliefs and causes, and was nothing in common with God's true lessons from Scripture.
Kamis, 01 Desember 2005
Marc Bolan's Archnemesis, Gary Glitter Back In Trouble Again
In the 1970's glitter rockers Marc Bolan and Gary Glitter used to slug it out on the British pop charts. Both put out a series of great singles. Bolan's T.Rex issued "Ride A White Swan", "Get It On", "Jeepster", "The Groover", "Telegram Sam" and more. Gary Glitter issued "Rock And Roll Part Two", "Do You Wanna Touch", "I Didn't Know I Loved You Until I Saw You Rock And Roll" and many more. Marc Bolan could never really put his finger on it, but he never liked Gary Glitter very much.
Marc Bolan's feelings about Gary Glitter have come true again. Once again Gary Glitter finds himself in jail. In Vietnam, Gary Glitter was arrested at the airport after an investigation into Glitter having sexual relations with girls under the age of 13. A few years ago Glitter spent four months in a British prison for storing thousands of images of young girls on his computer.
For Gary Glitter, who is now 61, it is a further tarnishing of his image again.
Music fans want to be able to remember Marc Bolan and Gary Glitter for the great legacy of recordings they produced. But both had personal lives that brought both to ruin. Bolan's life devolved into a series of excesses that ended only days before his 30th birthday when he was killed in car accident. After leaving his wife, June, due to an affair with a backup singer, Gloria Jones, Bolan's life ended with Gloria Jones at the wheel of the car as she lost control and hit a tree. For Gary Glitter, the tarnishing crash came with his first arrest on disgusting charges involving young girls. Now his reputation is again tarnished by the new allegations in Vietnam.
Sometimes it's far better to remember musicians for the great legacy of songs they have created. I'm a big fan of both the Marc Bolan and the Gary Glitter songs. "Rock And Roll Part Two" is played at virtually every major sporting event. It's a great, great rock anthem. And "Get It On" is a great, great rock standard. But the sordid personal lives of both performers have put a stop to any new music. Fans are only left with the good memories of the past. Music from the better days for both musicians.
Marc Bolan's feelings about Gary Glitter have come true again. Once again Gary Glitter finds himself in jail. In Vietnam, Gary Glitter was arrested at the airport after an investigation into Glitter having sexual relations with girls under the age of 13. A few years ago Glitter spent four months in a British prison for storing thousands of images of young girls on his computer.
For Gary Glitter, who is now 61, it is a further tarnishing of his image again.
Music fans want to be able to remember Marc Bolan and Gary Glitter for the great legacy of recordings they produced. But both had personal lives that brought both to ruin. Bolan's life devolved into a series of excesses that ended only days before his 30th birthday when he was killed in car accident. After leaving his wife, June, due to an affair with a backup singer, Gloria Jones, Bolan's life ended with Gloria Jones at the wheel of the car as she lost control and hit a tree. For Gary Glitter, the tarnishing crash came with his first arrest on disgusting charges involving young girls. Now his reputation is again tarnished by the new allegations in Vietnam.
Sometimes it's far better to remember musicians for the great legacy of songs they have created. I'm a big fan of both the Marc Bolan and the Gary Glitter songs. "Rock And Roll Part Two" is played at virtually every major sporting event. It's a great, great rock anthem. And "Get It On" is a great, great rock standard. But the sordid personal lives of both performers have put a stop to any new music. Fans are only left with the good memories of the past. Music from the better days for both musicians.
Rabu, 30 November 2005
November Sweeps Programming Tactical Errors Leaves Some Casualties
As network November sweeps comes to a close, some clear winners and losers emerged. Most notably, CBS once again proved their strong position in decision making and good inclinations in programming and tended to improve their ratings position somewhat. However, NBC managed a number of tactical programming errors that put their network at a ratings disadvantage.
NBC aired a magic program with Penn & Teller and also a SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE history of the 1980's program. Both were decent programs, yet both turned in dismal ratings, especially the Penn & Teller program. And a mostly unfufilling remake of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, with a host of has-been personalities who have recently found work in acting gigs hard to come by, were recruited for this movie remake misadventure. Steve Guttenberg, of POLICE ACADEMY films, Rutger Hauer, former action film star, Peter Weller, far better off in the first two ROBOCOP films, were used in this made for TV remake that despite a three hour TV running time, managed to leave so many holes in the story that one really had to see the Irwin Allen original big screen movie in order to draw much sense or meaning or some of the scenes. Every dramatic moment from the original film managed to lose something in this remake, including the heart attack death of the elderly Jewish widow who manages to establish an underwater safety route for the survivors. In the first film, this was an important scene of survival and the death a major character that was dramaticly developed in the film. In this version, the scene almost completely failed to leave much of an impression, although it should have been an important incident involving what should have been a major character, if the chatracter would have been as well developed as the orginal role by Shelley Winters in the original Irwin Allen film. And although Rutger Hauer is a very good actor, he managed to uninspire in Gene Hackman's role as a minister wrestling with issues of faith who became a Moseslike figure who would lead a group of survivors to rescue.
The lessons in these NBC failures is very clear. Magic shows, Penn & Teller, TV movies and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE specials are fine, but prempting good reliable ratings solid programming like LAW & ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT or CROSSING JORDAN for sweeps specials such as these only serve to take away ratings, not build them. And last night's premption of MY NAME IS EARL and THE OFFICE with a BIGGEST LOSER special probably was another ratings loser. "EARL" has become a reliable hit for NBC. It is the biggest comedy hit they have. Bumping it for a BIGGEST LOSER special probably drove a few viewers away. Healthy and fit persons have little or no interest in programs like BIGGEST LOSER. It drives away an entire audience of viewers. FEAR FACTOR, while often gross and downright disgusting, probably will pull in a bigger audience. But for the most part special movies, miniseries, specials, etc., may only serve to draw viewers away for reliably ratings strong series, and are not always the best programming strategy for networks. NBC needs to take a good look at this and not repeat the same mistakes in February when another ratings sweeps period comes.
What NBC got right was some excellent storylines on LAW & ORDER including last night's SVU which was maybe their best story ever. A special 3D version of MEDIUM was also a good ratings draw, although I've personally seen far better and less blurry 3D effects elsewhere. The MARRIED WITH CHILDREN and THE THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN 3D specials seemed to have been better executed.
FOX, ABC, UPN and WB offered good episodes of regular programming, although no real difference between regular season and sweeps month programming could be noticed by me. Of these four networks, FOX will have the biggest audience share increase in January when AMERICAN IDOL is back, giving FOX a huge ratings lift. Some very good ABC programs such as DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and COMMANDER IN CHIEF seemed to lose some audience interest some weeks according to a slight ratings erosion, but then seemed to regain some footing with better promoted stronger storylines recently.
CBS seemed to be the only clear winner. Ratings remained strong, and some series such as NCIS, CRIMINAL MINDS and GHOST WHISPERER have turned in probably better than expected ratings for CBS programming executives. CLOSE TO HOME, which has been a ratings disappointment on Tuesday at 10, turned in better ratings on Friday at 9. THRESHOLD seemed like a reasonably good SciFi drama from a former STAR TREK ENTERPRISE producer. But failed to gain a following on CBS at either 9PM on Friday, or in switching places with CLOSE TO HOME at 10 on Tuesday. Last week, THRESHOLD aired perhaps their best episode ever, just as former JAG star, Catherine Bell joined the team, and SAVED BY THE BELL and SHOWGIRL's, Elizabeth Berkley starred, yet ratings fell and CBS yanked the series. All that can be figured is that Threshold was on the wrong network, where CBS slightly older demographic of viewers were not accepting of this type of genre program. On the SciFi network or as a syndicated program, Threshold could still make it. Whether it gets this chance is to be seen. But Threshold was a good program that simply seemed the wrong genre for CBS. In truth, both THRESHOLD and CLOSE TO HOME lack a,little something that makes better programs megahits, yet both are good enough to deserve a longer run. THRESHOLD may be done for good now though. Former STAR TREK producers may try a different type of SciFi story and different marketing next time around.
Other series that hit the skids during November sweeps were REUNION, ABC's lackluster comedy, HOT PROPERTIES, and the long running ALIAS series. All will be cancelled. In the case of ALIAS, Jennifer Garner who appeared to be very pregnant seemed like an unlikely secret agent to send out on dangerous missions. It made the scenes done by a stunt double appear way too obvious. But the worst factor fro ALAIS was the ABC network move to 8PM on Thursday. Every ABC program since MORK & MINDY in 1983 has died in that time slot within the year of a ratings drought. Since 1983, NBC and then CBS have carved up Thursday as their strongest night of programming. ALIAS did fine last year on Wednesday after LOST. Why ABC decided to throw this award winning program to the lions by allowing CBS and NBC stronger Thursday ratings to eat it alive is a good question. But in May, ALIAS will bow out for good.
If November sweeps was a war, then the generals of programming at CBS got it right for the most part and clearly won the sweeps with a careful strategy to air excellent episodes, careful scheduling and other thoughtful planning and few high risk specials. NBC needs to look at what CBS did right, and follow this formula to the letter. NBC can improve their position to a solid number two behind CBS with this strategy, which is better than coming in number four in January when FOX gets American Idol back on the TV schedule and NBC will be in worse condition.
NBC aired a magic program with Penn & Teller and also a SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE history of the 1980's program. Both were decent programs, yet both turned in dismal ratings, especially the Penn & Teller program. And a mostly unfufilling remake of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, with a host of has-been personalities who have recently found work in acting gigs hard to come by, were recruited for this movie remake misadventure. Steve Guttenberg, of POLICE ACADEMY films, Rutger Hauer, former action film star, Peter Weller, far better off in the first two ROBOCOP films, were used in this made for TV remake that despite a three hour TV running time, managed to leave so many holes in the story that one really had to see the Irwin Allen original big screen movie in order to draw much sense or meaning or some of the scenes. Every dramatic moment from the original film managed to lose something in this remake, including the heart attack death of the elderly Jewish widow who manages to establish an underwater safety route for the survivors. In the first film, this was an important scene of survival and the death a major character that was dramaticly developed in the film. In this version, the scene almost completely failed to leave much of an impression, although it should have been an important incident involving what should have been a major character, if the chatracter would have been as well developed as the orginal role by Shelley Winters in the original Irwin Allen film. And although Rutger Hauer is a very good actor, he managed to uninspire in Gene Hackman's role as a minister wrestling with issues of faith who became a Moseslike figure who would lead a group of survivors to rescue.
The lessons in these NBC failures is very clear. Magic shows, Penn & Teller, TV movies and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE specials are fine, but prempting good reliable ratings solid programming like LAW & ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT or CROSSING JORDAN for sweeps specials such as these only serve to take away ratings, not build them. And last night's premption of MY NAME IS EARL and THE OFFICE with a BIGGEST LOSER special probably was another ratings loser. "EARL" has become a reliable hit for NBC. It is the biggest comedy hit they have. Bumping it for a BIGGEST LOSER special probably drove a few viewers away. Healthy and fit persons have little or no interest in programs like BIGGEST LOSER. It drives away an entire audience of viewers. FEAR FACTOR, while often gross and downright disgusting, probably will pull in a bigger audience. But for the most part special movies, miniseries, specials, etc., may only serve to draw viewers away for reliably ratings strong series, and are not always the best programming strategy for networks. NBC needs to take a good look at this and not repeat the same mistakes in February when another ratings sweeps period comes.
What NBC got right was some excellent storylines on LAW & ORDER including last night's SVU which was maybe their best story ever. A special 3D version of MEDIUM was also a good ratings draw, although I've personally seen far better and less blurry 3D effects elsewhere. The MARRIED WITH CHILDREN and THE THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN 3D specials seemed to have been better executed.
FOX, ABC, UPN and WB offered good episodes of regular programming, although no real difference between regular season and sweeps month programming could be noticed by me. Of these four networks, FOX will have the biggest audience share increase in January when AMERICAN IDOL is back, giving FOX a huge ratings lift. Some very good ABC programs such as DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and COMMANDER IN CHIEF seemed to lose some audience interest some weeks according to a slight ratings erosion, but then seemed to regain some footing with better promoted stronger storylines recently.
CBS seemed to be the only clear winner. Ratings remained strong, and some series such as NCIS, CRIMINAL MINDS and GHOST WHISPERER have turned in probably better than expected ratings for CBS programming executives. CLOSE TO HOME, which has been a ratings disappointment on Tuesday at 10, turned in better ratings on Friday at 9. THRESHOLD seemed like a reasonably good SciFi drama from a former STAR TREK ENTERPRISE producer. But failed to gain a following on CBS at either 9PM on Friday, or in switching places with CLOSE TO HOME at 10 on Tuesday. Last week, THRESHOLD aired perhaps their best episode ever, just as former JAG star, Catherine Bell joined the team, and SAVED BY THE BELL and SHOWGIRL's, Elizabeth Berkley starred, yet ratings fell and CBS yanked the series. All that can be figured is that Threshold was on the wrong network, where CBS slightly older demographic of viewers were not accepting of this type of genre program. On the SciFi network or as a syndicated program, Threshold could still make it. Whether it gets this chance is to be seen. But Threshold was a good program that simply seemed the wrong genre for CBS. In truth, both THRESHOLD and CLOSE TO HOME lack a,little something that makes better programs megahits, yet both are good enough to deserve a longer run. THRESHOLD may be done for good now though. Former STAR TREK producers may try a different type of SciFi story and different marketing next time around.
Other series that hit the skids during November sweeps were REUNION, ABC's lackluster comedy, HOT PROPERTIES, and the long running ALIAS series. All will be cancelled. In the case of ALIAS, Jennifer Garner who appeared to be very pregnant seemed like an unlikely secret agent to send out on dangerous missions. It made the scenes done by a stunt double appear way too obvious. But the worst factor fro ALAIS was the ABC network move to 8PM on Thursday. Every ABC program since MORK & MINDY in 1983 has died in that time slot within the year of a ratings drought. Since 1983, NBC and then CBS have carved up Thursday as their strongest night of programming. ALIAS did fine last year on Wednesday after LOST. Why ABC decided to throw this award winning program to the lions by allowing CBS and NBC stronger Thursday ratings to eat it alive is a good question. But in May, ALIAS will bow out for good.
If November sweeps was a war, then the generals of programming at CBS got it right for the most part and clearly won the sweeps with a careful strategy to air excellent episodes, careful scheduling and other thoughtful planning and few high risk specials. NBC needs to look at what CBS did right, and follow this formula to the letter. NBC can improve their position to a solid number two behind CBS with this strategy, which is better than coming in number four in January when FOX gets American Idol back on the TV schedule and NBC will be in worse condition.
Selasa, 29 November 2005
The "Culture Of Corruption" Continues In Washington
One of the most blatant warnings of outgoing President, and former decorated General, Dwight Eisenhower, was concern of the "military-industrial complex" to corrupt America. Another example of this corruption hit the fan yesterday, when former decoratedVietnam War Navy pilot, and current Congressman, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a Republican from California, pleaded guilty to public corruption charges of accepting bribes from a military contractor in exchange for steering contracts to this company.
Cunningham may have collected more than $2 million from at least one defense contractor, including a Rolls Royce, a mansion, a yacht, antiques and other collectables. In one case the CEO of a defense contractor company bought the old home of Cunningham, but then sold it for a $700,000 loss, it a form of scheme to funnel money to this Congressman.
Just like the warning of Eisenhower, this "culture of corruption" prevades some issues involving some defense contractors. One defense contractor once billed the Pentagon for hundreds of dollars for one inch pieces of metal with two holes drilled in it. A diesel engine glow plug wire that is absolutely the identical one that sells in auto parts stores for less than $20, was sold to the Pentagon for about $400 each. The Pentagon routinely offers so-called "surplus" military goods on Websites for pennies on the dollar to war surplus businesses, yet often reorders new identical equipment. And troops in the Iraq War, especially the 40% who are Natiional Guard members are sent to Iraq with severe shortages of radios, ammunition, armored Humvees, and other vital goods, which needlessly created many more American dead and wounded.
And much of the Bush military and foreign policy team was comprised of former defense contractor CEOs, paid consultants or major stockholders of defense contractor companies, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowityz, John Bolton and others who were members of the Project For The New American Century who since 1997 attempted to promote a new war in Iraq, largely for the purpose of benefitiing defense contractors with a huge financial windfall created by a new war. And the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force were each replaced with former defense contractor CEOS or major stockholders, for the first time in American history. Even the wife of Dick Cheney, Lynne Cheney was a major holder of Lockheed Martin stock, and could stand to handsomely profit from the Iraq War before the war was started in dramaticly increased defense contracts to this company.
The guilty plea of Rep. Cunningham is no doubt only the tip of the iceberg. An entire "culture of corruption" prevades this Bush Administration which planned the Iraq War largely to profit big military contractors. In fact 33 major members of the Bush Administration have defense contractor ties, while 43 members of the Bush Administration have oil industry ties, including Dr. Condoleezza Rice a former Chevron Board Of Directors member.
Halliburton, the former company of which Dick Cheney was the CEO, was given billions of dollars in no-bid contracts by the Bush Administration. Yet much of these billions were yet to be spent on the Iraq War reconstruction projects, while Halliburton made excessively large charges to the federal government including large charges for cases of soda pop. Even a female ordained minister who was a Halliburton employee, has found absolutely no justification for some of the charges of Halliburton to the federal government. This minister was once a major defender of Halliburton, but now has become very concerned about these excessive charges.
It is not known how much of all of this is legal, but certainly much of it offends the ethics of what claims to be a "values" driven administration. But the case of Cunningham, as well as the questionable series of defense contractor intersts in propelling the Iraq War, as well as Pentagon mismanagement, defense contractor thefts, and other problems seems to indicate that a wide spread "culture of corruption" at worse or ineptness at least, prevades this morally horrid administration.
According to Seymour Hersch, from the New Yorker Magazine, Mr. Bush thinks that "God put him in office" to promote the Iraq War as a "war of liberation" for the people of Iraq. But there is absolutely no indication in any portion of the Old or New Testament that God raised up leaders to promote a "culture of corruption". Mr. Bush is either seriously mislead by many with a lack of honesty and candor, or else a manipulative politician who simply invokes the name of God to put a justification on one of the worst "cultures of corruption" yet seen in American politics. Time will decide which one is the truth.
Cunningham may have collected more than $2 million from at least one defense contractor, including a Rolls Royce, a mansion, a yacht, antiques and other collectables. In one case the CEO of a defense contractor company bought the old home of Cunningham, but then sold it for a $700,000 loss, it a form of scheme to funnel money to this Congressman.
Just like the warning of Eisenhower, this "culture of corruption" prevades some issues involving some defense contractors. One defense contractor once billed the Pentagon for hundreds of dollars for one inch pieces of metal with two holes drilled in it. A diesel engine glow plug wire that is absolutely the identical one that sells in auto parts stores for less than $20, was sold to the Pentagon for about $400 each. The Pentagon routinely offers so-called "surplus" military goods on Websites for pennies on the dollar to war surplus businesses, yet often reorders new identical equipment. And troops in the Iraq War, especially the 40% who are Natiional Guard members are sent to Iraq with severe shortages of radios, ammunition, armored Humvees, and other vital goods, which needlessly created many more American dead and wounded.
And much of the Bush military and foreign policy team was comprised of former defense contractor CEOs, paid consultants or major stockholders of defense contractor companies, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowityz, John Bolton and others who were members of the Project For The New American Century who since 1997 attempted to promote a new war in Iraq, largely for the purpose of benefitiing defense contractors with a huge financial windfall created by a new war. And the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force were each replaced with former defense contractor CEOS or major stockholders, for the first time in American history. Even the wife of Dick Cheney, Lynne Cheney was a major holder of Lockheed Martin stock, and could stand to handsomely profit from the Iraq War before the war was started in dramaticly increased defense contracts to this company.
The guilty plea of Rep. Cunningham is no doubt only the tip of the iceberg. An entire "culture of corruption" prevades this Bush Administration which planned the Iraq War largely to profit big military contractors. In fact 33 major members of the Bush Administration have defense contractor ties, while 43 members of the Bush Administration have oil industry ties, including Dr. Condoleezza Rice a former Chevron Board Of Directors member.
Halliburton, the former company of which Dick Cheney was the CEO, was given billions of dollars in no-bid contracts by the Bush Administration. Yet much of these billions were yet to be spent on the Iraq War reconstruction projects, while Halliburton made excessively large charges to the federal government including large charges for cases of soda pop. Even a female ordained minister who was a Halliburton employee, has found absolutely no justification for some of the charges of Halliburton to the federal government. This minister was once a major defender of Halliburton, but now has become very concerned about these excessive charges.
It is not known how much of all of this is legal, but certainly much of it offends the ethics of what claims to be a "values" driven administration. But the case of Cunningham, as well as the questionable series of defense contractor intersts in propelling the Iraq War, as well as Pentagon mismanagement, defense contractor thefts, and other problems seems to indicate that a wide spread "culture of corruption" at worse or ineptness at least, prevades this morally horrid administration.
According to Seymour Hersch, from the New Yorker Magazine, Mr. Bush thinks that "God put him in office" to promote the Iraq War as a "war of liberation" for the people of Iraq. But there is absolutely no indication in any portion of the Old or New Testament that God raised up leaders to promote a "culture of corruption". Mr. Bush is either seriously mislead by many with a lack of honesty and candor, or else a manipulative politician who simply invokes the name of God to put a justification on one of the worst "cultures of corruption" yet seen in American politics. Time will decide which one is the truth.
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