Monday 03-02-15

It seems to always be about control, if it is not gun control is you what you and what you can not eat, where you can go and not go, always have to have your approved government identification.  You don't have use of all your land you bought some of it is (federally controlled) wetlands and some of you have to make a tree save area and so on, it seems never ending

Not just gun control

Remember, it’s not just guns they want to control. I find several parts of this whole fiasco disturbing. Right from the beginning of the article, DHS and FAA held a “conference was open to civilians, but explicitly closed to the press. One attendee described it as an eye-opener.” When one of those attendees (who runs a small drone shop) posted a picture and notes from the conference, DHS asked him to take it down (he complied).
Then we get to the meat of the issue – that a drone manufacturer unilaterally chose to add all of DC to their drones’ internal “no-fly” map. First, of course, that their drones have a “no-fly” map in the first place, and secondly, that “DJI is preparing an update that will increase the number of airport no fly zones from 710 to 10,000, and prevent users from flying across some national borders.” This is of course, pointless, as there are other manufacturers as the spokesam for DJI points out. Wired also points out that this won’t prevent terrorism, because there will always be workarounds, legal or otherwise.
Sebastian noted a while back about the wishes of gun-control advocates to be able to erect “no-smartgun” zones at will. It looks like their counterparts in drone control will get that wish. I can only hope that DJI gets what Smith and Wesson got from firearms enthusiasts when they kow-towed to the government.

http://www.pagunblog.com/2015/02/27/not-just-gun-control/

This one is supposed to be humor, but it too sad to be true, go to the source and see it.

Dakota Johnson’s ‘SNL’ ISIS spoof stirs outrage online

http://news.yahoo.com/snl-isis-skit-dakota-johnson-video-154431536.html

Thursday 12-11-14

Is the way we win this war, is by us changing who we are?  I can understand safety for our soldiers and I understand this is UK, but will we do the same thing here? and if so why?  Would it not be better to instead of hiding who we are at war with and we are stop them before it comes to that?  Are we such a County of cowards that it comes to that?  I'm not talking about the regular soldier, but the people that make the decisions, are they really that naïve to think that cowering is the way to get them to stop?

US Troops Warned Not To Wear Uniform In Europe

European Command will not say what has prompted the directive, which affects some 70,000 US service members.

Spokesman Navy Capt Greg Hicks said: "We continually assess threats to our forces with and alongside our host nation counterparts, and take appropriate measures based on those assessments. 

"We will not get into the specifics of those threats nor the assessments."

http://news.sky.com/story/1375750/us-troops-warned-not-to-wear-uniform-in-europe

I came across this site the other day, it is a food calculator for a family, that wants to put up some food for a future time that is worse than now.  I liked it for a lot of reasons, one is because it gives you various ages, also takes into account fruit and oils.

TheFoodGuys.com - Food Storage Calculator

The following calculator will help you figure the minimum food storage amounts needed for your family. These amounts are based on the recommendations listed in the LDS Church's Home Production and Storage manual. These figures are recommendations, and are basic year supply minimums only. You will need to choose the best options and foods you should store for your family.

http://thefoodguys.com/foodcalc.html

Saturday 01-05-13

An attempt at humor, i guess it was meant as humor

The Layoff Letter

Dear Employees:

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%.

But, since we cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off sixty of our employees instead. This has really been bothering me since I believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who would have to go.

So, this is what I did. I walked through our parking lots and found sixty 'Obama' bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to get let go. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change...I gave it to them.

I will see the rest of you at the annual company picnic.

I actually agree with her, i understand their position also, but she is right

Nurses Fired for Refusing Flu Shot

An Indiana hospital has fired eight employees, including at least three veteran nurses, after they refused mandatory flu shots, stirring up controversy over which should come first: employee rights or patient safety. The hospital imposed mandatory vaccines, responding to rising concerns about the spread of influenza.

Ethel Hoover wore all black on her last day of work as a nurse in the critical care unit at Indiana University Health Goshen Hospital. She said she was in "mourning" because she would have been at the hospital 22 years in February, and she's only called out of work four or five times in her whole career , she said.

"This is my body. I have a right to refuse the flu vaccine," Hoover, 61, told ABCNews.com. "For 21 years, I have religiously not taken the flu vaccine, and now you're telling me that I believe in it."

More than 15,100 flu cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since Sept. 30, including 16 pediatric deaths. Indiana's flu activity level is considered high, according to the CDC, which last month announced that the flu season came a month earlier than usual.

 

When Hoover first heard about the mandate, she said she didn't realize officials would take it so seriously. She said she filed two medical exemptions, a religious exemption and two appeals, but they were all denied. The Dec. 15 flu shot deadline came and went. Hoover's last day of employment was Dec. 21.

Fellow nurse Kacy Davis said she and her colleagues were "horrified" over Hoover's firing, calling her their "go-to" nurse and a "preceptor."
"It was a good place to work," Hoover said. "We've worked together all these years. We're like a family."
The hospital said in a statement that it implemented the mandate to promote patient safety based on recommendations from the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It announced the mandate in September. Of the hospital's 26,000 employees statewide, 95 percent complied. That means 1,300 employees did not comply, but only eight were fired.
"IU Health's top priority is the health and wellbeing of our patients," said hospital spokeswoman Whitney Ertel. "Participation in the annual Influenza Patient Safety Program is a condition of employment with IU Health for the health and safety of the patients that we serve, and is therefore required."
The CDC recommends flu shots for everyone older than six months of age. Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., said hospital patients are especially vulnerable to flu complications because their bodies are already weakened.
"I cannot think of a reason for any health care professional to decline influenza immunization that's valid," said Schaffner, a former president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, adding that people with egg allergies may have to avoid the flu shot to prevent anaphylactic shock, but even that hurdle has been remedied. The Food and Drug Administration approved an egg-free vaccine in November.
Schaffner said invalid excuses to avoid the shot include being afraid of needles and simply promising to stay home when they're sick. Patients now have the option of a vaccine nasal spray if they want to avoid needles. And since flu victims become contagious before they start to feel sick, they can get patients sick even if they stay home when they have symptoms.
Over the last several years, hospitals have been moving toward mandatory vaccinations because many only have 60 percent vaccination rates, Schaffner said. He is leading an effort for a similar mandate at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Nurses in particular tend to be the most reluctant to get vaccinated among health care workers, Schaffner said, citing his opinion.
"There seems to be a persistent myth that you can get flu from a flu vaccine among nurses," he said. "They subject themselves to more influenza by not being immunized, and they certainly do not participate in putting patient safety first."
In October 2011, Vanderbilt broke the world record for number of vaccines administered in an eight-hour period in an event called Flulapalooza. From 6:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., they vaccinated 12,647 people. By that evening, more than 14,000 people had been vaccinated, and there were no severe adverse reactions, he said.
But still, Hoover's lawyer, Alan Phillips, says his client had the right to refuse her flu shot under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination of employees. Religion is legally broad under the First Amendment, so it could include any strongly held belief, he said, adding that the belief flu shots are bad should suffice.
"If your personal beliefs are religious in nature, then they are a protected belief," Phillips said.

Phillips, who is based out of North Carolina, has made a name for himself fighting for employees' rights to get out of mandated flu shots, but he has never needed to go to court. Although he usually handles a couple dozen health care workers per year, he had 150 this fall in 25 states.

Dr. Damon Raskin, an internist with his own practice in the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, said hospitals should mandate flu vaccines as a matter of public safety. The flu can lead to complications like pneumonia and death, said Raskin, who is also affiliated with the Cliffside Malibu Addiction Rehabilitation Center.

"I think if the health care worker has some problem with religious faith then perhaps during flu season, they shouldn't do that job," Raskin said, suggesting that the worker do something administrative instead during flu season. "It's not fair to the patient. The people who are most at risk are in the hospital."

http://news.yahoo.com/nurses-fired-refusing-flu-shot-224637902--abc-news-health.html

Why does this not surprise me at all.  All he stuff about the little guy, is just to get elected.

Workers making $30,000 will take a bigger hit on their pay than those earning $500,000 under new fiscal deal

Middle-class workers will take a bigger hit to their income proportionately than those earning between $200,000 and $500,000 under the new fiscal cliff deal, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
Earners in the latter group will pay an average 1.3 percent more - or an additional $2,711 - in taxes this year, while workers making between $30,000 and $200,000 will see their paychecks shrink by as much as 1.7 percent - or up to $1,784 - the D.C.-based think tank reported.
Overall, nearly 80 percent of households will pay more money to the federal government as a result of the fiscal cliff deal.

Middle-class workers will take a bigger hit to their income proportionately than those earning between $200,000 and $500,000 under the new fiscal cliff deal,

Nearly 80 percent of households will pay more money to the federal government as a result of the fiscal cliff deal

'The economy needs a stimulus, but under the agreement, taxes will go up in 2013 relative to 2012 - not only on high-income households, as widely discussed, but also on every working man and woman in the country, via the end of the payroll tax cut,' said William G. Gale, co-director of the Tax Policy Center.
'For most households, the payroll tax takes a far bigger bite than the income tax does, and the payroll tax cut therefore - as [the Congressional Budget Office] and others have shown - was a more effective stimulus than income tax cuts were, because the payroll tax cuts hit lower in the income distribution and hence were more likely to be spent,' he added.

 

When the deal was passed by Congress late Tuesday, President Obama said it prevented 'a middle class take hike that could have sent the economy back into recession' and have a 'severe impact' on American families.
'Under this law, more than 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses will not see their income taxes go up,' he said.
To the contrary, the Tax Policy Center says roughly 70 percent of Americans will see their income taxes rise as a result of the deal. They won't rise as much as they would have if no deal had been reached and the fiscal cliff was triggered, but they will go up nonetheless.

While the lower brackets will take a bigger hit to their paychecks than those in the $200,000 to $500,000 bucket, their overall federal tax rate will remain smaller

The average increase in tax bills for all earners will be about $1,257.
While the lower brackets will take a bigger hit to their paychecks than those in the $200,000 to $500,000 bucket, their overall federal tax rate will remain smaller. And the biggest hit of all will still be felt by the nation's top income earners.
Obama made a tax hike on the nation's wealthiest central to his campaign for re-election.
Workers making more than $1 million will pay an average 7.8 percent more - or an additional $170,341 - under the new law.
The federal tax rate will be roughly 39 percent for that group, compared to 26 percent for those earning between $200,000 and $500,000 and 14 percent for those making between $40,000 and $50,000.

The average increase in tax bills for all earners will be about $1,257

Workers making more than $1 million will pay an average 7.8 percent more - or an additional $170,341 - under the new law

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2256972/Middle-earners-hit-hardest-revealed-workers-making-30-000-bigger-hit-earning-500-000-new-fiscal-deal.html

Friday 08-31-12

Why passwords have never been weaker—and crackers have never been stronger


Thanks to real-world data, the keys to your digital kingdom are under assault.

In late 2010, Sean Brooks received three e-mails over a span of 30 hours warning that his accounts on LinkedIn, Battle.net, and other popular websites were at risk. He was tempted to dismiss them as hoaxes—until he noticed they included specifics that weren't typical of mass-produced phishing scams. The e-mails said that his login credentials for various Gawker websites had been exposed by hackers who rooted the sites' servers, then bragged about it online; if Brooks used the same e-mail and password for other accounts, they would be compromised too.
The warnings Brooks and millions of other people received that December weren't fabrications. Within hours of anonymous hackers penetrating Gawker servers and exposing cryptographically protected passwords for 1.3 million of its users, botnets were cracking the passwords and using them to commandeer Twitter accounts and send spam. Over the next few days, the sites advising or requiring their users to change passwords expanded to include Twitter, Amazon, and Yahoo.
"The danger of weak password habits is becoming increasingly well-recognized," said Brooks, who at the time blogged about the warnings as the Program Associate for the Center for Democracy and Technology. The warnings, he told me, "show [that] these companies understand how a security breach outside their systems can create a vulnerability within their networks."
The ancient art of password cracking has advanced further in the past five years than it did in the previous several decades combined. At the same time, the dangerous practice of password reuse has surged. The result: security provided by the average password in 2012 has never been weaker.
A new world

The average Web user maintains 25 separate accounts but uses just 6.5 passwords to protect them, according to a landmark study (PDF) from 2007. As the Gawker breach demonstrated, such password reuse, combined with the frequent use of e-mail addresses as user names, means that once hackers have plucked login credentials from one site, they often have the means to compromise dozens of other accounts, too.
Newer hardware and modern techniques have also helped to contribute to the rise in password cracking. Now used increasingly for computing, graphics processors allow password-cracking programs to work thousands of times faster than they did just a decade ago on similarly priced PCs that used traditional CPUs alone. A PC running a single AMD Radeon HD7970 GPU, for instance, can try on average an astounding 8.2 billion password combinations each second, depending on the algorithm used to scramble them. Only a decade ago, such speeds were possible only when using pricey supercomputers.
The advances don't stop there. PCs equipped with two or more $500 GPUs can achieve speeds two, three, or more times faster, and free password cracking programs such as oclHashcat-plus will run on many of them with little or no tinkering. Hackers running such gear also work in tandem in online forums, which allow them to pool resources and know-how to crack lists of 100,000 or more passwords in just hours.
Most importantly, a series of leaks over the past few years containing more than 100 million real-world passwords have provided crackers with important new insights about how people in different walks of life choose passwords on different sites or in different settings. The ever-growing list of leaked passwords allows programmers to write rules that make cracking algorithms faster and more accurate; password attacks have become cut-and-paste exercises that even script kiddies can perform with ease.
"It has been night and day, the amount of improvement," said Rick Redman, a penetration tester for security consultants KoreLogic and organizer of the Crack Me If You Can password contest at the past three Defcon hacker conferences. "It's been an exciting year for password crackers because of the amount of data. Cracking 16-character passwords is something I could not do four or five years ago, and it's not because I have more computers now."

d3ad0neAt any given time, Redman is likely to be running thousands of cryptographically hashed passwords though a PC containing four of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards. It's an "older machine," he conceded, but it still gives him the ability to cycle through as many as 6.2 billion combinations every second. He typically uses a dictionary file containing about 26 million words, combined with programming rules that greatly extend its effectiveness by adding numbers, punctuation, and other characters to each list entry. Depending on the job, he sometimes uses a 60 million-strong word list and something known as "rainbow tables," which are described later in this article.
As a penetration tester who gets paid to pierce the defenses of Fortune 500 companies, Redman tries to spot weaknesses before criminal hackers exploit them on his customers' networks. One of the key ways he stays ahead is by downloading hash lists that are dumped almost every day on pastebin.com and other sites to see if any belong to the organizations he is contracted to protect.
Recently, he recovered a 13-character password that he had spent several months trying to crack. To protect the account holder, he declined to reveal the precise combination of characters and instead made up the imaginary passphrase "Sup3rThinkers" (minus the quotation marks) to illustrate his breakthrough. "Sup3rThinkers" follows a number of patterns that have become common: it opens with a common, five-letter word that begins with a capitalized letter and substitutes a 3 for an E, followed by a common, seven-letter word that also begins with a capital letter. While the speed of his system didn't hurt, cracking the password was largely the result of the collective codebreaking expertise developed online over the past few years.

The most important single contribution to cracking knowledge came in late 2009, when an SQL injection attack against online games service RockYou.com exposed 32 million plaintext passwords used by its members to log in to their accounts. The passcodes, which came to 14.3 million once duplicates were removed, were posted online; almost overnight, the unprecedented corpus of real-world credentials changed the way whitehat and blackhat hackers alike cracked passwords.

(the rest of the article is at the link)

http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/08/passwords-under-assault/
.
Drought effects a lot of things

Drought causes shortage in Wis. cow chip throw

SAUK CITY, Wis. (AP) - It's very seldom someone talks about the quality and amount of cow dung, but in one southern Wisconsin city that's all they've been talking about lately.
The drought has caused a shortage of flattened, dried cow manure _ or cow chips _ for the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw and Festival, which attracts about 300 throwers and 40,000 spectators to Prairie du Sac, Wis.
"This is my 24th throw, and it's never been this difficult to find chips," said Marietta Reuter, who helps organize the festival that runs Friday and Saturday.
They use the chips from a local beef cattle herd that mostly eats grass, because the diet helps keep the chips dense and strong.
The hot, dry summer _ which has caused crop, water level and other problems across the nation _ caused the grass to brown and cattle to stay near their barn for food and to keep cool. That means the manure in the pasture wasn't able to dry and flatten in the sun.
The committee that runs the festival usually goes out once in July to shovel the manure and let it dry in wagons in the sun. But this year they had to skip it because of the poor quality.
Instead, a few organizers went out sporadically and collected about a third of the usual amount _ 200 or 300. Every year they keep the good ones that don't break _ so they will dip into the 150 to 200 in reserve barrels for this year's competition.
When searching for chips, they look for them be about the size of a ping pong paddle.
"If it looks like it has air bubbles on the top, it's bad chip," Reuter said. "It won't be worth it because it will be light and airy. But if it's thick and solid and grassy, it's a good chip."
Once they dry, they don't really stink anymore.
"A lot of people are afraid to pick it up," said Terry Slotty, who runs the throw every year. "They look at it, and it looks like what it is but once they touch it they notice that it's very dry."
The men's record was set in 1991 at 248 feet. The woman's record is from 2005 at 157.5 feet, Reuter said. The festival will give the top finishers $200 each toward a trip to the World Championship Cow Chip Throw in Beaver, Okla., should they decide to go, Slotty said.
Reuter's brother, Russ Ballweg, who is the festival's grounds chair, said they are already planning on a backup plan for next year.
"We are probably going to have to go out more often and pick so we can get our reserve back up a little bit," he said.

http://wtop.com/209/3014087/Chipping-Away

Friday 08-10-12

This is funny and sad at the same time because it is so true, hope you enjoy as much as i did.

A Harley Biker is riding by the zoo in Washington, DC when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage. Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the collar of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents. The biker jumps off his Harley, runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.


Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly. A reporter has watched the whole event.

The reporter addressing the Harley rider says, 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I've seen a man do in my whole life.'

The Harley rider replies, 'Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and acted as I felt right.'

The reporter says, 'Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist, you know, and tomorrow's paper will have this story on the front page... So, what do you do for a living and what political affiliation do you have?'

The biker replies, "I'm a U.S. Marine and a Republican."

The journalist leaves.

The following morning the biker buys the paper to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on the front page:

"U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH"

... and THAT pretty much sums up the media's approach to the news these days.

Wednesday 12-21-11

U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Pays Homage to Obama—But Not Jesus

The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama, but includes no ornament readily visible to a person standing near the tree's base that uses the word “Christmas,” or includes an image of the Nativity, or bears the name or image of Jesus Christ.

On the north side of the tree--at a height of about 4 feet and easily visible to people standing near it---there is an ornament that says: “I ♥ President Obama.”

When asked whether the tree included any ornaments that mention or depict Christmas or the birth of Jesus, the office of the Architect of the Capitol, which is responsible for the tree, told CNSNews.com that it “does not have a policy nor any restrictions concerning the themes for the ornaments” that go on the tree. The office could not say, however, whether or not this year’s Christmas tree does in fact include even a single ornament that directly references or depicts Christmas or Christ.


The 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
The office of the Architect of the Capitol also did not directly respond to the question of whether any other elected official—in addition to President Obama—is mentioned on any ornament hung on the tree.

“There may be ornaments like those you describe near the top of the tree, or they could have been obscured or moved due to wind or weather,” the architect’s office said in a written statement to CNSNews.com.

Each year since 1964, Congress has been decorating a Christmas tree on the Capitol Grounds. Until 1968, the decorated tree was a live tree planted on the Grounds. Since then, the tree has been cut down—usually in a National Forest--and brought to the Capitol from somewhere in the United States. Since 1970, the U.S. Forest Service has been responsible for providing the tree.

Over the years, the Capitol Christmas Tree has come from an irregular rotation of states—including, not exclusively, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, and California. The state that sends the tree in any given year, according to the Architect of the Capitol, chooses the theme for the ornaments it will bear. People from that state create the ornaments and donate them to the government.

This year’s tree came from the Stanislaus National Forest in Tuolumne County, Calif., which sits on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, due East of San Francisco.


The view looking past the Capitol Christmas Tree toward the Washington Monument. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
The theme for this year’s ornaments was “California Shines.”

“Ornaments should be designed to reflect our theme ‘California Shines’ by showing how the rich cultural and ecological diversity of this state make it shine,” says the tree’s official website, which was funded by corporate sponsors. ”From the Pacific Ocean to the sparkling deserts, from the high mountain peaks to its forests, rivers and abundant Central Valley, the diversity of nature and the people who live here are what make the great state of California shine.”

While the website said that all Californians were invited to submit ornaments, it put a special emphasis on getting students to participate.

“We invite participation from all Californians,” said the website. “From individuals, artists, crafters, young and old alike, any and all are invited to create and send in an ornament.”

But a flyer distributed by the website said: “Although anyone can participate, a special invitation goes out to school classes, after-school programs, home school groups, scout troops and all other interested youth groups to create the ornaments for the outdoor tree.”

In keeping with this special invitation to students, the official website also produced some environmental “lesson plans” that teachers could use in helping their students create ornaments.

“We ask that all ornaments for the Capitol Christmas Tree be made out of natural or recycled materials,” said the introduction to the lesson plans. “Please share the thoughts in our mini-lesson ‘There is No Away’ with your students when they create an ornament for the Tree.”


This ornament shows gold miner, backed by a Bible, circled by a quote from Psalm 19. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
“Ask students where they think that trash goes when they throw it away,” said this introduction. “Work with them until they understand that trash eventually ends up in a landfill. Show students the image of a landfill.”

Although the Capitol Christmas Tree, as it stood on the morning of Dec. 19, included no readily visible ornament that mentioned or depicted Christmas or Jesus, it did include one ornament that pointed to the Bible and Psalm 19. This ornament, made from an aluminum pie tin, shows a miner panning for gold with a Bible behind him. There is a gold cross on the cover of the Bible. Around the interior wall of the pie tin, these words are written with what appears to be a blue marker: “More precious than Gold” and “Psalm 19.”


This lonely religious ornament cites Psalm 19 with what appears to be a blue marker. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
Psalm 19 says in part: “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold.”

The tree also includes an ornament that from a distance looks like it could be a cross--but closer up turns out to be a road sign, pointing the direction not to California—but 4837 miles to Hawaii.

Other prominent ornaments on the tree tout Disneyland, Hollywood, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The tree also includes a number of ornaments representing Christmas gift packages. The ribbons on these packages are arranged in a cross pattern--but all of them have "Happy Holidays" ensribed on them.

The official website of the Capitol Christmas Tree has posted 87 photos of Californians making ornaments or posing with ornaments they have made. One of these photos shows a young girl holding an ornament that depicts one of the missions founded in California in the 18th century by Spanish Franciscan missionaries. It is unclear whether this ornament was placed somewhere on the 63-foot tree.


From a distance, this ornament appears as if it could be a cross, but turns out to be a a mile marker pointing toward Hawaii. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
CNSNews.com sent a series of question about the ornaments to the U.S. Forest Service office in Tuolumne County, Calif., that was responsible for securing the tree and collecting the ornaments and sending them to Washington, D.C. These questions asked if any ornaments had been excluded because of their content and if there were any ornaments actually hung on the tree that expressly mentioned or depicted Christmas, or the birth of Jesus, or any Christian cultural site in California, such as the California missions.

Along with these questions, CNSNews.com sent the Forest Service a photograph of the ornaments that said “I ♥ President Obama” and that quoted Psalm 19, and asked if there were any other ornaments on the tree that mentioned an incumbent elected official or that cited a biblical passage from either the Old or New Testament.


A number of ornaments depict Christmas packages tied with ribbons in a cross pattern--but all say: "Happy Holidays." (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
The Forest Service said that it had simply sent all ornaments that had been donated by Californians--along with the 63-foot White Sierra Fir--to Ted Bechtol, who works under the Architect of the Capitol as the Superintendent of the Capitol Ground. The Forest Service also said it had forwarded CNSnews.com’s questions to Bechtol.

Separately, CNSNews.com sent the questions and photos directly to Bechtol and Eva Malecki, communications officer for the Architect of the Capitol. Malecki responded with this statement:


An ornamental star celebrating Hollywood on the Capitol Christmas Tree. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
“Thank you for your inquiry. The Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) does not have a policy nor any restrictions concerning the themes for the ornaments donated for the Capitol Christmas Tree. Each state determines its own theme each year, and the U.S. Forest Service collects the ornaments from communities throughout the state from which the tree is donated. (For more information about the types of ornaments collected and collection process, I recommend you speak with the U.S. Forest Service.) Thousands of ornaments are delivered by the U.S. Forest Service to the U.S. Capitol in large boxes along with the Capitol Christmas Tree. There is no selection process to determine which ornaments were to be placed on the Capitol Christmas Tree and which were not based on theme or content. Rather, the Capitol Grounds crew has to decorate a 65-foot tree in a matter of days, therefore they place ornaments on the Capitol Christmas Tree until it is fully decorated. Their only concern is that the ornaments stand up to the weather (durable and waterproof). We cannot provide you with the information you requested as to the location of specific ornaments on the Capitol Christmas Tree. As I noted earlier, the Capitol Grounds crew placed thousands of the hand-crafted ornaments on the 65-foot tall Capitol Christmas Tree. There may be ornaments like those you describe near the top of the tree, or they could have been obscured or moved due to wind or weather. The Capitol Christmas Tree has been a wonderful tradition on Capitol Hill for more than 45 years, and it is not the AOC’s policy or practice to exclude the display of donated ornaments on the Capitol Christmas Tree because of any viewpoint of those individuals who created them.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-capitol-christmas-tree-pays-homage-obama-not-jesus

Thursday 12-15-11

Startup Turns Your Cell-Phone Number into a Location Fix

Your phone number's area code gives other people a clue to where you live, or have lived in the past. Startup company Loc-Aid can use your full phone number to figure out exactly where you are right now.

The service has caught the eye of banks and card issuers interested in checking where their customers are—as a way to reduce fraud—and of retailers interested in sending deals to people nearby.

"We can locate any one of the more than 350 million devices on the major U.S. and Canadian carriers in real time," says Rip Gerber, founder and CEO of Loc-Aid, based in San Francisco.

You can test Loc-Aid's ability to find your phone using this Web demo. It takes from five to 20 seconds to get a location fix for the device associated with a phone number. "The companies using our service already know their customer's phone number and just need to get permission from them to use that to find their location—that's usually done by SMS," says Gerber.

(you can read the rest at)

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/39275/?p1=MstRcnt


This is sad, i guess these folks would work out well at the TSA





A little humor

Friday 12-02-11

The cover up continues

Obama Admin Seals Records of Murdered Border Patrol Agent Implicated in Fast and Furious

And to think that Attorney General Eric Holder is getting testy about congressional calls for his resignation. After all, the Justice Department has nothing to hide, right?:

The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.

This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.

The murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent is related to the Justice Department willingly turning over thousands of guns to Mexican criminal gangs, and Obama administration is hiding information about his death from the public. Amazing.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-admin-seals-records-murdered-border-patrol-agent-implicated-fast-and-furious_610783.html

I guess this country thinks it is better then a lot of others. It is another source of meat.

Horses could soon be slaughtered for meat in U.S.

Congress has lifted a de facto ban on the slaughter of horses, a move hailed by Missouri farmers and state political leaders who say the prohibition had inadvertently caused more harm to the animals than good.

But some animal-rights activists decried the little-noticed provision, which sailed to passage earlier this month and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Nov. 18. And they vowed to keep the issue alive, pressing for an outright prohibition of horse slaughtering in the U.S.

At issue is a ban, first enacted in 2006, that prevented the U.S. Department of Agriculture from using federal funds to inspect any meat processing plants that slaughter horses. Plants that are not inspected by the USDA cannot ship meat across state lines, so the provision effectively ended domestic horse slaughter.

There is no U.S. market for the human consumption of horse meat. But it is seen as a delicacy overseas, especially in some European and Asian countries. In addition, horse meat has been used in the U.S. to feed zoo animals, because it's a good source of protein.

Farmers and some policymakers say the ban resulted in old horses being abandoned and neglected. In response, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., successfully pushed for a provision requiring the non-partisan Government Accountability Office to study the impact of the ban. The GAO study, released in June, highlighted the concerns of Baucus and others.

The GAO report concluded that the slaughter of American horses didn't stop because of the ban, but simply shifted to Mexico and Canada. "From 2006 through 2010, U.S. horse exports for slaughter increased by 148 and 660 percent to Canada and Mexico, respectively," the GAO report states. "As a result, nearly the same number of U.S. horses was transported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter in 2010 -- nearly 138,000 -- as was slaughtered before domestic slaughter ceased."

In addition, horse prices declined for those animals most likely to be bought for slaughter, the report concluded. The GAO said that comprehensive data was not available on abandonment and neglect, but that state and local governments, along with some animal welfare groups, reported an increase in investigations of such incidents since 2007. "State, local, tribal, and horse industry officials generally attributed these increases in neglect and abandonments to cessation of domestic slaughter and the economic downturn," the GAO stated.

The agency suggested that Congress should either reconsider restrictions on the use of federal funds to inspect horse slaughtering facilities or consider a permanent ban of horse slaughtering. Animal-rights groups have long pressed for the latter option -- and they hope they now have their opening.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, said he thinks that if horse slaughter plants reopen in the U.S. that will provide "juice" to the society's effort to pass a ban on the practice.

He said he agreed with GAO's conclusion that the federal USDA ban has not stopped horse slaughtering. But he questioned the contention that it has led to more abandonment or neglect of horses.

"It's largely fabrication," Pacelle said. He said that if about the same number of horses are being exported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter as were killed in the U.S. before the ban, it doesn't add up that there is also a spike in abandonment.

The lawmakers who have embraced the GAO study are "slaughter proponents," he charged. "And that they are crying crocodile tears over abandonment is essentially a cynical and hypocritical line of argument. And it's a little too convenient."

But for critics of the USDA ban, the GAO study provided the evidence they needed to move forward with repeal.

As the 2012 agriculture appropriations bill moved through Congress this year, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Georgia, moved to strip out the USDA funding ban. A spokesman for Kingston, who is chairman of the House agriculture spending subcommittee, said the provision was ineffective in stopping slaughter, but it did kill jobs.

"It's a $65 million industry in America -- it was before it was banned," said Chris Crawford, Kingston's spokesman.

The Humane Society and other groups say they think the repeal will prompt renewed interest in the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, which would ban the interstate transport and live export of horses for slaughter for human consumption. The bill was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. There is companion legislation in the House.

The measure has been introduced in previous sessions, but could pass this time, Pacelle said, if there's fresh evidence of horse slaughter in the U.S.

"I think what will happen now is we will see cosponsoring of both bills accelerate as there's more talk of opening slaughter houses in the United States," he said.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/story/2011-11-30/Horses-could-soon-be-slaughtered-for-meat-in-US/51495306/1?loc=interstitialskip

I know it is not funny, but there is humor in it. Glad the guy is alright

Dog shoots man

It wasn't his dog's bark or bite that had a Brigham City man concerned, it was his aim.

A man was recovering Wednesday after being shot over the weekend by his dog.

A 46-year-old Brigham City man and a friend were duck hunting Sunday about 8:30 a.m. on the north end of the Great Salt Lake near the bird refuge, about 10 miles west of Brigham City.

The two had their canoe-like boat in a shallow marsh area when the man got out of the boat to either set up or collect decoys. He laid his 12-gauge shotgun across the bow of the boat, said Box Elder County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Potter.

After the man got out of the boat, a dog inside the vessel jumped up on the bow and stepped on the gun. The gun fired and shot the man in the buttocks.

Medical crews later removed 27 pellets of birdshot.

"(The dog) did something to make the gun discharge," Potter said. "I don't know if the safety device was on. It's not impossible the dog could have taken it off safety."

The men called 911 and walked to the main road to wait for emergency crews. The fact the man was wearing waders likely helped prevent a more serious injury, Potter said. The gun was fired from approximately 10 feet away, he said.

Potter did not have information on the type of dog that stepped on the shotgun.

Even though the two were duck hunting near a bird refuge, Potter said it was legal.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18299091&title=dog-shoots-man

Thursday 11-24-11

Howard came home from work to find his wife crying.

"What's the matter?" he asked,

"I don't know what to do" she said, "Because we were eating in, I made a
special dinner but the dog ate it."

"Don't worry," he said " I'll get us another dog."


The True Story of Thanksgiving

RUSH: It's time for the traditional true story of Thanksgiving, as written by me in my second best seller of 2.5 million copies in hardback: See, I Told You So. "Chapter 6, Dead White Guys, or What the History Books Never Told You: The True Story of Thanksgiving -- The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century ... The Church of England under King James I was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their beliefs. A group of separatists first fled to Holland and established a community.

"After eleven years, about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships, but could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example.

"And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work. But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims – including Bradford's own wife – died of either starvation, sickness or exposure. When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats.

"Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well. They were going to distribute it equally. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well.

"Nobody owned anything. They just had a share in it. It was a commune, folks. It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in the '60s and '70s out in California – and it was complete with organic vegetables, by the way." There's no question they were organic vegetables. "Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives. He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. That's right. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn't work!" They nearly starved!

"It never has worked! What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years – trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it – the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson. If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future," such as that we're enduring now. "'The experience that we had in this common course and condition...'" this is Bradford. "'The experience that we had in this common course and condition tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God,' Bradford wrote.

"'For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense,'" without being paid for it, "'that was thought injustice.' Why should you work for other people when you can't work for yourself?" That's what he was saying. " The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford's community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property.

"Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? 'This had very good success,' wrote Bradford, 'for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.' ... Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s? Yes. Read the story of Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis 41. Following Joseph's suggestion (Gen 41:34), Pharaoh reduced the tax on Egyptians to 20% during the 'seven years of plenty' and the 'Earth brought forth in heaps.' (Gen. 41:47) In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves.

"Now, this is where it gets really good, folks, if you're laboring under the misconception that I was, as I was taught in school. So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the 'Great Puritan Migration.' But this story stops when the Indians taught the newly arrived suffering-in-socialism Pilgrims how to plant corn and fish for cod. That's where the original Thanksgiving story stops, and the story basically doesn't even begin there. The real story of Thanksgiving is William Bradford giving thanks to God for the guidance and the inspiration to set up a thriving colony. The bounty was shared with the Indians." They did sit down" and they did have free-range turkey and organic vegetables, "but it was not the Indians who saved the day. It was capitalism and Scripture which saved the day," as acknowledged by George Washington in his first Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2010/11/24/the_true_story_of_thanksgiving3

So once in every year we throng
Upon a day apart,
To praise the Lord with feast and song
In thankfulness of heart.
~Arthur Guiterman, The First Thanksgiving

What we're really talking about is a wonderful
day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why
else would they call it Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on
Thanksgiving," 26 November 1981

Thou hast
given so much to me,
Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;
Not
thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But
such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
~George Herbert

Where's the salt? Hidden in your Thanksgiving menu

No need for a salt shaker on the Thanksgiving table: Unless you really cooked from scratch, there's lots of sodium already hidden in the menu.

Stealth sodium can do a number on your blood pressure. Americans eat way too much salt, and most of it comes inside common processed foods and restaurant meals.

The traditional Thanksgiving fixings show how easy sodium can sneak into the foods you'd least expect. Yes, raw turkey is naturally low in sodium. But sometimes a turkey or turkey breast is injected with salt water to plump it, adding a hefty dose of sodium before it even reaches the store _ something you'd have to read the fine print to discover.

From the stuffing mix to the green bean casserole to even pumpkin pie, a lot of people can reach their daily sodium allotment or more in that one big meal unless the cook employs some tricks.

"For Thanksgiving or any meal, the more you can cook from scratch and have some control over the sodium that's going in, the better," says the American Dietetic Association's Bethany Thayer, a registered dietitian at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

The Food and Drug Administration this month opened deliberations on how to cut enough salt in processed foods for average shoppers to have a good shot at meeting new dietary guidelines. The idea: If sodium levels gradually drop in the overall food supply, it will ease the nation's epidemic of high blood pressure _ and our salt-riddled taste buds will have time to adjust to the new flavor.

"Reducing sodium is important for nearly everyone," Dr. Robin Ikeda of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the FDA hearing.

The question is how to make that happen. The prestigious Institute of Medicine and several public health advocates are urging the FDA to order gradual rollbacks, setting different sodium levels for different kinds of foods, a step the government has been reluctant to take.

Food makers want a voluntary approach and say they're reworking their recipes, some as part of a campaign launched by New York City to cut salt consumption by at least 20 percent over five years.

It will take different strategies to remove salt from different foods _ and some may need to be a sneak operation, Kraft Foods Vice President Richard Black told the FDA meeting. Ritz crackers labeled low-sodium were a bust until the box was changed to say "Hint of Salt" and those exact same crackers started selling, he said.

In other foods, salt acts as a preservative with a variety of functions. Kraft sells cheese with somewhat less sodium in Britain than in the U.S. Americans melt a lot of cheese and lower-sodium cheese doesn't melt as well, Black said.

In the U.S., the average person consumes about 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day. The nation's new dietary guidelines say no one should eat more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium _ about what's in a teaspoon of salt _ and half the population should eat even less, just 1,500 milligrams. The smaller limit is for anyone who's in their 50s or older, African-Americans of any age, and anyone suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease.

Why? One in three U.S. adults has high blood pressure, a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. Being overweight and inactive raises blood pressure, too, but the weight of scientific evidence shows sodium is a big culprit.

People want to eat heart-healthy, but Wal-Mart shoppers spend about 19 minutes buying groceries, added Tres Bailey of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which told its vendors to start cutting sodium.

That's not a lot of time for label-reading to find hidden sodium, especially in foods where it's unexpected _ like salad dressings that can harbor more than 130 milligrams per tablespoon.

Depending on your choices, Thanksgiving dinner alone can pass 2,000 milligrams: About 600 per serving from stuffing mix, another 270 from gravy. The salt water-added turkey can bring another 320, double that if you saved time and bought it fully-cooked. Use canned beans in the green bean casserole and add another 350. A small dinner roll adds 130. A piece of pumpkin pie could bring as much as 350.

How to cut back? Thayer, the dietitian, has some tips for Thanksgiving and beyond:

_All bread contains sodium, but starting with a homemade cornbread for stuffing could help cut a few hundred milligrams.

_Use low-sodium broth for the gravy, and choose low-sodium soups whenever possible.

_Try onion, garlic and a variety of other herbs in place of salt. Lemon and other citrus also can stand in for salt in some foods.

_Check your spice bottles. Combination products, such as those labeled poultry seasoning, can contain salt.

_Fresh or frozen vegetables have little if any sodium, unless you choose the frozen kind with an added sauce.

_People tend to heavily salt mashed potatoes while sweet potatoes, even dressed up as a souffle, contain very little sodium.

Going suddenly low-salt can startle your palate, "but it adjusts much quicker than I think most people realize," Thayer says.

http://wtop.com/?nid=695&sid=2642009

Wednesday 11-02-11

North Georgia Men Arrested, Charged in Plots to Purchase Explosives, Silencer and to Manufacture a Biological Toxin

ATLANTA—Frederick Thomas, 73, of Cleveland, Ga.; Dan Roberts, 67, of Toccoa, Ga.; Ray H. Adams, 65, of Toccoa; and Samuel J. Crump, 68, of Toccoa, were arrested today relating to plans to obtain an unregistered explosive device and silencer and to manufacture the biological toxin ricin for use in attacks against other U.S. citizens and government personnel and officials.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Sally Quillian Yates said, “These defendants, who are alleged to be part of a fringe militia group, are charged with planning attacks against their own fellow citizens and government. To carry out their agenda, two of the defendants allegedly purchased purported explosives and a silencer, while the other two defendants took steps to attempt to produce a deadly biological toxin. While many are focused on the threat posed by international violent extremists, this case demonstrates that we must also remain vigilant in protecting our country from citizens within our own borders who threaten our safety and security.”

FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin said of today’s arrests, “The FBI will act swiftly within its authority when any group or individual seeks to advance its rhetoric or ideology through force or violence. In this matter, the FBI’s Atlanta Division Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) was well positioned to address this investigation and to prevent harm to the general public.”

According to the criminal complaints, federal search warrants and documents in the public record, Thomas, Roberts, Crump, Adams and others were members of a militia organization and began participating in clandestine meetings of a fringe “covert” operations team starting in approximately March 2011. During these meetings, the complaints charge that the men discussed multiple criminal activities, ranging from murder; theft; manufacturing and using toxic agents; and assassinations in an effort to undermine federal and state government and to advance their interests.

In March and April 2011, Thomas, Roberts, Adams and others attended meetings where participants discussed targeting various government officials, including employees of federal agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. These meetings also were monitored by FBI agents through the attendance of a confidential source, who recorded the meetings and provided the information to the FBI.

During the meetings, the complaints allege that Thomas, Roberts and others discussed the need to obtain unregistered silencers and explosive devices for use in attacks against federal government buildings and employees, as well as against local police. Thomas, Roberts and others also discussed the use of the biological toxin that can kill individuals in small doses. The participants acknowledged that these actions would constitute murder but reasoned that the actions were necessary in accordance with their ideology.

In May and June 2011, Thomas and Roberts met with an undercover agent purporting to be a seller of unregistered silencers and explosive devices. According to the complaints, Thomas and Roberts allegedly agreed to purchase a silencer and an unregistered explosive device and discussed using the silencers and explosive devices in attacks against federal buildings. In furtherance of this plan, Thomas conducted surveillance of federal buildings in Atlanta and discussed with the source the possibility of attacking the federal buildings using silencers and explosive devices, as punishment for what Thomas deemed to be “treasonous” activities. Thomas also allegedly stated that he believed that these actions needed to be undertaken against both federal and state government officials, and advised that the group would need a great deal of explosives to accomplish its mission.

From June through November 2011, Thomas and Roberts met with the undercover agent and negotiated the purchase of a silencer for a rifle and conversion parts to make a fully automatic rifle, as well as explosives. The complaints allege that Thomas confirmed to the agent that he planned to use the silencer that he was purchasing, and described how he would clean the rifle and use rubber gloves when he handled it so he wouldn’t leave his fingerprints on it during its use. Ultimately, Thomas agreed to purchase the silencer and conversion parts in exchange for providing the undercover agent with another gun owned by Thomas, while Thomas and Roberts allegedly agreed to split the $1,000 cost for the explosives. Thomas and Roberts later expressed concerns that the undercover agent was a “cop,” but wanted to go forward with the transaction anyway.

The complaints charge that during the investigation of Thomas and Roberts, Roberts described another individual named “Sammy” who, according to Roberts, had manufactured the biological toxin, ricin, and had access to the beans used to make ricin. During one of the group’s meetings in September, which was recorded by the confidential source, Crump arrived and said that he would like to make 10 pounds of ricin and disperse it in various United States cities, including Atlanta. Crump described a scenario for dispersing the ricin in Atlanta in which the toxin would be blown from a car traveling on the interstates. Crump allegedly also said that he possessed the ingredient used to make the toxin and cautioned the source about the dangers of handling it.

The complaints allege that in October 2011, Crump described to the source the process to manufacture ricin and advised that the materials should be purchased at different locations far from where he lived. Crump again discussed various methods of and locations to disperse ricin, and told the source that the toxin is deadly if the powder comes into contact with a person’s skin or lungs. During another meeting in October, Adams allegedly provided a sample to Crump of the beans used to manufacture ricin from a storage container of the beans contained at his residence in Stephens County, Georgia, and Crump in turn provided the sample to the source. During meetings on Oct. 29, 2011, Crump allegedly told the source that he was going to shell the beans that week, and Adams explained to the source how to manufacture ricin, showing the source a formula used to make ricin and identifying the ways he planned to obtain the ingredients to do so.

FBI agents arrested all four defendants today without incident and executed search warrants at the residences of the four defendants. The defendants are expected to make an initial appearance on the charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan S. Cole tomorrow.

The information provided by the source and the undercover agent allowed the agents to disrupt the defendants’ plans before they were in a position to place citizens in danger of attacks using the weapons, explosives, or a biological toxin.

Members of the public are reminded that the criminal complaints contain only allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the JTTF, which includes agents of the FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Assistance in this case has been provided by law enforcement agencies from Habersham County and Stephens County, Ga., and the District Attorney’s Office for the Mountain Judicial Circuit.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Brown is prosecuting the case.

http://www.fbi.gov/atlanta/press-releases/2011/north-georgia-men-arrested-charged-in-plots-to-purchase-explosives-silencer-and-to-manufacture-a-biological-toxin

Only partially tongue and cheek, it almost makes me sick. He was suppose to be proof we moved past racism, but what he found out (or probably knew) was that is what will get him re-elected. His wife will probably be in the black churches saying if a white is elected, then we will go back into slavery, (which she has no idea about)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/30/curl-the-very-angry-first-lady/?page=all#pagebreak It is amazing she hates the job (or at least that is what she claims) but she will prositute her self and her values so she can stay ing the place she says she hates for another 4 years, just does not make sense.

New definition of Racist

Racist—n.,adj. 1. Any person who performs any act, holds any belief or makes any statement that negatively reflects upon or adversely affects Barack Obama or his policies, positions, interests, conduct, associates, or holiness. 2. Any act, belief or statement that negatively reflects upon or adversely affects Barack Obama or his policies, positions, interests, conduct, associates, or holiness. Synonyms: caucasian hetrosexual male; conservative; Republican; red state; rural; churchgoer; veteran; gun owner.

http://greenmnts.blogspot.com/

I did think this one was hilarious though, i must admit

Saturday 10-01-11

Economic Bad Times Just Beginning

Categories: Archived Columns, Columns by Chuck Baldwin

A couple of weeks ago, I was honored to attend a private gathering of influential conservative leaders just outside Washington, D.C. While many differences of opinion were expressed on a variety of subjects, there was one subject on which every single attendee was unequivocally united: the US economy is soon going to tank! As one man said, “In a couple of years, these could be the ‘good old days.’” Another thing the august assembly was agreed on was that the only Presidential candidate in the two major parties who would actually have the guts to do what needs to be done is Congressman Ron Paul. And the national press corps (including FOX News) is doing everything in its power to make sure that the American people do not hear much of what Dr. Paul has to say for that very reason.

Neither the Democrat nor Republican parties in Washington, D.C., have any intention of addressing the real reasons why the American economy is on the verge of collapse. The only thing the two major parties–and the elites who dominate them–can see is the next election. The lust for power is the one thing that both the Donkeys and the Elephants share in common. And neither party is willing to disappoint their constituents who are feeding at the teat of that fat hog known as Washington, D.C.

Democrats want to extend Washington’s insatiable appetite for deficit spending in order to promote the Welfare State. And Republicans want to extend Washington’s insatiable appetite for deficit spending in order to promote the Warfare State. Conservative or liberal, hawk or dove, Christian or secularist, Democrat of Republican: they all are lining up at the back door of Uncle Sam’s kitchen begging for a handout!

Except for Ron Paul, no one is giving more than ten-second sound bites of lip service to what is necessary to conquering the real culprits of America’s economic malaise: expunging the fiat money system and returning America to hard money principles, dismantling that cabal of international criminals known as the Federal Reserve, returning America’s foreign policy to its constitutional parameters of non-interventionism, eviscerating those federal programs and entities not prescribed by the US Constitution, getting rid of the income tax, and taking the United States out from under the power and influence of the United Nations. No one else has the guts to even seriously talk about these issues, much less to actually do something about it! And if the “powers that be” successfully defeat Dr. Paul’s candidacy, it won’t matter to a tinker’s dam who gets elected President in 2012 (that is, unless a constitutionalist third-party candidate miraculously wins the Presidency)! Republican or Democrat, it will be business-as-usual. And that means this house of cards that these corrupt politicians and bankers have been playing with all these years is going to come crashing down. In fact, the signs are ubiquitous that the crash has already begun.

Writing for BlacklistedNews.com, Michael Snyder has recently produced two trenchant reports that show the handwriting on the wall for America’s financial future. Snyder begins this first report saying, “Goldman Sachs is doing it again. Goldman is telling the public that everything is going to be just fine, but meanwhile they are advising their top clients to bet on a huge financial collapse. On August 16th, a 54 page report authored by Goldman strategist Alan Brazil was distributed to institutional clients. The general public was not intended to see this report. Fortunately, some folks over at the Wall Street Journal got their hands on a copy and they have filled us in on some of the details.

“It turns out that Goldman Sachs secretly believes that an economic collapse is coming.”

Snyder concludes his report saying, “Sadly, the 54 page report mentioned above is right–we really are facing a global debt meltdown and we really are heading for an economic collapse.

“You aren’t going to hear the truth from the mainstream media or from our politicians because ‘keeping people calm’ is much more of a priority to them than telling the truth is.

“The debt crisis in the United States is unsustainable and the debt crisis in Europe is unsustainable. Right now we are in the calm before the storm, and nobody knows exactly when the storm is going to strike.

“But let there be no doubt–it is coming.

“The amazing prosperity that we have enjoyed for the last several decades has largely been a debt-fueled illusion. It was a great party while it lasted, but now it is coming to an end and the aftermath of the coming crash is going to be absolutely horrific.

“Keep watch and get prepared. We don’t know exactly when the collapse is going to happen, but it is definitely on the way and now even Goldman Sachs is admitting that.”

See Snyder’s report at:

http://tinyurl.com/3tcg4ro

And in a second report, Michael Snyder writes, “If you think the U.S. economy is bad now, just wait for a few months. Things are about to become absolutely nightmarish. None of the long-term economic trends that are hollowing out our economy have been addressed and more bad economic news seems to come out virtually every single day. Now there is constant talk of the “next recession” in the mainstream media. But did the last recession ever truly end? The number of good jobs continues to decline, more stores are closing, incomes continue to go down, credit card debt and student loan debt are soaring, the housing market resembles a corpse, the number of Americans living in poverty continues to rise and government debt is at unprecedented levels. We are losing blood fast, and almost all of our leaders are either too corrupt or too incompetent to be able to do anything about it. The U.S. economy really and truly is about to go into the toilet, and if something is not done very quickly we are going to experience a complete and total economic disaster in this nation.”

Snyder then goes on to highlight 30 signs that the US economy is about to go down the drain. Read his report at:

http://tinyurl.com/3fxqjua

And for those of you who believe that such talk is just “Chicken Little” déjà vu, you need to know that many economists, politicians, and even federal police agents are personally preparing for a prolonged economic collapse. And if you’re not preparing, you’re either not paying attention or you’re preferring to ignore the warning signs. Neither option is healthy.

I have told readers before of my friend Chuck Coppes’ phenomenal book, “America’s Financial Reckoning Day.” Once again, I urge readers to obtain this book. I further follow Chuck’s recommendation that you seriously consider getting as much as you can of your fiat paper currency converted into hard assets ASAP! The gold and silver markets are being manipulated downward, but these tactics will not last forever. When the crash occurs, hard assets will skyrocket! That’s what virtually every economic forecaster that I have any confidence in is saying. And I believe them!

To obtain Chuck Coppes’ book or to contact him regarding obtaining precious metals, go to:

http://tinyurl.com/3dvebvw

So readers will know up front, Chuck has felt led to support my work, and I am equally enthusiastic about supporting his work. I personally know Chuck, as he moved his business from his home State of Arizona, and has joined with us here in the Flathead Valley of Montana. (And we need many more businessmen to consider doing the same!)

As an aside, for those of you who are considering joining us here in the Flathead Valley of Montana, here is the email address of George Hudson, who, himself, “escaped” from California to join us in Montana. George has taken it upon himself to help people with the information and resources they might need to help relocate to the Valley. His email address is: hudnut1940@gmail.com

An old maxim says, “Forewarned is forearmed.” Ladies and gentlemen, we need to prayerfully and seriously weigh the evidence that is before us and make decisions NOW to prepare ourselves for the days to come. We need to heed the words of Scripture that twice say, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” (Prov. 22:3; 27:12 KJV)

I further highly recommend that people who are serious about preparation, relocation, and related matters glean heavily from the works of James Wesley, Rawles and Joel Skousen.

Rawles’ web site is:

http://www.survivalblog.com/

Skousen’s web site is:

http://www.joelskousen.com/

After having attended the above-referenced meeting near Washington, D.C., I am more convinced than ever that we did the right thing in relocating to the beautiful Flathead Valley of Montana. I also came away from that meeting with the firm conviction that my friend was right when he said, “In a couple of years, these could be the ‘good old days.’”

P.S. To be sure you have my up-to-date contact information, please refer to this web page:

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=351

*If you appreciate this column and want to help me distribute these editorial opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?page_id=19

© Chuck Baldwin

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=4019


It is none of their business (for lack of better title)or maybe why are they wasting their time with honest folks, go catch a crook.

Seriously, twice in one day?

My wife got home to find two business cards in our front door. One was from an FBI agent. The other was from a detective with my county police. With the cards was a note asking me to call right away.

So here I am in Indianapolis, calling the police to ask why they were calling me.

The answer: someone reported me to the “If you see something, tell someone” terrorist tip line. Yup. And I even know who it was. A couple days ago I received a shipment of ammo via a freight company. The driver was clearly disturbed by the fact that I didn’t have a badge and demanded to see some ID before he’d offload the ammunition.

Then, he apparently called the FBI because, you know, who needs that much ammo?

The detective was extremely polite and professional and once I was able to give him some information about my job, etc., he let me know the issue was closed.

Still… thanks very much Mr. Sissy Truck Driver. Your office will be hearing from me on Monday.

http://pistol-training.com/archives/5358




http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/msm-sheep-ignoring-the-scandal-of-the-century/

Saturday 08-27-11

Barack Obama's gun control is 'under the radar'

Not long ago, the gun control advocates Jim and Sarah Brady visited the White House. President Barack Obama reportedly told them that he was working on new gun control schemes “under the radar.”

It’s been said that guns have two enemies — rust and politicians. Rust never sleeps, and neither do those who would seek to restrict our constitutional rights. So let me tell you about a meeting you weren’t invited to, where those people were planning an attack on our rights that’s very much “under the radar.”

It happened in July at the United Nations headquarters in New York, at a meeting to draft of what they call the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty.

An Arms Trade Treaty doesn’t sound bad in concept — isn’t that what the U.N. is for? The problem, however, is what U.N. diplomats consider to be “arms.” To you and me, the word means tanks, fighter jets, missiles, that kind of thing. But look no further than the U.N. plaza to see what the silk-stocking set considers “arms.” There you will find a bronze statue of a simple .38 revolver — with its barrel tied into a knot.

Remember no other country in the world enjoys America’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms. This is why the vast majority of U.N. diplomats believe that an arms trade treaty must reach into your gun safe and mine. There is little question that this treaty would require additional restrictions on our Second Amendment rights.

Consider the comments of a spokesman from “Project Ploughshares,” a Canadian arms control group. “From a humanitarian perspective,” the spokesman told the Canadian Postmedia News “all firearms need to be controlled, and that’s the bottom line.”

This attitude has spooked even Canada’s government, which typically embraces a disarmament agenda. During the meeting, Canada put forth a panicky petition for a hunting rifle exemption in the treaty. Mexico immediately objected.

For an administration with a secretive itch for gun control, the situation is ideal. They can let the United Nations do the dirty work of drafting onerous new restrictions on civilian firearms, then package them inside a treaty with legitimate measures to control true military armaments.

The U.N. has scheduled the treaty to be finished in July of next year — just in time to go to the Obama White House for ratification.

That’s “under the radar” for you.

But one risk of operating under the radar is that you can’t see the moves of your opponents. This is not the first U.N. gun-control rodeo for my friends at the National Rifle Association. They know treaty ratification requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate. Thirty-four senators would have to vote no to block the treaty.

While the rest of Washington was fixated on the debt ceiling debate, the NRA quietly marshaled opposition to the treaty among pro-gun senators.

Fifty-eight senators have now called out the president on his plan. Led by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), 45 Republicans and 13 Democrats have written two strong letters —one from members of each party — to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. All the senators have vowed to oppose any treaty that restricts civilian firearm ownership.

What’s ironic is that the United States already has the world’s pre-eminent system for regulation of true military arms sales. If the rest of the world merely adopted the U.S. regulatory regime, there would be no need for an Arms Trade Treaty.

But rather than harmonize other nations’ patchy regulations on arms transfers, the diplomatic crowd would rather force Washington to hew to its utopian vision of global disarmament.

If this were only a partisan exercise in bashing Obama and the U.N., one could be forgiven for concluding it has no substance. But 13 Democratic senators clearly think otherwise — a sign that this debate is far from over.

Chuck Norris, an actor, martial artist and author, is the honorary chairman of the National Rifle Association’s voter registration program, Trigger the Vote.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61942.html#ixzz1W7JHWWQ4

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Unless you're charged with enforcing it.
http://twitter.com/#!/ComedianBlog/status/106459077302956032

Backdoor Nais, they don't want you to produce your own food

Salmonella traced to backyard chicken farms

The burgeoning trend of keeping chickens and ducklings in backyard farms may have brought a new problem home to roost: infections with salmonella.

By Carl D. Walsh, for USA TODAY
Backyard chicken farming has become a popular practice as people try to get closer to food sources.

Twin outbreaks of salmonella linked to chicks and ducklings bought for backyard farms have stricken 92 people in 20 states as of Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

The poultry were traced back to a mail-order hatchery in Ohio. The two outbreak strains, salmonella altona and salmonella johannesburg, have sickened 65 and 27 people respectively. Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps and more serious illness in the young and old.

Raising backyard chickens largely for egg production is a growing urban trend among people who want to get closer to their food, but CDC doctors warn that hobbyists may not realize how common it is for poultry to carry dangerous forms of salmonella.

The outbreak is ongoing and began in late February, says Casey Barton Behravesh, a veterinary epidemiologist with the CDC. The most recent person involved got sick on July 30.

The CDC is especially concerned about this outbreak because about 30% of those infected are children younger than 5.

The hatchery associated with the outbreak, Mount Healthy Hatcheries of Mount Healthy, Ohio, has hired a salmonella expert, and testing has found no illness in its breeder flocks, owner Robert O'Hara says. He says the problem might be at one of his suppliers but he has not been able to conclusively trace it back.

Salmonella is common in chicks, he says. "That's been going on since the beginning of time." What's changed is the number of novices raising chickens. "There's been a giant explosion of backyard flocks and unfortunately some people are raising them in their house for a certain period of time. You just can't do that. They're farm animals; they're not pets. Treat them as such."

He also thinks that children are seeing and handling chicks at feed stores which are selling to urban chicken owners and not washing their hands afterward.

With the growing popularity of urban and backyard chickens, it's important for people to know that live poultry can appear to be perfectly healthy and clean yet could be shedding salmonella.

Behravesh agrees the best way to reduce the risk of illness is to wash hands with soap and water after touching live poultry.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/safety/story/2011-08-24/Salmonella-traced-to-backyard-chicken-farms/50128844/1

It is amazing how people, well never mind, what good does it do really? Look at the next two articles

Drop race labels to help realize MLK's dream
What a relief to finally see an opinion like defense lawyer Cheryl Stein's in a national forum such as USA TODAY. I heartily agree race relations would be vastly improved if we would drop all the labeling ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/letters/story/2011-08-25/Drop-race-labels-to-help-realize-MLKs-dream/50139988/1

Jesse Jackson slams Tea Party at MLK event
Jesse Jackson said Thursday that the Tea Party's tenets are reminiscent of state's rights philosophies used in decades past to oppose federally mandated integration.

"The Tea Party is not new," Jackson said at a luncheon honoring civil rights pioneers on Thursday. "It's just a new name for an old game."...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-08-25/Jesse-Jackson-slams-Tea-Party-at-MLK-event/50142272/1