Life under Stalin, from music bans to vanishing vodka

Thanks to the latest technology and some clandestine chicanery, Britain’s secret eavesdropping agency GCHQ is renowned for its ability to listen to the conversations of the leaders of Britain’s enemies and, occasionally, its friends.
Less known is the shadowy Government Communications Headquarters’ unblemished record in gaining information on the average duration of a Soviet tyre and plans for celebrating Stalin’s 70th birthday.
Thousands of pages of intelligence intercepts from the early days of the Cold War were made public yesterday, showing how British intelligence not only tapped into communications from deep inside the Kremlin but also built up a vast bank of data dealing with the minutiae of life in the Soviet Union as Britain’s wartime ally rapidly became the “Red Menace”.
The documents, released by the National Archives in Kew, west London, reveal how Britain struck a top-secret deal with the United States in 1946 to formalise the sharing of secret intelligence between the two countries which had developed during World War II. It helped cement the “special relationship”
The result was a wholesale effort by the Government Communications Headquarters, which moved to Cheltenham in 1951, to tap phone lines, bug offices and electronically eavesdrop on conversations to plug a gap in Britain’s understanding of life behind the Iron Curtain.
From a ban on “pseudo and inartistic” folk songs in the furthest eastern provinces of Russia to an exhortation by Moscow to resolve a vodka shortage in Dagestan, a comprehensive trawl of conversations across Soviet government was laid before British and American intelligence chiefs to try to gauge the stresses and strains in Russian society.
Dr Ed Hampshire, the head of specialist records at the National Archives, said: “This material was provided to the heads of intelligence to build up military, political, economic and social intelligence.More

Prospects for the Homeland Security Department: The 1947 Analogy

Published 09/12/2002 James Jay Carafano
Congress has returned from its summer recess to take up again the administration’s proposal creating a Department of Homeland Security. There is a good deal of work left to do. When the president introduced his plan, he described it as the most sweeping reorganization of the federal government since the outbreak of the Cold War when the National Security Act of 1947 unified the Armed Forces under a single department and created the National Security Council (NSC) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).1 The reference to the National Security Act is apt. An assessment of the prospects for the new department suggests it may encounter three major problems reminiscent of the obstacles faced in organizing to confront the Soviet Union during the early years of the Cold War.

•  
• “It is not all that it seems.” The proposal for a Department of Homeland Security is far less sweeping than the name of the department implies. The president’s legislation does not address all the current, critical organizational deficiencies that exist with respect to protecting the homeland.

• “The devil is in the details.” Compromises in standing-up the department could result in an organization that is incapable of delivering the promised efficiencies and reducing overlap, duplication, and overhead.

• “Things may get worse before they get better.” In the short term the government’s effectiveness in providing homeland security may decline as organizations transferred to the department adapt to new lines of authority and develop appropriate practices, systems, and organizational cultures.

This analysis reviews the administration’s proposal, the major modifications offered in the House (H.R. 5005) and Senate (S. 2452) versions of the bill, and outlines the advantages reorganization could bring to the task of protecting the nation. It then explores the difficulties that may lie ahead. The comparison to the last great reorganization of the federal government in 1947 raises some troubling issues for the new Homeland Security Department. This assessment concludes action is needed to provide: additional initiatives and reforms in the areas of law enforcement and intelligence; substantially more budgetary resources; and, an even greater and more formalized role for the Executive Office of the President in orchestrating homeland security activities.
The Plan The rationale for combining numerous federal agencies, programs, and facilities under a single Homeland Security Department parallels the thinking behind the formulation of the 1947 National Security Act, consolidating key assets into one big, powerful organization and creating the means to orchestrate that department’s efforts with other federal activities. Large, centralized organizations have drawbacks, the most obvious being managing a vast bureaucracy.² But big organizations can also have great strengths, to include providing unity of purpose, a wealth of capabilities, economies of scale, and fostering a common institutional culture and practices that build trust and confidence, and facilitate coordinated action. Large federal departments with sizable budgets also hold the attention of official Washington, increasing the likelihood that policymakers will provide proper oversight for the task of protecting the homeland, an important factor considering that terrorist threats may be enduring as well. For these reasons, the president’s proposal to create the Homeland Security Department makes eminent sense.
The proposed department would provide an appropriate core capability for protecting the homeland by combining agencies and activities that make major contributions to the most critical homeland security tasks, providing the means to: 1) prevent terrorist attacks from entering the United States; 2) protect against attacks by reducing vulnerabilities; and 3) respond to mitigate the effects of an attack. In addition, the proposed department would provide a science and technology base for developing future capabilities to support each of these efforts.
The administration’s plan calls for a department comprising of four major divisions: border and transportation security; information analysis and infrastructure protection; emergency preparedness and response; and chemical, biological, and nuclear-related countermeasures.³ The House and Senate versions of the legislation modified this proposal.⁴ Key differences are noted below, but for the most part, under each plan the department would be created by shifting existing resources and responsibilities.
Border and Transportation Security Division. This organization will assume responsibility for controlling the borders and monitoring the flow of people, goods, and services. In addition, while not assuming control of the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, it will have the authority to establish rules and regulations governing the issuance of visas. The Border and Transportation Security Division will also include: more

Polish police question 2 Canadian Teachers Over Suspected Theft of Nails From Auschwitz

Polish officials say they detained two Canadian men after visitors to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp reported seeing them pick up loose nails from a railway track at the memorial. Prosecutor Mariusz Slomka said the 30-year-old suspects, both teachers, were released after being questioned
The nails were recovered from their backpacks, and the men were allowed to leave Poland. Authorities will decide whether to bring charges.
Local police Chief Robert Chowaniec said Monday they could face up to 10 years in prison if the nails prove to be historic artifacts.more
thank you Battleskin

Why Not Allow The Public To “See Something, Say Something” With More Educated Eyes & Mouths

J. D. Abolins:

Thanks for the videos and links. They are helpful.
One of the ways in which citizens can be of great help is their awareness within their set of skills, life situations, and activities.
For example, an agricultural supply outlet people have an idea of what are the normal types of customers who might purchase ammonium nitrate fertiliser. They are in a good position to sense if a customer is “off”, doesn’t seem to be a farmer, etc. (Real life example: Following the OKC bombing a news crew from a major city went to an ag supplier in an adjacent state to get some ammonium nitrate to show how easy it is obtain. The clerks noticed the out-of-state plates, their clothing was too delicate for farming, the customers were not familar with farming terminology, etc. They called it in to the auhorities. Spoiled the news story but provide a good illustration how citizens can discern suspicious *behaviours* from their areas of expertise.

Since the Times Square bombing attempt, I have been writing about the role of the citizen in homeland security and in particular the use (and potential) of “See Something, Say Something”-type campaigns. In the aftermath of the New York incident and the ‘Christmas Day bomber’ Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – both foiled with the help of average citizens — officials have lauded the public’s role in homeland security.
However, despite reports that the terror threat to the U.S. is increasing and experts extolling the importance of citizen awareness, there hasn’t yet been a subsequent effort to try to broaden or improve civilian involvement.

There are some training materials for citizens that are publicly available which have had limited release, but government officials are not publicizing them widely. It’s as if we’re only going halfway on citizen involvement even with the new emphasis on the public’s role and the rising threat. One of the resources is a video I recently posted produced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “What’s in Store: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Events,” aimed at helping employees spot suspicious activity. This video was made for the retail industry, but the “suspicious activity” examples shown include mall customers making observations, and so it would be useful for any citizen to see.



There is a major caveat in any expansion of the citizen role. It is crucial that in empowering the public to play a role in the nation’s homeland security that we do not overdue things. There is a balance between informed/engaged and paranoid/overaggressive. However, I think is important that if indeed security officials believe that average citizens are integral to the nation’s safety then they should further educate them so they can be the most useful. The initiatives listed above offer the kind of information and training that I think would be helpful, and I hope that officials will begin broadening their use to the citizenry.MORE

It's Raining Oil In Louisiana?

Louisiana residents 45 miles off the Gulf of Mexico claim to have videotaped an oily substance raining down. Worst case scenario? It's petroleum mixed with Corexit, the cancer-causing dispersant BP's spraying on its oil slick. Best case scenario? Dirty roads.

Video is circulating which purports to show the effects of an oily rain coming down off the coast of Louisiana. It could be as simple a More..s the sheen which develops on the road following rain on a dirty road or someone attempting a sensationalist hoax. At this point nobody knows. A smattering of reports from along the coast indicate similar occurrences accompanied by a strong odor of oil.

Our first thoughts were oil we're accustomed to dealing with generally doesn't evaporate, and that's true for engine oil sitting on a shelf, however crude oil at sea is an entirely different story. According to a 2003 study titled "Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects" put out by Ocean Studies Board, Marine Board, and Transportation Research Board, oil behaves very differently when on the open water. The study states:

Within a few days following a spill, light crude oils can lose up to 75 percent of their initial volume and medium crudes up to 40 percent. In contrast, heavy or residual oils will lose no more than 10 percent of their volume in the first few days following a spill. Most oil spill behavior models include evaporation as a process and as a factor in the output of the model.






The oil included in the Deepwater Horizon disaster is most certainly crude, and was at one point a heavy crude, which reduces the overall loss to evaporation, however it's been mixed up by the effects of the ocean and become an emulsification, which according to the study, enhances the likelihood of evaporation:

Emulsification, if it occurs, has a great effect on the behavior of oil spills at sea. As a result of emulsification, evaporation slows spreading by orders of magnitude,more from live leak

BOLSHEVISM

BOLSHEVISM

Big Brother/Stasi Style Tactics Coming To Vegas With The “See Something, Say Something”

Las Vegas law enforcement agencies are launching a new effort aimed at encouraging regular citizens to watch out for suspicious activity.
The program is called “See Something, Say Something”. The program is designed to make average citizens the eyes and ears of law enforcement when officers aren’t around.
Authorities say a prime example of how well that can work is the attempted attack on Times Square in New York City. Faisal Shahzad is accused of trying to rig a car bomb in the crowded New York City plaza. more

Court Ruling In Central Ohio Allows Thousands To Be Removed From Sex Offender Registry

CENTRAL OHIO --
For years, the state's sex offender registry has been the go-to Web site for concerned parents or anyone who wants to know who's living in their neighborhood. Now, a decision by the Ohio Supreme Court is allowing thousands of registered sex offenders in Ohio to be removed from the registry.
Angela Beatty, who lives in Franklin County, said she likes knowing who lives around her, which is one reason she said she's checked the state's sex offender registry.

But some who are on the registry today may soon not be there at all after the Ohio Supreme Court invalidated provisions of the Adam Walsh Act on separation-of-powers grounds.
That means approximately 26,000 sex offenders in Ohio who were sentenced before 2008 will have to be reclassified.

Adam Walsh Act Ohio

Under the Adam Walsh Act, offenders had to register with their county's sheriff's office four times a year for life. Now, like before the act, some 2,600 offenders will have to register only once a year for ten years from their sentencing. When that time is up, they're off the list. For some, that time has already come.
"Once they are off, they will have the same right as any other citizen," said Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen.
Of the 120 registered sex offenders in Fairfield County, Phalen said 40 will be removed from the list in the coming years.
"Had it not been for this court decision, they would have been reporting for life," said Phalen.

Columbus City Council In Immigrants Back Pocket

A resolution urging for national immigration reform is now headed to Washington D.C. Monday evening, Columbus City Council approved the resolution. While many supporters of reform couldn’t be happier, the question remains – what does Columbus City Council have to gain by sending a resolution to the federal government?
The resolution that was approved Monday, among other things, urges for tighter security at the border and a path to citizenship for those who are currently in the United States illegally. “It is the federal government’s responsibility. We want consistency throughout the 50 United States of America,” said Councilwoman Charleta Tavares.
To support comprehensive immigration reform and urge action from Congress and the Ohio General Assembly to support the needs of Columbus as well as other cities and towns as we integrate immigrants into Ohio and American communities.

WHEREAS, immigration is a federal responsibility and a comprehensive approach to solve our broken immigration system is necessary to meet the goals of ensuring a thriving and secure community and economy in Columbus and throughout the State of Ohio and the nation; and
WHEREAS, protecting the human and civil rights of immigrants and citizens is paramount to the success of Columbus, the State of Ohio and all communities in America as we move forward in the 21^st Century; and
WHEREAS, the inability of government at all levels to reach consensus on a solution to immigration has created financial, cultural and political strains in communities across America; and

WHEREAS, immigration reform must occur in a comprehensive, thoughtful manner that focuses on improving homeland security, helping integrate immigrants into the community and alleviating the costs of providing services such as public safety, language services, housing, health, education, and social services;
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL:
That this Council requests that Congress enact comprehensive immigration reform that addresses: (1) border security and interior enforcement; (2) workplace enforcement; (3) guest workers; (4) legalization of undocumented workers currently in the U.S.; (5) a path to citizenship for immigrants now in the country; and (6) resources to local and state jurisdictions to alleviate the local impacts of delivering services to new immigrants.
That this Council requests that Congress provide adequate federal funding to help communities integrate new residents into their communities.more from nbc4i

Columbus City Council
City Hall
90 West Broad Street, Room 231
Columbus, OH 43215-9015
Main Switchboard (614) 645-7380

a244 22 June 2010 at 3:48 am

No good! Praise your friends and ignore your enemies.
Do not communicate with this people!

colony322
why is that a244 they are traders and elected by the ppl, and if i’m not mistaken it’s their job too i didn’t know they were immune from the same laws the feds went by. I’m sick of all this passing the buck crap it’s not my job, she needs to get her black ass working if they want to hold the office they were elected in but never mind all them ‘illegals’ illegaly help vote them into office while we pay for them and what they aren’t doing as they take and take from us and destroy. You ain’t got to rite your name and stuff just put that u are an amerikan citizen and voter. Freedom of speech