Author and code developer, Bill Blunden, tracks the cutting edges of technology for both industry and academia. He explained why he believes the cyberwar media campaign is false, and also covered such topics as mass-surveillance systems, and modern propaganda techniques. The idea that a kind of cyberwar (computer attack) could bring down the Internet or the electrical grid in the United States is far fetched, and there hasn't been any evidence that this could be accomplished, he maintained. If it were that easy to hack into the electric grid, people would have already done it-- there is actually more threat from physical attacks, he noted.

Yet, there's been a persistent message in the media that such cyberwar attacks are likely. This message induces an anxiety response designed to put people in crisis mode, Blunden said, adding that it's being conveyed as a kind of propaganda tool. He referred to this kind of propaganda as "threat inflation," similar to the false claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Blunden was critical of the NSA and America's surveillance state practices (revealed by Snowden) which seem to suggest that we need to undermine the Constitution in order to save it. "You don't have to give up liberty to have security. It isn't terrorism that erodes freedom, it's our response to it," he remarked. Blunden also touched on the disturbing implications of studies that show how America has become a kind of oligarchy, with the business elite having the most government sway, and using propaganda for their own ends.

Military Suicide Update

First hour guest, nurse Joyce Riley, who has investigated Gulf War Illness and become an advocate for all veterans and citizens experimented upon by the government, discussed the rash of suicides in the U.S. military (a new report reveals that suicides among US special operation forces are at record levels). There are some 22 US military suicides per day, and in addition, there are thousands of non-fatal suicide-related events among military every year, she cited. Riley connected the problem with the overuse of psychiatric drugs, which she said 80% of the troops are either offered or placed on. For more, she recommends the documentary The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry's Covert Agenda, which can be viewed here for free.

News segment guests: James Sanders, David Blume, Steve Kates