BIG BEND BIKERS FOR FREEDOM

The daily show takes on Gingrich-video

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:33:00 +0000

The most immoral moral candidate for president of all time. The EGO that take the "I" to new heights.

The little Michelin Dough boy whom even Reagan did not think much of, if at all. The man who cost the country millions chasing after Clinton and his cigar while he himself was smokin a little on his own. Is owned by John Stewart!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Indecision 2012 - The Gingrich Who Stole South Carolina

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

We are now taking bets the ex Florida Governor Jeb Bush will be drafted at the Republican convention and go on to be the next republican Presidential candidate.

Florida Corrections-secret privatization's on fire

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:39:00 +0000

Following is the most recen actions and updates regarding Floridas attempts to secretly sell the government to corporations. They a fast tracking the hell out of this. Hearing yesterday hearing tomorrow. We suggest Flotida and U.S. citizens who are opposed to the corporatization of America get on the ball.

http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/RC/ExpandedAgenda/1689

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2012/2036

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2012/2038

From our post Florida Corrections-A warning bell for America

The Following links go to studies that PROVE PRison Privatization does not WORK!

From the Forward of US Department of Justice Office of Justice programs entitled, Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons

From, Prison Privatization and the Use of Incarceration

From, Private Prison Fact Sheet - American Correctional Officer

The Failed Promise of Prison Privatization - Prison Legal News ...

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish:Prisons for Sale | Louisiana Progress

and

The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor | The Nation

Article: Federal Prison Industries: Ending their mandatory source ...
Prison labor is considered Made In America - Democratic ...
Prison Labor: Workin' For The Man

Get moving people

Stuff sport bikers say

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:16:00 +0000

NDAA, SOPA, PIPA and now A.C.T.A-from Anon

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:23:00 +0000

From Anonops. Those that would censor, regulate, surveil and control. Are not giving up. In fact the speed at which they are moving to Introduce one act after another can only be attributed to the desire to catch U.S. Citizens off guard enough to slip through dangerous legislation piecemeal that taken as whole result in a totalitarian end.

Things you need to know about ACTA

ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.

Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”

What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.

Say NO to ACTA. It is essential to spread awareness and get the word out on ACTA.

YOU are warned!

Kick ass video of Rod Stewarts I am sailing

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:51:00 +0000

Judge Judy tears into tax freeloader

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:45:00 +0000

We often wonder if Judge Judy is scripted. But then we remind our selves, the world is stupid! This is why people who really need help can't get it! Can ya believe it?Add to Technorati Favorites

Who's who of Military Industrial complex

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

We submit the following without comment: Military Indistrial Complex Gov Staff

CONTRIBUTED MAP

AUTHOR:	Anonymous
CREATED:	19-Jan-2012
CATEGORY:	Government, Military

Members of US Government who are connected with the top 5 companies of the Military Industrial Complex
  PEOPLE
  Rozanne L. Ridgway Asst. Secy. of State for Europe, 1985-89
  James O. Ellis, Jr. C-in-C of US Strategic Command, 2001-02
  John T. Chain C-in-C, Strategic Air Command, 1986-91
  Charles R. Larson C-in-C, US Pacific Command, 1991-94
  Walter F. Doran C-in-C, US Pacific Fleet, 2002-05
  Thomas Pickering Career US Ambassador
  Nicholas D. Chabraja CEO of General Dynamics
  James R. Mellor CEO of General Dynamics, 1994-97
  Lester Crown CEO of Henry Crown & Co.
  Vance D. Coffman CEO of Lockheed Martin, 1998-2004
  Douglas C. Yearley CEO of Phelps Dodge, 1989-99
  Kenneth C. Dahlberg CEO of SAIC
  Richard Myers Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2001-05
  Carlisle Trost Chief of Naval Operations, 1986-90
  John Deutch CIA Director, 1995-96
  Lester L. Lyles Commander, USAF Materiel Command, 2000-03
  Gwendolyn S. King Commissioner of Social Security, 1989-92
  Norm Mineta Congressman from California, 1975-95
  Vic Fazio Congressman from California, 1979-99
  Robert F. Ellsworth Congressman from Kansas, 1961-67
  Robin Beard Congressman from Tennessee, 1973-83
  John N. McMahon Deputy Director CIA, 1982-86
  James Comey Deputy US Attorney General, 2003-05
  William J. Haynes II DOD General Counsel, 2001-08
  Joseph J. Sisco Kissinger's Mideast Deputy
  William O. Studeman NSA Director, 1988-92
  Vannevar Bush Pre-internet visionary
  Ken Duberstein Reagan's Chief of Staff, 1988-89
  William R. Spivey Retired AT&T executive
  Robert Walmsley Retired Royal Navy Admiral
  Thomas A. Corcoran Senior Advisor, Carlyle Group
  Walter M. Oliver Senior VP at General Dynamics
  George A. Joulwan Supreme Allied Commander, 1993-97
  Joseph W. Ralston Supreme Allied Commander, 2000-03
  Lawrence J. Korb The Joint Chiefs of Staff
  Pete Aldridge Under Secretary of Defense, 2001-03
  Theodore L. Eliot, Jr. US Ambassador to Afghanistan, 1973-78
  L. Craig Johnstone US Ambassador to Algeria, 1985-88
  Barbara M. Barrett US Ambassador to Finland
  John B. Craig US Ambassador to Oman, 1998-2001
  John M. Keane US Army Vice Chief of Staff, 1999-2003
  Jay L. Johnson US Chief of Naval Operations, 1996-2000
  Vernon E. Clark US Chief of Naval Operations, 2000-05
  James M. Loy US Coast Guard Commandant, 1998-2002
  Gordon R. England US Deputy Secretary of Defense
  Richard Armitage US Deputy Secretary of State, 2001-05
  James Thomas Lynn US HUD Secretary, 1973-75
  James L. Jones US National Security Advisor, 2009-10
  William J. Crowe, Jr. US Navy Admiral
  William M. Daley US Secretary of Commerce, 1997-2000
  Frank Carlucci US Secretary of Defense, 1987-89
  Michael W. Wynne US Secretary of the Air Force, 2005-08
  Donald C. Winter US Secretary of the Navy, 2006-09
  Anthony J. Principi US Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 2001-05
  Warren Rudman US Senator from New Hampshire, 1980-93
  Carl E. Mundy, Jr. USMC Commandant, 1991-95
  Eugene F. Murphy Vice Chairman of GE, 1997-99

  COMPANY
  Boeing
  General Dynamics
  Lockheed Martin
  Northrop Grumman
  Raytheon

CLICK TO EXPLORE THIS MAP
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.

Download:	JPEG 221K, 2197x1210
Link:
Share:	Facebook

Florida Corrections-A warning bell for America

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:25:00 +0000

Currently their is Controversy in the state of Florida over the secret privatization of the Corrections Department and by extension, other state agencies (see: Tampa Online article below). The body of literature regarding Prison Privatization is that it does not work (scroll down to, THE EVIDENCE PRISON PRIVATIZATION DOES NOT WORK! ). Add the words "secrecy" and "secret" to the equation and the controversy should expand exponentially attracting the attention of all U.S. citizens regardless of state, who might have concerns about governments acting in secrecy.

What we have attempted to do here is provide information that may be of value to corrections workers here and in other states facing similar circumstances. We also provide the following as a wake up call to U.S. citizens that when governments, national, state, or local start talking about secrecy pertaining to governing then we truly are on the precipice. Obviously this post can in no way be all inclusive. But it does contain info that can lead you to ammunition!

Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey (USA, Ret.), Director, ONDCP, stated, when he addressed the Opening Plenary Session, National Conference on Drug Abuse Prevention Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, September 19, 1996, Washington, DC, stating:

# "We must have law enforcement authorities address the issue because if we do not, prevention, education, and treatment messages will not work very well. But having said that, I also believe that we have created an AMERICAN GULAG.

GULAG: The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union.
Washington, DC - 02/28/2008 - For the first time in history more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety. According to a new report released today by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project

Florida has a long history of less than transparent politics, despite it's"Government in the Sunshine law". Most recently we are seeing in the headlines the words secret and secrecy at it relates to proposed legislation regarding the privatization of Florida prisons. If one is to read the legislation and extrapolate as to how this can affect "all" government, then one may find a need to hop on a horse and ride from town to town hollering, "the British are coming." For this proposed legislation and governmental machinations surrounding it violates the spirit of all that the "United States of America" has been founded on.

1. The terms "secrecy in government" and "government in the sunshine" ARE NOT interchangeable. You can not have both. From a National Defense perspective we can see the need for a certain amount of secrecy. However that is aimed at defeating the enemy, not the will, or the "rights" of United States Citizens. Secrecy in Government is not used by a government ruled by a free people. Government in Secrecy more often than not, rules people.

2. Of concern for many citizens across the country is ill-advised legislation that is not thought through for blow back or unintended consequences. In a time of extreme financial distress it incumbent upon all of us to examine carefully certain proposals and differentiate between that which is effective and that, that is snake oil. This legislation my friends is Snake Oil. If anything our review illustrates that it is the politico's who would seek such legislation to solve a problem are, in fact, the cause of the problem. It is that the politico's are the "snake oil salesmen/women."

3. Corrections is a "soft target". Nobody wants to be seen as soft on crime. However the arguments supporting rehabilitations have been proven. Unfortunately where it has not worked it has, more often than not, been the fault of bureaucrats micro-managing to appease a broad political spectrum whose goals are not rehabilitation but votes. Because it is about corrections many Americans will pay little attention to this situation. After all, it's just prisoners. They get what they deserve. Unfortunately without vigilance we will see how we all will be getting it.

Following is Tampa Online's article about the "alleged" secret legislation. We will attempt to demonstrate general dangers as it relates to "how government operates" we will then demonstrate that the goal of the legislation i.e., privatization of prisons is more problem than solution.

From Tampa Online: Florida Senate bill would allow privatization to be secret (Emphasis ours):

A Senate committee, bucking a decades-long trend of open government in Florida, formally introduced two bills today aimed at allowing the secret privatization of prisons. But the measures also would make secret the outsourcing of other state agency functions, which has raised concerns from open government advocates.

The Senate rules committee introduced the first bill (PCB 7170), which essentially means that an agency would not have to report its privatization of a program or service until after the contract is signed.

Our Note: Unfortunately all to often Agency heads and Committee chairs are political appointess. Unfortunately the appointments are most often made on the basis of party loyalty and not the individuals knowledge of subjects they are tasked to supervise. Thus the need for public scrutiny of government intentions. After all we must always be cognizant of the doctrine that Governments of Free Nations serve the people.

The term "until after the contract is signed is analogous to "closing the barn door after the horse is out." What we, as the citizens who are the "real government," must be asking ourselves is, "WHY" do they wish to do this? They say it is to save money. They are wrong and they are the problem!

Committee chair John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican, told a standing-room-only audience that the introduction of the bill and that of its companion (PCB 7172) means both will be assigned to other committees for “substantive consideration.” A staff analysis says the first bill “makes clear that the Legislature may direct privatization of agency function itself, without any agency request.”

The bills' opponents, which include the First Amendment Foundation, have said the bills would keep the public in the dark about the costs of outsourcing any government service, not just prisons.

Supporters, including committee vice-chair JD Alexander, counter that the measures ultimately require any privatization deal to first offer a substantial savings to the state.

Our Note: We would hope that this is the case in all government dealings. However, that can not be the only questions asked. Governments are not Private Corporations. The Government mandate is to serve the people of the state. Serving the people, such as during natural disasters, comes before cost. The mandate of Private Corporations is to profit for the shareholders. Determining costs, savings, and return on the state/taxpayer dollar involves critical thinking and not political emotion. We must look to the future for blowback and unintended results. This same approach should be taken when evaluating certain laws passed as the result of knee jerk reactions and political expediency that does not factor in cost beyond office terms.

Thrasher said the bills were meant to address a South Florida prison-privatization plan stymied by a Tallahassee judge. Privatizing those prisons could save taxpayers up to $40 million a year, Alexander said.

Our Note: We take issue with Mr. Thrasher and Alexander assessment of savings. Simply put they are wrong and we will prove that further into this post.

The state tried to privatize about 30 state prison facilities and was sued by the Police Benevolent Association, the union that formerly represented corrections officers.

Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford later ruled that the state's plan is unconstitutional because it was passed as part of the annual budget and not as a separate law. Attorney General Pam Bondi is appealing Fulford's decision.

But when asked, the Lake Wales Republican said he couldn't explain the bills' secrecy provisions. “I didn't draft the bill,” Alexander said. “I haven't looked at all the language.”

OUR NOTE: This should set off a very loud warning bell in the minds of us all. Floridians and U.S. citizens alike. How how often have we heard the same excuses at national level. Multi-paged legislations passes containing legislation few can understand or not even related to the original legislation. Thrown in as a compromise or a blackmail, if you want "this" you will pass "This". For it or against it, has not Obama care created an uproar across the nation.

Mr. Thrasher was elected by citizens who pay him to do a job. One of his jobs is to read legislation that may impact his electorate/employers prior to forming opinion and/or voting on legislation. Unfortunately Mr. Thrasher is not alone. We have to many legislators that are negligent. To many that could be charged with dereliction of duty. To many that, if they performed in that manner, while employed by a for profit corporation would be fired.

Brian Pitts, a lobbyist for a group called Justice-2-Jesus, told the committee both bills undermine “the transparency, accountability and due diligence of this body and citizens of this state.”

Two Democrats on the panel — Gwen Margolis of Miami and Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale — also voiced their opposition.

“The language is pretty broad, sir,” Margolis told Thrasher. “It's very disturbing.”

Most people who spoke on the bills, however, focused on the impact that privatization has on state-employed corrections officers and other prison workers.

They're also smarting from last week's announcement that the state plans to close seven state prisons and four work camps, all of which employ nearly 1,300 people, because of a decreasing prison population.

“I'm here first of all as a wife and a mother,” said Reshae Cherry, a corrections officer at Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda.

She's looking forward to the birth of her second daughter, but still spends nights worrying whether privatization will cost her a job.

“My situation is not unique,” she told the committee. “There are countless families who depend on the Department of Corrections … I want to keep food on my table and I want to continue to serve the department because I am proud of what I do.”

The bills, now referred to as SB 2036 and SB 2038, haven't yet been assigned to their next committee.

When reading this and thinking of "secret governments" we can think of several passages in the U.S. Constitution and the Declarations of Independence that are violated. We can assure you this was not the vision of our nations forefathers. However we will make that argument in another post as the premise leading to the controversy re: privatization of prisons is dangerously and most terribly FLAWED!

A major mistake corrections workers can make in arguing against these bills is to use the argument, "you can not do this because it is my job!" Jobs, corporate or government, come and go as needed. Communities that rely on any one industry, are themselves badly governed. Communities all over the country are being decimated as industries modernize, rely more on technology, move or become outdated.

The arguments that corrections officers need to be making should revolve around the following:

1. Florida's Corrections systems is the victim of constant political territorial mismanagement and redundancies.

2. The Florida Corrections systems, were it to apply more than lip service to rehabilitation programs can reduce recidivism thus providing the sate with a huge return on the taxpayer dollar.

3. Privatization of prisons has, historically, been a disaster.

A glaring example of the state mismanagement resulting in the current controversy revolves around this document from 2009, from the Florida Department of Prisons itself: Recidivism Reduction Strategic Plan Fiscal Year 2009-2014 Authored by Assistant Secretary of re-entry Franchetta Barber and Secretary Walter McNeil.

We refer to this document because it is most illustrious of ways the "state" could save money on Corrections with out privatization. If the state can not sufficiently monitor what it's own employee's are doing is not likely to be able to monitor what it's contractors are doing (more on that further into post). Re-entry is just another of numerous permutations of names and programs the Department of Corrections undergoes every time there is a new administration. Often times the old is just reworded to look new, or to meet the new administrations political bias. This results in data corruption, which of course results in policy being formulated on the basis of corrupted data.

It also waste countless man hours rehashing, tearing down re-implementing that which is already known all in order to rehash it, tear it down and re-implement it again upon the seating of a new administration. Every four years state workers have to agonize whether or not they will still have job based on shifting political winds. The stress of being victim to knee jerk political actions is paid in loss of productivity.

What we must understand is that many documents released under a Director or a Secretary's name are written by people who have a limited knowledge base of the subject they are addressing. Their goal is not to preserve or implement what works. Their goal, since they serve at the leisure of whatever Governor may be in office, is to protect their jobs, territory and power which results in gamesmanship, deterioration of morale and decreased work output (we will address how this also occurs in the privatization area). Often times the Appointee who has little knowledge of the subject has an underling write the report and the Appointee puts their name on it as Author. Thats the privilege of politics. It is also how important information gets perverted and lost in translation. By granting Department Head positions as a rewards for political support, the state creates it's own headaches.

In the Orlando Sentinel we find the quote by Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander,

As recently as 2010, state economists were predicting Florida's prison population would reach more than 115,000 in the future.. Instead, it is now expected to dip below 99,000 in 2013.

We also find a like statement in the 2009 publication linked above:

Florida is expected to reach a peak of nearly 125,000 inmates by 2013.

The data received by the state via the 2009 report was wrong. Which means that any state expenditures made by the state as a result of the report were also wrong. But even more glaringly is that the report states it receives it's information from The Florida of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, a research unit under the oversight of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee. This can now be construed to mean that the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee was not doing it's Job!

This writer has personally observed as the joint legislative auditing committee neglected it's mandate by accepting an audit employed by a not for profit corporation. Despite the fact that numerous examples of waste were available, the "committee" choose to go with the word of the "Fox in the Henhouse." This should not be surprising. The Joint Legislative Auditing committee is a committee of politicians that have their own pet projects and must work with other legislators who have their pet projects.

If you are beginning to get a bit confused here, we can emphasize. We hope what you are beginning to see an extremely complex interaction of committees, programs, policies and bureaucracies dominated by bureaucrats making fiscal decisions based whichever way the political wind is blowing on any particular day. The one consistency that we can identify is that more often than not they are wrong.

One might even arrive at the conclusion that it may be more efficacious to "Privatize" the legislature. Just turn it over to a corporation. But then we may want to look at how private corporations function in the corrections setting.

Let us take a moment to look at two scenarios using California and New York as examples:

California Identifies failure:

“As a result of this review, the Office of the Inspector General found a multitude of reasons to explain the failure of the programs, nearly all of which begin and end with poor management by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Office of Substance Abuse Programs. One central finding is that even though the contracts betweenthe state and the in-prison providers require contractors to use the “therapeutic community” substance abuse treatment model, the Office of Substance Abuse Programs not only fails to hold providers accountable for fulfilling that requirement, but also fails to create the conditions that would allow the therapeutic community model to operate. As a result, many of the providers fall far short of delivering therapeutic community programs.University of California, Los Angeles researchers concluded after one study, in fact, that the in-prison programs reflect a therapeutic community “in name only.”www.oig.ca.gov/reports/pdf/SubstanceAbusePrograms.pdf

New York Identifies success:

Yet New York State, once having one of the largest prison populations in the country, by adopting a more emphatic approach to substance abuse programming now finds itself faced with the problem of which prisons it may have to CLOSE!

With a declining state prison population resulting in part from a sustained, overall drop in crime, New York plans to close the Pharsalia and Gabriels correctional camps, the medium security Hudson Correctional Facility and Camp McGregor, the minimum security camp at Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility, in January 2009.Besides the drop in crime, the population decline can be attributed to implementation of appropriate early release programs mandated by the Legislature for non-violent offenders, including Shock Incarceration, Work Release, Comprehensive Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment, Willard Drug Treatment programs, Merit Time, and Rockefeller Drug Law reform, which included Supplemental Merit Time. Combined, those legislative changes have resulted in the release of 87,528 inmates through 2007 on average 8.4 months earlier than had the laws remained unchanged.http://www.docs.state.ny.us/PressRel/prisonclosure.html
Which of course leads to a discussion of Corrections perspectives and a technical unbiased discussion of what works and what does not work with prison populations. However we must ask ourselves, considering the low wages,benefits and stressful working conditions (see this U.S. Department of Justice report) of state corrections officers, what makes anyone believe that a Private corporation can do it better?
Because the reality is, if this is true (From the Orlando Sentinel),

The state's prison population has dropped so much that the Department of Corrections recently announced it was closing seven prisons because it had 12,000 excess beds in the prison system.

despite the bureaucratic political incompetent environment we illustrated above, it would appear that the worker bee's in the Florida Corrections system are doing a damn good job!

THE EVIDENCE PRISON PRIVATIZATION DOES NOT WORK!
We must constantly remind ourselves that the business of prisons, aka prison industry, has a vested interest in keeping people in prison. Prisoners are their profit generators. Most especially when they cam contract out prison labor at slave wages to compete with legitimate jobseekers! See:
The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor | The Nation
Article: Federal Prison Industries: Ending their mandatory source ...
Prison labor is considered Made In America - Democratic ...
Prison Labor: Workin' For The Man
For examples.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Albert Einstein

To Put It Simply, why are we discussing implementing what we already know, does not work? Privatization of Corrections, though profitable for corporations and their shareholder, is a dismal failure! It is nothing more than a bandwagon full of cash for a politician to grandstand on. See any of the following:

From the Forward of US Department of Justice Office of Justice programs entitled, Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons

The study resulted in some interesting conclusions. For example, it was
discovered that, rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average
saving from privatization was only about 1 percent, and most of that was
achieved through lower labor costs. Nevertheless, there were indications
that the mere prospect of privatization had a positive effect on prison administration, making it more responsive to reform.

From, Prison Privatization and the Use of Incarceration
The promise of meaningful savings, however, is specious at best. Research to date has concluded that there is little evidence that privatization of prisons results in significant public savings. In a 1996 General Accounting Office (GAO) review of several comparative studies on private versus public prisons, researchers acknowledged, “because the studies reported little difference and/or mixed results in comparing private and public facilities, we could not conclude whether privatization saved money.”7 A study by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) released in 2001 had similar conclusions, stating that “rather than the projected 20-percent savings, the average saving from privatization was only 1 percent”8 and “the promises of 20-percent savings in operational costs have simply not materialized.”9 These modest savings, furthermore, “will not revolutionize modern correctional practices.”10

From, Private Prison Fact Sheet - American Correctional Officer

Assaults:♦George Washington University Professor James Austin found that assaults on staff are 49% higher and inmate on inmate assaults are 66% higher in private prisons vs. public prisons. (U.S. Department of Justice, BJA Monograph, “Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons” NCJ181249, Feb. 2001) A comparison of serious incidents in public and private prisons in Oklahoma shows a far more shocking disparity. Oklahoma houses nearly 30% of their inmates in private prisons, one of the highest percentages in the nation. A review of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections data shows that there are 190 percent more serious incidents in private prisons in that state.” (“Will the Federal Government Rescue the Private Prison Industry?” Judy Greene, January 10, 2001.) In Tennessee the Fiscal Review Committee found that although private prisons did save the state money, (less than 1%), they had a much higher rate of assaults and five escapes during the analysis

period. (The Commercial Appeal, 12/10/99)

Cost Savings:

♦For years the industry touted the research of Dr. Charles Thomas as proof that private prisons save money. That was until it was revealed that much of Dr. Thomas’s research was funded by the industry itself. When it was disclosed that Thomas owned stock in some of the very companies he was researching, he was removed from his position at a prestigious Florida University and received the largest fine every levied against an individual by the Florida Ethics Commission.“…it maybe concluded that there are no data to support the contention that privately operated facilities offer cost savings over publicly managed facilities….it was discovered that, rather than the projected 20-percent cost savings,” touted by the industry itself, “…the average savings for privatization was only about 1%, and most of that was achieved through lower labor costs,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance: “Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons,” James Austin, Ph.D., Gary Coventry, Ph.D., February 2001. In addition, studies by the Government Accounting Office, the Council of State Governments and The Abt report, commissioned by the US Attorney General’s Office, all point to very little or no cost savings.

The Failed Promise of Prison Privatization - Prison Legal News ...

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish:Prisons for Sale | Louisiana Progress

CONCLUSIONS:

Prison populations increase and decrease as dictated by economy, political ideologies and popular opinion. There may be times when a state does not have enough corrections officers and times when it has to many. Most of the corrections officers in the state of Florida are well trained and have invested in their occupations as the sate has invested in them. Great care must be taken to avoid creating the stigma that corrections occupations are dead in careers to be looked down upon. To insure the Florida taxpayer is safe and receiving optimum benefit for their taxpayer dollar we must accord them the same concern we would our police and fire departments. Do we want them privatized?

Corrections must adopt the argument that they are value added employees and focus on their successes. Most especially the successes of properly run rehabilitation programs. They must not be punished for success. But they also must not coverup for those who take advantage of their positions. By attrition the corrections department will lose employees.

The Body of Literature on subject demonstrates that privatization of prisons does not work!

In the space and time allotted we hope we have at least cast a light on an almost inconceivable web of corporate, private, political, and bureaucratic boondoggling that carries enough blame to go back through many administrations of both parties.

No Free Country is run by secret Governments!

Other prison industry posts:
AMERICA-Land of the Free???
Florida finally figures out how to increase prison population
Yo we told you about the prison industry.Add to Technorati Favorites

Repeat, there are no Fusion Centers...................

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:17:00 +0000

Since we live in Florida we only copied down to Florida. But you to can find a "not a Fusion center" near you by going here.

Now, look into the screen and repeat after me. There are no..............................Add to Technorati Favorites

Social Radar? Attitude spying????

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

O.K. we ain't gonna comment on this one!

The Air Force’s chief scientist isn’t alone in this effort. Over three years, the Pentagon has spent more $125 million on dozens of projects meant to better quantify, model — and, eventually, foresee — the human, social, cultural, and behavioral dimensions of conflict. Several of these “HSCB” systems are now in use in U.S. military units across the globe. Darpa’s Integrated Crisis Early Warning System (ICEWS), for one, is being expanded to cover six of the Defense Department’s geographic commands, covering 175 different countries. Yet within the Pentagon, there are deep divisions over the program’s efficacy.

Using biometrics, Social Radar will identify individuals, Maybury noted in his original 2010 paper on the topic for the government-funded MITRE Corporation. Using sociometrics, it will pinpoint groups. Facebook timelines, political polls, spy drone feeds, relief workers’ reports, and infectious disease alerts should all pour into the Social Radar, Maybury writes, helping the system keep tabs on everything from carbon monoxide levels to literacy rates to consumer prices. And “just as radar needs to overcome interference, camouflage, spoofing and other occlusion, so too Social Radar needs to overcome denied access, censorship, and deception,” he writes.

And in a presentation about the Air Force’s “contributions” to HCSB efforts, Maybury even lists “Metropolitan Area Persistent Sensing” — city-wide spying — as well as “micro munitions that limit collateral damage” and “non lethal directed energy weapons.” Accompanying the words is a picture of the weapon from the Air Force’s allegedly non lethal arsenal. It’s a ray gun that shoots invisible cousins of microwaves which make people feel like they’re being blasted by an open furnace Add to Technorati Favorites .

Obama to protect the Banks-the law is not equal

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:45:00 +0000

We often preface our posts regarding President Obama with the statement that we voted for him. We do that for a reason reason.. And that is to remind ourselves, if nobody else, that Obama was one of the biggest con jobs this writer has ever fell for. While his mantra regarding change was "yes we can" the reality is, NO WE CAN'T. As it turns out, as we should have known it would turn out, how it most always turns out, Obama is nothing more than another corporate paid whore.

Most are aware of the various banks attempting to settle foreclosure crimes through settlements with the Securities and exchange Commission and various state governments. The fact that this is even a topic of conversation is an indication of how far off the moral compass we have traveled and the ever widening gulf between what is legal for the rich and their corporations and what is legal for the working class.

In simple language the banks committed crimes. The watchdog agencies and criminal justice departments know that the banks committed crimes that helped lead this country into one of the biggest financial collapses in history. But who has been charged? Who has been arrested? Who will go to jail? Who will pay for these crimes? We will! Because the SEC says it is to expensive to try and prosecute the rich so they have to settle for a payoff. We ask you? If you were charged with a crime and offered money to have charges dropped what would happen? You would be charged with another crime!
Too Big To Fail? Try Too Big To Prosecute! or SEC still ...
Moral Hazards of "To big to fail"

Consider the following grom George Washington, who offers a way to at least seek justice:

Obama Pushes Hard to Protect Big Banks from Fraud

Prosecutions ... But We Can Stop Him

As we've noted for years, the entire strategy of Washington towards the economy is to cover up the fraud which caused the financial crisis ... even though prosecuting fraud and re-establishing the rule of law is the only way to get out of this depression.
One major front in Washington's cover-up effort has been to settle fraud cases with the big banks for pennies on the dollar. This is abackdoor bailout for the banks, encourages them to commit more fraud, and fails to plug the basic holes in the economy which are preventing a recovery.

Why are we bringing this up now?

Because Obama is making a giant push to pressure the states attorneys general to settle all of their mortgage-related fraud claims against the banks for pennies on the dollar.
Yves Smith - who has an ear to the ground on this - warns that a settlement which hurts consumers and the economy will happen very quickly if people don't raise a ruckus.
Smith is asking people to call their state attorney general (not their elected reps) to oppose the settlement:
Here are some of the reasons to oppose a settlement:

1. There have been virtually no investigations, and the Administration has engaged in cover-ups rather than trying to get to the bottom of the mortgage mess

2. The big argument made in favor of the deal, that it will help borrowers, is patently false. Remember, Countrywide entered into a deal with attorney generals just like this, where they agreed to do mods in return for a settlement on abuses. Guess what? They didn’t do the mods. To add insult to injury, they actually abused homeowners who should have gotten mods. Nevada AG is suing Countrywide now over its failure to comply with the terms of its settlement. And even if some mods miraculously did get done, the settlement is designed to have banks hit a dollar amount. That means they will focus on the biggest loans, which means any relief will go to a comparatively small number of people in (originally) big ticket houses.

3. The Administration has only one chance to get this right. Now you might argue that Team Obama has no intention of getting the mortgage mess right, but the tectonic plates suddenly seem to be moving in elite circles. The Fed realizes that housing is a BIG problem and has even started making noise about it. Yet Obama is moving forward with a plan cooked up in late 2010 that is completely out of whack with the urgency and severity of the problem. Note that this settlement will NOT stop private actions, such as borrowers fighting foreclosures. And we will continue to banks refuse to take losses and drag out foreclosures to maximize fees. That will lead to continued pressure on housing prices in many markets as buyers stay on the sidelines, fearful of buying before a large shadow inventory clears.

Leaving the AGs free to investigate and increase the pressure that is already building up in the system is the best chance we have to deal with widespread fraud.

The attorneys general really need your support. It helps them to hear that their constituents appreciate them standing up to the banks and the Obama administration.

PLEASE call them TODAY. Here is a list of phone numbers. If you can’t get through, send an e-mail.

Please also sign this petition from Campaign for America’s Future (it has some talking points if you need them for the AG calls). Note you can opt out of being put on their mailing list (I know that has been a sore point with some past petitions). I know it is futile to ping Obama, but they will collect the number of people who sign, and that will in turn bolster the dissident AGs.

Please call today. Unlike Congresscritters, who get a lot of constituent mail and phone calls, AGs get much less in the way of messages from state citizens, so your calls will make a difference.Smith tells me that it is especially important for residents of California, Virgina, Texas, Florida and South Carolina to call their attorneys general and tell them that they need to stand firm in the face of pressure from Obama.

OF course this not really news. It is a repetition of what we have been saying and what others who are watching have been seeing. We always like to cite different sources who know what they are talking about.

Some of our links:
Proof banks commit foreclosure crimes, Proof you will be screwed ...
Goldman Sachs slapped again, and still no one goes to jail
America in decline Part 3-Welcome to the nightmare, owned by the ...

Imagine you walk into your home and find robbers loading up your stuff. You call the police and they tell you, they can't come unless you pay them more than they were paid not to help?Add to Technorati Favorites

Are your e-mails being blocked?

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Either news of oppression is either entering a cascade period, we are becoming more aware or we have crossed the fine line into full blown paranoia. Our many conversations with Ironbolt Bruce lead us to believe that, choose any of the above and we have entered into strange times. Also Bruce is extremely web savvy. On our site we have recently found that some our posts regarding Echelon and the Carnivore project are gone. Unfortunately we are not Geek and find it hard at times to determine where our screw ups originate. What we would recommend is that one no longer rely on bookmarking. If y ou see something you want to keep for further reference, rip it!

From Ironbolt:
WORLD WAR WEB ADVISORY #1: ARE YOU AN UNWITTING VICTIM OF INTERNET CENSORSHIP?

1. Emails about topics like Occupy Wall Street, 9/11, the USA Patriot Act, Citizens United v. FEC, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Enemy Expatriation Act (EEA) are being blocked by Network Solutions, Verizon and other ISPs using Barracuda, Cloudmark Authority and other Internet censorship systems euphemistically referred to as "spam filters". The 99% can use the same weapon against the 1%: Whenever you receive emails from corrupt corporations - such as those listed at http://contractormisconduct.org - flag them as spam and report them to your ISP.

2. Your Twitter "tweets" about topics like Occupy Wall Street, 9/11, the USA Patriot Act, Citizens United v. FEC, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Enemy Expatriation Act (EEA) may be blocked from the Twitter search stream without your knowledge. To find out, make a posting with a popular #hashtag, log out of Twitter, clear your "cookies" then close and restart your web browser. Before logging back in, search Twitter -https://twitter.com/#!/search-home - on your #hashtag and see if your tweet is listed.

3. Your Facebook postings, YouTube comments, other social media posts and online news article and blog comments about topics like Occupy Wall Street, 9/11, the USA Patriot Act, Citizens United v. FEC, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Enemy Expatriation Act (EEA) may also be blocked without your knowledge. To find out if you are being censored, bookmark your page and log out after you post, clear your "cookies" then close and restart your web browser. Before logging back in, use your bookmark to reload and refresh the page where you posted or commented, and see if your posting is still there.

4. Although our kleptocracy-chronicling links are still there, our Reddit page -http://www.reddit.com/user/vvvpr - has been blocked, most likely due to corporate fascist pressure being applied from outside or above, although I'm sure they'll claim it was due to a TOS (terms of service) violation. We will be replicating this link archive elsewhere. And the more of our link archives they take down, the more mirror copies we will put up. Follow us on Twitter @vvvpr for updates.Add to Technorati Favorites

#WorldWarWeb

The Republican Debate lies

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:08:00 +0000

It would seem to us that sooner or later politicians would understand that most everything they have said or done is recorded somewhere. So if they lie, we will know. Well at least those who read will know. So o.k. very few will know then, alright? We think that it would be more entertaining and valuable if whenever we have these debates or a politician is giving a speech a little banner ran under the screen blinking true, false or "that's a stretch". At least we would be alerted to the fact that not everything coming out of the mouths of the whores was gospel. Whoops again, we are assuming that people watch political debates and speeches. Our bad.

So despite the fact that most U.S. voters appear complacent in their ignorance we feel compelled to engage in the meaningless ritual of pointing out just a few of the lies that cropped up during last nights republican debates. BUT be advised. This is by know means a complete list of lies. We do not have the bandwidth to supply a complete list of lies. We don't get paid for it either. But thats another subject.

Also, we did not include lies of democrats here o.k. This was a R-E-P-U-L-I-C-A-N debate. We can only spread so much crap in one post that, because it tells the truth won't be read anyway. We did write what we thought an intelligent, fair and balanced piece on the debate here, Debate proves Republicans in trouble-watch Santorum. Whoops, used the fair and balanced phrase which means those with any intelligence won't read it if they have read this, Fox News viewers less informed than those who don't watch news at ...

O.K. back to the lies, Enjoy:

From Factcheck.org

Santorum and Romney tangled on the Massachusetts health care law. Santorum wrongly claimed it was a “government-run” program. Romney erred when he said everybody was covered by private insurance, ignoring Medicare and his own expansion of Medicaid.
Santorum also fouled up when he claimed the state has “the highest health insurance premiums of any state in the country.” Seven states and Washington, D.C., were higher in 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available.
Gingrich claimed Romney appointees “funded” an abortion clinic. The truth is that an autonomous state agency approved a tax-exempt loan — not direct taxpayer funding — and Romney said he wasn’t aware until after he left office.
Gingrich, slamming Jimmy Carter, said “unemployment went to 10.8 percent.” It did — nearly two years after Ronald Reagan took office. But it never exceeded 7.8 percent under Carter.
Gingrich claimed that “none” of the ideas on the website of his Center for Health Transformation resemble Obama’s program. Actually, we found a call there for an individual mandate, which Gingrich himself repeated as recently as last May.
Romney slammed Gingrich’s claim to have “helped” Reagan create jobs, saying Reagan mentioned Gingrich only once in his published diaries. That’s true. Reagan wrote that the young congressman’s 1983 suggestion to freeze spending “would cripple our defense program,” and he rejected it.
Ron Paul, a physician, claimed medicine “worked rather well” in the early 1960s. That was before Medicare, when in fact rising health care costs were forcing many of the elderly onto public assistance or charity care.

Gingrich Flunks History

Gingrich claimed that unemployment hit 10.8 percent under Democratic President Jimmy Carter:

Gingrich: Under Jimmy Carter, we had the wrong laws, the law regulations, the wrong leadership, and we killed jobs, we had inflation, we went to 10.8 percent unemployment. Under Ronald Reagan, we had the right jobs, the right laws, the right regulators, the right leadership. We created 16 million new jobs.

That’s wrong. The jobless rate never was higher than 7.8 percent during Carter’s presidency, and was as low as 5.6 percent.

The rate did later rise to 10.8 percent in November and December of 1982 — but that was nearly two years into Reagan’s first term. The rate declined slowly from there, and was still 7.3 percent when Reagan was sworn in for his second term. It did not get below 6 percent until late 1987, and was 5.4 percent when Reagan left office in January, 1989.

Santorum vs. Obama: Cutting Veterans’ Benefits

Santorum criticized Obama for proposing cuts in military veterans’ benefits.

Santorum: We have the president of the United States who said he is going to cut veterans benefits, cut our military, at a time when these folks are four, five, six, seven tours, coming back, in and out of jobs, sacrificing everything for this country.

Much has been written about the president’s plans to reduce the size and cost of the U.S. military, but what about veterans’ benefits? The president’s deficit reduction plan does indeed propose some changes in military health and retirement programs. The plan would:

Impose a $200 annual fee on TRICARE for Life recipients. TRICARE for Life is a supplemental health insurance program for veterans 65 and over. It covers certain out-of-pocket expenses not covered by Medicare. Currently, TRICARE for Life does not charge fees or premiums. The administration estimates the proposal would save about $6.7 billion over 10 years.

Increase prescription drug benefit co-pays. The administration estimates this proposal would save $20.6 billion over 10 years.

Create a commission to study military retirement benefits. The deficit-reduction plan says the current benefits are “generous” and “out of line with most other Government or private retirement plans.”

The proposal was submitted in September, and has not become law.

From Boston.com

GINGRICH: "Under Jimmy Carter, we had the wrong laws, the wrong regulations, the wrong leadership, and we killed jobs. We had inflation. We went to 10.8 percent unemployment. Under Ronald Reagan, we had the right job — the right laws, the right regulators, the right leadership. We created 16 million new jobs."

THE FACTS: Sure, inflation was bad and gas lines long, but under Carter's presidency unemployment never topped 7.8 percent. The unemployment rate did reach 10.8 percent, but not until November 1982, nearly two years into Reagan's first term.

Most economists attribute the jobless increase to a sharp rise in interest rates engineered by then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in an ultimately successful effort to choke off inflation. Unemployment began to fall in 1983 and dropped to 7.2 percent in November 1984, when Reagan easily won re-election.

The economy did add 16 million jobs during Reagan's 1981-1989 presidency. Gingrich's assertion that "we created" them may have left the impression that he was a key figure in that growth. Although Gingrich was first elected to the House in 1978, his first Republican leadership position, as minority whip, began when Reagan left office, in 1989.

PAUL: "I had the privilege of practicing medicine in the early '60s, before we had any government (health care). It worked rather well, and there was nobody on the street suffering with no medical care. But Medicare and Medicaid came in and it just expanded."

THE FACTS: Before Medicare was created in the mid-1960s, only about half of the elderly had private insurance for hospital care, and they were facing rising costs for those policies on their fixed incomes. Medicare was hugely contentious at the time, seen by many doctors as a socialist takeover, but few argued that the status quo could be maintained.

A Health, Education and Welfare Department report to Congress in 1959, during the Republican administration of Dwight Eisenhower, took no position on what the federal government should do but stated "a larger proportion of the aged than of other persons must turn to public assistance for payment of their medical bills or rely on 'free' care from hospitals and physicians."

Paul advocates a return to an era when doctors would treat the needy for free. But even in the old days, charity came with a cost. Research from the pre-Medicare era shows that the cost of free care was transferred to paying customers and the insurance industry.

ROMNEY: "The executive order is a beginning process. It's one thing, but it doesn't completely eliminate Obamacare. ... We have to go after a complete repeal. And that's going to have to have to happen with a House and a Senate, hopefully, that are Republican."

THE FACTS: With that statement, Romney essentially corrected his repeated suggestions in early debates and speeches that he would eliminate President Barack Obama's health care law with a stroke of the pen on his first day in office — a power no president has. In one variation of the claim, he had vowed in a Sept. 7 debate that on Day One, he would sign an executive order "granting a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states." This, despite the fact that the law lays out an onerous process for letting individual states off the hook from its requirements, and that process cannot begin until 2017.

Now he acknowledges the political reality that a Republican president would need Republican control of Congress to have a strong shot at repealing the law.

As we said, there are many more. From both sides of the aisle. It has been that way and it will always be that way until you and I get tired of it being that way!Add to Technorati Favorites

Debate proves Republicans in trouble-watch Santorum

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:19:00 +0000

Obama is not going to have to worry much once the Republican candidates get finished tearing each other apart. Most stories we see being posted today are shouting about Gingrich taking the lead as a result of his confrontation of John King and resultant tirade against mainstream media. As much as we enjoyed it as entertaining T.V., for the life of us we can not understand how that rant and his resulting performance can be perceived as anything else but the calculated actions of a giant ego.

The mass media is an easy target for anybody. We know very few, including ourselves who put much stock in them. However Gingrich, being the person who led the attack on Clinton for for screwing around while Newt himself was also screwing around, we can understand why he refocused the attention onto the press. What we do not understand is how the obvious reference to his hypocrisy and the rest of his, bogus "I", "I", "I", posturing he could possibly gain traction from any reasonably intelligent electorate. Normally we would say, as long as a persons sex life doesn't involve children then keep it out of the press. But then Gingrich opened the door with his own Hypocrisy. And Newt's all to numerous hypocrisy's will enable Obama to take him apart. Despite the press meme regarding Gingrich's intelligence, we suspect if he gets his wish for Lincoln/Douglas style debates Obama will crush him. As much as much as we consider Obama a traitor we do not underestimate him. Republicans would would do well not to overestimate Gingrich.

Ron Paul we like. Though his performance last night was weak and he continues to say stuff that scares us. For instance when he said he would cut the taxes of corporations that brought jobs home. A major mistake that most republicans are making is underestimating the ability of U.S. citizens to grasp the concept that corporations are paying little if any taxes as it is. Yes we have a corporate tax rate of around 35%. We also have a tax code that enables many corporations to get away with paying zero in taxes. We ourselves have posted numerable times on that subject (see GAO says 55% American Corporations paid no income taxes in 1 out of last 7 years for example) . Ron Paul brings a needed libertarian perspective to the debates. Right or wrong he sticks to his principles (if you forgive him that little racial thing). He will not win the election.

Obama will crush Mitt Romney faster than he can crush Gingrich because for the most part there is little difference between the two. Most see it and few like it. We have absolutely no idea how he has comet this far. Wait a second, yes we do M-O-N-E-Y!

A surprise to us was Santorums performance. He was landing punches left and right on both Gingrich and Romney. In fact his performance was such we had to go back to the computer and do some more research. We ourselves are not comfortable with his hawkish foreign policy or his individual rights stands. But, unlike Gingrich or Romney we feel like we at least know where he stands. That is an achievement for any politician. Even more of an achievement, despite some irregularities, it would appear that he has bit more integrity than most politicians. He also appears to have an ability to work with both sides of the aisle.

As they did when the republicans swept into congress with Gingrich, we suspect that they have cut their own throats with this campaign. Though not a strong field of candidates to begin with, they have allowed much of the attention to go to Bachman and Perry and now to Gingrich and Romney. They pandered to those who could get the most of what they despise, i.e, the press while not giving their best aid to the ones that has a real chance, Huntsman and Santorum.

Unfortunately during this debate, time was wasted tearing each other apart and little was spent on the economy. Then again, when it comes to the economy we see no candidate Obama included, we would vote for! But the winner of this debate was not Gingrich. It was clearly Santorum!Add to Technorati Favorites

Communique from Anonymous on S.O.P.A.

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:27:00 +0000

Operation Blackout Add to Technorati Favorites

Born to ride-video

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:16:00 +0000

This ride was from three years ago. Just now converted to you tube. What can we say except thanks to Z for the pic taking/filming and riding. It's the ride!Add to Technorati Favorites

The S.O.P.A. Post by an Angry Biker!

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:32:00 +0000

WAKE UP AMERICA-The same mechanisms that keep information out of China and other countries are about to be implemented in the United Sates of America! Conversely the methods used to suppress news coming out of oppressed countries such as the recent Arab Spring can and will be implemented on our shores!

Professor Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School: “As we’ve seen, our constitutional system requires limits on copyright as a way to assure that copyright holders do not to heavily influence the development and distribution of our culture.” “Copyrights have not expired, and will not expire, so long as Congress is free to be bought to extend them again.” “In these times, the hardest task for social or political activists is to find a way to get people to wonder again about what we all believe is true. The challenge is to sow doubt.” “If the internet teaches us anything, it is that great value comes from leaving core resources in a commons, where they’re free for people to build upon as they see fit.”
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

From a Commenter on ZERO HEDGE: My cousin from the US drove up yesterday and my family had him over for supper. At the table, he told me that he would vote for anyone but Obama... His #1 concern is the economy, and would vote for anyone who would make it better. (BTW, my cousin is a well-off engineer in his 40s).

I told him that the foreign military occupations are driving up the cost of living. He disagreed, saying that the military was securing the foreign resources, which in turn provide the US with cheap resources (namely oil). I was more than happy to explain to him that the Military Industrial complex has a tremendous public cost on the American Public, but the "freed" resources are then taken by large, for-profit, Private companies.

These companies then sell the resources for a high price in order to generate tremendous profits. There is therefore an extraction wealth from the public that is funneled into a few large corporations. This means that the military is a tool used to increase the assets of corporation, and meanwhile drive up the cost of living because we are competing against the military in purchasing oil, metals, etc. I said that if the military was suddenly disbanded overnight, the price of oil, steel, copper, etc, would be decimated. My cousin agreed and said that this makes sense.

I then told him how policies and legislation would have been identical under Obama, Romney, Bush, McCain, etc, since these scumbags are all bought by the same people; and that Ron Paul is the only candidate who would shrink the military and the Federal government, and simplify the legal system, and get rid of the Income Tax, all of which would stimulate the economy and reduce the cost of living. Then I told him about the "indefinite detention of Americans" bill that was signed on December 24th while everyone was away for the holidays. My cousin was shocked because he had no idea about that and had heard nothing about it.
(Editors note: This does not mean we support Ron Paul. This comment is printed in it's entirety as we felt the commentator was making some astute observations. Think CRITICALLY)!

Then I told him that the IRS/Income Tax and the Federal Reserve bills were also signed in 1913 just before Christmas when all the senators and congress were on holidays. I could see that his mind was starting to get enlightened. Then I let him play with my new remote-controlled helicopter and he probably forgot everything.

HOW WHAT YOU THINK IS BEING MANIPULATED BY YOUR SEARCH ENGINE

MOST ALL BROWSERS TRACK YOU! As you can see by the illustrations above browsers show you only the truth that you would be most interested in seeing. It does not determine whether the information is true or not. It is only concerned with what you want to see based on what you have chosen to see? This re-enforces what you believe to be true whether it is or not! So as SOPA is the enemy, so to are you! We do not trust, and rightfully so the anonymous browsing promised by major browsers.

Try this ex: Place your browser in Anonymous mode, then Go to ScroogleScraper, search on Scrapers then come back and check your history. Clear good, sometimes it is not as you need to clear your cookies regardless. We also recommend DUCKDUCKGO!

What does Julian Assange of Wikileaks think about FACEBOOK and others?
(starts about 2 minutes in)Video! The largest spy network in the world???

Go to Wikipedia and take personal responsibility and action!

A FREE MAN IS ONE WHO HAS SUFFERED BONDAGE AND KNOWS THE DIFFERENCE-RCAdd to Technorati Favorites

Solitary Rider by Artie Hamlin, A PGR rider speaks

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:25:00 +0000

The Solitary Biker by Artie I Hamlin

The floor is cold after dragging myself out of bed just as the sun begins to peak in through the shades on my day off. No lounging around today, for there is a mission to complete, a task not pleasant, but one that must be and ought to be done. Today I say goodbye and thank you to one of our nation’s fallen heroes. Cut down in the earliest prime of his life by an enemy’s metal, an enemy that hates the very freedom that I love so dear. Such freedom that is one reason that I ride my motorcycle…closest to being a free bird that I can achieve, with constant smells, constant temperature changes, and the freedom to go east, the freedom to go west, my choice. Not today though. No time for flower sniffin’-a hero’s final rest awaits him as well as my salute and thank you.

Grabbing a light breakfast for the road—I don’t want to get sleepy from being stuffed. Today is a day toroll on, racking-up mile after mile as my meeting with another’s destiny awaits. A hot shower that erases the last vestiges of sleep from my body, and then the process of dragging 50lbs of cowhide out of the closet. Many think we wear the leathers to look “Billy-bad ass” but those of us in the know of the inner circles truth, know it is to protect from the asphalt in case of mine or someone else’s misjudgment, or more importantly today, to keep the chilling wind away from biting my body, robbing me of comfort, of the karma of riding, and of my very strength to ride. Layer after layer of wool and cotton go on before the leather, quietly and deliberately, as I consider the events of the day that will unfold before me, as they have a thousand times before. The flag draped casket. The color guard with exquisitely shined brass festoonments and spit-shined shoes all moving as one person with deliberate slowness, a type of professional tenderness of respect and extreme care as they handle the casket with their fallen comrade inside.

The zippers of the chaps begin to slide downward as the leather encases my legs, as it has a thousand times before. I’m doing this all on autopilot as I continue to consider the events of the coming day. The firing of the triple volley of three shots each, each one penetrating my soul to its very depths as they are fired one volley after another. The haunting playing of taps by the bugler, not nearby, but not distant either, letting all around know that this warrior for freedom is now at his place of final rest, that this fighter’s battles are finally done.

I grab for my vest, covered in patches and pins of trips recent and long ago. One of my most prized possessions; it is somewhat a roadmap of my adult life’s travels and travails. Fingers snapping chains on each side of the vest as once again my mind wanders and begins to ponder the events of the coming day. The thoughts of the flag being perfectly folded after being lifted from our hero’s sarcophagus. My heart is heavier now as I grab for helmet, keys and shades.

I open the barely warm garage and am struck by the brightness of the winter sun, seemingly to give warmth but failing as the winter’s chill hits my face all the while sobering me up to the somberness of the mission ahead. Rolling out of the drive, and roaring up the street, my neighbors are still snug in their beds, many having given little thought to such events as I am to witness. Many not even personally knowing a soldier, many not even ever having said “thank you for your service” to any of those that stand the line and defend freedom. Behind the bike there are two flags unfurled in the breeze. One the symbol of mine and my fellow Patriot Guard Riders, the group that demands and ensures that our heroes be treated with the respect that they have so freely earned, all today by personal choice. The other, is known by many names, the Star Spangled banner, Old Glory, the Red White and Blue, but I see it as flying proudly as the bloodstained representative of freedom and democracy, a symbol to be revered around the world and throughout history. A symbol of the bloody cost of freedom.

I’ve got to stop for gas and roll into the first pumps available, pipes echoing off the cheap metal convenience store building and awning, announcing my presence and mission. Eyes stare and avert away as I pump gas. Fathers pull their children closer; ladies clutch their purses just a little tighter as the man in black leather strolls into the store to garner hydration for the trip. They have no idea what awaits me in the day, nor the price that has been paid that I go to honor. As I swing my leg back over the chrome, leather, and steel horse of mine, I spy Old Glory hanging proudly from the bike and I once again slip into the thoughts of the day to come. Thinking back to the flag being lifted from the casket, smartly and deliberately folded by the honor guard with two folds horizontally lengthwise, and 11 more in triangle fashion, for a total of thirteen. The tightly folded flag is then presented to and inspected by the ranking member of the honor guard, who then expresses the thanks of a grateful nation as he presents it to the young quietly sobbing widow who clutches it as much as if she was clutching her fallen soul mate. My soul screams “NO!” in protest of her pain and loss as I slam the bike into gear and angrily grab a fist of enraged throttle.

Rolling through town now, pipes echoing off of merchant’s stores on both sides of the black ribbon I travel down; merchants and shopkeepers who everyday live the very democracy our hero has died to defend. No government telling them how much to sell their wares for, no government store competing against them, just themselves and their common sense and the full freedom to exercise such. Soon buildings give way to countryside, with barren trees, gently sloping hills, and wide radius curves. The sun is higher in the sky now and the black leather absorbs its’ warmth. In contrast, each dip into the shade of the trees on the road is a wide range of temperatures, both keeping me alert and awake with the aliveness of the moment. Alive. Your fallen hero isn’t alive any more is he? My thoughts return to the task ahead, to the hero’s family that will thank me for being there. Thank me? Thank me for what? All I did was ride a motorcycle here. It was you that gave your child to the price of freedom. It was you who are now hugging me as we both shed tears over such a loss, and shed tears over such a man’s free choice to defend democracy and give his life for it. It was you, his parents, who instilled in him as a child and boy-man the beauty of freedom, the meanings of the Bill of Rights, the perfect union of thoughts and actions written in the Declarations of Independence. Thank ME? For what? No sir, I thank YOU for the sacrifice of your son, of your daddy, of your husband, of your brother, of your friend.

The bike rumbles on as I get into that perfect seating position. That perfect settling in to the pure oneness of man and machine. That totally peaceful world of karma where I am so totally aware of everything around me, of any threats near my two wheeled steed; yet able to be deep in thought and contemplation within myself. As the miles roll on, I contemplate my friend RC’s blog, Big Bend Bikers for Freedom, and how he has been one of the few screaming from the lonely mountaintop of sanity of how our freedoms are being eroded. An erosion that seems to be deliberate, systematic, and done so slickly that the asleep American people are unaware. The blog of Freedom. I wonder how he can write and research day after day, hour after hour sometimes, all with no pay, and then it occurs to me that my brother has stood by my side time and time again as we honor our fallen heroes. He has ridden side by side with me as we guide them to their final resting place through a world too busy to care and resentful of the interruption of their selfish lives. He screams about the loss of Freedoms because like myself he has stood and paid homage to its’ great cost. We’ve seen the price and sometimes when seeing the suffering and grief of the families, the price seems too high, but I can take great assurance that those that paid the ultimate sacrifice for Freedom did not think so. As my friend Poppa Joe reminded me, “they volunteered”.

St John 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ( King James version as spoken by Jesus Christ)

Prologue: There are few things I love as much as riding a motorcycle. I also love my country and what she has done for me. It is my absolute joy to be able to combine the two loves through an organization such as Patriot Guard Riders. I was one of the first 900 at the very beginning when it went nationwide and have been proud of being of service through them ever since. As of yesterday (Sunday 1-15-2012) we were 255,000 strong. God Bless America.

Artie I. HamlinAdd to Technorati Favorites

ABATE of FLorida latest stiffer penalties bill-be vigilant

noreply@blogger.com (aka rc) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Following below is the latest ABATE of Florida submitted stiffer penalties bill. Which in it's present form is a rewritten version we wrote a few years back. Which we handed (with witnesses) to Senator Evers, who it would appear, passed on to ABATE of Florida (since unlike ANATE of FLorida we do not kiss the ass of politicians). No matter, we just like to keep history straight.

There are a couple of risks with this bill as filed. First the Advanced driver training school are nothing more than what anyone who receives a ticket has an option to take in order to keep points off their license, thus save on insurance.

Second, if ABATE, as they have been known to do in the past, compromises away the jail wording of the bill (which will receive much opposition from the legislature) then what you end up with is, NOTHING!
Read the Bill

Florida Senate - 2012 SB 1754 By Senator Evers 2-00366A-12 20121754__ Page 1 of 2 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

A bill to be entitled 1

An act relating to traffic offenses; creating s. 2 318.195, F.S.; providing criminal penalties for a 3 person who commits a moving violation that causes 4 serious bodily injury to, or causes or contributes to 5 the death of, a pedestrian or a person operating or 6 riding in a motor vehicle or operating or riding on a 7 motorcycle or bicycle; requiring that the person pay a 8 specified fine, serve a minimum period of 9 incarceration, and attend a driver improvement course; 10 requiring that the court revoke the person’s driver 11 license for a minimum specified period; providing that 12 the act does not prohibit the person from being 13 charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other 14 violation of law; providing an effective date. 15

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 17

Section 1. Section 318.195, Florida Statutes, is created to 19 read: 20

318.195 Enhanced penalties for moving violations causing 21 injury or death.— 22

(1) A person who commits a moving violation that causes 23 serious bodily injury, as defined in s. 316.1933, to a 24 pedestrian or to a person operating or riding in a motor vehicle 25 or operating or riding on a motorcycle or bicycle commits a 26 misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 27 775.082 or s. 775.083, and, upon conviction, shall pay a fine of 28 not less than $500, serve a minimum of 30 days of incarceration, 29 Florida Senate - 2012 SB 1754 2-00366A-12 20121754__ Page 2 of 2 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

and attend a driver improvement course. The court shall also 30 revoke the person’s driver license for at least 30 days. 31

(2) A person who commits a moving violation that causes or 32 contributes to the death of a pedestrian or a person operating 33 or riding in a motor vehicle or operating or riding on a 34 motorcycle or bicycle commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, 35 punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, and, upon 36 conviction, shall pay a fine of not less than $1,000, serve a 37 minimum of 90 days of incarceration, and, in lieu of the 38 requirements of s. 322.0261, attend an advanced driver 39 improvement course. The court shall also revoke the person’s 40 driver license for at least 1 year. 41

(3) This section does not prohibit a person from being 42 charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation 43 of law. 44

Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.

We could tentatively support this bill support his bill if the jail wording sticks. We would like to see wording added that requires the victims survivors be compensated for their loss.

We advise all MC groups in Florida become familiar with and vigilant regarding this bill. Past history of ABATE of Florida and Bill activities have proven they can not be truste.Add to Technorati Favorites