Here, he espouses humble foreign policy, avoiding playing ‘World Police’ and staying out of the business of nation building.

What the hell happened?

This is Trinity Tomsic. She’s married to the Honorable Cheye Calvo, Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland. She’s distraught because the couple recently lost their family pets — two black Labradors — after cops in Maryland broke down their door, handcuffed the Mayor, opened fire and killed the animals.

The Mayor and his wife weren’t committing any crimes. They were the victims of an on-going crime known as the War on Drugs.

It seems that the couple had received a package, via regular post, of over 30 pounds of marijuana. You know… leaves.

This gave law enforcement rise to forcibly break into the couple’s home, place the mayor in handcuffs (and leave him that way for hours), shoot the couple’s dogs and treat the pair as if they’d committed murder. At the end of it all, the geniuses in Berwyn Heights’ police department figured out that the couple had nothing to do with the delivery.

They wouldn’t even apologize for icing the dogs.

The story is here and it should probably make you rethink the role of government in protecting us from ourselves. In other words, is grass really cause for an overzealous cop discharging a firearm in a family’s home? Which does more harm?

These people are victims, but there’s plenty more victims out there. The War on Drugs doesn’t work. It creates a black market where there should instead be oversight. It creates organized crime where there would otherwise be none. It creates gang violence, turf wars, criminals out of addicts and ruined lives over a plant.

A damn plant.

No wonder potheads are so paranoid.

He was the Deputy Prosecutor during the trials of the Manson Family in California. He’s also the author of The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.

He’s no slouch.

Here, now is Bugliosi’s testimoney to a House Judiciary Committee on the matter. Watch and decide.

ThinkProgress reports that on this day, 8 years ago, then-Presidential hopeful and Republican nominee, George W. Bush told convention-goers that he would uphold the honor and dignity of the office of the President of the United States of America:

So when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God.

He also promised to uphold the laws of our land. Do you think he’s done so?

Over the past 8 years, we’ve been made criminals, guilty until proven innocent, under the United States Patriot Act – legislation so vigorously pushed by the Bush administration that most members of the House and Senate never had a chance to even read it.

We’ve lost our right to Habeas Corpus and Writ of Quo Warranto – the rights that guarantee us the ability to defend ourselves against wrongful persecution and perhaps the most sacred rights we have save our rights to life, liberty and happiness.

We’ve read news story after news story about torture committed by the United States against detainees. We’ve heard the Bush White House defend the practices of waterboarding and other extreme methods of interrogation over and over, in clear opposition of international law and the Geneva Conventions.

We’ve seen members of the Bush administration thumb their noses at the Congress.

We’ve seen monstrous legislation bullied through the chambers of the Legislature that defy our Constitutionally guaranteed rights under the 4th Amendment.

We’ve read over 35 separate articles of impeachment against the President along with a number of them against his Vice President, based on felonies and misdemeanors.

We’ve seen an administration that obstructed justice and blocked the efforts of a commission to investigate and report back to the American people on the events of September 11, 2001.

We’ve all felt the effects of a falling dollar value, hyperinflation and trillions upon trillons of dollars in debt to pay for a military industrial complex in support of a war that the President, himself, lied to the American people about.

We’ve seen articles of the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi citizens and thousands of dead American service people.

So, my question is this:

Precisely what law of the land and what honor and dignity has Mr. Bush upheld?

Now, I realize that clinical depression is a rather serious matter and that people suffering from its effects need serious intervention and treatment if they are to survive.

However, it’s also clear that many who are prescribed these brain-scrambling toxic drugs are not clinically depressed. How many people do you know who are taking these poisonous drugs because they have a hectic life and find difficulty in dealing with it? Probably quite a few.

The fine folks over at Brasscheck TV (where I found this video), had this to say on the subject:

Doctors have completely abdicated all responsibility for really understanding the impact of the drugs they prescribe.

They accept pharmaceutical industry representations uncritically along with what in any other industry could only be called bribes.

The FDA, the White House, Congress have demonstrated that they will not do anything to protect the public.

If you’re prescribed a drug, do your own homework. Don’t count on your physician to know what he or she is doing. Most don’t.

According to CNN Money, over 232 million prescriptions for antidepressants — generating over $12 billion in revenues — were dispensed in 2007. 232 million people sucking deadly rubbish into their bodies or forcing it on their children. And that’s in the United States alone.

The FDA has proven itself, time and again, to be as trustable in governing these matters as your dog is in keeping an eye on your cheeseburger. Time and again we read of drugs causing disastrous side effects — side effects that pharmaceutical companies play down dramatically — being part of the accepted medical response to serious problems as well as things that aren’t really problems to begin with (does your foot shake at night?).

It’s profit over human life. Plain and simple. And, until and unless doctors start pushing back against these filthy, greedy, inhumane pharmaceutical companies, it will continue.

Again, recognizing that clinical depression is a very serious matter, I find it difficult to believe that 232 million Americans were diagnosed with the illness in 2007. Something isn’t adding up.

Then again, something is. Profit. Profit over the health, longevity and very life of the individual. And, they keep getting away with it.

Try selling an ounce of grass on your street corner (the most non-addictive, non-toxic substance there is) and let me know how fast the cops were on you like ticks on a hound.

Who are the criminals here? Seriously?

Or not. I found this little bit of viral marketing rather amusing. Still, if I were in charge for a few weeks, there’d be plenty of things I wouldn’t mind turning upside down.

Some people think he’s spot on whilst others will tell you that he’s completely off his rocker. Love him or hate him, Alex Jones is one brave son of a gun.

On July 4, Jones released 9/11 Chronicles: Truth Rising. The film is yet one more critique of the government’s response to the events of September 11, 2001 and a supporting gesture to the 9/11 Truth movement and other civil liberties activists who believe the events of that day served to benefit the government in reducing the freedoms of the average American citizen.

You needn’t be a conspiracy theorist to see how effectively the American people have been put at heel by the current field of elected halfwits. Nor do you need to sympathize with the mourners of those fallen to understand why this type of uprising was simply bound to happen.

Here it is from Google Video. You decide for yourself.

On matters of money and liberty, once again Ron Paul delivers the goods. But, will anyone listen?

The former Presidential candidate, still seated in Congress, has penned a lengthy but very powerful statement to the Congress which he will introduce as a special order next week.

In it, the 10-term representative outlines the reasons for our failing economy and the potential for a disastrous outcome. Paul’s doctrine of sound money, non-intervention foreign policy and settled civil liberties is one he’s supported for over 35 years.

During the campaign process, he was labeled as a crazy man for holding such values.

Well, with Rome burning and our elected officials just fiddling away, I’m not sure Ron Paul can be called the crazy one anymore.

You can read the entire entry by clicking the link below. Get comfortable as it’s a hefty piece of work. When you’re done, send it along to everyone in your address book.

Ron Paul - Something Big is Going On

Anyone who’s been here before knows there used to be a whole lot of content. Now, it’s gone buh-bye and it will take some time for me to replace it. What happened? A web hosting company called iPower happened.

iPower hosted my site for a number of years and provided fairly decent service. So much so that I placed several clients with them. Then, in October of last year, iPower merged with iPowerWeb (yes, they were separate companies) and forced all of their customers onto a new platform which made use of updated vDeck control panel functionality.

It doesn’t sound like a single site moved without drama. I lost a lot of trust from my clients and I can’t say that I blame them a bit.

Well, they never transitioned mine. In fact, I received several emails from them, asking if I wanted to move. To all of them, I replied ‘no’.

So, early this week, they just took it down. No notice. No warning. No migrating the site to the new platform. They just took the entire thing down. After 24 hours of trying to get a reply from their technical support team, I learned that iPower would provide no backup to me, no refund for unused hosting services and — essentially — nothing to correct their cock up.

Now, part of the purpose of this site is to support my freelance creative and PR business. The rest is just me ranting like a madwoman. So, I’m not entirely dependent on it for my livelihood. If I were, I’d be hotter than a two-dollar pistol.

iPower is pretty much the most irresponsible business provider I’ve had to deal with. I feel rather sorry for their corporate customers.

So, the content will come back one day, but not today. Thanks for not pointing at me and laughing hysterically (you’re not, are you?). I’ve learned my lesson.

Comedian George Carlin dead at age 71.

George Carlin was something of a hero to me for quite a long time. Probably since I was only 8 or 9 years of age. I adored his wit as well as his ability to point out the stupidest of human behaviors that nearly all of us share.

Unlike the Carlos Mencias and Dane Cooks of today, Carlin was not edgy because he tried to be. He was simply a very bright person with a penchant for pointing out absurdity and he did it with a style that none could imitate.

Carlin was a pioneer in direct and honest language and, sometimes, it got him into trouble.

His case, FCC v. Pacifica, was a small piece of American history that sparked debate on the limits to protected expression and encouraged the individual to rethink their personal definition of decency. The irony of Supreme Court Justices hearing Carlin’s “Seven Filthy Words” transcript has oftentimes made me grin.

But, I hope Carlin is remembered for more than just his salty language.

His was something of a craftsmanship, honing material that he, doubtless, formulated from day-to-day life — always a common thread, always particularly human.

He also questioned the establishment, much to the chagrin of those in it and around it. In his last special (unfortunately titled Life is Worth Losing), Carlin had mighty harsh words about the people he called the “owners” of America. But, they were sensible words and he was probably spot on in his accusations.

Haunted for years by the demons of chemical addiction, Carlin might not be the role model you’d point to for your child’s sake. But, he was a thinker. No two ways about it.

And, it was that thinking and communicating that people warmed up to. He made you think a bit. He made you uncomfortable once in a while. And he made you tear up with laughter as well. For those things, I’ll always be grateful that I knew of him.

And, if you ever wish to turn to his pearls of wisdom to figure out the meaning of your existence here on earth…

Plastic. A$$HOLES!