The Conservative Papers » Crime

Wanted: Smart Cybersecurity Solutions

kalel — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:28:04 +0000

Cybersecurity Solutions

Think back 20 years ago. What were you doing? Whatever answer you came up with, it probably had nothing to do with the Internet, which was just coming of age. As James Carafano points out in his article in the Washington Examiner today, the discovery a valuable new world brings with it the need to protect that world.

Nearly everything in our lives today is connected to the Internet. You possibly woke up to your iPhone buzzing from an e-mail from your boss and then turned on the lights that are powered by an electrical grid that is intricately connected to the Internet. You needed to transfer money to your checking account, so you quickly jumped on your computer, and a couple minutes later you were out the door. On the way to work, you stopped to get a bite to eat at a restaurant that orders all its food and advertises heavily via the Internet. When you finally got to work, you sat down to a computer and sifted through dozens of e-mails. On your break, you ordered a birthday gift off of eBay or Amazon, and then you searched for and read countless articles for a project you are working on without even moving from your chair.

With so many widespread uses, the Internet is also very hard to defend. There are always going to be holes in security somewhere, and any people who tell you that they know how to fix the problem would probably also have told you that Corzine’s MF Capital was a great buy. Right on cue, members of our government come forward with “comprehensive,” bureaucratic command-and-control cyber security bills.

The Internet is a dynamic environment, and announcing countless new regulations or giving government bodies vast new powers over the Internet flies in the face of that reality. Most crooks and enemies can easily get around these proposed solutions. For example, before the Stop Online Piracy Act could even be voted on, free software was released that would have rendered most of the bill worthless.

Our answer to online security should be one that seeks to match our quick opponents with equally quick, creative solutions. The proposal from Representatives Mike Rogers (R–MI) and Dutch Ruppersburger (D–MD) is a solid start. It establishes the framework for government and private-sector cooperation and better enables our private sector to create new adaptive solutions to fight cyber crime and defend against cyber attacks.

New cyber threats will emerge, and just like in any other conflict, we should not get caught preparing to the fight the last war. Instead, we should give our greatest minds the best opportunity to come up with creative answers to protect this new world.

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Source material can be found at this site.

Whitehouse Cover-up: Hiding Documents from Congress in Probe

alpineski — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 04:51:05 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department and Republicans on a House committee looking into a flawed gun-smuggling probe within the Obama Administration called Operation Fast and Furious appear headed for an impasse over congressional demands for internal Justice documents.

The dispute is expected to be a prime topic at a hearing Thursday, when Attorney General Eric Holder testifies before a panel whose chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., alleges the Justice Department is engaging in a cover-up.

Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has threatened to seek a contempt of Congress ruling against Holder for failing to turn over congressionally subpoenaed documents created after problems with Fast and Furious came to light.

The attorney general “will be asked to explain his decision to withhold from the people this factual evidence from investigators,” Issa said before the hearing.

On Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the department will provide material created after Feb. 4, 2011, the day the Obama Administration gave incorrect and misleading information to Congress about Fast and Furious.

Cole said the department had made an exception to longstanding policy in order to provide material on how the erroneous Feb. 4 letter was created, but other documents about the congressional inquiries on Fast and Furious would not be turned over.

A committee spokesman, Frederick Hill, said the administration is under investigation for Fast and Furious but also for its response to trying to silence whistle-blowers and investigators who expressed concern about the operation.

“If the Justice Department cannot provide assurances that it will meet its legal obligations” and provide the documents, “the committee has no other option than moving to hold Attorney General Holder in contempt,” Hill said.

In his testimony prepared for Thursday’s hearing, the attorney general said prior administrations have recognized that robust internal communications would be chilled, and the executive branch’s ability to respond to oversight requests impeded, if internal communications concerning responses to congressional oversight were disclosed to Congress.

In a Feb. 4, 2011, letter to Congress, the department said federal agents made every effort to intercept illegally purchased weapons. Instead, agents in the Phoenix-based Fast and Furious investigation employed a risky strategy called “gun-walking” in an effort to track the weapons after purchase. The purpose was to make cases against gun-smuggling ring leaders who had long escaped prosecution.

“Allowing guns to ‘walk’ — whether in this administration or in the prior one — is wholly unacceptable,” Holder stated. “This tactic of not interdicting weapons, despite having the ability and legal authority to do so, appears to have been adopted in a misguided effort to stem the alarming number of illegal firearms that are trafficked each year from the United States to Mexico.”

Fast and Furious was one of at least four gun-smuggling probes that involved gun-walking, all undertaken by the Phoenix division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Three of the gun-walking investigations began under President George W. Bush, one under President Barack Obama. The first started in 2006.

In Fast and Furious, the federal agency lost track of almost 1,400 of the more than 2,000 weapons whose purchase attracted the suspicion of the Fast and Furious investigators. Some 700 guns connected to suspects in the operation have been recovered in Mexico and the U.S., some of them at crime scenes, including the scene near Nogales, Ariz., where border agent Brian Terry was murdered in December 2010. A month after Terry’s death, Congress began hearing of problems with the probe.

Issa’s allegation of a cover-up was fueled by documents turned over Friday by the Justice Department that contained new information about the events of early February 2011.

Two days before Justice told Congress that federal agents made every effort to intercept illegally purchased weapons, the department’s criminal division chief, Lanny Breuer, suggested letting some “straw,” or illicit, weapons buyers in the U.S. transport their guns across the Mexican border so Mexican law enforcement could arrest them there.

According to emails turned over to the committee, Breuer made the suggestion to Mexican officials because it “may send a strong message to arms traffickers” because Mexican laws contain far stiffer penalties against straw gun buyers than U.S. laws do.

Cole said Breuer’s suggestion, which was not implemented, would have been less risky than the earlier investigations because he intended for Mexican agents to arrest the smugglers at the border rather than let the guns loose in Mexico.

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BLOOD MONEY: Mitt Romney’s Medicare Scandal (VIDEO)

kalel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:04:22 +0000

In the end, the Republican primary is about who will beat Barack Obama and who we want to beat Barack Obama. Before you decide, watch the video. And consider, what else don’t we know?

Debating in Tampa, Florida in late-January, while falsely characterizing Newt Gingrich’s income from his government consulting work, Mitt Romney denied that Bain did “any work with the government like Medicaid and Medicare”. Now we learn that Bain, under Romney’s “supervision”, purchased and ran the Damon Corporation, who pled guilty to Federal conspiracy charges as a result of tens of millions of dollars in systemic Medicare fraud committed under Romney’s and Bain’s control. Damon was fined over $119-million which was, at the time, the largest criminal healthcare fine in Massachusetts history and Mr. Romney’s participation was characterized in 1996 by Corporate Crime Reporter thusly: “As manager and board member of Damon Corp, Mitt Romney sits at the center of one of the top 15 corporate crimes of the 1990’s.” Watch the substantiated mini-documentary, BLOOD MONEY: MITT ROMNEY’S MEDICARE SCANDAL, to learn the truth about Mitt Romney.

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Living with Islam; A Cancer

alpineski — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:35:18 +0000

99 percent of Muslims are Muslims because their many times over great-grandfather was living in a village someplace when a group of men with swords marched in, and declared that they were all going to become Muslims now, or die horribly. Unless he was smart enough to get on board by being one of the men with the swords, and take home his share of the loot and slaves.

Today these people would be known as Muslim extremists. Back then they were just known as Muslims.

But there’s a new Gold Rush in the West now as Western scholars, academics and politicians look around for something that isn’t there– a way to co-exist with Islam. Except it’s not a Gold Rush but a Fool’s Gold Rush, because when it comes to Islam, co-existence has never been on the table. Islam is a religion that from its earliest days was spread by the sword of Mohammed, and then by various Caliphs, Emirs, Sultans, assorted warlords and rulers.

Religions that spread like that are no more interested in achieving co-existence, than telemarketers are interested in Do Not Call lists. It puts them out of business. Even the current boom due to “interest in Islam” can be traced back to 19 Muslims flying several planes into two major US cities with a death toll in the thousands. Minus the planes and with a much higher death toll, that is generally how people get “interested” in Islam in the first place.

When Muslim leaders talk about co-existence, what they really mean is “Stop bombing us long enough to let us destroy you.”

This of course hasn’t stopped well meaning Westerners from trying to find ways to get along with cancer. Like living with Cancer, living with Islam is a dead end proposition. You either go for Chemotherapy or sooner or later you wind up lying face up on a steel table with a toe tag on your foot. Except in this case the toe tag will be a Qu’ran.

Like Cancer, Islam is a devouring entity that exists to consume, leaving destruction and misery in its wake. You cannot live with it, your choices are to either die, or force it out of your body. The West has currently pushed Button 1 while assuming that any moment now, the Cancer will turn moderate, and become willing to talk about how it can be integrated with the rest of the body.

France has banned Hijabs, Holland is looking at immigration, America has selected a leader from a Muslim background, and Cancer is laughing its ass off at the whole spectacle. It knows all this is nothing more than one of the Kubler-Ross stages of death, and that the West is still stuck on Bargaining.

We’ll give you complete equality, social services, a good deal of respect, a seat at the table, the privilege to censor anything that offends you and the right to beat and rape as many women as you want — so long as you agree to be our friends. That kind of thing naturally doesn’t work.

Giving people who already view you as subhuman carte blanche to do whatever they want, isn’t going to endear them to you. Just ask the Jews sitting in ghettos during WW2 and hoping that cooperating with the Nazis would avoid the worst from happening. Submission to people who already place no value on your life is death. When you do that you might as well take an ad out in the Dhimmi Personals Section.

There is of course such a thing as a Moderate Muslims, but moderate Muslims aren’t a movement, they’re just individuals who aren’t very good Muslims — much like Jews who eat Pork or Catholics who have abortions. There are plenty of both, particularly in well off countries where religion isn’t a big deal anymore, but self-indulgence is. By no coincidence those are also the places you’re likely to find moderate Muslims, whose moderation consists of not being very good Muslims.

You can co-exist with Moderate Muslims because they really do want most of the same things you do, a house in the suburbs, a steady paycheck and Cable TV. Of course then their sons head to a Madrassa in Pakistan, and next thing you know they’re on the plane back with a box cutter or some Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN).

AND THAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH CONFUSING SELF-INDULGENCE WITH MODERATION. The pendulum on self-indulgence always swings back to the extreme sooner or later, just as it did in Iran, just as it will in Egypt. Prosperity always breeds discontent and disgust among the very sons of those who enjoy it. It certainly did in the West producing the likes of Lenin and Ayers.

The problem is that Western anti-materialists are socialists. Muslim anti-materialists are Muslims. And so while Socialists and Muslims do their best to shake hands, the Muslim has a dagger palmed in his hand. The socialist has a copy of Das Kapital in his. It wasn’t even an even match in the early 20th century. It certainly isn’t an even match now, as even a casual observer of the European scene can’t help but notice.

While we think of Muslims as a cultural problem, they think of us as a demographic problem. We think the solution is teaching them to be moderate. They think the solution is teaching those of us who survive to be slaves. And guess who’s currently ahead on points?

This appeared on the Sultan Knish website :

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Israeli Consulate in Boston Evacuated over Anthrax Scare

kalel — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:24:14 +0000

The Israeli Consulate in Boston was evacuated Monday and five others in the world were on alert after Anthrax white powder scares.

A powder-like substance in an envelope marked “Anthrax” was found in the Consulate offices in the Boston Park Plaza hotel mid-day Monday. The consulate was shut down for the day, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. State Department are investigating.

“The item was field tested and indicated no immediate threat to public safety,” FBI Special Agent Greg Comcowich said. “Additional testing will be done.”

The local CBS outlet quoted Fire Chief Steve Dunbar as saying, “The initial reports were that there was some white powder. They felt the envelope and the particles of grain, so they wisely decided to isolate it into their specialized containment vessel, and that was a smart move on their behalf.”

A similar scare was reported at a Rhode Island government office and at five other Israeli missions, including New York, Houston, Texas and London. The substances were found to be harmless.

The Anthrax scare appears to be a new epidemic that began last week with a scare in Florida, where the Palm Beach International Airport was partially evacuated, White powder was found on the carpet and later was determined to be harmless.

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Tom McClintock Speech on SOPA: Freedom and the Internet, Victorious (VIDEO)

kalel — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:27:16 +0000

House Chamber, Washington, D.C.- January 23, 2012

Madam Speaker:

Long ago, Jefferson warned, “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” The exceptions to that rule have been few and far between recently, and ought to be celebrated when they occur.

Tom McClintock

One did this past week with the announcement that supporters of the so-called “Stop On-Line Privacy Act” and the “Protect Intellectual Property Act” have indefinitely postponed their measures after an unprecedented protest across the Internet.

SOPA and PIPA pose a crippling danger to the Internet because they use the legitimate concern over copy-right infringement as an excuse for government to intrude upon and regulate the very essence of the Internet – the unrestricted and absolutely free association that links site to site, providing infinite pathways for commerce, discourse and learning.

It is not the Internet per se that has set the stage for the next quantum leap in human knowledge and advancement – but rather the free association at the core of the Internet. And this is precisely what SOPA and PIPA directly threaten.

But as dangerous as this concept is to the Internet, it pales in comparison to the danger it poses to our fundamental freedoms as Americans.

It is true that rogue web sites operating from off-shore havens, are stealing intellectual property and then selling it.

We already have very good laws against that, as evidenced by the arrest yesterday of Mr. Kim Schmitz and his associates in New Zealand, who now stand accused of operating one of the biggest of these rogue sites.

Theft of intellectual property is fundamentally no different than the theft of any other kind of property. It should be taken no less seriously than the thefts perpetrated by the likes of Bernie Madoff, John Dellinger or Willie Sutton.

It is no different and it should be treated no differently. In every such case, it is the individual who commits the theft and the individual who is culpable and accountable to the law. And it is the individual who is accorded the right of due process, including the presumption of innocence, while he stands accused.

This is what SOPA and PIPA destroy. Upon mere accusation, these measures would allow the government to shut down web sites, ruin honest businesses, impound property, disrupt legitimate speech and dragoon innocent third parties into enforcing laws that may or may not have been broken.

When property is stolen, we hold accountable the individuals who knowingly commit the act, and place the burden of proof on the accuser. The accuser must demonstrate to the satisfaction of a jury that the defendant stole property or that he received property that he knew was stolen.

Yes, it is a ponderous system. Yes, it means you actually have to provide evidence. Yes, it means you have to convince a jury. Yes, it means we can’t catch and successfully prosecute every criminal. But the experience of mankind over the centuries has proven that this is the best possible way to protect the innocent and to protect our freedom while also punishing the guilty. In part, we punish the guilty to discourage others we might not be able to punish.

And as the arrests yesterday in New Zealand prove, it works. Let Mr. Schmitz and his confederates be extradited and let them have their day in court. Let evidence be presented. Let a jury be convinced of that evidence. And if convicted of one of the greatest thefts in human history, let us mete out the full measure of punishment provided by the law to stand as a fearsome example to others.

That doesn’t and won’t stop all theft and it isn’t perfect. But to replace it with one where mere accusation can bring punishment or inflict ruinous costs upon innocent third parties, would introduce a despotic and destructive concept that is antithetical to the ancient rights that our government was formed to protect.

The developments of the last few weeks have saved the Internet and saved these fundamental principles – at least for now. But Jefferson was right that the natural order is for government to grow at the expense of liberty. That is why we have our Constitution.

And to the protection of that Constitution, the Internet has now empowered its rightful owners, “We, the People,” to defend it more effectively than ever before.

Which leads me, Madam Speaker, to conclude that because of the events of this past week, we will see many more victories for freedom in the days and years ahead.

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1.4 MILLION Gang Members And More Pour Into The United States

alpineski — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:28:42 +0000

A vast army of heavily armed criminals has embedded itself in every major city in the United States. In fact, nearly every community in America is now affected by these thugs. Drugs, theft and brutal violence are all part of the every day lifestyle of the members of this army. They aggressively recruit our young people and floods of illegal immigrants are joining their ranks.

Once civil unrest erupts in America, they will go on a crime spree that will be absolutely unprecedented and they will burn large areas of some U.S. cities to the ground. So who am I talking about? I am talking about the rapidly growing gangs that are terrorizing cities all over the nation. The FBI tells us that there are now 1.4 million gang members involved in the 33,000 different gangs that are active inside the United States. The number of gang members in the U.S. has increased by 40 percent since 2009. Just think about that. That is absolutely astounding. Just since 2009, the number of gang members has increased by 40 percent. The FBI says that 48 percent of all violent crime in this country can be directly traced to gangs and that this is a national crisis that is progressively getting worse. Unfortunately, the federal government refuses to secure our borders and is allowing new waves of illegal immigrants to enter the United States every single day. A substantial number of those illegal immigrants end up involved in these gangs. Yet the federal government just stands by and allows it to keep happening. One day, the foolishness of this policy will be evident to all.

In many areas of America today, families live behind windows that have bars on them and they won’t ever go out at night because it is just too dangerous. There are some communities that have pretty much been entirely taken over by the gangs, but instead of addressing the problem the federal government continues to spend a massive amount of resources checking out what might be in our underwear at U.S. airports.

Meanwhile, criminal gangs are thriving. They are becoming incredibly powerful and increasingly sophisticated. The following is from an FBI press release….

Gangs are increasingly engaging in non-traditional gang-related crime such as alien smuggling, human trafficking, and prostitution. Gangs are also engaging in white-collar crime such as counterfeiting, identity theft, and mortgage fraud.

You can find much more background information about gang activity in the United States from the FBI right here.

You have probably heard of some of the largest of these gangs.

For example, the 18th Street Gang is the largest gang in the state of California. It is said that they have 15,000 members in California alone, and that on average they are responsible for at least one major crime in Los Angeles County every single day.

It has been reported that police in Los Angeles are extremely hesitant to ever venture into the areas most heavily controlled by the 18th Street gang. They are absolutely brutal and they do not back down to anyone. The following is whatWikipedia has to say about the 18th Street Gang….

A US Justice Department report from 2009 estimates that the 18th Street gang has a membership of some 30,000 to 50,000 with 80% of them being illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America and is active in 44 cities in 20 states. Its main source of income is street-level distribution of cocaine and marijuana and, to a lesser extent, heroin and methamphetamine. Gang members also commit assault, auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, extortion, homicide, identification fraud, and robbery.

Another very prominent gang that you may have heard of is the Latin Kings. It is reported that they have 18,000 members in the city of Chicago alone. They are believed to be the largest Hispanic gang in the entire nation.

One of the gangs that has law enforcement authorities the most concerned is MS-13. There are chapters of MS-13 in 42 states now, and if you cross a member of MS-13 there is a good chance that you will lose a limb or be hacked to death with a machete.

This tough economic environment has made it even easier for these gangs to recruit new members. Today, there are way too many young people sitting around with nothing to do.

Back in the year 2000, more than 50 percent of all Americans teens had a job. This past summer, only 29.6% of all American teens had a job.

When you have lots of teens and young adults sitting around with nothing but time on their hands, bad things are prone to happen.

As the family unit continues to decline in America, young people are looking for a sense of belonging. For many youths, a gang becomes a new “family” for them.

But unfortunately, these new “families” do not exactly teach “family values”. Instead, they teach our young people about how to be brutal and violent.

And we are seeing evidence of this out on the streets every single day. For example, a group of 6 young thugs recently attacked a 64-year-old Vietnam veteran in Philadelphia and beat him up so badly that he almost died….

Kate Schaefer, the victim’s wife, told Eyewitness News, ‘They just smashed every bone in his face. I can’t tell you the words. I guess I was just happy that he was alive.’

During 2011, we saw a large increase in “group crime” behavior. Some of the incidents have been absolutely horrific. For example, the following is how one local ABC News affiliate described the “flash mob” attacks that took place at the Wisconsin state fair earlier this year….

Milwaukee police said that around 11:10 p.m., squads were sent to the area for reports of battery, fighting and property damage being caused by an unruly crowd of “hundreds” of people. One officer described it as a “mob beating.”

Police said the group of young people attacked fair goers who were leaving the fair grounds. Police said that some victims were attacked while walking. They said others were pulled out of cars and off of motorcycles before being beaten.

Can you imagine taking your kids to the state fair and having them witness that?

But this is just the beginning.

These gangs are becoming very organized and they are becoming very heavily armed.

The FBI says that rifles, machine guns, grenades and even artillery rounds are being found in the possession of gangs more frequently than ever.

Some examples of this were recently posted on military.com. These gangs seem to have a particular affection for AK-47s….

In late July, 27 AK-47s were stolen from a Fort Irwin warehouse, officials said. Those close to the case, who would speak only under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the subject, said investigators believe gang members were involved in the theft.

Sadly, that same article noted that members of the U.S. military have even been arrested for trying to sell weapons to these gangs….

In November 2010, three former Marines were arrested in Los Angeles for selling assault weapons to members of the violent street gang, Florencia 13, according to the NGIC report. That same month, a Navy Seal from San Diego and two others were arrested in Colorado for smuggling about 18 military-issued machine guns from Iraq and Afghanistan to be sold and shipped to buyers in Mexico.

Those that want to steal guns are becoming increasingly bold. For example, 21 machine guns were stolen a while back right out of an LAPD training facility.

Down in Miami, thieves have become so bold that they have actually beenbreaking into parked police cruisers and stealing guns and ammo out of them.

When people are stealing guns directly from the police, that is a sign that it is very late in the game.

Our politicians spend so much time talking about the violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the truth is that the area right along the U.S./Mexico border is far more dangerous.

Just check out the following information from CNSNews.com….

According to the Mexican government, from January through September 2011 2,276 deaths were recorded in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which borders Texas and New Mexico.

A Nov. 2011 Congressional Research Service (CRS) reportstates that over nearly the same period – January through October 2011 – 2,177 civilians were killed in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led war against the Taliban is underway. It did not provide a breakdown of responsibility for that period, but said that in 2010, 75 percent of civilian deaths were attributed to the Taliban and other “anti-government elements.”

Per capita, a person was at least nine times more likely to be murdered in Chihuahua last year than in Afghanistan.

Many of the areas along our border with Mexico are open war zones.

But do we hear about this much in the mainstream media?

Of course not.

Just across the U.S. border lies the city of Juarez, Mexico. Juarez is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities on the entire planet because of the brutal drug war being waged there. In fact, Juarez is the murder capital of the western hemisphere.

But most Americans have never even heard of Juarez.

Complete and total chaos reigns in vast areas of northern Mexico, and yet most Americans don’t even realize that there is a problem.

Overall, more than 35,000 people have been killed since the Mexican government declared war on the drug cartels back in 2006.

You would think that would warrant some significant news coverage.

But no, the mainstream media can’t talk much about that because then the people might actually start demanding that we secure our borders.

Amazingly, instead of securing our borders the Obama administration has been busy sending guns down to the drug cartels in Mexico.

That is what this whole “Fast and Furious” scandal is all about. As I have written about previously, ATF agents purposely allowed thousands of guns to be sold to individuals that they believed would get them into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

But so far, nobody in the Obama administration has been held accountable for this.

During 2009 and 2010, 70 percent of the 30,000 guns that were recovered by authorities in Mexico were determined to have come from inside the United States.

That is a major problem.

These Mexican drug cartels and the gangs that work with them have become very heavily armed and they have become very bold.

It has been reported that Mexican drug cartels are now openly conducting military operations inside the United States. Scouts for the cartels maintain strategic lookout bases in the hills of southern Arizona, and the federal government has even put up signs that warn tourists to say out of certain areas. The cartels very much try to avoid any confrontations with our border patrol or with our local police, but once they are approached they are not afraid to open fire.

One very frustrated border patrol agent told Fox News the following about what is going on in his area….

“To say that this area is out of control is an understatement.”

So how in the world can the federal government allow this to go on?

Well, a big part of it is that Barack Obama does not want to do anything that could scare away his Hispanic voters.

In fact, he is doing just about everything that he can to portray himself as “Hispanic-friendly”.

A few months ago, I wrote about how the Obama administration has announced that there will now be a case-by-case review of all deportation cases involving illegal immigrants. Those involving “criminals” will be prioritized and almost all the rest will be thrown out.

Yes, you read that correctly.

If you are an illegal immigrant and you have not been convicted of a crime that means that you almost certainly get to stay in this country.

So that is basically a big green light for even larger waves of illegal immigrants to enter this country.

That means that the ranks of the gangs will swell even more.

The chaotic drug war that is going on in northern Mexico has spread into many areas of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. With each passing day, the gangs that are embedded in all of our major cities are getting stronger. They are a ticking time bomb that eventually will go off.

One day, when mass civil unrest erupts in the United States, the gangs will have a field day. Given the opportunity, most gangs will gleefully indulge in brutal violence, looting, arson, rape and mindless property destruction.

Sadly, this all could have been avoided.

Instead of strip-searching old women at airports, this is what we should have been dedicating our law enforcement resources to.

Instead of spending billions of dollars spying on the American people, the federal government should have spent billions of dollars on securing our borders.

Unfortunately, we made the wrong choices as a nation and so now we are going to pay the price.

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‘Occupy Congress’ Shuts Down White House with Smoke Bomb

kalel — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:28:08 +0000

An Occupy Congress movement shut down the White House for one hour late Tuesday night with a smoke bomb thrown over the Pennsylvania Avenue fence.

White House

No one was injured, but White House personnel and reporters were prohibited from leaving the building for nearly an hour and then through a side entrance while security personnel investigated the incident. Robots were deployed to check for other devices.

President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were outside the White House facility at the time and returned under tight guard as the investigation was under way.

No arrests were made, but further away from the White House, police took four people into custody after a scuffle near the Capitol.

An estimated 1,000 protesters had gathered on the main artery to demonstrate against corporate influence in the government. Rally organizers had secured a permit that allowed up to 10,000 people to attend the rally.

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Is Coal de Minimus? The Problem with the Alabama Ethics Commission

kalel — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:46:08 +0000

In the wake of a number of corruption scandals, the Alabama legislature endeavored to reform their system by enacting tough ethics laws.

But does that mean that a student can no longer give a teacher a Christmas gift? For some students and parents in the Yellowhammer State, that may mean flirting with serious jail time, according to the state’s ethics commission.

Is it too late to return Christmas gifts?

In two opinions issued late last year, the commission explained at length that under the amended code “[t]he suggestion that it is harmless for a school child to give a Christmas gift to their teacher ignores the potential for abuse.” Although they explain that “common sense is also an important part of the equation,” the commission applies little in speculating that “there are subtle ways to attempt to influence official action.”

Section 36-25-7 states that one may not offer or give “anything for the purpose of corruptly influencing official action, regardless of whether or not the thing solicited or received is a thing of value” to a public official or employee, or to any members of that official or employee’s family. Likewise, the aforementioned parties cannot solicit or receive such things. The Alabama legislature added “corruptly” to the statute, and further clarified it by defining it as “to act voluntarily, deliberately, and dishonestly to either accomplish an unlawful end or result or to use an unlawful method or means to accomplish an otherwise lawful end or result.”

“It seems like the Ethics Commission’s opinion is disconnected from the letter of the underlying ethics law,” said Cameron Smith of the Alabama Policy Institute. “They are trying to provide more guidance than was originally requested,” he added.

The questions asked of the commission in October related to the definition of de minimus, to which the commission responded that they would not “arbitrarily establish an amount” but that “[t]he test is whether or not the item being given has any resale value or value to others.” Therefore, certain promotional items that are meant for “advertising, public relations, goodwill, etc.” are de minimus but “gifts such as turkeys or hams given as seasonal gifts, do have a monetary value.”

In the December opinion, the question related to vendors giving Christmas gifts to teachers, but the commission explicitly expanded it to include guidance for students giving to teachers, explaining the differences between personal gifts and gift for public offices, generally. It also provided a non-inclusive list of acceptable gifts, including fruit baskets, homemade cookies, coffee mugs filled with candy, ornaments, notebooks, and CDs or books “of a nominal value.”

In addition to creating yet another vague term on which to rely, “nominal value,” the Commission went on to speculate about a middle schooler who wants a better grade, or a college senior who wants to get into the Harvard Law School, and how these gifts might be their attempt to “corruptly influence[e]” a teacher.

According to Smith, the Ethics Commission’s opinions serve as guidance to attorneys and others who might want to rely on them.

To their credit, Governor Robert Bentley and the legislature have already started to work up some ways to remedy the problem. A change is sorely needed, because an “intentional” violation of the ethics code is a Class B felony, punishable by a minimum of two years and a maximum of 20 years imprisonment and up to $30,000 fine. A simple violation of the statute results in a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 1 year imprisonment and up to $6,000 fine.

Years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines for giving a Christmas gift? That’s a policy that even Scrooge wouldn’t endorse.

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Source material can be found at this site.

Georgia Judge Subpoenas Obama, Demands ALL Vital Records

kalel — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:56:02 +0000

In just ten days, Barack Hussein Obama will be held accountable to the American people after nearly four years of dodging our demands for his long-form birth certificate.

At stake: His citizenship eligibility to be President of the United States…

YOU READ THAT RIGHT. A Georgia Judge has issued what appears to be a subpoena demanding that our beloved Campaigner-in-Chief Barack Obama appear in court January 26 AND finally provide the American people with proper documentation proving his citizenship eligibility to be President of the United States…

Thanks to the continued support from you and your fellow American Patriots, we’ll FINALLY know the truth about the smoke-and-mirrors surrounding Obama’s birth, and, ultimately, his citizenship.

In an order written January 3, 2012, Malihi ruled that Georgia state law is very clear – any candidate for federal or state office must meet the qualifications of that office and that Georgia electors have the right to challenge those qualifications in court. As a result, Malihi flatly denied Obama’s motion to dismiss and scheduled a hearing for January 26.

Now, FINALLY, we can expose Barack Hussein Obama as a fraud forced upon America by the leftist fundraising lobby in order to shove Amnesty down our throats and throw our borders wide open.

In previous cases, only certain documents were requested or discussed. But Judge Malihi requests that the President bring every document that serious eligibility experts have been discussing from the beginning so we can one day very soon put this issue to rest.

Judge Malihi’s list requires Obama to produce each of the following:

Any and all certified birth records including a long form birth certificate.
Certified school/university registration records. Certified immigration/naturalization records.
Certified passport records.
Redacted certified Social Security card applications for each of the aliases and other legal names used by Barack Obama, including but not limited to his legal surname when adopted by step-father Lolo Soetoro.

Reportedly, Judge Malihi has also subpoenaed Hawaii Health Department officials and commanded them to produce an original certified copy of Obama’s long form birth certificate… a document which the White House has failed to produce time and time again despite the demands of concerned American Citizens.

Barack Hussein Obama’s million-dollar attorney’s, despite all of their hard-work, are at a loss of how to help him weasel his way out of this one.

The American people have caught him, and ALL of Washington knows it.

But this issue doesn’t rest with just proving without a doubt that Barack Obama is a liar and a socialist imposter. Oh no, this case will open the largest can of worms Washington has ever seen, because whether he was born in Hawaii or not, it can be compellingly argued under law that according to binding precedents laid out by the Supreme Court, Barack Hussein Obama II does not qualify as a natural born Citizen.

We know. It sounds too good to be true. But it is nothing but the truth, unlike the hogwash and all the talking points tossed out by the White House to try and pacify restless Citizens sick-and-tired of Washington’s manipulation with our borders and our economy.

A closer look at the U.S. Constitution shows a very clear requirement, in a unique usage and application of the term, that the president must be a “natural born Citizen” to be eligible for the nation’s highest office. And according to the Founding Fathers, a “Natural born Citizen” is distinct and different than “Citizen” and even “native born Citizen.”

By his own admission that his father was a Kenyan native and British subject, Barack Hussein Obama already does NOT meet the Constitutional standard of “natural born citizen” that was established by the 1875 unanimous Supreme Court ruling Minor v. Happersett.WHY? Because the Court decided very clearly in this case and in others that a “natural born Citizen” is one who is born on U.S. soil to U.S. citizen parents.

And as a Constitutional lawyer, Barack Hussein Obama knows he pulled a fast one on America in 2008, but WE THE PEOPLE will not let him get away with it this time around.

Barack Huseein Obama II is NOT a natural born citizen – and MUST be removed from the 2012 Presidential ballots in ALL FIFTY STATES.

And that’s where YOU AND I come in.

We cannot lose momentum with Georgia. We need tens of thousands of messages overwhelming the offices of every single Secretary of State, since THEY are the ones who are ultimately responsible for determining who qualifies to be on the ballot – and, of course, who doesn’t!

Right now, your fellow U.S. citizens are suing in courts across the country, demanding that their Secretaries of State REMOVE Obama’s name from the presidential ballot, thus preventing the Campaigner-in-Chief from running for re-election. But, right now we need to make our voices heard loud and clear across the entire United States – REMOVE BARACK OBAMA’S NAME FROM OUR BALLOTS!

FAILURE TO APPEAR ON THE GEORGIA BALLOT WOULD COST OBAMA DEVASTATING MEDIA, AND 15 ELECTORAL VOTES! BUT WHAT IF HE LOST THEM ALL…

It’s possible, but we need YOUR help.

As our Founding Fathers intended, it is the States which protect us from all out tyranny. The federal election in 2012 and the constitutional eligibility of the candidates is no different. In the end, OUR STATES are responsible for ensuring the eligibility of candidates and OUR STATES will protect us from the tyranny of a Presidential usurper.

OUR STATES MUST HEAR FROM US. THERE IS NOT A SECOND TO WASTE IN MAKING YOUR VOICE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR.

With primary season in full swing, time is running short. We MUST compel more states to follow Georgia’s lead and DEMAND PROOF OF ELIGIBILITY for ANY candidate placed on election ballots.

America cannot survive further trampling of our right to constitutionally eligible leadership. WE MUST ACT NOW!

For America,
Minuteman PAC

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)