Sex sting in Poconos nets former chief U.N. weapons inspector

By Andrew Scott

Pocono Record Writer

January 14, 2010

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A former chief United Nations weapons inspector is accused of contacting what he thought was a 15-year-old girl in an Internet chat room, engaging in a sexual conversation and showing himself masturbating on a Web camera.

Scott Ritter of Delmar, N.Y., who served as chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991-98 and who was an outspoken critic of the second Bush administration in the run-up to the war in Iraq, is accused of contacting what turned out to be a Barrett Township police officer posing undercover as a teen girl.

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NJ Boy, 8, On Terrorism Watch List

WCBS TV

Jan. 14, 2010

That’s because Mikey Hicks shares the same name of a person who has drawn the suspicion of the Homeland Security Department.

His mother tells The New York Times she sensed trouble when her son was a baby and she couldn’t get a seat for him at a Florida airport. She says airline officials explained his name “was on the list.”

He was patted down as a 2-years-old at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The newspaper says the boy’s name appears to be among 13,500 on the “selectee” list, which sets off a high level of security screening.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman James Fotenos says in the coming months, the agency will cross-check names with birth dates and gender.

TSA officials have been under fire of late, after the failed Christmas Day terror plot aboard a U.S.-bound plane and a complete security breach led to a chaotic breakdown at Newark Liberty International Airport. The TSA claimed responsibility for their roles in both cases, and have since taken strides to remedy the holes in the system.

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Joe Biden update: He meets on transparency today. But the meeting is closed

L.A. Times

January 14, 2010

Everybody should just relax and take it easy.

Unsubstantiated rumors that Vice President Joe Biden had suddenly gone a little loopy and ordered some of his official meetings opened to at least cursory public or media attention were just that — unsubstantiated rumors.

After a recent public sighting, fears had mounted that the one-time, long-term senator might rebel against traditional White House strictures and start acting on all the administration’s oft-promised promises of government transparency and official openness running back into 2008.

But the VP’s public schedule today puts all those fears to rest.

In fact, loyal Ticket readers will recall that one day last summer with no advance warning whatsoever Biden’s official White House schedule changed from listing frequent “private meetings” to listing frequent meetings that are “closed press.” Was this dramatic and….

…little-noticed vocabulary change a sign of internal administration turmoil? What did it really mean?

No, of course not. And, nothing.

Announcing everyone the VP meets with, including sessions with unidentified senior staff, which consume much of the vice president’s listed time, and what subjects they talk about would have been a stark contrast to George W. Bush’s administration, whose notoriously secretive ways drew such criticism from Democrats in Congress during eight long years of really failed policies.

Instead, in the apparent interests of bipartisanship, the Delaware Democrat has adopted much the same sort of undetailed schedule as his Republican predecessor, Dick Cheney, who was not in the Senate when Obama was only 11 years old.

In fact, today’s Biden schedule highlight is a meeting with the chief of transparency for economic recovery. But, unfortunately, the transparency meeting is non-transparent, closed to the press. (See his full schedule below.) Which makes it — what? — secret openness? Open secrecy?

In a joint report issued early this week a league of nonprofit groups including Common Cause gave the Democratic administration high marks for its openness, although it said the work was incomplete and didn’t really go into the lack of open healthcare legislative hearings televised by C-SPAN, as promised by candidate Obama.

Under the category of good but not good enough, here’s another viewpoint from Tommy Christopher, including the Obama C-SPAN promise video.

Biden once described Cheney as the most dangerous VP in American history. But since Biden will only turn 68 this year, he was probably overstating in his well-known, jolly way the dangerous vice presidents that he’s known whose devious backroom skills and ways earned them fame over the decades –men with household names like William King, Henry Wilson and T.A. Hendricks.

Someday, who knows, Biden’s too may join them.

— Andrew Malcolm

Here is the vice president’s official schedule for today. Boldface was added in the interests of emphasis. Note especially that the vice president’s meeting with the chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board is closed, meaning non-transparent.

The “pool spray” mentioned has nothing to do with aquatics. It’s a coded message to media that a few select members will be allowed in to take pictures briefly — possibly for only a few seconds — as Biden and his guest pretend to continue their previously private conversation as if the meeting was open.

DAILY GUIDANCE FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT, Thursday, January 14, 2010:

In the morning, the President and the Vice President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and the Economic Daily Briefing in the Oval Office. These briefings are closed press.

At 11:30 AM, the Vice President will meet with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This meeting is closed press.

Afterwards, the President and the Vice President will have lunch in the Private Dining Room. This lunch is closed press.

At 1:00 PM, the Vice President will meet with Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi in the Roosevelt Room. There will be a pool spray at the bottom of this meeting; gather time is 1:45 PM in the Brady Briefing Room.
Then, at 2:15 PM, the Vice President will meet with Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. This meeting is closed press.    ###

In the interests of transparency we admit you can click here to receive Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. You can also go to our new Facebook fan page here.

Photo: Associated Press

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Citizens have natural right to organize a local Militia

CONFIRMED BY U.S. SUPREME COURT IN THE CASE, D.C. VS. HELLER

The Post & E-Mail

by John Charlton

Our Liberty was not won by the U.S. Military; it was won by Citizens’ Militia, who fought and died without uniforms, armed with their own personal muskets and swords.

(Jan. 14, 2010) —  As the nation slides into a Marxist tyranny, led by a usurper who hides his birth certificate and a Democratic super-majority, which has no qualms passing unconstitutional laws, usurping the rights of the several States and their Citizens, it is crucially important for all U.S. Citizens to understand and recognize that they have a natural right to self-defense, which includes the right to assemble a local Militia, apart from State and Federal Control.

This natural right is confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, in its recent, land-mark ruling, in the case District of Columbia vs. Dick Anthony Heller, which was decided on June 26, 2008.

In that ruling, Justice Antonin Scalia made some remarkable statements which regard this long forgotten natural right. The Post & Email previously, reprinted the section on Citizens’ Militia.  In this article, I will draw out the conclusions of that ruling, as regards the organization of local Militias.

First, he confirmed the 1939 Supreme Court Ruling which defines the Citizens’ Militia as all the able bodied men capable of bearing arms:

a. “Well-Regulated Militia.” In United States v. Miller, 307 U. S. 174, 179 (1939) , we explained that “the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense.” That definition comports with founding-era sources. See, e.g., Webster (“The militia of a country are the able bodied men organized into companies, regiments and brigades … and required by law to attend military exercises on certain days only, but at other times left to pursue their usual occupations”); The Federalist No. 46, pp. 329, 334 (B. Wright ed. 1961) (J. Madison) (“near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands”); Letter to Destutt de Tracy (Jan. 26, 1811), in The Portable Thomas Jefferson 520, 524 (M. Peterson ed. 1975) (“[T]he militia of the State, that is to say, of every man in it able to bear arms”).

The import of this re-affirmation is that the Citizen’s Militia has not only not ceased to exist, but does exist; it is nothing less than all the able bodied men of the State in which you live.

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Obama’s Citizenship Denied

Great American Journal

In case you or someone you know (like maybe Shepard Smith of Fox News) still believes that Barack Obama posted a copy of his Hawaiian birth certificate on the internet, here is an actual Hawaiian birth certificate from 1963 (the same era as Obama’s birth), which while redacted includes detailed information documenting a birth, including the name of the birth hospital and the attending physician. Notice this form is entitled “CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH.”

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HOW COLD IS IT?

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Reid’s Racism: Typical Trashing of White America

LloydMarcus.com

During the presidential campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Barack Obama would be a good candidate because he was “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one”. Since the exposure of his racist comment, Reid has been running around apologizing to every black in America.

The elephant in the living room of the controversy that everyone seems to be ignoring is Reid’s horrific slap in the face of white America. In essence Reid believes, “most white American voters are racists who will not elect a dark-skinned black man”.

Reid owes white America an apology and his resignation.

This will never happen because democrats and the mainstream media believe it is OK to trash white America. Liberals have been portraying white America, mainly white males, as racist villains who victimize everyone from Christopher Columbus to the current Tea Party patriots.

As a black patriot, I am more offended by Reid’s dis of my white fellow Americans than I am of him insulting me as a black man. White liberals have been insulting and demeaning us blacks for years. It is what they do. Liberals believe blacks cannot be successful in America without lowered standards and their intervention.

Years ago, a white friend’s son came home from middle school in tears over the cruelty of our founding fathers against Native Americans. Today, that kid is a 23 year old America-hating Marxist. Thank you public schools for your liberal America-sucks curriculum.

Liberal actress Jeannine Garafolo called the Tea Party Patriots “tea bagging redneck racists” for their opposition of Obama’s far left radical agenda. I have yet to hear one Democrat or liberal media member rebuke Garafolo’s outrageous comment. The liberal Democrat House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the tea party attendees an angry mob, Astroturf and even threw in the term Nazi for good measure. Again, trashing, insulting and demeaning white America is fair game.

Without hesitation the Democrats trash white America whenever it serves their purpose. When Obama said the white police officer acted stupidly for arresting black professor Gates, for which Obama had to later apologize, the liberal Democrat machine went into action to defend Obama. They launched a media campaign to prove that America’s white cops do profile and abuse blacks.

In the 30 minutes I was on the Stair-Master at the gym, I witnessed two black Democrats on TV saying that Reid simply spoke the truth. Both blacks said they do receive more respect from whites because of their light skin. This is absurd. Oprah Winfrey, a dark skinned black woman is one of the most influential people in the world. America is the home of countless highly influential, powerful and wealthy dark-complected blacks. Rushing light skinned blacks on TV to defend Reid’s false accusation against whites is yet another example of how democrats have no problem trashing white America to save one of their own.

A part of me hates the touchiness of our society. The slightest infraction and everyone is screaming, “Off with their head!” But in the case of Harry Reid, demanding his resignation is truly in order. Every poll confirms the majority of Americans are against Reid’s horrific massive government takeover of our lives disguised as a health care bill. Still, this arrogant evil man has chosen to undermine the will of the people. Reid and company desire to ignore the Constitution and hijack as much of our freedoms, liberty and culture as they can get away with. The passage of government run health care would be a major victory in their quest to transform America.

I would relish a scenario similar to what happened to Al Capone happening to Harry Reid. The government knew Capone was guilty of numerous serious crimes. However, they could not gather enough evidence to convict him. Finally, they were able to send Capone to prison on the lesser crime of income tax evasion.

Reid is guilty of betraying the American people. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party, with help from a sycophant liberal mainstream media, have built a protective wall around Reid. But the exposure of Reid’s racism and contempt for the American people could punch a huge hole in the protective wall which surrounds him. And just like the city of Jericho, hopefully, Reid’s protective wall will come tumbling down.

Lloyd Marcus (black) Unhyphenated American, Singer/Songwriter, Entertainer, Author, Artist & Tea Party Patriot

LloydMarcus.com

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Hey, Speaker Pelosi, Where Are the Jobs?

Big Government

In August 2003, then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a press statement demanding to know from President Bush, “Where Are the Jobs?” The statement was released in response to the monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report, which, at that time showed that over 400,000 Americans had given up looking for work and had left the labor force. It should be noted that today, every job measurement she cited is worse now than it was in 2003. We must have overlooked her similar question for President Obama.

From Pelosi’s statement:

Washington, D.C. — House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ announcement that 470,000 people abandoned their job searches in July and that 3.2 million private sector jobs have been lost since President Bush took office:

Of course, in December 2009, almost twice as many (929,000) had “abandoned their job searches” on Speaker Pelosi’s watch and with a Democrat in the White House.

“The fact is that President Bush’s misguided economic policies have failed to create jobs. Since President Bush took office, the country has lost 3.2 million jobs, the worst record since President Hoover. And today we learned that in July nearly half a million people gave up looking for a job.

Between January 2001 (132.469 million) and July 2003 (129.864 million), the U.S. actually lost 2.6 million payroll jobs. However, that pales in comparison with the 3.4 million jobs lost since Barack Obama became President (134.333 million in January 2009 versus 130.910 million in December 2009), giving President Obama the “worst record since President Hoover.”

“Job losses are taking a real toll on the financial security of American families. While Democrats are fighting for opportunity, jobs, and economic security for working families, Republicans continue to focus on helping those who need help the least.

“According to today’s survey, while the national unemployment rate dropped slightly, it still stands at a near record high.

Despite the Pelosi’s claim, the 6.2% unemployment rate in July 2003 was nowhere close to a “record high”.  In fact, the 6.2% July 2003 unemployment rate wasn’t uncommon at all.  Between January 1948 (when official data began) and July 2003, a full 208 out of 667 months (31%) saw an unemployment rate of 6.2% or higher.  Unfortunately for today’s workers, the 10% unemployment rate in December 2009 reflects much greater and more exceptional pain – a level reached in only 10 months before this recession (or in 1.4% of all months between 1948 and 2008).

In addition, the unemployment rate for African Americans was still over 11 percent in July, and the unemployment rate for Hispanics was 8.2 percent in July.

The current African American (16.2%) and Hispanic (12.9%) unemployment rates are far higher than the levels in July 2003.

It is time for President Bush and the Republicans to get to work for all Americans, not just the elite few.”

So, exactly whom have President Obama and the Democrats been working for? If President Bush and the Republicans actually were working for ‘just the elite few’ as Pelosi contends, it seems like it might not have been a bad strategy. At the very least, the prospects of finding a job were certainly much brighter.

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