Former agency translator called to testify in Ohio election case this Saturday on Turkish infiltration of U.S. government…

Unless the Dept. of Justice re-invokes their twice-invoked “state secrets privilege” claim in order to once again gag former FBI translator-turned-whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, her attorneys have notified the department by hand-delivered, sworn letter of declaration [PDF] this week, that she intends to give a deposition, open to the media [Updated: see bottom of article for details], in response to a subpoena this Saturday in Washington D.C..

Edmonds has confirmed her intentions to answer any questions asked of her during the sworn proceedings, fully and publicly, during conversations with The BRAD BLOG this week. She notes that her agreement with her former employer, the FBI — who fired her illegally after she filed whistleblower allegations about corruption and foreign infiltration in the linguistics department — includes certain non-disclosure requirements. However, those requirements do not preclude her answering to a legally issued court subpoena.

The subpoena and request for sworn deposition is part of a case now pending before the Ohio Elections Commission in which Ohio’s Republican U.S. Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-2nd District) has filed a complaint against her 2008 independent challenger, David Krikorian who Schmidt has charged distributed false statements about her during last year’s campaign.

The resulting testimony, if it indeed occurs this weekend, could be far more explosive than either Schmidt or Krikorian might have ever guessed…

‘Blood Money’

Schmidt has alleged that Krikorian — who has announced plans to run against Schmidt again, as a Democrat, in 2010 — libeled her when he alleged in campaign materials that she had taken “blood money” as campaign donations from Turkish interest groups. Schmidt is co-chairwoman of the Congressional Turkish Caucus, according to Politico’s coverage of the case, and has received more than $10,000 from the Turkish Coalition USA PAC, “making it one of her top campaign contributors”, since taking office in 2005. She recently took a trip to Turkey sponsored by the Turkish Coalition of America, valued at more than $10,000.

At immediate issue in the initial Schmidt v. Krikorian tussle, is the century-long debate over whether the extermination of some 1.5 million ethnic Armenians during WWI will be declared a “genocide” by the American government. The issue is a highly contentious one that has cut across party lines in Congress, and has ensnared dozens of U.S. Congressmembers and highly-ranked officials in a lobbyist-funded, politically-charged battle.

The same Turkish lobby has also, according to information gleaned from Edmonds and others, based on her first-hand knowledge as an FBI case translator, helped to ensnare many of those same officials in a broad infiltration scheme of the U.S. Government and sensitive military facilities, by operatives from the U.S., Turkey, Pakistan and elsewhere, including alleged bribery of then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. Some of the charges against Hastert were detailed in a remarkable 2005 Vanity Fair exposé. Additional allegations, concerning the the proliferation of nuclear secrets to the black-market in Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, Libya, Iran and beyond, as detailed in an explosive front-page series by London’s Sunday Times last year.

These are among the issues which Edmonds — whose classified allegations were found to have been “credible”, “serious” and “warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI,” according to their Inspector General in 2002 — will be asked about on Saturday if the deposition moves forward without being quashed by the DoJ.

Krikorian’s campaign has released a statement [PDF], detailing several of the potentially explosive points about which they intend to ask Edmonds to testify in an “open to the media deposition”…

“Jean Schmidt and the Turkish Legal Defense Fund have been attempting to squash my right to political free speech by abusing the OEC (Ohio Election Commission) process by filing frivolous complaints against me for their own political gain,” Krikorian alleges in his statement.

He also notes that “Schmidt has previously been convicted by the OEC for having a reckless disregard for truth.” During her run for Congress, the OEC found, in a 7 to 0 vote, that Schmidt had lied about having a received an undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati and she was issued a letter of reprimand for the “false statements”.

The Backstory…

Edmonds agreement, via affidavit, to give testimony on the points mentioned by Krikorian above, under oath, and in public, would be a first. Much of her previous sworn testimony, to Congress and to the 9/11 Commission, has been entirely classified, leaving those of us in the media with an interest in her case to piece together the puzzle of what has made her, in the words of the ACLU, “the most gagged person in the history of the United States of America”.

On Tuesday, Congressional Quarterly’s intelligence reporter Jeff Stein filed a report on Edmonds’ upcoming “test” of the Department of Justice in the Schmidt v. Krikorian case. However, it’s fallen largely to the independent media in the U.S. and the foreign mainstream media to dig into the details of Edmonds’ allegations, described by one former CIA analyst early last year as “treason at the highest levels of the United State government.”

In October of 2007 — after she had exhausted all other options, having been shut down by both Congress and the Supreme Court due to the Bush Administration’s twice-imposed gag order — The BRAD BLOG broke the exclusive news of her promise to break the gag in order to relate the entire story to any U.S. mainstream broadcast media outlet willing to allow her to do so. Despite that story itself having made news in papers across the globe, nobody in the U.S. mainstream broadcast media took her up on her offer.

In November that year, legendary “Pentagon Papers” whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg guest blogged at The BRAD BLOG, describing Edmonds’ case as “far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers”. Still, the U.S. media ignored her.

Even CBS’ 60 Minutes — who ran a story on her in 2002 (which re-ran twice therafter), when she couldn’t speak at all about her case — chose not to tell her story once she had promised to tell all. That, even though Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), when asked about her credibility in their original piece said, “Absolutely, she’s credible…And the reason I feel she’s very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story.”

2005’s detailed exposé in Vanity Fair by investigative British investigative journalist David Rose, detailed extraordinary allegations that then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations and bribes from Turkish interests tied into the drug-trade. Edmonds was said to have been the translator for FBI wiretaps in that case. Few in the media bothered to advance the story at all, even years later when, as Edmonds had years earlier predicted, the retired Hastert became a highly-paid lobbyist for Turkey.

And, as recently as last month, during our own recent interview with Edmonds while we were guest hosting the Mike Malloy Show (audio here, partial transcript here), she dropped details described as a “bombshell”, about the U.S. having retained “intimate relations” with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda through Turkish proxies right up until September 11, 2001. That interview has made news across the globe over the last several days (e.g. the Times of India coverage is here), yet it made nary a peep in the U.S. corporate mainstream.

Many other top U.S. officials are indicated to have been involved in the dark and sordid influence peddling, infiltration and treason as highlighted by a “Rogues Gallery” of photographs posted by Edmonds in 2007 without comment. Among the photos posted, in addition to Hastert’s: current and former Congressmembers Roy Blunt (R-MO), Dan Burton (R-IN), Tom Lantos (D-CA), Bob Livingston (R-LA) and Stephen Solarz (D-NY); current and former State and Defense Dept. officials including Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Eric Edelman, Marc Grossman (specifically targeted by the landmark Sunday Times exposé), Brent Scowcroft and Larry Franklin; and photographs of a host of registered and non-registered Turkish lobbyists and agents.

Edmonds told The BRAD BLOG this afternoon that, though the DoJ has yet to timely answer her hand-delivered request for the revocation of the prior-issued “states secrets” privilege orders, she expects they may still intercede to quash her testimony before Saturday morning, when she’s currently scheduled to give her deposition at 10:30am in Washington D.C..

More details are available from Edmonds herself, on her planned deposition in Schmidt v. Krikorian at her blog, 123 Real Change…

UPDATE 8/6/09: Just heard from Edmonds who, in turn, has just heard from attorneys working on the case that they have been informed that Ohio Election Commission (OEC) regulations disallow media from attending depositions. So, despite Krikorian’s press release yesterday stating that her testimony would be “open to the media” (presuming it’s not blocked by the DoJ) it will not in fact be open to them now.

However, Edmonds tells us that Krikorian’s team will have their own videographer there to record it, and that tape is allowed to be released immediately after the proceeding. As well, court transcript should be available within 24 to 48 hours after the deposition.

Moreover, immediately following the deposition, attorneys from both sides will be able to speak to the media and answer any questions about it outside of the deposition room. If any media bother to cover it, that is.

Edmonds still believes it’s likely that a last minute intervention by the DoJ, to block all or part of her testimony, will occur. As founder of the National Security Whistleblower’s Coalition (NSWBC) she relates that she’s seen a number of cases in which official whistleblower testimony is blocked at the last minute by DoJ attorneys who arrive with court orders just minutes beforehand, leaving no time for the opposition to challenge the ruling.

Though we’d planned to be on the road this Saturday, we’ll do our best to stay in touch as things move forward if at all possible.

Source: Brads Blog

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The American Socialist Party (ASP), whose members entertainingly call themselves “Democrats,” is determined to use its control of the executive and legislative branches of government to destroy the private health insurance and healthcare industries in favor of “single-payer” healthcare. Of course, when government is the single payer that means government-run monopoly. Average people instinctively understand that monopoly is never in their best interest, but to politicians who will administer and benefit from the monopoly the thinking is apparently “it’s good to be the monopolist,” as Mel Brooks might say.

Moreover, there is no reason to believe that they will stop there. If a government-run monopoly is good for healthcare, they will eventually argue, why not food, cars, and other essentials of modern life? They are socialists, after all.

Since I always try to keep a step ahead of the bad guys, it will be useful to think through how say, a single-payer grocery industry would work. Such an exercise will also teach us some lessons about what can be expected of a “single-payer,” government-run healthcare monopoly.

Here’s my take on how central planning for the new American single-payer grocery industry monopoly would work: First, all groceries will be paid for by the taxpayers, who are sometimes confused with “government” by the media. Anyone at any time – even illegal aliens – can walk into a grocery store and walk out with whatever groceries and other items they “need.” A national government I.D. will be needed so that the state can “track” our grocery purchases with it. It will be as easy to obtain for illegal aliens as it is for citizens, since illegal aliens are such an important voting block in support of the American Socialist Party. The government grocery stores will keep track of all food purchases so that they can better administer the state’s new anti-obesity/mandatory exercise campaign. The stated purpose of this “campaign” will be to cut healthcare costs by forcing us all into healthier lifestyles (as defined by the state). With government in charge of health and lifestyle planning, that old saying will be altered to say “a ton of prevention for an ounce of cure.”

Since the laws of economics have not been repealed, one problem is that since groceries are free, many people will tend to consume far more than is necessary. Cats and dogs will dine on filet mignon, salmon, and sushi, for example, which might drive the pet food industry out of existence. Good riddance, some would say. In economics lingo, there will be an explosion of consumer demand, which will cause a subsequent explosion in costs in most of the food industries (these are called “increasing cost industries” by economists, since average costs of production tend to increase as they expand). Thus, “free” food will become expensive beyond belief. This phenomenon is what economists call “the moral hazard problem” of government subsidies.

In response to the government-created explosion of food costs, the government will wage nationwide propaganda campaigns to raise taxes, complete with televised pictures of starving babies, similar to the “feed the children” television commercials that raise charitable donations for starving children in the Third World. All opposition to the tax increases will be denounced by Nancy Pelosi and her comrades as “Hitler-like,” and worse.

The booboisie will eventually recognize that the food cost explosion (and the healthcare cost explosion that will inevitably come with single-payer healthcare) cannot be paid for indefinitely by the Fed chairman’s announcements of the printing and/or borrowing of another trillion dollars this week, a trillion more next week, etc. They will demand that “something be done” about the out-of-control costs of food as their tax burden escalates, and the politicians will comply.

Politicians typically have only one response to the cost explosions that their own policies cause: price controls, usually euphemistically called “global budgeting,” “price caps,” or some other deceitful phrase. The new price controls on food will stimulate consumer demand even further, while stifling food production and supply, since they will take much of the profit out of farming, which for the time being will still be in private hands. Food shortages are the inevitable result, which of course will call for even more government intervention in the form of a new government food-rationing board, similar to what occurred during World War II when there were price controls on food and many other items. The more affluent will be able to bribe their way into adequate food purchases, while the poor will simply be out of luck, as they always are whenever government rations anything. The affluent always have more political influence than the poor.

I would expect the new government grocery stores to be unionized, as the American Socialist Party will change the labor laws to make it mandatory, just as the government did with airport employees after 9/11. This will give tremendous clout to the public grocery union since a strike can literally shut down food distribution. It will essentially transfer much of the power to tax to the public employee grocery union. Consequently, grocery industry workers will be among the highest paid people in America. This will be an additional cause of a further cost explosion, which will ignite more tax-increasing campaigns and the demonization of the taxpaying public whenever it resists the additional plunder.

With no genuine profit-and-loss statements in our new single-payer grocery industry there will be no way in the world to know whether or not agricultural resources are being used efficiently, that is, whether say, a million dollars in grain is turned into food products that are worth more than a million dollars. When that occurs, there is a profit in the private sector, but the private sector will be only a memory. Consequently, there will be perpetual economic chaos in the food industry. We are talking about socialism here, after all.

Since civil service regulations make it all but impossible to fire public employees, we can expect the highly paid food industry bureaucrats to be as inefficient, lazy, and unproductive as any government bureaucrats anywhere. They will have no incentive to acquire skills that enable them to be more efficient at serving their customers. Instead, the “skills” they will acquire will be political networking, scheming, and conniving skills. Politics will be the route to higher pay and perks, not customer service.

Not to mention management, who will all be political appointees whose jobs will be protected by their politician/benefactors. Bad management, spoiled food, high costs, filthy grocery stores, shortages, and all other costly problems will all be addressed with one strategy: more tax increases and more government demonization of tax resisters.

Since government-run monopolies are, well, monopolies, any competition between the government grocery stores will be strictly controlled or prohibited. The most likely means of doing this will be to assign each person to a certain neighborhood grocery store, just as the government schools assign everyone to a certain government monopoly school, and as the British nationalized healthcare bureaucracy assigns everyone to a specific hospital. That way, our new government-run grocery monopoly will have a truly captured audience of “customers.”

Black markets for food will eventually crop up (no pun intended), but they would have to be harshly penalized by fines and even imprisonment for the more egregious offenses, war-on-drugs style. Single payer means single payer, the government will ominously preach. Black market gardening will draw resources away from the government-run grocery monopoly, which will be especially harmful to “the children,” the state will inform us. This is the argument that is always made by the state in response to the creation of private schools, increased homeschooling, or even school voucher proposals, and it will be repeated if there is any competition for the new government grocery monopoly.

Some years ago I discussed this scenario in a class of undergraduate students and asked them if all of these characteristics reminded them of any particular industry in America. (It’s how public schools are organized). One student who had grown up in the Republic of China (Taiwan) immediately shouted, “Communism!” Having grown up in the shadow of Chinese communism he was very familiar with the subject, and he was right, of course. I’m sure he would have the same opinion of “single-payer healthcare.”

Source: LewRockwell

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More than 1,100 people worldwide have died from swine flu since it emerged in Mexico and the U.S. in April, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.

As of July 31, the total number of victims killed by the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, stood at 1,154 — an increase of 338 since WHO’s previous update on July 27.

The virus has spread around the world with unprecedented speed, spreading as widely in six weeks as common influenza viruses spread in the six months, according to WHO.

WHO data showed the total number of laboratory confirmed cases at 162,380, but the number could be higher since individual cases no longer have to be tested or reported.

The total number of countries and territories reporting at least one case of infection now stands at 168, with new cases reported in Azerbaijan, Gabon, Grenada, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Monaco, Nauru, Swaziland and Suriname.

In the United States, federal health officials are worried about the upcoming flu season.

They say nearly 160 million Americans may need to be vaccinated against the H1N1 virus, but it won’t be as simple as a single shot.

In a background briefing with reporters on Tuesday, two senior administration officials said the vaccine, which is still in clinical trials, would require two shots. The first shot would be followed by a second shot three weeks later. Immunity to the virus would finally kick in two weeks after that.

That means someone who is vaccinated by the time the program is expected to launch in late October won’t get protection until late fall.

On Tuesday, British-based pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline announced it had signed contracts with nine governments to provide 96 million doses of a H1N1 vaccine and was in ongoing discussions with governments to provide further supplies.

GlaxoSmithKline has already signed deals worth $250 million in total to provide 195 million doses and plans to donate 50 million doses to the World Health Organization.

“First supplies of the vaccine will be available to governments from September onwards, with shipments expected in the second half of 2009 and early 2010,” GlaxoSmithKline said in a statement. “The exact pace of delivery will be dependent on capacity and the yield of the influenza strain.”

Details of the immunization program were revealed as part of the government’s overall plan to deal with what is expected to be a difficult flu season.

The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last week issued sweeping guidelines for a vaccination campaign against the swine flu strain, identifying more than half the population as targets for the first round of vaccinations.

The priority groups include pregnant women, health care and emergency services personnel, children, adolescents and young adults from six months to 24 years of age, household and caregiver contacts of children younger than six months and healthy adults with certain medical conditions.

The symptoms of swine flu are similar to that of seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, aches and runny nose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A significant number of infected people have also reported diarrhea and vomiting.

Source: CNN

How many people die from flu each year in the United States?

The number of influenza-associated (i.e., flu-related) deaths varies from year to year because flu seasons often fluctuate in length and severity. CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. This figure includes people dying from complications of flu. This estimate came from a 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Medication Association (JAMA), which looked at the 1990-91 through the 1998-99 flu seasons [10]. Statistical modeling was used to estimate how many flu-related deaths occurred among people whose underlying cause of death on their death certificate was listed as a respiratory or circulatory disease. During these years, the number of estimated deaths ranged from 17,000 to 52,000.

In 2009, CDC published additional estimates of flu-related deaths comparing different methods, including the methods used in the 2003 JAMA study. The seasons studied included the 1993-94 through the 2002-03 flu seasons [9]. Results from this study showed that during this time period, 36,171 flu-related deaths occurred per year, on average.

Continued at the CDC

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