News & Views in Pamlico County, NC
May
2, 2006
American Hostages...
Some snippets from Riverbend’s post today:
<snip>
One television station that had been
broadcasting since the beginning of the war was an Iranian station called “Al
Alam”. They had been broadcasting for the Iraqi public in Arabic with
permission from the former government and they continued broadcasting even
after the Iraqi stations stopped. Their coverage of the war was rather neutral.
They gave facts and avoided unnecessary commentary or opinion and that, to a
certain extent, made them trustworthy- especially since we really didn’t have
any other options.
<snip>
It was around 9 pm on the 11th of
April when we finally saw the footage of Saddam’s statue being pulled down by
American troops- the American flag plastered on his face. We watched, stunned,
as Baghdad was looted and burned by hordes of men, being watched and saluted by
American soldiers in tanks. Looking back at it now, it is properly ironic that
our first glimpses of the ‘fall of Baghdad’ and the occupation of Iraq came to
us via Iran- through that Iranian channel.
<snip>
Today they rule the country. Over
the duration of three years, and through the use of vicious militias,
assassinations and abductions, they’ve managed to install themselves firmly in
the Green Zone. We constantly hear our new puppets rant and rave against Syria,
against Saudi Arabia, against Turkey, even against the country they have to
thank for their rise to power- America… But no one dares to talk about the role
Iran is planning in the country.
The last few days we’ve been hearing
about Iranian attacks on northern Iraq- parts of Kurdistan that are on the
Iranian border. Several sites were bombed and various news sources are
reporting Iranian troops by the thousand standing ready at the Iraqi border.
Prior to this, there has been talk of Iranian revolutionary guard infiltrating
areas like Diyala and even parts of Baghdad.
<snip>
So while Iraqis are dying by the
hundreds, with corpses turning up everywhere (last week they found a dead man
in the open area in front of my cousins daughters school), the Iraqi puppets
are taking their time trying to decide who gets to do the most stealing and in
which ministry. Embezzlement, after all, is not to be taken lightly- one must
give it the proper amount of thought and debate- even if the country is coming
unhinged.
<snip>
As for news of the new Iraqi army,
it isn’t going as smoothly as Bush and his crew portray. Today we watched
footage of Iraqi soldiers in Anbar graduating. The whole ceremony was quite
ordinary up until nearly the end- their commander announced they would be
deployed to various areas and suddenly it was chaos. The soldiers began
stripping their fatigues and throwing them around, verbally attacking their
seniors and yelling and shoving. They were promised, when they signed up for
the army in their areas, that they would be deployed inside of their own areas-
which does make sense. There is news that they are currently on strike-
refusing to be deployed outside of their own provinces.
<snip>
One can’t help but wonder if the
‘area’ they were supposed to be deployed to was the north of Iraq? Especially
with Iranian troops on the border… Talbani announced a few days ago that the
protection of Kurdistan was the responsibility of Iraq and I completely agree for
a change- because Kurdistan IS a part of Iraq. Before he made this statement,
it was always understood that only the Peshmerga would protect Kurdistan-
apparently, against Iran, they aren’t nearly enough.
The big question is- what will the
US do about Iran? There are the hints of the possibility of bombings, etc.
While I hate the Iranian government, the people don’t deserve the chaos and
damage of air strikes and war. I don’t really worry about that though, because
if you live in Iraq- you know America’s hands are tied. Just as soon as
Washington makes a move against Tehran, American troops inside Iraq will come
under attack. It’s that simple- Washington has big guns and planes… But Iran
has 150,000 American hostages.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
May
1, 2006
Cancerous
Corporatism
The overreaching
role of corporations in government decision making at the expense of the public
is often called corporatism. With the large
military –industrial complex that now exists, the type of Corporatism that
shackles our population is more dangerous than ever. President
Eisenhower warned Americans of this danger as he left office in very clear
language:
“In the councils of
government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of
misplaced power exists and will persist.” - President Dwight D. Eisenhower
This weekend, a famous economist, John Kenneth Galbraith died at the age of
97. He was an advisor to President
Kennedy, and in his later years, strived to explain how the planning of giant
corporations superseded market mechanisms.
“We
are becoming the servants in thought, as in action, of the machine we have
created to serve us.”
- John Kenneth Galbraith
James K. Galbraith, the renowned son of John K. Galbraith,
now describes “American Corporatism” as nothing less than a Predator State:
<snip>
“Today,
the signature of modern American capitalism is neither benign competition, nor
class struggle, nor an inclusive middle-class utopia. Instead, predation has become the dominant feature—a system
wherein the rich have come to feast on decaying systems built for the middle
class. The predatory class is not the
whole of the wealthy; it may be opposed by many others of similar wealth. But it is the defining feature, the leading
force. And its agents are in full
control of the government under which we live.”
<snip>
- James K. Galbraith, The
Predator State
This weekend, I heard
from an old friend and fraternity brother; we both attended and graduated from
Purdue University in the 1970’s. He now
works for General Motors as an Electrical Engineer, and described how he had
turned-down better paying job offers over the years because of the good pension
GM had for its retirees. He now worries
his pension will be significantly less, perhaps a quarter to a half, than what
was stated in the original compensation plan.
When one thinks of the many who lost their savings with the Enron
scandal, the word “unfair” hardly describes such anguish. And what about the scandals in government
collusion that we
will never know anything about? The
problem is deeper and wider than any of us realize and perhaps the system is so
broken it is beyond repair - it is certainly beyond solution for the current
leadership of the Democratic or Republican Parties.
- Rick Happ, May 1, 2006
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
April
27, 2006
A few billion here, A few
billion there
From Moon
of Alabama:
The non-partisan Congressional Research
Service has made a new
estimate for the costs of the War on Iraq and War on Afghanistan. Like
often, the Washington Post, in reporting this buries, the lead and the day's
real headline in the second last paragraph of a page A16 story:
Of the total war
spending, the CRS analysis found $4 billion that could not be tracked. It did identify $2.5 billion
diverted from other spending authorizations in 2001 and 2002 to prepare for the
invasion.
To my knowledge, this makes the CRS
report the first official one to confirm the invasion of Iraq has been
actively pursued since 2001. Old news you may say, but so far there were only
anonymous sources and very few named people who had alleged this.
Now this is officially acknowledged in
a non-partisan report to Congress. Why does that fact not deserve an A01
headline?
To answer that question seems to be
above my capabilities.
So let us take a look at the reported CRS
estimate. It does include some money for diplomatic issues, but not longterm
health and benefit costs for veterans like some other recent studies did.
The CRS comes away with $320 billion
for Iraq after the recent emergency spending bill will have passed. But that is
only the money needed up to this point. Even with troop reductions beginning
this year, CRS estimates the total costs for War on Iraq and Afghanistan at
$811 billion. Though troop numbers were much higher then, the inflation
adjusted Vietnam total was a cheap $549 billion.
Still, this is only some $6,300 per
taxpayer, $105 per month over 5 years. The U.S. will not go bankcrupt spending
this, but it is an investment that is unlikely to give a good return, if any at
all.
The more important economic impact is
through gas prices. The war tax or "risk premium" included in crude
prices these days may be some $25 per barrel or, with U.S. consumption at 22
million barrels per day, $550 million per day. Over five years this accumulates
to a decent 1 Trillion (that is a one with twelve zeroes) U.S. Dollars.
Part of this sum, like part of the war
costs, will go back to U.S. pockets. But only to those people who own Exxon Mobil or Halliburton shares.
This is probably the biggest transfer
of wealth from the people to an elite the world has ever seen.
What is most disturbing to me in the
CRS study is the intransparency of the spending.
"Although DOD
has a financial system that tracks funds for each operation once they are
obligated -- as pay or contractual costs -- DOD has not sent Congress the
semiannual reports with cumulative and current obligations for [Iraq] and
[Afghanistan], or estimates for the next year, or for the next five years that
are required by statute," the CRS noted.
The Defense Department is, illegally,
blocking any oversight.
The report goes on
to outline a series of "key war cost questions" for Congress to
pursue and "major unknowns" that CRS has not been able to answer: How
much has Congress appropriated for each theater of war? How much has the
Pentagon obligated for each mission per month? What will future costs be? How
much will it cost to repair and replace equipment? And how can Congress receive
accurate information on past and future troop levels?
CRS is the Congress' and the people's
controlling element that must find answers to these questions. I find it
incredible that they are not able to do so, even if they put specific efforts
into it.
Of the total
war spending, the CRS analysis found $4 billion that could not be tracked.
Could not be tracked? Four billion?
That may be small change in the bigger picture, still, where did Rumsfeld spend
that money?
Your guess?
Posted by Bernhard on April 27, 2006 at
04:09 AM
Update
April 28, 2006: Billmon has his own thoughts on
this same report worth reading.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
April
24, 2006
Update: What about Mary? Read PBS
News Hour transcript!
RAY MCGOVERN: We're not talking about petty crimes or misdemeanors; we're
talking about war crimes. She was
cognizant of war crimes. She needed to
do something about that, from a moral and a legal perspective. And she chose this way to do it, because the
other ways were blocked for her.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ultimate Terror on a World
Scale
Last week, President Bush
clearly stated that a nuclear military option was “on the table” regarding a
U.S. response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
In an earlier post, I mentioned such a move, even such talk, was nothing
less than crazy. Such a threat is
against the U.N. Charter and may give the U.S. the dishonorable distinction of
being the only terrorist
nation on
this planet. I say this not as an
unpatriotic citizen, but one of a true patriot who wishes to restore the values
our forefathers endowed upon this once honorable nation of such high
ideals. I believe America can be that
great, honorable nation once again, but only if Americans reject the policies
of this President in due haste. Americans,
including myself, and the world population duly support the fight against terrorist
groups and individuals. The word
terrorist assumes one who influences by way of terror, either by threat or
action, innocent people. However, for
any nation to threaten another with a nuclear attack is beyond reason.
What follows are the first four principles in Chapter One of the U.N.
Charter:
The Organization
and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in
accordance with the following Principles.
1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.
2.
All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits
resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed
by them in accordance with the present Charter.
3.
All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means
in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not
endangered.
4.
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the
threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the
Purposes of the United Nations.
Again, duties to refrain from threats or
use of force are further resolved with General Assembly Resolution 53/101
“Principles and Guidelines for International Negotiations”:
States have the duty to
refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in
any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations;
Perhaps if the White
House wishes to ignore the founding principles of the U.N., it should be
honest, bow out, and resign its membership.
President Bush needs
to learn that hypocrisy is not a virtue.
For more on this
threat, Billmon has some great reading on his most recent post: Threat Projection
- Rick Happ, updated April 24, 2006
10:00pm
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
It is all over but the crying.
I recently posted that
the darkness of this nation will soon be over and a new light will shine. I believe this for many reasons - some
easily placed to words and some not.
Here are some reasons that come readily to mind:
1.) Americans are now
rejecting this President. Polls (even
Fox News) show President Bush’s approval rating at or below 33%. That is historic.
2.) Nothing scientific
here but… MSNBC ran a live vote on its web site asking, “Do you believe
President Bush's actions justify impeachment?”
86% of respondents were in favor of
impeachment.
3.) Those who have been
unwilling or afraid to speak out before are now
coming forth. For example, several U.S.
Generals have called for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation last week. Although for some, this is not a direct
criticism of Bush or his policies.
Moreover, some of these recent statements by the Generals may be an
attempt to hinder a further blunder by Bush in attacking Iranian nuclear
facilities. As a bit of interest, many
of our Generals who have spoken out have been graduates of West Point. On that note, here is a not
all too surprising website from some graduates of the West Point Military
Academy.
4.) Tyler Drumheller, the
former head of the C.I.A.'s European operations, is the second C.I.A. veteran
in recent weeks to attack the White House's handling of prewar
intelligence. More on this here.
5.) Perhaps most
important, Patrick Fitzgerald, Chief Federal Prosecutor in the CIA/Plame Leak
Investigation, will likely be announcing new indictments of key figures in the
Bush Administration, perhaps early this week.
Much of the shuffling of the White House staff, such as removing Karl
Rove, was maybe due to these expected upcoming indictments. What follows is a little insight from Lawrence
O’Donnell on the Grand Jury that Fitzgerald has convened:
A federal grand jury has 23 members. A typical Washington, D.C. grand jury is
about 75% African American. Fitzgerald’s is slightly more than that. This is not the kind of group Karl Rove
feels at home with. He has no
professional experience trying to appeal to a group like this. He has been so unsuccessful at it that his
boss’s job approval rating with African Americans is now 2%, which, factoring
in the margin of error, could actually be zero. To make matters statistically and demographically much worse for
Rove and Scooter Libby, only 12 of the 23 grand jurors have to agree to indict
them.
6.) Quite simply, America can
no longer afford this President. I
speak not only of the billions upon billions wasted in Iraq, or the countless
lives lost or damaged, or the seemingly unending pain of our Iraqi brothers and
sisters, but of the utter shame our President has brought to this nation.
Of course, none of this will happen
overnight. The two words this Administration fears
the most are "SUBPOENA POWER." Many think the light will not come until
after the first Tuesday in November, 2006.
And remember, if Bush is impeached, who is next in line? Not a pretty thought.
- Rick Happ, updated April 24, 2006
10:00pm
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
What about Mary?
Dana Priest gets an award,
Mary McCarthy facing prison.
I watched some of the Sunday talk show chatter this morning, both Russert (NBC News) and Stephanopoulis (ABC News), and heard pundits from both sides of the aisle describing how Mary McCarthy needed to be held accountable for leaking to Dana Priest about Bush’s Secret (Classified) CIA Prison Rendition Program. Mary blew the whistle on an illegal program where detainees are whisked away for interrogation and torture to gulags in foreign countries. At these secret prisons, the detainees are not protected by any laws or oversight. While Dana Priest wins the Pulitzer Prize, Mary McCarthy, the true hero, wins nothing but legal bills. If anyone should be facing punishment or prison, it should be President Bush and those in his administration who are enabling this nightmare. Not surprisingly, I have not heard in any of the mainstream media, including any cable news, the fact that it is illegal for the President (or anyone else) to classify something in order to hide wrongdoing.
Section 1.8 of the still binding 1995 Executive Order governing
the classification process specifically prohibits classifying information in
order to conceal governmental wrongdoing:
(a) In no case shall information be classified in order to:
(1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error;
(2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency;
In both television shows, there
was absolutely no outrage expressed at the Bush administration by any host
or guest regarding this secret rendition program.
Moreover, nothing appears to have changed regarding this secret program, although I have read unsubstantiated reports on a couple of blogs that many CIA personnel are leaving instead of participating with this classified rendition program.
The Firing of Mary McCarthy, by Larry
Johnson, posted on the TPMCafé blog (April 22, 2006) will further enlighten
those interested about Mary. Also, a
hat tip goes to Glenn
Greenwald.
UPDATE: PBS
NEWS HOUR - April 24, 2006:
RAY MCGOVERN: And so she's faced with a situation that's
real. The director is in favor of
torture. And their only other recourse
is Congress. And Congress, the oversight
committees -- I hate to say this, but it's a joke.
Ray McGovern’s 27-year career as a CIA analyst spanned administrations from John F. Kennedy to George HW Bush.
- Rick Happ, updated April 24, 2006 10:30pm
April
21, 2006
Americans low-balled for nothing but
rubble.
The following is taken from www.juancole.com. The disgusting way the American citizens have been treated by the
Bush Administration cannot be understated and needs to cry out from every blog
in this nation.
Cost of War Heading toward One Trillion Dollars
Some less ethical automobile salesmen will deploy a tactic called
"low-balling." The young naive couple comes in and sees a coupe they
like. They think it is beyond their means, maybe in the $30,000s. He'll quote
them $26,000. There will be financing. They get excited. Maybe, just maybe, it
can work. They can have their dream car. So the salesman says, let me talk to
my boss. The couple sits in the car. They dream of driving it home. The
salesman comes back glum, shuffling with embarrassment. My manager, he says,
over-ruled me. We couldn't let it go for less than $32,000. So the couple is
crushed. But they had already driven the car home in their minds. They liked
the color of the floor model. They ran their fingers over the upholstery. They
smelled the newness inside. O.K. They'll cut back on luxuries. No vacation for
a few years. They sign up. It comes to $35,000 loaded.
Bush administration officials told the American people that the Iraq War would
cost $50 billion. Paul Wolfowitz, that great economist now neoliberalizing the
World Bank, even implied that Iraqi petroleum would pay for Iraq
reconstruction. The cost
of the war is rising toward a thousand billion dollars, i.e. a short-scale $1 trillion. Bush
is still keeping this sum off the official budget (why?), and so it does not
show up in the official figures for the budget deficit. But the money for the
war is being borrowed, so that our grandchildren will still be debt slaves of
Halliburton and Boeing. Folks, we've done been low-balled. The
difference between us and that young couple with the coupe, though is at least
they have a coupe. We've got rubble in the Middle East for our $1 trillion, on
which we're paying interest every month.
Meanwhile, at
least somebody got something out of this miserable war. Millions in ill-gotten gains and jail time.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
April
21, 2006
Camelot
… a reflection of a lost ideal …
The darkness is
over. As a Christian, Easter Sunday is
a time of Hope, Joy and Spiritual Reflection.
As I listened to our pastor’s sermon this Easter, my mind wandered to
not only the Kingdom of Heaven, but the kingdoms each and every one of us
inhabit in this world. Wandering
further, I remembered a truly magical kingdom, a state of mind so to speak, that
many have used to not only describe the growth of human beliefs and
institutions, but of also the spiritual development of man. Such a thought started in the Middle Ages
and is now commonly described as the Kingdom of Camelot. Camelot was/is a truly magical place, where
a good King Arthur learns from a wise wizard named Merlin the hard lessons of
the World. Arthur is a good student and
applies his lessons wisely. Many may
remember from these tales of Arthur’s grand proclamation where he throws out the
old thinking of “Might makes Right” and
proudly and loudly proclaims the new rule of “Might for Right”. In
further astonishment, Arthur proclaimed the equality of the individual, as he
established his famous Knights of the Round Table, a table with no head, where
all of the Knights and Arthur sit equally.
Many may also remember a
President Kennedy during the 1960’s where a family, administration and country
were so seemingly firm in idealism and comfort that the term Camelot, along
with all its symbolism, was a fitting description. Again, not too many years ago, much of our populace believed that
President George Bush, represented a sort of King Arthur. This was a man to restore American virtue,
and although the term Camelot was never used, many believed their personal
search for the Holy Grail had ended.
One of our local Pamlico County Commissioners actually named her dog
“George” after George Bush, shortly after our King was anointed by our Supreme
Court, or should I say “America’s Round Table”. Many of my friends and family once believed this man was
honorable and a man of true Christian values; to be sure, a man who would never
turn a blind eye to torture, human rights and would never remove inalienable
rights that our forefathers worked so hard to preserve by our Constitution.*
In our Bizzaro world, our new King George proudly proclaimed the
virtuous ideals he promised during his campaign and what so many of his
subjects wished to be: honesty and
integrity in the White House, fiscal conservatism, no foreign nation building,
and pro-life spirituality. However, the
country was divided after the elections and many of us were never believers of
King George’s “on high” rhetoric. Yet
after the attack on September 11th, who among us could argue against
using America’s “Might for Right”? The
darkness came swiftly upon us.
As Merlin, uh…I mean Karl Rove, worked his magic, and our chivalrous Neocons led us into new battles and horrors, amazingly the true believers kept the faith of their King. Even those upon whom we depended for leadership and moral guidance, our Lancelot persona of Collin Powell, our model for prisoner dignity, John McCain, our Court Jesters of the Democratic Party, and even so many of our spiritual leaders - each one, and in their own way, betrayed us all.
Can you see Morgan Le Fay now taunting our poor King George? He calls out to our King taunting louder and louder: “George, can you hear the timbers falling? Do you see your castle walls and kingdom falling around you?”
Don't let it be forgot,
That once there was a spot,
For one brief, shining moment that was known as Camelot
- Rick Happ, *updated April 26, 2006 (Many friends and family who once supported
Bush have now changed their minds.)
April
13, 2006
Bill
To Restrict Grass-Roots Activism?
Pro-life advocate sees proposal as attempt to limit contact with lawmakers
WorldNetDaily.com | April 12 2006
A bill that some activist organizations say would inhibit the right of ordinary Americans to petition their representatives in Congress is making its way through the legislative process in Washington, D.C.
The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006, S.2349, passed the Senate 90-8, and a House version of the bill could come up for a vote in two weeks, Douglas Johnson, legislative director of National Right to Life, told LifeSiteNews.
The bill "would regulate for the first time grass-roots activism," Johnson told the newssite. The legislation defines "grass-roots lobbying" as "the voluntary efforts of members of the general public to communicate their own views on an issue to federal officials or to encourage other members of the general public to do the same."
Said Johnson: "The bill does not start off by regulating
all constituent contacts with members of Congress. But it does adopt that
premise that that is a type of lobbying."
The activist believes the bill could limit organizations like his from urging supporters to contact members of Congress.
The stated goal behind the legislation is to more strictly regulate professional lobbyists on Capitol Hill, Johnson explains.
"This is really an agenda that certain groups like Common Cause use to restrict grass-roots democracy so certain privileged elites will have more influence on public policy," Johnson told LifeSiteNews, saying he believes Democrats are trying to insert language that restricts grass-roots activism.
Nothing surprises me anymore. How could this pass the Senate 90 to 8?
This
time its formal: “Adolph Hitler”
So many Hitlers… so little time. Here we go again, another enemy being called Hitler by this administration. Unfortunately this is serious business, and of course, the Bush administration is handling it the wrong way. Bombing Iran with nuclear weapons is more than crazy. Even if Seymour Hersh is incorrect and perhaps this is just a planted leak for misinformation, it is a horrendous statement for the world to hear.
US considers use of nuclear weapons against Iran
Sat Apr 8, 2:24 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP)
The administration of President George W. Bush is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key Iranian suspected nuclear weapons facility, The New Yorker magazine has reported in its April 17 issue.
The article by investigative journalist
Seymour Hersh said that Bush and others in the White House have come to view
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential Adolf Hitler.
"That's the name they're using,"
the report quoted a former senior intelligence official as saying.
A senior unnamed Pentagon adviser is quoted in the article as saying that "this White House believes that the only way to solve the problem is to change the power structure in Iran, and that means war."
Unfortunately for the entire people of this planet, Seymour Hersh is usually correct in what he reports. This is truly sad and hard to believe.
– Rick Happ
What
is this?
(from
http://www.correntewire.com/books_that_will_prevent_you_from_flying)
Submitted by chicago dyke on Sat, 2006-04-08 00:51.
You don’t know her, but I do. She’s a normal person, a grandmother and a college prof. She posts a lot on a blog that’s not her own, and elsewhere. But since when is a book dangerous?
Guys—we are being watched, and I am not kidding.
I
almost didn’t fly today. And I had a book confiscated. Title? “American
Theocracy” by that oh so flaming radical, Kevin Phillips.
Sallyh, Madame Poissonniere | Homepage | 04.08.06 - 12:08 am | #
Homeland
Security
“Leander Pickett, a teacher's
assistant at Englewood Elementary, said he was manhandled and handcuffed by two
plain clothed Homeland Security officers in front of the school Tuesday for no
reason at all.”
-
Yahoo News, April 6. 2006:
And what are they doing at a local school in Florida?
Wayne Madsen has this thought, although I believe it is something different – but what?
“Perhaps with Homeland Security now identified as
a bevy of sexual predators and pedophiles, Homeland Security agents should be
required to register with local police before they are permitted to engage in
any activities within city and township boundaries. Mr. Pickett potentially may
have averted a child kidnapping and as someone who has been involved in FBI and
Navy counter-intelligence investigations of similar cases, this editor can
surmise that the two agents may not have been looking at a "map" at
all, but photographs of potential victims. The fact that they were present at
the school during a time when school buses were transporting children is even
more suspicious.” –Wayne Madsen April 7, 2006
April
5, 2006
Just
like Mayberry – NOT!
Words of advice, “Don’t ever buy a home in a Homeowners Association, especially this one”.
Update on Economic
Development Grant Funding for Pamlico County
As discussed in the April 3, 2006 post “Hats off to the Pamlico News”, information has been received from North Carolina’s Eastern Region for Economic Development and more related information is being sought. According to the information received thus far, the goal of this grant funding was:
- To enable all 13 counties to be marketable and have an opportunity for success.
- To provide assistance on identifying weaknesses, what is needed to succeed, and communicate this directly to local elected officials.
- Provide grants/loans to make sure each has ready to go industrial sites/buildings.
“Surely PINE met these qualifications towards furthering
economic development.” – Rick Happ
Grants were awarded for:
-
A feasibility study for Pamlico County Marine
Park: $30,000
-
A feasibility study for Pamlico County Small
Business Incubator: $7,500
-
A feasibility study for Multi-Use Property
Development in Pamlico County: $3,700
Microsoft Says Recovery from
Malware Becoming Impossible
Microsoft
is finally admitting what I have been telling my clients for a long time. This
from Eweek.com, April 4 edition:
:
In a rare discussion about the severity of the Windows malware scourge,
a Microsoft security official said businesses should consider investing in an
automated process to wipe hard drives and reinstall operating systems as a
practical way to recover from malware infestation.
"When you are dealing with rootkits and some advanced spyware
programs, the only solution is to rebuild from scratch. In some cases, there
really is no way to recover without nuking the systems from orbit," Mike
Danseglio, program manager in the Security Solutions group at Microsoft, said
in a presentation at the InfoSec World conference here.
Offensive rootkits, which are used hide malware programs and maintain an
undetectable presence on an infected machine, have become the weapon of choice
for virus and spyware writers and, because they often use kernel hooks to avoid
detection, Danseglio said IT administrators may never know if all traces of a
rootkit have been successfully removed.
Sometimes I think the people at
Microsoft are idiots to sell us something so complicated and unmanageable. Other times, I think we are the idiots.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gee,
I wonder how this money was spent?
http://goldenleaf.org/awards2002.html
Grantee Pamlico Community College
Contact Richard Hodges - Chairman & President
PO Box 374
Oriental, NC 28571
Phone: 252-249-0776
Project Title Pamlico County SEEED Project (Sustainable Employment through
Environmental and Economic Development)
Grant Amount $48,000.00
Project Description The purpose of this Golden LEAF grant is to support Pamlico
Community College in training local businesses to market, manufacture, install,
and maintain affordable, environmentally friendly, and permittable wastewater treatment
systems in eastern NC. The project will
utilize proven technology (ReCip), created by TVA, which treats wastewater
sufficiently to allow permitting where a septic system cannot be used.
You can
find more information on the ReCip
technology in this paper by the owners of the local NC Franchise of the
ReCip Technology, BioConcepts, Inc.
Any guess who is a major
owner in this private company?
Personally,
I am worried that using this technology in many areas, such as Lowland, NC or
other low areas along the Neuse and Bay River, that are constantly flooded by
northeasters and sometimes severely by hurricanes, will not save our waters
from pollution.
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The neglect of our County leaders in securing high-speed Internet access has been troubling, to say the least. Sprint lobbied at not only the local level, but also at the state level to hinder PINE. PINE was formed through a grant from e-NC as a community based, independent, non-profit startup Internet provider.
In response to the Editorial in the March 29 (page 2)
newsprint issue of The Pamlico News
entitled: “Pinelink needs county support”,
the following letter was sent for this week’s publication to further highlight some of the problems over the last few years. Some hyperlinks have been hastily added for this online posting for reader assistance.
Dear Editor,
Hats off to The Pamlico News for stressing the importance of having our County Commissioners support PINE. It is sad that not only have they ignored PINE, they have actually worked against PINE at times. Not too many years ago, when Ann Holton first became a commissioner, she assisted under the direction of Richard Hodges (President of the Committee of 100), in passing a motion whereby our Pamlico County Government would petition the e-NC grant committee for additional grant funds to be awarded to Sprint. This was the same grant money that PINE was competing for, to further enable high-speed Internet in Pamlico County.
Shortly after that incident, the Committee of 100 held an annual dinner meeting where Mr. Hodges spoke elegantly on how the committee had worked very hard supporting the fledgling PINE initiative. In further irony that only a lobbyist like Jack Abramoff could appreciate, the Committee of 100 was monetarily supported by Sprint and even by our County tax dollars! Seeing the Sprint logo on each dinner placemat was a nice touch.
Politics have hindered PINE from its inception. An early Pine Board of Directors dispute centered on certain Board members pushing for other Board members to be added who had the “unofficial approval” of Ann Holton and Richard Hodges. Of course, mixing politics with a 501c3 non-profit Corporation is totally inappropriate. Unfortunately, such isolation hindered PINE in its ability for true support.
For two years PINE struggled to get established, while Richard Hodges and Jerry Prescott, Director of the Pamlico Community College Small Business Center, successfully lobbied our commissioners for tens of thousands of dollars in grant money allocated to Pamlico County from a state economic development fund. This money was allocated solely to Pamlico County to be used for various economic development p