"All truth passes through 3 stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident." - - - Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860 Whatever the evil (poison) is, it must be presented in a mix of something good, or good for you. Rat poison is like this, 99.5% of the ingredients are tasty and nutritious for the rat (otherwise, they wouldn't eat it, would they?).  Only .5% (1/2 percent) is deadly.

of News, Current Events & Comment for January 2005  September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 the URL for this page can be found by returning to the previous page (if a contributing editor, wishes recognition, they should so indicate with their submission) Best printing w/a black only printer is accomplished when your settings are for "black text and black lines"

To save on the amount of forced emails that consume MEGA bytes of HD space,  these pages are created for your convenience. Pictures can be saved by right clicking then follow the yellow brick road, and original of reports can be located by available links in the articles and saved as you would other web pages. I am reminded of Dad's special brownies.  It is the same truth.

Eleven people were hanging onto a rope under a helicopter; 10 men and one woman. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one had to drop off, otherwise they all were all going to fall.

They were not able to choose that person, but then the woman made a very touching speech. She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because as a woman she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids and for men in general without ever getting anything in return.

As soon as she finished her speech, all the men applauded.
 
 

duh

Oh, The Games Big Brother Plays!

[There are many people who have learned there is NO LAW requiring a private individual to get a "driver's license".  But, even knowing this, some are too scared to buck the system that thinks you should have one - to raise revenue.  Some simply pick different battles.  Then there are some who go headlong into asserting their Rights to travel and not be forced to volunteer for something they do not want or are not required to have.  What follows is the story of some who chose a path other than plowing headlong against the beast.  Identities are masked by request.

Now, pay close attention to the result of the story.  Nothing came of the efforts that was not offered in the beginning, except some hoop jumping and expense of time and resources.  --  Tribble]

We chose not to fight the battle of the DL for us and our two sons. Recently, I went with P-16, to get his OFFICIAL DL, the one you get after your permit. Now, instead of being a 4 year DL like T’s was only 3 years ago, to get you from 16 to 20, it’s only a TWO year DL for this age….WHY? My guess is that they want to SEE you again at 18 so they can make sure you registered for Selective Service, whether you’re a male or female. The length of time has always been FOUR years from issue to renewal….but now, the teenagers are more closely monitored as to their WHEREABOUTS; physical address. But, remember, we’re NOT going to have a DRAFT and, as you already know, the check’s in the mail, too!

Now, as Paul Harvey says, “the Rest of the Story!

We didn’t use a SSN by the way, but more on that later. When we went there, we had P’s original Birth Certificate and of course, I was with him, his mother, with my photo DL. They wanted TWO forms of “government issued” ID. SSN, Medicaid card, Birth Certificate, Tax returns, etc. were all acceptable. None of those were available for us, other than the BC. I showed her my DL as his mother, which matched our last names as well as our physical address (including the one on his permit) but she said that wasn’t acceptable. She said, “Doesn’t he have a SSN?”  I said, “No, he does not.”  There were three employees working the counter, and every one of them stopped and LOOKED at us like we had just landed from MARS and were about to invade their planet.

She said we could get a transcript from the school (public), sealed with the raised stamp by the principal or superintendent. So, we drove the 18 miles back to the school. It was over the Dec. break, but it just so happened that the principal was there getting this same paper for another young driver so the office was open. We asked for the same paper, which verified that he had at least a C average, was enrolled, and of course was sealed and signed by the principal.

We drove the 18 miles back to the Driver’s License bureau AGAIN! We got our “wait in line” like a catalog store number and waited AGAIN. When it got to be our turn, we showed her the Birth Certificate again and this sealed, signed document from the Principal of the school.  The lady said, “OH, no you can’t use that (the school document), we can only use a copy of his transcript, signed and sealed by the Principal to show us what his grades are. Now, remember, I said that on the document we had in our hand it states that this student has a LEAST a C average, attends that school, has been sealed and signed by the principal.

We knew there was no reason to go back the 18 miles one way because the principal had stated that he was just there because the mother of the girl seeking her DL had called and he had come in just for that reason alone.

Side note: While standing there in the DL office, a woman from California was getting her picture taken and looked over at us. She glared and said to the employee, “Just what age can kids get a driver’s license in this state?”  The woman replied, “They can get their learner’s permit at 14 and their DL at 16.”  The California transplant said, “Well, that’s just too young if you ask me. It should be a least 18 and in my book, 21!”  Nice lady. I’m sharing this with you for a reason you’ll understand later.

I asked what OTHER forms of ID were acceptable and she directed me to a sign across the room that had a list of things. On the “secondary list” which would be the one after the SSN, Birth Certificate, Tax return, etc. it said – Parental Affidavit. AHHHHH! I said to our son, “Let’s go. I know just what we need to do.”

We drove a block away and found a bank. We went inside and I asked for the information desk. I then asked the first teller, who was about 55, who I could have provide a “Parental Affidavit”  signed by a notary stating that I am this young man’s mother so he could get his Driver’s License. She directed me to one the ladies working there and then added, “Let me know if you get it so I can STAY off the streets!”  We both smiled and laughed and walked away, thanking her for her help.

This bank employee who was a notary was a young woman of about 25. She told me she had never heard of such a document. I told her it was on the official sign at the DL Bureau just around the corner as  one of the acceptable forms of identification to get your DL. She made a call to a superior. I had showed her our son’s Birth Certificate already. She then proceeded to make a COPY of his Birth Certificate at the TOP ½ of a page of plain white paper.

She put this page with a copy of the Birth Certificate at the TOP of the page in her machine and typed up that

“I, _______________, do hereby state that this person who appears before me, ______________, is in fact, the son of _____________________, who also appears before me this date.

The only document other than his Birth Certificate I provided for her was to show her my Driver’s License. Of course, our last names matched as did our addresses, but because we have a pretty common last name, we might not have even been related.

I asked to pay her for her services and she said, “No, that’s fine. It only took me a few minutes and I’ve learned something new!”  Nice bank lady.  OH- the other woman who had joked about wanting to know when he would start driving, came over and said, “I’m sorry for what I said to you, young man. Those guys (actually girls) said I was being mean and shouldn’t have said that to you.”  I shared with her what the California lady had just said at the DL bureau only moments prior, we all laughed and we departed after P. told her thank you for apologizing to him.

We left the bank and headed around the corner off the square back to the DL bureau. We gave this “official” Parental Affidavit paper (which was just a copy of his original Birth Certificate) and his Birth Certificate AGAIN to the NICE (not really) woman at the counter when they got to our turn….which was about another 30 minute “next” number wait.

She frowned and said, “OK, that will do.”  She was typing in the information for the license and AGAIN asked for his SSN. We said AGAIN that he doesn’t have one. “Wasn’t he BORN here in the U.S.?”  Yes, he was. “Well, everybody HAS to have ONE!”  “Sorry, he doesn’t have one, but you can choose whatever number you want to fill in the blanks on your form. That’s fine with us,”  I said.  One of the ladies at the counter said, “If he ever wants to work, he’ll have to have one you know, but maybe he doesn’t ever want to work…..!  LAUGHS all around from the three guv’ment employees!  The younger woman helping us asked the gentleman beside her, “What should I do about the SSN?”  He said, “Just make up a number starting with 9.”

After taking his driving test at about noon with a nice officer, it took us 4 more hours to get all of this accomplished, which was of course, 18 miles away ONE WAY, and then back and forth to the school 18 miles to home, then back, then around the corner to find a bank, then back again.

Now, do you think if our son had been on any government FREE MONEY program like welfare, social security, Medicaid, etc. we would have had any of these problems? NOPE, we would have been ready with all kinds of PAPERS when they said, “YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE!”

P. said, “Mom, you’re AMAZING! Thanks for all your effort!”  I said, “Thank you, son! I just enjoy playing games and I guess I’m getting pretty good at it!”

SMILE~

P.S.   Think about this for a moment regarding what I’ve already shared with you.

Six months ago, this same exact Driver’s License bureau issued him his Driver’s PERMIT which he also showed to them as a GUV’MENT document for identification along with his original Birth Certificate when we went to get his REAL Driver’s license.

NOPE- you can’t USE THAT (permit) as one of the acceptable forms of ID, even though we ISSUED it to you which means we believed 6 months ago that you were who you said you were at that time. But, we don’t know for sure you’re that same person at this very moment!  You showed us your original birth certificate and your sealed/signed letter from the principal of your school six months ago and we issued you this Driver’s permit…..but today, we’re not accepting the sealed/signed letter from your principal nor are we accepting the permit WE issued to you as an acceptable form of government issued ID.

Forrest Gump:  STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES!

How many 14/16 year olds have TWO forms of ID, which would include a least one photo? NONE

This should just make everybody BUST OUT LAUGHING!

We GOTTA laugh!  If we don’t, we’ll ALL soon be CRYING!

Somebody in COMEDY needs to use this as their SKIT! They would certainly have the audience ROLLING in the AISLES!

J.
 
 

[At least the cops did not RUSH to get the child separated from her father and "protect" her with DHS.  I guess miracles do happen.  --  Tribble]

PORTLAND, ORE. - A man and his 12-year-old daughter spent the last four years living in a remote hillside in Portland's Forest Park, police said.  The pair was discovered in a dense, wooded area by an Australian cross-country runner and his wife.

They reported seeing an older man with white bushy hair and a beard, and a young girl at what appeared to be a "well-established transient camp." They called police on April 28.

That afternoon, North Precinct Sgt. Michael Barkley sent four officers on all-terrain vehicles to find the pair but they didn't find them.

"We had very little to go on, " Barkley said. "There's no way you could not do everything you could because it was a report of a child living up there."

The next morning, the runner escorted police to the site.

After an hour-and-a-half hike, police found an elaborate camp dug into a steep hillside.

Under a tarp-covered, wood-framed shelter, they found sleeping bags, a partially burnt log, a Bible, a stack of old World Book Encyclopedias, rakes and other tools.

A rope swing, a tilled vegetable garden and a small creek were nearby.

A police dog found the pair huddling behind a tree about 50 yards from the camp.

The man and girl told police they had lived in the park for four years. The pair appeared clean, well-fed and healthy, Barkley said, and the girl was well-spoken beyond her years.

The man, who identified himself as Frank, told police he was a 53-year-old Marine Corps veteran and college graduate who served in Vietnam.

He came to Oregon with his daughter, Ruth, from Tacoma with no job and virtually no money. Frank told police that the girl's mother was institutionalized in New Hampshire, and the two now lived on a $400-a-month disability check.

Rather than live on the streets and expose Ruth to alcohol and drugs, Frank said, they hiked deep into Forest Park and built a lean-to.

The pair went into the city twice a week to stop by the bank, attend church, buy groceries and clothes from Goodwill. Frank, a devout Christian, said he taught his daughter using the old encyclopedias.

They grew vegetables and used the nearby creek to keep clean. They stored perishable foods in a small pool of water at the creek's edge.

The man and girl told police that the runner was the first person to find their camp in four years.

Their biggest worry was being split up, Barkley said.

"Please, don't take me from my daddy," the girl told the 26-year police veteran as they sat on a log talking for at least 30 minutes.

Barkley, who has a 6-year-old daughter, said he was struck by the relationship between father and daughter.

"What was so clear was that their living conditions were unacceptable, but their relationship was a real deep love and caring for each other," Barkley said.

Officer Joe Campbell, who helped find the pair, said separating the pair would have broken their hearts. "Their whole lives seemed to revolve around each other," said Campbell.

A pediatrician found the girl free of any illness, any signs of physical or sexual abuse - and no cavities. A criminal background check came up empty, according to police reports.

Even though the child and father lived for such a long time disconnected from society, the girl had been home schooled and was in good physical shape.

In fact, the girl received a very good education from her father while living among the trees. Officials said the girl, who would be normally in 7th grade, is at a 12th grade equivalency.

"When we interviewed this little girl, she was very impressive. She really was very responsible, and she really looked as though she was way advanced in her years," said Portland Police Cmdr. Scott Anderson said.

KATU Television has been given permission from 'The Forest Family's' father to set up a college fund for 12-year-old 'Ruthie.'

To make donations for the girl, who for the last four years have lived in the forest and was educated by her father, to 'Ruthie's College Fund’ at any Bank Of America Branch.

Police say the father was ecstatic when KATU offered to set up a college fund for his daughter.

The father has done a wonderful job of educating the girl, says police. She reportedly performs at a 12th grade level.

Police persuaded them to leave the camp, promising help them find food and shelter.

The pair spent two nights at a homeless shelter. Barkley found the man a job and a place for the two to live on a friend's horse farm in Yamhill County.

Now, Barkley said, the pair are living in a mobile home and adjusting to life with heat, electricity and running water.

The man mows lawns and is learning to drive a tractor, and the pair ride bicycles to a nearby church on Sundays.

"The amazing part of this was the fact that Sergeant Barkley really evaluated what was best for these people," North Precinct Cmdr. Scott Anderson said. "Sometimes police would be a little quicker to hand things off to state workers. But instead ... he saw this through to the end."
 
 

[More is available to learn what is in store or us, one such source is at http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20041231-112352-2574r
and HERE on this site.  Anticipation of the new Orwellian technics is represented in the latter article of this report.  There have been rumors of a "graduated national sales tax" to replace the already not needed income tax.  How would they determine at the checkout stand your percent of sales tax?  It would be real handy to have a nation ID (or driver's license) which accesses a database for determining your percent of tax to pay.  --  Tribble]

The War on Freedom that was declared with the passage of an intelligence reform bill in December places our protected liberties into the crosshairs of the Big Brother.

The bill calls for minimum federal standards for state driver licenses, a step toward a national identification card. Such licenses could be required at checkpoints on all major roads.

In the future, we will be asked to prove our identity at toll road checkpoints using some form of a federal ID.

What is a national ID card? Well in Fallujah, Iraq they require one biometric scan and a photo ID. The options of biometric scanning included blood sampling, retina scanning, or fingerprinting. It has been reported by main stream media that families returning to Fallujah who do not have the official ID card and are unable to properly identify themselves have been shot.

Many constitutional republicans are strongly opposed to the Soviet socialization of this Republic of the United States of America. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) released a statement on his House Web site denouncing the potential for a national ID card.

"A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American," Paul said. "History shows that governments inevitably use such power in harmful ways. The 9-11 commission, whose recommendations underlie this bill, has called for internal screening points where identification will be demanded. Domestic travel restrictions are the hallmark of authoritarian states, not free nations. It is just a matter of time until those who refuse to carry the new licenses will be denied the ability to drive or board an airplane."

Our government was established to protect our liberty and natural rights. My thoughts are summed up by one of Paul's remarks:

"National ID cards are not proper in a free society...this is America, not Soviet Russia," Paul said. "The federal government should never be allowed to demand papers from American citizens, and it certainly has no constitutional authority to do so."

Unconstitutional checkpoints that violate our 4th Amendment rights to be secure in our persons and papers are illegal and oppressive. I hope that 2005 is a year in which we exercise and promote our rights.

If our government wants to remove our liberties, then we need to use our Constitution to protect our freedom. Any laws contrary to or not in line with the Constitution are null and void. We determined that a long time ago in Marbury v Madison.

Call your state representatives and voice your opinion on this issue or it will be ignored.

Alex Jones, a syndicated radio talk show host whose show is broadcast on www.infowars.com, called the bill's passage "the most draconian legislation in history to be rolled out onto the people, dwarfing Byzantine France and Spain."

After all, John Locke once said, "The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom."

Ryan Olson is a political science senior and a freelance columnist for the Web Devil. Reach him at ryan.michael.olson@asu.edu.

Driver's license requirements may tighten
01-03-05
http://www.kptv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2758723

SALEM -- The requirements for getting a driver's license in Oregon may increase in compliance with a new federal law.

An intelligence reform bill passed by Congress has directed the federal government officials to set up minimum standards required for obtaining a driver's license in all 50 states.

Until then, Oregon will continue to ask prospective drivers to bring documents that are acceptable proofs of age, identity and address. Original or certified documents are acceptable, but not photocopied or facsimile documents. And no two documents can come from the same government agency.

For a first license application, the state requires two primary documents, such as birth certificates or military identification, or one primary document -- with name and date of birth -- and two secondary documents, such as tax returns or Medicare cards.

For renewals or replacement licenses, residents must bring in the above, plus have a photograph on file with Driver and Motor Vehicle Services.

Such requirements have been in place for the state for a year now, said David House, a spokesman for the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services.
 
 

Health / nutrition

Warehouse a Buffet for Rats
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050120/ap_on_fe_st/infested_warehouse
Wed Jan 19, 9:31 PM ET
By Mike Robinson, Associated Press Writer
contributing editor to   - Wendell

[There really is no excuse, in this modern world, for this kind of thing to be happening.  --  Tribble]

CHICAGO - A federal prosecutor launched the trial of a cold storage company accused of unsanitary conditions Wednesday by describing a warehouse stocked with millions of pounds of meat as "an amusement park for rats and a house of horrors for the City of Chicago."

"Rodents were allowed to feast on an all-you-can eat buffet," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Sussman told jurors in his opening statement at the trial of LaGrou Distribution System Inc. and its president Jack Stewart.

Stewart, 55, is charged in the indictment with conspiring to cover up unsanitary conditions at the 500,000-square foot warehouse that supplied meat and other food products to stores and restaurants throughout the Chicago area.

His attorney, Elliot M. Samuels, scoffed at the notion that Stewart hid a serious infestation, saying the number of rats, droppings and nesting materials found by Agriculture Department inspectors was small compared to the vast size of the warehouse.

Samuels said Stewart called in a pest control company when businesses storing meat in the warehouse complained that their products had been gnawed on by rodents. He said Stewart told the pest control company to "do whatever it takes."

Sussman said Stewart and his helpers covered up the problem. USDA inspectors found some meat with blood dripping from it and rat tracks and droppings in the blood. Sussman said said rats entered the building through holes in the 86-year-old walls and through an open sewer.

The government's first witness, USDA compliance specialist Vella Kay Holmes, told jurors how she and a 14-member inspection team had visited the warehouse in May 2001.

Prosecutors showed jurors photos taken by the team, and Holmes pointed out rat droppings, burrows, boxes of gnawed meat, collapsing walls, a bag of bacon loose on the floor, hams falling off a pallet and boxes of meat marked "bad" in Spanish.

The warehouse has been closed since that inspection, but a number of civil lawsuits have been filed over the meat and other food in the warehouse at the time.
 
 

"Boy, I feel safer now that she's behind bars. O.J. Simpson & Kobe Bryant are walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook and clean and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail."
reportedly by Tim Allen
 
 

“Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless... the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is [now] while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going downhill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.”
--  Thomas Jefferson in “Notes on the State of Virginia”, Query 17, p. 161, 1784.
 
 

I am from the gubment,  & am here to help you - NOT

Police Begin Fingerprinting on Traffic Stops
Sarah Thomsen
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=2776926&nav=51s7UvFT
http://www.freedomunderground.org/view.php?v=3&t=3&aid=13360
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1318624/posts
contributing editor to   - Dan

    If you're ticketed by Green Bay police, you'll get more than a fine. You'll get fingerprinted, too. It's a new way police are cracking down on crime.

    If you're caught speeding or playing your music too loud, or other crimes for which you might receive a citation, Green Bay police officers will ask for your drivers license and your finger. You'll be fingerprinted right there on the spot. The fingerprint appears right next to the amount of the fine.

    Police say it's meant to protect you -- in case the person they're citing isn't who they claim to be. But not everyone is sold on that explanation.

    "What we've seen happen for the last couple of years [is] increasing use of false or fraudulent identification documents," Captain Greg Urban said.

    Police say they want to prevent the identity theft problem that Milwaukee has, where 13 percent of all violators give a false name.
 

Open Wide

Now, pee in the jar.

    But in Green Bay, where police say they only average about five cases in a year, drivers we talked with think the new policy is extreme.

    "That's going too far," Ken Scherer from Oconto said. "You look at the ID, that's what they're there for. Either it's you or it's not. I don't think that's a valid excuse."

    "I would feel uncomfortable but I would do it," Carol Pilgrim of Green Bay said.

    Citizens do have the right to say no. "They could say no and not have to worry about getting arrested," defense attorney Jackson Main said. "On the other hand, I'm like everybody else. When a police officer tells me to do something, I'm going to do it whether I have the right to say no or not."

    That's exactly why many drivers are uneasy about the fine print in this fingerprinting policy.

    Police stress that the prints are just to make sure you are who you claim to be and do not go into any kind of database; they simply stay on the ticket for future reference if the identity is challenged.
 

Some responses to the news --

From: Boonie Rat

"On the other hand, I'm like everybody else. When a police officer tells me to do something, I'm going to do it whether I have the right to say no or not."

BBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAAAAA! BBBAAAAAAAAAA! BBBAAAAAAAA!
 

(“In a corrupt democracy the tendency is always to give power to the worst….The worst float to the top transmuting races of freemen into races of slaves.” ~ Henry George)
 

From: Jolly Rodgers
To: Boonie Rat

"Citizens do have the right to say no. "They could say no and not have to worry about getting arrested," defense attorney Jackson Main said."

You might have the right to say no, but I'll bet if you do, they'll make you regret it. They'll yank you out of the car, grind your face into the street, cuff you and arrest you and charge you with a variety of charges. In the end, you'll be printed anyway.

All that being said, anyone who agrees to be printed during a traffic stop is a damn fool.

(Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.  --  Boonie Rat)
 

From: Stand Opposed
To: Jolly Rodgers

--They'll yank you out of the car, grind your face into the street, cuff you and arrest you and charge you with a variety of charges.--

You forgot to mention impound your vehicle, and remove everything of value from it, up to and including parts of the car itself. Of course, the impound lots are never responsible for any loss.

(As long as they don't hurt TeeVee everything's A-OK!  --  Jolly Rodgers)
 

From: braddueringer
To: Stand Opposed

You forgot to mention impound your vehicle, and remove everything of value from it, up to and including parts of the car itself. Of course, the impound lots are never responsible for any loss.
*****
Been down that road twice, Both times my car stereo disapeared.
I guess it's pretty universal across the country that impound lots are staffed with crooks.

Yea, they tow your car but are not responsible for the contents.....WTF?

(Of all the things I've lost....it's my mind I miss the most!  --  Stand Opposed)
 

From: Stand Opposed
To: braddueringer

--Yea, they tow your car but are not responsible for the contents.....WTF?--

Apparently it's the law enforcement bonus plan.

Around here, the cops and wrecker drivers run the impound like a junk yard. If you need car parts, you can get some really expensive parts cheap, engines, trannys, wheels, tires, body parts, whatever.

If they don't have what you want, they'll get it for you in a few days. Needless to say, owning a nice car in this city can be a really disappointing experience.

Last summer, a friend of mine who works at the jail got a new engine and transmission for his late-model Monte Carlo, for $400 from the cops. Delivered it right to his house like a Domino's Pizza.

(As long as they don't hurt TeeVee everything's A-OK!  --  braddueringer)
 
 

I am from the gubment,  & am here to help you - NOT

FBI Keeping Records on Pre-9/11 Travelers
By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer - Sat Jan 15,12:33 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050115/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/passenger_data_5
contributing editor to   - Bob

WASHINGTON - If you're among the millions of Americans who took airline flights in the months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the FBI (news - web sites) probably knows about it — and possibly where you stayed, whom you traveled with, what credit card you used and even whether you ordered a kosher meal.

The bureau is keeping 257.5 million records on people who flew on commercial airlines from June through September 2001 in its permanent investigative database, according to information obtained by a privacy group and made available to The Associated Press.

Privacy advocates say they're troubled by the possibility that the FBI could be analyzing personal information about people without their knowledge or permission.

"The FBI collected a vast amount of information about millions of people with no indication that they had done anything unlawful," said Marcia Hofmann, attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which learned about the data through a Freedom of Information Act request.

"The fact that they're hanging on to the information is inexcusable," Hofmann said on Friday.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the bureau was required to retain its records.

"There are rules that have been set by the National Archives with regard to the retention of records by government agencies," Carter said.

Hofmann, though, said the FBI still had a legal responsibility to tell people that it had obtained information about them and to let them have access to it.

As part of its investigation into the terrorist attacks, the FBI asked for, and got, the records from a number of airlines shortly after Sept. 11. The FBI also got one set of data through a federal grand jury subpoena.

The privacy center in May requested records of the FBI's acquisition of the data. The bureau last week turned over 12 pages of information, much of it blanked out for security reasons.

The 12 pages do show that the bureau obtained 82.1 million passenger manifests, or lists of people who flew on planes, between January and September 2001, in addition to the 257.5 million passenger name records.

Citing privacy concerns, the FBI didn't reveal which airlines turned over the information, which airline employees turned it over and which FBI special agents got it.

The data are called passenger name records, or PNR, and can include a variety of information such as credit card numbers, travel itineraries, addresses, telephone numbers and meal requests.

David Hardy, the FBI's chief of the record/information dissemination section of the records management division, said in a legal document dated Jan. 5 that the data were being stored and combined with other information from the Sept. 11 investigation, dubbed PENTTBOMB.

"I have been advised that the Airline Data Sets have been entered by the Cyber Division into a 'Data Warehouse' and have been intertwined for analytical purposes with the information from several other PENTTBOMB Data Sets," Hardy wrote in a statement to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where the privacy center filed its suit.

Hofmann, the attorney for the privacy group, said the FBI had a legitimate reason for collecting information to get a better picture of the hijackers' travel patterns and possible associates.

But, she said, "it wouldn't seem that there's any reason to keep that information now."

The FBI's Carter said he couldn't comment on what may be happening to the data because the bureau is involved in a lawsuit by the privacy center.

Daniel Solove, a George Washington University Law School professor and author of a book on privacy, said not enough is known about what the FBI is doing with the data to determine if there is a problem.

"Data just sits around and who knows what people are doing with it?" Solove said. "The public is left completely out of the loop, not told what this data is for. The agency is basically saying 'Trust us.'"

Solove suggested there was irony in Congress last year ordering the FBI to more quickly purge information obtained in background checks of gun buyers. That, he said, can be useful in tracking down criminals.

"Congress wants to protect guns at great cost, but when it comes to privacy and civil liberties generally, it doesn't register on the same level," Solove said.
 
 

This story was originally posted to the Internet by David Fiedler. This story originally appeared in "The Blue Press" (a catalog/magazine put out by Dillon Precision Products, Inc., 7442 Butherus Drive, Scottsdale, AZ 85260, phone 602-948-8009.)  The editor, Mark Pixler, was kind enough to allow distribution on the Internet. This story may be reprinted as long as due credit is given to the author and publisher. --   BY RAYMOND K. PADEN

The old man walked slowly through the dry, fallen leaves of autumn, his practiced eye automatically choosing the bare and stony places in the trail for his feet. There was scarcely a sound as he passed, though his left knee was stiff with scar tissue. He grunted occasionally as the tight sinews pulled. Damn chainsaw, he thought.

Behind him, the boy shuffled along, trying to imitate his grandfather, but unable to mimic the silent motion that the old man had learned during countless winter days upon this wooded mountain in pursuit of game. He's fifteen years old, the old man thought. Plenty old enough to be learning. But that was another time, another America. His mind drifted, and he saw himself, a fifteen-year-old boy following in the footsteps of his own grandfather, clutching a twelve gauge in his trembling hands as they tracked a wounded whitetail.

The leg was hurting worse now, and he slowed his pace a bit.  Plenty of time. It should have been my own son here with me now, the old man thought sadly. But Jason had no interest, no understanding. He cared for nothing but pounding on the keys of that damned computer terminal. He knew nothing about the woods, or where food came from...or freedom. And that's my fault, isn't it?

The old man stopped and held up his hand, motioning for the boy to look. In the small clearing ahead, the deer stood motionless, watching them. It was a scraggly buck, underfed and sickly, but the boy's eyes lit up with excitement. It had been many years since they had seen even a single whitetail here on the mountain.  After the hunting had stopped, the population had exploded. The deer had eaten the mountain almost bare until erosion had become a serious problem in some places. That following winter, three starving does had wandered into the old man's yard, trying to eat the bark off of his pecan trees, and he had wished the "animal rights" fanatics could have been there then. It was against the law, but old man knew a higher law, and he took an axe into the yard and killed the starving beasts. They did not have the strength to run.

The buck finally turned and loped away, and they continued down the trail to the river. When they came to the "Big Oak," the old man turned and pushed through the heavy brush beside the trail and the boy followed, wordlessly. The old man knew that Thomas was curious about their leaving the trail, but the boy had learned to move silently (well, almost) and that meant no talking. When they came to "Coffin Rock," the old man sat down upon it and motioned for the boy to join him.

"You see this rock, shaped like a casket?" the old man asked. "Yes sir." The old man smiled. The boy was respectful and polite. He loved the outdoors, too. Everything a man could ask in a grandson ....or a son.

"I want you to remember this place, and what I'm about to tell you.  A lot of it isn't going to make any sense to you, but it's important and one day you'll understand it well enough. The old man paused. Now that he was here, he didn't really know where to start.

"Before you were born," he began at last, "this country was different. I've told you about hunting, about how everybody who obeyed the law could own guns. A man could speak out, anywhere, without worrying about whether he'd get back home or not. School was different, too. A man could send his kids to a church school, or a private school, or even teach them at home. But even in the public schools, they didn't spend all their time trying to brainwash you like they do at yours now." The old man paused, and was silent for many minutes. The boy was still, watching a chipmunk scavenging beside a fallen tree below them.

"Things don't ever happen all at once, boy. They just sort of sneak up on you. Sure, we knew guns were important; we just didn't think it would ever happen in America. But we had to do something about crime, they said. It was a crisis. Everything was a crisis! It was a drug crisis, or a terrorism crisis, or street crime, or gang crime. Even a 'health care' crisis was an excuse to take away a little more of our rights." The old man turned to look at his grandson.

"They ever let you read a thing called the Constitution down there at your school?" The boy solemnly shook his head. "Well, the Fourth Amendment's still in there. It says there won't be any unreasonable searches and seizures. It says you're safe in your own home." The old man shrugged. "That had to go. It was a crisis! They could kick your door open any time, day or night, and come in with guns blazing if they thought you had drugs ...or later, guns. Oh, at first it was just registration -- to keep the guns out of the hands of criminals! But that didn't work, of course, and then later when they wanted to take 'em they knew where to look. They banned 'assault rifles', and then 'sniper rifles', and 'Saturday night specials.' Everything you saw on the TV or in the movies was against us. God knows the news people were! And the schools were teaching our kids that nobody needed guns anymore. We tried to take a stand, but we felt like the whole face of our country had changed and we were left outside."

"Me and a friend of mine, when we saw what was happening, we came and built a secret place up here on the mountain. A place where we could put our guns until we needed them. We figured some day Americans would remember what it was like to be free, and what kind of price we had to pay for that freedom. So we hid our guns instead of losing them."

"One fellow I knew disagreed. He said we ought to use our guns now and stand up to the government. Said that the colonists had fought for their freedom when the British tried to disarm them at Lexington and Concord. Well, he and a lot of others died in what your history books call the 'Tax Revolt of 1998,' but son, it wasn't the revolt that caused the repeal of the Second Amendment like your history book says. The Second Amendment was already gone long before they ever repealed it. The rest of us thought we were doing the right thing by waiting. I hope to God we were right."

"You see, Thomas. It isn't government that makes a man free. In the end, governments always do just the opposite. They gobble up freedom like hungry pigs. You have to have laws to keep the worst in men under control, but at the same time the people have to have guns, too, in order to keep the government itself under control. In our country, the people were supposed to be the final authority of the law, but that was a long time ago. Once the guns were gone, there was no reason for those who run the government to give a damn about laws and constitutional rights and such. They just did what they pleased and anyone who spoke out...well, I'm getting ahead of myself."

"It took a long time to collect up all the millions of firearms that were in private hands. The government created a whole new agency to see to it. There were rewards for turning your friends in, too. Drug dealers and murderers were set free after two or three years in prison, but possession of a gun would get you mandatory life behind bars with no parole.

"I don't know how they found out about me, probably knew I'd been a hunter all those years, or maybe somebody turned me in. They picked me up on suspicion and took me down to the federal building."

"Son, those guys did everything they could think of to me. Kept me locked up in this little room for hours, no food, no water. They kept coming in, asking me where the guns were. 'What guns?' I said. Whenever I'd doze off, they'd come crashing in, yelling and hollering. I got to where I didn't know which end was up. I'd say I wanted my lawyer and they'd laugh. 'Lawyers are for criminals', they said. 'You'll get a lawyer after we get the guns.' What's so funny is, I know they thought they were doing the right thing. They were fighting crime!"

"When I got home I found Ruth sitting in the middle of the living room floor, crying her eyes out. The house was a shambles. While I was down there, they'd come out and took our house apart. Didn't need a search warrant, they said. National emergency! Gun crisis!  Your grandma tried to call our preacher and they ripped the phone off the wall. Told her that they'd go easy on me if she just told them where I kept my guns." The old man laughed. "She told them to go to hell." He stared into the distance for a moment as his laughter faded.

"They wouldn't tell her about me, where I was or anything, that whole time. She said that she'd thought I was dead. She never got over that day, and she died the next December."

"They've been watching me ever since, off and on. I guess there's not much for them to do anymore, now that all the guns are gone.  Plenty of time to watch one foolish old man." He paused. Beside him, the boy stared at the stone beneath his feet.

"Anyway, I figure that, one day, America will come to her senses.  Our men will need those guns and they'll be ready. We cleaned them and sealed them up good; they'll last for years. Maybe it won't be in your lifetime, Thomas. Maybe one day you'll be sitting here with your son or grandson. Tell him about me, boy. Tell him about the way I said America used to be." The old man stood, his bad leg shaking unsteadily beneath him.

"You see the way this stone points? You follow that line one hundred feet down the hill and you'll find a big round rock. It looks like it's buried solid, but one man with a good prybar can lift it, and there's a concrete tunnel right under there that goes back into the hill."

The old man stood, watching as the sun eased toward the ridge, coloring the sky and the world red. Below them, the river still splashed among the stones, as it had for a million years. It's still going, the old man thought. There'll be someone left to carry on for me when I'm gone. It was harder to walk back. He felt old and purposeless now, and it would be easier, he knew, to give in to that aching heaviness in his left lung that had begun to trouble him more and more. Damn cigarettes, he thought. His leg hurt, and the boy silently came up beside him and supported him as they started down the last mile toward the house. How quiet he walks, the old man thought. He's learned well.

It was almost dark when the boy walked in. His father looked up from his paper. "Did you and your granddad have a nice walk?"

"Yes," the boy answered, opening the refrigerator. "You can call Agent Goodwin tomorrow. Gramps finally showed me where it is."

<Editor's note:> "Sundown at Coffin Rock" is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual events or to actual people, living or dead, ‚remains to be seen.
 
 

He died in our backyard last night. It was a violent, brutal and unnecessary thing that left my family hurting and wondering why. The two who killed him were from the neighborhood. They cornered the old guy in our backyard and killed him. When my wife heard our dog barking to get outside and woke me up, it was already too late. The old guy had been unable to defend himself and was already dead. Neither one of the two who killed him showed any sign of remorse or fear when I confronted them. They were just out having a little fun. You know how sometimes you start running around late at night, chasing a good time, and somehow things just get out of hand. Someone sometimes ends up getting hurt. This time he died.

In the grand scheme of life, this really wasn’t such a big deal. He was old and kind of sick. He had to take pills to keep from getting worse. He hated that, but tolerated it if you coaxed him a bit. He hurt a lot most of the time. He complained to anyone who would listen, and even if you really didn’t want to hear it he would still yell at you. We had to feed him small meals every hour or so, all day long. Let him in, let him out, get him a drink, brush his matted hair, and rub his sore spots. He’s been gone less than a day and the hole his passing leaves in my heart is ...... Damn.

We got him the week my oldest daughter finished second grade. The fuzziest ball of yellow cat fur you ever saw. He was a character from day one. He didn’t like to be petted like other cats we had known before. He liked to be held, lying on his back in your arms while you rubbed his face. He would lay there purring for as long as you rubbed him.

When he was bored, he went visiting. While school was in session he would cross the playground behind our house and wander into any open class room door, just to see if someone would rub him. I was called to the school so many times to get him that they finally just found a spare closet, put his name on the door, and tossed him in whenever he showed up for a visit. “Boogedy’s Office.” A dozen years later, the school staff can still show you, with a fond smile, where “Boogedy”s Office was, even though we moved and he stopped visiting more than ten years ago.

Boogedy was the neighborhood cat. He never stopped his visiting. He walked the neighborhood looking for friends who would amuse him. Every kid in the neighborhood knew him. He would stop to rub against any leg that wasn’t moving when he happened by. Affection was his due, in his mind, and the world was formed for his enjoyment. People were here to provide whatever he needed, whenever he needed it. A new dog in our house needed to be put in his place, then was tolerated, as long as he didn’t get too much attention. If you started petting or brushing the dog, Boogedy would soon barge in and demand his share. He ruled the roost until he went missing three years ago around Easter.

We had known that he was at risk, wandering outside on his own, but he would have it no other way. Try to keep him in and the wailing and screaming he would put out was unbearable. When he was finally let out he would run as far as the middle of the deck, then calmly sit and stare back at you with a smug look before starting the bath that he could just as easily have done inside. One day he was just not around. He had gone out and had not come back. We looked for him, but feared the worst when he still had not returned after several days. After two weeks we had given up hope of seeing him again, until a neighbor girl told us that a girl from school had told her that she had gotten a new yellow fuzzy Easter kitty.

A little detective work got us to the right house. We spoke to the people there and heard a familiar plaintive yeowl coming from the basement. I called his name and soon a familiar yellow cat was rubbing his head against my leg, begging to be picked up for a face rub. Now here is where life gets a little funny. The woman who “rescued” the “poor, abandoned” cat who came wandering to their house had taken him to the vet for a check up. She had just moved in with her sister’s family, bringing all her “good furniture” with her, and she wasn’t going to have a cat clawing it all up. So, she had the vet pull out Boogedy’s front claws.

Boogedy never had a chance to prove himself. For over ten years he had lived in our house and had never clawed the furniture. He had never climbed the curtains or shredded the lampshades. He never showed any inclination to anyone that he was destructive, but because he “MIGHT” have done it, he needed to be declawed.

Boogedy acted like he was ashamed of himself for what had happened. When we got him home he hid in the house for days. When he finally decided he wanted to go outside again, we allowed him out with great misgivings. We knew the risks of letting a defenseless cat out were great, but finally could not refuse him. His first time out he ran across the yard and hit the back fence to climb to a favorite sitting spot. When he had no traction and slid down the fence into a heap on the ground I could almost feel his shame and chagrin. His life had changed. Other neighborhood cats started coming into the yard and knocking him around. I had to break up three fights in the first two weeks he was home to save him from injury. Finally he just stayed close to the house, rarely leaving the deck for any distance or length of time.

Last night Boogedy climbed up on the sofa and sat next to the wife and me. We rubbed his head and petted him for a long time. If we stopped, he would reach out with a tentative paw and pat at us until we rubbed him again. Finally, he had enough and yelled to go outside.

The two dogs from a nearby street that killed him cornered him in the back yard. He never had a chance. You see, his claws had been pulled. He might have misused them, so they had to go. I don’t know if the old guy could have saved himself if he still had his claws, but he would have had a chance. Last night he had none.

I can’t sleep tonight. I miss my Boogedy cat. I miss him and I am afraid because of the lesson that he died to teach me. He died, in part, because of the well meaning intervention of someone who decided that, “for his own good” he needed to be disarmed. He “might” have caused damage if he had been left in possession of his God given defenses, so those nasty claws had to go. Someone who “knew better about these things” had decided. He had no argument to make and I was not there to speak for him. Disarming him did nothing to keep him from causing damage; he never had and never would have anyway. Disarming him only made him vulnerable to bullies and resulted in his death.

I have learned the lesson that cost me my cat. Those who would take you in and take care of you are much more interested in the “taking” than in the caring. They disarm you for their own benefit, not yours. Their primary concern is their own comfort and plan for the future, not whether you live, or suffer and die. They protect the bullies, and allow them to run free, with as much or more enthusiasm as they will show in protecting you. They see no difference.

I will not accept the idea that just because I “might” misuse a rifle, or pistol, or an (Oh my God!!!!) assault weapon that these tools of defense should be taken from me or any other free citizen. I will not be disarmed. I will not allow someone who thinks that they “know better about these things” take away my God given defenses. I will not allow those I love to be made vulnerable to the bullies around them, defenseless against those who are allowed to run the streets, looking for fun in injuring or killing others. And if the “dog pack” comes to corner me in my backyard, hoping to knock “the old guy” around a little, they will find that my claws are sharp and I know how to use them.

KeepAndBearArms.com --
 
 

duh

Bush Defiant Amid WMD Report
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/12/iraq/main666327.shtml

[Please explain HOW we are safer.  How do check points on domestic soil protect us from them?  How does disarming domestic citizenry make domestic citizenry safer?  How does NOT defending from invaders make us safer?  How does removing a threat that did not exist make us safer?  You are beseeched to re-watch some video of Powell telling the UN about some photos and how they show proof of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and determine if you really believe him now.  Many did not believe him then and surely would not believe him now.  Powell was NOT convincing.  There are some television programs where you can tell the actors are struggling to make the scene work.  The problem could be bad scripting or bad story line or simply a bad day, but they struggle and it shows in the performance.  This is exactly how Powell acted.  In retrospect, Clinton was that way a lot of the time also.  Any negative observations here are not targeted at only one party or person, but a whole host of them for a long time.  Then, the question arises - WHY did we really attack Iraq?  Sigh, history will tell, just like it has for Pearl Harbor and Germany and Rome and...  --  Tribble]

(CBS/AP) Faced with a harshly critical new report, President George W. Bush conceded Thursday that Iraq did not have the stockpiles of banned weapons he had warned of before the invasion last year, but insisted that "we were right to take action" against Saddam Hussein.

"America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison," Mr. Bush said in a surprise statement to reporters as he prepared to fly to Wisconsin.

"Much of the accumulated body of our intelligence was wrong and we must find out why," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush spoke one day after Charles Duelfer, the American weapons hunter in Iraq, presented to the Senate and the public a report that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion last year. The decline was wrought by the first Gulf War and years of international sanctions, the chief U.S. weapons hunter found.

As CBS National Security Correspondent David Martin reports, Duelfer's report renders pre-war statements by Mr. Bush and his senior advisers flat wrong. Democrats saw their opening and took it.

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry charged the report "provided definitive evidence as to why George Bush should not be re-elected president of the United States."

Speaking on the eve of the second presidential debate, Kerry said Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney "may well be the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth" about the deteriorating situation in Iraq.

Some 1,196 coalition personnel have been killed since the start of the war. Of those, 1,060 are American, 67 British and 69 are from other coalition countries. Unknown numbers of Iraqis have also died on both sides of the conflict.

Duelfer's findings contradict most of the assertions by the Bush administration and the U.S. intelligence community about Iraq's threat in 2002 and early 2003.

Mr. Bush said in October 2002 that, "Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biological weapons and is increasing his capabilities to make more." Mr. Bush also said then, "The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program."

Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech on Aug. 26, 2002, 6 1/2 months before the invasion, made similar charges: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."

On Thursday, Cheney said, "The headlines all say no weapons of mass destruction stockpiled in Baghdad. We already knew that."

He said other parts of the report were "more intriguing."

Vice presidential candidate John Edwards called Cheney's claim "amazing" and accused his Republican rival of using "convoluted logic."

"They are willing to say left is right and up is down," Edwards said while campaigning in Bayonne, N.J. "The vice president, Dick Cheney, and the president need to recognize that the Earth is actually round and that the sun is rising in the east."

Cheney's comments reflect a GOP strategy to use portions of the report, including abuses of the oil-for-food program, to try to move discussion away from the central conclusions on the absence of weapons of mass destruction.

What ambitions Saddam harbored for such weapons were secondary to his goal of evading those sanctions, and he wanted them primarily not to attack the United States or to provide them to terrorists, but to oppose his older enemies, Iran and Israel, the report found.
Mr. Bush took a similar line on Thursday.

"The Duelfer report showed that Saddam was systematically gaming the system, using the U.N. oil for food program to try to influence countries and companies in an effort to undermine sanctions," Mr. Bush said. "He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons program once the world looked away."

The vice president said the report concluded that the United Nations' oil-for-food program "was totally corrupted by Saddam Hussein. There were suggestions employees of the United Nations were part of the scheme as well."

"The suggestion is clearly there by Mr. Duelfer that Saddam had used the program in such a way that he had bought off foreign governments and was building support among them to take the sanctions down," Cheney said.

The new GOP strategy contained some risks to Mr. Bush: Some of the countries possibly implicated in wrongdoing in the program include U.S. allies in Iraq, particularly Poland, as well as Russia — countries the administration does not want to alienate.

On Wednesday, the former head of the U.N. weapons inspection team, Hans Blix, said: "Had we had a few months more (of inspections before the war), we would have been able to tell both the CIA and others that there were no weapons of mass destruction (at) all the sites that they had given to us."

Kerry said Thursday that Mr. Bush and Cheney have failed to recognize a deteriorating situation in post-war Iraq and "may well be the last two people on the planet who won't face the truth."

In his strongest statement yet, the Democratic presidential nominee suggested that if Mr. Bush fails to recognize the severity of problems in Iraq, then if Kerry takes office in January he will face a situation as chaotic as the Middle East in the early 1980s.

"If the president just does more of the same every day and it continues to deteriorate, I may be handed Lebanon, figuratively speaking," Kerry told reporters at a brief news conference.

Kerry made the comments as he prepared for Friday night's debate against Mr. Bush, their second encounter in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

Duelfer's Iraq Survey Group drew on interviews with senior Iraqi officials, 40 million pages of documents and classified intelligence to conclude that Iraq destroyed its undeclared chemical and biological stockpiles under pressure of U.N. sanctions by 1992 and never resumed production.

The U.S.-led invasion pushed one of Iraq's leaders into seeking chemical weapons to defend the country. But it doesn't appear that Saddam's son Odai located any.

Iraq ultimately abandoned its biological weapons programs in 1995, largely out of fear they would be discovered and tougher enforcement imposed.

"Indeed, from the mid-1990s, despite evidence of continuing interest in nuclear and chemical weapons, there appears to be a complete absence of discussion or even interest in BW at the presidential level," according to a summary of Duelfer's 1,000-page report.
 
 

duh

CCRKBA says Maryland Report on Ballistic Imaging Shatters Gun Tracking Myths
For Immediate Release: January 11, 2005

http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/CC-Maryland-boon.htm
contributing editor to   - Bob

A report by the Maryland State Police that recommends repeal of a law requiring collection of ballistic imaging information "shatters one of the favorite myths of gun control extremists," the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

In its progress report on the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS), the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division recommends that "this program be suspended, a repeal of the collection of cartridge cases from current law be enacted and the Laboratory Technicians associated with the program be transferred to the DNA database unit." So far, Maryland has spent $2.5 million over the past four years, with nothing to show for it. The report admitted, "Guns found to be used in the commission of crime…are not the ones being entered into" the system.

"Our congratulations to Gov. Robert Ehrlich's administration for having released this information," said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. "Since the Maryland research also reveals that the same program in New York State has produced not a single trace that has led to the solution of a crime, we think Gov. George Pataki ought to consider scrapping the Empire State's program as well, saving taxpayers there about $4 million dollars annually."

Laws in New York and Maryland require that a fired cartridge case from each handgun sold in the state be provided for entry into the respective state's IBIS database. Extremist gun control groups supported this requirement because it amounts to a de facto gun registry in the guise of a crime-fighting tool.

"By admission of the Maryland State Police, ballistic imaging doesn't work, and appears to be a waste of money," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "Technicians with the California Department of Justice said as much two years ago. The Citizen's Committee and other gun rights groups have been saying all along that ballistic imaging was a fraud as a crime-prevention tool, and now it's also being proven as an ineffective crime-solving tool.

"Taxpayers in every state have a right to know about the Maryland report," Gottlieb stated, "because gun control zealots have pushed similar programs in many state legislatures. Taxpayers expect to have their money wisely spent on genuine anti-crime measures, not some boondoggle that amounts to gun registration by another name."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.

Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA  98005
 
 

[As The RockView has written in the following issues -
http://tellme1st.net/rockyview/200406/200406index.html
http://tellme1st.net/rockyview/200410/200410index.html
http://tellme1st.net/rockyview/200411/200411index.html
the government, under the Bush administration (but surely this is not solely a Bush thing), has passed a law for mandatory SCREENING and TREATMENT (drugs) of mental illness, to be preformed uSA citizens.  The important question is whom is to determine who is mentally ill and what are the criteria?  The following article might be a good example of how and why "they" will employ such testing and treatment.  --  Tribble]

It’s not the stolen election or the war crimes committed in my name. It’s not the fact Bush is a liar and a criminal. It’s not the Strausscons in the White House and the Pentagon, plotting multiple wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. It’s not Congress, sold out to neolibs, multinational corporations, and Wall Street loan sharks.

It’s me.

I’m suffering from “political paranoia” and need Paxil, a prescription drug for the treatment of anxiety and depression. It’s not the 100,000 dead killed by my government in Iraq. It’s not torture or loose talk of nuking enemies. It is a serotonin imbalance in my brain. I suffer from any number of possible maladies—depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (thus writing this blog every day), and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. I suffer from mental illness and need help.

Congress may come to the rescue—and soon.

“When the 109th Congress convenes in Washington in January, Senator Bill Frist, the first practicing physician elected to the Senate since 1928, plans to file a bill that would define ‘political paranoia’ as a mental disorder, paving the way for individuals who suffer from paranoid delusions regarding voter fraud, political persecution and FBI surveillance to receive Medicare reimbursement for any psychiatric treatment they receive,” writes Hermione Slatkin, Medical Correspondent for the Swift Report. “Rick Smith, a spokesman for Senator Frist, says that the measure has a good chance of passing—something that can only help a portion of the population that is suffering significant distress.”

    “If you’re still convinced that President Bush won the election because Republicans figured out a way to hack into electronic voting machines, you’ve obviously got a problem,” says Smith. “If we can figure out a way to ease your suffering by getting you into therapy and onto medication, that’s something that we hope the entire 109th Congress will support.”

Characterizing political dissent as a form of mental illness is the hallmark of authoritarian government. In China, for instance, forensic psychiatrists label dissent “political lunacy” (see Jacob Sullum, Head Games: What are the rules for defining mental illness?) and in Soviet Russia political dissenters were routinely cosigned to mental hospitals. Nowadays, with modern pharmacology, mental hospitals are no longer required—the mental hospital is internalized through chemical intervention.

No need for FEMA camps or “preventive detention” when we have a “medical armamentarium” of serotonin uptake inhibitors. All that is needed now is for Frist and the Republicans to devise a law defining “political paranoia” and determining that “political paranoiacs” are a threat to society.

You will take your Paxil—or something far more debilitating—and by court order. Recall Bush’s effort to screen the entire population for mental illness, i.e., the New Freedom Initiative. Bush’s commission found that “despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed” and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for “consumers of all ages.” Naturally, Frist and the Republicans are mostly concerned about the “political paranoia” form of mental illness, as the above news item indicates.

As a “consumer,” is it possible I am suffering from “political paranoia.” or is the whole thing a product of my feverish imagination and the result of reading too many news items on the web?

Finally, note that I could not find mention of Frist and the classification of “political paranoia” after a lengthy Google news search. Mention of it only appeared on the Swift Report website. Rick Smith’s above quote returned no results. Of course, this does not mean that Bill Frist and the Republicans do not consider the opposition—including more than a few Democrats—as mental cases and tinfoil hatters. Rush Limbaugh calls us nutters every day and millions of gullible Americans take what he says as gospel.
 
 

a r t i c l e   /   c o m m e n t a r y

Egyptian Paper: Israel-India Nuke Test caused Tsunami
Joseph Nasr, THE JERUSALEM POST  Jan. 6, 2005
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1104981578311&p=1101615860782
contributing editor to   - Jeanne

[Offered for your perusal without comment.  Tribble]

The earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean on December 26, triggering a series of huge waves called tsunami, "was possibly" caused by an Indian nuclear experiment in which "Israeli and American nuclear experts participated," an Egyptian weekly magazine reported Thursday.

According to Al-Osboa', India, in its heated nuclear race with Pakistan, has lately received sophisticated nuclear know-how from the United States and Israel, both of which "showed readiness to cooperate with India in experiments to exterminate humankind."

Since 1992, the magazine argued, leading geological centers in Britain, Turkey and other countries, warned of the need "not to hold nuclear experiments in the region of the Indian Ocean known as 'the Fire Belt,' in which the epicenter of the earthquake lies.

Geologists labeled that region 'The Fire Belt' for being "a dangerous terrain that can move at anytime, without human intervention," Al-Osboa' wrote.

Despite warnings not to carry out nuclear experiments in and around the 'Fire Belt', "Israel and India continue to conduct nuclear tests in the Indian Ocean, and the United States has recently decided to carry out similar tests in the Australian deserts, which is included in the 'Fire Belt', the Egyptian weekly magazine wrote.

"Last year only, Arab and Islamic states have asked the United States to stop its nuclear activities in that region, and to urge Israel and India to follow suite," Al-Osboa' reported.

Although Al-Osboa' does not rule out the possibility that the tsunami could have been caused by a natural earthquake it speculates however that, "while it has not been proved yet, there has been a joint Israeli-Indian secret nuclear experiment [conducted on December 26] that caused the earthquake."

The Egyptian weekly magazine concludes in its report that "the exchange of nuclear experts between Israel and India, and US pressure on Pakistan which is exerted by supplying India with state-of-the-art nuclear technology and preventing Islamabad from cooperating with Asian and Islamic states in the nuclear field, pose a big question mark on the causes behind the violent Asian earthquake."

Incitement against Israel and Jews in Egyptian media is usually limited to the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict yet exceptions are known to occur.

In August 2002, the Paris Supreme Court summoned Ibrahim Naafi', editor of the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, for having authorized the publication of a controversial article entitled 'Jewish matza is made from Arab blood' in the October 28, 2000 edition of the paper.

Naafi' was charged with incitement to anti-Semitism and racist violence.
 
 

Hitachi Unveils Smallest RFID Chip
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/337/1/1/
 

The Japanese chipmaker recently showed off an RFID microchip that is just 0.3 square millimeter square. March 14, 2003 - Hitachi, the Japanese semiconductor company, has unveiled a prototype for the next generation of its µ-Chip (pronounced mu-chip). The chip is just 0.3 millimeters square, roughly half the size of the smallest RFID chip on the market.

The decrease in size was achieved by employing semiconductor fabrication processes that creates structures on the wafer that are just 0.18 microns. Most existing RFID chips use older 0.35 micron processes. The prototype of the mu-chip was shown at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference held in San Francisco, Calif., last month.
Mu-chips get smaller

The chip operates at 2.45 GHz and stores a 128-bit number based on the "mu-chip ID number criterion" developed by Hitachi, which issues the numbers. The number is written to the chip during the silicon fabrication process and cannot be changed. The current mu-chip can be read from about a foot away (30 cm). The new version is expected to maintain the same performance standards.

Another innovation in the new mu chip involves the electrodes, where the ends of the coiled antenna are attached. These are usually on the top of the chip, but on the new mu-chip, one is on the top and one is on the bottom. Hitachi says this will dramatically improve its ability to mass-produce RFID tags with mu-chips.

With very small chips, it becomes difficult to attach the antenna using conventional flip chip technology, in which the electrodes are coated with adhesive, and then the chip is turned over and pressed onto the antenna. Hitachi decline to describe the mass production technique it uses to attach the antennas for competitive reasons.

Hitachi currently sells RFID inlets (the chip with an antenna attached, on a substrate) for 50 yen (43 US cents) for orders of 70,000 or more. Readers currently cost about $1,500. The company has not established pricing for the new chip, but a spokesperson for Hitachi told RFID Journal that the company plans to sell complete systems -- tags, readers, software and networking infrastructure -- in 2005.

Hitachi sees the mu-chip as an attractive alternative to applications where a bar code isn't suitable and more conventional RFID tags are too expensive. Among the markets it is targeting are supply chain management, product tracability, and security applications.

A number of Hitachi divisions are already using the mu-chip. And Marubeni-Itochu Steel has purchased tags for tracking items. The mu-chip doesn't conform to any international standards, so it is currently being used in closed-loop applications.

From the Horses Mouth

Hitachi Develops a New RFID with Embedded Antenna µ-Chip
--Makes Possible Wireless Links that Work Using Nothing More Than a 0.4mm X 0.4mm Chip, One of the World's Smallest ICs--
http://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/030902.html

Tokyo, September 2, 2003-Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced that it has developed a new version of its RFID µ-Chip embedding an antenna. When using Hitachi's original µ-Chip, one of the world's smallest RFID ICs measuring only 0.4mm X 0.4mm, an external antenna must be attached to the chip to allow external devices to read the 128-bit ID number stored in its ROM (Read-Only-Memory). This newly developed version, however, features an internal antenna, enabling chips to employ the energy of incoming electrical waves to wirelessly transmit its ID number to a reader. The 0.4mm X 0.4mm chip can thus operate entirely on its own, making it possible to use µ-Chip as RFID IC tags without the need to attach external devices. This breakthrough opens the door to using µ-Chips as RFID IC tags in extremely minute and precise applications that had been impractical until now. For example, the new µ-Chip can be easily embedded in bank notes, gift certificates, documents and whole paper media etc.

The µ-Chip, announced by Hitachi in July 2001, is one of the world's smallest IC chips at 0.4mm X 0.4mm. The chip data is recorded in read-only memory during the semiconductor production process, and therefore cannot be rewritten, thus guaranteeing its authenticity. Applications of the µ-Chip include a system for managing the SCM materials on sites, and entrance tickets for Expo 2005 Aichi Japan which opens on March 25, 2005.

The primary features of this revolutionary µ-Chip are as follows.
(1) A RFID IC chip measuring only 0.4mm X 0.4mm with built-in antenna
Despite its extremely small size, this µ-Chip has a built-in antenna to permit contactless communications (at very close proximity) with other devices without using an external antenna.
(2) No need for special manufacturing equipment
The antenna is formed using bump-metalization technology (used to create the electrical contacts of an IC), a process already widely used by semiconductor manufacturers, thus eliminating any need for specialized equipment.
(3) Complete compatibility with conventional µ-Chip
With ID numbers and support systems that are fully compatible with those of existing µ-Chip, the new chip is fully compatible with all systems that use current µ-Chip technology.

Hitachi plans to develop numerous markets for this chip that take full advantage of its outstanding features. Embedding the chip in securities, identification and other valuable documents such as vouchers offers a highly sophisticated means of preventing counterfeiting. Another high-potential application is agricultural products, where the chips can help ensure the safety of food by providing traceability of ingredients. Additionally, the chips can be embedded in business forms to automate logistics systems and many other business processes.

About Hitachi, Ltd. --
Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 340,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003) consolidated sales totaled 8,191.7 billion yen ($68.3 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi.com.

RockyView Commentary --

Back in December 2003 and January 2004, The RockyView wrote about RFID's and in the January 2004 report, amazing detail about the powerful ability of these devices to catalog almost everything.  Now you can correct that, RFID's can literally catalog EVERYTHING.  The Hitachi chip mentioned in the above articles are more powerful than those reported in 12/03 & 01/04.

Those earlier articles can be found at
http://tellme1st.net/rockyview/200401/200401index.html
http://tellme1st.net/rockyview/200312/200312index.html

What follows is a modified reprint of the 01/04 article, but including information based on this new Hitachi report.

The numbers here are staggering, so pay attention.

This is an attempt to explain a little of the new Hitachi (or any other brand) 128 bit RFID device.

These new RFID wonders intended for use in tracking products and people are more powerful than even your PC.  They are more powerful in terms of the "word size" of their processing power.  Your PC is probably a 32 bit processor, which means it can handle a "word size" of 32 bits.  The English word "car" is a 3 bit word, but in computer terms, that would be represented by a combination of bits "1's" and "0's".  Another example might be the number “27”.  In your 32 bit computer that would be

0000000000000000000000000011011

In a 64 bit processor that would be

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000011011

Likewise, the number 5,275,725,080,708,530,000 is represented by the 64 bit binary number
00100100100110111001001000000001001001000010000000100000001000001

If all 64 placeholders (bits) were 1's, it would represent the number
18,446,744,073,709,600,000.

Then with the newer 128 bit device the number 5,275,725,080,708,530,000 is represented by the 128 bit binary number
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00100100100110111001001000000001001001000010000000100000001000001

If all 128 placeholders (bits) were 1's, it would represent the number
340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

Every bit (place holder) is unique for identification.

In 32 bit words, the possible number of unique words (also know as serial numbers) is
4,294,967,296.

In 64 bit words, the possible number of unique words (also know as serial numbers) is
18,446,744,073,709,600,000.

In 128 bit words, the possible number of unique words (also know as serial numbers) is
340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

With a 64 bit processor, the system using them can keep track of 18,446,744,073,709,600,000 individual items.  It does not matter whether these items are products on the shelf or PEOPLE.  Each item will have its own unique serial number.

BUT, with a 128 bit processor, the system using them can keep track of 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 individual items.  It does not matter whether these items are products on the shelf or PEOPLE or trees.  Each item will literally have its own unique serial number.

Try to put this in perspective - if you laid end-to-end grains of rice (about 1/4 inch each), from Earth to the Sun, it would take about 23,558,719,600,000 grains.  You would have to make that trip 14,444,009,381,602,300,000,000,000 times to use all the grains of rice you could catalog with a 128 bit system.

To make the trip from Pluto to the Sun would take 365,219,974,810,715,000,000,000 trips.  WOW.

Today, many people know a little about this kind of cataloguing/numbering system and it is called social security (SS).  The SS system has only 9 bits for identifying people, so the maximum number of people (items) would be 999,999,999.  In fact, not some sets of numbers are reserved and/or not used, so the maximum number is less.

A 32 bit system allows for about 10 times (than the current SS system) that many people or things to be tracked.  A 64 bit system allows for about 20 trillion MORE TIMES (than the current SS system) items and people to be tracked.  A 128 bit system allows for about 20 trillion X 20 trillion X 1 billion MORE TIMES (than the current SS system) items and people to be tracked.

There are many ways to allocate the bits to represent regions of land or sex or any other demographic, but in the end the 64 bit serial number (by any other name) would be the unique identifier for everything and every person on the planet.

Do not worry about running out of numbers.  Before, we run out of numbers, either the next generation of processors, being 256 bits will be developed and/or people and products will be registered as deceased or destroyed or in some way no longer in existence.  This would free those numbers or re-assignment.

These are passive devices and only transmit a signal when prompted by a broadcast signal.  The premise is that when you get near a certain device like a cash register, a transmitted signal awakens the chip and it uses only a little energy to transmits its own signal which is a serial number.  Then it goes to sleep again.  The energy it needs to transmit can be gathered from the radio signals in the air or from temperature variants in your body or from motion.  In this way, the chips do not need power packs, which predictably need repair or replacement.

With this system, every thing and every person can be tracked.  These RFID’s are so small, from the size of a grain of rice.
 

http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3607047&p1=0	http://cbn.com/

For those who interpret Scripture to mean that this kind of device is needed to fulfill Revelation 13:16-17, THIS IS A SIGN OF THE TIME OF THE END.

Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

But, with a single trigger signal from HAARP or satellites or cell towers or even general radio broadcasts, not to mention cash registers and security gates, these devices can be triggered to wake up and send their number, then GPS and other technology will be used to determine where that chip is and extrapolate with whom you spent last night, even in which room.

This number is all this chip contains.  Once the number is retrieved, then a data base in computers cross references the number to the person for whom the number is assigned.  All information about you or a product is contained in computers, not in the chip.

Big Brother is watching.
 
 

the offices of Dewey, Cheetum & Howe

Congressman Too Truthful - Ron Paul
http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=17229
contributing editor to   - D & Marc

Now you're talking! Thank you, Dr. Paul.
Posted by markyannone on Thursday December 16, 2004 at 5:44 pm MST
 

Member of Congress Ron Paul, M.D.

The other day, I made a huge "gaffe" on national TV: I told the truth about the crimes of the U.S. Government. As you can imagine, the ceiling fell in, and a couple of walls too. Congressmen are supposed to support the government, I was told. Oh, it's okay to criticize around edges, but there are certain subjects a member of the House of Representatives is not supposed to bring up. But I touched the real "third rail" of American politics, and the sparks sure flew. I was interviewed on C-SPAN's morning "Washington Journal," and I used the opportunity, as I do all such media appearances, to point out how many of our liberties have been stolen by the federal government. We must take them back. The Constitution, after all, has a very limited role for Washington, D.C.

If we stuck to the Constitution as written, we would have: no federal meddling in our schools; no Federal Reserve; no U. S. membership in the U.N.; no gun control; and no foreign aid. We would have no welfare for big corporations, or the "poor"; No American troops in 100 foreign countries; no Nafta, GATT, or "fast-track"; no arrogant federal judges usurping states rights; no attacks on private property; and no income tax. We can get rid of most of the cabinet departments, most of the agencies, and most of the budget. The government would be small, frugal, and limited.

That system is called Liberty. It's what the Founding Fathers gave us. Under liberty, we built the greatest, freest, most prosperous, most decent country on earth. It's no coincidence that the monstrous growth of the federal government has been accompanied by a sickening decline in living standards and moral standards. The feds want us to be hamsters on a tread mill working hard, all day long, to pay high taxes, but otherwise entirely docile and controlled. The huge, expensive, and out-of control leviathan that we call the federal government wants to run every single aspect of our lives.

Well, I'm sorry, but that's not America. It's not what the Founders gave us. It's not the country you believe in. It's not the country I believe in. So, on that TV interview, I emphasized not only the attacks on our property, but also the decline of our civil liberties, at the hands of the federal police. There's not supposed to be any federal police, according to the Constitution.

Then I really went over the line. I talked about the Waco massacre. Bill Clinton and Janet Reno claimed those 81 church members including 19 children, burned down their own Church, killed themselves, and good riddance. So they put a few survivors on trial, and threw them in prison for 40 years.

We're not supposed to remember that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms--talk about an unconstitutional agency--rather than arrest David Koresh on his regular morning jog, called in the TV stations for a big publicity bonanza, and sent a swat team in black masks and black uniforms to break down his front door, guns blazing. They also sent in a helicopter gun ship to shoot the roof of a church full of innocents. The Branch Davidians resisted, and after a heartless siege of almost two months, and after cutting off food, water, electricity, and playing horrible rock and roll through huge speakers 24 hours a day, the Feds sent in tanks to crush the walls of the church, and inject poisonous CS gas.

Now, CS gas is banned under the Paris Convention on Chemical Warfare. The U.S. could not use it in war. But it could and did use it against American civilians.

After the tanks did their work on the church, the place burst into flames, and all 81 people--men, women, children, and babies--were incinerated in a screaming horror. Did some feds set the fire? Did the flammable CS gas ignite, since without electricity, the parishioners were using lanterns? Did a tank knock over a lantern, striking one of the bales of hay being used against the thin, walls as a defense against bullets? Or did the Davidians, as Clinton and Reno claim, kill themselves?

A new documentary- -Waco: Rules of Engagement--may show, throughout FLIR infrared photography, FBI snipers killing the Davidians by shooting through the back of the church, where no media cameras were allowed. This film won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It was made by people who took government's side, until they investigated. Whatever the truth, there's no question that an irresponsible federal government has innocent blood on its hands, and not only from Waco. And the refusal of corrupt perverse liberals to admit it means nothing.

In my interview, in answer to a caller's question, I pointed out that Waco, in the federal murders at Ruby Ridge'--especially the FBI snipers shot that blast apart the head of the young mother holding her baby caused many Americans to live in fear of federal power. Then uttered the sentiment that caused the media hysteria: I said that a lot of Americans fear that they too might be attacked by federal swat teams for exercising their constitutional rights, or merely for wanting to be left alone.

Whoa! You've never seen anything like it. For days, in an all-out assault, I was attacked by Democrats, unions, big business, establishment Republicans, and of course the media, in Washington in my home state of Texas. Newspapers foamed at the mouth, calling me a "right-wing extremist". (Say, isn't that what George III called Thomas Jefferson?) I was even blamed for the Oklahoma City bombing! And by the way, I don't believe we've gotten the full truth on that either. All my many opponents were outraged that a congressman would criticize big government. "If you don't like Washington, resign!" said a typical big-city newspaper editorial.

But the media, as usual, were all wet. (Do they ever get anything right?) The average Congressman may go to Washington to wallow in power, and line his pockets with a big lobbying job for a special interest (so he can just keep ripping-off the taxpayers).

But that's not why I'm in Congress. It's not why I left my medical practice as a physician. It's not why I put up with all of the abuse. It's not why I refuse a plush Congressional pension. I'm in this fight for a reason. I want to hand on to my children and grandchildren, and to you in your family, a great and free America, an America true to her Constitution, an America worthy of her history. I'll not let the crooks and clowns and criminals have their way.

I'm in Congress to represent the ideas of Liberty, the ideas that you and I share, for the people of my district, for the people of Texas, for the people of America. That's why I'm working to stop federal abuses, and to cut the government: its taxes, its bureaucrats, its paramilitary police, its spending, its meddling overseas, and every single unconstitutional action it takes. And not with a pair of nail scissors, but with a hammer and chisel. Won't you help me do this work?

Not much of the federal leviathan would be left, if I had my way. But you'd be able to keep the money you earn, your privacy would be secure, your dollar would be sound, your local school would be tops, and your kids wouldn't be sent off to some useless or vicious foreign war to fight for the U.N.. But Jefferson and the other Founders would recognize our government, and our descendants would bless us. By the way, when I say cut taxes, I don't mean fiddle with the code. I mean abolish the income tax and the IRS, and . . .

Recently, I asked a famous Republican Committee Chairman--who's always talking about getting rid of the IRS--why he engineered a secret $580 million raise for the tax collectors. "They need it for their computers," this guy told me. So the IRS can't extract enough from us as it is!

The National Taxpayers Unions says I have the highest pro-taxpayer rating in Congressional history, that I am the top "Taxpayer's Best Friend." You know I won't play the Capitol Hill games with the Capitol Hill gang, denouncing the IRS while giving the Gestapo more of your money. Or figuring out some other federal tax for them to squeeze out of you. I also want to abolish the Federal Reserve . . .

The value of our dollar and the level of our interest rates are not supposed to be manipulated by a few members of the power elite meeting secretly in a marble palace. The Federal Reserve is unconstitutional, pure and simple. The only constitutional money is gold and silver, not notes redeemable in them. Not fed funny money. Without the Federal Reserve, our money could not be inflated at the behest of big government or big banks. Your income in savings would not lose their value. Just as important, we wouldn't have this endless string of booms and busts, recessions and depressions, with each bust getting worse. They aren't natural to the free market; they're caused by the schemers at the Fed. President Andrew Jackson called the 19th century's Fed " The Monster" because it was a vehicle for inflation and all sorts of special-interest corruption. Let me tell you, things haven't changed a bit.

I also work to save our schools from D.C. interference. Thanks to the feds, new curriculums not only smear the Founders as "racist, slave owning elitists," they seek to dumb down all our students so they will all be equal. "Look-say" reading and the abolition of phonics has the same purpose, and so does the new "fuzzy" math, in which there at no right and no wrong answers. That must be what they use in the U.S. Treasury! It's certainly what they use in the U.S. Congress.

But ever since the beginning of federal aid to education and accelerating with the establishment of the rotten Department of Education, SAT scores have been dropping. Schools, with few exceptions, are getting worse every year. To save our kids, we must get the sticky fingers of the feds off our local schools, and let parents rule. That's what the Constitution says, and the Bible too.

And then there's my least favorite topic, the U.N. World government is obviously unconstitutional. It undermines our country sovereignty in the worst way possible. That's why I want us out of the U.N., and the U.N. itself taking a hike. After all, the U.N. is socialist and corrupt (many votes can be bought with a "blond and a case of Scotch" one U.N. ambassador once said). It costs many billions, and it puts our soldiers in U.N. uniforms under foreign commanders, and sends them off to unconstitutional, undeclared wars.

When Michael New, one of the finest young men I've ever met, objected to wearing U.N. blue, he was kicked out of the American Army. What an outrage! Not one dime for the U.N., and not one American soldier! Not Haiti, not in Bosnia, not in Somalia, not in Rwanda. I know its radical, but how about devoting American military efforts to defending America, and only America?

Such ideas, said one newspaper reporter, make me a maverick, who will never go far because he won't go along to get along. Darn right! What does "go far" mean? Get a big government job? To heck with that. And I won't sell my vote for pork either.

When I walked through the U.S. Capitol this morning, I got angry! The building is filled with statues and paintings of Jefferson, Madison, and the other Founders. Those great men sacrificed everything to give us a free country, and a Constitution to keep it that way.

When I was first elected, I placed my hand on the Bible and swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. That's exactly what I'm fighting for. Such ideas drive the liberals crazy.

Join this fight for the Constitution, and stop those who want to rip it up, and throw it in the Potomac. Together, we can join the Founders fight. Together we can make this history.

Sincerely,

Ron Paul U.S. Congressman 203 Canon Washington DC 20515
http://www.house.gov/paul/openingpage.htm

[Here are some related thoughts and quotes]

To those who have taken the Oath, Remember the Oath!
To those who have not and believe in the Constitution, take a similar Oath now to the Constitution!
Remember that those who make laws contrary to the Constitution, those who enforce laws contrary to the Constitution, and those who give orders contrary to the Constitution, have become domestic enemies of the Constitution!
It doesn't take a Judge or a lawyer to know the difference!
 

 "I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE
 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND
 DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; AND
 THAT I WILL OBEY THE (CONSTITUTIONAL AND LAWFUL) ORDERS OF THE PRESIDENT
 OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE (CONSTITUTIONAL AND LAWFUL) ORDERS OF THE
 OFFICERS APPOINTED OVER ME, ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS AND THE UNIFORM
 CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE. SO HELP ME GOD."

 Teddy's Answer to Diversity!

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to  permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.
 - Theodore Roosevelt, speech before the Knights of Columbus, 1915, New York
 

 Teddy's Answer to Bush!

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
 - Theodore Roosevelt

James D. Jones, Chairman
Independent America First Party, TN
www.afptn.org

"A people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for reserving it--if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked-- if by momentary discouragement, or temporary panic, or a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, they can be nduced to lay their liberties at the feet even of a great man, or trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions 'in all these cases they are more or less unfit for liberty' and though it may be for their good to have bad even for a short time, they are unlikely long to enjoy it." ----John Stuart Mill
 
 

a r t i c l e   /   c o m m e n t a r y

Gun Control Works
contributing editor to   - Bob

Dear RockyView - Too bad the media isn't as receptive to showing both sides of an issue as you are.

[We say, that if we appear receptive to multiple sides of issues, then the others are BAD.  Thanks Bob  --  Tribble]

I just finished an e-mail exchange with a reporter for our local Columbus Dispatch newspaper re: an article he wrote on the decline of homicides and other violent crime in Columbus in 2004. "Personal" violent crime had been on a  steady increase for the past 10 years and suddenly in 2004 it declined. The reporter offered all sorts of "theories" for this decline ranging from more ploice officers on the street to crackdowns on gangs to (believe it or not) "just plain old good luck"!!! Glaringly missing was the fact that, in early April, Ohio's HB12 went into effect and allowed legal carry of concealed defensive guns. The proponents were saying all along while trying to get this bill passed that in every state that it had become law, a dramatic decrease in violent crime against individuals was seen. Yet, this reporter not only didn't even MENTION the POSSIBILITY that people carrying guns for self-protection could have contributed to the decline in crime, when I brought it to his attention he said that as the law hadn't been in effect for a full year yet (9 months) it shouldn't be considered... Ha! And they say there's no media bias against guns!

On a related note --

PS: We just had a second robbery at a Fifth Third bank here in Clumbus this week. Fifth Third is the bank that immediately posted "No guns allowed" signs when legal concealed carry became law in Ohio. Apparently the 5/3 folks felt that the signs would keep out the bad guys... All it's done it tell the bad guys that Fifth Third is the best bank to rob because they KNOW there are no armed patrons inside. I switched from 5/3 to BankOne (no signs) and BankOne has been robbery free since last April. There's a message here but 5/3 guys don't get it....
 
 

a r t i c l e   /   c o m m e n t a r y

You really have to Love this Guy.  God Rest his Soul
contributing editor to   - Bob
 

"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."

"Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong."

"I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandment's would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress."

"The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."

"Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program."

"I've laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting."

"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession.   I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."

"No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

- Ronald Reagan
 
 

By Ed Thomas and Jody Brown - January 4, 2005
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/42005a.asp

(AgapePress) - The right of Christians to assemble and preach the gospel in public is under examination in Philadelphia. Four of the eleven Christians who preached at the "gay pride" event "Outfest" in early October -- all of whom were arrested -- are now facing prison time of up to 47 years.

The "Philadelphia Four", as they have come to known, are facing felony charges -- and are accused of using "fighting words" -- for preaching against homosexuality. Video footage of the group's appearance at the pro-homosexual event shows Christian activist Michael Marcavage, founder of the Philly-based group Repent America, with a bullhorn attempting to sing and speak the gospel. He is accompanied by several other Christians.

The video also shows the "Pink Angels," a group of homosexual activists, using 10-foot tall Styrofoam boards, surrounding the Christians as they blocked the group's signs, impeded their movement, and prevented people from seeing them. None of the homosexual activists was arrested, cited, or warned for their actions.

Speaking on the Fox New program O'Reilly Factor on Monday night (January 3), an attorney for the four Christian activists said one of the issues in the case is an abuse of power by authorities in the City of Brotherly Love.
 

Brian Fahling

"Now, when you speak in the public square -- at least in Philadelphia -- you will be sent to prison, if they have anything to say about it," said Brian Fahling, an attorney with the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy. "That's frightening, that's chilling -- and every American ought to be astonished, stunned, and outraged that this is happening in Philadelphia." Fahling said all his clients were doing was "peacefully evangelizing" -- and that they were doing "what every evangelist does -- and that's bring the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who don't know Christ. There's no crime in that." His group calls the incident "the clearest example of anti-Christian bigotry by city officials in the last century."

Also appearing on the Fox News segment was Outfest legal advisor Charles Volz. The felony charges of criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and inciting a riot seemed to be echoed in his accusations of the 11 Christian activists who were originally arrested.

"I think we've got to draw a line between where is freedom of speech and where is it 'fighting words,'" Volz said.

The AFA attorney implied much is at stake in the case. "Forty-seven years in prison for preaching the gospel?" he asked. "This is a historic case. This is the natural evolution of the systematic removal of the symbols of Christianity from the public square."

According to Volz, the eleven Christians were arrested in October not for preaching the gospel, but for refusing to abide by the rules established by local law enforcement authorities. He stated he did not expect the maximum sentence to be handed down. "They might get six to twelve months probation," he said. "Nobody's going to jail for 47 years."

Fahling says his group is planning to ask for an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the case.
 
 

[You can download & watch the video (http://www.tellme1st.net/rockyview/common/philly11.wmv)  from “Outfest” which shows Michael Marcavage with a bullhorn attempting to sing and speak the gospel. The people in pink are the Pink Angels, and they are using 10 foot tall Styrofoam boards surrounding the Christians to block their signs, impede their movement, and prevent people from seeing them. The loud noises you hear are the Pink Angels blowing whistles and horns to drown out the Christians’ message. (This footage was filmed by an outside non-religious group, Enough Said Productions. They were filming Michael for part of a documentary on the First Amendment in America and captured the entire incident on camera.)  --  Tribble]

. - “First, symbols of Christianity are removed from the public square; now, Christians are facing 47 years in prison because they preached the gospel in the public square. Stalin would be proud,” – Brian Fahling, AFA Center for Law and Policy Senior Trial Attorney.

Tupelo, MS - After a federal appeals court denied an emergency appeal to stop prosecution of 11 Christians on Tuesday, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony (criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and riot) and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could face up to 47 years in prison.

The Christians were arrested on October 10 for praying, singing, and reading scripture during an annual “gay pride” event known as “Outfest” in Philadelphia.

Since the federal courts did not intervene to halt the state prosecution, the last route for the Christians would be an appeal to the Supreme Court says the Christians’ attorney Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy.

“First, symbols of Christianity are removed from the public square, now, Christians are facing years in prison because they preached the gospel in the public square. Stalin would be proud,” Fahling said.

The federal appeals court in Philadelphia denied emergency relief despite video footage Fahling calls “undisputed evidence” that shows the Christians cooperating with police and continually being harassed by the Pink Angels, a group of homosexuals organized to impede the gospel message. Philadelphia city prosecutor in the case, Charles Ehrlich, attacked the Christians as “hateful” and referred to preaching the Bible as “fighting words,” the judge agreed.

Charges were dropped against the remaining seven apparently because they were not seen quoting scripture on the videotape.

The Philadelphia case represents another example of discrimination toward Christians,” said Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association national headquarters. “The past month has poured forth cases of Christian persecution seen in the higher education institution, public school systems, and the judicial court system.”
 

(in order from left to right) Attorney Brian Fahling, Michael Marcavage, Nancy Major,  Arlene Elshinnawy, Randall Beckman, Linda Beckman, Susan Startzell (Not in picture: Mark Diener, Gerald Fennell, Dennis Green, James Cruse, and Lauren Murch)

This is the clearest example of anti-Christian bigotry by city officials in the last century!

http://www.afa.net/clp/ReleaseDetail.asp?id=78
http://www.afa.net/clp/philly4.asp

Contact:  Kathryn Hooks 662-844-5036
American Family Association
P.O. Drawer 2440
Tupelo, MS 38803
1-662-680-3886
 
 

By JOHN R. LOTT JR.
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/37260.htm
December 29, 2004 --

THIS month the National Academy of Sciences issued a 328-page report on gun-control laws. The big news is that the academy's panel couldn't identify any benefits of decades-long effort to reduce crime and injury by restricting gun ownership. The only conclusion it could draw was: Let's study the question some more (presumably, until we find the results we want).

The academy, however, should believe its own findings. Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, a survey that covered 80 different gun-control measures and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun-control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

From the assault-weapons ban to the Brady Act to one-gun-a-month restrictions to gun locks, nothing worked.

The study was not the work of gun-control opponents: The panel was set up during the Clinton administration, and all but one of its members (whose views on guns were publicly known before their appointments) favored gun control.

It's bad enough that the panel backed away from its own survey and empirical work; worse yet is that it didn't really look objectively at all the evidence. If it had, it would have found not just that gun control doesn't help solve the problems of crime, suicide and gun accidents, but that it can actually be counterproductive.

The panel simply ignored many studies showing just that. For example, the research on gun locks that the panel considered examined only whether accidental gun deaths and suicides were prevented. There was no mention of research that shows that locking up guns prevents people from using them defensively.

The panel also ignored most of the studies that find a benefit in crime reduction from right-to-carry laws. It did pay attention to some non-peer reviewed papers on the right-to-carry issue, and it also noted one part of a right-to-carry study that indicated little or no benefit from such laws. What the panel didn't point out, however, is that the authors of that particular study had concluded that data in their work did much more to show there were benefits than to debunk it.

James Q. Wilson, professor of public policy at UCLA, was the one dissenting panelist and the only member whose views were known in advance to not be entirely pro-gun control. His dissent focused on the right-to-carry issue, and the fact that emphasizing results that could not withstand peer-reviewed studies called into question the panel's contention that right-to-carry laws had not for sure had a positive effect.

Wilson also said that that conclusion was specious given that the panel's own reanalysis confirmed that right-to-carry laws reduced crime. The panel's findings to the contrary he called "quite puzzling."

While more research is always helpful, the notion that we have learned nothing flies in the face of common sense. The NAS panel should have concluded as the existing research has: Gun control doesn't help.

Instead, the panel has left us with two choices: Either academia and the government have wasted millions of dollars and countless man-hours on useless research (and the panel would like us to spend more in the same worthless pursuit), or the National Academy is so completely unable to separate politics from its analyses that it simply can't accept the results for what they are.

In either case, the academy, and academics in general, have succeeded mostly in shooting themselves in the foot.

John R. Lott Jr. is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of "More Guns, Less Crime" and "The Bias Against Guns."
 
 

I am from the gubment,  & am here to help you - NOT

What do Dragons have to do with being a symbol of the Marines?
contributing editor to   - Bill

[I understand a single pilot or squadron (other other small group of close knit people) showing their spirit and having mascots in rivalry with other pilots or squadrons.  But, for the whole of a branch of a US military to portray themselves as dragons attacking domestic metropolitan cities is something which should concern the people these Marines are supposed to protect.  Are you doubting these dragons are attacking domestic (uSA) cities?  Just what building is the dragon in the left image eating?  Clearly one of the twin World Trade Center towers.  Therefore, this idea was prior to 09/11/2001.  Are you wondering who is your enemy?  Be afraid, be very afraid.  --  Tribble]

..

One of the sources for verifying these patches is from the Marines web sites, like this one
http://www.mcwl.quantico.usmc.mil/
http://www.usmc.mil/images.nsf/LINE+ART?OpenView&Count=999999
 

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