time*treat's Blog

commentary:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/government-swine-flu-ad-portrays-vaccine-skeptics-as-raving-lunatics.html

Talking about RFID. PT 1. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEh-pJenDtQ

Oh, this would never be abused, right?

Jeez, they don't even hide it anymore. But, then you don't have to when all the idgits are following celeb gossip.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=264709845600167246#

Extraordinary BBC documentary by Alan Francovich from 1992. Documents the existence of a covert terrorist network maintained throughout Europe by NATO, intended to discredit the political left. (Part 1: 47 min.)

Just watch the first 3 mins ... you'll learn more than 24 hours of watching faux noise (We Distort, You Comply).

Get ready for even foggier summers (July 06, 2009)
http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-07-06/entertainment/17218478_1_warming-fog-vapor-cloud

"The Bay Area just had its foggiest May in 50 years. And thanks to global warming, it's about to get even foggier."

oh, wait...

Fog over San Francisco thins by a third due to climate change (15 Feb 2010)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7243579/Fog-over-San-Francisco-thins-by-a-third-due-to-climate-change.html

"The sight of Golden Gate Bridge towering above the fog will become increasing rare as climate change warms San Francisco bay, scientists have found."

At least the SFGate story is in the entertainment section. ~t*t

Must be too much flouride in a certain agency's drinking water.

They either don't learn or don't care. The rest of us get to suffer the blowback.

The people in our elected gov't would "never" attack American citizens.... maybe.

But, not everyone in the gov't is elected.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662

Well, as you can see from the link, it's from some back-water site, so it must just be a conspiracy theory by despicable people who hate their country.

Did you know that if you and another person discuss committing a crime -- the discussion itself is a crime? I'll let you guess what that crime is labeled.

 

Speaking of Robert McNamara, how many people died over this?

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/203187-California-Gas-for-8-87-a-Gallon-You-ve-Got-to-be-Kidding

Kathleen Waller usually stops at the V and A Fuels on the way to pick up her kids from school, but she was stunned to find unleaded going for $8.87 a gallon at the Washington Boulevard station Tuesday.

Super was going for $9.09 a gallon.

"I'm shocked," said Waller. "I thought it was a joke."

No joke, according to an attendant manning the station Tuesday afternoon. She had no explanation for why the price had been raised, only that the price hike came Tuesday morning.

She also declined to provide contact information for the station's owner. But she did say that some people had indeed purchased gas at the station Tuesday.

The station had a sign saying it was accepting "cash only," which several regular customers said was also not normal.

According to the Automobile Club of Southern California, the average price of a gallon of gas in Los Angeles County actually fell this week - to $2.95, the lowest price for regular unleaded since Dec. 28.

For years, several independently owned gas stations on Washington Boulevard had some of the cheapest gas in Pasadena, including V and A Fuels. But one station, the Fastop, has gone out of business, and another, Garo Gas, now sells only diesel.

Adam Gottlieb of the California Energy Commission said there are no legal restrictions prohibiting station owners from charging whatever price they want for gasoline.

But several drivers were saying no way to $8.87 gas. Most pulled in, then quickly pulled out after noticing the prices.

"I'm sure as hell not buying gasoline here," said Tasha Bell of Pasadena. "What kind of business is this?"

Paul Ramirez wanted to fill his Toyota SUV. He had been a regular customer since the station opened three months ago, he said.

"It was the cheapest gas in town - until today," said Ramirez. "I pulled up to buy gas, then the (store clerk) said 'Make sure you know the prices,' and I asked if she was kidding...Then I asked for my card back."

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Cops-in-Sean-Bell-Shooting-Wont-Face-Federal-Civil-Rights-Charges-Sources-84489687.html

Cops in Sean Bell Shooting Won't Face Federal Civil Rights Charges
Justice Department says insufficient evidence to proceed

By JONATHAN DIENST
Updated 6:55 PM EST, Tue, Feb 16, 2010

The officers who gunned down an unarmed Sean Bell on the morning of his wedding won't face federal civil rights charges, sources familiar with the case told NBC New York.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn announced their findings Tuesday. U.S. prosecutors reviewed the case after the officers were acquitted in April 2008 in a state trial in Queens.

In a statement, the Justice Department said "there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges" against the officers.

"Under the applicable federal criminal civil rights laws, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a law enforcement officer willfully deprived an individual of a constitutional right, meaning with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids.... Neither accident, mistake, fear, negligence nor bad judgment is sufficient to establish a federal criminal civil rights violation," the statement explained.

The family of Sean Bell said they were disappointed by the decision.

It's uncommon for U.S. prosecutors to file civil rights charges against police officers, especially those who have been acquitted in lower courts.

The apparent decision not to charge the three detectives in this case is thus not surprising, but it is nonetheless disappointing for the family who lost the 23-year-old Bell to a hail of 50 police bullets just hours before he was supposed to walk down the aisle with fiancée Nicole Paultre-Bell.

"They said they were limited by statutes and evidence," a distraught William Bell, Sean's father, told the Daily News after he met with prosecutors. "I'm not a lawyer, what can I say. My son's dead, and they can't do anything about it. He can't even rest in peace."

The Nov. 25. 2006, shooting sparked massive outcry across the nation, with civil-rights advocates leading protests and demanding what they perceived to be just convictions for the detectives who shot and killed Bell. Bell had been outside a strip club with two friends after his bachelor's party when undercover cops investigating reports of prostitution at the club apparently misheard their conversation and thought one had a gun.

No weapon was found.

The would-be groom's friends, who were seriously wounded in the fusillade, have led the charge for retribution in conjunction with Bell's family.

The Rev. Al Sharpton voiced "extreme disappointment" over the decision.  In a statement he said "Even though two of the three officers in question were Black we will not stop our pursuit of justice in this matter until every measure in the criminal and civil arena has been exhausted. Fifty shots on an unarmed man who engaged in no crime is intolerable."

But Michael Palladino, the President of the Detectives’ Endowment Association,  said he was "gratified" by the Justice Department's decision.

"The Bell family’s disappointment is a result of the misinformation disseminated by Al Sharpton from the very beginning.  He made this case into something that it was not," Palladino said.

---------- Oh, wait, he must have been an in-sur-gent. ----------

By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 6:40PM GMT 18 Feb 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7266059/School-spied-on-pupils-at-home-through-webcams.html

School 'spied on pupils at home through webcams'
Administrators of a wealthy suburban school district have been spying on students and their families at home after giving them laptops fitted with webcams, according to a lawsuit filed by parents.

The Lower Merion School District, which administers a Philadelphia suburb that is one of the wealthiest parts of Pennsylvania, issued all 1,800 students at its two high schools with laptops so they could access school materials at home.

However, according to a civil action filed in the local US district court, neither parents nor their children were ever warned that the access worked both ways. Michael and Holly Robbins claim they were alerted to the snooping when an assistant principal at Harriton High School warned their son, Blake, in November last year that he was "engaged in improper behaviour in his home", citing a photo taken on his laptop webcam as evidence.

Mr Robbins said he later verified through the assistant principal, Lindy Matsko, that the school district was able at any time to "remotely activate" the webcam in a student's laptop and "view and capture" whatever image was in its line of sight, all without the user's knowledge or permission.

The lawsuit also argues that "many of the images captured and intercepted may consist of minors and their parents or friends in compromising or embarrassing positions" including "various stages of undress", the lawsuit adds.

Robbins family have filed a class action on behalf of all parents and pupils at the schools against the school district, its board of directors and its superintendent.

They are seeking damages for invasion of privacy, theft of private information and unlawful interception, claiming the defendants made "indiscriminate use" of the webcams to "spy" on students and the families.

The laptops were given out as part of a "one-to-one" computer initiative led by Christopher McGinley, the school's superintendent.

On the school district's website, Mr McGinley boasted that it was "ahead of the curve" in this initiative, which would provide an "authentic mobile 21st century learning environment".

He added that it "enhances opportunities for ongoing collaboration, and ensures that all students have 24/7 access to school-based resources and the ability to seamlessly work on projects and research at school and at home".

The lawsuit claims the district's use of the webcams violates the American Constitution's guarantees of privacy as well as Pennsylvania common law and the US Civil Rights Act.

The school district did not return a call seeking comment on the lawsuit.

(The complaint may have plenty of merit, but good luck citing the American Constitution as the basis for a case. )

Greece outlaws cash transactions greater than 1500 Euros.
"From 1. Jan. 2011, every transaction above 1,500 eurosbetween natural persons and businesses, or between businesses,will not be considered legal if it is done in cash. Transactionswill have to be done through debit or credit cards" -- In an attempt to rein in the shadow economy and collect more tax revenue (ahh, of course).
(Instead of, say, making the non-shadow economy competitive?)

http://www.agoratelegraph.com/2010/02/greece-outlaws-cash-transactions-above.html


Greece to levy 40% tax rate on more earners
Greece will lower the current 75,000 euro income threshold that is subject to a 40 percent tax rate as part of reforms to urgently boost government revenues (What about the revenues of the citizens who actually earned it?)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6170CY20100208


Greece raises retirement age and fuel taxes
Labor and Social Security Minister Andreas Loverdos announced a two-year increase in the average retirement age on Tuesday to bring it to 63 by 2015.
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9DOOA600

(2010 is not the best year to be 56, eh? Kick the retirement, Charlie Brown.)

Father of Path Valley crash victim faces charges over incident on the scene with Pennsylvania State Police

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/50610.html

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_14399217

Bringing you a kinder, gentler, tax collection.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8d3b076bd4de14bbda5aba699e80621d&tab=core&_cview=1&cck=1&au=&ck=

Helps with that "voluntary compliance", ya know?

John Salley - stream of consciousness

http://playit4ward.msn.com/?section=articles&topic=1195839&dataID=Salley_sissy#/articles/1195839/Salley_sissy

Perhaps a built-in feature of 'Internet 2'. Just an 'idea' floating about. Davos didn't get nearly as much press as Copenhagen.

But, only the bad guys need guns, right?

If you're doing nothing wrong, you got nothing to hide, right?

What could possibly go wrong? Here's one example. More are popping up, regularly.

http://www.federalunion.org.uk/blog/2008/10/difficult-case-of-frederick-toben.html

Someone else's thoughts:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100025849/control-freaks-want-web-licences-to-end-bloggers-anonymity-be-very-afraid/

Geithner: U.S. Will 'Never' Lose AAA Debt Rating

In BureauSpeak, "never" means "imminent". Current Treasury Secretary Tiny Tim Geithner claimed the U.S. is in no danger of losing its AAA debt rating. “Absolutely not,” Geithner said, when asked in an ABC News interview broadcast in early February whether a downgrade is a concern. “That will never happen to this country.”

"Never"? Really, Timmy? Let me guess, you'll also "pull-out" and respect us in the morning, too.

The bloomberg write-up is here www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aDYv97KxyEtU

If you'd like to hear this bull-schmidt with your own ears, the exchange is at the 6:00 mark, here.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3aQAxZxu88
(what's it say when a person can't look you straight on?)

Maybe Timmy is onto something, though. The folks over at seeking-alpha writing about the same statement included a chart of Enron which shows that by the time its stock was downgraded, there wasn't much left to lose. Perhaps the take-away message is that the smart money won't wait for someone to ring a bell. http://seekingalpha.com/article/187410-famous-last-words-u-s-will-never-lose-aaa-debt-rating

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Meanwhile, back in reality, Marc Faber (an investor who has actually gotten a thing or two right in his life) just about ran the talking heads out of the TOUT-TV studio. There's a small segment you may have to replay a couple times to hear what each person says as everyone scrambles to try to discount his comment.

Marc Faber talks Greece Bailouts 2/10/10 - CNBC

You can almost feel the censor-button guy updating his resume.

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The sole Geithner vid had embedding AND comments disabled, while the Faber vid has several copies uploaded (just look for the title) and open to comments. Hmmmm.