News from Miles

Miles, I do wish you would just go back to sleep and stop trying to scare everyone. There is absolutely nothing wrong with chipping Kids, shutting down criticism, and dragging people out of there homes. Having said that: keep it coming!

Rhode Island:
http://www.naturalnews.com/023445.html


Denver:
http://rawstory.com/news08/2008/06/17/military-choppers-fly-over-denver-during-top-secret-drill/

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/17/denver-stocks-up-on-pepper-weapon/

http://origin.denverpost.com/politics/ci9544375

Iowa:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gMk0eOYOQ-W5ZfDqeZ8NtlJASvmwD91BEGSG0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONAudPPhum8--



1/3 Tazer Victims need medical attention
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/17/taser-injuries.html

$12.50 to quote 5 words from AP
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010341.html

Police Fuel surcharge on Atlanta suburb speeding tickets
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-06-18-speedingticket_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Army + Police = Police state?

Army Reserve teams with D.C. Police to boost employment

Once again, Thanks to Miles

BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions

This just in from Miles:

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

Of course he just hates America.

They'll be watching you soon

Researchers secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States through their cell phone use and concluded that most people rarely stray more than a few miles from home.

How many Michael Ts does it take to change a Light Bulb:

I got a call from my wife. she was distressed and I had an emergency stop to make on the way home. Julian had come running into the room to tell her that Josh had broken the light. She went into the room and sure enough playing with a ball in the house still results in an occasional breakage. I recall a lamp or two that I broke and countless sitcom episodes featuring attempted cover ups. so, I think I'm not in denial when I say that my kids aren't necessarily or especially bad. Although I'm sure there are more than a few who might offer other evidence, I'll leave that to them and their blogs.

So my wife wanted me to stop and get enough light bulbs to replace every light in the house. "I want these fluorescents out of my house!" she cried. Because a co-worker who is a student had to right a report recently, my wife was aware of some not so commonly known facts about compact fluorescent light(CFL) bulbs. She knew for instance that it's no simple clean up operation:

-Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
-Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
-Carefully scoop up glass pieces and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
-If clothing or bedding materials come in direct contact with broken glass or mercury-containing powder from inside the bulb that may stick to the fabric, the clothing or bedding should be thrown away. Do not wash such clothing or bedding because mercury fragments in the clothing may contaminate the machine and/or pollute sewage.

Paul Revolution update

Ron Paul Wins 15 Percent in Oregon

from the Oregon Sec. of State web site

Mom forced to live in car with dogs

Harvey was forced into homelessness this year after being laid off. She said that three-quarters of her income went to paying rent in Santa Barbara, where the median house in the scenic oceanfront city costs more than $1 million. She lost her condo two months ago and had little savings as backup.

There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness. These lots are believed to be part of the first program of its kind in the United States, according to organizers.

The lots open at 7 p.m. and close at 7 a.m. and are run by New Beginnings Counseling Center, a homeless outreach organization.

It is illegal for people in California to sleep in their cars on streets. New Beginnings worked with the city to allow the parking lots as a safe place for the homeless to sleep in their vehicles without being harassed by people on the streets or ticketed by police.

A brief look at the Mexican border...

Mexican police chief wants asylum in the US...The police chief of Palomas, Mexico, has requested political asylum in the United States.

Violence in Juarez continued over the weekend, when at least twenty people were killed, one of those people was a prominent businessman..."Everyone's at stake. Anyone who has any sort of position or any type of authority," she said. "It's an all out war. It is a war and it's happening right across the border."

A judge in El Paso today denied bond for a Border Patrol agent accused of helping smuggle illegal immigrants across the Mexican border...Prosecutors say Huizar was part of a ring -- working with Mexican nationals -- to smuggle at least 100 illegal immigrants across the border since 2005.

US court: Paper money discriminates against blind

The U.S. discriminates against blind people by printing paper money that makes it impossible for them to distinguish among the bills' varying values, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday...The American Council for the Blind sued for such changes but the Treasury Department has been fighting the case for about six years..."I don't think we should have to rely on people to tell us what our money is," said Mitch Pomerantz, the council's president.

The U.S. acknowledges the design hinders blind people but it argued that blind people have adapted. Some relied on store clerks to help them, some used credit cards and others folded certain corners to help distinguish between bills...The appeals court also ruled that the U.S. failed to explain why changing the money would be an undue burden. The Treasury Department has redesigned its currency several times in recent years, and adding features to aid the blind would come at a relatively small cost, the court said.

German jailed for stabbing rabbi

A German court has jailed a Muslim of Afghan origin for three and a half years for stabbing an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in the stomach in the street... The case sparked a discussion in Germany about whether there were no-go areas for Jews in some cities...Passing the sentence, Judge Klaus Drescher said there had not been enough evidence to support the original charge of attempted manslaughter.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you usually die from a stomoch stabbing?

Russia police raid BP

Russian security services have searched the Moscow headquarters of oil giant BP - the second time in two months that that firm has been targeted...Foreign energy companies have come under increasing pressure in Russia as the government has been trying to increase its control over oil and gas assets.

A NEW ELEMENT HAS BEEN FOUND

Recent hurricanes and climatic issues are proof of the existence of a new chemical element. Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons & 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction (that would normally take less than a second) to be delayed any time from four days to fourteen years.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of two to six years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which some of the assistant neutrons & deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

ticketed for walking bike while drunk on own property

Th Revolution will not be televised

Ron Paul's forces quietly plot GOP convention revolt against McCain

the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in St. Paul at the beginning of September...
Just take a look at recent Republican primary results, largely overlooked because McCain locked up the necessary 1,191 delegates long ago. In Indiana, McCain got 77% of the recent Republican primary vote, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, who've each long ago quit and endorsed McCain, still got 10% and 5% respectively, while Paul took 8%.

On the same May 6 in North Carolina, McCain received less than three-quarters of Republican votes (74%), while Huckabee got 12%, Paul 7% and Alan Keyes and No Preference took a total of 7%.

Pennsylvania was even slightly worse for the GOP's presumptive nominee, who got only 73% to a combined 27% for Paul (16%) and Huckabee (11%)...

The last three months Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upwards of one million total votes, have been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.

Someone Tell Nikki, They're gunning for her!

So I got this email from Miles:

Subject: Someone Tell Nikki, They're gunning for
> her!
> >
> > http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/531.pdf


Check Nikki's response especially the analysis of the law.
I'm not so sure that they aren't gunning for the "crazy"
home schoolers. Note that in the analysis You are warned not
to refer to yourself as a home school but as the
"Michael T. Justice Academy of Social Awareness"
Feel free to use that Nikki.

-----Original Message-----
> From: "Nikki"
> To: "" <michaeltjustice@aol.com>;
>
> Sent: 5/6/08 3:07 AM
> Subject: Re: FW: Someone Tell Nikki, They're gunning
> for her!
>
> The thing is, there's no provision in Kansas'
> Constitution to determine what is a "competant"
> teacher.
>
> It also looks like this was drafted in 2006?  We've
> since taken him out of public school and have had to
> undergo NO competancy tests or difficulty in doing so for
> the sole sake of homeschooling.
>
> It also looks like this is more about the state fighting
> funding homeschoolers.  We've never received dime one
> from them, and we still pay taxes that go to the public
> schools.
>
> Besides, if you go here:
> http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?state=KS
> you'll see, Kansas is (as of the date that I'm
> typing this) still one of the states that gives parents
> total autonomy on what their children learn.
>
> All that is required from me, after we've notified the
> school board that we're homeschooling (as a
> "non-accredited school") is that I teach him 186
> days a year, 6 hours a day.
>
> Who sent this to you?
>
> Your favorite tomato,
> Nikki

on Clinton and Obama

If 6/10 Whites are voting for Clinton doesn't that mean 4/10 are for Obama?
What's the impact of Limbaugh's Operation Chaos? Shall we give him credit for 1/10?
Those are folks that aren't really voting for her anyway. Now, how many of the remaining 5/10 will vote for Obama if he is the only democratic choice?

The Trouble With Transcending Race

From a blog called the Root
Thought provoking indeed:

If some white people are rethinking their feelings for Oprah and Obama, it's because those people's unrealistic expectations of the two have been betrayed. Oprah and Obama were idealized blacks. They were supposed to be above reproach, neutral on all matters of race, unencumbered by the tiresome legacy of American race relations, colorblind in their politics. They were not supposed to associate with people like Jeremiah Wright, let alone consider them friends.

They were supposed to reflect blackness in the way that made white people comfortable, a blackness that lacked any hint of anger, resentment, or dare we say it, "bitterness." They were also supposed to pretend their blackness didn't matter. Oprah could be the black girlfriend who white women felt good about themselves for having, Obama could be the black candidate they felt good for supporting.

Whites have long felt comfortable with black people entertaining them. Politics is not entertainment – at least not intentionally. Still, it's hard not to wonder if the massive white crowds that came out for Obama's speeches early on weren't also seeing him as some kind of eloquent performer, and now it's sinking in that Obama really isrunning for president and not for American Idol, and that he comes, like all Americans, with some racial baggage. Could this be why so many white people are now asking, more than a year after Obama launched his campaign, if they can really trust him and basing those doubts not on his political record but on the speeches of his minister?

Charter school will focus on homeland security

Finally! The government is getting our children ready to protect the fatherland.

just a couple of planes that crashed into mountains

As far as I can tell there was recognizable wreckage. It seems to me that a mountain would be about as hard as a reinforced Pentagon. I know it's proof of nothing but it does make me wonder.
Granted they weren't aiming at the respective mountains but I would have to think they would be going pretty fast.

Japan 1985

Arizona 1971

Here's another assignment for our Chief Debunkifier

http://www.911summary.com/

I also had a chance last week to see a vid by pilots for 911 truth that is probably in need of straightening out. Using what they claim to be flight path info from FOIA requests, they assert that there were many inconsistencies and strange maneuvers in the pentagon strike.

Big Dog, your mission, should you accept it: Show the inaccuracies and shoddy investigation tactics of these folks. I'll say right off the bat that the pilots site does have a donation link. But as I have said before asking for money to further your work doesn't, by itself, discredit ones work. Although it can certainly be used as a plank in a case against someone.

For the record: while I will accept donations (especially canned goods, generators, and survival gear), I'm not asking for any.

$$$ Money Money Money $$$

You are invited to learn about the future of money in America this Thursday evening, 6pm at the Uptown Theater, Valentine Room

$4 gas—what’s next for the dollar?

AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE

http://www.monetary.org ami@taconic.net 224-805-2200

Stephen Zarlenga, Director

Greening The Dollar - Reclaiming Our Democratic Values Through Monetary Reform.

Why Our Money System is not Working for America

Learn more about money in 3 hours than some economists learn in a lifetime!

With Ben Kjelshus, Charles Walters, and Stephen Zarlenga

The Seminar Will Discuss:
* America's Monetary Power has been usurped and privatized, leading to war.
* How and why the money power must be restored to society where it can be used to promote
the general welfare, instead of corrupt private agendas.
* How the money power became privatized and remains so through false theory.
* How a three step program restores it to society.
* Why inflation need not be a problem.
* How the facts demonstrate that counter to prevailing prejudice, governmental control of money has a far superior record than private control.
* Why reforming the monetary system needs to be linked to transforming American politics.

This is a hands on do-able reality based program, not a theory, with many U.S. historical precedents, and more going as far back as Classical Greece and Rome.

The Money system acts like a fourth branch of government, generally affecting our daily lives more than the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches combined. Yet it has been privatized and is largely outside the control of our democratic system of checks and balances where it has unfairly concentrated wealth to obscene levels.

The American Monetary Institute is America’s leading think tank focusing on monetary history, theory and reform. Each September we hold a 3 day monetary reform conference at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where cutting edge experts speak on those subjects. This year the Institute is offering free introductory seminars at various times and locations throughout the year. This one evening seminar is designed for Kansas City area people who’d like a good background on how our money system works, why its not working well, how to fix it, and what benefits would follow in terms of infrastructure and health care and education; and how our society has the power to begin creating a superior world, instead of getting mired in stupidity and warfare.

Place: The Uptown Theater at 3700 Broadway, Kansas City, Missouri

Date: Thursday, April 24th, 2008 Time: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Co-sponsored by the American Monetary Institute – Kansas City Chapter & The Kansas City Green Foundation

Ohh those cameras I hate

Red-light Cameras Increase Crashes, Florida Researchers Find
Rather than improving motorist safety, red-light cameras significantly increase crashes and are a ticket to higher auto insurance premiums, researchers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health conclude.

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.