Losing The Right to Sue
More and more businesses are sticking mandatory arbitration clauses into their contracts, forcing consumers to give up their right to sue if they want to conduct business, and consumer groups have made the elimination of these clauses a top priority. The practice started with brokerage and credit card contracts but has become increasingly popular with mortgage lenders, car dealers, employers and even hospitals and doctors. “These clauses are the single biggest threat to consumer rights in recent years, a de facto rewrite of the Constitution that undermines a broad range of consumer protections painstakingly built into law. No other consumer issue hits so many Americans where they live every day,'' said the National Consumer Law Center.
More at
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/breaking/breakingnewsarticle.asp?feed=OBR&Date=20041009&ID=4018118
This is one of my pet pieves. I believe that law suits have been one of the most damaging efforts aganist Constitutional freedom ever used. Everyone and his brother nowadays is literally frightened to speak their minds honestly for fear of being sued. Lawsuits are being used by the anti-Constitution factions to undermine and destroy everything from freedom of speech and religion(especially Christian expression) to firearm rights. When Congress tries to pass reform to stop this mess, the greed backers, seeing the end of their gravy train, whip wimpy politicians to defeat the legislation. I believe that all lawsuits should be ended completly. Period. A good replacement would be a form of just recompense based on a set of pre-defined rules. I agree if you are injured in some way by a truly negligent act, that you deserve just recompense but the frivilious legal setup today is a form of socialist theft. It not only destroys true Constitutional freedom, it can be used to push treasonous agendas.
Taxes Are Forcing You Out of Your Home
Reported in the Christian Science Monitor is an assessment that hits a cord all too familiar: "There is a property tax crisis," says Myron Orfield, a property tax expert at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "It's especially bad in states like New Jersey, Ohio, Connecticut, and Illinois, which are property-tax dependent.”
“The changing demographics have combined with an unusual economic phenomenon: home prices climbing at double-digit rates in some areas. This would make homeowners happy, except that an increasing number of communities are now assessing property values every year.”
CBS Market Watch provides even greater details: “Nationwide, median home values rose 24 percent from 2001 to mid-2004, and some regions saw much steeper increases, such as a 46 percent jump in the northeast and a 33 percent rise in the west, according to Deloitte & Touche's Property Tax Services Group.”
Runzheimer International, a consulting and research firm adds other examples of property-tax increases over those four years: 53 percent in Alexandria, Va., near Washington; 49 percent in Yorba Linda, near Los Angeles; 47 percent in Kendall, Fla., near Miami; 37 percent in Roswell, Ga., near Atlanta; 32 percent in Chesterfield, Mo., near St. Louis.
http://batr.org/view/010605.html
2005 Senate Bill 5113 (Regarding rainwater collection permit)
Introduced by Sen. Paull Shin on January 13, 2005, to authorize the department of ecology to require any person using rain barrels and cisterns to collect rainwater to receive a permit from the department prior to collection of rainwater. Rainwater must be intended for beneficial use on the same property from where it was collected.
http://www.washingtonvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=31223
The ultimate in government tinkering with OTHER peoples rights.
They would legislate how often you could breathe
if they thought of it.
(power and control).
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"It is the criminal who 'shoots to kill' in violation of man's rights. It is the law-abiding citizen who shoots in 'righteous self defense' to protect and preserve man's rights." - James Mullen
FireArmNews.com – Misc. articles/links
Covering the pulse of the pro-rights community
http://firearmnews.com/
Someone Is Planning Your Future
Henry Lamb warns that a high-priority recommendation of the U.N.'s "Agenda 21" is to get people to live within "growth boundaries" instead of wherever they want to live.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44165
Government Wants To Remote Control Your Air Conditioning Under New Proposal
The technology -- which already is being used in a few other states besides CA -- eventually could give the utilities some remote control over home appliances such as air conditioners, which raises privacy questions.
Full article at
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2005/110505remotecontrol.htm
If you want to read something about losing your rights, get a load off this http://www.rense.com/general65/realid.htm The part that sets me off is about how the realid act was created by 2 'former' Russian KGB agents. Do you believe it? Have these people in Washington lost their frigging minds? How stupid can you be- unless you're in cahoots with them. You know, also the 'Patriot Act' was authored by a former Vietamese immigrant. Are we supposed to appalaud this former immigrant's brillance, at conceiving that socialist piece of thrash?! Maybe the ID act is why the Prez was in Moscow celebrating with Puty-put. I wouldn't doubt it. What a joke.
As Harold E. Smith III writes in his commentary below, it’s "An Attack on Liberty, 100-0."
Tuesday marked an important day in the long history of the United States of America. The Senate unanimously approved the Iraq Supplemental Spending Bill as expected, passing along with it a very important rider: The REAL ID Act.
What is the REAL ID Act? Simply put it is an erosion of freedom, balance of powers, and states rights under the guise of safety.
The erosion of freedom is simple, your government will be able to track you with uninhibited ease compared to the past. Language within the bill gives the Department of Homeland Security unequivocal control over the implementation of the new national ID. One of the "security features" will be an identification method, it could be similar to the magnetic strip already contained on the back of your driver’s license. Don’t count on this being the technology that will be used.
The Department of Homeland Security has a strong inclination for RFID technology (which is also being used in future passports). Yes, tracking technology. This is the same technology Wal-Mart uses to track its billions of dollars in inventory as it moves through distribution centers and stores. Why on earth would the Department of Homeland Security want to use tracking technology in licenses? The question answers itself, why wouldn’t they. Mandating citizens to carry a card on their person that has a tracking chip isn’t as Orwellian and draconian as having an implant to keep tabs on citizens.
Don’t count on these cards being secure either. We all know how successful corporations have been at implementing secure digital media. Their failure rate has been immense, even given the unconstitutional Digital Millennium Copyright Act which was designed to severely punish those who "hack" and "crack" encryption technologies. One can only guess at how well a growing bureaucracy will do at ensuring our ID’s we have to carry with us will be secure. As the technology stands, you can "sniff" RFID tags from several hundred meters away, once cracked this is a dangerous proposition. Ignoring any Orwellian fears a minute, the simple fact it can be exploited for nefarious purposes by criminals is reason enough to cause alarm. The security of a system is only as strong as its weakest link. How many weak links can we find within the massive and ever growing federal government?
If you think using RFID’s is the end to this, you have another thing coming. RFID tags will only be the beginning of ever more control by the government. Government never stops growing and assuming powers it has no right to take.
Along with the RFID tags there will be extensive databases, all linked, to compile information on the citizens of the "free" United States. The new national ID must be used to open a new bank account, receive government benefits, and a host of other activities. They will track everything you do. But I guess the only people that have something to hide will worry, it isn’t like history repeats itself.
Section 102 of this bill should cause worry to all Americans, past and present:
IN GENERAL – Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the authority to waive, and shall waive, all laws such Secretary, in such Secretary's sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads under this section.
NO JUDICIAL REVIEW – Notwithstanding any other provision of law (statutory or nonstatutory), no court, administrative agency, or other entity shall have jurisdiction – "(A) to hear any cause or claim arising from any action undertaken, or any decision made, by the Secretary of Homeland Security pursuant to paragraph (1)"; or "(B) to order compensatory, declaratory, injunctive, equitable, or any other relief for damage alleged to arise from any such action or decision."
You read it right, Congress is attempting (this text has appeared in previous bills) to remove the Supreme Court from the balance of power. Giving the Department of Homeland Security unbridled power to legislate as they see fit is unacceptable from the standpoint of ensuring freedom for all Americans. Who are we to hold responsible in the Department of Homeland Security? They are not elected officials, yet they cannot be held in contempt of violating our Constitutional Rights as Americans, our God given rights to live free and not be held slaves of our own government.
A war is brewing between the Supreme Court and the other branches of power. One must ask, do you really think the Supreme Court will rule against itself having the power to declare laws unconstitutional? The Supreme Court deciding they don’t have that power has as much chance of happening as Congress cutting the size of government in half. Now you must ask yourself, how will this be implemented?
Implementation will take place through extortion. Let’s not forget extortion is illegal, unless you are the federal government. If a state refuses to implement the REAL ID Act it will not be a beneficiary of federal dollars or programs. The citizens of the state will not be purvey to federal programs, incentives, and even travel. Your tax dollars are taken away and held hostage in exchange for your rights. The federal behemoth has concocted the perfect system to ensure they can erode the rights of the states. Identification of citizens was never a right given to the federal government by the Constitution, yet the immense power it has become has declared it the right of the federal government. The rights for identifying citizens have been predicated to the states as explicitly laid out in the Tenth Amendment.
Let us not forget the gross perversion of power that has allowed this bill to pass as is. The simple fact this bill was attached to emergency spending to ensure our troops are safe while at war is despicable. All members of Congress should feel disgusted at their attempts to subjugate the freedoms we enjoy as Americans while not standing up against this bill. The fact not one member of the Senate had the courage to vote against this bill should be proof to all Americans that our representatives are not upholding the Constitution they swore to obey. The bill failed to pass on its own last year. It would have done the same this year. It was bad legislation, it is still bad legislation, and it will be bad legislation.
Congress needs to do away with riders and unrelated legislation to bills. If a bill cannot pass on its own merit we as free Americans don’t need it.
Our only hope is for the governors to refuse to honor this law, which National Governors Association is planning to oppose. Write your governor; tell him to fight this to the bloody end. Fight the blackmail; fight the erosion of your constitutional rights to be free within your country. There is still hope, do everything you can and get everyone you can to contact your elected officials.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2005/120505attackonliberty.htm
"Is photography becoming illegal in the United States?" asks Jim McGee, in a column for the online photo magazine Vivid Light Photography.
See:
Watch Where You Point That Camera
Anecdotal evidence suggests that heightened sensitivities over security in the wake of 9/11 have put a crimp in photographers' freedom to shoot in public, even if the laws remain largely unchanged.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0523/p11s01-ussc.html
Article also at http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2005/230505pointthatcamera.htm
Patriot Act and Real ID: Farewell to Liberty
It should be very clear to American citizens that we have no rights. We have rules, laws, curtailments, spy technologies, enforcements, easements, buffer zones, ID cards, automobile stickers, passes, swipe cards, and limitations. Beginning in 2008, we will also have Real Identification Cards – maybe…
The Real ID Act, passed on May 11th, was passed without Congressional debate. Surprise, surprise. Instead, the Real ID was buried, hidden legislation-style, into an 82 billion dollar military spending bill to support the continuing occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq…
Full commentary by Nancy Levant at http://www.newswithviews.com/Levant/nancy2.htm
'Sustainable Community,' Unsustainable Liberty
Santa Cruz, Calif., was the first sustainable community, transformed through a process they proudly called "Local Agenda 21." Because of the association with the United Nations, proponents now avoid any recognition of Agenda 21 and use names such as "Pacific Ring Initiative." The process is the same. The goal is the same. The result is the same: loss of control by elected officials, loss of property rights and value, and the emergence of a managed society.-Henry Lamb/WorldNetDaily
Full commentary at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45190
Goodbye fourth ammendment. Hello location tracking by cell phone. A judge has just ruled that the police can track your cell phone location without a warrant.
I used to work for a company involved in the cell phone industry. Most new phones in North America contain a GPS receiver that identifies your location, accurately, while your phone is on. This, puportedly, was mandated for our own safety, since now the location of a 911 caller can be identified.
There is some misinformation in the article below. The judge justifies his decision to trample our fourth ammendment rights because only the general location is revealed. With older technology that was true -- your location was identified by your proximity to a cell phone tower, or sometimes more accurately determined by triangulating your location from several towers, but now with embedded GPS receivers, you phone's location is pinpointed within yards.
This does not work if your phone is turned off, but while your phone is on, its GPS receiver calculates its location and transmits it to network systems via the phone's data channel.
Verizon offers a commercial version of this service so employers can monitor the location and travel patterns (past and present) of their employees. They recently announced consumer-based location based services that use this same infrastructure (which is provided by Openwave, who acquired Boulder, CO company Signalsoft)
News story:
Police blotter: Judge lets Feds track cell phones
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: December 23, 2005, 4:00 AM PST
"Police blotter" is a weekly report on the intersection of technology and the law.
What: Invoking the Patriot Act, the Justice Department asked to eavesdrop on the location of a cell phone user without providing evidence that criminal activity was taking place.
When: U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein, in the Southern District of New York, ruled on Dec. 20.
Outcome: Cell phone tracking permitted.
Summary: Federal police may monitor the locations of Americans by constantly tracking their cell phone signals without providing evidence of criminal activity, a magistrate judge has ruled.
In a surprise ruling that differed from recent decisions by three other judges, Gorenstein said his reading of federal wiretapping law and the Patriot Act permitted police to obtain location-tracking orders without any evidence of wrongdoing.
Gorenstein also said that because the cell phone user's location is only available to police when a call is in progress, and because the location information is only a rough estimate, such tracking is permissible under the Fourth Amendment. That amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, prohibits "unreasonable" searches and monitoring.
The Justice Department has argued that it should be allowed to monitor Americans without having to show "probable cause"--that is, at least some evidence of criminal behavior. Instead, federal prosecutors say, all police need to claim is that the information obtained might in some way be "relevant" to a criminal investigation.
<end of excerpt>
click here for full story
For more information and news about location tracking services, see
http://www.lbszone.com/
You’ll Be Freer and Richer in the Bill of Rights Culture
In America, within living memory, all these things were true…
http://www.freemarketnews.com/Analysis/105/3364/2006-01-05.asp?wid=105&nid=3364
The End of 'Unalienable Rights'
Every American school child is taught that in the United States, people have “unalienable rights,” heralded by the Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Supposedly, these liberties can’t be taken away, but they are now gone…
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/012406.html