It gave me the chills when I read the story. Land forcibly taken from indigenous people for the sake of building a wall to keep people out. Right..I've read about this happening in Isreal and am outraged. But wait, this isn't the Middle East, this is south Texas, in the United States of America. Homeland Security is using eminent domain to take away land from Native Americans and from other land owners who do not want to hand it over to the Department of Homeland Security.
The title of the book was "It Can't Happen Here" but sure enough, it has.
What is torture? The most anti-American of words, torture is the infliction of great pain upon an individual in order for them to divulge information or comply with a command. It is something that should be abhorrant to everyone, yet it is done here everyday under the guise of law enforcement. Four people have died in the United States just this week after being tasered. Here in Illinois, an overweight, middle-aged man in jail custody who was suffering from a heart attack was tasered twice for not putting his shirt on fast enough. link The U.N. has declared the use of the Taser "torture." It is about time. There has been far too much suffering and death as a result of this device.link
Found this article today and it should be good news to those who are called up up involutarily by the military if they are in the Individual Ready Reserve. According to this article, the worst that can happen is a less than honorable discharge but of course that also means losing benefits. At least they aren't throwing them in the brig for refusing to go to Iraq. Tell those you know in the IRR that they can relax a little bit.
This has nothing to do with Judy Miller but of journalists being held in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay. In this regard, we rank right up there with China, Cuba and tied with Burma. The US is officially holding five journalists in detention. The article mentions nothing about who these people are or what they are suspected of doing. Truly frightening.
Congress is falling all over itself to deny us every Constitutional protection we have. The Senate Intelligence Committee SECRETLY approved this abomination. Why is the FBI so afraid of having to go to a judge for a search warrant? This needs to be repealed altogether. To think even Senate Democrats are a part of this is maddening. THE PATRIOT ACT NEEDS TO GO!
I've tried my best to avoid plane flight all together after 9-11, not due to a fear of terrorists but a fear of the dreaded, "Airport Security." I drive at all cost, not wanting to check my civil liberties at any airport gate. Unfortunately, my husband has won a prize from work which includes AIRFARE to Orlando, hotel and a rental car once there. AHHH! More after the fold.
The judges screamed their verdict at her! They essentially said they must convict her because of all the damage she had done to the Indonesian citizens and her pleas of innocence were thrown out because the police "are more credible than civilians." Please do not go anywhere near Bali or any Indonesian tourist resort. There is sure to be a major boycott of the tourist areas there by Australian citizens.
Shapelle Corby, the Australian woman who was found with marijuana in her luggage will have her case decided as early as today. It says Friday but their time is ahead of ours. Keep her in your thoughts today and hope justice and common sense will prevail.
This is from Friday's USA Today and I could not believe it. How can they say the person will only be on active duty for 15 months when stop-loss is the rule? It seems like blatant deception. They can spend the rest of the time in the Reserves. We all know where much of our Reservists are now. This article also says they can spend the rest of their time in the Peace Corp. Hmmm. Don't believe it. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-13-army-short-tour_x.htm
I'm sure most everyone has read or heard about the death of Marla Ruzicka, the aid worker in Iraq that was helping vicitims of the war there. It was tragic and it was horrible. She was not killed instantly as I tried to comfort myself into thinking.
