A leading Israeli airport security expert says the Canadian government has wasted millions of dollars to install “useless” imaging machines at airports across the country.
Full-body scanners are waste of money, Israeli expert says
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Category Archives: Transparency
U.S Senator Diane Feinstein responds to The Swill Bucket, applauds TSA’s efforts
Dear Mr. Hamilton:
 Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns about the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) use of whole-body imaging scanners and pat-downs. I appreciate the time you took to write and welcome the opportunity to respond.
 As you may know, the TSA began using advanced imaging technology (AIT) in February of 2007. These scanners produce a three-dimensional image of passengers, allowing TSA officials to quickly and efficiently search for prohibited carry-on items. Following the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 over the United States on December 25, 2009, the TSA has accelerated scanner installation, placing 450 whole-body imaging scanners across the country.
 I understand you have concerns that full-body scanners and pat-downs may pose privacy concerns. You may be interested to know that the TSA has taken steps to ensure every passenger’s privacy. Specifically, images from AIT machines are viewed in a remote location, away from the screening process. Once the TSA official has viewed the image, that image is then permanently erased. In addition, only passengers who alarm a walk-through metal detector or a whole body image scanner or opt out of the AIT machines are subject to a pat-down. These pat-downs are performed by same-gender TSA officers and all passengers have the right to a private screening with a witness at any time.
 I believe the failed Christmas Day bombing plot is a reminder that it is important to meet our critical national security needs. I understand these procedures have caused inconvenience and discomfort for passengers; however, critics of these security screenings must consider the possible consequences of relaxing our security measures. Protecting American lives from terrorist attacks is, and must be, the nation’s highest priority. Please know that I value your opinion and will keep your concerns in mind as I work to strengthen airport security, while continuing to protect individual privacy.
 If you have general concerns about TSA policies, I would encourage you to visit http://www.tsa.gov to view current policies for travelers. Additionally, if you have not already done so, I would encourage you to contact the TSA directly to share feedback about current policies. This may be done either by phone at (866) 289-9673 or by email at TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov.
Once again, thank you for writing. Should you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.
Sincerely yours,
 Dianne Feinstein
 United States Senator
Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the Nation are available at my website http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/. You can also receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my e-mail list at http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ENewsletterSignup.Signup. Feel free to checkout my YouTube page http://www.youtube.com/Senatorfeinstein
Mobile prison guard towers coming to a neighborhood near you!
Welcome to the Fourth Reich!
Mobile Prison Guard Towers Coming to a Walmart near You. Unbelievable!
The Future of the Internet
The Moral Standards of WikiLeaks Critics
Published on Thursday, December 2, 2010 by Salon.com
The Moral Standards of WikiLeaks Critics
by Glenn Greenwald
Time‘s Joe Klein writes this about the WikiLeaks disclosures:
“I am tremendously concernced [sic] about the puerile eruptions of Julian Assange. . . . If a single foreign national is rounded up and put in jail because of a leaked cable, this entire, anarchic exercise in “freedom” stands as a human disaster. Assange is a criminal. He’s the one who should be in jail.”
Do you have that principle down? If “a single foreign national is rounded up and put in jail” because of the WikiLeaks disclosure — even a “single one” — then the entire WikiLeaks enterprise is proven to be a “disaster” and “Assange is a criminal” who “should be in jail.” That’s quite a rigorous moral standard. So let’s apply it elsewhere:
What about the most destructive “anarchic exercise in ‘freedom'” the planet has known for at least a generation:  the “human disaster” known as the attack on Iraq, which Klein supported?  That didn’t result in the imprisonment of “a single foreign national,” but rather the deaths of more than 100,000 innocent human beings, the displacement of millions more, and the destruction of a country of 26 million people.  Are those who supported that “anarchic exercise in ‘freedom'” — or at least those responsible for its execution — also “criminals who should be in jail”?      Click here to continue reading.
Glenn Greenwald was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. He is the author of the New York Times Bestselling book “How Would a Patriot Act?,” a critique of the Bush administration’s use of executive power, released in May 2006. His second book, “A Tragic Legacy“, examines the Bush legacy.
Over 1000 architects and engineers have signed petition to reinvestigate 9-11 destruction
“At some level of government, at some point in time, there was an agreement not to tell the people the truth about what happened.” John Farmer, Senior Counsel to the 9-11 Commission in his book The Ground Truth (Page 4)
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By Shawn Hamilton
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Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth founder, Richard Gage, AIA,  began the conference quoting Mark Twain who said, “If you don’t read the newspapers you’re uninformed. If you do read them you’re misinformed.” Gage said he hoped the assembled press would help to rectify that statement. “Today I’m quite pleased to announce that now we have more than one thousand architects and engineers signed on to the A&E911Truth petition demanding of Congress a new and truly independent, unimpeachable investigation into the destruction of the three World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9-11,” Gage said to a cheering audience.
(L to R) Shawn Hamilton, Richard Gage AIA, and Fritz Eriksen after the Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth conference in San Francisco, February 19, 2010 (Photo: Theodore Wood)
Numerous architects and engineers spontaneously spoke during the event about what had led to their decision to get involved in a movement that could potentially jeopardize their careers. Most agreed that it was the suspicious collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 that first caught their attention. No airplane hit the building and the fires were small. Gage said the fires were unlikely to have disabled the supporting columns all at once in order to quickly and neatly drop the skyscraper. For a hundred feet the building fell at freefall speed.
There was also evidence of foreknowledge regarding World Trade Center 7’s destruction. The BBC reported live that it had fallen twenty minutes before it actually fell; viewers could see the building standing in the background.
Physics professor Dr. Steven Jones along with an international team of scientists, analyzed World Trade Center dust from several sources and claims they found unmistakable traces of nanothermitic composite material–explosives that could be used to demolish the three skyscrapers. He and other architects and engineers say this explains the pools of molten metal found at ground zero weeks after the incident. Jones co-authored a peer-reviewed paper on the subject which led to his being fired from a tenured faculty position at Brigham Young University.
“Dr. Niels Harrit is first author, and he’s doing a wonderful job spreading information about this science. his is a peer-reviewed paper in an established scientific journal,” Jones said. “I want to emphasize that this paper has not yet been challenged in the peer-reviewed literature. In the established protocol of science, we published our findings.”
Professor Steven Jones
As Professor David Ray Griffin and others have pointed out, this paper is receiving a great deal of attention in Europe. the group hopes that it will receive more media attention in the United States as well. Griffin spoke at the conference. Although not an architect or engineer, he is considered one of the most respected members of the 9-11 Truth Movement.
I asked Griffin why media outlets–even alternative ones–are typically so reluctant to even look at the 9-11 evidence.
“They say, ‘We lose our credibility over here, then we can’t do all this other good work,’ overlooking the fact…I would say, as a rabid (laughs) member of the 9-11 Truth Movement, ‘Look this outstrips anything else you could be exposing from the last ten years–or the next ten–unless there’s another one, and if there is another one it will be partly your fault because you didn’t expose this one.”
More information about Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth is available at the group’s web site: www.ae911truth.org
Richard Gage introduces Prof. David Ray Griffin at the Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth event (Ted Wood)
The KPFA Radio version of this story may be found here. Nine minutes, eleven seconds into broadcast; anchor’s intro begins shortly thereafter).
Hear Richard Gage commenting on the success of the day’s events.
The full video of the event may be found here. Press Conference Question and Answer Session. Press conference luncheon. Press conference epilogue.