Manila is Bracing for More?

Here's an international story that I first heard about this from a friend in the blogosphere, Charity. It's been a devastating couple of days in Manila with the impact from the latest typhoon. The more concerning part is that there is another on the way.

You can find these clips and more information on her blog. She has been blogging whenever she is able to get signal to do so. You can check out her blog here.

Charity said that the American military has been instrumental in saving lives in the area.

It's always good to hear when our military is used for commendable purposes.

Are You Kidding Me?

Staying at a hotel the other evening, I received a complimentary copy of USA Today (Fri., Sat., Sun. edition Sept 11-13, 2009).

They posted, on the front page, results of a survey given by TripAdvisor. The question was: Should congress place size limits on carry-ons?

54% of respondents replied yes

46% of respondents replied no

Are you telling me that it has gotten to the point that 54% of traveling

Americans believe that Congress should even consider such a ridiculous notion? Please tell me it was an anomaly in sampling and that USA Today was just trying to drive more traffic to the story about "Representative" Lipinski.

What do you think? Am I way off the mark?

Pope Calls for "World Political Authority"!

Anyone else just have a shiver run down their spine?

Photograph by: Vincenzo Pinto, AFP/Getty Images

"VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict on Tuesday called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat."

Read the entire article by Philip Pullella of Reuters here.

U.S. Presidential Candidate Arrested

One would think that a previous House Rep. & previous U.S. Presidential candidate accompanied by a Nobel Laureate being captured by military troops would be news. Not this time; the military involved is Israel's.

Cynthia McKinney and 20 other passengers, including the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Mairead Maguire had their vessel boarded in international waters , were captured and are currently still being held.

I must question why such a thing was not mentioned in the news. What if John McCain and Al Gore had been captured? Or even Bob Barr? Why is there nothing being said? I found 3 articles when I did a Google "NEWS" search. THREE! Was there a single major news source? Ha. The Age (of Australia) and the Palestine Telegraph appear to be the closest thing to major news sources so far.

What has happened to Journalism?

Ya know, that's a good question. I'm calling the editor of my paper. What are you going to do?

The News and Ron Paul

This illustrates where we are with "news" in the United States.  I am not going to take a stance (other than my quotation marks), but would love to hear your point of view.  I have listed the "news" anchors responses to Ron Paul's words below the clip.

Mark Haines: "This is not going as planned"

ErinBurnett: "No it is not"

MarkHaines: "We were told that there would be a very limited number of opening statements, and it seems to be getting out of control."

ErinBurnett: "Here’s what we forgot, everybody is taking this live, you know what that means? Why would they miss an opportunity for free air time?"

MarkHaines: "We’re going to take a commercial break and get them out of the way, so that when something really substandard [hahaha-think he meant substantial] is happening, we don’t have to interrupt them."

What happened to Posse Comitatus?

Are you getting used to habeas corpus being gone? 

Posse Comitatus is joining it in the dark space between the Democrats and Republicans that is reality.  Don't believe me.  Read it for yourself at the Army Times!!!

"The 3rd Infantry’s 1st BCT trains for a new dwell-time mission. Helping ‘people at home’ may become a permanent part of the active Army.  ... Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home."

"They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control..."

Read about it here!  Or check it out the Democracy Now video below:

I figured I would check with the HomelandSecurity.org.  I found an article by Major Craig T. Trebilcock entitled, "The Myth of Posse Comitatus".  You can read the article here.

Even if we accept that they are stomping all over Posse Comitatus, we should ask why they expect a need to use the military against U.S. citizens in civil unrest and crowd control.  Is there something they are expecting?

Bush Lands in Texas; Residents Urged to Leave

This is a screen capture from CNN. com this morning:

A good friend of mine took this screen capture this morning. I would have posted it sooner, but I had to verify it was something he found and not something someone else forwarded.

This is the article it linked to here.

Thanks to Mark G. for this submission.

Amy Goodman About her Arrest (FSTV)

Here is a Free Speech TV interview with Amy Goodman after her release from police custody:

What do you think?

Journalist and Producer Nicole Salazar Arrested at RNC

Nicole Salazar, a producer for Democracy Now! was arrested while filming at the protest.  The film is unsettling as you hear her ask the officer where to go to get out of the way.  Credentials around her neck and camera on her shoulder, she is forced to the ground and drug away, face down.

This is making me ill.

Please take action.

Journalists Arrested in a Post 9/11 World!

Wake up!!!  

It's not Terrorists!

It's not anarchists & hippies! 

They are arresting journalists!  

Wake up!!!  We have been sitting in the melting pot of the U.S. as the police state has turned up the heat.  The water is too hot!!!  Wake up or perish!!!  Wake up!!!

On September 1st, police in St. Paul arrested several more journalists including Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and and AP photographer as they covered the protests at the RNC

Time to do something!!!

The people from FreePress.net have created a letter campaign to be delivered to the Mayor of St. Paul, Chris Coleman, the RNC host committee and the local prosecuting attorneys. They hope to obtain at least 10,000 signatures in the next 24 hours.  The letter requests that all journalists be released immediately.  You can sign the letter by clicking here.

This is why I blog. I am trying to prevent just this sort of activity from becoming even more prolific than it has been. Our Constitution is more than just a "GD piece of paper" (GW Bush) and should be treated as such. We are American citizens and should be treated as such. If we do not speak up, they will assume we agree. If no one says stop, do you think it will stop?

ABC Reporter Aggressively Arrested at DNC

ABC reporter, Asa Eslocker was arrested in Denver while taking pictures of Senators, lobbyists and big donors at the DNC.  Notice how members of the press are treated and maybe you will understand my concern.  Our police are squaring off with the press and our decorated veterans. 

Watch a police officer shove ASA into traffic, across the street and then is joined by his thug buddies, one of whom grips his throat and then twists the producer's arm behind him to cuff him.

I miss serve and protect, I oppose intimidate and enslave.

Phillip Swagel Reassures?

Phillip Swagel, the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy speaking within about an hour and a half after the 6th concurrent month of job losses were announced. Pardon the commentary, it was the only copy I could find currently.

Q:"Does the economy need another stimulus package?"

A:"I-it seems, you know, it seems like that's, that's enough, uh, enough."

Monsanto - Controlling our Food

Bethany sent me a new documentary from "Controlling Our Food". I find it is a good companion video for "The Future of Food". The description on the Google Video page:

"On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television - a documentary that Americans won’t ever see. The gigantic bio-tech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years."

I have been following Monsanto's activities and watching the exchange of employees between the FDA and Monsanto for over 20 years. I think that this one company is one of the greatest threats to humanity at the present time.

Jason McElway - It'll Give You Tingles

This is the story of Jason McElway, a young man with autism at Greece Athena High School in Rochester, New York. He supported a basketball team and...well...you really must watch this!

This is one of the most inspirational and amazing videos I have seen or shared:

The game occurred February 16th, 2006.

Thanks to Melissa Gonzales for sharing this one.

Bush Claims More Powers Than King George III

According to Scoop from New Zealand,The Massachusetts School of Law issued a press release in which Constitutional scholar David Adler contends that George Bush has claimed more powers for himself than King George III was able to do.

“No executive in the history of the Anglo-American world since the Civil War in England in the 17th century has laid claim to such broad power,” said David Adler, a prolific author of articles on the U.S. Constitution. “George Bush has exceeded the claims of Oliver Cromwell who anointed himself Lord Protector of England.”

"Adler said, Bush has “claimed the authority to suspend the Geneva Convention, to terminate treaties, to seize American citizens from the streets to detain them indefinitely without benefit of legal counseling, without benefit of judicial review. He has ordered a domestic surveillance program which violates the statutory law of the United States as well as the Fourth Amendment.”"

You can read the entire article here.

No News...

Everybody Freeway Blog!!!

See...I told you it wasn't me.

...Alone.

Canada Bound

I'm off for another BC photo tour; my intention is to put a book out by Christmas. I just got my plane ticket for tomorrow morning and I leave the house before 6 am. I'm still not through packing, paying bills and washing dishes...but I will be.



I will return to the states on the 14th.

Ther Utterz.com Girls

Friday evening was a lot of fun. First, there was Amy's birthday, then the interviews in downtown Austin and the show at the Austin Figurative Gallery. I was stopped several times and asked for interviews. As I was in the middle of my whip workout each time, I didn't really give much of an interview to any of them.

The first was someone making a documentary about SXSW, the second said they wanted to interview me for a conservative blog (HA!) and the third was a very personable pair of interviewers from Utterz.com. I think it was the quickest of the interviews. You can click play below girls' picture or listen to it by clicking here and typing in the code 8891.

Stop FCC Media Consolidation

I have two previous posts with videos on this topic, you can check them out here and here.

Please send the FCC a message by encouraging your representative to co-sponsor the Resolution of Disapproval introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan.

When the FCC voted this December, it ignored nearly universal public opposition again, when the Senate voted to overturn similar rule changes. The FCC's decision to let Big Media get even bigger will erode localism, diminish minority ownership, decrease competition & journalistic diversity.

Consolidation means fewer perspectives and less news.

Please support the Resolution of Disapproval and encourage your representative to stand up to the FCC

Click here to find and write your representatives in Congress.