Bar Of Integrity

China has developed its own operating system for cyber war with U.S.

2009-05-20T13:17:00Z

China has developed its own operating system for cyber war with U.S.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A leading cyber security specialist said last week that China has developed its own ultra-secure operating system for a strategic edge in its cyber warfare with U.S. computer systems.

Kevin G. Coleman, a specialist with the Technolytics Institute and consultant to the office of the Director of National Intelligence, said in congressional testimony that the United States is woefully unprepared to counter cyber attacks on its electronic infrastructures.

Part of the cyber arms race includes China’s creation of Kylin, a new "hardened" operating system. It began converting systems to it in 2007, according to the current edition of East-Asia-Intel.com.

“China’s military strategists view our dependence on space assets and information technology as ‘soft ribs’ and a strategic weakness,” Coleman told the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission.

“This action also made our offensive cyber capabilities ineffective against them, given the cyber weapons were designed to be used against Linux, UNIX and Windows,” he said.

Coleman said he recently planned to meet Chinese counterparts involved in electronic research, including the co-author of the alarming book, “Unrestricted Warfare” in which co-author Wang Xiangsui advocated all methods, including terrorism, to win future conflicts. However, China’s government blocked the meeting, due to their concerns about him.

Coleman also said the meeting was cancelled amid reports of Chinese scanning of the U.S. power grid and the discovery of a Chinese cyber spying network in 103 countries.

“It is my belief that this threat is real and we must take a proactive posture on acts of cyber aggression and espionage,” he said. “For over two decades, China has been attempting to do what the Soviet Union never accomplished — covertly acquire Western technology, then use it to move ahead of the West.”

Coleman said cyber spying is a serious and evolving threat “that requires immediate attention.” One academic study concluded that sophisticated computer attacks have been "devastatingly effective" and that "few organizations, outside the defense and intelligence sector, could withstand such an attack," he said.

Coleman also noted that the U.S. government has been unable to determine when a cyber attack constitutes an act of war.

Obama brother accused of UK sex assault on a minor

2009-04-12T02:17:00Z

NewsOfTheWorld

AMERICAN president Barack Obama's half brother was REFUSED a visa to enter the UK after being accused of an attempted sex attack on a young girl in Berkshire.

The News of the World can reveal that Kenya-based Samson Obama tried to get into Britain on his way to Washington for his family's big day, the historic inauguration in January.

But eagle-eyed immigration officials at East Midlands Airport, using the latest biometric tests, discovered he was linked to an incident here last November. The hi-tech database revealed that Samson -who manages a mobile phone shop just outside Nairobi-was the same man arrested by British police after he approached a group of young girls, including a 13 year-old, and allegedly tried to sexually assault one of them.

BIG DAY: Obama is sworn in BIG DAY: Obama is sworn in

He then followed them into a cafe where he became aggressive and was asked to leave by the owner. That's when police were called and Samson was arrested.

He supplied officers with his mother's address in Bracknell but gave them a false ID, claiming to be Henry Aloo, a genuine asylum seeker.

Mum Kezia, 67, has lived in Bracknell for six years. She married the US president's father Barack Obama Snr in Kenya when she was a teenager.

Following Samson's arrest he was fingerprinted but not charged, then left the country. However, all his details were stored on the Home Office's new database of prints and biometric details. And that's what finally pinpointed Samson's link to the world's most powerful leader-as he tried to slip back into Britain to visit relatives en route to the swearing-in ceremony.

The White House was informed and a Home Office source told the News of the World: "This was obviously an extremely sensitive issue when it was flashed up by the database.

"But the system is designed to flag up people who have come to the attention of the police in the UK and are then trying to return."

It is thought that Samson-one of the President's 11 half brothers and sisters by his father who had four partners-managed to travel on to Washington by boarding a connecting flight to the US from East Midlands.

He was able to do so despite not having a UK visa because he remained in transit and never left the airport. A stewardess from nearby Nottingham told her local newspaper how she met him on his flight to America. Dawn Stewart, of Sherwood, described how Samson told her his nickname was Abo and said he was on his way to the US capital for the presidential swearing-in.

She recalled: "I asked him how he feels being the brother of the next president and he said, 'I can't tell you the depth of excitement we feel.'

"I asked what Barack was like as a teenager and he said he was always charismatic and calm."

The flight attendant said Samson claimed he had never travelled before and proudly showed her a headed letter from his half-brother requesting his three-week visa to the USA.

Last night a Home Office spokesman confirmed Samson Obama was refused a visa after immigration officers noticed one of the documents he supplied with his visa application was false. That led to further inquiries.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "We consider all visa applications based on their merits. We will oppose the entry of individuals to the UK where we believe their presence is not conducive to the public good.

"The UK's border controls are among the toughest in the world. All visa applicants are fingerprinted and checked against watchlists. Using this hi-tech system we have detected more than 5,600 attempts to use false identities since December 2007.

"Our officers in 135 countries are working with law enforcement agencies and airlines to clamp down on forged passports and visas."

OBAMA HAS NOT MET HIS BURDEN OF PROVING HE WAS BORN IN HAWAII

2008-12-31T13:33:00Z

By now, many of us know about the Certification of Live Birth (COL that Obama posted on the internet in June 2008 as proof that he was born in Hawaii. This document was touted by fightthesmears.com and factcheck.org as sufficient proof that he was born in Hawaii. Later on we learned about Hawaiian law in effect at the time of Obama's birth that allowed parents or guardians of babies born in a foreign country to register the foreign births in Hawaii and to receive a COLB as evidence of that registration. We also learned that only the original Certificate of Live Birth (BC), issued by the birth hospital, provides, among other things, the name of the hospital where a baby was born and the name of the attending physician that delivered the baby. We learned that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (a state agency that happens to detail the difference) states:

In order to process your application, DHHL utilizes information that is found only on the original Certificate of Live Birth, which is either black or green. This is a more complete record of your birth than the Certification of Live Birth (a computer-generated printout). Submitting the original Certificate of Live Birth will save you time and money since the computer-generated Certification requires additional verification by DHHL.

After learning this information many concerned Americans had doubts about whether the COLB was sufficient proof that Obama was in fact born in Hawaii. But apart from the lax Hawaii law, there is another important point to understand about the COLB.

If one reads the document, one will see that at the bottom it states: "This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding."

Source: FightTheSmears

The important words here are "prima facie evidence." "Prima facie" is a Latin phrase meaning "on its first appearance" or "by first instance." It is evidence which is adequate, if not invalidated, to confirm a particular intention or fact. It is evidence that is sufficient to raise a presumption of fact or to establish the fact in question unless rebutted. A prima facie case may be insufficient to enable a party to prevail if the opposing party introduces contradictory evidence. In other words, it basically means that on the face of it or on the surface there is enough evidence to prove the alleged fact, unless and until the alleged fact is contradicted.

What does all this mean? Obama has presented his COLB as proof that he was born in Hawaii. That document itself states that it is only "prima facie" evidence of that fact. As we have seen under the definition of "prima facie," the presumption that the fact exists fails when evidence contradicting that fact is presented. When evidence contradicting the alleged fact is presented, the interested party needs to present other competent evidence to prove the existence of that alleged fact. If he fails to do so, the alleged fact is not proven, even if the opposing party produces no further evidence.

Many concerned Americans have provided the public domain with evidence which contradicts the COLB's statement that Obama was born in Hawaii. They have presented the following:

- the existence of the lax Hawaiian law that existed at the time Obama was born which allowed parents to register their foreign born babies in Hawaii;

- Obama's grandmother's statement that her grandson was born in Kenya and that she was present during that birth;

- the Kenya Ambassador to the United States, Peter N.R.O. Ogego, confirmed on November 6, 2008 during a radio interview with Detroit radio talk-show hosts Mike Clark, Trudi Daniels, and Marc Fellhauer on WRIF's "Mike In the Morning," that "President-Elect Obama" was born in Kenya and that his birth place was already a "well-known" attraction;

- the conflicting statements of Obama and his sister concerning in which Hawaiian hospital he was born;

- the failure of any Hawaiian hospital to confirm that Obama and/or his mother were present in any such hospital at the time of Obama's alleged birth in Honolulu;

- Director of Hawaiian Department of Heath, Fukino, said she has “personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures," but she failed to say that the certificate shows that Obama was born in Hawaii;

- fightthesmears.com's and factcheck.org's current silence on the issue;

- the lack of any other corroborating document showing that Obama was born in Hawaii;

- the refusal of Obama to release for inspection his past documents (college and law school records and passports) which would shed some light as to where he was born;

- the failure of Obama to declare publicly after his COLB has been put into question that he was born in Hawaii;

- and Obama relying on state privacy laws to block the release of a certified copy of his birth certificate.

This mountain of contradictory evidence is sufficient to cause the prima facie presumption of the COLB to fall. Obama therefore now has the burden to come forward with competent evidence to prove that he was born in Hawaii. To date, he has failed to come forward with that evidence. Hence, under these circumstances, how can the American people in good faith conclude that Obama was born in Hawaii which makes him a "natural born Citizen" and therefore eligible to be President? How can Obama in good conscious take the oath to be President on January 20th when so many Americans have put forward all this contradictory evidence regarding where he was born and he refuses to come forward with any other convincing evidence (like a certified copy of his original birth certificate) showing that he was born in Hawaii? Obama should do the right thing for everyone's sake and produce the evidence of where he was born.

Does Barack Obama Sing the Tiger Song?

2008-12-21T16:43:00Z

Does Barack Obama Sing the Tiger Song?

Nadhmi Auchi and Saddam Hussein

How many have heard of Nadhmi Auchi? Why are we not hearing more about him?

Nadhmi Auchi was born in 1937. He is an Iraqi born British-resident and Britain's 22nd wealthiest individual.

Nadhmi Auchi co-conspired with fellow Baathist Saddam Hussein in 1959 to assassinate then Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. Rezko and Obama are both financially connected to him.

MSNBC reports that Nadhmi Auchi had helped Orascom (which owns Djezzy GSM), owned by Onsi Sawiris, gain a contract to set-up mobile phone networks in post-Saddam's Iraq.

As per Orascom's annual report, page 65, Huawei Technologies is listed as a subsidiary of Orascom.

NATO code-named Huawei network's “Tiger Song”.

The Huawei network was used to shoot down allied aircraft flying patrol over the Iraqi skies.

The network was installed in violation of an U.N. embargo. Worse still, the air defense network was paid for by the corrupt oil-for-food program which sent cash to Huawei that was intended to feed starving Iraqi children.

So why would Barack Hussein Obama know anything about a "Tiger Song"?

The Times Online UK reported in February 2008:

Excerpt:

Court papers describe Mr Rezko as a close friend of Mr Auchi, although Mr Auchi disputes this. The two are involved in a large Chicago land development together. But it is unclear how long the two men have known each other or whether they were linked before the 2003 Iraq war. Neither side would discuss their relationship.
The Times has, however, discovered state documents in Illinois recording that Fintrade Services, a Panamanian company, lent money to Mr Obama’s fundraiser in May 2005.

Fintrade’s directors include Ibtisam Auchi, the name of Mr Auchi’s wife.

3Com Gets Around CFIUS Ruling

Chinese Takeover Bid of 3Com Fails

China's Huawei suffers setback as US IT deal stalls

Got Norton? Get Rid of It!

New Zawahiri message addresses Obama election‏

2008-11-19T14:08:00Z

Laura Mansfield has translated a new message from Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri. The audio can be downloaded from her site.

In the Name of Allah, and all Praise is due to Allah, and Prayers and Peace on the Messenger of Allah and on his family, Companions and allies.

Muslim brothers everywhere: Peace be upon you and the Mercy of Allah and His blessings. As for what comes after:

Barack Obama has won the presidency of the United States of America, and on this occasion, I would like to send several messages.

First, a message of congratulations to the Muslim Ummah on the American people's admission of defeat in Iraq. Although the evidence of America's defeat in Iraq appeared years ago, Bush and his administration continued to be stubborn and deny the brilliant midday sun. If Bush has achieved anything, it is in his transfer of America's disaster and predicament to his successor. But the American people, by electing Obama, declared its anxiety and apprehension about the future towards which the policy of the likes of Bush is leading it, and so it decided to support someone calling for withdrawal from Iraq.

The second of these messages is to the new president of the United States. I tell him: you have reached the position of president, and a heavy legacy of failure and crimes awaits you. A failure in Iraq to which you have admitted, and a failure in Afghanistan to which the commanders of your army have admitted. The other thing to which I want to bring your attention is that what you've announced about how you're going to reach an understanding with Iran and pull your troops out of Iraq to send them to Afghanistan is a policy which was destined for failure before it was born. It appears that you don't know anything about the Muslim Ummah and its history, and the fate of the traitors who cooperated with the invaders against it, and don't know anything about the history of Afghanistan and its free and defiant Muslim people. And if you still want to be stubborn about America's failure in Afghanistan, then remember the fate of Bush and Pervez Musharraf, and the fate of the Soviets and British before them. And be aware that the dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands to them.

As for the crimes of America which await you, it appears that you continue to be captive to the same criminal American mentality towards the world and towards the Muslims. The Muslim Ummah received with extreme bitterness your hypocritical statements to and stances towards Israel, which confirmed to the Ummah that you have chosen a stance of hostility to Islam and Muslims.

You represent the direct opposite of honorable black Americans like Malik al-Shabazz, or Malcolm X (may Allah have mercy on him). You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America. And so you promised to back Israel, and you threatened to strike the tribal regions in Pakistan, and to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, in order for the crimes of the American Crusade in it to continue. And last Monday, your aircraft killed 40 Afghan Muslims at a wedding party in Kandahar. As for Malik al-Shabazz (may Allah have mercy on him), he was born to a black pastor killed by white bigots, but Allah favored him with guidance to Islam, and so he prided himself on his fraternity with the Muslims, and he condemned the crimes of the Crusader West against the weak and oppressed, and he declared his support for peoples resisting American occupation, and he spoke about the worldwide revolution against the Western power structure.

That's why it wasn't strange that Malik al-Shabazz (may Allah have mercy on him) was killed, while you have climbed the rungs of the presidency to take over the leadership of the greatest criminal force in the history of mankind and the leadership of the most violent Crusade ever against the Muslims.

And in you and in Colin Powell, Rice and your likes, the words of Malcolm X (may Allah have mercy on him) concerning "House Negroes" are confirmed.

You also must appreciate, as you take over the presidency of America during its Crusade against Islam and Muslims, that you are neither facing individuals nor organizations, but are facing a Jihadi awakening and renaissance which is shaking the pillars of the entire Islamic world; and this is the fact which you and your government and country refuse to recognize and pretend not to see.

As for the third message, it is to the Muslim Ummah. I tell it: America, the criminal, trespassing Crusader, continues to be the same as ever, so we must continue to harm it, in order for it to come to its senses, because its criminal, expansionist Crusader project in your lands has only been neutralized by the sacrifices of your sons, the Mujahideen. This, then, is the path, so stick to it.

As for the fourth message, it is to the lions of Islam, the Mujahideen. I tell them: may Allah reward you in the best way for your historic heroics, which have ruined America's plans and rendered its projects ineffective. So be firm and resolute. Your enemy's stagger has begun, so don't stop hitting him.

And I say to my brothers the Mujahideen in Iraq in general and the Islamic State of Iraq in particular, and to its Amir, the towering mountain Abu 'Umar al-Baghdadi: your enemy has admitted defeat, and the forthcoming stage is expected to be dominated by conspiracies and betrayals in order to cover the American withdrawal, so you must persevere, for victory is in an hour of perseverance.

And I tell my brothers, the lions of Islam in Somalia: rejoice in victory and conquest. America is gathering its wounds in Iraq, and Ethiopia is looking for a way out, and for this reason, the stage of conspiracies and machinations has begun. So hold tightly to the truth for which you have given your lives, and don't put down your weapons before the Mujahid state of Islam and Tawheed has been set up in Somalia.

And I tell all Mujahideen everywhere: the Hubal of the age has begun to falter and recede, and Allah has granted you success and honored you by making you the most important cause of that, so be resolute on the path of Jihad until you meet your Lord while He is pleased with you.

And my fifth message is to all the world's weak and oppressed. I tell them: America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always. And the Mujahideen of Islam, by the grace of Allah, continue to be the spearhead of the resistance against it to restrain it from injustice, aggression and arrogance.

As for my final message, it is to the American people. I tell it: you incurred defeat and losses from the foolish actions of Bush and his gang, and at the same time, Shaykh Usama bin Ladin (may Allah preserve him) sent you a message to withdraw from the lands of the Muslims and refrain from stealing their treasures and interfering in their affairs. So choose for yourself whatever you like, and bear the consequences of your choice, and as you judge, you will be judged.

And our final prayer is that all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace on our Master Muhammad and his family and Companions.

Barack Obama - Daniel Amon - SSS.gov - Many Questions

2008-11-14T14:02:00Z

:eeeebbbiiieee:::

I couldn't log into your blog to leave a comment. So I'm sending out a track back to you.

Track Back -
Helloooo Debbie!:

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2008/11/exclusive_did_n.html

Did President-elect Barack Hussein Obama commit a federal crime in September of this year? Or did he never actually register and, instead, did friends of his in the Chicago federal records center, which maintains the official copy of his alleged Selective Service registration commit the crime for him?

...

As the retired federal agent notes:

Having worked for the Federal Government for several decades, I know that the standardization of DLNs have the first two digits of the DLN representing the year of issue. That would mean that this DLN was issued in 2008. The DLN on the computer screen printout is the exact same number, except the 0 and 8 have changed positions making it a 1980 DLN number. And 1980 is the year Senator/President Elect Obama is said to have timely registered. So, why does the machine-stamped DLN reflect this year (2008) and the DLN in the database (which was manually input) reflect a "corrected" DLN year of 1980? Were all the DLNs issued in 1980 erroneously marked with a 2008 DLN year or does the Selective Service use a different DLN system then the rest of the Federal Government? Or was the SSS Form 1 actually processed in 2008 and not 1980?

...

Excerpt

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paging Daniel Amon! Paging Daniel Amon! What did you know and when did you know it!

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-did-obama-actually-register-for-selective-service/2/

“It is a rumor that the Obama campaign has chosen to ignore despite numerous requests, and it is a rumor that even Snopes couldn’t seem to confirm or deny definitively. After contacting the Selective Service System for an answer several times since late June, Pajamas Media obtained official confirmation from the Selective Service System via email that Barack Obama did indeed register for the Selective Service as required by law, and is eligible to run for the presidency.

Mr. Owens,

Barack Hussein Obama registered at a post office in Hawaii. The effective registration date was September 4, 1980. His registration number is 61-1125539-1.

Daniel Amon
"Public Affairs Specialist”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel Amon? Boy, you sure have a lot to say when it comes to draft issues. Who are you?

I can’t seem to find a Daniel Amon with the SSS.gov. I see him quoted as a spokesperson often in KOS type forums and articles.

BUT, I was able to find a Daniel Amon, a Project Manager with Art-Z Graphics. Art-Z Graphics also does contract work for the SSS.gov.

See for example:

http://www.sss.gov/PDFs/SSS_Annual_ReportFY04.pdf www.sss.gov/PDFs/SSS_Annual_ReportFY04.pdf Page 2, Footer, in ‘invisible ink’.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Art-Z+Graphics+Daniel+Amon&btnG=Google+Search

[PDF] SSS Annual Report 2004FINAL.inddFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Military Selective Service Act, Section 10(g). Cover Design and Layout, Laurie Zaleski and Neal Dallmer of Art-Z Graphics. Project manager, Dan Amon. ...
www.sss.gov/PDFs/SSS_Annual_ReportFY04.pdf - Similar pages

US Supreme Court awaits response to Berg Writ of Certiorari from Obama, DNC and co-defendants

2008-11-10T13:05:00Z

US Supreme Court awaits response to Berg Writ of Certiorari from Obama, DNC and co-defendants

U. S. SUPREME COURT AWAITS RESPONSE TO
BERG'S WRIT OF CERTIORARI
FROM OBAMA, DNC and Co-DEFENDANTS

(Contact information and PDF at end)

(Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania – 11/07/08) - Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States filed a Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on October 30, 2008, requesting review of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge Surrick’s Dismissal of Philip J. Berg’s lawsuit against Barack H. Obama, Jr., the DNC and the other co-Defendants. Accordingly, the U. S. Supreme Court has set dates in which Barack Obama, the DNC and all co-Defendants are to respond to the Writ, which is on or before December 1, 2008.

Mr. Berg remarked today, “I look forward to receiving Defendant Obama's response to the Writ and am hopeful the U. S. Supreme Court will review Berg v. Obama. I believe Mr. Obama is not a constitutionally-qualified natural-born citizen and is ineligible to assume the office of President of the United States.”

Mr. Berg’s case, Berg vs. Obama was dismissed from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Docket # 08-cv-4083 for lack of standing. Mr. Berg filed a Writ of Certiorari for review of the case and an injunction to stay the election pending review. Justice Souter denied the injunction. It is expected that the Court will decide whether or not to review Berg v. Obama after the Defendants file their response, and Mr. Berg has replied to the Defendant’s response.

The Defendants' response is due by December 1^st and Mr. Berg's reply will be submitted thereafter.

# # #

Philip J. Berg, Esquire
555 Andorra Glen Court, Suite 12
Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-2531
Cell (610) 662-3005
(610) 825-3134
(800) 993-PHIL [7445]
Fax (610) 834-7659
philjberg@obamacrimes.com

http://obamacrimes.com/attachments/052_Obama%20Press%20Release%20%2011%2007%202008%20-%20US%20Supreme%20Court%20awaits%20response%20to%20Berg%20writ%20of%20certiorari%20from%20obama%20et%20al.pdf
Obama Press Release 11 07 2008 - US Supreme Court awaits response to Berg writ

Related:

Technical Default! Barack Hussein Obama is Not Qualified to Hold Office of POTUS!

Barack Nate Dhalani

Cite the Source

2008-11-03T14:06:00Z

Blogs are a wonderful vehicle. They are the true competition that the MSM needs. Blogs are still in their early stage. Already we have the option of threading satellite radio.

Blogs lose credibility fast though when authors don't cite their source. That irresponsibility leaves the blogosphere open to being nothing more then a rumor mill.

I was reading a blog piece by Bob Lonsberry this morning. I wanted to know what his source was for his piece he wrote on Voting for a True American. Bob Lonsberry asked me if I had access to a computer or library. Well, I do. Even bookstores. I like to go straight to the source. So allow me to share the information I have from the source, John McCain.

John McCain wrote Chapter 59 as a contribution to Ron Steinman's The Soldier Story, Vietnam in their Own Words.

So Bob Lonsberry, allow me to show you my computer and citing skills.

From Page 256:

From Page 258:

Barack Nate Dhalani

2008-11-01T12:01:00Z

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-paedce/case_no-2:2009cv01898/case_id-302150/
New Lawsuit Filed Against Orly Taitz and Ed Hale

For all of you correspondence school (coughs) attorneys, this is called an INJUNCTION. A federally issued INJUNCTION. That covers internet.

REMOVE my site from drorlytaitzesq immediately

The news services are running an interpretation of a statement made by Hawaii's Department of Health stating that Director Chiyome Fukino reviewed Barack Obama's birth certification and he was born in Hawaii.

This is not what Director Chiyome Fukino said.

Her quote which can be reviewed at Hawaii's KGMB news is as follows:

"State law (Hawai'i Revised Statutes §338-18) prohibits the release of a certified birth certificate to persons who do not have a tangible interest in the vital record," said DOH Director Chiyome Fukino.

"Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai'i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai'i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama's original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures."

So why does this quote not verify that Obama was born in Hawaii? Because all it says is the certificate is on record.

Years ago, Hawaii allowed for a Certification of Live Birth document to be recorded well after the birth of a foreign born individual. That is a person not born in Hawaii.

In 1960, according to the US census, well over a third of Hawaii residents were of Asian origin/ancestry. At that time there were many individuals who lived in Hawaii who were not born in the US let alone in Hawaii. Whites - Caucasian (Haole) were less than a third of the population. There were less than 5000 blacks (at that time the description was Negro).

The birth of a mixed black/white child would have been a notable event. Hawaii was less than half the size it is today. Director Chiyome Fukino should be asked what the Certification of Live Birth document in 1961 looks like in both size and types of information. A COLB document created for a person born in Hawaii 1961 should have at least five signatures (Doctors,etc) on it plus hospital location, etc. etc. A genuine copy, at that time, would be a black background document with white lettering.

Related:

Technical Default! Barack Hussein Obama is Not Qualified to Hold Office of POTUS!

Technical Default! Barack Hussein Obama is Not Qualified to Hold Office of POTUS!

2008-10-21T12:41:00Z

Unless the Obama Campaign applies for a withdrawal of admission and shows GOOD CAUSE, as of today, October 21, 2008, the Obama Campaign has legally admitted that Barack Hussein Obama is ineligible to hold the office of Presidency. Full coverage of this court proceeding can be read here: http://www.americasright.com/

Below is today's legal admission!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Berg: Due to Procedure, Obama and DNC Admit all Allegations

According to Rule 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party upon whom requests for admissions have been served must respond, within 30 days, or else the matters in the requests will be automatically deemed conclusively admitted for purposes of the pending action.

On September 15, as part of his federal lawsuit contending that the Illinois senator is ineligible, pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, to serve as president of the United States, Philadelphia attorney Philip Berg served Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee with just such a request. Soon thereafter, on October 6, Barack Obama and the DNC acknowledged service in their motion for protective order, filed in an attempt to persuade the court to stay discovery. The Federal Rules require that a response to a request for admissions be served within the 30-day time limit, and Barack Obama and the DNC have not done so.

Therefore, this morning, amidst news reports that Barack Obama will be suspending his campaign for a few days so he can fly to Hawaii to visit his grandmother, who has suddenly fallen ill, Philip Berg will file two motions in district court in Philadelphia:

A motion requesting an immediate order deeming his request for admissions served upon Barack Obama and the DNC on September 15 admitted by default, and

A motion requesting an expedited ruling and/or hearing on Berg’s motion deeming the request for admissions served upon Obama and the DNC admitted.

Berg contends that the failure to respond and serve the response within the time limit is “damning,” and made two appearances overnight on Rollye James’ talk radio program, the second one coming shortly after midnight, during which he disclosed the meat of today’s filings and the legal and political ramifications of the defendants’ failure to respond.

“They did not file answers or objections or anything else to the request for admissions we served upon them on September 15,” Berg said to me shortly before midnight, noting that Obama and the DNC did in fact acknowledge service of the admission in their motion for protective order. “They knew the admissions were due. They knew they must object or answer specifically in 30 days. Here, they did nothing.”

Typically, requests can be used to ascertain three types of information: (1) the veracity of facts, (2) the authenticity of documents, or (3) the “application of law to fact.” Pretty much anything not privileged is fair game, and while the idea behind such a request is to obtain information, requests for admissions of facts and of the genuine nature of documents are generally not designed as a part of discovery, per se, but rather more of a mechanism used to whittle down proof later in the proceedings.

Unless permitted by the court or allowed pursuant to a written agreement between the parties, the party served with the request must serve a response within 30 days. How serious is a failure to respond? This, from PreTrial, by Thomas A. Mauet:

The automatic provision of Rule 36 makes it a formidable weapon because inertia or inattentiveness can have an automatic, and usually devastating, consequence. Hence, there is one cardinal rule for practice under this provision: Make sure you respond and serve the response within the 30-day period.

Given the “usually devastating” consequence of failure to respond in time to a request for admissions such as those served upon Obama and the DNC on September 15, just what were some of the admissions that Berg asserts Barack Obama and the DNC have, at least procedurally, admitted to?

Admit you were born in Kenya.
Admit you are a Kenya “natural born” citizen.
Admit your foreign birth was registered in the State of Hawaii.
Admit your father, Barrack Hussein Obama, Sr., admitted Paternity of you.
Admit your mother gave birth to you in Mombosa, Kenya.
Admit your mother’s maiden name is Stanley Ann Dunham a/k/a Ann Dunham.
Admit the COLB [Certification of Live Birth] posted on the website “Fightthesmears.com” is a forgery.
Admit you were adopted by a Foreign Citizen.
Admit you were adopted by Lolo Soetoro, M.A. a citizen of Indonesia.
Admit you were not born in Hawaii.
Admit you are a citizen of Indonesia.
Admit you never took the “Oath of Allegiance” to regain your U.S. Citizenship status.
Admit you are not a “natural born” United States citizen.
Admit your senior campaign staff is aware you are not a “natural born” United States Citizen.
Admit the United States Constitution does not allow for a Person to hold the office of President of the United States unless that person is a “natural born” United States citizen.
Admit you are ineligible pursuant to the United States Constitution to serve as President and/or Vice President of the United States.

There are, however, several options for Barack Obama and the DNC at this point. The first, and most obvious, is the argument that pursuant to Rule 26(f), a request for admission may only be served after the conference for the purpose of planning discovery detailed under that rule, and therefore the 30-day time limit on Berg’s request has not yet begun. Here, though, Berg could feasibly argue either that the request for admissions is not a true discovery mechanism and is actually meant to streamline the future need for discovery, or that the defendants’ acknowledged service of the request in their October 6 motion for protective order and failed, at that time, to specifically object or answer. The second option for the defense, still easily foreseen, is that Obama and the DNC could file a motion to withdraw admissions which have been deemed admitted.

In order to file a motion to withdraw admissions deemed admitted by default, a party must show

(1) “good cause” regarding why there was no response and
(2) that such a motion to withdraw would not cause undue prejudice to the plaintiff. Here, Berg could contend that Obama and the DNC failed to meet those standards, that they cannot show “good cause” for failing to answer or object, and that withdrawing the admissions would cause undue prejudice.

Still, for Berg, the issue is clear. He simply wanted answers or objections, he said, and instead received nothing. Rule 36, according to Berg, is fairly cut-and-dry.

“It all comes down to the fact that there’s nothing from the other side,” Berg said. “The admissions are there. By not filing the answers or objections, the defense has admitted everything. He admits he was born in Kenya. He admits he was adopted in Indonesia. He admits that the documentation posted online is a phony. And he admits that he is constitutionally ineligible to serve as president of the United States.”

http://www.americasright.com/

Duncan Hunter Campaigns for former King County sheriff Dave Reichert

2008-10-20T14:10:00Z

Duncan Hunter Campaigns for former King County sheriff Dave Reichert - Meets a Great Hunter's Ranger

By Pissant

Duncan Hunter came to Washington State yesterday (saturday) to campaign for fellow republican, and former King County sheriff Dave Reichert. Reichert is running for his third term in congress and his opponent (for the 2nd time) is a typical dingbat liberal, anti war democrat.

Two events were scheduled. The first was a simple meet in greet at a park in the small town of Orting. The 2nd was a $1000/head event at someone's home in the swanky neighborhood of Medina. OF course, I chose the former for my opportunity to meet the retiring Hunter and to throw a few shekels in the kitty for Reicherts re-election.

The Orting event was scheduled for 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Unfortunately, Hunter's plane was delayed and he did not arrive until about 2:20. So we chit chatted with some of the people at the park and let the took the kids to lunch and let them play in the play area.

When Hunter finally arrived (about 10 mins ahead of Reichert) I was the first to greet him. I told him who I was (that pissant guy on FR) and he seemed genuinely happy to finally meet me. We had talked a couple of times on the phone - once when I set up his FreeRepublic virtual press conference last year, and then again when I called his office a couple weeks ago to urge him to vote NO on the boondoggle bailout. (As an aside, there was little doubt he would vote no, but I was delighted to catch him in his office and talked to him for about 20 minutes anyway).

After I introduced myself, I pointed to my wife and two young daughters who had accompanied me to this event. He marched right up to them and introduced himself to each of them, grinning ear to ear. (My poor wife has had to listen to me rant and rave for the last year and a half about how the GOP was ignoring this great patriot during the primary...lol).

He then mingled with the 60 or so people that were still around, including Hunter's NW campaign coordinator and a man I know - Craig Keller. He signed quite a few of the black, made in USA "Hunter" caps that Craig had brought along - which had been sold for donations to Reichert. I beleive Craig was agreed to send the remaining stock o hats down to Duncan D. Hunter for his campaign in San Diego to take the his man's place.

I also had him sign my Hunter cap to my oldest daughter.

Despite the nippy weather - which Hunter said he wasn't used to being from San Diego, he seemed genuinely happy to meet the folks. Several vets introduced themselves. Hunter commented that the area looked like prime hunting land. Oriting is a rural town in east Pierce county and beautiful Mount Ranier seems within reach.

After a few local candidates spoke for about 5 minutes each, Craig introduced Congressman Hunter. He took the mic and spoke for about 20 minutes. He mostly extolled the virtues of Congressman Reichert. He mentioned quite emphatically that both he and Reichert fought against the "socialist" bailout, and voted NO both times, despite the armtwisting going on behind the scenes.

Hunter also talked about how the "arsenal of democracy" was being offshored and how he and Reichert helped scuttle the Airbus deal for the 40 billion re-fueling tanker project. Hunter went into more detail about the importance of keeping US industries strong, especially in the defense sector. He had harsh words for China and those that want to appease them.

He closed by recalling the 1981 Reagan inauguration, and said quoting or paraphrasing the Gipper who stated "looking West from the Capitol steps, you can see the Washington Monument, built for the father of our Country. Farther West, you can see the Jefferson Memorial, dedicate to the author of the Declaration of Independence. And further west still, you see the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated to the man who saved the Union. But beyond them, you see the most precious reminder of all - the thousands of crosses atop the graves of those buried at Arlington Cemetary, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their nation".

Hunter then recounted the story Reagan told about the WWI sodier, Martin Treptow, who was killed during his first week of combat. They had found his diary, and paraphrasing, it read "‘My Pledge - America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone’.”

Hunter urged us to act as if the future of this election and the future of our great country depended on each of us alone.

The crowd hung on every word and gave him multiple, enthusiastic rounds of applause.

Hunter then introduced Dave Reichert who also spoke for about 20 minutes. But I was busy chasing after my daughters and keeping them occupied so I missed most of his speech.

Afterwards, the folks crowded around Hunter. I'm sure many felt the same as I did. That the opportunity to get this rock ribbed, Reaganite patriot - the man who should be CIC - nominated, had been wasted.

ICE investigation helps bring Colombian FARC terrorists to U.S. on terrorism and drug charges

2008-10-13T02:38:00Z

ICE investigation helps bring Colombian FARC terrorists to U.S. on terrorism and drug charges

WASHINGTON, DC - A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation resulted in the extradition of two Colombian citizens from the Republic of Colombia this week. Both made their initial appearances in federal court on terrorism and drug charges related to their alleged involvement with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), a designated foreign terrorist organization in Colombia.

Jose Maria Corredor-Ibague, 42, a/k/a "Boyaco," and Carolina Yanave-Rojas, 34, a/k/a "Edilma Morales Loaiza," a/k/a "La Negra," were arraigned late yesterday in federal court and are scheduled to have a detention hearing tomorrow.

"The passage of new narco-terrorism legislation has armed the federal government with additional tools to protect our homeland," said Julie L. Myers, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE. "The charges brought against Corredor-Ibague should serve as a warning to those engaged in terrorism and narco-trafficking - the U.S. will find you, seek your extradition, and bring you to justice."

Corredor-Ibague is charged with one count of engaging in drug trafficking with the intent to provide something of pecuniary value to a terrorist organization, or narco-terrorism. Corredor-Ibague was the first person in the nation to be indicted under this narco-terrorism statute, which became law in March 2006.

He is also charged in the indictment with one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, with the intent to import the cocaine into the United States. If convicted of both counts, Corredor-Ibague faces a sentence ranging from a mandatory minimum of 20 years to a maximum of life imprisonment.

Among other things, Corredor-Ibague is alleged to have controlled clandestine airstrips in the jungles of Southern Colombia. From Corredor-Ibague's airstrips, small aircraft flew out multi-hundred kilogram quantities of cocaine which were destined for the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe. Corredor-Ibague allegedly organized these shipments, manufactured and sold the cocaine, and charged a tax on the cocaine shipments that was paid to the FARC. In addition, incoming flights brought small arms weaponry which was used by the FARC to supply its armed forces.

Yanave-Rojas is also charged in the same indictment with one-count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, with the intent to import the cocaine into the United States. If convicted, she faces a sentence ranging from a mandatory minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life imprisonment.

A second indictment charges both Corredor-Ibague and Yanave-Rojas with three counts: conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization; providing material support or resources to a terrorist organization; and aiding and abetting and causing an act to be done.

Specifically, this indictment alleges that between 2002 and 2006, Corredor-Ibague and Yanave-Rojas were involved in a conspiracy to deliver from Colombia cocaine that was produced and controlled by the FARC to neighboring countries, for delivery to the United States. In exchange, the defendants allegedly provided the FARC with AK-47 and AR-15 assault-type weapons, ammunition, foreign currency, and sophisticated communications equipment, including satellite phones and SIM cards, originating from the United States.

If convicted of the three counts in this indictment, Corredor-Ibague and Yanave-Rojas each face a maximum possible sentence of 15 years imprisonment.

Corredor-Ibague and Yanave-Rojas were arrested by Colombian authorities on Oct. 15, 2006. In December 2006, the United States filed a formal request with the Republic of Colombia seeking their extradition on the charges contained in the two indictments. The extradition request was subsequently granted by the Colombian Supreme Court, and then by the Colombian Ministry of Justice and by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

ICE Miami SAC Office partnered with several agencies including the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Southeast Field Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Miami Field Office. This indictment will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and trial attorneys from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division.

Barack Hussein Obama, Antoin Rezko, Nadhmi Auchi, Saddam Hussein = Strange Bedfellows

2008-10-03T20:23:00Z

From an April 2008 article in the Washington Post:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/obamas_rezko_connection.html

Excerpt:

Proof of a meeting between Barack Obama and the Iraqi-born billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi, would be a blow for the Illinois senator's presidential campaign. Obama has repeatedly said that he cannot recollect any meeting with Auchi, a London-based businessman who is appealing a conviction for fraud in France. Auchi was a business contact of Antoin Rezko, a former Chicago developer and Obama fundraiser currently on trial for corruption.

From a Febuary 2008 article in the Times Online UK:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3284825.ece

Excerpt:

Court papers describe Mr Rezko as a close friend of Mr Auchi, although Mr Auchi disputes this. The two are involved in a large Chicago land development together. But it is unclear how long the two men have known each other or whether they were linked before the 2003 Iraq war. Neither side would discuss their relationship.

The Times has, however, discovered state documents in Illinois recording that Fintrade Services, a Panamanian company, lent money to Mr Obama’s fundraiser in May 2005.

Fintrade’s directors include Ibtisam Auchi, the name of Mr Auchi’s wife. Mr Auchi’s spokespeople declined to respond to a question about whether he was linked to this business. as a close friend of Mr Auchi, although Mr Auchi disputes this. The two are involved in a large Chicago land development together. But it is unclear how long the two men have known each other or whether they were linked before the 2003 Iraq war. Neither side would discuss their relationship.

The Times has, however, discovered state documents in Illinois recording that Fintrade Services, a Panamanian company, lent money to Mr Obama’s fundraiser in May 2005.

Fintrade’s directors include Ibtisam Auchi, the name of Mr Auchi’s wife. Mr Auchi’s spokespeople declined to respond to a question about whether he was linked to this business.

These two excerpts are the best articles I've seen yet on the Antoin Rezko trial. And yet there is still vital information being kept from the public. Why? Where is the media?

Nadhmi Auchi co-conspired with fellow Baathist Saddam Hussein in 1959 to assassinate then Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. Rezko and Obama are both financially connected to him.

The media is barely reporting that Antoin Rezko's money man and "close friend" is London based Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi who is one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the corporate, banking, political and real estate world. It is Nadhmi Auchi who funded Antoin Rezko. Nadhmi Auchi wired 3.5 million dollars to Rezko weeks before Barack Obama and Antoin Rezko made that controversial land deal. Nadhmi Auchi wired another 3.5 million from a Lebanon bank to Rezko at the beginning of his trial. When the authorities found out, he had to stay in custody for his portion of the trial because they thought he was a flight risk.

Nadhmi Auchi owns a great deal of real estate in Chicago and is reported to collect politicians like some people collect stamps.

Nadhmi Auchi was shown to be heavily involved in the Oil for Food scandal involving millions in kick backs. He wants to appeal.

Nadhmi Auchi has been called a global arms dealer who is banned from entering the USA.

Auchi stood trial with fellow Baathist Saddam Hussein in 1959 for conspiring to assassinate then Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. Some articles say Auchi's charges were later dropped--by Qasim. Qasim was later assassinated anyway.

Auchi financially backed Saddam Hussein's plan for an oil pipeline from Iraq to Saudi Arabia.

Saddam Hussein had Auchi's own brother (or two brothers) murdered. But that did not deter their business dealings or friendship.

Rezko backed other politicians. Was it with Auchi's money?

HUGO CHAVEZ, COLUMBIAN LEFTIST REBELS, OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS, AND ROGUE URANIUM IN SOUTH AMERICA‏

2008-10-01T12:31:00Z

HUGO CHAVEZ, COLUMBIAN LEFTIST REBELS, OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS, AND ROGUE URANIUM IN SOUTH AMERICA‏

http://thebigfeed.blogspot.com/2008/05/hugo-chavez-columbian-leftist-rebels.html

HUGO CHAVEZ, COLUMBIAN LEFTIST REBELS, OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS, AND ROGUE URANIUM IN SOUTH AMERICA

Yesterday, Interpol confirmed the authenticity of Raúl Reyes's computer files. Reyes was a top commander of Colombia's left-wing guerrillas the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) killed during a Colombian military operation in Granada, Putumayo, on March 1, 2008. In the aftermath of the attack on Reyes and FARC, the Columbian government claimed that it seized computers belonging to the rebels that contained emails and other information detailing support for, and the goals of, the leftist rebel group. Hugo Chavez took the opportunity to accuse Columbia of military aggression against Venezuela and massed thousands of troops on the Columbian/Venezuela border while threatening war. Chavez also claimed that the information contained on the laptops was a fabrication. Interpol, however, says Chavez was wrong.

According to Interpol:
The information found in the computers of the deceased leader of the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), Raúl Reyes, was not manipulated by Colombian authorities, according to an Interpol's report to be released next May 15, as disclosed by Bogota El Tiempo daily newspaper.

The report stated that a committee comprising computer science experts from Korea, Australia, and Singapore working for the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) completed last May 2 the investigation into the three computers found in Reyes' camp in Ecuador, Efe reported.

'The first finding was that Reyes' files were not manipulated and that security agencies and citizens who had the computer in their hands kept them safe,' the Colombian newspaper stated.
Based on the information found on the laptops, the Colombian National Ministry of Defense reported last month that authorities had seized 60 pounds of uranium that belonged to FARC.

The fact that the information has now been confirmed as authentic is horrible news for Colombia's FARC supporting neighbors and US Democrats.

Here is a partial list of what Colombian investigators found on the FARC terror leader's computer:

-- FARC connections with Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa
-- Records of $300 million offerings from Hugo Chavez
-- Thank you notes from Hugo Chavez dating back to 1992
-- Uranium purchasing records
-- Admit to killing the sister of former President Cesar Gaviria
-- Admit to planting a 2003 car bomb killing 36 at a Bogota upper crust club
-- Directions on how to make a Dirty Bomb
-- Information that led to the discovery of 60 pounds of uranium
-- Letter to Libya's Moammar Gadhafi asking for cash to buy surface-to-air missiles
-- Meetings with 'gringos' about Barack Obama
-- Information on Russian illegal arms dealer Viktor Bout who was later captured
-- FARC funding Correa's campaign
-- Cuban links to FARC
-- Links to US Democrats
-- $480,000 of FARC cash in Costa Rican safe house
-- $100,000 to President Correa's campaign for election
You can draw your own conclusions about the danger of 60 pounds of uranium in the hands of marxist terrorists. And you can draw your own conclusions as to the importance of this passage that was allegedly found on the seized laptops, now confirmed authentic by Interpol:
The gringos will ask for an appointment with the minister to solicit him to communicate to us his interest in discussing these topics. They say that the new president of their country will be Obama and that they are interested in your compatriots. Obama will not support 'Plan Colombia' nor will he sign the TLC (Colombian Free Trade agreement). Here we responded that we are interested in relations with all governments in equality of conditions and that in the case of the US it is required a public pronouncement expressing their interest in talking with the FARC given their eternal war against us.
You can draw your own conclusions. But in light of his Reverend Wright and William Ayers ties, his adherence to the Marxist black liberation religion, his stance on free trade agreements, and his despising of free-thinking, gun-toting small town America, I will draw my own conclusion too. Obama is a marxist. And while you may not see it, marxist rebels with uranium do.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACORN International has offices in South America. Obama has been a community organizer with ACORN for years. He even headed up the start of Project Vote for ACORN in 1992.

Background on ACORN here: http://blog.newyorkcitycommunity.us/2008/09/23/voter-fraud--how-many-of-you-have-heard-of-acorn.aspx

ACORN International is even working the Get Out The Vote effort for DemocratsAbroad.

Previous:

Captured FARC Documents Link Democrats to Terror Group

International Arms Dealer Charged in U.S. with Conspiracy to Provide SAMs to FARC

Foreign nationals sentenced for alien smuggling and conspiracy to support the FARC

Tony Rezko, the Syrian Felon, Saved Barack Hussein Obama 100s of thousands of Dollars on his Mansion

2008-09-30T13:16:00Z

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93GOHRO0&show_article=1&catnum=1
Attorneys believe Rezko is talking to prosecutors

Excerpt:

Convicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko has been quietly visiting Chicago's federal courthouse, setting off speculation that he may be spilling secrets to prosecutors in return for a lenient sentence.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0965781240?tag=newyorcitcom-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0965781240&adid=0625BNRDCRR3DDPH99FY&
From Obama The Man Behind the Mask by Andy Martin

Excerpts:

“In November, 2006,” Martin will note, “We stated that Obama had far more extensive links to Rezko than he was acknowledging. At the time Obama was saying Rezko was ‘someone he knew.’ Obama was lying. http://www.contrariancommentary.com/community/Home/tabid/36/mid/363/newsid363/161/Default.aspx

“On February 22nd, we again stated Obama was lying about the extent of his relationship to Rezko. http://contrariancommentary.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

“On the first day of the Rezko trial, we said ‘The worst is yet to come for Obama:’

http://contrariancommentary.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html

Obama The Man Behind the Mask by Andy Martin

Page 117 - Andy Martin on the Rezko Trial: The Whole World is Watching

ANTHONY R. MARTIN,J.D.
Professor of Law (Adj.)
Suite 4406
30 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611-4723
Tel. (312) 440-4124
Fax (312) 440-4125
E-mail: AndyMart20@aol.com

November 16, 2006

Mr. Edward Nucci
Acting Chief
Public Integrity Section
Criminal Division
U. S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20530-0001

With copy to:

SAC Robert D. Grant
FBI – Chicago
2111 W. Roosevelt Road
Chicago, IL 60606
Via fax (312) 829-5172

Re: Possible criminal investigation of
U. S. senator Barack Obama

Dear Mr. Nucci:

I am writing to you to suggest a possible criminal investigation of U. S. senator Barack Obama.

I have been engaged in fighting official corruption in Illinois since I was a law student at the University of Illinois, over forty (40) years.

I am in the process of organizing I-CAN (Illinois-Corruption Action Now) to continue the fight against corruption. I believe the modern remnants of the Chicago Crime Syndicate continue to seek to penetrate legitimate state offices and businesses. I have previously filed a complaint directing your attention to very suspicious links involving tens of millions of dollars in questionable “loans” between State Treasurer-elect Alexi Giannoulias’ Broadway Bank and an organized crime figure.

Mr. Tony Rezko is under indictment in Illinois for seeking to extort money from potential state vendors. Rezko is a close associate of Governor Rod Blagojevich and Rezko has done “real estate business” with Blagojevich’s wife, Patti Blagojevich.

Corruption, of course, involves two different approaches: (i) extorting/taking money from people, and (ii) paying money or giving tangible benefits to public officials to obtain access or influence. Sometimes people buy influence for an immediate project or need, and sometimes they just buy influence to bank it or to project the aura of access and influence in their business dealings. My complaint against Senator Obama falls into the second category.

Before being elected to the U. S. Senate, Mr. Obama served in the Illinois state senate. The Illinois senate has been a cesspool of corruption for decades. Back in the 1960’s they censured a member, Senator Paul Simon (then serving as a state senator), for being too honest and exposing senate corruption. Matters have not changed much.

Mr. Obama was well aware of the culture and climate of corruption when he began his business dealings with Mr. Rezko.

Reduced to its essentials, Obama and Rezko engaged in a structured real estate transaction where they coordinated the purchases of adjacent parcels of real estate. Rezko claims he paid “full market price” and Obama apparently received a “discount” of several hundred thousand dollars for his parcel. Rezko then improved his parcel to benefit Obama.

Obama recently said these related and structured transactions were a “mistake.” With all due respect I believe they were a federal crime and constituted a conspiracy.

I believe a grand jury could find a pattern of criminal activity. Instead of handing cash to Obama, Rezko handed Obama a preferential price for property. This is the same form of “honest graft” and preferential treatment that sent former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner to jail over 30 years ago, see United States v. Isaacs, 493 F.2d 1124 (7th Cir. 1974).

Taken in isolation, the Obama episode might be explainable, but I doubt it. Why would Rezko be buying land next to Obama and coordinating his actions with Obama if not to confer a benefit on Obama? Why?

More importantly, there appears to be a pattern of similar influence peddling by Mr. Rezko. The Chicago Sun-Times recently reported that Mr. Rezko, around the same general period he was wheeling with Obama, also provided a preferential price for a property purchase by U. S. Representative Luis Gutierrez. There is a pattern here. Instead of transferring cash to buy influence, Rezko was engaging in structured property transactions and preferential treatment of public officials to confer significant financial benefits on them, far above the legal limits of any legitimate political contribution permitted by federal law.

Most respectfully, I would urge you to consider allowing a grand jury to examine this series of suspicious transactions. I am sending a letter to the foreperson of the grand jury, through the U. S. Attorney’s office, seeking to testify as an expert witness in this matter if the grand jury wishes to pursue this investigation.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Respectfully submitted,

ANDY MARTIN

AM:sp

175 Alleged Gulf Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Massive International Law Enforcement Operation

2008-09-23T12:18:00Z

175 Alleged Gulf Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Massive International Law Enforcement Operation
"Project Reckoning" Leads to the Seizure of $60 Million and More Than 40 Tons of Illegal Drugs From One of Mexico's Largest Drug Trafficking Cartels

NEW YORK - Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey announced that 175 individuals were arrested on Sept. 16, 2008, on charges related to an international drug trafficking cartel in a coordinated enforcement action by hundreds of international, federal, state and local law enforcement officials throughout the United States and Italy. Including the operations announced today, a long-term investigation of one of Mexico's largest drug trafficking cartels and its U.S. and international distribution networks has resulted in the arrest of more than 500 individuals in the United States, Mexico, and Italy to date.

"Project Reckoning," a multi-agency law enforcement effort led by the DEA, targeted the Mexican drug trafficking cartel known as the Gulf Cartel. Among those indicted are the three alleged leaders of the Gulf Cartel: Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen, Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano and Jorge Eduardo Costilla-Sanchez. These individuals, each designated as Consolidated Priority Organization Targets (CPOTs) by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), have been indicted in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on charges that they conspired to import drugs into the United States from Mexico. A CPOT designation is reserved for significant narcotics traffickers who are believed to be the leaders of drug trafficking organizations responsible for the importation of large quantities of narcotics into the United States.

The Gulf Cartel is responsible for the transportation of multi-ton quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana from Colombia, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico to the United States, as well as the distribution of those narcotics within the United States. The Gulf Cartel is also believed to be responsible for laundering multiple millions of dollars in criminal proceeds. Individuals indicted in the cases are charged with a variety of crimes, including: drug trafficking charges related to cocaine and marijuana; solicitation and conspiracy to kidnap; attempted murder; conspiracy to use a firearm in a violent crime; conspiracy to kill and kidnap in a foreign country; interstate and foreign travel in aid of racketeering; money laundering; and other related crimes. To date, "Project Reckoning" has resulted in the arrest of 507 individuals and the seizure of approximately $60.1 million in U.S. currency, 16,711 kilograms of cocaine, 1,039 pounds of methamphetamine, 19 pounds of heroin, 51,258 pounds of marijuana, 176 vehicles and 167 weapons. "Project Reckoning," a 15-month investigation, combined into one centrally coordinated effort several multi-district enforcement operations that all involved individuals with close ties to the Gulf Cartel. Operation Dos Equis, Operation Swift Justice, Operation Vertigo, Operation Stinger and Operation The Family as well as numerous local operations combined to form Project Reckoning.

"By spreading dangerous drugs and resorting to brutal violence, international drug cartels pose an extraordinary threat both here and abroad," said Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. "The scope of the threat demands a deliberate and sustained response and the success we have had, such as the takedowns announced today, is due to the combined efforts of federal, state, local and international law enforcement. Although I am pleased with the efforts so far, we cannot and will not rest on these successes. The threat posed by international drug cartels is too great. It will take all of us working together to prevail."

"ICE Special Agents in New York and our Attaché Agents in Rome did a superb job of identifying and tracking this criminal enterprise down in the New York metropolitan area and in Italy," said, Peter J. Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Investigation for ICE in New York. "Our efforts along with our federal law enforcement partners have crippled the narcotic and money laundering activities of the Gulf Cartel. We prevented millions of dollars of drugs from being distributed throughout our communities."

"We successfully completed a hard-hitting, coordinated and massive assault on the powerful and extremely violent Gulf Cartel," said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M Leonhart. "We have arrested U.S. cell heads, stripped the cartel of $60 million in cash, imprisoned their brutal assassins and significantly disrupted their U.S. infrastructure. DEA will continue our relentless attack against this cartel, aiming to dismantle them and stop the violence they inflict on Southwest Border communities."

Nine individuals were charged in an indictment filed in the Southern District of New York for their participation in an international trafficking ring that shipped large quantities of cocaine from the United States to Italy. According to the Indictment in United States v. Guilio Schirripa, et al. (the SDNY case), which was unsealed in Manhattan federal court:

Guilio Schirripa, Christopher Castellano, and others purchased cocaine in the United States and caused the cocaine to be transported to Italy, where it could be sold at substantially higher prices. Co-defendants Vincent Schirripa, Javier Guerrero, Ignacio Diaz, a/k/a "Nacho," a/k/a "Sofilio Fernandez," Mark Tadeo, Stacey Margolies, Luigi Albanese, and Wanda Collado were also charged for their various roles and participation in the conspiracy, including supplying cocaine to Guilio Schirripa and Castellano, arranging for the payment of narcotics related debts, discussing the exchange of Euros to dollars, and traveling from New York to Italy.

Guilio Schirripa, Castellano, Vincent Schirripa, Guerrero, Diaz, Margolies and Collado were arrested in the greater New York area and were arraigned in Manhattan federal court by United States Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman. Guilio Schirripa, Vincent Schirripa, Guerrero, and Diaz were ordered detained. Castellano is detained pending a bail hearing. Margolies and Collado were released on bail. Albanese is in the custody of Italian law enforcement officials in Italy. Tadeo remains at large. The case has been assigned to Southern District of New York United States District Judge William H. Pauley III.

Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, praised the collaborative efforts in this investigation, stating, "This case and the others announced today across the nation demonstrate what can be accomplished when domestic and international law enforcement partners work together to dismantle international narcotics trafficking rings."

"This operation exemplifies the European vision of the international fight against drug trafficking," said Dr. Nicola Gratteri, Italian Public Prosecutor for the Anti-mafia District Attorney's Office of Reggio Calabria, Italy.

The cases announced today are being handled by attorneys in the Southern District of New York; Northern District of Georgia; Southern District of Texas; Northern District of Texas; Western District of Texas; District of New Jersey; Eastern District of Louisiana; District of New Mexico; Southern District of Florida; Eastern District of North Carolina; and the Criminal Division's Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section and Office of International Affairs. In addition, local prosecutions in this case will occur in the states of California, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri.

Assistant United States Attorneys John P. Cronan and Todd W. Blanche are in charge of the prosecution of the SDNY case.

The investigative efforts in Project Reckoning were coordinated by the Justice Department's Special Operations Division, the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Marshals Service and attorneys from the Criminal Division's Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section.

More than 200 federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies contributed investigative and prosecutorial resources to Project Reckoning through the OCDETF. Significant assistance was also provided by a coalition of international investigative agencies spearheaded by DEA offices located in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Italy with assistance from foreign counterparts in each of those countries.

The charges in the SDNY case were the result of an international investigation coordinated between the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force -- which consists of agents and officers of the DEA, New York City Police Department, and New York State Police -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Italian law enforcement authorities.

The charges and allegations contained in the Indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

-- ICE --

"Project Reckoning" Leads to the Seizure of $60 Million and More Than 40 Tons of Illegal Drugs From One of Mexico's Largest Drug Trafficking Cartels

Assistant United States Attorneys John P. Cronan and Todd W. Blanche are in charge of the prosecution of the SDNY case.

The charges and allegations contained in the Indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

-- ICE --

POW/MIA Recognition Day

2008-09-19T02:42:00Z

POW/MIA Recognition Day:

1. POW/MIA Recognition Day honors the commitments and the sacrifices made by our nation’s prisoners of war and those who are still missing in action.

By custom, it is on the third Friday in September.

2. National POW/MIA Recognition Day is one of the six days specified by law on which the black POW/MIA flag shall be flown over federal facilities and cemeteries, post offices and military installations.

How many of you actually know what the history of this flag is?

This flag has a law:

U.S. Public Law 101-355

Those that are known to have been left behind can be honored here.

The Hoodwink of Unity 2008

2008-09-17T03:04:00Z

Unity 2008 has 2 candidates running in the 2008 elections.

Unity08 advisor, Sam Waterston (of Law and Order), headed up a campaign to draft a bipartisan presidential ticket for 2008.

It was determined that McCain or Obama would appeal to centrist voters. McCain and Obama were both said to be candidates for Unity08 also in this Marxism Mail list.

Campaign watchdog groups such as The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 have criticized the group's initial classification as a non-profit organization, "because Unity08 makes clear that its principal purpose is to influence the 2008 presidential election".

The group's status as a non-profit organization came into question when they asked the Federal Election Commission whether the group could defer registering as a political action committee until after its candidates for the 2008 presidential election were named. A draft released by the commission in July 2006 concluded that "Unity08 must register as a policy committee and therefore is subject to the reporting requirements and limitations and prohibitions."

Seems to me that Unity08 has circumvented the rules and got their candidates in on both sides. While the DNC and RNC have been left with no representation.

Barack Hussein Obama Needs to Be Charged with The Logan Act

2008-09-15T12:20:00Z

OBAMA TRIED TO STALL GIS' IRAQ WITHDRAWAL

By AMIR TAHERI

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09152008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obama_tried_to_stall_gis_iraq_withdrawal_129150.htm

September 15, 2008 --

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

"However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open." Zebari says.

Though Obama claims the US presence is "illegal," he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the "weakened Bush administration," Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.

While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a "realistic withdrawal date." They declined.

Excerpt

But this is not the first time Obama has meddled in the affairs of a foreign country.

Obama meddled in the presidential politics of the foreign nation of Kenya.

Why did he support Odinga after he signed the memorandum of understanding with the radical Islamicists in Kenya?

The post election violence in Kenya killed over a thousand people and displaced another three hundred thousand or more. Scores of Christian churches were burned in a wave of tribal and anti-Christian religious violence that, again, left no mosques damaged. If Obama continues to support Odinga as prime minister is he thereby accepting or condoning the post election violence that brought Odinga to power, and a radical agenda from the left that would expand Islam in Kenya? If so, Obama is pro radical Islam.

And, what does that mean for America?

Odinga strong-armed his way into the position of prime minister of Kenya after he lost the presidential election. Obama supports Odinga.

Obama needs to be charged with The Logan Act.

The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, “without authority of the United States,” to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government’s behavior on any “disputes or controversies with the United States.”

Broken Promises Don't Mend Border Fences

2008-09-14T15:51:00Z

A few months ago, Duncan Hunter had phone conversation with John McCain. John McCain promised Duncan Hunter enforcement of the border for is support.

John McCain has broken that promise.

McCain, in ENGLISH, speaking at National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and promising to enforce his legislature he introduced with Ted Kennedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0hVjtC8_pI
McCain promises amnesty in first 100 days to NALEO

And here is McCain's ad, in SPANISH, promising a path to citizenship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyKGHvRL2_U
posted by From: JohnMcCaindotcom
paid for by: McCain/Palin

This ad is not about immigrants, legal immigrants already have a path to citizenship. This ad is about legalizing ILLEGAL aliens!

HOT! - Muslims in fed terror probe making donations to Obama

2008-08-30T04:08:00Z

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=73719 Friday, August 29, 2008

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Muslims in fed terror probe making donations to Obama
Will candidate follow other Dems who gave back jihad-tied funds?

Posted: August 29, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

WorldNetDaily

Jamal M. Barzinji

Islamic leaders tied by federal investigators to the radical Muslim Brotherhood in America – including one under active investigation for alleged terror-financing – have recently donated to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for president, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by WND.

Jamal M. Barzinji earlier this year gave Obama $1,000, a gift that records show has not been returned. Other Democratic candidates, including Rep. Jim Moran, have refunded donations from Barzinji since federal agents raided his Virginia home and offices in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Obama's top Muslim adviser resigned earlier this month over controversy surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Barzinji, who heads a network of Islamic charities and businesses.

Barzinji remains at the center of an active federal investigation into terrorist financing that involves recently convicted terrorist supporter Sami al-Arian. A grand jury is still hearing the widening case in Northern Virginia.

A federal court affidavit alleges 'Barzinji is not only closely associated with PIJ (as evidenced by ties to al-Arian, including documents seized in Tampa), but also with Hamas.' The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, and Hamas are two known terrorist groups outlawed by the U.S.

Barzinji in November 2000 was arrested and charged with domestic abuse and resisting arrest, according to Fairfax County Police Department criminal records.

Nancy Luque, a Washington-based lawyer for Barzinji, says her client does not support terrorism and that the government is conducting a witch hunt. Barzinji has not been charged with a crime in the years-long probe.

According to recently declassified FBI documents posted by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Barzinji and another board member of an Islamist think tank in Herndon, Va., were listed among 'members and leaders of the IKHWAN.'

The Ikhwan is an Arabic reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which follows the credo: 'The Quran is our constitution, the prophet is our guide; Death for the glory of Allah is our greatest ambition.'

Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 'blind sheik' Omar Abdel-Rahman all
belong to the Muslim Brotherhood.

U.S. prosecutors recently declassified an internal Ikhwan document outlining a long-term plan to infiltrate U.S. institutions and Islamize America.

Barzinji has met in the U.S. with key leaders of the Egyptian-based Brotherhood, but he told the Washington Post in 2004 that he and his colleagues abandoned links to them years ago. He said he helped persuade the Brothers to participate in elections as an alternative to armed struggle.

Barzinji noted, 'It was one of our main contributions to the Ikhwan movement worldwide.'

Democratic Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia was forced to return $3,750 in donations from Barzinji in 2002 after the donations were revealed in the press.

Barzinji donated $1,000 to Obama on Feb. 6 of this year – one day after his colleague Omer Totonji also donated $1,000 to his campaign. Totonji's father, Ahmad Totonji, also is a subject of the federal investigation. His Herndon, Va., home and offices were raided by agents after 9/11.

That same month, Omar Barzinji of Sterling, Va., contributed $500 to Obama's campaign. He works for Islamist publisher Amana Limited, whose offices also were searched after 9/11.

The Obama campaign, which did not return calls, was rocked earlier this month when its top Muslim adviser, Mazen Asbahi, had to step down over a firestorm surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Jamal Barzinji.

Asbahi, a Chicago lawyer, served on the board of an Illinois-based subsidiary to the North American Islamic Trust, or NAIT, recently named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major Hamas terror-financing case.

Barzinji was the former secretary of Saudi-funded NAIT, which controls hundreds of radical mosques in the U.S., including the Washington-area mosque connected to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers.

In fact, Barzinji's signature appears on the property deed to that mosque, the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, according to Paul Sperry, author of 'Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington.' Dar al-Hijrah is run by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Barzinji is listed in FEC records as a 'board member' of the Islamic Society of North America, a sister organization to NAIT and also an unindicted terror co-conspirator.

Esam Omeish

Also, Dar al-Hijrah trustee Esam Omeish gave $250 to Obama the same month as Barzinji.

Omeish was forced to resign his government-appointed position to the Virginia Commssion of Immigration after a video surfaced showing him advocating violent jihad. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat on Obama's short list for running mate, had named Omeish to the panel.

Omeish is president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Muslim American Society, which was founded by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood and is the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., according to recent testimony and evidence provided by FBI agent Lara Burns in the terror trial of the Holy Land Foundation.
According to Sperry in the book 'Infiltration,' Omeish in 2004 used his home to bond out a terrorist suspect jailed for allegedly casing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Tainted Toothpaste financing Communism and the Political Backing of Obama

2008-08-22T12:34:00Z

Two New York City businessmen have pleaded guilty in a scheme to distribute more than 500,000 tubes of counterfeit toothpaste imported from China.

Fifty-one-year-old Saifoulaye Diallo and 47-year-old Habib Bah each face up to 10 years in prison after entering their pleas Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors say the fake Colgate toothpaste was shipped to discount stores across the United States. They say it had no fluoride and contained microorganisms that posed health threats, but no illnesses have been reported.

(Excerpt) Read more at 1010wins.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Colgate

Counterfeit toothpaste: South Africa

Consumers should be on the alert for illegally manufactured counterfeit products and should be aware that counterfeit products may present a health risk. On June 13, 2007, MS USA Trading, Inc. announced a recall in four states of counterfeit product falsely labeled as Colgate. Here are some indicators to look for to identify the counterfeit product:

The counterfeit toothpaste comes labeled as a 5 ounce (or 100 ml tube), a size not made or sold by Colgate in the United States

There are words on the package, “Manufactured by: COLGATE-PALMOLIVE (PTV) LTD., SOUTH AFRICA – 52 Commissioner Street, Boksburg, 1460”

There may be several misspelled words on the product carton including: “isclinically”, “SOUTH AFRLCA” and “South African Dental Assoxiation”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

KENYA HOSTS TRADE FACILITATION ROUNDTABLE MEETING OF THE BOKSBURG GROUP

Members of the Boksburg Group met on 24th to 25th July 2005 at Mombasa, Kenya’s most important port city and gateway to the East and Central Africa region, for two days of intensive deliberations on progress towards conclusion of a Trade Facilitation agreement at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In July 2004, the WTO agreed to commence negotiations towards concluding such an agreement in what has informally taken the name of “the July Package” in a development that was hailed as a major step towards reviving the stalled WTO negotiations after the failure of the Cancun talks in September 2003.

The Boksburg Group is an informal group of mainly developing countries, created to discuss the form and content the emerging World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on Trade Facilitation. Participants in Boksburg Group roundtables are drawn from key stakeholders in the movement of goods, and include government trade departments, customs and business. Previous meetings of the Group have been held in South Africa (thus the name of the Group), Singapore, and Jamaica.

Excerpt from the:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oginga Odinga, politically backed by Obama, uses the Revenue Authorities to promote and install Communism in Africa.

Excerpt:

And in Kenya, despite an African "cabinet", the British authorties' ban on our magazine still persists - we hope not for much longer. Mr. Oginga Odinga, M.L.C., writes "with very best wishes" from Nairobi, that "you will be informed as soon as the prohibition of The African Communist is lifted in Kenya".

Obama and the King

2008-08-18T13:19:00Z

On August 16, 2008, the Kingdom of Hawaii Nation tried to take over the grounds of the Iolani Palace. Quentin Kawananakoa is the current claimant to head of Hawaiian kingdom.

See, Coverage of attempted takeover closes Iolani Palace

What I find interesting is Quentin Kawananakoa, claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii, went to Punahou School and graduated with Barack Hussein Obama.

Kawananakoa is also the organizer of the Republican Party of Hawaii.

Brothels, PremiumEvents, Voter Fraud, Activists and Strange Bedfellows

2008-07-29T14:25:00Z

A New York City lawyer, Lou Posner, was arrested on a variety of prostitution and money-laundering charges involving his brothel and voter activism groups.

See:

High End NYC Brothel Affiliated with Groups that Promote Voter Fraud

What is being grossly under reported is, Lou Posner was also the head of nobloodforoil.org

A few searches in Google shows that shows nobloodforoil is also riseup.net:

WHO: Direct Action Network

WHAT: DAN began as a coalition of activists during the WTO protests in Seattle, formed in the hope of maintaining a “continental network of activists” to share resources and facilitate future mobilization through the guerrilla tactics of direct action. In response to the situation in Iraq, NYC DAN started the No Blood for Oil Coalition.

WHY: “Our mission is to bring direct action into the movement against the war. We’re not organized around holding large rallies; our focus is more around civil resistance: facilitating affinity groups, organizing guerrilla action and other visible ways that show we’re ready to put our bodies in line to speak against this war.”

WHAT NEXT: Mass mobilization on Times Square in New York City at 5 pm the day of the invasion of Iraq.

CONTACT
NYC DAN e-mail: nyc-dan@riseup.net
Website: www.anotherworldispossible.com/dan

and

No Blood For Oil e-mail: nobloodforoil@riseup.net

Website: www.nbfo.org

and

Chicago DAN e-mail: chicagoDAN@ziplip.com

Website: www.chicagodan.org

Now look who RiseUp.net is affiliated with. Email contact is RiseUp.net:

http://www.stonewallvets.org/recent_past_events_2007.htm

Saturday, September 29 (eve) — “PARADE WITHOUT PERMIT” PROTEST MARCH

The unauthorized but well-planned march sponsored by the Radical Homosexual Agenda (”RHA”) gathers at Tompkins Square Park after 6 p.m. amd kicks off @ 7 p.m. It is planned to have the famous “Stonewall Car” — well-known to the NYCPD — symbolically leading the protest march. One of the protest issues is the unnecessary new law that any gathering of 50 or more people need a “parade permit”!? What is this pre-Stonewall 1968? Shame on the City Council Speaker for supporting such undemocratic trash! For further 411, e-mail the RHA’s chief coordinator Tim Doody at Query@RiseUp.net.

S.V.A. Editor’s Note: What an absolutely treble busy day for the S.V.A. It’s like deja vu 1969!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, September 23 -- S.V.A. and the RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA

For the planning of their protest march on Saturday, September 29th, their special guests today are logically members of the STONEWALL Veterans' Association. There is no question that the S.V.A. has experience with "protests". The Radical Homosexual Agenda ("RHA") also invited the S.V.A. today to plan protest strategies and make arrangements for the protest march to feature the big blue classic convertible known as the "Stonewall Car". Williamson Henderson of the S.V.A. originated the symbolic and visible Stonewall history idea. It was quickly embraced by both groups united in Gay respect and Gay rights cause. One of the RHA's popular banners cleverly states: "The Stonewall Veterans didn't ask for a parade permit!" Today's representation for the S.V.A. is headed up by Bert Coffman. Meeting location is at Bike Space, 49 East Houston Street in the East Village @ 4 p.m. For more 411, you may e-mail the RHA at: WeWantYou@RiseUp.net.

Do you know who Stonewall (S.V.A.) is?:

HARRY HAY
and the
SPIRIT OF STONEWALL
New York, 1994

Harry made the following statement to a press conference on June 24, 1994, in the former Stonewall Inn on Sheridan Square in New York, site of the riots that launched the modern gay movement in June 1969. The press conference was called to announce the Spirit of Stonewall (SOS) contingent in the Stonewall 25 march two days later. It was moderated by SOS co-organizer and indefatigable activist Bill Dobbs. Other participants were Christine Martin, sex educator and documentary filmmaker; Glenda Orgasm (aka Glenn Belverio), drag queen activist and filmmaker; Scott O�Hara, editor and publisher of Steam magazine; Val Langmuir of Feminists Against Censorship (London); Julia Smedley, member of Stonewall Now; and Charley Shively of Fag Rag and professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts.
This statement was transcribed from a videotape of the press conference. A much shorter version�which omits any mention of NAMBLA or SOS, as well as the entire last half of the statement and the first paragraph�appeared in Radically Gay: Gay Liberation in the Words of Its Founder Harry Hay, ed. Will Roscoe (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), p. 303. These omissions seem odd in view of the fact that Harry read from a written text. The truncated version also used capital letters for words such as �Brothers and Sisters� and �Queers,� a convention that is not followed here since this complete version is not based on a written text.

Sir Julian Huxley, the great English biologist, said, at the beginning of this century, no negative trait�and, as you know, a negative trait is one that does not reproduce itself�no negative trait ever appears, and reappears, millennia after millennia after millennia, unless it in some way serves the survival of that species. We gays and lesbians may embody, or have discovered, some things that you folks desperately need to know about.
I�m here today as a survivor, as well as the founder of the first ongoing gay organization in the United States, the Mattachine Society, first formed in 1950 in Los Angeles, and now, naturally, a member of SOS, the Spirit of Stonewall, because things we discovered about ourselves and principles we developed in 1950 to �53 are now being trashed by queers who don�t know their own history, all over the place.
We decided from the beginning that, first, because we were still discovering our parameters, we wouldn�t censure each other. If people like NAMBLA self-identify themselves to me as gays and lesbians, I accept them as brothers and sisters with love.
Second, when we decided to rejoin the social or political mainstream again, we would integrate as the group we saw ourselves to be, complete with our own set of values, or we would not integrate at all.
And third, we would no longer permit any heteros�nationally or internationally, individually or collectively�to tell us who we are, what persons our groups should or should not consist of. We assert our right to self-determination, we assert our right to collective self-definition. We queers will decide for ourselves who our members should be.
Members of SOS, notably NAMBLA, have been accused of child molestation. Insofar as child molestation is concerned, the most common form is the sexual coercion by which gay and lesbian children are bedeviled into hetero identities and behaviors. And this is practiced daily by the whole national and international hetero community�parents, family, teachers, preachers, doctors, lawyers, and Indian chiefs, not to overlook U.S. senators and pooh-bah media.
This outrageous coercion of gay kids into hetero identities and behaviors against their wills is not only sexually abusive, it is spiritually devastating rape, because the child unbeknowingly is being led into developing self-loathing at the same time. For this gigantic criminal trespass against not only today�s children but against all of us also�all of us�since childhood, from the queers my age of 82 down through all the generations of queers assembled here in New York, to the gay kids still being bedeviled by sexual coercion against their wills, we the international gay and lesbian people here this week should unite to sue the whole guilty heterosexual community lock, stock, and barrel to within an inch of their lives, and for every nickel they�ve got, as a beginning of compensation. And while we�re at it, we should request our first-class citizenship as well. This could be the class-action suit of the century.

Copyright Â© NAMBLA, 2003. All rights reserved.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry Hay
Pioneer, coalition-builder and radical faerie
Nov., 2002

Henry “Harry” Hay, the founder of the modern American gay movement, died on October 24, 2002 at age 90. He had been diagnosed weeks earlier with lung cancer. Despite his illness, he remained lucid to the end and died peacefully in his sleep at his home in San Francisco.

“Harry Hay’s determined, visionary activism significantly lifted gays out of op-pression,” said Stuart

Timmons, who published a biography of Hay, called “The Trouble with Harry Hay,” in 1990. “All gay people continue to benefit from his fierce affirmation of gays as a people.”

Hay devoted his entire life to progressive politics, and in 1950 founded a state-registered foundation network of support groups for gays known as the Mattachine Society.

Hay was also a co-founder, in 1979, of the Radical Faeries, a movement affirming gayness as a form of spiritual calling. A rare link between gay and progressive politics, Hay and his partner of 39 years, John Burnside, had lived in San Francisco for three years after a lifetime in Los Angeles. Hay is listed in histories of the American gay movement as the first person to apply the term “minority” to homosexuals. An uncompromising radical, he easily dismissed “the heteros” and never rested from challenging the status quo, including within the gay community.

“Harry was one of the first to realize that the dream of equality for our community could be attained through visibility and activism,” said David M. Smith of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC. “When you were in a room with him, you had the sense you were in the company of a historic figure.”

Due to the pervasive homophobia of his times (it was illegal for more than two homosexuals to congregate in California during the 1950s), Hay and his colleagues took an oath of anonymity that lasted a quarter century until Jonathan Ned Katz interviewed Hay for the ground-breaking book “Gay American History,” published in 1976. Countless researchers subsequently sought him out. In recent years, Hay became the subject of a biography, a PBS-funded documentary, and an anthology of his own writings called “Radically Gay: Gay Liberation in the Words of Its Founder.”

Before the establishment of the Mattachine Society, attempts to create gay organizations in the United States had fizzled or been stamped out. Hay’s first organizational conception was a group he called Bachelors Anonymous, formed to both support and leverage the 1948 presidential candidacy of Progressive Party leader Henry Wallace. Hay wrote and discreetly circulated a prospectus calling for “the androgynous minority” to organize as a political entity.

Hay’s call for an “international bachelor’s fraternal order for peace and social dignity” did not bear results until 1950. That year, his love affair with Viennese immigrant Rudi Gernreich (whose fashion designs eventually earned him a place on the cover of Time magazine), brought Hay into gay circles where a critical mass of daring souls could be found to begin sustained meetings. On November 11, 1950, at Hay’s home in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, a group of gay men met which became the Mattachine Society. Of the original Mattachine founders, Chuck Rowland, Bob Hull, and Dale Jennings pre-deceased Hay. Konrad Stevens and John Gruber are the last surviving members of the founding group.

“Mattachine” took its name from a group of medieval dancers who appeared publicly only in mask, a device well understood by homosexuals of the 1950s. Hay devised its secret cell structure (based on the Masonic order) to protect individual gays and the nascent gay network. Officially co-gender, the group was largely male -- the Daughters of Bilitis, the pioneering lesbian organization, formed independently in San Francisco in 1956.

Though some criticized the Mattachine movement as insular, it grew to include thousands of members in dozens of chapters, which formed from Berkeley to Buffalo, and created a lasting national framework for gay organizing. Mattachine set the stage for rapid civil rights gains following 1969’s Stonewall riots in New York City.

Harry Hay was born in England in 1912, the day the Titanic sank. His father worked as a mining engineer in South Africa and Chile, but the family settled in Southern California. After graduating from Los Angeles High School, he briefly attended Stanford, but dropped out and returned to Los Angeles. He understood from childhood that he was a sissy -- different in behavior from boys or girls -- and also that he was attracted to men. His same-sex affairs began when he was a teenager, not long after he began reading 19th century scholar Edward Carpenter, whose essays on “homogenic love” strongly influenced his thinking.

A tall and muscular young man, Hay worked as both an extra and ghostwriter in 1930s Hollywood. He developed a passion for theater, and performed on Los Angeles stages with Anthony Quinn in the 1930s, and with Will Geer, who became his lover. Geer (who later generations grew to love as Grandpa Walton on the TV series “The Waltons”), took Hay to the San Francisco General Strike of 1934, and indoctrinated him into the American Communist Party. Hay became an active trade unionist. A blend of Marxist analysis and stagecraft strongly influenced his later gay organizing.

Despite a decade of gay life, in 1938 Hay married the late Anita Platky, also a Communist Party member. The couple were stalwarts of the Los Angeles Left. Hay taught at the California Labor School and worked on domestic campaigns like that for Ed Roybal, the first Latino elected in Los Angeles. The Hayses occasionally hosted Pete Seeger when he performed in Los Angeles, and Hay recalled demonstrating with Josephine Baker in 1945 over the Jim Crow segregation policy of a local restaurant. When he felt compelled to go public with the Mattachine Society in 1951, Hay and his wife divorced.

After a burst of activity lasting three years, the growing Mattachine rejected Hay as a liability due to his Communist beliefs. In 1955, when he was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, he had trouble finding a progressive attorney to represent him. He felt this was due to homophobia on the Left. (He was ultimately dismissed after his curt, brief testimony was deemed unimportant.) Hay felt exiled from the Left for nearly fifty years, until he received the Life Achievement Award of a Los Angeles library preserving the history and artifacts of progressive movements.

A second wind of activism came in 1979 when Hay founded, with Don Kilhefner, a spiritual movement known as the Radical Faeries. This pagan-inspired group continues internationally based on the principle that the consciousness of gays differs from that of heterosexuals. Hay believed that this different way of seeing constituted the greatest contribution gays made to society, and was indeed the reason for their continued presence throughout history.

For most of his life Hay lived in Los Angeles. However, during the early 1940s, Hay and his wife lived in New York City. He returned there with John Burnside to march and speak at the Stonewall 25 celebration in 1994. During the 1970s, he and Burnside moved to New Mexico, where he ran the trading post at San Juan Pueblo Indian reservation.

His years of research for gay references in history and anthropology texts led Hay to formulate his own gay-centered political philosophy, which he wrote and spoke about constantly. His theory of “gay consciousness” placed variant thinking as the most significant trait in homosexuals. “We differ most from heterosexuals in how we perceive the world. That ability to offer insights and solutions is our contribution to humanity, and why our people keep reappearing over the millennia,” he often stressed.

Hay’s occasional exhortations that gays should “maximize the differences” between themselves and heterosexuals remained controversial. Some academics and activists seeking full integration of gays and lesbians into straight society tended to reject his ideas while still respecting his historic stature.

A fixture at anti-draft and anti-war demonstrations for sixty years, Hay worked in Women’s Strike for Peace during the Vietnam War as a conscious strategy to build a coalition between gay and feminist progressives. He also worked closely with Native American activists, especially the Committee for Traditional Indian Land and Life. Hay was a local founder of the Lavender Caucus of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition during the early 1980s, and was determined to convince the gay community that its political success was inextricably tied to a broader progressive agenda.

Despite his often-combative nature, Hay became an increasingly beloved figure to younger generations of gay activists. He was often referred to as the “Father of Gay Liberation.”

Hay is survived by Burnside as well as by his self-chosen gay family, a model he strongly advocated for lesbians and gays. His adopted daughters, Kate Berman and Hannah Muldaven, also survive him. A circle of Radical Faeries provided care for him and Burnside through their later years.

Harry Hay leaves behind a wide circle of friends and admirers among lesbians, gays, and progressive activists. Donations in his memory can be made to the San Francisco GLBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street, San Francisco CA 94102 (identify it for the Harry and John Founders Wall plaque), or to the One Institute and Archives, 909 West Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90007.

[This obituary was prepared by Stuart Timmons, Hay’s official biographer, historian Martin Duberman, Joey Cain of the San Francisco GLBT Pride Parade, and Harry Hay’s niece, Sally Hay. IN Step’s Jamakaya also contributed to the story.]

OBAMA'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE DEFINITELY FALSIFIED‏

2008-07-21T12:37:00Z

Follow the links, I know it takes time to read it all, but Obama and his campaign defended the phony birth certificate his website promoted

Sunday, July 20, 2008

OBAMA'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE DEFINITELY FALSIFIED http://noiri.blogspot.com/2008/07/obamas-birth-certificate-definitely.html

LINKS below to everything you need to read and see to make up your mind about Obama's Birth background.

FORENSIC EXAMINATION OF THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH (COL DETAILS EXACTLY WHERE AND WHY IT IS FALSE. Read about it at Atlasshrugs link below:

FORENSIC DETAILS OF FALSE COLB - CLICK HERE
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/atlas-exclusive.html

Details of Hawaii blocking the production of a real COLB

HAWAII BLOCKING - click here

http://mitchell-langbert.blogspot.com/2008/07/is-hawaii-manipulating-obama-related.html

Hawaii laws permit issuing 'Late Registration' Birth Certificates (as the forgery appears to REPRESENT) for those born outside the State, born of unmarried parents, or when a parent is a non-citizen, or when the contents of the original have been altered.

LATE BIRTH RESISTRATIONS IN HAWAII - CLICK HERE
http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/07/20/hawaii-law-on-late-registration-out-of-state-births/#more-754

UPDATED Israelinsider analysis of the foregery:

UPDATED ANALYSIS - CLICK HERE

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12993.htm

Posted by Alan Peters at 1:11 PM

If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. WINSTON CHURCHILL

Absolutely related; read all including the added comments:

Kuwaiti Charity Designated for Bankrolling al Qaida Network

High End NYC Brothel Affiliated with Groups that Promote Voter Fraud

2008-07-19T12:19:00Z

The New York Daily News Reports that teams of vice cops swooped down and busted a posh midtown strip club that catered to stockbrokers and bankers - and featured porn stars who charged $5,000 for private trysts.

Prominent tax lawyer Louis Posner; his wife, Betty; and 19 others were arrested on a variety of prostitution and money-laundering charges at The Hot Lap Dance Club, which the couple ran out of a velvet-heavy loft, police said.

Louis Posner laundered the sex profits through Voter March, a nonprofit voter registration organization he founded.

Link:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/07/18/2008-07-18_cops_say_lawyers_ran_midtown_brothel.html?ref=nl&nltr_ct=1&nltr_id=Cops%20say%20lawyers%20ran%20midtown%20brothel

Lou Posner, was not only the head of votermarch.org; be he was also the head of nobloodforoil.org.

About Voter March

http://www.votermarch.org

“We at Voter March were protesting Bush from Day One when Bush stole the election in November 2000. We organized a large rally at Dupont Circle at the Counter-Inaugural protests in January 2001. On May 19, 2001, we organized the Voter Rights March at the West Capitol Steps in Washington DC and in San Francisco. See the new music video “Offend” of Ringmaster as they played for the Voter March rally at the West Capitol Steps.”

AND, looks like they are part of ACORN!

“We have the largest single, unified delegation of Dems, Greens, Socialists, other Radicals and ACORN community activists, a rainbow of ethnicity and ranging in age from 18 to 75+.”

Former Newark Technology Contractor Defrauds Cisco Systems of Millions

2008-07-10T11:59:00Z

United States Department of Justice

Former City of Newark Technology Contractor Admits Defrauding Cisco Systems of Millions of Dollars

NEWARK – A former information technology contractor for the City of Newark pleaded guilty today to fraudulently obtaining Cisco Systems, Inc. replacement computer parts which he resold, netting him millions of dollars, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Michael Kyereme, a/k/a “Michael Appiahkyeremeh,” 41, of Piscataway, pleaded guilty to a two-count Information charging mail fraud and tax evasion, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah J. Gannett.

U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden scheduled sentencing for November 5, 2008.

Kyereme is free on electronic monitoring and a $500,000 bond secured by five properties.

Kyereme was arrested on March 2, 2007, when Special Agents of the FBI searched his home and car and recovered more than $3 million in Cisco-brand components that he had ordered on behalf of the City of Newark.

Cisco reported the fraud to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and has cooperated throughout the investigation.

According to the Information, Kyereme, an independent contractor hired to provide information technology support to Newark, was responsible for assisting Newark employees when computer problems arose that required technical support. If it was determined that a computer-related problem could not be solved without outside assistance or a replacement part, Kyereme was authorized to contact Cisco Systems, Inc. for technical assistance and, if necessary, to request replacement parts.

Kyereme stated that he understood that the City of Newark maintained service contracts with Cisco under which Cisco was required to replace inoperable or defective Cisco parts with new or refurbished parts. Newark was then required to return the non-working parts to Cisco within 10 days of receiving the replacement parts.

Kyereme admitted that between about January 2003 through about March 2, 2007, he fraudulently requested and received Cisco replacement parts, after falsely claiming that certain components in Newark’s computer system had failed. Kyereme then resold them to a third party in California and kept the proceeds.

Kyereme did not dispute that on or about Nov. 7, 2006, he requested a replacement part for a one-port optical card, falsely claiming that the part in Newark’s computer system was not responding to his trouble-shooting efforts.

According to the Information to which Kyereme pleaded guilty, Cisco then sent Kyereme via Federal Express a replacement part of the exact type alleged to be inoperable – a working one-port optical card, with a commercial value of approximately $260,000 – and Kyereme returned a different part – an eight-port adaptor worth approximately $2,000.

Kyereme acknowledged that between about January 2003 through about March 2, 2007, he received approximately $6,900,000 in Cisco replacement parts which he then resold to third parties and deposited the corporate checks he received as payment for the Cisco parts into his personal bank accounts.

Kyereme further admitted that on or about April 15, 2007, he filed a fraudulent personal tax return, with the IRS, which stated that his taxable income for the calendar year 2006 was approximately $81,494 and claiming a refund of approximately $4,034 was due to him.

In fact, Kyereme admitted, that tax return failed to include approximately $1,242,483 in additional taxable income Kyereme received as a result of the checks he received from the third party which he caused to be cashed during 2006. He admitted that an additional tax of approximately $429,826 was due the United States.

Kyereme also admitted that he filed with personal income tax returns with the IRS for 2003, 2004 and 2005, which understated the amount of taxable income he received for those calendar years. Kyereme admitted that for tax years 2003 through 2006, a total additional tax of approximately $669,234 was due the United States.

Kyereme faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the mail fraud offense and a fine of up to $250,000. He faces a statutory maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 for the tax evasion offense.

Christie credited Special Agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun; and Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge William P. Offord, with developing the case against Kyereme.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gannett of the U.S. Attorney's Public Protection Division in Newark.

-end-

WSJ - Israel Is 'Canceled' in Berlin

2008-07-08T01:34:00Z

This does not sound good.

WSJ - Israel Is 'Canceled' in Berlin

Excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:

Iranian calls for the destruction of Israel are almost routine these days. But for a former official of the Islamic Republic to call for the destruction of the Jewish state in the city where the Holocaust was planned adds a repugnant twist – especially as the German government sponsored the event that gave the man from Tehran a Western stage.

Read More

July 4, 1776

2008-07-04T13:32:00Z

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in "self-evident truths" and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

John McCain's Citizenship Status - Court Documents

2008-06-29T17:22:00Z

I never paid much attention to the agrument of citizenship status concerning John McCain and brushed it off as propaganda. But the complaints being filed in various courts are really an interesting read.

New Hampshire Court Documents

THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Fred Hollander, |

Plaintiff, |

|

vs. | CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:08-cv-99-JL

|

Senator John McCain |

& |

Republican National Committee |

Defendants. |

Complaint

Plaintiff, Fred Hollander (“Hollander”) brings this action against defendants, Senator John McCain (“McCain”) and the Republican National Committee (“RNC”), on behalf of himself and alleges upon information and belief, except as to his own actions, and the facts that are a matter of public record, as follows:

OVERVIEW

1. Plaintiff brings this action to prevent the disenfranchisement of him and an estimated 100 million additional voters who may otherwise cast their vote in the 2008 national election for a candidate who may later be declared ineligible to the Office of President.

2. As alleged more fully below, McCain is not a natural born citizen and therefore not eligible to the Office of President as prescribed by Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution.

3. Plaintiff seeks orders from this Court: (1) for McCain withdraw his candidacy for the nomination of the Republican Party for the Office of President; and (2) for the RNC to nominate a candidate other than McCain for the Office of President in the 2008 national election.

THE PARTIES

4. Plaintiff Fred Hollander is a citizen of the State of New Hampshire who resides in Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. He is a registered voter with Republican Party and plans to vote in the 2008 national election for the Office of President.

5. Defendant Senator John McCain, 241 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. As a person born outside the United States, McCain is not a natural born citizen as required to be eligible to the Office of President under the terms of Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution. McCain campaigned in the State of New Hampshire and participated in the Republican primary in New Hampshire which helped him to win the Republican nomination for the Office of President.

6. Defendant Republican National Committee, 310 First Street, Washington, D.C. 20003, is the organization that will, by its own party rules, nominate Senator John McCain as the Republican Party candidate for the Office of President in the 2008 national election. The RNC held its first primary for the presidential nomination in the State of New Hampshire.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

7. This Court has jurisdiction as vested under Article III of the Constitution of the United States for all cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, to interpret the meaning of “natural born citizen” as it applies to the eligibility of the Office of President. Plaintiff’s standing is: (1) as a voter who plans to vote in the 2008 election for the Office of President; and (2) as a voter registered with the Republican Party.

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

8. Senator John McCain, having won many Republican Party primary elections and caucuses, has been allocated a majority of delegates who have pledged to nominate him as the Republican Party candidate for the 2008 election to the Office of President. As the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, it is likely, or at least very possible, that the plaintiff and 100 million additional voters would cast their vote for Senator John McCain in the 2008 election for the President of the United States. Should he win the election to the Office of President and later be declared ineligible for this office by a subsequent challenge to this Court, the plaintiff and 100 million additional voters would be disenfranchised.

9. In this scenario, this Court would then be in the daunting position of deciding who would sit in the Office of President in place of Senator John McCain; perhaps the Republican candidate for the Office of Vice President or the Democratic candidate for the Office of President.

10. In a second possible scenario, an unknown number of voters, possibly large enough to affect the outcome of the 2008 election to the Office of President, may choose not to vote for Senator John McCain simply because they fear their votes will be wasted on a candidate who may later be disqualified.

ARGUMENT

11. The fear of voter disenfranchisement has risen to a level of such awareness that voters have become highly sensitive at any sign that their vote may not be counted. The issue of eligibility of Senator John McCain has been receiving an increasing amount of exposure recently and will likely become a key issue for voters as the 2008 election for the Office of President draws near. The plaintiff prays this Honorable Court will allay voters’ fears by ruling on the eligibility of Senator John McCain while painless remedies are still available.

12. Senator John McCain, for all intents and purposes, has won the Republican nomination as its candidate for the Office of President in the 2008 election this November. He has been allocated a majority of the available delegates needed to nominate him at the Republican National Convention. He is the presumptive nominee, yet due to the nature of his citizenship, his eligibility for the Office of President is in question.

13. John Sidney McCain III was born on August 29, 1936 to John S. McCain, Jr. and Roberta Wright at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station in Panama. By the Fourteenth Amendment, to have been granted citizenship jus soli at birth, he would have had to been born on land of United States jurisdiction, yet by no authority was the Coco Solo Naval Air Station within United States jurisdiction at the time of his birth in 1936. The Fourteenth Amendment only provides two methods of citizenship: (1) born in the United States; or (2) naturalized in the United States. Since Senator John McCain was not born in the United States, or even any land within U.S. jurisdiction, he was therefore naturalized. This is further supported by the U.S. State Department, where it is written in 7 FAM 1116.1-4(c)1 that the Coco Solo Naval Air Station was not part of the United States within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. This regulation also concludes that he did not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth. He only acquired citizenship by jus sanguinis due that both of his parents were U.S. citizens.

14. The United States never intended, and certainly never declared, the Canal Zone as a U.S. territory. The State Department was not the only authority to declare that the Coco Solo Naval Air Station was not part of the United States. In fact, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty,2 ratified by the U.S. Senate on February 23, 1904 and by President Theodore Roosevelt on February 25, 1904, maintains the Canal Zone as sovereign to the Republic of Panama. The language approved in this treaty makes it very clear the sovereignty of the Canal Zone was to remain with the Republic of Panama:

…which the United States would possess and exercise if it were the sovereign of the territory within which said lands and waters are located to the entire exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power or authority.

15. Along with the Senate’s and the President’s authority to maintain sovereignty of the Canal Zone with the Republic of Panama, the Supreme Court concurred that the United States did not have sovereignty over the Canal Zone.3 Vermilya-Brown Co. v. Connell, 335 U.S. 377 (1948) The Supreme Court again referenced Vermilya-Brown when it found that no transfer of sovereignty occurred with respect to military bases on land leased by a foreign country.4 United States v. Spelar, 338 U.S. 217 (1949)

16. By the conclusions above that the place of birth of Senator John McCain was sovereign to the Republic of Panama, and not within the jurisdiction of the United States, his citizenship, by authority of the Fourteenth Amendment, was by naturalization, not by birth.

17. Federal law further indicates that Senator John McCain is indeed a naturalized citizen; not a natural born citizen. It has been established above that the Canal Zone, which encompassed the Coco Solo Naval Air Station, was not within the jurisdiction of the United States. Federal law which applies in general to persons born outside the United States, 8 U.S.C. 1401(c),5 declares those born of parents who are U.S. citizens, as citizens. By the nature of this statute, which applies to those born outside the United States, it must refer, at least in part, to citizenship by naturalization. This statute would not grant him “natural” citizenship, even it were applicable to his birth in the Canal Zone. In any case, a statute that is directly applicable to the birth of Senator John McCain, 8 U.S.C. 1403(a),6 “declares” him a citizen due that his birth in the Canal Zone does not qualify him as a natural born citizen. Clearly, federal law declares Senator John McCain a “naturalized” citizen. The Supreme Court recognized the difference between a “native born” citizen and a “naturalized” citizen in the matter of eligibility to be President.7 Schneider v. Rusk, 377 U.S. 163 (1964)

18. Additional support for this argument can be found back in the laws of the First Congress. Although 1 Stat. 1038 granted “natural” citizenship to children of citizens of the United States who were born out of the limits of the United States, this statute was soon superseded by 1 Stat. 414 Chapter 20, Section 1 ¶ 49 which conspicuously removed the critical term “natural.”

19. By statutes, current and past; by the authority of the President of the United States; and by the authority of the Supreme Court, Senator John McCain’s citizenship was not by birth, but by declaration. As a naturalized citizen, Senator John McCain does not meet the requirements for eligibility for the Office of President as prescribed in Article I, Section 210 of the United States Constitution.

20. While the plaintiff respects Senator John McCain’s lifetime of service to our country, it is nonetheless irrelevant to this issue now before this Court. Plaintiff also concedes the unfortunate irony that a person born outside of the United States, because his father was serving our country as a member of U.S. Navy, should be found ineligible for the Office of President.

However, should an exception be made for persons born to parents serving in our armed forces, we would start down a dangerous and slippery slope. Would persons born to parents serving our country by means other than the armed forces deserve any less consideration? And what of persons whose parents are serving our country, but are not U.S. citizens? The United States Constitution does not make any such exceptions, nor does it make any qualifications based on the service of the person or his parents, and it is fair to assume that the lack of exceptions was intentional and by sound reason.

21. Senator John McCain, in spite of the circumstances that might otherwise contradict the plaintiff’s claim, is unequivocally ineligible to the Office of the President. The Republican National Committee should not be permitted to nominate a candidate who is not eligible to serve in the office for which he is nominated. This would likely lead to the disenfranchisement of approximately 100 million voters. With plenty of time before the national convention of the Republican Party, the Republican National Committee still has the opportunity to nominate a different candidate; a candidate who is eligible to the Office of President.

CONCLUSION

22. By the authority of the President of the United States and by the U.S. Senate, the Coco Solo Naval Air Station in 1936 remained sovereign to the Republic of Panama. This position was reinforced by the Supreme Court, as was the position that overseas military bases, in general, remained sovereign to the foreign country by which such land is leased. It was also stated clearly by the U.S. State Department that the Canal Zone was not under the jurisdiction of the United States and therefore, children born in the Canal Zone were not U.S. citizens by birth.

23. Federal statutes, both past and current, make it clear that persons born outside the United States, specifically those born in the Canal Zone, are declared citizens and are therefore, not natural born citizens. By the Fourteenth Amendment, not being born in the United States, Senator John McCain is a naturalized citizen.

24. The United States Constitution makes the very clear distinction; a distinction recognized by this Court, that only a natural born citizen shall be eligible to the Office of President. The presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for the Office of President, Senator John McCain, is unequivocally not eligible to the Office of President.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, for all of the above-stated reasons, plaintiff, on behalf of himself,

prays this Honorable Court:

A. Declare Senator John McCain ineligible to the Office of President;

B. Order Senator John McCain to withdraw his candidacy for this nomination; and

C. Order the Republican National Committee to nominate a candidate who is eligible to

the Office of President.

Respectfully submitted,

Date: March 14, 2008

Fred Hollander, Pro Se

FOOTNOTES:

1 7 FAM 1116.1-4(c) Despite widespread popular belief, U.S. military installations abroad and U.S. diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does no acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of birth.

2 Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, Article III The Republic of Panama grants to the United States all the rights, power and authority within the zone mention and described in Article II of this agreement and within the limits of all auxiliary lands and waters mentioned and described in said Article II which the United States would possess and exercise if it were the sovereign of the territory within which said lands and waters are located to the entire exclusion of the exercise by the Republic of Panama of any such sovereign rights, power or authority.

3 Vermilya-Brown Co. v. Connell So the Administrator of the Wage-Hour Division has issued a statement of general policy or interpretation that directs all officers and agencies of his division to apply this Act to the Canal Zone, admittedly territory over which we do not have sovereignty.

4 United States v. Spelar To the extent that Vermilya-Brown Co., Inc., v. Connell has any application to the case at bar, it stands as authority for our result here, for it postulates that the executive agreement and leases effected no transfer of sovereignty [338 U.S. 217, 222] with respect to the military bases concerned.

5 8 U.S.C. 1401(c) A person born outside the United States and its outlying possessions of parents both of who are citizens of the United States and one of whom has had a residence in the United States or one of its outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such person;

6 8 U.S.C. 1403(a) Any person born in the Canal Zone on or after February 26, 1904, and whether before or after the effective date of this chapter, whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such person was or is a citizen of the United States, is declared to be a citizen of the United States.

7 Schneider v. Rusk We start from the premise that the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity, and are coextensive. The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the “natural born” citizen is eligible to be President. Art. II, § 1. [p166]

8 1 Stat. 103 And the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens…

9 1 Stat. 414 Chapter 20, Section 1 ¶ 4 ...and the children of citizens of the United States, born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, shall be considered as citizens of the United States…

10 U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2 No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;

Innocence Lost National Initiative

2008-06-26T20:18:00Z

'INNOCENCE LOST' STING Sixteen-City Sweep Marks 5th Anniversary

The Innocence Lost initiative was created in 2003 to address the growing problem of child prostitution in America. The FBI's Criminal Investigative Division partnered with the Child Exploitation-Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice and with the nonprofit National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to bring together state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers. The initiative’s 24 task forces and working groups have recovered 433 children to date and seized over $3 million in assets.

Case Summaries

Below are summaries of some of the cases investigated during the first five years of the FBI’s Innocence Lost joint initiative with the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation-Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Don L. Elbert III forced three underage sisters, two of which were 14-year-old twins, into prostitution. Elbert pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking in May of 2007. On Jan. 10, 2008, Elbert was sentenced to eight years in prison, 15 years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $524,571 in restitution. (Kansas City)
On June 19, 2005, Juan Rico Doss was indicted on one count of conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking of children, three counts of transportation of minors for prostitution, and two counts of criminal forfeiture. Doss transported two minor females between Los Angeles, Sacramento, Oakland, and Reno. His spouse, Jacquay Ford, was found to be involved in the girls’ exploitation. She was indicted and testified against Doss. Ford was sentenced to 15 months. Doss received a life sentence. (Los Angeles)
Robert Lewis Young aka “Blue Diamond” transported juveniles from Hawaii to Chicago and Detroit. Young was based in Detroit and had a relationship with a Chicago dentist, Dr. Gary Kimmel. Electronic surveillance of Young’s phone was initiated in June of 2005. On March 17, 2007, Young was sentenced to 25 years in prison, 5 years supervised release, and ordered to pay $67,000 in child support for his 12 children. On Oct. 30, 2007, one of Young’s pimp partners, Jody Spears, was sentenced to eight years. On May 29, 2008, Kimmel plead guilty to one count of money laundering and agreed to forfeit $405,000. (Detroit/Chicago/Honolulu)
Matthew Thompkins aka “Knowledge” was a U.S. Postal Service employee who operated a criminal enterprise involving 35-40 females whom he forced into prostitution. His youngest victim was 14 years old. In August 2005, electronic monitoring on two of his telephones began. On Dec. 15, 2005, individuals were indicted. Thompkins assets totaled in excess of three million dollars eight. On March 27, 2008, Thompkins was sentenced to 23.3 years in prison and lifetime supervised release. On the same date, his associate, Demetrius Lemus was sentenced to eight years - the reduction due to cooperation against Thompkins. (Atlantic City)
Daniel McNeal recruited a 16-year-old victim into prostitution. He had a history of sex trafficking and violent crime. On Nov. 5, 2007, McNeal was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison and lifetime supervised release. (Minneapolis)
Kevin Murphy trafficked women and children to Washington, D.C., and other cities for the purpose of prostitution. Agents in Washington, D.C., assisted in recovering a juvenile victim. Five victims testified to the grand jury which resulted in a multiple-count indictment against Murphy. On Oct. 26, 2007, Murphy was sentenced to 10 years. (Toledo)
On Oct. 17, 2007, Keith Goodwin aka “Kaydoe” was sentenced to 97 months for the production of child pornography. During a search of his residence, three child victims of prostitution were recovered. Goodwin was also sentenced to 15 months on a felon in possession of a weapon charge. (Detroit)
LaFayette Roderick pleaded guilty to the transportation of a 16-year-old throughout Michigan for the purpose of prostitution. On Oct. 12, 2007, Roderick was sentenced to a term of 3 – 20 years to be served in the Michigan State prison system. (Detroit)
On June 19, 2007, Obak Wofford pleaded guilty to one count of Interstate Transportation of a Minor to Engage in Prostitution. On Sept. 6, 2007, He was sentenced in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA to 10 years imprisonment and 5 years of supervised release. (Atlanta)
Sunni Ham forced two underage girls into prostitution in Washington, DC. He forced them to wear revealing clothing while they performed sex acts for money. On June 12, 2007, Ham was sentenced to 106 months. (Washington, D.C.)
Demond Levail Osley aka “D-Lo” took a 17-year-old victim from Detroit to Florida and forced her into prostitution. On Feb. 7, 2007, Osley was convicted of one count of sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, or coercion; one count of transportation of an individual for prostitution, one count of coercion and enticement of an individual to engage in sexual activity; and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Osley was sentenced to 30 years and 5 months. (Miami)
On June 21, 2006, Will Moss, Jr. aka “Slim” was found guilty of 12 counts relating to sex trafficking of children and various firearms offenses. Moss employed minors for the purpose of prostitution, transported them across state lines and controlled them through force and intimidation. They were assaulted and raped by Moss on numerous occasions. On Feb. 9, 2007, Moss was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and 10 years of supervision. Upon release from prison, he must register as a sex offender. (Sacramento)
On Dec. 3, 2003, Carlos Curtis was indicted on charges of transporting minors from New York and Maryland to engage in prostitution in Washington, DC. Curtis was indicted for violating numerous federal statutes including sex trafficking of children, transportation of minors, transportation for illegal sexual activity, and materials involving the sexual exploitation of children. Guilty pleas were obtained for associates Michael Goodwin for two counts of Pandering, and Janet Rodriguez for one count of pandering. On July 22, 2004, Goodwin was sentenced to 36 months. On Sept. 6, 2004, Rodriguez was sentenced to 36 months. On July 2, 2004, Curtis was convicted after a two-week trial. On March 27, 2006, Curtis was sentenced to life imprisonment. (Washington, D.C.)
Michael Simmons, Stephanie Gease, and Deshonqua Strait were all convicted in relation to a case of child prostitution. Simmons was found guilty of transporting a child from PA to CA and sentenced to 17.5 years. Gease, Simmons’ aunt and former foster mother, was sentenced to 8 months for purchasing a bus ticket and escorting the child to the bus station. Strait was sentenced to 12 months for training and supervising the child. (Pittsburgh)
Gary Gates and Tamisha Hayward operated an online escort/prostitution business known as “Red Light Special” and “Pandora’s Box.” Clients contacted a telephone number posted on the website to set up dates. Hayward reserved hotel rooms for the girls using Priceline.com. On April 23, 2004, Gates and Hayward were indicted on 13 counts of sex trafficking of children; 11 counts coercion and enticement; 5 counts of transportation of minors; and two counts of transportation for illegal sexual activity. Hayward was also charged with one count of conspiracy. On Sept. 8, 2004, through plea agreements, Gates was sentenced to 178 months and Hayward to 103 months. (Washington, D.C.)
Stormy Nights was a large-scale child prostitution investigation focused on the interstate prostitution of children at truck stops and call services nationwide. Stormy Nights utilized a number of sophisticated investigative techniques to include a Title III Wiretap, GPS, and pen registers. On May 10, 2004, nine federal arrest warrants and three federal search warrants were executed in and around the Oklahoma City area. These individuals were charged with a variety of federal offenses to include transportation of an individual with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; aiding and abetting; transportation of person under age of 18 with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; promotion, management, establishment, or carrying on of any unlawful activity; sex trafficking of children; coercion of a person under age of 18 to engage in sexual act; felon in possession of a firearm; interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering; and money laundering. Sentences for these individuals ranged in length up to 17.5 years. (Oklahoma City)
On Sept. 20, 2002, Theodore Love, aka “Ace Love” was arrested on state charges for promoting prostitution. In the residence were six females, two of which were juveniles ages 13 and 17. Love transported the women and children to Las Vegas, Nevada; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles, California, and forced them to work as prostitutes. Love advertised his escort company “The Love Zone” in the Spectator magazine and on the Internet at Eros Guide. On Sept. 25, 2003, Love was indicted federally, charged with sex trafficking of children; and transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Love pled guilty and was sentenced to 87 months in prison. In addition, approximately $3,000 in cash, which was found during the search of Love’s residence, was administratively forfeited. (San Francisco)
Mariece Chevalia Sims, aka Maurice C. Sims and Dwayne B. Thigpen abducted a 16-year-old from Arkansas and forced her into prostitution in Texarkana, Arkansas; Gulfport, Mississippi; and Atlanta, Georgia. Sims and Thigpen sexually assaulted and continually threatened the victim. On Aug. 12, 2003, Sims and Thigpen were charged with kidnapping; transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. On Aug. 27, 2004, Thigpen pled guilty to one count of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. On Sept. 20, 2004, Sims was found guilty at trial of kidnapping; forced labor; sex trafficking of children; and transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. On Dec. 16, 2004, Thigpen was sentenced to 60 months in prison and five years supervised release. Sims was sentenced to life in prison, five years supervised release, and was ordered to pay $500.00 in fines. (Atlanta)
Anderson Byron Walker, aka Jazon Wallace, Jeremiah Collins, Andy Wyzell, McArthur Harris abducted a 15-year-old female from Howell, Michigan, and transported her to Atlanta, Georgia. Walker sexually assaulted the victim and forced her by threats and intimidation into prostitution. The victim was provided false identification and estimated while in Georgia she turned 75-100 “tricks.” On May 31, 2001, Walker was charged with one count of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. On Sept. 2, 2003, Walker pled guilty and was convicted on both counts. Walker was sentenced on April 6, 2004 to 75 months in prison. Walker is also serving two 7-year terms and six 20-year terms in Oklahoma State prison on eight counts to include: Assault; Battery; Kidnapping; and Rape. (Detroit)
Jeffrey L. Byrd was investigated for recruiting an 18-year-old prostitute and transporting her to New York. He and the victim then attempted to recruit a 14-year-old female as a prostitute. Local law enforcement interceded in the matter and arrested Byrd. On Oct. 22, 2003, Byrd was charged in a three-count Federal Grand Jury Indictment in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Byrd was charged with transportation to engage in prostitution; attempted interstate transportation to engage in prostitution; and attempted interstate transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. On Jan. 5, 2004, Byrd entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 55 months imprisonment, three years supervised release, and was ordered to pay $600.00 in fines. (Philadelphia)
Justine Reisdorf, 19, victimized high school girls by posting ads of them online and then arranged for dates at the motel where she worked. She also advertised on the telephone chat line Live Links. Reisdorf pled guilty and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. (Minneapolis)

Innocence Lost National Initiative

Rest In Peace Captain Steve Farley and Thank You For Your Service

2008-06-25T00:29:00Z

Many Department of Defense civilian and military personnel today, as well as UN Navy Captain Steve Farley, have lost their lives today in an attack in Sadr City.

A number of you from my blog list will remember one of our leaders from our Hunter's Rangers grassroots efforts, Brett Farley.

Please keep Brett and his family in your prayers for the loss of the services and sacrifies of his father, UN Navy Captain Steve Farley.

Banned Chinese ammunition allegedly sold to supply Afghanistan

2008-06-24T13:47:00Z

Miami Beach munitions supplier, his company, and others indicted for lying to U.S. Army on government contract
Banned Chinese ammunition allegedly sold to supply Afghanistan

MIAMI - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lead the joint investigation into a 22-year-old Miami Beach munitions supplier who was indicted earlier today for defrauding the government in a contract involving supplying ammunition to Afghanistan. The investigation that led to these indictments was led by ICE's Counter Proliferation Investigations (CPI) Unit.

AEY, Inc. (AEY), its president, Efraim Diveroli, and his two former employees, David Packouz and Alexander Podrizki, both 26 and Miami residents, and business associate, Ralph Merrill, 65, of Salt Lake City, Utah, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on wide-ranging fraud charges in connection with their provision of ammunition to Afghanistan. The defendants are alleged to have conspired to misrepresent the types of ammunition they sold to the U.S. Department of Defense as part of a $298 million Army contract.

More specifically, count 1 of the indictment charges all defendants with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by making false representations to the government and by conspiring to commit procurement fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 (Count 1). Counts 2 through 36 charge defendants AEY and Efraim Diveroli with making false statements to the U.S. Army regarding the country of origin of the ammunition, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001. Lastly, all defendants are charged with procurement fraud against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1031 (Counts 37 - 71).

As alleged in the Indictment, AEY is a munitions supplier, with offices in Miami Beach, Fla. Defendant Efraim Diveroli is the President of AEY, and manages and directs the business operations of AEY. Defendant David Packouz was a Director and Vice President of AEY. Defendant Alexander Podrizki was an agent of AEY, stationed in Tirana, Albania. Defendant Ralph Merrill was a business associate of Diveroli, who provided financial and managerial assistance to AEY.

According to the Indictment, on July 28, 2006, the Department of the Army (Army) issued a solicitation requesting bids on a contract to provide various types of ammunition to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. AEY submitted a bid and represented to the Army that it could fulfill the requirements of the contract and procure the ammunition for $298 million. Based on that bid, the Army awarded the contract to AEY on Jan. 26, 2007. Under the terms of the contract, AEY was required to certify that it was providing serviceable and safe ammunition. The contract also prohibited delivery of ammunition acquired, directly or indirectly, from a Communist Chinese military company.

The Indictment alleges that the defendants submitted documents to the Army falsely attesting that the ammunition they were providing was manufactured and originated in Albania, when, in fact, the ammunition came from China. To effectuate the scheme, defendants Efraim Diveroli, David Packouz, and Alexander Podrizki would direct others to assist in the packaging of ammunition to be delivered to Afghanistan, and would provide instructions to remove Chinese markings from containers in order to conceal that the ammunition was manufactured and originated in China.

With each shipment, Diveroli, on behalf of AEY, would falsely certify in a Certificate of Conformance that the ammunition being furnished conformed with the contract requirements, and that the manufacturer and point of origin of the ammunition was the Military Export and Import Company (hereinafter referred to as MEICO) in Tirana, Albania. These false statements in the Certificates of Conformance are the basis for Counts 2 to 36 of the Indictment against AEY and Diveroli. Each of the 35 Certificates of Conformance accompanied a separate shipment of ammunition.

Upon delivery of each shipment of ammunition, defendant Efraim Diveroli would submit and cause others to submit to the Department of the Army, a copy of the Certificate of Conformance and an invoice for payment to AEY. Based on these false submissions, the Army paid AEY approximately $10,331,736 for 35 shipments of Chinese ammunition. These submissions and resulting payments to AEY are the basis of Counts 37- 71.

If convicted of the charges in Counts 1through 36, each defendant named faces a maximum term of imprisonment of up to five years per count. If convicted of the charges in Counts 37 through 71, each defendant named faces a maximum term of imprisonment of up to ten years per count.

"The indictment and arrest of these four individuals is a result of a three-year joint law enforcement agency investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Counter Proliferation Investigations (CPI) Unit, DCIS and Army CID," said Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Miami. "This investigation is a fine example of how effective these law enforcement partnerships can be at ensuring that the sale and distribution of defense articles is done lawfully. This case will send a message to those individuals who attempt to profit by illegally supplying improper defense articles to our allies. ICE will continue to aggressively pursue those who violate U.S. export laws."

The investigation was led by ICE's Counter Proliferation Investigations (CPI) Unit which focuses on criminal activities relative to the enforcement of national security export control statutes. The CPI Unit is responsible for overseeing a broad range of investigative activities relative to the enforcement of U.S. laws involving the export of military items and controlled dual-use goods, and sanctioned or embargoed countries and enforcement of security export control statutes. One of ICE's highest priorities is to prevent terrorist groups and hostile nations from illegally obtaining U.S. military products and sensitive technology, including weapons of mass destruction (WMD) components. Preventing illicit brokering and other illegal export related activities of United States Munitions List items is a top priority for ICE.

United States Attorney Alex Acosta stated, "Defense contractors are responsible for the effectiveness and safety of munitions they provide to our troops and allies. When these contractors intentionally cut corners to line their own pockets, they risk the safety and lives of our men and women in uniform. Such callousness and disregard for the lives of our soldiers and our allies will not be tolerated, and will be vigorously prosecuted."

In fiscal year 2008, ICE's CPI Unit conducted more than 2,600 investigations into the illegal export of U.S. munitions and sensitive technology, resulting in 188 arrests, 178 indictments and 127 convictions.

U.S. Attorney Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the various agencies involved in this case. The Southern District of Florida also thanks the Counter Espionage Section, the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, and the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice for their assistance in this matter. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Eloisa D. Fernandez and James M. Koukios.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal law. Defendants are presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

-- ICE --

Efraim Diveroli, age 22

From his MySpace page:

quote:

About me:
Well of course im a super nice guy!!! , i know what i want out of life but not exactly quite sure how to get it yet. I was born and bred in miami beach and have no immediate plans to leave but i have thought about it. Im a pretty easy going guy and many say i have a good sense of humor. I had problems in high school so i was forced to work most of my teen years and i probably grew up way to fast. I finally got a decent apartment and im content for the moment , however i definately have the desire to be very successful in my business and this does take up alot of my time.

General:
for the moment im basically just working and chilling with my boyz when im not, im looking for some hobbies like i keep saying im gonna go to the gym and i started playing football again which is definately my favorite sport. im one of those guys who needs to be entertained and having lots of fun all the time so if your also an undiagnosed case of ADD look me up. i like to eat good food and i dont know how to cook so i eat out alot!!!! ilike to travel whenever posssible sometimes for business , and of course i like going clubbing or going to a movie, oh and ive really taken a liking towards fine scotch whisky recently dont ask me why....

Meet AEY's Director and Vice President, David Packouz, age 26

When he's not dealing 40-year-old Chinese ammunition to the Afghan army, he is a practicing massage therapist and an aspiring musician.

From his MySpace page:

quote:

About me:
I'm very special and unique... just like everyone else. I'm currently working in the import/export field and practicing professional massage therapy. My goals are to see as much of the world as possible, learn spanish, russian and chinese, to professionally record the songs i've written and, most of all, to appreciate all the good things in life and be as happy as possible

Check out his band's page.

If I were him I'd stick with massage therapy...it doesn't look like his band or his international arms dealing company will be going anywhere soon.

Two Munitions Dealers Arrested and Charged in Conspiracy to Export Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

2008-06-24T13:29:00Z

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 23, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

NSD
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

Two Munitions Dealers Arrested and Charged in Conspiracy to Export Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

Defendants Hassan Saied Keshari and Traian Bujduveanu were arrested on charges of conspiring to export military aircraft parts to Iran, announced R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Michael Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Investigations, and Christopher Amato, Special Agent in Charge of the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office. Hassan Saied Keshari and Traian Bujduveanu are charged in a federal Criminal Complaint with conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the United States Iran Embargo, and the Arms Export Control Act for their participation in a conspiracy to export U.S.-made military aircraft parts to Iran.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the Criminal Complaint, Keshari owns and operates Kesh Air International, a business located in Novato, California. Bujduveanu owns and operates Orion Aviation Corp., located in Plantation, Florida. The affidavit alleges that since August 2006, Keshari and Bujduveanu have procured U.S.-made military aircraft parts in the United States for buyers in Iran and have illegally shipped the parts to a company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for shipment to buyers in Iran. Keshari allegedly received the orders for specific parts by e-mail from buyers in Iran. Keshari then requested quotes, usually by e-mail, from Bujduveanu and made arrangements with Bujduveanu for the sale and shipment of the parts to a company in Dubai. From Dubai, the parts were then shipped on to Iran.

Among the aircraft parts that Keshari and Bujduveanu are alleged to have obtained and illegally shipped to buyers in Iran are parts for the CH-53 military helicopter, the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and the AH-1 attack helicopter. Keshari is also alleged to have requested quotes for other parts for other military aircraft, including F-4 Phantom aircraft. All of these aircraft are known to be used primarily, if not exclusively, by the Iranian military. Moreover, all of the parts supplied by Keshari and Bujduveanu are manufactured in the United States, are designed exclusively for military use, and have been designated by the United States Department of State as "defense articles" on the United States Munitions List, thus requiring registration and licensing with the DDTC. Neither Keshari nor Bujduveanu are registered or had the required license to ship defense articles to Iran.

Shortly before midnight on Friday, June 20, 2008, federal agents arrested Keshari at Miami International Airport as he walked off a flight from Atlanta. A search warrant was executed on Kesh Air International, in California, on Friday, June 20, 2008. Defendant Bujduveanu was arrested at his Plantation, FL, home on Saturday, June 21, 2008. Federal agents executed a search warrant at Bujduveanu’s home and business immediately after his arrest. Agents found boxes of military aircraft parts stored on Bujduvenau’s property, including hundreds of parts for the C-130, the F-5, and other military aircraft.

Both defendants made their initial appearances in federal court today before a United States Magistrate Judge. They are scheduled to appear in federal court again on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. for detention hearings.

The Complaint, unsealed today, charges the defendants with conspiring to illegally export "defense articles," in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, Title 22, United States Code, Section 2778(b), and to export U.S. made articles to Iran, in violation of Title 50, United States Code, Sections 1701, et seq. (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)); the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) comprehensive trade and investment embargo against Iran under the authority, inter alia, of IEEPA, as amended, Section 505 of the International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1885, Executive Order 13059 of August 19, 1997, which consolidates the provisions of Executive Orders 12613, 12957, and 12959, and the Iranian Transactions Regulations (ITR) promulgated thereunder, principally, 31 C.F.R. § 560.204. If convicted, the defendants face statutory maximum sentences ranging from five (5) years’ imprisonment to twenty (20) years’ imprisonment, and face fines of up to $1 million.

United States Attorney Acosta stated, "Today’s defendants are charged with illegally selling U.S. military equipment to Iran, thus helping that country build up its military strength. We owe it to the many service men and women who defend us to vigorously prosecute illegal exports of American military equipment."

"Disrupting illegal procurement networks that attempt to circumvent our sanctions against Iran is a top priority of the Bureau of Industry and Security," said Special Agent in Charge, Michael Johnson. "This case demonstrates the importance of team work in preventing diversion of sensitive U.S. goods," he added.

Special Agent in Charge Christopher Amato, of the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office, said, "The illegal diversion of U.S. military technologies through deception, particularly to countries such as Iran, is treacherous and dangerous to the U.S. and its allies. These arrests are yet another example of the successes that can be achieved by effectively partnering investigative resources from DCIS, ICE, and Commerce."

"Today’s federal criminal charges of two aviation corporations and their presidents are the result of a long-term investigation by ICE’s Counter Proliferation Investigations (CPI) Unit in Fort Lauderdale and the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Defense," said Anthony Mangione, Special Agent in Charge of the ICE Office of Investigations. "The national security implications of this case cannot be underestimated. This investigation foiled a potentially dangerous scheme to sell and distribute sensitive U.S. military equipment. In the wrong hands, technology like this could be used to inflict harm upon America or its allies. ICE will continue to aggressively pursue those who violate U.S. export laws and ensure the sale and distribution of defense articles is done in a lawful manner."

U.S. Attorney Acosta commended the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Investigations, and the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, for their work on this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Damian.

###

08-558

China Admits POW is Buried There

2008-06-22T15:10:00Z

http://www.aiipowmia.com

China Admits POW is Buried There

"They lied about it. There's probably a lot of others that are missing there that they captured and we'll never find out about," says Anita Hutchins.

Hutchins, 83, still doesn't know exactly what happened to her brother, Richard Desautels. The Vermont soldier served in Korea and disappeared in 1950. She's been trying to find out his fate for more than half a century. She has written and heard from world leaders.

Over the years they slowly learned that he had been taken prisoner during a fire fight.

The family received no official information-- only unofficial accounts from returned soldiers. They reported that on the day of prisoner exchange Desautels was taken away by Chinese soldiers to a POW camp in China because he had become a problem.

"He learned the language and they called him a trouble maker," says Hutchins. "He was seen all beaten up and almost dead. The last report that came through said that he looked like almost dead and that was in 1953. That was probably the year they got rid of him."

But for 50 years, the Chinese denied that any POWs died there. Then, in 2003, China told US authorities that Desautels was taken to a POW camp in China where he suffered a mental illness and died two weeks later and was buried and reburied in a gave no one can locate in China.

An POW-MIA group shared that info with the Desautels family. Hutchins is certain it's a lie.

"I knew he would never come back... it's a feeling I had all along," she says. Again, this is the first evidence that China has been lying about the treatment of POWs in the Korean War.

Though the POW-MIA group and the Desautels knew about this information for five years, they did not share it because they just didn't believe it. But just in the last few weeks, the Associated Press learned of the documents and the story broke on the front page of a number of newspapers Friday.

BACKGROUND

Desautels Seen Alive August 1953

Toledoan Rolland Desautels said yesterday he continues to have questions about the reported death of his brother during the Korean War, despite a five-year-old revelation by the Chinese government that he was buried in its country back in 1953.

Mr. Desautels, 81, who moved to Toledo in 1957 for work as an engineer at Surface Combustion Inc., said his brother, Army Sgt. Richard G. Desautels, whom the Koreans were believed to have captured, was seen alive in Korea by another prisoner of war from that same conflict in August, 1953.

"He was shocked that my brother hadn't been released," Mr. Desautels said. "He said my brother was in the truck behind his to go to the exchange center [for POWs]. Unfortunately they took three prisoners off that truck, and my brother was one of them."

The Chinese version is that Sergeant Desautels died on April 29, 1953, a week after becoming mentally ill. The Chinese government denied for years that he or any other Americans killed in Korea had been buried in China.

Pentagon officials, though, got what the Chinese described as "a complete record of 9-10 pages" in classified archives in a March, 2003, meeting in Beijing. That report said Sergeant Desautels was buried in China.

The revelation was kept quiet for five years. A Pentagon spokesman has said it was intended only for Sergeant Desautels' family.

Rolland Desautels never followed up on that report, but passed it along to a POW-MIA advocacy group, the National Alliance of Families. That group, in turn, recently gave it to the Associated Press.

Mr. Desautels said he didn't follow up on the Chinese version because he didn't believe it.

"All that farce about him dying in April is baloney," Mr. Desautels said. "I feel that we're being deceived. I'm beginning to believe that there's very little we can believe that the Chinese give us."

The Desautels brothers grew up in Shoreham, Vt.

Mr. Desautels said his brother joined the Army when he was 17. About a year later, he was captured.

Chinese officials said in 2003 the location of his remains was lost after they moved his grave for a construction project.

--------------------------------------------

Did you know this isn't just a flag? It is a Federal Law.

Do you know the history?

Extremely Related:

John McCain, POWs and the Trade Embargo That Shouldn't have been lifted

John McCain and the Flag

John McCain - No one left behind???

An American Traitor: Guilty As Charged

Former P.O.W.: "Why I Cannot Support Senator John McCain for President"

Airmen MIA From Vietnam War are Identified

Chinese national sentenced for committing economic espionage

2008-06-20T13:12:00Z

Mantis was acquired from Lockheed Martin:

http://www.quantum3d.com/press/2005/03-29-05_LM_IDX_JSF.htm

Excerpt:

"The simulation and training industry continues to demand greater levels of fidelity in synthetic environments," said Ross Q. Smith, Quantum3D co-founder and president. "Nowhere is that more critical than in the F-35 program, which is truly pushing the envelope in terms of fidelity and performance of flight and weapons system simulator requirements. We are extremely pleased to continue to be the IG of choice for Lockheed Martin Aero Fort Worth on the F-35 program and will continue to advance our technology to meet the JSF program and our other critical customers' evolving needs."

Quantum3D Independence™ 2500 IG Solution Integral to the Independence 2500 IG's sensor simulation capabilities is its Mantis™ realtime scene management software suite with viXsen™ sensor simulation option.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chinese national sentenced for committing economic espionage with intent to benefit China Navy Research Center
First sentencing under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 and first conviction involving military source code under the Arms Export Control Act

SAN JOSE - Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 44, a software engineer born in China and currently a resident of Cupertino, Calif., was sentenced today to two years in prison by the Honorable Jeremy Fogel, U.S. District Court Judge in San Jose. Meng was also ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his prison term; pay a fine of $10,000, and forfeit computer equipment seized in the case.

The sentence, the first handed down for a violation of the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (18 USC Section 1831), was announced by Patrick Rowan, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Joseph P. Russoniello, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California; Arthur Cummings, Executive Assistant Director for the FBI's National Security Branch; and Julie L. Myers, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

On Aug. 1, 2007, Meng pleaded guilty to two national security violations: one count of violating the Economic Espionage Act and one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Meng's conviction was the first involving military source code under the Arms Export Control Act and marked the second case in which there was a conviction under the Economic Espionage Act for misappropriating a trade secret with the intent to benefit a foreign government.

According to court records based on the nearly four-year investigation by ICE and the FBI, Meng committed economic espionage by misappropriating a trade secret, known as "Mantis 1.5.5," from his former employer, Quantum3D Inc., with the intent to benefit a foreign government, specifically the People's Republic of China (PRC) Navy Research Center in Beijing. He did so by using the Mantis 1.5.5 trade secret as part of a demonstration project in attempting to sell products of his new employer, Orad, Hi-Tec Systems Ltd., which was a direct competitor of Quantum3D. The trade secret at issue, known as "Mantis," is a Quantum3D product used to simulate real world motion for military training and other purposes.

In addition, Meng violated the Arms Export Control Act by knowingly and willfully exporting to the PRC a defense article on the United States Munitions List (defense article viXsen) without authorization from the United States. The product viXsen is a Quantum3D visual simulation software program used for training military fighter pilots who use night visual sensor equipment, including thermal imaging.

According to court documents, the investigation established that Meng had, in fact, misappropriated two defense articles (specifically nVSensor, in addition to viXsen described above), at least six source code products which were also trade secrets, and more than one hundred materials and utilities belonging to his former employer, Quantum3D. Many of these misappropriated Quantum3D products were intended primarily for military purposes. For example, nVSensor is a Quantum3D product used to provide night vision simulation and is exclusively used in military applications for precision training and simulation applications.

The investigation also established that defendant Meng was assisting in developing two separate military proposals for two separate Air Forces in Southeast Asia involving visual simulation equipment and source code. Copies of two F-16 Full Mission Simulator proposals involving two different countries were found on Meng's laptop.

"Today's case demonstrates the importance of safeguarding sensitive U.S. military technology as well as trade secrets. It should also serve as a warning to others who would compromise our national security for profit," said Patrick Rowan, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

Joseph P. Russoniello, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, stated, "In this case, a Silicon Valley trade secret was used in a demonstration project in Beijing with the intent to benefit the PRC Naval Research Center. Source code for military visual simulation programs to train military fighter pilots and restricted defense articles were also willfully exported outside the United States. We will continue to enforce the criminal laws against those who violate export restrictions and misappropriate our trade secrets. Many of the systems we protect are designed to safeguard our men and women in harm's way and compromising them significantly adds to the perils that they face in defending us. It is imperative that we vigilantly protect the intellectual property developed in the Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the country so as to maintain as our nation's military defense advantages, and to deter acts of aggression against vital American interests."

"ICE is committed to shutting down those who are willing to put America's national security on sale for a profit," said Julie L. Myers, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE. "The export of U.S. military products and sensitive technology is controlled for good reason - in the wrong hands, these items could be used to harm America or its allies. Enforcing U.S. export laws is one of ICE's top priorities, and we will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement and industry to ensure that those who put our country at risk are brought to justice."

FBI Executive Assistant Director for the National Security Branch, Arthur Cummings stated, "Protecting our nation's most sensitive trade secrets and critical technology is at the core of the FBI mission. The FBI is committed to safeguard our country's economic well-being and national security."

Quantum3D, Inc., based in San Jose, California, has cooperated fully in the government's investigation. Quantum3D produces hardware and software components for simulation systems for commercial and military customers. Some of the products include high-end visual simulation systems, and interactive, open-architecture visual computing solutions, image generators, and embedded graphics subsystems.

Defendant Meng was ordered to surrender for this prison term on Aug. 18, 2008. He has been out of custody after a $500,000 bond, secured by cash and real property, was posted at the beginning of the case.

-- ICE--

FBI Announces Contract Award for Next Generation Identification System

WTC Freedom Tower Now Home to China Center Operation

Digital TV foreshadows erosion of Internet rights

2008-06-18T13:03:00Z

This is a definite must read. Very interesting in combination with the Associated Press's latest information, "Standards."

Digital TV foreshadows erosion of Internet rights

by Tom Yager

With regard to the free exchange of information over the Internet, we, the people, have mostly managed to hold our ground. We can thank activists, hacktivists, legislators saying "no, thanks" to money from the entertainment lobbies, and forward-thinking artists and content distributors--I'm proud that writers and publishers took the lead on this--who recognize that reach is the currency of the digital age.

We should take as a warning sign of descent down the slippery slope toward the loss of Internet freedoms Internet providers' arbitrary blocking and throttling of BitTorrent traffic. The rationale points to the bandwidth wasted by BitTorrent. That doesn't ring true. There are other flavors of traffic such as VOIP, streaming news, advertising and entertainment, photo galleries, remote PC access, Usenet repositories, denial of service attacks, and spam that consume beastly amounts of bandwidth, but somehow none of these warrants detection and control at the provider's end of the pipe. It makes one wonder, what's so special about BitTorrent that it cries out to be controlled in such a radical manner?

That's an easy one. The entertainment lobby (my shorthand to avoid spewing the alphabet soup of movie, TV, and music trade groups), having failed to get the feds to impose a tax on videotapes and recordable discs, or to hold Internet providers liable for copyrighted content transferred through their networks, or (so far) to add a piracy tax to every broadband user's monthly bill, is using the most powerful weapon yet devised: "Standards."

I put that in quotes to differentiate it from true standards. Analog television, for example, works because standards and regulations ensure the interoperation of transmitters and receivers. These standards take the public good into account. The move toward digital television, which will be complete in February 2009, is attended by standards and regulations constructed to ensure interoperability and to guard the public good as well. No broadcaster can arrange that a digital TV signal require a non-standard receiver, for example, one that bills your credit card every time you watch a popular show on an over-the-air (OTA) digital channel. As a matter of practice, most cable companies pass local broadcasters' HD channels to their basic cable subscribers.

The very characteristic that makes digital TV look so good is the one that makes it so vulnerable to restriction and manipulation: A TV broadcast is no longer a signal, it's a bitstream, one that has far fewer points of origination than the Internet and is therefore easier to control. Digital TV is rapidly heading for precisely the sort of lockdown that entertainment and broadcast lobbies desire for the Internet, and to the extent that they can be used as video players and recorders, our PCs, Macs, and notebooks.

The primary example of digital lockdown is HDMI, the High Definition Multimedia Interface.

Read More About Digital Lockdown

Treasured New York Skyscrapers May be Sold to Foreign Funds

2008-06-14T23:45:00Z

http://au.biz.yahoo.com/080614/33/1sdpu.html
Treasured New York Skyscrapers May be Sold to Foreign Funds

NEW YORK (AFP) - The iconic Chrysler and Flatiron skycrapers may soon join New York's GM Building as landmarks sold in part to Arab or European investors as the weak dollar spurs property grabs in the Big Apple, reports said Friday.

The 50-story General Motors Building, constructed in 1968 and which includes the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, has already been sold -- for a record-breaking 2.8 billion dollars -- to US real estate firm Boston Properties, backed by investors from Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar.

The deal, concluded on Tuesday, makes the GM Building the most expensive skyscraper in the United States, according to several reports.

The seller, Macklowe Properties, had been mired in debt after acquiring seven major New York properties last year for seven billion dollars near the height of the real estate boom, before the subsequent real estate and credit crises.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the famed Chrysler Building could be next with the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, a sovereign wealth fund, in talks with a subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc to pay 800 million dollars for a 75 percent stake in the Art Deco treasure. (psst, rumor is, Chrysler was already sold and the info is leaking after. Could just be a rumor though)

(more at link)

See this YouTube lnk for the song, King of the Road
http://youtube.com/watch?v=loiH-e9Xm04

Sing along with my new lyrics below!

America for sale or rent
But money won't buy them sense.
No roads, no homes, no bridge
All will go to foreign interest
Ah, but..tolls will pay them more
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room
Charge Americans like cheapened whores
King of the gold.

Next buses, taxis and trains
Destined owners 3rd world Dons.
No clothes or shoes we will own,
Even that will be on loan.
I smoke old stogies I have found
But that made Al Gore come around
He owns the ozone too
King of the gold.

The kings will own every engineer on every train
All of their children, and all of their names
And every handout in every town
And every lock that ain't locked
When no one's around.

I sing,
America for sale or rent
But money won't buy them sense.
No roads, no homes, no bridge
All will go to foreign interest
Ah, but..tolls will pay them more
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room
Charge Americans like cheapened whores
King of the gold.

As the Left Turns

2008-06-14T16:26:00Z

Wow, was this a warning shot fired across the bow, or is the left getting read to throw one of their own under bus?

Gore Vidal Questions McCain's Time in Prison Camp

NEW YORK In an interview for this Sunday's edition of The New York Times Magazine, famed novelist/essayist Gore Vidal appears to question Sen. John McCain's account of being imprisoned by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war.

Asked what he thinks of McCain, Vidal calls him a "disaster," then tells Deborah Solomon, "Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?"

Solomon replies: "Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam." To which Vidal responds: "That’s what he tells us."

Why would you doubt him? Solomon wonders. "He’s a graduate of Annapolis," Vidal explains. "I know a lot of the Annapolis breed. Remember, I’m West Point, where I was born. My father went there."

Excerpt

Gore Vidal was apart of the Mobilization Committee to End the War during Vietnam as he still is today concernin Iraq. But, during Vietnam, the Mobilization Committee to End the War had a very significant feature in the antiwar movement. There was a delegation called, 'Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in North Vietnam', or COLIFAM.

COLIFAM was a POW extortion operation. Gore Vidal knows why some POWs came home and some didn't. So does John McCain.

Extremely Related:

John McCain, POWs and the Trade Embargo That Shouldn't have been lifted

John McCain and the Flag

John McCain - No one left behind???

An American Traitor: Guilty As Charged

Kuwaiti Charity Designated for Bankrolling al Qaida Network

2008-06-14T14:08:00Z

Kuwaiti Charity Designated for Bankrolling al Qaida Network

June 13, 2008 HP-1023

Washington - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated the Kuwait-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) for providing financial and material support to al Qaida and al Qaida affiliates, including Lashkar e-Tayyiba, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya. RIHS has also provided financial support for acts of terrorism.

"Designating and freezing the assets of an organization engaged in charitable work is a decision not taken lightly because the last thing we want to do is cut off needed humanitarian assistance," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "However, the reality is that RIHS has used charity and humanitarian assistance as cover to fund terrorist activity and harm innocent civilians, often in poor and impoverished regions. We have a responsibility to do all we can to shut down the funding channels of terrorism."

RIHS was designated today under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing financial, technological, or material support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. Any assets RIHS holds under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with RIHS.

The RIHS offices in Afghanistan (RIHS-Afghanistan) and Pakistan (RIHS-Pakistan) were designated by the U.S. Government and the United Nations 1267 Committee in January 2002 based on evidence of their support for al Qaida. At that time, there was no evidence that the Kuwait-based RIHS headquarters (RIHS-HQ) knew that RIHS-Afghanistan and RIHS-Pakistan were financing al Qaida.

Since that time, however, evidence has mounted implicating RIHS-HQ in terrorism support activity. The U.S. Government has learned that RIHS senior leadership, who have actively managed all aspects of the organization's day-to-day operations, have been aware of both legitimate and illegitimate uses of RIHS funds.

"We designated two branches of RIHS in 2002, and since then a number of other countries have taken action against RIHS. We look forward to continuing our work with Kuwaiti authorities to ensure that legitimate charitable giving can reach those in need and not be diverted to terrorist organizations," Levey continued.

Suspected of providing support to terrorism, RIHS offices have been closed or raided by the governments of Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Russia.

In countries where RIHS activities are banned or scrutinized by local governments, RIHS-HQ has developed multiple methods to continue its operations. After the Government of Bangladesh closed RIHS offices, RIHS-HQ funneled money into Bangladesh through another organization to continue RIHS activities and to help shield it from scrutiny there. RIHS-HQ has used RIHS officials and other individuals to courier funds out of the country in order to evade the scrutiny of the international financial system. In some countries, including Albania and Kosovo in particular, RIHS senior officials have assisted RIHS branch offices with name changes, and then continued to provide financial support to the new organizations.

RIHS Support for Terrorism in South Asia

RIHS-HQ provides significant financial and logistical support to the U.N.-designated terrorist group Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based terrorist group with links to the al Qaida network. LeT was reportedly implicated in the July 2006 attack on multiple Mumbai commuter trains, and in the December 2001 attack against the Indian Parliament. As of 2007, RIHS provided office space to an LeT leader who visited Kuwait to raise funds for LeT operations. RIHS officials accompanied the LeT leader while he raised funds throughout Kuwait. As of late 2007, RIHS sent money to LeT elements on a monthly basis, and regularly transferred funds to LeT representatives' bank accounts in Pakistan. In some cases, LeT has received the funds at charitable entities associated with RIHS.

RIHS also reportedly provided a key source of funding for terrorist attacks carried out by an extremist group in Bangladesh in 2005. Despite a February 2005 Bangladeshi government ban of the terrorist group Jamaaat Mujahidin Bangladesh (JM, on August 17, 2005, JMB launched a series of near-simultaneous bomb attacks across Bangladesh, killing two and injuring 64 persons. Over 400 bombs exploded during the course of these attacks, which were carried out in 63 of Bangladesh's 64 provinces. Following the bombings, RIHS was identified as one of the key sources of funding needed for staging these attacks. After the August 2005 bombings, RIHS was accused of funding JMB's military activities with overt and covert funds. These funds were channeled through a senior leader of a Bangladeshi Islamic organization. As of early 2005, RIHS in Bangladesh had contributed millions of dollars to this organization.

RIHS Support for Terrorism in Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa

RIHS has provided financial and logistical support to the Southeast Asia based terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Specifically, an RIHS employee provided logistical support to JI's fugitive leader Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin (a.k.a. "Hambali") prior to his capture in 2003. Due to the high security conditions during the 2002 Asian Summit, the RIHS employee escorted Hambali from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to an alternate location, where he then provided him with accommodations. The employee was later captured and sentenced to life imprisonment on terrorism charges. An RIHS representative in Indonesia provided funding to a JI member collecting money for JI activities. The JI member funneled the funds he received from RIHS and other sources to JI associates for the procurement of weapons to support their operations.

RIHS has also funded al Qaida and like-minded terrorist groups in Somalia. Al Qaida supporters in Somalia reportedly have historically received significant funds through RIHS. In addition, RIHS provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to a university controlled by Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya.

New York "Sufferring" A Foreign Fashion Model Shortage

2008-06-14T11:20:00Z

New York "Sufferring" A Foreign Fashion Model Shortage

Excerpt:

There's a model shortage in the fashion capital of the world and New York Representative Anthony Weiner is working to right that wrong. Seriously.

Weiner is sponsoring a bill that gives models “of distinguished merit and ability” their own visa classification (P-4 status) which would group them with entertainers and athletes.

Believe it or not (might not be hard to believe for those of you who are critical of our visa policies or ever applied for one yourself), models coming to work in the U.S. compete with high-tech workers for the same type of H1-B visa.

Modeling schemes are one of the largest frauds used to lure young girls, internationally, into the sex trafficking industry.

The victim girls sign contracts that result in them being indebted to the pig madams or pimps and engage the girls into commercial sex acts through force, fraud and coercion. Most of these girls haven't even reached 18 yet. They are more valuable price wise the younger they are. The girls are lured and recruited into prostitution with promises of legitimate modeling careers.

Available to rent at Blockbuster

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/movies/human-trafficking
Human Trafficking

Lions for Lambs

2008-06-13T23:27:00Z

Recommend!

Will Media Ask Questions on Obama's Pledge To Prosecute War Criminals?

2008-06-10T10:20:00Z

From Newsbuster:

Will Media Ask Questions on Obama's Pledge To Prosecute War Criminals?

This is pretty serious stuff that the American public surely would like more details on. Can we expect the MSM to follow up on this with some questions? Probably not, but they need to.
Marc Ambinder notes how the Democratic Justice Department will be interested in making a case against senior Bush adminstration officials in the future.
Thomas Lifson reminds us of Obama’s take on this:

Barack Obama’s plan for imposing unity on the nation after he takes office apparently entails a close look at war crimes trials for Bush administration officials. He has even said so in an interview with Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News.
This kind of change — putting your predecessors on trial for their conduct of policy — may not be what most Americans really want or expect from someone with Obama’s gauzy rhetoric of unity. But unity has a dark side in the hands of people who regard their opponents as criminals. America has two centuries-plus of history lacking the totalitarian practice of jailing the predecessors when a new president takes office.
This is the sort of proposal one might expect from a man steeped in Marxism at his church, from his friends like Ayers, and as a member of the Alinsky Left. But I am surprised he let this slip.

Obama:

Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to “immediately review the information that’s already there” and determine if an inquiry is warranted — but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as “a partisan witch hunt.” However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because “nobody is above the law.”

Charles Johnson takes a screen cap from Obama’s website of this PDF that also mentions this and notes:

And something tells me they don’t mean Al Qaeda.

I’m pretty sure we aren’t talking about Ramsey Clark either. Expect to hear zip on this from the MSM.

Thank you Newsbusters for being the watchdog the MSM is not.

If the Millennium Declaration is implemented then the International Criminal Court will have a hunting license for US Soldiers and US politicians.

Obama's bill S2433 - U.N.'s Millennium Declaration

Press One For English

2008-06-07T01:13:00Z

June 6, 1944

2008-06-06T11:21:00Z

Operation Overlord

“Operation Overlord”, the invasion of Normandy, consisted of an armada of some 7000 ships and landing craft, almost 200,000 allied naval personnel, 850,000 troops, of which 133,000 stormed the beaches on June 6th, 1944 and suffered over 10,000 casualties. A year of of bitter, bloody fighting ensued, culminating with the liberation of Paris on August 25th and the ultimate surrender of Nazi Germany eight months later.

My Fellow Americans:

Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

Franklin D. Roosevelt - June 6, 1944

WTC Freedom Tower Now Home to China Center Operation

2008-06-03T13:23:00Z

Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co. has signed a tentative agreement to move into the Freedom Tower, the former World Trade Center site. The Beijing company will be a headquarters office facility, business service center and executive club that will house Chinese companies seeking to establish operations in the Americas and Europe, according to an article in Real Estate Weekly.

Related:

China’s Cyber-Militia

China's Airforce

Defense Department Official Pleads Guilty to Espionage Charge Involving China

Chinese Agent Sentenced to Over 24 Years in Prison for Exporting United States Defense Articles to China

China Arms Build Up is Alarming

SPIES ON THE INSIDE

Chinopoly: The real story behind China’s rags-to-riches rise

China’s Cyber-Militia

2008-05-31T01:02:00Z

August 2003 - NYC Blackout

The whole of the city was dark and the setting sun painted one building.

China’s Cyber-Militia

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts.
One prominent expert told National Journal he believes that China’s People’s Liberation Army played a role in the power outages. Tim Bennett, the former president of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a leading trade group, said that U.S. intelligence officials have told him that the PLA in 2003 gained access to a network that controlled electric power systems serving the northeastern United States. The intelligence officials said that forensic analysis had confirmed the source, Bennett said. “They said that, with confidence, it had been traced back to the PLA.” These officials believe that the intrusion may have precipitated the largest blackout in North American history, which occurred in August of that year. A 9,300-square-mile area, touching Michigan, Ohio, New York, and parts of Canada, lost power; an estimated 50 million people were affected.
Officially, the blackout was attributed to a variety of factors, none of which involved foreign intervention. Investigators blamed “overgrown trees” that came into contact with strained high-voltage lines near facilities in Ohio owned by FirstEnergy Corp. More than 100 power plants were shut down during the cascading failure. A computer virus, then in wide circulation, disrupted the communications lines that utility companies use to manage the power grid, and this exacerbated the problem. The blackout prompted President Bush to address the nation the day it happened. Power was mostly restored within 24 hours.
There has never been an official U.S. government assertion of Chinese involvement in the outage, but intelligence and other government officials contacted for this story did not explicitly rule out a Chinese role. One security analyst in the private sector with close ties to the intelligence community said that some senior intelligence officials believe that China played a role in the 2003 blackout that is still not fully understood.
Bennett, whose former trade association includes some of the nation’s largest computer-security companies and who has testified before Congress on the vulnerability of information networks, also said that a blackout in February, which affected 3 million customers in South Florida, was precipitated by a cyber-hacker. That outage cut off electricity along Florida’s east coast, from Daytona Beach to Monroe County, and affected eight power-generating stations. Bennett said that the chief executive officer of a security firm that belonged to Bennett’s trade group told him that federal officials had hired the CEO’s company to investigate the blackout for evidence of a network intrusion, and to “reverse engineer” the incident to see if China had played a role.
Bennett, who now works as a private consultant, said he decided to speak publicly about these incidents to point out that security for the nation’s critical electronic infrastructures remains intolerably weak and to emphasize that government and company officials haven’t sufficiently acknowledged these vulnerabilities.
The Florida Blackout
A second information-security expert independently corroborated Bennett’s account of the Florida blackout. According to this individual, who cited sources with direct knowledge of the investigation, a Chinese PLA hacker attempting to map Florida Power & Light’s computer infrastructure apparently made a mistake. “The hacker was probably supposed to be mapping the system for his bosses and just got carried away and had a ‘what happens if I pull on this’ moment.” The hacker triggered a cascade effect, shutting down large portions of the Florida power grid, the security expert said. “I suspect, as the system went down, the PLA hacker said something like, ‘Oops, my bad,’ in Chinese.”
The power company has blamed “human error” for the incident, specifically an engineer who improperly disabled safety backups while working on a faulty switch. But federal officials are still investigating the matter and have not issued a final report, a spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said. The industry source, who conducts security research for government and corporate clients, said that hackers in China have devoted considerable time and resources to mapping the technology infrastructure of other U.S. companies. That assertion has been backed up by the current vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said last year that Chinese sources are probing U.S. government and commercial networks.
Asked whether Washington knew of hacker involvement in the two blackouts, Joel Brenner, the government’s senior counterintelligence official, told National Journal, “I can’t comment on that.” But he added, “It’s certainly possible that sort of thing could happen. The kinds of network exploitation one does to explore a network and map it and learn one’s way around it has to be done whether you are going to … steal information, bring [the network] down, or corrupt it.… The possible consequences of this behavior are profound.”
Brenner, who works for Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, looks for vulnerabilities in the government’s information networks. He pointed to China as a source of attacks against U.S. interests. “Some [attacks], we have high confidence, are coming from government-sponsored sites,” Brenner said. “The Chinese operate both through government agencies, as we do, but they also operate through sponsoring other organizations that are engaging in this kind of international hacking, whether or not under specific direction. It’s a kind of cyber-militia.… It’s coming in volumes that are just staggering.”
The Central Intelligence Agency’s chief cyber-security officer, Tom Donahue, said that hackers had breached the computer systems of utility companies outside the United States and that they had even demanded ransom. Donahue spoke at a January gathering in New Orleans of security executives from government agencies and some of the nation’s largest utility and energy companies. He said he suspected that some of the hackers had inside knowledge of the utility systems and that in at least one case, an intrusion caused a power outage that affected multiple cities. The CIA didn’t know who launched the attacks or why, Donahue said, “but all involved intrusions through the Internet.”
Donahue’s public remarks, which were unprecedented at the time, prompted questions about whether power plants in the United States had been hacked. Many computer-security experts, including Bennett, believe that his admission about foreign incidents was intended to warn American companies that if intrusions hadn’t already happened stateside, they certainly could. A CIA spokesman at the time said that Donahue’s comments were “designed to highlight to the audience the challenges posed by potential cyber intrusions.” The CIA declined National Journal’s request to interview Donahue.
Cyber-Espionage
In addition to disruptive attacks on networks, officials are worried about the Chinese using long-established computer-hacking techniques to steal sensitive information from government agencies and U.S. corporations.
Brenner, the U.S. counterintelligence chief, said he knows of “a large American company” whose strategic information was obtained by its Chinese counterparts in advance of a business negotiation. As Brenner recounted the story, “The delegation gets to China and realizes, ‘These guys on the other side of the table know every bottom line on every significant negotiating point.’ They had to have got this by hacking into [the company’s] systems.”
Bennett told a similar story about a large, well-known American company. (Both he and Brenner declined to provide the names of the companies.) According to Bennett, the Chinese based their starting points for negotiation on the Americans’ end points.
Two sources also alleged that the hacking extends to high-level administration officials.
During a trip to Beijing in December 2007, spyware programs designed to clandestinely remove information from personal computers and other electronic equipment were discovered on devices used by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and possibly other members of a U.S. trade delegation, according to a computer-security expert with firsthand knowledge of the spyware used. Gutierrez was in China with the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, a high-level delegation that includes the U.S. trade representative and that meets with Chinese officials to discuss such matters as intellectual-property rights, market access, and consumer product safety. According to the computer-security expert, the spyware programs were designed to open communications channels to an outside system, and to download the contents of the infected devices at regular intervals. The source said that the computer codes were identical to those found in the laptop computers and other devices of several senior executives of U.S. corporations who also had their electronics “slurped” while on business in China. The source said he believes, based on conversations with U.S. officials, that the Gutierrez compromise was a source of considerable concern in the Bush administration. Another source with knowledge of the incident corroborated the computer-security expert’s account.
National Journal had a series of conversations with Rich Mills, a Commerce Department spokesman. Asked whether spyware or other malicious software code was found on any electronic devices used by Gutierrez or people traveling with him in China in December 2007, Mills said he “could not confirm or deny” the computer-security expert’s allegations. “I cannot comment on specific [information-technology] issues, but the Department of Commerce is actively working to safeguard sensitive information.” Mills added that the source had provided some inaccurate information, but he did not address the veracity of the source’s claim that the delegation was electronically compromised.
“China is indeed a counterintelligence threat, and specifically a cyber-counterintelligence threat,” said Brenner, who served for four years as inspector general of the National Security Agency, the intelligence organization that electronically steals other countries’ secrets. Brenner said that the American company’s experience “is an example of how hard the Chinese will work at this, and how much more seriously the American corporate sector has to take the information-security issue.” He called economic espionage a national security risk and said that it makes little difference to a foreign power whether it steals sensitive information from a government-operated computer or from one owned by a contractor. “If you travel abroad and are the director of research or the chief executive of a large company, you’re a target,” he said.
“Cyber-networks are the new frontier of counterintelligence,” Brenner emphasized. “If you can steal information or disrupt an organization by attacking its networks remotely, why go to the trouble of running a spy?”
Stephen Spoonamore, CEO of Cybrinth, a cyber-security firm that works for government and corporate clients, said that Chinese hackers attempt to map the IT networks of his clients on a daily basis. He said that executives from three Fortune 500 companies, all clients, had document-stealing code planted in their computers while traveling in China, the same fate that befell Gutierrez.
Spoonamore challenged U.S. officials to be more forthcoming about the breaches that have occurred on their systems. “By not talking openly about this, they are making a truly dangerous national security problem worse,” Spoonamore said. “Secrecy in this matter benefits no one. Our nation’s intellectual capital, industrial secrets, and economic security are under daily and withering attack. The oceans that surround us are no protection from sophisticated hackers, working at the speed of light on behalf of nation-states and mafias. We must cease denying the scope, scale, and risks of the issue. I, and a growing number of my peers believe our nation is in grave and growing danger.”
A Growing Threat
Brenner said that Chinese hackers are “very good and getting better all the time.… What makes the Chinese stand out is the pervasive and relentless nature of the attacks that are coming from China.”
The issue has caught Congress’s attention. Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who chairs the Homeland Security panel’s Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology, said that his staff has examined a range of hacker networks, from criminal syndicates to nationally supported groups. “China has been a primary concern,” he said. The deepest penetrations into U.S. systems have been traced back to sources within China, Langevin noted.
(At a hearing last week, Langevin said that the private sector, which owns the vast majority of U.S. information networks, including those that operate power plants, dams, and other critical infrastructure, had taken a “halfhearted approach” to improving security. He cited a new report by the Government Accountability Office, which found that the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest power generator, “has not fully implemented appropriate security practices to secure the control systems and networks used to operate its critical infrastructures.” Langevin said that the TVA “risks a disruption of its operations as the result of a cyber-incident, which could impact its customers,” and he expressed “little confidence that industry is taking the appropriate actions.”)
The Chinese make little distinction between hackers who work for the government and those who undertake cyber-adventures on its behalf. “There’s a huge pool of Chinese individuals, students, academics, unemployed, whatever it may be, who are, at minimum, not discouraged from trying this out,” said Rodger Baker, a senior China analyst for Stratfor, a private intelligence firm. So-called patriotic-hacker groups have launched attacks from inside China, usually aimed at people they think have offended the country or pose a threat to its strategic interests. At a minimum the Chinese government has done little to shut down these groups, which are typically composed of technologically skilled and highly nationalistic young men. Officially, Chinese military and diplomatic officials say they have no policy of attacking other governments’ systems.
“This has been a growing wave in recent years,” Brenner said, attributing China’s cyber-tactics to its global economic and political ambitions. “The Chinese are out to develop a modern economy and society in one generation.… There is much about their determination that is admirable. But they’re also willing to steal a lot of proprietary information to do it, and that’s not admirable. And we’ve got to stop it as best we can.”
High-profile penetrations of government systems have been occurring for several years. In 2007, an unidentified hacker broke into the e-mail system for Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s office, and the Pentagon shut down about 1,500 computers in response. But officials said that the intrusion caused no harm. In 2006, a State Department employee opened an e-mail containing a Trojan horse, a program designed to install itself on a host machine to give a hacker covert access. As a result, officials cut off Internet access to the department’s East Asia and Pacific region, but the department suffered no long-term problems.
The Homeland Security Department, which is responsible for protecting civilian computer systems, suffered nearly 850 attacks over a two-year period beginning in 2005, officials have said. In one instance, they found that a program designed to steal passwords had been installed on two of the department’s network servers. In these and other incidents, there is considerable debate about whether the intruders stole truly valuable information that could compromise U.S. strategy or ongoing operations.
“The penetrations we’ve seen are on unclassified systems, which are obviously less protected than classified systems,” Brenner said.
Private Sector Foot-Dragging
There is little indication that cyber-intrusions, however menacing, have severely impaired government operations for very long. So why are so many officials increasingly sounding the alarm about network attacks, Chinese hacking and espionage, and the advent of cyberwar?
Part of the answer lies in officials’ most recent appraisals of the cyber-threat. They cite evidence that attacks are increasing in volume and appear engineered more to cause real harm than sporadic inconvenience. Without naming China, Robert Jamison, the top cyber-security official at DHS, told reporters at a March briefing, “We’re concerned that the intrusions are more frequent, and they’re more targeted, and they’re more sophisticated.”
“In terms of breaches within government systems, it’s something that has happened quite a bit over the last six, seven years,” says Shannon Kellogg, the director of information-security policy for EMC Corp., which owns RSA, a top cyber-security research firm. “But the scale of these types of breaches and attacks seems to have increased substantially.”
Government officials are more concerned now than in recent years about the private sector’s inability, or unwillingness, to stop these pervasive attacks. When Donahue, the CIA cyber-security officer, warned the gathering in New Orleans about foreign hackings of power plants, some saw it as a direct challenge to American companies.
“Donahue wouldn’t have said it publicly if he didn’t think the threat was very large and that companies needed to fix things right now,” Alan Paller, the highly regarded director of research at the SANS Institute, told The Washington Post at the time. (SANS, a cyber-security research and education group, sponsored the January meeting in New Orleans.) Another security expert noted that in the previous 18 months, there had been “a huge increase in focused attacks on our national infrastructure networks … and they have been coming from outside the United States.”
In comments posted on Wired magazine’s Danger Room blog, which is trafficked by many techno-elites who are skeptical of the administration’s more boisterous public warnings, Donahue’s remarks about power plants drew support. Michael Tanji, a former intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that the comments weren’t part of a government plot to hype the threat. “Having worked with [Donahue] on these and related issues in the past, I regret to inform conspiracy theorists that he is virulently allergic to hyperbole,” Tanji said. “I’ve long been a skeptic of claims about being able to shut down the world from the Net.… But after today, I’m starting to come around to the idea that the ignorance or intransigence of utility system owners just might merit a more robust response than has been undertaken to date.”
Tanji’s remarks pointed to one of the most nettlesome realities of cyber-security policy. Because most of the infrastructure in the United States is privately owned, the government finds it exceptionally difficult to compel utility operators to better monitor their systems. The FBI and DHS have established formal groups where business operators can disclose their known vulnerabilities privately. (Companies fear that public exposure will decrease shareholder confidence or incite more hackings.) But membership in these organizations isn’t compulsory. Furthermore, many of the systems that utility operators use were designed by others. Intelligence officials now worry that software developed overseas poses another layer of risk because malicious codes or backdoors can be embedded in the software at its creation. U.S. officials have singled out software manufacturers in emerging markets such as, not surprisingly, China.
Military Response
The intelligence community’s and private sector’s vocal warnings and dire suspicions of Chinese hackers join a chorus of concern emanating from the Defense Department in recent months. In the most recent annual report on China’s military power, the Defense Department declared publicly for the first time that attacks against government and commercial computer networks in 2007 appear to have emanated from China. “Numerous computer networks around the world, including those owned by the U.S. government, were subject to intrusions that appear to have originated within” the People’s Republic of China. Although not claiming that the attacks were conducted by the Chinese government, or officially endorsed, the declaration built upon the previous year’s warning that the People’s Liberation Army is “building capabilities for information warfare” for possible use in “pre-emptive attacks.”
The military is not waiting for China, or any other nation or hacker group, to strike a lethal cyber-blow. In March, Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, the chief of U.S. Strategic Command, said that the Pentagon has its own cyberwar plans. “Our challenge is to define, shape, develop, deliver, and sustain a cyber-force second to none,” Chilton told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He asked appropriators for an “increased emphasis” on the Defense Department’s cyber-capabilities to help train personnel to “conduct network warfare.”
The Air Force is in the process of setting up a Cyberspace Command, headed by a two-star general and comprising about 160 individuals assigned to a handful of bases. As Wired noted in a recent profile, Cyberspace Command “is dedicated to the proposition that the next war will be fought in the electromagnetic spectrum and that computers are military weapons.” The Air Force has launched a TV ad campaign to drum up support for the new command, and to call attention to cyberwar. “You used to need an army to wage a war,” a narrator in the TV spot declares. “Now all you need is an Internet connection.”
“It’s a kind of cyber-militia.… It’s coming in volumes that are just staggering.” --Joel Brenner
Defense and intelligence officials have been surprised by China’s cyber-advances, according to the U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission. In November, the commission reported that “Chinese military strategists have embraced … cyberattacks” as a weapon in their military arsenal. Gen. James Cartwright, the former head of U.S. Strategic Command and now the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told the commission that China was engaged in cyber-reconnaissance, probing computer networks of U.S. agencies and corporations. He was particularly concerned about China’s ability to conduct “denial-of-service” attacks, which overwhelm a computer system with massive amounts of automatically generated message traffic. Cartwright provocatively asserted that the consequences of a cyberattack “could, in fact, be in the magnitude of a weapon of mass destruction.”
A former CIA official cast the cyber-threat in a similarly dire terms. “We are currently in a cyberwar, and war is going on today,” Andrew Palowitch, who’s now a consultant to U.S. Strategic Command, told an audience at Georgetown University in November. STRATCOM, headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, oversees the Defense Department’s Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations, which defends military systems against cyber-attack. Palowitch cited statistics, provided by Cartwright, that 37,000 reported breaches of government and private systems occured in fiscal 2007. The Defense Department experienced almost 80,000 computer attacks, he said. Some of these assaults “reduced” the military’s “operational capabilities,” Palowitch noted.
Presidential Attention
President Bush has personally devoted more high-level attention to the cyberattack issue in the last year or so than he did in the first six years of his tenure combined. Many security experts are surprised that the administration is only now moving to take dramatic measures to improve the security of government networks, because some Cabinet-level and White House officials have been warning about the threat for years to just about anyone who will listen.
Until McConnell, the national intelligence director, personally drove the point home to Bush in an Oval Office meeting in 2006, there was little top-level support for a comprehensive government cyber-security plan. “They ignored it,” one former senior administration official said flatly. “McConnell has the president’s ear.”
McConnell, a former director of the National Security Agency, whose main job is to intercept foreign communications intelligence but which is also responsible for protecting U.S. classified information and systems, takes the computer-security issue as seriously as his counter-terrorism mission. After McConnell left the NSA, in 1996, he took over the intelligence practice at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he again turned to security problems, particularly within the nation’s financial infrastructure. Working with officials from the New York Stock Exchange, McConnell developed a report for the government on network vulnerabilities; he has said that it was so revealing, the administration decided to classify it.
Lawrence Wright of The New Yorker reported earlier this year that McConnell told Bush during the 2006 Oval Office meeting, “If the 9/11 perpetrators had focused on a single U.S. bank through cyberattack and it had been successful, it would have had an order-of-magnitude greater impact on the U.S. economy.” According to Wright, the president was disturbed, and then asked Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., who was at the meeting, if McConnell was correct; Paulson assured the president that he was.
Brenner confirmed Wright’s account as “a true story.” And separately, a former senior administration official told National Journal of another dimension. In that meeting, McConnell also told the president that White House communications systems could be targeted for attack just as other U.S. government systems had been targeted. The intelligence chief was telling the president, “If the capability to exploit a communications device exists, we have to assume that our enemies either have it, or are trying to develop it,” the former official said.
This meeting compelled the White House to craft an executive order laying out a broad and ambitious plan to shore up government-network defenses. Known internally as “the cyber-initiative,” it was formally issued in January. The details remain classified, but it has been reported that the order authorizes the National Security Agency to monitor federal computer networks. It also requires that the government dramatically scale back the number of points at which federal networks connect to the public Internet. The Office of Management and Budget has directed agencies to limit the total number of Internet “points of presence” to 50 by June.
Limiting connection points is analogous to pulling up drawbridges in order to defend the government’s cyber-infrastructure. Security experts interviewed for this story said that it shows how little the government can do, at least for now, to ward off intrusions if the first line of defense is to “unplug.”
Mixed Reactions
Under the president’s cyber-initiative, the Homeland Security Department will be responsible for monitoring government agencies apart from the Defense Department. In March, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told National Journal that the first step is “to survey all the points” of presence. “We have no final number yet.”
“The agencies’ networks have grown very haphazardly. No one really knows where [the connections to the Internet] are,” said Bruce McConnell, who was the chief of information technology and policy in the Office of Management and Budget. He left government in 2000. “Trying to catalogue where things are so you could turn them off is a daunting task in and of itself,” said McConnell, who is not related to the intelligence chief.
Bush’s cyber-initiative has received mixed reviews. Generally, cyber-experts favor a comprehensive approach, and they are relieved that the issue finally has the president’s full attention. But some question how the program is being implemented—under a cloak of secrecy and with a heavy reliance on the intelligence community.
“Our nation’s intellectual capital, industrial secrets, and economic security are under daily and withering attack.” --Stephen Spoonamore
The sharpest criticisms are directed at the NSA, an intelligence agency whose traditional mandate is to collect information coming from outside the United States; it has no customary role monitoring networks inside the country, although this has changed in the years following the 9/11 attacks. It’s not clear just how far the government’s monitoring of computer networks will extend into the private sector and precisely what role the NSA will play tracking networks inside the United States, but lawmakers have already raised concerns that the cyber-initiative will creep into domestic intelligence-gathering. The same kinds of technologies that are used to monitor networks for viruses and other malicious threats could be used to track domestic communications. On May 2, DHS’s top overseers sent a letter to Chertoff questioning “the secrecy of the project.” Sens. Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chairman and ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, respectively, noted that the department had requested an additional $83 million for its National Cyber Security Division; DHS had already been allocated $115 million for the cyber-initiative in the 2008 omnibus appropriations bill. “This would be a nearly $200 million increase, tripling the amount of money spent on cyber-security in DHS since 2007,” the senators wrote. The full cost of implementing the president’s cyber-initiative is estimated to be $30 billion. The entire 2009 budget request for the Homeland Security Department is about $50 billion.
Marc Sachs, who was the director for communication infrastructure protection in the White House Office of Cyberspace Security in 2002, praised the administration for taking a bold initial step. But he said that the level of attention is 10 years overdue. Sachs noted that in 1998, President Clinton issued a directive that set ambitious infrastructure-protection goals. “I intend that the United States will take all necessary measures to swiftly eliminate any significant vulnerability to both physical and cyber attacks on our critical infrastructures, including especially our cyber-systems,” Clinton wrote.
Without pointing to particular policies, Brenner, the counterintelligence chief, said, “We need to take these policy declarations that we’ve had for 10 years and turn them into practical reality.” He said the job of securing cyberspace is hardly as simple as “put two padlocks on the door.… This is an incredibly open and porous and, in many cases, wireless system. Controlling cyber-security is like controlling the air flow in a large, segmented building complex in a noxious neighborhood. You cannot be sure you are keeping all the noxious stuff out. What you’ve got to say is, gee, in the infirmary, we’ve really got to deal differently than we do in the lobby.”
False Accusations?
Given the political fallout that could stem from a proven Chinese attack on power plants or theft of government secrets—not to mention the pressure to launch some sort of military response—skeptics have asked whether the Chinese really are behind so many high-profile incidents.
Brenner affirmed the widely held view that it’s technologically difficult to attribute the exact source of any cyberattack and that the government needs better technologies to do so. But despite his assurances that the government has indeed sourced cyber-intrusions to China, others urge caution.
“We want to find a natural enemy, so we’re looking everywhere,” Sachs said. He noted that some hackers launch their attacks through computers based in other countries, and that China is an easy mask. “I think all of us should remember that not everything you see online is truthful.”
Another former administration official echoed those sentiments. “I think it’s a little bit naive to suggest that everything that says it comes from China comes from China,” said Amit Yoran, the first director of DHS’s National Cyber Security Division, who left the post in 2004.
But there is little to no doubt, including among skeptics, that China is vigorously pursuing offensive cyber-capabilities. Military analysts say that the Chinese know their armed forces cannot match America’s in a head-on confrontation, and they realize their nuclear arsenal pales in comparison. These imbalances have forced Chinese military planners to adopt what the Pentagon calls “asymmetric” techniques—tactics that aim at a foe’s vulnerabilities—in order to counter, or at least deter, U.S. military power.
“There has been much writing on information warfare among China’s military thinkers, who indicate a strong conceptual understanding of its methods and uses,” according to the Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military power. The report stated that “there is no evidence of a formal Chinese … doctrine” but noted that the People’s Liberation Army has “established information-warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks.”
U.S. military officials see cyber-warfare as one arrow in a quiver of asymmetric techniques to disrupt an enemy’s command-and-control systems. The Chinese strategy, according to this line of thinking, is not to defeat U.S. military forces but to make it harder for them to operate.
China’s military history has been defined by asymmetric warfare, said Harry Harding, an expert on Chinese domestic politics and U.S.-China relations, who teaches at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Cyber-warfare is just one of the more recent tactics. If the U.S. government tries to protect its systems, the Chinese will simply attack the private sector; he cited the financial services industry as an obvious target. “I have no doubt that China is doing this,” Harding said.
Bennett, the former head of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, said that if China has penetrated power plants and the power grid, it serves as a show of force to the United States and is likely meant to deter any U.S. military intervention on behalf of Taiwan. He noted that the Florida blackout occurred only a few days after the Navy shot down a failing U.S. satellite with a missile designed to intercept inbound ballistic missiles. A year earlier, the Chinese had downed one of their own satellites in orbit. The Bush administration has pursued ballistic missile defense systems, and Taiwan has sought that technology from the United States.
Cyberwar
The Chinese are not alone, of course, in their pursuit of cyber-warfare. The Air Force is setting up the Cyberspace Command, the 10th command in the service’s history.
“The next kind of warfare will be asymmetric warfare,” Gen. William Lord, the provisional commander, said during a roundtable discussion at the Council of Foreign Relations in March. “Who is going to take on the United States Army, Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy as probably the most powerful force on the face of the planet?”
Lord didn’t limit his remarks to China. He said that cyber-criminals and other “bad guys” were as much a concern for the military. He also pointed to a massive cyberattack launched last year against computers in Estonia, in which Russian hackers—perhaps operating at Moscow’s behest—tried to take down the country’s systems in retaliation for Estonia’s decision to move a statue commemorating fallen Soviet troops, a statue that Russians living in Estonia love but that native-born Estonians don’t. The attack has been billed as the first “cyberwar” because of the overwhelming electronic force brought to bear on the tiny country of 1.3 million people.
“I had an opportunity to speak with the minister of defense from Estonia,” Lord said. “He was attacked by 1 million computers.”
The Estonia attack probably shook nerves more than it caused long-term damage. But it served as a potent example of how determined, coordinated hackers could gang up on a foreign government. It has also created profound policy questions about what qualifies as war in cyberspace.
“The problem with this kind of warfare,” Lord said, “is determining who is the enemy, what is their intent, and where are they, and then what can you do about it?”
Brenner, the senior U.S. counterintelligence official, said, “Another country knows that if it starts taking out our satellites, that would be an act of war.” But “if they were to take out certain parts of our infrastructure, electronically, that could be regarded as an act of war,” he said. “It’s not my job to say that.”
NATO officials are reluctantly struggling with that question, too. At a ministerial meeting last June, Defense Secretary Gates asked the allied members to consider defining cyberattacks in the context of traditional warfare. Cyberwar is still abstract, and there are no international conventions that govern military conduct on a digital battlefield.
“The U.S. government doesn’t really have a policy on the use of these techniques,” said Michael Vatis, a former director of the FBI’s National Infrastructure Protection Center. “The closest analogy is to covert actions,” he said, meaning spy operations undertaken by intelligence agencies against foreign governments. “They take place, and people have strong suspicions about [who’s responsible]. But as long as they’re not able to prove it, there’s very little that they can do about it. And so there’s often not as much outrage expressed.”

Russian Firm Buys McLean's International Launch

2008-05-30T14:40:00Z

Russian Firm Buys McLean's International Launch

By the Washington Post

Excerpt:

A Russian space hardware manufacturer is now the majority owner of International Launch Services, a McLean company formed 15 years ago to help market and manage commercial rocket launches for the Russian firm.

Snip

Space Transport bought Lockheed Martin's 51 percent stake in ILS in 2006.

Snip, Snip (must read!)

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed by ILS. Spokeswoman Fran Slimmer said the transaction required approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multi-agency group chaired by the Treasury Department. A spokesman for Treasury said the law prohibits him from commenting on whether the committee had reviewed the transaction.

My Note

Chris Myers, Vice President of New Business at Lockheed Martin is currently running for a House position.   Lockheed's business dealings of late, with Chris Myers direct or indirect involvement, has been deeply concerning national security wise. The silence from federal oversight is frightening also.

If you know anyone from NJ's 3rd district, encourge them to pick another candidate! Primary vote is June 3rd. God help us.

Airmen MIA From Vietnam War are Identified

2008-05-28T12:11:00Z

Welcome home and thank you for your service.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11947
Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public contact:
http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html
or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 447-08
May 27, 2008

Airmen MIA From Vietnam War are Identified

            The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

            They are Maj. Barclay B. Young, of Hartford, Conn.; and Senior Master Sgt. James K. Caniford, of Brunswick, Md. The names of the two others are being withheld at the request of their families. All men were U.S. Air Force. Caniford will be buried May 28 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., and Young’s burial date is being set by his family.

            Remains that could not be individually identified are included in a group which will be buried together in Arlington. Among the group remains is Air Force Lt. Col. Henry P. Brauner of Franklin Park, N.J., whose identification tag was recovered at the crash site.

            On March 29, 1972, 14 men were aboard an AC-130A Spectre gunship that took off from Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, on an armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. The aircraft was struck by an enemy surface-to-air missile and crashed. Search and rescue efforts were stopped after a few days due to heavy enemy activity in the area.

            In 1986, joint U.S.- Lao People’s Democratic Republic teams, lead by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), surveyed and excavated the crash site in Savannakhet Province, Laos. The team recovered human remains and other evidence including two identification tags, life support items and aircraft wreckage. From 1986 to 1988, the remains were identified as those of nine men from this crew.

            Between 2005 and 2006, joint teams resurveyed the crash site and excavated it twice. The teams found more human remains, personal effects and crew-related equipment. As a result, JPAC identified Young, Caniford and the other crewmen using forensic identification tools, circumstantial evidence, mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons.

            For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

Related:

Former P.O.W.: "Why I Cannot Support Senator John McCain for President"

John McCain and the Flag

Newly Discovered Army Reports Discredit “Winter Soldier” Claims

John McCain, POWs and the Trade Embargo That Shouldn't have been lifted

Embattled POW/MIA Champ Dornan Banned From House Floor

An Enormous Crime

HOW THE CLINTONS WILL DESTROY JOHN MCCAIN

Dolores Apodaca Alfond and John McCain

John McCain Is No "Hero POW

John McCain - No one left behind???

An American Traitor: Guilty As Charged

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T11:15:00Z

Remembering those who gave all.

New Jersey Pinelands and Chris Myers, Forgetaboutit!

2008-05-23T02:48:00Z

On February 20, 2007, at a Medford Township Council Meeting that Chris Myers was present for, a vote was passed unanimously to lease Pinelands protected land to a developer in exchange for township road repair.

As per a May 6, 2008 letter from Charles Horner of the Pinelands Commission, this preserved land has since been developed and no applications have ever been filed to construct on this land.   Public Application #1989-0902.005

Although bartering no bid contracts fees for service may be business as usual among politicians and developers, violating Green Acres and Biosphere Reserves are not.

Chris Myers is running for Congress in New Jersey's 3rd district. As Mayor and Deputy Mayor, he permitted the destruction of 18.6 acres of Block 6405.1, Lot 13 for pay to play in Medford Township. What will happen to our Pinelands if he becomes congressman?

Justin Murphy Is The Only Congressional Candidate Who Is Not Owned By A Political Machine

2008-05-21T17:09:00Z

From TROOC.com:

Justin Murphy
The Only Congressional Candidate Not Owned By A Political Machine

Scathing APP Editorial Denounces Kelly Airport Job Swindle: Justin Murphy Is The Only Congressional Candidate Who Is Not Owned By A Political Machine

The only thing wrong with today’s Asbury Park Press editorial denouncing the Kelly airport job payoff, pension scam and health benefits swindle is the editorial never mentions that the only congressional candidate who is not owned by a political machine.

Justin Murphy, a former Tabernacle Township Committeeman, is clean and honest and eager to represent the taxpayers instead of the greedy political bosses.

Justin is running in Ocean County on the slate offered by the Traditional Republicans Of Ocean County under the slogan: Traditional Republicans for Reform and Accountability.

Boss Gilmore

Tip Of Gilmore’s Political Iceberg Of Shame, Lies & Greed

Kelly

The Kelly Corruption is the tip of Boss Gilmore's political iceberg of shame, lies, greed, payroll padding, political payoffs, rigged elections, land deals, no-bid contracts and character assassination that costs Ocean County taxpayers more than $130 million extra in their tax bills every year.

The epicenter of this Empire is the Freeholder Board which employs more than 200 associates of Gilmore's machine in patronage jobs.

Myers Is A Lobbyist For A Big Government Contractor

Myers

Unfortunately, candidate Christopher Myers, the latest candidate to blow the whistle on Kelly, is a lobbyist for a big government contractor who is connected with a greedy political machine in Burlington County.

So the only logical Third District congressional candidate left standing after the media gets through with Kelly and Myers and their conflicts and special interest commitments will be Justin Michael Murphy.

We predict, Justin will be the next congressman from New Jersey’s 3^rd District, elected because of his commitment to the traditional Republican values of Lincoln and Reagan.

Gathering of Eagles - Welcoming the families to the Coast Guard Graduation

2008-05-20T14:29:00Z
Press Release: Welcoming the families to the Coast Guard Graduation

The Gathering of Eagles, a patriotic organization dedicated to honoring our men and women in uniform and those who are honorable veterans, announces our latest event in honoring the graduates of the Coast Guard Academy by welcoming their families and supporters to their graduation ceremony on May 21, 2008.

We will be in front of the entrance on Mohegan Ave, at the intersection of Williams and Mohegan from 7 AM to 1 PM that day, waving flags, carrying patriotic signs and singing patriotic songs in an effort to welcome the families to what is a most honored event; the graduation of their loved ones from the Coast Guard Academy.

All interested persons are encouraged to bring home made signs welcoming the families and Coasties, American Flags and Coast Guard flags.

The Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney, will be the honored speaker at this event, so signs and banners welcoming him are encouraged also.

Please join us on this date, May 21, 2008, from 7 AM to 1 PM to welcome the friends, families, and supporters of the Coast Guard!

Semper Paratus!

http://www.gatheringofeagles.org

Sincerely,

James Bancroft
860-989-7219

Lockheed Martin's Chris Myers and Peace through Fashion

2008-05-16T13:28:00Z
Being a volunteer for Duncan L. Hunter was the most serious, passionate, political move I have ever rolled up my sleeves for. I've been feet on the ground before. I've participated in meetings before. But being introduced to
Duncan Hunter via his tenents, speeches and interviews inspired me get involved and make a difference.

I've since gotten behind everything Duncan Hunter promotes and works towards. American Security Council Foundation, Peace Through Strength PAC, Duncan D. Hunter for Congress, Iraq Vets for Congress and anything else I see as promoting "Every major political movement starts not in Washington but it starts with the grassroots".

Therefore, imagine my confusion and dismay to learn that Peace Through Strength PAC has endorsed and supported, with $5,000, a man who does not support Duncan Hunter's own act, The Secure Fence Act. Mr. Chris Myers. Chris Myers is running for as Congressman for NJ's 3rd Congressional District. Mr Myers even told the Philadelphia Inquirer that a fence would be: 'unsightly fence that illegals can dig right under, and that covers less than a third of the 2,000 mile long US-Mexican border isnt the answer to stopping illegal immigration'.

It may not be the end all to immigration; but it is a necessary component and the LAW.

Mr. Myers, you took Peace through Strength PAC support. You need to listen to what Mr. Hunter says about your support of a VIRTUAL FENCE. Or, you took the support under FALSE pretense!

Virtually De-Fenceless by Rep. Duncan Hunter

HumanEvents.com

The first 28 miles of “virtual fencing” being deployed along our Southern border has failed to meet expectations according to last week’s congressional testimony by Richard Stana, Director of Homeland Security for the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Stana’s indictment of the hugely expensive, over-complicated and so far unworkable alternative to real border security reminds us of what we have known all along: that virtual fencing is virtually useless.

Despite Director Stana’s report on the failures of this system, the Bush administration and its Department of Homeland Security continue to stand behind the virtual fence as a good substitute for the less artistic but repeatedly proven reinforced physical fencing. While technology can effectively augment security fencing, we know – and have always known – that technology alone fails to deliver the same level of border security as physical fencing.

It has been nearly a year and a half since the Secure Fence Act, which required the construction of 700 miles of double-layered security fencing between the United States and Mexico, was signed into law by President Bush. Yet about only 80 miles of new, single-layered pedestrian fencing has been installed along the border and DHS remains committed to building only 370 miles of pedestrian fencing.

What that means is that DHS remains steadfast in its opposition to the border fence initiative itself and continues to fail in one of its principal responsibilities.

If DHS is were committed to closing the dangerous smuggling corridors that exist along our Southern land border, as it claims, it would have strongly supported and adhered to the mandates of the Secure Fence Act. However, soon after the enactment of the Secure Fence Act, DHS committed to only building half of the required fencing, opting instead for a combination of single-layered fencing and technology.

The double-layered fence design that was originally presented to DHS was intended to replicate the success of the 14-mile San Diego Border Fence. In San Diego County, border fencing remains a critical part of our effort to prevent and deter illegal foot and vehicle traffic from crossing into the United States. Since its construction more than 10 years ago, the smuggling of people and narcotics has dropped drastically; crime rates -- according to FBI statistics -- have been reduced by half, vehicle drug drive-throughs have been eliminated; and apprehensions have decreased due to fewer crossing attempts.

This rate of effectiveness can be directly attributed to the design and function of the fence itself, as well as the continued efforts of our border security officials. A double-layered fence, separated by a high-speed access road, provides Border Patrolmen with a clear sight of vision and the opportunity to immediately apprehend those attempting to cross the border. As a physical impediment, unlike virtual fencing, it also reduces the frequency and likelihood of confrontation between Border Patrol agents and illegal crossers.

The simple fact is that border fencing works, while the alternatives proposed by DHS, including virtual fencing and vehicle barriers, will do little, if anything, to control the border. We should stick with what we know works and what is capable of providing the highest level of enforcement.

Illegal immigration is no longer just an issue reserved for border states and communities. It is now a national security issue and we must anticipate that the same human and drug smugglers that cross the border on a daily basis would not hesitate to help terrorists cross the border into the United States.

Consider that in 2005 alone, 155,000 foreign citizens from countries other than Mexico were apprehended attempting to cross our border with Mexico. These individuals came from countries all around the world, several of which have an adversarial relationship with the United States. If it is accurate to assume that an estimated 4 out of every 10 crossing attempts are successful, as some reports suggest, then we can infer that at least 62,000 individuals from countries like China, Iran and Syria, made it into the United States.

Understanding today’s security threat, we must know who is crossing the border and what they are carrying with them. Unfortunately, we are incapable of ascertaining either and, without a physical impediment along our Southern border, achieving these objectives remains nearly impossible.

According to GAO, DHS spent more than $20 million experimenting and developing the virtual fence. DHS may argue that this is a worthy expenditure, given the agency has received more than $2 billion to date for border infrastructure, but in reality, it is a waste of time and taxpayer dollars.

Securing the border is no easy task, but it is certainly not as difficult as DHS wants us to believe. The only thing holding DHS back from building the infrastructure that was originally required under the Secure Fence Act is DHS itself.

Even though the double-fence requirement was eliminated in the recently enacted omnibus spending bill, Secretary Chertoff retains the resources and mandate to build 700 miles of reinforced fencing. However, the Secretary has made it clear that the agency will continue on its current course and build mostly single-layered fencing along 370 miles of border.

It is for these reasons that I have introduced the Reinstate the Secure Fence Act in the House of Representatives. My bill restores the most important elements of the Secure Fence Act, requiring 700 miles of double-fencing to be constructed within six months of the bill’s enactment. If we hope to bring some sense of security to our Southern border, then we must build this infrastructure in the timeliest manner possible.

The GAO report to Congress demonstrates that virtual fencing and other costly technological alternatives offer insufficient protection. It is time we get serious about border control, do what is right, and build the border fence.

The Secure Fence Act written by Congressman Duncan Hunter, Presidential Candidate 2008, would extend THIS "San Diego Primary Fence" throughout our southern border states.

Hunter's Ranger
Peace Through Strength
http://www.barofintegrity.com

Lockheed the Paesano

2008-05-15T13:58:00Z

Looks like Lockheed is well on it's way to becoming a panopoly. Joseph Borkin, the chief economic advisor of the Anti-trust Division of the Department of Justice, was the first to create that term, panopoly, to describe international cartels formed and used as an “industrial offensive”. Avoiding an Industrial Offensive is one of the main purposes to the Berry amendment.

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_131230558.html?keyword=topstory
Italian firm eyeing DRS, according to report

Excerpt:

Officials from DRS Technologies, Inc. are tight-lipped regarding emerging reports that it may be acquired by an Italian aerospace and defense company.

The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that Finmeccanica SpA, Italy’s largest defense company, is in advanced negotiations to acquire New Jersey-based DRS.

(snip)

DRS Technologie and their Relationship to Lockheed:

http://sec.edgar-online.com/2006/06/12/0001104659-06-041220/Section34.asp
Partnership Agreement of Laurel Technologies, DRS Technologies and LOCKHEED MARTIN

Excerpt:

LOCKHEED MARTIN-Q-70

55.         LOCKHEED MARTIN Q70

56.         LOCKHEED MARTIN Q70 SPARES (EAGAN & CLEARWATER)

LOCKHEED MARTIN-OTHER

57.         LOCKHEED MARTIN-TTWCS

58.         LOCKHEED MARTIN-VLA

59.         LOCKHEED AEROPARTS

60.         LOCKHEED MARTIN VXX/VH-71/PRV

(snip)

Related.

FBI Announces Contract Award for Next Generation Identification System (<-Lockheed)

And the RFID Lockheed is delivering is from China's Li Ka Shing!

Lockheed partnered with Savi Technology to deliver it.

Savi Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, and Hutchinson Port Holdings, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Limited of Hong Kong, controlled by Chinese billionaire Li Ka Shing. Savi Technology owns 51 percent of Savi Networks and Hutchinson 49 percent.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a Washington-based foundation, charged that Hutchinson is "a front for the Chinese government," citing a Central Intelligence Agency analysis from 1998 concluding that Li Ka Shing "is directly connected to Beijing and is willing to use his business influence to further the aims of the Chinese government."

Last month Defense issued its annual report on Chinese military capabilities to Congress, which included sections on increased use of information warfare. Philip Coyle, senior adviser for the Center for Defense Information, a Washington-based think tank focused on defense and security issues, said that if the Pentagon is "going to keep making China out to be an enemy, DoD should have security concerns about a Chinese-owned company running a U.S. Army information network."

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/070523-China-Military-Power-final.pdf

The Presidential Challenge

2008-05-14T16:43:00Z

"The point is to do consistent, regular physical activity and these are good check-in points to see how fit people are," Melissa Johnson said.

I took the test! Will you? Get FITT!

Obama's bill S2433 - U.N.'s Millennium Declaration

2008-05-05T19:15:00Z

Obama's bill S2433 passed the committee and going to the Senate‏

Senator Coburn is blocking this bill.

Thank you Senator Coburn!

Obama's bill S2433 would require the U.S. to initially direct .7 percent of our GNP into the United Nations coffers for distribution as they see fit, for "food" to third world nations. Under earlier agreements this would evolve into a national tax on the U.S. with the UN attempting to levy this on all first world nations.

The U.N. would have the power to increase this rate of taxation.
The U.S. would be required to surrender some of its sovereignty over foreign aid by putting it under UN control. The bill would force the U.S. to sign onto the U.N.'s Millennium Declaration, which would commit us not only to "banning small arms and light weapons" but also to adhere to the International Criminal Court Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol.

http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_2433.html

Detailed Summary

Global Poverty Act of 2007 - Directs the President, through the Secretary of State, to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the U.S. foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day.

Requires the strategy to contain specific and measurable goals and to consist of specified components, including: (1) continued investment or involvement in existing U.S. initiatives related to international poverty reduction and trade preference programs for developing countries; (2) improving the effectiveness of development assistance and making available additional overall United States assistance levels as appropriate; (3) enhancing and expanding debt relief as appropriate; (4) mobilizing and leveraging the participation of businesses and public-private partnerships; (5) coordinating the goal of poverty reduction with other internationally recognized Millennium Development Goals; and (6) integrating principles of sustainable development and entrepreneurship into policies and programs.

Sets forth specified reporting requirements. Directs the Secretary of State to designate a coordinator who will have primary responsibility for overseeing and drafting the reports, as well as responsibility for helping to implement recommendations contained in the reports.<br>

Defines specified terms.

Status of the Legislation

Latest Major Action: 4/24/2008: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 718.

http://kilosparksitup.blogspot.com/2008/02/more-on-barack-obama-s2433-global.html

More on Barack Obama's S.2433 : Global Poverty Act

We know for a fact that this bill will cost America $845 billion above and beyond what America already spends on global aid in the next thirteen years. America will be locked in to giving .7 percent of the U.S. gross national product. That in itself is scary enough, but there is way more to Obama's bill. It also locks us into United Nations Millennium Summit. Cliff Kincaid from Accuracy in Media is all over this bill. He writes-(Underlined by me)

The bill institutes the United Nations Millennium Summit goals as the benchmarks for U.S. spending.

"It is time the United States makes it a priority of our foreign policy to meet this goal and help those who are struggling day to day," a statement issued by supporters, including Obama, said.

Specifically, it would "declare" that the official U.S. policy is to eliminate global poverty, that the president is "required" to "develop and implement" a strategy to reach that goal and requires that the U.S. efforts be "specific and measurable."

Kincaid said that after cutting through all of the honorable-sounding goals in the plan, the bottom line is that the legislation would mandate the 0.7 percent of the U.S. GNP as "official development assistance."

"In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that (U.N.) declaration commits nations to banning 'small arms and light weapons' and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention of Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention of the Rights of the Child," he said.

Those U.N. protocols would make U.S. law on issues ranging from the 2nd Amendment to energy usage and parental rights all subservient to United Nations whims.

Kincaid also reported Jeffrey Sachs, who runs the "Millennium Project," confirms a U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of GNP would add about $65 billion a year to what the U.S. already donates overseas.

And the only way to raise that funding, Sachs confirms, "is through a global tax, preferably on carbon-emitting fossil fuels," Kincaid writes.

On the forum run by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, one writer reported estimates of taxes from 35 cents to $1 dollar a gallon on gasoline would be needed.(LINK)

This ladies and gentleman is the Barack Obama vision for America . WND called Obama's office and the others who support this bill....No comments.

Judicial Watch Calls on FEC to Investigate McCain

2008-05-03T22:38:00Z

Judicial Watch Calls on FEC to Investigate McCain

McCain Campaign May Have Accepted In-Kind Contribution from Foreign Nationals in Contravention of Federal Election Laws
Contact: Press Office 202-646-5188
Washington, D.C. Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a formal complaint, dated April 22, 2008, with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) related to a fundraising luncheon held at London’s Spencer House to benefit Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign. The venue for the event was apparently donated to the campaign by foreign nationals, in violation of federal campaign finance laws.
“Recent news reports suggest that Sen. John McCain and John McCain for President may have accepted an in-kind contribution from foreign nationals Lord Rothschild OM GBE and the Hon. Nathaniel Rothschild of Great Britain in contravention of federal election laws,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton wrote in a complaint letter dated April 22, 2008. “On behalf of Judicial Watch and its supporters, I hereby request that the FEC investigate the matter.”
The McCain fundraiser was held on March 20, 2008 at London’s Spencer House, billed as “London’s most magnificent 18th century private palace.” The McCain campaign distributed an invitation indicating that the site for the luncheon had been provided “by kind permission of Lord Rothschild, OM GBE and the Hon. Nathaniel Rothschild,” who are both foreign nationals. In statements to the press, the McCain campaign referred to the luncheon as a “fundraiser.”

Excerpt

Read more at Judicial Watch

3Com Gets Around CFIUS Ruling

2008-04-30T12:11:00Z

CFIUS ruled that 3Com couldn't enter into a take over bid with Huawei Technologies due to National Security issues. But, that doesn't seem to have stopped them. Now 3Com has named Robert Mao as their new CEO. Robert Mao will be based out of China.

Read Previous Stories on Huawei Technolgoies, the CFIUS Ruling and Tiger Song here:

Chinese Takeover Bid of 3Com Fails

China's Huawei suffers setback as US IT deal stalls

3Com, Bain Capital withdraw filing to committee on Foreign Investment in U.S.

Xu Zhijun told the Financial Times that security concerns are "bullshit"

Bain Capital, Iran and China

Real Clear Politics, Nielsen Company, Bain Capital Partners and Politics

Clear Channel Communications, Inc. Shareholders Approve Merger with Private Equity Group Co-Led By Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.

Scrutiny of 3Com, Bain Capital and Huawei

Bain Capital, China and Panopolies

Duncan Hunter Comments on Possible Endorsements - Fox News

Mitt Romney's New 'Tiger Song'

Syria 'had covert nuclear scheme'

2008-04-25T20:09:00Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7364269.stm
Syria 'had covert nuclear scheme'

The US says there were similarities between the Syrian and North Korean reactors

The United States has accused North Korea of helping Syria build a nuclear reactor that "was not intended for peaceful purposes".
The site, said to be like one in North Korea, was bombed by Israel in 2007.
Syria must "come clean" about its secret nuclear programme, the White House said in a statement after CIA officials briefed members of Congress.
Syria has repeated denials that it has any nuclear weapons programme, or any such agreement with North Korea.
Syrian officials have said the site that was bombed by Israel in September last year was an unused military facility under construction. Building on the site had stopped some time before the air strike, the Syrians said.

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

6 Sept 2007: Israel bombs site in Syria

1 Oct: Syria's President Assad tells BBC site was military

24 Oct: New satellite images taken show site bulldozed clear

In late October 2007, an independent American research organisation, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), released pre- and post-strike satellite images of the site which indicated it had been bulldozed flat after the bombing.
But the White House said the "cover-up" operation that Syria carried out after the Israeli air strike reinforced its belief that the alleged reactor "was not intended for peaceful activities".
"Until 6 September, 2007, the Syrian regime was building a covert nuclear reactor in its eastern desert capable of producing plutonium," the statement said.
"The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities."
The statement added that the US had long been "seriously concerned about North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and its proliferation activities".

Advertisement

Images released by the CIA- footage courtesy of US Government video

But the White House insists it is committed to the on-going six-nation diplomacy, between North Korea and US, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia that led to a landmark deal with Pyongyang, in February 2007.
Ulterior motive?

North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in return for aid and its removal from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. But the US has accused Pyongyang of missing the deadline to make a full nuclear declaration as promised.

Compare before and after satellite images of the site

Enlarge Image

The CIA briefing and statement coincides with the end of a two-day meeting between US and North Korean officials on Pyongyang's nuclear programme, which both sides say have gone well - fuelling speculation that a deal may be imminent.
The BBC's James Coomarasamy, in Washington, says the question being asked by some in the US capital is whether the reactor statement is designed to reinforce those diplomatic efforts or an attempt by some in the administration to undermine them.
Damning images?
The CIA briefings included pictures which the US says prove that North Koreans were working inside the secret site.
One of the images, which shows two men standing side by side, was said by the CIA to be of the head of the North Korean nuclear plant and the head of the Syrian atomic energy commission together in Syria.
The images - said to have been obtained by Israel - showed striking similarities between the Syrian facility and the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, the US said.
However, the facility was not yet operational and there was no fuel for the reactor, officials said.
Israeli fears

Republican Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who attended the CIA briefing, said the US needed "good, clear, verifiable information" from the countries involved before North Korea could be removed from the terrorism blacklist, the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

The US says this is the North Korean and Syrian nuclear chiefs in Syria

Mr Hoekstra criticised the Bush administration for waiting eight months to brief the intelligence committee and warned that it could jeopardise any future agreement with North Korea.
Syrian officials have denied any North Korean involvement in their country.
"These allegations are ridiculous," Syria's ambassador to the UK, Sami Khiyami, told the BBC.
"We are used to such allegations now, since the day the United States has invaded Iraq - you remember all the theatrical presentations concerning the WMDs [weapons of mass destruction] in Iraq."
Mr Khiyami said the facility was a deserted military building that had "nothing to do with a reactor".

Syria is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which gives it the right to enrich its own fuel for civil nuclear power, under inspection from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
North Korea has previously denied transferring nuclear technology to Syria.
The BBC's Katya Adler in Jerusalem says the apparent strike on the reactor, deep inside Syria, was seen by many in Israel as a sign of their military prowess.
But she says Israeli defence officials now have expressed concern over the revelation of classified data in the US.

Former P.O.W.: "Why I Cannot Support Senator John McCain for President"

2008-04-21T19:42:00Z

29 August 1999 - by Mark A. Smith, Major, USA, Retired
"I wish I could support John McCain as a fellow returned POW. I have found I am expected to support him, but I cannot.
If I cannot support him, then the next best thing I find is that I am expected to remain mute and say nothing. As I have proven in a terrible jungle prison, I have the ability to remain mute in the face of those who wished to trade me my very life for just a few words. My remaining mute then, is the driving factor behind my feeling compelled to speak out now.
When John was blown from the sky over that lake in Hanoi, did the enemy already know whose son he was? No, they did not until John told them. He was seriously hurt in his ejection and he needed medical attention. In exchange for what the rest of us would call "First Class" care, he talked. He not only told them who his father, the Admiral was, but he expounded in detail on the Chain of Command and then built himself up by describing himself as one of the "very best pilots". You will not find this form of "resistance" in the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) or in the Code of Conduct. As a matter of fact, it is expressly forbidden. Now, if the US Navy wants to give John a pass on this, it is all right with me, but that free Pass negated John's pointing fingers at others, or at least it should have.
Just ask Robert Garwood, or anyone else who crosses him, if he is a finger pointer. He is the worst.
After McCain was recovered from his wounds, did he cease and desist from making propaganda? The answer is an emphatic "NO". So we go back to the same question again: Should John get a free pass on this from the Navy?
Well, the Navy and some of the Air Force got together and supported the "Return with Honor" scenario. I darn sure did, even from my hole-in-the-ground in Cambodia. But I do not now support, nor would I ever have, if I had known, "Return with Honor" would be some kind of "amnesty" program. The main reason was simple. No one, not Stockdale or the real Senior POW Colonel John Peter Flynn, USAF, had the authority to grant "amnesty" for collaboration in the prisons of Vietnam. The recommendations of these Senior, honored POWs must be given weight in the consideration of charges or amnesty. They could fail to file charges, but they could not grant amnesty or "absolution". The problem is that they did so. Of course, one rarely hears of John Peter Flynn these days, as he somehow ceased to be the Senior POW, and Admiral Stockdale is described by nearly everyone as having filled that role. That it is not true seems to have no import on the media, historians nor my fellow POW's.
Most of all, McCain has never made the correction.
One must realize, it's as if we are some self-promoting, social club rather than a band of honorable men , welded together by common suffering. Our group says a lot of things which are not true. I have seen them stand Ev Alvarez up time and again in front of the nation and proclaim him as "America's longest-held Vietnam POW". It is not true, but this line has gone on for so long, it has entered the history books. Not one time has the man John S. McCain, not the Senator, the sailor, the pilot, the Ex-POW, but the man ever stood up and said; "Now hold it right there, Floyd James Thompson, Major, US Army Special Forces, was captured before all of us".
Don't trash Ev Alvarez. Just say he was the longest-held pilot. After all, Jim Thompson had to walk a long way just to get to Hanoi and survive years of deprivation never known in the prisons of Hanoi. Major Thompson does not have the deserved recognition of being the longest-held POW merely because he joined the Army and not the Navy. John Peter Flynn retired as the Inspector General of the US Air Force, but he was not Navy, so Stockdale becomes the "Pope" and Flynn becomes just another "Bishop" in the terrible prisons of Hanoi.
The worst myth of all is the one now very popular: "Only the Army and Marine enlisted men let us down." We then go on to explain that this was because they were not "highly educated pilots and not motivated like the pilot officers." There were Army and Marine NCO's that did not join the "Peace Committee" and there are a couple, like Harvey Brande and Dennis Thompson, who I am confident, could have whipped any two pilots in North Vietnam.
The problem is that John McCain allows these myths to persist. He makes no mention of Captain, Wilbur, USN, our Senior Ranking Collaborator, or Lieutenant Colonel, Edison Miller, our Senior Marine Collaborator. No, only Private Garwood and "some Marine and Army enlisted men" come in for John's ire.
I cannot accept this childish attitude in a Commander In Chief. It is self-serving and has no place in the moral and ethical arsenal of a man who is a pretender to the highest leadership position in the land. If he is elected, I am sure another famous Navy man will be there to bask in the glory also. He is the famous "Bob" from the infamous "Bob and Ed" show, with Edison Miller, over propaganda radio in Hanoi. This was another of those "highly trained, motivated and disciplined pilots" out of the Hanoi Hilton. He got absolution to "Return with Honor" because he crossed back to our side at the last minute. He was even given "command" of other POWs.
The reason I cannot support John McCain is simple. His life in prison, His supposed expertise on Asia and MIAs, his knowledge of even who the longest-held POW of the Vietnam war is, are all based on myth. The nation cannot tolerate in its highest office, another myth. What this nation needs is a real man. A leader of men, whose past accomplishments are based on pure, unadulterated fact. I am sad to report, as the above details, Senator John S. McCain does not fit the bill.
I feel terrible to place myself in opposition to many of my fellow Returned POWs and that includes John McCain. Each of those that did the best they could remain in my heart, on my mind and in my prayers always. How professional Soldiers, Sailors, Marines Airman and draftees will deal with falling into the hands of the enemy in the future must be based on historical facts and not carefully constructed myths. The leadership in Hanoi, in those terrible prisons, might have felt compelled to forgive. That was their right to do. It was not in their purview to forget and allow people who had stumbled ethically and morally in the prisons, to assume the pristine cloak of honorable warrior. Some, like John, have become so falsely frocked they feel they have the right, if not the duty, to sit in judgment of other POWs.
No person of such moral attitudes can be allowed to serve as President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
The above is not written to damn pilots. Without them, I for one, would Not be alive today. The courage and determination of most in the face of the Most brutal anti-aircraft threat environment in history is the stuff of legend. Heroism in the prisons of Southeast Asia knew no single branch of service or position upon capture, as it's home. As on the battlefield itself, a man's own personality will be a far greater determinator of his performance than any school he ever attended or whether he drove or walked to the war. The prisons were full of heroes of all branches and if that is to be a prerequisite for President, John McCain must stand in line behind many people, more qualified than he was or will ever be.
Recently, Lieutenant Colonel, Orson Swindle, United States Marine Corps. (Retired), has come forward to champion Senator McCain and condemn Larry Stark, Mike Benge and myself for not supporting John McCain for President. One of his comments was that we were not there and did not know John McCain in prison.
I can read and if you give an interview in prison to a Communist publication, detailing the accident aboard your ship, the state of morale, a description of the Chain of Command and other details, you have not given a "propaganda statement", but you have given military intelligence.
As far as my not knowing Senator McCain in prison, what Orsen Swindle says is absolutely true. I was in Cambodia, but I had to read the statements of McCain and listen to the daily statements over "The Voice of Vietnam" of "highly trained pilots" who were not being tortured in 1972 to "make them talk". They did not hear me and they did not hear the voice of Robert Garwood. But, McCain and the others have no problem attacking him and continuing to accuse him of things a court of law aquitted him of doing. So much for knowing those of which we speak.
Every year Swindle and McCain spent in Hanoi, I spent on the battlefields of Southeast Asia fighting. Not sorting socks but fighting. Then I spent ten months in a hole, chained after being wounded thirty-eight (38) times. I detested the winning damnations of my President and my Country, by men, most of whom had not been tortured since 1969.
I, like Orsen Swindle, detest people who pontificate on things they know nothing about. That is why I cannot support John McCain. He knows nothing about MIAs or the battlefields of Southeast Asia in general. Yet, he set himself up as the "expert." He never knew Garwood, but, he set himself up to be his persecutor. "Honor?" I will support no member of the "Keating Five" for President of the United States. Please don't tell me he gave the dirty money back. The question of character is based on if he took it to begin with.
Lastly, if what is being put on the INTERNET about John twice attempting suicide in Hanoi and he has detailed that in his upcoming book, I sadly would have another reason not to support him. I hope and pray he has not said this in his book. The pressure of the Presidency outstrip any Senator McCain endured in Hanoi. If we returned-POWs are so full of ourselves, we don't realize this, we are in bad shape.
I suppose it all boils down to simple truth. Unlike some others, the most important things that I am most proud of did not take place in a prison camp in Cambodia. My high points were on battlefields across all of Southeast Asia. I was there when most of my fellow POWs arrived on the scene and the last thing I would wish to be remembered for is that I was captured by my hated enemy. Once that happened, I treated them with the same disdain I did on the battlefield. I would not give them the satisfaction of breaking my spirit nor would I attempt to end my life and allow them to know they had killed me.
Frankly, if I hear another Pilot/POW expound on his expertise on Southeast Asia, I may become ill. We learned one thing in the prisons of Southeast Asia and that was how to endure. Of that we can be proud. However, if I had to endure your propaganda and winning after 1969 I will not support you for any office. If you arrogantly stand up and damn another POW, of whatever rank, you better not have ever stumbled yourself. I had to listen to too many but, they never heard me. That allows me to take the stand I have taken."
Copyright 1999, by Mark A. Smith, Major, USA, Retired

Iraqi War Veterans for Congress

2008-04-18T01:49:00Z

Iraq Vets for Congress
A coalition of Iraqi War Veterans have united to support each other for a run at Capitol Hill.
In a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. last week, timed to coincide with the arrival of Gen. David Petreus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker to Capitol Hill, six members of “Iraq Veterans for Congress,” IVC, outlined their frustration over the lack of representation in Congress of the new generation of veterans.
Come by and meet the Troop Surge!

Attention Hunter Fans!!!

2008-04-17T00:17:00Z

Dear Duncan Hunter admirers:

Florida Hunter volunteer Bill McIntosh teamed up with former Campaign
Manager Roy Tyler to book Congressman Hunter for a NAFTA Trade debate
hosted by Rusty Humphries.

Please consult this website to find a radio station near you or one that
at least streams for your internet listening:

http://streamingradioguide.com/radio-show.php

One good choice is KDOL Las Vega which interviewed Candidate Hunter in
studio last fall. Click on live stream microphone image at:

http://www.foxnews1280.com/

From KDOL Rusty's show will stream live starting at 6PM tonight which
the debate to begin at 6:30!

If you miss that start time, you'll be able to find another station
which streams at a later hour.

You'll see tonight that Duncan Hunter is still fighting for US!

Enjoy!

WANTED FOR TERRORISM

2008-04-13T02:20:00Z

California would become the first state to ban helium-filled metallic balloons under a bill unanimously advanced Tuesday by a legislative committee. - LOS ANGELES (KABC)

GREENSBURG KANSAS POST TORNADO GUN CONFISCATIONS

2008-04-09T23:30:00Z

Thanks J!

GREENSBURG KANSAS POST TORNADO GUN CONFISCATIONS

Posted By: J
Date: Monday, 31 March 2008, 5:04 p.m.

GREENSBURG GUN CONFISCATIONS
By Patricia A. Stoneking

I would like to start this report by noting that I have personally spoke with several sources who were directly involved in the incidents that I am about to report that took place in Greensburg, KS in the aftermath of the horrible CAT 5 tornado that ravaged and destroyed that town. I will not be divulging their names in this article as they have requested I not do so.

The first thing I would like for everyone to acknowledge is that the residents of Greensburg were forced to evacuate and that, in and of itself, was an illegal action as martial law had not been declared. There were many people who wanted to stay and they were threatened with arrest and forcible removal if they did not leave as o rdered. The tornado happened at 9:46pm on Friday evening, May 4, 2007 and they were forced to leave within a couple hours of it, being given no time to collect themselves or assess the damages or even try to pick up anything such as guns and valuables. Ed Klummp, Police Chiefs Association, testified at the House committee hearing with a position opposing The Emergency Powers Act and said the evacuations were so they could search for bodies and shut off gas and power and that the evacuation was for the safety of the residents. I have been told by a reliable source that the electricity was shut off prior to the tornado striking and the gas was shut off within a few hours after. It would seem that the evacuation was not necessary in light of that information. Perhaps the position should have been that those who want to leave be provided a way to do so and those who wish to stay be allowed to stay.

This town was locked down tight for several days and no one was allowed in or out. The only people in that town during this time were Sheriffs Officers, Kansas Highway Patrol Officers, ATF, FEMA, National Guard, Police Officers from surrounding areas and some volunteers from Ft. Riley, generally speaking, government officials. Authorities claim no one else was there or could have gotten in or out. Interestingly enough, I have been told repeatedly by all sources that the media was allowed to roam freely without escorts through Greensburg. Shall we ask why residents were not allowed to stay on their own property but media was allowed unfettered access?

Many guns and other valuables such as jewelry have gone permanently missing and have never been recovered. There were some houses that were not destroyed and were in tact and habitable. Those folks did not want to leave but were forced to do so. When they returned they found their houses had been broken in to and all of their guns missing. One gentleman reports that when he went to claim his guns , taken from his secure home, they were returned to him in damaged condition. They were not damaged by the tornado. They were locked up in his home and illegally confiscated. So how do we suppose that damage occurred?

Guns and ammunition that were collected were taken to a trailer and an ATF agent manned the trailer. When people first came to collect their guns they were asked for proof of ownership such as receipts and serial number lists and they had to fill out a 4473 and get a NICS approval before they could claim their guns. No one had paperwork, receipts, or lists of serial numbers because it had all blown away. Later into the process they quit demanding these items and asked only for a list with make, model and description of the firearm. In one case, in the collection trailer, a gun case was claimed by one man who had a very nice trap shotgun in it and when he opened the undamaged and closed case, he found not his nice BT99 but another damaged gun that did not belong to him. That $1500.00 BT99 has never turned up. One comment made by all sources is that many “nice” guns were never recovered. Every source has reported that little to no care was taken with any of the firearms retrieved and taken into protective custody and they were not catalogued in any fashion. One resident said “they were just thrown in there in piles”.

One family, whose house was not damaged, reported that officers were going to remove them at gun point when they refused to leave their property and a gun fight was only averted when a KBI agent stepped in front of the other officers and pleaded with them to consider what they were doing. Those residents had taken up their shotguns and were not going to leave. We can only say thank heavens for that KBI officer who had the sense to realize what pressing these people at gun point would mean.

As I talked to these residents of Greensburg the accounts of their personal experiences kept flowing and they all had certain things in common. Their rights were violated, guns were confiscated illegally and they were forced to leave their homes illegally. When government agents came to their property they did not ask them if they were okay or needed help. They were there to forcibly remove them and confiscate their property. Many of them expressed fear of reprisal should they go public. Do they have the names of the officials who they believe acted illegally and inappropriately? In many cases, the answer is yes. Did all officials act illegally and inappropriately? NO. Many were very helpful and had great concern for the well being of the residents and were there to assist them with the best of intentions.

The people in Greensburg are a close, tight knit community, everyone knows everyone kind of place. They were very resentful of government coming in and telling them what they had to do. They would have preferred to stay and help each other locate valuables and guns and not leave their property. Several residents have reported that FEMA did more harm than good and would not even cooperate with local law enforcement. Residents of the town who were firefighters and trained in rescue operations wanted to stay and help their neighbors and friends and were told they could not.

The many stories that have been shared with me are too lengthy to include in this report. I just pose these questions. If there was even one act of misconduct or illegal activity by any governmental official are we to stand by idly and allow it without complaint? Should those who broke the law be allowed to continue to “serve” as law enforcement officials without question? Should the residents of Greensburg have to fear reprisal if they report and file complaints about what happened to them? Should Kansas and its legislative body do nothing to see to it that this never happens again?

I am turning over all of the information I have obtained t o the NRA complete with names and numbers of those residents which I have spoke with. I am also going to turn the information over to some members of the Kansas House and Senate. I would urge KSRA members to contact their legislators and demand that a full investigation be conducted in to the events that took place in Greensburg. HB 2811, The Emergency Powers Act is a bill designed to prevent this exact kind of thing from happening and provide a remedy if it does (see that article). At the time of this publication that bill is in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. Rise up Kansas! Let your voice be heard! Don’t let your town be next!!

READ AND KEEP THESE IN MIND:

NEVER have firearms purchased through a 4477 federal registration form. Buy privately, with cash for no records.

NEVER openly store your firearms, and that includes a standard rifle safe. Make a sturdy hidden safe or hidden room that will withstand high wind, fire, or earthquake. Have more than one in case one is broken into/lost.

ALWAYS expect the government's priority post disaster to be setting up a control grid, and rounding up YOUR GUNS. Maybe, they'll let you have them after you re-register them.

ALWAYS expect the worst response by federal goons for even the mildest reasonable objection you might have to their police state tactics.

ALWAYS expect the cops and feds to lie to you-except when they say they'll kill you.

J. Croft

FRED THOMPSON VISITING MCCAIN THIS WEEKEND

2008-04-07T10:26:00Z

NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann and Adam Aigner-Treworgy NBC and National Journal reported that former presidential candidate Fred Thompson visited GOP nominee John McCain at McCain's Arizona cabin in Sedona this weekend.

Since Fred’s old buddy John McCain got the nomination, the Thompson website only contains one word: “Success.”
If you Fred Heads don’t get the message from that, you’re being willfully blind.
http://www.imwithfred.com/
------------------------------------------------
Well look at that. It sure does.

I hope McCain gets to ride in his little red pickup truck.
HatTip

China's Airforce

2008-04-05T15:13:00Z

See China's Airforce:

http://blog.barofintegrity.us/2008/04/05/chinas-airforce.aspx

Have you seen the Pentagon's latest report?

ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007

Sec. 1:3

Developments in China’s Military Forces

China is pursuing long-term, comprehensive transformation of its military forces to improve its capabilities for power projection, anti-access, and area denial. Consistent with a near-term focus on preparing for offensive Taiwan Strait contingencies, China deploys its most advanced systems to the military regions directly opposite Taiwan.

Ballistic and Cruise Missiles. China is developing and testing offensive missiles, forming additional missile units, upgrading qualitatively certain missile systems, and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defenses.

- By October 2006, China had deployed roughly 900 mobile CSS-6 and CSS-7 short-range ballistic missiles to garrisons opposite Taiwan, expanding at a rate of more than 100 missiles per year. Newer versions of these missiles have improved range and accuracy.

- China is modernizing its longer-range ballistic missile force by adding more survivable systems. The road-mobile, solid-propellant DF-31 intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM) achieved initial threat availability in 2006 and will likely achieve operational status in the near future, if it has not already done so. A longer range variant, the DF-31A, is expected to reach initial operational capability (IOC) in 2007. China is also working on a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, the JL-2 (IOC 2007-2010), for deployment on a new JIN-class (Type 094) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, also in development.

- China continues to explore the use of ballistic and cruise missiles for anti-access missions, including counter-carrier and land attack, and is working on reconnaissance and communication systems to improve command, control, and targeting.

Naval Power. China’s naval forces include 72 principal combatants, some 58 attack submarines, about 50 medium and heavy amphibious lift vessels, and approximately 41 coastal missile patrol craft.

- China received the second of two Russianmade SOVREMENNYY II guided missile destroyers (DDG) in late 2006. These DDGs are fi tted with anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs) and wide-area air defense systems that feature qualitative improvements over the earlier SOVREMENNYY-class DDGs China purchased from Russia.

- China is building and testing second-generation nuclear submarines with the JIN-class (Type 094) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine and the SHANG-class (Type 093) nuclear-powered attack submarine, which began sea trials in 2005.

- China took delivery of two KILO-class submarines from Russia, completing a contract for eight signed in 2002. China operates twelve KILOs, the newest of which are equipped with the supersonic SS-N-27B ASCM, and wireguided and wake-homing torpedoes.

- The PLA Navy’s newest ship, the LUZHOUclass (Type 051C) DDG is designed for anti-air warfare. It will be equipped with the Russian SA-N-20 SAM system controlled by the TOMBSTONE phased-array radar. The SA-N- 20 more than doubles the range of current PLA Navy air defense systems marking a signifi cant improvement in China’s ship-borne air defense capability.

- The LUZHOU-class DDG complements ongoing developments of the LUYANG I (Type 052 and LUYANG II (Type 052C) DDGs. The LUYANG I is fi tted with the Russian SA-N-7B GRIZZLY SAM and the YJ-83 ASCM. The LUYANG II is fi tted with an air defense system based on the indigenous HHQ-9 SAM.

- In 2006, China began producing its fi rst guidedmissile frigate (FFG), the JIANGKAI II (Type 054A). The JIANGKAI II will be fitted with the medium range HHQ-16, a vertically launched naval surface-to-air missile currently in development.

- At the 2006 Zhuhai Air Show, PRC military and civilian offi cials asserted China’s interest in building an aircraft carrier.

Air Power. China has more than 700 combat aircraft based within an un-refueled operational range of Taiwan and the airfi eld capacity to expand that number signifi cantly. Many aircraft in the PLA force structure are upgrades of older models (e.g., re-engined B-6 bombers for extended ranges); however, newer aircraft make up a growing percentage of the inventory.

- The PLA Air Force (PLAAF) is deploying the F-10 multi-role fi ghter to operational units. The F-10, a fourth generation aircraft, will be China’s premier fi ghter in the coming decades.

- China is now producing the multi-role Su- 27SMK/FLANKER (F-11A) fi ghter under a licensed co-production agreement with Russia following an initial production run of Su-27SKs (F-11). China is employing increasing numbers of the multi-role Su-30MKK/FLANKER fi ghterbomber and its naval variant, the Su-30MK2.

- Chinese aircraft are armed with an increasingly sophisticated array of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, satellite and laser-guided precision munitions, and cruise missiles.

- China’s first indigenously produced attack helicopter, the Z-10, is undergoing fl ight testing. The Z-10 will fi re the Red Arrow 8E anti-tank guided missile, offering combat performance equal to the Eurocopter Tiger, but below that of the AH-64 Apache.

- Improvements to the FB-7 fighter program will enable this older aircraft to perform nighttime maritime strike operations and use improved weapons such as the Kh-31P (AS-17) antiradiation missile and KAB-500 laser-guided munitions.

Air Defense. In the next few years, China will receive its fi rst battalion of Russian-made S- 300PMU-2 surface-to-air missile systems. With an advertised intercept range of 200 km, the S- 300PMU-2 provides increased lethality against tactical ballistic missiles and more effective electronic countermeasures. China also is developing the indigenous HQ-9 air defense missile system, a phased array radar-based SAM with a 150 km range. As noted above, a naval variant (HHQ-9) will deploy on the LUYANG II DDG and a vertical launch naval SAM (HHQ-16) will deploy on the JIANGKAI II FFG.

Ground Forces. China has about 1.4 million ground forces personnel with approximately 400,000 deployed to the three military regions opposite Taiwan. China has been upgrading these units with tanks, armored personnel carriers, and additional artillery pieces. In April 2006, China made its fi rst delivery of the new third generation main battle tank, the ZTZ-99, to units in the Beijing and Shenyang military regions.

Amphibious Forces. The PLA has deployed a new amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) and developed a range of modifi cations for existing vehicles including fl otation tanks and mounted outboard engines. Its newer amphibious vehicles have greater stability and performance in open water.
Increased amphibious training, including multiple training evolutions in a single year, is building profi ciency among China’s amphibious forces.

More from the ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS

Congressman Duncan Hunter Interview with Hugh Hewitt:

Excerpt:

Duncan Hunter: You know this last report on China actually received lots of criticism from the State Department because it was very candid about assessing this enormous growing military strength of China. The assessment of the Pentagon was they are doing so much more then they have to do for self defense. They are building an offensive capability. When they shot that satellite out of space on January 11th, because America’s military eyes are largely in space, that really hurdled a new era of military competition between the U.S. and China in space. Like it or not, if you have to rely on satellites for movement of special forces or army brigades or marine corps divisions, you have to rely on satellites for that, and your satellites are in danger, you are in trouble. So we have our eyes, our military eyes [on China]. Plus a lot of our economic capabilities are reflected through our space apparatus. You have to protect that. We are going to have to spend a lot of money now and take a lot of effort to neutralize what is an aggressive Chinese policy in regard to space.

Hugh Hewitt: Let’s talk about the media and China. I asked you about this on the radio yesterday, how many questions have you had about China in the course of the Campaign. You have been on the trail for how long?

Duncan Hunter: We have had 4 congressional debates now and we have been out campaigning hard this entire year. We had one great question, I think it came from either Brit Hume or one of his team, during the Fox debate in the South Carolina, last question of the debate to me on China. I was able to give, you only have one minute answer, I try to be a master on the compact answers, I laid out that we have this cheating on trade which is stacking up billions to China and they are using this money to arm. This presents a long term challenge to the United States. Maybe not a direct threat; but a military threat is comprised of two things, capability and intent. They certainly are building a capability to cause us a lot of harm. And the intent of China is always difficult to understand.

Those tough old communists that ran the Politburo are still running things. We see these generals make wild statements like, “We hope you value L.A. more than you do Taiwan”. That is a thinly veiled threat to nuke L.A. Then there will be a flurry of newspaper statements by people saying well, ‘general so and so didn’t mean it’. Well I hope general so and so is pretty far away from that nuclear trigger. Because that is a wild statement. You see those wild statements that came out of Yunnan Island where the American plane was shot down or was forced down, and the wild statements that came out of there diplomacy core after that were tempered by their trade people. But it shows us there is a element of leadership that is embedded in the Chinese hierarchy that is very aggressive, very anti American and very war like. It is difficult to know which element of the Chinese leadership is going to dominate the government in 5 years.

(snip)

China even helped Iran join the Space Club!

Absolut Spirits Co. Redraws U.S. Map

2008-04-04T16:40:00Z

A new ad for Absolut vodka reconfigures North America according to a story in today's WorldNetDaily.

If I ever start drinking, it will Absolutly not be this product.

Bar Of Integrity

China has developed its own operating system for cyber war with U.S.

Obama brother accused of UK sex assault on a minor

OBAMA HAS NOT MET HIS BURDEN OF PROVING HE WAS BORN IN HAWAII

Does Barack Obama Sing the Tiger Song?

Does Barack Obama Sing the Tiger Song?

New Zawahiri message addresses Obama election‏

Barack Obama - Daniel Amon - SSS.gov - Many Questions

US Supreme Court awaits response to Berg Writ of Certiorari from Obama, DNC and co-defendants

U. S. SUPREME COURT AWAITS RESPONSE TOBERG'S WRIT OF CERTIORARIFROM OBAMA, DNC and Co-DEFENDANTS

Cite the Source

Barack Nate Dhalani

Technical Default! Barack Hussein Obama is Not Qualified to Hold Office of POTUS!

Duncan Hunter Campaigns for former King County sheriff Dave Reichert

ICE investigation helps bring Colombian FARC terrorists to U.S. on terrorism and drug charges

Barack Hussein Obama, Antoin Rezko, Nadhmi Auchi, Saddam Hussein = Strange Bedfellows

HUGO CHAVEZ, COLUMBIAN LEFTIST REBELS, OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS, AND ROGUE URANIUM IN SOUTH AMERICA‏

HUGO CHAVEZ, COLUMBIAN LEFTIST REBELS, OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS, AND ROGUE URANIUM IN SOUTH AMERICA

Tony Rezko, the Syrian Felon, Saved Barack Hussein Obama 100s of thousands of Dollars on his Mansion

175 Alleged Gulf Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Massive International Law Enforcement Operation

175 Alleged Gulf Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Massive International Law Enforcement Operation"Project Reckoning" Leads to the Seizure of $60 Million and More Than 40 Tons of Illegal Drugs From One of Mexico's Largest Drug Trafficking Cartels

POW/MIA Recognition Day

The Hoodwink of Unity 2008

Barack Hussein Obama Needs to Be Charged with The Logan Act

Broken Promises Don't Mend Border Fences

HOT! - Muslims in fed terror probe making donations to Obama

Tainted Toothpaste financing Communism and the Political Backing of Obama

Obama and the King

Brothels, PremiumEvents, Voter Fraud, Activists and Strange Bedfellows

OBAMA'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE DEFINITELY FALSIFIED‏

Follow the links, I know it takes time to read it all, but Obama and his campaign defended the phony birth certificate his website promotedSunday, July 20, 2008

OBAMA'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE DEFINITELY FALSIFIED http://noiri.blogspot.com/2008/07/obamas-birth-certificate-definitely.html

High End NYC Brothel Affiliated with Groups that Promote Voter Fraud

Former Newark Technology Contractor Defrauds Cisco Systems of Millions

WSJ - Israel Is 'Canceled' in Berlin

July 4, 1776

John McCain's Citizenship Status - Court Documents

Innocence Lost National Initiative

Rest In Peace Captain Steve Farley and Thank You For Your Service

Banned Chinese ammunition allegedly sold to supply Afghanistan

Miami Beach munitions supplier, his company, and others indicted for lying to U.S. Army on government contractBanned Chinese ammunition allegedly sold to supply Afghanistan

Two Munitions Dealers Arrested and Charged in Conspiracy to Export Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

Two Munitions Dealers Arrested and Charged in Conspiracy to Export Military Aircraft Parts to Iran

China Admits POW is Buried There

Chinese national sentenced for committing economic espionage

Digital TV foreshadows erosion of Internet rights

Treasured New York Skyscrapers May be Sold to Foreign Funds

As the Left Turns

Kuwaiti Charity Designated for Bankrolling al Qaida Network

New York "Sufferring" A Foreign Fashion Model Shortage

Lions for Lambs

Will Media Ask Questions on Obama's Pledge To Prosecute War Criminals?

Press One For English

June 6, 1944

WTC Freedom Tower Now Home to China Center Operation

China’s Cyber-Militia

Russian Firm Buys McLean's International Launch

Airmen MIA From Vietnam War are Identified

Memorial Day

New Jersey Pinelands and Chris Myers, Forgetaboutit!

Justin Murphy Is The Only Congressional Candidate Who Is Not Owned By A Political Machine

Gathering of Eagles - Welcoming the families to the Coast Guard Graduation

Lockheed Martin's Chris Myers and Peace through Fashion

Lockheed the Paesano

The Presidential Challenge

Obama's bill S2433 - U.N.'s Millennium Declaration

More on Barack Obama's S.2433 : Global Poverty Act

Judicial Watch Calls on FEC to Investigate McCain

3Com Gets Around CFIUS Ruling

Syria 'had covert nuclear scheme'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7364269.stmSyria 'had covert nuclear scheme'

Former P.O.W.: "Why I Cannot Support Senator John McCain for President"

Iraqi War Veterans for Congress

Attention Hunter Fans!!!

WANTED FOR TERRORISM

GREENSBURG KANSAS POST TORNADO GUN CONFISCATIONS

FRED THOMPSON VISITING MCCAIN THIS WEEKEND

China's Airforce

Absolut Spirits Co. Redraws U.S. Map

U. S. SUPREME COURT AWAITS RESPONSE TO
BERG'S WRIT OF CERTIORARI
FROM OBAMA, DNC and Co-DEFENDANTS

175 Alleged Gulf Cartel Members and Associates Arrested in Massive International Law Enforcement Operation
"Project Reckoning" Leads to the Seizure of $60 Million and More Than 40 Tons of Illegal Drugs From One of Mexico's Largest Drug Trafficking Cartels

Follow the links, I know it takes time to read it all, but Obama and his campaign defended the phony birth certificate his website promoted

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Miami Beach munitions supplier, his company, and others indicted for lying to U.S. Army on government contract
Banned Chinese ammunition allegedly sold to supply Afghanistan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7364269.stm
Syria 'had covert nuclear scheme'