When do terrorists warn civilians?

"When do terrorists warn civilians?"

Israel warns the citizens in question about getting bombed, and then when they are fleeing for their lives, they are bombed in the roads. It has also been reported that prior to these warning leaflets the bridges out of town were destroyed which means they cannot actually escape using any normal means. Look, I am not for what is happening either from the Israeli side, or the Lebanese side, I think they are both wrong. I just don't think that Israel should be held up as some holier-than-thou aggressor in this case.

We should be decrying BOTH sides in this conflict, and get them to stop. We may not have a long-term peace in the Middle East, but at least lets have some kind of rationale in the short term. The Lebanese people and culture are getting complete decimated. I believe Israel simply wants genocide in this case. If all Lebanese people were killed, and nothing was left of their country, Israel could just walk in and take it for themselves.

Personally, I would just like to see everyone get along. I know that is not going to happen. Unfortunately, in this case, it is probably going to be a "who is stronger" battle, and the strongest will win. As a world audience I feel we should simply referee the battle and make sure they don't screw up the world in the meantime. Don't use nuclear material, DU, etc, and don't pollute the water. Other than that, they will probably keep fighting regardless.

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Memos May Link Cheney to No-Bid Iraq Contract

"Several documents suggest that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may have lied publicly about the involvement of the vice president's office in awarding the contract. It will be remembered that Vice President Dick Cheney was chairman and CEO of Halliburton from 1995-2000. In an e-mail dated April 22, 2003..."

@OBKenobi really nails this on the head here. Regardless of politics and left/right paradigm, we have been robbed big time. The corporate monster called the "military industrial complex" has really grown to such large proportions that it cannot be stopped. There is even evidence of wrong-doing such as people getting whacked when they get too close, or somehow figure out how to stop these people.

Our reaction may need to be more aggressive than even what happened last season on 24. I mean, come on, yeah its a fake show, but if our executive branch (includes everyone up there) is using the American bank account for their personal playground we have to take aggressive action.

Can anyone think of an actual moral person running our government right now, who DOES NOT have any side conflicts with big business? damn, I can't. There might be some senators like Ron Paul, but what can they do other than filibuster? Look what happened to people like Vince Foster and others, oops.

Start reading and take action, or we're all screwed.

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It's all about oil

"If this war was taking a bite out of Exxon or the House of Saud, a ceasefire would have been imposed."

The big oil companies ensure this war will never end. Did you read the Digg and news articles on the electric, hh20 (yes that's spelled right), and hybrid cars? They were just a "fad" to the car industry and no serious effort has been put towards production and distribution. As long as Exxon has the capacity to make over $23 billion PROFIT on oil each quarter (yes that's right boys and girls) they will continue to do it. They are so happy they can post these huge profits and give good news to their investors. I am all for making a profit, but it comes by false claims of hardship and high oil prices. If things were so bad for the oil companies, then they wouldn't be making that much profit, they would be in the same bad conditions we were in, just getting by and complaining things need to get better. If they increase production, or find better ways to cut costs on extracting gas and oil, then we should see better prices at the pumps.

If oil companies are spending a ton on R&D to better extract oil and refine gasoline then we may see the gas prices going up. But that would cut into their profits. Once again, there is a reason they are making such huge profits and we should investigate why.

Its a load of camel dung when we get raped at the gas pumps in order for Exxon to post such huge profits. Where do people think that money comes from. A fair price for a fair product. In this case it is a mandatory product drilled into us by the car companies, and it is no longer fair.

I am all for free markets and freedom of choice, but something is drastically wrong when I pay $50-$75 dollars a tank, and then read about Exxon posting $23 billion dollars this last quarter. I buy Safeway gas, but I am not sure where that comes from. The bottom line is that profit is good, but needs to get checked on how the profit is being made. Just exactly how high will gas prices get? Its obvious the oil companies are not having a tough time getting oil, or even that oil is scarce. They are certainly made a good job at making a profit. How about passing on those savings to us instead of lining your company'’s coffers with inflated figures?

Stop buying oil stock shares. Buy shares in electric and HH2O cars. Maybe if everyone starts investing in something else, big oil will take notice..Wait; they already killed these industries, darn.

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Alberto Gonzalez talking about the 4th amendment.

I heard a recent clip of Alberto Gonzalez on the 7/26 Washington Journal CSPAN show. Once again I heard him talking about how a search only needs to be "reasonable" in order to take place. However, the 4th amendment clearly says:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized".

The rhetoric described by Gonzalez and again a while back by General Hayden, clearly shows that our leadership needs to read up on the Constitution again. In order for any search warrant to take place you must have at least 4 things 1. Probable cause 2. Supported by someone's oath this needs to take place 3. Describe exactly what is going to be searched 4. Describe what will be seized if that needs to happen. But you cannot have a search or seizure without that warrant, otherwise why ever would law enforcement take the time to get one?

Based upon the interpretation of the 4th amendment, he is clearly thinking the two clauses are totally separate, and not connected. I think the founders were clear in saying that a "reasonable" search or seizure would be accompanied by the second clause of 4 rules. If you interpret this any other way, then anyone in law enforcement could do searches and seizures anytime, and any place simply by saying it was "reasonable".

Gonzalez suggests there are “special needs” when a reasonable search or seizure can take place without a warrant. He used the airport as an example of a search not requiring a warrant. However, he did not mention that as a citizen we have the freedom by choosing NOT to travel. By traveling and buying a plane ticket, you have signed some extra provisions on the ticket or by way of a contract with the airline that you will follow certain security rules, one of which is to undergo some measures to protect the safety of all passengers. (In the case of the TSA and secret rules, they take this to a Federal level which violates the free market principal in choosing airlines, but that is another discussion altogether).

Your version of reasonable, my versions of reasonable, or law enforcement's version of reasonable are all going to be different which is why you always need to attach both clauses to these matters at ALL times. You don't just torch part of the constitution when you feel it will get in the way.

Nothing in the 4th amendment gives our legal system provisions or exceptions in times of war OR national security. If you disregard part of the constitution during a crisis, or for some secret reason, you get tyranny. The constitution can be abused in so many ways, torn apart, shredded or torched at will when somebody invokes the national security card. Everything nowadays is "national security", or classified. It gets to a point where all decisions being made are being done under the cloak of secrecy, which bypasses the democratic process. Once that happens we once again get tyranny.

I caught a statement by Gonzalez where he said his primary job as Attorney General is NOT to determine if a law is good for the country, but if it is legal and constitutional. This sounds like something a corporate lawyer would say. Wait…doesn’t he have a past job working for a really well run company called Enron? It shows you that we get really upstanding citizens from well run and legal companies…sigh.

So, we are back again to the police state. This needs to stop very soon. We need to remove the ex-Enron lawyer and get somebody who actually wants to follow the constitution. We need to make sure that laws which get passed are GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY AND OUR CITIZENS. Once a law passes that test, then we hold it up against the constitution and vet it out.

---
Watch CSPAN archives for the following clip #26505
Alberto Gonzales, U.S. Attorney General, discusses the electronic surveillance program and proposed changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
7/26/2006: WASHINGTON, DC: 25 min

Protest Bush - Go to Jail

"School teachers, Christine Nelson showed up at the Bush rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating "No More War." What could be more American. Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail."

This is an older article, but still highly relevant. In fact, this type of police intimidation is getting worse.

http://news.yahoo.com/.../

Just like Johnny Storm trying to do reconstructive work on the Constitution, it will get torched every time. It is our duty as American citizens to keep our government in check, and speak out against problems therein.

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To defend freedom, does that make you a patriot? Or just a citizen?

From the "WE - The Unauthorized Arundhati Roy" video (and Boards of Canada - One very Important thought from the album: Music Has The Right To Children)

"Now that the show is over and we have jointly exercised our constitutional rights, we would like to leave you with one very important thought. If you can be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you can be told what to say or think. Defend your constitutionally protected rights, no one else will do it for you. thank you”.

Please watch closely to the unfolding drama in the Middle East. Make sure you are involved in your community. Tell your friends to watch, and be alert. Our world is changing and it wasn't done overnight. If you don't think that actions a 1/2 world away will affect you, please think again. Our world is becoming one big world government one step at a time.

The people want freedom, but that is not good for big business and government. Government wants to control you and tell you what to do, and what to say. Big corporations want to control you and tell you what to buy and what is good for you. They both have one big thing in common, they need your money to keep on running. Vote with your mind and heart, and buy with common sense. Support those who deserve it.

"Today the world is run by three of the most secretive institutions in the world: The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, all three of which, in turn, are dominated by the U.S. Their decisions are made in secret. The people who head them are appointed behind closed doors. Nobody really knows anything about them, their politics, their beliefs, their intentions. Nobody elected them. Nobody said they could make decisions on our behalf."

"Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead."

"To call someone "anti-American", indeed to be anti-American, (or for that matter, anti-Indian or anti-Timbuktuan) is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination. An inability to see the world in terms other than those the establishment has set out for you."

Rice to Outline Plans for Lebanon Solution

OK, wow. Condoleezza Rice after 6000 odd years of strife in the Middle East is going to "Outline a Plan for Peace". I am sure she is well qualified for this job, being from the heartland and all.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2221288&page=2

How many presidents, policy makers, peace experts, and politicians have tried this? It gets old, and I really wonder what the facination of the Middle East is for these people. Oh wait, Oil, money, and power? All your Oil are belong to U.S.

Cato: Paramilitary Raids on U.S. Homes More Frequent

WASHINGTON -- The last 25 years have seen a 1,300 percent increase in the number of paramilitary raids on American homes. The vast majority of these are to serve routine drug warrants, including for offenses as trivial as marijuana possession, according to a just-released study by the Cato Institute.

I am not sure if everyone gets the point here. The government increase in military-style raids serves two purposes only; 1. To condition the population via fear 2. To offer an explanation for storming into someone’s house with or without a warrant, but once there, they can "find" anything they want.

It is getting much more standard for them to "classify" the search warrant at a FISA court which means you don't even get to see the warrant of what they were searching for. They only need to justify what they "found" at the time of the raid. They can use this excuse time and time again, for any infraction of the law. They can certainly use this for people who have "subversive" things to say about our government also.

You name the possible laws which can be broken in the future, and they can search your home and seize your property over them. Are you thinking bad thoughts, did you say something which someone thought was subversive of God forbid hate speech? In todays society, even a 1 hour photo clerk has the ability to call you into the police on any sort of complaint which they may “believe” something nefarious is going on in your film.

Totally insane. Where will it stop? I want my liberty back.

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An Open Letter to Arundhati Roy and all the free people of the Earth

July 9, 2006

An Open Letter to Arundhati Roy
and all the free people of the Earth,

http://rhawk301.blogspot.com/
rhawk301 (at) gmail.com

The United States has been given a black mark in the world court because of our foreign policy and ideologies. I am writing here today to make sure you understand the free people of the United States of America also have the same thoughts and regards that you have. For the most part we are peace loving, and respectable people. We love our children, and want to see them grow up and do great things.

In as much as the ruling class of the USA perpetuates a state of fear, more than 60% of the citizens just want peace. Unfortunately peace can never be achieved when the military industrial complex runs this country. Peace can never be achieved when the national banks are tied in with the World banks. Peace can never be achieved when the United States ruling class is actually a part of the globalist elite. How does your country fit in here?

Global commerce itself is not the cause, but the people who take advantage and exploit the many streams of money manipulation are to blame. The United States is built on the foundation of “We the People” and “for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. I imagine some believe that having power and money constitutes happiness. However, by taking someone else’s happiness and exploiting it to your own selfish ends defeats all that we want as a nation.

I am writing this letter today in response to Arundhati’s most eloquent speech “Come September” at the Lannan Foundation in 2002. Within the last year I have pressed myself to understand more of what is going on in the world, and not just sit back and be a lazy American, for that is what I was. My awakening will not happen overnight, but I will no longer sit back and let this country fail without a fight. I hope you understand that we do not agree with most of our foreign policy. We do not enjoy coming into your homes and destroying them. We do not take pride in killing you, and your countrymen. We do not have the blood-thirsty need for power and malicious goals of which our CIA and White House do.

You see, the largest obstacle United States Citizens have is the fact that we have grown accustom to our luxury and well being. Yes, there are poor in this country, but for the most part things are worth living for over here, we get to own land, our supermarkets are full all the time, and with few exceptions, we are left alone. We don’t have bombs going off in our country, busses don’t get hijacked, we have lots of space to move around, we can travel throughout the whole country with barely any notice, and up until the last 10 years we didn’t live in a complete police state. Life has been really good. We escaped England and all parts of the world to get away from all of that which was bad. We made a life for ourselves, worked really hard at it, and then handed our rule over to a bunch of Empire building despots. How that happened is yet another story I am not capable of describing here.

Throughout the last 50 years the world banking system and corporations have found that by manipulating the population and careful marketing, they can get away with nearly anything. Corporate greed in America is so vast, that it may be an impossibility to reverse it. The worst corporate greed is seen when our government freely allows lobbyists of any size to manipulate our representatives with legal bribery. We see contracts being given to Halliburton, money manipulation and stock hedging by the Carlyle Group, and Big Oil racketeering by the very people who are supposed to be leading this country. The whole Washington DC hand-shake is becoming a real big burden on the American tax payers.

We need YOUR help. Our country is hemorrhaging from within, and it will not sit will with the world if that happens. Even though our country has problems, it will not come down without taking others with it. Therefore, we need to get back on track and fix the problems in place. We need to start following our own Constitution instead of torching it at every turn. We need to understand what our fore-fathers meant, and read how our country was formed. I personally need to read more history and start flipping the pages of a many government documents.

Most of all we need your prayers, and support. Please understand that it will take time to remove these burdensome cancers from our society. We may limp along until that happens, but rest assured the American people will not sit back in their arm chairs drinking beer, and watching TV for too much longer. It will become evident something has to be done, and retribution will be swift and just. We will get back on track, and make sure the world is our ally and trusted confidant.

We must make a revolution happen throughout the world. The United States is not the only country in which evil empires exist, nor is it the only home ground for power hungry Corporations. If you feel empowered to do something about the state of the world, please find a way locally to change things. Read books, news, and support your local government. You should show up at council meetings, volunteer at your local political party office, find others who share your goals, and write about your experiences. Possibly together we can find a way to take back our world, and build a future together.

Cheers.

Alex Jones Material, and FBI pretext leads to raid on Montana property

“Man Raided By FBI, ATF, Canadian Law Enforcement After Handing Out 'Subversive' Alex Jones Material Gun seller questioned on militia, ownership of George Washington speeches”.

Yes, however some of the details get skewed as they are retold.

The owner Richard Celata appeared on the Alex Jones show and said that his 80% firearm kits, and the "subversive" material were a pretext to search his home (even though they confiscated everything), copy his computer data, and interrogate him. He mentioned that the FBI mainly wanted to question him on the JPFO website owner Aaron Zelman and others in the freedom and truth movement. Celata mentioned that the Sheriff in this case was a pawn, and actually "helped" Celata as much as possible by offering some needed distraction. Celata believes the Sheriff who lost the election was actually watching and reading the information he was given.

One important thing to mention is that Celata was NOT arrested, nor charged with anything in this matter as of Friday 7/7/2006.

Infowars press release

This libertypost.org article is really good, and the next day follow-up.

This goes to show you that law enforcement can easily use pretext scenarios using search warrants sealed in secrecy and torch the Constitution along the way. There is a lot more information on the web, please Google the rest of it.

nascocorridor.com "debunks" rumors?

Go on over to www.nascocorridor.com and check out the newly re-designed website including disclaimers, and a new "debunking" pdf file. It goes to show you that with a little publicity from the alternative media, we can make a difference. They have to now defend thier position.

They say the plan is using existing roads and railways. They say it is not 4 football fields wide. They say it is not the begining of any new partnership, or secret deals. Go do the research yourself, and make sure to include www.spp.gov into your web searches.

cheers.