Don't we little people need to be governed after all? Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress

Drones in our towns, yards and homes!

Drones over U.S. get OK by Congress - Washington Times

By Shaun Waterman 2-7-12

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s … a drone, and it’s watching you. That’s what privacy advocates fear from a bill Congresspassed this week to make it easier for the government to fly unmanned spy planes in U.S. airspace.

The FAA Reauthorization Act, which PresidentObama is expected to sign, also orders the Federal Aviation Administration to develop regulations for the testing and licensing of commercial drones by 2015.

Privacy advocates say the measure will lead to widespread use of drones for electronic surveillance by police agencies across the country and eventually by private companies as well.

“There are serious policy questions on the horizon about privacy and surveillance, by both government agencies and commercial entities,” said Steven Aftergood, who heads the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is “concerned about the implications for surveillance by government agencies,” said attorneyJennifer Lynch.

-more at link-

American micro-drones as small as a humming bird

American military engineers are developing a new generation of aerial micro-drones, shrinking the unmanned aircraft to the size of insects and birds.

In the 'Sundunce' Mode - Matt Damon Brings Howard Zinn to Life

When dullards 'think' they are smart.

"Damoning" us down.

Matt Damon Brings Howard Zinn to Life | FrontPage Magazine

by Mark Tapson On February 8, 2012

Fourteen years ago in his breakout performance as an arrogant young genius in the movie Good Will Hunting, actor Matt Damon’s character sneered at his Boston psychiatrist for “surrounding yourself with all the wrong f**kin’ books. You wanna read a real history book, read Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States. That book’ll f**kin’ knock you on your ass.”

That was from a script Damon himself had written (with fellow actor Ben Affleck, with Oscar-winning rewrite assistance from famed screenwriter William Goldman). It reflected Damon’s own real-life admiration for self-proclaimed radical historian Howard Zinn, whom he is still actively promoting today, almost two years to the day after Zinn’s death.

Damon went on to co-produce a documentary entitled “The People Speak,” based on A People’s History and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, which Zinn co-edited with anti-war-on-terror socialist Anthony Arnove. Other Hollywood folk like Josh Brolin, Marisa Tomei, Morgan Freeman, Viggo Mortensen, Rosario Dawson, and Kerry Washington lent their star power to it for a History Channel premiere back in 2009.

On January 31^st, actor/activist Damon lent his name and voice to a live performance in Chicago called “The People Speak, Live!” Composed of songs and dramatic readings based on the actual words of, as the organizers put it, “rebels, dissenters, and visionaries from America’s past,” the show was part of an ongoing program to promote Zinn’s subversive work.

Zinn was arguably the most popular proponent of the “history from below” school of historiography, which explores past events from the perspective of everyday people as opposed to the “Great Men” theory, which actor Brolin, another Zinn devotee, calls mere “propaganda.” Zinn’s 1980 book A People’s History of the United States, one of the best-selling history books of all time thanks partly to the influence of pop culture powerhouses like Damon, Brolin, and the rock group Pearl Jam, is a litany of oppression and exploitation on the part of America’s white ruling class, a “raggedly conceived Marxist caricature” of American history, as David Horowitz calls it in his Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left.

Zinn’s book is as ubiquitous in high school and university classrooms as sexual tension. His website proudly asserts that “no other radical historian has reached so many hearts and minds.” Well certainly, no other has darkened as many young hearts toward America and clouded as many young minds with utter disdain for facts and objectivity.

-read on at link-

The Picture of Dorian Sebelius - so nice and normal outwardly, but wherein hangs the true picture

Sebelius’s ‘Balance’ - By Ramesh Ponnuru - The Corner - National Review Online

Why Does President Obama Dislike Freedom Of Conscience?

Because it does not fit into group think!

"Take that, you moron rube," is Obamathink.

Why Does President Obama Dislike Freedom Of Conscience? - Forbes

Doug Bandow, 2-6-12

Authoritarian liberalism has taken over Obama administration policy. People must be forced to accept anything and everything in the name of tolerance. The only valid belief is no belief. Acting on one’s faith must be punished.

Such is the impact of the new Department of Health and Human Services ruling on birth control (as well as abortifacients, or “morning after” pills, and sterilization procedures). Even religious organizations must provide policies offering full coverage with no shared payment. Never mind if the people involved believe that contraception is morally wrong.

ObamaCare, which vastly expands federal control over American health care, suffers manifold flaws. One of the most obvious is further taking insurance out of “health insurance.”

-more at link-

Ginsberg and Breyer both hate the rights of the people and limits on government - Trashing the Constitution

Trashing the Constitution | FrontPage Magazine

By Joseph Klein On February 7, 2012

Every Supreme Court justice is required, under Article VI of the United States Constitution, to be bound by his or her oath or affirmation “to support this Constitution.” Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has just broken this commitment by insulting, in front of a foreign audience, the very document she is sworn to support.

In an interview during her visit to Cairo, which aired January 30, 2012 on Al-Hayat TV, Justice Ginsburg advised the Egyptian people to ignore the U.S. Constitution in preparing their own new constitution. It’s just too “old,” she said. Instead, Justice Ginsburg lavished praise on several post-World War II foreign documents such as the South African constitution, Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the European Convention on Human Rights.

“I might look at the constitution of South Africa,” Justice Ginsburg said. It is “a great piece of work that was done.”

“You would almost certainly look at the European Convention on Human Rights,” she continued.

As for her own country’s constitution, Justice Ginsburg said she “would not look to the U.S. Constitution if I were drafting a new constitution in 2012.”

Quite the contrary. Justice Ginsburg believes that contemporary foreign laws and decisions should be used by her and other Supreme Court justices in determining the meaning of provisions of our own constitution.

-read on at link-

http://www.pjtv.com/s/HAYDCNI

Justice Breyer: Founding Fathers Were for Gun Control

Déjà Jimmy Carter All Over Again

It is remarkable, as much as it is being down played.

Been there once, but will the correct results happen again:

- Getting the hostages back!

- Getting rid of Obama (at least from the executive office)

The press will cover-up all they can for this incompetent and the Republican candidates don't hold a candle to Ronals Reagan, so it will be tight. ♘

Jimmy Carter All Over Again | FrontPage Magazine

Robert Spencer On February 7, 2012

The Egyptian Government has released the names of nineteen American citizens that it intends to prosecute for their role in fomenting anti-government protests – a charge they deny. Protests from the American Government have so far been futile, met with sneers of contempt.

The echoes are unmistakable. On November 4, 1979, Iranian thugs stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. Jimmy Carter’s government wrung its hands in futility for the next fourteen months, until finally the Islamic Republic released the hostages on January 20, 1981, the day Ronald Reagan took office as President of the United States.

The bitter irony in all that was that Carter had betrayed the Shah of Iran, a longtime U.S. ally, and thereby paved the way for the ascent to power of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian mullahcracy that has ruled Iran ever since. Rather than feel gratitude toward Carter, however, Khomeini viewed his abandonment of the Shah as a sign of weakness, and pressed forward with his jihad against the Great Satan.

Iran has maintained a hostile posture toward the United States ever since then, including gleeful predictions of our nation’s imminent demise. Just days ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, declared to an enthusiastic Tehran crowd that “in light of the realization of the divine promise by almighty God, the Zionists and the Great Satan (America) will soon be defeated….Allah’s promises will be delivered and Islam will be victorious.”

As the Iranian regime inches ever closer toward constructing nuclear weapons, as even Hillary Clinton has acknowledged it is trying to do, these words become more than just empty braggadocio and saber-rattling. The U.S. and Israel have one man to thank for the advent of a genocide-minded regime that considers them both the most implacable of enemies, is not deterred by the prospect of millions of its own people dead, and is racing toward completion of a nuclear weapon.

That man, of course, is Jimmy Carter. And from the looks of recent events, he is back in the White House.

In June 2009, when Barack Obama made his notorious appeal to the Muslim world from Cairo, he specifically stipulated that leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood be allowed to attend – despite the fact that at that time the Brotherhood was still an outlawed group. Last March, as the “Arab Spring” uprisings toppled the sclerotic and brutal regime of Hosni Mubarak, Obama hailed “the peaceful transition to democracy in both Tunisia and in Egypt.” As the regime fell, Obama exulted: “We’ve borne witness to the beginning of new chapter in the history of a great country and a longtime partner of the United States.”

At the same time, Obama signaled his willingness to open talks with the Muslim Brotherhood, and gave every indication that he would not oppose the establishment of an Islamic state in Egypt. ...

-Read on at link-

Here is Detroit!

Thanks to Gags and Mark Wilson the photographer.

Evaluation: The Ruins of Detroit

"What is the one constant in Detroit, all of these years? It's been run by liberals. Liberal ideology. Liberal economics. Liberal belief system. Detroit, other places: A microcosm of where Europe is, and where we are headed — unchecked, unstopped liberalism. For those of you who like the Democrat Party, that’s where we are headed. There hasn’t been any opposition there, not of any strength or power. Take a look. That’s the one thing that is constant. It was the same thing in New Orleans, post-Katrina. What’s the one thing that was constant there? All run by liberals. All run by Democrats." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Detroit, industrial capital of the XXth Century, played a fundamental role shaping the modern world. The logic that created the city also destroyed it. Nowadays, unlike anywhere else, the city’s ruins are not isolated details in the urban environment. They have become a natural component of the landscape. Detroit presents all archetypal buildings of an American city in a state of mummification. Its splendid decaying monuments are, no less than the Pyramids of Egypt, the Coliseum of Rome, or the Acropolis in Athens, remnants of the passing of a great Empire.

Source...

The Gov't thinks we are stupid and can just feed us BS - Detroit ‘Comeback' Ad Filmed in New Orleans, L.A.

This administration is worse than most, but it is typical of the bureaucratic 'we know best' attititude that pervades all levels of government. They think they can tell us anything they want and we have to take it.

Don't believe them, they are the biggest liars of all! Maybe the "Halftime in America" Ad should be called "Halfassed in America" like the programs it supported. ♘

Detroit ‘Comeback' Ad Filmed in New Orleans, L.A. | The Weekly Standard

Not Detroit.

FEB 6, 2012 • BY DANIEL HALPER

One of the most popular Super Bowl advertisements last night was the Chrysler ad featuring Clint Eastwood, titled “Halftime in America.”

The spot is supposed to be encouraging, as it focuses on the resilience of Detroit. “It’s halftime. Both teams are in their locker room discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half,” Eastwood says in the spot. “It’s halftime in America, too. People are out of work and they’re hurting. And they’re all wondering what they’re going to do to make a comeback. And we’re all scared, because this isn’t a game. The people of Detroit know a little something about this. They almost lost everything. But we all pulled together, now Motor City is fighting again.”

But contrary to what the might ad suggest, the spot was actually filmed in New Orleans and Los Angeles. “Yes, part of it was filmed in New Orleans . . . and some was filmed in various parts—such as Los Angeles,” Dianna Gutierrez said. She specifically points to the tunnel scenes as being taken at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, while the stadium shots were in New Orleans.

-the ad and more at the link-

Guess Who Made and the Guess Who Paid for the Most Expensive Two Minutes of TV Advertising?

You paid for this high priced pantload!

... Still, the advertising agency that created the commercial — Wieden + Kennedy — has members who have designed Obama campaign items or who have worked on behalf of Democratic causes.

The creative minds behind the ad are in the agency’s Portland, Ore., branch. Aaron Allen designed a poster for the 2008 Obama campaign and Jimm Lasser designed a basketball sneaker called the “Obama Force One,” with an image of the president on the soles and the message “A Black Man Runs and a Nation Is Behind Him.” Lasser displayed the shoe in a 2008 gallery exhibition with the tagline “The Dunk on McCain.”

Elsewhere at Wieden + Kennedy, which has Kraft and Coca-Cola on its client list, global public relations director Joani Wardwell worked in the press office of the Clinton White House. She started as a grassroots organizer for Democratic causes in the early 1990s and continues to do political consulting.

“I’ve managed to always keep my toe dipped in the water that way,” she said in 2009.

The Wieden + Kennedy spot set itself apart in two ways: its length — two minutes, compared with the standard 30 seconds — and its powerful message. ...

- more at link-

Portrait of the Major Obama Donors - Tied to Pepe Cardona, Mexican Fugitive

It speaks for itself, pay to play.

Major Obama Donors Are Tied to Pepe Cardona, Mexican Fugitive - NYTimes.com

February 6, 2012 By MIKE McINTIRE

Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign.

The casino owner, Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, known as Pepe, jumped bail in Iowa in 1994 and disappeared, and has since been linked to violence and corruption in Mexico. A State Department cable in 2009 said he was suspected of orchestrating the assassination of a business rival and making illegal campaign donations to Mexican officials.

When The New York Times asked the Obama campaign early Monday about the Cardonas, officials said they were unaware of the brother in Mexico. Later in the day, the campaign said it was refunding the money raised by the family, which totaled more than $200,000.

As recently as January of last year, one of Mr. Cardona’s brothers in Chicago, Carlos Rojas Cardona, arranged for the former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party to seek a pardon from the governor for Pepe Cardona, according to prosecutors in that state. None was forthcoming.

Last fall, Carlos Cardona and another brother in Chicago, Alberto Rojas Cardona, began raising money for the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

-more at link-

Crushed to Death by Red Tape

"The problem is not red tape but the core notion that the government has the right to tell people what they can do with their property based on some subjective notion of what is “historic.” If people want to protect historic properties, they should privately buy them."

Crushed to Death by Red Tape » The Antiplanner

2-7-12

posted in Follow up, News commentary |

The Antiplanner’s friend, Ann Brower, barely survived last February’s earthquake in Christchurch when a building fell on her bus, killing the driver and seven other passengers as well as four pedestrians. Now it turns out that the building had been known to be unsafe for nearly 30 years. The owner wanted to demolish it but couldn’t because the city considered it a “heritage building” and any work on it had to tramp through mountains of red tape.

Brower testified before a Royal Commission last week, and noted in a radio interview that numerous experts considered the building unsafe.

The city, of course, denies that red tape was a problem even though it can take six months to obtain consent to demolish or modify a building that the city has declared to be historic. Moreover, despite continuing earthquakes in Christchurch, historic preservationistsmoan that historic buildings are “losing the battle against the bulldozers.”

Brower pointed out that the New Zealand parliament had actually given the city the power to accelerate the process of approving demolitions, but the city considered such authority “draconian” and rarely if ever used it. City officials were obviously hoping that, if they stalled long enough, the owner would repair the building instead of tear it down.

-more at link-