Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Noodle Boy Wisconsin Socialist
Noodles & Company is a firm that was started by one man and his wife with seed money invested by friends and family. The businessman made a successful business with locations across the United States creating jobs and employing Americans.
Kawabunga Dude has a head full of noodles.
Four Steps for Starting a Business Today | Edward Hess | Big Think
Four Steps for Starting a Business Today | Edward Hess | Big Think
Edward Hess: The hurdles are higher to starting a business today than they were in 2006. 2006, financing was easier, consumers were spending, jobs were plentiful, if you started a business and failed you could easily go get a job. Today financing is not plentiful. Consumers are not spending and if you fail, getting a job is probably very hard, so I would be very risk adverse today and again I would start a business part time nights and weekends and keep my day job until I was sure it worked unless you had substantial wherewithal, money, family and friends that could support you or the other big if, if you’ve got a big customer who says go start this and I will buy from you and I will help finance you or you’ve got multiple customers.
Let’s say for example you want to open up a deli that you don’t have a great New York deli in the town you live in no matter where that is and you want to have a great deli, thick sandwiches, high quality homemade bread.
Step One: Research the Competition
First you need to do your research. There are very few ideas that I'm going to come up with or you’re going to come up with that are truly unique. Somebody has done it before.
Step Two: Identify Your Compelling Customer Value Proposition
Then I would sit back and say how am I going to be different, what am I going to offer to the customer that is compelling and different that is going to get the customer to change.
Step Three: Start Small
Then I would figure out how to try and start small. For example, I wouldn’t go out and borrow a lot of money in the beginning. I wouldn’t go out and rent space before I even tried. I’d look at either farmers markets or some type of kiosk type situation. How can I make some sandwiches and go out and try and sell them and see what customers think?
Step Four: Get Granular
Then you do the numbers if you will and you go down and say what is it going to cost me a month an my operating expenses. If my operating expenses are $5,000 a month how many sandwiches do I have to sell every day?
I would be cautious, conservative. Experiment, try, build up a customer base, but I wouldn’t take a lot of financial risk in today’s marketplace unless you have a big nest egg.
Paul Kanjorski bank run CSPAN
I still have not digested the original in detail but this report needs to be studied seriously.
Economic Warfare: Risks and Responses by Kevin D. Freeman, originally published in June 2009.
CSPAN Rep Paul Kanjorski Reviews the Bailout Situation
A note on the video states the following which should be double-checked for accuracy as well.
Kanjorski's recollection of the dates may be inaccurate. The NYT shows the bank run as happening on the 17th 18th not the 11th. Some have alleged a 911 connection making the bank run an attack on the nation, but the failure of Lehman seems to have triggered widespread panic which accounts for the bank run.
Cf. http://a1b5jj.blogspot.com/2009/03/confusion-in-ranks-tarp-prevented-total.html
"Times Tough for Energy Overhaul"
"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe," Chu said in September 2008 (Cf. http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122904040307499791.html).
Chu, now Obama's energy secretary, seems to be getting his wish.
Nun on H1N1
TERESA FORCADES, doctor in Public Health, reflects on the history, and gives scientific data, of A type flu and lists all the irregularities related to this subject.
Teresa Forcades Presentation On H1 N1
[The text below is not a word by word transcript. It is the Dr. Forcades' written summary, with supporting sources and footnotes. We suggest you view the video before reading the written summary, Global Research Editor]
SOME THOUGHTS AND A PROPOSAL WITH REGARD TO ‘SWINE FLU’
September 16, 2009 (modified on October 11, 2009) Dr. Teresa Forcades i Vila, MD (ABIM 1995, 2005), PhD in public health (UB 2004)
This is a translation of the Catalan original version published on Dr. Forcades’ blog at www.catalunyareligio.cat
1. RELEVANT SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION-
The first two reported cases of swine flu (virus A/HINI, strain S-OIV) were diagnosed in California (USA) on April 17, 2009 1.
- The swine flu is not new because it is type A, neither is it new because it is of the subtype H1N1: the flu epidemic in 1918 was of the type A/H1N1 and since 1977 the virus A/H1N1 circulates during the flu season each year 2; the only novelty is the S- OIV strain. 3 .4
- One-third of people older than 60 seem to be immune to the virus of the swine flu 5.
- Since it began until 15 September, 2009, 137 people have died from this flu in Europe and 3,559 worldwide 6. One must remember that each year, in Europe alone, between 40,000 and 220,000 people die because of the flu 7.
- Recognised health specialists, among whom are Dr. Bernard Debré, (member of the French National Ethics committee) and Dr. Juan José Rodriguez Sendín (president of the Spanish Association of Medical Colleges) have publicly declared that the information obtained from the flu season in the southern hemisphere, shows that the swine flu has a lower mortality rate and complications rate than the annual flu 8.
2. IRREGULARITIES WHICH SHOULD BE EXPLAINED
- At the end of January, 2009, the Austrian subsidiary of the North American pharmaceutical company, Baxter, delivered 72 kilos of vaccine material to 16 laboratories in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovenia 9. A laboratory technician from the company, BioTest in the Czech Republic decided on his own to test the vaccines in ferrets.
Ferrets are being used since 1918 to study the influenza vaccines: all the vaccinated ferrets died. Then the material sent by Baxter was investigated to find out what it actually was and it was discovered that it contained live bird flu virus (virus A/H5N1) combined with live seasonal flu virus (virus A/H3N2).
If this contamination had not been discovered on time, the pandemic that without a real basis is being proclaimed by health authorities at the global (WHO) and at the local level, could now be a horrific reality. This combination of live viruses is potentially lethal because it combines a virus that has a 60% mortality rate and a low infectivity rate (the virus of the bird flu), with a virus that has a low mortality rate and a high infectivity rate (a seasonal flu virus) 10.
- On the 29 April, 2009, 12 days after the detection of the first cases of the swine flu, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the WHO, declared that the level of alert because of the danger of pandemic was phase 5 (on a scale 1-6) and ordered all governments of the member states of the WHO to activate emergency plans and maximum health alert. A month and a half later, on June 11, 2009, Dr. Chan declared that the A/H1N1 S-OIV pandemic was a reality (phase 6) 11. How could she declare a pandemic if according to the scientific data exposed above, the swine flu is milder than the seasonal flu, and the A/H1N1 is not a new virus but only a new strain of a very well known virus that a subset of the population recognizes immunologically?
Declaring a pandemic was possible despite these circumstances because in early May, the WHO had changed its definition of what a pandemic is. Prior to May, 2009, the definition of pandemic took into account the severity of the disease, which is the most relevant aspect with regard to the clinical and the political handling of a pandemic. However, this requirement was eliminated from the definition in May, 2009 12. The change occurred shortly after the United States declared a state of “national health emergency” despite having only 20 people infected with the swine flu virus and no deaths whatsoever 13.
3. POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE DECLARATION OF PANDEMIC
- In the context of a pandemic, it is possible to require mandatory vaccination of a given segment of the people or even of the whole population 14. - What can happen to a person who decides not to accept the vaccination? As long as it has not been decreed that the vaccination is mandatory, he/she is free to do so: but if the vaccination is decreed mandatory, then the State has the obligation to enforce the law by imposing a fine or a term in prison (in the state of Massachusetts, the proposed fine in this case could be as high as 1,000 dollars for each day that goes without vaccination) 15.
- Taking this into account, one could reasonably conclude: if the vaccination is made mandatory, then I will just go along and get vaccinated; after all, the vaccine is more or less the same as that of the annual flu, so no big deal.
- It is necessary to know that there are three new features that make the swine flu vaccine different from the annual flu vaccine. The first novelty is that the majority of pharmaceutical companies are designing the vaccine in such a way that one injection will not be enough and each person will need to get two doses.
The WHO also recommends to receive the seasonal flu vaccine. As a result, whoever follows this year’s WHO recommendations exposes him or herself to be injected three times. This is something new which, theoretically, multiplies by three the possible toxicities. In practice, there is no way to know the long-term effects of this triple injection because it has never been done in this way before. The second novelty is that some of the companies making the swine flu vaccine have decided to use co-adjuvants which are far more potent than those contained in the seasonal flu vaccine. Co-adjuvants are substances added to a vaccine to booster the immune system: the swine flu vaccine from Glaxo-Smith-Kline, for example, contains ASO3 (a combination of squalene and polysorbate), a co-adjuvant able to increase ten times the immune response. The problem with this rationale is that no one can be sure that this artificial stimulus to the immune system will not provoke serious autoimmune diseases (like Guillain-Barré paralysis) 16.
The third novelty that distinguishes the swine flu vaccine from that of each year is that the manufacturing companies are demanding that the States sign agreements so that they will have impunity if the vaccines have more side effects than expected (e.g. the Guillain-Barré paralysis may affect 10 people in every million who are vaccinated with the annual flu vaccine): The USA has signed a document which frees the politicians and the pharmaceutical companies from all responsibilities associated with unexpected side effects of the swine flu vaccine 17.
SOME THOUGHTS
If the contamination of the vaccine material from Baxter had not been accidentally discovered, an extremely grave pandemic could be by now a shocking reality. The appalling lack of political and mass media reaction to what happened in February in the Czech laboratory it is inexplicable. What is even more inexplicable is the degree of irresponsibility demonstrated by the WHO, by governments and by the national health agencies in declaring a pandemic and promoting a maximum health alert without a real rational basis. It is irresponsible and inexplicable, in the extreme, that billions of Euros from public funds have been spent to manufacture millions of doses of vaccines against a non-existent danger, while there is not sufficient money to help the millions of people (more than 5 million in the US alone) who due to the current economic crisis have lost their job and their home.
As long as these facts remain unexplained, the risk that contaminated vaccines could be distributed this winter and the risk that legal measures could be adopted to mandate vaccination are very real. They should not be underestimated. If the swine flu continues to be as mild as it has been up to now, it does not make sense to expose oneself to the risk of a contaminated vaccine nor run the risk of suffering a Guillain-Barré partial paralysis. If the flu turns unexpectedly worse, as it has been predicted with no scientific basis by quite a few people in high office - among them the General Director of the WHO -, it would still make no sense to allow oneself to be vaccinated: a rise in mortality could mean only two things:
1. that the virus of the S-OIV strain which is circulating now has suffered a mutation;
2. that another virus (or other viruses) are now circulating. In both cases, the vaccine that is being currently prepared will be useless, and, considering what happened last February in the Baxter Pharmaceutical Company, it could even be the means of transmitting the disease.
A PROPOSAL
My proposal is clear: Along with staying calm, do take common sense precautions to avoid infection and avoid getting vaccinated I make a call to urgently activate the legal instruments and the necessary citizen participation to assure, in a rotund manner, that no one in our country will be forced to be vaccinated against his/her will, and that those who freely accept to be vaccinated will not be deprived of their right to claim grievance and be compensated (they or their family) if the vaccine causes them illness or death.
NOTES
1 Zimmer SM Burke, Historical Perspective: Emergence of Influenza A (HINI) viruses. NEJM, July 16, 2009. p. 279.
2 “The re-emergence was probably an accidental release from a laboratory source in the setting of the waning population immunity to HI and NI antigens”, Zimmer, Burke, ibid. p. 282.
3 Zimmer, Bunker, ibid. p. 279.
4 Doshi, Peter, Calibrated response to emerging infections. BMJ 2009: 399: b3471.
5 US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Serum cross-reactive antibody response to a novel influenza A (HINI) virus after vaccination with seasonal influenza vaccine. MMWR 2009: 58; 521- 4
6 Official Data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (www.ecdc.europa.eu)
7 Official Data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (www.ecdc.europa.eu)
8 Cf. Debré: Cette grippe n’est pas dangereuse. Le Journal du Dimanche, July 25, 2009. Cf. Rodríguez Sendín: Cordura frente el alarmismo en la prevención de la gripe A. La Razón, September 4, 2009.
9 Baxter denied that the contaminated product were to manufacture vaccines for human use and called it ‘experimental virus material’. Baxter failed to reveal for what use it was because doing so would give away proprietary information about Baxter's production process. Cf. The Canadian Press: Baxter admits flu product contained live bird flu. February 27, 2009.
10 Cf. Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic. The Times of India, science section, 6, March 2009.
11 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2009
12 Cohen E. When a pandemic isn’t a pandemic. CNN, 4 May, ’09. http://edition,cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/04/swine.flu.pandemic/index.html
13 Doshi, Peter: Calibrated response to emerging infections. BMJ 2009; 339:b3471
14 Falkiner, Keith. Get the rush flu jab or be jailed: Irish Star, Sunday 13 September, 2009. 15 Senate Bill n. 2028: An act relative to pandemic and disaster preparation and response in the Commonwealth. 4 August, ’09. Cf Moore, RT. Critics rage as state prepares for flu pandemic. 11 Sept. ’09. WBUR Boston.
16 Cf. Vaccination HINI: méfiance des infirmiéres. www.syndicat-infirmier.com/Vaccination-HINI- mefiance-des.htlm
17 Stobbe, Mark. Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers. Associated press 17 July,’09.
The Great Collective: Moore On Wealthy People's Money: "That's Not Theirs, That's A National Resource, It's Ours"
RealClearPolitics - Video - Moore On Wealthy People's Money: "That's Not Theirs, That's A National Resource, It's Ours"
"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with our life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this, we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it," Michael Moore told Laura Flanders of GRITtv.
"I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates. They need to, uh, we need to see these jobs as something we some, that we collectively own as Americans and you can't just steal our jobs and take them someplace else," Moore concluded.
Will Mideast strife spark new energy crisis?
Obama's "lack of political will to drill for oil and gas compromises our national security and jeopardizes economic recovery."
Oil and natural gas produced here in the United States are likely to still account for at least 57 percent of domestic energy consumption by 2035.
When Interior Secretary Ken Salazar heads before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, Americans — particularly the 9.2 million directly or indirectly working in the oil and gas industry — would be ill served if the question isn’t asked: Are the thousands, and counting, of out-of-work Americans in the Gulf region and beyond a worthwhile consequence of your department’s freeze?
The Interior Department’s six-month moratorium on offshore oil production has cost 8,169 jobs, according to a study by one Louisiana State University professor, along with more than $487 million in wages and nearly $98 million in forfeited state tax revenues in the Gulf states alone.
This doesn’t include the impact felt nationwide by truckers who transport goods, farmers who use oil to raise and harvest crops and working families paying more at the pump.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Top 10 YouTube Sites for Teaching
Extras
TubeChop is handy for eliminating parts of a video you do not want and to select only portions to show.
An alternative is SnipSnip.It.
To ask questions while the video is playing you can use VideoANT.
Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash
A Pentagon study, originally published in June 2009 and now obtained for public release describes financial terrorism.
Financial subversion carried out by "unknown parties" contributed to the 2008 economic crash by covertly using vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system. The Pentagon contractor adds a new element: “outside forces,” a factor the federal government's report did not examine. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission blamed the crash on such economic factors as high-risk mortgage lending practices and poor federal regulation and supervision which is only part of the story.
According to the author, Kevin D. Freeman, in his report "Economic Warfare, suspects include financial enemies in Middle Eastern states, Islamists, hostile members of the Chinese military, or government and organized crime groups in Russia, Venezuela or Iran. Chinese military officials publicly have suggested using economic warfare against the U.S.
Asked by The Times who he thought to be the most likely behind the financial attacks, Mr. Freeman said: “Unfortunately, the two major strategic threats, radical jihadists and the Chinese, are among the best positioned in the economic battle space.”
Also, the report lists as suspects advocates of Islamic law, who have publicly called for opposition to capitalism as a way to promote what they regard as the superiority of Islam.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Libya: Cameron proposes no-fly zone to protect Libyan people from attacks by Gaddafi loyalists
Hillary "met with her counterparts from Europe and Russia on the sidelines."
The U.K. is taking the lead on Libya while the U.S. is on the sidelines.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
‘Fascists Go Home!’: Tea Partier Injured in Assault by ‘Teamster’ at Sacramento Protest
The MoveOn.org “American Dream” rally in Sacramento produced one of the day’s more volatile moments. A man wearing a Teamsters Local 439 jacket launched major body-check action on a Tea Party member.
Here is the moment in question:
And here is KXTV-TV’s full report:
Bill Greene runs a group called RightMarch.com. His exclusive interview with SecularStupidest.com is revealing on a number of fronts — including the account of the police officer‘s reaction to Greene’s entreaties. Greene says the officer not only declined to arrest the attacker, he allowed him to leave the scene while preventing the conservative activists from pursuing him.
John Quincy Adams and Winston Churchill on Islam
John Quincy Adams, on Islam, is revealing. From The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) by Robert Spencer, page 83:
John Quincy Adams on Islam:
"In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, [.....] Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST.- TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE.... Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant ... While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men."
(Capitals are in the original)
Winston Churchill on Islam:
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.
-- Sir Winston Spencer Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
John Quincy Adams on Islam:
"In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, [.....] Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST.- TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE.... Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant ... While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men."
(Capitals are in the original)
Winston Churchill on Islam:
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.
-- Sir Winston Spencer Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Decline of Unions
The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals intriguing trends.
In 2010, the BLS said union membership fell by 617,000, to 14.7 million. A decade ago, 16.3 million people were in unions.
Union members now make up 11.9 percent of the workforce. A decade ago, that figure stood at 13.4 percent.
The BLS offers an interesting tidbit about union members.
* The occupations with the highest union membership rate included education, training and library jobs.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Assembly Dems Yell "Shame" After Budget Vote
The state's Assembly passed a bill that would limit the bulk of Union collective-bargaining rights. The measure would require workers -- with the exception of police and firefighters -- to cover more of their health care premiums and pension contributions.
Collective bargaining would be limited to wages, though any pay increases beyond the inflation rate would be subject to voter approval.
An interesting note on the current public union battles was written by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in an Aug. 16, 1937 letter to Luther Steward, the president of the National Federation of Public Employees
[M]eticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government.
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.
Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees.
Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of pubic employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.
Analysts: More Libyan bloodshed could prompt U.S., NATO intervention
Ibrahim Sharqieh, deputy director of Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, stated military force remains a possibility: "In my opinion, it's still premature to talk about U.S. military intervention in Libya at this point, but we should not eliminate it completely."
Europe is most dependent on the oil exported from Libya and yet the U.S., again, is considering military action?
On Thursday, Obama spoke with the leaders of France, Italy and the United Kingdom on coordinating an international response to the crisis in Libya, the White House said.
There are no geographical boundaries. There are soft demographic, cultural and tribal boundaries. To get enmeshed in that without understanding the local culture is foolhardy but the most significant factor is our overstretched military.
Europe needs to step up to the plate and handle their own security affairs. The Muslims in the region seem likely to support intervention and if this is the case then they should handle their own internal affairs.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Mr. Clean Car Wash - Economic Report on Franchising
A recent Economic Report with Greg Gumbel featured a spotlight on Mr. Clean Car Wash. With 15 locations (and counting) in Georgia and Ohio, this concept from the Procter & Gamble family of companies is now franchising across the country. Visit MrCleanCarWash.com/franchising for more information.
Okla. Police Captain Transferred for Refusing to Attend Muslim Event
A Tulsa, OK police captain has filed a lawsuit against a superior after he was transferred following his refusal to attend a Muslim event. According to him, ordering him to attend the event was a violation of his religious convictions, and transferring him was religious retaliation.
Capt. Paul Fields is currently under internal investigation for refusing an order to send officers to the Islamic Society of Tulsa’s Law Enforcement Appreciation Day held at a local mosque:
“It is my opinion and that of my legal counsel that forcing me to enter a Mosque when it is not directly related to a police call for service is a violation of my Civil Rights,” Fields wrote in an internal police department memo obtained by Fox News.
“I have no problem with officers attending on a voluntary basis; however, I take exception to requiring officers to attend this event,” Fields wrote in an e-mail to his superior officer again obtained by Fox News. “I believe this directive to be an unlawful order, as it is in direct conflict with my personal religious convictions.”
KOKI-TV in Tulsa obtained a memo from Deputy Chief Daryl Webster to Captain Paul Fields explaining that the order to send officers had nothing to do with religion.
“Since you are not required to participate or assist in any religious observance, make any expression of belief, or adopt any belief system, this meeting is a secular law enforcement function that happens to take place at a venue associated with a religious belief,” Webster writes.
“Were we to pick and choose which belief systems we would associate ourselves with as an agency or which religious venues we would enter for secular or ceremonial purposes and which we would not, then I believe there would be an issue of disparate treatment that would reflect dishonor upon us all and possibly subject the Police Department to liability,” he adds.
An Islamic Society of Tulsa spokesperson told KOKI that the event was meant to say “thank you” to the police for investigating a threat made to the establishment.
“We wanted to have this opportunity to simply say thank you. I know its’ at the mosque but that was the address given as the target as the threat and it only made sense to have it at the mosque,” spokesperson Sheryl Siddiqui.
But complicating Webster’s claims that the event was non-religious is a promotional flyer saying the event would include “presentations” on “beliefs, human rights, and women.” Attendees would also be able to watch a Muslim prayer service and take a tour of the mosque.
Still, the flyer did note such elements were voluntary: “It’s up to you.”
“This was not religious,” Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan told KOKI. “I would never assign a police officer to participate in religious service.”
He went on to compare the event to any other community gathering: “Its just like a neighborhood association, Alert Neighbor meetings, there are lots of concerned groups that are concerned about crime. The fact that it is in a religious facility is not that significant we go to churches all the time. We don’t go to the sanctuary and we are not going to the sanctuary this time.”
Tea Party Congress Candidate Roughed Up by Union Goons at Mass. Rally
http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/02/tea-party-congress-candidate-roughed-up-by-union-goons-at-mass-rally/
The guy getting knocked down in the video is Marty Lamb, an attorney, Tea Party activist, former candidate for Congress (Massachusetts 3rd district).
Lobbyists: White House sends meetings off-site to hide them
It allows the Obama administration to keep these lobbyist meetings shielded from public view — and out of Secret Service logs kept on visitors to the White House and later released to the public.
Carney: It Is "Routine" For The White House To Meet With Lobbyists
Carney: It Is "Routine" For The White House To Meet With Lobbyists
TSA Harasses 9-year old Boy and Other Train Passengers After Their Trip
http://gizmodo.com/#!5768805/tsa-harasses-9+yo-boy-and-other-train-passengers-after-their-trip
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Alleged SEIU Protesters Heckle ‘Uneducated’ Black Tea Partier, Ask if He Has Children He ‘Claims’
During a pro-union rally at Colorado’s State Capitol yesterday, some alleged SEIU union supporters got into a shouting match with a black Tea Partier. But the conversation wasn’t just a loud, heated exchange. It got very personal when two union supporters ganged up on the conservative, one of them calling him “uneducated” and another asking him if he has any children “that he claims”:
According to RedWhiteBlueNews.com, the woman in red was later asked what she meant by her comments about the man’s children. “She said the black conservative was such a ‘free spirit’ that she assumed he would possibly not own up to the responsibility of being a father,” the site says.
Just so you know, the man admitted on camera he was gay.
SEIU’s involvement in the protest is supported by a schedule on the union’s website that names Denver, CO as a rally site.
Union Protester Whacks Young FreedomWorks Activist
Members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) took their labor union protests to the Washington, D.C. offices of FreedomWorks, a conservative activist organizations.
One of the young conservatives at the scene was Tabitha Hale, a tea party activist, blogger and FreedomWorks employee.
One of the young conservatives at the scene was Tabitha Hale, a tea party activist, blogger and FreedomWorks employee.
Hale was not seriously injured in the altercation.
"Bad Jew" Union Anti-Semistism
A member of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) union was harassing an employee about his religion at a protest outside FreedomWorks’ Washington, D.C. offices.
As employees engaged with the lively group of protesters, one stepped forward out of the crowd to point her finger, calling the male employee a “bad Jew.”
Congressman Michael Capuano Get Out on the Streets and Get a Little Bloody
The Congressman was endorsing violent behavior and criticism of his statements was followed by a formal statement that basically allowed him to re-state his position in a less offensive manner:
“I strongly believe in standing up for worker rights and my passion for preserving those rights may have gotten the best of me yesterday in an unscripted speech,” he said in a statement. “I wish I had used different language to express my passion and I regret my choice of words.”
First Trust Chief Economist Brian Wesbury on the impact of higher prices at the pump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heCMMk3mb4s
Reagan Bombing Libya
President Reagan's Address to the Nation on U.S. Air Strike against Libya - 4/14/86, 7:18
President Reagan's Address to the Nation on United States Air Strike against Libya on 4/14/86.
Ronald Reagan Airstrike Libya, 1:58
Address to the Nation on the Air Strike Against Libya
April 14, 1986
Reagan bombs Libya, 3:50
BBC news report of the US air strike against Colonel Gaddafi's outlaw régime.
Operation El Dorado Canyon, 7:46
After years of occasional skirmishes with Libya over Libyan territorial claims to the Gulf of Sidra, and years of vulnerability to Libyan-supported terrorism, especially the Abu Nidal group behind the Rome and Vienna airport attacks of December 27, 1985, the United States contemplated a military attack to send a message about support for international terrorism. In March 1986, the United States, asserting the 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) limit to territorial waters recognized by the international community, sent a carrier task force to the region. Libya responded with aggressive counter-maneuvers on March 24 that led to the destruction of Libyan radar systems and missile attack boats. Less than two weeks later on April 5, a bomb exploded in a West Berlin disco, La Belle, killing two American servicemen and a Turkish woman and wounding 200 others. The United States claimed to have obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany involved in the attack.
After several days of diplomatic talks with European and Arab partners, President of the United States Ronald Reagan ordered the strike on Libya on April 14. Eighteen F-111F strike aircraft of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying from RAF Lakenheath supported by four EF-111A Ravens of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing, from RAF Upper Heyford in England, in conjunction with twenty-seven A-6, A-7, F/A-18 attack aircraft and EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga, USS America and USS Coral Sea on station in the Gulf of Sidra struck five targets at 02:00 on April 15, in the stated objective that their destruction would send a message and reduce Libya's ability to support and train terrorists. Commander TJ Coughlin and his strike group of A-6 Intruders caused considerable damage to the Libyan Navy by sinking 2 Combattante missile boats. Cdr. Coughlin is credited with the sinking of both of these ships.
The United States was denied overflight rights by France, Spain and Italy as well as the use of European continental bases, forcing the Air Force portion of the operation to be flown around France, Spain and through the Straits of Gibraltar, adding 1,300 miles (2,100 km) each way and requiring multiple aerial refuelings. The attack lasted about ten minutes. Several targets were hit and destroyed, but some civilian and diplomatic sites in Tripoli were struck as well, and the French embassy was reportedly only narrowly missed, when a number of bombs missed their intended targets.
Dearborn, MI, Acts 17, Arab Fest, Honor Killings Suit Filed
A lawsuit by the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of four Christians whose speech and other civil rights were restricted by official city action at several recent city-sponsored Arab Fest events has been filed.
Among other things, the suit alleges that honor killings (p. 61, #267) have been "overlooked" in Dearborn.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Barratt Says Oil May Extend Gains if Iran Unrest Worsens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxGy1LoagCw
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services Pty, talks about the impact of political upheaval in the Middle East on oil prices. He speaks from Sydney with Linzie Janis on Bloomberg Television's "Global Connection."
Megyn Kelly Confronts Milwaukee Union President Over ‘Sick’ Teachers
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/megyn-kelly-confronts-milwaukee-union-president-over-sick-teachers/
FBI: Muslim Brotherhood deeply rooted inside U.S.
Terror-support group controls most Islamic groups, mosques in America.
Names were entered into evidence as "co-conspirators" during a federal trial which ended in 2008 with the convictions of several Muslim Brotherhood leaders on terrorism charges. The "list of unindicted co-conspirators" implicated these otherwise mainstream Muslim groups in a criminal scheme to funnel millions of dollars to Palestinian terrorists under the guise of charity.
The 11-page document, submitted by federal prosecutors as "Attachment A" in court filings, has not been widely distributed or reported by the national media.
After 9/11, federal and local authorities identified more than 110 suspected shell companies, cut-outs and other fronts associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and its hub in Northern Virginia, known collectively as the "Safa Group. Their ongoing investigation of the Herndon-based Safa Group, which allegedly funneled money to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups, generated a separate list of suspected Brotherhood entities. The 13-page document, submitted by federal investigators as "Attachment C" among court filings, includes known al-Qaida charitable fronts as well.
A first big break came several years ago with the search of one of the Brotherhood leaders' homes in Annandale, Va., following his arrest on suspicion he had cased the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and other bridges for possible terrorist attack. There, in a sub-basement of suspect Ismail Elbarasse's basement, FBI agents uncovered a stash of secret manifestos, charters and other documents revealing the depth of the conspiracy.
One secret document found during the raid of Elbarasse's home lays bare the Brotherhood's ambitious plans for a U.S. takeover, replacing the U.S. Constitution with Shariah, or Islamic law.
Under the heading, "The role of the Muslim Brother in North America," it states:
The Ikhwan [Arabic for brothers was the Islamic religious militia which formed the main military force of the Arabian ruler Ibn Saud and played a key role in establishing him as ruler of most of the Arabian Peninsula] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within, and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by the hands of the believers, so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Qaradawi Issues Fatwa to Kill Gaddafi
any Libyan soldier who can shoot dead embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi should do so 'to rid Libya of him.'
Foreign Policy, a major international affairs journal, ranks al-Qaradawi as the third most important public intellectual in the world as the spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood and the most popular weekly preacher on al-Jazeera satellite television.
Sheik Qaradawi ´s "Victory Speech" at Tahrir Square
In a partial translation by the Middle East Media Research Center MEMRI "Al-Qaradhawi asked the Egyptian army to open wide the Rafah crossing and to pray for the re-conquest of Jerusalem by the Muslims, so that he and the Muslims could pray in security at Al-Aqsa Mosque. This part of his sermon was cheered and applauded by the crowd.
Links to MEMRI's extensive research on Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, the Muslim Brotherhood, and "moderate" Islamic preachers.
British "moderates" advocate the release of Aafia Siddiquiover the Dead Body of Barack Obama
Aafia Siddiqui
Aafia Siddiqui is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted after a jury trial in a U.S. federal court of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. In September 2010, she was sentenced by the U.S. judge to 86 years in prison. She is now being held in Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
She disappeared with her three young children in March 2003, shortly after the arrest of her second husband's uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged chief planner of the September 11 attacks. It was reported that Khalid Mohammed mentioned Siddiqui's name while he was being interrogated. When found and arrested in July 2008 in Afghanistan the Afghan police said she was carrying in her purse handwritten notes and a computer thumb drive containing recipes for conventional bombs and weapons of mass destruction, instructions on how to make machines to shoot down U.S. drones, descriptions of New York City landmarks with references to a mass casualty attack, and two pounds of sodium cyanide in a glass jar. Siddiqui was shot and severely wounded at the police compound the following day when she grabbed the unattended rifle of one of her American interrogators and began shooting at them.
At MIT, she graduated in 1995 with a B.S. in biology where she was active in the Muslim Students' Association (MSA). At Brandeis University she received her Ph.D. in 2001.
Average Madison, Wisconsin Public Schools Compensation Tops $100k!
And, to add to the insult, the school system has underperformed for the past four years.
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