Ministry of Truth

Obama to Fund Forced Abortions in China

2008-11-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

Supporters of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are confident that President-elect Barack Obama will reverse the Bush administration’s 2002 decision to stop the $40 million it received in U.S. funding. The policy was instated because of UNFPA’s support for China’s one-child policy, which includes coercive abortion practices.

"Coercive abortion practices" being a euphemism for kidnapping women off the streets, stripping off their clothes, and terminating their pregnancies.

However, Rep. Maloney somehow thinks that this will empower Chinese women:

She said Obama “has already said his administration will change the way we do business in Washington and that improving the role of women around the world is going to be one of his prominent priorities."

Via Prison Planet

Rahm Emmanuel Apologizes for Father's Racist Anti-Arab Comments

2008-11-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

As a reminder, Rahm Emmanuel is slated to become Obama's White House Chief of Staff.

From Press TV:

In an interview with Ma'ariv Israeli daily earlier this month, Emanuel's father said he was convinced that his son's appointment would be good for Israel.

"Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying. "Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."

And lest we forget Benjamin Emmanuel's terrorist involvement:

Emanuel Sr. is a former member of the Zionist terrorist group Irgun led by the late Menachem Begin, who went on to become the sixth Israeli prime minister.

Irgun was instrumental in the forcible displacement and exile of tens of thousands of Palestinians and carried out guerrilla attacks against British troops before the 1948 creation of Israel. The group was responsible for the 1948 massacre of the Palestinian village Deir Yassin that killed some 240 civilians and the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem which was then the British administrative headquarters. Ninety one people died in the blast.

Via Prison Planet

Peter Schiff, Ron Paul's Economic Advisor, Predicted Economic Crisis in 2006, 2007

2008-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

While the other economists laughed at him.

Via Comment on Freakanomics Blog. (See previous post below.)

Ron Paul Answers Questions

2008-11-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

Here.

And a commenter reveals his ignorance:

The Constitution does not authorize posting comments on a blog either.

To which it is aptly replied:

The Constitution proscribes and prescribes what GOVERNMENT may and may not do. In no way does it forbid the citizenry from using the internet, flying in airplanes, playing chess, etc., etc. Idiots. The Constitution doesn’t mention scratching yourself either, but that doesn’t make it illegal.
The god- almighty central government is not supposed to have powers that are not given to it by the Constitution.

Via Lew Rockwell

Wikipedia Erases Article on Father of Obama's Chief of Staff

2008-11-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

Benjamin Emmanuel, Rahm Emmanuel's father, was a Zionist terrorist. What does Wikipedia do, then? Well, of course, delete the article on Benjamin.

Via Prison Planet

Three Articles Discuss a New World/Global Order as Solution to Financial Crisis

2008-11-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

- A financial crisis which was caused by the very same people who would be in charge of this "new world order."

India's Finance Minister P. Chidambaram:

The key point is that we must move towards a new global order that can only be achieved by greater inclusivity in the international financial system.

He also hints that this "new global order" would be redistributionist in nature:

We must agree to locate the resources and agree upon the channels through which the resources would be made available and diverted to developing countries. These could be the existing multinational institutions or we could devise an ad-hoc fast-disbursing mechanism.

The title of this article says it all:
"Groups to call for new world order during G-20 summit"

Finally, the Bilderberger Washington Post implies that the "new world order" is inevitable:

Still, most nations, including the United States, have acknowledged that a new world order has emerged

All articles via Prison Planet

A Good Summary of What We Should Expect from Our New "Ruler"

2008-11-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

And why we are told, "Don't Worry About Sarah Palin".

Oh yeah, and Obama is ready "to rule" now.

Right on Cue: Criticism of Obama Deemed Racist

2008-11-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

The very day Obama is elected, Fox News insinuates that Ralph Nader's criticism of Obama is racist. I predicted that Obama critics would be slandered as racist, but I did not predict that neoconservative Fox News would jump on this bandwagon so quickly. I suppose that they feel Obama is one of their own.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

"Happy Halloween"
By Jessica Licciardello
From Rense.com's Halloween Splash Art Contest.

Halloween At Obama's House

2008-10-31T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am not a fan of Rush Limbaugh, but this is funny.

Obama's Buddies, and Biden's Disbelief

2008-10-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Via Foxnews:

"To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully," the Democratic presidential candidate wrote in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father." "The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists."

Also, from the same article:

Obama's running mate, Biden, recently contradicted his boss, saying: "He is not spreading the wealth around." The remark came as Biden was answering a question from a TV anchor who asked: "How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"

"Are you joking? Is this a joke? Or is that a real question?" an incredulous Biden shot back. "It's a ridiculous comparison."

Apparently, Marxism has absolutely nothing to do with redistribution of wealth.

Hat tip: Lewrockwell.com

Rockefellers Tried to Fund Bill Ayer's Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

2008-10-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Interesting to note.
From Gary Allen's None Dare Call it Conspiracy, p. 126:

Further indications of Establishment financing of the Communist S.D.S. are contained in James Kunen's The Strawberry Statement: Notes On A College Revolutionary. Describing events at the 1968 S.D.S. national convention, Kunen says:

"Also at the convention, men from Business International Roundtables-the meetings sponsored by Business International for their client groups and heads of government-tried to buy up a few radicals. These men are the world's leading industrialists and they convene to decide how our lives are going to go. These are the boys who wrote the Alliance for Progress. They're the left wing of the ruling class. They agreed with us on black control and student control.

They want McCarthy in. They see fascism as the threat, see it coming from Wallace. The only way McCarthy could win is if the crazies and young radicals act up and make Gene look more reasonable. They offered to finance our demonstrations in Chicago. We were also offered Esso (Rockefeller) money. They want us to make a lot of radical commotion they can look more in the center as they move to the left."

Obama's Connections to "Weatherman" William Ayers

2008-10-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ayers is not just a guy in Obama's neighborhood. Rather, Ayers helped launch Obama's political career and served with Obama on the boards of two charitable organizations.

Michelle Obama: "Racist" to Question Barack's Citizenship

2008-10-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

She also stated that any black man who would do so is simply "envious".

I suppose that this is the character an Obama presidency would assume: if you question Obama, you are either racist or envious.

Articles here and here.

It Is Not Deregulation That Led to the Financial Crisis

2008-10-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

George Riesman points out that the ultimate regulator of the market - the Federal Reserve - bears the most responsibility for the crisis:

the actual responsibility for our financial crisis lies precisely with massive government intervention, above all the intervention of the Federal Reserve System in attempting to create capital out of thin air, in the belief that the mere creation of money and its being made available in the loan market is a substitute for capital created by producing and saving. This is a policy it has pursued since its founding, but with exceptional vigor since 2001, in its efforts to overcome the collapse of the stock market bubble whose creation it had previously inspired.

The Federal Reserve and other portions of the government pursue the policy of money and credit creation in everything they do that encourages and protects private banks in the attempt to cheat reality by making it appear that one can keep one’s money and lend it out too, both at the same time. This duplicity occurs when individuals or business firms deposit cash in banks, which they can continue to use to make purchases and pay bills by means of writing checks rather than using currency. To the extent that the banks are then enabled and encouraged to lend out the funds that have been deposited in this way (usually by the creation of new and additional checking deposits rather than the lending of currency), they are engaged in the creation of new and additional money. The depositors continue to have their money and borrowers now have the bulk of the funds deposited. In recent years, the Federal Reserve has so encouraged this process, that checking deposits have been created equal to fifty times the actual cash reserves of the banks, a situation more than ripe for implosion.

To gauge the scale of its responsibility, in the period of time just since 2001, the Federal Reserve caused an increase in the supply of checkbook-money capital of more than 70 percent of the cumulative total amount it had created in the whole of the previous 88 years of its existence – that is, almost 2 trillion dollars.

He also details the federal regulations that required banks to loan money:

Finally, a discussion of the housing debacle would not be complete if it did not include mention of forms of virtual extortion that served to encourage loans to unworthy borrowers. Thus, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia writes:

The Community Reinvestment Act [CRA]...is a United States federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods... CRA regulations give community groups the right to comment or protest about banks' non-compliance with CRA. Such comments could help or hinder banks' planned expansions.

The meaning of these words is that the Community Reinvestment Act gives the power to “community groups,” to determine in an important respect the financial success or failure of a bank. Only if they are satisfied that the bank is making sufficient loans to borrowers to whom it would otherwise choose not to lend, will it be permitted to succeed. The most prominent such community group is ACORN.

Part and parcel of the environment that has made an act such as the CRA possible, is threats of slander against banks for being “racist” if they choose not to make loans to people who are poor credit risks and also happen to belong to this or that minority group. The threats of slander go hand in glove with intimidation from various government agencies that exercise discretionary power over the banks and are in a position to harm them if they do not comply with the agencies’ wishes. The same points apply to mortgage lenders other than banks.

Will Obama Safeguard the Futures of Black American Teens? The "Obama March"

2008-10-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Why do they chant "alpha and omega" when they enter the room?

Cheesy Obama Song

2008-09-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

Parents should not encourage their kids to lie...

Great Article on the Crash and Bailout

2008-09-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

A perspective from a French-Canadian Austrian theorist.

Congress on Payroll of Freddie, Fannie

2008-09-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Good luck convincing your Congressman not to vote for a bailout. My own Congressman, Rep. Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-NY 28th District), has accepted a total of $6000 from Freddie PAC, Fannie PAC, and the "Mortgage Banker's Association PAC." I am sure that my phone call will mean a lot to her. You may check whether your own Congressman has been bought out at Congress.org. Search for your "Representative" and then look under the tab labeled 'PAC'.

Anti-Depressant Damages Sperm

2008-09-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

The UK Daily Mail reports a new finding on the antidepressant Seroxat:

Superficially, the men's sperm seemed healthy, with the quantity, shape and ability to move all showing as normal.

But closer inspection revealed that the proportion with DNA damage rose from 13.8 per cent to 30.3 per cent after just four weeks, New Scientist magazine reports.

And, of course, the drug has had other problems:

Seroxat was hailed as a wonder drug when it was first sold in Britain in 1990.

But it was later linked to child suicides, mood swings, nightmares and personality changes.

It was banned for under-18s in 2003 but is still prescribed for adults.

Ron Paul on Ike, the Fed Bailout, and "Bomb Iran" McCain

2008-09-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Women Selling Out

2008-09-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

There are two too many women selling their virginity.

Italian model Raffella Fico wants to raise 1 million euros - to pay for acting lessons and a house. Her brother maintains:

She's never had a boyfriend. I swear on my mother's grave. She's a devout Catholic and prays to Padre Pio every night

American Natalie Dylan is auctioning off her virginity for 250,000 dollars so that she may go to grad school for family and marriage counseling.

Vicente Fox Insults Americans, Calls for North American Union

2008-09-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

Gee, I guess Fox did not read Alternet's "proof" that the North American Union conspiracy does not exist.

Psychologists Against Torture

2008-09-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

About one year ago, I had condemned the American Psychological Association for refusing to ban psychologists from assisting the government in torture. I ended my post by saying, "It is time for psychologists to find a conscience." Well, it appears that they have: according to the AP, the APA has formally banned psychologists

from taking part in interrogations at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other military detention sites. The ban means psychologists who are association members can't assist the U.S. military at these sites...

Good for them. I only wish that they had refused to participate in torture from the beginning.

Anti-Terror Legislation Used to Spy on Man with "Noisy Wardrobe"

2008-09-14T08:32:00.001-07:00

From the Telegraph:

In October last year the council placed equipment in the bedroom of a complainant to detect "the alleged noise of sliding wardrobe doors, noise of persons in flat and loud music and television".

Documents show that council officials believed the behaviour of "the perpetrator" to be "an intrusion into the rights of the neighbour"

Last week The Sunday Telegraph revealed that 89 out of 115 councils contacted under the Freedom of Information Act had used the legislation to tackle problems such as noisy children, barking dogs and unruly car-boot sales. That figure represents 77 per cent of the total.

Information uncovered by this newspaper shows that 27 other local authorities across the country have also used the legislation, many for equally minor problems.

Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act local authorities can place residents and businesses under surveillance, trace telephone and email accounts and even send staff on undercover missions.

I did not realize: a) that noise is terrorism; b) that we have a "human right" to quiet.

Obama's Horrendous Stance on Guns

2008-09-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here.

Cholesterol Is Not Bad For You

2008-09-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Says Cholesterol and Health.com, run by Chris Masterjon, frequent contributor to the fantastic Weston A. Price Foundation.

Also check out THINCS, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics. (The best information is found in their Links section.)

California Rejects 'Bride' and 'Groom' in Legal Documents

2008-09-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

From World Net Daily:

"Brides" and "grooms" are no longer allowed to marry in the State of California.

That privilege is only extended to individuals who allow themselves to be called "Party A" and "Party B" on marriage licenses.

In a 4-3 decision, California's high court declared that legal definitions of marriage as a union between a man and a woman were unconstitutional. Since the ruling, the generic designations have been added to legal documents.

Hippie Neo-Pagan Tree Worship

2008-09-10T09:28:00.001-07:00

Hippies Wail for Dead Trees ~

Tumble Weed Tornado

2008-09-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

I wish I had seen something like this when I lived in West Texas.

Tumble Weed Tornado

English Park: All Adults Without Children are Suspects

2008-09-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

From the UK Daily Mail:

Park wardens have been ordered to stop and interrogate anyone who is not accompanied by children.

The visitors who are quizzed have to explain their presence and risk being thrown out or reported to police if their answers are not satisfactory.

The policy has been introduced at Telford Town Park in Shropshire. The council which manages the 420-acre area says it is a 'commonsense approach' aimed at safeguarding children.

But park users accused it of 'authoritarian madness' and said the ruling risked panicking parents about the dangers faced from potential paedophiles.

The policy came to light after two environmental campaigners dressed as penguins were thrown out of the park last month when caught handing out leaflets on climate change.

Telford and Wrekin Council said Rachel Whittaker and Neil Donaldson were ejected because they had not undergone Criminal Records Bureau checks or risk assessments before entering the park - a requirement under the Child Protection Act.

Israel Giving Weapons to Palestinians?

2008-09-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

From International Middle East Media Center:

Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman of Hamas in Gaza, said in a statement " the weapons which Israel allowed in to the security services in the West Bank, the latest were 10000 machine guns, have all been a part of empowering such services to further undermine Hamas and other resistance factions there".

He added that such actions would help enhance current division between Gaza's rulers and the West Bank rulers, and that this would suppress freedoms

Public vs. Private Schools: A Case Study in Cost

2008-09-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

Vin Suprynowicz looks at the cost of D.C.'s schools.

UN to World: Eat Less Meat to Combat Global Warming

2008-09-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

From the Guardian.

A Sober Assessment of Palin

2008-09-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

By Justin Raimondo.

GPS Devices Used in Court

2008-09-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Big surprise.
Used to pinpoint defendant's location during the crime; obtained without warrants.
From the New York Times (as with all of their articles, requires cookies)

UK Government: Kids Who Don't Like Foreign Food are Racist

2008-07-08T09:53:00.001-07:00

The National Children's Bureau puts disliking foreign food on par with calling people "blackies," the London Telegraph reports:

The 366-page guide for staff in charge of pre-school children, called Young Children and Racial Justice, warns: "Racist incidents among children in early years settings tend to be around name-calling, casual thoughtless comments and peer group relationships."

It advises nursery teachers to be on the alert for childish abuse such as: "blackie", "Pakis", "those people" or "they smell".

The guide goes on to warn that children might also "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuk'".

Fourth of July: From Celebrating Independence to Loving War and the State

2008-07-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Lew Rockwell's Butler Shaffer questions why certain holidays - which were meant to celebrate peace and limited government - are now co-opted to celebrate war and ever bigger government. The article gets goofy at the end, but it starts out with a bang:

I have long been a critic of the state’s co-option of holidays to serve governmental purposes, thus negating the messages these holidays originally served. July 4th – designed to celebrate independence from the state – has been refashioned as a holiday for revelling in the state’s favorite activity, war. Television treats us to a seemingly endless supply of John Wayne films, urging us to embrace the contradictory idea that submitting ourselves to increased state power is the way to promote our liberty! It is such twisted thinking that leads those who refuse to examine the content of their minds to bleat about the soldiers who "fight for our freedom." What nonsense. Shall we next be told that Sunset Boulevard hookers are peddling virtue?

Half of French TV Show Audience Thinks Sun Revolves Around Earth

2008-07-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, at least it is not only Americans that are dumb...

Barack "I'll Bomb Ya" Obama

2008-07-03T19:10:00.001-07:00

Sheldon Richman asks if Obama is the peace candidate.

Two highlights:

What’s truly frightening is that Obama doesn’t seem to realize that U.S. foreign policy has been interventionist. For example, he said, “We cannot afford to be a country of isolationists right now. 9/11 showed us that try as we might to ignore the rest of the world, our enemies will no longer ignore us. And so we need to maintain a strong foreign policy, relentless in pursuing our enemies and hopeful in promoting our values around the world.” (Emphasis added.)

In the last hundred years, when have “we” ignored the rest of the world? U.S. administrations have been interfering in Middle Eastern affairs for more than 50 years. They have been interfering in Latin America even longer. Anyone who takes a close look with an open mind would know that 9/11 was a consequence of U.S. interventionism, not isolationism, which is a smear word. That someone opposes invading other countries doesn’t mean he opposes commercial or cultural relations with them. The great liberals of history (when that word meant freedom and minimum government) favored peace and free trade.

He has made it clear that he supports wars that are not strictly defensive and has expressed admiration for the first President Bush’s war against Iraq: “When we use force in situations other than self-defense, we should make every effort to garner the clear support and participation of others — the kind of burden-sharing and support President George H.W. Bush mustered before he launched Operation Desert Storm.”

The "Great War" - and its Successor - Neither Great Nor Necessary

2008-07-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

William S. Lind's review of Pat Buchanan's new book, Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World.

Obama's New Nest of Hawks

2008-07-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

The Real News Network details the pro-war inclinations of Obama's "Senior Working Group on National Security."

And as Infowars points out, this list is a who's who of globalists, including members of the CFR, Bilderberg Group, and 9/11 Commission. I would not hold my breath for a new, independent inquiry into 9/11 under Obama's presidency.

Quote of the Day

2008-06-25T22:43:00.000-07:00

"No case is necessarily definitive when you're looking at specific language,"

says Law professor Deborah Denno of Fordham University to the AP.

Wikipedia Refuses to Acknowledge Death Threat on 9-11 Activist Mark Dice

2008-06-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Talk show host Michael Reagan, Ronald Reagan's son, thought it was reprehensible for Mark Dice to mail 9-11 material to troops in Iraq, so he said the following:

We ought to find the people who are doing this, take them out and shoot them. Really. You take them out, they are traitors to this country, and shoot them. You have a problem with that? Deal with it. You shoot them. You call them traitors, that’s what they are, and you shoot them dead. I’ll pay for the bullets.

How about you take Mark Dice out and put him in the middle of a firing range. Tie him to a post, don’t blindfold him, let it rip and have some fun with Mark Dice.

Not only was Reagan not fired or reprimanded by management, but Wikipedia has refused to allow this quote - or even mention of the death threat - to be placed on its "democratic" website.

British Council Bans 'Brainstorming'

2008-06-20T10:55:00.001-07:00

Replace it with 'thought showers,' as "brainstorming might offend mentally ill people and those with epilepsy." Even epileptics think it is a stupid idea here.

"Russert Revisionism"

2008-06-20T10:48:00.001-07:00

Justin Raimondo on Russert's complicity in promoting the run up to the war on Iraq and his attacks on Ron Paul here.

Johnny Kramer of LewRockwell.com on Russert's poor treatment of 2000 Libertarian candidate Harry Browne here.

As is fairly clear from these articles, Russert was interested in asking tough (i.e., unfair) questions only of people who challenged the status quo.

Al Gore Consumes More Electricity in a Month Than The Average American Household Consumes In A Year

2008-06-18T10:29:00.001-07:00

Ironically, he is now consuming more electricity after he made "environmentally friendly" modifications to his home - modifications which I am sure include the use of toxic, mercury-filled lightbulbs. Details from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research here.

Tim Russert, Pro-Torture Crossdresser?

2008-06-17T10:05:00.001-07:00

It appears that everyone is fawning over the life of Tim Russert - everyone, that is, without an ounce of sense. According to the wesite TVNewsLies, Chris Mathews has claimed that Russert had a sort of omniscience about 9-11 - an omniscience that, by the way, defies physics as well as fact. Even discredited global warming alarmist Al Gore has claimed that Russert was "a great journalist, interviewer and author." In response to this kind of lavish praise, Lew Rockwell said the following:

We are also told that Russert asked tough questions of politicians. What a joke. He acted like their butler or valet--with one exception. When Russert interviewed Ron Paul, he was incredibly hostile, made lying insinuations, gave Ron almost no time to answer, and, in general, acted like a member of the Capitol Hill-neocon thugbund.

Rockwell goes on to say that Russert "did much good in his private life." Perhaps, but perhaps not. The Washington Post, in discussing a press/politician dinner in 2006, claims the following:

Tim Russert, making his first appearance as a new member, decked out in a blue dress and a shiny blond wig as one of the cable news bunnies. But there were also some true clunkers. Singing about torture, subbing "rendition" for "tradition" and borrowing the "Fiddler on the Roof" song was not funny at all. The chumminess of the politicos and the press corps can be cloying.

Was Russert the one who was singing about torture? Or was he just having a good laugh at the rendition flights? A good man, in drag or otherwise, would have got up and left the table.

By the way, Obama was also at this event, where he cracked jokes at Cheney for having shot his "friend" while intoxicated. Ha, ha! It is hilarious that our vice president was likely drunk during the incident and prevented local police from interviewing him while he sobered up. Gee, I can't tell which of Obama's jokes is funnier, that politicians are above the law or that he himself is going to bring change to the Whitehouse.

Ron Paul on Obama's "Change"

2008-06-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ron Paul, sadly, has announced the end of his campaign for president. You missed your chance America, so welcome back to the status quo. Here is Dr. Paul on Obama's message of "change":

Coming Trend? Arresting Those Who Cheer at Graduations

2008-06-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

Abridged from AOL News:

ROCK HILL, S.C. (June 10) - When school officials in Rock Hill, South Carolina, tell graduation ceremony crowds to hold their applause until the end, they mean it -- Police arrested seven people after they were accused of loud cheering during the ceremonies.

All the cases, except for one that includes a resisting arrest charge, will be handled in city court and are punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Orr [who was arrested] said he thinks people should be allowed to cheer.

"For some people, it might be the only member of their family to graduate high school, and it was like a funeral in there," Orr said.

William Massey, 19, was arrested but said he plans to fight the charge. He said he simply "clapped and gave a little whoop" when his fiancee's name was called.

Last year in Galesburg, Illinois, five students were denied diplomas from the city's lone public high school after enthusiastic friends or family members cheered for them during commencement. Students could get their diplomas after completing eight hours of public service for the school district.

Those "Ungrateful" Irish

2008-06-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

This article on the Irish referendum on the EU really deserves to be read in full. An abridged version follows:

How can the Irish be so ungrateful? That is the question being asked by EU officials (in private) and by EU supporters (in public) as the Irish go to the polls this Thursday to vote on whether to accept the Lisbon Treaty on the expansion of European Union institutions. The fact that the ‘No’ lobby seems to be gaining ground – in a country that has benefited enormously from EU subsidies! – has led to an orgy of bile-ridden attacks on truculent, thick and thankless Irish voters.

The message is clear: the Irish should know their place in the European set-up and slavishly bow and scrape before their paymasters in Brussels. Anything else would be ‘extraordinarily ungrateful’, according to one commentator (1). Welcome to the ‘democratic’ EU – where most countries are bypassing their electorates and simply ratifying the Lisbon Treaty, and where the one country that is holding a referendum – Ireland – has been subjected to the kind of financial, political and emotional blackmail that would make even Imelda Marcos squirm.

In order for the Lisbon Treaty on EU enlargement to come into effect on 1 January 2009, all 27 member states must ratify it. So far, 15 countries have forced it through their parliaments, and another 11 are in the process of doing so. But Ireland – population: 4.3million – is the only EU member state constitutionally bound to hold a referendum and put the Treaty to the will of the people. EU officials and supporters are sweating and fretting over the possibility that Irish voters – ‘any clown with a pen’, as one writer charmingly referred to them – will torpedo the Treaty (2).

This echoes the attacks on Irish voters when they rejected the EU’s Nice Treaty in a referendum in June 2001. Back then, 54 per cent of voters said ‘No thanks’. ‘The best pupils of the European class have spat in the soup’, spat the French newspaper Liberation in 2001: ‘The blow is all the more treacherous in that it comes from a country that owes its new wealth to Europe.’ (7) ‘Those ungrateful Irish’, said a headline in The Economist, reminding truculent anti-Nice voters that ‘when Ireland joined the European Economic Community in 1973, the country’s income per head was about 60 per cent of the community’s average; it is now around 120 per cent’ (8).

In 2002, under extreme pressure from the EU, the Irish state found a neat way to get around the inconvenient fact of a ‘No’ vote to the Nice Treaty – it simply held a second referendum (in a shameless act of political Double Jeopardy) and devoted its not-inconsiderable political and media machinery to demanding that voters make the ‘right decision’ this time (9). Pro-Nice posters reminded the ungrateful Irish about everything they had received from the EU. ‘Thirty billion Euros since 1973’, the posters said, while Irish ministers warned ominously that a second rejection of Nice could ‘return Ireland to poverty’ (10). This time, the ‘Yes’ lobby won: in October 2002, 62.89 per cent of voters supported Nice.

The attacks on Irish voters for being ‘extraordinarily ungrateful’ – both for initially rejecting Nice in 2001 and for even thinking about saying ‘No’ to Lisbon this week – reveal a great deal about ‘democracy’ in the EU. The EU’s bureaucrats and backers seem dumbfounded that they cannot buy Irish people’s support; they find it ‘hard to fathom’ that a people who have received subsidies worth billions of Euros are not falling in line behind their rulers. It is the mark of corrupt, degenerate and anti-democratic elitism to believe that you can buy people’s votes. Indeed, in many civilised, democratic countries it is illegal for political parties to offer voters financial reward for their ballots. Yet, Mafioso-style, EU backers are telling the Irish: ‘You’ve received your monies – now do as we say.’

Viewpoint: Israel Shamir's "In Defence of Prejudice"

2008-06-09T20:14:00.001-07:00

Israel Shamir, born a Jew in Russia, has now converted to Christianity and lives in Israel. In the following provocative article, he defends the idea of prejudice (but not hate).

Psychologist: Having an Affair is Good for Your Marriage!

2008-06-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Abridged from the Telegraph:

Mira Kirshenbaum, who has over 30 years' experience as a marriage therapist, says the 'right kind' of affair can be a positive thing, acting to "jolt people from their inertia".

The author of When Good People Have Affairs, published this week, argues that because society has so far failed to have a sympathetic discussion of infidelity, the positive sides of cheating have been ignored.

Mira Kirshenbaum, who has over 30 years' experience as a marriage therapist, says the 'right kind' of affair can be a positive thing, acting to "jolt people from their inertia".

The author of When Good People Have Affairs, published this week, argues that because society has so far failed to have a sympathetic discussion of infidelity, the positive sides of cheating have been ignored.

"If handled right, an affair can be therapeutic, give clarity and jolt people from their inertia," she said.

"You could think of it as a radical but necessary medical procedure. If your marriage is in cardiac arrest, an affair can be a defibrillator."

More Global Warming Propaganda: Violent Children's Cartoon Quiz Suggests When Child Should Die

2008-06-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

The quiz was put out by the state-sponsored Australian broadcasting channel and lets you calculate when you have "used more than your fair share of Earth's resources", at which point, it suggests, you should die.

Two observations:

One, it would seem obvious that such global warming alarmists as Al Gore, John Travolta, and Mariah Carey should have "died" by now, according to the calculator. Scroll towards the bottom of this article.

Two, there are actually less grazing animals on the planet than before America was fully colonized. (Think, for instance, of the number of buffalo killed.) To blame global warming on meat consumption, as does the quiz, is nonsense. Even if grazing animals were to contribute to global warming, they would be contributing less now than they had before the conquest of America. By this reasoning, "environmentalists" should be praising the past slaughter of the buffalo.

Great Article on the Pioneer of the Low-Carb Diet

2008-05-31T16:33:00.000-07:00

William Banting, an undertaker and charitable soul, published a pamphlet on a low carbohydrate, high fat diet - in 1863! Read about him here.

"60 Top Thinkers" Predict the Future: Eugenics, Surveillance Society, Globalism

2008-05-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

The "top thinkers" included Google Vice President Vint Cerf, secretary-general of Interpol Ronald Noble, transhumanist Ray Kurzweil, and Francis S. Collins, leader of the Human Genome Project.

Some highlights from their 20 predictions:

7. People must have government approval to marry and have children, based on their genetic compatibility, or face a huge tax burden for any sick or disabled children they produce in defiance of a ban.

12. Global interdependence will allow people, capital and information to flow freely across borders, eroding the power of nation-states.

13. Goodbye, privacy. Data from cameras, biometrics (retinal scans, fingerprints, face recognition software), full body scans and perhaps microchip implants will be sent to intelligence "fusion" centers to tell governments where people are going and what they're doing in the public realm.

From the Seattle Post

Newborn Abducted by CPS Because Parents Questioned Giving it METHADONE

2008-05-31T11:18:00.001-07:00

Methadone, of course, is a version of synthetic heroin.

All the Ellises had to do to raise suspicion and get the state involved was simply ask for their own doctor's second opinion on whether it was necessary to give their baby the powerful drug, methadone.

From Indiana's WISH-TV

Kant Scholar Condems The New Amerika in Book

2008-04-12T13:02:00.001-07:00

This comes from the blog Necessarily Eternal: A Catablog of (All) Things Spinoza

From the preface of Kantian Ethics by Prof. Allen Wood (Stanford, but moving to Indiana), found in the second to last paragraph:

This book was written mainly in the United States, between 2004 and 2006. The history of this period is a disgraceful one. It feels as if we have been living under a malignant alien occupation. An unelected political regime, representing everything that is worst about American culture, compiled a record of injustice, corruption, and gross incompetence at home, and of numerous and aggravated war crimes abroad. Then it was confirmed in office by another election of dubious legitimacy so that it might continue unrelentingly its monstrous wrongfulness and stupidity. Those with the power to oppose its crimes instead acquiesced in them, or else resisted too late, and too feebly. The very ideas of democracy, community, and human rights are in the process of dying in our civilization - or they are being willfully murdered by those in power and by that segment of the population which supports this regime. All they give us in place of these ideas is the empty words (and plenty of those). People have now perhaps begun to awaken to the situation, but the historical roots of what has happened are sunk deep in political trends of the previous century, and I fear these trends will not be reversed soon or easily. There are references here and there in the book to this dismal history, usually to illustrate arrogance, lying, and egregious violations of right. A few readers of my earlier work have told me they think this sort of thing is inappropriate in a scholarly book. But my worries about appearing "unscholarly" pale next to my shame, which all Americans should feel at having failed to prevent the disastrous course of events.

Humor: Kant - Bad for America

2008-03-01T08:55:00.001-08:00

Hungarian Jews Suing US for $40 Billion

2008-02-17T13:05:00.000-08:00

Claim 400,000 Jews would have been saved if US bombed railways leading to Auschwitz.

From the Budapest Sun

Iraq Today: Disaster - and US Support of Al-Qa' ida

2008-02-16T11:27:00.000-08:00

Abridged from Patrick Cockburn
"Is the US Really Bringing Stability to Baghdad?"

In the US and Europe, the main measure of whether the war in Iraq is "going well" or "going badly" is the casualty figures. The number of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians being killed went down to 39 US soldiers and 599 Iraqi civilians in January. The White House is promoting the idea that the United States is finally on the road to success, if not victory, in Iraq.

But any true assessment of the happiness or misery of Iraqis must use a less crude index than the number of dead and injured. It must ask if people have been driven from their houses, and if they can return. It must say whether they have a job and, if they do not, whether they stand a chance of getting one. It has to explain why so few of the 3.2 million people who are refugees in Syria and Jordan, or inside Iraq, are coming back.

"People say things are better than they were," says Zanab Jafar, a well-educated Shia woman living in al-Hamraa, west Baghdad, "but what they mean is that they are better than [during] the bloodbath of 2006. The situation is still terrible."

Baghdad still feels and looks like a city at war. There are checkpoints everywhere. "You seldom see young girls walking in the streets, or in restaurants," adds Zanab Jafar, "because their families are terrified they will be kidnapped, so they send private cars to pick them up directly from school." New shops open, but they are always in the heart of districts controlled by a single community because nobody wants to venture far from their home to shop.

For all the talk of Baghdad being safer, it remains an extraordinarily dangerous place. One Western security company is still asking $3,000 to pick a man up at the airport and drive him six miles to his hotel in central Baghdad. The number of dead bodies being picked up by the police every morning in the capital is down to three or four when once it was 50 or 60.

In his State of the Union address, President Bush spoke of the 80,000 Awakening Council members--also labelled "concerned local citizens", as if they were respectable householders who have taken up arms against "terrorists".

The picture Bush evoked is similar to that often seen in Hollywood Westerns when outraged townsfolk and farmers, driven beyond endurance by the crimes of a corrupt sheriff or saloon owner and their bandit followers, rise in revolt. In reality, in Iraq the exact opposite has happened. The Awakening Council members of today are the "terrorists" of yesterday.

Bizarrely, the US is still holding hundreds of men suspected of contacts with al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan and elsewhere, while in Iraq many of the Awakening members are past and, in many cases, probably current members of al-Qa'ida being paid by the US Army.

Iraq remains a great sump of human degradation and poverty, unaffected by the "surge". It was not a government critic but the civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan, Tahseen Sheikhly, who pointed out this week that the city is drowning in sewage because of blocked and broken pipes and drains. In one part of the city, the sewage has formed a lake so large that it can be seen "as a big black spot on Google Earth".

California Election Fraud

2008-02-06T07:12:00.001-08:00

Hillary Refuses Sign Pledge to Support the Constitution

2008-02-04T13:50:00.001-08:00

Refuses to sign the following statement:

"We are Americans, and in our America we do not torture, we do not imprison people without charge or legal remedy, we do not tap people's phones and emails without a court order, and above all we do not give any President unchecked power. I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from attack by any President."

May we conclude that Hillary is pro-torture, pro-imprisonment without trial, pro-spying, anti-separation of powers, and anti-Constitution?

Original article from The Nation

Colbert: Ron Paul Thinks the Earth Goes Around the Sun

2008-02-03T11:10:00.001-08:00

Radio Host and Romney Supporter Goes Over to Ron Paul

2008-01-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

Mark Larson changed his mind during an interview with Romney, during which Romney dismissingly laughed at both Larson and Ron Paul.

From the Jones Report

British PM Discusses "New World Order"

2008-01-29T17:17:00.000-08:00

From the New Zealand Herald:

"Brown's Secret Talks on 'New World Order'"

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has begun secret talks with other world leaders on far-reaching reform of the United Nations Security Council as part of a drive to create a "new world order" and "global society".

The Fantastical Beliefs of Mormonism

2008-01-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

Detailing the Proof and Speculation on Voting Fraud in New Hampshire

2008-01-09T17:11:00.001-08:00

On Prison Planet

In short, it appears that both Obama and Paul were cheated out of votes.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

A little reminder from Charles Dickens ("The Chimes"):

Had Trotty dreamed? Or, are his joys and sorrows, and the actors in them, but a dream; himself a dream, the teller of this tale a dreamer, waking but now? If it be so, O listener, dear to him in all his visions, try to bear in mind the stern realities from which these shadows come; and in your sphere – none is too wide, and none too limited for such an end – endeavor to correct, improve, and soften them. So may the New Year be a happy one to you, happy to many more whose happiness depends on you! So may each year be happier than the last, and not the meanest of our brethren or sisterhood debarred their rightful share, in what our Great Creator formed them to enjoy.

Homeland Security Requests Inventory of All Chemicals on College Campuses

2007-12-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

Apparantly, it is important to spend many man-hours compiling lists, but the borders stay wide open, where terrorists could easily sneak in.

From Texas Tech University's website

Former Italian President Claims 9-11 Inside Job

2007-12-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

Claims well-known among intelligence agencies that CIA and Mossad planned attacks.

Read details at Prison Planet

Good Idea

2007-12-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

Funny video that poses a solution to the politically correct "Happy Holidays".

Press the square in the player to view in full screen mode, or watch at the original website

Zogby Polls Rigged Against Ron Paul?

2007-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

Man claims he was asked obtrusive questions about sex and other private matters after he voted for Ron Paul in a Zogby poll. He speculates that this may have been done to discourage Ron Paul voters from finishing the poll, thus voiding the results.

Read details here

Cops Taser Unconscious Diabetic Man Three Times, Claim He Was "Combatative"

2007-11-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

From The Newspaper.com

Police in Ozark, Alabama on Tuesday used a taser on a sober man who was having a diabetic seizure. A trio of police cruisers were called to the scene of a black Nissan truck and trailer pulled over on the side of the road near the intersection of Highway 231 and Marley Mill Road at around 4pm. James Bludsworth, 54, a man with no criminal record, was was slumped over behind the wheel. Because of his condition he was not responsive to police commands.

Police then fired tasers at the sick man three times. A police officer now says that he smelled alcohol on Bludsworth, even though later testing showed no trace of alcohol in his system. Ozark Police Chief Myron Williams also claims the sick man was "combative." Instead of taking Bludsworth to medical care he was booked at Dale County Jail and charged with resisting arrest and driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Bludsworth has no recollection of the incident and is free on $1000 bond.

Police later dropped a charge against Bludsworth relating to an alleged towing infraction.

NJ Court: OK For Police to "Permamently Damage" DUI Suspects

2007-11-11T09:19:00.001-08:00

From The Newspaper.com

Police may inflict permanent physical damage while forcibly taking blood from a motorist accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), according to a decision by the appellate division of the New Jersey Superior Court. The court on Tuesday found that police officers from Washington and Hamilton Townships did nothing wrong when they held down Russell Johnston in such a way that his wrist suffered permanent nerve damage as a nurse from Robert Wood Johnson Hospital took his blood.

During the incident, a police officer put his entire weight on one of Johnston's wrists to hold it down and used a handcuff to secure the other. Dr Michael S Grenis testified that Johnston's wrist was damaged as a direct result of the trauma.

"(Johnston) cannot safely lift heavy or fragile objects as the unpredictable sharp jolts of pain that come from any stress on the wrist which stretch the nerve may cause him to drop such fragile or heavy objects," Dr Grenis said during the first trial.

A review of the incident by Joseph J Stine, a former police chief from Pennsylvania, concluded that the level of force used against Johnston was unreasonable and excessive. Johnston sought to bring the question to a jury, but a Mercer County Court judge and the two judge appellate panel disagreed, ruling that no suit could be brought against the officers for the injury inflicted.

"We are satisfied that the actions taken by the police officers to restrain plaintiff were objectively reasonable," the appellate panel ruled. "Defendants are thus entitled to the protections afforded by the qualified immunity doctrine."

Paul Raises Millions in One Day

2007-11-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

From The New York Times

On Monday, a group of Paul supporters helped raised more than $4.07 million in one day — approaching what the campaign raised in the entire last quarter — through a Web site called ThisNovember5th.com, a reference to the day the British commemorate the thwarted bombing.

Among 2008 presidential candidates, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York holds the record for raising the most in a single day: $6.2 million on June 30. But Mr. Paul has surpassed the best day of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who raised $3.14 million on Jan. 8.

Ron Paul Raises $2.4 Million Today!

2007-11-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro

Ron Paul has had quite the fundraising day. The candidate has raised almost $2.4 million today on the campaign’s This November 5th money push. The campaign has a lofty fourth-quarter goal of $12 million, and it is nearly halfway there, according to its Web site with $5.5 million raised so far. The fourth quarter doesn’t end until Dec. 31.

The goal is to raise more than $3.1 million, surpassing the most raised in a day in this campaign by a Republican.

Donate here

Ron Paul on Jay Leno

2007-11-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

Short Video on the Council on Foreign Relations and the Media

2007-10-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

If You Would Even Consider Voting for Hillary...

2007-10-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

I strongly recommend that you watch this documentary: Clinton: His Life.

This film, of course, concentrates on Bill Clinton, but it reveals the depravity of both members of the marriage partnership. You may not find the opening of the documentary very convincing, especially if you are left-leaning. However, I urge you to stick with the film, which reveals in detail the following: Bill’s extreme sexual debauchery, tolerated by Hillary; the Clinton’s mistreatment of state troopers and Secret Service agents assigned to protect them; Bill’s refusal to investigate the Mena affair, in which large amounts of cocaine were trafficked into Arkansas when Bill was governor; the number and nature of mysterious deaths surrounding individuals who crossed the Clintons; and the apparent selling of state secrets to Chinese agents.

You may also want to add this transgression to the list: according to a forthcoming documentary, Hillary was involved in the largest campaign finance scandal in U.S. history. You may watch the trailer for Hillary Uncensored here

Bayer Knowingly Distributed AIDS-contaminated Drug In Foreign Countries

2007-10-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Peace Activists Barred From Entering Canada

2007-10-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

- Until they are "criminally rehabilitated." Canada has been acting more and more like its southern neighbor. Maybe it is all part of the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" leading us into the North American Union...

Read details here: Op-Ed News

Update on Mysterious Death at Phoenix Airport

2007-10-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

The story has subtly shifted: First, Carol Anne Gotbaum was reported to have strangled herself with her own handcuffs, which were behind her back (see earlier post). Now, she is purported to have strangled herself with a chain leading from the handcuffs behind her back to a bench below her: "Police say she strangled herself with her chain."

There is also a witness, who claims the following: "She got her cell phone, broke it on a couple of customers, hit [t]hem, threw it on her." I am not sure exactly what this witness is saying, since his diction is almost incomprehensible. However, I take it that Gotbaum is alleged to have attacked someone or some people with her cell phone. Interestingly, none of the surveillance videos I have seen show any of this.

Whether there has indeed been foul play in this case – as there does seem to be – let us not forget the epidemic of law enforcement brutality sweeping the country. If you need to be convinced of this epidemic, then I recommend the following compendium of videos.

If you do not need to be convinced of this epidemic, I do not think that it is healthy to watch these videos. Highlights include a school security guard breaking a girl’s wrist for dropping a piece of cake, police methodically breaking the arms of nonviolent and passive protestors, and police stalking a young victim of previous brutality. If we go beyond the U.S., we may observe the case of two handicapped men detained at gunpoint for merely looking at British police officers.

Count Those Votes!

2007-10-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

Sad but hilarious video of Texas lawmakers voting for each other.

Was Mother of Three Killed at Phoenix Airport?

2007-10-02T09:30:00.000-07:00

Contortionists worldwide must be mourning the death of Carol Anne Gotbaum. She was an artist of unparalleled talent, if you believe the cops who arrested, trussed, and imprisoned her at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. She died in their custody last Friday because '[she] had possibly tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, got tangled up in the process and they ended up around her neck,' according to Sgt. Andy Hill.

Go ahead: try it. Hold your hands behind your back and raise them. Now you truly appreciate Mrs. Gotbaum’s unbelievable skill: it’s impossible to lift your arms more than a few vertebrae upward. They won’t go anywhere near your neck.

Rest of story here.

More testimony from experts.

[Phoenix Police Sgt.] Hill said it was possible that Gotbaum may have accidentally strangled herself while trying to escape from the handcuffs.

But former law enforcement officers and police tactics trainers said it would be very unusual for that to happen.

'I can't imagine anatomically how you could do that,' said Roy Bedard, a former police officer who now trains officers in defense tactics, including how to use handcuffs and other restraints. 'I have a hard time seeing how you could get tangled up in them.'"

Though the cause of her death remained a mystery, Hill said, 'It appeared as though Ms. Gotbaum had possibly tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, got tangled up in the process, and they ended up around her neck area.'

But most people whose hands are restrained behind their backs try to slip their hands underneath their legs, said Brad Garrett, a former FBI agent. It is possible for people who are double jointed to move their arms above their heads, but even then, Bedard said, their arms would usually be extended and not near their necks.

Garrett said it was too early to know exactly what happened, but that it would be strange for a person to accidentally choke to death on handcuffs. It would also be very difficult for someone to strangle themselves to death on purpose with the handcuffs, Garrett said.

'If she did that, she's a very determined person,' he said.

Dorothy Dietrich, a magician and escape artist, said she also was not sure how someone could choke themselves to death while trying to escape from handcuffs. 'That would be very hard to do,' she said."

Bush Claims Saddam Hussein Killed Nelson Mandela

2007-09-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

From Reuters:

Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader's death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.

"I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.

Insanity: German Government Promotes Father-Daughter Incest

2007-09-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

I believe that the content of the following article is too graphic to post. However, you may read how the German government is explicitly promoting incest and pedophilia here.

Update: Canada Admits Use of Undercover Cops During SPP Protest

2007-08-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

"Quebec police admit they went undercover at Montebello protest"

From the article: "Police said the three [undercover agents] were told to monitor protesters who were not peacefully demonstrating to prevent any violent incidents, but they were called out as undercover agents when they refused to throw objects."

This is clearly false. Other protestors told the agent provocateurs to put down the rock and not start a riot. No one was goading the officers to start a fight. So, if the police are lying about the details of the incident, are they also lying about the purpose of the officers there?

For video of the incident and a good summary of the history of the use of agent provocateurs during anti-globalization protests, see here.

Canadian Police Provocateurs?

2007-08-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

Canadian protesters have accused undercover Canadian police of attempting to instigate a violent confrontation. The protesters were peacefully challenging the “Security and Prosperity Partnership” (SPP), an unlawful agreement being forged by the heads of state of Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. The SPP is widely seen as a move towards a future “North American Union”, where the three countries will abrogate their sovereignty in favor of a European Union-like superstate.

During the protest, three unknown masked men appeared to be planning to throw rocks at a police line. They were confronted by the protesters, who reminded them that it was a peaceful protest. The masked men refused to reveal their identities to the other protesters, and refused to dismiss the notion that they were really police provocateurs. Eventually, they pushed their way into the police line, where they were seemingly arrested. However, there is no record of their arrest, and witnesses claim that the masked men were wearing the exact same boots as the uniformed riot officers.

There have been many claims of undercover police provocateurs during past protests. The speculation is that the provocateurs start a violent confrontation, which is used as an excuse to shoot fleeing women in the back with rubber bullets and generally discredit the protesters. Fortunately, a violent confrontation was averted this time, and the alleged provocateurs were caught on tape.

More details here.

Psychologists For Torture

2007-08-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

Psychology has a relatively short but tarnished history. In the Soviet Union, present-day China, and other countries, the supposedly poor “mental health” of political prisoners has been used as an excuse to incarcerate them indefinitely into mental wards. Psychology and psychiatry have also furnished us with dangerous drugs for “mental disorders”. Ritalin, for example, has similar effects on the brain as cocaine. And antidepressants are increasingly causally linked to suicidal and homicidal behavior – by the internal documents of the drug companies themselves. It may not be a coincidence that every single school shooter has been on antidepressants.

But let us not waste our breath on the history of psychology, for we can merely look at what psychologists are doing now: effectively endorsing torture. A recent APA meeting did, thankfully, ban psychologists from actually torturing victims. However, the APA refused to ban participation in torture centers such as Guantanamo Bay. A Colonel at Guantanamo argued against the ban, saying "If we remove psychologists from these facilities, people are going to die,” to which a psychologist for the ban rightfully replied, "If psychologists have to be there so detainees don't get killed, those conditions are so horrendous that the only moral and ethical thing is to leave." The participation of psychologists at torture facilities clearly abets the practice of torture, keeping victims alive to endure even more unspeakable evils. Most of these victims are, of course, completely innocent. Look at the number of those released from Guantanamo without any charges whatsoever. Psychology has a tarnished history, but even bad men can redeem themselves. It is time for psychologists to find a conscience.

RON PAUL WINS TWO STRAW POLLS!

2007-08-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Ron Paul has won both the Alabama and New Hampshire straw polls. The mainstream media has done everything they could to have slandered Paul, and yet he won both polls by a landslide. America wants a pro-freedom, anti-war candidate. Who is second-tier now? McCain and Giuliani have not done so well...

Here and here.

Karl Rove, The Philosopher

2007-08-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia Populated By Spies, PR Agents

2007-08-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

I had heard that Microsoft was rewriting entries so that its products would look good. I had heard the rumors that CIA agents were using Wikipedia to write political propaganda. Now a CalTech graduate student has proved that these things are the case. Virgil Griffith has developed Wikipedia Scanner, a service to identify anonymous Wikipedia users by IP address and show which articles they have edited. Not only the CIA and Microsoft but Diebold, Congressional offices, Walmart, and political parties have been editing pages in their favor.

I have revised my earlier proposition that we completely boycott Wikipedia. If Wikipedia is the only place to find some “nerd knowledge” about something like an old video game, or if Wikipedia is the only good resource to find links to better, more detailed web pages on some neutral topic, then use Wikipedia in these limited cases as a last resort. Otherwise, if a topic can be tied in any way whatsoever to political or financial interest, avoid Wikipedia. Do not fool yourself into believing that Wikipedia provides unbiased and peer-reviewed articles. In such a case, you are allowing yourself to be duped by spies, lies, and corporate thugs.

Wired article

Wikipedia Scanner

Wikipedia's Response, And My Solution

2007-08-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here is Wikipedia’s official response to my letter:

“Thank you for contacting us regarding the dispute you encountered.

Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia. Since article content is not controlled by a central authority, we do not resolve editing disputes via email. Instead, please follow the steps outlined at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution. These steps are designed to help you work with other editors and to draw upon the help of the wider community.

For discussion on violation of Wikipedia policies and guidelines by a particular user, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/User_conduct

Thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia.

Yours sincerely,
Utkarshraj Atmaram”

Apparently, it is no large concern to Wikipedia that someone is deleting entry pages. The “steps outlined” on the first link they gave me amounts to this: “Have a quiet chat with the person you disagree with. If this does not resolve this issue, turn a blind eye to the problem. If that does not comfort you, try one or several forms of mediation. If you have tried all this and it fails, then maybe we will do something about your problem.” And from what I have gathered from the other link, if you show any signs of bias – like not wanting your work deleted – or anger – like at having your work unjustly deleted – then the odds are against a ruling or mediation in your favor. If this is how Wikipedia wants to run their website, then I say fine.

For I have another idea: boycott Wikipedia. We do not need it, as there are websites for nearly anything that we can think of. Furthermore, it is not an advantage that anyone may re-edit or delete an entry. One, not everyone is qualified to make changes to an entry. Two, it is too easy for people to make changes to entries on account of personal taste, political correctness, or an agenda. Other websites may be ill-informed or biased, but at least the good websites may not be so easily altered by anyone with a motive.

Letter to Wikipedia Concerning User Misconduct

2007-07-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

To Whom It May Concern,
I am concerned about the behavior of one of the Wikipedia users: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Morton_devonshire . He appears to be editing and even shutting down websites merely because he does not like their content. It is my impression that Wikipedia is designed to represent all points of view on subjects and that it is the duty of the reader to decide for himself which viewpoint is most plausible. Editing, I believe, should be reserved for factual errors and new information, and shutting down pages should be only done in extreme circumstances - such as, perhaps, advocacy of violence. I trust that you will look into this matter thoroughly and, if necessary, revoke this user's editing privileges.
Sincerely,
Curtis Sharp

Snow Makes Up Temperatures, No One Notices

2007-07-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

During a press conference, White House press secretary Tony Snow was asked a question about the Iraqi Parliament taking off for the month the August. The question came as critical, since Iraq is in such chaos. Snow, defending the Iraqi Parliament, replied, “You know, it's 130 degrees in Baghdad in August”. Rebuttals to Snow concentrated on the fact that the Iraqi Parliament works in air conditioning, whereas American troops have to work all day in the heat. However, no one seemed to make the obvious point: it does not get to 130 degrees in Baghdad.

I have lived now for a year in west Texas, where it gets quite hot. And yet, I do not believe that the temperature has broken 105 degrees since I have been here. I thought to myself, if the temperature actually rises to 130 degrees in Baghdad, then it would be unbelievably hot. Doubtful of the number Snow provided, I looked it up and found that it was wrong: the average temperature in Baghdad in August is 108 degrees, with the record being 118 degrees. We cannot be charitable towards Snow and say that he was stating the heat index – which takes into account the effect of humidity on temperature – for there should be no heat index in Baghdad: it is a desert.

So what is the big deal? For starters, Snow was off by an average of a whopping 22 degrees. Think of a 22 degree difference at the colder end of the temperature scale: there is a big difference between freezing and 10 degrees. I am not debating with Snow over the fact that it is hot in Baghdad. Rather, I am perturbed that no one in the media caught on to Snow’s obviously incorrect figure. And, I think that this problem goes deeper than the fact that the media is typically uncritical of whatever comes out of the White House. (Frankly, I was even surprised that a reporter asked the question about the Iraqi Parliament taking off.) The deeper problem is this: Americans have no good understanding of the relative importance of numbers. We did not blink when someone told us the outrageously high figure of 130 degrees in Baghdad. Would we have blinked if someone told us 150? What about 212? How dumbed-down are we going to get?

Global Warming Data Page

2007-07-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

On Prison Planet

Live Earth: More Than A Reason To Party?

2007-07-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

The ostensible purpose of the Live Earth concerts was to raise awareness of man-made global warming. I doubt, however, that most of the concert goers did not already believe that global warming is man-made. So, if all the energy put into transportation, lighting, sound, food, sewage, and pamphlets was to have any value at all, the value was not in convincing a large number of people that global warming is truly man-made.

What was the real value, then, of the Live Earth concerts? What could the Live Earth concerts have accomplished that would have offset their substantial “carbon footprint” and generally negative environmental impact? One could reply that the concert goers would have learned about the science of global warming: how we know that man influences the climate to warm, how a warmer climate will be destructive to the earth, and what individuals may do to reduce or erase their own contributions to global warming. The third claim – that concert attendees could learn how to reduce their own carbon footprint – is only relevant if the first two claims are true: 1) that man causes global warming; 2) that global warming will result in some environmental cataclysm. I will maintain that neither of these claims is true. I will take just a few arguments from the BBC documentary on this page to the right, “The Great Global Warming Swindle”.

Claim 1: Man Causes Global Warming

This is the general form of the argument that man is causing the earth to warm:
Man produces CO2.
CO2 causes increases in global temperatures.
Therefore, man is causing increases in global temperatures.

This argument is implicit in Al Gore’s documentary. However, the second premise appears to be false: CO2 does not cause rises in temperatures. Al Gore cites the ice core studies as proof of a correlation between CO2 and temperature increases. There is indeed a correlation between the two, but it does not amount to a causal relationship. In fact, CO2 levels only rise hundreds of years after a temperature increase. Since CO2 levels increase only after temperatures increase, we cannot say that CO2 causes global temperatures to increase. Rather, CO2 increases seem to be an after-effect of temperature increase.

We may also ask ourselves, why are the temperatures of the other planets in the solar system increasing? To my knowledge, no life is on those planets, responsible for increasing the amount of CO2 in those planets’ atmospheres. But scientists are finding that there is a strong correlation between solar activity and rises in the planets’ temperatures. Moreover – unlike the CO2/global warming correlation - the factors in this correlation do not exist hundreds of years apart, and the purported cause does not take place after the purported effect. Though I assume more research must be done, current evidence supports that increases in solar activity may cause increases in the earth’s global temperatures.

Claim 2: Global Warming Will Be Cataclysmic

If the globe warms, we are told, ocean levels will rise, crops will not grow, glaciers will melt, and polar bears will die. Man-made global warming advocates are concerned about the temperatures rising by a few more degrees Celsius. However, the entire globe’s temperatures were already warmer by 3-5 degrees Celsius during the Medieval Warm Period. And yet, neither man nor the polar bears died out. The polar bears were obviously able to adapt to the warming conditions, and there is no evidence of which I am aware that man suffered any during this time. In fact, in northern England, where it is now too cold for grapes to grow, wine vineyards were flourishing.

Conclusion

I have contested that the only value to Live Earth would have been to educate people on the science of man-made global warming: 1) man causes global warming, 2) global warming is bad, and 3) we must each individually reduce our contributions to man-made global warming. I have argued that man does not cause global warming and that global warming appears to be a natural effect of solar activity that does not destroy the planet. I have maintained that, as a consequence, we do not need to take any measures to reduce our “contributions” to global warming.

I have heard people like Al Gore tell us that the debate is over. Mr. Gore, as far as I am concerned, the real debate has just begun. I will say, however, that your big awareness-raising party has demonstrated one thing: there are more than a few people who need to research the matter more fully.

Kissinger On Integrity

2007-06-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

This selection is from the print edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"CIA to Reveal Long-Secret Documents" by Scott Shane, NYT News Service

There was also a conversation in which Henry A. Kissinger, then serving as both secretary of state and national security adviser, denounced the efforts of CIA director William E. Colby to push an aggressive investigation of the agency’s past transgressions.

Kissinger said the accusations then appearing daily about agency misconduct were “worse than in the days of McCarthy.”

“What Colby has done is a disgrace,” Kissinger said.

“Should we suspend him?” Ford asked.

“No,” Kissinger said, “but after the investigation is over, you could move him and put in someone of towering integrity.” A year later, Ford replaced Colby with George H. W. Bush.

[George H. W. Bush a man of "towering integrity"? No comment!]

Common Preservative Damages DNA

2007-06-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

From the Epoch Times:

Research from Sheffield University, U.K., into a common food and drink preservative suggests that it can damage DNA. Sodium benzoate, a mold inhibiter commonly found in Pepsi, Coke, Sprite, other soft drinks, pickles, and sauces, is the culprit.

Peter Piper, professor of molecular biology and biotechnology, who has been working on sodium benzoate since 1999, tested sodium benzoate on living yeast cells. He was alarmed to find that it damaged their mitochondria's DNA.

Concerned, Piper made his research public, telling British newspaper, The Independent, on Sunday, May 27: "These chemicals have the ability to cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally inactivate it—they knock it out altogether."

"The mitochondria consume the oxygen to give you energy, and if you damage it—as happens in a number of diseased states—then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA—Parkinson's and quite a lot of neurodegenerative diseases, but above all, the whole process of aging."

Sodium benzoate occurs naturally in cranberries, apples, milk products, cinnamon, and cloves. According to http://inchem.org, sodium benzoate occurring naturally in foods is about 40 mg/kg. Used as a preservative, it is about 2,000 mg/kg. Historically, benzoic acid came from a dry distillation of gum benzoin. Industrial preparation is now cheaply made from toluene. Sodium benzoate is made from benzoic acid.

The studies the FDA lists are mainly rat and mice studies, which don't appear to show toxicity. Tests made on limited numbers of individuals showed no adverse effects from the 1960s to the 1980s, therefore sodium benzoate and benzoic acid are considered safe by the FDA.

The Hyperactive Children's Support Group of Great Britain takes exception to that and recommends the avoidance of both sodium benzoate and benzoic acid. Piper considers tests done by the FDA "out of date."

A short-term study on rats—feeding them 1,800 mg/kg of sodium benzoate/benzoic acid—produced central nervous system damage. Benzoic acid caused liver pathology and reduced weight. However, these studies are deemed inadequate to determine safety.

The vitamin C (ascorbic acid) added to soft drinks reacts with sodium benzoate to make benzene, a known carcinogen and air pollutant.

Sources:
http://www.inchem.org/documents/cicads/cicads/cicad26.htm#SubSectionNumber:11.1.1
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2586653.ece