Parents arrested for failing to register home-schooled kids

http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/district-1269895-school-county.html

A Montgomery County couple has been arrested on child endangerment charges for failing to register their children with the school district as they were home-schooled, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Richard Cressy, 47, and Margie Cressy, 41, both of the town of Glen, never registered their four children or their home-schooling curriculum with the local school district, said the Sheriff's Office.

Europe's looming demise

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/30/europes-looming-demise/?feat=home_top5_read
Why should Americans care about this? Americans have to care because this global gobbledygook is coming to our shores, thanks to our globalist president.

"The Europe as you know it from visiting, from your parents or friends is on the verge of collapsing," Geert Wilders said in a speech in the United States last year.

The leader of the Netherlands' populist Party for Freedom added: "We are now witnessing profound changes that will forever alter Europe's destiny and might send the Continent in what Ronald Reagan called 'a thousand years of darkness.' " And not just Europe, but America as well.

Hillary Clinton says Yemen is a 'top concern'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8440362.stm
France has become the third Western nation to shut its Yemen embassy, in response to a perceived increase in the security threat from al-Qaeda.
The US and UK embassies, which closed on Sunday, remain closed.
Speaking after a meeting with the visiting prime minister of Qatar, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said stability in Yemen is a top priority for the US.

Arizona May Abandon Speed Cameras on Highways

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/us/03arizona.html?ref=us
PHOENIX (AP) — More than a year after Arizona became the first state in the country to deploy dozens of speed cameras on highways statewide, threats to the groundbreaking program abound.

Profits are far below expectations, a citizen effort to ban the cameras is gaining steam, the governor has said she does not like the program, and more and more drivers are ignoring the tickets they get in the mail after hearing from fellow speeders that there are often no consequences to doing so.

“I see all the cameras in Arizona completely coming down ” in 2010, said Shawn Dow, chairman of Arizona Citizens Against Photo Radar, which is trying to get a measure banning the cameras on the November ballot. “The citizens of Arizona took away the cash cow of Arizona by refusing to pay.”

New scanners break child porn laws

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/04/new-scanners-child-porn-laws
The rapid introduction of full body scanners at British airports threatens to breach child protection laws which ban the creation of indecent images of children, the Guardian has learned.

Privacy campaigners claim the images created by the machines are so graphic they amount to "virtual strip-searching" and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved.

Full body scans now, RFID Taser bracelets coming next?

[Editors note: Don't forget about this idea the DHS has been kicking around...]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/aviation-security/2008/Jul/01/want-some-torture-with-your-peanuts/
Just when you thought you’ve heard it all...

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.

See also...
Upcoming Airline Security Project: The Anti-Hijacking Safety Bracelet

If any of your idiot friends still believe in AGW, make them read this letter

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100021272/if-any-of-your-idiot-friends-still-believe-in-agw-make-them-read-this-letter/
The climate ought not to be used as a shoddy pretext for international bureaucratic-centralist dictatorship. We committed Europeans have had more than enough of that already with the unelected but all-powerful Kommissars of the hated EU, who make nine-tenths of our laws by decree (revealingly, they call them “Directives” or “Commission Regulations”). The Kommissars (that is the official German word for them) inflict their dictates upon us regardless of what the elected European or any other democratic Parliament says or wishes. Do we want a worldwide EU? No.

Climategate: You should be steamed

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6795858.html
Climategate reveals how predetermined political agendas shaped science rather than the other way around. It is high time to question the true agenda of the scientists now on the hot seat and to bring skeptics back into the public debate.

TSA tries to assuage privacy concerns about full-body scans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010301826.html?hpid=topnews
It has come to this.

Already shoeless, beltless and waterless, more beleaguered air passengers will be holding their legs apart, raising their arms and effectively baring it all as they pass through U.S. airport security checkpoints.

Children reaching age 3 without being able to say a word, survey finds

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6974590.ece
Children are reaching the age of 3 without being able to say a word, according to a survey that also found boys are almost twice as likely to struggle to learn to speak as girls.

The average age for a baby to speak their first word is 10 to 11 months. However, a significant minority (4 per cent) of parents reported that their child said nothing until they were 3.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Linked to Body Scanner Manufacturer

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/01/02/group_slams_chertoff_on_scanner_promotion/
The Boston Globe         January 4, 2010
WASHINGTON - Since the attempted bombing of a US airliner on Christmas Day, former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has given dozens of media interviews touting the need for the federal government to buy more full-body scanners for airports.

What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. Chertoff disclosed the relationship on a CNN program Wednesday, in response to a question.

An airport passengers’ rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff’s use of his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.

Bono net policing idea draws fire

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8439200.stm
In a move that drew significant criticism, Bono went on to suggest that the feasibility of tracking down file-sharers had already been proven.

He hinted that China's efforts prove that tracking net content is possible.

John McLaughlin: Freedom is “Most Overrated” Political Issue of 2009

Retired U.S. General: “in next 30 to 100 days a very high probability US airliner will come down.”

“We have got to go to very, very strict screening and we’ve got to use profiling. And I mean, be very, very serious about the profiling. If you are an 18-28-year-old Muslim man, then you should be strip searched. If we don’t do that, there’s a very high probability that we’re gonna lose an airliner.”

All Hectic.

December was coldest month in 28 years

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0104/breaking26.htm
Last month was the coldest December for almost 30 years over most of the country, Met Éireann has said.

In its monthly summary, the forecaster said December was the coldest month for 28 years for most of the country and the coldest of any month since February 1986 at a few stations.

Organic food is no healthier, study finds

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE56S3ZJ20090729
[Editor's note: the previous post on Matt Monarch reminded me of this story back in July...]

LONDON (Reuters) - Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a major study published Wednesday.

Banned on YouTube: Matt Monarch's Raw Food World: Coconut Keifer, Episode #340

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=101882596
Video Details Description:
www.TheRawFoodWorld .com
You guys are not going to believe this!!! The Raw Food World TV Show was BANNED from YouTube!!! Check this video out!... and... learn how to make coconut keifer ;-)

YEMEN: Connect the Dots...

9/11 commission chairman says would-be plane bomber ‘did us a favor’

http://rawstory.com/2009//01/911-commission-chairman-wouldbe-plane-bomber-did-favor/
The Republican chairman of the Bush Administration's 9/11 Commission declared Sunday that the would-be-terrorist who tried to blow up a plane en route to Detroit "probably did us a favor."

The GOP chairman's quote raised eyebrows; by his logic, the Sept. 11, 2001 attackers may also have "done us a favor" by drawing US attention to extremism in Afghanistan.

Afgan Attacker Was CIA Informant

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/cia-attacker-driven-pakistan/story?id=9463880
The suicide bomber who killed at least six Central Intelligence Agency officers in a base along the Afghan-Pakistan border on Wednesday was a regular CIA informant who had visited the same base multiple times in the past, according to someone close to the base's security director.

Pope urges lifestyle changes to save environment

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6000G220100101
Recalling that world leaders had gathered in Copenhagen last month for the U.N. climate conference, the pope said action at a personal and community level was just as important to safeguard the environment.

False Flags and Patriot Act 3.0

The Name Change in Iraq: Multi-National Force in Iraq Becomes U.S. Forces in Iraq

Share

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/
The first of January will bring in more than a new year for U.S. troops serving in Iraq; it will also bring them a new name, as the moniker Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) is replaced by the new term, U.S. Forces-Iraq.

The dropping of the name "multi-national" removes one of the last reminders to the "coalition of the willing" that the Bush administration used to describe the 2003 allied invasion of Iraq and the subsequent effort to stabilize the country.

The long-awaited name change reflects the reality that, since July, only U.S. troops have continued to serve in Iraq.

White House grants ethics waiver to counterterrorism adviser John Brennan who headed terror database company

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/12/white_house_grants_ethics_waiver_to_john_brennan.php

President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, will lead the White House review of intelligence community information practices and aviation security, even though he was CEO of the private company the government used to help manage a key terrorism database before he joined the administration.

In response to questions about Brennan's potential conflict of interest, White House ethics counsel Norm Eisen has issued a waiver for Brennan, official said.

'US readying paralyzing Iran sanctions'

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1261364534689&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Jerusalem Post
December 29, 2009
The US administration is heading towards placing "paralyzing" sanctions on Iran, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren said Tuesday. Speaking to Army Radio, Oren added that although it was "too early," the US had also not yet abandoned the military option.

"The Americans attribute the highest importance to the Iranian issue," he said during the interview. "The US, along with other countries, is preparing to impose paralyzing sanctions on [Iran], and preparations are happening even now."  

Napolitano announces international airport security campaign

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/
The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday announced it would launch a campaign next week to strengthen security screening procedures at a host of international airports.

The effort is part of the White House's heightened response to a Christmas Day attempt to bomb Delta Flight 253 in Detroit, a flight that originated in Amsterdam.

Times Square a Police State On New Year’s Eve

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.9b570b64ee871a1afe51903c181a6621.381&show_article=1
"I think the level of security this time around within the United States is absolutely unprecedented," Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on CBS's "The Early Show."

New York is on a heightened state of alert following the Christmas Day alleged attempt by a Nigerian man to detonate explosives on a Northwest Airlines plane flying to Detroit.

Thousands of police officers were deployed in and around Times Square, backed by undercover officers, surveillance cameras, rooftop snipers, and devices able to detect radiation or biological agents.

Partygoers crowding into Times Square were not allowed to carry backpacks or alcohol and were banned from reentering the zone once they left.

Full-Body Scanners to Fry Travelers With Radiation

http://noworldsystem.com/2009/12/31/full-body-scanners-to-fry-travelers-with-radiation/
Virtually all passengers and airline crews who pass through airport screening checkpoints in the U.S. may soon be forced to submit to compulsory, whole-body X-ray exposure.

A path has been cleared for the government to publicly roll out dangerous full-body scanners after the failed terrorist attempt on flight 253. Neocons are quaking for the government to implement the human x-ray machines on a nationwide scale, radiating travelers with unhealthy amounts of ionic radiation all for the sake of preventing the next Mutallab from boarding another U.S. airliner.

No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New Research Finds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091230184221.htm
New research finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades, contrary to some recent studies.

Most of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity does not remain in the atmosphere, but is instead absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems.

Quick! Lets get this info over to the Council on Foreign Relations who published The Geoengineering Option: The Last Resort Against Global Warming which says, "Eliminating all the risks of climate change is impossible because carbon dioxide emissions, the chief human contribution to global warming, are unlike conventional air pollutants, which stay in the atmosphere for only hours or days. Once carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere, much of it remains for over a hundred years."

Oh and certainly goes against what this dude says....

Obama administration prepares public opinion for attack on Yemen

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/yeme-d31.shtml
Five days after the unsuccessful attempt by a Nigerian student to set off a bomb aboard a Detroit-bound passenger jet, US military and intelligence officials are said to be preparing expanded military action against targets in Yemen, the Arab country where the student allegedly received terrorist training and was equipped with an explosive device.

A series of US media reports suggest that new US-backed military attacks inside Yemen are imminent. Citing “two senior US officials,” CNN reported: “The US and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets for a potential retaliation strike.”

John Yoo: Obama Is A Continuation Of Bush On Executive Powers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/31/john-yoo-obama-is-a-conti_n_408441.html
In his new book, former Bush administration attorney and infamous torture memo collaborator John Yoo favorably argues that President Barack Obama is wielding executive powers in the same manner as his White House predecessor.

Trial Transcript Reveals Agent Provacatuer Hal Turner was "National Security Intelligence" and an "FBI Agent"

http://family-of-hal-turner.blogspot.com/2009/12/trial-transcript-reveals-hal-turner-was.html
Brooklyn, NY -- The trial of radio host Hal Turner lead to some startling revelations which the media has barely covered. We have obtained the official Transcript of the trial and provide some details that you may find interesting.

According to Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Amy Pickett, the third highest ranking FBI Official in New York City, Hal Turner was involved in "National Security Intelligence." According to Pickett's testimony whioch appears in a scanned image of the official Trial transcript below, Hal Turner dealt with "National Securtity Intelligence, terrorism and foreign counterintelligence" while he serveed with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

For those who don't know the story.. Hal Turner was a FBI trained agent provocateur. “His job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest,” Michael Orozco told the Associated Press.

Hal Turner specifically attempted to appeal to the patriot movement and the constitutionalists.

Turner told his blog readers to “take up arms” against Connecticut lawmakers. He also said government officials should “obey the Constitution or die.” In June he wrote that the Illinois federal appeals judges “deserve to be killed” because they issued a ruling that upheld ordinances in Chicago and suburban Oak Park banning handguns. Turner included photos of the judges and the room numbers of their chambers at the courthouse.

It should serve as a wake-up call that the FBI trained him as an agent provocateur.

eyewitness: "the FBI has changed their story AGAIN": Officials Claim Second Man Unrelated To Christmas Attack

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091230/METRO/912300417/Second-airport-arrest-unrelated-to-attack

“Federal officials did take a second person into custody at Detroit Metropolitan Airport shortly after an attempted bombing incident on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, but the passenger who got handcuffed was off a different flight, and the incident was not related, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official said today,” reports the Detroit News.

Wait, so at first the FBI denied that there even was a second man. Then yesterday officials changed the story and admitted a second man was detained after several eyewitnesses came forward and said there was. Now officials say the second arrest is unrelated to Flight 253. 

How come days later when FBI agents interviewed eyewitness Kurt Haskell, did they show him photographs of the well dressed Indian man, suggesting they knew or suspected he was connected to the incident? 

How about the FBI release the video of the airport terminal? 

Comment by Lori Haskell (eyewitness):

This is Lori Haskell. Even more disturbing info came out today on mLive. Now the FBI has changed their story AGAIN and is stating that a second man from our flight was NOT arrested, that it was actually a guy from another flight and that many flights were walking thru our area of customs. This is a total lie. The man we saw detained stood by us and exited the plane with us. Also, the area we were standing in had been emptied before we got there and nobody but us and police/customs/FBI were there. This is getting really scary for us. The FBI is very obviously covering something up for some reason. Anyway, thanks for the supportive posts.

 

Tea Party activists bitter about GOP ‘hijacking’ movement

 http://rawstory.com/2009/12/maddow-gop-lobbyist-attempt-to-hijack-tea-party-movement/
As Raw Story reported last month, the firm's apparent goal is to channel populist Tea Party discontent into Republican electoral victories in 2010 and 2012. Members of the more genuinely grassroots Tea Party Patriots have been expressing their anger over this for months, and Talking Points Memo has now obtained an email from one Patriot asking, "What would the true grassroots people think if they knew their money is being spent in this manner?"

Hummingbird bot could track crooks, explore Mars

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10422681-1.html
Researchers at Japan's Chiba University are developing a hummingbird-style flying robot that could be used to find people trapped in collapsed buildings, search for criminals, or even explore other planets.

Engineering professor Hiroshi Liu said the micro air vehicle, or MAV, is equipped with a mini motor that allows it to flap its wings up to 30 times per second--roughly in the same range as a hummingbird.

New York Bans Backpacks in Times Square During New Year Celebration

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.8BZwVod.FI
Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- New York is banning backpacks in Times Square, Bangkok tightened security and Sydney cracked down on public drinking as police around the world geared up for millions of New Year’s Eve revelers.

The cities said the extra police presence was in the works even before the arrest this week of a 23-year-old Nigerian for trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet. An al-Qaeda group took responsibility for the attempt and threatened more attacks.

Keepin' the fear flowing like the salmon of capistrano...

WHO chief yet to be vaccinated against swine flu

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article
GENEVA — World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan revealed Tuesday that she has yet to be vaccinated against the swine flu virus, which has killed over 11,500 people world-wide.

"I have asked my medical service to enquire where I can go to get my vaccination," she told reporters in Geneva, pointing out that she has just returned from leave.

Are Presidents Afraid of the CIA?

By Ray McGovern
December 29, 2009
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/122909b.html

Not Just Paranoia

President Obama stands in the tradition of a dozen American presidents. Harry Truman and John Kennedy were the only ones to take on the CIA directly. 

Truman wrote that he was “disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment” to keep the President promptly and fully informed and had become “an operational and at times policy-making arm of the government.”

[During a 27-year career at CIA, Ray McGovern served under nine CIA directors and in all four of CIA’s main directorates, including operations. He is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).]

Serco - The biggest UK company you have never heard of

Traffic lights, prisons, air traffic control and much more...

How Goldman Sachs Made Tens Of Billions Of Dollars From The Economic Collapse Of America In Four Easy Steps

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/how-goldman-sachs-made-tens-of-billions-of-dollars-from-the-economic-collapse-of-america-in-four-easy-steps

The following is how Goldman Sachs made tens of billions of dollars from the economic collapse of America in four easy steps...

Step 1: Sell mortgage-related securities that are absolute junk to trusting clients at vastly overinflated prices.
Step 2: Bet against those same mortgage-related securities and make massive bets against the U.S. housing market so that your firm will make massive profits when the U.S. economy collapses.
Step 3: Have ex-Goldman executives in key positions of power in the U.S. government so that bailout money can be funneled to entities such as AIG that Goldman has made these bets with so that they can get paid after they win their bets.
Step 4: Collect the profits - Goldman Sachs is having their "most successful year" and will end up reporting approximately $50 billion in revenue for 2009.

NYPD Closes Down Times Square in Response to Suspicious Van

Dow Jones Newswire    December 30, 2009
A New York Police Department spokesman said it was too early in the investigation to comment on the nature of a suspicious van in Times Square on Wednesday, but police had evacuated some nearby buildings as a precaution.



OK, lets recap.. in the last week have an Underwear bomber who was escorted onto the plane without a passport by a man in a suit and then was filmed on the plane, a suspected Capitol hill gunman, National Guard to the NY airports, full body scanners, expanded war plans to Yemen, and now a suspicious van in Times Square. Oh, and its all believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda. 

And what's going on with the healthcare bill?

US, Yemen gear up for flight 253 retaliatory strike

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114979&sectionid=351020206
Press TV   December 30, 2009
Washington and Sana'a are reviewing targets for a possible retaliation strike on Yemeni soil in the wake of a failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound airliner, which al-Qaeda in Yemen claims to have organized.

Two senior US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN on Tuesday that the effort is aimed at devising options for the White House, in case President Barack Obama orders a retaliatory strike.

Bankers Get $4 Trillion Gift From Barney Frank: David Reilly

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a48c8UpUMxKQ
Commentary by David Reilly
Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- To close out 2009, I decided to do something I bet no member of Congress has done -- actually read from cover to cover one of the pieces of sweeping legislation bouncing around Capitol Hill. 

Hunkering down by the fire, I snuggled up with H.R. 4173, the financial-reform legislation passed earlier this month by the House of Representatives. The Senate has yet to pass its own reform plan. The baby of Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, the House bill is meant to address everything from too-big-to-fail banks to asleep-at-the-switch credit-ratings companies to the protection of consumers from greedy lenders.

French court throws out Sarkozy’s carbon tax

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/court-throws-out-sarkozys-carbon-tax-20091230-ljyq.html  
PARIS: France's new carbon emission tax, due to have gone into effect tomorrow, has been ruled illegal by the country's constitutional court because it exempted too many polluters.

The Conseil Constitutionnel struck down the tax on Tuesday because the exemptions breached ''the principle of [tax] equality''.

Officials Admit Second Man Detained As More Witnesses Emerge

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_tells_msn.html
The news about a person being taken into custody comes after two passengers aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 said they saw a second man being taken away in handcuffs on Christmas Day while they and others were waiting to be interviewed by FBI agents at the airport.

Kurt Haskell, a Taylor, Mich., attorney who says he was seated a few rows behind suspected terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told MLive.com on Saturday that he saw a second man taken into custody after search dogs appeared to find something in his carry-on bag.

Daniel Huisinga of Fairview, Tenn., who was returning from an internship in Kenya for the holidays, says he also saw a man being taken away in handcuffs at the airport after a dog search. A third person, Roey Rosenblith, told The Huffington Post on Sunday that he saw a man in a suit being placed into handcuffs and escorted out, as well.

So why does the FBI say this?

Bill Carter, a spokesman with the FBI in Washington, D.C., said in an interview Tuesday that Abdulmutallab was the only person arrested or charged in relation to Friday's foiled attack.

Secret CIA Jails in Lithuania: Legacy of Nazi Collaborationism

http://en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2678
Nil Nikandrov
Strategic Culture Foundation
December 30, 2009

"The exact number of inmates who had been to the CIA jails in Lithuania is unknown. In most cases, eight individuals are reported to have been held in the Antaviliai torture chamber by the time it was closed in November, 2005. The truth is that chartered planes from Afghanistan came to Lithuania with certain regularity, and the number of people tortured had probably been some ten times higher."

Sen. Hatch admits GOP ’standard practice’ was to run up deficit

 http://rawstory.com/2009/12/hatch-admits-gop-standard-practice/
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow believes she has found the smoking gun proving Republicans' hypocrisy on health care and the budget deficit: an admission by Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch that, during the Bush administration, "it was standard practice not to pay for things."

Capitol Hill Briefly On Lockdown After Reports Of A Man With A Gun

 http://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-hill-briefly-on-lockdown-after-reports-of-a-man-with-a-gun-2009-12
Another incident in what's turning out to be a very jittery winter.
Capitaol Hill was briefly on lockdown this afternoon after reports of a man with a gun.

“EcoSnoop” iPhone App Designed for Ratting Out Neighbors

http://www.takepart.com/news/2009/12/29/is-your-neighbor-wasting-energy-theres-an-app-for-that
Is Your Neighbor Wasting Energy? There's an App for That.

Listen up, all you eco-warriors: Your days of griping in vain about neighborhood energy waste may be coming to an end. Finally, there's a tool that we normal folks can use to report environmentally negligent behavior. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to EcoSnoop.

The EcoSnoop app lets individuals report on wastage of water, energy, trash or toxic pollutants. You can view cases filed near you via GPS and add documentation using photos and commentary. You can create your own complaints if, for example, your grocery store is leaving the parking lot lights on during the day or your neighbor is dumping oil down the drain.

The Conservative vs Liberal Tail Chase

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/12/27/the-conservative-vs-liberal-tail-chase/
Witness the Republicans vs. the Democrats; the liberals vs. the conservatives; FOX vs. MSNBC; and the independents who are lost in the melee.

The state of politics in America is little different than that which the early Americans experienced in their time. The system is so ill-defined, chaotic and confusing. The smell of corruption is behind almost every politician’s door.

We argue and squabble and blame. Politics is in its prime. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives, liberals and independents…. We’re all missing the boat. There is a big picture here. We are all the same. We are not the elites; we are the working class. We have, in essence, the same needs. Why do we argue with one another?

Corporatocracy: Follow The Money

http://18evolution.blogspot.com/2009/11/only-political-party-in-america.html
A growing number of Americans and researchers suggest that many corporations in the U.S. contribute to both Democrats and Republicans, so that no matter who wins the election, corporations can still exert their influence in Washington.  But, does this line of thought have any merit?  As they say, let's simply "follow the money".

New York Governor Orders National Guard To Airports

http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=12036
Travelers Advised to Allow Extra Time for Airport Security
Heightened Screening Measures Ensure Passenger Safety

Governor David A. Paterson today advised passengers traveling into or out of New York airports to allow extra time to check in and continue through security screenings prior to their flights. As these measures will add time to standard pre-flight procedures, travelers should arrive an additional hour earlier to mitigate delays.

Calls for Full-Body Screening Devices Grow After Terror Attempt

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a4fzip9qPK44
Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- A suspected terrorist’s attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner may override privacy concerns and intensify a push for full-body scanning equipment at airports.

Ron Paul Says Agenda Behind Bombing Incident Is More War, More Attacks On Liberty

Congressman Ron Paul fears that the agenda behind the Flight 253 bombing incident is to expand the war on terror into Yemen while stripping Americans of more liberties, warning that it’s time people woke up and realized that the government cannot guarantee their safety.

Watch the clip below.

Chris Hedges: One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/one_day_well_all_be_terrorists_20091228/

Syed Fahad Hashmi can tell you about the dark heart of America. He knows that our First Amendment rights have become a joke, that habeas corpus no longer exists and that we torture, not only in black sites such as those at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan or at Guantánamo Bay, but also at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan.

Tarpley On RT: Foiled Underwear Bomber is Intelligence Patsy

http://rt.com/Politics/2009-12-29/detroit-terror-act-fake.html#
The recent failed attack on a US passenger jet traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit was a set-up provocation controlled by US intelligence, author and journalist Webster Tarpley stated to RT.

“[The terrorist’s] father, a rich Nigerian banker, went to the US embassy in Nigeria on November 19 and said ‘my son is in Yemen in a terrorist camp, do something about this.’ Nevertheless, the son is allowed to buy a ticket in Ghana, paying cash, $2,800, for a one-way ticket,” Tarpley said.

BOMBSHELL: Evidence Indicates Staged Attack on Detroit Flight

CNN Airs Eyewitness Testimony that ‘Well-Dressed’ Indian accomplice helped Abdulmutallab board without passport and that man on plane filmed entire flight and bombing attempt.

Haskell told CNN:

“Laurie and I were sitting near the boarding gate, sitting on the floor, there weren’t any seats to sit in. And I saw two men. They caught my eye because they seemed to be an odd pair. One was what I would describe as a poor-looking black teenager around 16 or 17, and the other man, age 50-ish, wealthy looking Indian man. And I was just wondering why they were together– kinda strange. And I watched them approach what I would call the ticket agent, the final person that checks your boarding pass before you get on the plane. And I could hear the entire conversation. The only person that spoke was the Indian man, and what he said was: ‘This man needs to board the plane, but he doesn’t have a passport.’ And the ticket agent responded, ‘Well, if he doesn’t have a passport, he can’t get on the plane.’ To which the Indian man responded back, ‘He’s from Sudan. We do this all the time.’ And the ticket agent said, ‘Well, then you’ll have to go and talk to my manager.’ And she directed them down a hallway. And that was the last time I saw the Indian man, and the black man I didn’t see again until he tried to blow up our plane hours later.”

Ben Stein calls Ron Paul antisemitic on Larry King

Ron Paul appeared on Larry King Live on CNN this evening along with Ben Stein and Sheila Jackson Lee to discuss the recent thwarted terrorist attack. After Paul gives his now famous view that they “attack us because we are over there” Ben Stein calls Paul antisemitic which solicits a demand for an apology by Paul. Paul characterizes it as a “vicious attack”.