Your Doing A Great Job Teddy!

Register Guard Poll.
"Do you think Ted Kulongoski has done a good job as governor?"
Results: No-77%
             Yes-19%
             Unsure-3%
             Don't care-2%
That's not a very good record.  But then again, Oregonians reelected his mentor so expect more of the same.

Fun Time Lapse Video

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse. Canon DLSR on tripod with remote timer taking a photo once every five minutes.

Approximately 20 hours in 40 seconds.

More at Facebook: Mike Black Photography

Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas to all that venture here and to all a wonderful New Year.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell- Don't Hold Your Breath.

From the reaction in the MSM you would think that DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) had been struck down with the signing of President Obama's pen. Don't rush to that conclusion just yet. Let's look at what the bill actually says. Words do matter:
:
The Act does not immediately repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Act

"provides for repeal of the current Department of Defense (DOD) policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces, to be effective 60 days after the Secretary of Defense has received DOD's comprehensive review on the implementation of such repeal, and the President, Secretary, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) certify to the congressional defense committees that they have considered the report and proposed plan of action, that DOD has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to exercise the discretion provided by such repeal, and that implementation of such policies and regulations is consistent with the standards of military readiness and effectiveness, unit cohesion, and military recruiting and retention."

1. " Provides for the repeal" NOT THE IMMEDIATE REPEAL.
2. "60 days after the DOD's comprehensive review on the implementation of such repeal" COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW? HOW LONG WILL THAT TAKE?
3. "the President, Secretary, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify...that implementation of such policies and regulations is consistent with the standards of military readiness and effectiveness, unit cohesion and military recruiting and retention." THERE IS NO TIME LINE AND NO GUARANTEE THAT THIS WILL EVER HAPPEN OR THAT THOSE IN CHARGE NOW WILL EVEN BE IN POWER IF IT DOES.

This is not a done deal. The MSM will tell you that the polls and the national sentiment is conclusive, or "the science is in." Where have I heard that before. Oh yeah, global warming.

Nothing To See Here.

From This Can't Be Happening.

by:
Dave Lindorff

There was a black-out and a white-out Thursday and Friday as over a hundred US veterans opposed to US wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world, and their civilian supporters, chained and tied themselves to the White House fence during an early snowstorm to say enough is enough.

Washington Police arrested 135 of the protesters, in what is being called the largest mass detention in recent years. Among those arrested were Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who used to provide the president’s daily briefings, Daniel Ellsberg, who released the government’s Pentagon Papers during the Nixon administration, and Chris Hedges, former war correspondent for the New York Times.

No major US news media reported on the demonstration or the arrests. It was blacked out of the New York Times, blacked out of the Philadelphia Inquirer, blacked out in the Los Angeles Times, blacked out of the Wall Street Journal, and even blacked out of the capital’s local daily, the Washington Post, which apparently didn't even think it was a local story worth publishing an article about (they simply ran a photo of Ellsberg with a short caption).

You Gotta Love Those Acronyms

The CIA has launched a WikiLeaks Task Force.
According to a report by the Washington Post, the agency has launched the task force to appraise the impact of thousands of sensitive diplomatic documents and military files hitting the web thanks to WikiLeaks.

Among the task force’s responsibilities is “whether the agency's ability to recruit informants could be damaged by declining confidence in the U.S. government's ability to keep secrets,” the report said.

CIA spokesman George Little told the paper that the panel is being led by the CIA's Counterintelligence Center. It is made up of more than two dozen members from departments across the agency.

The new task force is commonly refured to by the acronym WTF. How appropriate.

We've Met The Enemy And He Is Us, or At Least Your Neighbor.

Continuing the meme that every American is a potential terrorist, the latest public official to weigh in is U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke of the ongoing fight to protect American national security and expressed his growing concern with the threat of homegrown terror - a danger which he said "keeps me up at night."

"What I am trying to do in this interview is to make people aware of the fact that the threat is real, the threat is different, the threat is constant," Holder told ABC's Pierre Thomas, in an interview that aired Tuesday morning.

"The threat has changed from simply worrying about foreigners coming here, to worrying about people in the United States, American citizens -- raised here, born here, and who for whatever reason, have decided that they are going to become radicalized and take up arms against the nation in which they were born," Holder added.

See Something, Say Something?

The Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the expansion of the Dept.'s national "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign to hundreds of Walmart stores cross the country-launching a new partnership between DHS and Walmart to help the American public play an active role in ensuring the safety and security of our nation.

More than 230 Walmart stores nationwide launched the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign today, with a total of 588 Walmart stores in 27 states joining in the coming weeks. A short video message will play at select checkout locations to remind shoppers to contact local law enforcement to report suspicious activity.



The above video will appear at Walmarts that have video screens at checkout counters.
Does this remind any of you of the 1984 telescreens?

We Have An App For That.

From Dvorak Uncensored:

Now it's possible to snitch on your neighbors from the convience of your smartphone.
Citizen Concept announces the launch of PatriotApp, the world's first iPhone app that empowers citizens to assist government agencies in creating safer, cleaner, and more efficient communities via social networking and mobile techology.
The meme here seems to be that everyone is a suspected terrorist. Be afraid, be very, very afraid.

A System So Good We Want To Opt-Out

From The New York Post.

We all know that Sen. Ron Wyden is attempting to get a waiver from the onerous Obamacare that he helped promote, but here is a complete List as of now of those that have been granted.

The United Federation of Teachers -- one of President Obama's key political backers -- is the biggest beneficiary of a White House sweetheart deal that will exempt certain outfits from complying with new health-care rules, officials revealed yesterday.

The one-year waiver, approved last month by the Department of Health and Human Services, covers all 351,000 members of the UFT's welfare fund, which provides health care and other benefits.

"Big labor spent millions of dollars pushing ObamaCare, which they made sure was stuffed full of union giveaways," said Patrick Semmens, spokesman for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represents businesses.

"So the fact that the largest waiver now belongs to New York teachers union bosses might be funny if the rest of America wasn't stuck complying with the bill's onerous mandates."

For The Net Neutrality Debate

From Dvorak Uncensored Blog


Comcast Corp. has begun imposing a fee on Internet middleman Level 3 Communications Inc., one of the companies that Netflix Inc. has hired to deliver movies and TV shows to Web customers.

Comcast, the largest U.S. cable TV company, has set up an Internet “toll booth,” charging Level 3 whenever customers request content, the Broomfield, Colorado-based company said in a statement yesterday.

Level 3 plans to complain to U.S. regulators who may enact so-called net-neutrality rules next month. The Federal Communications Commission is seeking to bar phone and cable providers from interfering with legal traffic on their networks. The rules are backed by President Barack Obama and companies led by Google Inc., EBay Inc. and IAC/InterActiveCorp. Phone and cable companies say rules aren’t needed and may hurt investment.

“This action by Comcast threatens the open Internet and is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access,” Thomas Stortz, Level 3’s chief legal officer, said in the statement. “With this action, Comcast is preventing competing content from ever being delivered to Comcast’s subscribers at all, unless Comcast’s unilaterally determined toll is paid.”

Netflix accounts for more than a fifth of the traffic downloaded during the peak hours of 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the U.S., according to a report from broadband network company Sandvine Inc. Level 3 has said it will add capacity to its network to handle the extra load from Netflix’s movies.

Planes Bad, Trains Good.

From The Dvorak Uncensored Blog.

The push for high-speed rail is on. While making a simple trip to the airport as expensive and humiliating as possible Obama and gang are tossing out millions to those that will spend the money on developing high-speed rail.
One of the main selling points of the rail is that you can avoid the nude scanners and strip searches. But wait I guess that Home Land Security Czar Nappy Napolitano didn't get the message. To quote her, “[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” Napolitano said in an interview that aired Monday night on "Charlie Rose."

“I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?”
Napolitano isn’t the only one who’s suggested that advanced scanning machines could be used in places beyond airports.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, introduced legislation this past September that would authorize testing of body scanners at some federal buildings.

From The Greely Gazette.

What will happen when political correctness runs head long into national security?
We will soon find out.
"The Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, has expressed concern with the TSA over the regulations and recommended special procedures for dealing with Muslim women. The organization issued a travel advisory for Muslims over the procedure.

In the advisory CAIR advises all Muslims to contact them and file a complaint with the TSA if they experience any “disturbing incidents” with the new procedures and they feel they have been unfairly singled out for screening.

It goes on to make special recommendations for Muslim women wearing a hijab covering their face. The advisory says women are to inform the officer they are only to pat down the head and neck and says “They should not subject you to a full-body or partial body pat-down.” They also recommend that women should be permitted to pat themselves down and “have the officers perform a chemical swipe of your hands.”

Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Czar, Janet Napolitano, is considering changes to the procedures to address the issues raised by CAIR."

If Jay Has His Say.

From
The Daily Caller.



Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller seems to believe that somehow congress should be the arbitrator of what is acceptable news and even entertainment programming.
In this clip he says: “I hunger for quality news. I’m tired of the right and the left,” Rockefeller bemoaned during a recent hearing on television retransmission consent. “There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to Fox and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse,” he added.

He is a very good example of a politician that doesn't get it.  If he actually watched Fox or MSNBC he would see that the current mood of the PEOPLE has dramatically moved toward less government not more.  An unprecedented number or incumbents were turned out in the last election because Americans finally woke up to the fact that congress is dysfunctional and the only way to correct this is to vote the bums out.  Unfortunately, he wasn't one of them.  Maybe next time.

Mr. Rockefeller appears to be unaware that congress has no constitutional or legal authority to regulate the cable networks content.  The FCC has authority only over broadcast channels.

My advice to Mr. Rockefeller is put down the remote, pick up a copy of the Constitution and study it.  Thanks to the cable channels and the internet we are no longer limited to what Mr. Rockefeller and his kind decide what is "appropriate" information to consume.  I'm sure he rues the day that his buddy Al Gore helped to invent the internet, the only chance we have of insuring that these dinosaurs are relegated to the dust bin of history.

We're All Cons Now.

From Reason TV.
This is a funny remix of ConAir clip TSA style:

You Don't Want To Make The Hulk Angry.

From Fox News

People crossing the border illegally may be doing double takes, because a TV superhero is going to be on patrol.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Wednesday swore in 56 members of a new volunteer sheriff's posse group that includes "The Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno.

The sheriff says action-film star Steven Seagal and actor Peter Lupus of TV's "Mission: Impossible" fame also are members of the posse group, though they weren't sworn in at Wednesday's ceremony.

The new posse group will specialize in helping deputies crack down on illegal immigration.

The sheriff says the volunteers' duties will include bringing arrestees to jail and handling demonstrators who interfere with immigration patrols.

Some of the nearly 3,000 people who were already part of Arpaio's volunteer posse had played a support role in earlier immigration patrols.

Caution-entering TSA Groping Zone.

From BoingBoing

Go Ron Go

Ron Paul goes on a rant about the TSA overreach, or should I say underreach?

Full Body Xray Machines

The following letter expresses concerns that some scientists at UCSF have concerning the possible harm that the use of the new full-body xray machines may cause.  If you believe the common quoted concept that the new machines are as safe as using a cell phone, that may not be true.  There may be a reason that the TSA machine operators are forbidden to wear xray dose monitors at work.

Letter here.

America The Pityful

A California school has done a U-turn after it forced a student to remove an American flag attached to his bike, saying the Stars and Stripes could spur racial tensions on campus.

Cody Alicea,13, had been flying the flag on the back of his bicycle for almost two months to show support for veterans like his grandfather, Robert Alicea.

But just in time for Veterans Day, school officials at Denair Middle School told Cody he would no longer be allowed to display the flag, citing complaints from other students.

Now, after a public outcry, the school has decided that the grand old flag can come back.

Possible Good News For The Holidays.

Amazon.com is hiring more than 15,500 to fill temporary holiday jobs at shipping centers around the country, more than last year.
"Many retailers are increasing their hiring this season. Kohl's Corp., Macy's Inc., Toys R Us, Pier 1 Imports Inc., American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and others plan to hire more temporary holiday workers."

Opt out, We have an Opt Out!!!!

 Found on NoAgenda.com



Beautiful babe is "randomly" selected for full body scan.  She refuses and from there it goes downhill.
Welcome to Gitmo Nation.

Music For Your Eyes

Found these extremely captivating time lapse videos.  Please watch them in full screen with the volumn up.  You won't be disappointed.


TimeScapes: Rapture from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.


Timescapes Timelapse: Mountain Light from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.


Timescapes Timelapse: Learning to Fly from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

I Forget

From The Blaze.com:



These people seem to have selective memory.  They forget who was in control of the congress and senate for the last four years and the presidency for two years.  They forget who facilitated the housing bubble and bust and who spent us into the highest national debt in history.

Why The Newspapers Are Failing

The New York Times, in their effort to fuel the idea that the Tea Party members are somehow stupid or out of the ordinary, are attempting to smear the source of some of the Tea Party ideas.

They claim that the inspiration behind some of the Tea Party logic comes from "resurrected once-obscure texts by dead writers".  These dead writers include Frederic Bastiat and Friedrich Hayek.  They didn't mention much about George Washington, Ben Franklin, James Madison, John Adams or any of the others that were so instrumental in penning our constituion that the Tea Parties draw most heavily on.

How odd it is that they don't seem to have a problem following the economic philosophy of John Maynard Keynes who died in 1946.

The New Global Scam

With the wheels falling off the Global Warming bus the U.N. is busy developing a new scheme to part wealthy countries from their money.  While AGW (man caused global warming) appeared to encompass almost every activity and industry in the world it will be small change when compared to the new threat-BIODIVERSITY.
Here are a few sentences from the U.N.'s The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report:
"Nagoya, Japan, 20 October 2010 The economic importance of the world's natural assets is now firmly on the political radar as a result of an international assessment showcasing the enormous economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs, as well as the social and economic costs of their loss, was the conclusion of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) report launched today by TEEB study leader, Pavan Sukhdev."

"TEEB has documented not only the multi-trillion dollar importance to the global economy of the natural world, but the kinds of policy-shifts and smart market mechanisms that can embed fresh thinking in a world beset by a rising raft of multiple challenges."

"The time for ignoring biodiversity and persisting with conventional thinking regarding wealth creation and development is over. We must get on to the path towards a green economy,"

For example, the Japanese city of Nagoya (host to the COP-10 meeting), has implemented a new system of tradeable development rights whereby developers wishing to exceed existing limits on high-rise buildings can offset their impacts by buying and conserving areas of Japan's traditional agricultural landscape...

It appears to me that this will become Carbon Cap and Trade on steroids.

A Meeting Of The Minds

Google CEO Eric Schmidt and film director James Cameron got together to discuss the future of 3D movies and oh yeah, declare that people that aren't onboard with man caused global warming are criminals.





Schmidt: "People who in my view criminally doubt some of the science."

Cameron: "I agree criminally.  I agree with that."

Cameron: "We need to evolve mentally and philosophically to something that's never existed before.  We need to become technoindidinous people of an entire earth,  not of a nation, not of a state, but of a planet."

"We've Met The Enemy And He Is Us"

From The Blaze website:

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends"

Apparently the Great Uniter believes that those of us that disagree with his agenda are his enemy.
So much for pulling this country together.

From the Dvorak Uncensored Blog:


The NY Daily News.

The entire police force in a small Mexican town abruptly resigned Tuesday after its new headquarters was viciously attacked by suspected drug cartel gunmen.

All 14 police officers in Los Ramones, a rural town in northern Mexico, fled the force in terror after gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets and flung six grenades at their headquarters on Monday night.


The gunmen’s 20-minute shooting spree destroyed six police vehicles and left the white and orange police station pocked with bullet holes, the Financial Times reported.

The station had been inaugurated just three days earlier.

PERS-Don't look over here.

The Oregonian is reporting that: "Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System is going to court to try to overturn a decision by the state's top lawyer and keep the names and pension benefits of its best-paid retirees a secret.'

Earlier this month, Kroger's office ordered PERS to release records to The Oregonian of all PERS-covered retirees whose annual retirement benefits exceed $100,000. The Oregonian argues that the public has an overriding interest in learning about individual benefits because they are stacking up as one of the most critical public finance issues of the decade.

PERS has hired outside counsel and filed for an injunction with the Marion County Circuit Court seeking to block release of the information.

It is highly unusual for a state agency to hire outside counsel and spend the money to appeal an order from its own legal adviser. The public records statute does provide for that process, though legal experts were puzzled why the agency, rather than the pensioners themselves, would seek to keep the information private.

Oregon PERS, however, has long argued that such disclosures would constitute "an unreasonable invasion of privacy" and be "highly offensive" to a reasonable individual.

That last line is very informative.  If revealing to the people who pay for your retirement compensation is indeed "highly offensive" then perhaps you do not feel that you can defend that largess.

More DeFazio Desperation

Congressman Peter DeFazio is showing his dark side as of late. Contrary to his campaign ads that show him cruising along with his two dogs in his old Dodge with a huge smile on his face it appears the claws are coming out. He not only has endorsed inaccurate attack ads but now seems to be less than honorable in his campaign tactics. In a public forum in Roseburg recently he appears to have used his clout to exclude a large number of interested public, many of which were ostensibly his challenger's supporters, from viewing or even listening to the debate. I was recently sent the following email from the Art Robinson campaign explaining their view of the whole debacle.

Dear Friends,

We have been postponing writing to everyone about the events at the Roseburg forum because we wanted comments from the Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce. Since, however, they have so far refused to talk with us, we are writing anyway.

What actually happened was an outrage and absolutely unbelievable. You can watch the forum itself at www.ArtRobinsonForCongress.com. It is on the front page, just scroll down a little bit.

DeFazio and the Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce refused to allow about 300 people

into the room. They would not allow people sitting in the extra space we rented, paid for, and provided to the Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce for their use to either watch the f orum or listen to it - when either one could have been done trivially. (By turning an audio switch to listen or opening a movable partition to observe. They also refused all attempts to enter the room itself.) About 300 people viewed the forum and about 300 were excluded.

Besides making requests before the forum started, my Dad (Art Robinson) repeatedly publicly asked DeFazio during the forum to "Tear down this wall" (paraphrasing Ronald Reagan and meaning move the partition so everyone could see the forum) or at the very least allow sound to play in the other room (which could have be done easily with the flip of a switch). DeFazio stared straight ahead during these requests and would not even acknowledge them.

There was obviously an arrangement made with DeFazio giving him control of who could see the forum and who could not. He preferred that only those who knew about and could afford to purchase $20 tickets in advance be allowed in. This is confirmed by DeFazio's actions during the forum and also one of our supporters was told by an official of the Roseburg Chamber of Commerce afterward that DeFazio was in charge of the room.

I have been trying to get clarification from the Chamber on what arrangements were actually made all week. They referred everything to the President & CEO Debbie Fromdahl. I left her repeated messages and was told several times by her staff to call back at certain times. She never was available to me even at those times.

On Thursday Debbie Fromdahl finally called and told a volunteer here that I had a 5 minute window to call her and discuss everything or else she would be unavailable until Monday. I did call back within a few minutes but she already deemed it past her limit (the story is that she was then in a meeting) and would not talk. The secretary told me to call back between 10:30-3:30 on Monday (Oct. 25th) - but refused to let me schedule a firm appointment. Furthermore a special arrangement was made. Specifically the secretary was told NOT to take messages from me and would (I am not making this up) interrupt and refuse to listen if I tried to give her one. I was invited only to leave messages on her answering machine - which of course I did.

We do want to talk with her and find out what actual arrangements they made with DeFazio - if they will discuss them. I will call on Monday and see if she will talk. Most of the members of the chamber and I am sure most of the leadership are good people, and we never intended to be in an argument with them. Here is the contact information if you want to try yourself.

The Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce

410 Spruce St.

Roseburg, OR 97470

Ph. 1-541-672-2648

E-mail: info@roseburgareachamber.org

Why did this happen?

The short answer is that in a public forum in Roseburg without any special arrangements, our supporters would have outnumbered DeFazio's by 10:1 - it was 3:1 even in Eugene. This would have shown DeFazio to be unpopular. What actually happened - even though many people did not come because of the advertising campaign telling them not to - shows him to be far worse.

[At the first forum at the City Club in Eugene, lunches also sold out. An additional 450 people, however, came to the event. All of these people were allowed inside to view the forum.]

DeFazio has refused to come to any real debates. Under pressure to debate, however, DeFazio arranged for four forums. These forums provide very little chance for the candidates to interact, and are nothing like a debate, but they are nice events and better than nothing. We were informed of these through the press and later by a letter from DeFazio. We accepted on the condition that they were freely open to the public.

DeFazio has been advertising these events as open to the public for several months. His supporters handed out fliers about them at fairs and at our debates which he would not come to himself. They have been listed on his website. No hint was ever made that the general public would be refused admittance.

Without telling us, the Roseburg Area Chamber of Commerce sold tickets at $20 each - this is apparently normal for chamber lunches. When we became aware (just a few days before the forum) that tickets were being sold, we concluded this was just for lunches.

None of us ever thought that anything except a shortage of space would actually be used to keep people out. We arranged and paid for plenty of extra space, so we knew this problem was solved.

This was more than a luncheon and forum. This was the ONLY event of its kind that DeFazio was willing to participate in all of Douglas County.

DeFazio has been hiding from the voters during the entire election campaign. His appearances have been very minimal. This is just more of the same, but designed to keep away those who could not afford $20 or did not know they had to pay well in advance before tickets were sold out.

Best Regards,

Noah Robinson

P.S. Please forward this message to your friends. It is important that the people of Oregon know what happened.

DeFazio is tilting at windmills

Congressman Peter DeFazio appears to be getting rather desperate late in his career.

Biden Mathmatics

Where does he come up with this BS.

An Explaination Of Some Of The Mortgage Debacle Depth.

Harry Reid Saves The World

More Financial Crisis On The Horizon

Just in case you thought that the worst economic problems were behind us, I believe that we have simply put a band-aid on a gapping wound.
Throwing trillions of dollars at the financial giants seems to have guaranteed some of their huge losses but has not done anything to alleviate the cause of the crisis directly.
As I see it, the main problem is using the home mortgage industry to prop up a dwindling economy. We were told that these mortgages were bundled and then sliced up and sold as securities and that is why we don't even know who owns those mortgages I didn't believe it. How could we have a mortgage and not know who holds the papers. I said to myself, let's stop making payments and then we will see who comes to collect and that will sort itself out. Unfortunately, it appears that they were right. Trillions of dollars worth of loans are out there with less than adequate paperwork.
To see how this is playing out watch the following video:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Boondoggle in the Motor City: Detroit's Train to Nowhere

$500 million for a light rail train to nowhere. This is the stimulus. This is the infrastructure rebuild. This is what hope and change really looks like.
Toh-Dvorak Uncensored.

California Dreamin'

By Phillip Smith

In a little publicized action, California Governer Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that decriminalizes the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. The bill reduces simple possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction. This means that it will be treated like a traffic ticket and subject to a maximum of $100 fine with no drug arrest record. Not waiting until the Nov. 19th. vote on legalization he stated budget woes a leading factor in his decision.
The law goes into effect January 1. Even if Prop 19 passes in November, it leaves in place misdemeanor charges for smoking in public or in the presence of minors. Those misdemeanors would become infractions under the new law.

Obama Care Blow Back-part 2

According to the Wall St. Journal, McDonald,s is set to eliminate healthcare coverage for up to 30,000 employees. Stating that they are in need of an exemption from the new Obamacare guidelines or they will have to discontinue the decade or longer program.

According to McDonalds, the reports that they will discontinue coverage "completely false".
"We're not going to walk away from health-care insurance completely, but we're going to have to look for alternatives if we can't get the resolution we're seeking from Health and Human Services," McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud told Bloomberg.

I guess time will tell.

Doing the job that Americans won't do.

From Michelle Malkin.com



California Sen. Barbara Boxer recruiting day labor non-English speakers to protest her opponent Carly Fiorina. 

Time for Mexico to step up.

By Diane Macedo
Published September 29, 2010  Fox News.com

A coalition of Mexican mayors has asked the United States to stop deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. to Mexican border cities, saying the deportations are contributing to Mexican border violence.

Those criminal deportees, he said, have contributed to the violence in Juarez, which has reported more than 2,200 murders this year. Reyes and the other Mexican mayors said that when the U.S. deports criminals back to Mexico, it should fly them to their hometowns, not just bus them to the border.

It's time that Mexico steps up to the plate and takes responsibility for their own miscreants.  Why should we have to pay to apprehend, try, imprison and transport them to their hometown.

If anyone gives a darn, here is a couple of videos of Steven Corbert's testimony before congress on migrant farm workers.  His satirical wit is mostly lost on this committee and for good reason because he's not that funny.

Obama Care Blow Back.

From the L.A. Times.
By Duke Helfand

"Major health insurance companies in California and other states have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions.

Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories."

WHO DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING?

Welcome to Gitmo Nation

WICD ABC NEWSCHANNEL 15 - Top Stories Videos



 TOH- Noagenda.com

This video is remarkable.  The people in this video actually feel blessed that they are fitted with an electronic bracelet rather than being in jail.  That might seem appropriate if it weren't for the fact that the ones interviewed were actually first time traffic offenders.  One even seems to happily say that instead of being in jail she is allowed to pay them to stay home.
Officers are even shown rummaging through one ladies apartment on a home visit to check up on the bracelet enforcement.
Perhaps one reason the jails are so full is that they deem it necessary to imprison first time offenders.
Celebrities sporting Gitmo Jewelry and now it will be all the rage.

The Art Of Wasting Money.

STEEL WORK | $100,000 sculpture adorns city’s new bridge

By Mark Baker

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Friday, Sep 10, 2010

It’s 30 feet tall and made of seven red metal poles — jutting toward the sky at different angles — that support a shimmering net of stainless steel cables and reflective disks.

It’s Eugene’s latest public sculpture.

But what, if anything, does it represent?

“That’s part of the attraction — what the hell is that thing?” said Tim Smith, a member of the city of Eugene’s public art committee, who served on the selection committee for the above referenced piece, titled “Bountiful” by its creator, Dexter artist Lee Imonen.

The $100,000 art project, intended to honor Native American net and weir fishing in the Northwest and part of the city’s new $5.6 million Delta Ponds pedestrian and bicycle bridge, was paid for with federal stimulus money.

The city received $1.2 million in stimulus money to help pay for the bridge that crosses Delta Highway just north of Valley River Center. But when bids for the bridge came back much lower than initially estimated, the city was faced with having to hand back to the federal government some of the earmarked stimulus money, according to city civil engineer Michelle Cahill. Instead of returning a portion of the funds, the city decided to look at adding elements it previously had thought it could not afford for the project.

Although the city has an ordinance requiring that 1 percent of costs for public construction projects be allocated for art, it does not apply to transportation-related projects, said Isaac Marquez, the city’s public art program manager.

So art was not initially considered for the Delta Ponds bridge project that is scheduled to open for use in November and will be publicly dedicated by city officials Saturday, he said.

Faced with having to send some of the stimulus money back, the city decided to apply to the federal government to use the excess stimulus money for a sculpture, an island crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists on Goodpasture Island Road, better lighting for the bridge, and powder-coated railings, according to Cahill.

Let me get this right.  The money strapped City of Eugene not only builds a bike-pedestrian bridge for $5.6 million that we don't need but also wastes $100,000 on this piece of crap that they don't have to because they don't want to give back any of the "stimulus"money from the feds.  Believe me the next time the City cries poor mouth this issue will come up.

I Know That I Can Sleep Better Tonight. How About You?

U.S. names Asian carp czar.

The White House has tapped a former leader of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the Indiana Wildlife Federation as the Asian carp czar to oversee the federal response to keeping the invasive species out of the Great Lakes.

On a conference call today with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and other congressional leaders, President Obama's Council on Environmental Quality announced the selection of John Goss to lead the near $80 million, multi-pronged federal attack against Asian carp.

The challenge for Goss, who was director of the Indiana DNR under two governors and served for four years as the executive director of the Indiana National Wildlife Federation, will be to make sure millions in federal money is spent efficiently, to oversee several on-going studies -- including one looking into the possibility of permanently shutting down the Chicago waterway system linking Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River--and to bring together Great Lakes states currently locked in a courtroom battle over the response to the Asian carp threat.

First Tasers, Now Microwaves, What's Next.

From the sgvtribune.com.

CASTAIC - A high-tech ray gun built for the military that fires an invisible heat beam capable of causing unbearable pain will be tested on unruly inmates in the sheriff's detention facility in Castaic, officials said Friday at an unveiling event.

The "Assault Intervention System" (AIS) developed by the Raytheon Co., could give the Sheriff's Department "another tool" to quell disturbances at a 65-inmate dormitory at the Pitchess Detention Center's North County Correctional Facility, said Cmdr. Bob Osborne, head of the technology exploration branch of the sheriff's Department of Homeland Security Division.


AIS fires a directed beam of invisible "millimeter waves" that cause an unbearable burning sensation by penetrating 1/64 of an inch into the skin, where pain receptors are located, said Mike Booen, Raytheon's vice president of advanced security and directed energy systems.

"That's our vision," said Booen. "We want to get to the point where it is a hand-held device."

Time Editor "Sad"

The editor of Time Magazine is sad that the Israeli wall is working. It's working to keep out car bombers and those destined to kill Israelis.
It's sad that the elites of this world see more value in hypothetical "diversity" than they do in the individual's right to self defense and self determination.
It's easy for them to demand that we put up with destructive and inhumane conditions while they spend their time in gated secure luxury.

A Sign Of The Times

From Dvorak Blog

By Jerry Seper and Matthew Cella
The Washington Times

8:58 p.m., Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state.

The signs were posted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, a major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego.

The head of Homeland Security recently is quoted as saying the borders are safer now than ever before. These signs seem to say otherwise.

Pay Up Slaves

Pay Up
Got a blog that makes no money? The city wants $300, thank you very much.

by Valerie Rubinsky
Published: Aug 18, 2010

For the past three years, Marilyn Bess has operated MS Philly Organic,  a small, low-traffic blog that features occasional posts about green living, out of her Manayunk home. Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she's made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it's a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.
In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.
She's not alone. After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made.

Even if, as with Sean Barry, that profit is $11 over two years.

In June, City Council members Bill Green and Maria Quiñones-Sánchez unveiled a proposal to reform the city's business privilege tax in an effort to make Philly a more attractive place for small businesses. If their bill passes, bloggers will still have to get a privilege license if their sites are designed to make money, but they would no longer have to pay taxes on their first $100,000 in profit. (If bloggers don't want to fork over $300 for a lifetime license, Green suggests they take the city's $50-a-year plan.)

Their bill will be officially introduced in September. "There's a lot of support and interest in this idea," Green says.

I guess the moral of this story is do not declare the minuscule profit you make on your blog on your taxes.

Harry Reid-Liar or just clueless?

Out of touch.   Yeah that about sums it up.  Or he is a big fat liar.  You be the judge.
Nevada Senator Harry Reid claims that there are no illegals working in the construction industry in Nevada.  Even though the Pew Hispanic Center claims that Nevada has the largest number of illegals in the workforce of any state in the union.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=1506508223&play=1

Just Doing Those Jobs....well you know the rest.

From The Portlander.

Oregon State Police (OSP) Drug Enforcement Section detectives are continuing the investigation following the arrest of a California man during a Tuesday morning, July 20th, traffic stop near Eugene in which 11 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 1 pound of cocaine was found concealed within a vehicle. Due to an ongoing investigation, these details were delayed for release until approved by detectives.

According to OSP Lieutenant Robert Edwards, on July 20, 2010 at approximately 8:45am an OSP trooper from the Springfield Area Command office stopped a Honda Accord displaying California license plates for a lane change violation northbound on Interstate 5 near Eugene. The car’s driver was identified as Ramon Juan Pulido from Visalia, California.

Subsequent investigation during the traffic stop with the assistance an OSP drug detection dog led to the discovery and seizure of approximately 11 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 1 pound of cocaine concealed within the vehicle. Combined estimated value of the seized methamphetamine and cocaine is nearly $250,000.

Pulido was arrested and lodged in the Lane County Jail for 2 counts of Unlawful Possession and Distribution of a Controlled Substance. Jail staff also advised there is Federal Offense hold on him.

Let's see what could that Federal Offense be?  Illegal alien perhaps?

He Just Keeps On Giving.

Our old scuzzy friend Charlie Wrangle has just introduced the following bill:

Text of H.R. 5741: Universal National Service Act

"To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, and for other purposes."

The War In The Back Yard.

Just south of the border down Mexico way it appears that there is a war going on with violence to rival Afghanistan and Iraq.

July 19th. 2010
To cries of "Kill them all!" gunmen have opened fire at a Mexican fiesta, mowing down at least 17 people in an attack that laid bare the brutality of Mexico's long-running drug war.

A dozen people were also wounded today as the killers sprayed more than 200 bullets indiscriminately at the private party outside Torreon, an industrial city in the northern state of Coahuila.

Today's attack brought the number of victims across the country, which has been blighted by drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a 2006 crackdown on the cartels, to at least 57 just in the past weekend.

Ground zero for the violence is Ciudad Juarez on the US-Mexico border, which saw some 2660 murders in 2009 alone - more than seven a day on average.

Almost at the same time but in Torreon, in the northern state of Coahuila, 10 people were killed when gunmen rolled up in a trio of Hummers and opened fire on a crowd inside a bar.

The recent wave of violence includes a car bombing in Ciudad Juarez on Thursday that killed four and wounded 11.

Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes said that gang members set a trap using a wounded person dressed as a municipal police officer to lure federal police into a main intersection before the car bomb was detonated.

Nearly 25,000 people have been killed since December 2006, when right-wing president Calderon made shattering the drug cartels a national priority and launched a massive crackdown.


To further complicate the issue comes this shocking allegation:

By Katie Cassidy from Sky News

:MEXICAN prison guards allowed inmates to walk out of jail with borrowed guns and drive away in official cars so they could carry out drug-related killings.

Following the murders, which included a massacre at a private party last week, the criminals dutifully returned to their cells, Mexico's attorney general's office claimed.

Four staff - including a prison director - were placed under a form of house arrest while investigations continued, Sky News reported.

"According to witnesses, the inmates were allowed to leave with authorization of the prison director ... to carry out instructions for revenge attacks using official vehicles and using guards' weapons for executions," office spokesman Ricardo Najera said.

"Unfortunately, the criminals also carried out cowardly killings of innocent civilians, only to return to their cells."

Shotgun, Shoot 'em While They Run.

It had to happen. Why be limited by the distance and wires of the common taser when you can now put a taser shell in a regular shotgun and have more range and no wires?
Considering that the defense on the latest case in Oakland, that the transit officer mistakenly drew his gun instead of his taser, it seems likely more cases of mistaken ammo will occur.

On another note, it appears that they have been using them in hospitals for some time. What's next using them on unruly students? "Johnny pay attention, Johnny, oh hell, zap."

How to Write About Haiti

This satire from " Wired.com: seems to cut right to the point.

"For starters, always use the phrase 'the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.' Your audience must be reminded again of Haiti's exceptional poverty. It's doubtful that other articles have mentioned this fact.

You are struck by the 'resilience' of the Haitian people. They will survive no matter how poor they are. They are stoic, they rarely complain, and so they are admirable. The best poor person is one who suffers quietly. A two-sentence quote about their misery fitting neatly into your story is all that's needed.

On your last visit you became enchanted with Haiti. You are in love with its colorful culture and feel compelled to return. You care so much about these hard-working people. You are here to help them. You are their voice. They cannot speak for themselves."


Please read the rest of the article it is quite honest.

The Stimulus At Work

This is just one reason that the "stimulus" won't work.

By COLIN SULLIVAN of Greenwire
Published: July 7, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Bay Area solar manufacturer's abrupt retreat last month from an initial public stock offering has analysts questioning President Obama's use of the company as a showcase for federal investments in renewable energy.

Solyndra Inc. enjoyed a national spotlight when Obama visited the company's Fremont headquarters in May to herald it as an example of the federal stimulus at work. The president saluted the solar-panel maker, which received a $535 million federal loan guarantee, as the kind of business that will help the U.S. economy turn the corner (E&ENews PM, May 26).

But the reality is Solyndra has been hemorrhaging cash and decided last month to pull back from an initial public offering (IPO) in favor of raising another $175 million from private investors. That brings its total investment from venture capitalists to $1.1 billion, said Shyam Mehta, a senior analyst at GTM Research.

Facts about the company's financial picture are relatively easy to uncover. In 2009, Solyndra lost $172 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A year before, losses were $242 million.

It's Official!!

The Purple One has spoken: ""The internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it.

"The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good."
"They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There'll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses.

Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.

Reminds me of a saying that I saw in the men's room of a local tavern a long time ago. It said:
"God is dead" signed Nietzsche.
A week later another saying was added. It said:
"Nietzsche is dead" signed God.

If this isn't just a publicity stunt doesn't he realize that by eliminating legitimate internet sales he is only guaranteeing that his music will be all over the internet in a matter of minutes after it is released on CD? Or maybe he's trying to single handedly save the newspaper business.
Good Luck Prince, or what ever your name is today.

Fly California

I have been following the theory espoused by the No Agenda podcast boys that we are seeing a concerted effort to get the public off airplanes and cars and onto rail.  In a nutshell it's "airplanes bad, trains good."
The latest announcement is of the California High Speed Rail Authority. Didn't know there was one, me either. And doesn't that logo look familiar?

Also if you play the animated video in the bottom left corner of the home page you will see something interesting on the side of the engine.  It says "Fly California."

The conspiracy is this: make airplane flight expensive and unattractive. (take off your shoes, images of naked passengers, shut down of entire areas of Europe for the volcano ash for long periods of time, etc.
Make tremendous amounts of  praise for the rail passenger system.  Fast, cheap, green, etc. 
We all know that the American public is not going to swept into this easily.  It will require a tremendous amount of Federal money and the push of Vice President Joe (trainman) Biden, but most of all it will take the cooperation of the media which the Obama white house has no problem getting on board.  (Pardon the pun.)

A Bit of Humor

From TechCrunch.


Last week, we noted that Best Buy was looking into firing the employee that made the hilarious EVO versus iPhone 4 video (and the rebuttal video). The employee, 25-year-old Brian Maupin, was placed on suspension as Best Buy decided what they wanted to do. Today brings some good news: they’ve decided not to fire Maupin. But Maupin has decided not to return to work just yet, as he’s not sure he’s comfortable with the situation.

Causion: NSFW or those upset with vulgar language.

Arizona Law Causes Split for Border Governors

Arizona Law Causes Split for Border Governors
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: July 6, 2010

  
PHOENIX — For nearly 30 years, the governors of the states that line both sides of the United States-Mexico border have gathered to celebrate border bonhomie. They issue proclamations and pledges to work together, air grievances and concerns behind closed doors and pose for the cameras in symbolic showings of cooperation.

But this year the 28th annual conference has collided headlong with Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigration, inspiring bitter recriminations among Mexican governors and rancor among some American ones.

Ms. Brewer happens by rotation to be the chairwoman and host of this year’s conference, scheduled for September at a resort in Phoenix. But after all six Mexican border governors wrote to her to say they intended to boycott the gathering to protest the new law, Ms. Brewer sent a letter of her own last week to the governors on both sides of the border saying she was canceling the whole conference.

The Mexican governors had written that they would not step foot in Arizona because they considered the law, which Ms. Brewer signed in April and continues to promote, to be “based on ethnic and cultural prejudice contrary to fundamental rights.”

Now, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico has stepped into the fray, pledging to salvage the conference by finding a site in another state.

“Governor Brewer doesn’t have the authority to cancel the Border Governors Conference,” Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for Mr. Richardson said. “She may not want to host it for political reasons, but that’s not a reason to sidestep the tough issues that border governors must address, including migration and border violence. Governor Richardson will look for alternative sites to host the conference, with or without Arizona’s participation.”

So the Mexican governors have written that they would not step foot in Arizona, well that's a start.
Now if we can just get the other 20 million illegals to boycott the rest of the country.

Bring It On!!!

The President has made good on his promise to file lawsuits against Arizona's immigration law.

To me this is nothing but  revenge on the part of Obama for being called out for not doing his job to protect American citizens and shows his disdain for our people and our states.

Viva Arizona.

Anchor babies are expensive!

A new study conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has determined that the cost of harboring illegal immigrants in the U.S,. is a staggering $113 billion a year.

This contradicts a study by the Perryman Report in 2008 that found that illegal immigrants ad  $245 billion in GDP and account for 2.8 million jobs.

Not surprisingly the states with the highest budget deficits are also the states with the highest number of illegals in the population.

How do we have such a huge discrepancy?  One reason is that the FAIR report includes the cost of educating the American born children of illegals.  At 8-10 thousand dollars per child that is not too hard to believe.  I wonder if they also have included the cost in health care to have and raise these children, the millions in  free breakfast, lunch and dinners? 
An change in the 14th amendment is long over due.  What say you?

Happy Independence Day Everyone.

Let The Games Begin.

President Obama has decided that now is the time to put a full court press on the immigration issue.

Obama declares "Being An American Not A Matter Of Blood Or Birth.

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama said today that U.S. borders cannot be secured with fences and border patrols. “It won’t work,” he said.

Text of the Obama speech.

Banks, Are They Too Big To Obey The Law?

From the Stein Report.

"Wachovia, it turns out, had made a habit of helping move money for Mexican drug smugglers. Wells Fargo & Co., which bought Wachovia in 2008, has admitted in court that its unit failed to monitor and report suspected money laundering by narcotics traffickers -- including the cash used to buy four planes that shipped a total of 22 tons of cocaine," says Bloomberg News. "No big U.S. bank -- Wells Fargo included -- has ever been indicted for violating the Bank Secrecy Act or any other federal law. Instead, the Justice Department settles criminal charges by using deferred-prosecution agreements, in which a bank pays a fine and promises not to break the law again."

"There's no capacity to regulate or punish them because they're too big to be threatened with failure," a former investigator with the U.S. Senate said. "They seem to be willing to do anything that improves their bottom line, until they're caught."

Why Incumbents Must Go

 This guy makes me so mad that I'd like to run against this a**hole myself.
If you haven't seen this video yet it is a great example of the contempt some of our elected officials have for the rest of us.



Update: This clown doesn't live in his district or even in his state.
In this article in the SF Gate they even label him the Democrat from Maryland.

It would be unfair to suggest that Rep. Pete Stark claimed his Maryland house as his principal residence just to get a $3,800 tax break. Stark had a legitimate basis to claim that his 3,600-square foot home on 6-plus acres in the Washington suburbs fits the definition of his primary home. He admittedly spends far more time there than he does in the Fremont townhouse he rents for his twice-monthly visits to his district.

I know Californians are crazy but isn't there someone in the 13th district that can beat this loser?

From the Dan Stein Report:

President Obama added a late meeting this afternoon, a closed-to-the-media session of what the White House described as "grass-roots leaders" discussing "comprehensive immigration reform."

The meeting takes place amid anticipation that Obama's Justice Department will soon file a lawsuit against the controversial Arizona law that gives law enforcement officers authority to ask residents about their citizenship.


Gov. Phil Bredesen signed an Arizona-style enforcement bill into law Monday. The measure requires police to check with ICE if they cannot verify the citizenship status of people arrested. "I believe there has been significant political posturing on this issue," Bredesen said. "While I do have concerns about this legislation, this bill seeks to set up a verification process similar to what exists in our state's major cities, and I have been supportive of these efforts."

We're From The Government And We're Here To Help.

Two weeks after Governor Brewer met with President Obama about the border crisis this is the extent of help she has received in this conflict.

H.L.Mencken Quote Of The Day.

"A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in."

What Would You Do With A Billion Dollars?

Steven Chase

Ottawa — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, May. 25, 2010 9:49PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, May. 26, 2010 8:28AM EDT

The Harper government is preparing to spend close to $1-billion on security for world leaders gathering in Ontario this summer – meetings in which one of the top items on the agenda is reining in state profligacy.

The soaring security bill for safeguarding the late June Group of Eight and Group of 20 summits is now several orders of magnitude greater than the costs of similar meetings in Japan and Britain.

That price tag is more than 20 times the total reported cost for the April, 2009, G20 summit in Britain, with the government estimating a cost of $30-million, and seems much higher than security costs at previous summits – the Gleneagles G8 summit in Scotland, 2005, was reported to have spent $110-million on security, while the estimate for the 2008 G8 gathering in Japan was $381-million.

It appears that Canada will spend close to 1 Billion dollars to host  a small elite group of world leaders from countries that are themselves  wondering how the hell they are going to keep on the lights.  If you're gonna go, go big.