Ship of State

Merry Christmas!

Video: Fred Thompson Explains the Economy

Former US Senator and Presidential candidate Fred Thompson (R-TN) wants to lay our fears
over the economy to rest. That's why he recorded this special holiday message for America.[See it here!]

The First Time I Heard of “Barack”

By Mr. Tom Fife, California businessman

US businessman: Russian communist told me in 1992
that America’s first communist president
would be Black man named Barack

During the period of roughly February 1992 to mid-1994, I was making frequent trips to Moscow, Russia, in the process of starting a software development joint-venture company with some people from the Russian scientific community. One of the men in charge on the Russian side was named V. M. He had a wife named T.M.

V. was a level-headed scientist while his wife was rather deeply committed to the losing Communist cause - a cause she obviously was not abandoning.

One evening, during a trip early in 1992, the American half of our venture was invited to V. & T.'s Moscow flat as we were about to return to the States. The party went well and we had the normal dinner discussions. As the evening wore on, T. developed a decidedly rough anti-American edge - one her husband tried to quietly rein in.

The bottom line of the tirade she started against the United States went something like this: "You Americans always like to think that you have the perfect government and your people are always so perfect. Well then, why haven't you had a woman president by now? You had a chance to vote for a woman vice-president and you didn't do it." (She was referring to Geraldine Ferraro.)

The general response went something along the lines that you don't vote for someone just because of their sex. Besides, you don't vote for vice-president, but the president and vice-president as a ticket.

"Well, I think you are going to be surprised when you get a black president very soon."
The consensus we expressed was that we didn't think there was anything innately barring that. The right person at the right time and sure, America would try to vote for the right person, be he or she black or not.

"What if I told you that you will have a black president very soon and he will be a Communist?"

The out-of-the-blue remark was met by our stares. She continued, "Well, you will; and he will be a Communist."
It was then that the husband unsuccessfully tried to change the subject; but she was on a roll and would have nothing of it. One of us asked, "It sounds like you know something we don't know."

"Yes, it is true. This is not some idle talk. He is already born and he is educated and being groomed to be president right now. You will be impressed to know that he has gone to the best schools of Presidents. He is what you call "Ivy League". You don't believe me, but he is real and I even know his name. His name is Barack. His mother is white and American and his father is black from Africa. That's right, a chocolate baby! And he's going to be your President."

She became smug as she presented her stream of detailed knowledge and predictions so matter-of-factly - as though all were foregone conclusions. "It's all been thought out. His father is not an American black so he won't have that social slave stigma. He is intelligent and he is half white and has been raised from the cradle to be an atheist and a Communist. He's gone to the finest schools. He is being guided every step of the way and he will be irresistible to America."

We sat there not knowing what to say. She was obviously very happy that the Communists were doing this and that it would somehow be a thumbing of their collective noses at America: they would give us a black president and he'd be a Communist to boot. She made it quite obvious that she thought that this was going to breathe new life into world Communism. From this and other conversations with her, she always asserted that Communism was far from dead.

She was full of little details about him that she was eager to relate. I thought that maybe she was trying to show off that this truly was a real person and not just hot air.
She rattled off a complete litany. He was from Hawaii. He went to school in California. He lived in Chicago. He was soon to be elected to the legislature. "Have no doubt: he is one of us, a Soviet."

At one point, she related some sort of San Francisco connection, but I didn't understand what the point was and don't recall much about that. I was just left with the notion that she considered the city to be some sort of a center for their activity here.

Since I had dabbled in languages, I knew a smattering of Arabic. I made a comment: "If I remember correctly, 'Barack' comes from the Arabic word for 'Blessing.' That seems to be an odd name for an American." She replied quickly, "Yes. It is 'African'", she insisted, "and he will be a blessing for world Communism. We will regain our strength and become the number one power in the world."

She continued with something to the effect that America was at the same time the great hope and the great obstacle for Communism. America would have to be converted to Communism and Barack was going to pave the way.

So, what does this conversation from 1992 prove?
Well, it's definitely anecdotal. It doesn't prove that Obama has had Soviet Communist training nor that he was groomed to be the first black American president, but it does show one thing that I think is very important. It shows that Soviet Russian Communists knew of Barack from a very early date. It also shows that they truly believed among themselves that he was raised and groomed Communist to pave the way for their future. This report on Barack came personally to me from one of them long before America knew he existed.

Although I had never before heard of him, at the time of this conversation Obama was 30+ years old and was obviously tested enough that he was their anticipated rising star.
SOURCE: Trunews

Never Give In

By
Jerry Bowyer
TCSDaily.com

"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or
small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour
and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently
overwhelming might of the enemy."

-Sir Winston Churchill, Speech, 1941, Harrow School

Check the date, Churchill was speaking during the depths of the Nazi
onslaught. And he was speaking to school children. The quote above is
the text of his entire commencement speech to those boys. He rose,
stepped to the podium, uttered those two sentences and sat down. Few
people could have gotten away with that.

As I hear about the death knell of conservatism, I'm reminded of
Churchill. He won WWII, and then lost the next election to a Fabian
socialist named Clement Atlee. Brits had become tired of risk, tired of
war, tired of privation and so they gave the reins to a man of the
left. Atlee began to commandeer large swaths of the economy. In fact,
my favorite Churchill story is the one about the time that Churchill
was standing at the urinal in the men's room of the House of Commons.
Atlee came into the room and stood at the urinal next to Winston's.
Churchill looked up at him, zipped up, moved a couple of urinals
farther down and resumed his business. "Why Winston, I had no idea you
were so modest.", said Atlee. "It's not modesty, Prime Minister. It's
only that every time you find something that is large and functions
well, you try to nationalize it, and I thought it best not to take a
chance!".

[Full Article]

Don't Miss This!

Constitution Class taught by Michael Badnarik (2003)
Run Time = 7 hours.

The 2004 Libertarian Presidential Candidate, Michael Badnarik teaches his famous class about the Constitution. If you don't know the difference between a right and a privilege, this is a must see! If you think you know the difference, then answer this question: Is the US a democracy? For the answer (surprisingly), watch this. This is seven ours that could change your life!

To support Michael Badnarik's efforts on behalf of US Constitution literacy, go to ConstitutionPreservation.org

Don't forget to buy the book, Good to Be King, with a forward by Congressman Dr. Ron Paul.

Hulshoff vs. Nixon?

Quote of the Day: “Apparently Choosing a Member of the Most Unpopular Legislative Body Since Cromwell’s Long Parliament Wasn’t a Winning Strategy”
November 4th, 2008 by mopns.com
[more here]

Good Map

US Election results map: President, Senate and House

An Outsiders View of the Obama-nation

Barack Obama: 'He's been sent by God'
Even by the feverish standards of US politics, the messianic fervour of Obama's campaign is disquieting, writes Mick Brown from Colorado.

By Mick Brown in Colorado
Last Updated: 11:16AM GMT 04 Nov 2008
for the Telegraph.co.uk
[Read the article]

SwiftKids for Truth, God Bless Them!

23/6 Video: SwiftKids for Truth: The Real Biden

October 30, 2008

---

What are you doing about the BOMB?

The defining event of the election season, and Obama = McCain

Remember the Bailout!

Nov 01, 2008
from Bob Barr
In my campaign for the presidency, no issue has provided more traction for us than the BOMB. The “Bush/Obama/McCain Bailout.” Nothing provides a clearer contrast between me and my opponents. To emphasize the impact of the Wall Street bailout and all the other congressional ...
Continue reading »

Executive Summary

Cartoons By Michael Ramirez

New Contents Below

Check out "Political Commentary & Cartoons" widget at the bottom of the page below the Cass County Links section. This features headlines from IBD, Investors Business Daily. They are the publishers of the most accurate poll in the last Presidential Elections. And what their polling says about the polls paid for by the MSM would make a strong man weep for his country. (Hopefully his country is not quite so firmly in the hands of the MSM as it was.)

McCain prefers little red book ...

... over the big black book (Bible).
By U.S. Special Correspondent Wang
Translated By Mark Klingman
August 7, 2008
Seventy-three-year-old Vietnam veteran John McCain will represent the Republican Party in the American presidential election at the end of this year. According to reports, he quotes Mao Zedong from time to time, often incorrectly.
[more]

Big O is Illegal Alien

from WorldNetDaily
ELECTION 2008
Democrat: Obama's grandma confirms Kenyan birth
'This has been a real sham he's pulled off for the last 20 months'

---

Posted: October 23, 2008
11:33 pm Eastern
The Pennsylvania Democrat who has sued Sen. Barack Obama demanding he prove his American citizenship – and therefore qualification to run for president – has confirmed he has a recording of a telephone call from the senator's paternal grandmother confirming his birth in Kenya.

The issue of Obama's birthplace, which he states is Honolulu in 1961, has been raised enough times that his campaign website has posted an image purporting to be of his "Certification of Live Birth" from Hawaii.
...
He said the telephone call was from Obama's paternal grandmother affirming she "was in the delivery room in Kenya when he was born Aug. 4, 1961."
...
When Obama later returned to Hawaii, within the United States, there should have been a government document affirming his citizenship, but that also cannot be found. If that was not processed properly, Berg said, Obama would be in a situation even worse than not being a natural-born citizen.

"If he didn't go through immigration, he now is illegal and has been an illegal alien. He couldn't even hold the position of senator for Illinois," Berg said.

Further, Berg said he suspected Obama's college records may indicate he received aid as a foreigner, and that's why those records have been withheld by the campaign.

Wow, definitely read the rest here!

Oh, no - not Joe!

Joe the Plumber, a normal American in an abnormal storm of attention.

October 17, 2008, 3:30 PM
Full Comment by Kevin Libin
Unlicensed plumbers helped to build the American nation. Ours, too. It’s something to keep in mind before you jump on the American media’s gleeful bandwagon that seems hellbent on destroying the reputation of one Joe Wurzelbacher, apparently for having the audacity to question the tax plan of Barack Obama.

Joe Wurzelbacher has unwittingly become the latest football in the U.S. presidential race, after having his name dropped two-dozen times by both candidates in Wednesday night’s presidential debate. Last weekend, you see, Wurzelbacher was tossing around the ol’ pigskin with his boy in the front yard along Shrewsbury Street in Toledo, Ohio, when the working class neighbourhood was suddenly transformed by a visit by Obama.

Wurzelbacher strolled over to take a gander at the throng that had surrounded the Democratic candidate. He was reportedly unimpressed by the apparently softball questions aimed at him and ventured to ask a more challenging question of his own. He was thinking of buying the plumbing business he worked for, he explained to the candidate. Its income, he said, was approaching the $250,000 mark -- the point at which Obama claims he will begin raising income taxes. He asked: “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more isn’t it?” And thus, Joe the Plumber, as he’s come to be called, sealed his fate.
...
Actually, Joe the Plumber’s question was off-the-mark, anyway. Whatever you think of Obama’s plan, there’s a difference between business income and take-home pay, and after business taxes, retained earnings, etc. are accounted for, it’s certain Joe, should he buy the business, would be earning far less than a quarter mil annually so his taxes -- at least according to Obama’s promises -- might not rise at all. That, by the way, could have been Obama’s response, instead of offering a classic redistributionist’s defense: “I just want to make sure that everyone behind you -- that they’ve got a chance at success, too.” Not to worry. Lucky for Obama, his comments aren’t under scrutiny here; he’s only the favoured candidate to become the next leader of the free world, after all. Joe, evidently, is the one who needs to watch his mouth.
Yesterday, on National Review’s Corner blog, Byron York presciently wrote the following:

“I don't know anything about Joe Wurzelbacher, but I just have one bit of advice.  If you have anything in your past that you're not proud of -- a messy divorce, a DUI, an unpaid bill, an indiscreet comment, whatever -- be prepared for it to become public knowledge.  The lefty blogosphere, along with allies in the press, will see to that.”

Alas,York was right. Before the debate was even over, the sound of news truck tires could be heard screeching in front of Joe’s house. He has had his personal life turned upside down as news hounds, eager to vet this Joe Average, rifle through his story. Apparently, they believe they have paydirt. Turns out Joe’s not a licensed plumber, but rather a plumber’s assistant. Terrible, I know. But there’s more: he owes $1,200 in back taxes.  And his real name isn’t Joe -- it’s Samuel! Joseph is his middle name; he prefers to go by Joe. These gory revelations, as if you could have missed them, have been detailed in exposés by CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Newsweek, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, a hundred other sources, including in the international press. The Globe and Mail called him today a “false Republican idol.” Some have suggested he must be racist. The Atlantic Monthly asks that, if his name and profession can’t be trusted, then what’s next? Is Joe “not actually a man?” There. That oughta teach lowly American voters to dare question the wisdom of Barack Obama.
Read the Rest

As Socialism Accelerates in DC

... busted budgets prompt states to pull back from the abyss.

Hawaii Ending Universal Child Health Care

Oct 17 12:00 PM US/Eastern
By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press Writer
HONOLULU (AP) - Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.
Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.
"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."
[Duuhh! -- Ed.] Read the rest here.

Fascism is as fascism does, Forrest.

Smaller Banks Resist Federal Cash Infusions

Community banking executives around the country responded with anger yesterday to the Bush administration's strategy of investing $250 billion in financial firms, saying they don't need the money, resent the intrusion and feel it's unfair to rescue companies from their own mistakes. But regulators said some banks will be pressed to take the taxpayer dollars anyway. Others banks judged too sick to save will be allowed to fail.
The government also said yesterday that it will guarantee up to $1.4 trillion of private investment in banks. The combination of public and private investment is intended to refill coffers emptied by losses on real estate lending. With the additional money, the government expects, banks would be able to start making additional loans, boosting the economy . . . .
[But] in offices around the country, bankers simmered. Peter Fitzgerald, chairman of Chain Bridge Bank in McLean, said he was "much chagrined that we will be punished for behaving prudently by now having to face reckless competitors who all of a sudden are subsidized by the federal government."
At Evergreen Federal Bank in Grants Pass, Oregon, chief executive Brady Adams said he has more than 2,000 loans outstanding and only three borrowers behind on payments. "We don't need a bailout, and if other banks had run their banks like we ran our bank, they wouldn't have needed a bailout, either," Adams said.
The opposition suggested that the government may have to continue to press banks to participate in the plan. The first $125 billion will be divided among nine of the largest U.S. banks, which were forced to accept the investment to help destigmatize the program in the eyes of other institutions.
In rolling out the program, Treasury said it would make the rest of the money available to banks that requested it. Officials said they expected thousands of banks to participate. But both the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America said that they knew of few banks that planned to participate.
Read the rest here: washingtonpost.com

One of the Great Videos from Foehammer on VodPod

Michael Badnarik - The Constitution

"Excellent summary of why we have rights that can not be taken away by anyone unless we are unwilling to fight for them

A bit creepy ...

Actually the fierce reliance of the Obama campaign on creating momentum in the campaign by building a cult of personality everywhere at all times and at all levels is more than a bit creepy.

Whatever happens to the Obamanator, this process will someday be inherited and perfected by the Antichrist. Count on it. In the mean time this sad spectacle is antichrist. And sadly this spectacle is a local story to the Kansas City area.

Can we say Hit - I mean, Obama Youth, boys and girls?

The View from Abroad Says It All

Congress Has Sold Us Out to the Big Banks

• Posted by Kenn Jacobine on October 6, 2008 at 7:08am

Ronald Reagan said, “Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it”. Even before Bush’s Big Bank Bailout Bill was passed by Congress we were in the “subsidize it” phase of the cycle. We have been told by our “leaders” that more subsidizing through the bailout legislation is in the best interest of the millions of Americans in the middle class. It was done to preserve our savings accounts, education and retirement funds and to help small business in securing the necessary loans they need to survive. It was done to rescue us from economic calamity.


In fact, the $700 billion bailout (ignoring the pork and tax breaks which make the legislation worth more than $800 billion) will only do harm to the middle class.



Read the whole article at: http://lovesliberty.tripod.com/theviewfromabroad/


Kenn Jacobine teaches History and English for the American International School of Lusaka, Zambia.

Two Headed Snake Tune

Republocrat Campaign Song

The "Republocrat Campaign Song" is climbing the youtube charts. Over 10,000 views in less than 24 hours. Right now the video is in the top 100 most popular videos for all of YouTube (#90). Please make sure you see this hilarious video and don't forget to rate it, comment on it, add it to your favorites and subscribe to the channel!

Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kQxnut5RVw

How many legs does a cat have, if you call its tail a leg?

Reality Check for Republicans

by Mike Ferguson, September 9, 2008 - Tuesday

If I were a medical researcher, I would embark on a study of a phenomenon that is displayed en masse once every four years. I call this condition: Election-Onset Memory Loss.

The symptoms of Election-Onset Memory Loss (or, EOML for short) include forgetting why and how much you do not like a politician before he or she wins a nomination. Post-nomination, the patient suffering from EOML suddenly believes the person he or she disliked so much, on principle, is now a shining example of all the patient holds dear.

I am getting very worried about a number of my friends right now, especially my Republican friends who appear to be the most afflicted by EOML.

The cure for this condition is a dose of Reality Check for Republicans (RCFR).

[Read the rest ... and weep.]

See also:

Mike Ferguson Online

Missouri Viewpoints

Behold a Palin Horse

from ProLibertate Blog

Where do God and Family fit if "Country" -- meaning the Government -- comes first? Republican cultists perform on cue at the GOP convention.

"`We
grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and
dignity.' I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind.... I grew up with those people. They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars."
From Sarah Palin's Vice Presidential Acceptance Speech
...
In her acceptance speech -- which was completed, in all but a few perfunctory personalized details, by Republican campaign consultants before McCain had chosen a nominee
-- Palin assailed the Democratic Party presidential candidate for
cavilling about the Long War (Against Terrorism, Iraq, and Other
Countries To Be Named Later): "Victory in Iraq is finally in sight. He
[the Democratic nominee] wants to forfeit....Terrorist states are
seeking nuclear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without
preconditions."

Of course, these digs infuriated those who end their prayers in the
name of Barack Obama, and electrified those who see in Mr. Obama the
figure Daniel referred to as the "King of Fierce Countenance."
Whatever may or may not be Obama's eschatological role, in plain truth
he is firmly in the Democratic Party's lamentable Wilsonian tradition.

[MORE]

William Grig on Radio Liberty

While Rome Burns ...

AS U.S. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS LOOM, HOUSE, SENATE SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF (Elizabeth Williamson)

Members of Congress love a good resolution ... Watermelons and undertakers fit the
bill



The 110th Congress, whose term officially ends in January, hasn't
passed any spending bills or attacked high gasoline prices. But it has
used its powers to celebrate watermelons and to decree the origins of
the word "baseball."

Barring a burst of legislative activity after Labor Day, this group of
535 men and women will have accomplished a rare feat. In two decades of
record keeping, no sitting Congress has passed fewer public laws at
this point in the session - 294 so far - than this one. That's not to
say they've been idle. On the flip side, no Congress in the same 20
years has been so prolific when it comes to proposing resolutions -
more than 1,900, according to a tally by the nonpartisan Taxpayers for
Common Sense.

With the mostly symbolic measures, Congress has saluted such milestones as the
Idaho Potato Commission's 70th anniversary and recognized soil as an "essential
natural resource." As legislation on gasoline prices, tax fixes and predatory
lending languish, Congress has designated May 5-9 as National Substitute Teacher
Recognition Week, and set July 28 as the Day of the American Cowboy . . . .

Congress, which won't return to session until September, has yet to
pass any 2009 appropriations bills, even though funding the federal
budget is its official function. Before leaving town for summer break
in August, lawmakers failed to establish August as Heat Stroke
Awareness Month, blowing the deadline to make it official.



Source: online.wsj.com (8-19-08)
LINK

And they can sink NATO fleet in 20 minutes

Military help for Georgia is a 'declaration of war', says Moscow in extraordinary warning to the West

Moscow has issued an extraordinary warning to the West that military assistance to Georgia for use against South Ossetia or Abkhazia would be viewed as a "declaration of war" by Russia.

The extreme rhetoric from the Kremlin's envoy to NATO came as President Dmitry Medvedev stressed he will make a military response to US missile defence installations in eastern Europe, sending new shudders across countries whose people were once blighted by the Iron Curtain.

And Moscow also emphasised it was closely monitoring what it claims is a build-up of NATO firepower in the Black Sea.

The incendiary warning on Western military involvement in Georgia - where NATO nations have long played a role in training and equipping the small state - came in an interview with Dmitry Rogozin, a former nationalist politician who is now ambassador to the North Atlantic Alliance.

"If NATO suddenly takes military actions against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, acting solely in support of Tbilisi, this will mean a declaration of war on Russia," he stated.

Yesterday [he] likened the current world crisis to the fevered atmosphere before the start of the First World War. Rogozin said he did not believe the crisis would descend to war between the West and Russia. But his use of such intemperate language will be seen as dowsing a fire with petrol.

Source:thisislondon.co.uk
MORE

Stay Alert to News of the Bear

Dan 7:5  And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

24/04/2008 Moscow News,№16 2008

Flying High

MOSCOW - Russia's rearmament program, approved in 2006 for a period until 2015, provides for supplying modern weapons to its armed forces. One of them is the Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber, which will replace the Su-24 Fencers.

The process has begun, but some say the replacement is taking too long.

The new fighter-bomber is said to be very good. An improvement on the Su-27 Flanker, it has cutting-edge equipment, including a modern crew and equipment protection system. The Su-34 is effective against personnel and military hardware on the battlefield and also against targets behind enemy lines. It can also be used for surveillance missions and against naval targets.

... Pay close attention now.
Units armed with such aircraft can be used in the so-called pendulum operations, when an Air Force unit bombs a terrorist base in Central Asia today, delivers a strike at a missile base in Europe the next day, and three days later flies to the Indian Ocean to support a combined group of the Northern, Pacific and Black Sea fleets, with flights from a base in Russia.

... Uh, oh! Look out!
However, such elite units can be quickly weeded out by swarms of ordinary aircraft in a global war of attrition, such as World War II. From this viewpoint, Russia's new concept looks vulnerable, but then this country has the nuclear triad for a global war.

In a war of attrition, it will not matter how many such smart aircraft Russia will have - 200, 600 or 1,500. What will really matter is the yield of a nuclear bomb they will be able to drop on the enemy.

Read the entire article.

Ezekial 38 anyone?

Alert: Reorganization Meetings

The reorganization meetings for political parties are prescribed by state law as follows:

County Committees - 3rd Tuesday in August, this year Aug 19.
Legislative District Comm - 3rd Wednesday after the election, Aug 20.
Senatorial District Comm - 3rd Saturday after the election, Aug 23.
Congressional District Comm - Last Tues in August, Aug 26

See Missouri Revised Statutes, 115.621 and 115.615

They did it, so can we!

... or "What goes around comes around."

August 01, 2008

House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House, turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.

Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi's refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m., and they are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.

At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on and the microphones were turned on shortly afterward.

But C-SPAN, which has no control over the cameras in the chamber, has stopped broadcasting the House floor, meaning no one was witnessing this except the assembled Republicans, their aides, and one Democrat, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has now left.

Only about a half-dozen Republicans were on the floor when this began, but the crowd has grown to about 20, according to Patrick O'Connor.

Read More

Chinese Totalitarianism, American-Style

By John W. Whitehead
7/31/2008

“Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”—Thomas Jefferson

China is becoming more like us in very visible ways (Starbucks, Hooters, cellphones that are cooler than ours),” observed Naomi Klein in Rolling Stone in May 2008, “and we are becoming more like China in less visible ones (torture, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention, though not nearly on the Chinese scale).”

Klein’s expose, “China’s All-Seeing Eye,” sheds light on how U.S. defense contractors have been helping China build the prototype for a high-tech police state that will be put to the test with the upcoming Beijing Olympics. It’s a must-read for anyone who is concerned that one more terrorist attack is all it will take for the U.S. to cross over into a totalitarian police state.

The reach of the technology being implemented is alarming. Think electronic concentration camps, complete with high-tech surveillance systems and internet and cell phone censorship programs. What is more disconcerting is the extent to which U.S. companies have helped China oppress its people.

In the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Congress actually passed legislation that was intended to prevent U.S. companies from helping Chinese authorities suppress human rights and democracy. Since then, American corporations have been working to side-step the prohibition while exploiting every loophole and simultaneously lobbying Congress to lift the restrictions and allow them free play in China’s homeland security market.

This includes security and communications giants such as IBM, General Electric, United Technologies, Honeywell, DuPont and Motorola, as well as technology giants such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. The motivation, of course, is money. According to Klein, “the global homeland-security business is now worth an estimated $200 billion — more than Hollywood and the music industry combined.” Thus, for the sake of greed, these companies have become turncoats to freedom, completely selling out America’s once-cherished ideals of democracy.

Note: Anyone aware of the role of American academics and corporations, particularly IBM and Standard Oil, in Hitler's rise to power and the Holocaust should not be surprised.

Read the Rest

Promoting Incompetance (OR ... ?)

Wednesday: Fired by MnDOT, now at Homeland Security

Sonia Pitt, who skipped recovery efforts after the bridge collapse, is now working for TSA.

By PAUL MCENROE and TONY KENNEDY, Star Tribune

Last update: August 1, 2008 - 8:43 AM

Sonia Pitt

Sonia Pitt, the MnDOT emergency response executive fired for taking an unauthorized, state-paid trip to Washington during the Interstate
35W bridge disaster, is now working for the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security.

Read the rest

Hey, hey, fake, fake.

Document forensics expert: Obama "birth certificate" a "horrible forgery" By Israel Insider staff July 20, 2008

Barack Obama may be on a world tour surrounded by a fawning media, but Sunday an expert in electronic document forensics released a detailed report on the purported birth certificate -- actually a "Certification of Live Birth" or COLB -- claimed as genuine by his campaign. The expert concludes with 100% certainty that it is a crudely forged fake: "a horribly forgery," according to the analysis published on the popular right-wing Atlas Shrugs blog.

The purported birth certificate was published by the left wing Daily Kos blog on June 12 in response to unconfirmed reports that Obama was not in fact born in the United States (Canada and Kenya were suggested as the possible locations of his actual birth). Since he would in that case not be a natural born US citizen (his mother was not present in the US sufficiently long as an adult to pass American citizenship on to him automatically), he would not be eligible to be president. Israel Insider has followed the story in five previous articles (the previous one here) and uncovered evidence, most recently, of admitted forgery among Daily Kos bloggers, tolerance of electronic forgeries on the blog site, as well as efforts by a blog administrator to conceal the admission of forgery.

The latest examinaton of the purported documents is by far the most detailed and technically sophisticated to date.

Read the rest.

Candidate Forum July 29, 2008

2008 Town Hall Meeting "Meet the Candidates"

Tuesday July 29th, 6:30 p.m.
The Family Center of Harrisonville
Community Room

• Come meet your Candidates that will be running for public office.


• Every Candidate in the Cass County Voting District has been invited to attend.


• This will be a Question and Answer format.


• All Questions will be submitted by Voters.


• Description
  
  Sponsor: KC Conservative
  Purpose: Networking and Grilling Candidates!
  Time: 6:30 PM
  Location: Family Center Community Room
  MillWalk Mall
  2601 Cantrell Rd
  Highway 291 at Highway 71
  Harrisonville, MO 64701
  
  Sponsor contact:
  Joshua@kcconservative.com
  KC Conservative
  P.O. Box 1135
  Harrisonville, MO 64701
  
  

Neighbors to the West

Libertarians of North East Kansas (LNEK) is a group that supports Libertarian principles such as individual freedom and personal responsibility. Our objective is to do our best to restore freedom, limit government waste and power, and help Libertarian candidates get elected to office.

LNEK meetings are held on the last Thursday of every month and are open to the public.
Details for this month's meeting:
Location: Planet Sub on 21st & Wanamaker (next to Target). If, for some reason, this location is closed, the backup meeting place is the Classic Bean in Fairlawn Plaza, located at 21st and Fairlawn, in the Price Chopper Shopping Center on the West strip.
Date: Thursday, October 25th, 2007.
Time: The actual meeting starts at 7:00 pm.
* Several of us will be there at 6:00 pm for a meal and conversation, and everyone is invited for that.

For more information, please email Sharon DuBois Sharon.DuBois@lpks.org.

Support Bob Barr for Presidentin Cass County, Missouri

Click here to check out
The Cass County Bob Barr for President Meetup Group!