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The Link Childrens Centre
The Link Childrens Centre
Address: Matson Avenue, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, GL4 6BE
Telephone: 01452 560451
This is a C-Card registration and distribution centre
What is C-Card? C-Card is a condom distribution scheme for young people under 25 who live in Gloucestershire. You can get free condoms from any of the distribution outlets.
How does the C-Card work? You need to register for the scheme at a registration centre. You will be asked to complete a registration form, all of the information you provide will be kept confidential. If you don't want to give us any information, that is fine. You will still be able to get condoms. You will then be given a C-Card which you can use at any of the distribution outlets. It will have a number on; this is your C-Card.
Your feedback
We are independent of services so aren't able to answer questions about them (such as opening times and services available)
Your feedback comments are confidential. If you require a response, please contact the centre directly.
Your feedback comments are confidential.


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C Board
Community Boards
A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
> hosting website suggestions
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hosting website suggestions
Tear it apart. What would you do differently?
looks good bro - but that logo has to go - it really doesn't "fit" with the whole theme - if you know what I'm talking about. Also, those priices are a bit steep......
Well as most of you know, following the W3C standards is a big thing for me when it comes to web programming.
The design is clean, information is very accessible, the page is easy to navigate. But I wouldn't touch your web programming service with a thousand foot poll.
I've considered taking down the web development section for now because, well as you can see I don't have anything worth showing yet.
But again, I'm not catering typically to people like us because a lot of us scrounge for the best prices. Me on my hosting service if a user goes down I'll boost them back up temporarily. My prices and figures always allow for a considerable amount of free resources on the server to help more than just one struggling customer at once.
I've thought about lowering the prices but a fellow webhosting friend said that people will pay it if you provide a good service such as the ideas and generousity that I have. The web develompent section is kind of dry now but that's not what we're about -- we're hosting. We ALSO make websites for you if you want one but don't care to make one.
I don't expect to write something too large, in fact I probably wouldn't even want to at this point.
The logo...I'll photoshop something.
Where is your actual hosting physically located? Do you own the servers? What about the pipe? What happens if you exceed your monthly bandwidth?
hosting through WWM
I won't exceed bandwidth, accounts are capped, and I have a designated "full load" in mind. I will expand as needed until I no longer want to take public customers
WWM's response time is 30 minutes
Those prices are really steep man....might want to think about lowering 'em a bit to keep with the competition. Powweb hosting gives you 2 gigs of space, 5 gigs daily bandwidth for 7.77 a month...
Brain Cell
yea the prices are steep. I pay 13$ monthly for a plan thats way better than your 40$ e-commerce. So , don't be greedy and think of reasonable prices ;)
I've thought about lowering the prices but a fellow webhosting friend said that people will pay it if you provide a good service such as the ideas and generousity that I have.
People don't know you yet. They won't trust you untill they actually try your service , but then your steep prices would stop them from doing so and you'd get nothing.
I suggest that you start your business with very low prices and limited services, get used to it , see if you can handle it and whether people like it or not. After that you can increase your prices little by little while including more standard services.
You might also want to reconsider your design. Looking at your page's source code , you're not even using <html> , <head> and <body> tags. You didn't take care of other broswers either (see attachment) and you're using tables for your layout. So your pages need more work :)
Good luck :)
It is extremely bland and as others stated, you're not going ANYWHERE with those prices. I get better options for $9/mo. than your customers do for $40.
And when I see your logo I think "old style". I don't want to be thinking "old style" when I think of my web host.
yea the prices are steep. I pay 13$ monthly for a plan thats way better than your 40$ e-commerce. So , don't be greedy and think of reasonable prices ;)
People don't know you yet. They won't trust you untill they actually try your service , but then your steep prices would stop them from doing so and you'd get nothing.
I suggest that you start your business with very low prices and limited services, get used to it , see if you can handle it and whether people like it or not. After that you can increase your prices little by little while including more standard services.
For one I do have a couple changes in mine for the layout. I've been meaning to change the logo and the title message for each category(Welcome! for instance) and the font color it uses. I'm just not quite there yet. I threw up this new layout to replace a similar one that was far more dry looking. But my current customer and potential customers who see all my hobby projects(http://wisconsinsirens.com http://datadrops.com http://wisconsinsirens.com/forums) just say "super cool" on everything I show them. So they don't care too much what the site looks like and trusts me on the service I'll give when they go to sign up - IE: Your account is your account yes, but you actually have hidden disk space and bandwidth limits beyond what it say because I'll help you if you struggle.
Which leads me to think if I ever want to get too big? I can make all these changes you guys suggest which make it seem like you want me to be a WWM wannabe, and can put my head in the game to grow to a respectably imitation size of them...but I don't know if I want to.
I prefer the design myself, but I will standardize it a bit more, and I plan on scratching the logo yet too. I will lower the prices a little bit, but not too far because...not to sound cocky, but I don't need the entire internet to trust me automatically yet. I'm working on that slowly. But I will drop prices a hair and increase specs a little too.
I don't put my website out there and just wait for people to magically sign up. I'm advertizing everywhere -- at the cprogramming.com links directory, eBay, message boards everywhere, friends. I talk to all my on-line friend friends, real life friends and family ..etc. So once I have a few people signed up(2 more with my current prices on plan 1 and im breaking even, i have another customer in the works) and people will see my list of customers who are happy, then they'll think a little differently.
While things fall into place for this, I have a $200/month budget a friend of mine has set up for me to run this(he wants this done and is completely OK with throwing away 200/month on it). So for now I'm obviously doing the smallest plan I can to work on building several customers with the plan 1 account mostly. 30/month is the current price.
Anyways, I'll change the logo, standardize the layout a bit more, but I'm keeping it. I don't want a layout like Brinkster's, MS's or WWM's. I don't want to appear or make people think I'm like that. I'm currently working on people who know a little, but don't know tons and just want some good hosting that won't jack them around, even if they have to pay a little bit more. And if they know they're getting it from someone they halfway know..well even better for them. Therefore I want that "small town friendly feel" and look to the site, but a hint of slimness in there too.
I wonder if I should increase the bandwidth too far on the same server that all the customers pull off from as I get bigger? Or if I should instead purchase another one to run new customers on at a certain point to relieve stress? That would make more sense wouldn't it?
I've only scanned most posts and none seem to say what I'm about to, so pardon me if any of it is repetative. Keep in mind, Shadow, that given your statement, "Tear it apart," I'm not being unacceptably rude, but straightforward and honest as you requested.
1) I don't think anyone with any sense would place much credence in the fidelity of your services. There are so many well-established companies that offer web hosting with much more for a much lesser charge. I looked at your site as an objective web browser and had two initial reactions: a) Thinking, "What is this guy gonna host my website off of the laptop in his mother's garage?"; b) Moving the little arrow up to the little 'x' in the corner of my browser. My suggestion is that you absolutely must make it more appealing and somehow offer a sense of professionalism and experience without leaving so many questions in a person's mind that they immediately click away from you. You should provide the feeling that there is a team of seasoned experts running things and not just some Schmoe trying to make a buck.
2) Are you joking with your grammar? The language (vocabulary) you use, typos, and misspellings make it look like a junior high school dropout designed your site. Some examples:
Our designs are always nothing but eye catching, appealing, and pleasant to look at.
"always nothing but?" Eye-catching, appealing, AND pleasant to look at?
Bookmark Hosting is in fact very picky about website layout templates.
Our webhosting service runs off it's own server which is phenomenally stable.
It runs of it's own server?! Wow! And it's also "phenomenally" stable? That's reassuring!
Your account will be ran off our independant high-speed Linux server which has stringent virus scanning procedures.
The account will be "ran" off of a single "independant" server with "stringent" virus scanning "procedures?"
For a small fee(judged by work done) Bookmark Hosting will produce a website for you to use on your account.
You will get whatever you want really
simple but elegant, complex and technical, you name it you got it!
B&W Fan Page Here is an example of a webiste.
The list goes on and on. It is absolutely imperative that you use not only proper grammar (and yes, without any typos), but language that demonstrates you have an education. If you want help with it I would be willing to provide it for a small charge (PM me if you're at all interested). To reiterate, I am really not being an Ahole; I am just trying to stress how things need to change on your site. You can't sound like a know-nothing half-wit; it is all too apparent that you are just a dude trying to pretend he's got a lot more to offer than he actually does. You can make something good out of your site with the motivation you seem to have, but it's going to take a lot more than just motivation to do it successfully.
3) If you are going to demonstrate what great work your company can do to convince people to hire you, you're going to have to show some great work. That B&W Fan Page is so plain and simplistic, especially with the default text and overflowing empty space, but to top it off it looks awful when the background runs out and the default background color hasn't been set:
My suggestion is simple, do some research to find out what a "competitive hosting" would entail. ixwebhosting.com is a good example of a very competitive hoster. I could create my own web hosting through ix which would be cheaper then yours ;)
A lot of your reactions Lucky are some of what I would say myself when browsing the site. I'll admit there are some grammar issues I need to attend to, but for the most part as I've stated I'm not really targeting people would be as knowledgable as us to the point where we get this picky.
What I am interested in is those portability issues with things like the background color in the B&W layout. I need to change that! Also, I think I've fixed the dashed, dotted and solid line CSS attributes in the main part of the layout. I've put the HTML, head and body tags in...which is something I never do for my hobby projects cause I get lazy like that(hobby only, I'm changing it now :p).
Here's my thinking:
I don't like it really. I don't know why.
I LOVE the flat colors and thin lines look.
Pretty much http://datadrops.com which was a simlpe one page layout made by my friend only containing plain text in the left pain and right pain. The logo I put in as well then dropped the news into the left side and put the mini updates gimmick into the right side. I have a few other ideas for this but that is my favorite type of look.
> That B&W Fan Page is so plain and simplistic, especially with the default text and overflowing empty space
The background color I'll fix, but I'm thinking of taking that section down temporarily to prepare a few things to show people, though they will be on the basic side. I may have a news script in there, an e-mail form, etc. with some "fine and slim" looks to the fonts and colors.
I have a few layouts in the works and in mind that will use a lot of these CSS border attributes, some photoshop logos and charming color combinations but they will certainly have a flat colors and thin lines style with basically no gradients(i just don't like gradients much).
> You should provide the feeling that there is a team of seasoned experts running things and not just some Schmoe trying to make a buck.
I'm trying to balanace halfway inbetween these two. Like I said, I want to know what the hardcore portability problems are...but at the same time I'm not trying to generate 30 sign ups tomorrow.
I'm totally willing to generate most of my customers for now from "door to door" tactics(talking with people). But at the same time I want a layout that is standard and portable.
A lot of these things were rushed, so I came to you guys to "tear it apart" which is what you did. I want to do some small time web work for people who don't really want elaborate websites, but don't care to build one(IE: if there are too many scripts or databases involved, I'll turn them down and point them to someone else).
I have a few people in mind already and a small gathering of friends and family, church websites and things like that. Like I said, I'm building experience slowly through people who don't know what you guys do. So therefore I don't quite need this feel of "I'm WWM or Brinkster all on my own!" Yeah right! That's rediculous.
This isn't my main source of income.
> If you are going to demonstrate what great work your company can do to convince people to hire you
If I'm going to have a decent but not too advanced website to attract a smaller market all by myself(there is no company) is the correct wording. As said I will lower my prices and up the resources on those accounts.
Sounds like you're taking my comments well. Thanks for not freaking out.
I pretty much haven't commented (and don't plan to) on how the design of your website might be changed. It's clear that the design is how you want it to be and I don't presume you want to become a large corporation. All I'll say is that you should really give some thought to how you represent yourself to potential customers on your website. Even if all of your customers are your neighbors and family friends, you should never want to emit a feeling of unprofessionalism or a lack of expertise (again, I'm not talking about the design, but your language). Just keep that in mind. It will help succeed in this and all your ventures.
No offense but those "super cool" example work sites you have to show them arent anything to get excited about. Hell the one is just a free ez-install php based forum portal with the stock theme and logo.
Trusy me lucky, I can get pretty picky about grammar. In fact the spelling errors are the big thing for me. They are eye sores. In general on message boards though I, of course, let things slide and make mistakes. We all do -- I don't have time to spell check and hate spell checking board plug-ins. But you can usually undestand me quite well.
I just dislike people who appear to be foreign but are actually american.
Quite funny since I had so many errors? :D That site was rushed cause my friend said, "Do it now." so I threw up what I could. I've just been changing it as I go while having people who trust me support it.
For the wordings, I'm going to shorten things up a bit. I was tought in a small business communcation class that irrelevancy needs to be weeded out, but at the same time for me I will need to say a bit more because that's where my game is -- I have to sell myself.
I will be running tests and trying out new things with it and I do want to emit a since of professionalism when people surf on by the website, but right now that isn't top on the list(though I keep it in mind). I mean I will tend to all of your suggestions, but for the layout side of things I'm not going corporate. Look at data drops, look at cprogramming.com -- I'd buy an account from a layout like that, even if it costed a few more bucks and I was helping the person out. If I knew they'd take care of me I'd like that more.
I'm currently working with the offline layout to adjust prices to by the way.
> Hell the one is just a free ez-install php based forum portal with the stock theme and logo.
I didn't say I created the forum. I changed a few small things on it after I got it from phpBB hacks - which the board footer clearly states. Wait, on second thought, you need to change the profile settings to "sirens" to see the phpBB hacks logo I modified. The default layout for my board is the default phpBB layout.
I know this is an old thread, but I would use div layers instead of a tables for the site's layout.
Yes... (http://cboard.cprogramming.com/announcement.php?f=10&announcementid=51)
Please read the rules...
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As many of you know, Webroot recently attended Europe's most prestigious security conference, RSA Europe 2012, where I held a presentation on the topic of "Cyber Jihad vs Cyberterrorism – Separating Hype from Reality".
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some photos from this year's RSA Europe conference:
'Til next year!
You can find more about Dancho Danchev at his LinkedIn Profile. You can also follow him on Twitter.


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In search of Adam: the story of man's quest for the truth about his earliest ancestors
Houghton, Mifflin, 1956 - Anthropology, Prehistoric - 540 pages
What people are saying - Write a review
LibraryThing ReviewUser Review - TrinityRedlands - LibraryThing
The sub-title tells it all. The book has a timeless quality since it details the search process that is still going on although the methods and questions are changing. Important since it shares German sources at mid-twentieth century. RMB,CSBS Read full review
The Man Who Classified Nature
Links Between Man and Beast
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Africa already ancestors ancient animals anthropoid apes anthropologists antiquity Aurignacian beast became began believed bones Boucher de Perthes brain Breuil Buffon cave bear chimpanzee creation creature Cro-Magnon cultural Cuvier Darwin descendants developed Diluvial discovered discovery Don Marcelino Dubois early earth epoch excavation existence fact fish forms fossils French geological giant Goethe Haeckel hand axes Hauser hitherto Homo sapiens human Ice Age idea investigators Java Klaatsch Lamarck Lamettrie Lartet later layer Linnaeus lived looked Lyell Magdalenian mammals mammoth mankind modern monkey Museum natural science natural scientists Neanderthal once opinion orangutan origin paleontologist Peking philosopher Piltdown Pithecanthropus plants Pleistocene prehistorians prehistoric primeval primitive professors proved question race remains resembled rock Saint-Hilaire Scheuchzer scholars scientific skeleton skull species specimen Sterkfontein Stone Age teeth Tertiary period theory of evolution thing thought tion took Trinil turned Virchow Weinert wrote zoologist zoology


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Take either Gelsemium or Aconitum the night before the surgery and another dose upon waking in the morning. If fear and/or anxiety is felt after surgery, take one to three more doses.
One double-blind, randomized trial on 50 children who underwent surgery showed that 95% of those given the homeopathic medicine Aconitum experienced significantly less post-operative pain and agitation.1 Aconitum was chosen because it is a common remedy for ailments in which sudden and violent onset of shock or trauma is a primary indication, as well as symptoms of fear and anxiety, which are especially common emotions experienced by children prior to surgery.
Arnica is another common homeopathic medicine given to people before and after surgery because of its ability to reduce surgical shock and minimize bleeding. Surgical shock is a condition that trauma or surgery can cause in which all the capillaries and small blood vessels are filled with blood at the same time. A randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study showed that Arnica significantly decreased bleeding time.2
The late British homeopathic physician Donald Foubister recommended Arnica 30 the night before surgery, another dose the morning of the surgery, another dose just prior to the surgery, and different medicines afterward, depending upon the type of surgery and the symptoms the patient feels.
Homeopathic medicines can also be beneficial for patients who undergo long-term intravenous (IV) therapy. Frequent insertion of an IV commonly causes phlebitis (inflammation of the vein) and hematoma (the pooling of blood under the skin); a double-blind study using Arnica 5c found that it can effectively reduce and prevent such problems.3 The study showed significant benefits from Arnica, including reduced pain. Besides subjective improvement, there were also objectively measured increases in blood flow and in blood coagulation factors.
While Arnica is the primary remedy to be taken just prior to the majority of surgeries, there are a certain number of operations for which Dr. Foubister commonly recommended other remedies. For surgery involving cartilage and periosteum, as is often occurs in the knee or elbow, it is recommended to take Ruta 30 the evening before, the morning of the operation, and immediately afterward. For hemorrhoidal surgery, it is recommended to take either Staphysagria 30 or Aesculus 30 in a similar pattern as described for Ruta. And for circumcision, Staphysagria 30 and Arnica 30 should be given similarly as above.
The following are common recommendations for after surgery. Please note that the length of time of treatment can and should be different with each patient, depending upon the intensity of symptoms. Doses should generally be taken as long as pain persists, though they should not be taken for more than a couple of days, unless the person is still in pain and the remedy is providing obvious relief. Arnica 6, 12, or 30 should be given for at least two doses after surgery, approximately one hour apart. In addition to this remedy, the following remedies should be given one hour after the last dose of Arnica:
Gynecological surgery:
--Dilation and curettage: Belladonna 30, every 6 hours
--Hysterectomy: Causticum 30, three times a day (some homeopaths
recommend Staphysagria 6 or 30, three times a day)
--Caesarean section or episiotomy: Staphysagria 30 or Bellis perennis 30,
three times a day
--Abortion or miscarriage: Ignatia 30, every four hours
--Plastic surgery on the breast: Bellis perennis 6 or 30, three times a day
--Amputation of the breast or a lump: Hamamelis 30, every 4 hours
Circumcision: Staphysagria 30 and Arnica 30, every four hours for a day.
Prostate surgery: Staphysagria 30, three times a day
Abdominal surgery: Staphysagria 30 or Bellis perennis 30, three times a
Appendectomy: Rhus tox 30, three times a day
Gastrectomy: Raphanus 30, three times a day
Gall bladder surgery: Lycopodium 30, three times a day
Eye surgery: Ledum 30, every four hours
Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy: Rhus tox 30, every four hours
Orthopedic surgery
--involving cartilage or periosteum: Ruta 30, every four hours
--involving the spine: Hypericum 30, every four hours
--Surgery for bullet wounds and/or stab wounds: Staphysagria 30, four
times a day
Plastic surgery: Arnica 30 (internally) and Calendula, (externally) four
times a day
Amputation: Hypericum 30, every four hours
Hemorrhoids: Staphysagria 30 or Aesculus 30, every four hours for two
or three days* Varicose veins: Ledum 30, three times a day
Dental surgery: Hypericum 30 and Ruta 30, alternating every two to four
Homeopathy for Specific Ailments After Surgery
Readers who experience symptoms or syndromes discussed elsewhere in this book should review those chapters. For instance, if you have urinary symptoms after surgery, which is common when catheterization takes place, consult the section on bladder infection in the section on Women's Conditions (even if you are a man; see: WOMEN). If you are now suffering from acute insomnia, consult the chapter on Insomnia (sorry, not included online).


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Hi guys!!
I`m confused!
There're wind ranges tables to riders with weight 75 Kg but there aren't tables to riders with 50 Kg. Well, never I didn't see it. I weigh 75 Kg and my wife 52 kg. She needs twos kites and I don't know that I should buy.
She weighs 52 kg and the ranges of the wind are 12 – 25 knots. I was thinking to buy a North Rebel kite 2012 – 8 m2 or a F-one kite 2012 - 8 m2 to use in winds between 12 and 20 knots; and North Rebel kite 2012 – 5 m2 or F-one 2012 - 5 m2 to use in winds between 20 knots and 30 knots.
What are you opinion about it?
Can you help?


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Interview conducted June 12, 2008. Listen to the interview.
Scott Horton: Hi, folks, this is Antiwar Radio on KAOS 92.7 FM in Austin, Texas, streaming live also from Antiwar.com/radio, and I'd like to welcome back to the show Sibel Edmonds, gagged by the state secrets privilege, former contract translator for the FBI, and the best investigator and storyteller on her case, Luke Ryland, from LetSibelEdmondsSpeak.blogspot.com. Welcome back to the show, both of you.
Sibel Edmonds: Thank you, Scott. Hi.
Luke Ryland: Hi, Scott.
Horton: So we have some recent developments here, but first of all, I'd like to ask you Sibel, what's been going on? We heard from you last Fall, you gave your golden offer to tell your whole story, everything you know in defiance of your gag order, you would risk prison in order to tell your story on American TV if only they would let you, and apparently you had no takers. Instead, a few months later there was a three article series in the London Times, detailing various aspects of your case. I guess, Luke, if you could maybe start us off and sort of summarize briefly what was in that series in the London Times, and what sort of developments have taken place in the story since then?
Ryland: The London Times series was in January, I believe, and they focused mostly on the nuclear black market side of Sibel's case, talking about how various Turkish and Israeli embassy officials were dealing in the nuclear black market in the U.S., with the help of certain players in the U.S. government, specifically former number 3 guy at the State Department, Marc Grossman. That was a three-part series, as you say, and there hasn't been a whole lot happen in the case since.
Horton: Okay. Well, there are some new developments here, I know that you've put up a few new blog entries just in the last week, one is about Dennis Hastert, and another is about a spy scandal of some kind brewing over there in Germany and Switzerland which may in some part be tied to Sibel Edmonds' case. What's going on there? I guess, first of all, we'll save Dennis Hastert till later. First of all, tell us about this family in Germany.
Ryland: There's a family called the Tinner family. They are a Swiss family actually, a father and two sons. The father has been an associate of A.Q. Khan going back to the 1970s. He and his sons were one of the key suppliers to the A.Q. Khan network. A.Q. Khan is the "father of the 'Islamic bomb.'" He was the one who was running the nuclear program in Pakistan, and he was getting all of the hardware and technology from the nuclear black market to build the Pakistan bomb, and then he, or at least the network, began exporting the technology to Iran, Libya and various other places including North Korea.
Now, the Tinners were key suppliers of that network, and they were arrested when the A.Q. Khan network was officially exposed in 2004. The Tinners have been awaiting trial since 2004 particularly one of the sons, Urs Tinner. So they've been awaiting trial since 2004 and the Swiss government has been trying to build a case so that they could prosecute the Tinners in court.
The U.S. government has been very reluctant to assist the Swiss. They had a lot of information about the Tinners' involvement in the Khan network, but they simply refused to even respond to requests for help from the Swiss attorney general. That was through 2006 and 2007, I think, but they eventually gave some limited assistance but now there's this big scandal in Switzerland that was announced just two or three weeks ago that the Swiss government has destroyed all of the evidence in that case, so it looks as though that prosecution won't go ahead.
The executive branch of the Swiss government destroyed all 30,000 pages of evidence in that case, and they did that in secret they didn't tell the parliament, or the court system or anything. There's a very strong suspicion that they did that at the request of the United States, and the suggestion is that the CIA has been actively been involved, working with the Tinners going back a number of years, and that the CIA was desperate that that information not become public.
Horton: I'm sorry. The CIA was helping these guys do their dirty work? Or these guys were stabbing the CIA in the back, Luke?
Ryland: Well, it's not entirely obvious. It might be the case that the Tinners were helping the Khan network, and then realized that the CIA was onto them, and then started working for the CIA to help expose some of the network. That's one hypothesis. Another hypothesis is that the CIA was just "running" these guys, and was aware of their involvement. In fact, according to some reasonable reports, the CIA paid the Tinners lots of money to be involved in this network. Now we don't really know why that's the case.
As you say, this is similar to Sibel's case because in her case we had the same sort of thing, where there was this extraordinary effort gone to make sure that none of this information becomes public. Sibel's case also deals, in part, with the A.Q. Khan network, and other nuclear black market proliferation.
Horton: Okay. I'm sorry to just keep you on hold here so long, Sibel, but this next question is for Luke too. What's the big deal with the A.Q. Khan network? Because I know our government's accusations against Libya, who've now become our friends again, and the accusations against Iran, are based on the fact that they received nuclear technology from the Pakistanis, but the best I understand they got was a bunch of first-generation centrifuge equipment that in no way equals any sort of clear and present danger to anyone. Is there a whole other side to this A.Q. Khan network that actually is dangerous that I'm missing, Luke, or is it just that this is criminal behavior participating in these black markets?
Ryland: Well, there's certainly a lot of criminal behavior involved in the market, and it's true that some of those early designs went to both Iran and North Korea, but it's also true that the A.Q. Khan network has continued operating in the black market to keep the Pakistan program up and running, for example, so they are constantly feeding that network with new technologies, so that's the problem. And in Sibel's case, going back to 1999 and 2000, there were companies in the U.S. that were exporting hardware to Pakistan via South Africa, so we know that even though those early reports were of those old P1 and P2 designs, there was still a constant influx of new technology.
Horton: Okay, so here we are in 2008, we have destruction of evidence by the Swiss government on the conduct of these Germans apparently everybody was operating to some capacity at the behest of the CIA, both in the case of the family and the people who destroyed the evidence about it. So far we've talked about Sibel as an example of a similar circumstance in the United States, without the benefit of really explaining who Sibel is, and why they should see the parallel to another famous case here going on in the United States. So, Sibel, I'd like to ask you if you could rehearse the short version of your brief employment as a contract translator for the FBI, and the status of the State Secret Privilege, the gag orders against you, and the limits on what you're allowed to say, and for that matter, why it is that people should believe that you were able to learn as much things as you've apparently been able to learn, or say that you were able to learn in your short time working as a translator at the FBI.
Edmonds: Sure. I think I can summarize it by telling you that I have been considered to be the most gagged person in United States history, and that is by the invocation of the state secrets privilege twice in my case, classification of my case, the entire case, including even the languages I speak, and also the fact that for the first time, the Justice Department illegally issued a gag order, a retroactive classification, on Congress. And that basically tells you that there is this body of knowledge, information, that the government; the Justice Department and the White House, is going out of it way to cover up, to hush, to shut down. And that, I believe, summarizes the case very well.
So, just the fact that, "okay, what is this information?" "Why are they going out of their way to gag this information?" And then I'm going to talk just a little bit on what Luke just very nicely summarized, and you were talking about "Well, you know, how benign maybe was this information and the technology?" You have to focus on one aspect, and that is that right now we are talking about a black market, the nuclear black market, and you're looking at international players within this nuclear black market activity, and this involves to a certain degree the Russians, Israelis, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, North Korea, so you're looking at many many players, and when you have these players, and you're looking at the nuclear black market, the focus should not be "Well, Pakistanis, we know that they have their nuclear weapons program, etc., so what's the big deal?"
The big deal is our hypocrisy ridden foreign policy, and the fact that on one hand, we're talking about the danger of these weapons of mass destruction in the hands of whoever at the time we declare to be in the "Axis of Evil," and using this as a technique, and as a tactic, to invoke fear here in our country, and globally, saying that, you know, "we're talking about the weapons of mass destruction, and that we are in danger, and there are bad guys out there who want to get us." On the other hand, when it comes to these really, really serious issues and cases, a lot of them involving weapons of mass destruction, we cherry-pick the intelligence, and we cherry-pick on what we are going to take action.
As you know, right now, we are talking about possibly attacking Iran because they may have the nuclear capabilities and technology. On the other hand, we are looking the other way when it comes to this global scale nuclear black market activities, in some of which we have U.S. players, participation, and their role. But yet, we go out of our way and this is our government to quash this information, to gag this information, to let these people off the hook, and we can't do that! That is the importance of it, it's not that "Okay, fine, Pakistan got it, and who played what role?" It is the fact that there is this nuclear black market, and we have many, many players, and some of these players happen to be our allies, some of these players happen to be U.S. persons, and yet, we only get partial stories, and whenever it is convenient for our government to say "Oh, okay if it is Syria, or if it is Iran " and yet looking the other way when it happens to be people who we call our allies.
Horton: And when you talk about the American role in all this, and this was alluded to with the CIA's contacts with this family in Germany and so forth, I guess the question comes down to whether this is covert operations, actual covert action policy of the American government, or whether we're talking about individual players within the American power structure who steal secrets and pass them on for their individual motives, outside of their official duties.
Edmonds: Well, see, it's interesting when you mention convert actions. We had these so-called covert actions when A.Q. Khan was building his network, and when Pakistan was developing its nuclear program, and before that we had it with Israel, okay? And yes, we did have these covert operations, and not only that our covert operations did not prevent these people, and these countries, from actually achieving what they were doing, in fact, it helped them.
And in some cases, our own government, despite these covert operations, they actually supported these governments and these activities these illegal activities behind the scenes. In one case that Luke also has very nicely reported on, we had Richard Barlow's case with the CIA. Here is a guy who was chasing A.Q. Khan's network, and here is a guy who went to Congress and basically reported to Congress what was happening with Pakistan, but then you had the other hand, whether in the CIA or in the Pentagon, or in the State Department who went out of their way to gag him, and to basically stop Congress from taking action.
So, again, how much do you trust when you are told that there may be some covert CIA actions, and therefore maybe these things are legit, and maybe there's a reason for this information being quashed? I would say, if you looked at the history of the CIA, you would see that in many cases, the covert actions by these people have been designed to actually support those dangerous, illicit activities. Again, we had our own government, covert actions, supporting criminal activities like Iran-Contra.
So whether or not the CIA had some sort of a covert action can not be any excuse, justification or cover to say, okay therefore, maybe there is a legitimate reason for this to be quashed.
Horton: Right, although it seems like it could serve as legitimacy or cover from the point of view of the individuals in the United States who want to go ahead and take part in it. That on some level, this is our operation anyway, that kind of thing. It doesn't seem too likely that the CIA would be hiring Marc Grossman over at the State Department to do this kind of thing.
Edmonds: Again, when you are looking at nuclear black market, when you are looking at any black market, whether it is narcotics, or whether it is the nuclear, or whether it's just the conventional weapons, you are looking at a huge amount of money, okay?. And as you know, money and power are the biggest drives for a lot of people, and that comes before any patriotism, or any other loyalties, and so to say that, you know, people like that may have other reasons, again it may be misguided because when you are looking at these people I'm sure you're going to get into, let's say, people like Dennis Hastert's case and that is, "Okay, you have individuals like that who go and get this public office job, and within a few years, they enrich themselves, and they come out a few years later as billionaires or multi-millionaires."
You just had this great article that Antiwar.com posted last weekend that had to do with Armitage and Tenet and Woolsey, and saying, "Okay, these people had access to information, they got out, and now they are making millions and millions and millions by taking positions within these private entities, and when you look at these private entities, some of them with international activities, well what is going to come first for these people their lucrative jobs and positions, or is it going to be "I'm still loyal to my previous job, and to my country, and to my people"? And why are they worth so much to these companies?
Look at Marc Grossman. Marc Grossman gave his resignation, and within a year he was placed on the payroll of this shady Turkish company, and he's receiving about a million dollars a year from this company.
Horton: Even though for years now your story has somehow implicated him in basically criminal interaction with these groups, and now he still goes right to them for employment when he quits [government]!
Edmonds: Absolutely they all do. Because they have become we have these people who have become untouchable. And again, your article that was published last weekend from Salon.com mentions three of them. You're looking at all these individuals.
I just read the Senate Intelligence Report on Iraq, and within this report they are talking about certain individual's roles, and even people who investigated this case. They are referring to the inspector general within the Department of Defense. The chief inspector general who was in charge of these investigations, Joseph Schmitz, he resigned in 2005 and two months later he became the C.O.O. of Blackwater, and we still have these so-called investigations on Blackwater.
Horton: I'm sorry, Sibel, I just have to tell you how much I enjoy that. This is not just some general, this is the inspector general, the head of Internal Affairs at the DoD whose job it is to prevent things like this from happening, himself.
Edmonds: Right! And this man was in charge of investigating my case, because my case also involved Major Douglas Dickerson, who happens to be right now Lt. Colonel Douglas Dickerson, and he's the person who shut down that investigation in 2003-2004. So now this man gets out of the Pentagon, doesn't even wait for a year or two 2 months later he's hired by Blackwater.
So what I'm trying to say here is that you have this root problem in our country, you have this pattern, so when you say "Nothing happens to Marc Grossman," I'm telling you that these people are untouchable. They are the untouchables because you see this with many, many people, and it's not raising any flags, the mainstream media is not reporting on it, the congress is not doing anything about it, so what does Marc Grossman have to worry about? They have really thick skin, they are really, really bold about their moves, because they are saying "I'm doing all this despite all this stuff out there. Come and touch me. Catch me if you can." And there is no one out there for us to go and ask to catch these guys.
Horton: All right now, Lukery, we're sitting here talking about this guy Grossman as though he's been convicted at Guantanamo or something, and he has for the record told the Times that he doesn't know what in the hell this lady is talking about, why don't you explain what it is that you believe that Marc Grossman has done in violation of the law, or even basic morality, however you want to see it.
Ryland: Prior to being the number 3 guy at the State Department, Marc Grossman was the ambassador for Turkey. Now, Turkey is a big player in the issues that Sibel is talking about; the nuclear black market and the narcotics industry. Grossman has been involved in this for a long time, and in fact when he was the ambassador in Turkey, Sibel just mentioned this Douglas Dickerson, well, Dickerson was there working with Grossman in Turkey way back then in the late 90s. So these guys have been hanging around together for a long time, working on the same sorts of deals.
In the Times report, as you say, Grossman denied any wrongdoing, but it outlined a number of crimes including his participation in the nuclear black market, including at one point, Brewster Jennings, the cover company that Valerie Plame used, they were investigating some of the people that Sibel's case touches on, including the American Turkish Council.
Horton: What makes you say that Brewster Jennings was investigating the American Turkish Council?
Ryland: I think that's just fact at the moment. Valerie Plame in fact met Joe Wilson there at the American Turkish Council. The point is that the Turks have had a long term involvement in the nuclear black market, so Brewster Jennings should have been investigating the Turks, and their headquarters in the U.S. which is basically the American Turkish Council (ATC), so it would be silly if they weren't investigating the ATC. So when Brewster Jennings was there investigating them, Grossman told his Turkish and other friends to stay away from Brewster Jennings and warned them that they were a CIA cover company.
So that's one of the crimes that he was involved in, another of the crimes mentioned in the Times report relates to just after September 11, 2001, when there was a big roundup of certain suspected participants in that event, some of Grossman's Turkish friends said "Hey, we have to get these four people out of jail because we can't afford for them to spill the beans." So Grossman got on the phone to whoever, and the four people were subsequently released and this comes back to what Sibel was talking about. When you have these activities, even if they are "legitimate" covert activities, they create so much black market for all of these things, all of this nefarious behavior, that enables all these unholy alliances that allow people to get away with just about anything.
Horton: If we just take it for granted that the CIA are on the side of the angels, and all that they would ever mean to do would be to check this sort of black market proliferation, then still it seems they're having a lot of trouble reigning in participants even inside the United States of America and this kind of thing. Is it just because of the amounts of money involved?
Ryland: Let me just add another of Grossman's crimes that Sibel uncovered. These Turkish and other interests who were working with the black market were desperate to get moles inside nuclear labs in the U.S., so they went to Grossman to ensure that he got the appropriate visas and appropriate placements for these moles. So this criminal network was placing spies in just about every nuclear facility and every other agency involved with nuclear technology in the United States, so Grossman was placing these people in all these installations for the criminal network, so that these spies could then report back on what they found. So you know, it was pretty widespread, and this was all happening under the nose of the FBI, and Sibel has often pointed out that there was this big time intelligence operation that went back to 1996, and the counterintelligence officers at the FBI were pulling their hair out, because they wanted to pursue these crimes, but they kept getting pushback from the Pentagon and the State Department, telling them that they weren't allowed to act on any of this information. Sibel has been trying to get her case heard in Congress and all of these counterintelligence people who were working on the Turkish program would be happy to testify under oath to all of these crimes that they are aware of.
Horton: Well, didn't Congressman Waxman promise that he would hold hearings, Luke?
Ryland: Yes, he promised, and he hasn't done a thing since.
Edmonds: Let's talk about that because this is another important issue, and it's not only with my case, but in the cases of many, many whistleblowers who are the members of my organization, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, and that is that we were very, very anxious to have this majority change with the Congress, because for years, when we went to these offices, whether it was Congressman Conyers, or Waxman, we were given only one excuse, one justification, and that was "We want to have hearings, we want to have accountability, and the Big Bad Republicans are preventing it, because they have the majority and they are not letting us do it." So for years we were under this assumption, and we were celebrating in November and when I say "we" we have members who are libertarians, we have Republicans, we have Democrats, and we have people like me who basically just say "we are Americans" and guess what? Once that majority changed, both in the Senate and in the House, these people who had these ongoing relationships with us, they used to have meetings for our members, for whistleblowers I went inside the Secure Compartmentalized Facility and had two or three sessions with just Congressman Waxman's office before he became the Chairman.
Now, after the elections, they just went completely silent. In fact, they became antagonistic they said "We don't want to talk with these whistleblowers because we have a very very busy schedule," and we asked them "What happened to all these promises you made that if you were the majority you would be doing this?" In fact, one of the promises was that "One of the first hearings that we are going to have was going to be on this case, the State Secrets Privilege, and you're going to testify." And his office, along with other Democratic offices just stopped even taking calls from us, and the change was absolutely amazing, and obviously this is not the case only with the whistleblowers because just take a look at the approval rate for Congress today, it's much lower than the confidence in the administration because it is plunging 17-18 percent.
This means that the American people are not happy with the Congress. All the promises that they gave, none of them were fulfilled. And I am not a diplomatic person, and one of the things that I say today when I talk with people is "Well, listen, they might look like champions, but all we have gotten with people like Chairman Waxman, and Chairman Conyers is all barking, okay?" They come out whenever any case becomes sexy and grabs the headlines, and they just bark, and they say "We want to hold hearings, we want to subpoena people" As soon as the issue dies down in the media, and it dies down very quickly as you know, they just go away, they don't do anything. They haven't brought about any type of accountability, any type of meaningful hearings. They had some show-only hearings, but nothing that in any way will bring any accountability or further action.
And they do have the power. So many of our members are kind of disillusioned saying that before they were saying that the Republicans were the factor in not having accountability and inaction by congress, now we see that it is the Democrats, and that includes the speaker of the House, Pelosi. So what do we do? On the other hand we have the mainstream media because if they were to do their job, that would create the necessary pressure on Congress, and congress would do what they are supposed to do. It is not about doing favors, it is basically about fulfilling their obligations to the American public and we don't have that with the mainstream media. So this is why we are in this state this sorry state of our nation of seeing these criminals going unpunished and not seeing any accountability and we haven't seen any change whatsoever.
Horton: And again, this is not just Sibel Edmonds insisting that, you know, they ought to be listening to you you have employees of the FBI who are willing and in fact eager to sit right next to you at the table under oath and explain why they say that you're right, and that they should be listening to what is going on here.
Edmonds: Absolutely. We have actually some CIA witnesses, some people from the FBI, and the congress has the inspector general's report. This is what people refer to as a "slam-dunk" case, you know? They even have access to the classified version, because one of the things that I will do after this interview, Scott, I will send you the redacted version of my Inspector General's report, and if you wish you can publish it, nobody has seen this before in terms of the public
Horton: Why, I'd be happy to.
Edmonds: Sure. And what you will see is, more than 90 percent of this report completely blacked out, so even based on that 10 percent, that unclassified summary version that they released, they have vindicated my case, so the congress has everything they need to hold hearings and go about accountability. They have the inspector general's report, they have the initial investigation results from both Democrat and Republican, Grassley and Leahy's office, they issued a report that hasn't come out, and they have all the bits and pieces of confirmation that has surfaced in the past 6 or 7 years my case is over 6 years old. They have no reason, and no justification, no excuse, but, again, without the mainstream media, without having true journalism, they don't feel the pressure, and as long as they don't feel the pressure, they're going to continue what they have been doing, and that is, we're just going to sit here, and when we get out, just like Dennis Hastert, we'll go and obtain a pretty nice position and collect our millions of dollars per year.
Horton: Right. That's the pressure that they're feeling: to keep up with the Joneses, not to shape up and fly right and all that kind of thing. So now let me ask you this, too Sibel. Luke talks about this investigation going back even to the later mid-Nineties
Edmonds: Absolutely.
Horton: And now, of course, in Phil Giraldi's new article for the American Conservative magazine about the investigations into the Israeli spying in the United States, they talk about this investigation going back to 1999 at least, and to what degree do you think that these investigations one springs from the other, something like that? Or are they started at different angles and they just happened to end up around the Israeli Lobby one way or other?
Edmonds: Absolutely, they actually were part of the same investigations. Because, even if you look at the people involved such as Larry Franklin, and before him and above him, Douglas Feith, you are looking at the Office of Near East Policy, okay, and that always within it has Israel and Turkey in there, and there are so many points, and there is so much evidence that they collected that actually came not from their counterintelligence under the Israeli desk within the FBI, but came from the Turkish counterintelligence. And again, for this, the FBI did what it was supposed to do. In fact, the agents that worked these cases, they were solid people, and they wanted to go after these guys, and so as you see it's very similar with this AIPAC case. You know, how many postponements have we had so far? And I don't believe, and this is another prediction I'm making here, I don't see that it is really going to get to any point of trial, because if they were to do what they are supposed to do, and if this case moved forward, it's not going to be these two guys and Franklin. If they were to pursue this case in court, and move forward fully, not just a dog-and-pony show like the Scooter Libby trial, then you are going to see many many other high-level people's involvement. For example, Marc Grossman is one of the witnesses that the defense is calling. Have you looked at that list?
Horton: Not recently, why don't you refresh my memory?
Edmonds: Well, the defense now wants to say that people in high positions were all aware of these activities therefore these activities by these people were not illegal. In fact, people like Condoleezza Rice they actually sanctioned this, and in order to prove their point they prepared a list of people that they want to testify as their witnesses, and Marc Grossman is on there, and if you look at that list you're basically going to see the who's-who of all the neocons there, because they know that at some point the Justice Department, because of the pressure from the White House and other people are going to say "No, these witnesses can't testify, or if they testify, it has to be behind closed doors."
These are the things that you are going to see with the AIPAC trial because the defense is playing it very very smart. They are saying "How can we make this go away?" Because if they force the government to invoke something like the state secrets privilege and say that "No, Condoleezza Rice and Marc Grossman can't testify because these issues involve some highly classified stuff and you can't get this or that document," the government is going to be forced to invoke the state secrets privilege. And if that happens, because this is a criminal case, then the court has to ask them to drop the case, meaning that these guys are going to just walk free. And again, the Israeli Lobby is unbelievable because they are twisting this case, and they are successfully and I'm emphasizing this successfully, are making this case to be a case of Freedom of Speech and the Freedom of the Press saying "Well, if this case moves forward, this is going to be a big assault on the freedom of press because it's going to bring about these consequences "
And again, this powerful lobby and this is not only AIPAC because these people are spread all over the spectrum from all sorts of Civil Liberties organizations, to the anti-secrecy organizations what they are putting out is they're trying to take this away from an espionage case, and make this into a first amendment, freedom of press case. And again, as always, they have the mainstream media to go along with their twisted games, and so far they have been successful, very successful.
Horton: Yeah, this is what they call "graymail." "You can't prosecute me because you'll have to admit what criminals you all are, and all the secrets you want to keep in order to put me behind bars."
Edmonds: Exactly. Exactly.
Horton: All right, now, this movie Kill the Messenger is a couple of years old now, and I admit I watched it on Google Video I don't know if that is supposed to be a secret or something
Edmonds: [Laughs]
Horton: But it still hasn't played even at the Alamo Draft House here in town, Sibel. What's it going to take to get this movie out?
Edmonds: Well, as you know, this film entered several festivals and actually won a few awards. It won the Best Investigative Documentary award in France, and it was aired 13 times in France, during primetime, and also in Belgium, and also in Australia, where Luke is from, and festivals Sao Paolo festival, and even in Egypt, and recently in Vancouver, the DOXA Festival, and as you just said, nothing here in the United States. Again, that's another thing that we are looking at, we are looking at a highly polarized and controlled mainstream media here, and also with the production companies and Hollywood. That's another thing that we see this incredible level of influence and power when they want to gag something and prevent it from coming out, they do it. And I'm not talking about only the government, okay? I'm talking about the other influences that are taking this country to a point of no return. And unfortunately, not much is being said about that.
Antiwar.com is one of my favorite sites, I start my day with Antiwar. I like it because it is not from the perspective of partisanship, you know, it's good, it's nice to see Buchanan there along with someone who is considered to be liberal, but unfortunately even within the blogosphere you see this high-level of polarization, and people just tend to view everything in terms of party lines and partisanship, and therefore we are not addressing the root causes of the problem our nation is facing today, the real problem, whether it is the revolving doors, or the campaign finance laws, or our hypocrisy-ridden foreign policy, none of these issues, the real causes, are being attacked or addressed by many of these even alternative media people. They tend to deal with the symptoms, and as you just mentioned, this case, my case, goes back to 1996-1997. It is from 1996 to the end of 2001. It involves both administrations, and when you have a case like this, it is fortunate because it is not partisan, it's all about facts, but it is unfortunate because you are basically shunned by both sides, and whether it is the Democrats, or the Republicans, nobody wants to touch it because it doesn't come across as one of those clearly divided cases, with these really clear lines of partisanship. And that is again very, very unfortunate, and as long as we maintain this attitude, and here I'm talking about the alternative media and the blogosphere too, we are going to see ourselves in the similar position two or three years down the road, even if we get rid of this administration and have a new administration with a big D in front of it, and not a big R, and we are going to see the same congress and we are going to see the same problems because we tend to go after the symptoms, and not the root causes of our real disease.
Horton: All right, now Luke, I want to give you a chance to finish up this interview by convincing me that somehow the glass is half full, right?
Ryland: That'd be a pretty short answer! I'm with Sibel, let me put it that way. It's hard to see any positive in the future. You mentioned Hastert earlier, he was in the news my news at least just recently because he has just got a new job lobbying for a company that lobbies for Turkey, and Sibel has said over the years that that is exactly what she expects: that he'll get a job lobbying for Turkey, because that is where the real payoff comes. They sell out their office while they have these high-level positions, and then they make the big bucks once they get out, and that is the perpetuation of the problem on both the Democrat and Republican side.
In Sibel's case, Hastert was found to have been bribed by these Turkish interests going back to 1998, 1999 to the extent that Bill Clinton and his Department of Justice went about appointing a Special Prosecutor to prosecute these crimes, not only Hastert, there are at least four congressmen that we know of, who were on the payroll, who were being bribed by these guys. Now, that prosecution got derailed just like all of these seem to, and now we are a decade later and Hastert is getting a massive payoff with his new job, and everybody knows what is happening. That's the outrageous thing. There must be I don't know how many people in the U.S. government who are aware of the fact that Hastert has been bribed, and they all just keep their mouth shut. You know, when Clinton went about appointing the Special Prosecutor, or Janet Reno, there must have been I-don't-know-how-many people in the loop to know what was going on, plus you've got all of the people at the FBI and what-have-you who are aware of it, so there are a whole lot of people who keep their mouth shut for various reasons, and the payoffs just keep coming. That's probably a good explanation for why the Democrats have been so supine as you said earlier, they are just trying to keep out of the media until they can get their own payoff when they lose their seat.
Horton: Yeah, it seems almost the definition of impunity. Tell me this, Luke, when you say Dennis Hastert has gone and gotten work representing the Turks, is that basically, simply, "Turkey" or is that simply a euphemism for Lockheed? Is this really about the dog really wagging the tail, and not the other way around, and that ultimately it's America's warfare economy at stake here and what he's done is got himself in the loop of American welfare payments to Lockheed in the form of aid to countries like Turkey?
Ryland: In Hastert's case we don't specifically know. The firm that he went to work for is called Dickstein Shapiro, and they've done a lot of work for Turkey in various energy-related fields going back to 1996, 97, 98 the exact time that Hastert was being bribed by these interests. Now, there is supposed to be a process that limits this activity called the Foreign Agents Registration Act which means that these lobbying countries are supposed to report on what lobbying activity they are doing for foreign countries. Dickstein Shapiro, Hastert's new firm, just refuses to do that when it comes to Turkey, there's no mention at all of Turkey in there, even though if you go to Dickstein Shapiro's Web site you can see that they have a whole bunch of different Turkish clients. So it's difficult to see exactly through, to penetrate and see what is going on exactly in this case, but yes, it is usually related to the defense industry and there's also a subterranean criminal network that basically runs Turkey that finances a lot of this bribery, and the FBI is still trying to work out where this money comes from. Phil Giraldi wrote that a lot of it appears to come from the narcotics business, and also from the defense contractors as well.
Horton: All right, we need to go ahead and wrap this up. It's Sibel Edmonds, FBI translator and whistleblower, and Luke Ryland from LetSibelEdmondsSpeak.blogspot.com. I'd like to give you all an opportunity to go ahead and address any major points that we didn't cover, or closing comments that you'd like to make. Luke, you first.
Ryland: Well, I wish I had some "half-full" news for you Scott. As we discussed, the U.S. government on both sides has been sitting on this information for a decade, it's hard to see how that might change. And again to point out Sibel's point that the mainstream media doesn't touch any of these issues as well. Vanity Fair did a big article exposing Hastert's bribery, and not a single mainstream media outlet even mentioned it there's only one reference now that Hastert has his new job lobbying for Turkey, so it's hard to see any positive news there, but if we can keep calling Congress, that's about as much as we can try to do.
Horton: And Sibel Edmonds?
Edmonds: Well, Scott, I have said it all along. All it takes is one congressman or a senator, or a congresswoman I'm not going to be sexist here to call me in and put me under oath and say "Okay tell us what is this case is about, and give us the document." And I have been ready to do this, I have been pushing to do this for six years. Now, if I'm under oath in congress, and I'm giving them this information, if I give any misinformation or if I'm lying, I'm the one who will be facing jail time. So I've been saying, and I've said it all along, all it takes is to put me there under oath, and any congressman, any congresswoman can do this, Scott. All it takes is "You have the case, you have the inspector general's report, put me under oath and say, as a representative of this country, I'm asking you to tell the committee, or tell us, the people, what you know and what it is that the government is covering up." And this case will then come out with some results and that is you will see criminal prosecutions of some very high level people. I have been saying this for six years, I'm still saying it, and all it takes is one good man, or one good woman, who does take the oath of office seriously, and is willing to do that. That's all it takes. As simple as that.
Horton: Well, see now, I can serve as a great example to my congressman, it's not that hard to let Sibel Edmonds speak at all, in fact. I want to thank you both for your time today. Sibel Edmonds and Luke Ryland. The Web sites: JustACitizen.com and LetSibelEdmondsSpeak.blogspot.com.
Edmonds: Thank you, Scott.
Ryland: Thanks, Scott.


text:
By Eric SchweibenzOn February 17, 2012, Pragmatus AV, LLC of Alexandria, Virginia ("Pragmatus") filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337.
The complaint alleges that the following entities (collectively, the "Proposed Respondents") unlawfully import into the U.S., sell for importation, and/or sell within the U.S. after importation certain consumer electronics, including mobile phones and tablets, that infringe one or more claims of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,854,893 (the '893 patent), 6,237,025 (the '025 patent), 6,351,762 (the '762 patent), 7,185,054 (the '054 patent), and/or 7,206,809 (the '809 patent) (collectively, the "asserted patents"):
- ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. of Taiwan
- ASUS Computer International, Inc. of Fremont, California
- Pantech Co., Ltd. of South Korea
- Pantech Wireless, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia
- Research In Motion Ltd. of Canada
- Research In Motion Corp. of Irving, Texas
- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. of South Korea
- Samsung Electronics America, Inc. of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey
- Samsung Telecommunications America, L.L.C. of Richardson, Texas
According to the complaint, the asserted patents generally relate to consumer electronics technology used in mobile phones and tablets. In particular, the '893 patent relates to a method of conducting a teleconference using a graphical rolodex user interface. The '025 patent relates to a method of conducting a teleconference by maintaining a directory of potential participants and associating the directory with a database. The '762 patent relates to a method of conducting a video conference where users log into workstations and receive calls only at their login location. The '054 patent relates to a method of conducting a video conference where users may make calls from at least one of a graphical rolodex with a scrollable list of video-enabled participants or a quick dial panel with icons representing video-enabled participants. Lastly, the '809 patent relates to a method of conducting a real-time communication (e.g., video chat, audio chat, instant message) between multiple devices.
In the complaint, Pragmatus states that the Proposed Respondents import and sell products that infringe the asserted patents. The complaint specifically identifies a number of infringing products associated with the various Proposed Respondents.
Regarding domestic industry, Pragmatus states that it is a privately owned company that focuses on licensing intellectual property, including the asserted patents. Pragmatus states that it acquired the asserted patents from Intellectual Ventures, who acquired them from their original owner, Avistar Communications/Collaboration Properties. According to the complaint, a domestic industry exists with respect to the asserted patents because Pragmatus has an extensive domestic licensing program focused on these patents. Pragmatus states that it invests heavily in the exploitation of its technologies and patents, including the asserted patents, through its extensive licensing activities. Pragmatus further states that a domestic industry exists by virtue of the activities of Pragmatus's domestic licensees, including significant investment in plant and equipment, significant employment of labor and capital, and substantial investment in research and development with respect to the asserted patents. The complaint names Sony Corporation, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (USA) Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Apple, Inc. as licensees to the asserted patents.
As to related litigation, Pragmatus states that the asserted patents are currently being litigated—or have recently been litigated—against a variety of entities in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The complaint refers to 13 distinct lawsuits in that court in which at least one of the asserted patents has been asserted. Additionally, the complaint states that patents that share a common specification with the asserted patents are currently being asserted in the Southern District of Florida and the Northern District of California against various entities. Pragmatus also states that the asserted patents and many related patents have been the subject of extensive ex parte reexamination requests before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
With respect to potential remedy, Pragmatus requests that the Commission issue a permanent limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order directed at the domestic Proposed Respondents and their successors and assigns.


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Letter to the Editor
The Reporter welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Short letters are most likely to be chosen for publication. The editor reserves the right to edit letters to meet space requirements, for clarity, or to avoid obscenity, libel or invasion of privacy. Letters must be signed and complete with a mailing or e-mail address and telephone number for verification. Unsigned letters will not be published.
Letters in support or opposition of political candidates or positions will be cut off in time for the accused party to respond, edited for space or possibly not run at all. Opinions expressed in letters are those of the writer and not necessarily those of this newspaper. Deadline for Letters to the Editor is Monday at 5 p.m.


text:
Jazz guitarist Mark Elf will perform at Hope College on Monday, Oct. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Mark Elf has been on the jazz scene for more than 40 years. He was born in Queens, N.Y., in 1949 and started playing the guitar at the age of 11. He has played or recorded with jazz giants including Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath & the Heath Bros., Wynton Marsalis and Jon Hendricks. His first professional jazz performance occurred around 1971 as a sideman at the Club Barron in Harlem, New York with Gloria Coleman and Etta Jones.
After forming his own record company, Jen Bay Records, in 1995, he stunned the record industry with hit recordings on jazz radio stations. From 1996 to 2004, all 10 of his recordings had finished in the top 10 on National Jazz Radio, with nine of them going to #1 consecutively from 1997 to 2004.
From 1970 to the present, Elf has taught guitar and theory at independent studios, and colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. His clinics are recognized as some of the finest in the world, as attested to by Clark Terry who hired Elf to teach at several of his jazz camps in the 1980s and 1990s.
Presently Elf is touring with his trio performing at festivals, colleges and also clubs.
Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the central Hope campus at the former 127 E. 12th Street between College and Columbia avenues.


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The first plantings of Sonora, Red Fife, and Glenn, on November 29, 2012, are very lush and green. Many Sonora plants are more than 15" in height.
They continue to seem very crowded, and are matted down in some areas. The Red Fife and Glenn are more than a foot in height and are more erect. Not quite as dense. This first planting shows three leaves, with a fourth leaf emerging strongly, but still curled around the stem, so not sure whether it counts yet. A majority of the plants have tillers emerging, though none yet with their own root systems.
The wheat planted on December 11th includes two varieties of Spelt, here shown about 40 days since planting.
|Oberkulmer Spelt & Maverick Spelt
Oberkulmer, an older classic on the left, and Maverick, a newer cultivar on the right. Both plots have thin areas where no germination is yet seen. The Maverick seems better filled in than the Oberkulmer Spelt though individual plants of the two seem equally vigorous.
On the far western plot, the second planting of Glenn – on about December 12, 2012 – has sprouted quite well, with heights of 3 to 4 inches.
|Glenn -- planted about 12/12/12
It is much more uniform in appearance than the Spelt plots.
Our small test plot of older varieties and some lesser known more recent cultivars continues to grow at what seems a slower pace.
|Test Plot
|Clear White
India-Jammu and Clear White show most promise, with plant heights of 5 and 6 inches. Also good progress by JD, Kelse, and Glee. Some of the older varieties like Surprise, Poole, & Marquis are quite thin, with heights of 2 or 3 inches. Almost all of the varieties in the test plot are at the 2 to 3-leaf stage.
It's nice to see a green blush over all of the fields that Maggie's Farm has set aside for our local wheat.


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2013-05-10 • Joseph White Alabama
Start: 12:11:44
Selma: Morning Mizz Daviss...
daviss: Hello Selma, and how are you today? It already 79 degrees here and only 9:am
Selma: Its going to be in the 80's here today... Did you go to Blog Talk Radio last night..I couldn't get to the web site..
daviss: lol it should be that in about 10 more minutes
Selma: It wouldn't load
daviss: Yes, I did, it was interesting listening
Selma: Afternoon alt..
daviss: That has happened to me before and what I did was go to FB and clicked on the link from one of those Bernice posted
alt: Hi ladies, daviss & Selma, hope allis well with you today.
Selma: I tried to do that too alt..didn't work. I never had that happen before
daviss: Hey alt!!
Selma: I meant I tried to do that too daviss
alt: just finished listening to Bernice's show from last night.
Selma: What was it about?
daviss: I wonder if you had to reboot?
Selma: I tried to do that too..shut down my computer the whole thing..It was wierd
alt: a lady who researched her family from SC to LA and has written a book about her research and is attempting to make it into a movie.
Selma: What was the family's journey?
alt: it's a lonnng story Selma LOL
daviss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pIwTC8LKTw here is the movie trailer
Selma: Oh there is a trailer..so there is a movie
daviss: He was a religious man and I got the impression that he had the "gift" Did you get that impression alt
Selma: How was lunch yesterday alt?
alt: that's what came across daviss
daviss: Mabe passing it on also to her....
alt: enjoyable Selma, we then went to the Casino and I was lucky enough to win a "few" Benjamin's LOL LOL LOL
daviss: Wow!! thats great alt and just in time for Mother's Day lol lol
Selma: LOL Tiger made an eagle alt.. Doesn't come until till 1PM EST
alt: Well, it was supposed to be for my birthday daviss, but I ended up paying for the whole thing LOL
Selma: As it should be alt.. LOL
daviss: hehehehehee
alt: okay Selma anything 'big' on AA's coming out of the NGS Conference going on in Las Vegas? I haven't heard of anything
Selma: Are you going daviss?
alt: it's going on now Selma
daviss: nawwww Selma.. I am still drained
Selma: Understand that daviss..
daviss: Its only a 3 hr drive from here
Selma: Sometimes "3 hours" can seem like 8
alt: This time last year was the "fuss" about the lack of AA's being involved.
daviss: Nevada has an AA Gen group..
alt: or being "invited" to be involved.
daviss: that is the key alt good enough to be in the listening and learning audience
alt: daviss, I wonder how many, if any, AA genealogist submitted to the CFP's... and if so, were they rejected and for what reasons.
daviss: no idea alt but I think those concerns were always there We do have some excellent presenters
alt: any comment Selma?
daviss: Selma must be on phone
alt: perhaps most who were "qualified/capable" are preparing for the Institute in St. Louis.
Selma: Sorry away...putting Golf Channel for mom.. LOL
alt: hope Tiger can get a win at Saw Grass
Selma: Tiger and Sergio..leading at -10
alt: okay Tiger!!!!!
daviss: could be alt but they should have many in close prox like the Cali group
Selma: Looking for speakers who can address the issues of the largest number of their members..
alt: and then the SoCAl Jamboree is coming up soon too.
Selma: numerically and percentage wise
daviss: Yes but don't you think in order to address our issues we have to know all issues
Selma: Yes...
daviss: brb I hear kids outside
alt: I noticed at the OGS Conference that the "other" ethnic tracks had a much larger attendence than the AA track .... maybe like 10-1 in numbers.
Selma: I think the 2nd one I went to Reginald Washington did a presentation on Southern Claims..it was all encompassing..and he included ALL kinds of examples
alt: German & Irish were always "packed" I think that might be our "problem" Selam, unlike Reginald most of our presenters maybe somewhat "too specific' and can't speak to a general audience
Selma: That is there focus...but I believe there is something to be learned from listening to ALL presentations...
alt: I think I have a good grasp of methodology, but my presentations are loaded with examples that apply mainly to the AA experience.
Selma: As it should be cause that is your focus...
daviss: ok back sorry
Selma: But there is still something to be learned by their story and migration which should apply to all researchers
alt: and again, the problem... 'most" paying customers aren't interested in the AA experience.
daviss: well no shock there alt
alt: nope daviss, no shock
daviss: Mabe I will be able to attend the next MAAGI....
Selma: The NGS in Richmond in 2007..had a much larger group of AA in attendance..
alt: something to look forward to daviss
Selma: Bunch of folks from AAHGS in NY came down and other places
daviss: The Net was not loaded with as much info then but we still need to hit the courthouses
alt: location is a biggie Selma .. if I went to Las Vegas it wouldn't be about genealogy LOL LOL
daviss: lol alt
Selma: LOL
alt: right daviss, and it would seem to me that all of the stuff found on the "net would cause folks to want to go to the courthouses and see/copy/touch/feel those original records
Selma: Nope alt
alt: I guess not Selma
Selma: Tiger at -9..Sergio at -11... Or they assume what they find on line is "all"
daviss: yep Selma
alt: my problem/focus is too narrow since I live in the area where much of the history/family is located within a 40-50 mile radius. and I've been to those courthouses
daviss: lucky lucky alt
Selma: You have NC roots
alt: very lucky daviss yes Selma.. and I would love to be able to go to NC and research 'in person"
daviss: do you have the county down
alt: and I'm finding the NC information I would love to see only because a lot of it is becoming available online yes daviss. a couple, but primarily Edgecombe Co. and some of Northampton/Halifax
daviss: stumbling with counties on my end. I even have a will that states the person came from Ala but no county mentioned
Selma: What about the other people in the will?
alt: in what county was the Will probated?
daviss: nothing that mentions the county for anyone. My gggrandparents are listed
Selma: When was this will written?
daviss: 1853 The owners name is common Joseph White
Selma: Jeez.. nobody has done a genealogy of this Joseph White family?
alt: can you detemine the county of record by searching for the surname of the Will on census records around the time frame of when it was written?
daviss: not that I could find The will was probated in Texas but they bought the slaves from Ala and NC
alt: Joseph White in alabama in 1850 would be a start for county(s) right?
daviss: they were in Texas in 50
Selma: The white slave owning family had migrated from NC to Alabama to Texas where the HOH died and
alt: I might look for White's in NC & Ala prior to 1850 on census records
daviss: He had sons left in Ala but I could not find them as of yet
Selma: How old was he when he died?
daviss: He was btw 75-80
alt: hi Seventies
Seventies: hey now! y'all waited up for me! :}
Selma: So born circa..1780..
daviss: That is the will that I enlarged about the size of my coffee table
Selma: Afternoon seventies..
Seventies: hi alt, daviss and Selma
daviss: Heyyy Seventies
alt: and the census for those early years indicates slave owners & how many slaves they may of had.
daviss: yep
Selma: Was he married? was she alive when he died
alt: so explain your "tardiness" Seventies
Selma: You need a "pass" seventies
Seventies: lol rrriiiigggghhhtttt lol
daviss: 2nd wife during the time of the will. I am looking to see when she died with hopes of finding my great grandmother listed.. She was born in 1856
Seventies: Its a beautiful day out. Took a walk. and daviss told me it was ok... lol
Selma: Oh goodness a healthy excercise..someone pass the Chips
daviss: lol lol
Seventies: lol Selma
alt: coming up in here all late like you're some kind of privileged character!!!! LOL
Selma: Those younguns alt.. LOL
daviss: lol lol lol alt
Seventies: well hey. lol
alt: yep Selma, don't they have some nerve LOL LOL
Seventies: Okay so I have a new challenge.
alt: daviss, maybe you're looking for the Will to tell you more than what is actually there ......
Seventies: This one is North Carolina... a friend of mine is looking for her maternal grandfathers family.
Selma: It gives her names of his children and wife...thats a good starting point..does it give anyone else
alt: right, have your "behind" here and on time from now on Seventies .. that's your challange LOL
Seventies: lol
Selma: I am listening seventies..LOL
daviss: Yes two more children that i have not been able to find and did not know of
Seventies: Richard Harris b 1888 in TN.. but moved to Lumberton, NC and married Nellie Mae McLean. Details are that he was a migrant worker, but nellie and her children stayed in NC. I'm sorry Richard was born in 1884. So I found the mom Nellie in the census and her DC. But nothing on Richard's origins in TN.
Selma: They married in NC?
Seventies: I even tried to find his D.C. but not sure of which Richard he is. Yes they did.
Selma: Any WW! draft record?
Seventies: Located the marriage record. I thought I did, but not for sure yet. One more quick note. He had a sister Margaret... but how common are the names Richard and Margaret?
Selma: Does Margaret go to NC too..or you only know her name?
Seventies: I hadn't check the map yet... that is my next to-do I want to see where Lumberton, NC is to get an idea of where the family may have come from and check surrounding counties in NC and possibly TN
Selma: Lumberton is not a county
Seventies: No
Selma: It is in Robeson
alt: lumbee country
Selma: Robeson borders SC I love my Map Guide to US Census book.. LOL
Seventies: Ok but that's one of those things I have to check for myself. I already have some info and I think I can come up with some more stuff. The ultimate goal of my friend is to locate the descendants of her maternal grandfather. and his family.
daviss: Is that still available seventies oops I mean Selma'
Seventies: ah huh... lol
Selma: I don't know daviss..had mine for awhile...
alt: Seventies 1884... there should be DC and other records for those descendants on the Ancestry.com NC databases as well as FamilySearch.... that's where I've been having luck with NC relatives around that time frame
Selma: What was happening in Lumberton which would make him migrate seventies..was there some kind of industry or jobs?
Seventies: alt, yeah I see that there is a lot of good stuff online there. I'm not sure yet. Got the info late last night. This will help me get my chops up for my pending NC research for my cousin Diane.
alt: Lumber Selma
Selma: OK
Seventies: Hey we're having cake.. another birthday... :} See you all on FB!
Selma: Time for me to run too folks..put on the Golf Channel alt. Have a great day
daviss: u2
alt: well, I'm outa here too gotta rest up for Hoops tonite Bulls vs Heat
daviss: later alt have a great day


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Dutch multi-event exponent Eelco Sintnicolaas excelled at The Netherlands' national championships in his home town of Apeldoorn when he set a 2013 world-leading heptathlon total and national record of 6341 points on Sunday (10).
The 2010 European Athletics Championships Decathlon silver medallist improved his own record by 166 points, which he set when finishing fourth at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, and moves up to 11th place on the world all-time list.
He started off on Saturday with marks of 60m – 6.97, Long Jump – 7.50m and Shot Put – 14.01m but what really put him in record contention was a huge improvement in the High Jump when he added eight centimetres to his best with a clearance at 2.08m.
He started Sunday in similarly impressive fashion with a 60m Hurdles personal best of 7.88 before finishing off with a 5.40m Pole Vault and 1000m in 2:41:30.
Combined events experts seemed to thrive in the High Jump this weekend. University of Washington student Jeremy Taiwo set a heptathlon world best in the event of 2.25m on Friday at the Boise State Team Classic in Nampa, Idaho on Friday.
Taiwo added no less than 13cm to his previous High Jump personal best and went on to score 6156 points on Saturday, which briefly was a world-leading tally.
His marks were: 7.02, 7.42m, 14.18m, 2.25m, 8.08, 4.25m, 2:33.44. He scored five personal bests, in all the events apart from the 1000m and Pole Vault. As well as his High Jump, he made a notable improvement in the Shot Put, going more than a metre further than ever before.
Taiwo spent 18 months out of competitive action between the start of June 2011 and his return last month as he recovered from surgery to his elbow, hips and pelvis.
Czech Republic's Adam Sebastian Helcelet also did well at his national championships in Prague and put together a heptathlon personal best of 6040 points with marks of 7.10, 7.39m, 15.13m, 2.05m 8.07, 5.00m, 2:50.20.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF