Eeyore's Observations

Sunday 02-26-12

2012-02-26T04:41:00.000-05:00

I would not usually give Sunday to the "religion of peace" but it burns me up that they are not being held responsible for what their religion teaches. If it was a Christian killing people for burning a bible, they would be raking them over the coals in the media, but they won't sayng anything about the "religion of peace".

Taliban to Afghans: Kill foreigners over Quran burnings

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban urged Afghans Thursday to target foreign military bases and kill Westerners in retaliation for burnings of copies of the Quran at NATO's main base in the country as a third day of violent protests began.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered across the country, some chanting "Death to America!", Reuters witnesses and officials said. In eastern Kabul, hundreds of youths threw rocks at police, who fired shots into the air to try disperse the crowds.

"Our brave people must target the military bases of invader forces, their military convoys and their invader bases," read an emailed Taliban statement released by the insurgency's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. "They have to kill them (Westerners), beat them and capture them to give them a lesson to never dare desecrate the holy Quran again."

However, provincial officials and police said Thursday that there were peaceful demonstrations in three eastern provinces to vent anger over the Quran burnings.

More than 2,000 people turned out at the biggest demonstration in the capital of eastern Laghman province, officials and police said.

About 500 people protested in the Khoshi district of Logar province and the rally ended without incident. Hundreds also protested in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

On Wednesday, seven people were killed in clashes between Afghan security forces and protesters demonstrating over the Quran burnings.

'Take up jihad'
Most Westerners were already confined to their heavily fortified compounds, including within the sprawling U.S. Embassy complex and nearby embassies in central Kabul.

The Quran burnings could make it even more difficult for U.S.-led NATO forces to win the hearts and minds of Afghans and bring the Taliban to the negotiating table ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

Muslims consider the Quran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.

PhotoBlog: Protests spread amid Afghan fury at Quran burning

Large protests erupted in eastern Laghman province and the eastern city of Jalalabad, despite an appeal by President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday for calm after officials said six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in demonstrations.

Protests also kicked off in the relatively stable northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar on the border with Tajikistan, as well as nearby Baghlan province

The fury could complicate efforts by U.S. and NATO forces to reach agreement on a strategic pact currently under consideration with the Afghan government that would allow a sharply reduced number of western troops in the country well beyond their combat exit deadline of end-2014.

Underscoring these concerns, hundreds of students in Jalalabad rejected any strategic pact with the United States, saying they would "take up jihad" if one was sealed.

In the Khoshi district of eastern Logar province, around some 500 protesters rejected any strategic deal, while in restive Khost province hundreds more chanted "death to America" and "we don't want Americans in Afghanistan".

Apology
The U.S. government and the American commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan apologized for "unintentional" burnings after Afghan laborers found charred copies of the Koran while collecting rubbish at the huge Bagram Airbase, about an hour's drive north of Kabul.

A report into the incident by NATO investigators and a team of senior Afghan clerics was to be handed to Karzai as soon as Thursday, making clear how the burning happened.

Findings in NATO Quran burning probe due soon

Martine van Bijlert, from the respected Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), said the demonstrations were a combination of religious outrage, pent-up frustration over economic and security conditions, and groups wanting to stir trouble.

"There have been different kinds of outrage. One is the bewilderment felt by many Afghans, and foreigners, that after ten years of efforts in Afghanistan there was apparently still no understanding of how inflammatory mistakes like that are made," van Bijlert said on the AAN website.

"Second, there is the pent-up anger and frustration, with the international military, but also with life in general."

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/23/10484001-taliban-to-afghans-kill-foreigners-over-quran-burnings

2 US troops shot dead inside Afghan ministry

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A gunman killed two American military advisers with shots to the back of the head Saturday inside a heavily guarded ministry building, and NATO ordered military workers out of Afghan ministries as protests raged for a fifth day over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. army base.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the Interior Ministry, saying it was retaliation for the Quran burnings, after the two U.S. servicemen _ a lieutenant and colonel and a major _ were found dead on their office floor, Afghan and western officials said.

The top commander of U.S. and NATO forces recalled all international military personnel from the ministries, an unprecedented action in the decade-long war, highlights growing friction between Afghans and their foreign partners at a critical juncture in the war.

The U.S.-led coalition is trying to mentor and strengthen Afghan security forces so they can lead the fight against the Taliban and foreign troops can go home. That mission, however, requires a measure of trust at a time when anti-Western sentiment it at an all-time high.

Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak called U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to apologize for the shooting and offer his condolences, Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement released in Washington.

"This act is unacceptable and the United States condemns it in the strongest possible terms," Little said.

Security is tight in the capital, which is covered in snow, and foreigners working at the U.S. Embassy and other international organizations have been banned from leaving their compounds.

U.S. officials said they were searching for the assailant, who has not been identified by name or nationality.

The two American service members were found by another foreigner who went into the room, which is only accessible by people who know the correct numerical combination, according to the Afghan official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details about the shootings.

They were shot in the back of the head, according to Western officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information. Authorities were poring over security camera video for clues, the Afghan official said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid identified the shooter as one of their sympathizers, Abdul Rahman. He said an accomplice inside the ministry helped Rahman get inside the compound to kill the Americans to retaliate for the Quran burnings.

"After the attack, Rahman informed us by telephone that he was able to kill four high-ranking American advisers," Mujahid said. The Taliban often inflate death tolls and sometimes claim responsibility for killings they did not conduct

Little, of the Pentagon, said Wardak indicated that President Hamid Karzai was assembling religious leaders and other senior Afghan officials to take urgent steps to protect coalition forces.

U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, met with Afghan Interior Minister Bismullah Khan Mohammadi, who offered both his condolences to the families of the victims and his apologies, Little said.

Afghanistan's interior and defense ministers were expected in Washington next week

Allen said he recalled all NATO personnel from the ministries "for obvious force protection reasons" but also said the alliance remains committed to its partnership with the Afghan government. NATO forces have advisers embedded in many Afghan ministries. The advisers are helping to develop the ministries so that Afghans can take the lead by the end of 2014, when foreign combat forces are to transfer control of security to Afghan security forces.

At least 28 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since Tuesday, when it first emerged that Qurans and other religious materials had been thrown into a fire pit used to burn garbage at Bagram Air Field, a large U.S. base north of Kabul.

President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials have apologized for what they said was a mistake, but their regrets have not quelled the deadly protests.

An Afghan soldier turned his gun on foreign troops, killing two American soldiers, during one riot outside a U.S. base in Nangarhar province on Thursday. It was the latest in a rising number of incidents where Afghan soldiers or policemen, or gunmen wearing their uniforms, have killed NATO forces. Last month, France suspended its training program and threatened to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan a year ahead of schedule after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French soldiers on a base in the east.

Karzai has said that the Afghan people have a right to protest the Quran burnings, but he urged them to demonstrate peacefully and refrain from destroying property. In a statement on Saturday, Karzai urged Afghan security forces to be patient with the protesters.

Hundreds of demonstrators staged peaceful protests in Afghanistan, but ones in Laghman, Kunduz and Logar provinces turned violent.

"The culprits of the burning of the holy Quran should be arrested and hanged to death in public," said Mohammad Karim, one of 1,000 protesters who burned tires and threw stones at Afghan police in Mohammad Agha district of Logar province, south of Kabul. "We don't accept it when they say `We apologize. We apologize.' We don't want Americans here at all."

Laghman provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said about 1,000 protesters threw stones at Afghan security forces, smashed windows of government buildings and tried to attack the nearby governor's house in the provincial capital of Mehterlam.

In Kunduz, the capital of Kunduz province in northeastern Afghanistan, more than 1,000 protesters threw rocks at government buildings and a U.N. office, said Sarwer Hussaini, a spokesman for the provincial police. He said the police fired into the air to try to disperse the crowd. Dr. Saad Mukhtar, health department director in Kunduz, said at least three protesters died and 50 others were injured in the melee.

In a statement, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said the U.N. had deep respect for the Islamic faith and understood why Muslims were upset about the desecration of their holy book, but urged the demonstrators to exercise self-restraint and not let militants use the protests to foment violence.

http://wtop.com/?nid=220&sid=2078706

Saturday 02-25-12

2012-02-25T05:40:00.001-05:00

5 Reasons You Should Never Agree to a Police Search (Even if You Have Nothing to Hide)

Do you know what your rights are when a police officer asks to search you? If you're like most people I've met in my eight years working to educate the public on this topic, then you probably don't.

It's a subject that a lot of people think they understand, but too often our perception of police power is distorted by fictional TV dramas, sensational media stories, silly urban myths, and the unfortunate fact that police themselves are legally allowed to lie to us.

It wouldn't even be such a big deal, I suppose, if our laws all made sense and our public servants always treated us as citizens first and suspects second. But thanks to the War on Drugs, nothing is ever that easy. When something as stupid as stopping people from possessing marijuana came to be considered a critical law enforcement function, innocence ceased to protect people against police harassment. From the streets of the Bronx to the suburbs of the Nation's Capital, you never have to look hard to find victims of the bias, incompetence, and corruption that the drug war delivers on a daily basis.

Whether or not you ever break the law, you should be prepared to protect yourself and your property just in case police become suspicious of you. Let's take a look at one of the most commonly misunderstood legal situations a citizen can encounter: a police officer asking to search your belongings. Most people automatically give consent when police ask to perform a search. However, I recommend saying "no" to police searches, and here are some reasons why:

1. It's your constitutional right.

The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures. Unless police have strong evidence (probable cause) to believe you're involved in criminal activity, they need your permission to perform a search of you or your property.

You have the right to refuse random police searches anywhere and anytime, so long as you aren't crossing a border checkpoint or entering a secure facility like an airport. Don't be shy about standing up for your own privacy rights, especially when police are looking for evidence that could put you behind bars.

2. Refusing a search protects you if you end up in court.

It's always possible that police might search you anyway when you refuse to give consent, but that's no reason to say "yes" to the search. Basically, if there's any chance of evidence being found, agreeing to a search is like committing legal suicide, because it kills your case before you even get to court.

If you refuse a search, however, the officer will have to prove in court that there was probable cause to do a warrantless search. This will give your lawyer a good chance to win your case, but this only works if you said "no" to the search.

3. Saying "no" can prevent a search altogether.

Data on police searches are interesting, but they don't show how many searches didn't happen because a citizen said no. A non-search is a non-event that goes unrecorded, giving rise to a widespread misconception that police will always search with or without permission.

I know refusing searches works because I've been collecting stories from real police encounters. The reality is that police routinely ask for permission to search when they have absolutely no evidence of an actual crime. If you remain calm and say no, there's a good chance they'll back down, because it's a waste of time to do searches that won't hold up in court anyway.

4. Searches can waste your time and damage your property.

Do you have time to sit around while police rifle through your belongings? Police often spend 30 minutes or more on vehicle searches and even longer searching homes. You certainly can't count on officers to be careful with valuables or to put everything back where they found it. If you waive your 4th Amendment rights by agreeing to be searched, you will have few legal options if any property is damaged or missing after the search.

5. You never know what they'll find.

Are you 100 percent certain there's nothing illegal in your home or vehicle? You can never be too sure. A joint roach could stick to your shoe on the street and wind up on the floorboard. A careless acquaintance could have dropped a baggie behind the seat. Try telling a cop it isn't yours, and they'll just laugh and tell you to put your hands behind your back. If you agreed to the search, you can't challenge the evidence. But if you're innocent and you refused the search, your lawyer has a winnable case.

Remember that knowing your rights will help you protect yourself, but no amount of preparation can guarantee a good outcome in a bad situation. Your attitude and your choices before, during, and after the encounter will usually matter more than your knowledge of the law. Stay calm no matter what happens, and remember that you can always report misconduct after things settle down.

Finally, please don't be shy about sharing this information with your friends and family. Understanding and asserting your rights isn't about getting away with anything, and it isn't about disrespecting police either. These rights are the foundation of freedom in America, and they get weaker whenever we fail to exercise them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-morgan/5-reasons-you-should-neve_b_1292554.html

Denver family stranded after passport denied because of crease

DENVER — A Denver family was supposed to be in Belize this week enjoying a beach getaway with their loved ones.

Instead, they’re in a hotel room in Dallas, TX because an American Airlines official there claimed they had a mutilated passport.

“We started at Denver International Airport, where we checked in and all our passports were checked very thoroughly,” said Kyle Gosnell.

Gosnell, his wife Dana, and their young son, Kye, received boarding passes all the way through to Belize City.

But in Dallas, they hit a roadblock. “They took a look at our passports and said that my passport was mutilated, therefore I wasn’t able to fly,” Gosnell said.

Little Kye’s passport has a crease on the back cover, which Gosnell says came from him accidentally sitting on the passport.

His passport was questioned, but not denied. It was Kyle Gosnell’s that was the real problem. It has a small crease on the back cover, and is overall weathered and worn.

While some travelers may consider that a badge of honor, of sorts, the government doesn’t.

Ray Priest, owner of International Passport Visas in Denver, said your passport isn’t actually yours at all; it belongs to the US government.

“To have a passport is privilege, it’s not entitled to you by citizenship,” Priest said. He said the issue may be with a microchip embedded in the back of all new passports. “They have no reason in the world to let you travel if it’s been damaged,” Priest said. “It’s like cutting your photo out or something if that chip doesn’t work.”

Kyle Gosnell has used this passport to travel to Belize before. The family just wants there to be more uniform policies.

“There was no protocol,” said Dana Gosnell. “They don’t have the same system of rules for the Denver airport that they do for the Dallas airport.”

But Priest called this a fair warning for other travelers. “This is done for national security, for whatever reason they can’t make an exception, period,” he said. American Airlines is paying for the family’s hotel.

A spokesperson for the airline didn’t give FOX31 an official statement, but said it is within the airline’s rights to refuse a traveler for a passport that might not be able to be scanned.

The family is going to the passport office Tuesday to hopefully get new documents and continue with their scheduled trip to Belize.

http://kdvr.com/2012/02/21/denver-family-stranded-after-passport-denied-because-of-crease/

Friday 02-24-12

2012-02-24T01:27:00.003-05:00

More from the "religion of peace"

Taliban to Afghans: Kill foreigners over Quran burnings

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban urged Afghans Thursday to target foreign military bases and kill Westerners in retaliation for burnings of copies of the Quran at NATO's main base in the country as a third day of violent protests began.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered across the country, some chanting "Death to America!", Reuters witnesses and officials said. In eastern Kabul, hundreds of youths threw rocks at police, who fired shots into the air to try disperse the crowds.

"Our brave people must target the military bases of invader forces, their military convoys and their invader bases," read an emailed Taliban statement released by the insurgency's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. "They have to kill them (Westerners), beat them and capture them to give them a lesson to never dare desecrate the holy Quran again."

However, provincial officials and police said Thursday that there were peaceful demonstrations in three eastern provinces to vent anger over the Quran burnings.

More than 2,000 people turned out at the biggest demonstration in the capital of eastern Laghman province, officials and police said.

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/23/10484001-taliban-to-afghans-kill-foreigners-over-quran-burnings

How to Remove Your Google Search History Before Google's New Privacy Policy Takes Effect

[UPDATE 2/22/2012] It is important to note that disabling Web History in your Google account will not prevent Google from gathering and storing this information and using it for internal purposes. More information at the end of this post.

On March 1st, Google will implement its new, unified privacy policy, which will affect data Google has collected on you prior to March 1st as well as data it collects on you in the future. Until now, your Google Web History (your Google searches and sites visited) was cordoned off from Google's other products. This protection was especially important because search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more. If you want to keep Google from combining your Web History with the data they have gathered about you in their other products, such as YouTube or Google Plus, you may want to remove all items from your Web History and stop your Web History from being recorded in the future.

Here's how you can do that:

1. Sign into your Google account.

2. Go to https://www.google.com/history

3. Click "remove all Web History."

4. Click "ok."

Note that removing your Web History also pauses it. Web History will remain off until you enable it again.

[UPDATE 2/22/2012]: Note that disabling Web History in your Google account will not prevent Google from gathering and storing this information and using it for internal purposes. It also does not change the fact that any information gathered and stored by Google could be sought by law enforcement.

With Web History enabled, Google will keep these records indefinitely; with it disabled, they will be partially anonymized after 18 months, and certain kinds of uses, including sending you customized search results, will be prevented. If you want to do more to reduce the records Google keeps, the advice in EFF's Six Tips to Protect Your Search Privacy white paper remains relevant.

If you have several Google accounts, you will need to do this for each of them.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/how-remove-your-google-search-history-googles-new-privacy-policy-takes-effect

And the hits keep coming, i don't remeber anywhere in the Consitution, where they have the right to make gun shops sell guns to criminals so they can kill people, guess i was out of school that day?

Second gun used in ICE agent murder linked to ATF undercover operation

Prosecutors recently sentenced a Texas man, Manuel Barba, for trafficking a weapon connected to the murder of Immigration and Customs (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata. Nobody was more astonished to learn of the case than Zapata's parents, who didn't know that Barba had been arrested or linked to their son's murder.

"The family was obviously surprised to learn that there was a case involving a weapon linked to the Zapata incident," attorney Trey Martinez told CBS News. Martinez represents Zapata's parents and the surviving ICE agent in the assault, Victor Avila. "They were surprised they had never been contacted in the capacity as victims so they could give a response or some kind of reaction at the time of sentencing."

Barba was sentenced to 100 months in prison on January 30th. When we asked why the Zapatas weren't contacted, prosecutors in Houston told CBS News they only handled the weapons charges: conspiracy, false statements and exportation/receipt of firearms. Zapata's actual murder "is being handled by another US Attorney's office and... is separate and apart from the firearms case that was handled by our district," said a spokeswoman. She added the firearms offenses "are crimes that do not involve victims in the legal sense of the word and therefore, notifications are not part of the legal process."

In a related development, CBS News has obtained documents showing that Barba was under ATF surveillance for at least six months before a rifle he trafficked was used in Zapata's murder. Zapata's government vehicle was ambushed by suspected cartel thugs in Mexico Feb. 15, 2011.

Documents indicate ATF opened its case against Barba, entitled "Baytown Crew," in June of 2010. During the investigation, court records state Barba recruited straw purchasers and "facilitated the purchase and exportation of at least 44 firearms" including assault rifles. On August 20, 2010 Barba took delivery of the WASR-10 semi-automatic rifle later used in Zapata's murder, obliterated its serial number, and sent it to Mexico with nine others just like it. Nearly two months later, on Oct. 8, 2010, ATF agents recorded a phone call in which Barba "spoke about the final disposition of ... firearms to Mexico and also about the obliterating of the serial numbers before they were trafficked." Barba told straw purchasers the guns were destined for the Zeta drug cartel.

A warrant wasn't issued for Barba's arrest until four months later; coincidentally, the day before a rifle he trafficked was used against Zapata.

Barba is now the second weapons trafficker who had been under ATF surveillance to be linked to Zapata's murder. As CBS News previously reported, ATF had also been watching suspect Otilio Osorio during the time he trafficked a different weapon used in Zapata's assault. Records show ATF watched on Nov. 9, 2010 as Osorio, his brother Ranferi and Kelvin Leon Morrison transferred a cache of illegal weapons to a confidential informant but failed to arrest the men at the time.

The government has kept a close hold on nearly all information surrounding Zapata's murder, denying the family's Freedom of Information requests on the basis of an ongoing investigation. The Zapata's attorney says they will keep pursuing the information by "whatever means necessary."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-57383089-10391695/second-gun-used-in-ice-agent-murder-linked-to-atf-undercover-operation/

Thursday 02-23-12

2012-02-23T08:44:00.003-05:00

Nasty, contagious norovirus is 'everywhere' now

It has been a busy season for the "stomach flu," that nasty, highly contagious bug that has led officials from California to Washington, D.C., to close schools, issue alerts and launch massive cleaning efforts.

The microbial culprit, norovirus, affects one in 15 Americans every year, causing sudden vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps that continue for a very unpleasant 24 to 48 hours, usually requiring no medical intervention.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says about half of cases of food poisoning are caused by norovirus, which has gained infamy as the cause of outbreaks on cruise ships, college campuses, nursing homes and other gathering places.

This month, at least 85 students fell ill at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., plus 186 at Rider University and about 100 at Princeton University, both in New Jersey. It also has hit hundreds of students in elementary, middle and high schools, and passengers on at least three cruise ships.

Norovirus-tips
Wash hands. Passing your hands under a few sprinkles of water won’t do it. Wet hands with clean running water, hot or cold, apply soap and work into a lather. Scrub all parts of hands for 20 seconds (two rounds of the Happy Birthday song). Rinse and dry with air or a clean towel.

Avoid touching contaminated surfaces. Be aware that elevator buttons, door knobs, water fountain handles, all could potentially be contaminated.

Be careful in the kitchen. Wash fruits and vegetables, cook shellfish before eating. Don’t prepare food if you’re sick and for three days after you recover.

Alcohol gels. Their efficacy against norovirus is uncertain, but between hand-washings, they might help. They shouldn’t be a substitute for soap and water.

Clean surfaces. Use bleach-containing disinfectant wipes or a solution of 5-25 tablespoons of household bleach per gallon of water to wipe down bathrooms, kitchen and “high-touch’’ surfaces such as doorknobs, phones, light switches, hand rails.

Wash laundry. Immediately remove clothing or bedding that might be contaminated with vomit or fecal matter. Handle carefully to avoid spreading the virus. Wash in detergent at the longest cycle length and machine dry.

If you get sick, stay hydrated. Drink plenty of fluids and if you can’t, get medical help.

The best offense against norovirus illness, health officials say, is a good defense. Tips to reduce risks:

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
"It's everywhere," says Jan Vinje of the CDC, who spoke about norovirus last week at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "Basically, January through April is high season for norovirus activity," he says, adding with a quip: "And now it's February — Norovirus Appreciation Month."

Norovirus is estimated to affect more than 20 million Americans every year, causing about 800 deaths, usually a result of dehydration in the very young or the elderly.

There is no vaccine and no treatment, and if you get infected by one strain, you can get walloped by another strain, or even re-infected a few months later by the one that got you first time around. People are contagious from the moment they feel ill to at least three days — and possibly two weeks — after they recover, the CDC says.

But there's hope. An antiviral medicine is in early development, and significant progress is being made toward a vaccine.

Charles Arntzen of Arizona State University, who also spoke at the AAAS meeting, reports that a vaccine could be ready in a few years. LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals of Bozeman, Mont., is testing its nasal spray vaccine in human volunteers, and a second research group, coordinated through ASU, is moving toward human trials of a slightly different nasal vaccine.

They're likely to require annual booster doses because of the potential for changes in the virus or for new strains to emerge, Arntzen says.

Norovirus is a hardy bug, says Natalie Prystajecky, an environmental public health microbiologist at the University of British Columbia, the third presenter at the AAAS symposium. "It can survive in cold water as long as 61 days and be infectious," she says, and it's detectable for two weeks on hard surfaces, though it's not clear that it could still cause illness at that point. Cooking destroys it, but foods eaten raw, such as produce washed with contaminated water or foods prepared by cooks with unclean hands, can carry the virus.

Oysters, which are nourished by filtering water on the ocean floor, are the single food most likely to be contaminated, and many restaurants post warnings to consumers to be aware of the risk, especially the elderly, very young or those with weakened immune systems.

At George Washington University, Lynn Goldman, a physician and dean of the GW School of Public Health, says the outbreak there temporarily overwhelmed the health clinic. Crews have been called in to disinfect areas where the virus could lurk on surfaces, such as dorms, bathrooms, student lounges and study halls, and hand-washing is being promoted.

"One of the unusual things about norovirus is that one person who is ill can infect a lot of other people," Goldman says. "As few as 18 viral particles are enough to cause infection. With many other infections, you need to be exposed to hundreds of them."

Students on the campus of 25,000 are "taking it seriously," she says, but "they realize that for young, healthy adults, it's not any reason for alarm, as long as they don't get dehydrated."

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2012-02-22/Nasty-contagious-norovirus-is-everywhere-now/53211908/1

It will be coming to your state next, once the ball starts rolling and states looking for easy money they will be tapping this soon.

Amazon.com to start collecting Va. sales tax

RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration has reached a deal with Amazon.com Inc. for the giant online retailer to start collecting sales taxes in Virginia.

The agreement calls for Amazon to start collecting the taxes of purchases made by Virginians on Sept. 1, 2013.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch ( http://bit.ly/z4faHK) reports that the company would be collecting the taxes about 10 months after Amazon plans to open two large distribution centers in Chesterfield and Dinwiddie counties.

The House of Delegates finance committee on Wednesday approved legislation authorizing the state to require an out-of-state seller with distribution facilities or other related entities in the state to collect sales taxes.

The bill's fiscal impact statement estimates that Virginia could gain up to $24 million in uncollected tax revenue annually.

http://wtop.com/?nid=120&sid=2758319

Not i'm just saying or asking, why there is no up roar about this

2 U.S. troops killed in Koran backlash

Two U.S. troops have been shot to death and four more wounded by an Afghan solider who turned his gun on his allies in apparent anger over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, an Afghan official tells CBS News.

A statement from the International Security Assistance Force - Afghanistan, the international coalition in the country, confirmed that two troops were killed in Eastern Afghanistan on Thursday by "an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform."

ISAF does not typically give the nationality of casualties until family members have been notified, but the CBS News source in the Afghan government said those killed and injured in the attack in the eastern Ningarhar province, along the border with Pakistan, were Americans.

The source also said the shooting appeared to be motivated by the burning of Korans at the sprawling U.S. Bagram air base, north of Kabul, but he did not provide additional details as to what led him to that conclusion.

The suspect apparently joined other protesters already demonstrating against the U.S. at an American military outpost and opened fire with an automatic weapon, according to the Afghan source.

There have been violent anti-U.S. protests for three days across Afghanistan, since the American military apologized for what it said was the accidental "improper disposal" of religious materials, including Muslim holy books, at Bagram. The U.S. is cooperating with the Afghan government to investigate the incident.

The protests Thursday at U.S. and NATO military bases around Afghanistan and in the capital city of Kabul saw renewed clashes between demonstrators and police, with security forces in Kabul reportedly opening fire and wounding several protesters. Three protesters were reportedly killed by police at protests in the north and south of the country.

For U.S. and NATO commanders in Afghanistan, main concern is what may come after Friday prayers in 24 hours. Friday is the holy day in the Muslim week, and protests are typically much larger as thousands of Muslim men flood out of mosques and converge in cities and towns in protest.

While calls from some Afghan parliamentarians for citizens to try and attack Americans are unhelpful - especially coming from an ally - they pale in significance against the potential damage which the religious leaders could inflict if they urge similar attacks in their Friday prayer speeches.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office said Thursday that President Obama had sent a letter to him formally apologizing for the incident at Bagram, and top U.S. commander Gen. John Allen, who ordered the investigation, is making intense efforts to keep that probe as open as possible, but the investigation is not appeasing Afghans, who are tired of apologies.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57383420/2-u.s-troops-killed-in-koran-backlash/

They "are tired of apologies" but they think it ok for them to "kill" someone because they burned a piece of paper? Or to "kill" someone because they said or drew something about someone that died hundreds of years ago. They think that is ok? And we are helping them, why?

Wednesday 02-22-12

2012-02-22T11:14:00.008-05:00

i guess there comes a point when a comman man says enough is enough

New Mexico Sheriffs Threaten To Arrest Obama’s Federal Agents If They Continue To Violate The U.S. Constitution.
have reported earlier that sheriffs in New Mexico are threatening to arrest federal agents if they attempt to enforce unconstitutional federal acts in contravention of state law.
The even better news is that Sheriffs in other states are doing the same.

Sheriff Brad Rogers of Elkhart County, Indiana has told Food and Drug Administration agents they will be arrested if they go on Amish farmer David Hochstetler’s land. Having falsely alleged that raw, unpasteurized milk sold by Hochstetler had caused several cases of food poisoning, the FDA filed a complaint in federal court to support their attack on the farmer.
I have consumed raw milk for years and can affirm that it is not only safe, but much healthier than pasteurized milk.
The threat of incarceration led the feds to withdraw their complaint against Hochstetler.

This was even after US Department of Justice attorney Ross Goldstein emailed the Sheriff that he would be arrested if he protected Hochstetler. When Sheriff Rogers refused to back down, the FDA cried uncle.

Rogers’s communication to the feds seemed to have been quite convincing: “Any further attempts to inspect this farm without a warrant signed by a local judge, based on probable cause, will result in Federal inspectors’ removal or arrest for trespassing by my officers or I.” The feds have gotten used to acting without due process — in this case, that means not bothering to get a search warrant.

Rogers’ campaign website listed his number one objective as “Upholding the Constitution.” He is also concerned about the heart condition of his inmates and is determined to help “Provide Hope to Change a Heart.” Under that header he says, “The Elkhart County jail has 74 church services a month and allows unprecedented access to ministry volunteers. Not only can we impact inmates for the here and now, but for eternity.”

United States Republic Constitution By We The People!
Sheriff Rogers requires his deputies to take three, two-day classes on the Constitution (at a tuition rate of $125 per person).
Rogers is not alone in his love for the Constitution.

Ellis County, Texas Sheriff Johnny Brown has stated that he would resist any effort by the federal government to confiscate firearms in his county.

Sheriff Joe Baca in Sierra County, California told his county commission that he will not enforce road closures on Bureau of Land Management and Gila National Forest Lands.

Sheriff Gil Gilbertson of Josephine County, Oregon has told the Forest Service that he will protect those using the forest in his county. He has written a short treatise entitled, “Unraveling Federal Jurisdiction within a State.” It is actually a scholarly piece based on citations from the Constitution, court cases and statutes and concludes that the Forest Service has no authority in any county.

Siskiyou County, California Sheriff Jon Lopey has said: “I have told federal and state officials over and over that, yes, we want to preserve the environment, but you care more about the fish, frogs, trees and birds than you do about the human race. When will you start to balance your decisions to the needs of the people?…We are right now in a fight for our survival.” Lopey spearheaded a coalition of eight sheriffs calling themselves: “Defend Rural America.”

In the days after Hurricane Katrina, power was out for days. Food and medicine were about to be lost. So Sheriff Billy McGee of Forrest County, Mississippi — a Democrat — took action when he realized that a federal shipment of six trucks of ice bound for Hattiesburg turned out to be only four. McGee went in search of the other two and found them being guarded by some Army reservists who possessed bureaucratic mindsets.

McGee took steps to secure the ice, but was told he was not authorized to take the vehicles. When a reservist would not get off one of the trucks, McGee had him handcuffed. The ice was delivered where it was needed in Hattiesburg, explaining why McGee is also known as The Ice Man.

Not surprisingly, the feds have brought suit against the Sheriff in federal court. Perhaps McGee will arrest any marshals seeking to interfere with the duties of a peace officer.

It is encouraging that men of integrity, who understand that the sheriff is the top law enforcement officer in his county, have been elected in counties around the country. We should be looking for more who fit this description.
Please let me know if you are aware of any constitutional sheriffs, and email me their names and stories at ldpratt@gunowners.org.

Liberation Wellness Blog

http://politicalvelcraft.org/2012/02/08/new-mexico-sheriffs-threaten-to-arrest-obama-federal-agents-if-they-continue-to-violate-the-u-s-constitution/

Tuesday 02-21-12

2012-02-21T16:07:00.001-05:00

'Now it's my turn': Greenbrae man, 90, testifies about shootout with suspect

When a residential burglar fired a gun at Jay Leone last month, he was initially too angry to realize he had been shot in the head, he testified Friday.

"To tell you the truth, I never felt a thing," said Leone, 90, of Greenbrae. "I said, 'F—- you, you son of a bitch, now it's my turn.'"

Whereupon he shot five bullets at the suspect from his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson snubnose revolver, hitting the burglar three times in the abdomen. A scuffle ensued between the wounded men.

"Then he took the gun and put it to my head — click!" said Leone, who knew there were no bullets left in the gun. "And that was the end of that. He ran away."

Leone testified at the preliminary hearing of the suspect, Samuel Joseph Cutrufelli, who is charged with attempted murder, burglary, robbery and firearms offenses by a felon. After the hearing, Judge Paul Haakenson will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to hold a trial.

The shooting occurred at about 10:45 a.m. Jan. 3 at Leone's home on Via La Cumbre. Police said Cutrufelli entered the home, detained Leone at gunpoint and searched the residence for property.

After the gunbattle, Leone called 911 from his house, and Cutrufelli called 911 after stopping his car just over the San Rafael border. Cutrufelli, a 30-year-old Novato resident, said he had shot himself and needed medical attention, according to Twin Cities police.

Leone testified energetically, despite having been shot in the face just weeks ago. With his head shaved and a bandage on his left cheek, he described how the bullet entered his jaw area and exited the back of his neck, avoiding a fatal wound but eventually leading to a jaw infection, pneumonia and a breathing tube.

Under questioning from prosecutor Dorothy Chou Proudfoot, Leone described how the burglar entered his home, held a gun to his head and said there was a "contract out" on him.

"I said, 'How could there be a contract out on me?'" Leone said. "He said, 'I understand you're the guy with all the expensive cars.'"

While Leone had collected 1970s-era cars in the past, he had only a 1996 Mitsubishi and a 2005 Ford in his garage at the time. Then the burglar led him at gunpoint to the bedroom, which he allegedly ransacked for valuables while Leone sat on the bed.

Leone said he concocted a plan: He said he needed to use the bathroom, which is where his five guns were hidden. When the burglar refused, Leone pulled his pants down and said he would defecate on the spot.

The burglar let him leave for the bathroom but would not let him close the door, Leone said.

"I said, 'Do you like to watch people take a s—-?'" Leone testified. The burglar let him close the door, and Leone went for his Smith & Wesson snubnose.

Cutrufelli spent nine days at Marin General Hospital before he was well enough to be booked into jail. His public defender, Kathleen Boyle, has filed a motion to dismiss the charges, saying Cutrufelli was denied access to a lawyer while he was in the hospital, and the crime scene was contaminated in the interim.

The motion to dismiss is scheduled to be heard by Judge Andrew Sweet on March 15.

Outside the courtroom, Leone, a fitness buff and former member of the sheriff's air patrol, said he would like to go another round with Cutrufelli, perhaps in a classic duel at three paces.

"The doctor says I'm healing well," Leone said. "He said, 'For some reason, it didn't kill you.'"

http://www.marinij.com/novato/ci_19991503

Monday 02-20-12

2012-02-20T21:41:00.002-05:00

He is someone that can be looked up to instead of some of these "athletes"

Editorial: John Glenn, endangered species

It was hard to take in Monday's 50th anniversary of John Glenn's historic space flight without feeling wistful.

Glenn, the fighter pilot turned astronaut turned U.S. senator, made his name in the types of bold national causes that now fall victim to petty squabbling. He fought fascism in World War II and communism in the Korean War before thrilling the nation as the first American to orbit the Earth.

After his space exploits, Glenn became the type of politician that today seems all but extinct. He eschewed bombast and invective in favor of getting things done in the U.S. Senate, where he served as a Democrat from Ohio and showed a willingness to break from party orthodoxy from time to time to position himself as a centrist.

No-nonsense from the beginning, Glenn was the straight arrow from small town Ohio in a Mercury Seven field of military aviators known for their swagger, fast cars and and purposeful partying. He was devoted to wife Annie, the high school sweetheart to whom he has been married for 69 years. In the Senate, he was a work horse among the show horses. In 1998, at age 77, he became the oldest person to fly in space, aboard the shuttle Discovery.

On Monday, Glenn, now 90, was honored at Ohio State University and chatted via video link with the crew of the International Space Station. Commander Dan Burbank said Glenn "paved the way for America to become a space power, and to go to the moon."

Today, it's hard to see what peaceful endeavor might unite Americans the way the space race with the Soviet Union did in the 1960s. Energy independence perhaps — a worthy goal that, like the moon program, could create a profound sense of national achievement. But it's not likely to be solved by a Congress barely able to agree that government shouldn't default on its debts. Nor is it prone to solution in just eight years — the eye-popping timetable John F. Kennedy set for the United States to go from ineptly earthbound to the moon.

The list of large-scale, festering problems that the nation faces now can be addressed only by leaders with vision and common purpose. That would take more people like Glenn, who do not confuse patriotism and partisanship.

That would also take a great overarching national cause — like what Glenn felt, indeed what the whole country felt, a half-century ago, when he climbed into a tiny capsule called Friendship 7.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-02-20/John-Glenn-50th-anniversary/53181350/1

Saturday 02-18-12

2012-02-18T16:37:00.001-05:00

Feds arrest man allegedly heading to U.S. Capitol for suicide mission after sting investigation

Authorities arrested and charged Friday a Virginia man allegedly on his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation's most symbolic landmarks.

The federal criminal complaint against the suspect identifies him as Amine El Khalifi, a 29-year-old Moroccan citizen who has been living in the United States illegally since 1999 after his visa expired. He was nabbed following a lengthy investigation by the FBI, initiated after he allegedly expressed interest in conducting an attack. Court documents say he came onto the radar screen in early December after he told an undercover agent about an earlier plan to bomb a northern Virginia building.

According to charging documents, he first entered the country that year on a tourist visa, which expired and was never renewed. Khalifi was charged Friday in U.S. District Court in northern Virginia with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The suspect allegedly weighed hitting various targets ranging from a military installation to synagogues to a Washington restaurant before settling on the Capitol.

The man thought undercover FBI agents assisting him in his plot were associates of Al Qaeda. He purchased bomb materials including jackets, nails and glue in preparation for an attack. He even conducted a test explosives demonstration in a quarry.

When he was arrested Friday in Washington, he was carrying with him a vest that he had been led to believe was packed with explosives, but the material inside was not actually dangerous, Fox News was told.

A short time earlier, Khalifi had been praying at a mosque in the Washington area. His destination was Capitol Hill.

The public was never in danger, as he had been under constant surveillance for some time, officials said. The FBI provided the suspect with a disabled gun during their ongoing operation, Fox News has learned.

The U.S. Capitol Police, in a statement that confirmed the arrest but provided few details, said the suspect had been "closely and carefully monitored."

A senior source involved with law enforcement at the Capitol also told Fox News the investigation was "all very controlled." The source said the U.S. Capitol Police was involved with the FBI and other agencies in tracking the suspect "not more than a year."

A former landlord in Arlington said he believed El Khalifi was suspicious and called police 18 months ago.

Frank Dynda said when he told El Khalifi to leave, the suspect said he had a right to stay and threatened to beat up Dynda. Dynda said he thought El Khalifi was making bombs, but police told him to leave the man alone. Dynda had El Khalifi evicted in 2010.

El Khalifi had several men staying with him and based on packages left for him, Dynda said, it appeared that he was running a luggage business from the apartment, although Dynda never saw any bags.

"I reported to police I think he's making bombs," Dynda said. "I was ready to get my shotgun and run him out of the building, but that would have been a lot of trouble."

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers in leadership positions had been briefed on the investigation, though rank-and-file members did not appear to have prior knowledge of the case.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., called the plot a "stark reminder" of the dangers Americans face.

"I think it will encourage more of us to take the tunnel. ... Maybe we have to walk around with a little higher level of paranoia," Cleaver told Fox News.

Sites in Washington have long been a target for terrorists, especially self-radicalized extremists caught in FBI stings.

In September, a Massachusetts man was arrested for allegedly plotting to fly bomb-laden model planes into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol. FBI agents claiming to be associates of Al Qaeda provided 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus with what he thought was explosive material for the remote-controlled planes.

Nearly a year earlier, a Virginia man was arrested for trying to help Al Qaeda plan multiple bombings against Washington's Metrorail system. For months, 34-year-old Farooque Ahmed of Ashburn, Va., had been meeting and discussing "jihad" with individuals he thought were affiliated with Al Qaeda, but in fact he was meeting with FBI agents.

In the past year alone, at least 20 people have been arrested in the United States on terrorism-related charges, according to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"Most of the arrests" have involved "lone wolves," radicalized online and able to use the Internet to build bombs, FBI Director Robert Mueller told the Senate committee last month.

At the time of Ahmed's arrest in October 2010, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neil MacBride, said the case showcases "our ability to find those seeking to harm U.S. citizens and neutralize them before they can act."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/17/feds-arrest-man-heading-to-us-capitol-for-suicide-mission/

Friday 02-17-12

2012-02-17T04:39:00.000-05:00

My Kind of burger, a true Monster burger

Man eating 'heart attack burger' at Heart Attack Grill has heart attack

WASHINGTON - An unidentified man began consuming a 6,000-calorie Triple Bypass Burger last weekend at the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, which markets itself as "Taste Worth Dying For." He then went into cardiac arrest.

An onlooker captured video of paramedics removing the man, the Daily Mail reports, after trying to consume the burger, consisting of three patties, 12 strips of bacon, cheese, onion, tomato and the restaurant's "unique special sauce."

He topped it off with some "Flatliner Fries," which are cooked in pure lard.

The chain is known for its anti-health advertising. An Arizona branch reads, "Go away. If you come in this place, it's going to kill you," according to the Daily Mail.

Health advocates have criticized Heart Attack Grill's marketing toward the morbidly obese. The façade of the Las Vegas restaurant includes a huge neon sign that reads "Over 350 lbs Eats Free."

The man who suffered from cardiac arrest reportedly is recovering at a hospital, according to the Heart Attack Grill's Facebook page.

Check out the video of last Saturday's medical crisis. H/T Daily Mail.

http://wtop.com/?nid=267&sid=2748829

Thursday 02-16-12

2012-02-16T04:04:00.000-05:00

GROW YOUR OWN MUSCLE TO MEND DAMAGED HEART

A REMARKABLE medical breakthrough has seen heart attack patients have their damaged heart muscle repaired with a stem cell injection.

The simple procedure that literally mends broken hearts brings the prospect of “science fiction” regenerative treatments for heart attacks a step closer.

The pioneering technique uses patients’ own cells to regrow muscle damaged by the heart attack.

It not only halved the amount of scarring on the heart, which is normally permanent following an attack, but it also led to the growth of new muscle.

The revolutionary trial results could transform the lives of millions of people suffering the devastating after-effects of an attack.

There are around 124,000 in the UK each year, and once heart muscle is damaged or weakened by an attack, the result can be heart failure which now blights the lives of 750,000 in Britain. The trials on patients who had all suffered recent attacks showed injecting them with stem cells from healthy tissue from their own hearts brought huge improvements to the damage done.

Professor Eduardo Marban, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, who led the US team, said: “The effects are substantial, and surprisingly larger in humans than they were in animal tests.

“This discovery challenges the conventional wisdom that, once established, scar is permanent and that, once lost, healthy heart muscle cannot be restored.”

The study, which was chiefly conducted to evaluate safety, is published in an online edition of The Lancet medical journal. It follows a similar trial at Harvard Medical School and the University of Louisville whose findings were reported in The Lancet last year.

Future work will examine whether stem cell treatment can help heart attack patients who later suffer heart failure, when a weakened heart is not strong enough to pump sufficient blood round the body, causing breathlessness and exhaustion

Dr Shlomo Melmed, a colleague of Dr Marban’s, said: “This study shows there is a regenerative therapy that may actually reverse the damage caused by a heart attack.”

Professor Jeremy Pearson of the British Heart Foundation said: “It’s early days, and this research will certainly need following up, but it could be great news for heart attack patients who face the debilitating symptoms of heart failure.”

The BHF’s Mending Broken Hearts appeal aims to raise £50million for research into such regenerative heart treatments.

Stem cells have the ability to become virtually any type of cell within the body.

They can be harvested from mature cells in bone marrow or elsewhere, then transplanted back into a patient without fear of rejection.

‘We’re edging closer to the holy grail‘

PROFESSOR Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “If you go back 20 years the thought of the heart repairing itself after being damaged by a heart attack was unthinkable.

“It was completely out of reach for the brightest minds working in labs around the world.

“Then, a decade ago, scientists in America discovered that a few cells in your heart, about one in 1,000, could divide. It was an exciting discovery because it offered hope that the heart might have the capacity to repair itself.

“If we fast-forward to the present day we’re edging closer to the holy grail of mending broken hearts.

“It’s apt that during National Heart Month we hear about a small clinical trial in which scientists appear to have reduced heart damage following a heart attack by injecting cells taken from a healthy part of the heart back into the damaged hearts.

“This is the most promising of a series of studies on the effects of cell therapy to improve the function of damaged hearts.”

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/302028/Grow-your-own-muscle-to-mend-damaged-heart

Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”
State agent inspects sack lunches, forces preschoolers to purchase cafeteria food instead

RAEFORD — A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because the school told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.

The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the person who was inspecting all lunch boxes in the More at Four classroom that day.

The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs - including in-home day care centers - to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.

When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones.

The girl's mother - who said she wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter from retaliation - said she received a note from the school stating that students who did not bring a "healthy lunch" would be offered the missing portions, which could result in a fee from the cafeteria, in her case $1.25.

"I don't feel that I should pay for a cafeteria lunch when I provide lunch for her from home," the mother wrote in a complaint to her state representative, Republican G.L. Pridgen of Robeson County.

The girl's grandmother, who sometimes helps pack her lunch, told Carolina Journal that she is a petite, picky 4-year-old who eats white whole wheat bread and is not big on vegetables.

"What got me so mad is, number one, don't tell my kid I'm not packing her lunch box properly," the girl's mother told CJ. "I pack her lunchbox according to what she eats. It always consists of a fruit. It never consists of a vegetable. She eats vegetables at home because I have to watch her because she doesn't really care for vegetables."

When the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to know what she ate instead. Three chicken nuggets, the girl answered. Everything else on her cafeteria tray went to waste.

"She came home with her whole sandwich I had packed, because she chose to eat the nuggets on the lunch tray, because they put it in front of her," her mother said. "You're telling a 4-year-old. 'oh. your lunch isn't right,' and she's thinking there's something wrong with her food."

While the mother and grandmother thought the potato chips and lack of vegetable were what disqualified the lunch, a spokeswoman for the Division of Child Development said that should not have been a problem.

"With a turkey sandwich, that covers your protein, your grain, and if it had cheese on it, that's the dairy," said Jani Kozlowski, the fiscal and statutory policy manager for the division. "It sounds like the lunch itself would've met all of the standard." The lunch has to include a fruit or vegetable, but not both, she said.

There are no clear restrictions about what additional items - like potato chips - can be included in preschoolers' lunch boxes.

"If a parent sends their child with a Coke and a Twinkie, the child care provider is going to need to provide a balanced lunch for the child," Kozlowski said.

Ultimately, the child care provider can't take the Coke and Twinkie away from the child, but Kozlowski said she "would think the Pre-K provider would talk with the parent about that not being a healthy choice for their child."

It is unclear whether the school was allowed to charge for the cafeteria lunches they gave to every preschooler in the class that day.

The state regulation reads:

"Sites must provide breakfast and/or snacks and lunch meeting USDA requirements during the regular school day. The partial/full cost of meals may be charged when families do not qualify for free/reduced price meals.

"When children bring their own food for meals and snacks to the center, if the food does not meet the specified nutritional requirements, the center must provide additional food necessary to meet those requirements."

Still, Kozlowski said, the parents shouldn't have been charged.

"The school may have interpreted [the rule] to mean they felt like the lunch wasn't meeting the nutritional requirements and so they wanted the child to have the school lunch and then charged the parent," she said. "It sounds like maybe a technical assistance need for that school."

The school principal, Jackie Samuels, said he didn't "know anything about" parents being charged for the meals that day. "I know they eat in the cafeteria. Whether they pay or not, they eat in the cafeteria."

Pridgen's office is looking into the issue

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria-nuggets.html

Female Passengers Say They’re Targeted By TSA

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Women passengers complain that TSA agents are targeting them for extra screening.

The Transportation Security Administration has a policy to randomly select people for extra screening, but some female passengers are complaining. They believe there is nothing “random” about the way they were picked.

A Dallas woman says TSA agents repeatedly asked her to step back into a body scanning machine at DFW International Airport. “I feel like I was totally exposed,” said Ellen Terrell, who is a wife and mother. “They wanted a nice good look.”

When Ellen Terrell and her husband, Charlie, flew out of DFW Airport several months ago, Terrell says she was surprised by a question a female TSA agent asked her. “She says to me, ‘Do you play tennis?’ And I said, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘You just have such a cute figure.’”

Terrell says she walked into the body scanner which creates an image that a TSA agent in another room reviews. Terrell says she tried to leave, but the female agent stopped her. “She says, ‘Wait, we didn’t get it,’” recalls Terrell, who claims the TSA agent sent her back a second time and even a third. But that wasn’t good enough.

After the third time, Terrell says even the agent seemed frustrated with her co-workers in the other room. “She’s talking into her microphone and she says, ‘Guys, it is not blurry, I’m letting her go. Come on out.’”

When TSA agents do a pat down on a traveler, only female agents are allowed to touch female passengers. But the TSA allows male agents to view the images of female passengers.

Ellen and Charlie Terrell are convinced that the extra screenings were unnecessary, possibly even voyeuristic. “I think it’s sexual harassment if you’re run through there a third or fourth time,“ responded Texas State Representative Lon Burnam of Fort Worth. “And this is not the first time I have heard about it,” said Burnam, who adds that a number of his constituents have voiced concerns about privacy.

CBS 11 News dug through more than 500 records of TSA complaints and found a pattern of women who believe that there was nothing random about the way they were selected for extra screening. TSA redacted the names of the passengers who complained, but here are quotations from several complaints.

•“I feel I was targeted by the TSA employee to go through the see-you-naked machine because I am a semi-attractive female.”
•“The screener appeared to enjoy the process of picking someone rather than doing true random screening. I felt this was inappropriate. A woman behind me was also “randomly selected.”
•“TSA staff ‘trolling’ the lines looking for people to pull out was unprofessional.”
•“After that, I saw him going to the private room where x-rays are, to speak to the guy on that room.”
•“I know he went to that room to see my naked body through the machine with the other guy.”
•“When I looked around, I saw that there were only women that were “told” to go through this machine. There were no men.”
•“Maklng American citizens unwilling victims of a peep show by TSA employees using full body imaging devices is an over-the-top invasion of privacy to which I strenuously object.”
CBS 11 News first contacted the TSA in mid-January to request a one-on-one interview on camera. A TSA spokesperson told us that no one was available for that kind of interview. The TSA held a news conference the following week. “Privacy issues is the main point,” said Amy Williams, Federal Security Director for Dallas Love Field.

At the news conference, the TSA announced that DFW and Love Field airports now have all-new scanning machines. The updated technology shows a only a generic-body outline which highlights potential threats. “With the old technology, we had to have an image room that was separate from the equipment,” says Williams. The older scanners, which create more detailed individual x-ray like images, are still used in 39 airports across the country.

“It just makes me wonder what’s going on. Are they doing this all over the country? They’re missing their focus,” said Charlie Terrell.

“You just feel like your privacy has been violated,” says Ellen Terrell.

Ellen Terrell told CBS 11 News that she did not file a complaint because she did not realize that she had that option. Passengers may not be aware that they also can opt out of the scanner by requesting a pat-down screening instead.

The TSA provided CBS 11 News with the following statement in response to our investigation.

“TSA does not profile passengers. All of our millimeter wave technology units including those in Dallas have been upgraded with additional privacy enhancements that no longer display passenger-specific images. Even prior to this upgrade, officers reviewing the images were located in a separate room and would have never seen the passenger being screened. To further ensure passenger privacy and anonymity, a privacy filter was applied to blur all images. The technology remains optional to all passengers.” — Kristin Lee, Assistant Administrator, Office of Strategic Communications & Public Affairs, Transportation Security Administration

A TSA spokesperson told CBS 11 News that it is not protocol to send a passenger back into a scanner more than once. He said the agency takes all complaints seriously and urges consumers to file complaints if they have a problem. He said airports store video of checkpoints for at least 30 days and complaints filed within that timeframe may be reviewed using the video. He added that passengers can notify a TSA supervisor on location to make a complaint.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/02/03/female-passengers-say-theyre-targeted-by-tsa/

Wednesday 02-15-12

2012-02-15T04:39:00.001-05:00

Stupid idea tag, you can not make it up.

FBI says paying cash for coffee is a sign of terrorist intent

Icecube sez, "Earlier this month, a flier was released by the FBI saying that TOR users might be terrorists. It seems that there is another article that was recently published that says that if you see someone paying for a cup of coffee in cash, they too could be a terrorist. I wonder how much longer it'll be before drinking a cup of water at home could be considered suspicious as well."

Using cash for small purchases like a cup of coffee, gum and other items is a good indication that a person is trying to pass for normal without leaving the kind of paper trail created using a debit or credit card for small purchases.

The most recent update asks coffee shop owners, baristas and other customer-service specialists to be on the lookout for the enemy who walks among us (who evidently has been reanimated from the graves of the 1950s Red Scare era of blacklisting and Communist-baiting or the KGB's constant witch hunt for capitalist sympathizers or people who resent being witch-hunted for their political beliefs).

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/14/fbi-says-paying-cash-for-coffe.html

Good news for the home team

Making a Difference - Helping Sarah McKinley

**UPDATE**
John Boch was interviewed by WCIA News, you can see the clip here:
http://illinoishomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=331962

I'm sure you've seen Sarah McKinley in the national news recently, she's the young woman who had the misfortune of having two bad guys break into her house less than a week after her husband died. She was forced to shoot one of them. What hasn't made national news? What an Illinois/Indiana gun club has done to help her out. Read on....

Originally Published in GunsNews by John Boch

At the January meeting, GSL President John Boch brought up the story from New Year’s Eve of Sarah McKinley from Blanchard, OK. This 18-year-old mother lost her husband to cancer on Christmas Day 2011 and less than a week later, two opportunistic, armed thugs try to break into her home, probably to rape her. She barricaded her front door with her couch, then got her shotgun, her baby and her phone and retreated to the back of the residence.

For twenty-one minutes she waited for police to arrive as the two men tried to force their way in through both doors. Bad guy #1 was on the verge of breaching the front door when the 911 operator told Sarah not to shoot unless the intruder made it inside the house. The bad man got in far enough to begin climbing over the couch when young Sarah McKinley perforated him with her boom-stick. Amorous bad guy #2 suddenly sobered up and decided he had to be somewhere else and later turned himself in.

Boch spoke with the Blanchard police and they have nothing but praise for how McKinley handled the unfortunate situation. “It doesn’t get much more righteous than this one,” a detective told Boch.

McKinley’s primary home defense gun, the shotgun, was taken for evidence. “We’ll probably have it for at least a couple of months,” the detective said.

Mr. Boch and some friends decided to make a difference and make sure Sarah McKinley has a replacement home-defense shotgun. Antonio Luna, a part-time adjunct staff instructor with Fortress Defense Consultants, made some contacts and lined up a gun. The Blanchard police chief referred Mr. Boch to a trusted, nearby gun dealer, Nathan Morrison of KAIROS Services, LLC., and offered to send a squad to give Sarah a ride to pick up the shotgun once it arrived.

Everyone at Blanchard PD, from the chief down to the front desk clerk, expressed profound and sincere appreciation for any help we or others could provide. “Anything you can do to help with be very much appreciated as that young woman is having a very difficult time right now,” the desk clerk told Mr. Boch.

Mr. Luna secured most of the money needed for a bare-bones Remington 870. A day later, at the Tuesday evening GSL meeting, Mr. Boch asked GSL members to help come up with a $100 to $150 in order to trick out the shotgun with a side-saddle, sling and to take care of any incidental costs. After Boch started a hat around with $10, a few minutes later, GSL members came through with not one, but two hats, stuffed with $487.

Sarah McKinley’s gun arrived on Martin Luther King’s birthday. It’s a tricked-out Remington 870 Express 12ga with a Hogue fore-end and 13” youth stock, a Mesa Tactical 8 round side saddle, Trijicon ghost-ring tritium sights, an Advanced Technologies mag clamp swivel mount and a Vickers Tactical Blue Force two-point sling. Also included are a few boxes of Federal Personal Defense 00 buck, which the gun loves.

The gun was test fired before shipping. Ryan Stoy, of ZX Gun in Goshen, IN told Boch, ”I test fired the gun this afternoon. It’s a good gun. I built it up myself and it’s what I would want someone I care about to have.”

We (Boch, Luna, etc.) are weighing options for either giving McKinley a check for the remaining cash, or making arrangements to (legally) get her a personal defense caliber revolver.

There is a trust account set up to help Sarah McKinley. If you missed the meeting and would like to contribute to help this girl have a better year in the Year 2012, here is the contact information.

Sarah McKinley Trust Fund
Chickasa Bank & Trust
405 485-2300
Ask for Leah.

http://armsfarmsandfam.blogspot.com/2012/01/making-difference-helping-sarah.html

Tuesday 02-14-12

2012-02-14T06:22:00.002-05:00

Feds: Mich. militia members ready to 'go to war'

DETROIT (AP) - Displaying guns, vests and other military gear, a prosecutor told jurors Monday that members of a Midwest militia were willing "to go to war" in an extraordinary plot to kill a police officer as a springboard to a broader rebellion against the U.S. government.

Some of the evidence was placed directly in front of the jury box as trial opened for seven members of a group called Hutaree, who are charged with conspiring to commit sedition as well as weapons crimes.

Still, defense attorneys dismissed any talk by the defendants as little more than fantasy and equated the group more to a "social club" than a militia.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Graveline said the anti-government Hutaree was looking for some type of conflict to trigger an attack _ maybe a traffic stop, a search warrant or a dispute between authorities and another militia.

"They wanted to start an armed confrontation. ... The war to them meant patriots rising up against the government," said Graveline, who held up automatic weapons and other items seized after nine people were arrested in southern Michigan, Indiana and Ohio in March 2010.

The defendants are accused of conspiring to someday ambush and kill a police officer, then attack the funeral procession with explosives and trigger a broader revolt against the U.S. government.

Graveline showed the jury a video clip of leader David Stone declaring, "Welcome to the revolution." The government placed an undercover agent inside the Hutaree and also had a paid informant. More than 100 hours of audio and video were recorded.

"They were ready, willing and able to go to war. They were preparing for war," the prosecutor said.

Stone and others, wearing their Sunday best instead of military fatigues, listened closely at the start of a trial that could last six to eight weeks. Two defense attorneys offered an opening rebuttal to the government's introduction, telling jurors there was no specific plan to do any harm to anyone in authority.

Todd Shanker, attorney for David Stone Jr., acknowledged there are "offensive statements" on the recordings but said the words were "almost fantasy" made among people who were comfortable with each other.

"These are extreme charges. ... They are going to fail, and they are going to fail miserably," said Shanker, adding later that the Hutaree really was more of a "social club" than any organized militia.

William Swor, attorney for David Stone, said his client was a firm believer in the Bible's Book of Revelation and the coming of an "anti-Christ."

"The anti-Christ as David Stone understands it will come from overseas, and the troops of the anti-Christ will take over America. That is the resistance that David Stone was preparing for," Swor said.

He told jurors the government was displaying weapons in court to "make you afraid." Swor said members lived hand-to-mouth and couldn't even afford transportation to a regional militia meeting in Kentucky, a trip that wasn't completed because of bad winter weather. He said it was the undercover agent who supplied the van, gas and a secret camera that captured Stone on video.

"There is a lot of talk and no action whatsoever. ... You will have to decide whether this is a real conspiracy or David Stone exercising his God-given right to blow off steam and open his mouth," Swor said.

Of the original nine defendants, Joshua Clough of Blissfield, Mich., is the only one to make a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty in December to illegal use of a firearm, faces a mandatory five-year prison sentence and could be called as a witness to testify for the government.

Besides the Stones, the other defendants are Tina Mae Stone and Joshua Stone, both from Lenawee County; Thomas Piatek of Whiting, Ind.; Michael Meeks of Manchester, Mich.; and Kristopher Sickles of Sandusky, Ohio. Jacob Ward of Huron, Ohio, will have a separate trial. Besides conspiracy charges, all face at least one firearm charge and some have more.

Twelve jurors and four alternates were selected before opening statements. There are nine women and seven men.

http://wtop.com/?nid=209&sid=2617029

Now you get to pay to get felt up, what a government we have. First they abuse you then they make you pay for it.

Obama budget proposes new security, airline fees

(Reuters) - Airlines and their passengers would pay up to $32 billion in new air traffic and security fees over 10 years, and grants to big airports would fall sharply under White House budget proposals on Monday aimed at deficit reduction.

The Obama administration wants major carriers, their passengers, business jets and airports to pick up more of the costs of air travel and airport improvements that for years have been borne by taxpayers.

New fees are sure to trigger strong opposition from airlines and other aviation groups who argue that the industry is already over-taxed and over-regulated.

Ideas quietly floated and then discarded during congressional budget negotiations last summer reemerged in the fiscal 2013 transportation and homeland security portions of the White House budget sent to Congress that outlines $4 trillion in deficit reduction.

Under the proposal, ticket fees that help pay for passenger and bag security screening at more than 400 U.S. airports would double to a mandatory minimum of $5 per one-way trip.

The fee would jump 50 cents per year beginning in 2014, raising the total to $7.50 in 2018. The administration hopes the changes will yield between $9 billion and $25.5 billion in new revenues over 10 years.

The budget proposal would also permit the Homeland Security Department to raise the fee on its own after that through regulation.

Congress has resisted previous efforts by the Bush and Obama administrations to raise security fees, which cover less than half of the cost annually of screening airline passengers and their bags for weapons and bombs.

But airlines worry that Congress may yield to the enormous pressure to cut federal spending. Airlines are also making money again on higher fares, which could make it more difficult to convince lawmakers to see things their way.

The administration is also proposing a $100 departure fee for airlines, business jets and other aircraft to help cover the costs of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control.

The new fee would raise $7.4 billion over 10 years, the administration estimates.

The budget also proposes to cut guaranteed grant funding for medium and large airports by $926 million in 2013 to $2.4 billion. Instead, airports would be permitted flexibility to increase certain ticket charges to raise revenue on their own for airport construction projects.

Airports have unsuccessfully pushed for congressional authority to raise more money through higher fees, which are capped at $4.50 per passenger, per flight.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-usa-budget-transport-idUSTRE81C1BP20120213

Cincinnati High School Paying Students To Come To School

CINCINNATI, Ohio (CBS Cleveland) — A Cincinnati high school is paying its students to come to school.

The Dohn Community High School has launched a $40,000 incentive program to get students to come to class.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, students will get Visa gift cards for showing up everyday for school, being on time for class and not getting into trouble. Seniors would get $25 while underclassmen would get $10.

The school would also put $5 into a savings account for the student that earns a gift card.

Despite taking criticism for the program, Dohn Principal Ramone Davenport brushes it aside.

“People will say you’re rewarding kids for something they should already be doing anyway,” Davenport told the Enquirer. “But they’re not doing it. We’ve tried everything else.”

Dohn students have come around to the idea, excited about being rewarded for coming to school.

“I’m very excited to get the money,” 16-year-old student Arneqka Lester told the paper. “It makes me want to come to school on time, not that I don’t. But some students don’t have the money and this will help them. It’s a good idea.”

The school is trying out this new idea after the Ohio Department of Education designated the school an “academic emergency” on its report card. About 14 percent of students graduated from Dohn during the 2010-2011 school year.

CBS Cleveland has reached out to Dohn Community High School for comment.

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/02/13/cincinnati-high-school-paying-students-to-come-to-school/

U.S. stops minting unloved $1 coins

There's a lot to like about $1 coins. They are more durable than paper money, and they're easier and cheaper to handle. The only problem is, Americans hate using them.

Because of that, the Federal Reserve has literally entire warehouses full of unused $1 coins returned to them by banks because people don't want them. From Robert Benincasa and David Kestenbaum at NPR's Planet Money:

The federal government will stop minting unwanted $1 coins, the White House said Tuesday. The move will save an estimated $50 million a year.

Earlier this year, we reported on the mountain of $1 coins sitting unused in government vaults. The pile-up -- an estimated 1.4 billion coins -- was caused by a 2005 law that ordered the minting of coins honoring each U.S. president.

We calculated that the unwanted coins had cost taxpayers some $300 million dollars to make. There were so many coins piling up that the Federal Reserve was redesigning a vault in Texas to help hold them all.

We got to see a vault in Baltimore. It was the size of a soccer field, filled with bags of dollar coins.

On the merits, dollar coins are all-around better than dollar bills, but as long as you make them optional, rather than taking $1 bills out of circulation to force the change, Americans will kick them to the curb.
That's true for a couple of reasons. First off, I think people in the U.S. have kind of stopped thinking of coins as real money. Most people seem to look at coins as "loose change" and "pocket change," not holders of real value.

The other reason is that American men generally don't carry an item that's pretty much ubiquitous in places with valuable coins: a coin purse or wallet capable of securing coins. Whenever I'm in Europe visiting the Swedish branch of my family, I'm always struck by how pretty much every dude walking around over there has a coin holder, which is a real rarity in this country and in approximately the same class of coolness as, say, a calculator watch or Velcro shoes.

Of course, that problem would immediately be solved as soon as $1 bills were eliminated. While it might take a while for men to abandon their classy money clips, there are a few things people hate more than losing money. It would only take a few bucks rolling out of their pockets to make men reconsider the style characteristics of coin-carrying wallets.

But people like paper money, and they hate $1 coins, and Congress is having difficulty even mustering up the political will to keep the lights on at this point, so I don't see it happening anytime soon. As a result, it's probably smarter for the government to keep the $50 million.

http://www.bankrate.com/financing/banking/u-s-stops-minting-unloved-1-coins/?ec_id=m1078093

Monday 02-13-12

2012-02-13T03:37:00.001-05:00

NRA official: Obama wants to outlaw guns in 2nd term

A top official with the National Rifle Association said Friday that President Obama will move to "destroy" gun rights and "erase" the Second Amendment if he is re-elected in November.

While delivering one of the liveliest and best-received speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said the president's low-key approach to gun rights during his first term was "a "conspiracy to ensure re-election by lulling gun owners to sleep."

"All that first term, lip service to gun owners is just part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term," he said.

"We see the president's strategy crystal clear: Get re-elected and, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearms' freedom, erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the U.S. Constitution."

Mr. LaPierre said the president's two Supreme Court appointees — Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan— are "two of the most rabid anti-gun justices in history." He also accused Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of being a foe of gun rights.

And with the possibility of two or more Supreme Court justice positions opening during the next four years, the NRA official warned that gun ownership would be in jeopardy if Mr. Obama stays in office.

"If we get one more like those three, the Second Amendment is finished," he said. "It'll be the end of our freedom forever."

Mr. LaPierre, who said "there is no greater freedom than to own a firearm," predicted that gun owners will rally en masse to defeat Mr. Obama in November.

"All of what we know is good and right about America, all of it could be lost if Barrack Obama is re-elected," he said. "It's all or nothing."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/feb/10/nra-official-obama-wants-outlaw-guns-2nd-term/

Man sues county to keep pet goat, ducks, chickens

CHESAPEAKE CITY, Md. (AP) - A Chesapeake City man has filed a federal suit against Cecil County claiming its order to get rid of his pet goat, six chickens and two ducks violates his freedom of religion.

In a suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Craig Balunsat says caring for the animals promotes living in harmony with nature. He tells the Cecil Whig that the goat, named Snowbird, is part of a native American ritual.

Balunsat says he is of Filipino heritage, but has adopted a native American religion.

County law states that to raise or house animals other than dogs or cats, a resident must own an acre of property. Balunsat's land is only three-quarters of an acre.

A Cecil County official said the county has not seen the lawsuit.

http://wtop.com/?nid=46&sid=2743295

The sad part is the ends justify the means, it is never about right and wrong, it is about what they see is right.

Feds pursue suicidal vet

The federal government broke a promise, according to the lawyer for a Navy veteran facing criminal firearms charges after he called for help on what is promoted as a confidential suicide prevention hotline.

The government alleges the former petty officer from Blacksburg committed four felonies by making a homemade gun using a pipe and a shotgun shell. The veteran’s lawyer claims the government is violating due process by using information from his call to prosecute him.

Mental health professionals suggest the charges against Sean Duvall could hamper national suicide prevention efforts by creating doubts about whether calls for help will be considered confidential.

Duvall, a Persian Gulf War veteran, was despondent and contemplating suicide after being evicted from his apartment in June, according to his motion to dismiss filed in Roanoke federal court. He wandered the streets of Blacksburg, sometimes sleeping on the ground.

Among his few belongings, Duvall carried a homemade gun consisting of a short length of pipe with a cap allowing a nail to serve as a firing pin for a shotgun shell. Duvall built the device for the sole purpose of taking his own life, according to his lawyer.

On June 8, Duvall called the Veterans Crisis Line, billed as a “confidential toll-free hotline” by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He explained he had a device for committing suicide and he “really needed help,” the motion read. He said he wanted to hand over the device for someone to safely dispose of it.

Duvall gave the device to the police officer who responded, along with his backpack and what was to be a final note to his family.

The call for help was a success story for Duvall’s state of mind. He was released after a few days at a psychiatric hospital. According to his motion, he is now on medication and sees a counselor and a psychiatrist regularly. He has a new job and a new apartment.

The same call for help also brought trouble. Duvall first was charged with a misdemeanor – carrying a concealed weapon. Then the federal authorities stepped in.

Duvall now faces four federal felony charges with a possible punishment of 40 years in prison. All four charges are based on the one crude homemade shotgun. Duvall is accused of possessing an unlawful destructive device, possessing an unregistered firearm, manufacturing a destructive device and possessing a destructive device without a serial number.

Duvall’s lawyer, Randy V. Cargill with the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Roanoke, was blunt in asking a judge to dismiss the charges. “It is wrong to break a promise,” he wrote in the motion to dismiss.

Duvall never expected his call to the “confidential” hotline to be used against him by a prosecutor, Cargill said. “It is contrary to Congress’ express goal of helping veterans in need and encouraging them to get help without fear,” he wrote. “This is dishonorable; it is wrong; it is unfair; it shocks the conscience.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment because Duvall’s case is still pending. A hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for Feb. 14.

The Department of Veterans Affairs defended its procedures in a written statement, but did not address whether its efforts might be hampered by the Duvall charges.

The V.A. noted it is permitted under law to disclose otherwise private information “when necessary to avert a serious and imminent threat to the health and safety of an individual or the public,” according to the statement provided by spokesperson Phil Budahn.

“Alternative solutions are always explored with the Veteran, and if none can be found that guarantee safety, local law enforcement is notified. At that point, the responder is trained to keep the Veteran engaged and safe. Once help arrives, responsibility for the situation is turned over to the local authorities. All policies and procedures of the Crisis Line are based on respecting callers’ rights of confidentiality,” the V.A. statement said.

Two mental health professionals involved in national discussions of suicide prevention for service members and veterans suggest Duvall’s prosecution could undermine prevention efforts.

“Actions such as this only serve to compound the problem, fueling the impression that the essential networks are not there to help but, as in this case, punish and prosecute,” said University of Utah psychologist M. David Rudd, scientific director for the National Center for Veterans Studies.

Washington psychologist Alan L. Berman, president of the International Association of Suicide Prevention, agreed. “The threat of punishment will deter help-seeking, the very thing that Mr. Duvall did in calling the VA Crisis Line to begin with,” Berman said.

Rudd said the veterans treatment courts which are sprouting around the country are designed to handle this type of case. Although Roanoke federal courts offer a veterans treatment program, it was not clear why Duvall’s case was not referred to it.

Both Rudd and Berman say they hope federal prosecutors back off from the charges against Duvall.

“Clearly the veteran in this case wanted help and made the right decision,” Rudd said. “Now, we need for the justice system to make the right decision.”

http://valawyersweekly.com/2012/02/09/feds-pursue-suicidal-vet/

Saturday 02-11-12

2012-02-11T03:04:00.001-05:00

If you follow this blog at all, you will know i'm not a huge fan of Alex Jones, but

Group Forces Congressional Hearing On Big Sis’ Twitter, Drudge Spying

Homeland Security is monitoring the web for anti-government sentiment and signs of social unrest

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
February 9, 2012

A privacy advocacy group has swayed Congress to hold a hearing next week into the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of monitoring social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as media reports and organizations, including The Drudge Report.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently obtained close to 300 pages of documents, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, detailing the federal agency’s “intelligence gathering” practices on the web.

Among the documents were guidelines from DHS instructing outside contractors to monitor the web for media reports and comments that “reflect adversely” on the agency or the federal government.

As Reuters reported last month, in early 2010 contractors were asked to spend 24 hours monitoring news media coverage on popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks, as well as news sites including the Huffington Post and The Drudge Report.

The contractors were required to provide the DHS with feedback on any potential “threats and hazards”, as well as “any media reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government and the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) ability to prevent, protect and respond, to recovery efforts or activities related to any crisis or events which impact National Planning Scenarios.”

The documents also state that the program should highlight “both positive and negative reports on FEMA, C.I.A., C.B.P., ICE, etc., as well as organizations outside of D.H.S.”

The documents obtained by EPIC indicate that following the exercise, a procurement official awarded an $11.3 million contract to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in order to carry out the monitoring on a “24/7/365 basis”.

EPIC director Ginger McCall notes that monitoring what people are saying about government policies goes too far and has a chilling effect on free speech.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s monitoring of political dissent has no legal basis and is contrary to core First Amendment principles,” she said.

“The language in the documents makes it quite clear that they are looking for media reports that are critical of the agency and the U.S. government more broadly,” said McCall. “This is entirely outside of the bounds of the agency’s statutory duties.”

DHS officials have admitted that monitoring of social networks for negative opinion was undertaken by the agency, but claim that the operation was a one off test and was quickly dropped as it did not meet “operational requirements or privacy standards,” which “expressly prohibit reporting on individuals’ First Amendment activities.”

EPIC argues otherwise and has presented evidence that suggests the practice is being held up by the DHS an an example that should be emulated.

“They are completely out of bounds here,” McCall said. “The idea that the government is constantly peering over your shoulder and listening to what you are saying creates a very chilling effect to legitimate dissent.

The Congressional hearing, DHS Monitoring of Social Networking and Media: Enhancing Intelligence Gathering and Ensuring Privacy, will be held Thursday February 16th.

However, it is already apparent where the House subcommittee for intelligence and counter-terrorism stands on the matter. As reported by Reuters, the top two members of the subcommittee, Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), wrote to DHS Intelligence Chief Caryn Wagner last month, pressing her to more carefully monitor users’ posts on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, in order to help detect “current or emerging threats.”

As we have also previously reported, The DHS has openly announced that it is actively monitoring social media for signs of “social unrest”, in a bid to pre-empt any sign of social dislocation within the United States.

http://www.infowars.com/group-forces-congressional-hearing-on-big-sis-twitter-drudge-spying/

Friday 02-10-12

2012-02-10T05:21:00.000-05:00

Some might call this humor, but i can't

http://pinterest.com/pin/58335757643140400/

Look at we have degressed into as a country

Facebook friend deletion reason for murder

MOUNTAIN CITY — Emotions were high among family members but kept under control in Sessions Court on Wednesday as Marvin Enoch “Buddy” Potter Jr., 60, and Jamie Lynn Curd, 38, made their first appearances on the two counts of first-degree murder each man is facing.

Potter was upset after Billy Clay Payne Jr. and Billie Jean Hayworth deleted his adult daughter as a friend on Facebook, authorities said Wednesday.

The victims had complained to police that Potter’s daughter was harassing them after they deleted her as a friend on the social networking site, Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece said Wednesday.

The men are charged with the shooting deaths of Payne and Hayworth at their residence at 128 James Davis Lane on Jan. 31. Both victims were shot in the head and Payne had his throat cut. When the bodies were found, their 6-month old baby was found in his dead mother’s arms.

The arrest reports on Potter and Curd include affidavits from Special Agent Scott Lott of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation which indicate Potter “did shoot both victims in the head, causing their deaths with intent and premeditation.” Lott’s affidavit on Curd’s arrest warrant indicates he “aided in the commission of the homicides.”

A TBI news release said Payne and Hayworth had been involved in an Internet and telephone dispute with Potter’s daughter. The couple had filed a complaint of harassment in Sessions Court last year.

Potter and Curd were quiet and subdued during their brief appearance before Judge William Hawkins. Curd asked for a court-appointed attorney and Potter said he was in the process of hiring an attorney.

Because Potter was still in the process of hiring an attorney, his hearing was continued until Feb. 15. Curd was allowed to file a request for a public defender, but Hawkins noticed Curd reported he owned property that had been assessed by the county at $250,000 and owed only $9,000 on it. Hawkins said because of those assets, Curd must hire his own attorney.

Curd said he did not have much cash immediately on hand, so Hawkins did appoint R.O. Smith of the 1st Judicial District public defender’s office to represent him during his arraignment.

Assistant District Attorney General Matthew Roark asked Hawkins to increase the bond on Curd from the $200,000 it had originally been set to at least $750,000 or to no bond. He based his argument on four factors. He said Potter’s daughter was Curd’s girlfriend and if he was released on bond he would impede the investigation. Roark also said several firearms were found at Curd’s residence and he was a danger to society. Roark said because of the seriousness of the crimes, if Curd is released “we will probably never see him again.”

Smith said Curd was not a flight risk because he had deep family connections to the community.

“His family ties go way back and he certainly has strong ties to the community,” Smith said. Those ties include working full time in the community before his arrest. Smith said Curd told him it was just a rumor around the county that Potter’s daughter was his girlfriend. He denied the relationship.

Roark countered by saying the relationship had been discussed in a previous court case.

Hawkins set the bond at $750,000 per count, for a total bond of $1.5 million. He said the preliminary hearing in Curd’s case for March 21.

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=98143#ixzz1lvU2Xstc

Good news for Virginia

House OKs bills restating right to kill intruders

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia's House of Delegates has written into its law books centuries of common law allowing people to kill those who intrude into their dwellings and menace them.

One bill that shields people who kill or maim intruders from civil lawsuits passed 75-22 Thursday.

The more contentious of the two, however, protects people from criminal prosecution. It passed 70-28.

Critics said it's too broad, potentially conferring a license to kill over misunderstandings and petty provocations easily resolved without lethal force. They also said it's redundant because common law dating to 17th century England already protects people who defend their homes and families from threats.

Supporters dismissed the grim hypotheticals, saying it helps people be more secure in their homes.

___

Online:

HB48 (Bell, R.P.): http://bit.ly/ymGExG

HB14 (Habeeb): http://bit.ly/xWuoMa

http://wtop.com/?nid=120&sid=2728442

Thursday 02-09-12

2012-02-09T03:16:00.000-05:00

And this does not bother you? What about the next step. Government never keeps it word (ask the American Indians) and never goes back once they start something it only gets bigger and "better".

Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congress passed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.

The FAA Reauthorization Act, which President Obama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.

Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.

“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is “concerned about the implications for surveillance by government agencies,” said attorney Jennifer Lynch.

The provision in the legislation is the fruit of “a huge push by lawmakers and the defense sector to expand the use of drones” in American airspace, she added.

According to some estimates, the commercial drone market in the United States could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars once the FAA clears their use.

The agency projects that 30,000 drones could be in the nation’s skies by 2020.

The highest-profile use of drones by the United States has been in the CIA’s armed Predator-drone program, which targets al Qaeda terrorist leaders. But the vast majority of U.S. drone missions, even in war zones, are flown for surveillance. Some drones are as small as model aircraft, while others have the wingspan of a full-size jet.

In Afghanistan, the U.S. use of drone surveillance has grown so rapidly that it has created a glut of video material to be analyzed.

The legislation would order the FAA, before the end of the year, to expedite the process through which it authorizes the use of drones by federal, state and local police and other agencies. The FAA currently issues certificates, which can cover multiple flights by more than one aircraft in a particular area, on a case-by-case basis.

The Department of Homeland Security is the only federal agency to discuss openly its use of drones in domestic airspace.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an agency within the department, operates nine drones, variants of the CIA’s feared Predator. The aircraft, which are flown remotely by a team of 80 fully qualified pilots, are used principally for border and counter narcotics surveillance under four long-term FAA certificates.

Officials say they can be used on a short-term basis for a variety of other public-safety and emergency-management missions if a separate certificate is issued for that mission.

“It’s not all about surveillance,” Mr. Aftergood said.

Homeland Security has deployed drones to support disaster relief operations. Unmanned aircraft also could be useful for fighting fires or finding missing climbers or hikers, he added.

The FAA has issued hundreds of certificates to police and other government agencies, and a handful to research institutions to allow them to fly drones of various kinds over the United States for particular missions.

The agency said it issued 313 certificates in 2011 and 295 of them were still active at the end of the year, but the FAA refuses to disclose which agencies have the certificates and what their purposes are.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing the FAA to obtain records of the certifications.

“We need a list so we can ask [each agency], ‘What are your policies on drone use? How do you protect privacy? How do you ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment?’ ” Ms. Lynch said.

“Currently, the only barrier to the routine use of drones for persistent surveillance are the procedural requirements imposed by the FAA for the issuance of certificates,” said Amie Stepanovich, national security counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a research center in Washington.

The Department of Transportation, the parent agency of the FAA, has announced plans to streamline the certification process for government drone flights this year, she said.

“We are looking at our options” to oppose that, she added.

Section 332 of the new FAA legislation also orders the agency to develop a system for licensing commercial drone flights as part of the nation’s air traffic control system by 2015.

The agency must establish six flight ranges across the country where drones can be test-flown to determine whether they are safe for travel in congested skies.

Representatives of the fast-growing unmanned aircraft systems industry say they worked hard to get the provisions into law.

“It sets deadlines for the integration of [the drones] into the national airspace,” said Gretchen West, executive vice president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry group.

She said drone technology is new to the FAA.

The legislation, which provides several deadlines for the FAA to report progress to Congress, “will move the [drones] issue up their list of priorities,” Ms. West said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/7/coming-to-a-sky-near-you/?page=all#pagebreak

Wednesday 02-08-12

2012-02-08T01:23:00.000-05:00

I think they are affraid and very misguided, jmo

Homeland Security: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now
Love the Constitution? Hate government regulations? New DHS "lexicon" brands you a "militia extremist."

A recently published “lexicon” distributed to thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) targets citizens concerned about their Second Amendment rights and the steady encroachment of the federal government, categorizing such as “militia extremists.”

The “lexicon,” marked Unclassified/For Official Use Only (FOUO), is dated November 10, 2011, and was sent out by email to law enforcement and homeland security agencies on November 14 by LaJuan E. Washington of the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

We have exclusively posted the DHS “lexicon” here.

Its definition of “militia extremists” states:

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who facilitate or engage in acts of violence directed at federal, state, or local government officials or infrastructure in response to their belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms and is attempting to establish a totalitarian regime. These individuals consequently oppose many federal and state authorities’ laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership), and often belong to armed paramilitary groups. They often conduct paramilitary training designed to violently resist perceived government oppression or to violently overthrow the US Government. (Page 2 of 3, emphasis added)

So what drives militia extremism according to DHS now is “belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms.” It is demonstrated by opposing “many federal and state authorities’ laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership).” Would writing about those topics (as I am now) fall under “facilitation”? On its face, it’s hard to see how it could be excluded under DHS’s broad definition.

Another indicator, according to DHS, is that militia extremists “often belong to paramilitary groups,” which would mean that there are “militia extremists” who aren’t part of a militia. So if you oppose federal regulations and support the Second Amendment to the Constitution, and though you don’t actually belong to a militia, you can still be branded a “militia extremist” by your own government, and presumably be targeted by law enforcement agencies. The “Reporting Notice” found on Page 3 of 3 of the “lexicon” encourages recipients to do exactly that:

DHS and FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to the nearest State and Major Urban Area Fusion Center and to the local FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

And for those who would scoff that my reading is over the top and claim that DHS would never target anyone who wasn’t knowingly and willingly involved in “facilitating and engaging in acts of violence,” the DHS lexicon adds another category, “unwitting co-optees”:

(U//FOUO) Groups or individuals who provide support to terrorism without knowing that their actions are contributing to terrorism. Such individuals may suspect that they are being used. Not all unwitting co-optees are engaging in criminal behavior.

Amazingly, the “lexicon” appears to directly violate standards published by DHS just weeks before the document was sent out.

In October 2011, DHS published its “Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Training Guidance and Best Practices,” which was produced by the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and posted on the agency’s website.

Section 2 of that document, titled “Training should be sensitive to constitutional values,” directs:

a) Review the training program to ensure that it uses examples to demonstrate that terrorists and violent extremists vary in ethnicity, race, gender, and religion.
b) Training should focus on behavior, not appearance or membership in particular ethnic or religious communities.
c) Training should support the protection of civil rights and civil liberties as part of national security. Don’t use training that equates religious expression, protests, or other constitutionally protected activity with criminal activity. (emphasis added)

But not only does the “lexicon” target constitutionally protected activity, it specifically targets groups based on race, namely “black supremacist extremists” and “white supremacist extremists.” I have absolutely no problem targeting groups promoting violence based on racial supremacist ideology, but if DHS is going to proscribe the use of such terms and promptly turn around and use such — while in the same breath targeting private citizens for exercising their constitutional rights and freedom of speech in violation of DHS’s own standards — needless to say, that’s a serious problem.

It bears mentioning that an earlier incarnation of the DHS lexicon was the subject of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress for its targeting of “alternative media” and its shockingly broad definition of the “patriot movement.” A DHS spokesman later claimed that the “lexicon” was sent out prematurely.

Which raises the question of why these various “lexicons” published by the federal government exist in the first place.

Going back to the Bush administration, these “lexicons” have seemingly had a singular purpose: purging the use of “Islam,” “jihad,” and “Muslim” from any official discussion of terrorism. No one should be surprised that none of those terms can be found in the current DHS “lexicon,” despite the fact that even by the most generous estimates, more than 40 percent of domestic terrorism has come from within the Muslim community, which accounts for less than one percent of the population. In its place, federal bureaucrats have invented and promoted a patently meaningless and undefinable category, “violent extremism.”

The roots of this go back to the end of the Bush administration and a March 2008 “lexicon” published by the National Counterterrorism Center. Titled “Words that Work and Words that Don’t: A Guide for Counterterrorism Communication,” it began the effort to purge the usage of the terms “Islam,” “Muslim,” and “jihad” from the vocabulary of government officials.

The Obama administration has taken those efforts even further, removing those terms from the 2009 National Intelligence Strategy, the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, the Quadrennial Defense Review, the FBI Counterterrorism Analytical Lexicon, and the DOD Fort Hood report.

And as seen with the criticism of the previous version of the “lexicon,” this is hardly the first time that the DHS Office for Intelligence and Analysis has come under fire for targeting citizens with no connection whatsoever to terrorism.

In 2009, DHS came under fire for a 10-page report, “Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” which classified returning war veterans as potential threats. When government watchdogs submitted FOIAs for the sources used in preparing the report, they found that conspiracy websites and far-left outfits had been used, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, which branded the American Legion veterans organization as a “hate group.” Information also surfaced that the report had been rushed out over the objections of civil liberties officials. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was forced to apologize to veterans groups and withdraw the report.

Nor is this the first time that homeland security agencies have pushed the boundaries on defining “militia extremists.”

Just a few weeks prior to DHS coming under fire for that “right-wing” report, the Missouri Information Analysis Center, funded by DHS grants, issued a report titled “The Modern Militia Movement,” which branded pro-life groups and those opposed to illegal immigration as potential domestic terrorists. Indicators identified in the report included support for third-party candidates. Political signs and bumper stickers were also suspect, with the Revolutionary War-era “Gadsden flag” specifically called out as a “militia symbol.” The Missouri fusion center later announced it would stop publishing reports altogether.

In light of the recent publication of the DHS “lexicon” that violates their own guidelines, it seems clear that under Secretary Napolitano, DHS officials are intent on continuing to target innocent citizens merely exercising their constitutional rights.

Meanwhile, groups and individuals that federal prosecutors and even federal judges have identified as supporting foreign terrorist groups are actively courted and legitimized by the Obama administration. Leaders from these terror-tied organizations are even being used to help write the DHS department guidelines on “countering violent extremism.”

Is it any wonder then that just last week it was revealed that a DHS-funded study likened terrorism to “ordinary crime” while omitting any reference to the radicalizing effects of Islamic extremist ideology?

Until Congress pushes back on this malfeasance by DHS and holds Secretary Napolitano accountable, it is likely to continue.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/homeland-security-lexicon-youre-all-militia-extremists-now/?singlepage=true

Tuesday 02-07-12

2012-02-07T07:08:00.003-05:00

To bad it was not done here first, a great use of 3d modeling

Woman Has Jaw Replaced With A 3-D Printed Jaw

A team of medical researchers from Belgium and the Netherlands has successfully replaced the jaw of an 83-year old woman with a 3-D printed model of her lower mandible. This is the first such model used to replace an entire jaw.

Because of a severe infection, the doctors had determined that the woman’s jaw had to be replaced, but because of her age and other factors, traditional reconstructive surgery was judged to be too risky. So instead, the researchers, working in conjunction with implant company Xilloc, opted to instead replace the entire mandible with a 3-D printed model.

The implant itself was made of titanium, which was 3-D printed from powdered titanium through a process known as laser melting. As you might imagine from the name, this technique uses a high-powered laser to fuse together the powdered metal layer by layer. The design of the implant was just done through normal 3-D CAD techniques. After the implant was produced, it was sprayed with a bone-substitute compound and then was surgically attached to the woman’s skull.

Just a day following surgery, the woman could already speak and swallow normally, and she had full operation of her mouth after all of the incisions healed.

This is a pretty amazing application of 3-D printing, since the prosthetic could be fitted exactly to the unique needs of the patient. This, I imagine, is just the tip of the iceberg for this type of medical application. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/02/05/woman-has-jaw-replaced-with-3-d-printed-model/

Good news for VA

From NRA on facebook: The Virginia Senate just voted 21-19 to repeal Virginia’s one-gun-a-month handgun law.

http://www.blogger.com/blog_this.pyra?t&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.saysuncle.com%2F2012%2F02%2F06%2Fva-senate-votes-to-repeal-one-gun-a-month%2F&n=VA%20senate%20votes%20to%20repeal%20one%20gun%20a%20month&pli=1
http://www.saysuncle.com/

Monday 02-06-12

2012-02-07T06:44:00.002-05:00

Ancient walled city, older than Egypt's pyramids, unearthed off Georgia coast

Six hours southeast of Atlanta off the Georgia coast on Sapelo Island, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an ancient walled city which predates the construction of many of Egypt's pyramids. Known as the Sapelo Shell Ring Complex, this ancient city was constructed around 2300 B.C. and featured three neighborhoods each surrounded by circular walls twenty feet in height constructed from tons of seashells. Some of the earliest pottery in North America was also found buried in the remains of this lost city.

The site is quite an enigma because at the time of its construction the Native Americans living in the area were simple hunters and gatherers who had yet to invent agriculture. Many scholars believe agriculture is a prerequisite for civilization. Did these simple tribal people somehow make the leap from hunting-and-gathering to civilization in a single bound producing not only a walled city but also the new technology of pottery without the benefit of agriculture? Or did an already civilized people arrive on the coast of Georgia from elsewhere and, if so, where did they come from and why?

Advertisement

Just thirty years before the construction of the Sapelo Shell Rings researchers have noted that Bronze Age civilizations around the world show a pattern of collapse. According to the website LostWorlds.org:

In the Middle East, Akkadian Sumer collapsed at this time and the Dead Sea water levels reached their lowest point. In China, the Hongsan culture collapsed. Sediments from Greenland and Iceland show a cold peak around 2200 BC. The population of Finland decreased by a third between 2400 and 2000 BC. In Turkey’s Anatolia region, including the site of ancient Troy, over 350 sites show evidence of being burnt and deserted. Entire regions reverted to a nomadic way of life after thousands of years of settled agricultural life. In fact, most sites throughout the Old World which collapsed around 2200 BC showed unambiguous signs of natural calamities and/or rapid abandonment.

What happened around 2200 B.C. that could have caused such widespread devastation?

Meteor Storms & Cosmic Catastrophe?

Evidence is mounting that this devastation came from the sky. Astronomers have theorized that at this time Earth passed through a dense concentration of cosmic debris. Just picture the asteroid scene in Star Wars and you'll get the idea. Yet researchers don't think much of this debris actually impacted the ground. Instead they believe these meteors exploded in air bursts high above the ground, creating an ancient version of an atomic bomb blast.

These air bursts would have first incinerated everything within tens if not hundreds of miles. Next they would have created hurricane force winds which would have obliterated any above-ground structures as well as forests.

Astronomers believe this catastrophe was similar to the Tunguska Event which flattened 80 million trees over a 2,000 square mile area of Russian Siberia in 1908. Russian scientists believe this event was caused by the explosion of a large meteor tens of meters across at an altitude of 3-6 miles. A similar event is thought to have caused the climate downturn in 3200 BC which flash froze the so-called Ice Man in the Swiss Alps.

Who Built the Sapelo Shell Rings?

At the time of European contact, two Native American tribes were known for constructing round, walled villages: the Timucua and Yuchi. Archaeologists believe some time in the past the Timucua migrated to Georgia and Florida from South America since their language was similar to that spoken by Indians in Venezuela. Did they flee their homeland after it was devastated by a meteor swarm that destroyed huge swaths of jungle? The Rio Cuarto impact craters in Argentina are thought by some geologists to date to this time period which supports the idea that South America was affected by the same event that struck the Old World.

The Yuchi also have a legend that they arrived in Georgia after "the old moon broke" and devastated their island homeland. Could they have thought these meteors were pieces of the moon falling to Earth? Could impact tsunamis have devastated their island home in the Bahamas forcing them to flee to the mainland? Only further research will answer the questions.

Learn More

Learn more about the lastest research regarding the Sapelo Shell Ring Complex. Or visit the Sapelo Island Visitor's Center at 1766 Landing Road, S.E., Darien, GA 31305. You can also find me on Facebook, subscribe to my newsletter, watch my DVD "Lost Worlds: Georgia" or visit my website LostWorlds.org. You can also purchase posters, mugs, t-shirts, mousepads and other gifts featuring the Sapelo Shell Rings artwork at my Sapelo Gift Shop.

[Note: There is currently no consensus on the dating of Egypt's pyramids. Estimates range from 10,500 BC to 1800 BC and everything in between. Additionally, the pyramids were not all built at one time and though some of the oldest likely date to 2500 BC others date to around 1800 BC thus the Sapelo Shell Rings are, indeed, older than many of Egypt's pyramids.]
.Suggested by the author:
Maya gold mines in Georgia?
More evidence of the Maya in Georgia
Top ten Native American sites in Georgia
Ancient Native American sites in Georgia (Part 1)
Has an 1100 year old Mayan site been discovered in the Georgia mountains?

http://www.examiner.com/road-trip-travel-in-atlanta/ancient-walled-city-older-than-egypt-s-pyramids-unearthed-off-georgia-coast

Monday 02-06-12

2012-02-06T03:48:00.001-05:00

Something we have to look forward to when they come to power

Christian women report being assaulted after arrests
International community asked to pressure Saudi Arabia on basic rights

BOSTON – Saudi Arabian authorities are adding sexual assault to their routine for processing prisoners when they are Christian women, according to a new report that is imploring the international community to pressure the restrictive Islamic nation on basic human rights.
International Christian Concern’s Jonathan Racho says the 35 women prisoners were arrested for meeting for a prayer time, and they are reporting that they were molested.

“The female prisoners have told us about how they were sexually harassed. When the Saudis arrested them, they knew the Ethiopians were Christians,” Racho said.
“They took off the women’s clothes and touched them. When the strip searching was going on, the officers were touching the women,” Racho said.
Racho adds that some of the details are graphic.

“They were using gloves to strip search and they were putting their fingers into their genitals,” Racho said.
“This is a very, very serious accusation of harassment and we want the international community to look into this,” Racho said. “The Saudis have to stop harassing these Christians.”
Racho adds that the treatment of the Christians is the opposite of Saudi public statements.
“The Saudis in the past have publicly said that they want religious tolerance and dialogue between the people of faith,” Racho said. “The Saudi king and the Saudi government have been very active in promoting peaceful existence and religious freedom.”

WND reported in December that Saudi authorities raided the mostly Ethiopian prayer meeting in Jeddah and charged all 35 with “Illicit Mingling.”
Members of the group were taken into custody and moved to an undisclosed location.
Racho says the Christians have been behind bars for over a month, but ICC is not content to let the incarceration continue.

“ICC has been working hard to highlight the plight of the Christian prisoners. We’ve been issuing press releases and asking our supporters to call the Saudi Embassy,” Racho said.
“We’ve been gathering petitions to ask the Saudi Arabian government to release the prisoners,” Racho said.
He also says his organization has spoken with members of Congress and to the State Department.
State Department spokeswomen Molly Lynn Westrate says the department has been pressuring the Saudi regime.

“Absolutely we have. We call on the Saudi government to recognize religious freedom and to permit private worship in individual’s homes,” Westrate said.
The Saudi government has not responded to WND’s request for an interview.
WND reported in January that Open Doors’ America’s “World Watch” puts Saudi Arabia as the third worst country for religious persecution. Muslim nations lead the pack.

Nine of the 10 worst nations for persecution of Christians are run essentially under Islamic law, and the “Arab Spring” across parts of northern Africa has led to a surge of repression, according to the global assessment.
“The top 10 in this year’s report are in order, North Korea, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan,” the story said.

http://www.wnd.com/2
012/02/christian-women-report-being-assaulted-after-arrests/

Sunday 02-05-12

2012-02-05T03:24:00.003-05:00

Controversial Artist Depicts Obama Trampling The Constitution

Provo, Utah (CBS Las Vegas) - In front of the White House a man is sitting on a park bench in the throes of depression. He is surrounded by all 43 presidents. In the forefront, purposefully ignoring the depressed man is President Obama, whose right foot is stepping on the Constitution. James Madison is next to Obama, pleading with him to stop.

This tableau is called “The Forgotten Man”, a painting by Jon McNaughton, an artist who is known for his politically-charged work.

The painting, which uses objects such as discarded dollar bills as symbols and scraps of paper with individual constitutional amendments scrawled onto them, has been making the rounds across the Internet.

The painting was initially released in 2010 and has resurfaced, causing a stir when it appeared for a caption contest on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s blog.

The responses have ranged from sarcastic — “We’ll trade you this peasant for that constitution. We’ll even throw in the bench.” – to Photoshop works of art.

McNaughton released an accompanying YouTube video for his painting. The video shows McNaughton painting the piece with a soundtrack that emulates a movie trailer.

“For a long time I didn’t know if I wanted to paint this picture, because I worried it might be too controversial,” McNaughton explains in a voice over. “(T)his man (on the park bench) represents every man, woman, and child who is an American… he hopes to find the American dream of happiness and prosperity.

“But now because of unconstitutional acts imposed by the American people by our government we stand on the precipice of disasters,” he added.

McNaughton explained his position behind the painting. “I don’t place all the blame on Obama. On my website I try to explain what each president has done,” he said. “The thing I like about the painting is that it does get people talking.”

The painting has done well since it was released. “It sold thousands,” he told CBS Las Vegas. “I sold many different sizes and editions, and now that we are in an election year I expect to sell more.”

This isn’t the first time McNaughton waded into politically charged waters.

Previously, he released “One Nation Under God,” a painting depicting Jesus holding the Constitution and judging several archetypes such as a liberal journalist, a smug college professor, and another archetype that McNaughton calls “Mr. Hollywood.”

Originally from Arizona, McNaugton currently lives in Utah. He received a full scholarship to Brigham Young University. Initially he studied art, but switched to design later on.

“I hope my work will create conversation and reach people on a deeper level,” he says on his website. “I like to use metaphor and multiple levels of meaning to reach my viewer. If it makes them think and feel, then it is successful.”

He later added to CBSLV: “I’m not trying to create an art style. I want to communicate my ideas. Isn’t that the purpose of art?”

http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2012/02/03/controversial-artist-depicts-obama-trampling-the-constitution/

Corpse Sits Among Oblivious Video Gamers For Nine Hours In Taiwan Internet Cafe

NEW TAIPEI, Taiwan - A Taiwanese man who died while playing video games at an internet cafe appeared to have gone unnoticed by fellow gamers for up to nine hours, police said Friday.

The 23-year-old checked in at the cafe in New Taipei city on Tuesday night and was found dead but still sitting rigidly on a chair with his hands stretched out the following night by a waitress, police said.

The waitress last saw him talking on the phone around noon on Wednesday and his body had apparently been sitting there for up to nine hours without any of the 30 other people in the cafe noticing.

An initial police investigation found he might have died of a cardiac arrest triggered by low temperatures.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/offbeat/corpse-sits-among-oblivious-video-gamers-for-nine-hours-in-taiwan-internet-cafe-ncxdc-020312#ixzz1lRlLljVP

Saturday 02-04-12

2012-02-04T08:04:00.003-05:00

Flesh-eating bug USA300 spread by sneezes and coughs

Coughing and sneezing on crowded trains and buses can spread deadly flesh-eating superbugs, commuters are being warned.

The bacteria are more virulent than the infamous hospital MRSA, can affect otherwise healthy people and are spreading across Britain.

They can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact and hugging as well as sneezing and coughing.

One strain, called USA300, can lead to blood poisoning or a form of pneumonia that eats away at lung tissue.

The bacteria are usually resistant to several types of antibiotics and can cause large boils on the skin.

Chris Williams, professor of molecular genetics at the University of Birmingham, said: ‘It breaks down tissue. If it gets into your heart, bacteria can get into your bloodstream and take hold of different parts of your body. That could lead to death quite easily.’

The dangers of the ‘community- acquired’ superbugs are raised in a new study, examining the way they spread. Researcher Dr Ruth Massey said USA300 was ‘causing huge problems in America and is being reported here increasingly’.

She added: ‘These community- acquired strains seem to be good at affecting healthy people – they seem to be much better than the hospital ones at causing disease.’

Dr Massey said there were 1,000 cases of so-called PVL-positive community-acquired MRSA in England in the last year, of which 200 were USA300 strains.

Prof Williams added: ‘If you’re on a crowded tube or bus and you sneeze you can spread the bacteria.

‘But your sneeze can also land on a metal surface and when someone else gets up from their seat and steadies themselves on the hand rail they can catch it.’

However, MRSA was also prevalent in the nose and the hair so might be spread by scratching the head and then shaking hands, he said.

The Health Protection Agency said it had been aware of the strains for more than a decade but it was ‘not a major public health issue in this country’.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/889131-flesh-eating-bug-usa300-spread-by-sneezes-and-coughs#ixzz1lPygDerG

Thursday 02-02-12

2012-02-02T23:26:00.002-05:00

Biggest Holders of US Government Debt

As the U.S. government spends an unprecedented amount of money to fix the economy, there is an equally great need to raise the cash to pay for it. This is accomplished through borrowing, whereby Uncle Sam sells Treasury securities of varying maturity.

For investors, government bills, notes and bonds are considered safe because they have a guaranteed rate of return, based on faith in future U.S. tax revenues. The government has been partially funding operations via Treasury securities for decades.

This borrowing adds to the national debt, which has recently surpassed $15 trillion and is rising every second. The amount of debt is quickly approaching the federal debt ceiling, a legal limit to borrowing that currently stands at $16.4 trillion.

Much of that debt is held by private sector, but about 40 percent is held by public entities, including parts of the government. Here's who owns the most. Foreign countries listed include private and public investors, according to monthly U.S. Treasury data.

1. Federal Reserve and Intragovernmental Holdings

U.S. debt holdings: $6.328 trillion

That’s right, the biggest single holder of U.S. government debt is inside the United States and includes the Federal Reserve system and other intragovernmental holdings. Of this number, The Fed's system of banks owns approximately $1.65 billion in U.S. Treasury securities (as of January 2012), while other U.S. intragovernmental holdings - which include large funds such as the Medicare Trust Fund and the Social Security Trust Fund - hold the rest.

In the monthly Treasury bulletin, both are combined into one category and the total accounts for a stunning $6.328 trillion in holdings as of September 2011 (the most recent number available). The amount is an all-time high as the Federal Reserve continues to expand its balance sheet, partially to purchase U.S. government debt securities. The Social Security Trust fund is required by law to invest in securities where the principal and interest is guaranteed by the Federal government.

About a decade ago, the total government holdings were "only" $2.5 trillion.

2. China

U.S. debt holdings: $1.132 trillion

The largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities, China currently has $1.132 trillion in American debt, although it is down from all time highs of $1.173 trillion in July 2011. For more on China and currency, see CNBC Explains.

3. Other Investors/Savings Bonds

U.S. debt holdings $1.107 trillion

With the most recent numbers from June 2011, this extremely diverse group includes individuals, government-sponsored enterprises, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts, estates, savings bonds, corporate and noncorporate businesses for a total of $1.107 trillion.

Although the level of debt held in U.S. savings bonds has remained basically constant since 2000, the broad category of "other" investors has nearly quadrupled since reaching a four-year low in December 2007.

[Also see: Money Missteps That Matter]

4. Japan

U.S. debt holdings: $1.038 trillion

One of the U.S.'s largest trade partners, Japan is also one of the U.S.'s largest debt holders, currently owning $1.038 trillion in Treasury securities.

5. Pension Funds

U.S. debt holdings: $842.2 billion

Pension funds control large amounts of money, reserved for personal retirements, and thus are obligated to make relatively safe investments. This group, which includes private and local government pension funds, holds $842.2 billion in U.S. debt. The private pension fund category also includes U.S. Treasury securities held by the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan G Fund.

6. Mutual Funds

U.S. debt holdings: $653.5 billion

According to the Federal Reserve, mutual funds hold the sixth-largest amount of U.S. debt compared to any other group, although mutual fund holdings have diminished by more than $105 billion since December 2008. Including money market funds, mutual funds and closed-end funds, this group of investments managed about $653.5 billion in U.S. Treasury securities as of June 2011, which are the most recent numbers available.

7. State and Local Governments

U.S. debt holdings: $484.4 billion

U.S. state and local governments have nearly a half-trillion dollars invested in American debt, according to the Federal Reserve. The level of investment has remained stable since 2006, moving within the range of $484 billion and $576 billion. The current debt holdings, however, represent the lowest aggregate level for state and local governments since December 2005, when they stood at $481.4 billion.

[Also see: Save Up to 50% at the Grocery Store]

8. The United Kingdom

U.S. debt holdings: $429.4 billion

The U.K. currently holds $429.4 billion in U.S. debt, but the country's investment has fluctuated dramatically during the past two years. Now at its all-time high (and rapidly increasing), British holdings were as low as $55 billion in June 2008.

9. Depository Institutions

U.S. debt holdings: $284.5 billion

As of June 2011 (the most recent numbers available), the Federal Reserve Board of Governors lists depository institutions as holding about $284.5 billion in U.S. debt.

This group includes commercial banks, savings banks and credit unions. In 2011, its holdings more than tripled from the 2008 low of $105 billion. Between June and September 2011, holdings for depository institutions fell by nearly $44 billion.

10. Insurance Companies
U.S. debt holdings: $250.1 billion

According to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, insurance companies hold $250.1 billion in Treasury securities. This group includes property-casualty and life insurance firms.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/biggest-holders-of-us-gov-t-debt.html

Wednesday 02-01-12

2012-02-02T00:30:00.003-05:00

The TSA Left Suspected 'Pipe Bombs' Lying Around for Six Hours

It's hard to tell whether this is more terrifying or embarrassing, but thanks in part to forgetfulness and a lack of organization it took TSA screeners at New York's La Guardia Airport six hours to call in a bomb squad to deal with some suspected pipe bombs. It turns out the bombs weren't real -- they were some part of a "homeopathic medicine" kit -- but the TSA can't get away from the nagging hypothetical of "What if?" The whole affair started at 11:30 a.m. Monday. “When I saw the image, I took a step backward and said, ‘What’s that?!’ ” one startled TSA employee said, according to the New York Post's police sources. The Post also notes, "Another screener saw the objects, one gold, the other silver, and both 6-inches long with 'springs' inside, and thought they could be bombs." (The Post has images of the suspicious cylinders). TSA officials let the passenger catch his flight, but appear to have left the pipes on a radiator and then forgot them. According to CNN, "When the next shift arrived, one officer saw the items and mistakenly believed they were test objects, used to check screener proficiency." Combining both the Post's and CNN's accounts, it seems the new shift of screeners didn't call in the bomb squad until 3 p.m., and it took another couple of hours for them to arrive. TSA officials said the checkpoint was not closed, nor was the terminal evacuated, during the incident. The bomb squad was called "out of an abundance of caution," the TSA said.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/01/tsa-left-suspected-pipe-bombs-lying-around-six-hours/48094/

Monday 01-30-12

2012-01-31T02:41:00.001-05:00

TSA mistakes insulin pump for gun, causing LAX security scare

An insulin pump mistaken for a gun at LAX led officials to delay boarding and screening Friday morning at Terminal 4 as airport authorities searched for a woman who they thought had a weapon, law enforcement sources said.

The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. as the female passenger was being screened at Los Angeles International Airport. She went through electronic screening, which detected an item shaped like a weapon, the sources said.

But before screeners could search her, she walked away toward the boarding gates. Concerned Transportation Security Administration officials immediately alerted LAX police and the LAPD of a possible security breach.

Sources familiar with the incident said security staff scrambled to determine what happened but eventually realized the "weapon" was actually a medical device.

The woman was briefly detained and questioned. Authorities delayed some passengers boarding for up to an hour, according to sources.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/insulin-pump-lax-airport-security.html

Sunday 01-29-12

2012-01-29T03:13:00.001-05:00

Todays story is from Survival Blog post on Friday

Learning From Extreme Missionaries, by Chuck Holton

As an international war correspondent, my work takes me to more than a dozen far-flung war zones every year. In my travels, I am often reminded just how thin the veneer of civilization really is, and get to meet many families caught in crisis and see the different ways they manage to survive.
A recent trip to Africa brought one of the most powerful examples, where I met a family of missionaries who have built their lives in one of the most harsh and inhospitable corners of the planet. While for most survivalists, prepping for “TEOTWAWKI” is a “what if” scenario, for these missionaries preparedness is an everyday, life-or-death reality.
They are what you could call "extreme missionaries;" Christian families who move far beyond the end of the pavement to bring the good news of God's love to people who have no concept of things like peace, forgiveness, redemption, grace or even civilization.

When my oldest son, Mason and I landed in Nairobi, we were picked up by the T. family. They've been working in Kenya for four generations, and live in the far northern part of the country on the shores of the world's largest desert lake - Lake Turkana.

When they moved there twenty years ago, the four tribes living in the area (Rendille, Samburu, Turkana and El Molo) were all at war with each other. They would often raid each others' villages and steal each others' camels, goats and women. There was little fresh water, (the lake is barely potable, since it has no outlet) and since the tribes considered fish to be unclean, food was also scarce. The ground is volcanic rock, and almost nothing grows in the infertile soil. Temperatures often top 130 degrees in summer, and rarely get below 100. To call it a hard, inhospitable place would be the height of understatement.
The trip to their home took 23 hours of driving from Nairobi - most of it on desert two-track and much of it requiring 4-wheel drive. We made the trip heavily armed, as Somali bandits are known to ambush vehicles in that area. Not long ago another mission family was ambushed and the wife shot in the leg. We kept a sentry posted on top of the truck at all times to keep an eye out for bandits and make them think twice when they saw a man with a shotgun. Jim has worked with the Kenyan government to be able to legally carry a firearm wherever he goes. This is necessary because of the large number of wild animals – both human and otherwise. Lions were the biggest danger, but during our drive to Loiyangalani, we enjoyed seeing camels, dik-dik, topi, and many others. Mason and the T.'s daughter spent most of the trip riding on the rack above the truck's cab, spotting wildlife. It occurred to me that such a thing would probably get a guy arrested back in the states, but here in Kenya, the nanny state was nowhere to be found. A refreshing feeling, to say the least.
After a grueling two-day trip, we arrived at the mission station. When the T.'s first moved to Lake Turkana, they lived in a shipping container and camped out in front of it. They cooked on three rocks, like the locals. Eventually Jim identified a spring near the only stand of palm trees in the area (which all the locals used as a bathroom since it afforded the only privacy for miles). He talked the local elders into allowing him to fence off the area and then dig out the spring. He installed a cistern once he hit bedrock and then put in underground piping to four water points - one for each tribe. The spring today pumps out 230 gallons a minute of water so pure you could bottle it, and serves almost 10,000 people. Without the spring to fight over, the four tribes now live in relative harmony together in the village, something which previously would have been unthinkable to them. It's a great lesson on survival - working to make allies of one's neighbors, thereby making everyone safer.

Jim and his family must be completely self-sufficient for up to four months at at time. They have a larder which can sustain them for over a year, but gardening is impossible due to the high temperatures, desert climate and volcanic soil. Camel meat is available from time to time in the village, but other than that, they must plan, and shop for only a few trips a year to the nearest grocery store – in Nairobi. Jim's wife, Barb, has become an expert at planning, cooking from scratch and coping with unexpected visitors from time to time. Jim and his sons supplement their the family's protein by fishing Lake Turkana for giant nile perch. He says they have enough fishing tackle to survive on fish for "at least a thousand years." They took Mason and I fishing during our visit. We spent two hours trolling the lake in a tiny john boat, which made me a little nervous since the lake is known for its giant salt-water crocodiles. Our afternoon on the lake yielded two “small” Nile perch, which fleshed out to about forty pounds of meat. We feasted on the succulent fish that night and Barb canned or froze what we couldn't eat.

An engineer by trade, Jim has built a very comfortable and secure fortress for his family in this desolate place. A year after moving to Loiyangalani, Jim identified a seam of limestone that protruded from the lava rock in an area near the village. He then taught two local men how to quarry the limestone and make building stones of it. He then agreed to purchase all the stones they could make until his home was built. Those men are today two of the most prosperous (and hardworking!) men in the village.
From these stones, Jim constructed a two-story home that is a model of a secure survival retreat. Built in the shape of a squared-off horseshoe, the main part of the house holds the sleeping quarters (upstairs), kitchen, bathroom, living and dining areas, and a large pantry. Beneath the larder is a large “panic room” accessed through a blast-proof metal trap door. Inside are supplies for at least six months, camping gear, etc. The air vents for the panic room are disguised around the house, and built such that if some Goblin were to get the bright idea to drop a grenade down one of them, a hidden trap at crotch-level would absolutely ruin his day.
The windows are secured with built-in iron bars, and the doors made from plywood laminated over plate steel thick enough to stop small arms fire, machetes, et cetera. The stones from which the home is built would stand up to anything up to rocket-propelled grenades.

The home is situated on a knoll above the village, and Jim has made use of an old bulldozer and backhoe to ensure that there is only one way into and out of his redoubt by vehicle. The third-floor rooftop of the home is constructed with four-foot crenellated walls with flip-up metal firing ports, commanding unobstructed fields of fire in every direction. The roof also holds two 1,000-gallon potable water tanks which gravity-feed the plumbing system in the house. Two more 1,000-gallon tanks sit in the back of his old Mercedes deuce-and-a-half truck, and every month or so he drives to the spring and pumps them full, then uses them to re-fill the tanks in his home. He keeps all four tanks full at all times. His plan is to eventually dig a well on his own property to further secure his water supply.

Jim has two wind turbines (Lake Turkana is one of the most consistently windy places on the planet) and a solar array, from which he generates his power. The battery bank sits in a small locking closet in the laundry/guest bedroom.

There is a garage attached to the house, fully stocked with tools and other supplies. Between that and the laundry on the other end of the main structure, a large raised concrete patio provides shaded outdoor living space with gorgeous views of Lake Turkana in the distance. A shortwave radio enables periodic communication with other missionaries around the country. A detached petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) shed holds drums of fuel, oil and other petroleum products, enough for at least a year of use for vehicles and back-up generators. Most of their local transportation is accomplished on the four Honda ATVs which are always kept in top running condition, and are customized with winches, spotlights and small air compressors.

The T.'s have worked hard over the years to improve the lives of the people to whom they minister, physically as well as spiritually. Jim recognized that security was an absolute must for the local populace before he could bring them the good news of God's love. So he set out to train and equip the men of the village to protect their families. By working with the Kenyan government, a local police force was established, and the men of the village were recruited into a kind of “neighborhood watch.” He taught them how to use the same limestone block he used on his own home to build stone huts for their families. For about the price of a camel, the villagers can replace their mud-and-stick huts, which are unsanitary, fire-prone and give no security, with stone huts that are much better in every way. He taught them about sanitation and convinced them that fish from the lake were safe to eat. Jim and his family are all trained in EMT and wilderness medicine, and his sons became the village ambulance service in their early teens. They constructed an ingenious “floating” litter trailer which is pulled behind the ATV that enables them to transport an injured or sick villager the six hours to the nearest clinic, run by fellow missionaries.

They started a church by holding a family Bible study every morning in front of their home. Curious tribesmen and women would come and listen as they had their devotions, eventually asking questions and one by one being converted to the Christian faith. Today the church has nearly 100 members, who have pooled their resources to build a limestone church building, which Jim designed in such a way that it also serves as an emergency shelter for the villagers in case of attack. It is flame proof, highly secure and boasts a three-story tower with firing ports covering all angles of approach.

The first night of our visit with the family, I was jolted awake at 3am by the sound of gunfire in the village, about 300 yards from Jim's front door. I sat up in bed, but before I could react further, I heard Jim's voice booming out of the upstairs window, “Holton! Get inside quick!”

My sleeping teenage son was exhausted from our two-day trek to Loiyangalani. Tired enough that the gunfire failed to rouse him. I jumped up and dragged his limp form the fifteen yards or so to the main house. (we had been sleeping in the laundry room). By the time we got inside, he was awake, though may not have yet remembered what country we were in. He was further perplexed when Jim appeared at the bottom of the stairs dressed in level-III body armor, kevlar helmet and boxer shorts, carrying two pump shotguns. He tossed one to me and the other at Mason, and stationed each of us near windows overlooking the front and rear of the house. That cleared the cobwebs out of Mason's brain in a hurry.

Tense minutes passed as the sound of sporadic gunfire drifted up from the village below. Jim was back upstairs, calling the local police commander on his cellular telephone. I marveled that there was cell service this far from civilization. After a half hour or so, the firing had subsided and Jim was able to piece together what had happened: Somali bandits had raided the village intending to steal a herd of camels. To their credit, the men of the village had driven the bandits off with some well-controlled bursts of gunfire from their personal arsenals of aged AK-47s. Jim commented that several years ago, the men had no weapons other than spears and knives, and likely would have abandoned their camels, homes and families and run away. Jim's example of preparedness has led the villagers to be much more willing to stand up for themselves and protect their families. In so doing, he has made his own family that much more secure.

Loiyangalani is still a dangerous place to live. But Jim has done just about everything possible to safeguard not only his own family, but the entire community. In addition to that, the T. family has established a training center in North Carolina called “The Master's Mission,” where would-be missionaries spend eleven months learning skills like construction, alternative energy, animal husbandry, civil engineering, auto maintenance, personal protection and more. This enables them to survive and thrive in a third-world ministry field. But it's not just missionaries who need these skills. Anyone serious about being prepared for uncertain times could learn from the example of this intrepid missionary family.
For photos of our trip to Kenya, visit this Flickr page. I also made a news feature about our trip which aired on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). An extended version of this video is available here.

JWR Adds: You may recognize Chuck Holton's name from some of his reports on CBN (like this one), or from his web site Homesteading Today.

http://www.survivalblog.com/

Interesting read

THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, MARCH 1904
A monthly periodical that documented the great missionary outreach of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Contains numerous articles and news items of inspirational and historical value. This PDF file is 6.6 MB's in size, 81 full-sized pages, and is printable.

http://biblebelievers.com/misc_periodical_articles/mrw_1904-03.pdf

Saturday 01-28-12

2012-01-28T03:05:00.001-05:00

FBI seeking social media monitoring tool

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking for a tool to mine social media for intelligence tips.
The US domestic law enforcement agency is asking information technology contractors about the feasibility of building a tool that would "enhance its techniques for collecting and sharing 'open source' actionable intelligence."

The January 19 open request was published on a website offering federal business opportunities and was first reported by New Scientist magazine.

The FBI said it is seeking an "open source and social media alert, mapping and analysis application solution" for its Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC).

"Social media has become a primary source of intelligence because it has become the premier first response to key events and the primal alert to possible developing situations," the FBI request said.

"Intelligence analysts will often use social media to receive the first tip-off that a crisis has occurred," it said.

The FBI said the tool "must have the ability to rapidly assemble critical open source information and intelligence that will allow SIOC to quickly vet, identity, and geo-locate breaking events, incidents and emerging threats."

It would need to be able to "instantly search and monitor key words and strings in all 'publicly available' tweets across the Twitter site and any other 'publicly available' social networking sites/forums."

It would also need the ability to "search the data across a myriad of parameters and view terrorist activities by location, terrorist group, and type of attack and see trends and analytics."

In addition, it would have to be able "to immediately translate into English, tweets and any other open forum publically available social media captured in a foreign language."

Interested parties have until February 10 to respond to the FBI request.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.98b3636e34b08a0fcd674a900f2deb90.b1&show_article=1

Twitter announces it will censor some tweets; activists worried
Policy would allow same message to be seen in some countries but not others

Twitter service may be getting spotty in some countries.

The micro-blogging firm announced on the company blog Thursday that it plans to change its censorship policies to comply with different countries' regulations.

"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," the post read. "Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar, but for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi comment."

Users' tweets will be blocked in a country where they are against the law, but shown in nations where they are legal. For example, a pro-Nazi tweet may be scrubbed in Germany, but would appear on the user's account if read in the U.S.

When Twitter removes a comment, it says it will clearly mark when a Tweet has been censored and send it to the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse, which is creating a database of tweets deleted not only because of censorship but also as a result of cease-and-desist notices and copyright infringement.

The news comes a year after Twitter played a crucial part in the Egyptian revolution and other Arab Spring protests.

Twitter was also credited with being a key tool in the Iranian protests of the 2009 elections and some pundits pointed to the service as key in the 2011 Tunisian revolution.

The move, while it could be disappointing for some revolutionaries, follows a similar policy to Google, The Associated Press pointed out — and could help Twitter expand from 100 million active users to more than 1 billion around the world.

"One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user's voice. We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The tweets must continue to flow," the company added.

On Twitter, users protested the move with a #dontcensor campaign.

Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders also announced on Twitter that it would send a letter protesting the move.

“Reporters Without Borders is very worried by #Twitter’s decision to cooperation with #censorship,” the group tweeted.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/twitter-announces-censor-tweets-activists-worried-article-1.1012804#ixzz1kgv0dBe5

It is good news for Virginia

Senate panel backs repeal of one gun a month law

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee on Wednesday approved a measure that would eliminate Virginia's one-gun-a-month restriction on handgun purchases, setting up what could be the most significant change to Virginia's gun laws in years.

The committee deferred until next year consideration of a bill that would exempt from state background checks long guns and rifles purchased from gun dealers, and a senator withdrew from consideration a bill that would have restricted public colleges and universities from enacting regulations to bar the carrying of firearms on campus. Currently, the state's schools can enact their own regulations banning guns on campus.

Gun-rights advocates are pushing a number of bills, emboldened by a conservative wave of Republican lawmakers who were elected in November and tipped the Senate's balance to the GOP. Republicans have an 8-7 majority on the Courts committee, which Democrats controlled last year.

In 1993, the legislature approved the one-gun-a-month restriction, advocated by then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, to address interstate trafficking of firearms in Virginia. Attempts to repeal the law had failed before this session, in which Republicans assumed control of the Senate for the first time in four years.

The vote on Senate Bill 323, sponsored by Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, was 8-6, with Sen. John S. Edwards, D-Roanoke, voting for passage with seven Republicans. Sen. Thomas K. Norment, Jr., R-James City, who was not present at the time of the vote, was recorded as abstaining. The vote came during a marathon five-hour meeting in which lawmakers took up a series of gun bills.

The repeal measure has strong support in the Republican-dominated House of Delegates, and Gov. Bob McDonnell has indicated he is inclined to sign the bill.

Opponents of Carrico's bill said repeal of the law would hamper efforts to stem the flow of weapons.

"The only group that this law currently prohibits is gun traffickers," said gun-control advocate Andrew Goddard, father of Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard. "Getting rid of the only law we have on the books ... is not going to make that problem go away."

Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence said the concern was not the purchaser of a couple of handguns during a month, but the "huge, bulk, multiple sales" of guns.

Advocates for the legislation said the current law has so many exceptions allowing for the purchase of more than one handgun a month — for people like police officers and holders of concealed-weapon permits — that everyday law-abiding citizens are the only ones who can't exercise a constitutionally protected right.

Carrico said only California, Maryland and New Jersey have similar laws, "which I don't want to be characterized with."

The senator was less enthusiastic about presenting Senate Bill 324, which would have restricted schools from imposing gun bans on campus. The bill had drawn opposition from numerous gun-control advocates and had received a tepid reception from McDonnell.

"It's not ready for prime time," he said, telling the committee he wants to address problems with the bill and bring it back next year.

The committee also approved a measure that would prohibit anyone subject to an emergency protective order after an arrest for domestic violence from having a gun in the home of their alleged victim. Senate Bill 554, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, was approved 9-6.

The committee also approved, along party lines, a bill that would immunize from civil liability a person who uses deadly force against an intruder in his home. Senate Bill 4, sponsored by Sen. Richard H. Stuart, R-Westmoreland, passed 8-7.

Senators also approved a measure that would prohibit localities from requiring fingerprints of first-time applicants for concealed-handgun permits.

"It's an onus on the law-abiding citizen and unnecessary," said Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr., R-Louisa, a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 67, with Sen. William M. Stanley Jr., R-Franklin County.

Opponents, including gun-control advocates and the Virginia Municipal League said fingerprint checks are part of a system that helps identify people who are not qualified to carry concealed weapons. Roughly one-third of Virginia's communities require fingerprinting of applicants of concealed-weapon permits. The vote was 8-6, with Norment again abstaining by proxy.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jan/26/tdmain01-senate-panel-backs-repeal-of-one-gun-a-mo-ar-1640517/

Friday 01-27-12

2012-01-27T14:58:00.003-05:00

NJ camel predicts Giants will win the Super Bowl

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - People use all sorts of ways to try to predict the winner of the Super Bowl: comparing regular season records, judging who looked stronger in the post-season run-up to the big game, or watching the betting lines from Las Vegas oddsmakers.

But the closest thing to a sure thing may come from a camel in New Jersey.

Princess, the star of New Jersey's Popcorn Park Zoo, has correctly picked the winner of five of the last six Super Bowls. She went 14 and 6 predicting regular season and playoff games this year, and has a lifetime record of 88-51.

Her pick this year: The New York Giants.

The Bactrian camel's prognostication skills flow from her love of graham crackers. Zoo general manager John Bergmann places a cracker and writes the name of the competing teams on each hand. Whichever hand Princess nibbles from is her pick. On Wednesday, she made her pick with no hesitation at all, predicting bad news for Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, even though the Las Vegas oddsmakers have New England favored by about 3 points.

Her only miscue in the big game was picking the Indianapolis Colts over the New Orleans Saints two years ago, indicating that even camels know it's generally risky to go against Peyton Manning.

"It started out when a local radio station was looking to have some fun, so they asked Princess who was going to win a particular game each week, and it just took off from there," Bergmann said. "Now we have guys calling up on Sunday morning wanting to know who Princess has picked that week. One guy even asked if she does lottery numbers."

Her best season was 2008, when she got 17 out of 22 games right, including correctly picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl.

Princess doesn't do point spreads. But she has nearly mastered the art of picking straight-up winners.

The cunning camel was once the personal pet of heiress Doris Duke, the only child of tobacco and electric energy tycoon James Buchanan Duke.

Doris Duke raised Princess and her sister Babe from youngsters, Bergmann said.

The pair of camels had their own barn, and spent summers at Duke's Rhode Island estate. During bad weather, they were put up in the solarium.

After Duke's death in 1993, the camels stayed on her estate in Hillsborough. Babe died several years ago, leaving just Princess.

When Princess' caretaker was about to retire, the estate offered Princess to Popcorn Park Zoo, which took her in. The zoo cares for abandoned and abused animals.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=351&sid=2723459

Wake Up ! Mystery disease cluster grows
LE ROY, N.Y. – Three more high school students here have reported neurological symptoms like those of a dozen classmates who exhibited unusual tics and verbal outbursts in recent months.

The three students came forward in the past few days and are "being evaluated by private medical professionals," said Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman for the New York Department of Health.

Previously, 12 high school students at Le Roy High, all of them girls, had reported symptoms not unlike those of Tourette's syndrome. One boy is among the new patients, according to Dr. Laszlo Mechtler of the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.

MORE: N.Y. teens' mystery illness labeled 'conversion disorder'
Mechtler, a neurologist who has treated all but one of the original 12 girls, previously said tests had ruled out medical disorders, diseases and environmental factors.

So far the diagnosis has been a stress-related, possibly neurological condition referred to as conversion disorder. The suggestion is that one student developed symptoms and other students unconsciously followed suit.

The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., now says any of the students who wish to travel to its facilities can be tested.

"We are very interested in psychogenic movement disorders," said Dr. Mark Hasslett, chief of the NIH Medical Neurology Branch. "When we saw that there were patients that had possible conversion disorder, we wanted to make the doctors aware that we're interested in making second opinions on these cases."

The second opinion would include a physical examination and possible neurophysiological testing, Haslett said. Others eligible also could participate in an ongoing conversion disorder research study there.

The cluster of cases in New York apparently dates to sometime last year but wasn't publicly reported until early November when the number of afflicted students was six. The situation gained national attention when two of the girls appeared last week on NBC's "Today" show.

In addition to the three new cases, two teen-age girls in Saratoga County with seemingly similar symptoms also have come forward. Their only apparent connection to Le Roy High School is a claim that they ate lunch there one day in the summer. They were interviewed Tuesday by an Albany, N.Y., television station. Hammond said the state health department is not looking into those cases.

Le Roy school superintendent Kim Cox issued a written statement Wednesday acknowledging "a few new possible cases." She reiterated that earlier testing had ruled out environmental contaminants or infections as a cause.

Contributing: Melissa Holmes, WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, N.Y.; Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

http://www.preparednesscenter.us/p/index.php?topic=596.msg1000;topicseen#new

Wednesday 01-25-12

2012-01-25T02:05:00.001-05:00

This is commentary on our present political system, we are so far removed from what our founders envisioned, it is scary

State to track the makings for meth

Buying a package of allergy medicine at the corner drugstore will put you in a state police database under a new Illinois law aimed at identifying people who make methamphetamine.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed the measure into law Friday, saying a pilot project in southern Illinois has helped police tracking sales of medicines that can be used to make meth has helped police crack down.

The goal is to watch for large purchases of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which are found in some cold, allergy and sinus medicines such as Claritin-D and certain Sudafed products.

Stores already keep the products behind the counter to guard against theft and record who buys them. Now stores will transmit those records electronically to state police. The information sent to authorities will include the customer’s name and address.

The tracking program started as a pilot project in 2009 in several southern Illinois counties. Since then, police have found and seized 155 meth labs and made 231 arrests thanks to the pilot project, Quinn said.

“This program is a valuable tool that helps us prevent meth from getting into our communities by stopping production,” the Democratic governor said in a statement.

Monique Bond, a state police spokeswoman, said “tracking details” for the new statewide database are still being worked out.

The Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association praised the legislation. Sara Moscato Howe, head of the association, said meth users are often paranoid so they might be scared away from buying the ingredients if they know police are monitoring sales.

She warned that catching people who make meth is only a first step. They also need help getting off drugs and staying off. She said spending on state anti-drug programs has been cut 30 percent since 2007.

“If you don’t treat these people, they don’t go away. They show up in your hospitals and prisons,” Howe said. “The cheapest option is to prevent addiction before it starts.”

Under the new law, stores must continue blocking sales if a person tries to buy more than 7.5 grams of pseudoephedrine in 30 days - or more than a month’s supply of 24-hour Claritin-D for a single person.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/10136396-418/state-to-track-the-makings-for-meth.html

Tuesday 01-24-11

2012-01-24T01:47:00.002-05:00

The shirt says, “Am I the only person on the planet that didn’t get guns from the ATF?”

http://ncguns.blogspot.com/p/gunwalker-t-shirts.html

Well they want to feel up congressmen now, i had heard they all got passed through, i guess he was either trying to make a point or pass through are only for the ones that approve of them.

White House sides with TSA in Rand Paul standoff

The White House is standing by the Transportation Security Administration in its standoff with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his father, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

The elder Paul called the TSA a "police state" Monday after Rand Paul was reportedly detained by TSA after he refused to take a pat-down from TSA officials at the Nashville International Airport.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that he didn't have any reaction to Paul's "police state" comments.

But Carney sided with the TSA saying, "I think it is absolutely essential that we take necessary actions to ensure that air travel is safe."

Ron Paul, who is one of four remaining Republican candidates for president, disagreed Monday afternoon. Paul said after he confirmed the incident involving Rand Paul on his Twitter page that it showed why the TSA should be eliminated.

"The police state in this country is growing out of control," the elder Paul said in a statement released by his presidential campaign.

"One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities," he continued. "The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe. That is why my ‘Plan to Restore America,’ in additional to cutting $1 trillion dollars in federal spending in one year, eliminates the TSA."

TSA has defended its treatment of Rand Paul, saying that its employees in Nashville followed its normal procedure with the senator, who has often sharply criticized the agency's pat-downs before he refused one Monday morning.

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/tsa/205813-white-house-sides-with-tsa-in-rand-paul-standoff

Monday 01-23-11

2012-01-23T04:02:00.001-05:00

Ga. judge orders president to appear at hearing

ATLANTA (AP) - A judge has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court in Atlanta for a hearing on a complaint that says Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and can't be president.

It's one of many such lawsuits that have been filed across the country, so far without success. A Georgia resident made the complaint, which is intended to keep Obama's name off the state's ballot in the March presidential primary.

An Obama campaign aide says any attempt to involve the president personally will fail and such complaints around the country have no merit.

The hearing is set for Thursday before an administrative judge. Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi on Friday denied a motion by the president's lawyer to quash a subpoena that requires Obama to show up.

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16567672/ga-judge-orders-president-to-appear-at-hearing

Friday 01-20-12

2012-01-20T22:19:00.000-05:00

FAITH and FIREARMS

“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

Fathers and husbands are required by Almighty God to provide for their families. This includes not only providing food, housing, clothing, education, medical care, love, discipleship and spiritual guidance, but also protection. Of what worth is all the other provision if one does not provide protection as well? Anyone who fails to provide for their family has denied the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever. In fact, those who refuse to protect their young are worse than an animal. What animal will not fight to protect its offspring?

Our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples that: “He who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.” Luke 22:36

The Law of God is clear. “If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.” Exodus 22:2

The Law of God establishes the basic right of self-defence. Any person is justified in defending himself, or his family, whenever they are attacked or their lives are endangered. Any weapon is permissable for use in self-defence. The Law of God does not say that the home owner is guilty if he uses a sword, but innocent if he uses a club. The issue is not one of weapons, but the right and duty of self-defence.

Resistance to Tyranny
During a slide presentation at a church in America, the pastor objected to the Christians in Sudan taking up arms against the Sudanese government. He was much offended by the prevalence of fire arms in the hands of Sudanese Christians. So I asked what Christians in America celebrate on the 4 th July? He seemed somewhat confused, so I reminded him that their Founding Fathers had unilaterally declared Independence from Great Britain on 4 July 1776. The British called it a rebellion.

The American colonists took up arms against the Crown because the British had failed to rule the Americans in accordance with the Magna Carta of 1215 and the English Declaration of Rights of 1689. King George had violated his coronation oath. The American Founding Fathers maintained that the British government was no longer an authority to be submitted to, but a tyrannical power to be resisted. How then could Americans object to Christians in Sudan doing what they had done in 1776?

Protecting our Families
I then pointed out that, in the entranceway to their church, they had a framed, colour picture on the wall, of early American settlers walking to church, carrying their rifles with their Bibles. I reminded him that many churches in America, in the 17 th Century, fined men if they came to church without a rifle! 1 Timothy 5:8 requires men to make provision for their family and declares that any who fail to do so deny the Faith and are worse than an unbeliever. Churches penalised men who showed such irresponsibility as to fail to carry a weapon for the defence of their family.

I then had to point out that Sudan, today, with slave raiders kidnapping children, burning crops, looting cattle, poisoning wells, destroying churches and crucifying pastors, is far more dangerous than America was in the 1600s.

Firearms and Ministries
Far from Christians in the previous centuries having an aversion to firearms, not only were swords and firearms freely brought into many church buildings, but the pastors were often some of the best shots in town. During the American War of Independence, many pastors served as officers in the Continental Army under General George Washington, fighting for Independence.

Firearms and Missionaries
Pioneer missionary, William Carey, whose landmark book, An Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen (the book which launched the modern missionary movement) listed as essential equipment for any missionary: “Knives, powder and shot.”

Pioneer missionary and explorer David Livingstone, who first landed in Africa in 1840, was well equipped with some of the most advanced weapons then available, including a six-barrelled revolver and a double-barrelled rifle. On occasion David Livingstone was compelled to use his weapons for protection from wild beasts and to persuade slave traders to set the captives free. At one point, after his party had been compelled to shoot back at Muslim slave traders, Livingstone responded to criticism saying: “I love peace as much as any mortal man. In fact, I go quite beyond you, for I love it so much I would fight for it.”

Bishop McKenzie, of the Church Missionary Society, was involved in several firefights against slave traders in the Shiri Valley of present day Malawi. He set many captives free.

Francis McDougal, the first bishop of Labuan, reported an attack by pirates in 1862: “My double-barrelled torry’s breach loader proved a most deadly weapon, for it’s true shooting and certainty and rapidity of firing.”

Many religious readers today would be shocked and horrified to read such reports in present day missionary newsletters. Perhaps the comfortable and prosperous surroundings that most Christians in the West have enjoyed for so long have blinded us to the harsh realities that most Christians throughout the centuries, and in less fortunate parts of the world today, have had to face. An unBiblical pacifism has gripped many western Christians.

When world famous cricketer, turned pioneer missionary, C.T. Studd, undertook the first baptisms in a river in the Congo, he needed to fight off crocodiles with a revolver in one hand, while baptising the new converts with the other! C.T. Studd established his Heart of Africa Mission (what later became known as Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade (WEC) in the heart of cannibal country. He had been drawn to the Congo in response to a poster declaring: Cannibals Need Missionaries!!

Mary Slessor, pioneer missionary to Calabar (modern day Nigeria), included “maxim machine guns” in her prayer letter request back to the home country. This was to counter the threat of slave traders in Nigeria.

Andoniram Judson, America’s first foreign missionary to Burma, was captured on the high seas, and incarcerated in a French prison, from which he escaped. Later he was imprisoned and tortured in a Buddhist prison in Burma for 18 months.

David Livingstone was mauled by a lion and endured multiple attacks on his life by slave traders.

John Paton, missionary to the cannibals in New Hebrides islands, described being encircled by cannibals “in a deadly ring and one kept urging another to strike the first blow.”

Faith and Action
Missionaries such as these faced dangers which we can hardly imagine. We should not be too quick to judge and condemn others for doing what the Bible commands them to do – to take reasonable precautions for self-defence and for the protection of their families. Yes, of course, the primary weapons of missionaries are the Bible, prayer, faith and persuasion. Just as our primary spiritual food is the Word of God. But that does not stop us planting seeds, harvesting crops, shopping and preparing food!

Christians must be balanced and we need to recognise that sin comes from the heart of man (Mark 7:21-23). There is no point blaming a tool, a cold metal inanimate object, for the evil in men’s hearts.

Pacifism is in defiance of historic Christian teaching. The 39 Articles, the foundational statement of the Church of England, states clearly in Article 37: “It is lawful for Christian men to carry weapons.”

The Westminster Catechism, considered the finest expression of Biblical teaching, states under the 6 th Commandment that the prohibition against murder requires as our duty: “All careful studies and lawful endeavours to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting, by just defence, against violence, protecting and defending the innocent.” (Q135).

“Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.” Proverbs 25:26

The first president of America, George Washington, declared: “Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence. To secure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. They deserve a place of honour with all that is good.”

Switzerland’s Strategy for Survival

If you want peace, prepare for war . Peace is achieved through superior firepower. This sums up the Swiss attitude towards peace and freedom. The land of William Tell, Ulrich Zwingli, William Farel and John Calvin, with its deep mistrust of central governments, its abiding love for God’s Word and for life and liberty, remain a bastion of freedom through armed neutrality.

“The nation will continue to exist only if it is strong enough to defend itself.” “We have a small army, yes, but it is made strong by our traditions.” General Guisan in his book: “Our People and its Army” asserted that military defence has two essential components – moral force and material force. A young man at his Confirmation received a sword and could not marry unless he possessed a Bible and a firearm. The local assemblies of lawmakers each carried a sword as a symbol of liberty when they gathered for legislation. Days of military recruitment were festivals with processions, flags and music. Being capable of military service is a physical certificate of health. The warrior spirit exhibits itself in the arts, literature and architecture. The army is the incarnation of the federal republic. The people are the army, the army is the people. The army provides education for citizenship. “We owe it to our ancestors, always appreciate freedom and independence…It is better to die than to live in slavery!”

The Swiss Shooting Federation (SSV) was formed in 1824: “To the promotion and perfection of the art of sharpshooting, an art beautiful in itself and of the highest importance for the defence of the Confederation.” Shooting festivals became one of the most important unifying activities in the community. It has always been Switzerland’s high level of military preparedness, as a nation of sharpshooters on skis, that has proved an effective deterrent to would-be aggressors.

Switzerland is the only European nation which has proclaimed that, in the event of an invasion, any announcement of surrender is to be regarded as enemy propaganda, that every soldier must fight to the last cartridge, and then with the bayonet. Their published and openly proclaimed military strategy is to make any invader pay a severe penalty for violating their neutrality. The standing order is: Keep fighting. No surrender. No retreat. Fight to the last bullet and blade.

Foundations for Freedom
To limit a person’s access to lethal weapons is to limit his ability for self and family defence. Weapons control interferes with our basic right and responsibility for self-defence. Ultimately gun control can deprive you of your right to life. The right of citizens to use lethal force to defend themselves is a great deterrent to thieves and attackers.

Those who choose not to have firearms still benefit from those who do. If only one in twenty people are armed, it still acts as a restraint on potential attackers who are not certain who is armed, and who is not. The deterrent value of armed citizens against crime cannot be overestimated.

“Do not be afraid of them, remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses.” Nehemiah 4:14

From these, and many other, passages of Scripture (including Numbers 32:20; Judges 5:8; 1 Samuel 13:19-22), we can see that a man is responsible to be armed and prepared to protect his household.

“A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well.” Proverbs 25:26

The Deadly Deception of Pacifism

When these Scriptural principles are ignored the results can be tragic:

The Christians at the Elim Mission Station in Rhodesia were such convinced pacifists, that even within a few kilometres of Marxist Mozambique during a vicious war, they refused to be armed. They had neither fence, nor dogs to protect them. They refused to allow the security forces to station some guards for their protection. When communist terrorists visited Elim, the missionaries provided them with food and medical supplies.

On one fateful night, in 1979, ZANLA terrorists of Robert Mugabe herded the nine missionaries and four children onto one of the fields. In front of the parents, they hacked the children to death. Then, in front of the husbands, they raped and tortured the women to death. Finally, they brutally murdered the men. Yet, so effectively had their pacifist beliefs neutralised them, that there was no attempt at resistance. The men stood by and watched ruthless terrorists butcher and abuse their loved ones.

In November 1987 a similar massacre took place at New Adams farm in Zimbabwe. Their sincere belief in pacifism disarmed the 16 precious Christians and made them helpless victims to a frightful slaughter.

English Legal Tradition
English legal tradition has always recognised the right of free citizens to possess and carry weapons for self-defence. King Alfred the Great (871-899) laid the foundation for English law. The Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 formed the preamble for these laws. While abuses, such as disturbing a meeting by drawing a sword, were prohibited – the basic right to bear arms was entrenched.

The laws of King Cnut (1020-1023) declared self-defence to not only be a right, but a duty. Those who failed to assist a person under attack were to be fined. Similarly, anyone who “illegally disarms a man” were to be fined.

The Magna Carta of 1215, the first written restriction on the powers of government, and the grandfather of all Bills of Rights, guaranteed the right of all free men to bear arms.

The English Declaration of Rights of 1689 recognised “the right of having and using arms for self preservation and defence.” Other free states entrenched this right to obtain, own, carry and use weapons for self defence, including most notably the United States of America and its Bill of Rights. So important and basic was this considered by the American Founding Fathers that they placed it in the Second Amendment – straight after religious freedom!

If these foundational principles for freedom seem extreme, or outdated, then consider recent history:

Rwanda was a Gun Free Zone
On 6 April 1994, one of the most dreadful campaigns of mass murder was unleashed upon the Tutsi people of Rwanda. In just over 6 weeks more people were killed with machetes and clubs than had died from atomic weapons in all of history. The MRND Hutu government of Rwanda instigated, organised and launched the systematic slaughter of the Christian Tutsi minority after enforcing a rigorous gun control. As the population had been previously disarmed, they were helpless to defend themselves against the state which now had a monopoly of weapons. Over 500,000 Tutsi Christians were murdered.

The confiscation of weapons made the massacres possible - by disarming the targeted victims. The holocaust in Rwanda again confirmed that limiting the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families is an open invitation to criminals to attack the innocent.

Gun Control Precedes Genocide
The genocides perpetrated upon the Christian Armenians in Ottoman Turkey from 1915-1917 were preceded by gun control and gun confiscation. The massacres of Christian peasants in the Soviet Union from 1929-1953 were preceded by gun control and gun confiscation. The massacres of Jews and Christians in Nazi occupied Europe from 1939-1945; against Christians and anti-communists in Red China from 1949-1976; against Christians in Uganda from 1971-1979; against anti-communists and educated people in Cambodia from 1975-1979; and Christian Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 – they were all preceded by gun control legislation, which effectively disarmed the targeted victims.

The Greatest Killer
A gun free sticker would not have helped these people, because the greatest threat to life is not from firearm accidents, nor even from criminals. The greatest killer in the 20th Century was secular governments who had disarmed their own citizens. Approximately 160 million people were killed by their own governments, in over 40 communist states, just in the 20th Century alone. These were not foreigners killed by invading armies during times of war, these were citizens killed by their own governments in times of peace.

Tyrants Prefer Unarmed Victims
Gun control deprives potential victims of their best means of protection. A free people need to be armed. Disarmed people can be easily exploited and oppressed. If a government does not trust its citizens with weapons, then the citizens cannot trust the government with power. A government that fears its people is itself to be feared. No government should ever have a monopoly of force or weaponry.

Deal with the Murderer
The underlying arguments for gun control seem to be that the availability of weapons causes crime. But this has not been the Biblical position. Genesis 4 records the first murder when Cain killed Abel. God’s response was not to ban rocks, knives, clubs, or whatever murder weapon may have been used, but to banish the murderer. It is the murderer’s heart that is the problem, not the weapon used.

In Genesis 9:5-6, God instituted capital punishment for murder. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” This death penalty for murder was repeatedly restated (Exodus 21:12-15; Leviticus 24:17-22; Numbers 35:33; Matthew 5:17-18; Acts 25:11; Romans 13:1-4; Revelation 13:10).

However, nowhere does the Bible advocate weapons control. The Bible does record the control of weapons by the Amalikites and the Philistines (Judges 5:8 and 1 Samuel 13:19-22) but it condemns these restrictions on individual defence as a pagan attempt to centralise excessive power.

A Bad Workman Blames his Tool
If firearms caused crime, then Switzerland would be a violent, lawless country, because every citizen has weapons of war stored in his home. Yet, despite having millions of military type rifles, and a great many other firearms and weapons of war in private homes, overall firearm abuse is so low as to be insignificant and Switzerland has the lowest burglary and murder rate in the industrialised world. How many mass murders take place in gun shops, on shooting ranges, or in police stations, where firearms abound?

Also, in 1945, at the end of the Second World War, when tens of millions of soldiers returned to their homes, with millions of surplus firearms sold on the open market (the South African government were selling .303 rifles for just R2 each), and hundreds of thousands of captured souvenir weapons, there was actually a sharp decline of violent crime in the USA, Britain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

However, later, with the advent of “the permissive society”, and as church attendance decreased, along with the explosion of the drug culture and the sexual revolution – then violent crime increased. Clearly, guns do not cause crime. People in rebellion against the Laws of God cause crime and violence.

Gun Free is No Guarantee
Nevertheless, we in South African have an organisation called Gun Free South Africa which regularly claims that: “a person who uses a firearm in self-defence is more likely to be shot than someone who does not” and “the cases of people attacked and robbed of their guns – and often shot with their own guns – far outnumbered occasions when somebody successfully defends themselves with a gun”!!! (Loaded Issues, GFSA leaflet). The same leaflet asserts that criminals are more likely to attack armed victims!

Criminals Prefer Unarmed Victims
These incredible assertions are decisively refuted by the facts. A US Department of Justice report on a Survey of Incarcerated Felons found that the greatest deterrent to crime is armed citizens. 60% of convicts agreed that they would never attempt to rob a victim if they thought that he or she might be armed. 74% declared that their greatest fear was being shot by a victim. 57% stated that they feared armed citizens more than police. Every year, armed citizens legally shoot four times more criminals than do policemen.

Crime Control
An American study, Crime Control by Gary Kleck, reported than a million times a year US citizens use firearms to defend themselves against criminals and to prevent a crime (2,740 times a day). In 98% of these cases, the mere brandishing of the firearm proved sufficient to deter the attacker. Only in 2% of the cases did the citizen find it necessary to kill, or wound, the criminal. Gary Kleck began his studies as a gun control advocate, yet, after his research, became convinced that it was counterproductive. He now opposes government interference in the rights of citizens to obtain and use fireams for self-defence.

A Rapist’s Nightmare
A US Justice Department study of more than 32,000 rapes or attempted rapes, found that the best protection against rape is for a woman to be armed. When a potential victim of rape was armed with a firearm, or a knife, only 3% of the attempted rapes succeeded (Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Rape Victimisation).

Resistance Increases Chances of Survival
A South African study, by John Mann of SAGA, researched 206 cases of armed private defence (not including police or military personnel) in the Gauteng area. In summary he calculated: 677 attackers to 246 defenders/victims; 81% of attackers had weapons, 71% had firearms. 36% of the attackers were killed, or arrested, by the defenders. 64% of the attackers fled. Only four armed defenders/victims died (confrontational survival rate of 31 to 1). No bystanders/innocent parties were injured by actions taken by the defenders. In his conclusion, Mann observed: Potential victims can expect multiple attackers. When an intended victim has used a firearm in defence, four out of ten attackers were killed, or arrested; six out of ten attackers ran away. When an armed victim resists, their chances of surviving the attack are increased by 31 times (3,100%).

More Guns – Less Crime
John Lott of the University of Chicago law school conducted an exhaustive study on the relation of firearm ownership to crime. His 18 years of thorough research of all the data, for over 3,000 counties of the United States, was published under the title: “More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws.”

Lott’s scholarly study exposes the falsehood and folly of many Gun Free SA guestimates, claims and assertions. For example, the GFSA claim that most people are killed by a friend, family member, or someone they know. The often quoted statistic is that 58% of murder victims are killed by an acquaintance. What most people do not realise is that this so-called “acquaintance murder” category includes gang members killing other gang members, drug buyers killing drug pushers, taxi drivers being killed by customers they picked up for the first time, prostitutes and their clients and so on.

Zero Tolerance
The vast majority of murders are not committed by previously law-abiding citizens. 90% of adult murderers have had previous criminals records as adults. It was this fact that led the New York Police Commissioner to institute the successful Zero Tolerance campaign that dramatically decreased the incidences of crime in New York City. They observed that serious violent crime was committed by people who had committed a wide variety of minor crimes first. To counteract this early contempt for the law, New York police now deal severely with all breaches of the law – to instil an early respect of the law and for the rights of others.

Concealed Carry Deters Crime
John Lott documented in his comprehensive study that states with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest decreases in violent crime. Those states that allow adults to carry concealed handguns have seen a consistent annual decrease in murders, rapes and robberies. As more people obtain concealed carry permits there is a greater decline in violent crime rates. This he attributes to the fact that criminals are deterred by higher penalties and the most significant deterrent for a criminal is the possibility of being shot by a victim. Lott also documented that each additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about three to four times more than an additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men.

Violence Predates Firearms
Gun Free South Africa advocates imaginatively promote the “dream...of a country where there are no guns.” The suggestion that violence would magically decrease if we could only have gun control reveals an ignorance of both history and human nature. Of course, history records that violence was prevalent prior to the invention of firearms in the 15th Century! Attila the Hun, Ginges Khan and Shaka Zulu managed to kill millions of people without firearms.

The Sharp and Blunt Facts
In fact, contrary to the impression created by GFSA, most murders in South Africa do not involve firearms at all. Knives and other sharp objects and clubs are used to murder more South Africans than firearms do. Does GFSA suggest we ban all knives, sticks and rocks?

E-TV Debate
This was very humourously demonstrated during a TV debate that I took part in with a judge who supported GFSA. The interview took place downtown at the E-TV studios in Cape Town. The judge, answering the question as to how he got involved in supporting Gun Free South Africa, said that he had been involved in dealing with the brutal Bains Kloof murder some years ago. It was a terrible, gruesome murder he said. “Although it didn’t actually involve firearms” he noted, in fact, the terrible way in which they were suffocated in plastic bags made him wonder whether it wouldn’t have been more merciful had they been murdered by firearms. Nevertheless, he realised that “something had to be done” to outlaw firearms!!

The Big Question
On another TV interview on SABC2, The Big Question, I was debating Rev. Alan Storey of Gun Free South Africa. When the interviewer asked me to justify my position I quoted a number of Scripture verses mandating self defence and family defence. The interviewer turned to Alan Story and said “Well, Peter has quoted a number of Scripture verses in support of his position. What verses from the Bible can you quote to support Gun Free South Africa’s position?”

Rev. Storey spluttered and stammered. “Well, actually, there aren’t any” he admitted. “But, not everything in the Bible is Biblical!” As the studio audience exploded in laughter, he added: “Well, what I mean is not everything in the Bible is Christian!” There was even more laughter and I responded: “What kind of theology is this?” Sometimes one’s opponents in a debate destroy their own arguments more effectively than you can do yourself.

Some people do use firearms for evil purposes, but far more people use firearms for defensive purposes - to prevent crimes from being committed.

Children Injured by Guns
On another occasion, I was debating two Gun Free South Africa advocates in Cape Town in a public meeting. Dr. Van As, of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, called for tougher gun laws because he was sick and tired of treating children wounded and crippled by gun fire. This was the first time that I had heard this argument, so, in trying to understand the situation, I asked him: “How many of these children are gang members or criminals that were shot by police, or in self defence, by victims of their crimes?” His answer was: “All of them!”

Later, upon investigation, I found out that only four patients a month at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital were gunshot victims, and almost all of those were from illegal guns in the hands of gangsters, numerous of the patients were actually gang members themselves.

The Main Causes of Injury to Children
It does not seem logical to disarm licensed firearm owners when they are not even the problem. But further research revealed that the vast majority of casualties admitted to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital that year were for falls (2,338 cases), motor vehicle accidents (1,030), burns (532), assault with blunt or sharp instruments (208), and poisoning (744). Even dog bites (91) were more numerous than firearm wounds (50) for that year.

Vastly more children die each year from bicycle accidents, car accidents and drownings than from firearms. Children are 1,450% more likely to die of a car accident than from a firearm. Should we outlaw all motor vehicles? During the height of the Gun Free South Africa campaign I wrote the following letter styled on GFSA arguments, which was published in a number of newspapers in the country:

Car Free South Africa
Everyday the newspapers, the radio and television carry stories of yet more South Africans killed, or maimed, by one of the most dangerous weapons that the state allows our private citizens to possess.

Children are mown down in front their schools and homes, and others are orphaned, when their parents fall victims to these same instruments of death. Doctors in emergency units in hospitals countrywide are daily inundated with victims. Last year there were 511,605 incidents involving these lethal devices. In these incidents 7,260 lost their lives, 21,265 sustained major trauma, and a further 52,097 were fortunate to escape with only minor injuries.

Everyday too, the media reports yet more of these dangerous devices stolen from their rightful owners by criminals. Many of these are subsequently used in the commission of robberies, cash-in-transit heists, hijackings and murders. The number of unlicensed or in-illegal-possession is impossible to estimate. Even those in the possession of law-abiding citizens have led to lethal accidents.

All too often we read of children that use their parent’s vehicle to show off and, who through unfamiliarity, lack of training, or negligence, kill themselves, their brothers or their friends.

It can be argued that law-abiding citizens derive pleasure from these lethal implements and that many people are collectors that own them for their aesthetic appeal, or as investments. Others require them in the course of their daily work, or involved in one of the many sports that use them. Yet, despite the rising death toll, and injuries, caused by these lethal weapons on our streets, and the horrific and graphic images that assault us daily in the media, the numbers of vehicles in the hands of South Africans continues to increase.

The proliferation of these lethal devices should be of major concern to all citizens, yet figures show that last year 859,752 new licences were issued in South Africa. Data on the number of vehicles in the hands of police and other government departments are less readily available. Each year, more people are killed by motor vehicles in South Africa than by firearms. Should we outlaw all cars?

Improve Safety Features
No, the solution to the horrific carnage on the roads is not to ban motor vehicles, but to improve safety features in vehicles, to educate drivers, promote the use of seat belts, and severely punish drunken or reckless driving. As with motor vehicles, it would not be right to erode everyone’s rights, or to take away everyone’s freedom, because of the criminal activities and carelessness of some.

Doctors Kill More People than Firearms Do

Actually, vastly more people die of medical malpractice each year than from firearms. The American Medical Association recognised that 93,000 patients die each year due to medical malpractice by doctors. Another 110,000 patients die from unforeseen reactions to prescribed medicines. We can also add the number of babies killed by doctors through abortion. Approximately 80,000 babies are killed by abortion, legally, with tax payers money, in South Africa alone, each year. In the light of the fact that doctors kill more people each year than firearms do, it seems very hypocritical for any medical officer to blame a cold, metal inanimate object, a tool, for the evil that some people do.

Armed Citizens Save Lives
However, we recognise that doctors save more lives than they take. And that is exactly the same for motor vehicles and firearms. Transport carries life-giving food and medicines to those who most need it, and patients to hospitals where they will be treated. Everyday countless crimes are prevented, hundreds of potential victims are protected, and many tragedies are averted, by armed citizens. Armed citizens save lives, but unarmed citizens all too often become helpless victims.

When three PLO terrorists opened fire on a cafe in Jerusalem, they were promptly shot by armed bystanders. The one wounded, surviving, terrorist was recorded as complaining: “We were never told that the civilians in Israel were armed!”

It is every man’s duty to be armed and prepared to protect the innocent and to defend the defenceless. May God enable us to be fast and accurate.

“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially those of his household, he has denied the Faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

This message was delivered to Livingstone Fellowship. The audio CD and other life changing sermons are available from Christian Liberty Books:

P.O. Box 358, Howard Place, 7450, Cape Town, Tel & Fax: (021) 689-7478, Email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za , Website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za

http://www.frontline.org.za/articles/Faith%20and%20Firearms.htm

Thursday 01-19-12

2012-01-19T03:35:00.001-05:00

I guess even toy guns are scary? Might be something in the water in NY City

Fake-gun fine unreal
30G penalty forcing B’klyn store to close

Now this is a real stickup!

The owner of a discount store in Brooklyn says the city is holding him up for $30,000 in fines he can’t afford — all because he stocked six toy sheriff sets that included plastic guns.

And now the .44-caliber fines for the orange-tipped, obvious fakes are forcing him to close for good.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Khaled Mohamed, 23, manager of 99¢ Target in Flatlands, which has been ordered to pay a staggering $5,000 fine for each gun offered for sale — the maximum under the law.

The store “cannot pay that fine at all,” said Mohamed, arguing that the punishment imposed on the Utica Avenue odds-and-ends shop is way out of proportion to the violation.

Dana Sauchelli
UNLAWFUL: The city says this obviously fake toy gun is too real.

MOHAMED

“They’re stopping us from doing any business,” he said.

The store’s lawyer, Andrew Tilem, doesn’t dispute that 99¢ Target was in violation of a city regulation that makes it illegal to sell toy weapons that look too real.

The rule is designed to prevent cops from mistaking the toys for the real thing — and shooting an innocent kid — and to thwart criminals from using them to commit crimes.

Retailers can get around the law by making sure the toy guns are brightly colored.

Tilem and Mohamed said the store initially relied on the word of the gun’s vendor, JMD All Star of New Jersey, that the toys were legal for sale. Then, they said, the prior manager failed to inform store owner Jamal Ahmed that a city inspector had written up the shop.

Because of that failure, Ahmed missed a hearing, which led to the $30,000 fine, Tilem said. The lawyer got Consumer Affairs to reopen the case and negotiate a tentative settlement for about $5,400.

But Ahmed couldn’t afford that either, so he tried his luck at another hearing.

After the store argued that no reasonable person would believe the guns were real, the hearing officer upheld the original fine, as did an appeals judge last week.

Tilem decried the $5,000-per-toy fine, calling it “a really, really abusive penalty.”

But a Consumer Affairs spokeswoman countered, “Realistic-looking imitation guns are illegal and dangerous, and just last week, a 15-year-old in Texas was killed while holding one of these guns.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/fake_gun_fine_unreal_fdcYUeshHyvth4maEHXrpM#ixzz1jqtR9Ovq

NYPD looks to scan people on the street for guns, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says
New technology being tested

The NYPD is developing a new way to seek people toting guns on the street by using radiation scanners that can detect those packing heat, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced Tuesday.

The technology — which works similar to infrared imaging — includes a mechanism that can detect a natural energy, known as terahertz radiation, that emits from a person’s body, Kelly said during his State of the NYPD address.

Because the radiation waves cannot travel through metal, a concealed gun can be detected from the image captured by the lense of the detector, Kelly said.

“This technology has shown a great deal of promise as a way of detecting weapons without a physical search,” Kelly said.

However, the technology — which has been undergoing testing by the NYPD and the U.S. Department of Defense for the past three years — can only be used at a distance of 3 to 4 feet, cops said.

“This can be done from a short range,” Kelly said. “We want a distance of at least 25 meters.”

Kelly mentioned the technology as part of the department’s continuing efforts to curb illegal guns off the street as he addressed the Police Foundation at the Regency Hotel on Park Ave.

He said cops hope to install the heat-seeking devices on police vehicles in the near future.

“We want to use new technology to protect the public and police officers from illegal guns,” he said.

But civil liberties lawyer Norman Siegel said he hopes the scanning devices will be able to distinguish between a gun and other harmless metal objects, such as an iPod.

Siegel said if the technology only picks up only fuzzy images of possible guns, it could lead cops to make unwarranted stops.

“It will make an already agressive policy of stop, question and frisk seem tame,” he said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/nypd-scan-people-street-guns-police-commissioner-raymond-kelly-article-1.1007456#ixzz1jquSLjC2

Well first they said it did ot happen now they say they are sorry and wrong. The first thing you have to do is make them admit they are wrong or they will not change.

TSA admits wrongdoing in cases of two elderly woman who claim they were strip-searched
Exclusive: Lenore Zimmerman and Ruth Sherman still fuming after humiliating December incident

In an about-face, the feds have admitted wrongdoing in the cases of two elderly women who say they were strip-searched at Kennedy Airport by overzealous screeners.

Federal officials had initially insisted that all “screening procedures were followed” after Ruth Sherman, 89, and Lenore Zimmerman, 85, went public with separate accounts of humiliating strip searches.

But in a letter obtained by the Daily News, the Homeland Security Department acknowledges that screeners violated standard practice in their treatment of the ailing octogenarians last November.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Betsy Markey concedes to state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) that Sherman was forced to show security agents her colostomy bag — a violation of policy.

“It is not standard operating procedure for colostomy devices to be visually inspected, and [the Transportation Security Administration\] apologizes for this employee’s action,” Markey wrote.

The letter says that Sherman, who uses a wheelchair, was escorted into a private area after she voluntarily lowered her pants to show screeners the device.

In the private room, she was patted down and told to show agents the colostomy bag, the letter says.

Markey still maintained that the Florida-based Sherman was never asked to remove her clothing.

“They asked me to pull my sweatpants down, and now they’re not telling you the truth,” Sherman fumed Monday.

Markey also denied that Zimmerman had been strip-searched, but did apologize for the conduct of a TSA agent who violated policy by scanning the Long Island granny’s back brace.

Zimmerman had told The News two female agents removed her clothes — instead of just patting her down — after she revealed that she was wearing a defibrillator.

“They’re lying,” said Zimmerman. “I don’t have a problem with [screeners checking\] the back brace. I have a problem with being strip-searched.”

Gianaris, who wrote to the TSA requesting a full investigation, said the feds’ account is still full of holes.

“It’s obvious that something went wrong, so its nice to see the TSA admit that their procedures were violated,” Gianaris said, “but they’re still falling short of admitting that these women’s dignity was violated by asking them to remove their clothes.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/tsa-apologizes-elderly-women-strip-search-kennedy-airport-article-1.1007725#ixzz1jsYc7n6d

Wednesday 01-18-12

2012-01-18T17:31:00.002-05:00

The stupid are becoming more stupid? Or are they really trying tou run your life because you are too stupid to know what is good for you?

Walnuts Are Drugs, Says FDA

Seen any walnuts in your medicine cabinet lately? According to the Food and Drug Administration, that is precisely where you should find them. Because Diamond Foods made truthful claims about the health benefits of consuming walnuts that the FDA didn’t approve, it sent the company a letter declaring, “Your walnut products are drugs” — and “new drugs” at that — and, therefore, “they may not legally be marketed … in the United States without an approved new drug application.” The agency even threatened Diamond with “seizure” if it failed to comply.

Diamond’s transgression was to make “financial investments to educate the public and supply them with walnuts,” as William Faloon of Life Extension magazine put it. On its website and packaging, the company stated that the omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts have been shown to have certain health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease and some types of cancer. These claims, Faloon notes, are well supported by scientific research: “Life Extension has published 57 articles that describe the health benefits of walnuts”; and “The US National Library of Medicine database contains no fewer than 35 peer-reviewed published papers supporting a claim that ingesting walnuts improves vascular health and may reduce heart attack risk.”

This evidence was apparently not good enough for the FDA, which told Diamond that its walnuts were “misbranded” because the “product bears health claims that are not authorized by the FDA.”

The FDA’s letter continues: “We have determined that your walnut products are promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs because these products are intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease.” Furthermore, the products are also “misbranded” because they “are offered for conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners; therefore, adequate directions for use cannot be written so that a layperson can use these drugs safely for their intended purposes.” Who knew you had to have directions to eat walnuts?

“The FDA’s language,” Faloon writes, “resembles that of an out-of-control police state where tyranny [reigns] over rationality.” He adds:

This kind of bureaucratic tyranny sends a strong signal to the food industry not to innovate in a way that informs the public about foods that protect against disease. While consumers increasingly reach for healthier dietary choices, the federal government wants to deny food companies the ability to convey findings from scientific studies about their products.

Walnuts aren’t the only food whose health benefits the FDA has tried to suppress. Producers of pomegranate juice and green tea, among others, have felt the bureaucrats’ wrath whenever they have suggested that their products are good for people.

Meanwhile, Faloon points out, foods that have little to no redeeming value are advertised endlessly, often with dubious health claims attached. For example, Frito-Lay is permitted to make all kinds of claims about its fat-laden, fried products, including that Lay’s potato chips are “heart healthy.” Faloon concludes that “the FDA obviously does not want the public to discover that they can reduce their risk of age-related disease by consuming healthy foods. They prefer consumers only learn about mass-marketed garbage foods that shorten life span by increasing degenerative disease risk.”

Faloon thinks he knows why this is the case. First, by stifling competition from makers of more healthful alternatives, junk food manufacturers, who he says “heavily lobb[y]” the federal government for favorable treatment, will rake in ever greater profits. Second, by making it less likely that Americans will consume healthful foods, big pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers stand to gain by selling more “expensive cardiac drugs, stents, and coronary bypass procedures” to those made ill by their diets.

But people are starting to fight back against the FDA’s tactics. “The makers of pomegranate juice, for example, have sued the FTC for censoring their First Amendment right to communicate scientific information to the public,” Faloon reports. Congress is also getting into the act with a bill, the Free Speech About Science Act (H.R. 1364), that, Faloon writes, “protects basic free speech rights, ends censorship of science, and enables the natural health products community to share peer-reviewed scientific findings with the public.”

Of course, if the Constitution were being followed as intended, none of this would be necessary. The FDA would not exist; but if it did, as a creation of Congress it would have no power to censor any speech whatsoever. If companies are making false claims about their products, the market will quickly punish them for it, and genuine fraud can be handled through the courts. In the absence of a government agency supposedly guaranteeing the safety of their food and drugs and the truthfulness of producers’ claims, consumers would become more discerning, as indeed they already are becoming despite the FDA’s attempts to prevent the dissemination of scientific research. Besides, as Faloon observed, “If anyone still thinks that federal agencies like the FDA protect the public, this proclamation that healthy foods are illegal drugs exposes the government’s sordid charade.”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/8294-walnuts-are-drugs-says-fda

Monday 01-16-12

2012-01-16T04:22:00.003-05:00

The new defense bill… R.I.P. due process

By Rebecca DiFede — On Dec. 1 the Senate passed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act; a $662 billion Defense bill.

That’s typical. But what’s not is that one portion of the bill may take tyranny and governmental control to a whole new level. Critics have said the legislation would give the military the power to lock up any and all suspected terrorists, whether captured here or abroad, citizen or not, and hold them indefinitely.

If your face is frozen in terror, don’t worry. That’s totally normal.

In an attempt to save the rights of United States citizens, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) insisted on an amendment that stated that the current laws on the detention of citizens would stand, and in extreme cases the Supreme Court can decide if a waiver (as allowed by the bill) would be granted. It passed easily 99 to 1.

Feinstein even attempted to introduce a provision into the bill that the military indefinite hold only be applied to those captured outside the U.S., but the vote was denied. The majority of the Senate, it seems, didn’t really want to outright prohibit the military from being able to lock up citizens left and right.

The Obama Administration, for its part, has threatened to veto the legislation, saying the provisions don’t go far enough and will hamper law enforcement. Despite Obama’s veto threats, the bill passed 93-7 and is now being reviewed by the House.

But with waivers, there are so many loopholes in this bill that if the government suspects that you were involved in somehow supporting something related to an Al-Qaeda-esque organization, they can find a way to get the Secretary of Defense to write a waiver for you, sending you off to prison before the ink dries on your arraignment — and then perhaps the Supreme Court might save you.

As Senator Dick Durbin put it, “The Supreme Court will decide who can be detained; the United States Senate will not,” Durbin said.

If this bill passes the House and the President fails to veto it as promised, it will create a situation where at any moment, martial law can be invoked — putting every person’s freedom in jeopardy.

If there is even the smallest inkling that someone is connected to some form of terrorism they can be arrested, detained without being Mirandized, and not let out until the military decides to release them (or charge them).

As any student of American History can tell you, our founding fathers drafted the Constitution to protect us from the tyrannical grip of English rule. They wanted to make sure that in America, soldiers wouldn’t be able to come after the general population and round up everyone they think seems guilty without just cause.

The Fifth Amendment was designed to do just that; give us the right to due process so that we are guaranteed to be treated fairly when we are arrested. The rights of the accused are a cornerstone in the foundation of our country, and one of the things that separates us from the rest of the uncivilized world.

If this bill is passed, it could render the Fifth Amendment and all its protections completely irrelevant.

This idea unravels some of the basic tenets of our Constitution, and goes back on the very ideas our country was founded upon. It then comes as no surprise that Congress only sustains a 12 percent approval rating, while 82.5 percent disapprove of the way they’re handling the country. And I suspect trampling the constitution will only further diminish the faith of Americans in our men and women in Congress.

Hopefully Obama does what he said (for once) and vetoes this bill, lest it pass both houses and become one of the most terrifying laws this side of Nazi Germany.

http://netrightdaily.com/2011/12/the-new-defense-bill-rip-due-process/#ixzz1jQlsn600

Looks like things could be moving in the right direction, at least in GA.

Senate proposes ending ban on silencers in hunting

ATLANTA — A Georgia Senate proposal would end the ban on silencers for hunting firearms.

Senate Bill 301 is sponsored by Sen. John Bulloch, who says allowing hunters to use silencers would keep them from disturbing their neighbors. The Ochlocknee Republican says hunters would still have to have a federal permit to possess a silencer and argues this does not create an unfair advantage for hunters.

"As our growth patterns have changed and we're having more and more residential properties infringing on hunting properties," Bulloch said. "If you have a silencer on your hunting gun, the noise would not disturb neighbors as bad. This doesn't really have anything to do with fair chase. It's about trying to be respectful to people in residential areas."

The bill has been assigned to the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which Bulloch co-chairs. Sen. Ross Tolleson, a Republican from Perry who is one of the bill's co-sponsors, is the committee's chairman.

Bulloch said the legislation was brought to him by the National Rifle Association. Reached by telephone, NRA spokeswoman Stephanie Samford said the organization does support the use of silencers, which she referred to as suppressors.

"There are several benefits to hunting with suppressed firearms," Samford said. "Suppressors decrease the gunfire noise, which is important because a lot of hunters don't always wear hearing protection. Suppressors also reduce recoil and muzzle rise. That allows the shooter to get into position for a follow up shot much more quickly and accurately."

Samford said that silencers do not allow hunters to sneak up on animals because a sound is still emitted.

The NRA successfully pushed for similar legislation last year in Kansas, Louisiana and Washington, and supports legalizing silencers in all 50 states. Silencers are legal to possess and use for lawful purposes in most states, but require a federal permit from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The permit costs $200.

http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-01-12/senate-proposes-ending-ban-silencers-hunting

Sunday 01-15-12

2012-01-15T06:27:00.000-05:00

The people of India are signing their own death warrants as they agree to sign up to their governments ID card system, claiming it will help cut fraud for benefit payments. The real reason is to help the New World Order with population control and access to money, so the 1% can steal it al. For a supposed poor country which the UK shovs billions to, India has lots of other people's money to waste.

It's worth remembering that this is the EXACT same system that the crooked New Labour government tried to force on the British people, to comply with New Labour's NWO agenda.

Recorded from Sky News, 22 December 2011.

The religion of peace is at it again, i could fill several blog post a day with their articles.

Muslim Extremists in Uganda Throw Acid on Bishop

KAMPALA, Uganda – Islamic extremists threw acid on a church leader on Christmas Eve shortly after a seven-day revival at his church, leaving him with severe burns that have blinded one eye and threaten sight in the other.

Bishop Umar Mulinde, 37, a sheikh (Islamic teacher) before his conversion to Christianity, was attacked on Saturday night (Dec. 24) outside his Gospel Life Church International building in Namasuba, about 10 kilometers (six miles) outside of Kampala. From his hospital bed in Kampala, he told Compass that he was on his way back to the site for a party with the entire congregation and hundreds of new converts to Christianity when a man who claimed to be a Christian approached him.

“I heard him say in a loud voice, ‘Pastor, pastor,’ and as I made a turn and looked at him, he poured the liquid onto my face as others poured more liquid on my back and then fled away shouting, ‘Allahu akbar [God is greater],’” Mulinde said, still visibly traumatized two days after the assault.

A neighbor and church members rushed him to a hospital in the Mengo area of Kampala, and he was then transferred to International Hospital Kampala.

“I have to continue fighting this pain – it is too much,” Mulinde said. “My entire body is in pain. Most of the night I miss sleep.”

His face, neck and arms bore deep black scars from the acid, and his lips were swollen.

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“The burn caused by the acid is so severe that there is an urgent need for specialized treatment,” said area Christian Musa Baluku Symutsangira. “I suggest that he be flown outside the country as soon as possible; otherwise Mulinde might lose both of his eyes, coupled with the spread of the burns. The burns seemed to spread and go very deep. He might need some plastic surgery.”

A doctor told Compass that acid burns cover about 30 percent of his face and has cost him sight in one eye.

“We are doing all we can to save his other remaining eye and to contain the acid from spreading to other parts of the body,” the doctor said.

Mulinde’s shirt, tie and suit were in tatters after the attack.

Mulinde said his father, Id Wasswa, was a local prayer leader or imam.

“I was born into a Muslim family, and although I decided to become a Christian, I have been financially assisting many Muslims, as well as my relatives who are Muslims,” he said. “I have been conducting a peaceful evangelism campaign.”

Mulinde said Muslim extremists opposed to his conversion from Islam and his outspoken opposition of sharia (Islamic law) courts in Uganda, known in East Africa as Kadhi courts, attacked him. On Oct. 15, area Muslim leaders declared a fatwa against him demanding his death.

“I have been receiving several threats for a long time, and this last one is the worst of all,” Mulinde said. “I have bore the marks of Jesus.”

Mulinde is known for debates locally and internationally in which he often challenges Muslims regarding their religion. His extensive knowledge and quotation of the Quran in his preaching has won him enemies and friends. Often criticizing Islam, he has relied on police protection during revival campaigns throughout Uganda.

“Mulinde poses a big threat to those who cannot take the challenge as he engages the Muslims in debate,” said Dr. Joseph Serwadda, an area church leader.

A church guard who was away on the day of the attack said he felt responsible.

“I feel bad,” he said. “I feel I have failed in my duty as a guard.”

Mulinde is married and has six children ages 14, 12, 8, 6 and twins who are 3.

Police have reportedly arrested one suspect, whom they have declined to name. A divisional commander at Katwa police station identified only as Kateebe would say only that an investigation was underway.

The hospital charges 350,000 Uganda shillings (US$140 dollars) per day, a steep amount in Uganda.

“We appeal for our brothers and sisters wherever they are to assist the life of Bishop Umar Mulinde,” said Symutsangira.

Several Attacks

Mulinde, who lives and pastors in Namasuba outside of Kampala, in April led religious leaders in petitioning the Ugandan Parliament to refrain from amending the constitution to introduce Kadhi courts.

He collected 360,000 signatures from former Muslims who have converted to Christianity, he said, and managed to temporarily stop parliament from proposing the constitutional change. When Compass met with Mulinde in November, however, he said there was new momentum to revive the Kadhi courts issue.

In May he was attacked by suspected Muslim extremists after a series of campaigns against Kadhi courts in Namasuba. After presenting his case against the Kadhi courts, he narrowly escaped a kidnap attempt when his vehicle was blocked at eight kilometers (five miles) outside of Kampala at Ndege, two kilometers from his home in Namasuba. Muslim extremists jumped out of the vehicle and shot at the fleeing Mulinde but missed him. He reported the case at the Katwa police station.

Mulinde has faced several injuries and attacks from Muslims since his conversion to Christianity in 1993, including having stones thrown at him after debates in 1998 and 2002.

After Kenya maintained Kadhi courts in its new constitution last year, the attorney general of Uganda wanted to insert Kadhi courts – which presumably would deal only with marriage and family issues for Muslims – into the Ugandan constitution. But Mulinde argued that there would be two judicial systems governing one country.

“If Muslims who convert to Christianity are facing persecution from the Muslims now, then what will be their fate when the Kadhi courts are entrenched in the constitution?” he said.

When Mulinde converted from Islam to Christianity, his family drove him away with clubs and machetes. Since then, he has suffered numerous life-threatening attacks. In 1995 at Mbiji, he was attacked with clubs but managed to escape. In 1998 he was attacked at Kangulomila near Jinja town. In 2000 in Masaka, Muslims bribed the area district commissioner to declare Mulinde’s meetings illegal; Muslims stormed into one of the meetings and dragged him out, beating him till he lost consciousness. Police saved him.

In 2001 in Busia, while addressing another meeting, a Muslim extremist narrowly missed killing him with a sword. In 1994, he survived a gun attack at Natete, near Kampala, when a bullet narrowly missed him. He said that as he fell into muddy waters, his Muslim attackers, thinking they had killed him, said, “Allah akbar.”

Because of the threats against him – in October Muslim extremists sent him text messages threatening to assassinate him – Mulinde had relocated to another area in Uganda.

He has vowed to continue fighting for the rights of the former Muslims haunted by radical Islamists.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/muslim-extremists-in-uganda-throw-acid-on-bishop-65903/

Saturday 01-14-12

2012-01-14T02:56:00.000-05:00

Numbers Game: 34 Shocking Facts about U.S. Debt

http://oddhammer.com/tutorials/debt_clock/

Recently I came across an arresting set of numbers published in the Economic Collapse Blog, a blog new to me and worth considering.

Thirty years ago the U.S. debt was a crisis out of control. Now that debt is 15 times larger and government is adding over a trillion dollars to the debt every year. The facts below should concern every American and should be shared with as many people as possible.

These numbers show that American “prosperity” is an illusion purchased by the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. We are a nation addicted to debt and the debt crisis threatens to destroy us. Here are some of those numbers:

#1 In fiscal year 2011, the U.S. government spent 3.7 trillion dollars but only brought in 2.4 trillion dollars.

#2 When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the U.S. national debt was less than 1 trillion dollars. Today, the U.S. national debt is over 15.2 trillion dollars.

#3 In 2011 U.S. debt surpassed 100 percent of GDP for the first time ever.

#4 According to Wikipedia, the monetary base “consists of coins, paper money (both as bank vault cash and as currency circulating in the public), and commercial banks’ reserves with the central bank.” Currently the U.S. monetary base is around 2.7 trillion dollars. The total of that money would only make a small dent in our national debt.

#5 The U.S. government spent over 454 billion dollars just on interest on the national debt during fiscal 2011.

#6 The U.S. government has total assets of 2.7 trillion dollars and has total liabilities of 17.5 trillion dollars. The liabilities do not even count 4.7 trillion dollars of intra-governmental debt that is currently outstanding.

#7 During the 3 years of Obama administration the U.S. government accumulated more total debt than it did from 1789 when George Washington took office to 1993 when Bill Clinton took office.

#8 The U.S. national debt will surpass 23 trillion dollars in 2015.

#9 According to the GAO, the U.S. government is facing 34 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities for social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare. These are committed obligations for which there are no money.

#10 Some estimate that the unfunded liabilities of the U.S. government now total over 117 trillion dollars.

#11 According to the GAO, the ratio of debt held by the public to GDP is projected to reach 287 percent of GDP by 2086.

#12 A recent IMF policy paper entitled “An Analysis of U.S. Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: Who Will Pay and How?” projects that U.S. government debt will rise to about 400 percent of GDP by the year 2050.

#13 The United States government is responsible for more than a third of all the government debt in the entire world.

#14 When the national debt is divided equally among all U.S. taxpayers each taxpayer owes approximately $134,685.

#15 Mandatory federal spending surpassed total federal revenue for the first time ever in fiscal 2011. That was not supposed to happen until 50 years from now.

#16 During the period 2007- 2010, U.S. GDP grew by only 4.26% but the U.S. national debt soared by 61%.

#17 During Barack Obama’s first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

#18 All spending by federal, state and local governments, equals 46.6% of GDP.

#19 People are addicted to government checks. In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7% of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for 18.4% of all income.

#20 U.S. households are now receiving more money directly from the U.S. government than they are paying to the government in taxes.

#21 A staggering 48.5% of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. In 1983, that number was below 30 percent.

#22 In 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.

#23 In 1950, each retiree’s Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 U.S. workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are now only 1.75 full-time private sector workers for each person that is receiving Social Security benefits.

#24 The U.S. government now says that the Medicare trust fund will run out five years faster than they were projecting in 2011.

#25 Spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. In 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.

#26 If the U.S. government was forced to use GAAP accounting principles (as do all publicly-traded corporations) the U.S. government budget deficit would be about $4 trillion to $5 trillion every year.

#27 If you were alive when Jesus Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since, you would not have spent one trillion dollars by now. In 2012 the U.S. government is going to add more than a trillion dollars to the national debt.

#28 If you started spending one dollar every single second, it would take you more than 31,000 years to spend one trillion dollars.

#29 A trillion $10 bills, if they were taped end to end, would wrap around the globe more than 380 times. That amount would still not be enough to pay off the U.S. national debt.

#30 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 470,000 years to pay off the national debt.

#31 If Bill Gates gave every penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for 15 days.

#32 According to Professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff, the U.S. is facing a “fiscal gap” of over 200 trillion dollars in the future. He wrote for CNN….

The government’s total indebtedness – its fiscal gap – now stands at $211 trillion, by my arithmetic. The fiscal gap is the difference, measured in present value, between all projected future spending obligations – including our huge defense expenditures and massive entitlement programs, as well as making interest and principal payments on the official debt – and all projected future taxes.

#33 Add up all forms of debt in the United States (government, business and consumer), and it totals more than 56 trillion dollars, more than $683,000 per family. The average savings per U.S. family is only about $4,735.

#34 The U.S. national debt is now more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve System was created in 1913.

But do our leaders care about statistics such as these?

No. In fact, Barack Obama says that we need to raise the debt limit by another 1.2 trillion dollars.

The absurdity of raising the debt limit when we are already in so much debt is illustrated by this video. The “huge cuts” that Congress has agreed to are meaningless when compared to how rapidly our debt is exploding.

It is not just U.S. debt that is a problem. The European debt crisis threatens to unravel in 2012 and Japan actually has the highest debt to GDP ratio in the entire industrialized world.

In 2012, a total of 7,600,000,000,000 dollars of debt must be rolled over by the G-7 nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China. That doesn’t even count new borrowing. That number just represents old debts that are coming due that must be refinanced.

The Economic Collapse Blog suggests, and I agree: “Your future and the future of your children and grandchildren has been destroyed. You better take action while you still can.”

http://sovereign-investor.com/2012/01/11/numbers-game-shocking-facts-about-u-s-debt/

Friday 01-13-12

2012-01-13T04:46:00.001-05:00

Our neighbors to the North, it will happen sooner then you think here

RCMP to confiscate more guns before registry ends

With the firearms registry on death's door, the RCMP are using what little time remains to reclassify and seize certain scary-looking guns from Canadian firearms owners.

Among the guns being seized is a small-calibre varmint rifle called the Armi Jager AP80. Like many non-restricted rifles, it is semi-automatic and fires the .22-calibre bullet, the smallest and weakest used in any long gun.

The AP80 has been singled out because it looks too much like the infamous AK-47 assault rifle, although it shares no parts or technical similarities with that infamous battle rifle.

On Dec. 20, the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program — the office charged with administering gun control regulations in Canada — served hundreds of registered firearms owners with a "notice of revocation."

"This notice is to inform you that the firearm registration certificates indicated below have been revoked," says the letter, obtained by Postmedia News. "You have 30 days to deliver your firearms to a peace officer, firearms officer . . . or to otherwise lawfully dispose of them."

The letter says the AP80 was "incorrectly registered" in the past, and is being banned because it is now considered a member of the AK-47 family.

"The above mention firearm is prohibited as a variant of the design of the firearm commonly known as the AK-47 rifle," the letter says.

Until Dec. 20, the AP80 was classified as a non-restricted firearm, the most lightly controlled category of firearms in Canada. It has now been moved to most tightly controlled category: the prohibited firearms list.

As a result, the AP80 can now be owned or used only by people possessing certain rare "grandfathered" prohibited licences.

The RCMP also issued a notice of revocation for the Walther G22 rifle on Dec. 30. This gun, also a .22-calibre semi-automatic, was prohibited because it has a removable "bullpup" style shoulder stock.

The Walther G22 vaguely resembles the Beretta Storm carbine, used in the Dawson College shootings.

The letters say nothing about compensating gun owners for the seizures.

Michael Patton, a spokesman for Public Security Minister Vic Toews, said these recent changes do not foreshadow a broader reclassification effort.

"As classification of firearms is a manual process, from time to time there are errors that need to be corrected," he wrote in an email. "However, let me be clear: there is no plan to broadly reclassify firearms."

Ottawa firearms lawyer Solomon Friedman says the consequences could be severe for any owners who don't comply with the confiscation notice.

"If you don't surrender this without compensation, the RCMP can come to your home, seize it and charge you with possession of a prohibited firearm," he said.

Friedman says some owners of the AP80 are considering challenging the seizure order in court.

Under current firearms law, bureaucrats at the Canadian Firearms Program can reclassify any firearm through orders-in-council. Such reclassifications are done without parliamentary input or oversight.

Friedman said this confiscation effort contradicts the spirit of Bill C-19, the Harper government's legislation that will relax gun control, which is currently before the House. He noted the RCMP served its letters of confiscation while MPs were away on holidays.

Moving these firearms into higher classification brackets means their owners will still have to register them even after the Harper government's firearms law passes.

By changing classifications now, the RCMP will retain records of these owners even after the long-gun-registry data is destroyed.

Friedman says activist bureaucrats at the Canadian Firearms Program are using what little time remains to move more firearms into the restricted and prohibited categories.

"Remember, once the gun registry is eliminated, the RCMP will lose their ability to identify, target and harass law-abiding owners on non-restricted firearms," he said. "They only took notice of (the AP80) when the gun registry is in its death throes."

Friedman says there is a broader movement at the Canadian Firearms Program to seize small-calibre rifles that are dressed up to look like assault weapons.

They include .22-calibre semi-automatics made to resemble guns such as the M-16 assault rifle and MP5 submachine-gun used by police and military.

Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Sports Shooting Association, says the RCMP is in the midst of a "campaign of confiscation."

He said his membership is "appalled" by these efforts.

He described the AP80 and G22 as "plinking" rifles, better for little more than shooting tin cans for target practice. Bernardo called the confiscation effort "silly" and "shameful."

"These things are not assault rifles; they're .22s like every farm kid has," he says. "They happen to look racy, but that doesn't make them any deadlier."

Bernardo said seizures like this only reinforce belief in the old gun freedoms adage: "Registration leads to confiscation."

He said the RCMP is "desperate" to seize as many firearms as it can, and to alter classifications to ensure the names of as many firearms owners as possible remain on the books.

"This has a tremendous impact on RCMP's credibility when it comes to firearms issues," he said. "They're making fools of themselves when they launch these kind of campaigns."

http://www.canada.com/news/RCMP+confiscate+more+guns+before+registry+ends/5957717/story.html#ixzz1jI60dQJA
I'm suprised none of mine are on the list.

The Top 25 Most Hacked Passwords

It’s hard to image, but some hackers gain access to systems the good old-fashioned way — using the time-honored tradition of simply guessing a password. Why do some still use this technique? Because it works. And, it works especially well when someone uses the word “password” as their password.

To help bring attention to this security threat, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recently published a list of the 25 top most hacked passwords.

The list of the top 25, ranked in descending order:

password, 123456, 1234567, qwerty, abc123, monkey, 1234567, letmein, trustno1, dragon, baseball, 111111, iloveyou, master, sunshine, ashley, bailey, passw0rd, shadow, 123123, 654321, superman, qazwsx, michael, football

If you are using any of these, maybe it’s time to rethink that strategy.

http://penumbralreport.com/2012/01/06/the-top-25-most-hacked-passwords/

Thursday 01-12-12

2012-01-12T03:27:00.002-05:00

SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers

The conservative and liberal blogospheres are unifying behind opposition to Congress’s Stop Online Piracy Act, with right-leaning bloggers arguing their very existence could be wiped out if the anti-piracy bill passes.

“If either the U.S. Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA) & the U.S. House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) become law, political blogs such as Red Mass Group [conservative] & Blue Mass Group [liberal] will cease to exist,” wrote a blogger at Red Mass Group.

Some have asserted that the controversial measures would criminalize pages and blogs that link to foreign websites dedicated to online piracy. In particular, this has concerned search engines like Google, which could face massive liability if some form of the bill passes, some say.

“Of course, restrictions of results provided by Internet search engines amount to just that: prior restraint of their free expression of future results. Google and others, under SOPA, are told what they can or can’t publish before they publish it. Kill. The. Bill,” conservative blogger Neil Stevens argued at RedState.

Liberals had their own spin on it, cheering on the fact that corporate support for SOPA was starting to subside.

In particular, GoDaddy, a domain registration firm, suffered a spectacularly bad round of PR when it came out in support of the measures. But after a grass-roots campaign to boycott the firm, driven by Reddit, an online community, and others, GoDaddy reversed course and renounced its support.

“Some good news on the SOPA front: Its corporate base of supporters is starting to crumble,” David Dayden wrote at Firedoglake. “GoDaddy is not alone. Scores of law firms are requesting their names be removed from the Judiciary Committee’s official list of SOPA supporters.”

In the blogosphere, the trajectory of the bill seemed set — that it is destined for failure if the pressure of the online community is kept up.

“The dynamic is clear. Once SOPA — and its Senate counterpart, Protecting IP Act, or PIPA — became high-profile among the Internet community, the lazy endorsements from companies and various hangers-on became toxic. And now, those supporters are scrambling, hollowing out the actual support for the bill. Suddenly, a bill with ‘widespread’ corporate support doesn’t have much support at all,” Dayden said.

Conservatives took a slightly different tact, though with similar disdain for the anti-piracy measures.

Indeed, blogger Erick Erickson said that he would encourage a primary for any Republican who supports the bill.

“I love Marsha Blackburn. She is a delightful lady and a solidly conservative member of Congress. And I am pledging right now that I will do everything in my power to defeat her in her 2012 reelection bid” due to her co-sponsorship for SOPA, Erickson wrote at RedState. “Congress has proven it does not understand the Internet. Perhaps they will understand brute strength against them at the ballot box. If members of Congress do not pull their name from co-sponsorship of SOPA, the left and right should pledge to defeat each and every one of them.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70878.html

An Open Letter To The Anti-Gun Folks

In 2005, my husband and I started the process to adopt a little girl from China. It was a brand new scary process that we knew nothing about. All we knew was that we wanted a child.

When I am passionate about something, I want to know everything I can about it. So, I did a lot of reading about China and adoption.

One of the people I read about was a woman named Gladys Aylward. She was a poor woman from London who wanted to go to China in the 1930's to be a missionary. but she had no skills, no education and she didn't speak the language, so no formal organization would allow her to go.

She was angry and frustrated, but she didn't give up. She spent a year working and saving, so she could make the trek on her own.

As she spent time in China, it become more and more her home. More and more a place she belonged and eventually, a place, she never wanted to leave.

Things got very ugly in China when the Japanese invaded and her family wanted her to leave, but she refused.

No matter how dangerous it got, she would not walk away from the people she had grown to love.

She said, "Greater Love Has No One Than This, That He Lay Down His Life For A Friend"- John15:13.

She said, "These are my people".

Unlike Gladys, I didn't want to be in this community.

I came here purely out of a desperate need.

A need to save my life.

What I found here is rare.

The gun community is a generous community. It is unlike any other I have been associated with.

I did, for a while, belong to the adoption community for a few years and though I am still crazy passionate about children and orphans.

Those are not my people.

I did, for a while, belong to the church going Christian community and though I am still crazy passionate about God.

Those are not my people.

Generally a group, any group, has an agenda. Stated or not. Conscious or not. No matter how well meaning, they almost always want something.

That something is usually steeped in power and control.

Politicians, religions, schools, the anti gun crowd, you name it. They want to bring you for what you can give them, which is often nothing more than a feeling of power and self worth for the leaders of the group.

They want to take something from you in order to gain something for themselves.

Not this group.

In the past 10 months, I have gained so much more than the ability to line my front site on the target.

This group has welcomed me when I had absolutely nothing to offer them.

I was empty.

I was broken.

I need things I was to weak to even know I needed.

I came here desperate and searching.

Day by day this community, these gun people, bult me up.

They never once pretend to be anything other than exactly who they are.

They didn't try to wrap themselves up in a pretty little package to draw me in.

They didn't use smoke and mirrors and they never, not once, lied to me.

They told me things I didn't want to hear. They showed me things I didn't want to see. They made me face thing I didn't want to face.

All while holding my hand and guiding me and nurturing me and givng me a safe place to grow.

They wanted me to grow.

They wanted me to be stronger.

They wanted me to be able to depend on myself.

They gave me everything they had, so I wouldn't need them any more.

They gave me tools and guidance, so that I could soar and each and every time I took a step forward, they have been there, to say, good for you. Job well done.

They did this, not because of me.

Not because I am something special.

They did it because they are special.

They are rare and they are so very, very special.

It is who they are.

Dig deep. Dig into the core of their being.

This is who they are.

You, you who hate guns, you gave me nothing.

No hope.

No tools.

All that was offered me was a life of fear, of resentment, of bitterness, of dependance...

The gun community has offered me hope and strength, and courage.

They have taught me to have belief in myself.

They have asked nothing of me in return and, yet, I would give them my life.

Funny thing is, they would never ask me to.

This is where I belong.

These are my people.

http://agirlandhergun.blogspot.com/2012/01/open-letter-to-anti-gun-folks.html

Wednesday 01-11-12

2012-01-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

The only thing that surprises me is how long it took to report this. She a very bad temper.

WH won't confirm if press sec cussed First Lady

hite House Press Secretary Jay Carney wouldn't confirm or deny reports that his predecessor swore at First Lady Michelle Obama, but he maintained that the Obama White House enjoys a "collegial" atmosphere, even reminding the press corps that he used to be a journalist who covered more contentious administrations.

"I’m not going to get into individual anecdotes from [a book]," Carney said when asked if former Press Secretary Robert Gibbs did, in fact, swear at the president's wife. "l simply say that isolating one incident where there were sharp words, whether it’s accurate or not, doesn't reflect the overall atmosphere and tenor here." He also said that sometimes staff "intensity leads people to raise their voices or have sharp exchanges," but that doesn't compromise the "harmonious" atmosphere of the White House.

"I've covered a couple of White Houses myself, and the fact of the matter is I've been here all three years, although not in this position," Carney reminded his interlocutors in the press briefing. "The atmosphere and collegiality here is much better than any of the White Houses I've covered."

Carney added that the First Lady is working hard to help military families, fight childhood obesity; "she's also very focused on raising her two children, and giving them an upbringing that is as normal as can be in these rather unusual circumstances," he concluded

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/wh-wont-confirm-if-press-sec-cussed-first-lady/302776

Tuesday 01-10-12

2012-01-10T03:57:00.005-05:00

The cupcakes are now banning cupcakes?

TSA defends banning cupcake from airplane

"I wanted to make it clear that this wasn't your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake." blogs TSA Blogger Bob Burns today, defending the TSA's "Cupcate-Gate," incident against critics.

According to the story that went viral during the Christmas holiday, a TSA agent confiscated the cupcake from Rebecca Hains, a teacher who planned to feed it to her son on the plane.

“The TSA at Logan Airport said the cupcakes looked delicious and told us to have a great trip. But in Las Vegas, they were dangerous. They shouldn't be delicious in one part of the country and a security threat in the other.” Hains said at the time

Burns defended the decision, clarifying that this cupcake was in a jar, prompting a different reaction from the TSA agent.

"Unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar." he wrote, "The officer in this case used their discretion on whether or not to allow the newfangled modern take on a cupcake per 3-1-1 guidelines. They chose not to let it go."

And in case you are outraged by these incidents, Burns reminds people to be sensitive of TSA agents.

"Every officer wants to finish their shift and go home with the peace of mind that they kept potential threats off of airplanes." he wrote. "They’re not thinking about whether their decisions will go viral on the internet."

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/tsa-defends-banning-cupcake-airplane/302656

I'm not going to condone carrying a handgun on an airplane. But the real story could be American have been doing it all along and are just getting caught more now. So that means Americans can fly safely in the airplane while carrying and they should be watching out for the hijackers (Muslims) and not bothering Americans.

More people being caught with guns at airports

More people are being caught at the nation's airports with guns in their carry-on bags, despite heightened awareness about security.

The Transportation Security Administration says it found 1,238 firearms — an average of almost four a day — at its airport checkpoints last year. The number has been on the rise since 2007.

"Clearly just the fact that we are getting four to five guns every day indicates that there are people who are not focused on the security protocols," TSA Administrator John Pistole told Congress in November, a month when officers found nine guns in a single day.

The TSA says guns usually are found in carry-on bags that are X-rayed at security checkpoints.

Pistole says full-body scanning machines also detect contraband hidden beneath passengers' clothing, including a .38-caliber handgun in one man's ankle holster in Detroit.

"More than 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks people are still trying to bring deadly weapons into the cabin of an airplane," he says.

Passengers are required to declare their guns and then store them unloaded in hard containers in their checked bags.

The common reply from passengers when caught with a gun is that they forgot they were carrying one, the TSA says. That's what the 73-year-old man with the ankle holster said Dec. 10, Detroit Metropolitan Airport spokesman Michael Conway says.

Same goes for a Georgia man, who was charged Dec. 11 with carrying a weapon at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after TSA officers found a loaded revolver in his messenger bag. The .22-caliber gun went off as police officers tried to unload it.

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2012-01-08/More-people-being-caught-with-guns-at-airports/52457066/1

DNA Spray to foil thieves - McDonalds to use new anti-theft spray

McDONALD'S restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected robbers with an invisible DNA spray as they attempt to flee.
The spray, which remains on the suspect's skin for two weeks and on clothes for up to six months, has been introduced in some of the chain's busiest NSW stores, including those at Parramatta, Granville, Auburn, Lidcombe, Kingsford and Wollongong, reported The Daily Telegraph.

If the SelectaDNA "forensic marking" spray proves successful in apprehending bandits, McDonald's will introduce the system across all its 780 Australian outlets.

Developed in the United Kingdom by a police officer and a chemist, the spray has been used by McDonald's outlets in Britain and Europe.

Each outlet keeps the details of its distribution a close secret, but one McDonald's restaurant in The Netherlands installed above the main door an orange device which was electronically linked to a panic alarm system. Staff could activate the device in an emergency.

"Once there has been a security breach, the hi-tech spray unit will douse fleeing robbers with an invisible, synthetic DNA solution," McDonald's Australia's chief restaurant support officer, Jackie McArthur, said.

"The solution is invisible to the naked eye and unique to each location. It stays on clothing for up to six months and on skin for up to two weeks."

Using a UVA light, police can see the markings left by the system and link the offender back to the scene.

The spray contains a synthetic DNA strand composed of 60 variable chromosomes, said SelectaDNA director David Morrissey.

"SelectaDNA is non-toxic, non-allergenic and perfectly safe to deploy. It meets all Australian standards," he said.

Theft is a serious problem for fast-food outlets such as McDonald's, which has high cash turnover, multiple entry and exit points and more than 85,000 staff who often work through the night at truck-stops and other remote places.

In a single week in September, two hold-ups occurred at a McDonald's outlet at Merrylands in Sydney's west.

"Crime can occur anywhere at any time, which is why our extensive safety and security protocols are in place at every restaurant throughout the entire day," Ms MAcArthur said.

"These locations are some of our busiest, so it makes sense to try out the new technology here.

"McDonald's already has a range of security measures, including CCTV, strict security protocols, intensive training, and consultative working relationships with local police."

This is the first time the system will be used in Australia, and although its marketers claim an "85 per cent crime reduction" rate, the proof of its worth is not yet clear.

SelectaDNA trades on a "DNA fear factor," claiming the system is more about prevention than arrests.

Scores of law-enforcement agencies in the UK, including Surrey Police, have handed out the spray kits so residents can mark their property, and it has been widely used by schools and businesses.

http://www.news.com.au/business/dna-mcspray-to-foil-thieves/story-e6frfm1i-1226239112219

Talk about biting the hand that feeds her. She would not have had the opportunity they have now if it were not not for them. I guess she forgets that it was Ted Kennedy that gave him the democratic nomination. I guess she forgot that Ted was as "white Irish Catholic" as they come. I guess the books are coming out now, because they are afraid he may not get a second term, interesting.

Michelle Obama: "Distressed" about Daley, Madigan, Hynes clout

WASHINGTON-- When Michelle Obama worked in Mayor Daley's City Hall in the early 1990s, she was "distressed" by how a small group of "white Irish Catholic" families -- the Daleys, the Hynes and the Madigans -- "locked up" power in Illinois.

And as she prepared to become first lady, Mrs. Obama naively wanted to delay a move into the White House for six months, so her daughters could finish the school year. Her initial thought was to "commute" to the White House from her South Side home.

And Marty Nesbitt, one of President Obama's best friends, had been recruited to run for Chicago mayor by African-American leaders -- but never ended up challenging Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama's chief of staff who went on to win City Hall.

Details about Mrs. Obama's initial reluctance to embrace her new life, her time in City Hall, the influence she has in the White House, tensions between Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Emanuel and former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs -- are in a new book about the first couple by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor.

The Chicago Sun-Times has obtained a copy of The Obamas, to be published Tuesday. Kantor hits Chicago for an East Lake Shore Drive book party on Jan. 16; the next day, Jan. 17, she headlines a 6 p.m. event at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State.

Mrs. Obama worked in the Daley administration between Sept. 16, 1991, and April 30, 1993, according to City of Chicago personnel records. She was hired by Jarrett, then Daley's deputy chief of staff.

Kantor writes Mrs. Obama "disapproved of how closely Daley held power, surrounding himself with three or four people who seemed to let few outsiders in -- a concern she would echo years later with her own husband.

"...She particularly resented the way power in Illinois was locked up generation after generation by a small group of families, all white Irish Catholic -- the Daleys in Chicago, the Hynes and Madigan's statewide."

When Jarrett was forced out of City Hall in 1995 -- even though she was close to Daley -- "the Obamas were horrified, their worst suspicions about the world confirmed."

Jarrett, Gibbs, Obama's top strategist David Axelrod, Mrs. Obama's former chief of staff Susan Sher and Chicago pals Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt "gave me many hours of interview time each," Kantor wrote in her acknowledgements. In all, Kantor got the cooperation of 33 current and former members of the Obama administration and close friends.

Still, with reports about issues in the administration -- and an Emanuel who did not welcome Mrs. Obama's influence -- the Obama White House gave the book a frosty reception.

"The book, an overdramatization of old news, is about a relationship between two people whom the author has not spoken to in years," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said. "The author last interviewed the Obamas in 2009 for a magazine piece, and did not interview them for this book. The emotions, thoughts and private moments described in the book, though often seemingly ascribed to the president and first lady, reflect little more than the author's own thoughts. These secondhand accounts are staples of every administration in modern political history and often exaggerated."

Camille Johnston, Mrs. Obama's former communications chief, told the Sun-Times, "We had some disagreements over how certain things would be handled, but in the end we all got back to the place Mrs. Obama had set at the onset: nothing on my agenda is more important than what's on his."

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2012/01/michelle_obama_distressed_abou.html

Monday 01-09-12

2012-01-09T03:11:00.002-05:00

Michelle Obama’s warning to gun owners

Nearly three years into President Obama’s first term in office, Michelle Obama finally said something with which I can agree.

At a recent fundraiser for President Obama’s re-election campaign in Providence, Rhode Island, the first lady told her audience:

“We stand at a fundamental crossroads for our country. You’re here because you know that in just 13 months, we’re going to make a choice that will impact our lives for decades to come … let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices … let’s not forget the impact that their decisions will have on our lives for decades to come.”

This was music to the ears of the small, affluent crowd of admirers who cheered and applauded. But to gun owners, Michelle Obama’s remarks should sound like a warning bell, alerting us to the danger ahead should Barack Obama win re-election and get the opportunity to alter the current make-up of the Supreme Court.

When Americans flock to the polls in 13 months, we will not simply decide which direction our country should take over the next four years. Rather, we will decide whether or not our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms will survive over the next several decades.

Currently, the Second Amendment clings to a 5-4 pro-freedom majority on the Supreme Court. Just one vote is all that stands between the America our Founding Fathers established and a radically different America that Barack Obama and his supporters envision.

If you want to read something scary, take another look at the minority opinions in the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller and McDonald decisions that struck down Washington, D.C.’s and Chicago’s unconstitutional gun bans. In the Heller dissent, four justices concluded that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to own a firearm, nor does it protect our right to defend ourselves, our families, or our property. In McDonald, the same four justices argued that the 5-4 Heller decision should be reversed.

If these four justices had just one more vote on their side, their opinion — that the Second Amendment should not exist in today’s modern society — would be the law of the land today. And assuredly, the anti-gun activist wing of the court knows how close they are to gaining the upper hand. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told a Harvard Club audience in 2009, she looks forward to the day when a “future, wiser court” overturns 5-4 decisions like Heller.

Praying for the health of five justices is not a sound legal strategy for ensuring that our Second Amendment freedoms survive the relentless legal assault that gun-ban groups are waging in courtrooms across America. We need a president who will nominate sound, originalist nominees to the high court — nominees who will preserve the freedoms our Founding Fathers enshrined in our Constitution.

If President Obama gets the opportunity to tilt the balance of the Supreme Court in his favor, we’re unlikely to see another pro-gun victory at the Court in our lifetime. Even worse, the 5-4 majorities in Heller and McDonald will be in serious jeopardy of being reversed, effectively eliminating the Second Amendment.

NRA members, gun owners and all freedom-loving Americans should heed Michelle Obama’s warning. We must spend the next 13 months working to make sure her husband doesn’t get four more years to destroy American freedom for generations to come.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/11/michelle-obamas-warning-to-gun-owners/#ixzz1inzJbbIo

Now the truth is finally out and everything makes sense now.

White House Denies CIA Teleported Obama to Mars

Forget Kenya. Never mind the secret madrassas. The sinister, shocking truth about Barack Obama’s past lies not in east Africa, but in outer space. As a young man in the early 1980s, Obama was part of a secret CIA project to explore Mars. The future president teleported there, along with the future head of Darpa.

That’s the assertion, at least, of a pair of self-proclaimed time-traveling, universe-exploring government agents. Andrew D. Basiago and William Stillings insist that they once served as “chrononauts” at Darpa’s behest, traversing the boundaries of time and space. They swear: A youthful Barack Obama was one of them.

Perhaps this all sounds fantastical, absurd, and more than a little nuts. We couldn’t agree more. That’s one of the reasons we love conspiracy theories — the more awesomely insane, the better. Each week during 2012, when the Mayans tell us to expect the apocalypse, Danger Room will peel back a new layer of crazy to expose those oh-so-cleverly hidden machinations powering this doomed plane of existence. Welcome — back — to Tinfoil Tuesday.

According to Basiago and Stillings, Obama isn’t just lying about his identity. He’s lying about his military service record, too. While his political opponents in 2008 attacked him for never serving, in truth, he was concealing his participation in a hidden CIA intergalactic program hosted at a California community college in 1980.

Officially, the White House says Obama never went to Mars. “Only if you count watching Marvin the Martian,” Tommy Vietor, the spokesman for the National Security Council, tells Danger Room. But that’s exactly what a secret chrononaut wants you to believe.

Obama wasn’t the only one making the otherworldly voyage. As “Barry Soetero,” the 19-year-old Obama was one of 10 youths selected to secretly teleport to and from Mars, forming a band of interplanetary Teen Titans. Regina Dugan, the director of Darpa, was another member.

Between 1981 and 1983, Obama is supposed to have visited Mars twice, by way of a teleportation chamber called a “jump room.” Basiago, a fellow chrononaut, told the website Exopolitics that he saw Obama “walk back to the jump room from across the Martian terrain.” To acknowledge his comrade, Obama is said to have told Basiago, “We’re here” — apparently, “with some sense of fatalism.”

It is not known what exactly Obama did on Mars. (Socializing Martian health care, perhaps? Building a birth-certificate printing press?) His mission was a perilous one, according to Basiago and Stillings. The CIA wished to “establish a defense regime protecting the Earth from threats from space” as well as a legal claim to “territorial sovereignty,” making Obama something of a Martian conquistador. Presumably, Obama’s CIA handlers needed him to “acclimate Martian humanoids and animals to their presence” in order to secure the U.S.-Martian alliance. (We’ll bet you weren’t even aware of Martian animals.)

“Simply put, your task is to be seen and not eaten,” an elder chrononaut, retired Army Maj. Ed Dames, is alleged to have told a young Obama.

You can scoff at the idea of Obama on Mars. But it explains a lot. Obviously the birth-certificate controversy is a side effect of Obama forgetting to sufficiently establish his fake identity as he learned to manipulate time and space. (Dugan has a demonstrated record of supporting space travel; the “jump room” must be broken.) And who else but a man accustomed to keeping the country’s most explosive secret would be comfortable waging so many undeclared wars? Ignore Basiago and Stillings at your own peril. If Obama’s reelected, the U.S. is finally colonizing Mars.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/obama-mars/

Sunday 01-08-12

2012-01-08T01:05:00.001-05:00

Can you still tell me with a striaght face there is no God?

Rivers forming tree-like figures: Fractals Fractals
Rivers forming tree-like figures on the desert of Baja California, Mexico. Photograph courtesy Adriana Franco/National Geographic
Nature can be downright beautiful and this is no exception. The water inching its way through the desert terrain and seeping into the sands has created a beautiful scene.

No story here, just wanted to share some of nature's beauty with my fellow ATS members, for you to enjoy as well.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread793236/pg1

Great idea

Hospital lures rural doctors with unusual offer

ASHLAND, Kan. (AP) — The hospital had lost the last doctor in a succession of those who came to the remote Kansas town and left again. A sole physician assistant kept watch over the 24-bed facility and its adjacent nursing home. It was on the verge of closing.

Then officials at the Ashland Health Center, seeking to reverse the drain of talent symptomatic of what happens across rural America, embraced an unorthodox approach to bring doctors back.

All employees, from maintenance people to physicians, get eight paid weeks off each year that they can use to do missionary work in other countries. The idea: people willing to care for the sick and suffering in developing nations might be content to do the same in a town of 855 people, more than two hours away from the nearest Starbucks.

The public hospital began advertising that benefit — which employees can use for other volunteer work or any purpose they choose, not just mission work — in Christian publications and at Catholic-run medical schools. Today, the hospital has a chief medical officer, a medical technologist, a nursing director, a nurse practitioner and other staff drawn by its so-called mission-minded recruiting. It's now looking for nurses, a dentist and a physical therapist.

"I was not surprised by the differences between rural Kansas and rural Zimbabwe. What surprised me were the similarities," said the hospital's 32-year-old administrator, Benjamin Anderson, who has been the catalyst for the program. "I am not saying rural Kansas is the same as a developing country, I am simply saying rural Kansas and rural Zimbabwe struggle with some of the same challenges — they just look different."

In both places, people have difficulty accessing medical care, face housing problems and can feel isolated.

Situated in the vast prairie of southwestern Kansas, Ashland is a sleepy cattle ranching and oil town filled with modest homes and an aging population. The major employers left are the schools and the hospital. It has a small grocery store, but no gas station. Walking anywhere in town takes 10 minutes.

Anderson, who's gone on missions to Zimbabwe since coming to Ashland in 2009, was convinced the compassionate health care providers he sought could best be found among physicians with a passion for mission work in developing countries.

A few months ago, Dr. Dan Shuman, a 43-year-old family physician, was working at a health care center and a multi-specialist medical group in Georgetown, Texas. Then he heard from a friend about a little hospital in Kansas and the mission opportunities that came with it.

Although Shuman had a comfortable practice caring for well-insured retirees, he missed the medical work he had once done in places like Haiti and Mexico. Shuman and his wife, a social worker, moved in July with their five children to Ashland.

"Everywhere in the country we have problems with health care," Shuman said. "But this was a place that was really seeking to make a difference."

Ashland's recruitment model was developed with faculty at the private Via Christi medical residency program in Wichita, part of the nonprofit Catholic health care system, where students can complete a three-year family medicine residency. It also offers an International Family Medicine Fellowship, a one-year post-residency program geared to providing health care in developing countries.

Dr. Scott Stringfield, its recruiter, has seen more medical students wishing to do mission work, both in developing nations and domestically in inner cities. Last year, 16 percent of applicants indicated interest in such work. This year, it was 33 percent.

Some doctors have taken the initiative in seeking mission-friendly jobs. Four former Via Christi fellows, two of whom were married to other doctors, sent letters to hospital administrators in 25 states offering a package deal: They would move to a town with a hospital in need in exchange for each getting three months off on a rotating basis annually for mission work. All six ended up in New Hampton, Iowa, a town of 3,500.

"If we can use medicine as a tool for us to share the gospel of Christ with people that is really what drives us," Dr. John Epperly said in a phone interview. "We are all going to have bodies that are aging and getting sick and I hope we can prolong that to some extent with medicine. But in the end what is important, I think, is what is eternal and that is what we have been focused on — whether it is working with farmers in northeastern Iowa or whether it is working in Zimbabwe at a bush hospital."

Among Ashland's new hires are Lacey Mollel and her husband, Enkaiye. As the child of missionaries in Tanzania, she grew up "playing in the bush in the middle of nowhere" with the boy who would become her husband. She came back to the U.S. for college, and Enkaiye, a former Masai warrior, followed later.

The couple left Indianapolis to work at the Ashland hospital — she as a certified nurse assistant, he as a groundskeeper — after her uncle, a pastor in Ashland, told them about the opportunity.

Lacey Mollel said they would not have left Indianapolis "unless you feel some calling or purpose in what you are doing."

Clark County Deputy Sheriff Robert Canton used to tell friends if anything ever happened to him not to send him to the local hospital. He lives just a couple of blocks away from the Ashland facility, but thought he couldn't get good care there. Two months ago, he went to the hospital's emergency room with heart problems and came away impressed.

Now, he says, he tells his fellow deputies, "Take me there."

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Hospital-lures-rural-doctors-with-unusual-offer-2434632.php#photo-1984543

Saturday 01-07-12

2012-01-07T03:28:00.000-05:00

What in the world are preparing for?

Exposed: The Military's Freakiest 'Non-Lethal' Weapon Ideas

A total of 14 weapons, according to the reference book, are currently being fielded. Some of ‘em, you’ve heard of. Good old tasers, which the guide helpfully reminds us “can penetrate 2 inches of clothing” in order to “totally disable an individual,” and guns that shoot 600 rubber pellets filled with pepper spray to keep rowdy crowds — already used by law enforcement officials, sometimes with very lethal results — subdued.

Most of the guide, however, offers a sneak peak at the military’s dream non-lethal arms cache.

Dozens of the devices are currently in development. There’s an “Impulse Swimmer Gun” that uses “pulsed sound waves” to cause “auditory impairment and/or nausea” among scuba divers engaged in “unauthorized underwater activities”; A system that relies on “high-power microwaves” to block oncoming cars and any (oops) “unintended targets within the target area”; A vehicle-mounted tube launcher that’ll unleash “ocular and auditory impairment” combined with “thermal heating” to utterly devastate a horde of wrongdoers.

And then there are the fantasy projects. The agency want a new and improved taser that can “substantially increase the duration of disabling effects.” They’re also after a high-powered microwave system that can be hooked up to a drone or a ship, and then used to trigger “electrical system malfunction” on enemy boats. Danger Room’s personal favorite, though, is a system of “pulsed laser[s]” on the tip of an airplane, used to “externally control the steering forces” of a foe’s aircraft, in order to “divert [it] from restricted area.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/non-lethal-weapons/

Friday 01-06-12

2012-01-06T03:27:00.000-05:00

Next what will it be traffic offenses? It was only to be felonies and now misdemeanors.

New York governor urges mandatory DNA samples

New York's governor on Wednesday proposed making the state the first in the country to take mandatory DNA samples from anyone convicted of a crime, including relatively lesser offenses.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, in an annual "State of the State" speech to the New York legislature, said currently DNA was collected in less than half of crimes on the books.

"I will propose a bill requiring the collection of a DNA sample from any person convicted of a felony or Penal Law misdemeanor," said Cuomo, a former federal prosecutor and New York state attorney general.

Cuomo said that applying DNA collection to all criminals would both help law-enforcement bodies fight serious crime and protect against wrongful convictions.

Current exclusions include "numerous crimes that are often precursors to violent offenses," he said.

"As a result, we are missing an important opportunity to prevent needless suffering of crime victims. We are also failing to use the most powerful tool we have to exonerate the innocent," he said.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance welcomed the initiative.

"I am pleased Governor Cuomo has made post-conviction DNA collection for all crimes one of his legislative priorities," Vance said.

"Our current law only permits us to collect DNA from half of all convicted offenders. It?s as if doctors were only permitted to use a life-saving medicine in half of their cases. It would not make sense in medicine, and it does not make sense in law enforcement," he added.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.de856ece51704a8013815b7dfb5543db.41&show_article=1

Now they want arrest powers? Maybe it is to arrest their own?

TSA Workers Want to Arrest You

You know what sucks? Not being able to arrest people who piss you off when you're on the job. Who wouldn't want to have the power to slap cuffs on the grumpy people they deal with at work? But no. When I want someone arrested, I have to call the cops and wait around until they show up to do the arresting for me. Lame.

The employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) feel the same way. In an article for In These Times, writer Mike Elk (who was fired from the Huffington Post last year for letting union organizers borrow his press credential in order to disrupt a conference of mortgage bankers) describes the work of the nation's 44,000 TSA screeners as one of "the most dangerous jobs in America," citing the 30 (30!) guns a week they pluck from the nation's baggage.

Worse, sometimes people get shouty or even—very occasionally—cross the line into assault when TSA workers are just doing their jobs. When that happens, "the passengers were allowed to board flights because TSA screeners are unable to arrest passengers who assault them." All because of the finicky detail that "TSA cannot legally arrest or detain power under powers granted to it by the federal government," and must instead "call local police situated in the airport." So inconvenient.

Elk's complaint is situated in the middle of a larger argument about the need for collective bargaining to improve the "often brutal working conditions" of TSA employees—which seem to consist of some male-female pay disparities, low pay overall, and low morale—but it's not clear that arresting unruly passengers who are not otherwise a threat to national security is the sort of thing that would be on the table, should robust collective bargaining rights be granted.

Anyway, it's the media's fault. If "those conditions had received as much media attention as the search procedures they are charged with implementing, it's possible America's newly unionized airport screeners might have had a first contract by now. Instead, negotiations with the federal government continue."

Speaking of which: Check out our January issue about those search procedures the TSA employees are charged with implementing!

http://reason.com/blog/2012/01/03/tsa-workers-want-to-arrest-you?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reason%2FHitandRun+%28Reason+Online+-+Hit+%26+Run+Blog%29

Thursday 01-05-12

2012-01-05T00:27:00.002-05:00

I have a lot of problem with this beyond just the fact he did it.

Obama bypasses Senate, installs new consumer chief

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — A defiant President Barack Obama, tired of Senate Republicans stalling his nominee to lead a new consumer protection agency, put him in charge Wednesday over their opposition.

"I refuse to take 'no' for an answer," the president said.

Outraged GOP leaders in Congress immediately suggested that courts would determine whether Richard Cordray's appointment was illegal.

With a director in place, Obama said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can start overseeing the mortgage companies, payday lenders, debt collectors and other financial operations often blamed for practices that helped undermine the economy.

Obama announced the move with Cordray by his side before a cheering crowd in Ohio, a politically vital state where Cordray once was attorney general.

"Every day that we waited was another day when millions of Americans are left unprotected," Obama.

Until Cordray took over, the office didn't have all the tools needed "to protect consumers against dishonest mortgage brokers or payday lenders, and debt collectors who are taking advantage of consumers," Obama said. "And that's inexcusable. It's wrong."

In political terms, the recess appointment during the congressional break raised the level of confrontation for a president seeking re-election by championing the middle class and challenging an unpopular Congress. Acting right after Tuesday's GOP presidential caucuses in Iowa, Obama sought to grab attention and show he would not be slowed, making his most brazen leap-frog over Congress.

Senate Republicans had halted Cordray's nomination because they think the consumer agency is too powerful and unaccountable.

The Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, accused Obama of an unprecedented power grab that "arrogantly circumvented the American people."

Added House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio: "It's clear the president would rather trample our system of separation of powers than work with Republicans to move the country forward. This action goes beyond the president's authority, and I expect the courts will find the appointment to be illegitimate."

It was unclear who might undertake a legal fight. But people familiar with the matter said an outside private group regulated by the consumer agency might be in the best legal position.

By going around the Senate, where Democrats hold an edge but Republicans can block action, Obama essentially declared that the chamber's short off-and-on sessions are a sham intended to block him, but don't prevent him from such an appointment.

Yet it was his own party that started the practice when Republican George W. Bush was president.

In reality, Obama had little choice to get the consumer agency fully running after months of stalemate.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer announced Obama's move on Twitter after senior administration officials first confirmed it to The Associated Press. Obama spokesman Jay Carney said White House lawyers have determined Obama is within his bounds to appoint Cordray now.

Cordray, who's expected to take over this week, stands to serve for at least the next two years, until the end of the Senate's next session, the White House said.

At a high school in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Obama said Republicans were only blocking Cordray because they wanted to water down consumer protections.

"I'm not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people we were elected to serve," he said.

More than a standoff over one significant appointment, the fight speaks to the heart of a presidential campaign under way. Presiding over a troubled but improving economy, Obama's must persuade a weary middle class that he is their advocate, while fending off criticism from Republicans challengers and lawmakers.

Obama has constitutional power to make appointments during a congressional recess.

Expressly to keep that from happening, Republicans in the Senate have had the Senate running in "pro forma" sessions, meaning open for business in name with no actual business planned. Democrats started the practice under Bush to halt him from making recess appointments.

The Senate held such a session on Tuesday and planned another one on Friday. Republicans contend Obama cannot make a recess appointment during such a break of less than three days, based on years of precedent, and they point to comments by Obama's own Justice Department echoing that view.

Regardless, the Obama White House now contends such an approach is a gimmick.

For all practical purposes, the Senate is in recess and Obama is free to make the appointment on his own, without Senate confirmation, administration officials said.

McConnell shot back that Obama's move "lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress' role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch."

The president also was expected to announce other recess appointments, possibly including nominees to the National Labor Relations Board.

Republicans have had little opposition if any to the qualifications of Cordray. Their objection is with the consumer agency itself.

Obama and his team say lawmakers should try to revise the Wall Street oversight law if they don't like it, not keep the agency from performing its job.

Before his remarks Wednesday, Obama met with a family that got taken advantage of by a mortgage broker. He wanted to use their story as an example of how the consumer agency can crack down on such practices.

Obama was focusing on the most Democratic congressional district in Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, a day after Mitt Romney won Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses by just eight votes. Obama's trip signals the White House's intent to keep the president in the public eye even as the political world focuses on the GOP's selection process.

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-bypasses-senate-installs-consumer-chief-183629338.html

Another reason i home school

Virginia School Accused Of Making Students Perform Pro-Occupy Song

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS Washington) – A Charlottesville-area elementary school has been accused of making students sing a pro-Occupy Wall Street movement song.

Written and performed in October as part of the Kid Pan Alley group at Albemarle County schools, “Part of the 99” has resulted in a backlash from parents nationwide, and has given the foundation reason to train its facilitators to steer students away from controversial subject matter in their songs.
As part of the regular Kid Pan Alley activities, children are asked about the topics of songs they want to write and sing about. In October, one of the children participating in the activities at Woodbrook Elementary School mentioned that he wanted to write about “having it all and losing it all,”Albemarle County schools spokesman Phil Giaramita told CBS Washington.

“The words ‘Occupy’ or ‘Wall Street’ were not mentioned in the classroom,” Giaramita said.

In the past couple of days, the song from the October performance has been resurrected, with parents from Tennessee, Texas, and California accusing the third-graders of not being capable to come up with an idea so closely related to the Occupy Wall Street movement. There haven’t been any complaints from the parents of the children involved in the performance, Giaramita said.

Blogs such as Big Government have criticized the song as being “Marxist rhetoric.”

“The simplistic left wing economic nonsense of this ditty boggles the mind. But to an impressionistic third grader, it plants poisonous seeds at odds with long egalitarian American traditions that disdain class hatred,” the blog states.

Officials with Kid Pan Alley, a foundation that works with elementary school children through songwriting workshops, has emphasized that the group has restated its guidelines concerning the lyrical content of the songs.

“Kid Pan Alley does not promote nor condone any personal or political agenda. As a result, our programming over the years has consistently received high praise and commendation from children, parents and schools,” the statement said. “Our sole mission has been and continues to be to inspire and empower children to work together to become creators of their own music and to rekindle creativity as a core value in education.”

Giaramita said that a Kid Pan Alley official told him that in the 1,800-plus songs that Kid Pan Alley has produced and performed, none of them have come across the issue like this one with its alleged Occupy link. He added that the song itself came in October when the movement was first starting up and maybe meant something different in October than it does now.

“There’s been a lot of sensitivity raised over this in the last couple days,” Giaramita said, adding that greater oversight will be put into the lyrical content of the songs before they are performed. “If you’re writing about pets or a holiday, those kinds of things are very enjoyable and not controversial. If you’re writing about an issue such as a family that has it all and loses it, we need to be very sensitive about the circumstances around it.”

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/01/04/virginia-elementary-students-accused-of-performing-pro-occupy-song/

Wednesday 01-04-12

2012-01-04T01:50:00.000-05:00

Judge: Black church rightful owner of KKK store

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — After a lengthy legal battle between a black South Carolina church and members of the Ku Klux Klan, a judge has ruled that the church owns a building where KKK robes and T-shirts are sold.

A circuit judge ruled last month that New Beginnings Baptist Church is the rightful owner of the building that houses the Redneck Shop, which operates a so-called Klan museum and sells Klan robes and T-shirts emblazoned with racial slurs. The judge ordered the shop's proprietor to pay the church's legal bills of more than $3,300.

Since 1996, the Redneck Shop has operated in an old movie theater in Laurens, a city about 70 miles northwest from Columbia that was named after 18th century slave trader Henry Laurens.

Ownership of the building was transferred in 1997 to the Rev. David Kennedy and his church, New Beginnings, by a Klansman fighting with others inside the hate group, according to court records. That man, according to Kennedy, was feuding with store proprietor John Howard over a woman and "developed a spiritual relationship" with Kennedy's church, the judge wrote.

But a clause in the deed entitles Howard, formerly KKK grand dragon for the Carolinas, to operate his business in the building until he dies.

After years of trying to have the property inspected, Kennedy and New Beginnings sued Howard and others in 2008. On Dec. 9, a judge ruled in Kennedy's favor.

Reached on his cell phone, Howard said he did not know about the judge's decision and deferred comment to his attorney, who did not immediately return a message.

It wasn't immediately clear if the judge's ruling would mean Howard must close the shop. Howard hung up on a reporter when asked about the shop's status, but an outgoing message on the shop's answering machine said it's only open one morning a week.

Howard has defended his business in the past.

"If anything turns people off, they shouldn't come in here," Howard told The Associated Press in 2008. "It's not a thing in here that's against the law."

The Redneck Shop has been the target of protests and attacks from the start. A few days after it opened, a Columbia man crashed his van through the front windows and was charged with malicious damage to property. High profile black activists have staged several protests outside the store, and Kennedy has regularly picketed there as well.

Kennedy has a long history of fighting racial injustice. He protested when a South Carolina county refused to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and he helped lobby to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome.

Kennedy said Tuesday his congregation was elated by the judge's decision, which he said he had already discussed with local police in hopes of being able to visit and inspect the property this week.

"It has been a long time coming," said Kennedy, who learned of the ruling this week. "We knew we had done everything right. ... The court knows that we have suffered."

Kennedy said his congregation's numbers have decreased in recent years as some of its 200 members became fearful of reprisals from Klan members. Nazi and Confederate symbols have been tacked to the door of the double-wide mobile home where New Beginnings now meets, Kennedy said, and dead animals have been left at the building.

"A lot of people became so afraid," Kennedy said. "I just told them that it is part of our faith to endure."

Kennedy, who has previously said he would like to close the store and hold his church meetings there, declined Tuesday to detail his plans, saying only that he thought some parishioners would feel uncomfortable worshipping in the structure that once segregated moviegoers and now sells Klan-related materials.

"I don't count anything out," Kennedy said. "I think that the church would do good in that building."

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-black-church-rightful-owner-kkk-store-174103559.html

CA Judge Deems Ramming Jewish Woman with Shopping Cart ‘Free Speech’

Back in June of 2010 a leader of a pro-Palestinian student group at University of Berkeley allegedly rammed a Jewish woman with a shopping cart as she staged a counter-protest to an anti-Israel “Apartheid Week” rally conducted by the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine. The counter-protest was dubbed “Israel Wants Peace Week.”

Now, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg has deemed that the Muslim students who harassed Jessica Felber and other Jewish students were simply engaging in protected political speech.

http://news.yahoo.com/ca-judge-deems-ramming-jewish-woman-shopping-cart-003506015.html

Tuesday 01-03-12

2012-01-03T01:00:00.004-05:00

I have been worried for years, that when we started giving kids calculators to use in school it would come to this. You are missing something very important when kids can not make change with out register doing it for them, we as a culture are on a down hill slide.

Children becoming 'addicted' to computers

Children’s access to smartphones and computers should be limited to stop them becoming “addicted” to electronic gadgets, according to a schools' leader.

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said young people’s reading and conversational skills were being put at risk by overexposure to modern technology.

He said parents should resist buying sons and daughters a smartphone until they are at least 15 and limit computer use to an hour or two a day.

Mr Lenon, the former headmaster of Harrow School, also called for the greater use of multiple choice questions in exams, saying they were an effective method of covering more of the syllabus and less susceptible to marking errors.

In an interview, he said that exposure to computers was particularly damaging to boys, harming their long-term development.

“Far too many children, and particularly boys, become quite addicted to computer use,” he said.

“It is very hard to prevent children from accessing damaging material through the computer, but the main issue is that children spend far too long on computers and, as a result, they are not doing the two things that we want [them] to do, which are reading and conversation.”

Mr Lenon told The Times that parents should be advised to restrict children’s access to computers and televisions in favour of reading stories together.

He also said computer use should be limited to one hour a day for children aged up to 12 and two hours for older pupils.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8988082/Children-becoming-addicted-to-computers.html

I remember a few years ago the family and i had a great time when we drove to the mountains to watch a meteor shower, the sky was clear and we had a great time.

Meteor shower to kick off 2012

If you snooze you'll lose Wednesday morning, when a little known but active meteor shower will start 2012 for people stalwart enough to brave the chilly hours before dawn.

A meteor explodes over the Mojave Desert in California.
The Quadrantids, named for a now-extinct constellation, will be visible for two hours early Wednesday, from about 3 to 5 a.m. local times.

The shower is likely to produce up to 100 falling stars an hour, making for a good show. People across North America who stay up late enough, and who have a clear sky, should get a nice view, says Conrad Jung, an astronomer at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland.

Other than typical January temperatures, the weather should cooperate for watchers: "Viewing should be great over most of the country," reports Weather Channel meteorologist Mark Ressler. The only potentially cloudy spots should be in the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes and parts of the Northeast, he says.

It's possible that the East may get a more intense shower because it will go through the densest part of the debris stream first. "But that doesn't mean the West won't see anything," he says.

"There should be a meteor every minute or so at the very least," he says.

The shower is called the "Quads" by astronomers, says Bill Cooke, who tracks "space rocks" as director of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "They're one of the more active meteor showers of the year, but they're not seen by many people" because they occur in early morning hours in winter, he says. "It's very cold around that time, so people don't want to go outside."

The Quadrantids are also less seen because they're short-lived and relatively little is known about them, he says. The Quadrantids are visible for two hours, then are gone for a year.

The meteors will be coming out of the northern portion of the sky, between a somewhat obscure constellation called Boötes and the handle of the Big Dipper.

As for the somewhat odd name of Quandrantids, it's pronounced Quad-RON-tihds, Jung says. Its name comes from a so-called extinct constellation called the Quadrans Muralis. That doesn't mean the stars have disappeared, only that it's a constellation that's no longer recognized by the International Astronomical Union. It fell by the wayside in the early 20th century, when the constellations were formalized, Jung says.

The shower comes from the remnants of a comet named 2003EH1, which probably broke up in the past 500 years. The tiny particles of rock that remain will enter Earth's atmosphere at 90,000 mph, burning up 50 miles above the surface and creating the falling stars that gazers will see.

"It's possible that 2003EH1 was seen by the Chinese back in the 1490s as a comet, so something the Chinese saw over five centuries ago is probably the parent of the Quadrantids," Cooke says.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2012-01-02/quadrantids-meteor-shower/52343378/1

Monday 01-02-12

2012-01-02T13:44:00.004-05:00

Well Happy New Year, starting a new job and doing night work for a while, so posts might get a little sporadic at least at the start, please bear with me.

Like any organism, it has the will to survive...

When I read over at Joel's place that the TSA admitted that its "Viper Teams" (Seriously? "Viper"? Why not backronym "C.O.B.R.A." or "S.P.E.C.T.R.E."?) were just for show, I was not surprised.

They come out and admit that they haven't foiled any terrorist plots of which they're aware, but they "argue that the random nature of the searches and the presence of armed officers serve as a deterrent and bolster public confidence."

In other words, you don't see any elephants around here, do you? So the elephant repellant must be working! Also left unexplained is how the public's confidence is supposed to be bolstered by getting their crotch randomly sniffed by that noted Fourth Amendment legal expert, Fluffy the Uberhund.

I have no idea why they're even bothering, since the agency also recently came out and admitted that the whole airport security thing is a sham, anyway. The minute I heard that parental outcry had caused the TSA to allow parents to grope their own toddlers at airports, I immediately heard a voice in my head saying "No, there is no Semtex in little Achmed's diapers!"

I am reminded of the joke about the guy stopped by the soldier who demands to inspect the contents of the trunk. Because he has no handbrake, he asks if the soldier will get behind the wheel and hold it steady on the hill while he gets out to open the trunk. The soldier does, the guy goes and opens his trunk, announcing loudly "There is nothing in here!"
"Very well," calls the soldier from the driver's seat "You may go on your way."

Obviously, the only purpose behind the TSA anymore is to prove Jerry Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy.

http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2012/01/like-any-organism-it-has-will-to.html

Gettysburg teen finds history in his own backyard

GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- Andrew Dalton loves studying the Civil War. More specifically, he's interested in the Battle of Gettysburg.

You can actually narrow that down even further to the events of the battle that happened around his house.

The 14-year-old's family moved to Cumberland Township, just outside Gettysburg, when he was 3, and they would ride bikes around the battlefield. Andrew was instantly fascinated, and as he got older and read about the battle, he found he knew many of the locations the historians spoke of.

"What I read, I could see," Andrew said.

It's not a hobby. It's a passion. A passion that fills what was once his parents' dining room.

A map of the battlefield is spread across a table. Old photos of soldiers, history books and binders bursting with information gathered from the nooks and crannies of history lie about on the map.

But it's not clutter. Everything has its place as Andrew uses a memoir here and photographic evidence there to connect the dots to complete a picture of a piece of history.

The Gettysburg Area High School freshman volunteers as a researcher and historian with the National Park Service. He has held lectures with several local organizations, and gives his own guided walking tour.

Andrew loves all things Gettysburg, but his specialty has been researching the farms around his home on Park Avenue, and digging up the stories of the people who lived there.

"Not too many people can say history happened in their backyard," Andrew said.

He first looked into the neighboring Harmon Farm, which is yards away from his parents' house. Through his research, Andrew found an account of the events at the farm written by Amelia Harmon, who was 17 years old when soldiers marched into town.

The farm was used to house Union sharpshooters at one point, and was later burned down by the Confederates, he said.

He is working on a display for the visitors center to show his findings.

But that's not where it ends. There are plenty of old farms, and houses, all with civilians who witnessed the battle, and Andrew is working hard, and digging deep, to tell their stories, too.

When he grows up, it's no surprise that Andrew wants to be an historian, specifically working with the Park Service in Gettysburg. He even hopes to go to Gettysburg College so he doesn't have to leave his battlefield and his research.

Andrew is getting ready to host another walking tour that's free to the public through Historic Gettysburg-Adams County. When his tour is available, details will be at the organization's website, www.hgaconline.org.

http://wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2690221

Saturday 12-31-11

2011-12-31T02:26:00.000-05:00

Before You Carry

By Shelley RaeThere are a lot of people shopping for a conceal carry sidearm. There is a lot more to conceal carry than having a permit and a gun though, and a few things everybody should do (and consider) before they start strapping a gun on every day.

Know The Law

Being familiar with the law as it pertains to carrying a handgun is extremely important. Having a permit doesn’t mean you can go everywhere with a handgun. It’s also important to know where your state has reciprocity and stay up-to-date on this information prior to travel. Many handgun courses are designed for conceal carry permit holders and will cover this information. Beyond this it’s also important to know the policies of your work place, some places don’t allow guns and it could result in termination.

Caleb and I have beat the “get trained to shoot” thing into the ground. If you’re planning to carry there’s more to it than just knowing how to shoot. Yes, being able to hit a target is extremely important, shooting action events like IDPA to understand shooting understress is also extremely important, but there’s also the element of gun handling that is key for conceal carry permit holders. Carrying a gun means handling it on a daily basis, taking holsters off, drawing, loading, unloading and doing so in your home. Being extremely competent and comfortable with the handling of a firearm and the four safety rules is essential for anyone who wishes to carry.

Be Prepared for a Lifestyle Change

Choosing to carry a gun is a lifestyle choice. It’s something you will think about constantly once to the conscious decision has been made. When shopping for clothes, choosing outfits for the day, going about day to day business – your gun is with you all the time, or should be, and so all the time you have to be prepared to have a way to conceal it, to be comfortable that it’s concealed, to know that it could change a traffic stop (we don’t have to like this, but there it is), there may be people close to you who may ask why you carry a gun or tell you that it’s wrong. Being prepared to integrate this knew “thing” into your way of life is important.

I believe it’s important for us to carry firearms, and I would never discourage someone from getting the proper training and buying a gun. It’s important when people are shopping, however, that they sufficiently prepare themselves to carry a firearm every day. It’s a big decision.

http://gunnuts.net/2011/12/29/before-you-carry/

It never stop amazing me

Caught In Act, TSA Bomb Screener Declares Child Porn "Not Right In A Legal And Moral Sense"

As cops raided his Maryland home, a Transportation Security Administration screener confessed to downloading child pornography, acknowledged that it was “not right in a legal and moral sense,” and stated that he has a “problem.”

The admissions by Scott Wilson, 41, came as Baltimore investigators recently searched his home after an undercover agent downloaded child porn from his computer via a file sharing program.

Wilson, pictured in the mug shot at right, told detectives that he worked for the TSA at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where his responsibilities included “screening cargo on commercial flights for explosives,” according to a federal court filing. Wilson was charged last month in Maryland circuit court with two felony child porn counts.

After waiving his Miranda rights, Wilson--who has been suspended by the TSA--told investigators that he used his laptop to download illicit images of children, and that he “sometimes masturbates to the images of child pornography.” Wilson added that he “usually deletes the child pornography” after viewing movies and images “because he knows that it is not right in a legal and moral sense. Wilson stated that he knows that he has a problem.”

A “forensic preview” of Wilson’s two computers (as well as various storage devices found in a locked safe) revealed a variety of videos and photos “depicting prepubescent females engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adults.”

Free on $250,000 bail in the state case, Wilson could still face federal child porn charges. Department of Homeland Security agents last month received permission from a federal judge to search Wilson’s laptop, three hard drives, and 31 other digital storage devices that were seized from his residence.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/tsa/tsa-child-porn-arrest-759031

Friday 12-30-11

2011-12-30T04:14:00.001-05:00

The future is now?

THE FUTURIST Magazine Releases its Top Ten Forecasts for 2012 and Beyond

Bethesda, Maryland - The World Future Society is pleased to release the top ten forecasts from its most recent Outlook report, published in the November-December 2012 issue of THE FUTURIST magazine.

THE FUTURIST magazine examines key developments in technology, the environment, the economy, international relations, etc., in order to paint a full and credible portrait of our likely future. Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine to go into our annual Outlook report. Over the years, Outlook has spotlighted the emergence of such epochal developments as the Internet, virtual reality, and the end of the Cold War. The forecasts are meant as conversation starters, not absolute predictions about the future.

The Society hopes that this report, covering developments in business and economics, demography, energy, the environment, health and medicine, resources, society and values, and technology, will assist its readers in preparing for the challenges and opportunities in 2012 and beyond.

THE FUTURIST Magazine Releases its Top Ten Forecasts for 2012 and beyond.

Forecast #1:
Learning will become more social and game-based, and online social gaming may soon replace textbooks in schools. The idea that students learn more when they are engaged—as they are when playing games—is helping educators embrace new technologies in the classroom. In addition to encouraging collaborations, games also allow students to learn from their mistakes with less fear of failing.

Forecast #2:
Commercial space tourism will grow significantly during the coming decade. By 2021, there will be 13,000 suborbital passengers annually, resulting in $650 million in revenue. Many companies are currently working to make commercial space flight a viable industry, according to Melchor Antuñano, director of the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute.

Forecast #3:
Nanotechnology offers hope for restoring eyesight. Flower-shaped electrodes topped with photodiodes, implanted in blind patients’ eyes, may restore their sight. The “nanoflowers” mimic the geometry of neurons, making them a better medium than traditional computer chips for carrying photodiodes and transmitting the collected light signals to the brain.

Forecast #4:
Robotic earthworms will gobble up our garbage. Much of what we throw away still has value. Metals, petroleum, and other components could get additional use if we extracted them, and robotic earthworms could do that for us. The tiny, agile robot teams will go through mines and landfills to extract anything of value, and then digest the remaining heaps into quality top soil.

Forecast #5:
The dust bowls of the twenty-first century will dwarf those seen in the twentieth. Two giant dust bowls are now forming, in Asia and in Africa, due to massive amounts of soil erosion and desertification resulting from overgrazing, over-plowing, and deforestation, warns environmental futurist Lester R. Brown.

Forecast #6:
Lunar-based solar power production may be the best way to meet future energy demands. Solar power can be more dependably and inexpensively gathered on the Moon than on Earth. This clean energy source is capable of delivering the 20 trillion watts of power a year that the Earth’s predicted 10 billion people will require by mid-century.

Forecast #7:
Machine vision will become available in the next 5 to 15 years, with visual range ultimately exceeding that of the human eye. This technology will greatly enhance robotic systems’ capabilities.

Forecast #8:
Advances in fuel cells will enable deep-sea habitation. Fuel cells such as those currently being developed for automobiles will produce electricity directly, with no toxic fumes. This advance will eventually make it easier to explore and even colonize the undersea world via extended submarine journeys.

Forecast #9:
Future buildings may be more responsive to weather fluctuations. “Protocell cladding” that utilizes bioluminescent bacteria or other materials would be applied on building facades to collect water and sunlight, helping to cool the interiors and produce biofuels. The protocells are made from oil droplets in water, which allow soluble chemicals to be exchanged between the drops and their surroundings.

Forecast #10:
The end of identity as we know it? It may become very easy to create a new identity (or many identities) for ourselves. All we will have to do is create new avatars in virtual reality. Those avatars will act on our behalf in real life to conduct such high-level tasks as performing intensive research, posting blog entries and Facebook updates, and managing businesses. The lines between ourselves and our virtual other selves will blur, to the point where most of us will, in essence, have multiple personalities.

http://www.wfs.org/content/press-room/futurist-magazine-releases-its-top-ten-forecasts-for-2012-and-beyond

Thursday 12-29-11

2011-12-29T02:34:00.001-05:00

How SOPA Will Destroy The Internet

As you read this, please keep in mind that I say it all with a track record of nearly 14 years of being proactive and having a zero-tolerance policy towards criminal activity and network abuse on our system. We have great relationships with Law Enforcement Agencies both here in Canada and abroad. We are always helpful and (usually) happy to answer questions, and help LEA understand the complexities and nuances of the internet. We've had the good fortune to meet some really intelligent and clued in cybercrime units. We participate in numerous communities in combating .net abuse and cybercrime.
I finally got around to reading the text of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) today. While the ostensible intentions are to combat online piracy and the sale of counterfeit goods, the bad news is that the legislation contains elements which basically puts every single domain registered under generic TLDs under the authority of the United States Attorney General.

We have already seen in cases of the ICE domain seizures, improper takedowns and overreach resulting in the takedown of tens of thousands of websites when a single one was the target.

How does this affect you?
Our objections to SOPA are very similar to our objections to Verisign's recent proposal which contained overly broad takedown powers and could be used to assert US law (and "requests") on all domain holders internationally.

We consider SOPA far more pernicious because it is possibly to become US law, rather than a policy implemented by a private company (albeit one that holds a monopoly on large tracts of internet namespace).

SOPA differentiates between "domestic" and "foreign" domain names, but the definition of "domestic" basically includes all domains registered under any of the gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains), because their respective Registry operators are US-based entities:

(3) DOMESTIC DOMAIN NAME- The term `domestic domain name' means a domain name that is registered or assigned by a domain name registrar, domain name registry, or other domain name registration authority, that is located within a judicial district of the United States.

All domains under .com, .net, .org, and .biz are "assigned by" a domain name registry in the United States. Verisign, Public Interest Registry and Neustar respectively. Afilias is incorporated in Ireland, however they are operationally in the US. And at the end of the day, all domain names exist in namespaces assigned by ICANN, which is a California corporation.

So basically this means everything. Any domain, any TLD, anywhere, can be cutoff at the knees by the US Attorney General issuing a court order against a service provider, registrar or registry. (Although they may find it more difficult to assert beyond the generic TLDs. ICANN cannot for example, operationally takedown a domain inside some given ccTLD, the way Verisign or some other gTLD registry could simply yank any domain's nameserver records out of the rootzones.)

Perhaps for the scope of this discussion, only gTLDs are at risk. This means you can probably ignore all of this unless your domain is under com/net/org/biz/info, or you use a US-based registrar, service provider or your website is ever visited by anybody from the United States.

Where This Is Going.
If this becomes law, it's a short stretch from SOPA to NODA (No Online Dissent Anywhere) and if you think I'm a nutcase for saying so, I'd like to remind everybody what happened just over a year ago, when US politicians were tripping over themselves to shut down wikileaks (a royal fiasco in which this company was embroiled) and to this day, they have not been charged with a crime anywhere.

Many of the "dirty tricks" employed against Wikileaks would be enshrined in law under SOPA (and someday, NODA):

•A requirement that service providers block access to offending domains, including that they stop resolving their DNS
•Search engines to purge search results for offending domains
•Payment processors to sever ties to offending domains
And they added an extra provision that it will be an offense to knowingly create a service or system to provide a workaround to a banned domain or host. So for example, they would no longer have to hassle Mozilla to remove that firefox plugin that lets you reach ICE blocked websites, it would be illegal to make it or distribute it.

While this is an Online Piracy law, it already contains additional "enhancements" under Title 2: Additional Enhancements to Combat Intellectual Property Theft:, namely:

•SEC. 201. STREAMING OF COPYRIGHTED WORKS IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL LAW.
•SEC. 202. TRAFFICKING IN INHERENTLY DANGEROUS GOODS OR SERVICES.
•SEC. 203. PROTECTING U.S. BUSINESSES FROM FOREIGN AND ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE.
Where All This EndsEven if ICANN is officially against SOPA (Former chairman Vint Cerf wrote a good letter opposing it), failure on ICANN's part to oppose SOPA would mean catastrophic failure in their mission of overseeing the namespace to the benefit of all stakeholders.

If this happens, there needs to be a serious conversation around a topic so incendiary, so heretical that I will probably become persona non-grata within domain policy circles for saying it, but I'm going to say it:

The Internet RootZone would have to be administered by a non-US Entity instead of ICANN.

The reason why is because the internet root is held together largely through two things:

•Consensus
•Convention
As all of the world's peoples, businesses and websites come increasingly under the jurisdiction and law of a single country, consensus will fragment. The internet root will have to be under the stewardship of an honest broker who can respect the rights of all sovereign interests as they relate to the internet.

Otherwise, it ends with a split internet root, if we're lucky. If not, it ends with a completely Balkanized one, because while it may not be the case now, as this escalates (and I suspect it will), it will pose intolerable risk to non-US entities of all stripes.

Already we get business from companies whose stated corporate IT policy is to not use US based servers to hold email or route web traffic. I'm not talking about torrent hosts, whistleblowers and fake Rolex vendors. We're talking large enterprise entities whose legal departments find even the theoretical legal ability for Homeland Security to monitor their corporate communications simply intolerable.

While I'm not complaining about the extra business, I still smell trouble on the horizon.

http://blog.easydns.org/2011/12/22/how-sopa-will-destroy-the-internet/

Also you can read more at

SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70878.html

Wednesday 11-28-11

2011-12-28T03:14:00.002-05:00

Boneheads are at it again, losing more privacy at every turn.

TSA screenings aren't just for airports anymore

Roving security teams increasingly visit train stations, subways and other mass transit sites to deter terrorism. Critics say it's largely political theater.

Reporting from Charlotte, N.C.— Rick Vetter was rushing to board the Amtrak train in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent Sunday afternoon when a canine officer suddenly blocked the way.

Three federal air marshals in bulletproof vests and two officers trained to spot suspicious behavior watched closely as Seiko, a German shepherd, nosed Vetter's trousers for chemical traces of a bomb. Radiation detectors carried by the marshals scanned the 57-year-old lawyer for concealed nuclear materials.

When Seiko indicated a scent, his handler, Julian Swaringen, asked Vetter whether he had pets at home in Garner, N.C. Two mutts, Vetter replied. "You can go ahead," Swaringen said.

The Transportation Security Administration isn't just in airports anymore. TSA teams are increasingly conducting searches and screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations around the country.

"We are not the Airport Security Administration," said Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte. "We take that transportation part seriously."

The TSA's 25 "viper" teams — for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response — have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. Department of Homeland Security officials have asked Congress for funding to add 12 more teams next year.

According to budget documents, the department spent $110 million in fiscal 2011 for "surface transportation security," including the TSA's viper program, and is asking for an additional $24 million next year. That compares with more than $5 billion for aviation security.

TSA officials say they have no proof that the roving viper teams have foiled any terrorist plots or thwarted any major threat to public safety. But they argue that the random nature of the searches and the presence of armed officers serve as a deterrent and bolster public confidence.

"We have to keep them [terrorists] on edge," said Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. "We're not going to have a permanent presence everywhere."

U.S. officials note that digital files recovered from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan after he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in May included evidence that the Al Qaeda leader had considered an attack on U.S. railways in February 2010. Over the last decade, deadly bombings have hit subways or trains in Moscow; Mumbai, India; Madrid; and London.

But critics say that without a clear threat, the TSA checkpoints are merely political theater. Privacy advocates worry that the agency is stretching legal limits on the government's right to search U.S. citizens without probable cause — and with no proof that the scattershot checkpoints help prevent attacks.

"It's a great way to make the public think you are doing something," said Fred H. Cate, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, who writes on privacy and security. "It's a little like saying, 'If we start throwing things up in the air, will they hit terrorists?' ''

Such criticism is nothing new to the TSA.

The agency came under fresh fire this month when three elderly women with medical devices complained that TSA agents had strip-searched them in separate incidents at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Lenore Zimmerman, 84, said she was ordered to pull down her pants after she refused to pass through a full body scanner because she was afraid the machine would interfere with her heart defibrillator.

TSA officials denied the women were strip-searched, but they announced plans to create a toll-free telephone number for passengers with medical conditions who require assistance in airport screening lines. TSA officials said they also are considering a proposal by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to designate a passengers advocate at every airport.

The TSA's viper program hasn't drawn that kind of attention, although it is increasingly active.

In Tennessee in October, a viper team used radiation monitors and explosive-trace detectors to help state police inspect trucks at highway weigh stations throughout the state. Last month in Orlando, Fla., a team set up metal detectors at a Greyhound bus station and tested passengers' bags for explosive residue.

In the Carolinas this year, TSA teams have checked people at the gangplanks of cruise ships, the entrance to NASCAR races, and at ferry terminals taking tourists to the Outer Banks.

At the Charlotte train station on Dec. 11, Seiko, the bomb-sniffing dog, snuffled down a line of about 100 passengers waiting to board an eastbound train. Many were heading home after watching the Charlotte Panthers NFL team lose to the Atlanta Falcons after holding a 16-point lead.

No one seemed especially perturbed by the TSA team.

"It's probably overkill," said Karen Stone, 26, after a behavior-detection officer asked her about the Panthers game and her trip home to Raleigh.

"It's cool," said Marcus Baldwin, 21, who was heading home to Mebane, near Burlington, where he waits tables to help pay for computer technology classes. "They're doing what our tax money is paying them to do."

"I'm mostly curious," said Barbara Spencer, 75, who was heading home to Chapel Hill after watching her grandson perform in a Christmas play. She asked the officers whether a terrorist threat had required the extra security. No, they replied.

Vetter, the lawyer, had attended the game with his son, Noah. They jogged for the train after Seiko had finished his sniff, but Vetter had bigger worries on his mind. "The Panthers blew it," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-terror-checkpoints-20111220,0,3213641.story

Every Picture Tells A Story, Part Two
In October, I posted a graphic developed by Rob Vance that showed the progress in the growth of firearms carry rights from 1986 through 2011 as a percentage of the U.S. population. In 1986, 90% of the U.S. population lived in states that severely restricted carry rights or had none at all. Today, over two-thirds of Americans live in states with either shall-issue carry or constitutional carry. The conclusion was that shall-issue is the new norm.

Recently, the FBI released its Uniform Crime Reports statistics. Rob generated a new graph plotting these violent crime rates against the growth of less-restrictive firearm carry rights over the period of 1986 through 2011.

http://onlygunsandmoney.blogspot.com/2011/12/every-picture-tells-story-part-two.html

Three myths about the detention bill

Condemnation of President Obama is intense, and growing, as a result of his announced intent to sign into law the indefinite detention bill embedded in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). These denunciations come not only from the nation’s leading civil liberties and human rights groups, but also from the pro-Obama New York Times Editorial Page, which today has a scathing Editorial describing Obama’s stance as “a complete political cave-in, one that reinforces the impression of a fumbling presidency” and lamenting that “the bill has so many other objectionable aspects that we can’t go into them all,” as well as from vocal Obama supporters such as Andrew Sullivan, who wrote yesterday that this episode is “another sign that his campaign pledge to be vigilant about civil liberties in the war on terror was a lie.” In damage control mode, White-House-allied groups are now trying to ride to the rescue with attacks on the ACLU and dismissive belittling of the bill’s dangers.

For that reason, it is very worthwhile to briefly examine — and debunk — the three principal myths being spread by supporters of this bill, and to do so very simply: by citing the relevant provisions of the bill, as well as the relevant passages of the original 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF), so that everyone can judge for themselves what this bill actually includes (this is all above and beyond the evidence I assembled in writing about this bill yesterday):

Myth # 1: This bill does not codify indefinite detention

Section 1021 of the NDAA governs, as its title says, “Authority of the Armed Forces to Detain Covered Persons Pursuant to the AUMF.” The first provision — section (a) — explicitly “affirms that the authority of the President” under the AUMF ”includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons.” The next section, (b), defines “covered persons” — i.e., those who can be detained by the U.S. military — as “a person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.” With regard to those “covered individuals,” this is the power vested in the President by the next section, (c):

It simply cannot be any clearer within the confines of the English language that this bill codifies the power of indefinite detention. It expressly empowers the President — with regard to anyone accused of the acts in section (b) – to detain them “without trial until the end of the hostilities.” That is the very definition of “indefinite detention,” and the statute could not be clearer that it vests this power. Anyone claiming this bill does not codify indefinite detention should be forced to explain how they can claim that in light of this crystal clear provision.

It is true, as I’ve pointed out repeatedly, that both the Bush and Obama administrations have argued that the 2001 AUMF implicitly (i.e., silently) already vests the power of indefinite detention in the President, and post-9/11 deferential courts have largely accepted that view (just as the Bush DOJ argued that the 2001 AUMF implicitly (i.e., silently) allowed them to eavesdrop on Americans without the warrants required by law). That’s why the NDAA can state that nothing is intended to expand the 2001 AUMF while achieving exactly that: because the Executive and judicial interpretation being given to the 20o1 AUMF is already so much broader than its language provides.

But this is the first time this power of indefinite detention is being expressly codified by statute (there’s not a word about detention powers in the 2001 AUMF). Indeed, as the ACLU and HRW both pointed out, it’s the first time such powers are being codified in a statute since the McCarthy era Internal Security Act of 1950, about which I wrote yesterday.

Myth #2: The bill does not expand the scope of the War on Terror as defined by the 2001 AUMF

This myth is very easily dispensed with. The scope of the war as defined by the original 2001 AUMF was, at least relative to this new bill, quite specific and narrow. Here’s the full extent of the power the original AUMF granted:

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

Under the clear language of the 2001 AUMF, the President’s authorization to use force was explicitly confined to those who (a) helped perpetrate the 9/11 attack or (b) harbored the perpetrators. That’s it. Now look at how much broader the NDAA is with regard to who can be targeted:

Section (1) is basically a re-statement of the 2001 AUMF. But Section (2) is a brand new addition. It allows the President to target not only those who helped perpetrate the 9/11 attacks or those who harbored them, but also: anyone who “substantially supports” such groups and/or “associated forces.” Those are extremely vague terms subject to wild and obvious levels of abuse (see what Law Professor Jonathan Hafetz told me in an interview last week about the dangers of those terms). This is a substantial statutory escalation of the War on Terror and the President’s powers under it, and it occurs more than ten years after 9/11, with Osama bin Laden dead, and with the U.S. Government boasting that virtually all Al Qaeda leaders have been eliminated and the original organization (the one accused of perpetrating 9/11 attack) rendered inoperable.

It is true that both the Bush and Obama administration have long been arguing that the original AUMF should be broadly “interpreted” so as to authorize force against this much larger scope of individuals, despite the complete absence of such language in that original AUMF. That’s how the Obama administration justifies its ongoing bombing of Yemen and Somalia and its killing of people based on the claim that they support groups that did not even exist at the time of 9/11 – i.e., they argue: these new post-9/11 groups we’re targeting are “associated forces” of Al Qaeda and the individuals we’re killing “substantially support” those groups. But this is the first time that Congress has codified that wildly expanded definition of the Enemy in the War on Terror. And all anyone has to do to see that is compare the old AUMF with the new one in the NDAA.

Myth #3: U.S. citizens are exempted from this new bill

This is simply false, at least when expressed so definitively and without caveats. The bill is purposely muddled on this issue which is what is enabling the falsehood.

There are two separate indefinite military detention provisions in this bill. The first, Section 1021, authorizes indefinite detention for the broad definition of “covered persons” discussed above in the prior point. And that section does provide that “Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law or authorities relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States, or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States.” So that section contains a disclaimer regarding an intention to expand detention powers for U.S. citizens, but does so only for the powers vested by that specific section. More important, the exclusion appears to extend only to U.S. citizens “captured or arrested in the United States” — meaning that the powers of indefinite detention vested by that section apply to U.S. citizens captured anywhere abroad (there is some grammatical vagueness on this point, but at the very least, there is a viable argument that the detention power in this section applies to U.S. citizens captured abroad).

But the next section, Section 1022, is a different story. That section specifically deals with a smaller category of people than the broad group covered by 1021: namely, anyone whom the President determines is “a member of, or part of, al-Qaeda or an associated force” and “participated in the course of planning or carrying out an attack or attempted attack against the United States or its coalition partners.” For those persons, section (a) not only authorizes, but requires (absent a Presidential waiver), that they be held “in military custody pending disposition under the law of war.” The section title is “Military Custody for Foreign Al Qaeda Terrorists,” but the definition of who it covers does not exclude U.S. citizens or include any requirement of foreignness.

That section — 1022 — does not contain the broad disclaimer regarding U.S. citizens that 1021 contains. Instead, it simply says that the requirement of military detention does not apply to U.S. citizens, but it does not exclude U.S. citizens from the authority, the option, to hold them in military custody. Here is what it says:

The only provision from which U.S. citizens are exempted here is the “requirement” of military detention. For foreign nationals accused of being members of Al Qaeda, military detention is mandatory; for U.S. citizens, it is optional. This section does not exempt U.S citizens from the presidential power of military detention: only from the requirement of military detention.

The most important point on this issue is the same as underscored in the prior two points: the “compromise” reached by Congress includes language preserving the status quo. That’s because the Obama administration already argues that the original 2001 AUMF authorizes them to act against U.S. citizens (obviously, if they believe they have the power to target U.S. citizens for assassination, then they believe they have the power to detain U.S. citizens as enemy combatants). The proof that this bill does not expressly exempt U.S. citizens or those captured on U.S. soil is that amendments offered by Sen. Feinstein providing expressly for those exemptions were rejected. The “compromise” was to preserve the status quo by including the provision that the bill is not intended to alter it with regard to American citizens, but that’s because proponents of broad detention powers are confident that the status quo already permits such detention.

In sum, there is simply no question that this bill codifies indefinite detention without trial (Myth 1). There is no question that it significantly expands the statutory definitions of the War on Terror and those who can be targeted as part of it (Myth 2). The issue of application to U.S. citizens (Myth 3) is purposely muddled — that’s why Feinstein’s amendments were rejected — and there is consequently no doubt this bill can and will be used by the U.S. Government (under this President or a future one) to bolster its argument that it is empowered to indefinitely detain even U.S. citizens without a trial (NYT Editorial: “The legislation could also give future presidents the authority to throw American citizens into prison for life without charges or a trial”; Sen. Bernie Sanders: “This bill also contains misguided provisions that in the name of fighting terrorism essentially authorize the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens without charges”).

Even if it were true that this bill changes nothing when compared to how the Executive Branch has been interpreting and exercising the powers of the old AUMF, there are serious dangers and harms from having Congress — with bipartisan sponsors, a Democratic Senate and a GOP House — put its institutional, statutory weight behind powers previously claimed and seized by the President alone. That codification entrenches these powers. As the New York Times Editorial today put it: the bill contains “terrible new measures that will make indefinite detention and military trials a permanent part of American law.”

What’s particularly ironic (and revealing) about all of this is that former White House counsel Greg Craig assured The New Yorker‘s Jane Mayer back in February, 2009 that it’s “hard to imagine Barack Obama as the first President of the United States to introduce a preventive-detention law.” Four months later, President Obama proposed exactly such a law — one that The New York Times described as “a departure from the way this country sees itself, as a place where people in the grip of the government either face criminal charges or walk free” — and now he will sign such a scheme into law

http://www.salon.com/2011/12/16/three_myths_about_the_detention_bill/singleton/

Tuesday 12-27-11

2011-12-27T03:39:00.001-05:00

'Security Theater'? TSA Confiscates Woman's Frosted Cupcake

A Massachusetts woman who flew home from Las Vegas this week says an airport security officer confiscated her frosted cupcake because he thought its vanilla-bourbon icing could be a "security risk."

Rebecca Hains told ABCNews.com today that a Transportation Security Administration agent at Las Vegas- McCarran International Airport seized her cupcake, saying the frosting sitting atop the red velvet cake was gel-like enough to violate regulations.

The incident took place Wednesday.

Hains, a teacher, said the cupcake was a gift from one of her students. She was traveling with her husband and toddler, and thought her young son might get hungry on the long trip home.

The cupcake was packaged in a glass container with a metal lid, which was why it attracted the attention of the scanner in the first place.

The TSA agent didn't know what to do with the cupcake, so she called over her supervisor, Hains said.

"The TSA supervisor, Robert Epps, was using really bad logic - he said it counted as a gel-like substance because it was conforming to the shape of its container."

"We also had a small pile of hummus sandwiches with creamy fillings, which made it through, but the cupcake with its frosting was apparently a terrorist threat…I just don't know what world he was living in," said Hains, speaking of the TSA officer.

Hains said she had flown from Boston to Las Vegas with two cupcakes without any problems.

"The TSA at Logan Airport said the cupcakes looked delicious and told us to have a great trip. But in Las Vegas, they were dangerous. They shouldn't be delicious in one part of the country and a security threat in the other."

Hains called the TSA "security theater."

"You'd expect them to be consistent. If they're doing what they claim to be doing and actually protecting travelers, they would be applying their rules using critical thinking. He gave no indication that really thought the cupcake was a threat."

"This really isn't about the cupcake, it's about the bigger issue and it's indicative of the fact that broader reforms need to be made to the TSA because they are not keeping us safe," said Hains.

"In general, cakes and pies are allowed in carry-on luggage," TSA spokesperson James Fotenos told ABC News affiliate WCVB. Fotenos added that they were looking into why this cupcake was confiscated.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/security-theater-tsa-confiscates-womans-frosted-cupcake-161059325.html

Monday 12-26-11

2011-12-26T14:13:00.001-05:00

Makes little or no sense at all. I guess they should allow boys with long hair next?

Defense department agrees to allow Muslim cadets to wear hijabs

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced today that the Department of Defense will begin allowing Muslim and Sikh students who wear an Islamic head scarf (hijab) or a turban to participate in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC).

“We welcome the fact that Muslim and Sikh students nationwide will now be able to participate fully in JROTC leadership activities while maintaining their religious beliefs and practices,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

In October, the Washington-based Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization wrote to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta after a 14-year-old Muslim student at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tenn., was forced to transfer out of a JROTC class when her commanding officers told her she could not wear hijab while marching in the September homecoming parade.

CAIR requested constitutionally-protected religious accommodations for the girl and for future Muslim JROTC participants.

In a Dec. 19 letter sent to CAIR, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Larry Stubblefield wrote:

”I have been asked to respond on behalf of the Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta to your October 13, 2011 letter concerning Miss Demin Zawity’s request to wear a religious head covering (hijab) while participating in an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) event at Ravenwood High School.

“Based on your concerns, the Army has reviewed its JROTC uniform policy and will develop appropriate procedures to provide Cadets the opportunity to request the wear of religious head dress, such as the turban and hijab. This change will allow Miss Zawity and other students the chance to fully participate in the JROTC program. Additionally, a representative from the U.S. Army Cadet Command will contact Miss Zawity and provide her the opportunity to rejoin the Ravenwood High School JROTC unit.

“The Army prides itself in being a diverse organization, comprised of individuals from many faiths and religions. We appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features-the-religion-world/2011/12/22/defense-department-agrees-to-allow-muslim-cadets-to-wear-hijabs/

Saturday 12-24-11

2011-12-24T03:13:00.001-05:00

Three Denver Muslims lead cheers for Tebow

DENVER — This is the story of three sports-loving Muslim brothers and how they boosted the career of the NFL’s most famous Christian.

The Suleimans - Tariq, Ali and Mohammad - are responsible for “the Sign,” the towering electronic billboard that captured national attention when it began running messages in September urging the Denver Broncos to start Tim Tebow as quarterback.

It worked. “It just goes to show you,” said Mohammad, “when Muslims and Christians get together, miracles can happen.”

Now the talk of professional football and a pop-culture phenomenon for his unorthodox style, onfield heroics and highly visible Christian faith, Tebow just three months ago was stuck on the sidelines as his team’s backup quarterback. He hadn’t started a game this season, and there was no guarantee his number would be called, even though Broncos fans had been clamoring to see him play.

That included 26-year-old Mohammad Suleiman. He had heard about campaigns to raise money to erect a “Play Tebow” billboard in Denver. At that point, those efforts had fallen short, but Mohammad had access to something other fans didn’t: a really big sign.

As employees at Multiline International Imports, Mohammad and his brothers regularly posted digital messages advertising the store’s sales and specials. After the Broncos started the season by losing two of the first three games, Mohammad decided it was time to run an entirely different message.

“We were just tired of [the Broncos] losing. We needed a change,” said Mohammad. “I’ve seen how Tebow plays. He’s just a winner. We had drafted a first-round talent, and we needed to see what he could do.”

Shortly after the Broncos‘ loss to the Tennessee Titans in the third week of the season, the brothers issued an orange-and-blue challenge to the team’s skeptical coach: “Broncos Fans to John Fox: Play Tebow!” That message was timed to interchange with “Welcome to Tebow-Land,” showing a photo of the quarterback.

Did they get permission from Multiline’s owner first? “No, not really,” said Mohammad. “We just kind of put it up there.” Fortunately, the boss is also their dad. “My dad didn’t know who Tebow was at first, but he was fine with it,” he said.

The reaction was immediate. Fans began showing up in the parking lot at 58th Avenue and Logan Court to take photos. Customer reaction was “all positive - we never heard anything negative,” Mohammad said.

The Denver Post and local television stations picked up the tale of the sign, which was running new Tebow messages every week. Soon “the Sign” hit the national spotlight with a mention in Sports Illustrated and stories on NFL Network and Yahoo Sports.

Fox, the coach, professed during an October news conference to have never seen the sign, but many Broncos players and executives undoubtedly had. The digital billboard looms above Interstate 25, just three exits north of where the Broncos play.

Two weeks after the first message ran, Fox inserted the backup quarterback at halftime against the San Diego Chargers. The next day, Tebow was named the starter. He promptly became a national sensation after reeling off a string of last-minute, come-from-behind victories.

The Suleimans have continued to run Broncos-themed messages, starting with, “John Fox, We Told You So!” After Ali’s son, Amir, was born Nov. 11, they displayed a photo of the newborn with the caption, “Tebow fan all my life.”

“We had someone call us and say, ‘You guys single-handedly changed the course of the Broncos,’ ” said Tariq, 30. “Not that we’re agreeing, of course.”

The brothers are third-generation Coloradans and Broncos fans. All three graduated from Overland High School in Aurora, and all earned degrees at the University of Colorado at Denver. They play football with family and friends, along with fantasy football, but they didn’t really know much about Tebow before he was drafted in 2010.

“We didn’t really follow him when he was in college,” said Tariq. “But after he got here, we really got excited about him.”

The son of Christian missionaries, Tebow has been criticized by some for his public displays of faith, such as taking a knee to pray during games and thanking “my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” before speaking with the press. It’s been suggested that he needs to tone down his expressions of religious faith, but the Suleimans disagree.

“It gives him encouragement, so it’s good,” said Ali, 28. Added Tariq: “That’s where he gets his strength, so he should keep it up because it’s good for Denver.”

They also appreciate Tebow’s squeaky-clean image. “It takes a lot of courage for Tebow to go out there and say he’s a devout Christian,” said Mohammad. “Tebow’s the kind of guy you want representing your city and team.”

Nobody has commented on the juxtaposition of Muslim fans leading the bandwagon on behalf of the uber-Christian Tebow. Well, almost nobody. “Just reporters,” said Mohammad.

The brothers’ support for Tebow shouldn’t come as a surprise, he said. “Muslim players play with Christian players in the NFL all the time,” said Mohammad.

Now that they’ve got their favorite quarterback behind center, the Suleimans have only two requests. First, they would like the Broncos to win a Super Bowl. Second, they would like Tebow to check out the sign in person.

“We haven’t seen Tebow come down and thank us yet,” Mohammad said with a grin. “We’re waiting for him to come see us.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/22/3-denver-muslims-lead-cheers-for-tebow/?page=all#pagebreak