Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Chicago, Houston Consider Cameras in Private Businesses, Homes
Chicago, Houston Consider Cameras in Private Businesses, Homes
HumanEventsOnline.com ^ | Feb 28, 2006 | James Plummer
George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 opens with a surveillance helicopter chopping its blades menacingly through London, peeking inside apartment buildings. The protagonist, a conscience-stricken state worker with no way to blow the whistle, goes home to a "telescreen" watching and reporting his every word, move and even mood.
The totalitarian state apparatus of Orwell's bleak vision was patterned after the world's Communist parties. But many of today's 21st-century Democrat and Republican politicians see no problem with the kind of permanent police dragnet envisioned in the novel.
While Orwell's homeland of the United Kingdom is still the most-surveilled on Earth, recent actions by two big-city mayors will help the United States in the race to capture this dubious honor.
Chicago's mayor Richard Daley, heir to decades of ruthless Democrat machine politics, has been on a camera binge for quite some time now. In late 2004, Daley's Chicago announced plans to install an elaborate network of surveillance cameras in the city. Initially 2,000 cameras strong, the network is designed for ever-expanding, infinite capacity. And this camera network is to have a special feature: software that alerts police to allegedly "suspicious" behavior detected on camera. It sounds like something from the film "Minority Report," but many studies of similar behavioral-algorithm systems have shown high rates of false positives -- "hits" on innocent people. So, watch out -- if the software decides you're "wandering aimlessly," a heavily-armed SWAT team may not be far behind.
That software, paid for with a multimillion dollar grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security, was set to go online in March 2006 -- next month. At the time, Daley justified the surveillance net to the New York Times by saying, "We're not inside your home or your business. The city owns the sidewalks. We own the streets and we own the alleys."
But now that the system's software is set to go live, Daley says cameras on street corners and train platforms just aren't enough for him. Yep, just 15 months later, Daley is ready to admit that he does indeed want eyes inside your private business. He endorsed last week a bill pending in the City Council to require police surveillance in private buildings.
Under the plan, private businesses that remain open more than 12 hours a day and bars that remain open until last call would have to install the cameras also. The bill as written now would not require that businesses hook up their mandatory cameras to city networks, but Chicago Tribune reports that eventually, "the city does plan to link cameras in office and apartment buildings and other private properties to its system."
If you thought that was bad, get a load of what's going on in Houston. There, the police chief wants cameras placed in commercial downtown Houston. As opposed to the situation in Chicago, where the camera plan was introduced with a public-relations focus on placing the cameras in high-crime areas of town, downtown Houston is a high-pedestrian, low-crime area.
What exactly are the cameras there for? (Maybe Houston police will follow the lead of the Alabama State Troopers who, finding themselves at a control panel of cameras in a low-crime area, used them to ogle college girls.)
And here's the kicker: Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt is also advocating that the local building code be changed to require that private apartment complexes install surveillance cameras. Hurtt even said he wants cameras installed, telescreen-style, in private single-family homes if he decides there have been "too many" calls for police assistance from the home.
Hurtt invoked the name of Orwell's dictator in defending his radical proposition: "I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?"
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is supposed to guarantee protection from unreasonable searches. Hurtt's desire, like Daley's to constantly watch presumably innocent Americans on private property is both unreasonable and unconstitutional.
Democrat Mayor Bill White, who appointed Hurtt, has been equivocating about Hurtt's outrageous idea as the public reaction is tested. If enough Houstonians stand up for their rights to private property, White presumably won't push through the extreme surveillance program. But if Texans don’t stand for the idea that a man's home is his castle, the plan will almost assuredly move ahead.
And camera fever isn't confined to just those two cities. Voters in Philadelphia, birthplace of the Declaration of Independence, may have a chance to weigh in. A city councilman there wants to put the idea of cameras in high-crime areas to a popular vote. Philadelphians may want to consider the example of Chicago and Houston before embarking what is likely to be a slippery slope.
VOTE NOW: Do you support proposals in Chicago and Houston that would put security cameras in private businesses and homes?
Click here to vote in our poll.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1587017/posts
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=12683
HumanEventsOnline.com ^ | Feb 28, 2006 | James Plummer
George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 opens with a surveillance helicopter chopping its blades menacingly through London, peeking inside apartment buildings. The protagonist, a conscience-stricken state worker with no way to blow the whistle, goes home to a "telescreen" watching and reporting his every word, move and even mood.
The totalitarian state apparatus of Orwell's bleak vision was patterned after the world's Communist parties. But many of today's 21st-century Democrat and Republican politicians see no problem with the kind of permanent police dragnet envisioned in the novel.
While Orwell's homeland of the United Kingdom is still the most-surveilled on Earth, recent actions by two big-city mayors will help the United States in the race to capture this dubious honor.
Chicago's mayor Richard Daley, heir to decades of ruthless Democrat machine politics, has been on a camera binge for quite some time now. In late 2004, Daley's Chicago announced plans to install an elaborate network of surveillance cameras in the city. Initially 2,000 cameras strong, the network is designed for ever-expanding, infinite capacity. And this camera network is to have a special feature: software that alerts police to allegedly "suspicious" behavior detected on camera. It sounds like something from the film "Minority Report," but many studies of similar behavioral-algorithm systems have shown high rates of false positives -- "hits" on innocent people. So, watch out -- if the software decides you're "wandering aimlessly," a heavily-armed SWAT team may not be far behind.
That software, paid for with a multimillion dollar grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security, was set to go online in March 2006 -- next month. At the time, Daley justified the surveillance net to the New York Times by saying, "We're not inside your home or your business. The city owns the sidewalks. We own the streets and we own the alleys."
But now that the system's software is set to go live, Daley says cameras on street corners and train platforms just aren't enough for him. Yep, just 15 months later, Daley is ready to admit that he does indeed want eyes inside your private business. He endorsed last week a bill pending in the City Council to require police surveillance in private buildings.
Under the plan, private businesses that remain open more than 12 hours a day and bars that remain open until last call would have to install the cameras also. The bill as written now would not require that businesses hook up their mandatory cameras to city networks, but Chicago Tribune reports that eventually, "the city does plan to link cameras in office and apartment buildings and other private properties to its system."
If you thought that was bad, get a load of what's going on in Houston. There, the police chief wants cameras placed in commercial downtown Houston. As opposed to the situation in Chicago, where the camera plan was introduced with a public-relations focus on placing the cameras in high-crime areas of town, downtown Houston is a high-pedestrian, low-crime area.
What exactly are the cameras there for? (Maybe Houston police will follow the lead of the Alabama State Troopers who, finding themselves at a control panel of cameras in a low-crime area, used them to ogle college girls.)
And here's the kicker: Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt is also advocating that the local building code be changed to require that private apartment complexes install surveillance cameras. Hurtt even said he wants cameras installed, telescreen-style, in private single-family homes if he decides there have been "too many" calls for police assistance from the home.
Hurtt invoked the name of Orwell's dictator in defending his radical proposition: "I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?"
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is supposed to guarantee protection from unreasonable searches. Hurtt's desire, like Daley's to constantly watch presumably innocent Americans on private property is both unreasonable and unconstitutional.
Democrat Mayor Bill White, who appointed Hurtt, has been equivocating about Hurtt's outrageous idea as the public reaction is tested. If enough Houstonians stand up for their rights to private property, White presumably won't push through the extreme surveillance program. But if Texans don’t stand for the idea that a man's home is his castle, the plan will almost assuredly move ahead.
And camera fever isn't confined to just those two cities. Voters in Philadelphia, birthplace of the Declaration of Independence, may have a chance to weigh in. A city councilman there wants to put the idea of cameras in high-crime areas to a popular vote. Philadelphians may want to consider the example of Chicago and Houston before embarking what is likely to be a slippery slope.
VOTE NOW: Do you support proposals in Chicago and Houston that would put security cameras in private businesses and homes?
Click here to vote in our poll.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1587017/posts
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=12683
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Actors Don Knotts and Darren McGavin....gone
actor Darren McGavin has died
http://www.darrenmcgavin.net/ ^ | February 25, 2006
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Darren McGavin at approximately 7:10 A.M. Pacific time today, Saturday 25, 2006. Darren was just three months short of his 84th birthday. While we suspect none of us can imagine a world without the beloved, feisty little red-head, it is time to reflect, give thanks for his life and hold in reverence his memory. Darren is gone, but in many respects he will always be with us: as Carl Kolchak, fighting authority and battling monsters; the grumpy Old Man sending curses over Lake Michigan; as David Ross, the outsider, Grey Holden, captain of the Enterprise, the irascible detective Mike Hammer or any number of memorable guest star appearances, most notably as Joe Bascome on GUNSMOKE and as the washed-up old actor from "Distant Signals."
Please take a moment in your sadness to reflect upon all the ways Darren touched your lives, say a prayer and raise a glass to toast a career which spanned over fifty years and affected us all in ways too numerous to count.
___________________
Actor Don Knotts dies at 81; made being a nerd OK
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/13962329.htm ^ | Sat, Feb. 25, 2006 | JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
LOS ANGELES - Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," has died. He was 81.
Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the cable network TV Land, which airs "The Andy Griffith Show," and another Knotts hit, "Three's Company."
Unspecified health problems had forced him to cancel an appearance in his native Morgantown in August 2005.
The West Virginia-born actor's half-century career included seven TV series and more than 25 films, but it was the Griffith show that brought him TV immortality and five Emmies.
The show ran from 1960-68, and was in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings each season, including a No. 1 ranking its final year. It is one of only three series in TV history to bow out at the top: The others are "I Love Lucy" and "Seinfeld." The 249 episodes have appeared frequently in reruns and have spawned a large, active network of fan clubs.
As the bug-eyed deputy to Griffith, Knotts carried in his shirt pocket the one bullet he was allowed after shooting himself in the foot. The constant fumbling, a recurring sight gag, was typical of his self-deprecating humor.
Knotts, whose shy, soft-spoken manner was unlike his high-strung characters, once said he was most proud of the Fife character and doesn't mind being remembered that way.
His favorite episodes, he said, were "The Pickle Story," where Aunt Bea makes pickles no one can eat, and "Barney and the Choir," where no one can stop him from singing. "I can't sing. It makes me sad that I can't sing or dance well enough to be in a musical, but I'm just not talented in that way," he lamented. "It's one of my weaknesses
http://www.darrenmcgavin.net/ ^ | February 25, 2006
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Darren McGavin at approximately 7:10 A.M. Pacific time today, Saturday 25, 2006. Darren was just three months short of his 84th birthday. While we suspect none of us can imagine a world without the beloved, feisty little red-head, it is time to reflect, give thanks for his life and hold in reverence his memory. Darren is gone, but in many respects he will always be with us: as Carl Kolchak, fighting authority and battling monsters; the grumpy Old Man sending curses over Lake Michigan; as David Ross, the outsider, Grey Holden, captain of the Enterprise, the irascible detective Mike Hammer or any number of memorable guest star appearances, most notably as Joe Bascome on GUNSMOKE and as the washed-up old actor from "Distant Signals."
Please take a moment in your sadness to reflect upon all the ways Darren touched your lives, say a prayer and raise a glass to toast a career which spanned over fifty years and affected us all in ways too numerous to count.
___________________
Actor Don Knotts dies at 81; made being a nerd OK
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/13962329.htm ^ | Sat, Feb. 25, 2006 | JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
LOS ANGELES - Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," has died. He was 81.
Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, said Paul Ward, a spokesman for the cable network TV Land, which airs "The Andy Griffith Show," and another Knotts hit, "Three's Company."
Unspecified health problems had forced him to cancel an appearance in his native Morgantown in August 2005.
The West Virginia-born actor's half-century career included seven TV series and more than 25 films, but it was the Griffith show that brought him TV immortality and five Emmies.
The show ran from 1960-68, and was in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings each season, including a No. 1 ranking its final year. It is one of only three series in TV history to bow out at the top: The others are "I Love Lucy" and "Seinfeld." The 249 episodes have appeared frequently in reruns and have spawned a large, active network of fan clubs.
As the bug-eyed deputy to Griffith, Knotts carried in his shirt pocket the one bullet he was allowed after shooting himself in the foot. The constant fumbling, a recurring sight gag, was typical of his self-deprecating humor.
Knotts, whose shy, soft-spoken manner was unlike his high-strung characters, once said he was most proud of the Fife character and doesn't mind being remembered that way.
His favorite episodes, he said, were "The Pickle Story," where Aunt Bea makes pickles no one can eat, and "Barney and the Choir," where no one can stop him from singing. "I can't sing. It makes me sad that I can't sing or dance well enough to be in a musical, but I'm just not talented in that way," he lamented. "It's one of my weaknesses
Illegals-advocate group to stalk Minutemen kids
Illegals-advocate group to stalk Minutemen kids
WorldNetDaily ^ | February 25, 2006
A Maryland organization that runs four government-funded day-labor hiring centers is training volunteer "legal observers" to videotape members of the Minuteman border security group and to picket their homes, places of work and their children's schools.
"We are going to target them in a specific way," Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland told the Maryland Gazette, speaking of the Minutemen volunteers who have set up a surveillance site across the street to discreetly photograph contractors who pick up day laborers at the center.
Going out with their own cameras will only be the first step his group takes.
"Then we are going to picket their houses, and the schools of their kids, and go to their work," Torres said. "If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant. They are going to hear from us."
The Minuteman Project's "covert" campaign to monitor day labor centers has been in operation for a little over a week. The group, which started with much-publicized efforts to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and report sightings of illegal aliens to the Border Patrol, has turned its attention to the employers who hire undocumented workers.
"From a national standpoint, we want to close the border down and stop the flow of illegals," said Stephen Schreiman, president of a newly formed Maryland chapter. "We want to do the same thing here, but our approach will be a little different. What we want to do is to basically discourage contractors and businesses from hiring illegals. It's against federal law.
"We're going to go after these [contractors] at the state and local level because these people aren't paying taxes. We're going to take these people and through a vetting process determine which ones are not paying their taxes and doing business in an inappropriate manner and then turn them over to the appropriate authorities for prosecution. That should put a damper on the hiring of illegals."
The most recent annual report for Casa de Maryland, a non-profit, shows $2,771,615 in income for 2004-2005, of which 51 percent was provided by various government agencies. According to its website, the organization's employment program provides day-labor placement for "low-income Latino and African immigrants ... as employers seek to replace permanent workers." "We never ask for documentation," Torres told the New York Times in December. "Our mission is to help anyone in need of service, regardless of their immigration status. We are proud of that."
Casa's operation has not only been blessed by government funding but it has the support of the local business community.
"In this area, the commercial sector hasn't been harmed in the sense of people being deprived from work because of the day laborers being here," said Erwin Mack, executive director of the Takoma⁄Langley Crossroads Development Authority. "Consequently, while there are issues with their right to be in the United States, that's not what we're concerned about. We're concerned that they wait in an area that doesn't hurt our commercial properties.'
That's not good enough for Minuteman's Schreiman who intends to pursue his effort to inform the authorities about unlawful activity and have the law enforced.
And Schreiman's commitment to stay within the law – and the fact there have been no complaints filed with the police over the Minuteman surveillance – isn't good enough for Casa's Torres, who told a Spanish-language newspaper it would be better if the Minutemen did not interfere with Casa. But it is Torres threat to recruit individuals to picket Minuteman members' children at school that has the greatest likelihood to escalate the tense, but so-far peaceful, situation.
"Threatening children like this is outrageous," said Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Chris Simcox. "Casa de Maryland's funding should be pulled and its contracts cancelled. It is beyond belief that taxpayer dollars are funding this thuggish behavior."
The Maryland Minutemen have their work cut out for them. Takoma Park, site of the Casa day-labor center they've been monitoring, has declared itself a Sanctuary City and prohibits its employees, including police, from arresting illegal aliens or assisting federal immigration authorities.
WorldNetDaily ^ | February 25, 2006
A Maryland organization that runs four government-funded day-labor hiring centers is training volunteer "legal observers" to videotape members of the Minuteman border security group and to picket their homes, places of work and their children's schools.
"We are going to target them in a specific way," Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland told the Maryland Gazette, speaking of the Minutemen volunteers who have set up a surveillance site across the street to discreetly photograph contractors who pick up day laborers at the center.
Going out with their own cameras will only be the first step his group takes.
"Then we are going to picket their houses, and the schools of their kids, and go to their work," Torres said. "If they are going to do this to us, we are going to respond in the same way, to let people know their neighbors are extremists, that they are anti-immigrant. They are going to hear from us."
The Minuteman Project's "covert" campaign to monitor day labor centers has been in operation for a little over a week. The group, which started with much-publicized efforts to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and report sightings of illegal aliens to the Border Patrol, has turned its attention to the employers who hire undocumented workers.
"From a national standpoint, we want to close the border down and stop the flow of illegals," said Stephen Schreiman, president of a newly formed Maryland chapter. "We want to do the same thing here, but our approach will be a little different. What we want to do is to basically discourage contractors and businesses from hiring illegals. It's against federal law.
"We're going to go after these [contractors] at the state and local level because these people aren't paying taxes. We're going to take these people and through a vetting process determine which ones are not paying their taxes and doing business in an inappropriate manner and then turn them over to the appropriate authorities for prosecution. That should put a damper on the hiring of illegals."
The most recent annual report for Casa de Maryland, a non-profit, shows $2,771,615 in income for 2004-2005, of which 51 percent was provided by various government agencies. According to its website, the organization's employment program provides day-labor placement for "low-income Latino and African immigrants ... as employers seek to replace permanent workers." "We never ask for documentation," Torres told the New York Times in December. "Our mission is to help anyone in need of service, regardless of their immigration status. We are proud of that."
Casa's operation has not only been blessed by government funding but it has the support of the local business community.
"In this area, the commercial sector hasn't been harmed in the sense of people being deprived from work because of the day laborers being here," said Erwin Mack, executive director of the Takoma⁄Langley Crossroads Development Authority. "Consequently, while there are issues with their right to be in the United States, that's not what we're concerned about. We're concerned that they wait in an area that doesn't hurt our commercial properties.'
That's not good enough for Minuteman's Schreiman who intends to pursue his effort to inform the authorities about unlawful activity and have the law enforced.
And Schreiman's commitment to stay within the law – and the fact there have been no complaints filed with the police over the Minuteman surveillance – isn't good enough for Casa's Torres, who told a Spanish-language newspaper it would be better if the Minutemen did not interfere with Casa. But it is Torres threat to recruit individuals to picket Minuteman members' children at school that has the greatest likelihood to escalate the tense, but so-far peaceful, situation.
"Threatening children like this is outrageous," said Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President Chris Simcox. "Casa de Maryland's funding should be pulled and its contracts cancelled. It is beyond belief that taxpayer dollars are funding this thuggish behavior."
The Maryland Minutemen have their work cut out for them. Takoma Park, site of the Casa day-labor center they've been monitoring, has declared itself a Sanctuary City and prohibits its employees, including police, from arresting illegal aliens or assisting federal immigration authorities.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Iraqi Mayor Hails Our GI 'Knights' (Mayor of Tal’Afar praises US soldiers as liberators & lionhearts)
In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful
To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall' Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.
To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.
To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.
Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi's followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.
I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.
The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and truly deserves to be studied in military science. This military operation was clean, with little collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy. With the skill and precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing unnecessary damage.
God bless this brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave men and women. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families. They have given us something we will never forget. To the families of those who have given their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain. They are not dead, but alive, and their souls hovering around us every second of every minute. They will never be forgotten for giving their precious lives. They have sacrificed that which is most valuable. We see them in the smile of every child, and in every flower growing in this land. Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for humanity and life.
Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven't the words to describe the courage of its officers and soldiers. I pray to God to grant happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.
NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI Mayor of Tall `Afar, Ninewa, Iraq
To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall' Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.
To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.
To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.
Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi's followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.
I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.
The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and truly deserves to be studied in military science. This military operation was clean, with little collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy. With the skill and precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing unnecessary damage.
God bless this brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave men and women. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families. They have given us something we will never forget. To the families of those who have given their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain. They are not dead, but alive, and their souls hovering around us every second of every minute. They will never be forgotten for giving their precious lives. They have sacrificed that which is most valuable. We see them in the smile of every child, and in every flower growing in this land. Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for humanity and life.
Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven't the words to describe the courage of its officers and soldiers. I pray to God to grant happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.
NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI Mayor of Tall `Afar, Ninewa, Iraq
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Blogger Receives "Fatwa"
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
THE FREEDOM FIGHTER'S JOURNAL RECEIVES FATWA
I received this death threat this morning in the EMail, since I'm the owner, writer, editor and publisher for THE FREEDOM FIGHTER'S JOURNAL, which has offended mightly the enemies of liberty. I wonder how the Islamists plan to kill me? Behead me? Bomb me? Shoot me? Poison me? How about the ever popular knife in the back? In order to demonstrate how scared I am of cowardly psychopaths who dump death threats in my EMail I intend to double the disrespect I've shown to Islamofascism in recent weeks.
The nasty EMail in question:
(Excerpt) Read more at ronbosoldier.blogspot.com
THE FREEDOM FIGHTER'S JOURNAL RECEIVES FATWA
I received this death threat this morning in the EMail, since I'm the owner, writer, editor and publisher for THE FREEDOM FIGHTER'S JOURNAL, which has offended mightly the enemies of liberty. I wonder how the Islamists plan to kill me? Behead me? Bomb me? Shoot me? Poison me? How about the ever popular knife in the back? In order to demonstrate how scared I am of cowardly psychopaths who dump death threats in my EMail I intend to double the disrespect I've shown to Islamofascism in recent weeks.
The nasty EMail in question:
(Excerpt) Read more at ronbosoldier.blogspot.com
Friday, February 10, 2006
"Where is the Money?" Where is the Outrage??
"Where is the Money?" Where is the Outrage??
by: Tom McClusky
The Washington Post today has an article on how protestors are currently in Washington to protest that the federal government isn't providing the victims enough money (presumably because they believe President Bush created the storm with his weather controlling machine.) The Post article certainly romanticizes the protestors: "They came to Washington yesterday from temporary housing, from apartments in Houston, hotel rooms in Dallas and spare bedrooms in cousins' homes. They came to say that the only place they really want to go is home." What the Post fails to mention is that the "protestors" were paid to come to DC by The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a group noted for its connections to election irregularities and corporate extortion. Thanks to Capital Research Center we know that the marchers were paying $50 to be transported 1100 miles away from the cities they are demanding to return to. The paid protestors chanted "where is the money?" Hmmm 400 protestors paying $50 a piece - that is $20,000 not including the transportation and I'm assuming housing while here.
Let us not forget ACORN also receives federal funds. HUD awarded ACORN $1,999,920 in federal funds to be used to leverage an additional $4,397,102 in private resources for Hurricane Katrina victims. Beside the waste of resources for this paid protest (and despite the Washington Post fawning coverage) using taxpayer dollars to lobby Congress is illegal. Where is the outrage???
by: Tom McClusky
The Washington Post today has an article on how protestors are currently in Washington to protest that the federal government isn't providing the victims enough money (presumably because they believe President Bush created the storm with his weather controlling machine.) The Post article certainly romanticizes the protestors: "They came to Washington yesterday from temporary housing, from apartments in Houston, hotel rooms in Dallas and spare bedrooms in cousins' homes. They came to say that the only place they really want to go is home." What the Post fails to mention is that the "protestors" were paid to come to DC by The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a group noted for its connections to election irregularities and corporate extortion. Thanks to Capital Research Center we know that the marchers were paying $50 to be transported 1100 miles away from the cities they are demanding to return to. The paid protestors chanted "where is the money?" Hmmm 400 protestors paying $50 a piece - that is $20,000 not including the transportation and I'm assuming housing while here.
Let us not forget ACORN also receives federal funds. HUD awarded ACORN $1,999,920 in federal funds to be used to leverage an additional $4,397,102 in private resources for Hurricane Katrina victims. Beside the waste of resources for this paid protest (and despite the Washington Post fawning coverage) using taxpayer dollars to lobby Congress is illegal. Where is the outrage???
Monday, February 06, 2006
Sigh.....
Just as I feared...
The end of the weekend has come. It is now past 12 midnight. It's officially Monday. Time goes by FAST when you're having fun.
Now I have 5 days of work coming up. I dread getting in my car to make the drive for work on Monday's. The only thing I look forward to about work is the drive home. But before I know it, it's time to go back to work again...and again....and again...and again.
The end of the weekend has come. It is now past 12 midnight. It's officially Monday. Time goes by FAST when you're having fun.
Now I have 5 days of work coming up. I dread getting in my car to make the drive for work on Monday's. The only thing I look forward to about work is the drive home. But before I know it, it's time to go back to work again...and again....and again...and again.
Death Knell for the Case against Scooter Libby?
Court documents were released yesterday which appear to sound the death knell for Special Prosecutor Peter Fitzgerald’s case against Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Leftists who once eagerly anticipated a “Merry Fitzmas” are likely to find a lump of coal in their stockings next December, before the trial, scheduled for early 2007, ever gets underway.
Discovery requests by Lewis Libby’s defense team and the Dow Jones lawsuit to unseal the redacted pages of the Judith Miller appeal are proceeding. It is growing exceedingly obvious that the Special Counsel made a number of misrepresentations to the press and the court.
The sum and substance of his case is now clearly seen to be the difference in the recollections of Libby and those of Matt Cooper of Time Magazine, Judith Miller, then of the New York Times, and NBC’s Tim Russert regarding certain conversations. But these conversations do not involve the deliberate “outing” of a covert agent, did not affect national security and at best involve differing recollections of insignificant matters which should never rise to the level of a criminal prosecution.
Reuters reported yesterday that the case is scheduled for trial in January 2007. But, it may never occur. There are more documents that Fitgerald is so far unwilling to turn over....
Fitzgerald told the judge he had turned over all relevant information, including an additional 1,000 pages this week, but Wells urged the judge to force Fitzgerald to turn over even more material.
“We believe there are thousands and thousands and thousands of pages that Mr. Fitzgerald is in possession of that he has decided not to give to us,” Wells said.
Libby’s counsel Theodore Wells, is quoted as saying that
“in the next three weeks he expects to file a motion arguing that the indictment should be dismissed.”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com
Discovery requests by Lewis Libby’s defense team and the Dow Jones lawsuit to unseal the redacted pages of the Judith Miller appeal are proceeding. It is growing exceedingly obvious that the Special Counsel made a number of misrepresentations to the press and the court.
The sum and substance of his case is now clearly seen to be the difference in the recollections of Libby and those of Matt Cooper of Time Magazine, Judith Miller, then of the New York Times, and NBC’s Tim Russert regarding certain conversations. But these conversations do not involve the deliberate “outing” of a covert agent, did not affect national security and at best involve differing recollections of insignificant matters which should never rise to the level of a criminal prosecution.
Reuters reported yesterday that the case is scheduled for trial in January 2007. But, it may never occur. There are more documents that Fitgerald is so far unwilling to turn over....
Fitzgerald told the judge he had turned over all relevant information, including an additional 1,000 pages this week, but Wells urged the judge to force Fitzgerald to turn over even more material.
“We believe there are thousands and thousands and thousands of pages that Mr. Fitzgerald is in possession of that he has decided not to give to us,” Wells said.
Libby’s counsel Theodore Wells, is quoted as saying that
“in the next three weeks he expects to file a motion arguing that the indictment should be dismissed.”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com
Sunday, February 05, 2006
CNN: Craven Hypocrites
From LGF:
CNN has been accompanying every story about the cartoon jihad with the boilerplate message:
"CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam."
But they apparently have no such “respect” for Christianity; they didn’t hesitate for a second to show this image of the virgin Mary made out of elephant dung and pictures of female genitalia: New York, Brooklyn museum settle funding dispute. (Hat tip: christheprofessor.)
Why don’t they just come clean and admit why they won’t show the Mohammed cartoons?
"CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of fear of Islam."
CNN has been accompanying every story about the cartoon jihad with the boilerplate message:
"CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam."
But they apparently have no such “respect” for Christianity; they didn’t hesitate for a second to show this image of the virgin Mary made out of elephant dung and pictures of female genitalia: New York, Brooklyn museum settle funding dispute. (Hat tip: christheprofessor.)
Why don’t they just come clean and admit why they won’t show the Mohammed cartoons?
"CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of fear of Islam."
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Thank God It's Friday
Actually, to be more accurate, it's now Saturday. Past 2am.
I've been looking forward to this day all week long. Not for any special reason except that I'm off from work Saturday and Sunday. FINALLY the weekend rolled around.
I'll be spending the entire weeekend just resting, catching up on sleep I've lost during the entire week, and watching videos (and eating).
I have, from the library, 6 DVDs of the Brit-com "Keeping Up Appearances"
I've seen a smattering of episodes here and there on the local PBS station (on Saturday evenings), but many of the episodes on the DVDs I have not seen. (right now, that channel, 21, is playing an old movie called The Animal Kingdom with Leslie howard)
Also, from Netflix, I have rented the 1954 tv show "Public Defender"
Originally, I was at the "FYE" store at the mall which sells DVDs, DVD players, movies, video games, CDs, CD players, etc., etc. In a discount bin they had volumes 1 and 3 of Public Defender (but not volume 2). They were going for 6.99 each. I decided not to buy it, thinking that maybe I could rent it from Netflix. Suire enough, Netflis has it, and they have so far sent me volume 1. Why I have only 1 DVD from Netflix? Normally I'm on the 4 out plan at Netflix, but I have already sent back my other 3 DVDs to them. I want them to get my returns in time because on Feb. 7, Tuesday, they are releasing the second season of the tv show Emergency. And in order to get the discs and not have to put up with a wait (Emergency is sure to be a popular rental which will wind up making many renters wait for that particular series), one has to be sure that Netflix gets the returns by Monday. It's not foolproof, but it works some of the time.
Anyways, the Public Defender DVD has only 4 half hour episodes on it, so I'll be mostly relying on the Keeping Up Appearances DVDs to keep me entertained.
Wait a sec...let me check the Netflix and Blockbuster websites.....See what I'm supposed to expect in tomorrows mail....
Okay, I'm supposed to get disc 1 of season 1 of the detective series, Kojak. I'm not a particular fan of that series, and reruns of that series hasn't aired in my area in decades. But when it did, I watched a few episodes here and there. I thought that maybe I'll give that show another chance. If I dont like the first disc, I wont bother to rent the others.
And I'm also expecting "Laverne & Shirley: Season 1: Disc 3". I used to watch that series in reruns alot. A spin off of Happy Days. Just got the urge to rent that series. They have as of yet to release season 2.
Geez, Netflix isn't even acknowledging one DVD that I returned a while ago: "Lotsa Luck: The Complete Series: Disc 1". Apparently they got discs 2, 3, and 4. I had so much trouble getting disc 1 to begin with. The first disc went missing, I reported it, and had them send a replacement. Then the missing disc turned up, I watched it, returned it, they acknowledged getting it. Then the replacement came in the mail and I returned that without even watching it and they have as of yet ot receive it.
Lotsa Luck ran for only one season, 1973-1974. It starred Dom Deluise as Stanley Belmont. A guy who worked in the Lost and found Department of a bus company. It's a pretty good series. Not great, but ok.
Now, lets see what I should be expecting in tomorrows mail from Blockbuster....
Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Third Season - Disc 2
THAT was SUPPOSED to come in todays mail, but it did not.
Ship date: 01/31/2006
Estimated arrival: 02/03/2006
3-4 day delivery. Par for the course for Blockbuster.
Well, I'm getting tired. Now on to enjoy my weekend as best I can. Because before I know it, the weekend be all over and it'll be Monday again.
I've been looking forward to this day all week long. Not for any special reason except that I'm off from work Saturday and Sunday. FINALLY the weekend rolled around.
I'll be spending the entire weeekend just resting, catching up on sleep I've lost during the entire week, and watching videos (and eating).
I have, from the library, 6 DVDs of the Brit-com "Keeping Up Appearances"
I've seen a smattering of episodes here and there on the local PBS station (on Saturday evenings), but many of the episodes on the DVDs I have not seen. (right now, that channel, 21, is playing an old movie called The Animal Kingdom with Leslie howard)
Also, from Netflix, I have rented the 1954 tv show "Public Defender"
Originally, I was at the "FYE" store at the mall which sells DVDs, DVD players, movies, video games, CDs, CD players, etc., etc. In a discount bin they had volumes 1 and 3 of Public Defender (but not volume 2). They were going for 6.99 each. I decided not to buy it, thinking that maybe I could rent it from Netflix. Suire enough, Netflis has it, and they have so far sent me volume 1. Why I have only 1 DVD from Netflix? Normally I'm on the 4 out plan at Netflix, but I have already sent back my other 3 DVDs to them. I want them to get my returns in time because on Feb. 7, Tuesday, they are releasing the second season of the tv show Emergency. And in order to get the discs and not have to put up with a wait (Emergency is sure to be a popular rental which will wind up making many renters wait for that particular series), one has to be sure that Netflix gets the returns by Monday. It's not foolproof, but it works some of the time.
Anyways, the Public Defender DVD has only 4 half hour episodes on it, so I'll be mostly relying on the Keeping Up Appearances DVDs to keep me entertained.
Wait a sec...let me check the Netflix and Blockbuster websites.....See what I'm supposed to expect in tomorrows mail....
Okay, I'm supposed to get disc 1 of season 1 of the detective series, Kojak. I'm not a particular fan of that series, and reruns of that series hasn't aired in my area in decades. But when it did, I watched a few episodes here and there. I thought that maybe I'll give that show another chance. If I dont like the first disc, I wont bother to rent the others.
And I'm also expecting "Laverne & Shirley: Season 1: Disc 3". I used to watch that series in reruns alot. A spin off of Happy Days. Just got the urge to rent that series. They have as of yet to release season 2.
Geez, Netflix isn't even acknowledging one DVD that I returned a while ago: "Lotsa Luck: The Complete Series: Disc 1". Apparently they got discs 2, 3, and 4. I had so much trouble getting disc 1 to begin with. The first disc went missing, I reported it, and had them send a replacement. Then the missing disc turned up, I watched it, returned it, they acknowledged getting it. Then the replacement came in the mail and I returned that without even watching it and they have as of yet ot receive it.
Lotsa Luck ran for only one season, 1973-1974. It starred Dom Deluise as Stanley Belmont. A guy who worked in the Lost and found Department of a bus company. It's a pretty good series. Not great, but ok.
Now, lets see what I should be expecting in tomorrows mail from Blockbuster....
Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Third Season - Disc 2
THAT was SUPPOSED to come in todays mail, but it did not.
Ship date: 01/31/2006
Estimated arrival: 02/03/2006
3-4 day delivery. Par for the course for Blockbuster.
Well, I'm getting tired. Now on to enjoy my weekend as best I can. Because before I know it, the weekend be all over and it'll be Monday again.
Friday, February 03, 2006
CAUGHT IN THE ACT (Incursions by Mexican nationals into the USA)
Some more of Dubya's 'good hearted folks' have made another incursion across the Rio Grande again, complete with their high powered automatic weapons.
Let a Syrian military force cross the Iraq border and our military would be all over it like a tumblebug on a piece of dung. Don't Americans rate the same level of protection from armed invaders Iraqis do?
KFOX News in El Paso has reported, "For the second time in two weeks, American law enforcement officers say men carrying high powered automatic weapons and who appeared to be Mexican soldiers violated the international boundary and crossed into the United States in Hudspeth County, East of El Paso.
In the past the Mexican Consulate in El Paso had stated that their Government policy is that no armed Mexican soldiers are allowed closer than three miles to the U.S. border.
"The latest incident happened just before sunset on Tuesday night, as a KFOX crew was on the scene. As a Hudspeth County sheriff's deputy was describing what happened during a reported incursion last week - suddenly one 'soldier' emerged from the brush on the Mexican side of the border and darted back under cover. Moments later though, two other men who appeared to be soldiers marched across a clearing, in plan view. Shortly after that, the Deputy spotted soldiers who were well hidden and out of camera range crossing into the United States - attempting to flank the Deputy and the news crew.
"According to the Deputy 'They are doing the classic thing, flanking around each side of us and actually coming up into the U.S. and trying to figure out what we are doing, they are looking at us very heavily.'
"Reporter Ben Swann replied, 'So I guess it's time to go.' The Deputy responded 'Yeah, it would definitely be time to get out of here.'
"...After this latest incident on Tuesday night, the U.S. Border Patrol reports that they were contacted by Mexican authorities who admitted the men were Mexican soldiers. Border Patrol Assistant Chief Robert Boatright told KFOX 'Mexican officials got in touch with our Mexican liaison unit to advise us that they had requested the assistance of the Mexican military and that they were down in Hudspeth County.' But he tells us this contact only occurred after the Mexican soldiers had been spotted by the Sheriff's Deputy."
Will Chertoff claim this is another accident as well? See the pictures for yourself. Excuse my skepticism, but it sounds like someone in the Border Patrol was ordered by the powers that be to provide a cover story for what was essentially an act of war on the part of Mexico. In a border incident in the same spot last week, a Humvee and heavily armed men who appeared to be soldiers, reportedly came to the rescue of drug smugglers who were being chased back across the border into Mexico; the incursion occurred about 50 miles east of El Paso. On Wednesday afternoon, the Mexican Consulate released a statement saying the heavily armed men were not Mexican Soldiers, but were State Police, investigating last week's smuggling incident. Consulate officials say the men will be in the area for the next several days. So the Border Patrol supposedly invited Mexican soldiers onto Texas soil for several days, without seeking permission from Gov. Rick Perry, and neglected to inform local law enforcement officers -- a mere eight days after the last armed incursion, knowing there was a chance some local lawman might shoot first and ask questions later? I don't THINK so!
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (“MCDC”) released the video footage of an incursion by a unit of the Mexican army across the U.S. border in Arizona on January 20. The footage, filmed in 2004, was sent to then Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. His office did not respond. The video has remained in the Minuteman video archive and is being released in response to recent news reports that over 200 cross-border incursions by the Mexican army have been documented since 1996. Chris Simcox and a group of Civil Defense Corps volunteers encountered a squad of approximately eight armed Mexican soldiers about 500 yards inside American territory.
Tony Dolz reported for American Chronicle, "At 2:15 PM on Monday, January 23, a large number of heavily armed Mexican Army soldiers had a standoff with nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officials near Neely's Crossing, on U.S. soil, 50 miles east of El Paso. According to the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department and the FBI, Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States. Mexican soldiers armed with several mounted machine guns on the ground held their position more than 200 yards inside of United States territory. Sheriff Deputies captured a Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen from El Paso laden with 1,477 pounds of marijuana; as well as one of the Humvees which the soldiers had set on fire. Inland Valley Daily Bulleting reporters Sara Carter and Kenneth Todd Ruiz, in their stunning coverage of this story, quote Chief Deputy Sheriff Mike Doyal as saying that these incidents are common at Neely's Crossing.
"In a Homeland Security document uncovered by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on January 15 th, it states that 216 Mexican army incursions have occurred in the last 10 years. This is loudly contested by T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the Border Patrol agent's national union, who says that these incursion are far more common and that the Border Patrol agents reports to headquarters in Washington are routinely ignored as is the risks that this armed incursions represent to the agents and area residents. The frequency of the violations has been corroborated repeatedly by the likes of Texas State Representative, John Culberson who earlier this month toured the Laredo area with no less than Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Rep. Culberson was told by sheriffs and Border Patrol agents that standoffs with “uniformed, machine gun-toting military people”, occur regularly. The secret document points to El Centro, California as the place where the greatest number of dangerous incursions has taken place out of our entire 2000 mile border with Mexico.
"In a Daily Bulleting series entitled, Beyond Borders, the newspaper related an incident from 2000 when 16 Mexican soldiers were arrested by Border Patrol agents in a small town west of El Paso, New Mexico after the soldiers fired on the agents. Inexplicably, U. S. State Department officials forced the border agents to release the soldiers and return them to Mexico with their weapons! What the American people do not know about these broken border threats the better; that seems to be what our government thinks is best for us."
Regarding the incident on Jan. 20, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said the uniformed men who used a military-style Humvee to help the drug smugglers being chased by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies may have been U.S. soldiers or criminals. But he offered no evidence to back his suggestion.
Jerry Seper of the Washington Times reported, "The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers 'trained to escape, evade and counterambush' if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday. "The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed. "It also cautions agents to keep 'a low profile,' to use 'cover and concealment' in approaching the Mexican units, to employ 'shadows and camouflage' to conceal themselves and to 'stay as quiet as possible.'
Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, has denied Mexican military personnel are crossing into the United States, "I strongly deny any incursions by the Mexican military as inaccurate allegations," Laveaga said. "The Mexican military is a well-respected institution with strict rules on how to control Northern Mexico. It maintains a protocol of not going within a mile of the border, and those who would trespass would be severely punished." He said some drug smugglers headed "both north and south" wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles, and might have "confused" U.S. authorities. "Give me a break," said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. "Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents. Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation," said Bonner. As to the reports that Mexican military units had crossed mistakenly into the United States, Bonner said, "Every country's military has a global positioning system nowadays, including the Mexicans. If the border is so poorly marked, why don't the thousands of Border Patrol agents working 24/7 along it ever seem to get lost, and none of us have been issued a GPS," he said.
In a recent interview, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff downplayed the increasing number of incursions by the mexican military stating, "First, I saw these stories in the last 24 hours, I think the stories are overblown. The issue of incursions or military police, Mexican Military Police crossing the border...this has been tracked for 10 years. I asked the Chief of the Border Patrol about it. The number has not increased. In fact, I think it's decreased a little bit and you have to unpack it. There are a lot of different things. I think we've averaged approximately 20 a year and a significant number of those are innocent things where there's a part of the border that police or military from Mexico who are pursuing something, pursuing criminal or something may step across the border because they may not be aware of exactly where the line is.
Some of these may, in fact, involve instances where we have deserters from the Mexican military or police who are doing something illegal and we do catch them so that does happen but that is only a percentage of those. Sometimes it may be people who are dressed in what appear to be military uniforms but are just criminals. They're not military but they're wearing camouflage so someone assumes they are military and so sometimes we have those kinds of incursions. I think to create the image that somehow there is a deliberate effort by the Mexican military to cross the border would be to really to traffic in kind of scare tactics.
I don't think that we have a serious problem with official incursions. I think there's, again, we have good relations with the counterparts across the border. We do have instances where we have Mexican police or military who've deserted and become involved with criminal activity. But we've also had bad cops within the United States, too. It happens. We have a good relationship with the Mexicans and I think that treating this as an alarmist issue that suggests we're in danger of some significant overreaching is not accurate and not helpful."
Giving the Mexican military the benefit of the doubt they may not be aware of exactly where the line is along much of the border may work for the gullible -- or wilfully-blind politicians -- but it is totally unbelieveable in the case of the Texas incursions, because the border is marked by the Rio Grande River.
The truth is, the Bush administration is not about to get serious about border incursions unless Congress forces the issue. Just the opposite is true, in fact. In March of 2005, Bush invited Mexican President Vicente Fox and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to a conflab at his ranch in Crawford, TX. The three globalists announced an initiative dubbed the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America," which is designed to establish a common continental security perimeter against outside threats while facilitating the legal flow of people and trade across shared borders and increasing cooperation on energy, the environment and bioterrorism. A Joint Statement by President Bush, President Fox, and Prime Minister Martin lays out the bare bones of the plan. None of this has had the input of Congress.
This is all part of a Council on Foreign Relations scheme to create a North American version of the European Union, with the entire western hemisphere brought under the umbrella eventually under the authority of NAFTA Plus, CAFTA and the FTAA trade agreements. The long-term goal is what it has always been for the CFR -- one-world government.
A CFR document, called "Building a North American Community," asserts that George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin "committed their governments" to this goal when they met at Bush's ranch and at Waco, Texas on March 23, 2005. The three adopted the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" and assigned "working groups" to fill in the details.
The 59-page CFR document spells out a five-year plan for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter." "Common perimeter" means wide-open U.S. borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The CFR's "integrated" strategy calls for "a more open border for the movement of goods and people." It calls for "a common economic space...for all people in the region, a space in which trade, capital, and people flow freely."
The CFR document lays "the groundwork for the freer flow of people within North America." The "common security perimeter" will require us to "harmonize visa and asylum regulations" with Mexico and Canada, "harmonize entry screening," and "fully share data about the exit and entry of foreign nationals."
Let a Syrian military force cross the Iraq border and our military would be all over it like a tumblebug on a piece of dung. Don't Americans rate the same level of protection from armed invaders Iraqis do?
KFOX News in El Paso has reported, "For the second time in two weeks, American law enforcement officers say men carrying high powered automatic weapons and who appeared to be Mexican soldiers violated the international boundary and crossed into the United States in Hudspeth County, East of El Paso.
In the past the Mexican Consulate in El Paso had stated that their Government policy is that no armed Mexican soldiers are allowed closer than three miles to the U.S. border.
"The latest incident happened just before sunset on Tuesday night, as a KFOX crew was on the scene. As a Hudspeth County sheriff's deputy was describing what happened during a reported incursion last week - suddenly one 'soldier' emerged from the brush on the Mexican side of the border and darted back under cover. Moments later though, two other men who appeared to be soldiers marched across a clearing, in plan view. Shortly after that, the Deputy spotted soldiers who were well hidden and out of camera range crossing into the United States - attempting to flank the Deputy and the news crew.
"According to the Deputy 'They are doing the classic thing, flanking around each side of us and actually coming up into the U.S. and trying to figure out what we are doing, they are looking at us very heavily.'
"Reporter Ben Swann replied, 'So I guess it's time to go.' The Deputy responded 'Yeah, it would definitely be time to get out of here.'
"...After this latest incident on Tuesday night, the U.S. Border Patrol reports that they were contacted by Mexican authorities who admitted the men were Mexican soldiers. Border Patrol Assistant Chief Robert Boatright told KFOX 'Mexican officials got in touch with our Mexican liaison unit to advise us that they had requested the assistance of the Mexican military and that they were down in Hudspeth County.' But he tells us this contact only occurred after the Mexican soldiers had been spotted by the Sheriff's Deputy."
Will Chertoff claim this is another accident as well? See the pictures for yourself. Excuse my skepticism, but it sounds like someone in the Border Patrol was ordered by the powers that be to provide a cover story for what was essentially an act of war on the part of Mexico. In a border incident in the same spot last week, a Humvee and heavily armed men who appeared to be soldiers, reportedly came to the rescue of drug smugglers who were being chased back across the border into Mexico; the incursion occurred about 50 miles east of El Paso. On Wednesday afternoon, the Mexican Consulate released a statement saying the heavily armed men were not Mexican Soldiers, but were State Police, investigating last week's smuggling incident. Consulate officials say the men will be in the area for the next several days. So the Border Patrol supposedly invited Mexican soldiers onto Texas soil for several days, without seeking permission from Gov. Rick Perry, and neglected to inform local law enforcement officers -- a mere eight days after the last armed incursion, knowing there was a chance some local lawman might shoot first and ask questions later? I don't THINK so!
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (“MCDC”) released the video footage of an incursion by a unit of the Mexican army across the U.S. border in Arizona on January 20. The footage, filmed in 2004, was sent to then Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge. His office did not respond. The video has remained in the Minuteman video archive and is being released in response to recent news reports that over 200 cross-border incursions by the Mexican army have been documented since 1996. Chris Simcox and a group of Civil Defense Corps volunteers encountered a squad of approximately eight armed Mexican soldiers about 500 yards inside American territory.
Tony Dolz reported for American Chronicle, "At 2:15 PM on Monday, January 23, a large number of heavily armed Mexican Army soldiers had a standoff with nearly 30 U.S. law enforcement officials near Neely's Crossing, on U.S. soil, 50 miles east of El Paso. According to the Hudspeth County Sheriff's Department and the FBI, Mexican military Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border into the United States. Mexican soldiers armed with several mounted machine guns on the ground held their position more than 200 yards inside of United States territory. Sheriff Deputies captured a Cadillac Escalade reportedly stolen from El Paso laden with 1,477 pounds of marijuana; as well as one of the Humvees which the soldiers had set on fire. Inland Valley Daily Bulleting reporters Sara Carter and Kenneth Todd Ruiz, in their stunning coverage of this story, quote Chief Deputy Sheriff Mike Doyal as saying that these incidents are common at Neely's Crossing.
"In a Homeland Security document uncovered by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on January 15 th, it states that 216 Mexican army incursions have occurred in the last 10 years. This is loudly contested by T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the Border Patrol agent's national union, who says that these incursion are far more common and that the Border Patrol agents reports to headquarters in Washington are routinely ignored as is the risks that this armed incursions represent to the agents and area residents. The frequency of the violations has been corroborated repeatedly by the likes of Texas State Representative, John Culberson who earlier this month toured the Laredo area with no less than Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Rep. Culberson was told by sheriffs and Border Patrol agents that standoffs with “uniformed, machine gun-toting military people”, occur regularly. The secret document points to El Centro, California as the place where the greatest number of dangerous incursions has taken place out of our entire 2000 mile border with Mexico.
"In a Daily Bulleting series entitled, Beyond Borders, the newspaper related an incident from 2000 when 16 Mexican soldiers were arrested by Border Patrol agents in a small town west of El Paso, New Mexico after the soldiers fired on the agents. Inexplicably, U. S. State Department officials forced the border agents to release the soldiers and return them to Mexico with their weapons! What the American people do not know about these broken border threats the better; that seems to be what our government thinks is best for us."
Regarding the incident on Jan. 20, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said the uniformed men who used a military-style Humvee to help the drug smugglers being chased by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies may have been U.S. soldiers or criminals. But he offered no evidence to back his suggestion.
Jerry Seper of the Washington Times reported, "The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers 'trained to escape, evade and counterambush' if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday. "The warning to Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Ariz., comes after increased sightings of what authorities described as heavily armed Mexican military units on the U.S. side of the border. The warning asks the agents to report the size, activity, location, time and equipment of any units observed. "It also cautions agents to keep 'a low profile,' to use 'cover and concealment' in approaching the Mexican units, to employ 'shadows and camouflage' to conceal themselves and to 'stay as quiet as possible.'
Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, has denied Mexican military personnel are crossing into the United States, "I strongly deny any incursions by the Mexican military as inaccurate allegations," Laveaga said. "The Mexican military is a well-respected institution with strict rules on how to control Northern Mexico. It maintains a protocol of not going within a mile of the border, and those who would trespass would be severely punished." He said some drug smugglers headed "both north and south" wear uniforms and drive military-type vehicles, and might have "confused" U.S. authorities. "Give me a break," said T.J. Bonner, a 27-year Border Patrol veteran who heads the National Border Patrol Council. "Intrusions by the Mexican military to protect drug loads happen all the time and represent a significant threat to the agents. Why else would they be in the area, firing at federal agents in the United States? There is no other explanation," said Bonner. As to the reports that Mexican military units had crossed mistakenly into the United States, Bonner said, "Every country's military has a global positioning system nowadays, including the Mexicans. If the border is so poorly marked, why don't the thousands of Border Patrol agents working 24/7 along it ever seem to get lost, and none of us have been issued a GPS," he said.
In a recent interview, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff downplayed the increasing number of incursions by the mexican military stating, "First, I saw these stories in the last 24 hours, I think the stories are overblown. The issue of incursions or military police, Mexican Military Police crossing the border...this has been tracked for 10 years. I asked the Chief of the Border Patrol about it. The number has not increased. In fact, I think it's decreased a little bit and you have to unpack it. There are a lot of different things. I think we've averaged approximately 20 a year and a significant number of those are innocent things where there's a part of the border that police or military from Mexico who are pursuing something, pursuing criminal or something may step across the border because they may not be aware of exactly where the line is.
Some of these may, in fact, involve instances where we have deserters from the Mexican military or police who are doing something illegal and we do catch them so that does happen but that is only a percentage of those. Sometimes it may be people who are dressed in what appear to be military uniforms but are just criminals. They're not military but they're wearing camouflage so someone assumes they are military and so sometimes we have those kinds of incursions. I think to create the image that somehow there is a deliberate effort by the Mexican military to cross the border would be to really to traffic in kind of scare tactics.
I don't think that we have a serious problem with official incursions. I think there's, again, we have good relations with the counterparts across the border. We do have instances where we have Mexican police or military who've deserted and become involved with criminal activity. But we've also had bad cops within the United States, too. It happens. We have a good relationship with the Mexicans and I think that treating this as an alarmist issue that suggests we're in danger of some significant overreaching is not accurate and not helpful."
Giving the Mexican military the benefit of the doubt they may not be aware of exactly where the line is along much of the border may work for the gullible -- or wilfully-blind politicians -- but it is totally unbelieveable in the case of the Texas incursions, because the border is marked by the Rio Grande River.
The truth is, the Bush administration is not about to get serious about border incursions unless Congress forces the issue. Just the opposite is true, in fact. In March of 2005, Bush invited Mexican President Vicente Fox and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to a conflab at his ranch in Crawford, TX. The three globalists announced an initiative dubbed the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America," which is designed to establish a common continental security perimeter against outside threats while facilitating the legal flow of people and trade across shared borders and increasing cooperation on energy, the environment and bioterrorism. A Joint Statement by President Bush, President Fox, and Prime Minister Martin lays out the bare bones of the plan. None of this has had the input of Congress.
This is all part of a Council on Foreign Relations scheme to create a North American version of the European Union, with the entire western hemisphere brought under the umbrella eventually under the authority of NAFTA Plus, CAFTA and the FTAA trade agreements. The long-term goal is what it has always been for the CFR -- one-world government.
A CFR document, called "Building a North American Community," asserts that George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin "committed their governments" to this goal when they met at Bush's ranch and at Waco, Texas on March 23, 2005. The three adopted the "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America" and assigned "working groups" to fill in the details.
The 59-page CFR document spells out a five-year plan for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter." "Common perimeter" means wide-open U.S. borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The CFR's "integrated" strategy calls for "a more open border for the movement of goods and people." It calls for "a common economic space...for all people in the region, a space in which trade, capital, and people flow freely."
The CFR document lays "the groundwork for the freer flow of people within North America." The "common security perimeter" will require us to "harmonize visa and asylum regulations" with Mexico and Canada, "harmonize entry screening," and "fully share data about the exit and entry of foreign nationals."
