The Prison Industrial Complex. Locked up in America

WAR on AMERICANS ...... very ,VERY ...profitable $$$   ..no ?             r  u  c'ing   yet

The Prison Industrial Complex. Locked up in America

By Global Research News

Global Research, October 11, 2013

CriminalizeJusticeDegreeHub.com

Region: USA

Theme: Police State & Civil Rights

by Viviana Shafrin
One quarter of the World’s Prisoners
With well over half the prison population performing victimless crimes.
That’s what it means to be locked up in America.
…

Source: Criminal Justice Degree Hub
Locked up in America

Greetings from the Country that holds 1/4 of the world’s prisoners.[3]

America has the largest correctional budget of the world.
Largest Spending States Total:
1.)California:$7,900,000,000
2.)New York:$3,600,000,000
3.)Texas:$3,300,000,000
4.)Pennsylvania:$2,100,000,000
5.)Florida:$2,080,000,000
Largest Spending per prisoner:
1.)New York:$60,076
2.)New Jersey:$54,865
3.)Connecticut:$50,262
4.)Vermont:$49,502
5.)Rhode Island:$49,133
———
Total Spending: $39,000,000,000
That’s 2/3 of the entire public education budget
Or the equivalent of the average earnings of 18.7 million families in the U.S.
———–
And the most prisoners:
[plot out number of inmates per year, info on spreadsheet.Can also include the percfentage change per year plotted as bars going up and down from the trend line--also on spreadsheet.][5][6][9]
Top Five yearly increases in prison population
[year, percentage increase from previous year][5][6]
1.)2003-2004:51%+
2.)1988-1989:21%+
3.) 1991-1992:14%+
4.)1926-1927:12%+
5.)1981-1982:12%+
with 1/9 serving a LIFE SENTENCE[4]
In comparison:
[inmates per 100,000 citizens][9]
America: 760
Japan: 63
Germany: 90
France: 96
South Korea: 97
Britain: 153
Leaving the U.S. with 5% of the world’s population, and 25% of the world’s prisoners. [3]
Why? Because we “define deviancy down.”
Patrick Moynihan(1993) “Defining Deviency Down”[2]
What we learn:
“the number of deviancies which come to a community’s attention are limited by the kinds of equipment it uses to detect and handle them”
3 stocks = 3 “criminal” drunkards from last night.
New York’s Mental Hospital “warehouses” (1955) = 94,000 New Yorkers[2]
New Medicines=the belief that we could cure deviancy that way=1 mental hospital for 100,000 citizens
[Massive Decrease]
(1992)=11,363 New Yorkers [2]
[#images of drug dogs, swat, survaillence, then:]
4,575 current correctional institutions=2,270,142 prisoners
(optional info: “Which is actually greater than the prison system’s official capacity–2,270,142/2,265,000)
The privatization of prisons also incentivizes incarceration.
Locations of private prison centers:
[from 2/3 major private prison companies][11][12]
texas 24
Tennessee 7
Arizona 9
California 8
Florida 8
Georgia 10
Colorado 6
Oklahoma 5
Kentucky 3
New Mexico 6
Indiana 3
Louisiana 3
Mississippi 2
Washington 1
Ohio 2
Montana 1
New York 1
Nevada 1
Pennsylvania 1
New Jersey 1
Idaho 1
North Carolina 1
Virginia 1
Minnesota 1
Kansas 1
D.C. 1
Because states sign contracts agreeing to fill up private prison beds, or pay a monetary penalty.[4]
So even if you aren’t doing anything wrong, they’ll find something to book you for:
[type of offense, percentage of total prisoners.][10]
For Federal Prisons:
Drug Offenses: (46.8 %)
Weapons, Explosives, Arson: (16.4 %)
Immigration: (11.7 %)
Robbery: (4.1 %)
Burglary, Larceny, Property Offenses: (4.1 %)
Extortion, Fraud, Bribery: (5.8 %)
Homicide, Aggravated Assault, and Kidnapping Offenses: (3.0 %)
Miscellaneous: (0.8 %)
Sex Offenses: (6.2 %)
Banking and Insurance, Counterfeit, Embezzlement: (0.4 %)
Courts or Corrections: (0.3 %)
Continuing Criminal Enterprise: (0.3 %)
National Security: (0.0 %)
With well over half the prison population performing victimless crimes.
That’s what it means to be locked up in America.
citations

1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2002666/More-half-U-S-inmates-convicted-drugs-offences.html
2. http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/formans/DefiningDeviancy.htm
3. http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
4. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2013/09/23/report-1-prisoner-in-9-in-u-s–is-serving-life.html
5. http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/section6.pdf
6. http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_country.php?country=190
7. http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/the-price-of-prisons-40-fact-sheets-updated-072012.pdf
8. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/private-prison-quotas_n_3953483.html
9. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2109777,00.html

*

1. http://www.bop.gov/news/quick.jsp
2. http://www.cca.com
3. http://www.geogroup.com

Home

hehe no shit & hit on the head wit an fucking hammer ! :o

PATRIOT Act Author Says James Clapper Should Be Fired And Prosecuted; Plans Law To Stop NSA Overreach

from the better-late-than-never dept

We've written a few times about how the author of the PATRIOT Act, Jim Sensenbrenner, has insisted that the bill was written specifically to prevent the kind of datamining we now know the NSA pretends the law authorized. However, as some have pointed out, for a decade, plenty of people have directly raised these kinds of concerns (without knowing the specifics of what the NSA was doing) to Sensenbrenner about how "his" PATRIOT Act could be abused -- and he brushed them off or ignored it every single time.

However, now that he seems to realize what's happening (though, without apologizing for his earlier attacks on those who raised questions about the PATRIOT Act), he's finally getting ready to introduce new legislation, dubbed the USA Freedom Act, to try to clearly restrain the activities of Congress. According to the Guardian, who has seen a draft of the bill, the bill will do a few things:

It seeks to limit the collection of phone records to known terrorist suspects; to end "secret laws" by making courts disclose surveillance policies; to create a special court advocate to represent privacy interests; and to allow companies to disclose how many requests for users' information they receive from the USA. The bill also tightens up language governing overseas surveillance to remove a loophole which it has been abused to target internet and email activities of Americans.

All of these are good things -- and all are items that we've been focusing on for quite some time. Plus, there's this:

Sensenbrenner also called for the prosecution of Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper, who admitted misleading the Senate intelligence committee about the extent of bulk collection of telephone records.

"Oversight only works when the agency that oversight is directed at tells the truth, and having Mr Clapper say he gave the least untruthful answer should, in my opinion, have resulted in a firing and a prosecution," said the congressman.

While it may have taken a bit too long in our opinion, it's good to see Rep. Sensenbrenner taking a strong stand against the Intelligence Communities abuses. Hopefully, the next time civil liberties advocates raise issues like this, he won't be so dismissive.

NSA Staff Whining That President Obama Isn't Defending Them Enough

from the perhaps-there's-a-reason-for-that... dept

Foreign Policy magazine has an article highlighting how NSA employees are pissed off that President Obama hasn't been defending the NSA strongly enough these past few months. While many (including us) have been quite critical of President Obama's weak defense of the NSA programs, folks inside Ft. Meade are pissed off that he's not out there defending them more strongly:

Gen. Keith Alexander and his senior leadership team at the National Security Agency are angry and dispirited by what they see as the White House's failure to defend the spy agency against criticism of its surveillance programs, according to four people familiar with the NSA chiefs' thinking. The top brass of the country's biggest spy agency feels they've been left twisting in the wind, abandoned by the White House and left largely to defend themselves in public and in Congress against allegations of unconstitutional spying on Americans.

Former intelligence officials closely aligned with the NSA criticized President Obama for saying little publicly to defend the agency, and for not emphasizing that some leaked or officially disclosed documents arguably show the NSA operating within its legal authorities.

"There has been no support for the agency from the President or his staff or senior administration officials, and this has not gone unnoticed by both senior officials and the rank and file at the Fort," said Joel Brenner, the NSA's one-time inspector general, referring to the agency's headquarters at Ft. Meade, Maryland.

Of course, one response to this is: too bad. Perhaps if the NSA didn't keep pushing the boundaries further and further out, and there were more courageous folks like Ed Snowden willing to speak up and say "what we're doing is wrong," those NSA employees wouldn't be dealing with this mess. And, of course, you'd hope that the NSA would employ grown ups who don't get all mopey because the President has other things to focus on.

While the President has defended the NSA programs a few times (on TV programs such as Charlie Rose and Leno, as well as in that one press conference in August), it is true that most of the defending has come directly from intelligence officials themselves, including Keith Alexander and James Clapper, as well as the NSA's big defenders in Congress. The higher ups within the administration have been fairly quiet. And, apparently what's pissing off many in Ft. Meade is that President Obama had embraced them so closely since he came to office. Despite expressing some skepticism about these kinds of activities while he was running for office, once he got into the White House, Obama's "embrace of the dark world of spycraft has been near-absolute."

Of course, some might argue in response that there's really not much else that the President can do at this moment. He's given a few statements about it, set up the ridiculous weak "review" board, and then has kind of had his hands full with things like Syria and a government shut down -- both of which are, certainly, issues that deserve his attention. The article quotes Brenner again, saying that the President should have gone to Ft. Meade and given them a pep talk. That seems a bit silly to me. If NSA employees need pep talks to keep morale up, it seems like they're in the wrong business.

A former NSA general counsel, Stewart Baker -- last seen here blaming civil libertarians for 9/11, blaming Senator Wyden for encouraging people to reveal NSA excesses and blaming privacy advocates for you having to get groped at airports -- is also quoted in the article whining that:

"The President is uncomfortable defending this. Maybe he spends too much time reading blogs on the left," Baker said. "That's fatal in cases like this. You have to make the case because nobody else will."

Yeah. It's those damn lefty blogs that are the problem (ignoring, of course, how much of the outcry have come from right-leaning and libertarian blogs). Of course, there is the possibility that President Obama is legitimately embarrassed over having the NSA's excesses come out. A couple years ago, we highlighted famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg talking about President Obama's response to whistleblowing (the discussion was about Wikileaks), and he speculated that Obama's incredible devotion to secrecy when it came to civil liberties violations and leaks might be because of pure embarrassment. As he noted, President Bush didn't care much for civil liberties, but he also was fairly upfront about that fact. President Obama, however, acted as if he did care about civil liberties, while behaving in a very different manner. Thus, it's entirely possible, as Ellsberg speculated years ago, President Obama is happy to do all of this so long as it stays secret. The second any of it comes out, he's ashamed by his own actions -- which might explain the less than full-throated support for these actions.

Still, as others point out in the FP article, if the rift is really that big, it's somewhat surprising that the President hasn't yet thrown either Alexander or Clapper under the bus, giving him the opportunity to pretend to blame them alone for the overreach. The President has already made the ridiculous claim that he only finds out what the NSA is doing from the press, so he could easily argue that the agencies have gone "rogue" and get rid of the leaders. But he hasn't done that.

Still, the potential of a growing rift between the White House and the intelligence community is worth watching as new bills are proposed to curb those agencies' excesses.

Obamacare sign-up crash: what’s really behind it?

Oct10 by Jon Rappoport

Obamacare sign-up crash: what’s really behind it?
By Jon Rappoport
October 10, 2013
www.nomorefakenews.com
It’s easy to say the government always screws things up and, therefore, the crash of its Obamacare sign-up system is merely another example of gross incompetence.
But this is shortsighted. White House officials knew, months ago, the online site was an unmitigated disaster, and yet they let the train continue speeding down the track to its inevitable crackup.
To understand this, we need to go back to the opening salvo in the Obamacare drama.
To his advisors’ shock and surprise, Obama, taking office in 2009, announced that his first big move was going to be national health insurance.
His people assumed jobs would be the top priority. The nation was clamoring for a solution. People were out of work. Banks were foreclosing on homes. Families were in peril.
How could the President misread the national mood so badly? National health insurance? Now? Where the hell did that come from?
The 1993 track record of earlier efforts, headed by Hillary Clinton and her buffoon of a consultant, Ira Magaziner, had run aground, failed miserably, and stirred up considerable animosity.
Obama was going to lead with this again? Bring on a storm of contentious clashes in the Congress, the press, and the nation at large?
What was he thinking?
He wasn’t. A super-ambitious campaign on this issue had to come from somewhere else. Obama’s high-flying humanitarian rhetoric notwithstanding, the man was acting as an agent of change. An agent.
He was taking dictation.
And sure enough, he sank the country in a hostile grinding debate that persists to this day. Meanwhile, the economy and jobs went begging.
When the Obamacare bill finally passed, without anyone reading it, and when subsequent arm-twisting led the Supreme Court to call the individual mandate a tax (a transparently preposterous strategy), thus clearing the way for implementation, amid loud cries of fraud, there remained another opportunity for promoting disaster:
A system for enrollment that wouldn’t work, that would crash, that would look like a bevy of drunken idiots ($634 million richer) had put it together with scotch tape and a random number generator.
At a much high level of op, Obamacare was always invented chaos.
It was intended to be.
The target was America itself. As in destabilization.
This is a strategy as old as the hills.
In this case, the people in charge, behind the scenes, are Globalists (think Rockefeller, for starters). For over a hundred years, their objective has been the takedown of the United States, one of the strongest holdouts against a planetary management system, in which, ultimately, national borders are erased and individual countries cease to exist.
In 1971, David Rockefeller’s intellectual consigliere, Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote: “…[the] nation state as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state.”

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Achieving such a goal, however, is not simply a matter of standing back and watching evolution take it course. It involves torpedoing major institutions, regardless of how well or poorly they are serving the public interest.
In other words: promote chaos at every possible opportunity.
The extreme oddness of choosing national health insurance as the first planned shot out of the White House, in 2009, was, at the most important level, an exercise in stirring the national pot with a multi-blade fan engine.
Chaos has several aims; among them: raising the level of frustration; dividing the populace; engendering heating conflicts; demoralizing citizens; producing a sense of helplessness; and rendering large numbers of people into a state of surrender and passivity.
It is a prelude to a New Order. A more heartless and repressive Order.
Obamacare is just one example among hundreds.
Operation Chaos has been targeting the United States for well over a hundred years.
Of the dozen or so possible first steps of a Presidency, Obama chose the one that would produce the most discord.
Because US presidents rarely mention Globalism and its tentacles and plans and organizations, it is assumed the issue isn’t of high importance.
But since the closing days of World War 2, (and, actually, much earlier), when members of the Rockefeller Council on Foreign Relations were tapped to write the blueprint for the United Nations, when the outline of the Marshall Plan was drafted, when the first serious meetings of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) were set in stone, every American President has looked the other way, when Globalism has reared its head.
That’s FDR all the way through to Obama.
And during that 70-year period, ops small, medium, and large have been launched to weaken the United States and entangle it in the Globalist framework.
For the two terms of Obama’s Presidency, national health insurance was chosen as a bare electric wire, to shock, stimulate, and magnify dormant hostilities throughout the country.
To the Globalists, the respective merits and flaws in a national healthcare system are of absolutely no concern. It is simply one more opportunity to “crash the system” and produce a hole in the fabric of national life.
For these men, the issue of Obamacare “has legs.” They will squeeze more out of it, for their own purposes, in the months and years ahead.
Mired in the quite serious and real pros and cons of a national health plan, people will miss the bigger picture and pass by it without a glance of recognition.
The manipulators don’t pick trivial issues. Distraction requires presenting people with forceful conflicts.
It requires the belief that events are what they seem and the motives behind them are clear and on the surface.
Jon Rappoport

60% of Americans Want a Third Party Candidate for 2016

don't fall fer it folks ..it will be infested wit ass pipes to !  

60% of Americans Want a Third Party Candidate for 2016

Posted on October 11, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog

Americans Say a Pox On Both Their Houses

Famed trend forecaster Gerald Celente predicted in 2009 that a third party presidential candidate could win in 2012.
It obviously didn’t  happen.  But could a third party win in 2016?
Poll after poll shows that both mainstream parties are deeply unpopular with the American people.
Poll after poll shows that the American people are disgusted with the core policies of both the mainstream Democrats and Republican parties, which help the fatcats while hurting the little guy.
Polls show that Congress is less popular than dog poop, toenail fungus, hemorrhoids,  cockroaches, lice, root canals, colonoscopies, traffic jams, used car salesmen, Genghis Khan, Communism, North Korea, BP during the Gulf Oil Spill, Nixon during Watergate or King George during the American Revolution.
60% of Americans want to throw all of the bums in Congress – including their own representatives – out in the next election.
The government as a whole doesn’t fare much better. Gallup reports:

Eighteen percent of Americans are satisfied with the way the nation is being governed, down 14 percentage points from the 32% recorded last month before the partial government shutdown began. This is the lowest government satisfaction rating in Gallup’s history of asking the question dating back to 1971.

A poll by Associated Press  and GfK shows that people are disgusted with both parties’ handling of the “government shutdown”:

Americans are finding little they like about President Barack Obama or either political party ….
The AP-GfK poll finds few people approve of the way the president is handling most major issues and most people say he’s not decisive, strong, honest, reasonable or inspiring.
***
Large majorities of those surveyed finding little positive to say about Democrats. The negatives are even higher for the Republicans across the board, with 4 out of 5 people describing the GOP as unlikeable and dishonest and not compassionate, refreshing, inspiring or innovative.

And second Gallup poll shows that 60% of Americans think we need a third party:

Amid the government shutdown, 60% of Americans say the Democratic and Republicans parties do such a poor job of representing the American people that a third major party is needed. That is the highest Gallup has measured in the 10-year history of this question. A new low of 26% believe the two major parties adequately represent Americans.

***

Republicans, Democrats Equally Likely to See Need for Third Party
Republicans (52%) and Democrats (49%) are similar in their perceptions that a third party is needed. In fact, this marks the first time that a majority of either party’s supporters have said a third party is needed.

The two-party system has become nothing but a scripted beauty contest between two heads of the same animal.
But isn’t the American system a two-party system … warts and all?
No … in fact, the Founding Fathers tried to warn us about the threat from a two-party system.

America’s Drug Empire

America’s Drug Empire

The planned destruction of America

The planned destruction of America

Obamacare computer code riddled with typos, Latin filler text, desperate programmer comments and disastrous architecture

naturalnews.comBy the way, guess how much you and I paid to build this failed, disastrous system? $634 million. It's a bargain!

Originally published October 10 2013

Obamacare computer code riddled with typos, Latin filler text, desperate programmer comments and disastrous architecture

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) If I had told you one month ago that ten days into the launch of Obamacare not a single person could be confirmed to have successfully enrolled, you would have called me a lunatic. And yet, here we are, tens days into the launch, and guess what? The White House cannot produce a single person who has successfully enrolled through the federally-run exchange Healthcare.gov.

Not one.

The real story on the catastrophic IT disaster known as Healthcare.gov is only now beginning to be recognized by the nation. As a person with a strong IT background running large R&D projects, I was among the very first to claim that Healthcare.gov is not just broken, it's DOA because of critical design failures.

It's not merely a "glitch." It's way beyond a SNAFU. This is the defining failure moment of the delusional thinking of democrats and their fantasyland government-centralized economy.

Even ABC News is now calling Healthcare.gov, "nothing short of disastrous," adding, "Media outlets have struggled to find anyone who has been successful."

My analysis of the Javascript running Healthcare.gov

I have personally looked at the Javascript code running part of the Healthcare.gov website. If you are curious how I got the code, I simply typed the URL of the Javascript code into the browser address field. The browser then pulls up the entire code block, because Javascript is client-side code (not server-side).

What I am seeing in this code is nothing short of jaw-dropping. As people are now saying, this code is "CRAAAAAZY!" You almost can't even call it Javascript code. If you sat down 100 monkeys in front of 100 typewriters and told them to start banging away, I'm confident at least one of them would come up with something far better than the Healthcare.gov Javascript code.

In fact, I am practically ROFLMAO just looking at this code. Any competent programmer in the world, upon seeing this, would just burst their britches in knowing the U.S. government spent $600+ million dollars on this project. Inside the code, the Javascript programmer comments are just off-the-charts hilarious. Comments found in the code include (yes, these are actual text comments from the script):

"TODO: add functionality to show alert text after too many tries at log in"

"make sure we don't try to do this before the saml has been posted if (window.registrationInitialSessionCallsComplete)"

"Attention: This file is generated once and can be modified by hand"

"Fill In this with actual content. Lorem Ipsum"

"TODO: maybe modify the below to use a similar method instead"

Riddled with typos and errors in the error messages

The code is also full of juvenile typos such as "'Misssing Password" and "This is not a valid organazation ID." Seriously, was this written by eighth graders?

Even error messages contains their own errors, such as "'Exception in [sic] retreiving REInsurance Plan by criteria."

It also contains brain-dead user instructions such as:

"You need to send the Marketplace proof that you are not enrolled in Medicaid or the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Examples of documents you can send include Letter from Medicaid or CHIP." (Yeah, right. Can you imagine calling Medicaid and asking for a letter stating that you are NOT enrolled in Medicaid?)

"Verify [FN]'s SSN and date of death, if applicable"

"Check all attestations before submitting your application."

"Send the Marketplace proof that [FN] isnt incarcerated (detained or jailed) by [Date]."

Do you speak Gujarati?

Although this Healthcare.gov computer code fails to function it does however support the language known as "Gujarati." According to an online encyclopedia, "Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, native to Gujarat, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli in India. It is part of the greater Indo-European language family. Gujarati is derived from Old Gujarati (1100–1500 AD) which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages, and is the chief language in the state of Gujarat."

I am absolutely thrilled to know that my tax dollars may someday pay for the health insurance coverage of an ancestor of the Gujarati and Rajasthani languages, from the state of Gujarat. So while our "greatest generation" World War II veterans are being barricaded out of national monuments, the Obama administration is prioritizing providing subsidized health insurance coverage to descendants of the state of Gujarat.

Latin filler text

Laughably, the application code is also riddled with Latin used as filler text. For example, one line of code actually says:

resources['ffe.ee.myAccount.home.specialEnrollment.description2'] = 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.'

Latin is used by programmers as filler / placeholder text for unfinished applications. The fact that this Latin is found in the code is yet more proof that the entire system never even entered Alpha testing, much less Beta testing or an official release. This is pre-alpha code requiring possible YEARS of development for final release.

Bizarre error messages also found in Obamacare code

Error messages written into the code leave no doubt that the people who wrote the code are masters of chaos and confusion. Here are just a few of the error message I found by casually scrolling through the Javascript publicly posted on the Healthcare.gov website:

"Exception in inconsistency adjudication process"

"Notices are official messages that lorem ipsum."

"Exception in triggering the Inconsistency Clock Service" (By the way, this error message confirms I was right in my public prediction about the system suffering from time clock synchronization errors.)

"Not Acceptable - Queried enrollment group plan is empty OR Selected plan doesnt existException in calling RetrieveNonFaPlanReviewConfirmDetails service"

"Please wait a few minutes and try again." (Uh, 10 million people tried that already...)

And here's our favorite, which claims that your application can't be processed because somehow gremlins behind the curtain are going to "make sure you get the lowest cost..."

We cant finish your application now -- its going to take us a little longer to make sure we get you the lowest possible costs. We will contact you again soon with more information. If you have questions, please call us at 1-800-318-2596 (TTY: 1-855-889-4325).

Truly disastrous architecture calls over 1,000 resources just to load one page

Even though I have only seen the public Javascript code and not the server-side processing code, the Javascript itself is truly disastrous -- on an epic scale.

For example, the Javascript file loaded for each user transfers all error messages, form field messages and front-end error messages from the server to the user's browser repeatedly for each cultural language supported by the system.

In other words, the entire set of error messages is hard-coded into the Javascript for English, then again for German, then again for French, Spanish, and so on, all the way through Gujarati and who knows how many other unheard-of languages.

I don't even know how to begin to tell you how disastrously idiotic such a design is. It practically guarantees a critical server crash under any kind of real user load. No programmer with an IQ above 100 would design js code in such a manner. This code was designed and written by utterly incompetent people who have built into the system exactly the kind of architecture that will make it fail if anyone tries to use it.

When HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says this code is "functioning," she's actually painting a giant "dunce" sign on her forehead. This code is so far from functioning that all the government programmers in the world couldn't make it work smoothly by January 1.

Was Healthcare.gov designed to fail?

It's almost as if the entire system has been designed to fail. There is no rational justification for writing code like this. It's like someone held a contest to find out "who can write the most inefficient, wasteful computer code" and Healthcare.gov won the top prize!

And yet, at the same time, this project perfectly reflects the foundational philosophy of the Obama administration: sell the dream to get elected, then screw everybody when it comes to implementation.

It also forces you to ask the question: To what lengths will Obama go to try to cover-up this disastrous mess by causing some other crisis as a distraction?

I assure you this system has zero chance of smoothly functioning by January 1, 2014. And that means a massive public backlash is on the way. As the truth comes out on this, the Obama administration is going to be embarrassed like nothing else we've ever seen in the history of government. This failure is so monumental, so critical, and so disastrous that it discredits not just Obama but the entire socialist fantasy of government-run, centrally-planned economies. Healthcare.gov is the ultimate argument for a free market run without government interference. It epitomizes the incompetence of Washington D.C. like nothing else in history.

No need to delay Obamacare; it will collapse on its own

Ultimately, this also means we don't have to worry about trying to delay Obamacare. Obamacare is going to destroy itself! Sooner or later, the entire country will realize the absurdity of being fined by the IRS for not buying a mandatory insurance policy that cannot be purchased because the government-run exchange site is utterly non-functional.

Obamacare will go down in history as the greatest IT failure in the history of the world. I can already see this outcome reflected in the code. As usual, Natural News is days, weeks or months ahead of the curve on this, so don't expect the mainstream media -- largely staffed by fantasyland Obama worshippers who know nothing about computer code -- to grasp the seriousness of the critical failures that will bring this system down.

By the way, guess how much you and I paid to build this failed, disastrous system? $634 million. It's a bargain!

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The Three Stages of US Martial Law

October 11, 2013 - Featured, Main, Martial Law - Tagged: 9/11, agenda 21, censorship, false flag, FEMA, genocide, government, martial law, ndaa, new world order, obama, petrodollar, police state - 7 comments

Dave Hodges
October 11, 2013
The Common Sense Show

America has gone from being annoyed with their government to the point of resisting their government. In my previous article, I have detailed how state governors, veterans, truckers and just average everyday citizens are resisting the tyrannical and egregious abrogation’s of the United States Constitution. The police state crackdown mechanisms are in place which are designed to break the back of any resistance to federal authority, legitimate or not.

The net effect of the establishment of “Police State America” is that it is designed to subjugate the populace and stamp out any remaining vestiges of Constitutional liberties and create a society where the state is all-powerful. With America’s new found spirit of civil liberty being expressed through acts of civil disobedience, martial law is being put into place. When one couples this undeniable fact with the fact that President Obama is under extreme pressure and is struggling to maintain control of the country, these measures are going to be rolled in a style reminiscent of the Shock and Awe style witnessed in Gulf War I.

Obama Is a Wounded Animal

Obama was clearly given a mandate by the central bankers to get the US in a war in the Middle East, first with Syria and Iran. This conflict was designed to temporarily preserve the Petrodollar which Iran is threatening by selling oil for gold to China, Russia and India. The powers that be were hoping that Russia and China would resist and any final resistance to a complete central banking takeover of the planet would be eliminated. Obama’s initiatives, designed to provoke a war with Syria, as a first step, were turned back. Obama has been publicly humiliated by Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.The world and specifically, the alternative media thwarted Obama and the central bankers on this front.

Obama’s Motivation for Martial Law Implementation

Richard Nixon was unable to survive one direct hit upon his administration, namely, the Watergate scandal. Conversely, Obama is facing five scandals which dwarfs Watergate in terms of criminality, abuse of power, malfeasance of office and outright treason. The damage inflicted upon the American people by the criminal syndicate occupying the White House, in American History, is unparalleled.  

Last May the central bankers, through their corporate controlled press, released five Watergate type scandals in a brief 10 day period designed to force a reluctant President’s hand in the Middle East. America is outraged by (1) Benghazi-Gate; (2) IRS-Gate; (3) AP Spy-Gate; (4) Whistle-blower-Gate; and even (5) Fast and Furious made a second pass. The alternative media is being so effective that it is forcing the MSM to jump off Obama’s ship and claim they do not support him any longer (e.g. MSNBC Chris Mathews). These five events are real threats to this President remaining in office. Unable to get a war started in the Middle East, how can the President survive these five crises? He has no choice but to move from the soft forms of martial law to an all-out implementation of martial law if he wants to remain in power.

The Three Stages of Martial Law Roll-Out

Under martial law, Obama can effectively eliminate all opposition to his administration. Under martial law, Obama can eliminate all media opposition to his presidency. Additionally, under martial law, Obama can remain in power, perhaps indefinitely. The pattern for the implementation of martial law follows three very distinct stages.

Stage one of martial law consists of the gradual roll-out of government controls over citizen liberties. Travel is restricted through inland border checkpoints. The internal DHS VIPR programs which randomly search citizens at public events and on the highways. Citizens are conditioned by the TSA that they do not control or own their bodies as the flying public is molested by the TSA everyday in our nation’s airports in an extreme violation of our citizens Fourth Amendment rights. Stage one also begins to create an enemies list and we have already seen this in the MIAC report in which Christians, Ron Paul supporters, Second Amendment supporters, Libertarians and Constitutionalists have been branded as domestic terrorists. The enemies list has been created and will be acted upon at a future date. In Stage one, the government elevates itself above any pretense of constitutional liberties. America has been firmly under Stage one martial law governance since the events of 9/11.

In Stage two, martial law implementation becomes obvious to all citizens except for the ones who invoke cognitive dissonance as a psychological coping mechanism. Stage two is marked by restrictions on travel, the loss of free speech and the right to assemble to air grievances against the government.

Press release date: April 4, 2012

Owner: Department of Homeland Security

Project Description:

Shelters Direct provided the Department of Homeland Security with this 4×13 Steel UL 752 Level 3 Bullet Resistant Booth.

This guard building features a standing seam hip roof, a thru-wall HVAC unit, (2) UL 752 BR Level 3 sliding doors, UL 752 Bullet Resistant Level 3 glass and a Low]E coating.

DHS bullet proof checkpoint. “Papers Please”

National ID

J Stamp

In Stage two, the free internet as we know it, will disappear. Subsequently, the truthful, alternative media will disappear as well. Stage two is also characterized by the total loss of due process of law with regard to detainment, imprisonment or worse. This stage is also marked by limiting participation of members of the society who have been previously identified as enemies of the state (i.e. MIAC Report). This would include the ability to hold certain kinds of employment, a special designation on a form of national ID, the imposition of restrictions on who can marry, where one can live, etc.

This ID led to 90 days of genocide resulting in one million executions.

Your soon-to-be ID card

When the national ID card is implemented, it is time to run for the hills because history shows that nobody will be safe.

The Loss of Private Property

Stage two also witnesses the total loss of private property and free will in terms of choice of domicile (i.e. Agenda 21), choice of employment and exercising any form of political choice. In short, Stage two is characterized by creating a political caste system in which the legal rights of certain groups are set in place (i.e. NDAA, Executive Order 13603, etc). The MERS mortgage fraud inspired thievery of legitimate home titles and the MF Global theft of privately secured investment accounts are cases in point. Stage two is often preceded by a false flag attack (e.g. burning of the Reichstag) designed to create a perceived enemy which serves as the excuse for the encroachment of  “necessary” tyranny in a society in which “we must trade our liberty for security” approach to governance.

Stage three martial law has given history some of its darkest days. Warrantless detentions become common place in which suspected political dissidents are removed from society, usually in the middle of the night. In modern terminology, these would be referred to as the “Red list” tagged citizens who are detained and normally executed. These include outspoken preachers, outspoken talk show hosts, people who have any kind of history of civil disobedience.

The remainder of this article will exclusively focus on the establishment of Stage two martial law.   

Police State Measures

From unconstitutional border checkpoints which are  dozens of miles inland, America has been under a soft form of martial law for some time. The TSA conducts illegal and unconstitutional sexual assault, everyday, upon the flying public. The TSA has expanded their illegal detention and search operations through Operation VIPR on highways, malls and even a high school prom in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The NSA spies on your electronic move and has created a threat matrix database on every American. Why? What have Americans done that is so bad that our federal agencies have to invade rodeos, NASCAR events and the I-40 highway in Tennessee to pull over Americans without probable cause and molest their bodies in the name of national security? These unwarranted actions are the preliminary event to the roll out of Stage two martial law.

Creating the “Reichstag Fire” Justification

When the lights go out

I do not look for one false flag event designed to move the country into martial law, it is likely that several false flag events will take place, in different regions of the country. The pattern is almost always the same in which the authorities conduct a drill related to terrorism. The drill is used to mask a false flag attack arising from the drill. This happened on 9/11, the 7/7 bombings and most recently, at the Boston Marathon. These drills combined with resulting false flag events will give the administration the ability to incrementally implement martial law in a fashion similar to what happened in with the implementation of  illegal martial law in Boston following the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15th. The roll out of Boston’s martial law was clearly a beta test for what is coming all across the country. And who could ever forget the images of the federal subjugation of an American city in which we saw troops in the street, curfews imposed and free travel eliminated.

Recently, DHS sponsored a self-study entitled, “Homeland Security and Intelligence: Next Steps in Evolving the Mission“, in which DHS proclaims that they are no longer concerned with foreign inspired terrorism. They are only going to focus on domestic terrorism, ostensibly, against the American people. Does the DHS purchase of 2.2 billion rounds of ammo, the acquisition of 2700 armored personnel carriers and the beta test of martial law in Boston last April begin to make a great deal of sense. Total control over the country, through a false flag event scenario seems entirely likely given the pre-positioning of assets by DHS.

The real purpose behind the creation of this American version of the East German Stasi secret police was to monitor and control the American population. Unfortunately, DHS has shared its high tech toys with most local police departments and Sheriff’s Departments and has, as a result, co-opted their local function. In other words, the federalization of local police forces, in violation of the 10th Amendment, is well underway. The early returns on this process are in and the results are extremely ugly, and through the federalization of local police departments, DHS is acquiring the manpower to enforce its soon-to-be martial law edicts.

The Importance of PDD 51 Cannot Be Overstated

Further support comes from Presidential Decision Directive 51 handed President Obama dictator status in times of declared, and not necessarily real, national emergency. PDD 51 is a Bush era executive order that gives the President dictatorial power in times of national emergency, eliminates any roadblock to declaring martial law in the United States. It gives Obama the power to suspend elections. Under this arrangement, Obama could have 50 Watergate type of scandals hanging over his and he does not have to worry about leaving office.

Stage Two and the Abrogation of Civil Liberties

Can there be any doubt?

When the first false flag event occurs, America will witness the implementation of Obama’s Executive Order 13603. In Section 601 of Executive Order 13603 signals the most Orwellian aspect of this executive order in which “upon request by the Director of Selective Service, and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, assist the Director of Selective Service in development of policies regulating the induction and deferment of persons for duty in the armed services” (paragraph 2). What is particularly troubling is that the Secretary of Labor will possess oversight over the Selective Service process, instead of the Secretary of Defense. This revelation left me scratching my head as I wondered why would the Department of Labor be in charge of the coming military draft? Then it dawned upon me that we were not just talking about military conscription. I refer to the 2008 Presidential campaign in which Obama stated that “we need to construct a national civilian security force that is just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded” (as the military).
Obama is clearly planning to conscript civilians, train them and send them where they are needed and will pay them whatever wage the Secretary of Commerce determines (Section 601; paragraphs 3, 4-Section 801; paragraph C). In one fell swoop, Obama has sidestepped the 13th Amendment as we are talking about the introduction of forced labor (i.e. indentured servitude).
Under Executive Order 13603, the Secretary of Transportation has been authorized control over civil transportation which “includes movement of persons and property by all modes of transportation in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce within the United States, its territories and possessions, and the District of Columbia, and related public storage and warehousing, ports, services, equipment and facilities, such as transportation carrier shop and repair facilities.” “Civil transportation” also shall include direction, control, and coordination of civil transportation capacity regardless of ownership” (Section 801 part A). Can there be any doubt that the expanded surveillance program by of the TSA, in their unconstitutional, hands down our pants VIPER program, is designed to control all travel in the United States? The former Soviet Union used to have checkpoints every 20 miles in order to restrict travel and to prevent the congregation of “revolutionary forces” for purposes of opposing government control as well as to limit the ability of political dissidents to flee from their governmental pursuers. I feel compelled to ask, what is the government going to do that is so nefarious and so intrusive that they are seeking to set up a control grid which will accomplish these same goals? The present day Border Patrol checkpoints are part of a conditioning process designed to get Americans used to the fact that they have no constitutional liberties (e.g. Fourth Amendment).
Under EO 13603, the Secretary of Energy will have control over all “Energy” (which) means all forms of energy including petroleum, gas (both natural and manufactured), electricity, solid fuels (including all forms of coal, coke, coal chemicals, coal liquification, and coal gasification), solar, wind, other types of renewable energy, atomic energy, and the production, conservation, use, control, and distribution (including pipelines) of all of these forms of energy…” This means the government will have total control over all utility prices, the installation of smart meters along with the implementation of the smart grid and the amount of energy which can be consumed by average Americans will be severely curtailed under this new system of energy feudalism which will be imposed on the new American serfs. Obama, in the 2008 Presidential Campaign, stated that “under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Previously ignorant Americans will soon come to know the true meaning and the accurately prophetic meaning of these words (Section 801, part b).

Starving Americans Into Submission

Stalin did it, Hitler did it and now Obama has the ability to do it. In Stage two martial law, if you want to eat, you must obey.

The Secretary of Agriculture will posses control over “fertilizer” (which) means any product or combination of products that contain one or more of the elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for use as a plant nutrient.” The Secretary of Agriculture will also control “food resource facilities “(which) means plants, machinery, vehicles (including on farm), and other facilities required for the production, processing, distribution, and storage (including cold storage) of food resources, and for the domestic distribution of farm equipment and fertilizer.” This is the total control of all food. This will allow Monsanto which demonstrably controls the Department of Agriculture, the FDA and EPA to move forward, unabated, for the total GMO takeover of our food supply. Even more disturbing is that a few men will have total control over all food production and the dissenting masses who oppose this fascist takeover can be effectively starved into submission or starved to death (Section 801, parts c-f).

There can be no doubt as the Secretary of Defense will be placed in charge of all water resources Section 801, part n). I can draw no other conclusion that placing the control of water under the DOD represents the weaponizing of water and the intended target of this full frontal assault are the American people for the purpose of imposing population control and complete compliance. I hearken back to the move The Hunger Games, this is exactly what lies in our future with regard to a martial law roll out which reaches Stage two.

What Will It Be Like to Live Under Martial Law?

In summary, Stage two martial law will follow a false flag event in which the internet will be taken down. All bank accounts, pension funds and 401K’s will be frozen and stolen. Extreme travel restrictions will be put in place. Random house to house searches will be conducted (Don’t forget about the 386,000 foreign troops which just completed their training on American soil). What will they be looking for? Of course, they will be looking for guns and the false flag events will give them the pretext to do so. And they will also be looking for known trouble makers. We will all be living in a society where we can be singled out for persecution, or worse. We will all have to watch every word we say. As it was in the Soviet Union, your young children will be used to spy upon and tattle on you at their school. And of course, you will be totally dependent upon the government for food, water and shelter. Traveling will be so onerous, that you will be content just to huddle in your home. When the false flag events commence, we will look at these days as the good ‘ole days. 

again America ..what do you do when the law..become the .lawless ?    Our Forefathers knew what to do  !!!         what kind of "man" would do this to anybody !!!      folks we got problems ....need~in fix~in& don't give me that "bad" apples fucking bullshit  ...the fucking barrel is rotten !

Cop Throws 110 Lb Woman Into Cement Bench Shattering Her Face (Video)

Thursday, October 10, 2013 11:04

(Before It's News)

By Susan Duclos

In the disturbing video below, we see an Illinois cop, Michael Hart, throw a 110 lb woman, Cassandra Feuerstein, 47, who was arrested back in March for DUI, face first into a cement bench in her jail cell, shattering her face. The cell door is open, Ms. Feuerstein goes out, presumably after ebing called out, to call her husband and within seconds is pushed back in and thrown against the cell’s cement bench.

The remainder of the video shows the officers assisting her as she bleeds all over the floor.

Ms. Feuerstein has filed a lawsuit against the Skokie Police Department for excessive force.

Cross posted at Wake up America

Facebook Changes Privacy Settings So Users Can’t Hide From Search

http://intellihub.com/2013/10/11/facebook-changes-privacy-settings-users-cant-hide-search/

Now anyone in the world can seek out your facebook profile

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

By JG Vibes | October 11, 2013 |

WASHINGTON (INTELLIHUB) —
Over the years Facebook has been slowly scaling back their privacy settings, taking more and more control away from the user.  One recent change that has been upsetting Facebook users is the fact that now anyone can find your profile by searching your name in their database.
The change was announced last year but hasn’t began to take effect for many people until this week.  Now you have another reason to use an alias while posting on social media.
The following notice was recently posted by Facebook:
Last year we announced the removal of an old setting called “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” along with new controls for managing content on Facebook.  The search setting was removed last year for people who weren’t using it. For the small percentage of people still using the setting, they will see reminders about it being removed in the coming weeks.  Whether you’ve been using the setting or not, the best way to control what people can find about you on Facebook is to choose who can see the individual things you share._[1]
Everyone remembers the mass exodus from MySpace to Facebook that took place a few years ago.
Facebook developed a following because it allowed people to connect with friends more easily, and due to these increased capabilities they became the dominant social network on the internet.
Over the years Facebook has become one of the most popular websites in the world, and recently the company has been taking advantage of their social network dominance.
The newest controversies surrounding Facebook have been the intentional censorship of activist profiles and the “promotional posts” scam which has cut off every single Facebook user from a vast majority of their posts.
Since these changes silently went into effect a few months ago, every single Facebook user can now only see a fraction of the stories which should be in their news feed.
For artists, activists and people with websites, there is now an option for them to promote their posts for a ridiculous fee and have more of their fans see their posts.
Many Facebook users don’t even realize that this is happening because unless you’re using the site for promotional purposes you don’t really notice.
Also, for years there have been so many rumors about Facebook charging that now when activists try to tell people about these new changes, it has turned into a “boy cried wolf scenario” and no one pays attention.
If we wanted to fight a losing battle we could protest Facebook, and try to get them to change their polices.  However, that doesn’t really seem like it would be effective, and it hasn’t been effective in the past.
What actually needs to take place is the same sort of exodus that we saw from MySpace to Facebook, and in order for that exodus to take place we are going to need a more appealing social network for people to migrate to.
There are already some newer social networks popping up, but it doesn’t seem like any of them can compete with Facebook, at least not yet anyway.
I know that there are masses of hackers out there that are way more intelligent than Mark Zuckerberg, and they can work together to create a decentralized, open source social network that blows Facebook completely out of the water.
so what do you say guys? is the challenge accepted?

Sources:
[1] Reminder: Finishing the Removal of an Old Search Setting – Facebook

RT: SAUDI BLACK OPS TEAM BEHIND SYRIAN CHEMICAL ATTACK, AND MY TWO CENTS

October 11, 2013 By Joseph P. Farrell

Russia Today is claiming that Saudi Arabian black operations teams were ultimately behind the chemical weapons attack that the USA attempted to blame on the regime of Basher al-Assad:
Saudi black op team behind Damascus chem weapons attack – diplomatic sources
What is interesting to me is that this article makes its appearance after the diplomatic cards that Mr. Putin dealt to Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Ketchup Kerry. Judging from the comments and emails I was receiving during the intervention hysteria being whipped up in the USA, most people contacting me were of the opinion that it was another false flag attack, and were immediately suspicious of western attempts to fasten the blame for the incident on Assad’s regime. Most people pointed out that he had nothing to gain by such a measure, and virtually everything to lose.
And, amid the demands to show the proof for these allegations, the case for intervention eventually stalled, and fizzled, at least, for the moment. Indeed, given the high cynicism against governments and leaders in the West, one wonders whether any amount of evidence would have been persuasive. After all, the west was treated to “intelligence information” concerning Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction that, upon examination, disappeared like fog in the morning sun. Once trust vanishes, any information coming from an untrusted source, whether true or not, must overcome that wall of suspicion. And it is this phenomenon, not Mr. Putin’s “interference,” that is now hampering western geopolitical agendas.
Which makes this article from RT all the more interesting, for consider these statements:

“The August chemical weapons attack in the Syrian capital’s suburbs was done by a Saudi Arabian black operations team, Russian diplomatic sources have told a Russian news agency.
“’Based on data from a number of sources a picture can be pieced together. The criminal provocation in Eastern Ghouta was done by a black op team that the Saudi’s sent through Jordan and which acted with support of the Liwa Al-Islam group,’ a source in the diplomatic circles told Interfax.
“The attack and its consequences had a huge impact on the Syrian situation, another source said.
“’Syrians of various political views, including some opposition fighters, are seeking to inform diplomats and members of international organizations working in Syria what they know about the crime and the forces which inspired it,’ he told the agency.

“Sources” and “another source” and “Russian diplomatic sources.”
“Our anonymous sources have confirmed…” and “another whistleblower, who must remain nameless, said…”
Thus far, RT has functioned rather well as an informative news source, particularly for people in the West fed up with the obvious failures of their own lamestream media. And thus far, RT has usually followed up articles like this – full of assertion but with little verification – with the “nitty gritty details” at some later point.  With so much at stake in the region, and what appears to be an insane policy of western backing of rebels of the most extreme kind, we can only hope and urge RT,  that if it has that information and the nitty gritty details, that it release them soon.  Otherwise, this “information” might as well have come from Ketchup Kerry, or been part of a briefing on Iraqi WMDs by Colin Powell.

Read more: RT: SAUDI BLACK OPS TEAM BEHIND SYRIAN CHEMICAL ATTACK, AND MY TWO CENTS

Genetically Modified Foods and PR Wars: Fighting Against Biotech Giants

By James Corbett

Global Research, October 11, 2013

Global Research TV 29 October 2012

Region: USA

Theme: Biotechnology and GMO, Environment, Science and Medicine

In the face of yet more scientific evidence of the adverse health effects of genetically modified foods, country after country is working to ban, limit or restrict the cultivation and testing of GM crops.

But as the biotech giants gear up the PR war against their opponents, the question of what people can do to avoid GMO foods is becoming more important than ever.

Find out more about this topic in this GRTV Backgrounder on Global Research TV. (Originally posted October 29, 2012)

Video Transcript

Genetically modified food crops have long been sold to the public as the answer to humanity’s 21^st century food supply problems. For decades now, the public has been told that they are safe for human consumption, that they will improve crop yields, that they will require less pesticides and that they will be the safest, most effective way to feed the world’s population as we head into times of severe instability in the global food supply. Although scientific research have long exposed these claims as biotech propaganda, a new batch of studies in recent months have garnered attention for upending every one of these claims about GMO technology.

Last month, a new study published in the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology found that rats fed Monsanto’s patented NK603 gmo corn were more likely to develop tumours and suffer severe liver and kidney damage. The study followed 200 rats over two years, divided into 10 groups of 10 males and 10 females. Three groups were fed the NK603 corn alone, three groups were fed the corn treated with Roundup herbicide, three groups were not fed the corn but their water was treated with Roundup, and a control group was fed non-GM corn and plain drinking water. The researchers found that the rats that consumed the GM corn or the Roundup, separately or combined, were prone to serious health problems that typically did not manifest until the fourth month of the trial. Industry-sponsored rat feeding tests only span three months.

This is in addition to numerous studies in recent years showing that, contrary to the claims of the GM food supporters, GM crops neither produce larger yields nor reduce the amount of pesticides necessary for the cultivation of crops. A 2009 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists foundthat genetically engineered crops produced no significant yield increases, and what increases in yield were detected were almost exclusively due to traditional breeding and improvement in agricultural practices. This was affirmed in a report to the UN Human Rights Council last year showing that the scientific literature demonstrates that the greatest potential for increased yield in the future comes not from gmo foods, but from organic agro-ecological practices that are capable of doubling yields within entire regions in under 10 years. A 2011 study coordinated by the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture showed that GMO crops were promoting the creation of “superweeds,” contributing to food insecurity, and required vastly higher concentrations of pesticides to be sprayed.

As convincing as the results of this latest research is, it only adds to an already voluminous body of research in the scientific literature that has already undermined claims of GMO’s safety and efficacy. Earlier this week I had the chance to talk to independent journalist and researcherAnthony Gucciardi of NaturalSociety.com about these studies, and the detrimental health effects that have been tied to the consumption of genetically modified crops.

The reason that this scientific refutation of the safety and efficacy of GMO technology has not reached the general public is hardly mysterious. The biotech giants whose very reason for existence is the promotion of the GMO myth have fought a long and protracted campaign to smear, undermine and cover up studies pointing out the disastrous consequences of the use of this technology. This process has been underway for years and, unsurprisingly, the GMO PR machine is once again revving into action to attempt to counteract the damage to the reputation of genetic engineering technology that this recent research has caused.

Immediately upon the release of the latest rat feeding study, a coordinated effort to undermine the study and its researchers began. Critics pointed to perceived flaws in the collection, reporting and analysis of the study’s findings. One of the key voices driving the campaign against the study was the Science Media Centre, a supposedly neutral party that connects journalists to scientists when important scientific discoveries are in the headlines. The Science Media Centre itself, however, is funded by bodies like CropLife International, a biotech trade association working to promote the interests of biotech companies around the world, and Syngenta, one of the key biotech seed giants. It has also received funding directly from Monsanto UK.

In the wake of the publication of the new study, the popular GMO information website GMWatch.org was targeted with an aggressive cyber attackthat succeeded in almost crippling the website. The site operators had to direct traffic from their main page to their Twitter account at the height of the attack, which they noted was not the first time that outside forces had attempted to take them offline. GMWatch is not funded by the biotech industry and regularly publishes news, information and studies demonstrating the health risks of GM foods.

The latest round of attacks and misinformation brings to mind for many the case of Arpad Puzstai, a renowned British researcher who was immediately fired from his position at a prestigious Scottish research institute after announcing in 1998 the disturbing findings of severe health effects on rats subjected to feeding tests of a new genetically modified potato variety.

Still, despite the best efforts of the biotech giants and their financially connected apologists, public skepticism over the benefits of genetically modified foods is reaching new highs, even as public awareness that GMO crops already account for a large percentage of the North American food supply is also hitting record levels. This awareness and understanding is slowly being transformed into action, as grassroots movements are prompting country after country to set up new barricades against the introduction and spread of these GMO foods.

In 2010, Germany announced a ban on the cultivation of Monsanto’s MON 810 genetically modified corn. In January of this year, BASF, the last firm still developing genetically modified crops in Germany, was forced to stop working on GM crops because of widespread public backlash.

In 2011, Peru passed a law banning genetically modified ingredients for ten years to prevent, in the words of the Peruvian Agrarian Commission President, the “danger that can arise from the use of biotechnology.”

Also in 2011, Hungarian authorities destroyed 1000 acres of corn which were found to have been grown with genetically modified seeds, which are banned under Hungarian law.

In the wake of the French rat feeding study, Russia immediately suspended the importation and use of Monsanto’s GMO corn.

In India, the Supreme Court has just called for the Indian government to follow suit with a 10 year ban on all GMO crop field trials for the next 10 years.

In the United States, meanwhile, the fight for a proper, standardized labelling system for foods containing GMO ingredients is heating up. In California, citizens are preparing to vote on a ballot measure, known as Prop 37, which will require clear labelling for genetically modified products.

As promising and hopeful as it is that people are moving to ban GMO foods from their country, and as helpful as movements like the Prop 37 GMO labelling movement are in raising awareness of the issues, such activism runs the risk that the public will be placated into thinking that the legislative process can be relied on to keep this genome-altering technology in check. This thinking is ultimately utopian, seemingly ignoring the existence of the long-acknowledged revolving door between the biotech corporations and the institutions like the FDA which are supposedly there to monitor and regulate them.

In the case of Prop 37, draft proposals of the text show lengthy lists of exemptions that would allow animals that have been reared on GMO feed, or foods that contain as many as 10 GMO ingredients, being labelled as “non-GMO” foods. It is scarcely believable that any attempt to check the spread and use of these GMO foods by purely legislative means will survive the legislative process in a state that would render it ultimately effective.

Much more important, as always, is what individuals can do for themselves to insure that they do not purchase, support or consume GMO products. Although the process of sorting through the ingredients and production processes of various foods can be a bewildering experience, grassroots movements are now taking advantage of the crowdsourcing and networking powers of the internet to do an end-run around the government regulatory process altogether to create usable, practical lists of truly non-GMO foods that can be cross-referenced by anyone with access to the internet. Websites like that of the Non-GMO Project at NonGMOProject.org are helping concerned citizens to take matters into their own hands to empower them to avoid GMO products altogether and to stop supporting the corporations that are producing these foods with our own funds.

In the end, perhaps this is where the fight against GMO technology will ultimately be won: not in the halls of congress or parliament, but on the dinner plates of an informed citizenry who have taken matters into their own hands and refuse to eat these GMO products.