It’s time to let your voices be heard! This may be the last chance for We the People to stand up against the treasonous tyranny now infecting our government and the rest of our world. I challenge everyone, aching to reverse the course that we are now on, to research Ron Paul‘s record and then ‘Stand Up’ for him in 2012 before it’s too late!
(THE ANSWER TO 1984 IS 1776 – ACTIVISM)
Tech Dirt
January 27, 2012
Kader Arif
This is interesting. Kader Arif, the “rapporteur” for ACTA, has quit that role in disgust over the process behind getting the EU to sign onto ACTA. A rapporteur is a person “appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue.” However, it appears his investigation of ACTA didn’t make him very pleased:
I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.
As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands.”
Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.
This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.
Pretty rare to find such direct honesty in political circles. That’s quite a direct and clear condemnation of the entire process. In terms of process, it will be interesting to see if this has an impact. While the EU did sign on to ACTA today, it still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament (more on that in a little while). Having Arif quit makes a pretty big statement, and hopefully makes it easier for Parliament Members to speak out loudly against ACTA… Still, this is an uphill battle. The supporters of ACTA have been working to get ACTA approved for years. To them, this is basically a done deal.
Rady Ananda
Prisonplanet.com
January 27, 2012
This article first appeared at Activist Post
Today, the European Union and 22 member states signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced. They have now joined the US and seven other nations that signed the treaty last October.
This signing ceremony merely formalized the EU’s adoption of ACTA last month, during a completely unrelated meeting on agriculture and fisheries, reports TechDirt.
Though initiated by the US, Japan is the official depository of the treaty.
Removal of the Three Strikes clause, in which users accused of three counts of piracy would be barred from the internet, paved the way for the EU to adopt ACTA last month.
Related to ACTA, a chapter in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) “would have state signatories adopt even more restrictive copyright measures than ACTA,” reports the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Both ACTA and TPP were developed without public input and outside international trade groups, like the World Trade Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Leaked cables published by WikiLeaks in 2009 exposed early drafts of ACTA, resulting in a firestorm of controversy. Those cables, coupled with later releases, showed that ACTA negotiationsbegan in 2006 and were controversial even to participating states. An historical summary of the treaty’s progress through December can be found here.
ACTA Violates Magna Carta and US Constitution
Like PIPA and SOPA, two domestic internet censorship bills that prompted major websites to blacken their name or website in a Jan. 18th protest, ACTA allows accusers of copyright infringement to bypass judicial review. Lack of “due process” makes these bills and ACTA unconstitutional and violates the Magna Carta, a charter signed in 1215 on which most Western law is based, including the US Constitution. It is often cited as the most important legal document in the history of democracy.
(The USA PATRIOT Acts, Obama’s assassination program, and the National Defense Authorization Act that allows indefinite detention are among many recent laws passed in the US which directly breach the Magna Carta.)
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Months before the debate about Internet censorship raged as SOPA and PIPA dominated the concerns of web users, President Obama signed an international treaty that would allow companies in China or any other country in the world to demand ISPs remove web content in the US with no legal oversight whatsoever.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was signed by Obama on October 1 2011, yet is currently the subject of a White House petition demanding Senators be forced to ratify the treaty. The White House has circumvented the necessity to have the treaty confirmed by lawmakers by presenting it an as “executive agreement,” although legal scholars have highlighted the dubious nature of this characterization.
The hacktivist group Anonymous attacked and took offline the Federal Trade Commission’s website yesterday in protest against the treaty, which was also the subject of demonstrations across major cities in Poland, a country set to sign the agreement today.
Under the provisions of ACTA, copyright holders will be granted sweeping direct powers to demand ISPs remove material from the Internet on a whim. Whereas ISPs normally are only forced to remove content after a court order, all legal oversight will be abolished, a precedent that will apply globally, rendering the treaty worse in its potential scope for abuse than SOPA or PIPA.
A country known for its enforcement of harsh Internet censorship policies like China could demand under the treaty that an ISP in the United States remove content or terminate a website on its server altogether. As we have seen from the enforcement of similar copyright policies in the US, websites are sometimes targeted for no justifiable reason.
The groups pushing the treaty also want to empower copyright holders with the ability to demand that users who violate intellectual property rights (with no legal process) have their Internet connections terminated, a punishment that could only ever be properly enforced by the creation of an individual Internet ID card for every web user, a system that is already in the works.
“The same industry rightsholder groups that support the creation of ACTA have also called for mandatory network-level filtering by Internet Service Providers and for Internet Service Providers to terminate citizens’ Internet connection on repeat allegation of copyright infringement (the “Three Strikes” /Graduated Response) so there is reason to believe that ACTA will seek to increase intermediary liability and require these things of Internet Service Providers,” reports the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Golden state – Bombs (http://destructionist.wordpress.com)
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
January 24, 2012
Acclaimed film director Oliver Stone, known for such masterpieces as Platoon, JFK and Born on the Fourth of July, has declared he would vote for Ron Paul over Barack Obama, if Paul could secure the 2012 GOP nomination.
Stone made the comments in an interview with Rock Cellar magazine, noting “I think in many ways the most interesting candidate — I’d even vote for him if he was running against Obama — is Ron Paul.”
“He’s the only one of anybody who’s saying anything intelligent about the future of the world.” Stone added.
When asked if an economic collapse would lead to the fall of the American “empire”, Stone responded “I think it’s a given.”
“There’s no way that we can continue this spending spree.” The Wall Street director added.
In 2008, Stone was an outspoken Obama supporter and donated the maximum amounts legally possible to the Obama campaign, calling the eventual president the “heir to John F. Kennedy.”
However, he now has a very different view of Obama.
“Obama… in welcoming home the troops was saying how we had achieved “stability, freedom and democracy” in Iraq. It was the same language that Bush used – and Obama was the guy who called Iraq a “dumb war.”” Stone said.
“So you tell me, what have we learned? Or who’s faking, or who’s kidding who? Why is it necessary for every candidate – except for Ron Paul – to pay obeisance to this hypocrisy that the U.S. is a good force in the world, and that it is the dominant force, and can be the policeman of the world? Since when? What gave us that right? The right of empire, the right of force?” Stone added.
Earlier this year Oliver Stone’s son, Sean, appeared exclusively on the Alex Jones show to discuss his father’s work, both their political views, and his own new film project titled Greystone.
Watch the interview below:
Heather Callaghan
Prisonplanet.com
January 24, 2012
This article first appeared at Activist Post.
Many of us breathed a sigh of relief when an overwhelming amount of Americans banned together and voiced their opposition to Congress over both the Stop Online Piracy Act, and Protect Intellectual Property Act.
Sites that dimmed the screen for a day or two have gone back to normal — Facebook users have swapped their anti-SOPA images for their previous profile pictures.
We may have even believed that the postponement of the vote originally scheduled for January 24th was some sort of white flag of capitulation. But that is certainly not the MO of most lawmakers.
While the outcry did get the attention of Congress, they are simply returning unflinchingly back to the drawing board to wait out our attention spans. Articles whirled that SOPA was dead and the bill was pulled when the bill’s sponsor Lamar Smith said in a statement that there would be no further action “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”
Lamar isn’t really listening. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”
Actually, SOPA is set to be reformulated in February. PIPA will be revisited with possible amendments in the coming weeks. Case in point, all is still open and possible — nothing is dead, pulled, or cancelled. If that wasn’t enough to keep us on our toes, a new, similar bill has surfaced.
Déjà Vu in the form of OPEN — The New Anti-Piracy Bill
As an alternative to SOPA-PIPA, Representative Darrell Issa (CA-R), and 24 co-sponsors introduced the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) H.R. 3782 on Wednesday, during the Internet blackout.
From PCWorld:
OPEN would give oversight to the International Trade Commission (ITC) instead of the Justice Department, focuses on foreign-based websites, includes an appeals process, and would apply only to websites that “willfully” promote copyright violation.
The bill pretends to only target foreign websites, while keeping Americans free to surf and post, but the bill’s wording is wide open to pursue American sites. Just one example: when describing an infringing site, it starts with those “that are accessed through a non-domestic domain name,” but continues in section (8)(A)(ii) for any site that “conducts business directed to residents of the United States.”
Also, none of these bills had been decided before the U.S. Government took down New Zealand owned Megaupload.com during the commotion. To which, Anonymous responded by shutting down the websites of the U.S. Department of Justice, Universal Music, Recording Industry Association of America, the U.S. Copyright Office, Broadcast Music Inc. and the Motion Picture Association of America.
“The [DOJ's] action ‘demonstrates why we don’t need SOPA in the first place,’ points out PCWorld’s Tony Bradley.” The government was enforcing a previous anti-piracy law called PRO-IP signed by Bush in 2008.
OPEN is gaining support from groups like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Consumer Electronics Association and more.
While it seems admirable that the bill is transparent and open for public comment, most laws of this nature are broad and allow for bigger, no-common sense crackdowns later. Plus, there might only be a couple concessions and the pacifying effects of “being heard.”
One commenter of the bill aptly noted:
‘Reasonable belief’ and ‘credible evidence’ are too vague and have the appearance of inviting highly subjective interpretation with the option for the commission and/or the provider to exercise sweeping powers with impunity.
Whenever any group is appeased after a battle, it cannot be emphasized enough — the lawmakers’ modus operandi will be: aim high, brace for the outcry, make a couple alterations and sneak the bill back in when no one’s looking. Keep it going and going. Call it by a different name. Haggle. It appears there is compromise and reasoning now, but once the bill passes into law, reason goes out the window, and we are the only ones compromised.
Theft is a reality — although not one that has seriously damaged the growing entertainment industry, or caused massive death and devastation. If Hollywood, pitching the biggest fit, were actually going down, why should we go down with it?
It is more unfortunate that Americans must be so tirelessly vigilant to protect their online activities from the same lawmakers who are tanking the country in so many other truly devastating ways.
The dismantling of Internet freedom will not stop here. Let’s borrow an MO and not let up.
To SOPA — Say NOPA!
To PIPA — Pipe down!
To OPEN — Shut it!
Additional Sources:
http://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/sopa-and-pipa-postponed-but-not-cancelled/
http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/pipa-postponed/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/nternet-spoke-and-finally-congress-listened
http://www.webpronews.com/lamar-smith-to-delay-sopa-until-wider-agreement-on-solution-2012-01
Saman Mohammadi
Prisonplanet.com
Monday, January 23, 2012
“The West is headed to dictatorship. It’s already happening. The merger of state and corporate power is by definition called fascism. I just mentioned the Defense Authorization Act. Before you had that you had the abrogation of the Constitution under Bush, with the Patriot Act, which Obama reinstated and made even tougher by signing this bill. When I say the merger of state and corporate powers, look at the $16.1 trillion that the Federal Reserve has funneled into businesses around the world. Whatever happened to that thing called capitalism? This is not capitalism; it’s fascism! The more societies break down and the bigger the screw-ups at the top, the harder they clamp down on the bottom. You see it going on around the world; they call it austerity measures. How about calling it enslavement?” – Gerald Celente, “Gerald Celente on Trend Forecasting and the Crisis of Western Civilization,” The Daily Bell, January 22, 2012.
“There is no doubt, in my view, that the elites practiced directed history in the 20th century, setting up wars and economic catastrophes designed to consolidate world government. But in the 21st century, with so many understanding and evaluating the mechanisms of the elites, this is a considerably harder trick to pull off.” – Anthony Wile, “Yes, The War for the Internet Has Begun,” The Daily Bell, January 21, 2012.
Al-Media, not Al-Qaeda, is the biggest threat to Western freedom and global security.
The goal of Al-Media is to destroy the United States of America, erase the traditions of law and liberty in the West, and sell to the West a technological slave system disguised as a “new world order.”
The information terrorists in Al-Media, aka the pundits, news anchors, and journalists, concealed the real perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks from public view and directed the world on the false trail of Jihadi terrorists.
Instead of serving as a guide for accurate information in dangerous and apocalyptic times, the Western mainstream media has acted as an evil predator that lies about issues of war and peace, life and death.
Elitist editors and reporters, many of whom are in the employment of government intelligence agencies, do not consider themselves to be part of the general public, but as part of the wolf class that preys on the defenseless masses who are lost in the enclosed fields of ignorance and blindness. They are like the predatory religious clerics of Iran who eat the brains of the people while pretending to be their guardians.
In the West, there is no turban to distinguish the wolf class from the rest of society. The evil predators appear in journalist clothes and prepare the people for slaughter by stuffing their brains with war fever, fanciful tales, dramatic narratives, and pseudo patriotism. Then they stand back and watch with pure joy in their cold hearts when their hard work to start a war pays off.
We saw this after 9/11 when a lot of journalists and reporters were smiling at the thought of a war in Afghanistan. The bombings and military movements was a huge rush for them. And we can see the same feelings of excitement and joy in journalists and cable pundits as the drum-beat for war against Iran gets louder.
Anthony Wile, the founder of The Daily Bell website, says that Western elites employ “dominant social themes – fear-based promotions – that are designed to frighten middle classes into giving up wealth and power to specially prepared globalist institutions.” Al-Media is central to this political, social, and cultural process.
Prisonplanet.com
January 22, 2012
“The message of liberty is being received by more people every single day.”
Data summary
|
South Carolina primary votes by county
|
|||||||
|
South Carolina Precinct |
Newt Gingrich |
Mitt Romney |
Rick Santorum |
Ron Paul |
Herman Cain |
Rick Perry |
Total |
| Source: South Carolina State Election Commission | |||||||
| Abbeville | 1297 | 543 | 475 | 673 | 16 | 22 | 3030 |
| Aiken | 11994 | 6200 | 3334 | 2417 | 205 | 81 | 24325 |
| Allendale | 178 | 91 | 42 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 348 |
| Anderson | 11924 | 5918 | 4500 | 4691 | 178 | 120 | 27378 |
| Bamberg | 512 | 262 | 118 | 82 | 7 | 7 | 994 |
| Barnwell | 1074 | 438 | 273 | 141 | 9 | 15 | 1954 |
| Beaufort | 9631 | 11726 | 3470 | 1880 | 325 | 73 | 27275 |
| Berkeley | 7673 | 5608 | 4517 | 2758 | 229 | 94 | 20936 |
| Calhoun | 834 | 475 | 274 | 271 | 13 | 6 | 1879 |
| Charleston | 15271 | 16904 | 6831 | 6510 | 1089 | 130 | 46899 |
| Cherokee | 2889 | 1300 | 1465 | 1114 | 26 | 52 | 6860 |
| Chester | 1328 | 540 | 572 | 292 | 22 | 12 | 2776 |
| Chesterfield | 1566 | 700 | 646 | 244 | 6 | 26 | 3197 |
| Clarendon | 1672 | 946 | 496 | 268 | 15 | 16 | 3417 |
| Colleton | 2036 | 973 | 785 | 436 | 33 | 39 | 4317 |
| Darlington | 3383 | 1661 | 1108 | 686 | 39 | 30 | 6930 |
| Dillon | 1061 | 412 | 323 | 129 | 12 | 8 | 1951 |
| Dorchester | 6588 | 4921 | 3775 | 2297 | 199 | 75 | 17916 |
| Edgefield | 2103 | 645 | 412 | 293 | 20 | 11 | 3489 |
| Fairfield | 942 | 661 | 388 | 254 | 8 | 18 | 2276 |
| Florence | 7633 | 3529 | 2291 | 1212 | 82 | 72 | 14870 |
| Georgetown | 4387 | 3239 | 1146 | 679 | 91 | 40 | 9624 |
| Greenville | 30520 | 19570 | 13509 | 12062 | 789 | 245 | 76915 |
| Greenwood | 3835 | 2137 | 1384 | 1486 | 58 | 77 | 8996 |
| Hampton | 580 | 266 | 179 | 92 | 8 | 13 | 1141 |
| Horry | 18340 | 12042 | 5179 | 3931 | 367 | 187 | 40162 |
| Jasper | 857 | 532 | 293 | 114 | 21 | 12 | 1838 |
| Kershaw | 3271 | 2673 | 1365 | 1235 | 41 | 35 | 8633 |
| Lancaster | 3857 | 2023 | 2067 | 860 | 59 | 40 | 8924 |
| Laurens | 3295 | 1577 | 1455 | 1441 | 41 | 37 | 7871 |
| Lee | 591 | 319 | 227 | 156 | 5 | 10 | 1312 |
| Lexington | 16062 | 13485 | 7910 | 5831 | 355 | 169 | 43924 |
| Marion | 1169 | 572 | 285 | 193 | 7 | 2 | 2236 |
| Marlboro | 627 | 308 | 245 | 103 | 10 | 13 | 1321 |
| McCormick | 774 | 488 | 144 | 103 | 5 | 11 | 1532 |
| Newberry | 2046 | 1360 | 694 | 624 | 18 | 31 | 4784 |
| Oconee | 4857 | 3461 | 2220 | 2050 | 164 | 78 | 12876 |
| Orangeburg | 2866 | 1574 | 870 | 687 | 27 | 29 | 6069 |
| Pickens | 7885 | 3948 | 3317 | 3290 | 197 | 83 | 18776 |
| Richland | 10943 | 12982 | 5104 | 4445 | 777 | 87 | 34483 |
| Saluda | 1267 | 634 | 459 | 282 | 10 | 14 | 2671 |
| Spartanburg | 15307 | 8506 | 7893 | 5917 | 330 | 170 | 38215 |
| Sumter | 3644 | 2973 | 1586 | 937 | 63 | 53 | 9279 |
| Union | 1309 | 498 | 559 | 459 | 14 | 27 | 2874 |
| Williamsburg | 1274 | 496 | 311 | 134 | 6 | 16 | 2246 |
| York | 12001 | 7164 | 7561 | 4210 | 324 | 100 | 31447 |
| Total: | 243153 | 167280 | 102057 | 77993 | 6324 | 2491 | 601166 |
Zero Hedge
January 21, 2012
When Bill Maher, hardly a conservative, says that he applauds Ron Paul on his positions, and calls those Paul detractors in his audience “brainwashed liberals” it is safe to say we have seen it all. And so, once again, Ron Paul is officially cool.
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
January 20, 2012
Following the announcement by the Department of Justice that it had shuttered file sharing website Megaupload last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today declared that the Senate vote on the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), scheduled for Tuesday, has now been postponed indefinitely.
“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT IP Act,” Reid said in a statement, referring to this week’s “blackout” protest against PIPA and the House version of the bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Just two days ago, Reid had been adamant that the vote would go ahead in the Senate next week.
The two contrasting events highlight the ferocity of the battle that is currently raging over internet freedom in the US and the wider world.
Although forced to sideline the decision on PIPA indefinitely, Reid acknowledged the fact that the battle over the internet legislation is far from over.
“We made good progress through the discussions we’ve held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks,” Reid said.
Washington’s Blog
January 20, 2012
For example, here is Newsday:
CNN:
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
January 18, 2012
The underhanded effort to fundamentally alter the internet under the guise of protecting the copyrights of Hollywood and its transnational “entertainment” corporations was delivered a distinct set-back a few days ago when Congress retreated on its full-steam ahead effort to ram SOPA down our throats.
Faced with massive outrage and a political backlash, the Obama administration threatened a veto of the SOPA legislation and in response Congress shelved it.
Equally important is the battle to defeat PIPA, the Protect IP Act, which will soon be up for a vote. Congress needs to be told it must reject this legislation as well.
Even though the shelving of SOPA appears to be a victory, we cannot trust the government to not reintroduce the bill after sprucing it up as a kinder and gentler effort to rob of us our ability to freely disseminate information and speak our minds on the internet without fear of the censor’s truncheon crashing down. After all, in 2010 the government shut down 73,000 web sites under the cover of fighting copyright infringement.
We must continue to let our “representatives” in Congress know that in no uncertain terms will we accept any modification of the internet at the behest of large corporations and the globalists who intend by hook or by crook to neuter the only free communication medium left to the people.
Use the links below to contact Congress now and speak your mind:
Congress:
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
http://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
STOP AMERICAN CENSORSHIP:
http://americancensorship.org/
Read the bills in full here:
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act):
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3261
PIPA (Protect IP Act):
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s112-968
Washington’s Blog
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
California, Finland, Canada, Australia Hit By Radiation
The University of California at Berkeley detected cesium levels in San Francisco area milk above over EPA limits … and even higher than they were 6 months ago.
Finnish public television says that cesium from Fukushima has been detected in lichens, fungi and elk and reindeer meat in Finland.
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency confirmed a radiation cloud over the East Coast of Australia.
The West Coast of Canada is getting hit by debris from Japan … and at least some of it is likely radioactive.
The authors of the controversial study claiming 14,000 deaths in the U.S. so far from Fukushima are now upping their figure to 20,000. I spoke with nuclear health expert Chris Busby about their study, and he said that mortality figures fluctuate pretty substantially in the normal course, and so it is hard to know at this point one way or the other whether their figures are accurate.
And while there is no evidence linking them to Fukushima, Bed Bath and Beyond has recalled radioactive tissue holders after they set off police radiation monitors aboard a delivery truck This may just be an example of the incredibly lax handling of radioactive materials.
And thyroid cancers are – mysteriously – on the rise in the U.S.
But don’t worry: The owner of the Fukushima plant has the plant in cold shutdown, so everything is “under control” … Although temperatures have apparently jumped inside Fukushima’s number 2 reactor, and the Japanese have no idea where the nuclear fuel has gone, so they are drilling a hole into the containment vessel to try to find it.
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The secret behind SOPA, the so-called anti-piracy bill which is today the target of an unprecedented backlash with Wikileaks and other major websites ‘going dark’ to protest the legislation, has nothing to do with piracy or copyright theft – it’s about the formal effort to mimic Communist China’s system of Internet censorship.
But don’t take our word for it, listen to what Joe Lieberman, co-sponsor of PIPA, SOPA’s sister version in the Senate, said about the purpose of behind the US government’s efforts to control the Internet under the guise of cybersecurity.
Lieberman characterized fears that the US government would use such powers to censor political content as “total misinformation,” yet goes on to admit that the purpose behind the agenda is to mimic China’s ability to “disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war,” adding, “we need that here too”.
Of course, Communist China’s “war” is not against foreign terrorists or hackers, it’s targeted against people who dare to use the Internet to express dissent against government atrocities or corruption. China’s system of Internet policing is about crushing freedom of speech and has nothing to do with legitimate security concerns as Lieberman well knows.
Having largely failed in his bid to use fears over cyberwarfare, bearing in mind it was the United States and Israel who launched the Stuxnet attack, to achieve the ultimate goal of Internet control, Lieberman has returned with the same agenda only under a different guise – the Protect Intellectual Property Act – of which he is the co-sponsor.
Ron Paul 2012
January 18, 2012
LAKE JACKSON, Texas – 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul, the constitutionally-observant candidate of real change, will face down establishment candidate and notorious flip-flopper Mitt Romney in a head-to-head matchup in the Virginia primary.
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied four candidates’ appeals to appear on the ballot after their glaring failure to comply with the Commonwealth’s stringent, but widely-known, ballot access requirements.
Former candidate Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum did not file signatures with the Virginia State Board of Elections at all. Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich did file signatures, but fell short of qualifying. Rick Perry then brought a suit against the state challenging the ballot-access requirements to which all candidates were held, and others failing to qualify joined the suit. When the suit was struck down, an injunction was filed in part to reconcile whether and when paper ballots would be printed, and today the final decision was handed down.
Virginia is the nation’s 12th-largest state and its primary election takes place on March 6th – Super Tuesday. The absence of any other candidates on the ballot aside from Paul and Romney, including serial hypocrite Gingrich and counterfeit conservative Santorum, is sending ripple effects throughout key early voting states including South Carolina where Palmetto State voters now are concerned about how their vote will affect the nominating process going forward.
For example, some voters might vote for a candidate with an organization too weak to comply with ballot access requirements. Voting for that candidate would result in a vote wasted, as were the votes of many for candidates who exited the race like Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman. Others ponder that only one veteran of the armed forces – Ron Paul – will be on the ballot in Virginia, a state so steeped in military tradition. Still others have observed that only one Evangelical Christian will appear on the ballot there. Indeed, there are many questions.
One thing is certain. And that is, the decision has upended what plaintiffs against the Commonwealth and voters nationwide had expected just hours ago when plaintiffs held onto thin hopes of a reversal, or a convenient exception to the rule of law.
“It’s over,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton. “Ron Paul, the candidate of real change, will face off against establishment flip-flopper Mitt Romney in the Virginia primary, making that that Tuesday less ‘super’ for serial hypocrite Newt Gingrich, counterfeit conservative Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry, who I should mention is marginally attached to the presidential race.”
“This legal development affirms that this Republican nominating contest has always been a two-man race between the candidates with the resources and organization required for a 50-state race. Voters nationwide should get behind the candidate of real change as he competes nationwide – and nationwide means a lot of states, including large ones like Virginia,” said Mr. Benton.
“Right now South Carolina voters have vital information helpful for deciding not only who the authentic conservative in the race is – Ron Paul – but whether that candidate leaves South Carolina with a ticket that actually gets him somewhere,” added Mr. Benton.
Mac Slavo
SHTFPlan.com
Monday, January 16, 2012
Amid significant pressure from tens of thousands of internet users and major web behemoths like Google, Facebook, and Reddit, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is, in its current form, Dead on Arrival:
Misguided efforts to combat online privacy have been threatening to stifle innovation, suppress free speech, and even, in some cases, undermine national security. As of yesterday, though, there’s a lot less to worry about.
The first sign that the bills’ prospects were dwindling came Friday, when SOPA sponsors agreed to drop a key provision that would have required service providers to block access to international sites accused of piracy.
The legislation ran into an even more significant problem yesterday when the White House announced its opposition to the bills. Though the administration’s chief technology officials acknowledged the problem of online privacy, the White House statement presented a fairly detailed critique of the measures and concluded, “We will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” It added that any proposed legislation “must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet.”
…
Though the administration did issue a formal veto threat, the White House’s opposition signaled the end of these bills, at least in their current form.
A few hours later, Congress shelved SOPA, putting off action on the bill indefinitely.
Sourced From Washington Monthly via The Daily Sheeple
Sponsored primarily by purported free speech advocates that include democrats and republicans alike, the SOPA would have fundamentally transformed the internet as we know it today. As Daisy Luther writes at Inalienably Yours, the bill was nothing short of a direct attack against the first Amendment and the right to free speech:
On closer inspection, the legalese in the bill has the potential to eviscerate free speech….and like NDAA, without proof…only with suspicion of “wrong-doing”. It’s all about copyright infringement. If you tick off the powers that be, and you’ve quoted someone, somewhere, saying something, you may have infringed on their copyright. As a defendant, you are not even present at the legal proceeding allowing “them” to shut you down until you prove yourself innocent.
How do they shut you down? Search engines are required to remove you from their listings. Internet Service Providers can be ordered to block access to your site. Advertising networks and payment providers can also be forced to cease doing business with you. This continues until you are proven INNOCENT. Wait – I thought it was innocent until proven guilty….oh….that was “before” the NDAA.
While this bill of goods was being sold to the American public as a way to reduce online piracy originating on foreign shores, in essence the legislation would have made it possible for any organization (with the financial assets and access to attorneys to do so) to target web sites (foreign or domestic) using excerpts, quotes, and videos without express permission of the authors or producers of such content. Furthermore, any web site linking to suspected copyrighted content would be guilty by association for fascilitating the infringement.
The State Column
January 16, 2012
Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has moved into second in South Carolina. A Reuters/Ipsos poll, released Saturday, found Mr. Paul tied with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum for second place with 16 percent of the votes each.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is in the lead with 37 percent of the votes. Mr. Romney’s 21 point lead over Mr. Paul and Mr. Santorum may be impossible to overcome with less than a week to go before the South Carolina Republican primary. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who once led the Republican pack in the Palmetto State, sits in fourth place with 12 percent of the votes.
“In primary races things can change quickly but it does look like Romney is in position to win South Carolina, and if he wins … that’s sort of the end of the road for most of his challengers,” Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson said, according to Reuters.
However, Mr. Paul and Mr. Santorum continue to act as roadblocks to an easy victory for the Bain Capital co-founder in South Carolina. Mr. Paul’s second place finish in the New Hampshire Primary and Mr. Santorum’s second place finish in the Iowa Caucuses have given the Republican candidates a boost in the Palmetto State.
This is the first poll of likely South Carolina Republican primary voters to show Mr. Paul in second place, albeit tied with Mr. Santorum. An American Research Group poll, released Friday, found Mr. Paul in third place, behind Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich. A Rasmussen Reports poll and a Public Policy Polling poll, both released Friday, also found Mr. Paul in third place.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 398 Republicans and 380 Democrats was conducted between January 10th and January 13th. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points for Republicans.
Chuck Baldwin
Infowars.com
January 13, 2012
On the heels of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), otherwise known as the “Indefinite Detention Act,” comes another draconian bill designed to give the federal government the power to turn American citizens into enemies of the state for virtually any reason it deems necessary. Stephen D. Foster, Jr. has the story.
“Congress is considering HR 3166 and S. 1698 also known as the Enemy Expatriation Act, sponsored by Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Charles Dent (R-PA). This bill would give the US government the power to strip Americans of their citizenship without being convicted of being ‘hostile’ against the United States. In other words, you can be stripped of your nationality for ‘engaging in, or purposefully and materially supporting, hostilities against the United States.’ Legally, the term ‘hostilities’ means any conflict subject to the laws of war but considering the fact that the War on Terror is a little ambiguous and encompassing, any action could be labeled as supporting terrorism.”
Foster goes on to say, “I hope I’m wrong, but it sounds to me like this is a loophole for indefinitely detaining Americans. Once again, you just have to be accused of supporting hostilities which could be defined any way the government sees fit. Then the government can strip your citizenship and apply the indefinite detention section of the NDAA without the benefit of a trial.”
See Foster’s report at:
The American Dream
Friday, January 13, 2012
Wouldn’t it be great if a Republican presidential candidate could just buy the support of just about every major conservative talk show host in America? Well, it may not be as far-fetched as you may think. Clear Channel owns more radio stations (850) than anyone else in the United States. They also own Premiere Radio Networks, the company that syndicates the radio shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, among others. Needless to say, Clear Channel basically owns conservative talk radio in the United States. So who owns Clear Channel? Well, it turns out that Bain Capital is one of the primary owners of Clear Channel. Yes, you read that correctly. The company that Mitt Romney ran for so long is one of the “big bosses” over virtually all conservative talk radio in America. Of course Mitt Romney is not running Bain Capital anymore. He is a “retired partner”, but he still has a huge financial stake in Bain Capital. We’re talking about millions upon millions of dollars. If you doubt this, just check out page 34 of this public financial disclosure report. So if you have been wondering why so many conservative talk show hosts are being so incredibly kind to Mitt Romney, this just might be the answer.
In the media world, there is a clear understanding that you simply do not bite the hand that feeds you. Some of the most prominent conservative talk radio hosts are earning tens of millions of dollars a year.
If you were making tens of millions of dollars a year, wouldn’t you be very careful to avoid offending your boss?
The deal in which Bain Capital became one of the owners of Clear Channel was initiated just a short time before Mitt Romney’s first run for president. The following comes from Wikipedia….
On November 16, 2006, Clear Channel announced plans to go private, being bought out by two private-equity firms,Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners for $18.7 billion, which is just under a 10 percent premium above its closing price of $35.36 a share on November 16 (the deal values Clear Channel at $37.60 per share).
The deal was finalized in 2008. Today, Bain Capital is still one of the primary owners of Clear Channel.
One of the subsidiaries of Clear Channel is Premiere Radio Networks.
Premiere Radio Networks distributes a whole host of conservative talk radio shows. Everyone in the conservative world knows names such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. Clear Channel also controls some other conservative talk radio hosts (such as Michael Savage and Mark Levin) that are not part of the Premiere Radio family.
The power that Premiere Radio Networks has is absolutely staggering. The following is directly from the official Clear Channel website….
Premiere Radio Networks Inc., a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, syndicates 90 radio programs and services to more than 5,000 radio affiliations and reaches over 190 million listeners weekly. Premiere Radio is the number one radio network in the country and features the following personalities: Rush Limbaugh, Jim Rome, Casey Kasem, Ryan Seacrest, Glenn Beck, Bob (Kevoian) & Tom (Griswold), Delilah, Steve Harvey, Blair Garner, George Noory, John Boy and Billy, Big Tigger, Dr. Dean Edell, Bob Costas, Sean Hannity and others. Premiere is based in Sherman Oaks, California, with 13 offices nationwide.
So do you think that any of those hosts is going to risk viciously attacking Mitt Romney and Bain Capital during this election season?
Not likely.
One of the controversies that has plagued Premiere Radio Networks in recent years has been the uproar over their use of paid actors to call in to their radio shows.
The following comes from Wikipedia….
Clear Channel, through its
subsidiary, Premiere Radio Networks, auditions and hires actors to call in to talk radio shows and pose as listeners in order to provide shows, carried by Clear Channel and other broadcasters, with planned content in the form of stories and opinions. The custom caller service provided by Premiere Radio ensures its clients they won’t hear the same actor’s voice for at least two months in order to appear authentic to listeners who might otherwise catch on.
So perhaps that explains where some of the “Romney callers” come from.
There is nothing illegal about what Romney and Bain Capital have done, but it sure does not pass the “smell test”.
Conservative talk radio has the potential to sway millions of conservative voters in one direction or another, and it is just not proper for Bain Capital and Romney to have such an overpowering financial interest in conservative talk radio.
And yes, Mitt Romney is still bringing in lots of money from Bain Capital. The following comes from a Wikipedia article about Mitt Romney….
At the time of his departure, Romney negotiated an agreement with Bain Capital that allowed him to receive a passive profit share as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities, including buyout and investment funds.[62][57] With the private equity business continuing to thrive, this deal would bring him millions of dollars in income each year.[57] As a result of his business career, by 2007 Romney and his wife had a net worth of between $190 and $250 million, most of it held in blind trusts.[62] An additional blind trust existed in the name of the Romneys’ children and grandchildren that was valued at between $70 and $100 million as of 2007.[63] The couple’s net worth remained in the same range as of 2011, and was still held in blind trusts.
In addition, Bain Capital and Bain & Company continue to pour huge amounts of money into Romney’s campaign coffers.
Just check out the following list of the biggest donors to the Romney campaign. These numbers come from opensecrets.org….
Goldman Sachs $367,200
Credit Suisse Group $203,750
Morgan Stanley $199,800
HIG Capital $186,500
Barclays $157,750
Kirkland & Ellis $132,100
Bank of America $126,500
PriceWaterhouseCoopers $118,250
EMC Corp $117,300
JPMorgan Chase & Co $112,250
The Villages $97,500
Vivint Inc $80,750
Marriott International $79,837
Sullivan & Cromwell $79,250
Bain Capital $74,500
UBS AG $73,750
Wells Fargo $61,500
Blackstone Group $59,800
Citigroup Inc $57,050
Bain & Co $52,500
As with anything, whenever you want to get to the real truth you just need to follow the money.
Earlier this week, Sean Hannity told Rick Perry that his attacks on Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital sounded like something that “Occupy Wall Street” would say.
Just the other day, Rush Limbaugh compared Rick Perry to Fidel Castro and rabidly defended Mitt Romney on his radio program….
“There’s no way you can try to dress that up,” Limbaugh fumed. “I don’t understand it. Well, politically I understand it, but that’s just absurd. It’s sad. ‘Cause I really, really, really like Rick Perry! I really do. I had such hopes! I did. I’ll tell you, I did, but all of this talk about “corporate raiders,” and as I listen to politicians start talking about capitalism, lights are going off in my head. “Maybe they don’t really know what it is. Maybe they’re under some misconception about what capitalism is, because this characterization of it? A distinction with venture capitalism and vulture capitalism? This bite from Perry doesn’t compute.”
So why are these conservative talk show hosts defending Mitt Romney so furiously?
I think now we know.
Antonia van de Velde
CNBC
Friday, January 13, 2012
Several euro zone countries face an “imminent” downgrade by ratings agency S&P, Reuters and Dow Jones news agencies reported on Friday afternoon, sending the euro to a session low against the dollar and European stocks down.
The reports said Germany and the Netherlands were not among the countries facing a downgrade later on Friday, but gave no further details.
According to Dow Jones sources, France was among the countries set to be downgraded.
“Remain alert tonight when U.S. markets close,” Reuters cited a source as saying.
S&P warned in December that it could downgrade the credit ratings of several euro zone nations if European leaders failed to find a lasting solution to the debt crisis at a meeting of EU leaders that month.
(CNN) – As soon as next week, a new market may open, where anyone can place bets on the outcome of upcoming political contests.
A small trading exchange in Chicago, the North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex), has asked federal regulators for permission to sell options tied to the results of various 2012 elections – including the U.S. presidency, control of the Senate, and control of the House of Representatives.
Here’s how it would work: Let’s say today you bought an option on Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney winning the presidency for $45. If he won, you would get $100, meaning a profit of $55. If he lost, you would get nothing.
You could also buy and sell the options before the contest is over. For example, you could buy a Ron Paul option today at $10, and if his options started trading higher – say at $15 – you could decide to sell, and pocket your $5 profit.
A limited market already exists, called the Iowa Electronic Markets, which is run by the University of Iowa’s business school for academic purposes. The betting is capped at $500, and anyone can play. The market’s organizers say the exchange has been a better predictor than most polls.
RT NEWS
January 11, 2012
The passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, could very well scrub the Internet clean of any content that the US government considers questionable.
The massively popularly website Reddit is well aware of these implications and is ready to show the world just what harm SOPA could do to the Internet.
On January 18, Reddit, a user-generated aggregator of content contributed by all corners of the Internet, will black out their own site in protest of SOPA. For an online hub that snags up around 2 billion hits every month, a lot of traffic and ad revenue stands to be lost during the 12-hour span. For the administrators of the site, though, they are running short on finding ways to fight the legislation.
Advocates against SOPA have rallied in Washington and across the country and Internet since a congressional committee began drafting the Act. Under the legislation, websites and people that post or share third-party content could be crushed with heavy fines and imprisoned for the distribution of knowledge. While opposition has existed ever since the terrifying realities of SOPA made its way to the Web, the ban by way of Reddit stands to be the biggest and only protest of its kind so far.
On January 18, Reddit announced that “Instead of the normal glorious, user-curated chaos,” the site will suspend its content and instead post a message about the dangers of both SOPA and the Protect IP Act, a sister legislator of sorts about to go before the US Senate. The site will also post a live stream of the House hearing that will discuss SOPA, which Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian will be testifying at.
“The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy,” reads an official post published by Reddit administrators on their site. “Congress is considering legislation that will dramatically change your Internet experience and put an end to Reddit and many other sites you use every day. Internet experts, organizations, companies, entrepreneurs, legal experts, journalists and individuals have repeatedly expressed how dangerous this bill is. If we do nothing, Congress will likely pass the Protect IP Act (in the Senate) or the Stop Online Piracy Act (in the House), and then the president will probably sign it into law. There are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet, and a few months ago many people thought this legislation would surely pass. However, there’s a new hope that we can defeat this dangerous legislation.”
Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.
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