Ruling on warrant trumps top U.S. court's decisions

The Supreme Court of New Jersey became the first court in the nation yesterday to rule that people have an expectation of privacy when they are online, and law enforcement officials need a grand jury warrant to have access to their private information.

In state proceedings, the ruling will take precedence over what attorneys describe as weaker U.S. Supreme Court decisions that hold there is no right to privacy on the internet...


Writing for the court, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said: "We now hold that citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy protected by Article I ... of the New Jersey Constitution, in the subscriber information they provide to Internet service providers -- just as New Jersey citizens have a privacy interest in their bank records stored by banks and telephone billing records kept by phone companies."

More convicted felons allowed to enlist in Army, Marines

An old cadence call, that's a marching song for you civilians, goes:
Got a letter in the mail.
Got to war or go to jail...


Maybe those days are returning. That was a Vietnam Era song.

I stand corrected

Britain, with it's socialized medicine, has just made a breakthrough on:
Bionic Eyes

No word yet on whether they will be used to see extraordinary distances like Steve Austin. Leave that to the American capitalist.

New World Trade Center security breach

Two sets of confidential blueprints for the planned Freedom Tower, which is set to rise at Ground Zero, were carelessly dumped in a city garbage can...

Experts said the detailed, floor-by-floor schematics contain enough detail for terrorists to plot a devastating attack.

Beef! What's it having for dinner?

This is why you should limit your online time. I started out reading an email asking me for a favor (completely unrelated to food in any way). And the next thing you know, I'm clicking in to this story. The video is by the subject of the article. I've disjointedly quoted the articl below:

BAN CHICKEN FECES IN COW FEED. SEE SOYLENT BROWN by Dr. Robert Ben Mitchell

The early 20th Century was, in retrospect, a golden era for food-production animals. Cows grazed on grass, traipsing the bucolic pastures of family-owned farms. Chickens strutted about the barnyard, pecking contentedly at their mostly corn-based meals (the lucky clucker might occasionally happen upon a worm). The arrival of factory farming in the Twenties increased production, widened availability, and reduced the price of fowl. It also represented the beginning of the end for family ranching.

When fast foods arrived in the early Sixties, the clamor for beef and poultry spiked, and so did demand. Industrial facilities with highly automated production methods were required to meet these new needs.

Enormous feedlots needed massive quantities of high-protein rations that could fatten and speed growth at the lowest possible cost. Expansive slaughterhouses had to find an inexpensive way to dispose of waste.

Mitchell found an FDA registration form listing 26 categories of feeds — including one for "Recycled Animal Waste Products" — and sought information about the companies producing it, "assuming it would be public information — or obtainable by a Freedom of Information Act request." He was astonished when Shannon Jordre, a liaison between the FDA and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), told him the agency would not release this data because "it had been classified as a homeland security issue."


Real stuff like a 1984 "manual" put out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations called Feed from Animal Wastes, which details precisely how to process manure into dinner for farm animals. "This is the actual recipe book," beams Mitchell, holding aloft the 214-page publication as if it were the Holy Grail. "Martha Stewart gone mad."

It is indeed Martha-esque, the way just a few simple ingredients can be turned into 171 nifty serving ideas. Surprise your bovines with a scrumptious tropical blend of chicken feces and pineapple cannery run-off! Gastronomic flourishes notwithstanding, the cookbook concedes,"Animal wastes may not be equal in all ways to the feeds they replace."


What we don't know can hurt us. The USDA calculates that during summer months, up to 50 percent of feedlot cattle carry E. coli, which translates to an average plant processing 150 to 200 infected cows every hour (though not all are strains of O157:H7, which is the killer).

Ironically it is because of the BSE (Mad Cow) scare that fecal matter is being used more to feed animals. Public fears about the disease the same year prodded the FDA to ban many of the meat industry's previous bargain breakfasts — like brain tissue, spinal cords, and euthanized cats and dogs, millions of which were annually purchased from shelters to be ground into feed.

Things work in a cycle: The use of antibiotics in food-production animals speeds up development of drug-resistant bacteria in humans. So antibiotics used on people, aimed at curing illnesses caused by eating contaminated meat, become ineffective because of antibiotics used on animals to prevent them from becoming contaminated.

Now if you havent had lunch yet, read the whole article(or maybe you should read before lunch).

Missouri House Passes Legislation to Crack Down on Illegal Immigration

This from a State House press release:

Jefferson City, MO- The Missouri House gave final approval this week to an omnibus anti-illegal immigration bill that would help stem the tide of illegal immigrants coming into the state. Rep. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, who serves as Vice Chair of the Immigration Committee, was the lead sponsor of the legislation (HB 1549, 1771, 1395 & 2366) that combines several bills originally sponsored by Reps. Gary Dusenberg, R-Blue Springs; Kenny Jones, R-California; and Mark Parkinson, R-St. Charles.

"It's fair to say one of our top priorities this session is creating effective policies and tools to help our state deal with the overwhelming number of illegal immigrants within our borders," said Rep. Onder. "The legislation we approved will provide law enforcement with the tools and training necessary to effectively combat this problem and also makes it clear Missouri will not tolerate turning a blind eye to the activities of unlawful aliens. We've sent a strong message with the passage of the legislation and I am confident our colleagues in the Senate will move quickly to approve it as well."

One provision of the legislation that was originally sponsored by Rep. Dusenberg would outlaw "sanctuary cities" that follow practices that protect illegal immigrants. Specifically, it prohibits local governments from adopting policies limiting the ability of local officials to communicate with the federal government about potential immigration violations.

"There are many cities in this nation that have adopted a policy that does not comply with federal immigration law and they in effect have become safe havens for illegal immigrants," said Rep. Dusenberg. "With our bill we are making it clear that no city in Missouri will become a sanctuary city and we will not accept policies that allow illegal activities to go unchecked."

Other provisions of the bill would provide new tools and training for law enforcement officers to combat illegal immigration. One originally sponsored by Rep. Onder would allow the Superintendent of the State Highway Patrol to designate some members of the patrol to be trained in enforcing federal immigration laws. Another that was originally sponsored by Rep. Kenny Jones would require law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of any person incarcerated for a crime.

"Last year the governor directed the Missouri Highway Patrol to begin checking the immigration status of those they arrest and since that time they have turned over more than 150 illegal immigrants to federal authorities," said Rep. Jones "This policy is proven to be effective in combating the problem of illegal immigration and enacting it into law is the right thing to do."

"While we ask our troopers to take on this task of stemming the tide of illegal immigrants it's also important we give them the training they need to be effective," Rep. Onder said. "We have only 48 Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials in this state and they simply cannot cover all areas of the state. By training our own law enforcement officials we give them some much-needed assistance in dealing with problems associated with illegal immigration."

The bill takes an additional step to combat the problem of illegal immigration by creating penalties for anyone who assists an illegal alien in obtaining a driver's license. Individuals who assist an illegal alien in obtaining a license would be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

"The right to obtain a driver's license is reserved for legal residents of our state and we will not allow individuals who circumvent the law to go unpunished," said Rep. Mark Parkinson, who sponsored the original bill containing the penalty provision. "We must take every step to protect the process of obtaining a driver's license and not allow those who are here illegally to access a privilege reserved only for citizens of this nation."

Also, the legislation would require the commercial driver's license written test to only be given in English and would prohibit translators from being allowed for applicants who take the test.

House Bill 1549 now moves to the Senate for consideration.

No need for concerns.

Just trust your friendly government officials:
Cameras, scanners, and tasers oh my!


Thanks to Anonymous for these 2 links.

The show of the century and it's free

Reminder: Richard Gage, AIA presents “9/11: Blueprint for Truth” next Saturday, April 5, 2pm at the Uptown Theater, 3700 Broadway, Kansas City….BRING PEOPLE! Open to public/police/firemen/state representatives---EVERYONE!

COME see BIGDOG "the boofer slayer"


in action as he puts his knowledge of structural steel welding up against some silly architect.


Just in case you bring handouts BD, Truth is not spelled trueth and lying is not spelled lieing. We'd hate for you to appear uncouth as you dish out truth.

Here's info on getting one of Nikki's cool tees

http://www.cafepress.com/mtjtomato

and lots of other items (mugs, hats, etc)

could anyone tell me why we need fingerprint scanners for lunch

I swear I remember being able to, somehow, handle lunches without biometrics. I mean we used to take a couple of minutes at the beginning of the day. The teacher would ask who was having which lunch and who brought their own. If memory serves, they kept the lunch cards in the classroom. Am I wrong on this?

This is bizarre

you can buy one here

Why do I slog back into this debate?

Bush Administration Hampered FBI Investigation into Bin Laden Family Before 9/11

In 1996, high-placed intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian, “There were always constraints on investigating the Saudis.” The authors allege that under the influence of US oil companies, George W. Bush and his administration initially halted investigations into terrorism, while bargaining with the Taliban to deliver Osama bin Laden in exchange for economic aid and political recognition. The book goes on to reveal that former FBI deputy director John O’Neill resigned in July of 2001 in protest over the obstruction of terrorist investigations. According to O’Neill, “The main obstacles to investigating Islamic terrorism were US oil corporate interests and the role played by Saudi Arabia in it.” The restrictions were said to have worsened after the Bush administration took over. Intelligence agencies were told to “back off” from investigations involving other members of the bin Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Pakistan. John O’Neil died on 9/11 in the World Trade Center.

Hey Jerry! Is this the source of your concerns?

As always, you be the judge:

NAFTA Destroys Farming Communities in U.S. and Abroad

NAFTA policies have caused an exodus from rural areas forcing people to live in urban slums and accept low paid sweatshop labor. Farmers in Mexico, unable to compete with the large-scale importation and chemical-intensive mass production of U.S. agricultural corporations, are swimming in a corn surplus that has swelled approximately 450% since NAFTA’s implementation.

Here is Nikki's summary of the last show

Have fun with her clips

An invitation for those who are interested

I will be a part of the Easter play at my church. Believe it or not, I will play Jesus. If you'd like to attend, please do join us at The Kansas City Church of Christ. It is located at 10250 Quivira Road Lenexa, KS. 10:00 AM Sunday morning. The church is just north of 435 on Quivira (between the highway and the Oak Park mall) on the NW corner of 130rd St.

State Department talks open borders, EU links

Inside the hush-hush North American Union confab
This from Jerome Corsi who has been watching the unfolding North American Union.
I'd like to remind everyone that (though I don't have PROOF) I remember the EU being denied to exist until suddenly it did. Here's excerpts from the article:

A largely unreported meeting held at the State Department discussed integration of the U.S., Mexico and Canada in concert with a move toward a transatlantic union, linking a North American community with the European Union...
The meeting was held under "Chatham House" rules that prohibit reporters from attributing specific comments to individual participants...
No members of Congress attended the meeting.

The agenda for the ACIEP meeting was not published, and State Department officials in attendance could not give WND permission under Chatham House rules to publish the agenda...
The meeting agenda included topics reviewing the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council, or TEC.

Others noted the premise of the TEC is to create a convergence of administrative rules and regulations between Europe and North America, anticipating the creation of a "Transatlantic Economic Union" between the European Union and North America...

Other participants argued regional alliances were still important, if only to put in place the institutional bases that ultimately would lead to global governance on uniform global administrative regulations favorable to multi-national corporations.

Before the meeting began, concerns were raised informally by participants worried that the Ohio Democratic Party primary had prompted both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to talk of renegotiating NAFTA.

Participants at the State Department meeting pointed out U.S. political candidates could be expected to argue "protectionist themes opposed to global economic integration" as a tactic, without necessarily being committed to taking aggressive steps once in office.

India sets up waste-to-energy power plants

It seems that India is checking out the technology that Mike from OP was talking about.

India said it set up 31 waste-to-energy power projects in eight state and 36 wind power plants in nine states.

http://www.upi.com/International_Security/Energy/Briefing/2008/03/12/india_sets_up_waste-to-energy_power_plants/5449/print_view/

more Big brother stuff...did that say whistleblowers

The Air Force is developing a data-mining technology meant to root out disaffected insiders based on their e-mail activity--or lack thereof, according to an article in this month's International Journal of Security and Networks.

And don't think that just because you're the boss you're off the hook. The team tested Enron's e-mail archive and uncovered several individuals who represented potential insider threats. Granted, none of them were the bosses who had done all the damage, but the researchers were confident that with full access and by turning a "domain on its ear" the software would ferret out potential malefactors and whistleblowers alike.

very interesting Hillary video

Of course I don't know if I'd pay more than 25$ for Cher at a party for me:

More civil liberties nonsense

This from the Daily Kos. I'm sure that disqualifies it for consideration for some.

In the last few weeks we've had Bush's executive order which gutted the Intelligence Oversight Board, bring all "oversight" functions under the executive. We've had the the revelations from whistle-blower Babak Pasdar, Wikileaks published a purported letter from Cablevision Systems Corp. to the FBI showing that "the FBI using the Patriot Act to obtain information not related to terrorism. In this case customer data from Cablevision is obtained which is used for non-terror related investigations." And today was the WSJ's explosive story on the massive scope of the NSA's reach.

If that wasn't damning enough, this information ends up in the utterly incompetent hands of Michael Chertoff at DHS. How bad is it? Check out this extremely well-timed interview by Jeff Stein, national security editor at CQ, with DHS director Michael Chertoff, who claims Sgt. Schultz style, "I know nuthink!"

I found this in today's daily read

This was just a part of the reading for today's Read through the Bible in a year
Leviticus 19:33-37

33 "'When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. 34 The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. 35 "'Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. 36 Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. 37 "'Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord.'"

I thought Jerry might want to chew on it for a bit. I heard you talking this morning also. Give me your thoughts on this also:

As it relates to distribution of wealth and the like you were saying something along the lines of the person who comes up with an idea rightly gets the benefits of the creation of that idea. Sorry if I am improperly paraphrasing it but consider this. If my son suggests that we have Chicken for dinner should he get the largest portions because it was his idea or do I get the larger portion because I have to buy it and cook it (labor). Or do I distribute each according to his need?

And finally, as it relates to Danni's question about the family of Man, you might want to re-look at the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37.

Sorry to get all biblical but I think we all need a little (actually a lot) more of it.

National Dragnet Is a Click Away-Authorities to Gain Fast and Expansive Access to Records

Several thousand law enforcement agencies are creating the foundation of a domestic intelligence system through computer networks that analyze vast amounts of police information to fight crime and root out terror plots...

On one recent day, Tucson detective Cynthia Butierez demonstrated that power in an office littered with paper and boxes of equipment. Using a regular desktop computer and Web browser, she logged onto Coplink to search for clues about a fraud suspect. She entered a name the suspect used on a bogus check. A second later, a list of real names came up, along with five incident reports.

She told the system to also search data warehouses built by Coplink in San Diego and Orange County, Calif. -- which have agreements to share with Tucson -- and came up with the name of a particular suspect, his age and a possible address. She asked the software to find the suspect's links to other people and incidents, and then to create a visual chart displaying the findings. Up popped a display with the suspect at the center and cartoon-like images of houses, buildings and people arrayed around him. A final click on one of the houses brought up the address of an apartment and several new names, leads she could follow.

"The power behind what we have discovered, what we can do with Coplink, is immense," Tucson police Chief Richard Miranda said. "The kinds of things you saw in the movies then, we're actually doing now."...

Three decades ago, Congress imposed limits on domestic intelligence activity after revelations that the FBI, Army, local police and others had misused their authority for years to build troves of personal dossiers and monitor political activists and other law-abiding Americans.

Miranda, the Tucson police chief, said there's no overstating the utility of Coplink for his force. But he too acknowledges that such power raises new questions about how to keep it in check and ensure that the trust people place in law enforcement is not misplaced.

"I don't want the people in my community to feel we're behind every little tree and surveilling them," he said. "If there's any kind of inkling that we're misusing our power and our technology, that trust will be destroyed."

Is this the future

Scientists have developed a computerised mind-reading technique which lets them accurately predict the images that people are looking at by using scanners to study brain activity.

another quiz

These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight
answers

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know
the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several
growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are
the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the
bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been
cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters 'dw' and they
are all common words. Name two of them.
7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least
half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned,
processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name six or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the
letter 'S..'

The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.

Testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mueller raised the issue of the FBI's controversial use of so-called national security letters in reference to an upcoming report on the topic by the Justice Department's inspector general.

An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.

In contrast to the strong concerns expressed by Congress and civil liberties groups after last year's inspector general's report was issued, Mueller's disclosure drew no criticism from senators during just over two hours of testimony Wednesday.
Following last year's audit, the Justice Department enacted guidelines that sternly reminded FBI agents to carefully follow the rules governing national security letters.

"The credibility factor shows there needs to be outside oversight," said former FBI agent Michael German, now a national security adviser for the American Civil Liberties Union. "There were guidelines before, and there were laws before, and the FBI violated those laws," German said. "And the idea that new guidelines would make a difference, I think cuts against rationality."

The Weather Channel founder advocates suing Al Gore to expose 'the fraud of global warming.'

The Weather Channel has lost its way, according to John Coleman, who founded the channel in 1982.

The Weather Channel has been an outlet for global warming alarmism. In December 2006, The Weather Channel’s Heidi Cullen argued on her blog that weathercasters who had doubts about human influence on global warming should be punished with decertification by the American Meteorological Society.

“[I] have a feeling this is the opening,” Coleman said. “If the lawyers will take the case – sue the people who sell carbon credits. That includes Al Gore. That lawsuit would get so much publicity, so much media attention. And as the experts went to the witness stand and testified, I feel like that could become the vehicle to finally put some light on the fraud of global warming.

”

I got this in an email a few weeks ago and hadn't read it. Very interesting reading.

The Sibel Edmonds case has been fascinating in the silence that surrounds it.

Letter Describes Senior State Dept. Official Marc Grossman as Tipping off Turkish Embassy to Valerie Plame Wilson's 'Brewster Jennings' Counter-Proliferation Operation...

more from the nut jobs

A Quiz for all you super duper comment posters: What is Posse Comitatus?

North American Army created without OK by Congress
In a ceremony that received virtually no attention in the American media, the United States and Canada signed a military agreement Feb. 14 allowing the armed forces from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a domestic civil emergency, even one that does not involve a cross-border crisis.
Gen. Renuart affirmed USNORTHCOM would deploy U.S. troops on U.S. soil should the president declare a domestic emergency in which the Department of Defense ordered USNORTHCOM involvement.

Study casts doubt on anti-depressants

Almost 50 clinical trials were reviewed by psychologists from the
University of Hull who found that new-generation anti-depressants worked no
better than a placebo – a dummy pill – for mildly depressed patients.
Even
the trials that suggested some clinical benefit for the most severely depressed
patients did not produce convincing evidence. Professor Irving Kirsch from the
university’s pyschology department said: “The difference in improvement between
patients taking placebos and patients taking anti-depressants is not very
great.
“This means that depressed people can improve without chemical
treatments. Given these results, there seems little reason to prescribe
anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients.”

This from a former congressman written in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of "an emergency influx of immigrants in the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs."

Beginning in 1999, the government has entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.

According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal the removal of "all removable aliens" and "potential terrorists."

YEAAAA!!!!! More Cameras

D.C. police are now watching live images from dozens of surveillance cameras posted in high-crime parts of the city, hoping to respond faster to shootings, robberies and other offenses and catch suspects before they get away.

Since August 2006, the city has installed 73 cameras across the city, mostly on utility poles, at a cost of about $4 million. But until recently, officers were using them mainly as an investigative tool -- checking the recordings after crimes were committed in hopes of turning up leads and evidence.

The District is following cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, where police have actively monitored live camera scenes for years. London is often credited with having the most extensive network -- 500,000 cameras that make up the "Ring of Steel," dating to the early 1990s. "I'd love to have the whole city wired like London," said Lanier, adding that she didn't anticipate that becoming a reality.

Strip search of woman by Sheriff's Deputies called outrageous

I'm sure some of you will be quick to tell me that I'm prejudging the police again. But where is the decency? I suppose I should just close my eyes and say "well, it hasn't happened to me and they'll be there for me when I get robbed."

Here's the Malcolm X clip from the other night

DHS Suggests a REAL ID Could be Necessary for Medicine

A top homeland security policy maker suggests that the recently released mandates for a de-facto national I.D. card could help stop meth labs, if the government required that pharmacy's demand that cold medicine buyers show their REAL ID.

Currently individuals who want to buy over-the-counter decongestants containing pseudo-ephedrine have to show I.D. to a pharmacy clerk, sign a log sheet and are limited in the amount they can purchase. The rules -- pushed heavily by California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, are intended to make it harder for meth labs to get pseudo-ephedrine to cook into full-blown methamphetamines. They were made law in the 2006 re-authorization of the Patriot Act.

The Cato Institutes's Jim Harper interprets Baker's statement to mean a REAL ID would be necessary for any prescription. I don't see that in the report on Baker's remark, but certainly the F in FDA stands for Federal. The feds probably could do this, but from a health standpoint it would be a nightmare. No REAL ID, no birth control, no antibiotics, no insulin. How many dead Americans are these rules going to be worth?

Many states have balked at the expensive REAL ID proposal and have said they won't participate.

Homeland Security is already set to test those state's resolve and is threatening to not let any citizen of those states to use their state-issued I.D.'s to board planes come May.

martial law?!?!!?

Dear Respondents,
Your patriotism and love of this country is admirable and your trust in our government beyond reproach. The sad reality is, however, that if a massive attack, let's say a nuclear weapon, destroys any American city, even on the opposite side of this country, martial law is not a hypothetical scenario. U.S. Northern Command in Colorado was established for just just a situation. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 protects us all from tanks running down our streets, and armed soldiers around your street corner. The erosion of that act through the Insurrection Act of '06 along with recent executive orders make it all too possible that our military could be put into a nightmare scenario of having them police us, round some of us up, take away our firearms, like they did in New Orleans, and even establish camps-- which the govt. just signed a contract for, with halliburton for just such 'temporary' camps-- to construct-- 300 nationally. So before you utterly condemn this mayor, please consider he could be doing something we'll later all applaud.
thank you.

— jeff ferrell, shreveport, la

Boy this has stuck in my mind ALL week...

At the end of the show last week, I took a call concerning race relations. The caller asserted that after 40 plus years of civil rights, the onus is upon Black people to forgive Whites and that as far as the caller was concerned there should be closure. While I agree that we as Black people, and as I often state I am part White also, should be forgiving. We should not go around with a chip on our shoulders always looking to be insulted. A few years ago, I took to task the two ladies that sued the airline when the flight attendant said "eenie meenie miney moe, pick a seat we gotta go."
The ladies were waaaaaay off base. but let's face it: There is still a ways to go for us all:

In the Columbia case, the justices wrote, "Here, plaintiffs have produced evidence that Dillard's has a systemic practice of surveilling and following African-American shoppers, that it prosecutes African-American shoplifters more than white shoplifters, that it specifically instructs employees to follow African-American shoppers - that it discriminates in giving fragrance samples and enforcing its policy on return of merchandise and that it selectively withholds service from black customers."

No one agrees more than me that far too many Black people spend too much time worrying about the slights, real or imagined, that they face. What we need to do is press on and make alliances with the folks that are trying to move forward. But trying to ignore the past is not moving on. I'm not sure how you move on, but I know it's gonna take a while and people are going to have to be committed to moving forward. This will probably mean that both Black and White will have to forgive and apologize.

so much for closure

Formula One star Lewis Hamilton says he has been left saddened after being subjected to racist abuse in Spain.

From the "Give us Free" department:

Great Firewall of China Faces Online Rebels

As an 18-year-old student with an interest in the Internet, Zhu Nan had been itching to say something about the country’s pervasive online censorship system, widely known here as the Great Firewall.
When China’s censors began blocking access to the popular photo-sharing site Flickr, Mr. Zhu felt the moment had come. Writing on his blog last year, the student, who is now a freshman at a university in this city, questioned the rationale for Internet restrictions, and in subsequent posts, began passing along tips on how to evade them.
“Officials in our country claimed that Internet censorship is done according to the law,” Mr. Zhu wrote. “If so, why not let people know about this legal project, and why, instead, ban the Web sites that publicize and examine those legal policies? If you’re determined to do this, you shouldn’t be afraid of criticism.”

For some of the anticensorship activists, creating a broader awareness of censorship is itself a victory. “If you don’t know what’s on top of you, than you won’t fight back against it,” said Li Xieheng, a blogger who wrote a program he named Gladder, meaning Great Ladder, to help users of the Firefox browser overcome Great Firewall restrictions. “It’s just like many people not feeling that China isn’t free. They’re not aware of it and feel things are natural here, but that’s just the power of media control.”

Oh yes they are watching you indeed

Privacy concerns, some RFID supporters say, are overblown. One, Mark Roberti, editor of RFID Journal, says the notion that businesses would conspire to create high-resolution portraits of people is "simply silly."
Corporations know Americans are sensitive about their privacy, he says, and are careful not to alienate consumers by violating it. Besides, "All companies keep their customer data close to the vest ... There's absolutely no value in sharing it. Zero."

but wait...

However, "once a tagged item is associated with a particular individual, personally identifiable information can be obtained and then aggregated to develop a profile," the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded in a 2005 report on RFID.

Federal agencies and law enforcement already buy information about individuals from commercial data brokers, companies that compile computer dossiers on millions of individuals from public records, credit applications and many other sources, then offer summaries for sale. These brokers, unlike credit bureaus, aren't subject to provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, which gives consumers the right to correct errors and block access to their personal records.

IBM declined to comment for this story.

In 2002, Fleishman-Hillard produced another report for the industry that counseled RFID makers to "convey (the) inevitability of technology," and to develop a plan to "neutralize the opposition," by adopting friendlier names for radio tags such as "Bar Code II" and "Green Tag."

Here's a few interesing items

at least I think so...

Police don't want officers to be too smart
This is the same town that that used imminent domain for a private company.

Cheney wants to expand surveillance act.
You may want to check out the PBS documentary on Cheney's Law

Read before you drink another cup of water
And this, this, and this.

Alright BD, why don't you just record a 45 minute special on the evils of the Democrats and the fairness doctrine (something I am opposed to BTW) and I'll be happy to review it and maybe even play it on air for you. But in the mean time I'm moving on from Rush. As Miles so aptly pointed out:

he has his own press he can talk about that shit all day.


Or do you honesstly believe that I'm covering it up when I talk to a few hundred people per week while he talks to millions? I'm the nut job? (lol)

Now back to the contract...Sorry to anyone who is not a carrier but this is business. I think me and big dog and a few hundred others may be getting screwed.

What part are you talking about with discussion? I don't see that. Back when I got my new contract, with the insurance requirements, I thought the delivery section (4 paragraph 2) was different as it related to the times to the building. But, unfortunately I couldn't find my old contract to compare.

Is this another high profile low result case?

OK here is the headline:

Ex-Congressman Charged in Terror Case

and the second paragraph:

Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican when he was in the House, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about being hired to lobby senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

and waaaaaaaaaay down in the 15th graph:

It's not clear whether Siljander ever engaged in the lobbying push, said John Wood, U.S. attorney in Kansas City. Nevertheless, IARA paid Siljander with money that was part of U.S. government funding awarded to the charity years earlier for relief work it promised to perform in Africa, the indictment says.

I'm just remembering that the terror cell that was found 2 years ago turned out to be a bunch of homeless guys being led by an FBI informer to record FBI HQ. and don't forget the clip I play on the show from time to time:

Is this the program announced on the show 2 weeks ago?

The The Gaurdian is reporting that the FBI is shopping around a program called SERVER IN THE SKY to link ID databases:

Americans seek international database to carry iris, palm and finger prints

This sounds very similar to the program that Mark Lerner warned about on the show Jan. 6th as well as at the Uptown Theater on the 10th.

Corsi: Bush could elect Hillary

"The Bush administration admits there are 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States," Corsi noted. "The real number is probably 20 million or more. But the question is why is one of every 10 people born in Mexico living in the United States as a Mexican national today?"

By 2010, Corsi said, 20 percent of Mexico's population would be living in the U.S. under the Mexican flag.

"Now there are 47 Mexican consulate offices in the U.S. dedicated to protecting the civil rights of these Mexican citizens living in our country," Corsi told the group. "We have already become a dual country, and I don't remember ever voting to allow that to happen."

Corsi rebutted the argument that the U.S. could not evolve incrementally into a North American Union without the U.S. Constitution being amended.

"In Europe, the intellectual elite and the multi-national corporations who advanced the European integration agenda proceeded by the incremental method," Corsi answered.

"The same is happening here," he explained. "First, President Bush allows our borders to be open and a fait accompli just happens. An increasing proportion of Mexico's population begins living in the United States, without any requirement that they become U.S. citizens, and our elected politicians do nothing to stop it."

"Then President Bush comes to the Senate, now twice, and argues that 12 million illegal immigrants cannot be rounded up and deported," Corsi continued. "The only solution President Bush offers is to pass 'comprehensive immigration reform,' which is nothing more than a code name for an amnesty that one way or another legitimates the illegal aliens remaining here.

British jets intercept Russian bombers

the flights come against a background of increasing tension between Russia and some Western powers. Observers also see it as a sign of renewed Russian self-confidence on the international stage.

Ron Paul 1, Statism 0

In the investment world, it is a well-known axiom that the trend is your friend (until it reverses). This phrase has been around for hundreds of years and contains a lot of horse sense. Only an academic could truly posit that anything controlled by human behavior is a so-called "random walk." The tendency of humans to herd is well documented and proven. To those in the know about investing, the concept of trend uniformity is well known and to bet against a well-established trend is folly. Yet all trends go too far and then reverse. The trick is to know when they have reversed. I would submit that in the 20th and 21st centuries Statism has been a prevailing trend versus the Individual. Economies of scale and the need for large teams to accomplish big projects drove us in that direction in spite of our agrarian roots. But I sense a change of trend. I believe that the support for Dr. Ron Paul is a function of the fact that he is sitting on top of an enormous new trend: Individuals versus Big Organizations or Individuals versus the State. I am long Individuals and short the State.

This is nearly 100 years old

Robert M. La Follette... delivered 6 Oct 1917 Washington, DC
But, sir, it is not alone Members of Congress that the war party in this country has sought to intimidate. The mandate seems to have gone forth to the sovereign people of this country that they must be silent while those things are being done by their Government which most vitally concern their well-being, their happiness, and their lives. Today, and for weeks past, honest and law-abiding citizens of this country are being terrorized and outraged in their rights by those sworn to uphold the laws and protect the rights of the people. I have in my possession numerous affidavits establishing the fact that people are being unlawfully arrested, thrown into jail, held incommunicado for days, only to be eventually discharged without ever having been taken into court, because they have committed no crime. Private residences are being invaded, loyal citizens of undoubted integrity and probity arrested, cross-examined, and the most sacred constitutional rights guaranteed to every American citizen are being violated.

It appears to be the purpose of those conducting this campaign to throw the country into a state of terror, to coerce public opinion, to stifle criticism, and suppress discussion of the great issues involved in this war.

I think all men recognize that in time of war the citizen must surrender some rights for the common good which he is entitled to enjoy in time of peace. But, sir, the right to control their own Government according to constitutional forms is not one of the rights that the citizens of this country are called upon to surrender in time of war.

Rather, in time of war, the citizen must be more alert to the preservation of his right to control his Government. He must be most watchful of the encroachment of the military upon the civil power. He must beware of those precedents in support of arbitrary action by administration officials which, excused on the pleas of necessity in war time, become the fixed rule when the necessity has passed and normal conditions have been restored.

More than all, the citizen and his representative in Congress in time of war must maintain his right of free speech.

More than in times of peace it is necessary that the channels for free public discussion of governmental policies shall be open and unclogged. I believe, Mr. President, that I am now touching upon the most important question in this country today -- and that is the right of the citizens of this country and their representatives in Congress to discuss in an orderly way, frankly and publicly and without fear, from the platform and through the press, every important phase of this war; its causes, and manner in which it should be conducted, and the terms upon which peace should be made.

The belief which is becoming widespread in this land that this most fundamental right is being denied to the citizens of this country is a fact, the tremendous significance of which those in authority have not yet begun to appreciate. I am contending, Mr. President, for the great fundamental right of the sovereign people of this country to make their voice heard and have that voice heeded upon the great questions arising out of this war, including not only how the war shall be prosecuted but the conditions upon which it may be terminated with a due regard for the rights and the honor of this Nation and the interests of humanity.

I am contending for this right because the exercise of it is necessary to the welfare, to the existence of this Government, to the successful conduct of this war, and to a peace which shall be enduring and for the best interests of this country.

Suppose success attends the attempt to stifle all discussion of the issues of this war, all discussions of the terms upon which it should be concluded, all discussion of the objects and purposes to be accomplished by it, and concede the demand of the war-mad press and war extremists that they monopolize the right of public utterance upon these questions unchallenged. What think you would be the consequences to this country not only during the war but after the war?

Mr. President, our Government, above all others, is founded on the right of the people freely to discuss all matters pertaining to their Government, in war not less than in peace. It is true, sir, that Members of the House of Representatives are elected for two years, the President for four years, and the Members of the Senate for six years, and during their temporary official terms these officers constitute what is called the Government.

But back of them always is the controlling, sovereign power of the People, and when the people can make their will known, the faithful officer will obey that will. Though the right of the People to express their will by ballot is suspended during the term office of the elected official, nevertheless the duty of the official to obey the popular will shall continue throughout his entire term of office. How can that popular will express itself between elections except by meetings, by speeches, by publications, by petitions, and by addresses to the representatives of the people?

Any man who seeks to set a limit upon those rights, whether in war or peace, aims a blow at the most vital part of our Government. And then, as the time for election approaches and the official is called to account for his stewardship -- not a day, not a wee, not a month, before the election, but a year or more before it, if the people choose -- they must have the right to the freest possible discussion of every question upon which their representative has acted, of the merits of every measure he has supported or opposed, of every vote he has cast, and every speech that he has made.

And before this great fundamental right every other must, if necessary, give way. For in no other manner can representative government be preserved.

Papers Please: Arrested At Circuit City

Me: “I’m required by law to state that my name is Michael Righi, but I do not have to provide you with my driver’s license since I am not operating a vehicle.”
Officer Arroyo: “Give me your driver’s license or I will place you under arrest.”
Me: “My name is Michael Righi. I am not willing to provide you with my driver’s license.”
Officer Arroyo: “Turn around and up against the wall.”

Comedian Gets the Hook for Using N-Word

A standup routine by black comedian Eddie Griffin was stopped after he repeatedly used the N-word, a magazine's spokesman said Wednesday.
Griffin, who has appeared in movies such as "Undercover Brother" and "Date Movie" and the TV show "Malcolm & Eddie," was performing at a Black Enterprise magazine event in the Miami suburb of Doral on Friday when he was cut off after using profanities and the N-word, said Andrew Wadium, a spokesman for the publication...
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who attended a meeting held by the magazine in Miami but not the performance, said the crowd gave an ovation to Earl Graves, the magazine's publisher, when he came on stage after the 39- year-old Griffin was pulled, according to a statement on the Web site of Sharpton's National Action Network.

Police State is upon us?

The Pentagon will end its Threat and Local Observation Notices (TALON)
Program. The program collects reports of activities that are alleged to
be threats to the Defense Department. The program will be shut down as
of September 17, 2007....

The department admitted that it had maintained the information
after it was determined that there was no threat from the protests past
the 90 days its guidelines provided for. The department also monitored
student speech and e-mails at several universities across the country,
tracking students involved in protesting military policies.

Anti-war groups and other organizations, including a Quaker group — the American Friends Service Committee — protested after it was revealed that the military had monitored anti-war activities, organizations and individuals who attended peace rallies.

Pentagon officials have said the program was productive and had detected international terrorist interests in specific military bases. But they also acknowledged that some officials may not have been using the system properly.

The TALON reports — collected by an array of Defense Department agencies including law enforcement, intelligence, counterintelligence and security — are kept in a large database and analyzed by an obscure Pentagon agency, the Counterintelligence Field Activity. CIFA is a three-year-old outfit whose size and budget are secret.

U.S. Northern Command recently hosted representatives from more than 40 international, federal and state agencies for an exercise designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States.

a 200-yard stretch along a nature trail has been blanketed by a sprawling spider web that has engulfed seven large trees, dozens of bushes and the weedy ground.

Lies, Lies, and More Lies, in History-Illiterate America

China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People

At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.

Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

“If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future,” said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology...
Every police officer in Shenzhen now carries global positioning satellite equipment on his or her belt. This allows senior police officers to direct their movements on large, high-resolution maps of the city that China Public Security has produced using software that runs on the Microsoft Windows operating system.

“We have a very good relationship with U.S. companies like I.B.M., Cisco, H.P., Dell,” said Robin Huang, the chief operating officer of China Public Security. “All of these U.S. companies work with us to build our system together.”

Fred Thompson has a gift for knowing just what to say to anyone

The right has a crush on Fred Thompson, but his own papers suggest he is less conservative than they think.

Virginians Face $3,000 Traffic Ticket

Beginning Sunday, Virginia is adding new civil charges to traffic fines. They range from $750 to $3,000 and will be added to existing fines and court costs. The civil penalty for going 20 mph over the speed limit will be $1,050, plus $61 in court costs and a fine that is typically about $200.

Great post on Anthony's site

Gotta Love Mika.

I concur Mr. Evil Genius.

How To Not Hire An American

Thisis pretty outrageous. This is who we have to go after in this immigration debate. Nikki, you should be screaming right now.

Iran curses Ahmadinejad over petrol rationing

The protests, the most open sign of discontent with Mr Ahmadinejad's rule since he took office in 2005, were accompanied by a stream of text-messaged jokes, which often serve as a vent for Iranians' suppressed frustrations. "On the orders of President Ahmadinejad," read one, "those who are short of petrol can have a ride on the 17 million donkeys who voted for him."

For a man whose key election promise was to "put the oil income on people's tables", there could scarcely be a more symbolic failure than the imposition of fuel rationing. Heavily state-subsidised, petrol normally costs less than bottled drinking water at about 1,000 rials (5p) a litre, and most Iranians regard it with a sense of entitlement.

This is what is wrong withthe world today

California Mom Charged in Gang Shooting

Babies not as innocent as they pretend

Behavioural experts have found that infants begin to lie from as young as six months. Simple fibs help to train them for more complex deceptions in later life.

Russia lays claim to the North Pole - and all its gas, oil, and diamonds

The six-week mission on a nuclear ice-breaker claimed that the underwater Lomonsov ridge is geologically linked to the Siberian continental platform - and similar in structure.

The detailed findings are likely to be put to the United Nations in a bid to bring it under the Kremlin noose, and provide the bonanza of an estimated 10 billion tonnes of gas and oil deposits as well as significant sources of diamonds, gold, tin, manganese, nickel, lead and platinum.

Under current international law, the countries ringing the Arctic - Russia, Canada, the US, Norway, Denmark (Greenland) - are limited to a 200 mile economic zone around their coastlines.

Currently, a UN convention stipulates that none of these countries can claim jurisdiction of the Arctic seabed because the geological structure does not match that of the surrounding continental shelves

Suburbs need not fear school vouchers

When parents spend a king's ransom to buy a house, they understandably want to protect what is undoubtedly for most the biggest investment of their lives. Unfettered school choice poses a direct threat by allowing children from urban schools to enroll in suburban schools at the expense of local taxpayers. Too many of these outsiders bring huge deficits in socialization, motivation, and intellectual development through no fault of their own, which lower test scores and, in turn, house prices. Faced with that possibility, suburbanites have fought back, with remarkable success.

Maybe we need to punish those who abuse the people's trust more severely.

Whether it be a politician, bureaucrat, or a social program abuser.? Instead we want to stop paying taxes or cut programs. why must we throw out the baby with the bath water?

Climate change behind Darfur killing?

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the slaughter in Darfur was triggered by global climate change and that more such conflicts may be on the horizon

If memory serves: the pentagon made this same assertion like 2 years ago.

Don't let it happen to you.

know your rights

You be the judge. Is this hype or genuine concern

A Drought for the Ages Spreads Across U.S.

Putin Issues Threat Over Missiles Shield Plan

Russian President Vladimir Putin , with words reminiscent of the Cold War, warned Sunday that his military would respond to a planned American missile defense system near its borders by aiming its missiles at U.S. military bases in Europe.

They want Vermont to secede from the United States -- peacefully, of course.

Disillusioned by what they call an empire about to fall, a small cadre of writers and academics is plotting political strategy and planting the seeds of separatism.

Immigrant Rental Rule in Texas Blocked

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas (AP) - A federal judge Monday blocked enforcement of a voter-endorsed ordinance preventing apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants in this Dallas suburb, opponents of the ban said.
The ordinance was to take effect Tuesday, more than a week after voters approved it. Opponents had filed three requests in federal court for an injunction to stop its enforcement.

The ordinance requires managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with some exceptions. Violators face fines of up to $500, and each day would be considered a separate violation.

Only the federal government can determine whether a person is in the United States legally, wrote U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay.

This is clearly an enviroMENTAList wacko

Man Accused of Setting Bike Path Traps in Texas

Naked man superglued to exercise bike

Is this a hate crime?A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday.
The man was rescued about three hours later when his partner arrived home, SAPA said

dance the revolution

get up and dance

Climate change hits Mars

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

For your consideration

Sobriety checkpoint yields 13 DUI arrests

622 vehicles were checked between 11 p.m. Friday and 4 a.m. today at the intersection of 34th Street and Broadway. In addition to the arrests for driving while intoxicated, officers also issued tickets for two hazardous moving violations, three other traffic charges and made two arrests for possession of marijuana.

Police also announced their next sobriety checkpoint will be conducted on May 5.

House approves more severe penalty for selling drugs in parks

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.

The House voted 124-26 for legislation making it a Class A felony to sell heroin, cocaine, LSD, amphetamine or methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of city, county, state or private park.

Rep. Leonard Hughes said the measure targets specific people using specific drugs in certain parts of the state, and it would make drug offenses in urban areas a more serious offense than those committed in suburban and rural parts of the state.

"This is another attempt to fill more prisons with more youths of color," said Hughes, D-Kansas City.

But Republicans said opponents' arguments that the bill unfairly targets minorities and city-dwellers does not make sense because there are parks throughout the state.

"It's complete stupidity. If you violate this law, it applies statewide, it applies to everyone in the state," said Rep. Gary Dusenberg, R-Blue Springs.

State law already allows for up to life sentences for manufacturing and selling drugs within 2,000 feet of schools, colleges and school buses.

Rep. Darrell Pollock said his bill targets only those who are breaking the law.

"We need to send the message that we are tough on crime. We need to send the message that we are tough on drugs," said Pollock, R-Lebanon.

Let Sibel Edmonds Speak

It has been almost five years now since former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds first contacted the Senate Judiciary Committee to reveal the shocking tale of Turkish bribery of high-level U.S. officials. In that time span, Edmonds has been misled by members of Congress on several occasions: Numerous promises have been made to the whistleblower by the Senate Judiciary Committee that her allegations would be exposed in public hearings. Those promises have rung hollow.

Now, with the Democratic victory in Congressional elections, coupled with revelations that many of the tapes she translated were probably obtained illegally through FISA warrants , the Turkish translator's case has gained new relevance. Edmonds recently presented to Congress her petition of 15,000 individual signatures and the support of 30 organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), OMB Watch, Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Government Accountability Project (GAP), People for the American Way, and the Liberty Coalition, who have sponsored this petition and joined her campaign. Furthermore, Edmonds has received assurances that the House Government Reform Committee will hold hearings. And one would hope that with a very good public servant, Henry Waxman, chairing the Government Reform Committee, a full public airing of Ms. Edmonds' allegations would be a foregone conclusion.

Unfortunately, time and time again the Congress has proven that, absent public pressure, a case like that of Turkey's corruption of U.S. government officials will not automatically receive its due attention. And although the Democrats' recent rise to power brings new hope, it won't automatically guarantee justice. Unlike the numerous Iraq War investigations that Waxman and other Democrats in Congress are planning, the issues brought up by Sibel Edmonds may tarnish the images not just of the Bush Administration, but also of certain elements of the Clinton Administration. Further complicating matters is that members of both political parties in Congress were also allegedly the recipient of Turkish gratuities: When a country like Turkey decides to engage in illegal espionage and lobbying, it spreads its funds generously. And though Edmonds' case involves the nuclear black market, not even the potential of a nuke reaching American soil is guaranteed to motivate our public servants, especially when they fear some of the muck might splatter on their own Party.

Virginia 'sorry' for slavery role

Virginia's General Assembly has adopted a resolution, expressing "profound regret" for the role the US state played in slavery.

Somehow, I can hear a bunch of "patriots" going crazy because an American state has "given in" to "special interest" groups and are just "blaming America." But honestly, is it so terrible to acknowledge the wrongs of this nation's past? We wave flags and shout "we're number one" on a daily basis.

Very interesting

I don't remember this story. Thank god for Youttube.
Israeli connection to 9-11

www.gloryworks.net

Sunday

Why is the government handing out state grants?

The U.S. Department of Transportation has been handing millions of dollars to state governments for GPS-tracking pilot projects designed to track vehicles wherever they go. So far, Washington state and Oregon have received fat federal checks to figure out how to levy these "mileage-based road user fees."

Now electronic tracking and taxing may be coming to a DMV near you. The Office of Transportation Policy Studies, part of the Federal Highway Administration, is about to announce another round of grants totaling some $11 million. A spokeswoman on Friday said the office is "shooting for the end of the year" for the announcement, and more money is expected for GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking efforts.

Now consider that England is doing it too:

Plans to introduce a nationwide "pay-as-you-drive" system were unveiled by former Transport Secretary Alistair Darling in 2005. His successor, Douglas Alexander, has since suggested that road pricing could be brought in within a decade.

What time is it?

Does anyone know who decides to move somethn=ing like this ahead?

Here is the contact info regarding Danny Talbert

A “straight arrow” Harrisonville man is busted when a knife and possible drug residue are found in his bag.

To help:
1. Danny Talbert Fund- Go to any Commerce Bank and make a check payable to Commerce Bank with fund # 442512849 in memo.

2. Contact :
State department 202-647-4000
United Arab Emirates Embassy 800-823-6911 or 202-243-2400
Ike Skelton 816-255-2876
you can write to your congress person here

a myspace page is here

Something to consider when thinking about the mandatory cancer vaccine

1.The National Vaccine Information Center yesterday warned state officials to investigate the safety of a breakthrough cancer vaccine as Texas became the first state to make the vaccine mandatory for school-age girls.
Negative side effects of Gardasil, a new Merck vaccine to prevent the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, are being reported in the District of Columbia and 20 states, including Virginia. The reactions range from loss of consciousness to seizures.
"Young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision and some girls have lost consciousness during what appear to be seizures," said Vicky Debold, health policy analyst for the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit watchdog organization that was created in the early 1980s to prevent vaccine injuries.

2.n 2002, there were 4,019,280 births in the United States, down slightly from 2001 (4,025,933).

from the same govt numbers:
Among teenagers, the birth rate fell to 43 births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age in 2002, a 5-percent decline from 2001 and a 28-percent decline from 1990. The decline in the birth rate for younger teens, 15-17 years of age, is even more substantial, dropping 38 percent from 1990 to 2002 compared to a drop of 18 percent for teens 18-19.

Now I'm no expert on anything so help me out. Wouldn't the lower birth rate come from a combination of less sex or more safe sex amongst teens? If so, why would we want to risk these health problems over 9700 cases of cancer a year. Then add in the cost of this shot $120 -150. They want to give it to girls, all girls remember, between 11-12. Once again, consider what they say:

Merck spokesman Chris Loder said the vaccine is effective for five years and the Whitehouse Station, N.J., drug maker is not sure how long afterward the vaccine will work. Critics point out that an additional booster shot may be necessary.

So in five years when they are 17 and still in high school, and under the govt control, they will need a booster. Hmmm, think that'll be another 120 bucks?

AHHH the plot thickens:

Merck, the only maker of this vaccine, donated $6,000 to Perry’s re-election campaign. How much more will he receive from Merck now that he has forced this upon the state? There is more, one of the three Merck lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. Sometimes you have to help a friend who helped you.

Republicans Block Congressional Pay Hike

Lawmakers' pay will be frozen at $165,200 for this year in the dispute, in which Democrats violated a yearslong understanding that the competing parties would not use the pay raise issue in campaign ads.

Under the annual COLA, lawmakers automatically get a pay hike unless Congress votes to block it. Hoyer and GOP leaders such as Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., made sure to smooth over any potential obstacles to the pay hike.

Typically, the annual vote on the pay hike came on an obscure procedural move _ instead of a direct up-or-down vote _ and the Democratic and GOP whips each delivered a roughly equal number of votes to shut off any move to block the pay hike.

Blunt said Democrats broke the agreement last year after the pay raise-related vote had already taken place. In a 263-152 vote in June, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to force an up- or-down vote on the pay raise.

"The agreement always was that the parties would not use the COLA issue in the campaign," Blunt said. "It was as formal as anything not signed is."

Under the congressional pay raise law enacted in 1989, lawmakers won a big pay raise in exchange for giving up honoraria for personal gain. The COLA was born as part of the reforms, but it also had the political benefit of freeing lawmakers from having to vote on pay hikes.

Iranian Reveals Plan to Expand Role in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan. 28 — Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad outlined an ambitious plan on Sunday to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq — including an Iranian national bank branch in the heart of the capital — just as the Bush administration has been warning the Iranians to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Iran’s plan, as outlined by the ambassador, carries the potential to bring Iran into further conflict here with the United States, which has detained a number of Iranian operatives in recent weeks and says it has proof of Iranian complicity in attacks on American and Iraqi forces.

The ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qumi, said Iran was prepared to offer Iraq government forces training, equipment and advisers for what he called “the security fight.” In the economic area, Mr. Qumi said, Iran was ready to assume major responsibility for Iraq reconstruction, an area of failure on the part of the United States since American-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago.

“We have experience of reconstruction after war,” Mr. Qumi said, referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. “We are ready to transfer this experience in terms of reconstruction to the Iraqis.”

Mr. Qumi also acknowledged, for the first time, that two Iranians seized and later released by American forces last month were security officials, as the United States had claimed. But he said that they were engaged in legitimate discussions with the Iraqi government and should not have been detained.

Mr. Qumi’s remarks, in a 90-minute interview over tea and large pistachio nuts at the Iranian Embassy here, amounted to the most authoritative and substantive response the Iranians have made yet to increasingly belligerent accusations by the Bush administration that Iran is acting against American interests in Iraq.

President Bush has said the American military is authorized to take whatever action necessary against Iranians in Iraq found to be engaged in actions deemed hostile.

Deeply distrustful of Iran, the White House has expressed scepticism about Tehran's plans to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq.

The US has accused Iran of supporting terrorism and supplying weapons to kill American forces.

"If Iran wants to quit playing a destructive role in the affairs of Iraq and wants to play a constructive role, we would certainly welcome that," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

But, he added: "We have seen little evidence to date (of constructive activities) and, frankly, all we have seen is evidence to the contrary."

2 years of confinement?

Former Wal-Mart vice chairman Thomas Coughlin - whose compensation from salary, bonuses, and stock grants totaled several million dollars per year - is discovered to have cooked up fraudulent expense invoices in a scam to siphon off $500,000 over the course of seven years.

Coughlin, who reportedly told enabling subordinates that he was using the funds for a secret antiunion initiative, pleads guilty and is sentenced to more than two years of home confinement.

Young student's documentary leaving audiences stunned

This is sad:

Color is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselves

We must be aware of ALL of our potential enemies

Chinese missile destroys satellite in space

Another cool way to save the planet

The Thrustpac pushes you along on the device of your choice, and can be used for motive power on skates, canoes and other water craft, scooters, wheelchairs, skis and bicycles and we’re sure there are lots of ways to use it. It comes in three different power specifications, from a 12 pound four-stroke pack offering 10 pounds of thrust through to a 20 pound (weight) pack offering 20 pounds of thrust from a two-stroke motor. Each ThrustPac is tailor-made for you, with prices starting at US$900 and running through to US$2000. One of these will enable your pushbike to do the round-town legal limit, so it’s a sure-fire enabling technology for something … perhaps even a shot at the Darwin Awards.

Finally Someone is doing something to protect marriage

Adultery could mean life, court finds

In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.
"We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today," Judge William Murphy wrote in November for a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, "but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion."

INVASION !!!!

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

Meanwhile we are at war because Iraq MIGHT attack or fund an attack?

US-China trade deficit at all-time high

China’s trade surplus reached $177.5bn (£118.7bn) last year, 74 per cent higher than in 2005, a rise that will intensify pressure on Beijing further to open its markets and accelerate the revaluation of its currency...

There is mounting impatience in Washington, where members of the newly elected Congress are proposing legislative action.

Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate finance committee, is expected to introduce legislation to lower the burden of proof for China to be accused of “currency manipulation” by the US Treasury.

In the House of Representatives, Sander Levin, head of the trade subcommittee, will introduce a controversial bill to prompt the use of anti-subsidy laws against non-market economies such as China.

Chavez now wants to scrap presidential term limits

Chavez, who rode to Congress for the swearing-in ceremony in an open-top car waving at crowds of supporters, has said his new term's plans include stripping the central bank of its autonomy and taking on special legislative powers.

The opposition has accused Chavez, in power since 1999, of seeking to transform the fourth-biggest oil exporter to the United States into a Cuban-style centralized economy.

Dead birds rain down on towns half a world apart

It could be the plot of a horror film, but in two towns on opposite sides of the world the mysterious phenomenon of thousands of dead birds dropping out of the sky is all too real.

Officials are baffled by the unexplained deaths which have affected Australia and the U.S.

Three weeks ago thousands of crows, pigeons, wattles and honeyeaters fell out of the sky in Esperance, Western Australia.

Then last week dozens of grackles, sparrows and pigeons dropped dead on two streets in Austin, Texas.

As birds continue to die in Esperance and the town's dawn chorus remains eerily silent, vets in both countries have been unable to establish a cause of death - despite carrying out a large number of autopsies on the birds

House Adopts Pay-as-You-Go Rules

On its second day under Democratic management, the House yesterday overwhelmingly approved new rules aimed at reining in deficit spending and shedding more light on the murky world of special-interest projects known as earmarks.

Under the new provisions, the House will for the first time in years be required to pay for any proposal to cut taxes or increase spending on the most expensive federal programs by raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere. And lawmakers will be required to disclose the sponsors of earmarks, which are attached in virtual secrecy to legislation to direct money to favored interests or home-district projects.

QUE

yo habla espanol

QUE

yo habla espanol