Freedom of Speech

Senate Passes Patriot Act

Renews Expiring Provisions
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on Friday passed a bill reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act, which gave the government new powers to hunt down suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Several provisions of the 2001 law are set to expire at the end of this year, and President George W. Bush has urged Congress to make it permanent.

Senate Approves Partial Renewal of Patriot Act
Measure Would Limit Search and Seizure Powers
The Senate approved legislation last night that would make permanent most provisions of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law while placing new limitations on the government's use of secret search and surveillance powers. The vote, by unanimous consent in the GOP-controlled Senate, marks a defeat for the Bush administration, which campaigned heavily for total renewal of the law and opposed efforts to enact any new restrictions on government powers. The vote sets up fall negotiations between the Senate and the House, where lawmakers have approved legislation with fewer restrictions.

Hitler Came for Niemoeller: The Nazi War Against Religion

Book Review by Byron Snapp
Hitler wanted to destroy any who dared to think independently about civil government policy. The evangelical church in Germany had supported Hitler in his rise to power. They wrongly believed that the Third Reich would be established on a Christian basis. Once in power, Hitler turned his back on the promise he had made to the churches. Instead, he expected all churches to be united under Nazi ideology. Niemoeller valiantly refused. He finally recognized that Hitler hated Jesus Christ because Christ was born a Jew. Hitler believed himself to be more powerful than Christ. The Nazi movement was all encompassing — it was religious and it was political.

Background Checks On 'Potential' Gun Buyers

CHICAGO -- Illinois has a new gun law that the state's governor says is "all about common sense." The law now requires background checks on potential firearms buyers at gun shows. Background checks are already required for people buying guns at licensed stores. The law takes effect immediately and requires gun sellers to ask state police for backgrounds on potential buyers.

Eminent Domain Threatens Local Businesses

SAN DIEGO -- Some business owners along El Cajon Boulevard are worried the city will take their property under "eminent domain." The trouble started when a large developer proposed building a condominium complex that would take up the block. The offer was later rescinded, but people in the area are still concerned.

'CyberBug,' Can Drop in and Quietly Gather Information

A U.S. company has begun marketing a stealth micro-unmanned aerial vehicle that can blend in with its surroundings. The platform was developed by Proxity Digital Networks, based in West Palm Beach, Fla. Proxity's subsidiary, Cyber Aerospace, has marketed the platform to the U.S. military, law enforcement and state and federal agencies. Executives said the company also plans to market CyberBug abroad, Middle East Newsline reported.

Proposal for federal border crossing ID card likely to come by mid-August

DETROIT -- The State Department says that the U-S Secretaries of State and Homeland Security are likely to sign off by mid-August on a proposal for travel cards. U-S citizens would need the cards to re-enter the country at border crossings. The proposal would be followed by a comment period, economic analysis and rule-making process that could have a new rule in place by the end of 2006. Frank E- Moss is deputy assistant secretary of passport services at the State Department. He made the comments during an informational session at the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Homeland Security to launch radio frequency ID at five Canadian, Mexican border crossings

TORONTO -- A U.S. security official said Wednesday it will use wireless technology at five border posts with Canada and Mexico to track foreigners driving in and out of the United States. Bob Mocny of the Department of Homeland Security said wireless chips for vehicles would become mandatory at designated border crossings in Canada and Mexico as of Aug. 4. Border authorities will provide a chip that drivers will put on the dashboard of vehicles.

Chip Implants: Better Care or Privacy Scare?

They're here. They have FDA approval. But are Americans ready to get chipped? Getting chipped means having a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip implanted in your body. The chip -- about the size of a large grain of rice -- lies dormant until a special scanner is passed within 6 inches of the implant. Then it emits a radio signal that beams a 16-digit number to the scanner.

Leaving No Child Left Behind

States charged with implementing Bush’s national education plan balk at the cost of compliance. In all, officials in more than 40 states have proposed significant changes to the implementation of NCLB. The National Education Association (NEA) and three states are already fighting it in court.

Schools' Vendors to Pay $61 Fingerprinting Fee for Each Employee

INVERNESS -- Citrus schools won't foot the bill to fingerprint thousands of contract employees who are required to undergo full background checks under a provision of the Jessica Lunsford Act. Instead, the district plans to send letters to vendors saying they will have to pay the $61 fingerprinting fee for each employee. The district has identified at least 1,500 companies that have done business with Citrus schools in the last year. It's unclear the number of people working for those companies who would have to submit to the screenings.

Death Threats From Muslim Students

Muslim Mob At University Missions Week
Monday, 18 July, American missionary, Timothy Keller, was surrounded by a mob of Muslim students at the University of Pretoria threatening him and demanding that the his missions display be removed. Keller had been officially invited by the University Missions Committee to take part in their “Go Love the Nations” Missions Week 2005. Within two hours of setting up the Frontline Fellowship missions display, Keller began to receive hostile reactions from Muslim students, some of whom swore and cursed him, and threatened his life. That afternoon, Keller was informed by the TUKS Missions Committee that they could not allow the mission display to be set up again. It was mentioned that the Frontline Fellowship newsletters, in what it reported on the activities and teachings of Muslims, were too offensive to Muslim students.

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince

"The story of Harry Potter is an allegory: It is written and packaged to look like fantasy when, in truth, it is a carefully written true description of the training and work of an initiate in an occult order.... The story line aligns with real occult books written by Gavin and Yvonne Frost, who, themselves, run the foremost school of witchcraft in the British Isles."

Witchcraft Fantasy Realities Are Unlawful

Is it biblically lawful to create alternative literary realities in which necromancy and witchcraft are presented as glorious, healthy, positive, and good? I say no because I believe to do so is inconsistent with revealed law. If pro-witchcraft fantasy realities are unlawful, then the fundamental question of whether Harry Potter is healthy literature is resolved.

Pressure on U.S. to Use More Surveillance

NEW YORK -- Pressure is building for greater use of video cameras to keep watch over the nation's cities particularly in transportation systems and other spots vulnerable to terrorism after the bombings in London. The calls have come over the last few weeks as British investigators released surveillance footage of the bombers in the deadly July 7 attacks and then put out frames of suspects in Thursday's failed attacks.

U.S. to Track Foreigners at Border With Wireless Technology

A U.S. security official said Wednesday it will use wireless technology at five border posts with Canada and Mexico to track foreigners driving in and out of the United States. Bob Mocny of the Department of Homeland Security said wireless chips for vehicles would become mandatory at designated border crossings in Canada and Mexico as of Aug. 4. Border authorities will provide a chip that drivers will put on the dashboard of vehicles.

Americans Are Going To Be Rounded Up!

The other day I received an e-mail from a sincere man who is just getting the message about what's happening to our constitutional republic. (America is not a democracy!) Poor Leon said, "Americans are going to be rounded up!" I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but apparently Leon hasn't gotten the memo: Americans have already been rounded up.

Workers at Schools to Be Checked

BARTOW -- The murder of Jessica Lunsford earlier this year will have a very real -- and expensive -- impact on how Polk County and other Florida school districts operate. To start, the 12,000 School Board employees and the estimated tens of thousands of delivery people and garbagemen, electricians and contractors, construction workers and roofers, educational consultants and football referees will have their fingerprints recorded and backgrounds checked by the state and the FBI before they may go onto school grounds when students are present, said Fred Murphy, assistant superintendent of Support Services.

Microsoft Helps Crush Freedom on Web in Red China

SHANGHAI, China -- Chinese bloggers, even on foreign-sponsored sites, had better choose their words carefully -- the censors are watching. Users of the MSN Spaces section of Microsoft Corp.'s new China-based Web portal get a scolding message each time they input words deemed taboo by the communist authorities -- such as democracy, freedom and human rights. "Prohibited language in text, please delete," the message says.

9 Out of 10 Teens on The Internet

CHICAGO -- A new survey says that the Internet has all but saturated the youth market. The report compiled for the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that nearly nine out of 10 young people, ages 12 through 17, have online access — up from about three-quarters of young people in 2000. By comparison, about 66 percent of American adults now use the Internet.

US Army Computers 'Shut Down By Hacker'

"The biggest computer hack of all time"
A Briton facing extradition to America for perpetrating "the biggest computer hack of all time" left a message criticising American foreign policy on an army computer, a court heard yesterday. Gary McKinnon, 39, is accused of accessing 97 US government computers, causing damage estimated at $700,000 (£370,000).

King George III may have been poisoned by the Royal physician

Arsenic caused the madness of King George III
According to a newly released study, high concentrations of arsenic have been found in a sample of King George III's hair, and this, say the authors, may have contributed to his unusually severe and prolonged bouts of madness. King George III, while he was on the throne, had five major episodes of prolonged and profound mental derangement.

House reauthorizes USA Patriot Act

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives, ignoring protests from civil liberties groups, renewed the USA Patriot Act on Thursday, to make permanent the government's unprecedented powers to investigate suspected terrorists. Sixteen provisions of the 2001 law, hastily enacted in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, are due to expire at the end of this year unless renewed by Congress. President Bush, who has repeatedly called on lawmakers to make the entire law permanent, commended lawmakers for approving the measure. The House reauthorized the act by 257-171 with several changes designed to increase judicial and political oversight of some of its most controversial provisions. In the Republican-controlled chamber, 44 Democrats supported the bill while 14 Republicans opposed it.

Related
House Votes to extend Patriot Act indefinitely
WASHINGTON -- The House voted to extend indefinitely the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act, while limiting to 10 years two provisions of the law that have become linchpins in the ongoing congressional debate: allowing federal agents to use roving wiretaps and to search library and medical records.

Patriot Act's Policy for Nonprofit Organizations

United Way asks agencies to say they're terrorism-free
United Way of Allegheny County is requiring its more than 3,000 partner agencies to sign a federal anti-terrorism form in order to receive monies during its upcoming annual campaign, a change resulting from the USA Patriot Act. The "USA Patriot Act Anti-terrorism Certification Form" requires nonprofit organizations to certify that they don't knowingly employ people or support groups whose names appear on terrorist watch lists compiled by the government.

Government-Run Surveillance Cameras on Rise

Government-run surveillance cameras that watch Coloradans are spreading, and state officials plan to route images into a new local counterterrorism intelligence center, although privacy concerns loom. A $220,000 federal homeland security grant to "facilitate the prevention of terrorism" will fund hookups to route images from 200 state highway cameras and potentially other surveillance systems to the Colorado Information Analysis Center south of Denver.

Court OKs Warrantless Search of Garbage Cans

HELENA -- Montanans' right to privacy does not extend to their garbage that fills trash cans along alleys and curbs, the state Supreme Court has ruled. Taking out the trash is the same as abandoning such refuse, and law officers don't need a warrant to rummage through remnants of citizens' lives, the justices said in a 5-2 decision Tuesday. The court concluded that "when a person intentionally abandons his property, that person's expectation of privacy with regard to that property is abandoned as well."

The Second Amendment Is Already Dead

The Permission To Keep And Bear Arms
Most of us can still hang onto our rifles, shotguns, and depending on where we live, our handguns – which gives the false impression that we have a 2nd Amendment that actually protects our right to keep and bear arms. But, if we are only allowed to keep the guns they tell us we can keep, and if we are only allowed to carry them the way they tell us we can carry them, then, that is not a right, that is not a guarantee - that is a favor.

Police to Search Bags on NYC Subways

NEW YORK -- Alarmed by a new round of mass transit attacks in London, police in New York have begun random searches of bags and packages brought into the city's vast subway system and elsewhere. The inspections started on a small scale Thursday in Manhattan and were to be expanded during Friday morning's rush hour — a development welcomed by some commuters.

Tommy Thompson to be implanted with RFID Chip

Tommy Thompson, the Health and Human Services Secretary in President Bush's first term and a former Governor of Wisconsin, is going to get tagged. Thompson has joined the board of Applied Digital, which owns VeriChip, the company that specializes in subcutaneous RFID tags for humans and pets. To help promote the concepts behind the technology, Thompson himself will get an RFID tag implanted under his skin.

State Monitored 'Black Box' For All Cars

A remote speed control device that monitors vehicle movement from space might be paving the way for traffic control in Europe and the US. London, England's Department for Transport (DFT) began studying the "traffic spy in the sky" concept in 2000. The project, called the Intelligent Speed Adaptation, or ISA, is scheduled to end later this year, according to Leeds University spokesperson Hannah Love. Researchers at England's Leeds University are conducting highway trials using vehicles with special black boxes installed. These boxes contain a digital map that identifies and enforces the speed limits of roadways in Leeds.

Teen Gets Prison For Making 'Terrorist Threat'

DETROIT -- A teenager convicted of plotting to kill fellow students was sentenced to prison on Thursday in what the prosecution called the first case to apply U.S. anti-terrorism laws to threats of school violence. Andrew Osantowski, 18, of suburban Detroit, will serve at least 4 1/2 years in prison, said Macomb County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Steve Kaplan. He said it was the first prosecution and conviction under a national anti-terrorism statute that passed in 2002.

Texas Sports Plan Means Homes Will Have To Go

ARLINGTON, Texas -- When authorities come to seize Robert Magnus' small, mint-green home so they can bulldoze it for a $650 million Dallas Cowboys stadium complex, Magnus says he will chain himself to one of his trees in a last act of resistance. "If people don't speak out, they're just going to get shafted," said the retired warehouse manager and self-described former hippie, who wears his gray hair past his shoulders.

State Doubles Offer For Official's Lot

South Carolina lieutenant governor's
property gets different treatment
COLUMBIA -- The state doubled its purchase price on a tiny tract of land in order to get Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer to sell property needed for a road project in Irmo. The state Transportation Department paid Bauer $130,000 for a tenth of an acre after Bauer held out for more money, according to records The Greenville News obtained under the state's Freedom of Information Act. That higher price came as a highway commissioner and state senator attended a meeting with Bauer and a Transportation Department staff member.

State Law Makes School Fingerprint Scan Illegal

A high-tech identification system being tested in the Cedar Falls School District is now illegal. A new state law makes it illegal for public entities to fingerprint or scan minors. School officials at Holmes Junior High says it doesn't target them specifically. But they are one of just a few schools in the state that uses a finger scan ID program to pay for school lunches.

New Spam-Fighting Technique Criticized

NEW YORK -- Escalating the war on spam, a California company wants to let thousands of users collaborate to disable the Web sites spammers use to sell their wares. A leading anti-spam advocate, however, criticized Blue Security Inc.'s Blue Frog initiative as being no more than a denial-of-service attack, the technique hackers use to effectively shut down a Web site by overwhelming it with fake traffic.

Bills Extend Patriot Provision

Before Congress leaves Washington for its annual recess next month, both the House and the Senate are expected to vote to renew police powers that were granted in the 2001 Patriot Act and are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Among the most controversial provisions up for renewal is the FBI's power to demand sensitive information on American citizens from businesses with only an order issued under the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Patriot Act legislation was wrong then and worse this time around

In the name of "homeland security," government officials can access your credit history, library and medical records, voice-mail messages and search your home without probable cause. It's part of the USA Patriot Act. Parts of the bill expire this year. Some in Congress now realize the error of their post-Sept. 11 haste. Last week Senate and House lawmakers tried to modify sections under reauthorization bills. One Senate Intelligence Committee proposal, however, seeks to expand government powers.

You Are Being Watched, and There Is No Place to Hide

Increasingly, we live in a surveillance state where everything we do and our every transaction, business or otherwise, is watched, videotaped and analyzed. There is virtually nothing that the surveillance state, growing data systems and information companies do not know about the most intricate details of our lives. With the slightest mistake, however, you can be branded for life.

Governors: Driver's License Costs to Soar

DES MOINES, Iowa -- In the name of homeland security, motorists are going to see costs skyrocket for driver's licenses and motor vehicle offices forced to operate like local branches of the FBI, the nation's governors warn. The law that passed in June goes beyond an earlier law that sought to standardize state driver's licenses, requiring that states verify license applicants are American citizens or legal residents. "This is going to drive the cost of driver's licenses for ordinary folks through the roof," said Democrat Tom Vilsack of Iowa. "I think it's going to drive people crazy."

Secrecy Makes America Neither Free Nor Safe

Imagine a country where the making of some laws can be done behind closed doors, where government agents can enforce laws in secret, and where the courts can accept secret evidence and compel silence about the mere existence of cases brought before them. If you find that hard to imagine in the United States of America, think harder. In a time of terrorism, even core democratic principles can be challenged -- or subverted.

States Trying to Blunt Property Ruling

CHICAGO -- Alarmed by the prospect of local governments seizing homes and turning the property over to developers, lawmakers in at least half the states are rushing to blunt last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling expanding the power of eminent domain. In Texas and California, legislators have proposed constitutional amendments to bar government from taking private property for economic development. Politicians in Alabama, South Dakota and Virginia likewise hope to curtail government's ability to condemn land.

Why My Generation Loved Westerns And Why Later Ones Don't

The Western is uniquely American. Most of the westerns focused on a brief period in American history, 1865–1890. This was also true of western novels. The western has had tremendous appeal outside the United States. There is something about westerns that appeals to the whole world. But what? I think it has to do with the fundamental themes of the western. Most westerns have at least one of these themes:
cowardice vs. honor
the defense of private property (land)
law enforcement
the moral limits of vengeance

Ten Commandments

Recently, God was banned from America's courthouses. Imagine His surprise. Can't even get a fair hearing in the courts of the very country founded in His name. The banning came in the form of the forced removal of displays of the Ten Commandments from courthouse hallways. But, the US Supreme Court's ruling didn't end there, not by a long shot.

Assault weapons ban triggers NRA cancellation

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The National Rifle Association said Monday it is pulling its 2007 national convention out of Columbus because of the city's ban on assault weapons. The City Council passed a ban July 12 outlawing the sale or possession of semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips and detachable magazines. The gun owners' organization had planned to hold its annual three-day event, expected to draw as many as 60,000 people, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. "The party is canceled because last week your city council unanimously voted to revoke the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens in Columbus by banning perfectly legal firearms," NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said.

Judge Narrows Pledge of Allegiance Lawsuit

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- An atheist who convinced a federal appeals court three years ago that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional returned to court Monday and made his case a second time. Michael Newdow, a doctor and lawyer, is suing four Sacramento-area school districts on behalf several atheist children and their families. The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed his first case last year, saying he lacked standing to bring it on behalf of his elementary-aged daughter because he did not have custody of her.

Former DOJ Officials Confirm Oklahoma City Bombing Coverup

Ten years after the Oklahoma City bombing, a published report says several former high ranking Department of Justice officials who want to remain anonymous claim there was a coverup of the attack which killed 168 persons. The story is carried by the McCurtain Daily Gazette in Idabel whose reporter J-D Cash has spent a decade investigating the bombing and its ties to Elohim City, a religious and white separatist compound in eastern Oklahoma.

Civil Service Employees Are Untouchable

This letter is intended for those well-meaning souls that believe our government -- including Congress -- are doing their best in our behalf and have this country's interests at heart. After decades of coddling the largest labor union on the planet, Congress has once again placed itself in a no-win situation. Senior civil service employees are untouchable, and efforts to correct the situation would result in a work stoppage caused by grievance committees and lawsuits.

Genetically Modified Corn Study Reveals Health Damage & Cover-Up

When a German court ordered Monsanto to make public a controversial 90-day rat study on June 20, 2005, the data upheld claims by prominent scientists who said that animals fed the genetically modified (GM) corn developed extensive health effects in the blood, kidneys and liver and that humans eating the corn might be at risk.

Internet Babel?

A few weeks ago, eBay, the largest auction web site on the Internet, quietly halted the sale of items associated with hate groups. While ebay has long disallowed merchandise promoting hate, it has now broadened that prohibition to include t-shirts bearing the likeness of notorious murderers, crime scene photos, and even historical items such as Nazi documents and regalia. While this may not seem like a huge development, it reflects the growing influence of international laws over U.S.-based e-commerce companies.

Lawmakers Agree to Renew Patriot Act

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers on three separate Congressional committees moved Wednesday to impose restrictions on some of the more controversial elements of the law known as the USA Patriot Act, suggesting continued resistance in Congress to the idea of giving the government unchecked authority to fight terrorism. While their bill would permanently extend 14 provisions of the act that are set to expire at the end of this year, it would require Congressional renewal in 2009 for the library provision and for a separate section related to roving wiretaps.

Related
Congress Advances Patriot Act Reauthorization Bills
On the heels of congressional action in June that included House passage of legislation to scale back Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act and a Senate committee proposal to expand the act, Congress took some preliminary steps July 13 toward reauthorization. Key committees and legislators have come up with a smorgasbord of proposals on some of the most controversial provisions set to expire at the end of the year.

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold: Statement on Patriot Act Reauthorization Bills

"The two Patriot Act reauthorization bills passed by House Committees yesterday are simply not good enough. They come nowhere near the reforms that need to be made to fix the Patriot Act. While a few minor changes were adopted, I am disappointed that many amendments that would have made meaningful modifications to protect our freedoms were rejected in both Committees. We must do better than this. Members of the House of both parties should stand up for our rights and freedoms when reauthorization comes to the House floor."

FBI Agents Accused of Lying For Warrant

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Federal agents intentionally deceived a judge to obtain a warrant to arrest a Portland man who was incorrectly linked to terrorist bombings in Spain, the man's attorney told another federal judge yesterday. "They're not telling the truth," said Gerry Spence, the lead lawyer representing Brandon Mayfield, who was arrested in May 2004, two months after bombs ripped through commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 persons.

Patriot Act Challenged In Portland Courtroom

Man Sues FBI, Ashcroft, Justice Department
PORTLAND -- A local man suing the United States government over the Patriot Act faced 10 federal attorneys in court Friday. Brandon Mayfield (pictured) was arrested by the FBI as a material witness after the Madrid train bombings in March 2004. He was jailed for two weeks after investigators claimed that his fingerprints were found on a bag of detonators linked to the bombings. However, the fingerprint analysis was ruled faulty, and Mayfield was released with an apology from the FBI.

CIA-Backed Tech Can Instantly Spot Terrorists In A Crowd

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. intelligence community is investing in new technology meant to provide instant recognition of insurgency fugitives in such crowded facilities as airports and subways. A Los Altos, Calif. company, Pixlogic, has been developing technology meant to search for fugitives and insurgency suspects in a crowd.

Finger Scanning At Disney Parks Causes Concern

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The addition of finger scanning technology at the entrances of Walt Disney World theme parks for all visitors has caused concern among privacy advocates, according to a Local 6 News report. Tourists visiting Disney theme parks in Central Florida must now provide their index and middle fingers to be scanned before entering the front gates.

Customers Pay By Biometric Scan

CHESAPEAKE -- Farm Fresh has become the first retailer in Hampton Roads - and one of the first in Virginia - to roll out a new payment system that lets shoppers buy groceries with the touch of a finger. The Virginia Beach-based company has installed biometric technology at checkout lines in four of its Chesapeake stores. It has plans to put the technology in all 38 Farm Fresh stores, including those on the Peninsula, by year's end.

Bill to combat ID theft on fast track

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee is planning action next week on a bill to combat identity theft. It would give the Federal Trade Commission authority to regulate businesses, schools and other entities that handle sensitive personal information.

They Made Me a Flag-Burner

It seems a rather tedious effort to amend the Constitution every time the Supreme Court makes an absurd ruling, which happens on average every week. Just this week it has more or less abolished property rights, a decision that may have more far-reaching effects than its merely silly 1989 decision about burning flags. If you’ll read the Constitution in question, you’ll notice that it provides for impeachment. This was meant to be used — not rarely, but always. Every government official should be constantly aware that he can lose his job if he abuses his power, just as most people know they can be fired at any time for abusing their employers’ trust.

Texas Debates Eminent Domain Limits

AUSTIN -- The Texas House Tuesday approved a plan that's meant to limit eminent domain. State or local governments would be barred under HJR 19 from seizing private property in Texas mainly for economic development under the proposed state constitutional amendment.

Connecticut Urge Eminent Domain Halt

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Lawmakers on Monday urged municipal leaders not to use their eminent domain powers until the legislature has time to consider changing Connecticut's laws on seizing property. Republican House Minority Leader Robert Ward is pushing for a special session this summer to consider a one-year moratorium on the use of eminent domain powers.

Virginia Wants To Limit Eminent Domain

RICHMOND -- In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that localities can exercise eminent domain powers for economic development, Virginia lawmakers are planning to change Virginia's eminent domain laws. The court's decision says that while localities may use eminent domain to take private property for public use, state legislatures may define public use. So state officials want to tighten Virginia's law to specify that economic development is not a qualifying public use.

Residents Fight Eminent Domain Efforts

Tempers were short in Maplewood Tuesday night as residents face what's becoming a common situation: local governments kicking people out of their homes so developers can move in.

Movement Builds To Seize Souter Home

Supreme Court Justice David Souter probably never expected his vote to permit a Connecticut town the power to seize the homes of citizens would come back to haunt him. But it may. An effort by a Los Angeles advertising entrepreneur to persuade the city fathers of Weare, N.H., to turn the tables on Souter by seizing his home and building a hotel on the site is gaining steam. Logan Darrow Clements and his company, Free Star Media, are now collecting online contributions from the public to support the project.

Oregon County: Testing Ground For Police State Power

The heavy boot of unbridled police power was felt by a select group of law abiding residents of Josephine County (JoCo) on June 3, 4, and 5 of 2005. These were indeed black days in the book of freedom. Totalitarian police power in the name of public safety was used to intimidate and harass local residents whose choice was to ride their motorcycles during these three days.

Guns and The Future of United States

Anti-gun cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Washington DC have demonstrated over and over again that your safety is irrelevant when compared to their political ideology. They continue to pass laws that furthers their agenda which includes a total disarmament of the people.

Morphing the Gestapo

[H]ere we are in 2005, in the United States of America, busily trading essential liberties for the safety of power…We, too, understand that "safety" means "power." We do not have a Gestapo, of course. Intimidating black uniforms with jack boots and shiny hat visors to match are as out-dated as 33 1/3 RPM music albums. And, after all, the Gestapo wasn’t very secret. Our current fascist government is so much smoother, sophisticated, slicker than the Nazis ever were. We just have organizations called FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency.)

More evangelicals among USAF chaplains

COLORADO SPRINGS -- The number of U.S. Air Force chaplains from evangelical Christian churches is growing while the number of chaplains from other religions is generally falling. The Air Force -- and particularly the Air Force Academy in Colorado -- has come under scrutiny for officers allegedly using their positions to support Christian beliefs. The newspaper said reasons include the lack of available Catholic priests and some denominations' dislike of U.S. military actions abroad and the fact that many evangelicals show a strong support for the military.

School bench message said too religious

MARIETTA -- A simple message greets students arriving at Marietta High School - Jesus Loves You! The words are inscribed on a bench located outside of the school's cafeteria and near the spot where school buses drop off and pick up students. Private donations from the school's PTA paid for the bench as part of a larger fund-raising campaign more than four years ago at the school, located on Dallas Highway just west of downtown Marietta.

Texas Volunteers Creating Own Minutemen Groups

SAN ANTONIO -- While fans and critics alike prepare for the arrival of the Minuteman volunteer group to patrol Texas' Mexican border this fall, some in the state have formed their own such group. Leaders of the two groups say they want to reduce illegal immigration and persuade elected officials to beef up border security. However, both plan to remain separate as they start patrols in October. Both groups stress they plan to pass along intelligence to law enforcement, not to act or use force like a police agency.

'Minutemen' recruiting in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- One of the leaders of the "minuteman" program in Arizona has begun recruiting for a similar border-patrol project in New Mexico. A group calling itself the Minutemen Project staged in April a patrol of an area of the Mexican border with southeastern Arizona that it claimed limited illegal immigration in the area.

Surrendering Our Country

Would you allow a bunch of strangers into your house just because they walked in unannounced? How about allowing them to use your refrigerator so they can help themselves to a better life? Drive your car? Would you take them to your hospital and pay for their health care? Would you allow them to sleep in your bedrooms? Would you surrender your house to strangers and how many would you allow to enter? Would you allow an unending line? What if they didn’t speak your language? Would you tolerate any diseases they brought to your house? What if they berated you? Treated you with disrespect? How would you like it if they took down your ‘Old Glory’ and put up a Mexican flag in its place?

Legal groups for illegals to watch county 'Minutemen'

SAN YSIDRO -- If anti-illegal activists patrol the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego County this summer, legal groups plan to monitor the patrols' activities for human rights or other violations. At the Casa Familiar community center in San Ysidro yesterday, representatives from four legal organizations announced plans to train legal observers to shadow the civilian patrol groups if they set up along the border.

Military Expands Homeland Efforts

A new Pentagon strategy for securing the U.S. homeland calls for expanded U.S. military activity not only in the air and sea -- where the armed forces have historically guarded approaches to the country -- but also on the ground and in other less traditional, potentially more problematic areas such as intelligence sharing with civilian law enforcement. The strategy is outlined in a 40-page document, approved last month, that marks the Pentagon's first attempt since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to present a comprehensive plan for defending the U.S. homeland.

Domestic Defense -- Pentagon Weighs Strategy Change to Deter Terror

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's most senior planners are challenging the longstanding strategy that requires the armed forces to be prepared to fight two major wars at a time. Instead, they are weighing whether to shape the military to mount one conventional campaign while devoting more resources to defending American territory and antiterrorism efforts. The consideration of these profound changes are at the center of the current top-to-bottom review of Pentagon strategy, as ordered by Congress every four years, and will determine the future size of the military as well as the fate of hundreds of billions of dollars in new weapons.

"The Militia Of The Several States" Guarantee The Right To Keep And Bear Arms

One cannot hold to a fanciful, romantic, or even partially erroneous interpretation of the Constitution and nevertheless expect to be able to use the Constitution effectively to protect his rights. For his opponents will inevitably expose the flaws in his position and exploit them against him. Nowhere is this more true than with respect to the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

An Uncertain Sound

The U.S. Supreme Court has thoroughly clouded the Ten Commandments issue beyond all recognition with its two recent rulings. In McCreary County v. ACLU, they ruled against displaying the commandments on government property. However, in Van Orden v. Perry, they ruled in favor of displaying the commandments on government property. What is going on here and what is being communicated by the highest court in America?

Insanity: Conservatives Voting Republican

Insanity has often been defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results. If such is the case, then conservatives who vote Republican, out of hope that the party will slay the federal leviathan, are perhaps the maddest of Americans. The GOP has controlled Congress for 10 years. The president has been Republican for five years. Republican nominees to the Supreme Court have been in the majority since the 1970's. In spite of this political growth and domination of a political organization that promises to pull the reigns on the power of government, centralization of wealth and power launches forward at a pace that despots in development would envy.

County Commission Stands Against Patriot Act

NEW BRUNSWICK -- The Middlesex County Human Relations Commission is joining the growing list of communities and legislators from around the country taking a stance against the USA Patriot Act. The commission will issue a formal resolution to lawmakers, municipal governments and local organizations on Tuesday urging them to petition the executive level of the federal government to rescind or modify any law or executive order that diminishes protected civil rights.

Panel Addresses Patriot Act

Groups that oppose parts of the Patriot Act gathered Tuesday night to talk about why it should be changed. The Patriot Act is a group of laws enacted after the attacks of September 11 designed to help the federal government better combat terrorism. Many at the gathering felt some provisions in that act go too far and violate civil rights. "Even though a lot of the Patriot Act is very appropriate, that's why I voted for it, there are some provisions that give the government too much power to gather too much information on law-abiding citizens and we need to scale those back,” said Bob Barr, a former House Representative and a former U.S. Attorney.

Libraries balk at Patriot Act

If the government comes asking for information it has no right to, don't be afraid. Get angry. The ALA is leading efforts to roll back parts of the USA Patriot Act, which Congress approved without a hearing, debate or deliberation just six weeks after 9/11 to give the government, and the executive branch in particular, powers it thought it needed to pursue terrorists. The ALA is leading efforts to roll back parts of the USA Patriot Act, which Congress approved without a hearing, debate or deliberation just six weeks after 9/11 to give the government, and the executive branch in particular, powers it thought it needed to pursue terrorists.

A Diverse Coalition Pushes for Freedom of Information Act Compliance

A political odd couple, backed by an unusual coalition of advocacy groups and news organizations, is looking to crack down on government officials who ignore public requests for information. Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) are pushing a package of legislative proposals that would create, for the first time, penalties for agencies that ignore Freedom of Information Act requests.

Forget Cameras - Spy Device Will Cut Drivers’ Speed By Satellite

IT IS the ultimate back seat driver. Motorists face having their cars fitted with a “spy” device that stops speeding. The satellite-based system will monitor the speed limit and apply the brakes or cut out the accelerator if the driver tries to exceed it. A government-funded trial has concluded that the scheme promotes safer driving.

Support for ID card collapses in Britain

Tony Blair's hopes of bringing in a national system of identity cards were looking increasingly imperilled last night amid signs of collapsing public support and panic within the Government. A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph shows that backing for ID cards has plummeted from 78 per cent less than two years ago to 45 per cent.

Many in Britain Ready to Risk Prison Over ID Cards

Hundreds of thousands of people are set to defy the government by refusing to carry ID cards, despite the risk of imprisonment. The Home Office estimates that around 17 per cent of adults - up to four million people - oppose the cards. A recent ICM poll, commissioned by No2ID, found that 43 per cent believe they are a 'bad' or 'very bad' idea.

The Mother Of All Abominations

A U.S. soldier comes home to his family after serving two tours in Iraq. He lost his leg to IED roadside bomb during the second tour. Yet he's home with his wife and two children, safe and sound. One day he receives a letter in the mail informing him that the city council in the town where he lives has decided to give a private developer the rights to buy his house from him, one that he and his wife struggled for years to make a down payment on a soldier's pay, and tear it and his neighbors' houses down to make way for a ritzy new housing development.

Ritalin-Aspartame-Chromosome Damage - Killing Kids For Money

Normally nobody would do a study on aspartame and children because after a quarter of a century we know without a shadow of a doubt how this aspartame destroys brains. In fact, some years ago a Norway University did a study and found aspartame destroys the brain, especially in the area of learning. However, a study was accidently done in children by Dr. Baret of the Dominican Republic. Knowing that small children drinking milk could trigger diabetes, Dr. Baret changed their diet to replace milk with aspartame laced juice.

U.S. Keeps Control Of Internet Computers

NEW YORK -- The U.S. government will indefinitely retain oversight of the main computers that direct traffic on the Internet, ignoring calls by some countries to turn the function over to an international body, a senior official said Thursday. The announcement marked a departure from previously stated U.S. policy.

Boy Who Nearly Crashed The World

A GERMAN teenager is facing a jail term after admitting yesterday to creating and unleashing the "Sasser" computer virus that crashed systems across the world, wreaking havoc in big businesses and homes. Sven Jaschen, 19, confessed to all the charges against him when he appeared before a German court. Katharina Kruetzfeldt, the judge at the court in the western town of Verden, said Jaschan admitted data manipulation, computer sabotage and interfering with public corporations in one of the biggest internet attacks of its kind.

Spammer arrested in airport on return to US

One of the world's most prolific spammers has been arrested in the US as he stepped off a plane from the Dominican Republic, where he had been holed up running his illegal operation. Christopher Smith, originally from Minnesota, has moved his operation around the world to locations such as China and Malaysia, according to Spamhaus. Earlier this year US authorities seized assets from Smith and shut down one of his businesses which was illegally selling pharmaceuticals online.

New 'Hate' Bill Being Pushed

The Anti-Defamation League’s new, tougher hate bill, “The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005,” HR 2662, if passed, will very soon end free speech and free speech talk radio. The ADL, through similar legislation, has already ended free speech in Canada. It wants to do the same in America. Here’s a summary of how this bill would make law. HR 2662 intends to enforce nation-wide the working ADL/federal definition that “hate” equals bias against federally protected groups. Particularly against: Homosexuals. Any specific public criticism of homosexuals will eventually be considered a hate crime, just as it already has been for eleven Christians under the ADL’s Pennsylvania hate crime law on Oct. 10, 2004.

A Man's Home Is Uncle Sam's Castle

Possession may be nine tenths of the law, but not when the law wants your possessions. This past Thursday was a dark day for freedom in America, as the Supreme Court once again proved that its contempt for the Constitution is only matched by its willingness to court communism.

Toward Soviet America Communist Extreme Court

A couple of days after the recent Communist ruling by five injudicious scumbags on the U.S. Extreme Court, I interviewed Michael Cristofaro on my national talk show, the Sting of Stang. Mike is one of their victims in New London, Connecticut, which the court has now allowed the local government to despoil in collusion with developers who have more money and clout than he does.

Supreme Court: City Can Seize Man's Small Private Business and Give The Property To A Larger Private Business

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday refused to hear the appeal of a Toledo auto-body shop owner whose land was seized by eminent domain to pave the way for construction of the Toledo Jeep plant. Without comment, the justices spurned a plea by Herman Blankenship, co-owner of Kim's Auto & Truck Service, that it decide whether the acquisition of his property was for "public use" as required by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

Auto Shop Co-Owner Is Still Defiant After Court Rejects Appeal

As vehicle haulers packed with new Jeeps thundered down Stickney Avenue behind him, Herman Blankenship remained defiant. "I'll tell you what: I'm nobody. I've never caused much trouble around town, but I'm going to be the biggest pain [for city officials]," he said. "They took my land from me. They made me an advocate."

Amendment needed to protect private property

This is the time of year when the U.S. Supreme Court tends to get busy and hand down its biggest decisions. Not coincidentally, it's also the time of year when a lot of people get really upset with the high court. I can't recall any recent decision from our highest court generating as much outrage as their ruling last week on the subject of eminent domain. I wasn't born yet when the justices outlawed organized prayer in schools and I wasn't old enough to comprehend such things when they legalized abortion, but I can only imagine that public reaction in those cases was comparable to what we're seeing now.

Developer Wants To Seize Supreme Court Justice's Home

Home Would Be Replaced With 'Lost Liberty' Hotel
WEARE, N.H. -- Following a Supreme Court ruling last week that gave local governments power to seize private property, someone has suggested taking over Justice David Souter's New Hampshire farmhouse and turning it into a hotel. "The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare," Logan Darrow Clements of California wrote in a letter faxed to town officials in Weare on Tuesday.

'Patriot' Act Used to Evict Homeless

The USA Patriot Act, in the name of fighting terrorism, allows the government to find out which books and Internet sites a person has seen. It lets investigators secretly search homes and monitor phone calls and e-mail. Now, officials in the wealthy New York City suburb of Summit are using the law to justify forcing homeless people to leave a train station _ an action that sparked a $5 million federal lawsuit by a homeless man.

National Guard monitoring Americans?

National Guard forms anti-terrorism intelligence unit
SACRAMENTO -- Three decades after aggressive military spying on Americans created a national furor, California's National Guard has quietly set up a special intelligence unit that has been given ''broad authority'' to monitor, analyze and distribute information on potential terrorist threats, the Mercury News has learned. Although Guard officials said the new unit would not collect information on American citizens, top National Guard officials have already been involved in tracking at least one recent Mother's Day anti-war rally organized by families of slain American soldiers, according to e-mails obtained by the Mercury News.

Globalism, Collectivism, And Stupidism

It’s another of those government edicts that make you think the world has gone mad: Executive Order 13166. In the last months of his presidency, Bill Clinton evidently decided it wasn’t enough to merely force taxpayers to subsidize services to non-citizen, non-English speakers. So he by-passed Congress with a mandate that bestows vast new powers on the federal bureaucracy, trashes states’ rights, individual rights, and what’s left of the free enterprise system. And the Bush Administration is implementing it.

With an attitude like this, no wonder gun owners don’t trust ATF

Preposterous is the only acceptable term one can apply to the remark attributed to Gerald Nunziato, former head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Tracing Center during the Clinton Administration: “If it wasn’t for criminals, there wouldn’t be a gun industry in this country.” That comment appeared in the Houston Chronicle, coincidentally on the same weekend the National Rifle Association was meeting in that city, and it exemplifies why American firearms owners do not feel warm and fuzzy about this federal agency.