Obama Appoints Racist La Raza VP to Director of Intergovernmental Affairs

Ed. -Thanks for the 'Openness and Change' Obama, can you get any more closed minded and negative than this blatant act of RACISM???

(CNSNews.com) – An 18-year veteran of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), who advocates for federal legislation to give the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States a path to citizenship, has been tapped for President-elect Barack Obama’s White House staff.

Cecilia Muñoz, who currently serves as Senior Vice President for the office of research, advocacy and legislation at the NCLR, will serve as director for intergovernmental affairs in the Obama administration.

“We’re continuing to build a White House team that can rise to the challenges facing this country,” Obama said when he announced the appointment of Muñoz last week.

“And I couldn’t be more excited to announce Cecilia. I’m confident that at a critical time in our history, this White House will restore openness and accountability to our Executive Branch and help to put government back in the hands of the people it serves,” Obama added.

In her new post, Muñoz will be responsible for managing relations between the Obama administration and state and local governments. She is a first-generation American whose parents came to the United States from Bolivia.

Muñoz, 46, said in an essay aired on National Public Radio on Sept. 26, 2005, that the anger sparked by what she considered a racist remark about Latinos made by a friend when she was 17 shaped her successful career as an immigration activist.

“My outrage that day became a propellant of my life, driving me straight to the civil rights movement, where I’ve worked ever since,” Muñoz said. “I guess outrage got me pretty far. I found jobs in the immigrant rights movement. I moved to Washington to work as an advocate. I found plenty to be angry about along the way and built something of a reputation for being strident.
“I’m deeply familiar with that hollow place that outrage (Blatant hatred for Americans) carves in your soul,” Muñoz said in the National Public Radio essay. “I’ve fed off it (the hatred) to sustain my work for many years.”

Bob Dane, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told CNSNews.com that the director of intergovernmental affairs will play a critical role in the next administration, but it is a role that may be difficult for Muñoz to fulfill, given her background.

“Her direct and succinct affiliation with La Raza (The Race) taints her ability to represent the broader national interest,” Dane said. “La Raza exists as a way to systematically dismantle enforcement and any semblance of discipline in the immigration system. Are we to believe that she is going to distance herself in her new role to represent the broader national interest?”

Muñoz, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Latin American Studies from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, was an advocate for President Bush’s comprehensive immigration reform proposed in 2007.

At a speech at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in March 2007, Muñoz spoke about how the public, including the media, did not understand the NCLR’s goal of economic equity and social justice for immigrants.

“My organization in particular gets challenged, especially in the media,” Muñoz said. “I’m not just taking about talk radio or Fox, but even CNN. We get portrayed as a radical, U.S.-hating, brown beret-wearing separatist organization hell-bent on retrieving the Southwest United States for Mexico, which is really silly (but what we REALLY WANT!).”

She said previous attempts at immigration reform in the United States failed because legislation took a “hostile’ approach to solving what Muñoz said is “one of the most important domestic policies of our time.”

She cited legislation passed in Hazelton, Pa., for example, which made renting property to illegal aliens against the law, and road blocks on Georgia highways “because local police had gotten into the business of immigration enforcement.”

“They thought, ‘If we round people up, if we make the climate hostile, undocumented immigrants will go away,” Muñoz said. “So if you happen to look Mexican and you’re driving down the highway in Georgia, you’re very likely to be picked up by these road blocks (GOOD!, maybe the rest of the country should take note).”

She said people were detained for days and even weeks because they couldn’t prove they were U.S. citizens.

Muñoz said she supported comprehensive immigration reform that required people who are in the United States illegally to come forward, prove they have no criminal record and are paying taxes, pay a fine, start to learn English, and then be put on a path to citizenship that would take about 10 years to complete.

“We’re not rewarding illegality,” Muñoz said. “We are asking (illegal immigrants) to earn something and we’re asking them to pay a fine. And then we need to move on (So then DENOUNCE your loyalty to the RACIST LA RAZA party!!.”

US Criminal Fed to end Posse Comitatus in 2 Years

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.

The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.

There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and eliminate the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.

But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response -- a nearly sevenfold increase in five years -- "would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said.

The Pentagon's plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response by September 2011. The first 4,700-person unit, built around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., commander of the U.S. Northern Command.

If funding continues, two additional teams will join nearly 80 smaller National Guard and reserve units made up of about 6,000 troops in supporting local and state officials nationwide. All would be trained to respond to a domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive attack, or CBRNE event, as the military calls it.

Military preparations for a domestic weapon-of-mass-destruction attack have been underway since at least 1996, when the Marine Corps activated a 350-member chemical and biological incident response force and later based it in Indian Head, Md., a Washington suburb. Such efforts accelerated after the Sept. 11 attacks, and at the time Iraq was invaded in 2003, a Pentagon joint task force drew on 3,000 civil support personnel across the United States.

In 2005, a new Pentagon homeland defense strategy emphasized "preparing for multiple, simultaneous mass casualty incidents." National security threats were not limited to adversaries who seek to grind down U.S. combat forces abroad, McHale said, but also include those who "want to inflict such brutality on our society that we give up the fight," such as by detonating a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city.

In late 2007, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England signed a directive approving more than $556 million over five years to set up the three response teams, known as CBRNE Consequence Management Response Forces. Planners assume an incident could lead to thousands of casualties, more than 1 million evacuees and contamination of as many as 3,000 square miles, about the scope of damage Hurricane Katrina caused in 2005.

Last month, McHale said, authorities agreed to begin a $1.8 million pilot project funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through which civilian authorities in five states could tap military planners to develop disaster response plans. Hawaii, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Washington and West Virginia will each focus on a particular threat -- pandemic flu, a terrorist attack, hurricane, earthquake and catastrophic chemical release, respectively -- speeding up federal and state emergency planning begun in 2003.

Last Monday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered defense officials to review whether the military, Guard and reserves can respond adequately to domestic disasters.

Gates gave commanders 25 days to propose changes and cost estimates. He cited the work of a congressionally chartered commission, which concluded in January that the Guard and reserve forces are not ready and that they lack equipment and training.

Bert B. Tussing, director of homeland defense and security issues at the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership, said the new Pentagon approach "breaks the mold" by assigning an active-duty combat brigade to the Northern Command for the first time. Until now, the military required the command to rely on troops requested from other sources.

"This is a genuine recognition that this [job] isn't something that you want to have a pickup team responsible for," said Tussing, who has assessed the military's homeland security strategies.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute are troubled by what they consider an expansion of executive authority that threatens the welfare and rights of the entire population of the United States.

Fed Criminals Steal $7.7 TRILLION, Secure America's Demise..

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Criminal U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt Monday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.

When Congress approved TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. Now, as regulators commit far more money while REFUSING TO DISCLOSE loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return, some Congress members are calling for the Fed to be reined in.

“Whether it’s lending or spending, it’s tax dollars that are going out the window and we end up holding collateral we don’t know anything about,” said Congressman Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican who serves on the House Financial Services Committee. “The time has come that we consider what sort of limitations we should be placing on the Fed so that authority returns to elected officials as opposed to appointed ones.”

Too Big to Fail

Bloomberg News tabulated data from the Fed, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and interviewed regulatory officials, economists and academic researchers to gauge the full extent of the government’s rescue effort.

The bailout includes a Fed program to buy as much as $2.4 trillion in short-term notes, called commercial paper, that companies use to pay bills, begun Oct. 27, and $1.4 trillion from the FDIC to guarantee bank-to-bank loans, started Oct. 14.

William Poole, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said the two programs are unlikely to lose money. The bigger risk comes from rescuing companies perceived as “too big to fail,” he said.

‘Credit Risk’

The government committed $29 billion to help engineer the takeover in March of Bear Stearns Cos. by New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. and $122.8 billion in addition to TARP allocations to bail out New York-based American International Group Inc., once the world’s largest insurer.

Citigroup received $306 billion of government guarantees for troubled mortgages and toxic assets. The Treasury Department also will inject $20 billion into the bank after its stock fell 60 percent last week.

“No question there is some credit risk there,” Poole said.

Congressman Darrell Issa, a California Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said risk is lurking in the programs that Poole thinks are safe.

“The thing that people don’t understand is it’s not how likely that the exposure becomes a reality, but what if it does?” Issa said. “There’s no transparency to it so who’s to say they’re right?”

The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $23 trillion, or 38%, of the value of the world’s companies and brought down three of the biggest Wall Street firms.

UK's Brown Calls for NWO --to "beat recession"

Prime Minister Gordon Brown today sets out a five-point plan to create a "stronger and more just" world order in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.


Mr Brown calls on fellow world leaders to use the current worldwide economic downturn as an opportunity to thoroughly reform international financial institutions and create a new "truly global society" with Britain, the US and Europe leading the way.

His call comes ahead of an emergency summit of world leaders and finance ministers from 20 major countries, the G20, in Washington next weekend.

Mr Brown says the DC meeting must establish a new Bretton Woods-style framework for the international financial system, featuring a reformed International Monetary Fund which will act as a global early-warning system for financial problems.

The original Bretton Woods agreements, signed in New Hampshire in 1944, established post-war international monetary protocols governing trade, banking and other financial relations among nations, including fixed exchange rates and the IMF.

Mr Brown's plan for strengthening the global economy involves recapitalisation of banks to permit the resumption of normal lending to households and businesses, better international co-ordination of fiscal and monetary policy and a new IMF fund to help failing economies and stop financial problems spreading between nations.

He also wants agreement on a world trade deal and reform of the international financial system based on principles of "transparency, integrity, responsibility, sound banking practice and global governance with co-ordination across borders".

As Britain moves into recession Mr Brown has staked his own leadership on finding a way out of the global crisis.

In a speech to City financiers at the annual Lord Mayor's banquet in London he says: "The British Government will begin a new Bretton Woods with a new IMF that offers, by its surveillance of every economy, an early warning system and a crisis prevention mechanism for the whole world.

"The alliance between the UK, US, and the EU, must provide leadership, not in order to make the rules ourselves, but to lead the global effort to build a stronger and more just international order.

"My message is that we must be internationalist not protectionist, interventionist not neutral, progressive not reactive and forward-looking not frozen by events. We can seize the moment and in doing so build a truly global society."

Mr Brown has already discussed IMF reforms with French Pres. Sarkozy and German Chanc. Merkel and has called on countries including China and the oil-rich Gulf States to fund the bulk of an increase in the IMF's bailout pot.

He believes that in electing Barack Obama, US voters have showed their belief in a "progressive" agenda of government intervention to help families and businesses through the current crisis.

He says: "Uniquely in this global age, it is now in our power to come together so that 2008 is remembered not just for the failure of a financial crash that engulfed the world but for the resilience and optimism with which we faced the storm, endured it and prevailed."

However, the head of the IMF played down expectations of a new Bretton Woods system ahead of the G20 summit.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, said: "Expectations should not be oversold. Things are not going to change overnight. Bretton Woods took two years to prepare. A lot of people are talking about Bretton Woods II. The words sound nice but we are not going to create a new international treaty."

The EU has called for an overhaul of the IMF with French Pres. Sarkozy, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, saying: "We want to change the rules of the game".

The US, however, has been more lukewarm on the possibility of radical change.

USA to Resume Nuclear Tests

USA to resume nuclear tests to save its Cold War stockpile from decline.

Bush henchman, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates sternly believes the United States needs to resume its nuclear tests. "The US needs to take steps to transform an ageing and very expensive complex of nuclear weapons from the Cold War era to a smaller and less costly enterprise that could meet the nation’s security needs for the future." Gates said.

He said the current nuclear stockpile has been re-engineered to extend its life span, but such extensions cannot continue indefinitely. Without a modernization program, Gates said, the long-term outlook for the arsenal is "bleak."

"No one has designed a new nuclear weapon in the United States since the 1980s, and no one has built a new one since the early 1990s," he said. "To be blunt," Gates said, "there is absolutely no way we can maintain a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile without resorting to TESTING OUR STOCKPILE or pursuing a modernization program."

The US National Nuclear Security Administration has lost a quarter of its personnel since the mid 1990s. Half of all US nuclear scientists are over 50 years of age, whereas young specialists have never been involved in the development of nuclear arms. In addition, the USA has not held a nuclear test since 1992.

"Currently, the United States is the only declared nuclear power that is neither modernizing its nuclear arsenal nor has the capability to produce a new nuclear warhead," Gates said.

Britain and France have programs to support their potentials, whereas China and Russia harbor ambitious plans to develop new weapons, he added.

Hypocrite, party of one.. The table is being set for more massive War Crimes by Murder Inc..

World Leaders Make Dire Warnings

"Australian PM Kevin Rudd - “Nuke strike would make 9/11 insignificant” and other weird warnings"

"Over the last 72 hours there has been a strange melange of cryptic messages leaked from world political leaders about what could be in store for America over the next few months.

These predictions of impending doom come from England, France, Australia and the United States.

Biden told the top Democratic donors that a “generated crisis” will develop within six months and Barak Obama will need the help of community leaders to control the population as unpopular decisions are made and Americans resist.

Biden speaking at the fundraiser, “I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate, And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

Biden’s ominous language at the Seattle Sheraton are followed with statements by long time establishment insiders Colin Powell and Madeline Albright both say there is a massive crisis on the horizon and Biden was simply making a “statement in fact.”

“The problems will always be there and there’s going to be a crisis which will come along on the 21st, 22nd of January that we don’t even know about right now.” Powell told Meet the Press.

Lord West, adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown on national security says, “There is another great plot building up again and we are monitoring. It dipped slightly and is now rising again within the context of severe. The threat is huge. We have done all the things that we need to do, but the threat is building - the complex plots are building,”

Across the channel from England you have the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warning the press that he believes Israel will strike Iran before they can develope nuclear weapons completley ignoring the fact that the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBradei, said that Iran lacks the key components to produce an atomic weapon.

“The devastation that could be wreaked by one major nuclear weapons incident alone puts 9/11 and almost everything else [in] to the category of the insignificant,” Rudd said.

Why are there so many high level politicians around the world in a seemingly coordinated effort warning of huge threats and developing crisis’ that may include a nuclear device? Are they preparing the masses for an event or series of events that have been in the making for some time? Is the public being prepared for new and forming enemies with a potential to plunge the entire world into war?"
----end quote---

A number of notable public figures, to be sure; Biden, Rudd, Colin Powell, Matelaine Albright, Lord West and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Taken alone there are plenty of ready explanations, but within 72hrs.?

Are there any more recent examples out there?

Bush Declares Indefinate State of WAR!!

As the numbed down nation focuses on Sen. John McCain's choice of running mate, President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war.

Buried in a recent proposal by the Administration is a sentence that has received scant attention -- and was buried itself in the very newspaper that exposed it Saturday. It is an affirmation that the United States remains at war with al Qaeda, the Taliban and "associated organizations."

Part of a proposal for Guantanamo Bay legal detainees, the provision before Congress seeks to “acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of Americans.”

The New York Times' page 8 placement of the article in its Saturday edition seems to downplay its importance. Such a re-affirmation of war carries broad legal implications that could imperil Americans' civil liberties and the rights of foreign nationals for decades to come.

It was under the guise of war that President Bush claimed a legal mandate for his warrantless wiretapping program, giving the National Security Agency power to intercept calls Americans made abroad. More of this program has emerged in recent years, and it includes the surveillance of Americans' information and exchanges online.

"War powers" have also given President Bush cover to hold Americans without habeas corpus -- detainment without explanation or charge. Jose Padilla, a Chicago resident arrested in 2002, was held without trial for five years before being convicted of conspiring to kill individuals abroad and provide support for terrorism.

But his arrest was made with proclamations that Padilla had plans to build a "dirty bomb." He was never convicted of this charge. Padilla's legal team also claimed that during his time in military custody -- the four years he was held without charge -- he was tortured with sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, forced stress positions and injected with drugs.

Times reporter Eric Lichtblau notes that the measure is the latest step that the Administration has taken to "make permanent" key aspects of its "long war" against terrorism. Congress recently passed a much-maligned bill giving telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for their participation in what constitutional experts see as an illegal or borderline-illegal surveillance program, and is considering efforts to give the FBI more power in their investigative techniques.

"It is uncertain whether Congress will take the administration up on its request," Lichtblau writes. "Some Republicans have already embraced the idea, with Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, introducing a measure almost identical to the administration’s proposal. 'Since 9/11,' Mr. Smith said, 'we have been at war with an unconventional enemy whose primary goal is to kill innocent Americans.'"

If enough Republicans come aboard, Democrats may struggle to defeat the provision. Despite holding majorities in the House and Senate, they have failed to beat back some of Bush's purported "security" measures, such as the Telecom immunity bill.

Bush's open-ended permanent war language worries his critics. They say it provides indefinite legal justification for any number of activities -- including detention of terrorists suspects at bases like Guantanamo Bay (where for years the Administration would not even release the names of those being held), and the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program.

Bush and Moonies Make HUGE Land Grabs in Paraguay

The Governor of Alto Paraguay, Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta has admitted to hearing that George Bush Sr. owns land in the Chaco region of Paraguay, in Paso de Patria. Acosta says that rumor has it that Bush owns near to 70 thousand hectares (173,000 acres) as part of an ecological reserve and/or ranch. However, the governor said he had no documents to prove the rumor. Acosta said that some stories credited the land to the Fundación Patria, which Bush would be a member of. The spokespeople of the organization were not available to comment. Supposedly, Timothy Towell , the U.S. Ambassador in Asunción (the capital of Paraguay) is the present administrator of the land. First accounts signaled that Bush had acquired 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) in the Chaco zone of Fuerte Olimpo, near the Bolivian Border. A spark of the interest in this property may have been Jenna Bush's private visit to Paraguay with Unicef, which started Saturday, October 7, 2006. Supposedly Jenna will travel to the ranch to "observe" several indigenous villages are located on the property.

The original story from Paraguay, in Spanish, from Prensa Latina that identifies the purchaser as George W rather than George HW Bush, but the Chaco purchase strikes me as more likely an initiative of the father than of the son. Bush Sr, let's remember, tootled around Latin America in 1996 as Moon's lapdog and praised him in Buenos Aires as "the man with the vision." (Moon's foresight might have included blackmail, specifically the office of the then Vice President with the Craig Spence call boy scandal. Influence, by any means necessary.) Still, keeping Moon's company is a Bush family enterprise, as Neil accompanied the Reverend last year on his 100-day "global peace campaign."

Paraguay, of course, has been a recent source of alarm to the region for its allowance of its tri-border territory to become a US military beachhead. Now, with the reports of the Bush purchase of an "ecological reserve" alongside Moon's, we have good reason to suspect that US national security has again been seconded to the Bush family business.

The land which is located somewhere near Mariscal Estigarribia is near natural gas reserves, but of more importance, It's near the one of the largest aquafers in N. America.

Argentinean Adolfo Perez Esquivel warned that the real war will be fought not for oil, but for water, and recalled that Acuifero Guaraní is one of the largest underground water reserves in South America, running beneath Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (larger than Texas and California together).

He termed it “surprising” that the Bush family is trying to settle a few short miles from the US Mariscal Estigarribia Military Base.

Another report notes the land purchase is also nearby a huge tract of land purchased by Sun Myung Moon that sits astride Latin America's largest water aquifer, the Guarani aquifer.

According to this report, Bush and the Carlyle Group are also the owners of major tracts of land along the proposed US super-highway linking Mexico and Canada, land that will be worth hundreds of millions more when the highway is completed.

Do I need to remind everyone that the Nazi's escaped to South America as well?

No extradition treaties, no rule, no conscience..

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Coming in June 2009

Does "REAL ID" ring a bell? How about "Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative?" It looks like almost no one picked up on it in the media...what a shock.

From our resident Jew,(he holds dual Israeli and American citizenship) Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's speech Monday:

"We have a unique opportunity, one that may not come again, to partner with a determined leader in Mexico, so that we can address a shared problem in a partnership way that we cannot afford to ignore. Now of course we are not only focused on efforts to control the border between the ports of entry, we are increasing our security and our efficiency at the ports of entry themselves. We continue to move forward with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which is slated to go into effect in June 2009 at our land and sea ports of entry.

As you will remember, this initiative reduces the types of identification that can be presented at the border so that we get to a requirement of reliable identification for people who want to enter the United States. And it also has eliminated the old system of allowing people to simply orally declare their citizenship and get waved on through.

We have already implemented the first part of our effort to shrink the kind of acceptable documentation at our airports, and compliance has been close to 100 percent. Likewise, as we’ve increased the rigor of our requirements at the land and sea borders, we have found very high compliance rates. And we are working hard to increase the type of reliable documents, and the number of reliable documents which Americans and Canadians can use once this Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative gets implemented in June of next year.

For example, the new pass-card being issued by the State Department has received more than 200,000 applications, and production is set to begin this month. I have applied for one myself. I hope you have to, or you will shortly Secretary Gutierrez. What these cards are going to do is not be more reliable, but they will be faster, because instead of having to read a driver’s license, these will be machine-readable only. You can simply zip through a machine-reader, which will make the process times faster.

The states have also stepped up and become part of the solution to the issue of secure documentation. The state of Washington is currently issuing its own version of an approved, enhanced driver’s license that will be acceptable at the border. New York has announced that it has completed its business plan to begin producing enhanced driver’s licenses. And other states are on the way to doing so as well."

http://corneliusdurden.mindsay.com/north_american_union_is_here.mws

BushThreat: Elect McCain, or We Bomb Iran..

Facing a growing domestic economic disaster and a failed Iraq war and occupation, a defiant George W Bush will issue his final face saving bluff to his ignorant base ~ elect McCain or we will bomb Iran. Bush see's himself as a patriot and is not about to let the growing Obama wave dismantle his Middle East neocon castle in the sand : Allen L Roland

The handwriting is on the wall ~ the fall Presidential campaign will be between the people's desire for a real change of direction in Washington and the Bush/McCain establishment's desire to maintain the status quo by utilizing the politics of FEAR. Bush see's himself as a patriot and is not about to let the growing Obama wave dismantle his Middle East neocon castle in the sand.

The ultimate fear, as previewed by right wing neocon hack Bill Kristol, will be the implied threat to attack Iran if it appears that Obama will decisively win in November ~ which is becoming more and more likely.

The likely scenario, which I feel will happen, perhaps before November, will be an air strike by Israel against Iran which will be followed by a massive American strike against Iran ~ after Iran retaliates against Israel.

Bush's justification will be protecting Israel and the spineless Democrats will loudly bluster and fold as the Cheney/Bush war machine continues to roll on ~ playing the fear card until it is called.

And the fear card is beginning to be called, as it has by the alternative free press on the internet, including myself, for many years. Here is Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson giving Fox News a piece of his mind on the subject of GW Bush's upcoming visit to the city ~ and do remember that Fox news is Dick Cheney's favorite news outlet. ( Five minute video )http://www.youtube.com/v/Wp_W3SmjvvA&;rel=0&hl=en


The only effective constitutional method to call this war card, besides the nation's leaders speaking out, is the Impeachment card, which John Conyers still holds close to his vest and might yet play ~ particularly since new polling data shows one-fifth of conservatives supporting Obama. See Obama's strange appeal to high priests of US conservatism who are increasingly becoming fed up with the Cheney/Bush neocon conservative ideology.

Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2008/06/27.html

North Korea Blackmails, Embarrasses Bush

The Bush administration has made a very dangerous enemy and the present agreement does nothing to lessen that threat. It clearly sends a message to America's rivals that the US can be blackmailed if the stakes are high enough. The United States has been humiliated by a man who many believe is an unstable and ruthless tyrant.

On Thursday, Bush announced that he would remove North Korea from the terrorism list and lift economic sanctions. This follows an earlier decision to provide Kim with massive quantities of oil to meet the North's energy needs; a fact that is ignored by the main stream media. On virtually every issue, N. Korea's leader has gotten whatever he's asked for. This has infuriated many of Bush's biggest supporters. Last week, former United Nations ambassador John Bolton blasted the agreement saying:

“I think it’s a clear victory for North Korea.” They've gained “enormous political legitimacy by being taken off our list of state sponsors of terrorism and out from under the prohibitions of the Trading With the Enemy Act. It’s a very sad day for Bush supporters. It's the final collapse of Bush's foreign policy."

A nuclear-armed North Korea creates bigger challenges for the US in the Middle East. The Wall Street Journal summed it up like this in an editorial on Friday:

"Most troubling is the message all of this sends to Iran, and other rogue states. The lesson is that when you build a weapon, your political leverage increases. Play enough brinkmanship, and you can even receive diplomatic absolution without admitting to having the kind of nuclear device you exploded less than two years earlier. We understand that diplomacy often includes winks and nods, but it shouldn't require denial." (Wall Street Journal, "Leap of Faith")

There's no doubt that Tehran is watching Bush's backpedaling with great amusement or that the Mullahs have seen that the only way to stop the relentless provocation of the US is by building a nuclear weapon. The only difference between North Korea and the last-remaining member of the "axis of evil" (Iran) is five or six 15 megaton nuclear warheads. If that's what it takes to gain the respect of the "international community"; so be it.

The western media has described Bush's capitulation as "a triumph" because Kim blew up the already shut down cooling tower at Yongbyon. Big deal. North Korea did not develop its nuclear weapons at the plutonium plant, but in an underground program which made bomb fuel from enriched uranium. No one denies this. The demolition of the tower was a meaningless public relations photo-op to confuse the American people and help Bush save face. The people who follow developments with North Korea know the truth, that the Bush administration has once again dragged the US through the mud.

The harshest critics of the new deal have been Bush's far-right supporters, like Claudia Rosett, of "The Rosett Report" (a favorite at the Weekly Standard and the American Enterprise Institute) Here's what she says:

"The lesson is that America, faced with a nuclear blackmail, will bow down, dignify tyrants, fork over loot, and celebrate the process as a victory for diplomacy. Were North Korea to detonate a nuclear bomb over Los Angeles tomorrow, I wonder if Condi Rice and Chris Hill, would describe the cataclysm as "troubling" and then re-cast it as a candid and informative addendum to North Korea's promised declaration of its nuclear program."

The message to foreign leaders is clear; the only way to change minds in Washington is by putting a loaded gun to their heads. Countries without WMD simply have no bargaining power. That's the real lesson here and other countries are bound to draw the same conclusion. In 2002, Dick Cheney made his famous statement, “We don’t negotiate with evil; we defeat it”.

Bullshit Dick, you are a coward, and YOU are evil in its purest form...

Immediately after the North detonated a nuclear bomb in 2006, Bush administration officials met in a face-to-face meeting in Berlin. The meeting was kept secret to conceal Bush’s eagerness to meet one-on-one with the North Korean leader. Up until then, the arrogant Bushies had refused to negotiate in person; choosing instead to cower behind the 6 party talks. Kim’s nuclear experiment changed all that and brought about a sudden reversal in the administration’s approach.
“According to Japan’s Asashi newspaper, the two sides signed an agreement under which North Korea would make steps towards denuclearization when the US resumes annual shipments of 500,000 tonnes of oil, which were halted in 2002.” (UK Guardian) Bush was only too happy to oblige.

So much for Cheney's "We don’t negotiate with evil". In fact, we don't negotiate; we cave in and give them everything they want, including the farm.

The crisis with North Korea could have been avoided with skillful diplomacy and a willingness to compromise on the central issues. Now Bush has backed himself into a corner and will have to grovel his way out. That means he'll have to engage in two-party negotiations and work out a deal at the bargaining table. Good luck.

Presently, Kim Jong-il has a stockpile of 6 to 10 nuclear warheads. With a few finishing touches to his Taepodong ICBM-system, he'll be able to wipe out the 9 western states with a flip of the switch. Bush's bungling has put half the country in the crosshairs of a man whose sanity has always been in doubt.

You're doin' a heckuva job, Georgie!

Jewish groups slam handgun decision

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning a gun-control law is being criticized by several Jewish groups.

In a 5-4 decision announced Thursday, the court struck down the District of Columbia's ban on owning handguns for self-defense, which was the strictest gun-control law in the country.

Several organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress and the National Council of Jewish Women, issued statements criticizing the decision. The three organizations, along with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, had signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief in the District of Columbia v. Heller case.

"The culture of guns and violence is pervasive among extremists," said Glen S. Lewy, the ADL's national chair, and Abraham Foxman, its national director, in a joint statement. "This decision places our communities -- and the law enforcement officers that protect them -- at greater risk of violence."

Even while criticizing the decision, Jeffrey Sinensky, the AJC's general counsel, said that while the court had determined that U.S. citizens have a private right to own and keep handguns for hunting and self-defense, its decision "does not impair the ability of local and state governments to pass sensible and effective gun control laws which protect citizens."

The NCJW struck a more alarming note, with its president, Nancy Ratzan, warning that the decision "overturns the basis for two centuries of government regulation of firearms" and could spark challenges.

Now, is it any wonder as to which group is trying to overthrow this country? The Zionist Jews are working their collective asses off to bring our once great nation to its knees, if they get guns banned we can all kiss OUR asses goodbye...

Pelosi Wants War with Iran, Vows to Israel/AIPAC Lobby Wishes

Representative Ron Paul says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi removed a section from a bill passed by Congress which would have barred the U.S. from going to war with Iran without a congressional vote, claiming she did so at the behest of the leadership of Israel and AIPAC.

Paul, a former Republican presidential contender who formally removed himself from the party's nomination race last week, makes the allegation on C-SPAN during a recently held foreign policy conference in Virginia. Paul says Pelosi's FIRST ACT as House Speaker in 2006 was to

"deliberately" remove a portion of a legislative spending bill which said the United States
"can't go to war with Iran without getting approval from Congress."

According to Paul, Pelosi and her allies in the chamber's Democratic leadership initially accepted the bill designed to outline an Iraq exit strategy, but during a revision of the legislation excluded the statement regarding the need for congressional approval of any military assault on the neighboring country of Iran. "She [Pelosi] removed it deliberately," Paul says. "And then, the astounding thing is, when asked why, she said the leadership in Israel asked her to. That was in the newspaper, that was in 'The Washington Post,' that she was asked by AIPAC and others not to do that."

Paul implies Pelosi, desperate to advance her flawed spending legislation, bargained away the proposal that would have been the House leadership's primary vehicle for challenging the administration's policies in the region.

According to John Nichols, who covered the story about Pelosi's capitulation at the time for "The Nation," Pelosi was "under pressure from some conservative members of her caucus, and from lobbyists associated with neoconservative groups that want war with Iran, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)."

Paul's allegation is corroborated by 'The Asia Times', which in another article published at the time says AIPAC was strongly against attaching "a provision to a Pentagon spending bill that would require President Bush to get congressional approval before attacking Iran. AIPAC was strongly against it because it viewed the legislation as taking the military option 'off the table.' The provision was killed."

The article also cites Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, as saying [Pelosi's] decision was due to AIPAC.

You Think NAFTA, CAFTA & the Economy is Bad Now? Wait...

Bush Not Leaving Office in 2009, Bombing Iran Instead

Norman Podhoretz, is another Zionist bastard doing everything in his power to depopulate the human race and force Zionist Israel's radical, racial views on the entire planet.

Norman has been called the 'Godfather' of the Neocon agenda, and has expressed his Zionist views towards Bush, and sees Bush attacking Iran (there is NO OTHER OPTION) before leaving office, but then back pedals and says GWB will NOT leave office in 2009!

Bush Iran Attack Blocked by Rice and Gates, For Now...

Army Radio quoted a top official in Jerusalem claiming that a senior member in the entourage of President Bush, who visited Israel last week, said in a closed meeting here that Bush and VP Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for.

The official went on to say that, for the time being, "the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" was preventing the Bush Administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Army Radio report, which resonated widely, stated that according to assessments in Israel, the recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah has established de facto control of the country, was advancing an American attack.

Bush, the official said, considered Hizbullah's show of strength evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's growing influence. In Bush's view, the official said, "the disease must be treated - not its symptoms."

...

Days later, in his address to the Knesset, Bush said that "the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages" and "America stands with you (Israel) in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions."

"Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," Bush said.

Absolut 'Gives' Southwest US to Mexico

Vodka ad shows ‘Absolut world’ in which California, Arizona, others secede

Please call Absolut Vodka’s PR department at 1-212-641-8720 and voice your concerns.

New ad for Absolut Vodka reconfigures North America according to the aspirations of many Mexicans, who believe the U.S. Southwest was stolen and should be returned.

Over a redrawn map of the U.S., the ad by the Absolut Spirits Co. declares, “In an Absolut World,” noted columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin.

Major Hispanic civil rights groups in the U.S., such as the National Council of La Raza, are tied to movements advocating a “reconquista,” or reconquest, of territory lost when Mexico signed the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War.

As WND reported in 2006, Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., called on La Raza to renounce its support of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan – which sees “The Race” as part of an ethnic group that one day will reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

In 2002, a prominent Chicano activist and University of California at Riverside professor, Armando Navarro, told WND he believed secession is inevitable if demographic and social trends continue.

“If in 50 years most of our people are subordinated, powerless, exploited and impoverished, then I will say to you that there are all kinds of possibilities for movements to develop like the ones that we’ve witnessed in the last few years all over the world, from Yugoslavia to Chechnya” Navarro said.

“A secessionist movement is not something that you can put away and say it is never going to happen in the United States,” he contended. “Time and history change.”

Navarro said one could argue “that while Mexico lost the war in 1848, it will probably win it back in the 21st century, in terms of the numbers,” “But that is not a reality based on what Mexico does, it’s based on what this country does,” he insisted.

In a 1995 speech to Chicano activists, Navarro said demographic trends are leading to “a transfer of power” to the ethnic Mexican community in the Southwest. He notes that most studies show that within the next 20 to 30 years Latinos will comprise more than 50 percent of the population of California. This fact, and other cultural and social developments, are opening the door for “self-determination” and even “the idea of an Aztlan,” he said in his speech.

McCain to attend convention of RACIST La Raza group

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain, the de facto Republican presidential nominee, announced today he will attend the national convention of La Raza, a radical Hispanic lobby tied to the movement to reconquer the Southwestern U.S. that was part of Mexico before the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848.

The convention will be held in San Diego July 14.

Though La Raza bills itself as a civil rights organization, the group's name literally means "The Race." La Raza information {Here}

La Raza was condemned in 2006 by Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., as a radical "pro-illegal immigration lobbying organization that supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland."

Norwood has called on La Raza to renounce its support of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan – which sees "The Race" as part of an ethnic group that one day will reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

McCain, who steadfastly opposed efforts to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border and supported legislation to permit illegal aliens to remain in the U.S., also announced the launch of his campaign's Spanish language website. {Link}
The announcements came on Cinco de Mayo, the day commemorating an 1862 battle fought by Mexican troops.

"Today, we join together to remember the sacrifice that these Mexican patriots endured, as well as the struggles of all those around the world striving for freedom," said McCain in the statement. "We recognize as well the important friendship that exists between our country and Mexico, and celebrate the many contributions Mexican-Americans have made to our society, culture, security and economy."

CIA Agent Chasing Israeli "Suitcase Nuke" in Houston, Killed by Cops

RADIATION DETECTORS WERE TRIPPING AS CHASE REACHED 122 MPH; HOUSTON COPS SHOT CIA AGENT; NUKE GOT AWAY

Federal sources close to this case have told me CIA Agent Roland Carnaby had proof a "suitcase nuke" had arrived inside the U.S. from Israel on Tuesday. He was chasing the device and the Israelis who had it.

As local law enforcement was called-in, for some unknown reason cops allegedly began chasing the CIA Agent instead of the Israelis and ultimately shot the CIA Agent dead!

Despite photographic proof that Roland Carnaby was inside CIA Headquaters in Langley, VA (shown above) the CIA is now publicly denying Roland Carnaby worked for them. A cover story is allegedly being fabricated to cover what really went on. Check back later . . . . . developing.

UPDATE 2329 HRS -- -- Federal sources have told me that they fear the detonation of a small nuclear device in or around Houston/Galveston, TX.

They say the old refineries there need to be modernized and expanded, but environmental regulations require companies clean up existing ground pollution before they will allow those refineries to be modernized.

The costs of such environmental clean-up would make new refineries too costly. HOWEVER. . . . . a "terrorist attack" in that region would destroy the refineries and simultaneously shift all the clean up costs to. . . . . . the taxpayer! Gee. How convenient for our Texas Oil Guy President, VP and all their rich Texas Oil Buddies!

SECOND UPDATE 0924 HRS 2 MAY 2008 - The CIA cover story apparently begins: ABC News is reporting (with video of the scene) that Roland Carnaby was, in fact, chased and shot dead by Houston Police. They confirm he presented credentials identifying him as being with the CIA. They report in the written story accompanying the video that Carnaby was shot while handcuffed and laying face down on the ground. Once again, CIA is disavowing the guy despite photographic proof (above) that he was, in fact, inside the CIA HQ in Langley, VA.

UPDATE 0942 HRS -- Houston Chronicle Newspaper Reports: Agent Roland Carnaby called FBI and Houston PD on his cell phone during high speed chase to identify himself!
Link Here

US Outsources Passport Manufacturing to Thailand

GPO is an agency little-known to most Americans, created by Congress almost two centuries ago as a virtual monopoly to print nearly all of the government's documents, from federal agency reports to the president's massive budget books that outline every penny of annual federal spending. Since 1926, it also has been charged with the job of printing the passports used by Americans to enter and leave the country.

When the government moved a few years ago to a new electronic passport designed to foil counterfeiting, GPO led the work of contracting with vendors to install the technology.

Each new e-passport contains a small computer chip inside the back cover that contains the passport number along with the photo and other personal data of the holder. The data is secured and is transmitted through a tiny wire antenna when it is scanned electronically at border entry points and compared to the actual traveler carrying it.

According to interviews and documents, GPO managers rejected limiting the contracts to U.S.-made computer chip makers and instead sought suppliers from several countries, including Israel, Germany and the Netherlands.

Mr. Somerset, the GPO spokesman, said foreign suppliers were picked because "no domestic company produced those parts" when the e-passport production began a few years ago.

After the computer chips are inserted into the back cover of the passports in Europe, the blank covers are shipped to a factory in Ayutthaya, Thailand, north of Bangkok, to be fitted with a wire Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, antenna. The blank passports eventually are transported to Washington for final binding, according to the documents and interviews.

The stop in Thailand raises its own security concerns. The Southeast Asian country has battled social instability and terror threats. Anti-government groups backed by Islamists, including al Qaeda, have carried out attacks in southern Thailand and the Thai military took over in a coup in September 2006.

The Netherlands-based company that assembles the U.S. e-passport covers in Thailand, Smartrac Technology Ltd., warned in its latest annual report that, in a worst-case scenario, social unrest in Thailand could lead to a halt in production.

Smartrac divulged in an October 2007 court filing in The Hague that China had stolen its patented technology for e-passport chips, raising additional questions about the security of America's e-passports.

Venezuela 'to tax oil windfall'

Venezuela is planning a windfall tax on what it calls "excessive" profits of energy firms to allow state revenues to benefit from high oil prices.

The tax will take 50% of oil revenues above $70 per barrel, and an additional 60% of revenues over $100 per barrel, legislator Angel Rodriguez said.

He told state news agency ABN that oil firms had surpassed "reasonable levels of profitability".

The move will affect foreign oil firms operating in Venezuela such as Chevron.

Oil is currently trading above $104 per barrel.

'Excessive earnings'

The proposed tax comes months after President Hugo Chavez's nationalisation drive forced out two of the world's largest energy companies - Exxon Mobil Corp and Conoco Phillips.

Exxon is seeking $12 billion in compensation from Venezuela after its oilfields were nationalized last year.

The tax will also apply to state oil company PDVSA, which now controls all of Venezuela's oilfields.

"Because of high oil prices, oil companies have excessive earnings that go beyond reasonable levels of profitability," Mr Rodriguez was quoted by Reuters as telling state news agency ABN.

"One way to distribute them to our people, who are the owners of the oil, is to create this tax."

Mr Rodriguez said the measure would get initial approval from the country's Congress this week.

Venezuela diverts Exxon oil to China

Venezuela is sending to China all the oil it previously shipped to a US refinery jointly owned with Exxon Mobil amid a legal battle between the OPEC nation and the US oil giant, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Friday.

''With respect to the shipments, we put them at China's disposal,'' Ramirez told reporters. ''All of it.''

Exxon and Venezuela have been in dispute over supplies to the Louisiana-based Chalmette refinery since Exxon won court orders freezing $US12 billion in Venezuelan assets as part of a legal battle over compensation for Exxon assets Venezuela nationalized in 2007.

State oil company PDVSA halted supplies to Chalmette, a 50-50 joint venture that can process about 193,000 barrels per day of crude, after Exxon began rejecting some of the cargoes that Venezuela destined for the refinery.

Ramirez said PDVSA rerouted the supplies in protest, which he said were meant to pressure Venezuela as part of an international arbitration over the 2007 nationaliSation of the Cerro Negro heavy oil project that Exxon once ran.

Exxon wants at least $US 5 billion in compensation, though PDVSA says it is due less than $US 1 billion.

A London court this month lifted one of the freeze orders, though Exxon still has similar injunctions in Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles courts.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is keen to export more oil to Asia to reduce traditional dependence on United States energy markets.

The Lies Behind 'Free Trade'

North American Union

Canada, U.S. agree to use each other's troops in civil emergencies

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.

Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas.

The U.S. military's Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S.

The left-leaning Council of Canadians, which is campaigning against what it calls the increasing integration of the U.S. and Canadian militaries, is raising concerns about the deal.

"It's kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration. We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites," said Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians.

Trew said there is potential for the agreement to militarize civilian responses to emergency incidents. He noted that work is also underway for the two nations to put in place a joint plan to protect common infrastructure such as roadways and oil pipelines.

"Are we going to see (U.S.) troops on our soil for minor potential threats to a pipeline or a road?" he asked.

Trew also noted the U.S. military does not allow its soldiers to operate under foreign command so there are questions about who controls American forces if they are requested for service in Canada. "We don't know the answers because the government doesn't want to even announce the plan," he said.

But Canada Command spokesman Commander David Scanlon said it will be up to civilian authorities in both countries on whether military assistance is requested or even used.

He said the agreement is "benign" and simply sets the stage for military-to-military co-operation if the governments approve.

"But there's no agreement to allow troops to come in," he said. "It facilitates planning and co-ordination between the two militaries. The 'allow' piece is entirely up to the two governments."

If U.S. forces were to come into Canada they would be under tactical control of the Canadian Forces but still under the command of the U.S. military, Scanlon added.

News of the deal, and the allegation it was kept secret in Canada, is already making the rounds on left-wing blogs and Internet sites as an example of the dangers of the growing integration between the two militaries.

On right-wing blogs in the U.S. it is being used as evidence of a plan for a "North American union" where foreign troops, not bound by U.S. laws, could be used by the American federal government to override local authorities.

"Co-operative militaries on Home Soil!" notes one website. "The next time your town has a 'national emergency,' don't be surprised if Canadian soldiers respond. And remember - Canadian military aren't bound by posse comitatus."

Posse comitatus is a U.S. law that prohibits the use of federal troops from conducting law enforcement duties on domestic soil unless approved by Congress.

Scanlon said there was no intent to keep the agreement secret on the Canadian side of the border. He noted it will be reported on in the Canadian Forces newspaper next week and that publication will be put on the Internet.

Scanlon said the actual agreement hasn't been released to the public as that requires approval from both nations. That decision has not yet been taken, he added.

State's rejection of new driver's license rules may hurt air travelers

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginians planning on air travel this year could find things more complicated than they remember if a Senate bill becomes law.

The state would be barred from participating in the federal REAL ID Act, which would set national standards for driver's licenses, by a bill approved Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The federal Department of Homeland Security has warned that states which don't file paperwork saying they need extra time to comply with the law will face consequences starting in May. The most significant would be that driver's licenses from non-complying states would not be valid identification for boarding an airplane anywhere in the U.S.

Instead, other forms of identification, like birth certificates or passports, would have to be used.

The bill, which now comes before the full Senate, calls the act "inimical to the security and well-being of the people of West Virginia," with supporters saying Monday the federal guidelines amount to an invasion of privacy.

"That's how a lot of people here see it," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Walt Helmick.

"It's a matter of trust, and we have some mistrust in federal programs when it comes to gathering all this information about us," the Pocahontas County Democrat said.

Under the federal legislation, driver's licenses will have three layers of security measures but will not contain microchips as some had expected. States will be able to choose from a menu which security measures they will put in their cards.

Additionally, state motor vehicles agencies would be required to verify birth certificates; check with other states to ensure an applicant doesn't have more than one license; and check with the State Department to verify applicants who use passports to get a driver's license.

The proposal has drawn criticism from civil liberties groups worried about securing personal data, and from state governments worried about the expense of implementing the new measures.

The original federal proposal would have cost West Virginia between $40 million and $60 million, according to Steve Dale, deputy commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles.

To help sell the plan, Homeland Security scaled back its initial plans, so that implementing the program will now cost much less. Dale said West Virginia would likely spend about $5 million putting it in place.

"The problem in the original proposal for REAL ID is that it was absolutely cost-prohibitive," said Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Manchin.

Manchin supports the scaled-back proposal, though, and Ramsburg said the governor hopes the state measure doesn't pass out of the Legislature.

"We don't agree with taking West Virginia out of this equation," she said.

So far, 17 states have passed legislation or resolutions objecting to the REAL ID Act's provisions, many due to concerns it will cost them too much to comply, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been vocal in its opposition to the federal law. The 17 are Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.

States agreeing to the program would have until Jan. 1, 2010 to begin issuing driver's licenses made under the new rules, with a final date of May 2017 to issue the new licenses to all their drivers.

Crippled Spy Satellite Shot Down by AM-3 Missile

The Pentagon released this video showing the SM-3 tactical missile striking the crippled satellite. The fireball and vapor cloud that appear shortly after the strike suggest the missile successfully struck the satellite and its 1,000-pound hydrazine tank, the military said.
Provided By: Nancy Youssef, McClatchy Washington Bureau

This is a supposed video from a neighboring satellite that recorded the shootdown of the crippled military spy satellite.

Your government reasoned that the hydrazine fuel on board would harm humans if the fuel tank remained intact upon re-entry, so they had no option but to destroy the satellite.

I have 3 problems with this;
1) It is laughable at best to suggest that the US Government concerns itself with preserving human life on Earth.
2) The obvious reasoning behind the shootdown is to keep sensitive technical data/hardware from falling into the hands of Governments hostile towards the USA.
3) This is an obvious attempt to 'prove' to the Chinese and the entire world that the US also has the capability to shoot down orbiting space objects.

Lou Dobbs - NAFTA Superhighway 2/19/08

Navy Research Paper: 'Disrupt Economies' with Man-Made 'Floods,' 'Droughts'

A recently-unearthed U.S. Navy research project calls for creating mad-made floods and droughts to "disrupt [the] economy" of an enemy state.

"Weather modification was used successfully in Viet Nam to (among other things) hinder and impede the movement of personnel and material from North Viet Nam to South Viet Nam," notes a Naval Air Warfare Weapons Division - China Lake research proposal, released last month through the Freedom of Information Act. But "since that time military research on Weather Modification has dwindled in the United States."

The proposal suggests a study of the latest weather manipulation techniques, to "give the U.S. military a viable, state-of-the-art weather modification capability again." With that in hand, American forces would be able...

To impede or deny the movement of personnel and material because of rains-floods, snow-blizzards, etc.

(2) To disrupt economy due to the effect of floods, droughts, etc.

The proposal is undated. But it's pretty clearly from the Cold War. Not only is "the Soviet Union (Russia)" mentioned. The money is also relatively small, by today's standards -- less than a half-million dollars, over two years.

A military in-house newspaper calls "weather modification" an "area of China Lake preeminence. Between 1949 and 1978, China Lake developed concepts, techniques, and hardware that were successfully used in hurricane abatement, fog control, and drought relief. Military application of this technology was demonstrated in 1966 when Project Popeye was conducted to enhance rainfall to help interdict traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail." (Here's a picture of China Lake's "Cold Cloud Modification System."

In 1980, the United States ratified a treaty banning military weather manipulation. But every once in a while, someone in the armed forces floats the idea of doing it again. "Our vision is that by 2025 the military could influence the weather on a mesoscale [theater-wide] or microscale [immediate local area] to achieve operational capabilities," a 1996 Air Force-commissioned study reads.

Today, Chinese officials are trying to figure out ways to keep it from raining over Beiing, during this summer's Olympics.

NAFTA Import Export Free Trade Board

Bill to improve health care…in Mexico!

The health care mess in the United States is a top concern of voters. Too many Americans find that, despite their best efforts, they are unable to provide quality health care for their families. Too many Americans live in fear that an illness might leave them destitute. Too many Americans spend years sacrificing to pay skyrocketing premiums only to discover that, when the need arises, their policies offer protections that are next to worthless.

Most of us agree that it’s simply not right that so many Americans, sincerely trying their best to provide for their families, are at the mercy of a phalanx of greedy insurance companies, medical malpractice lawyers, health care corporations, and other profiteers that have used decades of influence in Washington to institutionalize their chomp hold on the public jugular.

What would Americans think, then, of a member of Congress who introduced legislation, not to improve health care in the United States, but to improve health care in Mexico?

Insane? Drunk? Unworthy of public office?

What would Americans think, then, of a bill introduced in Congress that required federal agencies to come up with a plan, not to expand health coverage in the United States, but to expand health coverage in Mexico?

Impossible? Unthinkable? Wildly irresponsible?

What would Americans think, then, of the motives of a senator, who not only introduced a bill to improve Mexico’s health care system and extend coverage to a growing population of 120 million people, but gave health insurance companies the right to help devise the plan?

Blatantly corrupt? Grossly indifferent to the well-being of the American people? Downright treasonous?

Unbelievable as it may seem, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 contained a provision giving insurance companies the right to help devise a plan for extending US health care to Mexico (Sec. 1004. BINATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE AND HEALTH INSURANCE).

NORTH AMERICAN UNION & VCHIP TRUTH

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

President BUSH PARDON's HIMSELF against POTENTIAL WARCRIMES

This rates a 10 on the WTF meter!!

7-Year Plan Aligns U.S. With EU Economy

Six U.S. senators and 49 House members are advisers for a group working toward a Transatlantic Common Market between the U.S. and the European Union by 2015.

The Transatlantic Policy Network – a non-governmental organization headquartered in Washington and Brussels – is advised by the bi-partisan congressional TPN policy group, chaired by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah.

The plan – currently being implemented by the Bush administration with the formation of the Transatlantic Economic Council in April 2007 – appears to be following a plan written in 1939 by a world-government advocate who sought to create a Transatlantic Union as an international governing body.

An economist from the World Bank has argued in print that the formation of the Transatlantic Common Market is designed to follow the blueprint of Jean Monnet, a key intellectual architect of the European Union, recognizing that economic integration must inevitably lead to political integration.

As WND previously reported, a key step in advancing this goal was the creation of the Transatlantic Economic Council by the U.S. and the EU through an agreement signed by President Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel – the current president of the European Council – and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at a White House summit meeting last April.

Writing in the Fall 2007 issue of the Streit Council journal “Freedom and Union,” Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., a member of the TPN advisory group, affirmed the target date of 2015 for the creation of a Transatlantic Common Market.

Costa said the Transatlantic Economic Council is tasked with creating the Transatlantic Common Market regulatory infrastructure. The infrastructure would not require congressional approval, like a new free-trade agreement would.

Writing in the same issue of the Streit Council publication, Bennett also confirmed that what has become known as the “Merkel initiative” would allow the Transatlantic Economic Council to integrate and harmonize administrative rules and regulations between the U.S. and the EU “in a very quiet way,” without introducing a new free trade agreement to Congress.

No document on the TEC website suggests that any of the regulatory changes resulting from the process of integrating with the EU will be posted in the Federal Register or submitted to Congress as new free-trade agreements or as modifications to existing trade agreements.

http://stopspp.com/stopspp/?p=428

Montana Governor Drives Real ID Rebellion

Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (D) declared independence Friday from federal ID rules and called on governors of 17 other states to join him in forcing a showdown with the federal government which says it will not accept the driver's licenses of rebel states' citizens starting May 11.

If that showdown comes to pass, a resident of a non-complying state could not use a driver's license to enter a federal courthouse or an SSA building nor board a plane without undergoing a pat-down search, creating massive backlogs at the nation's airports and almost certainly leading to a flurry of federal lawsuits.

States have until May 11 to request extensions to the Real ID rules. They require states to make all current identification holders under the age of 50 to apply again with certified birth and marriage certificates. The rules also standardize license formats, require states to interlink their DMV databases and require DMV employee to undergo background checks.

Extensions push back the 2008 deadline as far as out 2014 if states apply and promise to start work on making the necessary changes, which will cost states billions with only a pittance in federal funding to offset the costs.

Last year Montana passed a law saying it would not comply, citing privacy, states' rights and fiscal issues.

In his letter (see below) to other governors, Schweitzer makes clear he's not going to ask for an extension.

"Today, I am asking you to join with me in resisting the DHS coercion to comply with the provisions of REAL ID, " Schweitzer wrote. "If we stand together either DHS will blink or Congress will have to act to avoid havoc at our nation's airports and federal courthouses."

But Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner says DHS has no intention of blinking.

"That will mean real consequences for their citizens starting in May if their leadership chooses not to comply," Keehner said. "That includes getting on an airplane or entering a federal building, so they will need to get passports."

Keehner says DHS's policy won't change even if Georgia -- one of the 17 states that has signaled strong opposition to the rules -- declines to apply for an extension.

If that scenario came to pass, every Georgian who flies out through the nation's busiest airport -- Atlanta-Hartsfield International -- would have to be patted down by Homeland Security agents and have his carry-on bag hand-screened, resulting in massive delays.

Keehner also suggests that patted-down citizens will turn their wrath not on the feds but on their state government.

Schweitzer wants Congress to step up and pass alternative legislation that would stop Real ID and re-instate a commission that was working on driver's license rules before the REAL ID Act was slipped into defense legislation in 2005. That legislation assigned DHS the task of setting the rules single-handedly.

Keehner is adamant that the rules will make the country safer and that the price tag is not too high. "The ability to get false identification must end, and Real ID is that step," Keehner said.

Privacy groups counter that the rules create a de-facto national identification card and won't stop terrorism or identity theft.

Schweitzer struck back at DHS statements he obviously considers arrogant.
"I take great offense at this notion we should all simply 'grow up'," he wrote, referring to remarks from DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff about border rules regarding Canada. Schweitzer says those remarks "reflect DHS continued disrespect for the serious and legitimate concerns of our citizens."

A DHS policy maker suggested earlier this week that Real IDs could also be required to buy cold medicine and to prove employment eligibility.

Schweitzer's letter went out to the governors of Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/real_id_to_gov_ritter_011808_pdf1.pdf