statism

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano resigning to lead Univ. of California

"Reports on Friday revealed that an administration official said Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will resign, according to reports from Reuters, the New York Times and the Associated Press. The AP reported that Napolitano is leaving to take a senior position in the University of California system and told senior staff about her departure at a meeting Friday morning. CNN confirmed that Napolitano will take over as president of the UC system. According to Foreign Policy magazine, Napolitano’s resignation means that now the top 15 posts at the Department of Homeland Security are now vacant." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHomeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano resigning to lead Univ. of California

Feds Shake Down Farmer For Free Raisins

"Marvin Horne, 68, stopped giving the government his raisins in 2002 and now 'owes the U.S. government at least $650,000 in unpaid fines,' in addition to '1.2 million pounds of unpaid raisins, roughly equal to his entire harvest for four years.' Horne violated Marketing Order 989, passed during the Truman administration, 'a federal regulation meant to solve a problem from the era after World War II, which created the national raisin reserve. The program gives the U.S. government a heavy-handed power to interfere with the supply and demand for dried grapes' and takes 'away a percentage of every farmer’s raisins' without paying for them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds Shake Down Farmer For Free Raisins

Smuggled Gold worth $5 billion to hit India this year

"India's efforts to curb gold imports are backfiring as the country already started to suffer from illegal gold transactions. Reports said old style gold smuggling is back in the country as series of restrictions by the government makes it difficult for the importers to buy from abroad while smugglers are offering much lower prices. Analysts said smuggling became a lucrative affair after the rise in customs duty on gold imports and people risking their necks to smuggle in gold. They added that smugglers got an opportunity after being sidelined for nearly 15 years due to liberalized policies of the government on gold imports." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSmuggled Gold worth $5 billion to hit India this year

EPA sues Oklahoma utility for failing to estimate emissions that did not occur

"The EPA claims that OG&E failed to estimate emissions that did not occur. They are suing OG&E in an effort to force the company 'to assess whether its projects were likely to result in a significant [GHG] emissions increase.' The EPA had no authority to regulate GHG emissions when the work was done (2003 & 2006). The work (on boilers and turbine blade replacements) caused no emissions increase." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEPA sues Oklahoma utility for failing to estimate emissions that did not occur

The Shoes Keep on Dropping… What Next?

"All branches of the Federal Government have been complicit in the warrantless surveillance of U.S. residents since before World War II when FDR authorized wiretaps of individuals suspected of Nazi sympathies. With the passage of the National Security Act in 1952 and the establishment of the National Security Council, it became standard government practice. Only the rudimentary technology of the time limited its scope. Fear – now of terrorism and whatever other apprehension the government, particularly the executive, can stir up — continues as the principal determinant of 21st century government surveillance of its citizens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Shoes Keep on Dropping… What Next?

Man Has Home Ransacked by Police for Paying Cash

"It all started one Saturday morning when Jarl Syvertsen, a 59-year-old disabled Norwegian man, purchased a PC, TVs, and washing machines for 80,000 kroner which he paid in cash. On Sunday a male and a female police officer appeared on Mr Syvertsen’s doorstep. The police were there with a warrant to search his home, charging that the cash he had spent was money that 'came from a criminal offense.' In fact, the money was actually part of an approximately one-million dollar advance on an inheritance he had received. The police would have none of it and proceeded to invade his home and his privacy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan Has Home Ransacked by Police for Paying Cash

A brand-new $34 million U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. And nobody to use it.

"The U.S. military has erected a 64,000-square-foot headquarters building on the dusty moonscape of southwestern Afghanistan that comes with all the tools to wage a modern war. A vast operations center with tiered seating. A briefing theater. Spacious offices. Fancy chairs. Powerful air conditioning. Everything, that is, except troops. The windowless, two-story structure, which is larger than a football field, was completed this year at a cost of $34 million. As American troops pack up to return home, U.S.-funded contractors are placing the finishing touches on projects that are no longer required or pulling the plug after investing millions of dollars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA brand-new $34 million U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. And nobody to use it.

The Myth of the Efficent Government Organized First Responders

"As critically injured passengers lay on the tarmac near the wreckage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, other passengers pleaded with emergency dispatchers to send ambulances to help the victims, according to 911 tapes released Wednesday.[...] 'There are no ambulances here. We've been on the ground 20 minutes,' one woman said on the tape, which was obtained by NBC Bay Area. 'There are people laying on the tarmac with critical injuries, head injuries,' the woman continued. 'We're almost losing a woman here. We're trying to keep her alive.' Another female passenger told a dispatcher that there were not enough medics to treat the injured." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Myth of the Efficent Government Organized First Responders

Parched Jordan to start pumping radium-laced water from 300,000-year-old aquifer

"The water ministry says Jordan, where 92 percent of the land is desert, will need 1.6 billion cubic metres of water a year to meet its requirements by 2015, while the population of 6.8 million is growing by almost 3.5 percent a year. Officials say the project has required 250,000 tonnes of steel and the digging of 55 wells to pump water from Disi to Amman, where the per capita daily consumption [is 42 gallons]. A 2008 study by Duke University, in the United States, shows that Disi’s water has 20 times more radiation than is considered safe, with radium content that could trigger cancers. But the government has brushed aside those concerns." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingParched Jordan to start pumping radium-laced water from 300,000-year-old aquifer

Justice Achieved: Coffee Mug Threat Is Halted by State Attorneys General.

"See this mug? Well, you won’t see it again. Even the thought of a coffee mug like this sends chills down the spines of state Attorneys General around America. They are ever on the alert to stop crime in its tracks. So, 22 of them joined together to send a letter to the company that manufactures this mug. Stop it, they said. Stop it right now. For the sake of humanity, cease and desist. So, the company stopped it. If we did not have socially alert Attorney Generals, elected by the voters, who are in charge of billions of dollars of legal talent, this nation would degenerate into a lawless cacophony of coffee mugs, glasses, coasters, and drink holders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJustice Achieved: Coffee Mug Threat Is Halted by State Attorneys General.