Didn't we all agree to stop wiretapping ourselves.

Court Rejects Obama Bid To Stop Wiretapping Suit

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has lost its argument that a potential threat to national security should stop a lawsuit challenging the government's warrantless wiretapping program.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Friday rejected the Justice Department's request for an emergency stay in a case involving a defunct Islamic charity.

Yet government lawyers signaled they would continue fighting to keep the information secret, setting up a new showdown between the courts and the White House over national security.

Not too sure we are moving in the right direction. Perhaps if someone were to come out and make a statement as to why we are allowing another administration to ease drop, ya gotta figure they do. Yet to make it legal is not in citizen as a whole best interest as a base. President Obama explain to us why we need to back you on this lose of freedom?

Obama, Wiretapes, White House, Freedom,

RIP Socks, former first cat of Federal City.

It's reported on NBC4 that Socks was put to sleep today.

Socks, who would have turned 20 in the spring, was a stray when he was adopted for Chelsea Clinton while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas. The family brought Socks with them to the White House in 1993.

Currie had taken care of Socks since the Clintons left the White House in 2001.

RIP you ole Cat.......

And, what is goin to happen for this leak.

The real story of the leak by Petraeus is that the most powerful figure in the U.S. military has tried to shape the media coverage of Obama and combat troop withdrawal from Iraq to advance his policy agenda - and, very likely, his personal political interests as well.

Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story On Pullout Plans: IPS Analysis

This is done in the United States of America. If so then something bleed in the streets of cyberhood.

Petraeus, Leak, Obama, Troop reductions, Iraq, wthdrawal, Military

Guess who ain't getting any FED help

Thats right all you Tens of Millions of residence in Common Interest Communities.

Who is that Condos, Coops, Townhouse and Singe-family Homeowner Community Associations.

The congress, the reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision OPHEA, Fannie, Freddy, and the VA HUD have all been told by me and for years about the problems in your communities.


Well, they all have not done one thing positive for you and with the exception of a a few states and local authorities none one else has either and in some case are detrimental.

Did you known that the so called news show 60 minutes has been faxed again and again and not one producer thinks the 80 million homeowners are Sh*t out of luck.

So to all the banks, investors, and governmental agencies that own so many of these homes now I believe everyone of you are in for a RICO charge the first one of these in a CIC that you own and sell and do not disclose the state of the communities, budget, documents, and board actions.

If you are not paying your communities assessment while you own one of these because of foreclosure then you are now undermining the very community your property is in and in some cases has forced seniors to have to move out because of habibility of the premise.

No one pays the bills,

the insurance, lights, heat, water, security, upkeep and repairs do not get done. The community goes to HELL.

Who is responsible besides the owners. Everyone that is doing nothing to change it.

Condos, Coops, Townhouse, Singe-family, Homeowner, Community Associations, congress, the reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision OPHEA, Fannie, Freddy, VA, HUD

Come on Obama looks happy in Fairey image

NEW YORK — On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during last year's presidential campaign: A pensive Barack Obama looking upward, as if to the future, splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the caption HOPE.

Designed by Shepard Fairey, a Los-Angeles based street artist, the image has led to sales of hundreds of thousands of posters and stickers, has become so much in demand that copies signed by Fairey have been purchased for thousands of dollars on eBay.

The image, Fairey has acknowledged, is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Manny Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington.

AP Accuses Obama Artist Shepard Fairey Of Copyright Infringement


Come on he altered the image it is not the same one.

Obama, Fairey, Image, posters, Campaign, 2008, Presidentail, AP, images, Design, Associated Press photograph, April 2006

Heros need not apply for assignments in Obama Administration WTF.........

Obama's White House: Big posts, overlapping tasks - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is building a White House staff so loaded with big names and overlapping duties that it could collapse into chaos unless managed with a juggler's skill.

It's an administration that seems "addicted to czars," says one longtime observer of government organization.

Obama has installed a White House health czar who doubles as secretary of Health and Human Services. The State Department now has "special envoys" for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and for climate change — areas already overseen by other officials.

Just for the environment, along with the new climate envoy Obama has an energy secretary, an Environmental Protection Agency director and a chief of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Hovering over them all is Carol Browner, a high-profile former EPA administrator in a newly created role some call "climate czarina."

Funny didn't we just go through 8 years of just that --no experts -- czar then where just CEO on loan and wow that was fun. 


Maybe, I am guessing, this reporter would only want sheeple to be
choosen for post in this Administration and heros need not apply
nothing to see folk just the constituitonal, bankin and every other
system failing --no worries our top people are right on



So to this AP reporter, tip of the hat for doin your job, which is guess is now writing tripe like this seeing how he has been in office for a WEEK and you never seem to care if Bush & Co dismantled everything, but the physical White House.

Obama, White House, Staff, Czars, AP

There is a new top Cop in town, Holder, Eric Holder.......AG @ Our Service.

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans, who acted like lions in challenging Eric Holder, turned into lambs Wednesday as they joined Democrats in recommending President Barack Obama's choice for attorney general.

The Judiciary Committee voted 17-2 to endorse Holder, with two Republicans opposing the nomination — John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. The Senate could vote as early as Thursday to confirm Holder as the first African-American to lead the Justice Department.

Committee Republicans and Democrats described Holder as experienced, independent, tough on crime and opposed to torture. Holder has served as a federal prosecutor, judge, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and deputy attorney general in Bill Clinton's presidency. Senators also said the nominee was an individual willing to acknowledge his mistakes. Senate committee OKs Holder for attorney general - Yahoo! News

On a personal note I have seen Eric up close during a campaign  and I have to say that he is one of the most stand up humans that I have ever known and the voice of reason just got some leg, shoulders and a mustache. I am sure there is a blog about Federal Staches in here...........

btw The bad guys just tinkled in their shorts.

ps note the @ our service in title --Mr AG we will demand rights from the people's government that are expressed and yet somehow not handed out without a few teeth of federalism havin to be pry'd loose along the way and that is not right and I know you know it.

 

Obama, Eric Holder, AG, Attorney General, Senate confirms,

GOP members of Senate defend torture and block Holder from holding those that do it accountable.

Senate Republicans Delay Holder Confirmation Over Torture Prosecutions

The question Republicans want answered before Holder is confirmed: Will you prosecute those who took part in that torture?

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that he would block committee proceedings, scheduled to resume at 2:30 pm on Wednesday, if he did not receive answer from Holder. "I'm not going to allow things to proceed," he said. He added that it was "physically impossible" for Holder to get the answers to him by then, thus assuring a conflict would ensue.

Other GOP members of the committee, said Cornyn, are also concerned about the potential for prosecutions. The intent of the Military Commissions Act, he argued, was to provide immunity from prosecution if agents believed they were acting lawfully.


So here is a hint Eric dont hold anyone accountable and you'll get the GOP's vote.

Eric Holder, AG, Senate Confirmation, GOP, Attorney General, Torture

Not a peep for the FCC head talkin....

FCC's Martin Mum on Net Neutrality
By David Kravets EmailMarch 07, 2008 | 2:54:45 PMCategories: Network Neutrality

Netneutrality_2

Declaring the internet a "tool for democracy," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Friday the "commission is ready, willing and able to take action" on "net neutrality" complaints.

Martin noted that "applications are being singled out" and traffic management has been "arbitrary to specific applications." But he didn't go so far as to say whether ISPs had a right to target BitTorrent or other data.

"I think that will also trigger heightened scrutiny by the commission," he said.

Speaking at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, Martin said the commission is likely to resolve the heated dispute about Comcast blocking and or delaying BitTorrent traffic and set net neutrality standards sometime in the second quarter of this year. BitTorrent, while used for legitimate reasons, is among the protocols of choice for pilfering copyrighted works on the internet.

During his 30-minute speech in Palo Alto, California, Martin referred to the concept of "reasonable network management," an FCC policy granting internet service providers a license to manage traffic on their pipes.

He noted that no decision has been made, yet he provided some hints. While calling it "troubling" that Comcast initially denied it was interrupting BitTorrent traffic, Martin suggested that internet service providers should disclose upfront to consumers that data may be blocked or delayed.

Comcast says that it doesn't block BitTorrent, or any kind of traffic. Instead, Comcast maintains it delays traffic at peak times to manage congestion.

In September, the Bush administration urged the commission not to enact new rules to prevent telecommunications providers from discriminating against certain kinds of Internet traffic.

"There are benefits to treating certain content differently," the administration wrote. "A number of companies offer services to provide faster delivery of content and/or to avoid some of the congestion and delay on the public Internet. Owners of network facilities have legitimate reasons to manage facilities in ways that lessen congestion and address public safety issues."

Don't forget: President Bush appointed Martin.

Is anyone really suprised at this point in time

Whistle-Blower: Feds Have a Backdoor Into Wireless Carrier -- Congress Reacts
By Kevin Poulsen EmailMarch 06, 2008 | 8:15:00 PMCategories: Spooks Gone Wild

Quantico A U.S. government office in Quantico, Virginia, has direct, high-speed access to a major wireless carrier's systems, exposing customers' voice calls, data packets and physical movements to uncontrolled surveillance, according to a computer security consultant who says he worked for the carrier in late 2003.

"What I thought was alarming is how this carrier ended up essentially allowing a third party outside their organization to have unfettered access to their environment," Babak Pasdar, now CEO of New York-based Bat Blue told THREAT LEVEL. "I wanted to put some access controls around it; they vehemently denied it. And when I wanted to put some logging around it, they denied that."

Pasdar won't name the wireless carrier in question, but his claims are nearly identical to unsourced allegations made in a federal lawsuit filed in 2006 against four phone companies and the U.S. government for alleged privacy violations. That suit names Verizon Wireless as the culprit.

Pasdar has executed a seven-page affidavit for the nonprofit Government Accountability Project in Washington, which on Tuesday began circulating the document (.pdf), along with talking points (.doc), to congressional staffers hashing out a Republican proposal to grant retroactive legal immunity to phone companies who cooperated in the warrantless wiretapping of Americans.

According to his affidavit, Pasdar tumbled to the surveillance superhighway in September 2003, when he led a "Rapid Deployment" team hired to revamp security on the carrier's internal network. He noticed that the carrier's officials got squirrelly when he asked about a mysterious "Quantico Circuit" -- a 45 megabit/second DS-3 line linking its most sensitive network to an unnamed third party.

Quantico, Virginia, is home to a Marine base. But perhaps more relevantly, it's also the center of the FBI's electronic surveillance operations.

"The circuit was tied to the organization's core network," Pasdar writes in his affidavit. "It had access to the billing system, text messaging, fraud detection, web site, and pretty much all the systems in the data center without apparent restrictions."

The 2006 lawsuit (.pdf), which is suspended pending an appeals court ruling, describes a similar arrangement, naming Verizon.

Who do our Representatives work for US or the Corporations

This Thursday, the House of Representatives is expected to hand phone companies a get-out-of-jail-free card for illegally turning over your private phone records to the government. I don’t have to tell you how wrong this is.

We have 48 hours to stop them. Tell Rep. Chris Van Hollen that you oppose any effort to cover-up illegal spying on Americans. We will deliver the letter before Thursday's vote.

Tell Rep. Chris Van Hollen: No Cover Up

This is vital to protecting your basic right to make a phone call, send an e-mail or search the Internet without the government monitoring your activity.

After intense lobbying by AT&T, Verizon and the Bush White House, the Senate has already signed off on immunity for these companies. If the House passes the FISA bill this week, more than 40 legitimate lawsuits currently pending against phone companies will disappear before they've begun.

Americans have had their rights violated, and now Congress may pass a bill that gives us no legal remedy. When you are accused of breaking the law, you should have your day in court. Neither the phone companies nor this White House is above the law

Remember how your representatives vote on this it is the difference between US and the large companies......

You can send a letter via FreePress campaign....


Technorati Tags: Van Hollen, FISA, Congress, Phone companies

These are our allies and this is what they do to the victim of RAPE.

CNN) -- The Saudi Justice Ministry Tuesday issued a
"clarification" of a court's handling of a rape case and the increased
punishment -- including 200 lashes --meted out to the victim. Human rights groups want Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to drop charges against the rape victim.

The case, which has sparked media scrutiny of the Saudi legal system,
centers on a married woman. The 19-year-old and an unrelated man were
abducted, and she was raped by a group of seven men more than a year
ago, according to Abdulrahman al-Lahim, the attorney who represented
her in court.
The woman was originally sentenced in October 2006
to 90 lashes. But that sentence was more than doubled to 200 lashes and
six months in prison by the Qatif General Court, because she spoke to
the media about the case, a court source told Middle Eastern daily
newspaper Arab News.
Al-Lahim told CNN his law license was
revoked last week by a judge because he spoke to the Saudi-controlled
media about the case. Watch the emotional toll the crime took on the rape victim »

In a statement issued to CNN, Saudi Ambassador to the United States,
Adel al-Jubeir said, "This case is working its way through the legal
process. I have no doubt that justice will prevail."
The
Justice Ministry acknowledged in its statement Tuesday that the
attorney is no longer on the case, saying he was punished by a
disciplinary committee for lawyers because he "exhibited disrespectful
behavior toward the court, objected to the rule of law and showed
ignorance concerning court instructions and regulations."
It
added that the permanent committee of the Supreme Judicial Council
recommended an increased sentence for the woman after further evidence
against her came to light when she appealed her original sentence.

The judges of that committee also increased the sentences for the
perpetrators based on the level of their involvement in the crime.
Their sentences -- which had been two to three years in prison -- were
increased to two to nine years, according to al-Lahim.
The
ministry also said it welcomes constructive criticism and insisted that
the parties' rights were preserved in the judicial process.
"We
would like to state that the system has ensured them the right to
object to the ruling and to request an appeal," the statement
continued, "without resorting to sensationalism through the media that
may not be fair or may not grant anyone any rights, and instead may
negatively affect all the other parties involved in the case."

The statement also described the progress of the woman's case and
explained that it was heard by a panel of three judges, not one judge
"as mentioned in some media reports."
It said the case was
treated normally through regular court procedures, and that the woman,
her male companion and the perpetrators of the crime all agreed in
court to the sentences handed down.
In Washington, State
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. officials had "expressed
our astonishment" at the sentence, though not directly to Saudi
officials. "It is within the power of the Saudi government to take a
look at the verdict and change it," he added.
White House
homeland security adviser Frances Townsend, who announced her
resignation Monday, called the case "absolutely reprehensible" but told
CNN's "American Morning" the Saudis deserve credit for their assistance
in battling terrorism. "This case is separate and apart from that, and
I just don't think there's any explaining it or justifying it," she
added.
The case has sparked outrage among human rights groups.

"This is not just about the Qatif girl, it's about every woman in Saudi
Arabia," said Fawzeyah al-Oyouni, founding member of the newly formed
Saudi Association for the Defense of Women's Rights.
"We're
fearing for our lives and the lives of our sisters and our daughters
and every Saudi woman out there. We're afraid of going out in the
streets.
"Barring the lawyer from representing the victim in court is almost equivalent to the rape crime itself," she added.

Human Rights Watch said it has called on Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah
"to immediately void the verdict and drop all charges against the rape
victim and to order the court to end its harassment of her lawyer."

State of Communities: What you are not being told about the houseing problems

State of Communities: What you are not being told about the housing problems

Hello Federal Authorities and workers. If you do know know about this how can you do your jobs. I bet many of you live in one of these too. LMAO

Gee you just figured this out and that is not all.

How Rove Directed Federal Assets for GOP Gains - washingtonpost.com

ow Rove Directed Federal Assets for GOP Gains
Bush Adviser's Effort to Promote the President and His Allies Was Unprecedented in Its Reach

By John Solomon, Alec MacGillis and Sarah Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 19, 2007; Page A01

Thirteen months before President Bush was reelected, chief strategist Karl Rove summoned political appointees from around the government to the Old Executive Office Building. The subject of the Oct. 1, 2003, meeting was "asset deployment," and the message was clear:

The staging of official announcements, high-visibility trips and declarations of federal grants had to be carefully coordinated with the White House political affairs office to ensure the maximum promotion of Bush's reelection agenda and the Republicans in Congress who supported him, according to documents and some of those involved in the effort.

If you are also going to start looking under the covers of this Administration I would suggest asking for the time sheets of the advance teams that run all of these events. Anyone to guess how many hours of Hatch Act violations one would find? See these Advance folks that are not in the Office of Advance, and there are not too many of them since Poppa Bush cut the White House budget on his way out of office and to handicap Clinton's ability to travel. So unless the budget for advance has gone up the Advance Team is being assembled with folks that are working at and in various agencies or private companies. One they are assigned to a team and a trip they are on the Executive branch's payroll.

Where this get tricky is if they are being warehoused at an agency and then put on a trip. When this happens they have to put in for vacation time at their existing agency or face breaking the Hatch Act. The trips then get real tricky when these trips have both official and private events. Because the reimbursement off the official White House detail has to be covered by the Host of the private events. This then has to be squared with now the official staff and these extra advance staffers are accounted for in the cost breakdown and reimbursements.

This is been a problem every since the reduction in the White House budget and I have not heard it being fixed so who is paying and who is working and when. Just a few questions I would ask if I was a reporter.



Technorati Tags: Advance, Rove, White House, Travel,

Help in Darfur one myspace at at time with the help of musical artists

Date: 16/08/2007


Artists and citizens are uniting across the globe to raise awareness of the critical needs of the people of Darfur, Sudan by using a free and renewable resource --their voices.

The first event will be taking place in Burlington, Vermont on September 1st starting with a parade and ending with speeches and live performances by some amazing artists.

Voices of Darfur is requesting that everyone meet in front of Uncommon Grounds, 42 Church St., at 9 am. Bring your Darfur signs. We will march down from Church St. to College Street Park.

Once at the park there will be a few short speeches by Lisa Martin and a spokesperson for Voices of Darfur about the situation in Darfur and what we need to know and do about it.

Afterwards a number of artists have tentatively agreed to lend their Voices for Darfur. At this time we are locking down the line up and will post it online ASAP.

We are confident that everyone will be impressed by the message of the urgency and the plight of our fellow humans sufferings and the Voices of Darfur.


For more information please visit www.VoicesofDarfar.com


Technorati Tags: Sudan, Darfur, Voices of Darfur, Muisc, Benefit Concert, Myspace

Big Pharma is gettting greadier

Drug firm, Red Cross battle over symbol - Give and Take - MSNBC.com

Updated: 6:37 p.m. ET Aug 8, 2007

NEW YORK - Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, which uses a red cross as its trademark, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the American Red Cross, demanding that the charity halt the use of the red cross symbol on products it sells to the public.

This is something that Johnson & Johnson needs to get on the right side of before they find them self in a situation where people are calling for a boycott of their products. J&J I would consider this blog the tip of the iceberg and with the mindset of the country with regards to BIGPharama and Micheal Moore's Sicko aint doing your inducstry any favors.

So take the hint.



Technorati Tags: Red Cross, Johnson & Johnson

Where is America going if we arrest the good guys.

Is this what we are coming to here in America today. Arresting those that choose to exercise free speech while office holders commit crimes. What may be worse is that the rest of Congress is doing nothing to stop them.

In the annals of history the current democratic leaderships are going to go down as willing accomplices or lazy money sucking politicians if they do not get off their fat assess and stop this madness.

Technorati Tags: Kensington, Allen McConnell, Impeach Bush, Arrested for Selling buttons

Mirror.CO.UK is some explaining to do with a fishy story of their own......

GORE'S FISHY DISH - Top Stories - News - Mirror.co.uk

GORE'S FISHY DISH
19/07/2007


GREEN campaigner Al Gore is under fire after an endangered fish was served at his daughter's wedding.

Just a week after launching the Live Earth concerts, the former US Vice President let his green credentials slip when Chilean sea bass was given to guests at the reception in Beverly Hills, California.

The sea bass is one of the world's most over-fished species. Gore, who also made an Oscar-winning climate change documentary, has not commented on the row.

Well as it turns out.......

But, according to The Telegraph, the fish enjoyed by the Gores were not endangered or illegally caught.

Rather, the restaurant later confirmed, they had come from one of the world's few well-managed, sustainable populations of toothfish, and were caught and documented in compliance with Marine Stewardship Council regulations.

From Fishupdate.com

Technorati Tags: Al Gore, Fish, Sea Bass, Lies

Republicans Snub the NAACP.

Up to nine presidential candidates will take the stage at Cobo Center on Thursday morning to woo the African-American vote. At most, there will be one Republican.


It's not for lack of an invitation. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People extended invitations to all announced Republican and Democratic candidates two months ago. The national staff of the civil rights organization followed up with phone calls.


All but one of the Republican candidates have all said they won't come, citing scheduling conflicts. While most of the Democratic ones will be there. I guess those bridge building talking points from Rove and company were like the the plans and projects in Iraq all on paper and no hat.

I also find it interesting that Ron Paul whom has been linked to overt racist statements in a newsletter that was published by him would pass up this chance to clear the air and make a showing at this convention. I seem is he is not much different after all.


Check out the Detroit Free Press for more on this story.


Technorati Tags: Republicans, GOP, Presidental, NAACP, Democrats,

Al Gore kicks offf Live Earth in DC

So 2 Billion people tunned in! Did you? Not bad for and Ex Vice President.


Technorati Tags: Live Earth, Washington, DC, Al Gore,