Ron Paul followers gathering for own convention

WASHINGTON – There's no room at the Xcel Energy Center for maverick Ron Paul, so his acolytes have packed their cars, hitched rides on "Ronvoys" and will pitch tents at Ronstock '08 in Minneapolis in defiance of next week's GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.

More than 9,700 tickets had been sold for the Rally for the Republic, which seeks to bring together activists who are anti-war, anti-government regulation, anti-immigration, anti-taxes, anti-Federal Reserve, anti-outsourcing, pro-individual liberty, pro-civil liberties and pro-Paul.

Entire Article: http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080830/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_gop_ron_paul

2081 Trailer

Based on the short story Harrison Bergeron by celebrated author Kurt Vonnegut, 2081 depicts a dystopian future in which, thanks to the 212th Amendment to the Constitution and the unceasing vigilance of the United States Handicapper General, everyone is finally equal... The strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the intelligent wear earpieces that fire off loud noises to keep them from taking unfair advantage of their brains. It is a poetic tale of triumph and tragedy about a broken family, a brutal government, and an act of defiance that changes everything.

Featuring an original score performed by the world-renowned Kronos Quartet (Requiem for a Dream) and narration by Academy Award Nominee Patricia Clarkson (Far From Heaven, Goodnight and Good Luck), 2081 stars James Cosmo (Braveheart, Trainspotting, Narnia), Julie Hagerty (Airplane!, What About Bob?) and Armie Hammer (Justice League).

US bank "to fail within months"

The global financial crisis is set to get worse, with a large US bank likely to collapse in the next few months, a former IMF chief economist has warned.

BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7569903.stm

Kenneth Rogoff's comments came as shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sank on a report that the home lenders would, in effect, be nationalised.

Despite hopes that the US economy had turned the corner, Mr Rogoff claimed it was "not out of the woods".

"I would even go further to say 'the worst is to come'," he said.

"We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months," said Mr Rogoff, who held the IMF role between 2001 and 2004.

"We're going to see a whopper, we're going to see a big one, one of the big investment banks or big banks."

Speaking at a conference in Singapore, Mr Rogoff, now an economics professor at Harvard, forecast that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would "probably" not exist in their present form in a few years.

"We have to see more consolidation in the financial sector before this is over."

On Monday, shares of Fannie Mae fell more than 22%, or $1.76, to close at $6.15. Shares of Freddie Mac fell almost 25%, or $1.46, to $4.39.

'Wrong move'

Shares in Freddie and Fannie first fell sharply last month on fears that they would run out of money to fund their business, forcing the US government to take radical steps to ease the panic.

The two firms are the backbone of the US mortgage market as almost all US lenders rely on them to buy their mortgages in order to access the funds to lend to consumers.

As mortgage guarantors, they must pay out when homeowners default on their loans.

With the housing market across the US crumbling, their finances have come under severe stress.

Problems in the US housing sector prompted the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates to 2% earlier this year.

But Mr Rogoff said the Fed was wrong to cut interest rates as "dramatically" as it did.

"Cutting interest rates is going to lead to a lot of inflation in the next few years in the United States," he added.

Fox News Reporter Interviews About His Encounter With DNC Protesters

Where to start. For one, it's Faux. That speaks for itself and I don't really need to say more but will anyway.

They (corporate media) always pick out the people wearing funny masks, people who look different, people who scream and cuss, and so on to showcase in their segments. And by doing that, obviously, the unfortunate people who actually watch Faux think that everyone there is like that. And for the most part, those people acting out negatively at the DNC are provocateurs or college students that have nothing better to do. And of course Bill O chimes in with his "these are anarchist, they hate America" shtick. But guess what Bill? Sometimes when people are pissed off and tired of getting lied to, they tend to revolt, and you act surprised that Faux's street puppet Griff gets roughed up a bit. Faux and it's media whores deserve everything that's coming to them.

And Griff Jenkin spouting that Obama, "one of the most liberal senator's out there", is for getting us out of Iraq. Wrong Griff, he's not. And learn what the friggin definition of liberal is. Getting us out of Iraq would be a conservative thing to do.

New Whatcom Campaign For Liberty Forum!

Go there and sign-up!

http://s1.zetaboards.com/Whatcom_CFL/index/

A New Rush to Spy

There is apparently no limit to the Bush administration's desire to invade Americans' privacy in the name of national security. According to members of Congress, Attorney General Michael Mukasey is preparing to give the F.B.I. broad new authority to investigate Americans - without any clear basis for suspicion that they are committing a crime.

















During his congressional confirmation hearings, Michael Mukasey testified that he would act independently of the White House. (Photo: AFP / Getty Images)


Opening the door to sweeping investigations of this kind would be an invitation to the government to spy on people based on their race, religion or political activities. Before Mr. Mukasey goes any further, Congress should insist that the guidelines be fully vetted, and it should make certain that they do not pose a further threat to Americans' civil liberties.

Mr. Mukasey has not revealed the new guidelines. But according to senators whose staff have been given limited briefings, the rules may also authorize the F.B.I. to use an array of problematic investigative techniques. Among these are pretext interviews, in which agents do not honestly represent themselves while questioning a subject's neighbors and work colleagues.

Four Democratic Senators - Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts - have written to Mr. Mukasey and urged him not to sign the guidelines until they are publicly announced and national security and civil liberties experts have had a chance to analyze them.

We concur, and we would add that there should be full Congressional hearings so Americans can learn what new powers the government intends to take on.

The F.B.I. has a long history of abusing its authority to spy on domestic groups, including civil rights and anti-war activists, and there is a real danger that the new rules would revive those dark days.

Clearly, the Bush administration cannot be trusted to get the balance between law enforcement and civil liberties right. It has repeatedly engaged in improper and illegal domestic spying - notably in the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping program.

The F.B.I. and the White House no doubt want to push the changes through before a new president is elected. There is no reason to rush to adopt rules that have such important civil liberties implications.

McCain: "In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations."

Bush's foreign policy in 2000

Child Identification Program (CHIP) at Northwest Washington Fair

Here is a video I made and an article from the Bellingham Herald.

Child Identification Program offered at Fair

SABELLE DILLS
August 11, 2008 http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/493368.html

LYNDEN - Parents attending the Northwest Washington Fair through Saturday, Aug. 16, are encouraged to visit the Whatcom County Sheriff's booth north of the grandstand to enroll their children in the Child Identification Program (CHIP).

The purpose of the program is to provide identification records for families in the event their child becomes lost, missing or kidnapped, said Richard Decima, master of Lynden Masonic Lodge.

The program has provided records for more than 200,000 children and their families. All records are given to families for individual privacy and security. The records are not kept by the Lynden Masonic Lodge, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office or the Lynden Police Department, Decima said.

The procedure takes about 15 minutes and includes taking fingerprints, tooth impressions, a DNA swab from the inside of the child's cheek and a brief video interview that answers key information about the child and can be quickly distributed to media in case of an emergency, Decima said.

The program is free and the first 600 children who participate will be given a free ice cream cone at the Darigold booth.

Here is a photo a buddy just made.