|
Source: Our Future Blog Author: Mary Bottari Posted on 12.16.10 by Steve Trinward “George Mahoney worked and saved and built his cozy, colonial-style home in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, in 1981. … For many years, the Mahoneys paid down their relatively small mortgage with their local bank — a division of Bank of America (BofA). In 2007, they took out a second mortgage to help a daughter start a small business…. About a year after getting the second mortgage, BofA started notifying George that his payments were late. Soon they jacked his credit card interest rates from 7 percent to 28 percent. Next, they ruined his credit record…. Then one day in the fall of 2009, BofA initiated foreclosure on the house he had built and owned for 28 years. The only problem? The Mahoneys had never missed a single payment on either their first or second mortgage.” (12/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/37ankry Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: In These Times Author: Jeremy Gantz Posted on 12.16.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “‘I don’t think there’s anything fair about a grand jury,’ says Tom Burke, a central organizer of the committee who was subpoenaed in Grand Rapids, Mich., after the FBI followed him to a coffee shop. ‘There’s no judge, you aren’t allowed to have your lawyer with you. … It’s a totally undemocratic and biased system, and it would be foolish to cooperate.’” (12/13/10) Link: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6745/terrorist_by_association/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 12.15.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The practice of police ‘accountability’ generally consists of using money stolen at gunpoint to buy off victims and survivors of officially sanctioned criminal violence. Few better examples can be found than the $975,000 settlement paid by the City of Wilmington, Delaware, to Elaine Hale, whose husband Derek was murdered by Wilmington Police on November 6, 2006.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/293grw2 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Black Commentator Author: David Love Posted on 12.15.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Commenting on the good that can come from openness and transparency, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that ’sunlight is the best disinfectant.’ Well, today we find ourselves in a foul, germ-ridden place, where official misconduct is allowed to breed, infect the body politic and fester. Things are done in the name of the American people that would outrage them if they really knew the truth. And some past generations had the benefit of brave individuals to shine the light and clear up the stench, and they were all the better for it.” (12/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/295q2d2 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: James Bovard Posted on 12.15.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Today is the 219th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Bill of Rights Day should be the preeminent Anti-Politician Day on the American calendar. Instead, it has become simply another pretext for rulers to delude the ruled. ” (12/15/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/bovard12152010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
|
Source: Missourian Author: Ken Paulson Posted on 12.15.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “It’s the holiday that got away. Wednesday is the 219th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, a critical turning point in the history of this country and one that transformed this nation forever. Still, you won’t find any Bill of Rights greeting cards in local stores. It’s not that Americans are short on patriotism. In fact, we celebrate Veterans Day, Constitution Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, Washington’s Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Independence Day.” (12/14/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25zdwj2 Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 12.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “For months, Ada County Sheriff David Updyke had been investigating a secretive group of armed extremists living at the periphery of his southwest Idaho jurisdiction. When an informant provided him with a membership list of the armed band, Updyke wasted no time. He obtained arrest warrants, organized a large, heavily armed strike force, and made a beeline for the Payette River Valley. The warrants were a ruse. Updyke wasn’t planning a mass arrest; he was plotting a massacre.” (12/10/10) Link: http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/12/v-for-vigilante.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Spiked Author: Wendy Kaminer Posted on 12.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Julian Assange is not Wikileaks; in other words, whether you regard him as a hero, villain, victim or egotistical malcontent, Wikileaks itself remains difficult to characterize. If it can be blamed for deterring diplomacy, derided for titillating us with diplomatic gossip, or dispensed with faint praise (by activist and writer Todd Gitlin) as the ‘Facebook of whistleblowing’, it can also be heralded for providing additional proof (if any were needed) of the gross hypocrisies and moral cowardice of the post-9/11 American security state.” (12/14/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/10000/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Rense.com Author: unknown Posted on 12.13.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Helping your child understand why he may be a threat to national security.” [cartoon] (undated) Link: http://www.rense.com/1.imagesH/cavitysearch_splash.jpg Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Randall Amster Posted on 12.13.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “In an ideal world, the WikiLeaks revelations would have ended two wars. Documenting patterns of cavalier abuse and untold brutality in Iraq and Afghanistan might have sparked public outrage sufficient to undermine the capacity to continue these campaigns. Instead we’ve seen the war machine dig in even deeper, extending drawdown deadlines and expanding fronts to adjacent locales.” (12/13/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/amster12132010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 12.12.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “In a bizarre and historical twist of fate, conservatives today are finding themselves in a state of open rebellion against established authority, and it is becoming embarrassingly obvious that they don’t have the faintest glimmer of how to handle this conflict between their fundamental nature and what is necessary if the American culture is to survive. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of Manning, Assange, and Wikileaks.” (12/12/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle599-20101212-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: AmmoLand Author: Gun Owners of America Posted on 12.12.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Your attention to and activism with Gun Owners of America has made a world of difference over the past several months. The past couple of years were supposed to be the worst on record, as far as gun rights are concerned. With the election of Barack Hussein Obama, Americans went rushing to gun stores and generated a buying spree that created shortages of firearms and ammunition around the country.” (12/10/10) Link: http://www.ammoland.com/2010/12/10/gun-owners-year-in-review-2010/ Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary | |
|
Source: AlterNet Author: Tana Ganeva Posted on 12.12.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Giants like PayPal, Amazon.com, Visa and MasterCard almost instantly crumbled under government (and p.r.) pressure to drop WikiLeaks, depriving the site of vital funding sources and online platforms. But other companies, some of them small, independent start-ups, have decided to risk the wrath of Joe Lieberman, the State Department, and their European counterparts and help keep WikiLeaks afloat by providing funding sources (yeah, you can now donate to WikiLeaks even if you only have Visa or MasterCard) and hosting the site. Here’s a list of companies that have stood by WikiLeaks …” (12/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/249lvyn Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: TruthOut Author: Michael Deutsch Posted on 12.12.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Under the new definition of ‘material support,’ the efforts of President Jimmy Carter to monitor the elections in Lebanon and coordinate with the political parties there, including the designated FTO Hezbollah, could well be prosecuted as a crime.” (12/11/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/35wojqu Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: The Self-Sovereign Individual Project Author: Kitty Antonik and Paul Wakfer Posted on 12.10.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “[G]etting support money to WikiLeaks has become very awkward for those able to donate only small amounts. PayPal, MasterCard and Visa all appear to be currying favor with the US government, if not actually kowtowing to direct political pressure, by agreeing that WikiLeaks is engaged in ‘illegal’ activities thereby justifying their removal of services. So it appears that either snail mail money orders/drafts or bank wire transfers (electronic funds transfer — EFT) are the only means left to get funding to WikiLeaks.” (12/09/10) Link: http://selfsip.org/focus/helpwikileaks.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Strike the Root Author: Jim Davies Posted on 12.09.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The aftermath of the release of the first 1% of the recent second wave of leaks of sensitive government documents is in some ways more fun than reading of the newly uncovered secrets themselves. It has drawn a clear distinction between those who are horrified and those who are delighted; like the acid test for fake gold, this reveals what people really think about government, now that it matters.” (12/90/10) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/acid-test Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: The Nation Author: Robert Scheer Posted on 12.08.10 by Steve Trinward “[US Senator Dianne] Feinstein represents precisely the government that Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he said, in defense of unfettered freedom of the press, ‘Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.’” [editor’s note: Once again, Mr. Scheer shows why I continue to look for his writings to include here - SAT] (12/08/10) Link: http://www.thenation.com/article/156909/jefferson-assange Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Raw Story Author: Daniel Tencer Posted on 12.08.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Shoppers at Walmart will soon have something other than glossy magazines and chewing gum to look at when in the checkout line: A ‘video message’ from the Department of Homeland Security asking them to look out for ’suspicious’ activity and report it immediately. It’s part of a new Department of Homeland Security program that could see Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s face on video screens in malls, retail outlets and hotels across the United States.” (12/08/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/29tjp7g Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Eric Walberg Posted on 12.08.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The sides are lining up, much like Bush predicted in 2001 with his ‘You are with us or against us.’ A brave Aussie, a principled French judge, an American libertarian congressman, a youthful computer nerd — the enemies of empire come in all shapes and sizes.” (12/08/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/walberg12082010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: New York Times Author: Marc Lacey Posted on 12.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Arizona used to be a knife carrier’s nightmare, with a patchwork of local laws that forced those inclined to strap Buck knives or other sharp objects to their belts to tread carefully as they moved from Phoenix (no knives except pocketknives) to Tempe (no knives at all) to Tucson (no knives on library grounds). But that changed earlier this year when Arizona made its Legislature the sole arbiter of knife regulations. And because of loose restrictions on weapons here, Arizona is now considered a knife carrier’s dream, a place where everything from a samurai sword to a switchblade can be carried without a quibble.” (12/05/10) Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/05knives.html Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary | |
|
Source: Inter Press Service Author: William Fisher Posted on 12.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Last week’s release of 900 pages of U.S. government documents dealing with the implementation of the nation’s primary surveillance law suggests that the government has been systematically violating the privacy rights of U.S. citizens. How many citizens is unclear, since the documents were extensively redacted. The previously secret internal documents were obtained through a court battle by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).” (12/06/10) Link: http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=3423 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Information Clearinghouse Posted on 12.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack. In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of Wikileaks website and CableGate pages. This page is a mirror of an original at wikileaks website.” (12/07/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27007.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Chris Floyd Posted on 12.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Well, they got him at last. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the target of several of the world’s most powerful governments, turned himself into British authorities today and is now at the mercy of state authorities who have already shown their wolfish – and lawless – desire to destroy him and his organization. ” (12/07/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/floyd12072010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 12.07.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “As if individual liberty were not sufficiently under assault already, a runaway government agency, whose very existence is not sanctioned by Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution — which lists those few activities in which government is legally permitted to engage — is trying to carry off a fascist coup d’etat against the First Amendment freedoms afforded to Americans by the Internet.” (12/05/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle598-20101205-07.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Guardian [UK] Author: Robert Booth and Haroon Siddique Posted on 12.06.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “As startling as the exposes were — the Saudi king urging America ‘to cut off the head of the snake,’ to launch a military attack on Iran’s nuclear programme — it was as much the sense of a curtain lifting to reveal the world leaders not as wizards but as all too human, and that the private positions of those in power were often diametrically opposed to what they said in public, that made the cables so gripping — and perhaps so dangerous.” (12/04/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2vnkgj4 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: William Stone III Posted on 12.06.10 by Mary Lou Seymour ‘As I write this, Wikileaks is fighting for its life. This is an important issue for several reasons, not the least of which is this: It may be that your computer is attacking them. Wikileaks has been undergoing a Distributed Denial of Service attack since the eve of their most recent release of over 250,000 U.S. State Department documents. In order to understand what’s happening, it will be necessary to explain a DDOS and how your computer may be involved …” (12/05/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle598-20101205-04.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Libertarian Minds Author: Chris George Posted on 12.06.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “As I’ve come to recognize how the meanings of words diverge from one person to the next, I’ve also become more frustrated by the objective use of language. Trivial barriers are preventing so much from being accomplished. Anarchists and libertarians are heavily factioned. Disagreements over definitions, especially how those definitions should be delineated, appears to be a significant problem. The motivation can be said to be little more than a clinging to words for their own sake.” (12/05/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/268nq37 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 12.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “It’s unclear whether the truth will set us free, but it is clear that secrets are the means of our enslavement. Whistle-blowers Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are heroes who should be respected by freedom fighters everywhere. If it had not been irreparably befouled by Albert Gore and Barry Obama, each of them should receive a Nobel Prize.” (12/05/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle598-20101205-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Orange County Register Author: Steven Greenhut Posted on 12.05.10 by Steve Trinward “Clearly, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has done our nation a service by publishing at-times embarrassing accounts of how the U.S. government conducts its foreign policy. This is a government that claims to be of the people, by the people and for the people, and which has grand pretenses about projecting freedom worldwide, yet it wants to be able to keep most of the details of its actions away from the prying eyes of the public. There’s no evidence that any information released will endanger anyone, and the U.S. government reportedly refused Assange’s request to work with him to scrub any names that could be compromised.” (12/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/24tu8mk Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Sherrie Questioning All Author: Sherrie Questioning All Posted on 12.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “My child said, these are the questions they asked: ‘Does your mother have SOLAR PANELS? Where Exactly does your mother take you camping? Where exactly have you gone hiking? Do you hike and then camp? Does anyone else go with you camping? What do you do when you go camping? Does your mother have alternative energy? Does your mother have stored food? Does your mother have any guns? Does your mother saying anything about ‘The end of the world?’ What kind of remodeling has your mother done to your home? Do you have a ’safe room’ like a bomb shelter in your home?’” (12/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2v93y32 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: The Daily Bell Author: Tibor Machan Posted on 12.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “So it turns out that contrary to widespread impression, the American government is just as willing to step all over people’s right to free expressions as are governments in what are deemed more tyrannical countries. News has it that the Washington based Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery “is removing a video after complaints from a Catholic group that the images were sacrilegious.” A video by the artist David Wojnarowicz is supposed to be “hate speech,” according to Catholic League President Bill Donohue. The video depicted a swarm of ants crawling on a crucified Christ figure. He contended that it was meant to insult Christians and this warranted its being removed – that is, banned.” (12/04/10) Link: http://www.thedailybell.com/1570/Tibor-Machan-Radical-Muslims-Aren-Not-Alone-.html Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
|
Source: TechDirt Author: staff Posted on 12.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “So the latest in the US government sticking its head in the sand over Wikileaks is that the Library of Congress has blocked access to the Wikileaks site. … I don’t know how to put this any more diplomatically, so I’ll just say it straight up: this is stupid. This is pure denialism. We’ve seen it before, such as in the Al-Haramain case, where the government accidentally leaked evidence of warrantless wiretapping, and the information was widely available … but everyone involved in the case had to pretend it wasn’t available. It’s stupid.” (12/03/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2dzbc5m Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Strike the Root Author: Michael Kleen Posted on 12.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour ‘On the surface, the Academy Award-winning film Crash (2004) purports to be an emotional portrayal of race and prejudice in America. Through a series of interwoven vignettes, the filmmakers portray characters of several different races and ethnic backgrounds as they interact over the course of two or three days on the streets of Los Angeles. At every point in the film, the main characters express prejudice in one form or another. Some are seemingly redeemed after dramatic moments, and others never change. The message of Crash is, perhaps, that everyone harbors some form of prejudice.” (12/03/10) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/power-force-in-crash Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPress Author: Alexander Cockburn Posted on 12.05.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The American airwaves quiver with the screams of parlor assassins howling for Julian Assange’s head. … Assange can survive these theatrical blusters. A tougher question is how he will fare at the hands of the US government …. [US Attorney General Eric] Holder said, ‘Let me be clear. This is not saber-rattling,’ and vowed ‘to swiftly close the gaps in current US legislation …’ In other words the espionage statute is being rewritten to target Assange, and in short order, if not already, President Obama — who as a candidate pledged ‘transparency’ in government — will sign an order okaying the seizing of Assange and his transport into the US jurisdiction. Render first, fight the habeas corpus lawsuits later.” (12/05/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/cockburn12032010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Revolution & Sarcasm Author: Darian Worden Posted on 12.05.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Amazon companies could face economic consequences for doing the wrong thing. The over 500,000 people on the WikiLeaks Facebook page show that standing for truth and justice is popular. As a graduate student who has relied on Amazon.com almost exclusively for books, I am willing to undertake great inconvenience to patronize companies who have not taken a stand against freedom. I am also a self-published author considering not renewing my Amazon Advantage account.” (12/03/10) Link: http://darianworden.com/blog/2010/12/letter-to-amazon/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Dan Dennett Posted on 12.01.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Starting with the simple tale of an ant, philosopher Dan Dennett unleashes a devastating salvo of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of memes — concepts that are literally alive.” (12/01/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26961.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Jonathan Cook Posted on 12.01.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “At work here is a set of global forces that the US, in its hubris, believed it could tame and dominate in its own cynical interests. By the early 1990s that arrogance manifested itself in the claim of the ‘end of history’: the world’s problems were about to be solved by US-sponsored corporate capitalism. The new Wikileaks disclosures will help to dent those assumptions. If a small group of activists can embarrass the most powerful nation on earth, the world’s finite resources and its laws of nature promise a much harsher lesson.” (12/01/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/cook11302010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 11.30.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “A few days after bombs ripped apart two apartment buildings Moscow, residents of Ryazan — a town 100 miles southeast of the Capital City — were alarmed to find several suspicious-looking figures loitering near a 13-story apartment complex. After police arrived on the scene the[y] extracted three large sugar sacks from the high-rise. An examination of the sacks found that they contained hexagen — the same high-yield explosive that had been used in the Moscow terrorist bombings just a few days earlier. The police arrested two of the mysterious strangers, who immediately produced credentials issued by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB.” (11/30/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/34ldq5b Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 11.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Gestapo. KGB. Stasi. Savaak. Homeland Security. There is no longer any moral difference — assuming there ever was. We are informed the Department of Homeland Security has seen fit — entirely without anything even vaguely resembling due process of law — to seize and shut down 75 Internet domains using as their excuse various and assorted alleged violations of intellectual property rights.” (11/29/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle597-20101128-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Activist Post Author: Jeffrey Green Posted on 11.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Some experts see the perfect storm emerging for a dramatic collapse of Western civilization claiming we’ve reached environmental, economic, and geopolitical tipping points. Clearly, some skills will be far more valuable than others if this societal breakdown occurs. Sorry bankers, lawyers, and accountants, there won’t be a need for you in a post-collapse world.” (11/29/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/26p9yrd Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Spiked Author: Brendan O'Neill Posted on 11.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Showbiz mums who make their daughters do tapdance don’t have a patch on the middle-class parents dropping their kids off at student demos.” (11/29/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9949/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Paul Craig Roberts Posted on 11.29.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The police state attitude of the TSA toward airline travelers is a clear indication that Americans are no longer citizens with rights but subjects without rights. Perhaps the day will come when oppressed Americans will take to the streets like the French, the Greeks, the Irish, and the British.” (11/29/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/roberts11292010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Activist Post Author: Tony Cartalucci Posted on 11.28.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) claims to have thwarted their own car bomb Friday, November 26, 2010 at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon’s Pioneer Courthouse Square. … Will Americans recoil in fear from a bomb the FBI admits they constructed, gave to a patsy, and sent to disrupt Portland’s Christmas celebrations?” (11/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2vrojza Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Linh Dinh Posted on 11.28.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Of course, it’s not about security or common sense, but power. At its essence, power is always the ability to dictate, control or violate another body. Power means ‘I can lay my hand on you,’ if not, ‘I can fuck you up.’ The sexual aspect is not incidental. Before a black man was lynched, he was often stripped naked and displayed. Stripped naked, Iraqi prisoners were forced to perform humiliating acts and/or stacked onto pyramids. Perhaps we should replace the generic pyramid on our dollar bill with disrobed detainees? They don’t have to be foreigners, since we also strip our domestic prisoners.” (11/28/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/dinh11262010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Orange County Register Author: Nat Hentoff Posted on 11.28.10 by Steve Trinward “The premier historian of the Bill of Rights, professor Leonard Levy, explained why our Constitution was not fully operative until the first 10 amendments became part of it: ‘We have a Bill of Rights because the state, even the democratic state, cannot be trusted. A Bill of Rights is a bill of restraint against the state.’ A consensus of polls — and the daily news — reveal a deep distrust of Congress and of this president, as was also true of his predecessor. Accordingly, the state of health of the First Amendment, from which all our individual liberties against the state flow — freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and persistent petition of government for redress of grievances — is vital to all of us. Our voices need to be heard.” (11/28/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/26qwae9 Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Daily Anarchist Author: Seth King Posted on 11.28.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “What if I told you that there was a bit of activism you could do that doesn’t involve working within the system, doesn’t come with any risk of jail time or fines, and not only doesn’t cost anything, but will, in fact, save you a lot of money? Furthermore, what if you were offered a choice between continuing to support corporations that rely on intellectual property laws, and those that thrive without the threat of violence? Would you participate in this sort of activism?” (11/24/10) Link: http://dailyanarchist.com/2010/11/24/linux-and-anarchy/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Dallas Libertarian Examiner Author: Garry Reed Posted on 11.25.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “‘We don’t want to tell people what to do, but we want to make sure they know they have a choice,’ Justin Oliver told the Dallas Morning News. ‘The body scanners are criminally invasive. They’re borderline pornography,’ Katy Hamilton told Channel 11 News in a video that accompanies this report. Justin and Katy take their freedoms seriously. They take their freedoms beyond thought and philosophy and debate. They take their freedoms personally and they frequently take their freedoms to the streets.” (11/25/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/27nufg6 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Spiked Author: Tim Black Posted on 11.23.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The criticism of tomorrow’s mass protest against airport scanners highlights how much liberals have become detached from liberty.” (11/23/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9923/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Paul Craig Roberts Posted on 11.23.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “There has not been a successful terrorist act since 9/11, and thousands of independent experts doubt the government’s explanation of that event. Subsequent domestic terrorist events have turned out to be FBI sting operations in which FBI agents organize not-so-bright disaffected members of society and lead them into displaying interest in participating in a terrorist act. … The very fact that the FBI has to orchestrate fake terrorism proves the absence of real terrorists.” (11/23/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26902.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Claire Bayard Posted on 11.23.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “‘Today we asking for more than a moment of silence. We are demanding justice.’ This statement, published in a Veterans’ Day open letter from the Central Illinois chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), explains the spark lit in cities across the country for Veterans Day this year. Last Thursday, antiwar veterans and their supporters marked Veterans Day with a range of coordinated events around the country.” (11/23/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/bayard11232010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Neale Osborn Posted on 11.22.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Between the proliferation of AGW (anthropogenic global warming) BS being used to control businesses and manufacturing, the ever increasing reduction in both the size and comfort of cars, and the ever rising prices of gasoline, voluntary travel is being cut more and more every year. So, is the latest round of security bullshit another round in the anti-travel gun?” (11/22/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle596-20101121-06.html Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Daily Anarchist Author: Gabriel Weinberg Posted on 11.22.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “Free and open source software has literally helped accelerate growth and innovation in the global economy. Moreover, it has done so at an increasing rate as software becomes embedded in everything that we do (and is produced).” (11/22/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3xv3qzc Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: L. Neil Smith Posted on 11.21.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “When I was a young shiny-faced activist in the antiwar movement of the 1960s (and a lone libertarian among leftists of every imaginable variety), there was an extremely popular folksong going around called ‘Universal Soldier.’ Written and sung by Buffy Sainte-Marie, it may have been the only thing the woman ever wrote that I agreed with completely. And still do.” (11/21/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle596-20101121-02.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Spiked Author: Brendan O'Neill Posted on 11.21.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Yesterday in Europe, a small nation was annexed by a Great Power and nobody batted an eyelid. The Republic of Ireland, a supposedly independent sovereign state, was taken over by ‘men in black’ (or ‘the Germans’ as some Irish angrily refer to them) from the European Commission (EC) and its bank. These men in black will now effectively be the highest authority in Ireland, at liberty both to scrutinise and ‘modify’ (EU-speak for overhaul) the Irish government’s austerity package and economic recovery plans. Dominated for centuries by Britain, Ireland has now been re-colonised by commissioners, downgraded from a sovereign entity to an insolvent business in need of a banker’s stern rebuke.” (11/19/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9916/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Libertarian Examiner Author: Harold Portnoy Posted on 11.21.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Amid concerns over radiation from scanners, civil lawsuits over pat-downs, and general ineptitude on the part of TSA airport personnel, one Florida airport has thrown in the towel. Orlando Sanford International Airport has announced that it will opt out of the TSA’s screening program.” (11/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2up23m9 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Orange County Register Author: Steven Greenhut Posted on 11.21.10 by Steve Trinward “The Transportation Security Administration knows with 100 percent certainty that John Tyner, the 31-year-old Oceanside man who refused to submit to one of those embarrassing body scans or be searched by TSA groin-grabbers during his recent attempt to fly from San Diego to South Dakota, poses no security threat to the United States or anywhere else. He is not a terrorist, just a citizen frustrated by the growing intrusiveness of TSA screening procedures. Nevertheless, after Tyner refused to complete his screening process, a TSA official told him that the agency is likely to sue him. If it did, Tyner could face $11,000 in fines and a possible ban from air travel – not because he did anything wrong, but because he refused to submit to the authorities, which used to be a proud tradition in our society.” (11/21/10) Link: http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/government-276918-security-tsa.html Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Disloyal Opposition Author: JD Tuccille Posted on 11.21.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “First, let’s acknowledge that the Transportation Security Administration isn’t really the problem. Or rather, it’s not the source of the problem. The TSA goons are just good Germans, following orders issued from up above by politicians and high-level bureaucrats who get hard-ons from the very thought of wielding power over the rest of the human race, and who often wield that power as intrusively as possible just to be perceived as ‘doing something’ to protect the sheep from the panic of the moment. But you have to start somewhere.” (11/18/10) Link: http://tuccille.com/disloyal/2010/11/18/tsa-pervs-get-no-love/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Jeffersonville Evening News Author: Debbie Harbeson Posted on 11.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “I remember the first time I had to remove my shoes to get through airport security. While putting them back on, someone joked that eventually we’ll be taking off all our clothes to get through security. I laughed. But I’m not laughing now.” (11/18/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/25z5xdz Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Ayn R. Key Author: Ayn R. Key Posted on 11.18.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “An ‘opt out’ is when a passenger chooses to not undergo a virtual strip search, and instead endures the punitive pat-down instead. National Opt Out Day is a day when as many people as possible are encouraged to opt for the punitive pat-down instead of the virtual strip search. The participants are also supposed to insist on the optional private pat-down room.” (11/17/10) Link: http://aynrkey.blogspot.com/2010/11/national-opt-out-day.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Reason Author: Jacob Sullum Posted on 11.17.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “By publicly defending Stephen and Linda Schneider, a Kansas doctor and nurse accused of running a ‘pill mill,’ pain treatment activist Siobhan Reynolds irked the prosecutor assigned to the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Treadway was so annoyed that in April 2008 she sought a court order telling Reynolds to shut up. Concluding that such an order would be an unconstitutional prior restraint of speech, U.S. District Judge Monti Belot said no. But by the time Belot sentenced the Schneiders last month, he was so irritated by Reynolds’ advocacy on behalf of the couple that he could not contain himself. He said he hoped the harsh sentences — three decades each — would ‘curtail or stop the activities of the Bozo the Clown outfit known as the Pain [Relief] Network, a ship of fools if there ever was one.’” (11/17/10) Link: http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/17/chilling-her-softly Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: John Stossel's Take Author: John Stossel Posted on 11.17.10 by Steve Trinward “The government says it may fine one young man $11,000 for leaving the airport without ‘permission.’ He didn’t want to be scanned by the invasive new scanners, and he didn’t want the TSA touching his ‘junk.’ When they’re not touching your junk, the TSA makes children cry. Now Bill O’Reilly demands that I provide my ’solution,’ or endorse his. I admit, I don’t know the best solution. But if there is competition, entrepreneurs will come up with solutions I’d never have thought of.” [editor’s note: Hey, I’ve got an idea; how about “celebrity gropers?” - SAT] (11/16/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/23j4l48 Filed under: CANDi Commentary and LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Center for a Stateless Society Author: Kevin Carson Posted on 11.16.10 by Thomas L. Knapp “In response to the latest demonstration of the power of exit — the organized movement at WeWontFly.com to ‘opt out’ of air travel over the Thanksgiving holiday — TSA Director Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano are already in panic mode, squealing about it like stuck pigs. So you know it’s struck home. John Pistole sniffed that it was ‘irresponsible’ to opt out of measures that ‘could prevent an attack using non-metallic explosives.’ This is typical bureaucratic smugness. ‘It has been determined’ (apparently on Mount Sinai) that this particular set of bureaucratic measures is the one, true way to ‘protect our safety.’” (11/16/10) Link: http://c4ss.org/content/4928 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Richard Forno Posted on 11.16.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Ten years after 9/11, Americans who fly are facing a Faustian choice between subjecting themselves to a virtual (and potentially medically damaging) strip search conducted in questionable machines run by federal employees or a psychologically damaging pat-down of their bodies. Osama bin Ladin must be giggling himself silly this week. But what should we expect in a society that requires adults to wear bicycle helmets while pedaling in the park, provides disclaimers of liability on TV advertisements, or prints warnings on fast-food coffee cups?” (11/16/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/forno11162010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Author: Dave Workman Posted on 11.16.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Ten years is a very long time, during which a political landscape can change, and so can the judicial arena. Ten years ago, if someone had suggested that the politically-fashionable handgun bans in Washington, D.C. and Chicago could be struck down on Second Amendment grounds, he might have been laughed out of town. Today, a herd of municipal attorneys for cities and towns large and small are paying a lot closer attention to firearms regulations.” (11/15/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2alq8km Filed under: 2AM Commentary and LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Spiked Author: Brendan O'Neill Posted on 11.16.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “NYC theatre companies are now prohibited from featuring real cigarettes in their plays. That is censorship.” (11/17/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9897/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Spiked Author: Rob Lyons Posted on 11.15.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Doncaster Crown Court’s decision last week to refuse the appeal of a man convicted of making threatening statements on Twitter is bad news for freedom of expression. Many Twitter-users have pointed this out. Yet events over the past year suggest that while Twitter can be used to demand free speech — as the reaction to the appeal verdict shows — it can also echo the censoriousness that runs through society today.” (11/15/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9893/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: The Libertarian Enterprise Author: Jim Davidson Posted on 11.15.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “It seems to me that the states have been totally subverted. Evidence for this subversion permeates any review of the history of the Great Depression and the ‘new deal’ of FDR. I think if political action at the state and local level were going to bear any fruit, we would find some evidence of this happening. Instead, we find that the states are almost totally subjugated by federal highway funds. They’ve all raised the drinking age to 21 in response to federal pressure.” (11/15/10) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2010/tle595-20101114-03.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Opt Out Day Posted on 11.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “OptOutDay.com is an educational outreach campaign, designed to get people to better understand what they are now consenting to when they purchase a plane ticket. Many people only fly around the holidays and may not be aware of the security changes, which is why November 24 was chosen. There is no intent or desire to delay passengers en route to friends and family over Thanksgiving. Once people are made aware of what is happening, they may have reservations about the new virtual strip searches and enhanced pat downs — especially for their children or spouse or other loved one.” (11/10) Link: http://www.optoutday.com/ Filed under: LAND Action Items and LAND Commentary and RRND News and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Pro Libertate Author: Will Grigg Posted on 11.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “In policy, practice, and the proclivities of much of its personnel, the TSA — like the department that spawned it — is distant but unmistakable kindred to the Cheka. The growing rebellion against the agency’s new airport molestation protocols is among the most heartening developments in recent memory — assuming, of course, that it doesn’t evaporate in the immediate aftermath of the next false flag or blowback-induced terrorist incident.” (11/13/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3xuxel9 Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Michael Deutsch Posted on 11.14.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “The U.S. government is now moving on political groups and activists who are clearly exercising fundamental First Amendment rights in vocally opposing the government’s branding of foreign liberation movements as terrorist and support their struggles against U.S. backed repressive regimes and illegal occupations.” (11/14/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26815.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Boiling Frogs Author: Sibel Edmonds Posted on 11.11.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “I am talking about the hard-core ACLU following liberals. Where the he … are you?! I can’t hear or see you. Where is the protest? I am talking about those on the extreme right of those mentioned above. What happened to your slogan of small government and keeping a tight rein on federal government practices? Where are you macho and good ole cowboy mentality testosterone walking bags when your wives and daughters are being fondled, squeezed, and intimately probed? Here we are, the entire nation, being violated and raped on a daily basis by our servants whom we pay for dearly.” (11/09/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2fnpdfg Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Information Clearinghouse Author: Paul Craig Roberts Posted on 11.11.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Today in Amerika, approximately 25 years later, the ACLU has to go to federal court in order to attempt to affirm that ‘if the Constitution means anything, it surely means that the president does not have unreviewable authority to summarily execute any American whom he concludes is an enemy of the state.’ In reply, the Justice (sic) Department told the court that murdering American citizens is a ‘political question’ that is not subject to judicial review.” (1111/10) Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26796.htm Filed under: LAND Commentary and PND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
|
Source: Spiked Author: Brendan O'Neill Posted on 11.11.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “Both sides in the ‘Ground Zero mosque’ row are driven by the politics of fear and a disdain for their fellow Americans.” (11/11/10) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/9881/ Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: CounterPunch Author: Peter Linebaugh Posted on 11.11.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the Great Powers of the World signed the armistice laying down arms after four years of the bloodiest war in history. That was 1918.Now, we call it Veteran’s Day. What caused the armistice was the refusal of soldiers to fight. They refused ‘to go over the top’ anymore. In Russia, France, England, Italy they refused to participate in the slaughter which had begun in 1914.What we learn from Armistice Day is that the soldier is the front line of the peace movement.” (11/11/10) Link: http://counterpunch.org/linebaugh11112010.html Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary | |
|
Source: Living Freedom Author: Claire Wolfe Posted on 11.10.10 by Mary Lou Seymour “I have friends who are unfortunate enough to live in Massachusetts and who, for various reasons, can’t leave. One of those, a small business owner, wrote me two doleful emails last week about his problems with both the local plunderers and those national vandals, the IRS. He gave me permission to combine them into this cautionary tale and publish it on the blog.” (11/10/10) Link: http://tinyurl.com/37no3zv Filed under: LAND Commentary and RRND Commentary and Twitter-Worthy | |
| previous posts » |
