COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Saturday Night at the EB




The Deep State - Hidden Levers of Power within Government

Since the end of World War Two, unsupervised agencies such as CIA, DIA and NEA, etc. (the Deep State) have been involved in international intrigue resulting in a variety of unforeseen and undesirable events. This interview seems to touch on all the current hot buttons of the modern conspiracy theorist: Trilateralism, the military industrial complex, CIA creation of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Ford, Rumsfeld, Cheney triumvirate.  William Casey's development of the Afghan heroin market, and destruction of Gorbachev. The rise of Pakistan and the power of the "Afghan Arabs" (bin Laden).

The Deep State efforts of right wingers like Oliver North, Cheney and Rumsfeld to "hollow out" constitutional protections as the Deep State (secret government) seeks to usurp control.




hattip: mika

Hell on Earth













Friday, April 29, 2011

Superman, Say it Ain't So. Superman Becomes a Globalist


Superman renouncing his U.S. citizenship is the newest wrinkle of the fascinating life of the man of steel.
In the latest issue of Action Comics, Superman becomes overly concerned that his heroism is being viewed as a tool for the United States exclusively.
Superman renouncing his U.S. citizenship
"I intend to speak before the United Nations tomorrow and inform them that I am renouncing my U.S. citizenship. I'm tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy," the superhero says in issue No. 900.
" 'Truth, justice and the American way' -- it's not enough anymore," the man from Krypton says, refocusing on a more global approach to crime-fighting.
"In a short story in ACTION COMICS 900, Superman announces his intention to put a global focus on his never-ending battle, but he remains, as always, committed to his adopted home and his roots as a Kansas farm boy from Smallville," they said.




Thursday, April 28, 2011

Birth Certificate: Where Are the Indignant Questions to Obama?

Andrew C. McCarthy

If George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, or even a Republican the media likes (say, John McCain) had taken purposeful steps to block examination of so basic a document, the media would surely have turned such obstinacy into a scandal. The public might not have leapt to extravagant conclusions about whether they’d really been born in Kenya, or on Mars, or wherever.

But they’d have thought it was intolerably strange that campaigns were retaining lawyers and amassing affidavits rather than just producing a seemingly innocuous, readily producible document. The story would never have been about the people asking for the birth certificate; it would have been about the candidate who was moving heaven and earth to prevent people from seeing it.

And let’s not ignore that Obama did move heaven and earth. This is not just a matter of him thumbing his nose at a fringe collection of nutty “birthers.” There have been several court cases.

It is flat out bizarre that one should have to be sued to compel conformance with a routine that millions of Americans comply with every day. Many of these court cases, if not all, could have been short-circuited (indeed, many of the later ones would not have been filed at all) if Obama had just produced the birth certificate.

Instead, he not only refused to produce it; he and his campaign paid thousands of dollars in legal fees (in some places it is reported to be well over a million dollars) to fight the lawsuits — and Obama’s lawyers even threatened to seek disciplinary sanctions against lawyers for daring to file the lawsuits. Since Obama has been president, moreover, not just the time of courts and private lawyers has been tied up; government lawyers have had to spend their time — on the public’s dime — on this nonsense.




So, assuming as we should the legitimacy of the long-form birth certificate produced yesterday,
the only thing that makes sense is that Obama knows the mainstream media is in his hip pocket.
That is, he knew that he would not be held to the same standard as other politicians, and that if he acted in an unreasonable manner by withholding basic, easily available information that any other person seeking the presidency would be expected — be compelled — to produce, the media would portray as weirdos those demanding the information, not Obama and his stonewalling accomplices.

And he also knows that, having now finally produced the document only because the game was starting to hurt him politically, the media will not focus on how easy it would have been to produce the birth certificate three years ago, or on how much time and money has been wasted by his gamesmanship; they’ll instead portray him as beleaguered and the people who have been seeking the basic information (i.e., doing the media’s job) as discredited whackos.

It’s hard to say what’s more depressing, Obama’s cynicism or the zeal with which the media does his bidding.

Complete Article

Obama Birth Certificate is a Fraud



Hat Tip: Rufus


Another Analysis:



And Another Analysis:


Why Are Islamic Radicals Afraid of Pussy?



Sila, raised in Germany by conservative Turkish parents, says she fears being "spat at" and "shamed".
Her parents are said to have reacted with "horror" at the 12-page coverage, and her mother has apparently cut off all contact.
Sila, 25 - star of German soap Good Times, Bad Times - claimed the shoot was a reaction to the "slavery" of her youth.
She added: "What I want to say with these photos is, 'Girls, we don't have to live according to the rules imposed upon us'.
"For years I subordinated myself to various societal constraints. The Playboy photo shoot was a total act of liberation."

Threats

But Islamic internet sites are being monitored by the BND - the German intelligence agency - after threats were posted about her "shaming Muslim womanhood" and "prostituting herself for money".
One poster on the Jihad Watch website wrote: "She needs to be very careful..." Another simply said: "She must pay."
A kebab shop owner, asked on German TV what he would do if Sila were his daughter, replied: "I would kill her. I really mean that. That doesn't fit with my culture."

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Telepromter Inventor Dies - White House Has Flag at Half Mast

Teleprompter inventor Hubert Schlafly dies at 91

BBC


A key member of the team that invented 

the teleprompter, which feeds scripts to actors, politicians and newsreaders, has died at the age of 91.
Hubert Schlafly Jr died last week in the US state of Connecticut after a brief illness, according the funeral home that handled the arrangements.
His funeral was held on Tuesday in town of Greenwich, where he lived.
Schlafly was working at 20th Century Fox film studios in 1950 when he developed the teleprompter.
He had been asked by the company to build a device that would help actors remember their lines.
Schlafly's prototype teleprompter, which debuted on the set of a US soap opera, was placed beside a film camera and used a motorised scroll of paper inside a suitcase to assist the show's actors.
The device was soon adopted by politicians and was used at the Republican Party's national convention by former US President Herbert Hoover in 1952. It has been employed by every US president since that time.

'Most innovative engineer'
Schlafly helped to start TelePrompTer Corp and eventually became the company's president, accepting an Emmy Award on its behalf in 1999.
Schlafly, who held 16 total patents, also won an Emmy in 1992 for his work in creating the first cable system to permit subscribers to order special programmes, said a friend, Thomas Gallagher.
"Hub Schlafly was the cable industry's most innovative engineer and, at the same time, one of its ablest executives," Charles Dolan, the chairman of Cablevision, said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Whether you were his friend or competitor, he was always congenial and supportive and probably had more friends than anyone."
Subsequent upgrades to the teleprompter, which have allowed lines of script to be superimposed on to the front of cameras, are still in use today, assisting entertainers, politicians and newsreaders.
Schlafly himself delivered a speech using a teleprompter for the first time at the age of 88.

Monday, April 25, 2011

National Labor Relations Board sues Boeing

The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

April 21--File // Leroy Burnell // The Post and Courier

The National Labor Relations Board is seeking a court order that would require Boeing to maintain its second 787 assembly line in the Pacific Northwest, not at the plant going up in North Charleston.

------

Boeing Co.'s $750 million aircraft plant in North Charleston is at the heart of a growing labor rift pitting the aerospace giant against one of its biggest unions and now a federal agency.

The National Labor Relations Board sued the company Wednesday, saying Boeing shifted some of its 787 Dreamliner production to South Carolina partly to retaliate against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers for past strikes in Washington state.

The NLRB is seeking a court order that would require Boeing to maintain its second 787 assembly line in the Pacific Northwest, an IAMAW stronghold. If successful, that could stop Boeing from building the plane in North Charleston.

Boeing said Thursday that it plans to "vigorously contest" the lawsuit. A hearing has been scheduled for June 14 in Seattle.

"This claim is legally frivolous and represents a radical departure from both NLRB and Supreme Court precedent," said J. Michael Luttig, Boeing's general counsel.

The lawsuit alleges that the company engaged in unfair labor practices in 2009 when it picked Charleston International Airport as the site of its second 787 assembly plant rather than expand its existing, unionized Dreamliner factory in Everett, Wash.

Employees at the North Charleston plant, which is scheduled to open this summer and manufacture three of the jets a month by 2013, are not represented by a union.

The NLRB said its lawsuit is limited to 787 production, and that it is not seeking to block other airplanes from being made at the site.

The federal agency's court filing stems from a complaint filed in March 2010 by the IAMAW, which engaged in five strikes against Boeing between 1977 and 2008. The NLRB said its investigation found "reasonable cause" to believe the company violated two sections of the National Labor Relations Act.

Specifically, Boeing officials had made "coercive statements" to its unionized employees starting in 2009 that the company would shift or had shifted production work away from the Puget Sound area because of labor walkouts, the federal agency said.

According to the lawsuit, Boeing did so out of "a desire to retaliate for past strikes and chill future strike activity."

"A worker's right to strike is a fundamental right guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act," NLRB acting general counsel Lafe Solomon said in statement Wednesday. "We also recognize the rights of employers to make business decisions based on their economic interests, but they must do so within the law."

Solomon said he has encouraged the union and Boeing to settle their differences out of court, "and my door remains open to that possibility."

Boeing said it had met with IAMAW officials about keeping the second 787 line in the Puget Sound area but was unable to strike a deal.

It also said it had "every right" under federal law and its collective bargaining agreement with the union to build additional U.S. production capacity outside of its longtime manufacturing base in Washington state.

"Boeing has made it clear that none of the production jobs created in South Carolina has come at the expense of jobs in Puget Sound and that not a single union member has been adversely affected," the company said.

"In fact, IAM employment in Puget Sound has increased by approximately 2,000 workers since the decision to expand in South Carolina was made in October 2009."

Boeing also was critical of the timing of the lawsuit, which was filed nearly a year and a half after the North Charleston investment was announced.

The NLRB complaint drew harsh responses from South Carolina elected officials.

"This is one of the worst examples of unelected bureaucrats doing the bidding of special interest groups that I've ever seen," U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, said in a statement. "In this case, the NLRB is doing the bidding of the unions at great cost to South Carolina and our nation's economy."

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, who is being sued separately by the IAMAW for vowing to keep unions out of the Boeing plant, called the labor organization "meddlesome" and "self-serving."

"This bullying will not be tolerated in South Carolina," Haley said in prepared remarks.

The IAMAW said that before Boeing announced its North Charleston plant, it offered the company an "unprecedented 11-year agreement" that would have given the company the "labor peace" it claimed it needed.

Since then, it said, Boeing "hasn't been willing to have any serious conversations about its future in Puget Sound."

"I'm ready to have that conversation," said Tom Wroblewski, president of union's District Lodge 751 in Seattle. "We need to sit down and talk about our shared future, and what both sides need to be successful long-term. That kind of conversation is what's in the best interest of our company, our members and our communities."

US Foreign Policy Debacle in The Middle East - The End Game

Read the first paragraph on these current stories. The entire region is spinning out of control. US Afghan Supply lines are vulnerable to being cut off by the Pakistanis. The Afghan prison break indicates the return of the Taliban. Obama is warning Syria about Iran and Iran and Iraq are making judicial deals. NATO is further engaging with Libyan rebels in the Libyan Civil War. Iraq wants the US out.
_________________________________


Hundreds of rebels in prison escape

Press Association, Monday April 25 2011
More than 400 inmates have escaped from the main prison in Kandahar city, Afghan officials said.

They said many of the men who dug a tunnel out of the facility are Taliban insurgents.

Prison supervisor Ghulam Dastagir Mayar said that they estimate about 476 prisoners escaped through a tunnel they had dug to the outside.

He said the jailbreak happened about 11pm on Sunday and that many of those missing were held for working for the insurgency.

Kandahar prison holds about 1,200 inmates.

Police and government officials also confirmed the jailbreak but said they did not have details.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said about 100 of those who escaped are Taliban commanders and many of the others are fighters with the insurgency.

__________________________________


Imran threatens to block NATO supply routes
PTI holds sit-in against drone attacks; Javed Hashmi, Marvi Memon also joined Dharna
Staff Reporter

Peshawar—Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman, Imran Khan said on Sunday that if drone strikes inside Pakistan did not stop within 30 days, protesters will block all NATO supply routes across Pakistan.

Khan also warned that protesters would march to Islamabad to force the government to take a stand on the issue if drone strikes continue.

The PTI Chairman made the announcement during day two of his party’s sit-in against drone strikes in Peshawar. Thousands of people arrived in the Hayatabad locality of Peshawar for the protest.

The Pak-Afghan road which is the main supply route for the NATO troops in neighbouring Afghanistan was totally blocked and no supplies could be delivered on Sunday.

________________________________

Iraqis rally against extending U.S. troops presence



By Jamal al-Badrani
MOSUL, Iraq | Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:38pm EDT
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) -Thousands of Iraqis rallied in the northern city of Mosul Sunday in one of the biggest protests yet against any extension of the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Protests have swelled in the city since April 9 -- the eighth anniversary of the day U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad -- but remain peaceful.

Sunday, around 5,000 people, including provincial council members and tribal leaders, rallied in the main square against extending the U.S. troops presence beyond the year-end deadline.

"We are trying to put pressure on the government to not even think about extending the presence of Americans (in Iraq), who brought havoc to our country," said Sheikh Barzan al-Badrani, chief of the Badrani tribe in Mosul.

______________________________

Nato aircraft have attacked Colonel Gaddafi's compound in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, badly damaging three buildings.

The Libyan authorities described the buildings as locations where the colonel held meetings.

Earlier, loud explosions were heard in Tripoli as Nato aircraft flew overhead. Three Libyan state television channels went off-air immediately afterwards but later resumed transmission.

The BBC's Ian Pannell sent this report from Tripoli.

________________________________

WASHINGTON- The United States President Barack Obama on Friday condemned "the use of shocking violence" of the Syrian regime, which he accused of seeking help from Iran to punish its own people after a day during which more than 70 people were killed.

________________________________

TEHRAN (ISNA)-Iran and Iraq are going to sign judicial agreements.

The documents will be inked in presence of Iranian Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani by justice ministers of Iran and Iraq.

Iranian judicial experts have already reached an agreement on terms of the contracts.

Experts of Iran and Iraq justice ministries have been in talks since last week and finally led to agreement on extradition, transfer of criminals who are sentenced to jail-term and judicial cooperation in criminal cases.

The agreements will be binding after being approved by legal authorities of the two sides.

Iraqi Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari is in Tehran and met with Iranian counterpart Morteza Bakhtiari.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter from The Chinese Communists

Since Nixon and Kissinger toasted the Red Chinese, I have never understood how that was to benefit the US. I understand how it helped the big retailers become bigger,but aways at the expense of the small retail operators. I understand how it helped the banks and Wall Street who benefitted mightily from un-fair trade at the expense of American manufacturing jobs.I get how it helped the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Army.

Today, forty years after the China opening, a few dozen Christians cannot celebrate their faith on Easter. 1.5 billion Chinese and there is no room for a few dozen Chinese Christians to Celebrate Easter.

This video clip is in Spanish, but you will understand the Chinese police thugs rounding up men, woman, and children from a Public street and taking them away in busses.






China arrests Protestant Shouwang devotees

The worshippers, from the Shouwang church, were trying to hold an outdoor service because they own no premises.
In recent weeks, the police have arrested dozens of people from the church, which has about 1,000 members.
The authorities have also been carrying out a wider suppression of dissent - harassing foreign reporters and detaining lawyers and activists.
The most high-profile detainee, artist Ai Weiwei, was taken by police as he tried to board a flight earlier this month.
His family say they do not know where he is, whether he has been charged with an offence, or even whether he has been formally arrested.
Round-ups
China's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but the Communist Party tries to control where people worship.
There are an estimated 70 million Christians in the country, about 20 million of whom attend government-approved churches.
The rest worship with unregistered groups known as "house" churches.
Such groups are broadly tolerated, but Shouwang leaders have annoyed the authorities in recent weeks by insisting on trying to hold services in the open.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing says police personnel were on every street corner in the area where the worshippers were due to meet on Sunday morning.
He says the authorities rounded up anyone suspected of being a member of the Shouwang church and loaded them on to buses to be driven to police stations.
One of the church's leaders Jin Tianming, who is under house arrest, told AFP news agency that between 20 and 30 members had been detained.
He said they had been taken to several different police stations.
About 100 Shouwang members were held earlier this month, and 12 of its leaders are under house arrest.
Bob Fu, of the US-based Christian China Aid Association, says the crackdown on Christian worship is wider than Beijing.
He says churchgoers in the southern city of Guangzhou have been refused permission to hold Easter services, and Christians in the northern city of Hohhot are facing repression.
"There is a very large house church in Hohhot. They were also under crackdown. More than a dozen of the leaders are now under criminal detention," said Mr Fu, who is a critic of Beijing's religious policies.
The authorities have not yet commented on the latest arrests.

Friday, April 22, 2011

How Are Things Going in Shickshinny?

HANOVER TWP. Township police reported the following: Chinu Patel, owner of Penn Corners Food Mart, Sans Souci Parkway, reported Thursday that a man in his mid-30s ran out of the store with two packs of cigarettes without paying.

Mon Apr 11, 2011
Police reported the following incidents: > Amy Capinas of South Franklin Street faces charges after she pushed a juvenile girl who was attempting to break up a fight between several small boys on Sunday on South Franklin Street.

Fri Mar 25, 2011
BARRE An operator of the Shickshinny sewage treatment plant was sentenced Thursday to six months probation for falsifying time cards to get paid for hours he didn't work.





Shickshinny, Pa
Downtown Shickshinny
Household Income Statistics
Shickshinny Household Income Statistics Graph 

2010 Household Income StatisticsShickshinny, PAPennsylvaniaUnited States
Total Area Household Income$20,390,750$360,049,525,831$8,877,041,207,141
Median Household Income$39,324$53,544$55,970
Average Household Income$44,815$70,587$74,974
Per Capita Household Income$20,555$28,518$28,779
Income Less than $15,0009320.44%633,84612.43%14,165,35911.96%
Income $15,000 to $24,9995712.53%488,0699.57%10,837,7209.15%
Income $25,000 to $34,9995311.65%534,58910.48%11,829,3659.99%
Income $35,000 to $49,9998518.68%755,21814.81%17,010,93214.37%
Income $50,000 to $74,9998418.46%978,35719.18%22,437,03518.95%
Income $75,000 to $99,9995111.21%717,87714.07%16,654,20414.07%
Income $100,000 to $124,999173.74%418,5068.20%10,110,3968.54%
Income $125,000 to $149,999143.08%233,2874.57%5,931,8215.01%
Income $150,000 to $199,99910.22%155,1853.04%4,245,0703.59%
Income $200,000 and Over00.00%185,8733.64%5,180,2414.38%
The data for Shickshinny, PA may also contain data for the following areas: Shickshinny

Household Income: Data on consumer income collected by the Census Bureau covers money income received (exclusive of certain money receipts such as capital gains) before payments for personal income taxes, social security, union dues, medicare deductions, etc. Therefore, money income does not reflect the fact that some families receive part of their income in the form of non-cash benefits, such as food stamps, health benefits, rent-free housing, and goods produced and consumed on the farm.
Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Demographic Information FAQ
  
Shickshinny Crime Rate Indexes Graph

2010 Crime Rate IndexesShickshinny, PAPennsylvaniaUnited States
Total Crime Risk17879100
Murder Risk17585100
Rape Risk18775100
Robbery Risk7377100
Assault Risk17879100
Burglary Risk10667100
Larceny Risk7868100
Motor Vehicle Theft Risk15373100
The data for Shickshinny, PA may also contain data for the following areas: Shickshinny

Crime Risk Index (100 = National Average): Index score for an area is compared to the national average of 100. A score of 200 indicates twice the national average total crime risk, while 50 indicates half the national risk. We encourage you to consult with a knowledgeable local real estate agent or contact the local police department for any additional information.

Index score: (100 = National Average) for an area is compared to the national average of 100. A score of 200 indicates twice the national average, while 50 indicates half the national average.
Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Demographic Information FAQ