Canada, U.S. agree to use each other's troops in civil emergencies

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.

Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas.

The U.S. military's Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S.

The left-leaning Council of Canadians, which is campaigning against what it calls the increasing integration of the U.S. and Canadian militaries, is raising concerns about the deal.

"It's kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration. We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites," said Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians.

Trew said there is potential for the agreement to militarize civilian responses to emergency incidents. He noted that work is also underway for the two nations to put in place a joint plan to protect common infrastructure such as roadways and oil pipelines.

"Are we going to see (U.S.) troops on our soil for minor potential threats to a pipeline or a road?" he asked.

Trew also noted the U.S. military does not allow its soldiers to operate under foreign command so there are questions about who controls American forces if they are requested for service in Canada. "We don't know the answers because the government doesn't want to even announce the plan," he said.

But Canada Command spokesman Commander David Scanlon said it will be up to civilian authorities in both countries on whether military assistance is requested or even used.

He said the agreement is "benign" and simply sets the stage for military-to-military co-operation if the governments approve.

"But there's no agreement to allow troops to come in," he said. "It facilitates planning and co-ordination between the two militaries. The 'allow' piece is entirely up to the two governments."

If U.S. forces were to come into Canada they would be under tactical control of the Canadian Forces but still under the command of the U.S. military, Scanlon added.

News of the deal, and the allegation it was kept secret in Canada, is already making the rounds on left-wing blogs and Internet sites as an example of the dangers of the growing integration between the two militaries.

On right-wing blogs in the U.S. it is being used as evidence of a plan for a "North American union" where foreign troops, not bound by U.S. laws, could be used by the American federal government to override local authorities.

"Co-operative militaries on Home Soil!" notes one website. "The next time your town has a 'national emergency,' don't be surprised if Canadian soldiers respond. And remember - Canadian military aren't bound by posse comitatus."

Posse comitatus is a U.S. law that prohibits the use of federal troops from conducting law enforcement duties on domestic soil unless approved by Congress.

Scanlon said there was no intent to keep the agreement secret on the Canadian side of the border. He noted it will be reported on in the Canadian Forces newspaper next week and that publication will be put on the Internet.

Scanlon said the actual agreement hasn't been released to the public as that requires approval from both nations. That decision has not yet been taken, he added.

Procedural Victory in Connecticut Green Party Case Against Discriminatory Public Funding

On March 20, a U.S. District Court in Connecticut said that the lawsuit Green Party of Connecticut v Garfield should proceed to a trial. The case challenges a law passed in 2005 that sets up discriminatory public funding for candidates for Connecticut state office. The state and its ally, the Brennan Center, had tried to get the case dismissed summarily.

11th Circuit Tells Florida Democratic Voter to Re-do His Lawsuit

On March 21, the 11th circuit issued a ruling in DiMaio v Democratic National Committee, the case over whether individual Democrats in Florida have a right to have input into the Democratic Party’s choice of a presidential candidate. The 11th circuit said the case had been filed with a procedural flaw concerning standing. The Court dismissed the case but invited the plaintiff to re-file without the flaw. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news., the case over whether individual Democrats in Florida have a right to have input into the Democratic Party’s choice of a presidential candidate. The 11th circuit said the case had been filed with a procedural flaw concerning standing. The Court dismissed the case but invited the plaintiff to re-file without the flaw. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

Documentary Examines Possibility of U.S. Dollar Collapse

This is a summary of a documentary that aired recently on Dutch national television. The documentary was based on a script made by an economist who was assigned the task to make a 'what if' scenario about how the dollar could crash within 24 hours.

"Americans are living beyond their means and Asia is currently financing that. But eventually the Asians/Europeans will stop financing the USA and then the bubble will burst."

FOX anchor walks off set over Obama-bashin

This morning on “Fox & Friends,” anchor Brian Kilmeade walked off the set after repeated attempts by the two other FOX dittoheads to bash Barack Obama for his “typical white person” remark.

Although it’s true Kilmeade took particular offense to the “typical sports guy” swipe by Doocy — Kilmeade has covered sports for much of his career — his attempt to put Obama’s quote into the context of tense race relations stretching back 60 years was admirable and refreshing. Especially for a channel show that typically consists of three morons piling up on anything Democrat.


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Highway Trooper ramming a man running down a street

More trouble for the South Carolina Highway Patrol after more videotapes were released which show officers behaving badly.
3 weeks ago, Governor Mark Sanford accepted the resignations of both the public safety director James Schweitzer and the Highway Patrol commander Russell Roark.
This, after he viewed tapes, including one from 2004, showing a trooper using a racial slur and threatening to kill a man during a foot chase.

Civic leaders and some lawmakers now want an investigation into the patrol. Those same leaders brought videos showing a patrolman ramming a man running down a side street, and flipping him into a ditch. The trooper later brags he was trying to hit the man.

When asked on the tape you can hear the trooper say, "Yeah, I was trying to hit him. I hit the **** out of him."

"You have to understand the arrogance of these troopers who know they're being recorded," says Rep. Hart. "To still do this type of activity and say look we don't care, we'll do whatever we want to do."

"He needs to be arrested," says Rep. Christopher Hart of Richland County. "He needs to be charged, he needs to be brought before the law and prosecuted for that."

State representative Hart calls the tape "despicable," adding he believes most law enforcement officers follow the letter of the law while the actions of a few "bad apples" give the entire patrol a bad name.

South Carolina NAACP President Lonnie Randolph adds, "A lot of these things occur because it is allowed."

Dr. Randolph says the kind of the activity on the tapes represents a "culture" that has been allowed to develop. But, he points out the chance for change is here. In the next two weeks, Governor Mark Sanford is expected to name possible successors to public safety director James Schweitzer, who resigned three weeks ago. Lawmakers and civic leaders plan to put candidates under the microscope.

"It's our job to do what we do to ensure that all human beings are treated with the decency and respect they deserve," says Dr. Randolph.

Representative Hart adds, "The first thing is we need to get rid of the good ole' boy system. We really need someone completely from the outside who has no ties to any political person or any political director so they can come in and really do a thorough job and make sure we get rid of this."

In the two cases described, the troopers involved either received 2- or 3-day suspensions, or were sent to stress management or diversity classes.

A source tells there are more tapes out there that have not been released, possibly 40 of them. The issue extends beyond racial discrimination, those tapes show troopers treating people of all races with a "wild west mentality."

That same source says there are plans in place to urge the Richland County Sheriff's Department and solicitor's office to re-open an investigation into the apartment complex chase and pursue charges against the trooper involved.

Are Bush and Cheney Planning an Attack on Iran on the Eve of Leaving Office?

The abrupt resignation yesterday of the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Admiral William J. "Fox" Fallon, has sparked a new round of speculation that President Bush and Vice President Cheney have some sort of plan in the works to attack Iran before their time is up.

Fallon's resignation -- or firing -- was apparently precipitated in part by a recent Esquire profile that depicted him as brazenly pushing back against the White House hawks eager to launch another war.

Now it turns out that what Thomas P.M. Barnett, a former Naval War College professor, wrote in that profile was eerily prescient: "How does Fallon get away with so brazenly challenging his commander in chief?

"The answer is that he might not get away with it for much longer. President Bush is not accustomed to a subordinate who speaks his mind as freely as Fallon does, and the president may have had enough.

"Just as Fallon took over Centcom last spring, the White House was putting itself on a war footing with Iran. Almost instantly, Fallon began to calmly push back against what he saw as an ill-advised action. Over the course of 2007, Fallon's statements in the press grew increasingly dismissive of the possibility of war, creating serious friction with the White House.

"Last December, when the National Intelligence Estimate downgraded the immediate nuclear threat from Iran, it seemed as if Fallon's caution was justified. But still, well-placed observers now say that it will come as no surprise if Fallon is relieved of his command before his time is up next spring, maybe as early as this summer, in favor of a commander the White House considers to be more pliable. If that were to happen, it may well mean that the president and vice-president intend to take military action against Iran before the end of this year and don't want a commander standing in their way. .

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Hard Times

In 1883 Yale professor William Graham Sumner published an essay titled "The Forgotten Man." Sumner was the most prominent American advocate of social Darwinism, and his article reflected the conviction that economic inequality was a natural, inevitable and benign result of the competition for survival. Sumner thought that any attempt to ameliorate the lives of "the poor" and "the weak" would limit the impersonal, harsh but ultimately improving force of natural selection. Even worse, the social cost of passing laws to improve working conditions or crafting government policies to help the indigent would always be borne by the "forgotten man"--the industrious, decent and apolitical American whose freedom would be hemmed in by government regulations and whose salary would be taxed for social services.
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Listen Up: 17 Signs That You Are Being Wiretapped

Do you hear strange noises on your phone line? Do you feel like your secrets aren't safe? You're not as paranoid as you might think. Mobsters and cheating spouses aren't the only ones that get wiretapped. In fact, just about anyone who possesses confidential information is a prime target for a wiretap, so it's important that you know the warning signs. Keep an eye out for these subtle clues to avoid becoming a victim of information theft.

1# Your secrets are out. If you've found out that somehow, someone has gotten their hands on your confidential information, there's a good chance that you're being spied on — and probably wiretapped. For example, if your company's confidential product designs end up in the hands of your competitor, you very well may be a victim of the underground-information industry.

2# You hear strange noises, like clicking, popping, static and humming. Often, surveillance devices will make small noises on a phone line. Specifically, if you hear static, scratching or popping, it may be caused by a capacitive discharge, which is created when two conductors — like a wiretap on a phone line — are connected. Additionally, high-pitched humming noises are an indicator of a wiretap. A tapped phone line can be verified with a sound-bandwidth sensor on a low frequency. If the indicator pops up a few times each minute, there's a very good chance your line is tapped.

3# Your phone makes noise on its own. If you hear noises coming from your phone even when you're not using it, it may have been turned into an eavesdropping microphone and speaker. This is achieved with a hookswitch bypass and means that someone can probably hear everything you say or do within 20 feet of the phone. Additionally, a dial tone while your phone is on the hook is a sign of a slave eavesdropping device. This can be verified using an external amplifier.

4# Your radio has strange interference. Some eavesdropping devices use frequencies that are close to the FM radio band. To find out if your line is tapped with one of these gadgets, you can set your radio to mono, tune in to the far end of the band and listen for squeals, moving around the room if necessary. You should also listen for anomalies in your car radio, because antennas are often used by eavesdroppers.

5# Your environment just seems different. A wiretapper who has gained access to your home or office may move furniture in order to gain access to lines. If something seems strange — for instance, the couch has moved slightly or rug imprints are different — your line just might be tapped.

6# Your outside phone box has extra hardware. Sometimes, a physical check is required to notice a wiretap. Take a look at the outside of your phone box and look for anything unusual, such as hardware that seems like it was hastily installed. You should be sure to check the "restricted" side of the box, which will require a special Allen wrench.

7# You find a recording machine. Don't assume that everything on your phone is there because your provider put it there. If you've found a recording device or something else that looks suspicious, check it out. Follow your wires to make sure that they're clean.

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Zeitgeist Addendum To Be Released October 2008

To further celebrate Zeitgeist Day on March 15th, a trailer for "Zeitgeist Addendum" was released:"Zeitgeist was created in the hope that it will inspire people to start looking at the world from a more critical perspective, and to relay the understanding that very often things are not what the population at large think they are. The true understanding of events, both historical and modern, are crucial to the development, awareness and spirituality of the human condition."



UPDATE _Its out, Watch Below.

Zeitgeist Addendum
Came out today! Oct 3rd
Full Movie @ WAR ON YOU or Full Movie @ VidzKing to watch the full movie for free or download.

NY Times Review of WAR MADE EASY

Jeannette Catsoulis reviews WAR MADE EASY: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death in the New York Times:Based on Norman Solomon's 2005 book, Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp's nonpartisan documentary is less about propaganda than our news media's role in its dissemination. Referring to multiple American conflicts, Mr. Solomon - who appears on screen to connect the sound bites - presents a litany of journalistic pandering and critical laziness. Bellicose speeches by presidents from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush reveal frighteningly similar locutions that are then parroted by news organizations fearful of appearing unpatriotic.

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Washington Bans handguns?

Washington DC's gun ownership laws face a major legal challenge on Tuesday.

Firearms advocates are going to the Supreme Court to try to overturn a 32-year-old law that restricts access to handguns.

Obama Attended Hate America Sermon

The Obama campaign has told members of the press that Senator Obama was not in church on the day cited, July 22, because he had a speech he gave in Miami at 1:30 PM. Our writer, Jim Davis, says he attended several services at Senator Obama's church during the month of July, including July 22.

The church holds services three times every Sunday at 7:30 and 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Central time. While both the early morning and evening service allowed Sen. Obama to attend the service and still give a speech in Miami, Mr. Davis stands by his story that during one of the services he attended during the month of July, Senator Obama was present and sat through the sermon given by Rev. Wright as described in the story. Mr. Davis said Secret Service were also present in the church during Senator Obama's attendance. Mr. Davis' story was first published on Newsmax on August 9, 2007. Shortly before publication, Mr. Davis contacted the press office of Sen. Obama several times for comment about the Senator's attendance and Rev. Wright's comments during his sermon. The Senator's office declined to comment.
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100 Year Old Electric Car Makes A Comeback

To promote itself, Detroit Electric--a new joint venture between Zap and China's Youngman Automotive Group--plan to release a limited number of cars based around the Detroit Electric, an electric car produced by the Anderson Electric Car Co. in the early part of the 20th century.

Anderson produced various models of the Detroit Electric from 1907 to 1939. Customers included Henry Ford and Rockefeller. It was also featured on a stamp. TV host Jay Leno has some of the cars in his collection.

When the opportunity came up to buy the brand, Zap and Youngman decided to go for it, said Zap co-founder and CEO Steve Schneider. The reissued car will be based on a model from around 100 years ago.

"For the bride to be, or the bride of many Junes ago, a Detroit Electric," read a company advertisement from decades ago. "No other bridal present means so much, expresses so perfectly all you need to say."

The company advertised quite a bit in Cosmopolitan. During the 1910s, Anderson employed 1,100 people (and not a drunkard, scalawag or reprobate among them!).

Back in 1917, a Detroit Electric cost anywhere from $1,775 to $2,375--in other words, fit for the proletarian or plutocrat. The cars could go 65 miles to 100 miles on a battery charge, but only go at speeds ranging from 6 miles per hour to 25 mph.

Although the company was growing in the 1910s, prices continued to drop on combustion cars, which started to sap sales in the 1920s. The stock market crash of 1929 then took a toll on the company. It lingered through the 1930s before collapsing in 1939.

But it wasn't for lack of enthusiasm.

"The magnificent Detroit Electric is easily the enclosed car sensation of the year," read another ad. Huzzah!

Detroit, in its new incarnation, will start coming out with electric economy cars in 2010.

Billboard Liberation Front Improves AT&T Billboard in San Franscisco

The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants.

“This campaign is an extraordinary rendition of a public-private partnership,” observed BLF spokesperson Blank DeCoverly. “These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship, dating back to the age of the telegraph. In these dark days of Terrorism, that should be a comfort to every law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide.”

AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. “But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands,” noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. “Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic – who has time to cc the feds on every message? It’s a great example of how we anticipate our customers’ needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge.”Commenting on the action, and responding to questions about pending privacy litigation and the stalled Congressional effort to shield the telecoms from these lawsuits, NSA spokesperson [REDACTED] remarked: “[REDACTED] we [REDACTED] condone [REDACTED] warrantless [REDACTED], [REDACTED] SIGINT intercepts, [REDACTED] torture [REDACTED] information retrieval by [REDACTED] means necessary.”

“It’s a win-win-win situation,” noted the BLF’s DeCoverly. “NSA gets the data it needs to keep America safe, telecom customers get free services, and AT&T makes a fortune. That kind of cooperation between the public and private sectors should serve as a model to all of us, and a harbinger of things to come.”

Come see the improvement at 14th St. and Valencia St. in San Francisco

The BLF (www.billboardliberation.com) has been improving outdoor advertising since 1977. Prior campaigns have included work for Exxon, R.J. Reynolds, and Apple Computers.

AT&T (www.att.com) is America’s favorite telecommunications trust. Based in San Antonio, Texas, it has over 300,000 employees and annual revenues of $117 Billion.

NSA (www.nsa.gov) is the largest intelligence organization in the world. Headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, its budget, personnel, products, and services are all classified.

Iraq Veterans Against the War: ‘Winter Soldier 2008'

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan was a 4-day event from March 13-16 in DC that brought together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

WAR MADE EASY: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

Narrated by Sean Penn and based on the work of media critic and best-selling author Norman Solomon, who traveled with Penn to Baghdad just before the war to call attention to the dangers of a U.S. invasion, WAR MADE EASY reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose 50 years of government spin and media collusion that has dragged our country into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. With remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, the documentary exposes how presidential administrations of both parties have relied on a combination of deception and media complicity to sell one war after another to the American people.

Pre-order your copy today on Amazon.

Police pursue anti-government 'John Adams' blogger

Police in Whitewater, Wisconsin are in pursuit of a radical anti-government blogger. The blogger in question goes by the nickname 'John Adams' and runs the website www.freewhitewater.com.


"I think it is someone we want to keep an eye on...," Whitewater Police Detective Tina Winger wrote in an e-mail to Coan. "Seems like an anti-government radical to me."


The anonymous Adams charges that Whitewater city government is run by "a small, obstinate, and poorly educated local elite". Adams also criticizes a local judge that was convicted of lewd behavior, and the Whitewater police chief, James Coan.


Adams pits his case against the police chief by presenting evidence that the chief used city employees and resources to trace the anonymous blogger. The blogger also charges that the chief failed to address the destruction of evidence by former investigator.


So far they've used some questionable methods that have included harassing a man that swears he is not 'John Adams'. The man that Whitewater police have harassed is Laird Scott, a former Peace Corps worker.


There are many folks out there that have legitimate claims against the government. I just wish that they didn't have to fight anonymously.


An ironic twist to this whole 'John Adams' blogger deal, John Adams was known for supposedly trying to stifle criticism with the Alien and Sedition Acts.


Read full story at BallsNews.com

U.S. Supreme Court News

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court is extremely likely to announce whether it will hear two election law cases:

1. Bartlett v Strickland, 07-689, a North Carolina districting case;
2. Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, 07-953, a case involving federal campaign finance laws

The North Carolina redistricting case concerns whether courts have authority under the federal Voting Rights Act to draw districts that have a very high proportion of Black voters, yet not quite 50% Black. The state had drawn such a district but the State Supreme Court had invalidated it.

The Citizens United case involves whether a commercial movie with a partisan impact on an upcoming election must be subject to campaign finance laws.

Both cases were on the U.S. Supreme Court’s conference on Friday, March 14. The Court generally reveals what it decided on the following Monday, although there is no guarantee.

The Court will be issuing full opinions this week. Pending are the Washington state “top-two” primary case, and the Indiana government photo ID law for voting at the polls. There is no guarantee that these two particular cases will be decided this week, of course.
[...]

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Kucinich Brief in Texas Primary Ballot Access Case

On March 12, Dennis Kucinich filed this brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th circuit, in his Texas primary ballot access case.

Kucinich had been excluded from the Texas Democratic presidential primary because he wouldn’t sign an oath, pledging to “fully support the Democratic nominee for President whoever that shall be.” The Texas Democratic Party wrote this oath, but does not impose a similar oath for anyone running in its primaries for office other than president. No other state Democratic Party, and no state unit of the Republican Party, has a similar oath.

Among the points made by Kucinich are: “The oath is either meaningless and thus protects no interest, or it is so meaningful that it can be the sole basis for excluding a candidate from appearing on the ballot.” The District Court had said the oath is legally meaningless and that someone in Kucinich’s position therefore had no real complaint against the oath. Kucinich vigorously contests the idea that the oath is meaningless.

Kucinich also argues, “If left unchecked, the district court’s analysis would permit a nefarious state political committee to promulgate rules designed to exclude certain candidates from the opportunity to win any of the state’s convention delegates.”

Kucinich also points out that in Jenness v Fortson, the U.S. Supreme Court said in footnote 25 that anyone with any political views is free to run in any major party primary. Therefore, it wasn’t so serious that third parties and independent candidates couldn’t get on the general election ballot. Footnote 25 of Jenness v Fortson is completely outmoded, given the more recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions protecting the right of political parties to run their own nominations process. Kucinich is doing a great service by reminding the 5th Circuit (and, perhaps, ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court itself) about this outmoded part of Jenness v Fortson.

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