$$$ Follow the Money $$$ Where is the Lowest Gas Price in your Neighborhood http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx contributing editor to   - Jeanne

Prior to filling your tank, take a look at this page each week to determine where best to get your gas.

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx
 

Consider, if you will --

You come home from work and find the police at your home, then you discover some of the people of your home, your family, are dead.  Your family were reportedly killed by an intruder.  The coroner has already taken the bodies.  The police ask you some questions and finally leave.

That night, You muddle around the house trying to collect yourself and figure your future.  After much time, you finally go to bed and try to sleep.  All the while you were muddling around the house and even after you went to bed, you left all the doors open.  Not just unlocked, as you might have been in the habit of previously doing, but WIDE OPEN.

Why would you leave open your doors?

Around, 3am, the police return to continue the investigation and find your doors wide open, not just unlocked.  What do you think they are wondering?

Why would you leave OPEN your doors?

It is a good bet, that for a time, whether a month, a year, or 10 year or even the remainder of your life, you would not only close your doors, but multi lock them.  All from fear of a similar event happening again.  The closing and locking of your doors is an attempt to deter any attacker from attacking again.  It does not matter the rationale of closing the barn doors after the horses have escaped, it is natural to adopt a sense of security no matter how late the attempt.

So why would you leave open your doors?  Probably the same reason the investigators are thinking.

You were the attacker, regardless of whether you did the deed or had it done.

By the same token, the leaders of a country that has been attacked would close the doors to protect the remainder of the country.  But, if you have paid attention, the "leaders" of the uSA have not only left the border and ports unlocked, but opened the door and windows WIDE.  What the administration and congress of the uSA have done since 09/11/2001 is to restrict the movements of the remainder of the citizens and made it easier for foreigners to enter our home.

Like the investigators of the scenario above, who do you suspect is the real culprit in the attack?
 

Landmark Win for Homeowner

A Roanoke, Va., jury has ruled that a housing authority that threatened to condemn a family’s property for 20 years owes the owners $281,590 in compensation.

It was also ordered to pay the family’s attorney fees, described as “substantial.”

The family of Dr. Walter Claytor, 79, has owned a city block since 1910 and argued that the threat of condemnation prevented them from selling the property or finding tenants.

“The case is “revolutionary,” Joe Waldo, a lawyer who represented Claytor and 16 relatives, told Budget & Tax News. “This is the first time, in Virginia, someone went after a [government agency] for messing with someone’s property—not taking it, just messing with it.”

“I consider it a great victory for Dr. Claytor,” Waldo said. “When we started, they were going to pay Dr. Claytor no money and said he didn’t even have the right to sue them.”

Claytor said, in an interview with AFP, his case has national implications because of the Supreme Court’s Kelo ruling that a quasi-governmental planning board in New Haven, Conn., could use eminent domain to condemn people’s homes to transfer the property to another private party.

The rationale was that the party receiving the property would develop it commercially, generating more taxes.

In the landmark case, real estate developers are building a hotel, a boardwalk, stores, restaurants and a corporate headquarters for a multinational pharmaceutical company on land that once belonged to U.S. citizens.

In a shocking development to the Kelo case, vindictive local officials are now trying to sue the former homeowners for what they are calling “back rent.” They claim the government had owned their land following the first court ruling against local residents, long before they exhausted all of their appeals.

It is a “precedent-setting case” that will fuel the drive to undo Kelo, Claytor said, pointing out that 80 bills have been introduced in the Virginia General Assembly to prohibit such takings in the Old Dominion. Thirty-seven other state legislatures are weighing similar actions.

The Constitution permits condemning private property under eminent domain for “public use”—such as making sure national highways connect at state borders. In Kelo, the Supreme Court permitted the transfer of private property to another, government- preferred private party.

In 1976, city officials marked the neighborhood surrounding Claytor’s property for renewal development under federal urban-renewal rules. The Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority notified the Claytors it would use powers of eminent domain to obtain their property.

In 1978, the authority tried to sell the Claytors’ 1.07-acre block to a local church and, though the deal fell through, the authority did not abandon plans to condemn the Claytors’ land until 1998.

Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Apgar said the 20 years between the attempted sale and the end of the threatened condemnation constituted a “temporary taking” by the housing authority.

Claytor testified that once the property was placed under the threat of condemnation, the family was unable to find tenants for a five-unit apartment house, medical clinic, service station and stores.

(Issue #5, January 30, 2006)
 

Health / nutrition How One Wicked Nation Can Kill Billions Around the World - - With One Lie! http://www.venusproject.com/ethics_in_action/How_One_Wicked_Nation.html contributing editor to   - Jeanne

A bit about Dr. Lorraine Day, the Author before you read:

Dr. Lorraine Day is an internationally acclaimed orthopedic trauma surgeon and best selling author who was for 15 years on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine as Associate Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Orthopedics. She was also Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at San Francisco General Hospital and is recognized world-wide as an AIDS expert.
 

She survived what was diagnosed as terminal breast cancer without radiation, chemotherapy or mutilating surgery. She got well by using only natural methods and continues to be totally well and cancer-free, fourteen years after her cancerous tumor first appeared! She has been invited to lecture extensively throughout the U.S. and the world and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including 60 minutes, Nightline, CNN Crossfire, Oprah Winfrey, Larry King Live, The Christian Broadcasting Network, John Ankerberg Show, USA Radio Network, Art Bell Radio Show, Three Angels Broadcasting Network and Trinity Broadcasting Network.

- By Lorraine Day, M.D. - January 24, 2006

When the wicked leaders of a wicked nation want to:

    * Create FEAR and CHAOS and TERROR throughout the world.

    * Take away the rights of citizens in every nation in the world.

    * Create a world-wide pandemic and annihilation of a large segment of a nation's population by forced vaccinations that secretly contain live bacteria and viruses such as AIDS, Herpes, Hepatitis, and Small Pox, as well as preservatives made from Mercury that causes Brain Damage and Autism.

    * Control every country in the world by allowing the World Health Organization (WHO) to enter and take over their emergency medical and political apparatus, and place embargos or quarantines on the entire country.

    * Eliminate the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which bans the military from participating in police-type activity on U.S. soil. This act specifically prohibits the government from using the military against its own citizens. (This Posse Comitatus Act was severely violated at Waco, when U.S. military troops were used against the Branch Davidians.)

    * Help create famines in order to annihilate a large portion of the world's population by killing off the food supply of any and every nation, by killing their chickens, turkeys and other birds used for food.

    * Declare martial Law and suspend the Constitution.

Almost daily, the newspapers, radio stations and television programs pummel us with news of the coming - Avian Flu - "pandemic" and the necessity of developing vaccines and instituting mandatory vaccination programs - - - for EVERYBODY!

President George W. Bush has spoken repeatedly of a - "Military Takeover In Case Of A Flu Outbreak." - (CNN October 4 & 5, 2005) - and possible quarantine of the victims of bird flu! - "I'm concerned about what an avian flu outbreak could mean for the United States and the world," - the President told reporters during a Rose Garden news conference.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 bans the military from participating in police-type activity on U.S. soil. It was enacted to prohibit the government from using the military to control or attack the citizens of its own country. Bush began discussing the possibility of changing or eliminating this law in the aftermath of the government's sluggish response to civil unrest following - Hurricane Katrina. - If this is done, it would allow the government of the United States to use military troops against its own people (as was already done in the Waco tragedy).

Symptoms of Bird Flu

Let's examine the widely heralded (supposedly) coming Avian Flu Pandemic and what impact it could possibly have on the U.S. and the World!

1 - What are the symptoms of bird flu in humans?

According to the web site of the (WHO) World Health Organization the symptoms of avian influenza (Type H5N1) are: - Fever - Sore throat - Cough - And possibly, viral Pneumonia.
    - http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_01_15/en/ -

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website gives the following symptoms for Avian flu: - Fever - Cough - Sore throat and muscle aches - And possibly, Pneumonia.
    - http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/facts.htm -

Another area of the web site of the CDC at gives the following symptoms for Avian Flu: - documented temperature of > 38 degrees C - > 100.4 degrees F -, AND one or more of the following: - Cough - Sore throat - Shortness of breath, and History of contact with poultry (e.g. visited a poultry farm, a household raising poultry, or a bird market) or a known or suspected human case of influenza A (H5N1) in an H5N1-affected country within 10 days of symptom onset.
    - http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/professional/han020405.htm -

Please note: that a temperature of 100.4 degrees Farenheit can be generated on a hot day in a totally healthy person who has NO disease whatsoever! This is a medical fact.

A cough can occur from a cold, allergies, asthma, air pollution, certain medications, from smoking, or many other causes. - All these symptoms are non-specific, meaning they can occur in any combination with a host of medical conditions totally unrelated to bird flu OR regular flu. -

So it's possible for the government to quarantine a person for an indeterminate period of time, jeopardizing the person's job and income, if he or she has a cough on a hot day! (Remember, the symptoms are: a temperature of > 100.4 F AND one or more of the following: cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, OR contact with any type of bird.

2 - What are the symptoms of REGULAR flu (NOT avian flu)? These are also given on the CDC's web site at www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm. They are the following: - Fever of 100.4 degrees F or higher - Headache - Extreme tiredness - Dry cough - Sore throat - Runny or stuffy nose - Muscle Aches - Stomach symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, also can occur but are more common in children than adults.

QUESTION: How does anyone differentiate the symptoms of - AVIAN FLU - (bird flu) from the symptoms of REGULAR FLU?

ANSWER: As a physician, I can tell you that it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell the difference! "How many people die each year from REGULAR FLU (NOT Bird Flu)?

    "The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states, - "Every year in the United States, on average, 36,000 people die from flu."
    - http://www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm -

    But this is a deliberate deception by the CDC - "Below are the actual numbers of flu associated deaths from 1999 to 2002 from the CDC National Vital Statistic Reports

    - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr52_13.pdf -

    753 deaths in 2002 (page 16 of report)

    257 deaths in 2001 (page 16 of report)

    1,765 deaths in 2000

    1,665 deaths in 1999

"How does the CDC get from 753 flu deaths to its statement that 36,000 flu deaths occur annually?

"By combining flu deaths with pneumonia deaths. The CDC National Vital Statistic Report for 2002 lists Influenza and Pneumonia as the 7th leading cause of death in 2002. You probably already guessed it ­ only 753 of those deaths were flu-associated and the rest of the 36,000 were pneumonia-associated. If all flu-associated deaths are removed, pneumonia associated deaths still ranks number 7 by itself. The media used the false 36,000 deaths number in its coverage ­ 50 times the actual 2002/2003 number.

"Are the 257 to 1,765 reported annual flu deaths from 1999 to 2002 even accurate?

"No. It is not possible to determine the actual number of deaths caused by the flu because the CDC has no death certificate category for deaths caused only by the flu. The CDC has three basic categories of flu deaths: influenza plus pneumonia influenza plus other respiratory manifestations/symptoms influenza plus other manifestations/symptoms (non-respiratory)"

"Health professionals may try to justify the legitimacy of combining flu deaths with pneumonia deaths with the statement that "influenza leads to pneumonia." But the facts do not support this frequent, broad misstatement by health professionals.

"The American Lung Association (ALA) describes pneumonia as having over 30 different causes (one being the influenza virus). Neither the CDC nor ALA know the specific causes of the pneumonias that resulted in death. However, we do know that influenza is not the major cause.

"Keep in mind that the influenza vaccine provides no protection from bacterial infections. The National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease as well as other health agencies estimate that the single bacteria ­ streptococcus pneumoniae ­ is responsible for 15% to 50% of ALL cases of pneumonia in the US, including up to 40,000 deaths annually - http://www.nlaid.nih.gov/factsheets/pneumonia.htm -

"Pneumonia is also caused by other bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (staph), Pertussis (whooping cough), Streptococci, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common cause of "walking" pneumonia). There are also many non-infectious causes of pneumonia such as asthma, aspiration of fluids, immunodeficiency, etc.

"So, it stretches credibility to assert that the flu causes pneumonia when, in fact, the data shows that it only causes a small minority of cases of pneumonia."

CDC,Media Hype The Flu ­ Facts Show Different Picture Health Supreme by Sepp Hasslberger. Statistics compiled by Frank Hartman - suemc@gate.net.

My Talk With The CDC

Several months ago, I called the CDC and spoke with one of the doctors in the "Flu Division." I identified myself by name and as a physician, and he gave me his name and position. I asked him how a physician like myself could possibly differentiate "Bird flu" from "regular flu." He answered, "You really can't."

I asked him if we physicians were asked to go house to house to check for people with bird flu with the possibility of quarantine of the patient (for how long?) and the potential for the quarantine to cause the person to lose income or even to lose his job, how could we distinguish "Bird flu" from the "regular flu"? He agreed it would be virtually impossible.

Then I asked him why President George W. Bush was publicly contemplating QUARANTINE for these patients? His response was, "He didn't get that from us here at the CDC. That's ALL politics!"

But Now The CDC IS Talking About Quarantine (I guess they got the message!)

Recently, Julie Gerberding, M.D., Director of the CDC, publicly discussed the possibility of quarantine as a method of controlling the "Bird flu" even though, by their own admission, it's impossible to tell "Bird flu" from "regular flu."

Remember SARS? How Does SARS fit into all this?What Are the Similarities Between "Bird Flu" and "SARS"? (according to the CDC's own website)

They have IDENTICAL symptoms: - Fever of 100.4 degrees F or higher - Headache - General discomfort and body aches - Possibly a dry cough with mild respiratory symptoms

NOW, the QUESTION here, of course, is: How does one distinguish the symptoms of "Bird Flu" from "SARS"?

ANSWER: It is IMPOSSIBLE! "Bird Flu," "SARS, and Regular Flu ALL have the SAME symptoms!

How Interesting!

SARS Was "Billed" as a Coming, Frightening Pandemic! But just how many people have died from SARS?

According to the website of the World Health Organization (WHO), as of January 21, 2005, the statistics for SARS are as follows:

a - 8439 people ­ worldwide - have "been affected" ­ whatever that means! Does that mean they contracted the disease of "SARS" but didn't die, or does that mean that they were "affected" because they or someone in their family was just exposed to SARS but did not get sick? The World Health Organization doesn't tell us.

("Been affected" is NOT a medical term and the WHO doesn't explain what they mean. It sounds like the World Health Organization is trying to make the numbers sound bigger than they really are.)

b - And 812 deaths WORLDWIDE - over a period of the last 3-4 YEARS! (If, indeed, we can believe ANY of the figures we receive through the commercial media!)

Now Let's Put This In Perspective!

Are you aware that EVERY DAY in the U.S. ALONE, more than 1,400 Americans die from Heart Disease?

Remember, that's EVERY DAY! - - - - In just ONE country!

It is absolute NONSENSE to classify "SARS" as a potential pandemic! This is NOTHING more than rank propaganda! 812 deaths from SARS ­ Worldwide ­ over 3-4 years - compared to 1,400 deaths per DAY from heart disease in this country alone!

But SARS Did not Spread Fast Enough to Produce a Pandemic

Because "SARS" did not spread fast enough from country to country to create the Pandemic that was Predicted (and PLANNED for by the New World Order) ­ something else had to be done!

They had to develop - - "SARS" With Wings!! - - -"Bird Flu"!!

Now they (the WHO ­ run by the New World Order) can have this disease flying from one country to another country wherever they want it to land. In addition, it allows them to destroy a significant portion of the food supply of any country they wish ­ the chickens, turkeys and other birds used for food by the population of these various countries. The New World Order has found that one excellent way to control a country is to control (or eliminate) their food. (See the United Nations quote at the end of this article!)

Is This Just "Terror Talk"? How does one discern "Terror Talk"? How does one differentiate Truth from Propaganda?

Pay careful attention to the words in the title of the articles, and the (unfounded) assumptions and pure speculations made by the author both in the title and throughout the article. Here are a just a few REAL examples from some "Bird Flu" articles posted on the internet and in the print media in the last few months:

Indonesia ­ New Suspected Human Bird Flu Case - Web-Posted 1-8-06 - Notice that this is only a "suspected" Human case. In many, if not most, instances, the "suspected" case turns out not to be Bird Flu. But the public is never informed, leaving the impression that the case is real.

Mystery ­ Bird Flu Fails to Migrate As Expected - Posted 12-29-05 - The word "Mystery" is calculated to created fear in the reader, fear that no one will know what to do or how to stop the supposed "epidemic." This article also suggests that "bird flu" is NOT traveling with migratory birds. (Maybe that's because it's NOT "Bird" flu!)

Bird Flu: How Worried Should You Be? USA TODAY - Oct 11, 2005 - Notice that the title is assuming you should be worried! The ONLY question is HOW worried should you be. This is cleverly crafted to create unwarranted fear in the reader.

Bird Flu Could Pose Enormous Threat To US Economy - Posted 12-9-05 -

Bird Flu "Could" do anything in the world that the author of the article can conjure up in his imagination. The use of the word "could" defines this article as pure propaganda. The article contains projections that have no basis in fact, including exaggerated mortality rates, and a preposterous figure of 30% of the population being affected. NOWHERE in the world, is this happening. This type of propaganda is shameful to the author and offensive to any reader who is a thinking person. - Dangerous Unique H5N1 Mutation in Ukraine? - Posted 12-10-05 -

Notice the question mark at the end of the title. Nothing in the article has been verified. This should not even be reported until it is verified. This type of title (particularly beginning with the word "Dangerous!") is specifically designed to put the question into the reader's brain as though it is a fact. It is not fact. It is irresponsible to headline articles in this way.

Extensive H5N1 Human-To-Human Transmission In Indonesia? - Posted 10-22-05 - Here again we have the question mark! The information in the title is designed to be planted into the reader's brain as fact ­ when it is only a question. This is a deliberately inflammatory title. This is irresponsible journalism. In addition, the article refers to only 7 or 8 cases, linked to what is termed four familial "clusters." The word "cluster" is being used to imply that there are a number of cases of human-to human-transmission. On closer examination of the article, the reader finds that the author is using the word "cluster" to describe only TWO people. "TWO" people cannot be referred to as a "cluster." Again, this is deliberately misleading, and irresponsible journalism designed to strike fear into the heart and mind of the reader, as well as to imply that this (non) disease WILL cause an epidemic.

Is H5N1 Wild Bird Flu In Canada? - Posted 11-17-05 - Again, watch for the question mark at the end of the title. The author is deliberately propagandizing the reader by implanting the question as a "fact" in the reader's mind. But it is NOT a fact and should never be reported unless it IS a fact!

Turkey H5N1 Is Recombining With Mammalian Polymorphisms. - Posted 1-14-06 -

The average reader would have no idea what this author is writing about and does not have the background to understand anything in the article. All the reader will see is the title, and in the title the words "Turkey H5N1" and "Mammalian." This is designed to implant in the reader's mind the idea that "Bird Flu" is mutating into "Mammalian" or Human "Bird" flu. The purpose, again, is to create fear in the reader that the epidemic is getting worse, when, in truth, the article gives NO evidence to support that notion.

Several solid rules for judging whether an article is propaganda, are:

1 - Watch for speculative terms. If the title ends with a question mark this is pure speculation. This allows the author to use his wildest imagination in developing a scenario to cause fear and panic.

2 - Again watch for speculative terms. If the title contains the word "could", this is pure speculation. This, again, allows the author to fabricate any outcome he chooses.

3 - If the title contains inflammatory words such as "Dangerous" "Suspect" "Mystery" "Worried" "Fear" "Explode", the chances are extremely high that this is pure propaganda designed to create fear.

Human Deaths From "Bird Flu"

How many deaths from Human "Bird Flu" have been reported to date?

Approximately 65 deaths in Asia (the main area this "disease" supposedly has affected) from Human cases of "Bird Flu" have been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). - According to the Internet World Stats (Usage and Population Statistics), the population of Asia is - 3,622,994,130. - That's 56.4% of the World's population.

If we divide 65 (supposed deaths from "bird flu") into 3,622,994,130 people in Asia, the answer is approximately 54 million. That means that in Asia there has been ONE death for every 54 MILLION people! - - - HARDLY the statistics necessary to predict a frightening "Pandemic!" OR to call out the military forces!

That would be similar to declaring an epidemic of "Bird Flu" in the United States with only 5 or 6 deaths in the entire country! That, of course, would be ridiculous! - But why should we be surprised! George W. Bush is talking about declaring martial law and calling out the military when there has been NOT ONE SINGLE DEATH - - - OR EVEN ONE PERSON INFECTED with "Bird Flu" in the entire country!

This is nothing more than Fear-mongering Propaganda!

And What Are Our Sources of Information? Can We Trust Them?

We know that the commercial media, including television and the newspapers, is owned by a handful of people, the vast majority of whom are Zionist Jews. (If you don't believe it, just search the web for the owners and CEOs of the TV networks and the major newspapers.) Here are some of their quotes, demonstrating that we cannot expect to hear truth through their news outlets:

Richard M. Cohan, Senior Producer of CBS political news said:

    "We are going to impose OUR AGENDA on the coverage by dealing with issues and subjects that WE choose to deal with."

Richard Salant, former President of CBS News stated:

    "Our job is to give people not what they want, but what WE decide they ought to have."

John Swinton, Former Chief of Staff for the New York Times, called by his peers "The Dean of his Profession" said in 1953:

    "There is no such thing - as an independent press. - If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. - We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.

Needless to say, Commercial Television and the Newspapers have completely ceased to be repositories of truth. They are not trustworthy in any way.

How about the Internet?

Information on Bird Flu comes primarily from the web sites of the following organizations:

The Centers for Disease Control - The World Health Organization - And ProMed/ISID (International Society for Infectious Diseases)

How reliable are these organizations?

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

This is a highly politicized government organization. For example, the AIDS Information Hotline at the CDC, where one would call to find out how to be safe from AIDS, is run, not by the CDC! - a group that has the HIGHEST rate of AIDS in the country! Obviously, they have not learned ­ or don't wish to practice ­ how to prevent AIDS!

If it is true, as it strongly appears to be, that "Bird Flu" is a HOAX, perpetrated by the government on the public to create fear, take away personal rights, make money on vaccinations and drugs for "bird flu", cause real pandemics of disease and death by placement of other disease-causing organisms in the supposed "bird flu" vaccines, destroy huge numbers of turkeys, ducks and other birds to assist in causing massive famine, all of which will help decrease the population of the world, - - - then if a CDC employee, including the Director of the CDC, refused to go along with the government propaganda, he or she would be fired for insubordination.

So the CDC is not a trustworthy source of information about, "Bird Flu."

The World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization is the Population Control/Euthanasia/Genocide arm of the United Nations. The WHO has the same problems of bias and oversight as the CDC.

The United Nations ultimate goals are 1) the redistribution of wealth throughout the world, 2) a vast and rapid reduction in the population of the world for "sustainable development", and 3) the elimination of nation-states with the implementation of a One World Government.

In conjunction with Illuminati members such as Prince Philip and Prince Charles of the U.K., they want to return the world to what they term a "Post-Industrial" or "Feudal Society" where there are only three main classes of people ­ The feudal lords (who own ALL the land), the administrators who work for the feudal lords, and the slaves, who work the land. (If you have any doubts about these issues, use your search engine to find information about the Illuminati, "Sustainable Development", "Feudalism", the "Georgia Guidestones - America's Stonehenge", One World Government, and Population Control. Dr. Stan Monteith's website www.radioliberty.com has excellent information to get you started.)

One efficient way of reducing the population of the world, the Illuminati has found, is by the deliberate spread of disease. Bertrand Russell, and advisor to several presidents, wrote in his book, The Impact of Science on Society,

"At present the population of the world is increasing... War so far has had no great effect on this increase... I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others... If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation, survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full... the state of affairs might be somewhat unpleasant, but what of it? Really high-minded people are indifferent to suffering, especially that of others."

For thousands of years, all the way back to Nero - and probably before, dictators have controlled their subjects by Fear and Terror! It is no different now. The phony "War on Terror," promoted by U.S. President George W. Bush and his "Neo-Conservative" Zionist-Jewish controllers, such as Bill Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Dov Zakheim, Natan Sharansky, and others like them, is designed to terrorize Americans into giving up their rights (Read the Patriot Acts ­ I & II) whereby they will become slaves of the New World Order.

What could possibly be George W. Bush's reason for doing this? Don't he and his controllers like us common Americans? The answer is a firm "No." In fact, they refer to us as "Useless Eaters!" Leaders of countries rarely have the best interest of their citizens at heart. If you doubt this, please read Death by Government by R. J. Rummel , a book that exposes genocide and mass murder by government. This extensively referenced book reveals that many more citizens have been murdered by their own government leaders than have been killed in war by foreign powers!

Recently, General Leonid Ivashov, the former Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces when the September 11, 2001, attacks took place, said during the Axis for Peace 2005 Conference, and now explains publicly, that "international terrorism does NOT exist and that the September 11 attacks were the result of a set-up. What we are seeing is a manipulation by the big powers; this terrorism would not exist without them." (Posted at www.rense.com 1/22/06)

He explains that this "Terrorism" talk is the weapon used in a new type of war in complicity with the media, which allows modifying international politics and changing existing reality. In other words, "Terrify the people with incessant talk of "Terrorism" so they will give up their rights and become malleable slaves in the hands of the New World Order."

So the World Health Organization of the United Nations, which is also promoting this myth of the "War on Terror" is NOT a trustworthy source of information about "Bird Flu."

What about the Internet News Outlet ­ ProMed/ISID? Is it trustworthy?

Let's investigate who funds ProMed / ISID.

On their website - www.promedmail.org - and click on "About ProMed-mail", you will find the following:

"ProMed-mail and ISID are grateful to the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Oracle Corporation, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and an anonymous donor for financial support.

Who Are These Donors?

The Gates Foundation has been set up by Bill Gates, a Zionist Jew, to promote the Zionist Jewish agenda, which is the same as the Illuminati's agenda. Their agenda includes a vast reduction in the population of the world, including the United States, by war, pandemic disease and famine.

The Rockefeller Foundation has the SAME agenda as the Illuminati and the Gates Foundation. David Rockefeller, a member of the Illuminati, is a founder and member of several organizations such as the Trilateral Commission, The Bilderbergers and the Club of Rome, whose purpose is to:

    a - set up a One World Government,
    b - control ALL business throughout the world and,
    c - dramatically and rapidly reducing the population of the world from 6 billion to 500 million, by war, disease and famine.
    (Verification for this is readily available on the internet and in many fully referenced books.)

The Oracle Corporation

Oracle's CEO is Lawrence Joseph Ellison who is identified as a Jew on the Oracle Corporation website. His biography on that web site states that "Larry Ellison was born out of wedlock to a 19-year-old mother, and raised by her aunt. Oracle Corporation went public in 1986 and was on the verge of bankruptcy by 1990 when it was revealed that its revenues had been "overstated" for several years - Ellison's net worth dropped about 3 1/2 BILLION after September 11, as stocks plummeted and Oracle stock lost almost 50% of its value."

It certainly is curious how a little boy, born in the Bronx to a 19 year old single girl could, before the age of 50, amass a fortune large enough to LOSE 3 1/2 BILLION Dollars!

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

The Nuclear Threat Initiative is run by Ted Turner who is infamous for wanting to eliminate a large majority of the world's population.

So there we have it. If we're going to evaluate ProMed/ISID, we must realize that its funding (and therefore its control) comes from groups, all of which have the goal of depopulating the earth.

How can we believe anything that comes from ProMed/ISID? Most certainly they would want to promote a Pandemic by propaganda! Nothing could please them more.

Also, anything that comes from the Zionist Jewish-controlled commercial media must be highly suspect!

Others who regularly Post "Bird Flu" Information on the Internet.

Two others who regularly post information on "Bird Flu" on the web are: Henry Niman, Ph.D., and a woman with the internet name of Patricia Doyle.

In order to assess the veracity of any individual who posts information on the web or who speaks as an expert, it is necessary to be able to verify their qualifications.

Henry Niman, Ph.D.

Henry Niman received his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in 1978 and took a post doctoral position at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, according to his website. His qualifications are verifiable. He is the Founder and President of Recombinomics, Inc., a company that, monitors viral recombination, a process that can be used to enhance vaccine development and allow vaccines to be prepared before viruses emerge," according to his web site, www.recombinomics.com.

Since Dr. Niman's company is heavily involved with the vaccine industry, and therefore, would significantly benefit financially from a "Bird Flu" pandemic, he certainly could have a real conflict of interest in the "Bird flu" situation. Much of the information he posts would be very difficult, if not impossible, to verify, as the cases of supposed "Bird Flu" come from obscure, tiny towns and villages - the smallest "nooks and crannies" on the globe.

How does he get this information? - Where does he get this information? - What are his sources?

It has been over two months now since that I e-mailed him, asking him those questions, and to date I have received no response!

Patricia Doyle

Patricia Doyle (she admits that this is not her real name) chooses to remain a mystery. She uses the initials Ph.D. and D.V.M. after her name but she refuses to state where or when she received those degrees. I have e-mailed her directly asking for that information and she has refused to divulge it.

But she has admitted that she has NOT completed her Ph.D., yet she continues to use those initials after her name. This is Scientific Fraud! - She will not state WHERE she received her degrees! - She will not state WHEN she received her degrees! - She will not give her real name.!

This is totally unacceptable in the scientific world, and is insulting to the general public. - Why would anyone, especially a "professed" professional person, withhold this information unless she is deliberately lying about her qualifications and whether or not she actually holds these degrees.

Apparently she has shared some of this information with one individual who is not in the scientific world. But again, none of the information can be verified. - Until she comes clean and answers these questions for the entire public, she has no right to be considered an expert of ANY kind, nor should she have a forum on which to espouse her comments.

Her belligerence in deliberately withholding this information from the public, coupled with her promotion of the information on the - ( Illuminati / Zionist - Jewish - Funded ) ProMed/ISID - website raises serious questions about the possibility that she is an infiltrator and a Zionist-backed disinformation agent.

So how can anyone believe anything she says?

So, How DO We Find Truth?

You may ask, "How can we believe anything? How do we make a judgment on what is really going on?" The answer is, we can learn to evaluate what they are saying about this supposed "pandemic" in the following ways:

1 - The media and the New World Order / Zionist Jewish Cabal are using all sorts of hyperbole when discussing this "Bird Flu," exaggerations that are in no way warranted. - When something is REALLY going on, such as Mad Cow Disease ­ or AIDS, especially in the 90's ­ the government was / is covering up and down-playing the truth on both issues. -

2 - As mentioned above, the incidence of "Bird Flu" in Asia (even if we could believe their figures) is 1 in 54 MILLION ­ hardly what one would call a "Pandemic"!

3 - Even with ALL their efforts, the Illuminati / Zionist Jewish Cabal was not able to propagandize the public enough to get them to believe the lies about SARS! So they had to create, out of thin air ­ "Bird Flu", ­ which is nothing more than SARS "with wings."

Now they can have this - "disease" - flying all over the world, wherever they want it to land (and how convenient to have it land in countries that are the enemies of the Zionist Jews, such as the Arab/Muslim nations of Indonesia, Bali, Iraq, Iran, and the City of Mecca, just in time for the Muslim pilgrimage, and in countries like Turkey and Korea who are both causing political problems for Israel and it's subsidiary ­ the United States.

Isn't it amazing that the birds infected with "Bird Flu" seem to gravitate to the countries identified by George W. Bush as the "Axis of Evil!"?

SARS, - remember, it has exactly the same symptoms as "Bird flu" - and was not able to travel fast enough from country to country to create the "world-wide pandemic" the Illuminati had planned, so they had to come up with something with wings! Voila! - - - Bird Flu! SARS with wings!

4 - The commercial media is pushing the propaganda of "Bird Flu" about as hard as any propaganda I have ever seen them promote, including the prospect of forced vaccinations. The greatest Weapon of Mass Destruction they can use on this country or any other country is mandatory vaccinations, vaccines that will contain the bacteria and viruses of multiple horrific diseases (a Super Vaccine containing numerous disease-causing live viruses and bacteria - something the CDC already admits they are developing) to be forced on EVERYONE!

Then the Illuminati will be absolutely sure to produce the "Pandemic" they desire, when billions succumb to the very diseases contained in the vaccine injection they received!

5 - Real and dangerous diseases like AIDS and Mad Cow Disease, are purposely down-played and covered up by the government, even though they will eventually kill millions, and possibly billions, of people in the U.S. as well as many other countries.

But when a government purposely advertises, promotes, and exaggerates a disease, you can be sure that it's fake! - Question is that why would the U.S. Government and the U.N. Perpetuate this HOAX on America and the World?

Answer: Look who benefits ­ And How!

1 - Follow the Money: Imagine the profits from forced vaccinations for every person around the globe! Followed by huge profits for the medical/industrial complex from drugs used for treatment, hospitalizations, physician costs, laboratory costs, and medical personnel to enforce quarantines! The pharmaceutical, vaccine-producing, and other medically related nation-less corporations are owned by the very same people (or their close associates) who run the world. (See 1) Bilderberg Profits from Bird Flu, Christopher Bollyn, American Free Press, Nov. 14, 2005, 2) World Bank To Put Up $1 Billion To Fight Bird Flu.
    www.noticias.info/asp/aspCommunicados.asp?nid=116016&src=0

I have received numerous e-mails from Stock Market Investment companies, showing how an investor can make huge profits on the coming "Bird flu" pandemic!

2 - Power and Control: Any individual, group, state or nation that, in any way, resists the formation of a One World Government, can be quarantined, embargoed, or imprisoned. The Rulers of the world can stifle or annihilate ALL dissent.

3 - De-population of the world: So the world can belong solely to the rich few who rule in tyranny. They have already begun the de-population the earth by:

War, in almost every country around the globe.

Infanticide ­ Soon to come.

Euthanasia ­ physician-assisted suicide, of the elderly and those who are ill.

Terminator Seeds:

Seeds that produce fruit that does not, in turn, produce seeds (such as - "seedless" - watermelons). These initial seeds have been patented by the mega nation-less corporations, so the farmer must buy new seeds every year rather than being able to save seeds from his own harvest. In addition, the farmer can only purchase the seeds from the owners of the mega nation-less corporations. This becomes so prohibitively expensive that the farmer goes bankrupt.

Patented Genetically engineered food that can be withheld at will ­ to promote famines

Weather control to make growing areas into dust bowls to engineer world-wide famines. - Search the web under "Weather Control." -

Destruction of the food supply of the world by killing off the turkeys, ducks and other birds used for food - because of the irrational fear of "Bird Flu" - in addition to the destruction of cows - because of the REAL threat of Mad Cow Disease ­ which they are presently down-playing, - and sheep (because of the REAL threat of "Scrapie", which is Mad Sheep Disease. - This is one of the ways they will bring about massive famines that will starve to death millions of people.

Man-Made Diseases, - Such As AIDS - bioengineered in government and military laboratories to cause super-infectious world-wide pandemics.

Mandatory Vaccinations developed to CAUSE - not prevent - horrible, deadly diseases in those who receive them, as well as autism, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and learning disabilities resulting from the mercury and other highly toxic substances vaccines contain. - See Vaccines: Are They Really Safe and Effective? - By Neil Miller, New Atlantean Press at: - www.thinktwice.com -

All of these methods are designed to de-populate the earth so the world can be owned and ruled by the "favored few", those who say by self-proclamation, that they have the right and obligation to rule the world.

Here is a quote from the United Nations:

"Food is Power."

We use it to change behavior.

Some may call that bribery. We do not "apologize."

Catherine Bertini, executive director U.N. World Food Program, Beijing, China.

U.N. 4th World Conference on Women, September, 1995.

In other words,

"Do as we say, or we will starve you to death!"

The "Bird Flu" HOAX is only one part of an enormous plan to allow a select few to Rule the World and enslave or annihilate the rest!

Kill Billions Around the World - - -

With One Lie!
 

Addendum:
If you're concerned about your health and the ability to resist all types of diseases, including the REAL emerging diseases (not "Bird Flu") that will be perpetrated on the world by the Illuminati, please understand that you CAN be well, in spite of their evil plans. Visit my website at www.drday.com and learn how to Get Well and Stay Well ­ Naturally ­ From ALL Disease - Without Drugs! - http://www.drday.com/ -
 

a r t i c l e   /   c o m m e n t a r y The Great Alien Invasion http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty114.htm contributing editor to   - Dan

By Frosty Wooldridge, January 2, 2006

As we start off the New Year, I’m heartened at the millions of readers that have answered writers’ calls to action concerning the greatest threat ever to our nation. Many times in the past 20 years, I felt like a dog barking into the wind in the middle of the night on some lonely island. This national legal and illegal immigration crisis, no matter how dire, seems to have eluded most Americans’ radar screens. They’ve been too busy with family, kids, schools and working.

We thought our presidents and Congress represented our best interests. As we now know, that isn’t the case! The past five or six presidents along with their Congresses duped us and undermined our country. Senator Teddy Kennedy, the biggest buffoon in the Senate, initiated the destruction of America with his 1965 Immigration Reform Act. It’s been downhill ever since. He’s turned the most successful society in the history of humanity into a growing national nightmare from which our civilization may not survive.

 We must change that ‘destiny’ by our collective actions. What you’re about to read is from the pen of John Martin, an American citizen. By reading his words, you’ll connect more dots and then, share them with others.

John Martin writes:

In recent months, mass immigration--both legal and illegal--has been one of America's most hotly debated topics. Almost everywhere people are growing more and more frightened about everything from job losses to chronic overcrowding and new pandemics of once-conquered diseases.

A few members of Congress are speaking out about illegal aliens and are offering "solutions"--from tightening up security at the border to the "Real ID" scam that was railroaded through the Senate on a 100-0 vote. As expected, Congress has not demonstrated any backbone on proposing any solutions that would really work--only programs that impose more on America's citizens than have any value on stemming the alien tsunami.

The first thing to look at is our historic immigration quotas. For decades, we enjoyed a limit of about 170,000 new immigrants per year. Not only that, but the majority of these come from Western Europe--people whose cultures were most compatible with our own.

But the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, sponsored by the notorious duo, Lyndon Johnson and Ted Kennedy, turned our responsible immigration policy upside down. First the numbers went way up. Worse still, quotas were imposed to limit European immigrants while much more liberal allowances were granted to poor, third world countries. Today, 2.3 million immigrants come in (1.3 million legal and 1.0 million illegal)--the vast majority of them from poor countries and with cultures that are contrary to those of most Americans. (Time Magazine states that 3.0 million illegals gain entry annually.)

This incompatibility has built up resentment from many people as they see their neighborhoods and lifestyles overwhelmed by impoverished, overcrowded, noisy, crime-prone masses. Here are a few facts:

* Each year, the world's population jumps by 80 million.

* America's population surges 3.3 million per year--almost all from third-world immigrants and their offspring.

* By 2050, if current trends continue, America's population will approach HALF A BILLION.

* California alone adds 600,000 annually.

* By 2030, California will be saddled with 55 million crowded people.

* An endless line is always waiting to enter America. Since the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, over 60 million have come here. And there are always more waiting with no end in sight.

* The number of foreign-born in America has tripled since 1970.

* The average Mexican immigrant in his lifetime consumes $55,200 more in services than he pays in taxes.

* Legal and illegal immigrants sent $56 billion of our dollars abroad last year (2004)--$15 billion to Mexico, $25 billion to South America, and $16 billion to Asia. The drug cartels took another $100 billion. * Unlike America, Mexico has immigration laws that are very strict. It is pro-sovereignty and anti-bilingual. Illegals are quickly deported and receive no benefits.

The greatest causes for concern, of course, are Mexico and Latin America. These are by far our primary producers of excessive humanity. Various sources estimate that anywhere from 1.5 to two million aliens now come across the Mexican border every year. And just since 1975, counting their offspring, some 50 million are already here.

Numerous states, especially California, are suffering from urban sprawl, gridlock, escalating home prices, crime, and massive drains on social services. Many third-world newcomers don't understand American civilization or even speak English. Some carry virulent, drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, leprosy, polio, AIDS, and other deadly diseases. Some have religious convictions that most Americans would consider abhorrent--the "duty" of revenge, for example.

Many have grown up in criminal environments where street gangs, theft, vandalism, looting, violence, bribery, and other anti-social behavior are the accepted norm. For example, living and traveling in Mexico City today is dangerous and terrifying. People--especially foreigners--are subject to assaults, car-jackings, robbery--even rape, murder, and kidnapping. There were 1200 kidnappings in 2003 alone. Policemen won't help. Many are on the take--they make their livings that way. (This is known as Third World Momentum.)

And they are importing new forms of crime over here. A 60 Minutes TV program recently illustrated how a group of Hispanics (mostly women) cleaned out an Old Navy outlet. They pretended to be customers, but instead they were repeatedly going in, stuffing large, foil-lined bags with high value clothing, and taking it out to their truck outside. Meanwhile, accomplices used their bodies and clothing to shield the thieves from the security cameras. In one day, they had lifted thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. (This was noted in my December 30, 2005 column.)

A devastating and unfortunate societal process is that populations in the poorest nations and continents continue to have more children than they can properly feed, cloth and educate. As their populations are already destitute and overcrowded, such a path only leads to more misery. For Latin Americans, it is due partly to their Roman Catholic religion. But unlike non-Hispanic North American Roman Catholics--most of whom practice some reasonable family planning--the Latinos from farther south opt for large families--the bigger the better. As a result, Mexico is expected to double its population--already bursting at 100 million--in the next 50 years.

The late Frank Mayo observed that the greatest ambition of a typical Mexican peasant woman was to have as many children as she could. What an ambition--to perpetuate and exacerbate her family's grinding poverty!

Pope John Paul II may have aggravated this mindset. During his numerous visits to Latin America for more than 20 years, he had repeatedly condemned all forms of birth control--the one and only solution that can lift these desperate nations out of their poverty. We can only hope the current Pope will, instead, vigorously promote some common sense family planning.

Today, while other parts of the world have begun to restrain their population growth, chronically overpopulated Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia are still multiplying exponentially. Poor families who cannot adequately support even one child frequently pop out 10 or 15, condemning each succeeding generation deeper into poverty.

Exporting this problem is futile. Even at current emigration rates, their population growth far exceeds the millions that cross into the United States. These third world countries have but two choices--one rational and one fatal: Either immediately adopt strict birth control methods, or let nature take care of the population with pandemics and wars.

Although mass emigration does them little good, mass immigration of this feral humanity into the United States is a guaranteed catastrophe. It will destroy us just as surely as a cancer destroys its victim. If the current immigration trend continues, America's population will double from 2005 to 2065. We are already far beyond our optimum population and are approaching our maximum sustainable limit right now. If it becomes much bigger, our life quality will plummet down to third world levels. Much of America will resemble Mexico City with its miles of hillsides crammed with shacks and homeless people as far as the eye can see. This runaway loss of our lebensraum will eradicate our hope to retain any form of civilized society.

Writer Frosty Wooldridge (www.frostywooldridge.com) said, "Immigration is the most formidable weapon of mass destruction threatening America today."

And to add insult to injury, the American taxpayers are being forced to finance their own destruction. Aliens, both legal and illegal, as well as others who have been given citizenship, are consuming vast amounts of welfare, child support, food stamps, EBT cards, and other public goods and services. They are sending their multitudes of children to the public schools, and they are overwhelming and bankrupting numerous local hospitals.

According to Dr. Madeleine Cosman, "At least 300,000 to 350,000 "anchor babies" (babies born in this country to illegal aliens) annually become citizens in California." Stockton taxpayers shelled out $215 million for the births of 74,987 in 1994. The San Joaquin General Maternity Ward gave birth to another 2300 in 2003--70 percent from illegals. When they grow to school age, they each cost $7000 above and beyond what their parents pay in taxes. Today, California is $38 billion in debt.

The danger signs are obvious. Once considered a great place to live as recently as 1980, people are now calling it "Mexifornia." By 1998, nearly half of the children born there were Latin American. The latest statistics show that over a third of its population is Latino--mostly Mexican--the fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S. By the year 2028, it is expected to be over half. As a result, social services are being strained far beyond their limits while taxes to finance them are being pushed to intolerable levels.

Neighborhoods in California are being consumed. Hispanic street gangs are proliferating. Drug crimes are rampant. Shoplifting, burglaries, looting, fornication, vandalism, rape, and murder by Hispanics are all on the rise.

Mexicans are buying up large numbers of homes, even homes in nice neighborhoods. As many as 30 or more Mexicans pool their money, buy or rent a house, and all of them live in it together--like packed sardines. They repeatedly invite dozens of their friends and extended family relatives to their huge, noisy parties. Their cars occupy every single on-street parking space.

The alien plague is not limited to the west. "Anchor babies" born in Georgia cost $13 million for 5,133 in 2000, $23 million for 9,528 in 2001, and $27 million for 11,188 in 2002. The health care for just these 25,849 cost the state taxpayers $42 million every year. And in 2002, their illegal parents ran up another $63 million for 64,000 doctor visits. In Cobb County, the Hispanic population has skyrocketed in just over a decade. In 2003, they numbered 60,445--one tenth of the county's population--up more than six times from the 9403 in 1990. Complaints of housing violations and noisy parties by Hispanics in the county now average one per day.

So what is the solution to the immigrant nightmare? For starters, nearly everything Congress has done--and state and local governments as well--has either been useless, or worse than useless. At least a couple of times Congress has come up with a "reform" of some sort--stiffer border enforcement, etc. But both times, this "reform" also gave amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.

This amnesty was about the most dangerous thing anybody could do. Since they were suddenly made legal, they can not only work legally and draw some public benefits--they can draw additional public benefits (like social security) and have no worries about being prosecuted or deported. And finally, when these later become citizens, they can legally vote and run for public offices.

We not only face an overpopulation crisis; we face an outright overthrow of our government. Once they reach a numerical majority, they can out-vote the American minority. Their candidates can then twist the state and local laws to suit themselves--laws that benefit themselves at the expense of others, and at the same time deplete the tax base and impoverish everybody.

They're not calling California "Mexifornia" for nothing. Numerous news reports verify that the Mexicans want to reclaim the entire southwest United States as their own state of "Aztlan." With their runaway birthrate, they are well on their way.

La Voz de Aztlan (www.Aztlan.net) predicts when California will fall: Mario Obledo--former California Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and current Mexican American Legal Defense Fund founder said, "California is going to be a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn't like it should leave. Every constitutional office in California is going to be held by Hispanics in the next 20 years."

Later, as their population continues exploding and they achieve majorities in other states, they can take those over. Later, they could elect enough U.S. Congressmen and Senators to corrupt the federal government. Eventually, they might even manage to re-write the U.S. Constitution. American freedom as we know it will become extinct. We will be serfs in a destitute, overcrowded, disease-ridden, crime-ridden, uncivilized, third-world cesspool.

Part II: What Americans need to do
 

$$$ Follow the Money $$$ Marx for Dummies contributing editor to   - Dan

H U M O R Presumptions contributing editor to   - Dan

A drunk man, who smelled like beer, sat down on a subway seat next to a priest. The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket He opened his newspaper and began reading.
After a few minutes, the man turned to the priest and asked, "Say, Father, what causes arthritis?"

The priest replied, "My Son, it's caused by loose living; being with cheap, wicked women; too much alcohol; contempt for your fellow man; sleeping around with prostitutes; and lack of bathing."

The drunk muttered in response, "Well, I'll be darned," then returned to his paper.

The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"

The drunk answered, "I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does..."
 
 

Is this the reason you are gladly accepting and asking for intrusion into your finances (the two previous stories)?  Is this the reason you are gladly accepting and asking for intrusion into your private life? Do you have a line in the sand which you will take a stand?  Is that line at your yard, is is at your front door, is it in your bedroom?  All of those are too late.  You already have waited too long.  --  Tribble]

Orwell's telescreens arrive in Britain

Not satisfied with over 4 million CCTV cameras already spying on British citizens, the government is now floating proposals to turn the country's 14,000 speed cameras on drivers to monitor their personal habits. The London Guardian reports,  "Mr Gifford said expanding the use of technology for tracking the movements of cars could lead police to people who had committed other offences in the same way that Al Capone was eventually caught through his income tax evasion. He claimed that for greater safety and "the greater good of society", most people would be prepared to accept "a slight reduction of our liberty"."  As we have warned, the agenda of the expansion of surveillance cameras is not just because the government wants to record your actions.

The fundamental goal is to ram it down people's throats to the point whereby they think they are constantly under suspicion 24 hours a day, resulting in the self-regulation of behavior, a self-imposed prison without bars. This helps mould a repressed society that shrinks from asking questions, protesting and demanding answers from its government. It redefines the very nature of the intended function of government, to act as a servant to the people. We the people are supposed to watch government like hawk, not the other way around. The abuses of the state throughout history, killing 200 million in the last century alone, have always massively outweighed any threat to the fabric of society from crime, which in itself is largely a product of the state's action.  The blanket smoking ban and ASBO legislation also send the message, we are your bosses, you are the children and you better play nicely because Big Brother is watching at all times.

The age of the telescreen is upon us as surveillance cameras that festoon our streets, shopping malls and airports are now moving into our private homes as the panopticon prison is erected.

The surveillance cameras are there to make a statement. We are the prison guards, you are the prisoners.
 

As George Orwell described it in 1984, "The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard."  "There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

This is the prison without bars. This is the panopticon, a prison so constructed that the inspector can see each of the prisoners at all times, without being seen. This is a portrait of the accelerating movement by western governments to erect giant, powerful, all-pervading mass surveillance, tracking and control grids that will keep all populations firmly under the baleful and watchful gaze of Big Brother.

Liberty, the group supposedly tasked with defending privacy rights in the UK, revealed itself to be a shill of the establishment in refusing to oppose the measures.
 

D O    N O T drink the Kool-Aid* Protecting America From Terrorists Who Pay Bills http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/030306paybills.htm http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/projo/994780041.html?did=994780041&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Feb+24%2C+2006&author=BOB+KERR&pub=The+Providence+Journal&desc=Pay+too+much+and+you+could+raise+the+alarm contributing editor to   - Jeanne

Homeland Security investigates Texas schoolteacher's Mastercard payoff

When they're not investigating toy store owners for selling Rubik's cubes or handing out federal grants for tiny towns to install surveillance cameras to spy on everyone, Homeland Security is busy protecting us from the enemy by investigating you if you pay off credit card debt. Underlining again the fact that the record growth in government since George Bush took office has nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with controlling the lives of ordinary Americans, a retired Texas school teacher recently came under the microscope of big brother when he attempted to level on his JCPenney Platinum MasterCard.  After mailing in a check for $6,522, Walter Soehnge was miffed to discover that his negative balance remained the same.  After calling the credit card company, Soehnge was told that his behavior was questionable. Any amount that is a certain percentage higher than the usual monthly payment automatically triggers a Homeland Security investigation.

"We're a product of the '60s," says Soehnge. "We believe government should be way away from us in that regard." "The more I'm on, the scarier it gets," he said. "It's scary how easily someone in Homeland Security can get permission to spy."  Mr. Soehnge obviously hasn't acclimatized himself to the new world order. Government is now our boss, they do not represent us, they do not serve us, we serve them. Government can become as secret as it likes, even re-classify as secret documents that were already in the public domain, but we have to be under suspicion all the time and it's for our own protection.

Homeland Security paid a visit to Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox to help stop Al-Qaeda. The knock-off Rubik's Cubes she was selling could have been used on the black market to fund Al-Qaeda. The agents, ever dutiful in their defense of America, stood and sternly watched as Stephanie removed every toy from the shelf.

Likewise, alarm bells were ringing when Homeland discovered that the kindergarten class at Lakewood’s Taft Elementary was planning a field trip to NASA Glenn Research Center.

Access to the center is restricted to US citizens only and because two of the 6-year-olds were foreign born, Homeland patriotically ordered the school to cancel the trip. Yet another deadly terrorist cell was disrupted before their plan to .....get excited about seeing rocket ships..... could be enacted.

We can all sleep soundly tonight safe in the knowledge that Homeland Security is one step ahead of retired schoolteachers, toy store owners and kindergartners. The terrorists know that Homeland is watching them and they are on the run. God bless America.
 

Another victim of Homeland Security financial snoops

Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com | March 7 2006
 

Last week’s story about a retired Texas school teacher who came under Homeland Security’s microscope for paying off a $6,522 credit card debt has been trumped by a similar case involving an amount of just $650. Previously, Walter Soehnge made national headlines when he attempted to pay off debt on his MasterCard. The payment was rejected and automatically triggered an investigation by Homeland Security.  Now we have the story of Edie Booth, a community college professor in East Texas.  Trying to pay off her February credit card bill, Booth found her funds short and so asked to borrow $650 from her sister to avoid an interest overcharge of $140.  Booth made a $3,500 payment from her own account and then sent the other $650 with permission from her sister’s electronic account.

I watched the status of these two payments on line, since I am not the 'trusting' type, when it comes either to banks, credit card companies, OR government,” says Booth. “The $650 was pending one day and then showed funded the next. All seemed fine. However, I continued to check the status on-line for the next 5 days.  “On the 6th day I found the extra $650 payment CANCELLED.” Upon calling the credit card company, Booth was told that Homeland Security would not allow her to make two payments from two different sources in the same day.  Booth was then slapped with the $140 overcharge for causing the hard working boys at Homeland so much inconvenience.

This is a monumental waste of time and if there were any real terrorists out there Homeland Security is more interested in your spending habits than Al-Qaeda.

As Edie Booth points out, this is “such insanity, I mean, if you are paying your credit card, you have already obtained the explosives or whatever some time before."

“Where is the leadership? When will we get some relief from these morons?”

The very individuals that used 9/11 to force layer upon layer of increased state surveillance and big government bureaucracy upon us are the ones in business with Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. And yet it is law-abiding citizens that get hassled for the simple desire to pay off some debt.

Homeland Security targets toy store owners, t-shirt sellers and kindergartners while hiring former East German Stasi heads to spy on Americans and recruiting tattle-tale squads under ‘Highway Watch’ – a program that encourages truckers, toll takers, road crews and bus drivers to watch their fellow citizens and report suspicious activity.

It seems painfully obvious that the people trying to take away our freedoms are not wearing turbans and shouting Allah Akbar, but that the enemy is within the gates.
 

(1) THIS SENTENCE CONTAINS FIVE WORDS

(2) THIS SENTENCE CONTAINS EIGHT WORDS

(3) EXACTLY ONE SENTENCE ON THIS CARD IS TRUE
 

(1) The 9-11 Commission refused to examine the vast majority of evidence about 9/11, and even the former director of the FBI says there was a cover up by the 9/11 Commission
www.newsmax.com and  www.amazon.com books

(2) USA Today stated that the FBI believed that bombs in the buildings brought the buildings down
terrorize.dk truck bombs.fbi.jack.kelley.rm

(3) MSNBC stated that police officials believe "that one of the explosions at the world trade center . . . may have been caused by a van that was parked in the building that may have had some kind of explosive device in it, so their fear is that there may have been explosive devices planted either in the building or in the adjacent area"
terrorize.dk  police found explosives.wmv

(4) The NY Fire Department Chief of Safety stated there were "bombs" and "secondary devices", which caused the explosions in the buildings
terrorize.dk 911.wtc.reporter.1.wmv

(5) NYC firefighters who witnessed attacks stated that it looked like there were bombs in the buildings. A NYC firefighter stated "On the last trip up a bomb went off. We think there was bombs set in the building"
web.archive.org  people special

(6) The head of a national demolition association stated that the collapse of the towers looked like a "classic controlled demolition"
www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn1281

(7) Eyewitnesses have testified that substantial explosions occurred well BELOW the area impacted by the planes, and -- according to some witnesses -- they occurred BEFORE the plane had even hit
georgewashington.blogspot.com below-belt

(8) A police officer testified that there were numerous, HUGE explosions at the top of one of the twin towers 15 minutes apart, before the tower collapsed
www.thememoryhole.org  pa-police-reports04.pdf

(9) Numerous, credible ex-government officials are warning that the U.S. government might very well attack its own people to justify a further clampdown on civil rights and to justify additional wars
georgewashington.blogspot  officials warn

(10) The tape of interviews of air traffic controllers on-duty on 9/11 was intentionally destroyed by crushing the cassette by hand, cutting the tape into little pieces, and then dropping the pieces in different trash cans around the building
nytimes.com archive and  web.archive.org suntimes.com

(11) Investigators for the Congressional Joint Inquiry discovered that an FBI informant had hosted and rented a room to two hijackers in 2000 and that, when the Inquiry sought to interview the informant, the FBI refused outright, and then hid him in an unknown location, and that a high-level FBI official stated these blocking maneuvers were undertaken under orders from the White House
www.buzzflash.coml

(12) A retired Air Force Colonel who flew over 100 combat missions and was the director of the Star Wars defense program under both Republican and Democratic administrations (and a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth) recently said:

"If our government had merely done nothing, and allowed normal procedures to happen on that morning of 9/11, the twin towers would still be standing, and thousands of dead Americans would still be alive. That is treason!"

(13) Recently declassified documents show that in the 1960's, the American Joint Chiefs of Staff signed off on a plan to blow up AMERICAN airplanes (using an elaborate plan involving the switching of airplanes), and also committing terrorist murders against U.S. citizens on American soil, and then blaming it on the Cubans in order to justify an invasion of Cuba
abcnews.go.com story and  www.gwu.edu northwoods.pdf

(14) The Secret Service, which is highly trained to whisk the president away from danger and to a secure location in the event of a threat, breached all standard procedures and allowed President Bush to remain at a highly-publicized location for 25 minutes after it was known that the nation was under attack
whatreallyhappened.com 9-11secretservice

(15) The U.S. defense agency responsible for protecting the U.S. had run drills for several years of planes being used as weapons against the World Trade Center and other U.S. high-profile buildings, and "numerous types of civilian and military aircraft were used as mock hijacked aircraft". In other words, drills using REAL AIRCRAFT simulating terrorist attacks crashing jets into buildings, including the twin towers, were run
usatoday news norad

(16) The military had also conducted drills of planes crashing into the Pentagon
mdw.army.mil Contingency_Planning_Photos

(17) On the morning of 9/11, 5 war games and terror drills were being conducted by several U.S. defense agencies, including one "live fly" exercise using REAL planes. And the drills apparently included the injection of false "radar blips" onto the screens of air traffic controllers
911truth.org article and fromthewilderness.com mckinney_transcript or spiegltech.com /McKinney2.rm  (6 minutes and 12 seconds into the video); fromthewilderness.com_simplify_case

(18) The government was running a simulation of a plane crashing into a building on the morning of 9/11
boston.com news_plane_exercise

(19) While the government has consistently stated that it did not know where the aircraft were before they struck, the Secretary of Transportation testified before the 9/11 Commission that Vice President Cheney monitored flight 77 for many miles as it approached the Pentagon
911truthmovement.org hamilton_win.wmv

(20) A third world trade center building, called building 7, collapsed on the afternoon of 9/11, but was never hit by plane, fell at the same speed as if there were no floors or walls to cause resistance, contained only small fires before the collapse, and became the first steel-frame building in history to collapse due to fire alone
www.wtc7.net
 

by Harry Browne, May 30, 2005

American Presidents since William McKinley have played fast and loose with the lives of people living in foreign countries.

Hitting just the highlights:

McKinley betrayed the people of the Philippines, who fought alongside American troops against Spain in 1898 — only to have the Americans turn against them and occupy the Philippines for 47 years.

Woodrow Wilson helped Britain and France redraw the European boundary lines in a way that guaranteed a century of wars and resentments — and that continued to trigger conflict in places like Bosnia and Kosovo as recently as the 1990s. And Wilson cooperated when the British reneged on their pledge of freedom and independence to the Arabs in exchange for their support of the Allies in World War I.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s American Presidents practiced gunboat diplomacy with the nations of Latin America — invading countries like Nicaragua and Honduras — as well as sending troops to China and Turkey.

Franklin Roosevelt — with the same "vision" as Woodrow Wilson, and with no more knowledge of history or foreign affairs than Wilson had — sacrificed the freedoms and independence of people in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and China — to satisfy his own ambition to be the world leader who would guarantee peace.

Harry Truman supported dictators in Asia and Africa, and by calling that policy the Truman Doctrine people around the world knew it was the United States that was supporting some of the worst elements of the world — and Truman sent American troops to die defending the autocratic Syngman Rhee regime in Korea.

Dwight Eisenhower approved the CIA coup that overthrew the democratic government in Iran, replacing it with the dreadful Shah of Iran, and Eisenhower continued the Truman Doctrine — standing by dictators in Latin America and Asia, stationing American troops in dozens of foreign countries, and reminding people everywhere that America had become an imperial power.

John F. Kennedy invaded Cuba, sent troops to aid in the suppression of a pro-freedom rebellion in the Congo, supported a brutal dictator in South Vietnam before assassinating him, aided oppression in Laos and Cambodia, and extended American military bases to more and more foreign countries.

Lyndon Johnson played games with the truth in order to draw America into a terrible war in Vietnam — one that caused the deaths of millions of Vietnamese but still left Vietnam in the hands of the Communists.

Richard Nixon secretly bombed Cambodia, only to have his secrets revealed to the world — and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger became known worldwide for practicing "realpolitik," a policy of using human beings around the world as bargaining chips in his tête-à-têtes with dictators.

Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter didn’t (to the best of my knowledge) instigate any major new intrusions on the rest of the world, but they enthusiastically continued to shovel American taxpayer money to foreign dictators and continued to station American troops in what had come to be more than a hundred foreign countries.

Ronald Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon to butt into a civil war there, invaded Grenada, bombed Libya, meddled in Central America, planted American missiles in Europe (putting European civilians in danger), and stood by brutal dictators in El Salvador, Guatemala, and other Latin America countries.

George H. W. Bush invaded Panama and Iraq — and put in place the sanctions and air raids that killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, and children.

Bill Clinton maintained the Iraqi sanctions and air raids, sent American troops to intervene in civil wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, used American force to install a dictator in Haiti — all the while continuing the support of foreign dictators with the money of American taxpayers, and continuing to station American troops around the world as though they were the legions of the Roman Empire.

George W. Bush has invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, killing tens of thousands of civilians; threatened Iran and Syria; overthrew the government of Haiti and installed a brutal dictatorship; praised and supported dictators in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Russia, and many other countries; and demanded that everyone in the world support America or risk being bombed and invaded — all the while proclaiming that he wants to bring freedom and democracy (American style) to everyone in the world.

So why do billions of people around the world hate America so much?

Obviously, it’s because of our freedom, our prosperity, and our democracy.

How do I know? Because George Bush told me so.

What other reason could foreigners have for resenting America?
 

LAURIE KELLMAN / AP | March 7 2006

Suffer from springtime allergies? You could be among the first affected by the USA Patriot Act poised for final congressional passage this week.

Besides terrorism, the bill takes aim at the production of methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that cannot be manufactured without a key ingredient of everyday cold and allergy medicines. The bill would impose new limits next month for how much relief a person can buy over the counter.

And beginning Sept. 30, it'll take a flash of ID to buy that medication.

The legislation sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. and Jim Talent, R-Mo., would blanket the nation with one policy that would put medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter and out of the reach of meth cooks.

"If we leave it up to local jurisdiction, we're simply going to move the problem from one jurisdiction to another without addressing the root cause," said Fresno, Calif., Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

Pass a state or local law cracking down on methamphetamine production, set off a cycle that goes something like this:

The black market price of cold tablets needed to make the drug skyrockets, driving the meth makers to the jurisdiction next door. There, they buy it in bulk _ legally, cheaply, anonymously.

That is, until that state or city gets tough on meth with new laws of its own.

Rather than wait for localities to stitch together a patchwork of anti meth policies, the provision of the Patriot Act would leave meth producers nowhere to run but out of the country. It takes aim at the meth trade's weakest point _ the supply of pseudoephedrine.

Beginning 30 days after President Bush signs the law, expected sometime this week, purchase limits go into effect. One person would be limited to buying 300, 30-mg pills in a month or 120 such pills in a day. The measure would make an exception for "single-use" sales _ individually packaged pseudoephedrine products.

Many retailers, such as Kmart, Walgreens, Target and Wal-Mart, have already adopted guidelines to limit customer access to cold products or to limit their sales.

Similar state and local restrictions have caused seizures of meth labs to plunge by double-digit percentages in such states as Arkansas, Oregon and Missouri.

At the same time, drug agents began finding more meth from Mexican cartels on the street.

Still, closing down domestic meth labs is of unique urgency to public health and safety, law enforcement officials said.

The drug is made in clandestine labs with battery acid, drain cleaner or other chemicals that help turn the cold and allergy medicine into powder.

One quart of ether, another ingredient, holds the explosive power of several sticks of dynamite, said Sgt. Jason Grellner of the Franklin County, Mo., Narcotics Enforcement Unit, which has seized 600 meth labs since 1998 in a jurisdiction of 100,000 people.

Wading into the toxic soup of a meth lab puts officers in situations for which they are not necessarily trained, Grellner said.

"They have to know the job of a hazardous-waste chemist. They have to have the mindset of a firefighter. They have to be a natural-resources worker," Grellner said. "Wearing that many hats is a safety concern."

And an abandoned lab becomes an environmental hazard, pointed out Dyer.

"They were leaving the chemicals and equipment out in the open and vacating the property," Dyer said. "They found out that we started to trace down suspects with that equipment. Now they are burying these same items underground."

Oklahoma provides evidence that driving out meth labs doesn't mean getting rid of meth. Oklahoma's meth lab seizures have fallen 90 percent since April 2004, when it became the first state to ban over-the-counter sales of everyday cold and allergy medications.

At the same time, seizures of smokeable Mexican meth known as "crystal ice" rose nearly fivefold, from 384 cases in the 15 months before the law to 1,875 since.

"We're going to see trafficking by Mexican cartel organizations, on a much larger scale," Grellner said.
 

Kathy Gill, About.com | March 9 2006

It's worthy of a Golden Fleece Award.

Dillingham, Alaska (map, population: 2,400) is installing 80 surveillance camers, at the port and "around town," courtesy of a $202,000 Department of Homeland Security grant. The town is so small, it has no street lights. (tip)

Whereas Anchorage (map, population: 260,000) has fewer than 40 cameras for its port.

No blame should come to Police Chief Richard Thompson for applying for the grant. But hard questions should be directed to DHS's Chertoff, who has funneled $40 million into Alaska in the last three years. Alaska is second to Wyoming in per capita DHS monies, checking in at three times California. Reminds one of the bridge to nowhere.

About that faith-based initiative?

Homeland Security Watch reports that on Tuesday President Bush directed DHS to establish "a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives ... to coordinate agency efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the provision of social and community services... [and to] coordinate a comprehensive departmental effort to incorporate faith-based and other community organizations in Department programs and initiatives."

This includes conducting "a department-wide audit to identify all existing barriers to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the delivery of social and community services."

I don't see the connection with terrorism, the primary reason the President gave for creating DHS in 2002: "I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission -- securing the American homeland and protecting the American people."

Did the Bush Administration not get the bi-partisan criticism directed at it post-Katrina? That Homeland Security and Emergency Management might not be the best bedfellows? That maybe the largest reorganization of the federal government since World War II has not gone smoothly?

For example, UPI reports on yet-another questionable Administration appointee: "a 28-year-old former White House staffer is heading a policy committee that gathers expert advice -- on behalf of the president and the Homeland Security secretary -- on key areas of homeland security, including threats to infrastructure and preventing terrorist attacks that use weapons of mass destruction."

He joins Julie Myers, Assistant Secretary for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (36, Myers is the wife of DHS Chief Chertoff’s chief of staff and a niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Richard B. Myers). President Bush bypassed Senate oversight of her nomination by making a recess appointment.

Makes you feel really safe re the DP World ports deal, now doesn't it?
 

A traditional-values organization in California is warning the state's residents that a bill pending in the Legislature, if approved, could remove all references to gender in public schools – threatening even references to "mom" or "dad" in textbooks.

If the bill, SB 1437, were to become law, warns the Capitol Resource Institute, "it could potentially require gender-neutral bathrooms in our schools and all references to 'husband' and 'wife' or 'mom and dad' removed from school textbooks as the norm."

Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl – a lesbian actress best known for playing Zelda in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" in the '60s – the legislation would add "gender" (actual or perceived) and "sexual orientation" to the law that prohibits California public schools from having textbooks, teaching materials, instruction or "school-sponsored activities" that reflect adversely upon people based on characteristics like race, creed and handicap.

"The social experiment pro-homosexual activists have envisioned for our young children is mind-boggling!"

The organization notes the bill also applies to school activities, which include cheerleadering, sports and events like the prom.

"Under SB 1437, school districts would likely be prohibited from having a 'prom king and queen' because that would show bias based on gender and sexual orientation," said CRI. The measure also could affect issues like gender-specific sports teams.

Earlier this week, about 500 homosexual students gathered at the State Capitol in Sacramento to celebrate "Queer Youth Advocacy Day."

According to the Sacramento Bee, demonstrators voiced support for Kuehl's bill and AB 606, authored by Democrat Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, which addresses harassment and discrimination in schools.

"I refuse to settle for anything less than respect and equality in education," 16-year-old Garrett Rubin stated at the event. "I shouldn't have to be working so hard to get an education like everybody else."

The Bee reported participants also spoke out against AB 2311, authored by GOP Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, a bill that would prohibit the "promotion of homosexuality in public education."

The young protesters chanted: "Hey hey, ho ho, homophobia's got to go."

Traditional values group Campaign for Children and Families decried AB 606, which has passed the Assembly and likely will be approved in the state Senate.

"AB 606 would give inappropriate, draconian power to the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction to unilaterally withhold state funds from California school districts that don't promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality according to his arbitrary 'standards,'" stated an e-mail from the group. "This horrible bill essentially mandates the trans-bi-homosexual agenda in curriculum, textbooks, presentations and more. And because two-thirds of a school districts' funds come from the state, AB 606 would interrupt and destroy the academic learning of millions of California schoolchildren if schools 'don't comply.'"

Campaign for Children and Families is urging Californians to urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto the bill should it reach his desk.
 
 

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin271.htm
http://www.newswithviews.com/metcalf/metcalf163.htm
http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd146.htm
http://www.infowars.com/articles/Bush/bush_trashes_constitution_few_notice.htm

By Doug Thompson, Dec 9, 2005

Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
 

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. “I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.” “Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.” “Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.” And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”

Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not.  Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine – in the end – if something is legal or right.

Every federal official – including the President – who takes an oath of office swears to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the Constitution a “living document.”

“"Oh, how I hate the phrase we have—a 'living document,’” Scalia says. “We now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete's sake.”

As a judge, Scalia says, “I don't have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it's better than anything else.”

President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a “union between a man and woman.”  Members of Congress have proposed some 11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion.

Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss of rights.

“We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones,” Scalia warns. “Don't think that it's a one-way street.”

And don’t buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush, something that undermines the Constitution of the United States.

But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just “a goddamned piece of paper.”
 
 

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two women who said two U.S. Marine Corps recruiters forced them to have sex after they expressed interest in joining the force sued over the incidents on Wednesday.

The lawsuit names the Marine Corps, the Navy, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee, Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter and the two recruiters as defendants. It seeks an injunction forcing the Marines to properly train recruiters as well as monetary damages.

The women, who were 17-year-old high school students at the time of the incident last year, allege that recruiters Staff Sgt. Joseph Dunzweiler and Sgt. Brian Fukushima told them they would have to submit sexually to join the Marines.

"The complaint alleges that Dunzweiler raped Doe on three separate occasions in the Ukiah recruiting office, each time telling her that she had to have sex with him if she wanted to join the Marines," attorneys Barry Vogel and Michael Sorgen said in a statement. The two plaintiffs are identified by the fictitious names Jane Doe and Mary Roe.

One of the women said she was a virgin who contracted a sexually transmitted disease in the encounter. "Among other injuries, plaintiffs were raped, seduced, coerced and pressured into sexual intercourse against their will," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit asks for an injunction to force the Marine Corps to provide more comprehensive training to recruiters and better protections to women.

In court martial proceedings last year, both men were fined and demoted after being found guilty on misconduct charges but were not given prison time. Both were recently discharged from the military.

Regulations forbid any sexual contact between recruiters and potential recruits and enlistees.

A Marine Corps spokesman in California said he was aware of the case but declined to comment because it was pending.
 

duh Here is You Sign contributing editor to   - Dale

Which way is correct	The complete "shotgun" wedding
Think of the college costs	McLogic?
Still dead???	Huh?
Story tonight on the late edition	Good job
Maybe they already had enough	But judge .....
But, if I am illiterate, how to I write?	And you thought you knew it
Lush lawns	Speling iz knot imprtunt fir astranawts
Are we coming or going?	Now shall you drink and make signs

$$$ Follow the Money $$$ Mother Nature Becomes Mother Hubbard (?Hubbert?) http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/zapata/2006/0306.html http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/blake031006.html contributing editor to   - Viv

The Biggest Bull Market In History
by 'Zapata' George S. Blake
Market Analyst, March 6, 2006

It all began in July of 2003. This event is unprecedented in scope and size and was brought about by two factors:

    * The demographic explosion
    * The worldwide availability of modern technology.

Of course, I speak of the commodity market of the next 20-40 years. The event that has triggered the official beginning of this phenomenon occurred in the summer of 2004, when the price of crude oil penetrated a forty-year old top and broke above $ 45, and has been undeterred since that time.

The price of hard-assets-those things that are non-replaceable (commodities such as oil and natural gas, gold, silver, copper, etc.)-will continue in an upward direction for longer than we would ever believe possible. The price gain will be in multiples of ten times rather than in doubles, as we are used to from past commodity markets. Again: unprecedented.

Why is this going to happen?
(This is not "it might happen", this is "it is going to happen".)

We've already spoken of the demand. In the past seventy years the population of the Earth has exploded from one billion to six billion people. This is an unprecedented event. (I use the word again, because it applies.) Modern technology has brought cell phones to people-hundreds of millions of people-where there is no telephone line for 500 miles. The Chinese and much of India are skipping the 20th century. They are jumping from the 19th to the 21st century in one bound. The same thing is true of satellite television. There are people who have generators for electricity, with dishes on their roofs, where there is no TV station, no cable, no electricity. Yet they still see the same images that you and I see every day. We have a case here of once anyone is exposed to advertising, they want it. Once you see it, you want it. Tell me that you would give up your automobile and never drive another car as long as you live. You will begin to understand why what I say here is going to happen.

Now, let's discuss some of the things that have already happened.

* In the last 12 months, China has rescinded the one-child-policy. There will be a renewed boom in the Chinese population.
* China announced an 85,000 km six-lane super-highway nationwide system to be completed in thirty years. Many of the individual provinces are spending $ 600 million a year on what we would call state highways.
* They have announced another 30-year-program where they will build 25 major atomic-powered electrical facilities.
* They have announced the beginning of seven hydroelectric projects. They already have the Three-Gorges-Dam, the largest source of energy this side of the sun. When is the last time the United States, or Canada, built a major hydroelectric project? You can't even remember.
* They have just completed the Shanghai-Tibet railroad. An 11,000 km line runs from Shanghai to the highest elevation that track has ever been laid, on top of the Tibetan Plateau, in far south-western China. This railroad wanders where the rivers don't go. It is similar to the Union Pacific railroad-in this country-in the late 1800s, that connected both coasts. But there is no ocean in Tibet. However, there are vast natural resources that are as yet undeveloped. The obvious purpose in the interim is to service all of the small agricultural projects. The reason for the terminus on the Tibetan Plateau is the ultimate development of the natural resources. They are looking far into the future. They are the only economy in the world that's doing that.
* Recently-in fact just yesterday-a big Chinese oil producing company announced a $ 2.7 billion purchase of a Nigerian field. It will require at least that much more money to develop it. (You noticed that they are buying oil rather than fighting over it.) The biggest oil deal in the world was cut by China almost three years ago and went totally unnoticed. I have discussed it on many occasions. It still seems to evade the media.
* India has announced a new gas pipeline from Iran. This will also be part of the transportation system that brings the 115 million metric tons of natural gas per year from Iran to China. This deal was signed by China about a year ago.
* The Chinese automobile manufacturing industry is in full swing. In the fall of 2007 Chinese imports will begin to this country. Then will be the full-blown effort of the biggest company in China. Minor imports have already been announced. They will make 2 million cars for internal consumption this year.
* The aircraft manufacturing industry is just being born in China with the announcement of the first 737 size and type aircraft to be built inside the country; no outside parts. China announced that they will kick off 5800 new airline flights over the next year. Before 2010, they announced, they will need 20,000 new aircraft.

Let's discuss some specifics:

I want to precede these with this statement: if you disagree with this article, I suggest that you keep it. I will list here some intermediate price goals for several commodities. You won't remember those. All you will remember are the ultimate numbers, which I put on the far right. (And you won't believe those numbers.) But keep the article, and when the numbers on the left are achieved, you may begin to believe what is said here. Because this is what is going to happen, and it has already begun..

Here the numbers:

Remember, these numbers are from the guy who said:

Buy oil @ 12 24 &46
Buy NG @ 2, 3, 4
Buy gold @ 280, 350, &450
Buy Silver @ 4, 5, & 6
Buy copper @ .95, 1.35, 1.50 1.80

The rise in these prices will soon be joined by the soft commodities.

The rise will be stunning!!

In US$ it could be astronomical, because US dollar weakness will exacerbate the problem.

I urge you to listen to these words and profit. If you disregard them - you will pay the price…

L&K
ZAPATA GEORGE
 

the offices of Dewey, Cheetum & Howe Paul McCartney: A Victim ... http://www.newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom46.htm contributing editor to   - Viv

By Tom DeWeese, February 26, 2006

I love the Beatles’ music. My respect for individual members of the legendary band end there. Paul McCartney has spent a lifetime making incredible music while uttering pure gibberish on issues that matter. It seems that if he can’t put a rhyme and a tune to it, his brain turns to mush.

He has been a major promoter of the animal rights scam perpetrated by PeTA. And he has operated a sheep farm with a “commitment to natural methods, and the farm and produce have gained recognition and designation as organic status,” according to a McCartney spokesman. In other words, Paul McCartney has spent years accepting and promoting the environmental agenda that is based more on political propaganda than scientific fact. Sir Paul has done his best to toe an impossible, anti-human line. Worse, he has used his celebrity status to push that misguided agenda on the rest of us.

But Paul is only human. He has needs and wants. And he has the money to get them. Or so he thought. It seems Sir Paul is the victim of Sustainable Development and its strict land use policies that allow a power elite to dictate what we do with our own private property.

Paul’s farm is an extensive estate with lots of land just 70 miles outside London. But when he built a simple one and a half story log cabin on the property to serve as a quiet retreat, away from the hustle and bustle of the farm, he was foiled. It seems the local community planning committee doesn’t like the cabin. They say it “harms the intrinsic landscape quality and character of the area.” Says Councilman Grey Metcalf, “Planning laws are there for a reason. If there was a free-for-all, people would build where they liked, whenever they liked.” The council says Paul ruined an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The fact is, Paul’s cabin doesn’t harm anything. It’s just that his neighbors want to control what he does on his property because they consider the view over his fields to be their own “view shed” and they don’t want him building something in the way to spoil their vistas and sunsets. Protecting the environment is just a euphemism for stealing property.

Paul’s problem is that he never argued before the Council that the land was his and that he should have a perfect right to build a little cabin if he wants to. Instead he argues his need, saying he has a need to privacy, seclusion and security due to the proximity of a public foot path running next to his farm house. Of course the foot path was already enforced over private land as part of the open space rules.

Paul then goes on to plead what a great environmentalist he is. In essence, Paul pleaded that “I’m one of you, how can you do this to me?” The Council countered saying the cabin isn’t essential to the running of the farm, so he doesn’t really need it. Paul then learned that the pigs he had helped put in charge, through his support of the dictatorship called Sustainable Development, are now more equal than he is. It’s the new order of things that Sir Paul thought he wanted.

Of course, it can be argued that Paul has received what he deserves because he’s so eager to inflict the same idiocy on the rest of us. But gloating over Paul doesn’t restore our property rights. Will he ever understand that his actions and political gibberish have consequences? Perhaps Paul could now be encouraged to rewrite George Harrison’s song, “Tax man” and replace those words with “Land Man.”
 

City's refusal of payment from motorist is resolved

By CLAY CAREY

COOPERTOWN — A Nashville man's standoff with the administration of this small Robertson County town over his speeding ticket apparently fizzled out yesterday.

T. Allen Morgan got the $149.50 ticket last month and later mailed the city a check to cover it — along with a little written commentary added about Coopertown's ticketing practices.
 

But the town's mayor refused the check because Morgan had written "for speed trap" on its subject line. Morgan initially was told he would have to write a new check without any comments or appear in court.

Yesterday, just hours before he was scheduled for a court appearance, Morgan said a city official called him to say the check he wrote would be accepted after all.

"I'm satisfied that it's over," Morgan said yesterday afternoon, after learning he wouldn't have to go to court.

"It's an abuse of power," he said. "I'm completely in the right on this.

"The whole issue is they can't tell me what I can and cannot say on a check. They can't tell me what I can and cannot say in a note. They can't tell me what I can and cannot say in public.

"My intent was simply to make a point. The point is the mayor cannot tell me what I can and cannot say. Nobody can."

The dispute launched a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe into the manner in which Morgan's payment was handled. A TBI official said the agency was looking into whether the city's refusal to accept it constituted a criminal act.

Earlier in the week, Coopertown Mayor Danny Crosby said the city wouldn't accept Morgan's check because doing so would amount to an admission that the city does, in fact, run a speed trap — an accusation the mayor has steadfastly denied.

"I'm not going to accept a check with (that) … on it," Crosby said in an interview Tuesday. "That gentleman thought he was making a point. He wasn't."

Crosby said he asked a clerk to tell Morgan the check wouldn't be accepted after he saw the words "for speed trap" written on it.

Morgan's name was never called during traffic court yesterday at 5 p.m., Morgan's appointed court time. After court, City Judge Earl Porter confirmed that his name had been taken off the docket and that his ticket was considered paid. The mayor wouldn't comment on the status of Morgan's ticket yesterday, after Morgan said he had been told he wouldn't have to pay it.

Morgan said he got the ticket last month on Highway 49 near Interstate 24, where the speed limit is 35 mph. He was ticketed for doing 50 in a 35 mph zone. He said he never saw a sign indicating the 35 mph speed limit, which made him suspicious of police there. Then he saw media reports about Coopertown's reputation for ticketing speeders.

"That just confirmed my suspicions and made me angry," Morgan said.

Along with his ticket payment, Morgan sent the city a letter saying the city would never get another dime of his money.

He said he was shopping for a possible home site when he was pulled over. His letter also called the town a speed trap, an accusation he stands by today.

Coopertown and its police received nationwide attention after the national motorist group AAA announced it was considering adding the town to a short list of areas known for their strict traffic enforcement habits. AAA's concerns included the fact that speed limits on Highway 49 have changed multiple times in the last year, and that Coopertown officers patrol Interstate 24 looking for speeders.

The mayor implemented two speed limit changes, one last August and another in January, without votes from the town's Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

AAA officials have said it is possible the town could become the organization's third "Traffic Trap" — a designation reserved for cities that unfairly target drivers to raise money through traffic citations. Organization officials said they first started looking at the town after receiving complaints from local residents. Crosby and others in city government, including Judge Porter, have taken issue with those accusations.

During yesterday's 5 p.m. court session, charges against several motorists charged with failure to produce proof of insurance or vehicle registration were dismissed after those drivers proved that they had those documents. All of those who chose to challenge their tickets during the session had been clocked at at least 10 mph over the posted speed limit.

"If I was only interested in money, I'd have socked it to a lot more of them than I did," Porter said after court. "We're more interested in compliance than we are in money." •
 

By Shawne K. Wickham, Sunday News Staff

What many call a new "national ID card" — a state driver's license that requires the approval of the Secretary of Homeland Security — is coming in May of 2008.

But some New Hampshire political leaders are vowing to fight the changes required by the Real ID Act of 2005.

U.S. Sen. John Sununu, R-NH, opposes Real ID, which mandates federal standards for state driver's licenses and identification cards, and requires states to share their motor vehicle databases.

"It's unnecessary. It's costly. It creates a de facto national ID," Sununu told the Sunday News. "Which is something that we don't need and something that could potentially be used to gather or manage information on its citizens that I don't think is necessarily the business or the responsibility of the federal government."

Sununu was part of a bipartisan group of senators who opposed a move last April to attach the House-approved Real ID Act to a "must-pass" emergency spending bill to fund the ongoing war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and tsunami relief.

Their efforts failed, and the Senate subsequently voted 100-0 to accept the conference report that included the measure.

"When you have a supplemental bill providing support for the troops overseas, I think it's difficult, if not impossible, to vote no," Sununu told the Sunday News. "And unfortunately there weren't a lot of people willing to stand up and say this is a bad idea."

Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, calls the Real ID provisions "an appalling intrusion into privacy."

But New Hampshire's two Republican congressmen, Charlie Bass and Jeb Bradley, who co-sponsored the Real ID Act, say the law is needed to protect the country. And Sen. Judd Gregg says it will help prevent "nefarious use of state driver's licenses by terrorists and other criminals."

The new federal standards for licenses and non-driver identification cards also have the support of New Hampshire's Director of Motor Vehicles, Virginia Beecher, who last week sent letters to the two congressmen, thanking them for supporting the legislation.

Beecher stated the new law "doesn't have a major financial impact on the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles, as many of the requirements have been implemented due to our concerns for Homeland Security."

U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass last week said it's not accurate to call this a national ID program. "The states have their own databases. It's not a national database."

"There is an appropriate debate that should occur on the balance between one's right to privacy and national security, protecting Americans from people who want to kill you," Bass said. "And I believe that making sure that somebody is who he or she is falls within the parameters of being a legitimate invasion of privacy."

And U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley said New Hampshire already does much of what the new law calls for. "The problem is other states that are rather lax in how they give out driver's licenses, and I think that's the problem that the federal law is trying to counteract."

"I think at the end of the day we have to realize that there are things that we have to do to control our borders, to provide for the security of Americans, and we can't ignore that."

Earl Sweeney, assistant commissioner of the state Department of Safety, said the new ID cards will have to include "physical security features" to prevent counterfeiting or duplicating the documents. "It could mean a biometric, such as a fingerprint," or a holograph like some credit card companies currently use to prevent fraud, he said.

And the new licenses and ID cards also must include "a common machine-readable technology with defined minimum data elements," such as a bar code with encoded personal information, Sweeney said.

That's one provision that alarms Ebel, who said federal authorities are considering how to embed a chip into the cards to contain an individual's personal information. That would make the information susceptible to theft by anyone with a scanner that can read such devices, she said.

"That's absolutely insane," Ebel said. "And I do not believe New Hampshire is going to buy that particular package."

Indeed, State Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, recently told the Sunday News that he and other lawmakers are looking into possible legislation regarding Real ID.

And State Sen. Peter Burling, D-Cornish, promised "a hell of a fight" before the new requirements are enacted here. "And it will be a fight driven in some part by the sense of outrage that not only has this happened, but it happened in such a sneaky, low-down way."

"Drivers licenses are about identifying people who have permission to drive a car," he said. "And all of a sudden we're turning them into the essential building blocks of a national database which we can use to control people's right to vote, control people's right to drive, control people's right to fly on an airplane — and control people's right to get into the federal building to seek redress of their grievances."

Sweeney said it's possible that the state could block Real ID, either by passing a law to prevent its implementation here, "or if the New Hampshire Supreme Court for some reason found that it violated the State Constitution."

But he warned, "If that happened, New Hampshire people would not be able to board a bus, train or airplane, access federal facilities or gain access to other locations where a federally accepted picture ID was required, unless they had a passport of some other form of federally accepted identification."

Bass said it would be a grave mistake for a state to block Real ID, "because then that state would become the refuge for all the potential miscreants in this country to try to get fake IDs."

"If they had a national database system based upon 50 states having it, and one state didn't, where do you think all the bad people would go?" he asked. "If I were a state legislator, I would rue the day I supported that idea."

But Sununu warned of possible "unintended consequences" on the other side: "There's certainly the risk that in mandating national standards, we'll lull people into a false sense of security that . . . anybody who holds up a driver's license is beyond reproach." Sweeney said he thinks there may be amendments proposed to the Real ID Act as states begin to implement it. He also expects federal funding will be available to help states comply with the new law.

And that's another concern for Sununu. "We shouldn't be funding a bad law," he said. "We should be finding a way to fix it."
 

"... first we shoot all the lawyers" -- Shakespeare Chicago Mayor 'Delusional' for Seeking Gun Ban, Group Says http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200603\NAT20060314a.html contributing editor to   - Dale

By Randy Hall, March 14, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - An Illinois gun rights group Tuesday called Chicago Democratic Mayor Richard Daley "delusional" for demanding that all 1.5 million firearm owners in the state appear before him and explain why their weapons should not be banned or confiscated.

While acknowledging that Daley's statement comes in the wake of a pair of shootings in the city that left two young girls dead, Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), nevertheless said that the mayor's outburst "suggests strongly that it's time to pad the walls" of his office with rubber.

"I have a message for you, Mr. Mayor," Pearson added. "The Revolutionary War was not fought so that we could unseat King George and install King Richard. The Bill of Rights is not a stick of salami that you can slice and dice at your whim.

"You may have succeeded in suspending the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th amendments" to the U.S. Constitution "in Chicago, but the people of Illinois are not going to let you extend your tyranny beyond the city limits," he stated.

"And no, we have no obligation to come to Chicago, kneel before your throne and beg to freely exercise the rights that so many before us have died for," Pearson said. "To be honest, Mr. Mayor, I think Chicago would be a much better place if you spent less time in front of the cameras and more time behind your desk."

Daley's unusual demand follows a series of events that began on Friday, March 3, when 14-year-old Starkesia Reed was killed when a stray bullet came through the window of her family's house in the city's Englewood community.

Twenty-four-year-old Carail Weeks was charged the following week with first-degree murder in the case.

Then on Saturday, March 11, Siretha White was felled by a bullet from a drive-by shooting as she celebrated her 10th birthday in another Englewood neighborhood.

Authorities later arrested Moses Phillips, 19, and Paree Jones, 25, and charged each with three counts of attempted murder for a gang-related shooting that happened earlier in the day. While the suspects are not charged with Siretha White's murder, police officials believe they are linked to the incident.

As a result of the slayings, Daley renewed his ongoing plea for tighter gun control laws in the state.

"It could happen to any child that's going to school now," Daley said Monday. The tragedies show "a total disregard of human life, and it's as simple as that."

"Why does an adult decide to fire a weapon at a bunch of children at a party?" the mayor asked. "Think of that one, or just drive down the street and start firing a weapon at someone's home."

Daley also demanded that the state's 1.5 million law-abiding firearm owners travel to Chicago to appear before him and explain why their firearms should not be banned and confiscated.

Pearson stated that ISRA members grieved over the Englewood families' losses.

"Like all people of good conscience, the state's hunters and sportsmen are sickened by the murders of innocent children," Pearson said. "It's disturbing to think that there are people out there who will pepper a home full of children with bullets for the sake of securing a corner drug outlet. But those people are out there."

While the mayor "spent the weekend swilling green beer and bagels, a Baghdad mentality settled over Englewood," Pearson added. "Daley is losing control of his city, and all he can do is lay down a smokescreen of blame against the state's law-abiding firearm owners."

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, efforts by Daley and Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich in February to institute an assault-weapons ban have been criticized by gun makers as potentially damaging to the state's economy.

Gun rights advocates have also labeled as a "boondoggle" a bill proposed by the governor in his State of the State address to outlaw assault weapons in Illinois.
 
 

Torture, warrantless searches and seizures, illegal wiretaps, prison without trial, war on false pretenses

The March 14, 2006 episode of Boston Legal had a segment portraying a summary to the jury, for the defendant.  Evidently, the defendant expressed her dissatisfaction with current activities of the gubment.  The audio of this summary is available for educational purposes and can be downloaded from the following link.

boston legal 20060314 -current affairs of gov dominance [1mb] [download time in dialup maybe about 3 minutes]

The story line of the program took it material from the news of the day and has expressed the sentiment of many people.
 

Radio chips being marketed as a replacement for the barcode threaten consumer privacy and are able to carry a virus, Dutch university scientists revealed on Wednesday. An infected radio frequency identity (RFID) tag is able to disrupt the database that reads information on the chip.

Scientists at Amsterdam's Free University were able to create a chip infected with a virus, and then use it to infect the database. Before this study, supporters of RFID assumed that the technology could not modify the back-end software that reads it.

"In our research, we have discovered that if certain vulnerabilities exist in the RFID software, an RFID tag can be (intentionally) infected with a virus and this virus can infect the backend database used by the RFID software," the researchers wrote in a paper discussing the flaw.

"From there it can be easily spread to other RFID tags."

The group says their experience in warning those using the technology about its security issues shows that many are dismissing such a notion as academic and theoretical. Thus, the group is making the malware code publicly available in order to convince users that the problem is potentially serious.

Several scenarios were given on how an RFID virus could be very dangerous, such as a prankster uploading a virus to a supermarket computer that could be used to change prices, or using his cat to pass a computer virus from animal to computer and back to animal through another RFID tag.

However, what may be the scariest of all is the potential airline scenario, where a virus could be used to disrupt baggage-handling systems, potentially hiding suspicious cargo.

"Merely infecting other tags is the most benign case," the group wrote. "An RFID virus could also carry a payload that did other damage to the database, for example, helping drug smugglers or terrorists hide their baggage from airline and government officials."

While in most cases, the critical response to RFID has been due to privacy issues, the scientists' discovery of potentially malicious ways to use the technology is even more troubling, they say.

In turn, the group is advocating action be taken now. "It is a lot better to lock the barn door while the prize race horse is still inside than to deal with the consequences of not doing so afterwards," they said.
 

By Late Nite Leroy, 11/7/2003   (#100)

   Of all the conspiracies I've uncovered ( thanks to the research of others ) I thought the international banking structure had to be the biggest and most frightening.  In the last 400 years it has financed BOTH SIDES of EVERY international war in the same time span of this planet and yielded unmeasureable financial gain for the elite owners who manage the "system."  But, sadly, I must report here that I have now discovered a conspiracy far worse.

    Scripture gave us a few relevant warnings.

    Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:
    but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

    1Ti 6:10   For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

    1Cr 14:33  For God is not [the author] of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

    And scripture also states several powerful curses from God Himself.
    Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
    The Hebrew word translated "Woe" is better translated "eternal damnation in Hell"  according to theologian Dr. John MacArthur.

    Daniel and Revelation also pronounce the curse of all the plagues described in Revelation on those who would "add or subtract from God's word."

    A corporation is considered by law (14th ammendment) to be a "legal person." A corporation is owned and controlled by its stockholders.  The stockholders of every corporation vote to determine who is on the board of directors, who then manage day to day business.  A board member may or may not own stock in the corporation, depending on laws where the corporation was domiciled (registered or created).  If a board member has any control over the owners of the stock, he controls that many votes come election time.  Stock may be held by live people, or OTHER corporations.  For a stock to be traded on any major stock exchange, its majority ownership must be stated in a public fashion.  But just as drug runners launder money to hide responsibility of actions, stock ownership can be hidden by having multiple other "corporations" purchase the stock.

    Disclosure
    The New York Stock Exchange, SEC, NASD and Wall Street crowd pride themselves in touting they have "full disclosure" to "protect" the small investor.

    Poppycock   To trace down and connect the dots about who owns what is a monumental task, even with somewhat "public" corporations and subject to change only minutes after you think you have it solved. And when private corporations or trusts are involved, it becomes almost impossible to trace ownership.

    I must credit Granville Williams of Britain's Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Pastor Les Garrett from Australia for wading through mountains of data and uncovering this following and frightening research.

    If you look at the annual reports of "News Corp." and comb through the fine print, you will see a fascinating quote from Rupert Murdock:
    "Our reach is unmatched around the world. We're reaching people from the moment they wake up until they fall asleep. We give them their morning weather and traffic reports through our television outlets around the world. We enlighten and entertain them with such newspapers as The New York Post and The Times (of London) as they have breakfast, or take the train to work. We update their stock prices and give them the world's biggest news stories every day through such news channels as Fox or Sky News ... And when they get home in the evening we're there to entertain them with compelling first-run entertainment on FOX or the day's biggest game on our
    broadcast, satellite and cable networks. Before going to bed, we give them the latest
    news, and then they crawl into bed with one of our best-selling novels from HarperCollins."
               — Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation, 1999 Annual Report

    Then read in the 2001 annual report in the holdings section and you find HarperCollins Publishing.  You then have to look elsewhere to see what they own.  When you do, you find a name familiar to most Christians: Zondervan.  The largest Bible publisher in the world.

    Granville Williams has traced back enough corporate ownership's to reveal Rupert Murdock is the #1 powerhouse behind NewsCorp.

    Rupert Murdock was known as "Rupert the Red" in college, due to his sympathy for communism. Those who studied world history on their own and didn't buy the tripe taught in America's public schools, know communism is NOT the opposite of capitalism, but is merely a ploy to "distract the masses" into believing they can "share" wealth, when in reality, ALL wealth gets controlled by a small group of elitists who have no concern for ANYONE's welfare besides their own.  Karl Marx was also a Freemason and hated Christianity.  He added this demonic hatred to what would otherwise be just a faulty economic theory.

    So what is the plot by all the true despots in the world?  Gain control of all the money and corporations, hide your identity and rule secretly over every government in the world.  This is the "plot" of the New World Order, and has been carried out with military precision since the Red Shield (Rothschild) and John D. Rockefeller days.  It has permeated upper crust scholarship from Rhodes Scholars at Oxford to Skull and Bones members at Yale.  Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar.  G.W. Bush is still a member of Skull and Bones.  And listeners to Rush Limbaugh thought it was a "conservative versus liberal" issue.  Wrong, it is a power issue and corrupt politicians will wear whatever temporary mask they need to in order to fool voters into giving them power.

    Further study of the occult shows Skull and Bones was related to "Thule", the highest level of witchcraft in Germany.  Their most prominent member was Adolph Hitler.  Cecil Rhodes had ties and influence from the Masonic Lodge of the Grand Orient, who's most prominent member was Joseph Stalin.  Would you want Hitler or Stalin to be members in your "boy's club?"  Rhodes' Scholars and Skull and Bones members don't seem to mind.

    Now, returning to News Corp ownership,. why in the world would a communist sympathizer, Rupert Murdock want to control the largest Bible publisher in the world.  I thought the word of God condemned those who practiced any form of Satan worship and that Communists wouldn't have anything to do with promoting Christianity either.

    The answer lies in research I have to credit to Pastor Les Garrett from Australia.  Bible scholars coming out of today's Christian Bible colleges are taught to "study the original Greek and Hebrew" rather than try to establish doctrine from the many confusing translations available today.  At face value, this really is wise advice.  But there is a fly in the ointment.

    Any true Christian believes the ORIGINAL word of God is flawless, perfect and contained no contradictions.  But issues arose when men put pen to paper and started making mistakes in their writings and copying.  Much debate has been made over which "manuscripts" that we have today are the most accurate.

    Christ was not giving a complement when he referred to his followers as "sheep."  We all naively believe and trust everything a shepherd tells us.  Even when true men of God TRY to do God's will, mortal men can make mistakes in judgment and actions.  The biggest mistake in the history of Christendom is hereby revealed.  Never trust Satan with God's word.  We should have known from the Garden of Eden that he intentionally twists God's word.  Maybe we can blame laziness here, but about a hundred years ago, two Greek Scholars at Oxford, named Wescot and Hort, compiled a Greek text from what they claimed to be "the most reliable" manuscripts available at the time.  American Bible scholars at the time, bought the claim hook, line, and sinker because: "who would challenge top scholars from Oxford?"

    These manuscripts led to the first "American Standard" translation in 1901, but eventually led to being used by EVERY new translation done in the 20th century, including the "New American Standard" and "New International Version" which are probably the 2 most used versions in "conservative Protestant" churches throughout America.

    Who were Wescott and Hort?  First of all, they were NOT Christian by Biblical definition. What were their motives and impetus for their actions?  Who influenced them?  Did anyone challenge their work at the time?  The answers to this are in a 2 and a half hour lecture that Les Garrett gives as he tours the world.  His documentation is flawless and unchallengeable when you see it.

    Wescott and Hort's biggest influence in their lives was a woman name Madam Blavatsky.  Ask any student of the occult who she is.  She was the most powerful witch ever to live and founded New Age theology.  She met with and mentored both Wescott and Hort personally.  They attended seances that she held.  This led to the most asinine remark to come from anyone's mouth: "only those involved in spiratism can fully understand the word of God."  As a result of her influence, Wescott and Hort went on to establish an organization known as the "ghostly ghouls" which practiced more "dialogue with the dead" (demons) and homosexuality.

    So enough of character assassination you say, what has their private life to do with their work?  Everything.  They intentionally chose manuscripts from the "Alexandrian" text group.  The Alexandrians had been corrupted by Greek philosophy; Plato, a homosexual.

    Les Garrett got a copy of the original bible issued by the Watchtower and Tract Society, the Jehovah's Witness cult and compared it to today's "New International Version" which used Wescott and Hort's text.  Since the J.W. Bible is known to be corrupt, Les was curious if there was any similarity.  EVERY heretical change made in the 1922 Jehovah's Witness version of scripture was DUPLICATED in today's New International Version, published by Zondervan. Les went on to discover hundreds of more changes and omissions in the NIV.  Many, if not most pertained to essential Christian doctrine: the virgin birth, the Deity of Christ and his resurrection.

    The New American Standard Version is copyright owned by the Lockman Foundation.  The lead translator who worked years on that translation for Mr. Lockman was Dr. Frank Logsdon.  In a lecture made shortly before his death, Dr. Logsdon recants and with great disgrace and dismay in his voice, disavowing the ENTIRE NASV as being an awful corruption of God's word.  He said he was proud of his work until he discovered the text he had worked from those many years was corrupt to the core.  He said he contacted Mr. Lockman personally and tried to get him to recall all the bibles thus far released.  Mr. Lockman thanked him for bringing it to his attention, but proceeded to do NOTHING about it.

    Is there any hope?  Yes!

    Wescott and Hort did their ugly deeds in the late 1800's, but the old King James version used the RECEIVED TEXT manuscripts for its translation in 1611, years before Westcott and Hort were even born.  I will be the first to agree that King James English is extremely difficult to read and comprehend, but it remains the ONLY English translation we can trust for its doctrinal accuracy.  Anyone who tells you otherwise is not aware of the historical facts I have presented here.  More detailed documentation can be acquired from Les Garrett at:
    P.O. Box 7759
    G.C.M.C., Qld Austrailia  9726

    Books, tapes and videos by Les Garrett are available through the Prophecyclub.com web site.

    So why does Ruppert Murdock want to promote a "poisoned" version of God's word?  The answer should now be obvious.  To mislead the masses into eternal darkness, just like Satan himself.

    --LateNiteLeroy
 

U.N.: Register every baby born
Desmond Tutu launches global campaign, claiming unlisted children 'nonentities'

Desmond Tutu in New York urging registration of all children
 

The United Nations is supporting a new campaign urging governments around the world to register every newborn child, and it's getting help from South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. ''It is, in a very real sense, a matter of life and death,'' the Nobel Peace Prize winner said at a New York news conference. ''The unregistered child is a nonentity. The unregistered child does not exist. How can we live with the knowledge that we could have made a difference?''

The campaign, called "Write me down, make me real," is backed by UNICEF and calls on governments to record the estimated 48 million children whose births go unregistered each year.

Sixteen years ago, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child told countries to register every baby immediately after birth. Every nation has ratified the convention except two, the U.S. and Somalia.

The aid agency Plan USA has released a report titled ''Universal Birth Registration – a Universal Responsibility.'' While it acknowledges it's impossible to know for sure how many unregistered children actually exist because they're not counted, estimates have suggested the figure is over half a billion.

It lists percentages of children not registered by region:

# Sub-Saharan Africa: 71 percent

# South Asia: 63 percent

# Middle East and North Africa: 31 percent

# Asia Pacific: 22 percent

# Latin America/Caribbean: 14 percent

# CEE/CIS and Baltic states: 10 percent

# Industrialized countries: 2 percent

"Governments worldwide are failing the world's children, as millions of youngsters without a birth certificate find it very difficult to prove their age or nationality," said Thomas Miller, Plan's chief executive. "Children without birth certificates are far more likely to find themselves without access to education, health care, civil rights or inheritance laws.

"And parents whose children go missing during disasters like the tsunami or because they are abducted by traffickers may even be unable to get help with tracing their sons or daughters because they cannot prove the age of their children – or in many cases that their children even exist."

Related offer:
Get U.N. out of U.S.! Support new TV ad campaign to spread the word
 

20 Year Host Dale Crowley Told 'You Can't Talk About That'
Michael Collins Piper / Rense.com | March 14 2006

The unAmerican thought police operating on American soil have struck once again. This time their victim is veteran Christian evangelist Dale Crowley, Jr. who has been the host of two popular radio programs broadcast over WFAX 1220-AM radio in the Washington area for the last 20 years.

Crowley was told by Doris Newcomb, president and general manager of WFAX, that his Saturday morning broadcast, "Focus on Israel," was terminated immediately. He was not even given an opportunity to bid farewell to his longtime listeners.

The program was canceled by the WFAX management because supporters of Israel had complained to the radio station about Crowley's criticisms of Israel.

Over the years Crowley has been critical of Israel. He has dared to broadcast facts about efforts by the Israeli government to curtail the work of Christian missionaries in the Holy Land, even to the extent, as Crowley has pointed out, of laws introduced in the Israeli parliament that would penalize Christians who engage in missionary work among the Israelis, requiring that those convicted of evangelism be sent to jail.

In addition, Crowley has used his WFAX broadcast to tell Christians in the Washington area of how the Israelis have oppressed Christian Palestinians, uprooting them from their homes, vandalized Christian churches in the Holy Land, and otherwise made life difficult for Christian Palestinians and other Christian Arabs in the Middle East.

Crowley has upset many supporters of Israel by pointing out that under the thinking of such Christian supporters of Israel as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Tim LaHaye, a New York-born Jewish atheist has more right to live in the holy city of Jerusalem than a Palestinian Christian minister whose family has lived there for 1,000 years.

For daring to speak truths such as this, Crowley's "Focus on Israel" program has been banned from the airwaves by the management of WFAX radio, although it's quite clear, according to observers who have been investigating the matter, that there was heavy-handed pressure brought to
bear on WFAX.

Ironically, Crowley first began "Focus on Israel" in collaboration with the late Haviv Schieber, a Polish-born Jew who emigrated to Palestine in the 1920s and became the first mayor of Beersheva. The town is near the location of what became the site of Israel's supposedly "holy" facility where that nation has produced nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Since Crowley's friend Schieber was a no-holdsbarred anti-communist, Schieber broke with Israel, critical of Israel's behind-the-scenes collaboration with the Soviet communists.

Seeking political refuge in the United States, Schieber became friends with Crowley and his wife Mary. After several years of working with the Crowleys, Schieber converted to Christianity, a fact that delighted many WFAX listeners. In fact, Schieber died in Crowley's home, just shortly after
telling Crowley that he had seen a vision of Jesus Christ welcoming him home.

Yet the Christian management of WFAX has bowed to the demands of the Zionist lobby and is silencing Crowley, a missionary who brought an Israeli Jew to Christ.

What is all the more astounding, to Crowley's Christian supporters at least, is that WFAX management has advised Crowley, in addition, that he is likewise not permitted to talk about "Israel" in future broadcasts of "The King's Business," his daily program which is broadcast Monday through Friday.

Since the term "Israel" is mentioned in the Bible over 2,500 times, if Crowley is not allowed to mention that term, it will obviously make it difficult for him to talk about the Scriptures.

In the meantime, WFAX critics note, there are pro-Israel broadcasters appearing on WFAX, such as one Sid Roth for example, who repeatedly praise Israel.

Advocates of the First Amendment, who wish to express their views on this matter, may contact WFAX manager Doris Newcomb at (703) 532-1220 or write: Doris Newcomb, 161 Hillwood Ave., Suite B, Falls Church, Va. 22046 or email wfax@wfaxam.com.
(Issue #12, March 20, 2006)
 

$$$ Follow the Money $$$ Bank and Thrift Agencies Issue Advisory on Influenza Pandemic Preparedness  http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/Press/bcreg/2006/20060315/default.htm contributing editor to   - Craig

The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies today issued an interagency advisory to financial institutions and their technology service providers that is intended to raise awareness of the threat of a pandemic influenza outbreak and its potential impact on the delivery of critical financial services. The advisory discusses the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza and the roles and responsibilities this strategy outlines for financial institutions and advises financial institutions and their service providers to consider this and similar threats in their event response and contingency strategies.

The advisory, which is being issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Office of Thrift Supervision, is attached.

Attachment (27 KB PDF)

Media Contacts:
Federal Reserve      Susan Stawick      (202) 452-2955
FDIC                      David Barr           (202) 898-6992
OCC                      Dean DeBuck       (202) 874-5770
OTS                       Chris Smith           (202) 906-6677

2006 Banking and consumer regulatory policy
 

The Flat Earth Report A Fish Story http://www.federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/Press/bcreg/2006/20060315/default.htm contributing editor to   - Craig

	This was a pretty interesting story from The Sunday Wichita Eagle Newspaper a couple of weeks ago. A resident in the area saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in a nearby pond and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a child's basketball which became stuck in its mouth!! !           The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface. The resident tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish.          You probably wouldn't have believed this, if you hadn't seen the following pictures...

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain** New Orleans Admits to SAF Attorneys They have Seized Guns http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=177 contributing editor to   - Bob

BELLEVUE, WA – In a stunning reversal, the City of New Orleans revealed today to attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association that they do have a stockpile of firearms seized from private citizens in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The disclosure came as attorneys for both sides were preparing for a hearing in federal court on a motion filed earlier by SAF and NRA to hold the city in contempt. Plaintiffs’ attorneys traveled to a location within the New Orleans city limits where they viewed more than 1,000 firearms that were being stored.

“This is a very significant event,” said attorney Dan Holliday, who represents NRA and SAF in an on-going lawsuit seeking to enjoin the city from seizing privately-owned firearms.

“We’re almost in disbelief,” admitted SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb. “For months, the city has maintained it did not have any guns in its possession that had been taken from people following the hurricane. Now our attorneys have seen the proof that New Orleans was less than honest with the court.”

Under an agreement with the court, the hearing on the contempt motion has been continued for two weeks, the attorneys said. During that time, according to Holliday and fellow attorney Stephen Halbrook, the city will establish a process by which the lawful owners of those firearms can recover their guns.

“While we are stunned at this complete reversal on the city’s part,” Gottlieb said, “the important immediate issue is making sure gun owners get their property back. We’re glad that the city is going to move swiftly to make that possible, and naturally we will do whatever is necessary to make this happen.

“What happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina was an outrage,” Gottlieb observed. “Equally disturbing is the fact that it apparently took a motion for contempt to force the city to admit what it had been denying for the past five months.

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.
 

a r t i c l e   /   c o m m e n t a r y The Genesis Philistines http://biblearchaeology.org contributing editor to   - Dale

Bryant G. Wood, Ph.D.
Vol. 6, Issue 3, March 2006

The Philistines we encounter in the books of Judges and 1 and 2 Samuel (11th century BC) are well known to us. Not only do we have detailed information about them in the Bible, but we have evidence from extra-Biblical sources as well. Pharaoh Rameses III recorded that the Philistines were one tribe of a coalition of “Sea Peoples” who swept across Anatolia (modern Turkey) and down the Mediterranean coast intent on taking up residence in Egypt. In his eighth year (ca. 1177 BC), Rameses III turned them back at the border and the various tribes of the Sea Peoples were forced to settle elsewhere. The Philistines ended up in one of the choicest areas of Palestine, the southwest coastal region. Archaeologists have been able to track their presence there because of their distinctively Aegean material culture, especially their pottery (Wood 1991). According to the Bible, the Philistines originated in “Caphtor” (Jer 47:4; Am 9:7), identified as the island of Crete (Hess 1992).

But what about the mention of Philistines in the book of Genesis some 900 years earlier? Scholars have a ready answer — the Bible is wrong! For example, in The Anchor Bible Dictionary article on the Philistines, author Katzenstein states, “The references to the Philistines in Gen 21:32-34; 26:1, 8, 14-15; and in Exod 13:17; 15:14; 23:31 are all anachronisms” (1992: 326), that is, material that is chronologically out of place. Let us probe this “Bible problem” a little deeper.

The Phaistos Disk
An important find relating to the early Philistines is the Phaistos Disk, a 6.5 inch diameter, 0.5 inch thick, baked clay disk with undecipherable inscriptions on both sides (Robinson 2002: 297-315). It was discovered in 1908 by Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier in the ruins of a Minoan palace in southern Crete. Based on the archaeological context, the date cannot be later than about 1700 BC. The signs, running in a spiral from the outer edge toward the center, were impressed in the wet clay with a punch or stamp, resulting in the world’s first typewritten document. No other texts in this script have since been found.

The significance of the Phaistos Disk for our purposes is that it connects the Philistines with the island of Crete and places them there at a period far earlier than the 12th century BC. One of characters on the disk, in fact, the one that occurs most frequently, is a warrior with a feathered headdress. It is very similar to the depiction of the later Philistines in reliefs on the walls of Rameses III’s mortuary temple in Medinet Habu, Egypt (T. Dothan 1982: 22; T. and M. Dothan 1992: 35-36). This is not an isolated find, as identical signs, including frontal views of the feathered warrior, have been found inscribed on an axe found in a cave in Crete (Robinson 2002: 306-307).

The name “Philistine,” therefore, may simply be the Biblical term for Aegean peoples from Crete, from any time period. Another name used in the Bible for the people from Crete is “Caphtorites.” Deuteronomy 2:23 states, “as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.” According to the Bible, then, peoples from Crete took over the southwest coastal area of Canaan prior to the time of Moses. That is precisely the area where Abraham and Isaac encountered “Abimelech king of the Philistines.”

The Minoans
The scholarly label for the ancient inhabitants of Crete is “Minoans.” This artificial appellation was coined by Arthur Evans, excavator of Knossos, a major site on Crete, based on Minos, an ancient ruler of Crete known from Greek mythology. We do not know what the ancient inhabitants of Crete called themselves. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Minoans were engaged in maritime trade throughout the Levant in the Middle Bronze period (ca. 2000-1500 BC). Some of this evidence suggests that they established trading colonies in Syria, Canaan and Egypt. A small, but growing, number of finds in Palestine provide tangible evidence for contacts between Canaan and Crete long before the 12th-11th century Philistines.

Gerar (Tel Haror)
Abimelech, the Philistine king or kings Abraham and Isaac had dealings with, ruled at Gerar (Gn 26:1). Ancient Gerar has been identified as Tel Haror, 17 miles east of Gaza in the western Negev (Oren 1992: 989). The Middle Bronze urban settlement there is one of the largest in southern Canaan, occupying an area of about 38 acres. It was enclosed by an elaborate system of earthen ramparts fronted by a deep ditch (Klenck 2002: 30; Oren et al. 1996: 91). Within the city a sacred precinct was excavated, including a "migdol temple," remains of animal sacrifice, and cultic and imported pottery (Klenck 2002; Oren et al. 1996: 91-92). Also found within the fortified enclosure was a 10 foot diameter well, excavated to a depth of 38 feet (Klenck 2002: 34; Oren 1993: 581). The wells of Gerar were a major issue between both Abraham (Gn 21:25) and Isaac (Gn 26:17-22), and the Philistines.

Of particular interest is a Minoan graffito found in the sacred precinct dating to ca. 1600 BC. Analyses of the sherd determined that it originated in Crete, most likely the south coast (Day et al. 1999; Oren et al. 1996). There are four Minoan signs on the graffito, inscribed prior to firing, which represent a bull’s head, cloth, branch and figs (Oren et al. 1996: 99-109). In addition to the graffito, an unusual chalice of Canaanite shape and fabric was found in a room on the east side of the sacred area. What makes the chalice unusual is its high arching handles, a well-known feature of Minoan chalices, but not of Canaanite (Oren et al. 1996: 95, 96; Oren 1993: 581).

Maritime Trade Between Crete and the Levant
The similarity of harbors in Crete and the Levant in the Middle Bronze I (=IIA), period, ca. 2000-1750 BC, strongly suggests contact between the two areas:

the sea crossing between Crete, Egypt and the Levant was not only theoretically easy and simple, but had been used as such since early days…The data…suggest a close technical and conceptual resemblance for the type of siting and the layout of the portal installations in the Aegean, Crete and the Levant…the soaring demand for maritime facilities which [was] instigated by the rapid urbanism of the Levantine coast and the palatial economy of Crete…had brought about the new type of estuarian harbours, the extensive artificial remodification of coastal topography and the introduction of stone blocks [sic] quays in Crete and in the Levant (Raban 1991: 145).

Harbors at Yavneh Yam, 10 miles south of Tel Aviv, and Tel Gerisa, 2 miles east of Tel Aviv, provided anchorages for central Canaan. Further north, Dor, 14 miles south of Haifa; Tel Nami, 9 miles south of Haifa; Acco 8 miles north of Haifa; and Achziv, 17 miles north of Haifa, met the maritime needs of the northern sector.

At Tel Nami, excavators found 259 charred seeds of the legume Lathyrus clymenum in four storage jars and on the floors of two storerooms dated to the Middle Bronze I period (Kislev, Artzy and Marcus 1993). The seeds are exotic on two counts. First, they are not native to the Near East, but to the Aegean and regions further west, and thus were imported. The Tel Nami seeds most closely resemble samples from Crete (Kislev, Artzy and Marcus 1993: 148). Secondly, the seeds contain a toxic substance that causes permanent paralysis of the lower limbs if consumed in large quantities. Those using L. clymenum need specialized knowledge of how to process and prepare the seeds in order to avoid the accompanying health risk. The excavators conclude:

More than likely the demand for L. clymenum came from a person or persons who were either native to, or familiar with the Aegean region and were acquainted with the plant’s consumption and its palatable taste. The discovery of L. clymenum at Tel Nami could be evidence for the presence of Aegean people on the Israeli coast during the Middle Bronze IIA period…In the light of the nature of the archaeobotanical find at Tel Nami, we must consider that Minoan-Levantine contacts were not of an ephemeral disposition, but were of a sufficient scale to create the conditions whereby either local inhabitants (merchants, sailors?) acquired a presumably expensive taste for an Aegean food plant, or Aegeans abroad imported the ingredients for their own haute cuisine! (Kislev, Artzy and Marcus 1993: 152).

Conclusion
Rather than being a “Bible mistake,” the accounts in Genesis 2021 and 26 concerning Philistines ruling in Gerar in the days of Abraham and Isaac provide a rare glimpse into the history of southwestern Canaan in ca. 2000 BC that is otherwise undocumented.

Bibliography
Day, Peter M., et al.
    1999    Petrographic Analysis of the Tel Haror Inscribed Sherd: Seeking Provenance Within Crete. Aegaeum 20: 191-96.

Dever, William G.
    1995    Orienting the Study of Trade in Near Eastern Archaeology. Pp. 111-19 in Recent Excavations in Israel: A View to the West, ed. Seymour Gitin. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt.

Dothan, Trude
    1982    The Philistines and Their Material Culture. New Haven: Yale University.

Dothan, Trude and Moshe
    1992    People of the Sea: The Search for the Philistines. New York: Macmillan.

Dothan, Trude; Zuckerman, Susan; and Goren, Yuval
    2000    Kamares Ware at Hazor. Israel Exploration Journal 50: 1-15.

Hess, Richard S.
    1992    Caphtor. Pp. 869-70 in The Anchor Bible Dictionary 1, ed. David N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.

Katzenstein, H. Jacob
    1992    Philistines, History. Pp. 326-28 in The Anchor Bible Dictionary 5, ed. David N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.

Kislev, Mordechai, E.; Artzy, Michal; and Marcus, Ezra
    1993    Import of an Aegean Food Plant to a Middle Bronze IIA Coastal Site in Israel. Levant 25: 145-54.

Klenck, Joel D.
    2002    The Canaanite Milieu: The Zooarchaeological Evidence from Tel Haror, Israel. BAR International Series 1029. Oxford, England: Archaeopress.

Marcus, Ezra
    2002    The Southern Levant and Maritime Trade During the Middle Bronze IIA Period. Beer-Sheva 15: 241-63.

Merrillees, Robert S.
    2003    The First Appearances of Kamares Ware in the Levant. Egypt and the Levant 13: 127-42.

Niemeier, Barbara and Wolf-Dietrich
    2000    Aegean Frescoes in Syria-Palestine: Alalakh and Tel Kabri. Pp. 763-800 in Proceedings of the First International Symposium, The Wall Paintings of Thera, ed. Susan Sherratt. Athens: Thera Foundation.

Oren, Eliezer D.
    1992    Gerar (Place). Pp. 989-91 in The Anchor Bible Dictionary 2, ed. David N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday.
    1993    Haror, Tel. Pp. 580-84 in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land 2, ed. Ephraim Stern. Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society & Carta.

Oren, Eliezer D., et al.
    1996    A Minoan Graffito from Tel Haror (Negev, Israel). Cretan Studies 5: 911-18.

Raban, Avner
    1991    Minoan and Canaanite Harbours. Aegaeum 7: 129-46.

Robinson, Andrew
    2002    Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World’s Undeciphered Scripts. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Wood, Bryant G.
    1991    The Philistines Enter Canaan — Were They Egyptian Lackeys or Invading Conquerors? Biblical Archaeology Review 17.6: 44-52, 89-90, 92.
 
 

You can prepare for an influenza pandemic now. You should know both the magnitude of what can happen during a pandemic outbreak and what actions you can take to help lessen the impact of an influenza pandemic on you and your family. This checklist will help you gather the information and resources you may need in case of a flu pandemic.

1. To plan for a pandemic:

* Store a supply of water and food. During a pandemic, if you cannot get to a store, or if stores are out of supplies, it will be important for you to have extra supplies on hand. This can be useful in other types of emergencies, such as power outages and disasters.
* Have any nonprescription drugs and other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins.
* Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick, or what will be needed to care for them in your home.
* Volunteer with local groups to prepare and assist with emergency response.
* Get involved in your community as it works to prepare for an influenza pandemic.

* Teach your children to wash hands frequently with soap and water, and model the correct behavior.
* Teach your children to cover coughs and sneezes with tissues, and be sure to model that behavior.
* Teach your children to stay away from others as much as possible if they are sick. Stay home from work and school if sick.

Family Emergency Health Information Sheet

Emergency Contacts Form

For More Information

    * Visit: www.pandemicflu.gov
    * The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hotline, 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636), is available in English and Spanish, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. TTY: 1-888-232-6348. Questions can be e-mailed to cdcinfo@cdc.gov.
    * Links to state departments of public health can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/other.htm#states.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, January 2006
 

D O    N O T drink the Kool-Aid* China to issue 1.3 billion RFID identification cards  http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/privacy/story/0,10801,109360,00.html contributing editor to   - Alan

Ministry undertakes one of the largest RFID projects ever

MARCH 09, 2006  (IDG NEWS SERVICE)  - China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS), which oversees the country's police force, plans to issue more than 1.3 billion second-generation resident identification cards based on RFID (radio frequency identification) chips, according to an industry analyst at In-Stat China.

Based on the number of new cards to be issued, the rollout represents one of the largest RFID projects in the world, according to Anty Zheng, research director at In-Stat China.

RFID tags can send and receive data over short distances. As a result, the new ID cards can be read by a reader that is within 20 centimeters to 30 centimeters of the card, Zheng said, noting that the cards are used to store basic personal information, such as name and birth date.

"It's very cheap and easy to make," Zheng said.

MPS has so far issued 102 million new cards, and plans to issue more than 300 million new cards per year for the next several years, the ministry said this week. Only local companies are allowed to participate in the project, Zheng said.

In-Stat estimated that 100 million RFID tags were sold in China during 2005. The number of tags shipped annually in China is expected to rise quickly in coming years, hitting total sales of 2.9 billion tags by 2009, it said.

The second-generation ID card project is expected to soak up most of this demand through 2008, at which time demand for RFID tags used in retail stores is expected to dominate the market, In-Stat said.
 

The Flat Earth Report Rewriting The Science http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/17/60minutes/main1415985.shtml http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/17/60minutes/main1415985_page2.shtml http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/17/60minutes/main1415985_page3.shtml contributing editor to   - Dan

(CBS) As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn't want you to hear but he's going to say them anyway.

Hansen is arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming. He's the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science.

But he didn't hold back speaking to Pelley, telling 60 Minutes what he knows.

Asked if he believes the administration is censoring what he can say to the public, Hansen says: "Or they're censoring whether or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I'm allowed to say it."

What James Hansen believes is that global warming is accelerating. He points to the melting arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show massive losses of ice to the sea.

Is it fair to say at this point that humans control the climate? Is that possible?

"There's no doubt about that, says Hansen. "The natural changes, the speed of the natural changes is now dwarfed by the changes that humans are making to the atmosphere and to the surface."

Those human changes, he says, are driven by burning fossil fuels that pump out greenhouse gases like CO2, carbon dioxide. Hansen says his research shows that man has just 10 years to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming reaches what he calls a tipping point and becomes unstoppable. He says the White House is blocking that message.

"In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public," says Hansen.

Restrictions like this e-mail Hansen's institute received from NASA in 2004. "… there is a new review process … ," the e-mail read. "The White House (is) now reviewing all climate related press releases," it continued.

Why the scrutiny of Hansen's work? Well, his Goddard Institute for Space Studies is the source of respected but sobering research on warming. It recently announced 2005 was the warmest year on record. Hansen started at NASA more than 30 years ago, spending nearly all that time studying the earth. How important is his work? 60 Minutes asked someone at the top, Ralph Cicerone, president of the nation’s leading institute of science, the National Academy of Sciences.

"I can't think of anybody who I would say is better than Hansen. You might argue that there's two or three others as good, but nobody better," says Cicerone.

And Cicerone, who’s an atmospheric chemist, said the same thing every leading scientist told 60 Minutes.

"Climate change is really happening," says Cicerone.

Asked what is causing the changes, Cicernone says it's greenhouse gases: "Carbon dioxide and methane, and chlorofluorocarbons and a couple of others, which are all — the increases in their concentrations in the air are due to human activities. It's that simple."

But if it is that simple, why do some climate science reports look like they have been heavily edited at the White House? With science labeled "not sufficiently reliable." It’s a tone of scientific uncertainty the president set in his first months in office after he pulled out of a global treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We do not know how much our climate could, or will change in the future," President Bush said in 2001, speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House. "We do not know how fast change will occur, or even how some of our actions could impact it."

Annoyed by the ambiguity, Hansen went public a year and a half ago, saying this about the Bush administration in a talk at the University of Iowa: "I find a willingness to listen only to those portions of scientific results that fit predetermined inflexible positions. This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster."

Since then, NASA has been keeping an eye on Hansen. NASA let Pelley sit down with him but only with a NASA representative taping the interview. Other interviews have been denied.

"I object to the fact that I’m not able to freely communicate via the media," says Hansen. "National Public Radio wanted to interview me and they were told they would need to interview someone at NASA headquarters and the comment was made that they didn’t want Jim Hansen going on the most liberal media in America. So I don’t think that kind of decision should be made on that kind of basis. I think we should be able to communicate the science."

Politically, Hansen calls himself an independent and he’s had trouble with both parties. He says, from time to time, the Clinton administration wanted to hear warming was worse that it was. But Hansen refused to spin the science that way.

"Should we be simply doing our science and reporting it rigorously, or to what degree the administration in power has the right to assume that you should be a spokesman for the administration?" asks Hansen. "I've tried to be a straight scientist doing the science and reporting it as best I can."

Dozens of federal agencies report science but much of it is edited at the White House before it is sent to Congress and the public. It appears climate science is edited with a heavy hand. Drafts of climate reports were co-written by Rick Piltz for the federal Climate Change Science Program. But Piltz says his work was edited by the White House to make global warming seem less threatening.

"The strategy of people with a political agenda to avoid this issue is to say there is so much to study way upstream here that we can’t even being to discuss impacts and response strategies," says Piltz. "There’s too much uncertainty. It's not the climate scientists that are saying that, its lawyers and politicians."

Piltz worked under the Clinton and Bush administrations. Each year, he helped write a report to Congress called "Our Changing Planet."

Piltz says he is responsible for editing the report and sending a review draft to the White House.

Asked what happens, Piltz says: "It comes back with a large number of edits, handwritten on the hard copy by the chief-of-staff of the Council on Environmental Quality."

Asked who the chief of staff is, Piltz says, "Phil Cooney."

Piltz says Cooney is not a scientist. "He's a lawyer. He was a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, before going into the White House," he says.

Cooney, the former oil industry lobbyist, became chief-of-staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Piltz says Cooney edited climate reports in his own hand. In one report, a line that said earth is undergoing rapid change becomes “may be undergoing change.” “Uncertainty” becomes “significant remaining uncertainty.” One line that says energy production contributes to warming was just crossed out.

"He was obviously passing it through a political screen," says Piltz. "He would put in the word potential or may or weaken or delete text that had to do with the likely consequence of climate change, pump up uncertainty language throughout."

In a report, Piltz says Cooney added this line “… the uncertainties remain so great as to preclude meaningfully informed decision making. …” References to human health are marked out. 60 Minutes obtained the drafts from the Government Accountability Project. This edit made it into the final report: the phrase “earth may be” undergoing change made it into the report to Congress. Piltz says there wasn’t room at the White House for those who disagreed, so he resigned.

"Even to raise issues internally is immediately career limiting," says Piltz. "That’s why you will find not too many people in the federal agencies who will speak freely about all the things they know, unless they’re retired or unless they’re ready to resign."

Jim Hansen isn't retiring or resigning because he believes earth is nearing a point of no return. He urged 60 Minutes to look north to the arctic, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the world. When 60 Minutes visited Greenland this past August, we saw for ourselves the accelerating melt of the largest ice sheet in the north.

"Here in Greenland about 15 years ago the ice sheet extended to right about where I'm standing now, but today, its back there, between those two hills in the shaded area. Glaciologists call this a melt stream but, these days, its a more like a melt river," Pelley said, standing at the edge of Greenland's ice sheet.

The Bush administration doesn’t deny global warming or that man plays a role. The administration is spending billions of dollars on climate research. Hansen gives the White House credit for research but says what’s urgent now is action.

"We have to, in the next 10 years, get off this exponential curve and begin to decrease the rate of growth of CO2 emissions," Hansen explains. "And then flatten it out. And before we get to the middle of the century, we’ve got to be on a declining curve.

"If that doesn't happen in 10 years, then I don’t think we can keep global warming under one degree Celsius and that means we’re going to, that there’s a great danger of passing some of these tipping points. If the ice sheets begin to disintegrate, what can you do about it? You can’t tie a rope around the ice sheet. You can’t build a wall around the ice sheets. It will be a situation that is out of our control."

But that's not a situation you'll find in one federal report submitted for review. Government scientists wanted to tell you about the ice sheets, but before a draft of the report left the White House, the paragraph on glacial melt and flooding was crossed out and this was added: "straying from research strategy into speculative findings and musings here."

Hansen says his words were edited once during a presentation when a top official scolded him for using the word danger.

"I think we know a lot more about the tipping points," says Hansen. "I think we know about the dangers of even a moderate degree of additional global warming about the potential effects in the arctic about the potential effects on the ice sheets."

"You just used that word again that you’re not supposed to use — danger," Pelley remarks.

"Yeah. It’s a danger," Hansen says.

For months, 60 Minutes had been trying to talk with the president’s science advisor. 60 Minutes was finally told he would never be available. Phil Cooney, the editor at the Council on Environmental Quality didn’t return 60 Minutes' calls. In June, he left the White House and went to work for Exxon Mobil.
 

Health / nutrition Hot pepper kills prostate cancer cells in study http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1730264 contributing editor to   - Dan

Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.

Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.

Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research.

"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said Dr. Soren Lehmann of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine.

"It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."

While it is far easier to cure cancer in mice infected with human tumors than it is in human beings, the findings suggest a possible future treatment. They also may offer a good excuse for men who like spicy food to eat more of it.

Lehmann estimated that the mice ate the human equivalent of 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week. That is about the amount found in three to eight fresh habanero peppers, depending on how hot the peppers are.

The capsaicin inhibited the activity of NF-kappa beta, a molecular mechanism that helps lead to apoptosis in many cell types.

Prostate cancer is the most common malignant cancer in U.S. men. It is diagnosed in 232,000 men every year and kills up to 30,000 of them. Worldwide, 221,000 men die every year from prostate cancer.

Copyright 2006 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
 

$$$ Follow the Money $$$ IRS Plans to Allow Preparers to Sell Data http://accounting.smartpros.com/x52297.xml contributing editor to   - Rodger

-- Jeff Gelles (Philadelphia Inquirer)

March 22, 2006 (Philadelphia Inquirer) -- The IRS is quietly moving to loosen the once-inviolable privacy of federal income-tax returns. If it succeeds, accountants and other tax-return preparers will be able to sell information from individual returns - or even entire returns - to marketers and data brokers.

The change is raising alarm among consumer and privacy-rights advocates. It was included in a set of proposed rules that the Treasury Department and the IRS published in the Dec. 8 Federal Register, where the official notice labeled them "not a significant regulatory action."

IRS officials portray the changes as housecleaning to update outmoded regulations adopted before it began accepting returns electronically. The proposed rules, which would become effective 30 days after a final version is published, would require a tax preparer to obtain written consent before selling tax information.

Critics call the changes a dangerous breach in personal and financial privacy. They say the requirement for signed consent would prove meaningless for many taxpayers, especially those hurriedly reviewing stacks of documents before a filing deadline.

"The normal interaction is that the taxpayer just signs what the tax preparer puts in front of them," said Jean Ann Fox of the Consumer Federation of America, one of several groups fighting the changes. "They think, 'This person is a tax professional, and I'm going to rely on them.' "

Criticism also came from U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.). In a letter last Tuesday to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Obama warned that once in the hands of third parties, tax information could be resold and handled under even looser rules than the IRS sets, increasing consumers' vulnerability to identity theft and other risks.

"There is no more sensitive information than a taxpayer's return, and the IRS's proposal to allow these returns to be sold to third-party marketers and database brokers is deeply troubling," Obama wrote.

The IRS first announced the proposal in a news release the day before the official notice was published, headlined: "IRS Issues Proposed Regulations to Safeguard Taxpayer Information."

The announcement did not mention potential sales of tax information. It said the proposed rules were guided by the principle "that tax return preparers may not disclose or use tax return information for purposes other than tax return preparation without the knowing, informed and voluntary consent of the taxpayer."

IRS spokesman William M. Cressman defended the proposal in similar terms.

"The heart of this proposed regulation is about the right of taxpayers to control their tax return information. The idea is to emphasize taxpayer consent and set clear boundaries on how tax return preparers can use or disclose tax return information," Cressman said in an e-mail response to questions.

Cressman said he was unable to explain "why this issue has come up at this time other than our effort to update regulations that date back to the 1970s and predate the electronic era."

Not all the changes have drawn opposition.

Beth A. McConnell, director of the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG), said she welcomed a requirement that a taxpayer would need to consent to overseas processing of any portion of a tax return.

"That's a positive development, but I don't think it's worth giving up our tax returns' privacy for," said McConnell, who plans to testify on behalf of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group at an April 4 IRS hearing in Washington on the rule changes.

McConnell accused the IRS of using the new limit on overseas processing to dress up changes that would chiefly benefit tax preparers, marketers and data brokers.

"That's a disturbing trend among Washington officials lately," McConnell said. "They'll offer a modest consumer protection in one area in exchange for dramatic weakening of consumer protections in another area, and then try to convince the public that it's all in our interests."

Critics of the proposal said it could do more than open up sales of tax information to data brokers and marketers, because it could undermine taxpayer confidence in the entire tax system.

"Privacy protections for tax information are especially critical given the largely voluntary nature of the U.S. tax system," said Chi Chi Wu, a tax-law specialist at Boston's National Consumer Law Center.

Wu and other critics said they were uncertain who or what was behind the proposed changes in IRS privacy rules, which currently prohibit tax preparers from selling returns to third parties for marketing purposes, and require written consent if they want to use it for marketing by companies under their own corporate umbrella.

Officials at H&R Block and Jackson-Hewitt, two of the nation's largest tax-preparation firms, did not respond to requests for comment. Cressman said the IRS had so far received only about a dozen comments on the proposal.

"I think this just flew under the radar screen for so many people," McConnell said.

Although the formal comment period ended March 8, Cressman said late comments "may receive consideration if they are sent to the IRS promptly." Consumer advocates are urging taxpayers who oppose the changes to contact the agency and Washington lawmakers.

Where to Write: It's too late to comment electronically, but the IRS may still consider written comments. Mail them to:
CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG-137243-02), Room 5203, Internal Revenue Service, Box 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D.C. 20044.
 

I am from the gubment, & am here to help you - NOT Houston police chief wants cameras on homes, streets http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-15-houston-cameras_x.htm contributing editor to   - Rodger

 Houston's police chief on Wednesday proposed placing surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls and even private homes to fight crime during a shortage of police officers.

"I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Chief Harold Hurtt told reporters Wednesday at a regular briefing.

Houston is facing a severe police shortage because of too many retirements and too few recruits, and the city has absorbed 150,000 hurricane evacuees who are filling apartment complexes in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The City Council is considering a public safety tax to pay for more officers.

Building permits should require malls and large apartment complexes to install surveillance cameras, Hurtt said. And if a homeowner requires repeated police response, it is reasonable to require camera surveillance of the property, he said.

Scott Henson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Police Accountability Project in Texas, called Hurtt's building-permit proposal "radical and extreme" and said it may violate the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches.

Andy Teas with the Houston Apartment Association said that although some would consider cameras an invasion of privacy, "I think a lot of people would appreciate the thought of extra eyes looking out for them."

Such cameras are costly, Houston Mayor Bill White said, "but on the other hand we spend an awful lot for patrol presence." He called the chief's proposal a "brainstorm" rather than a decision.

The program would require City Council approval.
 

duh The Heretical 501c3 Churches http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPCUSA/message/10166 contributing editor to   - Rodger

By David Birse Hancock, New Hampshire

How sad it is today that 99% of America's churches (including the Monadnock vicinity) are convinced they must come to Caesar on bent knee with hat in hand, lips quivering, and bones rattling to seek tax- exempt status. Due to apathy, indolence and ignorance, churches simply do not understand they're already GUARANTEED this by the First Amendment.They have the "right to assemble."

"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the FREE EXERCISE thereof. "

Case closed, right? Well, it was until Mr. Lyndon Baines Johnson opened up a new can of unconstitutional worms. He was sick and tired of congregations all over the land wielding influence over voters and felt it was high time that the most public forum in The United States-the church-be silenced. He proposed that in exchange for tax- free status churches would have to keep mum on matters which the US Gov't considered verboten. If they didn't cooperate, off with their heads! No tax amnesty for transgressors.

Civil government's legal "sphere of influence" does not include churches, and never has. Ever. Yet like lambs being led to the slaughter, nary a church new or old will contest this. It was the foxy LBJ's brainchild, who proposed the whole fraud as a way to keep his political opposition from attacking him (while engaged in a dogfight for re-election to the senate). LBJ had a lot to hide, and this was a most effective --if not highly unethical--way to muzzle America's ministers.

Prior to 1954, churches didn't have to be bashful about speaking out on the critical issues of the day. And they weren't. They were fearless and often delivered potent and controversial sermons. Fire and brimstone types feared only God, not man. Folks got much-needed spiritual dope slaps that set them back on the right course, and were respected for being stand- up guys who cared more about being right than being popular. Americans looked to the Bible and to the pulpit for moral direction. Ever since Plymouth & Jamestown (and long before that elsewhere) preachers who were the "real deal" spoke boldly and without fear of retribution about government ills, social issues, corruption and all manner of injustice. They often paid with their lives!  Not today. The US Gov't has so emasculated "churches" that they have decided it is better not to ruffle any feathers and risk losing their sacred 501c3 status. It is apparently more important to please man than honor God.  They would rather sell their souls, enjoy sin for a season, and worry about Judgment Day later. After all, it is only the Lord God Almighty.

Meanwhile, screams from millions of unborn babies (since Roe V.Wade in 1973 legalized the modern-day version of "The Slaughter Of The Innocents") cry out for righteous voices everywhere to defend them before they themselves become sorry, mutilated victims of the heinous sin of abortion.

Homosexuals gain inroads into our schools, government, the workplace and society in general while preachers remain zipper-mouthed. The USA attacks sovereign nations like Iraq to further The New World Order agenda of the Globalists. Yet no word of protest from the padre, rabbi or minister. Sales from lottery tickets flourish while gambling casinos crop up, but-my goodness! -- the silence is deafening.

 You see, anything that the US Government deems "legal" can't be spoken of unfavorably by "churches" desiring to keep the sacred exemption of Mister 501c3. It is more important to hold onto that earthly "pearl-of-great price" than to seek the heavenly one.

Oughtn't they "bear the reproach of Christ" by raising Godly voices against SIN of the day specifically,even if it means their congregations have the 501 c3 rugs pulled out from underneath them? Careful: Rug burns hurt and leave nasty scars.

Oh, Ye of little faith! Tsk-Tsk. Thinkest thou The Lord wouldst withhold His reward from you for doing the right thing instead of doing what is convenient, cushy, and comfy?

LBJ is likely spinning with laughter in his grave.  Or rotting in Hell. Ironically, churches are ALREADY tax-exempt according to the nefarious IRS's own rulebook! See Code 508(c)(1)(A).

The church is NOT supposed to be part of the Government or answerable to it.It never was until 1954.

Now they all run to it for approval and the mythical tax- exemption which is already theirs anyway. Is this nuts or what? "Churches" then invite God's ire by choosing favor with Caesar over obedience to God and The Bible. No true Christian church will allow itself to be "an arm of Rome." The real-deal church has historically been mercilessly persecuted by government.  NEVER have they walked harmoniously in celestial bliss. "What fellowship hath light with darkness?" saith the Good Book.  Amen and Amen.

Today's churches are concubines: more interested in selling their bodies for pleasure; more concerned with cookie walks, cake tosses, bake sales, Christmas bazaars, AA meetings, feel- good- seminars and ham 'n bean suppers; more lustful for the bottom line; than growing a backbone, standing up for TRUTH and taking the slings of mud and arrows of venom that go with the pilgrim plight.  For shame.

I assuredly do NOT want to be part of that severe Day Of Reckoning coming upon today's "(Whore) Houses Of Worship." It is both swift and imminent. The end IS near indeed. Get right with God.Seek Him with your whole heart. - Don't play games. If you're in one of those idolatrous places, "come out from among them."

To the 501 c3 corporations masquerading as churches out there: Dump your tax- free privilege, trust God, preach against transgressions unashamedly and do not hold back (proclaim the evils of baby-slaughtering, sodomy, Bush, politics, Socialism, corruption in gov't, etc.) Jesus said in The Sermon On The Mount that it was not a broad path to Heaven that everyone was going to make. (MT 7:14): STRAIGHT, NARROW and FEW are three words that should chill each hearer, drive us to our knees and back to the cross and true repentance.   Seek it.
 

I N S I G H T From Complacency to Apathy http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPCUSA/message/10166 contributing editor to   - Rodger

The Cycles of Civilizations

About the time our original 13 states adopted their  new constitution, in the year 1787, Alexander Tytler (a  Scottish history professor at The University of
Edinburgh) had this to say about "The Fall of The  Athenian Republic" some 2,000 years prior.

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply  cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A  democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that  moment on, the majority always votes for the
candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy,
(which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always
progressed through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
 

I am from the gubment, & am here to help you - NOT Bush, Feds Can Quarantine Anyone With 'Flu-Like' Diseases http://www.rense.com/general70/flu.htm contributing editor to   - Rodger

Office of the Press Secretary, April 1, 2005

Executive Order: Amendment to E.O. 13295
Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 264(b)), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Based upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Surgeon General, and for the purpose set forth in section 1 of Executive Order 13295 of April 4, 2003, section 1 of such order is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

"(c) Influenza caused by novel or re-emergent influenza viruses that are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic.".

Sec. 2. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH, THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 1, 2005. http://www.whitehouse.gov
 

I am from the gubment, & am here to help you - NOT Limitations on Government http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/quotes/govt.html contributing editor to   - Dan

"The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection." -- John Stuart Mill

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but  as for me, give me liberty or give me death." -- Patrick Henry, speech to the Virginia Convention, Richmond, Virginia, March 23, 1775

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public  treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy  always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." -- Alexander Tyler

"As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort  is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions." -- James Madison, National Gazette essay, March 27, 1792

"Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks -- no form of government can render us secure. To suppose  liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the  selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them. -- James Madison, Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent  that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law  is today can guess what is will be tomorrow." -- James Madison, Federalist no. 62, February 27, 1788

"We have seen the mere distinction of colour made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man." -- James Madison, Speech at the Constitutional Convention, June 6, 1787

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." -- Thomas Jefferson

James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, elaborated upon this limitation in a letter to James Robertson:

With respect to the two words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. If the words obtained so readily a place in the "Articles of Confederation," and received so little notice in their admission into the present Constitution, and retained for so long a time a silent place in both, the fairest explanation is, that the words, in the alternative of meaning nothing or meaning everything, had the former meaning taken for  granted.

In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James  Madison stood on the floor of the House to object saying, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of  expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." -- James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated." --Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Albert Gallatin, 1817

"That no free government, or the blessing of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and  virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles." -- George Mason, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden  usurpations." -- James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788

"the true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best . . . (for) when all government . . . shall be drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will  render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as . . . oppressive as the government from which we separated." --Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

"We must confine ourselves to the powers described in the Constitution, and the moment we pass it, we take an arbitrary stride towards a despotic  Government." -- James Jackson, First Congress, 1st Annals of Congress, 489

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens . . . There has never been a moment of my life in which I should have  relinquished for it the enjoyments of my family, my farm, my friends and books." --Thomas Jefferson, 1813

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." -- James Madison in The Federalist

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent." -- Abraham Lincoln, October 16, 1854

"We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is  continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute." -- Thomas Paine

Resolved, That the General Assembly of Virginia, doth unequivocally express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States, and  the Constitution of this State, against every aggression either foreign or domestic ... That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the  powers of the federal government, as resulting from the compact, to which the states are parties; as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument  constituting the compact; as no further valid than they are authorized by the grants enumerated in that compact; and that in case of deliberate, palpable, and  dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by the said compact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to interpose for  arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to them. -- James Madison, 1799

RESOLVED: That the principle and construction contended for by sundry of the state legislatures, that the general government is the exclusive judge of the  extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short of despotism; since the discretion of those who administer the government, and not the constitution, would be  the measure of their powers: That the several states who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction; and that a  nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under colour of that instrument, is the rightful remedy. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1799

"You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; right derived from the Great Legislator of the  Universe." -- John Adams

"The whole of the Bill (of Rights) is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals .... It establishes some rights of the individual as  unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of." -- Albert Gallatin, New York Historical Society, October 7, 1789

"Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -- Ben Franklin, Respectfully Quoted, p. 201, Suzy Platt, Barnes & Noble, 1993

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." -- Mark Twain, 1894

"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that, if it is comfort or money it values more, it will lose that too." -- William Somerset Maughan, 1941

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are  numerous and indefinite." -- James Madison, Federal No. 45, January 26, 1788

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to  the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take  possession of a boundless field of power not longer susceptible of any definition." -- Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, February 15, 1791

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to E. Carrington, May 27, 1788

"A wise and frugal government ... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and  improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." -- Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

"Government, in my humble opinion, should be formed to secure and to enlarge the exercise of the natural rights of its members; and every government, which as  not this in view, as its principal object, is not a government of the legitimate kind." -- James Wilson, Lectures on Laws, 1791

"It is sufficiently obvious, that persons and property are the two great subjects on which Governments are to act; and that the rights of persons, and the rights of  property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted. These rights cannot be separated." -- James Madison, Speech at the Virginia Convention, December 2, 1829

"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one  possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions." James Madison, "Letter to Edmund Pendleton," -- James Madison, January 21, 1792, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, Robert A Rutland et. al., ed (Charlottesvile: University Press of Virginia,1984).

"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses.  This being the end of government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." -- James Madison, National Gazette, March 1792, in The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14 ed. R.A. Rutland (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), p.  266.

"I see,... and with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides with which the federal branch of our government is advancing towards the usurpation of all the rights  reserved to the States, and the consolidation in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic; and that, too, by constructions which, if legitimate, leave no limits to their  power... It is but too evident that the three ruling branches of [the Federal government] are in combination to strip their colleagues, the State authorities, of the  powers reserved by them, and to exercise themselves all functions foreign and domestic." -- Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1825. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 16:146

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for, but one which should not only be founded on true free principles, but in which the powers of  government should be so divided and balanced among general bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked  and restrained by the others." -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia Q. XIII, 1782. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors ME 2:163

"When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the  checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." -- Thomas Jefferson to Charles Hammond, 1821. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 15:332

"The greatest [calamity] which could befall [us would be] submission to a government of unlimited powers." -- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration and Protest of Virginia, 1825. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME  17:445

"Every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact (casus non faederis) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within  their limits. Without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them." -- Thomas Jefferson, Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors ME 17:387

"The only greater [evil] than separation... [is] living under a government of discretion." -- Thomas Jefferson to William Gordon, 1826. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 10:358

"[The purpose of a written constitution is] to bind up the several branches of government by certain laws, which, when they transgress, their acts shall become  nullities; to render unnecessary an appeal to the people, or in other words a rebellion, on every infraction of their rights, on the peril that their acquiescence shall be  construed into an intention to surrender those rights." -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia Q.XIII, 1782. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 2:178

"Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." -- Thomas Jefferson, Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 17:380

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others." -- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 2:221

[T]he powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond  which it cannot extend its jurisdiction. -- James Madison, Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 6, 1788, Elliot's Debates (in the American Memory collection of the Library of Congress)

It has been objected also against a bill of rights, that, by enumerating particular exceptions to the grant of power, it would disparage those rights which were not  placed in that enumeration, and it might follow by implication, that those rights which were not singled out, were intended to be assigned into the hands of the general  government, and were consequently insecure. This is one of the most plausible arguments I have ever heard urged against the admission of a bill of rights into this  system; but, I conceive, that may be guarded against. I have attempted it, as gentlemen may see by turning to the last clause of the 4th resolution. -- James Madison, Proposing Bill of Rights to House, June 8, 1789

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to  himself." -- Thomas Paine

That we will, at all times hereafter, consider ourselves as a free and independent state, capable of regulating our internal police, in all and every respect  whatsoever -- and that the people on said Grants have the sole and exclusive and inherent right of ruling and governing themselves in such manner and form as in their  own wisdom they shall think proper... -- Vermont Declaration of Independence, January 15, 1777

" The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like state governments, whose powers are more general.  Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." -- James Madison, speech in the House of Representatives, January 10, 1794

"The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-by to the Bill of Rights." -- H.L. Mencken

"The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society." -- Thomas Jefferson
 

javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/showbiz/2006/03/23/hammer.sheen.911.theory.cnn','2006/03/30');

A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: I`m A.J. Hammer in New York City.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST: And I`m Brooke Anderson live in Hollywood. TV`s only live entertainment news show starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER (voice-over): On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, we asked you the question, do you hate other people`s kids? And we could not believe the overwhelming response we got from you: so many e-mails, we`re still reading them. Tonight, we bring back the author of "I Hate Other People`s Kids", so she can respond live to those of you who do hate other people`s kids and those who hate her.

Plus, a Charlie Sheen shocker. Tonight, the actor`s stunning statements on 9/11. Maybe the airplanes did not take down the Twin Towers. And maybe the government is covering it all up.

CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: Taking ever four commercial airliners and hitting 75 percent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory.

HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT investigates the startling allegations.

But Brooke, of course, you remember where you were on September 11.

ANDERSON: Absolutely, A.J. I was at work at CNN in Atlanta, and I remember being in complete and utter shock and dismay.

HAMMER: Yes, I was workings, as well, here in New York City and like most people just thinking this is absolutely unbelievable.

Well, there`s another thing that you may not believe about September 11 and what someone is saying. Charlie Sheen, star of CBS`s successful sitcom, "Two and a Half Men", says point blank, 9/11, the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, this is all a cover up. Is this for real? Well, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has the tape that has people asking, what`s the truth?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEEN: The more you look at stuff, especially specific incidents, specific events in and around the fateful day, it just -- it just raises a lot of questions.

HAMMER (voice-over): Charlie Sheen has his own questions about 9/11, and SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has obtained the explosive interview from the radio show of fringe journalist Alex Jones.

Sheen normally gets laughs as the bachelor on the hit CBS sitcom, "Two and a Half Men".

SHEEN: Wow, you`re even better than a dog.

HAMMER: But now, Sheen is courting controversy by questioning the official story on 9/11.

SHEEN: We`re not the conspiracy theorists on this particular issue, you know. It seems to me like, you know, 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 percent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory.

HAMMER: So what exactly are Sheen`s questions about 9/11?

For one, Sheen is questioning the official story of what caused the World Trade Center clasp, that the impact of the two planes caused fires that weakened the buildings` support columns. In the interview Sheen says he wondered if the buildings could have been brought down by a deliberate - - yes, deliberate -- implosion.

SHEEN: I saw the south tower hit live, that famous wide shot where it disappears behind the building and then we see the tremendous fireball. And there was just -- there was a feeling that it just didn`t look, how do I say this, it didn`t look like any commercial jetliner I`ve flown on any time in my life.

And then when the buildings came down, later on that day, I was with my brother and I said, "Hey, call me insane, but did it sort of look like those buildings came down in a -- in a controlled demolition?"

HAMMER: Sheen is also questioning how a commercial airliner could have hit the Pentagon.

SHEEN: Show us this incredible maneuvering. Just show it to us. Just show us, you know, how this particular plane pulled off these maneuvers. What was it, a 270 degree turn at 500 miles per hour, descending 7,000 feet in two and a half minutes, skimming across tree tops the last 500 meters off the ground?

ALEX JONES, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: You can`t hold...

HAMMER: Sheen also jumped on a favorite target of 9/11 conspiracy theorists: President Bush. Sheen questions why the president, after an aide told him about the attacks, continued with his Florida school appearance.

SHEEN: It would seem to me that, upon the revelation of that news, that the Secret Service would grab the president and remove him as if he were on fire from that room.

HAMMER: Ever since that horrible day, conspiracy theories about the attacks have spread far and wide through the Internet. As writer Webster Tarpley tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Sheen is not alone in his opinion.

WEBSTER TARPLEY, AUTHOR, "9/11 SYNTHETIC TERROR": There was a Zogby poll carried out last August, actually August of 2004, by now, which showed that about 50 percent of the people in New York City believed that top government officials had knowledge in advance of what was going to happen.

HAMMER: Still, it`s safe to say that most experts and most Americans place the blame for 9/11 only on Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, not the U.S. government. Even Sheen knows his comments may not go over well with many people.

SHEEN: And I`m sure I`m being demonized across the nation by, you know, all of the people that do that sort of thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: So what exactly should we make about Charlie Sheen`s stunning comments? Let`s get right into it now. Joining me live from Chicago for the "SHOWBIZ Newsmaker" interview is Nicole Rittenmeyer. She`s supervising producer of the National Geographic Channel`s miniseries, "Inside 9/11." And live in St. Louis, Michael Berger. Michael is the media coordinator of 911Truth.org. It`s a group that claims there has been a September 11 cover up.

I want to thank you both for being with me tonight

MICHAEL BERGER, MEDIA COORDINATOR, 911TRUTH.ORG: Thanks for having me.

NICOLE RITTENMEYER, SUPERVISING PRODUCER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL`S "INSIDE 9/11": Thanks.

HAMMER: So Michael, I`m one of these people who believes that anyone who takes everything that has been spoon-fed to us by the government from wherever about what happened on 9/11 is being naive. I think there is more out there.

When I say this to people sometimes they look at me like I`m kind of nuts. Charlie Sheen must be getting the same reaction, and I`m sure your organization gets that reaction, as well. So what do you say to people who think that maybe what Charlie Sheen is saying here is just crazy?

BERGER: Well, Charlie Sheen raised several -- I mean first I have to say Charlie Sheen has really done his homework. There`s a great deal, an abundance of information out there, and it`s hard so to sift through what is, in fact, fictitious information and what is based in fact.

But there is a large body of information out there that contradicts the official story. And Charlie Sheen has clearly done his homework. He raises credible questions, questions that family members have raised, that the 9/11 commissioners had promised them would be answered in their report, since they didn`t answer those questions in the commission hearings.

And when the report came out, Lori Van Auken, one of the Jersey girls, a year after the report came out after her analysis of the final commission report, she stated that the report actually raised more questions than it had answered.

HAMMER: Nicole, he`s bringing up a lot of valid points and Charlie Sheen raising issues about a lot of aspects of what happened on September 11, so what`s your reaction to what he`s saying?

RITTENMEYER: Well, I mean I think that the work that his organization has done -- we should be asking questions. Our program, the four-hour mini series we did on 9/11, was the highest rated program ever for National Geographic Channel, and that suggests there`s a lot of interest in this. People need a lot of closure.

And even the 9/11 commissioners didn`t say that their report was the final word. I mean, we should be asking questions.

But I think the important question, though, is some of those -- some of the issues he`s raised are easily answered. He may have done his homework. I don`t know that he did enough.

HAMMER: Well, what specifically? What`s one of the issues that he raised that you`re finding issue with?

RITTENMEYER: The demolition of the buildings.

HAMMER: Which Charlie Sheen claims -- which Charlie Sheen claims appeared to be a controlled implosion.

RITTENMEYER: Sure.

HAMMER: That wouldn`t have happened coming from airplanes simply hitting the building.

RITTENMEYER: Absolutely. And it did. It did happen. The fireproofing was blown off the building. There`s been tons of research. There`s a wealth of evidence out there that suggests -- it`s been examined and re-examined. It looked to untrained people like a controlled demolition, but experts have evaluated this again and again and again, and it`s pretty self-explanatory.

HAMMER: Michael, you did mention that you were impressed with how well informed Charlie Sheen is and the fact that he did do his homework, which I imagine for an organization like yours, which wants people to ask the hard questions, has to be a good thing. He`s not just another Hollywood type simply spouting his mouth off.

BERGER: No, like I said, Charlie has really done his homework and has been really impressive. In fact, Charlie raises the issue of a third building, a 47-story building, building seven, which collapsed at 5:20 p.m. on September 11, which was not hit by an airplane.

So what we`re asking for is if this third building collapsed at 5:20, which the media really has not shown this clip. They -- they show us the towers being impacted by planes and the fireballs and the collapse over and over, but this third building with an inexplicable collapse, although it did have minor fires, no steel frame skyscraper has ever collapsed due to fire.

We had a fire in the Madrid Windsor tower last year, burned for 20 hours, a raging inferno. The people of Madrid assumed, like 9/11, this tower was going to collapse, and yet it didn`t.

HAMMER: Michael, do you think there`s been a huge government cover- up, as Charlie Sheen is alleging, on September 11?

BERGER: I do. I do. I think many of the commissioners themselves have had conflicts of interest. They did not follow the investigations to where a truly independent commission, which is what Charlie Sheen has called for, truly independent voices raising questions, calling on the government to release information like Pentagon surveillance videotapes, videotapes from the Sheraton Hotel and the Citgo gas station.

Evidence about the black boxes located at Ground Zero, which a firefighter had stated prior to the 9/11 Commission report coming out in 2004.

HAMMER: Michael, I`ve got to jump in real quick, because Nicole, I do want to ask you. You did mention that it is important that we`re asking these questions. Charlie Sheen now, a Hollywood type on board, raising these issues publicly. Before it`s been mostly official type people. So do you think it will at least give some of these theories legs?

RITTENMEYER: Oh, gosh, I hope not. I hope it -- I hope it causes people to start reading a little bit more and researching the issue.

BERGER: Hopefully.

RITTENMEYER: If you delve into the research a lot this of answerable.

HAMMER: Well, hopefully, people will start trying to get more informed, because I think there are a lot of unanswered questions. Michael Berger and Nicole Rittenmeyer, thank you for joining us on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

BERGER: Thank you.

RITTENMEYER: Thank you.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/23/sbt.01.html

A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: New information about the death of Princess Diana. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST: I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. And a look at a workplace phenomenon, the office spouse. TV`s only live entertainment news show starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER (voice-over): On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Charlie Sheen speaks out on a controversial theory that the government covered up what really happened on 9/11.

CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: Taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 percent of their targets. That feels like a conspiracy theory.

HAMMER: Tonight, we dig even deeper. The host of the radio show on which Sheen leveled his startling allegations joins us live right here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Plus, the overwhelming response from you, the viewers.

Rebuilding communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Tonight, how a TV reality show is going in to fix what some say the government could not.

HARRY CONNICK JR., SINGER/ACTOR: I`m Harry Connick Jr. If it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer, live in New York City.

ANDERSON: And I`m Brooke Anderson, live in Hollywood.

A.J., it`s been incredible. Pretty hard to believe, actually, the response we got today to the incredible story SHOWBIZ TONIGHT broke last night. Actor Charlie Sheen`s startling claims that the government may be covering up what really happened on September 11.

HAMMER: So many e-mails coming in. We`ve been really overwhelmed today. Between the e-mails, the blogs, the web sites, everybody is writing and talking about it.

Charlie Sheen made the comments during a hard-to-believe interview on a radio show. And don`t move because in just a moment the host of the radio show, the guy who actually spoke with Sheen, is going to join me live here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. But first let`s get you up to speed on the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEEN: The more you look at stuff, especially specific incidents, specific events, in or around the fateful day, it just-- it just raises a lot of questions.

HAMMER: The questions Charlie Sheen is raising about the 9/11 attacks are raising a lot of eyebrows. Our e-mail inbox immediately started to overflow. And the coverage on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is getting a lot of attention.

The web site 9/11 Blogger calls SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s coverage, quote, "The first time a major news station has covered 9/11 questions in any reasonable format."

It all started with a radio interview Sheen gave to GCN Radio Network host Alex Jones, a cult hero of sorts to 9/11 conspiracy theorists. During the interview, Sheen made clear that he backs Jones` views.

SHEEN: We`re not the conspiracy theorists on this particular issue. It seems to me like, you know, 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 percent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory.

HAMMER: Sheen also made another shocking suggestion: that we may not know the full story about the collapse of the World Trade Center.

SHEEN: I have a hard time believing that a fireball traveled down the elevator over 110 feet and still had the explosive energy to destroy the lobby like it was described.

I said, "Hey, call me insane. But did it sort of look like those buildings came down in a controlled demolition?"

If I was your age, I could only dream about my parents splitting up.

HAMMER: As the star of the sitcom "Two and a Half Men," Sheen is seen weekly by about 10 million people. And many of them may end up paying attention to his controversial comments about 9/11.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAMMER: As I mentioned the radio host who interviewed Sheen is Alex Jones of the Genesis Communications Network. Alex joins me live from Austin, Texas, to talk about Sheen`s riveting comments.

Alex, as I mentioned, the response that we got from doing this story last night absolutely shocking. So I want to know how it actually all came about. How did the interview with Charlie Sheen actually happen? Did you guys reach out to him? Did he call you? What was the deal?

ALEX JONES, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, just to make something clear, Mr. Sheen has amazing courage to do what he`s done. And he contacted me. He`s been watching my documentaries for years. He`s one of the most informed people that I`ve talked to in Hollywood on this subject.

Listen, for years Hollywood`s been on fire with people knowing the truth about 9/11. And I was the first to expose 9/11 on the day. In fact two months before I had intel that elements of the military industrial complex were going to carry out the attack. I said they`ll use bin Laden, the known CIS. That is their patsy to take the blame for attacking the towers.

So Mr. Sheen is only exceptional in that he has courage in going public. Courage that no one else in Hollywood had.

I mean, here`s a CNN poll from Anderson Cooper a year and a half ago where they said is the government covering up 9/11? Could they be involved? Ninety percent when the poll closed on CNN said this.

So listen I have my own syndicated show. I`ve done 4,000 radio interviews in the last 4 1/2 years. Almost no one calls in and disagrees now. We have the majority view and we have the evidence.

And bottom line, there are declassified U.S. government documents like Operation Northwoods that ABC News reported on back in 2000. Operation Northwoods. Google it.

And in there the U.S. government -- an element of it -- said we want to hi-jack jets by remote control, crash them and blame it on the Soviet Union in Cuba. Now that was decades ago. This is why we believe this.

Then you look at the official story. The firefighters, the police, hundreds of them saying there were bomb in the buildings. They were told to shut up. You look at building seven, detonators going off. You can see the explosion.

HAMMER: And Alex, a lot of this is what Charlie Sheen was covering. I`m actually just curious. Did he reach out to you guys? Is he the one who put the call into you and how he wound up on your show?

JONES: Sure. Sure. He called me a few weeks ago and said that -- said that he loves this country. He has nothing to gain from this. In fact it`s dangerous for him to do.

HAMMER: Sure, sure.

JONES: He said, "I love this country and my kids so much that I`m going to do this, Alex."

And I said, "God bless you" because now it makes for other Hollywood people who`ve got major pull who know the truth to start going public.

HAMMER: And dangerous indeed to do. Because a lot of what he said makes a lot of people sort of sit back and say, "Whoa, I don`t know about that."

And what`s really important here. You may not agree with everything that Charlie Sheen had to say. I personally think it`s a good thing that he did go on your show, so he could go public with his point of view. Because it does get people talking.

You know, there are a lot of people who may look at this, however, and say there just goes another Hollywood nut job shooting off his mouth.

JONES: Listen -- listen...

HAMMER: I imagine that you think, though, having a Hollywood actor on your side is a good thing and, as you mention, may bring some more people to the table talking about this.

JONES: Sure, sure. If you knew some of the Hollywood names that are aware of 9/11. We`re talking some of the biggest people.

HAMMER: Any you can tell us about that you`ve been in contact with?

JONES: No, I can`t. Because -- because people in Hollywood contact me because I have integrity, and I`ve been in a few films and they know me. And they know I keep my mouth shut.

You know, it was kind of like back in high school. I learned to keep my mouth shut about girls I was dating and all the girls started liking you.

Look, it`s really simple. Let`s understand this, OK? Nine-eleven was an inside job. It was a self-inflicted wound. And -- and what Charlie Sheen is doing is just amazing, and he can only be commended for it. And all he`s calling for is a real investigation.

I go further at InfoWars.com and PrisonPlanet.com. We lay out how it happened and what took place.

And it`s not just Charlie Sheen I`ve interviewed. CNN has interviewed some of these people, the only network that I`ve seen doing it. You guys have interviewed. There have been physics professors that have gone public. There have been the heads of mining colleges that have gone public.

George Bush Sr.`s top CIA adviser who briefed him and Ronald Reagan, one of the highest little guys at the CIA, says our government is clearly involved in carrying out terror to blame it on foreign enemies.

Did you know that on CIA.gov they admit that they carried out terror attacks in 1953 to blame it on Mohammed Mozadek (ph) in Iran as a pretext to overthrow Iran?

HAMMER: Alex -- I`m going to rein -- all good stuff and all stuff that needs to be talked about. But I`m going to rein you back in here to the topic at hand.

JONES: Sure.

HAMMER: One thing that I think is interesting. You know, as I mentioned we`ve gotten this overwhelming response. The e-mail has not stopped coming in. Most of the e-mail I`ve been getting has been supporting the fact that we are bringing attention to something that is rarely talked about in mainstream media.

JONES: Yes, sir. You have courage. No one else has done what you`re doing.

HAMMER: And I appreciate you saying that. So the question is why? Why have so many of the major media outlets not talked about these alternative theories that exist behind 9/11? Why is that?

JONES: Mark Twain said that, "In the beginning a patriot is a scarce man, hated and feared and scorned. But in time when his cause succeeds, the timid join him, because then it costs nothing to be patriot."

A lot of people don`t have the courage that you have, A.J. A lot of people don`t have the courage of Charlie Sheen. They don`t have the courage of the German defense minister, Andre Van Bulow (ph), who two years ago went public...

HAMMER: What do you think is afraid of that`s going to happen to them?

JONES: They`re afraid of being beaten up by the hordes of neocon intimidators who try to go out there with their Gestapo Nazi tactics to try to bludgeon everybody with their blogs and radio shows to shut up.

But they`ve lost, pal, because people have learned that they`re a bunch of liars. They lied about WMDs. They lied about everything. And now their credibility is totally blown.

The new White House memo just came out where Bush is talking about staging the shoot down of American planes to get -- to blame it on Saddam. That`s public. That`s admitted.

HAMMER: Let`s talk about some public documents. Because obviously experts, government commissions, countless officials have all come out and supported what is the official line.

JONES: Yes, they call it Henry Kissinger independent.

HAMMER: Right. Well, we know that those documents are out there and that people are supporting them. So I guess what some people watching us tonight may be thinking is, well, why the heck should I be listening to Charlie Sheen or to Alex Jones and his web site on this matter?

JONES: They shouldn`t. They shouldn`t. They shouldn`t believe me. They shouldn`t believe you. They shouldn`t believe George Bush. They shouldn`t believe the Keane Commission where almost the entire commission has conflicts of interest and was appointed by Bush. You`ve got to love this. He appoints his own commission, and then the media calls it independent.

Did you know that the "9/11 Whitewash Commission" claims there were no columns in tower one and two when they had 47 of the biggest columns in the world up until that time? They won`t say why building seven had blast points going off down the side.

HAMMER: Well, Alex -- Alex, I`m afraid I`ve got to cut you off because we`re out of time. But as I said, it`s sparking debate. It`s getting people talking. And I appreciate you help bringing it up.

JONES: Thank you. Go to InfoWars.com, sir. Find out the truth at PrisonPlanet.com.

HAMMER: Alex Jones, live from Austin.

And as I mentioned we`ve gotten so many e-mails on the subject. We`ll read what some of you have to say coming up a bit later in the show.

Nine eleven also happens to be the subject of a new movie that`s coming out in theaters soon. And SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has your first look at "United 93." That`s coming up in a bit in the "SHOWBIZ Showcase."

ANDERSON: Plus, rebuilding communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Tonight how a TV reality show is going in to fix what some say the government could not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m going to get the door for you, like I always do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Office spouses. Until desks do us part. In sickness and in health plans. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT investigates the phenomenon that`s all the buzz in the media. Is it OK to have a real wife and a work wife?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I am A.J. Hammer. You are watching TV`s only live entertainment news show.

We have gotten a tremendous response to the story that we brought you on Charlie Sheen`s comments about 9/11. We do want to keep hearing from you. It is our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Charlie Sheen speaks out. Do you agree there is a government cover-up of 9/11?

Let`s see the votes so far: 65 percent of you say yes; 35 percent of you say no, you don`t.

A couple of the e-mails we`ve received include one from Dylan in Texas, who writes, "There are so many unanswered questions, and all attempts at an investigation have been stonewalled by the government."

We also heard from Mike in Hawaii, who writes, "How could any sane person believe that our government attacked our own people?"

Do keep voting at CNN.com/SHOWBIZTONIGHT. You want to e-mail us more of your thoughts, we want to hear from you at ShowbizTonight@CNN.com. Those e-mails coming up later in the show.

Alex jones can be found at
http://www.infowars.com/
http://www.infowars.net/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/
 
 

A national ID card, like DL’s of this day, WHEN REQUIRED, is a government mandate and must be issued without payment by the person.  As soon as the people are made to “pay” for a thing, it becomes a matter of choice.

There is a maxim of law that says if law requires a thing to be done, then government must provide the means for paying for it..

This principle has been a big reason why Brady bill enforcement failed.  Many states, refused to enforce the Brady bill because the feds did not provide the funding to implement and enforce the bill.

On the other hand, if a sheeple choose to pay and volunteer, that is their choice and they are RIPE for sheering.
 

What's all the fuss with the Real ID Act about?
President Bush is expected to sign an $82 billion military spending bill soon that will, in part, create electronically readable, federally approved ID cards for Americans. The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the package--which includes the Real ID Act--on Thursday.

What does that mean for me?
Starting three years from now, if you live or work in the United States, you'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage of nearly any government service. Practically speaking, your driver's license likely will have to be reissued to meet federal standards.

How will I get one of these new ID cards?
You'll still get one through your state motor vehicle agency, and it will likely take the place of your drivers' license. But the identification process will be more rigorous.

For instance, you'll need to bring a "photo identity document," document your birth date and address, and show that your Social Security number is what you had claimed it to be. U.S. citizens will have to prove that status, and foreigners will have to show a valid visa.

State DMVs will have to verify that these identity documents are legitimate, digitize them and store them permanently. In addition, Social Security numbers must be verified with the Social Security Administration.

What's going to be stored on this ID card?
 

At a minimum: name, birth date, sex, ID number, a digital photograph, address, and a "common machine-readable technology" that Homeland Security will decide on. The card must also sport "physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for fraudulent purposes." Homeland Security is permitted to add additional requirements--such as a fingerprint or retinal scan--on top of those. We won't know for a while what these additional requirements will be.

Why did these ID requirements get attached to an "emergency" military spending bill?
Because it's difficult for politicians to vote against money that will go to the troops in Iraq and tsunami relief. The funds cover ammunition, weapons, tracked combat vehicles, aircraft, troop housing, death benefits, and so on.

The House already approved a standalone version of the Real ID

Act in February, but by a relatively close margin of 261-161. It was expected to run into some trouble in the Senate. Now that it's part of an Iraq spending bill, senators won't want to vote against it.

What's the justification for this legislation anyway?
Its supporters say that the Real ID Act is necessary to hinder terrorists, and to follow the ID card recommendations that the 9/11 Commission made last year.

It will "hamper the ability of terrorist and criminal aliens to move freely throughout our society by requiring that all states require proof of lawful presence in the U.S. for their drivers' licenses to be accepted as identification for federal purposes such as boarding a commercial airplane, entering a federal building, or a nuclear power plant," Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said during the debate Thursday.

You said the ID card will be electronically readable. What does that mean?
The Real ID Act says federally accepted ID cards must be "machine readable," and lets Homeland Security determine the details. That could end up being a magnetic strip, enhanced bar code, or radio frequency identification (RFID) chips.

In the past, Homeland Security has indicated it likes the concept of RFID chips. The State Department is already going to be embedding RFID devices in passports, and Homeland Security wants to issue RFID-outfitted IDs to foreign visitors who enter the country at the Mexican and Canadian borders. The agency plans to start a yearlong test of the technology in July at checkpoints in Arizona, New York and Washington state.

Will state DMVs share this information?
Yes. In exchange for federal cash, states must agree to link up their databases. Specifically, the Real ID Act says it hopes to "provide electronic access by a state to information contained in the motor vehicle databases of all other states."

Is this legislation a done deal?
Pretty much. The House of Representatives approved the package on Thursday by a vote of 368-58. Only three of the "nay" votes were Republicans; the rest were Democrats. The Senate is scheduled to vote on it next week and is expected to approve it as well.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan has told reporters "the president supports" the standalone Real ID Act, and the Bush administration has come out with an official endorsement. As far back as July 2002, the Bush administration has been talking about assisting

"the states in crafting solutions to curtail the future abuse of drivers' licenses by terrorist organizations."

Who were the three Republicans who voted against it?
Reps. Howard Coble of North Carolina, John Duncan of Tennessee, and Ron Paul of Texas.

Paul has warned that the Real ID Act "establishes a national ID card" and "gives authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to unilaterally add requirements as he sees fit."

Is this a national ID card?
It depends on whom you ask. Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, says: "It's going to result in everyone, from the 7-Eleven store to the bank and airlines, demanding to see the ID card. They're going to scan it in. They're going to have all the data on it from the front of the card...It's going to be not just a national ID card but a national database."

At the moment, state driver's licenses aren't easy for bars, banks, airlines and so on to swipe through card readers because they're not uniform; some may have barcodes but no magnetic stripes, for instance, and some may lack both. Steinhardt predicts the federalized IDs will be a gold mine for government agencies and marketers. Also, he notes that the Supreme Court ruled last year that police can demand to see ID from law-abiding U.S. citizens.

Will it be challenged in court?
Maybe. "We're exploring whether there are any litigation possibilities here," says the ACLU's Steinhardt.

One possible legal argument would challenge any requirement for a photograph on the ID card as a violation of religious freedom. A second would argue that the legislation imposes costs on states without properly reimbursing them.

When does it take effect?
The Real ID Act takes effect "three years after the date of the enactment" of the legislation. So if the Senate and Bush give it the thumbs-up this month, its effective date would be sometime in May 2008.
 

By Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Managing Editor

"Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995."
—Statement issued Monday by NOAA

A widely reported study last week said 2005 was the warmest on record. But headlines failed to note that the results were not concrete and a new study out this week challenges the findings.

Whatever the outcome, scientists say it is all moot: Last year was surprisingly warm and the record will fall soon enough.

The latest result came Monday from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). These are the folks that run the National Weather Service. Their study concludes that the global temperature in 2005 can't be statistically distinguished from  the record set in 1998.

Last year was a warm year at Earth's surface, especially considering the lack of a heat-producing El Nino, but for now experts do not agree whether it was a record.

Mixed results

Last week, The Associated Press and others reported that a NASA scientist said 2005 was the warmest year on record, nosing out 1998.

Lost in many of the headlines, however, was this quote from the report's lead researcher, James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies: "We couldn't say with 100 percent certainty that it's the warmest year, but I'm reasonably confident that it was."

Hansen looked at different data in different ways compared to the NOAA team. The NASA study considered in particular data from the Arctic, which is warming faster than the rest of the planet.  And for the latter part of 2005 both reports relied on preliminary data, so the analyses could change.

In an email interview yesterday, Hansen reiterated his caveat.

"I believe that 2005 is the warmest year, because the main source of difference is the Arctic, and I believe it is likely that our estimate there is in the right ballpark even though it is based on some extrapolations," Hansen said.  "However, I admit that it could be wrong, in which case 2005 might be slightly cooler than 1998."

Other caveats

In both studies, there are margins of error. Much of the analysis involves satellite data that covers just the past three decades or so. Complicating matters, ground-based temperature-monitoring stations are sparse or nonexistent in many parts of the world, particularly in the Arctic. And a key to the results are satellite data that note sea surface temperatures since 1982. Prior years are gauged by less-precise data from ship logs.

Finally, reliable records for most ground locations go back only about a century, so setting records may not be as surprising as if they broke marks that had been around longer.

So while all leading experts agree the planet has warmed about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century (and NOAA says the rate has tripled since 1976) ranking the warmest years is a huge statistical challenge.

In fact the NOAA analysis yielded two results: One data set, in use since the late 1990s, found that 2005 was slightly cooler than 1998, with 2005 being 1.04 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1880-2004 average, while 1998 was 1.12 degrees above that norm.

The other NOAA data set and analysis technique (which will become the primary method used henceforth) puts 2005 slightly warmer than 1998. It has 2005 at 1.12 degrees above the norm and 1998 at 1.06 degrees above the norm. But the report states that "uncertainties associated with the various factors and methodologies used in data set development make 2005 statistically indistinguishable from 1998."

A third study

Still another study, led by John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, paints a different picture.

Christy said in early January that 2005 tied with 2002 for second place.

But Christy looked at entirely different data, and the results are not conflicting, he said. Christy examined the entire "bulk" troposphere, from the surface up to about 35,000 feet. In that measurement of the atmosphere, 2005 "clearly was not the warmest," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Christy said his approach, which relies on observations from satellites and balloons, is more systematic and global than the estimates provided in the surface-temperature studies. On the other hand, it does not incorporate data more than a few decades back in time.

Interestingly, the troposphere as a whole tends to lag behind rising surface temperatures, Christy said. So measurements over the next few months could show an increase in the troposphere.

The bottom line

Regardless where 2005 ends up, this statement from NOAA puts things in perspective: "Nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1995."

And beyond the temperature data, there is plenty of stark evidence for significant warming at the surface. Ground in the Northern Hemisphere that's been frozen since the last Ice Age is melting and collapsing. Animals are changing migration and mating habits. And glaciers are melting and shrinking at alarming rates.

Meanwhile, climatologists are impressed with nature's showing in 2005, because by conventional thinking it should not have been first or second on the all-time list. That's because 1998, the previous hottest year, saw temperatures boosted by a strong El Nino, which was not in place during 2005.

"The bottom line: 2005 was very warm," said Richard Heim, who worked on the NOAA report.

"2005 was not an El Nino year, yet we were toying with tying the 1998 El Nino year," Heim said. "If we had had an El Nino, how warm would it have been?"

NASA's Hansen is already looking ahead to years that he and most other experts expect to be warmer.

"We may get a more definitive assessment from additional data, but it also may be that we will never know for sure," he said. "However, it doesn't matter much. I am confident that we will exceed both of these years within the next few years."
 

duh Leaders and Officials Speak Out - this hurts my brain contributing editor to   - Viv

Question:  If you could live forever, would you and why? Answer:  "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because  if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but  we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live  forever,"  --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss  USA  contest. (On  September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss  America 1995.)

"Whenever  I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I  can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not  with all those flies and death and  stuff." --Mariah  Carey

"Smoking  kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your  life," --Brooke  Shields, during an interview to become Spokesperson for federal  anti-smoking campaign.

"I've  never had major knee surgery on any other part of my  body,"      --Winston  Bennett,  University  of Kentucky  basketball forward. "Outside  of the killings, Washington  has one of the lowest crime rates in the country," --Mayor  Marion  Barry,  Washington,  DC.

"I'm  not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the  president." --Hillary  Clinton  commenting on the release of subpoenaed  documents.

"That  lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm  just the one to do it," -- Clinesmith, a  congressional candidate in Texas.

"Half  this game is ninety percent mental." --Philadelphia  Phillies manager, Danny  Ozark

"It  isn't pollution that 's harming the environment. It's the impurities in  our air and water that are doing it." --Al  Gore,  Vice President  And . "We  are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not  occur." --Al  Gore,  VP       "I  love California.  I practically grew up in Phoenix."  --Dan  Quayle

"We've  got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"  --Lee  Iacocca

"The  word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like  Norman  Einstein."  --Joe  Theisman,  NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

"We  don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of  people." --Colonel  Gerald  Wellman,  ROTC  Instrutor.

"If  we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."   --Bill  Clinton,  President

"Traditionally,  most of Australia's  imports come from overseas." --Keppel  Enderbery

"Your  food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received  notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if  there is a change in your circumstances." --Department  of Social Services, Greenville,  South  Carolina

"If  somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they  go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And  the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a  record." --Mark  S.  Fowler,  FCC Chairman

"... first we shoot all the lawyers" -- Shakespeare Justice in Modern Society http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/dailymail/home.html?in_page_id=1766 contributing editor to   - Viv

In a surreal footnote, a man who stole a teddy from the pile of gifts left in tribute to Levi got 8 months in jail - 5 months more than the man who killed her.

Is a child's life really so cheap?

On a September morning, a three year-old girl called Levi Bleasdale was out walking with her mother Kirsty and her new baby sister.  Levi was chatting away as they began to cross the road. Then he hit her.

Mohammed Aqueel Hussain 26 year-old was driving a stolen VW Golf, travelling at great speed in a 30mph zone.  He did not have a licience nor had he learnt to drive a car.
And he was to show that he had not acquired something else that is useful on our journey through life: a conscience.  Levi was thrown in the air.  Hussain drove off.

Levi died in intensive care the next day.

You might think such a crime would merit the full force of the law.  And you would be wrong.

Hussain was not charged with causing death by dangerous driving which carries a maximum penality of 14 years jail. The Crown Prosecution Service chose to charge him with careless driving, failing to to stop at the scene of an accident, driving without a licience and handling stolen goods.

His case was heard by magistrates who can issue sentences of only up to 6 months.  And last week Hussain was jailed for just 12 weeks having been given credit for pleading guilty.

Heaven itself cries out at the injustice.  If a man who has never even taken a test to make himself safe behind a wheel is excused, what exactly would you have to do to be charged with dangerous driving.

The brutal truth is road deaths are not taken seriously, despite the fact we are now seening what police call an 'epidemic' of hit-and-run cases.

The increasingly useless Crown Prosecution Services has what one lawyer describes as a 'cheap and cheerful approach' to vehicle fatalities.  They seldom press someone to answer to a higher charge.

That trivialising attitude inevitable trickles down to the police who all to often treat a death like Levi's far more casually than other violent crimes.

Bereaved families, meanwhile, must listen while solicitors explain why the defendant got off so lightly.  While outside the court, they see tht same defendant punch the air with raucous relief at having got away with it.

In a surreal footnote, a man who stole a teddy from the pile of gifts left in tribute to Levi got 8 months in jail - 5 months more than the man who killed her.

The Road Safety Bill now going through parliament
 

THE amount of sunshine reaching earth is increasing, accelerating the pace of climate change, scientists have found.

A series of independent studies around the world show a significant rise in the amount of sunshine penetrating the atmosphere to be absorbed by the earth’s surface and turned into heat.

The research will concern climate researchers who are already predicting a rapid rise in global temperatures due to man-made emissions of so-called greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

“The enhanced warming we have seen since the 1990s along with phenomena such as the widespread melting of glaciers could well be due to this increased intensity of sunlight compounding the effect of greenhouse gases,” said Professor Martin Wild of the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, Switzerland.

Researchers will present their findings to the European Geophysical Union conference in Vienna next week.

They reverse a 30-year trend. Measurements of sunshine levels between 1960 and 1990 had shown a decrease in the amount of sunshine reaching the earth, a phenomenon known as global dimming.

This was thought to have been caused by dust, smog and other pollutants, mainly from industrialised western countries.The pollutants, known as aerosols, reduced sunshine levels by absorbing and scattering solar radiation and promoting the formation of clouds that reflected radiation back into space.

In the last two decades, however, there have been significant decreases in such pollutants, partly due to industry becoming cleaner but largely because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and much of its heavy industry.

Wild said: “Sunshine levels had been decreasing by 2% a decade between 1960 and 1980 — a total decline of about 6%. Now they are going up again. Perhaps this is why our Swiss glaciers are melting.”

A 6% increase in the amount of solar radiation reaching earth would have a powerful impact on climate, especially when added to the warming effect of greenhouse gases which have already raised global temperatures by about 0.6C. Researchers predict an additional rise of at least 1.5C by 2050.

Such rises could be disastrous for agriculture, wildlife and human settlements in many regions, especially the tropics. But scientists warn they may have to revise these calculations sharply upwards if the impact of “global brightening” has to be factored in.

Atsumu Ohmura, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, has collated measurements from 400 sites worldwide and found an increase in sunshine at 300 of them, sited mainly in Eurasia and the Polar regions.

Some showed a decline in sunshine since 1990, largely in fast-developing countries such as China and India.

“A widespread brightening has been observed since the 1980s. This may substantially affect surface climate, the water cycle, glaciers and ecosystems,” said Ohmura.
 

$$$ Follow the Money $$$ FED - 'Fess Up on M3 http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_21569.shtml contributing editor to   - Craig

[Of course it is true.  Now the FED does not have to let us (or anyone) know the rate of devaluing federal reserve notes (frn).  Since "inflation" is really just more frn's in circulation, this will allow them to dump more and more frn's in the system and each of us will have less and less buying power.  But, the buying power will be gradual so we do not readily see it.  Of course, this is what they have been doing since 1913, but now they can do it without anyone having a way of measuring the devaluation (inflation).  --  Tribble]

Editor's Note [axisoflogic]: On 3/28/06 we published an article which stated that the Federal Reserve has ordered 2 Trillion dollars to be printed by U.S. mints. We mistakenly published this text instead of the one we meant to publish (below) from Free Market News. The report on the Fed's printing of 2 Trillion Dollars is not adequately supported with sources and supporting factual information. Therefore we pulled that article today, March 29, 2006 and replace it with the article we meant to publish. We apologize to our readers for this error on our part. - LMB

Thursday, March 23, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

March 23rd is more than a normal day. A release from DownsizeDC serves as a reminder that today the Federal Reserve stops publishing a statistic known as M3 - the best information available on how much new currency is being created and held around the world. The release points out that "The Federal Reserve can create new dollars out of thin air. ... When more dollars are created prices rise and the value of your savings fall."

As of today, the Fed has stopped publishing this data for public analysis, and DownsizeDC is not alone in its suspicions about the reasons why. There have been a spate of articles on the 'Net recently speculating about the Fed's fairly dramatic move, some linking it to a possibile Iranian commodities bourse that will offer an alternative to the so-called US petrodollar. "The Fed is planning to do a lot of 'legal counterfeiting,' and wants to hide it," the release concludes.

The release also notes that Congressman Ron Paul [R-TX] has introduced legislation to require the Fed to resume reporting the M3 statistic, and Downsize urges taxpaying citizens to contact their own representatives to support the bill called The Sunshine in Monetary Policy Act. - ST

staff reports - Free-Market News Network

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=9991
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

*  What does "do not drink the kool-aid" mean? [click this line]  or goto this link http://www.tellme1st.net/rockyview/kool-aid/do not drink the kool-aid.html

**  As the ‘Great And Powerful Oz' once said to Dorothy, "Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain!" because appearances can be deceiving.  You HAVE TO look behind to curtain to learn the truth.
*** Red Herring.  The name of this fallacy comes from the sport of fox hunting in which a dried, smoked herring, which is red in color, is dragged across the trail of the fox to throw the hounds off the scent. Thus, a "red herring" argument is one which distracts the audience from the issue in question through the introduction of some irrelevancy. This frequently occurs during debates when there is an at least implicit topic, yet it is easy to lose track of it. By extension, it applies to any argument in which the premisses are logically irrelevant to the conclusion.

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