By Tom Mangold, Louisiana
This World investigates the rise of discrimination in America's deep south as six black youths are charged with an alleged attack on a white student, which could see them jailed for up to 50 years.
Three rope nooses hanging from a tree in the courtyard of a school in a small Southern town in Louisiana have sparked fears of a new kind of "stealth" racism spreading through America's deep south.
Although this sinister episode happened last August, the repercussions have been extensive and today the town of Jena finds itself facing the unwelcome glare of national and international publicity.
Jena has a mixed community, 85% white, 12% black.
The bad old days of the "Mississippi Burning" 60s, civil liberties and race riots, lynchings, the KKK and police with billy clubs beating up blacks might have ended.
But in the year that the first serious black candidate for the White House, Barak Obama, is helping unite the races in the north, the developments in the tiny town of Jena are disturbing.
Nooses in the playground
It all began at Jena High School last summer when a black student, Kenneth Purvis, asked the school's principal whether he was permitted to sit under the shade of the school courtyard tree, a place traditionally reserved for white students only. He was told he could sit where he liked.
The following morning, when the students arrived at school, they found three nooses dangling from the tree.
Most whites in Jena dismissed it as a tasteless prank, but the minority black community identified the gesture as something far more vicious.
"It meant the KKK, it meant 'niggers we're going to kill you, we're gonna hang you 'til you die'," said Caseptla Bailey, one of the black community leaders.
Old racial fault lines in Jena began to fracture the town. It was made worse when - despite the school head recommending the noose-hangers be expelled - the board overruled him and the three white student perpetrators merely received a slap on the wrist.
Troubled community
Billy Doughty, the local barber, has never cut a black man's hair. But he does not think there is a racism problem in Jena.
Caseptla Bailey who is 56 and a former Air Force officer, has a degree in business management, but she cannot get a job as a bank teller. She lives in an area called Ward 10, which is where the majority of blacks live in trailers or wooden shacks. She says no whites live there at all.
"We want to live better, we want better housing." she says. "The Church says we should all be brothers and sisters in Christ".
Yet Sunday morning is perhaps one of the most segregated times in all of America. In the white neighbourhood, Pastor Dominick DiCarlo has only one black member of the Church, out of 450 resident members.
Race-related fights
As racial tension grew last autumn and winter, there were race-related fights between teenagers in town. On 4 December, racial tension boiled over once more at the school when a white student, Justin Barker, was attacked by a small group of black students.
He fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete, suffering bruising and concussion.
He was treated at the local hospital and released, and that same evening felt able to put in an appearance at a school function.
District Attorney Reed Walters, to the astonishment of the black community, has upgraded the charges of Mr Barker's alleged attackers to conspiracy to commit second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. If convicted they could be 50 before they leave prison.
Mr Walters has refused to give an on-the-record interview to the BBC about his decision on the charges.
Mr Barker has since been charged with possessing a firearm in an arms-free zone (the school grounds).
The six black students will face a hearing next month. One of them is Caseptla Bailey's son Robert, who originally had his bail set at an unaffordable $138,000 (£69,495).
She had to hire a private lawyer who managed to get Robert's bail reduced to $84,000 (£42,285) so that her family could meet it.
Michelle Jones' brother Carwyn is one of the boys charged. She is adamant that he will not get a fair trial in Jena.
"If he's tried here, the jury will pick who they want. I have no doubt that they will convict those boys of attempted second degree murder."
When they do eventually file into court, many observers believe it is the town of Jena which will really be on trial.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Stealth racism' stalks deep South
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Homosexuals brainwashing our children in elementary schools
WATCH 2 VIDEOS HERE "SCROOL DOWN PAGE & CLICK PLAY"
Extremely slick propaganda directed at the youngest of children! The videos are from It's Elementary, a 78-minute feature film produced by homosexual activists. These are actual scenes from elementary schools in Massachusetts and New York. It's Elementary is meant to be a training video for homosexual activist teachers across the country. In addition, the film itself has been shown to schoolchildren in public schools in Massachusetts and elsewhere.
This is what is actually going on in more and more elementary schools across America. Watching this will really affect you! You will not believe what you are seeing.
Although It's Elementary was made over a decade ago, it's still a major training film for homosexual activists, is still being shown in schools across the country, and has become a standard feature at homosexual teachers' conferences. Ask yourself: How much further has that agenda reached since then? How many more young children are being desensitized to homosexuality in their young years by these sophisticated techniques? And more importantly, when are you going to get involved to do something about it?
US demands IRAQ to change it's Constitution
Ms. Antonia Juhasz: Iraq's Oil Slated for Foreign Takeover
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
CNN Attempts to Smear Ron Paul, Fails
Friday May 25, 2007
Viewers of CNN support Ron Paul in his effort to "Educate Rudy" on Middle East policy.
Do you think this loaded question back fired on CNN?
WI-Fi Surveillance "Supposedly" Cuts Crime in South Central L.A.
www.therawfeed.com
A Motorola Wi-Fi video surveillance system installed in the Jordan Downs housing project in South Central L.A. has CUT "MAJOR" CRIME THERE BY 32%. South Central is the birth place of the nationwide gang epidemic. The system, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "includes Axis Communications video cams mounted on light poles around the development, Motorola Motomesh multiradio wireless broadband access points, and a multiscreen command center inside the LAPD's Southeast Substation." Soon L.A.P.D. plans video screens in cop cars so they can monitor crimes en route. Here's an idea: Drop crime further by opening up that Wi-Fi network to all residents, giving kids something to do and introducing them to the wider world.
OBM: Cameras do not stop people from doing crimes it just makes them change how they do them. Here is a novel idea....How about bringing vocational training, JOBS, and after school tech. & education programs to these apartments so the residents can help themselves through education & good jobs while lowering their need to commit crimes to survive and attain some decent standard of living.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
28 seconds : The Killing of Fouad Kaady (Part 1 of 5)
In the early afternoon of September 8, 2005, police encountered Fouad Kaady shortly after he was in an accident that left him in shock and bleeding, burned over much of his body. Rather than calling for medical help, the police commanded him to lie on the pavement, even though they could see the burned flesh hanging from his body, and even though they said he appeared to be "in a catatonic state." When he did not comply with their orders, but instead continued to sit on the ground in a daze, they tasered him repeatedly. And then, they shot him to death.
In a report that was typical of the corporate media's response to this killing, Channel 8's ever-mealy-mouthed Kyle Iboshi held up a wad of papers left over from the "investigation" into the death, saying, "you can see how extensive this investigation was." He then commenced to highlight (literally, with a yellow highlighter pen) what he claimed to be the relevant details of the case. Not surprisingly, Iboshi was very selective in what he chose to focus on. He accepted, without question, everything that the PIO had told him to say. He never asked a single question about why two officers might have shot an obviously unarmed man to death. And, he concluded his report by implying that Kaady must have been "on drugs" at the time of the killing, as if that might excuse the officers' behavior.
And so, in a pattern of violence that is repeated almost every day in this country, the police got away with murder. So far, anyway. They did so because they have the power and the authority to carry guns and to use them, and to avoid facing the consequences of their actions. And, they got away with it because the complicit corporate media helped them to weave a story that would lull the public into silence. As in so many incidents like this one, they told a story that was engineered to cause people to blame the victim, and accept the violence. No questions asked.
The truth about what happened to Fouad Kaady is important. It's important to bear witness when a member of our community is cut down like this. It's important to stand up for the person he might have been, rather than accepting the media's portrayal of him as merely some drug-crazed monster who "had it coming." It's important to know just how deep the culture of police violence runs through our cities and towns, and just how fist-in-glove the corporate media has been with the police state. And that's why this video is important. Even if you think you know the story, you're not going to believe this. Over the course of a year and a half, Videoistas painfully and meticulously gathered evidence, combed through records and reports, spoke with witnesses, and pieced together the real story. It's much more disturbing than what you might have seen on KATU, but it's the truth. And the least we can do for a fallen comrade is to take the time to learn the truth about what really happened to him.
Believe it or not, this story is told in the officers' own words. And you won't even believe what you hear.
This video is of The Portland Indymedia video Collective and does not represent or speak for the kaady family.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Tricking the Automated Phone Services
Get Human.com
What an awesome and helpful site. I really can’t stand these service numbers where you have to spend at least 15 minutes until you finally pressed your way through all the options until you are where you want to be.
It has a huge database of customer service numbers with instructions on how to "cheat" their phone system and get a real live person on the phone.
Ron Paul Exposes New World Order & Bush Snr.
Says American empire in trouble, dollar plunging
Jones Report
Sunday May 20, 2007
Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) was asked a question about the New World Order's agenda for a one-world government during a campaign stop in Austin, Texas on Saturday, amidst tremendous turnout and support.
Ron Paul responded, "The first President Bush said the New World Order was in tune-- and that's what they were working for. The U.N. is part of that government. They're working right now very significantly towards a North American Union. That's why there's a lot of people in Washington right now who don't care too much about our borders. They have a philosophical belief that national sovereignty is not important. It's also the reason I've made the very strong suggestion the U.S. need not be in the U.N. for national security reasons."
Army SmarTruck III
wmode="transparent" data="http://www.vloggingtheapocalypse.com/flvideo/flvplayer.swf?file=http://www.vloggingtheapocalypse.com/flvideo/136.flv&autoStart=false">
America\'s newest mobile security force. It\'s mission will include HOMELAND SECURITY. http://www.smartruck3.com/
THE VAN WITH X-RAY VISION
wmode="transparent" data="http://www.vloggingtheapocalypse.com/flvideo/flvplayer.swf?file=http://www.vloggingtheapocalypse.com/flvideo/135.flv&autoStart=false">
Van that can produce real time x-ray scans of cars and buildings. besides the privacy concerns this brings up i can\'t help but think that despite what this company claims this process is not without it\'s health hazards....The Company: http://www.as-e.com/
OBM: I still confirming this report, but If this is true the things, privacy, and rights that will be violated with this is are off the charts!!!!!
Friday, May 18, 2007
Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A13
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) stood before the refrigerated section of the Safeway on Capitol Hill yesterday and looked longingly at the eggs.
At $1.29 for a half-dozen, he couldn't afford them.
Ryan and three other members of Congress have pledged to live for one week on $21 worth of food, the amount the average food stamp recipient receives in federal assistance. That's $3 a day or $1 a meal. They started yesterday.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), co-chairmen of the House Hunger Caucus, called on lawmakers to take the "Food Stamp Challenge" to raise awareness of hunger and what they say are inadequate benefits for food stamp recipients. Only two others, Ryan and Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), took them up on it.
"All of us in Congress live pretty good lives," said McGovern, who ate a single banana for breakfast yesterday and was going through caffeine withdrawal by midday. "We don't have to wake up worrying about the next meal. But there are a lot of Americans who do. I think it's wrong. I think it's immoral that in the U.S., the richest country in the world, people are hungry."
McGovern and Emerson have introduced legislation that would add $4 billion to the annual federal food stamp budget, which was $33 billion last year and covered 26 million Americans. The proposal could be incorporated by Congress into the new farm bill.
"We're trying to get this debate going," McGovern said. "There are more working people today getting food stamps than six years ago. . . . There's not a member of Congress that doesn't have hunger in their district."
According to the rules of the challenge, the four House members cannot eat anything beside their $21 worth of groceries. That means no food at the many receptions, dinners and fundraisers that fill a lawmaker's week.
At yesterday's weekly lunch meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, McGovern was mesmerized by an attractive roast beef sandwich with cheese. He noted the potato chips came in two flavors: sour cream and plain. But his own lunch consisted of some lentils he cooked for himself and brought to work in a plastic container.
This morning McGovern is hosting a fundraising breakfast for his reelection at Bistro Bis, the restaurant in the Hotel George. The catering charge is $20 per person for the breakfast -- nearly McGovern's entire food budget for this week -- but he won't be eating any of it.
And tonight he is to attend a fundraising dinner for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) thrown at the Georgetown mansion of oil heir Smith Bagley. "I guess I'll just drink tap water," McGovern said.
McGovern and his wife, Lisa, did their food shopping for the week with help from Toinette Wilson, a D.C. resident and mother of three who relies on food stamps. Wilson gave him some tips, but it was still a struggle, he said.
"No organic foods, no fresh vegetables, we were looking for the cheapest of everything," McGovern said. "We got spaghetti and hamburger meat that was high in fat -- the fattiest meat on the shelf. I have high cholesterol and always try to get the leanest, but it's expensive. It's almost impossible to make healthy choices on a food stamp diet."
The McGoverns have exempted their two children, ages 5 and 9, from the challenge. "I'm lucky when they eat anything," McGovern said.
At the Safeway, Ryan seemed to grow depressed as he realized the limits of his budget. "It's unbelievable," he said, filling his small grocery basket with peanut butter, jelly and bread. He bought a big bag of cornmeal that he says he'll try to fashion into grits for breakfast and polenta for dinner. And he grabbed some canned tomato sauce and pasta on sale. No money for meat, milk, juice, fresh fruit or vegetables, save for a single head of 32-cent garlic to flavor the tomato sauce.
"I don't know if this is going to make it," said the third-term Democrat, who is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 215 pounds. "By the end of the week, I'm going to be eating cornmeal and strawberry preserves."
Both lawmakers will keep blogs about the experience, McGovern at http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com and Ryan at http://timryan.house.gov.
Black Honor Student Protests 'Eurocentric' Curriculum
NNPA, News Report, Helen Trice Edney, Posted: May 18, 2007
WASHINGTON – Millions of students who attend America’s public schools are being indoctrinated with “Eurocentric” curricula that diminish their history and cause them to feel less than their white counterparts.
That is the contention of Carl Noldon, a senior honor roll student at the Bronx High School for the Visual Arts, in a speech written for a Black History Month program, which, amid controversy, was never presented.
“What I have to say is designed for the enlightenment of those who suffer from a school system that hypocritically manipulates black history in a way that causes a disconnection from black students and their history,” Noldon writes in the speech. “If you try to make a black child co-exist with a racist school system or a Eurocentric school system, then you are basically putting that child back into slavery, perhaps mental slavery…There is something wrong with the educational system and the country. I believe the parents should take an active role in challenging the school system and even the curriculum of this school so that any residue of Eurocentrism is gone.”
Noldon continues, “All the history teachers I ever had were white and from every last one of them I never received the link to the genius of Africa. Those teachers always taught European history with a much stronger emphasis. The result was I was brainwashed. I was brainwashed because I thought genius equated to white people because the teachers talked about how much a genius a person like Einstein was or the Greeks.
“Later on I had to realize that those people that the white history teachers talked so greatly about were used as devices to implant a slave mentality in me and an inferiority complex. But, what the textbooks never taught me was how Europe took a lot from Africa and how Africa precedes Europe with thousands of years of philosophical, religious, mathematical, scientific, artistic, and medicinal knowledge. The African represented a genius so powerful that advanced civilizations flourished even before the concept of Europe was thought of.”
Noldon, set to graduate June 27, wrote the speech for a Black History Month assembly held Feb. 27. Instead, he ended up calling the NNPA News Service, pleading, “I want my voice heard.”
Noldon said in an interview that he never got to give the speech – for one main reason: “The principal was basically talking about how he wanted me to change what I was saying in the speech… There were certain things in my speech, the content, you know, he wanted me to change to make it appeal to everybody. The principal gave me two options. The first one was to omit what I was saying in my speech, the other option was to not read my speech at all.”
Contacted by NNPA, the principal, George York, who is white, praised Noldon, calling him “one of our brightest and best.” But York declined to discuss specific details of why Noldon did not give the speech.
“We offered Carl every opportunity to share his article with our entire student community. We wanted him to go into classes, faculty meetings, assemblies, etcetera. We even spoke to Carl on several occasions, myself and my assistant principal [Ms. Debra Logan], about finding a scholarly venue to publish his fine work… Carl demonstrates the excellent education that he received at the Bronx High School for the visual arts, that he was able to do this research on his own on a topic that he is so passionate about,” says York. “He is really onto something that’s so important. It was really Carl’s decision not to present.”
Though the speech hasn’t been presented, the message is riveting, says Ron Walters after reading excerpts of it, shared with him by NNPA. Walters is director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland and author of “White Nationalism, Black Interests” and “Freedom Is Not Enough."
“The first thing I want to say is ‘wow,’” Walters says after reading excerpts of the speech.
Walters says Noldon “points out the major contradiction of any student expecting an objective education - that the institutionalization of racism within the American system of education causes African-descendant students to adjust to a one-way pattern of socialization … in a manner that devalues their own humanity, history and culture.”
“He quite rightly calls for a new paradigm of American education that respects all cultures," Walters adds. "The problem here is that his perspective, a black perspective, has been sacrificed by black leaders, parents and others in order to position black students into a framework of viability with the American economic system as the primary function of education.”
Noldon’s mother, Anna Noldon, says she was not surprised at her son’s views.
“All he does is comes home and studies,” she says. She says he was getting failing grades through elementary school until his uncle, Vincent Noldon, began teaching him about black heritage and middle school teachers took an interest in him.
On the day of the Black History Month program, she recalls, “He called me at work and he was very, very upset. He said they were not allowing him to do his speech.''
Ultimately, she said she met with York and told him that she wanted everything to be resolved. "I told the principal that I felt that him not letting Carl do his speech was really wrong,” she says. The principal offered a special assembly for his speech to be heard, she says.
But, by then, it was too late. He said he felt violated at being disallowed to state his views to the student body which is 45 percent black, 50 percent Hispanic, and two percent white at the Black History Month assembly. He contacted the NNPA News Service within a week after the program, asking that NNPA help his views be communicated.
Noldon ticks off a list of authors, speakers and mentors who have influenced his thinking, including Dick Gregory, Michael Erik Dyson, Cornell West and Cheikh Anta Diop, author of “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality.” He credits his uncle Vincent, a videographer, for introducing him to tapes of orators like Dick Gregory.
The speech, which is 2,700 words, also quotes “The Myth of Black Progress,” a book by Alphonso Pinkney, and “Solutions For Black America” by Jawanza Kunjufu.
Based on his personal studies, Noldon uses his speech to question the credibility of some public school textbooks.
“In the world history textbook in this school, it doesn’t directly say that the Egyptians were black people. The Egyptians were just as black and diverse as the black people in this country. In that world history textbook, it is quick to point out how the Greeks called their own thinkers ‘lovers of wisdom’ because they used observation and reason. But isn’t that a characteristic of the Africans?” he quizzes.
“I realize that a lot of parents are just concerned about their child or children learning as much as they can. But I think the parents have to examine the psychological impact that the textbooks in the school system [have on] black students as well as students of other nationalities and cultures.”
National Urban League President Marc Morial, in NUL’s 2007 State of Black America report, describes the underachievement of black males as being among America’s greatest crises.
Noldon declines to cast all the blame on public schools for the conditions of black students. But the 17-year-old, who says he will major in film and metaphysics at Manhattan’s City College in the fall, attributes part of the problem to ignorance about their roots and schools that offer little cultural enlightenment.
“I don’t think schools should use Black History Month as the only time to talk about the historical genius of black people,” his speech states.
Noldon’s speech concludes:
“History has been twisted to brainwash the genius of the black child. These students are learning that African thought is primitive while European thought laid the foundation for civilization… The parents have to take a stand and challenge the school system, the teachers, and those that misinterpret black history because the misinterpretation of one’s history will lead to a misinterpretation of the knowledge of who you are.”
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Neo-Cons are On the Attack - the Target is Ron Paul
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, Saul Anuzis, is circulating a petition among Republican National Committee members to ban Paul from more debates.
In response, Ron Paul supporter Dena Turner has launched an online petition to advocate Paul's participation in future debates and we urge you to sign it at Sign Paul's Petition Here
Ron Paul to Rudy "Read the 9/11 Report!" - Ron Paul on CNN
Ron Paul Puts it down again!!!!
OBM: I'm not endorsing this guy but on the issues that I have posted he is batting 100%. Don't get it twisted he still is a republican!!!!!!!
Tots tune in to Disney Channel, get hardcore pornography instead
New York Daily News
5/2/2007
Some New Jersey tots got an adult education Tuesday when a cable TV giant replaced a Disney cartoon with hardcore pornography.
The Handy Manny cartoon on Playhouse Disney was abruptly interrupted Tuesday morning when Comcast honchos mistakenly aired the porno in sections of New Jersey.
"What are they doing?" a 5-year-old boy asked his parents when an explicit sexual scene showed up on his TV screen.
The boy's father, Paul Dunleavy, was appalled.
"It was two people doing their thing, it was full-on and it was disgusting," said Dunleavy, who asked that his son not be named. "It wasn't something you'd expect to see on Cinemax, never mind Disney."
Disney's Playhouse features animated shows with content geared toward children ages 3 to 6. The boy had turned on the Disney Channel while his mom cleaned another room.
"If you can't feel safe letting kids watch the Disney Channel, what can you do?" asked Dunleavy, a father of three from Middletown, N.J.
"I couldn't believe it. We try to do the right thing to protect our kids from this stuff, and then they broadcast it on children's TV," Dunleavy said.
"My wife was like, Oh, my God.' She was shocked."
Comcast spokesman Fred DeAndrea confirmed the programming error took place, saying the mistake was made by his company, not Disney.
"We had an isolated issue in a local New Jersey facility, we immediately detected the issue and it was corrected promptly," he said in a statement.
"We apologize to any customer who experienced it and continue to investigate the root cause of it."
Comcast chiefs also were investigating why the X-rated action was not screened out by parental controls on TV sets.
Dunleavy, who only had the Disney Channel added to his cable package a couple weeks ago, received an apology directly from Comcast.
But he said, "My son was extremely upset because he thought he'd done something wrong, and we're hoping what he saw doesn't become an issue for him.
"If he asks about it, we'll have to find a way to discuss it with him.
"But I'm speechless. I try to protect my kids from a lot of things, but I wouldn't have thought Disney would become one of them."
Spying on the Homefront - PBS Frontline Special
WATCH: Spying on the Homefront PT.1
WATCH: Spying on the Homefront PT.2
WATCH: Spying on the Homefront PT.3
WATCH: Spying on the Homefront PT.4
WATCH: Spying on the Homefront PT.5
"So many people in America think this does not affect them. They've been convinced that these programs are only targeted at suspected terrorists. … I think that's wrong. … Our programs are not perfect, and it is inevitable that totally innocent Americans are going to be affected by these programs," former CIA Assistant General Counsel Suzanne Spaulding tells FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith in Spying on the Home Front.
Fox News Claim Ron Paul's Online Voters Skewed Text-Message Only Poll!
Ron Paul suggests America invited the 9/11 attacks & here is how Giuliani responded.
After the debate, Hannity and Colmes double-teamed Paul in an attempt to discredit him in the eyes of both liberals and conservatives, with Colmes going after him on abortion and Hannity chomping at the bit to smear the Texas Congressman as weak on terrorism.
Despite the fact that Paul was given the more difficult questions and less time to answer them and was then savagely attacked after he debate, he still came out on top when the early polling began, eventually finishing a close second to Romney and easily ahead of Giuliani.
Fox News were obviously desperate to prevent Ron Paul winning the poll because they restricted it to text message only, no Internet voting, and closed it down declaring Romney the winner after just three hours.
Fox News anchor Carl Cameron immediately tried to spin Paul's success in the poll when it became apparent he was winning with 30% of the vote shortly after 11PM. Cameron roared that Paul had been "slapped down" by Giuliani in the debate and that his success was merely because his office was unfairly flood voting - ignoring the fact that McCain had openly told his supporters to spam the polls on his own website.
Around thirty minutes before the poll closed, Ron Paul had a commanding lead over Mitt Romney, yet Romney was the supposed winner with 29% to Paul's 25% - this is very suspicious as polls don't usually have these kind of giant swings.
An MSNBC poll again shows Ron Paul trouncing the other candidates, beating his nearest contenders hands down in every category.
Fox News had an explanation for why Ron Paul did so well in their poll even after the deliberate smear job that constituted their presidential debate - online activists were skewing the numbers.
There's only one problem with that claim - the poll was by text message only and no online votes were taken!
It seems that the Neo-Cons who are hell-bent on destroying anyone other than their Neo-Lib icon Hillary Clinton, for whom Fox owner Rupert Murdoch regularly throws fundraisers, and will go to any lengths to try and dismiss the massive wave of popular support for Ron Paul, including by lying outright in claiming Internet votes swung the vote for Paul when no Internet votes were even taken.
This moron also states that Romney won the MSNBC poll after the first debate! Another total lie - Ron Paul won it hands down.
Neo-Con blog sites like Little Green Footballs are now removing Ron Paul from their polls because too many people are voting for him! This is not as a result of one person voting multiple times, as in all the online polls only one vote per IP address is allowed, but the operators of the site simply don't like Ron Paul and have chosen to ignore reality and pretend that he doesn't exist.
Hillbilly heroin popping walrus Rush Limbaugh also accused Ron Paul supporters of spamming online polls on his radio show. These people do not seem to be able to grasp the meaning of the term "IP address" and how online polls are designed to block multiple votes from one person.
Here's a newsflash to all you chicken hawk fake conservatives - political campaigns and elections are about people getting involved and having their voices heard - this is called the "democratic process". More individuals are motivated to vote for Ron Paul over establishment bootlickers like Romney and Giuliani because Ron Paul actually stands for something and represents the majority view of the people living in the United States.
This is not "cheating" or skewing the vote, it's a reflection of popular opinion and just because it feels good for you to ignore that fact - God forbid it pop your phony little Neo-Con bubble - doesn't mean it's not the truth.
Despite the fact that this whole event was a giant orchestrated smear job on behalf of Fox News to eliminate Ron Paul from the race, his message of liberty and real conservatism still resonates with the American people and no amount of vitriol on behalf of Neo-Con Rupert Murdoch and his underlings is going to change that fact.
Calif. students were suspended for refusing to observe pro-homosexual 'Day of Silence'
allie martin
OneNewsNow.com
May 15, 2007
Listen to This Report
Dozens of students at three Sacramento, California, area public schools were suspended when they took a stand against a pro-homosexual event -- the "Day of Silence," which was observed nationwide late last month.
In the Sacramento area, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 students chose to stay home instead of being confronted with the pro-homosexual message on the Day of Silence. But nearly 50 students who did attend school that day wore clothing and distributed literature highlighting the dangers of homosexuality. Some of these students were sent home, some were suspended, and others were given "Saturday school."
Brad Dacus is president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), which is working to clear the offenses from the students' records. "We're hopeful that we'll be able to reach a positive resolution without having to file a lawsuit. We're still at the early stages," he says.
"Unfortunately, California is like many parts of the country," Dacus points out. "School districts and administrators are often very dogmatic about their liberal agendas," he says.
The head of PJI believes the suspension of students who chose to counter the homosexual message was a clear violation of the Constitution of the United States. "The Constitution protects students from being discriminated against simply because the school district doesn't like what they say or the fact that what they say comes from the Bible," he asserts.
Dacus says the attorneys at PJI are working to have the suspensions rescinded. If that does not happen, however, he says legal action will be necessary, and this case could possibly wind up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Cops spied on hip-hoppers & others before the '04 Republican National Convention
BY THOMAS ZAMBITO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Posted Thursday, May 17th 2007, 4:00 AM
The NYPD kept tabs on the biggest names in hip hop as well as peaceniks, anarchists, anti-war bloggers, a city councilman and at least one hippie pie-tosser as cops girded for protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention.
The list of the spied upon was revealed yesterday in 600 pages of secret NYPD intelligence files released by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is suing the city on behalf of hundreds of demonstrators arrested during the convention.
Sean (Diddy) Combs, Jay-Z, LL Cool J and Alicia Keys were among the notables the NYPD monitored in the months before the convention arrived in New York. Each was expected to attend a protest rally during the convention staged by the Hip Hop Summit Action Network.
OBM: So now its legal for the police to have anyone they want under surveillance, anytime they want, for the potential of a person exercising their legal rights. Could this be another way of stopping grass-roots movements from building momentum....by harassing named people who may want to add their support....hummmm…naa….. "da Man" has never done this type of stuff.
Among the activists eyed by the NYPD was Aron Kay, aka the Yippie Pie Man, who earned his moniker by tossing pies into the faces of authority for more than two decades.
Mostly, the NYPD intelligence squad crisscrossed the Internet, peeking in on Web sites like one for Camp Shut Down that urged viewers to Resist the GOP and offered advice for those caught up in an NYPD dragnet.
The cops kept tabs on anti-Bush groups like Cabbies Against Bush and Bands Against Bush, as well as Billionaires for Bush, a group not really for Bush at all.
Police also were watching City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), a onetime mayoral candidate who was expected to demand that the GOP hold the convention elsewhere "unless the RNC indicates that it is willing to address issues of the impoverished, such as HIV/AIDS, housing and welfare."
The NYCLU says cops went too far in their surveillance of lawful political activism, while the city says the work of the intelligence unit justified the cops' high profile during the convention.
"The surveillance spanned the globe," said Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
But Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, "I think a close examination of those documents will show the NYPD did an outstanding job of protecting the city during the convention."
The city tried unsuccessfully to block the documents' public release. Two weeks ago, Manhattan Federal Judge James Francis dismissed city claims that potential jurors in the NYCLU case will be prejudiced by their release.
The NYPD posted all of the documents, as well as a 26-page overview, on its Web site last night.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Rosie Sounds Off On WTC Demolition & Destruction Of Crime Scene
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Monday, May 14, 2007
Rosie O'Donnell has returned 9/11 truth to prominence by laying out the facts for the controlled demolition of the twin towers and Building 7 on ABC's The View this morning.
O'Donnell also exposed the destruction of the crime scene and how the WTC metal was immediately shipped off to China.
The subject of Giuliani receiving criticism on Fox News for having had the New York emergency command bunker stationed in WTC 7 cropped up and Rosie used the opportunity to educate the audience about Building 7 and the pools of molten steel found under all three buildings that collapsed on 9/11.
Resident Neo-Con Stepford Wife Elizabeth Hasselbeck was on hand to attempt to debunk the facts but sat in silence when Rosie asked her to explain how the towers fell in seconds at the speed of almost no resistance.
We have now come to understand that prominent 9/11 film makers and other activists within the movement are scheduled to appear on The View in upcoming weeks, as well as debunkers like Popular Mechanics, but that the two camps will appear on separate shows and not engage in a debate of any kind.
Expect a week long orgy of ad hominem attack pieces from Neo-Con attack dogs like O'Reilly, Hannity and the rest of the usual suspects.
Faculty fakes gunman attack on crying 6th graders
SEE VIDEO HERE
RAWSTORY.COM
Prison Planet
Monday, May 14, 2007
A teacher and assistant principal at a Tennessee elementary school staged a fake gun attack on frightened students during a class trip, sparking outrage among parents, according to a report from CNN's Newsroom.
According to school board member Lon Nuell, the prank was poorly timed. "Ghost stories are standard, and you scare the kids out of their wits," said Nuell. "But this was very unfortunate timing, if the timing would ever be good for this sort of thing, this was not it," referring to the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 33 students and professors in April.
According to one student who participated in the trip, Dalton Brown, the assistant principal instructed the students to get under desks and said that they had a "code red" – reserved for when an individual is in possession of a gun, knife, or bomb. The school later issued a press release classifying the events as a "typical campfire prank." According to Brown's mother, the prank crossed the line.
"It's just appalling that they would classify this as such a thing, because there's nothing typical about what they did to our children," said Brown. "The kids were underneath tables crying and praying to God and begging for their lives, thinking that they were gonna die and that they were never going to see their families again ."
Prison Planet Monday, May 14, 2007
Blindfolding people, placing them in dark rooms and threatening them with imminent death is the most terrorizing form of psychological torture known to man.It's a practice that was used during the Abu Ghraib torture scandal and is still being metered out today on terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay.
Now this horror is regularly being visited on American schoolchildren.
"Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables," reports the Associated Press.
"The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them," said Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.
During the last night of the trip, staff members convinced the 69 students that there was a gunman on the loose. They were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, even pulled on locked door.
After the lights went out, about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said.
"I was like, 'Oh My God,' " she said. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out."
This story is nothing new - we hear of these incidents on an almost monthly basis, and carried a major feature article on similar circumstances at a Michigan junior and high school last November. In that article we catalogue the history of drills in U.S. schools where children are traumatized by gun wielding cops and security guards, and underscore cases where children and police have been shot during the course of these insane and unnecessary raids.
The only difference in this case is that it was teachers and not cops who orchestrated and carried out this act of psychological torture.
Not only does this represent an egregious act of trauma based mind control, it could lead to lifelong mental scars and problems with post-traumatic stress disorder for the children involved, which is the basis on which parents should immediately file lawsuits.
It was also extremely dangerous - if any of the kids had attempted to defend themselves against the mock gunman, violence and serious injuries could have occurred.
The principle of this school and all the teachers involved need to be immediately arrested and imprisoned for the psychological torture of children as a punishment for the terror they have inflicted upon young children - and as a deterrent to prevent this kind of horror from being repeated nationwide
Read More......
Monday, May 14, 2007
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression by Our Government & Corporations
Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression Strong, credible allegations of high-level criminal activity can bring down a Government. When
the Government lacks an effective, fact-based defense, other techniques must be employed. The success of these techniques depends heavily upon a cooperative, compliant, controlled press and a mere token opposition party. This sums up, in totality, the press, the media and either of the political parties here in America.
1. Dummy up. If it's not reported, it's not news, it didn't
happen.
2. Wax indignant. This is also known as the "How dare you?" gambit.
3. Characterize the charges as "rumors" or, better yet, "wild rumors." If, in spite of the news blackout, the public is still able to learn about the suspicious facts, it can only be through "rumors." (If they tend to believe
the "rumors" it must be because they are simply "paranoid" or "hysterical.")
4. Knock down straw men. Deal only with the weakest aspects of the weakest charges. Even better, create your own straw men. Make up wild rumors (or plant false stories) and give them lead play when you appear to debunk all the charges, real and fanciful alike. Republicrat's are masters at this.
5. Call the skeptics names like "conspiracy theorist,"
"nutcase," "ranter," "kook," "crackpot," and, of course, "rumor monger." Be sure, too, to use
heavily loaded verbs and adjectives when characterizing their charges and defending the "more reasonable" government and its defenders. You must then
carefully avoid fair and open debate with any of the people you have thus maligned. For insurance, set up your own "skeptics" to shoot down. A classic tactic that has been used in America by both the Government and the press for a number of years now.
6. Impugn motives. Attempt to marginalize the critics by suggesting strongly that they are not really interested in the truth but are simply pursuing a partisan political agenda or are out to make money (compared to
over-compensated adherents to the government line who, presumably, are not).
7. Invoke authority. Here the controlled press and the sham opposition can be very useful.
8. Dismiss the charges as "old news."
9. Come half-clean. This is also known as "confession and avoidance" or "taking the limited hangout route." This way, you create the impression of candor and honesty while you admit only to relatively harmless,
less-than-criminal "mistakes." This stratagem often requires the embrace of a fall-back position quite different from the one originally taken. With
effective damage control, the fall-back position need only be peddled by stooge skeptics to carefully limited markets. In other words, spread "disinformation". Another classic tactic of the Government and ALL
agencies, especially the CIA, NSA, FBI, DOD and so fourth.
10. Characterize the crimes as impossibly complex and the truth as ultimately unknowable. (What?)
11. Reason backward, using the deductive method with a vengeance. With thoroughly rigorous deduction, troublesome evidence is irrelevant. E.g. We have a completely free press.
12. Require the skeptics to solve the crime completely.
13. Change the subject. This technique includes creating and/or publicizing distractions. Again, the Republicrat's are masters at this. Just look at how many times "Leaders" bombed and strafed innocent countries simply to distract attention away from the criminal diasters they had created for themselves.
14. Lightly report incriminating facts, and then make nothing of them. This is sometimes referred to as "bump and run" reporting.
15. Baldly and brazenly lie. A favorite way of doing this is to attribute the "facts" furnished the public to a plausible-sounding, but anonymous, source. A tactic practiced daily by the various Federal Agencies of
America.
16. Expanding further on numbers 4 and 5, have your own stooges "expose" scandals and champion popular causes. Their job is to pre-empt real opponents and to play 99-yard football. A variation is to pay rich people
for the job who will pretend to spend their own money.
17. Flood the Internet and ALL levels of society and business with agents, precisely as Hitler did in Germany so many years ago. Supposdely, that number (of agents) has reached a minimum of 40,000 - probably a
very low (estimate). This is the answer to the question, "What could possibly motivate a person to spend hour upon hour on Internet news groups defending
the government and/or the press and harassing and REPORTING genuine critics?" Don't the authorities have defenders enough in all the newspapers, magazines, radio, and television? One would think refusing to
print critical letters and screening out serious callers or dumping them from radio talk shows, rarely printing the truth in any written document, would be control enough, but, obviously, it is not.
Family of girl, 12, sues after 'Brokeback' shown in class
May 13, 2007
www.suntimes.com
FROM SUN-TIMES WIRES
A suit was filed on behalf of a 12-year-old girl who claims she suffered psychological distress when a teacher showed in class the gay-themed movie "Brokeback Mountain."
The girl, Jessica Turner, and her grandparents Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson, are seeking more than $400,000 in damages under the suit filed Friday against the Chicago Board of Education and others.
According to the suit, a substitute teacher introduced herself as Ms. Buford to Jessica's class at Ashburn Community Elementary School, 8300 S. St. Louis Ave. She then said, "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class," the suit claims. Buford then had a student close the door, and started showing the controversial R-rated film, which features two men engaged in sex.
The suit alleges Ashburn's principal, Jewel A. Diaz, was aware that the tale of the love between two cowboys set in the West of the 1960s was being shown to the minors.
Turner later told her grandfather that she was confined to her seat and felt she could not leave the room, according to the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
The plaintiffs accuse Diaz, Buford and the Chicago Board of Education of negligence, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The suit claims Jessica continues to suffer from emotional distress caused by watching the film and is currently undergoing psychological treatment and counseling.
Friday, May 11, 2007
FEMA provides toxic trailers for Katrina Suvivors
By Guest Blogger
Posted on May 10, 2007, Printed on May 11, 2007
www.alternet.org
This is a guest post from Josh Dorner of the Sierra Club.
We know the Bush administration must just have a serious case of amnesia about Hurricane Katrina, right? I mean, the only other explanation for failing to keep their promises to rebuild New Orleans would be sheer incompetence and a total lack of compassion for humanity in general. FEMA seems to have a particularly intractable case, as they keep sending their toxic trailers to disaster victims far and wide.
As air tests conducted by the Sierra Club found out over a year ago, the levels of the chemical formaldehyde in the air inside FEMA's toxic tin cans are through the roof. In fact, levels were on average AT LEAST THREE TIMES higher than the levels the Environmental Protection Agency concedes will make people sick.
Subsequent tests by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found formaldehyde levels as much as FIFTY TIMES higher than the EPA's "elevated" limit. And wouldn't you know it, the storm-addled folks housed in these trailers immediately began complaining of watery eyes, burning in the eyes and throat, sinus infections, nausea, and respiratory distress. Only FEMA could spend billions of dollars on brand new trailers for disaster victims that were unfit for human habitation.
And what did FEMA have to say at the time? No worries, they're safe!
Fast forward to this February -- despite continued warnings from the Sierra Club and others, FEMA begins trying to sell off the toxic trailers on the cheap in Hope, Arkansas of all places.
And now this week, just in time for FEMA to ship its carcinogen-spewing boxes to victims of the Kansas tornado, it released its own study on the trailers -- a study conducted due to Sierra Club pressure. While the study acknowledged the high levels of formaldehyde present in the trailers, its conclusion simply beggars belief. Did it call for getting trailers without high levels of toxic chemicals? NOPE! FEMA's suggestion for disaster victims: open a window!
Talk about the cure being worse than the disease. Who's going to save us from the folks trying to save us?
Monday, May 07, 2007
HILLARY’S MOTHER-F’ING TOUR BUSINESS
by Greg Palast
Before his untimely death in a plane crash, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown said, “I’m not Hillary’s mother-f****** tour guide!”
That wasn’t a nice thing for a member of the President’s cabinet to say about the First Lady, now my Senator, Hillary Clinton.
And it’s probably not polite for me to bring it up now. But if I don’t, surely the Karl Rovarians will - if Senator Mrs. Clinton nails the Presidential nomination.
Bill Clinton used to say that, once he became president, he finally earned more money than his wife. That was a carefully crafted bit of modesty to show Bill as an aw-shucks regular guy versus Richie Rich-kid George Bush.
But Bill’s cute remark raised a question in my mind: How did Hillary get that big ol’ salary? And another question arises: how has she stayed out of prison?
The story’s a little complicated, involving a New Orleans power company, Indonesian billionaires, a New York nuclear plant and plain old influence peddling. But if we follow the money, we’ll get the picture. And it ain’t pretty.
But first, let’s stop at Wal-Mart. Read an official biography of the Senator and you’ll find her six-month stint on a child-protection task force. Yet you won’t find her SIX YEARS on the board of directors of Wal-Mart Corporation. She may have earned a Grammy for “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child.” But it takes a Governor’s wife to provide cover for Wal-Mart’s profiteering off systematic wage-enslavement of children in its factories in South America.
Sam Walton called Hillary, “My little lady.” Sam paid her an eyebrow raising sum for a director - equal to 60% of her entire not-insubstantial salary as a lawyer. By contrast, Wendy Diaz (her real name), a 13-year-old in Honduras, was paid 25 cents an hour to make shirts for the “little lady’s” label.
Hillary’s rake-in was made possible by Wal-Mart’s 100% union-free operation and out-sourcing of 100% of its manufacturing, some to prison factories in China. Now, you could say that Hillary couldn’t hear the screams of the kiddies in Kamp Wal-Mart in Honduras. After all, she relied on the intelligence provided her by the President (of Wal-Mart).
Fast forward to 1994 and the Brown ‘mother-f’ing tour guide’ business. According to Nolanda Hill, the Commerce Secretary’s long-time business partner and love interest, Brown, who died in 1996, endorsed a Hillary cash-for-access scheme ($10,000 for coffee with the President, $100,000 for a night in the Lincoln bedroom). However, Brown resented the discount rate the First Lady put on US executives joining Brown’s lucrative trade missions. ‘I’m worth more than $50,000 a pop!’ he said.
One company more than happy to pony up for a cash joy-ride with Brown was Entergy International. This electric company, based in Little Rock, became one of the world’s biggest power system operators on the planet under the Clinton regime. Interestingly, Bill Clinton began his political climb by running for Arkansas Attorney General campaigning on a pledge to fight Entergy’s electric price hikes. His pro-consumer plan was defeated in court by Entergy’s law firm - which included one Hillary Rodham.
There were more favors for Entergy. In 1998, I discovered, while working under cover for the Guardian and Observer, that Tony Blair was personally fixing the system to let Entergy to violate British policy on coal plants. Why? I picked up in my secret recordings of Blair’s cronies that calls to take care of Entergy, rules be damned, had come in from the office of ‘the Flotus’ - the First Lady of the United States.
It gets creepier. In June of 1994, Entergy’s partner in Asia, the Riady family of Indonesia paid recently-resigned Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell a $100,000 consulting fee. Odd that: Hubbell was on his way to prison for the felony crime of inflating his legal bills. Why would Asians pay a lawyer for advice on Asia who was on his way to the pokey?
Maybe it had to do with his partner in crime. I’ve conducted investigations of lawyer over-billing. It is nearly impossible for a senior lawyer to pad billing records unless the junior partner also fraudulently monkeys with time logs to make sure the records don’t give away the game. Who was Hubbell’s “little lady” junior partner? Today we call her Madame Senator.
Hillary’s logs were worth close inspection by authorities, no? But the funny thing about Hillary’s billing records: when requested for disclosure in another suit, they disappeared. First, her law firm’s computers went ka-blooey. Then the paper printouts vanished, but not before, during the 1992 Presidential campaign, they were secretly combed over, line by line, by … Web Hubbell.
Hubbell knew his own logs were phonied, and he understood the consequences of exposure. Ultimately, bloated hours on those records caused him to lose his law license, his Associate Attorney General post and his freedom. He got 21 months in the slammer.
What did Hubbell see and know about Hillary’s logs? Hubbell won’t say, except for a cryptic remark, after seeing her bills, that ‘every lawyer’ fabricates records. Hubbell pleaded guilty, but refused to answer investigators’ questions, a requirement in any plea bargain - so the judge had to sentence him to prison.
Why would Hubbell choose to do time on the chain gang over testifying about the First Lady? His prosecutors did not know at the time of the $100,000 Riady payment, the first of over half a million dollars Hubbell would receive from Clinton friends in the weeks up to his entering jail.
And those Hillary billing records? Hubbell lost them - how convenient. Then they reappeared two years later, just outside Hillary’s office, right after Hubbell announced he would refuse to testify against her.
Maybe the Clintons knew nothing about the big money flowing to prison-bound Hubbell. Knowledge of the payments would suggest they were buying Hubbell’s silence. In 1996, when the LA Times uncovered the payments, Mrs. Clinton’s First Man Bill stone-cold denied he knew anything about it.
Then, in 2000, in a deposition by the Justice Department, the President changed his tune. Investigators confronted the President with this: on June 20, 1994, Hubbell met with Hillary. Two days later, James Riady, the Asian billionaire Entergy partner, met with Hubbell for breakfast. Just a few hours later, Riady returned to the White House, then met again with Hubbell, then made two more treks to the White House. Two days later, a videotape shows the beginning of another meeting in the Oval Office between Clinton and Riady — but oddly, before they talk, the tape goes blank. Two days after that, Hubbell gets his $100,000 through a Riady bank.
Lying to journalists is a venal sin, but lying to the Feds is perjury. In his deposition, the President’s denial transformed into amnesia. He couldn’t remember if Riady mentioned the payment. Then, the President slyly opened the door to the truth. “I wouldn’t be surprised if James told me,” Clinton said. Neither would I.
What did Riady get? The Flotus herself, says Nolanda Hill, forced Brown to accept the appointment of Riady’s bag man, John Huang, as a Commerce Department deputy. According to records of calls the Guardian obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, Huang’s first order of business was to wheedle his way into confidential CIA briefings on Indonesia and China, then call Riady and his Entergy partners.
The same day Riady met the President, documents show he called on a Clinton crony at the top of the department’s Export-Import Bank. “We just came over from the Oval Office,” is a nice way to provide assurance of the ‘political connection’ required for help. These and other Riady team meetings at Commerce are marked ’social’. Yet, shortly thereafter, the department agreed to promote and fund the Riady-Entergy China venture.
Influence is not a victimless crime. Riady and his minions’ visits to the White House (94 times!) included successful requests for the President to meet Indonesian dictator Suharto and to kill negative reports on East Timor and working conditions in Indonesia. Timorese and Indonesians paid for these policy flips with blood.
Has Entergy’s investment in Hillary’s jail-bird partner continued to pay dividends?
Code Pink and New York environmentalists have been pulling out their hair over Senator Clinton’s backing of the operation of the creaky old Indian Point nuclear plant just above - and within irradiating distance of - New York City. The owner of the Indian Point nuke? Hillary’s old buck buddies, Entergy.
Am I saying Hillary would arrange for a payoff to keep witnesses silent, to poison US foreign policy for the profit of corporate cronies, to vote in Washington loaded down with conflicts of interest? I would never say so. Even if the evidence will.
Congressman Ron Paul: The Leading Rep.Canadate that the Media Wants to Hide
<
California Republican Debate Poll
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18436681
MSNBC Live Vote
Who stood out from the pack? * 60357 responses
Sam Brownback 2.5%
Jim Gilmore 1.3%
Rudy Giuliani 17%
Mike Huckabee 3.7%
Duncan Hunter 1.9%
John McCain 7.8%
Ron Paul 38%
Mitt Romney 22%
Tom Tancredo 2.8%
Tommy Thompson 3.4%
Who showed the most leadership qualities? * 59573 responses
Sam Brownback 2.4%
Jim Gilmore 1.9%
Rudy Giuliani 17%
Mike Huckabee 3.7%
Duncan Hunter 2.1%
John McCain 12%
Ron Paul 33%
Mitt Romney 21%
Tom Tancredo 2.7%
Tommy Thompson 3.6%
Who was the most convincing candidate? * 59329 responses
Sam Brownback 2.9%
Jim Gilmore 1.8%
Rudy Giuliani 15%
Mike Huckabee 4.5%
Duncan Hunter 2.2%
John McCain 9.9%
Ron Paul 36%
Mitt Romney 21%
Tom Tancredo 3%
Tommy Thompson 3.8%
Who had the most rehearsed answers? * 58168 responses
Sam Brownback 4.3%
Jim Gilmore 1.7%
Rudy Giuliani 22%
Mike Huckabee 2.6%
Duncan Hunter 1.7%
John McCain 31%
Ron Paul 6.4%
Mitt Romney 24%
Tom Tancredo 2.3%
Tommy Thompson 4.2%
Who avoided the questions? * 56611 responses
Sam Brownback 6%
Jim Gilmore 3.2%
Rudy Giuliani 36%
Mike Huckabee 3.4%
Duncan Hunter 3.1%
John McCain 18%
Ron Paul 6.3%
Mitt Romney 13%
Tom Tancredo 4.2%
Tommy Thompson 5.8%
Who had the best one-liner? * 56527 responses
Sam Brownback 3.4%
Jim Gilmore 1.7%
Rudy Giuliani 14%
Mike Huckabee 7.4%
Duncan Hunter 2.4%
John McCain 14%
Ron Paul 31%
Mitt Romney 16%
Tom Tancredo 4.2%
Tommy Thompson 5.5%
-------------------------------------
Go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18421356/ and vote in a current and ongoing poll. As of this posting, there were over 80,000 votes and Dr. Ron Paul had a commanding lead with 36%.
To understand and see for yourself how the "Mainstream Media" controls information and publishes outright lies (dis-information), do a Google News search for "republican debate winner". If you can find any Mainstream Media article declaring the TRUTH that Dr. Ron Paul was (and still is) the clear winner in the California debate according to public polls, please feel free to send me a copy. I couldn't find even one as of this posting.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Retailers Get Sued For Printing Too Many Credit Card Digits On Receipts
Credit Receipts From Rite Aid, Wendy's, Fedex
Draw Fire for Containing Certain Consumer Data
By ROBIN SIDEL
April 28, 2007; Page B1
Consumers are pulling out their plastic for everyday purchases more than ever, and now the nation's retailers are coming under legal assault for printing too much payment-card information on customer receipts.
So far this year, plaintiffs' lawyers have filed more than 100 federal lawsuits seeking class-action status against big merchants such as Rite Aid Corp., Wendy's International Inc., FedEx Corp., TJX Cos. and Inter Ikea Systems BV. Also in the line of fire are lesser-known regional restaurant chains such as In-N-Out Burger and Melting Pot fondue restaurants.
A slew of suits brought on behalf of consumers have been filed in recent weeks in U.S. district courts in California, Pennsylvania, and Kansas.
Merchants are under pressure to help ensure the security of electronic transactions. Still, most of the nation's retailers don't comply with the card industry's myriad rules that prohibit the storage of certain customer data and require the installation of sophisticated firewalls to protect their computer systems.
Earlier this year, TJX, parent of discount clothing chains T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, disclosed that its computers had been hacked in a security breach that left at least 47.5 million of its customers vulnerable to fraud.
The requirement that retailers cut off card data is part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, which sought to protect consumers from fraud and identity theft amid the growing use of electronic payments. Although it was enacted more than three years ago, the law gave retailers some breathing room to make the change. In addition to the receipt requirements, the law also gives consumers the right to obtain a credit report, without charge, every 12 months.
As of Dec. 4, retailers are prohibited from printing more than the last five digits of a credit-card or debit-card account number on receipts that are handed to customers. The receipts also can't include the account's expiration date. The law applies only to electronically printed receipts, rather than those that are written by hand or imprinted on old-fashioned manual machines.
"Slips of paper containing people's financial information should not be floating around," says J. Mark Moore, a lawyer at Spiro Moss Barness LLP in Los Angeles. The law firm has filed more than 40 lawsuits against retailers, charging that they "knowingly and intentionally continued to use cash registers which were not programmed to, or otherwise did not, comply" with the law.
Although the Federal Trade Commission is responsible for enforcing the law, the legislation also gave consumers the right to sue for violations. For those who receive receipts with the full account information, the best thing to do is either keep it in a safe place or rip it up, experts say. A consumer can also report a violator to the FTC. A spokesman says the agency hasn't received consumer complaints about violators and hasn't brought any enforcement actions tied to the law. The agency's regional offices are working with retailers to remind them of the law.
The lawsuits contend that retailers are "willfully" violating the law -- a practice that could result in fines of as much as $1,000 per transaction.
'Uncomfortable' for Retailers
"If you assume that many of these businesses weren't able to get this fixed until recently, [the potential fines] are enough to make even the largest of these companies feel very uncomfortable," says Gregory Hurley, a lawyer at Greenberg Traurig in Costa Mesa, Calif., who represents retail trade groups on the issue.
Mr. Hurley also puts some of the blame on the card industry, saying that card issuers and the companies that process transactions for merchants didn't do a good enough job of alerting their clients to the law.
A spokesman for FedEx Kinko's, which is the subsidiary named in the lawsuit, has reviewed its receipts since 2004 and "in no year was the printing of expiration dates identified as an item that could compromise cardholder security" under the federal law. He declined further comment, citing the pending litigation. A TJX spokeswoman declined to comment.
The suits are also drawing criticism from retailers who say they are merely opportunistic litigation from the plaintiffs' bar.
"We firmly believe Congress did not intend to allow these class-action lawyers to claim hundreds of millions of dollars in damages when no one has actually suffered any monetary harm," Arnold Wensinger, general counsel for Irvine, Calif.-based In-N-Out Burger, said in a statement.
During the past few years, thousands of retailers have overhauled their payment systems to eliminate some card information. In 2003, Visa USA Inc., for example, began requiring merchants that accept its branded cards to eliminate all but the last four account digits. The rule applied to new terminals only.
Since then thousands of retailers have altered their systems so that the last few digits of a card account number are preceded by a series of X's, but the full account data still periodically show up on receipts. Some blame software that has been improperly programmed, while others say that big restaurant chains sometimes don't have the power to enforce the rule with their franchisees.
Although businesses in other countries often print the full card-account information, that is also changing. As of April 1, Visa started requiring global merchants who accept its cards to cut off at least four of the account numbers from customer receipts.
Wendy's: Hold the Digits
Denny Lynch, a spokesman for Wendy's, says the burger chain's company-owned stores carry just the last four digits of an account number on both the merchant and customer receipt. The company makes that computer program available to its franchisees, who own about 80% of the chain's 6,200 U.S. stores. But, he said, "We don't know if all of them are taking advantage of that," he said.
Representatives of Rite Aid, Ikea and Melting Pot didn't return calls for comment.
Daveed Schwartz, a lawyer who represents retailers that have been sued, says that companies in violation of the law are likely unaware of it.
"The last thing retailers want to do is to act against their own self-interest by subjecting their customers to an increased risk of identity theft," he says. Mr. Schwartz's firm, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, is defending about a dozen retailers who have been sued.
The Meaning of 'Or'
The suits have also stirred debate about potential ambiguity in the law, which prohibits merchants from printing the full account information "or" the expiration date. The National Retail Federation, a trade group representing merchants, says the language indicates that they would still be in compliance if they printed one or the other. Others interpret the law as meaning that merchants aren't permitted to print either one.
Another concern is whether the law applies to merchant receipts that customers sign and then hand back to a cashier or waiter. Typically, these merchant copies contain the full card-account information. The law applies to "any receipt provided to the cardholder."
People involved in the litigation also are paying close attention to a pending Supreme Court case that could have implications in the tussle over receipt information.
In that case, a number of insurance companies are challenging a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that said companies can be found liable for violating the federal credit law even if they aren't determined to have done it "willfully."
L.A. police probing clash at immigration protest
Reuters
Wednesday May 02, 2007
The Los Angeles Police Department will investigate officers who used batons and rubber bullets to disperse protesters and journalists at the end of daylong immigration rallies, chief William Bratton said on Wednesday.
Rally organizers criticized police for heavy-handed tactics after videotapes of the incident showed a line of officers in riot gear clearing demonstrators from the city's MacArthur Park with batons and rubber bullets.
The local Radio and Television News Association also demanded an investigation into the treatment of reporters at the scene, saying that several had been pushed to the ground or struck by police and that their equipment had been damaged.
Bratton said he would investigate the actions of officers at the scene, who moved in to clear the park after a small band of protesters created a disturbance, reportedly pelting police with rocks and bottles.
"Quite frankly, I'm disturbed at what I saw," Bratton told KNX-AM radio. "Some of the officers' actions ... were inappropriate in terms of batons and possible use of non-lethal rounds fired."
A police spokeswoman said the department would have no further comment pending a news conference scheduled by Bratton for later on Tuesday.
The videotaped clash between officers, protesters and journalists was shown repeatedly on television in Los Angeles, where police have struggled to overcome a reputation for using excessive force.
In 1992 the city erupted into riots following the acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating a year earlier of black motorist Rodney King.
Some 25,000 people marched through the streets of Los Angeles on Tuesday as part of nationwide protests intended to demonstrate the political might of Latinos and help win amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The May Day demonstrations attracted much smaller crowds than last year.
The rallies come as U.S. lawmakers seek to write a bill to provide tougher border control and workplace enforcement while addressing the status of illegal immigrants.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
For $82 a Day, Booking a Cell in a 5-Star Jail
April 29, 2007
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
NYTIMSE.COM
SANTA ANA, Calif., April 25 — Anyone convicted of a crime knows a debt to society often must be paid in jail. But a slice of Californians willing to supplement that debt with cash (no personal checks, please) are finding that the time can be almost bearable.
For offenders whose crimes are usually relatively minor (carjackers should not bother) and whose bank accounts remain lofty, a dozen or so city jails across the state offer pay-to-stay upgrades. Theirs are a clean, quiet, if not exactly recherché alternative to the standard county jails, where the walls are bars, the fellow inmates are hardened and privileges are few.
Many of the self-pay jails operate like secret velvet-roped nightclubs of the corrections world. You have to be in the know to even apply for entry, and even if the court approves your sentence there, jail administrators can operate like bouncers, rejecting anyone they wish.
“I am aware that this is considered to be a five-star Hilton,” said Nicole Brockett, 22, who was recently booked into one of the jails, here in Orange County about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, and paid $82 a day to complete a 21-day sentence for a drunken driving conviction.
Ms. Brockett, who in her oversize orange T-shirt and flip-flops looked more like a contestant on “The Real World” than an inmate, shopped around for the best accommodations, travelocity.com-style.
“It’s clean here,” she said, perched in a jail day room on the sort of couch found in a hospital emergency room. “It’s safe and everyone here is really nice. I haven’t had a problem with any of the other girls. They give me shampoo.”
For roughly $75 to $127 a day, these convicts — who are known in the self-pay parlance as “clients” — get a small cell behind a regular door, distance of some amplitude from violent offenders and, in some cases, the right to bring an iPod or computer on which to compose a novel, or perhaps a song.
Many of the overnighters are granted work furlough, enabling them to do most of their time on the job, returning to the jail simply to go to bed (often following a strip search, which granted is not so five-star).
The clients usually share a cell, but otherwise mix little with the ordinary nonpaying inmates, who tend to be people arrested and awaiting arraignment, or federal prisoners on trial or awaiting deportation and simply passing through.
The pay-to-stay programs have existed for years, but recently attracted some attention when prosecutors balked at a jail in Fullerton that they said would offer computer and cellphone use to George Jaramillo, a former Orange County assistant sheriff who pleaded no contest to perjury and misuse of public funds, including the unauthorized use of a county helicopter. Mr. Jaramillo was booked into the self-pay program in Montebello, near Los Angeles, instead.
“We certainly didn’t envision a jail with cellphone and laptop capabilities where his family could bring him three hot meals,” said Susan Kang Schroeder, the public affairs counsel for the Orange County district attorney. “We felt that the use of the computer was part of the instrumentality of his crime, and that is another reason we objected to that.”
A spokesman for the Fullerton jail said cellphones but not laptops were allowed.
While jails in other states may offer pay-to-stay programs, numerous jail experts said they did not know of any.
“I have never run into this,” said Ken Kerle, managing editor of the publication American Jail Association and author of two books on jails. “But the rest of the country doesn’t have Hollywood either. Most of the people who go to jail are economically disadvantaged, often mentally ill, with alcohol and drug problems and are functionally illiterate. They don’t have $80 a day for jail.”
The California prison system, severely overcrowded, teeming with violence and infectious diseases and so dysfunctional that much of it is under court supervision, is one that anyone with the slightest means would most likely pay to avoid.
“The benefits are that you are isolated and you don’t have to expose yourself to the traditional county system,” said Christine Parker, a spokeswoman for CSI, a national provider of jails that runs three in Orange County with pay-to-stay programs. “You can avoid gang issues. You are restricted in terms of the number of people you are encountering and they are a similar persuasion such as you.”
Most of the programs — which offer 10 to 30 beds — stay full enough that marketing is not necessary, though that was not always the case. The Pasadena jail, for instance, tried to create a little buzz for its program when it was started in the early 1990s.
“Our sales pitch at the time was, ‘Bad things happen to good people,’ ” said Janet Givens, a spokeswoman for the Pasadena Police Department. Jail representatives used Rotary Clubs and other such venues as their potential marketplace for “fee-paying inmate workers” who are charged $127 a day (payment upfront required).
“People might have brothers, sisters, cousins, etc., who might have had a lapse in judgment and do not want to go to county jail,” Ms. Givens said.
The typical pay-to-stay client, jail representatives agreed, is a man in his late 30s who has been convicted of driving while intoxicated and sentenced to a month or two in jail.
But there are single-night guests, and those who linger well over a year.
“One individual wanted to do four years here,” said Christina Holland, a correctional manager of the Santa Ana jail.
Inmates in Santa Ana who have been approved for pay to stay by the courts and have coughed up a hefty deposit for their stay, enter the jail through a lobby and not the driveway reserved for the arrival of other prisoners. They are strip searched when they return from work each day because the biggest problem they pose is the smuggling of contraband, generally cigarettes, for nonpaying inmates.
Most of the jailers require the inmates to do chores around the jails, even if they work elsewhere during the day.
“I try real hard to keep them in custody for 12 hours,” Ms. Holland said. “Because I think that’s fair.”
Critics argue that the systems create inherent injustices, offering cleaner, safer alternatives to those who can pay.
“It seems to be to be a little unfair,” said Mike Jackson, the training manager of the National Sheriff’s Association. “Two people come in, have the same offense, and the guy who has money gets to pay to stay and the other doesn’t. The system is supposed to be equitable.”
But cities argue that the paying inmates generate cash, often hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — enabling them to better afford their other taxpayer-financed operations — and are generally easy to deal with.
“We never had a problem with self pay,” said Steve Lechuga, the operations manager for CSI. “I haven’t seen any fights in years. We had a really good success rate with them.”
Stanley Goldman, a professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, has recommended the program to former clients.
“The prisoners who are charged with nonviolent crimes and typically have no record are not in the best position to handle themselves in the general county facility,” Professor Goldman said.
Still, no doubt about it, the self-pay jails are not to be confused with Canyon Ranch.
The cells at Santa Ana are roughly the size of a custodial closet, and share its smell and ambience. Most have little more than a pink bottle of jail-issue moisturizer and a book borrowed from the day room. Lockdown can occur for hours at a time, and just feet away other prisoners sit with their faces pressed against cell windows, looking menacing.
Ms. Brockett, who normally works as a bartender in Los Angeles, said the experience was one she never cared to repeat.
“It does look decent,” she said, “but you still feel exactly where you are.”
