The Plug Nickel Times is proud to bring you website links to select opinion articles that you may not find through your local media. All links are offsite unless otherwise noted - followed links should open in another browser window. Links can become dated or otherwise fail to function, for this reason we quote the actual headline of an article. This may allow you to find an alternate copy of the article through a news index or search engine. Some sites we link to may require a registration process to view an article - this website may be useful to you in those instances. Comments, corrections and submissions are welcome - an email link is at the bottom of the page.
July 1-15, 2005
July 11, 2005
Actual poster used on London Metro Bus lines
(in situ views here and here)
Cui Bono Revisited by Butler Shaffer
The Reality of This Barbaric Bombing by Robert Fisk
The Trouble with Normal by Jeff Wells
"Naturally, the trigger for this latest round of house cleaning was the attack on London. And, as usual on such occasions, the hammer came down just as things are getting interesting.
Even though all speculation at this early stage is conspiracy theory, only some speculation is expected to wear that demeaning epithet like a dunce cap. A 'senior US counterterrorism official' can say, anonymously and without support, that he worries it may have been the work of al-Zarqawi. And reporters, rather than convulse in spit-takes or consider why it serves US interests to float such a preposterous allegation, write it all down as though he were serious. Such figures are considered, by default, to be 'informed' sources, even though they are actually the worst kind of conspiracy theorists: they don't respect their theory enough to back up their baseless assertion, which they make only because they are pushing an agenda.
Regardless of how informed our speculations may be, we should know by now they will never be respectable so long as the conventions that protect the criminals in high places remain assumed by the Gatekeepers, and uninformed argument-by-ridicule is sufficient to silence critics beyond the gate."
London Underground bombing 'exercises' took place at same time as real attack by Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
"A consultancy agency with government and police connections was running an exercise for an unnamed company that revolved around the London Underground being bombed at the exact same times and locations as happened in real life on the morning of July 7.
On a BBC Radio 5 interview that aired on the evening of the 7th, the host interviewed Peter Power, Managing Director of Visor Consultants, which bills itself as a 'crisis management' advice company, better known to you and I as a PR firm.
Peter Power was a former Scotland Yard official, working at one time with the Anti-Terrorist Branch.
Power told the host that at the exact same time that the London bombings were taking place, his company was running a 1,000 person strong exercise which drilled the London Underground being bombed at the exact same locations, at the exact same times, as happened in real life."
Not quite sure how the following relates to the article above, but it does involve a similar scenario... only 20 years ago...?
'Pied Piper' of the Underground
"On 23 November 1984, off-duty police officer Peter Power had fallen asleep while commuting home on the London Underground, when he was suddenly woken by the sound of slamming windows.
Inspector Power realised smoke was pouring into the train and the people around him were beginning to panic - so he decided to take action."
Iraq: A Right-Wing Alternate Reality Show by Justin Raimondo
A New Poll, Commissioned By... Matt Taibbi
"Those should be the only kinds of polls we allow, when it comes to questions of war. I mean, who the hell are these people who changed their minds once the news started to turn sour? There are only two explanations: They're either unbelievable cowards, or they didn't think it through. In either case, if there were any justice, they would all be rounded up and dumped buck naked on the streets of Fallujah."
In Gitmo
Jane Mayer interview regarding interrogation practices at Guantanamo
What's wrong with this picture? by Andres Kargar
Furrin Policy by Fred Reed
July 5, 2005
Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation by Dahr Jamail
Killing Civilians - Nobody Wants to Talk About It by James Glaser
Where has all the money gone? - Ed Harriman follows the auditors into Iraq
Would You Buy a Used War From This Man? by Michael Tennant
"The problem for Bush is similar: He wants to continue to spend taxpayers’ money and citizens’ lives (not to mention Iraqi lives) to prosecute a cause which he believes is 'worth it' whether or not the people whose money and lives are on the line agree with him. A further problem is that his opinion of the worth of the occupation of Iraq is just as irrelevant to those actually footing the bill - both taxpayers and soldiers - as was your opinion to Bob. Unless the president is going to foot the bill for the war personally and then strap on some inferior, Pentagon-supplied body armor and go over to Iraq and fight, his valuation of the war effort doesn’t amount to a hill of MRE’s."
Can You Name the One Tool that Isn't Morally Neutral? by Sunni Maravillosa
"So why are freedom-loving individuals cheering this on with the 'Lost Liberty Hotel' idea? It strikes me as being born of a childish desire for revenge ... which is natural; liberty lovers aren't necessarily above such human desires. But it's using the tool of the state, which to me goes against everything freedom is about."
"Rasta don't work for no C.I.A"
Bushwacked by the Patriot Act by Garry Reed
"Our President, who thus far has never met a law he didn't like, threatens his first veto if the entire Patriot package isn't made permanent. 'The Patriot Act,' proclaimed Our President, 'closed dangerous gaps in America's law enforcement and intelligence capabilities.'
Someone ought to inform Our President that those 'dangerous gaps' also go by the name 'Bill of Rights.'"
"A working class hero is somethin' to be..." by Wally Conger
