Arizona governor vs. Phoenix Suns owner

Way to go Jan!!   Maybe this is a language he can understand. Arizona governor vs. Phoenix Suns owner   The owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, Robert Sarver, opposes AZ's new immigration laws. Arizona 's Governor, Jan Brewer, released the following statement in response to Sarver's criticism of the new law: "What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected. Furthermore, what if Suns' ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?"   - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Try going to any other country without ID.

REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES by DEBBIE SCHUM

I write for a couple of newspapers in western Colorado. This is my next column. Please share with those who don’t get these newspapers, as the anti-initiative propaganda has already started and will continue.
Debbie

Why “redress of grievances”?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

“to Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances” means the People, with evidence that the government is abusing its constitutionally limited power, have the Right to submit a Petition for a Redress (remedy) of the constitutional wrongdoing, that government has an obligation to honestly respond to the People’s Petition and, should the government ignore the People, the People have the Right to enforce the Right of Petition by retaining their money until their grievances are Redressed.

Basically it means that if the federal government is exceeding the authority granted to it under the constitution (which it does regularly by the way) the people have a right to formally complain and the government must respond. The incorporation of the Bill of Rights (incorporation for short) is the process by which American courts have applied portions of the U.S. Bill of Rights to the states. Prior to the 1890s, the Bill of Rights was held only to apply to the federal government. Under the incorporation doctrine, most provisions of the Bill of Rights now also apply to the state and local governments, by virtue of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Prior to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment and the development of the incorporation doctrine, in 1833 the Supreme Court held in Barron v. Baltimore that the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal, but not any state, government. Even years after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment the Supreme Court in United States v. Cruikshank, still held that the First and Second Amendment did not apply to state governments. However, beginning in the 1890s, a series of United States Supreme Court decisions interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to "incorporate" most portions of the Bill of Rights, making these portions, for the first time, enforceable against the state governments. With special interests controlling legislative output, it became clear in the 1890s that more citizen involvement was needed. Not only could legislators not be trusted to bring important issues to the people, there needed to be a means of challenging ill-conceived legislative actions. The “citizen referendum” came in two forms. The “citizen initiative” was invented to address legislative omissions, while the “referendum petition” was invented to address legislative commissions (acts that overreach).

Why does the Bill of Rights apply to governments instead of citizens? Because the Bill of Rights (like the Constitution) are rules of our government…not rules of the people. Go back and read the first 5 words of the 1^st amendment above again. This is a limitation on government—not citizens. The Declaration of Independence declares: “Governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The initiative and referendum are important to representative democracy as a check and balance, a means of augmenting government accountability. The initiative is essential for dealing with issues that legislators cannot or will not address, such as conflict-of-interest issues (for example, limits on legislators’ powers) and third-rail issues (those that offend powerful interest groups). Public interest in and support for the initiative process remains high. But some politicians see the process as infringing on their monopoly power to legislate. Some politicians pretend to support the initiative and referendum to win election, but quickly forget their campaign promises and oaths to uphold the constitution. As with all rights, the right to petition is a fundamental right that is not granted by politicians or by governments. As a matter of fact, in delegating authority to legislate to the legislature, the sovereign citizens of Colorado limited their delegation by reserving “to themselves the power to propose laws and amendments” (Article V, Section 1(1)). Thus, the initiative is more than a fundamental right; it is a reserved power. The legislature has no authority to interfere with, throttle, or adversely control the process other than reasonable regulation to insure its fair and non-fraudulent exercise.

Keep this in mind in 2012 when Referendum O returns, and the government asks us to vote away our voting rights.

Lawsuit Alleges FEMA Funded by Laundered Drug Profits

Lawsuit Alleges FEMA Funded by Laundered Drug Profits by Uri Dowbenko Speculation about the mysterious origin and funding of the so-called Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has continued for decades. The history of FEMA as an illegal unconstitutional entity has been most recently exposed in an unprecedented lawsuit against the CIA and its alleged drug trafficking and money laundering operations. In September 1998 a $63 million lawsuit (Case No. 98CV11829JLT) was filed by Massachusetts attorney Ray Kohlman on behalf of former Green Beret Bill Tyree. Kohlman, a former legal investigator for attorney William Pepper in the Martin Luther King murder trial of James Earl Ray, filed a 101-page complaint on behalf of his client. The suit, replete with five inches of affidavits and appendices, names the Central Intelligence Agency, former Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Celucci, former Massachusetts Attorney-General Scott Harshbarger, former CIA director and US President George Bush and self-admitted government assassin D. Gene Tatum as defendants in a far-reaching case involving US Government sanctioned drug smuggling, murder, and coverup. Bill Tyree is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife -- a case eerily similar to that of Dr. Jeffrey McDonald, a Ft. Bragg doctor who was framed for the murder of his wife and children in the early 1980s. "In the mid 1970s, while serving in Panama, Tyree and other Green Berets were led into Colombia under the command of Green Beret Colonels Cutolo and Baker to plant radio beacons, so that plane loads of cocaine could fly below Colombian and US radar, and land undetected in Panama," writes former LAPD officer Mike Ruppert in his newsletter (From the Wilderness, P. O. Box 6061-350, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413, http://www.copvcia.com). "Orders for these missions came from the CIA's Ed Wilson and Tom Clines," continues Ruppert. "Tyree had been a part of many secret missions and was losing his taste for it. His wife was keeping a diary [for which she was presumably murdered, and which later disappeared]." "Five Special Forces Colonels -- Cutolo, Baker, Malvesti, Rower and Bayard -- have died under mysterious circumstances since. The heart of the Tyree documentation consists of an affidavit allegedly written by Colonel Cutolo who was also Tyree's commanding officer at Fort Devens, Mass. at the time of Tyree's arrest. Both were then with the 10th Special Forces." "That fifteen page document gives precise details of CIA drug operations using Special Forces personnel. It also describes how Tyree was framed for the murder of his wife and how Special Forces personnel were used to intimidate and conduct illegal electronic and physical surveillance of anyone who might expose CIA drug dealing." According to the complaint in the lawsuit, "the Plaintiff [Tyree] alleges that the Defendants CIA and George Bush were negligent and failed at the conclusion of Operation Watchtower to monitor the post-Watchtower events and seek legal congressional funding for the origination of FEMA (Federal Emergency Managemnt Agency), and this failure led to the concealment and coverup of Operation Watchtower, written about in the diaries of Elaine Tyree, seized illegally and turned over to Colonel Carone and then to the CIA, which ensured that the Operation Watchtower drug trafficking operation would remain covert, allowing the drug profits from this Operation to be used to circumvent Congress and fund FEMA and continue the pattern of criminal activity." Colonel Carone, who died in 1990, was a CIA paymaster and Mafia-connected money launderer, who incidentally held the rank of full colonel in Army Intelligence. As Oliver North's bagman, he also couriered large amounts of cash in and out of the country. Carone's Complex Relationships According to former FAA investigator Rodney Stich, "Carone had complex relationships." In his underground bestselling book Defrauding America: Encyclopedia of Secret Operations by the CIA, DEA, and Other Covert Agencies, Stich writes that Carone "was a member of the Gambino family with connections to other crime groups in the eastern part of the United States, a detective on the New York City vice squad, a member of the military and a CIA operative." Stich writes that "Dee [Ferdinand, Carone's daughter] said her father was a detective and bagman in the New York City police department, collecting money that was distributed to captains and inspectors as payoffs for looking the other way where drugs were involved..." "Referring to CIA-Mafia drug trafficking, she said she knew from what her father said that the drugs coming from South America, went to the Colombo, Genovese and Gambino families, and that it was a joint CIA-Mafia drug operation under the code name Operation Amadeus. She said that during World War II, Operation Amadeus was involved in transporting Nazi officers from Germany into South American countries. According to her father's notes, Operation Amadeus split into several other operations, including Operation Sunrise and Operation Watchtower." Tyree's lawsuit alleges that "to coverup Operation Watchtower which was one of several illegal drug operations that produced a profit which was used in turn to help originate and implement FEMA violating: a. Separation of powers: the executive branch brought about an agency (i.e. FEMA) which has the authority to suspend the US Constitution, (e.g. further suspending legislative and judicial branches), but is vague in its verbiage as to what does constitute an emergency and fails to list what, if any duties the legislature and judiciary will have to perform if the US Constitiution is suspended." Even though the origin of FEMA has remained historically unclear, Tyree's lawsuit alleges that FEMA, created by Executive Order, is illegitimate "since Congress had to approve FEMA for two specific reasons: (1) FEMA is a vaguely written Executive Branch created agency that has the power to suspend the US Constitution and put the legislative and judicial branches of government out of work; (2) FEMA is an Executive Branch creation that clearly affects all three branches of Government capable of silencing the voice of the people, (i.e. legislative) and the legal redress of the people, (i.e. judiciary)." FEMA was allegedly created by Executive Order 12148 which became law simply by its publication in the Federal Registry. In other words, Congress was bypassed for FEMA's authorization as well as its funding. But if Congress never authorized the "agency," where do operational expenses come from? Tyree's lawsuit alleges that laundered drug profits were the initial source of funding. According to the lawsuit, "the Plaintiff alleges the Defendants CIA and George Bush did intentionally engage in the complained of conduct herein to conceal: (1) the origins of FEMA and that profits from drug trafficking by the CIA were used in some part to originally fund FEMA and the drafting of the FEMA infrastructure." Two "FEMA"s? In an even more astounding allegation, the lawsuit claims that Colonel Carone told the Plaintiff that "Colonel Ollie North worked on developing a plan known as FEMA, which would in an ill-defined national emergency, allow the US Military to take control of the United States to ensure National Security" and that Colonel Carone said that "FEMA" originally stood for "Federal Emergency Military Action." (i.e. Martial Law), but was retitled Federal Emergency Management Agency because it would be better received by the people of the United States. The late Colonel Carone also claimed that "he took drug profits that were clean and laundered in 1982-1984 to the following: NSC -- Colonel Oliver North who used the funds to create and develop FEMA." [p. 88 of the lawsuit] Colonel Carone also testified that "FEMA was one of those off-the-shelf creations that was funded through the giant black operations fund which came about from drug trafficking operations instituted by the CIA which Congress has no idea of and no control over," that "the FEMA Chain of Command, rules and regulations that he had seen violated the US Constitution, and actually established a succession to the Office of the President in the event of an emergency that circumvented the Vice- President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives." Carone said "NSC used drug trafficking profits to start FEMA without congressional approval... a 1981 NSC Directive written by Frank Carlucci [states]: `Normally a state of martial law will be proclaimed by the President. However in the absence of such action by the President, a senior military commander may impose martial law in an area of his command where there had been a complete breakdown in the exercise of government functions by local authorities.'" "Colonel Carone said a literal interpretation of the 1981 NSC Directive was that a local yokel national guard commander could institute martial law, and the actions of FEMA, without local citizens ever knowing how FEMA came to be, or what FEMA was originally intended to be about, would automatically be triggered without any type of presidential order... Congress doesn't even have the purse strings on this one. It's all from the Black Operations Fund which Congress will never force the US Intelligence Community to admit even exists." None dare call it fascism, but due to this explosive lawsuit, the origin of FEMA and its funding may finally be known. On the other hand, don't hold your breath. If this lawsuit escapes the black hole of so-called "national security law" or the clutches of a corrupt judiciary, it will be a major miracle. Uri Dowbenko is the CEO of New Improved Entertainment Corp. He can be reached by e-mail at u.dowbenko@mailcity.com. All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

"Shifty" by Chuck Yeager, MajGen. [ret.]

"Shifty" by Chuck Yeager, MajGen. [ret.]

We 're hearing a lot today about big splashy memorial services. 
I want a nationwide memorial service for 
Darrell "Shifty" Powers. Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry.  If you've seen Band of Brothers on HBO or the 
History Channel, you know Shifty.  His character appears in all 10  episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them.   


I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't know who he was at the time.  I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was 
at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle," the symbol of the 101st Airborne, on his hat.   Making conversation, I asked him if he d been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving.  He said quietly that he had been in the 101st.  I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, 
and how many jumps he made.  Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, 
and was in until sometime in 1945 ... " at which point my heart skipped. 

At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . .  do you know  where Normandy is?"  At this point my heart stopped. 

I told him "yes, I know exactly where Normandy is, and I know what D-Day was."  At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem."  I was standing with a genuine war hero ...   
and then I realized that it was June,  just after the anniversary of D-Day.   

I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France , and he said "Yes.  And it 's real sad because, these days, so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip."  My heart 
was in my throat and I didn't know what to say. 

I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach while I was in First Class.  I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats.  When Shifty came 
forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach. 

He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat.  Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and who still care is enough to make an old man very happy."  His eyes were filling up as he said it.  
And mine are brimming up now as I write this. 

Shifty died on June 17, 2009 after fighting cancer. 


There was no parade.  No big event in Staples Center . 
No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage. 
No weeping fans on television. 
And that's not right. 

Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our own quiet way. 
Please forward this email to everyone you know.  Especially to the veterans.   

Rest in peace, Shifty.   
Chuck Yeager, MajGen. [ret.] 
  
P.S.  I think that it is amazing how the "media" chooses our "heros" these days...  Michael Jackson & the like!

My add, God Bless America, all the good and wonderful people who kept and continue to keep her Free.  And may God Bless us all, as we continue the fight!

CAN WE SPARE DENVER PASSENGERS TSA? Repost from View from a Height

REPOST FROM VIEW FROM A HEIGHT
Can We Spare Denver Passengers TSA?

By now, pretty much everyone has heard about John Tyner, the Oceanside, CA man who reasserted his individual dignity by refusing to submit to either the option of groping or self-pornification in the service of what Reason‘s Matt Welch (and now, Rep. John Mica (R-FL) calls, “security theater.”  You know, the fellow that TSA has decided to make an example of for us all.

In addition to being large, impersonal, and top-heavy, what really worries critics is that the TSA has become dangerously ineffective. Its specialty is what those critics call “security theater” — that is, a show of what appear to be stringent security measures designed to make passengers feel more secure without providing real security. “That’s exactly what it is,” says Mica. “It’s a big Kabuki dance.”

It’s good to see that someone – one of the authors of the original TSA legislation, no less – is telling us that yes, indeed, all this stuff is to make us feel better, not actually to make us safer.  I’ll grant that there is something to the operational theory that ever-changing rules and oddly intrusive regulations keep the bad guys off-balance and force them to take risks that make failure and detection more likely.  Except that the underwear bombers and the ink toner bomber weren’t really stopped because the system worked, were they?
It’s not often I disagree with Dennis Prager outright, but this morning, he and guest Michael Fumento were seeking to defuse the panic over the scanners.  Now, Fumento has a creditable history of taking on irrational public fear – see last year’s swine flu plague that swept away civilization, for instance.  But in this case, they’re not taking into account that the TSA has dealt with us in bad faith over these scanners from the beginning.  We were assured, for instance, that pictures could not be stored or shared.  Which is why they’re all over the Net.
The fact is that these options are insulting, intrusive, humiliating, and demeaning, and the sort of thing that a free people should never have to put up with simply to get from point A to point B.  The argument from Big Sis that they’re absolutely necessary, that nothing else will do, that no other solution short of Amtrak or Greyhound is possible, is pretty rich coming from a Lilliputian government that routinely ties down its citizens and businesses with regulations, and then excuses the extra cost on the grounds that they can always find a work-around.
It’s time for Big Sis to find a work-around.  And not the current SPOT program.

In a May 2010 letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Mica noted that the GAO “discovered that since the program’s inception, at least 17 known terrorists … have flown on 24 different occasions, passing through security at eight SPOT airports.” One of those known terrorists was Faisal Shahzad, who made it past SPOT monitors onto a Dubai-bound plane at New York’s JFK International Airport not long after trying to set off a car bomb in Times Square. Federal agents nabbed him just before departure.

Now, Mica has written another letter to over 150 airport administrators reminding them that they can opt out of TSA, and hire private contractors for screening instead.  At one point, this seemed to be an attractive option for many airports.  In 2004, Mica tried to remind them of the option, but Peter DiFazio (D-Public Employees Unions) suspected a nefarious Bush plot to continue reducing the size of government.
Since the rules actually state that security screeners have the right to use their judgment in determining which screening methods to use, presumably passengers at private security wouldn’t feel it necessary bring a wad of one-dollar bills to get them through security.
In most places, citizens lack the means to force their local airports to do this.  The good news is that we do.  DIA is owned and operated by the City and County of Denver.  With Denver’s municipal elections coming up in May, there’s no reason we couldn’t place a ballot measure requiring DIA to transition to private, non-union, security contractors within a year.