Katrina Fraud

Here's a recent headline and their synopsis of the story:

Katrina-related fraud widespread
At last count, there were at least 785 criminal fraud cases under investigation by the Hurricane Katrina Task Force, a joint effort of 19 federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Service, the Defense Department and even the Environmental Protection Agency. State prosecutors in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are similarly swamped. And scores more cases wait in the wings.

Hmm... Are any of those "scores" of cases to be investigated to include the rampant disregard for human life that the Mayor of New Orleans, Mr. Nagin (or should I say "Mr. Chocolate New Orleans"?), the governor of Louisiana Mrs. Blanco showed when they did not institute their disaster plans??? Even after they'd been warned by the very same federal agency they later decried as "not doing their jobs" that they should do so??

Probably not. Why?

Because it would be politically-incorrect to do so. After all, Mr. Nagin is an African-American and Mrs. Blanco is a woman. Neither of them can take any blame since they are blameless "minorities" who are under the oppression of the only people who can be blamed for anything: white folk.

That's my take on it, anyway. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong.

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Liberty Today

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You Have The Right To Jail Without Due Process...

The ruling by a U.S. federal judge that the National Security Agency's secret wiretapping program is unconstitutional strikes a small note of hope in what is otherwise a shameful time for American justice.

Government lawyers are proposing that U.S. citizens can be detained and then tried in secret trials - in absentia, in some cases - using secret evidence that the accused cannot see. If evidence is obtained by coercion, government lawyers contend that it should still be allowed as a basis for conviction, thus rejecting almost 300 years of Anglo-American jurisprudence.

Almost 50 years ago, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that the "insistence upon putting the government to the task of proving guilt by means other than inquisition was engendered by historical abuses which are quite familiar." Unfortunately, these abuses are not familiar to the government lawyers who have circulated a draft of proposals that would have caused no notice in Nazi Germany or in the Soviet Union but that have never before been put forth in America.

The proposals provide that persons may be arrested and held indefinitely. There need be no sentence. No other civilized country permits such procedures. The United States has never before conceived of using them, neither during the two world wars nor during the Korean or Vietnam wars.

Read the rest here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/18/opinion/edsokol.php

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Total Protection...Except for Bras...

By LISA HOFFMAN
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_9376.shtml - read entire article

Don't try to bring a tiny tube of lip-moisturizing gel on board an airliner these days, or wear thin gel inserts to make your shoes more comfortable. And leave your cold and cough gel-caps at home.

But, ladies and cross-dressing gents, no one will check if you wear your gel-filled bras right onto the plane.

Despite the fact that these hugely popular undergarments are owned by millions worldwide, and have the capacity to carry enough liquid or gel explosives to make a terrorist smile, the Transportation Security Administration has not included them on the new list of items forbidden from carry-on baggage.

But asked about the tens of millions of women who wear silicone-gel and even plain water sacks in their bras to enhance their curves, Kayser [TSA spokesman] said he was not aware of the wide popularity of that fashion trend.

These are the people "protecting" us..

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DEA Snake Oil

by Jacob G. Hornberger, August 18, 2006

Don’t ever suggest that federal bureaucrats are not smart. Take, for instance, the DEA, the federal agency that has the responsibility of waging the war on drugs, a war that has obviously failed to achieve its objective after 30 years of warfare, not to mention all the collateral violence that the drug war has spawned.

Amidst growing discussion and debate in the mainstream media on the libertarian idea of ending the war on drugs by legalizing drugs, guess what the DEA is using as a way to distract people’s attention away from that solution.

Yes, you guessed it! The DEA is employing the magic word, the word that gets everyone’s knees a-knockin’ — the word that causes them to pull the duct tape out and start sealing their windows — the word that induces them to beg the government to “temporarily” take away their freedoms.

Yes, the DEA is saying that the drug war is necessary because of ... (drum roll) ... terrorism!

Much like the snake-oil salesmen of old, the DEA is touring the country with a traveling exhibit in which a post–9/11 President Bush waving a flag is juxtaposed with an African-American woman lying in bed next to her baby as she smokes crack cocaine. There are also photos of the noted terrorist Osama bin Laden on the walls of the exhibit alongside noted drug dealer Pablo Escobar.

The irony of all this is that to the extent that there are terrorists financing the operations through drug sales, it’s a direct result of the exorbitant profits that the drug war produces, which would disintegrate with legalization. Thus, what the DEA officials fail to realize (or not) is that it is their own war that provides the monies to finance the terrorists. It’s just another perverse result of another perverse federal program.

According to the Washington Post, the exhibit claims that heroin sales supported the Taliban, while conveniently omitting not only that the Taliban regime opposed heroin production but also that heroin production has soared in the wake of the U.S. government’s invasion of Afghanistan to fight terrorism.

Of course, the sad part about this is that many Americans will walk through the exhibit and never figure any of this out. They’ll see the photos of 9/11, Osama, Escobar, and drug deals and quickly draw the conclusion that the DEA wants them to reach: “Drugs and terrorism go together. Please keep going with the 30-year war on drugs and the perpetual war on terrorism to protect us from both the drug dealers and the terrorists.” It will never occur to some people that it is the U.S. government’s own policies — the drug war and an interventionist foreign policy — that have engendered both the drug lords and the terrorist blowback against the United States.

As people fall for the obviously deceptive propaganda, the DEA bureaucrats will cheer because they’ll get to keep their budgets, jobs, and salaries as the drug war continues. The drug lords will cheer as well, for the same reason.

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