Besieged by EMF Pollution and Weaponized Frequencies

What do we know about the possible ill health effects from exposure to the transmitting antennas for our wireless communications? If you rely on the mainstream media, next to nothing. Electromagnetic (EMF) pollution (especially by microwaves) is hardly ever discussed. It's often asserted that there are not enough studies to reliably assess high frequency EMF pollution but that's simply not true. The truth is that by 1990, there were more than 10,000 publications on the danger of EMF/RFR, and today, there are probably twice that many. It's just that the telecommunications industry doesn't want to risk trillions of dollars in profit, thus the negative effects of EMF pollution are still denied by official science. Keep in mind, the cell phone industry has funded 87% of the research on this subject.

“It may be possible – and tempting – to exploit for strategic political purpose the fruits of research on the brain and on human behaviour. Gordon J.F. MacDonald, a geophysicist specialising in problems of warfare, has written that artificially excited electronic strokes ‘could lead to a pattern of oscillations that produce relatively high power levels over certain regions of the earth…In this way, one could develop a system that would seriously impair the brain performance of very large populations in selected regions over an extended period.’

No matter how deeply disturbing the thought of using the environment to manipulate behaviour for national advantages to some, the technology permitting such use will very probably develop within the next few decades.” -- Zbigniew Brzezinski, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era:

Moreover, the military knew the effects of  EMFs as far back as the 1970s, after compiling 2300 studies to show the effects of microwaves on humans.

These antennas are found on all wireless communications devices, such as cell towers, WiMax systems, internet routers, cell and cordless phones, smart meters, smart boards, ebook readers not to mention, baby monitors. You can find out how many antennas and towers are located within a 4-mile radius of your address at Antennasearch.

“Antennas are the actual signal emitters for cellular, paging and other radio services. Antennas can be placed on towers or be stand alone and placed on top of offices, condos, churches, light poles, signs, etc. Stand alone Antennas are small and difficult to spot as they are easily hidden/camouflaged.

Towers are tall structures (typically over 200 ft) used for Cellular, Paging and other radios services. Towers can contain multiple antennas owned by various companies.

World-renowned neurosurgeon and research scientist Dr. Lief Salford's  (Lund University, Sweden)  research findings--since 1988-- show blood brain barrier leakage in thousands of rat brains exposed to much lower doses of microwave radiation than cell phone usage, leading to increased albumin (neurotoxin) uptake, memory loss and damage of up to 2% of brain cells. Dr. Salford said that today, "two-thirds of the world's population volunteer as guinea pigs in the world's largest biological experiment."



Is Wifi making your kid sick?



Then, if the smart meters, cell towers, etc aren't bad enough, our domestic law enforcement is being encouraged to use "non-lethal" directed energy weapons on us. In order to avoid violation of international defense/agency treaties, the Department of Defense uses the Department of Justice to test "non-lethal" weapons classified as "crowd control", in their "non-lethal" electromagnetic weapons program. In 1993, the National Institute of Justice Initiative on Less than Lethal Weapons recommended that local and state police departments in America utilize psychotronic, electromagnetic, and other mind control weapons against American citizens involved in "domestic disturbances," an open-ended term that can include pretty much anything. The Washington Post reported, “The Pentagon and the DOJ have agreed to share state-of-the-art military technology with civilian law enforcement agencies, including exotic non-lethal weapons."

“Short term research will be completed to adopt military technology to use by domestic law enforcement including laser microwave and electromagnetic weapons."

History teaches us that waiting for legislation and officials to protect our health is like closing the barn door after the horses escape. History teaches us that public health almost always loses to powerful commercial interests. Now that we have the information at our fingertips, there is no excuse for ignorance.

Links:

Apple IPAD 3G has Five Antennas

BioInitiative 2012

Is Wifi Safe For Children? Beware of Health Risks.

Cellular Telephone Russian Roulette by Robert Kane,a former top Motorola engineer, traces the history of cell phone development (in which he was involved) and analyzes the cell phone radiation bioeffects research base from 1950 to 1996.

“Talking on a cellular phone can be likened to holding a microwave oven to one's head."

Cellular Radiation: Is This Our Next Titanic?

StopTheCrime.net

SmartMetersMurder.com

Read more...

It's "Always Nigger Season" Even When the President is Black

Or I might add especially when the President is black. At least when 'W' did something horribly  racist and criminal, as he often did, there were loud voices protesting  in opposition. But when Obama does the same thing, it’s considered good leadership. President Obama received 95% of the black vote. In return, African Americans received a check that came back stamped: insufficient funds. He tells African Americans to stop whining and pull themselves up by their own bootstraps while his actions set these same people up to fail and keep them trapped by his support of legislation--specifically, in this case, by actively trying to maintain racially discriminatory prison sentences--that further empowers and emboldens the New Jim Crow Lulled to sleep by the rhetoric of color-blindness and the appearance of great racial progress, most of us are blind this new form, or should I say, formless invisible institutional racism.

In UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. CORNELIUS DEMORRIS BLEWETT (12-5226) and JARREOUS JAMONE BLEWITT (12-5582),, "a crack cocaine case brought by two currently incarcerated defendants seeking retroactive relief from racially discriminatory mandatory minimum sentences imposed on them in 2005," President Obama quietly tried to enforce racially biased federal crack cocaine laws that have since been repealed" by the  2010 Fair Sentencing Act. The Obama administration asked a federal appeals court to make sure thousands of people--almost all of them poor and most of them black--remain locked in prison despite a total lack of justification.

Crack cocaine and powder cocaine are "pharmacologically identical," the only difference being who consumes these pharmacologically identical substances: crack cocaine, the drug of mostly poor black folk, and powder cocaine, the drug of wealthier white folk. To be sure, young African American males are the most disposable, yet at the same time, profitable--for the for-profit prison industry--demographic in this prison nation. Not only do the private prisons prosper, corporations can put these people to work for a few cents an hour, not to mention, these human-beings are excluded from poverty statistics and unemployment data thus masking the severity of issues more than they already are.

Although Black people make up only 34% of crack users, they are 85% of those convicted on crack charges. As early as 2011, 30,000 people were serving time for crack charges in federal prison, 85% of them Black.

“…persistent bias occurred with respect to the contemporary enforcement of drug laws where, in the 1990s and early 2000s, blacks constituted a minority of regular users of crack cocaine but more than 80 percent of crack defendants.” -- Harvard Professor William J. Stuntz

As legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues, "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." One such strategy is through targeting black men and women (often mothers) through the "War on Drugs," decimating communities of color.

“There are more African American adults under correctional  control today, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began. As of 2004, more black men were disenfranchised than in 1870, the year the 15th amendment was ratified explicitly prohibiting laws that deny the right to vote on the basis or race....During the Jim Crow era, poll taxes and literacy tests, circumvented the 15th amendment and operated to deny African Americans the right to vote. A black child born today has less of a chance of being raised by both parents than a black child born during slavery. This is due in large part to the mass incarceration of black men....The mass incarceration of black men take them out of the dating pool at the years they would be most likely to commit to a partner, to a family.  But, what's worse is that by branding them criminals and felons at early ages, often before they're even old enough to vote, they're rendered permanently unemployable in the legal job market, virtually guaranteeing that most will cycle in and out of prison, sometimes, for the rest of their lives. 
[...]
Today, in many states, felon disenfranchisement laws accomplish what poll taxes and literacy tests ultimately could not. This does not effect some small segment of the African American community. To the contrary, in many large urban areas, more than half of working age African American men now have criminal records and thus subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives. In some cities--Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago (80%), DC--the statistics are far worse." -- Michelle Anderson, highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, and Associate Professor of Law at Ohio State

The incarceration rate has quintupled over the last 30 years, from a prison population of 300,000 in the early 1970s to well over 2 million! During this same period of time that the incarceration rates increased exponentially, crime rates have fluctuated, leading most sociologists and criminologists to admit that incarceration rates and crime rates have moved independently of one another.

So for now the grant of en banc review puts Blewett relief for Sixth Circuit prisoners on hold. Why?  Is  the Department of Justice afraid of re-hearing thousands of old cases?  If so, can't President Obama just commute all of the pre-Fair-Sentencing-Act minimums to their equivalent minimums under the new law? Or is the reason for en banc review far more nefarious?

Links:

How the mass incarceration of black men harms black women.


Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling by Sabrina Jones and Marc Mauer

Stop the Drug War

Read more...

Deadliest War of 21st Century Is Being Waged Right on Top of Us.

Update:

Smuggling and Trafficking Routes Into and Through Texas

At the end of 2012, the reported number of Mexican citizens violently murdered was estimated much higher than the mainstream media stated, the real death rate is between 120,000 - 130,000.  However, in truth, the Mexican government doesn't really know, so it could be twice that number. To be sure, it's not less as governments, if anything, under report such statistics for the simple reason it does not reflect well.

Moreover, the cartel's presence in the United States is growing. Especially in Texas where six out of the eight cartels are present according to the Texas Public Safety Threat Overview 2013

“Mexican cartels continue to use gangs in Texas as they smuggle drugs, people, weapons, and cash across the border. [...]

Gangs’ Relationships with Mexican Cartels

(U) One of the most serious issues facing Texas is the fact that many gangs have developed relationships with Mexican cartels. Gangs working with the Mexican cartels are involved in a level of crime that affects the entire state. Their criminal activity is no longer just a problem for a specific city or region. In certain instances, these gangs are contracted to commit assassinations, kidnapping, and assaults in Texas and Mexico on behalf of the cartels.

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47,515 killed in the last 5 years alone from Mexican drug cartel violence, and they are expanding into U.S. cities at an alarming rate, yet, there is no alarm. Gosh, the Mexican drug cartels shot the White House, shattering one of its windows with an AK47, leaving a nice little note telling President Obama, “Aquí está uno de los nuestros, no la suya necesitan.” That is, “Here’s one of ours, we don’t need yours,” yet, all the alarm bells toll for "so-called" terrorists clear across the world.

US cities and towns with Mexican Drug Cartel presence

Alabama
Albertville
Birmingham
Decatur
Dothan
Huntsville
Mobile
Montgomery

Alaska
Anchorage

Arizona
Douglas
Glendale
Naco
Nogales
Peoria
Phoenix
Sasabe
Sierra Vista

Arkansas
Fort Smith
Little Rock

California
Alameda
Calexico
Chula Vista
El Centro
Elk Grove
Escondido
Fresno
Garden Grove
Hacienda Heights
Hayward
Los Angeles
Oakland
Oceanside
Oxnard
Perris
Porterville
Sacramento
San Bernardino
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
Santa Ana
Stockton
Temecula
Tulare
Westminster
Yuma

Colorado
Aurora
Colorado Springs
Denver
Fort Collins
Greeley
Pueblo

Connecticut
Hartford

Florida
Fort Lauderdale
Jacksonville
Lakeland
Miami
Orlando
Tampa

Georgia
Atlanta

Hawaii
Hilo
Honolulu
Kona

Idaho
Boise
Caldwell
Idaho Falls
Honolulu
Kona
Nampa
Pocatello
Twin Falls

Illinois
Chicago
East St. Louis
Joliet

Indiana
Fort Wayne
Gary
Indianapolis

Iowa
Des Moines

Kansas
Kansas City
Liberal
Wichita

Kentucky
Lexington
Louisville

Louisiana
Baton Rouge
Lafayette
New Orleans
Shreveport

Maryland
Baltimore
Greenbelt

Massachusetts
Boston
Fitchburg

Michigan
Detroit
Kalamazoo

Minnesota
Minneapolis
St. Cloud

Mississippi
Hattiesburg
Jackson

Missouri
Kansas City

Montana
Billings
Helena

Nebraska
Omaha

Nevada
Carson
Las Vegas
Reno

New Hampshire
Greenville

New Jersey
Atlantic City
Camden
Newark

New Mexico
Albuquerque
Columbus
Deming
Las Cruces

New York
Albany
Buffalo
New York


North Carolina
Burlington
Charlotte
Durham
Greensboro
Hendersonville
Raleigh
Wilson
Winston-Salem

Ohio
Akron
Canton
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Dayton
Hamilton
Toledo
Youngstown


Oklahoma
Oklahoma City
Ponca City
Tulsa

Oregon
Eugene
Medford
Portland
Roseburg
Salem

Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh

Rhode Island
Providence

South Carolina
Charleston
Florence
Greenville
Myrtle Beach

South Dakota
Sioux Falls

Tennessee
Knoxville
Memphis
Nashville

Texas
Alpine
Amarillo
Beaumont
Big Spring
Brownsville
Corpus Christi
Dallas
Del Rio
Edinburg
Eagle Pass
El Paso
Fabens
Fort Hancock
Fort Stockton
Fort Worth
Hidalgo
Houston
Laredo
Lubbock
McAllen
Midland
Midway
Odessa
Pecos
Presidio
Rio Grande City
Roma
San Antonio
Tyler
Waco

Utah
Ogden
Olathe
Provo
Salt Lake City
St. George

Virginia
Arlington
Galax
Richmond

Washington
Auburn
Bellingham
Centralia
Ephrata
Everett
Federal Way
Ferndale
Goldendale
Milton
Monroe
Olympia
Port Angeles
Renton
Richland
Seattle
Selah
Shelton
Spokane
Sultan
Sunnyside
Tacoma
Voppenish
Vancouver
Yakima

Wisconsin
Milwaukee
Sheboygan

Wyoming
Casper
Cheyenne
Rock Springs

Related Links:

Expert Says Beheadings in U.S. Look Like Work of Cartels

Three beheadings in two different states and they happened here in the United States, not Mexico.

Former DEA supervisor Phil Jordan says all three beheadings have cartel written all over them. They happened in Arizona and Oklahoma in the past year.

A murder mystery is now unraveling on a stretch of North Reservation Road in Tucson, Ariz. County workers found a headless man lying on the side of the road Jan. 6. The man's hands and feet were reportedly missing, too.

"It would lead me to believe the message wanted to be sent. This is one of the ways they do it in Mexico, Colombia and other places," says Jordan.

Jordan says the cartels are getting bolder in carrying out their beheadings across the border. He says we only used to see these crimes in Mexico.

"They don't have any borders," says Jordan.

More than 600 miles from the border, a 19-year-old human trafficking victim was found beheaded in Oklahoma. Carina Saunders was stuffed into a bag and left in a grocery store parking lot.

"People know if they get on the wrong side of the fence, they'll be dealt with," says Jordan.

The police chief in the area says two men running the trafficking ring killed Saunders to send a message to the other victims. Jordan says the cartels' calling card is all over this case. Trafficking and smuggling are their top moneymakers. Revenge is the price of doing business.

"Definitely a cartel hit," says Jordan.

Investigators in Chandler, Ariz., say cartel operatives came from Mexico to kill 38-year-old Martin Alejandro Cota Monroy. His beheaded body was found in his apartment.

"One is too many; two is too many. Three should send an alarm," says Jordan.

He says investigators were too late to stop the killings three times in the last 12 months. Jordan says agents are trying to develop more informants to get to the cartels before they can commit the crimes. He says the cartels will only specifically target their victims and aren't interested in random beheadings.

Mexican hit men stalk U.S.

Cartels use legitimate trade to launder money, U.S., Mexico say Essentially, it boils down to drug cartels laundering money under NAFTA.

US Agents help launder millions for Mexican Drug Cartels

2011 National Drug Threat Assessment U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center 

The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center

Read more...

Behind the Mexican Drug Cartels?

Within the last few days, more than a dozen Mexicans were brutally murdered by the drug cartels, and dozens more in this month alone.   The bodies of seven men were found in plastic chairs placed along the side of a street in the drug-plagued Mexican state of Michoacan, while another seven people, including three federal agents, were killed in neighboring Guerrero.

7 Executed in Uruapan, Michoacan found sitting in white plastic chairs

What's so disturbing about the above photo aside from the brutal murder of seven individuals,  is the effort and time it must've taken to arrange these bodies in such a public place, not to mention, the ritualistic aspect that almost always seems to accompany cartel slaughter. In other words, this picture exemplifies the carte blanche of the drug cartels who have also infiltrated, at the very least, 1,286 cities, according to a DOJ report last year.  Oh, and the dead men's crimes: supposedly begging and washing car windscreens at traffic lights, all victims of the Knights Templar.

13 in total for The Bloody Friday Seige in Guerrero

3/15/2013 Gunmen kills 7 in Cancun bar as thousands of students enjoy spring break

3 men murdered 3/11/2013 in Acapulco

The following creepy photo shows that the influence of the drug cartels has extended to the hearts and minds of U.S. citizens.

La Santa Muerte, an underworld saint most recently associated with the violent drug trade in Mexico, now is spreading throughout the U.S. among a new group of followers ranging from immigrant small business owners to artists and gay activists.

While the Mexican army and police forces are equipped with weapons circa 1980's, the drug cartels are armed with state-of-the art brand new weapons. This flow of weapons into cartel hands is unprecedented, even though guns have been banned in Mexico for decades. And despite the reported confiscation of weapons from the drug cartels in raids, the never-ending supply continues to proliferate.

Now, we already know that up to 90% of cartel's weapons come from the U.S. The question is why is the U.S. government, not only doing nothing to stem the supply, but, is instead encouraging this ongoing and escalating atrocity by issuing cutbacks in Border Patrol agent positions (with an astounding lack of coverage at the border)?   Oh, and let's not forget the release of hundreds, perhaps thousands (according to ICE whistle-blowers) of criminal and violent illegal aliens from prison. Why? Because, there's no room since the prisons are filled to the brim with non-violent U.S. citizens!

From Border Issues: Mexico:

“Thank you Secretary Napolitano. Thank you for endangering us. Thank you for cutting our pay 40% to prove a political point. Thank you for making our job even more meaningless. Thank you for releasing thousands of criminal illegal aliens that we risked our lives to arrest and put in jail. Thank you for all your lies about how “secure” the border is so that you can prop up another amnesty program. Thank you for cutting off our uniform allowances. Your support is really breathtaking. We just don’t know how much more we can handle."

Meanwhile, law-abiding Mexican citizens can't buy firearms--or even, publications about firearms--without risking the full force of Mexican "law".

You see, it's only the little guys that the big guys go after with a vengeance Case in point is the prosecutors in Aaron Swartz’ case, led by US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, who "piled multiple criminal counts on Swartz that collectively could have locked him up for a quarter century," they "chose not to pursue prosecution of another far more serious alleged corporate computer crime," "drone code piracy" "sophisticated, analytical software program, known as Geospatial, that was developed IISI"  that was flawed, therefore potentially effecting the lives of many, unlike Swart's "crime", which would've assisted the many.

Links:

The Drug Warriors Cashing In on Pot Prohibition

Former public servants, from DEA chiefs to cops, are using their clout to lobby for drug policies that enrich themselves—before it's too late.

Read more...

Lawfully Killing Americans Without Due Process: Just Trust Us?

A newly leaked Department of Justice (DOJ) 16-page memo says the government has the right to kill American citizens who are al-Qaida operatives and/or members of other terrorist organizations whether or not they're working on a specific plot against America. This white paper says the U.S. doesn't need clear evidence of a specific attack to strike, so, in other words, without due process. Moreover, keep in mind that this memo is not a legal document. It only lets us take a peek at the authority that the government is claiming, but the actual legal memos are still secret. The ACLU has litigated for those memos for two years, but the administration has refused to release them.

Early on in the memo, the document states the government will only target people who present an "imminent threat," however, Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU, said that it “redefines the word imminence in a way that deprives the word of its ordinary meaning.”

"... it’s a very significant document, and it’s a remarkable document, and it’s something that everybody really ought to read, in the same way that everybody ought to read the torture memos from the last administration. It sets out, or professes to set out, the power that the government has to carry out the targeted killing of American citizens who are located far away from any battlefield, even when they have not been charged with a crime, even when they do not present any imminent threat in any ordinary meaning of that word. So it’s a pretty sweeping power that’s been set out. And the memo purports to provide a legal justification for that power and explain why the limits on that power can’t be enforced in any court.
[...]
If you look at the memo ... there’s no geographic line. "The Obama administration is making, in some ways, a greater claim of authority [than President Bush]. They’re arguing that the authority to kill American citizens has no geographic limit." --Jameel Jaffer

Prior to this leak, a group of 11 senators wrote a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to release all Justice Department memos on the practice of targeting US citizens suspected of being terrorist leaders with lethal force, particularly drone airstrikes. The request comes as the administration seeks Senate approval for John Brennan, Obama's nomination for CIA chief.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of eleven senators who are demanding more details about the administration's drone program says the bottom line here is that the Obama administration is telling Congress and the American people to, "just trust us."

 Is "just trust us" an appropriate standard for oversight? I don't think so. But even if you implicitly trust President Obama and his administration, this document, which potentially can be used to justify the assassination of U.S. citizens worldwide without a shred of due process or judicial oversight should still scare you to death.  Why? Because you may not trust the next guy in office who now has justification to act accordingly.

Links:

Obama Administration Claims Power To Authorize Pre-emptive Cyberwar Strikes -- A Pentagon document on the US cyber war doctrine will be put on President Barack Obama’s table in the next few weeks. Part of the US military doctrine, the cyber warfare doctrine stipulates launching pre-emptive cyber-attacks against potential enemies.

Read more...

Federal Employees Involved In Child Porn Industry Exempt From Punishment?

Half of all child porn is produced in America, and child porn and/or child trafficking is the fastest growing crime in America. Estimated to be anywhere from $3-$20 billion industry, it grows at a rate of 150% per year!

Unfortunately, our Department of Justice doesn't seem all that interested in this issue.  In fact, if you work directly for Eric Holder, and you're caught viewing child porn on the taxpayer's dime, it's all good, apparently, because Holder refuses to prosecute.

Below, Prof Lori Handrahan of American University outlines cases where U.S. military officials with top security clearance, members of the judiciary, the police, and the foreign service are being protected by the Department of Justice when they are caught using child porn and discusses the IRS Whistleblower Program.



In addition to the 5,200 Pentagon employees with child porn on their work computers--1,700 of which have never been investigated--here are a few examples of federal employees, or government contractors arrested for engaging in child pornography:


Homeland Security Official arrested for Child Porn

Federal employee arrested at Seattle office, accused of looking at child porn on work computer

Former Employee of Government Contractor KBR Sentenced in Oklahoma for Child Pornography Offense

Another KBR [government contractor] employee Richard Dill arrested for child porn

Federal DOE Employee Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

Former DynCorp [government contractor] Employee Gets 20 Years for Child Porn

Read more...

The Nationally Directed Effort to Take Down Aaron Swartz

The death of Aaron Swartz, co-founder of Reddit, co-author of the specifications for the Web feed format RSS 1.0 (Rich Site Summary), pioneer of open-source, and  Internet activist against the monopoly of information, was sadly, a death that was coerced. Yes, he apparently killed himself, but it's the government--with the assistance of MIT who over-zealously persecuted through prosecution, and pushed him to that point.  Not the first time, I might add.

The issue here is the abusive treatment of citizens, in particular, one citizen who courageously spoke truth to power, Aaron Swartz, by a government bureaucracy intent on intimidating activists. In this case, prosecuting a person accused of a victimless "crime," if it was a crime at all, and threatening a severe sentence--35-years in jail-- in retaliation for, in this case, advocating on behalf of the free flow of information on the Internet.

What was Aaron Swartz's crime? Attempting to liberate taxpayer paid research journals--that already belonged to the public--to the public for free, journals that the "owner" of the records, JSTOR, declined to press charges. Swartz did not seek to profit from the information he liberated, and the writers/researchers had already been compensated for the work, unlike all of corrupt banksters, CEOs, and politicians, who not only go free but are rewarded for intentionally bringing down the global economy.

“..he used an open network connection at MIT, which explicitly allowed free guest access, to download academic research papers that were available for free for any user on that particular network."

According to a good friend of his, Aaron Swartz had a "much broader agenda than the information freedom fights for which he had become known." He was also a "political activist interested in health care, financial corruption, and the drug war."  To sum it up, Aaron's goal was making "life a little less unfair." And for that, he paid the ultimate price.

Here are some of the more unusual aspects in this case:

Two days before Aaron Swartz was arrested, the Secret Service took over the investigation.

"On the morning of January 4, 2011, at approximately 8:00 am, MIT personnel located the netbook being used for the downloads and decided to leave it in place and institute a packet capture of the network traffic to and from the netbook.4 Timeline at 6. This was accomplished using the laptop of Dave Newman, MIT Senior Network Engineer, which was connected to the netbook and intercepted the communications coming to and from it. Id. Later that day, beginning at 11:00 am, the Secret Service assumed control of the investigation."

The top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and her assistant Stephen Heymann rejected any deal that did not involve a prison sentence.

Aaron Swartz prosecutor 'drove another hacker to suicide in 2008 after he named him in a cyber crime case'

“In his suicide note, James said he had no faith in the justice system, which he believed were trying to tie him to a crime he did not commit.

'I have no faith in the "justice" system. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter, will send a stronger message to the public.

'Either way, I have lost control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain control.

'Remember, it's not whether you win or lose, it's whether I win or lose, and sitting in jail for 20, ten, or even five years for a crime I didn't commit is not me winning. I die free.'

James was the first juvenile put into confinement for a federal cyber crime case.

And last, but certainly not least, from emptywheel, who seems to be breaking most of the news regarding the death of Aaron Swartz, the Department of Justice invoked Aaron Swartz’ manifesto to justify investigative methods.

“And look at the passage from the Manifesto they quote in the brief, which appears in this larger passage.

“There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.

We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that’s out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks.

In context, much of the manifesto advocates for things that are perfectly legal: sharing documents under Fair Use. Taking information that is out of copyright and making it accessible. Purchasing databases and putting them on the web.

Aside from sharing passwords, about the only thing that might be illegal here (depending on copyright!) is downloading scientific journals and uploading them to file sharing networks.

Precisely what the government accused Swartz of.

But they don’t cite that passage. Rather, they cite the “making copies” passage–something not inherently illegal. As if that justified the investigative tactics they used.

Used as it is in this page-limited brief arguing why their tactics were legal, the citation is really bizarre. But it does seem to admit that the government considers Swartz’ role in the Open Access movement to be as much proof he was a criminal as that he chose to download the documents at MIT and not Harvard.

This is just one more example of how distorted the whole US justice system has become in order to please the elite few who want to retain their power and wealth at any cost.

“For remember, we live in a world where the architects of the financial crisis regularly dine at the White House — and where even those brought to “justice” never even have to admit any wrongdoing, let alone be labeled “felons.” Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig,

Read more...

When Banksters Scam, Swindle and Steal, It's Legal.

The Justice Department won't be pursuing criminal charges against Goldman Sachs or its employees over its deceptive practices in marketing mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations (CDO).

In April 2011, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a voluminous report on the role of major banks, federal regulators and credit rating firms in the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and ensuing financial crash of September 2008. 240 pages of the 640 page report examined the role of Goldman Sachs (GS) in selling securities that they were betting would fail.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, said the panel’s two-year probe had found “a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest and wrongdoing". He went on to say, "In my judgment, Goldman clearly misled their clients and they misled Congress.”

On Thursday, despite the massive amount of evidence - 56 million pages of memos, documents, prospectuses and emails - against Goldman Sachs, the DOJ concluded that "there is not a viable basis to bring a criminal prosecution with respect to Goldman Sachs or its employees in regard to the allegations set forth in the report.”

Moreover, on the same day that the DOJ decided not to pursue criminal charges against GS, the SEC, in a totally separate investigation of a $1.3 billion subprime mortgage deal from 2006, also decided not to take any action against GS. And the largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector continues on.

What happened to President Barack Obama's Justice Department task force to investigate banking practices in the mortgage industry?

"On the sixth month anniversary of the announcement of the so-called financial crisis task force, the twin announcements yesterday that Goldman Sachs and its executives will not be charged by either the Sec or DOJ for conduct directly related to the toxic assets at the heart of the crisis is a stark reminder that no individual or institution has been held meaningfully accountable for their role in the financial crisis. And without such accountability, the unending parade of megabanks scandals will inevitably continue," - Neil Barofsky

Links:

Goldman Sachs and Control Fraud

Five Senior Goldman Sachs Execs Gave $130K To 'Obama Victory Fund' WHILE Eric Holder Was Deciding Whether To File Criminal Charges

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Inmates Replacing American Workers.

As I have posted before, America is truly becoming an incarceration nation, as it funnels an ever-increasing number of human beings into slavery. Prisoners are even bundled up and sold as securities as each one is assigned a CUSIP (Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures) number, and traded on the market for profit.

The DOJ and NCIA funded the making of this video to recruit private sector companies to take their operations or expansions to prisoners to save money, lower overhead and avoid benefits to employees. Thousands of private sector jobs are lost through this federal program known as Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP).




Yes, the plutocrats want all the serfs under total control, and that is the reason that incarceration is the largest growth industry in the USA today.

Bob Evans, the man who posted this video, wrote the following on Deep Politics Forum.

I am Ex. Dir. of the Voters Legislative Transparency Project (VLTP) and uploaded this video to our YouTube channel. My hope was that others would spread the video and information to draw attention to this practice condoned by our government. The NCIA who produced the video with the cooperation of the DoJ, have scrubbed every link to this video used to recruit after I linked to it and sent it out to Union groups. I had a copy and finally managed to get the huge file uploaded to YouTube so others could see what is going on with inmates replacing American workers.
I co-authored the award winning Prison Industry article for the Nation magazine last year in the ALEC Exposed project: "The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor"http://www.thenation.com/article/162...d-prison-labor and have been researching, writing and blogging about this subject for nearly 10 years.
I wanted to thank you for reposting this here on Deep Politics Forum and helping to expose how our jobs are being stolen and why our prisons are kept full with between 600,000 and 1 million prisoners working in more than 300 prison factories coast to coast.

Bob Sloan
Executive Director
VLTP, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana
www.vltp.net

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85 Things that Might Get You on a DHS Terrorist Watch List

The Department of Homeland Security has asked the public to report suspicious activity through the “Communities Against Terrorism” program. if you visit an airport, stay in a hotel, drink coffee at an Internet café, or in some other way interact with one of the Halloween G-men in the American public, a full-fledged FBI investigation is only one phone call away, says LaTi.

LaTi lists 85 things that might get you on a watch list, if a Halloween G-man spots you in the act::

1) Use Google Maps to find your way around a strange city.

2) Use Google Maps to view photos of sports stadiums.

3) Install online privacy protection software on your personal computer.

4) Attempt to shield your computer screen from the view of others.

5) Shave your beard, dye your hair or alter your mode of dress.

6) Sweat.

7) Avoid eye contact.

8) Use a cell-phone camera in an airport, train station or shopping mall.

9) Seek to work alone or without supervision.

10) Appear to be out of place.

11) Have bright colored stains on your clothing.

12) Be missing any fingers.

13) Emit strange odors.

14) Travel an “illogical distance” to do your shopping.

15) Have someone pick you up from a beauty supply store.

33) Act impatient.

16) Be nervous.

17) Be a new customer from out of town.

18) Use a credit card in someone else’s name.

19) Chant environmental slogans near construction sites.

20) Enter a construction site after work hours.

21) Rent watercraft for an extended period.

22) Make comments involving radical theology.

23) Make vague or cryptic warnings.

24) Express anti-U.S. sentiments.

25) Purchase a quantity of prepaid or disposable cell phones.

26) Leave store without preprogramming disposable phones.

27) Be overly interested in satellite phones and voice privacy.

28) Ask questions about swapping SIM cards in cell phones.

29) Ask questions about how phone location can be tracked.

30) Rewire cell phone’s ringer or backlight.

31) Express out-of-place and provocative religious or political sentiments.

32) Purchase a police scanner, infrared device or 2-way radio.

33) Act impatient.

34) Drive a vehicle that appears to be overloaded.

35) Depart quickly when seen or approached.

36) Be a person “acting suspiciously.”

37) Make illegible notes on a map.

38) Take photos of the Statue of Liberty or other “symbolic targets.”

39) Overdress for the weather.

40) Ask questions in a hobby shop about remote controlled aircraft.

41) Demonstrate interest that does not seem genuine.

42) Request specific room assignments or locations at a hotel or motel.

43) Arrive at a lodging with unusual amounts of luggage.

52) Make notes that are illegible to passersby.

44) Refuse cleaning service.

45) Avoid the lobby of a hotel or motel.

46) Remain in your hotel or motel room.

47) Leave your hotel for several days, then return.

48) Leave behind clothing and toiletry items.

49) Park your vehicle in an isolated area.

50) Be observed switching a cell phone SIM card.

51) Be observed using multiple cell phones.

52) Make notes that are illegible to passersby.

53) Communicate through a PC game.

54) Download “extreme/radical” content.

55) Exhibit preoccupation with press coverage of terrorist attacks.

56) Wear a backpack when the weather is warm.

57) Speak to mall maintenance personnel or security guards.

58) Make racist comments.

59) Mumble to yourself.

60) Pass along any anonymous threats you may receive.

61) Discreetly take a photo in a mass transit site.

62) Arrive with a group of people and split off from them.

63)Demand “identity privacy.”

64) Appear to endorse the use of violence in support of a cause.

65) Make bulk purchases of meals ready to eat.

66) Arrive in America from a land where militant Islamic groups operate.

67) Take a long absence for religious education or charity work.

68) Travel to countries where militant Islam rules.

69) Study technical subjects that would aid a terror operation.

70) Work in a field that “serves as a cover for preparing for an operation.”

71) Exhibit ire at global policies of the U.S.

72) Balk at providing “complete personal information.”

73) Provide multiple names on rental car paperwork.

74) Receive an unusual number of package deliveries.

75) Replace rental property locks without permission.

76) Modify your property to conceal storage areas.

77) Fail to pay rent for a storage unit in a timely manner.

78) Inquire about security systems at your storage facility.

79) Place unusual items in storage units or dumpsters.

80) Avoid contact with rental facility personnel.

81) Access storage facilities an unusual number of times.

82) Request deliveries of items directly to a storage unit.

83) Be part of a group requesting identical tattoos.

84) Request tattoos that could conceal extremist symbols.

85) Fly while appearing to be Muslim on September 11 of any year.

You can find the collection of 25 flyers produced by the FBI and the Department of Justice that are distributed to local businesses in a variety of industries to promote suspicious activity reporting here . The flyers are not released publicly, though several have been published in the past by news media and various law enforcement agencies around the country. We have compiled this collection from a number of online sources.

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DOJ Wants $5 Million to Act as Hollywood's Private Police Force

Apparently, copyright infringement is big threat to national security, because despite the protest of many public interest groups begging President Obama to stop filling his administration with RIAA lawyers, in April 2009, he appointed the 5th RIAA attorney into the Department of Justice (DOJ). And, now, the DOJ wants $5 million to hire 14 new employees, nine of them - you guessed it - attorneys!

As Congress struggles to resolve the "debt crisis", subsidizing the rich and powerful, not the poor and unempowered, seems to be the only solution to this massive "problem". After all, if they don't continue to increase the burden on the less fortunate, the less fortunate might gather the strength to rise up and break the backbone of their power, and we wouldn't want that, would we?

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Militarizing Cyberspace?

The Pentagon has classified cyberspace as a new battlefield, as they unveiled a new strategy for protecting military computer networks from hackers, designating cyberspace as an "operational domain" U.S. forces will be trained to defend.

The question that needs to be asked is, who do they plan to battle? Well, we, the people, of course.

Currently, the U.S. Department of Justice, relying on the All Writs Act that dates back to 1789, is determined to make sure that a case in Colorado will set a legal precedent allowing it to force Americans accused of crimes to decrypt their computers' hard drives. Fortunately, an encryption defense attorney is fighting the DOJ demands, applying the Fifth Amendment to encrypted information stored on computers.

The government is using DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks to their censoring methods to silence critics and stymie opposition.

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The $upreme Court Rules in Favor of the Corporate Thieves

Corporate control of the justice department reared its ugly head again today.  The Supreme Court, once more, sided with large corporations,  as it dismissed a massive class-action lawsuit that charged Wal-Mart with systemic gender discrimination.  This ruling strengthens the divide-and-conquer strategy of the power elite by eliminating the possibility of citizens to collectively seek justice against the enormously powerful corporation.  The individual's access to the justice system is even more limited now that a higher burden of proof  is required before an employment discrimination class action can be certified.

“Those without means to hire an attorney or pursue a claim rely on class-action lawsuits to level the playing field and change the policies and practices of elite corporations. The court’s sharply divided ruling has made it more difficult for these individuals.” -- Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The U.S. might still rank as one of the top nations insofar as income and wealth go, but the distribution is so massively skewed in favor of the top 1%, it's the epitome of deceit.  Exclude the wealthiest 1%, and let's see where we rank...most likely, at the very bottom.  Thanks to the  $upreme Court ruling, low-level hourly employees, of whom many  live at the  poverty level, without insurance, are now at the mercy of Wal-Mart and/or any of the large corporations who do not respect their employees.

Individual women can still sue Walmart. But their options and opportunities will be limited by their isolation and economic circumstance. As Walmart Watch notes: Walmart Associates live on poverty-level wages and often do not have access to benefits. Walmart’s average sales associate makes $8.81 per hour, according to IBISWorld, an independent market research group. This translates to annual pay of $15,576, based upon Walmart’s full-time status of thirty-four hours per week, well below the poverty line for a family of four. Additionally in 2010, Walmart’s health insurance covered only 54 percent of their associates while tens of thousands of associates qualify for Medicaid and other publicly subsidized care.”

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Onerous Dynamic Between US Banks and Mexican Drug Cartels

The vital role of U.S. banks in moving billions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels has largely been “undocumented.” But, Wachovia, Bank of America, HSBC, Citigroup, Bank of Credit and Commerce International, and American Express Bank International are all involved in money laundering. The Justice Department deals with these sorts of situations through the use of deferred-prosecution agreements and miniscule fines.

In a letter dated February 9 th , 2009, Mexican Finance Secretary Agustin Carstens makes the case to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for automatic exchange of banking information between the two countries.

“Wachovia’s blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations.” - Jeffrey Sloman, the federal prosecutor in charge of the Wachovia case,

The U.S. Treasury has recently proposed a rule known by insiders as the “Reporting on Non-Resident Alien Accounts” rule, which would require banks to provide the U.S. government with information on all non-U.S. person account holders similar to information provided by U.S. citizen/resident taxpayers on a 1099 form. (The U.S. government does not currently collect this information so they have no idea how much money is held in U.S. banks by foreigners, nor do they have any idea who those foreigners might be. This means that terrorists could be hiding their money in the U.S., and we could be missing a terror threat right under our noses.) You thought finding Osama bin Laden was hard? Imagine trying to track his and al-Qaeda’s money through shell companies, subsidiaries, and false names when U.S. banks don’t even know for whom law enforcement is looking, or worse, when U.S. banks are looking the other way and allowing criminal money to flow willfully through our financial system. The benefits of this new rule should be obvious – the U.S. will stop shooting itself in the foot when it comes to fighting terrorism and drug trafficking.

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James Bond on Crack?

I've always envisioned God as a Louie B. Mayer type, the world, His MGM studios. Only in God's studio, the "stars" have the freedom to improvise. There are no scripts...or at least, the stars are unaware, if they should exist.

Anyway, once upon a time, billions of years ago, God was feeling lonely and bored so he created the world and populated it with all sorts of organisms, from simple to the most complex. These multifaceted organisms entertained him for a while; however, something was missing...an emotional richness, a certain kind of creative intelligence...a paradoxical complexity that these creations seemed to lack. Not to say He didn't love these things, He most certainly did, but they were a little too predictable...too sensible.

Then, while perched upon a a celestial body of hot gases, it came to Him.

"I'll create a form of life in my own image. I will etch each one with my signature, and give this being a mind and the full spectrum of emotions all his or her own. This entity will be conscious of its own existence, conscious of its own mortality, and unlike anything I've ever created, this being will have the ability to transcend its instincts, if he so chooses, either to ascend to a higher plane of existence, or descend to lower planes.

This will most assuredly produce a great mix of irony, drama, tragedy,  and unfortunately, sometimes, horror. But the saving grace in this mix will be joy, the triumph of this creation's spirit, and of course, comedy, albeit, sometimes very dark comedy."

Well, it worked.  Today, His "studio" makes MGM look like preschool Barbie Doll productions.  Between the greedy power-grabbing control-freak elitist psychopathic thugs at the top - who create and/or support $700 billion government bailout programs for their friends, the banksters,  crazy-assed puppet dictators around the globe, Federal Reserve trillion dollar giveaways to globalist billionaires, Department of Defense trillion dollar shortages, underwear bombers, shoe bombers - and the sheeple people at the bottom (the middle is fading fast), too enthralled by the lives of freaky celebrities to pay attention, the show would be hilarious, if not so tragic.

What's the latest in this everlasting episode of "James Bond on Crack?" 

“Precious Treasure Holiday Company” What's this? You guessed it. An undercover porn site hosted by Homeland Security. I mean, what else could it be, right?

In an aggressive bid to entice prospective “sex tourists,” the Department of Homeland Security last year launched an undercover web site that purported to arrange trips from the U.S. to Canada, where clients could engage in sexual activity with minors, The Smoking Gun has learned.

What is it they say about cockroaches? For every one you see, there are thousands.

Then, we have Nano-Hummingbird, , the bird-drone with a $4 million price tag that can fly forward, backward, sideways, and it can even hover in mid-air.

The next time you enjoy the sight of a hummingbird in a garden, you might want to look twice–because it could be the government’s new avian-inspired drone. Dubbed “Nano Hummingbird,” this camera-toting, remote-controlled surveillance tool is the latest gadget to fly out the doors of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency).

And, let's not forget "Big Brother" drone who can see inside houses.

It seems that there's just no escape from 'Big Brother' seeing into our lives.

Now police in Miami, Florida, have unveiled their latest crime-fighting tool that is literally an 'eye in the sky'.

Oh, and no need to worry about TARP funds, the TARP police are on the job. That is, after they get upgrades to their fleet of police cars.

Huh? You mean the mild-mannered auditors who mind the taxpayer money in the $700-plus billion TARP program? What do they need police car upgrades for?

It may come as a surprise to people in the financial industry — it certainly did to me — but TARP's inspector general (SIGTARP) is not just a financial watchdog. Under its outgoing leader, Neil Barofsky, it has quietly built itself into a full-fledged financial law enforcement agency.

Yes, just what we need, another law enforcement outfit to run amok.

Which brings us to Project Gunrunner. The ATF operation that allowed thousands of weapons to be purchased by gun smugglers in the US, taken to Mexico, and you guessed it...sold to drug-cartel thugs. Not all of ATF agents approved, however.  They begged their superiors to shut this operation down, but were blatantly ignored.

Well, of course, the United States was, and probably still is a major arming source of the Mexican drug cartel. If the US wanted to end the slaughter right across the border, it would've been stopped long ago.  But, like it or not, we, the people depend on the "war on drugs" industry to fuel our economy.

Not to mention, the drug kingpin of kingpins is none other than the  Department of Justice. But that's a story for another day.

BTW, where was the mainstream media on this?  Senator Charles Grassley sent letters to the ATF as early as Jan. 27.

More proof that James Bond's on crack links:

FBI Intelligence Bulletin: Symbols and Logos Used by Pedophiles to Identify Sexual Preferences

Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages

Department of Homelad Security Concludes They Have Authority to Monitor Political Activities of Advocacy Groups

Secret FBI, CIA Documents and Sex Video Tapes Found At Egypt’s Terror Police Headquarters

Secret CIA spy gadgets go public

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Operation Hijack the Internet Begins!

Expansion of government power continues. What a surprise.  This time, they're seizing websites, 82 of them, to be exact. Yep, the Department of Homeland Security - without due process, a trial, and in possible violation of one of the more important limitations on Copyright law, the doctrine of “fair use” - is seizing and shutting down internet websites.  Why? They claim "copyright violation".

Well, if that's the case, Homeland Security could take care of the unemployment problem, as that's how many people it will take to combat "copyright violation" on the Internet. And we know that's not the intention here, so, what is?  Maybe the suppression of information and knowledge?  Because, you know, an informed citizenry and the ability to communicate information and knowledge at lightening speed is a very frightening scenario for the profitable powers that be.

Apparently, they are serious.  The bill, Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act , which, if it goes through, will not only do what it claims, but in addition, will serve other purposes, lingers on the Senate Legislative calendar.  And what is "online infringement" anyway?  Couldn't that be just about anything? 

First, these seizures may be just a short preview of the kind of overreaching enforcement we’ll see if the Congress passes the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). That bill, which was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Nov 18, gives the government dramatic new copyright enforcement powers, in particular the ability to make entire websites disappear from the Internet if infringement, or even links to infringement, are deemed to be "central" to the purpose of the site. Rather than just targeting files that actually infringe copyright law, COICA’s "nuclear-option" design has the government blacklisting entire sites out of the domain name system — a reckless scheme that will undermine global Internet infrastructure and censor legitimate online speech. As we’ve noted, one of the most pernicious effects of COICA is likely to be just what we’ve seen here: the takedown of legitimate speech.

Second, the seizures also show why this kind of enforcement doesn’t work; seized sites were available at other domain names within hours. If the United States government increases interference in critical DNS infrastructure to police alleged copyright infringement, it is very likely that a large percentage of the Internet will shift to alternative DNS mechanisms that are located outside the US. This will cause numerous problems — including new network security issues, as a large percentage of the population moves to encrypted offshore DNS to escape the censoring effects of the procedures outlined in COICA. Presumably the DOJ and the DHS should be committed to improving network security — not undermining it.

Third, it’s hard to believe that this kind of action is the best use of the Department of Homeland Security’s resources. What investigations didn’t occur while the DHS spent it time and energy pursuing the agenda of large media companies? Moreover, it’s highly unlikely that this publicity stunt will really help creators get compensated. The best way to help artists of every stripe get compensated for their work is to make sure that there is a thriving marketplace of innovative digital businesses to pay them — business like OnSmash, which is committed to promoting new and unheralded artists.

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Are We Incarcerating the Wrong Americans? Incarcerated Veterans?

Homeless and incarcerated veterans.
"

I am advocating for a seamless transition in which VA doctors communicate with the physicians at the local, state, and federal level charged with providing medical care to prisoners and ensure Veterans receive the treatment they require," he said in a statement. "We cannot leave them alone in prison until we have made every effort to help them become well and whole again."

In a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki, Sestak urged that incarcerated veterans get medical care that is coordinated with the Veterans Administration.

All four veterans who met with Sestak today said they struggled with alcohol or substance abuse. One Marine Corp veteran who served a combat tour in Vietnam, said some veterans weren't prepared for what they witnessed in war.

"You develop an attitude that everyday could be your last day," said the veteran, who gave his name as Paul. "The only way to relieve that was to go to town and drink some beer. It was accepted. No one said there was anything wrong with that."

During the Vietname era, the military had fewer resources for veterans suffering mental health problems, and many turned to drinking, he said. Paul, a Lebanon County native who is now 61, is serving 3 to 7 years in SCI Chester prison for vehicular homicide after a drunk-driving accident.

What does the direction of criminal justice policy in America tell us about our nation, ourselves, and even the world in general?

According to a recent study by PEW, prison spending now outpaces everything in the US but Medicaid. That's a lot of money to spend on a bunch of prisoners.

However, when you consider some of the crimes committed, such as, stealing kids’ videos to give away as Christmas presents; lifting a bottle of vitamins; shoplifting a car alarm; creating fraud to obtain undeserved food stamps; robbing a couple of unoccupied houses; possession of four ounces of cocaine; grabbing a slice of pizza from some kids on the beach; taking four chocolate-chip cookies (homeless man); stealing a $3 magazine; possession of 0.03 gram of methamphetamine, etc... our only choice is to lock up the perpetrators of these dangerous crimes and throw away the key. Right? And, that's just what our criminal justice system did. Locked them up and threw away the key, because the aforementioned crimes all have one thing in common...the perpetrators were third time felons.

One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study.

Conviction for three crimes in a row warrants a life sentence, in twenty-six states, with varying degrees of harshness, even for the most minor crimes. The federal government also has "three-strikes and you're out" legislation in place, and there is no judiciary discretion in sentencing these repeat offenders.

As I blogged before, decades of tough-on-crime laws, without any additional financing for prison programs have left prisoners stacked three bunks high in prison gymnasiums and hallways throughout the state of California (National Geographic's Prison Nation), in particular. Nevertheless, growing prison populations and increasing a national trend.

An article on the MA Criminal Defense Attorney blog, about a 23-year old pharmacy tech, who turned himself into the police for stealing 200 Oxycontins. After confessing this and that he took and shared them with friends, he was "charged with trafficking OxyContin and possession with the intent to distribute oxycontins."

Now, there is no doubt this guy made a big mistake, but does he deserve anywhere from two to ten years in the state prison? Does he pose more danger to society than, let's say, Dick Cheney? I don't know...ask the guy who took one of his bullets to the face, or the people over in Iraq. What about W? A Wall Street banker? Or the pharmaceutical industry?

Well, the answer is yes to all of the above. Why? Because, he didn't win the gene pool lottery. He should just be grateful the state of MA is not one of the 26 "three strikes and you're out" states, just in case this was his third offense.

"My brother was put away for half a gram of cocaine. He was an addict, but he had a job, he had a family, and he never hurt anyone. Now he is buried alive, and he won't get out until he is 80." Jose Verduzgo, a warehouse laborer.

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Did Barack Obama and Dick Cheney Swap Souls?

The Department of Justice (DOJ) brief, which argued that states should not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, just as states don’t have to recognize incestuous marriages or marriages involving underage girls, and supported the Defense of Marriage Act sounds like Jerry Falwell could've written it. It certainly does not sound like something the "enlightened" Obama administration DOJ would release. But that's exactly where it came from.

Today, President Obama, feeling the pressure from many in the gay community who have voiced disappointment with him, will offer benefits to gay partners of federal employees.

Reform requires the rallying and mobilization of we the people with respect to matters of public policy we want to see changed. Sitting idly by waiting for President Obama to act will ensure the status quo continues uninterrupted.

From the article: Iranian Election Exposes Obama's Gay Rights Lies (Really!)

"I would like to hold out the following hope for Obama, however. With respect to social issues, perhaps he can learn that he must respond to the public will (and especially the public that elected him). But the public must make it known loud and clear. I’m not suggesting anything like the unrest that Mr. Sullivan is chronicling in Tehran. But there will need to be a new march on Washington for full equality for LGBT Americans. The march will not be a party of the Gay Pride Festival variety, but rather a no-nonsense affair that will require not only gay people but straight supporters of the cause. There must be so many bodies and voices overflowing the mall that the press can’t underestimate the crowd. There mustn’t be a single available hotel room in DC that day. And the demand must not be just for the repeal of DADT, DOMA, and in favor of ENDA, but to enable every gay, lesbian, and bisexual person in America to come out.

Because the only way this matter will ever really be settled is when everyone finally knows that someone they know and like or love is gay, and once they wrap their heads around that, they can no longer maintain the dehumanizing opinions they presently harbor." -- Michael Fox

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Symbol of the Gonzales Reign Departs

Ten days after Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey took office, Minnesota US attorney Rachel Paulose, 34-years old, and the youngest US attorney in the country, departed her post after much controversy about her qualifications. Career prosecutors in the office describe her as lacking in leadership skills, autocratic, and overly anxious to punish dissenters.

Some think Rachel Paulose's departure is a sign that Attorney General Mukasey is going to be a different kind of leader than his predecessor. It could also be he had no choice considering the discordant atmosphere she seemed to create.

Prior to Rachel Paulose's reassignment, one month after she was "formally sworn in as U.S. attorney, three prosecutors resigned supervisory posts, saying they could not work with her." In addition a group of top managers in the Justice department said they would take a take a demotion or step down if Paulose continued in her position.

It's too early to tell whether Atty. Gen. Mukasey's decision was based on avoiding more controversy or because he wants to make it clear he will not tolerate the same behavior that was encouraged when Alberto Gonzales occupied the position of Attorney General.

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