Obama secret advisor

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Obama has shown incompetence with his Rallys.

In Oregon, the people he hired set a Porta-Potty on a Peace Officer Memorial.

In Berlin, he held a rally where Hitler held his biggest gathering.

The Obamamedia has not pointed this out: In both cases, people attending were promised a rock concert.

My suspicion is that his secret advisor is Jane Fonda.

An officer that I worked with had been an Army Green Beret during Vietnam. Upon returning from his year in Vietnam, he was coerced into attending the War College at Carlisle Barracks, PA.
On a weekend he went to New York. In Central Park, he saw that there was a concert. He found that Simon and Garfunkel were the performers.
The next day, there were television reports of a an anti-war protest, led by Jane Fonda. The video showed a large crowd.
He began to watch the reports closely.
He found that Fonda had her held war protest adjacent to Simon and Garfunkel's concert.
He did some ivestigation.
He found that maybe 100 people showed up for Fonda's war protest. He found that 20,000 had attended Simon and Garfunkel.
So, the visual lie was that 20,000 people had attended Fonda's war protest, when, in fact--they were there for the concert

Where I come from

Alan Jackson has a highly popular song by this name.

The folks pictured above look a whole lot like my parents.

We lived on either our dairy in Glendale,Arizona, or our ranch NW of Glendale, which had NO electricty. Try doing that without Air Conditioning now, especially May through October.

These people --and myself--worked when it was hot, cold, rainy, or dry. They barely made a living, but they were thankful for everything they had.

Entertainment was being able to read the Bible by the light of a kerosene lamp after all the work was done, and all the animals were tended to.

The kid in the stroller was me--in 1941, The man was my grand father. Note the high tech prosthetic for a leg (He made it himself. He was gored by a bull and lost the leg from the knee down.

What you want for a wife.-1

Now, looking at the photo, you can tell that is a woman's face. Good looking too.
Otherwise, no jewelry, no make up, no fancy clothes.

Wives are like vehicles. Some are like Mazda Miata's--just big enough.

Some are like Corvettes--bigger, flashier, expensive, and needing more maintenance, but will get you attention where ever you go. Some men like this, and I call their wives Accessory Wives or Trophy wives. The problem with the wife is that when she gets some miles--He will trade her in for a newer, more attractive model.

Some are like an SUV. They are not as dazzling as that Corvette, but they can do all kinds of things for you.

You could know this was coming

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Above, you see the attitude that Illegals have for most European derived persons here in the States.

They take your jobs, they drive down your wages because they will work for $10-15 an hour, they use your hospitaal(The Hospital can not refuse to treat them--If so, the hospital in violation of Federal Law), and they have nothing but contempt for you.

This story is totally slanted to the idea that Luis Ramirez is a Victim. I'd like to know more.

You know, the whole thing would not have happened had politicians like Ted Kennedy and John McCain let out Border Patrol and ICE do their jobs.

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080725/D9256EH80.html


PORT CARBON, Pa. (AP) - Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the July 12 attack on Luis Ramirez.

A third teen, Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. All are from Shenandoah, where the attack occurred.

Additional charges are expected in the case that has roiled Shenandoah, a small, economically depressed town where police have reported friction between whites and a growing Hispanic population.

The suspects played football at Shenandoah Valley High School; Donchak, now enrolled at Bloomsburg University, was the quarterback last season.

"As a result of this crime, a young man has lost his life. Many other lives have been devastated, and the borough of Shenandoah has been filled with tensions between many ethnic groups," Schuylkill County District Attorney James Goodman said.

"Now that the criminal charges have been filed, we must let this case be handled in the criminal justice system," he said.

According to a police affidavit, the defendants and three 17-year-olds encountered Ramirez, 25, and a teenage girl in a park the night of July 12.

The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, "You should get out of this neighborhood" and "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here," documents said. After Ramirez and the girl began walking away, someone yelled an ethnic slur at him, court documents said. He responded, "What's your problem?"

A fight ensued, during which police said Walsh punched Ramirez in the face. The victim fell and hit his head on the street, leaving him unconscious, after which Piekarsky kicked him in the head, police said.

All three suspects used ethnic slurs during the fight, which ended with Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth, authorities said. The attackers fled the scene; Ramirez underwent surgery but died July 14 of head injuries.

Piekarsky and Walsh were being held without bail, while Donchak was held on $75,000 bail.

Lawyers for Piekarsky and Walsh said their clients are not guilty and that there was no evidence to support the homicide charges. They also said they would try to have the case removed to juvenile court.

Roger Laguna, Walsh's lawyer, said the police affidavit "pretty much describes chaos, and what you have then after the fact is somebody trying to sort through that and attribute certain acts to certain individuals."

He said that although slurs might have been used, the fight was not motivated by ethnicity.

"I think any time there's a fight and any time you have one ethnic group fighting another, there's going to be racial slurs," he said. "I've seen that since I was a kid on a playground 20 years ago, but they never called it ethnic intimidation until very recently."

Frederick Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he is "surprised and disappointed" that his client faces a homicide charge, attributing Ramirez's death to a "street fight that ended tragically."

Donchak declined to comment.

Ramirez, who entered the U.S. illegally about six years ago, worked in a factory and picked strawberries and cherries.

Crystal Dillman, the victim's 24-year-old fiancee, who is white and grew up in Shenandoah, has said Ramirez was often called derogatory names and told to return to his homeland. The couple had two children together, and Dillman also has a 3-year-old who thought of Ramirez as her father.

"I plan on moving out of this town as fast as I can. Not because I'm scared. I just don't want to see my children have to deal with what their father dealt with," Dillman said.

Preliminary hearings for all three suspects were set for Aug. 4.

Goodman said a fourth teen will be charged as a juvenile with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation and that charges also will be filed against a man who provided alcohol to the defendants hours before the attack.

Wachovia Loses $8.86 Billion, (BECAUSE OF ILLEGALS)Slashes Jobs

____________________________________________________________________________
http://www.inglewoodtoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1442&Itemid=3
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Thursday, 24 July 2008

For the second time in a week, a major U.S. bank has announced sweeping financial troubles. Wachovia Corp. has reported a record quarterly loss of $8.9 billion and 6,350 job cuts. Dividends have been slashed as stock in the U.S. bank plummeted as much as 10 percent. Stock had fallen $1.18 or 9 percent, to $12 by Tuesday morning, bringing the total decline to 65 percent this year.

Two weeks ago, the bank hired Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steele as chief executive director. He replaced former CEO Kennedy Thompson, who held the position for 8 years, before he was fired.

Adding to its woes, the bank is still recovering from its $24 billion purchase of Golden West Financial Corp. two years ago just as home prices were peaking. Golden West is a specialist in option adjustable-rate mortgages-many of which have been blamed for the record number of loan defaults.

Wachovia is setting aside $10.96 billion for credit losses, up from $6.77 billion in the first quarter and $3.55 billion a year earlier. Net charge-offs increased more than eight-fold from a year earlier to $1.31 billion.

Job cuts will affect more than 5 percent of approximately 120,000 employees, including about 2,000 retail mortgage jobs. Wachovia said it will also eliminate at least 4,400 open positions and contractors in the next year.

Steel said he is trying to unload troubled assets and slash costs to help clean up the mess. Wachovia plans to cut 2009 expense growth by $1.5 billion.

This news comes on the heels of Indymac Bank's failure last week, which sent thousands of depositors running to retrieve their money. The bank is being investigated by the FBI for fraud.

Critics blame Wachovia's woes on the large number of subprime loans made to illegal immigrants. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, just over one-half of African Americans and 4 in 10 Hispanics got subprime loans in 2006.
Coincidentally, 7 of the 10 highest foreclosure areas have high concentrations of Hispanics, including Merced, Salinas-Monterey and Riverside, CA.

Wachovia Corp. is the fourth-largest U.S. bank

GROWING ECONOMIC(Illegal Alien) CRISIS FACING AMERICANS

http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty383.htm

Not enough lipstick on this pig!

Can you define inept? How about incompetent? Ever hear of the word bungling? What about The Peter Principle? Try this on for size: systemic corruption?

Does Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac hit a nervous cord? What if you stored your money at IndyMac Bank?

Last week, a plunging stock market, bank failure, thousands of mortgage foreclosures and accelerating job losses at United Air Lines as well as Ford and GM—set Americans on edge.

“The centerpiece of the administration’s efforts was Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that together guarantee $5 trillion of mortgage debt, which investors fear could collapse because of bad home loans and diving housing prices,” said editors at The Week, July 25, 2008. “Financial markets were shaken when depositors clamored to retrieve funds from IndyMac Bank that was seized by federal regulators. The dollar hit a record low against the Euro.”

In Denver, HUD housing suffers from tens of thousands of illegal aliens leeching into taxpayer funded low-income homes. Thousands of illegally brokered and corrupt bank loans to illegal aliens resulted in a ‘foreclosure run’ on homes in Denver. California, where IndyMac failed, suffers four million illegal aliens operating outside the law. Yet, brokers and banks hand out fraudulent home loans guaranteed to fail.

Why?

In the third world, corruption becomes a mechanism by which a society operates. Once entrenched, fraud inculcates every aspect of citizens and how they operate. Let’s use Mexico as a prime example. It runs on graft, fraud, crime, ‘mordido’ (bribery), elites’ primacy and maintains dominance by not educating the lower classes. Additionally, it manifests in political leaders, businesses and education.

With between 20 to 30 million illegal aliens inhabiting the United States in 2008, can you imagine the amount of corruption that must be maintained to keep them here. To begin with, employers of illegal aliens must lie about Social Security numbers, thus advancing massive forgeries and fraud. Employers pay under the table, thus escaping taxes, FICA or benefits. Millions of U.S. jobs vanish into the hands of illegals. Foreign nationals drive cars without licenses or insurance, thus, raising insurance rates and taxes for all legal American drivers. Illegals use American hospitals for free, thus Americans’ insurance rates must cover the uninsured users. Illegals tap into our school systems as well as our prisons at a cost of billions of dollars.

What happens when you build a house with cards?

David Ignatius of The Washington Post said, “The bank industry is going up in flames…while the Treasury Department goes around hosing down every new fire with taxpayer’s money.”

What about corruption? Vice covers this crisis like micro-waved cheddar cheese dripping all over salmonella infected burrito!

Joshua Rosner of Financial Times said, “The profligate use of tens of billions of federal dollars to rescue bad banks has created rising inflation and a debased U.S. dollar. By the time we are finished with this tragic period in U.S. economic history, capitalism will be on its knees, laid low by poor policy decisions and the nationalization of bad assets.”

Andrew Leonard at Salon.com said, “The U.S. faces its most serious economic crisis since 1932.”

Remember Neil Bush with the Denver, Colorado Silverado scandal? Today, George Bush freed banking, mortgage and financial industries to do what they pleased. What do foxes do when let loose in a hen house with an open gate?

American workers cannot afford unregulated markets by scoundrels that continue their fleecing of our hard earned taxes. Too many foxes!

Federal Reserve (in itself a self-serving organization for bankers) Chairman Ben Bernanke said there is no end in sight for the ongoing economic downturn. For most Americans that means more pain ahead.

“There’s not enough lipstick to put on this pig,” said economist Richard Moody.

While all this economic chaos accelerates, we import 182,000 legal and illegal immigrants from third world countries into the USA every 30 days, month in and month out, year in and year out. They lack skills, they lack jobs, and they lack educations! They total over 2.4 million annually. How many immigrants arrive monthly? Take two Pasadena Rose Bowls filled up, then tipped out into America every month! Those newcomers undermine any chance for Americans to gain jobs, homes and stability.
In the meantime, 28 million Americans live on food stamps. American men and women lose 1,000 manufacturing jobs weekly in the ‘Rust Belt’ to outsourcing, insourcing and offshoring. Twenty million illegal aliens displace American workers while they degrade wages for the rest of us. We pay out $12 billion monthly for the fraudulent Iraq War. We pay $400 million daily in interest to service our $9.4 trillion federal debt. We pay $346 billion for services at the federal level for illegal aliens annually. Several experts say taxpayers shell out over $1 trillion for all illegal alien activity at the state and local levels--annually. All the while, the average American credit card holder with a $9,240 balance (debt).

With $4.00 a gallon gas, how do you feel about Bush and company driving America over a cliff? What does he use for fuel? Answer: corruption, incompetence, violation of the Constitution and a growing third world momentum within our own country.

To take action:
www.numbersusa.com
www.fairus.org
www.proenglish.org
www.capsweb.org
www.vdare.com

REASON I'M GLAD I AM GONE

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the state Capitol, "is looking into many different options to preserve cash to ensure we have enough to cover our costs," an aide said. Unless the Legislature passes a budget, the governor believes the state could run out of money by mid-September because of a soft economy and low reserves, officials said.
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http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1105466.html
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign an executive order next week intended to temporarily reduce pay for 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour to preserve cash until lawmakers reach a budget deal, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by The Bee.

The governor's order also would terminate about 22,000 retired annuitants, temporary workers and seasonal employees, as well as impose a hard freeze that blocks the hiring of roughly 1,700 new employees per month.

Administration officials said the Republican governor expects to take the action Monday, when the budget will be four weeks late as Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over how to resolve a $15.2 billion shortfall.

"The administration is looking into many different options to preserve cash to ensure we have enough to cover our costs," said Matt David, Schwarzenegger's communications director.

But a spokeswoman for Democratic state Controller John Chiang, who pays the state's bills, said he would ignore the governor's order and continue paying full salary, likely forcing a court battle.

"He will pay state workers the salaries that they have earned, and that's full salary," Deputy Controller Hallye Jordan said of Chiang.

The order would take effect for the August pay period and envisions that state workers would receive their back pay in full when a budget is signed. State workers who get paid once at the end of the month still will receive their July paychecks next week.

The move would save roughly $1 billion in cash per month, depending on how many employees are exempt under federal law because they work in health and safety fields, according to Schwarzenegger officials. Each state department head will be responsible for determining which employees are exempt under federal law

An exercise in futility

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HERE ARE SOME OF PELOSI'S APPOINTMENTS TO THE "ETHICS COMMITTEE"
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May 8, 2006 at 11:09 a.m

Media sources say a corruption investigation may have forced White House to act quickly on Goss, and may also touch other defense and intelligence officials.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

A widening investigation into a corruption scandal in Congress may have played a key role in the decision by the White House to ask Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss to step down.

The New York Daily News reported Sunday that a "little known White House advisory board" pushed President Bush to dump Mr. Goss as CIA head. The president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board was reportedly alarmed by the investigation of a spreading corruption scandal that had already looked into the actions of the CIA's number three official and its executive director, Kyle Dustin (Dusty) Foggo, and may have indirectly touched on Goss himself.

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The Los Angeles District Attorney is reviewing complaints that Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke lives in her Brentwood home which is located outside her Supervisoral district.

This story was “PUSHED” by the Los Angeles Times last Friday in an investigative piece that involved stalking and videotaping the Supervisor as she drove and was driven to and from work.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Monday it is reviewing allegations that Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke is living in a gated Brentwood home rather than in her predominantly South Los Angeles district, where she must live by law.

A district attorney’s spokeswoman said the office has received at least one complaint after a Times report Friday that Burke has been staying overnight in a 4,000-square-foot residence with a swimming pool and tennis court, even though the supervisor said she considers a townhouse in Mar Vista, on the edge of her district, her principal residence.

In an effort to defuse the controversy, Burke on Monday allowed The Times to review checks and other documents from a kitchen remodeling project at the 1,200-square-foot townhouse on busy Centinela Avenue in the 2nd District.

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Another important group in Obama's life consists of the Chicago progressives who have mentored him throughout his career. The leader of this group is Abner J. Mikva, a retired federal judge, White House counsel and congressman from Chicago who has known Obama for 20 years, and who often is described as a father figure to the senator.

Mikva has quietly helped guide Obama since his Harvard Law School days. He encouraged his political aspirations, was an early advocate of his presidential run and has pulled numerous strings to help to ease the candidate's path.

One Mikva protégé is Axelrod. A former Chicago Tribune reporter, Obama's message maestro left his home town of New York for the University of Chicago in the early 1970s and has never looked back. Like Mikva, he belongs to the city's progressive elite. Axelrod and Obama also shared a second mentor: the late senator Paul Simon (Ill.), who took Obama under his wing when he joined the state legislature
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SO, FOLKS--DON'T LOOK FOR A LOT OF CONGRESS PEOPLE TO BE ACCUSED OF "UNETHICAL ACTIVITY".


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http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/goss-among-former-members-appointed-to-ethics-office-2008-07-24.html

Goss among former members appointed to ethics office
By Susan Crabtree
Posted: 07/24/08 02:26 PM [ET]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday announced joint appointments to a landmark ethics review board that for the first time will allow private citizens to review allegations against members.

Still, four out of six members of the board for the newly created Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) will be former members of Congress, including former CIA Director Porter Goss (R-Fla.), who will serve as co-chairman.


The other board members include Rep. David Skaggs (D-Colo.), who will serve as chairman of the board, former Rep. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke (D-Calif.), former Rep. Karan English (D-Ariz.), former House Chief Administrative Officer Jay Eagen and Allison Hayward, the former chief of staff to Bradley Smith, a Republican-appointed former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

Two additional former members will serve as alternate appointees to the board: former federal judge and ex-Rep. Abner Mikva (D-Ill.) and former Rep. Bill Frenzel (R-Minn.).

The OCE will conduct preliminary reviews of ethics complaints and make recommendations to the full ethics committee for further investigation and action. Some watchdogs have criticized its lack of subpoena powers.

Unlike previous bitter partisan fights over the makeup and staff of the full ethics panel, Pelosi and Boehner worked closely together to select the board members.

“The new Office of Congressional Ethics is essential to an effective ethics process in the House,” Pelosi said in a statement. “With the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics, we bring a new element of transparency and accountability to the ethics process.”

“I am pleased that this distinguished group of individuals has agreed to serve,” Boehner said in a statement. “The American people have every right to expect the highest ethical standards in the people’s House — and these widely respected men and women should be applauded for the considerable personal sacrifices they are making to help achieve that important goal.”

Does this sound familiar to you?

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Well, unless you have been hiking in Outer Mongolia, you know that:
--Every government (Fed, State, Local) is suffering a downturn in revenues
--Politicians promise that "Next Year", or "Next session" they will get built what you want.
--There are full scale campaigns in progress, with Politicians promising things (Pandering) a,d making excuses for what hasn't been done.

See if this sounds familiar in your area.
==================================================================================


Legislative adjournment may signal relief to some but to many more it is another year of frustration. The purpose of the so-called “short session” of The (Legislative Body) was to adjust the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, but in years past this session has produced some significant legislation. Not this year.

What we witnessed was a system out of control, especially in our Senate. A handful of Senators made decisions behind closed doors and shoved them through to approval with only token opposition from other Democrats, who supposedly hold majority control. One longtime observer remarked that this year’s (Political Machine) run Senate was far worse than the infamous “gang of eight” led by Politico#1 and Politico#2 back in the 1970’s and ‘80’s.

Even more offensive was the unwillingness to address (Affected State's)serious issues. The list is long.

One-third of our ninth-graders drop out of school before graduating.

The Mental Health reforms the legislature passed in 2001 are a disgraceful failure.

Our roads are crumbling and congested.

Schools need to be built, water and sewer systems need replacement and expansion, many of our bridges are structurally unsound and we are trying to pay for public needs with a tax code that is woefully out of date.
Our courts and criminal justice system scream for modernization, sentencing reform, fixing the parole system, and we have waited over a year for leadership from our legislature as to what to do about resuming executions of those on death row.
The state’s economy is softening and state revenue projections have been adjusted downward, while our legislature passed a record MUCHO $ billion budget.

2009 is shaping up to be another problematic year. In addition to adding more than $150 million more in recurring expenditures than we have in recurring revenues, we will face increased debt service payments on the more than one billion dollars legislators borrowed without giving taxpayers any say-so in the priority of what should be built, enrollment growth in public schools, significant employee health plan deficits, and employee pay increases to add in what is sure to be a weak economy. We were told lawmakers postponed major decisions because this is an election year and, besides they want the new governor to have the opportunity to set a new course. Wait until 2009. Then they will tackle these issues.

Wait ‘til next year is the traditional cry of losers. (Affected State) is not a state of losers, but this is the cry we hear every year from our leaders. The economy isn’t good, this is an election year, blah, blah, blah. When keeping a job trumps doing a job we have lost the vision of government by the people, for the people, and of the people. We deserve better. We need more openness in government and we need more leadership from our legislature in solving problems. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue, not a liberal or conservative problem. The people of (Affected State) deserve better than “Wait ‘til Next Year.”

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HERE IS WHERE THIS CAME FROM:
http://www.ncspin.com/current_myspin.php

Wait ‘Til Next Year
by Tom Campbell

July 17, 2008

IT AIN'T JUST ME...

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121647516449767887.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks

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California Getaway
A symbol of California's car culture is now picking up and moving a big chunk of its operations out of state. Earlier this week, the California State Automobile Association, an affiliate of the national AAA, announced it is closing all three of its call centers in the state at a loss of 900 jobs. Spokeswoman Cynthia Harris was quite blunt about the reason: "It costs more to do business in California than other states." Her group will now will be answering calls from California motorists from new centers in lower-cost Arizona and Oklahoma.


Few entities in California are better known than the California State Automobile Association, which for decades has provided the car-happy state with auto insurance, towing services and travel planning. Its departure is one more sign that California's current tax and regulatory climate is driving jobs away. California's liberals seem oblivious to such developments. One-seventh of California's pending $101 billion state budget is red ink, the result of the state's leadership once again failing to rein in spending and develop a less volatile tax base. The Democratic legislature has proposed over $8 billion in higher taxes to plug part of the gap, but for the last month there has been a budget stalemate as the GOP minority refuses to consider higher taxes and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dances between the two sides.

The state's Democrats not only insist on higher taxes, but are blocking a proposal from Gov. Schwarzenegger to limit future spending increases to the growth of the state's population and inflation in an attempt to cushion the impact of future economic downturns. "I think that we have to be very, very careful about tying the hands of future governors and future legislatures," says Democratic Assemblyman Dave Jones. Apparently, he and his colleagues prefer tying the hands of California businesses so they feel compelled to flee the state.

A day at Pat Parelli

 

 

 

 

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I'm thinking: The BIGGEST CHICK-MAGNET ever found on Earth.... Is a HORSE!

Pat Parelli, Horse Trainer, and trainer f people to communicate with their horses, had a show.. it was today, and will be tomorrow at a local Arena.

In the pictures, you see Pat's wife Linda riding without a saddle.

In another picture, you see Pat talking to four interns, who are in training.

There were women at this event whicjh would have put any hollywood actress to shame. They were wearing Bootas, Levi's, and a cowboy hat.

Why be nice--when you are right?

Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman


I am so sick and tired of John McCain and all other Republicans like him.
Posted: 04/25/08 Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), his party’s presumptive presidential nominee, said Friday that the North Carolina GOP is “dead wrong” for making an ad that focuses on Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) controversial former pastor.

Hey, if the Rev. is an Anti-American Commie a-hole---Let's put it out there.
I am sick of putting it in softer words. If the candidate is a no-good lying a-hole--let's SAY IT!

Another person having trouble doing the right thing our local challenger--(challenging the Incumbent "Good Ol' Girl", Carole Springer) , Georgene Lockwood. Seems we have an entrenched "Good Ol' Boy" network, and holding them to law is offending them.
The opponenent gathered signatures by throwing a clip board on a table, then either leaving or wandering around the room. On the back of the Petition is an affirmation that a person who signs on the line--PERSONALLY Witnessed the signatures.
When Lockwood called the Incumbent on this by filing a challenge, the Incumbent called it "A frivolous lawsuit"

The judge hearing the case let the Incumbent off with this rationale:
"I could find that Carole Springer DID unlawfully collect signatures, but that wuld cause problems for other candidates up here".

Springer got caught again just days ago. She put the County in Debt 50 MILLION dollars. I say SHE because there are three supervisors. She rules a second supervisor-Tom Thurman, so she gets her way on everything.
She is NOT KNOWN for asing the citizens what their ideas are.

It was revealed that Springer, using the Association Of County Supervisors, tried to get a bill passed through the legislature that would let County Supervisors raise Sales Tax--with NO input from the public--by a simple majority vote--Her and Thurman.

Here is a more public version of someone having a problem:

http://online.wsj.com/article/potomac_watch.html

July 18, 2008

The 11th commandment of politics is that elected officials shall not take sides in their party primaries. Then again, Missouri Republicans are burdened with so many sins, what's one more?

For an insight as to why the GOP is down and out in Washington, take a look at Jefferson City. That's where Sarah Steelman, the state treasurer, is running in an Aug. 5 primary for the Missouri governorship. And it's where her reform campaign against earmarks and self-dealing is threatening the entrenched status quo, causing her own party to rise against her.

So bitter are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt and Sen. Kit Bond at Ms. Steelman's attack on their cherished spending beliefs that last month they rallied the entire Missouri congressional delegation to put out a public statement openly criticizing her campaign against six-term U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof. Joining them in their support of Mr. Hulshof has been the vast majority of the state Republican machine. Ms. Steelman is clearly doing something right.

Her sin is in fact to belong to that new mold of Republican – Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint – who know it's no longer enough to simply hawk lower taxes. In 10 years as a state legislator and treasurer, her target has been the slothful political favor factory that's led Republicans away from small-government principles and outraged conservative voters.

And, oh, the howls of misery. Ms. Steelman's Republican colleagues were livid with her attempt to strip them of comfy pensions, annoyed with her "sunshine law" requiring them to be more open in their dealings, furious at her attacks on their ethanol boondoggles, appalled that she criticized GOP state Speaker Rod Jetton for moonlighting as a paid political consultant. The final straw was her temerity to make her primary race about her opponent's Washington earmarking record.

For Mr. Blunt, this is also just a wee bit personal. His son, Matt, is the outgoing governor, and has been on the receiving end of a few Treasurer Steelman blasts. Last year she stopped payment on a $70,000 secret check his administration cut to settle a sexual harassment suit against an official. Her demand for transparency blew the case into the open, infuriating GOP colleagues.

There was also Ms. Steelman's attempted cleanup of an ethanol program. The treasurer announced her office would no longer provide below-market interest rates for ethanol plants that counted state officials or their relatives among investors.

Among companies barred was Show Me Ethanol, whose shareholders included Mr. Blunt's son Andy – one of the state's top lobbyists – as well as Republican state Rep. John Quinn and his wife, not to mention the wife of Republican U.S. Rep. Sam Graves. Instead of thanking Ms. Steelman for ridding it of this conflict, in May the Missouri state senate voted to overturn her policy. It did so with a head-count vote, so as to avoid a written record.

Undaunted, Ms. Steelman has made ethics reform the centerpiece of her campaign. Mr. Hulshof has been able to tout his own history as an ethics reformer, though the fervor with which his party's regulars have embraced him has undercut that message. His real weakness is that despite conservative credentials on taxes or social issues, he's run wild with the GOP crowd that just won't relinquish the pork. Which is of course why Mr. Blunt (who pioneered House earmarks) and Mr. Bond (who sits at earmark central, the Senate appropriations committee) love him.

Ms. Steelman's ads have noted Mr. Hulshof's support for the Alaskan Bridge to Nowhere, the Maine Lobster Institute, the Perfect Christmas Tree exhibit and the Woodstock concert hall. Their first debate last week centered on Mr. Hulshof's spending record. In an interview with a local reporter, he felt so cornered that he asked the interviewer what earmarks have "to do" with being "governor" anyway.

Mr. Hulshof's congressional protectors have proved equally amusing. In their statement, Messrs. Blunt, Bond and Graves, as well as Reps. Jo Ann Emerson and Todd Akin, told the public it was perfectly OK Mr. Hulshof had voted for earmarks – because they'd voted for them too!

Ms. Steelman has her own weaknesses – among them ties to the trial bar – which Mr. Hulshof is highlighting. He's also neatly spun his establishment ties into a formidable campaign war chest. Despite this, polls show he retains only a modest lead, and 30% of likely Republican voters have yet to decide. The winner faces Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon, who currently beats both in polls.

If Ms. Steelman's bid shows anything, it's how determined a wandering Republican Party, both nationally and locally, is to hold on to the bad habits that lost them their reputation. Beware to the reformer.

Write to kim@wsj.com

.

UPDATE--DEATH in the Desert

Alleged smuggler in wreck named
By SILVIO J. PANTA, Staff Writer

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 10:32 PM PDT

http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2008/07/16/local_news/news06.txt

The alleged alien smuggler of a packed Chevrolet Suburban that rolled near Highway 78 on Sunday has been identified, an Imperial County Coroner’s official said Tuesday.

Irvis Jael Gonzalez-Moreno, 18, was the unsecured driver who died after he was ejected while the sport utility vehicle was in motion, said Imperial County Deputy Coroner Thomas Garcia.

Border Patrol authorities suspect Gonzalez was the man who tried smuggling the car full of illegal immigrants who fled the scene of the morning crash.

As many as 23 people were inside the vehicle that was heading east on Midway Well Road. The vehicle blew a tire and flipped when Gonzalez tried turning left onto Highway 78 after running past a stop sign, the California Highway Patrol said.

The speeding vehicle was not being pursued as Gonzalez appeared to have circumvented a checkpoint that was about five miles north of Highway 78, said Yuma Sector Border Patrol agent Ben Vik.

A witness sighted the vehicle that was crowded with people and called authorities, Vik said.

The people inside, some of whom were not secured by seat belts, fled the scene of the accident that left three injured passengers, the Highway Patrol said.

The missing passengers, all of whom were suspected illegal immigrants, went into the open desert. Thomas was confident the people have been accounted for.

“We believe that everyone has been caught,” Garcia said.

>> Staff Writer Silvio J. Panta can be reached at 337-3442 or at spanta@ivpressonline.com

About tiime

[My comments at bottom]

Billboards bearing a photo of the Twin Towers burning and a plea not to vote for Democrats has sparked controversy in Orlando, Florida. The person behind the billboard, Mike Meehan, is holding the Democrats responsible for the 9/11 attacks:

"I'm holding the entire Democratic Party responsible for the attacks on 9/11," said Meehan, who wrote, sang, produced and recorded the song. He said people should not vote for Democrats because they are too focused on solving the problems in the economy when they should be focused on the war on terrorism. [. . .] "Democrats are relaxed on fighting the war on terrorism," he said. "But it's just as important as the economy. The economy and terrorism go together." Terrorists had warned they would destroy the American economy financially, and we can see their success in the high prices of oil, Meehan said. Meehan's website advertises a CD and music video titled "The Republican Song," with the chorus, "Don't vote for a Democrat." He sells CDs for $5 to cover the cost of getting his message out. According to ABC affiliate WFTV in Orlando, both parties have criticized the billboards. Meehan knows people will find his ads offensive, but he said, "It's more offensive that our nation is forgetting about the attacks." We must never forget.
==================================================================
TYPICAL MODERATE-CENTRIST WUSSY REPUBLICAN RESPONSE:

A Comment:
This is not helping...

This guy is self-promoting at the Republican Party’s expense.

__________________________________________________________________________-
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjkyYjdhM2U4ODBjZWI0MTcwZjQxZWM5NjI2NmE5ZGU


Bravo Attorney General Mukasey [Andy McCarthy]


House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) is demanding the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate CIA interrogation practices. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has refused. As is his wont, the AG has explained himself in a letter which makes one wish the president had brought him on board years earlier. The conclusion of the letter is worth quoting in full:

I understand that you and some of your colleagues disagree with the interrogation policies that the Executive Branch has chosen to use in defending our Nation fiom another terrorist attack in the six and one-half years following September 11,2001. I also appreciate the public interest in, and debate over, the wisdom and value of these policies, as well as the fidelity of those policies to our Nation's laws; indeed, I believe that such debate reflects the strength of our Constitution. But I strongly disagree with your suggestion that such debate should be resolved through a criminal investigation into the actions of government officials who formulated and carried out those policies. I believe such a request is unfair to those who have been charged with making the difficult decisions in protecting our Nation in the War on Terror, and to those who will be so charged in the future, and therefore is seriously short-sighted.


Your letter requests the appointment of a special counsel to launch a criminal investigation into the actions of the President, members of his cabinet, and other national security lawyers and intelligence professionals in the approval and employment by the CIA of interrogation techniques against captured members of a1 Qaeda. However, you offer no evidence that these government officials acted pursuant to any motive other than a good-faith desire to protect the citizens of our Nation from a future terrorist attack. Nor have you provided any evidence or indication that these government officials believed they were authorizing any policy contrary to the laws of the United States. Quite the contrary: Before the CIA employed these interrogation techniques, government officials sought advice from the Department of Justice as to the lawfulness of the proposed course of conduct. The Department of Justice attorneys, in turn, provided that legal advice. I am aware of no evidence that in providing advice concerning the CIA program those attorneys acted in anything other than good faith based on their best judgment of what the law required.


Your request for a criminal investigation into the actions Executive Branch policymakers and national security lawyers undertook to defend the Nation reflects a broader trend whose institutional effects may outlast the present Administration and harm our national security well into the future. I spoke in more detail about this problematic trend in a speech at Boston College Law School on May 23, 2008, which in turn drew substantially from former Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith's recent book, The Terror Presidency. In his book, Professor Goldsmith describes what he calls "cycles of timidity and aggression" among political leaders and commentators in their attitudes towards the intelligence community. As I pointed out in my speech, the message sent to our national security policymakers and lawyers in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was clear, it was bipartisan, and it was all but unanimous. As Professor Goldsmith explains, "The consistent refrain from the [9/11] Commission, Congress, and pundits of all stripes was that the government must be more forward-leaning against the terrorist threat: more imaginative, more aggressive, less risk-averse."


We have gone six and one-half years without another terrorist attack within the United States, and now our intelligence professionals and national security lawyers are hearing a rather different message. Your letter, which urges me to subject those involved in developing or implementing our counterterrorism policies to criminal investigation, reflects that message. Taking such a step would not only be, in my judgment, unjust, but would also have potentially grave national security consequences. There could be no more certain way to usher in a new "cycle of timidity" in the intelligence community than to tell the government's national security policymakers and lawyers that, if they support an aggressive counterterrorism policy based on their good-faith belief that such a policy is lawful, they may nevertheless one day be prosecuted for so doing.

The competing imperatives to protect the Nation and to safeguard our civil liberties are worthy of public debate and discussion, and congressional oversight and review of our intelligence activities are also important. But it is equally important that such scrutiny be conducted responsibly, with appreciation of its institutional implications. We cannot afford to invite another "cycle of timidity" among those who devote their lives to keeping us safe. The stakes are simply too high.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

YES--People are starting to tell the Liberal, Radical Democrats: "Take it and shove it. I'm tired of Nice. of "Negotiating", of being Civil--When you are a damn bunch of spiteful, mean, debilitating destroyers of all that built this country."

The policies are by the Politicians

______________________________________________________________________________--
New Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis speaks with members of the Chicago City Council police and fire committee to address concerns about the city's crime rate Tuesday, July 15, 2008. City councilmen grilled Weis asking him to explain why the numbers of murders and other violent crimes are rising at the same time police are making fewer arrests, seizing fewer guns and even making fewer traffic stops. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, this Chief is getting grilled about the rise in crime.

It wasn't the Chief who crucified officers for "Offending Minorities". (TRANSLATION--Doing their job, arresting thugs who happen to be Black or Hispanic)

EXAMPLE:

Obama Watch: Barack on Crime
Posted by: Saulo G. Londono | 02/26/2008 6:28 PM


There is a lot of hype about this election cycle and the historical significance of it. Americans can look forward to the election of either the first woman President, the first Black President, or the oldest President ever elected. Considering all that, one aspect of this cycle that not a lot of people have discussed is the possibility of the American people electing the most liberal President in history. In this segment we will take a look at Barack on Crime.


When I was researching his votes in the (Illinois)State Senate I realized there are way too many votes to criticize him on when it comes to his pro-criminal agenda. Instead I will focus on one piece of legislation which Barack lobbied heavily against. We will look at HB1812 of the 92nd General Assembly, or what was called the Severo Anti-Gang Amendments of 2001. The jist of this bill is to basically allow a judge to use the death penalty when a murder is committed in the furtherance of gang activities. The bill was introduced after a Chicago teenager was shot to death by two gang members while trying to explain to them that he was not part of any gangs.

It's important to note that this bill was introduced both in the House and in the Senate by Democrats from Cook County, where most of the gang-related violence takes place. Obama was supposed to sponsor the bill until he realized what he had in his hands. Democratic Senator Antonio Munoz, whose district the murder took place in, was the chief sponsor instead, with Republican Senator Edward Petka as a co-sponsor.

First of all, let me tell you that this bill passed handily both in the House and in the Senate. Barack was one of only nine liberal Democrats in the Senate who voted against it. Although his vote alone stands to show his position on crime, the real importance of this bill is in the discussion that took place between the opponents, led by Senator Obama, and the proponents, led by Senator Petka.

Senator Munoz, the sponsor of the bill, defered to Senator Petka who was a former prosecutor to introduce the bill and answer questions. The first one to rise was Barack Obama. Here's part of the argument he used against the bill:

"One of my concerns in this situation is that if an individual shoots somebody and kills them, let's say, because of an argument on the street, that they, potentially, are not eligible for the death penalty. If that same person gets in that same argument and shoots that person on the street and kills them, but that other person happens to be a member of a street gang and the perpetrator happens to be a member of a rival street gang, that somehow, now, he might get a different penalty than that same murderer in the other context. That's problematic."

Huh? Apparently Barack lives in a land where two rival gang members casually just "happen" to get in an argument and shoot each other without knowing the other person is in a rival gang. Keep in mind that under Illinois law random shootings are not punishable by the death penalty but murdering someone while robbing them is. This law aimed at giving the same status to gang related murders as someone who takes someone's sneakers and then shoots them. Sounds fair enough right?

Barack then goes on to imply that this bill would unfairly target certain demographics. After listening for a while the sponsor of the bill, Senator Munoz, decided to chime in. Keep in mind this is a Democrat lecturing another Democrat:

"Sir, you're talking about the city and we're targeting certain people or certain race, or whatever the case may be. This bill is intended for hard-core criminal killers that go out there and prey, whether it be on kids, whether it be on seniors, and they are gang members. That's what the bill is intended for. And so many times, yes, crime does happen mostly, as they say, in minority communities. Well, I have it in my district. And it's Mexican-Americans killing Mexican-Americans, and that's a real shame and that's where it needs to stop!"

Never a good sign when members of your own party engage in such heated exchange with you. Barack closed by switching the focus of the discussion:

"This may or may not be perfectly legal from a constitutional perspective, but I don't want to get into a major debate about the death penalty."

Unfortunately for Barack, that's exactly where the debate was headed. One of his other colleagues, Senator Robert Molaro, decided to dive in with this argument:

"In other words, life without possibility of parole or a sixty year sentence is not enough of a public policy statement by us that we don't condone gangbangers killing other people? What does the state gain by being able to put him to death?"

And this is where I want everyone to take a pause and try to fast forward to a few months from now, when Obama is answering questions about his stance on the death penalty. Think of him using the above argument and then think of John McCain's rebuttal, which will sound a lot like Senator Petka's response:

"First of all, you make certain basic assumptions that putting someone in prison for murdering someone else is proper punishment. In my opinion, it's not proportional, which is what the Constitution requires. Second of all, the people of this State, when they had an opportunity thirty years ago to abolish capital punishment in the State, voted in overwhelming numbers not to do that. What public purpose is served? Very simply this: right now a gangbanger who commits a murder would at least be eligible to face scrutiny from a judge or a jury as to decide whether or not they should receive society's ultimate punishment."

Obama, who had been involved up to that point, chose to no longer rise. No one else did either. The bill passed the Senate with only Barack and his eight other pro-criminal colleagues voting against it.

Remember when I said Obama was out of touch with the mainstream of Independents? Well in the case of the death penalty he's out of touch with the mainstream of every party. According to Gallup Poll, 81% of Republicans, 69% of Independents, and 60% of Democrats are in favor of the death penalty.

I can't wait to watch McCain and Obama debate on the merits of capital punishment as a deterrent to violent criminals. That's an argument we can't lose. Stay tuned for the next segment of Obama Watch.




________________________________________________________________________________
Just months into his job, the outsider brought in to shake up Chicago's police department is on the hot seat over an increase in homicides and other violent crimes and a decrease in gun seizures, arrests and even traffic stops.

In a sometimes tense hearing on Tuesday, City Council members grilled Superintendent Jody Weis about moves such as bringing in a slew of commanders within weeks of taking over, with at least one alderman suggesting Weis put commanders in positions they weren't prepared for.

The hearing marked the most visible signal yet of the intense pressure that Weis is under. It has only mounted since early this month when gunfire left one person dead and others injured near the Taste of Chicago _ a huge festival held in the same park in which thousands would gather if the city hosts the 2016 Olympic Games.

It also was the most public display of concerns about Weis' performance since Mayor Richard Daley hired him with a mandate to repair the department's image tarnished by a string of incidents _ including an off-duty officer whose alleged beating of a female bartender was videotaped and shown around the world.

Since he took over in February, Weis has rankled both aldermen and members of his department with moves such as replacing 21 of 25 district commanders, talk of getting officers into better shape and his decision to move some of them into the streets and out from behind desks they'd been sitting at for years.

He further angered some within the rank-and-file when he asked federal officials to investigate an officer who'd already pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and was serving a two-year suspension.

On Tuesday, the alderman who in May told of hearing about officers who didn't pull their weapons as quickly as they should for fear of being disciplined by the new administration came armed with statistics.

Alderman Isaac Carothers said that even as violent crimes rose _ homicides, for example, are up 13 percent _ police took some 500 fewer guns off the street this year compared to the same period last year. And he told Weis that the number of gang interventions was down.

"Are you aware that arrests are down and police appear to be doing less?" he asked Weis, sounding like a prosecutor instead of the head of a city council committee.

Weis acknowledged those figures.

"I do find that very troubling," he said.

Weis said he had no evidence that officers ignored criminal activity. But he said officers have told him they are afraid of being sued or the subject of complaints by criminals.

"I told them don't be timid," Weis said of meetings he's had with officers. And he said he has assured them that not only does he want them to be aggressive, but will support them if they act appropriately and within the law.

Weis, the first outsider to run the department in decades, defended some of his decisions and how quickly he has moved to make necessary changes. "I was brought in because there needed to be a cultural change in the Chicago Police Department," he said.

One reason perhaps that Weis finds himself under such scrutiny is that he took the job at the exact time City Hall is making its push to get the 2016 Olympic Games. And a big part of any city's bid is its ability to keep visitors safe _ in Chicago that means keeping visitors safe in Grant Park, which is not only the site of the Taste of Chicago but a spot where huge crowds will descend if the city gets the games.

A.D. Frazier, the chief operating officer of the Olympic Games in Atlanta, said demonstrating to the International Olympic Committee the ability to provide security is crucial to a city's bid.

"You cannot expect the Olympic deciders to not care about the safety and security of that spot," he said, adding that he's confident Chicago will do things like beef up patrols and add lighting to ensure Grant Park is as safe as possible.

Aldermen, even those who asked Weis tough questions, continued to voice their support for the new superintendent. But they also made it clear they expect better results.

"I'm from Missouri," said Alderman Ray Suarez in a reference to the state's nickname, "The Show Me State."

"In six months," he said, "We're going to come back."

A Congressman acquainted with Reality

Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here is a guy who is in touch with how things really work.

Think about it: Everything you buy has to be transported.
Transported means Fuel used.
The only efficient fuel is gasoline or Diesel.

Reid and Pelosi have managed to convince me that they are agents for some Middle East Dictatorship. If you bar American Companies from drilling in OUR lands--the price goes up... they get more of OUR money, and use it to fund terrorist enterprises.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/congressman-energy-crisis-more-threatening-than-terrorism-2008-07-16.html

Lawmaker: Energy crisis greater threat than terrorism
By Bob Cusack
Posted: 07/16/08 12:36 PM [ET]
Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) said Wednesday that the nation’s energy problem “is more important and threatening to America’s future than terrorism.”

During an interview on C-SPAN, Peterson stressed the need for Congress to act now to address the nation’s energy crisis.

Amid the partisan bickering on Capitol Hill, Peterson and Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) are leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers seeking consensus on energy legislation.

On Wednesday, the lawmakers said that their plan will not call for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Abercrombie said ANWR has “psychological and political baggage” and Peterson pointed out the group wants to pass a bill this year.

“We can’t do everything,” Peterson said, but stressed that the scope of their package will be broad.

Drilling in parts of the United States, however, is expected to be a key part of their plan. Peterson has indicated that provisions on natural gas and shale oil in the West will likely be included in the bipartisan bill.

Patrick Creighton, Peterson’s spokesman, stressed that nothing is completely in, or completely out, of the package, but noted that ANWR legislation has never been passed in the Senate.

The two lawmakers recently said they would be announcing the members of their group this week, but have reconsidered.

Abercrombie said the members of the group are “evolving” and would be announced at a later date, suggesting that releasing the list now could subject certain members to political problems. Last week, Peterson and Abercrombie said the group would be composed of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

Peterson and Abercrombie have been frustrated with the leaders of their respective parties and, despite long odds, believe their bill will be acted upon in 2008.

Peterson, who is not seeking reelection, said, “Public pressure is building.” He added that anti-drilling members of Congress were strongly criticized by their constituents during the July 4 recess.

Abercrombie said, “You can’t stand in front of a wave.”

House Democratic and Republican leaders have repeatedly relied on slogans during this election year in attempting to drive home their arguments on energy. A top slogan for Democrats has been “Use it or lose it,” while Republicans have cited the “Pelosi premium.”

Abercrombie said, “Slogans are not going to change the fundamentals of energy.”

He claimed the public is tired of the political games politicians are playing on gas prices.

“We’re legislators. We’re not theologians,” Abercrombie said, bemoaning the “sacred texts” of political rhetoric on gas prices.

The Hawaii legislator said it is up to his group to build a consensus plan, noting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has called for floor votes on bills that she did not vote for, but which had bipartisan backing.

“The public is not going to give a pass to either party [on gas prices],” he said.

The two lawmakers are working with a few of their colleagues in the Senate, but stopped short of committing to when, exactly, they would meet with their counterparts in the upper chamber, indicating the Senate moves at its own pace.

“The Senate is a stately body,” Abercrombie said. “The House is like Australian rules football on ESPN.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a writing from a DEMOCRAT CONGRESSWOMAN.
This is who is screwing YOU.
Santa Barbara, huh. You can not live in Santa Barbara unless you either make a high seven digit income--or are related to someone who does.
She could care LESS what gas costs US. She is wealthy, and it has no impact on her. Plus, all her food and transportation costs are now paid for by--US- You and me---the Sucker Taxpayer.

_________________________________________________________________________________

How Not to Lower Gas Prices (Rep. Lois D-Santa Barbara, CA)

President Bush’s announcement today that he is lifting the Executive Ban placing a moratorium on new offshore drilling is disappointing, but really not that surprising. For the last 7½ years, he and Vice President Cheney have pushed an energy policy which focuses primarily on drilling everywhere. The result has been sky high energy costs for American consumers and record profits for big oil and gas.

As someone who lives in and represents Santa Barbara, CA and witnessed the horrible economic and environmental consequences of the huge 1969 oil spill, I know I have a certain bias against new offshore drilling. But even so, President Bush’s call for more drilling as the solution to high gas prices hits a few dry holes.

First, a report last year threw cold water on the idea of new offshore drilling as the way to lower gas prices. It said that new offshore drilling “would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030″ and that the impact on prices would be “insignificant.” The source of this report is…the Bush administration’s own Energy Information Administration!

Second, we simply can’t drill our way to “energy independence” even if we wanted. The U.S. has less than 3% of world oil supplies, yet we make up nearly 25% of world demand. More drilling off our coasts (and in Alaska, for that matter) isn’t going to change those numbers. No one should believe arguments that more drilling in these pristine areas means we will stop relying on oil from the Middle East, Venezuela or Russia. More drilling won’t end our addiction to oil — it just enables it.

Third, most people probably don’t know that 80% of the oil and gas resources off our coasts are already available for leasing and drilling! While large swaths of our coasts are off limits to new drilling, the areas where most oil and gas are located are not. Listening to President Bush, Sen. McCain and others, you’d think we’ve been locking up all our resources — the opposite is true.

Fourth, we are drilling more domestically than we have in years. Following on Vice President Cheney’s ridiculous statement that conservation is merely a “personal virtue,” the Bush administration’s energy policy has basically been to drill for more oil and gas wherever they can and hope that the prices come down. It has leased public lands for drilling throughout the West, the Gulf Coast and elsewhere at a record pace over the last 7½ years.

Interestingly, right now the oil and gas industry is sitting on 68 million acres of public lands where it could be drilling but isn’t. It has some 6,000 leases in the Gulf of Mexico (where the majority of oil and natural gas reserves are found) that are not being explored. According to Senator McCain and President Bush, the oil and gas industry wants to lower prices for American consumers but they can’t because they’re prevented from drilling. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

So, we’re drilling domestically more than ever, the oil industry already has access to most offshore resources, the industry is not drilling in millions of acres of public land that it has leased and, even if it did, it wouldn’t release us from our reliance on foreign oil and it wouldn’t lower prices. And more offshore drilling is the president’s solution?

In contrast to these tired “drill only” proposals, Democrats have pushed a responsible, comprehensive energy policy to provide relief from these high prices and wean our economy off fossil fuels. In the short-term, we’re calling on President Bush to immediately release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Earlier this year it took an act of Congress to force the Bush administration to stop filling the SPR while oil is at record high prices. Now we are calling on him to release some of the SPR oil onto the market to help drive down prices. Similar actions have been taken several times, most recently by President Bush following Hurricane Katrina. Each time prices dropped significantly. Taking this simple step would probably reduce gasoline prices more in 10 days than President Bush’s offshore drilling proposal would do in 10 years.

In addtion, oil and gas companies should “use or lose” access to the 68 million publicly held acres where they can currently drill but aren’t. There’s no reason that companies should be able to lock up oil and gas reserves on publicly held land when we’ve made a choice as a nation to begin extraction in those locations.

In the long term, we need to extend and increase tax incentives for alternative energy, like solar, wind and biomass, and require utilities to get an increasing share of their energy from renewable sources. This is being done in states like California and Texas already, but President Bush is fighting our effort to make this a nationwide mandate. We also have to become more energy efficient. The new Democratically controlled Congress already passed the first increase in fuel efficiency standards for cars in 32 years and took steps to make our appliances and buildings more energy efficient. But we have to do more. Much more.

Unfortunately, President Bush, Senator McCain and Congressional Republicans have responded to our serious energy challenges pushing political gimmicks like the gas tax holiday and new offshore drilling. These are the policies that got us into this mess in the first place and they aren’t going to get us out of it

What is the DIFFERENCE?

December 6, 2005
JOHN F KERRY D-MASS:
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SEN. DICK DURBIN-D. ILL:
If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime – Pol Pot or others – that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SEN. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
July 13, 2008--San Diego

The system isn’t working when 12 million people are living in hiding, and hundreds of thousands are crossing our borders illegally each year; when companies hire undocumented immigrants instead of legal citizens to avoid paying overtime or avoid unionization or exploiting those workers; when communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids – when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel. When all that’s happening, the system just isn’t working

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN_GO3YAdEA&eurl=http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2008/07/obama-says-immigration-enforcement.html

Death in the Desert

 

 

 

This happened about 8 am this morning, July 13, 2008, on California Highway 78 at a dirt road that takes off known as Midway Wells.

A smuggler driving a load of Illegal Aliens apparently drove through the desert, around the checkpoint just west of Midway Wells, and tried to execute a hard left turn onto 78 East. The right front rim durg into the pavement, and the overloaded Chevy Suburban overturned, and threw several people out. One was dead at scene.

The Difference between here and California

THIS IS CALIFORNIA

http://politicalvindication.com/?p=1737
Contra Costa Times has the details…

Hey-hey, ho-ho, the Marines in Berkeley have got to go.

That’s the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted 6-3 Tuesday night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station “is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”

In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines because of the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy. And it officially encouraged the women’s peace group Code Pink to impede the work of the Marines in the city by protesting in front of the station.

In a separate item, the council voted 8-1 to give Code Pink a designated parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week from noon to 4 p.m.

Memo to the city of Berkeley: When terror comes knocking on your door, don’t come crying to the rest of the country that has shed blood to defend it. What a disgrace!


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=73&ArticleID=57117

Prescott resident Dennis Duvall may be headed to jail.

Yavapai County Justice Court Judge Arthur Markham found Duvall guilty this past week of criminal damage in a March 19 incident in which Duvall tried to write, "Stop the Killing" on the window of the Army recruiting center at Prescott Gateway Mall.

Before Duvall could complete the inscription, Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Gump stopped him and took him to mall security. Mall security called Prescott Police.

Duvall said his act was a "totally symbolic act of civil disobedience" that paled in comparison to "the deliberate, methodical and systematic damage" the U.S. caused in the war in Iraq.

Judge Markham got it right.
"Criminal damage," he said, "includes defacing the property of another without the owner's permission. You do not have the right to paint on a window."
The judge offered Duvall the option of performing two days of community service or paying a $200 fine before Sept. 1. He made it clear Duvall would go to jail if he failed to make the choice.
Duvall refused community service and said he won't pay a fine. That leaves jail."I don't think I should be punished for protesting the war," he said. "I guess I'll worry about jail in September."
Mr. Duvall is missing an essential point. Americans enjoy a great deal of freedom, and they should. The Constitution recognizes God-given rights we all possess.
Duvall could write letters to the newspaper, hand out fliers, get on a soapbox and state his views and make his protest of the war public in many ways that didn't interfere with the rights of others.
When he interfered with Sgt. Gump's work, he crossed the line, and that's why the law is calling him to account.
If Duvall believes enough in his point to go to jail, so be it, but jail it should be if he doesn't choose the two options Judge Markham offered.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Depends on what you like

It is raining.
Yes, I know--A lot of people associate rain with depression, gloom, and dreary.

I grew up on ranches around Arizona. That meant cattle, and that meant they needed something to eat. Rain told you the grass would grow, the cattle would be fatter, and you would get more money per head.

Also, it is our "Monsoon Season". This was named by some carpetbagger from New York or Chicago. We never called it a "Monsoon Season".
This occurs each summer. Wet warm air comes up from Mexico.

Snce it is summer, our temperature at our altitude [5200 feet] gets to 85-90-95.
This causes hot air to rise and pushes the wet air up into the cold upper atmosphere. You get condensation (Rain) and electricity (Lightning)

I LOVE IT!

Guess it is your values

"Lane 2" firefighters dig into ice cream cones that the Crown King General Store gave them Thursday and Saturday.

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=56943

A sense of euphoria is taking hold in Crown King as residents return and express their gratitude to firefighters for saving their homes and historic business district.

Residents are adding their names to a huge thank-you sign, and the Crown King General Store is handing out ice cream to firefighters.

Firefighters also are returning the favors.

Some Navajo firefighters made fry bread for everyone at The Mill Restaurant Saturday night.

J.D. Vigil of the Sacramento Hotshot team from the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico - home of Smokey Bear -carved a huge bear out of a stump with his chainsaw and gave it to Crown King store owners Ben and Carol Boles.

It looks perfect in front of the store, Carol Boles said after the Hot Shot team lifted it into place.

Firefighters even replaced the U.S. flag Sunday on top of what locals call Flag Mountain, she said.

"They've just been absolutely wonderful," Boles said of the firefighters. "To have that bad of a fire and have only four homes burn, it's just amazing. We're proud of them.

"It's just been an extremely moving experience for us."

The Boles' home is on the south side of town and at one point they thought they lost it.

"I just hope other people learn from this," she said.

The Boles' store and the two restaurants in town have been serving meals to the firefighters, and that's a huge economic aid to them, Boles said.

She and her husband have been working 16-hour days to help feed the firefighters lunch, but she's not complaining.

"It's been kind of fun and exciting," she said. Her husband and son-in-law worked 36 hours straight when they first reopened Monday.

She returned Wednesday and was saddened to see the scorched land along the steep, winding main road up from Cleator.

But then she was heartened to see that pine trees still line the road after it crosses what locals call the Magic Bridge, where the landscape turns from high desert to alpine forest.

"It's even more magical now because the transition is so dramatic," Cole said.

Flames still were visible near the store when she was working earlier this week.

"It was very, very scary," Boles said.

The Mill will go on with its annual "Wine in the Pines" event featuring wine, appetizers and music on July 26, said Cole, whose realty company sponsors the event to benefit the Mesa Crisis Center. People can get updates at www.crownkingaz.com.

And the Crown King Saloon is planning a re-opening celebration, said Crown King Saloon owner Dawn Colt. People can get updates at www.crownkingsaloon.com.

Colt and her husband were among four families who lost their homes on the southern fringes of town, but she's glad that the new home they're building survived.

They already have found a rental home to use for a few months until they finish their new place.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O K--You will say I'm going off on a tangent.
Yes, Indeed I am.

I saw this photo and thought:
THAT (PICK ANY ONE OF THEM )IS THE KIND OF GIRL I'D LIKE TO KNOW.

Firefighting is now like any other Safety Service. If a woman wants to be a (Name Emergency or police service), due to Trial Attorneys, Liability, and potential serious injury to their partners, women must measure up and pass the Fitness and Agility/Ability tests.

What I'm seeing in this picture are women who are able to go out and fight fires for 12 hours at a stretch. They can endure that labor, wearing the heavy Nomex suits in 90-100 degree heat, and still keep going.

Yet, I see no "Boob jobs" here, NO perfect Maybelline make-up, or any expensive jewelry hanging upon their persons.

YET--To me, these women are BEAUTIFUL. I pick them over Angelina Jolie ANY DAY!

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.542/pub_detail.asp

Nevada Senator Harry Reid gave a June 30 interview, now famous on YouTube, in which he somberly intones, "Coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. And this global warming is ruining our country. It's ruining the world." Oil and coal, of course, are all natural and organic, created deep in the womb of Mother Earth by Gaia herself, a point largely lost on the Enviromentalists and otherDemocrats infatuated with all things natural and organic.

Then there is another inconvenient truth Harry Reid hasn't noticed.

In the last hundred years, while we have been getting sicker and sicker from oil and coal, life expectancy in the world and in the US has doubled. Life expectancies in the world "before coal, before oil," were much shorter than now. In the age of Classical Greece and Rome, 1,500 to 2,500 years ago, andin Medieval Britain,500 to 1,000 years ago, life expectancy was just20-30 years.By 1900 life expectancy had risen to 30-40 years, and global life expectancy today is 78 years, three times as long as justtwo hundred years ago.In the US, life expectancy for men was 38 yearsin 1900, and 75 years in 2004. For women, life expectancy was 40 yearsin 1900, 80 years in 2004.

Yes, folks, the Anti-Everything, "It's a Haz-Mat"(Hazardous Materal) crowd would have us using horses to get around and carry goods again.

Well, not too fast. Near Ramona, California is a community called Country Estates. This is in San Diego County. Knowng that people who came to this area would want to feel and live the Western way, the creator of the area included two large centers for horses, an Equestrian Center (English, Dressage, Jumpers) and a Western Center. (A base for trail rides)

This in the County of San Diego. The county established a "Board" to deal with flys, and fly-borne diseases. The Board of Supervisors gave that Bard of Vector Control power to issues citations for violating rules that the Bof VC came up with.

The Western Center was threatened with a $500 citation because the Bof VC had declared horse poop to be a Haz-Mat, which attracted flies. The Western Center was supposed to patrol daily and make sure there was NO horse poop on the streets or sidewalks leading to the trails.

The Western Center also had to scoop up from "Gathering stations" horse poop that had been gathered from individual pens, and send it off in a Garbage truck whose service was paid for by the tenants.

Seems like Old Times (USSR's)

During this morning, this email came in:


DAILY JOURNAL NEWSWIRE ARTICLE
http://www.dailyjournal.com
© 2008 The Daily Journal Corporation.
All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------


May 23, 2008

MARINE FACES TRIAL BY CIVILIANS
Man Who Left Service Will Go to Court on Charges in Iraq Case
By Jason W. Armstrong
Daily Journal Staff Writer
This article appears on Page 1

RIVERSIDE - Jose Luis Nazario Jr. finished his military career as a Marine sergeant three years ago after serving in Iraq. While there, he said, he regularly fired at insurgents and got shot at while navigating a maze of crooked streets and crumbling, vacant homes.
But Nazario is now fighting another war - this one an apparently unprecedented case filed against him by federal prosecutors.
They've charged him with committing voluntary manslaughter by shooting and killing two unarmed insurgents during a fierce battle to take control of Fallujah, Iraq in 2004.
Nazario, who also is a former Riverside police officer, could be the first former serviceman nationwide to be tried outside of the military justice system under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, or MEJA. The 2000 law places federal jurisdiction over civilians who commit crimes while accompanying troops abroad and former military members whose crimes are discovered after they leave the service.
Nazario, 28, has pleaded not guilty. He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison if convicted on the two manslaughter counts. His trial is scheduled to start July 8 before U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson in Riverside.
His lawyer, who unsuccessfully argued that the action didn't belong in the federal court, said he believes the case is treading on uncharted legal ground.
"This is the first case of its kind, relating to a combat situation" involving a former member of the Armed Forces, Kevin B. McDermott, Nazario's lead trial attorney, said.
Unknowns in the case, he said, include civilian jurors' reactions to and interpretations of evidence and testimony dealing with brutal combat scenarios.
"I have visions of 12 soccer moms sitting there," McDermott, a Tustin sole practitioner, said. "You wonder how jurors will decipher rules of engagement and positive identification and whether Marines had cause to do anything."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Behnke, a Riverside-based prosecutor helping try the case, declined to comment. In the complaint, prosecutors said they had "probable cause" to believe that Nazario "in the heat of passion caused by adequate provocation did commit voluntary manslaughter by unlawfully and intentionally killing two unarmed male human beings, without malice." U.S. v. Nazario, EDCR07-127 SGL (C.D. Cal., filed Sept. 4, 2007).
The killings, prosecutors said in documents filed in the case, were illegal because they "violated clearly established law of war."
Prosecutors also argued that Nazario went against his training "regarding proper treatment of detainees."
"All Marines, including defendant, were repeatedly taught that they shall do no harm to detainees and that they have an affirmative duty to protect detainees," prosecutors said in their briefs.
The case against Nazario centers on his actions during Operation Phantom Fury on Nov. 9, 2004 - the first day of the Marines' bitter two-week fight with insurgents to wrest control of Fallujah, one of Anbar province's largest cities.
About 3,000 suspected insurgents were killed, and roughly 100 Marines died and 1,000 were wounded, military officials said.
During the fight, Nazario's squad was taking gunfire from a house, according to an affidavit in support of the complaint written by Mark O. Fox, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
The Marines searched the home after the shooting stopped, found AK-47 rifles and ammunition and detained four men, Fox said in the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, a superior asked Nazario over a radio if the Iraqis were "dead yet."
"Nazario said he was told to 'Make it happen,'" Fox wrote in the affidavit.
Nazario killed two of the men and ordered two other Marines in his unit to kill the other two, according to prosecutors. Behnke declined to say why Nazario was charged with involvement in only two of the deaths.
McDermott said the incident prosecutors pinned on his client "never happened."
"It didn't occur at all. Period," McDermott said.
The two Marines Nazario allegedly told to kill the other two insurgents have also been charged in the alleged incident. Military prosecutors have charged sergeants Ryan Weemer and Jermaine Nelson with murder and dereliction of duty. Their courts-martial proceedings are pending at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.
According to McDermott, Weemer fingered Nazario during a polygraph test that triggered an initial investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Behnke declined to comment.
It was unclear Thursday whether Weemer or Nelson would testify in Nazario's trial. According to Nelson's lawyer, Nelson defied a court order to testify before a grand jury in connection with the case this week and a judge ordered him taken into custody as a result. His lawyer, Joseph H. Low IV of Long Beach, said Nelson opted to go to prison rather testify agaisnt Nazario. (Related story on Page 2.)
"This is a witness the prosecution wants to use to bury Sgt. Nazario because Sgt. Nazario won't take a deal," Low said Thursday.
Nazario had no reserve commitment after his 2005 honorable discharge, and military officials said his case fell outside of their jurisdiction. They turned to federal prosecutors, who charged him under MEJA.
Congress enacted the law eight years ago after a series of court cases that said civilians accompanying the armed forces could not be tried in military courts-martial.
The law also was written to give government jurisdiction over armed forces members who committed on-duty crimes while under the Uniform Code of Military Justice but whose alleged acts were discovered after they "separated or retired" from the service.
It applies to those whose crime outside the country could have netted them a year or more in prison if committed in the U.S.
Just a handful of people have been charged under the statute.
While Nazario's case is expected to be the first to reach trial under MEJA, one other former service member, former Army PFC Steven Green of Kentucky, also has been charged under the law.
Green is accused of participating in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl in March 2006 and the murder of her parents and sister. Several co-defendants pleaded guilty or were found guilty of charges involving the incident in courts-martial proceedings.
Green is scheduled to go to trial in April 2009 in federal court in Paducah, Ky. He faces the death penalty.
McDermott and other lawyers helping represent Nazario filed a motion asking Larson to toss the manslaughter charges in March, arguing the federal court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
Serving as co-counsel for the former Marine are San Diego sole practitioner Douglas L. Applegate, Ledger & Associates name partner Emery Ledger and attorneys Pepper Hamilton in Newport Beach.
In their motion, the defense lawyers said the case would require the jury to "examine military decisions" outside of the court's "judicially manageable standards."
"The court ... cannot reasonably or appropriately determine the propriety of Sgt. Nazario's actions on the field of battle without an impermissible intrusion into the military powers," the motion said.
Larson agreed with prosecutors' opposition to the request. The judge ruled April 28 that Nazario had failed to "demonstrate that adjudication of this case would intrude on any policy choices or value judgments of the politically accountable branches."
"The express language of [MEJA] provides federal courts with jurisdiction to hear criminal cases, where, as here, the alleged crime was committed prior to discharge from the Armed Services," Larson wrote.
The case comes amid several high profile military prosecutions alleging abuse or killings of Iraqi civilians and detainees by troops. Those cases include the alleged Marine killing of 24 people in Haditha, Iraq in 2005. Prosecutors contend the troops killed the Iraqis as revenge for a roadside bomb that killed a Marine and injured two others.
Charges against several Marines accused in the incident are pending.
When federal prosecutors charged him, Nazario was a two-year officer with the Riverside Police Department and was approaching the end of his probationary period. The department fired him when he was charged.
He and his wife and daughter have since moved to New York, where he is originally from.
Nazario said the case has had a "devastating" effect on his life. He said he is out of work because employers refuse to hire him when they learn that he has charges pending.
His lawyers are representing him pro bono.
"There are no words for what I am going through," Nazario said.

Then this one was found in Oceanside, CA North County Times:

Hearing for Sgt. John 'Johnny' Winnick II continues at Camp Pendleton Wednesday
http://nctimes.com/articles/2008/07/01/military/z2f87f5b4995f72a088257479006838f8.txt

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Marine sniper charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of assault in the shooting of four men in Iraq last year had the authority to shoot suspected insurgents if he deemed they posed a threat, his platoon commander testified Tuesday.

Lt. Dominique Corabi, commander of a scout sniper platoon from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, said Sgt. John "Johnny" Winnick II had that authority when he led a six-man surveillance team on a mission near Lake Tharthar in the Anbar province on June 17.

"They were told to be prepared to engage targets of opportunity," Corabi testified, adding members of sniper teams were routinely taught that a surveillance mission can quickly turn to combat.

Corabi also testified there was conflicting advice about the rules governing sniper attacks.

Winnick, 24, a San Diego native and 2002 graduate of Del Mar's Winston High School, is the subject of an investigative hearing at Camp Pendleton to determine if the charges against him should stand. The hearing is expected to conclude Wednesday morning.

Winnick's sniper team was watching a mosque and abandoned store for possible insurgent activity when a series of vehicles stopped at an intersection with men emerging and appearing to plant a roadside bomb, team member Sgt. Alexander Wazenkewitz testified.

Shortly after those vehicles departed, an 18-wheel truck drove up and stopped near the same spot with the driver getting out, crawling under the truck and removing a black bag, Wazenkewitz said. Three other men then climbed out of the cab, he said.

"It looked the guy was laying down an IED," Wazenkewitz said. "It was definitely a threat."

At that point, Wazenkewitz said Winnick fired a shot from his sniper rifle at the truck driver and directed the five men he was leading to "suppress the vehicle," meaning they were to fire at the other men and at the truck to disable it.

Under questioning from Winnick's attorney, Gary Myers, Wazenkewitz said he believed what the squad did that day was within the military's rules of engagement.

"If you think the guy is a threat and should be shot, you do it," he said.

Wazenkewitz called Winnick, whose parents and family members sat in the gallery watching the hearing unfold in a small base courtroom, a "great teacher and leader."

The incident took place as the unit was about a month into its Iraq assignment. It was the squad's first engagement.

Wazenkewitz also testified that Marines had been told the insurgency was moving away from regular explosives to construct roadside bombs and was beginning to use the more portable and less detectable compounds such as ammonium nitrate. The truck they fired on disappeared from the intersection a couple of days after the shooting and was never fully searched, Wazenkewitz said.

Capt. Jeffrey King, presiding over the hearing as the investigative officer, will write a recommendation stating whether he believes there is sufficient evidence to warrant that Winnick face trial by court-martial.

"What I'm most concerned with is what those guys saw out there," King said at one point during Tuesday's court session.

The manslaughter charges against Winnick allege that he killed two men from the truck. Those men were later identified as Syrians. The assault charges allege that he ordered his men to fire at the other two men whose nationalities have not been confirmed.

The ultimate decision on whether Winnick, who was on his fourth combat assignment when the incident took place and had won a battlefield promotion during one for taking out a man planting a roadside bomb, will be made by Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commander of Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary force and head of all Marine forces in the Middle East.

If ordered to trial and convicted, Winnick could be sentenced to as much as 40 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge.

Winnick's case is the fourth involving local Marines accused of unlawful civilian killings in Iraq. He is expected to make an unsworn statement, meaning whatever he says is not subject to cross-examination by prosecutors.

Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It seems like we are becoming the old USSR.
Crimes were determined by the POLITBURE:

In Marxist-Leninist states, the party is seen as "the vanguard of the people" and therefore usually has the power to control the state, and the non-state party officials in the politburo generally hold extreme power.

In the Soviet Union for example, the General Secretary of the Communist Party did not necessarily hold a state office like president or prime minister to effectively control the system of government. Instead, party members answerable to or controlled by the party held these posts, often as honorific posts as a reward for their long years of service to the party. On other occasions, having governed as General Secretary, the party leader might assume a state office in addition. For example, Mikhail Gorbachev initially did not hold the presidency of the Soviet Union, that office being given as an honour to former Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for well over a decade before assuming the governmental position of Premier of the Soviet Union during World War II.

So what it has become is this:
An Insurgent (Read=Al-Quaida operative) sets up a situation where he knows that an American Marine will kill someone.
Some Insurgents are killed, and often citizens that the Insurgent intentionally put in the cross-fire.
The Insurgent calls up a member of the Main Stream Media, and complains that "Innocent" citizens were killed.
The Main Stream Media Party-Line adherent writes a column or article about how U S Troops "massacred" innocent citizens, without provocation or cause.


The top leaders in the Corps or the Army do not dispute the Media or Liberal Lawmakers. The troops that were there are called in, interrogated, and tried.

My point: Unelected powers in the Soviet Union would see or hear a challenge or a threat at any criticism. The offender would be declared "Enemy of the State", arrested, and given a "Show Trial" for "Crimes against Mother Russia" and:
A. Shot at a firing squad
B. Sent off to the Gulag
or
C.placed in a mental institution to mute any further criticism.