Wednesday, August 31, 2011

"Constitutional Declaration" of Libya........OK......



Seems to be a conflict here, me do believe......

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LINK

Libya is a democratic, independent state with Tripoli its capital, Islam its religion, sharia, Islamic law as the main source of legislation and Arabic as its official language. The rights of minority groups and all sections of society are guaranteed.

The state will establish a democratic political system based on political and party pluralism aiming for a peaceful, democratic transition of power.

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All Libyans are equal before the law and are not discriminated against because of religion, faith, language, wealth, gender, ancestry, political views, social status or tribal, group or family affiliation.


Seems y'all neglected to exclude, women, Christians, Jews, homosexuals, and about everyone else on this planet except male "Going for my 69 virgins" Muslims........who, needless to say, are all braindead at best.
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The state guarantees freedom of opinion and expression, as well as freedom of the press and peaceful protests.


The state guarantees the right to form political parties, societies and civil society organizations.

The formation of secret or armed societies, or societies that do not comply with public order shall not be permitted.

H.K. continues to fight the good fight

Via Old Virginia Blog



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H.L. Hunley Funeral/Parade

Dixie and H.K. at the conclusion of the H.L.Hunley Funeral/Parade, April 17 2004.


Ocracoke/Rodanthe damage from Hurricane Irene

Via Cousin Colby



I lost my power on Saturday morning around 7 A.M. and finally got it back around 5:30 on Monday Afternoon. Got my phone back around 8 P.M. on Monday. My Mom still is without power. A lot of trees down all over the area, that toppled many electrical and phone lines. I lost my mailbox and 4 shutters on my home and a little water got into my garage. Other than that I made out really well. I have no trees in my yard. My neighbor across the street lost 6 trees and one of them on his utility shed. I have been busy cleaning up my Mom’s yard, which was covered with pecan limbs. My Mom had no other damage to the home or out-buildings. '

Other neighbors though did not have as good as luck as we did. One of my brothers lives on the Pamilco river and he has his house on stilts and water was 4 feet under his house. His son lives next door and he had 13 inches of rain in his home and caused a lot of damage. They are calling this hurricane the worst yet for damage, even though it was not the strongest category hurricane. We had sustained winds of 60-80 miles of wind from 10 PM on Friday night until 6 PM on Saturday evening.

The pictures below show some of the damage done on Ocracoke which was to the right of the hurricane. The right side is always more destructive than the left side, with higher winds.

Boehner asks Obama to move jobs joint address to Thursday

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has asked President Obama to address a joint-session of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 8, when it wouldn't conflict with the Republican presidential debate.

Citing logistical difficulties, Boehner requested that Obama hold his jobs address, which Obama wants to deliver next Wednesday, one day later.

The Speaker's letter made no mention of the more obvious conflict: between the president's speech, and a Republican presidential debate scheduled on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. EST. That debate is the first of the post-Labor Day political season, and the first one in which Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is set to participate.

The response by Boehner sets up an early showdown between Obama and the Congress just returning from its August recess.

MORE

The South

Via David


Are They Gonna Make us Outlaws Again?

Lyrics Survival

"So you never picked no peaches
You never rode no boxcar train.
Never worked out on the road gang
Or slept out in the rain.
But when you see a good man
Have to struggle, sweat and strain
And when a man can't feed his children
Don't it make you stop and think?

Are they gonna make us outlaws again?
Is that what it's comin' to my friends?
Why, I think I see why Pretty Boy Floyd done the things he did.
Are they gonna make us outlaws again?"

Thomas Fleming on the Ron Paul Story or Lack Thereof

feature photo

CONSERVATIVE HERITAGE TIMES
VERBATIM POST
===================================
RedPhillips

Dr. Fleming discussed the lack of media attention that the Ron Paul campaign is getting.

The article is surprisingly deferential to Paul, and I don’t mean that as a swipe at Dr. Fleming. I mean that Fleming usually has little use for libertarian ideologues and even less use for the modern political process, so I was a bit surprised to see something this deferential.

What I have noticed a lot recently is that many people, left, right and center, are starting to give Paul grudging respect. That he is the ”last honest man” in Washington or that he “calls it as he sees it” are frequent comments you might see coming from people who don’t necessarily agree with his politics.

In this way Paul is starting to remind me of Ralph Nader - whatever you think of Nader’s politics, you respect him. He is a hard man to dislike. Likewise, rational, dispassionate people tend to respect Paul regardless of what they think of his politics. It is the emotional stakeholders in the system left and right (stakeholders in interventionism, three-legs-of-the-stoolism, anti-racism, Lincoln fetishism, etc.) who react so viscerally to Paul.

Egypt’s New Focus: Global Islamic Conquest & Christian Extermination

VERBATIM POST
Sword At-The-Ready
========================


Some of the most maddening arguments during the “Arab Spring” was with clueless imbeciles who have absolutely no real understanding of Islam, who vehemently insisted the uprisings and riots from Egypt to Libya were “revolutions for freedom”. They cited the USA’s support for strongman tyrants like Mubarak as evidence that once again – the USA was evil – and now we needed to support the ‘uprisings’ in the Arab world to correct the wrongs we supposedly supported.

We warned them that their cheerleading and support was misplaced. We warned them about the Muslim Brotherhood being the instigating arm of these uprisings. We warned them that the euphoria of replacing their dictator would be replaced by the brutal tyranny of Sharia Islamic law. We warned them that elements of Al Qaeda were assisting in the transitions. We warned them a despotic Islamic state would replace a secular state that was tolerant of Christians.

We were accused of denying freedom and being supporters of tyrants.

Now we are beginning to see that the warnings we had given back this Spring are actually coming to pass.

MEMRI reports that a senior Egyptian Cleric has said “We will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquests to Instate Shari’a Worldwide…but if the Christians Make Problems for the Muslims, I Will Exterminate Them’

We warned that the picture taking shape from all the uprisings in the Arab world, some of them sponsored by and supported by the Obama regime, was that radical Islam was in the wings to replace secular dictators and regimes benign or friendly to the West and the USA.

In short – the cheerleaders in the West and in this country – were cheering a movement that we warned would work to take over all of the Middle East in the push for a Caliphate and attempt to impose global Islam – resulting in the extermination of Christians within their reach once they got control of these governments.

And that warning was not by some prophetic vision – it was taking the leaders behind the movement of the Arab Spring at their word.

But ignorant feelings seem to trounce facts and common sense these days.

Which is why, when you listen to the leaders of Jihad – they see their opportunity to impose worldwide Islam – as one that is an assured victory they sense is achievable.

BREAKING! Federal Judge Rules in Obama SSN CASE! Says It doesn't matter if Prez broke law!

Via RANDY'S RIGHT


Issa on Van Susteren: "Much Higher" than Melson.

Via Sipsey Street Irregulars


Man Faces 75 Years In Illinois Prison for recording police

Via GUNRIGHTS4US


NERO TO HERO+

Via pumabydesign



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National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 08-30-11

VERBATIM POST
Injustice Everywhere

===========================

Here are the 19 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Tuesday, August 30, 2011:

  • Long Beach CA police claims that a man shot to death by a cop was running away from an alleged stabbing incident are being questioned by residents of that neighborhood who claim that the man they shot couldn’t run or hold the alleged “cutting instrument” police found near the scene because he was crippled. [3] bit.ly/n7HjEB
  • Worcester MA settles suit for $80k to a woman who claimed 2 cops with a history of disciplinary problems beat her then falsely arrested her. [0] bit.ly/qB7nZ2

  • A Freeport TX police lieutenant resigned after his estranged wife released a video he had kept at his home showing him slap a detainee in the head while other officers watched. Those other officers also resigned prior to the start of an internal investigation even though none of them can be charged since the statute of limitations expired. [0] bit.ly/mXkVK4
  • Ottawa ON police are the subject of a lawsuit alleging cops brutally beat a man in an incident partially captured in a cellblock surveillance video after his questionable arrest on drunk & disorderly charges. [3] bit.ly/nEggjS
  • Allentown PA settles suit for $315k to a man who had his legs crushed when he tried to save a young boy from being fatally struck by an out-of-control police cruiser driven by a cop with a history of reckless driving. [0] bit.ly/nUxwz2
  • Fort Lewis College CO settles suit for $140k to a man who was tasered 4x by 2 cops who were arresting him for being drunk & disorderly at a concert. [0] bit.ly/mWCeFG
  • Grays Harbor Co WA deputy is the subject of a lawsuit alleging he extorted sex from a man, sometimes violently, under threat of arrest when he started a medicinal marijuana dispensary. The suit also includes other local agencies on allegations that they harassed and falsely detained him as well. [3] bit.ly/nT40iE
  • A Box Elder Co UT deputy is being sued alleging he forced a teen girl to strip naked inside his cruiser and made two others expose their breasts as they stood in the snow during a traffic stop. [3] bit.ly/o1Yb4j
  • Los Angeles Co CA sheriff was ordered to pay legal fees to a newspaper that sued to get the names of deputies who were involved in fatal shooting incidents. [3] http://lat.ms/n6bhWS
  • San Fernando CA police chief is back on job but must retire by Jan in a settlement deal made over the alleged retaliatory firing of a cadet he had sex with [1] bit.ly/ppiBsc
  • A Riverside Co CA deputy gets 90 days in jail for having sex w/9 female inmates in exchange for goods & protection from mistreatment. [0] bit.ly/ojzPig
  • Glendale CA cop gets anger management classes in a pleal deal to a reduced distrubing peace charge for hitting man in a road rage case [0] bit.ly/pRWctp
  • St Matthews TN cop arrested on domestic violence assault charge for allegedly shoving wife in front of her friend [0] bit.ly/rp5Wc8
  • Riverside Co CA deputy charged w/DUI for April crash while now facing a lawsuit over a seperate possible alcohol-involved accidental shooting incident [1] bit.ly/ppBSIb
  • Orange Co FL sheriff’s capt & other deputies investigated for misusing personal information gathered from a confidential CCW database in an effort to lobby state lawmakers [0] bit.ly/rrSFlE
  • Indianapolis IN cop loses cop car take home privilege after caught on video doing 100mph in his police cruiser while late for work [0] bit.ly/qxnZMr
  • Omaha NE cop gets 2 day suspended sentence after pleading guilty to drunk driving charge in Iowa [0] bit.ly/qaUaKN
  • Umatilla FL police chief suspended for violating policy by playing games on duty & having cops get rent from tenant [0] bit.ly/oBie4o
  • Mississippi State trooper promotion exam results thrown out while troopers investigated over cheating allegations [0] bit.ly/pjuEUi

That’s it for today, stay safe out there!

Allen West Mulls Quitting Congressional Black Caucus



Obama has nothing



Obama's address falls on the same date and at the same time as a scheduled Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The debate is sponsored by the Reagan Presidential Foundation, NBC News and Politico.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said it was "coincidental" that Obama's address will take place at the same time as the debate, adding, "You can never find a perfect time."

================================================

His gall and desperation is appalling. Here he goes, after months and months of vacations, and over the last 4 weeks of economic tumult and he beckons Congress back in session at the same time a Presidential Debate is scheduled?

I can't describe what he's thinking. I can't fathom the greed, lust of power, and sheer lack of dignity this guy must possess. He's had a whole month to chat and use the bully pulpit to lay out definitive, concrete plans for economic improvement, but he's more worried about how he looks at Martha's Vineyard, and Hollywood... and of course the links than he cares for the Average Joe's opinion.

Mark this down in red ink...

The Dem's and O, specifically, are declaring a hot war on anything with an R or a TP attached to it.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures" the old saying goes...
This is just among many opening salvo's. There will be no compromises from the hardline Dem's. O's press conference is a hard core attempt to preempt his competition and is a over-the-top political ploy meant to blunt any further momentum gained by the other party.

As I write this at work, my reaction is tempered by the limitations set upon me by being at work. I can't properly delve into the deeper ramifications an action such as this might portend. But it reveals much about the man and his handlers.

No surprise in that they are all consumed with self and that they are consumed with self-power. But it also reveals that they are running scared and are desperate in the nth degree. If they didn't feel threatened by the "weak" Republican pool of candidates, they would never go to this degree to try to silence them.

But no, they are scared of Paul and his merry band of Elephants. They are scared of losing in 2012 because that would mean that the 1st Black President was a failure and it may be a long time before another gets elected... especially venting the same, tired, old, BS lines like "Yes we Can" and "Tax the Rich".....

Barry has no class.
Barry is desperate.
Barry has no clothes.

Todd

Black mobs disrupting Richmond, VA

Via Nancy

Kitesurfing World Champion

WOW!
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MORE!

The Fed’s Secret Liquidity Lifelines

Via Global Guerrillas



Tuesday, August 30, 2011

"Quote of the week"

Via Western Rifle Shooters Association

LANGUAGE!


The Smallest Majority

Quote of the Day - Lines from Fiction Edition

I was introduced to author Richard K. Morgan's works by my shooting buddy Dusty. Here's a quote from the novel Altered Carbon appropriate to today:
The personal, as everyone's so fucking fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-.

Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference – the only difference in their eyes – between players and little people.

Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it's just business, it's politics, it's the way of the world, it's a tough life and that it's nothing personal. Well, fuck them. Make it personal.

When The Man Comes Around

Black man assaults Korean woman on bus in Korea

Via Matthew

And the men do nothing? Guess none of their fathers were ROKs in Vietnam, where it was said

"They only received hostile fire from a village once, since they leveled it afterwards."

(As he should have been.)
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a

More Evidence Obama Did Not Write Dreams From My Father

Well said. My favorite on Michelle:
Mundy charitably describes her senior thesis at Princeton as "dense and turgid." The less charitable Christopher Hitchens observes, "To describe [the thesis] as hard to read would be a mistake; the thesis cannot be 'read' at all, in the strict sense of the verb. This is because it wasn't written in any known language.":)
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CONSERVATIVE HERITAGE TIMES
VERBATIM POST


RedPhillips

Jack Cashill has come across another example of Obama’s early writing that demonstrates further, as if any additional evidence was needed, that Obama did not write Dreams From My Father.

I really wish that PJ Foggy and Dr. Conspiracy and all the other prominent debunkers would come on here and state categorically that they think Obama wrote Dreams. I don’t think they’ll do it because I think they KNOW good and well he didn’t. They may be apologists, but they are not stupid.

Mass Exodus of Students from the Public Schools

Love it!:)
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school-choice

With public schools in Indiana spending anywhere between $9,000 and $14,000 per student annually, one would think the education they provide would be first class. Nine grand a year is quite a lot of money. Most private schools produce good academic results at half that cost; and homeschooling families perform miracles at just a portion of it.

Therefore, public school advocates shouldn’t have worried too much about the new voucher system introduced in the state of Indiana, where parents could take their vouchers and enroll their children in any school they want – provided the school has state accreditation.

But what happened is exactly what the public schools feared: more than 70% of the parents who took advantage of the vouchers transferred their children from the government-run public school system to private schools, mainly Catholic schools who have an established history and network in the state.

The exodus from the government schools is serious enough to alarm the public school bureaucrats in Indiana and force them to do meetings with the parents in attempt to dissuade them from transferring. A group in the state is suing the state to stop the vouchers program, claiming that most of the vouchers end up in religious schools, which supposedly violates the “separation of church and state.” (“Separation of church and state” is an imaginary legal principle conjured up by the secularists in the US to fight the historic public influence of the Christian religion in America; the phrase is not present in any founding document of the American Republic.)

MORE

With Obama Slowdown Here to Stay, Regime Will Sling Dirt in 2012

CONSERVATIVE byte
VERBATIM POST
====================

“Economic growth second quarter slightly weaker than previously estimated.” Slightly. (chuckles) “According to revised US government data released on Friday, the GDP, which is the broadest measure of our economic health, rose at an annual rate of 1% in the second quarter.” The ChiComs are growing at 9.5%. The Cuban growth rate is higher than ours. The Cuban economy is growing faster than ours! We’re at 1%, revised down. This is a piece of news from the usual Friday evening dump, further buried by the hysteria over coverage of the Storm of the Century brought on by global warming. God, folks, the lies that have become rote! The lies that appear as news in every one of these stories! It’s just amazing. Gross domestic product: 1%. In July we were told it was 1.3%, but they revised it down.

“Economists were expecting the rate to be revised down to 1.1%, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com.” Imagine that, economists getting it wrong! I’m stunned. I can’t believe it. And then we’re told in this story that the slowdown’s here to stay. The slowdown is here to stay. If that’s true (and I think you and I know that it is) what does this portend for the presidential campaign? Dirt. Pure, unadulterated dirt. The regime cannot and will not run on its record. The best that this regime can hope for is to say that their record would have been astoundingly good were it not for Republican obstructionism, but that’s gonna be a tough sell because the Republican presidential nominee will have had nothing to do with any obstructionism.

It's not a Ponzi Scheme if you can't exit!

Via Wolf Files

Pointing out Social Security's similarities to a Ponzi Scheme irritates Social Security's defenders. Nick Baumann at the liberal Mother Jones created a cute Venn Diagram implying that the only overlap between a Ponzi Scheme and Social Security is that Rick Perry calls them both Ponzi Schemes.

I think Baumann left some things out, so I've created my own diagram:


MORE


Maintain Our Electricity Supply: Help REIN in the EPA



The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) upcoming air pollution regulation revisions are creating a bit of a stir both in the energy industry and in Congress. The emissions that would fall under more stringent limits are ozone, mercury, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide; coal ash waste; and water used to cool facilities that generate electricity.

Many see the new scheme as one that will unduly burden the power industry, even forcing shut downs of numerous coal-fired plants altogether. Estimated costs of compliance for utility companies are up to $129 billion, with a reduction of up to 81,000 megawatts of electricity generation. Then there’s the jobs at stake. A Commerce Department analysis predicted a loss of 60,000 jobs due to the EPA’s rulings.

With 45 percent of America’s electricity being coal-fired -- a resource that is abundant and cheap with at least a 200-year supply available in the States -- these new EPA regulations seem a direct attack on not only the power companies, but on consumers. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which is responsible for the reliability of the electric system warns that over-regulation of fossil-fueled electricity generation will make it difficult for companies to meet electric demand.

There are at least three proposed bills that could rein in the EPA on this. One is H.R.910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which has already been approved by the House in a 255-172 vote, and was referred to the Senate. Many claim it has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled chamber.

Another is H.R. 2018, the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011, “To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act” which also passed the House 239-184 and was referred to the Senate. Many claim that this one, too, will not pass the full Senate.

And then there's the REINS Act, S. 299, the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2011, introduced by Sen. Rand Paul, (R-Ky.). Not specifically tailored for the EPA, this bill would rein in all unaccountable federal agencies. Cosponsored by Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), it would require Congressional approval of any interim or final regulation from the Executive Branch bureaucracy that costs more than $100 million per year or that excessively increases costs or prices or has “significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or U.S. competitiveness.” This popular measure already has 28 sponsors and hearings completed. There is a companion bill in the House, H.R. 10, that has garnered 159 cosponsors.

House Republicans and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have vowed to bring up bills after the summer recess that would repeal or restrict federal regulations, and Cantor intends on starting with a proposal to delay the implementation of these new EPA rules. But we can do better than just delay the rules.

Contact your Senators and Representative and get them to support and pass this common-sense legislation that would REIN in the damaging effects to our utilities, the economy and jobs by a host of unelected czars and their bureaucratic agencies. Make specific mention of the EPA as one of the most out-of-control and draconian agencies within the federal government that needs to be relieved of its regulating power. And pressure the Senate into taking action on the already-passed House bills.

Thanks,

Your friends at The John Birch Society

Will prison officials allow Wayne Fincher to attend wife’s funeral?



Paul W. Davis shares some sad news:

It is with great sorrow and regret that I must inform you of the passing of Linda Fincher, Wayne Fincher's wife. She passed away sometime early in the morning, the 28th of August at her home. At this time the cause of death is determined to be a seizure. She was alone at the time. Miss Linda had been suffering from seizures for some years now.

I am requesting your prayers for the family, particularly for Wayne and the daughters, Connie and Carol Ann. It was ever Miss Linda's concern that she would not see Wayne come home. Sadly, that concern has come true.

Long-time readers of the War on Guns blog will recall Fincher, a lieutenant commander in the Militia of Washington County (AR), was convicted of possession of an unregistered machine gun in a trial where the judge would not allow the Constitution to be mentioned in his defense. Click here to access an extensive archive that chronicles his struggles, and click here, to read “The Silver Bullet,” a document he co-authored that “clearly demonstrates how the National Firearms Act of 1934 is a criminal fraud and levy of war.”

Friend and supporters of the Wayne and Linda Fincher write that they:

[C]alled Judge Hendren who tried Wayne and asked him to request Wayne’s release for the funeral. The judge said he could not do that in his purview but that he would recommend Wayne’s furlough if the prison officials asked his opinion.

The judge did say that if an attorney would call the prison on Hollis Wayne Fincher’s behalf that could probably be of some help.

A Fincher daughter asks via email:

Can anyone help us?

We can try. While nothing formal has been established as the best way to make Wayne’s furlough happen, if we sit around waiting for someone to organize things, it won’t. My recommendation: Fincher is housed at FCI Forrest City Low, which is part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons system. The Acting Director is Thomas R. Kane.

I have three suggestions:

MORE

How al-Qaeda got to rule in Tripoli

Via JADED HAVEN


His name is Abdelhakim Belhaj. Some in the Middle East might have, but few in the West and across the world would have heard of him.

Time to catch up. Because the story of how an al-Qaeda asset turned out to be the top Libyan military commander in still war-torn Tripoli is bound to shatter - once again - that wilderness of mirrors that is the "war on terror", as well as deeply compromising the carefully constructed propaganda of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO's) "humanitarian" intervention in Libya.

Muammar Gaddafi's fortress of Bab-al-Aziziyah was essentially invaded and conquered last week by Belhaj's men - who were at the forefront of a militia of Berbers from the mountains southwest of Tripoli. The militia is the so-called Tripoli Brigade, trained in secret for two months by US Special Forces. This turned out to be the rebels' most effective militia in six months of tribal/civil war.
Already last Tuesday, Belhaj was gloating on how the battle was won, with Gaddafi forces escaping "like rats" (note that's the same metaphor used by Gaddafi himself to designate the rebels).

Abdelhakim Belhaj, aka Abu Abdallah al-Sadek, is a Libyan jihadi. Born in May 1966, he honed his skills with the mujahideen in the 1980s anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan.

He's the founder of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and its de facto emir - with Khaled Chrif and Sami Saadi as his deputies. After the Taliban took power in Kabul in 1996, the LIFG kept two training camps in Afghanistan; one of them, 30 kilometers north of Kabul - run by Abu Yahya - was strictly for al-Qaeda-linked jihadis.

After 9/11, Belhaj moved to Pakistan and also to Iraq, where he befriended none other than ultra-nasty Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - all this before al-Qaeda in Iraq pledged its allegiance to Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and turbo-charged its gruesome practices.

In Iraq, Libyans happened to be the largest foreign Sunni jihadi contingent, only losing to the Saudis. Moreover, Libyan jihadis have always been superstars in the top echelons of "historic" al-Qaeda - from Abu Faraj al-Libi (military commander until his arrest in 2005, now lingering as one of 16 high-value detainees in the US detention center at Guantanamo) to Abu al-Laith al-Libi (another military commander, killed in Pakistan in early 2008).

Time for an extraordinary rendition

South Vietnam, The American Waterloo: Introduction and Prelude. 54 articles


The following are a series of articles my father, Rick Johnson, wrote while working as a reporter for the Indianapolis Star. They were originally published during October and November of 1966.

I present them to you here as he originally wrote them, without edits.

The original, typewritten versions of these stories are now in the possession of the Indiana Historical Society.

It is my sincere hope that you enjoy these articles, and come away with the realization that we, as a great nation, need to learn from our past and not repeat our mistakes.

Paul Johnson

=================

By Rick Johnson

For all the outstanding men I met while a correspondent In South Vietnam. For all those who served then and those who came later…

Especially for my wife, Phyllis, and my family.

Introduction

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South Vietnam, The American Waterloo

Four Horsemen

Via The Excavator


Gunwalker: Two out, well one transferred and probably promoted to keep his mouth shut

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Kenneth Melson is being moved out of the top job at the bureau, ATF special agents in charge announced during an internal conference call today.
==============================================



"ATF Director Reassigned; U.S. Attorney Out Amid 'Fast and Furious' Uproar."
U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, one of the officials closely tied to Fast and Furious, is also a casualty in a shakeup tied to the botched gun-running program. Burke was on the hot seat last week with congressional investigators and, according to several sources, got physically sick during questioning and could not finish his session.
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MORE

MEAT GRINDERS AND EVIL MEN



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Power, wealth, greed, cronyism, lies, yet again more examples of the mother tiger eating her young cubs, yes it is happening today as you sit there sipping your coffee this morning. We are still sending our cubs off to be murdered and maimed for what reasons exactly? Ohhh and this has been going on for a very long time.

Our leaders know exactly why, and so should we. I sift through thousands of photos just for one blog post, "a photo is worth a thousand words" The amount of suffering our babes have gone through from one generation to the next, so as some fat white guys can enrichen their buddies is sickening.

The most precious thing in our lives is our children, yet we think nothing of it to send them off to war to be killed and to kill, all for the profits of the evil master and his cronies. Just wars? Name me one war in the past hundred years that some asshole did not profit from.

Abortion and eugenics, most conservative folks will agree are evil deeds, yet we wave the red white and blue and send our children off to be hacked to pieces. My thinking has change considerably, the doors of awareness are being opened. To think we will never be involved in a war is juvenile, yet to start and fight wars for profits is EVIL.

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 08-29-11

VERBATIM POST
Injustice Everywhere

=========================

a


Yavapai-Prescott AZ cop caught on video tasering man twice while he had his hands up, no comment from police about the case so far. [3] bit.ly/pdGJLA
  • Orlando FL undisclosed number of cops involved in a shooting incident where their claims they were nearly run over by a suspect were contradicted by a video are now under investigation [3] bit.ly/qV1fZ3
  • Elgin OR considers disbanding their police dept after a questionable fatal shooting incident by a cop who was the subject of a number of complaints alleging he was always nervous and would often put his hand on his gun during interactions. [2] bit.ly/pJolA9
  • Peel ON police successfully blocked a state investigation by refusing to release records about a police dog that attacked a woman who was sitting in a park [4] bit.ly/qG7Ega
  • Michigan State trooper sentenced to 20mo for 2 felony criminal sexual conduct charges involving a 12yr-old girl [0] bit.ly/q7udXl
  • Wichita Falls TX cop suspended indefinitely for 80mph crash that killed 2 teens, he wasn’t responding to a call at the time. [0] bit.ly/oiAOfO
  • New York NY police issued judicial stipulation to stop arresting homeless woman w/o charges after she filed suit [0] nyti.ms/mOMMeU
  • Tahlequah OK cop arrested on multiple charges for allegedly stealing over $1,600 from 3 Hispanic motorists at traffic stops [0] bit.ly/rqzXhf
  • Boynton Beach FL cop facing trial for selling meth on duty being sought after removing ankle monitor & skipping town [0] bit.ly/pKoB4T
  • Philadelphia PA cops accused of arresting 2 men on false “lack of common sense” charge for rafting on flooded street [3] http://t.co/0mElt05
  • Denver CO cop faces possible felony child abuse charge on allegations he gave toddler liquor to shut her up inside of a restaurant. [0] bit.ly/mXg8Yv
  • New Mexico state trooper on leave after arrested on battery on a household member charge in unspecified incident [1] bit.ly/mY6wvn
  • Pittsburgh PA cop arrested on several charges alleging he drove women to make drug buys & promoted prostitution [0] bit.ly/n1DFly
  • Missouri State trooper pleads guilty to concealing illegal activities of an auto repair business that altered VINs [0] bit.ly/nuzsNr
  • Phoenix AZ cop arrested in Texas on solicitation charges after allegedly busted during prostitution sting op [0] bit.ly/ocqRlZ
  • Philadelphia PA cop arrested for simple assault & reckless endangerment in alleged fight w/police officer girlfriend [0] bit.ly/p1YNdo
  • Seattle WA police DUI rubber-stamping problems illustrates how agencies hid behind challenged public records law [4] bit.ly/oGc9JJ
  • West Bloomfield MI cop suspended 5days for failing to detain twp supervisor’s husband who failed prelim DUI test, he allegedly gave them a ride home instead. [0] http://bit.ly/nCYpDD
  • Champaign Co IL sheriff’s investigator sentenced to 9 days in drunk driving & obstructing plea deal for 3-car crash [0] bit.ly/rpNJal
  • A New Mexico state trooper is now under investigation after stills from a surveillance camera surfaced showing him having sex in public on the hood of a car while wearing his uniform… as seen below. [0] bit.ly/qFX53e

Before I go, just wanted to mention that we could really use some donations so if you like what this project does and haven’t donated yet, please consider doing so today. Thank you.

That’s it for today, stay safe out there…

Self-Defense Against a Violent Flash Mob

Wyatt Earp disbursed many a lynch mob with his resolute demeanor standing behind his Colt .45 six shooters or a shotgun. Was his threat overkill? I don’t think so! It worked and usually, not a shot was fired. Check that thought. What about a “flash mob?"

Kevin Costner as Wyatt Earp

Are they less or more deadly than what Earp encountered? And do you have the reputation of a Marshall Wyatt Earp?

Does the pictured 12 gauge 15-round Kel-Tec Scatter Gun send out the wrong idea? I don’t think so. One might want a scatter gun if confronted by a violent mob. However, one is unlikely to be prepared as such. I am trying to convey the seriousness of the situation. Do you have a problem shooting twenty or more violent hoodlums intent on beating you down to the ground?

Kel-Tec KSG 15 shot 12 gauge

Kel-Tec KSG 15 shot 12-gauge

A “flash mob” is defined as a group of people who assemble rapidly in a public place, perform an odd and apparently pointless act for a brief period, and then disperse. Flash mobs typically are organized via social media, viral emails and cell phone texts. Until recently, flash mobs were organized for purposes of diversion, street theater, and artistic expression. However, recently, the phenomenon has taken a violent turn.

In recent flash mob attacks both in Europe and in the United States, large, loosely organized wolf packs of teenagers bent on committing violent mayhem have struck in public places, and have seriously injured innocent people caught by surprise in the crowd.
Those injured were in a place they had a right to be, and they were not in places where they would have expected to be targeted for victimization, such as in high crime locations. What can you as a law abiding citizen do to protect yourself and your loved ones from this blight?

Let’s not confuse cause with effect!

It does not matter why violent hooligans choose to get swept up in a viral tidal wave of violent behavior. What matters to those innocently caught up in it is how to get out of it alive with intact limbs.

Semantics

Let’s define our terms. “Flash mob” is a politically correct term for riot. The objective of the rioters is to hurt people. Whether the rioters are drunk, mean, evil, politically motivated, disenfranchised, or whatever, is irrelevant. They are violent criminal actors, or VCA’s. If you are unlucky enough to be caught in their path, they are threatening your life and limb. It is like being a Jew caught in the path of Nazi Storm Troopers in pre-World War II Germany. So, let’s get our meaning straight. There is nothing cute or politically correct about a violent flash mob. So, be aware.


This Week in American Military History

Stonewall

Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, C.S.A.

Aug. 28, 1862: The Second battle of Bull Run (known to many Southerners as Second Manassas) opens between Union Army forces under the command of Maj. Gen. John Pope and Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson (Gen. Robert E. Lee in overall command).

Within days, Confederate forces will drive Union forces from the field, not unlike what happened at First Bull Run/Manassas on July 21, 1861.

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Aug. 28, 1972: U.S. Air Force Capt. Richard Stephen Richie, flying an F-4 Phantom, shoots down his fifth MiG over North Vietnam, becoming the Air Force’s first ace of the war.

But to hear Richie tell it, it was just a ride. “My fifth MiG kill was an exact duplicate of a syllabus mission, so I had not only flown that as a student, but had taught it probably a dozen times prior to actually doing it in combat,” he says.

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Sept. 3, 1777: The Battle of Cooch's Bridge (a.k.a. the Battle of Iron Hill) – the only pitched battle of the American Revolution to be fought in Delaware – opens between Continental Army and militia forces under the command of Brig. Gen. William Maxwell and a combined force of British, Hessian, and Ansbach soldiers under the overall command of British Gen. Sir Charles Cornwallis (and under the immediate tactical command of Hessian Lt. Col. Ludwig von Wurmb).

Though a British victory, which devolved into a savage close-quarters engagement, the Battle of Cooch's Bridge is significant as the first time the Stars-and-Stripes is flown in action.

Cooch Bridge

Members of the 2D Virginia Regiment re-enacting the Battle of Cooch's Bridge

by W. Thomas Smith Jr.

The journey of 3 flags

Three flags were captured by Union troops at the Battle of New Bern in 1862. The flags were taken to Worcester, Mass., where they have remained until now. They will be on loan to Museum of the Albemarle through 2015.

One hundred and fifty years ago three flags were captured during a battle in New Bern between the North and the South. Those flags left North Carolina but are now returning home to commemorate the anniversary of the bloodiest war in U.S. history.

It was late winter in 1862 and Gen. Ambrose Burnsides had been leading his expedition through eastern North Carolina, securing some of the most strategic ports in the state for the Union army.

Burnsides had taken Hatteras, Roanoke Island, Elizabeth City, and Plymouth, and he was now on his way to meet Confederate troops in New Bern.

In New Bern, the soldiers of the Confederacy were gathered to defend the port town. Three units carrying three versions of the Confederate battle flag would meet outside of the historic town on March 14.

The battle would be decisive. Defeating the rebels meant the Union would control the waterways of eastern North Carolina.

Someone’s mother or wife had likely made the flags that stood for three different groups of Southern rebels, according to Museum of the Albemarle curator Wanda Stiles. They were made of wool and cotton and were sturdy, red, white and blue flags and whomever was the barer of those standards was responsible for keeping it high for all the men to see in the course of a smoky, bloody battle.

“When in battle, you look for that flag,” explains Stiles. “The flag is kept moving as a symbol of who you are.”

On the Union side, 11,000 troops would march to New Bern. On the Confederate side, 4,500 inexperienced soldiers were about to meet their fate defending their land.

The battle began early in the morning and lasted six hours.

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The journey of 3 flags

The Nullification Crisis: Foreshadow of Civil War



Part 3 of a Series
Mike Scruggs

In 1832, another tariff bill was introduced, supposedly to correct some of the injustices of the 1828 Tariff of Abominations and to give some relief to the South. The 1828 Tariff had also produced a surplus of government income that many wanted to correct. However, the Northern beneficiaries of high tariffs succeeded in a bill that did not diminish their profit margins. Some of the abominations of the 1828 Tariff were relieved, but the reduction of the average dutiable rate to about 33 percent was scant relief to the South.

Passage of the 1832 Tariff was viewed by South Carolina and other major cotton-producing states as an unequivocal message that Southern suffering and Southern rights were of no concern to most Northern political leaders. Protectionist tariffs were political bargains in which powerful political and commercial interests united to enrich themselves at the expense of less powerful regions and commercial interests. Given no relief, the growth of Northern population and political power would mean that outrageous tax burdens would be continually laid upon the South to enrich the North.

President Jackson signed the 1832 Tariff on July 14, 1832, and John C. .Calhoun made plans to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Robert Hayne, who was running for Governor of South Carolina. Meanwhile, Calhoun was engaged in the movement in South Carolina to nullify the 1828 and 1832 tariffs. Calhoun officially resigned as Vice President on December 28, 1832, to fill the Senate seat to which the South Carolina Legislature had elected him on December 12.

In South Carolina, agitation over the 1828 Tariff had begun in the summer after its signing. State Representative Robert Barnwell Rhett called on the Governor to convene the State Legislature. Appealing to both honor and justice, he called for South Carolina’s leaders to have the courage to resist Federal protectionist tariffs and other unconstitutional acts:

“But if you are so doubtful of yourselves—if you are not prepared to follow up your principles wherever they may lead, to their very last consequence—if you love life better than honor; prefer ease to perilous liberty, awake not! Stir not! —Impotent resistance will add vengeance to your ruin. Live in smiling peace with your insatiable Oppressors, and die with the noble consolation that your submissive patience will survive triumphant your beggary and despair.”

Meanwhile Calhoun’s writings had popularized Thomas Jefferson’s concept of nullification—the right of states to reject unconstitutional Federal laws. By the winter of 1831, South Carolina’s Governor James Hamilton was conducting rallies and meetings around the state in support of nullification. The South Carolina Legislature elections of 1832 confirmed that a substantial majority of voters favored nullification, and on October 20, 1832, Governor Hamilton called the legislature to a special session to consider and authorize a Nullification Convention. Thus authorized, the Convention met on November 24.

Citing Calhoun’s view that imposing unequal tax burdens for the benefit of special regional or commercial interests was unconstitutional, the Ordinance of Nullification declared that the 1828 and 1832 tariff acts:

“…are unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States and violate the true meaning and intent thereof, and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State, its officers or citizens;…and all judicial proceedings which shall be hereafter had in affirmance thereof, are and shall be held utterly null and void…That it shall not be lawful for any of the constituted authorities, whether of this state or of the United States, to enforce the payment of duties imposed by the said acts within the limits of this State from and after the 1st day of February next…”

President Jackson’s rhetoric made it clear that he intended to prevent Nullification by force of arms, telling a visitor from South Carolina that:

“…if a single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to the laws of the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hands on engaged in such treasonable conduct, upon the first tree I can reach.”

On December 10, Jackson issued a Proclamation to the People of South Carolina stating:

“I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed.”

Robert Hayne, who had resigned from the United States Senate on his election to the office of Governor of South Carolina in December 1832 and who had been a member of the Nullification Convention, gave an answer to the people of South Carolina and to President Jackson in his inaugural address:

“If the sacred soil of Carolina should be polluted by the footsteps of an invader, or be stained with the blood of her citizens, shed in defense, I trust in Almighty God that no son of hers…who has been nourished at her bosom…will be found raising a parricidal arm against our common mother. And even should she stand alone in this great struggle for constitutional liberty…that there will not be found, in the wider limits of the state, one recreant son who will not fly to the rescue, and be ready to lay down his life in her defense.”

Reacting to the threat to their sovereignty, South Carolina mobilized 27,000 men ready to defend their territory and rights in the event of military attack.

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The Nullification Crisis: Foreshadow of Civil War