Today is a Texas Holiday and a day remembered for a birth.

It is Confederate Hero's Day and the birth of General Robert E. Lee. Of course, this is no coincidence.

More can be found here on the former, and here on the latter.

Neither events are touted today by many people, and most are happy to have the Martin Luther King, Jr. paid vacation. Of course, no mention was made that January 17^th, 2008 was the two-hundred and second birthday of one of our Founding Fathers- Benjamin Franklin.

No, we honor Michael King, who I will add, is the only person in united States history to have a day named entirely for himself, as a great paragon of virtue whom we should emulate and our children are taught that he was a saint- well, I won't, and neither should you.

WP

The Recession that Never Was

"Over the past few weeks, there have been dozens of forecasts in the newspapers about the possibility of a coming recession. In most of these, the forecasters have not been identified as anything more than “economic experts,” etc. What is going on is just a public relation campaign to convince the public that something bad will happen if we do not print money at a faster and faster rate. Usually no evidence is cited, just “experts say.” Sometimes there is an incredibly ignorant use of statistics whereby data which will be revised away in a few months is cited as authoritative. For example, the preliminary employment report for August ’07 showed a drop of 4,000. This was widely cited as evidence that the economy was heading for recession. Then the number was revised and is currently listed as an increase of 93,000 (very close to average for the year). No apology from the recession mongers. These people pretend to be scientists attempting to predict a recession, but in fact they are public relation shills, working for the bankers, and trying to convince the media to support a central bank policy of easy money and credit."

Do not forget your alchemy lessons...

WP

Every Breath Bernanke Takes

I wish he had urged that the monstrosity known as the FED should be dissolved and these United States no longer had the Third Bank of America- nevertheless, I enjoyed this video just the same...

WP

No-Neck asks: "have you gone over the edge?"

NN,

No, and it seems that because the clip used both of them in delivering the message about the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, that makes the message untrue, invalid and lacking substance- at least for you.

As for it being nothing to fear or even have concern with- pay close attention to the following:

1. Go to the SPLC and see how things that you hold honorable and true are designated. Now, you may say it is just the SPLC, and you are right, but then look at what the history of the SPLC and who it influences.

2. Before any such law was even passed and done at a STATE level, an eleven (11) year old boy was taken from his home just last week by a SWAT team ramming down their door and holding EVERYONE at gunpoint. Why you may ask, because he had been knocked down, had a bruise, and the parents did not let the paramedics, which they did not call, take the boy to the hospital. The Mother, when requesting to make a phone call was denied, and then her eighteen (18) year old daughter asked if that was not one of their rights, and then a member of the SWAT team responded: "That's only in the movies."

3. Do you have ANY memory at all? As the reason I ask is just EXACTLY whom did CLINTON blame immediately after OKC? You say you have forgotten? The answer is NRA, gun owners, and talk radio. What happens when that lying bastard's wife or even any of the Repuglicrats (and no- Ron Paul is a REPUBLICAN) sits in the Oval Office?

Just understand this- the bill DOES NOT specifically state or define what or whom an extremist/extremist belief system is and that makes it entirely up to the interpreter, interpretation and/or designation of the feral government.

One question I have to ask you- how are your times in the hundred-yard dash?

WP

"Remember, kids -- pay your wiretap bills on time."

This came in via the Liberty Round Table Discussion Group:

FBI Wiretaps Dropped Due to Unpaid Bills
Jan 10, 12:27 PM (ET)

By LARA JAKES JORDAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

"We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence," according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

The FBI did not have an immediate comment.

The report released Thursday was a highly edited version of Fine's 87-page audit that the FBI deemed too sensitive to be viewed publicly. It focused on what the FBI admitted was an "antiquated" system to track money sent to its 56 field offices nationwide for undercover work. Generally, the money pays for rental cars, leases and surveillance, the audit noted.

It also found that some field offices paid for expenses on undercover cases that should have been financed by FBI headquarters. Out of 130 undercover payments examined, auditors found 14 cases of at least $6,000 each where field offices dipped into their own budgets to pay for work that should have been picked up by headquarters.

The faulty bookkeeping was blamed, in large part, in the case of an FBI agent who pleaded guilty in June 2006 to stealing $25,000 for her own use, the audit noted.

Hit the title for the last parts of the article before it vanishes, just like the rest of our monies mentioned above...

WP

Happy New Year

WP

Remember, remember this 5th of November

Go and donate as much as you can.

WP

Thank You General Tibbits

Brigadier General Paul Tibbits- RIP February 23, 1915 – November 1, 2007

WP

Schneier on Security: The War on the Unexpected

November 01, 2007
The War on the Unexpected

We've opened up a new front on the war on terror. It's an attack on the unique, the unorthodox, the unexpected; it's a war on different. If you act different, you might find yourself investigated, questioned, and even arrested -- even if you did nothing wrong, and had no intention of doing anything wrong. The problem is a combination of citizen informants and a CYA attitude among police that results in a knee-jerk escalation of reported threats.

This isn't the way counterterrorism is supposed to work, but it's happening everywhere. It's a result of our relentless campaign to convince ordinary citizens that they're the front line of terrorism defense. "If you see something, say something" is how the ads read in the New York City subways. "If you suspect something, report it" urges another ad campaign in Manchester, UK. The Michigan State Police have a seven-minute video. Administration officials from then-attorney general John Ashcroft to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to President Bush have asked us all to report any suspicious activity.

Every link in his post should be accessed and read.

WP

An End To Rule By Kings

WP