Hey!! Shut Up!! Pay Your Respects!!

Iconic Daredevil Evel Knievel Dies at 69

By MITCH STACY
The Associated Press
Friday, November 30, 2007; 5:01 PM

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over crazy obstacles including Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel's death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundel said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.

"It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" Rundel said.

Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.

Though Knievel dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, the image of the high-flying motorcyclist clad in patriotic, star-studded colors was never erased from public consciousness. He always had fans and enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.

Knievel made a good living selling his autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte, Mont., every year as his legend was celebrated during the "Evel Knievel Days" festival, which Rundel organizes.

"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."

For the tall, thin daredevil, the limelight was always comfortable, the gab glib. To Knievel, there always were mountains to climb, feats to conquer.

"No king or prince has lived a better life," he said in a May 2006 interview with The Associated Press. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved."

He had a knack for outrageous yarns: "Made $60 million, spent 61. ...Lost $250,000 at blackjack once. ... Had $3 million in the bank, though."

He began his daredevil career in 1965 when he formed a troupe called Evel Knievel's Motorcycle Daredevils, a touring show in which he performed stunts such as riding through fire walls, jumping over live rattlesnakes and mountain lions and being towed at 200 mph behind dragster race cars.

In 1966 he began touring alone, barnstorming the West and doing everything from driving the trucks, erecting the ramps and promoting the shows. In the beginning he charged $500 for a jump over two cars parked between ramps.

He steadily increased the length of the jumps until, on New Year's Day 1968, he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace. He cleared the fountains but the crash landing put him in the hospital in a coma for a month.

His son, Robbie, successfully completed the same jump in April 1989.

In the years after the Caesar's crash, the fee for Evel's performances increased to $1 million for his jump over 13 buses at Wembley Stadium in London _ the crash landing broke his pelvis _ to more than $6 million for the Sept. 8, 1974, attempt to clear the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a rocket-powered "Skycycle." The money came from ticket sales, paid sponsors and ABC's "Wide World of Sports."

The parachute malfunctioned and deployed after takeoff. Strong winds blew the cycle into the canyon, landing him close to the swirling river below.

On Oct. 25, 1975, he jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island in Ohio.

Knievel decided to retire after a jump in the winter of 1976 in which he was again seriously injured. He suffered a concussion and broke both arms in an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in the Chicago Amphitheater. He continued to do smaller exhibitions around the country with his son, Robbie.

Many of his records have been broken by daredevil motorcyclist Bubba Blackwell.

Knievel also dabbled in movies and TV, starring as himself in "Viva Knievel" and with Lindsay Wagner in an episode of the 1980s TV series "Bionic Woman." George Hamilton and Sam Elliott each played Knievel in movies about his life.

Evel Knievel toys accounted for more than $300 million in sales for Ideal and other companies in the 1970s and '80s.

Born Robert Craig Knievel in the copper mining town of Butte on Oct. 17, 1938, Knievel was raised by his grandparents. He traced his career choice back to the time he saw Joey Chitwood's Auto Daredevil Show at age 8.

Outstanding in track and field, ski jumping and ice hockey at Butte High School, he went on to win the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1957 and played with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1959.

He also formed the Butte Bombers semiprofessional hockey team, acting as owner, manager, coach and player.

Knievel also worked in the Montana copper mines, served in the Army, ran his own hunting guide service, sold insurance and ran Honda motorcycle dealerships. As a motorcycle dealer, he drummed up business by offering $100 off the price of a motorcycle to customers who could beat him at arm wrestling.

At various times and in different interviews, Knievel claimed to have been a swindler, a card thief, a safe cracker, a holdup man.

Evel Knievel married hometown girlfriend, Linda Joan Bork, in 1959. They separated in the early 1990s. They had four children, Kelly, Robbie, Tracey and Alicia.

Robbie Knievel followed in his father's footsteps as a daredevil, jumping a moving locomotive in a 200-foot, ramp-to-ramp motorcycle stunt on live television in 2000. He also jumped a 200-foot-wide chasm of the Grand Canyon.

Knievel lived with his longtime partner, Krystal Kennedy-Knievel, splitting his time between their Clearwater condo and Butte. They married in 1999 and divorced a few years later but remained together. Knievel had 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

More info on the annexation of Iraq.

This is a continuation of my previous post. This information is to aid you in understanding that we are now in an "official" occupation and have no intent upon leaving. Who are you going to tell?

Follow this link to the original post, and other pissed off information from Little Country Lost

President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed a deal on Monday arranging for permanent bases and “investment opportunities” for the Bush Administration in Iraq. In return, Nouri al-Maliki and his government will get protection from the United States military against any threats to Maliki’s power (at least until Bush decides to renege on the deal). The Bush Administration is calling this arrangement an “enduring relationship with a democratic Iraq”. While this imperial arrangement is the exact opposite of what the American taxpayers are demanding, this is a victory for the Bush Administration, which has been quite clear that its intention is to keep our military in Iraq.

In reality, this deal is a treaty between President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki. However, because President Bush decided not to call it a treaty and instead a “Declaration of Principles for Friendship and Cooperation”, the Bush Administration is going to use those semantics to circumvent Senate approval.

The result of this not-a-treaty, while it may not happen right away, is that the shit shall soon hit the fan. First, this deal is a slap in the face to Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shi’ite leader of the Mahdi Army. At the end of August, Moqtada al-Sadr called for a six-month Mahdi Army ceasefire, partially to rehabilitate his army and partially to ensure that he is viewed as a legitimate leader in Iraq. Moqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army, prior to the ceasefire, had been violently protesting the Shi’ite Maliki government, which al-Sadr considers to be too cozy with President Bush, and the possibility of a permanent presence of United States forces in Iraq. A political agreement that arranges for permanent US military bases, allows the pillaging of Iraqi wealth by American corporations, and protects the Maliki government from other groups that would want to be a part of the government, like Moqtada al-Sadr and his followers, is a development that will not make Moqtada al-Sadr a happy camper.

Along with pitting Shi’ite against Shi’ite once again by screwing Moqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army, the Bush Administration’s “Declaration of Principles for Friendship and Cooperation” will also piss off the Sunnis. The political reconciliation that the Bush Administration told us American and Iraqi suckers the “surge” was designed to create was a deal which would bring the Sunnis back into the government. Instead, in typical Bush Administration fashion, they doubled-down on Prime Minister Maliki, vowing to protect him with violence if and when needed. The Sunnis have been effectively eliminated from the government and will be left only with violence to further their interests once again.

Basically, the last three months of semi-good news from Iraq are just the calm before the storm. And our troops are sitting on the levees. This might be a decision that is looked back upon as being as devastating as when the Bush Administration disbanded the Iraqi army after the initial invasion. It has the potential to be way worse. The most devastating part is that it didn’t have to be this way. Both Sunnis and Shi’ites were cooperating. That’s all over now.

The question we need to be asking ourselves is what goal could the Bush Administration have that this treaty would help facilitate and why would that be their goal? While it is the complete opposite of what is in the best interest of the American people, the Bush Administration’s goal seems to be a larger, more permanent war.

But why would they want that?

One reason is that a full blown war, that engulfs the entire Middle East and the kills a bunch of United States troops, would be a big enough shock to allow the President to claim further and more extreme executive powers, like the ones laid out in NSPD-51, and possibly allow the Bush Administration to claim that it, or at least its Republican co-conspirators, must stay in power for our own safety, just as was done by President Musharraf in Pakistan. At the same time, the Bush Administration and its partners would have a huge distraction which would allow it to further privatize the commons, making heinous amounts of money for the privileged few that have benefited so greatly from the Milton Friedman inspired privatization bonanza that has charged forward at full speed during the last 7 years.

Sound impossible? Just look the policies implemented by some of the same exact people who make up the Bush Administration and the Republican party in other countries around the world during the last few decades. Since the 1970’s, democracies were destroyed in places such as Chile, Argentina, Poland, Russia, and others. In all these countries, while obviously not taking the same exact courses, a functioning form of democracy was transformed, with the encouragement and/or assistance of the United States, in order for unfettered “free-trade”, or privatization, to thrive.

Privatization policies naturally concentrate huge amounts of money into the few hands that own and operate the gigantic corporations which are able to swallow up all other businesses and exploit their workers when regulations disappear. In effect, privatization policies have severe negative impacts on the lives of the vast majority of a country’s citizens, due to disappearing jobs, wages, benefits, and government services, and therefore must be implemented quickly and while the public is in a state of shock. As told by Milton Friedman, the privatization prophet himself, "Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change." It was military coups that shocked Chile, Argentina, and Pakistan, paving the way for their dictatorships. Economic shock and violence took democracy out of Poland and Russia. After the shocks occurred and the economies transformed, huge profits were reaped by those who invested in the misery of these countries, much of that money flowing to the filthy rich who currently control our very own United States government. Iraq is the country that most vividly displays the disastrous effects of war-generated privatization on the daily lives of citizens (to have these patterns laid out in brilliant detail, you simply must read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein).

The difference now is that the Bush Administration is going for the grand prize – milking the United States of America itself, which at one time, before he took office, was the richest country in the world. The United States got its first shock on 9/11. In the aftermath, the American public willingly went along with the Patriot Act, two occupations of Middle Eastern countries based on little evidence, our government torturing innocent people, and the Military Commissions Act, which voided habeas corpus, one of our most basic rights. We also allowed our military to be broken and replaced by private “contractors”, allowed our media to be consolidated to the point that it is now controlled by only six companies, and allowed the land where poor people used to live in Louisiana to be sold off to private developers in the wake of a hurricane, just to name a few of the most egregious examples of how the Bush Administration used our collective shock to quickly push through policies we would never otherwise authorize. The results have been disastrous. Thousands of us have died and tens of thousands of us have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gas prices have soared and the implementation of policies that might make it possible for Americans to use less gas have been effectively shut down. The dollar has weakened by 30% against the Euro since the Bush Administration took office, making our savings worth significantly less. Health care is too expensive for many of us to afford. People who can no longer afford their mortgages are being thrown out on the street. Unfortunately, I could go on.

The thing about shock though, is that it is a temporary state, and the United States citizenry seems to be shaking it off. Unless we believe that the Bush Administration is done, we must be prepared to be shocked again.

It’s all about tricking Americans into going along with the Bush Administration’s plans. The Bush Administration, after signing their dirty deal with Prime Minister Maliki, told the press that they will be focusing on “achievable goals in the hope of convincing Iraqis, foreign governments and Americans that progress is being made.” Not actually making progress, but fooling us into thinking they have, while they pursue their real goals. We may not know the fine details of those goals, but history seems to repeat itself. And I think we know enough of the big picture to know the Bush Administration agenda has got to be stopped.

At the very least, even if privatization, poverty, and treason don’t concern you, it should be crystal clear, in the wake of President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki's deal, that the Iraq war will continue as long as the Bush Administration is in power. Trying to cut off funding, or passing a bill requiring withdrawal, is just a shell game. To end the war, we must end the Bush Administration. Impeachment must happen. It’s the only weapon we have to use against the United States taxpayer’s real enemy, which is not brown people in the Middle East, but is instead the treasonous regime that started this phony “war on terror” in the first place. The stakes are too high, and we better use our weapon quick if we don’t want our 157,000 troops and God only knows how many contractors all coming home in body bags when the Iraqis who are not part of the Maliki government start violently fighting the occupiers of their country once again.

Someone once told me that I was full of shit for...

saying that it was an occupation; saying that we were building bases there; saying that we weren't coming home anytime within this quarter-century; saying that the Iraqi government is nothing close to autonomous, and that they don't make a move unless we tell them to.

I just laughed at them and said, "You'll see."

Well, this week, it was all laid bare.

"How's that possible, Wrench?" You say, as you stare at your screen.

Observe.

Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship Between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America

Encapsulated in this document - linked above - is the geo-political reality of what the Bush/Cheney administration and their neoconservative and Likudnik supporters had set out to achieve since the day George W. Bush became President of the US.

Far from ‘liberating’ the Iraqi people from the ‘yoke of tyranny’ for them to become a ‘free and democratic’ model to which all other Middle Eastern states could aspire, which was the propaganda and rhetoric used by the neoconservatives that convinced the Coalition of the Willing that Iraq was a ‘noble and righteous cause’, the declaration instead condemns Iraq to an endless occupation designed to enhance the power of the elite puppets of Iraq, and to ensure that Iraq’s resources remain firmly under American control and enriching American controlled oil companies. In short, the document is the instrument by which Iraq has effectively become a colony of the US.

There are several iniquitous points made in the document that betray the real intent of the administration but, in particular, point five of the second principle relating to ‘the economic sphere’ which says: “Facilitating and encouraging the flow of foreign investments to Iraq, especially American investments, to contribute to the reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq,” and point eight which says: “Supporting the Republic of Iraq to obtain positive and preferential trading conditions for Iraq within the global marketplace including accession to the World Trade Organization and most favored nation status with the United States,” says it all.

Iraq’s puppet leaders have signed over Iraq to the US.

I don't make this shit up, people. This is the reality that your family members, neighbors, and co-workers either refuse to hear, understand, or accept.

Why do you think that Haliburton pulled all American stakes/properties and relocated to Dubai?

Happy Birthday, Jimi.

Jimi Hendrix would have been 65, today.

Ladies and Gentlemen... My friend and yours,

Henry Rollins.

And people ask me why I have a Black Flag tattoo on my right shoulder. HA!

So, it's recession time. And that's no shit.

Why? Well, it could be that we've been in a recession for almost six months now, and that the feces has hit the oscillating air mover and you're just now finding out about it.

Insight? Yep.

Wall Street is betting on a recession.

Investors in stocks and bonds are paying prices that indicate they believe a snowballing housing crisis and worsening credit crunch will soon tip the U.S. economy into a recession, analysts said. Many economists, including leaders of the Federal Reserve, don't think things will get that bad, but some say the risk of a serious downturn has risen in recent weeks.

Investors were so eager to buy ultra-safe government bonds yesterday that they were willing to accept sharply lower interest rates. The rate on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to 3.84 percent from 4 percent Friday. The low rates indicate investors expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates aggressively in the coming year to ease the pain of recession.

Stocks are now down more than 10 percent from their peak in October. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 2.3 percent yesterday, dropping the market to a level that Wall Street analysts say reflects an expectation that corporate profits will fall.

Taken together, those and other data indicate that financial markets have a decidedly negative prognosis for the economy. "They're saying the odds of a recession are pretty damn high," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.

Follow this link for the rest of the article.

Time to dust off the "Way-Back" machine...

Go with me now, back to 1994, when we were all doing something different, and Rudy wasn't really speaking loud enough for the whole world to hear. **WOOOOOOOSH!!*

Well, here we are. Let's walk over here for a minute and listen in. Think that you and Rudy Giuliani share the same views on freedom? Think again:

"What we don't see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."

That's just a tasty morsel from this NYT article, on a news-stand in March 20, 1994.

You just let me know when you want to zip back to 2007 and kick 'ole Rudy in the sack. I'll leave the engine running.

Chuck Norris bashes the Constitution.

It appears that the recent publicity that our boy Chuck has been getting has made him a fucking idiot. Any individual who endorses prayer in school and the integration of christianity into the government of the United States of America should be shown the door.

People, there is a reason that our Constitution, in the FIRST AMENDMENT, plainly states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That makes perfectly understandable sense to me. Watch the following and attempt to figure our just were good 'ole Chuck, FUCKED it up.

Our forefathers did not build the fucking country on the bible. Stop drinking the kool-aid Chuck.



Have you ever seen Chuck look so whacked out? What the fuck is he on?

I could go on, but you get the gist and I don't feel like wasting time on a has been who is attempting to continue a less than stellar career by jumping on the political band wagon.

Hey Chuck! The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You, YOU FUCK!

Sickened but not surprised.

"Pssssst, hey young man... How would you like $30,000.00 to enlist for four years?"
"That's right, just sign right here and we'll get you in the war in as little as six months."

Fast forward to one year and one newly disabled soldier.

"Psssst, hey buddy... You aren't worth anything to us as a soldier anymore. You're disabled and cannot serve out your enlistment. Give us back our money."

Sound like a sick joke? Nope. It's a reality, folks.

Click me for the full KDKA article.

I am truly at a loss for words.

Pay close attention, please. The following bit of information will either confuse you, infuriate you, make you throw up in your mouth, or all of the above.

President Bush yesterday offered his strongest support of embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying the general

"hasn't crossed the line" and "truly is somebody who believes in democracy."

You may want to read that again. Yes, the man who supposes to be the President of the United States of Ameria said that Pervez Musharraf "truly is somebody who believes in democracy." No, there aren't two Musharrafs walking around. No, there was no overnight miracle or some shit. Musharraf has imposed martial law on "his" people. He is, in my opinion, and maybe yours, a tyrannical dictator.
,
We all possess the knowledge that Mr. Bush really is an idiot, but come on, it's hard enough for us to try to save face everyday without the least intelligent man ever to attempt speech, speaking on behalf of the American people. Do you people understand what martial law is? Why is there not a public outcry against Mr. Bush and these perverse statements. He really thinks this way. In Mr. Bush's feeble mind, martial law=democracy. I won't even go into the fact that the United States is not a democracy.

Here's the link to the full article: Click Me.

Why you should pay more attention to Judge Andrew Napolitano.

The following Thomas J. DiLorenzo piece can be found at Lew Rockwell.com

After 9/11 the neocons who dominate the Republican Party commenced three separate wars: One in Afghanistan, another in Iraq, and the third against the civil liberties of the American people. As Judge Andrew Napolitano writes in his brilliant new book, A Nation of Sheep (p. xi):

[T]he Bush Administration has systematically attacked and diminished virtually every freedom and right guaranteed by the Constitution: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of association, the right to privacy, the right not to self incriminate, the right to counsel, the right to speedy trials, the right to fair trials, the right to avoid cruel and unusual punishment, even the right to be set free after acquittal! . . . . President Bush has broken laws he swore to uphold, and declined to enforce laws that he has himself signed into existence . . .

While the Republican Party (with the help of many Democrats) was waging this war on American freedom, its propagandists in the media endlessly repeated the nonsensical notion that the people who attacked America did so because "they hate our freedoms." In reality it is the neoconservatives who hate American freedom, as the above-mentioned "accomplishments" of theirs proves.

In A Nation of Sheep Napolitano gives us chapter and verse of how Americans have been neo-conned into acquiescing in such an attack on their own liberties. The book is the third in a trilogy, following Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks its Own Laws, and The Constitution in Exile. All three are required reading for Ron Paul Revolutionaries – and for anyone who wants to understand the meaning and significance of constitutional liberty in America, who its enemies are, and why they must be stopped.

All neocons play the Orwellian game of making pronouncements about the Constitution, pretending to be supportive of it, while actively supporting its destruction. They are especially fond of cloaking themselves in a few selected words of the founding fathers to give the impression that Washington, Jefferson, and Madison would somehow approve of their foreign policy imperialism. But consider this: At the heart of their phony constitutionalism lies the notion that, before the American Revolution, the founders said something like this to the King of England: "Your Majesty, all we ask is that you provide us with security and protect us from the French, the Spaniards, and any other hostile force. In return, we will gladly give up all of our personal liberties and the rights of Englishmen."

Of course, no such conversation ever took place. But this is exactly the philosophy of the neocon regime that rules America (and much of the rest of the world) today. As Judge Napolitano correctly points out, the slogan of the American Revolutionaries was "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death," not "Give Me Security and I Will Gladly Give UP My Liberty."

To make things even creepier, the administration claims that its war on American liberty has as its purpose the protection of "the Homeland," a phrase that was never used by anyone else to describe America, and which is much more commonly associated with Nazi Germany than any other society.

There is no tradeoff between liberty and security, as Napolitano says. The notion that there is, is "a one-way trip into slavery." The only legitimate purpose of governmental provision of "security" is to secure our liberty, period. And this can only happen if there are enough "wolves" in society, defined as those who "challenge government regulations, reject government assistance, and demand that the government recognize and protect their natural [God-given] rights." Unfortunately, writes Napolitano, "the majority of Americans are sheep" who "stay in the herd and follow their shepherd without questioning where he is leading them."

If we look around the world, we find no precedents for the abolition of liberty leading to more security. It hasn’t worked for Israel in its struggles, nor did it work for England in its battles with the Irish Republican Army, says Napolitano.

In A Nation of Sheep Napolitano presents a long litany of the destruction of liberty that has occurred in just the past few years. The following is a sampling:

* Police departments routinely conduct random bag searches on buses and subways, in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
* Government bureaucrats can now write their own search warrants, called "National Security Letters."
* If you want to go to say, Disneyworld, you are required to be fingerprinted, and your prints may end up in the files of the FBI
* Government now has the ability to acquire all financial information about your life, without your permission or knowledge.
* Peaceful protesters have been mass arrested.
* Artists have been arrested for writing such things as "Giuliani = Police State" and "God Bless America" on sidewalks (with erasable chalk).
* Government schools crack down on speech the state does not like, suspending students who utter it.
* Government officials can now search your home or office without notifying you.
* Persons served with "National Security Letters" are prohibited from telling anyone about it.
* Government is tracing email conversations through its "Carnivore" technology.
* The president has been given the authority to essentially declare himself dictator after declaring "a state of emergency" as a result of the "National Continuity Policy."
* The president has been given the ability to station military troops anywhere in America to "restore public order," reversing hundreds of years of constitutional restrictions on the use of the military on American citizens.
* The president believes he is allowed to simply ignore the Geneva Conventions.
* The government now has a "domestic surveillance program" that enables it to spy on Americans’ phone calls, e-mails, and all other electronic communications without a search warrant.
* Government surveillance cameras are everywhere (including 142 of them in the Greenwich Village and Soho neighborhoods of New York City alone).
* "Red light cameras have been placed in thousands of intersections, causing thousands of accidents as motorists speed up to avoid having the camera snap a picture of their license plates should they pass under a red light. If your license is photographed by one of these cameras, you have no right to confront your accuser since the "accuser" is a camera, and, you must prove your innocence and are not presumed innocent until proven guilty.
* Airport "security" has become a Gestapo-like nightmare that does nothing to make traveling any safer.
* The government can deny anyone the right to due process by declaring him an "enemy combatant."
* The Bush administration is guilty of torturing prisoners in violation of U.S. and international law.
* News about the Iraq War has been vigorously censored. All reporters must be "embedded" with the military, which then takes them on Potemkin Village tours.
* Some reporters who have had the courage to report on some of the items on this list have had their phones and emails wiretapped.
* Government scientists can turn on your cell phone remotely and without your knowledge and track your location.

To make matters worse, other countries have begun to copy some of these policies. This is bound to create even more resentment of Americans around the world.

The Great Perverter of the Constitution

A Nation of Sheep also gives the reader an historical perspective on governmental attacks on personal liberties. It started almost at the very beginning of the republic, as the Adams Administration used the Sedition Act to arrest numerous critics of the government. When Thomas Jefferson succeeded Adams he pardoned everyone who had been unjustly imprisoned by the Federalists. But, writes Napolitano, "the progress made by Jefferson receded once President Lincoln took office." He mentions Lincoln’s shutting down of the opposition press in the North, his illegal suspension of habeas corpus, and his censoring of telegraph communication. He also focuses on Lincoln’s deportation of Ohio Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham for speaking up against the Lincoln regime’s abuses of constitutional liberty.

Napolitano quotes the speech that Vallandigham made back home in Dayton, Ohio, on August 2, 1862, that eventually led to his arrest and imprisonment (without due process). "No matter how distasteful constitutions and laws may be, they must be obeyed," said Vallandigham. "I am opposed to all mobs, and opposed also . . . to violations of [the C]onstitution and law[s] by men in authority – public servants. The danger from usurpations and violations by them is fifty-fold greater than from any other quarter, because these violations and usurpations become clothed with [a] false semblance of authority."

Vallandigham "hit the nail on the head here," Napolitano correctly states. Lincoln, who is described by Napolitano as "The Great Perverter of the Constitution," responded with slick and deceiving language to say: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, and not touch a hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert?"

Lincoln’s clever catch phrase led many to accept this particular act of tyranny (deporting Vallandigham), but the truth is, as Napolitano states, the "Constitution which is the sole source of all presidential power, gave him neither the right to ‘shoot a simple-minded soldier boy’ nor the right to impair in any way ‘the wily agitator’ using his First Amendment protected rights," as Vallandigham was doing.

Lincoln’s actions in the Vallandigham affair, writes Napolitano, were "a classic formulation of the argument against freedom, the argument that security and stability come at the expense of the laws and the freedoms that our Constitution was intended to guarantee. Those frightened by war and conflict . . . are, like Lincoln, dead wrong. When all our liberties are gone, there will be nothing left to protect."

In his concluding chapter Napolitano notes that, as of his writing, there were sixteen politicians competing nationally to replace President Bush. Sadly, "With the exception of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), in terms of fidelity to the Constitution, it does not matter which one of them wins. Except for Congressman Paul, they all love power for its own sake, believe that Big Government should redistribute wealth, regard the Constitution as a quaint obstacle, and would enforce or disregard laws as they saw fit . . ."

Judge Andrew Napolitano is an alpha male wolf in a nation of sheep. We can only hope that books such as this one will awaken enough sheep to assist in the defense of liberty before it is too late.

What is HR 1585? How does it affect you?

New federal legislation shows the Bush administration has begun systematically putting in place authorization for the president to federalize the National Guard and use the U.S. military in domestic emergency situations.

A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (H.R. 1585) requires the secretary of defense to prepare and submit to Congress by March 1, 2008, and each subsequent March 1 a plan to coordinate the use of the National Guard and members of the Armed Forces on active duty when responding to natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.

Section 1806 of H.R. 1585 requires the secretary of defense to prepare two versions of the plan, one using only members of the National Guard, and one using both members of the National Guard and members of the regular components of the armed services.

The section also requires the secretary of defense's plan to specify "Protocols for the Department of Defense, the National Guard Bureau, and the governors of the several states to carry out operations in coordination with each other and to ensure that governors and local communities are properly informed and remain in control in their respective states and communities."


WND currently is running a six-part series on NORAD-USNORTHCOM, reporting on exercise Vigilant Shield 2008 and observations WND made on site at Peterson Air Force base during the Joint Interagency Coordination Group command center operations during a real-time national training exercise.

In that series, WND reported that USNORTHCOM was created following the 9/11 terrorist attacks to be a military combatant command charged with protecting the homeland security of the mainland United States.

WND observed that the governors in Arizona and Oregon remained in control of the military responses during game-playing when "Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs)" were detonated at Sky Harbor in Phoenix and on the Steel Bridge in Portland as part of the Vigilant Shield 08 exercise scenario.

USNORTHCOM also worked under civilian direction when assisting California in the response to the recent outbreak of wildfires in Southern California.

According to a report posted on the USNORTHCOM website, "USNORTHCOM coordinated the use of three military aircraft to gather still images and infrared and full-motion video that fire ground commanders used to plan firefighting operations."

The USNORTHCOM report noted "California officials called directly to the aircraft crews and told them exactly what areas to map and what imagery to send to planners on the ground."

The report further stressed that USNORTHCOM was able to respond to requests from California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection within hours, compared to the week a civilian contractor required to provide the needed aerial photography.

USNORTHCOM also hosted an emergency database warehouse for the state of California, where all the gathered imagery was stored so it could be easily available to the participants in the firefighting operation.

The newly prepared National Response Framework currently posted on the Department of Homeland Security website states the states are sovereign entities such that "the Governor has the primary responsibility for the public safety and welfare of residents."

The National Response Framework also specifies, "If a state anticipates that its resources may become overwhelmed, each governor can request assistance from the Federal Government or from other states through mutual aid and assistance agreements such as the Emergency Management Assistance Compact."

The National Response Framework says the federal government's involvement is anticipated only when an incident exceeds state or local resources.

Under that outline, the federal government is a first responder only when incidents involve primary federal jurisdiction or authorities, for instance, on a military base or other federal facility.

Still, WND has reported National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD-51) and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 (HSPD-20), signed in May, allow the president to declare a national emergency and take over the management of all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments and agencies.

WND also has reported Section 1076 of the John Warner Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007 grants the president the right to commandeer federal troops or state National Guard to use them domestically.

The language of Section 1076 appears to nullify the Posse Comitatus Act, in that the language allows the president to federalize the National Guard or use the U.S. military in a wide range of emergencies, including natural disasters, epidemics, or other public health emergencies, terrorist attacks, insurrections, or domestic violence, including conspiracies to commit domestic violence.

Critics are concerned that when legal infrastructure for the president to involve the military in a domestic emergency situation, or to federalize the National Guard, is in place, a president intent on a power grab could declare a national emergency under NSPD-51 or HSPD-20, and impose federal martial law, by-passing civilian control.

In an exclusive interview with NORAD-USNORTHCOM commander, Gen. Gene Renuart, separately published in WND today, WND posed these questions.

Renuart responded by emphasizing the importance of respecting the U.S. Constitution, including civilian control of the military.

He expressed caution that the military and USNORTHCOM in particular should be careful not to engage in legal or political questions involving presidential directives such as NSPD-51 and HSPD-20.

Renuart was also clear to affirm that, "Our involvement at USNORTHCOM would be at the specific direction of the secretary of defense, on orders from the president."

The answer implied that USNORTHCOM would respond to a direct order from the secretary of defense, on orders from the president, to become involved in a domestic emergency situation, without attempting to resolve thorny questions of civilian control that a president in a power grab might attempt to obviate.

WND observed nothing in the operation of NORAD-USNORTHCOM in Vigilant Shield 08 which would substantiate a charge that the Bush administration is preparing to utilize the military in domestic situations to supersede civilian control in a domestic emergency.

Yet, provisions such as Section 1806 of H.R. 1585 emphasize again the Bush administration determination to establish new ground in articulating a primary role for a federalized National Guard or the U.S. military in domestic emergency situations.

As was the case with NSPD-51 and HSPD-20, emergency situations are given a very inclusive definition in Section 1806 of H.R. 1585.

That language defines emergency national planning scenarios to include: "Nuclear detonation, biological attack, biological disease outbreak/pandemic flu, the plague, chemical attack-blister agent, chemical attack-toxic industrial chemicals, chemical attack-nerve agent, chemical attack-chlorine tank explosion, major hurricane, major earthquake, radiological attack – radiological dispersal device, explosives attack – bombing using improvised explosive device, biological attack-food contamination, biological attack – foreign animal disease and cyber attack," or "any other hazards identified in a national planning scenario developed by the Homeland Security Council."

On May 17, H.R. 1585 was passed in the House by 397-27, and it passed the Senate 92-5 on Oct. 1, 2007. The conference bill has not yet gone to President Bush for signature.

Support Ron Paul? You're a terrorist in cahoots with Al Qaeda.

Have a candidate that scares the shit out of both sides of the aisle? Have a candidate that vows to uphold the Constitution and all it stands for? Well, CBS, FOX, and pretty much the rest of the MSM have labeled you and Dr. Paul an enemy of the state. Glenn Beck and his Marxist-talking-head-assclown, David Horowitz, say that Ron Paul supporters are all terrorists.

In the light of HR 1955, which nullifies the 1st Amendment and makes anyone who would speak out against the government on any issue, a domestic terrorist.

Remember the quote, "The terrorists attacked us because of our freedoms."? Do you now find it pretty damned ironic/sad that the government of the United States of America is doing everything within its power to remove our freedoms? Need some insight into what I'm talking about? Just scroll down and read until you get sick, and then come back and read some more. Being your Pepto® with you.

I know that this post is short and all, and I apologize, but there are so many things going on at this time, I am having to categorize it all in order to get my head around it and publish a full-on rant.

No, I'm not on strike.

Just busy in other areas. Yeah, there's some things coming down on us that I'll hopefully touch upon later.