Sunday, September 30, 2012
The Sacred Cause of "Officer Safety"
SOURCE
The same could have been said by Pierson about Bassett, who was, after all, just another armed stranger. One critical difference, of course, is that Pierson knew that Bassett’s intentions were malign: After all, the deputy had detained him, which is an act of aggression by any definition.
“It’s just about being safe.”
Thus spoke Deputy Corry Bassett of the Lincoln County,
Wyoming Sheriff’s Office as he
struggled to justify handcuffing Robert Pierson during an August 11, 2011
traffic stop.
Pierson, a Marine combat veteran, had been riding his motorcycle
near Alpine when another motorist called to complain about a biker passing a
number of slow-moving motor homes. Pierson was not charged with a traffic
violation or a criminal offense -- but he was arrested and detained in
handcuffs for 45 minutes because the sight of a Mundane carrying a firearm
caused Bassett to irrigate his underwear.
“I know you have a gun,” Bassett said a few seconds into the
stop, which was recorded
on Pierson’s cell phone. “Are you a cop?”
When Pierson indicated that he was not part of the armed
revenue-extracting caste, Bassett muttered: “OK, what I’m going to do is – put your
hands behind your back right now.”
As he handcuffed the compliant motorist, Bassett explained, “I
don’t like someone with a gun,” while insisting, “You’re not under arrest.”
The second statement is an unalloyed lie: Whenever a police
officer restrains someone, that person is under arrest. The first statement is
a lie by omission: If Pierson had been a police officer, Bassett would not have
complained about him carrying a gun. The category of “someone” thus applies
only to Mundanes, whose very existence is seen as a threat to the unimaginably
precious personages who wear state-issued costumes.
“It’s the first thing you should have told me, [that] you’ve
got a gun,” simpered Bassett, whose panic-tinged voice was thrown into sharp
relief by Pierson’s composure.
“Well, actually I’m not required to tell you in either Idaho
or Wyoming,” Pierson correctly pointed out.
“Yes, you are,” insisted Bassett. “If you’re packing a gun,
I want to know about it.”
“Well, I’m open-carrying,” Pierson observed, stating the
obvious. As Bassett began a rote speech describing the sacred imperative of “officer
safety,” Pierson pointed out that he had done nothing wrong or illegal, that
the deputy’s safety “is not in any way in jeopardy," and that actually “it’s not
my concern.”
“It is!” yelped Bassett. “It’s my concern!”
“My only concern is my personal rights and individual
liberties, which you are violating right now,” noted Pierson.
“No, I am not,” Bassett lied.
“You have me handcuffed,” Pierson reminded the increasingly
petulant officer.
“I handcuffed you for [sic] number one, you did not tell me
you had a gun on you, ‘kay?” Bassett groused. “You do not get off your bike and
face me, and I see a weapon on you! I don’t like that!”
“You asked me if I could get off my bike, and you said `yes,’”
recounted Pierson.
“I
understand your concerns about search and seizure, but you have to understand
one thing about where we’re at in law enforcement,” stated Bassett. “I’m asking
you for my safety. I don’t know you. I don’t know your intentions.”
The same could have been said by Pierson about Bassett, who was, after all, just another armed stranger. One critical difference, of course, is that Pierson knew that Bassett’s intentions were malign: After all, the deputy had detained him, which is an act of aggression by any definition.
Recall
that when Bassett noted that Pierson had a gun, his first question was: “Are
you a cop?” If Pierson had been a fellow member of the Brotherhood of Official
Plunder, this would have allayed Bassett’s concerns.
In
fact, after noticing that Pierson carried a military ID, Bassett suggested that
the detainee should see the encounter in terms of “force security” in a battle
zone.
“You’re
in the military,” Bassett began. “You ever been shot at? Would you like, if you
roll up on somebody you have no idea who they are … wouldn’t it be a question
in your mind if this person’s got weapons on them?”
Bassett,
who never served in the military, clearly saw himself as part of an army of
occupation – and insisted on unqualified submission to his supposed authority.
“Your
safety does not trump my right and my liberty,” Pierson tutored the deputy.
“When
I stop you, yes it does,” asserted Bassett.
“Your
personal safety is more important than all the laws, the Constitution, and every one of my
personal rights and liberties,” summarized Pierson, his voice heavy with
disgusted incredulity.
“When
I’m in a traffic stop, yes,” declared Bassett. “I’m in control of this
situation.”
“The
Constitution is in control of this situation,” Pierson rejoined.
“No
– I am… and if I feel that I’m going to be threatened by the fact that you have
a gun on your side, by hell I’m gonna do it,” concluded Bassett.
Forty-five
minutes later, Deputy Rob Andazola arrived to provide “backup.” At that point, as
Bassett has admitted in a sworn deposition, the deputies offered to
unshackle
Pierson if he allowed Andazola to draw his weapon and shoot the
motorcyclist in the event he made any gesture perceived as a “threat.”
Pierson
didn’t agree to those terms. Eventually a patrol supervisor reached the scene
and acknowledged that the motorcyclist had done nothing wrong. Until that
happened, however, Pierson was handcuffed, disarmed, and entirely at the mercy
of two armed strangers who considered it their right – if not their duty – to kill
him if he displayed any behavior that made them uneasy.
“I
didn’t know whether kicking my leg over the bike, or walking away, or what they
could possibly constitute as a hostile act,” Pierson
told the Associated Press. “And I was a little unnerved by the fact that
they were threatening lethal force with a deadly weapon against a man who was
compliant, in handcuffs, who had been screened.”
In
the sacred cause of “officer safety,” no precaution is excessive, no imposition
unjustified – and no constitutional “guarantee” of individual rights is
binding.
Pierson’s
legitimate concern for citizen safety in the presence of police is underscored
by an incident that occurred near Canton, Ohio just weeks before the traffic
stop in Wyoming.
On
June 8, 2011, Patrolman Daniel Harless of the Canton, Ohio Police
Department, repeatedly threatened to murder the driver, William E.
Bartlett, for carrying a concealed handgun for which he had obtained the
appropriate permit.
At all times, Bartlett was composed and cooperative. He made every effort to comply with the Ohio concealed carry ordinance by notifying Harless that he was carrying a weapon, and displaying his concealed carry license. He was rewarded with a profane outburst in which Harless made it clear that he was eager for a chance to kill somebody.
At all times, Bartlett was composed and cooperative. He made every effort to comply with the Ohio concealed carry ordinance by notifying Harless that he was carrying a weapon, and displaying his concealed carry license. He was rewarded with a profane outburst in which Harless made it clear that he was eager for a chance to kill somebody.
“As soon as I felt
your gun I should have took [sic] two steps back, pulled my Glock 40 and just
put 10 bullets in your ass and let you drop,” ranted Harless. “And I wouldn’t
have lost any sleep.”
After threatening to
“put lumps on” a witness to the incident, Harless told Bartlett, “I’m so close
to caving in your f*****g head…. You’re just a stupid human being…. F*****g
talking to me with a f*****g gun. You want me to pull mine and stick it to your
head?”
Unlike Harless, who was obviously deranged, Bassett and
Andazola did not dissolve into puddles of psychotic rage. But lurking behind their
veneer of “professionalism” was a willingness to commit homicide simply because
the sight of a Mundane with a firearm made them feel kind of funny.
When contacted by Pro Libertate to comment on the case,
Captain John Steztenbach of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office explained that “Our
lawyer has told us that we are to say absolutely nothing about this case. I would
love nothing more that for the other side of the story to be told, and we’re
very frustrated that we can’t tell it, but it’s been made clear that until this
goes to court, we’re not to comment on any aspect of this case.”
Stetzenbach, a courteous and well-spoken Connecticut native,
explained that the gag order applies not only to the details of Pierson’s
arrest, but also to any discussion of the department’s instructions and
guidelines dealing with matters of “officer safety.” After describing how he
had come to the Rocky Mountain West to study at a gunsmith trade school in
Colorado, Stetzenbach proclaimed that both he and the department he serves are “very
pro-Second Amendment,” and promised that when the legal issues are settled he
will be very eager to “tell the whole story.”
“It always amazes me how in situations like this, one side
gets out very quickly, and it’s not ours; that’s really frustrating,” Stetzenbach
complained.
Remember that admission next time you’re told that the
police are here to protect and serve the public.
In this case – as in other “situations” of its kind – the
officers have themselves to blame for the fact that the public hasn’t seen “their
side” of the story, since the dashcam recordings of the encounter have
mysteriously disappeared.
The victim documented the incident, and the chief assailant
has confirmed all of the victim’s key assertions. Res ipsa loquitir.
In his sworn deposition (as paraphrased by the AP), Bassett
admitted that he had been “trained to put his personal safety above the rights
of a citizen openly carrying a handgun.”
“We’re told every day, our safety is first,” Bassett pointed
out. “We’re here to come home every night.”
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Quote Of The Week
"Don't believe them, don't fear them, don't ask anything of them." --Alexander Solzhenityn
Friday, September 28, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Dispossessed Majority by PCR
SOURCE
The bumper sticker on the beat-up pickup truck read: “Friends don’t let friends vote Democrat.”
The driver was obviously not affluent. Yet, despite all the news about mega-trillion dollar bankster bailouts, mega-million dollar bonuses for financial crooks, and unimaginable compensation packages for corporate CEOs who have moved middle class jobs out of America, something made the down-and-out pickup truck driver associate with the political party of the super-rich.
As I wondered at this strange alliance of the dirt poor with the mega-rich, I remembered that in 2004 Thomas Frank wondered about how the Republicans had managed to convince the poor to vote against their best interests. Frank’s answer, or part of his answer, is that the Republicans use “social issues,” such as gay marriage and Janet Jackson’s exposed nipple to work up indignation over the threat to moral values posed by liberal Democrats.
The working poor have been convinced by Republican propaganda that voting Democrat means giving the working poor’s tax dollars to the non-working poor, to providing medical care and schooling for illegal aliens, and being soft on terrorism.
To the pick-up truck driver, standing up for America means standing up for bankster bailouts and the military/security complex’s multi-trillion dollar wars.
The Karl Rove Dirty Tricks Team has honed the Republican propaganda. Republicans send each other via email an endless number of nonsense stories about Obama being a Muslim, about Obama being a Marxist, about Obama being a Manchurian Candidate turning America over to the New World Order or the United Nations, or to some other dastardly plotting organization. But never is Obama accused of turning the US over to Wall Street, the military/security complex, or Israel.
There is never any citation or source for the accusations in the emails. None are needed, because the words are what the Republicans want to hear. Ask them why Obama would be killing Muslims in seven countries if he was a Muslim, or why Wall Street and the military/security complex would put a Marxist in the White House, and they turn purple with rage. Just by asking the obvious questions instead of joining in the denunciations, a person confirms the propaganda that America is threatened by Obama dupes who won’t stand up for the country.
The non-affluent who rage about welfare, medicaid, Obamacare, and public schools can’t seem to put two and two together. The $750 billion TARP bankster bailout, a small part of the total and ongoing bailout, would have sufficed to cover any holes in these budgets for a long time.. Instead, the money went to reward those who caused the financial crisis and threw millions of Americans out of their homes. As far as I know, the pickup truck driver is one of the dispossessed.
The same brainwashed Americans who rage against Obamacare and are lined up to vote for Romney are oblivious to the fact that Romney, while governor of the eastern liberal Democratic state of Massachusetts, had his version of Obamacare enacted at the state level.
The greatest irony about Obamacare is that it was written by the private insurance companies and diverts Medicaid and Medicare funds to their profits. It is socialized medicine alright, but it is socialism for the private insurance companies.
All it took to convince Red staters to go along with the military/security complex squandering $6 trillion on the Iraq and Afghan wars was yellow ribbon decals and a slogan, “support the troops.”
Obama, Republicans claim, won’t stand up to Syria, or against Iran, or for Israel. But Republicans are proud when Romney goes to Israel to slither on his belly pandering to the crazed, blood-thirsty Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, who called Israeli top generals “pussies” for warning against attacking Iran. Romney told Netanyahu, just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it; I am loyal to Israel. Apparently, flag-waving Republican patriots are not bothered when their presidential candidate announces that as soon as he is in office he will turn over US foreign policy to Netanyahu and send more americans to death and bankruptcy for Netanyahu.
Karl Rove didn’t have any trouble at all in brainwashing red staters to support their own demise. The pickup truck driver could just as well have sported a bumper sticker that read: “Don’t support a Democrat. He might do something for you.”
Yes, I know. It is almost as easy to beat up on Democrats. Bush and Cheney and their neocon hoodlums destroyed the Constitution and, thereby, America. But the Democrats let them. It was Nancy Pelosi, who as Speaker of the House stridently declared Bush’s impeachment to be “off the table.”
Bush and Cheney unquestionably violated both US and international laws and the Constitution. Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to hold them accountable established the precedent that the executive branch is no longer accountable to law or to the Constitution. In effect, the executive branch now comprises a dictatorship. It acts outside of law and constitutional restraints. On some issues it still has to consult with Congress or the courts, but as the executive branch’s power and audacity grows, consultation will become a formality and then drop away. Congress will have no more influence than the Roman senate under the empire, and courts will become stages for show trials.
Americans elected Obama president expecting that he would restore the rule of law. Instead, he codified the Bush regime’s transgressions and added some of his own. No one of my generation could have imagined the president of the US sitting in the Oval Office signing off on lists of American citizens to be murdered without evidence or due process of law.
So which do you want? The Republican panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy is war or the Democrat panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy is war? As Gerald Celente wrote in the July issue of the Trends Journal, americans “argue among themselves why their freak is better than the other freak. They will get angry with you if you call their freak a freak. They will actually fight and die to defend their freaks.”
It is extraordinary that millions of americans actually believe fervently that it matters whether Romney freak or Obama freak gets elected. If americans had any sense, they would stay home and not vote. The 1% control the country, and the 99% had just as well own up to it and stay at home. Nothing is going to change because of the ballot box.
What do you suppose the Ron Paul supporters will do? Will they see Romney as the less socialist of the two and vote for the Republicans who stole the nomination from Ron Paul? (Jaret Glenn, “How the GOP Establishment Stole the Nomination from Ron Paul,” published on August 6 on the OpEdNews website. (http://www.opednews.com/populum/printer_friendly.php?content=a&id=154033)
The US is ruled by a private oligarchy. The government is merely their front. The country’s resources are diverted to the pockets of Wall Street, the military/security complex, and to the service of greater Israel. The oil, mining, timber, and agribusiness companies control the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forestry Service, which is why regulation only pertains to the small individual, while fracking, mountaintop removal mining, and pollution of air, water, and soil run wild.
The oligarchs have succeeded in making americans a dispossessed majority in their own country. In November americans will again give their approval to one of the oligarchy’s two candidates.
The bumper sticker on the beat-up pickup truck read: “Friends don’t let friends vote Democrat.”
The driver was obviously not affluent. Yet, despite all the news about mega-trillion dollar bankster bailouts, mega-million dollar bonuses for financial crooks, and unimaginable compensation packages for corporate CEOs who have moved middle class jobs out of America, something made the down-and-out pickup truck driver associate with the political party of the super-rich.
As I wondered at this strange alliance of the dirt poor with the mega-rich, I remembered that in 2004 Thomas Frank wondered about how the Republicans had managed to convince the poor to vote against their best interests. Frank’s answer, or part of his answer, is that the Republicans use “social issues,” such as gay marriage and Janet Jackson’s exposed nipple to work up indignation over the threat to moral values posed by liberal Democrats.
The working poor have been convinced by Republican propaganda that voting Democrat means giving the working poor’s tax dollars to the non-working poor, to providing medical care and schooling for illegal aliens, and being soft on terrorism.
To the pick-up truck driver, standing up for America means standing up for bankster bailouts and the military/security complex’s multi-trillion dollar wars.
The Karl Rove Dirty Tricks Team has honed the Republican propaganda. Republicans send each other via email an endless number of nonsense stories about Obama being a Muslim, about Obama being a Marxist, about Obama being a Manchurian Candidate turning America over to the New World Order or the United Nations, or to some other dastardly plotting organization. But never is Obama accused of turning the US over to Wall Street, the military/security complex, or Israel.
There is never any citation or source for the accusations in the emails. None are needed, because the words are what the Republicans want to hear. Ask them why Obama would be killing Muslims in seven countries if he was a Muslim, or why Wall Street and the military/security complex would put a Marxist in the White House, and they turn purple with rage. Just by asking the obvious questions instead of joining in the denunciations, a person confirms the propaganda that America is threatened by Obama dupes who won’t stand up for the country.
The non-affluent who rage about welfare, medicaid, Obamacare, and public schools can’t seem to put two and two together. The $750 billion TARP bankster bailout, a small part of the total and ongoing bailout, would have sufficed to cover any holes in these budgets for a long time.. Instead, the money went to reward those who caused the financial crisis and threw millions of Americans out of their homes. As far as I know, the pickup truck driver is one of the dispossessed.
The same brainwashed Americans who rage against Obamacare and are lined up to vote for Romney are oblivious to the fact that Romney, while governor of the eastern liberal Democratic state of Massachusetts, had his version of Obamacare enacted at the state level.
The greatest irony about Obamacare is that it was written by the private insurance companies and diverts Medicaid and Medicare funds to their profits. It is socialized medicine alright, but it is socialism for the private insurance companies.
All it took to convince Red staters to go along with the military/security complex squandering $6 trillion on the Iraq and Afghan wars was yellow ribbon decals and a slogan, “support the troops.”
Obama, Republicans claim, won’t stand up to Syria, or against Iran, or for Israel. But Republicans are proud when Romney goes to Israel to slither on his belly pandering to the crazed, blood-thirsty Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, who called Israeli top generals “pussies” for warning against attacking Iran. Romney told Netanyahu, just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it; I am loyal to Israel. Apparently, flag-waving Republican patriots are not bothered when their presidential candidate announces that as soon as he is in office he will turn over US foreign policy to Netanyahu and send more americans to death and bankruptcy for Netanyahu.
Karl Rove didn’t have any trouble at all in brainwashing red staters to support their own demise. The pickup truck driver could just as well have sported a bumper sticker that read: “Don’t support a Democrat. He might do something for you.”
Yes, I know. It is almost as easy to beat up on Democrats. Bush and Cheney and their neocon hoodlums destroyed the Constitution and, thereby, America. But the Democrats let them. It was Nancy Pelosi, who as Speaker of the House stridently declared Bush’s impeachment to be “off the table.”
Bush and Cheney unquestionably violated both US and international laws and the Constitution. Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to hold them accountable established the precedent that the executive branch is no longer accountable to law or to the Constitution. In effect, the executive branch now comprises a dictatorship. It acts outside of law and constitutional restraints. On some issues it still has to consult with Congress or the courts, but as the executive branch’s power and audacity grows, consultation will become a formality and then drop away. Congress will have no more influence than the Roman senate under the empire, and courts will become stages for show trials.
Americans elected Obama president expecting that he would restore the rule of law. Instead, he codified the Bush regime’s transgressions and added some of his own. No one of my generation could have imagined the president of the US sitting in the Oval Office signing off on lists of American citizens to be murdered without evidence or due process of law.
So which do you want? The Republican panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy is war or the Democrat panderer to the rich and Israel whose foreign policy is war? As Gerald Celente wrote in the July issue of the Trends Journal, americans “argue among themselves why their freak is better than the other freak. They will get angry with you if you call their freak a freak. They will actually fight and die to defend their freaks.”
It is extraordinary that millions of americans actually believe fervently that it matters whether Romney freak or Obama freak gets elected. If americans had any sense, they would stay home and not vote. The 1% control the country, and the 99% had just as well own up to it and stay at home. Nothing is going to change because of the ballot box.
What do you suppose the Ron Paul supporters will do? Will they see Romney as the less socialist of the two and vote for the Republicans who stole the nomination from Ron Paul? (Jaret Glenn, “How the GOP Establishment Stole the Nomination from Ron Paul,” published on August 6 on the OpEdNews website. (http://www.opednews.com/populum/printer_friendly.php?content=a&id=154033)
The US is ruled by a private oligarchy. The government is merely their front. The country’s resources are diverted to the pockets of Wall Street, the military/security complex, and to the service of greater Israel. The oil, mining, timber, and agribusiness companies control the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forestry Service, which is why regulation only pertains to the small individual, while fracking, mountaintop removal mining, and pollution of air, water, and soil run wild.
The oligarchs have succeeded in making americans a dispossessed majority in their own country. In November americans will again give their approval to one of the oligarchy’s two candidates.
Follow the Trend: Batman Shooter James Holmes Was On Hardcore Pharmaceutical Drugs
SOURCE
Like virtually all massacre shooters before him, the notorious Batman shooter James Holmes is now reported to have been taking hardcore pharmaceutical drugs. In Holmes’ case, they happen to be the very same drugs that ultimately led to the early death of actor Heath Ledger. With a fix for ‘altering his state of mind’, the ‘Batman shooter’ was heavily hooked on the prescription painkiller Vicodin. Holmes even reportedly dosed up on a pharmaceutical cocktail just before the shooting.
Side effects of Vicodin use, even at ‘recommended’ levels which Holmes likely far exceeded, include ‘altered mental states’ and ‘unusual thoughts or behavior’.
While also abusing the same prescription pharmaceuticals as Heath
Ledger (who played The Joker in a previous Batman), Holmes actually told
police that he was The Joker. The statements made by Holmes
were even curious to many friends and relatives, who said just a year
ago Holmes was seen as an ‘all-American boy’ with an affinity for his
family. It appears what changed was the Batman shooter’s decision to
begin altering his mental state with prescription drug abuse. Abuse
which may have far extended beyond painkillers and potentially included
psychotropic drugs — the very same drugs that almost every single
massacre shooter have taken.
On his online dating profile, Holmes refuses to answer the question as to whether or not he uses drugs and to what extent. In response to the question, Homes writes “prefer not to say.”
In fact, more than 12 million individuals in the United States reported taking prescription painkillers ‘purely for the high‘ that they cause instead of their intended purpose.
As more information comes out on the case, it will likely reveal an increasingly deep history of prescription drug abuse on behalf of Holmes. Just as the Columbine incident continued to develop into a horrific story of drug abuse and an obsession with mind alteration, it appears this case will follow a similar trend.
Explore More:
Like virtually all massacre shooters before him, the notorious Batman shooter James Holmes is now reported to have been taking hardcore pharmaceutical drugs. In Holmes’ case, they happen to be the very same drugs that ultimately led to the early death of actor Heath Ledger. With a fix for ‘altering his state of mind’, the ‘Batman shooter’ was heavily hooked on the prescription painkiller Vicodin. Holmes even reportedly dosed up on a pharmaceutical cocktail just before the shooting.
Side effects of Vicodin use, even at ‘recommended’ levels which Holmes likely far exceeded, include ‘altered mental states’ and ‘unusual thoughts or behavior’.
On his online dating profile, Holmes refuses to answer the question as to whether or not he uses drugs and to what extent. In response to the question, Homes writes “prefer not to say.”
Batman Shooter on Drugs Deadlier than Cocaine, Heroin Combined
Prescription painkillers alone have been shown to be even deadlier and more damaging than many illegal drugs. In 2008, more Americans died from pharmaceuticals painkillers than illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin combined. Going even further, statistical analysis reveals that prescription drug deaths outnumber traffic accidents when it comes to fatalities. One reason for this is the change in mental activity, which can potentially lead to destructive and radical behavior.In fact, more than 12 million individuals in the United States reported taking prescription painkillers ‘purely for the high‘ that they cause instead of their intended purpose.
As more information comes out on the case, it will likely reveal an increasingly deep history of prescription drug abuse on behalf of Holmes. Just as the Columbine incident continued to develop into a horrific story of drug abuse and an obsession with mind alteration, it appears this case will follow a similar trend.
- Was the Sikh Temple Shooting Suspect Also Dosed Up on Legal Drugs?
- More Deaths from Pharmaceutical Painkillers than Cocaine and Heroin Combined
- Arizona Shooter Jared Lee Loughner Most Likely on Psychotropic Drugs
- The Top Pharmaceutical Drugs Causing Cognitive-Related Damage
- Behind ADD | Drugs, Solutions, and Pharmaceutical Lies
- Asthma Drugs Kill More than Asthma, FDA Ignores Risk
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
US Police Can Legally Discriminate Against People With Above Average IQ
I think I have posted about this before, but it is so important I will do it again just to be sure.
SOURCE
A Federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a man who was barred from the New London police force because he scored too high on an intelligence test.
In a ruling made public on Tuesday, Judge Peter C. Dorsey of the United States District Court in New Haven agreed that the plaintiff, Robert Jordan, was denied an opportunity to interview for a police job because of his high test scores. But he said that that did not mean Mr. Jordan was a victim of discrimination.
Judge Dorsey ruled that Mr. Jordan was not denied equal protection because the city of New London applied the same standard to everyone: anyone who scored too high was rejected.
Mr. Jordan, 48, who has a bachelor's degree in literature and is an officer with the State Department of Corrections, said he was considering an appeal. ''I was eliminated on the basis of my intellectual makeup,'' he said. ''It's the same as discrimination on the basis of gender or religion or race.''
SOURCE
A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.
“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”
He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.
Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.
Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.
Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.
But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.
Jordan has worked as a prison guard since he took the test.
SOURCE
A Federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a man who was barred from the New London police force because he scored too high on an intelligence test.
In a ruling made public on Tuesday, Judge Peter C. Dorsey of the United States District Court in New Haven agreed that the plaintiff, Robert Jordan, was denied an opportunity to interview for a police job because of his high test scores. But he said that that did not mean Mr. Jordan was a victim of discrimination.
Judge Dorsey ruled that Mr. Jordan was not denied equal protection because the city of New London applied the same standard to everyone: anyone who scored too high was rejected.
Mr. Jordan, 48, who has a bachelor's degree in literature and is an officer with the State Department of Corrections, said he was considering an appeal. ''I was eliminated on the basis of my intellectual makeup,'' he said. ''It's the same as discrimination on the basis of gender or religion or race.''
SOURCE
A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.
“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”
He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.
Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.
Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.
Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.
But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.
Jordan has worked as a prison guard since he took the test.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Glenn Beck Attacks Ron Paul Supporters
Well it's been a long time since I have had an article with the good shabbas goy Glenn Beck in it.
So let me get this straight, in 08 Beck says RP supporters are "terrorists" sometime around 2010 he says RP is the wisest man ever, now in 2012 he says that RP supporters need to give it up and rally behind the pro abortion, pro war, pro tax, pro universal healthcare Romney. And you think Glenn Beck really has core convictions?
Check out the "Glenn Beck" tag for more stories shining light on this snake.
SOURCE
Today, Glenn Beck on his radio show called on Ron Paul supporters to stop supporting Ron Paul, he is not running. Prior to that statement, Beck also stated that he’s an Independent and not a Republican or a Democrat and discussed the polls numbers between Romney and Obama with his co-host, Pat Gray.
Beck's comments came toward the end of the show when Beck stated his views about the Ron Paul supporters and said, “Ron Paul people, I have had it up to here.”
“Romney called the Fed and begged them not to do this. Romney is not an “abolish” the Fed guy but at least he’s a “Let’s not burn the country down guy”,” Glenn said.
Glenn went on to say, “You guys are so delusional you’re going to lead to the Arab Spring. What is wrong with you people? Ron Paul is not running. He’s not running.”
“Please by all that is holy, don’t split that vote,” Pat said in reference to libertarians who want to vote for Gary Johnson.
“If you think he can win God bless you then vote for him. If you’re trying to make some point you’re out of your mind,” Glenn added.
On Obama if he is reelected, Beck stated, “Obama’s going to be worse than he was in the first four years. What do you think when he says I’m going to get a little more latitude when I’m elected the second time? What do you think he’s going to do?”
The full broadcast segment can be seen here.
So let me get this straight, in 08 Beck says RP supporters are "terrorists" sometime around 2010 he says RP is the wisest man ever, now in 2012 he says that RP supporters need to give it up and rally behind the pro abortion, pro war, pro tax, pro universal healthcare Romney. And you think Glenn Beck really has core convictions?
Check out the "Glenn Beck" tag for more stories shining light on this snake.
SOURCE
Today, Glenn Beck on his radio show called on Ron Paul supporters to stop supporting Ron Paul, he is not running. Prior to that statement, Beck also stated that he’s an Independent and not a Republican or a Democrat and discussed the polls numbers between Romney and Obama with his co-host, Pat Gray.
Beck's comments came toward the end of the show when Beck stated his views about the Ron Paul supporters and said, “Ron Paul people, I have had it up to here.”
“Romney called the Fed and begged them not to do this. Romney is not an “abolish” the Fed guy but at least he’s a “Let’s not burn the country down guy”,” Glenn said.
Glenn went on to say, “You guys are so delusional you’re going to lead to the Arab Spring. What is wrong with you people? Ron Paul is not running. He’s not running.”
“Please by all that is holy, don’t split that vote,” Pat said in reference to libertarians who want to vote for Gary Johnson.
“If you think he can win God bless you then vote for him. If you’re trying to make some point you’re out of your mind,” Glenn added.
On Obama if he is reelected, Beck stated, “Obama’s going to be worse than he was in the first four years. What do you think when he says I’m going to get a little more latitude when I’m elected the second time? What do you think he’s going to do?”
The full broadcast segment can be seen here.
Monday, September 17, 2012
A World Sit Rep 9/16/12
SOURCE
Here is a summary of where the world stands:
- Unable to reach a compromise over the weekend, South Africa is now in an all out labor strike, with the police again firing rubber bullets at miners with lethal escalation guaranteed
- Back from vacation, the once again penniless citizens of Spain, Greece, and Portugal have resumed protesting austerity
- US embassies attacked, in many cases with numerous casualties, in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Lebanon, India, Balgadesh, Indonesia, and others.
- Japan "appropriating" China-contested islands provoking a firestorm of retaliation including demands for "war with Japan"
- The Japanese ambassador to China dying mysteriously
- Netanyahu telling Meet the Press Iran will have a nuke in six-seven months and must be stopped beforehand
- Warships from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, launching a military exercise in the Straits of Hormuz
- A third US aircraft - the CVN-74 Stennis - carrier is en route to Iran with an ETA of about 10 days
- And finally, a potential catalyst to light this whole mess on fire, Iran's Revolutionary Guard announcing that its troops are now on the ground in Syria.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Tom Woods: My Memories Of Jesse Benton
SOURCE
Ron Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton is going to head up the campaign of Mitch McConnell. Gee, now why did those incorrigible naysayers have so many unkind words for him?
People who said Benton was positioning himself all along for bigger things in the GOP were scoffed at. Why, Jesse has a secret plan to get Ron Paul the nomination at the last minute!
Well, now we know the real secret plan.
Ask yourself this: how much money would you have to be paid to work for an enemy of the things you’re supposed to stand for? Maybe now people will understand why Jesse would fly into a tirade after some of Ron’s most heroic moments, when the rest of us were cheering.
I could go through a lengthy catalogue of problems with Benton. The grassroots folks already know a lot of them, so there’s probably no need. What’s done is done.
Not that the world revolves around me, but just a word about how I was treated. Early on in the campaign I posted a note that under the circumstances I thought was astonishingly restrained. I said that if the fundraising success of 2008 was to be surpassed, the grassroots would have to be persuaded that professionals would be brought on this time, that debate coaching would take place as it does in all other campaigns, etc. Nothing could have been more obvious than that. And this was obviously the note of a friend, not an enemy.
Now here’s how a professional would have handled a situation like this, in which a longtime supporter is unhappy but obviously still on the team in the broad sense. “X, we understand your sentiments, which are shared by practically everyone, and we’ll be ensuring that these changes are made. Your input is always welcome,” etc.
Jesse, on the other hand, denounced me in a series of emails, and made perfectly clear that I was to be cut off from everything — the campaign, Campaign for Liberty, etc. He referred to my “boorish behavior” (you know me — always the boor), and told me from now on to leave him and his family alone. Nice touch, that last part, implying that I was likely to stalk his wife.
Naively, I assumed another top person, whom I will not name, would be as appalled at Jesse’s behavior toward a longtime supporter as I was. So I (gleefully) forwarded the correspondence to him, only to be told that Jesse’s conduct was not unprofessional at all [!]. But I would not technically be banned from C4L, I was told.
So I just went ahead and made a whole bunch of videos, viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, and wrote a whole bunch of articles (here’s my favorite), on my own during the campaign in defense of Ron against his critics. I was not earning a five-figure monthly salary for this.
I then went ahead and signed on with Revolution PAC. (I resigned from it in March of this year, because I had said from the beginning that I would be on board only through Super Tuesday. Also, it was a very busy time in my life, and I felt I couldn’t contribute enough.) The excuse for my absolute exclusion from everything, put forth by the official yes-men, is that my involvement in the PAC erected a legal obstacle to any involvement in the campaign.
This particular lie has the sequence of events reversed. I joined the PAC only after I had been blacklisted. But I kept my mouth shut during the campaign every time I saw people say, “Woods isn’t allowed to work with the campaign because of the PAC.” I never corrected anyone. I kept the real story a secret for Ron’s sake. No one on earth can fail to understand why I might want to tell it now, to set the record straight.
And no, I wasn’t looking to be hired so I could get that five-figure monthly salary. I was prepared to work for free.
Another potential excuse would be that as a radical libertarian, I wouldn’t know how to pitch Ron to a GOP audience. This is as wrong as wrong can be, and I have the converts to prove it. As a former mainstream GOPer myself, I know exactly how to frame the argument to win them over.
For months and months, the top two people spun everything I did in the most negative light possible, in order to poison my reputation with people I respect. They don’t know I know this. But I’m happy to say I have friends everywhere, and they are loyal.
Again, I kept my mouth shut. And again, no one on earth can seriously expect me to continue doing so.
Of the various lies Jesse told about me, the least damaging was the claim that I had called him a — well, it’s a word I would never say. The actual story was this: in 2010 I was having drinks with Iowa Ron Paul GOP people, and Jesse was there. I mentioned the name of an old college friend of mine I thought Jesse might know, and Jesse shouted out, with an important Christian Right Ron Paul guy right there, “X [my college friend] is a —-sucker!” Classy. I reminded Jesse of this incident when he complained of my allegedly boorish behavior. At that moment, the story began to spread that I had called Jesse a you-know-what.
This particular lie I made no special effort to refute. I joked with people that if the grassroots heard that I had called Jesse that name, I’d be a hero.
So Benton is gone, but is Bentonism alive and well? Bentonism is the playing down of Ron Paul’s most popular and important ideas, the impatience with and purging of people who champion those ideas, and an obsessive eye to GOP respectability. Is that what the “liberty movement” is? Then count me out.
Finally, please note that I stand to gain nothing by clearing the air like this. Nothing but grief and more burned bridges. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do, regardless of the consequences for yourself. It’s quite possible that this person will make his way back into our circles at some point, and I want to urge people not even to consider donating to anything with his name on it.
Incidentally, if Rand Paul intends to run in 2016, the single most effective way he could convey to the public that he is not really serious, and that people should withhold their donations, would be to hire Jesse Benton.
Ron Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton is going to head up the campaign of Mitch McConnell. Gee, now why did those incorrigible naysayers have so many unkind words for him?
People who said Benton was positioning himself all along for bigger things in the GOP were scoffed at. Why, Jesse has a secret plan to get Ron Paul the nomination at the last minute!
Well, now we know the real secret plan.
Ask yourself this: how much money would you have to be paid to work for an enemy of the things you’re supposed to stand for? Maybe now people will understand why Jesse would fly into a tirade after some of Ron’s most heroic moments, when the rest of us were cheering.
I could go through a lengthy catalogue of problems with Benton. The grassroots folks already know a lot of them, so there’s probably no need. What’s done is done.
Not that the world revolves around me, but just a word about how I was treated. Early on in the campaign I posted a note that under the circumstances I thought was astonishingly restrained. I said that if the fundraising success of 2008 was to be surpassed, the grassroots would have to be persuaded that professionals would be brought on this time, that debate coaching would take place as it does in all other campaigns, etc. Nothing could have been more obvious than that. And this was obviously the note of a friend, not an enemy.
Now here’s how a professional would have handled a situation like this, in which a longtime supporter is unhappy but obviously still on the team in the broad sense. “X, we understand your sentiments, which are shared by practically everyone, and we’ll be ensuring that these changes are made. Your input is always welcome,” etc.
Jesse, on the other hand, denounced me in a series of emails, and made perfectly clear that I was to be cut off from everything — the campaign, Campaign for Liberty, etc. He referred to my “boorish behavior” (you know me — always the boor), and told me from now on to leave him and his family alone. Nice touch, that last part, implying that I was likely to stalk his wife.
Naively, I assumed another top person, whom I will not name, would be as appalled at Jesse’s behavior toward a longtime supporter as I was. So I (gleefully) forwarded the correspondence to him, only to be told that Jesse’s conduct was not unprofessional at all [!]. But I would not technically be banned from C4L, I was told.
So I just went ahead and made a whole bunch of videos, viewed by hundreds of thousands of people, and wrote a whole bunch of articles (here’s my favorite), on my own during the campaign in defense of Ron against his critics. I was not earning a five-figure monthly salary for this.
I then went ahead and signed on with Revolution PAC. (I resigned from it in March of this year, because I had said from the beginning that I would be on board only through Super Tuesday. Also, it was a very busy time in my life, and I felt I couldn’t contribute enough.) The excuse for my absolute exclusion from everything, put forth by the official yes-men, is that my involvement in the PAC erected a legal obstacle to any involvement in the campaign.
This particular lie has the sequence of events reversed. I joined the PAC only after I had been blacklisted. But I kept my mouth shut during the campaign every time I saw people say, “Woods isn’t allowed to work with the campaign because of the PAC.” I never corrected anyone. I kept the real story a secret for Ron’s sake. No one on earth can fail to understand why I might want to tell it now, to set the record straight.
And no, I wasn’t looking to be hired so I could get that five-figure monthly salary. I was prepared to work for free.
Another potential excuse would be that as a radical libertarian, I wouldn’t know how to pitch Ron to a GOP audience. This is as wrong as wrong can be, and I have the converts to prove it. As a former mainstream GOPer myself, I know exactly how to frame the argument to win them over.
For months and months, the top two people spun everything I did in the most negative light possible, in order to poison my reputation with people I respect. They don’t know I know this. But I’m happy to say I have friends everywhere, and they are loyal.
Again, I kept my mouth shut. And again, no one on earth can seriously expect me to continue doing so.
Of the various lies Jesse told about me, the least damaging was the claim that I had called him a — well, it’s a word I would never say. The actual story was this: in 2010 I was having drinks with Iowa Ron Paul GOP people, and Jesse was there. I mentioned the name of an old college friend of mine I thought Jesse might know, and Jesse shouted out, with an important Christian Right Ron Paul guy right there, “X [my college friend] is a —-sucker!” Classy. I reminded Jesse of this incident when he complained of my allegedly boorish behavior. At that moment, the story began to spread that I had called Jesse a you-know-what.
This particular lie I made no special effort to refute. I joked with people that if the grassroots heard that I had called Jesse that name, I’d be a hero.
So Benton is gone, but is Bentonism alive and well? Bentonism is the playing down of Ron Paul’s most popular and important ideas, the impatience with and purging of people who champion those ideas, and an obsessive eye to GOP respectability. Is that what the “liberty movement” is? Then count me out.
Finally, please note that I stand to gain nothing by clearing the air like this. Nothing but grief and more burned bridges. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do, regardless of the consequences for yourself. It’s quite possible that this person will make his way back into our circles at some point, and I want to urge people not even to consider donating to anything with his name on it.
Incidentally, if Rand Paul intends to run in 2016, the single most effective way he could convey to the public that he is not really serious, and that people should withhold their donations, would be to hire Jesse Benton.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
An Israeli Sayan’s Marching Orders: Libertarian National Finance Chairman Wayne Allyn Root is Tanking the Election
Ever since I found out Root was jewish and I began researching him in 2008 I was very suspicious. He comes off like a promoter (go figure) not someone who has deep seated values. His loyalty became very apparent this election cycle where Root gave no help to the Ron Paul campaign and in fact slandered them on RT.
This is a good article by Mark Dankof.
SOURCE
I still miss my late father, over 3 years after his passing. You can catch up on his life history here, if you are not already acquainted with who he was, and still is.
He taught me a great deal from the inside about the worlds of traveling, government, politics, sports, and human nature. His wisdom and insight always amazed me, coming from a small German American town in the American Midwest at the height of the Great Depression from a family that had nothing when it came to money, property, or education. It would be college football, World War II, the Army Air Corps, and my father’s own initiative that would change his destiny. God directed it. My father followed it.
Last night I had a dream. The dream was striking, in that when I awakened at 0217 this morning, I realized that what I saw in this nocturnal vision in the night was absolutely factual in reality, in what it depicted from over 43 years ago.
I was back in my parents’ TV room adjacent to the living room on the first floor, in south Dayton, Ohio (Oakwood) on Far Hills Avenue (south Main). My father was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and its then Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC). I was in the 8th grade again. It was early January of 1969.
Dad and I had the TV on. We were watching the NFL Today on CBS. The discussion was on the impending Super Bowl III matchup between the Don Shula coached Baltimore Colts (NFL), and the Weeb Eubank coached New York Jets (AFL) quarterbacked by counter cultural hero, Joe Namath.
The commentator was the late Bruce Roberts. He was mentioning that the betting point spread on the game was 18 points. Baltimore was an unheard of 18 point favorite to vanquish the Jets. It was obvious to me at the age of 13. Baltimore was a shoo-in.
Some other people came into the room. These were other Air Force officers who had come to my parents’ home for a New Year’s Party. They agreed with the betting line and the consensus of the NFL Today. The Colts could begin dusting off the shelf in the trophy cabinet, to make room for the World Championship Trophy already theirs.
My father said nothing. He inquired about everyone’s food and drinks. He had me accompany him to the kitchen to help my mother retrieve more goodies.
Late that night, when everyone else was gone and my mother already asleep, my father and I returned to the subject of the Super Bowl and the point spread.
He became very serious when I repeated the mantra of the NFL Today that the Colts were a shoo-in.
“Don’t be so sure on this. You remember the 8-1 spread favoring Liston over Clay (Mohammad Ali) in Miami Beach in February of ’64?”
“Yes.”
“You and I listened to that fight on my transitor radio in Alabama. You remember what happened.”
I began to get his drift. He continued.
“This really smells to me, Mark. I learned a long time ago, something you should never forget.”
“What’s that, Dad?”
“A point spread of this margin, in a game of this magnitude, spells fix. It really smells to me. Look out.”
Dad’s pigskin prediction credentials won out. The smelliest of the smelliest in what happened occurred in the first half. It is chronicled for posterity by Wikipedia. I still occasionally see Tom Matte, Earl Morrall, and Jimmy Orr in my night thoughts decades later:
“On their ensuing possession, Baltimore went from their own 20-yard line to New York’s 15-yard line in three plays, aided by Matte’s 58-yard run. But with 2 minutes left in the half, Morrall was intercepted again, at the Jets’ 2-yard line, deflating the Colts considerably. The Jets then were forced to punt on their ensuing drive, and the Colts advanced the ball to New York’s 41-yard line. What followed is one of the most famous plays in Super Bowl history. Baltimore tried a flea flicker play, which had a huge impact on the momentum of the game. Matte ran off right tackle after taking a handoff, then pitched the ball back to Morrall. The play completely fooled the NBC Camera Crew, and the Jets defense, leaving receiver Jimmy Orr wide open near the end zone. However, Morrall failed to spot him and instead threw a pass intended for running back Jerry Hill that was intercepted by Jets safety Jim Hudson as time expired, maintaining the Jets’ 7-0 lead at halftime. Earlier in the season, against the Atlanta Falcons, on the same play, Morrall had completed the same pass for a touchdown to Orr, the play’s intended target. “I was the primary receiver,” Orr said later. “Earl said he just didn’t see me. I was open from here to Tampa.” “I’m just a lineman, but I looked up and saw Jimmy open”, added center Bill Curry. “I don’t know what happened.”
Years later, Colts lineman Bubba Smith said the game had been fixed. Talk swirled around then Colts owner, Carroll Rosenbloom, a known consorter with gamblers and rather loose with betting money of his own. Rosenbloom died a decade later in a “drowning accident,” the subject of a documentary by the late Jessica Savitch of NBC News which suggested Rosenbloom’s demise wasn’t an accident, but that the longtime NFL denizen and sports gambler had been pulled under the water by several men in scuba diving gear. The truth? We will never know.
But it really smells to me.
Fast forward to 2012. The subject is Presidential politics in an election year. I’m already on record with Press TV in stating the obvious: The winner of the election is the Israeli Lobby and the War Party.
Let us then proceed to the less obvious. What in hell is Libertarian Party National Campaign Chairman Wayne Allyn Root doing hurting his own 3rd party candidates by flacking for Mitt Romney on Rupert Murdoch’s Israeli-friendly News Corp owned Fox News, with puff pieces like, “A Gold Medal for Romney in Tampa?”
The Libertarian-oriented Reason magazine for “Free Minds and Free Markets” is also wondering what is going on with this quixotic loon. They’ve got it partially figured out, as evidenced by this paragraph in the Mike Riggs op-ed:
“Root’s bio identifies him as ‘a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee’ and ‘Chairman of the LibertarianNational Campaign Committee’ and the author of a book titled ‘The Conscience of a Libertarian.’ You know what that means? It means Wayne Allyn Root is an ambassador for libertarianism, and that his columns are a direct reflection on the Libertarian Party, which has several times elected him to prominent positions despite the fact that he is a glistening PR disaster.
“Then again, nowhere in his piece for The Blaze does Root mention a single Libertarian candidate for office. This is probably a good thing, but also odd, because it’s campaign season, and the job of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee is torun Libertarian Party candidates at the local, state, and congressional levels. Mitt Romney is not a candidate for local, state, or congressional office, and he is not a Libertarian (or even a libertarian).
“So why is Wayne Allyn Root giving Romney free campaign advice, when he should be talking to, and about, Libertarian Party candidates? Are the heads of Democratic and Republican organizations writing insane memos telling Gary Johnson how to beat Obama, the bad-grade-getter? Are they telling down-ticket Libertarian Party candidates how to deflect questions about their finances?
“NOPE.
“That Root writes about Romney as if Gary Johnson did not exist is awful. What’s worse is that articles like Root’s repel the kind of people Johnson needs in November.
“As for anyone who’s still upset about The Weekly Standard’s description of this year’s LP convention as a “goat rodeo”: Why don’t you direct your rage at the clown running the Libertarian National Campaign Committee?”
This really smells to me.
And then my dream about Dad this morning and Super Bowl III in 1969 enabled me to put it together. There is another Wayne Allyn Root gig on Fox News which is the Rosetta Stone in understanding how and why the Fix is In. Wayne Allyn Root is no Libertarian. He is a Zionist Jew, a Neo-Conservative, a War Party infiltrator of the only American 3rd party which can seriously divert from Romney’s vote totals in the critical states of Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado, the make-or-break states for Mitt and Sheldon Adelson in this election. The evidence is here. Is Wayne Allyn Root the War Party’s ace-in-the-hole for their ultimate ace-in-the-hole in launching a war with Iran, good ol’ Mitt? What is being leveraged against Mr. Obama here? Are General Martin Dempsey’s remarks an indication that Netanyahu has now been forced to call in his chips with the Power Brokers who want war with Tehran? That Obama will be now be replaced at all costs? Time will tell.
Does all of this provide the real explanation as to why the Libertarian Party National Finance Chairman is flacking for the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) crowd? Flacking for a guy who disenfranchised Ron Paul delegates at last week’s Republican National Convention? What does Wayne Allyn Root believe about the Fed, fiat money, fractional reserve banking, the USA Patriot Acts, NSA Warrantless Wiretapping, the Department of Homeland Security, credit default swaps, mortgage banked securities, TARP, and derivatives? Does this “Libertarian” buy Romney’s recent statements about Russia? Does he support trillion dollar defense budgets? 10 billion a month in Afghanistan? 5 trillion dollar expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan before counting costs in Libya? Syria? Preemptive war with Iran despite the NIE on Iran that debunks Israel’s propaganda through Fox News about an “imminent Iranian nuclear threat?” What about the Lavon Affair, Mr. Root? The Kennedy Assassination? The USS Liberty attack? The Pollard Spy Case, and the later AIPAC, Ben-Ami, and Novette spy cases? What about Dr. Robert Sungenis’s case for Culture Wars on Israel and 9-11, Mr. Root?
Fiat money, Perpetual War, Perpetual Intervention Abroad, a Foreign Lobby buying American elections and controlling American foreign policy, and a burgeoning domestic police state largely undertaken at the behest of the Zionist State of Israel. All apparently supported, of course, by the Libertarian Party’s National Campaign Finance Chairman as he works to get Mitt Romney elected.
It makes perfect sense to me. This guy isn’t a quixotic loon at all.
It really smells to me. The Fix is In.
What if I have a slightly different version of last night’s dream about the Super Bowl tonight, only pertaining to the Presidential election of 2012?
Try this on for size in the wee hours of the night as a political postmortem in the netherworld:
“On their ensuing possession, The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party went from their own 20-yard line to The Zionist War Party’s 15-yard line in three plays, aided by Ron Paul’s 58-yard run. But with 2 minutes left in the half, Wayne Allyn Root was intercepted again, at The Zionist War Party’s 2-yard line, deflating The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party considerably. The Zionist War Party was then were forced to punt on its ensuing drive, and The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party advanced the ball to The Zionist War Party’s 41-yard line. What followed is one of the most famous plays in American political history before the end of the American Empire. The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party tried a desperation last ditch flea-flicker, which had a huge impact on the momentum of the game. Ron Paul ran off right tackle after taking a handoff, then pitched the ball back to Wayne Allyn Root. The play completely fooled the NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox Camera Crews, and The Zionist War Party’s defense, leaving receiver Gary Johnson wide open near the end zone. However, Wayne Allyn Root failed to spot him and instead threw a pass intended for running back Lew Rockwell that was intercepted by William Kristol of The Weekly Standard as time expired, maintaining The Zionist War Party’s 7-0 lead at halftime. Earlier in the season, against the Constitution Party, on the same play, Root had completed the same pass for a touchdown to Gary Johnson, the play’s intended target. “I was the primary receiver,” Johnson said later. “Wayne said he just didn’t see me. I was open from here to Tampa, to Mitt Romney’s suite entrance.” “I’m just a lineman, but I looked up and saw Gary open”, added grass-roots Libertarian activist Karen De Coster. “I don’t know what happened.”
This really smells to me. And hopefully to you, the reader, by now. The Fix is Truly In. My radio show listeners smelled it yesterday as well. Listen to that show for The Ugly Truth. Pleasant dreams. . . .
This is a good article by Mark Dankof.
SOURCE
I still miss my late father, over 3 years after his passing. You can catch up on his life history here, if you are not already acquainted with who he was, and still is.
He taught me a great deal from the inside about the worlds of traveling, government, politics, sports, and human nature. His wisdom and insight always amazed me, coming from a small German American town in the American Midwest at the height of the Great Depression from a family that had nothing when it came to money, property, or education. It would be college football, World War II, the Army Air Corps, and my father’s own initiative that would change his destiny. God directed it. My father followed it.
Last night I had a dream. The dream was striking, in that when I awakened at 0217 this morning, I realized that what I saw in this nocturnal vision in the night was absolutely factual in reality, in what it depicted from over 43 years ago.
I was back in my parents’ TV room adjacent to the living room on the first floor, in south Dayton, Ohio (Oakwood) on Far Hills Avenue (south Main). My father was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and its then Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC). I was in the 8th grade again. It was early January of 1969.
Dad and I had the TV on. We were watching the NFL Today on CBS. The discussion was on the impending Super Bowl III matchup between the Don Shula coached Baltimore Colts (NFL), and the Weeb Eubank coached New York Jets (AFL) quarterbacked by counter cultural hero, Joe Namath.
The commentator was the late Bruce Roberts. He was mentioning that the betting point spread on the game was 18 points. Baltimore was an unheard of 18 point favorite to vanquish the Jets. It was obvious to me at the age of 13. Baltimore was a shoo-in.
Some other people came into the room. These were other Air Force officers who had come to my parents’ home for a New Year’s Party. They agreed with the betting line and the consensus of the NFL Today. The Colts could begin dusting off the shelf in the trophy cabinet, to make room for the World Championship Trophy already theirs.
My father said nothing. He inquired about everyone’s food and drinks. He had me accompany him to the kitchen to help my mother retrieve more goodies.
Late that night, when everyone else was gone and my mother already asleep, my father and I returned to the subject of the Super Bowl and the point spread.
He became very serious when I repeated the mantra of the NFL Today that the Colts were a shoo-in.
“Don’t be so sure on this. You remember the 8-1 spread favoring Liston over Clay (Mohammad Ali) in Miami Beach in February of ’64?”
“Yes.”
“You and I listened to that fight on my transitor radio in Alabama. You remember what happened.”
I began to get his drift. He continued.
“This really smells to me, Mark. I learned a long time ago, something you should never forget.”
“What’s that, Dad?”
“A point spread of this margin, in a game of this magnitude, spells fix. It really smells to me. Look out.”
Dad’s pigskin prediction credentials won out. The smelliest of the smelliest in what happened occurred in the first half. It is chronicled for posterity by Wikipedia. I still occasionally see Tom Matte, Earl Morrall, and Jimmy Orr in my night thoughts decades later:
“On their ensuing possession, Baltimore went from their own 20-yard line to New York’s 15-yard line in three plays, aided by Matte’s 58-yard run. But with 2 minutes left in the half, Morrall was intercepted again, at the Jets’ 2-yard line, deflating the Colts considerably. The Jets then were forced to punt on their ensuing drive, and the Colts advanced the ball to New York’s 41-yard line. What followed is one of the most famous plays in Super Bowl history. Baltimore tried a flea flicker play, which had a huge impact on the momentum of the game. Matte ran off right tackle after taking a handoff, then pitched the ball back to Morrall. The play completely fooled the NBC Camera Crew, and the Jets defense, leaving receiver Jimmy Orr wide open near the end zone. However, Morrall failed to spot him and instead threw a pass intended for running back Jerry Hill that was intercepted by Jets safety Jim Hudson as time expired, maintaining the Jets’ 7-0 lead at halftime. Earlier in the season, against the Atlanta Falcons, on the same play, Morrall had completed the same pass for a touchdown to Orr, the play’s intended target. “I was the primary receiver,” Orr said later. “Earl said he just didn’t see me. I was open from here to Tampa.” “I’m just a lineman, but I looked up and saw Jimmy open”, added center Bill Curry. “I don’t know what happened.”
Years later, Colts lineman Bubba Smith said the game had been fixed. Talk swirled around then Colts owner, Carroll Rosenbloom, a known consorter with gamblers and rather loose with betting money of his own. Rosenbloom died a decade later in a “drowning accident,” the subject of a documentary by the late Jessica Savitch of NBC News which suggested Rosenbloom’s demise wasn’t an accident, but that the longtime NFL denizen and sports gambler had been pulled under the water by several men in scuba diving gear. The truth? We will never know.
But it really smells to me.
Fast forward to 2012. The subject is Presidential politics in an election year. I’m already on record with Press TV in stating the obvious: The winner of the election is the Israeli Lobby and the War Party.
Let us then proceed to the less obvious. What in hell is Libertarian Party National Campaign Chairman Wayne Allyn Root doing hurting his own 3rd party candidates by flacking for Mitt Romney on Rupert Murdoch’s Israeli-friendly News Corp owned Fox News, with puff pieces like, “A Gold Medal for Romney in Tampa?”
The Libertarian-oriented Reason magazine for “Free Minds and Free Markets” is also wondering what is going on with this quixotic loon. They’ve got it partially figured out, as evidenced by this paragraph in the Mike Riggs op-ed:
“Root’s bio identifies him as ‘a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee’ and ‘Chairman of the LibertarianNational Campaign Committee’ and the author of a book titled ‘The Conscience of a Libertarian.’ You know what that means? It means Wayne Allyn Root is an ambassador for libertarianism, and that his columns are a direct reflection on the Libertarian Party, which has several times elected him to prominent positions despite the fact that he is a glistening PR disaster.
“Then again, nowhere in his piece for The Blaze does Root mention a single Libertarian candidate for office. This is probably a good thing, but also odd, because it’s campaign season, and the job of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee is torun Libertarian Party candidates at the local, state, and congressional levels. Mitt Romney is not a candidate for local, state, or congressional office, and he is not a Libertarian (or even a libertarian).
“So why is Wayne Allyn Root giving Romney free campaign advice, when he should be talking to, and about, Libertarian Party candidates? Are the heads of Democratic and Republican organizations writing insane memos telling Gary Johnson how to beat Obama, the bad-grade-getter? Are they telling down-ticket Libertarian Party candidates how to deflect questions about their finances?
“NOPE.
“That Root writes about Romney as if Gary Johnson did not exist is awful. What’s worse is that articles like Root’s repel the kind of people Johnson needs in November.
“As for anyone who’s still upset about The Weekly Standard’s description of this year’s LP convention as a “goat rodeo”: Why don’t you direct your rage at the clown running the Libertarian National Campaign Committee?”
This really smells to me.
And then my dream about Dad this morning and Super Bowl III in 1969 enabled me to put it together. There is another Wayne Allyn Root gig on Fox News which is the Rosetta Stone in understanding how and why the Fix is In. Wayne Allyn Root is no Libertarian. He is a Zionist Jew, a Neo-Conservative, a War Party infiltrator of the only American 3rd party which can seriously divert from Romney’s vote totals in the critical states of Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado, the make-or-break states for Mitt and Sheldon Adelson in this election. The evidence is here. Is Wayne Allyn Root the War Party’s ace-in-the-hole for their ultimate ace-in-the-hole in launching a war with Iran, good ol’ Mitt? What is being leveraged against Mr. Obama here? Are General Martin Dempsey’s remarks an indication that Netanyahu has now been forced to call in his chips with the Power Brokers who want war with Tehran? That Obama will be now be replaced at all costs? Time will tell.
Does all of this provide the real explanation as to why the Libertarian Party National Finance Chairman is flacking for the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) crowd? Flacking for a guy who disenfranchised Ron Paul delegates at last week’s Republican National Convention? What does Wayne Allyn Root believe about the Fed, fiat money, fractional reserve banking, the USA Patriot Acts, NSA Warrantless Wiretapping, the Department of Homeland Security, credit default swaps, mortgage banked securities, TARP, and derivatives? Does this “Libertarian” buy Romney’s recent statements about Russia? Does he support trillion dollar defense budgets? 10 billion a month in Afghanistan? 5 trillion dollar expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan before counting costs in Libya? Syria? Preemptive war with Iran despite the NIE on Iran that debunks Israel’s propaganda through Fox News about an “imminent Iranian nuclear threat?” What about the Lavon Affair, Mr. Root? The Kennedy Assassination? The USS Liberty attack? The Pollard Spy Case, and the later AIPAC, Ben-Ami, and Novette spy cases? What about Dr. Robert Sungenis’s case for Culture Wars on Israel and 9-11, Mr. Root?
Fiat money, Perpetual War, Perpetual Intervention Abroad, a Foreign Lobby buying American elections and controlling American foreign policy, and a burgeoning domestic police state largely undertaken at the behest of the Zionist State of Israel. All apparently supported, of course, by the Libertarian Party’s National Campaign Finance Chairman as he works to get Mitt Romney elected.
It makes perfect sense to me. This guy isn’t a quixotic loon at all.
It really smells to me. The Fix is In.
What if I have a slightly different version of last night’s dream about the Super Bowl tonight, only pertaining to the Presidential election of 2012?
Try this on for size in the wee hours of the night as a political postmortem in the netherworld:
“On their ensuing possession, The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party went from their own 20-yard line to The Zionist War Party’s 15-yard line in three plays, aided by Ron Paul’s 58-yard run. But with 2 minutes left in the half, Wayne Allyn Root was intercepted again, at The Zionist War Party’s 2-yard line, deflating The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party considerably. The Zionist War Party was then were forced to punt on its ensuing drive, and The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party advanced the ball to The Zionist War Party’s 41-yard line. What followed is one of the most famous plays in American political history before the end of the American Empire. The Freedom from War and Zionist Bankers Party tried a desperation last ditch flea-flicker, which had a huge impact on the momentum of the game. Ron Paul ran off right tackle after taking a handoff, then pitched the ball back to Wayne Allyn Root. The play completely fooled the NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox Camera Crews, and The Zionist War Party’s defense, leaving receiver Gary Johnson wide open near the end zone. However, Wayne Allyn Root failed to spot him and instead threw a pass intended for running back Lew Rockwell that was intercepted by William Kristol of The Weekly Standard as time expired, maintaining The Zionist War Party’s 7-0 lead at halftime. Earlier in the season, against the Constitution Party, on the same play, Root had completed the same pass for a touchdown to Gary Johnson, the play’s intended target. “I was the primary receiver,” Johnson said later. “Wayne said he just didn’t see me. I was open from here to Tampa, to Mitt Romney’s suite entrance.” “I’m just a lineman, but I looked up and saw Gary open”, added grass-roots Libertarian activist Karen De Coster. “I don’t know what happened.”
This really smells to me. And hopefully to you, the reader, by now. The Fix is Truly In. My radio show listeners smelled it yesterday as well. Listen to that show for The Ugly Truth. Pleasant dreams. . . .
Sunday, September 9, 2012
What It Means To Vote For Obama OR Romney
It means that you are responsible for this. Watch it, and let it sink in because this is just one of thousands. Don't let this blood be on your hands.
SOURCE
His war was almost over. Or so Marina Buckley thought when her son, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr., told her that he would be returning from southern Afghanistan to his Marine Corps base in Hawaii in late August, three months early.
Instead, Buckley became the 1,990th U.S. service member to die in the war when, on Aug. 10, he and two other Marines were shot inside their base in Helmand Province by a man who appears to have been a member of the Afghan forces they were training.
A week later, with the death of Army Specialist James Justice in a military hospital in Germany, the U.S. military reached 2,000 dead in the nearly 11-year-old conflict, based on an analysis by the New York Times of Defense Department records. The calculation includes deaths not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan and other nations where U.S. forces are directly involved in aiding the war.
Nearly nine years passed before U.S. forces reached their first 1,000 dead in the war. The second 1,000 came just 27 months later, a testament to the intensity of fighting prompted by President Obama's decision to send 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2010, a policy known as the surge.
A higher casualty rate
In more ways than his family might have imagined, Buckley, who had just turned 21 when he died, typified the troops in that second wave of 1,000. According to the Times analysis, three out of four were white, nine out of 10 were enlisted service members and one out of two died in either Kandahar Province or Helmand Province in Taliban-dominated southern Afghanistan. Their average age was 26.
The dead were also disproportionately Marines like Buckley. Though the Army overall has suffered more dead in the war, the Marine Corps, with fewer troops, has had a higher casualty rate: At the height of fighting in late 2010, two out of every 1,000 Marines in Afghanistan were dying, twice the rate of the Army.
Suffering the most casualties was the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. Twenty-five of its Marines died and more than 180 were wounded, many with multiple amputations, during a seven-month deployment in Helmand that began in fall 2010.
The analysis also shows that Army casualties during the surge fell heaviest on two bases with frequently deployed units: Fort Campbell in Kentucky, home to the 101st Airborne Division, which recorded the most Army deaths in the surge, and Fort Drum in New York, home to the 10th Mountain Division.
The summer remained the peak season for fighting, with the single highest period for U.S. deaths being July, August and September 2010, when at least 143 troops died. And as has been the case since at least 2008, improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, remained a leading cause of death and injury, along with small-arms fire, the analysis showed.
Insider attacks
But this year, a new threat emerged: attacks by Afghans dressed in the uniforms of Afghan security forces. In just the past two weeks, at least nine Americans have been killed in such insider attacks, and for the year to date, at least 39 non-Afghan troops, most of them American, have been killed by men dressed as members of the Afghan security forces, the most since the war began.
Those insider attacks have increased concerns about NATO's ability to turn security operations over to Afghan forces by 2014, the deadline set by Obama for withdrawing the remaining U.S. forces.
For families, the deaths have raised hard questions about whether the Pentagon is doing enough to protect its troops from their own allies.
Staff Sgt. Scott Dickinson was coming home early. He was originally scheduled to remain in Helmand until November 2012, but the Pentagon was pulling Marines out of Afghanistan quickly, looking to get the surge forces out of the country by fall and shrink the U.S. footprint to about 70,000 troops. He would be home in Hawaii within a week or two, he told his father early this month.
Not long after that conversation, his father, John Dickinson, saw an article about a soldier who had died just a week before he was to come home. "I thought, 'He's not safe until he sets foot in Hawaii,' " recalled Dickinson, an architect in San Diego.
He was right. Dickinson, 29, a supply specialist who had volunteered to help train Afghan forces, died with Buckley on Aug. 10. They were among six Marines killed that day in two separate attacks by men who appeared to be Afghan security force members.
Has it made a difference?
The Pentagon asserts that most of those attacks have been the result of personal grudges, disputing Taliban claims to have widely infiltrated the Afghan security forces. But the attacks have raised anew concerns about the integrity of the Afghan forces that NATO expects to secure the entire nation after NATO troops withdraw in 2014.
More fundamentally, the continued deaths, occurring even as U.S. forces are conducting fewer combat missions, have prompted service members and military families alike to wonder: Has the decade-long U.S. presence in Afghanistan made a difference?
Lt. Col. Jason Morris, the former commander of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton, who led his troops in 2010 into Helmand Province, Afghanistan's opium-producing heartland, has little doubt that it has. After months of fierce fighting, he saw clear changes when he left in early 2011. Those improvements remain, he asserts, with residents participating in elections and going to school with less fear of Taliban intimidation.
"Every single Marine in my battalion could see the impact they had," he said. "Things had changed so dramatically, it was a validation of everything they had sacrificed for."
Despite his son's death, Dickinson agrees. Marina Buckley is not so sure.
She recalled how her son watched "The Notebook" five times with her because he was a romantic. "He was the most lovable, caring human being," she said. "He wore his heart on his sleeve. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful."
He had wanted to join the Marine Corps ever since 9/11, despite her many attempts to dissuade him. He came to relish the brotherhood of the Marines and adored his first posting, in Hawaii. But deployment was a different matter. The loneliness, the heat and the Meals Ready to Eat wore on him, Buckley said. And he never felt secure living alongside Afghans, she said.
"If they want to kill themselves, let them," she said of the Afghan people. "But they are killing people who shouldn't be killed, who have lives here, and family here, and brothers and sisters here."
SOURCE
His war was almost over. Or so Marina Buckley thought when her son, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr., told her that he would be returning from southern Afghanistan to his Marine Corps base in Hawaii in late August, three months early.
Instead, Buckley became the 1,990th U.S. service member to die in the war when, on Aug. 10, he and two other Marines were shot inside their base in Helmand Province by a man who appears to have been a member of the Afghan forces they were training.
A week later, with the death of Army Specialist James Justice in a military hospital in Germany, the U.S. military reached 2,000 dead in the nearly 11-year-old conflict, based on an analysis by the New York Times of Defense Department records. The calculation includes deaths not only in Afghanistan but also in Pakistan and other nations where U.S. forces are directly involved in aiding the war.
Nearly nine years passed before U.S. forces reached their first 1,000 dead in the war. The second 1,000 came just 27 months later, a testament to the intensity of fighting prompted by President Obama's decision to send 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2010, a policy known as the surge.
A higher casualty rate
In more ways than his family might have imagined, Buckley, who had just turned 21 when he died, typified the troops in that second wave of 1,000. According to the Times analysis, three out of four were white, nine out of 10 were enlisted service members and one out of two died in either Kandahar Province or Helmand Province in Taliban-dominated southern Afghanistan. Their average age was 26.
The dead were also disproportionately Marines like Buckley. Though the Army overall has suffered more dead in the war, the Marine Corps, with fewer troops, has had a higher casualty rate: At the height of fighting in late 2010, two out of every 1,000 Marines in Afghanistan were dying, twice the rate of the Army.
Suffering the most casualties was the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. Twenty-five of its Marines died and more than 180 were wounded, many with multiple amputations, during a seven-month deployment in Helmand that began in fall 2010.
The analysis also shows that Army casualties during the surge fell heaviest on two bases with frequently deployed units: Fort Campbell in Kentucky, home to the 101st Airborne Division, which recorded the most Army deaths in the surge, and Fort Drum in New York, home to the 10th Mountain Division.
The summer remained the peak season for fighting, with the single highest period for U.S. deaths being July, August and September 2010, when at least 143 troops died. And as has been the case since at least 2008, improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, remained a leading cause of death and injury, along with small-arms fire, the analysis showed.
Insider attacks
But this year, a new threat emerged: attacks by Afghans dressed in the uniforms of Afghan security forces. In just the past two weeks, at least nine Americans have been killed in such insider attacks, and for the year to date, at least 39 non-Afghan troops, most of them American, have been killed by men dressed as members of the Afghan security forces, the most since the war began.
Those insider attacks have increased concerns about NATO's ability to turn security operations over to Afghan forces by 2014, the deadline set by Obama for withdrawing the remaining U.S. forces.
For families, the deaths have raised hard questions about whether the Pentagon is doing enough to protect its troops from their own allies.
Staff Sgt. Scott Dickinson was coming home early. He was originally scheduled to remain in Helmand until November 2012, but the Pentagon was pulling Marines out of Afghanistan quickly, looking to get the surge forces out of the country by fall and shrink the U.S. footprint to about 70,000 troops. He would be home in Hawaii within a week or two, he told his father early this month.
Not long after that conversation, his father, John Dickinson, saw an article about a soldier who had died just a week before he was to come home. "I thought, 'He's not safe until he sets foot in Hawaii,' " recalled Dickinson, an architect in San Diego.
He was right. Dickinson, 29, a supply specialist who had volunteered to help train Afghan forces, died with Buckley on Aug. 10. They were among six Marines killed that day in two separate attacks by men who appeared to be Afghan security force members.
Has it made a difference?
The Pentagon asserts that most of those attacks have been the result of personal grudges, disputing Taliban claims to have widely infiltrated the Afghan security forces. But the attacks have raised anew concerns about the integrity of the Afghan forces that NATO expects to secure the entire nation after NATO troops withdraw in 2014.
More fundamentally, the continued deaths, occurring even as U.S. forces are conducting fewer combat missions, have prompted service members and military families alike to wonder: Has the decade-long U.S. presence in Afghanistan made a difference?
Lt. Col. Jason Morris, the former commander of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton, who led his troops in 2010 into Helmand Province, Afghanistan's opium-producing heartland, has little doubt that it has. After months of fierce fighting, he saw clear changes when he left in early 2011. Those improvements remain, he asserts, with residents participating in elections and going to school with less fear of Taliban intimidation.
"Every single Marine in my battalion could see the impact they had," he said. "Things had changed so dramatically, it was a validation of everything they had sacrificed for."
Despite his son's death, Dickinson agrees. Marina Buckley is not so sure.
She recalled how her son watched "The Notebook" five times with her because he was a romantic. "He was the most lovable, caring human being," she said. "He wore his heart on his sleeve. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful."
He had wanted to join the Marine Corps ever since 9/11, despite her many attempts to dissuade him. He came to relish the brotherhood of the Marines and adored his first posting, in Hawaii. But deployment was a different matter. The loneliness, the heat and the Meals Ready to Eat wore on him, Buckley said. And he never felt secure living alongside Afghans, she said.
"If they want to kill themselves, let them," she said of the Afghan people. "But they are killing people who shouldn't be killed, who have lives here, and family here, and brothers and sisters here."
Clint Eastwood's 2012 RNC Speech
Was it genius or is he going senile? Watch the video and make up your own mind.
In my opinion he was sticking it to the Republicans straight to their face, talking about endless wars, indefinite detention, and politicians who promise the world. If I am reading it right, than I say good for him.
In my opinion he was sticking it to the Republicans straight to their face, talking about endless wars, indefinite detention, and politicians who promise the world. If I am reading it right, than I say good for him.
Putin Vs Obama
SOURCE
It should be noted that Putins daughter married a Korean, so I am not like some advocating him as the savior, but at least he isn't a wuss like some leaders.
It should be noted that Putins daughter married a Korean, so I am not like some advocating him as the savior, but at least he isn't a wuss like some leaders.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
NYPD Opens Branch in Kikestan
SOURCE
The New York Police Department opened its Israeli branch in the Sharon District Police headquarters in Kfar Saba. Charlie Ben-Naim, a former Israeli and veteran NYPD detective, was sent on this mission.
You don’t have to fly to New York to meet members of the police department considered to be the best in the world — all you have to do is make the short trip to the Kfar Saba police station in the Sharon, where the NYPD opened a local branch.
Behind the opening of the branch in the Holy Land is the NYPD decision that the Israeli police is one of the major police forces with which it must maintain close work relations and daily contact.
Ben-Naim was chosen for the mission of opening the NYPD branch in Israel. He is a veteran detective of the NYPD and a former Israeli who went to study in New York, married a local city resident and then joined the local police force. Among the things he has dealt with in the line of duty are the extradition of criminals, the transmitting of intelligence information and assistance in the location of missing persons, both in the United States and in Israel.
It was decided, in coordination with the Israeli police, that the New York representative would not operate out of the United States embassy but from a building of the Sharon District Police headquarters, situated close to the Kfar Sava station. The NYPD sign was even hung at the entrance to the district headquarters, and Ben-Naim’s office is situated on the first floor of the building. One of the walls bears the sign: “New York Police Department, the best police department in the world.”
The New York Police Department opened its Israeli branch in the Sharon District Police headquarters in Kfar Saba. Charlie Ben-Naim, a former Israeli and veteran NYPD detective, was sent on this mission.
You don’t have to fly to New York to meet members of the police department considered to be the best in the world — all you have to do is make the short trip to the Kfar Saba police station in the Sharon, where the NYPD opened a local branch.
Behind the opening of the branch in the Holy Land is the NYPD decision that the Israeli police is one of the major police forces with which it must maintain close work relations and daily contact.
Ben-Naim was chosen for the mission of opening the NYPD branch in Israel. He is a veteran detective of the NYPD and a former Israeli who went to study in New York, married a local city resident and then joined the local police force. Among the things he has dealt with in the line of duty are the extradition of criminals, the transmitting of intelligence information and assistance in the location of missing persons, both in the United States and in Israel.
It was decided, in coordination with the Israeli police, that the New York representative would not operate out of the United States embassy but from a building of the Sharon District Police headquarters, situated close to the Kfar Sava station. The NYPD sign was even hung at the entrance to the district headquarters, and Ben-Naim’s office is situated on the first floor of the building. One of the walls bears the sign: “New York Police Department, the best police department in the world.”
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses, Government Documents Show
SOURCE
Earlier this year, Mitt Romney nearly landed in a politically perilous controversy when the Huffington Post reported that in 1999 the GOP presidential candidate had been part of an investment group that invested $75 million in Stericycle, a medical-waste disposal firm that has been attacked by anti-abortion groups for disposing aborted fetuses collected from family planning clinics. Coming during the heat of the GOP primaries, as Romney tried to sell South Carolina Republicans on his pro-life bona fides, the revelation had the potential to damage the candidate's reputation among values voters already suspicious of his shifting position on abortion.
But Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, tamped down the controversy. The company said Romney left the firm in February 1999 to run the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and likely had nothing to with the deal. The matter never became a campaign issue. But documents filed by Bain and Stericycle with the Securities and Exchange Commission—and obtained by Mother Jones—list Romney as an active participant in the investment. And this deal helped Stericycle, a company with a poor safety record, grow, while yielding tens of millions of dollars in profits for Romney and his partners. The documents—one of which was signed by Romney—also contradict the official account of Romney's exit from Bain.
The Stericycle deal—the abortion connection aside—is relevant because of questions regarding the timing of Romney's departure from the private equity firm he founded. Responding to a recent Washington Post story reporting that Bain-acquired companies outsourced jobs, the Romney campaign insisted that Romney exited Bain in February 1999, a month or more before Bain took over two of the companies named in the Post's article. The SEC documents undercut that defense, indicating that Romney still played a role in Bain investments until at least the end of 1999.
Here's what happened with Stericycle. In November 1999, Bain Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, filed with the SEC a Schedule 13D, which lists owners of publicly traded companies, noting that they had jointly purchased $75 million worth of shares in Stericycle, a fast-growing player in the medical-waste industry. (That April, Stericycle had announced plans to buy the medical-waste businesses of Browning Ferris Industries and Allied Waste Industries.) The SEC filing lists assorted Bain-related entities that were part of the deal, including Bain Capital (BCI), Bain Capital Partners VI (BCP VI), Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors (a Bermuda-based Bain affiliate), and Brookside Capital Investors (a Bain offshoot). And it notes that Romney was the "sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of BCI, BCP VI Inc., Brookside Inc. and Sankaty Ltd."
The document also states that Romney "may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle "in his capacity as sole shareholder" of the Bain entities that invested in the company. That was about 11 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock. (The whole $75 million investment won Bain, Romney, and their partners 22.64 percent of the firm's stock—the largest bloc among the firm's owners.) The original copy of the filing was signed by Romney.
Another SEC document filed November 30, 1999, by Stericycle also names Romney as an individual who holds "voting and dispositive power" with respect to the stock owned by Bain. If Romney had fully retired from the private equity firm he founded, why would he be the only Bain executive named as the person in control of this large amount of Stericycle stock?
Stericycle was a lucrative investment for Romney and Bain. The company had entered the medical-waste business a decade earlier, when it took over a food irradiation plant in Arkansas and began zapping medical waste, rather than strawberries, with radiation. The company subsequently replaced irradiation with a technology that used low-frequency radio waves to sterilize medical waste—gowns, masks, gloves, and other medical equipment—before it was transported to an incinerator. By mid-1997, Stericycle was the second-largest medical-waste disposal business in the nation. Two years later, it was the largest. With 240,000 customers, its operations spanned the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Fortune ranked it No. 10 on its list of the 100 fastest growing companies in the nation.
But the company had its woes, accumulating a troubling safety record along the way. In 1991, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited its Arkansas operation for 11 workplace safety violations. The facility had not provided employees with sufficient protective gear, and it had kept body parts, fetuses, and dead experimental animals in unmarked storage containers, placing workers at risk. In 1995, Stericycle was fined $3.3 million—later decreased to $800,000—by Rhode Island for knowingly exposing workers to life-threatening diseases at its medical-waste treatment facility in Woonsocket. Two years later, workers at another of its medical-waste processing plants in Morton, Washington, were exposed to tuberculosis. In 2002 and 2003—after Bain and its partners had bought their major interest in the firm—Stericycle reached settlements with the attorneys general in Arizona and Utah after it was accused of violating antitrust laws. It paid Arizona $320,000 in civil penalties and lawyers' fees, and paid Utah $580,000.
Despite the firm's regulatory run-ins, the deal worked out well for Bain. In 2001, the Bain-Madison Dearborn partnership that had invested in the company sold 40 percent of its holdings in Stericycle for about $88 million—marking a hefty profit on its original investment of $75 million. The Bain-related group sold the rest of its holdings by 2004. By that point it had earned $49.5 million. It was not until six years later that anti-abortion activists would target Stericycle for collecting medical waste at abortion clinics. A Stericycle official told Huffington Post that its abortion clinics business constitutes a "small" portion of its total operations. (Stericycle declined a request for comment from Mother Jones.)
In response to questions from Mother Jones, a spokeswoman for Bain maintained that Romney was not involved in the Stericycle deal in 1999, saying that he had "resigned" months before the stock purchase was negotiated. The spokeswoman noted that following his resignation Romney remained only "a signatory on certain documents," until his separation agreement with Bain was finalized in 2002. And Bain issued this statement: "Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital in February 1999. He has had no involvement in the management or investment activities of Bain Capital, or with any of its portfolio companies since that time." (The Romney presidential campaign did not respond to requests for comment.)
But the document Romney signed related to the Stericycle deal did identify him as a participant in that particular deal and the person in charge of several Bain entities. (Did Bain and Romney file a document with the SEC that was not accurate?) Moreover, in 1999, Bain and Romney both described his departure from Bain not as a resignation and far from absolute. On February 12, 1999, the Boston Herald reported, "Romney said he will stay on as a part-timer with Bain, providing input on investment and key personnel decisions." And a Bain press release issued on July 19, 1999, noted that Romney was "currently on a part-time leave of absence"—and quoted Romney speaking for Bain Capital. In 2001 and 2002, Romney filed Massachusetts state disclosure forms noting he was the 100 percent owner of Bain Capital NY, Inc.—a Bain outfit that was incorporated in Delaware on April 13, 1999—two months after Romney's supposed retirement from the firm. A May 2001 filing with the SEC identified Romney as "a member of the Management Committee" of two Bain entities. And in 2007, the Washington Post reported that R. Bradford Malt, a Bain lawyer, said Romney took a "leave of absence" when he assumed the Olympics post and retained sole ownership of the firm for two more years.
All of this undermines Bain's contention that Romney, though he maintained an ownership interest in the firm and its funds, had nothing to do with the firm's activities after February 1999. The Stericycle deal may raise red flags for anti-abortion activists. But it also raises questions about the true timing of Romney's departure from Bain and casts doubt on claims by the company and the Romney campaign that he had nothing to do with Bain business after February 1999.
Earlier this year, Mitt Romney nearly landed in a politically perilous controversy when the Huffington Post reported that in 1999 the GOP presidential candidate had been part of an investment group that invested $75 million in Stericycle, a medical-waste disposal firm that has been attacked by anti-abortion groups for disposing aborted fetuses collected from family planning clinics. Coming during the heat of the GOP primaries, as Romney tried to sell South Carolina Republicans on his pro-life bona fides, the revelation had the potential to damage the candidate's reputation among values voters already suspicious of his shifting position on abortion.
But Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, tamped down the controversy. The company said Romney left the firm in February 1999 to run the troubled 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and likely had nothing to with the deal. The matter never became a campaign issue. But documents filed by Bain and Stericycle with the Securities and Exchange Commission—and obtained by Mother Jones—list Romney as an active participant in the investment. And this deal helped Stericycle, a company with a poor safety record, grow, while yielding tens of millions of dollars in profits for Romney and his partners. The documents—one of which was signed by Romney—also contradict the official account of Romney's exit from Bain.
The Stericycle deal—the abortion connection aside—is relevant because of questions regarding the timing of Romney's departure from the private equity firm he founded. Responding to a recent Washington Post story reporting that Bain-acquired companies outsourced jobs, the Romney campaign insisted that Romney exited Bain in February 1999, a month or more before Bain took over two of the companies named in the Post's article. The SEC documents undercut that defense, indicating that Romney still played a role in Bain investments until at least the end of 1999.
Here's what happened with Stericycle. In November 1999, Bain Capital and Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, filed with the SEC a Schedule 13D, which lists owners of publicly traded companies, noting that they had jointly purchased $75 million worth of shares in Stericycle, a fast-growing player in the medical-waste industry. (That April, Stericycle had announced plans to buy the medical-waste businesses of Browning Ferris Industries and Allied Waste Industries.) The SEC filing lists assorted Bain-related entities that were part of the deal, including Bain Capital (BCI), Bain Capital Partners VI (BCP VI), Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors (a Bermuda-based Bain affiliate), and Brookside Capital Investors (a Bain offshoot). And it notes that Romney was the "sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of BCI, BCP VI Inc., Brookside Inc. and Sankaty Ltd."
The document also states that Romney "may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle "in his capacity as sole shareholder" of the Bain entities that invested in the company. That was about 11 percent of the outstanding shares of common stock. (The whole $75 million investment won Bain, Romney, and their partners 22.64 percent of the firm's stock—the largest bloc among the firm's owners.) The original copy of the filing was signed by Romney.
Another SEC document filed November 30, 1999, by Stericycle also names Romney as an individual who holds "voting and dispositive power" with respect to the stock owned by Bain. If Romney had fully retired from the private equity firm he founded, why would he be the only Bain executive named as the person in control of this large amount of Stericycle stock?
Stericycle was a lucrative investment for Romney and Bain. The company had entered the medical-waste business a decade earlier, when it took over a food irradiation plant in Arkansas and began zapping medical waste, rather than strawberries, with radiation. The company subsequently replaced irradiation with a technology that used low-frequency radio waves to sterilize medical waste—gowns, masks, gloves, and other medical equipment—before it was transported to an incinerator. By mid-1997, Stericycle was the second-largest medical-waste disposal business in the nation. Two years later, it was the largest. With 240,000 customers, its operations spanned the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Fortune ranked it No. 10 on its list of the 100 fastest growing companies in the nation.
But the company had its woes, accumulating a troubling safety record along the way. In 1991, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited its Arkansas operation for 11 workplace safety violations. The facility had not provided employees with sufficient protective gear, and it had kept body parts, fetuses, and dead experimental animals in unmarked storage containers, placing workers at risk. In 1995, Stericycle was fined $3.3 million—later decreased to $800,000—by Rhode Island for knowingly exposing workers to life-threatening diseases at its medical-waste treatment facility in Woonsocket. Two years later, workers at another of its medical-waste processing plants in Morton, Washington, were exposed to tuberculosis. In 2002 and 2003—after Bain and its partners had bought their major interest in the firm—Stericycle reached settlements with the attorneys general in Arizona and Utah after it was accused of violating antitrust laws. It paid Arizona $320,000 in civil penalties and lawyers' fees, and paid Utah $580,000.
Despite the firm's regulatory run-ins, the deal worked out well for Bain. In 2001, the Bain-Madison Dearborn partnership that had invested in the company sold 40 percent of its holdings in Stericycle for about $88 million—marking a hefty profit on its original investment of $75 million. The Bain-related group sold the rest of its holdings by 2004. By that point it had earned $49.5 million. It was not until six years later that anti-abortion activists would target Stericycle for collecting medical waste at abortion clinics. A Stericycle official told Huffington Post that its abortion clinics business constitutes a "small" portion of its total operations. (Stericycle declined a request for comment from Mother Jones.)
In response to questions from Mother Jones, a spokeswoman for Bain maintained that Romney was not involved in the Stericycle deal in 1999, saying that he had "resigned" months before the stock purchase was negotiated. The spokeswoman noted that following his resignation Romney remained only "a signatory on certain documents," until his separation agreement with Bain was finalized in 2002. And Bain issued this statement: "Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital in February 1999. He has had no involvement in the management or investment activities of Bain Capital, or with any of its portfolio companies since that time." (The Romney presidential campaign did not respond to requests for comment.)
But the document Romney signed related to the Stericycle deal did identify him as a participant in that particular deal and the person in charge of several Bain entities. (Did Bain and Romney file a document with the SEC that was not accurate?) Moreover, in 1999, Bain and Romney both described his departure from Bain not as a resignation and far from absolute. On February 12, 1999, the Boston Herald reported, "Romney said he will stay on as a part-timer with Bain, providing input on investment and key personnel decisions." And a Bain press release issued on July 19, 1999, noted that Romney was "currently on a part-time leave of absence"—and quoted Romney speaking for Bain Capital. In 2001 and 2002, Romney filed Massachusetts state disclosure forms noting he was the 100 percent owner of Bain Capital NY, Inc.—a Bain outfit that was incorporated in Delaware on April 13, 1999—two months after Romney's supposed retirement from the firm. A May 2001 filing with the SEC identified Romney as "a member of the Management Committee" of two Bain entities. And in 2007, the Washington Post reported that R. Bradford Malt, a Bain lawyer, said Romney took a "leave of absence" when he assumed the Olympics post and retained sole ownership of the firm for two more years.
All of this undermines Bain's contention that Romney, though he maintained an ownership interest in the firm and its funds, had nothing to do with the firm's activities after February 1999. The Stericycle deal may raise red flags for anti-abortion activists. But it also raises questions about the true timing of Romney's departure from Bain and casts doubt on claims by the company and the Romney campaign that he had nothing to do with Bain business after February 1999.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
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