This seems a little creepy to me…

I can’t quite place it but this seems a little creepy to me.

yikes!

What do you guys think?

Ron Paul TV ad

and if you want to hear Mitt Romney get slammed by a radio host (who then decided to vote for Ron Paul) check THIS out.

Why do we borrow money and give it countries that don’t need it?

Okay. I have to get something off my chest. This has been bugging me for a few days and I need to write about it.

The U.S. supports Israel and we are all great buddies. I get that. It is good to have allies. They were a bit less of a drag during the Cold War. But still, I can see how these things drag on.

But then Mearsheimer and Walt (two highly respected political scientists)published a book titled The Israel Lobby. All of a sudden these two highly respected scholars are being called conspiracy theorists and fools. What is going on here? I had to get this book immediately. I have to confess, I have not read all of it yet so I will not try to recreate their arguments. A German TV show (posted to YouTube) summed up the controversy around the book very nicely.

Here is the thing about the U.S./Israel relationship that really chaps me. The U.S. gives Israel almost $3 Billion a year. Not loans. Grants. Free money. We don’t give that kind of money to anybody. And this has been going on for decades. This made some sense when Israel was just getting established after WWII. But now they are among the top 25 countries in GDP per capita. That is higher than Greece. Not bad for them.

Here is the break down from the January 2, 2008 CRS Report for Congress titled, U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel.

Now, last time I checked we Americans have been running a pretty big deficit. That means the government has to borrow money to make up the difference. So we borrow money (and pay interest) so we can give it too Israel (not a loan) when they don’t even need it in the first place. Personally, I don’t like running a deficit for anything. If we happen to run a surplus, I would have no problem helping out a truly poor country. But to borrow money to give it to Israel makes absolutely no sense. We are on the verge of a recession and this is our policy?

So can someone please answer this question for me? Why do we borrow money to give it to countries that don’t need it?

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Correction: the video was Dutch (not German as someone pointed out)

Afterwards: (after reading 60+ comments that is)

This author (and web site) is in no way Anti-Semitic.

The illustration pictured above is a “piggy-bank” and is in no way a slight to the Jewish Faith. I don’t care what religions are practiced in other countries, I care about where my tax money is going. If it isn’t staying in my country, I want to know why.

This article is about economics and foreign policy, not about religion and ethnicity.

Some have commented that we pay for the military presence in the region. THERE ARE NO AMERICAN BASES IN ISRAEL. There are bases in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

If anything, wouldn’t it make more sense for Israel to pay the U.S. for continued friendship and having their backs?

Ron Paul Finishes Second in Nevada!

Great Article in the LA Times:

“Hidden behind all the hoopla, headlines and the Nevada caucus victories of Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton is one little-noticed but stunning political development and number:

Ron Paul, the one-time Libertarian candidate and 10-term Republican congressman from Texas, was in second place. That’s right, Second Place… ahead of all other Republicans except Romney.”

Read the rest of the LA Times article here.

But what about the rest of the media? What are they saying about his success? A quick perusal of Reddit showed me:
Nevada ABC News Lies About Ron Paul’s 2nd Place Finish.
The NY Times Is Anti-Ron Paul showed me that NY Times did not even mention him in the overall results.

What the heck? Even If I didn’t like his politics I would vote for Ron Paul just to fight back against media giants that think they can control how I think. But the reality is that I am very much in support of Ron Paul and the revival of the constitution in our nation’s politics. If you don’t know what he stands for yet, check it out.

If you want to help, go here and then vote for him in your state’s upcoming primary.

Game time!!!

Check out the greatest (free) computer game ever made!!!

Click HERE.

Brought to you by Carnegie Mellon University. (So blame them, I am only the messenger)

Domestic violence registry? How far will this go?

A little while ago I wrote a post about the gun offender registry in Baltimore. I made fun of the idea that there would be other criminal registries coming soon. Turns out I wasn’t as funny as I thought.

Now California is jumping on that train with a domestic violence registry!

Here are some excerpts from the Ledger.

The lawmaker, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, the San Francisco Democrat who is the majority whip, introduced a bill last week to create an online database of men and women convicted of domestic violence in California.

The database would log the names of domestic violence offenders convicted of a felony or two misdemeanors, dates of birth, locations of convictions and other information. Unlike public registers of sex offenders, the database would not list addresses. It would, however, indicate how to obtain a restraining order.

First of all, I am not an advocate for domestic violence in any way. But how far is this going to go? This will be populated with misdemeanors as well as felony convictions. Do we really give up all of our rights when we are arrested for something?

Business and shopping opportunities in North Korea

Looking for a new gift for a loved one? Or perhaps a good source of imports for that boutique you have always wanted? Don’t look any further! The answer is found in the happy-go-lucky land of North Korea!

For a truly diverse shopping experience, the DPRK is now offering a variety of goods for you! From cosmetics to cars, crabs to mini-submarines there are an endless selection of great items to choose from. Just check out the Official Business Webpage of the DPRK for all the great opportunities that await you.

No woman feels lovelier than these factory workers when they wear North Korean cosmetics! On the job (only 17 hours a day) or out on the town (before curfew at a state-sanctioned party gathering) these products are among the best in the world. The joys of looking like you live on more than 8 ounces of rice a day can be yours too with North Korean cosmetics.

But lets on forget about those great boats! These high-speed vessels are perfect for all you near-shore military or militia needs. If subtlety is more your style, choose from one of many styles of mini-subs for those “special” trips to the Japanese coast. You can fit more than one Japanese kidnap victim in one of these little treasures.

If there is one thing North Koreans are known for, it is their sense of style and love of the fine things in life. Be sure to check out the spring collection of hand made garments from the DPRK. Look at the unmatched style and quality of this item! They might not eat very well in North Korea, but they sure do dress nicely. China might make all the clothes in Wal*mart but they don’t offer anything as stylish as this piece.

What ever you need to start your small business or to arm your militia, the DPRK is the place to go.

INFORMATION SECURITY BREACH AT TSA

There is an absolutely astonishing report from the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The new report on the TSA is a horrifying example of a government bureaucracy that is out of control and operating without proper restraint.

Here is the Executive Summary:

In October 2006, the Transportation Security Administration launched a website to help travelers whose names were erroneously listed on airline watch lists. This redress website had multiple security vulnerabilities: it was not hosted on a government domain; its homepage was not encrypted; one of its data submission pages was not encrypted; and its encrypted pages were not properly certified. These deficiencies exposed thousands of American travelers to potential identity theft. After an internet blogger identified these security vulnerabilities in February 2007, the website was taken offline and replaced by a website hosted on a Department of Homeland Security domain. At the request of Chairman Henry Waxman, Committee staff have been investigating how TSA could have launched a website that violated basic operating standards of web security and failed to protect travelers’ sensitive personal information. As this report describes, these security breaches can be traced to TSA’s poor acquisition practices, conflicts of interest, and inadequate oversight. The report finds: • TSA awarded the website contract without competition. TSA gave a small, Virginia-based contractor called Desyne Web Services a no-bid contract to design and operate the redress website. According to an internal TSA investigation, the “Statement of Work” for the contract was “written such that Desyne Web was the only vendor that could meet program requirements.” • The TSA official in charge of the project was a former employee of the contractor. The TSA official who was the “Technical Lead” on the website project and acted as the point of contact with the contractor had an apparent conflict of interest. He was a former employee of Desyne Web Services and regularly socialized with Desyne’s owner. • TSA did not detect the website’s security weaknesses for months. The redress website was launched on October 6, 2006, and was not taken down until after February 13, 2007, when an internet blogger exposed the security vulnerabilities. During this period, TSA Administrator Hawley testified before Congress that the agency had assured “the privacy of users and the security of the system” before its launch. Thousands of individuals used the insecure website, including at least 247 travelers who submitted large amounts of personal information through an insecure webpage. • TSA did not provide sufficient oversight of the website and the contractor. The internal TSA investigation found that there were problems with the “planning, development, and operation” of the website and that the program managers were “overly reliant on contractors for information technology expertise” and had failed to properly oversee the contractor, which as a result, “made TSA vulnerable to non-performance and poor quality work by the contractor.”Neither Desyne nor the Technical Lead on the traveler redress website has been sanctioned by TSA for their roles in the deployment of an insecure website. TSA continues to pay Desyne to host and maintain two major web-based information systems: TSA’s claims management system and a government-wide traveler redress program. TSA has taken no steps to discipline the Technical Lead, who still holds a senior program management position at TSA.

I am bothered by the poor handling of the personal data and the breach of public trust. But on a larger level, I consider the extreme corruption of this case more than disturbing considering that this is the agency that is supposedly “protecting” us from another terrorist attack from the sky.

Let me illustrate this by looking to the military. To gain a security clearance in the military, an extensive background investigation is conducted for each individual. The point of the investigation can be boiled down to two questions that determine one’s suitability to be trusted with sensitive information. One, does the individual have a past history that demonstrates untrustworthiness? Two, does the individual have areas in their lives that could give a foreign spy the ability to coerce the individual to give up classified information by threatening to embarrass or expose them? Both of these question could be asked of the TSA and they would fail.

This is not an agency that can be trusted to keep us safe!

Full report can be found HERE

The media blackout continues…

I just watched the NBC Eleven O’Clock news as they covered the FOX Debate story. Each candidate was given a short mention with a clip from the debate. Oops, I’m sorry did I say each candidate? Ron Paul was not mentioned AT ALL!

But maybe they were only showing clips from the leading candidates. Oh wait, that isn’t it because they wasted my time with Thompson and Rudy.

Also no mention of the text message poll winner (also Ron Paul). At least Fox News acknowledged Paul as the winner even if only so the commentator could point out that he felt Paul was the loser.

Yet somehow Paul keeps getting votes. Amazing. I can’t wait to see the results of the NH recount (if it happens).

 

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This is not good

HERE is the video from Princeton University showing how easy it is to hack the Diebold voting machine and steal an election.