You Have The Right To Reveal Everything You Do.

DETROIT -- The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is questioning the Michigan State Police's use of cellphone "extraction" devices.

The ACLU said MSP has used the devices to access information from cellphones that officers ask drivers they have pulled over to give them.

"It can contain information that many people consider to be private, to be beyond the reach of law enforcement and other government actors," said Mark Fancher, an ACLU attorney.

"The State Police will provide information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act ... there may be a processing fee to search for, retrieve, examine and separate exempt material ... ," MSP said in a statement.

Fancher said MSP priced that information, pertaining to five devices, at about $500,000.

"This should be something that they are handing over freely, and that they should be more than happy to share with the public -- the routines and the guidelines that they follow," Fancher said.

So they pull you over for a traffic violation, illegally scan your phone and copy all your private information, then if you want to see what info they have on you and they charge you $500,000 for the priviledge. Sounds like East Germany to me.

The ACTA Sequel

For some reason current U.S. presidents seem to never sleep when it comes to giving away our sovereignty via one trade agreement or another. The latest acronym agreement is the TPP or the Transpacific Partnership Agreement which would cover trade in goods and services and Intellectual Property. This agreement is being negotiated with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

To get an idea of how this agreement could affect us I recommend the following blog.

Everywhere You Go-I'll Be Watchin' You.

From The Guardian.
Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronized.

The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program.

For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system, released in June 2010.

"Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you've been," said Pete Warden, one of the researchers.
If someone were to steal an iPhone and "jailbreak" it, giving them direct access to the files it contains, they could extract the location database directly. Alternatively, anyone with direct access to a user's computer could run the application and see a visualization of their movements. Encrypting data on the computer is one way to protect against it, though that still leaves the file on the phone.

TOH-Dvorak Uncensored.

Another Ted Stevens Moment.

From No Agenda".

O.K. class, what is New Zealand most known for?
Answer: The Lord of the Rings.
No, the answer we are looking for is sheep.
It appears that the legislature is populated by sheep also.
They recently voted for a law that makes file sharing illegal. Yes, all file sharing.
Please listen to this video of one of their finest attempt to explain the ins and outs of the peer to peer networks.
This is an example of why politicians must not be allowed to make grownup decisions. From Ted Stevens' "the internet is a bunch of tubes", to Barney Franks' "Freddie and Fanny are not in any trouble" statements these people must be reigned in.

There's An App For That.

Never Gonna Give You Up.

Thanks to "Dvorak Uncensored.




The State of Oregon gets Rick Rolled.

War On Drugs-winning-dah.

From Bloomberg.com.

Why can't we win the war on drugs?
Answer-because we can't afford to.  From Afganistan to Columbia to Mexico to the U.S. the government-bankster consortium is up to their noses (pun intended) in the action.
Wachovia Corp., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. admit that for years they have been laundering drug money from narcotics traffickers.  Wachovia admitting handling almost 4 billion dollars in drug money from 2004-2007 which is equal to 1/3 of Mexico's current gross domestic product.  These banks aren't the only ones involved in this, American Express, Western Union and others were also involved.

Happy April 1st.

Taco Bell Buys The Liberty Bell
In an effort to help the national debt, Taco Bell is pleased to announce that we have agreed to purchase the Liberty Bell, one of our country’s most historic treasures. It will now be called the “Taco Liberty Bell” and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing. While some may find this controversial, we hope our move will prompt other corporations to take similar action to do their part to reduce the country’s debt.

In a separate press release, Taco Bell explained that the Liberty Bell would divide its time between Philadelphia and the Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine. It compared the purchase to the adoption of highways by corporations. Taco Bell argued that it was simply “going one step further by purchasing one of the country’s greatest historic treasures.” The company boasted, “Taco Bell’s heritage and imagery have revolved around the symbolism of the bell. Now we’ve got the crown jewel of bells.”


A must for every computer user:

You Can't Make This Stuff Up.

From Politico.
President Obama finally and quietly accepted his “transparency” award from the open government community this week — in a closed, undisclosed meeting at the White House on Monday.

The secret presentation happened almost two weeks after the White House inexplicably postponed the ceremony, which was expected to be open to the press pool.

Westley Clark On Why We Are In The Middle East.

Westley Clark spills the beans just days after the towers fell. 

Well If Big Sister Says It's O.K.

From: The New York Daily News.com,/a>

The perception of Mexican drug cartel violence spilling into U.S. border towns is flat-out inaccurate, U.S. Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano insisted Friday.

Napolitano, speaking in El Paso, Texas, declared that security along the southern U.S. border is at an all-time high.

"There is a perception that the border is worse now than it has ever been," Napolitano said Friday in El Paso, Texas. "That is wrong. The border is better now than it ever has been."

As for crime, the image of Mexican drug violence contaminating U.S. border cities is "wrong again," she said.

Well some of the border may indeed be more secure because of recent increased security, it doesn't hurt to tag along with a couple of heavy armed dudes with body armor.

Things Are Different At The Shack!

From Dvorak Unsensored:

You read it right. Customers who buy Dish Network will be rewarded with a firearm.

"I think it really, really fits the Bitterroot Valley," said Steve Strand, who has owned Hamilton's Radio Shack for about seven years.

Strand, along with store manager Fabian Levy, wanted to generate more foot traffic at their location. So far, the gun giveaway has worked like a charm.

"It's been really successful," Levy said.

According to Strand, it has tripled his business since the promotion started last October. And, he said, easily hundreds of people have stopped in to see what the sign is all about. "Protect yourself with Dish Network. Sign up now, get free gun," the sign reads.

After the customer signs a service contract and sets up an install date, they are given a gift certificate for their gun. They can also opt for a $50 gift card from Pizza Hut if they prefer, Strand said. And customers who purchase new Dish Network service that don't qualify for a firearm are still given the Pizza Hut gift card.

Check Out The No Agenda Show

For those who still cling to the left-right paradigm please join me in the highly entertaining and informative news dissection of the No Agenda Show.

I Was For It Before I Was Against It.

Senator Biden was pretty specific when he warned then president Bush that he had better not invade Iran without first getting the Congress to declare war on them. He even trotted out the Constitution as the basis for this opinion.

Apparently Vice President Biden believes the Constitution only applies to Republican presidents.

I don't hear him objecting to Obama's authorization to drop bombs and fire hundreds of missiles into Libya.

If we can't impeach Obama for this userption then what will it take?

NO Moore, No Mas

Jabba the Hut explains the problem with U.S. economic system.

Don't Turn Your Back.

From The Huffington Post.

On Tuesday, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke on issues of free speech at George Washington University, 71-year-old former CIA analyst Ray McGovern was assaulted, dragged from the room and double handcuffed with metal cuffs causing profuse bleeding.





While the "Honorable" Mrs. Clinton was blathering on about the injustice of the Iran internet crackdown on protesters 71 year old Ray McGovern remained standing and turned his back to her in protest.  The result was he was assaulted and arrested and detained for no reason. 

Clinton complaining about heavy-handed government oppression.  Obama increasing the troop count in Afghanistan and authorizing death drones and accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.  What a bunch of hypocritical ass clowns.

The Donald Has Spoken.

Donald Trump, himself threatening to run for president, offers his useless opinion of Ron Paul's  elect-ability.

For The Second Year In A Row-Ron Paul Wins CPAC Straw Vote.

From Politics Daily:

For the second successive year, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas won the presidential straw poll conducted at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, capturing 30 percent of the vote.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was second in the straw poll with 23 percent of the vote, Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio announced at the conference in Washington held by the American Conservative Union. The others on the ballot finished far behind.

The straw poll covers more than preference for president. It also asks questions about issues. Fabrizio said the No. 1 concern of participants in the straw poll was " the size of government and the role government has in your life."

One question asked participants to choose among three statements to represent their "core beliefs and ideology."

Eighty-four percent chose "My most important goal is to promote individual freedom by reducing the size and scope of government and its intrusion into the lives of citizens."

Nine percent selected "My most important goal is to promote traditional values by protecting traditional marriage and protecting the life of the unborn."

And 6 percent chose "My most important goal is to secure and guarantee American safety at home and abroad regardless of the cost or the size of government."

Beware the Bear.

Register Guard.M

If you drive in Oregon in the next couple of weeks beware.  Thanks to largess of the federal government Oregon will put more officers on the road to encourage traffic safety.

The Eugene Police Department is among the agencies that will participate in the statewide effort. Its officers plan to focus on enforcing speed and safety belt laws.

Eugene police say officers also will keep their eyes peeled for drivers who use cell phones while behind the wheel as well as those who fail to follow the state’s “move over” law.

That law requires motorists to change lanes whenever they encounter an emergency vehicle or roadside assistance vehicle stopped alongside the road with its emergency lights flashing. Drivers who cannot safely move over must slow to at least 5 mph below the posted speed limit.

The increased patrols are scheduled to begin Monday and continue through Sunday, Feb. 20.

The New Ministry Of Truth.

It appears that the "Ministry of Truth", the ABC television network, has solidified it's inside position by appointing Jay Carney, the husband of ABC News reporter Claire Shipman, to the new White House Press secretary.  This is on the heals of ABC News announcing that they have picked Ben Sherwood as its news division president.   Sherwood's older sister, Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood Randall, is a special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director of European Affairs on the National Security Council.

Guess Hu"s Coming To Dinner?

Who was the center of attention at the recent state dinner at the White House?
That's correct-Hu.
No, I want to know what is the name of the guest of honor?
Hu- third base.

"Michelle and Barack Obama welcomed a mix of Hollywood A-listers, big business types and prominent Chinese-Americans to the White House as they threw a "quintessentially American" state dinner Wednesday for the president of China, complete with apple pie and ice cream, and jazz music for the entertainment."

"Celebrity star power arrived in the form of singer Barbra Streisand, her hubby-actor James Brolin and action film star Jackie Chan. Big business turned out in force, too, including Microsoft's Steven Ballmer and JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, among others. Among the big names: fashion's Vera Wang, Vogue's Anna Wintour, artist Maya Lin, Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to add some gravitas. Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter made the cut, too."

One of the entertainment headliners was musician Herbie Hancock.
That's a shame, I assumed he had more class than that.
"I ain't gonna play in Sun City no-more." How far we've dropped.

I wonder if President Obama, 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner, even spent a moment contemplating the crude irony that the dinner's honoree Chinese President Hu Jintao is responsible for the 2010 Peace Prize winner spending the glorious night in prison for voicing his political descent? I also wonder if Ms. Streisand has a "Free Tibet" bumper sticker?

No More Mr. Nasty.

According to the New York Times Keith Olbermann is immediately stepping down from MSNBC. No reason was given and he still has about 2 years left on his $30 million contract. One part of his exit agreement will keep him from moving to another network for an extended period of time. (Yeah)

Unfortunately, the obnoxious Mr. Olbermann will be replaced by an almost bigger blow hard, Ed Schultz.

Why Can't We Put This To Rest?

The controversy that simply won't go away.


Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) – Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie vowed to end the "birther" controversy surrounding President Obama's nationality once and for all.

Abercrombie, a newly-elected Democrat, told CNN that he will do whatever it takes to prove once and for all that Obama was born in Hawaii.
However, in January- "Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published today that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health.

Back on November 1st. 2008 Hawiian DOH Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino Said:
"State officials said Saturday they have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate.

"Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawaii, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures,"

Either the birth certificate is there or it isn't. Appears to me that it isn't.

They NeverGive Up.

Bloomberg
They never give up.
The U.S. proposed opening its highways to Mexican trucks under a second test program that would require Mexican drivers to be proficient in the English language and U.S. traffic laws.

The two countries may reach an agreement to allow cross- border trucking within weeks, Mexican Deputy Transportation Minister Humberto Trevino said today in a telephone interview.

As part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. agreed to allow Mexican trucks access to deliver goods in the U.S., a pledge it never fully honored after safety advocates and union officials said Mexico’s trucks and drivers didn’t meet U.S. standards. The U.S. canceled its previous trucking program in 2009, leading Mexico to impose tariffs on U.S. products.

The new proposed program will last 3 years instead of the 1 year trial that ended in 2009.

Of course the U.S. Chamber of Commerce praised this proposed program because it will increase exports but no mention of the trucking jobs it will also export.p; While Mexican truckers are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to operate within the U.S., U.S. truckers are obviously reluctant to transverse the Mexican highways.

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.