Bob Barr on Faux Snooze Sunday

Faux Snooze - Put on a happy face

Isn't this the way it always goes? If you don't like what someone says, label them as a kook, a conspiracy nut, whatever. Watch the way they dis Peter Schiff. Then brush him off as a quack.

Is Big Brother watching you?

The technological enslavement grid is getting increasingly more insane and most people don’t even care. Apparently most people and Americans especially like being slaves just as long as they are told that they are free.

The U.S. Senate is set to pass a bank bailout bill that will include a provision in the legislation that will require almost all online financial transactions to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service(IRS).

Read the entire article in Here

Goodbye FISA, Hello Police State

Mark Klein, the retired AT&T engineer who stepped forward with the technical documents at the heart of the anti-wiretapping case against AT&T, is furious at the Senate's vote on Wednesday night to hold a vote on a bill intended to put an end to that lawsuit and more than 30 others.

[Wednesday]'s vote by Congress effectively gives retroactive immunity to the telecom companies and endorses an all-powerful president. It’s a Congressional coup against the Constitution.

The Democratic leadership is touting the deal as a "compromise," but in fact they have endorsed the infamous Nuremberg defense: "Just following orders." The judge can only check their paperwork. This cynical deal is a Democratic exercise in deceit and cowardice.


I encourage you to read the entire article in Wired. Then call your Senators and tell them to vote against the bill. The Senate is set to vote on July 8th on the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which also largely legalizes Bush's warrantless wiretapping program by expanding how the government can wiretap from inside the United States without getting individualized court orders.
Related article about Tecksploitation here

Don't listen to Bernanke - Buy Gold

These two videos of Marc Faber are very illuminating.
Video #1 - Video #2
Related reading
Americans' loss of confidence: Worse even than it looks

Talk of more war

The D's and the R's are beating the drum for more war; this time in Iran. Dr. Paul spoke on the floor of the house. Please give a listen and then contact your representative. Let them know that we don't want another war!
There is already a lot of support in the house. What a shame that Dr. Paul was speaking to an empty chamber. Please, don't keep silent!

Bob Barr - A Real choice

When does life begin Mr. Obama?

Boyd Powers - Save the planet?

Couldn't believe my eyes, but here it is. Boyd Powers could be our next president.

Ron Paul Denounces The New FISA Bill

Ron Paul gave a regretful statement on the House floor regarding the recently passed warrant-less wiretapping, telecom immunity FISA bill. He was regretful that he wasn’t there to vote “No”.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that due to the unexpected last-minute appearance of this measure on the legislative calendar this week, a prior commitment has prevented me from voting on the FISA amendments. I have strongly opposed every previous FISA overhaul attempt and I certainly would have voted against this one as well.

The main reason I oppose this latest version is that it still clearly violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution by allowing the federal government to engage in the bulk collection of American citizens’ communications without a search warrant. That US citizens can have their private communication intercepted by the government without a search warrant is anti-American, deeply disturbing, and completely unacceptable.
Read Dr. Paul's entire statement on FISA here

Source: Liberty Maven

A Video Portrait Of Barack Hussein Obama

This video runs a 13 minutes and makes several good reasons for not supporting Obama for president. What is truly frustrating is that the Republican candidate is equally flawed.

Howard Zinn’s “What the Classroom didn’t Teach Me About the American Empire”

This short video is somewhat depressing, but worth watching. I don't subscribe to all of Mr. Zinn's ideas, but to deny American Imperialism is intellectually dishonest(In my humble opinion).

Al Gore and the Constitution

Endorsing Barack Obama, Al Gore proclaims:

After eight years in which our constitution has been dishonored and disrespected, we need change.

He has a point. But he should have said sixteen years.

Source: Cato@Liberty

Suicidal Spending

This presentation does an excellent job of explaining the fiscal problems facing our country. Watch the presentation While you're there be sure to check out the rest of the information and charts.

Good news sparks more fear mongering

On Thursday, June 12, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling restoring the writ of habeas corpus. Those being held as suspected terrorists should now be able to challenge their detentions in a court of law, as our Constitution requires.

This is good news! The Judicial Branch has moved to block the overreaching power of the Executive Branch. This means America's system of "checks and balances" still has some life! But more must be done to restore and preserve the rule of law. We must . . .
* Continue to use our right to "petition Congress for a redress of grievances"
* Compel the Legislative Branch to deny the Executive Branch the power to spy on Americans without a warrant
* Ensure that both the Executive and Judicial branches execute the laws of the land

This means . . .
* The lawsuits against the telecom companies that aided the President's warrantless spying must have their day in court -- no immunity for the telecoms!

* Congress must block the President's relentless drive for "legalized" warrantless spying powers -- the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) must NOT be replaced.

To accomplish these goals we must overcome the fear-mongering propaganda of those who favor unchecked presidential power.

* On last Friday's Bill O'Reilly show Laura Ingraham claimed that the habeas decision would result in the release of vast numbers of terrorists

* The Bush administration is claiming that a failure to replace FISA will cause existing surveillance on terrorists to end when old warrants lapse in August.

Both of these claims are dishonest. Here's the truth . . .

* The right of habeas corpus is the right to challenge a detention in court, not a guarantee that anyone accused of terrorist actions will actually be released -- no one will be released if the government has solid legal grounds for detaining them.

* Back in February, before the Protect America Act expired, the Executive Branch had the power to renew surveillance warrants for 12 months. If any surveillance actually lapses in August (and we have no way of knowing if that's true), it will be because the Bush administration failed to renew their so-called warrants for 12 months -- perhaps so that they could make this a campaign issue.

We must continue to resist this kind of fear mongering, and give Congress the courage to do the same. We must maintain our drumbeat of opposition to replacing FISA with so-called compromise legislation that grants telecom immunity and legalizes warrantless spying.

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose." Frederick Douglas

Don't Talk to the Police

Excellent talk about the 5th amendment protection from self incrimination. Runs about 30 minutes, but worth the time.

The other side of the story

Barna article foretells 2008 election

This analysis is (in my humble opinion) spot on. I encourage your reading it by clicking this link, but here is a one sentence summary. McCain has a good ole fashion ass whoop'n in his future.

Too bad there is no satisfaction in saying "I told you so". Sadly the R's are behaving like lemmings with blinders on. I think I'll vote Libertarian this time.

Police to Seal Off D.C. Neighborhoods

Can you say Police State? The Examiner has the scoop on a controversial new program announced today that would create so-called "Neighborhood Safety Zones" which would serve to partially seal off certain parts of the city. D.C. Police would set-up checkpoints in targeted areas, demand to see ID and refuse admittance to people who don't live there, work there or have a “legitimate reason” to be there. Wow. Just, wow.

Some of the words used to describe such a plan by those quoted in the Examiner story include "breathtaking" and "cockamamie," but that hardly begins to scratch the surface. Interim Attorney General Peter Nickles actually said that measures of this sort have "been used in other cities.” Which cities are those, Mr. Nickles? Warsaw?

Today's proposal appears to be a desperate attempt by the city to tamp down recent violence that has ravaged the city, especially in Ward 5. The "Neighborhood Safety Zones" would last up to 10 days. It's a struggle to think of words to describe such a plan other than authoritarian or ghettoization.

In the words of Michael Cannon
If the DC gun ban works so well
. . . then why do we see stories like this? And this?

A Police State Takes Hold in Venezuela

Many people expected that after his painful electoral defeat in the constitutional referendum last year, Hugo Chávez was going to stop his systematic assault against democracy and civil liberties in Venezuela.

Last week, he decreed a new intelligence law (no need for a National Assembly here) that basically turns Venezuela into a police state. The new law requires that people:

“… comply with requests to assist the agencies, secret police or community activist groups loyal to Mr. Chávez. Refusal can result in prison terms of two to four years for most people and four to six years for government employees.”

The law also stipulates that the police agencies can conduct surveillance activities on the population, like wiretapping, without a warrant. Furthermore, the authorities can deny access to evidence to defendant lawyers under the grounds of “national security.”

It’s interesting how people sympathetic to Chávez around the world, but particularly in Latin America, call anyone who criticizes their beloved leader a “fascist.” They fail to recognize that many of his policies, especially laws like this one, have fascism written all over them.

Source: Cato@Liberty
Opinion: Sleep well America! We have the "Patriot Act".
Feel better now?

4th Amendment is Dead in Indiana

This is what we have come to with petty bureaucrats' blatant abuse of power and complicity by the police. They appear to be clueless of the constitution.

Food for thought about money

EXCERPT FROM THE US CONSTITUTION, Article I, section 10: No State shall ... coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts....

FROM THE US TREASURY WEBSITE: "Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold, silver or any other commodity, and receive no backing by anything. The notes have no value for themselves, but for what they will buy."

A LESSON FROM HISTORY BOOKS: The past 300 years have proven that ALL fiat money experiments ended in complete devaluation. From Rome to Britain: every empire vanished into oblivion soon after it went off the gold standard. It is time to recognize the obvious: Unbacked money has never worked.

Source: The Prudent Investor

Texas Supreme Court: Return the Children

Source: Cato@Liberty
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that Child Protective Services (CPS) abused its discretion by seizing 468 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints ranch in Eldorado. Eugene Volokh has a roundup of the legal analysis.

I wrote about this case a few days ago at NRO, but space limitations kept me from going into more detail about how the women and children were treated while in state custody. For those who have not followed this matter closely, the children were seized by CPS but the mothers were ”permitted” to remain with their children on the condition that they comply with all CPS rules and commands.

CPS invited some mental health workers to the various shelters to help care for the hundreds of children. The mental health workers were disturbed by what they saw of CPS’s treatment of the women and children, and their written reports corroborate the bitter complaints of the FLDS mothers. I don’t think the news media has given this aspect of the story the attention it deserves — so here are some excerpts from the various reports that have been made public:

* “Women were constantly lied to about where their children [were] and when they could see their lawyers and about when they would be reunited with their children.”

* “Constant reminders that the adult women were only guests and that they were not in charge of the children and what CPS did to them. [The children] belonged to CPS now and they could talk, interrogate, separate and treat them any way [CPS] wanted. This included physical exams and x-rays without [parental] supervision.”

* “I sat with Audrey while three of her children were removed for six hours of questioning.”

* “The children arrived healthy and happy and left sick and crying.”

* “The door to the room was almost constantly open. Even when the women closed the door to reduce noise during naptime or to dress themselves or the children, it was almost immediately opened again [by a CPS worker].”

* “The women were lied to and denied access to their attorneys.”

* “At least 5 mothers reported that at night CPS [workers] circled their beds, held flashlight in their faces & then would sit inches away from them as they tried to sleep. Mothers reported that they were scared CPS would take their children during the night.”

* “The CPS workers were openly rude to the mothers and the children, yelled at them for trying to wave to friends and family members in surrounding shelters, threatened them with arrest if they did not stop waving to others, continually reminded them that the women were guests only and could be made to leave if they did not cooperate, threatened the mothers with never seeing their children again if they did not cooperate, and ignored requests for anything.”

* “The children were amazingly clean, happy, healthy, energetic, inquisitive, well behaved, and self-confident; while the mothers were consistently calm, patient, and loving with their children.”

* “Living conditions in the coliseum were not conducive to good health for anyone, and the presence of hostile CPS workers who spied on them constantly, kept them awake at night by shining lights in their faces and talking and laughing created enormous stress for the mothers and children. None of them slept well or enough.”

* “Try to imagine all these children from age 1 to 12 years, left in that coliseum [separated from their mothers] with only CPS and [police officers] to care for them. The only others were mothers whom CPS decided were under 18 and kept in their custody along with their children. The floor was literally slick with tears in places. A baby was left in a stroller without food and water for 24 hours and ended up in the hospital. A 4 year old boy was so terrified that he snuck away and hid and was only found after the coliseum had been emptied the next day.”

* “I witnessed a young mother named Rosinith be required by CPS to board the bus back to the ranch, though her young child was in the hospital with 104 degree fever and even though the child’s physician had personally requested the mother’s presence at the hospital. This event haunts me still, and I cannot imagine such a heartless act.”

* “By the second day, I was ready to run in front of the CNN cameras to shout that there was a travesty happening inside those walls…. Of course I was cautioned not to interfere in a ‘crime scene investigation.’”

* “I have always been proud to be an American and a Texan but this incident is not what America or Texas stands for and something must be done to undo the horrible injustice that has been done.”

Government thug attacks news cameraman