<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' version='2.0'><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:26:20 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>almost ever after</title><description>This blog is dedicated to those who fight for our freedom which allows me to express these thoughts openly and without fear.</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>532</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-3459591831708950061</guid><pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:46:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-11-12T13:05:54.326-06:00</atom:updated><title>Another Shariah Law Killing of 13 year old!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=80733&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;London fundraisers linked to stoning of 13-year-old&lt;br /&gt;Girl who tells Shariah court of rape is convicted, executed for 'adultery'&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Posted: November 11, 2008&lt;br /&gt;9:14 pm Eastern&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;© 2008 WorldNetDaily &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;LONDON – Britain's MI6 intelligence service has identified a group that raises funds with impunity in London as the organization whose militia members in Somalia imposed a death sentence on a 13-year-old rape victim, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Known as the Shabaab, the ruthless militia is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. The group's leadership was targeted by missile strikes earlier this year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, MI6 has revealed that the group operates without restriction in London, funding the fierce guerrilla war against Somalia's long-time enemy, Ethiopia, which invaded Somalia last year.&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;br /&gt;Until last week, the war attracted little attention in the West. All that changed after a Shariah court in the Somalia southern town of Kismayo handed down a brutal punishment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A 13-year-old girl, described in an intelligence report as "little more than a pretty child," was sentenced to be stoned to death by the all-male court.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It imposed the sentence on Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow after she had complained to the local Shariah court that she had been &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;gang-raped by, among others, her cousins&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But the court found her guilty of adultery and sentenced her to death by stoning.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;She was taken from the courthouse to a local sports stadium. There she was buried up to her neck in sand and then stoned in front of a 1,000-strong crowd, the number the local soccer team attracts.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-------------------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;This young girl bravely spoke out about the horrible rape she suffered and she is punished with death?  Is this what Shariah law stands for?  Is this JUSTICE?  I'm disgusted...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-3459591831708950061?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/11/another-shariah-law-killing-of-13-year.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-2414058367847483103</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-08-06T21:26:11.217-06:00</atom:updated><title>Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=121797745642029900&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Drop in numbers seeking drivers licenses pegged to new state law&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By Steve Law&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Portland Tribune, Aug 6, 2008&lt;br /&gt;Christopher Onstott, Tribune File Photo / Portland Tribune &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With a passport and Brazilian drivers license in hand, Roberual Goncalues De Silva waits his turn in 2006 to apply for an Oregon drivers license at the popular DMV office at SE Powell Boulevard and 90th. A new state law requires Oregon drivers license applicants to prove they are in the state legally. &lt;br /&gt;The number of Spanish-speaking people taking Oregon’s driving test &lt;strong&gt;plummeted&lt;/strong&gt; in February, just as Gov. Kulongoski’s executive order took effect &lt;strong&gt;requiring test-takers to provide valid Social Security numbers.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In the Portland area and statewide, there was a jump in people taking the driving test in Spanish in the two months after Kulongoski issued his November order – but before it took effect Feb. 4, according to new data from the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division. The number of people taking the test in Spanish fell more than 80 percent after his order took effect.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;State officials can’t think of any other reason to explain the pattern besides the governor’s order, said David House, DMV spokesman.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Critics of illegal immigration hailed the new data. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“I think that’s reflective of the fact that at one time Oregon had an open door for illegal aliens to get their drivers’ licenses from all over the United States,” said Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Oregon had been one of a handful of states that didn’t require drivers license applicants to prove they were here legally. Oregon also grants licenses for eight years, longer than many states.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ludwick and others lobbied state officials for years to tighten state procedures, arguing that Oregon’s loose standards made the state a mecca for illegal immigrants anxious to obtain photo IDs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kulongoski came around to that view last year, arguing state requirements needed tightening to prevent identity theft and other public safety problems. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“Previously Oregon had been a magnet for individuals from other states coming in and obtaining drivers’ licenses,” said Jillian Schoene, Kulongoski spokeswoman. “I think the changes in the law have been effective.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kulongoski put the heat on the Oregon Legislature to approve his plan, by making the executive order take effect the exact day a one-month special legislative session began on Feb 4. Lawmakers complied by passing Senate Bill 1080, which requires license applicants to provide proof they are here legally.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That law took effect July 1, so its full impact is not clear yet, House said. So far, the law is slowing the issuance of drivers licenses, because it requires all applicants to present more documents to prove their identity and legal presence here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“I’m going to give Gov. Kulongoski credit,” Ludwick said. “He’s the one who issued an executive order and basically forced the Legislature to go along with the process.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For most of 2007, about 150 people a month took the test in Spanish at the bustling Portland DMV office on 8710 S.E. Powell Boulevard. That bumped to more than 200 a month in December and January, after Kulongoski announced his pending executive order. Then the number fell to 28 people in February, when the order took effect. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The story was the same elsewhere in the Portland area and statewide. At the main Hillsboro DMV office, 398 people took the test in Spanish in January, and then only 69 in February. In Gresham, 215 took the test in Spanish in January, and only 20 in February. Statewide, 4,542 took the test in Spanish in January and 665 in February.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The DMV’s data does not show a clear drop in the number of people taking the drivers test in English, Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese or Japanese. The number of people taking the test in Spanish has remained low each month since February.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“Only one language group declined; all the others remained pretty static,” Ludwick observed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The DMV data provides dramatic evidence of the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants to the Portland area. People requesting the drivers test in Spanish amounted to one-third of all test-takers at the Hillsboro DMV from August 2006 through January 2008, one-fourth of those in the Gresham DMV and about one-seventh of those at Portland’s Powell Boulevard DMV.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ludwick predicted the new state law will reduce methamphetamine trafficking and identity theft in Oregon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Immigrants rights advocates said the law will harm Oregon’s economy by making it more difficult for undocumented workers to get to their jobs. However, the law’s impact is gradual, because many illegal immigrants have licenses until they expire, and there was a surge of people getting licenses before the executive order took effect.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“That means that little by little, they’re not going to do their work,” said Marco Mejia, Portland-area director of the American Friends Service Committee immigration program. That will have a dramatic impact on Oregon farms, hotels, restaurants and other businesses that rely on immigrant labor, Mejia said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ultimately, he said, the law will drive up the cost of food for Oregonians. “The effect is going to be totally negative to the overall community,” he said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OTHER'S COMMENTS:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;Ultimately, he said, the law will drive up the cost of food for Oregonians. “The effect is going to be totally negative to the overall community,” Mejia said.&lt;br /&gt;This is because wages will go up. Those who are working hard will finally be able to demand a decent wage, decent working conditions and rights like the rest of us enjoy. There will be no overall negative effect on the overall community, just on the community of illegal immigrants. Now Portland will have to decide what they will do when pull over a driver with no license, no proof of identity and thus no proof of US citizenry. &lt;br /&gt;There is no reason why one segment of immigrants should receive preference over another. As shown by DMV's numbers, most immigrants follow the laws and come here legally. i.e. the number of Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese had no significant decline. &lt;br /&gt;The next step is the SSN match rule. This will cut down on fraud and theft. Any person who uses a SSN that is not theirs is perpetuating theft and fraud. The SSN belongs to someone else. The SSN is not only used to obtain a job, but also to rent and apartment, buy a car and borrow money. &lt;br /&gt;Ah, before you call me some racist, backwoods hillbilly, let me enlighten you. &lt;br /&gt;I just spent 15 months struggling through the system, separated from my Peruvian wife, to obtain a US visa for her so that she can come here live with me. When I moved to her country 4 years ago I obtained a visa at the port of entry, of course I was not permitted to work and it was almost impossible to obtain a work permit. &lt;br /&gt;Please focus your energy on reforming the immigration system, especially USCIS. This is the most insular US agency I have ever dealt with. They make the IRS look like angels. You have to go through 3 separate government agencies to obtain a visa to the US (USCIS, State Department and FBI). I actually had a USCIS respond to me that they are a normal agency and work on their own terms.&lt;br /&gt;Comprehensive immigration reform is the only answer, in the mean time the laws have to be followed.&lt;br /&gt;"Jota"&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 12:51 AM&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;I am a Title I teacher who works with the Latino immigrant population. I see the day-to-day pressures that this bill has put on the spouses and children of illegal immigrants (the entire family may NOT be here illegally, and often, the families we have here were originally all legal but let their papers lapse). I have to agree with "jota" above. The system, as it is now, makes trying to follow the rules and go through the steps almost Kafkaesque at times! In the long run, this rule will be a positive thing for many reasons: it will cut down on interconnected crimes like SS# theft (I have been a victim twice, my husband once, made easier because we have a common Latino last name), AND it will force necessary pressure for changes to a system that encourages people to lie or lose work if they want to keep their families together. I cannot tell you how many families I have tried to help renew their legal status before it expired and have had them finally give up in sheer desperation, then disappear into the illegal population. I hate the potential problems in the short-term, and I know there will be plenty of people who will choose to drive without the license because they can't get one. However, the system needs a total overhaul. Let's hope this eventually helps! &lt;br /&gt;"Una maestra de Washington Country "&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:13 AM&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;They should abide by the law if they want to live and work in this country. I have to and I am Irish.&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:20 AM&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;"They should abide by the law if they want to live and work in this country. I have to and I am Irish."&lt;br /&gt;"BJR"&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:28 AM&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;The aren't latino immigrants, they are illegal aliens.&lt;br /&gt;If they aren't applying for state licenses, then it means the system is working. They won't be able to apply for benefits, go into bars etc...&lt;br /&gt;Hopefully this will give them the incentive to GO HOME! &lt;br /&gt;" Steveo"&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 07:33 AM&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;What took Sleepy Ted so long? Apparently he's enjoying&lt;br /&gt;his "retirement" working at the State Capitol.&lt;br /&gt;"Dale"&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 08:30 AM&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;Marco Mejia says that the effect will be totally negative. I think this is ridiculous, and the whole "costs will go up" argument is irrelevant as well. If the true LEGAL costs of growing nursery stock or harvesting produce is higher than we are currently paying than the costs should go up. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are a lot of products that could be sold cheaper if we ignored workplace safety regulations or illegally used materials that weren't up to code, or in many other ways broke the laws that govern how these products should be manufactured and brought to market, but no one seems to advocate that every industry should just ignore the law and only do what is absolutely cheapest at every turn.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, for some reason, when agriculture breaks numerous laws to cut corners and save a buck, it is presented as if they were engaged in some kind of Robin Hood like moral struggle, and that their breaking the law is a good thing.&lt;br /&gt;It isn't a good thing, it artificially and ILLEGALLY, drives down wages for American citizens and legal immigrants, and creates oppourtunities for criminal activity from ID theft to terrorism so I find it hard to swallow when I am told that something as simple as making sure a person is legally entitled to have a drivers license before we actually give them one is bad for our community&lt;br /&gt;"Don"&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 09:30 AM&lt;br /&gt;Re: Latino immigrants suddenly avoiding the DMV&lt;br /&gt;I've got no problem with this regulation. Hopefully people without a drivers license (or insurance) will also stay off the roads as well.&lt;br /&gt;However I don't blame people coming to Oregon looking for better work and a better place to live... if there are employers hiring illegal workers here, we should go after the employers, not the workers.&lt;br /&gt;"yeah well"&lt;br /&gt;(email verified)&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-2414058367847483103?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/08/httpwww.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-2854213512640426185</guid><pubDate>Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-07-04T23:23:41.538-06:00</atom:updated><title>2 Supervisors Are Arrested After Sweep at Meat Plant</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080705/1194791428859.html?.v=19&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 Supervisors Are Arrested After Sweep at Meat Plant&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saturday July 5, 1:34 am ET &lt;br /&gt;By JULIA PRESTON &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Two supervisors at a kosher meatpacking plant in Iowa where hundreds of illegal immigrants were rounded up in May were arrested Thursday on criminal immigration charges.&lt;br /&gt;Federal prosecutors said they had also issued an arrest warrant for a third man described by workers as a plant manager.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The supervisors, Juan Carlos Guerrero Espinoza and Martin De la Rosa Loera, were arrested at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, prosecutors said. They were the first employees who were not rank-and-file workers to be arrested since 389 illegal immigrants were rounded up at the plant on May 12, said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the United States attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Federal authorities called the raid the largest enforcement operation by immigration authorities at a single workplace. Unions and immigrant advocacy groups had criticized immigration officials for focusing arrests on workers while taking no action against top managers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The arrest warrant was issued for Hosam Amara, 43. In interviews after the raid, several workers said Mr. Amara was a floor manager with more authority than line supervisors. They said he was a link between workers on the slaughterhouse floors and meatpacking lines and more senior management.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Agriprocessors, which before the raid was the country’s largest producer of kosher meat, is owned by Aaron Rubashkin. Two weeks after the raid, he removed his son Sholom as chief executive.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most of the illegal immigrants arrested at the plant were from rural Guatemala. In expedited proceedings, 270 workers were sent to federal prison on criminal charges, most for presenting false documents when they were hired.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday, federal authorities said Mr. Guerrero was the supervisor of four departments in the Postville plant, including a slaughterhouse called Beef Kill. Workers cited anonymously in the complaint said Mr. Guerrero was running a business obtaining fraudulent immigration documents, known as green cards.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the days before the raid, the workers said, according to the complaint, Mr. Guerrero told them in a meeting that “they needed new IDs and Social Security numbers to continue working at the company.” Mr. Guerrero collected $200 and a photograph from each worker, promising to provide new documents, the complaint says.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A former human resources employee cited in the complaint said Mr. Guerrero regularly brought in fake green cards for applicants.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A separate complaint says Mr. De la Rosa, a supervisor in Poultry Kill, also told illegal immigrant workers shortly before the raid that they needed new identity documents.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The complaints make it clear that a grand jury investigation of Agriprocessors is continuing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Union officials said the new arrests did not go far enough.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“The arrest of two low-level supervisors, while a start, barely scratches the surface of this company’s bad behavior,” said Scott Frotman, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has tried to organize the plant. “What about the allegations of worker abuse? Does anyone really believe that these low-level supervisors acted alone without the knowledge, or even the direction, of the Rubashkins and other senior management?”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On Thursday in Houston, five senior managers of another company that was recently raided, Action Rags USA, made their initial court appearances. Those arrested on Wednesday included Mabarik Kahlon, 45, the owner of the company, an exporter of used clothing, and his partner Rasheed Ahmed, 58. About 160 workers were arrested on June 25 at the company’s plant in Houston.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;----------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;Deport.. Deport... Deport all ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.  If you come to the United States LEGALLY then you are welcome... OTHERWISE GO HOME.  These scumbags who hire illegals at what should be described as SLAVE wages should have all their assets seized and donated towards the building of the border fence. Being an illegal is a horrible lifestyle and not one anyone should endure.  The only way to end this type of abuse is to make sure it can't happen to being with.  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-2854213512640426185?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/07/2-supervisors-are-arrested-after-sweep.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-1394211612358806315</guid><pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:35:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-06-19T09:49:36.732-06:00</atom:updated><title>Dems want control over U.S. oil flow</title><description>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=67490&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dems want control over U.S. oil flow&lt;br /&gt;Hinchey joins Waters, says 'We should own refineries'&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;© 2008 WorldNetDaily &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PUaY3LhJ-IQ&amp;hl=en"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PUaY3LhJ-IQ&amp;hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rep. Maurice Hinchey &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The itch to control the U.S. oil industry is spreading among Democrats in Washington, with Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., joining in the chorus to nationalize the energy company assets.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"We (the government) should own the refineries," Hinchey said today, according to a Fox News alert. "Then we can control how much gets out into the market.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;WND earlier reported when U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., during a grilling of oil executives by a panel of U.S. House members, threatened to nationalize the industry if executives were unsuccessful in bringing pump prices for gasoline down.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A report by Fox News, captured in a clip posted on YouTube.com, showed Waters challenging the president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, to guarantee the prices consumers pay will go down if the oil companies are allowed to drill wherever they want off of U.S. shores.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hofmeister replied: "I can guarantee to the American people, because of the inaction of the United States Congress, ever-increasing prices unless the demand comes down."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Shell exec said paying $5 at the pump "will look like a very low price in the years to come if we are prohibited from finding new reserves, new opportunities to increase supplies."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Waters responded, in part, "And guess what this liberal would be all about. This liberal will be about &lt;strong&gt;socializing … uh, um. …"&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The congresswoman paused to collect her thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies. …"&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The oil executives responded, according to Fox News, by saying they've seen this before, in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fox reported today the latest statements from Hinchey came as Democrats responded to President Bush's call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Democrats also said the reason the Appropriations Committee markup, where the vote on an amendment to lift a ban on offshore drilling was to be, was cancelled so that representatives could focus on a supplemental Iraq spending bill.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hinchey, one of the more ardent opponents of off-shore drilling, simply said Congress will do what is "in the best interest of the American people. Not major corporations."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;LMAO!!!! HA! Caught ya didn't they Maxine... Ohhhh... too bad...  She meant socializing, don't even try to play it off.  Your big mouth got you caught didn't it!  Ya, we know what you want Maxine... AND IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-1394211612358806315?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/06/dems-want-control-over-us-oil-flow.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-1335166560756688691</guid><pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:28:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-06-19T09:31:12.430-06:00</atom:updated><title>Haditha Marine prepares to sue Murtha over smear</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=67434&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Haditha Marine prepares to sue Murtha over smear&lt;br /&gt;Congressman had accused soldiers of killing 'in cold blood'&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;© 2008 WorldNetDaily &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With most of the eight Marines charged in the Haditha, Iraq, incident now exonerated, the highest-ranking officer among the accused is considering a lawsuit against Democratic Rep. John Murtha, who fueled the case by declaring the men cold-blooded killers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In an interview with nationally syndicated radio talk host Michael Savage, the lead attorney for Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani said he and his client will look into suing Murtha and the Time magazine reporter, Tim McGuirk, who first published the accusations by Iraqi insurgents.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But the attorney, Brian Rooney, said nothing will happen immediately because he wants  Chessani, described as a devout Christian and the father of six homeschooled children, completely "out of the woods" legally before any action is taken. The government, through Lt. Col. S.M. Sullivan, today filed a notice that it would appeal the case to the next judicial level.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As WND reported, a military judge at Camp Pendleton in California yesterday dismissed charges that Chessani failed to properly investigate the Nov. 19, 2005 incident in which 24 Iraqi men, women and children were killed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rooney, an attorney for the Thomas More Law Center who served a tour of duty in Iraq himself, is urging citizens to tell their representatives in Congress and military officials that they want the case to come to an end.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"At some point you have to have somebody in the chain of command, whether it's civilian or military, saying enough is enough," said Rooney, who served with Chessani in the second battle of Fallujah.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rooney told Savage the Haditha case is the largest investigation in the history of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with 65 agents assigned by the government.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The filing of charges against Chessani was approved by Gen. James Mattis, then commander of the Marine Corps Forces Central Command and commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. Mattis has been promoted to commander of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and commander of U.S. Joint Forces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"This is the most important case since Vietnam, if not before," Rooney said. "There's no doubt about it."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He noted the New York Times featured the case on the front page when it was being compared by war critics to the infamous My Lai massacre in Vietnam. But now, with evidence the Haditha accusations were a smear, the story has been relegated to the back pages.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The military judge, Col. Steve Folsom, dismissed Chessani's charges without prejudice, giving permission for the prosecutors to continue trying to build a case that began in December 2006.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Four Marines were charged with murder and another four with not properly investigating the incident.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Defense lawyers contend insurgents deliberately attacked the Marines from hiding places where they surrounded themselves with civilians to use as shields. The defense insisted Chessani promptly reported the events to his superiors and that nobody in the chain of command believed there was any wrongdoing on the part of the Marines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Libel and defamation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rooney acknowledged to Savage it's difficult to sue a sitting congressman, but he believes it can be done.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"If he leaves his realm of speaking from the congressman's point of view … then he can be sued for libel and defamation," Rooney said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Time magazine story, according to Rooney, was planted by an insurgent propaganda agent. Publishing of the story was soon followed by a May 17, 2006, news conference by Murtha. The congressman announced he had been told by the highest levels of the Marine Corps there was no firefight and Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"All the information I get, it comes from the commanders, it comes from people who know what they're talking about," Murtha told reporters at the time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Murtha's assertions, however, conflicted with results from the military's own investigations. An initial probe by Army Col. G.A. Watt found no indications coalition forces "intentionally targeted, engaged and killed noncombatants." Later, Army Maj. Gen. Aldon Bargewell found no cover-up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nevertheless, the Marine Corps eventually brought charges against Chessani and seven other Marines.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But now the cases against Lance Cpls. Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas McConnell and Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz have been dropped. First Lt. Andrew Grayson has been acquitted, leaving only the case of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich untested in court and Chessani prosecutors facing the hurdles of the appeal process.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;WND previously reported a military jury of seven officers acquitted Grayson of all charges.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The ruling by Col. Folsom yesterday followed a previous decision in which he confirmed evidence of unlawful command influence.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The evidence indicated two generals who controlled Chessani's case were influenced by Marine lawyer Col. John Ewers, who was allowed to attend at least 25 closed-session meetings in which the case was discussed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Throwing Marines under the bus&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rooney acknowledged the Haditha case taken a toll on the Marine Corps.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"There's no doubt it's affected recruiting," he told Savage. "How could you have your sons or daughters join the Marine Corps when you're not sure the government will protect them?"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rooney was asked by Savage why he thought Murtha, a former Marine himself, accused the officers and enlisted men.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"In my opinion, it's clear it was done during the election cycle, it was done to bolster himself in the party," the attorney said. "He was vying for a leadership position, and if he had to throw some Marines under the bus to do so, that was the cost of power for him."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He hopes soon politicians will weigh in on the case in support of Chessani and the others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I would think all politicians, especially politicians that have military records, should say something about this case," he said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"In a horrible and very complex environment, when you have an enemy that's using women and children as shields, you should always give the benefit of the doubt to the Marine or soldier," said Rooney. "You should never bring him back and put him in front of a court martial."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-----------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;Murtha is a fat mouthed lib who protests the war in public, but has no problem taking money for contracts in Iraq.  Murtha needs to be put back in his place - which frankly should be behind bars.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-1335166560756688691?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/06/haditha-marine-prepares-to-sue-murtha.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-4064193645844028190</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:59:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-27T22:04:53.109-06:00</atom:updated><title>Parents warned of 'hate speech' during 'gay' promo</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=62485&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Parents warned of 'hate speech' during 'gay' promo&lt;br /&gt;Principal says support for homosexuality approved, but 'condemnation' banned&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------&lt;br /&gt;Posted: April 25, 2008&lt;br /&gt;12:10 am Eastern&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mass Resistance says hundreds of these pro-"gay" shirts have been distributed free to students in Massachusetts schools on the "Day of Silence" &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A principal in a Massachusetts school district with a well-established reputation of promoting homosexuality to students has written to parents to tell them distributing "religious materials" during the school's annual observance of the pro-homosexual "Day of Silence" is not appropriate.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The letter from Michael Jones of Lexington, Mass., High School also confirms "hate speech" is "subject to legal constraints" and messages communicated through slogan T-shirts, buttons or stickers that express "condemnation" are "discouraged." Students with such a message will be counseled by school officials to meet the guidelines of the school handbook, he wrote.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, groups that have been given his approval are allowed to hand out promotional materials to others and positive messages about the "Day of Silence" such as "Vocal Supporter" and "Silent Supporter" fall under free speech guidelines, Jones said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The "Day of Silence" is a promotion intended, ostensibly, to make students "aware" of the "discrimination" suffered by homosexuals in society, by having students and teachers remain silent for the day. Such events typically are organized by a school's "Gay-Straight Alliance" group, but the event has been promoted throughout its existence by the special interest group, the massively funded Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The event is being recognized tomorrow in many school districts around the nation, although in Massachusetts schools are scheduling the promotion on April 30 because of other school calendar issues.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;WND previously reported on a concerted effort by dozens of organizations to alert parents to the indoctrination effects of school observances of such a day, with parents being urged to keep their children home from schools whenever the event is held.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"It's outrageous that our neighborhood schools would allow homosexual activism to intrude into the classroom," said Buddy Smith of the American Family Association, one group on that long list of organizations working to provide information to parents.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"'Day of Silence' is about coercing students to repudiate traditional morality. It's time for Christian parents to draw the line – if your children will be exposed to this DOS propaganda in their school, then keep them home for the day," he said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The letter from the Lexington principal was being highlighted by officials with Mass Resistance, a pro-family group that is battling a long list of anti-Christian influences in Massachusetts schools.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"He describes the Day of Silence in positive, affirming terms – just the opposite of what parents feel. He then portrays it as a calm, free-speech event that is not disruptive to the education process, violates no one's rights, and which does not constitute the school taking a political position on the issue. That's simply not true," the organization said in a website commentary.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"The act of students (and even staff) being silent all day is a clear disruption of the education process," the group said.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Mass Resistance is one of the main groups that has been monitoring the Lexington district ever since officials there signed a complaint that ended up with a father, David Parker, jailed after he objected to the district teaching his young son homosexual behavior.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;His case is being prepared for submission to the U.S. Supreme Court now, but in the latest conflict created by the school's homosexual advocacy, WND reported when the district told another worried father the school district could and would teach students about homosexuality when it chose and without letting parents know or giving them an opportunity to withdraw their children from such instruction.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the current letter to parents, the principal begins talking about graffiti including a "homophobic" remark that he has reported to police.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I have asked anyone who has information about this incident to talk to one of the deans or other staff members in the school," he advises. "I assure you that the proper steps are being taken to investigate this matter…"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He then goes on to announce to parents the "annual observance of the Day of Silence" will be April 30th.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"He first discusses some unrelated vandalism, then segues into the Day of Silence and its critics. The subtle hint is that there could be some connection," Mass Resistance said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mass Resistance also noted the implication that negative responses to the homosexual promotion could be linked to "hate speech."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"He states that 'hate speech' – i.e., criticism of the Day of Silence or homosexuality – is 'subject to legal constraints.' But hate speech is not defined beyond a vague phrase about 'tasteless communication,' 'threats,' or singling out individuals 'for ridicule or condemnation.' Thus, they define what 'hate speech' is," the commentary said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The principal's comment that the promotion "is not a school-sponsored event," is "profoundly misleading if not outright false," the group said. "It is school-sanctioned. &lt;/strong&gt;And it is unquestionably organized by some school staff, as anyone who has observed it in the past could see."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"The homosexual club will be distributing pamphlets, stickers, and other materials. Can other groups do so? No. &lt;/strong&gt;Only groups that are 'properly registered with the administration' and which have 'approval of the administration' can distribute literature," Mass Resistance said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The group noted last year a student's father was escorted off campus by police for bringing anti-Day of Silence pamphlets into the school for kids to pass out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;"He says that people may wear buttons or stickers expressing their personal views. A few years ago at Lexington High a girl with a one-man-one-woman marriage sticker was assaulted by pro-gay students on the Day of Silence. And others were severely harassed and intimidated. The school did nothing," Mass Resistance said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And as for the ban on "religious materials," the group said, "We've seen a lot of blatantly anti-religious material distributed by the homosexual groups. The event itself is essentially anti-religious in the eyes of many parents."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Our message to parents: Continue to fight back!" the group said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The campaign in which Mass Resistance is participating that calls for parents to keep their children home of the "Day of Silence" for 2008 has collected the support of a long list of prominent organizations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Matt Barber, a spokesman for Concerned Women for America, said the day "amounts to educational malpractice."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"Our schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places of political indoctrination. It is the height of impropriety and cynicism for 'gay' activists and school officials to use children as pawns in their attempt to further a highly controversial and polarizing political agenda," he said.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Parents, the coalition says, should find out the date a local district is allowing the promotion, then they should "inform the school of your intention to keep your children home on that date and explain why."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Among the groups already promoting the protest are:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Abiding Truth Ministries&lt;br /&gt;American Family Association&lt;br /&gt;AFA of MI&lt;br /&gt;AFA of PA&lt;br /&gt;Americans for Truth&lt;br /&gt;Christian Information Service&lt;br /&gt;Christian Civic League of Maine&lt;br /&gt;Concerned Women for America&lt;br /&gt;Culture Campaign&lt;br /&gt;Defend the Family International&lt;br /&gt;Exodus Mandate&lt;br /&gt;Illinois Family Institute&lt;br /&gt;Traditional Values Coalition&lt;br /&gt;Indiana Voice for the Family&lt;br /&gt;Informing Christians&lt;br /&gt;Liberty Counsel&lt;br /&gt;MassResistance&lt;br /&gt;Mission America&lt;br /&gt;New Generation Christian Center&lt;br /&gt;Parents' Rights' Coalition&lt;br /&gt;Right March&lt;br /&gt;Stephen Bennett Ministries&lt;br /&gt;Values USA&lt;br /&gt;and Watchmen on the Walls &lt;br /&gt;WND also has reported on other fallout from the "Day of Silence."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A case is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California that challenges a school district's policy there that allows such slogans as "Stop the Hate," "fags," "queers," "that's so gay" and even "I Kiss Boys," but bans "Romans 1:27."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The case stems from punishment handed down by the Poway Unified School District for student Chase Harper, who was a sophomore in 2004 when the school recognized the "Day of Silence."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But when Harper wore a T-shirt with two slogans: "Be ashamed. Our school has embraced what God has condemned" and "Homosexuality is shameful. Romans 1:27," he was ordered either to take the shirt off or spend the day in the school office, where he was photographed, questioned and challenged by a police officer.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A filing submitted on the student's behalf by the Alliance Defense Fund and Advocates for Faith and Freedom, said school districts are not allowed the privilege of such censorship.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-4064193645844028190?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/parents-warned-of-hate-speech-during.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-8109867043908150883</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:56:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-27T21:58:16.745-06:00</atom:updated><title>Vento to candidates: No Geno’s? No guts</title><description>http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/news_breaking/20080425_Vento_to_candidates__No_Genos__No_guts.html&lt;a href="http://"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Vento to candidates: No Geno’s? No guts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By Peter Mucha &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On Tuesday, Primary Day, Barack Obama went across the street to Pat's for a cheesesteak. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Same day, Hillary Clinton had a chicken cheesesteak with Italian greens in the Philadelphia suburbs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To Geno's owner Joey Vento, such decisions showed such a lack of courage that neither Democrat deserves to be president.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"If they don't have the guts to come here and talk about the immigration problem ... they're not capable of running our country," he said.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tomorrow afternoon, Vento will take on Geraldo Rivera in a soldout debate on immigration at the Inquirer and Daily News Building at Broad and Callowhill Streets. The discussion will be carried live during Dom Giordano's 1-to-4 p.m. show on WPHT (1210 AM, "The Big Talker"). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vento has been something of a national figure since a sign in his restaurant's window started making headlines two years ago.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still there, it reads:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"This is America. When ordering please speak English."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Last month, the city's Commission on Human Relations ruled in a split decision that the sign did not constitute discrimination.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Geno's doesn't refuse service to Spanish-speaking customers, Vento has said.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The last candidate to stop by Ninth and East Passyunk for a photo op was Republican Rudy Giuliani in October.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Obama and his wife, Michelle, went to Pat's King of Steaks, Ninth and Wharton, where they ordered theirs "Whiz with" - avoiding John Kerry's famed faux pas there four years ago of ordering a cheesesteak hoagie with Swiss.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hillary Clinton avoided both landmarks, grabbing her chicken steak at Boccella's restaurant while in Conshohocken.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"They're both dummies, as far as I'm concerned," said Vento.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If Obama had stopped at Geno's and just politely listened to Vento's views about illegal immigration, the senator's poll numbers might have shot up 8 points, Vento said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Obama needn't agree. He could just say, " 'I think I'll take this under advisement,' " Vento said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I'm for everything that he's against," Vento said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Obama's reluctant to wear flag pins, Geno's is full of flags. They differ on abortion. Obama wants to bring the troops home, Vento wants them to finish the mission.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Clinton's gastronomic choice also raised his hackles. "There's no such thing as chicken steak," he said. "... I refuse to sell it. This is beef country. Beef is the backbone of the United States. ... The cattle drives! Rawhide! Clint Eastwood driving the cattle."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I'm the spokesman for the United States of America," Vento said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I'm disappointed in McCain, too, you know," he said of John McCain, the likely Republican nominee.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"What I like about him is he's probably got about 40 percent of conservative left in him," Vento said.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If the Arizona senator stops in, maybe he'd learn a thing or two from Vento and get straightened out, the South Philly politicial whiz said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;"I have no problem with legal immigration," he added. "... You shouldn't be rewarded for not obeying the law."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-8109867043908150883?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/vento-to-candidates-no-genos-no-guts.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-2525644903210591207</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:54:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-27T21:56:08.022-06:00</atom:updated><title>Trident shadowing boat-load of bombs</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=62477&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Trident shadowing boat-load of bombs&lt;br /&gt;Chinese arms dispatched to Mugabe rejected by ports – so far&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;--------------------------------------------------------------------------------&lt;br /&gt;Posted: April 27, 2008&lt;br /&gt;11:44 pm Eastern&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Robert Mugabe &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;LONDON – A floating arsenal of weapons and bombs dispatched by China in a rust-stained tramp freighter to the pariah state of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe now is being shadowed by Britain's most powerful submarine, a nuclear Trident, says a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Freighter officers are desperate to be allowed to unload their cargo of 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, 2,500 mortar rounds and three million rounds of ammunition for Mugabe's army, intended to be used to further cow the country's starving population.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But it has been turned away by dockers in the South African port who branded it "a ship of shame," as well as ports in Angola and Mozambique.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now as it wanders around the South Atlantic, the An Yue Jiang, which began its voyage five weeks ago from the Chinese port of Ningbo southwards into the Pacific and across the Indian Ocean, the Beijing Ministry of Defense has been trying to find an African country which would allow it to unload the lethal cargo.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Intelligence sources in London have confirmed that secret approaches have been made to Equatorial Guinea, Benin and the Ivory Coast. But so far none has allowed the ship to dock and offload its weapons.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman in Washington, said: "We think that under the present circumstances and the current political crisis in Zimbabwe, now is not the time for anyone to be increasing the number of weapons and armaments available to that country. We will press African nations to refuse the Yue Jiang docking rights or to face worsened relations with the United State."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Naval intelligence sources in London have said the possibility "cannot be ruled out" that the ship could make the journey to Venezuela, whose maverick leader, President Hugo Chavez, has a good relationship with China and is an opponent of the United States.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-2525644903210591207?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/trident-shadowing-boat-load-of-bombs.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-3359481773215299124</guid><pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:14:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-18T22:18:39.178-06:00</atom:updated><title>** New Orleans gears up for North American summit **</title><description>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5712435.html&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New Orleans gears up for North American summit &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press Writer &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;NEW ORLEANS — &lt;strong&gt;Police expect protests but few problems when the two-day North American Leaders Summit gets under way Monday in New Orleans.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's VIP duty as President Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper get together to talk trade. But for the New Orleans Police Department, it's more of the same in a a string of high-profile, crowd-generating events early in 2008.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The North American summit in Quebec last August drew several hundred protesters vocal on the war in Iraq and what they claimed was a gradual merging of the three countries. There also were marches in New Orleans in 2003, when the city hosted negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Police Superintendent Warren Riley said he expects "some protesters, but not a mass."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;"We handle these situations better than anyone in the country," Riley said.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;New Orleans police are among the world's most skilled at crowd control. Their methods in handling the up to 1 million people who turn out each year at Mardi Gras have been studied by law enforcement agencies around the world.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still, there are local tensions that officers will be on watch for _ among them simmering unhappiness about the City Council's decision last December to approve demolition of many large public housing complexes. A small group of protesters clashed with police as the council was debating on the issue. Police deployed chemical spray and Tasers and some arrests were made.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;For the summit, they'll get help from state police, National Guard and the Coast Guard, though Riley wouldn't say how many additional security forces will be deployed.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The summit's scheduled events take place in the Central Business District, not far from the French Quarter but distant from neighborhoods hard hit by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. It was unclear Friday whether the visiting leaders would meet with hurricane victims still rebuilding their homes and lives.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For Calderon, a visit to recovering neighborhoods would present an opportunity to meet some of New Orleans' newcomers _ &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hispanic craftsmen &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;attracted to the region by the promise of jobs in the massive effort to rebuild homes and businesses.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After a string of events in early 2007 _ the BCS championship and Sugar Bowl college football games, Mardi Gras and the NBA All-Star Game among them _ the summit will turn the international spotlight on the city.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;City leaders and tourism interests want to continue sending a message that New Orleans is open for business, said Mary Beth Romig, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bush announced the summit would be held in New Orleans during his State of the Union speech in January. The president was criticized in 2007 for not including the city, or its struggles, in the speech. Despite billions of dollars of federal investment in rebuilding levees, homes and public infrastructure, the initial response to the flooding that swamped the city left a bad taste for many residents. They think the federal government has failed to do enough to bring the city back.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mayor Ray Nagin, in January said he will meet with the president during the summit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Not everyone believes New Orleans is the proper venue for the summit.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;One target of protesters is expected to be the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. They say the pact, which aims to share information between the three governments and smooth out regulatory differences, is a threat to national sovereignty and an attempt to create a military partnership to enforce the North American Free Trade Agreement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jessica Walker Beaumont, an organizer of a People's Summit on North American issues, also wants to focus on concerns such as increased privatization of hospitals and schools _ "a lot of what NAFTA is about," she said.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Class distinctions, too, will be in the spotlight.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;By coming to impoverished New Orleans, Bush is "having the arrogance to say, This is what prosperity looks like," said Kathleen Chandler, of Buffalo, N.Y., an organizer for the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization. The group plans a demonstration Sunday.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-3359481773215299124?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-orleans-gears-up-for-north-american.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-9215531739076120052</guid><pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:08:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-18T22:14:31.106-06:00</atom:updated><title>Immigration breaks backs of taxpaying U.S. citizens</title><description>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=61861&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Immigration breaks backs of taxpaying U.S. citizens&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Posted: April 18, 2008&lt;br /&gt;1:00 am Eastern&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Are you having a hard time paying your bills, making your mortgage payments or putting your kids through college? You need to know how much of your hard-earned income &lt;em&gt;the government is skimming off and diverting into handouts to immigrants and illegal immigrants.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can read the depressing details in the new 70-page document called "The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration" by Edwin S. Rubenstein.&lt;/strong&gt; A Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow with a mile-long scholarly resume, he has been doing financial analysis ever since he directed the studies of government waste for the Grace Commission of 1984.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The bottom line, which you need to know for your own bottom line, is that U.S. taxpayers are giving more than $9,000 a year in cash or benefits to each immigrant, a third of whom are in the country illegally. That's $36,000 for each immigrant household of four.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because the U.S. has 37 million immigrants, legal and illegal, the national cost was more than $346 billion last year, which was twice our fiscal deficit. The cost of immigrants is so high because, as Rubenstein writes, &lt;strong&gt;"Immigrants are poorer, pay less tax and are more likely to receive public benefits than natives."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Big Brother hasn't told you this bad news, perhaps because the government doesn't want you to know why your paychecks are shortchanged. &lt;strong&gt;Even the huge amnesty bill that was defeated last year didn't contain one word about its budgetary consequences.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The financial burden immigrants impose on education starts with the 3.8 million K-12 students enrolled in more expensive classes for the non-English speaking&lt;/strong&gt;. When we add up the costs of hiring specialized teachers, training regular teachers, student identification and assessment, and administration costs, the total amounts to an estimated $1,030 per pupil, or $3.9 billion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of the 48.4 million public-school children, pre-K through 12th grade, 9.2 million or 19 percent are immigrants or the children of immigrants. In the next few years, immigration will account for virtually all the increase in public-school spending.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Look at the $1.5 billion cost of incarcerating 267,000 criminal aliens in federal prisons. That's not the worst of it; prison capacity is limited, so 80,000 to 100,000 other criminal aliens have been prematurely released to prowl our streets.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Criminals also impose heavy private costs on their victims. Rubenstein estimates the losses of income and property, hospital bills and emotional suffering at $1.6 million per assault or property-crime offender.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rubenstein's report includes all sorts of costs that other observers conveniently ignore, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. EITC gives an average cash payment of $1,700 per year to 25 percent of immigrant households.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The emergency medical treatment given free to illegal immigrants is another enormous cost, causing some hospitals and emergency rooms to close. Emergency means any complaint from hangovers to hangnails, gunshot wounds to AIDS.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even after some restrictions were imposed in 1996, &lt;strong&gt;24.2 percent of immigrant households receive Medicaid, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;whereas the figure for native-born Americans is 14.8 percent.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Rubenstein calculates that Hispanics account for 19.2 percent of Medicaid enrollment, while they are 13.7 percent of the U.S. population.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The FHA has had a policy of increasing home ownership among low-income immigrants and, therefore, approved FHA mortgages on homes with a down payment of only $200 to $300 and marginal income. Because buyers have so little invested in the house, they can walk away from it when they can't meet the payments, and this has resulted in neighborhoods of abandoned, boarded-up housing.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Refugees are a large and growing fiscal burden because they become immediately eligible for generous taxpayer-paid benefits. Evidence shows they stay dependent on these programs and &lt;strong&gt;start chain migrating relatives under the "family reunification" law.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Interior Department spends millions of dollars to clean up the mountains of trash discarded by illegal immigrants crossing into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some immigration advocates peddle the notion that immigration will solve the future financial burdens of Social Security. &lt;em&gt;Rubenstein shows how foolish is this prediction because today's low-wage workers will surely become tomorrow's expensive retirees.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Another cost that few talk about is that immigrant workers depress the wages received by native-born Americans, and that causes a $100 billion shortfall in federal tax revenue. Harvard University Professor George Borjas found that each 10 percent increase in the U.S. labor force from immigration reduces wages of native-born Americans by 5.25 percent.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some liberals are trying to tell us to fight a recession by bringing in more immigrants, but that would only raid the pockets of U.S. taxpayers to support more millions of non-taxpayers. It's hard to say which is more outrageous: &lt;strong&gt;The diversion of Americans' personal income into cash handouts to foreigners, or the federal government's policy of concealing the fiscal impact of immigration.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-9215531739076120052?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/immigration-breaks-backs-of-taxpaying.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-8927577757430842661</guid><pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:03:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-18T22:08:31.516-06:00</atom:updated><title>Illegal Immigrant Charged In Rape Of Girl, 15</title><description>http://www.kpho.com/news/15915499/detail.html?rss=pho&amp;psp=news&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Illegal Immigrant Charged In Rape Of Girl, 15 &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;POSTED: 3:47 pm MST April 17, 2008&lt;br /&gt;UPDATED: 4:06 pm MST April 17, 2008&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;GUADALUPE, Ariz. -- An illegal immigrant has been arrested on suspicion of raping and kidnapping a 15-year-old girl at her Guadalupe home, Maricopa County sheriff's deputies said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The MCSO Special Victims Unit arrested Jose Dolores Montoya Sanchez, 24.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sanchez was booked into the Maricopa County jail late Wednesday on one count of sexual assault, one count of kidnapping and two counts sexual abuse.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sheriff's deputies said they began investigating the case when the victim disclosed that Sanchez sexually assaulted her at a Guadalupe home.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The 15-year-old was immediately taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, MCSO said. A forensic evaluation confirmed an assault, according to sheriff's investigators.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sheriff's deputies said &lt;strong&gt;Sanchez has been in the country illegally for the past 10 years.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"This suspect sexually assaulted a young innocent girl and this is yet another example of a violent crime committed by an illegal alien in Maricopa County," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "The deputies working in Guadalupe did a professional and thorough investigation."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;----------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENT:&lt;br /&gt;Ya, and the Pope, Hillary and Obama (maybe McCain) I don't have much hope....  They would all say they are all hard workers who just come here to work and provide a beter life for their families.  What a bunch of SH*T!  Creeps like this should be castrated and thrown in with the murderers.  Prison is no place for a child molestor.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-8927577757430842661?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/illegal-immigrant-charged-in-rape-of.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-5074742903485615508</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:24:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-04T02:25:50.737-06:00</atom:updated><title>'Terror plot' to blow up transatlantic flights out of London</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3672067.ece&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;'Terror plot' to blow up transatlantic flights out of London&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sean O'Neill, Crime and Security Editor &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A British terrorist cell planned to detonate suicide bombs on seven transatlantic flights over North America, causing catastrophic loss of life, a court was told yesterday. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00312/comp385_312315a.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00312/comp385_312315a.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The flights chosen by the alleged terrorists – based in Walthamstow, East London – were scheduled to leave Heathrow Terminal 3 one afternoon carrying almost 2,000 passengers and crew. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Peter Wright, QC, opening the prosecution case against eight men accused of the plot, said that the attacks would have had “a truly global impact”. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The seven aircraft were destined for six American and Canadian cities: New York, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Related Links&lt;br /&gt;'Men with cold-eyed certainty of fanatics' &lt;br /&gt;Recipe for terror: batteries, camera, drink &lt;br /&gt;DPP: longer terror detention 'not needed' &lt;br /&gt;Mr Wright said that the eight defendants shared a common interest in “inflicting heavy casualties upon an innocent civilian population, all in the name of Islam”. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He told Woolwich Crown Court that the key component of the bombs was a liquid hydrogen peroxide explosive carried in 500ml bottles of soft drinks. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The devices would have been carried in hand luggage, along with detonators made from batteries and disposable cameras. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No date had been finalised for the series of attacks but the alleged conspirators had conducted detailed research on flights leaving London between August and October 2006. The date range included the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The jury was told that the alleged plot was thwarted when police made a series of arrests on August 9, 2006. That operation prompted a massive security alert at airports worldwide. Passengers were banned from carrying hand luggage and many flights were cancelled. Chaos ensued at airports around the world and international travel ground to a halt. The continuing restrictions on carrying liquids on aircraft are a direct result of security measures imposed after the alleged plot. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr Wright named the key plotters as Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 27, and Mohammed Gulzar, 26. He said that Mr Ali and the five other defendants – Waheed Zaman, 23, Tanvir Hussain, 26, Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, and Umar Islam (aka Brian Young), 29 – were prepared to be suicide bombers along with as many as 12 other plotters. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“They are men with the cold-eyed certainty of the fanatic, prepared to board an aircraft with the necessary ingredients and equipment to construct and detonate a device that would bring about not only loss of their own lives but also of all those who happened to be taking that journey,” he said. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The defendants all deny charges of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion on an aircraft. The trial continues.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-5074742903485615508?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/terror-plot-to-blow-up-transatlantic.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-8048271202677403826</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:21:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-04T02:24:09.739-06:00</atom:updated><title>British Muslims 'planned to kill thousands by bombing SEVEN transatlantic airliners in one go'</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=555465&amp;in_page_id=1770&amp;ct=5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;British Muslims 'planned to kill thousands by bombing SEVEN transatlantic airliners in one go'&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By CHARLOTTE GILL and SAM GREENHILL - More by this author »&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; A gang of British Muslims planned to blow up seven planes within hours in the biggest terrorist atrocity since 9/11, a court heard yesterday. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Two thousand passengers would have died in the plot by eight fanatics working "in the name of Islam", the jury was told. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It could have involved up to 18 suicide bombers. And they were almost ready to strike. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The jets they targeted would all have been bound from Heathrow to cities in the U.S. and Canada, it was claimed. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once the first had exploded the authorities would have had to watch, powerless, as the six others were downed. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Plastic soft-drink bottles were to be the murder weapon - filled with explosive and connected to a detonator. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The alleged plot led to a ban on liquid containers bigger than 100ml which is still in force at UK airports. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Had it been successful, the death toll would have far eclipsed the 52 killed on July 7, 2005, when four suicide bombers detonated their rucksacks on the London transport system. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And if the conspirators chose to blow themselves up over land, the number of casualties in the air and on the ground could have exceeded the Twin Towers attacks in which nearly 3,000 died. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yesterday eight men went on trial at Woolwich Crown Court in South-East London accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an act of violence likely to endanger the safety of an aircraft. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said: "What these men intended was a violent and deadly statement of intent which would have a truly global impact. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"These men were actively engaged in a deadly plan designed to bring about what would have been, had they been successful, a civilian death toll from an act of terrorism on an almost unprecedented scale. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"If each of these aircraft was successfully blown up the potential for loss of life was indeed considerable. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"And there would be little if any chance of saving any of them from their impending disaster. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"For when the mid-flight explosions began the authorities would be unable to prevent the other flights from meeting a similar fate as they would already be in mid air and carrying their deadly cargo." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He described the defendants as having the "cold-eyed certainty of the fanatic". &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The alleged plot was foiled on August 9, 2006 when two of the key gang members - Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Assad Sarwar - were arrested by police in a town hall car park in Walthamstow, East London following several months of surveillance. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A series of arrests followed including that of Mohammed Gulzar, 26, the alleged third key member of the plot, and led to chaos, cancellation and delays at airports across the UK as a huge security crackdown swung into operation. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The court heard that at the time of the arrests, the bombers were "almost ready to put their plot into practice". &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Police found a USB computer memory stick in Ali's pocket which held information on flight timetables and security advice on restricted items for hand luggage and other information about Heathrow Airport. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All the flight details saved on the stick were for outbound flights only and not return trips. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It listed United Airlines, Air Canada and American Airlines flights to Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, Washington and New York, all leaving from Terminal 3 at Heathrow. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The planes targeted were 777, 767 and 763 jets which could carry between 241 and 285 passengers. All the scheduled flights left Heathrow within little more than two and a half hours of each other between 2.15pm and 4.50pm. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Terror: Prosecutors said the alleged plot would have targeted seven flights operated American Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The plotters' main interest was with flights leaving between August and October 2006. &lt;br /&gt;Ali, 27, married with a young son, also had a pocket notebook in which a "blueprint" for making the bombs and carrying out the plot was written. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Plastic Oasis and Lucozade bottles were to be used by the plotters to make their liquid bombs. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A hypodermic syringe would be inserted into the base to draw out the drink and the bomb mixture would be injected in its place. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A homemade detonator called hexamethylene triperoxide and also known as HMTD would be made from a mixture of household and commercial ingredients and disguised in AA batteries. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bulbs and wires would connect the bomb mixture with disposable cameras to trigger a charge to set it off. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Of Ali and Sarwar, Mr Wright said: "They shared a common interest. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"It was an interest in which they were actively engaged at the time of their arrest, an interest that involved inflicting heavy casualties upon an unwitting civilian population, all in the name of Islam. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"The means by which they intended to inflict heavy casualties upon ordinary civilians was by the carrying out of a series of coordinated and deadly explosions. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"These men were, we say, indifferent to the carnage that was likely to ensue if their plans were successful. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"To them, the identities of their victims was a complete irrelevance. It is the prosecution case that they intended to cause a series of explosions on board a selected number of transatlantic passenger aircraft. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"The devices were to be smuggled on to the aircraft and detonated in flight by a suicide bomber, a bomber prepared to lose his or her life in this way. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Inevitably, such an event would also have fatal consequences for the various passengers and crew who happened, quite by chance, to be flying to North America on the day selected by them to commit this atrocity." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr Wright said the conspirators plotted to detonate seven bombs on planes leaving from Terminal 3 at Heathrow but that the "extent of their ambitions" went wider. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"A coordinated strike upon the aircraft engaged in these seven flights by the onboard detonation of improvised explosive devices was capable, we say, of producing quite catastrophic consequences for passengers, crew and, indeed, anyone who happened to be in the path of a stricken or disintegrating aircraft, if it plummeted to earth over a populated part of northern Europe or North America. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Terrifying, we say, though this concept alone may be it is the prosecution case that the conspirators did not confine themselves and did not confine their ambitions merely to the coordinated destruction in mid-flight of these seven aircraft. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"In conversation between two of the main participants, reference was made to 'different terminals', and as many as 18 suicide bombers being involved." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The accused are Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Waheed Zaman, 23, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, all from Walthamstow, East London, Ibrahim Savant, 27, from Stoke Newington, North London, Mohammed Gulzar, 26, from Barking, East London, Assad Sarwar, 27, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Tanvir Hussain, 27, from Leyton, East London and Umar Islam, 29, from Plaistow, East London. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All deny the charges. The case continues. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;'Condoms and porn' in luggage &lt;br /&gt;A bomb plot "blueprint" scrawled in a diary was seized by police from one of the alleged masterminds, the jury heard. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It set out in chilling detail how mid-air carnage was to be achieved using everyday objects. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And it revealed that the fanatics hoped to hoodwink airport security officers by putting pornographic magazines and condoms in their hand luggage to indicate that they could not be Muslim zealots, the court was told. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anti-terror police were said to have found the recipe for mass murder in an address book diary belonging to Abdulla Ahmed Ali, one of the alleged ringleaders of the plot. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It revealed plans for the gang to hold a summit five days before their deadly mission, the court heard. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Scribbles seemed to suggest that the gang would each take two bottles of their liquid bombs through security in case one was taken off them. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ali wrote: "One drink use, other keep in pocket, maybe will not get through." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There were also rambling references to bomb ingredients and how to mix them. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jury members were shown pages from the diary in which Ali apparently wrote about disguising hydrogen peroxide ('HP') with food dye to make it look like Lucozade. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He wrote: "Lucozade red 1.5 drops", and "Check time taken to dilute in HP". &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In an apparent reference to a detonator, Ali allegedly wrote in his diary: "Decide on which battery to use for D, small is best", and "Keys and chewing gum on the D in the electronic device." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Elsewhere, seemingly planning a final meeting with his co-conspirators, he wrote: "Select date, five days B4. All link up." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The diary apparently tells how security staff would be fooled by "dirty mags" and condoms in the gang's hand luggage, the court heard. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A scrawl in Ali's diary said simply: "Prepare dirty mag to distract, condom." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said Ali "chose to lie" and said he could not remember when police asked him about the significance of these diary entries. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The prosecutor dubbed the entries a "blueprint" of clear significance to the plot and contained details of how it was to be carried out. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;They included lists of various items which could be carried on aircraft without arousing too much attention. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From soft drinks to deadly explosives &lt;br /&gt;Bombs would have been made from everyday items like soft drink bottles and batteries&lt;br /&gt;The bottles and disposable camera batteries, the jury heard. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Liquid explosives disguised with food colouring and mouthwash would be smuggled past security and on to the flights. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There they would be hooked up to homemade detonators powered by tiny camera batteries and set off to cause mid-air carnage, the court heard. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After the alleged plot was uncovered, in August 2006, the authorities banned passengers from carrying most liquids on board aircraft. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The main ingredient of the homemade bombs was said to be hydrogen peroxide, commonly used as hair bleach and easily available on the high street, mixed with other chemicals which the Daily Mail is not naming. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The plan was to drill small holes in the bottom of 500ml plastic bottles of Oasis and Lucozade and pour away the drinks, the jury heard. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then the conspirators would use a syringe to inject the ready-mixed explosive liquid into the bottles. Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the hole would be closed with glue to give the appearance of a "factory sealed" bottle. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once on board the aircraft, the improvised bombs would be hooked up to a detonator disguised as a standard AA 1.5-volt battery, containing a substance known as HMTD - produced from a mixture of household and commercial ingredients which are freely available. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The detonator would be ignited using metal wire, a small bulb or the flash from a disposal camera, said Mr Wright. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He said improvised bombs using similar ingredients had been used in other terrorist attacks.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-8048271202677403826?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/british-muslims-planned-to-kill.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-266863428155005169</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-04T02:21:10.403-06:00</atom:updated><title>Website targets racist Hispanics</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50001&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Website targets racist Hispanics &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Aims to 'counter the false information &lt;br /&gt;dished out by Mexican hate groups' &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Posted: May 01, 2006&lt;br /&gt;4:40 pm Eastern&lt;br /&gt;By Ron Strom&lt;br /&gt;© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mexica Movement activists protest in L.A. &lt;br /&gt;A website run by opponents of illegal immigration highlights the tactics of Hispanic activists who defend unlawful aliens, including the use of hate speech, profanity and calls for whites to be deported. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WeHateGringos.com begins with a warning that the site "contain graphic examples of hate and racism that has and is occurring in large cities and small towns across America." &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;States the site: "The website WeHateGringos.com is dedicated to exposing the other side of illegal immigration ... the side our president, many in Congress, the media and especially the racist hate groups do not want us to see." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;WeHateGringos.com is meant as a response to the League of United Latin America Citizens, or LULAC, which reportedly created a website called WeAreRacists.com. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"It had photos of our friends, portrayed as racists. We were infuriated and decided to build a website," the newer site states. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While WeAreRacists.com is currently not an active website, records indicate it is licensed to LULAC. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"WeHateGringos.com is online to counter the false information dished out by Mexican hate groups and spoon-fed to Americans by the mainstream media," states the site. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;An introductory Flash video includes audiotape of speakers at rallies denouncing whites and proclaiming that Latinos will take power in the United Sates. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;States one pro-illegals speaker on the video: &lt;strong&gt;"We're here to show White Anglo-Saxon Protestants of L.A., the few of you who remain, that we are the majority; we claim this land as ours. … If anyone is going to be deported, it's going to be you!" &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another protester shouts: &lt;strong&gt;"Go back to Europe where you came from; go back to England!" &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Many photos of signs used in pro-illegals rallies are included in the presentation, including "Minutemen, you've taken on a fight larger than you can imagine," and "We are standing in Mexico here!" – presumably at a rally in California. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Besides vulgar chants that cannot be reprinted, one crowd shouts in rhythm: "Our land, our continent, we're taking it back!" &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Explains the FAQ page on the site: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"The photos and soundtrack (that make up the intro video) are from real events that happened in California and Virginia. It was never shown on the news, talked about on radio, or written in the newspaper. We knew it was about time to let all Americans know what we know. Illegal aliens are not all 'good people looking for a job.' Federally funded racist Hispanic organizations are not simply 'educating' their people, they are inciting illegal aliens to riot and to demand 'rights' that they do not deserve." &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The site is run by married couple Nathan and Linda Muller. Linda has worked for the campaigns of Patrick Buchanan and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., the leading opponent of illegal immigration in Congress. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Included on the site is a message board, with one thread discussing today's rallies in favor of amnesty for illegals across the nation. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Posted Linda Muller: &lt;strong&gt;"I put off all my shopping for groceries, gas and other needs until today. I want American business to know we do not need illegal aliens. I almost wish I needed to go to the motor vehicle department, the bank, or even the hospital. What a pleasure it would be not to have to compete with illegal aliens for services. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"The roads will be safer and less congested, too. Maybe other Americans will notice that our country is better off without illegals and decide deportation is not a bad idea after all. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"It's a great day in the USA!" &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As WorldNetDaily reported, the Mexica Movement helped organize a large Los Angeles pro-illegals rally in March. The organization believes it is the "non-indigenous," white, English-speaking U.S. citizens of European descent who have to leave what they call "our continent," not illegal aliens. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-266863428155005169?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/website-targets-racist-hispanics.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-443157003014557792</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-04T02:07:57.020-06:00</atom:updated><title>China reveals Iran's nuclear secrets to UN</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/02/wiran102.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;China reveals Iran's nuclear secrets to UN&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent &lt;br /&gt;Last Updated: 1:51am BST 04/04/2008&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;China has betrayed one its closest allies by providing the United Nations with intelligence on Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear technology, diplomats have revealed. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Concern over Tehran's secretive research programme has increased in recent weeks after officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, discovered that Iran had obtained information on how to manufacture nuclear-armed weapons. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;A heavy-water nuclear facility in Arak and a security guard at an Iranian nuclear enrichment facility &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Beijing is believed to have decided to assist the inspectors after documents seized from Iranian officials included blueprints for "shaping" uranium metal into warheads, the testing of high explosives used to detonate radioactive material and the procurement of dual-use technology. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much of the new material was presented to the governors of the Vienna-based IAEA in February. That meeting is said to have triggered China's change of heart. &lt;br /&gt;  &lt;strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Ahmadinejad on National Nuclear Day &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Diplomats described Beijing's decision to provide material related to Iran to the IAEA as a potentially significant breakthrough. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Chinese designs for centrifuges that refine uranium into a "weaponised" state have been found in Iran but these are thought to have come through a network controlled by the disgraced Pakistani scientist AQ Khan.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations, said suspicions over the leakage of technology from China to Iran had long centred on uranium enrichment technology and their bilateral ballistic missile trade. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A spokesman for the IAEA said it did not comment on intelligence it received from its members. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Beijing has long-established ties with Iran's clerical regime and has emerged as one of the country's biggest customers for oil and gas. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It has allied itself with Tehran's attempts to prevent the IAEA referring Iran to the UN Security Council, which can impose sanctions. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;China has not used its veto powers to block US and British sponsored sanctions but it has ensured the measures were watered down. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;advertisement&lt;br /&gt;The council has levied three rounds of financial sanctions on Iran in an attempt to force the country to declare all its nuclear activities.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;IAEA weapons inspectors report that Iran has not provided full co-operation. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An American intelligence assessment judged it likely that Iran stopped efforts to produce a nuclear weapon in 2003 but there are strong fears it has resumed the work under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Michael Hayden, the director of the CIA, said this week that he believed that Iran is still developing a nuclear bomb. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, Israel has accused Iran of setting up listening stations in Syria to eavesdrop on its military communications network.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-443157003014557792?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/china-reveals-irans-nuclear-secrets-to.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-5287607588262019314</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-04T02:05:19.117-06:00</atom:updated><title>Main street parade to honor Muhammad</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=60653&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Main street parade to honor Muhammad&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Binghamton, N.Y., grants permit for Milad-un-Nabi event&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Posted: April 03, 2008&lt;br /&gt;11:15 pm Eastern&lt;br /&gt;© 2008 WorldNetDaily &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Muslim leaders at an encampment at the Catskill Mountains called &lt;strong&gt;"Islamberg"&lt;/strong&gt; have been granted a permit by the city of Binghamton, N.Y., to hold a parade on Saturday in honor of Muhammad's birthday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The holiday is called Milad-un-Nabi and is being celebrated by a group of families who live at the nearby property owned by Muslims of the Americas, Inc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The city has the parade scheduled on its calendar from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the downtown area, including its main street, and a report in the local Press &amp; Sun-Bulletin said the celebration previously held on the group's own property this year is being expanded.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"We're trying to do an interfaith thing, we're reach out to the community to do a program based on unity," Maryam Rahim, a spokeswoman, told the newspaper. "We haven't been very well known …. We want everyone to come out and celebrate, may ask questions."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;City spokesman Andrew Block said the group secured the appropriate permits to hold the celebration and the city will close down one lane of the downtown's main street for the parade.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Other events will be held in front of the old Broome County courthouse, officials said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Rahim told the paper some Muslims claim the celebration is not important, but others classify it alongside Eid-ul-Fitr, the celebration that concludes the month of Ramadan for Muslims.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The newspaper said Muslims of the Americas was formed in the 1980s when several families migrated from New York City to make a new start. There now is a mosque and a private school on the land.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, there are others who describe the location as a training facility for the Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As WND reported earlier, a covert visit to the encampment found neighboring residents deeply concerned about military-style training taking place there but frustrated by the lack of attention from federal authorities. The visit was conducted by the Northeast Intelligence Network, which worked with an Internet blogger, "CP," to publish an report.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The neighbors interviewed, who asked not to be identified, said in the report compiled only two years ago they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;"We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The resident said his household gets "nothing but menacing looks from the people who go in and out of the camp, and sometimes they yell at us to mind our own business when we are just driving by."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sheik Mubarak Gilan &lt;br /&gt;Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Try to walk down the street where their community (Islamberg) is and you will be greeted by a man armed with a rifle. I have witnessed this on more than one occasion (even prior to 9/11) on Roods Creek Rd. when passing by slowly as I headed out to the Cannonsville reservoir," said a nearby resident who also asked for anonymity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Fox News earlier reported that the compound has remained shrouded in mystery and fear, partly because it sits near the huge reservoir system that provides New York City with most of its drinking water.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The report said New York State police authorities confirmed they've had the group on file for years.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The compound is on 70 acres of remote land and residents have expressed concern for the gunshots they hear.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops," said one neighbor.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jamaat ul-Fuqra itself openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in compounds where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An investigation of the group by the Colorado Attorney General's office in the early &lt;strong&gt;1980s found several of the communities operate covert paramilitary training compounds, including one in a mountainous area near Buena Vista, Colo.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Muslims of the Americas Inc., &lt;strong&gt;a tax-exempt organization&lt;/strong&gt;, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The organization operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims throughout the U.S. The investigation confirmed members commonly use aliases and intentional spelling variations of their names and routinely deny the existence of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;U.S. authorities have probed the group for charges ranging from links to al-Qaida to laundering and funneling money into Pakistan for terrorist activities. &lt;em&gt;The organization supports various terrorist groups operating in Pakistan and Kashmir, and Gilani himself is linked directly to Hamas and Hezbollah. &lt;/em&gt;Throughout the 1980s, JF was responsible for a number of terrorist acts across the United States, including numerous fire-bombings.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gilani was at one time in Pakistani custody for the abduction of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Intelligence sources have determined Pearl was attempting to meet with Gilani in the days before he disappeared in Karachi. Intelligence sources also suggest a link between Jamaat ul Fuqra and Richard Reid, the infamous "shoe bomber" who attempted to ignite explosives aboard a Paris-to-Miami passenger flight Dec. 22, 2001.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;----------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;The secrecy of hese groups is what leds to fear.  Hopefully we have nothing to fear and have to trust that the government knows what is going on and will protect us.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-5287607588262019314?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/main-street-parade-to-honor-muhammad.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-7209134489806501351</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:54:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-04T01:59:57.648-06:00</atom:updated><title>Obama was 'quite religious in Islam'</title><description>&lt;strong&gt;Obama was 'quite religious in Islam'&lt;br /&gt;Contemporaries, records dispute campaign&lt;br /&gt;claim that he was never 'practicing Muslim'&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Posted: April 03, 2008&lt;br /&gt;12:40 am Eastern&lt;br /&gt;By Aaron Klein&lt;br /&gt;© 2008 WorldNetDaily &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;JERUSALEM – Was Sen. Barack Obama a Muslim? Did he ever practice Islam?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The presidential candidate officially rejects the claims, but the issue of Obama's personal faith has re-emerged amid conflicting accounts of his enrollment as a Muslim during elementary school in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Widely distributed reports have noted in January 1968, &lt;strong&gt;Obama was registered as a Muslim at Jakarta's Roman Catholic Franciscus Assisi Primary School under the name Barry Soetoro&lt;/strong&gt;. He was listed as an Indonesian citizen whose stepfather, listed on school documents as "L Soetoro Ma," worked for the topography department of the Indonesian Army.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Catholic schools in Indonesia routinely accept non-Catholic students, but exempt them from studying religion. Obama's school documents, though, wrongly list him as being Indonesian.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama was enrolled – also as a Muslim, according to documents – in the Besuki Primary School, a public school in Jakarta.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Loatze blog run by an American expatriate in Southeast Asia who visited the Besuki school, noted, "All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and a young 'Barry Soetoro' being a Muslim would have been required to study Islam daily in school. He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Indeed, the Israel Insider online magazine points out in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," he acknowledges studying the Quran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Quranic studies," wrote Obama.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Indonesian media have been flooded with accounts of Obama's childhood Islamic studies, some describing him as a religious Muslim .&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Speaking to the country's Kaltim Post, Tine Hahiyary, who was principal of Obama's school while he was enrolled there, said she recalls he studied the Quran in Arabic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"At that time, I was not Barry's teacher but he is still in my memory" claimed Tine, who is 80 years old. The Kaltim Post says Obama's teacher, named Hendri, died.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I remember that he studied 'mengaji (recitation of the Quran)," Tine said, according to an English translation by Loatze.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mengaji, or the act of reading the Quran with its correct Arabic punctuation, is usually taught to more religious pupils and is not known as a secular study.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also, Loatze documented the Indonesian daily Banjarmasin Post caught up with Rony Amir, an Obama classmate and Muslim, who describe Obama as "previously quite religious in Islam."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"We previously often asked him to the prayer room close to the house. If he was wearing a sarong (waist fabric worn for religious or casual occasions) he looked funny," Amir said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Los Angeles Times, which sent a reporter to Jakarta, quoted Zulfin Adi, who identified himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends, stating the presidential candidate prayed in a mosque, something Obama's campaign claimed he never did.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played," said Adi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Obama's official campaign site has a page titled &lt;em&gt;"Obama has never been a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." The page states, "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But the campaign changed its tune when it issued a slightly different statement to the Times stating Obama "has never been a practicing Muslim."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An article last month by the Chicago Tribune seems to dispute Adi's statements to the L.A. Times. The Tribune catches up with Obama's declared childhood friend, who now describes himself as only knowing Obama for a few months in 1970 when his family moved to the neighborhood. Adi said he was unsure about his recollections of Obama&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But the Tribune found Obama did attend mosque.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Interviews with dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends show that Obama was not a regular practicing Muslim when he was in Indonesia," states the Tribune article.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It quotes the presidential candidate's former neighbors and 3rd grade teacher recalling Obama "occasionally followed his stepfather to the mosque for Friday prayers."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, notes the Tribune article – cited by liberal blogs as refuting claims Obama is Muslim – actually implies Obama was an irregularly practicing Muslim and twice confirms Obama attended mosque services.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In a free-ranging interview with the New York Times, Obama described the Muslim call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Times' Nicholos Kristof wrote Obama recited, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent," the opening lines of the Muslim call to prayer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Israel Insider's Reuven Koret notes the first few lines state:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!&lt;br /&gt;Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!&lt;br /&gt;I witness that there is no god but Allah&lt;br /&gt;I witness that there is no god but Allah&lt;br /&gt;I witness that Muhammad is his prophet... "&lt;br /&gt;Some attention also has been paid to Obama's paternal side of the family. His father, described in some reports as an atheist, polygamist and alcoholic, was buried in Kenya as a Muslim. Obama Sr., also named Barack Obama, had three sons with another woman who reportedly all are Muslim.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Obama's brother Roy is described as a practicing Muslim.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Writing in a chapter of his book describing his 1992 wedding, the presidential candidate stated: "The person who made me proudest of all was Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still, Obama says he was raised by his Christian mother and repeatedly has labeled as "smears" several reports attempting to paint him as a Muslim.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Let's make clear what the facts are: I am a Christian. I have been sworn in with a Bible. I pledge allegiance [to the American flag] and lead the pledge of allegiance sometimes in the United States Senate when I'm presiding," he told the UK's Times Online earlier this year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;I think everyone knows he's a Muslim.  Devote I don't know, but Muslim.. yes.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-7209134489806501351?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/obama-was-quite-religious-in-islam.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-1017583460288837700</guid><pubDate>Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:51:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-04-04T01:54:45.477-06:00</atom:updated><title>TIME TO PROTEST ABSOLUT VODKA!</title><description>&lt;a href="http://www.worldnetdaily.com/images/absolut.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.worldnetdaily.com/images/absolut.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=60642&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Company 'gives away' U.S. Southwest to Mexico&lt;br /&gt;Vodka ad shows 'Absolut world' in which California, Arizona, others secede&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Posted: April 03, 2008&lt;br /&gt;5:16 pm Eastern&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;© 2008 WorldNetDaily &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A new ad for Absolut vodka reconfigures North America according to the aspirations of many Mexicans, who believe the U.S. Southwest was stolen and should be returned.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Over a redrawn map of the U.S., the ad by the Absolut Spirits Co. declares, &lt;strong&gt;"In an Absolut World," &lt;/strong&gt;noted columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Major Hispanic civil rights groups in the U.S., such as the National Council of La Raza, are tied to movements advocating a "reconquista," or reconquest, of territory lost when Mexico signed the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As WND reported in 2006, Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., called on La Raza to renounce its support of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan – which sees "The Race" as part of an ethnic group that one day will reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 2002, a prominent Chicano activist and University of California at Riverside professor, Armando Navarro, told WND he believed secession is inevitable if demographic and social trends continue.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"If in 50 years most of our people are subordinated, powerless, exploited and impoverished, then I will say to you that there are all kinds of possibilities for movements to develop like the ones that we've witnessed in the last few years all over the world, from Yugoslavia to Chechnya," Navarro said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"A secessionist movement is not something that you can put away and say it is never going to happen in the United States," he contended. "Time and history change."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Navarro said one could argue "that while Mexico lost the war in 1848, it will probably win it in the 21st century, in terms of the numbers," "But that is not a reality based on what Mexico does, it's based on what this country does," he insisted.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In a 1995 speech to Chicano activists, Navarro said demographic trends are leading to "a transfer of power" to the ethnic Mexican community in the Southwest. He notes that most studies show that within the next 20 to 30 years Latinos will comprise more than 50 percent of the population of California. This fact, and other cultural and social developments, are opening the door for "self-determination" and even "the idea of an Aztlan," he said in his speech.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-1017583460288837700?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/04/time-to-protest-absolut-vodka.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-7377853154262369780</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:42:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-03-28T15:46:19.567-06:00</atom:updated><title>Throw the Book at 'Em: Judge Sentences Three Men to Learn English or Go to Jail</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342312,00.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Throw the Book at 'Em: Judge Sentences Three Men to Learn English or Go to Jail&lt;/strong&gt;Thursday, March 27, 2008&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;WILKES-BARRE, Pa. —  A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs&lt;/em&gt;, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, &lt;em&gt;all needed translators when they pleaded guilty &lt;/em&gt;Tuesday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The four, ranging in age from 17 to 22, were in a group that police said accosted two men on a street in May. The two said they were asked if they had marijuana, told to empty their pockets, struck on the head, threatened with a gun and told to stay off the block.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Attorneys for the men said they were studying the legality of the ruling and had not decided whether to appeal. One of the attorneys, Ferris Webby, suggested that the ruling was good for his client, Guzman-Mateo.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"My client is happy," Webby said. "I think it's going to help him."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The judge sentenced the four men to jail terms of four to 24 months. But he gave the three men, who already had served at least four months, immediate parole. Reyes-Rosario remains imprisoned on an unrelated drug charge.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Olszewski ordered the three to return with their parole officers in a year and take an English test. "If they don't pass, they're going in for the 24 (months)," he said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Olszewski is known for outside-the-box sentencing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He has ordered young defendants who are school dropouts to finish school. He often orders defendants to get full-time employment. But he also has his staff coordinate with an employment agency to help them find the jobs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;--------------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;While I like creative rulings... paroling these men is a slap on the wrist.&lt;br /&gt;Are these men LEGAL IMMIGRANTS????  That's my main question.  If they are illegals.. they should serve their jail time and then be deported.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ummmm... I don't see how this is punishment....&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-7377853154262369780?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/03/throw-book-at-em-judge-sentences-three.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-1415243845689033828</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:35:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-03-28T15:41:57.825-06:00</atom:updated><title>Texas Authorities Struggle Against Wave of Undocumented Workers</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/usworld/news-article.aspx?storyid=105474&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Texas Authorities Struggle Against Wave of Undocumented Workers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;HOUSTON, TX -- Police in Jackson County, Texas are hoping new funding will help them stem the tide of illegal immigrants being smuggled through their jurisdiction.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sheriff's deputies, police and even game wardens have been taking par in recent round-ups, but they say they're simply overwhelmed by the number of illegal immigrants they're encountering.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"It seems there are seasons when they're coming and when they're not," said Louderback. &lt;strong&gt;"Most of the jobs they're after are construction, outdoor-related, manual labor jobs. Those come available in the summer." &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"We're a main corridor," said Louderback. "We recently had some that were from China." &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Louderback said dealing with these border-related problems can, at times, strain a department with only eight deputies and three investigators. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the spring and summer months here, Sheriff Louderback expects an increase in human smuggling. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"It's an organized effort. There's money to be made from trafficking humans," said Louderback. "They're headed to Houston. Houston is the draw that they're headed to." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Louderback also said there have been times when his deputies spotted so many car loads of illegal immigrants on the road at the same time they had to let some of them go because they just didn't have the manpower to chase down all of the cars. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jackson County is now getting help through the Governor's Border Star program, which gives grant money and extra resources to all border counties. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jackson County is the tail end of the Coastal Bend region and will get more $200,000 specifically to help combat human smuggling. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Last year alone, Jackson County arrested close to 670 illegal immigrants, but also report approximately another 680 got away.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-----------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;OTHERS COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;Fool on the hill&lt;br /&gt;Petaluma, CA &lt;br /&gt;Well, I'm glad to see some governmental agencies are finaly begining to wake up. They won't realize that there is a problem until they try to put a stop to it and now they are trying to put a stop to it.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;mick&lt;br /&gt;Dallas, TX  Where is the Gov Perry while this invasion continues? He is meeting with Mexico to inport even more Illegals!  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;American K&lt;br /&gt;Cheyenne, WY  this problem has been going on such a long time now. at least cities are finally starting to take notice and fight back. our government has failed us so far. i hear half of houston is hispanic and i'm willing to bet half of those hispanics are illegal. &lt;br /&gt;it's horrible that so many of our tax dollars are spent trying to catch these illegal aliens but it has to be done. i'd much rather have my taxes go to law enforcement and get these invaders before they settle and have anchor babies. when they do that they get all the benefits.&lt;br /&gt;i heard on the news today that the amt of food stamp recipients has gone way up since 2001. guess who's really been invading like crazy since that time. guess who's population has grown immensly since that time. yes, the hispanic population!! &lt;br /&gt;you know what really ticks me off is that the media keeps reporting about the fastest growing minority, but NEVER differentiates between the illegal and legal hispanic population. why is this? it's to keep americans in the dark. &lt;br /&gt;well, i think americans are finally seeing the light. &lt;br /&gt;stop the madness!! end the invasion!! go after the employers and deport all of the illegal aliens. oh, and fix the 14th amendment. the loophole has been abused for way too long.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Madhatter&lt;br /&gt;Hemet, CA  &lt;br /&gt;Wonder why all these illegals are overwhelming us?&lt;br /&gt;Because of the last AMNESTY!&lt;br /&gt;As well as the lack of immigration enforcement.&lt;br /&gt;They've even allowed loans for illegal aliens!&lt;br /&gt;The new worthless candidates have opened their big mouths about another amnesty so now millions more illegals are trying to make it in to win this big prize.&lt;br /&gt;Nothing but worthless politicians in the U.S.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ex_OC&lt;br /&gt;Nampa, ID  &lt;br /&gt;The illegals are also coming from AZ and OK which have the best anti-illegal alien laws so far. TX is being bombarded on all sides. And yes, definitely, HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM! With all the illegals in Houston, it must look like a dump.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bobby&lt;br /&gt;Long Beach, CA &lt;br /&gt;Some liberals are always blaming the U.S. and saying, well it's because of NAFTA that illegal aliens come here, etc. Absolutley TRUE. Ross Perot said there would be a giant sucking sound of jobs and money heading south. Question, does the Mexican government ever have any responsibility when it comes to "THEIR" poor. NAFTA, pushed by Bill Clinton and Hillary, has ruined many Americans also. We are going to have to fix it. The problem is the three shills for Corporate America running for President aren't going to do it. Dr. Ron Paul would but that's another story. Americans are too ignorant to even know what he is talking about.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bobby&lt;br /&gt;Long Beach, CA  &lt;br /&gt;I have to add another thing to my previous post. Just because illegal aliens come here looking for work, does that automatically imply that they should be allowed to stay here? They don't care about this nation. The Gran Marches in which they attacked, verbally and physically American citizens across the nation proved that. Also, why do taxpayers have to pay for their enormous social services while they work here, when so many Americans are themselves sturggling. Is the Bush Administration supported by the Democrats trying to replace Americans with a "New" people?  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still think there is no RECONQUISTA agenda?&lt;br /&gt;Check out what these so called Americans have to say.&lt;br /&gt;We have a mayor of Los Angeles, a speaker of to CA. state assembly, two professors, a Chairman of CA. Democratic Party, a CA. state Senator…( don’t know if they currently hold these positions)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://nau.vodpod.com/video/1021472-the-natio... &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-1415243845689033828?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/03/texas-authorities-struggle-against-wave.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-6604506419120830026</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-03-28T15:34:57.547-06:00</atom:updated><title>GPO profits go to bonuses and trips</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080327/NATION/338588834/0/BUSINESS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;GPO profits go to bonuses and trips&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Part two of a three-part series on the outsourcing of passports.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When the government's main printing agency booked $100 million in unexpected profit it went on a spending spree: &lt;em&gt;large bonuses to top managers, trips to Paris and Las Vegas, and an official photo of the boss that cost $10,000.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The bonuses, some nearly as high as $13,000, and travel are raising questions among congressional investigators and Government Printing Office officials about whether the agency is misusing its newfound wealth and whether it received the proper authority for some of the larger compensation payments from the Office of Budget and Management.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Additionally, investigators are looking into whether Public Printer Robert C. Tapella paid close to $10,000 for photographs of himself for his office and during his swearing-in ceremony in November.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The spending comes as GPO recorded record profits of about $100 million over the past 16 months by selling blank passports produced by its printing and binding services to the State Department at more than twice the cost. The investigation also has raised security concerns about the use of overseas companies for components and assembly of the computerized electronic passports.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;GPO spokesman Gary Somerset said the process for "goal-based performance" bonuses began five years ago and enables employees "to earn bonuses based on performance of the agency as a whole" as well as individual job performance.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The bonuses are part of a 2005 plan by GPO, which is a monopoly printer for the U.S. government, to generate greater revenues under the assumption that a private-sector business model is more efficient, GPO documents show.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr. Somerset said all travel was authorized in line with government regulations and funded through GPO's operating budget.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"GPO officials from all business units are continuously researching ideas and innovations in order to stay on the cutting edge of new technology for the 21st century," he said. "That requires GPO officials to travel domestically and internationally to pursue new manufacturing techniques, participate in conferences supporting the agency's mission of digitizing government documents, and meeting with officials from other countries ensuring the interpretability of the e-passport with supporting countries."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr. Somerset initially denied Mr. Tapella spent nearly $10,000 for a singled framed photograph.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Later, however, Maria S. Lefevre, GPO's chief of staff, said the work contracted for Mr. Tapella's official portrait, "was expensive," but said the high costs came from securing copyrights for five photos from the photographer. She said the costs were similar to what other government agencies pay for such portraits.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ms. LeFevre said the purchase order for the photo for $10,000 included about $8,900 for the portrait, and an additional $2,600 for commercial photographs taken at Mr. Tapella's swearing-in ceremony Nov. 6.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Bonus question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bush administration officials and congressional investigators said they are concerned about some of the travel by senior GPO officials and the bonuses they received.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Investigators say that at least 25 GPO officials received bonuses of between $2,000 and $12,920 that totaled $181,593. The bonuses were paid for fiscal 2005 and fiscal 2006, but have not yet been paid for 2007, investigators said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Initially, the bonuses were only given to senior level executives, but later payments were given to other officials.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ben Brink, the GPO official in charge of making secure documents like the e-passport, received a $5,000 bonus. Mr. Brink was the official who worked out a deal with the staff of Sen. Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, to shift the location of a secure passport production facility from Nevada, to Mississippi's Gulf Coast, an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina and vulnerable to severe weather.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Steven Shedd, GPO's chief financial officer, was paid a $12,920 bonus, and William Boesch Jr., the GPO comptroller, was paid $12,128 in bonuses. GPO Chief Information Officer Reynolds Schweickhardt, was paid $8,816 in bonuses, and Bruce O'Dell, director of technology integration and transformation at GPO, was paid about $8,500 in bonuses.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Gregory Brower, the GPO general counsel until last year, also received a $7,500 bonus. Mr. Brower, now U.S. attorney in Nevada, made a key legal opinion that permitted GPO to make large profits from the sale of passports to the State Department, despite laws restricting GPO to operating at basically a break-even business model.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Chief Human Capital Officer William Harris was paid $10,792, and a GPO production manager, Robert Schwenk, was paid $11,400. Another production manager, Jeffrey Bernazzoli, was paid $9,645.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Beth Telford, secretary to the public printer, also received a $2,000 bonus. Judith Russell, GPO's superintendent of documents was given a $7,500 bonus, and Veronica Meter, GPO's public relations director was given a $6,336 bonus.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Profit limits&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Critics, however, said generating large profits is not part of GPO's allowed operating regulations, which limit the agency to operating at a break-even business model.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The pressure to generate GPO revenue has brought results. Investigators say overall revenues generated by GPO increased sharply from $775 million in fiscal 2006, to $888 million last year to a projected level of just over $1 billion this year. All the added revenues come from GPO's Security and Intelligent Document unit, which makes the blank e-passports.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Encouraging increased revenues is proper for the private sector," said one administration official close to GPO. "But for a government monopoly, it translates into higher costs for customers and for the American taxpayer."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Additionally, records obtained by congressional investigators show unusual travel by senior GPO officials to conferences and other events in such places as Las Vegas; Atlantic City, N.J.; London; Paris; Hamburg, Germany; and Tokyo, among other locations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr. Brink, the assistant public printer for Security and Intelligence Documents, for example, traveled to Paris in June 2006 for an electronic-passport forum that cost more than $5,000. He also traveled to London in May 2006 for a trip that cost $3,800.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr. Brower, who was the general counsel and acting inspector general, also traveled extensively throughout the United States, and Rick Grasso, GPO's information technology specialist, made trips to London; Osaka and Tokyo, Japan; Bangkok and numerous domestic U.S. trips between 2003 and 2007, totaling more than $50,000.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Former Public Printer Bruce James logged about $22,000 in travel including a trip to Paris in June 2006 that cost more than $15,000.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;James A. "Tony" Ogden, a GPO lawyer and adviser, also made extensive travel costing more than $21,000, including a 2004 trip to Hawaii and a 2006 trip to Paris. He also traveled to Hamburg and Milan, Italy, in 2006. Mr. Ogden is currently the GPO inspector general.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mr. Tapella, the current public printer in charge of GPO, also traveled extensively when he was GPO chief of staff, spending more than $50,000, including two trips to Paris in 2006 that cost $17,000.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Security question&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Additionally, The Washington Times' investigation disclosed that the security of the blank-passport production involves computer chips purchased in Europe and then shipped to Thailand for outfitting with a wire antenna that transmits personal data to an electronic scanner at U.S. border entry points. &lt;em&gt;Security specialists said the use of foreign chips and assembly abroad makes the blank passports, a key travel document, vulnerable to theft or counterfeiting.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;GPO officials, however, insist the production process is secure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A Dutch company that assembles e-passport covers in Thailand, Smartrac Technology Ltd., said it could not guarantee steady production of passports and warned in its annual report that social unrest in Thailand could halt production.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Internal GPO documents obtained by The Times revealed that GPO has faced security problems related to passport production, including the use of unsecure FedEx couriers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Officials at GPO, the Homeland Security Department and the State Department said they review security of overseas suppliers and that the production process is secure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;GPO said it chose foreign suppliers over U.S. chip manufacturers because no U.S. companies could make the chips needed.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-6604506419120830026?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/03/gpo-profits-go-to-bonuses-and-trips.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-8593496761507869881</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:25:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-03-28T15:29:08.814-06:00</atom:updated><title>U.S. Based Revolution Muslim Website Spreading Messages of Hate</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341811,00.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;U.S. Based Revolution Muslim Website Spreading Messages of Hate&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;NEW YORK, N.Y. —  On any given day, log on to RevolutionMuslim.com and a host of startling images appear:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;— The Statue of Liberty, with an ax blade cutting through her side;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;— Video mocking the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl, entitled "Daniel Pearl I am Happy Your Dead :) ";&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;— Video of a puppet show lampooning U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;— The latest speech from Sheikh Abdullah Faisal, an extremist Muslim cleric convicted in the UK and later deported for soliciting the murder of non-Muslims.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even more surprising is that RevolutionMuslim.com isn't being maintained in some remote safe house in Pakistan. &lt;strong&gt;Instead, Yousef al-Khattab, the Web site creator, runs it from his home in the New York City Borough of Queens.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And, because al-Khattab enjoys the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, all the authorities can do is watch.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Formerly known as Joseph Cohen, al-Khattab is an American-born Jew who converted to Islam after attending an Orthodox Rabbinical school, which he later described as a &lt;strong&gt;“racist cult.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The 39-year-old New York taxi driver launched RevolutionMuslim.com with the mission of “preserving Islamic culture,” “calling people to the oneness of God” and asking them to “support the beloved Sheik Abdullah Faisal, who’s preaching the religion of Islam and serving as a spiritual guide.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;In 2003 Faisal was convicted in the U.K. for spreading messages of racial hatred and urging his followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners. In sermon recordings played at his trial, Faisal called on young, impressionable Muslims to use chemical weapons to “exterminate unbelievers” and “cut the throat of the Kaffars [nonbelievers] with [a] machete.”&lt;/em&gt;Authorities believe Faisal’s sermons have influenced 2005 London transport bomber Germaine Lindsay and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who attended mosques where Faisal preached.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At times, al-Khattab's postings are farcical, such as a picture of him holding the book "Nuclear Jihad" with a wry smile on his face. Other messages call for radical Muslim rule worldwide.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Al-Khattab claims the Sept. 11 terror attacks were an “inside job,” and he blames U.S. foreign policy for spawning the terrorism that carried out the attacks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He calls Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in 2002 by Islamic extremists in Pakistan, “a convicted spy.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“I could care less about Daniel Pearl,” al-Khattab said in an interview with FOXNews.com. “I’m happy to see that he’s gone.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The content changes constantly. One reason is that the fast flow of information allows messages to spread through cyberspace quickly. Another, terrorism analysts say, is to make it difficult for law enforcement to monitor the site.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Despite his radical anti-Western views, al-Khattab says he does not support terrorism of any kind.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yet, RevolutionMuslim.com claims to be the official site of “North American representatives” for Sheikh Faisal, and it appears dedicated to spreading his radical doctrine.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He says Faisal “never said to kill innocent people” and was unjustly imprisoned. He says the real terror organizations are the U.S. Army, the CIA, and the FBI — and the National Coast Guard, “to a lesser extent.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to RevolutionMuslim, Faisal — who was deported to his native Jamaica in 2007 — is now receiving donations solicited on the site, including money for a new laptop and DVD burner to spread his message.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's not illegal to post these messages or collect money for Faisal, but it would be if Faisal were designated a terrorist by the U.S. government. He currently is not listed on any government terror list; a Department of Justice spokesman could not confirm or deny if Faisal is being investigated for any terror related activity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;RevolutionMuslim may look amateurish when compared with other extremist Web sites, but it is no less of a threat, says Mia Bloom, political science professor at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“It may lead people who become radicalized by it to turn to other, more dangerous Web sites,” such as those run by terrorist organizations, she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bloom characterized al-Khattab’s message as “narrow” and “misinformed” and said he is attempting to “proselytize or radicalize people who share some of these same ideas.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“[He] has obviously been duped or is duping others because that’s not what Islam preaches,” she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On his site al-Khattab appears to condemn the very democracy that guarantees him the freedom to express himself — a freedom he cites in a disclaimer on his homepage:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“We hereby declare and make absolute public declaration that revolutionmuslim.com operates under the first amendment right to freedom of religion and expression and that in no way, shape, or form do we call for war against the U.S. government or adhere to the enemies of the United States elsewhere.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Under the law FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said it is difficult to bring criminal charges against the operators of Web sites like RevolutionMuslim.com unless specific threats are made against an individual or individuals.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kolko while not speaking directly about RevolutionMuslim said radical sites like these are not often prosecuted.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"It's usually a First Amendment right if they don't cross the threshold of making any threats," said Kolko. "There's nothing we should or could do."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“Until the rhetoric reaches the point in which it’s no longer protected speech under the first amendment, it’s hard to stop it,” said security expert, Harvey Kushner.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;--------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;DEPORT THIS MAN IMMEDIATELY.  There is a difference between freedom of speech and inciting hate.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-8593496761507869881?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/03/us-based-revolution-muslim-website.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-5308578613054923086</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:21:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-03-28T15:50:13.894-06:00</atom:updated><title>Charges dropped against Marine in Haditha case</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080328181017.afmb9h69&amp;show_article=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Charges dropped against Marine in Haditha case  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mar 28 02:11 PM US/Eastern&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;  Charges against a US Marine allegedly involved in the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha were dropped on Friday ahead of his trial, the military said in a statement. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A court martial for lance corporal Stephen Tatum had been due to start on Friday on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However in a statement released from the Marines Camp Pendleton base outside San Diego, the military said the charges had been dismissed "in order to continue to pursue the truth seeking process into the Haditha incident." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It was not immediately clear if fresh charges could be laid against Tatum at a later date or whether the soldier may now cooperate with prosecutors. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tatum had been accused of shooting dead two unarmed children as Marines cleared houses near the scene of a deadly roadside bombing in Haditha, 260 kilometers west of Baghdad, on November 19, 2005. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The deaths were part of a grim civilian toll from the Marines' actions in Haditha. Four soldiers were initially charged with murder and four officers accused of staging a cover-up. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;However, since charges against the soldiers were first announced in late 2006, prosecutors have struggled to make the allegations stick. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Four of the eight have had charges against them dropped&lt;/strong&gt;, while charges of murder were replaced by the lesser offence of manslaughter in the cases of Tatum and his squad leader Sergeant Frank Wuterich. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The military investigator overseeing Tatum's pre-trial hearing had recommended all charges against the soldier be dismissed. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The killings in Haditha are the most serious allegations of war crimes leveled at US forces since the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-----------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;Do the reseacrh folks.  THERE WAS NO MASSACRE AT HADITHA!  IT WAS ALL A LIE!!!!  These men did their job and did it well.  These is video eveidence from drones to support this fact, and I hope the public will get to see the videos soon.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-5308578613054923086?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/03/charges-dropped-against-marine-in.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-6247167119074727181</guid><pubDate>Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:12:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-03-28T15:50:52.962-06:00</atom:updated><title>Doubting Global Warming Is Man-Made Is Akin To Believing Earth Is Flat</title><description>&lt;a href="http://"&gt;http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/27/60minutes/main3974389.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Gore's Message To Climate Change Skeptics&lt;br /&gt;Tells 60 Minutes That Doubting Global Warming Is Man-Made Is Akin To Believing Earth Is Flat&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Gore On Climate Naysayers&lt;br /&gt;Al Gore says that thinking climate change isn't manmade is like believing the moon landing was staged and that the earth is flat.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(CBS) Self-avowed "P.R. agent for the planet" &lt;em&gt;Al Gore says those who still doubt that global warming is caused by man - among them, Vice President Dick Cheney - are acting like the fringe groups who think the 1969 moon landing never really happened, or who once believed the world is flat. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The former vice president and former presidential candidate talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl in an interview to be broadcast this Sunday, March 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Confronted by Stahl with the fact some prominent people, including the nation’s vice president, are not convinced that global warming is man-made, Gore responds: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat,” says Gore. &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;"That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off,"&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; he tells Stahl. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Gore’s campaign to make the world more aware of man’s role in global warming won him the Nobel Peace Prize last year. &lt;strong&gt;He donated the $750,000 prize money to The Alliance for Climate Protection, &lt;em&gt;the non-profit he started&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;to help him on his quest. He and his wife, Tipper, tell Stahl they not only matched the Nobel money with their own, but they are also donating to the organization the significant profits from his book and Oscar-winning documentary film about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." The funds will help The Alliance for Climate Protection execute a new $300 million ad campaign on global warming set to start next week. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some of the ads will feature unlikely alliances to drive home the message that people of all stripes are concerned about global warming. These include the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Pat Robertson, Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks, and Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;----------------------&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MY COMMENTS:&lt;br /&gt;WHAT A BUNCH OF WACKOS!  If you honestly believe that mankind is the cause of global warming (if indeed there is such a thing as global warming which I doubt) you are a moron.  The arth goes through natural cycles of warming and cooling.  We have nothing to do with these cycles.  Not saying we shouldn't try to help our enviroment, but passing ridiculous laws and all this PC green garbage is really starting to get downright annoying.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-6247167119074727181?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/03/doubting-global-warming-is-man-made-is.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2069097794954924957.post-4917686603130678042</guid><pubDate>Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:48:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-03-26T21:49:44.476-06:00</atom:updated><title>Iran Youths' Hair Raising Rebellion.</title><description>&lt;strong&gt;Iran Youths' Hair Raising Rebellion.&lt;/strong&gt;The strict dress codes imposed by Iran's religious leaders mean there is little room for personal expression for the country's youngsters.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.liveleak.com/e/2d4_1206546351" width="450" height="370" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="showall" name="index"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2069097794954924957-4917686603130678042?l=almosteverafter.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://almosteverafter.blogspot.com/2008/03/iran-youths-hair-raising-rebellion.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Patriot)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>