Department of Education Must be Abolished

The federal Department of Education is unconstitutional. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution does not authorize Congress to legislate education within the independent, sovereign states who are themselves a “Republican form of government.” There is only one solution to stopping the brainwashing of America’s children and that is for the states of the Union to completely sever any relationship with the federal Department of Education.

The federal Department of Education was made a part of the president’s Cabinet by new world order facilitator Jimmy Carter. Prior to that, America had the finest education system in the world. In 1980, Ronald Reagan promised that, if elected, he would get this unconstitutional department abolished.

That promise was abandoned after his election. While campaigning for his doomed-to-lose bid for the presidency, Bob Dole said on Sept. 9, 1996, while in Georgia, “We’re going to cut out the Department of Education.” At that time, the GOP presidential platform read, in part:

Our formula is as simple as it is sweeping: The federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved in school curricula or to control jobs in the workplace. That is why we will abolish the Department of Education, end federal meddling in our schools, and promote family choice at all levels of learning.
We therefore call for prompt repeal of the Goals 2000 program and the School-To-Work Act of 1994, which put new federal controls, as well as unfunded mandates, on the States. We further urge that federal attempts to impose outcome- or performance-based education on local schools be ended.

Of course, just the opposite has taken place and, in fact, the goals for creating the “New Communist Man” was given a huge boost with President Bush’s deceptive “No Child Left Behind” program. As for the repeal of the School-To-Work Act of 1994, Council of Foreign Relations kingpin Henry Hyde explained it this way:

When carried to its logical extreme, it chooses careers for every American worker. Children’s careers will be chosen for them by Workforce Development Boards and federal agencies at the earliest possible age …
Statewide Workforce Development Boards have formed to study which labor skills are needed in each state to determine “human resources” training requirements. Of course, this will decide also where these human resources will reside.

Chilling to say the least – and it gets worse when one reads President Bush’s Executive Order, signed June 20, 2001, titled “21st Century Workforce Initiative.” The blueprint for forced labor is now being implemented quietly while parents and politicians scream, “More money for education.” Essentially they are asking to pay for the rope to hang their own children.

[...] 

Department of Education must be abolished

The problem is that those who campaign against overreaching federal government tend to be corrupted by the power that public office brings them, so they abandon any thoughts of reigning in the federal government, or of resolving some of the foundation issues at the core. Absolute power...

It’s Time to Cut Our Losses in Afghanistan

The mayhem unleashed after the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base outside of Kabul—intentional or not—has likely irreparably damaged the U.S. training mission in Afghanistan. Peace talks with the Taliban—a major policy shift for the insurgent movement—could be off the table, too. This is just the latest incident in the downward spiral of U.S.-Afghan relations. Washington's policy must now shift dramatically toward an expedited withdrawal. The "hearts and minds" campaign was never likely to succeed in a country that views the United States as guests who have overstayed their welcome.

Some political leaders and military commanders will argue that cooler heads must prevail and that a long-term strategy demands America's indefinite presence in Afghanistan. They will argue that any drawdown must be based on conditions on the ground. But conditions on the ground do not warrant staying the course, only for narrowing our mission and avoiding further tragedies.

Former 4-star General Jack Keane, who has traveled to Afghanistan four times within the past 18 months, says of the outrage and rioting that America in fact has a good relationship with the Afghan people. "We've forged an unusually strong relationship with those people. We've done it based on the values of the American people and our sensitivities to their culture. That's what is so frustrating about this." With all due respect, General Keane and other like-minded observers are wrong. The mission is a waste of money, effort, and, most importantly, lives.

The former heads of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal (retired) and General David Petraeus, both emphasized the importance of winning the "hearts and minds" of Afghans by treating them and their culture with respect. They believed the most helpful indicator of progress on the ground and the integration of political and military strategy is the protection of Afghan civilians.

[...]

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/its-time-to-cut-our-losses-in-afghanistan/#utm_source=Cato+Institute+Emails&utm_campaign=ae550a20ea-Cato_Weekly_Dispatch&utm_medium=email&mc_cid=ae550a20ea&mc_eid=dd8e4ee93f

As Dmitry Orlov says, Afghanistan is where empires go to die...

What's Wrong with the GDP?

 

Since its introduction during World War II as a measure of wartime production capacity, the Gross National Product (now routinely measured as Gross Domestic Product—GDP) has become the nation's foremost indicator of economic progress. It is now widely used by policymakers, economists, international agencies and the media as the primary scorecard of a nation's economic health and well-being.

Yet the GDP was never intended for this role. It is merely a gross tally of products and services bought and sold, with no distinctions between transactions that add to well-being, and those that diminish it. Instead of separating costs from benefits, and productive activities from destructive ones, the GDP assumes that every monetary transaction adds to well-being, by definition. It is as if a business tried to assess its financial condition by simply adding up all "business activity," thereby lumping together income and expenses, assets and liabilities.

On top of this, the GDP ignores everything that happens outside the realm of monetized exchange, regardless of its importance to well-being. The crucial economic functions performed in the household and volunteer sectors go entirely ignored. The contributions of the natural habitat in providing the resources that sustain us go unreckoned as well. As a result, the GDP not only masks the breakdown of the social structure and natural habitat; worse, it actually portrays such breakdown as economic gain.

[...]

http://www.jayhanson.us/page11.htm

Progress heads slowly south, indicating that despite the peachy outlook by the current administration, though GDP is likely more driven up by the endless and increasing spending by government and the inflation/devaluation of the dollar by the banking system.

Does anyone else notice that the GPI starts is downhill slide just after the early 1970s when M. King Hubbert predicted that we would hit Peak Oil?

Obama warns China against 'skirting the rules'

Making an election-year pitch to American workers, and businesses as well, Obama announced Washington has brought a new trade case against Beijing. The goal is to pressure China, a rising Asian economic power, to end its restrictions on exports of key materials used to manufacture hybrid car batteries, flat screen televisions and other high tech-goods.

America is pissed about Japan crashing instead of becoming the controlling economy in the east, more willing to work with our government to fleece workers and taxpayers. 

"If China would simply let the market work on its own, we'd have no objection," Obama said during remarks at the White House. "But their policies currently are preventing that from happening. And they go against the very rules that China agreed to follow."

Obama proposes free markets for China, but Keynesian economics, bailouts, ever-increasing record deficits and national debts for America. He say they should play by the rules, but America doesn't have to?

The U.S., working in conjunction with the European Union and Japan, asked the World Trade Organization Tuesday to facilitate talks with China over its curtailment of exports of what's known as rare earth minerals. Obama cast the fresh action against China as part of a broader push to level the playing field for U.S. companies. Read More

Hello pot, this is kettle...

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Original Page: http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2012/03/obama-warns-china-against-skirting.html

Mysterious Planet-Sized 'Death Star' Captured On Video As It Refuels At The Surface

An orbiting Nasa space telescope captured a dark, planet-sized object flying close to the sun on Monday - and extending what looks like a refueling tube into the star's surface.

The black, Death Star-like, orb is briefly engulfed in light from the sun, then flies off into space.

A video edited from the Solar Dynamics Observatory's photos inspired a wave of speculation on YouTube.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...e-sun.html

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Original Page: http://www.realistnews.net/Thread-mysterious-planet-sized-death-star-captured-on-video-as-it-refuels-at-the-surface

Just zombies, or zombies on sun disease?

And here's your daily dose of crazy:

What alex is describing is not just the fluoride and tv and other factors that TPTB use to suppress the population. At least that's what I think. I've seen a few almost-accidents lately because people weren't paying attention, and I dont live in the US, could these be the first signs of the "sun disease"?

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Original Page: http://www.realistnews.net/Thread-just-zombies-or-zombies-on-sun-disease

The Military Industrial Complex Has Got Us By The Throat!

This is why Ron Paul gets more military donations than any other candidate. Make sure to check out the comments.

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Original Page: http://www.realistnews.net/Thread-the-military-industrial-complex-has-got-us-by-the-throat-jack-cafferty

YouTube - Go Frak Yourself

Well, I was forced by YouTube (Google) to view a video regarding copyright law, but my point of contention is that I really don't give a damn. While I recognize property rights, I also believe that art is meant to be viewed. YouTube is little more than a medium for viewing art. Intellectual property rights and copyright law are entirely corrupt and up for sale to the highest bidder (cough, Weinstein, cough), which invalidates those arguments in my mind. I guess I'm with the Libertarians on this one (and probably further over into the anarcho-capitalist camp).

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself

It would be interesting to discover how far a seriously critical view of the benefits to society of the law of copyright ... would have a chance of being publicly stated in a society in which the channels of expression are so largely controlled by people who have a vested interest in the existing situation. — Friedrich A. Hayek, "The Intellectuals and Socialism"

A Dispute Among Libertarians

The status of intellectual property rights (copyrights, patents, and the like) is an issue that has long divided libertarians. Such libertarian luminaries as Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, and Ayn Rand have been strong supporters of intellectual property rights. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, was ambivalent on the issue, while radical libertarians like Benjamin Tucker in the last century and Tom Palmer in the present one have rejected intellectual property rights altogether.

When libertarians of the first sort come across a purported intellectual property right, they see one more instance of an individual's rightful claim to the product of his labor. When libertarians of the second sort come across a purported intellectual property right, they see one more instance of undeserved monopoly privilege granted by government.

I used to be in the first group. Now I am in the second. I'd like to explain why I think intellectual property rights are unjustified, and how the legitimate ends currently sought through the expedient of intellectual property rights might be secured by other, voluntary means.

[...]

The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights

"... the patent monopoly ... consists in protecting inventors ... against competition for a period long enough to extort from the people a reward enormously in excess of the labor measure of their services, — in other words, in giving certain people a right of property for a term of years in laws and facts of Nature, and the power to exact tribute from others for the use of this natural wealth, which should be open to all."
(Benjamin Tucker, Instead of a Book, By a Man Too Busy to Write One: A Fragmentary Exposition of Philosophical Anarchism (New York: Tucker, 1893), p. 13.)

I'm proud to be a pirate, I take offense at Google forcing me to view their propaganda. I appreciate the artist, the inventor, the entrepreneur for their works, their services, their products, but not the state for supporting, nay, collaborating in extorting the public in an effort to stifle competition in what could be a free market.

Frak the Weinsteins...

The Fifth World | Mayan and Hopi 2012 Prophecies

Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, a thousand years before the 13th century Dresden Codex and the 16th century Popol Vul, hundreds of ancient chambers were sealed in the lands we now know as the Maya lands. These chambers were constructed in a profoundly sacred manner. Their purpose was beyond what we can conceive at this time. These chambers were sealed to lock in certain information and alchemical energy. Once a sacred seal was broken in any one of these chambers, the energy locked inside would be released into the world. All of this was meticulously planned out. The ancient ones did all of this for us who live in this time.

One such chamber has been opened. Although there are hundreds of such chambers throughout the Maya lands, this one has particular significance to the transformational times humanity is upon. We are in the last days of a 104 thousand year cycle. This chamber held the knowledge of Four Worlds; Four Worlds of 104 thousand years each. The last of these Four Worlds is the one we are presently in. In this chamber there is a hint of the Fifth World that we are at the brink of entering. It hints at how we get to the Fifth World, and what we might expect when we get there.

This chamber lies deep in the jungles of Peten, Guatemala in a Maya site called San Bartolo. It has been reopened. We don't know exactly when the seal was cracked. It is possible that it was opened as early as the year 2001 by grave robbers. They didn't understand the significance of the chamber that they hammered into; they were only looking for treasure . . . for jade. Little did they know that the treasure was not in the material objects that they were hoping to find. The treasure was the energy. The echo of this energy, this truth, is in the remains of magnificent murals. These are considered the oldest Maya murals to be uncovered to date. 

THE PROPHECY OF THE FIFTH WORLD - Year 2012 - tribe.net

An ancient petroglyph called the Hopi Prophecy Rock depicts three individuals, representing three preceding Worlds, or epochs in which people have traveled a "Two-hearted" path where people thought only with their heads, not their hearts. The fourth figure is our present unsustainable "Fourth World" that is about to be destroyed by Cosmic Lightning.
We are the figure to the left who must now choose between remaining unbalanced and descending into conflict and destruction, or start thinking with our hearts and thus return to the One-hearted path that leds to survival in harmony with Nature and our Cosmic Kin.

Maya mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all those Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles.

Mesoamerican creation myths are the collection of creation myths attributed to, or documented for, the various cultures and civilizations of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

According to the legends of the Maya, the polytheistic Mayan gods, referred to as the Supreme Creator god Hunab Ku, created four new worlds, rebuilding the landscape four times after deluges had poured from the mouth of the sky serpent. What this legend refers to are four times where god Hunab Ku acted as a benefactor and mentor to the souls inhabiting the physical plane bodies of the people known as the Maya. The Popol Vuh gives a sequence of four efforts at creation. First were animals, then wet clay, wood, then last, the creation of the first ancestors from maize dough.

The polytheistic Mayan gods included Kukulkán (also known by the Aztec name Quetzalcoatl) and Tepeu. The two were referred to as the Creators, the Forefathers or the Makers. According to the story, the two gods decided to preserve their legacy by creating an Earth-bound species looking like them. The first attempt was the animal world. The second attempt was man made from mud (2nd world), but Tepeu and Kukulkán found that the mud crumbled. The two gods summoned the other gods, and together they decided to make man from wood (3rd world). However, since these men had no soul and soon lost loyalty to the creators, the gods destroyed them by rain. Finally, man was constructed from maize, (4th world) the Mayans staple and sacred food.

Depending on which myth you read, the Fifth World is either the present world or the next world, in several Native American beliefs which center around a cyclical understanding of time. According to both Native American Hopi mythology and Maya mythology, the current world we inhabit is the "Fourth World." In both belief systems, time is cyclical, and the end of one world is the beginning of the next. For the Hopi, the end of the fourth world is marked by the arrival of Pahana, or the lost "White Brother." The Maya calendar charts out this progression through astrology, concluding that the current, fourth world will end sometime near the December solstice in 2012 (dates vary based on interpretation).

The Aztecs held similar beliefs, but they believed we are currently in the fifth world, and that it is the sixth world that is to arrive next.

The coming Fifth World (where our present World is presented as the Fourth) is said to arrive following a cycle in nature affecting our entire Solar System, where our Earth births an egg (Mystery Egg, Hidden Egg) and then moves "up" within our system to reach its crowning place. All of the Earth's life is then said to be "raised" to its perfected-eternal form. Some tribes refer to this period of change as "Purification Time." During this period of purification, time is said to change where we must choose between the natural Time we have now upon our Earth (meant for us) and an unnatural time structure which removes us from nature and our opportunity to reach the Fifth World. It is told that everyone will have to choose between the two time frames—one leading to the Fifth World with our Earth, and the other (which will be very alluring, deceiving many) which will remove us from our Earth, taking us to oblivion.

Each Mayan World Age lasts 5125.36 years or 1,872,000 days, and there are five such periods totaling the Mayan Great Year of 25,626.83 years. We are now at the end of the 4th Mayan World which began August 13th, 3113 BC -supposedly around the time of the Great Flood of Noah.

Mayan Fifth World (Native American mythology)

Not Ordinary People: Criminals Do Not Represent Concealed Carriers

(Not) Ordinary People examines the gun lobby's frequent claim that gun owners—and concealed carry permit holders in particular—are the most law-abiding citizens in our country. We grant this is probably true in many cases, but argue that gun owners are human beings—subject to the same issues of stress, depression, substance abuse and mental illness; which can sometimes lead to criminal behavior and tragedy.

OP fail in their argument in that ordinary people don't stalk and attack innocent people. Anti-gun/anti-rights groups like the Brady Campaign and CSGV jump on tragedies like this to promote a misguided campaign of misinformation in an attempt to pervert public opinion. 

March 14, 2012

"These a**holes always get away."

On February 26th, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was an invited guest staying with his stepmother in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. During halftime of the NBA all-star game that evening, Martin walked to a local convenience store to get some snacks. Little did he know he was being followed by George Zimmerman, 28, the self-appointed "captain" of the neighborhood watch program.

How does calling out the shooter as white and the victim as black have any bearing? Gun control is historically racist, which supports the need to do away with restrictive policies to disarm minorities and allow rich white men to have a monopoly on the use of force. An armed society is indeed a polite one. 

Zimmerman, who is white, had been tailing the young African-American in his car because he felt Martin was "a suspicious person." At some point, Zimmerman called 911. During this conversation, he mentioned Martin's race and stated that he was going to detain the youth because "these a**holes always get away." The dispatcher told Zimmerman that a unit was being dispatched to the scene and asked Zimmerman to refrain from approaching Martin.

Zimmerman ignored this direction. He got out of his car and pursued Martin between two rows of townhouses. A fistfight broke out. When police arrived on the scene minutes later, they found Martin dying face down in the grass. In his hands were a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. He had been shot in the chest by Zimmerman, a concealed handgun permit holder who was armed that night, with a 9mm pistol.

Being a holder of a concealed carry permit does little to tout the danger of the permit system, but does imply that even criminals and unstable individuals can pervert the system that fails to promote public safety. 

If Zimmerman saw anything "suspicious" that night beyond an African-American walking through a gated community in a hooded sweatshirt, he never said. He was detained by the police, but after he claimed he acted in self-defense in killing the unarmed Martin (who he outweighed by 100 pounds), Zimmerman was released without charge. Martin's family and their attorney were told by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee that Zimmerman avoided arrest because he had a "squeaky clean" criminal record.

Imagine that. He was released. It's alright of you're white!

That statement was fraudulent. It has since been revealed that Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. The case was dismissed after Zimmerman attended a pre-trial diversion program and a deal was made with his attorney to get the case dropped. In addition, police have fielded complaints from members of Zimmerman's gated community about his aggressive conduct in the neighborhood. According to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, "[The Sanford Police Department] just lied to the family. They just couldn't see why [Zimmerman] would do anything wrong or be violent. But not only do you know the guy killed this kid, because he admitted to it, you knew that he has a propensity for violence because of his past record."

Martin, on the other hand, was squeaky clean. An avid sports fan and horseback rider, he dreamed of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. His family still recalls the boy's heroics at age nine, when he dragged his father from a burning kitchen. After the shooting, his father described his son as "a dear friend."

The reluctance of the Sanford Police Department to arrest Zimmerman probably has something to do with Florida's outrageous "Stand Your Ground" law.

The fallacy of this attack on the law is that it really doesn't apply to an act of aggression by Zimmerman. Martin was unarmed, Zimmerman was unprovoked and the aggressor. 

The law removes the duty of individuals to retreat from a confrontation and allows them to use deadly force if they reasonably believe that it is necessary to prevent death or "great bodily harm." "Stand Your Ground" legislation was enacted in 2005 after being championed in the Florida state legislature by National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer. In support of the law, Hammer said, "Through time, in this country, what I like to call bleeding heart criminal coddlers want you to give a criminal an even break, so that when you're attacked, you're supposed to turn around and run, rather than standing your ground and protecting yourself and your family and your property."

Had Martin been a concealed carrier, the law would have applied to an act of self defense, which the author attempts to twist and lead the reader into a false conclusion. 

But critics in Florida's legal community dubbed it the "Shoot First" law and said that it "encourages people to stand their ground ... when they could just as easily walk away." It has also been pointed out that the law "give[s] citizens more rights to use deadly force than we give police officers, and with less review." A report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel vindicated these complaints, concluding, "several...accused murderers have successfully used [Florida's] 2005 'Stand Your Ground' law to prove they were the real victims."

Citizens should never be considered to have fewer rights than law enforcement. That's a misnomer which should fade away, replaced with a view based on reality. 

Three things are obvious to everyone: 1) Trayvon Martin was not a criminal; 2) George Zimmerman was not protecting either his property or family on the evening of February 26th, and; 3) Not only could Zimmerman have walked away that night; he actively sought out this conflict when told not to do so by law enforcement. No civilian gun-toter has a right to stand above the rule of law and serve as another human being's judge, jury and executioner.

Again, Zimmerman is no more representative of the gun owning community than any criminal, with or without a permit. He was imbalances and aggressive toward others, he should have never been allowed to possess a permit or firearm, which is why the permit system is a failure. 

As of today, George Zimmerman remains a free man, with carte blanche to carry a loaded gun in public. Meanwhile, Trayvon's family continues to mourn. "That was my baby, my youngest son," his mother Sybrina Fulton told ABC News. "He meant a lot to me, I don't think the police department really understands that ... I need justice for my family, I just want justice for my son."

If you'd like to help the Martin family, please do so by signing this online petition that calls on Florida's 18th District State's Attorney to prosecute George Zimmerman for this murder.

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Original Page: http://csgv3.blogspot.com/2012/03/these-aholes-always-get-away.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&m=1

Police say they've dismantled Austin cocaine cell

Authorities say they have broken up a major smuggling ring responsible for moving five kilograms of cocaine per week into the Austin area since last May.

The failed drug war. There's a great way to blow a trillion dollars. That's $1,000,000,000 wasted since it began, yet drugs continue to exist. Prohibition never works, as history shows. Drug prohibition is simply a method of control, but has little to do with drugs. 

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Original Page: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/police-say-theyve-dismantled-austin-cocaine-cell-2237466.html?cxtype=rss_news

CONNECTING THE DOTS « The Burning Platform

There is one thing most TBP members have in common. They reach logical conclusions based upon the facts. The reason we find ourselves constantly frustrated by everything going on around us is that the world is not functioning logically. We see a world drowning in debt and our political and financial leaders' solution to this issue is to create more debt, pretend things are getting better, and further enriching themselves at the expense of a dying middle class. It's clear to any critical thinking person that peak oil has arrived. This chart proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Supply did not and cannot respond to higher prices.

The showdown with Iran over a nuclear bomb that does not exist is not logical. The war rhetoric and the unnecessary sanctions have already added $10 to $20 to the price of a barrel of oil. To attack Iran would threaten to open Pandora's Box and possibly lead to World War III. But logic does not seem to be a necessary ingredient in our world today. As I try to make sense of everything swirling around my head, I can't help but reach the conclusion that things are so bad that the wealthy elite who control the political and financial power in this world are willing to risk it all to retain their wealth and power. War enriches corporate arms makers and the bankers who will supply the debt to fight the war. By successfully crushing the existing Iranian government and installing another puppet regime friendly to the West, the ruling elite believe they can keep the oil flowing for awhile longer. They believe that successfully winning a war against Iran would result in $2.50 a gallon gasoline again.

The three stories below, all published in the last three days, gives me reason to believe that an attack on Iran is inevitable. The info from Stratfor reveals that we will have 3 aircraft battle groups in the Strait of Hormuz by March 21. There are missile destroyers and big deck amphibious warships gathering around Iran. We did not bring all the troops home from Iraq. We positioned thousands of troops in Kuwait and Bahrain. We have airbases completely surrounding Iran. If we are moving naval assets into the Gulf, you can be sure we are also moving bombers and fighter aircraft.

[...]

http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=31441

Wrongful Death Trial in Tech Killings Goes to Jury - ABC News

Jurors began deliberating Wednesday over a lawsuit filed by the parents of two students slain in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre claiming school officials botched their response when the first reports came in that a gunman was on campus.

Maybe now the university and public can start to think about the reality of gun-free zones...

Attorneys for the university have countered that there was no way to anticipate the man who committed those first two killings April 16 in a dormitory would carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Police had initially concluded the first killings were isolated. Jurors will have to decide whether school officials could have reasonably foreseen that more carnage was going to occur.

And the best way to deal with the lack of ability to defend against that which is unable to be anticipated? Enable law-abiding citizens to practice their natural and Constitutional right to self defense. Of the American universities which allow concealed carry, how many have had shootings? None. Zero. 

Robert T. Hall, an attorney for the parents, said they are interested in holding school officials accountable, not money.

Evidence of the magnitude of the error, Hall said, "were the bodies of the young people on the floors of Norris Hall."

I'd rather those students not been denied the ability to defend themselves based on a baseless and emotional argument. They might still be alive today. 

One of the state's attorneys, Peter Messitt, said Tech officials could not be expected to anticipate the killing spree, calling the slaughter unprecedented "in the history of higher education."

This level of loss of life was partly responsible for the resurgence of concealed carry (Luby's Texas massacre), and has also shown the lack of substance in the restrictions of firearms arbitrarily imposed on college campuses. 

If these students are adults in all other regards, what sense does disarming the make? Concealed carry is regulated by states, so it's on the universities to defend the gun-free zones. 

A jury of seven in the civil trial will also consider damages for the families, but they have not been told the award is capped at $100,000 for each family under state law. The state is the lone defendant. Two alternates were dismissed before jurors began deliberations.

[...]

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=15919872

Obama: Window for Diplomacy in Iran Is 'Shrinking'

Obama: Window for diplomatic resolution to Iranian nuclear conflict is 'shrinking'

And I thought Bush was a warmonger who couldn't wait to attack the next nation on his shitlist. Obama is worse. Imagine that, the antiwar candidate becomes the warmonger president. 

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Original Page: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=1380d4641bf71b6ee3dc09166d78e783

Obama: US, Britain Discussing Possible 'Immediate Steps' to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Syria

Obama: US, Britain discussing possible 'immediate steps' to provide humanitarian aid to Syria

Thick as thieves, we are. Remember kids, "humanitarian aid" is what we call it when the Empire bombs the snot out of a nation in an attempt to change the leadership and take resources from them without going through the trouble of declaring war on a country which poses no imminent threat, which makes it hard to justify. In Libya, we supported the terrorists who attacked the WTC, so what's one more false flag among friends?

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Original Page: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=afef3536f7835867cc1b7ef0ab01a1c5

Fed Stress Test Released: Citi, SunTrust, Ally And MetLife Have Insufficient Capital

When we announced the news of Jamie Dimon's surprising announcement, we said that "Since we are now obviously replaying the entire credit crisis, from beginning to end, must as well go all in. Now - who's next? And perhaps just as importantly, who isn't." Who isn't it turns out are 4 banks that did not pass the Fed's stress test results. These are SunTrust, naturally Ally, MetLife and... Citi. Way to earn that 2011 $15 million comp Vic! To summarize: across the 19 banks taking the test, the maximum losses are projected to hit a total of $534 billion. But at least Jamie Dimon gets to pay his dividend. Also, the European LTRO stigma comes to the US in the form of banks who do dividend hike/buyback, vs those that do not.. and of course the 4 unlucky ones that fail the stress test entirely.

Banks at or below 5% are ooopsie.

From the Fed:

The results of the stress scenario projections suggest that the 19 BHCs as a group would experience significant losses under the assumptions of the Supervisory Stress Scenario. Losses at the 19 BHCs are projected to total $534 billion over the nine quarters of the scenario, including losses across the loan portfolios, trading and counterparty credit losses from the global financial market shock, and losses on securities held in the BHCs' investment portfolios. Losses related to operational risk events such as fraud, computer systems failure, and employee lawsuits, and losses related to mortgage repurchases, which are included in pre-provision net revenue (PPNR), add another $115 billion to this total. Projected PPNR at the 19 BHCs is $294 billion over the nine quarters of the scenario. Together, the high projected losses and low projected PPNR result in projected net income before taxes of $222 billion for the 19 BHCs. This is an extremely low level of net income relative to historical experience in the U.S. banking industry, even in periods of considerable economic and financial market stress.

Despite sometimes significant projected decreases, most of the BHCs maintain stressed regulatory capital ratios including all planned capital distributions above regulatory minimum levels over the course of the stress scenario horizon.24 Overall, 4 of the 19 BHCs have one or more projected regulatory capital ratios (including capital distributions) that fall below regulatory minimum levels at some point over the stress scenario horizon, including 3 BHCs with a stressed ratio of tier 1 common ratio below the 5 percent benchmark established in the capital plans rule. In interpreting these results, it is important to recall that the Federal Reserve's stress scenario projections are deliberately stringent and conservative assessments under hypothetical, adverse economic conditions and the results are not forecasts or the most likely outcomes for these BHCs.

[...] 

Full report (pdf):

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/UdqPA5-_Rfg/fed-stress-test-released-citi-suntrust-ally-and-metlife-have-insufficient-capital

Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago? 80% Say No

Another interesting data point from the poll Bryan highlighted earlier, as caught by NRO's Jim Geraghty:

Just 20% of Americans feel their family's financial situation is better today than it was four yearsago. 37% say it is worse, and 43% say it is about the same.

Obama's efforts to recycle Jimmy Carter's 1976 speech where he asked the same question have shown how inept the administration is. 

Family's Financial Situation Vs. Four Years Ago

• Better today 20%
• Worse today 37%
• About the same 43%

It should also be noted that this poll, as would be expected from CBS and the New York Times, oversampled Democrats. As of 1 March, Rasmussen (full article behind paywall, sorry) found 36% identified as Republicans, only 32.4% identified as Democrats; yet in this poll, CBS/NYT polled 304 Democrats and only 263 Republicans, which has the majority on the wrong side (they also report 442 independents, which could be a way for Democrat-leaning respondents to hide).

A biased poll from state media? Say it ain't so! Most efforts to quell dissension in the overall populace are blowing up in the faces of the statists on both sides of the single party system. 

So, even with Democrats oversampled, more people say they're worse off today than better, and over twice as many say there's been no change rather than improvement in their financial situation. Of course, Harry Reid is spinning so fast that you could hook him up to a generator and power Las Vegas:

"I think this poll is so meaningless. It is trying to give the American people an idea of what 300 million people feel by testing several hundred people. I think the poll is flawed in so many different ways including a way that questions were asked. I don't believe in polls generally and specifically not in this one."

Not buying into polls that sample such a small portion of a population is a good thing. The smaller the sample, the less representative and accurate the data, basic statistics (which is an opinionated and manipulative field anyway, regardless of your political slant). 

Yeah, right, Harry. We all know that if this poll had fallen out the other way, you'd be trumpeting it in front of every camera and microphone you could find. But even with oversampling Democrats, it turned out wrong for you, so you're left with just desperate spin, and worse than that, it's obviously desperate spin.

I'll conclude with some free advice for Santorum and Romney: Whoever the GOP nominee is, he should dust off Reagan's old campaign ad question, and ask Americans, "are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

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Original Page: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/03/13/are-you-better-off-than-you-were-four-years-ago-80-say-no/

Rand Paul To Energy Secretary Chu: “Why Are We Giving $500M Loan To A Billionaire?”

Rand Paul To Energy Secretary Chu: "Why Are We Giving $500M Loan To A Billionaire?"

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Intelwar/~3/Vz8Gooh04o4/rand-paul-to-energy-secretary-chu-why-are-we-giving-500-m-dollar-loan-to-a-billionaire

Citibank, 3 others fail Fed stress test; 15 pass

The Federal Reserve says four major banks failed to show they have enough capital to survive another serious downturn. The list includes Citigroup, the nation's third-largest bank.

[...]

Not that getting the Fed's stamp of approval means that all is peaches and cream, but seeing any major bank take a dive is good for the ones that survive, not for a free market or the taxpayers paying the lion's share of the bailout costs for a industry that needs to be cut loose and allowed to fail or succeed without a safety net, just as small businesses which tend to operate more responsibly in regard to risk. 

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Original Page: http://www.kvue.com/home/Citibank-3-others-fail-Fed-stress-test-15-pass-142530405.html

NSA Hides Google Ties As DARPA Director Takes Google Job

The Intel Hub By Alexander Higgins – Contributing Writer March 13, 2012 As the NSA tries to cover up its ties with Google, in a potential widespread spying scandal, DARPA Director Regina Dugan is leaving the Pentagon to take a post at Google. In the midst of what looks likes a massive spying scandal between [...]

This can't be good...

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Original Page: http://theintelhub.com/2012/03/13/nsa-hides-google-ties-as-darpa-director-takes-google-job/

Why High Gas Prices Are Here to Stay

Think about this for a second and if it doesn't stagger you, I don't know what to say: the U.S. military consumes as much oil every day as the entire nation of Sweden.

Gross inefficiency?

Or take a guess on this question of the week: How much did it cost Mobil and its partners to build the world's largest oil-drilling platform, a 1.2 million-ton monster that sits in 300 feet of water in "Iceberg Alley" in the Canadian North Atlantic and is armored with 16 protective "teeth" designed to absorb the impact of those approaching bergs?  The answer: $5 billion for the Hibernia platform, which is now producing 135,000 barrels of deep sea oil per day.

Peak Energy is here, but we are trying to deny it, down to the last drop. 

If you wanted, you could spend your time turning Michael Klare's new book, The Race for What's Left: The Global Scramble for the World's Last Resources, into an energy and resources version of Believe It Or Not that would stagger your friends.  Klare has a way of landing us on a strange new planet called Earth, one stripped to its disappearing resources and filled with insatiable greed.  It's always a bracing experience, even when, as he assures us in his new book, the rush to the planet's Iceberg Alleys to provide energy for the U.S. military and the rest of us fuel guzzlers may be the last "race" of its kind we are likely to undertake. (To catch Timothy MacBain's latest Tomcast audio interview in which Klare discusses his new book and what it means to rely on extreme energy, click here, or download it to your iPod here.)

http://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/quo9h/why_high_gas_prices_are_here_to_stay_why/

Porsche Sets Sales And Profitability Records In 2011

Although the economic climate in both Europe and America may best be described as "less-than-ideal," sales of high-end sports cars grew in 2011. Lamborghini's global sales increased by 23-percent last year, while Italian rival Ferrari sold a record 7,195 automobiles in 2011, an increase of nearly 9.5-percent. Porsche increased...

Further evidence of the increasing wealth gap and shift of resources to the haves over the have nots. 

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotorAuthority2/~3/PRA2V0UXbHQ/1074035_porsche-sets-sales-and-profitability-records-in-2011

Pigs at the Trough

One of the most sickening kleptocratic rackets to come down the pike are the for-profit "educators." It's a scheme that is almost totally enabled by Government funding via Title IV loans. The loans fit the modern American model of getting people heavily in debt...

[...]

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EconForecast/~3/BISnCfF5G2s/pigs-at-trough.html

The most urgent necessity is not that the state should teach, but that it should allow education. All monopolies are detestable, but the worst of all is the monopoly of education. - Frederic Bastiat, from What is Money? 

http://mises.org/daily/5213

Legal Experts Destroy Rationale for Obama’s Assassination Policy … And Slam Democrats for Supporting It

Attorney General Eric Holder announced at Northwestern University law school that the U.S. can assassinate U.S. citizens without any without disclosure of why they are even alleged to be baddies and without any review of any nature whatsoever by any judge, Congress or the American people.

Northwestern University's law school professor Joseph Margulies said:

I defy anyone to read [Holder's] speech and show any differences between Obama and Bush on these issues, They both say we are in a war not confined to particular battlefield. … Both say we can target citizens without judicial oversight and that can happen anywhere in the world.

The mere realization that we are having this discussion reminds me that the anti-war candidate Obama and the pro-war president Obama share little more than the ability to speak with eloquence. 

Columbia law school professor Scott Horton notes that this assassination strategy was created by Dick Cheney, and is being carried out by the Obama administration:

A lot of this seems to have been put in place under the tutelage of Dick Cheney. So here we see one of Dick Cheney's ideas being ratified by Barack Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

(Obama is also implementing Cheney and the boys' plans for war in the Middle East and North Africa.)

Top constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley slams the Democratic Party for its complicity:

The choice of a law school was a curious place for discussion of authoritarian powers. Obama has replaced the constitutional protections afforded to citizens with a "trust me" pledge that Holder repeated.

Who would have seen a president with more experience as a lawyer being complicit in this sort of undermining of liberty? Me, I did. A Chicago lawyer would only be marginally better than a Federal Reserve chairman in the oval office... 

Senior administration officials have asserted that the president may kill an American anywhere and anytime, including in the United States. Holder's speech does not materially limit that claimed authority. He merely assures citizens that Obama will only kill those of us he finds abroad and a significant threat. Notably, Holder added, "Our legal authority is not limited to the battlefields in Afghanistan."

The Obama administration continues to stonewall efforts to get it to acknowledge the existence of a memo authorizing the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki. Democrats previously demanded the "torture memos" of the Bush administration that revealed both poor legal analysis by Judge Jay Bybee and Professor John Yoo to justify torture. Now, however, Democrats are largely silent in the face of a president claiming the right to unilaterally kill citizens.

Hipocrits in government? Say it ain't so!

Holder became particularly cryptic in his assurance of caution in the use of this power, insisting that they will kill citizens only with "the consent of the nation involved or after a determination that the nation is unable or unwilling to deal effectively with a threat to the United States." What on earth does that mean?

So, does that mean that our Constitutional rights to due process will be observed when Americans become the focus of the Obama death squads? Does our future have a place for Judge Dredd?

[...]

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Original Page: http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-10-08/legal-experts-destroy-rationale-obama%E2%80%99s-assassination-policy-%E2%80%A6-and-slam-democ