Mark Frankenberg / Sound Activism / Just Say NO to Fascism / American Wisdom

U.S. Economy Decline 14 Stats since 2007

2011-03-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/14-eye-opening-statistics-which-reveal-just-how-dramatically-the-u-s-economy-has-collapsed-since-2007

Overnight Underground Show March 11, 2011

2011-03-05T13:22:00.006-05:00

Sat

IRAQ II (Libya) We Don't need this:

http://news.antiwar.com/2011/03/01/us-allies-ratchet-up-threats-of-libya-invasion/

Sun
Michael Moore "America is Not Broke"
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/274-41/5178-america-is-not-broke

GOP is Lying and Foolish about the causes of violence:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/06/rep-peter-king-wont-look-into-loughners-radicalization-because-of-911/

FL Solar Hybrid Power Plant
http://www.slashgear.com/fpl-opens-worlds-first-hybrid-solar-energy-center-in-florida-07138237/

Middle East Solar Plant
http://gulfnews.com/business/investment/shams-power-company-raises-600m-for-middle-east-s-largest-solar-project-1.772798

Right Wing using Phony callers on Radio Shows
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/07/exclusive-limbaughs-parent-company-still-using-actors-to-fake-radio-call-ins-exec-tells-raw/

Overnight Underground Show 4 March, 2011

2011-02-27T12:09:00.028-05:00

[27feb2011a1213]

Awake the State on March 8 - Tampa

Time

Tuesday, March 8 · 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Location

Lykes Gaslight Park

Downtown Tampa

Tampa, FL

Created By

Brittany Wells Lomberk, Susan Smith, Timothy Heberlein

More Info

Draconian budget cuts proposed by Gov. Scott along with equally destructive proposals from the Florida Legislature has the potential to bring a wide range of constituencies – teachers, parents, police officers, firefighters, health care advocates, social workers, environmentalists – fighting under the progressive banner.

Budget cuts are something no Floridian can afford. We believe that Florida’s budget must be balanced responsibly through the elimination of unnecessary and unproductive sales tax exemptions and corporate income tax loopholes that cost Floridians more than $12 billion a year.

We ask that all Floridians who have a stake in this Governor's budget, those who stand to lose in favor of a corporation's gain, to stand united with us on March 8th. Supporters will be holding Awake the State rallies all over the state, including on the steps of the Capitol.

Alike our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin, our public sector employees are under attack. From the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Justice Administration are being defunded. Our environment has taken backseat to development. Our children in public schools will suffer with this governor's budget. We can't afford it. Stand United on March 8!

While not everyone will be able to travel to Tallahassee, Rick Scott will hear us from Tampa. This is not just a rally, this is a call to action! We will have ways for you to get involved and help save our state.

See the devastating cuts (and the number of jobs cut) at http://letsgettowork.state.fl.us/bdagencies.aspx

For more information, call Tim Heberlein at 813-532-9846.

-------------------------------------------

[27feb2011a1222]

Limbaugh Union Member, Beck, Palin, O'Reilly too

http://www.alternet.org/story/150054/confirmed_unionbashing_rightwing_media_stars_hannity_limbaugh_and_oreilly_are_aflcio_unionaffiliated_members

[sun27feb2011a1546]

Wisconsin, Unions, Middle Class

http://www.truth-out.org/wisconsin-health-care-democracy-and-middle-class-are-at-stake68083

[sun27feb2011a1659]

Fox' Roger Ailes to be indicted

http://freakoutnation.com/2011/02/27/fox-news-roger-ailes-to-be-indicted/

[sun27feb2011a1920]

Wisconsin is Front Line in Class War

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/27/949764/-Wisconsin-is-the-front-line-in-right-wing-class-warfare?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dailykos/index+(Daily+Kos)

[sun27feb2011a2018]

Corporations not paying taxes

http://www.truth-out.org/you-have-more-money-your-wallet-than-bank-america-pays-federal-taxes68094

[Sun27feb2011a2045]

Car Plows through Bike Protest in Brazil

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/driver-plows-through-dozens-of-cyclists-in-brazil.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+treehuggersite+(Treehugger)

Chicago Union Rally

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/26/dick-durbin-at-pro-union-_n_828731.html

mon

Madison, Cairo

a deputy attorney general in Indiana, suggested on his Twitter account that police "use live ammunition" on the protesters

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175360/tomgram:_andy_kroll,_the_spirit_of_egypt_in_madison/

Wisconsin, Middle Class

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-labor-union-decline

dna testing

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/02/dna-genetic-patdown-introduced-to.html

Oil Substitute 30 / barrel

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/joule-unlimited-diesel-fuel_n_829057.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=776950,b=facebook

Charlie Sheen on 9/11 before he was overcome with substance abuse:

mon28feb11a2123

Obama Says Debate it, then sends his Drug Czar to Intimidate Newspaper regarding Pro-Cannabis stance:

http://networkedblogs.com/eSaVY

U.S. Military moving towards Libya

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_repositions_forces_near_Libya_Pentagon_999.html

Dirty Bottled Water

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=177721

Robots

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/02/27/2011-02-27_defense_dept_commissions_cheetah_robot_and_terminatorlike_droid_to_aid_soldiers_.html

The key to human political power is Unions:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/01

Supreme Court v At+t personal privacy

http://www.freepress.net/press-release/2011/3/1/free-press-lauds-court-unanimous-decision-corporate-personhood-case

tues1mar2011a1428

Another Iraq..

http://www.infowars.com/obama-encircles-us-war-machine-around-libya/

gop war on women [hdi]

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/150075/gop_war_on_women:_if_you_have_sex,_republicans_want_to_pry_in_your_private_parts_

planned parenthood petition [hdi]

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/stand_up_for_women/?rc=fb_share1

wed2mar2011a0811

Gold Record High

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/01/gold-hits-record-1432-57-an-ounce/

Corporate personhood, Citizen's united, amendment:

action link:

http://storyofstuff.org/citizensunited/what-you-can-do/

Thurs

First Repsponder Layoffs

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/02/16/san-jose-leaders-warn-budget-cuts-put-residents-in-danger/

Fri 0026

Berkeley protest

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/03/2096571/police-facing-growing-protest.html

4mar11

madd honcho arrested for drunk driving

http://www.newser.com/story/112880/ex-madd-honcho-arrested-for-drunk-driving.html

Publix protests
http://ciw-online.org/dotherightthing/tampa.html

Overnight Underground Show 25Feb2011

2011-02-22T19:41:00.012-05:00

Ft. Lauderdale Food Not Bombs Raided by Police (firsthand account)
by Jennifer Van Bergen on Monday, February 21, 2011 at 2:34pm

Brothers and sisters

For 4 and 1/2 years the young people at Food Not Bombs have been feeding the homeless in downtown Fort Lauderdale. In that time the city, police and the local businesses have been trying to shut them down, they want the homeless out of sight and mind in that more up-scale part of town. Recently the harassment against FNB has increased dramatically, it reach a very dangerous point last Thusday, below is a narrative in their words of what happened.

Note, there will be a solidarity action this Friday, more info coming soon.

Ray Del Papa

***
In the recent five months, tensions between the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and Food Not Bombs activists have escalated. Within this time, The FLPD has not only prevented multiple groups from sharing in Stranahan Park, but has installed a police surveillance tower in the park amidst repeated verbal assault against Food Not Bombs activists.
On Thursday, February 17th, an FPL electricity inspection led to the power being turned off at the home of activists frequently the target of police harassment. The electricity bill had been paid prior to this. Several hours later, all tenants had left the house while a few guests remained. During this time, an unwarranted police raid took place under the premise of 'uninhabitable' living conditions. The house was deemed 'uninhabitable' due to the lack of electricity, which had been turned off that morning. House guests were pulled from the house and searched by over a dozen officers, who kicked in unlocked doors and, with a K-9 unit, searched the house with no specific intent. One female guest was frisked and inappropriately touched by a male officer.More troubling still, officers were questioning the political orientation of the house guests. They asked if the house was a 'militant training camp', and whether or not the guests were"terrorists" or affiliated with "black bloc". Before the FLPD left the house, they threatened to repeat raids weekly.

The Food Not Bombs activists in Fort Lauderdale are not involved in any of the activities suggested by the police. Rather, activities organized out of the house include free bike repair, FNB gatherings and sharing of food with the homeless, animal rights activities, candle making workshops, foreclosure & civil rights activism, etc. We,Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs, strongly condemn the intimidation tactics which include the police surveillance tower in Stranahan Park,unwarranted police raids, and the criminalization of community activism. Broward County officials have already targeted the poor and disenfranchised. Now the range has been expanded to include those who dare to help them. We call on South Florida activists to stand with us in solidarity as we struggle against the city's efforts to repress the homeless and community-based activism.
In solidarity,
Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs
For more information, send an email to WDirect08@aol.com or SWAMPZine@gmail.com.

UPDATE: Fort Lauderdale Police returned to the activists home on Saturday, February 19th at around 9:00PM. The two officers did not attempt a repeat of Thursday's raid, but rather briefly insulted and intimidated one of the tenants and their guests. The police entered the house, with permission from the tenant but then left shortly afterward.

-------
uterus police
http://blogs.babble.com/being-pregnant/2011/02/21/georgia-legislator-wants-to-investigate-miscarriages-create-uterus-police/

Corporate THC
http://www.naturalnews.com/031489_DEA_legalized_marijuana.html

Our Military Using Psy-Ops on our own Senators:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/another-runaway-general-army-deploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223

First Iranian warship thru Suez canal since 1979
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122244215758692.html

Obama on Unions
Short vid clip
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/story

Interesting, but this chick is programmed just like Fox News people are programmed. Just a little more slick. Randi Rhodes interviewing Ron Paul 20 minutes.
http://freakoutnation.com/2011/02/24/ron-paul-the-tea-party-is-now-corporately-owned/

Wisconsin Shock Doctrine
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2011/02/paul-krugman-shock-doctrine-usa.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+EconomistsView+(Economist's+View+(EconomistsView))

About a week ago Castro was saying, watch, the U.S. will attack Libya because they have oil. Is this Iraq 2?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12575206

2 new anti-choice bills threaten public safety:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/24/949245/-The-pro-life-bill-to-legalize-murder-spreads-to-Iowa-and-Nebraska?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dailykos/index+(Daily+Kos)

from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/wisconsin-protests
:
"

President, Writers Guild of America, East; Former senior writer, Bill Moyers JournalMichael Winship, 02.25.2011

Instead of screaming about the advances public employees have made to preserve health care, job security and economic justice, angry voters should be asking who has been keeping them from obtaining the same.

Nader on Wisconsin and Unions:

https://www.readability.com/read?url=http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/mad-as-hell-in-madison-by-ralph-nader/

Overnight Underground 18feb2011

2011-02-12T13:20:00.030-05:00

food crisis usda dominos pizza

http://www.naturalnews.com/031286_USDA_food_crisis.html#ixzz1DfmYYnIG

Oldest Man-Made Structures on Earth
http://edgemagazine.net/2010/10/oldest-man-made-structures/

Georgia Utilities Solar Test
http://www.wtvy.com/georgianews/headlines/116012874.html

GreenPeace Goes After Coal Plants
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/greenpeace-coal-free-future-tour-new-chapter-climate-activism.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+treehuggersite+(Treehugger)

Strip Searched for Raspberries
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1355743/Strip-searched-woman-sues-genitals-groped-fails-disclose-raspberries-border.html

GOP Abortion
http://www.alternet.org/story/149891/horrific_bill_takes_the_gop's_war_on_women_to_a_whole_new_extreme?page=1

Sun 2102
Egypt Martial Law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/13/AR2011021302856.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast

Mon 1554
Corn Prices
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110210/BUSINESS/102100342/0/NLETTER01/Depleted-corn-supply-will-lead-higher-food-prices?odyssey=mod_sectionstories

Tues 1341
Chomsky on how Global Warming has been spun to look like a liberal hoax, and other topics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJUA4cm0Rck

Oil wells in gulf
http://blog.al.com/live/2011/02/wells_still_leaking_in_gulf.html

Military Ad with Disclaimer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwS1bmggoZ0&feature=player_embedded

Prisons:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/gubernatorial/article1150384.ece

Packers support our Union Brothers
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/15/packers-support-workers/

Micro Solar:
http://www.innosight.com/blog/index.php?id=578

Patriot Act passes House
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/14/house-votes-to-extend-provisions-of-the-patriot-act/

Bahrain
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/16/bahrain-protests_n_824372.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Robots Running the World
http://www.theonion.com/video/in-the-know-are-we-giving-the-robots-that-run-our,14200/

Ray McGovern v Clinton
http://warisacrime.org/content/hillary-talks-about-tolerating-free-expression-police-front-her-brutalize-ray-mcgovern-turni

Homeless per MagicStar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPlxyJc7pFc&feature=player_embedded

Mental Health and Guns
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41653442/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

FBI in Software
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/fbi-backdoors/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))

FL gov rejects Hi Speed Rail money
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/17/946179/-Gov-Scott-blasted-on-high-speed-rail-funds-Gov-Brown-says-money-welcome-here?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dailykos/index+(Daily+Kos)

S. Dakota Doctor Murder Bill
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/17/946229/-South-Dakota-puts-pro-life-bill-to-legalize-murder-on-hold?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dailykos/index+(Daily+Kos)

Packers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers

Republicans Attacking Unions Across U.S.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/18/wisconsin-union-protests

Padilla
http://warisacrime.org/content/judge-throws-out-suit-torture-victim-grounds-it-would-inconvenience-important-people

Tarpon Cop Taping
http://tarponsprings.wtsp.com/news/news/charges-dropped-kids-taping-cops/47811?utm_base=storylink%3Fbctid%3D795402342001

House votes to cut Planned Parenthood Funding
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/18/house-votes-to-cut-off-funding-for-planned-parenthood/

Libya, Yemen, Bahrain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/18/bahrain-libya-yemen-protests-violence

Father Coughlin, uh, excuse me, Glen Beck on Unions:
http://wonkette.com/438572/glenn-beck-wisconsin-unions-want-un-caliphate-or-something

Libya blocking Internet
http://neosmart.net/blog/2011/as-arabia-protests-libya-blocks-internet-access/

show 21jan2011

2011-01-15T14:49:00.002-05:00

Punjab governor assassinated for supporting woman who is condemned to death for blasphemy
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/us/another-country-another-assasination/

show 14jan11

2011-01-08T18:53:00.013-05:00

Death Throes of Today's Weimar Republic:
[congresswoman among 12 people shot at safeway in Tucson]:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/48881/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/flashback-giffords-opponent-had-m16-shooting-event-help-remove-gabrielle-giffords-from-office.php

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/rep-giffords-socalled-hit-list-dems-targeted-sarah-palin/

Mabili's show sun9jan11:
Tucson Assasin Jared "lofner" (self-described terrorist) gabrielle giffords , judge Rowe killed, 2009 death threats after civil rights lawsuit ranchers v undocumented immigrant workers, rowe and family under protection by marshalls, ..

Huffington post:
"WASHINGTON -- Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others on Saturday, may have ties to anti-Semitic, anti-immigration hate group American Renaissance, according to a leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security.
...
American Renaissance is a white nationalist group that operates under a pseudo think tank called the New Century Foundation. The group runs a magazine and conferences based on eugenics and the superiority of whites, according to Southern Poverty Law Center.
...
Hitler's Mein Kampf was listed as one of Loughner's favorite books. Giffords is the first Jewish U.S. representative to be elected in Arizona. Gabe Zimmerman, a Giffords aide who was killed in the shooting, was also Jewish.
...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/09/jared-loughner-youtube-videos-_n_806370.html

Tucson her0 (Heidi link):
"Patricia Maisch, 61, was the brave woman who kept alleged shooter Jared Loughner from unloading a second clip"
http://www.alternet.org/news/149471/brave_woman_who_grabbed_clip_from_shooter_blames_right-wing_media_and_rhetoric_..._in_fox_news_interview/

Georgia governor looking a LITTLE more realistically at drug policy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/nathan-deal-drug-addicts-jail_n_807016.html

Alaska pipeline 10%
"BP shares fell last night amid nervousness about the leak that caused the shutdown of the Trans Alaska Pipeline, the supply route for more than 10 per cent of US crude oil."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bp-pipeline-leak-in-alaska-rattles-oil-prices-2181290.html

From Bowling for Columbine:

electronics recycling vs countries:
http://www.electronicstakeback.com/global-e-waste-dumping/

class war per tom :
http://www.alternet.org/economy/149531/the_class_war_launched_by_america's_wealthiest_is_getting_more_savage/

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
the speech he was killed a year later for:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence2.htm

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Limbaugh "straight shooter" billboard
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/clear-channel-pulls-limbaughs-straight-shooter-billboard-tucson/

Armed bystander almost shot tucson hero
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/armed-bystander-shot-hero-disarmed-az-shooter/

Chris Hedges on King and Malcolm
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/turning_kings_dream_into_a_nightmare_20100117/
:
"In a speech titled “Beyond Vietnam” he gave at Riverside Church a year before his assassination, King called America the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today,” a quote that won’t make it into many Martin Luther King Day celebrations. King’s strident denunciation of the Vietnam War and economic injustice at the end of his life saw many white liberals, members of his own staff, as well as allies within the political power structure, turn against him. King and Malcolm, in the final days of their lives, were lonely men.
"
-----
He called the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today" and said: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
from
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/pentagon-official-martin-luther-king-support-iraq-afghan-wars/

Show 7Jan11

2011-01-07T18:25:00.007-05:00

"Anchor Babies" WTF
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/activists-decry-second-class-citizen/

From Amy Goodman:
"

Bill Introduced to Rewrite 14th Amendment

Another new bill introduced in the House would essentially rewrite the 14th Amendment. Republican Steve King of Iowa is proposing to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in the country. If passed, the law would bar children born to undocumented immigrants from being granted citizenship."

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/7/headlines#4

-------------------
Stop Bee-killing pesticides:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees_usa/?copy

No Privacy:
"Pandora is showing me some of your profile pictures and telling me what artists you like. Am I the only one creeped out by this??"

[also, "anonymous" googling on one computer shows FB friends, even though the only FB open on network is on another computer]

---------------
Home Foreclosures:
"

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In a decision that may slow foreclosures nationwide, Massachusetts' highest court voided the seizure of two homes by Wells Fargo & Co and US Bancorp after the banks failed to show they held the mortgages at the time they foreclosed.

Bank shares fell, weighing on broader stock indexes, on fears the decision could threaten lenders' ability to work through hundreds of thousands of pending foreclosures."

from

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110107/bs_nm/us_usa_foreclosures_ruling

---------------

MetroPCS has announced it will be offering three different pay-as-you-go mobile data plans that will make different parts of the web available depending on how much the customer pays.

The lowest plan, starting at $40 per month, offers unlimited talk, texting, web browsing, and access to YouTube, but blocks other streaming video sites, like Vimeo. The use of internet phone calling apps like Skype and the internet radio Pandora are also expected to be blocked."

... from

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/mobile-carriers-data-plans-violates-net-neutrality-group-claims/

----------

Global Warming

Amy Goodman

House GOP Kill Global Warming Committee

House Republicans have killed the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. Meanwhile, Republicans have introduced at least three different bills aimed at blocking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act."

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/7/headlines#2

----------------

Health Insurance Hikes (Amy Goodman):

California Health Insurance Company Hikes Rates 59%

The health insurance company Blue Shield of California is coming under criticism after it announced plans to raise premiums by as much as 59 percent on nearly 200,000 Californians who buy health coverage on their own. If Blue Shield moves forward with the rate hike, it would be the third increase for the company’s customers since last fall."

from:

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/7/headlines#14

-------------

Ayn Rand Quote:

"There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist

: the fashionable non-conformist"
[Mention Omali's reference on city hall steps of "trendy liberals"]
-------
Roberts rules of Order:
http://www.robertsrules.org/
-------
HAARP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/42338/arkansas-birds-dead-killed-by-haarps-death-ray/

---------

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Elitists Attempting Coup at Radio Station

2010-10-12T16:32:00.001-04:00

Heidi and I co-host the Overnight Underground Show on 88.5 FM Tampa.

Last night when we showed up at the station to do our show, Bruce Wright and Alvaro Montaleagre (speaking on behalf of St. Pete for Peace) told us they were doing the show, and threatened to call the police if we didn't leave the station. Bruce left the show more than a year ago. We are entitled to a meeting with Randy Wynn regarding this, and if he gets a lot of emails asking for that meeting it should happen soon. His email is randy@wmnf.org

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 12oct10

2010-10-07T00:27:00.002-04:00

http://www.truth-out.org/punishing-poor-being-poor63949

Cash-Strapped States Resurrect "Debtors' Prisons"

Wednesday 06 October 2010

by: Nadia Prupis, t r u t h o u t | Report

(ACLU) reveal a rising trend of patently unconstitutional practices in cash-strapped states, where a growing number of impoverished people are jailed for being unable to pay their legal fees - including charges for use of public defenders, a guaranteed right in the United States. The resurgence of these

Imprisoning probationers for failing to pay court debts was found unconstitutional in 1980, when Georgia resident Danny Bearden was sent to prison for two years when he could not pay $550 in legal fees, despite his efforts. In Bearden v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that such practices violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment - but states throughout the country have begun openly disregarding these principles in their efforts to balance their budgets.

"People are emerging from the criminal justice process with significant debts that they cannot hope to repay," said Brennan Center Deputy Director Rebekah Diller. "As a result, these fees are creating new paths back to prison for those unable to pay."

According to the report, "defender fees often discourage individuals from exercising their constitutional right to an attorney - leading to wrongful convictions, over-incarceration and significant burdens on the operation of courts. In Michigan, for example, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association found that the threat of paying the full cost of assigned counsel resulted in misdemeanor defendants systematically waiving their right to counsel - at a rate of 95 percent in one county." In Virginia, defendants often face up to $1,235 per count for some felonies.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 5oct10

2010-10-04T01:16:00.002-04:00

http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=apsc-statement-in-support-of-groups-raided-by-fbi

"
The African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC) and the Uhuru Solidarity Movement (USM) denounce the September 24, 2010 subpoenas and raids of the homes and offices of solidarity and anti-war activists in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan.

These raids, violating the civil rights of the targeted activists, were carried out by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force allegedly as part of an “ongoing investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force into activities concerning the material support of terrorism.”

Groups under attack include the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Palestine Solidarity Group, the Colombia Action Network, the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee and Students for a Democratic Society.

APSC expresses our support for all these groups and individuals under attack by the US government.

We defend the right of all of us to stand in solidarity with all peoples anywhere in the world fighting to throw off the yoke of colonial violence, war and oppression imposed on them by the terrorist US government.

We affirm all of our unalienable rights to raise resources for movements for national liberation and justice.

"

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 28sept 2010

2010-09-25T13:41:00.003-04:00

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/fbi-raids-antiwar-activists/

Nationwide FBI terrorism raids target anti-war activists

The FBI said it searched eight homes in Minneapolis and Chicago as part of a terrorism investigation on Friday, and two subjects said the agency is targeting leaders of the anti-war movement.

FBI spokesman Steve Warfield told The Associated Press agents served six warrants in Minneapolis and two in Chicago. "These were search warrants only," Warfield said. "We're not anticipating any arrests at this time. They're seeking evidence relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism."

Warfield said he couldn't comment on whose homes were searched or give details on why because it's an ongoing investigation. "There's no imminent threat to the community," he said.

The searches were first reported by the Star Tribune.

Sundin said she wasn't certain exactly what kinds of information the FBI was after or who else had been searched in either city.

An FBI SWAT team entered first "and looked for pointy things. And then they left and the FBI agents came in and looked through everything in the house," she said.

The agents took "computers, several boxes of papers, everything related to data like discs," Sundin said.

Both Sundin and Kelly were organizers of a mass march on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in St. Paul two years ago, and recently appeared at a news conference to announce plans for another protest if Minneapolis is selected to hold the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

---------------------------------------------
email from aclu:

Justice Department Report Finds FBI Spied on American Protestors

Earlier this week, we learned that yet another Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) report has found malfeasance in the FBI. This time, the IG found the bureau spying on American citizens engaged in protests and other activities protected by the First Amendment. These investigations have led to several activists being inappropriately placed on terrorist watchlists.

The IG's investigation was prompted by an ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which uncovered evidence in 2006 that the FBI was chilling political association by improperly investigating peaceful advocacy groups like Greenpeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The report concludes that the FBI was not spying on groups because of their political views. Rather, it was investigating them because they suspected the groups might commit crimes, which was okay under the FBI rules that existed at the time. By that logic, everyone can be subject to FBI investigation and possibly be included on a terrorist watchlist.

In 2002, the guidelines under then-Attorney General John Ashcroft required only the "possibility" of a federal crime. This guideline led activities like the FBI infiltrating a peace group that was doing nothing more nefarious than handing out anti-war leaflets in downtown Pittsburgh.

show 21sept10

2010-09-14T17:40:00.003-04:00

carlin on the american dream
contains multiple s and f bombs

--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/republican_party/index.html?story=%2Fnews%2Ffeature%2F2010%2F09%2F18%2Fus_gays_in_montana

Montana GOP: Ban homosexuality

The official party platform declares an intent to make being gay illegal

By MATT VOLZ, Associated Press

At a time when gays have been gaining victories across the country, the Republican Party in Montana still wants to make homosexuality illegal.

The party adopted an official platform in June that keeps a long-held position in support of making homosexual acts illegal, a policy adopted after the Montana Supreme Court struck down such laws in 1997.

But going against the grain is the Montana GOP statement, which falls under the "Crime" section of the GOP platform. It states: "We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.ilovetheburg.com/article/St-Petes-Recycling-Service-Starts-October-1/2571

St. Pete's Recycling Service Starts October

through the end of the year and then receive a new bill for 2011. The fee is only $2.75/month and billed annually every start of the year. The bill will be coming from "Waste Services" and is separate from the St. Petersburg utility bill.

Bins, along with each resident's pick up date, will be sent with the first bill. Collection will be done once a week.

Items that can be included in the recycling bin are the following:
Plastic bottles and all plastics labeled 1-7
Glass: brown, green, clear
Paper
Cardboard and boxes (must be broken down FLAT)
Aluminum & Metal cans

However, at this time, the service is not available for condominiums or apartment buildings.

To sign up and get your bins, call 727-572-6800.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 14sept10

2010-09-08T02:17:00.004-04:00

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/pinellas/group-plans-protest-at-koran-burning-09062010

St. Pete for Peace ref. Quran burning gainesville

Heidi's Bay News 9 clip:
http://www.baynews9.com/video?clip=http://static.baynews9.com/newsvideo/bn9/web_video/Peace_Rally_Planned_97.flv

How to participate:
http://stpeteforpeace.org/sept11.html

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

-----------------------------------------------------

Explosion Rocks Honeywell Uranium Facility Run by Scab Workers
http://www.truth-out.org/explosion-rocks-honeywell-uranium-facility-run-scab-workers63047

show 7sept10

2010-09-06T15:53:00.001-04:00

http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/story.aspx?storyid=144515&catid=250

Peace activists plan counter-protest to Qur'an burning

TAMPA BAY, Florida -- It's recieved national attention. A Gainesville church is planning to burn a Qur'an on the 9th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

But just days ahead of the event, a Bay area group is trying to spread the message of peace instead.

"St. Pete for Peace" members spent Sunday afternoon making up banners and signs.

They plan to hold them up during a peaceful counter-protest at the Dove World Church in Gainesville next Saturday.

One participant believes an entire religion shouldn't be on the hook for crimes committed by extremists nine years ago.

"We see that there's a wave of anti-muslim hysteria sweeping the country and we want to be a part of the other side, where we're sending a message of love and peace and understanding," said Chris Ernesto with St. Pete for Peace.

The city of Gainesville has already banned the Qur'an burning
but the church still plans to go ahead with it and face the consequences.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Show 31aug10

2010-08-26T21:14:00.005-04:00

http://www.infowars.com/u-s-court-rules-that-government-can-secretly-track-you-with-gps-privacy-is-for-rich-people-only/

U.S. Court Rules That Government Can Secretly Track You With GPS, Privacy is For Rich People Only

details how it is now perfectly legal in nine states for the government to attach secret satellite tracking devices to your car and monitor you wherever you go, without a search warrant.

The law, which now applies in California and eight other Western states, stems from a case beginning in 2007 when federal agents of the DEA covertly attached a GPS tracking device to the vehicle of an Oregon man they suspected of growing marijuana.

One Ninth Circuit judge has spoken out against the ruling however, noting that it essentially suggests that privacy is limited to those who can afford to completely close off their property with hi-tech security features such as electric gates, fences and security booths to stop anyone, including the government, sneaking

doesn’t exist,” he wrote. “No truly poor people are appointed as federal judges, or as state judges for that matter.”

they want, without having to go to a court for a warrant, we are one step closer to a classic police state – with technology taking on the role of the KGB or the East German Stasi.” the TIME

-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://blog.mpp.org/prohibition/netherlands-to-close-prisons-not-enough-criminals/05262009/

The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate.

Just for fun, let’s compare the Netherlands to California. With a population of 16.6 million, the Dutch prison population is about 12,000. With its population of 36.7 million, California should have a bit more than double the Dutch prison population. California’s actual prison population is 171,000.

--------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.digitalmeetingcenter.com/ron-pauls-shocking-message-to-the-tea-party/851883/

fact, Ron Paul believes, if you’re looking for real freedom, you should really go back to the core of the constitution and the bill of rights, which Beck and Palin do not fully endorse when you really look at their beliefs. Whether it be Palin’s support for starting more wars or Beck’s beliefs on paying the private Federal Reserve MORE interest on our money by means of a VAT tax.

Ron Paul believes the Tea Party is not about “left” or “right” like a lot of political pundits make it out to be. It’s about the constitution, and limited government.

---------------------------------------------------------

George Carlin on Religion

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Show 10aug10

2010-08-09T13:10:00.003-04:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10900235

Huge ice sheet breaks from Greenland glacier

A giant sheet of ice measuring 260 sq km (100 sq miles) has broken off a glacier in Greenland, according to researchers at a

The glacier is 1,000 km (620 miles) south of the North Pole.

There was enough fresh water locked up in the ice island to "keep all US public tap water flowing for 120 days," said Prof Muenchow.

The first six months of 2010 have been the hottest on record globally,

---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/9/headlines#12

Ex-US Cabinet Official Detained at Israeli Airport

A former cabinet official in the Clinton administration has revealed she was detained and interrogated for almost three hours at an Israeli airport last month. Donna Shalala served as Health and Human Services Secretary under President Clinton and is currently the president of the University of Miami. Shalala was apparently detained because she is of Lebanese descent. She was in Israel as part of a delegation of US university presidents organized by the American Jewish Congress.

--------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 3aug10

2010-08-02T18:22:00.002-04:00

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/as-baywalk-sits-empty-major-tenant-muvico-blasts-complexs-neglect/1112014

ST. PETERSBURG — For months, the operators of BayWalk have weathered criticism about why they aren't filling up downtown's desolate retail complex with the tenants it needs to survive.

Now they are getting blasted by the last remaining anchor tenant, Muvico Theaters, for not maintaining the complex well enough to encourage new tenants or entice customers to

From 2004 to 2009, Muvico's attendance at BayWalk has dropped by more than 50 percent. By comparison, attendance is down by an average of 2 percent at the chain's other eight theaters.

The company that operates BayWalk for owner CW Capital says it plans on spending $1.5 million to renovate the common areas of the complex and $4.5 million on repairs for tenant space. When the City Council approved ceding a public sidewalk to BayWalk in October, the renovations were promised to follow.

But with the one-year anniversary of that controversial vote three months away, the fixes haven't been made. And they won't be done until tenants are signed, said Thomas McGeachy, the managing principal of Cimenelli Real Estate Services of Florida.

Now about 80 percent empty, the complex has drawn so much concern that McGeachy and the owner's leasing agent, Curtis Rorebeck, had to assure council members in April that the project was close to signing major tenants.

But three months later, no new announcements have been made.

Muvico and the other tenants aren't the only ones awaiting BayWalk repairs. In the past year, the city has spent almost $300,000 to improve security and lighting at the promenade leading to BayWalk and the Mid Core garage at First Avenue N that's used by complex patrons.

The city is collecting less money in the Mid Core garage because of BayWalk's drop in attendance. According to the city's audit, there were 500,000 daily users of the garage in 2006. Last year, the number of users dropped by more than half, to 245,000.

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, downtown St. Petersburg last year offered some of the lowest rental rates in Tampa Bay, a sure sign of low demand.http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Show 27july10

2010-07-21T01:10:00.004-04:00

ACLU:

Dear Friend,

We need you to act immediately to undo a disturbing decision from the Obama administration. Remember all the hard work you and other ACLU activists did to defeat Rep. Stupak's draconian abortion coverage ban during the health care debate?

Well now, the White House has decided to voluntarily impose the ban for all women in the newly-created high risk insurance pools. What is disappointing is that there is nothing in the law that requires the Obama administration to impose this broad and highly restrictive abortion ban. It doesn't allow states to choose to cover abortion and it doesn't even give women the option to buy abortion coverage using their own money.

Ask President Obama WHY his administration is restricting coverage for vulnerable women.

Unless the Administration reverses this decision, some of America's most vulnerable women—those with pre-existing conditions who have been denied health care coverage on the individual market—won't be able to purchase abortion coverage except in the case of rape or incest or to save the pregnant woman's life.

You and I know that every woman should be able to decide what is best for her health and her family. A pro-choice administration should know that too.

It's especially discouraging to impose a ban on women participating in a high-risk insurance pool who are particularly vulnerable and may have a special need for abortion. For example, because of the restriction, a woman with heart disease or diabetes might be compelled to carry a pregnancy to term despite its potentially damaging effect on her future health.

Ask President Obama not to stand in the way of vulnerable women's health care choices.

It's urgent that you send your message to President Obama right now. When you do, we'll also forward a copy to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, whose department is putting this unnecessary and harmful restriction into effect.

Thank you for acting on this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Laura W. Murphy
Director, Washington Legislative Office

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/24/AR2010072401468.html

Medical marijuana to be OK in some VA clinics

WASHINGTON -- The government says patients treated at Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics will be able to use medical marijuana in the 14 states where it's legal.

The directive from the Department of Veterans Affairs is coming out in the week ahead. It's intended to clarify current policy that says veterans can be denied pain medications if they use illegal drugs.

Veterans groups long have complained that such language could bar patients from VA benefits if they were caught using medical marijuana.

The new guidance does not authorize VA doctors to begin prescribing medical marijuana, which is considered an illegal drug under federal law.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1297361/US-withdraws-pain-ray-Afghan-war-zone.html

U.S. withdraws ‘pain ray’ from Afghan war zone

The Active Denial System (ADS), which cost about £42 million to develop, was on the brink of being deployed to disperse members of the Taliban as they attacked US forces.

The weapon, which causes immense pain to subjects but no lasting physical damage, was pulled from the war zone last week but US army chiefs in Afghanistan have stayed silent about the reason for the U-turn.

The ADS, which has been in development for almost 20 years, works by firing a beam of high-frequency waves at the speed of light.

The beam can cover a person’s entire body, causing agonising pain as it heats water and fat molecules beneath the skin’s surface.

The beam can hit someone up to a third of a mile away, and they are only relieved of the pain when they move out of the way.

---------------------------------------------

http://www.truth-out.org/the-attack-real-black-helicopter-gang-the-imf-is-coming-your-social-security61291

The Attack of the Real Black Helicopter Gang: The IMF Is Coming for Your Social Security

...

Last week, the IMF told the United States that it needs to start getting its budget deficit down. It put cutting Social Security at the top of the steps that the country should take to achieve deficit reduction. This one is more than a bit outrageous for two reasons.

First, the IMF deserves a substantial share of the blame for the economic crisis that gave us big deficits in the first place. The IMF is supposed to oversee the operations of the international financial system. According to standard economic theory, capital is supposed to flow from rich countries like the United States to poor countries to finance their development. In other words, the United States should be having a trade surplus, which would correspond to the money that we are investing in poor countries to finance their development.

Let Truthout send our best stories to your inbox every day, for free.

However, the IMF messed up its management of financial crises so badly in the last 15 years that poor countries decided that they had to accumulate huge amounts of currency reserves in order to avoid ever being forced to deal with the IMF. This meant that capital was flowing in huge amounts in the wrong direction. One result of this reverse flow was that the United States ran a huge trade deficit instead of a trade surplus.

The trade deficit in the United States was a big part of the story of the housing bubble. The trade deficit cost millions of workers their jobs. This was one of
...
Social Security. The vast majority of middle-income retirees have most of their wealth in their home equity. This home equity largely disappeared when the bubble burst. Maybe the IMF doesn't have access to house price series and data on wealth, because if they did, it's hard to believe that they would advocate further harm to some of the main victims of their policy failure.

The other reason that the IMF's call for cutting Social Security benefits is infuriating is the incredible hypocrisy involved. The average Social Security benefit is just under $1,200 a month. No one can collect benefits until they reach the age of 62. By contrast, many IMF economists first qualify for benefits in their early 50s. They can begin drawing pensions at age 51 or 52 of more than $100,000 a year.

This means that we have IMF economists, who failed disastrously at their jobs, who can draw six-figure pensions at age 52, telling ordinary workers that they have to take a cut in their $14,000 a year Social Security benefits that they can't start getting until age 62. Now that is real black helicopter material.

...

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Show 20Jul10

2010-07-13T19:46:00.007-04:00

-----------------------------------------------------
George Carlin on Religion in 2 minutes

derived from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

---------------------------------------------------
St. Pete Radical Cheerleaders on Afghanistan (with DJ Frankie Karma [me])

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org
-------------------------------------
Sage Francis Makeshift Patriot

------------------------------------------------
http://www.popjolly.com/the-truth-about-the-war-on-drugs-1081

-----------------------------------------------------

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20010533-1.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

July 14, 2010 12:42 PM PDT

Korean machine-gun robots start DMZ duty

South Korea's military has deployed machine-gun-toting robots along the heavily fortified border with North Korea, and a related promo video delivers more shock and awe than Kim Jong-Il singing the blues.

Samsung Techwin and other firms developed the SGR-1 robots, and they have been installed on a trial basis at a post in the central part of the Demilitarized Zone, Yonhap News quoted military officials as saying.

The $200,000 SGR-1s are remote-operated sentry bots that work in tandem with cameras and radar systems. They can detect intruders with heat and motion sensors, and challenge them through audio and video communications. The bots can also fire on targets with 5.5-millimeter machine guns and 40-millimeter automatic grenade launchers.

The officials didn't say how many bots were set up, but they will be installed throughout the 160-mile DMZ if the trial, which runs through the end of this year, is successful. Tensions along the DMZ are already high following the sinking of the South's warship Cheonan in March.

...

Huh said the robots cannot automatically fire on targets, and require human permission to attack, adding, "The SGR-1 can and will prevent wars."
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERhoNYj9_fg

Building 7

Show 13jul10

2010-07-11T09:34:00.004-04:00

Finkelstein on the Gaza massacre

From
http://blip.tv/file/3833270

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/jul/10/spills-toll-felt-every-breath/

Every time Linda Young takes her dog out for a walk, morning or evening, she can smell it. Young, an environmental activist who lives near the beach in Navarre, next door to Pensacola Beach, said the odor of oil is now a constant part of her life.

If the wind is blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico, she said, "the oil smell is often very strong, too strong to be outside."

...

Some of the changes are easy to spot. On Pensacola's television station, the daily weather report now includes an oil forecast. Boats that in past years spent the summer z
...
taking them to public pools or the zoo. Buyers have walked away from closing on pricey homes at Perdido Key, saying they wanted to wait and see how bad the spill would be. B
...
''The trust of the people in the institutions they've come to rely on, like the government and business, if it was damaged in the past, it's in a terminal phase now," said Kirby,
...

Even building sand castles is a hazardous activity now, because oil has been found as deep as a foot below a clean-looking surface. Children scooping out moats around their sandy turrets have discovered what looks like lumps of brown Play-Doh.

Despite the warning signs, as of this week 27 people have reported they've become ill after coming in contact with oil at Pensacola Beach, according to the Escambia County Health Department. They were nauseous, coughing, short of breath, their skin was irritated — not the kind of beach visit memories the Chamber of Commerce would
...
scoop up oil-tainted sand. In Escambia County, about 400 cleanup workers spent the last Sunday in June picking up 88,000 pounds of tar balls and stringy mousse spread across the beach. Then the tide came in and they had to go back and clean the beach again. And then again.

The ripples from the disaster have spread far inland. Gas stations and convenience stores in rural Gadsden County, near Tallahassee, have long counted on tourists from Atlanta stopping by on their way down to the Panhandle beaches. This summer, the road through Gadsden County is quiet.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0710/acorn-employee-sues-okeefe-giles/

Former ACORN employee sues O’Keefe and Giles

A former ACORN employee in San Diego who lost his job after being filmed giving advice to "ACORN pimp" James O'Keefe is suing the amateur videographer and his partner, Hannah Giles, San Diego CityBeat's Dave Maass reported Friday.

Juan Carlos Vera was one of a number of ACORN employees who in the summer of 2009 was secretly filmed giving advice to O'Keefe and Giles, who told media they were posing as a pimp and prostitute with plans to bring underage prostitutes to the US from Latin America.

...

California Attorney General Jerry Brown cleared Vera of wrongdoing in a report earlier this year. Brown found that, though Vera appeared sympathetic to the "pimp and prostitute" during the taped meeting, he immediately notified the police of the conversation. Brown's investigation also found that the O'Keefe videos were "significantly edited."

The shocking prospect of ACORN employees aiding in human trafficking prompted Congress to de-fund the group last year, a move that was later ruled unconstitutional. And a report from the Government Accountability Office, released earlier this year, found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of ACORN, which received some $40 million in federal funding from 2005 to 2009.

...

In February, Hannah Giles admitted that the flamboyant pimp and prostitutes costumes in which she and O'Keefe were seen in some of the videos were never worn inside ACORN offices, contrary to most news reports. "In truth, O'Keefe represented himself to low-level ACORN
...

Last month, former ACORN president Bertha Lewis told RAW STORY she believes the political campaign against ACORN "was a McCarthy-era style war against the poor and minorities."

Lewis said the ACORN controversy "proves the right will resort to anything to maintain power to continue the war on poor black and brown people. ... Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh can call me a racist all they want to, but there is no way there was not a racial element and class element to this whole attack."

------------------------------------------

BirdBrain by Allen Ginsberg (sp?) and the Gluons

Link to my Youtubes

2010-07-09T01:15:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/markfrankenberg

Show 6jul10

2010-07-05T09:20:00.002-04:00

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0704/spy-tech-monitors-conversations-europe/

Spy tech that ‘monitors conversations’ being launched in Europe: report

Europe are raising the alarm about a new surveillance system that monitors conversations in public.The surveillance system, dubbed Sigard, has been installed in Dutch city centers, government offices and prisons, and a recent test-run of the technology in

The system's manufacturer, Sound Intelligence, says it works by detecting aggression in speech patterns.

"Ninety percent of all incidents involving physical aggression are preceded by verbal aggression,"

According to the UK's Sunday Telegraph, the city of Coventry recently finished a six-month test run of the system, which involved the installation of seven microphones around a crime-prone nightlife district. A spokesperson for the city said the system is "no longer in use."

"In Hackney in London, the system detected up to six crimes a night, including fights and guns being fired," the paper reported.

Sigard's use is more widespread in the Netherlands, where the system's manufacturer is located. According to the Sound Intelligence Web site, the system has been installed in Amsterdam's train station, as well as police headquarters, and has also been installed inside a number of prisons and the city centers of Dordrecht and Groningen.

Sound Intelligence says that the technology focuses principally on tone of voice, and is not designed to listen to the content of conversations. But opponents say the technology is open to abuse.

"There can be no justification for giving councils or the police the capability to listen in on private conversations," Dylan Sharpe of the UK's Big Brother Watch told the Sunday Telegraph. "There is enormous potential for abuse, or a misheard word, causing unnecessary harm with this sort of intrusive and overbearing surveillance."

In a sarcastic editorial, the Herald argued that crime could be eliminated altogether if the government were to install Sigard technology in all homes and offices.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Show 29jun10

2010-06-22T22:46:00.007-04:00

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0614/discovery-afghan-riches-prowar-pr-scam/

‘Discovery’ of Afghan riches a pro-war PR scam?

An article in Sunday's New York Times announces that "previously unknown deposits â€” including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium â€” are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe."

The article cites an "internal Pentagon memo" as saying Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium" -- the mineral used in the production of rechargeable batteries, such as those found in cell phones and laptops. It cites "a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists" as having made the discovery.

While the dollar estimate -- $1 trillion -- may be new, it's hardly news that Afghanistan sits on rich mineral deposits. In a 2007 press release, the US Geological Survey announced that Afghanistan possesses "significant amounts of undiscovered non-fuel mineral resources." And,
...
â€œThe â€˜discoveryâ€™ of Afghanistanâ€™s minerals will sound pretty silly to old timers,â€� a "retired former senior US official" tells Politico's Laura Rosen. â€œWhen I was living in Kabul in the early 1970â€™s the [US government], the Russians, the World Bank, the UN and others were all highly focused on the wide range of Afghan mineral deposits. Cheap ways of moving the ore to ocean ports has always been the limiting factor.â€�
...
So why is this news now? To many, the story's timing suggests a Pentagon public relations campaign designed to extend public support for the war with the hope that, in time, Afghanistan
...
come," writes Paul Jay at the Huffington Post. "Things are not going very well on the ground and the promise of vast mineral riches would sound enticing."
...
Indeed, the US military's need to shore up support for the war effort may be becoming critical. Recent news reports indicate that Afghan President Hamid Karzai may have lost his faith in the US military's ability to carry out the war. And Gareth Porter at IPS reports that US forces are
...
That context leads blogger Steve Hynd to declare that the Times piece is "a conveniently timed zombie story" that was "resurrected yet again for political purposes."
...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0626/g20-protesters-clash-police/

TORONTO -- Parts of Toronto's downtown core were in chaos Saturday evening as a G20 protest turned violent, with police shutting down public transit into the city and protesters setting fire to police cars.

Police told media that a small group of "Black bloc" demonstrators broke off from a protest of 10,000 people and began smashing storefront windows along the city's trendy Queen Street. Some scuffles between protesters and police were reported, but there were no reports of mass arrests as of Saturday evening.

The CBC News Network reported that protesters smashed in the windows of an American Apparel outlet, pulled out the mannequins and spread feces on the floor. The storefronts of McDonald's and Starbucks locations were also damaged, as were numerous bank branches.

At least two police cars were set on fire in the city's financial district, and police shut down public transit in the city core, as well as a large downtown shopping complex.

...

REPORTERS FROM NON-MAINSTREAM MEDIA 'BARRED FROM CANADA'

Numerous reports suggest that Canada's border guards have been refusing entry to reporters covering the G8 and G20 summits for non-mainstream news sources.

Two reporters from Chicago Indymedia were reportedly accused of being protesters and denied entry. Reporters from WeAreChange were detained for at least four hours by border officials before being denied entry. A reporter from the InfoWars news site was also denied entry. Two activists from CodePink were also barred from entering Canada.

Activists have accused Canadian officials of using heavy-handed tactics in preparation for protests at the G8 and G20 summits. On Friday, it emerged that the government of the province of Ontario had secretly changed a law to allow police to arrest anyone near the G20 meeting who doesn't identify themselves.

----------------------------------------------------

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/can-corporations-bear-arms

Since the Roberts Court has now ruled that corporations have the same rights as people and overturned decades of laws regulating their speech, I'm wondering: Do they now have the right to arm themselves by employing Blackwater-type mercenaries and post them all over their office buildings?

Will Wal-Mart post armed guards in their parking lots?

Seems like a natural consequence. If corporations can enjoy full First Amendment protections, wouldn't they likewise get Second Amendment rights?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/opinion/10BYRD.html?pagewanted=print&position=top

October 10, 2002

Congress Must Resist the Rush to War

By ROBERT C. BYRD

WASHINGTON — A sudden appetite for war with Iraq seems to have consumed the Bush administration and Congress. The debate that began in the Senate last week is centered not on the fundamental and monumental questions of whether and why the United States should go to war with Iraq, but rather on the mechanics of how best to wordsmith the president's use-of-force resolution in order to give him virtually unchecked authority to commit the nation's military to an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.

How have we gotten to this low point in the history of Congress? Are we too feeble to resist the demands of a president who is determined to bend the collective will of Congress to his will — a president who is changing the conventional understanding of the term "self-defense"? And why are we allowing the executive to rush our decision-making right before an election? Congress, under pressure from the executive branch, should not hand away its Constitutional powers. We should not hamstring future Congresses by casting such a shortsighted vote. We owe our country a due deliberation.

I have listened closely to the president. I have questioned the members of his war cabinet. I have searched for that single piece of evidence that would convince me that the president must have in his hands, before the month is out, open-ended Congressional authorization to deliver an unprovoked attack on Iraq. I remain unconvinced. The president's case for an unprovoked attack is circumstantial at best. Saddam Hussein is a threat, but the threat is not so great that we must be stampeded to provide such authority to this president just weeks before an election.

Why are we being hounded into action on a resolution that turns over to President Bush the Congress's Constitutional power to declare war? This resolution would authorize the president to use the military forces of this nation wherever, whenever and however he determines, and for as long as he determines, if he can somehow make a connection to Iraq. It is a blank check for the president to take whatever action he feels "is necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." This broad resolution underwrites, promotes and endorses the unprecedented Bush doctrine of preventive war and pre-emptive strikes — detailed in a recent publication, "National Security Strategy of the United States" — against any nation that the president, and the president alone, determines to be a threat.

We are at the gravest of moments. Members of Congress must not simply walk away from their Constitutional responsibilities. We are the directly elected representatives of the American people, and the American people expect us to carry out our duty, not simply hand it off to this or any other president. To do so would be to fail the people we represent and to fall woefully short of our sworn oath to support and defend the Constitution.

We may not always be able to avoid war, particularly if it is thrust upon us, but Congress must not attempt to give away the authority to determine when war is to be declared. We must not allow any president to unleash the dogs of war at his own discretion and for an unlimited period of time.

Yet that is what we are being asked to do. The judgment of history will not be kind to us if we take this step.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Show 22jun10

2010-06-21T09:12:00.006-04:00

http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9656&news_iv_ctrl=0&abbr=ANS_

In a historic action and unprecedented action today, over 800 labor and community activists blocked the gates of the Oakland docks in the early morning hours, prompting longshore workers to refuse to cross the picketlines where they were scheduled to unload an Israeli ship.

From 5:30 am to 9:30 am, a militant and spirited protest was held in front of four gates of the Stevedore Services of America, with people chanting non-stop, “Free, Free Palestine, Don’t Cross the Picket Line,” and “An injury to one is an injury to all, bring down the apartheid wall.”

Citing the health and safety provisions of their contract, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers refused to cross the picketline to report for duty.

Between 8:30 and 9:00 am, an emergency arbitration was conducted at the Maersk parking lot nearby, with an “instant” arbitrator called to the site to rule on whether the workers could refuse to cross the picketline without disciplinary measure.

At 9:15 a.m, after again reviewing the protests of hundreds at each gate, the arbitrator ruled in favor of the union that it was indeed unsafe for the workers to enter the docks.

To loud cheers of “Long Live Palestine!” Jess Ghannam of Free Palestine Alliance and Richard Becker of the ANSWER Coalition announced the victory. Ghannam said, “This is truly historic, never before has an Israeli ship been blocked in the United States!”

The news that a c

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/20-5

---------------------------------------------------http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/index.html?story=%2Fbooks%2Flaura_miller%2F2010%2F06%2F20%2Fanarchism

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http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/06/19/rep-ron-paul-12/

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http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 15jun10

2010-06-14T22:50:00.003-04:00

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/05/31/put_bp_in_receivership_open2010

The administration should do with the oil giant what it did with AIG and GM

By Robert Reich

It's time for the federal government to put BP under temporary receivership, which gives the government authority to take over BP's operations in the Gulf of Mexico until the gusher is stopped. This is the only way the public know what's going on, be confident enough resources are being put to stopping the gusher, ensure BP's strategy is correct, know the government has enough clout to force BP to use a different one if necessary, and be sure the president is ultimately in charge.

If the government can take over giant global insurer AIG and the auto giant General Motors and replace their CEOs, in order to keep them financially solvent, it should be able to put BP's North American operations into temporary receivership in order to stop one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

The Obama administration keeps saying BP is in charge because BP has the equipment and expertise necessary to do what's necessary. But under temporary receivership, BP would continue to have the equipment and expertise. The only difference: the firm would unambiguously be working in the public's interest. As it is now, BP continues to be responsible primarily to its shareholders, not to the American public. As a result, the public continues to worry that a private for-profit corporation is responsible for stopping a public tragedy.

Five reasons for taking such action:

1. We are not getting the truth from BP.

2. We have no way to be sure BP is devoting enough resources to stopping the gusher. B

3. BP's new strategy for stopping the gusher is highly risky. It wants to

4. Right now, the U.S. government has no authority to force BP to adopt a different strategy. Saturday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his team o

5. The President is not legally in charge. As long as BP is not under the

The President should temporarily take over BP's Gulf operations. We have a national emergency on our hands. No president would allow a nuclear reactor owned by a private for-profit company to melt down in the United States while remaining under the direct control of that company. The meltdown in the Gulf is the environmental equivalent.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0614/gather-armies-gop-candidate-stoking-armed-revolt/
out of Alabama these days.

Rick Barber, a candidate in the Republican primary for the state's second district, has released a one-minute ad in which he implies he supports impeaching President Barack Obama, then goes on a protracted criticism of the IRS, concluding with an actor dressed as George Washington declaring, "Gather your armies."

The ad begins with the Tea Party-backed Barber implying support for Obama's impeachment. "And I would impeach him," Barber says in the ad's opening line as he sits at a table with actors dressed as Washington, Sam Adams and Ben Franklin.

You gentlemen revolted over a tea tax. A tea tax. Now look at us! Are you with me?

At the end of the ad, George Washington responds with the words, "Gather your armies."

It's "the first TV ad this reporter can remember that advocates taking up arms against the United States," writes Rick Barber at MSNBC's First Read blog.

"President Washington presided over, and approved, the first tax levied by the federal government -- the 1791 whiskey tax," Weigel writes. "When the tax met resistance, he approved the assembling of militias to enforce the law and mobilization of agents to collect the revenue. So the Barber daydream

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 8jun10

2010-06-06T15:41:00.002-04:00

http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-empire/reason-why-the-roman-empire-fell.htm

Reason why the Roman Empire fell - Political Corruption and the Praetorian Guard
The power of the Praetorian Guard, the elite bodyguards of the emperor, led to political corruption and grew to such an extent that this massive troop of soldiers decided on whether an emperor should be disposed of and who should become the new emperor! The story of Sejanus, who was the commander of the Praetorian Guard during the reign of Tiberius, illustrates the extent of their power. At one point the Praetorian Guard sold at auction the throne of the world to the highest bidder.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/helen-thomas-retiring-eff_n_603026.html

Helen Thomas, the 89-year-old veteran White House correspondent, will retire effective immediately in the wake of her offensive

Thomas, who transitioned from reporter to columnist in recent years but kept her front-row seat at White House briefings, had come under fire for her statement that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine" and that Jews in Israeli should return to Germany, Poland, or the US.

The White House Monday called Thomas' remarks "offensive and reprehensible."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

show 1jun10

2010-05-26T00:56:00.009-04:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ixM0cjFY1Wl-7BZqeLsyJzcgo0MA

KINGSTON — Trucks laden with bodies rushed to hospitals in Jamaica's capital as the government vowed an all-out assault to nab a powerful alleged drug kingpin barricaded by his gang in the teeming slums.

Hospital sources said they saw more than 60 bodies, although police put the death toll at 27. But Prime Minister Bruce Golding warned the figures would likely rise, and police late Tuesday reported several murders.

Gun-toting troops and police circled the streets into the night as rain descended on Kingston, an impoverished Caribbean city ringed by mountains that is a world away from the sun-kissed beaches for which Jamaica is best known.

Supporters set up tree branches, old cars and even abandoned refrigerators to form makeshift barricades to seal off the stronghold of local don Christopher "Dudus" Coke, who is wanted by the United States on drug charges.

Coke has developed a loyal following among some slum-dwellers, who see him as a savior for offering jobs, education and security that are sorely lacking. He also had developed ties with the political establishment.

But after months of stalling, Golding on Sunday declared a state of emergency to arrest Coke, declaring a battle to rid this nation of its image as one of the world's murder capitals.

"The violence that has been unleashed on the society by armed, criminal elements must be repelled," Golding told a heated session of parliament, where opposition members accused him
...
But he pledged to investigate any excesses in the assault, which is being carried out by police and troops backed by clattering helicopters.
...

Police also told AFP they have detained 211 people, including four women.

...

Federal prosecutors in New York last year accused Coke of running an armed network that has been a major supplier of cocaine and marijuana to New York and other US cities.

------------------------------

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0528/radio-host-hopes-nyc-mosque-blown/

Right-wing radio host ‘hopes’ NYC mosque gets blown up

Islamic Relations said Michael Berry of KPRC 950 AM "made a call to violence" when he said he hoped someone would blow up the mosque being proposed for a location in lower Manhattan, near the site of the 9/11 attacks.

During an argument with a caller who supported the mosque's construction, Berry said, "You can't build a mosque at the site of 9/11. No you can't. No you can't. And I'll tell you this -- if you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up. ... I hope the mosque isn't built, and if it is, I hope it's blown up, and I mean that."

Download audio of Berry's comments here (WAV file).

"Calls for acts of violence against houses of worship must never be tolerated or excused," CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said. "We ask the FCC to demonstrate that incitement to violence is never acceptable on our nation's airwaves."

---------------------------------------

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0528/rand-paul-deny-citizenship-kids-illegal-immigrants/

As Rand Paul aligns himself with anti-immigrant forces,
...
an interview with Russia Today, flagged by Jillian Rayfield at TalkingPointsMemo, Paul appeared to join the anti-immigrant sentiment running through his party in recent years, telling the news network that the practice of granting citizenship to all persons born on US soil -- as mandated by the 14th Amendment -- "should stop."

"We're the only country that I know that allows people to come in illegally, have a baby, and then that baby becomes a citizen," Paul said.

On that point, it would appear Paul is misinformed. Dozens of countries around the world adhere to the principle of Jus soli, "right of soil," meaning citizenship based on a person's place of birth. Among the countries where persons are automatically granted citizenship by virtue of being born there are Australia, Canada, France and the UK

-------------------------------------------------------------

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0529/energy-expert-nuke-oil-leak/

Energy expert: Nuking oil leak ‘only thing we can do’

Matt Simmons, founder of energy investment bank Simmons & Company, also says that there is evidence of a second oil leak about five to seven miles from the initial leak that BP has focused on fixing. That second leak, he says, is so large that the initial one is "minor" in comparison.

"A week ago Sunday the first research vessel ... was commissioned by NOAA to scour the area," he said. They found "a gigantic plume" growing about five to seven miles from the site of the original leak, Simmons said.

Simmons said the US government should immediately take the effort to plug the leak out of the hands of BP and put the military in charge.

"Probably the only thing we can do is create a weapons system and send it down 18,000 feet and detonate it, hopefully encasing the oil," he said.

His idea echoes that of a Russian newspaper that earlier this month suggested the US detonate a small nuclear bomb to seal the oil beneath the sea. Komsomoloskaya Pravda argued in an editorial that Russia had successfully used nuclear weapons to seal oil spills on five occasions in the past.

A first test in the fall of 1966 proved successful in sealing up an underground gas well in southern Uzbekistan, and so the Russians used nukes four more times for capping runaway wells.

----------------------------------------------------------

"After serving in Iraq as a Marine, I returned disillusioned with our policies, just like many other veterans. It is a tragic indictment of our policies that more soldiers have taken their own lives than have died in combat." ~ Adam Kokesh

-------------------------------------------

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011972590_flaimmig28.html

Florida legislator says he supports an Arizona-style immigration law

...
"I would absolutely, 100 percent, unequivocally support an Arizona law," said Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, a former police officer and chairman of the Criminal and Civil Justice Committee. "The state has its own
...
"I would absolutely, 100 percent, unequivocally support an Arizona law," said Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, a former police officer and chairman of the Criminal and Civil Justice Committee. "The state has its own
...

Rick Scott, a Naples multimillionaire and Republican candidate for governor, has made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign.

In his latest TV ad, Scott pledges to bring the Arizona law to Florida and criticizes his Republican primary
...

The leading Democratic candidate for governor, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, opposes the Arizona law. Sink said it "unfairly discriminates against U.S. citizens, residents and lawful visitors."

---------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.alternet.org/story/147052/3_facts_you_need_to_know_about_the_israeli_attack_on_peace_activists_on_the_gaza_flotilla/

Our main media organizations have willingly allowed Israeli spokespeople to fill the airwaves with misinformation. Let's reiterate a few simple facts.

It is quite astounding that Israel has been able to create over the past 12 hours a news blackout, just as it did with its attack on Gaza 18 months ago, into which our main media organisations have willingly allowed Israeli spokespeople to step in unchallenged.

...
Israeli soldiers invaded these ships in international waters, breaking international law, and, in killing civilians, committed a war crime. The counter-claim by Israeli
...
The Israeli government approved the boarding of these aid ships by an elite unit of commandoes. They were armed with automatic weapons to pacify the civilians onboard, but not with crowd dispersal equipment in case of resistance. Whatever the circumstances of the confrontation, Israel must be held responsible for sending in soldiers and recklessly endangering the lives of all the civilians onboard, including a baby and a Holocaust survivor.
...
occupation of the enclave and its 1.5 million inhabitants. And if it is occupying Gaza, then under international law Israel is responsible for the welfare of the Strip’s inhabitants. Given that the blockade has put Palestinians there on a starvation diet for the past four years, Israel should long ago have been in the dock for committing a crime against humanity.

Today Israel chose to direct its deadly assault not only at Palestinians under occupation but at the international community itself.

Will our leaders finally be moved to act?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/15/782252/-Sociopathy-on-the-Right:-Ayn-Rand-and-the-Triumph-of-Conservative-Cultism

being endorsed by tea party protesters and anti-Obama minions across the nation (indeed the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights was among the sponsors of the 9/12 march on Washington)--was predicated on one overarching notion: that a commitment to selfishness and a rejection of altruistic behavior were the height of morality. That's not to say that she merely rejected compulsory altruism via taxation, but altruism even privately chosen. To do for others, out of a charitable impulse or out of some faith-based commitment, for example, is morally and ethically suspect, for neither feelings nor faith are rational bases for human actions, according to her philosophy known as Objectivism. Unless one's assistance to another were rooted in some self-interested motivation, it was to be condemned. It is especially fascinating to see the so-called "average, everyday folks" at the tea party rallies embracing Rand's thinking and literature. After all, Rand's view of the common man and woman--presumably the very Joe Six Packs and Hockey Moms recently enthralled by her--was decidedly grotesque. So, for in
...

Interestingly, despite her general disdain for humanity, there were people she seemed to admire greatly, such as William Edward Hickman, whose credo, "What is good for me is right," she described in her Journals as, "The best and strongest expression of a real man's psychology I have heard." But Hickman was no simple expositor of personal greed and self-interest; no mere modern day libertarian; no pedestrian practitioner of excessive self-love. No indeed. He was a sociopathic murderer. In 1927 he kidnapped a 12-year old girl from a school in Los Angeles by the name of Marian Parker, chopped off her legs, cut our her internal organs, drained all of her blood and then spread parts of her body all over the city.

Of Hickman, this sick murderer, Rand had almost nothing but positive things to say.

She indeed critiqued those who would condemn Hickman's actions for having committed "worse sins and crimes," such as those she ascribed to his jury. Among those "greater" crimes--greater than mutilating a child--she included being, "Average, everyday, rather stupid looking citizens. Shabbily dressed, dried, worn looking little men. Fat, overdressed, very average, 'dignified' housewives." Their ordinariness, in other words, placed them below Hickman, in Rand's mind. "How can they decide the fate of that boy? Or anyone's fate?" she implored in her Journals.

It was Hickman's willfulness, his disregard for others, which so seems to have resonated with Rand. It fit perfectly with her own developing philosophy, which she would articulate perfectly in her original notes for The Fountainhead, wherein she wrote, "One puts oneself above all and crushes everything in one's way to get the best for oneself. Fine!" Thus H
...
This is what the right is coming to. This is what they really mean when they call themselves "values voters." The values of which they speak, far from being "Christian," and far from being rooted in concern for the country, are--at least for many--firmly grounded in selfishness, applied narcissism and operationalized, organizational sociopathy. That
...

They want their country back, they tell us. And the country they want, so far as their reading habits would suggest, is a nation based on greed, me-firstism and an utter disregard for the well-being of the community. As for me, I will gladly stand with the opposite tradition. Do we want a culture of compassion or contempt? That is the choice. And we should proclaim our answer, compassion, boldly and without apology.

show 25may10

2010-05-22T13:47:00.006-04:00

http://www.countercurrents.org/hedges300310.htm

When someone like Palin posts a map with cross hairs on the districts of Democrats, when she says "Don't Retreat, Instead-RELOAD!" there are desperate people cleaning their weapons who listen. When Christian fascists stand in the pulpits of megachurches and denounce Barack Obama as the Antichrist, there are messianic believers who listen. When a Republican lawmaker shouts "baby killer" at Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, there are violent extremists who see the mission of saving the unborn as a sacred duty. They have little left to lose. We made sure of that. And the violence they inflict is an expression of the violence they endure.

These movements are not yet full-blown fascist movements. They do not openly call for the extermination of ethnic or religious groups. They do not openly advocate violence. But, as I was told by Fritz Stern, a scholar of fascism who has written about the origins of Nazism, "In Germany there was a yearning for fascism before fascism was invented." It is the yearning that we now see, and it is dangerous. If we do not immediately reincorporate the unemployed and the poor back into the economy, giving them jobs and relief from crippling debt, then the nascent racism and violence that are leaping up around the edges of American society will become a full-blown conflagration.

Left unchecked, the hatred for radical Islam will transform itself into a hatred for Muslims. The hatred for undocumented workers will become a hatred for Mexicans and Central Americans. The hatred for those not defined by this largely white movement as American patriots will become a hatred for African-Americans. The hatred for liberals will morph into a hatred for all democratic institutions, from universities to government agencies to the press. Our continued impotence and cowardice, our refusal to articulate this anger and stand up in open defiance to the Democrats and the Republicans, will see us swept aside for an age of terror and blood.

------------------------------------

http://www.examiner.com/x-17299-Hernando-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m5d9-Gulf-Oil-Spill-2010-Plans-to-evacuate-Tampa-Bay-area-expected-to-be-announced

As FEMA and other government agencies prepare for what is now being called by some, the worst oil spill disaster in history, plans to evacuate the Tampa Bay area are in place.

The plans would be announed in the event of a controlled burn of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico, if wind or other conditions are expected to take the toxic fumes through Tampa Bay.

-----------------------------------------------

There are parallels between what a person goes through,
and what a country goes through.

Regarding recreational drug use, the late Alan Watts advised that "once you get the message, hang up the phone". Addiction destroys individual lives, careers and families. Addiction is personal imprisonment. As an individual, you are responsible to check yourself; and if need be, get help and get better. This is a medical and spiritual thing. It should not be a legal one. The "Drug War" is a waste of our public resources and it actually creates corruption, violence and illness.

Addiction in a person is like tyranny in a society.

In addition to the "War on Drugs", The "War on Terror", the "Patriot Act" (and more recently, the Military Commissions Act) are attacks on your own American Freedom. Your Freedom is guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. These attacks on freedom are facilitated by America's true enemies through corruption, monopolization and propaganda.

A country whose knowledge and perceptions are intentionally obscured by the ruling powers is in the same condition as a drunk who doesn't know when he's freezing to death... a crack-head who doesn't notice the decay of his own mind and body.

Tyranny doesn't work, and it's just plain wrong.

To work towards decriminalization of cannabis in Florida, we must consider cannabis as a medicine, and that many are using cannabis as a medicine. To work on getting medical cannabis decriminalized, check out People United for Medical Marijuana at http://www.pufmm.org/ .. It's easy to remember .. "puff 'em" www.pufmm.org

In addition, if you suspect that cannabis or something else has seduced you into a trap, it could be time for you to learn what the 12 steps are all about. To find a meeting in the Tampa Bay area, check out http://www.bascna.org/meetings/

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http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/05/grayson-files-war-is-making-you-poor-bill.html

Grayson files 'War is Making You Poor' bill

Rep. Alan Grayson, Florida's most colorful member of Congress, files a lot of bills with eye-catching names. They have no chance of passing but the idea is to provoke thought. Today he announced the “War Is Making You Poor Act."

According to his office it:

Limits the amount of funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Eliminates the federal income tax on the first $35,000 of every American’s income ($70,000 for married couples)

Cuts the Federal deficit by $15.9 billion

The bill requires the president to fund the wars from the $559 billion budget for defense spending in FY 2011. “There is no longer any need to go beyond the exorbitant base defense budget," Grayson said. "It is not necessary. Enough is enough."

--------------------------------------------------------

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-daou/the-great-shame-americas_b_586377.html

The vast, sprawling coastal marshes of Louisiana, where the Mississippi River drains into the gulf, are among the finest natural resources to be found anywhere in the world. And they are a positively crucial resource for America. The response of the Obama administration and the general public to this latest outrage at the hands of a giant, politically connected corporation has been embarrassingly tepid. ... This is the bitter reality of the American present, a period in which big business has cemented an unholy alliance with big government against the interests of ordinary Americans, who, of course, are the great majority of Americans. The great majority of Americans no longer matter. America is selling its soul for oil.

Where is the outrage? Where are the millions marching in the streets, where is the round-the-clock roadblock coverage tracking every moment of the crisis, every effort to plug the leak, every desperate attempt to mitigate the damage?

Where is the White House? Where are Republicans? Where are Democrats? Where is the left? Where is the right? Where is the "fierce urgency of now?"

Prominent oceanographers [are] accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill's true scope. The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate the magnitude of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean.

In the movies, pretend heroes like Bruce Willis and Will Smith save the planet while the whole world watches with breath and belief suspended. In real life, a global catastrophe is treated like a mere annoyance, mismanaged by a rapacious oil company, while drill-baby-drillers double down on their folly and the White House puts out defensive fact sheets about how they were on it from "day one."

Is this really the best we can do?

America is capable of greatness -- but our reaction to this unprecedented event is anything but great.

In some parts of the country, the sight of oil drifting toward the Louisiana coast, oozing into the fragile marshlands and bringing large parts of the state's economy to a halt, has prompted calls to stop offshore drilling indefinitely, if not altogether. Here, in the middle of things, those calls are few. Here, in fact, the unfolding disaster is not even prompting a reconsideration of the 75th annual Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival. "All systems are go," said Lee Delaune, the festival's director, sitting in his cluttered office in a historic house known as Cypress Manor. "We will honor the two industries as we always do," Mr. Delaune said. "More so probably in grand style, because it's our diamond jubilee."

Granted, some scientists are telling us the truth, some reporters are digging up unpleasant facts, some citizens are rising in anger, some federal agencies are doing what they are tasked to do. People are working to fix this. But by and large, America's collective response to this crisis is disproportionately anemic.

Leadership is virtually non-existent. Blaming BP for being greedy and destructive is the least we should do, not the only thing we do. We need to turn the tide once and for all against those whose ideological rigidity is ravaging the planet.

...

Why has this unfolded so badly?

Democratic leaders have been blindsided by this spill, having just come out in favor of offshore drilling to appease Republicans.

The right, for the most part, is stuck in the 19th century, consumed by a manic hatred for anything green.

Oil companies are after one thing: money.

The press and punditry are busy chasing the story du jour.

Defenders of the administration are loathe to critique it, out of a sense of loyalty.

Consequently, we're left with a halfhearted and halting, shameful response to a profound tragedy.

This isn't Katrina II, it's worse. As the oil keeps gushing and the damage keeps growing, we are squandering a rare chance to turn the tide against those whose laziness and greed and ignorance is imperiling every living thing on our wonderful and beautiful - and wounded - planet.

Words are a necessary precursor to deeds, anger is an essential ingredient for social change. Speaking up and speaking out is the difference between apathy and action. 30 years of conservative message dominance is a function of the right's ability to master outrage. Now is the time for Democrats and progressives to muster (and master) the kind of outrage worthy of this calamity.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

18 May show 2

2010-05-16T22:19:00.002-04:00

Thailand Government declares live fire zone

Protesters dragged away the bodies of three people from sidewalks – shot by army snipers, they claim – as soldiers blocked major roads and pinned up notices of a "Live Firing Zone."

"I insist that what we are doing is necessary," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in a defiant broadcast on national television, making it clear he would not compromise. "The government must move forward. We cannot retreat because we are doing things that will benefit the entire country."

On Saturday, the protesters launched a steady stream of rudimentary missiles at troops who fired back with live ammunition in several areas around a key commercial district of Bangkok.

Army snipers were perched with high-powered rifles atop tall buildings, viewing the action below through telescopic sights. Thick black smoke billowed from tires set ablaze by demonstrators as gunfire rang out.

The spiraling violence has raised concerns of sustained, widespread chaos in Thailand – a key U.S. ally and Southeast Asia's most popular tourist destination that promotes its easygoing culture as the "Land of Smiles."

"The situation right now is getting close to a civil war each minute," Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader, told reporters. "Please don't ask us how we are going to end this situation, because we are the ones being killed."

Since Thursday, the once-bustling commercial and shopping district has become a war zone with Red Shirt protesters firing weapons, throwing homemade explosives, and hurling rocks at troops firing live ammunition and rubber bullets.

The violence ignited after the army started forming a cordon around the protesters' encampment and a sniper shot and gravely wounded a rogue general reputed to be the Red Shirts' military adviser.

At least 24 people have been killed and more than 194 wounded since Thursday. Previous violence since the protest began in mid-March caused 29 deaths and injured 1,640.

The protesters have occupied a tire-and-bamboo-spike barricaded, 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) zone in one of the capital's ritziest areas, Rajprasong, for about two months to push their demands for Abhisit to resign immediately, dissolve Parliament and call new elections.

The Red Shirts, drawn mostly from the rural and urban poor, say Abhisit's coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, and that it symbolizes a national elite indifferent to the poor.

On Saturday, soldiers unrolled razor wire across roads leading to Ratchaprarop – a commercial district north of the main protest site – area and pinned up Thai and English-language notices saying "Live Firing Zone" and "Restricted Area. No Entry."

The Red Shirts especially despise the military, which had forced Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist premier favored by the Red Shirts, from office in a 2006 coup. Two subsequent pro-Thaksin

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

18may10 Show

2010-05-12T11:27:00.008-04:00

A FB:

Full Fed Audit Amendment Voted Down in Senate. Washington, D.C., May

11, 2010 - the U.S. Senate voted 62 to 37 against an amendment to allow greater transparency at the Federal Reserve

...

This amendment was introduced to counter a weaker amendment that would have required only a one time audit just of Fed emergency programs. The new amendment was similar to the original H.R. 1207 audit bill introduced by Congressman Ron Paul and added to the House financial reform package.

"The Sanders Amendment is no substitute for a complete and thorough audit of the Fed," said John Tate, President of Campaign for Liberty. "With this vote, we now have a record of those who really want transparency and those who only pay lip-service to it while upholding the status quo.""

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2min8sec

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sat15may10

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0514/republicans-remove-free-speech-materials/

Republicans search schoolroom, remove pro-labor teaching materials

Teachers at a middle school in Portland, Maine, are upset with attendees of a Republican convention who rifled through teachers' materials in a classroom they were using and reportedly stole materials from the room, replacing it with GOP slogans.

Officials from the Maine Republican Party quickly apologized this week after local news sources reported on an incident at Portland's King Middle School. Eighth-grade social studies teacher Paul Clifford returned to his classroom following a meeting of the Knox County Republican caucus there to find that his teachers' materials had been rifled through and a poster outlining the history of the US labor movement was missing, replaced with a bumper sticker that reads, "Working People Vote Republican," reports the Portland Press-Herald.

What's more, according to the Bangor Daily News, the Republican operatives also rifled through a closed cardboard box containing copies of the US Constitution, donated by the American Civil Liberties Union. And Clifford found a note nearby that stated, "A Republican was here. What gives you the right to propagandize impressionable kids?"

[Republicans] were apparently displeased with artwork in the room -- in particular, says Clifford, a series of collages that students had created over the last ten years as part of a recurring project on freedom of speech.
"And one of the collages had a picture of George Bush standing at a podium, and he had no eyes, and it says 'I can see evil' and it shows him throwing all these different things into a trash can, like the word 'peace' and these types of things," Clifford says.

MPBN also reports that school officials received anonymous complaints about the nature of the materials found in the classroom.

The Daily News reports that the particular contingent of Maine Republicans that used Clifford's

would lead a surprise campaign to replace the generic Republican Party platform with a new--and much more controversial--platform embodying many of the positions espoused by Tea Party activists....

On Wednesday, Maine Republican Party Executive Director Christie-Lee McNally apologized to faculty and students at the school.

"The King Middle School was kind enough to allow the Maine Republican Party to use their facilities, and we are deeply concerned about the lack of respect shown to the faculty," McNally said in a statement. "The Maine Republican Party does not condone the destruction of property nor does it encourage the lack of tolerance that these people demonstrated."

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http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0513/gulf-oil-gusher-ten-times-worse-prior-estimates/

the Gulf of Mexico, National Public Radio is claiming the growing ecological disaster is actually ten times worse than previously estimated, saying the rushing torrent of oil pouring into the ocean is equivalent to one Exxon-Valdez spill every four days.

That's more than 70,000 barrels a day -- when the U.S. Coast Guard had placed the figure at a seemingly modest 5,000 barrels a day.

The Deepwater Horizon well has been jetting oil unabated for just short of one month at time of this

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sat15may10

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/14/facebook_trust_dumb/

Loveable Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called his first few thousand users "dumb fucks" for trusting him with their data, published IM transcripts show. Facebook hasn't disputed the authenticity of the transcript.

Zuckerberg was chatting with an unnamed friend, apparently in early 2004. Business

The founder was then 19, and he may have been joking. But humour tells you a lot. Some

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http://pufmm.org/

People United for Medical Marijuana - Florida

FAST FACTS

We are working to legalize medical marijuana in Florida. One step of this process is collecting signatures on a petition. We need 676,811 valid signatures and millions of dollars in donations. There have been 10,965 signatures verified and $13,270 in donations. Click here to see the number of

legalized in Florida. Join this group today! Simply send an email to info@pufmm.org.

There are five types of cancers that marijuana stops tumor cells from spreading: brain, breast, lung, pancreatic, and prostate.

Marijuana is the number one cash crop in the United States and in each of these states: Alaska, Alabama, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

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sun16may10a1709

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0516/chomsky-denied-entry-israel/

Noam Chomsky denied entry into Israel: report

Famed academic and political dissident Noam Chomsky was detained for three hours by Israeli border guards before being denied entry into the country on

that a border guard said Chomsky had "written things that the Israeli government didn't like."

"I suggested [the interrogator try to] find any government in the world that likes anything I say," Chomsky said, as quoted at Ha'aretz.

According to the Jerusalem Post, "some sources say [Chomsky] was told unofficially there was an order from on high to turn him back because of his political views."

Chomsky, a renowned linguistics expert who teaches at MIT, has been an outspoken critic of Israeli foreign policy and US policy towards Israel for years. In 2006, during the Israel-Lebanon war, Chomsky called Israel's bombing of Beirut "a serious breach of international law" for which "there is no legal justification."

Chomsky has long labeled himself as a "libertarian socialist" or "anarcho-syndicalist," a form of anarchism. In academic circles, he is widely considered one of the founding father of modern linguistics.

His political books, including Manufacturing Consent and Necessary Illusions, have been slammed by critics as being "subversive" and hailed by supporters as important works deconstructing the political structure of American society.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

links for show 11may10

2010-05-09T20:43:00.002-04:00

BP turns to Twitter, Facebook on spill information
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6455OR20100506

Luggage explosion causes scare at Houston airport
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0412674020100504?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r5:c0.059701:b33739046:z0

Passenger surrenders after long siege on bus
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2010/05/07/standoff_with_passenger_on_bus_ends_peacefully/

Georgia militia member arrested while trying to free fellow birther
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0507/militia-member-arrested-free-birther/

Seize BP!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117085568325351

Louisiana begs for more booms as oil slick laps coastal islands
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Louisiana_begs_for_more_booms_as_oi_05082010.html

New analysis of 40-year-old recording of Kent State shootings reveals that Ohio Guard was given an order to prepare to fire
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/new_analysis_of_40-year-old_re.html

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Iran Urges New 9-11 Investigation

2010-04-13T17:37:00.002-04:00

http://www.france24.com/en/20100412-ahmadinejad-urges-ban-probe-911-attacks

"..
Ahmadinejad urges Ban to probe 9/11 attacks

AFP - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, asking him to launch an investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, news reports said on Monday.

"The minimum expectation from your excellency is to set up an independent and trusted fact-finding group to comprehensively investigate the real factors behind September 11," Ahmadinejad said in the text of the letter
...
Several times Ahmadinejad has questioned the accepted version of the Al-Qaeda strikes on New York and Washington which killed nearly 3,000 people.
.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

The Right Wing Clarified

2010-04-12T15:42:00.001-04:00

We need to collectively manage our situation, as a species, or we will bring on our own extinction. This collective management is what I refer to when I say "government". The "governments" we have now are run by concentrated capital instead of by people. As a result, they are not serving the best interests of most people. The more a government is run by concentrated capital instead of by people, the more to the Right it is, by definition. This is not opinion. Fascism is the ugly side of the Right. This is not opinion either.

I really don't see anything here that is debatable. It is perplexing that so many take issue with it, but I realize that the media, which is run by concentrated capital, has for years worked very hard to get people to go against their own interests: I.E. to the Right.

Based on this, logic follows that those who support the Right are either misled, sold-out or just cynical. Robots might support the Right, but ordinary, non-wealthy human beings? It doesn't make sense.

I haven't labeled anyone here. I have patiently outlined a simple concept as carefully as I can. Logical discussion of it might get us somewhere. Justifications of hostility will not.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Ron Paul Speaks Out Against Empire

2010-04-11T13:45:00.003-04:00

Whole Story:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0410/ron-paul-chastises-gop-conference-conservatives-like-empire/

"..

Ron Paul chastises at GOP conference: Conservatives ‘like the empire’

By Andrew McLemore
Saturday, April 10th, 2010 -- 6:10 pm
...

He was met with both disapproval and applause during the Southern Republican Leadership Conference for describing conservatives as hypocritical when they call for a return to Constitutional values while supporting foreign wars.

The conservatives and the liberals,
...
different things. They like embassies, and they like occupation. They like the empire. They like to be in 135 countries and 700 bases.
...
except for war. Let the President go to war anytime they want.’ We can do better with peace than with war.
...

In a question-and-answer period after his speech, a blogger asked Paul why his supporters seemed so disinterested in the Republican Party.

"The question you should be asking," said Paul, "is, why isn't the Republican Party interested in them? We can get huge crowds with this message."

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

A Necessary Function in our Current Society

2010-04-08T11:50:00.001-04:00

One necessary function in community is guys in uniform, sometimes with guns.

When it works properly, people are prevented from hurting each other and the community is protected. Such functions should be under the oversight and supervision of the community that employs them. It is when such functions are taken out of public control and performed at a lesser degree of quality due to the extraction of profits, by private entrepreneurial firms, that such entities can become major threats to the community. Examples are the SA in 1920's/1930's Germany, and Blackwater/XE today.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Misleading Corporate "News" Does Real Damage to the Community Once Again

2010-04-08T10:36:00.002-04:00

Whole Story:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/04/07/4126070-context-lies-and-videotapes-the-real-acorn-story
:
"..

Context, lies and videotapes: The real Acorn story

News Type: Event — Wed Apr 7, 2010 6:54 AM EDT
...

Last week, California Attorney General Jerry Brown released the results of his investigation into the Acorn sting videos by right-wing activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles. The two posted videos that supposedly showed O'Keefe and Giles getting advice from Acorn workers in various state offices on running a prostitution ring involving girls who'd been snuck across the Mexican border. The uproar led Congress to cut off support for Acorn, a community organizing group that worked in poor communities, and crippled Acorn's funding operation. On April 1, Acorn shut down its field offices.
...
The unedited video tapes released by the California Attorney General's office last week clear ACORN employees in California of any criminal wrongdoing.
...
But the huge tide of negative publicity that followed these videotapes and the coverage they got on Fox? Was bull pucky. It was a dishonest political stunt that bears no resemblance to journalism and no resemblance to the facts. But it worked. This big organization serving poor people and registering thousands of voters and advocating for a higher minimum wage has been shut down -- means be damned, in
.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

More Progress in Cannabis Law

2010-04-07T17:42:00.001-04:00

Whole Story:
http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=14766756

"..
BREAKING NEWS: Washington Expands Medical Marijuana Law
...
Senate Bill 5798 allows additional health care professionals including naturopaths, physician’s assistants, osteopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians assistants, and advanced registered nurse practitioners to legally recommend marijuana therapy to their patients. Previously, only licensed physicians
.."
http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Why the Right Wing is a Problem.

2010-04-07T11:44:00.001-04:00

A primary characteristic of right wing groups and individuals is corruption. This is why many on the Right are referred to as "sell-outs". Willful ignorance is one aspect of corruption. Variable Allegiance is another. The cynicism that pervades the Right Wing is an example of corruption of Spirit. In order for our species to succeed, we must overcome corruption.

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

More Anti-American Sentiment coming from the Repugnant Cons

2010-04-04T14:45:00.002-04:00

Whole Story:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0404/kyl-threatens-filibuster-supreme-court/

It's an American Thing: Rooting for the Underdog. Some corruptionists have forgotten that:

"..
There is not yet a vacancy on the Supreme Court but the second-ranking Republican in the Senate is already planning a strategy of opposing President Barack Obama's potential nominee.

Jon Kyl (R-Az) told Fox News' Chris Wallace that Republicans are prepared to fight a nominee who might stick up for the little guy, a position he called "overly ideological."

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

CIA using Disinformation Here and Abroad to muster popular support for War

2010-04-01T17:26:00.002-04:00

From
http://www.truthout.org/cia-red-cell-document-proves-rule-part-i58202
:
"..

CIA Seeks to Influence Opinion on Wars

Wednesday 31 March 2010

by: Daan de Wit | DeepJournal

(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Patrick Hoesly, CIA)

The CIA recommendations for influencing the European public into continuing their support for the mission in Afghanistan is receiving a lot of attention both in The Netherlands and beyond. But in a military conflict, war is only one stage of the struggle. The biggest struggle is for the hearts and minds of the public at large. What's
...
or the NATO-led ISAF mission'. The drafters of the CIA Red Cell report fear that the public's apathy could turn into hostility if the fighting this summer - which according to forecasts could be bloody - results in a lot of casualties. This could lead to the problem of politicians listening to the voice of the electorate, such as what happened in The Netherlands. Because of this the authors of the report feel that it is
...
it had become the strategy of intelligence services to actively manipulate public perception. In England there is the Directorate of Targeting and Information Operations under the Ministry of Defence. For their 'InfoOps' - information operations
...

On America Davies writes: 'The Pentagon has now designated "information operations" as its fifth "core competency", alongside land, sea, air and special forces. Since October 2006, every brigade, division and corps in the US military has had its own "psyop" element producing output for local media.' For the domestic media and thereby often the global media, the Pentagon deploys a 'media Trojan Horse', as The New York Times put it in 2008. After issuing a Freedom of Information request, the paper discovered in 2008 that the Pentagon was the unseen hand behind many of the military analysts in the media that continuously informed the American public over the war in Iraq.

Page 19: 'In May of 2007 it became known that President Bush had signed a document making it possible for the CIA to carry out 'black' propaganda and disinformation campaigns in order to destabilize the regime in Tehran, and America deployed the terrorist groups Jundullah and Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK), among others, for military action and acts of sabotage.'

.."
An aside for Tea Party victims, many of whom support Ron Paul's anti-war stance: The MEK is the Marxist / Islamist terrorist organization that was lobbied for by Dick Armey when he worked for DLA Piper.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5698/the_enemy_of_my_enemy
:
"..
As chairman of FreedomWorks, the group credited with mobilizing the Tea Party movement, Armey is the movement’s de facto leader.
.."
Seeing how the CIA has influenced our own "press" here in support of a war in Iraq, what's with all the right wing hate that's being stirred up in that same "press" now? Just wondering.
http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Petition to let federal legislators know you want Human Beings to run our Government.. NOT Corporations.

2010-03-28T08:14:00.002-04:00

Whole Story and Petition:
http://www.dscc.org/petition?petition_KEY=236&track=SEM-G-S-scotus-finance

This petition should get high numbers because it's DSCC. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. I'm not declaring my allegiance to this party or any other, here, but it's a good way to get our "it's 'We the People', NOT 'We the Corporations'" message heard by large numbers.

I urge you be counted by doing this petition.
http://www.dscc.org/petition?petition_KEY=236&track=SEM-G-S-scotus-finance

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

We Need to Reduce The HATE Going Around

2010-03-27T23:46:00.002-04:00

Whole Story:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0327/patriot-hate-groups-grew-244-2009/

"..

‘Patriot’ hate groups grew by 244% in 2009

By Andrew McLemore
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 -- 6:25 pm
...
Hatred is getting a lot of press this week as reports of violent harassment against Congressional Democrats continue to surface. It began last weekend with Tea Party activists
...

But new research shows the Tea Party may be the nice guys amid soaring numbers of hate groups.

An "astonishing" 363 anti-government or "Patriot" groups appeared in 2009, with the totals going from 149 groups to 512, according to a report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

That's a 244 percent increase in one year. Many of the "Patriot" groups are militias. Before 2009, there were 42. Now, there are 127. Hate groups overall stayed at a record high of nearly 1,000
...

Individuals associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead.

...

Democratic leaders and many political commentators have said the GOP is not only refusing to condemn recent hate crimes as they should, but encouraging it to gain political leverage.

...

Chip Berlet, a veteran analyst of the American radical right, wrote earlier this year that the US is "in the midst of one of the most significant right-wing populist rebellions in history."

"We see around us a series of overlapping social and political movements populated by people [who are] angry, resentful, and full of anxiety. They are raging against the machinery of the federal bureaucracy and liberal government programs and policies including health care, reform of immigration and labor laws, abortion, and gay marriage."

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Repugnant Cons Block Jobless Bill Again

2010-03-26T17:46:00.001-04:00

Whole Story:
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/26/headlines#7

"..
support for community colleges and historically black schools.

GOP Blocks Jobless Benefits Bill

For the second time in a month, a Republican lawmaker has singlehandedly blocked a vote on a stopgap jobless benefits bill. With Congress in recess for two weeks, this could mean that on April 5 a host of popular provisions could expire, including unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits for the jobless. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn blocked the measure last night. Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky blocked passage of a similar extension in February.

Obama to Announce New Program to Help Homeowners

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

We can use the FCC (among other resources) to Reduce Domestic Terrorism

2010-03-25T23:57:00.002-04:00

This one is Actionable. Stand and be Counted at the following "Whole Story" web address:
http://www.stopdomesticterror.com/

"..
www.StopDomesticTerror.com
A VelvetRevolution.us Campaign

Stop Domestic Terror

Update: DOJ Vows Action On Hate Crimes. It appears that our campaign, letters and emails to the DOJ have gotten the attention they deserve. On December 22, 2009, the DOJ announced that it was making hate crimes “a top priority.” Let’s keep the pressure on so DOJ keeps its promise.

Recently, there has been an explosion in threats and acts of domestic terrorism. The majority of these can be traced to groups and individuals who do not accept the results of our recent election or the laws enacted or proposed by those who have been elected. They seek to undermine the democratic process through threats, intimidation, and even outright murder. They can't accept the legitimacy of the President, or a woman's legal right to make choices about her own medical care, or an immigrant's right to be treated humanely under the law, so they carry out acts that are antithetical to American democracy, American values, and both civil and human rights.

The fringe element that makes up those who commit these acts of terror is frequently exploited by a continuous wave of rightwing media advocating violence, either directly or indirectly, and by commentators amplifying the talking points of extremist religious leaders and extremist political leaders. This fringe is incited on our public airwaves, and urged to take matters into their own hands, with the underlying belief that the Bible and/or U.S. Constitution justify using ‘whatever means’ are necessary to oppose what they believe to be immoral laws.

We are taking a stand against this dangerous trend towards the incitement of lawlessness and violence. We strongly believe in the First Amendment right of free expression and discourse, even when that expression is abhorrent and not in line with our own beliefs. However, the First Amendment does not protect debate where one side includes the threat or act of violence.

We have written a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder outlining our concerns and requesting that he act quickly to address this wave of domestic terrorism. A copy of the letter is here with the exhibits A-F here:

Exhibit A-Pet for Inquiry (FCC Letter)
Exhibit B-Letter to NTIA (NTIA Letter)
Exhibit C-Armed Revolution (Armed Revolution Website)
Exhibit D-Tiller Report (Op Rescue Tiller Baby Killer)
Exhibit E-talk radio(Structural Imbalance of Talk Radio)
Exhibit F-Frank Schaeffer letter (Schaeffer Letter to Holder)

Specifically, we are taking the following steps to address this dangerous trend toward extremism.

...

Sign On Form

Please add your name and email address to sign on to this campaign HERE.

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Chomsky says Hold your Nose and Vote for the "Healthcare" Bill

2010-03-22T20:47:00.003-04:00

Whole Story:
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/noam-chomsky-health-bill/

"..

Chomsky: Health bill sustains the system’s core ills

By Sahil Kapur
Monday, March 22nd, 2010 -- 10:17 am

Stumble This!

Despite its flaws, I'd have 'held my nose' to pass reform, renowned intellectual tells Raw Story

...

In an interview with Raw Story, world-renowned scholar and political critic Noam Chomsky reluctantly called the bill a mildly positive step, but cautioned that it wouldn’t fix the fundamental problems with the nation's troubled system.

"The United States’ health care system is so dysfunctional it has about twice the costs of comparable countries and some of the worst outcomes," Chomsky told Raw Story. "This bill continues with that."

The decades-long critic of corporate power alleged that premiums won't stop rising as the package is designed in no small part to funnel money into the pockets of the health care industry. "The bill gives away a lot to insurance companies and big pharmaceutical corporations," he said.

...

The legislation forbids government from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies or permitting the importation of drugs. Nor does it provide competition to private insurers, an oligopolistic industry that will maintain its impunity from antitrust laws. But despite this, Chomsky, an advocate for a single-payer system, said killing the bill wasn't a better solution.

"If I were in Congress," he said, "I’d probably hold my nose and vote for it, because the alternative of not passing it is worse, bad as this bill is. Unfortunately, that’s the reality."

"If it fails, it wouldn’t put even limited constraints on insurance companies," he explained, noting that the bill takes "at least has some steps towards barring the withholding of policies from people with prior disabilities." The consumer protections from dodgy insurance practices are among the bill's most popular components.

The mandate to purchase insurance has been a central qualm of progressives and conservatives opposed to the effort. Chomsky, while admitting it’s a boon to insurance companies, called it a "step toward universality," asserting that "without some kind of mandatory coverage, nothing is going to work at all."

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor added that it’s a damning referendum on American democracy that one of the most highly supported components of the effort nationally, the public insurance option, was jettisoned. He partly blamed the media for refusing to stress how favorably it’s viewed by the populace.

"It didn't have 'political support,' just the support of the majority of the population," Chomsky quipped, "which apparently is not political support in our dysfunctional democracy."

...

"There should be headlines explaining why, for decades, what's been called politically impossible is what most of the public has wanted," Chomsky said. "There should be headlines explaining what that means about the political system and the media."

Chomsky: I would have 'held my nose' to pass health care

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Immigration 2-Facedness.

2010-03-22T17:44:00.002-04:00

Whole Story:
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/200000-protesters-dc-immigration-reform /

"..

200,000 protesters in DC for immigration reform

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, March 21st, 2010 -- 4:21 pm

Raids before rally aimed to 'intimidate' marchers, claims activist

In Monday's Washington Post, staff writer David Montgomery explores how immigration raids have cast a shadow on such events.

Weeks ago, as Gustavo Torres, executive director of the Latino and immigration advocacy and assistance organization, CASA de Maryland, was set to shake President Obama's hand, he was alerted to multiple raids back home.

It was just after midday, Thursday, March 11, and it seemed like an auspicious moment for Torres, executive director of CASA of Maryland, and a dozen other immigrant-rights leaders granted the 75-minute presidential audience. The president reaffirmed his commitment to reforming the broken immigration system. And the advocates looked forward to flexing the movement's grass-roots muscles during the upcoming march on the Mall.
Torres's job in the meeting was to raise the subject of workplace raids, which he believes sweep up people whose only crime was crossing the border in search of work. The Obama administration has significantly reduced the number of workplace raids, but most immigrants removed through all enforcement measures continue to be non-criminals.
Focus on people who've committed crimes, Torres urged the president, according to participants. Obama replied that he must enforce existing law, but he directed Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to meet with the leaders to discuss ways to lessen the impact on hardworking immigrants.

Torres received an urgent text message alerting him that "[p]olice vans, unmarked SUVs and squad cars had wheeled into the driveways and parking lots of two restaurants, an office and several residences in Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties. Dozens of ICE agents and local police surrounded the properties and secured the exits."

"At the raided locations, 28 men and one woman from Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Bangladesh were detained," the Post article continues. "So far, none has been charged with a crime. All are suspected of 'administrative' violations of immigration law. All but six were released by Friday. The six are those who have prior immigration violations. The fates of the others will be decided by immigration officials in coming weeks."

Torres charged that the timing looked like an attempt to "intimidate" the marchers.

Meanwhile, administration officials used back channels to try to convince advocates that the timing was coincidental. They characterized these raids as fitting the administration's policy of targeting alleged criminal violators, including employers.

"It was part of an ongoing criminal investigation into worker exploitation," said a federal law enforcement official who declined to be identified in order to discuss
.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

A D**K Wrapped in the Flag

2010-03-22T00:16:00.002-04:00

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

War Protest in DC has larger attendance than Teabaggers, but MUCH LESS PRESS COVERAGE

2010-03-21T23:35:00.002-04:00

Whole Story:
http://blogs.alternet.org/rossl/2010/03/21/1000s-march-on-capitol-against-healthcare-on-white-house-for-peace-guess-which-is-covered-more/

"..

Posted by rossl at 2:54 pm
March 21, 2010

REPLIES: 1

1000s march on capitol against healthcare, on White House for peace. Guess which is covered more…

Everyone seems to know that the tea party “movement” had a rally on the steps

...

MSNBC estimates that somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 tea party people showed up at the capitol building. Yet the low end of the estimates for the number of people who showed up at the peace demonstration (including myself) is about 2,500, and the high end is about 10,000. Where’s our moment on Meet the Press? Where’s our article in the New York Times?

If you ever needed proof that the tea party “movement” is not really a movement but a few people newly interested in politics magnified one thousand times by a lazy, irresponsibly press, this is it. Two rallies in DC yesterday. One was for peace, one was for stopping the health care bill. One was put together by the ANSWER Coalition and other antiwar groups. One was put together by the tea party people and their friends in high places. One had as many as 2,000 people attend. One had as many as 10,000 people attend. Yet the smaller tea party protest had a much higher profile in the news than the march for peace!

The peace movement is a real grassroots movement that exists Without the wmagnifying glass of the corporate media to exaggerate the impact of it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t benefit the Washington Post to admit that the reason the march stopped in front of their building was not actually their “editorial board’s positions on the wars,” but their reporting which – in its substance and topics which are covered – is completely biased in favor of a corporatist, echo chamber view of reality. Maybe that’s the reason why there was a speaker from Project Censored.

As for what happened at the protest, starting at about noon there were speakers on a platform that had been set up in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. When I arrived, I spoke to Mike Gravel for a bit, although he did not give a speech. Famous personalities like Cindy Sheehan and Ralph Nader spoke, as well as prominent people in the antiwar movement like Kevin Zeese, along with some lesser known people, like a group of high school students.

At one point, the Raging Grannies got up and sang a song in honor of the late Granny D. I couldn’t find a video of it, but here’s an equally entertaining and poignant song about the Citizens United ruling:

Some speakers were veterans – one of Korea, a few of Afghanistan and Iraq, including one who burnt a flag while saying, “This is what I think of this country!” – and some were mothers who have had their children killed in the line of duty. One representative of labor spoke, and a few representatives of the Arab and Muslim communities spoke. There was a strong socialist presence at the rally (maybe

...

Monday and saw plenty of people my age there. The largest age group was probably those same people who have been showing up at these events since the ’60s. Some see that as a sign of desperation, that they still have to show up forty

...

we can, if we need to, take comfort in the words of those great radicals Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn.

...

constraints…They had to back down…Iraq’s a horror story, but it could’ve been a lot worse. So, yes, citizen protest can do something…we know that from this and many other examples. When there’s no protest and no attention, the power just goes wild. Like in Cambodia, Northern Laos.
.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

China, Tariffs, Exchange Rates

2010-03-21T20:19:00.003-04:00

Whole Story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/21/AR2010032101111.html

"..

China warns U.S. that 'trade war' will hurt Americans even more

Sunday, March 21, 2010; 1:53 PM

BEIJING -- China's minister of commerce warned that United States on Sunday that if it launches a "trade war" against China by leveling punitive tariffs on Chinese imports, the United States would suffer the most.

Minister Chen Deming also said what he termed was the U.S. government's "obsession" with China's exchange rate could not be seriously addressed until the U.S. government stopped blocking the export of high-tech products, such as supercomputers and satellites, to China.

"If some congressman insist on labeling China as a currency manipulator and slap punitive tariffs on

...

Chen said the best way for the United States to increase its exports to China would be to relax restrictions on the export of high-technology and dual use goods to China. Since 1989, when China launched a crackdown on student-led protests around Tiananmen Square, the United States has limited some exports to China. Chen said those limits amounted to billions of a dollars a year of potential exports to China.

...
And don't expect that China will simply do without these goods, he added. "We're a nation of 1.3 billion people. We graduated 7 million university students a year. We'll either make it ourselves or buy it from somewhere else."
...

But if the United States does decide to slap tariffs on China, Chen said, American companies, which account for more than 60 percent of China's exports to the United States, would surely be hurt the most.

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Tea Party Bigots Shout Slurs at Congressmen

2010-03-20T20:52:00.003-04:00

Whole Story:
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/20/1826369/tea-party-protesters-hurl-racial.html

"..

Tea party protesters hurl racial insults at Georgia Rep. John Lewis

By WILLIAM DOUGLAS

McClatchy Newspapers

More News

Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol, angry over the proposed health-care reform bill, shouted "nigger" Saturday at U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights icon who was nearly beaten to death during an Alabama march in the 1960s.

The protesters also shouted obscenities at other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, lawmakers said.

"They were shouting, sort of harassing," Lewis said. "But, it's OK, I've faced this before. It reminded me of the '60s. It was a lot of downright hate and anger and people being downright mean."

Lewis said he was leaving the Cannon office building across from the Capitol when protesters shouted "Kill the bill, kill the bill," Lewis said.

...

Protestors also used a slur as they confronted Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an openly gay member of Congress. A writer for Huffington Post said the crowd called Frank a "faggot."

Frank told the Boston Globe that the incident happened as he was walking from the Longworth House office building to the Rayburn House office building, both a short distance from the Capitol. Frank said the crowd consisted of a couple hundred of people and that they referred to him as "homo."

...

"People out there today, on the whole, were really hateful," Frank said. "The leaders of this movement have a responsibility to speak out more."

Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Capitol on Saturday as the House Democratic leadership worked to gather enough votes to enact a health-care overhaul proposal that has become the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's domestic agenda. Most were affiliated with so-called tea party organizations that originally sprang up during last summer's protests of the health-care proposals.

Heated debate has surrounded what role race plays in the motivations of the tea party demonstrators. During protests last summer, demonstrators displayed a poster depicting Obama as an African witch doctor complete with headdress, above the words "OBAMACARE coming to a clinic near you." Former President Jimmy Carter asserted in September that racism was a major factor behind the hostility that Obama's proposals had faced.

...

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said Saturday's ugliness underscored for him that the health-care overhaul isn't the only motivation for many protesters.

"I heard people saying things today I've not heard since March 15th, 1960, when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus," Clyburn said. "This is incredible, shocking to me."

He added, "A lot of us have said for a long time that none of this is about health care at all. It's about extending a basic fundamental right to people who are less powerful."

(McClatchy's James Rosen contributed to this report.)

Posted on Sat, Mar. 20, 2010 07:07 PM

Help Get Super-Fast Internet In St. Petersburg

2010-03-19T17:43:00.003-04:00

Whole story at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Downtown-St-Pete-wants-the-Google-Fiber-Experiment/397940030785?ref=nf#!/pages/Downtown-St-Pete-wants-the-Google-Fiber-Experiment/397940030785?v=info&ref=nf

"..

Downtown St Pete wants the Google Fiber Experiment

...

businesses have unparalleled access to an internet connection so powerful they're able to make daily life more efficient, just by residing here. Where, instead of waiting minutes or hours for a file to download or a video to load, it would occur in seconds, allowing technology to take us places we've never even imagined before. With Google's Fiber Experiment, this is all completely possible.

Currently, Google is looking for communities to test ultra-high speed broadband networks across the country. The network would deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home/business connections.

As you can imagine, it would present fantastic opportunities to a community like St Petersburg! It could:

* Attract businesses to our community
* Improve the quality of life for our citizens
* Improve our schools, health care system and government agencies

This type of technology has the power to put Downtown St Petersburg on the global map!

How You Can Help:

1. Join this Facebook Group!
2. Submit a nomination form: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options
3. Record a video testimonial (dates and locations to be announced)
4. Email your City Council person or County Commissioner urging them to submit a government nomination:
5. Tell your friends - post it, blog it, tweet it, email it, YouTube it, say it - do whatever you can to help us get the word out!
...
on:: to get 20,000 fans by March 26, 2010 to show Google Broadband we are the city that wants the Google Fiber Experiment!. The jobs, new technologies, buzz it will create in invaluable to Downtown St Petersburg
Products:

..
.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

If you're Late on a Car Payment, They might Turn it OFF, Remotely

2010-03-18T19:02:00.002-04:00

Whole Story:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/

"..

Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely

By Kevin Poulsen
March 17, 2010 |
1:52 pm |
Categories: Breaches, Crime, Cybersecurity, Hacks and Cracks

More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.

Police with Austin’s High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday arrested 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off last month, and allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the dealership’s four Austin-area lots.

...

was to remove the battery.”

The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that haven’t been paid for. Operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a car’s ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a running vehicle.

...

First rolled out about 10 years ago, remote immobilization systems are a controversial answer to delinquent car payments, with critics voicing concerns that debtors could suffer needless humiliation, or find themselves stranded during an emergency. Proponents say the systems let financers extend credit to consumers who might otherwise be ineligible for an auto loan.

Austin police filed computer intrusion charges against Ramos-Lopez on Tuesday.

Kucinich opposes Obama "Healthcare" Scam

2010-03-15T20:54:00.001-04:00

whole story at:
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/03/latest_health_care_reform_bill.html

"..

Latest health care reform bill leaves Americans vulnerable to insurance companies: Dennis Kucinich

By Plain Dealer guest columnist

March 14, 2010, 3:01AM

File photoU.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich Dennis Kucinich / U.S. Representative
...
Unfortunately, the president's plan, as it currently stands, leaves patients financially vulnerable to insurance companies. It requires all Americans to buy private health insurance policies, while failing to ensure those policies do what they are supposed to do -- protect people from financial catastrophe caused by injury or illness.

...

care when they get sick or injured. When that happens, illness can lead to economic ruin. Half the personal bankruptcies in America occur because health insurance companies refuse to pay medical bills.

Unfortunately, if the president's plan becomes law without substantive change, you would still be only a major illness or injury away from personal bankruptcy, except the federal government will have required you to buy a private health insurance policy.

Over the years, I have held many town hall meetings in the 10th District on health care. I am the co-author of H.R. 676, a bill that would improve Medicare and extend its coverage to those under age 65.

...
passed the Senate was even worse.

Absent a strong public option or legal protection for states that wish to pursue single payer, the bill that the president is proposing is a step in the wrong direction. Even with the few modest improvements in the bill, the insurance companies will still have dozens of loopholes to deny care and continue to find ways to leave Americans with the unpayable bill.

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Obama working to Deny Americans Internet Access

2010-03-15T20:29:00.002-04:00

whole story:
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/emanuels-brother-three-strikes-law/

"..

Rahm Emanuel’s brother lobbies for ‘three strikes’ law against downloaders

By Raw Story
Monday, March 15th, 2010 -- 5:42 pm

...

Modeled on a similar law enacted recently in France, a "three strikes" law would force Internet service providers to cut off Internet access to any users accused three times of downloading or sharing copyrighted material without permission.

Ari Emanuel, the brother of Rahm Emanuel, told the Abu Dhabi Media Summit last week that he is engaged in a lobbying effort to have such a law put on the books in the United States.

...

Opponents of three-strikes laws say there are significant problems with the policy. For one, it would cut off Internet access to entire households, not just individuals accused of illegal file-sharing. For another, the law, as laid out in French legislation, does not require a court to rule on the denial of access -- the individual need only be accused three times.

Opposition to the proposal could further be hindered by the fact the public increasingly views Internet access as a human right. In a recent poll, nearly 80 percent of people surveyed in 26 countries agreed that the Internet is a "fundamental human right."

The US is among ten countries, plus the EU, currently negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a broad international proposal that would bring copyright laws across many developed nations into sync with each other.

According to documents obtained by privacy and security expert Michael Geist, a "three strikes" law has been included in drafts of the proposed treaty.

But, months before any decisions on ACTA are expected to be made public, some governments have already rebelled against the three-strikes idea. Last week, by a vote of 663 to 13, the European Parliament condemned the secretive ACTA negotiations and forbade member countries from passing "three strikes" laws.

But, as Nate Anderson at Ars Technica points out, the Obama administration appears to be taking a different view. In a speech at the US Export-Import Bank last week, President Obama pointed to ACTA as a cornerstone of the White House's intellectual property strategy.

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

More outposts in Palestine are an Affront to Peace.

2010-03-15T00:53:00.002-04:00

Whole story at:
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Israeli_settlement_action_an_insult_03142010.html

"..
Israeli settlement action 'an insult': Obama aide

Published: Sunday March 14, 2010

Israel's announcement of plans to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem was not only an "insult" to the United States but "destructive" of the Middle East peace process, a top White House official said Sunday.

"This was an affront, it was an insult but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region," said David Axelrod, one of President Barack Obama's closest advisers.

"We have just started proximity talks, that is shuttle diplomacy, between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and for this announcement to come at that time was very destructive," he said on NBC television's Meet the Press show.

Israel's announcement of plans to build the 1,600 housing units in mostly Arab east Jerusalem came March 10 during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden that had aimed to encourage the first indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks since Israel's 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza.

Axelrod's comments were further evidence of the Obama administration's growing frustration with conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden himself condemned the east Jerusalem building plan in a sharp statement issued in Jerusalem and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Netanyahu directly in a 43-minute phone call that the announcement sent a "deeply negative" signal about Israel's approach to relations with Washington.

...
.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Corporations Bought our government.. now they want to BE our government.

2010-03-14T14:20:00.000-04:00

Whole story at:
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/corporate-candidate-kicks-bid-congress/

"..

Corporate entity becomes ‘candidate’, kicks off bid for Congress

By Stephen C. Webster
Saturday, March 13th, 2010 -- 12:14 pm

Stumble This!

When the Supreme Court decided the ..

Meet Murray Hill, Inc., the first corporation to run for Congress in the United States.

"Until now, corporations only influenced politics with high-paid lobbyists and backroom deals," the company's YouTube account declares. "But today, thanks to an enlightened supreme court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us. That's why Murray Hill Incorporated is taking democracy's next step-- running for Congress."

...

Hill says it plans to file as a Republican for the GOP primary in Maryland's eighth congressional district, currently represented by Democrat Chris Van Hollen.

...
The company, a self-titled "progressive" messaging firm, was launched in 2005 by one Eric Hensal, who used to work with Group360, an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C.

Hill said in a statement that its campaign would put people "second, or even third," according to The Washington Post.

"It's a new day," Hill's ad says. "Until now, corporations influenced politics with high paid lobbyists and backroom deals. However, as much as corporate interests gave to politicians, we could never be absolutely sure they would do our bidding. But today, thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us. It's our democracy: we bought it, we paid for it and we're going to keep it."

Hill "wanted to run as a Republican because we feel the Republican Party is more receptive to our basic message that corporations are people, too," campaign manager William Klein told the Post.

...

A blogger with watchdog group The Sunlight Foundation called the decision the "corporate globalization" of U.S. elections, cautioning that allowing corporate funds in elections would also make way for undue foreign influence on U.S. politics.

"It allows corporations to spend all the money they want to buy and sell elected officials through the campaign process," Rep. Grayson said of the Citizens United case. "It allows them to reward political sellouts, and it allows them to punish elected officials who actually try to do what's right for the people."

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

U.S. Textbooks about to go far to the Right

2010-03-13T16:46:00.002-05:00

Full Story:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/news/2469406/posts?page=1
and
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7059048.ece

"..
Texas educators take aim at ‘left-wing’ curriculum with opt-out plans
The Times ^ | 3/12/2010 | Giles Whittell

Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 5:43:06 AM by bruinbirdman

Country and western music, the leadership of the Confederate General Stonewall Jackson and the work of America’s most powerful gun lobby will all have to be taught in Texas schools if conservatives prevail at a highly charged meeting of the state’s board of education.

A total of 48 of the 50 states have signed up to a plan being promoted by the White House for new, higher national educational standards but Texas and Alaska have opted out, in order to keep control of what is taught in their state-funded schools.

The late Charlton Heston, a vociferous president of the National Rifle Association,
which could become compulsory study

The effects will be felt far beyond Texas, because of its dominant influence over US textbook publishing. According to one estimate, 90 per cent of all American schools use the books approved by Texan officials. Social studies texts are likely, therefore, to give new prominence to Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” and the role of Christianity in US history.

With more than a thousand school districts serving 4.5 million pupils, the Texas Education Agency is the second largest body of its kind in America, after its California counterpart, and by far the biggest to be overseen by elected conservatives.

Don McLeroy, chairman of the Texas Board of Education, is a Creationist who believes that the world was created 10,000 years ago and claims that history has vindicated Senator Joseph McCarthy, the instigator of the anti-Communist witch-hunts of the 1950s. Dr McLeroy, a dentist, will not be able to stand for re-election in November but says he intends to use his remaining time in office to leave his mark on Texas curriculum.

An amendment he proposed in January complained that the curriculum was “rife with leftist periods and events” including President Roosevelt’s New Deal and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society legislation — watershed achievements for Democratic governance in the 20th century. Expected to come into force in May, the measure would require Texas high school students to be able to “describe the causes . . . of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association”.

Mrs Schlafly is a prominent antifeminist, while the Heritage Foundation is a conservative think-tank that, like the gun lobby, helped to spearhead opposition to progressive reforms during President Clinton’s two terms.

Other amendments expected to be approved this week would require schools to teach the career of Stonewall Jackson, the most successful Southern field commander in the Civil War, as a study in effective leadership; to drop all mention of Ralph Nader, the consumer-rights advocate; and to assert the superiority of free enterprise over other economic systems.

The Texas Conservative Coalition said that the group was confident Dr McLeroy’s amendments would pass, thanks to the board’s eight-strong conservative majority. Any changes to Texas textbooks will stay for ten years before the next round of revisions.

Dr McLeroy, who has also said he believes that mankind and dinosaurs once cohabited on Earth, has objected to the teaching of Chinese literature in Texan schools. “You really don’t want Chinese books with a bunch of crazy Chinese words in them,” he said in 2008. “Why should you take a child’s time trying to learn a word that they’ll never use again?”

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Past: Nazi Julius Streicher. Present: Coulter, Beck and Limbaugh

2010-03-12T01:24:00.001-05:00

Whole Story:
http://www.truthout.org/beck-coulter-and-limbaugh-avatars-julius-streicher57551

"..

Beck, Coulter and Limbaugh: Avatars of Julius Streicher

Wednesday 10 March 2010

by: Davidson Loehr, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

...

"Avatars of Julius Streicher" doesn't sound quite sober - hardly anyone recognizes his name today, but Streicher's spirit is alive and well in Beck, Coulter and Limbaugh. Streicher was one of the 11 Nazis sentenced to hang by the Nuremberg Trials on October 16, 1946. Only ten were hanged because Hermann Goering committed suicide with some cyanide capsules the night before. Of the 11, Streicher was the only one who was not in the military, not in any significant position to command anything regarding the treatment and execution of millions of people who didn't fit the Nazi mold. But Streicher may have been the person most responsible for implanting the spirit of anti-Semitism that let Germans dehumanize and slaughter millions of people. Between 1923 and 1945, Streicher published "Der Stuermer" ("The Stormtrooper"), and spoke wherever he could to instill this deadly spirit into everyone he could reach. He especially liked to address schoolchildren, and would get them so conditioned that when he asked if they knew who the enemy of Germany was, they would shout, "The Jew! The Jew!" Streicher was hanged with the Nazi leaders for publishing this fact-free newspaper that did more than anything else to prepare the way for the Nazi death machines. A typical issue of "Der Stuermer" was described as "nothing but an incitement to the people of Germany who read it, an incitement to murder. It is filled with pictures of murder. It is an encouragement to all who read it to avenge themselves in the same way."

At his trial in Nuremberg, the prosecution said that while Streicher was not directly involved in the physical commission of these deadly crimes against humanity, "his crime is no less worse for that reason.... It was to the task of educating and poisoning the people with hate, and of producing murderers, that Streicher set himself. For 25 years, he continued unrelentingly the perversion of the people and youth of Germany. He went on and on as he saw the results of his work bearing fruit. In the early days, he was preaching persecution. As persecution took place, he preached extermination and annihilation and, as millions of Jews were exterminated and annihilated in the Ghettos of the East, he cried out for more and more.

"The crime of Streicher is that he made these crimes possible, which they would never have been had it not been for him and for those like him. In its extent Streicher's crime is probably greater and more far-reaching than that of any of the other defendants. The misery which they caused ceased with their capture. The effects of this man's crime, of the poison that he has put into the minds of millions of young boys and girls goes on, for he concentrated upon the youth and childhood of Germany. He leaves behind him a legacy of almost a whole people poisoned with hate, sadism, and murder, and perverted by him. That people will remain a problem and perhaps a menace to the rest of civilization for generations to come."

Against that historical background, consider just a few of these sound bites:

Ann Coulter:

We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. [Her suggestion for dealing with the Middle East.]

Liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant.
...
"If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."

"Liberals love America like O.J. loved Nicole."

"There are a lot of bad republicans; there are no good democrats."

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."

"God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.'"

"I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo."

Glenn Beck:

"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it.... No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out of him." [Responding to the question, "What would people do for $50 million?," "The Glenn Beck Program," May 17, 2005.]

"When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." ["The Glenn Beck Program," September 9, 2005.]

"The only [Katrina victims] we're seeing on television are the scumbags." ["The Glenn Beck Program," September 9, 2005.]

"This president I think has exposed himself over and over again as a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.... I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist." [On President Obama, sparking an advertiser exodus from his FOX News show.]

"Progressivism is the cancer in America and it is eating our Constitution, and it was designed to eat the Constitution, to progress past the Constitution."

Rush Limbaugh:

"...
"Take that bone out of your nose and call me back"

"They vote with their vaginas"

"If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people - I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do - let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."

The spirit of these three Americans is the same spirit that filled Streicher. It is a spirit of hateful bigotry, preparing the way for these vulgar sentiments to become deadly atrocities. The overwhelming majority of Americans, like the overwhelming majority of Germans, are far better than this. We need to respond, not by stooping to the same level, but by reminding ourselves that the better angels of our nature call us to a higher standard. A great nation is at stake.

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Public Option Amendment

2010-03-11T22:12:00.002-05:00

Whole Article:
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/11/bernie-sanders-to-introduce-public-option-amendment/

".. Bernie Sanders to Introduce Public Option Amendment

My man Bernie Sanders, the “Socialist” from Vermont, has committed himself to doing what no other senator on the Hill will do.

Sanders confirmed today that he will introduce a public option amendment during the health care bill reconciliation debate.

Greg Sargent at the Plum Line blog, who spoke directly to the senator, explains why this could be so important:

… as far fetched as this seems, if this amendment is introduced, a vote on it would be very hard for the Senate Dem leadership to block. The only thing that could stop it from happening, according to Senate expert Robert Dove, is for the parliamentarian to rule that it’s not germane to the Senate bill somehow — something that seems unlikely.

As many of us public option watchers know, Democratic leadership has tried to convince their progressive colleagues that they must give up on the public option in order to ensure passage of the health care bill. This is of course a flimsy argument as evidenced by the fact that more and more senators are coming out publicly for the public option (40 at the latest whip count Thursday morning).

While Dick Durbin and others will undoubtedly ask Dems to fall into line and vote against a public option amendment, even senators who’ve never been “for” the public option may have a (fortunately) hard time voting against it seeing that a number of 2010 polls show that a majority of Americans support the public option. And as mid-term elections approach, those incumbents worried about electoral losses may be moved to vote for the measure.

Nothing like fear of being sacked to get a politician really going.

.."

http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Utah : Burkhas next?

2010-03-10T13:45:00.002-05:00

Entire Article at:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/145956/controversial_utah_law_charges_women_and_girls_with_murder_for_miscarriages
:
"..

CIVIL LIBERTIES

AlterNet / By Rose Aguilar

Utah Governor Signs Controversial Law Charging Women and Girls With Murder for Miscarriages

Critics are worried the law will open up a Pandora's box of unintended legal consequences.

March 9, 2010 |

On Monday afternoon, a controversial Utah bill that charges pregnant women and girls with murder for having miscarriages caused by "intentional or knowing" acts, was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert.

Contrary to media reports last week, the "Criminal Homicide and Abortion Amendments" or HB12, which previously also applied to miscarriages caused by "reckless" acts, was never "withdrawn" by its sponsor, Republican Representative Carl Wimmer (who is crafting similar "model legislation" for other states). After the governor expressed concern over "possible unintended consequences," of the legislation as written, Rep. Wimmer swiftly introduced a new version, titled "Criminal Homicide and Abortion Revisions" (HB462), which omitted the word "reckless." Gov. Herbert signed the new bill and vetoed the old one.

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“We are still passing legislation which seeks to criminalize women for their actions,” Marina Lowe, legislative and policy counsel for the ACLU of Utah, told AlterNet. “The language is still problematic.”

Harrison, who faced 15 years in prison, pleaded guilty to second-degree felony attempted murder, but instead got up to five years, after District Judge A. Lynn Payne sentenced him under Utah’s anti-abortion statute, saying a charge of third-degree “attempted killing of an unborn child” better fit the facts of the case, according to the Tribune.

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To put this in human terms, had Rep. Wimmer’s bill been on the books last spring -- and had the 17-year-old’s fetus not survived -- she would have faced a prison sentence of 15 years to life. Rep. Wimmer says he’s OK with that because the teenager has to face the "consequences of her barbaric actions.”

“It’s pretty rare for a politician to openly support jail time for girls who have abortions, no matter how desperate they seem to be” a 40-something abortion provider who asked to remain anonymous, told AlterNet. “This is extreme. Mark my words. If they can get away with this, they will try to make abortion illegal in the state of Utah. People need to wake up.”

'No One Wants to Defend Abortion'

Rep. Wimmer, who is a conservative Christian, makes no attempt to hide his anti-choice agenda.

According to his Web site, as chairman of the Utah Family Action Council, “we are continually working to pass pro-life legislation which will weaken Roe v. Wade. Abortions should be reserved for extreme cases only.”

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Chlamydia More Likely Than Chicken Pox In Utah

Ironically, just three days after Utah’s House and Senate overwhelmingly passed Rep. Wimmer’s Criminal Homicide and Abortion Amendments bill, the Senate refused to even debate legislation that would have allowed teachers to provide comprehensive sex education to students who had their parent’s permission. Current state law says teachers can’t advocate or endorse the use of contraceptive methods or devices, according to Bird.

“If you teach about chlamydia, you’re allowed to say, ‘This is a condom and this is chlamydia.’ The law would have allowed teachers to say, ‘If you’re having sex, you can use a condom to prevent chlamydia. Abstinence is the best way, but if you’re not abstinent, use a condom.’”

Every day in Utah, 12 teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant. Chlamydia is the number one most reported communicable disease in the state, according to the Utah Department of Health. In 2007 there were 5,721 newly reported cases; 3,748 of those cases (66 percent) were diagnosed in individuals between the ages of 15 and 24. In Utah, you’re more likely to get chlamydia than chicken pox or the flu.

“Young girls are getting chlamydia and they’re not learning about it until they might be infertile,” Emma Waitzman, an 18-year-old senior at Salt Lake City’s West High School, told AlterNet. “That’s morally wrong.”

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http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

FL Poised to Approve Offshore Drilling

2010-03-01T14:48:00.002-05:00

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Offshore Drilling Legislation Filed in Senate

Anita Stewart March 1 at 2:21pm Reply

Offshore Drilling Legislation Filed in Senate

On Friday, Feb. 26, at 6 p.m., State Senator Mike Haridopolous filed Senate Bill 2622, which would provide for “the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund to accept and award for oil and gas leases on submerged lands underlying the territorial waters of the state.” – in other words, to allow near shore drilling. This bill is very similar to House Bill 1219 filed the last day of session in 2009. As of today, March 1, there has been no bill filed in the Florida House, but we do expect one this week, maybe as early as Tuesday. Click here to read SB 2622.

To my knowledge, at least nine chambers in Northwest Florida have passed resolutions against near shore drilling. I also know that other chambers across the state of Florida have passed resolutions as well. The Destin Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors passed two resolutions opposing drilling – one in near shore state waters, the other in federal waters up to 40 miles.

There is a promise of jobs and revenue for the state; however, the sacrifice of the military operations and tourism revenue in our area far outweigh any of the jobs or revenue oil drilling will create. Estimates we’ve heard are two to three billion dollars from oil. When compared to the estimated $5 billion and 19,000 jobs from the military missions alone, just in our community, the numbers don’t add up. It’s even more astonishing when compared to numbers from across the entire state - $60 billion in tourism and $60 billion in military operations.

If near shore drilling is permitted in the state of Florida, our community will suffer irreparable harm. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please email and/or call our senators, representatives, and Governor Crist to express your opposition to offshore drilling in both state and federal waters up to 40 miles out. Contact information is below.

Tell them you side with the chambers of commerce in Northwest Florida who oppose drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Tell them the risk to military operations and tourism dollars, as well the protection of our beautiful beaches and coastal waters, is not worth the small amount of revenue expected from oil drilling. Tell them that studies show that less than one-week’s worth of oil is in the Gulf and would not have a discernable effect of prices at the gas pump.

Remember, this IS an election year!

Thank you. Together, we will build this world-class community one business at a time!

Shane Moody, IOM, CCE
Chamber President and CEO

Governor Charlie Crist
Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
(850) 488-7146

Senator Mike Haridopolous
haridopolos.mike.web@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5056

Senator Don Gaetz
gaetz.don.web@flsenate.gov
(850) 487-5009

Speaker Larry Cretul
larry.cretul@myfloridahouse.gov
(850) 488-1450

Representative Dean Cannon
dean.cannon@myfloridahouse.gov
(850) 488-27425

Representative Marti Coley
marti.coley@myfloridahouse.gov
(850) 488-2873

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http://www.AmericanWisdom.org

Obama and Congress Extend Patriot Act on a Saturday

2010-03-01T01:35:00.001-05:00

http://rawstory.com/2010/02/obama-patriot-act-year-privacy-protections/

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Obama gives Patriot Act another year with no privacy protections

By Andrew McLemore
Saturday, February 27th, 2010 -- 11:23 pm

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If the Patriot Act hadn't been approved for another year, Sunday would have looked much different.

Sunday could have meant the government was no longer given permission to wiretap the phones of Americans and seize their records and property.

But since the bill was approved by Congressional Democrats earlier this week and signed into law by President Obama on Saturday, this Sunday is just another Sunday for Americans living with the Patriot Act.

To be fair, many Democrats asked for additional protections for the privacy rights of American citizens.

But Republicans said that would detract from the ability of the country's intelligence agencies to track down terrorists. Lacking a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate to pass the bill with the extra provisions, Democrats left them out.

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http://www.AmericanWisdom.org