MEDIA ROOTS – For two weeks every July, elite diplomats, oil executives, U.S. presidential hopefuls, Ivy League Presidents, media CEOs, and other members of the .01% carouse together at a secluded Redwood camp out called the Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio, CA. 

The Bohemian Club of San Francisco hosts the powerful soiree, where the rich and powerful network, give talks, discuss policy and drink heavily. Regrettably, like other closed door gatherings of the global elite, the public is largely ignorant of this annual meeting.

Aside from the heavy partying similar to how co-eds act on a Cancun vacations or Puerto Vallarta resorts, probably the most peculiar thing that happens at the Grove is the ‘Cremation of Care’ ceremony, where 50 men in monk robes ritualistically sacrifice a life size coffin effigy to a giant 40 foot owl called ‘Molock.’

Media Roots and RT’s Abby Martin went to find out if people in DC know about the Bohemian Grove:

Bohemian Grove: Orgy of Power for the Ruling Elite

The Occupy Wall Street movement and those who protest the Bohemian Grove share some stark commonalities.  Both are justifiably concerned that an elite group of men make political and economic decisions behind closed doors, without due transparency.  Both are justifiably concerned that police in riot gear – who themselves belong to the 99% – go against their own socioeconomic interests when guarding the power structure of the elite.  Finally, both OWS and Bohemian Grove protestors are outraged that money purchases political power, and those without wealth consequently have no voice in the U.S. political process.  To counteract the ‘Cremation of Care’ ritual, protesters held a ‘Creation of Care’ ceremony to show how they want the Grove’s policy makers to care about the impact made by their policies, not burn them away.  Abby’s interviews with women and men from Occupy the Bohemian Grove protest shed light on these common concerns:

 Occupy Protesters Take on the Bohemian Grove

The Bohemian Grove highlights a glaring problem within the U.S. political system: elites meet in secret and deliberate policy behind closed doors, with no transparency, away from the electorate.  As the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Bohemian Grove movements acknowledge, our own ignorance and idleness allows these activities to continue unabated.  Only through an engaged and informed citizenry can we create an equitable future together where our political representatives works to serve the interests of the community, not themselves.  Even though this year’s Bohemian Grove meeting is already half over, the questions it raises persist:

Abby Martin gives a wrap up of the weekend’s events from Oakland, CA

 Written by Christian Sorensen and Abby Martin

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 Photo by Flickr User Laser Burners 

MEDIA ROOTS — The two-tiered American justice system is in full effect as felonious political actors advocate and promote the Iranian terrorist group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) in order to pursue US hegemony in the region.  

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case Holder v. Humanitarian Law that providing material support in coordination with a designated foreign terrorist organization is a felony punishable by 15 years in prison.  If you or I took money from the MEK to advocate lifting the terrorist designation, how long do you think it would take to be hooded, shackled and indefinitely detained under the National Defense Authorization Act?  

Abby Martin of Media Roots and RT reports on the current efforts to convince the State Department to de-list MEK as a foreign terrorist organization.

Abby Martin – State Department Lobbies Terrorists for RT

A wave of American leaders have illegally lined up to get their slice of the MEK bankroll for speaking on their behalf.  Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hugh Shelton said, “Why would we not want to put the weight and power of this country behind an organization that we know stands for the same principles we stand for, and that is the best-organized, best-led organization to take on the current Iranian regime?”  Louis Freeh, former Director of the FBI stated that “MEK is leading the fight for freedom in Iran. Just as our military forces fight for freedom on the battlefields, you fight in a more difficult and much more dangerous place.”  

The end-game of all this bought and paid for rhetoric is a writ entered on June 1, 2012 to the United States Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. asking Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State to review the designation of MEK as a foreign terrorist organizations within four months or by default the designation will be removed.

These naïve politicos with imperialist illusions of Iranian regime change want to jump in bed with the MEK who vocally supported the U.S. embassy takeover in Tehran in 1979 and vehemently called for the execution of diplomats in 1981.  The very same MEK that attempted to kidnap US Ambassador Douglas MacArthur in 1971, wounded Air force General Harold Price in 1972, assassinated US Army Comptroller Louis Lee Hawkins in 1973, assassinated US Air Force officers Paul Shaffer and Jack Turner and assassinated American employees William Cottrell, Donald Smith and Robert Krongard in 1976.  The very same group that hijacked a plane in 1971 and bombed and killed 70 members of the Iranian parliament including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti, the second highest ranking official in Iran at the time.  MEK also reportedly celebrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as helped carry out the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists last year.

American justice calls on the following Americans to surrender and submit to interrogation so it can be determined what degree of material support they provided officially designated terrorists: Tom Ridge, Wesley Clark, Michael Mukasey, Frances Townshend, James Jones, Peter Pace, Hugh Shelton, Louis Freeh, Michael Hayden, Anthony Zinni, Rudi Giuliani, Howard Dean, Andy Card, Bill Richardson, Lee Hamilton, John Bolton and all other Americans that feel they can operate above the law.  All money received for speaking engagements should be returned, resignations should be tendered and pleas should be entered.

The arrogant criminal hypocrisy is absolutely surreal as American politicos subvert the draconian laws they perpetrate upon the rest of America.  Swift sanctions are necessary to ensure the general public that all Americans live under one set of laws. So far the defenses offered by these haughty elitists are their right to free speech, which is specifically limited by the Holder Supreme Court case.  Their argument is that the MEK will make a fine marionette for American imposed regime change in Iran.  But Americans don’t want war or regime change in Iran—America wants representatives with common sense and ethics to be focused on this country.  Let the Iranian people determine their own leadership and destiny.

Chris Martin for Media Roots

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SALON –We now have an extraordinary situation that reveals the impunity with which political elites commit the most egregious crimes, as well as the special privileges to which they explicitly believe they — and they alone — are entitled. That a large bipartisan cast of Washington officials got caught being paid substantial sums of money by an Iranian dissident group that is legally designated by the U.S. Government as a Terrorist organization, and then meeting with and advocating on behalf of that Terrorist group, is very significant for several reasons. New developments over the last week make it all the more telling. Just behold the truly amazing set of facts that have arisen:

In June, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 6-3 ruling in the case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law. In that case, the Court upheld the Obama DOJ’s very broad interpretation of the statute that criminalizes the providing of “material support” to groups formally designated by the State Department as Terrorist organizations. The five-judge conservative bloc (along with Justice Stevens) held that pure political speech could be permissibly criminalized as “material support for Terrorism” consistent with the First Amendment if the “advocacy [is] performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign terrorist organization” (emphasis added). In other words, pure political advocacy in support of a designated Terrorist group could be prosecuted as a felony — punishable with 15 years in prison — if the advocacy is coordinated with that group.

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Photo Iran flag wikicommons

MEDIA ROOTS — Seeds are at the very core of the public commons as the first link in an essential food chain.  Throughout the 20th century, the agricultural biotech giant Monsanto perverted intellectual property laws to corner the world’s seed supply.

By allowing the food supply to be attached to the bottom line of a corporation, the world places its future in the hands of a corrupt few.  Abby Martin of Media Roots and RT explores the multinational corporation’s sordid past of corruption and toxicity and their current scandalous dealings.

 Abby Martin reports on Monsanto’s corruption and current dealings for RT TV

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Abby Martin explores Monsanto’s scandalous legacy in depth for RT TV

The Monsanto Corporation has a nefarious public record that extends beyond the genetically modified seed industry.  It is responsible for the controversial artificial sweeteners saccharin and aspartame that are used in more than 6,000 consumer foods and beverages; dioxin based herbicides like 245-T/24-D (Agent Orange) that directly killed and maimed millions of Vietnamese; banned pesticides such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) responsible for the death of millions of marine animals, birds of prey and amphibians; deadly polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) discharged into rivers and landfills at the expense of human health; and Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) to unnaturally increase the milk yield in lactating cows.

In particular, the American legacy of PCBs is horrifying as witnessed by Pittsfield, Massachusetts when locals were given PCB-contaminated material to use as fill.  General Electric released millions of pounds of PCB-contaminated waste from capacitor manufacturing plants in the Hudson River.  In North Carolina, 240 miles of road was sprayed with more than 30,000 pounds of PCB-contaminated oil, during the infamous “midnight dumping.”  Finally, in Anniston, Alabama, the site of a Monsanto chemical factory for 50 years was exposed as the most toxic city in America after it was discovered Monsanto had been dumping high concentrations of PCBs into local tributaries.

This blatant poisoning of the public commons as massive and wicked as it seems pales in comparison to allowing a company with this sort of record to control and modify the food supply.  Monsanto expanded its share of the worlds seed supply with its $1.4 billion acquisition of Seminis Incorporated, the world’s largest developer, grower and marketer of fruit and vegetable seeds in 2005.  Two years later, Monsanto purchased the Delta and Pine Land Company for $1.5 billion, staking its position as a major player in the cotton seed business and the demonic terminator gene designed to increase farmer dependency on seed suppliers.  Additionally, the corporation also purchased the Dutch De Ruiter Seed company to establish itself alongside DuPont as the world’s largest supplier of seeds. 

In addition to the sick and dying humans, animals and plants in the wake of Monsanto’s bottom line, the company has a legacy of legal troubles across the globe.  Suing and being sued is merely a business expense to be countered by penetrating political and regulatory systems.  Former Monsanto employees are firmly entrenched in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and even the Supreme Court.  Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, a former Monsanto attorney, ruled in favor of genetically modified crops in the J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. case.  Linda Fisher rotated from EPA bureaucrat, to Vice President of Monsanto, to Vice President of DuPont.  Michael Taylor was an FDA commissioner, Monsanto attorney and recently passed backed through the revolving door as President Barack Obama’s Food Safety Czar in the FDA.

Monsanto maintains a stranglehold on the American government by deploying lobbyists to coerce legislators into doing what regulators cannot. This includes an emphasis on resisting the overwhelming public cry to label genetically modified foods, avoid responsibility for colony collapse disorder wreaking havoc on global bee populations and deterrence of any effort to institute independent government led testing of genetically modified seeds and food. While Monsanto maintains a motto of “Improving Agriculture, Improving Lives,” its true intentions were summed up by Monsanto’s director of corporate communication Phil Angell in 1998 when he explained, “Monsanto should not have to vouch for the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is FDA’s job.”

Chris Martin for Media Roots

Photo by Flickr user foto 3116

MEDIA ROOTS – For the last half century, an organization comprised of the .001% of the world’s elite called the Bilderberg Group has met annually around the world with almost no official press coverage.  During the meetings, the top 140 of the world’s power brokers in banking, oil, food, media, defense, royalty and politics are believed to make policy decisions behind closed doors that affect the rest of the world. 

On Thursday, May 31st – Sunday, June 3rd, the annual Bilderberg Conference took place at the Westfields Marriot in Chantilly, Virginia, a city located right next to Washington, DC.  I went to cover this year’s Bilderberg Conference and mass protests that took place all weekend for RT TV.  People across many political spectrums–including Ron Paul libertarians to Occupy Wall Street protesters–joined together to rally against the covert meeting of the minds, in which the protesters claim sets a global agenda to perpetuate their own power structure at the subjugation of humanity.

Abby

Abby Martin reports on the history of the Bilderberg Group and cites some of its most notable attendees from past years.

Abby Martin covers the first day of the Bilderberg Group to find out why people are protesting.  Featuring interviews with Dan Dicks of Press for Truth TV, Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange, Mattew Medina of Truth Exposed Radio and Alex Jones of InfoWars.

Abby Martin reports from the second day of the Bilderberg Conference protests during a torrential downpour.

After Bilderberg came to a close, Abby Martin wraps up the event and gives some insight on what transpired over the weekend.

Check out the full list of participants from InfoWars.com.

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INFOWARS – “Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both…”

To be absolutely clear –Any citizen without United States authority who speaks intentionally of influence with foreign government officials about disputes or controversies any country has with America shall be fined and imprisoned.

Americans attending the Bilderberg conference in Chantilly, Virginia this past weekend violated the Logan Act. Given this is America these individuals are innocent until proven guilty, however that is a process for the courts. Each American citizen attending the meeting should prove to a jury of his or her peers that in fact they did not engage discussion with foreign government officials with the intent to influence the conduct of that foreign government in the context of an existing dispute or controversy with the United States. It is not up to executive branch officials, legislators, police, military or media to decide their guilt or innocence –it is up to the courts. That being said, it seems clear sufficient probable cause, motive and opportunity exists to issue arrest warrants.

Historical Origins of the Logan Act

The Logan Act all begins with a treaty between America and Britain called the Jay Treaty. You can research the contents and reasons behind the Jay Treaty on your own, it is only important here to understand that it angered the French who had been a staunch ally of America since the 1778 Treaty of Alliance. America had declared neutrality in the conflict between Britain and France and the Jay Treaty violated that neutrality. Pouring salt into that wound America also refused to re-pay debts owed to France, suggesting the debt was owed to the French monarchy and not to the newly founded Republic of France. The French were furious and began seizing American trade ships and refused to accept an American ambassador to negotiate. This spurred the Quasi-War.

Along comes a physician, farmer and future United States Senator named George Logan. As the founder of the Democratic-Republican society in 1793 he was not well liked by the coalescing and strengthening Federalist Party who lusted for an American central bank. In 1798, Logan travelled to Paris and met with the infamous French diplomat Charles “lame devil” Talleyrand and former exile Philippe Merlin de Douai, who held the highest political office in the new French republic. Like modern American Bilderberg participants Logan identified himself as merely an American citizen and like modern Bilderberg meetings they discussed matters of general dispute, controversy and interest to the French foreign power.

George Logan reported an expanding American anti-French sentiment, while he insisted that he did not intend to explain America’s position nor criticize French positions. He was merely there to discuss general matters emanating from the controversy and dispute evident in the mutual relations between France and America. The success of Logan’s trip is largely due to the timing as the French were anxious to extricate themselves from foreign entanglement to focus on domestic issues. Only days after Logan’s departure American seamen held in French jails were released and the trade embargo was lifted. Praise was showered upon Logan by Democratic-Republican newspapers and this drew the ire of the dominant Federalist Party.

Then Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, charged with conducting the nation’s foreign policy, suggested to Congress that they act to curb individual interference with sovereign foreign affairs. With very little debate the Logan Act glided through the Federalist majority House and Senate. George Logan would become a United States Senator representing Pennsylvania from 1801 to 1807. Irony would later see George Logan dispatched on an unsuccessful private diplomatic mission to avoid the War of 1812. So, the Logan Act was historically conceived by a Secretary of State to protect the State Departments authority.

Today the State Department allows their responsibility to be hi-jacked by foreign lobbyists, corporate interests, privately conceived and controlled “think tanks,” and international legislative bodies such as the United Nations. This is the very premise for convening the annual Bilderberg meeting and the corresponding premise for the Logan Act. The mainstream media facilitates the dilution of sovereign American foreign policy by ignoring the facts and history, disguising it with misguided articles that place the word “conspiracy,” or by suggesting nothing tangible is being accomplished.

Read the full article of Issuing Bilderberg Arrest Warrants for Violation of the Logan Act here.

Written by Chris Martin

Photo by Abby Martin

RT TV – The looming threat of cyberterrorism is being ramped up by the day–from government officials to mainstream media pundits–who say that cyberterror will soon outweigh terrorism as the number one security threat facing the United States.

It’s a threat that’s all too certain, as the federal government continues to make the claim stressing how it’s not a matter of if, but when a cyber attack will occur in this the US.  At a recent congressional hearing entitled “America is Under Cyber Attack: Why Urgent Action is Needed,” Subcommittee Chairman Michael McCaul exclaimed how “It’s not a matter of if, but when a cyber Pearl Harbor will occur.”

The rhetoric is so pervasive, that there is even an entire cyberterror exhibit called “Weapons of Mass Disruption” at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, a museum whose executive director spent 36 years at the CIA.  The room displays multiple disaster scenarios it claims are likely to happen when a cyber attack destroys the power grid and infrastructure of this country.

Mark Stout, historian at the International Spy Museum, explains that the room is not there to cause panic–it simply exists as a beacon of awareness about the issue.  He says that as technology advances along with our reliance on and integration with computer systems, it’s becoming more important to focus on cyberterrorism.  However, Stout does express the similar talking point of the likely possibility of this happening in the near future, warning that “there will come a time and it will be within our lifetime, probably relatively soon, that there will be a major cyber terrorist attack.” 

Also on display at the “Weapons of Mass Disruption” exhibit is a well produced graphic film reel of government officials and top military brass urging warnings about the threat.  “We know that there are half a dozen countries in the world that have developed cyber weapons,” states James A. Lewis, Director of Center for Strategic International Studies, in the film. 

However, the threat surpasses nation states.  The government is also pointing fingers at ubiquitous web entities such as Anonymous, the leaderless hacktivist group who has been shutting down highly secure government websites in addition to their repeated calls for mass civil unrest in the US.

Overall, the cyberterror hype seems to be working–a recent poll reveals that Americans are now more scared of cyberterrorism than actual terrorism. 

In response to the climate of fear, the federal government has already started to draft legislation to deal with the threat. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, is a bill that would permit massive collusion between corporations and the government to gain access to private user data.  It has already passed the House, and is now awaiting a Senate vote.

Critics of the legislation warn that the bills proposed are too broad, and could pave the way for government abuse.  “When it comes to protecting our civil rights and civil liberties, we don’t usually give the government a blank check, and that’s what these bills have done in a lot of ways,” explains Matt Wood, Policy Director for Free Press.  He continues to describe how the government’s excessive response doesn’t match the threat, and that these laws could be used simply for corporations to capitalize off the elimination of privacy at the risk of impeding Net Neutrality.  “It could be a competitive threat, it doesn’t have to be something you and I define as a cyber security threat, just a threat to their current bottom line or business,” Wood states.

Whether or not CISPA passes the Senate, one thing remains clear.  The government will continue its constant attempts to control the Internet, and the blanket threat of cyberterrorism may be the perfect avenue to convince the people of this country into giving up their rights to privacy on the Internet once and for all.

Written by Abby Martin for RT TV

Photo by flickr user AdamSelwood