Sunday, 31 May 2009

Canada's 'Prince of Pot' vs U.S. Drug Czar

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Psychedelic rock booms through The Vapour Lounge. In the store, young and some not-so-young people smoke pot through a variety of devices. And owner Marc Emery stands in the middle of it all, proclaiming his goal of defeating the U.S. war on drugs.

Good for you and tastes good with chips too!Just doing my part to help congress save money.Ya know, I read stuff like this and it angers me.  It angers me because we are arresting and imprisoning peoples from other countries.  And we wonder why they hate us...  What happened to sovereignty?  Is Canada made up of that many wussies they can't tell the US to shove off?

Here is an idea for you politicians, why not just cancel the war on drugs.  Its obvious that it has failed not to mention the hypocrisy of denying your citizens its use when the CIA has been selling heroin and coke since the 80's to fund their escapades.  Let people who want to do them have their way.  Tax the hell out of it, make some rules of use (like no driving under the influence) and save your self the 100 billion per year wasted on this failed endeavor.

Think about it, you politicians could even use that 100 billion a year in savings to pay down the multi-trillion dollar debt you created in the last few years.  What a PR coup for you snakes!  And while your at it take a few tokes, lighten up a little, watch a movie with Obama at one of the White House shindigs he has every night for friends and family where I'm sure you can get a chef's choice of herb.  Perhaps you snakes will get so stoned you stop passing more useless and onerous laws.

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Posted by sentiant at 10:03 PM in Mike's Daily Blah Blah

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

The 2 Cows System of Government

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All this talk of cows makes me hungry... steak anyone?

Financial Crisis:
I think this is the best analysis of how we got into this financial crisis and how it affects some countries differently than others. I think the Aussies have the best handle on this crisis, but there is something to be said about those Kiwi's.

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbor.

The cows are falling, the cows are falling!COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other,
and then throws the milk away...

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has
dropped dead.

AN INVESTMENT BANK
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company,
using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank,
then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general
offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax
exemption for five cows.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, org anise a riot, and block the roads,
because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an
ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then
create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon'
and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once
a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine
productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the shit out of you and
invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a
Democracy...

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive...

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Posted by sentiant at 9:54 PM in Mike's Daily Blah Blah

Vaccines: Jabs of Death courtesy of the Pharmaceutical Industry

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Our Children are our future!Death by Hepatitis B Vaccine, will we never learn?Back in January, ActaNonVerba exposed Dr. Alberto Tozzi's ties to the Vaccine producing Pharmaceutical companies.  In summary, Tozzi released a report thru various governmental agencies, about the safety of vaccines that contain Thimerosal.  Problem is he failed to tell us how he makes lots and lots of money from those same pharmaceutical companies whose products are at the center of the mercury laden vaccine controversy. 

Since then I've taken notice of the various news and information releases on the net with regard to this subject.  I was following up on some Thimerosal reading thru other links and came upon the following very sad story.  The story is of Ian Gromowski, a newborn baby who died from a severe allergic reaction to a Hepatitis B vaccine.  Ian's Voice is sure to touch your heart and I hope make you ponder where we as a nation are headed in terms of value of life.

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Posted by sentiant at 8:56 AM in Mike's Daily Blah Blah

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Some great vids I've seen over the last 3 months.

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Chock full of I don't give a damn."Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."

Been a while since i did a Weekly, so here we go. 

Found a neat video site,  Vimeo, that focuses on amateur video productions.

Oxygen is a cute student graduation production about an Oxygen atom.

Fluid Sculpture is the shows us some creative souls use for tubing and colored water, pretty nifty.

Mommy's Special Day was made by a man with his daughter for his wife on Mother's day.  A real tear jerker. 

Virginia DOT: Bridge demolition set to opera

Too much dishonest info from GoreNot that I'm jumping into the whole Global Warming scam, but I couldn't resist pointing my readers to a funny video made by a firm that specializes in "astroturfing" political issues.  This inconvenient truth is called, "Al Gore's Penguin Army".  "WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE"

There is a new horror movie coming out soon called, "Hisss" directed by Jennifer Lynch.  Jennifer is the daughter of David Lynch, who created such fine movies as The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Drive (2001).  I like Lynch's movies because lynch is like the great movie director fulci from the 60's and 70's, where they create movies that are an 'Absolute Film' where image and sound are the most important part of a film. Fulci once said, ( "My idea was to make an absolute film, with all the horrors of the world. Its a plotless film, there's no logic to it, just a succession of images" ).  So given Lynch's predilection for this type of film I'm certain his daughter's endeavors will be quite visual as well.

I watched a vid a few days ago about a guy who does extreme sky diving.  Ueli Gegenschatz who was a featured speaker at TED, takes flight just about every way a human can: paragliding, skydiving, BASE jumping (from the Eiffel Tower), and most breathtakingly: by donning a wingsuit and soaring.  For those of you who watch the presentation at TED and want to be just like Ueli, you can buy those neat little wingsuits at "Pheonix Fly".  While I watching the TED vid and looking at the wingsuits it occurred to me that these would be great tools to rescue trapped mountain climbers and hikers, imagine if you will a group of 20 of these guys dropped from a helicopter or plane so they could soar over an area with a missing person and they could spot the missing person from the air radio back position and such.

_________________________

The Ultimate Answer to the Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is "42" ~ Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Don't go getting all puffed up now that you know the answer to the question
 

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Posted by sentiant at 4:21 AM in Mike's Weekly In-Digest-Ion

Friday, 15 May 2009

Dollhouse Renewed for Second Season!

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Surprise: Fox RENEWS 'Dollhouse'.  In an un-official announcement on Hibberd's "the live feed" they are claiming Joss Whedon's Dollhouse has been green lit for a second season.  It's about time Fox didn't can a great show just because of ratings.  I believe it was the normal viewer numbers in combination with the DVR numbers that are strong and online streaming which are strong that brought it back. 

I know millions of us were wondering if it would make the cut.  The official announcement will not be made until Monday, but sources say this is happening.  This with the certainty of "Fringe" being renewed makes for a good tv line-up come fall. 

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Posted by sentiant at 7:41 PM in Shows I Watch

Monday, 11 May 2009

For my little Saltine Cracker

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“O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole? O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
- William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

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Posted by sentiant at 4:09 AM in Future 2 dot 0

Sunday, 10 May 2009

Illinois Outbreaks of Swine Flu located in areas of highest Illegal Mexican Immigrants

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Wonders why the border is so porous.Here's a full list of the confirmed H1N1 swine flu infection cases in Illinois by county:
Pretty much were all the illegal mexicans live... imagine that.


 

  • Too Many Illegal ImmigrantsBoone: 3 confirmed.
  • Chicago: 208 confirmed.
  • Cook (suburban): 130 confirmed.
  • DeKalb: 1 confirmed.
  • DuPage: 36 confirmed.
  • Franklin: 1 confirmed.
  • Kane: 26 confirmed.
  • Kendall: 1 confirmed.
  • Knox: 2 confirmed.
  • Lake: 15 confirmed.
  • McHenry: 2 confirmed.
  • Ogle: 1 confirmed
  • Sangamon: 1 confirmed.
  • Will: 33 confirmed.
  • Winnebago: 1 probable, 5 confirmed.
  • Undetermined: 1 confirmed.

 

Thanks for protecting your real citizens Congress... we do appreciate you protecting the borders like your supposed to.

___________________________________________

 

"You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief." --- Noclevername

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Posted by sentiant at 12:56 PM in Crisis at the U.S. Border

Friday, 8 May 2009

What Kind of Reader Are You?

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I feel the need, the need to read...I read alot, most people that know me know this.  I found this little ditty online that purports to rate ones reading skills.  I'm kinda disappointed, but I do know which question and answer caused me not to get the top rating.  Is ok though, I know I read more than most.  How about you, gonna see how you rate?

What Kind of Reader Are You?
Your Result: Literate Good Citizen
 

You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.

Dedicated Reader
 
Book Snob
 
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
 
Fad Reader
 
Non-Reader
 
What Kind of Reader Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

_______________________________

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to
mankind, which are delivered down from generation to
generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn,
~ Joseph Addison  ~

When I look back, I am so impressed again
with the life-giving power of literature. 
If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of
myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young.
~ Maya Angelou ~

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Posted by sentiant at 10:39 PM in Mike's Daily Blah Blah

The Happy Home Maker of 1955

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Musings as a ManFound this while tube surfing.  It's a wife's guide to being... well, a good wife.  This actual article from Good Housekeeping, circa 1955, actually told women how to be better wives.  I'm sure every agent of the National Organization of Women will say, "Oh, we've come a long way baby" but I do wonder, are we better off as families with the liberation of women from the shackles of the stove?  While I find this article quite humorous, evoking even a desire within for a time gone by, I do think that the burdens placed upon women by christianity in the last 1900 years was more the work of a church attempting to silence and suppress at least half the population since any true leader knows that women can sway even the strongest of soldiers from the march... Samson anyone?
                                          (click picture below to enlarge.)


The Good Wife's Guide, Good Housekeeping, circa 1955I can draw from my own personal experience when I was a child, watching and listening to my grandparents and parents talk about woman's lib, how they were opposed to it saying it would destroy the family and all the values and mores that accompany the christian familial unit.  My mother and her mother (my grandmother) while fully against woman's lib, both have exemplified lives of liberated women.  My grandmother with her many years of service as surgical nurse while being a mother and my mother as both a small business owner and of course being a mom.  They and the men in their lives worked hard and they had the freedom to pursue careers of choice and buy the things they wanted.  They did this while cooking and cleaning and wiping us kid's hind-ends when the diapers got dirtied.  (Mom, I sure do miss your chicken and wild rice...)


I guess what I'm trying to say is that America has emerged as a society that realized the benefits of unencumbered women not because of NOW or the woman's lib movement but because its a natural progression to a more enlightened society.  And I believe, maybe because of those extra neurochemicals women have that we men don't have, women have within them the ability to look at a situation wither it be in business, the arts or even the military with a unique and oft times fresh perspective.  While we might look upon this change as unfortunate now because of its affect on the family and our children, we must remember that it has only been 30-40 years since women broke free.  As with every change in the human dynamic we will adapt, families will re-coalesce and our children's children will be better off for it.


________________________________


But then again I'm reminded of the words of a biker friend of mine long ago... "Never trust a species that bleeds one week out of the month and still lives"

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Posted by sentiant at 3:29 AM in The Amazing Planet Earth and its Unique Inhabitants

Thursday, 7 May 2009

Ashton Lundeby still not free while denied Habeas Corpus

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genuis is not being able to answer quickly, its being able to answer correctly.In what is turning out to be one of the worst Patriot Act abuse cases by the Federal Government and the FBI, 16 year old Ashton Lundeby is still in jail without due process, nor has he been charged with a crime after 2 months. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents stormed his home that night, insisting that he had made several bomb threats from his computer.


Lundeby has multiple witnesses that will verify that he was at Union Chapel Church with his family until after 9 p.m. ET that evening. Union Chapel Church is 35 minutes from the family's Oxford, North Carolina home. On the way home that evening, the family stopped at a grocery store to buy cat litter- a stop that could be verified not only by his mother but presumably by store receipts and store employee witnesses. Mrs. Lundeby says they arrived home just after 10 p.m. and her son went straight to bed without turning on his computer.


Our forefathers fought to prevent unlawful arrest and detention

The FBI contends that a bomb threat was made at 10:05 North Carolina time from Ashton's computer. They searched the family's house and found no evidence of bomb making paraphanalia.

Ashton's friends provided information to the FBI on a local who had previously used Ashton's IP address in making crank calls. Further to this, Mrs. Lundeby confirmed that a hacker has been harrassing the family. A 911 call sent the police into her home searching for drugs prior to the bomb scare arrest, something she attributes to a malicious hacker one of her son's friends has identified by screen name for investigators.


Wake up people, this mother, this child need our help.  I'm urging all my readers to call their elected representatives in the US Congress to get this kid freed and the charges dropped.  It is an outrage that this has even happened in our country, let alone the suspension of his right to habeas corpus and being held without being charged.  He is 16 years old for goodness sake, what is wrong with the leadership in this country.


Help Free Ashton Lundeby, Contact your Elected Government Officials:  Congressional Phone Numbers, Fax Numbers and Mailing Addresses.


_________________________________


"How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right." - From Black Hawk, Sauk Tribe


 

 

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Posted by sentiant at 2:46 PM in Fighting to Repeal the Unconstitutional Patriot Act

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

The Sweet Life or Not

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I'll never look at a milk shake the same.Ever wondered just how much sugar is in that food you just bought?  Not so good with all the grams (g) and milligrams (mg)?  Then wonder no more for some sweet soul put up a website for those of us who are scale challenged, knowing instead we benefit the most from a visual representation of sugar content.  I'm writing of course about the wonderful little site called Sugar Stacks.  These food producers put sugar in everything, I think people just don't realize how much. 

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Posted by sentiant at 1:49 AM in Mike's Daily Blah Blah

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Tim Geithner gets the Tax Cheat Stamp of Disapproval

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Tim Geithner, Obama's choice for Tax Cheater in charge of the U.S. TreasuryNot sure if this is Bob Villa approved or not but I love the idea of sending a message to Dear Leader Obama in so simple a way.  If you to are angry that his cabinet choices and appointments for the most part are proven tax cheats who are seemingly exempt from the laws of the land with which we are brutally crushed under via the IRS, then here is your platform to show your displeasure.  Simply head on over to daveg's "Where's the Change??" blog and read about how he proposes to stamp the words "Tax Cheat" or "Obama' Tax Cheat" on U.S. Paper Currency covering Geithner's signature!  I love it, simple, direct message.  Daveg also provides link to company making these stamps.

 

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Posted by sentiant at 1:59 AM in All about the IRS and Taxes

Sunday, 3 May 2009

Laughter in between the tears, is that insanity?

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My future so bright i gotta buy some shades!It has been a while since I posted a weekly. Since then I've found many little tidbits to share with family and friends. I want to start out by recommending a movie I saw recently. I just happen to be channel surfing round 12 midnight while I was working on a database and came across this sad gem. Its called "Ghosts" and is the story of the Morecambe Bay Tragedy which occurred February 5th, 2004. This movie was riveting actually, I literally stopped what I was doing just to catch every sentence and every scene, the movie switches between English and Chinese (which is subtitled), even so you will be caught up in the story trust me. Its the sad story of how 23 illegal chinese immigrants in England lost thier lives cockling, which is the manual harvesting of cockles, cockle-picking.


Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.

The man at the counter asked the older boy, 'Son, how old are you?'

'Eight', the boy replied.
The man continued, 'Do you know what these are used for?'

The boy replied, 'Not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four.

We saw on TV that if you use these, you would be able to swim, play tennis and ride a bike.
Right now, he can't do none of those'.


Cute Tootsie Roll BabyI happened upon an article a week or so ago that spoke to the fact that fewer Americans are adopting Chinese children. The reason this caught my eye was because I remember as a tween that some cousins of mine were into adoption and also provided temporary placement for foster children in transition. They primarily looked after infants, and I seem to remember one of the little ones being of asian descent (keep in mind this was more than 25 years ago so the brain waves might have a little Decoherence going on). Anyway, the article goes on to explain that China has new adoption laws Beijing put in place in May 2007. The stricter guidelines, intended to limit the overwhelming number of applicants to China's well-regarded adoption program, have been effective - international adoptions from China to the U.S. have dropped by 50 percent, according to the U.S. State Department. The new regulations require, among other things, that adoptive parents be married, not classified as clinically obese, under 50, not have taken antidepressant medications in the past two years, not have facial deformities and meet certain educational and economic requirements. While I fully agree with and support adopting children from foreign countries people should keep in mind there are many wonderfully deserving children here in America looking for adoptive moms and dads.


Test Tickle the Elmo!A blonde was hired at the TickleMe Elmo factory for work during the holidays in the QA/QC department.

The boss explained the job, she said she understood, and began working. Inside of 30 minutes the whole line had to be shut down. They found the blonde at the QA/QC station at the end of the line.

She'd stolen thread, needle, plastic balls, and red felt from other departments and was busily sewing away on the Elmo dolls.

The boss, LOUDLY explained, "NO, I MEANT GIVE EACH ELMO TWO TEST TICKLES.


The fight for our childrens minds.

A few months ago I wrote an article over on the newsvine about some of the issues concerning gay adoption and in particular my entry focused on the mind set of gay adoption as revealed thru an article about Max Mutchnick, who called the birth mother of his adopted child an oven. My only problem with gays and/or lesbians who want to adopt is that I fear they are letting their personal trials as alternative lifestylers affect what they teach these children, thus, instead of providing a normal environment for the children, they and by proxy the children are constantly bombarded with the adoptive parents issues related to the gay/lesbian community.

Some consider this environment child abuse. There is also the concern that they adopt these children so as to train them that their lifestyle is normal and they should fight for gay and lesbian rights when older. This issue is such a wild fire at this time in history and I believe its one of those issues that is such a waste of time and resources, you can read my thoughts about it here.


A 6 year old and a 4 year old are upstairs in their bedroom. 'You know what?' says the 6 year old. 'I think it's about time we started cussing.' The 4 year old nods his head in approval. The 6 year old continues, 'When we go downstairs for breakfast, I'm gonna say something with hell and you say something with ass.' The 4 year old agrees with enthusiasm.

When the mother walks into the kitchen and asks the 6 year old what he wants for breakfast, he replies, 'Aw, hell, Mom, I guess I'll have some Cheerios'

WHACK! He flies out of his chair, tumbles across the kitchen floor, gets up, and runs upstairs crying his eyes out, with his mother in hot pursuit, slapping his rear with every step. His mom locks him in his room and shouts, 'You can stay there until I let you out!'

She then comes back downstairs, looks at the 4 year old and asks with a stern voice, 'And what do YOU want for breakfast, young man?' I don't know, he blubbers, 'but you can bet your fat ass it won't be Cheerios!'


And in closing, I'm going to end with a look to humanities promising future and a poem.

Did you know your future was this bright?


Come away, O human child! to the waters and the wild with a faery, hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand... - - - W. B. Yeats

 

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Posted by sentiant at 4:34 AM in Mike's Weekly In-Digest-Ion

Saturday, 2 May 2009

Mom says Patriot Act stripped son of due process

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Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby's bedroom in his mother's Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall. But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15.


Pretend President promises B-52's, delivers sparrow farts.For the last few months I've been looking for a cause of my own, seems appropriate that I as the owner of this domain should have one don't ya think?  Well, I'm glad to say I've found it.  I plan on using my blog to fight the Patriot Act.  I'm going to highlight every egregious act of tyranny against our U.S. Citizens committed in the name of fighting terror from abroad.  I'm going to petition my Congressmen and women for redress on this issue.  I will not stop my cause until the Patriot Act is done away with forever... and 16 year old boys like Ashton are returned to their families.

Lets let your own time honored words convict you oh great Command-in-Thief:

Barack Obama on Homeland Security
Q: Does the Constitution permit a president to detain US citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants?

A: No. I reject the Bush Administration’s claim that the President has plenary authority under the Constitution to detain U.S. citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants.

Source: Boston Globe questionnaire on Executive Power Dec 20, 2007

Then why are you holding this 16 year old and not allowing him to have proper legal representation or basic human rights?  

Barack Obama on Homeland Security You said you would, "Restore habeas corpus to reach Muslims abroad."  If you were a Muslim overseas listening to Rudy Giuliani say “they are coming here to try to kill you,” which is the tenor of many of the speeches that are delivered by Republicans, you would get an impression that they are not interested in talking and resolving issues peacefully. Now, what we need to do [to reach Muslims] is we need to close Guantanamo. We need to restore habeas corpus. We need to send a strong signal that we are going to talk directly to not just our friends but also to our enemies. Source: 2007 Democratic radio debate on NPR Dec 13, 2007

Barack Obama on Homeland SecurityYou said, "Why don’t we close Guantanamo and restore the right of habeas corpus, because that’s how we lead, not with the might of our military, but the power of our ideals and the power of our values. It’s time to show the world we’re not a country that ships prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far off countries. We’re not a country that runs prisons which locks people away without ever telling them why they’re there or what they’re charged with. We’re not a country which preaches compassion to others while we allow bodies to float down the streets of major American cities. That’s not who we are.

We’re America. We’re a nation that liberated a continent from a mad man, that lifted ourselves from the depths of depression, that won civil rights and women’s rights and voting rights for all our people. We’re the beacon that has led generations of weary travelers to find opportunity and liberty and hope on our doorstep. That’s who we are."

Source: Take Back America 2007 Conference Jun 19, 2007  

I guess that doesn't apply to 16 year olds?

Pretend President FactCheck: Promised to repeal Patriot Act, then voted for it

Clinton took direct aim at Obama and connects fairly solidly: “You said you would vote against the Patriot Act; you came to the Senate, you voted for it.” Clinton is correct to say that Obama opposed the Patriot Act during his run for the Senate. She’s relying on a 2003 Illinois National Organization for Women questionnaire in which Obama wrote that he would vote to “repeal the Patriot Act” or replace it with a “new, carefully crafted proposal.” When it came time to reauthorize the law in 2005, though, Obama voted in favor of it. He started out opposing it: In Dec. 2005, Obama voted against ending debate--a position equivalent to declaring a lack of support for the measure. Then in February of that year, Obama said on the floor that he would support th Patriot Act’s reauthorization. In March 2006, Obama both voted for cloture and for the Patriot Act reauthorization conference report.

Clinton, by the way, followed exactly the same path on the 2005 bill, from speaking in opposition to voting for it.

Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 Facebook/WMUR-NH Democratic debate Jan 5, 2008

Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act.

This vote reauthorizes the PATRIOT Act with some modifications (amendments). Voting YEA extends the PATRIOT Act, and voting NAY would phase it out. The official summary of the bill is:
A bill to clarify that individuals who receive FISA orders can challenge nondisclosure requirements, that individuals who receive national security letters are not required to disclose the name of their attorney, that libraries are not wire or electronic communication service providers unless they provide specific services, and for other purposes.
    Opponents of the bill say to vote NAY because:
  • Some may see the vote we are about to have as relatively trivial. They are mistaken. While the bill we are voting on makes only minor cosmetic changes to the PATRIOT Act, it will allow supporting the PATRIOT Act conference report that was blocked in December. Cosmetic changes simply don't cut it when we are talking about protecting the rights and freedoms of Americans from unnecessarily intrusive Government powers.
  • The White House has tried to make life uncomfortable for Senators. It has suggested they are soft on terrorism, that they don't understand the pressing threat facing this country, that they are stuck in a pre-9/11 mindset. Those attacks should be rejected.
  • We can fight terrorism aggressively without compromising our most fundamental freedoms against Government intrusion. The Government grabbed powers it should not have when it passed the original PATRIOT Act and we should not be ratifying that power grab today. The PATRIOT Act reauthorization conference report is flawed. S. 2271 pretends to fix it but I don't think anyone is fooled, least of all our constituents.
  • Because the Republican leadership obstructed efforts to improve the bill, the "police state" provisions regarding gag orders remain uncorrected. The Senate should get down to the serious business of legislating real fixes to the PATRIOT Act. Reference: USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments; Bill S. 2271 ; vote number 2006-025 on Mar 1, 2006

 

Is this your idea of change Mr. President?  What if it were one of your daughters held in detention as this young man is?  What was your vote with regard to the Patriot Act, Mr. President?

Mr. Obama, it is within your power to do the right thing.  Order the immediate release of Ashton Lundeby.  Then do what you promised, Repeal the Patriot Act.

 

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Posted by sentiant at 2:56 PM in Fighting back against unconstitutional government
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