Close the NSA ?

The latest moral crisis to ruffle the feathers of both the common man and celebrities is the recent leaks regarding the NSA’s surveillance programs. Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the agency is given the power to collect Americans’ phone metadata in bulk, and not even the rich and powerful are immune.
Read more at: http://www.webpronews.com/now-celebrities-are-even-coming-out-against-the-nsa-2013-10

We already know that the NSA has seriously mishandled stuff they are collecting.

We should NEVER trust the federal government to do what they say.

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Republicans Are Trying To Abuse Women Again

The fight against domestic violence is getting a lot harder in New Hampshire.  The Republicans have introduced two bills in the state’s legislature that will prevent police from protecting domestic abuse victims.

 This article from the Concord Monitor explains:
“Domestic violence is no longer taken lightly legally or by society. That’s the way it should be, but two bills under consideration by this most unusual of legislatures, would undo that progress and put lives in danger. Both deserve a speedy defeat.

House Bill 1581 would turn the clock back 40 years to an age when a police officer could not make an arrest in a domestic violence case without first getting a warrant unless he or she actually witnessed the crime. That’s an exceedingly dangerous change.

Consider the following scenario, one outlined for lawmakers by retired Henniker police Chief Tim Russell:

An officer is called to a home where she sees clear evidence that an assault has occurred. The furniture is overturned, the children are sobbing, and the face of the woman of the house is bruised and bleeding. It’s obvious who the assailant was, but the officer arrived after the assault occurred. It’s a small department, and no one else on the force is available to keep the peace until the officer finds a judge or justice of the peace to issue a warrant. The officer leaves and the abuser renews his attack with even more ferocity, punishing his victim for having called for help.
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It’s impossible to say how many lives the policy, in place since the 1970s, has saved or how many injuries it’s prevented. If they adopt House Bill 1581, lawmakers might find out, but the price paid could be extraordinarily high.”

The other prospective bill, HB 1608 would limit a judge’s discretion to have a violator of a domestic violence restraining order arrested and would interfere with polices ability to stop the threat of domestic violence…and seriously eliminate restrictions to offenders in violence cases.

Now this fits in perfectly with the new Religious Republican agenda of stripping rights and protection of the law from the women in our ‘equal’ society.  They will stop at nothing to oppress and violate the sovereignty of our Moms, Daughters, granddaughters, and Sisters… bodies and souls.

This of course is driven by the evangelical fundamentalist leaders of the Republican Party in the US, and their desire to put the modern women back in her place as a homemaker and baby maker…barefoot and pregnant as it were.  It’s all about religion…at the expense of the human rights of all women.

Muslims Kill Even More Christians

Nigeria, Africa will probably end up being a Muslim controlled country before long.  They have a group of Muslims who call themselves Boko Haram, and they’re out to kill any and all opposition to their wants…they started with the Christians.

 “Nigeria has been hit by a fresh wave of violence apparently targeting the country’s Christian communities. At least 17 people were killed in Mubi in Adamawa state as gunmen opened fire in a town hall where members of the Christian Igbo group were meeting.

There were also reports of a deadly attack in Adamawa’s capital, Yola.”  BBC Africa Here

I guess they figure if they get rid of the Christians there won’t be anyone left to stop their power grab.  Notice because they are Muslim’s they just kill instead of trying a democratic solutions…trying to win the hearts and minds maybe…instead of terror.

“Gunmen who are, from all indications, members of Boko Haram came in large numbers and have encircled police headquarters. They chanted ‘Allahu Akbar’ [God is Great] and fired indiscriminately,” a resident told AFP.

Boko Haram, whose name means ‘Western education is forbidden’, is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.”

You know if atheism ruled there wouldn’t be any of this crap going on….:-)

Militarized Police in America

The military like counterinsurgency tactics that police used to subdue peaceful and unarmed demonstrators at various Occupy Wall Street (OWS) encampments around the country have left many citizens shocked at the monstrous and evil treatment the police used against non-confrontational peaceful protestors…they were treated like enemy combatants in a war.  We see machine gun carrying policemen dressed in military like combat gear…military grade equipment and military tactics.

When your local police force is armed with military equipment and has a head fill of military tactics learned at seminars that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense (DoD) puts on for police forces all around the country, you may not want to attend any protests like OWS and possibly get disabled or killed.

They are teaching these tactics so the citizens right to peaceably protest anything our government does will be quickly smothered and others will be persuaded that it’s too dangerous to dissent.  If your friend or neighbor is sent to the hospital with a brain concussion for marching to protest government graft and incompetence…like OWS is…you might not go out on the next day’s march or protest.

Government does not like anyone to dissent from their use of power, to object to the illegal and/or underhanded things they do.  After all we are the world leaders in everything, and we have God on our side and cannot do any wrong.  If you don’t like it move to Russia or Iraq.  If you are a dissenter you are unpatriotic and probably a communist or socialist.  If you disagree with our government you need to die.

 

Heard or read sentiments like these have you?  Our American government Disinformation and Propaganda Bureau is on the job…heh–so is Fox News.

Anyway, the police forces were established to protect the peace and safety of its citizens and the community; not to use SS tactics on peaceful people who happen to be demonstrating.  Our military is created for killing foreign, hostile armed forces, the enemies of freedom, and the jackals who oppose our freedoms.  Today our police forces have military grade equipment and military tactical training; this is a disaster waiting to happen…remember the Kent State shootings; military armament and soldiers against ‘flower power’ civilians?  How about ‘Ruby Ridge’ and ‘Waco’; military might and tactics against civilians?

Ever hear those conspiracy theories about our armed forces being trained to kill their own countrymen?   You know like those soldiers in Egypt, Syria, and Libya did.

Exactly what type of military equipment is in the arsenal of police departments in America today?

The average patrol officer carries a usually semi-automatic handgun and perhaps a backup gun, a pepper spray canister, a taser, a baton or nightstick and handcuffs.  This is normal and expected, after all these men go into strange and deadly scenes with some regularity, they need to defend themselves.  Nowadays however, with having so many strategic alliances with the military and DHS agencies, the list of equipment has grown exponentially and it’s very deadly stuff.  The New York PD boasts that they can take down a 747 airliner.

In 1994 a Memorandum of Understanding between the Dept. of Justice and the Dept. of Defense authorized the transfer of military technology to local police departments around the country.  This was surplus equipment normally reserved for use in wartime.

As a result of equipment sharing the Department of Defense, by 1997, had handed over a million + military items to law enforcement agencies around the country. Among the items were almost 4,000 M-16s, 185 M-14s, 73 grenade launchers (grenade launchers for Christ’s sake) and over 110 armored personnel carriers.

At the end of 2005 nearly three quarters of a billion dollars worth of military grade equipment was distributed to some 17,000 police departments.  This included such things as over a thousand night-vision goggles, a few hundred more grenade launchers for Christ’s sake, almost 8,000 M-16 rifles, and some Blackhawk military, missile & 50 Cal. machine gun carrying helicopters…for Christ’s sake.

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After the War on Terror started and the Department of Homeland Security was created, the money started flowing rapidly to our police departments everywhere.  It helped with everyday equipment such as walkie-talkies, bulletproof vests, ammo and such, but it also started a run on really out there apparatus such as a 9 ton bullet proof vehicle called a Bearcat G3, that has gun ports, tear gas dispenser and a battering ram, and even weaponized drones…you know like they use in Afghanistan to spy on the bad guys from the air…I just had a flash day dream of drones using their Hellfire missiles to take out a OWS protest in Dallas….

I fear for my country

Secular Schools Can Never Be Tolerated

Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith … we need believing people.
~ Adolf Hitler

Oh, and by the way, this is also the agenda of todays religious right and the Republican Party.  The attacks continue all across America…get religion into the curriculum, by hook or by crook.
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The Religious Right and Republican Party is Out To Kill Women

The Republican Party is out to kill women and/or their reproductive rights

Look out for HR3…a bill just passed by the house that is the most evil piece of legislation ever to exist since our country was created by those looking for liberty from religious control.

“…the bill will force all insurance companies in the country to drop abortion coverage.”  No Abortion for any reason…even if the life of the mother is in jeopardy, or the result of rape or incest.

This is the Republican Party and Christian religious rights agenda at its most evil…that agenda is to deny women any control over their own bodies.  They are taking on the role of the Big-Brother overseer of all women in this country…in sexual matters they will control women and you had better stay out of their way and off their radar or they will kill or destroy you.  This is tantamount to the creation of a “Religious Police” as found in Muslim controlled countries.

I have  made a promise to myself tonight.  I will do everything in my power and to my ability to work to kick out every Republican legislator from office…this is the most evil, immoral, vicious, malevolent, malignant, perverse, ugly, piece-of-shit law EVER to be proposed. It is a slap in the face not only to women, but anyone who values freedom.

“…they are opening a door to denying you the deductions and credits you take if you do things with your own money they don’t like.  Situations like denying mortgage deductions if you use your home for purposes they don’t like, or denying your charity deductions if they don’t approve of the charities, or just taking away your standard deduction if you pay union dues, or denying you the right to claim your children if you spend money on educating them on things like the realities of global warming. The door is wide open here.”

Your Republican thief’s voted in to office this last cycle are really going to screw America royally this time, believe it.

Health Care Republican Style

So from what I understand the Republican health-care scheme we Americans are going to get from them is like the following:

” By the time the New York Stock Exchange closed last Thursday, shares of United Health’s stock had shot up more than 8 percent and reached their highest value in more than three years. The company’s shareholders, including Hemsley, now the highest paid CEO in America, were suddenly much wealthier.

Owners of health insurance company stock continued to get richer this week. On Tuesday, Humana Inc. announced that its first quarter earnings would be so much better than Wall Street expected that it was raising its full-year profit outlook and instituting a dividend. The company’s stock price jumped 5.5 percent after disclosing that fabulous news.”  Full story

See the companies can make so much more money by denying/turning down medical bills from their customers.  They do this with the fine print, and 100’s of thousands of people are very surprised every year to find they aren’t covered for many many health problems.  Meanwhile the industry as a whole gets richer and richer and they can pay bribes to our Senators and Congressmen to keep the business flowing their way.

“To make this kind of money, insurance companies have to spend far less paying their policyholders’ medical claims than anyone thought possible.

They’ve been able to do that so far this year, despite the new health care reform law, by shifting many policyholders into plans that force them to spend more from their own pockets before coverage kicks in. Insurance firms also fatten their bottom lines by denying more claims.”

The Republicans basically want to get rid of Medicare and turn ALL medical problems to the private sector where they can skim money more effectively and control what the “little people” have.  Medical security is for them like communism…and they don’t really care because almost all of them are millionaires or better and they and their families will be O.K. no matter what.

And those poor fools on the outside…Tea Party…Just blindly go where the Koch brothers tell them.

Revolution anyone ? ™
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Republicans and Religion

Since January of this year Religious Republican (and only Republican) legislators in Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and New Mexico have introduced legislation to allow religious teachings in public schools. They deny that it’s for religion, but once again we find otherwise respectable people “lying for Jesus.” And what gets me is everyone knows it’s a lie.

Almost all of them have wording similar to this: “critical analysis” or teaching “strengths and weaknesses” and “Academic Freedom” I’m guessing that these people from the religious groups and the legislators they control don’t quite understand that we’re on to them, because they use the same wording over and over again from state to state.It is evangelical fundamentalist Young Earth RELIGION that they are trying to insert into the curriculum of public (that means state/government sponsored) schools.  They want teachers to lie about the science behind evolution and the history of the earth and humanity; they are trying to move their foundational mythology to the status of science, so they can guarantee the cultural reproduction of their views.

However as the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) puts it;

“Teachers have no freedom to misinform and miseducate students. It is scientifically inappropriate and educationally irresponsible to present ID under its own name or in any other guise as scientifically credible. And it is unconstitutional to do so in the public schools.” (My emphasis)

Some of these views are pretty amazing.  The Reconstructionist faction of the fundamentalists wants to eventually restore Biblical law over the land. They believe that many areas of society now under control of secular government should be under control of family, churches, or private organizations.

“For example, since the book of Deuteronomy assigns to parents the responsibility of educating children, state-sponsored schools are considered a violation of Biblical law.  Under Reconstructionist generally libertarian guidelines, the civil government plays no part in personal retirement plans, welfare, or regulation of business, other than to maintain order and restrain fraudulent behavior.  Minimum-wage laws and Social Security would be eliminated.  All inheritance taxes and gift taxes would be abolished.  Income taxes would rise no higher than 10 percent of gross income.” From: ‘Religion and Politics’, (1992) Bruce Barron and Anson Shupe, Praeger Publishers, Westport Connecticut

Do some of these goals ring a bell with anyone? The Republicans have been leaders in trying to get all government regulation overthrown for big-business, keeping minimum-wages low or non-existent, the elimination Social Security and Medicare is presently simmering under the surface, and they have been trying for years to get the inheritance and gift tax laws thrown out. And they want taxes on big earners to be next to nothing. A lot of these goals are almost attained.  We should really worry about this.  I don’t fancy living under a theocratic dictatorship, which is exactly what it would be.

It should be noted they also want to restore the death penalty for numerous offenses outlined in the Old Testament.  You know like: Adultery (I suspect this will backfire on them), homosexuality, dissing your parents and old bald guys, etc. 🙂
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Republicans Want To Kill Off Middle Class

Mike Lux over at the Huffington Post has written an article that sent chills down my spine. His take on the currant Republican Party is spot-on.

“The modern Republican Party has been taken over by a lunatic fringe of conservatives that are making a concerted, determined assault on the American working middle class. They are trying to destroy unions for firefighters, cops, teachers, and nurses. They want to make dramatic cuts in Social Security, or privatize it entirely. They want to end the guaranteed health coverage of Medicare, and put seniors on their own, at the mercy of private insurance companies. They want to make dramatic cuts in nursing home coverage and medical care for the disadvantaged through Medicaid.”

I just refuse to believe that the majority of the American people want these things that the Republicans are pushing.  Do the blue collar and middle management people want to pay more taxes while millionaires and billionaires pay less?  This is exactly what will happen if the Republicans get their way.  Rape of the common person.

“The Ryan budget is a remarkable document: all of its budget cuts hammer working class families, seniors, and students — while all of its tax cuts go straight to millionaires. It does almost nothing to deal with the deficit, yet still manages to deal a death blow to virtually every member of the working middle class and everyone trying to work their way into it. It is especially hard on seniors and the most vulnerable in society in the midst of the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, doing serious economic damage to anyone who isn’t a millionaire, oil company, or Wall Street bank.”  Mike Lux @ Hufpo  (My bold emphasis)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/ryan-gop-budget_b_846907.html

I think we will be recreating a time in our history where America nearly went under.  Revolution anyone?
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Muslims Continue To Kill Christians

This past Tuesday an off-duty Muslim police officer boarded a train in Southern Egypt and opened fire on a group of Coptic Christians, killing one and wounding 4 others.  This comes less than 2 weeks after the New Years bombing massacre that killed 25 Coptic Christians at their church in Alexandria

The state news agency, MENA, quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying a Muslim police officer boarded a Cairo-bound train in the town of Samalut in Minya province and began firing a handgun. The official said a 71-year-old Coptic man was killed and his wife and four other Christians — three women and a man — were wounded.

I wonder if this Muslim police officer was a moderate or extremist.  You can’t really tell by looking at them can you?  Most people would assume that the good guys work for the cops, but that does not seem to be true anymore does it?

This just naturally leads into the next story.

David Briggs, writing in Tuesdays Huffington Post reports that a new study is showing that Muslim-controlled countries are far worse in allowing religious freedoms and human rights

He writes:
“Few nations keep their vows when it comes to religious freedom.

Churches are attacked on Christmas in India and Egypt. Religious believers in North Korea are tortured in prison camps. Hindus and Sikhs are harassed in Afghanistan.

“Despite routine constitutional promises to the contrary, religious freedoms are denied around the globe and violent persecution is pervasive,” Brian Grim of the Pew Research Center and Roger Finke of Pennsylvania State University report in a new book.

Yet even amid this widespread disregard for religious freedom, one group of countries stands out: Muslim-majority nations.

“Religious persecution is not only more prevalent among Muslim-majority countries, but it also generally occurs at more severe levels,” Grim and Finke write in The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century.”

So not only are Muslim-controlled countries persecuting more people, but they are much more severe in their persecution.  The Muslims really like to kill people…Jews and Christians particularly, for the smallest offense.  You know like writing about Islam and telling all just how stupid, evil and blood-thirsty the religion really is. Or maybe wanting to believe in another religion and leave Islam in the sh-t-heap of history where it belongs.  If I was writing this blog in Iraq or India or any of several dozen other countries that are bogged down in this horrible medieval cult of murderers, I would be, in a very short time, killed by a righteous Muslim gunman.

Islam cannot survive in the light of day; it cannot endure close rational, non-sectarian examination, by logical and truthful people.  It has even more problems than Christianity in its dogma and Koran with logic, misunderstanding, absurdities, inconsistencies, contradictions, ethics and precepts problems a-plenty.

Christian Fundamentalists and ALL Muslims hold it to be true that if the Bible or Koran is without error or inconsistency, it must be the work of God, and because it is the work of God, it must be without error or inconsistency. It seems not to matter which proposition comes first, the other is thought to follow.  Perfect example here of circular reasoning that is to be found in almost all religious thought.

Some of the findings that authors Grim and Finke write about in: “The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century.”

• 78 percent of Muslim-majority countries, compared with 10 percent of Christian-majority countries and 43 percent of other nations, had high levels of government restrictions on religion.

• Violent religious persecution is present in every country with a Muslim majority with a population of more than 2 million.

• 62 percent of Muslim-majority countries had at least moderate levels of persecution, with more than 200 people persecuted. In comparison, 28 percent of Christian-majority nations and 60 percent of other countries had similar levels of abuse.

• At the highest levels of persecution, 45 percent of Muslim-majority countries — more than four times the percentage of Christian-majority countries — were found to have more than a thousand people abused or displaced because of religion.

To me, this is a real good indicator of just how evil this religion is.  It talks peace and love, but is shown by cold hard statistics to be ruthless and unforgiving in the real world.  It doesn’t deserve any respect and should not be allowed in civilized company.
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