“The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else’s religion is contrary to what this country stands for. Its contrary to what this country, nation was founded on.” President Obama, Sept 10, 2010
Really?
“Military personnel threw away, and ultimately burned, confiscated Bibles that were printed in the two most common Afghan languages amid concern they would be used to try to convert Afghans, a Defense Department spokesman said Tuesday. ” CNN, May 22, 2009
Double standards anyone?
And continuing the police-state theme for random pat-downs in Philadelphia and warrantless GPS tracking, North Carolina Sheriffs want access to the States Prescription Database. “We can better go after those who are abusing the system,” said Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter.
Of course, if Lee County installs video cameras in everyone’s home, they could “better go after those who are abusing” their spouses. If Sheriffs could review all your financial records they could “better go after those who are” dealing in cash. Oh wait, the Federal Government wants to do that already with 1099s.
The standard for a free country is not to make it easier to monitor the citizens in order to “better go after” someone. The standard is freedom.
It would me much easier to “better go after” people in a police state where everything is monitored, but no one who values freedom over convenience would care to live in such a place.
And continuing on the GPS police-state theme, Philadelphia claims they can now randomly search people. “We can conduct any kind of search we want,” said Delaware River Port Authority Police Cheif David McClintock.
A Virginia Appeals Court upholds GPS tracking without a warrant. Judge Randolph A Beales wrote “police used the GPS device to crack this case by tracking the appellant on the public roadways — which they could, of course, do in person any day of the week at any hour without obtaining a warrant.” The GPS, he wrote in the opinion, “did not provide a substitute for police behavior that would have otherwise violated a recognized right to privacy.”
Judge Beales, please consider, the police might have been able to track a person for a limited time, but the police could not track everyone, everywhere for an entire year. With an opinion like this, the police could track every single person in the United States (or world) continuously, forever at limited cost.
This is abuse of power plain and simple.
In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan. September 8, 2010
“The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.” Fidel Castro, reported September 8, 2010
When I hear words and phrases like “simple”, “trivial” and “a small matter of” it’s usually a good indication that these minor trifles will be done (or paid for) by someone other than the writer.
— Henry Ford
An interesting story came to light last week. A website was ordered to pay $11 million for libel and slander in a default judgement. Based on court filings, in December 2009, TheDirtY.com (or its users, reports are unclear) posted that Sarah Jones and Bengal’s kicker Shayne Graham were having an affair and that Jones might have contracted “two venereal diseases.” The original complaint is here (pdf). Links to the original documents are here.
Jones was informed of the post by Graham and filed suit in December 2009 and a Continue reading Thedirt.com $11 Million Judgement for Libel and Slander Against Cincinnati Bengals Cheerleader Sarah Jones
The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, .. that state “active drug and human smuggling area” and travelers may encounter “armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.”. August 31, 2010
Border? Who needs a border?