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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Supreme Court just abolished the 4th Amendment


Conservatives on the Supreme Court Abolish the 4th Amendment
in the name of "National Security".


"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."     - - - Joseph Heller, Catch-22


INSANE  LOGIC  -  Democrats and Republicans in Congress have granted the President the unconstitutional power to secretly spy on American's Internet messages and phone calls without search warrants in the name of security.  But the Supreme Court says Americans have no right to sue the government because the program is secret and there is no way to tell if you have any "standing" to sue. 

Total Catch-22 Bullshit.

The Supreme Court has made some insane rulings over the years (and good ones too) but the Constitutional "logic" of the Conservative majority is off in la-la land.

When Congress and the executive branch collude to keep Americans in the dark about whether their privacy is being invaded, the Supreme Court should be willing to lift the veil of secrecy — at least to the extent of forcing the government to explain how often it is monitoring the confidential conversations of Americans.

The court abdicated that important watchdog role Tuesday when it ruled 5 to 4 that a group of journalists, lawyers and activists couldn't challenge the constitutionality of a shadowy electronic surveillance program. It's only the latest example of the court's refusal to afford victims (or potential victims) of post-9/11 policies their day in court.

Tuesday's decision came in a lawsuit filed by several people — including lawyers for suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay — who claim that a 2008 law authorizing the surveillance of non-Americans abroad violates the constitutional rights of Americans whose phone conversations and emails might be caught up in the electronic dragnet.

Judge Napolitano:  Congress Extends Warrantless Wiretapping




That would be a challenging case to make, but the Supreme Court won't even allow the plaintiffs to try. It dismissed their suit on the grounds that they lack "standing" to sue because they can't prove that their conversations with sources and clients abroad actually have been monitored reports the Los Angeles Times.

Writing for the court, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that the individuals who filed suit "merely speculate and make assumptions about whether their communications with their foreign contacts will be acquired" under the law.  Alito was supported by Conservatives John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.

Alito was similarly scornful of the argument that they deserved standing because they had incurred expenses necessary to avoid being overheard and would have to travel to talk with clients face to face. He scathingly wrote that they "cannot manufacture standing by choosing to make expenditures based on hypothetical future harm that is not certainly impending."

The requirement that individuals have "standing" — a concrete interest in a legal dispute — is an important principle. But, as Justice Stephen G. Breyer pointed out in his dissent, the court often has recognized standing in situations in which a possible adverse effect on a plaintiff wasn't a matter of "absolute or literal certainty."

Countering Alito's strained analysis with common sense, Breyer argued that "we need only assume that the government is doing its job (to find out about, and combat, terrorism) in order to conclude that there is a high probability that the government will intercept at least some electronic communication to which at least some of the plaintiffs are parties."

Of course, in a Catch-22, the plaintiffs can't prove that because the surveillance program is secret.

The law challenged in this case was extended for another five years by the last Congress, without amendments that would have required the government to provide an accounting of how often conversations and email exchanges involving Americans were collected and accessed. The lawsuit blocked by the court on Tuesday would have provided another avenue for accountability.


Supreme Court Approved.
Insanity is a universal human trait.  In the 1940s a liberal Democrat controlled Supreme Court gave a rousing "Hell Yes!" to rounding up Americans of one racial group, putting them in concentration camps without a trial and confiscating their private property.  Bill of Rights.  What Bill of Rights?

Supreme Court Approved.
Big Brother Concentration Camps, confiscation of
private property and racial identity cards. The only
thing missing was a final solution plan.

Michael Savage: "The Republican Party is irrelevant."




"We have a one-party system.  It's an oligarchy.  The Republican Party is irrelevant."  -  Dr. Michael Savage


The #3 radio talk show host in America and author Dr. Michael Savage was the guest on the Alex Jones Show.

While other radio hosts act as mindless cheerleaders for the GOP, Dr. Savage speaks out forcefully against Socialist traitors to Constitutional freedom in both parties.

Savage and Alex analyze China’s economic takeover of America, the federal attack on the Second Amendment and the ongoing effort to destroy the Constitution.  Savage attacks the ever-encroaching surveillance and police state as the global elite tighten their grip on humanity and the Supreme Court throws out a challenge to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Dr. Savage’s latest book is A Time for War.

Dr. Michael Savage:  This is A Time for War 
Advance the interview to the 14:15 mark for a great discussion on Obama gun confiscation.





Guy Fawkes Masks Banned by Dictatorship



Ruling Elites around the world are frightened of their own people
  • Everywhere you look there are endless attacks on freedom of speech, of the press and especially of Internet freedom.


The Guy Fawkes mask – which has come to represent a universal symbol of protest – has been banned by the monarchy in Bahrain. The move is the latest in a series of measures implemented by the Gulf state to quell a two-year pro-democracy uprising.

A ban on orders of the mask – which was popularized by the 2005 Hollywood adaption of the comic book "V for Vendetta"  – has been ordered by the Gulf kingdom’s Industry and Commerce Minister, Hassan Fakhro.

The decision was carried out following a request by the country’s Interior Ministry, which said the move was in the "public interest," Bahrain’s Official Gazette reports via RT News.




V For Vendetta - Official® Trailer
A battle for human freedom against a 1984 Big Brother dictatorship.




The ministry has instructed the country’s border and port authorities to prevent the masks from being imported, and anyone attempting to circumvent the ban could potentially be arrested.

The measure has been interpreted as an attempt to eliminate a potent symbol against the monarchy’s rule. And to deprive anti-government demonstrators of a means of masking their identity.

From the 'Occupy' movement in America to Arab Spring uprisings in neighboring states, the mask has become what the comic’s illustrator David Lloyd described as a “placard to use in protest against tyranny.”

Bahrain is now the second Gulf country to ban the use of the infamous Guy Fawkes visage – the UAE issued a warning proscribing the wearing of the mask on National Day, December 2.

Bahrain, a country where over 75 percent of the country is Shia, is ruled by a Sunni monarchy.In February 2011, thousands of protesters swamped the streets of Bahrain's capital Manama, demanding democratic reforms and the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa.

Since the start of the uprising, at least 82 protesters have been killed, including nine children.




.       Polish politicians wearing Guy Fawkes mask in protest.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Legal Revolution - Overthrowing Italy's Corrupt Elite


Five Star Movement.  Beppe Grillo in Bologna, Italy.
Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement advocates an exit from the euro and the overthrow of Italy’s political class, Five Star is well on its way to becoming the second most powerful political force in Italy.

An Italian voter revolt against the Euro, debt & corruption
  • Beppe Grillo's new party is lashing out against politics as usual, corruption, the Euro and the massive Italian debt. 
  • The Internet based political party selects their candidates on-line and just won 163 seats in the lower house and Italian Senate.
  • Freedom.  Maybe the United States should try it.


BANKRUPT  -  Both Italy and the U.S. are massively in debt and virtually bankrupt.  The difference is the Italian system allows for change and new political parties.  Meanwhile the calcified, centralized and corrupt American system does everything in its power to prevent any dissent against the liar hack politicians in Washington D.C.

In a rejection of the austerity reforms needed to ease the country’s massive debt, more than a quarter of voters backed the Five Star Movement, led by comedian Beppe Grillo.

Most Five Star voters are former supporters of the centre-right, which is now on the wane in the wake of the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi and the corruption scandal which has struck the Northern League. However, Beppe Grillo has shown that he can also win over far-left voters and the younger generation with whom he is very popular.
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Meanwhile, the disgraced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi unexpectedly exploded back on the scene with 29.2 per cent of the vote.
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Grillo's anti-euro and anti-austerity party, which took 25.6 per cent of the votes, was the most popular single party in Italy.


Beppe Grillo, founder of the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement




"European" leaders are in a panic.
Bankers and Euro technocrats are in a panic that the voters of Italy dared to speak up against their Masters.





The Five Star Movement drew support away from both major parties, leading to the prospect of months of deadlock as politicans attempt to form a new government reports the UK Daily Mail.
The centre-left groups, led by Pier Luigi Bersani, had 29.5 per cent of the vote in the lower house, only just ahead of Berlusconi's centre-right alliance.
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Grillo took to the Internet to taunt the country's mainstream politicians over their disappointing performance.

'We've started a war of generations,' he said in a statement posted on his website. 'They are all losers, they've been there for 25 to 30 years and they've led this country to catastrophe.'

The charismatic anti-politician has vowed not to join a coalition with any other party, meaning politicians face deadlock in their attempts to form a government.
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'The winner is: Ingovernability' was the headline in Il Messaggero, while commentator Massimo Giannini wrote in La Repubblica: 'The "non-party" has become the largest party in the country.'

Despite Grillo's success, a coalition between the centre-left and centre-right could be the most likely outcome after Berlusconi this morning suggested he would consider teaming up with Bersani, saying that both parties 'must be prepared to make sacrifices' and rejecting the possibility of fresh elections.

The centre-left was left in a state of shock by the results after failing to achieve the resounding win it had been expecting.
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Enrico Letta, a senior member of Bersani's party, insisted that his grouping should be first in line to try and form a government, while the leader said: 'We will handle the responsibilities that these elections have given us in Italy’s interest.'
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Turnout was 75%.

“Va fancullo” (“fuck off”)
For the past decade, Grillo has put his wit almost completely at the service of politics. In a flurry of activity, he founded a website – Beppegrillo.it, in Italian and English; organized a series of rallies, usually vast, called “Va fancullo” (“fuck off”) days at which he rails at and delights the crowd; and organized a political movement called Cinque Stelle (Five Stars), which seeks to encourage ordinary people in every locality to come forward and speak for the community’s distrust and dislike of mainstream politics.

The current Italian election system is a form of party-list proportional representation with a series of thresholds to encourage parties to form coalitions.
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Italy is divided into 26 districts for the Chamber of Deputies and 20 regions for the Senate. Each district is assigned a number of seats in proportion to its share of the population. To guarantee a working majority, the coalition or party that obtains a plurality of the vote, but fewer than 340 seats, is assigned additional seats to reach that number, which roughly is about 54 percent of all seats.
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The coalition or party that wins a plurality in a region is guaranteed 55 percent of the region's Senate seats. As this mechanism is region-based, opposing parties or coalitions may benefit from it in different regions. It therefore does not guarantee any party or coalition a majority in the Senate.

Chamber of Deputies
Many different political parties for voters to choose from.  Freedom.  What a concept.

CoalitionPartyVotes%Seats
Pier Luigi Bersani:
Italy. Common Good
Democratic Party8,644,18725.42297
Left Ecology Freedom1,089,4423.2037
Democratic Centre167,1700.496
South Tyrolean People's Party146,8040.435
Total10,047,60329.54345
Silvio Berlusconi:
Center-right coalition
The People of Freedom7,332,66721.5698
Lega Nord1,390,1564.0818
Brothers of Italy666,0351.959
The Right219,8160.640
Great SouthMovement for Autonomies148,5340.430
Italian Moderates in Revolution81,9820.240
Pensioners' Party55,0500.160
Popular Agreement25,6310.070
Independents for a Fair Italy3,2380.000
Total9,923,10929.18125
Beppe Grillo: Five Star Movement8,689,16825.55109
Mario Monti:
With Monti for Italy
Civic Choice2,824,0018.3039
Union of the Centre608,1991.788
Future and Freedom159,4290.460
Total3,591,62910.5647
Antonio Ingroia: Civil Revolution765,1722.250
Act to Stop the Decline380,9371.120
Associative Movement Italians Abroad180.4730.62
Workers' Communist Party89,9950.260
New Force89,8260.260
Amnesty, Justice, Freedom64,7320.190
The Libertarians48,3170.140
CasaPound47,6910.140
Tricolour Flame44,7530.130
I Love Italy42,5290.120
Venetian Independence33,2740.090
Liberals for Italy28,0260.080
Sardinian Action Party18,5850.050
Liga Veneta Repubblica15,8380.040
Voto di Protesta12,7440.030
Veneto State11,3780.030
Italian Reformists8,2230.020
Indipendenza per la Sardegna7,5980.020
PRI7,1430.020
MERIS5,9010.010
Communist Alternative Party5,1590.010
Italian Pirate Party4,5570.010
Movimento Progetto Italia3,9670.010
Rifondazione Missina Italiana3,1780.000
Popular Unity2,9920.000
Progetto Nazionale2,8650.000
Movimento PPA1,5260.000
Unione Popolare1,5150.000
Tutti Insieme per L'Italia1,4520,000
Staminali D'Italia5850,000
Democrazia Atea5560,000
Invalid/blank votes1,269,017
Total35,271,540100630
Registered voters/turnout46,906,34375.19
Source: Ministry of the Interior

(Italian General Election 2013)


"A Republic, if you can keep it." - Ben Franklin
Our Founding Fathers created a Republic where the voice of the people could be heard in a House of Representatives.  Our Founders wrote into the Constitution (Article I, Section 2) that size of House seats would be at 30,000 people so the average person could easily run for office, meet the voters and win election.
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Today's corrupt House seats have ballooned up to 700,000 people.  Because of the massive size of House seats only millionaires or those willing to take corrupt money win elections.  Hundreds of millions in special interest union and corporate money is spent to buy members of Congress.  Each special interest group buys allies in Congress to rape the Treasury for their members in the form of cash, contracts or insider tax deals.  The average voter no longer matters.
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With a single majority vote the House could reform itself in just one hour.  They could vote to expand their membership to reduce district size while cutting their pay, eliminating benefits and making themselves a part time body.  When Hell freezes over you will see a political hack vote for reform.  So we are doomed to be ruled by a corrupt oligarchy funded by and for the special interests.  

SHOCK - City to confiscate guns during a "crisis"



They are coming for your guns
  • Everyday the Statists are trying new ways to violate the Bill of Rights and confiscate guns.
  • Americans are finding ourselves in the middle of a slow motion Revolution against the Constitution of the United States.


Guntersville, Alabama Mayor Leigh Dollar is working with city officials to pass an ordinance that would give police the power to “disarm individuals” during a disaster, a chilling example of how the second amendment is being assaulted via the back door.

The new rule would allow authorities to confiscate guns of “unruly” people during an extreme weather event such as the April 2011 tornadoes or any other emergency.
 
“The ordinance states officers could disarm individuals, if necessary, reports ABC 31. “Dollar says the proposal is just way to give officers more authority to protect themselves.”
 
Dollar denied that the ordinance would be used to take away constitutional rights, but residents questioned why authorities would need to pass a new ordinance given that police already have the power to arrest citizens who are being “unruly,” whether armed or not reports Infowars News.
 
“Well, it seems like an infringement on the 2nd Amendment and that’s the biggest problem I have with it,” said Guntersville Music Academy teacher Paul Landry.


 City Wants Power to "Disarm Individuals" During Crisis




NRA - The Untold Story of Gun Confiscation After Katrina
The video you will see on this web site is horrifying. The crimes committed against law-abiding gun owners are beyond comprehension. The arrogance of anti-gun politicians and government officials and their hate of freedom will churn your stomach.




Authorities are seemingly attempting to mirror unconstitutional gun grab powers that were enacted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
 
In the aftermath of Katrina, the New Orleans Police, National Guard troops, and U.S. Marshals confiscated firearms. “Guns will be taken. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass declared as he prepared to violate the Second Amendment.
 
The National Guard conducted warrantless house-to-house searches, targeting not just Hurricane-hit areas under the pretext of stopping violent looters, but also high and dry homes that were not even affected by the storm.
 
The Guntersville gun grab ordinance will be on the city council agenda at their meeting on March 4th.





Massive tax increases from the Virginia GOP


GOP Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell
(AP File Photo)




We are ruled by idiots

- - - Republican tax increases.  Proof that the "small government" GOP has not a clue why their party exists.


Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell and GOP House Speaker William Howell endorsed the largest tax increase in the history of Virginia.

On paper, the General Assembly passed a bill to raise taxes to fund transportation projects that is slated to bring in $880 million more a year in taxes, but the true cost to taxpayers is estimated to be "$1.13 billion per year in tax increases."

Regardless, it is by far the greatest tax increase in the history of the Commonwealth, surpassing the $442 million per year increase in 1986 and $680 million per year increase in 2004 reports Breitbart - Big Government.

“This is a historic day in Virginia. We have worked together across party lines to find common ground and pass the first sustainable long-term transportation funding plan in 27 years," McDonnell, who also may have plans to run for president in 2016, said in a statement on Saturday. "There is a ‘Virginia Way’ of cooperation and problem solving, and we saw it work again today in Richmond."

Many conservatives in Virginia saw it as a "historic day" for other reasons.

A group of the state's most influential conservative activists and bloggers wrote an open letter last weekend saying if the bill is "fully implemented," it would "cost Virginia taxpayers over $1.3 billion in new taxes" and, "with the economy on a knife’s edge, additional taxes would damage employment (by raising the cost of business), consumption (by raising overall prices), and the overall business environment."

"This is not the time to raise taxes on hard-working Virginian employers and employees," the letter said.

The letter also said "this violation of faith damages our democracy in incalculable ways."

“Every Republican statewide official (and most legislators) were elected on a promise not to raise taxes,” the conservative activists said in the letter. “This bill erodes the credibility of all future candidates and the ability of voters to hold said candidates accountable.”

As Norm Leahy, an influential Virginia conservative, wrote last weekend, when McDonnell was running for governor in 2009, he got into trouble when he told a reporter that he had "no plans to raise taxes."

Those words did not sit well with conservatives then.

When asked to clarify his remarks in 2009, McDonnell's campaign said then, "Bob McDonnell will not raise taxes as governor. Virginians know Bob McDonnell, and they know where he stands. They know he keeps his word..."



Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Does the GOP believe in anything?


The GOP Deer in the Headlights.
A political animal without a clue what to do.

The GOP has no spending plan
  • There are no meaningful proposals from Republicans to cut even one cent from the budget or even to freeze spending.
  • All the political hot air drama is about a small slowing in the rate of government growth.

In a pathetic and weak attempt at public relations, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Monday demanded that Comrade Obama’s budget office stop agencies from hiring low-priority employees in order to preserve essential workers in the face of the looming budget sequester.

Wow.  Am I inspired to stand firmly shoulder to shoulder with the GOP.  Talk like that should really inspire the public too.  Any minute now mobs of voters should be breaking down the doors to re-register as Republicans.

Shameful.  Conservatism is dead if this is the best a well know "Conservative" Senator can come up with to present to the public.

And don't even get me started on the liberal GOP controlled House.  The magical Ryan Plan adds trillions to the national debt and pretends to balance the budget sometime in 30 plus years.


Do Republicans have a spine? or a brain?
The fact of the matter is both political parties are addicted to spending in order to buy the votes they need to stay in power.  If the nation goes bankrupt, well that's just the price of holding power.
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Senator Coburn gets a C+ for effort.  At leaset he said something.  In a letter to Acting Office of Management and Budget Director Jeff Zients, Colburn said that there are ten “non-essential” job advertisements running on the government’s hiring website www.usa jobs.com.

Coburn said freezing hiring for these positions alone would save $1.4 million.

On the list are ads for ten State Department drivers, a Labor Department receptionist earning up to $81,204 a year, a human resources position at the Department of Agriculture paying up to $179,000 a year, and an Air Force museum official making up to $165,300 per year reports The Hill.
 
“Are any of these positions more important than an air traffic controller, a border patrol officer, a food inspector, a TSA screener, or a civilian supporting our men and women in combat in Afghanistan?” Coburn wrote.

“Instituting such a hiring freeze and re-assigning any of the necessary duties associated with each to current employees will allow federal agencies to adapt to the current fiscal realities without laying off or furloughing civil servants who are performing truly critical or absolutely necessary functions,” he added.
 
Government departments and agencies want to claim they have limited flexibility to deal with the budget sequester, but is all the usual political Washington speak.

Personally I am not worried.  The worst thing that can happen is spending cuts and what's wrong with that?
 
 
John Stossel - Shadowbosses
How public employee unions fuel relentless government growth.


 
 
  
 
 




Gun bans may force Beretta out of Maryland



Anti-business Democrats drive jobs out of Maryland
  • Businesses that make guns, employ people and pay taxes are not welcome in the Socialist Republic of Maryland.

Beretta, the nearly 500-year-old family-owned company that made one of James Bond’s firearms, Italy’s respected gun maker, is considering pulling up stakes from its 35-year home in Maryland and moving on to greener pastures.

Socialist Democrat lawmakers are furiously drafting gun control bills that violate the Constitution and will drive jobs out of the state.

On the other side are arms manufacturers and gun enthusiasts who foresee the very real possibility of their livelihood being stripped away and their Second Amendment rights denied  reports Biz Pac Review.

Democrat Socialists want to drive the honest
trade of gunsmithing out of Maryland.

Some armorers have banded together and vowed to refuse to do business with any state enacting strict gun control measures.

Beretta is taking an even more direct approach, telling Maryland: “Enact such measures at your own risk,” according to The Washington Post.

Beretta is considering moving its operations to another state if Maryland infringes on the Second Amendment rights of Beretta’s clientele.

In the Obama age of high unemployment, this is no empty threat.

Firearms today are a growth industry building for expansion, but firms like Beretta face a dilemma.

“Why expand in a place where the people who built the gun couldn’t buy it?” Jeffrey Reh, general counsel for Beretta, told The Washington Post.

The Post’s Aaron Davis wrote:
Concern that the company will leave, and take its 300 jobs with it, is palpable among state lawmakers who worry it could be collateral damage from Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed gun-control bill.

Among other restrictions, O’Malley’s bill would ban assault rifles, magazines with more than 10 bullets and any new guns with two or more “military-like” features. Gun experts said it’s a near-certainty that Beretta’s semiautomatic version of the ARX-160, now only a prototype, would be banned under O’Malley’s bill.
“I’m concerned. I think they’re going to move,” Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., told the Post. “They sell guns across the world and in every state in the union — to places a lot more friendly to the company than this state.”

Whether the company moves or stays is, I suppose, at least in part up to Miller’s Senate. For now, each firearm leaving Beretta’s Maryland facility is stamped, “Made in Accokeek.” Maybe next year they’ll be stamped, “Made in Laredo.”

Read more at The Washington Post.




Opponents to gun control legislation in Maryland hold a rally in Annapolis, Md.
on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. (Photo: AP)

The Second Amendment.
George Washington did not use his right of free speech to defeat the British, he shot them.

Egyptian author questioned for "contempt" of religion


Speaking out for Freedom
"My novel is an invitation to reject religious intolerance, the claim that violent acts in society are done in the name of [God], and to reject those who have made themselves the congress of God on earth. These are ridiculous claims that both Arab and non-Arab and Muslim and non-Muslim societies suffer from. Religious violence is not linked to a particular religion – it is linked to people who have specific secular interests and use religion to achieve those interests."
- - - Egyptian Author Youssef Ziedan

Egyptian crackdown of Freedom of speech
  • A best selling Egyptian author dared to publish a book that questioned religious authoritarianism.


Egyptian prosecutors have questioned an award-winning novelist over accusations he insulted religion, in the latest of a series of cases to cause concern over freedom of expression in Islamist-run Egypt.

Writer Youssef Ziedan said he had been interrogated for four hours this week about his 2009 novel “Arab Theology”, which has become a best seller since it was republished recently.

The prosecutors were examining a three-year-old report from the Islamic Research Centre, a state-sponsored body of religious scholars, which said Ziedan had offended followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism alike.

Ziedan asked why the authorities are investigating “Arab Theology”, which discusses the origins of religious violence, while Egypt faces major political, social and economic problems reports Al Arabiya.


“It was really shocking and strange to find myself talking about philosophy with state security officers, especially now at a time the state is suffering from extreme turmoil and street violence which should be the focus of their work,” Ziedan told Reuters after his interrogation on Tuesday.

Egyptian law prohibits insults against Islam, Christianity and Judaism, laying down penalties of up to five years in jail. Egypt has a large Christian minority but its historic Jewish community has dwindled to almost nothing in recent decades.

The law has long been on the books but was enforced only occasionally under deposed President Hosni Mubarak. However, campaigners have raised concerns about freedom of thought and expression under President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist elected last year after the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Ziedan, a Muslim known for discussing non-traditional religious ideas in his novels, said he was questioned by the state security prosecutor in a case brought by public prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim. Mursi appointed Ibrahim in November after sacking the previous incumbent, a Mubarak-era official.

The opposition has accused Mursi of defying a law that prevents the firing of public prosecutors. Some judges and public figures saw the move as an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood, which supports Mursi, to control the judiciary.

So sad.  Free elections were held but the winners
want to build a new authoritarian state.

Brotherhood spokesman Yasser Mehraz said his group had nothing to do with the Ziedan investigation. “Generally speaking, we at the Brotherhood believe that different ideas should exist and ideas should be fought only by ideas,” he said.
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“Flexing their muscles”

 
Human rights activist Gamal Eid said the “Arab Theology” case had been revived by a Salafi - one of those who want Egypt to follow a yet stricter interpretation of Islam than the Brotherhood favors.

“The Islamic Research Centre’s report was made in 2010 but a hard line Salafi Islamist person recently sent it to the (prosecution) officials," said Eid, who sent an aide to the interrogation. “Of course the case shows the continuation of Islamists’ flexing their muscles and their attempts to shape the country according to their own form of Islam.”

“Arab Theology” appeared at the end of 2009 and was recently reprinted. So far it has sold about 40,000 copies, far above average sales of books in Egypt of 4,000 to 6,000 at best.

“The Islamic Research Centre’s report also accused me of inciting strife in society and ... of mocking religions and spreading radical thoughts,” said Ziedan.


“I admit that my ideas are against all radical Islamist groups, which include the Brotherhood,” he said, but added: “The book is entirely philosophical and anti-violence.”

His work “Azazeel” (Beelzebub) won the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, backed by the Booker Prize Foundation. However, some Christians said the book insulted their religion.

Prosecutors also questioned Ziedan about that book before the revolution, but took no further action. Such cases have increased since Islamists gained power last year.

In December, a 27-year-old Egyptian Christian was jailed for three years for posting online an anti-Islam film that ignited Muslim protests around the world. In November, seven Egyptian Christians living abroad were sentenced to death in absentia for participating in the video.

A court sentenced Egyptian comic actor Adel Imam, renownedacross the Arab world, to three months in jail and a fine of 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($150) in April for insulting Islam in his films and plays. Imam was acquitted on appeal.

Ziedan said such cases, including his own, were a sign of the times. “I see the case, like many other former ones against writers and creative people, as a form of pressure that has become a trend in the Brotherhood's world.”

Also see:  The Epoch Times  and  Time out Bahrain.


Monday, February 25, 2013

General Thomas Pinckney


Thomas Pinckney
Captain, 1st South Carolina Regiment
Governor of South Carolina
Minister to Great Britain
Envoy Extraordinary to Spain
Federalist Party nominee for Vice President
Congressman from South Carolina
Major General, U.S. Army, War of 1812.



(Editor's Note - For a change of pace this winter we will do profiles of some of the Federalists who helped create this great nation. They gave us Liberty. But would they even recognize the centralized authoritarian and socialistic Big Brother nation that calls itself the United States?)



Thomas Pinckney (October 23, 1750 – November 2, 1828) was an early American statesman, diplomat and veteran of both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Early life in the military

Pinckney was born in Charleston, South Carolina, where his father, Charles Pinckney, was a prominent colonial official. When Pinckney was 3, his father brought the family to Great Britain on colonial business, and after his father's death in 1758, Pinckney continued his education in Great Britain and France.

He returned to South Carolina in 1774 and became an ardent Patriot in the American Revolution. In 1775 he was commissioned as captain in the 1st South Carolina Regiment of the Continental Army.

During the War of Independence his early training at the French military college at Caen enabled him to render effective service to General Benjamin Lincoln in 1778-79, to Count d'Estaing (1779), to General Lincoln in the defence of Charleston and afterwards he became an aide-de-camp to General Horatio Gates.

In the disastrous Battle of Camden in 1780 Pinckney was badly wounded and captured.  He remained a prisoner of war with the British for more than a year.

After recovering from his wounds, he was released in a prisoner exchange. In 1781 he fought under Lafayette in Virginia.
A Political Family.
Thomas Pinckney's brother General Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney (above) and his cousin
Charles Pinckney were both signers of
the United States Constitution.  Charles
Cotesworth was twice the nominee of the
Federalist Party for President.

Postbellum and Politics

After the war, Pinckney spent some years running his plantations before he returned to politics. Pinckney was the 36th Governor of South Carolina from 1787 to 1789, most notably presiding over the state convention that ratified the new U.S. Constitution, and then served in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1791.

He was appointed by President George Washington to be the U.S. minister (ambassador) to Great Britain in 1792. While there, he was unable to get British concessions on issues such as impressment or the Northwest frontier forts, so that Washington sent John Jay as a special envoy to negotiate the controversial Jay Treaty. For part of his tenure (1794–1795) as ambassador in Britain, Pinckney also served as Envoy Extraordinary to Spain.

Pinckney arranged the Treaty of San Lorenzo, also known as Pinckney's Treaty, with Spain in 1795.  By that treaty the boundary between the United States and East and West Florida and between the United States and "Louisiana" was settled (Spain relinquishing all claims east of the Mississippi above 31 degrees north latitude), and the United States secured the freedom of navigation of the Mississippi to its mouth with the right of deposit at New Orleans for three years, after which the United States was to have the same right either at New Orleans or at some other place on the Mississippi to be designated by Spain.

Pinckney's diplomatic success with Spain made him popular at home, and on his return the Federalist Party made him their candidate in the 1796 presidential election (as the intended running-mate of John Adams). While Adams won the presidential election, complicated scheming to ensure that Pinckney would have more presidential votes than Adams ended up making their opponent Thomas Jefferson vice-president and Pinckney finish in third place in the presidential race. At the time, there were no distinct electoral votes for President and Vice-President.

Pinckney was elected as a Federalist to the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William L. Smith, and he served from November 1797 to March 1801. While in Congress, Pinckney served as one of the managers appointed by the House in 1798 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against William Blount.

Pinckney served as a major general in the United States Army during the War of 1812. His last public role before his death in Charleston was as president general of the Society of the Cincinnati (1825–1828).

Pinckney died in Charleston, South Carolina and is interred in St. Philip’s Churchyard.

Family

His father, Charles Pinckney, was Chief Justice of South Carolina and his mother, Eliza Lucas, was prominent for introducing the cultivation of Indigo to the colonies.

His brother Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and his cousin Charles Pinckney were signers of the United States Constitution.

He was married twice, first to Elizabeth Motte and second to her sister, Frances, the widow of John Middleton, a cousin of Arthur Middleton. Both Elizabeth and Frances were daughters of Rebecca Brewton Motte.


Battle of Camden in South Carolina.
Thomas Pinckney fought, was seriously wounded and became a POW at the Battle of Camden.  The battle was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War.  On August 16, 1780, British forces under Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis routed the American forces of Major General Horatio Gates about 10 km (five miles) north of Camden, South Carolina, strengthening the British hold on the Carolinas following the capture of Charleston.







(www.nndb.com)      (Thomas Pinckney)

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Life, Liberty and Property.
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“Citizens choose your sides. You who are for French notions of government; for the tempestuous sea of anarchy and misrule; for arming the poor against the rich; for fraternizing with the foes of God and man; go to the left and support the leaders, or the dupes, of the anti-federal junto. But you that are sober, industrious, thriving, and happy, give your votes for those men who mean to preserve the union of the states, the purity and vigor of our excellent Constitution, the sacred majesty of the laws, and the holy ordinances of religion.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - A New York Federalist Newspaper (Spring of 1800)


The Federalist Party was the first American political party. The Federalists operated from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System. Remnants of the Party lasted into the late 1820s. The Federalists totally controlled the Federal government until 1801.

The party was formed by Alexander Hamilton, who, during George Washington's first term, built a network of supporters, largely urban bankers and businessmen, to support his Conservative fiscal policies. These supporters grew into the Federalist Party committed to a fiscally sound and nationalistic government. The United States' only Federalist President was John Adams; although George Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist program, he remained an independent his entire presidency.

Read some profiles of the great Federalist leaders who helped build a free United States.
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THE FEDERALIST - Josiah Quincy III - Federalist Patriot
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THE FEDERALIST - Robert Goodloe Harper - "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."

THE FEDERALIST - Edmund Randolph - Founding Father

THE FEDERALIST - Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge - George Washington's Spy

THE FEDERALIST - Colonel John Hoskins Stone

THE FEDERALIST - Revolutionary War General Henry Lee

THE FEDERALIST - John Quincy Adams

THE FEDERALIST - Thomas Jefferson and political attack ads