Ridge Says Was Pressured to Raise Terror Alert - Political News - FOXNews.com

Straight from the horse's mouth! -B

Ridge Says Was Pressured to Raise Terror Alert - Political News - FOXNews.com

RIP Geocities

This evening, I received an email from AT&T informing me that Geocities was closing. Here's the opening excerpt:

"Dear AT&T Yahoo! GeoCities customer,

We're writing to let you know that AT&T Yahoo! GeoCities, our free web site building service and community, is closing on October 26, 2009.

On October 26, 2009, your GeoCities site will no longer appear on the Web, and you will no longer be able to access your GeoCities account and files."

Now, I had, once, long ago, a geocities website. It was the mid-90's and the internet was still an untamed frontier, taking shape and forming its manifold identities. It felt cutting-edge and incredible to be able to have one's own website back then.

I remember mine had some very basic animated pictures I found by browsing around, and I used a neon green text over a black background. At the time, it seemed cool, though the sight of websites like that now strains my eyes. Internet technology and graphics have come a long way since then, and the new cutting-edge frontier is cloud computing and mega-bandwidths. I no longer hear the screech of the dial-up modem as it raped the phone line for only a few ounces of speed, and while I'll never miss that sound, the memories of those early days are still fond ones.

So it really is like the end of the era. The internet's birthing pains are largely past us, and it has grown into full adulthood as more and more people around the world gain easier access to it. Websites like Angelfire and Geocities, though, will always have a soft place in my heart. Their names will conjure up memories of a time when the digital west remained untamed, and the horizon held so much mystery.

RIP Geocities.

The Police State Takes Another PASS At Freedom

REAL ID by Any Other Name Stinks As Bad

by Becky Akers

During its decline from a republic to a democracy, lying Leviathan prattled about being a "government of, by, and for the people." But the beast increasingly forsakes that pretence as it continues sliding into tyranny.

One instance of the State’s new and brutal honesty came last fall when Congress bailed out billionaires despite our overwhelming opposition. Another around that same time saw the criminals running New York City overturn a law on term-limits that voters had twice upheld. More than ever, government is of, by and for Our Rulers.

And then there’s the Feds’ dogged quest for a national ID card. Four years ago, these bozos tried to turn your driver’s license into just such a monstrosity with their infamous REAL ID Act. This dictate required licenses to include "defined minimum data elements," most likely biometric identifiers such as fingerprints or retinal scans and RFID tracking chips. It would also make even more of our business contingent on the State’s whims: before we entered a courthouse or opened a bank account, among other activities, we’d have to produce our REAL ID for a bureaucrat’s approval – or rejection.

Congress passed this monumentally anti-constitutional legislation without even debating it, then deputized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to implement it. Reincarnated Nazi Michael Chertoff was Secretary of DHS; he spent much of his time – and millions of our taxes – trying to ram REAL ID down the nation’s throat.

All our money bought him was the biggest revolt against DC’s diktats since 1861. Departments of Motor Vehicles in many states vehemently objected to overhauling their systems just to please DHS; the governors of those states just as vehemently protested the enormous expense of said overhaul and waxed indignant about REAL ID’s invasions of privacy. If anyone’s gonna tyrannize Montanans or Mainers, by gum, it’ll be their local masters, not Washington’s overlords. Legislatures put teeth in the dissent as states passed resolutions and even laws against complying with REAL ID.

At this point, we might expect Feds who constantly bray about democracy, who eagerly slaughter their own serfs as well as foreign ones for its glory, to throw in the towel on a national ID. Have not the people spoken, indeed, shrieked, that they’ll have nothing to do with this abomination? But Our Rulers never weary in their evil-doing. Nor do they hesitate to show us exactly how stupid they think we are. And so a litter of senators introduced the "Providing for Additional Security in States' Identification Act of 2009" (PASS ID) last week. Essentially, they stripped the name "REAL ID" off the old bill, slapped a new title on it, and tweaked a few of the details.

Just as they did with REAL ID, the Feds insist that PASS ID is not a national ID – oh, my, no. So what if every American has a uniform card that he must constantly show to government’s goons? That’s not a national ID, you silly citizen, you! If you were as wise as our legislators, you’d realize that both REAL and PASS ID are simply driver’s licenses with "strong security standards." Or so say politicians who also assure us that they’re bossing this democracy according to the will of the people. True, REAL ID had some "troubling aspects": it would have forced states to link their databases, which "could provide one-stop shopping for identity thieves and the backbone for a national identification database." But "PASS ID addresses those privacy … concerns..." Thus do its sponsors hallucinate about the differences between two identical bills while figuring they’ve snowed us yet again.

PASS ID does depart from REAL ID in one important aspect: it bribes the states to cooperate with a whole lot more of our taxes. Remember the indignant governors, grousing about REAL ID’s violation of our rights? Surprise: that no longer troubles them a-tall. Indeed, members of the National Governors Association so pant to push their hot little hands more deeply into our pockets that they now support REAL–er, PASS ID.

PASS ID also thoughtfully eases the burden on DMVs. Bureaucrats there need not curtail their three-hour lunches nor keep their feet on their desks past 3:30 each afternoon as they bring their little fiefdoms into compliance. But you and I will still be jumping through REAL ID’s hoops as we seek to satisfy the DMV numbskull that our birth certificates are authentic and we live where the State’s records say we do. Of course, the approximately 423 documents that substantiate such claims already reside on various government computers, but unless you bring a copy with you for the numbskull, you’ll be walking rather than driving to work. Actually, you may still be walking even if you produce every single paper the numbskull demands: after paying PASS ID’s higher taxes, who’ll have money left for licenses that cost many multiples of their former price?

Naturally, Our Rulers have our best interests at heart as they impose this totalitarianism. They repeatedly cite "the 9/11 Commission's recommendation to enhance the security of driver's licenses" as though anyone other than the stooges on Leviathan’s payroll gives said Commission an iota of credibility. Heck, even some of the stooges damn the Commission, especially those it set up as fall guys for the Fed’s role that tragic day.

Our Rulers also aver that PASS ID "helps fight terrorism" despite experts’ frequent refutations. "Going back to 9-11," says Bruce Schneier, author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World, "every one of those terrorists had an ID. Some of them had forged IDs, some used their real name, and some of them got real IDs with a fake names [sic] by bribing a motor-vehicles clerk." Nor is this just one man’s opinion. International consensus notes the missing link between ID and security: "Harvey Mattinson, a consultant at the information technology arm of GCHQ [Government Communication Headquarters – ‘one of the three UK Intelligence Agencies’], said that the only real value of identity cards would be to help state bodies share information about people."

No wonder Leviathan obsesses over ID. "State bodies" not only "share information" about us, they also pin our names to our addresses so that we are easy to find and fine. The State’s usual motive for its crimes – money – explains its lust to identify us, too. Linda Lewis-Pickett, president and CEO of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, "think[s] each state agency has looked at DMVs as revenue generators – 'Come in and pay taxes and give us money.'" After we pay those taxes, the drivers' licenses and plates those DMVs dispense generate further revenue when officials track us to a billing address.

There’s a further benefit in matching names with citizens: it controls us and quashes dissent. Few patriots are brave enough to speak out against Leviathan’s evil when its lackeys can respond, "Papers, please." Perhaps that’s why the Constitution empowers government merely to count citizens but never to identify them – unless they vote in Congress (Art. I, Sec. 7) or run for the presidency (Art. II, Sec. 1). It is rulers, not us, who must identify themselves lest they wreak wickedness against us (Art. I, Sec. 7).

Which brings us to the author of the REAL ID Act, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI). None too happy that we’ve scrapped his legacy, this heavy-handed dunderhead thundered, "Maybe governors [who objected to REAL ID] should have been in the Capitol when we knew a plane was on its way to Washington wanting to kill a few thousand more people." Sensenbrenner also snarls that PASS ID, REAL ID’s twin even if it lacks his name on its legislation, sends us "right back to where we were on Sept. 10, 2001."

Would that it did.

June 26, 2009

Becky Akers [send her mail] writes primarily about the American Revolution.

Copyright © 2009 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

June 4, 1989

Twenty years ago today, in Tianenmen Square, thousands of student protesters were killed and injured. Soldiers fired upon unarmed citizens and ran over their bodies with tanks. Their attempt to bring reform and democracy to China should not be forgotten, even though the Chinese gov't continues to censor and silence any discussion of the incident. It also serves as a reminder to stand vigilant against the dull tyranny of establishment, and of what could happen if gov't power goes unchecked.

Free-speech zones. Suspension of habeas corpus. Domestic wire-tapping and spying. Presidents declaring wars. The detention of US citizens in military jails without criminal charges (2 that are known). The detention of foreign nationals in Guantanamo and other locations, with no due process and purportedly outside of any US or international legal system. Rendition. Sneak and Peek searches. The nebulous definition of 'domestic terrorism'.

All still in place under Obama, whose promises for change ring hollow. We are still in Iraq, with no sign of ever leaving. We still have the Patriot Act. The erosion of liberties is a gradual beast, but we still have an option to peacably restore our freedoms granted by the Constution and Bill of Rights, unlike China. Today, our biggest enemy is apathy. Tomorrow, it's the tanks in the public square.

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 2nd paragraph.

Everyone cares about liberty, but sentiment means nothing without action. To the Stepford Republicans and Zombie Democrats who would sooner silence such a sentiment when directed at their Bush or their Obama, are you prepared to call Thomas Jefferson anti-American?

Pandemic Alert!

This just in. There has been a recent outbreak of excessive, panicky newbreaks regarding the dreaded Swine Flu! If you are concerned you may be afflicted by this, watch for the following symptoms:

1) An increase in sales of newspapers, and in ratings for Cable Television News channels.

2) A sudden drop in coverage of Lindsay Lohan.

3) Everywhere you look, news updates on the dreaded new sickness! 1976 new!

Suggested treatment:

First, turn off your television and stop checking back at your favorite internet news feed for at least a few days. Second, remember the avian flu and every other chic 'threat' of the past couple decades. Third, arm yourself with the facts. For example: More people die from tuberculosis annually. Why isn't it making the news cycles? Also, the last time the government took action to combat the dread Swine Flu, more people died from the innoculations than from the illness itself!

Remember, the fear of swine flu is a symptom. The real disease is the news media and their bottom line.

This has been a public service announcement.

On Torture and the Constitution

****** made a comment about your note "Why, Obama, Why?":

What you may be too young to know, is that "torture" has been a round for a very long time. Bush didnt invent it. Its just that the media and far left sympathizers have brought it to your attention recently. You know the old adage.......kill one to spare millions? The people who may be "tortured" are the very ones willing to kill you and your family and friends. If they carried out their plan of death and destruction, would you still care if they had been tortured first? Regarding the V........I think it has to do with ones interpretation, of what can happen in times of war. I took that as, is times of war all these "rights" can be eliminated.I cant believe you care about the very people who blew away innocent people on 9-11. You cant possibly be that naive

---

I care about innocent people who have been detained and potentially tortured. I am not 'suddenly concerned' with this because of recent claims of 'far left sympathizers'. To call me naive from your narrow bubble is insulting. No professional or legal interpretation in the courts in 200 years has said that the government has the right to suspend citizens' rights. Many a president and congress has tried. Wilson tried it. Adams tried it. In fact, the Bush administration was very reluctant to put any of the alleged terrorists in custody through the court system because of the likelihood of the courts holding up these rights.

I am concerned with the rights and safety of those innocents rounded up with the terrorists, and of the precedent this sets for future circumstances. That is very different from 'caring about the 9/11 terrorists'. But since you bring that subject up: I think the sane and reasonable and especially Christian thing to do is to examine openly and honestly what caused the terrorists to carry out their despicable acts and why they hate the United States so much. Not so we can apologize or make excuses for them, but so we can prevent further attacks by attacking the problem at its roots.

Suicide attacks, contrary to being the sole domain of religious extremists, have more to do with the nationalist fervor of those carrying them out. A great number of suicide bombings were carried out by adherents to secular, communist and nationalist causes. Most of the 9/11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia, our supposed ally. None of the 9/11 terrorists came from Iraq, by the way. Most of these attacks are shown to be motivated not by the fact that we are predominantly a white or Christian nation, as some have argued. They are because these people resent US influence in other countries, what they see as war profiteering and a new wave of imperialism, which they had enough of when the Brits were doing it. And let's be honest, oil is a big reason why we've got our hands so deep into the honey pot of the middle east.

In fact, our involvement since the War on Terror began has actually had the opposite effect, bolstering the number of recruits for terror cells. Possibly because of all of the collatoral damage such a messy and difficult war has caused. I still think we should go after the terror cells, but to pretend that there aren't side effects is delusional. In many ways, it mirrors the complete failure that is our War on Drugs, which has allowed vast criminal empires to amass fortunes.

Let's also examine how the Patriot Act was made into law. Congress was given one draft the weekend before, and at the time of the vote the one being voted on was drastically different. They were given a document over 1000 pages long and absolutely no time to read it. That is not democracy. That is strong-arming legislation through that very likely would not have passed were they to take the time to read it. By the way, I don't blame Bush for that. I blame the Legislature for not doing their freaking job. An act, by the way, that could have still allowed various intelligence agencies to work together without allowing for the invasion of peoples' rights were it to be amended or replaced by something far less sinister.

And by claiming that you think the Constitution allows for suspension of rights in a time of war, you are saying that putting Japanese Americans in internment camps was the right thing to do. You are saying that arresting anti-war protesters during WW1 was the right thing to do. In fact, if our current far-left government decided that arch-conservatives and anyone who listens to Rush Limbaugh were seditionists in a time of war, that he should be able to arrest you and keep you locked up until this War on Terror is won. Damn, don't you wish you had the legal system to avail yourself of? Oh well, you willingly gave up that right. Congratulations. I hope you enjoy simulated drowning.

Why, Obama, Why?

What the hell is going on?

Obama promised transparency and accountability. He seemed to hold the Bush Administration's wiretapping and elements of the Patriot Act in the same regard that I did: they were abhorrent and evil.

So why did he renew the Patriot Act? Why is he not only defending, but extending, the wiretapping programs? Sovereign Immunity? What the fuck happened to checks and balances against power?

Now, there are a lot of other issues and concerns to be had right now, but I want to focus on this one. I've railed against the shrinking of our freedoms that happened under Bush. Originally, I thought I was fighting against a wrong-minded Republican initiative, but over the years... well, it appears the Democrats are just as inclined to permit this evil as the Republicans were... which begs the question, what is either party worth other than a swift flush and a lighting of a match?

Bush squandered his popular support after 9/11. Obama appears to be doing the same thing. I think it's time to start mobilizing, but instead of bouncing back and forth between these two evil management teams, maybe we can start to shift the power back to the people. My suggestion? Vote for your favorite third party choice and pass it on. It's time to destroy this bi-partisan (read: uni-partisan, as they both support the same bullshit bureaucracy) monopoly.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/obama-doj-worse-than-bush

That is, of course, assuming you actually think your liberty is something worth holding on to. This is not the left vs. the right, that's a wrong-headed illusion. This is the people vs. the entrenched power structure.

Use your vote while it's still more effective than a bullet.