Non-News // Current TV

Blackwater Expanding Its Domestic Reach

Mike Papantonio of Air America's Ring of Fire talks about how the private mercenary firm Blackwater USA is expanding its projects to include domestic services, which could be disastrous if they act as they've acted in Iraq.

“Most people know the basic facts behind the Blackwater story. They may have read a few facts about how that mercenary organization was started by a phenomenally rich multimillionaire inheritance baby named Erik Prince. For decades, Prince’s daddy wooed all of his political friends by spreading millions of dollars around to conservative think-tanks and ultra-right religious infrastructures that helped shape the now floundering neo-con revolution.

Today, the Prince family’s private army numbers about 25,000 strong. They have their own inventory of aircraft, tanks, helicopter gunships, amphibious assault crafts and ammunition stashes that rival the armies of many Third World countries.

Soldiers enlisted in the US military get paid about $70 a day to put themselves in harm’s way while Mr. Prince’s private family soldier is paid around $1,500 a day for the same risks.

The numbers of Prince family mercenaries have mushroomed in these last eight years. Each of the mercenaries know they cannot be court-martialed when they break the law. And to this day, the lawyers for the Prince family soldiers are still arguing that these mercenaries can’t be prosecuted under traditional criminal and civil US Statutes.

Dwight Eisenhower made it clear on numerous occasions that no military machine should ever be allowed to gain independent unchecked power in America. Eisenhower developed his fears of unchecked military power at a time that he could not even visualize an entity as creepy and unregulated as this Prince private army.

Private armies were rare in the US during Eisenhower’s service as a soldier. And that was at a time when America’s public military had shown that it was capable of winning two World Wars without the help of American mercenaries.

As you might expect, the congressmen and advocacy groups that are trying to shut Blackwater down are being branded as un-American, unpatriotic liberals by the Prince family loyalists. But they would need to roll Eisenhower into that list of unpatriotic objectors.

They would also need to add the names of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to their list of un-American types. Both of them also warned us about the unchecked expansion of a military of any kind, public or private.

Washington put it this way: “Overgrown military establishments under any form of government are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”

As I write this column, Blackwater is using part of the billion plus dollars they have been paid in mostly no-bid contracts to expand what they call their domestic operations division. That part of Prince’s private army will be able to defy the 130-year old policy of posse comitatus that says that a standing military may not carry out active operations on US soil.

More than a few of those so called un-American congresspeople have voiced concerns that Blackwater has reached a level of overgrown and unchecked power that make them capable of overpowering the military of many of the world’s governments. Blackwater spokesmen tell us that their mercenaries operate under a pledge of strict loyalty and patriotism. But take time to follow the story about this mercenary group and you will wonder who or what entity actually benefits from that loyalty pledge.”Mike Papantonio of Air America's Ring of Fire talks about how the private... more

WhiteNoise
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Christian Evangenlicals Going undercover at Gay Events

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Rerouting shower and sink WATER for toilet use

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gaia

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Greetings from your new green guide

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Repower America

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Obama 'accessory' to war crimes if no prosecution

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Thomas Jefferson was probably the first Hemp activist.

America’s first declaration of independence was also first printed on Hemp paper

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Zombie Apocalypse

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fellow potheads forums - flock to talk about how awesome weed is.

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What will Obama do in Iraq?

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Marijuana Reform is on the Progressive Agenda, So Why the recent raids?

Marijuana-reform activists have swarmed Obama's Change.gov, and huge majorities voted for pot reform in election '08, but no change yet from Obama. In August, we witnessed House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during a live interview with CNN; spoke candidly and openly about her support for marijuana-law reform. Surprisingly she called on the public to act.
One only has to log on to the thousands of public comments, both for and against, marijuana-law reform on the message board of Change.gov and Change.org to see that Americans are pining for, if nothing else, an honest review of our nation's so-called war on drugs. The public has expressed its support for marijuana-law reform in unprecedented numbers. The election of former pot smoker, Barack "I inhaled frequently; that was the point" Obama, coupled with a sagging economy, has stimulated tens of thousands of Americans to demand their government stop spending its limited state and federal law enforcement resources on efforts targeting, arresting and prosecuting marijuana smokers.
The overwhelming popularity of the marijuana reform issue — as manifested on Change.gov, Change.org — illustrates two important points. One: there is a significant, vocal, and identifiable segment of our society that wants to see an end to America¹s archaic and overly punitive marijuana laws. Two: the American public is ready and willing to engage in a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing the use of cannabis by adults.
Just in December, the question: "Will (President Obama) consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar-industry right here in the U.S.?" beat over 7,300 public-policy issues to claim the top spot in Change.gov's inaugural "Open for Questions" poll. (Change.gov, now WhiteHouse.gov, was the official Web site of President Obama's transition team.) The administrations response to the Change.gov poll, “President Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana."
The actions of the Justice Department last week involving DEA officials who raided the office of a California medical marijuana provider, as well as two medical grow houses in Colorado, were even less expected. These busts have outraged many drug-law-reform advocates, who were quick to point out that the new president had pledged on the campaign trail not to use Justice Department resources to circumvent state medical marijuana laws. Many news outlets also were quick to voice criticism toward the new administration for continuing with the federal raids, noting that these aggressive actions possess little to no public support.
Of course, it is not yet known whether Obama directly authorized the DEA raids. (Both the DOJ and the DEA are staffed, in large part, by holdovers from the Bush regime.) That said, there's also no indication that anyone at DOJ or DEA has been admonished for their behavior either. Obama's silence on the issue so far may be telling. It may also be politically detrimental.
Rather than ignore the public's calls for drug-policy reform, the new administration ought to be embracing it. After all, many of the same voters that put Barack Obama in the White House also voted by wide margins in November to liberalize marijuana laws in two states -- Michigan and Massachusetts -- and in nearly a dozen municipalities nationwide. The public can make the change occur; President Obama has preached that from day one. For the incoming administration and for Congress, it is a political opportunity. The public is ready for change; in fact, they are demanding it. Are their representatives listening? Only then can we join forces to undo the damage caused by America's longest and costliest war, the so-called war on drugs.Marijuana-reform activists have swarmed Obama's Change.gov, and huge majorities... more

Andre22
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burning water. not the first time

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Islamist Racism & Opression of LGBT - Iran: Gay Teens Executed by Hanging

recall: AHMADINEJAD said there are "NO GAYS IN IRAN"

In the city of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran, two gay teens have been executed. One was 18 and the other is thought to have been 16 or 17. First they were lashed 228 times, though. Not long after the execution there were howls of outrage from the Iranian parliament - not at the execution itself, but at the temerity of journalists to report it.

Direland reports:

Consensual gay sex in any form is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to the website Age of Consent, which monitors such laws around the world, in Iran “Homosexuality is illegal, those charged with love-making Irangay_teens_2 are given a choice of four deathstyles: being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword, or dropped from the highest perch.

According to Article 152, if two men not related by blood are discovered naked under one cover without good reason, both will be punished at a judge’s discretion. Gay teens (Article 144) are also punished at a judge’s discretion. Rubbing one’s penis between the thighs without penetration (tafheed) shall be punished by 100 lashes for each offender. This act, known to the English-speaking world as frottage,’ is punishable by death if the ‘offender’ is a non-Muslim. If frottage is thrice repeated and penalty-lashes have failed to stop such repetitions, upon the fourth ‘offense’ both men will be put to death.

According to Article 156, a person who repents and confesses his gay behavior prior to his identification by four witnesses, may be pardoned. Even kissing ‘with lust’ (Article 155) is forbidden. This bizarre law works to eliminate old Persian male-bonding customs, including common kissing and holding hands in public.” And Outrage, in its release about the gay teens’ execution, noted that, “according to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979. Last August, a 16-year-old girl was hanged for ‘acts incompatible with chastity.’”recall: AHMADINEJAD said there are "NO GAYS IN IRAN" In the city of... more

derek901
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3 years ago
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Conservapedia: Brown and Black People are "Savage Beasts"

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