It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. -Samuel Adams Christmas Eve Morning - December 24, 2009 "There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child." - Erma Bombeck (I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression) |
 This year is the first in my memory that I have had the time and maybe the motivation to actually contemplate upon Christmas - its meaning to me and the memories I carry of that day. My Mother once said to me that when she was young and with a family, she was always so busy she didn't even notice the birds and only when she grew older she found herself enjoying them so - much like the elderly person in their rocking chair finally having the time to think back upon the cherished memories of their wedding day so many decades past. There is the old expression that 'we can't take anything with us' - however, I would beg to differ. When our time arrives to leave this vessel we will be carrying illusive and very energetic memories - that have been woven together - unseen mental energies that have assisted in forming the individual that we have been and manifested during this earth experience. Our childhood influencing the adult we are today for example. It is said that very frequently siblings that were all raised under the same roof with the same parents - when reaching adulthood - will be carrying memories as if they were not raised by the same parents. When I was a small girl, I could not figure out why I was getting presents for a birthday that was not mine - and the whole Santa Claus thing did not make sense since I had been taught the Biblical Christmas story. As a little girl and now as an adult, I continue to not even kill a spider - and, sacrificing a living tree at Christmas didn't make me happy as a child. I would always spend several weeks watching a tree slowly die and drop it needles ... significant childhood memories of mine. And, others it seemed only noticed the lights and the decorations. This Christmas Eve morning, my hibiscus plant that I brought in for the winter gifted me a beautiful blossom. It has not bloomed now for over a month. |
PEACE ON EARTH It's hard enough to find peace with oneself |
| ||||
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on December 10 the president of the United States appropriated for his country the title of “the world’s sole military superpower” and for himself “the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars.”
Both Obama and the Treasury Department keep talking up the TARP as if it is a money maker for taxpayers, when nothing could be further from the truth. Obama tried this stunt in his anniversary of Lehman speech, and the Treasury continues with the theme, of implying that results for the firms that paid back are representative of what the final results would be. If this logic were generally true, that would mean subprime bonds were a good investment too. After all, most borrowers did make good on their mortgages. A late September Moodys mortgage survey that a reader sent me estimated that total losses on subprime RMBS will be about 26%, which means that 74% were money good. The problem with the Treasury/Obama three card monte is that the strongest TARP are the ones that paid off first. Things can only go downhill from here. Do you expect AIG to repay the TARP in full? Or the auto companies? But you’d never guess that if you took the latest propaganda at face value. From MarketWatch:
Yves here. Did you catch that? This is too clever by half. They are now talking about TARP “bank only” results, which serves to omit the biggest turkeys. Then we get this bit:
Yves here. Admittedly, these are smaller banks. Nevertheless, we reported in October that just about no one noticed that 34 banks had missed their TARP dividends. Now we are up to 55. This is an impressive rate of decay. More on this topic Neel Kashkari and Theodore Kaczynski?? (The Mess That Greenspan Made, 12/7/09) Bank of America Hopes to Lure Top Shelf Talent by Paying Back TARP Loans (Money Morning, 12/3/09) In Ur TARP, Missin Ur Dividend Payments (LOLFed, 12/24/09) |
Gerald Celente on www.financialsense.com with Jim Puplava (video)
The “Civil Disturbance Of Britain” …ComethFamilies hit by the worst wages crash in 50 years By Sam Fleming Families have suffered the biggest crash in wages on record, official figures showed yesterday. READ MORE |
Unemployment funds going ‘absolutely broke’
December 22nd, 2009
40 state programs to be emptied by the jobless tsunami within two years
By Peter Whoriskey
MSNBC.com
Tues., Dec . 22, 2009
The recession’s jobless toll is draining unemployment-compensation funds so fast that according to federal projections, 40 state programs will go broke within two years and need $90 billion in loans to keep issuing the benefit checks. READ MORE
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34519544/ns/business-washington_post
NEBRASKA NEWS |
Nebraska's population growth matches national rateThe Associated Press - - 14 hours ago Nebraska's annual population growth has nearly matched the US growth rate for the first time in 50 years, largely due to a surge in births that continues ... Census update shows Nebraska on population rollNebraska had its largest population increase of the decade from July 2008 to July 2009, according to new census numbers released Wednesday. The overall gain of 14,670 people was fueled by the arrival of 27,000 babies -- the most in 27 years -- a steady influx of new faces from international places and the first overall gain in immigration versus out-migration in the past 10 years.
Texas attorney general, others challenge tax breaks given to NebraskaDallas Morning News - - 3 hours ago AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is vowing to fight what he called an "outrageous" decision to give Nebraska multimillion-dollar tax ... GOP may sue over health care bill's 'Nebraska compromise' MiamiHerald.com Texas attorney general challenges Senate health bill over "Nebraska compromise" Dallas Morning News (blog) Statue honoring Senator Nelson still a go in hometownMcCOOK -- Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson's hometown is going ahead with plans to erect a statue in his honor despite vocal opposition to the Democrat's support of health care reform. Nebraska's bovine TB scare nearly overThe Associated Press Nebraska agriculture officials expect that by spring, no more cattle herds in the state will be quarantined because no new cases of bovine tuberculosis were ... Nebraska moving past bovine tuberculosis scare Lincoln Journal Star US: Bovine TB fears expected to subside Vetsweb (press release) A Christmas Angel From NebraskaNew York Times We try to save our children from wild, unreal expectations. And now here is Christmas, a wild story of 3 a.m. miracles if ever there was one. It surely isn’t about good manners or good work habits. We teach it to our children, each in our own version, and God alone knows what they make of it all. My own Christmas vision appeared three days before Christmas, in a deli on 10th Avenue in New York, where a rather elegant young woman was managing a herd of eight teenaged boys, ordering their breakfasts from the lady behind the counter. The boys spoke Spanish, which the young woman translated into English for the counter lady. I’m standing there, waiting my turn, observing. The boys are docile, cautious, soft-spoken, and then it dawns on me that they are so because of brain damage, mild retardation, however you want to put it, and the young woman is their hired shepherd. A teacher’s aide, perhaps. Probably minimum wage. She is lovely, green-eyed, dark hair spilling down on a puffy parka, red wool scarf, and her English sounds very Midwestern to me. The boys want muffins for breakfast except one boy who earnestly desires a sesame bagel, toasted, with cream cheese, but the deli is all out of sesame, and this is a cruel disappointment to him. He really was counting on it. When you are 14 and so desperately vulnerable in the big city, you do pin your hopes on certain small pleasures. His face crumples and he is about to melt, and the elegant young green-eyed woman puts her head down next to his where he sits slumped on the deli stool. Her pale cheek against his cheek, she murmurs to him and a string of his enormous tears runs onto her face and she wipes it away and says something in Spanish that makes him laugh. And then I notice at the end of her red scarf, the word “Nebraska.” Nobody would wear this in New York except a Nebraskan. I might’ve asked her a few questions, but she had turned her street face toward me, and so I didn’t bother her. A girl from the prairie using her Spanish to care for damaged boys in a callous world where, contrary to everything the Savior said, the poor and powerless get short shrift — in the U.S. Senate and elsewhere — and she is sharing the tears of the sesame boy and making him laugh. She’s my Christmas angel. I hope she gets to go to a party and sing and dance until 3 a.m. |
BIG PHRMA PAYOFF: HIDDEN TAX ON PEDIALYTE, PRENATAL VITAMINS, AND PAIN RELIEVERS
This could mean that billions will be wasted on the additional costs for prescription drugs in instances when OTC medicines could be just as safe and effective at treating the illness
... OTC drugs are much cheaper those available for prescription, but they could now be more expensive to individual consumers given that prescription drugs would still be eligible for favored treatment in the tax plans, and that insurance companies would be mandated to cover many of them. Consequently, any time a consumer has the slightest headache, the financial incentive would often be to see a doctor and get a prescription rather than go to the store and get medicine off the shelf.
This could mean that billions will be wasted on the additional costs for prescription drugs in instances when OTC medicines could be just as safe and effective at treating the illness. A 2005 study in the American Journal of Managed Care found that the Food and Drug Administration’s clearing of antihistamines such as loratadine (Claritin) for over-the-counter sale saves about $4 billion a year in health care costs. Ironically, the liberals and Democrats who normally rail against big pharmaceutical companies are now creating a huge windfall the firms that make expensive prescription drugs by penalizing users of OTC medicines. READ MORE ....
Thursday, 24 December 2009, 06:34 CST Officials say Australian rangers seized almost 200 saltwater crocodiles this year in concern for the safety of the residents. 196 of the deadly reptiles were picked up in the northern city of Darwin, the largest a 16 foot male. Regional director of Conservation and Wildlife, Brett Easton, told AFP, "Once captured they are taken to a crocodile farm where they live a long and lazy life." The government removed 190 "salties" last year from waterways near residential, recreation and swimming areas. Easton said some of the crocodiles were found too close to residential areas, such as storm drains and swimming areas. Easton said flooding in the wet season has allowed the crocs to move more freely through areas they would usually avoid. "In the Northern Territory we all live fairly close to water and saltwater crocodiles are not unusual in our waters," he said. Two people, including a young girl, were killed in crocodile attacks this year. http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1803127/almost_200_crocodiles_captured_in_australia/index.html RELATED:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6838895/Crocodiles-jump-out-of-the-water-for-food.html |
DEPLETED URANIUM DISPOSAL IN UTAH ...
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail" - Benjamin Franklin | ||
| ||
THERE ARE PREPPERS AND THEN THERE ARE SURVIVALISTS King County Redneck Flood Survival Kit Toilet Paper…………………………check God love dem rednecks… | ||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WHAT'S GOING ON IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM? |
 Fog Found On Saturn's Moon TitanScientific American - 6 hours ago To make fog, you need lots of liquid. Here on earth, we use water. We’ve got water on the ground and in the air. And when the air can’t hold any more moisture because it’s totally saturated or it cools down, you get condensation. So the morning fog, and the dew on your windshield, comes from air that’s cooled enough that it can’t hang onto its water. Titan fog, on the other hand, comes from methane. Like water, methane can be a solid, liquid, or gas. On Titan, methane forms clouds and maybe even rain. And, when atmospheric methane condenses, it makes fog. That fog then sticks around because it’s in contact with the methane puddles, which keeps everything cool enough to keep the methane condensing. So next time you visit Titan, don’t expect to get any great pictures of Saturn. And drive with your low beams on. Fog Seen on Saturn Moon Titan--A First National Geographic Fog in forecast for Saturn's moon Pasadena Star-News |
ISRIA - 13 hours ago
This is a private-owned company which aims at collecting, searching and analyzing relevant and valuable data dealing with geopolitical and diplomatic developments around the world. It neither advocates any specific policy nor advances any political and/or diplomatic interest(s).
Our analysts and correspondents are from various backgrounds and countries; their main objective is to provide you, institutions, states and companies with unbiased information.
In a large solar storm, the particles also can damage equipment. “You can get energetic particles at hundreds of electron volts of energy, and these can damage electronics in our space assets,” Howard said.
“They can cause electrical discharges inside the spacecraft and destroy the circuitry,” Doschek added, “and they can cause disruptions in the software and communication links in the satellite until it has to be rebooted.”
The solar wind can directly affect people on Earth, as well.
Howard described the impact of the solar wind on the Earth's magnetosphere as a force that puts pressure on the magnetic field. With large solar storms, the pressure intensifies and distorts the shape of the field.
“The magnetosphere, when it gets compressed, induces a current in the Earth's crust,” he explained, “and power transmission lines can get a huge amount of back current into transformers that actually burns them up. I've seen pictures of copper straps that are two inches thick that are melted. It's just amazing.”
A mass ejection in 1989 shut down the Quebec power grid, which is connected to power grids along the entire East Coast of the United States, Howard said. Quick action on the part of an engineer disconnected the Quebec grid from the other grids. “It was within seconds before it would have taken out the power for the entire northeast part of the U.S.,” Howard said.
In addition to the loss of transformers, which cost about million to replace, the disruption of power was estimated to be a loss of billion of gross national product, he said.
These induced currents in the Earth's crust also can affect oil and gas exploration. Howard explained that oil prospecting often is done by trailing a magnetometer behind a ship to look for changes in the magnetic field structure. “A huge oil or gas deposit would be indicated by a change in the field properties,” he said, “but if one of these storms comes along, you've completely lost that activity.”
OUR PLANET'S PROTECTIVE MAGNETOSPHERE UPDATE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| About Real-Time Magnetosphere Simulation http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html DECEMBER 24, 2009 AT 10:11 AM CDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current Moon Phase http://www.die.net/moon/ Underground tremors caused by water - controlled by moon, sun, study findsSeattle Times Rumbles deep underground are caused by water being controlled by the sun and moon, University of California, Berkeley, seismologists concluded in a new study that could lead to a better understanding of earthquakes. WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - December 23, 2009 at 3:47 PM— Rumbles deep underground are caused by water being controlled by the sun and moon, University of California, Berkeley, seismologists concluded in a new study that could lead to a better understanding of earthquakes. The study of a portion of the San Andreas fault revealed that underground fluids move like the tides, the scientists wrote in an article published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Geologists had long wondered what caused the frequent rumbling 15 miles below the surface, said co-author Roland Burgmann, a Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science. "People had looked for those kinds of relationships for decades," said Burgmann, who wrote the paper with seismologist Robert Nadeau and doctoral student Amanda Thomas. "Now, with these tremors, there's a very strong relationship." Highly pressurized water essentially lubricates certain faults, including the San Andreas in California, far below the portion of the fault that causes measurable earthquakes, scientists found. The relationship between the deep tremors and earthquakes remains unclear, Nadeau said. Though scientists noted that a major 2002 Alaska earthquake set off deep tremors on other parts of the planet, it was not previously known the sun and moon could have a similar effect, said Kenneth Creager, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Washington. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SUN UPDATE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/sunspots/ http://solarcycle24.com/ Classification of Solar Flares Magnetic fields trigger solar wind Active Regions 11036 11038 11037 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An Italian City Shaken to Its Cultural CoreArchaeologists are sorting through the Church of Santa Maria Paganica in L'Aquila, which was transformed into a roofless repository of rubble by the earthquake. "After a devastating earthquake killed hundreds and left tens of thousands homeless in L'Aquila, Italy, in April 2009, the emergency relief efforts were extraordinary. But now, as local mayors and the Italian culture ministry prepare to take over recovery efforts from emergency agencies, the longer-term future of the city is in question." Update time = Thu Dec 24 16:05:33 UTC 2009
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VOLCANISM NEWS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Picture of the Day: Mayon Volcano, The Phillipines Tens of thousands of people living within the danger zone of Mayon Volcano in the Philippines were forced to evacuate to emergency shelters in mid-December 2009 as small earthquakes, incandescent lava at the summit and minor ash falls suggested a major eruption was on the way. On the evening of Dec. 14, the local volcano observatory raised the alert level to Level 3, which means "magma is close to the crater and hazardous explosive eruption is imminent." This natural-color image of Mayon was captured on Dec. 15, 2009, by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. A small plume of ash and steam is blowing west from the summit. Dark-colored lava or debris flows from previous eruptions streak the flanks of the mountain. A ravine on the southeast slope is occupied by a particularly prominent lava or debris flow. The Phillipine Star said on Dec. 22 that "ashfall blanketed at least three towns in Albay, raising new health fears for thousands already bracing for an eruption that could come at any time ... Health officials warned the tiny particles could cause respiratory problems or skin diseases, and could affect the thousands of people crammed into evacuation centers. Also on Dec. 22, CNN reported that "tens of thousands of people have already fled their homes. More than 9,000 families -- a total of 44,394 people -- are being housed in evacuation camps after authorities raised the alert status of the country's most active volcano" as "fountains of red-hot lava shot up from the intensifying Mayon volcano." Image Credit: NASA/Jesse Allen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CHANGING WEATHER PATTERNS - NEWS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National Severe Weather Map Surface Temperature Forecast Map Lincoln, Nebraska Active Advisory: Winter Storm Warning (US Severe Weather) Active Notice: Local Storm Report | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power." Benito Mussolini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The United Nations is just a debating society and a 'front' for banks |
The Silver Bear Cafe | The Fed is a Fascist Cartel
The Federal Reserve, in my opinion, should not be classified as a private corporation. It should be termed a government-run fascist cartel. There are several important reasons for this. For example, all nationally chartered banks in the Federal Reserve system are forced by the government to join the cartel. Bernanke and his board of governors are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. The Federal Reserve came into being because of an act of Congress, and it can be altered or legislated out of being at anytime by Congress. These factors are not how private corporations are created or operated. The Fed entails government involvement in a massive way. Without the special monopoly privileges legislated by Congress that sustain the Fed, it disappears.
Moreover, the great bulk of the profits of the Reserve Banks are turned over to the federal treasury. As John McCormack explains in a Liberty magazine article: "[H]olding shares in the Fed is not a very profitable activity. Dividends to member shareholders are limited to 6% of nominal capital (hardly a great rate of return) and all Fed revenues above this amount (invariably vastly greater sums) are returned to the U.S. Treasury. In 1994, for example, total dividends to member banks amounted to $212 million while the Treasury received $20.5 billion, 97 times as much." [Liberty, March 1996.]
Government is thus a full partner in the Federal Reserve System. And a business entity with the government as a full partner is not a private corporation.
Courts Create a Fallacy
Much of the reasoning behind the mistaken notion that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation lies in court cases such as LEWIS vs. United States on June 24, 1982. In that case, the 9th Circuit Court ruled: "We conclude that the [Federal] Reserve Banks are not federal...but are independent, privately owned...corporations...without day to day direction from the federal government."
There are numerous cases like this where the courts have ruled that the Reserve Banks of the System are privately owned and controlled corporations. The mistake made here by those who support the notion of a "private Fed" is that because the courts declare something to be so, it somehow makes it so. This, of course, is a fallacy. Judges only interpret the law; they do not make the truth. Truth is something we discover through identification of the facts of reality and coherence with the laws of logic. Men find the truth through a process of synthesizing reason, experience and intuition.
What then are the facts of reality and the laws of logic in this case? They are as follows: A private entity in the marketplace is the opposite of a public entity. It is a free entity without monetary support and monopolistic legislation to protect it from government bureaucracy. It is an entity that is operating in a laissez-faire environment. To the extent that government intervenes into and controls, regulates, manipulates, or monopolizes an entity's market policies, then that entity is no longer private or free. It becomes statist / collectivist (i.e., socialist / fascist) to some degree or another. How much government involvement there is will determine how collectivist the entity becomes.
For example, Exxon Corporation is considered a private corporation. So let's compare it to the so called "private" Federal Reserve corporation. Does Exxon have its CEO and board of directors appointed and confirmed by the government? No, but the Fed does. Are 97% of Exxon's profits turned over to the federal Treasury? No, but the Fed's profits are. Can Exxon be voted out of existence tomorrow by Congress? No, but the Fed can. Therefore despite what our courts maintain, the Fed is not a private corporation; it is a government run cartel.
The fact that the courts define the Fed as "private" is the way that tyrannical ideologues pull the wool over the people's eyes. This is done to make the people think we are still a free, "private" enterprise country. This is how they smuggle us into corporate statism, i.e., economic fascism -- by getting the intelligentsia of the country to buy into their redefinition of words. The courts are run by statist judges, and the schools are run by statist professors -- all pretending that we are still a "free" enterprise system. In fact, many of them actually believe their own warped logic. It's the way they were taught, and they lack the intellectual rigor to investigate the fallacies of their assumptions. They ritualistically use the term "private" because it conveys the image of "free." But private in this instance is in name only. If a private entity does not have control over its operations, its profits, and its policies, then it is no longer private; it is public, and socialist or fascist to some degree or another.
Who Controls Who?
So do the bankers control the government, or does the Federal Government control the bankers? One way to answer this question is to ask who can abolish who? Can the Federal Government abolish the Fed? Certainly. Anytime it wants to, Congress could eliminate the Fed by a majority vote of its members. But can the mega-bankers, with all their power to influence politicians, abolish the Federal Government? Hardly. In this respect of creation and abolition, the Federal Government is the power behind the evil of our Federal Reserve system. But in actual practice, I think it is more accurate to say that the evil comes from the combine of the two forces. Separately, neither the mega-bankers, nor the Federal Government would be able to wield the dangerous control over our lives that they gain in concert. It is only when they join forces to become "partners" that they gain the power to do the evil they do. READ MORE ....
POLICE STATE USA NEWS |
Under the radar, Obama pushes for Patriot Act renewalRichard Moore With key sections of the U.S. Patriot Act set to expire Dec. 31, the Obama administration - essentially tiptoeing through the corridors of Congress and using the raucous health care debate as cover - has quietly maneuvered for renewal of the controversial provisions, which he opposed as a senator. How time flies As an Illinois senator in 2005, Barack Obama opposed the core of these provisions when they were up for renewal then, saying he wanted to safeguard the country from terrorist attack but had concerns about seeking business records and the wiretapping language. "But soon after the Patriot Act passed, a few years before I ever arrived in the Senate, I began hearing concerns from people of every background and political leaning that this law - the very purpose of which was to protect us - was also threatening to violate our rights and freedoms as Americans," Obama said in a Dec. 15, 2005, speech on the Senate floor. "That it didn't just provide law enforcement the powers it needed to keep us safe, but powers it didn't need to invade our privacy without cause or suspicion." Obama told his colleagues he had been working in a bipartisan way to improve the law. "That's why as it comes time to reauthorize this law, we've been working in a bipartisan way to do both - to show the American people that we can track down terrorists without trampling on our civil liberties," he said. "To show the American people that the federal government will only issue warrants and execute searches because it needs to, not because it can. What we have been trying to achieve, under the leadership of a bipartisan group of senators, is some accountability in this process - to get answers and see evidence where there is suspicion." Nonetheless, in conference, the Congress had jettisoned the bill's safeguards, leaving him no choice but to oppose reauthorization, he said. "This is legislation that puts our own Justice Department above the law," Obama said. "When National Security Letters are issued, they allow federal agents to conduct any search on any American, no matter how extensive or wide-ranging, without ever going before a judge to prove that the search is necessary. They simply need sign-off from a local FBI official. That's all." Obama said the legislation ignored American case law and fundamental principles. "And if someone wants to know why their own government has decided to go on a fishing expedition through every personal record or private document - through library books they've read and phone calls they've made - this legislation gives people no rights to appeal the need for such a search in a court of law," he said. "No judge will hear their plea, no jury will hear their case. This is just plain wrong." Three years later, however, Obama was singing a different tune, voting to allow warrantless wiretaps of Americans' calls if they were communicating overseas with somebody the government believed was linked to terrorism. He also supported immunizing the nation's telecommunication companies from lawsuits charging that they had participated in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. http://www.lakelandtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&subsectionID=9&articleID=10649 CONGRESS: ARE THEY STUPID OR CONSPIRING TO ENSLAVE US ALL
By Michael LeMieux There have been many commentaries on the constitutional oaths taken by our political leaders. There have even been organizations created around constitutional oaths of which I am a proud member (Oath Keepers). To me, and to every other person sworn to protect and defend the Constitution, it is and should be a solemn duty to ensure that our actions live up to that oath. But is that what is actually happening or has the oath and by extension the Constitution been relegated to mere politics. I would say that for the vast majority of the rank and file in the military it is a solemn vow. I have come to the conclusion that for the vast majority of politicians, regardless of party, it has become a mere ceremony of attaining office and nothing more. I have drawn this conclusion from the actions of those in political positions and not from their words. So where in the Constitution does Congress derive its power to interject itself into every facet of our lives? For those that have read the Constitution it cannot be found in the words of the Constitution but only based on inference and conjecture and then only if you have not studied the writings of those who penned the document. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the powers given to Congress upon which they may act. Within this section you will not find any mention of the power to regulate education, energy, parks and recreation, how much water your toilet can consume per flush, healthcare, or even firearm laws. So where do they get this power? They extract, falsely, from section 8 which states: “…provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States…” and “…regulate commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States…” From this they have derived the “interstate commerce” and welfare powers terminology upon which every infringement, by the federal government, has been made against the citizens of this land. But is the federal government, Congress in particular, following the true intent of the founders and are they maintaining the balance of powers that was so crucial in maintaining our freedom and liberty? What did the founders mean when they coined the term “general welfare?” On March 3, 1817, President James Madison, one of our founding fathers, vetoed a bill for the appropriation of funds on a federal public works initiative, which deals with the general welfare clause. Excerpts from this letter are as follows:
President Madison, throughout this admonition to the House, refers to specified and enumerated powers of Congress. He went on to state that this was the established and consistent rule of interpretation for the powers of congress, and to give a broad interpretation would give Congress a general power of legislation, which it did not have. Within the context of “general welfare” the congress must stay within the enumerated boundaries set by the Constitution. He concluded by stating that if the Congress did not have these defined and limited powers they would be able to legislate anything using the common defense and general welfare clauses, and this was wrong. If it was wrong then, then it is wrong now. READ MORE |
Mumbai Terror Suspect David Headley Connected to U.S. Intelligence, Heroin Smuggling
A key terror suspect who allegedly helped to plan last year’s attacks in Mumbai and plotted to strike Europe was an American secret agent who went rogue, Indian officials believe.
David Headley, 49, who was born in Washington to a Pakistan diplomat father and an American mother, was arrested in Chicago in October. He is accused of reconnoitring targets in India and Europe for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terror group behind the Mumbai attacks and of having links to al-Qaeda. He has denied the charges.
He came to the attention of the US security services in 1997 when he was arrested in New York for heroin smuggling. He earned a reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) infiltrating Pakistan-linked narcotics gangs.
Indian investigators, who have been denied access to Mr Headley, suspect that he remained on the payroll of the US security services — possibly working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — but switched his allegiance to LeT.
“India is looking into whether Headley worked as a double agent,” an Indian Home Ministry official said yesterday.
Mr Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani, was in Mumbai until two weeks before the attacks on the city, which claimed 166 lives last November. It is alleged that he spent months checking targets in India’s commercial capital, using his Western looks and anglicised name to move in elite social circles, hobnob with Bollywood actors and even to pass himself off as Jewish.
Despite being firmly on the radar of the US intelligence agencies, he was allowed to return to India as recently as March. Indian officials are furious that their American counterparts did not share details of that visit at the time. The Indian media has raised the possibility that Mr Headley was being protected by his American handlers — a theory that experts say is credible.
“The feeling in India is that the US has not been transparent,” said B. Raman, a former counter-terrorism chief in the Indian foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing.
“That Headley was an agent for the DEA is known. Whether he was being used by the CIA as well is a matter of speculation, but it is almost certain that the CIA was aware of him and his movements across the subcontinent.”
| STEM CELL NEWS |
Pfizer Acquires Stem Cell Technology - a sign of big pharmaceutical companies’ growing interest in stem cells Mergers & AcquisitionsBut as the science of stem cells has advanced, drug companies are taking an interest. Pfizer is also developing a stem-cell treatment for macular degeneration, an eye disease, working with University College London. It is doing research with Novocell, a San Diego company trying to turn embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes.
Stem Cells Used To Restore Vision In 8 Patients British scientists have used stem cells to restored good vision to eight people who had lost sight in one eye, the Financial Times reports. Stem cells were extracted from the cornea of a patient's good eye, cultured in a lab and then transplanted into the damaged eye, restoring the cornea. The technique is not suitable for blindness caused by retinal damage. Russell Turnbull's right eye was burned and scarred when ammonia was thrown in his face 15 years ago, leaving him with 10% vision in the damaged eye. He said the operation has improved his eye sight to 90%. "This has transformed my life," said Turnbull. "I'm working, I can go jet skiing and also ride horses." The technique was developed at the North East England Stem Cell Institute, and the results are published in the journal Stem Cells. Scientists: Stem Cells Could Reverse Sickle Cell Anemia (video) |
PET NEWS |
UFO NEWS |
Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) UFO Database December 23, 2009 This case is associated in the same time frame as MUFON C.M.S. Case # 19777. Witness was driving to work from Ely, Nevada to an oil field and refinery in the Rail Road Valley. He stated that fellow employees had seen the same object in the sky earlier that evening. Onother multiple witness UFO event in Nevada. UK - Strange Triangle UFO, Pulsing Lights (video) UFO investigators claim to have captured video evidence of a strange triangular shaped craft with pulsing lights flying in the skies above a Shropshire landmark. Phil Hoyle and Peter Jones, of the Shrewsbury-based UFO Investigations & Research Unit, conducted a sky watch on Monday as they claim the winter solstice is also one of the most active evenings for UFO sightings globally. Mr Hoyle, and other witnesses who all claim to have had UFO encounters, say they saw a large triangle near The Wrekin for more than 10 minutes. He said he believed no military aircraft were being used at the time about 9.22pm. Mr Hoyle said the footage of the UFO was captured from the top of Lyth Hill, near Shrewsbury, in the direction of The Wrekin. He estimated the craft to be about four miles away. He said: “The triangle was caught on a night vision video and it can be clearly seen that it is not a conventional aircraft. “We could see three large pulsating white lights at each corner with a smaller one in the middle of the object, which is typical of these UFO craft. I also received a number of orange sphere reports from the Newport area. “On the same date in 2003 we witnessed over 20 unknowns across the Wrekin and north Shropshire, we checked all surrounding civil and military bases and they had no flights at that time.” Mr Hoyle said the observation times for a UFO sighting had been predicted by a computer programme created by Roy Dutton, a retired British Aerospace scientist. Mr Dutton has developed a system which is claimed can predict times and places most likely for increased UFO activity. Mr Hoyle said The Wrekin was a hotspot for UFO activity. He said he wanted to hear from anyone who also may have seen unusual lights on Monday evening. He can be contacted on (01743) 245574 or by e-mail at phil.hoyle@yahoo.co.uk |
NaturalNews.com | Today's Featured Stories - December 24, 2009
| Merry Christmas from NaturalNews and the Health Ranger (NaturalNews) Here's a Merry Christmas to all the NaturalNews readers from the Health Ranger. And yes, I do specifically mean Merry Christmas. I don't mean just "Happy Holidays" or "happy winter break" or even "happy end-of-year time off." What I mean... |
| Meditation Reduces Heart Disease Deaths (NaturalNews) The Medical College of Wisconsin in conjunction with Maharishi University in Iowa funded a study about the effects of transcendental meditation on health. Researchers discovered that over the course of nine years, the group assigned to meditate... |
| Benefits of Maca Root: Find More Energy and Hormonal Balance Find yourself depending on coffee for a boost in the morning? Why not try maca instead? Maca is a root from Peru; it's a tuber, like a potato, and offers an amazing energy boost for those with low energy. Maca however, unlike coffee, offers... |
| Traffic Noise Raises Blood Pressure (NaturalNews) Living in areas with high traffic noise may lead to higher blood pressure and a concurrently higher risk of heart attack or stroke, according to a study conducted by researchers from Lund University Hospital in Sweden and published in the... |
| More Evidence Supports the Importance of Vitamin D in Heart Disease Prevention Although the link between low Vitamin D status and chronic disease has been well known for some time, a new study has shed further light on the role of Vitamin D in cases of hypertension and congestive heart failure. Researchers from the... |
| Big Pharma's narcotics cause more deaths than both heroin and cocaine (NaturalNews) On the heels of the sudden death of celebrity actress Brittany Murphy, people are once again raising the question of just how dangerous drugs might really be. Some... |
Today's health headlines from across the 'net
(Hand-picked by the Health Ranger for your education and amusement)
- Confirmed: Brittany Murphy was taking antidepressants, bi-polar drugs and much more before her death
- Elderly patients aggressively over-treated with pharmaceuticals
- Amazon Kindle hacked, DRM code broken so that books can be copied off as PDFs
- "Delusional" Google writes memo to self claiming how "open" it is
- FDA attacks Nestle for using "no sugar added" claim on children's juice drink
- Texas ordered to destroy 5 million blood samples illegally taken from babies without consent
- New York wastes $92 million on fraudulent Medicaid payments
- Heparin blood thinner caused man to lose his toes, claims lawsuit
- FDA cannot rule out link between Vytorin and cancer
- True or myth? Pizza hut cheese made with silicone derivative
- Even if health care bill passes, is it legal?
- Solve global warming by dumping sulfur particles into the atmosphere?
My News blog: The Cave
No comments:
Post a Comment