1984 - It's Time For Regime Change

Administration Asserted a Terror Exception on Search and Seizure

 

The Justice Department concluded in October 2001 that military operations combating terrorism inside the United States are not limited by Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, in one of several secret memos containing new and controversial assertions of presidential power.

The memo, sent on Oct. 23, 2001, to the Defense Department and the White House by the Office of Legal Counsel, focused on the rules governing any deployment of U.S. forces inside the country "in the event of further large-scale terrorist activities" by al-Qaeda, a Justice Department official said yesterday.

Administration officials declined to detail what domestic military operations were being contemplated at the time, and the legal status of the secret memo is now unclear. Although the memo has not been formally withdrawn, the Justice Department yesterday repudiated the idea that there are no constitutional limits to military searches and seizures in a time of war, saying it depends on "the particular context and circumstances of the search," according to a statement.

The Fourth Amendment assertion is one of several far-reaching legal arguments revealed by the disclosure Tuesday of a 2003 Justice Department memo that authorized harsh military interrogations. In its footnotes, asides and central text, that 81-page memo asserted nearly unlimited presidential powers during a time of war, although the Justice Department later said the military should not rely on its reasoning.

The document disclosed, for example, that the administration's top lawyers had declared that the president has unfettered power to seize oceangoing ships as commander in chief; that Congress has no ability to pass legislation governing the interrogations of enemy combatants; and that federal laws prohibiting assault and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives.

I am more convinced everyday that some Constitutional Crisis will arise that will require President Mugabe  Bush to suspend the constitution and not give up power.  Either that or another rigged election to ensure McCain can follow the fascist guidelines.

1984 - More Bush Censorship

Crooks and Liars has the whole story

A medical librarian, who ran a typical search on POPLINE, (the world’s largest database on reproductive health) found something very disturbing. The term “abortion” had been pretty much blocked from its database for normal searches . Go here and try the search. I did and got “No records found by latest query.”

What is POPLINE?

the world’s largest database on reproductive health, containing citations with abstracts to scientific articles, reports, books, and unpublished reports in the field of population, family planning, and related health issues. POPLINE is maintained by the INFO Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development. (USAID).

I was contacted yesterday by someone and given this email thread. Here’s what he/she said in the email:

The e-mail exchange below is fairly straight-forward: a governmental database on Population, POPLINE (POPulation OnLINE) has been changed so that one can no longer search the term “abortion.” As the representative from POPLINE states, “As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now.”

I suspect pressure was placed from on high to do this. Why would the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, where POPLINE is hosted, decide on its own to eliminate searching for information on abortion? I hope you can publicize this outrageous maneuver.

Here’s the email conversation that was posted here. It’s quite troubling. Names were edited for confidentiality!

Boy we are different from those repressive third world regimes how?

More Taser Tag - 11 Year Olds and Medical Conditions

It’s not Tasers in general I have a problem with, but that fact that incompetent cops are allowed to use them in situations that make no sense. We have police tasing an 11 year old girls, tasing a man who they were called to help because of obvious medical issues. Come on an 11 year old, if you cannot manage an 11 year old girl without a Taser no matter how out of control she is you are in the wrong job.

Man dies after Taser used

The Shawnee County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday released the identity of a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. employee who died Sunday after being tased by a sheriff's deputy.

The man who died was Walter E. Haake Jr., 59, of Lawrence. However, the sheriff's office released no other details about what led to the tasing at the Topeka Goodyear plant.

Early reports indicated Haake had been suffering from a medical condition and had resisted emergency personnel's efforts to subdue him. The sheriff's office said after several attempts to control Haake, a deputy used a Taser on him.

Haake was taken by ambulance to a Topeka hospital and later pronounced dead.

11-Year-Old Girl Tasered At School After Punching Officer In Face

An Orange County deputy said she had no choice but to shock an 11-year-old girl with a Taser on Thursday morning in an elementary school classroom. Deputies said it was to stop a violent temper tantrum.

The girl at Moss Park Elementary punched the deputy in the nose so hard the deputy went to the hospital. While an 11-year-old shocked by a Taser sounds extreme to some parents, other parents told Eyewitness News the girl deserved it.

More GOP Hypocrisy

Republicans lead "pork" spending lists: report

Republicans in the U.S. Congress, trying to appear frugal with taxpayer dollars this election year, found on Wednesday that some in their own ranks topped a list of "pork" spenders in a watchdog group's analysis of government waste.

The annual survey by Citizens Against Government Waste claims that 11,610 special-interest projects were stuffed into spending bills approved by the Democratic-led Congress last year at a $17.2 billion cost to taxpayers.

But according to the survey, it was individual Republicans who pushed the most "pork" last year. In addition, the three House of Representative Republicans who sponsored legislation calling for a moratorium on such spending all engaged in the practice, the report said. They are Jack Kingston of Georgia, Zach Wamp of Tennessee and Frank Wolf of Virginia.

For months, House Republican Leader John Boehner has been leading a crusade against such projects, known as "earmarks," which routinely benefit lawmakers' hometown districts.

Boehner, of Ohio, has called for suspending "pork" spending this year and has criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, for not yet agreeing to do so.

On Tuesday, House Republicans tried and failed to advance their earmark moratorium. Last month, the Senate overwhelmingly rejected a similar proposal.

House Republicans have attacked Democratic Rep. John Murtha for delivering a pile of special-interest funds to his western Pennsylvania district.

But according to the report, two House Republicans bested Murtha: Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who recently became a U.S. senator, and Rep. Bill Young of Florida. The two scored $176.3 million and $169.5 million in earmarks respectively, beating Murtha's $159.1 million.

Boy this one just isn’t working out the way John “tear in my eye” Boehner planned. The GOP was gonna pull a ”homeland security” number on the Dems this year with “earmarks” being the big issue, suddenly the party in control for 12 years was gonna find religion on “earmarks” and blame it all on the Dems. Guess they will have to find plan B as the rank and file ignored ya John (expect the 2 morons from Minnesota).

Stop Wasteful Earmarks. "In addition to supporting an immediate freeze on all
taxpayer-funded earmarks, House Republicans have called for a permanent end to
so-called 'monuments to me' (earmarks for projects named after Members of
Congress), unscrutinized 'airdropped' earmarks inserted into House-Senate
conference reports, and other reforms that will change the earmark process as we
know it. In addition to blocking a vote on the GOP-proposed moratorium,
Democratic leaders have refused to support these reforms, which have already
been adopted unilaterally by House Republicans."

Not quite the way it worked out huh John?

Glenn Beck - America'a Biggest Douche Bag

Glenn you dumb shit, contract? Contract my ass, as an employee of Wal-Mart there are no contracts for retail level employees, the language is in the lame ass insurance that the employee had no say in the selection of. Beck you are an absolute ass wipe, I am amazed someone can be so clueless. I struggle for words as I watch what has happened to this country in its march to fascism. I struggle because I am one of the lucky ones, I have a good education, a good job for a great employer(which unlike Wal-Mart has a level of social responsibility) and yet I see the middle class that I belong to becoming smaller and smaller as we are divided into haves and have-nots and the Becks of the world think it’s all just fine. I know the idiot says the things he does because it’s his “bit”, but dude, words have meaning and consequences.

The Douche Bag Rants:

But let me pile it on again. She not only has short-term memory loss and lost her son, that short-term memory loss allows her or forces her to forget that her son is dead. So every time she remembers her son, she says how is he, they have to say he's dead. So it's like he's dying all over again for the first time. Now how bad do you feel? Well, now I just want to rip the head off of Wal-Mart. For what? For what? Giving her the $470,000? Making sure that she was covered in medical care, making sure that she didn't have to fight soothe and nail for the medical care, that she got it. For what? You're mad at Wal-Mart for living up to their end of the bargain and then compromising and saying you owe me $470,000 but we'll take the $417,000 that you have in the trust fund? What? For making that compromise, you're angry with them?

Another curious statistic that has been tossed in every article I've seen about this is the net sales of Wal-Mart for the quarter, $90 billion. What does that have to do with this story? Here's what this story is about. You go to work; you do your job. You then go out and you're driving around and some senseless accident happens. You then have to have your medical bills paid. Your employer has done the right thing, has paid your medical expenses, has paid for your insurance, made sure that everything is up to date. He pays for it, makes sure that you're taken care of. Then you decide to sue. You sue. Well, you have this obligation to pay back that medical expense. You want to know why everybody's medical insurance is so expensive? Because everybody sues and nobody wants to take responsibility. Nobody wants to even take responsibility of saying, no, you know what, I don't think I need that test. Nobody wants to take responsibility in a doctor's office because they've got to give you that test because they know if they say "I don't think you need this test but if you want to get this test, we can get it." Even if they say that and you made the decision to not have that test, if it turns out you needed that test, you'll sue the doctor. Nobody's willing to take responsibility for anything. Nobody's word means anything anymore.

When you do business, your word is your bond. Everybody would be up in arms if Wal-Mart didn't cover this woman, but they did. All they're doing is asking for the money back that the insurance company spent. But everybody sees insurance companies as just these evil corporations that are just getting rich. And Wal-Mart is just getting rich. Do you know even their attorney said "We don't believe that they have a right, that the Shank family has a right to this money." We're not saying that Wal-Mart has a responsibility to pay us or to let us have this money. We just think it would be, you know, good of them. We think we deserve it more than them. Even their attorney says they don't have a right to this money.

Now, what happens to Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart, because everybody jumps on Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart decides to fold yesterday in the dumbest thing I think they could have ever done. You know what, Wal-Mart? I don't know how you got to be this big. I really don't. Because you're this stupid? Now you've just said that you're going to rewrite your medical insurance so it doesn't say that. It says we will review it on a case-by-case basis. Do you have an attorney? Is there anybody in your PR department? You're going to review it on a case-by-case basis. Hmmm. So in other words, you decide who you're going to help out and who you're not going to help out. Oh. Well, that doesn't sound like a litigation waiting to happen. That doesn't sound like a PR machine just gearing up. How many people are going to sue you now? How many people are going to say, wait a minute, Wal-Mart doesn't need that money. They have a policy, they review case by case. I lost my legs in a meat grinder making sausage on a Saturday and what happens? They don't pay me. Why? They pay the white woman. What about me? I'm black. Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure, the black guy, they paid the black guy who lost his leg in a sausage factory. I lost both of my eyes playing pickup sticks. What? Is it because I'm purple? They won't pay me because I'm purple? That's what's going to happen. More lawyers, more litigation, more people going after them with PR. And yet nobody in the media, nobody in the media. Wal-Mart can do no right to anyone. I'm not a big Wal-Mart fan. I mean, I want you to know I don't care about Wal-Mart. I really don't. But I am so tired of distortion. I am so sick and tired of the lies. I'm so sick and tired of principles not meaning anything. Once you get off of principles, principles are the things that tether you. You have to know what you believe because the storms are going to crash against you and you need to be tethered by principles. If you are not tethered by principles, you are going to crash against those rocks every time.

Well, what are the principles? The principles are right is right, wrong is wrong. No matter how much I need it, no matter how hard it is for me, no matter how much it sucks, it's not right. My word is my bond. I made an agreement. I didn't see it in there. Sorry. Man, it sucks. It's really going to be tough, but this is extortion. This is blackmail. I'll go to the media. I'll expose you. For what? For living up to my end of the bargain? For what? That is blackmail. And yet Wal-Mart folds. You don't deal with terrorists? Really? You just did. You just dealt with economic blackmailers. You had people who said, their own attorney said Wal-Mart, we can't legally ask them. They don't have to do this. But then -- and I don't even put it on the family as much as I do on the media. The media, they just -- MSNBC, man, they can just make hay with this. And what does Wal-Mart do? They make it worse for themselves in the long run and yet they won't say anything about, you know what, I give to charity.

Wal-Mart Caves - Sort Of!

Wal-Mart announced it would not require repayment from Debbie Shank and her family after their victory at SCOTUS:

Statement from David Nassar, Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director: 

"We are elated that after months of public pressure and national outrage, Wal-Mart says it is finally going to do the right thing for Debbie Shank and her family. 

"During the past few weeks, Jim Shank has brought to life Debbie's tragic circumstances and vividly shown that her case is a scorching symbol of Wal-Mart's decision to insufficiently fund its health care plan for its 1.3 million U.S. workers.

"Debbie's case exemplifies what Wal-Mart Watch and others see every day:  the world's largest employer choosing to put less into its benefits than it should.  This leaves thousands of Wal-Mart associates with choices about preventative care and necessary care that are driven by what they can afford rather than by what is in their best interest.  Debbie Shank's story is not only a personal tragedy; it poses a cautionary tale for all Wal-Mart associates.

Do not get too excited folks, while this is great news for the Shank family Wal-Mart really never cared about the 470K, the issue is much bigger for them, they now have a legal precendent set that will allow them to do this same thing over and over again without all the bad press, a little bad press now followed by the last minute (after the SCOTUS win) cave costs them very little in short lived bad will. But now they can do this crap with impunity and it just will not be news. Big Win for Wally World, Big loss for middle america.

Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing

I guess it has come down to throwing the elderly out of malls so that we don't have to deal with the reality of King George's War

An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall yesterday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as "graphic anti-war images." Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of American military personnel and Iraqis - 4,000 and 1 million - and the words "Dead" and "Enough." The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters.