Laura Flanders: Killing the Internet Not Just a
Problem in Egypt

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 02 February 2011 11:48:28 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

LAURA FLANDERS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

As we speak, Egypt is struggling with near-total Internet and communications shut-off, and not just Egyptians are grappling with the implications. Can the flow of social media information to an entire country simply be cut? Apparently yes. And that's not just an Egyptian concern.

It's very much an American concern, in that a US-based company seems to be the maker of the Internet off-switch. As Tim Karr of Free Press notes, the US company Narus was founded in 1997 by Israeli security experts. Based in Sunnyvale California, Narus has devised what business fans call a "social media sleuth."

As boosters put it: "Narus is the leader in real-time traffic intelligence for the protection and management of large IP networks. . . .Used by the world's service providers and governments, Narus has developed and patented state-of-the art algorithms to detect network anomalies and manage unwanted IP traffic. Additionally, Narus has the unique ability to precision target and fully reconstruct all types of IP traffic, including e-mail, Web mail and instant messages."

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http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12301

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Bernie Sanders: Pentagon Spent Billions on
Contractors that Committed Fraud

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 02 February 2011 11:42:00 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

NEWS ALERT FROM BERNIE SANDERS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 - In a report prepared for Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Department of Defense disclosed that it paid $285 billion over a three-year span to hundreds of military contractors that defrauded the Pentagon during the same period.

"With the country running a $14 trillion national debt, my goal is to provide as much transparency as possible about what is happening with taxpayer money," said Sanders (I-Vt.). "The sad truth is that virtually all of the major defense contractors in this country for years have been engaged in systemic fraudulent behavior, while receiving hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money."

The preliminary report detailed how the Pentagon spent $270 billion from 2007 to 2009 on 91 contractors involved in civil fraud cases that resulted in judgments of more than $1 million. Another $682 million went to 30 contractors convicted of hard-core criminal fraud in the same three-year period. Billions more went to firms that had been suspended or debarred by the Pentagon for misusing taxpayer dollars.

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http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12300

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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 02 February 2011 11:30:03 PM. © Crooks and Liars

enlarge Credit: Blue Gal

Open thread below....

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http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal/open-thread-577

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Mubarak Says He'll Step Down in September

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 02 February 2011 11:25:10 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

TONY PEYSER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Hosni, please, let's cut to the chase here:

This is really your olive branch?

It makes as much sense as Charlie Sheen

Getting rehab at the Mustang Ranch.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/01/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

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http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12299

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Late Night: Honestly, Its the Fake PIMPS That Are
the Problem, Not the Imaginary Whores

post from Firedoglake on 02 February 2011 11:23:08 PM. © Firedoglake

An army of One Hundred Thousand Phantom Whores stands poised to assault Dallas! The alarm bells reached peak decibel in November, when Dallas Police Sergeant Louis Felini told… The Dallas Morning News that between 50,000 and 100,000 prostitutes[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/70TgYWTROlA/

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Open Thread and Diary Rescue

post from Daily Kos on 02 February 2011 11:15:33 PM. © Daily Kos

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are shayera, ItsJessMe, Got a Grip, Purple Priestess, ybruti, and vcmvo2 as editor.

The rescued diaries are:

kevinpowell highlights the plight of one of the founders of hip hop in Kool Herc, Hiphop, and Healthcare. (shayera)

sunspark says speaks eloquently in praise of medicaid. (shayera)

As Iowa's legislature embraces their bigotry towards the gay community, Chrislove shares the moving testimony of one young man who stood up to say "I was raised by gay parents, and I'm doing pretty well." (Got a Grip)

From the "I didn't hear about this" Department, justiceputnam pens a lovely tribute to humorist Art Buchwald, whom we lost on January 17th: In Remembrance: "What's It All About, Alfie? Bye Bye Buchwald". (Purple Priestess)

2dimeshift alerts us to military plans that will harm Alaska's wildlife and possibly pollute its waters in When they say "Alaska Range" they don't mean the mountains. Pt.1. (Purple Priestess)

If your snark-o-meter needs a refill, weatherdude has the fuel in his weekly "news" report The Weatherdude Weekly -- 2nd Ed.(Purple Priestess)

jotter has High Impact Diaries: February 1, 2011.

emeraldmaiden brings tonight's Top Comments 2/2/11 - Groundhog Day!

Enjoy and please feel free to promote your favorite diaries from the last twenty-four hours in this Open Thread!

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/zXFq0Qclhn8/-Open-Thread-and-Diary
-Rescue

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Wednesday Stuff

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 02 February 2011 11:02:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Glad to see Punxsutawney Phil is trying to do his part to get us through this winter (more here - I know there's bad stuff going on in Cairo also...sorry, but I don't know what I can do about it except to express my disgust over it and emphasize my opinion that Mubarak's decision to step down by September isn't nearly good enough)...

...so I should try to do my part to get us through this winter too.

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http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2011/02/wednesday-stuff.html

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The Wealth Gap: Chickens, Pots, and the American
Dream

FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS OUT - Everyone seems to see the widening wealth gap as a bad thing...except[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/02/02/the-wealth-gap-chickens-pots-and-the-ameri
can-dream/

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Searing images of Mubarak's thugs attacking on
horseback

There were many shocking images from Cairo today when the pro-Mubarak forces attacked the pro-Democracy protesters. One of the most shocking was to see the thugs attacking the crowd on horse and camels. The whole world saw the brutal regime that Egyptians have live with for so long and have been protesting against.

Doesn't it make you proud to know that this thug, Mubarak, is one of our best allies?

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/9Iztsx7RZDE/searing-images-of-mubar
aks-thugs.html

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With The Raspberries

Genre: The RaspberriesTitle: Tonight

In my opinion, Cleveland's The Raspberries were one of the most underrated bands of the Seventies. They made some delicious power-pop, and singer Eric Carmen went on to record such hits as "All By My Self" and "Hungry Eyes". Here's one that seemingly pays homage to the Small Faces' "Tin Soldier" and showcases Carmen's pipes. Stay warm out there.

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