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Trackposted to Tidbits and Treasures, Wingless – American Teen Killed By Released Guantanamo Detainees, third world county, Nuke Gingrich, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D’ITALIA, Wingless – Belgium Says Israel Uses Child Soldiers, Refuses to Sell Weapons, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, and Wingless – Hamas Steals Aid Meant For People of Gaza, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
This week President Obama claimed that failure to pass his economic stimulus bill will have catastrophic consequences for the U.S economy. The reality is the catastrophe will be far greater with his plan then without it. If the trends of January and early February of 2009 continue, the rug will be completely pulled out from beneath the U.S. economy, and the full cost of the President’s “economic depressant package” will be apparent to all.
If foreign capital does not continue to pour into Treasuries, interest rates and consumer prices in the U.S. will soar. At that point, we will finally be confronted with the real crises that I have long predicted. When the day of reckoning arrives our policy response will be critical. If we continue on the course our new President has mapped out, the catastrophe will far exceed the scope of any he hoped to avoid.
This is Jack Hunter A.K.A. The Southern Avenger Interviewing Richard Spencer from Taki’s Magazine on the demise on Culture11.com.
(H/T Jack Hunter)
Justice Served or Overzealous Justice? You Decide.
A radical activist who helped set a $1 million fire to protest research on genetically modified crops was sentenced Thursday to nearly 22 years in prison _ even more than the prosecution recommended.
Marie Mason decided to “elevate her grievances beyond the norms of civilized society” through fire and destruction, U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney said. The case _ which was prosecuted as domestic terrorism _ was “about an abandonment of the marketplace of ideas,” he added.
The explosion and fire caused more than $1 million in damage to Michigan State University’s Agriculture Hall on New Year’s Eve 1999.
In her plea agreement, she also admitted causing another $3 million in damage through other acts from 1999 to 2003, including destroying homes under construction in the Detroit area and Indiana and setting fire to two boats owned by a man who formerly raised minks.
The 47-year-old Mason, of Cincinnati, had acted on behalf of the radical group Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, which has been implicated in a spate of similar crimes, mostly in the West.
She had pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy and arson after reaching a deal with prosecutors. The prosecution had been aided by Frank Ambrose, her former husband, who cooperated with the FBI.
The investigation was cold until spring 2007, when a man looking for scrap cardboard found gas masks, an M-80 explosive, maps and anti-government writings in a suburban Detroit trash bin.
They belonged to Ambrose, who apparently was trying to shed remnants of his past. The FBI searched his home, and he became an informant, blowing the whistle on himself and Mason and going undercover to record 178 conversations with other activists.
At MSU, Mason and Ambrose targeted a campus office that held records on research related to moth-resistant potatoes for poor parts of Africa. Computers, file cabinets and desks were doused with a flammable liquid. Vapors contributed to an explosion, and the fire got out of control.
The explosion burned Mason’s hair and prevented her from finishing the message, “No GMO,” on a wall, a reference to genetically modified organisms.
The Libertarian in me says; A lady gets 22 years for setting fire to a Eco-Lab, but a President and his cabinet deceive the American people into a war that had nothing to do with September 11’th and he is sitting in Texas. Something is wrong with America. For the record, nobody was killed as a result of this fire, 4000+ of our finest young people are dead. The fire cost what? 1 Million?? How much is the Iraq war costing us; 1 Trillion? Does anyone else see the oddball nature of this? Of course, the Fascist Neo-Con’s just love this conviction. That’s because they just love tossing around that word, “Terrorism.” That’s because it serves their masters well.
Thankfully, Mason’s lawyer is appealing this judgment, and I believe it is warranted, I believe this crime is wrong, but 22 years is extremely excessive.
Update: Jazz Shaw who writes at the Moderate Voice, kind of agrees with me.
Let it be said. There is nothing wrong about Americans fighting to preserve the culture and country they grew up in. That is what patriotic conservatism is all about. And if the Times can understand and support the right of native tribes like the Navajo and Apache to preserve their unique character and culture, why this viral hatred of those of us who wish to preserve the Western and Christian character of America?
So, I repeat the question, Do Americans really cherish freedom anymore? And, if we do, what are we going to do about it? I believe that there are specific and constructive steps that can be taken to restore liberty in this land. (I will develop these thoughts later.) I further believe that there are still millions of Americans who really do understand and cherish freedom. We may be in a minority, but remember, we were also a minority in 1776. Freedom is laborious, onerous work. And not everyone enjoys hard work.So be it. Let lazy, indolent fools wallow in their servitude. God will yet see to it that there is a land of liberty for those who truly desire it and are willing to fight for it. I firmly believe that.
Remember, liberty is a precious gift from our Creator. For those who fear God, respect Natural Law, and love liberty, there is yet a “promised land.”
We may have to do a little searching; we may have to rethink our priorities; we may have to adjust our lifestyles; and yes, we may have to “pledge our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” in order to obtain it; but our forebears thought it was worth it–and so do I.
As Friedrich Schiller wrote in William Tell:
“By this fair light which greeteth us, before
Those other nations, that, beneath us far,
In noisome cities pent, draw painful breath,
Swear we the oath of our confederacy!
A band of brothers true we swear to be,
Never to part in danger or in death!“We swear we will be free as were our sires,
And sooner die than live in slavery!“We swear, to put our trust in God Most High,
And not to quail before the might of man!”Such people can never be enslaved. And I believe that such people still exist in these United States of America. I count them my brothers. I offer them my arm and my heart. After all, we are freedom-loving Americans.
Will we see the nationalization and control of our main banks as Europe has done and is doing? I say, yes.
Will we start to hear “socialist” speeches about us all cutting back, thus giving more taxes to the Government to solve endless emergencies? Salaries might need to be cut everywhere and business achievement and profit swiped bit by bit, of course for the betterment of a troubled society. Watch it unfold.
Yes, there should be significant salary limitations and spending requirements if a troubled company receives national financial aid, but a way to independent achievement and reward, not prolonged Government control, taxation, litigation and regulation!!!
Ronald Reagan said it best many years ago and was right! “Big Government is not the solution. It is the problem.”
Here’s the new Meme for the Liberal Blogsphere for the weekend or this day at least.
Via the Colorado Liberal Independent:
Police arrested the former manager of Sen. John McCain’s Pueblo presidential campaign office Wednesday on charges he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy left in his care so the boy’s mother could attend a rally for McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, The Denver Post’s Howard Pankratz reported Thursday afternoon.
It’s the second arrest on charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust in a week for Jeffrey Claude Bartleson, 52, who has faced similar allegations at least five times since 1982 without being convicted of a crime, according to the Pueblo Chieftain’s Nick Bonham.
Two detectives have been assigned full-time to the investigation and are looking into allegations Bartleson lured victims through church groups, his work as a sponsor at a hospital drug rehab unit, and during involvement in political work.
I just have to ask, do you think that if President Barack Hussein Obama’s Campaign Manager had been picked up for oinking some kid, that the media would be all over it, like this?
I somehow very highly doubt it. 🙄
…besides that, why wasn’t this kids Mother watching her son more closely?
Um, Ooops!
A congressional trip to Iraq this weekend was supposed to be a secret.
But the cat’s out of the bag now, thanks to a member of the House Intelligence Committee who broke an embargo via Twitter.
A delegation led by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner , R-Ohio, arrived in Iraq earlier today, and because of Rep. Peter Hoekstra , R-Mich., the entire world — or at least Twitter.com readers—now know they’re there.
“Just landed in Baghdad,” messaged Hoekstra, a former chairman of the Intelligence panel and now the ranking member, who is routinely entrusted to keep some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets.
Before the delegation left Washington, they were advised to keep the trip to themselves for security reasons. A few media outlets, including Congressional Quarterly, learned about it, but agreed not to disclose anything until the delegation had left Iraq.
Nobody expected, though, that a lawmaker with such an extensive national security background would be the first to break the silence. And in such a big way.
Not only did Hoekstra reveal the existence of the lawmakers’ trip, but included details about their itinerary in updates posted every few hours on his Twitter page, until he suddenly stopped, for some reason, on Friday morning.
Since it’s already a matter of public record, here are some of Hoekstra’s twitter dispatches, typos and all, delivered in just 140 characters or less:
“On the way to Andrews Air Force base.12 hour flight to mid east. Be back on Mon instead of tues. Votes mon. I’ll keep you posted,” he wrote on Feb. 4
In his last dispatch today, he wrote: “Moved into green zone by helicopter Iraqi flag now over palace. Headed to new US embassy Appears calmer less chaotic than previous here [sic].”
via CQ Politics | Congressman Twitters an Iraq Security Breach.
Had a Democrat done this, Michelle Malkin would have went into meltdown mode. Heckuva Job Pete! 🙄
(speaking of “Whoops!”… Corrected stupid grammar error… D’oh!)
(Via Glenn Reynolds)
I don’t think I could have put this any better myself.
Prosecute Bush? Libertarians have long understood that criminals don’t prosecute fellow criminals, which is why so many libertarians have concluded that government per se is a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization as defined by the RICO Act of 1970, no matter how many checks and balances are checked and balanced or how separate the separation of powers are, and needs to be banned entirely. Which is why so many libertarians are anarchists at heart.
And perhaps, in the future, after the current president has had his run, having turned the United States into a third-rate Eastern European style Marxist hellhole, his former star struck extremists will scream, “Prosecute Barack Obama!”
You may disagree, but if you look at actual history vice the fairy tales that pass for history in our politicized government-run schools, you’ll discover the true nature of governments everywhere and everywhen.
And then you’ll puke.
Read the rest at: Dallas Libertarian Examiner — Prosecute Bush? Good luck!.
So true. This is why I do not vote Republican or Democrat any longer. Because anymore, they’re just two sides of the same damn coin. Been that way since the 1970’s.
