Photo montage from Etemananki, 'cause it was good and I was too lazy to make one myself.
So, I'm at work yesterday, and my girlfriend in Cleveland calls and says "Are you on lockdown over there?" and I was all, "WHaaaa?" She told me about the bomb-like things from Yemen and I said, "Please tell me you don't really think there were bombs." She said, "Of course not. [good girl] I just wondered if your company or New York was freaking out."
I guess I had seen a few headlines crawling around that said something about a bomb scare, but I'm so cynical (or I'm such a realist, or just not a sucker) that it didn't phase me in the least bit. I figured it was some sort of pre-election scarefest to get everyone in the mood to vote for whoever they powers that be wanted them to vote for. I knew there weren't any bombs because it would've been too damn convenient for there to be bombs. Especially from Yemen. Jeebus.
A Yemeni official told Yemen Post that no U.S. cargo aircraft of any American company flew out of Yemen over the last 48 hours. "Whether UPS, Fed Ex, DHL or any other U.S. cargo company left Yemen over the last 48 hours."
No, there weren't bombs. No, whatever it was didn't come from Yemen. It was, once again, another load of horse-crap.
There are a number things the public "knows" as we head into the election that are just false. If people elect leaders based on false information, the things those leaders do in office will not be what the public expects or needs.
Here are eight of the biggest myths that are out there:
1) President Obama tripled the deficit. Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.
2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy. Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.
3) President Obama bailed out the banks. Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.
It continues quite convincingly.
I just voted by absentee ballot, I've done it every year when and since I lived in CA.
I like having the time to look at the candidates and propositions, (they don't always mean what they say or say what they mean), do the research, and decide with the facts in front of me rather than trying to remember everything I'd read under the pressure of being in the booth knowing people are waiting in line for me to make up my mind.
But regardless of what your preferred method is, get out and vote!
Fear and (self) Loathing in the Voting Booth and the remarkable gutlessness of the GOP and the Teabaggers…
posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:19 PM Permalink
WARNING: I will be using racial epithets in writing this post, words that can be hurtful depending on context, but I am doing this to make a point I would find it difficult make otherwise. The reasons for use of these epithets is two-fold: first, to show the cowardice of the two above-mentioned political parties and, second, to show how the demonization of President Obama by any means possible borders on the insane, borrows the epithets of yesteryear, and makes only the most superficial changes in form or application to try to remain free of accusations that they are still naught but bigots, racists, and homophobes who find it easier to slander, insult, brand as evil, and use slightly modified epithets to make the same old Jim Crow thinly veiled threats, denigrate our fellow citizens, make their false projections as to where a candidate stands on issues, and to run yet another "Be afraid, be very afraid…" election, a GOP specialty.
The Con Game: It has been crystal clear that the only way the GOP/Teabaggers can win elections is not based upon legislation they wish to implement to benefit the least of us, restore fiscal sanity, rein in Big Banking, Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Corporations, and, in general, do something good for the party.
They are exactly the same scams as the GOP used for self-aggrandizement, the rape and plunder of America, conducting illegal wars and bigger and better genocides. They're "clean", WASPs, and they aren't concerned with the fact that the GOP as led by bush/cheney made America the laughingstock of the world, got America rated as the top terrorist threat to the world, bankrupted the country with policies that called for stealing the resources of Iraq when they could have purchased them on the open market, tried to bring back the Nixon axiom that if a president does it, it's not illegal, and they sat and did nothing as our rights were so narrowed as to render many of those rights moot.
The 'code words' regarding racial issues continue to be used in demonizing an opponent that can outthink them any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Lie about any democrats intentions, deny the lie when caught and proven wrong, then go back to telling the same lies to be picked up and magnified by the media until the lie becomes 'common wisdom.'
Think of the things you hear virtually everyday and compare them to the epithets of old which these new code words have replaced.
Image: A dead monkey, shot several times by police, and a comment to the effect that someone else will have to be found to pitch health care because the dead monkey, in every bigot's mind signifies, "The Nigger is dead! The Nigger is dead! Oh, and this is so, so funny because we can display all the naked racial bigotry we want 'cause when them goddamn liberals accuses us of hating niggers we can tell 'em that it's only (snort, snort) a monkey, not our nigger president."
Open calls from GOP and teabaggers to do anything possible to make Obama fail and be a one-term nigger president thrown out onto the trash heap of history, up to and including actually shooting the nigger, and preparing for it by carrying guns to Obama rallies just in case they get a clear shot. Radical churches have openly prayed for Obama to be killed while the GOP and teabaggers openly state they wish to commit treason by assassinating Obama and operating to block every effort he makes to better the country, not because he's wrong necessarily, but because he's not a WASP and is therefore an uppity nigger. (Remember how the MSM went nuts when Obama appeared with the OHIO STATE FLAG behind him, a white flag with an 'O' with a rainbow running through the 'O' and openly breathlessly reported that obviously only a socialist despot would design his very own flag and flout it on national TV. Many faces were awfully red when it was revealed that Obama had nothing to do with the design or display of the Ohio State flag. I believe this marked a turning point for these two pernicious parties as they learned quickly that the nigger and related epithets were not going to be politically palatable with voters.
This is a real dilemma for these two parties. They can only conduct a whisper campaign about how this nigger is 1) not a citizen, 2) a practicing radical Muslim, and 3) a socialist on par with the worst despots in history. These became the new substitutes for 'those in the know' to use instead of the politically incompatible word nigger.
Images: Hitler in white-face or Obama in white face with a Hitler-type mustache. Intent: Tie the nigger to one of the most evil despots of last century and hope the use of the white-face will quell accusations of racism. Wink, wink.
Declare that Obama is not only not a citizen, but a radical Muslim educated in some of the most vile Muslim schools in existence. Oh, boy! This is almost as good as being able to openly call the president a nigger terrorist wanna-be, as the associations they sought to make were that Obama was not American at all, owed his allegiance to the Muslim world, and that every act of his was to undermine our democracy and take over as dictator.
Image: Lacking any genuine proof of any of the vile accusations they have made the rightwing then chooses to use the "Obama as The Joker" posters at rallies, getting the signs shown on TV as often as possible. It's so fucking ridiculous to people with a modicum of commonsense to portray Obama, again in white face, a la Al Jolson in blackface, as being as evil as an entirely fictional character, but it demonstrates again the desperation of the GOP/teabaggers to imply, "No nigger can run a country founded by white christian men and just to prove it we'll put the nigger in white-face to suffer derision and disgust at the thought of Obama being a cartoon bad guy."
Tactic: Smear Obama's wife and children as much as possible. "Oh, horrors! That bitch Michelle wore a sleeveless dress to a state function! Shows you niggers know nothing of maintaining even false pretensions when it comes to State affairs! Not only that, but they allowed, and Michelle physically helped, the kids plant a garden, a fucking garden, on some of the most hallowed ground in America! Only a nigger would so degrade the Whitehouse, but is it still the 'Whitehouse' when niggers move in?" (Actually asked by GOP/teabagger affiliated groups.)
My hunch, my beliefs, about the results to soon be forthcoming from the elections: Teabaggers have assumed an ever greater load of pure bigotry to do some heavy lifting for the GOP. Now the election time grows near and the teabaggers have, they believe, smeared, slimed, and set the stage for a massive turnover favoring them and the GOP.
I see it differently. Saner heads, and yes, there are some, within the GOP recognizes the threat presented by the teabaggers. The two parties will split the vote as sane conservatives realize that even THEY don't want the teabaggers in charge, as the vicious, insidious policies they would pursue (reversing health care, destroying social security, eliminating Medicare, etc.) would not only be detrimental for America but could be the straw that broke the proverbial camels back insofar as Americans finally and forever abandoning a party too mean, ugly, and self-serving to ever effectively lead a nation.
One, but not all, of the reasons I believe this is a recent poll that showed 11% of respondents to the poll thought the teabaggers could solve America's problems while 77% believe that there is no way teabaggers will ever be able to run and solve the problems of government. This means that over half of the existing teabagger party members themselves believe that their party is not going to help America solve any problems.
How the teabaggers and GOP can believe that, combined, they represent salvation for America in the face of statistics like that simply marks them for the fools and simpletons they are. If the teabaggers win two or three seats, drawing votes away from serious GOP candidates, they will never gain a majority in either house. I actually expect that the more people think about the consequences of returning America to the Dark Ages by electing any combination of GOP/teabaggers the more inclined they will be to vote democratic party candidates.
Serious GOP elders running the party already see the handwriting on the wall and have started backing away from the teabaggers, not appearing with teabaggers, not donating money to teabaggers or providing other support, and, now, recognizing that the split vote between the GOP and the teabaggers could likely result in democrats GAINING seats, not losing them.
Well, we'll find out next week, so if you will excuse me please it's time for me to send in my absentee ballot.
Note: It is best to NOT use a party line vote. If there is no democratic candidate for an office no vote would be recorded for you. I believe it more important to vote for every office, and to vote against any GOP or teabagger and vote for an independent, Green Party candidate; anyone but GOP or teabagger. I will be very interested in hearing counterarguments or differing opinions. Especially about the undercurrent of racism and bigotry.
posted by The Sailor @ 6:49 PM Permalink
Ya know how you keep hearing about the foreclosure crisis and how it's caused by the poor deadbeats getting loans and stuff, and if Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae hadn't been involved everything would be OK, because them poor deadbeats just made a deal with EYES WIDE OPEN.
I don't know how one buys a house without title insurance. Abstract of Title is a big industry.
So who's on the hook for all this fraud and deception?
I think that if a person/institution can't prove they own YOUR house they can't foreclose on it. That's just logical. It hasn't stopped them, but somebody should.
posted by The Vidiot @ 7:27 AM Permalink
At least on my end. Work is insane. Every year, my organization has a huge meeting in some city in the US and every year, they're never prepared for it. Every year it's like someone springs it on them at the last minute. I'm sure these people are also startled by April 15.
A few drive bys:
Yes, these are just the guys to figure out the economic mess since they're they ones who created it in the first place.
The European Union's monetary affairs chief called on G20 governments on Tuesday to take coordinated steps to rebalance world economic growth, ahead of their talks this week in South Korea.
Nearly half a million people took to the streets in France Tuesday to protest against government plans to raise the retirement age, but the government seems to be holding its nerve, with the Senate moving ahead with a vote on pension reform.
Why aren't 'Mericans protesting? It's not as simple as being too fat and lazy. The American psyche has been conditioned to identify with their banks. If the banks are doing well, Americans feel like they're OK. There's been lots of happy talk about bank profits lately, and any bank losses are being explained away. Until the connection in identity is broken, Americans will remain on their path of slavery.
In the still-developing "mortgagegate" scandal, the Obama White House is pledging its loyalties to the letter of the law, vowing Tuesday to hold "accountable" any bank that engaged in foreclosure fraud.
Fortunately, we all know the punchline on that one: after the election, the banks will be bailed out, they will be protected against any criminal liability and the people will be screwed once again.
After reading about his research and chaos theory I was inspired 25 years ago to learn math again. Because math suddenly made sense in the real world. One simple equation, applied over and over to the results of the previous equation, are how simple things grow complicated. Back then I had to go the library, search thru bookstores, to find text books and just do the math. All the math I had learned in school was linear. His non-linear math was, to me, the secret of the universe. It was time well spent.
What's not to like, imaginary numbers that aren't imaginary but coordinate systems that can be depicted visually. And the sheer beauty of the images! And realizing that it describes everything from snowflakes, rivers and streams, leafs and trees, blood vessels and capillaries, and solar systems to galaxies.
Just like DNA with a small number of components (ACGT) that consists of all life on our planet, this, THIS is how the universe works!
E=mc² seems simple, DNA sequences ACGT seems simple, zn+1 = zn2 seems simple. We know our world is complicated, but it's also simple. It's unpredictable, it contains things that can kill us while observing the beauty, it's unpredictable, but only within ranges.
posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:30 PM Permalink
…the MSM cites a new poll this morning showing that 77% of respondents thinks the tea party is not going to be able to run the country or solve its problems while 11% thinks they would be just peachy-keen.
When a poll shows that 77% of people don't trust in a political party isn't the existence of that party moot and highly unlikely to have their candidates win many offices? 11% favorability isn't enough to get a person elected to dog-catcher is it?
Personally I think the teabaggers will be a real spoiler in this election. They will draw the votes of the hard core mouth-breathers who would ordinarily vote rethuglican and I think the split will be large enough to help get more democrats elected, not fewer.
Thank goodness that even if they do enjoy some success their small numbers will make it impossible to do the severe damage they wish to do. If they ever achieve a majority they will end America and turn it into a police state with anyone allowed to carry a gun anywhere, they will destroy equal rights, end health care, reverse Roe v. Wade and prohibit a woman from even aborting the child resulting from a rape or incest or that jeopardizes the woman's health, and end all legislation requiring equality among all.
I do believe it is that simple: stop the teabaggers or be ready to be enslaved in a few short years. The death of America is at hand anyway, the teabaggers will merely hasten that death.
Let's get a bit more honesty in the debate regarding the legalization of marijuana…
posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:44 PM Permalink
…I know everybody (almost) knows Richard Nixon, former president and staunch advocate for unlimited presidential power.
What not everyone knows is that Nixon, in 1971, commissioned a definitive report on the effects of marijuana on American troops. Even less known is that he hated the results of that study and suppressed them.
The exhaustive study found the following:
In 1971, President Nixon appointed Governor Raymond P. Shafer of Pennsylvania to chair a national commission to "report on the effects of marijuana and other drugs and recommend appropriate drug policies. Governor Shafer was a former prosecutor, who was known as a "law and order" governor.
The "Shafer" Commission conducted the most extensive and comprehensive examination of marijuana ever performed by the US government. More than 50 projects were funded, "ranging from a study of the effects of marihuana on man to a field survey of enforcement of the marihuana laws in six metropolitan jurisdictions . . ."
"Through formal and informal hearings, recorded in thousands of pages of transcripts, we solicited all points of view, including those of public officials, community leaders, professional experts and students. We commissioned a nationwide survey of public beliefs, information and experience . . . In addition, we conducted separate surveys of opinion among district attorneys, judges, probation officers, clinicians, university health officials and free clinic personnel."
Among the Commissions findings were:
"No significant physical, biochemical, or mental abnormalities could be attributed solely to their marihuana smoking."
"No verification is found of a causal relationship between marihuana use and subsequent heroin use."
"In sum, the weight of the evidence is that marihuana does not cause violent or aggressive behavior; if anything marihuana serves to inhibit the expression of such behavior."
"Neither the marihuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety."
"Marihuana's relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it."(emphasis added, Bill)
The Commission concluded that "society should seek to discourage use, while concentrating its attention on the prevention and treatment of heavy and very heavy use. The Commission feels that the criminalization of possession of marihuana for personal [use] is socially self-defeating as a means of achieving this objective . . . Considering the range of social concerns in contemporary America, marihuana does not, in our considered judgment, rank very high. We would deemphasize marihuana as a problem."
President Nixon called Governor Shafer on the carpet and pressured him to change the Commission's conclusion saying, "You see, the thing that is so terribly important here is that it not appear that the Commission's frankly just a bunch of do-gooders." Governor Shafer declined to change his conclusions, and Nixon declined to appoint him to a pending federal judgeship.
It's crystal clear that the government has long known that marijuana is harmless, isn't a 'gateway' drug to heroin, and that it poses no danger to public safety. So why are so many arrested, tried, convicted, and sent away to serve a draconian sentence while his/her family suffers without his support, friends fade away as they realize that association with the user could cause them to be investigated, children are raised in the absence of a father or mother incarcerated which, in my opinion is way worse than any problem caused by pot; they come in the night, find a joint, and pow!-five years or more in prison.
With the exception of reports from rightwing organizations that are embarrassingly stupid and easily debunked there remains the final problem the conservatives and others just can't get around: There is no known limit of marijuana that must be consumed to cause death. (I read somewhere once that a scientist estimated a person would have to smoke and/or eat over 40 pounds of pot in one sitting, and to paraphrase Cool Hand Luke, "NOBODY can eat or smoke forty pounds of pot…"
In fact, if you google 'deaths caused by marijuana use' you'll find plenty os support for the assertion that pot is one of the most benign substances there is by way of drugs.
In man's five thousand year history with pot there has never been a single death reported from marijuana. (Although those with agendas to make lots of money for government would dispute this statement.) You cannot make that statement about almost any other drug.
Take a half bottle or so of aspirin. Same for any other NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug). The list of harmful substances that can cause you to die from an overdose is almost endless. Hell, eat too many bananas.
Our government has known all along that pot was beneficial, with many medical uses, and one of the most benign substances in use by people seeking a little (or a big) buzz after work or at a social event, and despite that certain knowledge our government instead seeks to issue false reports about the evils of pot, arrest people for even just possessing it, and by this arrest, followed with many years of parole (which is remarkably easy to violate unintentionally), and warehousing these people in privately owned prisons in such numbers that it's pretty clear, to me, that our government has a thriving slave business still, peopled by non-violate drug offenders.
America has a greater percentage of its society in prison than any other country on earth and about 60% of those are incarcerated on drug charges. Were pot suddenly made legal this hugh, underground (as in not visible due to the countrywide span), pool of slave workers would dry up overnight. Private industry would be screaming to turn the prisons the state have made back to the state as they would no longer be profitable to run. 60% of those two million incarcerated would have their lives back and no longer subject to the Machiavellian laws the government used to jail them.
I leave it to you to judge, but let me say this, a personal note: Without the help of marijuana I am certain I would have died in 1993 while undergoing a six week, 6,000 rad regimen of radiation treatments. My Warrior Woman was, as usual, doing everything she could do to help, but I lost 65 lbs. in those six weeks as I had absolutely no appetite, my taste buds weren't working, and despite being served my very most favorite meals which smelled wonderful I'd take one bite, everything tasted and felt like cardboard in my mouth, and I would just push the food aside. I finally broke down and bought some very good pot and presto change-o, appetite back and I was able to eat enough to survive.
So that's were we are, folks, living under a government that knows everything derogatory they've ever said about pot is and always has been a lie. They perpetuate these laws because with forfeitures they can take everything you own, house, car, anything. Combine this with the fines collected through the courts, the parole system, the free slaves they can make work for pennies an hour and the problem becomes obvious. If pot is legalized a revenue source and the ongoing free slave labor used by the government would dry up, no longer a cash cow fed by the bodies of pot users.
I agree with Bill Maher: High fructose corn syrup is fattening up and killing Americans and we are idiots to continue its use…
posted by Bill Arnett @ 12:23 PM Permalink
…and even though I cannot affirmatively prove that they are the first to do so I believe Pepsico deserves a medal (not one of those congressional gold medals awarded to heroic or highly energized civilians having the nations best interest at heart. The congressional gold medal was forever tainted and, in my mind, stripped of any value as an award since Herr Field Marshall bush the lesser and the least, handed them out like candy to people clearly supporting his criminal conduct in office) for not using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in its new soda Sierra Mist and going the natural way by using sugar-real sugar!-in their new soda Sierra Mist. It tastes delicious and somehow 'lighter' than sodas with HFCS. I love it.
At first I wasn't sure if I would like it, being your typical HFCS addict and junkie, but by the time I had finished a second one I was convinced that real sugar tastes better, my bodily systems kicked operations up a gear, I feel better, and I'm consuming way, way fewer calories than before.
I also think this was a very savvy move by Pepsico. It is well documented that 30% of Americans are already too obese to act as cannon fodder for the warmongers who really rule the country, the Pentagon, and I'll wager it won't be long before we see government intervention and limitations placed upon the use of HFCS in our foodstuffs and drinks. (Haven't you wondered about the militaries intense push for more drones that can be piloted by any decent video game player, and why the 'Future Combat Systems', based upon technologies not now in existence but primarily, again, designed for more remote control or computer-guided methods of killing, maiming, and in general, the ability to slaughter, conduct genocides with even less trouble than today, and displacing or destroying millions of people we don't like or that have the audacity to tell the truth of what America is doing to the world.
Foreign leaders we refuse to negotiate with made outlandish comments about us and shit, we want to throw nuclear weapons at them, isolate them, embargo them, and generally do things that hurts the innocent populace and does nothing at all to affect the leaders. Maybe we'll develop a new weapon based upon HFCS so that we can make the rest of the world grow as fat and lazy as 30% of Americans. (BTW, when did we forget, and apparently stop teaching the old saw, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me?")
The Pentagon has identified this 'fattening of Americans' as one of the most dire problems facing the military. You can give a pass to criminals, foreign nationals, and people whose conduct reflects moral turpitude, but fat? No way, man.
HFCS should be place on a list of banned substances as food additives before we lose yet another generation to their sweet tooth and the super high caloric content of HFCS. It's like an irresistible drug.
Bill Maher has been saying things like this for years. It now appears that he was not only entirely right about the deleterious health effect of HFCS, but that other people, especially soda and food producers, have finally begun to listen and act.
posted by The Vidiot @ 5:00 PM Permalink
China has been in the news lately. A lot actually. But most recently, the Chinese government has been pretty vocal about the recent Nobel Peace Prize going to one of their political dissidents.
Now, most of us thinking folk know the Noble Peace Prize is a farce. I mean if Kissinger can get the Peace Prize, and Al Gore and Barrack "I'm in the middle of three wars" Obama can too? Well, that doesn't really say anything positive about the prize now does it? It's obviously a political thing that's elites do to pat other elites on the back, for whatever reason, whether it be to give one of them some positive PR or boost their international clout, and it has nothing to do with peace. So, it's also entirely possible then, that this latest peace prize was intentionally given to Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident who is currently in prison, to piss off and disgrace the Chinese government.
But let's not stop there. We also have George Soros going off on the Chinese economic policies.
Mr Soros, the hedge fund manager best known as the man who broke the Bank of England” after he made a billion betting against the value of Sterling on Black Wednesday in 1992, said the China had created a “lopsided currency” system.
He criticised China for deliberately keeping the yuan - its currency - low in order to keep exports cheap, which is hurting US competitors.
Ooo those naughty naughty Chinese. Doing what's in their country's best interest and not the US's best interest. Tsk, Tsk.
Now, here's where it gets weird, but bear with me. Everyone has heard about all the strange UFO sightings going on over there in China. Airports being shutdown, etc. and so forth. And recently, this video has been circulating around the internets showing some sort of weird flying thing over Chinese skies.
Now look at that thing. What could that possibly be? Here's a thought:
A chance December 11, 2007 release of a photo on a Chinese website has led to a rare unofficial “declassification” of a new Chinese unmanned test space plane.[1] Designated the “Shenlong,” or Divine Dragon, this small aircraft was shown suspended from the fuselage of a Xian H-6 bomber and launch aircraft. So far there has been no official Chinese government, PLA or Chinese corporate or space program related disclosure about this program. However, from this photo and other Chinese sources, it is possible to conclude that the Shenlong constitutes a second Chinese air-launched space-launch vehicle (SLV) program, but for the purposes of testing technologies for a future re-usable unmanned or manned space shuttle or other trans-atmospheric vehicle.
Now, I don't know much about this stuff, but Mike Rivero of whatreallyhappened.com does, mostly because he used to work for NASA, and according to him, it's possible that this light trail might be from some sort of spectacularly advanced flying machine that flies above the earth's atmosphere, i.e. in space, that is reusable and is way more advanced than anything the US has done in years.
So, the thought I have is, "What if the Chinese have just kicked the US's ass in the space race?" And, "What kind of narrative would be manufactured for the US public?"
And here's the narrative:
Portray all the funny lights in China's skies as UFO's and NOT as highly advanced, space-flight capable machines that the Chinese built, vilify China's economic policies which actually made such scientific advances possible in the first place AND, just to really stick it to them, embarrass the fuck out of them with a Nobel Peace Prize given to their most loathed dissident.
posted by The Vidiot @ 11:10 AM PermalinkRead and watch this clip from ABC news and just try to tell me it doesn't look like a Saturday Night Live clip:
Strong concerns that terrorist teams in Europe have selected their targets, completed their surveillance, eluded capture and are now ready to strike at airports and tourist attractions have prompted the State Department to ready a highly unusual travel advisory for Europe, multiple law enforcement and intelligence sources tell ABC News.
Ok, you watched it, right?
Here's some alternative dialogue that pretty much says the same thing:
Anchor one: So, if I'm going to travel to Europe, what should I expect to see.
Reporter: You won't see anything different, even though the warnings are extremely vague and nonsensical. Nothing will be obvious to the traveler. Nothing has changed, even though there's an alert. But you won't notice anything. You won't see extra troops or police, no extra bomb-sniffing dogs, even though the alert has been issued.
Anchor one: So I wouldn't necessarily notice anything out of the ordinary.
Reporter: No.
Anchor one: So, even though it all looks normal, no matter what I see, no matter how normal and relaxed it appears, even if I should ask a local, or a police officer or someone who should know what's going on and they say "nothing is going on" they may just be trying to keep me calm. So I should really just remain vigilant.
Report: Yes. You should be observant and vigilant.
Anchor one: Observant and vigilant.
Reporter: Yes, believe what I tell you; be observant, vigilant and afraid. Don't forget afraid.
1.(sometimes capital letters 'V' and 'S' with no space) a style of writing or saying something using emotion and/or logic and snark, esp. in order to elucidate the obvious while pretending to be objective.
2. anything written by The Vidiot, The Sailor, Mr. Vidiot and anyone else they allow to post on the blog “vidiotspeak”
[Origin: loosely based on new + speak, coined by George Orwell in his novel, 1984 (1949)]
And for godsakes, stay away from FOX, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
It's ALL CRAP!!!
Watch the BBC news or ITN news instead.
"POSSE COMITATUS ACT" (18 USC 1385)
A Reconstruction Era criminal law proscribing use of Army (later, Air Force) to "execute the laws" except where expressly authorized by Constitution or Congress. Limit on use of military for civilian law enforcement also applies to Navy by regulation. Dec '81 additional laws were enacted (codified 10 USC 371-78) clarifying permissible military assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies--including the Coast Guard--especially in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g., search, seizure, and arrests). For example, Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETS) serve aboard Navy vessels and perform the actual boardings of interdicted suspect drug smuggling vessels and, if needed, arrest their crews). Positive results have been realized especially from Navy ship/aircraft involvement.
