Saturday » April 26 » 2008

Ruling puts leash on drug dogs
Police need grounds for search: court

Daryl Slade

Calgary Herald

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Police must have more than a mere suspicion when they sic their sniffer dogs in public places on people they believe are drug couriers, the country's highest court has ruled.

The Supreme Court of Canada, in a 6-3 decision released on Friday, has muzzled the canines in overturning the conviction of a Calgary man, Gurmakh Kang-Brown, for possession of nearly half a kilogram of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of heroin.

Police now must have reasonable and probable grounds before they conduct a search.

And, the court added, a dog sniffing a person or his or her luggage is an illegal search without those grounds.

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All the frisking, beeping and patting down is demoralizing to our society. It breeds resentment, encourages a sense that the normal are not in control.

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DECLARATIONS
By PEGGY NOONAN

The View From Gate 14
April 25, 2008; Page A7

America is in line at the airport. America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask. America is guilty until proved innocent, and no one wants to draw undue attention. America left its ticket and passport in the jacket in the bin in the X-ray machine, and is admonished. America is embarrassed to have put one one-ounce moisturizer too many in the see-through bag. America is irritated that the TSA agent removed its mascara, opened it, put it to her nose, and smelled it. Why don't you put it up your nose and see if it explodes? America thinks.

And, as always: Why do we do this when you know I am not a terrorist, and you know I know you know I am not a terrorist? Why this costly and harassing kabuki when we both know the facts, and would agree that all this harassment is the government's way of showing "fairness," of showing that it will equally humiliate anyone in order to show its high-mindedness and sense of justice? Our politicians congratulate themselves on this as we stand in line.

All the frisking, beeping and patting down is demoralizing to our society. It breeds resentment, encourages a sense that the normal are not in control, that common sense is yesterday. Another thing: It reduces the status of that ancestral arbiter and leader of society, the middle-aged woman. In the new fairness, she is treated like everyone, without respect, like the loud ruffian and the vulgar girl on the phone. The middle-aged woman is the one spread-eagled over there in the delicate shell beneath the removed jacket, praying nothing on her body goes beep and makes people look.

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Ron Paul Revival (Amid GOP Decline): Neocons Afraid of Ron Paul Delegates
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Written by Gary Franchi

Saturday, 26 April 2008

Ron Pauls elected delegates have been unlawfully, illegally, and for all intents and purposes VIOLENTLY overthrown in a blatant declaration of war against Ron Paul supporters and converts!

Date: Apr 20, 2008 You’re not going to believe this audio - Nueces County Texas Republican Convention Great job guys! This is how Revolutions start! Ron Paul Delegates Forced out of Republican Convention At the Nueces County Republican party convention, March 29th, in Corpus Christ Texas, Ron Paul supporters walked out in protest and held their own emergency convention in the parking lot. Republican party Chairperson Mike Bertuzzi grossly violated party rules by announcing new delegates to the morning's roll call who were never elected as precinct delegates on the night of the Republican primary, then again by ignoring repeated objections by party delegates, which he is required to recognize. --MORE--

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Ron Paul Thanks His Supporters

Dr. Paul's Remarks on Pennsylvania Primary

April 24, 2008 Ron Paul congratulates the volunteers in Pennsylvania and around the country that helped him in the Pennsylvania primary.

Israel wants joint control with the US of the resources of southern Africa - as in Iraq go to option 2 - civil war.

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rightweb+The New Republic: Right Web - Exposing the architecture of power that's changing our world.
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WSJ
OPINION

Arm Zimbabwe's Opposition

By JAMES KIRCHICK
Mr. Kirchick, an assistant editor at The New Republic, reported from Zimbabwe in 2006.

April 24, 2008; Page A13

Last July, former Zimbabwean Archbishop Pius Ncube raised the possibility of a British invasion of his country to topple Robert Mugabe's regime. "I think it is justified for Britain to raid Zimbabwe and remove Mugabe," he told the Times of London. "We should do it ourselves but there's too much fear. I'm ready to lead the people, guns blazing, but the people are not ready."

Perhaps the Zimbabwean people would be ready and less afraid if they actually had guns to blaze. They do not lack a passion for freedom; it is the necessary tools to wrest themselves from the yoke of tyranny that they need.

Ever since losing his country's March 29 presidential and parliamentary elections, Mr. Mugabe, rather than step down, has unleashed his trademark violence and intimidation to subvert the democratically expressed will of his people. On Wednesday, a Zimbabwean state newspaper floated the idea of Mr. Mugabe forming a unity government with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mr. Tsvangirai's party won the parliamentary elections, and he likely won the presidential elections (the government has yet to release the presidential results, and this week held a rigged "recount" of 23 parliamentary constituencies).

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StratCom: The Most Dangerous Place on the Face of the Earth?
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The Hidden Architecture of U.S. Militarism

Thursday, 24 April 2008

By Jacqueline Cabasso

Introduction

The Encarta Encyclopedia describes militarism as “advocacy of an ever-stronger military as a primary goal of society, even at the cost of other social priorities and liberties.” And it relates militarism to chauvinism, fascism, and national socialism. As uncomfortable as it may be for many, this chilling definition accurately describes the historical trajectory and current reality of U.S. national security policy. The threatened first use of nuclear weapons remains at the heart of that policy, and at the core of StratCom’s mission.

In many ways, StratCom embodies the hidden architecture of U.S. militarism. By architecture, I mean structural underpinnings and plans that provide coherence. I include both policies and “hardware” (i.e. delivery systems and manufacturing plants).

Much of this architecture is “hidden in plain sight.” All of the information presented here is available from open sources. None of it is classified, yet it is hidden from public view, barely mentioned in the mainstream media, and the U.S. arms control establishment chooses largely to ignore it because of the complexities it introduces into the short-term, “pragmatic” mindset prevalent in Washington, DC.

The Really Big Picture

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It's interesting to read a screed lamenting what America has become in the 21st Century from former Reagen speechwriter and propagandist Peggy Noonan.

Noonan helped set the tone for what we have turned into by penning many of Reagen's more bellicose speeches in the 1980's and believed she even wrote for "Pappy" Bush, George "The Unfit" Bush's father, back when we first launched "Operation Desert Slaughter" Part I against Iraq.

To see her moaning what we have become is tragic and in a way, funny.

Funny, ain't it Peggy, how you and your cohorts helped set this nation up so a blood-thirsty, power mad lunatic like Junior could walk in Reagen's footsteps and turn this nation into a dicatorship, ain't it?

Now enjoy the fruits of your labors.

The business minded may want to look into opening a hankie concession down at the Wall Street Urinal.

GOP objects to bill allowing recounts

By Ben Adler

April 25, 2008 12:26

Voting rights activists who hoped the federal government would help local governments pay for paper trails and audits for electronic voting machines have gone from elation to frustration as they watched Republicans who supported such a proposal in committee vote against bringing it to the House floor.

The result: The elections in November will likely be marred by the same accusations of fraud and error involving voting machines that arose in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential race.

When New Jersey Democratic Rep. Rush Holt’s Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act came up for a vote in the House Administration Committee on April 2, the Republicans on the committee gave it their unanimous support. But two weeks later, those same Republican members voted against moving the bill to the House floor. It would have taken a two-thirds vote to push the bill to the floor; with most House Republicans opposed, the bill didn’t make it that far.

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Dangerous pattern emerges as activists are framed, calls for violence are declared for Denver DNC

Old-Thinker News | April 25, 2008

By Daniel Taylor

A dangerous pattern has emerged as We are Change activists are framed for assault, and open calls for violence at the upcoming Democratic National Convention are proclaimed.

Rush Limbaugh has openly called for mass riots in "operation chaos" at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver Colorado. "I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver," said Limbaugh. Limbaugh stated that he hopes for a replay of the Chicago riots.

This follows the revelation that the anarchist group recreate 68 is preparing to stage violent acts at the DNC. Truthalliance.net reports,

"ReCreate 68 has a massive anti war protest planned for the DNC on the 24th, to which they were never issued a permit for. Sparking the press to cover the story, Glenn Spagnuolo, the organizer of the group, threatened the City of Denver and all who visit the Democratic National Convention with potential violence, making a direct threat regarding his un-permited plan to occupy the Civic Center, "If the cops try to stop us, we'll see what happens." The threat estimates there will be 50,000 anti-war demonstrators who will overwhelm law enforcement. Re-create 68 is now on a collision course with law enforcement to re-create the violence of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago."

In addition to the danger of violence at the DNC, the peaceful activist group We are Change has been the target of multiple frame up attempts.

Luke Rudkowski, founder of We are Change, was called a "terrorist" by police for standing in front of the new World Trade Center #7 building and threatened with being put "...in the hole for 30 days".

"A terrorist act-- I guess they go away for about 30 days," said the officer. Rudkowski responds, saying that he is an American citizen, when the officer states, "You're right. But by the time the government figures it out, you'll be in the hole for 30 days."

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WSJ
REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Clinton Foundation Secrets

April 25, 2008; Page A14

Transparency is a popular word in this presidential election, with all three candidates finally having released their tax returns. Yet the public still hasn't seen the records of an institution with some of the biggest potential for special-interest mischief: The William J. Clinton Foundation.

Bill Clinton established that body in 1997 while still President. It has since raised half-a-billion dollars, which has been spent on Mr. Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas and global philanthropic initiatives. The mystery remains its donors, and whether these contributors might one day seek to call in their chits with a President Hillary Clinton.

That's no small matter given the former first couple's history. Yet Mr. Clinton says he won't violate the "privacy" of donors by disclosing their names, even if his wife wins the Oval Office. What is already in the public record should make that secrecy untenable, however:

Chicago bankruptcy lawyer William Brandt Jr. pledged $1 million for the Clinton library in May 1999, at the same time the Justice Department was investigating whether he'd lied about a Clinton fundraising event. The Clinton DOJ cleared him a few months later.

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By Jeremy D. Mayer

April 23, 2008

It’s early October 2008, and Democratic nominee Barack Obama maintains a steady lead in the presidential race, although Republican standard-bearer John McCain, the most dogged campaigner in American politics, remains within striking range.

Suddenly, something happens overseas that throws the presidential campaigns off the TV screens entirely: Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, on vacation in Italy, is arrested and brought to The Hague to face war crimes charges.

Presidential campaigns try to prepare for these “October surprises,” late-breaking events and crises that can radically alter the race for the White House, such as the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000.

But now there’s a new element in the mix, something presidential campaigns have never had to plan for.

What if the October surprise is the greatest legal conflict between America and Europe since the creation of the Atlantic alliance?

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Are the Amish Next?
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April 22, 2008

The recent ‘raid’ on the Yearning For Zion religious community by Texas authorities was anything but an accident that just happened to ‘pop up’ out of nowhere. Likewise, the 24-7 attention paid to it by the mainstream media in the US had nothing to do with concern for the well-being of children, nor was it all the result of a slow news cycle. Rather, like most things taking place these days, it was carefully planned and executed in order to achieve maximum psychological effect on the collective American psyche. Astute Americans recognizing that there is a definite, quantifiable and qualifiable agenda at work today in corralling them (as well as their political and financial resources) by interested parties will easily see the hand of powerful forces at work here. The reasons for doing so by these forces are simple to see as well–to convey to would-be enemies of totalitarianism the subtle yet powerful message that ‘resistance is futile’ and if ‘Big Brutha wantsa getcha’ he will, and can do so with the speed and destructive power of a bolt of lightening.

The news coverage of the raid–almost in every single instance–did not hesitate in noting the many similarities between it and what took place over a decade ago in Waco, Texas when militarized federal law enforcement assets assaulted the Branch Davidian compound resulting in almost 100 men, women and children being gassed and burned to death. Besides the fact both events took place in Texas, they also involved separatist-minded religious communities living apart from a ‘corrupt’ world they saw as threatening to their way of life. Both groups were apocalyptic in their theology, pointing to the decline in public morals, the loss of constitutional freedoms and the heavy hand of God that they anticipated coming down soon upon mankind in a big way. In both cases, allegations of child molestation (as well as other out-of-the-mainstream ideas concerning marital relations) were concocted or blown out of proportion and itemized as THE defining characteristics of both groups as if nothing else took place in their communities. And, last but not least, this recent raid took place almost immediately prior to April 19th.

For those who have misplaced the significance of this date, it is one forever associated with clashes between anti-government radicals and the ‘rule of law’. Although hardly mentioned in this context, it is the day American militiamen clashed with British troops at Lexington and Concord, sparking the ‘shot heard ’round the world’ and the American Revolution. Over 200 years later, it was the date federal officials assaulted the Weaver family at Ruby Ridge Idaho, resulting in 14-year old Sammy Weaver being shot in the back and his mother Vicki having her head blown off by an FBI sniper. A few years later, the aforementioned Waco massacre took place, a mere pre-cursor to the same ‘shock and awe’ meted out against Israel’s greatest-perceived enemy in the Middle East, Iraq, and televised before the entire world. A few years later it was the day the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was blown to bits by one Timothy McVeigh, said to be working with ‘anti-government’ citizen paramilitary groups in the US.

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concept of the "Trinity of War." Excellent post!

The World According to Monsanto
The World According to Monsanto Expose’ Disappears from the Internet!

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Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Investigation

Gary Rinehart clearly remembers the summer day in 2002 when the stranger walked in and issued his threat. Rinehart was behind the counter of the Square Deal, his “old-time country store,” as he calls it, on the fading town square of Eagleville, Missouri, a tiny farm community 100 miles north of Kansas City.

The Square Deal is a fixture in Eagleville, a place where farmers and townspeople can go for lightbulbs, greeting cards, hunting gear, ice cream, aspirin, and dozens of other small items without having to drive to a big-box store in Bethany, the county seat, 15 miles down Interstate 35.

Everyone knows Rinehart, who was born and raised in the area and runs one of Eagleville’s few surviving businesses. The stranger came up to the counter and asked for him by name.

“Well, that’s me,” said Rinehart.

As Rinehart would recall, the man began verbally attacking him, saying he had proof that Rinehart had planted Monsanto’s genetically modified (G.M.) soybeans in violation of the company’s patent. Better come clean and settle with Monsanto, Rinehart says the man told him—or face the consequences.

Rinehart was incredulous, listening to the words as puzzled customers and employees looked on. Like many others in rural America, Rinehart knew of Monsanto’s fierce reputation for enforcing its patents and suing anyone who allegedly violated them. But Rinehart wasn’t a farmer. He wasn’t a seed dealer. He hadn’t planted any seeds or sold any seeds. He owned a small—a really small—country store in a town of 350 people. He was angry that somebody could just barge into the store and embarrass him in front of everyone. “It made me and my business look bad,” he says. Rinehart says he told the intruder, “You got the wrong guy.”

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