Establishment Media Whores Desperate to Trash the Tea Party Movement

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!
Mark Matheny
October 16, 2010

It is apparent that the media shills for Obama and his democratic gang are getting orders from the top to attack the Tea Party Movement by any means necessary to gain a footing in the coming midterm elections.

One instance of this agenda by left-leaning media comes from an article on the Huffington Post on Oct. 15, 2010 where the article titled "Crashing the Tea Party Joyride" derides the movement for their ideals of "Fiscal responsibility! Constitutionally limited government!(and) Free markets!". Oh my God, what horrible ideals! (if you're a fan of Obama anyway.) Although the article does not state the source for the Tea Party beliefs of these ideals, they are the same ideals of the Tea Party Patriots listed on their website.

The article goes on to paint the idea that the Tea Party movement is somehow a drifting bunch of fanatical revolutionary rebels without a cause saying:

The Tea Party is taking a joyride through the world of American ideals. Along the way, it has grabbed the best revolutionary symbols, the cinematic frustration of the masses, and an irreproachable sounding plan (Fiscal responsibility! Constitutionally limited government! Free markets! Yay!)...

Judging from the demographics, the Tea Party is the last act of the cynical Boomers, hence, a vision of government that doesn't go beyond shouting and a soundtrack. Their story has no characters or plot. It ends with the Winnebago driving off the cliff. How romantic and awesome! And then what?

According to the Tea Party Patriot organization's own site however, they are certainly focused and have a determined goal:

Our Philosophy

Tea Party Patriots as an organization believes in the Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets. Tea Party Patriots, Inc. is a non-partisan grassroots organization of individuals united by our core values derived from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill Of Rights as explained in the Federalist Papers. We recognize and support the strength of grassroots organization powered by activism and civic responsibility at a local level. We hold that the United States is a republic conceived by its architects as a nation whose people were granted "unalienable rights" by our Creator. Chiefly among these are the rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Tea Party Patriots stand with our founders, as heirs to the republic, to claim our rights and duties which preserve their legacy and our own. We hold, as did the founders, that there exists an inherent benefit to our country when private property and prosperity are secured by natural law and the rights of the individual.

And despite the fact that men like Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) has consistantly shown a very clear picture of what the GOP should consist of, -True Fiscal responsibility, starting with an audit of the "Non Federal -No Reserves" Marxist Central Bank. He has consistantly denounced the idea of invading countries with out a congressional declaration of war, and has consistantly talked of cutting unnecessary spending within our over-bloated government.( I am reminded of the election debate of 2008 where Ron defends his platform excellently against the media, Democrats and the Rinos):



Ron Paul has also been against all of the robbery under the guise of bailouts that have passed, and has been consistantly backed by the Tea Party Movement (which is really nothing more than the average American who is fed up with the games in Washington -Period!)

I only Chose Ron Paul because of his consistancy and integrity, and not because I look at him as the leader of the Tea Party group. The fact is, there is no particular leader in the movement. Every person in the movement has come along because of their own sense of leadership within themselves.

And yet, the left seems to be terrified of the possible changes which may come, if the Tea Party movement takes hold in the House and Senate this coming November.

But the Huffington article goes on to say incorrectly:

Their problem is that they actually prefer Bill O'Reilly to the Bill of Rights.

That is a laugh if I've ever heard one! Most of the Tea Party element that I've talked to are of the opinion that Bill O'reilly is just another shill for the Neoconservatives, and are as critical of his "no spin" nonsense as left-wing media opponents!

The article goes on to incorrectly tie the Tea Party Movement to the Establishment Neo conservatives like Newt Gingrich and Carl Rove - both of which push or have pushed globalism and elitism! The Tea Party element understands this and has been critical of both of these men as well!

The Agenda behind this gross- misrepresentation of an article is to tie the Tea Party movement to the very group of Neocons that the Tea Party Movement is uprooting and routing out of the ranks!

The article then turns to the democratic side accusing the left of not supporting their commander in chief enough, and calls for a more concerted effort stating at the end of the article

The Tea Party wants a knife fight and we've been showing up with chop sticks. This has to change.

The only correction I would put to the last statement is that the Tea Party movement has not shown up a knife to fight its battle, but with the Constitution!

The Huffington Post also has chosen to attack Christine O Donnell in another article titled Christine O'Donnell Stumped When Asked To Name A Recent Supreme Court Decision She Disagrees With (VIDEO) . The article is just another vain attempt to malign a worthy opponent of their leftist agenda to keep Democratic power for their "annointed One":

In the Delaware Senate debate Wednesday night, Republican Christine O'Donnell tripped up and was unable to name a single recent Supreme Court decision she disagreed with, a moment similar to an infamous 2008 gaffe by Sarah Palin.
During the debate, O'Donnell said she opposed activist judges, citing the recent court decision ordering an immediate halt to military discharges because Don't Ask, Don't Tell. But when the moderators asked her to name a recent Supreme Court decision with which she disagreed, she was unable to name a single one:

Here is the video of the debate:

Okay, let's say she did have a moment where, right of the top of her head she could not come with an answer. Is that any worse than the "Fearless Leader of the increasingly less than free world's" stumbling moment at a townhall event?

I don't remember seeing this video on the Huffington Post.

It is apparent that in reading the "tea leaves", the future for both Democrats and Republicans may be one of "Change" - change we CAN believe in!
TEA ANYONE?

Watch a Video version of this article at :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuijuxoEwik

Ventura In heated 9/11 Truth Debate: WTC “Didn’t Collapse, It Exploded”

Second Series of Conspiracy Theory airs tonight
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.comOct 15, 2010

Former Governor of Minnesota, ex-Navy SEAL and retired pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura raised some important unanswered questions regarding the 9/11 attacks in a heated exchange on national television yesterday.

Ventura was appearing on Eric Bolling’s Fox Business News show, “Follow The Money”, to promote the second series of his extremely popular Conspiracy Theory show which begins on Tru TV tonight at 10pm.
“The Gulf of Tonkin Incident never happened. Well 58,000 of my generation died over something that was a lie… this one’s a lie too.” an irate Ventura told Bolling following the interview in reference to the 9/11 attacks.

As Bolling attempted to dismiss Ventura’s questions, the former Governor simply repeatedly asked “how much study have you done on 9/11?”

The interview turned heated as Ventura was defending the constitutional right for the establishment of a mosque at ground zero in New York.

Bolling, clearly agitated by Ventura’s position, stated “3000 people died there on 9/11″.
“And who really killed them? WHO REALLY KILLED THEM?” Ventura interjected.
“How can you go there?” Bolling replied, demanding Ventura explain his position on 9/11.
Ventura reached into his pocket, pulled out an image of the crumbling World Trade Center towers from 9/11 and asked “You tell me, is that a building collapsing or a building exploding?”
“That is a building exploding. It didn’t collapse, it exploded.” Ventura asserted as Bolling took great pains to explain he was in Manhattan on the day of 9/11 and does not question the official version of events.

Bolling then appeared to suggest that Ventura believes planes never hit the twin towers on 9/11 by stating “I watched the airplane fly into the tower.. are you trying to tell me that didn’t happen?”
Ventura dismissed the notion, stating “I watched it too”, before launching into information overload on the historical context of government sponsored terrorism as a pretext for war and invasion.
The former Governor also gave viewers a teaser regarding the upcoming series of Conspiracy Theory, with a promise of a visual, audible and written confession to the murder of JFK for the first time on network television.

Regular Infowars and Prisonplanet readers will know that Ventura is referring to the deathbed revelations of former Watergate conspirator E Howard Hunt, which has been roundly ignored by the mainstream media for over two years.

Watch the video:

Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor at Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and regular contributor to Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

Prison Planet.tv Members Can Watch Don't Tread On Me Right Now Online - Don't Miss Out! Get Your Subscription Today!


 

National Debt Increases for 53rd Straight Fiscal Year; Jumped $1.65 Trillion in FY 2010

President Barack Obama participates in a youth town hall event broadcast live on BET, CMT and MTV networks, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010, in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

CNSNews.com
Thursday, October 14, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey

(CNSNews.com) - The national debt increased for the 53rd straight fiscal year, jumping $1.65 trillion in fiscal 2010, according to data posted online by the Bureau of the Public Debt and confirmed by a spokesperson for the agency. The bureau is a division of the U.S. Treasury Department.
In the past, there have been times when the federal government has managed to put together strings of years when the national debt fell. This was the case, for example, between 1920 and 1930, when the federal debt declined every year for eleven years before the government began ramping up borrowing and spending in response to the Great Depression.

The bureau says its reporting of the federal debt as of the end of each fiscal year (as posted here) states exactly to the penny the full and actual amount the U.S. government has borrowed as of that date.
The bureau’s comprehensive accounting of the “total public debt outstanding” includes not only that portion of the national debt held by the public in securities such as Treasury bonds but also that portion which is in the form of special government securities (or IOUs) held by elements of the federal government itself such as the Social Security trust fund--from which the Treasury Department has borrowed money in order to pay government expenses not related to Social Security.

Read the entire article

Obama Considering Rule by Executive Order in 2011 ... Seriously ... time to get ready!!

Without reinventing the wheel, this article says it all.... not be legislation, but by REGULATION. We are about to go to war.

 by Ben Johnson
Floydreports.com

This morning, political commentators are paying a great deal of attention to one of the Los Angeles Times’ stories about Barack Obama’s plans for a Republican takeover of Congress. Unfortunately, they are focusing on the wrong one. Most commentators spent the morning quoting the president’s remarks on a black radio program that a GOP-dominated Congress will result in “hand-to-hand combat.” The reality is most of the action will take place behind their backs and over their heads. All indications are, if Obama cannot get his legislative agenda enacted by Congress, he will impose it by decree.

The evidence comes buried elsewhere in today’s L.A. Times in a piece by Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons under the hum-drum headline, “Obama Reshapes Administration for a Fresh Strategy.” The story makes clear the “fresh strategy” borders on government by executive fiat. It begins, “As President Obama remakes his senior staff, he is also shaping a new approach for the second half of his term: to advance his agenda through executive actions he can take on his own, rather than pushing plans through an increasingly hostile Congress.” This rule by divine right of kings is confirmed by no less an Obama insider than David Axelrod, who said, “It’s fair to say that the next phase is going to be less about legislative action than it is about managing the change that we’ve brought.” The Times states candidly:

So the best arena for Obama to execute his plans may be his own branch of government. That means more executive orders, more use of the bully pulpit, and more deployment of his ample regulatory powers and the wide-ranging rulemaking authority of his Cabinet members.  (Emphases added.)

Nicholas and Parsons note how the president has replaced the few appointees with ties to Capitol Hill in place of Chicago insiders. They specifically state the “the Environmental Protection Agency is determined to use its regulatory power…to begin lowering [carbon] emissions, in the absence of congressional action.” In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the EPA could regulate carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act, although the act did not have these “pollutants” in mind. Seizing on this ruling, an anonymous insider who “was not authorized to speak publicly” told the Times, “The ambition is to get a reasonable start” on implementing his extremist vision.

The plan fulfills a threat Obama made earlier this year. The Associated Press reported in June, “The Obama administration says it would prefer that Congress enact climate change legislation, but has used the threat of EPA regulations to goad lawmakers into action.” Within the last week, Congressional Republicans have called the regulations job-killers, and Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia has sponsored a two-year freeze on certain EPA regulations. Now it looks as though the president will run roughshod over Rockefeller, the Republicans, and the will of the American people.

More concerning than the aims to which Obama plans to use unfettered executive fiat power is the circumvention of Congress, and the Constitution, in the first place. William Galston of the Brookings Institution took the LAT Obama will employ this strategy even if Republicans do not take back either House of Congress. “Whether or not the Republicans take over majorities in one or both houses, the margins will be so much narrower that the strategy of putting together a Democratic bill and picking off a handful of Republicans to push it over the top won’t be viable anymore,” he said.

Rather than triangulate, repackage his radicalism, or take an electoral chastening, Obama plans to ram his agenda down the American people’s throats “by any means necessary.”

What will this agenda look like? In part, it is already in place. On illegal immigration, the president has already excluded Congress, several states, and the overwhelming majority of the American people to aggressively promote an Open Borders agenda. A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services draft memo that surfaced this summer contemplated ways to enact “meaningful immigration reform absent legislative action.” Shortly thereafter, an ICE draft memo appeared, instructing all law enforcement – including any “state, local, or tribal officer” – that no one “should not issue detainers against an alien charged only with a traffic-related misdemeanor.” Traffic stops have been one of the most fruitful ways of finding and deporting illegal aliens and make up the heart of Arizona’s S.B. 1070, allowing state and local law enforcement agencies to exercise their federally delegated power in arresting illegal immigrants.

When the Obama administration is not making law, it is busy ignoring it. The New York Times reported that the government simply stopped deporting young illegal aliens this summer – an exemption that applies to 726,000 people – because they may be eligible for the DREAM Act, which Congress has not yet passed (and probably never will). The administration began dismissing virtually all cases against illegals who had not committed any violent crime, letting a potential 17,000 illegals off-the-hook. Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security seems to have let a Congressionally mandated program to assure visa recipients le... – although overstays are the entry point for 40-45 percent of all illegal immigrants in the United States. That is how six of the 9/11 hijackers entered the country. Although Congress supports enforcement, the administration has simply shut down their requests.

Obama has unilaterally decided not to apply equal rights to disenfranchised white voters, dropping all such lawsuits targeting minority organizations. DoJ appointee Julie Fernandez said, “the Obama administration was only interested in bringing…cases that would provide political equality for racial and language minority voters.” Two former, high-ranking DoJ voting rights lawyers have testified the racist arrangement is an official government policy.

The Obama administration has already begun to entertain aspects of the Green Left’s agenda, a trend it will increase in the second half of its first (and, we hope, only) term. The EPA considered, then rejected, banning fishing gear and traditional bullets this summer. Obama has taken steps toward nationalizing millions of acres of land in the American West. In July, the president established the National Ocean Council, staffed with 27 members, by decree. Rep. Sam Farr boasted at the time, “We already have a Clean Air Act and a Clean Water Act. With today’s executive order, President Obama in effect creates a Clean Ocean Act.” Some have written this panel will implement the never-ratified UN Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).

The danger is not merely that the president will enact legislation with the stroke of a pen, like Caesar. It appears likely he will accelerate his trend to pre-empt domestic political questions before the United Nations. I was the first reporter to discover that Obama hauled Arizona before the UN Human Rights Council this summer over the state’s aforementioned immigration law. Last week, the UN’s Global Migration Group issued a new report blasting opponents of Open Borders and welfare for illegal aliens as “xenophobes and racists.” Now, the Justice Department has solicited 11 Latin American nations to w... stating the Arizona law violates the U.S. Constitution – as though any of the parties would know or care. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer called the foreign intervention “incredibly offensive,” adding, “American sovereignty begins in the U.S. Constitution and at the bo...

The Obama administration has already rendered one of these moot and is now working to undermine the other. He has appointed two Supreme Court justices who believe in supplanting the U.S. Constitu....
Obama used the same UN report to push a far-Left agenda (including card-check union organization, bilingual ballots, universal preschool, and gays in the military) under the guise of “human rights.” He likewise extended benefits to the same-sex “partners” of some federal employees in advance of a Congressional bill to do the same.

Where does the president derive these dictatorial powers? Simple: he claims them. Article II of the U.S. Constitution delegates to the president only the powers to act as commander-in-chief of the military, grant pardons, make treaties (which must be approved by the Senate), appoint ambassadors and Supreme Court justices, and give the State of the Union address.

And, if necessary, the “right” to be impeached.

If a system of unelected, sometimes unconfirmed czars does not violate the Constitution, the assumption of imperial powers by the executive branch should.

Barack Obama is dedicated to use whatever time he has in office forcing as much of his agenda on the United States – and so transforming the economic and electoral make-up of our nation – that his radical vision can be foisted upon Americans as a fait accompli.

Many Americans believed the velvet words of hope and change during the 2008 campaign. If the thuggishness of the past two years has not convinced them of his disregard for popular will, the U.S. Constitution, and the rule of law, two years of radical, royal decrees may.

If Congressional Republicans do their jobs in 2011, Obama may not fill out two more years in office.
We had better get it right.
Source:  http://floydreports.com/?p=2425&utm_source=Floyd+Reports&ut...

MSNBC Teleprompter Reader Attempts to Ambush Ron Paul

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
October 14, 2010
It is yet another example of how the corporate media will lie and break agreements in order to accomplish its overarching mission — to denigrate and tear down any political candidate who will endeavor to break the stranglehold of mega-corporations and banks over the political life of the nation.



Earlier in the week Texas Republican Ron Paul ventured into enemy territory when he agreed to appear on the Lawrence O’Donnell show on MSNBC, the same network that ambushed his son and attempted to portray him as a member of the Ku Klux Klan opposed to the Civil Rights Act. The corporate media immediately took its cue from the Maddow “interview” — actually a drive-by attempt at character assassination — and ran back-to-back segments designed to make Paul out to be a racist. The wife of former Federal Reserve mob boss Alan Greenspan, Andrea Mitchell, declared the attempt to destroy Ran Paul was “a game changing interview.” It was nothing of the sort. Rand Paul leads the race in Kentucky.
David Gregory of “Meet the Press” called Rand’s comments “pretty far out view even for those on the right” and professional character assassin Chris Matthews went on “Leno” to bash Paul as “a philosopher and philosophers shouldn’t run for office."

Instead of philosophers, we get a lickspittles for the establishment.
Matthews’ job is to steer people away from the fact that Obama and the Democrats are no different than Bush and the Republicans. Both work for the banksters. Both support forever war and the ongoing effort to erect pyres of dead bodies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and soon enough Iran.
Is it any wonder Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell has refused to be interviewed by the establishment media after it dredged up and ancient video clip and attempted to make her out as a witch?

If you doubt MSNBC is a cheerleader for mass murder in far away lands, consider the fact the network dropped Jesse Ventura like a rock back in 2003 when he dared oppose the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. They canceled “Jesse Ventura’s America” in response to his principled opposition. Obviously, Jesse is too much of a philosopher for MSNBC, a network owned by General Electric. GE is one of the world’s top three producers of jet engines, supplying Boeing, Lockheed Martin and other military aircraft makers for the powering of airplanes and helicopters that kill brown people in “rogue states.”
Lawrence O’Donnell’s lecturing Ron Paul on “freedom” — as mandated by government at gunpoint — is hypocrisy at its worst.

The CIA infiltrated corporate media is not a purveyor of freedom and liberty. It is a slick, multi-billion dollar propaganda apparatus designed to trick people into support the establishment and its foreign wars. The false right-left paradigm exercised 24/7 on the corporate media networks is a distraction. It is a slight of hand devised to distract people as the ruling elite roll out their global slave and surveillance grid.

BIG News: Fed To BOOST Inflation

Uncommonwisdomdaily.com

by Larry Edelson on October 14, 2010

This week, our central bank officials announced that they are actually going to start BOOSTING inflation — by devaluing the dollar, keeping interest rates near zero for as far as the eye can see, printing endless amounts of money, and may even buy assets of various classes to boost overall price levels!
Naturally, gold is exploding again — and the dollar is tanking.



Read more..

Foreclosure Mess Deepens, as Experts Fear that U.S. Has Yet to See the Bottom

By Ruth Ravve

Published October 13, 2010

FoxNews.com

In this Sept, 14, 2010 photo, a house in Homestead, Fla. sits empty, for sale as a foreclosure home in a neighborhood where half of the houses were empty and up for foreclosure (AP).

If you think the U.S. housing market is in bad shape now, prepare yourself for the "tsunami" that's coming. That's what at least one financial expert is saying.

Charles Brown of CB3 Financial says that instead of selling foreclosed homes, banks have been hanging onto them, waiting for the economy to improve. "These banks that have all this pent-up inventory will unleash it on the market, as soon as they see a minor uptick in real estate prices," Brown said, which will, in turn, reduce housing prices even further.

Experts agree that we have not hit rock bottom yet. People are still losing their jobs. Homes are going into foreclosure at a rate of 120,000 a month. Many who feared foreclosure in their future say they tried to work with the banks for "loan modification" -- but they "were denied or given the runaround," Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois said. The banks weren't working with people so they made the problem worse. "Servicers are famous for delay tactics...like claiming the fax machine was out of paper," he said.

You don't have to tell that to Mary Ramirez. When she and her husband bought their home 12 years ago, it was the American dream come true. Now ,"its a nightmare," she says.

Read the entire report

Free Speech Under Attack

JBS.org
John McManus

Free speech under attack, plus foreclosures delayed means problems for banks since they will not be able to loan mortgages if they cannot recover what they already have loaned.


Free Speech Under Attack from The John Birch Society on Vimeo.

Confirmed: Court Did Rely on Oath Keeper Association to Take Baby

Editor's Note: This article is in reference to State snatches baby when dad accused of being 'Oath Keeper'

Stewart Rhodes
Oathkeepers
Oct 11, 2010

There has been some confusion about this case, leading some commentators to believe that the reference to John Irish’s “association” with Oath Keepers was in some other document, rather than in the affidavit relied on by the Court’s Order.  Alex Jones’ site, in an effort to protect the privacy of the family, posted excerpts from two different documents, leading some to question where the reference actually was.
To clear that up, below you will find an embedded PDF which contains the full (though redacted) versions of the following documents:  the two Petitions (one pertaining to each parent), the Court’s Ex Parte Order, the  Affidavit of Dana Bickford which was attached, the Motion for Change of Venue, and lastly, the Notice to Accused Parent, explaining the legal process.   We have highlighted in yellow all text where the Petitions or the Court Order refers to the Affidavit which contains reference to Oath Keepers.

Read the entire report

Carbon Taxes: To Be, or Not To Be?- That is the Question

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!
Mark Matheny
October 12, 2010

"One of my top priorities next year is to have an energy policy that begins to address all facets of our overreliance on fossil fuels. We may end up having to do it in chunks, as opposed to some sort of comprehensive omnibus legislation. But we're going to stay on this because it is good for our economy, it's good for our national security, and, ultimately, it's good for our environment."  Barack Obama-Rolling Stone Magazine September Interview

Some form of Climate Change policy is likely to come after the midterm elections, whether Democrats or Republicans dominate the House and Senate. The only difference will be the form it takes on. If Democrats conitinue to dominate we will be more likey to see a "Cap and Trade" type bill come to the floor, whereas with Republican domination it may take on more of a climate and energy legislation, only not the type of policy favorable to environmental groups according to Energy lobbyist Frank Maisano. Many of the Republican side are more likely to question the aspect of global warming due to manmade activity.

However, we will more than likely see some sort of climate legislation. The next UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) meeting is scheduled for December of 2010 in Cancun Mexico, and Barry Obama hopes to have "an energy policy that begins to address all facets of our overreliance on fossil fuels," according to Rolling Stone Magazine.

In the scheme of things, climate legislation is important in the international move toward Global Governance, or a New World Order, and men such as Maurice Strong, Al Gore, David Rockefeller and other globalists have invested too much to let any obstacles get in the way of their plans for a world government.

And as always, there will not be any real choice between the two party system that is set up to steer us along the path of percieved choice, all the while presenting the same overall legislation, just with different dressing. We can have the choice of Obama's brand of climate legislation with "some sort of carbon pricing,"- or the Republican plate of Climate and energy legislation with a "safety valve" which would cap prices at a certain level in order to ease economic impact.

In the words of the Snickers Bar Jingle, " No matter how you slice it, It comes up Carbon Tax"

What you will more than likely fail to see on the menu is an alternative choice, - the choice of no climate legislation, unless we see a true emergence within the ranks of a strong Tea Party element sitting in those seats this November 3rd and on.

Tracking devices used in school badges

Two districts are first in the area to use ID tags that raise privacy, security concerns

By JENNIFER RADCLIFFEHOUSTON CHRONICLE

Sixth-graders, from left, Jacorey Jackson, Deante' Maxey, Casandra Hernandez and Kamryn Jefferson, all 11, wear special tracking badges at Bailey Middle School in Spring.

Oct. 11, 2010, 10:00AM

Radio frequency identification — the same technology used to monitor cattle — is tracking students in the Spring and Santa Fe school districts.

Identification badges for some students in both school districts now include tracking devices that allow campus administrators to keep tabs on students' whereabouts on campus. School leaders say the devices improve security and increase attendance rates.

"It's a wonderful asset," said Veronica Vijil, principal of Bailey Middle School in Spring, one of the campuses that introduced the high-tech badges this fall.

But some parents and privacy advocates question whether the technology could have unintended consequences. The tags remind them of George Orwell's Big Brother, and they worry that hackers could figure a way to track students after they leave school.

Identity theft and stalking could become serious concerns, some said.

"There's real questions about the security risks involved with these gadgets," said Dotty Griffith, public education director for the ACLU of Texas. "Readers can skim information. To the best of my knowledge, these things are not foolproof. We constantly see cases where people are skimming, hacking and stealing identities from sophisticated systems."

The American Civil Liberties Union fought the use of this technology in 2005 - when a rural elementary school in California was thought to be the first in the U.S. to introduce the badges. The program was dismantled because of parental concern.

Just last month, another district in California used federal stimulus money to buy tags for preschool students, drawing national attention and outrage.

Yet, the program has been quietly growing in the Houston area.

Read the entire story

America’s Third World Economy

Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars.com
October 9, 2010
For a number of years I reported on the monthly nonfarm payroll jobs data. The data did not support the praises economists were singing to the “New Economy.” The “New Economy” consisted, allegedly, of financial services, innovation, and high-tech services.

Read the entire story