Oooooh!!!! I like this one!!!

Everyone is buzzing about the contrail that took off vertically off the coast of California recently. Most think it was a rocket or a jet, but military officials say they did not launch any rockets and can find no scheduled jet aircraft flights for that time. Many people commented about what they thought it was. This is my favorite comment: "Until I am told otherwise by a skeptical and credible investigative media, I remain convinced this was a test of Nancy Pelosi's new broom to replace the government jet she just lost for her private use."

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Re: Spanish Torture Investigation into Gitmo to Continue

Keith,

Neither US law nor the thoughts or ideas of non-Spanish residents and
or citizens has a place in a Spanish courtroom. The US has held trials
of foreign nationals that committed crimes against US property and or
US citizens that took place on foreign soil.... Spain (as every bit
Sovereign and legitimate as the US) and its courts has the very same
prerogative. As a member of the EU it has co-opted trading rights/
regulations within that Organization that would have to include/
exclude all of the EU just to get to Spain... That ain't gonna
happen.

If that court, under Spanish law, is/was found to be competent to hold
the trial.... it will happen and the rulings will be recognized.

It has nothing and everything to do with the haphazard US Bravissimo
and tolerances for stepping outside their own constitution.

(843) 767-2600
On Mar 3, 9:54 am, Keith In Köln <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Much ado about nothing.   Any rational person who has read, and studied
> Steven Bradbury's May 10, and May 30, 2005 Memoranda, as well as Jay Bybee's
> John Yoo's and the "Rumsfeld Defense Department Working Group's" Memoranda,
> along with Professor Jeffrey F. Addicott's May 13, 2009 testimony, (and I
> will gladly post all of these memoranda for you MJ and Noelle,  if the both
> of you have not read these treatise);  coupled with the Convention Against
> Torture and the Treaty of Rome, would have to conclude that there is no
> basis to allege that our Nation ever tortured anyone, period.
>
> To suggest that Spain has any "jurisdiction", or right, ability, dominion,
> or moral high ground to charge Americans who advised our President, much
> less to do so against our former President and Vice President, and those who
> made the decision to conduct these enhanced interrogation tactics, is
> outrageous.   Anyone who does support Spain and this homosexual Spanish
> Judge  Baltazar Garzón is either a complete, total, uninformed wacko left,
> socialist elitist Moonbat, and/or they are something far more sinister,
> which is just a  flat out Anti-American traitor.  There is no room for
> any other option here, it is either one or the other.
>
> The Garzón allegations stem from two Moonbats who wrote a paper in February
> 2006, which was published by the Anti-American group, "Human Rights First".
> This paper contains numerous prevaricate statements, mistruths, and out
> right lies.   The Pentagon, the State Department and the United Nations
>  have dismissed many of the allegations, especially that 98 prisoners had
> died while in captivity as bogus.
>
> Again, the last I checked, Spain had made the determination *not* to follow
> through with any prosecutions, because they know to do so would be suicidal
> from a diplomatic standpoint.  The fact that any American would advocate
> another Nation-State charging and prosecuting our President is outrageous,
> and yes, TRAITOROUS!!!

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Bonehead Of The Day

Allahu Fubar!

 

 

 

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/33984

 

I guess the fact that the gunman was heard shouting "Allah Akbar" while killing our servicemembers is over the head of our president.

Bonehead Of The Day

Share7 | | (2) Comments | Subscribe | Print friendly | Contact Us

 By Bob Parks  Wednesday, March 2, 2011

We may be in more trouble than we know….

  President Obama says the government will "spare no effort" to determine why two American airmen were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting in Frankfurt, Germany.

  Obama promised that "we will spare no effort" to figure out "how this outrageous attack took place."

I guess the fact that the gunman was heard shouting "Allah Akbar" while killing our servicemembers is over the head of our president.

 

 

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

How do you reason with someone who really believes this

   

I can't believe that anyone who lived through the period when Stalin had his show trials would believe that she was working to bring peace and understanding and equality for the world.   Just how delusional can you be!  Gotta love the lefties.



Another American Spy for the Soviets Dies … and the Left Regards Her as a Hero
March 2, 2011 - 11:56 am - by Ron Radosh

Share |
Every day, it seems, The New York Times reports on the death of another American Communist, or an American Communist who saw fit to join up with the KGB as an espionage agent for Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union. This time, the obituary by Sam Roberts is about Judith Coplon, who over sixty years ago was arrested by the FBI in a classic sting operation. The Bureau’s agents, having received solid data from the then secret Venona decrypts of KGB messages from Moscow Central to its American agents, fed her false data about atomic power. As they hoped, the 27-year-old Coplon, who was then working at the Justice Department as a political analyst, took off to meet her lover and handler, KGB agent Valentin A. Gubitchev, to whom she planned to hand over the materials.

The Russian and Coplon were both arrested in 1949 under the Third Avenue subway line (which no longer exists) in Manhattan, and Coplon was caught red-handed. As it turned out, America’s democratic legal system protects even those Americans who were actual Soviet agents. Coplon, although found guilty by the jury of espionage in 1949 and conspiracy with Gubitchev in 1950, had both of the convictions overturned. The FBI neglected to follow protocol; they illegally heard conversations with her lawyer, and also had arrested her on “probable cause” without a necessary warrant for her arrest.

Thus the civil liberties of the system Coplon wanted to destroy worked to protect her, even though she was totally guilty. Like Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs, Coplon went to her death proclaiming that she was not a Communist and that she was innocent. “The only crime I can be said to be guilty of,” Coplon had later said, “is that I knew a Russian.”  She also said: “I will always say that I’m innocent and that I’m being framed.”

What is most amazing about her passing, however, is the defense on her behalf told to Roberts by Coplon’s daughter, Emily Socolov.  Like historian Staughton Lynd, whom I noted a week ago acknowledged the Rosenbergs’ guilt but argued that the couple had a moral obligation as Communists and “citizens of the world” to spy for the Soviet Union. Socolov told the following to journalist Roberts:

The subject of her innocence or guilt was something that she would strictly not address…It’s very hair-raising to read about your mother being given a code name and moved around like a chess piece. Was she a spy? I think it’s another question that I ask: Was she part of a community that felt that they were going to bring, by their actions, an age of peace and justice and an equal share for all and the abolishing of color lines and class lines?
If these were things that she actually did, she was not defining them as espionage. If you feel that what you’re doing answers to a higher ideal, it’s not treason.

Rather than admit the obvious truth that she was guilty — a conclusion made by the U.S. Court of Appeals, which noted that “her guilt is plain,” and confirmed by the Venona releases in the past decade — Socolov justifies her acts by implying that she does not believe that her mother was a spy, but that even if she was, she was doing it to “bring an age of peace and justice and an equal share for all,” as well as the abolishing of class and color lines!

One must ask: how? By spying for Joseph Stalin, who murdered millions of his own subjects and who embarked on a vicious and murderous campaign of anti-Semitism in the final years of his life? This is the same Stalin who was waging an expansionist foreign policy that led to the decades-long Cold War with the West and was trying to create the fall of Western governments in France and Italy in order to spread the Soviet empire.

Coplon was not acting as a deluded American Communist who tried to organize labor unions and break the color bar in the South, but as an American spy for the Soviet Union. By making her argument, Socolov does not seem to realize she is actually saying that both actions are one and the same. Communists did both, and their motives are what must count, not the result of their actions.

Then Socolov says that the point is that her mother did not define this as espionage! In other words, a criminal act is not what everyone says it is if the criminal defines it differently. And remember, her motives were good — she wanted a better world! One can excuse anything that way. The Nazis believed in the racial inferiority of non-Aryans, and believed science proved that Jews were not humans but vermin. They were wrong, but they only thought in acting on those beliefs that they were doing good for humanity. (I know, I’ve committed the unpardonable sin for the Left of equating wonderful Communism with evil Nazism.)

And that final sentence of Socolov: “If you feel that what you’re doing answers to a higher ideal, it’s not treason.” The great British author Rebecca West once titled her book about Western spies for the Soviets The New Meaning of Treason. She would have seen Socolov and others as the essential Western dupes: naïve do-gooders who are willing to serve tyranny or justify those who do so by the standards they establish themselves for their apologetics.

The problem is that they were and are wrong. Their higher ideal was the liberation of the graveyard, and the society of the guillotine. Those who in this day and age have still not learned that lesson are nothing less than pathetic. They are not useful idiots — but simply idiots.



Subscribe
 PJM Home
If you liked this article, please consider signing up for PJM daily digest.

Fwd: oy vey! WI unions and Koch Bros Industries

    Strange they are protesting the people they invest in.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	oy vey! WI unions and Koch Bros Industries
Date:	Thu, 3 Mar 2011 09:24:19 -0500 (EST)
From:	claguerra245@aol.com
To:	Rhomp2002@earthlink.net

Figures. WI State Worker Retirement System Owns $5.5 Million in Koch Industries Bonds

Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 10:54 PM

Youve just gotta love this
If the Wisconsin state employees hate the Koch brothers so much why does their retirement plan invest in Koch Industries Bonds?

Just wondering.

The Wisconsin Retirement System owns $5.5 million in Georgia Pacific corporate bonds.  GP is owned by Koch Industries.

 

The vitriol from protesting Wisconsin workers towards the  Kochs emerged quickly and intensely. Signs ranging between lame and  vulgar (often both) dot the public-union marches.

But what the protesters dont realize is that they actually have a reason to root for the Koch brothers.
According to the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), the  Wisconsin Retirement System owns $5.5 million in Georgia Pacific  corporate bonds. (Georgia Pacific is owned by Koch Industries.)  This is the retirement system in which the overwhelming majority of  state and local employees participate. These are the pension benefits  that public employees are trying so hard to protect.

So heres the challenge: Explain to a Wisconsin state worker that  they are the ones helping fund the Koch brothers. Then sit back and  watch the fun.

 

History of Generals and politicians of Pakistan

http://absolute-insight.blogspot.com/2011/01/history-repeats-itself.html

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum

* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Auditors Identify Billions in Government Waste

Auditors Identify Billions in Government Waste
by The Freeman on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 8:28am

"With Congress and the White House set to debate the merits of huge spending cuts, federal auditors have identified hundreds of overlapping government offices and programs that if merged or eliminated could save taxpayers billions of dollars." ( Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Eliminated would be better.

Most Outrageous Government Waste
Thomas A. Schatz
June 1996 • Volume: 46 • Issue: 6 •

Mr. Schatz is president of Citizens Against Government Waste.

Since my job is to be a watchdog on government waste, I'm often asked about the most outrageous cases.

That's a tough call because government bureaucrats never take care of your money as carefully as you would take care of it yourself. More important, bureaucrats spend money on what government wants, not what you want­which is the whole point of taxing away your money.

Without authorization, for instance, the feds spent $19.6 million annually on the International Fund for Ireland. Sounds like a noble cause, but the money went for projects like pony-trekking centers and golf videos.

Congressional budget-cutters spared the $440,000 spent annually to have attendants push buttons on the fully automated Capitol Hill elevators used by Representatives and Senators.

Last year, the National Endowment for the Humanities spent $4.2 million to conduct a nebulous "National Conversation on Pluralism and Identity." Obviously, talk radio wasn't considered good enough.

The Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency channeled some $11 million to psychics who might provide special insights about various foreign threats. This was the disappointing "Stargate" program.

The Department of Education spent $34 million supposedly helping Americans become better shoppers and homemakers. Wasn't it about time?

The federal government proposed spending $14 million for a new Army Museum, although there already were 47 Army Museums around the country. We helped stop that idea.

Dubious government spending schemes abound since bureaucrats play with other people's money. For example, the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) spent $70,029 to see if the degu, a diurnal South American rodent, can help us better understand jet lag . . . they spent $77,826 to study "Coping with Change in Czechoslovakia" . . . $100,271 to see if volunteering is good for older people . . . $124,910 to reduce "School Phobia" in children . . . $161,913 to study "Israeli reactions to SCUD Attacks during the Gulf War" . . . and $187,042 to study the quality of life in Hawaii.

Over the years, political wrangling twists the most noble-sounding government programs beyond recognition. For example, the Social Security Administration's $25 billion a year Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Almost 250,000 children qualify for SSI checks because they can't participate in "age appropriate activities." Worse, thousands of prisoners get SSI checks relating to their alleged disabilities­costing taxpayers about $20 million a year.

That's not all. In Denver, the government reportedly sent $160,000 to recipients at their "official address"­a tavern. A San Francisco addict used his SSI check to buy drugs, which he subsequently sold on the street for a profit. A Van Nuys, California, alcoholic received a $26,000 SSI check, then spent the money on a van and two cars which he subsequently wrecked while driving drunk. Los Angeles SSI recipients reportedly faked mental illness and had a doctor concoct false medical records, so they could pocket $45,000 worth of checks. An estimated 79,000 alcoholics and drug addicts are believed to spend SSI checks­some $360 million annually­on their habits.

Again and again, programs aimed at the poor are captured by well-heeled interest groups. For example, the Commerce Department's U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration (USTTA) gave away $440,000 in so-called "disaster relief" to Western ski resort operators when there wasn't much snow.

The Economic Development Administration spent "anti-poverty" funds to help build a $1.2 million football stadium in spiffy Spartanburg, South Carolina. During the summer, it will serve as a practice facility for the National Football League Carolina Panthers, and the rest of the year it will be used by Wofford College, which has a $50 million endowment.

Look at one of the most enduring legacies of Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty": the Appalachian Regional Commission. It was billed as help for an impoverished region. During the past three decades, this bureaucracy you've probably never heard of has spent $6.2 billion, yet the region remains impoverished.

Where did the money go? Two-thirds was spent building 26 highways connecting well-to-do urban centers. The money went to construction workers whose wages are definitely above-average. Despite revolutionary talk in Washington, the Appalachian Regional Commission goes on and on.

Or take the plight of the family farmer. I know you've been regaled about wasteful spending on agricultural subsidies, so I'll just cite a single intriguing example: 1.6 million farm subsidy checks for $1.3 billion, mailed to urban zip codes during the past decade. New York City "farmers" pocketed $7 million during the past decade, Washington, D.C., "farmers" $10 million, Los Angeles "farmers" $10.7 million, Minneapolis "farmers" $48 million, Miami "farmers" $54.5 million, and Phoenix "farmers" $71.5 million. Among those on the take, to the tune of $1.3 million: 47 "farmers" in Beverly Hills, California­one of America's wealthiest cities.

A lot of government spending is justified as necessary for national security. For instance, maritime subsidies supposedly help maintain a fleet for an emergency. Laws require government agencies to use U.S.-flag vessels which are U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-crewed, costing two to four times the world market price of comparable vessels available elsewhere. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agency for International Development give away surplus grain, they must use U.S.-flag vessels for at least 75 percent of shipments, adding $233 million to the taxpayer burden. The U.S.-flag requirement adds $1.75 billion to the defense budget. Subsidy per maritime job: over $100,000.

The defense budget is larded with waste not because it's run by bad guys but because it's big, and bureaucrats are, as always, spending other people's money. The Pentagon has an "operational support airlift" consisting of some 500 airplanes and 100 helicopters for flying military brass and civilian bureaucrats on 1,800 trips a month­costing taxpayers $380 million a year. Many of the destinations are served by commercial airlines.

Last year, the Pentagon announced it would spend $5.1 million to build a new 18-hole golf course at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland, which already has two. Golf Digest reported there are 19 military golf courses around Washington, D.C. Why a new golf course? One Pentagon official was quoted as saying "a lot of golf gets played out there. On Saturday mornings, people are standing on top of each other."


Can It Continue?

How can such outrageous waste go on year after year? Simple: bureaucrats aren't doling out their money, so they have little incentive to be responsible. Politically connected special interests, who are usually better off than the average taxpayer, seem to get most of the loot.

The most powerful special interest is government itself. In fiscal year 1993, the federal government owned 569,556 vehicles­one for every six full-time employees. Included were 117 limousines. The government's fleet expanded more than 130,000 vehicles since the Grace Commission called for it to be cut in half more than a decade ago.

Government officials multiply the number of regulations regardless of the waste they cause. For example, the Defense Department has 1,357 pages of regulations about how officials travel. Complying with these regulations adds about 30 percent to travel costs. If the Pentagon adopted the best practices of private companies, it could save an estimated $650 million to $840 million every year. Of course, government regulations cause enormous waste in the private sector­tax compliance costs alone run into the billions­but that's a vast subject unto itself.

The federal government wastes money through grants to the most politically powerful environmental lobbyists. For example, between 1990 and 1994, the Natural Resources Defense Council got $246,622; Defenders of Wildlife, $1,285,658; Environmental Defense Fund, $1,493,976; and the World Wildlife Fund, $26,584,335. All together, environmental lobbyists collected $156,644,352 during this period. Every one pushes the federal government to enact more regulations.

Whenever you hear a politician propose that government take over some private business, like New York's troubled Long Island Lighting Company, there should be red flags all over the place, because government operation means high costs. At the U.S. Government Printing Office, for instance, costs are estimated to be 50 percent higher than in the private printing industry. If the U.S. air traffic control system were transferred to private companies and the services paid by user fees, taxpayer savings would probably be around $18 billion over the next five years.

With a $1.5 trillion annual budget, the feds take so much of your money that they can't possibly keep track of it even if they wanted to. For example, a contractor sold $27 electronic relays to the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for between $484 and $521 apiece. The Department of Energy paid some of its employees $5,000 a year to lose weight­the outlays totaled $10 million a year. The owner of a California apartment building got Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidies, then illicitly diverted $610,000 into his own accounts. One "farmer" collected $1.6 million in government insurance payments for non-existent crops. Forty-three people in New York City pocketed over $40 million in phony food stamp claims. Five Floridians stole $20 million from Medicare­part of the estimated $17 billion of annual Medicare fraud.

What to do about such waste? The government is crawling with auditors, and there have been a zillion investigations, yet waste goes on. Citizens Against Government Waste will continue to be a watchdog. The only long-term solution, though, is to somehow cut big government down to size. Only when it's much smaller will you be able to keep more of your hard-earned money, which, after all, is yours.

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/most-outrageous-government-waste/

More Leftover gaffes

We Now Interrupt This Two-Minute Hate to Bring You an Urgent Message from Emmanuel Goldstein, A.K.A. Charles Koch

Nick Gillespie | March 1, 2011

Charles Koch, the billionaire businessman and giver of lots of money to political causes, along with his brother billionaire (and trustee to theReason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes this website) David, has emerged as the Emmanuel Goldstein of the contemporary progressive movement, a figure so reviled that merely to speak his name is to cause instant solidarity with the good and decent peoples of the world. In the current moment, the Koch Bros. are functioning among the left the way that George Soros often functions among right-wing nutjobs, as the motive force in a world where not even a sparrow (or a currency or a school board election) falls unless the big man decrees it.

Do people still read books like Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 and Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's Illuminatus!? They're satires and parodies, folks, not exposes.

Here's a Wall Street Journal column by Charles Koch himself, discussing "Why Koch Industries is Speaking Out."

Snippets:

The Congressional Budget Office has warned that the interest on our federal debt is "poised to skyrocket." Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is sounding alarms. Yet the White House insists that substantial spending cuts would hurt the economy and increase unemployment.

Plenty of compelling examples indicate just the opposite. When Canada recently reduced its federal spending to 11.3% of GDP from 17.5% eight years earlier, the economy rebounded and unemployment dropped. By comparison, our federal spending is 25% of GDP.

Government spending on business only aggravates the problem. Too many businesses have successfully lobbied for special favors and treatment by seeking mandates for their products, subsidies (in the form of cash payments from the government), and regulations or tariffs to keep more efficient competitors at bay.

Crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market. But it erodes our overall standard of living and stifles entrepreneurs by rewarding the politically favored rather than those who provide what consumers want.

The whole thing is here.

Past Reason.com material on the Kochs here.

There are signs that at least some of the fever among progressives is breaking. Talking Points Memopunctured the conspiracy theory that Koch Industries was pushing on Wisconsin in order to get its blood-soaked mitts on a bunch of sub-investment-grade publicly owned power plants that provide energy for the University of Wisconsin.

The proximate cause for the latest anti-Koch crusade is the budget battle in the Badger State. As Tim Cavanaugh notes below, the bottom-line blues facing the Wisconsin tax-and-service-fee-payers who kick in 100 percent of the state budget has precious little to do with Kansas billionaires and a lot more to do with profligate legislators of both parties (finally, one public policy debacle that can't be blamed on libertarians). As that reality sinks in, and as budget fights spread from the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol, it'll be genuinely fascinating to see how progressives respond. Especially as states with super-high tax burdens start working through the cuts they're going to have to make.

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Why Cops Love the Drug War

Wednesday, March 2, 2010
Why Cops Love the Drug War
by Jacob G. Hornberger

After more than 30 years of death, destruction, and failure, the two primary advocates of the war on drugs are public officials and drug lords. The reason is obvious: these two groups are the biggest beneficiaries of the drug war. The drug lords make money off the war -- big money. And government officials make money off the war -- big money.

One of the major ways that government officials make money off the drug war is through bribes. Government inspectors at international crossing points are bribed to look the other way when a drug shipment is coming across the border. Drug agents are bribed to look the other way with respect to drug distribution. Prosecutors and judges are bribed in return for reduced sentences.

No doubt about it: The drug war is one big, rotten, corrupting government program, one with absolutely no redeeming benefits whatsoever. It would be difficult to find a better example of a domestic government program that produces more death, damage, corruption, and infringements on privacy and liberty.

Another way that government officials make money off the drug war is a legal one -- through the asset-forfeiture laws. These are laws enacted by public officials that enable the cops to seize assets supposedly involved in a drug-law violation and keep the assets for themselves. The program has turned into one big moneymaker for the cops.

There are innumerable horror stories of how the cops have used the drug war to steal -- I mean, seize -- people's property and convert the property to the cops' own use. This past Monday's issue of the Boston Herald relates a recent horror story about asset-forfeiture abuse.

The article stated that Logan International Airport cops spent $300,000 for a fleet of brand new SUVs, along with couches and other furniture and flat-screen TVs. To pay for the items, they used the drug-war money they had seized from people.

One of the downsides, from the standpoint of representative government, is that the drug-war seizures help police departments to become self-funding fiefdoms and, therefore, not so dependent on the city councils that budget their money. In 2009 Troop F, the unit that bought those SUVs and other items, seized $1.5 million, up from $500,000 in 2009. No doubt the cops are going to make certain that that number continues to go up.

State police spokesman David Procopio expressed his belief that the seized money should be left in the hands of Troop F because they're the ones who seized it. By the way, the federal government gets to keep 20 percent of the loot, without even lifting a finger.

Or here's another example, taken from Radley Balko's website "The Agitator" and from this article on Opposingviews.com.

Michigan cops went after a guy based on information that he had one stem of marijuana in his house. What was the cops' motive in busting him? Well, one possibility was that they were simply concerned about the man's health and well-being and wanted to prevent him from smoking that one stem of marijuana. Another possibility, however, is that they were interested in the man's very expensive musical equipment, DVDs, computers, and other electronics. The cops seized it all. Unbeknownst to them, however, there was an open mic that recorded their excitement over all the goodies they were seizing. The recording is posted on Balko's site.

I ask you: What are the chances that any of these cops, state or federal, would ever call for an end to what is quite possibly the most deadly, destructive, corrupt, and failed government program in history?

The chances are nil. The drug war is a cash cow for public officials, not only in terms of bribes but also asset seizures. It has been for decades. They're not about to give it up, at least not without a fierce fight.

Of course, public officials would never admit that the reason they fight for the continuation of the drug war is out of self-interest. They have to continue playing the game, piously claiming that the only reason they favor the continuation of the drug war is so that they can finally, once and for all after several decades, shut down the drug lords.

What the cops don't realize (or maybe some of them do) is that the only way to shut down the drug lords, immediately, is to end the drug war by legalizing drugs. Continuing to wage the drug war only ensures that the drug lords will continue supplying drugs and that the cops will continue making busts, and that both groups will continue making beaucoup bucks off the war, which is really what the drug war is all about.


http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2011-03-02.asp

Pakistan: Children playing suicide bomber game (video)

Pakistan: Children playing suicide bomber game (video) creeping | March 3, 2011 at 9:00 AM | Tags: Creeping Sharia, islam, Jihad, Life, Media, Muslim, News, Politics, Random, Religion, Sharia, terrorism, travel, utube, Video, youtube | Categories: Asia, Creeping Sharia, Jihad, Media, Mosque, News, Politics, Religion, Sharia, Video | URL: http://wp.me/pbU4v-80T

Yesterday we posted on children being trained to wage jihad in Sudan, today it's children in Pakistan acting out suicide bombings. via Video of children playing suicide bomb game circulates in Pakistan | Mail Online. A shocking video has emerged from Pakistan depicting children role-playing a Taliban suicide bombing. The 84-second clip shows Pashtun children [...]

Read more of this post

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Express yourself. Start a blog.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

The Berners Street Hoax

Today I Found Out

---

One of the Great Practical Jokes of the 19th Century, the Berners Street Hoax Posted: 03 Mar 2011 05:00 AM PST Today I found out about one of the great practical jokes of the 19th century, the Berners Street Hoax. The year was 1809.  Famed English author, Theodore Hook, made a bet with one of his close friends, the noted architect and writer, Samuel Beazley, that within one week, he could make any house in London the most talked about place in the city.  The house he ended up choosing was the home of the widow Mrs. Tottenham on 54 Berners Street, London, which was the same street that Earl Stanhope and the Bishop of Carlisle and of Chester, among other wealthy and well-to-do individuals, lived on at that time. The event began on November 27.  Hook and Beazley positioned themselves in the home across the street, which they had recently rented, and around 5:00 am, the fun began.  First, a chimney sweep arrived.  The problem was that Mrs. Tottenham hadn't requested the services of a sweep.  Within a few minutes, 12 more sweeps arrived; they too were also turned away.  Next, coal delivery workers began showing up with several large carts packed with coal to be delivered to Mrs. Tottenham; they were turned away.  Next, a cart load of furniture arrived; then workers showed up bearing a coffin for Mrs. Tottenham. Next came several cake makers attempting to deliver custom made, very large, weddings cakes; then around fifty other chefs arrived attempting to deliver a total of around 2,500 raspberry tarts; then several doctors, lawyers, gardeners, fishmongers, dentists, grocers, priests, couch makers, carpet-manufacturers, wig-makers, coach-makers, curiosity dealers, opticians, brewers, and shoemakers, among others.  They all came offering their services or bringing very large orders of their wares that were to be delivered to that address on that day at various times throughout the day. At one point, over one dozen pianos were delivered to her door step.  After that, six men carrying a huge chamber organ showed up.   Eventually the dignitaries arrived, including: the Governor of the Bank of England; the Duke of York; the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Mayor of the London; the Lord Chief Justice; several cabinet ministers; and the Chairman of the East India Company. Throughout the entire day, various parties and delivery people crowded the area outside of 54 Berners Street.  By mid-day, the streets in that area of London became so crowded that the roads were jammed for several blocks in every direction with delivery people and on-lookers. All the while, Hook and Beazley sat and watched the chaos from across the street.  Hook's part in the madness, that did indeed become the talk of London, was not known until much later when he eventually confessed it.  He did it all by sending around 4,000 letters out to various entities in London, ordering various items from the simple to outlandish.  He also wrote several notable individuals like the Mayor of London and the like, creating tales sufficient to get those people to come and call on Mrs. Tottenham on that day. What was written in most of the letters to convince these people to come isn't known.  One of the few that is known is the letter to the Mayor of London. Once he realized that everyone there was the victim of an elaborate practical joke, he went to the police station.  At the police station, the Mayor stated that he had received a letter supposedly from Mrs. Tottenham explaining that she was at death's door and she requested that the Mayor call upon her home to bear witness to a deposition she would give under oath. The Mayor then sent officers out to attempt to instill some order in the chaos in the streets, including attempting to calm the crowds who were reportedly on the brink of rioting with the streets jammed with angry travelers and hundreds of merchants who were infuriated that Mrs. Tottenham would not pay for the often massive orders of their wares they had come to deliver, some of which were completely destroyed by the crowds with several wagons overturned and other damage to various product the merchants had attempted to deliver.  Along with the damaged goods, several fights broke out throughout the day within the pressing masses. Once the crowds dissipated late in the evening, Hook and Beazley emerged from the house across the street and went home.  For successfully making the home the talk of London within a week of the bet, Hook reportedly received a guinea from Beazley. Bonus Factoids: Another letter from Hook that the contents are somewhat known was to the Governor of the Bank of England.  He had received a letter supposedly from Mrs. Tottenham explaining that she wished to give a sizable endowment to the Bank and requested that the Governor call on her so that she could work out the details with him. The home of Mrs. Tottenham at 54 Berners Street was eventually demolished, being replaced by the Five Star Sanderson Hotel, which spans that lot, along with several adjacent lots. It isn't known why Hook chose Mrs. Tottenham's home as no connection between the two is known and Hook himself never explained his selection.  It's entirely possible that it just happened to be a location where the home across the street could be rented and was also in a fairly well-to-do part of town which would help make the letters more credible. Samuel Beazley was not only a famous architect, but also a novelist and playwright, having written well over a hundred plays and other works.  He was, however, particularly known for his architecture and specifically for his theater designs, being one of the first English experts in theater architecture. One of the many stories Beazley related in some of his writings was an event during the Peninsular War, in Spain, where he was supposedly at one point unconscious and thought to be dead.  He ended up waking up shortly before burial, narrowly avoiding being buried alive. Theodore Hook was a famed English author who was particularly known for his outlandish practical jokes, chief of which was the Berners Street Hoax.  While Hook was never charged for the events he instigated in the Berners Street Hoax, he did have other legal troubles.  Foremost of which was when he was made the Accountant General and Treasurer of Mauritius, now known as the Republic of Mauritius, despite having no knowledge of or experience with accounting or book keeping or most other skills required of the job.  He managed to last five years at that position before it was discovered that there were large discrepancies in the accounts.  He was arrested and held responsible for around £12,000 that was lost, supposedly largely having been taken by a deputy official. Sources: Secret Britain: The Hidden Bits of Our History Berners Street Hoax Theodore Hook Samuel Beazley The Berners Street Hoax Image Source

You are subscribed to email updates from Today I Found Out To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Pro-Communist/Pro-Castro CodePink chased out of Little Havana (Video)

Pro-Communist/Pro-Castro CodePink chased out of Little Havana (Video) Scotty Starnes | March 3, 2011 at 9:30 AM | Tags: Castro, CodePink, Communist, Cuba, Cubans, Florida, Little Havana, Medea Benjamin, Miami | Categories: Political Issues | URL: http://wp.me/pvnFC-4CE

Hard to sell Communism to those who use to live under a Communist dictator.

watch?v=mwlMX5Agdi0&feature=player_embedded#at=13

Maybe anti-war CodePink should protest Obama. Oops, I forgot. CodePink's founder is an Obama campaign donor.

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Publish text, photos, music, and videos by email using our Post by Email feature.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.

Muslim-only cemetery coming to Long Island

Makes a perfect place to walk your dogs.

Muslim-only cemetery coming to Long Island creeping | March 3, 2011 at 10:00 AM | Tags: cair, Creeping Sharia, islam, Life, Media, Muslim, New York, News, Politics, Random, Religion, Sharia, travel | Categories: Creeping Sharia | URL: http://wp.me/pbU4v-810

via Newsday via LI Muslims look to set up cemetery The memorial plaques are in English and Arabic, bearing messages such as "Gateway to Mercy." The dead are buried in the direction of the Islamic holy city of Mecca. On a sprawling plain in Mount Sinai, Muslims have turned a section of the Washington Memorial [...]

Read more of this post

Add a comment to this post

WordPress.com | Thanks for flying with WordPress! Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Reach out to your own subscribers with WordPress.com.

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
 
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.