Panspermia

This video is pretty interesting-- I hadn't really given much credence before to the idea that life could have arisen elsewhere in the universe and traveled here through interstellar space, but it seems like that possibility is higher than I thought.  Bacteria can live in extremely harsh climates and even in space.



Thus, if there is some basic DNA-bearing life-form that spread around the universe, all sorts of variants could have sprung from it, each recipient planet thus giving rise to a unique evolutionary tree.  So maybe the whole idea of extra-terrestrial aliens having DNA that could be compatible with our own, is not so crazy after all. I still think the idea that ETs could successfully mate with early humans is highly improbable, in terms of basic biology, but there could still be some genes that they could give to us that might give us extra abilities.

This video is also interesting where they talk about completely sterilizing the spaceships that go out into the solar system to look for new life, so that if new life is detected on say Mars, it can't be from contaminating earth bacteria. This procedure seems a bit silly to me, since it should be easy to look at the DNA of some ET bacteria or other ET life form and see if it is remotely like anything on earth.  Any true alien life should be significantly different from life on earth.

However, sterilizing spacecraft to remove earth DNA, interestingly fits with the idea of the earth quarantine, where ETs monitor craft that leave the earth, and prevent any humans from leaving. Spacecraft without any DNA have a better chance of escaping quarantine, perhaps?

On this note of panspermia, and bacteria surviving in tough climates, is this awesome 33:

Bacteria Live At 33,000 Feet

(via long-time commenter J)

Question: Has American Turned Into a Orwellian Dystopia?

Answer:
A) yes
B) no, it was always a dystopia, but it is just clear now because of the internet
C) no, it was always a dystopia, but it is just clear now because I've become more aware of history with age and experience
D) it is indeed more Owellian and dystopian, but this increase is more apparent than real, due to increased information and education about our past.

The Turkey UFO Sighting

I just learned about this today--a pretty remarkable sighting.



This blog has a lot of good info on the UFO as well: http://turkeyufocase.blogspot.com/

Not sure about how well they can resolve the aliens inside the craft, but it's not inconceivable that the craft occupants can be seen.

Dave McGowan Is Still on Fire About the Boston Bombing

Several new pieces at his site.  The pieces such as this one, are actually fairly amusing, assuming you buy into the whole fakery aspect.  Unbelievable how badly they treated "The Other Jeff", just like the original Jeff (Bauman).

This is an amazing find:

In the upper right-hand corner, Jeff and Carlos (green arrow) are about to become the poster boys for this whole sordid affair. Notice that just moments before this shot was taken, the Bauman entourage had passed by one of those very rare and coveted gurneys (yellow arrow). 

I mean seriously??? The guy with both legs blown off, who should be on a gurney, is being wheeled RIGHT PAST a gurney?

Flight 93 Hoax, Redux

This is a cute video suggesting that cruise missiles created the scar that was supposed to be the crash site of flight 93. For some reason, there was no embed code, so you'll have to click the linkie.

A Criminal Surveillance State

NSA Director Keith Alexander totally lies about 9/11 (of course)-- "The intel community failed to connect the dots in 9/11. And much of what we've done since then were to give us the capabilities -- and this is the business record FISA, what's sometimes called Section 215 and the FAA 702 -- two capabilities that help us connect the dots."

The British GCHQ program seems even worse than what the NSA is doing (of course British and US intelligence works hand in glove).

Kind of obvious, but worth a read-- "U.S. Surveillance Is Not Aimed at Terrorists"

Facebook's Former Security Chief Now Works for the NSA, of course.

The US media of course is ignoring many serious criminal issues of spying and totally skewing the conversation in favor of the spies.

One thought I had is that the spying is partly about checking on whether Americans are watching illegal content, it's all part of the copyright culture and a way to trap all of us into illegal behavior.

Another possibility is the massive monitoring of our purchases could be fed to Wall St, to enhance insider profit, especially given the links between Wall St and the CIA.

THIS new thing is ridiculous and disgusting-- Obama's "Insider Threat Program", which asks govt employees to spy on each other.

Booz Allen Hamilton is a criminal organization:

Booz Allen Hamilton is a government contractor, with 99% of its revenue coming from the US government. Not only does it receive money from the NSA, but also the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and ... the IRS. In addition, Booz Allen is heavily connected to the CIA.

Among the individuals involved in running the company, we have:

James Clapper - current Director of National Intelligence (DNI), head of NSA, the man who lied to Congress about the fact that NSA is actively spying on Americans, is a former executive

Mike McConnell - a current executive of the company, had Clapper's job (DNI) during George W. Bush's administration (keep it in the family, eh?) -- he worked for Booz Allen before Bush, then worked for Bush, then back to Booz Allen after Bush

James Woolsey - former CIA Director, current executive (see Jan Helfeld's interview of Mr. Woolsey where it becomes clear that Woolsey has no interest in discussing principles, only war)

Melissa Hathaway - former executive, also worked for McConnell during the Bush administration

Ian Brzezinski - former executive, son of Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller

Dov Zakheim - this character is ... unbelievable:
1993 - His company, System Planning Corporation, had a subsidiary called Tridata Corporation, which was the company that "oversaw" the investigation of the 1993 WTC bombing
2000 - Part of the neocon Project for a New American Century, he is co-author of "Rebuilding America's Defenses," in which he is credited with the infamous line, "... some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor."
2001 - He is appointed Comptroller of the Pentagon, in which $2.3 trillion promptly goes "missing"
2001 - Attack on 9/11 occurs; some people are suspicious of his connections, since his company, SPC, in involved in flight systems capable of remote controlling aircraft, and because he was the guy who leased 32 Boeing 767 aircraft to McDill Air Force Base (2 of the 9/11 aircraft were 767's), and McDill is close to Elgin AFB, which was the location that was to be used if Operation Northwoods had gone live
2004 - Goes to work for Booz Allen Hamilton.
2012 - Advisor on Middle East policy for Mitt Romney campaign (gee ... ya think Romney would have gone to war in the Middle East???)

Booz Allen Hamilton is owned by the Carlyle Group.
One of the big investors in the Carlyle Group was the Bin Laden family in Saudi Arabia. Yeah ... THAT Bin Laden family. And instrumental in being the "go between" for Carlyle/Bin Laden was a guy by the name of George H. W. Bush. Maybe you've heard of him?

The CEO of the Carlyle Group (remember, they OWN Booz Allen Hamilton) is Frank Carlucci. Mr. Carlucci has quite a resume:
Nixon Administration - Director of the Office for Economic Opportunity (the "War on Poverty" -- and a great place to decide who gets government contracts)
Carter Administration - Deputy Director of the CIA
Reagan Administration - National Security Advisor and Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld is Carlucci's protoge)
He is or has been with the Project for a New American Century and a member of the Board of Trustees for the RAND Corporation, a CIA front that develops policies that the Military Industrial Complex then carries out.

At RAND, his specialty was Middle East policy. What do you know? That was also the specialty of Graham Fuller, CIA guy who was the father-in-law of Ruslan Tsarni, uncle of Tamarlan Tsarnev, suspected Boston bomber.
Speaking of the Boston bombing and Tamarlan Tsarnev, he had a couple of trips to Russia that made the news. But what did not make the news (in America, but it did in Russia) is that he went there for "training" that was funded by the Jamestown Foundation. And what do you know? The Jamestown Foundation (CIA front) has among its past board members none other than Dick Cheney and Marcia Carlucci, wife of Frank Carlucci.

Given all their connections and government contracts, here's an interesting question: Booz Allen Hamilton has not only been involved in spying via the NSA, but they have also received no-bid contracts from the IRS. What do they know about the American people via the IRS?
Now, one of the things you will start to see if you look around at some of the big corporations these days is that many of them are involved in what they call "corporate citizenship" or something similar. What this means at the surface level is they are being "good citizens" by donating to charity. But when you go beyond the surface, you will see something else going on.
Booz Allen Hamilton donates money to the Clinton Global Initiative. The CGI is a part of the Clinton Foundation (yeah, THAT Clinton).

The Clinton Foundation has been implicated in bribery on an international level. Clinton gave himself a special little privilege while president wherein he exempted the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation from the normal rules of disclosure regarding publicly listing who its contributors were. It's a secret foundation. And it has over $200 million in assets now. And is alleged to be used as a way to funnel black money from corrupt governments around the world for behind-the-scenes deals like special oil contracts, arms dealing, US government foreign aid deals, whatever.

More Studies Showing GMO Toxicity

Scary:

Glyphosate is a major component of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. It was created and manufactured on a mass scale by Monsanto and is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. A number of scientific studies surrounding glyphosate have shed light on the danger it posses to the human body. A new groundbreaking study has now found that the most active ingredient in Monsanto’s best selling herbicide “Roundup” is responsible for fuelling breast cancer by increasing the number of breast cancer cells through cell growth and cell division. The study is published in the US National Library of Medicine (4) and will soon be published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology. Several recent studies showed glyphosate’s potential to be an endocrine disruptor. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can interfere with the hormone system in mammals. These disruptors can cause developmental disorders, birth defects and cancer tumours.

This separate paper looks like a carefully done study, showing increased inflammation of stomachs in pigs fed GMOs.

There were no differences between pigs fed the GM and non-GM diets for feed intake, weight gain, mortality, and routine blood biochemistry measurements. The GM diet was associated with gastric and uterine differences in pigs. GM-fed pigs had uteri that were 25% heavier than non-GM fed pigs (p=0.025). GM-fed pigs had a higher rate of severe stomach inflammation with a rate of 32% of GM-fed pigs compared to 12% of non-GM-fed pigs (p=0.004). The severe stomach inflammation was worse in GM-fed males compared to non-GM fed males by a factor of 4.0 (p=0.041), and GM-fed females compared to non-GM fed females by a factor of 2.2 (p=0.034).

Glyphosate is nasty stuff, and is ridiculous that it is used so extensively. The PTB certainly seem to have no problem slowly poisoning us.... and probably some of them specifically want to poison us. More suffering of poor people! More money for big pharma! Earlier death and more money for survivors!

33 of the Day

The new coronavirus that’s killed 33 people since September may have emerged almost a year earlier than the first known case and circulated unnoticed for that time, a study showed.

The TWA Flight 800 Conspiracy Rises Again

Surprised to see "Democracy Now" take this up, of all places:

I just love this bit about the CIA making a commercial for national TV saying it was not a missile that hit the plane. Yeah, sure!!! That CIA announcer though, is amazing: that deep authoritative voice-- who could doubt it?

Late Journalist Michael Hastings Said He Was Under FBI Investigation

In another disclosure from WikiLeaks, the group is claiming the late journalist Michael Hastings said he was under FBI investigation just before he died. Hastings was killed in an early morning car wreck Tuesday in Los Angeles. In a Twitter message on Wednesday, WikiLeaks said: "Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him."

Horrible 33 of the Day-- Michael Hastings

Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He was 33.

Hastings' unvarnished 2010 profile of McChrystal in the pages of Rolling Stone, "The Runaway General," captured the then-supreme commander of the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan openly mocking his civilian commanders in the White House. The maelstrom sparked by its publication concluded with President Obama recalling McChrystal to Washington and the general resigning his post. "The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be met by – set by a commanding general," Obama said, announcing McChrystal's departure. "It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system."

LATimes:

Neither the Los Angeles Police Department nor coroner's officials could immediately confirm whether Hastings was the victim of a single-car crash that occurred about 4:25 a.m. in the 600 block of North Highland Avenue. Police officials said it was the only vehicle fatality reported Tuesday morning in the city of Los Angeles.

The vehicle crossed a median, struck a tree and burst into flames in the Hancock Park area, LAPD Officer Christopher No said. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Coroner's officials said they could not immediately identify the victim, saying the body was burned beyond recognition. Without identification or next of kin, neither the LAPD nor the coroner's department could officially identify the body found in the vehicle.

KTLA:

he wreck happened near the intersection of Highland and Melrose avenues around 4:15 a.m., according to LAPD Officer Lillian Carranza. Hastings car slammed into a tree and caught fire.

The driver appeared to be speeding at the time of the crash, Carranza said.
“I was just coming northbound on Highland and I seen a car, like, going really fast and all of a sudden I seen it jackknife,” said Luis Cortez, who witnessed the wreck.
“I just seen parts fly everywhere and I slammed on my brakes and stopped and tried to call 911,” Cortez added.

Hastings was pronounced dead at the scene.
Coroner’s officials said the body was too badly burned to make an immediate identification.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Thank You, Ron Wyden

Oversight, what a concept: 

"When you're talking about important liberties that the American people feel strongly about, and you want to have an intelligence program, you've got to make a case for why it provides unique value to the [intelligence] community atop what they can already have," Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday.
Alexander testified before the Senate appropriations committee that maintaining a database of millions of Americans' phone records was critical to thwarting "dozens" of plots. One of the examples Alexander mentioned, the case of would-be New York subway bomber Najibullah Zazi, appears to have been prevented by conventional police surveillance, including efforts by UK investigators.

"Gen Alexander's testimony yesterday suggested that the NSA's bulk phone records collection program helped thwart 'dozens' of terrorist attacks, but all of the plots that he mentioned appear to have been identified using other collection methods," Wyden and Udall said in a statement. "The public deserves a clear explanation."

Alexander testified that the efficacy of the phone-records program could not be independently analysed from that of another NSA program disclosed by the Guardian, an effort called Prism that monitors the internet communications of people believed to be outside the US. In an interview with the Guardian, Wyden challenged that assertion as well.

"I have real reservations that the argument that they can't be evaluated separately," Wyden said. "If a program provides unique value, the people running it ought to explain it. I'm certainly open to doing that in a classified setting, and I know of a program where they haven't done it."

Billions for Gravity Nuclear Bombs

What a sick evil waste:

The United States has about 180 B61 gravity nuclear bombs based in Europe. They are the detritus of the cold war, tactical weapons deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey to protect NATO allies from the once-feared Soviet advantage in conventional arms. But the cold war is long over, and no American military commander can conceive of their ever being used. Even so, President Obama has put $537 million in his 2014 budget proposal to upgrade these bombs. When all is said and done, experts say, the cost of the rebuilding program is expected to total around $10 billion — $4 billion more than an earlier projection — and yield an estimated 400 weapons, fitted with new guided tail kits so that they are more reliable and accurate than the current ones.

This is a nonsensical decision, not least because it is at odds with Mr. Obama’s own vision. In a seminal speech in Prague in 2009 and a strategy review in 2010, Mr. Obama advocated the long-term goal of a world without nuclear arms and promised to reduce America’s reliance on them. He also promised not to field a new and improved warhead.

But the B61 upgrade would significantly increase America’s tactical nuclear capability and send the wrong signal while Mr. Obama is trying to draw Russia into a new round of nuclear reduction talks that are supposedly aimed at cutting tactical, as well as strategic, arsenals.

Even if there is a case to be made for keeping the bombs in Europe as a sign of America’s political commitment to NATO (allied opinion is divided on whether the weapons should stay), many experts doubt that the B61 warheads need to be rebuilt now, if at all. Government-financed nuclear labs have a rigorous program for testing them to make sure they still work.

Moreover, as Congress slashes spending on far more defensible programs like food stamps and Head Start, Mr. Obama’s $537 million request for the B61 bomb in 2014 is 45.5 percent higher than the 2013 figure; the $7.86 billion request for all weapons-related activity in the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semi-independent agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the nuclear warhead programs, is 9 percent above the amount Congress appropriated in 2012.

NSA/CIA Spying Round-Up

Fire DNI James Clapper for lying to Congress!

Top 3 myths about the new revelations.

NSA tried to rewrite the 4th amendment.

Why privacy matters-- a good essay about the argument that you have nothing to worry about it you've done nothing wrong.

Prism Planet

Haha, get it?

Interesting logo though. One odd thing is how the light going "through" the prism is at really weird, wrong angles. Note there is a form of 33 here-- three beams of light and the prism has 3 sides.  The overall shape of the logo is very odd-- it is two hexagons merged. Hexagons being 6 sides and so we have double 6s too. The way the prism is shown, it also looks like a pyramid, and there is a pyrmid shape within one face too.

The light-prism design is reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Dark side of the Moon"... which is kind of interesting since there are some theories that our evil controllers (who would be interested in this spying) are based on the dark side of the moon.

Snowden Too Good To Be True?

I listened to this interview with Snowden yesterday.



For a 29 year-old high school drop-out, he is amazingly smooth, articulate, smart and on the ball. Good looking too. He talks like a high-paid government lawyer. That raises my suspicions quite a bit.  Of course, he was/is a CIA employee, worked in the NSA, so certainly not trustworthy there. What is his game? This massive leak is certainly an op of some sort, maybe has several reasons. I think one big thing is just to throw this out and see how the public reacts.  So far, there hasn't been a huge outcry from the public, and there has been the usual BS from the usual BS authorities. But nothing incredible has been revealed that we didn't really know already... yet. Another part of this may be just to psyche the public, let them think they are being spied on and everything watched, when maybe they really aren't that good! It's just a massive head-game by our wonderful intel overlords.

Digital Blackwater: How the NSA Gives Private Contractors Control of the Surveillance State

Yes, indeed. And let's not forget, US government paid private contractors played a huge role in the 9/11 psyop.

As the Justice Department prepares to file charges against Booz Allen Hamilton employee Edward Snowden for leaking classified documents about the National Security Agency, the role of private intelligence firms has entered the national spotlight. Despite being on the job as a contract worker inside the NSA’s Hawaii office for less than three months, Snowden claimed he had power to spy on almost anyone in the country. “I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant to a federal judge, to even the president, if I had a personal email,” Snowden told the Guardian newspaper. Over the past decade, the U.S. intelligence community has relied increasingly on the technical expertise of private firms such as Booz Allen, SAIC, the Boeing subsidiary Narus and Northrop Grumman. About 70 percent of the national intelligence budget is now spent on the private sector. Former NSA director Michael V. Hayden has described these firms as a quote “Digital Blackwater." We speak to Tim Shorrock, author of the book "Spies For Hire: The Secret World of Outsourced Intelligence."

"Fire in the Sky"-- the Travis Walton Story

I watched this movie the other day. 

Travis Walton was real-life, well-documented case of alien abduction, but of course people have always been skeptical of his story. The movie was actually pretty well done, although had a weird vibe.  Basically, it was like an old-fashioned story of country boys who got into trouble with the law... because one of them got abducted by a UFO! Definitely a good story and an easy to watch movie. 

Edward Snowden: NSA Whistleblower

He sounds legit, I hope this is real:

The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he said.

Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA.
In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."

Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. "I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing."

He does not fear the consequences of going public, he said, only that doing so will distract attention from the issues raised by his disclosures. "I know the media likes to personalise political debates, and I know the government will demonise me."

Despite these fears, he remained hopeful his outing will not divert attention from the substance of his disclosures. "I really want the focus to be on these documents and the debate which I hope this will trigger among citizens around the globe about what kind of world we want to live in." He added: "My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."

He has had "a very comfortable life" that included a salary of roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves. "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."

Reagan Was a Traitor

Additional evidence on the October surprise plot.

Iran’s ex-President Bani-Sadr, in criticizing inaccurate history in “Argo,” says most Iranian officials wanted a quick end to the 1980 U.S.-Iranian hostage crisis, but Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign struck a deal with Ayatollah Khomeini to delay the hostages’ release, reports Robert Parry.

White House Twitter Fail

Probably not the best time to talk about expanding internet access to kids.

Apparently Americans are now shocked to learn that the Govt is spying on them.

But the PRISM program is fucking outrageous, and it's good if people are upset about it.

Rumsfeld ‘Can’t Tell’ If Obama Has Switched Sides In War On Terror

This is very confusing... does Rumsfeld mean that Obama was on the dark evil terrorism side like Rumsfeld, and now Obama has switched over to the good anti-terrorism side? 

Or that Obama was good against terror and now has switched over the Rumsfeld's evil pro-terrorism side?

Obama clearly has been far more anti-terrorism than Bush and Rumsfeld-- officially killing bin Laden and endless al Qaeda leaders via drone strikes... and this is so confusing to Rumsfeld and his conservative dickwads?

Seriously, this is segment is surreal, and could easily be interpreted as Rumsfeld and the rightwing being upset because Obama wasn't being enough of a terrorist like he clearly was in the Bush admin.

Just such a fucking twisted world we live in.

Btw, doesn't David Horowitz look positively Satan-like there?

What March on Monsanto???

The decision by the mainstream media to ignore the thousands of individuals marching down the busiest streets of major cities worldwide may be appalling, but in reality it matters very little at this point. Not only is the movement against Monsanto adding to its number each day thanks to the real alternative media and intelligent activism, but the movement as a whole is driven by an inexorable desire to push the GMO ‘food bully’ out of our food supply.

And in addition to the rapid success, growth, and determination of the movement, we have key players in the alternative media that have decided they’re fed up with the hindered focus of mainstream news agencies. I am extremely glad that we decided to run live coverage on the March Against Monsanto in Philadelphia for its first year, as otherwise the event would not have been properly documented and shared. Couple that with the fact that the mainstream media is on its last breathe of life, and you realize that the alternative news media can actually succeed without the support of the multi-billion dollar news agencies whose ratings are plunging.

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/media-coverage-blackout-anti-monsanto-protests/#ixzz2VFVYc0nd

There were of course protests against GMOs and Monsanto around the world last week, which got little attention, naturally, from the corporate lamestream media.

And.. the 12 most awful product manufactured by Monsanto.

Living in a Post-Reality World

Dave McGowan is really going to town on the Boston bombing-- but more good stuff.

Somewhat along same the lines of our brave new fake world, this Fetzer interview with Jim Tracy and Sophie Smallstorm on Sandy Hook is interesting.

My feeling is these terror attacks, fake incidents serve many different purposes.
1) keep people afraid, more likely to buy guns
2) to keep people unsettled and unsure what to trust
3) the news media must enjoy the increased viewers they get
4) the national security state gets to try out new tricks, new ruses, martial law crackdown, etc

Sergeant Bales-- Patsy for Super Evil or Super-Human Super Evil Psychopath?

This story of the Afghan massacre has always been incredibly weird. Either way, the killings were just incredibly horrible, and shows why war is just so wrong:

SEATTLE (AP) — The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers during one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war has agreed to plead guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is scheduled to enter guilty pleas to charges of premeditated murder June 5 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, said lawyer John Henry Browne. (snip)

Browne previously indicated Bales remembered little from the night of the massacre, and he said that was true in the early days after the attack. But as further details and records emerged, Bales’ began to remember what he did, the lawyer said.

Bales is contrite about the killings, Browne said. The attorney would not elaborate on what his client will tell the judge. He described Bales as “crazed” and “broken” the night of the attack. (snip)

Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost at Camp Belambay early on March 11, 2012, and attacked mud-walled compounds in two slumbering villages nearby. He had been drinking contraband alcohol, snorting Valium that was provided to him by another soldier, and had been taking steroids before the attack.

Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were piled and burned. The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan. It was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.

Bales was serving his fourth tour in a combat zone, and the allegations against him raised questions about the toll multiple deployments were taking on American troops. (snip)

"He had been drinking contraband alcohol, snorting Valium that was provided to him by another soldier, and had been taking steroids before the attack."???

Valium? It's a muscle relaxant-- since when does it cause you to go on a murderous rampage???

But really, what could have possessed this one guy to kill so many women and children, then pile and burn their bodies? It's beyond madness... beyond some random atrocity. Makes no sense.

An old post on this:

Kandahar massacre

Interesting that the attack occurred nearly at the same date (11 March 2012) as the infamous My Lai massacre (16 March 1968) but 44 years apart, though little noted by the mainstream press. Of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The official story stinks, of course. It seems likely a US Army death squad committed the horrible acts, with Sgt Bales the patsy. And certainly it's been interesting how many stories we've heard about Bales, trying to excuse the crime. So clearly bogus is the official massacre story that even Salon.com -- a mainstay of liberal anti-conspiracy reporting-- questioned whether Bales acted alone. Importantly, the killed and wounded were people, and had names. I wonder if we ever found out any of the names of the people killed at My Lai.