Loudernet

6:00 am February 22, 2010, by Bob Barr

Americans own nearly 300 million cell phones. These ubiquitous electronic devices are used billions of times every day to make phone calls, place orders, locate destinations, pay bills, text messages, read emails, and browse the web. In a single generation, phone books, road maps, and pay phones have been rendered virtually extinct.

Recognizing the treasure trove of information that can be revealed by or retrieved from these devices, the federal government now wants to use our cell phones and other personal communication devices for something quite different from the purposes for which we purchase and employ these now-essential tools.

In arguments earlier this month before a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, lawyers for President Barack Obama made the case that the government should be able to easily track the location of cell phone users without first securing a warrant. In making this argument, the Obama Administration mimics the position taken by its predecessor.

The government’s reasoning rests largely on two pillars — one legal, the other practical — but both of which ought to be rejected by the court.

via Big Brother wants to track cell phones | The Barr Code.

Karl Rove Chased Out of UCSB 2/25/10

via YouTube – Karl Rove Chased Out of UCSB 2/25/10.

The “An American Expat in Southeast Asia” blog reports that Obama’s Indonesian schooling began when he was entered into the Roman Catholic, Franciscus Assisi Primary School on January 1, 1968 and sat in class 1B. He was registered under the name Barry Soetoro, serial number 203. School documents listed Barry Soetoro as an Indonesian citizen and his religion was listed as Islam. He will spend three years at Franciscus.

via Why did Barry Soetoro change his name to Barack Hussein Obama? – Yahoo! Answers.

The Student Mascot Committee at the University of Mississippi is Hosting Vote for New Mascot

Admiral Ackbar Ole Miss’s new school mascot? The students at Ole Miss are close to voting for Admiral Ackbar to be the school mascot going forward. There is a huge student movement taking place to push Ackbar into the starring role at the school, and it may soon become a reality. With

Admiral Ackbar as Ole Miss Mascot? If Enough Students Vote for It

the school trying to update their image for the 21st century, the University of Mississippi gave the student mascot committee at the school the chance to come up with a new mascot for Ole Miss. They decided to take it to a campus vote, and suddenly the most supported new mascot has become Admiral Ackbar from the Star Wars books and films.

The choice may only seem odd to people who aren’t students at Ole Miss because apparently there is a huge groundswell to make the Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance fleet their chosen mascot. There are a couple of questions that come to mind with the support that Ackbar is receiving from students, beginning with the obvious one of whether George Lucas would actually allow this to take place. Even if the students all vote to put in Ackbar as the new mascot, they are still going to need to get the approval of George Lucas if they want to really make him a focal point of the sporting teams. The second question if of course whether the alums will boycott this student decision.

via Admiral Ackbar as Ole Miss Mascot? If Enough Students Vote for It – Associated Content – associatedcontent.com.

The real difference between Toyota and Big Pharma is that Toyota is trying to build safe cars while Big Pharma has no intention to do anything other than sell more drugs no matter how dangerous they are. In fact, Big Pharma goes out of its way to actually falsify evidence that attempts to turn dangerous chemicals into “scientifically proven safe drugs.” It even invents fake diseases and then markets those to the public (”disease mongering”) in order to sell more drugs that people don’t even need!

via Toyota’s consumer safety problems are dwarfed by body count of Big Pharma’s deadly drugs.

By Jennifer Harper INSIDE THE BELTWAY

EXPLOSIVE NEWS

A lingering technical question about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks still haunts some, and it has political implications: How did 200,000 tons of steel disintegrate and drop in 11 seconds? A thousand architects and engineers want to know, and are calling on Congress to order a new investigation into the destruction of the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade Center.

“In order to bring down this kind of mass in such a short period of time, the material must have been artificially, exploded outwards,” says Richard Gage, a San Francisco architect and founder of the nonprofit Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

Mr. Gage, who is a member of the American Institute of Architects, managed to persuade more than 1,000 of his peers to sign a new petition requesting a formal inquiry.

“The official Federal Emergency Management [Agency] and National Institute of Standards and Technology reports provide insufficient, contradictory and fraudulent accounts of the circumstances of the towers’ destruction. We are therefore calling for a grand jury investigation of NIST officials,” Mr. Gage adds.

The technical issues surrounding the collapse of the towers has prompted years of debate, rebuttal and ridicule.

He is particularly disturbed by Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper, which was not hit by an aircraft, yet came down in “pure free-fall acceleration.” He also says that more than 100 first-responders reported explosions and flashes as the towers were falling and cited evidence of “multi-ton steel sections ejected laterally 600 ft. at 60 mph” and the “mid-air pulverization of 90,000 tons of concrete & metal decking.”

via Inside the Beltway – Washington Times.

Chicago airport to get full-body scanners

February 23, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — One of Chicago’s airports will soon have full-body scanners as part of security measures.

Body-scanners will be installed in airports in Chicago and Boston over the next two weeks, according to a Homeland Security Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The rest of the 150 new machines will be installed before June.

The body-scanners were purchased as part of the stimulus plan announced by President Barack Obama in February 2009.

The Obama administration said the scanners will improve airport security and the president said more should be purchased after the botched terror attack on a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day.

via Chicago airport to get full-body scanners – 2/23/10 – Chicago News – abc7chicago.com.

In his prepared remarks, Barofsky writes: “Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, the Federal Government, through many agencies, has implemented dozens of programs that are broadly designed to support the economy and financial system. The total potential Federal Government support could reach up to $23.7 trillion.”

The comment comes in the context of a quarterly report to Congress by the special inspector general. Barofsky will testify Tuesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The office of the special inspector general was created to serve as an auditor of the federal bailout by the same legislation that launched the TARP program itself.

Originally, TARP was intended, Barofsky writes, to facilitate “the purchase, management, and sale of up to $700 billion of “toxic” assets, primarily troubled mortgages and mortgage-backed securities.”

But that plan was soon rejected, and the TARP instead became a grab bag of bailout initiatives, including bailouts for GM, Chrysler and auto parts suppliers as the federal government struggled in real time to contain a spiraling economic disaster.

Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion – Eamon Javers – POLITICO.com.

“Unequivocal.” That’s quite a claim in this skeptical era, so it’s been enlightening to watch the unraveling of the absolute certainty of global warming caused by man.

Now even authors of the 2007 United Nations report that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” have backed off its key assumptions and dire warnings.

Science is having its Walter Cronkite moment. Back when news in America was delivered by just three television networks, Walter Cronkite could end his evening broadcast by declaring, “And that’s the way it is.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC report likewise purported to proclaim the final word, in 3,000 pages that now turn out to be less scientific truth than political cover for sweeping economic regulations.

Equivocation has replaced “unequivocal” even among some of the scientists whose “Climategate” emails discussed how to suppress dissenting views via peer review and avoid complying with freedom-of-information requests for data.

via Climate Change and Open Science – WSJ.com.

WASHINGTON — Americans who turn to terrorism and plot against the U.S. are now as big a concern as international terrorists, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday.

via Homeland chief: Domestic extremism is top concern – washingtonpost.com.