Found a good "Manipulation" link? Let Us Know!
What in HELL is going on?!?
Lest you berate or admonish me for the language, I'd like
to point out that this is (for this page) the CORRECT & INTENDED usage of the
term "in Hell." I truly believe that, if not actually in the realm of
spiritually Satanic, something of PURE EVIL is taking place in our Nation that
is corrupting our Citizens, our Leaders, and our way of life. - MEG
Police State |
Infrastructure |
Law Enforcement |
Border Control |
Immigration |
Invasion USA |
Foreign Policy |
Education |
Politicians |
Politics |
Family Life |
Economy |
Elections |
Rants & Raves |
Anti-US/Anti-Freedom |
Lost Way of Life |
Bad Government |
Bad Justice |
Corporate America |
What the Hell??? |
Insane Children |
Predators
My mind has been spinning lately with all of the various tidbits of news,
statements, events, and just-plain-weird stuff that has been assaulting my
senses through various media outlets. The only way to get a grip on it was to
create this page and see if there is any particular pattern or
conscious/unconscious objective to it all. I believe that there is, and this
will be the basis of an article in the near future. For now, I just need
someplace to collect my thoughts and observations. If you want to contribute to
source material, feel free to submit stuff on the "What
in HELL is Going On?!?" discussion group.
Article In Progress...
Is it just me, or does it seem that there has been a systematic dismantling of
the very AMERICAN "way of life" that once existed in this country: Independence,
self-reliance, voluntary charity, the drive to succeed - not "at any cost," but
in a morally conscientious manner - and the belief that it really was possible
to get ahead in this country without screwing the other guy? Has the Spirit of
America been driven from this Nation by the endless hordes of weasel pols,
lecherous lawyers, licentious lobbyists, corporate cretins and self-serving
special interest groups? Have the American people truly "given up the ghost" and
succumbed to this incessant assault in an apathetic daze - or is it secretly
being horded, tended to quietly, as frustration and resentment builds with every
betrayal by those we appoint, in hopes that they will stand up to this madness
and reverse its course?
If it is true that society has been stripped of that motivating force, that
Spirit that created a nation greater than any other known in human history, and
that it now resides only within the individual few - afraid to display it,
afraid to implement it, and afraid to demand adherence to its guiding
principles, then perhaps, indeed, all is lost:
In a democracy, people get the government they deserve. -Adlai Stevenson
Mr. Stevenson may have been right, but I believe he was limiting
the issue in a cynical and wry observation of the American political system - a
"Republic" that had acquiesced to being demoted into a mere democracy. It is my
observation that those who would be ruled get the government they deserve. Our
founding fathers, faults and all, attempted to guarantee that what has come
about today would never materialize. The problem is, that guarantee rested on
the promise of the people to be ever vigilant in assessing and correcting the
missteps and machinations of those appointed to office - and we, as a Nation of
individuals, have failed miserably in living up to that solemn oath.
I believe that
we have been consciously manipulated into the position and situations we now
face. No single generation and no single person or politician can be blamed more
than the rest. Our government was meant to be chastised and kept in its place by
the people. When "the people" give up the right of self-governance,
self-reliance, and self-determination - by relegating those powers to others -
the outcome is inevitable. The first American tyranny, which currently skulks in
the shadows, thrives boardrooms of corporations and backroom political
committees. For now, it operates by misdirection and manipulation but soon -
perhaps very soon - it will have become strong enough and bold enough to take an
open seat on the throne of "democratic" dictatorship. If we do not immediately
wrest control of our government (and the politicians and judges and bureaucrats,
etc.) once again through the non-violent means afforded us by the Constitution,
then we will eventually have to do it the hard way... and God help us if that
day ever comes. It will be the bloodiest era in human history.
Police State
California police can now enter your home w/o a warrant: Justices: DUI
Suspects Can Run But Can't Hide - Police can now enter homes of DUI suspects
without a warrant. (AP) SAN FRANCISCO Police may enter Californians' homes
without warrants to arrest those suspected of driving under the influence, the
California Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case testing the scope of the
Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The
6-1 decision follows similar rulings in about a dozen other states. A dissenting
justice said the majority handed authorities a "free pass" to unlawfully enter
private homes and arrest people without warrants.
Under the Fourth Amendment, authorities are prohibited from entering a home and
making an arrest without a warrant unless so-called "exigent" circumstances are
present. Those include "hot pursuit" of a fleeing felon, imminent destruction of
evidence and the risk of danger to the police or other persons inside or outside
of a house, among others. In this case, Justice Marvin Baxter wrote that the
loss of evidence at issue was obtaining a measurement of the suspect's
blood-alcohol level. Baxter added that a contrary ruling would allow "the
corruption of evidence that occurs when the suspect takes advantage of any delay
to ingest more alcohol -- or to claim to have done so -- or when the suspect
evades police capture until he or she is no longer intoxicated." Baxter and the
majority was cautious in saying the decision would not give police carte blanche
powers.
Top 10 Signs of the Impending U.S. Police State By Allan Uthman, Buffalo
Beast. Posted May 26, 2006: Is the U.S. becoming a police state? Here are the
top 10 signs that it may well be the case. From secret detention centers to
warrant-less wiretapping, Bush and Co. give free rein to their totalitarian
impulses. {And the liberals and democrats had nothing to do with it...?}
Senate hearing on CIA nominee: Democrats rubberstamp Bush police-state spying By
Patrick Martin 19 May 2006
Bowing To The Police State by Ray McGovern; TomPaine.commonsense ; May 20,
2006: Is Congress aiding and abetting the creation of a police state? Recently,
the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., helped
to give the CIA and NSA unprecedented police powers. By inserting a provision in
the FY07 Intelligence Authorization Act, Hoekstra has undermined the existing
statutory limits on involvement in domestic law enforcement. This comes after
revelations in January of direct NSA involvement with the Baltimore police in
order to "protect" the NSA Headquarters from Quaker protesters.
Infrastructure
NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) 05-25-06 -- A major power outage stranded thousands of
rush-hour commuters Thursday between New York and Washington, stopping five
trains inside tunnels and forcing many passengers to get out and walk to the
nearest station. Three NJ Transit trains and one Amtrak train were stuck in a
tunnel under the Hudson River heading into New York. A fifth train was stuck in
a rail tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland. Amtrak said it planned to use diesel
locomotives to remove them.
Law Enforcement
shooting closes border crossing SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- Authorities
shut down a busy U.S-Mexico border crossing Thursday after U.S. authorities shot
and killed the driver of a car headed for Mexico, officials said. The shooting
occurred on southbound Interstate 5 around 3:30 p.m. about 50 feet north of the
San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world's busiest border crossing, which links
Tijuana, Mexico, with San Diego. The driver, who not immediately identified, was
pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, said Maurice Luque, a
spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. U.S. Customs and Border
Protection officials were trying to stop a black SUV that was under surveillance
for suspected immigrant smuggling. A motorist said that a federal agent rapped
on the vehicle's window with his baton, but the driver accelerated and the agent
opened fire. [MEG Note: Doesn't anyone else find it curious that they are
willing to kill someone leaving the country but won't even arrest and jail
someone who is entering illegally???]
Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk: Damn. Now you get arrested
for being drunk IN A BAR! IN A BAR! I thought they served ALCOHOL in a bar!
Wild! Nutty! Insane! Even if you are sitting there getting loaded and are not
fumbling around for your keys on the ground or on your floorboard, you can go to
jail. Apparently, it's public intoxication if you get drunk in a BAR! So, I
guess they're gonna start arresting fat people who pig out at buffets because
they might have a heart attack on the road? Or, you might be arrested after
buying a prescription because you might take your pills before you leave and
have a wreck. Or, after you buy a cell phone, you might get arrested because you
might be yapping away on the phone and have a wreck. You think that is insane,
check this bill that was almost passed a few years ago - It is basically
about what crimes would brand you as a terrorist and land you behind bars for
life without parole. Some of the insane crimes are, cheating (gambling), online
crime (downloading a 99c song), prostitution, possession of burglars tools and a
whole bunch of other ridiculous stuff. In the full bill i think they even wanted
to send you to forced labor prison camps run by KBR/Halliburton, that should cut
costs.
Border Control
Ariz. Deputies to Seek Illegal Immigrants: [May 04 12:56 PM US/Eastern] by
AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer: PHOENIX - A posse of 100 volunteers
and sheriff's deputies will patrol the Phoenix area and arrest any illegal
immigrants, the county sheriff said. The group likely will be deployed across
parts of Maricopa County by the weekend, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Wednesday.
Volunteers will be drawn from the department's 3,000-member posse, whose members
are trained and are often former deputies. "It's important to send the message
out to stay in Mexico and don't come roaming around here hoping you're going to
get amnesty," said Arpaio, who in years past gained notoriety for putting
inmates on chain gangs and issuing them striped uniforms and pink underwear.
Immigration
U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols: By Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer -
While Minuteman civilian patrols are keeping an eye out for illegal border
crossers, the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping an eye out for Minutemen -- and
telling the Mexican government where they are. According to three documents on
the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the U.S. Border Patrol is
to notify the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen and other
civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegal
immigrants -- and if and when violence is used against border crossers. A U.S.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process,
describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government
that migrants' rights are being observed.
White House compares illegal immigration to speeding by Bill Sammon: The
White House on Friday said a Senate bill that would grant legal status to
illegal immigrants is analogous to a traffic law that allows a speeder to pay a
fine and continue driving. "If you had a traffic ticket and you paid it, you're
not forever a speeder, are you?" White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in
response to questions from The Examiner. "So the fact is, you have paid your
debt to society," he added. "And we have come up with a way to make sure that
the debt to society gets paid. Then you move forward." The "traffic ticket"
analogy raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, where many House Republicans regard
illegal immigration as a grave crime.
Bush border patrol plan to pressure courts by Richard Cowan: President
George W Bush's plan to send thousands of National Guard troops to the
U.S.-Mexico border could spark a surge in immigration cases and U.S. courts are
ill prepared to handle them, according to congressional and court sources. The
administration failed to plan for the surge in court cases and did not consult
the judicial branch on the impact more arrests would have on federal courts in
the region, said Dick Carelli, a spokesman for U.S. federal courts. Bush asked
for $1.9 billion in emergency funds for the border plan, including $20 million
to help the Justice Department deal with its increased caseload, but that did
not include the courts. "We were left out of the process," Carelli said. He
added that since Bush unveiled his proposal to increase border patrols, federal
judiciary officials have had to quickly cobble together a proposal to Congress
for $20.3 million in emergency funds to hire three full-time judges and about
240 support staff for the Southwest. Even without the stepped-up security at the
border, federal courts in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas
have been over burdened. Carelli said those five judicial districts, out of 94
nationwide, account for 34 percent of all criminal cases moving through U.S.
courts.
Dumping the Third World on the West by Diane Alden: {http://www.aldenchronicles.com/}
This article is the first in a five-part series on immigration in America. The
movie "Gangs of New York" paints a bleak picture of 19th-century America.
"Gangs" takes place immediately before and during the American Civil War. In the
recent Martin Scorcese film, a tidal wave of poor immigrants overwhelms society
and the infrastructure of New York City. They also convulse the tenuous economic
and social position of poor native-born Americans. In fact, as depicted in the
movie, pitched battles occurred between "nativists" who had been in America for
some time and new immigrants. Both groups were poor and the political and
economic elite was using both groups for their own purposes: cheap labor on one
hand and votes on the other. In the end, the federal government opens fire on
both gangs during the Draft Riots of the 1860s.
Do you take us for fools? by Lou Dobbs: Reports this week that the Border
Patrol is notifying the Mexican government of the locations of Minutemen
volunteers are being denied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. True or not,
the Bush administration continues to follow absurd policies on both issues of
border security and illegal immigration. President Bush continues to push his
guest worker program and amnesty for anywhere between 11 million and 20 million
illegal aliens, and he insists still that nothing less than what he calls
comprehensive immigration reform is acceptable.
Invasion USA
An invasion: Are we still a nation? by Wes Vernon May 29, 2006: Read my
lips: Citizenship in this country is not a "civil right." It is a privilege.
When 10 to 12 to 20 million illegals cross our borders and take to the streets
waving the Mexican flag demanding the "right" to stay, that is not a "civil
rights" movement. It is an invasion. This column explores absolute proof of
that. We also assess the damage done by the Senate and what you can do about it;
why we can learn something about immigration policy (ironically) from Mexico
itself; and a challenge to Mexico as to what it can do if its government is
really serious about cooperating with our efforts to stem the flow of much of
its population over our borders.
Mex Talk Augustin Cebada, Brown Berets; "Go back to Boston! Go back to
Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the future. You are old and tired. Go
on. We have beaten you. Leave like beaten rats. You old white People. It is your
duty to die . . . Through love of having children, we Are going to take over.
Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council. "They're afraid we're Going to take
over the governmental institutions and other institutions. They're right. We
will take them over . . . We are here to stay." Excelsior, the national
newspaper of Mexico, "The American Southwest Seems to be slowly returning to the
jurisdiction of Mexico without Firing a single shot."
mass protests underway in us: Illegal immigrants in the United States
gathered Monday for a day of nationwide rallies and demonstrations in another
protest against proposed immigration reform. Millions of immigrants were
expected to stay away from work, school and stores as part of a mass boycott
against the country's new immigration laws. In one of the earliest
demonstrations of the day, about 1,200 marched in the town of Homestead in rural
Florida, home to a large Latino population.
Kidnap insurance booming in south Texas: LAREDO, Texas — Don’t waste your
time looking it up on the Internet. It is advertised here exclusively by word of
mouth. And even though it is not cheap, it is now selling like hot cakes. Kidnap
insurance traditionally associated with the lawless coca groves of Colombia or
the tribal wetlands of Nigeria is now conquering south Texas. Faced with a wave
of crime, major U.S. insurance companies are quietly selling abduction coverage
here to address the needs of businessmen on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican
border. “Yes sir, you can call it that. It’s ransom money,” nodded Glen Jackson,
a local insurance executive, whose company Inscorp has been serving as a broker
for New York’s AIG and the New Jersey-based Chubb Corporation that are
pioneering the service on U.S. soil. (So when is [President] Bush going to
formally announce the surrender of Texas to Mexico. Not only are illegal
immigrants pouring over the border they are bringing the third world corruption
of central and south America with them. Marines on the border - just like when
they rode the trains when train robbery was rampant in the early 1900's. The
problem is the border may be Oklahoma now...)
Memo From Mexico by Allan Wall: Abolishing America (contd.): Mexico Ceded
Right To Say Whom U.S. Can Deport. The hottest item now available at 46 Mexican
consuls in the United States is the "matricula consular",or consular card, an
official Mexican ID granted by the Mexican government to Mexicans living in the
United States. What exactly is a "consular card"? Although the card can be
accepted in lieu of a Mexican passport when returning to Mexico, it is not a
Mexican passport. A Mexican passport is granted in Mexico to Mexicans planning
to travel outside of Mexico. Mexicans who travel legally to the U.S. take out
passports before they ever leave Mexico. Therefore they already have their ID.
Those who apply for consular cards, however, apply when they are already in the
U.S. Hmmmm.....
SURRENDERING OUR COUNTRY by Frosty Wooldridge: Would you allow a bunch of
strangers into your house just because they walked in unannounced? How about
allowing them to use your refrigerator so they can help themselves to a better
life? Drive your car? Would you take them to your hospital and pay for their
health care? Would you allow them to sleep in your bedrooms? Would you surrender
your house to strangers and how many would you allow to enter? Would you allow
an unending line? What if they didn't speak your language? Would you tolerate
any diseases they brought to your house? What if they berated you? Treated you
with disrespect? How would you like it if they took down your 'Old Glory' and
put up a Mexican flag in its place...?
Foreign Policy
US Military Shift To The Pacific A Hedge Against China: by Jim Mannion,
Washington (AFP) Apr 24, 2006: The United States is shifting its military might
to the Asia-Pacific region and equipping its forces for high-tech warfare as a
hedge against China's military buildup, a Pentagon spokesman Thursday. "It is US
policy to encourage China to emerge as a responsible international partner,"
said Bryan Whitman. "However, there is also a lack of transparency and some
uncertainty surrounding China's future path."
Education
Drivers Ed. Required For The Blind: (In many Illinois school districts blind
students are required to pass drivers education classes, even though the state
only requires that school districts have drivers education classes for those
that want to take the classes with no state requirement for anyone. The
spokesperson for the state department of education says it "defies logic".)
CHICAGO - Most high school students eagerly await the day they pass driver’s
education class. But 16-year-old Mayra Ramirez is indifferent about it. Ramirez
is blind, yet she and dozens of other visually impaired sophomores in Chicago
schools are required to pass a written rules-of-the-road exam in order to
graduate — a rule they say takes time away from subjects they might actually
use.
America's Founding Ideals - Has this generation lost sight of them? by
William Norman Grigg: Until quite recently, the singular blessing of citizenship
in history's freest and most prosperous republic was obvious to Americans of all
political inclinations, and one could declaim upon that blessing without
provoking controversy. However, as America descends into multiculturalism,
public recognition of the superiority of America's heritage is considered
uncivil -- and possibly even illegal. This state of affairs was brought to the
public's attention in the recent controversy over the "America First" curriculum
guidelines approved by the Lake County, Florida school board. Concerned about
the impact of multicultural indoctrination upon public school students, the
board established a requirement that instructors "instill in our students an
appreciation of our American heritage and culture, such as: our republican form
of government, capitalism, a free enterprise system, patriotism, strong family
values, freedom of religion and other basic values that are superior to other
foreign or historic cultures." Nothing in this requirement would strike the
typical American as unusual or inappropriate; however, the Florida Education
Association has filed a lawsuit against the school board, contending that the
patriotic instruction mandated by the board is "illegal" under state and federal
law.
Thousands of California high school seniors fail required exit exam BY
SHIRLEY DANG Knight Ridder Newspapers: WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - With high school
graduations underway, relief swept over 4,500 more California seniors who
learned this week that they passed the state high school exit exam required for
a diploma for the first time. On the flip side, 41,758 other members of the
class of 2006 - nearly a tenth of the state's 436,200 seniors - did not pass,
the state Department of Education reported Thursday. Results include the March
scores but not those for special education students, who may be eligible for an
exemption this year.
Politicians
Congressman from NO caught taking bribe: The FBI revealed Sunday that Rep.
William Jefferson, under investigation for bribery, was videotaped accepting
$100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the
lawmaker also were recorded. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer,
according to a court document released Sunday. At one meeting captured on
audiotape, Jefferson chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the
government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a
communications company's deal for work in Africa.
Elections
You don't need papers for voting by Dani Dodge: If an election can turn on a
sentence, this could be the one: “You don't need papers for voting.”
On Thursday night, Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate for the 50th
Congressional District, was speaking before a largely Latino crowd in Escondido
when she uttered those words. She said yesterday she simply misspoke. But
someone taped it and a recording began circulating yesterday. After she made
that statement at the meeting, Busby immediately said: “You don't need to be a
registered voter to help (the campaign).” She said that subsequent
statement was to clarify what she meant.
Politics
Pick Up Your Own Crap by Jonah Goldberg: Politics has a math of its own.
Whereas a scientifically minded person might see things this way: One person who
says 2+2=5 is an idiot; two people who think 2+2=5 are two idiots; and a million
people who think 2+2=5 are a whole lot of idiots—political math works
differently. Let’s work backwards: if a million people think 2+2=5, then they
are not a million idiots, but a “constituency.” If they are growing in number,
they are also a “movement.” And, if you were not only the first person to
proclaim 2+2=5, but you were the first to persuade others, then you, my friend,
are not an idiot, but a visionary.
Family Life
The Breakdown of the Family: The Consequences for Children and American Society
[PDF] Federally funded social programs have displaced the natural community
structure of American society by taking on the roles of family, church, and
voluntary associations. Although federal programs have spent enormous amounts of
money on social problems, they have failed consistently to achieve their
intended objectives, in addition to which they undermine the institutions that
have sustained the American community through wars and depressions.
Jay Reding.com - The Marriage Gap The problem with the modern liberal
(again, as opposed to classical liberal) view of inequality is that they treat
it as an economic problem when it’s more of a social problem. The Marriage Gap
is one of the single largest drivers of poverty in the United States today. The
problem is that no government program can fix the problem of the degenerated
state of marriage in America. You can’t cut someone a government check and make
them get married. The typical liberal policy solutions just don’t have much
efficacy here...
Economy
Death Of The Middle Class: The ideal that once defined how Americans lived
and dreamed has gone. John Cassidy looks at what has replaced it. - William J
McDonough, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, watches his
words as closely as a Savile Row tailor watches his stitches, and with good
reason. Any mis-statement on his part, or even an intentional but slight
deviation from the previous official line, can send the financial markets into a
multi-billion-dollar tizzy. McDonough shuns press conferences, but in November
1994 he invited 35 academics, executives and journalists to a day-long
conference at the New York Fed’s headquarters in lower Manhattan. When they had
assembled, some from as far away as Los Angeles and London, he addressed them as
follows: ‘I am very pleased that all of you are here today to discuss what I
feel is a critical issue facing our country. The issue is, of course, the
growing disparity in wages earned by different segments of our labor force. It
is deeply troubling that during the 1980s the real wages of low-skilled workers
in the United States have fallen sharply, both in absolute terms and relative to
the wages of highly-skilled workers. These dramatic wage developments raise
profound questions for the United States, issues of equity and social cohesion,
issues that affect the very temperament of the country.’ For a pillar of
capitalism like McDonough to express concern about low wages is surprising. For
him to then question, as he did, whether America ‘will be able to go forward
together as a unified society’ is virtually unprecedented. Until recently, it
was an empirical law of American economics that the majority of citizens,
including virtually all those who considered themselves middle class, received
steadily rising wages. In the three decades after the Second World War in
particular, the American dream of moving to the suburbs, buying a house and even
sending the kids to college was no mere election slogan. Home ownership soared
and the living standards of the middle class – idealized in television sitcoms –
were the envy of the world. Today that image is as dated as the television shows
it spawned. Falling wages and rising prices have transformed the home economics
of tens of millions of Americans. The trend is best illustrated with the help of
a mental experiment. Imagine lining up the entire population of the US in order
of ascending income, with the poorest on the extreme left and the richest on the
extreme right. The person smack in the center of the line – the meridian – would
be, by definition, the most middle-class American alive.
The Angry and Sometimes Grumpy Children of the 1950's by Chuck And Sue
DeFiore: A bunch of us in our late 40's and early 50's got together the other
night, and after the evening was over I started thinking that many of us born in
the 1950's are in a crisis stage. People can't understand why we are so angry
and grumpy sometimes. This article discusses some of the issues we have with
society today and might enlighten others (the younger set) as to why we seem so
disillusioned, and out of sorts at times. The consensus of the group was "is
this all there is." We've been working since our teens. A car costs more today
than what our parents bought a house for. We work and work and still don't have
enough. Food costs have risen astronomically, along with utility costs,
insurance costs, and housing costs.
Exporting America: The List Here is a list of companies we've confirmed are
"Exporting America." These are U.S. companies either sending American jobs
overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American
workers.
Economic costs of illegal immigration: Between 40 and 50 percent of
wage-loss among low-skilled Americans is due to the in-migration of low-skilled
workers. Many American workers lose their jobs through unfair competition. An
estimated 1,880,000 American workers are displaced from their jobs every year by
immigration and the cost for providing welfare and assistance to these Americans
is over $15 billion a year - FAIR research.
Illegal Immigration's Destruction Of America's Middle Class by Frosty
Wooldridge: Economist Paul Roberts wrote on January 21, 2003, "Will America
become a Third World country in 20 years?" In the Christian Science Monitor,
December 11, 2003, "But as the US economy shifted toward service jobs, factory
jobs have steadily lost-in fact in just the past 39 months, some 2.8 million
jobs vanished." Where are they going? China. India. Mexico. Deep into the Third
World. "You Americans have lived an artificially high standard of living for a
long time," a man working one our jobs outsourced to India wrote me. "It's time
you Americans drop to the poverty levels of the rest of the Third World."
Anti US/Anti Freedom
The Hideous Face Of Islam: Submitted by Lee - Pictures of Moslems who
marched throughout the streets of London during their recent Religion of Peace
Demonstration. These pictures have never been shown in any of our American
newspapers or television news programs.
Rants & Raves
Try This or this
Bamboozled Generation Some interesting editorials from concerned (or
outraged) Citizens.
Lost Way of Life
America in 2050: Another country by Patrick Buchanan: In 1960, when JFK
defeated Nixon, America was a nation of 160 million, 90 percent white and 10
percent black, with a few million Hispanics and Asians sprinkled among us. We
were one nation, one people. We worshipped the same God, spoke the same English
language, studied American history and English literature, honored the same
heroes, read the same books, watched the same TV shows, went to the same movies,
and saw ourselves as defenders of Western Civilization against the godless
communism of the Soviet Empire. We were confident and proud of who we were. When
Nikita Khrushchev demanded an apology for our having sent a U-2 spy plane over
Russia, Ike blew up the Paris summit rather than accede to his demand. We
cheered the old general's defiance. That was yesterday. But due to the
Immigration Act of 1965 and the cultural revolution of the '60s, that America is
now gone forever. And as one studies the latest projections of the Census
Bureau, the America of our grandchildren will be another country altogether, a
nation unrecognizable to our parents, a giant Brazil of the North.
The Dying American Dream The "American Dream" is one of the most commonly
misunderstood ideals in American culture. The term is used loosely to mean just
about anything from the acquisition of wealth, to home ownership, to moral
license, to success in court against McDonald's--all without appreciation for
the original significance of the Dream. Because the American Dream is largely
misunderstood, as well as taken for granted, it is in danger of disappearing
altogether. A case can be made, in fact, that the Dream no longer truly exists,
but has been replaced by a rationing system that we call formal
education--overseen, operated, and funded by government.
The age of irreverence - breakdown of American society: American society has
broken down, triggered by discourtesy, vulgarity, malaise, toughness, off-color
entertainment, a lack of civility and decorum, and a penchant for sensationalism
and vituperation...
Bad Government
Tyranny by Jon Roland: Tyranny is usually thought of as cruel and
oppressive, and it often is, but the original definition of the term was rule by
persons who lack legitimacy, whether they be malign or benevolent. Historically,
benign tyrannies have tended to be insecure, and to try to maintain their power
by becoming increasingly oppressive. Therefore, rule that initially seems benign
is inherently dangerous, and the only security is to maintain legitimacy — an
unbroken accountability to the people through the framework of a written
constitution that provides for election of key officials and the division of
powers among branches and officials in a way that avoids concentration of powers
in the hands of a few persons who might then abuse those powers.
Eminent Domain (CBS) Just about everyone knows that under a process called
eminent domain, the government can (and does) seize private property for public
use - to build a road, a school or a courthouse. But did you know the government
can also seize your land for private use if they can prove that doing it will
serve what's called "the public good"? Cities across the country have been using
eminent domain to force people off their land, so private developers can build
more expensive homes and offices that will pay more in property taxes than the
buildings they're replacing. Under eminent domain, the government buys your
property, paying you what's determined to be fair market value. But now, people
who don't want to sell their homes at any price - just to see their land go to
another private owner - are fighting back.
The Great Pinata by: Daniel Sargis: I used to think that America was a
country, but the lunatics running the system have convinced me that we are
living in "a bright candy-and-toy-filled container swinging from a tree that a
succession of blindfolded, stick-wielding children try to break in order to
collect the candy inside of it". Welcome to the Great Piñata, Mr. and Mrs.
Taxpayer. Just this past weekend, the New York Times ran a front-page article
lamenting that "More than 50 million Medicaid recipients will soon have to
produce birth certificates, passports or other documents to prove that they are
United States citizens". Imagine the audacity of a "requirement that is meant to
stop the theft of Medicaid benefits by illegal aliens".
Case Study In Corruption
The Great American Jobs Scam by Greg LeRoy: Lurking within the records of
most cities and states in America there lies a scandal. A tax scandal. A jobs
scandal. A corporate and political scandal. It's the Great American Jobs Scam:
an intentionally constructed system that enables corporations to exact huge
taxpayer subsidies by promising quality jobs - and then lets them fail to
deliver. The other benefit often promised - higher tax revenues - often proves
false or exaggerated as well. Take for example: New York City, which must hold
the record for job blackmail, though it is hardly alone. One study of 80
companies that had received "retention" subsidies from the Big Apple found that
at least 39 had later announced major layoffs, or they had entered into
large-scale mergers or put themselves up for sale - events that usually trigger
mass layoffs. A detailed analysis of 10 subsidized companies found they had a
total loss of more than 3,000 jobs.
Bad "Justice"
Lack of prosecutions demoralizing Border Patrol by Elliot Spagat: The vast
majority of people caught smuggling immigrants across the border near San Diego
are never prosecuted for the offense, demoralizing the Border Patrol agents
making the arrests, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated
Press. “It is very difficult to keep agents' morale up when the laws they were
told to uphold are being watered-down or not prosecuted,” the report says. The
report offers a stark assessment of the situation at a Border Patrol station
responsible for guarding 13 miles of mountainous border east of the city.
Federal officials say it reflects a reality along the entire 2,000-mile border:
Judges and federal attorneys are so swamped that only the most egregious
smuggling cases are prosecuted.
Corporate America
How Cooking the Books Works by Lee Ann Obringer: The year 2002 saw the end
of an era of skyrocketing stock prices and booming businesses. Things that had
seemed to be too good to be true were just that. Companies that we previously
thought of as unstoppable didn't have the earnings they told us they did.
Instead, they had been "cooking the books" to create the appearance of earnings
that really didn't exist. A company is guilty of cooking the books when it
knowingly includes incorrect information on its financial statements --
manipulating expenses and earnings to improve their earnings per share of stock
(EPS). In this article, we'll look at the tricks that some companies used to
beef up their financial documents as well as why they do it. We'll also examine
some of the fallen giants like Enron and WorldCom to see what happened and where
they are now.
America Dismantled, Deindustrialized and Destroyed: America’s is being
looted by corporations, deindustrialized and under current conditions is set to
become a third world country in less then 20 years. Its economy has shifted
towards lower-wage service jobs while manufacturing jobs are being outsourced to
cheaper labor markets like Mexico, China and India. Corporations are sacrificing
American jobs in the name of profit. The whole fake left right paradigm has so
called conservatives who believe that corporations can do no wrong and on the
other side liberals who think the government can do no wrong. Corporations own
and operate the government using it as their own personal ATM cash machine.
Socialism is being used to deceive the population into accepting big government
as corporations take more and more control. Social Security will be privatized
and run like a government institution through these corporations. America’s
economy is being raped into bankruptcy and it is losing its national
independence.
What the Hell?
Adapting to American society causes mental illness to double among Mexican
immigrants, finds UC Berkeley study By Patricia McBroom, Public Affairs:
BERKELEY -- As Mexican nationals adapt to American society, their rates of
mental disorder begin to soar, a professor of public health at the University of
California, Berkeley, has discovered. In the largest study of its type,
involving approximately 3,000 people, Professor William Vega has found that
acculturation to American patterns has a detrimental impact on the mental health
of Mexican immigrants. And the longer they've been in the United States, the
worse it gets. Vega found twice the rate of mental disturbance among
Mexican-Americans born in this country, compared to recent immigrants or
Mexicans who remained in their homeland.
Insane Children
Social breakdown and the American police mentality - Fourteen-year-olds
charged as adults in school shooting plot By David Walsh: 24 June 1999 A judge
ordered two 14-year-old boys to stand trial as adults Tuesday in Port Huron,
Michigan, 60 miles northeast of Detroit, on charges that could bring them
automatic sentences of life in prison without parole. The teenagers are accused,
along with two 13-year-olds, of plotting to murder fellow students at Holland
Woods Middle School.
Springville-Griffith Student Charged with Conspiring to Kill Students - June
2, 2006 (Springville, NY, June 2, 2006) - - Erie County Sheriff's deputies have
arrested a Springville teenager on charges of criminal solicitation. News 4's
Jodi Hovenden reports Jeremy Ploetz is accused of plotting to harm some of his
classmates at Springville-Griffith Institute. Rumors of threats and an alleged
hit list have been circulating at Springville-Griffith Institute High School for
weeks, but it wasn't until Tuesday that authorities say a student was actually
overheard allegedly threatening to bring a gun to school.
Predators
Former Coach Arrested For Alleged Child Sex Abuse - Reported by: Lance
Barry: 6/3/2006: A former girls soccer coach from Northern Kentucky is facing
two counts of child sex abuse after allegations from a young girl there. Police
in Independence say Timothy Dietz allegedly fondled an eight-year-old girl in
his home on two occasions this past weekend. Dietz is the former varsity coach
at Simon Kenton High School. 9News has also learned that a young boy in
Independence is making similar fondling accusations against Dietz.
Ex-coach gets 23 years for sex abuse By Ashley Bach, Seattle Times -
Christopher Stefanik got maximum sentence. Taylor Johnson is 15, no longer
attends public school and is estranged from most of his friends. He can't get a
good night's sleep without medication, and for years was too terrified to play
baseball again. His former coach in Redmond, Christopher Stefanik, was sentenced
Friday to 23 years in prison for sexually abusing or taking explicit photos of
four boys. Johnson was in court, along with two of Stefanik's other victims and
their families, to tell their abuser how he shattered their lives — and to
inspire more of his victims to come forward.
Man charged with sexual abuse of a minor |
Former county teacher sentenced in sex abuse case [F]|
Sex abuse investigation leads police back three decades [M]| ... Results of
about 40,900 stories on abuse.
Nevada County Grand Jury Report- Elder Abuse in Nevada County Statistics
uncover a frightening picture of elder abuse in California. One of every 20
elderly people will be a victim of neglect or physical, psychological or
financial abuse this year. By the year 2020, the number of elderly in California
is expected to double to 6.6 million. As the elderly population multiplies, so
will the incidence of elder abuse if action is not taken. The seriousness of the
problem must be recognized and the services available to combat the problem must
be understood by all county residents.
Timeline
of American Tyranny: Manipulation of the masses -
How have we been manipulated into the mess we have today? Through fear and
entitlement - the classic carrot and stick approach. Below is a timeline of
significant events in the history of the United States of America since 1800.
Before 1800 the founding fathers kept a fairly tight reign on things. They were
not perfect, there's no doubt about that, but they had a vision that they fought
hard to bring to fruition. With the passing of this generation, the downfall of
American Freedom began. See if you can pick out the pattern...
| 1803 | Marbury v. Madison: Landmark Supreme Court decision greatly expands the power of the Court by establishing its right to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. |
| 1812-1814 | The War Of 1812 between the U.S. and Great Britain. |
| 1819 | McCulloch v. Maryland: Landmark Supreme Court decision upholds the right of Congress to establish a national bank, a power implied but not specifically enumerated by the Constitution. |
| 1824 | Gibbons v. Ogden: Landmark Supreme Court decision broadly defines Congress's right to regulate interstate commerce |
| 1830 | President Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, which authorizes the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River |
| 1836 | Battle Of The Alamo |
| 1838 | More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians are forced to march from Georgia to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Approximately 4,000 die from starvation and disease along the “Trail of Tears.” |
| 1846-1848 | Mexican War was between the U.S. and Mexico over the state of Texas. |
| 1860 | The Indian Wars officially begin |
| 1861-1865 | American Civil War fought over States Rights vs. Centralized Federal Control - slavery issue was manipulation by the Union government. |
| 1872 | Crédit Mobilier scandal breaks, involving several members of Congress |
| 1877 | The first telephone line is built from Boston to Somerville, Mass. (Not manipulation, but technology has an effect on population...NSA anyone?) |
| 1890 | Sherman Antitrust Act is signed into law, prohibiting commercial monopolies (and yet, they continued...) Last major battle (a massacre) of the Indian Wars occurs at Wounded Knee in South Dakota |
| 1898 | The Spanish American War |
| 1899 | The Philippine-American War Begins |
| 1900 | The Boxer Rebellion; Galveston hurricane leaves an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 dead |
| 1902 | The Philippine-American War Ends |
| 1903 | U.S. acquires Panama Canal Zone; Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, N.C. |
| 1906 | San Francisco earthquake leaves 500 dead or missing and destroys about 4 sq mi of the city |
| 1908 | Bureau of Investigation, forerunner of the FBI, is established |
| 1910 | New Nationalism. President Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism initiative sought to expand the powers of the national government. His view of government contended that matters of national concern had become too decentralized. |
| 1912 | American intervention in Nicaragua begins. |
| 1913 | New Freedom Program. As President, Woodrow Wilson built upon the Roosevelt program. He sought to continue the trend toward more active national cooperation with other governments. Daniel J. Elazar, a noted scholar of federalism, contends that Wilson, in line with congressionally-determined national policies, expanded the federal role beyond "servant of the states." |
| 1913 | Sixteenth Amendment. The Amendment, which (supposedly) authorized the income tax, provided the means of developing and expanding the grant-in-aid system. "If grants-in-aid are the power that drive the federal engine then the income tax is the fuel that powers it." |
| 1913 | Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, providing for the direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote rather than by the state legislatures, further degrading the Republic into a democracy. |
| 1914 | World War I Begins |
| 1915 | First long distance telephone service, between New York and San Francisco, is demonstrated |
| 1916-1917 | Mexican Border Campaign (Pancho Villa Revolution) |
| 1918 | World War I ends: Spanish Flu - Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes; by 1920, nearly 20 million are dead. In U.S., 500,000 perish. |
| 1918 | Archangel/Siberia Expedition Begins (Invasion of Eastern Russia by US and WWI Allies to quell rebellion) |
| 1919 | League of Nations meets for the first time; U.S. is not represented |
| 1919 | Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor. It is later repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933. Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, granting women the right to vote |
| 1920 | Archangel/Siberia Expedition Ends |
| 1923 | President Harding dies "suddenly." He is succeeded by his vice president, Calvin Coolidge. Teapot Dome scandal breaks, as Senate launches an investigation into improper leasing of naval oil reserves during Harding administration |
| 1925 | Tennessee passes a law against the teaching of evolution in public schools, setting the stage for the Scopes Monkey Trial - which eventually leads to outlawing the teaching of creationism. Ironic, isn't it? |
| 1929 | Stock Market Crash - manipulated by the bankers??? |
| 1930-1933 | Great Depression |
| 1933 | American intervention in Nicaragua ends after 30 years. |
| 1933 | The Raw Deal ("New Deal") Begins - the destruction of the American family and society is cleverly sold to the masses.... |
| 1935 | Works Progress Administration is established, Social Security Act is passed, Bureau of Investigation becomes the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J. Edgar Hoover |
| 1938 | Fair Labor Standards Act is passed, setting the first minimum wage in the U.S. at 25 cents per hour |
| 1939-1945 | World War II |
| 1945 | Cold War Begins, United Nations (and the New World Order) is established |
| 1947 | Central Intelligence Agency is established |
| 1948 | Congress passes foreign aid bill including the Marshall Plan, which provides for European postwar recovery on the backs of American taxpayers |
| 1948 | Soviets begin blockade of Berlin in the first major crisis of the cold war. In response, U.S. and Great Britain begin airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin |
| 1949 | North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established. Soviets end blockade of Berlin, but airlift continues until Sept. 30. |
| 1950-1953 | Korean War, Cold War Arms Escalation Continues between US & Soviets |
| 1954 | Civil Rights and States' Rights Reconsidered (Desegregation) |
| 1954 | McCarthy "Better Dead Than Red" Witch-hunt Begins |
| 1956 | Suez Canal Crisis; American "operatives" enter Vietnam as advisors. Major oil & energy companies are already there developing resources. |
| 1957 | President sends federal troops to Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., to enforce integration of black students |
| 1959 | Alaska becomes the 49th state (Jan. 3) and Hawaii becomes the 50th (Aug. 21) |
| 1961 | Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba fails, Freedom Riders on Buses (Civil Rights) |
| 1962 | Supreme Court Forces Reapportionment. The Supreme Court's ruling in Baker v. Carr is a noted example in judicial intervention into state political affairs; Cuban Missile Crisis |
| 1963 | Martin Luther King gains prominence - Civil Rights Movement accelerates; President Kennedy Assassinated |
| 1964 | President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act; Vietnam War (Official) Begins |
| 1964 | Creative Federalism and the Great Society sought to expand the national government's role in an effort to achieve socially desirable outcomes (i.e reductions in poverty, elimination of hunger). Prior to the Johnson Administration, federal involvement often had to be justified as a necessary evil in order to legitimize intrusion into state and local affairs |
| 1965 | "Great Society" domestic policies of President Lyndon Johnson. In his first State of the Union message, he called for a war on poverty and the creation of a “Great Society,” a prosperous nation that had overcome racial divisions. To this end, Johnson proposed an expansion in the federal government's role in domestic policy. During his administration, Congress enacted two major civil-rights acts (1964 and 1965), the Economic Opportunity Act (1964), and two education acts (1965). In addition, legislation was passed that created the Job Corps, Operation Head Start, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), Medicaid, and Medicare. Although the Great Society program made significant contributions to the protection of civil rights and the expansion of social programs, critics increasingly complained that the antipoverty programs were ineffective and wasteful. Race Riots in Watts and elsewhere. |
| 1968 | Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. (April 4). Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles, Calif. (June 5–6). |
| 1969 | Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., become the first men to land on the Moon |
| 1970 | Four students are shot to death by National Guardsmen during an antiwar protest at Kent State University |
| 1970s | New Federalism: Phase I. During the 1960s concerns were raised about the intergovernmental grant system, particularly about duplication, fragmentation, overlap, and confusion. |
| 1971 | The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 |
| 1972 | Watergate |
| 1973 | Roe v. Wade: Landmark Supreme Court decision legalizes abortion in first trimester of pregnancy |
| 1973-1974 | Arab Oil Embargo; Cold War Arms Escalation Continues |
| 1976 | Commerce Clause, Enumerated Powers, and State and Local Governments. National League of Cities v. Usury addressed the conflict between the Tenth Amendment's enumerated powers clause, which limited the federal government's power to those specified in the Constitution and the commerce clause of Article I, which bestowed upon the national government the power to regulate commerce. |
| 1977 | President Carter signs treaty (Sept. 7) agreeing to turn control of Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. |
| 1979 | U.S. establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949; Malfunction at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania causes near meltdown; Panama takes control of the Canal Zone, formerly administered by U.S.; Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold 66 people hostage-13 of the hostages are released. |
| 1980 | President Carter announces that U.S. athletes will not attend Summer Olympics in Moscow unless Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan; FBI's undercover bribery investigation, code named Abscam, implicates a U.S. senator, seven members of the House, and 31 other public officials; U.S. mission to rescue hostages in Iran is aborted after a helicopter and cargo plane collide at the staging site in a remote part of Iran and 8 servicemen are killed |
| 1980s | New Federalism: Phase II. Initiatives of the Ronald Reagan Administration stimulated the debate on the appropriate roles of federal, state, and local government. President Ronald Reagan, rather than attempt to more rationally manage federal aid as was the case in the Nixon Administration, sought to fundamentally restructure the system of governance. In his 1981 inaugural address, President Reagan raised an issue as old as the Republic: what is the nature of the union? The President stated that "the federal government did not create the states, the states created the federal government."35 This statement expressed the sentiments found in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, the Webster/Hayne debate, the doctrine of nullification and state sovereignty and the states' rights philosophy. The modern debate has also been fueled by dissatisfaction with the effectiveness and efficiency of the national government. In 1981 Congress passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act that consolidated a number of social programs into nine block grants, which allowed for greater state and local autonomy and flexibility in the fashioning of local strategies to address federal objectives. The Administration was not successful in the second phase of New Federalism, which would have reallocated federal and state responsibility and resources for welfare, food stamps, and medicare and would have turned back revenue sources to the states. |
| 1981 | Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th president; U.S. hostages held in Iran are released after 444 days in captivity; President Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr.; Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice |
| 1982 | Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary votes |
| 1983 | Grenada |
| 1985 | National League of Cities v. Usury Reconsidered In Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority36 the Supreme Court revisited the issue of state sovereignty and state and local government protection from the imposition of federal actions. Garcia v. San Antonio reversed National League of Cities v. Usury. Garcia has had two significant impacts on federalism, according to some scholars. One, under Garcia the Supreme Court held that the Tenth Amendment does not protect state and local governments from compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is counter to the concept of dual federalism. Two, the Court seems to be backing away from its role as final arbiter or interpreter of the Constitution in disputes between political branches of the federal government and the states. The Court appears to be allowing such disputes to be resolved by the "political"-that is the legislative-branch of government. |
| 1986 | Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. It is the worst accident in the history of the U.S. space program; U.S. bombs military bases in Libya in effort to deter terrorist strikes on American targets; Iran-Contra scandal breaks when White House is forced to reveal secret arms-for-hostages deals |
| 1989 | President Bush signs legislation to provide for federal bailout of nearly 800 insolvent savings and loan institutions |
| 1989-1990 | Panama |
| 1990-1991 | Persian Gulf War |
| 1991 | Breakup of the Soviet Union |
| 1992 | The acquittal of four white police officers charged in the 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King in Los Angeles sets off several days of rioting, leading to more than 50 deaths, thousands of injuries and arrests, and $1 billion in property damage; President Bush authorizes sending U.S. troops to Somalia as part of UN relief effort; President Bush grants pardons to six officials convicted or indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, leading some to suspect a cover-up |
| 1992-1995 | New Federalism: Phase 111. The Bill Clinton Administration's Reinventing Government Initiative and the House Republicans' Contract with America are efforts to rearrange the power relationships in the federal system. Both efforts seek to devolve greater authority to lower levels of government. However, the initial reinvention effort, as embodied in its National Performance Review Creating A Government that Works Better and Costs Less, concentrated on achieving management efficiencies at the federal level. |
| 1993 | Bill Clinton is inaugurated as the 42nd president; Bomb explodes in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6, injuring 1,000, and causing more than $500 million in damage; After 51-day standoff with federal agents, Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., burns to the ground, killing 80 cult members; President Clinton orders missile attack against Iraq in retaliation for alleged plot to assassinate former President Bush; Eighteen U.S. soldiers are killed in ambush by Somali militiamen in Mogadishu; President Clinton signs North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law |
| 1995 | Bombing of federal office building in Oklahoma City kills 168 people; U.S. establishes full diplomatic relations with Vietnam; President Clinton sends first 8,000 of 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia for 12-month peacekeeping mission. They are still there; Rise of Islamic Terrorism |
| 1995- 1997 | The 104th Congress convened with the historic installation of a Republican majority in both houses of Congress. Taking control of the House of Representatives after 40 years in the minority; Congressional Term and the Concept of Dual Citizenship. In a defeat for states' rights advocates, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, declared term limit legislation enacted by several states unconstitutional. Proponents of term limit legislation argued that the Constitution (Article 1, Section 4) allowed each state to fix the time, place, and manner of elections for Senators and Representatives of Congress. The Supreme Court ruling reaffirmed the concept of dual citizenship enunciated in 1873 in the Slaughterhouse Cases and Bradwell v. Illinois. The Court ruled that a state could not add to the qualifications for federal office as enunciated in Article I of the Constitution. |
| 1998 | President Clinton releases 1999 federal budget plan; it is the first balanced budget since 1969; U.S. launches missile attacks on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan following terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; U.S. and Britain launch air strikes against weapons sites in Iraq. |
| 1999 | NATO wages air campaign against Yugoslavia over killing and deportation of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo; School shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., leaves 14 students (including the 2 shooters) and 1 teacher dead and 23 others wounded; U.S. and China sign historic trade agreement |
| 2001-Present | 9/11 Twin Towers Attack, Afghanistan, War on Terror |
| 2002 | President Bush signs legislation creating a new cabinet department of Homeland Security. |
| 2003 | Space shuttle Columbia explodes upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board |
| 2003-Present | Iraq War Begins |
| 2004 | Four hurricanes devastate Florida and other parts of the southern United States |
| 2005 | Hurricane Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on Mississippi and Louisiana; 80% of New Orleans is flooded (Aug. 29–30). All levels of government are criticized for the delayed and inadequate response to the disaster. |
Do you see a pattern yet...?
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