NPR needs help to find the culprit who killed the WPEA

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) passed the Senate unanimously last December. It was tweaked and passed unanimously in the House, then sent back to the Senate for a final vote - where someone blocked it by the an anonymous hold, killing it on December 22. On January 7th, NPR’s On the Media, with the Government Accountability Project, set out to find out who. Now they are down to three: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), all of whom have declined to deny placing the hold. WNYC and the GAP still need help to blow the whistle on who killed the WPEA. They need residents of Alabama, Arizona and Idaho to call their respective Senators and ask for confirmation or denial of responsibility for the hold, and more pointedly, ask “why they believe the public does not have a right to hold them accountable for something as basic as killing a bill.” They suggest asking the following questions “as a way to guide the conversation”:

1) Did you place the anonymous hold on the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act? 2) What is the Senator's policy regarding inquiries from constituents about his use of the anonymous hold? 3) When is the Senator’s “hold” the public’s business, about which the public has the right to know? 4) What determines when use of the “hold” is a “personal, private matter” that is not the public’s business? 5) Why would the Senator be publicly supportive of the bill but work to defeat it in private? 6) All but three Senators have confirmed that they did NOT use the hold to kill S. 372, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. Assuming that the senator who placed the hold is eventually identified - as they frequently are - and it is your senator, is he prepared to deal with the fallout that comes from ignoring constituent questions?
These are good questions to ask about any anonymous hold on Senate bills, not just this one. You can read about what the Act would have done here, and if you have any information, email blowthewhistle@wnyc.org. WNYC is collecting and posting the responses.

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Military Psy-ops, this time illegally directed at Congress

Keep President Eisenhower's warning in mind as you read this post (see video below). The U.S. Department of Defense defines "Psychological Operations" or "Psy-Ops" as "Planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign government, organizations, groups, and individuals." Such operations may be based upon truth or based upon deception, but the goal is the same: to alter perceptions and "ultimately the behavior" of others. As a matter of law, such actions are supposed to be directed against the "foreign hostile groups", or at least not against Americans. Unfortunately, this law is routinely ignored:

  • In 2009, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) awarded a multi-million dollar contract to General Dynamics to wage a psy-ops campaign aimed at France and Britain. The goal of the campaign was to create "influence websites" to build support for the Global War on Terror.

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Devastating Wikileaks leaked cables: Saudi Arabia has peaked

Wikileaks continues to drop bombshells, even as Julian Assange finds himself on trial.  Unfortunately, the news about Assange is overshadowing some of the latest, and most devastating, leaks.  Namely, that Saudi Arabia has probably been overstating their reserves-- no big surprise to those of us who have been studying peak oil.   But where we only had speculation and circumstantial evidence before, now we have confirmation in the form of statements from credible Saudi Arabian authorities. The first cable deals with a meeting with Dr. Sadad al-Husseini, former Executive Vice President for Exploration and Production at the state-owned Saudi Aramco.  It's almost comical as al-Husseini goes to great lengths to insist that the theory of Peak Oil is wrong, even as he describes it occurring within the kingdom.  For example, the cable says:

He stated that the IEA's expectation that Saudi Arabia and the Middle East will lead the market in reaching global output levels of over 100 million barrels/day is unrealistic, and it is incumbent upon political leaders to begin understanding and preparing for this "inconvenient truth." Al-Husseini was clear to add that he does not view himself as part of the "peak oil camp," and does not agree with analysts such as Matthew Simmons. He considers himself optimistic about the future of energy, but pragmatic with regards to what resources are available and what level of production is possible.

Continue ReadingDevastating Wikileaks leaked cables: Saudi Arabia has peaked

Information about whistleblowers

Here's a good source for information about whistleblowers: Whistleblowers Protection Blog.

Established in 1988, the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund (“the Fund”) is a non-profit public interest law firm that works in conjunction with the National Whistleblower Center. The attorneys for the Fund represent employee whistleblowers who have reported malfeasance in private corporations and government agencies.

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Wikileaks and a Swiss bank list

On Monday, Rudolph Elmer is said to have turned over to Wikileaks names of US, UK and Asian celebrities, lawmakers and business-folks who may or may not have been trying to avoid paying taxes. Apparently, the data are confusing even to those used to dealing with such, so release won't be soon. Still, it will be interesting to see who is in the Heidi Fleiss Black Book of off-shore accounts. Most particularly if there are any prominent (and current) US lawmakers.

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