Mid-week misanthropy, vol. 50

Incipient conference deadline means more birdshot blogging.

——

One thing that bugs me about the “what the fuck is wrong with you?” commentary directed at kidfucker Roman Polanski’s supporters is the confusion of representatives with groups.  For example, when French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterand lined up behind Polanski, many wrote that the French supported child rapists.  Even normally even-handed commentators like Megan McArdle immersed themselves in nationalist groupthink:

The guy drugged a thirteen year old girl in order to rape her.  Perhaps the French have some sophisticated, European point of view on these things that I, with my puritan ancestry, simply cannot rise to.

To be fair, one might expect the French Culture Minister to speak for the French on matters of Culture.  But of course the Mr. Mitterand is nothing more than a useless dipshit with a political office (I repeat myself), and “the French” are a nation of individuals, each with s/h/its own capacity to form opinion.

Many of them hold the same opinion of Polanski as I do.

• Now even the French are bashing the French (JustOneMinute)

Blah blah blah politicians blah.  But the last three quoted paragraphs refer to real people:

Marie-Louise Fort, a French lawmaker in the Assembly who has sponsored anti-incest legislation, said in an interview that she was shocked that Mr. Polanski was attracting support from the political and artistic elite. “I don’t believe that public opinion is spontaneously supporting Mr. Polanski at all,” she said. “I believe that there is a distinction between the mediagenic class of artists and ordinary citizens that have a vision that is more simple.”

The mood was even more hostile in blogs and e-mails to newspapers and news magazines. Of the 30,000 participants in an online poll by the French daily Le Figaro, more than 70 percent said Mr. Polanski, 76, should face justice. And in the magazine Le Point, more than 400 letter writers were almost universal in their disdain for Mr. Polanski.

That contempt was not only directed at Mr. Polanski, but at the French class of celebrities — nicknamed Les People — who are part of Mr. Polanski’s rarefied Parisian world. Letter writers to Le Point scorned Les People as the “crypto-intelligentsia of our country” who deliver “eloquent phrases that defy common sense.”

Sure seems like “the French” are pretty similar to “us” in their evaluation of kidfucking.

——

It’s not just French people, either.  Many writers at the Huffington Post have defended Polanski, for reasons which are somewhat obscure to me but presumably have something to do with America forcing its law on other countries like Hollywood directors on drugged and protesting thirteen-year-old girls.  The commentariat at the HuffPo, however, is far from united behind them:

• HuffPo goes all in to defend Polanski, readers revolt (Big Hollywood)

Christian Toto extracted the following samples from HuffPo comments:

“Nope, it’s not a “conspiracy.” Child rape is a crime and Polanski should serve his time- he should have served it long ago instead of trying to pay off his victim”

“I am an California attorney, a confirmed Democrat-liberal and admirer of Mr. Polanski’s talents and those of many who have naively signed this petition … Mr. Polanski did what he did and no amount of spin or the passage of time can change that. He drugged and raped a child. What don’t you understand about that? Is it O.K. to do that to your daughters? … Shame on you, all of you. You should (and probably do) know better.”

“Let’s see these artists sign their names to a petition to excuse the drugging of and forced sex with a 13 year old. Let’s put it bluntly.”

Mr. Toto ends with the following:

My best guess is that some issues go beyond ideology, like sticking up for a 13-year-old girl cruelly attacked by a much older man. Thank goodness for that.

Sounds good to me.

——

Hey, didja know that Andrew Sullivan is a right-winger?

• I’m still on the right (The Daily Dish)

I’d like to get government out of direct management of healthcare, ownership of hospitals and direct employment of doctors and have it merely guarantee health insurance. I’d prefer a flat tax to progressive taxation. I favor a steadily rising carbon tax to cap and trade. I’d favor bringing the government’s share of the economy down to around a third, instead of a half (as it now is in New Labour’s Britain). I’d like to craft public finances so they have to show a small surplus through the usual business cycle. You get the picture.

Congratulations, Mr. Sullivan: you’re a liberal, just like Thomas Paine and Friedrich Hayek.  There’s a club, you know.  We meet in the neighbourhood rec centre every other Thursday and drink beer.  You should come.  Sometimes a girl shows up.

So what does it tell you about the state of the contemporary right in America that these positions are now described as Marxist, communist or fascist?

Mostly that not enough people are paying attention to Ron Paul.

——

Next we discover that some government bureaucrats really are useless wankers:

• Your tax dollars at work ($58,800 spent on porn at the NSF) (Dispatches from TJICistan)

TJIC already cherry-picked the source article, so I’m going to cherry-pick his post.  You should go read the whole thing.

[O]ne senior executive spent at least 331 days looking at pornography on his government computer and chatting online with nude or partially clad women. [...]  He even offered, among other explanations, a humanitarian defense, suggesting that he frequented the porn sites to provide a living to the poor overseas women.

Well, I suppose that’s one way to think of it.  Puts a new spin on the term “sweatshop”.

Another employee in a different case was caught with hundreds of pictures, videos and even PowerPoint slide shows containing pornography. Asked by an investigator whether he had completed any government work on a day when a significant amount of pornography was downloaded, the employee responded, “Um, I can’t remember,” according to records.

That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.  Of all the things we pay government bureaucrats to do, “jerking off in their cubicles” is pretty fucking harmless.

#3 Congresswoman Lee is NOT on the list of 56!

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee  (Democrat) represents Texas.  She has been in office continuously since 1994.  Her next election will be in 2010.

Sheila Jackson Lee has used every possible opportunity in the previous years to vote in favor of spending money regardless of the economy and has consistently voted for government expansion in the lives of the individuals in this country.  There were so many examples of being fiscally irresponsible and examples of questionable character that it was difficult to be brief on this topic.  For that reason, it appears to be more prudent to concentrate on clear cases of poor judgment exhibited through the most recent time period.

Rep. Jackson Lee was one of five members of Congress who took part in a Citigroup-funded junket to the sunny Caribbean island of St. Maartens shortly after all five voted for TARP. The trip was led by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), who cheated on his taxes and proposed tax increases to fund health care.

Most recently when the country was deep in debt, she voted yes to pass a huge stimulus package for the country that contained a lot of earmarks.   The voting record shows that she votes yes for almost every bill that will cost the taxpayers more money.

Now we are in the midst of a healthcare debate shortly after passing one of the largest “handouts” in the history of the country.  What is her contribution to the debate?   First of all, she argues why all the illegals should be covered under the plan.  What part of the word illegal does she not understand?  America has laws in place for a reason.  Why would a representative of our government suggest benefits be given to those guilty of criminal actions?  Rather than address the issue of illegal aliens, she speaks about them as if they have the same rights as the working citizens of this country.  Congresswoman Lee clearly views them as equal to the American citizens.

Sheila Jackson Lee justifying illegal aliens in the Healthcare Plan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWk6OYUv1QU

 

What about her character?  What do we know?   We know that at a townhall to discuss healthcare in August 2009, there was behavior indicative of someone who doesn’t want to listen to her constituents.  Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee picked up her cell phone while a cancer survivor recounted her story and begged her not to endorse the President’s health care plan.  This was not quick, the Congresswoman had a lengthy conversation on the phone while ignoring the lady in the audience.  Numerous news outlets interviewed her after this debacle.  Although the Congresswoman explained she had a reason for the call, there was no intention to apologize for her behavior.  Clearly the constituents were not the priority at the townhall.

Sheila Jackson Lee being rude to lady at the Healthcare Town Hall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L3FnWNkIzU

In another townhall, there was a woman who identified herself as a Doctor and asked a question to Congresswoman Lee.  The exchange was quite pro-Healthcare plan on the part of the Doctor.  People later discovered the Doctor was actually not a Doctor (nor a Sheila Jackson Lee constituent), but someone on the Obama staff.

Sheila Jackson Lee at townhall with woman pretending to be a Doctor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxna9SfmBgs

Her recent contributions include complaining that hurricane names were too Caucasian and proposing a resolution praising Michael Jackson as the world’s greatest humanitarian.  Bear in mind this was also the man who was investigated at great length for his suspicious behavior with children.

In September of 2009, she voted against a bill to pull the funding from ACORN.  This community group has been charged and is in a criminal trial for voter fraud.  There are 10 states that are also investigating them for voter fraud.  This is also the same company that was exposed in the media recently for advising people on underage prostitutes and other criminal activities.  This was an expose on this company in multiple cities.  With all of this happening, Congresswoman Lee voted against the bill to put an end to their federal funding.

What is she thinking?  At best, her judgment appears to be horribly skewed.

Lack of fiscal responsibility, consistently voting to grow the government, poor judgment, and a willingness to overlook illegal patterns of behavior puts this lady on our NOT the 56 list.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Thomas Paine

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Christianity and Liberty

There’s an increasingly popular apologetic making the rounds these days: that Christianity provides the intellectual framework for our modern conception of individual rights. This is a popular David Barton conceit, for example, and Dinesh D’Souza relied on it extensively in his debate with Christopher Hitchens.

Unsurprisingly, the argument has always struck me as completely batty. Our modern conception of rights stems exclusively (and some would say axiomatically) from the concept of the social contract, made explicit in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, and extended in John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government. Locke and Hobbes articulate a theory of individual rights that is entirely secular; in fact, Hobbes puts it this way:

A law of nature, lex naturalis, is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same, and to omit that by which he thinketh it may be best preserved. For though they that speak of this subject use to confound jus and lex, right and law, yet they ought to be distinguished, because right consisteth in liberty to do, or to forbear; whereas law determineth and bindeth to one of them: so that law and right differ as much as obligation and liberty, which in one and the same matter are inconsistent.

I do concede that both Hobbes and Locke were (to varying degrees) theists, and both drew upon the Christian tradition in framing their arguments. That is, of course, to be expected. But — at least for me — the underyling contribution of social contractarianism to liberty is that it can be justified on exclusively secular grounds. Thus, I have long concluded that Christianity offers no sort of justification for the American scheme of individual rights we now enjoy.

This is readily confirmed by history; beginning in 380 AD and extending for more than a thousand years, Christians and Christian thought dominated Western Civilization, and nobody — not even indisputably brilliant theologians and Christian philosophers like Thomas Aquinas — ever articulated a theory of individual rights (or anything that is even arguably a precursor). Rather, it was only once Christianity’s influence over Western Civilization began to subside in favor of the secular philosophy of the Enlightenment that we developed the theory of rights described above.

However, I stumbled across this interesting article by well-known atheist George H. Smith, author of Atheism: The Case Against God (which is a must-have for any skeptic’s bookshelf. Interestingly, Smith’s article was written for the Acton Institute, a Christian organization dedicated to, among other things, “promoting a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.”

So the resulting article is, I think, about as “fair and balanced” as one can be on this topic. Smith forcefully articulates the positive role that Christian thought and institutions played throughout history in the development of the concept of liberty as we understand it today.

Of course, the apologist’s argument that Christianity provides an ontological justification for liberty remains patently false; there’s nothing in the Bible that suggests that individuals enjoy basic rights, and plenty to the contrary. But as a social institution and a force of history, Smith has persuaded me that the relationship between Christianity and individual rights is a bit more complicated than I initially thought.

The price of intervention

Apparently the Pakistani authorities have unearthed a militant-controlled village in Waziristan containing a high number of European citizens (mostly German and Swedish), either of North African origins or Muslim converts, who have travelled to the Middle East to learn how to become jihadis. It is perhaps less worrying that there exist European Muslims sufficiently desperate to want to become religious insurgents, than that several areas across the continent have already become unambiguous ‘recruiting grounds’ to make the incidence of such individuals so much more likely.

The article mentions places in Germany specifically that perform such a function, but I am sure there are other countries (UK, France, Italy…) with similar problems. How very grim that a whole pile of Europeans and Middle Easterners killing each other in the Middle East threatens to make the same happen in Europe as well unless the security services stay on their toes. As if we didn’t already have enough on our plates already, what with trying to escape the economic crisis and protecting the cause of free enterprise against state encroachment in the name of ecology and national security… Citizens’ respect for each others’ individual liberty really is heading for an all-time low…

JMU Escapes Liberty With Win

"I sure hope this isn't intercepted by Griff Yancey ... oops"

Don’t be fooled: it was much closer than the final score of 24-10 would indicate. In fact, No. 7 James Madison was tied with No. 25 when the fourth quarter started.

Neither team was able to put together any semblance of a passing game in the near-Biblical rain, and JMU’s starting running back, Jamal Sullivan, was forced out in the third quarter with bruised knee — but would the Flames actually be able to pull off the upset?

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: No, because Corwin Acker cares not about the rain (near the end of the game, “…a lake had formed along the Liberty sideline. Standing water was several inches deep and covered nearly the length of the sideline.”), nor your “Beat JMU” t-shirts, or the idea that God himself may or may have been pulling for Liberty (see: Biblical rain. Also see: Falwell, Jerry). Acker gladly stepped-in for Sullivan, TORCHING the FLAMES to the tune of 147 yards and two scores on just 12 carries (MATH!: that’s an average of 12.2 yards a carry). In addition to running on water, Acker performed other miracles once thought impossible, like shredding the Liberty defense for a 65-yard touchdown.

The moment Corwin Acker tiptoed down the visiting sideline Saturday night at rain-soaked Williams Stadium, Liberty coach Danny Rocco knew there was a breakdown. A missed assignment. Something. Because with the defense Liberty had called, there was no way a tailback should be able to get to the outside and break free 65 yards down the sideline.

But that was exactly what Acker did, and the James Madison tailback’s first career touchdown gave the Dukes the lead for good as seventh-ranked JMU held off the 25th-ranked Flames, 24-10.

“A safety shows up in the alley and doesn’t make a tackle,” Rocco said. “Really, to be quite frank with you, it’s a defense that should not allow that play to go the way that it did.”

The game remained 17-10 until late in the 4th, when Liberty QB Tommy Beecher, trying in vain to keep his team’s chances alive, forced a throw that was intercepted by Griff Yancey. On the very next play, Acker ended any hopes of a comeback with his second score of the game.

While the scoreboard indicated a that it was a relatively close, the rushing numbers, um, did not. JMU racked up 301 yards on the ground, compared to Liberty’s 96. In sloppy conditions, it was clear the team able to run the ball better would win. Saturday night, that team was JMU.

Further Reading:

JMU 24, Liberty 10 … “I don’t think there was any question the punt was probably the big play in the game,” Matthews said. “It flipped the field.” … “Just butterflies,” Acker said. “I’m not going to lie, I was running scared. They say being thrown into the fire is the best thing for you. I guess that’s what happened.”

If I wanted to destroy the UK's taxation-base....

..and I was Gordon Brown, then this is how I would start off.

David Davis

I thought that Statists like taxation. I thought they liked to do it.

They not only like [other people] to pay it, but they like to raise [lots and] lots of it.

If they want to do it, then there perhaps ought to be something large and worthwhile to tax economically and profitably. Surely, it’s worth more net revenue to tax about 10,000 guys each collecting lump sums of say £200,000 each, every year year in year out, (40% of 20 billion = 8 billion for 10,000 audits) than to tax 20 million people each yielding, let us say, £4,000 each per year (80 billion for 20 million audits) and with the same volume of paperwork per unit as the big guys?

They will merely have 200 times the paperwork per billion raised, if they drive the Banks offshore, as they now will.

And I haven’t even costed in the marginal taxation-losses due to death of small-businesses who service the bonus-earners.

Dayton, Ohio Has A Serious Drug Problem

Being the parent of a drug related murder victim I know all to well how serious the drug problem is in & around Dayton, Ohio.

When something like this happens to you & your family all you can do to overcome it is to attempt to help others so something like this will not happen to them.

I can assure you this type of thing is one of the worst things that can happen to a human being & it is this very type of thing that is in fact slowly but surely destroying Dayton, Ohio.

Addiction is clearly the demon.

As it now stands the only solution is for drug addicts to get themselves into a program of recovery & become abstinent from their compulsive addictive behaviors.

The problem with that is most drug addicts are living in denial & delusion & therefore do not want to take a look at themselves or even admit that they may have a problem.

They do this despite suffering life damaging consequences including premature death or jail time.

It usually takes something very painful to get them out of denial & delusion which professionals call hit bottom.

In my son’s case it was two bullets in the back & a ride to the morque & for his killer 15 years to life in prison.

That goes to show you just how powerful addiction is.

So what can be done about this?

Forced recovery programs or no freedom or liberty for drug addicts?

Legalization of drugs?

Lock illegal drug dealers up & throw the key away?

Get laws changed that make it illegal to be a drug addict so police can legally round them up, drug test them & get them off the streets?

Better educate children about dysfunctional families the real cause of addiction?

Have our government pay drug dealers $35,000.00 a year to stop selling drugs & start helping addicts get off drugs?

Don’t laugh as it cost our government over $48,000.00 a year to keep a drug dealer in prison & most of them go back to selling drugs when they get out because very few companies will hire them.

Just what can be done about this problem & where will the money come from?

Dayton needs your help & ideas.

In the meantime if you know someone that is abusing drugs, narcotics or alcohol you can suggest they attend at least six AA or NA meetings & you can also tell the people that are affected by their using or drinking to attend Al-Anon meetings.

All of this information is available on this website.

I like this chappy's cynicism

David Davis

It’s probably because he’s Czech, or perhaps it’s despite that instead.

I have spent, some years ago, quite a long cumulative time in his country, probably more than anywhere else except here. And I found the Czechs, particularly the South-Moravians (whose accent and dialect I learned to fool people in Prague with) to be charmingly romantic, but maybe it was just the all-pervading afterglow of joy at being released from the Stalinist Jackboot.

Washington State Allows Thimerosal in H1N1 Vaccine

Washington State Department of Health
September 25, 2009

OLYMPIA – State health officials are taking steps to ensure Washington residents at highest risk for H1N1 (swine flu) infection have broad access to the new vaccine when its available. Secretary of Health Mary Selecky is temporarily suspending Washingtons limit on the amount of mercury (thimerosal) allowed in H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine given to pregnant women and children under three.

Its vital to be sure everyone in a high risk group has the choice to be vaccinated when swine flu vaccine becomes available, said Secretary Selecky. Mercury-free H1N1 vaccine may not always be in stock, and we want to be sure there are no barriers to protecting people.

The six-month suspension is effective through March 23, 2010 and applies only to H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines now being developed. As a precaution, Washington state law limits the amount of mercury that can be in vaccines for pregnant women and children under three. The secretary of health can suspend the law when theres a shortage of vaccine or during a disease outbreak both criteria apply to the H1N1 (swine flu)
vaccine. Supplies of mercury-free vaccine will be limited, which may stop people in these groups who want the vaccine from getting it.

H1N1 vaccination is voluntary. Pregnant women and children under three are at the top of the list to get the vaccine because theyre at high risk for serious complications from swine flu.

We believe suspending the law allows health care providers to offer their patients as many choices as possible to protect themselves against H1N1,” said Cindy Markus, MD, President of the Washington State Medical Association.

When the limits are suspended, the law requires that pregnant or lactating women and parents or guardians of children under 18 be told theyre getting a vaccine containing more mercury than is usually permitted. There is no specific notification method required; most patients will get a handout to read.

The mercury in vaccines is in a preservative called thimerosal. Its been used safely for years to prevent contamination of vaccines in vials that contain more than one dose. Except for some types of flu vaccines, all vaccines routinely recommended for children under six years of age are thimerosal-free, or contain only
trace amounts. While some people are concerned about the safety of thimerosal, many large, thorough studies have shown no harm caused by thimerosal in vaccines.

Federal health officials expect H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine to be available in early October. Although there will eventually be enough vaccine for everyone, supplies will be limited at first and will likely be reserved for high risk people. People are encouraged to check with their private health care provider, public health clinics, retail pharmacies, and community vaccination event organizers on locations to get the vaccine. State and local health partners are working together to identify these locations and will share that information when vaccine is available.

LIBERTY: Honest money begets success

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/smith-g.f5.1.1.html

How Much Money Do We Need?
by George F. Smith

*** begin quote ***

There will always be people who wish to live at the expense of others. Government does this through taxes and inflation – which is here used as an increase in the money supply – and in modern times, inflation, because it is generally misunderstood by the public, is a politically safer method of confiscation than taxes.

*** and ***

Fiat paper money regimes are not designed to promote a healthy economy. They are designed as a means of wealth distribution for the benefit of a few.

That probably doesn’t include you, and it definitely doesn’t include me.

*** end quote ***

It sure isn’t me!

Here in two paragraphs the author explains the problem with gooferment paper money.

I’m not sure how this all unwinds. We can see in history that: in France, the aristocrats lost their heads; in Germany, Hitler came to power; and in Zimbabwe, the people starve despite the fact that when it was Rhodesia it was Africa’s breadbasket.

As an “old guy”, I may not be here for the final act of this morality play. I think it’s going to make the Great Depression look like fun. All empires pass. And, the passing isn’t pretty for those in the empire.

Argh!

How do we fix it?

Civic virtue. Honest money. No more Ponzi schemes like Social Security. End welfare. End the Psuedo Drug War. Bring the troops home.

Will it happen?

I pray it will.

# # # # #

Yearning for Faith: A Consequence of the Obama Phenomenon

A deprivation afflicts our citizenry. This is a deprivation of genuine faith that deforms the natural human yearning for something eternal and beguiles the souls arrested by the pleasure principle in the belief that any suffering or hardship is the consequence of capricious and malevolent forces, forces that seem to experience less suffering and take comfort its delegation. Thus, it is a selfishness that proceeds from envy. We should experience no surprise to find a carnal sense of justice to inhabit the sentiments of a population so afflicted. This video demonstrates the madness that invades the consciousness of an otherwise reasoning people when the cult of personality replaces the natural yearning for an eternal faith and tilts our combined hopes toward the product of a super-human’s design. The children here are receiving edification of their consistency in thought.  No child with a birthright to freedom should be subject to such stifling exercises.

GramscoFabiaNazis are institutionally-not-funny, so they try terribly terribly terribly hard...

…to inject (what’s that?) “Razzmataz”…..er?

David Davis

I feel a caption competition coming on:-

He's had the jab...but I've had THREE!

It is not the function of Statesmen, while we are stuck with them up our arses, to inject “Razzmataz”.

It is their function to _Provide against Preventable Evils_ …and that is all, for the time being, until they are gone.

An analysis of Pelosi with regard to the "56"

What on earth could I possibly have to say about the Speaker of the House of Representatives, meeting privately in Houston to discuss the current Healthcare reform considerations before Congress and the Senate?  Quite a lot actually.  This was simply another episode in a long line of inappropriate behavior by a person who holds one of the most influential positions in our government.

Why is it necessary for a person of the stature of the Speaker of the House to hold a private meeting to reconcile any “differences” with the CEO of a hospital or any of its’ medical personnel with regard to a Healthcare Reform Bill?  Could it be the answer is money?  OR is this simply a “quiet” way to ensure the healthcare “industry” will support the bill publicly if their needs are met? 

Mmmm, let’s review the facts.  Did the Speaker invite any questions from the people who lined the roads into the hospital complex as she whisked in and out of  the meeting?  Is the reform bill supposedly to “help” the people of the country?  Then, why on earth would she not at a minimum make a statement to the many people who waited for hours to see her?   Hundreds of people lined the streets going into the hospital.  There was zero effort by Mrs. Pelosi to communicate with anyone.   Who does she think her employer is?

Perhaps it was money.  Let’s explore that angle.   If she was raising money for healthcare reform support – the obvious question is why?  Does the administration believe that money is needed to gain airwave time for their “cause”?  The last time I checked, ABC, CBS, and NBC are ensuring maximum support for the President, his entire administration and their “causes”.  A reasonable question might be:  Is this the cause of the people, or of the administration?   The uninsured are the minority in the country.  So, I ask you……is this the will of the people to have a government run healthcare for everyone inclusive of the majority who do not need it?   IF this is the will of the majority of the people, why does the administration feel the need to “campaign” about the reform bill?  Clearly Mrs. Pelosi is putting the extra hours in, to support what the President and the administration would like to pass into law (regardless of the will of the people).

The following day after the meeting in Houston, Mrs. Pelosi was the guest in a private home in Austin.  A lot of people showed up (a lot of lobbyists) to be with her at a $30,000 per plate event.    What is she raising private funds for?   Shouldn’t there be some form of transparency on the issue of fundraising?  They are not running for office this year.  If they discussed healthcare reform behind closed doors with a mixed audience comprised of the elite and lobbyists, we the people have a right to know the discussion content.  What was the money for?

I recall writing a letter to Mrs. Pelosi a while back.   It was not on this topic, but one that was important to me.  I asked for her opinion and support on an Eagle Scout who did not receive the traditional flag certificate that also has the word “God” on it.  The letter asked for her support to ensure the Eagle Scout got the traditional flag certificate inclusive of the word “God” which has always been on it.  Her team sent me a fairly crisp letter stating they would not answer any letters of mine as I was not a “constituent” and to write someone else!  She is the speaker of the House!!!  Who/what does she represent? 

Time and again, Mrs. Pelosi has used power and position to subvert traditions of the country.  I submit that as Speaker of the House, she has an obligation to listen to the people in an impartial manner and make decisions accordingly. Most recently she called the people who are at the rallies and protests, un-American!  Last time I looked the First amendment was in place that gives people that right.  Is she suggesting Americans no longer have the right to assemble or the right to free speech?

In my humble opinion,  Mrs. Pelosi is not one of the “56″.  What do I mean by that?  There were 56 original signers of our country’s Declaration of Independence.  These men were also the “voice of reason and vision” as they put together a progressive governmental framework document called the Constitution of the United States.  Recently, Glenn Beck put forth the notion of finding 56 honest men and women who want to end the corruption and pandering to special interest groups.  This is probably the most progressive approach to the current out of control spending and corruption we are witnessing at the highest levels in the country.  It is not a Republican or a Democrat or a move of any other party.  It is a bi-partisan move to “clean house”.  These 56 men and women of the Congress and the Senate would work together to get America back on track.  They would have a sense of honor and duty that was everpresent  in our  founding father’s thoughts (RE: Federalist Papers).  I am proposing the notion that as Americans we should be able to deduce most of these 56 by their performance records, examples of moral character and examples of following the constitution.  Do they truly listen to the people?  Are they being fiscally responsible?  Are they transparent in their dealings?  Are they respectful of the constitution?   If they haven’t exhibited the above, they need to go!

Let’s start by putting Speaker of the House Pelosi on the list of who must go.  She has consistently showed disdain for Americans voicing opinions, the immigration laws, and has been caught lying about key issues such as waterboarding.   When caught in mistruths, calling people names or supporting illegal activity, there is usually another diversion, another topic, another speech in which the Speaker of the House diverts attention from her activities.  I will refresh your memories by including 3 links to support the arguments.  There are hundreds of pieces of footage on the news networks and on the internet if you prefer to find your own substantiation.   Who is next on the list of who has to go?  You may be surprised.  Stay tuned.

 

Nancy Pelosi Tells Protestors “I’m a fan of Disruptors” , a different story now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTamBfz0Efo&feature=related

Lie exposed: Pelosi’s Power, Oversight and Control of the CIA after being briefed on Waterboarding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBvUKe_OIEw&feature=related

 

Michelle Malkin on Pelosi calling immigration enforcement “Un-American

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QITPuctLKzU&feature=related

Milton for the times

It’s always fun to see people you know do well in their endeavors.  This week I’ve had that pleasure.  A former classmate, friend and all around good guy has had an article published at Libertarian Papers, a peer reviewed, online journal of libertarian scholarship.  See Isaac M. Morehouse’s “Areopagitica: Milton’s Influence on Classical and Modern Political and Economic Thought” in which he “draws general economic arguments against central planning, state licensure and regulation from [John] Milton’s Areopagitica, a 17th Century pamphlet on free-speech.”

Daycare Worker Told She’ll Be Fired For Refusing Mandatory Flu Shot

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A daycare worker employed by Northeast Health in Albany New York was shocked to be told by her boss that she would be fired if she refused to take a seasonal swine flu shot on the spot. Similar stories have been pouring in to us from all over the country as fears that the upcoming H1N1 shot will also be mandatory continue to grow.

The case emphasizes why President Obama’s claim that the swine flu shot will be voluntary is completely deceptive and misleading. Americans across the country, even those not directly connected with health care work, are being ordered to take the mandated seasonal and swine flu shots or lose their jobs.

The story of what happened to the daycare worker, who would like to go by the pseudonym “Clare,” was sent to us by her sister who also provided Clare’s real name and the full name of the facility she is employed with.

Clare works in a daycare center which is affiliated with the local hospital but in a completely separate building. It was reported earlier this month that all hospital workers in the entire region would be forced to take the seasonal flu shot or lose their jobs and that the vaccine would become a condition of employment.

“On the Tuesday morning following the Labor Day weekend (Sept 8th), the director of the daycare of Northeast Health announced to employees on the spot (without a meeting, memo or discussion) that everyone had to go get a flu shot immediately and staff would be rotated so that everyone would be inoculated by the end of the day,” writes Clare’s sister.

“Clare said “I don’t get flu shots” and was told “well then you’ll be fired.”

The director told Clare that the H1N1 shot would also be mandated in the same way when it becomes available. When Clare warned the director that the swine flu shot contained mercury, squalene and other dangerous additives, the director told her that regardless of her objections, if she refused to be vaccinated she would be suspended from November 13th and then formally fired on November 30th.

“Clare asked how she can be fired for something that was not a condition of her employment when she was hired? She was told it was not Northeast Health’s policy, it was the director of the New York State Department of Health who made the shot mandatory,” writes her sister.

However, according to the NYSDOH decree for mandatory vaccinations, exemptions exist for “personnel who have a medical contraindication and for workers, such as those offsite, who would have no contact with patients and only incidental contact with direct-care staff.” Clare clearly falls into this category as she works in a separate building from the hospital and has no direct regular contact with hospital workers.

Clare demanded answers to the following questions, none of which have been addressed by the daycare director.

1. The regular seasonal flu hasn’t even hit so how will this first mandated shot provide any immunity when it is clearly the vaccine from last year?

2. When the H1N1 is mandated – as I believe it will be – and if I did get the shot to save my job and should I have one of the adverse reactions that the CDC has predicted, will I be covered under Workers Comp since the action that caused the injury was job related? (The cost of which will fall on the employer NOT the State of New York.)

3. Should I refuse the shot will I be eligible for Unemployment Compensation since I did nothing to warrant being terminated?

4. Malpractice insurance providers in Australia are refusing to extend coverage to their clients who give the shot; will this be the case in New York?

5. Are insurance companies going to cover subscribers who fall ill as a result of the H1N1 inoculations that were mandated by the NYS Department of Health?

After concerned parents started to ask Clare why she was leaving, it some became apparent that the director had immediately produced a letter and circulated it around the daycare, claiming that Clare was leaving for “personal reasons,” without mentioning the real reason, that she refused to take the vaccine.

Clare took the letter to the head of human resources but was told that, “the New York State Labor Department would probably be instructed to side with the Department of Health and determine that you were fired for not following an order from your employer and not approve Unemployment Compensation. The meeting ended with him stating that it was the NYS Department of Health’s call and not Northeast Health and there was no way around it.”

“Not only have my sister’s rights as an employee been violated but her employer’s justification for terminating her is based on a falsehood on top of which she may be prevented from receiving Unemployment Insurance for this wrongful termination,” writes Clare’s sister.

As an addendum, Clare’s sister informs us that one of the daycare teachers who did take the seasonal flu shot on September 8th suffered a reaction less than a week later. Clare’s sister takes up the story;

“It began with symptoms similar to Pink Eye on her left side and then her eye swelled; the swelling then spread further down her check and then into her neck where a mass formed. This 30 year old mother of three has been unable to work since the symptoms in her eye surfaced, around the 14th. My sister Clare asked school officials if her ill coworker would be covered by Workers Comp and was told they believe she would be. The co-worker has been on antibiotics that don’t seem to be working. Her doctor told her if the RX doesn’t clear it up the “infection(?)” soon they’ll have to take more drastic action. My sister was told by her ill co worker: “Clare you were right to say no to the shot, the job isn’t worth it, I should never have gotten the shot.”

Clare is now facing unemployment as a result of refusing to take the seasonal flu vaccine, not to mention the H1N1 shot. Thousands of other health workers are now in a similar position whereby they will be forced to take the dangerous swine flu shot or be fired over the course of the next few weeks. Polls indicate that at least a third of nurses and health workers will refuse to take the vaccine and another third are still unsure. If even as little as a quarter of health care professionals stand up in unison and refuse to be intimidated into taking the shot, authorities will probably have to back off and make the shot voluntary.

However, Clare’s deeper concern is that another primary target of the first round of swine flu vaccinations, young children, will be even more vulnerable to having the shot forced upon them with no warning or notice whatsoever.

“My sister has three children in public school and is extremely concerned that the head of the New York State Department of Health, Dr. Richard Daines, will next decree the shots are mandatory for all school children,” writes Clare’s sister.

“She is prepared to home school them but is scared to death that in the mean time an UNANNOUNCED flu shot clinic will be sprung on school districts some morning to get around parental objections to having their children vaccinated. She has told her children in no uncertain terms are they to accept the shot(s) but realizes the Hobson’s choice they too may soon face and that they are so much less prepared than she to fight this unconstitutional authority.”

When Exactly Did I Become A Racist?

When he was a candidate for President, Barack Obama promised us Hope And Change.

And in one instance, that promise is coming true.

I have had to change what I had always believed.
And I hope somone can tell me why.

You see, in today’s political landscape, I am seen as a racist.

The President appears on the David Letterman show and downplays talk about racism.

Yet because I don’t agree with the President, I must be a racist.

At least that’s what such members of Congress as Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barbara Boxer tell me.

As well as many members of the media.

Even former President Jimmy Carter has made the allegation.

My dilemma is, I don’t understand how I have gone astray.

I have always (and still do) based my viewpoint about someone based upon their character as an individual.

Not based upon their race, creed or color.

I have always figured that if someone is a good person, then they are a good person.

And if someone is a worthless individual…Read the rest of this entry

Planning the H1N1 Flu Pandemic: Body Bags, Mass Graves, Quarantine Orders

Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research
September 21, 2009

An atmosphere of insecurity and fear is being created simultaneously in several countries in a global public health initiative under the auspices of the WHO.

We are summarising selected reports on body bags, mass graves and quarantine orders. Swine flu is acknowledged to be milder than seasonal influenza. So what is the purpose of these initiatives?

There is a consistent pattern. These reports raise serious questions as to the public health objectives of our governments, not to mention the WHO. The entire construct is politically motivated and corrupt . It serves the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. It justifies the militarization of public health and violates fundamental civil liberties.

CANADA

VIDEO: Preparing for the H1N1 Pandemic: Body Bag for Canada’s First Nations

“It is unfortunate that this has been linked exclusively with H1N1,” he said. “Health Canada apologizes. We all regret the alarm caused by the stocking of this particular item.”

Health Canada regularly re-stocks body bags every three or four months, he said. But especially in the case of Wasagamatch First Nation, which received roughly 30 of the bags, the number of bags delivered “was excessive.”

“In this case, we overestimated,” he said. “Our apology is to all First Nations.” (see H1N1 Swine Flu: Health Canada apologizes, says body bags were ‘routine restocking’, Globe and Mail September 18, 2009)

Source CBC

THE UNITED KINGDOM

Mass Graves. Increased Mortuary Capacity

Àccording to an Official Home Office Report, see below. (See Michel Chossudovsky, Fear, Intimidation & Media Disinformation: U.K Government is Planning Mass Graves in Case of H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic, Global Research, August 2009)

The mass graves, according to the report, “are being planned to deal with the rising death toll from swine flu if the pandemic escalates”:

“The grim revelation will see the mass burial sites dug in advance to cope with any potential crisis.

The Government is planning to create a series of communal graves to cope with the second outbreak expected in the autumn and through the winter.

A Home Office document published earlier this year sets out plans for how local councils should deal with a high death toll – estimates of the number of deaths range from 55,000 to as high as 750,000 from the H1N1 killer virus – including setting up temporary mortuaries.

So far, 44 people in England have been confirmed as dying after contracting swine flu and another five have died in Scotland. The document says that while most cemeteries have sufficient burial capacity for a number of years, this could be put to the test at the peak of a pandemic. (Daily Express, August 19, 2009)

Concepts:

increasing mortuary capacity,

chilled storage area,

body hoists, deposit/exit the deceased, etc (see above)

—-

UNITED STATES

US Homeland Security. Quarantine Orders

The following Report was released at the very outset of the crisis in Mexico by CBS News regarding the implementation of nationwide quarantines.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to some health care providers noting procedures to be followed if the swine flu outbreak eventually makes quarantines necessary.

DHS Assistant Secretary Bridger McGaw circulated the swine flu memo, which was obtained by CBSNews.com, on Monday night. It says: “The Department of Justice has established legal federal authorities pertaining to the implementation of a quarantine and enforcement. Under approval from HHS, the Surgeon General has the authority to issue quarantines.”

McGaw appears to have been referring to the section of federal law that allows the Surgeon General to detain and quarantine Americans “reasonably believed to be infected” with a communicable disease. A Centers for Disease Control official said on Tuesday that swine flu deaths in the U.S. are likely.

Federal quarantine authority is limited to diseases listed in presidential executive orders; President Bush added “novel” forms of influenza with the potential to create pandemics in Executive Order 13375. Anyone violating a quarantine order can be punished by a $250,000 fine and a one-year prison term.

A Homeland Security spokesman on Tuesday did not have an immediate response to followup questions about the memo, which said “DHS is consulting closely with the CDC to determine appropriate public health measures.”

The memo from McGaw, who is DHS’ acting assistant secretary for the private sector, also said: “U.S. Customs and Coast Guard Officers assist in the enforcement of quarantine orders. Other DOJ law enforcement agencies including the U.S. Marshals, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives may also enforce quarantines. Military personnel are not authorized to engage in enforcement.” (See Department of Homeland Security Guidelines For Possible Swine Flu Quarantines, CBS, April 28, 2009)

IOWA

The FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER document posted on the website of the CDC, a federal government agency, envisages quite explicitly “forced confinement” in the case of the H1N1 swine flu:

“The Department has determined that it is necessary to quarantine your movement to a specific facility to prevent further spread of this disease. The Department has determined that quarantine in your home and other less restrictive alternatives are not acceptable because [insert the reason home quarantine is not acceptable, the person violated a previously issued home quarantine order, the person does not have an appropriate home setting conducive to home quarantine, etc.] The Department is therefore ordering you to comply with the following provisions during the entire period of quarantine:

1. Terms of confinement. You are ordered to remain at the quarantine facility, _____________________ [insert name and address of facility], from ___________ to ____________ [insert dates of quarantine].

….

4. Legal authority. This order is issued pursuant to the legal authority contained at Iowa Code chapters 135, 139A and 641 Iowa Administrative Code chapter 1, a copy of which is labeled Attachment B and is attached to this order for your review. The Department shall comply with the principles for quarantine contained in subrule 1.9(3) of this attachment when issuing and implementing this order.

5. Ensuring compliance. In order to ensure that you strictly comply with this Quarantine Order the Department or persons authorized by the Department may regularly inspect the quarantine facility.

6. Violations of order. If you fail to comply with this Quarantine Order you may be ordered to be quarantined in a more restrictive facility. In addition, failure to comply with this order is a simple misdemeanor for which you may be arrested, fined, and imprisoned.” Michel Chossudovsky, H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic: Iowa Contemplates “Forced Confinement” in a “Quarantine Facility”, Global Research, August 2009)

This is an official document of the Iowa State government, which has also been endorsed by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). If it were a preliminary or internal draft, it would not have been published by the CDC. The question is whether similar quarantine procedures are being replicated in other states across America.

MASSACHUSETTS

“A new law just passed in Massachusetts imposes fines of up to $1000 per day and up to a 30 day jail sentence for not obeying authorities during a public health emergency. So if you are instructed to take the swine flu vaccine in Massachusetts and you refuse, you could be facing fines that will bankrupt you and a prison sentence on top of that.” (See VIDEO; Compulsory Vaccination in America?)

The legislation for forced vaccination in Massachusetts  (Mass. Senate Bill)

http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st02pdf/st02028.pdf

or

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17532372/Massachusetts-S18-Swine-Flu-Home-Entry

The announcement of the Mass Public Health Council

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18523710/MA-Public-Health-Council-Swine-Flu-Emergency-Dec

VIDEO featuring Bob Dwyer, discusses the legislation approved by the Mass. Senate

THE MILITARIZATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH

According to CNN, the Pentagon is “to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.”

“The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command’s Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.

The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.

It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.

Civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts in the event of a major outbreak, the official said. The military, as they would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers of viral samples from infected patients.

As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called “execution order” that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.

Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said.” (CNN, Military planning for possible H1N1 outbreak, July 2009, emphasis added)

The implications are far-reaching. The decision points towards the militarization of civilian institutions, including law enforcement and public health. (See Michel Chossudovsky, H1N1 Pandemic: Pentagon Planning Deployment of Troops in Support of Nationwide Vaccination, Global Research, July 31, 2009)

Military and Civilian Planning; International Swine Flu Conference in Washington

There is evidence of international coordination, The military and Intelligence agencies are involed in planning  (click the program below to enlarge)

Excerpts from the Program, click to enlarge:

Topics include (quoted in the program)

Mass Fatality Management Planning

When 50% or more of employees are out sick or taking care

of their sick ones

When H1N1 fl u pandemic unfold in two or three successive

waves in a calendar year

Disruptions to public, private and critical infrastructure undermining

your essentials functions

Direct fatality management tactical operations

Activate fatality management operations

Conduct morgue operations

Manage ante-mortem data

Conduct final disposition

Continuity of Operations (COOP) and Continuity

of Government Planning

Public’s distress of exposure and safety

Breakdown of public services, utilities

Medical supplies shortage

Effectively undertake mass vaccinations

Enforce quarantines

Protect public works first responders from falling ill or being hurt in civil disturbances

Ten Swine Flu Lies Told by the Mainstream Media

Mike Adams
Natural News
September 19, 2009

The mainstream media is engaged in what we Americans call “bald faced lies” about swine flu. It seems to be true with this issue more than any other, and it became apparent to me recently when a colleague of mine — a nationally-syndicated newspaper columnist — told me their column on natural defenses for swine flu was rejected by newspapers all across the country. Many newspapers refused to run the column and, instead, ran an ad for “free vaccine clinics” in the same space.

The media is so deeply in bed with the culture of vaccinations that they will do almost anything to keep the public misinformed.

The media, it seems, is so deeply in bed with the culture of vaccinations that they will do almost anything to keep the public misinformed. And that includes lying about swine flu vaccines.

There are ten key lies that continue to be told by the mainstream media (MSM) about swine flu and swine flu vaccines.

Lie #1 – There are no adjuvants used in the vaccines

I was recently being interviewed by a major U.S. news network when the reporter interviewing me came up with this humdinger: There are no adjuvants being used in the swine flu vaccines, he said!

I assured him that adjuvants were, indeed, a crucial part of the vaccine recipe, and they were being widely used by drug companies to “stretch” the vaccine supply. It’s no secret. But he insisted he had been directly told by a drug company rep that no adjuvants were being used at all. And he believed them! So everything being published by this large news network about swine flu vaccines now assumes there are no adjuvants in the vaccines at all.

Lie #2 – The swine flu is more dangerous than seasonal flu

This lie is finally starting to unravel. I admit that in the early days of this pandemic, even I was concerned this could be a global killer. But after observing the very mild impact the virus was having on people in the real world, it became obvious that this was a mild flu, no more dangerous than a seasonal flu.

The MSM, however, continues to promote H1N1 swine flu as being super dangerous, driving fear into the minds of people and encouraging them to rush out and get a vaccine shot for a flu that’s really no more likely to kill them than the regular winter sniffles. Sure, the virus could still mutate into something far worse, but if it does that, the current vaccine could be rendered obsolete anyway!

Lie #3 – Vaccines protect you from swine flu

This is the biggest lie of all, and the media pushes it hard. Getting a vaccine, they insist, will protect you from the swine flu. But it’s just flat-out false. Even if the vaccine produces antibodies, that’s not the same thing as real-world immunity from a live virus, especially if the virus mutates (as they often do).

As I pointed out in a recent article, statistically speaking the average American is 40 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to have their life saved by a swine flu vaccine. (http://www.naturalnews.com/026955_s…)

Lie #4 – Vaccines are safe

And how would any journalists actually know this? None of the vaccines have been subjected to real-world testing for any meaningful duration. The “safety” of these vaccines is nothing more than wishful thinking.

The MSM also doesn’t want you to know what’s in the vaccines. Some vaccines are made from viral fragments grown in diseased African monkeys. If that sounds incredible, read the true story here: http://www.naturalnews.com/026779_s…

Lie #5 – The vaccine isn’t mandatory

You hear this lie all the time: The swine flu vaccine shot is voluntary, they say. But it’s not true if you’re an employee at a place where vaccines are being mandated. Millions of Americans are now being told by their employers that if they don’t get vaccine shots, they will be effectively fired from their jobs. It’s especially true with health care workers, day care employees and school teachers.

Lie #6 – Getting a vaccine shot is a good bet on your health

In reality, a vaccine shot is far more likely to harm you than help you. According to one viral expert, the actual mortality rate of the swine flu virus is estimated to be as low as .007 percent (http://www.reuters.com/article/heal…). That means H1N1 swine flu kills less than one person in 100,000. Even if the vaccine works, let’s say, 10 percent of the time, you’d have to vaccine one million people to prevent one death from swine flu.

And in vaccinating one million people, you would inevitably harm or kill several people, simply from the vaccine side effects! Your net risk of death is increased by getting a swine flu vaccine.

Lie #7 – The vaccine isn’t made with “attenuated live virus”

When the swine flu vaccines were first being announced several months ago, they were described as being made with “attenuated live virus.” This was directly mentioned in CDC documents, among other places.

This term apparently freaked out the American news consumer, and it has since been all but erased from any discussion about vaccines. Now, journalists will actually argue with you and insist the vaccines contain no attenuated live viruses whatsoever.

Except they’re wrong. The vaccines are, indeed, made with “attenuated live viruses.” That’s how you make a vaccine: You take live viruses, then you weaken them (”attenuate”) and inject them into people.

Lie #8 – Wash, wash, wash your hands (to avoid exposure)

This idea of washing your hands a hundred times a day is all based on the assumption that you can avoid exposure to the swine flu virus. But that’s impractical. The virus is now so widespread that virtually everyone is certain to be exposed to it through the air if not other means. This whole idea of avoiding exposure to the swine flu virus is nonsense. The conversation should shift to ways to survive exposure via a healthy immune system.

Of course, hand washing is a very good idea in a hospital setting. Recent news reveals that doctors are too busy to wash their own hands, resulting in the rampant spread of superbugs throughout most large hospitals in first world nations.

Lie #9 – Children are more vulnerable to swine flu than adults
This is just a flat-out lie, but it makes for good vaccine sales. Vaccines are right now being targeted primarily to schoolchildren.

But the truth is that swine flu is extremely mild in children. “It’s mildest in kids,” says Dr Marc Lipsitch of Harvard University. “That’s one of the really good pieces of news in this pandemic.” Reuters actually had the guts to report this story, but most of the larger media outlets are still reporting that children are the most vulnerable.

Lie #10 – There is nothing else you can do beyond a vaccine and Tamiflu

This is where the media lies by omission. The mainstream media absolutely refuses to print just about any story that talks about using vitamin D, anti-viral herbs or natural remedies to protect yourself from swine flu. In the MSM, there are two options and only two: Vaccines and Tamiflu. That’s it. No other options exist in their fictional reality.

Why is the mainstream media so afraid to print the truth these days? Why can’t reporting on swine flu see the light of day… literally, with a mention of sunlight and vitamin D? Apparently, Big Pharma has such a tight grip on mainstream newspapers that no true story on swine flu can ever make it past the editor’s desk.

Killing stories, deceiving the public

It must really be depressing to work for the mainstream media. Even the reporters I know can’t stand it. The truth, they admit, rarely makes it into print.

Over the last few years, I’ve had a couple of job offers from large media outlets. They want to pay me a six-figure salary and stick me behind a desk where they can control what I report. Needless to say, I routinely reject those offers. If I can’t write the truth like I do here on NaturalNews.com, there’s no point writing at all. In too many ways, the mainstream media has become little more than a corporate mouthpiece, whoring itself out to the highest bidder / advertiser.

It’s no fault of the frontline reporters who actually work there. For the most part, they agree with what I’m saying. It’s the fault of the profit-oriented corporate mindset where news is about selling newspapers rather than actually informing the public.

Important news stories get killed every day in the newsrooms across America. They get killed not because they are poorly investigated or poorly written, but because they upset advertisers and corporate string pullers who shape the news and reject any stories that threaten their own financial interests.

Here in 2009, the distorted reporting on the swine flu vaccine has been one of the greatest media frauds ever perpetrated. The media has in every way contributed to the widespread ignorance of the American people on the subject of vitamin D and natural immune-boosting defenses that could reduce swine flu fatalities. Rather than informing readers, the MSM has made it a point to keep the people stupid, and in doing so, the media has failed its only mission and betrayed the very audience is claims to serve.

Obama's Leftist "Leninist"? Roots (Yes, it looks and quacks like a duck....do you even care the intent?)

“MR. CHARLTON: What does Obama mean by “Change we can believe in“? Who is this “we”, and what is this “change”?

MR. LOUDON: We is the broad ‘progressive movement” which includes the Communist Party, Democratic Socialists of America,  Committees of Correspondence, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, ACORN, AFL-CIO, Change to Win, Demos, Institute for Policy Studies, Center for American Progress, Campaign for America’s Future, George Soros’s Open Society institute, United for Peace and Justice, Jobs with Justice, Economic Policy Institute, US Action, Apollo Alliance, the more than 70 strong Congressional Progressive Caucus, Progressive democrats of America, the wider Democratic Party…..etc, etc and their allies in the MSM, academia and government.

The change is towards a unionized, centralized, oligarchic “progressive” society where the values of the left reign supreme and traditional American values are demonized and all opposition is marginalized-by whatever means necessary.”

As Glen Beck as been repeating, don’t zoom in on the individual link. The State Run Media focuses on an individual link, when they care enough to give a brief moment of coverage, and fails to move back to connect the dots. Even with Bush, the media seemed solely focused upon Rove or Cheney. A very limited overview at best. So, the more the links are observed to contain the same results….the infiltration of organizations by overt or covert communists…it appears to me that O is a far Left power broker…call him a Leftist, Marxist, Communists or Leninist (he is no centrist) it is clear that Obama was brought along by a network of supporters. To see such a rapid accent makes me think that there really is a form of power that is invisible to the normal electorate. What we look at is not possibly real….the real behind the scenes and capable of manipulating the undecideds/swing votes of this country. As a commenter remarks in the above link…do you remember the banners or placards bearing the hammer and cycle on election night right in front of the White House? A whole lot of quacking going on! Centrist my ass.    

Straw dismisses convention on modern liberties

Original story published on 09 March 2009

A conference on civil liberties was held in London last week, amidst increasing concerns over the government’s “unprecedented programme of challenges to our rights, freedoms and democracy.”

The convention on modern liberty, the first of its kind, was held at the Institute for Education in central London. Identical conventions were held across the UK in Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester with satellite links between them and the main event.

Talking to The Journal, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, one of the speakers at the London event, praised the success of the convention and the participation levels across the UK: “The Convention was a great success because it brought together so many people from across the political spectrum from Lord Bingham the former senior judge in the House of Lords to Brian Eno the musician. 800 came in London and then another 500 in cities across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“The only real absence was a good cohort from the Muslim community, which is actually at the receiving end of some of the worst excesses, with hugely increased use of stop and search powers against young Asian men.”

However, secretary of state for justice, Jack Straw criticised the conference arguing, in a comment piece published in theGuardian, titled ‘Our record isn’t perfect’, that any suggestions of a curb on civil liberties was exaggerated. According to the cabinet minister, talk of a police state is daft. “Despite the claims of a systematic erosion of liberty by those organising this weekend’s convention on modern liberty, my very good constituency office files show no recent correspondence relating to fears about the creation in Britain of a ‘police state’ or a ’surveillance society’.”

The University College London Student Human Rights Programme (SHRP) published a report late last month focusing on the loss of human rights and liberties in the UK over the past ten years.

The research report, commissioned by the convention on modern liberty and produced by students, looked at acts and legislations passed since 1997.

Jon Butterworth, president of SHRP, said that the research proved the drastic decrease of civil liberties as a result of government’s actions.

“The breadth and depth of rights erosion it uncovers has sparked a strong media outcry and has armed the public with an extensive and accurate account of liberties lost in the UK.”

The convention on modern liberty was sponsored by the Guardian, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, Liberty and openDemocracy.

Read the full story here

Incentives in government-awarded monopolies

It’s been a while since I bagged on farm subsidies.  Let’s get back to that.

One of the classic — one is even inclined to say timeless and enduring — features of Canadian agriculture is the government-awarded monolith For Your Own Good.  In the prairies, this most often manifests itself as the Canadian Wheat Board.  Wikipedia explains:

The purpose of the Wheat Board, which was made compulsory in 1943 by the government of Canada via the War Measures Act, was to control all grain prices.

Basically, farmers sell wheat and barley to the Wheat Board at what are termed “controlled” prices.  The Wheat Board turns around and sells that produce on the world market.  The Wikipedia article elaborates:

From the standpoint of supporters of the board and labour unions, the board gives individual farmers increased marketing power in a world market which gets them a higher price than they would otherwise get, not only through the efficiencies of scale, but as well by exercising oligopolistic marketing power on the selling side, especially for Durum wheat.

So the theory is that the CWB is good for Canadian wheat farmers because it makes wheat too expensive.  Canadians: next time you see melodramatic television footage of starving people who can’t afford a loaf of bread, thank your Member of Parliament.  But don’t worry; it’s all for the best, you see:

Supporters of the board’s monopsony fear that an end to would put farmers in a situation like that in the early part of the 20th century where farmers effectively competed with each other to sell their grain, a situation that effectively put them at the mercy of big agribusiness and the railroad monopolies and reduced farm incomes.

I’ve… noticed that the farmers who lost their land during the “early part of the 20th century” — and their families — never recovered, contributing to the greater than 70% unemployment rate on this continent.  If only those people had been able to take up other trades better aligned with the changing times, like manufacturing.  Why, we might have grown a giant domestic… um, this is just a flight of fancy, but maybe an automobile industry somewhere around the ’40s and ’50s, with plenty of jobs for those skilled, intelligent, hard-working ex-farmers.  But that contradicts the obvious facts that wealth never increases and that, once established in a vocation, people can never acquire new skills.

If that sarcasm rubs you the wrong way, ask yourself how you’re reading this blog post.

Of course, we’re assuming that unsubsidized farmers without benefit of government-established monopsonies immediately find themselves, um, scythed down and gathered up by those awful big agribusinesses.  Only… the Canadian Wheat Board started out by buying — at literal gunpoint — and reselling almost all crops, and is now reduced to non-feed grain and barley.  What about those other farmers?

The counter-argument is that producers of non-Board crops such as canola do not seem to have this problem.

Hmm.

Well, regardless.  I mean, what’s the harm? If the Canadian Wheat Board does work, then Canadian farmers get much better prices than they otherwise would, and if it doesn’t work then they’re still competitive with unsubsidized farmers, right?  Okay, fine, so some foreigners — not that there’s anything wrong with being a foreigner – spend more on staple foods than they otherwise would, but they don’t vote for Canadian politicians.  We gotta look out for our own, right?

The problem is, this assumes that there’s a single market for crops.  And, well… there ain’t.

• Canadian agriculture is completely screwed up, volume XVII (Offsetting Behaviour)

In Manitoba, it is illegal to sell potatoes from your small garden plot at farmers’ markets. Because the selling of potatoes is a monopoly awarded to Peak of the Market. And Peak of the Market will fine you $10,000 if you try it.

Now, farmers’ markets are often a bit pricier than yer standard Wal*Mart food section.  They cater to people who really want to get high-quality fresh produce, or at least pad their environmentalist egos by buying locally-produced organic produce*, and are willing to pay higher prices to get it.  So while Peak of the Market might be able to get Manitoba’s potato farmers artificially-inflated prices on the world potato exchange (if such a thing there be), they’re likely to get far lower prices than the farmers themselves would obtain at a… farmers’ market.

But farmers who sell a portion of their crops at farmers’ markets are cutting into Peak of the Market’s profits.  And Peak of the Market, because it has the guns of the government behind it, can fuck you up if you try to go around them.  It’s sort of like the Mafia, only not illegal.  Here’s the scoop:

Peak of the Market legally controls potato production in Manitoba. Until this year, farmers who did not grow potatoes for Peak of the Market were allowed to grow 4 acres of potatoes to sell on their own. This year Peak of the Market changed the rules as of July 15th. Now farmers are not allowed to grow potatoes to sell unless they have a Peak of the Market quota and sell only to Peak of the Market.

But don’t worry: Peak of the Market is going to figure out how to take a cut — I mean, how to facilitate the sale of potatoes to smaller markets — real soon now.

• Manitoba potato monopoly (Offsetting Behaviour)

But Peak of the Market is planning to come up with new regulations next year to formalize the way small producers sell to farmers’ markets, whose popularity is increasing as more consumers seek out local produce and desire knowledge about the origins of their food.

“Technically, they’re covered under the regulations. Historically we haven’t worried about farmers’ markets because it’s a small acreage,” [PotM president Larry] McIntosh said. “I can’t speculate until I meet with my board, but we’re not going to do anything to put out the local producer. We want to do what’s best for the industry as a whole.”

Uh huh.  The same guys who fine “the local producer” $10,000 for not selling product through the local capo are “not going to do anything to put out the local producer”.

The incentive you’ve been patiently waiting for me to point out is this: Peak of the Market — or the CWB, for that matter — has no incentive to do well by its customers.  The defining characteristic of these farm boards is that they’re monopsonies — they get to set a price, and by government coercion their sellers must deal exclusively with them.  They’re under no incentive to give a fuck about the farmers they claim to champion.

While I’m linking to Offsetting Behaviour on the subject of Manitoba’s farm labour politics, here’s some good news for a change:

• And a victory for the little guy against the union (Offsetting Behaviour)

Three years ago, migrant farm workers at Mayfair Farms in Portage, Manitoba, Canada were deceived into joining a union. One of the workers got in trouble with the police for a non-work related problem. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union told the Mexican workers, most of whom did not speak English well let alone read it, that signing cards would get the UFCW to provide legal help for their buddy. They didn’t know that signing the cards meant that they’d joined a union. They didn’t want a union. Nothing required the union to provide documentation in a language that the workers could understand. The sordid tale is documented here, here, and here.

Now, the farm workers have finally been able to decertify the union.

Outstanding.  I’m not particularly opposed to unions in general, but the best experiences I’ve had with unions I’ve been a part of have been defederating from two of them.

——

* Some of which, incidentally, is growing under the railing on my balcony.  I bet it’s high in fibre.

The Campaign Blitz Begins- Read My Lips II

So our President is going on all the Ministry of Truth Talk shows and even Late Night Talk Shows to do his latest campaign swing, instead of leadership.

President Obama will appear on a record five TV networks on Sunday — the morning talk shows of ABC, NBC, CBS and sit for interviews with CNN and Spanish-language network Univision.

But he won’t go anywhere near the “right wing”.

But Big Brother doesn’t talk to the unpeople.

But now the President will not stop the racism talk:

“Are there people out there who don’t like me because of race? I’m sure there are,” Obama told CNN. “That’s not the overriding issue here.”

“The president does not believe that the criticism comes based on the color of his skin,” Gibbs said.

Only some of them.

And now you add in dear old elitist Michelle Obama, who they trotted out for a carefully choreographed speech, because they wouldn’t want a repeat of the Zanesville,OH incident during the first campaign, ““We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we’re asking young people to do,” she tells the women. “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” (NRO)

Don’t strive to do better, just let the government do it for you.

But now she  enters a new spectre into the debate: You’re a SEXIST!!!

Michelle Obama said women are being “crushed by the current structure of our health care” because they often are responsible for taking care of family illnesses, arranging checkups and monitoring follow-up care.

“We all know that women are more likely to work part time or to work in small companies or businesses that don’t provide any insurance at all,” Obama said. “Women are affected because, as we heard, in many states insurance companies can still discriminate because of gender. And this is shocking to me.”

So now, not only are you a racist, and “unamerican”, now you’re a SEXIST pig also!

And the Ministry of truth is just gushing all over her…

“What she’s doing is putting a personal and human face on the issue … there’s nothing more crucial,” said Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn. “Everybody gets sick, and everybody has someone in the family that gets sick.”

“I think if you can humanize it and personalize it, it suddenly brings it home to people — especially those who are screaming and yelling about the government taking over,” Quinn said.

Gloria Borger, a CNN senior political analyst, agreed.

“I think she’s always been a great asset to him,” she said. “She can help in this health care debate by not getting involved in the minutiae of the bills, but essentially emphasizing the reason we need health care reform. And that’s what she will stick to.”

On Friday’s CBS Early Show, White House correspondent Bill Plante highlighted President Obama’s latest media blitz on health care reform and touted a new piece of the PR arsenal: “The President does have a new partner in his nonstop effort to sell health care, it’s the First Lady….Michelle Obama will be more like a stealth weapon in the battle for health care, giving it a softer touch.”

So using her “motherly” influence and her sex is not manipulation…

And that’s why Journalism has died. Long Live The Ministry of Truth!

But the answer  to why we haven’t heard  from Michelle Obama might lie in the administration trying to keep her old job at the non-profit University of Chicago Hospital out of the limelight because it is clear her job was part of the problem regarding health care costs and not part oft the solution. Michelle Obama having been part of the problem could actually be something the administration could use to their advantage if they were willing to be honest about it,  but asking most politicians to be honest is like asking a dog not to bark and Obama might view it as politically embarrassing. Probably because Michelle Obama’s job as a “hospital administrator” had nothing to with medicine and nothing to do with administrating.  It was all about PR. Her official title was Vice President for External and Community Affairs. But that title and that job was so unnecessary, that , it not only didn’t exist before she got it, when she resigned the position  to campaign with her husband, no one was ever rehired to fill it, and the job itself was terminated after she resigned…

Don’t do as I do, do as I say.

Rasmussen Poll:

Fifty-six percent (56%) of voters nationwide now oppose the health care reform proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. That’s the highest level of opposition yet measured and includes 44% who are Strongly Opposed.

Just 43% now favor the proposal, including 24% who Strongly Favor it.

But the overall picture remains one of stability. While the numbers have bounced a bit following nationally televised appearances by the president to promote the plan, opposition has generally stayed above 50% since early July. Support has been in the low to mid 40s.

The number who Strongly Oppose the plan has remained above 40% and the Strongly Favor totals have been in the mid-20s. This suggests public opinion is hardening when it comes to the plan that is currently working its way through Congress.

“The most important fundamental is that 68% of American voters have health insurance coverage they rate good or excellent … Most of these voters approach the health care reform debate fearing that they have more to lose than to gain.”

If the plan passes, 26% of voters say the quality of care will get better, and 51% say it will get worse. In August, the numbers were 23% better and 50% worse.

Gallup 7/27/2009:

Nearly half (48%) say they personally have a good understanding of the issues involved, while only 27% say so about members of Congress.

But, despite all this the Political Elite want what they want because they want it.

Regardless.

The race for 60 votes is on.

If they can get 60 votes they cram it down your throat.

If they don’t, they can use “reconciliation” a legislative tactic to cram it down your throat.

But, don’t worry, they are listening to We The People.

Also, don’t worry, it will cost $900 billion or more but not raise the deficit “not one dime” or Obama won’t sign it.

“…And here’s what you need to know. First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits — either now or in the future. I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period.” ‘Not one dime…”

Doesn’t that fill you will confidence.

Remember “Read My Lips” 

They are going to pay for a new government entitlement with the “waste fraud and abuse” of other government entitlement programs.

Hurrah!

Medicaire is bankrupt

Medicaid is bankrupt

Social Security is bankrupt

The Post Office is bankrupt

But if you pass National Health Care it will do what no programs has ever done.

Promise.

And we’ll use the abuses from the previous programs to pay for it.

“Not one Dime”  (just trillions or other dimes )

Orwell is having an orgasm right about now.

Huffington Post:

Yet another late complication, according to several Democrats, is the president’s statement that he will not sign a bill “if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period. And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don’t materialize.”

The $900 billion target is “very difficult,” Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Tuesday. “This is reducing coverage for poor and working people.“

Rangel spoke of other “restrictions the president has given in his speech,” commenting after senior House Democrats pressed top administration officials in a private meeting for an explanation of Obama’s $900 billion price tag.

Reducing coverage? On your “free” government “competition” that will cost $900 billion+ but not add to the deficit “one dime”??

I’m not sure that’s a magic trick even Chris Angel could pull off!

Does anyone smell large tax increases?

To pay for that “fair” “competition”? Even if you aren’t on their plan…

Naw…They’d never do that now would they….

Of Fish and Foul

The Delta smelt.

Ever heard of  it?

Me either.

Until recently that is. Then I did some homework.

And what did I find, radical environmentalists who value fish over people. No great surprise there. Humans are evil after all.

Now, what we have are farmers who can’t farm because they don’t have enough water. They don’t have enough water because protecting this inedible  fish is more important than the farmers who grow crops in the San Joaquin Valley of California and feed not only us, but many around the world.

The inedible (according to science websites) fish is more important than, say Tomatoes.

Jobs.

Families.

Did you know there are food lines in this area because the families can’t farm.

The unemployment rate is the area averages 20% and can go as high as 40%.

In these tough economic times of “Hope and Change” and “saving and creating jobs” here are jobs and hope not worth saving. But an inedible 2-inch long fish is.

However, using the weapon of the Endangered Species Act, environmentalist groups sued, and on December 14, 2007, Judge Oliver Wanger of the United States District Court for the Eastern district of California issued an Interim Remedial Order. The Order remanded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in conjunction with the United States Department of the Interior, to issue an opinion or permit that dramatically reduced the delivery of water from the Delta.

The result has been the diversion of tens of billions of gallons of fresh water away from vital agriculture and population needs and directly into the Pacific Ocean. A precious resource essentially wasted.

The impact on farmers in the area has been devastating with the San Joaquin Valley unemployment rate reaching 14% and leaving thousands of previously productive farming acres scorched and unusable. In addition, water utilities in southern California have already begun raising rates and creating tiered pricing to address the 85% reduction in imported water. To make matters worse, California is already under drought conditions, and in combination with the Delta pumping restrictions, local politicians are calling for Draconian reductions in water use by individuals of 40%. (examiner)

California Fish & Game:

By the end of 1993, the population trend for delta smelt changed from stable to increasing. However, annual changes in the population appear to be affected by the amount of outflow from the Estuary which varies from year to year due to precipitation and water management. In 1994, the population trend as measured by the fall abundance survey indicated that the population was at the lowest point in the 26 years of the survey. In 1995, with the extreme amount of rainfall we have received, there is concern that a large portion of larvae that were spawned may have been flushed out of the Estuary.

In just one year it went from increasing to the lowest level in 26 years.

But it went on the Endangered Species list in 1993, when it was “stable to increasing”.

But the next year it was  crisis!

Hmmm….sounds familiar somehow…

But 15 years pass.

The environmentalist say  it’s population is an indicator of health in the delta region so they used the Endangered Species Act to divert the water from the farm towards the ocean instead just recently in 2008, 15 years after the Endangered Species Act listed them, Citing endangerment of Chinook salmon as one of the reasons also. (more on this later).

Then, when I saw the special last night on Sean Hannity’s show (yes, that evil right wing extremist!) they had a ‘defender’ of the faith of environmentalism on and all he could do was shout about the harm the farmers were doing to the salmon and how “greedy” farmers were “selling their water to Southern California”. He also a member of a federation of fish farmers too.

What water?  The water they don’t have to farm with to begin with?

Then in doing my homework came across and old bit I editorialized on back in 2007 when I was on message boards. In 2007  Starkist, the famous tuna company, was mysteriously give an exemption from minimum wage laws that swept American Somoa. One of the major investors in the company is Paul Pelosi. Yes, you guessed it, the husband of Sen. Nancy Pelosi, the then just named new Speaker of The House, who was going to “drain the swamp” of corruption. Del Monte Foods, which owns Starkist (sold to them by Heinz – as in Heinz-Kerry) based in San Francisco has tuna plants in American Samoa.

Also, Nancy Pelosi owns wine orchards in North California.

And then when you see the environmentalist all talking about salmon. I know, it’s not tuna, I began to wonder.

Then I started reading about environmentalist who wanted to start solar farms, as in “global warming” friendly solar farms in the Bay area.

“Green Jobs”

Sound Familiar?

And it began to stink, and not of dying smelt.

Delta smelt make a convenient scapegoat, but driving smelt and salmon to extinction by eliminating the ESA won’t solve the Valley’s problems.  What’s needed is a far more comprehensive program of investing in alternative water supplies like groundwater banks and water recycling, continuing to improve agricultural water use efficiency and practices, developing “solar farms” and new green jobs, and helping people get through these tough, dry years. (NRDC blog)

The NRDC, National Resources Defense Council were one of the plaintiffs in the recent court case that shut off the water.

Since Nancy Pelosi is cited as one of the power players who refuses to reverse the ruling I began to wonder about politics, power, and money.

All this talk of Salmon, “green jobs” and “comprehensive reform” just makes my Cynic Radar buzz.

I have not made up my mind yet, but as a very cynical individual I have to wonder what’s really the end game.

Much like the end game for health care is not affordable health care for everyone.

You got to wonder.

From LA Times op ed in 2007:

“A slightly closer look at the delta smelt shows us a third reason to rescue the fish from oblivion — it’s actually pretty impressive. While most fish are hard-wired either for salt or fresh water, the delta smelt tolerates both, a talent that allows it to exploit the brackish zone where the waters meet. Before there were giant aquatic vacuum cleaners in its midst to send water south, it could afford to be a weak swimmer because it mastered the cyclical ebbs and flows of the estuary, exploiting the system’s inhalations and exhalations to get where it needed to go.

Finally, the Torah says that if you save an individual, you save an entire universe. How much truer that is for a whole kind of creature. Nothing else on Earth lives the way the delta smelt does, senses the world the way it does, looks like it, moves like it, fits into an ecosystem the way it does. If we drive it from existence, we will have obliterated an entire world, willingly, in order for a while longer to grow cotton, rice and alfalfa in the desert, to keep our swimming pools topped off and open, to keep the price of water cheap.”

There are many problems with this, the biggest being that the delta smelt is unique, living in both fresh and saltwater areas. Well, that’s not unique, at least according to the US Dept of Energy “ask a A Scientist”:

Approximately 2% of all 21000 species of fish actually move from freshwater to saltwater or from salt to fresh at some point in their lives, the move would kill any other fish.

And there the cheap liberal class warfare “greed” shot about pools. Sound like liberal tactics you’ve seen recently?

The Judge who ruled in 2008 in favor of the environmentalists:

In issuing the injunction, Wanger agreed with the plaintiffs that the reduction of exports to their agricultural operations would result in “irreparable” economic and environmental harm in violation of NEPA.(The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires federal agencies to integrate environmental values into their decision making processes by considering the environmental impacts of their proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.)

“Plaintiffs have shown that irreparable harm will likely occur in the absence of injunctive relief, including loss of water supplies, damage to permanent crops, including orchards and vineyards, crop loss or reduction in crop productivity, job losses, reductions in public school enrollment, limitations on public services, impaired ability to reduce the toxic effects of salt and other minerals in the soil, groundwater overdraft, increased energy consumption, and land fallowing that causes air quality problems,” said Wanger.

And this is  why he ruled to TURN OFF THE WATER!

Anyone else see the Orwellian doublethink here?

Because this is exactly what did happen BECAUSE he turned off the water to save the inedible, not unique, 2-inch fish.

So, if the ruling to turn off the water to save us from the above, and the above is the result of the ruling then the ruling had the opposite effect.

So, in this era of the “greatest recession since the great depression” why is no one in Washington interested in reversing the ruling?

Hmmm…

The silence from Washington is deafening.

So there has to be a different end game in mind.

“Green jobs”

“Comprehensive reform”

Be Afraid. Be very afraid.

Oh, and enjoy your imported, more expensive foreign produce all in the name of a 2-inch inedible fish.

Things Could Be Worse

September 17, 2009.

I turned fifty a week ago yesterday. Their was no party, no birthday cards and of course no gifts. I did however enjoy coffee with a police liaison officer from the Blue Springs Police Dept. I enjoyed it immensely, it is good to have conversation with someone besides myself. She is a good person with a good will.

As I sit here this evening and reflect upon my life I am able to say without pause that my life has not turned out as I had expected. My savings account is an embarrassment. I have no family that speaks to me and no friends. My car is 15 years old with 225,000 + miles and tires that need air three times per week. Things could be worse.

I spend my days reading books, reading news on the internet, listening to talk radio, occasionally sending emails to the talk show host, okay more than occasionally, but it allows me an outlet to express my views. Sometimes I receive a response by email and sometimes my comments are read over the air, usually there is no response. It is good to express my views with someone besides myself. Things could be worse.

I feel autumn approaching, it is my second favorite season of year, following spring. I enjoy Indian summer here in the Midwest, sunny warm days and cool evenings under the blanket with the windows open. I look forward to the oncoming Holidays, even Halloween. I imagine behind those costumed children that perhaps my grandchildren will someday appear and surprise me, or perhaps when I answer the door to give the little goblins and angels their treats one of my two grown daughters will greet me with a Happy Halloween dad. One can always dream, can’t they? Things could be worse.

Perhaps the thing I enjoy most about this time of year is football season. This year will not be the same as previous seasons though. I have promised myself not to watch the games on CBS, ABC nor NBC. I simply cannot condone how these networks treat Americans. If I watch these channels I would simply be a part of the problem that is so pervasive in this great country. The problem of cultural corruption. I will address this problem in more detail with a later entry on my blog. I will simply listen to college games on the radio or the internet, with NFL games I can listen on the radio and watch on FOX. Things could be worse.

I often find myself at a local coffee shop called the Steamin’ Bean. I enjoy it there both when I am sitting outside on the patio and inside on rainy or cold days, the owners are very good people which to me means a great deal. While sitting there enjoying my latte I often overhear stories of hardships, mishaps and misfortunes. Inevitably they always end with one of the parties telling the other, at least you have your health, with the other responding, yes, thank God for that. That always makes me smile, for these people know, things could be worse.

In 1987 at the age of twenty-seven I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. My daughters were quite young back then so they do not recall the man I use to be. Today not one person I am an acquaintance with knew me for the athlete or the adventurer I was. They see me as guy who walks strangely and sounds as if he has had a bit to drink. My how my life has changed. The young man who once use to run 6 miles per day, throw a football 40 + yards, play pickup basketball with anyone, hit not just a fastball, but a curve or a slider out of the park has now relinquished these things for well over twenty years and has accepted that he can only enjoy those competitions vicariously. Things could be worse.