Interested in the background to this article? Need sources for the assertions? Email Leland Lehrman leland.lehrman@gmail.com
US Imperialism, Obamamania Over
Essay by Leland Lehrman
July 31, 2008
There's still lots of talk about war with Iran. US and Israeli bigwigs hop the pond every week trying to reassure each other that they are still in control. But they're not. Russia just sealed the deal for Turkmen gas and will control the vast majority of Caspian Basin Resources as a result. The best efforts of Special Operations Command patsies to kill any peasants standing in the way of the banking cartel's oil major front companies have failed. The "Grand Chessboard" strategy of Zbigniew Brzezinski has ended in checkmate, but Brzezinski's acolyte Obama is still making lunatic noises about sending more troops to Afghanistan and even Pakistan in support of that equally illegitimate war.
Two brigades Obama wants, 7,000 troops. Obama supporters: are you ready for wedding party blood on your hands from the upcoming "anti- terrorist" operations under Obama's surge? Hell, you should know by now that anyone who uses the words "War on Terror" together in support of US military policy anywhere is either lying, crazy, deluded, stupid, uninformed or an imperialist. Not exactly presidential material, in other words. 911 Was an Inside Job. The Obama campaign is just Kool Aid for the disaffected and disempowered, he's acid for your political brain. And the results will be the same.
Fortunately, the American people have come to their senses in time and realize that they don't want war with those nations any more than every other defeated imperialist nation's people did. The Afghans will win, make no mistake about it. They didn't do anything in the first place except give the pipeline contract to someone other than the US (Bridas Corporation, Argentina). It is only a matter of time, but they will win. You can't train even American soldiers to colonise places as inhospitable as Afghanistan. Those nations belong to the people who live there, and they will have to work out their religious, political, agricultural and drug problems on their own, which is the way it should be. Thousands of years of imperial meddling and what do you expect? Some type of Polynesian utopia?
You don't want to live under Sharia law? Fine, don't go there, but you know what, we've got plenty of work to do in our own backyard. How's life under complete lawlessness, where the US Congress passes a law that grants the Bush Administration immunity from prosecution for war crimes? Welcome to America. And you think I'm going to give this group of criminals the moral imperative to wander the Earth imposing their criminal syndicate on everyone else. Give me a break. Thanks to Obama's vote on FISA, the NSA has (unconstitutional but) "legal" cover to read this email too. What else do I get with my hope and change?
Obama is the same type of morally bankrupt imperialist that Bush is, only stupider and even more dangerous because he has all the desperate, brainwashed leftwing types eating out of his "above it all" hand. Boy will it be sad to watch the faces of despair when the Obama sellout becomes apparent even to the lemming legions. Wake Up! You've got better things to do than give legitimacy to a stealth imperialist with left-cover.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
ESSAY: US Imperialism, Obamamania Over - Alleluia
Bob Barr criticizes media, failure of candidates to present us with a VP candidate
Dear Melyssa,
Did you notice the top stories from the campaign trail yesterday?
Campaigning for the Presidency leaves me little time to watch much in the way of news coverage but a couple of short glances once again confirms that voters have two poor choices at the top and that news coverage is pathetic.
First, if there is one story that the media is missing BIG TIME, and voters should be outraged at this, is the fact that we are down to 96 days before the election and in some states early and absentee voting begins in nine weeks, and neither candidate has told us who is going to be his running mate!
The second most powerful man in the free world is the Vice President of the United States. Given that power and the even more scary prospect (given the age of one of the candidates and the inexperience of the other) that the next Vice President could one day be President, don't you think voters have a need to know who Senators McCain and Obama think that person should be? Now we hear that another two or even three weeks may pass before we know their choices. The average American spends more time car shopping before a purchase and probably makes a better choice than how they will select the second most powerful person on earth.
It has been two months since the day when my running mate, Nevada businessman Wayne Allyn Root, was made known. The opportunity for voters to get to him, his record of accomplishment and his character has been considerable. Meanwhile, voters wait to see who Senator McCain can lure on to his losing bandwagon, and who "Citizen of the World" Obama will grudgingly name his crown prince.
The second news story was about the latest McCain and Obama campaign ads. Like virtually everything else they have said, they were in agreement. Early in the day McCain charged Obama with arrogance and Obama's negative response was to say that McCain was running a negative campaign.
So, please, tell us something we don't know! The bigger fact is that NEITHER campaign is talking about the important issues that affect the lives of Americans. Neither has a real plan that would result in lower energy costs. Neither is going to do anything about $4 a gallon gasoline, the inflation that looms ahead as well as the overall weakening of our economy. Neither has a short term - much less long term - solution to the problems of global terrorism and the combat that is killing American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The American voters don't get a chance to learn about the issues and they will only have a few short days to get to know who might become the second most powerful person on earth.
Finally, while we may not know where Senator McCain stands on many issues, compliments of CNN, we do know that he stands in a pair of $500 Italian made designer shoes. How absurd is this? While I don't pay $500 for my shoes, I have to think this is the biggest waste of news coverage ever. CNN spends more time talking about Senator McCain's fashion than about my campaign!
As I try to bring these points to media and public attention, it is difficult. Perhaps because my campaign represents a threat to the status quo, there is a clear effort to block my access to the public through the media. If you agree that where we stand on the issues is more important than the shoes that John McCain stands in, then I ask you to do three things.
FIRST: Please use your influence to spread the word that voters deserve to know NOW who Senators McCain and Obama think the second most powerful man in the world should be in 2009. And while you are at it, maybe you could get across the point that the media should spend more time covering my campaign and less about the shoes, lapel pins and clothes my opponents wear. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, post a blog on the Internet or call in to a talk radio show. (Better yet, do all three!)
SECOND: Help me spread the word. Please forward this email to friends and family across the nation. Your endorsement means more than 100 newspaper articles.
THIRD: This week the McCain and Obama campaigns spent more than a million dollars producing negative ads and buying TV commercial time to attack each other over which is the more arrogant candidate and which is the most negative. (For me, I think it was a tie.) Please consider a gift today to help us print brochures and mailers that we must get out to let people know where I stand on all of the many important issues of this campaign.
Your gift of $25 will pay for more than 400 brochures. $100 pays for 1,000 bumper stickers. $250 will pay our phone bills for a week so that volunteers in the headquarters can call voters.
Not one cent will be spent on shoes or personal attack ads. I promise.
Thanks for your consideration and support.
Sincerely,
Bob Barr
Horning for Governor Picnic --this Saturday
The Horning-Kelly ‘08 Campaign Committee Meeting/ Pitch In is this coming weekend, Saturday August 2 at 10am at Sahm Park under the shelter.
If you’d like to become part of the force for liberty and justice, if you’d like to defend Rule of Law and oppose Rule of Tyrants, then join us!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
FDIC blames bloggers, mean while Feds have just $267 billion cash in the vaults, $57 billion in reserves to guarantee $4 trillion in deposits
SABER-RATTLING AT THE FDIC
Article excerpt by Mike Whitney
An article in the San Francisco Business Times said that the FDIC is worried about the reporting on Internet blogs. They'd rather keep banking system's troubles out of the news. The publicity just further undermines the publics confidence and spreads fear. Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., summed it up like this after the run on Indymac:
"The blogs were a bit out of control. We're very mindful of the media coverage and blogs in controlling misinformation. All I can say is were going to continue to stay on top of it. The misinformation that came out over the weekend fed a lot of depositors' fears."
Is that a threat? The cure for a failed banking system is adequate capital and prudent oversight not threats to critics of the system. That's balderdash. Commissar Blair apparently believes that bloggers should be treated the same way as journalists in Iraq, who, if they veer ever so slightly from the Pentagon's "the surge is a great triumph" script, find themselves on the smoky end of an M-16 at some unmarked checkpoint outside Baquba.
If Blair wants people to take her seriously, she should stop the paramilitary-type mothballing operations to shut down banks and tell the American people the truth about what is going on. The banking system is busted; Blair knows that as well as anyone. Now its time for someone to accept the mantle of leadership, step up to the microphone and tell the public what they really need to know:
"My fellow citizens, we are embroiled in the greatest financial crisis our nation has ever faced and we will have to take emergency action to keep the entire system from melting down."
How hard is that? But it won't happen, because everyone in the administration has an aversion to telling the truth; it's like the Devil and Holy Water. Besides, its easier to blame the bloggers, that harmless subspecies that spend long hours pecking away at their keyboards in their windowless 5' by 7' hovels.
Bloggers aren't the problem; the problem is a system that's collapsing from decades of abusive credit expansion creation and insufficient capital. Now everyone is going to pay for the excesses of the few.
As the bank-runs increase, the FDIC will be forced to admit the truth, that they don't have the resources to deal with a problem this big. Currently, the FDIC has only $53 billion in reserves to guarantee $4 trillion in total bank deposits. The entire system has a mere $267 billion cash in the vaults. What a shabby way to run a banking system. Where's the money going to come from when depositors start withdrawing their savings? How will the FDIC deal with the ongoing deleveraging in the market which is forcing more and more investors move into cash?
No one knows. All we get is more prevaricating; more smoke and mirrors, Bush assures us that "Our capital markets are functioning efficiently and effectively." Nonsense. The markets are cratering and the banks are toast. A blind man can see it. The FDIC is listing and Blair knows it. Bush needs to cut the gibberish and tell the American people the truth so they can prepare for the hard times ahead.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
"I don't question what God does." : Aide to U.S. Senator Jim Webb found dead
Read the details if you are curious.
"Who do you think you are? A Kennedy? "
Kudos to Mayor Ballard in a difficult time
As usual Abdul, morning talk show host at WXNT, is on top of it with his reporting of the city's shortfall of money to meet the budget. Looks like we're going to have to borrow...again! Thanks Mayor Peterson. Although to be fair, a reader did mention that Peterson also faced shortfalls when he became Mayor and blamed Goldsmith.
The question is will Mayor Ballard, the man we all worked so hard for, remain open and accountable to the people when the big law firms (and the CIB) obviously exert a great deal of manipulation over his direction and decisions.
The city, even after initial cuts Ballard made, is still $150 million short. Over on Abdul's blog he asks citizens what they are willing to give up and, as usual, thrifty fans of the show came up with many good answers.
I particularly like this response from BigDawg65 over at Abdul's blog Indiana Barrister:
My quick thoughts. I preface this by the fact I no longer live in Marion county but still own property there and spend as much time there as I can. I love Indy! First township government needs to be consolidated in Marion County and all over the state for that matter. It’s outdated and costs a fortune. And all township property sold. Then they have to look at city and county government and make the tough cuts in payrolls. Combine job duties where you can, give one person a 25% raise and cut the other position. We have to do it in business everyday to survive. We are all doing more then we were in the past. What about selling Marion County Health and Hospital to a private entity. Not a puplic/private but a sale of the management company and long term leases on the buildings? Someone needs to take a long look at health and hospital as I doubt most folks in Marion county know that they the taxpayers own and operate nursing homes all over the state. Do they need to spend tax money on an enterprise that is taken care of by business’s all over the state? Cut it loose. Then they need to cap the tax exempt status of all not for profits in Marion County at $5 million in real estate. They then pay full property taxes on all value over $5 million and exclude pools, golf courses and other recreation facilites owned by the not for profits. You also have to look at every line item of the budget and make tough calls. I have not looked at the budget yet but those are some options off the top of my head. Then if the money is still not there then to even the playing field let’s make 465 a toll road like Orlando has. But all Marion county residents get one of those free electronic pass’s while all outside the county have to pay the fee’s. I am sure there are all kinds of issues there..but an idea that could shore up the budget and force funding for transit.
Peace
Who Threatens You Most: The President, Congress, Fed--Or Iran?
I saw this article today on Strike The Root by Douglas Herman and thought of all of you. Last I checked Iran never did a damned thing to me. A long time ago in the 1970's, Iran held some of our people against their will, which is what we do in Gitmo to some of their people. I say that makes us even. We can have nukes, so why can't Iran?
I can however, think of a lot of things my own government is doing to hurt my life that I don't like and don't have a choice about. The first thing that comes to mind is forcing me and my fellow Americans to turn over our wages to bailout Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. So far I have not found a single person who wanted our tax dollars to bailout immoral, banking rogues and greedy homebuyers who wanted something for nothing.
--Melyssa for HFFT
Some day in the not-too-distant future, someone will pen a book called Who Wrecked America ? If the book is honest, fingers will be pointed at the crooks and liars in Washington DC and Wall Street, at lobbyists (pimps) and Congressmen (whores), at bankers and war toy makers, at AIPAC and PNAC, at presidents, executives and generals.
Doubtful that anyone will conclude that Iran had much to do with the destruction of America . Although today Iran remains in the gunsights of the master criminals in DC, that distant land does less damage to America than a handful of high American officials. Truthfully, I feel more threatened by Bush and Bolton , by Barack and Barak, by McCain and Cheney and Pelosi, than anyone in Iran .
Nukes or no nukes, Iran threatens me less than the Fed, Congress, the US media or the president.
When the history of the late, great nation known as America is written, our own homegrown jackals will be rightly blamed for the destruction. Forgotten will be the nineteen G-string jihadists with their Korans and boxcutters. If the history books are honest and the historians adroit, the blame will lie less with the Taliban and more with the Ivy League educated in their tailored suits and power ties.
Who knew the first US president with an MBA could wield so much destructive power? Maybe an MBA stands for Master of Bankrupting America. Certainly someone should revoke the charter of the university that bestowed an MBA on George W. Bush.
More to blame than any US president, Congress sanctions, and has always permitted, the wholesale destruction of the nation. Perhaps the rich remain loyal to the rich alone. Indeed, a majority of Americans do not even know that Congress allowed the creation of the Federal Reserve. Congress votes to allow US presidents wholesale destructive powers. Congress writes the checks that allow worldwide US imperialism, funding dictators, toppling democracies, while bankrupting America . Congress shuns its sworn duty, to protect and preserve the Constitution and the country, every step of the way. Indeed, as I write this, Congress is weighing more war power measures, called House Resolution 362, giving the president even more destructive powers. Even while America collapses like WTC-7, Congress will find ways to add to the rubble pile. As Doug Thompson wrote years ago: "Nobody's life, liberty or property is safe while Congress is in session."
The American media certainly threatens me far more than Iran . Covert threat rather than overt. By continuously spreading false propaganda for a series of profitable yet fraudulent wars, the US mainstream media does as much or more to wreck this country than any US president. Pundits lament that fewer Americans read the newspaper anymore. Critic Rick Shenkman calls us woodenheaded or boneheaded for our ignorance but fails to note a far more serious form of American ignorance called subtle brainwashing. By selectively reporting and slanting the "news," the corporate-owned US media is no different than a cabal of mullahs bent on controlling the behavior and opinion of the populace.
Georges Santana wrote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." To that I would add, those who profit from the past and present are determined to control the future. Consider: This so-called gas shortage and the collective short-sightedness of our so-called leaders seems altogether too planned, too convenient. Ask yourself this question: In the wake of another attack, provocation or terror strike, would the American people be more or less controllable without a steady supply of gas? Would the American people be more or less willing and able to assemble? Would they have the means or money to drive to Washington DC to protest? Without a steady supply of gasoline, and thus without food, without work, would the American people be MORE OR LESS at the mercy of their leaders to provide it?
Those who threaten my health or well-being, endangering those I love and destroying both law and land, pretend to act for my benefit. THEY DO NOT. I never voted for them, nor do I support them in any way in their duplicitous and diabolical agenda.
Monday, July 28, 2008
From boudoir to office...a nation illegally wired for sound
When done there, be sure to check out http://www.internetweekly.org/
Sunday, July 27, 2008
MSM interviews heroic astronaut who blows lid off aliens on earth
The Kole Hard Facts blog is good reading
If you haven't looked at KOLE HARD FACTS recently, you should. Yesterday the blog published an account of IPS' record of being the worst school system in the country and suggested the whole school system is scraped. Remember, your property tax dollars collected in violation of Article 8 of the Indiana Constitution pay for this travesty in the name of education.
IPS actually had the nerve to ask already struggling taxpayers for more money...like that will fix it.
Afghans are starving because of U.S. intervention and "democracy"
Afghans Dying From Bombs,
Starving From Hunger
Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, PhD
7-26-8- "He came from school asked me, "mother what can I eat, I am hungry". I had nothing for him. I told him "son I have no food for you. I can only boil some grass for you to eat." My son shook his head and said "I am no longer hungry." He went to his room. Some minutes passed he didn't come out. I went to the room to see what he was doing. I will never forget what I saw. I saw my sweet little boy hanged himself from the sealing. He hanged himself because he could no longer remain hungry." (A Mother from Faryab province, 2008)
- This mother is one of many enjoying the fruits of "democracy" in Afghanistan. There are thousands starving of hunger while others commit suicide. The people that commit suicide fall in two categories. The first category includes parents that commit suicide not to see the death of their own children, while the second category includes children who could not endure hunger and commit suicide.
- Another example of this type of a tragedy:
- "We (the children) didn't eat for a number of days. Our parents tried to get us whatever they could find but all of their efforts did not produce enough for us to eat. In the morning, when we woke up very hungry, we looked for our parents. We called their names but they did not respond. We walked to the kitchen where both of our parents had taken poison and committed suicide. They committed suicide because they didn't want to see us starve to death." (Children in Badakhshan, 2008)
- Afghanistan has become a disaster beyond imagination. The invasion by the US has not only condemned the population to daily death and destruction, but it has created conditions that perpetuated death and misery on daily basis. The US-NATO bombing in the south, southwestern, and eastern Afghanistan murder civilians in villages and towns while those that remain alive are forced to abandon their villages due to fear of death and loss of dignity. The internally displaced come to large cities with the hope to find something to eat. However, they come to large cities only to be homeless and face starvation.
- To fully understand the magnitude of this disaster, it is instructive to compare salary of a government employee to the price of flour in cities. A government employee in Afghanistan earns about $60 a month while a sack of flour supporting a family of five costs $70; hence, a government employee can not even afford dry bread. Now, a family of five that has no earning could not possibly afford basic sustenance instead face starvation. Consequently, families that have no earning have to starve to death or sell their children in order for the remaining of their children to survive. Especially, widows of those families that are displaced internally due to the US-NATO bombing campaigns sit near major streets begging to raise some money for bread but only to return empty handed to their hungry children in makeshift tents littered major cities all over Afghanistan. For example, I came across an older lady sitting by the side of the road in Kabul in May 2008 and I asked her what she was doing by the side of the road and whether she had any male member of the family to earn her living, she replied:
- "My husband and son were killed by the American bombs in Helmand province and I brought my daughter in law and grandchildren to Kabul since radio programs were talking about humanitarian programs but we found none and are stranded begging to survive. My granddaughter age 7 starved to death last week. I hate these people."
- I am going to Afghanistan in two weeks hoping to help few of these poor souls. I am attempting to raise funds for flour, tents and blankets in order to help a few of these victims. The government of the US has brought disaster, pain and death to them under the guise of democracy.
- If any of you good people wish to help these poor souls, please donate at the following website: www.afghanistanafterdemocracy.com or you may send it to the following address:
- Dr Miraki
- 5347 North Ravenswood Avenue
- Chicago, IL 60640 USA
- Some of you have helped in the past and I thank you for that, however, the needs of the people of Afghanistan are much more acute and we need substantial funds to purchase flour, tents and blankets. I thank you in advance on behalf of the many victims in Afghanistan.
- Sincerely,
- Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, PhD
- mdmiraki@ameritech.net
- www.afghanistanafterdemocracy.com
Two more banks failed...more to come
Two more U.S. banks failed and there are still many, many more to come. The Feds will cover depositors assets stored in the bank up to $100,000. Every time the Fed prints more money, they drive up inflation more.
Urgent you fax your views regarding HR 3221 to our Senators NOW !
Please take time today to fax Senators Bayh and Lugar your adamant demand that they are to vote "NO" to HR3221.
Not sure how? Try this link. And if you are a FairTax supporter, please let them know the FairTax is urgently needed to save America. We need to be dismantling the IRS, not granting it greater power and bigger microscopes into our personal affairs.
Again, here's an explanation of the HR 3221 from Andy Horning:
In six hundred pages, you could easily fit the USA Constitution, the Indiana Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and my favorite Robert Heinlein novel.
What’s in all those pages that will be signed into law?
Well, a lot; and none of it is good.
For instance, all credit card transactions will thenceforth be reported to the IRS. Why? Because nobody will stop this.
The national debt ceiling will be increased up to 10.6 trillion dollars. Why? Because nobody will stop this.
Those quasi-government-agency/bad-
Friday, July 25, 2008
Did you hear back from your county treasurer or assessor with a refund for the property tax illegally collected from you?
It has been about eight long months since some homeowners in Indiana filed a legal request for a refund for the portion of property tax illegally collected from them by their local governments. The part the politicians are illegally billing to you is the portion used to pay the common school fund which is about half of your property tax bill. They are in direct violation of Article 8 of the Indiana Constitution.
Don't worry that our refund requests might bankrupt the state of Indiana because you must know that our politicians can surely get a federal bailout such like the greedy and corrupt thieves behind Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae did today.
We've asked around and no one that we know who has filed one of these requests has heard a peep from a government official. (Like we're surprised)
If you filed the request and would be open to talking with the press about hearing nothing back for your LEGAL REQUEST FOR A REFUND, then email HFFT.
Bailout bill also requires all credit card transactions to go through IRS
I hope you all will start listening to Andy Horning who is running for governor. How many of you know what is buried in the mortgage bailout bill? I didn't until I read Andy's WE DECLARE blog today. This can be potentially devastating for innocent ebay sellers trying to sell off crap from their attic for cash to pay their property tax bills. The last thing citizens need is more IRS control in our lives. The IRS is an illegal corrupt organization authorized and run by thugs. It has never been authorized by Congress or the American people. There is absolutely no law requiring us to file or pay income tax. Don't believe me? Then watch this short video that includes an interview with Sheldon Cohen, the IRS' corporate counsel and former IRS commissioner...the smug thief who wrote the damned code.
--Melyssa for HFFT
FROM ANDY HORNING:
It only takes about twenty minutes (maybe an hour if you’ve never read a constitution before) to read the whole USA Constitution, archaic syntax and all. It’s pretty short. The Indiana Constitution is much longer. With my (not so brief) comments, a Table of Contents and an Index, it comes out to 42 pages. It’s not like reading a novel, but it’s still readable in a single sitting.
HR 3221, or the deceitfully named “the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008,” which passed through the House of Traitors yesterday, and is on the way to the Traitors’ Senate for a vote tomorrow, is about 600 pages long.
In six hundred pages, you could easily fit the USA Constitution, the Indiana Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and my favorite Robert Heinlein novel.
What’s in all those pages that will be signed into law?
Well, a lot; and none of it is good.
For instance, all credit card transactions will thenceforth be reported to the IRS. Why? Because nobody will stop this.
The national debt ceiling will be increased up to 10.6 trillion dollars. Why? Because nobody will stop this.
Those quasi-government-agency/bad-ideas-badly-executed-by-corrupt-millionaires, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get bailout provisions, of course; but the bill contains no help at all for the millions of Americans actually harmed by all this crazy spending, debt and bureaucratic tomfoolery. Why? Because nobody will stop this, and nobody but liberty zealots like me will even read it.
What really cuts to the quick is that, chances are good, after all this madness slams home, most voters will still trudge (their cars will be out of gas) in tattered clothes, unemployed but still loyal to the party machines, into voting booths in November and do what they have always done. Why?
I haven’t the foggiest idea.
Listen to the radio interview with Dr. Mitchell, astronaut who says alien beings are visiting earth
You need to hear Dr. Mitchell's interview on british radio. Word is that WXNT's Abdul is planning a one hour segment next week on extra-terristial visitation. The government is preparing for disclosure.
LISTEN TO DR. MITCHELL'S INTERVIEW
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Unrelated topic: Edgar Mitchell, the 77 year old former NASA moonwalking astronaut admits U.S. contact with alien beings
So far this year several surprising events have happened: The UK opened its UFO files, Denver city council is considering adopting an official contact protocol, and the Pope says it is 'ok' to believe in aliens. All of these stories, including today's story of the Mitchell interview, were headlined on the Drudge Report.
Today's news story is the most terrific of all for it comes from a former astronaut and discusses not only UFO's, but actual alien contact that was covered up. The radio interview with Edgar Mitchell will be made available. --Melyssa for HFFT
UFO Disclosure from Astronaut Edgar Mitchell
Last night was another ground breaking testimony from Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell on Kerrang Radio. During the interview Dr. Mitchell further elaborated on previous statements about extraterrestrial life in the universe and possible full disclosure in the near future.
Note From The Interview : By "UFO REALITY" from ATS
Edgar Mitchell says there IS life in the Universe.
He says we have been visited, and that UFOs have been covered up by the government for a long time.
The host almost has a stroke during the interview he's so shocked.
Edgar says it is a real phenomena.
He says he's been inside military circles and they know we've been visited and talk about it behind closed doors.
He says he's been involved in certain research committees and knows people who know the real story.
There is quite a bit of contact going on.
The Roswell crash was real.
Doesn't know if Disclosure will be this year or not...
Public acceptance is increasing.
Not all UFOs are of ET origin.
Some are home-grown.
But some are ET crafts.
He's not concerned about his safety talking about it openly anymore.
Alien intent is not hostile.
Some others involved in the Moon landing also know the truth.
The host made the point that this is the first time Edgar has stated so clearly that ET life exists and UFOs are real.
He's hinted at it, but this is the first time ever...
Well to add fuel to the conspiracy's what you would think would be ground breaking news world wide has resulted in links via google with error codes "funny that" ... but I do believe that Kerrang are going to replay the interview this week HERE
For more information here are some previous Interviews with Edgar Mitchell
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=CtUe8f9L0_o
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1fTLzrIU_BU&feature=related
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_8jiSFNmTms&feature=related
Andy Horning clarifies July 4th protest in Ft. Wayne's Journal Gazette
More being protested than property taxes
Regarding the editorial,
“Hold the tax ‘fixes’ ” (July 8): There was no “property tax protest” on July Fourth.
It’s true enough that some people (not enough) are still mad about unconstitutional property taxes. This may have motivated about five of the 50 who showed up on the Governor’s Mansion lawn in the pouring rain. But tax policy was never billed as any part of the purpose of this year’s Independence Day protest. In fact, in all five news releases, two radio spots and dozens of e-mails and Internet postings related to this event, I specifically insisted that we were protesting our politicians’ defiance of state and federal constitutions, and not just a specific tax policy. Politicians’ illegal abuse of power is what created our current problems with debt, spending, education, prices, jobs and, OK, property taxes. Politicians are breaking crucial, protective laws in other words, and we were protesting lawless lawmakers, or what I call anarchy.
The disease is ungoverned government. That’s what we were protesting. It’s wrong to report just one symptom such as property tax when that wasn’t the core issue last year either. Last summer’s popular “Tea Party” protests that followed were solely about property tax. And yes, I first advocated constitutionally eliminating property tax back in 1998 and haven’t changed my tune on that subject. But I never had anything to do with a “property tax protest.”
We have much more serious threats to our life, liberty and property.
While the rest of us are tightening our belts and surrendering our rights to keep them fed and happy, our politicians are gorging themselves on money and power with no end but total collapse in sight. It is of course your choice what you want to say about what really happened on July Fourth. It’s your paper. But I hope you offer me the opportunity to set things right.
Constitutions are the laws that protect us from politicians. Politicians, by their nature, break those laws when we let them. It’s time we say “whoa” and end the anarchy.
Our protest was really just one, simple, basic plea: It’s time for politicians to honor their oaths of office and obey written laws, as written. If you’d like to read those laws, they’re all posted at my campaign Web site, http://www.horningforgovernor.com/
ANDY HORNING Freedom
Friday deadline for property tax assessment appeal
Indianapolis - Marion County homeowners have until Friday to appeal the latest property tax assessment.
Reconciliation bills which are the final installment of 2007 property taxes were sent out last month.
Taxpayers may find information about their assessment by using this tool. There is an additional tool available here, which helps taxpayers see how other properties were affected by the reassessment. General information about assessments and property taxes can be found here.
Special relief available to property owners who have suffered losses from disasters. To apply for a reassessment after a disaster, taxpayers should file Form 137R with the county assessor. That form is available at here. More information about the treatment of disaster petitions is available from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance here.
How to appeal
To appeal your assessment, you must file a notice in writing with your township or county assessor by July 25, 2008. The notice of appeal must include: (1) the name of the taxpayer, (2) the address and parcel or key number of the property, and (3) the address and telephone number of the taxpayer. Appeal notices may be mailed to your township assessor, or to the Marion County Assessor, 200 E Washington St Ste 1121, Indianapolis IN 46204-3319, (317)-327-4907. Taxpayers wishing to appeal more than one parcel must file a separate appeal for each property.
Information on the valuation of your property and a copy of the property record card can be obtained from your Township Assessor. Questions about change of address, ownership, or how your assessed value is determined should be directed to your township assessor. Township Assessors' addresses can be found at www.indygov.org/assessors. Telephone numbers for those township offices are:
Center Twp. - 327-4698
Lawrence Twp. - 547-8625
Warren Twp. - 327-8888
Decatur Twp. - 856-2230
Perry Twp. - 788-4833
Washington Twp. - 327-4821
Franklin Twp. - 327-4191
Pike Twp. - 327-3920
Wayne Twp. - 273-4130
Before you decide to appeal, you should remember that you are entitled to challenge the assessed value of your property, but a challenge to the other components that make up your tax bill, such as the tax rate, local spending, or how much of your tax bill is reduced by state funds, will not be considered.
Please compare the assessed value of your property to what you estimate your property would have sold for on January 1, 2005. If your estimate is similar to your total assessed value, your property is accurately and equitably assessed and an appeal may not be successful. However, if your estimate is below the total assessed value, your property may be assessed too high and you may wish to appeal.
Indiana law does not require a taxpayer to submit an appraisal or any other documentary evidence in order to appeal the assessment. Taxpayers are encouraged, however, to present any form of evidence that will show the value of the appealed property.
Acceptable examples are:
(1) A sale of the subject property adjusted to the valuation date.
(2) A listing for sale of the subject property.
(3) Sales of comparable properties that the taxpayer can demonstrate the similarity between the appealed property and the comparable properties.
(4) An appraisal, either done for the appeal or for some other purpose, trended to the appropriate valuation date.
(5) Income and expense information if the property is an investment. (NOTE: This information will be required for any property that is income producing).
The above list is not limiting; there may be other types of evidence.
Your appeal will first be considered by the assessing official who determined the value of your property. If you and the assessing official are able to reach an agreement, the agreed value will be the new assessment. If you do not agree with the assessing official, the case will be scheduled for a hearing before a hearing examiner, who will make a recommendation to the Property Tax Assessment
Board of Appeals.
You have the right to challenge any clerical or mathematical errors in your assessment.
If you believe a mathematical or clerical error occurred that affects your taxes, you may seek a correction. This process is different than an appeal of your assessed value, and applies only to the following errors:
(1) The description of the real property was in error.
(2) The assessment was against the wrong person.
(3) Taxes on the same property were charged more than one (1) time in the same year.
(4) There was a mathematical error in computing the taxes or penalties on the taxes.
(5) There was an error in carrying delinquent taxes forward from one (1) tax duplicate to another.
(6) The taxes, as a matter of law, were illegal.
(7) There was a mathematical error in computing an assessment.
(8) Through an error of omission by any state or county officer, the taxpayer was not given credit for an exemption or deduction permitted by law.
To demand a correction of error, you must file Form 133 (Form 133). If the error encompasses multiple years, the form may be used to correct up to (3) years. Once the correction is made you may file a Form 17T to apply for a refund of property tax, if one is due. If the correction is not made, you may present the issue to the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals.
You may appeal any decision of the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals.
The determination of the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals will be sent to the taxpayer. A taxpayer who disagrees with the determination may request a review by the Indiana Board of Tax Review by filing a Form 131 (Form 131) with the Indiana Board of Tax Review within 45 days of receipt of the determination.
Once the Indiana Board of Tax Review gives notice of its determination, the taxpayer may seek a review by the Tax Court by petitioning the court with 45 days of the determination. A copy of the appeal should be filed with the Attorney General and the County Assessor in the county in which the property is located.
Contact the assessor's office at:
Marion County Assessor
Greg Bowes
200 E WASHINGTON ST STE 1121
INDIANAPOLIS IN 46204-3319
317-327-4907
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Let the Feds' system fail! NO MORE BAILOUTS!
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE FED RUNS OUT OF $$$ ?
Financial sector statements dont add up, FDIC reserves pounded hard from IndyMac debacle, bailouts will soon come at the expense of the consumer, bond market watch, realities of a debtor nation, financial institutions given protection from shorting
So far this week we saw Wachovia get socked for an $8.86 billion loss with a layoff announcement of 10,750 employees, while Washington Mutual got hammered for a $3.3 billion loss and increased its beleaguered loan-loss reserves by $3.74 billion to $8.46 billion as it announced expense cuts and asset sales. This is nothing. This is just the beginning. This is just window dressing to protect incumbents. Together with the science fiction and fantasy we got last week from the banking sector, these latest financial statements from the banking sector should receive a Nebula Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Gene Roddenberry could not have dreamt up financial statements that were more phantasmagoric.
All these bank losses, as terrible as they are even in their understated amounts, are pathological accounting lies aimed at keeping the sheople from going ballistic on the incumbent scum-bags in Congress so that these corrupt reprobates and sociopaths can continue in office and maintain their rape, pillage and slaughter of the sheople of the US unabated on behalf of their evil, malevolent and rapacious Illuminist masters.
Read the rest of the article from International Forecaster.
If you can stand the arrogance...
COCKTAILS WITH ABDULPlease join Newstalk 1430 and your host Abdul for July's Cocktails & Conversation.
This month it will be held at McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant located at 110 N. Illinois in downtown Indy. The time is Thursday, July 24th from 5PM until 8PM, and we will be featuring Tommy Bahama Rum!
Place: McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant
Date: Thursday, July 24th
Time: 5PM until 8PM
Featuring: Tommy Bahama Rum
Woman kills herself over home foreclosure
The only answer left for a Massachusett's woman on the morning her home was to foreclose, was suicide. She left a note suggesting that her husband and son use the life insurance money to pay for the house.
How soon until we are seeing the same desperate acts committed by Hoosiers? My new mortgage bill is up by 20% while some went up $1000 a month or more. What happens to those people?
Meanwhile, don't expect to get any sympathy from your government. Based on what we've seen from our lawmakers, they don't care if you live or die...they simply want control over your life.
Answers to Ed DeLaney's questions can be found on this blog
Ed DeLaney, who is running for State Rep in District 86 (David O's old spot), wants to know what caused the property tax mess. Well several of the people that LED the property tax protest movement live in his district and we now have the answers after spending a year of our lives in pursuit of the answer.
Delaney asks in a July 16th press release:
QUESTION:
“The property tax crisis is far from over and the time has to find the root cause of this crisis,” stated DeLaney, who cited the escalating tax burden for homeowners as the primary reason he decided to enter the legislative race.
ANSWER:
Well Ed, it's the bond debt levied by un-elected taxing authorities. It's lucrative contracts given to construction firms who in turn pay lobbyists to perpetuate lies at the state house, and it is the utter failure of our politicians to obey our laws written to protect the people.
If you don't know which laws, read the Indiana Constitution and put that law degree and Harvard education to work for us. If you are still stuck as to what the root of this problem is, then ask Constitutionalist Andy Horning for help. He's running for Governor and knows the Constitution probably better than anyone around.
Hope that helps you. Now that you know the answer, please use your law degree and help the people force our government to obey the laws as written.
Senator McCain discusses conflict on "Iraq-Pakistan" border
Senator McCain should know that Iraq does not border Pakistan"We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border," said McCain when trying to comment on Obama's view of Afghanistan. Quote is here.
Andrea Neal: Long-Term Property Tax Solution Is Not Yet in Sight
Andrea Neal pens another column for Indiana Policy Review, and while she is correct there is no long term property tax solution in sight yet, she misses a bigger point. That point is the failure of our politicians to obey the law as the underlying cause for the mess.
Article 8 of the Indiana Constitution states that the common schools are to be funded by corporations. During the Depression when many businesses were bankrupt, Indiana's homeowners agreed to temporarily pay the school fund and politicians never stopped taking our money. Why isn't DeLaney asking the really tough questions like why aren't our politicians obeying the law?
Don't be fooled by DeLaney. You did not see him on the July 4th rally, did you? It is highly unlikely DeLaney will back property tax repeal, which is the ONLY long term solution to the problem. He knows that if he throws lots of money at mailing flyers that mention property tax, he can easily mislead homeowners. DeLaney is just another political insider and likely our latest opportunist. --HFFT
INDIANA POLICY REVIEW
by Andrea Neal
July 23, 2008
How do folks cope when their property tax bills rise by $100, $300 or $500 a month? Ed DeLaney, a Democratic candidate for state representative, wants to know. So he‘s distributed postcards to residents in District 86 and asked them for property tax data and stories. It’s been an eye-opening process that sheds light on the continuing property tax crisis in Indiana.
The replies reveal a pattern of belt tightening made more pronounced by high gas prices and falling stock values. Here are excerpts:
- “No travel for vacations, no new furniture for family room and a lot of worry.”
- “Reducing all around spending . . . don’t eat out . . . No more lawn service.”
- “My house will be for sale Sept. 1. I am now retired and property taxes account for over 25 percent of my income.”
- “I have to withdraw more than I hoped from my retirement IRA (Individual Retirement Account) at a time when the market is plummeting.”
- “We were working to pay off the house before our children started college. We night not be able to.”
- “Loss of trust in state and local government.”
But in other communities — Marion, St. Joseph, Delaware and Lake counties, for example where 2008 bills are yet to be finalized — property tax owners continue to get hammered. Especially hard hit are older, urban neighborhoods. These are considered historically undervalued so new assessment practices have caused dramatic jumps in tax bills.
In Marion County, where Gov. Mitch Daniels froze taxes last year pending a repeat reassessment to correct errors, the situation is especially confusing. Respondents to DeLaney’s survey reported having to come up with anywhere from $851 to $4,768 to pay “reconciliation bills,” the difference between the frozen amount and the final 2007 invoices. Even with modest rebates sent out this summer, it’s been too much for some people to handle.
As for the long term, DeLaney uses an analogy of a tarp in the wind that’s been tied down at one corner. The corner that’s been tied down is the 1 percent cap on property taxes which will take effect in 2010 assuming the legislature withstands special interest pressure to repeal it. (A constitutional amendment setting the cap in stone still must be approved by the next legislature and the voters).
The other three corners?
- Assessment itself. As the system is now, assessing home value is still very much a crapshoot. Property owners complain of wide variations in valuation between similar homes in similar neighborhoods. This has led hundreds of homeowner to appeal their assessed valuations in Marion County.
- The effect property tax caps will have on governmental budgets. Some school districts, counties and police departments say they’ll have a hard time making ends meet, despite reserve funds set up for schools and flexibility given counties to raise local option income taxes. For example, in St. Joseph County, financial analysts say the 1 percent cap will cost $3.3 million. Auditor Peter Mullen says the county will have to seriously consider layoffs. It’s almost impossible to get the LOIT raised in his county because two of three governing bodies have to agree on it.
- Disparities in taxable resources, especially once the 1 percent cap takes effect. In Center Township in Indianapolis, for example, close to half of all property is off the rolls because it is owned by federal or state government, universities, hospitals and charitable institutions.
Their plea is a reminder to policymakers that the actions they take affect people in individual ways. A 31 percent tax reduction overall for Hoosiers is little consolation if you’re the exception in District 86 trying to come up with an extra $300 a month.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
It is up to YOU to choose: Rule of Tyrants or Rule of Law
Andy Horning, candidate for Indiana Governor writes:
We’ve been “educated” away from Rule of Law in favor of Rule of Tyrants.
So here’s another attempt to clarify what’s been muddled in our government schools:
The most important, protective, abused and unknown words in Indiana law are these of Article 1, Section 25 of the Indiana Constitution:
No law shall be passed, the taking effect of which shall be made to depend upon any authority, except as provided in this Constitution.
It obviously applies to lawmakers, not to citizens. There can be no equivocation about that, since nobody but lawmakers can pass laws. Being a law, it’s of course a restriction on something. And in this case, it’s a clear restriction of authority to only what’s specifically written into the constitution, similar to that in the US Constitution’s tenth amendment.
This is fundamental, inviolable law. It can be eliminated by amendment, but as long as the constitution isn’t formally suspended, it is law.
It’s admittedly a little odd in sentence structure, so I’ll rephrase it in a more common vernacular: “No legislation can create or depend upon any powers not specifically granted by the constitution.”
I’ll rephrase again: “If the power’s not granted by the constitution, the power is denied.”
One more: “If it ain’t written down here, the answer is NO! Hands off! Leave the poor citizens alone!”
How did we mess this up and come to believe that constitutions are just a starting point in an unlimited grant of power over citizens? Well, because citizens, being human, have a flawed nature and a terrible default state. If you don’t regularly brush your teeth, you lose your teeth by default. If you don’t regularly brush away politicians, you lose your freedom, security, opportunity, wealth, and life …by default.
Dennis Ryerson is correct: IndyStar does need to reach deeper into critical issues
An open letter to Dennis Ryerson of Indianapolis Star:
July 22, 2008
Greetings Mr. Ryerson,
You penned a great column for Sunday's Star and highlighted a lot of the good work at the Indianapolis Star on behalf of Indy's citizens. Yes, the Star did tell taxpayers about former city council president Monroe Gray's ghost employment with IFD. Yes, the Star did give us great detail about the Marion County public library debacle. And we're grateful that the Star sent a reporter to show up for every property tax protest. We remember early on that you indicated that you would use every resource at your disposal to find out what caused the sudden tax increases.
Have you figured it out yet? Because we did. It's the bond debt and the fact that our homes are little more than collateral against the state's bond debt. And most of the bond debt is the result of school construction spending.
Unfortunately, we never saw an indepth story on the violation of Article 8 of the Indiana Constitution by Indiana's lawmakers illegally forcing homeowners to pay property tax for the common school fund.
No politician will speak on the record about this violation and reporters do not push the issue with the politicians. We need the Indianapolis Star to dig deeper into this particular issue because the law is being broken. Worse, a proposed change to the Indiana Constitution would change the language of Article 8 to make it legal for the legislators to do what they have done illegally for years...levy a tax for the common schools on the backs of homeowners.
Please dig deeper, Mr. Ryerson. And good luck to the paper.
Sincerely,
Melyssa Donaghy
Tax Activist
"The GOP has no agenda, no platform and a candidate who generates no excitement. That's not Bob Barr's fault."
Read today's story in the Los Angeles Times on Bob Barr, Libertarian candidate for president.
A Zogby poll is pointing that Barr is already at 8% in Colorado.
The Drudge Report ran a headline today that Senator McCain was greeted at an airport in New Hampshire by only one journalist.
In light of how bad things are for America, don't you think she deserves a real change? Do you really think another democrat or republican can get us out from under the Fed?
Vehicles that run on AIR are ready! Why are democrats and republicans in Congress still arguing about fossil fuel?
For real. No more gasoline. No more air pollution.
106 miles to the gallon! The cost of a fill up is about $2.50! No joke!
An Air Car You Could See in 2009: ZPM’s 106 MPG Compressed-Air Hybrid
Why don't we hear about this on TV? Why do we only hear about fossil fuel and the price of oil, which evidently we don't need to run cars?
Where is GM? Where is Chrysler? Why is there talk of bailing out GM with our tax dollars when they failed to change as the world changes?
Why aren't free energy alternatives on the news every single night of the week?
Where are our democrat and republican saviors in Congress on this issue? Why do they keep us focused on their endless arguments about drilling for oil when these inexpensive cars exist?
Still think your mainstream media is not controlled? Still think there is not a shadow controlling the republican and democrat parties? Then we're sure you'll enjoy your airport strip searches and DNA harvesting of your children.
It's time to wake up. The Fed is not your friend and never has been.
Want to help Sean Dix?
If you want to help Sean Dix, you can write to him or buy his products. His website is www.FlossRings.com
You can even go as far as to never watch CNN or buy another product made by Johnson & Johnson and let them know you are doing so.
You can also ask your favorite drug store to carry Sean's dental floss, which is the only sterile dental floss on the market. Johnson & Johnson's product is more expensive and is not at all sterile. Johnson & Johnson, however, has one of the largest advertising budgets in the world and frequently partners with CNN, who did the hit piece on Sean Dix's sterile dental floss invention.
Feds' latest privacy invasion: Airport strip searches
The fake "War on Terror" keeps rolling along. Ten U.S. airports will require random samplings of passengers to submit to electronic strip searches. Airport personnel will see your naughty bits all in the name of protecting you and yours from terror. Do you think they will force children to submit to these strip searches too?
Keep voting for republicans and democrats. Soon we won't have enough freedom left to fight for it.
Sean Dix story gets no help from Department of Justice or main stream media
Here is a link to the original story written by independent journalist Mary Sparrowdancer on Rense.com.
Since last week, it appears bloggers and internet independent sources picked up his story. and The American Chronicle, like me, wrote to the Department of Justice on behalf of Sean Dix. We both received hopelessly generic and identical replies from the DOJ:
Thank you for contacting the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The Citizen Complaint Center has reviewed your complaint, and though we understand your concerns, we have determined that the information provided does not warrant further review by the Division at this time. We have your information on file and should the legal staff need further information, they maycontact you in the future. We appreciate your interest in the enforcement of the federal antitrust laws and we wish you the best in resolving your concerns.
Sincerely,
Citizen Complaint Center
Antitrust Division
I agree with American Chronicle and what we can do to help Sean Dix: " Meanwhile, perhaps the consumers can help the market decide what floss is best for them. Start buying Dix´s FlossRings and let the demand for them grow. Go to CVS, Walgreen´s, Walmart, Target, or any local drugstore and start asking them to carry FlossRings. Tell your friends about how FlossRings would have offered the only sterilized floss on the market if not for CNN´s hit piece. Let them know the government is helping to keep a superior product from reaching consumers. If your government refuses to do its job, perhaps the consumers can provide justice for Sean Dix and gain a superior product in the process."
Here's an old story about Sean Dix in Creative Loafing, an Atlanta based alternative news source. You can bet that mainstream media controlled by corporate giants like Johnson & Johnson will not cover this man's plight.
--Melyssa for HFFT
Sean Dix's American Dream goes south
An inventor goes after Ted Turner and CNN
They weren't taking his phone calls. They weren't responding to his faxes. Not to the polite ones, not even to the obscene ones, vile diatribes against their boss, the ones that even today -- eight months later, in the cold light of the Atlanta city lock-up, his jail-issued slippers two sizes too big -- make the 33-year-old cringe in embarrassment.
Still, they had ruined him, hadn't they? Ridiculed him. Taken his invention and mocked it. His investors had fled. Yes, attention must be paid. Even if he was a thousand miles away, a feather pressing against a great implacable wall. Even if he was just one man.
So Sean Dix made a decision. He started writing. He revved up his fax machine one more time.
They'd pay attention now.
First, a story: Years ago, in a Queens, N.Y., middle school, a science teacher named Mr. Horan owned a pair of glasses like Flash Gordon's. One day, they went missing.
"There was this kid ... who went and told the teachers and the vice principal that he eye-witnessed me take the glasses," Sean Dix says from jail. "Ms. Danza calls me out of class and tells me to fork over the glasses. I couldn't believe it. No one wanted anything to do with me after that. Who wants to hang around with the kid who stole the teacher's glasses? After that, I wanted to be anywhere that I could start with a fresh slate."
But the incident followed him. "Someone from my other school told people at the high school about it."
It wasn't the only loss of faith. Soon, his body betrayed him. Biology may or may not be destiny, but in Sean's case, biology has at least been an unflagging tormentor. Since infancy, Sean has suffered from eczema. Depending on his stress level, his skin erupts in painful patches. Sweating or friction cracks his skin open.
In high school, Sean's feet crumbled beneath him. They itched like crazy. They flaked. They burned. After a little exercise, they bled. He brought a doctor's note to get excused from gym class, but Sean's gym teacher tore up the doctor's note and ordered him to do jumping jacks. He said no. He was suspended. A battle ensued between Sean's schoolteacher mother and the faculty of Aviation High School. Sean won.
"They put me back in school, but I had a lot to make up," he says. "I had extra homework and that had its own effect. It caused me more pain. And I was no longer interested in any kind of authority, you know, authority figures or what they had to say."
Graduation beckoned like a promise of sanctuary. Another clean slate.
His friend had a brother who worked for a jeweler on 47th Street in Manhattan. The jeweler needed an apprentice. Dix thought learning a trade was a better option than college.
"I didn't want to be around this whole atmosphere of academia. I just wanted to find a cubbyhole for myself, some place where I could take care of myself."
Two months after he started work, the vice principal from his high school came in and spoke with his boss. After that conversation, Sean says his boss told him, "I don't know if you're going to rob me, but if you do, I'll be ready for you."
Sean dismisses the possibility that the vice-principal was just dropping by to say hello to a former student or to shop for jewelry.
"No," says Dix. "That would be very unlikely."
And Dix's mother, Carmela Silvestri, agrees.
"That would be extremely unlikely," she says. "The high school is in Queens, and [the jeweler's] shop was on 47th. Think about it. That would be extremely unlikely."
Silvestri, who's pledged to keep her son's business afloat until he's free, says, "I'm very serious. Maybe Sean gets that from me."
Meanwhile, Sean's apprenticeship was paying off. In 1989, he went to work for Andin International as a diamond-setter. After several years with the company, he was doing well, engrossed in the craft, accruing seniority and getting raises. If he had any complaints, it was that the gold he worked with irritated his skin.
The eczema made it especially difficult to floss his teeth; the string cut into his skin. During one of these flare-ups, he contrived a set of rings that would fit over the index finger of each hand. The rings were designed to hold dental floss that had been knotted at either end. Tying knots in the floss was a bit awkward, but he would correct that later by manufacturing floss segments that simply snapped into place. It was so obvious; why hadn't anyone thought of it?
It occurred to him that other people might want rings like these -- sufferers of eczema or arthritis, maybe. He applied for a patent and got it. It was 1994. His father had passed away earlier that year. Being able to invent something, to bring anything new into the world, felt good -- felt like life.
He sunk his father's life insurance settlement into manufacturing more of the rings -- it cost him $20,000 through a small plant in Michigan. He sent out information packets about the floss rings. Positive reviews came in from Forbes' FYI edition and on Bloomberg's product review. The popular press followed. His floss rings were praised in Essence, The Boston Globe, The New York Times. He landed a $9,000 contract with CVS, which sold the rings for $1.99 a pair. Investors started sniffing around.
He'd also settled into a long-term relationship with an Adelphi University coed. He was looking at houses and checking out mortgage rates in preparation for marriage.
Sean Dix's American Dream was taking shape.
CNN was supposed to be the icing on the cake. His info packet made its way to Jeanne Moos, a reporter there. Sean had never seen Moos' work. He didn't know that it's her job to ridicule strange new products. He didn't see the one about the "popcorn fork" or the one about the "3-legged pantyhose." Coverage from CNN could only be good, he thought. After all, his product was a dental aid for people with sensitive hands. How funny could that be?
He spent a day with a CNN news crew. They filmed him waving goodbye to his old office. They said Sean was "putting his money where his mouth is." They tracked the floss ring invention from its inception to Sean's patent to his courtship of Johnson & Johnson -- which, according to the segment, ended with a polite rejection letter from J&J.
What CNN missed, he says, was J&J's courtship of him. J&J had offered to purchase his entire inventory as well as his patent, he says, but not at a price that was acceptable to him.
Manufacturing the rings had cost $20,000. CVS brought in $9,000 -- he needed more money just to break even. He'd been back to the table several times with J&J, but when he didn't accept their offer, they said they were no longer interested. A letter from Brian Bootel, a former director of acquisitions for J&J, estimated Sean's invention was worth at least $50 million.
Before production of the piece had finished, Sean sent Moos and her team several pairs of sterling silver floss rings as a "thank you" in advance. (She returned them; most reporters can't accept pricey gratuities.)
The CNN segment aired on June 12, 1996. Sean encouraged his potential investors to watch. At first, he didn't notice anything terribly wrong. But he was puzzled that the two dentists who were asked to try out the rings were fumbling with them so much. He watched the piece a second time, and he saw that one of the dentists was using 18 inches of floss -- the length dentists recommend you use without rings so you'll have enough to wrap around your fingers. The rings' package clearly explains that you must use about five inches of floss. One of the dentists did use five inches but didn't actually floss, complaining that he couldn't get to his back molars -- before, it appears, he'd really tried to do so. At the end of the segment, CNN reporter/producer Linda Djerjian says to the dentists: "So, you don't see this sweeping the nation." Over their tangles of floss, the dentists say, "No."
After the piece had run its course, Sean's potential investors seemed to lose interest.
One investor, Peter Lusk Jr., wrote that before the CNN segment, "I was willing to invest approximately $100,000 personally, and to attempt to raise an additional +$1,000,000 for the 'Floss Rings' product. Due to the embarrassingly negative and trivializing tone of the CNN article, I found it difficult to approach my contacts and my family's contacts for potential investment."
Sean began his quest for restitution by politely requesting a meeting with CNN, so that they could discuss how Moos' show might run a correction of some sort. No one agreed to meet with him. No one returned his calls.
A month after the segment aired, George Reskakis, one of the dentists featured, said he felt it "only fair" to explain that CNN had not allowed him time to look at the rings' instructions. Dix sent a copy to Moos along with a letter about how his business had been affected by the piece.
Moos responded with a note on July 29, 1996, apologizing for his business' decline. But, she wrote, "Getting press is a double-edged sword. We did exactly what we should have done: taking the product to a regular dentist and letting them look at it and try it. We didn't influence them in any way. And the rest of the piece was light-hearted and not in the least negative." (Moos -- and CNN -- declined comment and failed to return phone calls, respectively, for this story.)
By August 1996, all 12 of Sean's salespeople had quit. By the end of the year, CVS had decided not to order more floss rings. He lost the contract.
His personal life was on equally shaky ground. After house shopping, with an eye toward settling down, Sean lost some money on the stock market.
"I wanted to have the house and everything ready," he says. "That's the way I am. I believe in preparing for things. I'd asked her to marry me once before but she wasn't ready and I thought we'd wait and have things set, you know."
A few days after the market upset, he forgot he and his girlfriend's fifth anniversary. In honor of the forgotten occasion, she informed him she'd had an affair.
"It was a bad week," Sean says. "I shouldn't have forgotten. And then she told me the news. I don't want to badmouth her. She's a good girl, a wonderful person. It just wasn't meant to be."
Positive press, however, was still coming in. Prevention magazine ran a glowing endorsement of the rings in November 1997.
"I got almost 40 pieces of positive press in print," Sean says. "Unfortunately, CNN outweighs all that. That's just the way it is. Broadcast media outweighs print media."
With that in mind, he started mass faxing the dentist's letter to CNN. When he got no response, he sent "black faxes" -- black pages that would dry up CNN's toner cartridges. Over four days in the summer of 1998, he sent a whopping 6,000 faxes, draining toner cartridges and eventually burning up one fax machine at CNN.
The January 1999 issue of New Woman called the floss rings a "handy gadget [that] may make your smile brighter and is sure to leave your fingers snap happy." In February 1999, Indiana University released results of a study showing dental floss tied to Sean's floss rings removed 23.8 percent more plaque than traditional hand-held dental floss -- which several magazines reported.
Nonetheless, Sean believed the kudos in print couldn't counter the damage CNN had done. On Oct. 5, 1999, he protested at CNN's offices in New York. He toted a sign that said "CNN & Johnson & Johnson conspire against Dix." When he tried to enter the building, he says, he was pushed down the stairs by a maintenance worker, damaging a revolving door in the scuffle. (Sean says the worker damaged it.) He was charged with trespassing and damage to property and was carted off to jail. But the property owner didn't show up for court on three different court dates and the case was dismissed. No matter what he did, it seemed no one cared.
No one was scared, either. After Sean's fax campaign, CNN offered to chauffeur Moos to and from work. She declined the offer.
Sean was reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War which advises that if your enemy won't face you, humiliate him into confrontation.
In March 2000, he began faxing pages of pernicious, disgusting, completely fabricated allegations about Ted Turner.
"I can't repeat what they said," he says. "They were awful. I am more ashamed of that than anything I've done."
That's when Jeremiah Everett of the New York Police Department paid Sean a visit. Everett told him to lay off. Everett says he "told Mr. Dix that if he continued on this course of action, he was going to end up in jail." The detective recalls that Sean seemed like a normal guy trying to run a business.
Sean told Everett he wanted to be arrested. That way, CNN would have to face up to what it did to him.
It was time to up the ante.
Last April 18, Sean faxed the following message to CNN: "I have come to the end of my attempts to deal with you in a rational manner. ... It is with full knowledge of the law that I'm telling you that if you do not make restitution I will attempt to kill Ted Turner, and if he is unreachable in his ivory tower then I only need kill one CNN employee and it will be on your hands. Either way, you cannot ignore this letter. If you do nothing you will eventually be sued by the family of the CNN victim for not taking action to prevent this. I do not make idle threats. I believe you know that by now."
The next day, the FBI showed up at his apartment. Agents found no weapons, no plane tickets to Atlanta. They took his computer to headquarters and Sean to the "Tombs" -- NYC's short-term detention center in Manhattan. The following week he was shipped to a prison barge on the East River, then flown to Oklahoma for a two-week stay before he was flown to the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. There he waited for a space to open up at the Atlanta City Detention Center. He's been at the ACDC since May.
Meanwhile, his mother has kept the foundering business afloat, working each evening after she gets home from her classroom in one of NYC's public schools.
In federal court in Atlanta three weeks ago, Sean admitted to faxing terroristic threats across state lines. But he didn't plead guilty. He'd sent the faxes for a reason, after all: to get someone to listen to the truth.
After deliberating for a day and a half, jurors returned with a guilty verdict.
Because she was a witness in the trial, his mother wasn't allowed in the courtroom until after she'd testified. But while she was out walking the halls of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building, she couldn't help but notice that CNN loomed large, just across the railroad gulch. She also noticed, she says, when bigwigs with CNN shook hands with the judge presiding over Sean's case.
"I remember thinking, 'This is how it is. Ted Turner runs this town.'"
Turner, of course, is alive and well. Sean is scheduled to be sentenced March 7 to up to three years in a federal prison.
His days start at 5:30 a.m., breakfast consisting of "oatmeal soup," some form of meat, an orange, milk and "scorched" coffee. Then he reads until lunch. Right now, he's working on Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads, by Gil Bailie. Before that, he read Drive-by Journalism by Arthur E. Rowse, a former editor with U.S. News and World Report. Sometimes, he loans his books to other inmates -- he's currently awaiting the return of a book on Vedic philosophies and yoga. In the afternoon, he plays chess. Mostly, though, it's boring.
"There is a reason why I'm doing all this. Remember how CNN covered the Columbine High School shootings? They hosted meetings and kept saying people should sit down and talk, but they won't sit down and talk to me. I am saying to them 'You can't ignore violence. You love it. You feed on it. You live for it. So, I'll give it to you with these threats and then maybe we'll talk about it.' "
Monday, July 21, 2008
Citizen surveillance monitoring highest in U.S., China, and USSR
click image to enlargePlanning a family? Feds to start collecting all newborns' DNA
Is newborn DNA harvesting a prelude to microchipping at birth?Bush Signs Bill To Take All Newborns' DNA
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Friday, May 2, 2008
President Bush last week signed into law a bill which will see the federal government begin to screen the DNA of all newborn babies in the U.S. within six months, a move critics have described as the first step towards the establishment of a national DNA database.
Described as a "national contingency plan" the justification for the new law S. 1858 , known as The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, is that it represents preparation for any sort of "public health emergency."
The bill states that the federal government should "continue to carry out, coordinate, and expand research in newborn screening" and "maintain a central clearinghouse of current information on newborn screening. ensuring that the clearinghouse is availableon the Internet and is updated at least quarterly". Sections of the bill also make it clear that DNA may be used in genetic experiments and tests.
Read the full bill
One health care expert and prominent critic of DNA screening is Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care who has written a detailed analysis of the new law in which she warns that it represents the first program of populationwide genetic testing.
Brase states that S.1858 and H.R. 3825, the House version of the bill, will:
1. Establish a national list of genetic conditions for which newborns and children are to be tested.
2. Establish protocols for the linking and sharing of genetic test results nationwide. . Build surveillance systems for tracking the health status and health outcomes of individuals diagnosed at birth with a genetic defect or trait.
3. Use the newborn screening program as an opportunity for government agencies to identify, list, and study "secondary conditions" of individuals and their families.
4. Subject citizens to genetic research without their knowledge or consent.
"Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research," Brase writes .
"The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research."
"The public is clueless. S. 1858 imposes a federal agenda of DNA databanking and population-wide genetic research. It does not require consent and there are no requirements to fully inform parents about the warehousing of their child's DNA for the purpose of genetic research."
In a previous report we outlined the consequences of the already existing DNA warehousing operation in Minnesota, a program that the Citizens' Council on Health Care has been following closely for a number of years.
Ms. Brase explained in a statement last month that state Health Department officials are now seeking exemption for the so called "DNA Warehouse" from Minnesota privacy law. This would enable state officials to continue to take the DNA of newborn infants without consent, which would also set the precedent for nationwide policy on DNA screening.
DNA of newborns has already been harvested, tested, stored and experimented with nationwide.
The National Conference of State Legislatures lists for all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the various statutes or regulatory provisions under which newborns' DNA is already being collected. In addition, all 50 states are now routinely providing these results to the Department of Homeland Security. The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007 merely establishes this practice within the law.
Another vocal critic of bill S. 1858 is Texas Congressman Ron Paul who made the following comments before the U.S. House of Representatives:
"I cannot support legislation, no matter how much I sympathize with the legislation's stated goals, that exceed the Constitutional limitations on federal power or in any way threatens the liberty of the American people. Since S. 1858 violates the Constitution, and may have untended consequences that will weaken the American health care system and further erode medical privacy, I must oppose it."
Paul, a medical doctor himself continued, "S. 1858 gives the federal bureaucracy the authority to develop a model newborn screening program. Madame Speaker the federal government lacks both the constitutional authority and the competence to develop a newborn screening program adequate for a nation as large and diverse as the United States. ."
"Those of us in the medical profession should be particularly concerned about policies allowing government officials and state-favored interests to access our medical records without our consent . My review of S. 18 58 ind icates the drafters of the legislation made no effort to ensure these newborn screening programs do not violate the privacy rights of parents and children," Paul continued.
"In fact, by directing federal bureaucrats to create a contingency plan for newborn screening in the event of a 'public health' disaster, this bill may lead to further erosions of medical privacy. As recent history so eloquently illustrates, politicians are more than willing to take, and people are more than willing to cede, liberty during times of 'emergency," he concluded.
