Maine Liberty Journal

Wall Street Journal – July 20, 2009:

The Obama administration picked Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Vice Chairman Robert Hormats to be the State Department’s undersecretary for economic, energy and agricultural affairs, the White House announced Friday.

Mr. Hormats, if confirmed by the Senate, will buttress Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign to use economic, trade and environmental issues to redefine Washington’s relationship with nations such as China, India and Russia, said administration officials.

Mr. Hormats also will play a central role in managing Washington’s “strategic and economic dialogue” with Beijing, a diplomatic exchange overseen by Mrs. Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The first Obama administration U.S.-China dialogue is slated for this month in Washington, according to the State Department.

Goldman Sachs also produced the previous Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson. How did he perform? Not so well according to Congressman Cliff Stearns:

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AP via DailyBreeze.com – 4/15/2009:

A program that allows Orange County defendants charged with some misdemeanors and low-level drug felonies to go free in exchange for a DNA sample worries some judges and defense attorneys, who say it raises questions about abuses of power and public safety.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who has clashed with the Sheriff’s Department over the collection of genetic evidence, quietly rolled out the program last year for misdemeanor crimes and expanded it earlier this year to include some low-level drug felonies, the Daily Journal in Los Angeles reported Wednesday.

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You buy a ticket to fly somewhere in a commercial airplane. Between your home and your destination, you will be confronted by TSA agents who demand you remove your shoes, your belt, your jacket, your laptop from its bag and the contents of your pockets. You will be forced to throw away your water bottles and bottles of shampoo that are larger than 3 oz. (Half full 4oz. bottles must also be thrown away.)

All of this charade is to present the image that America faces a major security threat in our nations airports, AND that the US government is the best equipped entity to provide the security in order to intercept the threats.

Unfortunately, the TSA doesn’t even seem to be able to screen its own employees who have been robbing passengers blind for years.

Airport Screener Sentenced 3 Years For Baggage Thefts
wpix.com – July 15, 2009

A former baggage screener at Newark Liberty International Airport, who ripped off more than 100 cameras, laptop computers, and other items from checked luggage was sentenced to a three-year-prison term.

Pythias Brown, 47, of Maplewood pleaded guilty to criminal charges in March when he admitted to stealing two to three times a week from bags beginning in 2007. Police didn’t nab him, though until the following year, after he apparently stole a camcorder belonging to a CNN employee and attempted to sell it on eBay.

Just for entertainment, here are some stories I found by putting some of the following terms into a search engine: airport, baggage, theft, TSA

PHL Airport Baggage Worker Charged with Theft from Luggage
April 3, 2009

Missing luggage? Theft ring busted at Portland airport
April 29, 2009
TSA Under Fire for Rising Theft by Baggage Screeners
Government Screeners at 30 Airports Arrested for Stealing
NEW YORK, Nov. 19, 2004

Theft From Luggage Rampant At Sea-Tac Airport

A never-before-released federal database shows thieves steal something nearly every day from Sea-Tac passengers.

Theft From Luggage Rampant: Sea-Tac Airport Among Nation’s Worst

Is Baggage Theft at Airports Growing?
Thursday, May 19, 2005

TSA agent steals $200K worth of gear, resells it on eBay
Tue Oct 14, 2008

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Paulson reveals US concerns of breakdown in law and order – UK Independent July 17, 2009:

Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, asked Mr Paulson to reveal details of officials’ concerns, which were relayed to Congress in hasty conference calls last year. The calls included discussion of law and order and whether it would be possible to feed the American people, and for how long, according to Mr Kanjorski.

“In a world where information can flow, money can move with the speed of light electronically, I looked at the ripple effect, and looked at when a financial system fails, a whole country’s economic system can fail,” Mr Paulson said. “I believe we could have gone back to the sorts of situations we saw in the Depression. I try not to use hyperbole. It’s impossible to prove now since it didn’t happen.”

As redefined by the USA Patriot Act:

A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act “”dangerous to human life”" that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping. Additionally, the acts have to occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States and if they do not, may be regarded as international terrorism.

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WCSH – July 15, 2009:

Portland’s Public Safety Committee approves a proposal allowing police officers to carry tasers.

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Ledger-Enquirer – July 15, 2009:

U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, the reserve soldier who says he shouldn’t have to go to Afghanistan because he believes Barack Obama was never eligible to be president, has had his deployment orders revoked, Army officials said.

Lt. Col. Maria Quon, U.S. Army Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Army Human Resources Command-St. Louis, said Tuesday evening, Cook was no longer expected to report Wednesday to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida for mobilization to active duty.

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Ledger-Enquirer July 14, 2009:

U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, set to deploy to Afghanistan, says he shouldn’t have to go.

His reason?

Barack Obama was never eligible to be president because he wasn’t born in the United States.

Cook’s lawyer, Orly Taitz, who has also challenged the legitimacy of Obama’s presidency in other courts, filed a request last week in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and status as a conscientious objector for her client.

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Politicians routinely assure us how important government services are to our lives and how much better we are for having dedicated armies of bureaucrats and enforcers “providing” these services.

If we are forced to pay for services such as the “Department of Social Services” in Louisiana, why are the politicians and bureaucrats who FORCE us to use their services not liable for their performance?

WAFB TV9 July 13, 2009:

Wanda’s Kids World, the child care center where a three-year-old girl died in one of its vans, has been in business for more than two decades and over the years, several complaints have been filed and now the Department of Social Services says it is considering revoking its license.

Inspectors from the Department of Social Services say they visited the day care just three days ago. They say if Wanda’s license is revoked, it could be permanent. The license was taken away twice before, according to state records. DSS reports show that Wanda’s Kids World had a number of deficiencies during several inspections.

In May of this year, DSS cited the place with two deficiencies, including failure to provide an adequate staff-to-child ratio when transporting children under the age of five. In February, there were more allegations of deficiencies, including not having CPR and pediatric first aid certification for at least 50% of the staff. The report also stated that the van used to transport kids was not up to par.

Facility has had 6 citations this year NBC 33 – Baton Rouge, LA – July 2, 2009:

Wanda’s Kids World has had six citations from the Department of Social Services this year..

Back in May, the child care center was cited for two deficiencies, dealing with the staff-to-child ratio in its vans. That problem was later corrected.

But on June 23rd, the facility received 4 more citations for improper supervision, as well as other problems.

The day care has had its license revoked in 2006 and 2009. But was re-licensed this year when new administrators were hired.

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Dash cam video of deadly traffic stop released WAFB TV9 – July 10, 2009:

The Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office has released the dash cam video of a deadly traffic stop and in doing so said its deputies followed procedure.

The video shows Deputy Chris Sturdivant as he pulls over 42-year-old Adam Stogner. The tape starts with the deputy asking Stogner for his license. It ends with an officer asking the man if he’s still breathing.

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Results from a study entitled “Overdiagnosis in publicly organised mammography screening programmes: systematic review of incidence trends” were published in the British Medical Journal, or BMJ on July 9, 2009:

Conclusions The increase in incidence of breast cancer was closely related to the introduction of screening and little of this increase was compensated for by a drop in incidence of breast cancer in previously screened women. One in three breast cancers detected in a population offered organised screening is overdiagnosed.

Breast cancer screening may fuel over-diagnosis Reuters – July 10, 2009:

Roughly one in three breast cancers detected in publicly organized mammography screening programs is over-diagnosed — meaning that the cancer will not cause symptoms or death in the woman’s lifetime, according to a study released Thursday.

In the study, Dr. Karsten Juhl Jorgensen and Dr. Peter C. Gotzsche, from The Nordic Cochrane Center, Copenhagen, analyzed how breast cancer rates changed after publicly organized screening programs were introduced in the UK, Canada, Australia, Sweden, and Norway.

Information from at least 7 years before and after the programs were introduced was analyzed and was obtained from both screened and non-screened age groups.

An increase in breast cancer rates was noted in each country that was closely associated with the introduction of screening, the study team reports.

Breast cancer over-diagnosis results in unnecessary treatment for one in three UK Guardian – July 10, 2009:

Screening for breast cancer is leading to over-diagnosis with many women undergoing unnecessary surgery and chemotherapy, scientists say

One in three women who is told she has breast cancer after screening is being diagnosed and treated unnecessarily, scientists say today.

Not all breast cancers are potential killers, say researchers in a paper in today’s British Medical Journal. Some are inconsequential. If they were not picked up, women would not know they had them. But because they are detected through breast cancer screening, women usually undergo surgery and chemotherapy which are traumatic and potentially harmful.

Study Says Lung Cancer Overdiagnosis a Result of Screening

Screening may lead to overdiagnosis of lung cancer, a study reports in the June 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Screening for cancer can find tumors that might not otherwise have been diagnosed in a person’s lifetime, a situation called overdiagnosis. Overdiagnosis wastes health care resources. Tests and treatment resulting from overdiagnosis can lead to substantial toxicity and even premature death in patients.

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BBC – July 13, 2009:

The US budget deficit has moved above $1 trillion (£616bn) for the first time – with three months of the financial year remaining, official data show.

The government stepped up spending to counter the recession, and the bailout of financial institutions has taken a huge chunk out of government finances.

Falling tax revenues and unemployment benefit spending have also contributed.

The figure compares with $455bn for the whole 2007/8 financial year, but the 2008/9 deficit was expected to soar.

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USA Today – July 13, 2009:

There are three-times more officers on our streets than in the 1970s

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AP – July 12, 2009:

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks – and the finding that some terrorists entered the United States using phony passports – the State Department proposed mandating that Americans and foreign visitors carry “enhanced” passport booklets, with microchips embedded in the covers.

In February 2005, when the State Department asked for public comment, it got an outcry: Of the 2,335 comments received, 98.5 percent were negative, with 86 percent expressing security or privacy concerns, the department reported in an October 2005 notice in the Federal Register.

Did the 98.5 percent of responses in opposition force them to scrap the idea? Between this and the fall 2008 “TARP” bill also overwhelmingly opposed by the American people, it’s difficult if not impossible to argue that America is even a functioning democracy, let alone a Constitutional republic. It seems to me that a government that acts against the will of 99% of the people is something closer to a dictatorship.

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President Obama’s top science and technology advisor John P. Holdren co-authored a 1977 book in which he advocated the formation of a “planetary regime” that would use a “global police force” to enforce totalitarian measures of population control, including forced abortions, mass sterilization programs conducted via the food and water supply, as well as mandatory bodily implants that would prevent couples from having children.

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WMTW – July 12 2009:

Contrary to White House wishes, Attorney General Eric Holder may push forward with a criminal investigation into the Bush administration’s harsh interrogation practices used on suspected terrorists.

…

The probe would focus in part on whether CIA personnel tortured terrorism suspects after Sept. 11, 2001.

Maybe AG Holder will interview Binyam Mohammed as part of the “probe”.

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