Some legislators want Virginia to join the growing chorus of states that have defied the federal government by refusing to participate in a national identification program billed as a way to fight terrorism and identity theft.

Two pieces of legislation for consideration when lawmakers return to Richmond on Jan. 14 call for Virginia to ignore the federal mandate to come into compliance with the Real ID Act by the end of 2009.

Similar bills went nowhere last year, but supporters say the looming deadline gives the issue new urgency.

“Basically, this statute that I put in is one to let the feds know that, one, the way you’re going about this we have problems with, and two, if you intend to enforce this, we intend to challenge it,” said Delegate Robert G. Marshall, Prince William Republican and one of the sponsors.

Since the law’s enactment in 2005, at least 42 states have considered anti-Real ID legislation, and more than half have passed measures either forbidding their states from participating or urging Congress to amend or repeal the law.

At least five states have gone in the other direction, passing bills bringing their programs into compliance.

Critics say they expect other states to join Virginia this year to fight against Real ID.

The program was born out of the commission that looked into the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It recommended that the U.S. improve its system of issuing identification documents because the hijackers had numerous licenses and state IDs. Congress approved legislation requiring states to issue licenses and ID cards that meet certain security standards.

The new IDs will be required for federal purposes, such as boarding an airplane or entering a federal building. Other federal identification, including passports and military IDs, also will be accepted.

“The bottom line is that citizens of states who do not move forward with the Real ID mandate from Congress will see real consequences,” said Laura Keehner, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of the program.

States had until May 2008 to implement Real ID, but the department extended that until Dec. 31, 2009. If they need more time and have met certain benchmarks, states can request an extension until May 11, 2011.

“The fact that Congress passed this and could not figure out the prudential question of when the states could actually do this tells me that it wasn’t thoroughly vetted,” Mr. Marshall said.

The opposition has centered around cost and privacy concerns.

Homeland Security originally estimated it would cost states $14 billion to implement the program, but in January it loosened the restrictions and said the added flexibility would bring the cost to under $4 billion.

Homeland Security and other agencies have given out about $500 million in grants, but state officials say that’s not enough.

Critics also claim that Real ID diminishes privacy, and they object to a national ID that would have to be shown for everyday identification purposes.

“Certainly people should be identified by high standards when that’s called for, but it’s not called for when you’re going to buy beer,” said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies for the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

“If we’re going to have our identity recorded every time we buy beer or use a credit card or buy gas, that turns into one big surveillance system,” he said.

But Ms. Keehner said the identification cards will increase, not decrease privacy by preventing identity theft.

She said claims that the program creates a national database are incorrect. There is a hub where each state Department of Motor Vehicles will check to ensure that an individual has only one ID, but states will not have access to other states’ data.

Lie #1) Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians.

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated pieces of property in the world. The presence of militants within a civilian population does not, under international law, deprive that population of their protected status, and hence any assault upon that population under the guise of targeting militants is, in fact, a war crime.

Moreover, the people Israel claims are legitimate targets are members of Hamas, which Israel says is a terrorist organization. Hamas has been responsible for firing rockets into Israel. These rockets are extremely inaccurate and thus, even if Hamas intended to hit military targets within Israel, are indiscriminate by nature. When rockets from Gaza kill Israeli civilians, it is a war crime.

Hamas has a military wing. However, it is not entirely a military organization, but a political one. Members of Hamas are the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Dozens of these elected leaders have been kidnapped and held in Israeli prisons without charge. Others have been targeted for assassination, such as Nizar Rayan, a top Hamas official. To kill Rayan, Israel targeted a residential apartment building. The strike not only killed Rayan but two of his wives and four of his children, along with six others. There is no justification for such an attack under international law. This was a war crime.

Other of Israel’s bombardment with protected status under international law have included a mosque, a prison, police stations, and a university, in addition to residential buildings.

Moreover, Israel has long held Gaza under siege, allowing only the most minimal amounts of humanitarian supplies to enter. Israel is bombing and killing Palestinian civilians. Countless more have been wounded, and cannot receive medical attention. Hospitals running on generators have little or no fuel. Doctors have no proper equipment or medical supplies to treat the injured. These people, too, are the victims of Israeli policies targeted not at Hamas or legitimate military targets, but directly designed to punish the civilian population.

Lie #2) Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end such rocket attacks.

Israel never observed the cease-fire to begin with. From the beginning, it announced a “special security zone” within the Gaza Strip and announced that Palestinians who enter this zone will be fired upon. In other words, Israel announced its intention that Israeli soldiers would shoot at farmers and other individuals attempting to reach their own land in direct violation of not only the cease-fire but international law.

Despite shooting incidents, including ones resulting in Palestinians getting injured, Hamas still held to the cease-fire from the time it went into effect on June 19 until Israel effectively ended the truce on November 4 by launching an airstrike into Gaza that killed five and injured several others.

Israel’s violation of the cease-fire predictably resulted in retaliation from militants in Gaza who fired rockets into Israel in response. The increased barrage of rocket fire at the end of December is being used as justification for the continued Israeli bombardment, but is a direct response by militants to the Israeli attacks.

Israel’s actions, including its violation of the cease-fire, predictably resulted in an escalation of rocket attacks against its own population.

Lie #3) Hamas is using human shields, a war crime.

There has been no evidence that Hamas has used human shields. The fact is, as previously noted, Gaza is a small piece of property that is densely populated. Israel engages in indiscriminate warfare such as the assassination of Nizar Rayan, in which members of his family were also murdered. It is victims like his dead children that Israel defines as “human shields” in its propaganda. There is no legitimacy for this interpretation under international law. In circumstances such as these, Hamas is not using human shields, Israel is committing war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions and other applicable international law.

Lie #4) Arab nations have not condemned Israel’s actions because they understand Israel’s justification for its assault.

The populations of those Arab countries are outraged at Israel’s actions and at their own governments for not condemning Israel’s assault and acting to end the violence. Simply stated, the Arab governments do not represent their respective Arab populations. The populations of the Arab nations have staged mass protests in opposition to not only Israel’s actions but also the inaction of their own governments and what they view as either complacency or complicity in Israel’s crimes.

Moreover, the refusal of Arab nations to take action to come to the aid of the Palestinians is not because they agree with Israel’s actions, but because they are submissive to the will of the US, which fully supports Israel. Egypt, for instance, which refused to open the border to allow Palestinians wounded in the attacks to get medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals, is heavily dependent upon US aid, and is being widely criticized within the population of the Arab countries for what is viewed as an absolute betrayal of the Gaza Palestinians.

Even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been regarded as a traitor to his own people for blaming Hamas for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Palestinians are also well aware of Abbas’ past perceived betrayals in conniving with Israel and the US to sideline the democratically elected Hamas government, culminating in a counter-coup by Hamas in which it expelled Fatah (the military wing of Abbas’ Palestine Authority) from the Gaza Strip. While his apparent goal was to weaken Hamas and strengthen his own position, the Palestinians and other Arabs in the Middle East are so outraged at Abbas that it is unlikely he will be able to govern effectively.

Lie #5) Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might be targeted.

Israel claims it sent radio and telephone text messages to residents of Gaza warning them to flee from the coming bombardment. But the people of Gaza have nowhere to flee to. They are trapped within the Gaza Strip. It is by Israeli design that they cannot escape across the border. It is by Israeli design that they have no food, water, or fuel by which to survive. It is by Israeli design that hospitals in Gaza have no electricity and few medical supplies with which to treat the injured and save lives. And Israel has bombed vast areas of Gaza, targeting civilian infrastructure and other sites with protected status under international law. No place is safe within the Gaza Strip.

Vienna - Feeding mice with genetically engineered maize developed by the US-based Monsanto corporation led to lower fertility and body weight, according to a study conducted by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna presented Tuesday. In the study, mice fed with the NK603 x MON810 sweetcorn variety over a period of 20 weeks showed a smaller litter size and lighter offspring than mice fed with non-engineered maize.

The differences “were statistically significant in the third and fourth litters,” according to an abstract of the study led by Professor Juergen Zentek and commissioned by Austria’s Environment Ministry.

Just another study showing us that GM foods are slowly poisoning us. This is what happens when you introduce brand-new proteins into the body, folks.

It’s pretty scary that movies like Children of Men seem like documentaries from the future…

I recommend checking out the documentaries about genetically modified foods and monsanto here.

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn’t require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return.

“The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that’s a big problem,” said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. “In a liquid market, this wouldn’t matter, but we’re not. The market is very nervous and very thin.”

Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure.

The Fed made the loans under terms of 11 programs, eight of them created in the past 15 months, in the midst of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.

“It’s your money; it’s not the Fed’s money,” said billionaire Ted Forstmann, senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. “Of course there should be transparency.”

This is what happens when you give these idiots the ability to do whatever the hell they want with taxpayers money without requiring congressional approval. I would once again like to say FUCK YOU to the sons of bitches that passed that piece of shit legislation.

WASHINGTON — The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials.

These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States.

…

Some of the military missions have been conducted in close coordination with the C.I.A., according to senior American officials, who said that in others, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, the military commandos acted in support of C.I.A.-directed operations.

…

Apart from the 2006 raid into Pakistan, the American officials refused to describe in detail what they said had been nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks, except to say they had been carried out in Syria, Pakistan and other countries. They made clear that there had been no raids into Iran using that authority, but they suggested that American forces had carried out reconnaissance missions in Iran using other classified directives.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

So how many wars are we REALLY involved in? I guess that’s why they declared war on terror. This way it just looks like one big war instead of dozens of unmanagable ones. ;D

Yellowcake uranium may be known to most of us as President Bush’s justification to go to war in Iraq, but the remnants of Saddam Hussein’s once-feared WMD program may soon be lighting up homes across the United States.

Last month, under a deal brokered by the State Department, Canadian-based Cameco Corp. took possession of 600 tons of Iraqi yellowcake - not the yellowcake Saddam had allegedly sought in Niger, but a stockpile he amassed before the Gulf War.

The seed mineral may be best known for its ability to be turned into highly enriched uranium for nuclear bombs, but it can also be used as fuel for nuclear power reactors. Cameco (CCJ), the world’s biggest uranium producer, will upgrade its new supply at a pair of plants in Ontario before shipping most of it to the United States, where the nuclear industry is under growing pressure to meet energy needs.

::inhales sloooooowly::

Will someone please explain to me why the media says absolutely nothing about how yellow cake uranium can be used for nuclear energy instead of nuclear weaponry UNTIL THE YELLOW CAKE IS IN AMERICAN HANDS? Sure, some of us already knew this, but you’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t realize a media bias.

Think back to before we invaded Iraq. I bet you don’t remember any occasion where yellow cake was used in the same sentence as talk about providing energy for millions of people. How about a more recent example? We have been placing more and more sanctions onto Iran because they “refuse to stop their nuclear program”. This is done despite the fact that the worlds intelligence tells us Iran stopped their nuclear weapons race in 2003. Any talk about Iran using the uranium for nuclear energy is reversed by saying things like:

“We have good reason to continue to be concerned about Iran developing a nuclear weapon even after this most recent National Intelligence Estimate,” he told reporters at the White House. “In the words of the NIE, quote, Iranian entities are continuing to develop a range of technical capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons if a decision is made to do so.”

and

But the latest report says Iran — which declared its ability to produce enriched uranium for a civilian energy program in 2006 — could reverse that decision and eventually produce a nuclear weapon if it wanted to do so.

EVERYBODY RUN! THESE PEOPLE AREN’T PRODUCING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION YET BUT THEY COULD DECIDE TO DO SO SOMETIME IN THE NEXT DECADE!!!!!!!! FUCKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a country that supposedly respects the sovereignty of all nations, shouldn’t we require more than ass-backwards speculation before we put extreme sanctions onto them?

• IMPORTS FROM IRAN - Goods or services of Iranian origin may not
be imported into the United States, either directly or through third
countries, with the following exceptions:
(a) Gifts valued at $100 or less;
(b) Information or informational materials;
(c) Foodstuffs intended for human consumption that are classified
under chapters 2-23 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States; and
(d) Carpets and other textile floor coverings and carpets used as wall
hangings that are classified under chapter 57 or heading 9706.00.0060
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

We truly have found our place in the world as the largest manufacturer of idiocy and assholes. I do not place the blame on the American people. Sure, some of us are capable of keeping up to date with current events and are able to sift through the speculation to see the facts, but most people are too busy to do this themselves. They rely on ‘the media’ to provide them with insightful data that is not clouded by opinion and not planted by those in power who seek to gain from misinforming their people.

Sadly, this is exactly what is occuring.

A US military jury at Guantanamo Bay has convicted Osama Bin Laden’s former driver of supporting terrorism.

The verdict on Salim Hamdan is the first to be delivered in a full war crimes trial at the US prison in Cuba.

The jury found Hamdan guilty of five of eight charges of supporting terrorism but acquitted him of two separate, more serious, charges of conspiracy.

A sentencing hearing is now under way. Hamdan, a Yemeni aged about 40, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The White House said the trial was fair and looked forward to more tribunals.

Poor guy.. If everyone that’s done business with/for Osama Bin Laden is considered a supporter of terrorism.. doesn’t that mean George Bush should be on trial as well?

The defense is going to appeal the five guilty verdicts. Let’s hope some justice will shine through in the end and reinforce the fact that doing your job is not terrorism. Science save us if Salim gets thrown in prison. With that precedent set we could all be held responsible for supporting the American war machine in the future when robo-Gore overthrows Bush-o-tron~!~!~!

It’s obvious to us these days that the media does not reflect the will and intent of the people. They have, for the most part, left the realm of investigative journalism and devolved into a corporate sponsored frenzy of entertainment and localized news coverage; from informing the masses to profiting off of our ignorance. With things coming to light, such as that the White House providing Fox News with talking points (therefor propagandizing the media,) it’s amazing to me that they continue to keep ratings high enough to stay afloat.

When I think about it, though, it seems reasonable to think that it’s not entirely about profits. If they are so intent on misinforming the people they pretend to work for… could this mean that their real goal is to dumb the masses to a point where its rational ignorance reaches epic levels? If this is true then it would be fair to assume that these so called news organizations wouldn’t exactly let us know that our faith in them is faltering. Think about it this way: If the Revolution started tomorrow do you think it would be covered on the ‘news’? Maybe they’d refer to it as a terrorist act and down play it heavily. The message I mean to convey is that the media does not reflect the views of you or me or most people in our nation. This pattern of misinformation and selective coverage of current events is not a new one nor is it showing signs of dying.

So, we are left to inform ourselves. What better tool for the job than the internet? What worse tool for the job than the internet? True, there is enough shit on these tubes to clog the mind of any one man. Learn to skim past the shit and you could empower yourself with proper information in no time. My main goal for this blog was to create a place where some of my friends could have easy access to (what I think are) important current events without having to drown in a sea of data feces. It’s obvious to me that keeping up with a task like this will be time consuming, but since I already make it a point to try and stay up with world events and especially political happenings it’s not really any extra load for me to handle. If it will help keep even one person better informed then it is, to me, well worth it.

Want to better inform yourself? Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, it’s pretty damn simple. Remember that google is your friend. For now at least! After I woke up this morning I started thinking about something I had learned a while ago from a documentary. I thought to myself, “There’s no way that I’ll be able to confirm this.” Weary of the outcome I stepped up to the search engine plate and shot off a simple list of keywords.

‘al qaeda cia database’

What was I looking for? Well, this:

Osama bin Laden is no more a true representative of Islam than General Mladic, who commanded the Serbian forces, could be held up as an example of Christianity. After all, it is written in the Qur’an that we were made into different peoples not that we might despise each other, but that we might understand each other.

Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally “the database”, was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Inexplicably, and with disastrous consequences, it never appears to have occurred to Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden’s organisation would turn its attention to the west.

We all know that many of the so called terrorists that are shoved into our retinas were trained and put into places of power by our very own CIA. What most people don’t know is that Al-Qaeda is not a terrorist group. They are not a networked system of freedom hating Muslims. The name Al-Qaeda was given by the CIA and it was used to label a database of CIA trained men in the middle east. I don’t know about you.. but I find it hard to believe that a database could become self aware and start a war with our nation.

Well, there you go. This is just one of countless many lies we are continually fed by the media and our government that can be easily dissolved with a little investigative internets. Remember, the media does not show what it does not want you to see. It can’t, however, systematically destroy all the information at your fingertips. That’s in the beta phase. <3

Parents of a 16-year-old boy in intensive care with a broken back want to know why police Tasered their son 19 times rather than calling an ambulance for help.

Citizens noticed Branson, Mo., teenager Mace Hutchinson walking alongside the road and, fearing for his safety, called 9-1-1.

“We called the police. My wife was afraid he was going to get ran over or hit,” said witness Doug Messersmith. “He looked a little agitated but, other than that, he didn’t look to be falling down drunk or anything like that.”

When police arrived, they found Hutchinson under an overpass on U.S. 65 Saturday morning, Springfield’s KY3 News reported. The boy had fallen 30 feet off the overpass and was lying on the shoulder.

When the boy didn’t respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly.

“I’m not an officer, but I don’t see the reason for Tasering somebody lying there with a broken back. I don’t consider that a threat,” his aunt Samantha said.

To serve and protect.