Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Be silent, peasant! The American peasant slips further into serfdom!
So now the very soldiers fighting for the freedom this country used to enjoy are denied their right to vote? Is this our sheik, master and king telling us resistance is futile?
Does Shiek Obama rule with an iron fist?
EXCLUSIVE: DOJ Accused of Stalling on MOVE Act for Voters in Military
By Jana Winter
Published July 28, 2010
FoxNews.com
AP
Oct. 26, 2004: U.S. Army Sgt. George Scheufele prepares to mail in his completed absentee ballot after voting in the American Presidential and Congressional election while at Camp Eagle in the battle-torn Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq.
The Department of Justice is ignoring a new law aimed at protecting the right of American soldiers to vote, according to two former DOJ attorneys who say states are being encouraged to use waivers to bypass the new federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act.
The MOVE Act, enacted last October, ensures that servicemen and women serving overseas have ample time to get in their absentee ballots. The result of the DOJ's alleged inaction in enforcing the act, say Eric Eversole and J. Christian Adams — both former litigation attorneys for the DOJ’s Voting Section — could be that thousands of soldiers' ballots will arrive too late to be counted.
"It is an absolute shame that the section appears to be spending more time finding ways to avoid the MOVE Act, rather than finding ways to ensure that military voters will have their votes counted," said Eversole, director of the Military Voter Protection Project, a new organization devoted to ensuring military voting rights. "The Voting Section seems to have forgotten that it has an obligation to enforce federal law, not to find and raise arguments for states to avoid these laws."
Adams, a conservative blogger (www.electionlawcenter.com) who gained national attention when he testified against his former employer after it dropped its case against the New Black Panther Party, called the DOJ’s handling of the MOVE Act akin to “keystone cops enforcement.”
“I do know that they have adopted positions or attempted to adopt positions to waivers that prove they aren’t interested in aggressively enforcing the law,” Adams told FoxNews.com. “They shouldn’t be going to meeting with state election officials and telling them they don’t like to litigate cases and telling them that the waiver requirements are ambiguous.”
Oct. 15, 2008: A U.S member of Combained Joint Task Force-101 filling out voter absentee ballot at a US military base in Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan.
Oct. 6, 2004: U.S. Army Sgt. George Scheufele fills out an absentee ballot while voting in the American presidential and congressional election while at Camp Eagle in the violent Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, , ahead of the Nov. 2 polls in the United States.
Oct. 15, 2008: A U.S member of Combained Joint Task Force-101 filling out voter absentee ballot at a US military base in Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan.
The MOVE act requires states to send absentee ballots to overseas military troops 45 days before an election, but a state can apply for a waiver if it can prove a specific "undue hardship" in enforcing it.
Sen. John Cornyn,R-Texas – who co-sponsored MOVE – wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on July 26 saying he is concerned that the Department of Justice is allowing states to opt out of the new law. Click here to read the letter.
“Military voters have been disenfranchised for decades, and last year Congress acted," Cornyn said in a statement to FoxNews.com. "But according to recent information, the Department of Justice has expressed reluctance to protect the civil rights of military voters under the new law. All our men and women in uniform deserve a chance to vote this November, and the Obama administration bears responsibility for ensuring that they have it.
“For far too long in this country, we have failed to adequately protect the right of our troops and their families to participate in our democratic process. The MOVE Act was supposed to end this sad history. The right to participate in democratic elections is fundamental to the American experience.”
In his letter to Holder, Cornyn cites minutes from the 2010 winter meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), during which Rebecca Wertz, deputy chief of the DOJ's voting section, told state election officials that the legislative language regarding waivers is not completely clear. Wertz described the provisions of the law as “fairly general” and “somewhat of an open question as to what type of information” a state needs to submit in order to for their waiver application to be granted. She said it was also unclear whether waivers are for one election only, or if they apply to future elections.
According to the meeting's minutes, obtained by FoxNews.com, Wertz also said “that the DOJ is working to find effective ways to disseminate any information guidance that can help states with different questions about MOVE interpretation. She invited questions and dialogue from states, and said that litigation is always the last resort.”
Cornyn wrote, “If these are the positions of the DOJ, then they fly in the face of the clear statutory language, undermine the provisions in question, and jeopardize the voting rights of our men and women in uniform.”
He said the language of the law makes it clear that there is no ambiguity when it comes to states' eligibility for being granted a waiver, and that the statute does not leave room for the Justice Department to decide whether to enforce its requirements.
“If a state is not in compliance with the statute, there is little room for “dialogue” or negotiation, and the Voting Section should take immediate steps to enforce the law and safeguard military and overseas voting rights, including pursuing litigation whenever necessary,” Cornyn wrote. “The comments by the DOJ official, as reported in the NASS minutes, appear to ignore Congress’ clear legislative language and could facilitate the disenfranchisement of our men and women in uniform.”
Cornyn, who discussed Eversole’s allegations at a meeting with Defense Department officials last week, called for Holder to immediately provide guidelines to state election officials; to ensure that states are required to abide by the law; and to provide Cornyn himself with a state-by-state breakdown of which states have already applied for waivers and which are expected to be in noncompliance with MOVE in the November midterm election. He also called for full transparency in the waiver process.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, Xochitl Hinojosa, declined to comment, other than to say Cornyn’s letter is being reviewed.
FoxNews.com obtained waiver applications submitted by Washington and Hawaii.
Defense Department spokeswoman Air Force Major April Cunningham told FoxNews.com that New York, Delaware, Maryland, Alaska and Virgin Islands had also applied for waivers. (Cornyn's co-sponsor for the MOVE Act was New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat.)
“The voting section has taken this haphazard approach to enforcing military voting law,” said Eversole. “The voting section is asserting itself into statute to make a statute that’s not ambiguous, ambiguous. Can you imagine any other agency giving prospective defendants advice like this?”
“Everybody in Washington knows it doesn’t matter how good the law is; it comes down to who’s enforcing it,” said Adams. “This stuff should be transparent and online for the citizens of these states to comment on, the fact that it's being done behind closed doors tells you everything you need to know about how it will affect the voters.”
Adams and Eversole separately pointed out that the DOJ’s website lacks any mention of the MOVE Act. In fact, the section on military voting includes the outdated and nonbinding 30-day recommendation for sending out ballots. There is no mention of the the current 45-day mandate.
But the DOJ's online voting section includes a detailed section devoted to helping felons learn how get their voting rights back.
“It is just offensive to most Americans that we can send soldiers to the front lines but they can't vote,” said Eversole. “This is an issue that tugs at the heartstrings of America and people can’t understand why we can’t get that right. This is something we have to get right. We should be fighting as hard for their rights as they’re fighting for ours.”
Hmmm! And this was from the Associated Press! Definitely not a friend of the average freedom loving conservative!
We live in a culture today where the educated and cultural elite do their best to silense any resistance to their attempts to rule this country!
If you are deemed politically incorrect, you are profiled and dismissed! Not worthy to be heard! Not worthy to have a voice.
This is the policy at my local newspaper! The Victoria Advocate!
OHMS! Join the resistance!
Labels:
Chris Cobler,
doj,
soldiers,
The Victoria Advocate,
voting rights
Don't do what I do, do what I say do! Peasant! Again!
Let me see, weren't we promised a very transparent administration of government?
SEC Says New FinReg Law Exempts It From Public Disclosure
By Dunstan Prial
Published July 28, 2010
FOXBusiness
Reuters
"So much for transparency.
Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from "surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities." Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot.
That argument comes despite the President saying that one of the cornerstones of the sweeping new legislation was more transparent financial markets. Indeed, in touting the new law, Obama specifically said it would “increase transparency in financial dealings."
The SEC cited the new law Tuesday in a FOIA action brought by FOX Business Network. Steven Mintz, founding partner of law firm Mintz & Gold LLC in New York, lamented what he described as “the backroom deal that was cut between Congress and the SEC to keep the SEC’s failures secret. The only losers here are the American public.”
Related Links
Stocks Ease on Durable Goods, Boeing Results
BofA, Citi, Wells Fargo Outlook Negative: Moody's
Durable Goods Orders Fall Unexpectedly in JuneIf the SEC’s interpretation stands, Mintz, who represents FOX Business Network, predicted “the next time there is a Bernie Madoff failure the American public will not be able to obtain the SEC documents that describe the failure,” referring to the shamed broker whose Ponzi scheme cost investors billions.
The SEC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Criticism of the provision has been swift. “It allows the SEC to block the public’s access to virtually all SEC records,” said Gary Aguirre, a former SEC staff attorney-turned-whistleblower who had accused the agency of thwarting an investigation into hedge fund Pequot Asset Management in 2005. “It permits the SEC to promulgate its own rules and regulations regarding the disclosure of records without getting the approval of the Office of Management and Budget, which typically applies to all federal agencies.”
Aguirre used FOIA requests in his own lawsuit against the SEC, which the SEC settled this year by paying him $755,000. Aguirre, who was fired in September 2005, argued that supervisors at the SEC stymied an investigation of Pequot – a charge that prompted an investigation by the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees.
The SEC closed the case in 2006, but would re-open it three years later. This year, Pequot and its founder, Arthur Samberg, were forced to pay $28 million to settle insider-trading charges related to shares of Microsoft (MSFT: 25.85 ,-0.31 ,-1.19%). The settlement with Aguirre came shortly later.
“From November 2008 through January 2009, I relied heavily on records obtained from the SEC through FOIA in communications to the FBI, Senate investigators, and the SEC in arguing the SEC had botched its initial investigation of Pequot’s trading in Microsoft securities and thus the SEC should reopen it, which it did,” Aguirre said. “The new legislation closes access to such records, even when the investigation is closed.
“It is hard to imagine how the bill could be more counterproductive,” Aguirre added.
FOX Business Network sued the SEC in March 2009 over its failure to produce documents related to its failed investigations into alleged investment frauds being perpetrated by Madoff and R. Allen Stanford. Following the Madoff and Stanford arrests it, was revealed that the SEC conducted investigations into both men prior to their arrests but failed to uncover their alleged frauds.
FOX Business made its initial request to the SEC in February 2009 seeking any information related to the agency’s response to complaints, tips and inquiries or any potential violations of the securities law or wrongdoing by Stanford.
FOX Business has also filed lawsuits against the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve over their failure to respond to FOIA requests regarding use of the bailout funds and the Fed’s extended loan facilities. In February, the Federal Court in New York sided with FOX Business and ordered the Treasury to comply with its requests.
Last year, the network won a legal victory to force the release of documents related to New York University’s lawsuit against Madoff feeder Ezra Merkin.
FOX Business’ FOIA requests have so far led the SEC to release several important and damaging documents:
•FOX Business used the FOIA to obtain a 2005 survey that the SEC in Fort Worth was sending to Stanford investors. The survey showed that the SEC had suspicions about Stanford several years prior to the collapse of his $7 billion empire.
•FOX Business used the FOIA to obtain copies of emails between Federal Reserve lawyers, AIG and staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in which it was revealed the Fed staffers knew that bailing out AIG would result in bonuses being paid.
Recently, TARP Congressional Oversight Panel chair Elizabeth Warren told FOX Business that the network’s Freedom of Information Act efforts played a “very important part” of the panel’s investigation into AIG.
Warren told the network the government “crossed a line” with the AIG bailout.
“FOX News and the congressional oversight panel has pushed, pushed, pushed, for transparency, give us the documents, let us look at everything. Your Freedom of Information Act suit, which ultimately produced 250,000 pages of documentation, was a very important part of our report. We were able to rely on the documents that you pried out for a significant part of our being able to put this report together,” Warren said.
The SEC first made its intention to block further FOIA requests known on Tuesday. FOX Business was preparing for another round of “skirmishes” with the SEC, according to Mintz, when the agency called and said it intended to use Section 929I of the 2000-page legislation to refuse FBN’s ongoing requests for information.
Mintz said the network will challenge the SEC’s interpretation of the law.
“I believe this is subject to challenge,” he said. “The contours will have to be figured out by a court.”
SEC Financial Regulatory Law H.R. 4173
Might I point out that Rueters is not now and has not been famous for exposing the machinations of the left, so please don't come at me with that "right-wing conspiracy" garbage!
This administration is gathering unto itself more power and authority and covering more of the the tracks of inept, incompetant government employees every day! Are we now to be told that through FOIA requests we can no longer find out about things like how the SEC dropped the ball in the Bernie Madoff investigation?
These are the same filthy scumbag bottom feeders who have tried to infiltrate the Tea Party Movement! The same slimy scum that beat up the wheel chair-bound Kenneth Gladney! The same corrupt garbage that admitted on their media sharing website that there was a conspiracy to trash Sarah Palin! And all of this is publicly documanted! Much of it by their own admission! The same corrupt filth that gave the New Black Panthers a pass! The same garbage that looted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac! The same garbage that demanded a strawberry picker be loaned a half million dollars to buy a house, knowing he could never pay it back!
"They" and "their?" Who am I talking about? Barak Hussein Obama, his union thugs, his Black Panther legion of terror, his unionized government employees and the vast majority of the "mainstream media!"
Is resistance to this Chicago-styled union thug futile? Or shall we roll over for more powerful, more hidden, more union-thug type government?
OHMS! Join the resistance!
Labels:
Black Panthers,
corruption,
Kenneth Gladney,
Obama,
S.E.C.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Don't do what I do, do what I say do! Peasant!
Remember folks, this is the guy who wanted to be president! His party leaders said it's patriotic to pay higher taxes!
BOSTON (AP) -- "Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is docking his family's new $7 million yacht in neighboring Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in taxes to the cash-strapped Bay State.
If the "Isabel" were kept at the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee's summer vacation home on Nantucket, or in Boston Harbor near his city residence, he would be liable for $437,500 in one-time sales tax. He would also have to pay $70,000 in annual excise taxes.
Rhode Island repealed those taxes in 1993. That has made the state something of a nautical tax haven.
Kerry spokesman David Wade said Friday the boat is being kept at Newport Shipyard not to evade taxes, but "for long-term maintenance, upkeep and charter purposes."
Wade noted the vessel was designed by Rhode Island boat designer Ted Fontaine and purchased in the state. It was built in New Zealand by Friendship Yachts.
A Department of Revenue spokesman said Kerry would be liable for Massachusetts taxes if he berthed the boat in the Bay State within six months of its purchase. If the "Isabel" were brought to Massachusetts after that period, the state would have to decide if it wanted to pursue the taxes.
Massachusetts, like most other states, has been grappling with plunging tax revenues. Last year's budget decifict was $600 million, and officials are bracing for a $1 billion deficit this year."
This is an example of democrat politics! And the republicans are almost as bad!
However, if we speak up we are silenced by the elite bullies in the media!
I was surprised to see the ultra-liberal Huffington Post ran this story!
Labels:
Chris Cobler,
John Kerry Yacht,
taxes
Monday, July 26, 2010
Here's what ya do to fix this problem;
In 1941 this would have been seen as an act of treason and all involved put in prison! What has happened to the backbone of American leadership?
This is indicative of an American people who have lost the will to both defend their soverign territory and back it's military and intelligence services. It's indicative of a nation sliding down the side of a toilet bowl!
Are there no heroes left? Where is Alberto Gonzales when you need him?
Massive Leak of U.S. Military Files Provides Inside Account of Afghan War
Published July 26, 2010
Associated Press
AP
"July 23, 2010: Afghan National Army soldiers and U.S. Army soldiers from the 1-320th Alpha Battery, 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division stand guard after an insurgent attack at COP Nolen, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, Kandahar, Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON -- Shocking in scope if not in content, the leak of 91,000 classified U.S. records on the Afghanistan war by the whistle-blower website Wikileaks.org is one of the largest unauthorized disclosures in military history.
The documents cover much of what the public already knows about the troubled nine-year conflict: U.S. spec-ops forces have targeted militants without trial, Afghans have been killed by accident, and U.S. officials have been infuriated by alleged Pakistani intelligence cooperation with the very insurgent groups bent on killing Americans.
WikiLeaks posted the documents Sunday. The New York Times, London's Guardian newspaper and the German weekly Der Spiegel were given early access to the records.
The release was instantly condemned by U.S. and Pakistani officials as both potentially harmful and irrelevant.
White House national security adviser Gen. Jim Jones said the release "put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk." In a statement, he then took pains to point out that the documents describe a period from January 2004 to December 2009, mostly during the administration of President George W. Bush. And, Jones added, before President Obama announced a new strategy.
Pakistan's Ambassador Husain Haqqani agreed, saying the documents "do not reflect the current on-ground realities," in which his country and Washington are "jointly endeavoring to defeat Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies."
The U.S. and Pakistan assigned teams of analysts to read the records online to assess whether sources or locations were at risk.
The New York Times said the documents reveal that only a short time ago, there was far less harmony in U.S. and Pakistani exchanges.
The Times said the "raw intelligence assessments" by lower level military officers suggest that Pakistan "allows representatives of its spy service to meet directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders."
The Guardian, however, interpreted the documents differently, saying they "fail to provide a convincing smoking gun" for complicity between the Pakistan intelligence services and the Taliban.
The leaked records include detailed descriptions of raids carried out by a secretive U.S. special operations unit called Task Force 373 against what U.S. officials considered high-value insurgent and terrorist targets. Some of the raids resulted in unintended killings of Afghan civilians, according to the documentation.
During the targeting and killing of Libyan fighter Abu Laith al-Libi, described in the documents as a senior Al Qaeda military commander, the death tally was reported as six enemy fighters and seven noncombatants -- all children.
Task Force 373 selected its targets from 2,000 senior Taliban and Al Qaeda figures posted on a "kill or capture" list, known as JPEL, the Joint Prioritized Effects List, the Guardian said.
WikiLeaks said the release Sunday "did not generally include top-secret organizations," and that it had "delayed the release of some 15,000 reports" as part of what it called "a harm minimization process demanded by our source," but said it would release the documents later, possibly with material redacted.
U.S. government agencies have been bracing for a deluge of thousands more classified documents since the leak of helicopter cockpit video of a 2007 firefight in Baghdad. That was blamed on a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, Spc. Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Md. He was charged with releasing classified information earlier this month. Manning had bragged online that he downloaded 260,000 classified U.S. cables and transmitted them to Wikileaks.org."
This is indicative of an American people who have lost the will to both defend their soverign territory and back it's military and intelligence services. It's indicative of a nation sliding down the side of a toilet bowl!
Are there no heroes left? Where is Alberto Gonzales when you need him?
Massive Leak of U.S. Military Files Provides Inside Account of Afghan War
Published July 26, 2010
Associated Press
AP
"July 23, 2010: Afghan National Army soldiers and U.S. Army soldiers from the 1-320th Alpha Battery, 2nd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division stand guard after an insurgent attack at COP Nolen, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, Kandahar, Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON -- Shocking in scope if not in content, the leak of 91,000 classified U.S. records on the Afghanistan war by the whistle-blower website Wikileaks.org is one of the largest unauthorized disclosures in military history.
The documents cover much of what the public already knows about the troubled nine-year conflict: U.S. spec-ops forces have targeted militants without trial, Afghans have been killed by accident, and U.S. officials have been infuriated by alleged Pakistani intelligence cooperation with the very insurgent groups bent on killing Americans.
WikiLeaks posted the documents Sunday. The New York Times, London's Guardian newspaper and the German weekly Der Spiegel were given early access to the records.
The release was instantly condemned by U.S. and Pakistani officials as both potentially harmful and irrelevant.
White House national security adviser Gen. Jim Jones said the release "put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk." In a statement, he then took pains to point out that the documents describe a period from January 2004 to December 2009, mostly during the administration of President George W. Bush. And, Jones added, before President Obama announced a new strategy.
Pakistan's Ambassador Husain Haqqani agreed, saying the documents "do not reflect the current on-ground realities," in which his country and Washington are "jointly endeavoring to defeat Al Qaeda and its Taliban allies."
The U.S. and Pakistan assigned teams of analysts to read the records online to assess whether sources or locations were at risk.
The New York Times said the documents reveal that only a short time ago, there was far less harmony in U.S. and Pakistani exchanges.
The Times said the "raw intelligence assessments" by lower level military officers suggest that Pakistan "allows representatives of its spy service to meet directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders."
The Guardian, however, interpreted the documents differently, saying they "fail to provide a convincing smoking gun" for complicity between the Pakistan intelligence services and the Taliban.
The leaked records include detailed descriptions of raids carried out by a secretive U.S. special operations unit called Task Force 373 against what U.S. officials considered high-value insurgent and terrorist targets. Some of the raids resulted in unintended killings of Afghan civilians, according to the documentation.
During the targeting and killing of Libyan fighter Abu Laith al-Libi, described in the documents as a senior Al Qaeda military commander, the death tally was reported as six enemy fighters and seven noncombatants -- all children.
Task Force 373 selected its targets from 2,000 senior Taliban and Al Qaeda figures posted on a "kill or capture" list, known as JPEL, the Joint Prioritized Effects List, the Guardian said.
WikiLeaks said the release Sunday "did not generally include top-secret organizations," and that it had "delayed the release of some 15,000 reports" as part of what it called "a harm minimization process demanded by our source," but said it would release the documents later, possibly with material redacted.
U.S. government agencies have been bracing for a deluge of thousands more classified documents since the leak of helicopter cockpit video of a 2007 firefight in Baghdad. That was blamed on a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, Spc. Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Md. He was charged with releasing classified information earlier this month. Manning had bragged online that he downloaded 260,000 classified U.S. cables and transmitted them to Wikileaks.org."
Labels:
Afghanistan,
Alberto Gonzales,
wikileaks
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Whose hands are bloody?
POLK COUNTY FLORIDA SHERIFF GRADY JUDD
An illegal alien in Polk County Florida who got pulled over in a routine traffic stop ended up 'executing' the deputy who stopped him. The deputy was shot eight times, including once behind his right ear at close range. Another deputy was wounded and a police dog killed. A state-wide manhunt ensued.
The murderer was found hiding in a wooded area and as soon as he took a shot at the SWAT team, officers opened fire on him. They hit the guy 68 times.
Naturally, the liberal media went nuts and asked why they had to shoot the poor undocumented immigrant 68 times.
Sheriff Grady Judd told the Orlando Sentinel: 'Because that's all the ammunition we had.. ' Now, is that just about the all-time greatest answer or what!
The Coroner also reported that the illegal alien died of natural causes.. When asked by a reporter how that could be since there were 68 bullet wounds in his body, he simply replied: (QUOTE of 2006) "when you are shot 68 times you are naturally gonna die."
And whose fault was it that this deputy's family is without him?
Where does the buck stop?
President Bush had the same opportunity to properly control the border and disn't!
How many more have to die?
Labels:
criminals,
illegal immigration,
Judd Grady
Friday, July 16, 2010
National Socialism grows by the day!
Police Say Prayer Illegal on U.S. Supreme Court Grounds |
US Editor
"A Christian teacher and her students were told by a Supreme Court police officer that they must stop praying there because it was against the law."
Can this possibly be happening?
What kind of Nazi would tell children they can't pray for the Supreme Court?
Students, Alumni Rally Behind Illinois Professor Fired for Expressing Catholic BeliefsBy Tess Civantos
Published July 16, 2010
FoxNews.com
Faculty and students are rallying behind a University of Illinois professor whom they say was fired simply because of his religious beliefs.
Dr. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism, was told recently that he could no longer teach in the university's Department of Religion. A student at the university accused Howell of engaging in hate speech when he stated in a class review session that he agreed with the Church's teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.
But Howell refused to leave without a fight, and now he has over 3,100 supporters fighting with him -- via a Facebook group called “Save Dr. Ken.”
“It’s turning into a whole movement for freedom of speech in the classroom,” said senior Tim Fox, a member of the group and former resident at the university’s Catholic student Newman Center.
The “Save Dr. Ken” Facebook group includes alumni, current students and outside supporters who are familiar with Howell through his books or his appearances on EWTN, a Catholic television network. Howell is actively involved in the group and has written personal responses to some of his Facebook supporters.
“Save Dr. Ken” is actively working to take its protest beyond Facebook. Its home page offers detailed instructions on how to protest Howell’s dismissal, separately tailored to students, alumni and outside supporters. For example, the group asks alumni to cease donating to the university until Howell is reinstated. It also encourages members to donate to the Alliance Defense Fund, the legal alliance defending Howell’s case.
Members of the Facebook group are planning a prayer vigil on the university’s quad. Students are also organizing a mass boycott of all university religion courses unless Howell is reinstated by the fall, Melissa Silverberg, editor-in-chief of the university’s student newspaper, the Daily Illini, confirmed.
Howell is a popular professor; his students voted for him to receive an “Excellence in Teaching” award last fall, and now they are rallying for him.
Because Howell helped direct programs at the Newman Center, it has become a major player in the conflict. Monsignor Gregory Ketcham, the center's director, wrote in an e-mail to Newman residents that “We will seek to lobby for [Howell] to continue to teach Catholic courses on campus for University credit and for the Catholic cause on campus.”
Students at the center are not the only ones protesting. The campus secularist group, Atheists, Agnostics & Freethinkers, has taken up Howell’s cause. Howell had worked with the group in the past, helping organize a public debate between an atheist and a Catholic on “Does the Christian God Exist?” last February. Its president wrote a letter to the university chancellor, Robert Easter, saying, “[Howell] has shown a commitment to the questioning of all ideas. His loss is a profound blow to the University of Illinois and its purpose… Who will next be silenced?”
“Even people who disagree with what [Howell] taught think that his firing was wrong,” said Silverberg.
But not everyone is in Howell's corner. Some students say they are not so sure he should be coming back.
“I wouldn’t necessarily get behind this protest,” said David Bettinardi, a senior. “Teachers can abuse their authority, and if a teacher talks about his personal beliefs in class, it becomes less education and more indoctrination. That’s true for a professor with any set of beliefs – atheist, Catholic, whatever.”
Other students said Howell’s dismissal was not just an issue of freedom of speech, but revealed a double standard at the university.
“Professor Howell didn’t mean to insult homosexuals; he was just stating the Catholic position,” said Mike Hamoy, a senior chemistry major who took Howell’s class in fall 2009. “I’ve had multiple professors who have mocked how much Catholic families reproduce or who have implied to the class that God is a joke. Why aren’t these professors fired for their open insults?”
Some months ago I made the mistake of doing a large amount of research on how Allah is not the Jehovah God the Jews and Christians worship. It was sumarily removed from the Victoria Advocate without explanation or comment. The Advocate is the second oldest newspaper in Texas and doen't have the journalistic integrity to advocate anything!
Truth must be silenced! Prayer must be silenced! Hmmm! I recall another fellow who advocated that! Pun intended!
Labels:
allah the merciful,
Chris Cobler,
goebbels,
prayer,
supreme court,
truth
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
One outrage after another, after another...
Can we not blame this all on Obama? Sanctuary cities have been long established and the last several administrations of both parties could have cared less!
People wake up! The U.S. Marine Corps are getting training on how to fight terrorists from the Los Angeles Police Department! Drug gang terrorists, to include Middle Eastern terrorists, literally own parts of that city!
Critics Question Why Obama Administration Doesn't Crack Down on Sanctuary Cities
By Molly Henneberg
Published July 14, 2010
FoxNews.com
Now that the Obama administration is suing Arizona over its tough immigration law, some critics are asking why so-called sanctuary cities are getting a pass for ignoring federal immigration law.
There are more than 50 sanctuary cities in the U.S. Supporters of such policies say they want the local police to focus on solving crimes and leave the immigration work to the federal authorities.
"What sanctuary cities are saying is, we are not going to preempt the federal government. It's the federal government's responsibilities," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.
Sanctuary cities are not a new idea. They've been around for decades and no administration – Democrat of Republican – has really gone after them.
But the Obama administration is going after Arizona for its new law that permits officers to ask about a person's immigration status during the course of other law enforcement duties, such as a traffic stops. Opponents say the law promotes racial profiling and is unconstitutional. But supporters deny those charges.
"The Arizona law is in compliance with federal law," said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations at Numbers USA. "The Justice Department should stay out of it. They should be encouraging Arizona to be enforcing the laws. Secondly, they should be enforcing federal immigration law, which means challenging cities and states that have sanctuary policies."
The Justice Department sees it differently, saying Arizona is unconstitutionally interfering with the federal government's role in immigration control.
"There is a big difference between a state or locality saying they are not going to use their resources to enforce a federal law, as so-called sanctuary cities have done, and a state passing its own immigration policy that actively interferes with federal law," Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said.
But to those who support the Arizona law and oppose the idea of sanctuary cities, that seems like a cop-out.
"The administration has shown again and again it has no intention of enforcing federal immigration laws," Jenks said."
People wake up! The U.S. Marine Corps are getting training on how to fight terrorists from the Los Angeles Police Department! Drug gang terrorists, to include Middle Eastern terrorists, literally own parts of that city!
Critics Question Why Obama Administration Doesn't Crack Down on Sanctuary Cities
By Molly Henneberg
Published July 14, 2010
FoxNews.com
Now that the Obama administration is suing Arizona over its tough immigration law, some critics are asking why so-called sanctuary cities are getting a pass for ignoring federal immigration law.
There are more than 50 sanctuary cities in the U.S. Supporters of such policies say they want the local police to focus on solving crimes and leave the immigration work to the federal authorities.
"What sanctuary cities are saying is, we are not going to preempt the federal government. It's the federal government's responsibilities," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.
Sanctuary cities are not a new idea. They've been around for decades and no administration – Democrat of Republican – has really gone after them.
But the Obama administration is going after Arizona for its new law that permits officers to ask about a person's immigration status during the course of other law enforcement duties, such as a traffic stops. Opponents say the law promotes racial profiling and is unconstitutional. But supporters deny those charges.
"The Arizona law is in compliance with federal law," said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations at Numbers USA. "The Justice Department should stay out of it. They should be encouraging Arizona to be enforcing the laws. Secondly, they should be enforcing federal immigration law, which means challenging cities and states that have sanctuary policies."
The Justice Department sees it differently, saying Arizona is unconstitutionally interfering with the federal government's role in immigration control.
"There is a big difference between a state or locality saying they are not going to use their resources to enforce a federal law, as so-called sanctuary cities have done, and a state passing its own immigration policy that actively interferes with federal law," Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said.
But to those who support the Arizona law and oppose the idea of sanctuary cities, that seems like a cop-out.
"The administration has shown again and again it has no intention of enforcing federal immigration laws," Jenks said."
Labels:
illegal immigration,
sanctuary cities,
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writein
Spreading the word about socialism!
I decided to pass this on because I agree 100%!
"I'm 63 and Im Tired"
by Robert A. Hall
I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate."
"I'm 63 and Im Tired"
by Robert A. Hall
I'm 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U.S. Senators from Illinois.
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate."
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
NAACP! Will you please shut your profiling, racist pie holes!
We are Borg! Resistance is futile!
FROM JEROME CORSI'S RED ALERT
Obama science czar: Surrender to 'planetary regime'
Urges U.S. to give up sovereignty to U.N.-controlled world super government
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 12, 2010
12:20 pm Eastern
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, the premium online newsletter published by the current No. 1 best-selling author, WND staff writer and columnist. Red Alert subscriptions are $99 a year or $9.95 per month for credit card users. Annual subscribers will receive a free autographed copy of "The Late Great USA," a book about the careful deceptions of a powerful elite who want to undermine our nation's sovereignty.
White House science czar John Holdren has called for the U.S. to surrender sovereignty to a "planetary regime" armed with military power to enforce population limits upon nations and prevent perceived dangers from global eco-disasters, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports.
Red Alert obtained and reviewed a copy of the 1970s college textbook, "Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment," that Holdren co-authored with Malthusian population alarmist Paul R. Ehrlich and Ehrlich's wife, Anne.
The authors argued that involuntary birth-control measures, including forced sterilization, may be necessary and morally acceptable under extreme conditions, such as widespread famine brought about by "climate change."
They recommended the creation of a "planetary regime" created to act as an "international superagency for population, resources, and environment."
"Such a Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, at least insofar as international implications exist," they argued.
"Thus, the Regime could have the power to control pollution not only in the atmosphere and the oceans, but also in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes that cross international boundaries or that discharge into the oceans."
Arguing in the 1970s textbook for the passage of the United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty and for a proposed complimentary United Nations Law of the Atmosphere Treaty, Holdren believed the planetary regime could be developed out of the U.N. administrative apparatus established to administer these treaties as well as the United Nations Environment Programme and various unspecified U.N. population agencies.
Holdren acknowledged the United States would have to surrender sovereignty to the planetary regime and that the regime would have to have military arms for the envisioned super-government to succeed.
He clearly specified the planetary regime would be charged with global population control.
Holdren wrote: "The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries' shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime should have some power to enforce the agreed limits."
For more information on Holdren's stance on "optimal population" targets and calls for pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, read Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, the premium, online intelligence news source by the WND staff writer, columnist and author of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller, "The Obama Nation."
Red Alert's author, whose books "The Obama Nation" and "Unfit for Command" have topped the New York Times best-sellers list, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in political science in 1972. For nearly 25 years, beginning in 1981, he worked with banks throughout the U.S. and around the world to develop financial services marketing companies to assist banks in establishing broker/dealers and insurance subsidiaries to provide financial planning products and services to their retail customers. In this career, Corsi developed three different third-party financial services marketing firms that reached gross sales levels of $1 billion in annuities and equal volume in mutual funds. In 1999, he began developing Internet-based financial marketing firms, also adapted to work in conjunction with banks.
In his 25-year financial services career, Corsi has been a noted financial services speaker and writer, publishing three books and numerous articles in professional financial services journals and magazines."
Obama said to judge him by the people around him. Not only has he appointed this insane space case as science czar, he has appointed all manner of criminals and sexual perverts!
Other than speaking up I shall do nothing physical to help start it but this country is headed for violence, looting and burning!
And what does the Book of Revelation say about a future one world government?
These sick perverts want us, the average working people, to sit still for their oppressive taxation and be assailed if we dare to speak up!
I shall not be silenced!
Have you joined the resistance yet?
Labels:
Borg,
holdren,
Obama,
ohms,
resistance is futile
Looks like I'm not the only one thinking about the survival of this nation!
Whether it be nuclear war, nuclear terrorism or a political (assasination?) upheaval where the cities become a battle ground, the suburbs and rural America is the place people will run to! When Loot and Burn become the order of the day, where will people run to?
Consider this piece:
Suburbs: the Dispersal Defense Against Nuclear Attack (July 10, 2010)
"The roots of suburbia extend deeper into Cold War policy than most of us know.
The built environment (roads, railways, structures and towns/cities) is integral to any understanding of energy, resiliency, fragility, society and the economy. Any discussion of energy consumption must include the fact that roughly half the energy consumed in the U.S. is used to heat and cool buildings. No discussion of transport or economic strength is integrated without an understanding of rail and seaports, and their vast efficiencies.
To mention one example out of hundreds: the construction and marketing of distant suburbs (exurbs) as the ultimate extension of the suburban lifestyle has strained the American family to the breaking point via crushingly long commutes; wage-earners have no time to spend with their children because their waking, productive hours are spent getting to work, working and then crawling home exhausted.
Thus the built environment has a direct causal effect on divorce rates, teenage alienation and the "bowling alone" isolation and ennui that characterizes so much of American life.
A long-forgotten, underappreciated aspect of encouraging widely dispersed suburbs was rooted in Cold War defense against nuclear attack. Planner/correspondent Tom Christoffel alerted me to this fascinating connection between military/defense policy and the effective abandonment of cities in favor of suburbs in the poast-World War II era. Here are Tom's comments:
RE: The Future of Cities (June 17, 2010):
I think you’d find interesting: The Reduction of Urban Vulnerability: Revisiting 1950s American Suburbanization as Civil Defence by Kathleen A Tobin, Purdue University, Cold War History, Vol.2, No.2, January,2002.
This is an unrecognized if not forgotten history of the roots of sprawl in the U.S. as a defensive measure. The outcome of the defense was similar to that of the attack it was meant to survive - a cratering of the cities.
Although incorporation of the automobile into city design began early in the century, it has been since the 1950’s that American housing, retail and employment sites – the business campus, have been designed for the automobile. Distances are unwalkable and very often there are no sidewalks to connect buildings.
There are very few cities where owning an automobile is optional. Jurisdictions are cities in name and legal structure only. New urbanism is simply an attempt to accommodate the car.
There are many reasons for this. I was employed as a regional planner from 1973 to 2008. The physical landscape looks densely built, but household size is low, auto use is high, and effective densities continue to drop.
Stewart Brand has some positive things to say about cities. Few Americans do. They fear density, but do not understand that was built into the cake of the 1950’s Cold War.
Few people are aware of the extent to which Federal policy and spending favored suburbs and auto-centric development in the 1950s, 60s and beyond. New housing could have been promoted within cities; indeed, in the college town I live in, dozens (I haven't counted but very likely it is actually hundreds) of low-density single-family homes from the Victorian era were torn down in 1945-60 and replaced with high-density, 2-and-3 story apartments. Suburban development was not "required" solely by pent-up demand for housing.
In ways too numerous to recount here, Federal spending favored suburban sprawl and thus underfunded urban centers, effectively abandoning them to benign neglect except to tear great chunks out of the urban core to accomodate new 8-lane freeways--a form of "city-cide" in many cases as the new freeway gutted the fabric of neighborhoods and commercial districts.
Tom followed up our email "conversation" with this enlightening commentary on related topics:
When I started my education in planning in 1971, I learned that much of the design of cities had to do with defense and security. Walled cities were made obsolete by cannons.
The boulevards of Paris designed by Baron Haussmann were intended, in part, to allow the army to isolate rebellion in sectors of the city. That was something the crooked streets that the cumulative growth of the city did not allow. Ultimately that served the government, the people and their city.
Here’s another Paris factoid. The Eiffel Tower was to be taken down after the world fair. The police had mounted communications antennae on it and therefore wanted it kept up. It was perhaps then the first cell tower. The Eiffel Tower and Space Needle, it seems, became predictive of our future landscape.
Defensible boundaries are part of human settlement patterns because they are necessary. There needs to be internal security as well. Jane Jacobs observed how that was done by the people on the streets in the neighborhoods of NYC.
Now there are many places where it isn’t safe to be a pedestrian – the auto/SUV is also urban armor.
In a city, where there are people on the street, it is generally safe – alertness is required. In small towns, people tend to know who they are seeing, so a lack of people is not frightening.
City people may be nervous in the country – no people. Town people may be nervous in a big city – more people than normal. Suburban people are nervous in both places. They are only at home where all things look pretty.
My website addresses these three theses:
1) Community precedes cooperation.
2) Community is how life solves all problems.
3) Security is the primary purpose of community.
Security was a concern at the end of the war – fear of a Nuclear Pearl Harbor – a surprise attack over the poles. They just didn’t think through the full impact of a dispersed population.
While the shift is often attributed to white flight, it wasn’t until the 60’s that court ordered school desegregation began to happen. By then – sociologists already noted the negative impact of the suburbs on women – stay at home mothers with no local family, as had been the historic pattern. The song Mother's Little Helper by The Rolling Stones, 1966, was "a little yellow pill." There was also a lot of alcoholism in women, though the psychiatrists didn’t catch it at the time.
Today people leave suburbia for more land – five acres and a riding lawn mower in the Shenandoah Valley or in the Piedmont along route 29 on the way to Charlottesville. They think they are getting privacy, but only more isolation. As they age and want EMS there in five minutes, the service cost goes higher because the population density is so low. Add more stations, a smaller population served. A found a comment like this from a Florida County administration in a news report.
I don’t have a solution – but unless the true intent of dispersion (aka sprawl) is recognized, we won’t be able to adapt.
The move to suburbia served many interests, such as the land speculators which, in total, have led to a misallocation of capital in the U.S. to housing and personal transportation. You can’t build an economy on that, but I’ve not found anyone saying that.
In the mean time the U.S. has become more anti-city. Notions of urban and metropolitan, mushy terms because they bring together a host of services which have no common administration, whereas an incorporated city – the municipal corporation under the laws of the State is the government of the people. Its purposes are different than those of counties, which are units for law and order – a Court, Sheriff and deed books for recordation of land transactions, etc.
Consolidations and mergers take time and may be opposed because people like their local identity. Much can be accomplished with functional regionalization of services that respond to economies of scale. Regional communities of communities are emerging in my view and the observation of this is the purpose of my blog. Having a common umbrella regional name that people can work under is important. Then groups can align.
As we work for a better human civilization however, it appears that the money changers have come to be in control. I’ve been trying to understand the issues and causes for the past three years. Michael Hudson has been a source of an historical perspective on how we got to where we are today: Michael Hudson archives. It includes some of his Guns & Butter interviews with Bonnie Faulkner if you are familiar with that."
Labels:
Loot and Burn,
Obama,
riot,
survival
Monday, July 12, 2010
I can't stand a stinking ingrate! And ingratitude is what Allah teaches!
No! I can't stand a worthless stinking ingrate!
American Dies in Uganda Blasts as Terrorists Kill 74 World Cup Watchers
Published July 12, 2010
FoxNews.com
AP/Brandon Tauszik/Invisibile Children
Nate Henn, 25, was killed in Uganda when simultaneous explosions tore through crowds watching the World Cup final at a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant.
An American aid worker was killed and six members of a Pennsylvania church group seriously wounded as twin bombers tore through crowds watching the World Cup final at a party in Uganda's capital Monday, killing at least 74 people.
Nate Henn, a Wilmington, De., native who was working with Uganda's child soldiers, died in the blast in Kampala Monday while watching the soccer match at an outdoor rugby field.
Dozens were killed at the rugby club, where revelers had gathered to watch the final on a large TV screen set up outside. Well over a dozen more people died in a separate blast at an Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala.
Al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist militia based in Somalia, is suspected in the bombings, which came just two days after one of the militant group's commanders called for attacks in Uganda and Burundi.
Henn, 25, was remembered as a tireless and devoted activist by the California-based aid group Invisible Children, which sponsored his work in Uganda.
An Al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group suspected in twin bombings in Uganda's capital that killed 64 people watching the World Cup final endorsed the attacks on Monday but stopped short of claiming responsibility, as Uganda's president vowed to hunt down those responsible.
"From traveling the United States without pay advocating for the freedom of abducted child soldiers ... to raising thousands of dollars to put war-affected Ugandan students in school, Nate lived a life that demanded explanation," the group said in a statement on its website.
"He sacrificed his comfort to live in the humble service of God and of a better world, and his is a life to be emulated."
Six missionaries from the Christ United Methodist Church in Selingsgrove, Pa., were injured in the blast: Lori Ssebulime, Emily and Joanne Kerstetter, Kris Sledge, and Pam and Thomas Kramer.
Five missionaries had stayed behind in Uganda to complete their mission work with with Ssebulime, who is married to a Ugandan, as their friends returned home just days ago.
The group arrived at the Ethiopian restaurant early to get good seats for the game, said Ssebulime, who told the AP that three Ugandans in the group were killed in the blast and described the scene of the attacks.
"Emily was rolling around in a pool of blood screaming," said Ssebulime, who has helped bring in U.S. church groups since 2004. "Five minutes before it went off, Emily said she was going to cry so hard because she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay the rest of the summer here."
Blood and pieces of flesh littered the floor among overturned chairs at the scenes of the blasts, which went off as people watched the game between Spain and the Netherlands.
"We were enjoying ourselves when a very noisy blast took place," said Andrew Oketa, one of the hospitalized survivors. "I fell down and became unconscious. When I regained, I realized that I was in a hospital bed with a deep wound on my head."
Five of the six American missionaries have been hospitalized, though none have sustained life-threatening injuries, representatives of their church told Fox News. Two are being evacuated to Kenya or South Africa for further treatment.
The attack would mark the first time al-Shabab has reached out beyond the borders of Somalia, where the militia has seized control of large swathes of territory and established a strict and brutal form of Islamic law in its wake.
Sheik Yusuf Sheik Issa, an al-Shabab commander, told The Associated Press early Monday that he was happy with the attacks in Uganda but refused to confirm or deny that al-Shabab was responsible.
"Uganda is one of our enemies. Whatever makes them cry, makes us happy. May Allah's anger be upon those who are against us," Sheik said.
Ugandan government spokesman Fred Opolot said Monday there were indications that two suicide bombers took part in the late Sunday attacks, which left dozens more wounded.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attack in a statement issued late Sunday night, offering condolences to victims of the attack and their families.
"At this tragic moment, the United States stands with Uganda. We have a long-standing, close friendship with the people and government of Uganda and will work with them to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice,” she said.
The attacks appeared to represent a dangerous step forward by al-Shabab, analysts said, and could mean that other East African countries working to support the Somali government will face attacks.
"Al-Shabab has used suicide bombers in the past and shown no concern about civilian casualties in its attacks," said David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and a professor at George Washington University. "Some elements of al-Shabab have also prohibited the showing of television, including the World Cup, in Somalia."
At a wrap-up news briefing Monday in South Africa, FIFA President Sepp Blatter denounced the violence against fans watching the game.
"Can you link it to the World Cup? I don't know... Whatever happened, linked or not linked, it is something that we all should condemn," he said.
Florence Naiga, 32, a mother of three children, said her husband had gone to watch the final at the rugby club.
"He did not come back. I learnt about the bomb blasts in the morning. When I went to police they told me he was among the dead," she said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni toured the blast sites Monday and said that the terrorists behind the bombings should fight soldiers, not "people who are just enjoying themselves."
"We shall go for them wherever they are coming from," Museveni said. "We will look for them and get them as we always do."
Ugandan army spokesman Felix Kulayigye said it was too early to speculate about any military response to the attacks.
Somalia's president also condemned the blasts and described the attack as "barbaric."
Al-Shabab, which wants to overthrow Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed government, is known to have links with Al Qaeda. Al-Shabab also counts militant veterans from the Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan conflicts among its ranks. Their fighters also include young men recruited from the Somali communities in the United States.
Ethiopia, which fought two wars with Somalia, is a longtime enemy of al-Shabab and other Somali militants who accuse their neighbor of meddling in Somali affairs. Ethiopia had troops in Somalia between December 2006 and January 2009 to back Somalia's fragile government against the Islamic insurgency.
In addition to Uganda's troops in Mogadishu, Uganda also hosts Somali soldiers trained in U.S. and European-backed programs.
President Obama was "deeply saddened by the loss of life resulting from these deplorable and cowardly attacks," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
Officials said the Sunday attacks will not affect the African Union summit being held in Uganda from July 19-27. Many African leaders are expected to attend."
The United States in particular has been responsible for saving the lives of the starving and poor in Africa for decades!
However, Islam teaches the Muslim to use the infadel for everything you can get out of them!
On the www.allafrica.com website I see Americans using ethanol are being blamed for hunger in Africa! This is a bold faced lie anfd yet the lie is still told! It's even being told by American evangelist, James Robison!
In 1998 the U.S. sent millions in public and private aid to Afghanistan after the earthquake there! We also helped the Afghans throw the Russians out and how were we repaid? We were repaid with the fall of the Twin Towers! And now we're repaid for stopping the Muslim rape gangs with roadside bombs and IEDs!
Through the precious blood of our soldiers we liberated Iraqi Shiites from many years of Sunni persecution, murder, genocide and domination under Saddam Hussein and now the Shia repay us with the murder of the very soldiers who liberated them!
Perhaps Barak Obama or Barry Soetoro or whomever he is could please ask his Muslim brothers to back off, otherwise just plug the stinking hole!
Worthless stinking ingrates!
Labels:
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Islamofascist,
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Sunday, July 11, 2010
NOW do you see what I mean about education?
This is a highly educated man! And while he is obviously ABLE to read he went to testify in Congress about the Arizona immigration law whithout having read it! And now that he's read it he is aware, being a highly educated lawyer, that it does indeed provide more protections against racial profiling than the federal law but...
Holder Floats Possibility of Racial Profiling Suit Against Arizona
Published July 11, 2010
| FoxNews.com
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Attorney General Eric Holder speaks, Friday, June 11, 2010, at the Richard B. Russell Federal Courthouse in Atlanta. (AP)
Attorney General Eric Holder, just days after filing a federal lawsuit against Arizona's immigration law, on Sunday floated the possibility of filing another suit on racial profiling grounds.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Arizona claimed the state was infringing on federal immigration responsibilities and urged the judge to prevent the law from going into effect at the end of July. Despite some officials' claims that the law could lead to racial profiling, that concern was not cited as grounds for the suit.
However, Holder said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the federal government was leading with its "strongest" argument in the suit filed Tuesday and would not rule out a second suit months down the road -- if the law ends up going into effect.
"It doesn't mean that if the law for whatever reason happened to go into effect, that six months from now, a year from now, we might not look at the impact the law has had ... and see whether or not there has been that racial profiling impact," Holder said. "If that was the case, we would have the tools and we would bring suit on that basis."
Holder, reacting to the firestorm of criticism from Republicans and border-state lawmakers, said the Justice Department decided to file the suit because Arizona's immigration law is "inconsistent" with federal policy and the U.S. Constitution. He said there's nothing to stop local jurisdictions and states from helping the government enforce immigration law, but described Arizona's law as contradictory to what the federal government is trying to accomplish.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., disputed Holder's characterization. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," he said Arizona's law is trying to help, not hinder, the federal government's immigration efforts."
Not only, upon actual reading the actual language of the bill, is the Arizona law consistant with federal law but it goes beyond federal law with protections against profiling that federal law doesn't! These are the "facts of the matter!"
Only the seriously deranged, in my opinion would waste the taxpayer's money in such a flagrant manner!
NOW do you see what I mean about, not all but, much of today's higher education?
Holder has education but obviously no wisdom or real, practical intelligence!
Labels:
Arizona,
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immigration law,
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A higher education does not necessarily guarantee wisdom or intelligence!
Look carefully at these double stacked pallets! This is ONE trillion dollars! Eash individual pallet being $100 one hundred million dollars of $100 bills. George W. Bush, with the help of those who came before him ran the national debt up to just about $5.5 trillion dollars. So add 4 1/2 more double stacks on top of this one!
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the spanding put in place by Barak Hussein Obama will increase that to anywhere from $13.5 to $13.9 trillion! Can you imagine almost FOURTEEN DOUBLE STACKS like this one?
And according to the CBO, the unfunded liability of Social Security, Medicare for baby boomers and Medicaid will run that up, in the next ten years to $29 TWENTY NINE trillion dollars!
So try to get your head around 29 double stacks of pallets loaded with $100 bills!
THIS IS THE DEBT THIS GENERATION IS PASSING ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION!
Now please consider that it was highly educated individuals who brought about this catastrophy upon your grandchildren!
Did you know that it's next to impossible to run for congress or work for government without a college education? It's difficult to run a crew of janitors in either state or federal government without a college education!
And yet it is these highly educated individuals who have mortgaged the futures of my grandchildren!
In the face of a growing population some of these very highly educated government employees have carefully and quietly turned this nation from a net food exporter into a net food importer!
It was the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, a college educated individual, who said we needed to pass the healthcare bill so we could see what was in it!
It was a highly educated WWII fighter pilot, George H.W. Bush who stopped short of taking out Saddam Hussein guaranteeing a second Gulf War!
It was a highly educated George W. Bush who gave Hussein several weeks warning before our troopps invaded!
It was the highly educated William Jefferson Clinton who defiled our White House, lied about it and then had a chance to take out Osama bin Laden and didn't!
It is now the highly educated* Barak Obama who told the world and the American public we need to spend our way out of debt!
Simple wisdom; the borrower is a slave to the lender and a higher education does not necessarily guarantee either wisdom or intelligence!
*Some of those who attended college at the same colleges our president says he did have replied that they never saw him there!
Friday, July 9, 2010
If I don't get my way I shall loot and burn!
Violent protests erupt after ex-transit officer convicted in train station killing
Published July 08, 2010
Associated Press
AP
July 8: Looters are seen making off with merchandise outside of a Foot Locker store in Oakland, Calif., following the verdict in a racially charged train station shooting case.
OAKLAND, Calif.
Violent protests erupted in Oakland with stores damaged and dozens arrested after a Los Angeles jury convicted a white former transit officer of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.
Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering Oscar Grant. So Thursday's lesser verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.
The verdict also prompted an announcement by Justice Department officials that they would look into whether the case warrants federal prosecution.
Police in riot gear Thursday had maintained a watchful eye over a crowd of protesters as emotions ran high with about 500 people marching in the street. Members of a crowd near City Hall moaned and cursed when they heard the verdict.
Sporadic violence later broke out and police said they made 83 arrests throughout the night for violations that included failure to disperse, vandalism and assaulting a police officer.
At least a dozen businesses were damaged, including a looted Foot Locker store and a ransacked jewelry store, police said. Protesters also smashed the windows of a bank, set fires in several trash bins, and detonated a small incendiary device near a police station that caused no damage.
"This city is not the wild, wild west," said Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts. "This city will not tolerate this sort of activity."
Though police did not release a damage estimate, the protesting appeared to be much less severe than the rioting that hit Oakland after Grant was shot.
Even though the protests wound down late Thursday, Batts expected the number of arrests to double overnight.
During the trial, prosecutors said the 28-year-old Mehserle became angry at the 22-year-old Grant for resisting arrest. He was shot in the back while he lay face-down. Mehserle claims he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his Taser.
The jury had a choice between second-degree murder and lesser charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The jury found that Mehserle didn't mean to kill Grant, but that his behavior was still so negligent that it was criminal. Involuntary manslaughter convictions carry a sentence of two to four years.
During the trial, Wanda Johnson sat most days in the second row of a Los Angeles courtroom less than 30 feet from the man who killed her son. She hoped and prayed the justice system wouldn't fail her.
After the jury's finding, Johnson denounced the verdict and let loose emotions that had been mostly bottled up during the three-week trial.
"My son was murdered! He was murdered! He was murdered," she said outside the courthouse.
Shortly after the verdict, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would conduct an independent review to determine whether the case warrants federal prosecution. The review will be conducted by the department's Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the FBI, said spokesman Alejandro Miyar, who declined further comment.
Federal officials planned to begin their review at the conclusion of the state's case against Mehserle, who still faces sentencing.
As Mehserle was placed in handcuffs and taken away, he turned to his family and mouthed, "I love you guys."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement urging Californians to remain calm and not resort to violence. Schwarzenegger said he had informed Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums the state was well prepared to assist in maintaining order.
The finding on use of a gun allegation could be used to add as much as 10 years to a prison sentence. The next hearing was set for Aug. 6.
The jury included eight women and four men. None listed their race as black. Seven said they were white, three were Latino, and one was Asian-Pacific. One declined to state their race. They left the courthouse under tight security.
"As we have come to notice, and we as a family has been slapped in the face by a system that has denied us a right to true justice," said Cephus Johnson, Grant's uncle. "We truly do not blame the jury, but we blame the system."
At least five bystanders videotaped the incident in what was among the most racially polarizing cases in California since four Los Angeles officers were acquitted in 1992 in the beating of Rodney King.
The trial was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles because of racial tension and extensive media coverage.
The case was a rare instance in which a police officer stood trial for an on-duty killing and that was captured on video from so many different angles.
Legal experts said the verdict shows the jury sympathized with Mehserle's version of events.
"It is legally as low as they could go without acquitting him," University of California, Berkeley, law school professor Erin Murphy said. Prosecutors had a "huge hurdle" to overcome in convincing a jury that an officer with a spotless record meant to kill, even with video of the killing, she said.
Mehserle testified that he struggled with Grant and saw him digging in his pocket as officers responded to reports of a fight at a train station. Fearing Grant may have a weapon, Mehserle said he decided to shock Grant with his Taser but pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead.
Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein said in his closing argument that Mehserle let his emotions get the better of him and intended to shoot Grant with the handgun without justification.
Defense attorney Michael Rains contended the shooting was a tragic accident. Mehserle had no motive to shoot Grant, even though he was resisting arrest, the lawyer argued.
Allow me to point out a few items here please;
The man shot here was indeed resisting arrest and was found to be digging in his pocket on video. Personally, I would have done it differently but then I was not in that situation.
My prayers are with Wanda Johnson and her family.
However, please read carefully here; we shall see more of this! There shall be much more and much worse!
The division is growing and widespread violence will hurt this country!
One only needs to do a search of white hate groups and see that their membership is growing.
Likewise the influence of Islam is spreading hate and division everywhere in this nation.
Shamir Shabazz, a prominant leader in the New Black Panthers said, "I hate white people, all of them, every last iota of a cracka I hate im. You want freedom, you gonna have to kill some crackers, you gonna have to kill some of their babies!"
These are the people who intimidated voters and their case was dismissed by the Department of Justice! So, I might ask, why do we have that department if there is no justice?
Last question: are you prepared?
Violent protests erupt after ex-transit officer convicted in train station killing
Published July 08, 2010
Associated Press
AP
July 8: Looters are seen making off with merchandise outside of a Foot Locker store in Oakland, Calif., following the verdict in a racially charged train station shooting case.
OAKLAND, Calif.
Violent protests erupted in Oakland with stores damaged and dozens arrested after a Los Angeles jury convicted a white former transit officer of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.
Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering Oscar Grant. So Thursday's lesser verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.
The verdict also prompted an announcement by Justice Department officials that they would look into whether the case warrants federal prosecution.
Police in riot gear Thursday had maintained a watchful eye over a crowd of protesters as emotions ran high with about 500 people marching in the street. Members of a crowd near City Hall moaned and cursed when they heard the verdict.
Sporadic violence later broke out and police said they made 83 arrests throughout the night for violations that included failure to disperse, vandalism and assaulting a police officer.
At least a dozen businesses were damaged, including a looted Foot Locker store and a ransacked jewelry store, police said. Protesters also smashed the windows of a bank, set fires in several trash bins, and detonated a small incendiary device near a police station that caused no damage.
"This city is not the wild, wild west," said Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts. "This city will not tolerate this sort of activity."
Though police did not release a damage estimate, the protesting appeared to be much less severe than the rioting that hit Oakland after Grant was shot.
Even though the protests wound down late Thursday, Batts expected the number of arrests to double overnight.
During the trial, prosecutors said the 28-year-old Mehserle became angry at the 22-year-old Grant for resisting arrest. He was shot in the back while he lay face-down. Mehserle claims he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his Taser.
The jury had a choice between second-degree murder and lesser charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The jury found that Mehserle didn't mean to kill Grant, but that his behavior was still so negligent that it was criminal. Involuntary manslaughter convictions carry a sentence of two to four years.
During the trial, Wanda Johnson sat most days in the second row of a Los Angeles courtroom less than 30 feet from the man who killed her son. She hoped and prayed the justice system wouldn't fail her.
After the jury's finding, Johnson denounced the verdict and let loose emotions that had been mostly bottled up during the three-week trial.
"My son was murdered! He was murdered! He was murdered," she said outside the courthouse.
Shortly after the verdict, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would conduct an independent review to determine whether the case warrants federal prosecution. The review will be conducted by the department's Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the FBI, said spokesman Alejandro Miyar, who declined further comment.
Federal officials planned to begin their review at the conclusion of the state's case against Mehserle, who still faces sentencing.
As Mehserle was placed in handcuffs and taken away, he turned to his family and mouthed, "I love you guys."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement urging Californians to remain calm and not resort to violence. Schwarzenegger said he had informed Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums the state was well prepared to assist in maintaining order.
The finding on use of a gun allegation could be used to add as much as 10 years to a prison sentence. The next hearing was set for Aug. 6.
The jury included eight women and four men. None listed their race as black. Seven said they were white, three were Latino, and one was Asian-Pacific. One declined to state their race. They left the courthouse under tight security.
"As we have come to notice, and we as a family has been slapped in the face by a system that has denied us a right to true justice," said Cephus Johnson, Grant's uncle. "We truly do not blame the jury, but we blame the system."
At least five bystanders videotaped the incident in what was among the most racially polarizing cases in California since four Los Angeles officers were acquitted in 1992 in the beating of Rodney King.
The trial was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles because of racial tension and extensive media coverage.
The case was a rare instance in which a police officer stood trial for an on-duty killing and that was captured on video from so many different angles.
Legal experts said the verdict shows the jury sympathized with Mehserle's version of events.
"It is legally as low as they could go without acquitting him," University of California, Berkeley, law school professor Erin Murphy said. Prosecutors had a "huge hurdle" to overcome in convincing a jury that an officer with a spotless record meant to kill, even with video of the killing, she said.
Mehserle testified that he struggled with Grant and saw him digging in his pocket as officers responded to reports of a fight at a train station. Fearing Grant may have a weapon, Mehserle said he decided to shock Grant with his Taser but pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead.
Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein said in his closing argument that Mehserle let his emotions get the better of him and intended to shoot Grant with the handgun without justification.
Defense attorney Michael Rains contended the shooting was a tragic accident. Mehserle had no motive to shoot Grant, even though he was resisting arrest, the lawyer argued.
Allow me to point out a few items here please;
The man shot here was indeed resisting arrest and was found to be digging in his pocket on video. Personally, I would have done it differently but then I was not in that situation.
My prayers are with Wanda Johnson and her family.
However, please read carefully here; we shall see more of this! There shall be much more and much worse!
The division is growing and widespread violence will hurt this country!
One only needs to do a search of white hate groups and see that their membership is growing.
Likewise the influence of Islam is spreading hate and division everywhere in this nation.
Shamir Shabazz, a prominant leader in the New Black Panthers said, "I hate white people, all of them, every last iota of a cracka I hate im. You want freedom, you gonna have to kill some crackers, you gonna have to kill some of their babies!"
These are the people who intimidated voters and their case was dismissed by the Department of Justice! So, I might ask, why do we have that department if there is no justice?
Last question: are you prepared?
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
In absolute opposition to the wants of the great majority...
Of Americans, President Barak Obama is intent on fundamentally changing the concept of the democratic republic this nation was founded on!
Each day, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this nation goes billions more in debt! According to the best and brightest this situation is not economically sustainable.
Each day we kill more children in this nation's abortion butchershop! Children needed to work and pay the taxes necessary to cover the now unfunded liability of over $30 trillion in Social Security and Medicare for the baby boomer generation which will collect their first checks next year!
As this is going on we have a move by this president to put literally millions more on the public entitlement gravy train by granting amnesty to illegal immigrants.
Worse yet, "other than Mexican" OTM illegals being caught on the southern border is on the increase. Recently a Muslim prayer rug was found on one border ranch!
And now, while we are scrapping the space shuttle program and will need to ask Russia for a ride to maintain our satellites, we are going to use NASA to help reach out to the Muslim world!
Our Department of Justice has forgone it's duty to prosecute offenders and allowed the New Black Panthers to skate on voter intimidation charges even though they were caught on video!
I have come to the conclusion that our president, a native born son of Kenya, is dangerously unbalanced, cunningly clever and is out to completely destroy this nation!
Nor is he fit to shine the shoes of intelligent black leaders like Kevin Jackson, Starr Parker and Dr. Walter Williams!
This charismatic Muslim madman is nothing less than a modern American version of Josef Goebbels, the "master of the lie and half truth!"
I keep hearing about taking this country back in November! I'll be shocked and surprised if there ARE elections in November!
Labels:
Black Panthers,
insanity,
Kenya,
Muslim,
Obama
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