Archive for January, 2010
Democracy Now Tribute To Howard Zinn (companion video to The People Speak)
Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010) was an American historian, author, activist, playwright, intellectual and Professor of Political Science at Boston University from 1964 to 1988. He wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People’s History of the United States.Zinn also wrote extensively about the civil rights, civil liberties and anti-war movements. His memoir, “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train,” became the title of a 2004 documentary about Zinn’s life and work.
THE PEOPLE SPEAK
This video has a companion video which will post tomorrow entitled ‘Democracy Now’s Tribute to Howard Zinn’
Democracy is not a spectator sport. Using dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries and speeches of everyday Americans, THE PEOPLE SPEAK gives voice to those who spoke up for social change throughout U.S. history, forging a nation from the bottom up with their insistence on equality and justice.
Narrated by Howard Zinn and based on his best-selling books, A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, THE PEOPLE SPEAK illustrates the relevance of these passionate historical moments to our society today and reminds us never to take liberty for granted.
See also the accompanying PDF here.
Is U.S. Mission In Haiti More than Search And Rescue?
The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti
source: globalresearch.ca
by F. William Engdahl
President becomes UN Special Envoy to earthquake-stricken Haiti.
A born-again neo-conservative US business wheeler-dealer preacher claims Haitians are condemned for making a literal ‘pact with the Devil.’
Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Bolivian, French and Swiss rescue organizations accuse the US military of refusing landing rights to planes bearing necessary medicines and urgently needed potable water to the millions of Haitians stricken, injured and homeless.
Behind the smoke, rubble and unending drama of human tragedy in the hapless Caribbean country, a drama is in full play for control of what geophysicists believe may be one of the world’s richest zones for hydrocarbons-oil and gas outside the Middle East, possibly orders of magnitude greater than that of nearby Venezuela.
Read Full Article Here
Bunker report 1/28/10 Lindsey Williams
source: | January 28, 2010 |
Wile I was scanning the Shortwave channels tonight I heard
Lindsey Williams and his latest talk with “Mr. X” the 85 year old member of the
elite. So I’m relaying the info to you.
This Is How Freedoms Are Lost
Panel OKs Warrantless Probationer Searches
source: SEANNA ADCOX Associated Press COLUMBIA
Officers in South Carolina would not need a warrant to search juveniles and adults on probation or parole under a bill approved Thursday by a House panel.
Law enforcement and crime victim groups hope the possibility of being searched by any officer in the state will deter people on conditional release from prison from committing more crimes.
“It makes logical sense, when we have a known felon on probation and/or parole, that we be able to curtail any further criminal activity,” said Laura Hudson, executive director of the S.C. Crime Victims’ Council. “When someone has gone on probation, that’s a privilege, and he’s lost rights to certain protections.” The bill, which heads to the full House Judiciary Committee, allows police and probation officers to bypass going to a judge for a search warrant. They can search the person, the vehicle the person owns or is driving, and any of that person’s possessions, such as a purse or bookbag.
The Senate passed the bill last February.
The American Civil Liberties Union argues it does nothing to reduce recidivism.
Lawmakers need to reform sentencing – so that dangerous, repeat offenders stay in jail and nonviolent, low-level offenders aren’t imprisoned – not expand police powers, said Victoria Middleton, the ACLU’s executive director for South Carolina.
“This creates a whole category of people on parole and probation who have no right to privacy,” she said Thursday.
If an officer decides incorrectly that a search is justified, “then police power would have been abused and the damage will be done to police credibility in that community,” she wrote in a letter to House members last week.
Under the bill, written agreement to the warrantless searches would be required for release on probation or parole.
Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen noted the people could opt to stay in jail instead.
“They’re being given the privilege of serving the remainder of their sentence in the community,” he said.
Probation and parole agents already are overworked, and budget cuts have meant fewer agents tracking more people, Mullen said. Offenders may think twice, he said, if they know any officer statewide could catch them doing wrong.
As of Thursday, there were 380 probation and parole officers statewide – 102 fewer than three years ago – with three counties down to a single agent. An additional 65 could be gone in the next round of budget cuts.
Those left would be supervising an average of 117 people each, said Peter O’Boyle, spokesman for the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
The state’s agents supervise an average of 94 people, O’Boyle said.
The House panel removed officers’ ability to search someone’s home, citing Fourth Amendment concerns about unreasonable searches and seizures.
As passed by the Senate, the bill allowed officers to search the person’s residence if there was reasonable suspicion he or she was involved in a crime. The juvenile or adult offender would have to tell anyone they’re living with that their homes are subject to search without a warrant. Failing to do that would be a parole violation.
The ACLU had noted if police rummage through a home and later discover no one on probation or parole lived there, the search would be unlawful.
But Hudson said she’ll work to put that authority back in the bill.
“Many of our drug dealers may use someone else’s home for dealing,” she said. “It’s important we be able to find that out on a quick basis.”
Lonnie Randolph, president of the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP, called the expanded authority another form of racial profiling.
“We have had to address too many instances of people being stopped just because of the way they look,” he said.
Neighboring states are among those that already allow warrantless searches.
A North Carolina law making them a regular condition of probation took effect last month.
In October, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld warrantless searches of some parolees even without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. The case involved a parolee whose home was searched in 2007 – where a gun was found – after she was stopped for a seat belt violation.
The court’s decision conformed with a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which found that parolees, like prisoners, have fewer rights concerning privacy and unreasonable searches.
Defense Contractors Go Offshore to Avoid Payroll Taxes
Source: All Gov.
Setting up foreign subsidiaries allows American defense contractors not only to utilize cheaper labor and more favorable regulations, but also avoid paying taxes that fund key government safety net programs. This conclusion was reached by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which examined 29 defense contractors and their reliance on offshore companies for their work overseas from 2003 to 2008.
Who’s got the best weed? Contest aims to find out
source: Associated Press
January 25, 2010
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — It’s like a beer competition for marijuana.
A cannabis festival in Aspen this spring will be the first in the state for approved growers to put their strains in a contest.
The Western Slope Cannabis Crown will have about 50 state-approved medical marijuana growers enter their strains of weed. The marijuana strains will be diagnostically tested for their THC levels. Growers will also be able to sell to medical marijuana patients. The customers would vote on a “people’s choice” strain.
The Cannabis Crown organizer, Bobby Scurlock, says about 1,500 tickets have been sold for the two-day event.
We Are The One’s We Have Been Waiting For
Source: puppetgov.com
If you have never seen this video, it is worth your time. This has to be the best so far from puppetgov.com. Please do check them out.
We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For from PuppetGov on Vimeo.
In My Opinion
Southern Patriot
I was able to catch some of Mr. Obama’s State of the Union Address last night. So I have to listen to the rest via YouTube as I write this.
The speech reads like any other load of hooey.
He began by saying he knew the anxieties that people are suffering during the current recession.
If I know the story correctly, he has never suffered hunger and homelessness. I doubt he has ever wanted for much of anything. Was he suggesting that he could relate to those who have lost their jobs, their homes?
It is easy to say you care wen you’re saying it from inside a $3000.00 tailored suit.
Like most folks in this country, it is getting hard to make ends meet. Buying food is becoming a luxury for some. If you’re self employed, it becomes an everyday battle to keep the business going.
And people will fall for the pity card. They’ll brag that we are a great country because our president cares for us and will take care of us.
The change is coming. It just missed the bus and will be coming in on the next one.
I had to laugh when Obama acknowledged wife Michelle for her work to prevent chilhood obesity. The camera landed on her momentarily. From the look on her face, she saw first what we saw a second or so later.
When the camera switched back to Obama, he was not clapping for Mrs. Obama . I think I saw him jump just a bit when he realized the camera was on him.Then he began to clap.
The man is a charlatan. Plain and simple.
He said that there would be a freeze put on government spending, excepting certain programs. The kicker is, the freeze won’t begin until 2011. I guess they need time to polish the new ponzi scheme.
Mr. Obama stated that he and his fellow Democrats came to office to straighen out the economic mess. Claiming that their strategy of “…shoring up the same banks that helped cause this crisis”, helped to prevent double digit unemployment, more businesses closed and more homes lost.
He also claimed that a good deal of the tax payer money doled out to the banks had been repayed, more was expected.
We Americans are the tax payers. Will we see any of this money. No.
It will be spent on frivolous progams with defense items hidden within. Yet, he expects us to believe it will be used for the good of the country.
This statement may have been more appropriate.
“We came into office, selected by our handlers, to rob the American people blind. After 9/11 we knew we could tell the people anything and they would buy it. Oh, and as for the trillions we stole.”
“FOOLED YOU!”
He said it was time to impose higher taxes for businesses that have moved offshore. He spoke of making America stronger by exporting our goods.
Charging higher taxes to offshore industry is a no brainer. And what will we export? The few industries we still have can hardly supply us.
He proposed changes in student loan programs to make the loans easier to repay. Loans not completely repayed afer 20 years would be forgiven. But if you graduate college and take a job in the private sector, you’re loan would be forgiven at 10 years.
At the rate we are going, there will only be two types of jobs in 10 years, ones in uniform and ones in orange jumpsuits.
There is not enough to go around. There hasn’t been in quite some time.
From green energy to healthcare reform, Obama worked diligently to sell America his polished turd.
I’m sorry folks, I call it as I see it.
From stockpiling weapons in Israel, to aid to Brazil for offshore oil drilling, Obama is selling out our country. He of course isn’t doing it single handedly, but as the front man, he takes the heat.
We will see a change soon I’m sure. The scenarios are endless, but I see a false flag event on the horizon.
PDD 51 is the Ace card for Obama, and his track record shows he will use it.
A false flag and martial law will cull a vast amount of the herd. Those who spoke out against the tyranny we will be subjected to, were unheard. Those who didn’t speak out may doom us all.
Obama: Season Two Launch
Obama to urge lawmakers to fix health care system
WASHINGTON – Vowing to deliver the changes he promised, President Barack Obama urgently implored Democrats and Republicans in his State of the Union address Wednesday night to overcome a “deficit of trust” in government and come together to fix the nation’s broken health care system, soaring deficits and polarized politics.
His No. 1 demand was for lawmakers not to walk away from his prized health care overhaul, which is in severe danger in Congress.
“We face big and difficult challenges,” Obama said, according to excerpts of his State of the Union address released in advance by the White House. “What the American people hope — what they deserve — is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences, to overcome the numbing weight of our politics.”
Obama was looking to change the conversation from how his presidency is stalling — over the messy health care debate, a limping economy and the missteps that led to Christmas Day’s barely averted terrorist disaster — to how he is seizing the reins on the economic worries foremost on Americans’ minds.
In his speech, the president is devoting about two-thirds of his time to the economy, emphasizing his ideas, some new but mostly old and explained anew, for restoring job growth, taming budget deficits and changing Washington’s ways. These concerns are at the roots of voter emotions that drove supporters to Obama but now are turning on him as he governs.
Indicating he understands Americans’ struggles to pay bills while big banks get bailouts and bonuses, Obama is prodding Congress to enact a second stimulus package and to provide new financial relief for the middle class.
Acknowledging frustration at the government’s habit of spending more than it has, he is seeking a three-year freeze on some domestic spending (while proposing a 6.2 percent, or $4 billion, increase in the popular arena of education and supporting the debt-financed jobs bill) and is announcing he is creating a bipartisan deficit-reduction task force.
“Let’s try common sense,” Obama said in the speech excerpts. “Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt.”
Positioning himself as a fighter for the regular guy and a different kind of leader, he urged Congress to require lobbyists to disclose all contacts with lawmakers or members of his administration and to blunt the impact of last week’s Supreme Court decision allowing corporations greater flexibility in supporting or opposing candidates.
“I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities,” he said.
Even before Obama spoke, some of the new proposals, many revealed by the White House in advance, were being dismissed — on the right or the left — as poorly targeted or too modest to make a difference.
And in the Republican response, Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia showed no sign of his party capitulating to Obama. In fact, the choice of McDonnell to represent Republicans was symbolic, meant to showcase recent GOP election victories by him and others. McDonnell reflected the anti-big government sentiment that helped lead to their wins, saying in excerpts from his own post-speech remarks that Americans want good health care they can afford, just not by turning over “the best medical care system in the world to the federal government.”
With State of the Union messages traditionally delivered at the end of January, Obama had one of the presidency’s biggest platforms just a week after Republicans scored an upset takeover of a Senate seat in Massachusetts, prompting hand-wringing over his leadership. With the turnover erasing Democrats’ Senate supermajority needed to pass most legislation, it also put a cloud over health care and the rest of Obama’s agenda.
Senate allies, for instance, said Wednesday that a sizable, debt-financed package containing the proposals Obama wants is out of the question in the new climate and that they plan a trimmed-down measure with tax breaks for small businesses and help for state and local governments.
The president stood before a country gloomy over unemployment in double digits and federal deficits soaring to a record $1.4 trillion. He also faces a Democratic Party increasingly concerned about the fallen standing of a president they hoped would lead them through this fall’s midterm elections.
He aimed beyond the usual presidential laundry list for a more cohesive, plainspoken narrative, hoping to tell his presidency’s story — looking forward and back — in a way that would rekindle the energy of his historic election. The president clearly had a lot to say, as aides worked to whittle down the speech and still expected it to run as much as 75 minutes, an extraordinary length that could tax viewers’ patience and rival any State of the Union since the Clinton era.
Obama planned to acknowledged missteps since taking office in explaining his agenda and connecting with voters. At the same time, he planned an unapologetic defense of pursuing the same agenda on which he won.
That includes the health care overhaul, as well as an aggressive approach to global warming, sweeping changes to address the millions of illegal immigrants and radical reforms of how Wall Street is regulated and children are educated.
Obama was urging lawmakers to enact far-reaching health care legislation rather than a smaller-bore solution — though it’s not clear there is a viable path for this in Congress. However, sticking to his well-established pattern, Obama will not offer lawmakers a specific prescription for salvaging a bill, said White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.
“By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance,” Obama said. “Patients will be denied the care they need. … I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber.”
In a remarkable shift from past addresses, and notable for a president whose candidacy first caught fire over Iraq war opposition, foreign policy is taking a relative back seat.
The section will come behind the economy and be largely devoid of new policy, with Obama providing an update on the Afghanistan escalation he just ordered, looking ahead to the end of U.S. combat in Iraq and his hosting of an international nuclear weapons summit, and promising an aggressive fight against terrorists.
In a signal the Obama team considers itself at a turning point, it is reverting to techniques that successfully galvanized the grass roots during his campaign.
Obama’s political arm-in-waiting, Obama for America, which has assumed a low profile since his election, texted watch-party information to supporters. The White House also solicited follow-up questions on YouTube.com/CitizenTube — saying Obama will answer them online next week.
The president was keeping to the tradition of taking his themes on the road. He will travel to Florida on Thursday to announce $8 billion for high-speed rail development, to Maryland on Friday to speak to a House Republican retreat, and to New Hampshire Tuesday for a jobs-focused event. Cabinet officials were fanning out too.
On Monday, Obama’s priorities get another burst of attention, as he submits them in detail to Congress in his 2011 budget request.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Feller, Julie Pace, Phil Elliott, Jim Kuhnhenn and Darlene Superville contributed to this story.