◼ What is most important to understand about the revelations of massive message interception by the U.S. government is this: in counterterrorist terms, it is a farce. - Barry Rubin/PJMedia
There is a fallacy behind the current intelligence strategy of the United States, behind this collection of up to three billion phone calls a day, of emails, and even of credit card expenditures, not to mention the government spying on the mass media. It is this:
The more quantity of intelligence, the better it is for preventing terrorism.
In the real, practical world this is untrue, though it might seem counterintuitive. You don’t need — to put it in an exaggerated way — an atomic bomb against a flea.
Isn’t it absurd that the United States — which can’t finish a simple border fence to keep out potential terrorists; can’t stop a would-be terrorist in the U.S. Army who gives a PowerPoint presentation on why he is about to shoot people (Major Nidal Hasan); can’t follow up on Russian intelligence warnings about Chechen terrorist contacts (the Boston bombing); or a dozen similar incidents — must now collect every telephone call in the country?
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW:
John Fund coming to Humboldt
John Fund coming to Humboldt
Featuring Author/Fox News commentator JOHN FUND
and REX BOHN, Auctioneer at the Blue Lake Casino
6:00 p.m. No-Host Cocktails
7:00 p.m. Tri-tip Dinner
8:00 p.m. Speaker: John Fund
8:30 p.m. Auction with Rex Bohn
At Blue Lake Casino’s Sapphire Room
Tickets: $45 per person.
To purchase tickets online through HGOP's secure server (Piryx) ◼ CLICK HERE
We will have your tickets at the door.
MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS TODAY
Call Republican Headquarters,442-2259
or go to ◼ www.humboldtgop.org
◼ (Jul 21, 2008) Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy
◼ (Nov 24, 2009) How the Obama Administration Threatens to Undermine Our Elections (Encounter Broadsides)
◼ (Aug 14, 2012) Who's Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk
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FUNDRAISERS,
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Humboldt GOP,
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Shakedowns
◼ By introducing bills threatening taxes on interests that can afford to defend themselves, and then tabling the measures for reconsideration next year, members of the majority party have another 12 months to run their highly profitable shakedown racket, pressing politically vulnerable industries for campaign contributions. - Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
These business interests get the message and they pay. Back in 2009, when then-Gov. Schwarzenegger was promoting his Proposition 1A, a $16 billion tax increase on regular folks, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce admitted that it was important to support the governor’s measure, because the alternative would likely be higher taxes on business.
Those who look at compliant business interests as the problem, would only be part right. California continues to be rated as one of the worst states in the nation to do business. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has released its annual economic rankings of all U.S. states, and California ranks 47th for economic outlook and CEO Magazine has rated California as the worst state to do business for eight years in a row. California businesses are struggling under high taxes and suffocating regulations.
Interestingly, the reaction among various businesses and industries to the shakedowns is not uniform. Some are more than happy to play the game as a cost of doing business and, besides, it gets them into some pretty fancy parties. Other quietly seethe as they reluctantly write the checks because they know how wrong it is. Either way, businesses have adopted a “go along to get along” approach in a desperate effort to survive.
But in the end, to see who is really responsible for our pay-for-play culture in the state capitol, we voters must look in the mirror. As long as we continue to elect ego-driven, money-grasping politicians who put themselves above the interests of average Californians, we will continue to suffer under dysfunctional governance.
__________________ ◼ Top 50 California Conservatives On Twitter
These business interests get the message and they pay. Back in 2009, when then-Gov. Schwarzenegger was promoting his Proposition 1A, a $16 billion tax increase on regular folks, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce admitted that it was important to support the governor’s measure, because the alternative would likely be higher taxes on business.
Those who look at compliant business interests as the problem, would only be part right. California continues to be rated as one of the worst states in the nation to do business. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has released its annual economic rankings of all U.S. states, and California ranks 47th for economic outlook and CEO Magazine has rated California as the worst state to do business for eight years in a row. California businesses are struggling under high taxes and suffocating regulations.
Interestingly, the reaction among various businesses and industries to the shakedowns is not uniform. Some are more than happy to play the game as a cost of doing business and, besides, it gets them into some pretty fancy parties. Other quietly seethe as they reluctantly write the checks because they know how wrong it is. Either way, businesses have adopted a “go along to get along” approach in a desperate effort to survive.
But in the end, to see who is really responsible for our pay-for-play culture in the state capitol, we voters must look in the mirror. As long as we continue to elect ego-driven, money-grasping politicians who put themselves above the interests of average Californians, we will continue to suffer under dysfunctional governance.
Labels:
Business,
California,
California Legislation,
Regulation,
Taxes
Scandal number five (Six? Seven?): Insider-trading probe of Medicare announcement reveals hundreds of HHS employees had secret info
◼ Is this scandal number five or number six? There’s Benghazi, the IRS, the DOJ snooping on reporters, Sebelius shaking down health executives for ObamaCare contributions, and now the NSA/PRISM/Snowden mega-clusterfark. This new WaPo story makes six. No, wait — seven. - HotAir
Ed just posted on the State Department covering up misconduct. We’re going to need a bigger boat.
Actually, there are two potential scandals here. One is HHS tossing around what was supposed to be sensitive information to a huge swath of employees in-house. The other scandal is who actually leaked it, assuming anyone did. It might not have come from HHS at all but rather from some old-fashioned Beltway congressional/lobbyist incest. As with most of the other Obama scandals, this story is less about O himself than about the foreseeable abuses that result as the federal whale grows. You can have bigger government or you can have more accountable government. The guy who signed ObamaCare into law has made his choice.
Ed just posted on the State Department covering up misconduct. We’re going to need a bigger boat.
Actually, there are two potential scandals here. One is HHS tossing around what was supposed to be sensitive information to a huge swath of employees in-house. The other scandal is who actually leaked it, assuming anyone did. It might not have come from HHS at all but rather from some old-fashioned Beltway congressional/lobbyist incest. As with most of the other Obama scandals, this story is less about O himself than about the foreseeable abuses that result as the federal whale grows. You can have bigger government or you can have more accountable government. The guy who signed ObamaCare into law has made his choice.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) told The Washington Post late last week that his office reviewed the e-mail records of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services and found that 436 of them had early access to the Medicare decision as much as two weeks before it was made public…
“In the statistical agencies, where the handling of sensitive information is their bread and butter, they’re very serious about confidentiality,” said Keith Hall, a former commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics who has spent more than two decades in government. “But in other parts of the government that handle policy issues, there’s a whole different level of treatment.”
Hall said employees in other parts of the government, including the Medicare office, are not subject to the same types of potential consequences as employees at statistical agencies, who can land in prison for up to five years and face a fine of a quarter of a million dollars for disclosing information early.
Giving hundreds of government employees advance notice of a policy decision “is way too many,” said Hall, now a senior fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. “I’ve done my share of working on policy issues and policy decisions, and you just don’t spread that stuff around like that.”
Labels:
HHS,
Insider-Trading,
Leaks,
Medicare,
Obama Administration,
Obamacare,
Scandals
Glenn Beck, Michael Moore call NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a hero
◼ Conservative radio commentator Glenn Beck and liberal Hollywood movie-maker Michael Moore have found common ground on the National Security Agency whistleblower, Edward Snowden: He’s a hero. - Cheryl K. Chumley/Washington Times
◼ Ron Paul: We should be thankful for people like Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald - HotAir
I think I have just read about the man for which I have waited.Earmarks of a real hero. guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun…
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) June 9, 2013
The NSA patriot leaker is just yet another chance for America to regain her moral compass and set things right. No red or blue JUST TRUTH
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) June 9, 2013
HERO OF THE YEAR: #EdwardSnowden NSA tech assistant reveals he is the source of stories on U.S. Gov't domestic spying mmflint.me/11P4jva
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) June 9, 2013
From the Washington Post: "Has the U..S become the type of nation from which you have to seek asylum?" mmflint.me/13riAAW
— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) June 10, 2013
◼ Ron Paul: We should be thankful for people like Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald - HotAir
Labels:
Bipartisan,
datamining,
Edward Snowden,
Glenn Beck,
Investigations,
Michael Moore,
NSA,
phonetapping,
Privacy,
Scandals,
Spying
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