Former PA State Rep. Questions Lack of Action on Property Tax Reform

In actuality, the state legislators will never totally reform the state's property tax system as it brings in way too much revenue (especially for local school districts) that could never be totally made up by other taxes. As well, since there is a definable amount of property to tax, there is a definable amount of revenues to spend and spend and spend.

That would not be the case with a mixed system, especially one based on a sales tax which could be have the potential to be as variable as "inflation."

What is needed? Elimination of the state in education. Get the state out of public education and costs associated with educating a child will decrease dramatically. Private-run schools will be numerous, have built-in diversity, competitive to produce the best educated, and cost effective.

Imagine an educational system which doesn't have any politics in the administration of schools. No more quibbling among elected and unpaid school board directors who also won't have the power to hire family members and friends for high-paying jobs.

(Net the Truth Online)


Herald-Standard Letter-to-the-Editor
Ex-rep still wants tax reform
08/22/2007

After reading the Pennsylvania House Speaker's recent quotes about the many legislative priorities, I came away appalled that tax reform was not even mentioned.


Immediately after the last election, legislative leaders acknowledged that tax reform is one of the greatest concerns of Pennsylvanians. But now we learn that tax reform is not even on the agenda.

It's simply unbelievable.

Larry Roberts

Former state representative...

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18732990&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=468562&rfi=6

Democratic Party May Strip Florida of Presidential Delegates

wow. Can a political party actually strip a state of its "publicly" elected delegates (chosen in federal and state subsidized elections) who would in turn be "presidential electors?" It seems not only doubtful, but unconstitutional, doesn't it?

August 25, 2007
Democrats Move To Sanction Florida
In what many see as a preemptive warning aimed at preventing further chaos in the 2008 presidential nominating calendar, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee today voted to strip Florida of all its delegates to next year's convention. While the Sunshine State can regain its full compliment of delegates if it brings its primary plan into compliance with Democratic rules, the vote was a slap on the wrist stronger than some had expected...

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/

Princess Diana Conspiracy Theories

Lifetime Movie was fascinating.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/1640000164/post/120013612.html

The Murder of Princess Diana
(Telepic -- Lifetime, Sat., Aug. 25, 9 p.m.)
By LAURA FRIES

...Creating a fictionalized account of a highly suspect conspiracy theory is a tricky proposition, but 10 years after the tragic death of Princess Diana, fascination with the royal phenom shows no signs of letting up. Lifetime is counting on this sustained interest to lure auds to its salacious new original movie, "The Murder of Princess Diana," based on the bestseller by Noel Botham....

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934484.html?categoryid=1264&cs=1

Princess Diana: Forensic investigation adds more questions then answers for October 1st inquiry

http://www.helium.com/tm/523144/witnesses-forward-evidence-surrounding

Release Date: August 20,2007
PRINCESS DIANA: The Evidence
by Jon King & John Beveridg

http://www.spibooks.com/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=F&Product_Code=1561718882&Category_Code=1A1

A Dying Read?

With the advent of the internet and blogs - a new crop of reporter has arisen. Called citizen journalists, bloggers across the world can report as-seen news in mere minutes of the "happenings."

One need only look to the 2006 elections in the United States to determine the effect such reporting has had on consumers.

In Westmoreland County, PA, for instance, there was no waiting until the next day's newspapers for Internet users and voting integrity activists and others to learn that machines had been misprogrammed with the incorrect electiond date thus causing a temporary shut-down of the electronic voting machines.

Is the traditional beat reporter going the way of the dinosaur?

Black and white and all over?
Rachel Buchanan
August 25, 2007
Page 1 of 5
INK, ribbons, hot metal, blue pencils, spikes, stones, presses, plates, blue collars, scalpels, rulers, picture wheels, wire photos, carbon copies, cigarettes, tubs of photographic chemicals: newspaper offices used to be places where you would always get your hands dirty. Only snobs or big heads called themselves journalists. The rest of us were reporters...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/black-and-white-and-all-over/2007/08/24/1187462515667.html

Election Board Petitioned to Hear Case

It's my understanding that once an election board officially receives a filed complaint of potential election irregularities the board is "obligated" to investigate. How can the officials know whether there were any irregularities unless they initiate a preliminary investigation?

Upon potentially finding such irregularitites, the election board would then submit findings for potential prosecution to the local District Attorney.

In this local case, the board is comprised of appointed members since the three county commissioners who comprise the election board are seeking re-election.

Years back, a small group including myself requested the then commissioners determine whether it was possible to have an election board of non-commissioners appointed, much like members are appointed to an authority. Needless to say, nothing came of that effort. Wouldn't it be less "political" to have a board appointed whose members didn't have any "stake" politically in the outcome of potential investigations?

Lally attorney seeks dismissal of petition
By Amy Zalar, Herald-Standard
08/20/2007

The attorney for Democratic Fayette County controller candidate Sean P. Lally is asking the Fayette County Election Bureau to dismiss a petition filed by Controller Mark Roberts alleging election fraud against Lally, saying the issues have all been handled by a court of law.

In a letter to the Fayette County Election Bureau, Lally's attorney, Maria Balling-Peck, writes that the allegations and charges are "reaching a point of sheer absurdity" that are putting undue stress on Lally and his entire family.

Balling-Peck writes that the petition is nothing more than a "last-ditched effort by Mr. Roberts, who as we all know lost the primary election, to attempt to tarnish and harm my client without any justification or merit whatsoever."

The petition Balling-Peck is referencing, filed by Roberts earlier this month, asks the election board to "investigate violations of the election code and several other crimes Sean Lally committed in connection with his campaign and candidacy for the office of Fayette County controller." The Roberts petition also alleges, "His (Lally's) offenses include, but are not limited to, false testimony and other statements, election fraud, and illegal voting."

Exactly what, if anything, will be done, remains in the hands of the election board. Laurie Lint, director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, Friday confirmed receipt of Balling-Peck's response. Lint said the matter has been forwarded to county solicitor Sheryl Heid, whom Lint said has sent packets of information to each of the three election board members. Lint said what steps are taken next will be up to the election board members, who could opt to have a hearing on the complaint. Heid did not return a call seeking comment.

This year, the election board is composed of three appointed members because all three county commissioners are seeking re-election. Republicans Alvin S. Mundel and John E. Young, both of Uniontown, and Democrat Mark M. Mehalov of Fairchance are serving on the board...

clip excerpt continued...

In the complaint, Mark Roberts is asking the election board to hold a hearing and conduct a thorough investigation into Lally's actions without delay.

A major challenge to Lally's petitions was the fact that he signed an affidavit on the petitions as the circulator, but did not personally circulate all petitions that he signed as circulator. During testimony, Lally said he did not think he was doing anything wrong because he gave the petitions to people that he trusted to circulate them.

Election law, enacted in 2001, requires the person who signs the affidavit as circulator to obtain every name on that petition.

In his ruling, Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Joseph F. McCloskey affirmed a prior order filed by Fayette County Judge Steve P. Leskinen that allowed Lally to remain on the ballot despite the challenge of irregularities and deficiencies in Lally's nomination petitions.

After four days of lengthy testimony, Leskinen struck 148 of the 436 signatures Lally turned in to the election bureau on 15 petitions.

In his opinion, McCloskey affirmed all decisions of the trial court, which held that Lally had 288 valid signatures, or 38 more than the 250 required to seek the office.

During the four-day hearing, dozens of people who signed Lally's petitions testified. Throughout the testimony, it was revealed that some of those who signed did so for others, were not registered to vote, or were not registered Democrats.

In addition to Lally appearing on the Nov. 6 ballot as the Democratic candidate for controller, Ray Eicher of Fairchance has filed nomination papers to run as an independent on the ballot. There are no Republican candidates.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18726471&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=480247&rfi=

6

Related

Archives Tribune-Review Fayette

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/fayette.php?record=10

Corsi to discuss SPP on Laura Ingraham show
Best-selling 'Late Great USA' reveals North American Union plans
Posted: August 18, 2007

Jerome R. Corsi, a staff reporter for WND whose book, "The Late Great USA," addresses the U.S. government's efforts to create a North American Union with Mexico and Canada, will be discussing the issue on the Laura Ingraham Show.

Corsi, who co-authored with John O'Neill the No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," also has on his resume, "Atomic Iran," "Showdown with Nuclear Iran," and "Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil" with WND columnist Craig R. Smith.

In his newest, which has already made the New York Times nonfiction and business best-sellers lists, he documents how the benignly named "Security and Prosperity Partnership," created at a trilateral meeting featuring President Bush, then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and then-Mexican President Vincente Fox, "is in fact the same kind of regional integration plan that led Europe to form the EU."

Corsi used dozens of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to explain the chilling possibilities for the United States – a "harmonized" future that is being created without voter input or congressional oversight.

"Dr. Corsi has 'connected the dots' between the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the sale of toll roads and other infrastructure to foreign companies, and proposals for a North American Union with open borders between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada," said Phyllis Schlafly, president of Eagle Forum. "'The Late Great USA' is an essential read for anyone concerned about the future independence and sovereignty of the United States."

He's scheduled to be on Ingraham's show on Talk Radio Network starting at 11:15 a.m. EDT on Monday, officials said.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57214

PA voter fraud happens due to inaccurate database

Political consultant charged in petition forgery
Thursday, August 09, 2007

By Gabrielle Banks, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Mark Zabierek, a political consultant and lobbyist, faces criminal charges related to the forgery of ballot petition signatures during the ill-fated 2006 re-election campaign of former state Rep. Michael Diven.

Court papers indicate that Mr. Zabierek acknowledged forging the signatures. A criminal complaint filed by Allegheny County police investigators said Mr. Zabierek waived his Miranda rights and admitted to eight counts of forging signatures and eight counts of forging signatures and statements in a nomination petition. His attorney, Leslie Perlow, said it's likely at a Sept. 24 preliminary hearing that he will opt to have the charges waived to court.

"He made a mistake and he's taking responsibility for it. It isn't the crime of the century," said his lawyer, who described Mr. Zabierek as "an incredibly bright, nice person" with no prior criminal record.

Ms. Perlow said yesterday that Mr. Zabierek was formally notified about the misdemeanor charges last week.

Mr. Diven, a former Democrat, switched to the Republican Party to run in a state Senate special election won by Democrat Wayne Fontana. In seeking the GOP nomination for the South Hills House seat he had originally been elected to as a Democrat, he submitted nominating petitions with the forgeries, including the names of several dead people.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07221/808095-178.stm

Bloggers Need to be Careful

Pittsburgh the third-"bloggiest" city in the country...

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_522522.html

Interesting. Yep. We shoulda been writing about Pittsburgh all this time (we'd have made it to the listing) rather than the NAFTA superhighway, voter registration database which is inccurate and potential for fraud and abuse with the names of deceased remaining on the rolls...

It was the be careful quotation by a person affiliated with the Pittsburgh blogger that got our attention.

Uh, no being careful - if you don't want to make waves, stay out of the blogging experience.

http://www.podcamppittsburgh.com/index.php?option=com_mambowiki&Itemid=65

OK YOU CAN WATCH AND CHAT LIVE! THAT IS COOL BUT BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WRITE AND HOW YOU WRITE AS IT MAY AFFECT YOUR JOB POTENTIAL...

http://www.justin.tv/podcamppgh1/

The blog is on
By Kim Lyons
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, August 16, 2007

...Wanna blog?

Be unique. Have a voice -- even if your blog is not focused on one thing, have an identity. Blogging is meant to be conversational. If your blog is written like stereo instructions, that's about how interesting it will be.

Be involved. Comment on other blogs you're interested in, or on blogs with similar style. Blogging can be a one-way conversation sometimes, but comments on other blogs are an excellent way to get a discussion going.

Be vigilant. Post in a regular, timely fashion. If you don't post for six weeks, you may come back and find you've lost your audience.

Be careful. What you're writing about could affect other areas of your life, i.e. employment. How personal do you want to get, and how much do you want to divulge?

-- Mike Woycheck/Pittsburgh Bloggers

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_522522.html

The event


PodCamp Pittsburgh 2

Discussions and workshops: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Where: The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, 420 Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown.

Cost: Free

Details: online


http://www.podcamppittsburgh.com/

http://www.podcamppittsburgh.com/index.php?option=com_mambowiki&Itemid=65

Watch live

http://www.podcamppittsburgh.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=82

Unveiling of reform pittsburgh now at the podcamp

http://www.podcamppittsburgh.com/index.php?option=com_mambowiki&Itemid=65

Related

http://rauterkus.blogspot.com/

ROOM C (434) -- Open source tools, content and concepts. A session dealing with license ramifications, choices of authorship and legal red-tape -- delivered in a friendly way. Public domain, creative commons, copyright, copyleft, GPL and a host of other A-B-Cs are sure to surface. Hosted by Mark Rauterkus and anyone else who cares to type his or her name within these lines.

Few good men exposing the NAFTA Superhighway

Little notice by the mainstream media of the Proposed North American Union and how the NAFTA Superhighway connects the three countries commerce, irrevocably...

The NAFTA Superhighway
Ron Paul
October 30, 2006

By now many Texans have heard about the proposed “NAFTA Superhighway,” which is also referred to as the trans-Texas corridor. What you may not know is the extent to which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional oversight or media attention.

This superhighway would connect Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City. Offshoots would connect the main artery to the west coast, Florida, and northeast. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines, fiber-optic cable lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines running alongside.

This will require coordinated federal and state eminent domain actions on an unprecedented scale, as literally millions of people and businesses could be displaced. The loss of whole communities is almost certain, as planners cannot wind the highway around every quaint town, historic building, or senior citizen apartment for thousands of miles.

Governor Perry is a supporter of the superhighway project, and Congress has provided small amounts of money to study the proposal. Since this money was just one item in an enormous transportation appropriations bill, however, most members of Congress were not aware of it.

The proposed highway is part of a broader plan advanced by a quasi-government organization called the “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,” or SPP.

The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco.

The SPP was not created by a treaty between the nations involved, nor was Congress involved in any way. Instead, the SPP is an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from several governments. One principal player is a Spanish construction company, which plans to build the highway and operate it as a toll road. But don’t be fooled: the superhighway proposal is not the result of free market demand, but rather an extension of government-managed trade schemes like NAFTA that benefit politically-connected interests.

The real issue is national sovereignty. Once again, decisions that affect millions of Americans are not being made by those Americans themselves, or even by their elected representatives in Congress. Instead, a handful of elites use their government connections to bypass national legislatures and ignore our Constitution-- which expressly grants Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade.

The ultimate goal is not simply a superhighway, but an integrated North American Union--complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy, and virtually borderless travel within the Union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether.

http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2006/tst103006.htm

Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway
by Jerome R. Corsi

Posted: 06/12/2006

Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=15497

For over ten years, NASCO has been developing a strong coalition of cities, counties, states, Canadian provinces, and private sector companies to lobby for federal funding and promote a "SuperCorridor" to address the transportation, trade and security needs of the three NAFTA nations.

We have assisted in the lobbying effort to bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the NASCO I-35 Corridor, resulting in High Priority Corridor status for I-35 in 1995 under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). In addition, we successfully assisted in lobbying for the creation of two new categories under the Transportation Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) – the National Corridor Planning & Development Program and the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program.

NASCO also successfully lobbied to take the Highway Trust fund "off-budget" which resulted in increased transportation formula funding for NASCO's corridor states.

NASCO has received $2.5 million in Congressional funding from the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) for the development of a technology and tracking project. The project will have a team approach, using members of NASCO as the primary participants in the project, to the extent possible. NASCO believes the deployment of a modern information system will reduce the cost, improve the efficiency, reduce trade-related congestion, and enhance security of cross-border and corridor information, trade and traffic.

The NASCO "SuperCorridor Caucus" was formed on Capitol Hill to promote corridor development and to help secure NASCO legislative initiatives in both the authorization and appropriation processes.

We continue to be recognized as the strongest International Trade Corridor Coalition on Capitol Hill, and we are the only Corridor Coalition with true international representation from the three NAFTA nations.

http://www.nascocorridor.com/

"No North American Union" Personal Action Plan

http://www.jbs.org/node/5131

Toll PA Interstate Highway Political Gimmick

Is it possible I-80 will become part of the federal road project incorporated into Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America???

Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America

http://www.spp.gov/

Discussion of import

http://www.hostingphpbb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17&mforum=politicalderby

Future of I-80 tolls unclear
By Mike Joseph
Posted on Thu, Aug. 16, 2007

Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators differed Wednesday over whether the state should toll Interstate 80 to raise transportation money, and Gov. Ed Rendell again talked up the idea of leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike instead.

"Tolling I-80's future is still up and down because of the legislation," Rendell said at an Ag Progress Days news conference, referring to an amendment U.S. Rep. John Peterson added to a U.S. House bill that would block federal money for tolling I-80.

The federal transportation appropriations bill, with the Peterson amendment, has passed the House and is on the U.S. Senate calendar.

But U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Robert Casey, in separate Ag Progress Days news conferences, took divergent stances.

Casey said he supports the position of Rendell, who signed Act 44, the state transportation funding bill, into law. The law calls for up to 10 tolling stations along the 311 miles of I-80, to be planned and managed by the state Turnpike Commission.

Of the Peterson amendment, Casey said: "I don't think that's a good idea -- we need all the revenue we can get. ... I don't think it (the amendment) will carry the day in the Senate."

Specter took a hands-off position, saying 511 of the 535 U.S. House and Senate members are from other states and alluding to a proper balance of federal and state authority.

"I-80 tolling has to be decided by the state government," Specter said. "This is a Pennsylvania issue. You don't want all the decisions coming out of Washington, D.C."

Peterson, in yet another impromptu Ag Progress Days news conference, repeated his blistering attack on Act 44, a sign that he's been reinforced by feedback for both his vocal and legislative efforts to undo the measure. He also got noticeably strong and sustained applause when he was introduced to about 500 people at Wednesday's government policy luncheon.

A former state House and state Senate member, Peterson said there's a small but growing movement in the General Assembly to repeal Act 44. He said the law will damage the state's economy and will put the "least trusted agency in state government" -- the Turnpike Commission -- in charge of tolling both the turnpike and I-80.

"It needs to be repealed -- it's just ill-configured," Peterson said. "If they win, taxpayers in Pennsylvania lose."

http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/180987.html

Minnesota Bridge Collapse Conspiracy

we'll remain neutral on the Shadow Government angle a while longer. However, don't think there is a plan in the works to connect Mexico, United States, and Canada?

Think again...

Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America

http://www.spp.gov/

Raises the question which unfortunately isn't as far out there as Katrina conspiracy...

Minnesota Bridge Collapse: Shadow Government Terror?
By Darren Weeks

http://www.darrenweeks.net/2007/08/minnesota-bridge-collapse-was-it-shadow.html

clip

Minnesota Bridge Collapse: Shadow Government Terror?
By Darren Weeks

As I covered last night on the radio broadcast, it seems that my earlier worries about the Minnesota bridge collapse being used as a springboard for more highway privatization is coming to pass.

The Christian Science Monitor published an article on August 10th that questioned, How to pay for US road and bridge repair. In the article, they state:
For infrastructure wonks, it's a rare moment of national focus on an unglamorous responsibility of government. Long neglect, however, has led to an expensive maintenance backlog, meaning lawmakers may look more seriously at newer financing models such as a mileage tax or privatization.
They explore toll roads in depth.

As I pointed out in my blog entry, 'Privatization' the Hegelian Solution to America's Infrastructure Problems, the collapse of this bridge happened along the I-35 "corridor", which is a part of the planned North American Super Highway System. As a part of building this massive transportation project, I-35 must be widened. The plan is to have five lanes in either direction, along with railroads, pipelines, and other utilities.

With the collapse of the I-35 bridge, "President" George W. Bush has pushed for, and CONgress has approved $250,000,000 in emergency funds to rebuild the bridge. According to an August 13th Associated Press report, the bridge will be widened to accommodate additional traffic that will flow when the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership is fully implemented...

...We know that no grant, public or private, ever comes without strings attached. The same is true for federal emergency assistance to rebuild this bridge. It is hence acceptable to presume that this bridge will have to be rebuilt in the timetable and manner, according to the specifications and dictates of the federal government. This is a very convenient development for those who wish to kick-start the North American Super Highway System in the northern part of the country. How many other bridges along the NAFTA corridor system will be replaced now because they are a part of "America's aging infrastructure?"

Additionally, as Nancy Levant and I discussed on the August 6th Govern America, the video footage of the collapse was very peculiar. We were told that the bridge had failed at one end, and then that failure caused the rest of the bridge to fall. But the video that was repeatedly shown on the televised news reports showed the entire center section fall all at once and straight down. Nancy expressed my opinion very well when she said that "it looked like a controlled demolition".

We are now told that police are searching for a man in a kayak that was seen around the bridge just before it collapsed into the Mississippi River. Are we to believe that a man in a kayak actually did something to cause the massive I-35 bridge to collapse?

We are also told that the rebuilding of this bridge will be funded by tolls charged to the end users, or the funds will have to come from public-private partnerships ("privatization"). How ironic that the NASCO corridor will be a privately-funded toll road when the project is completed and opened to the public...

http://www.darrenweeks.net/2007/08/minnesota-bridge-collapse-was-it-shadow.html

http://www.darrenweeks.net/

Also read
http://www.darrenweeks.net/2007/08/privatization-hegelian-solution-to.html

Tax Spend Congress

C-Span topic raise gas tax nationally and/or in states for maintainence of roads.

Say what? The federal government takes billions from taxpayers annually and wastes the money on high salaries, earmarks, money that goes to the study of the tstee fly and so forth and so on - and somehow the money never goes to maintain the federal roads and highways and byways and bridges!

They are addicted to spending on everything but...

What don't they understand about NO NEW TAXES.

Robert Welch founder of John Birch Society a Mason a member of CFR?

Hmmm...

http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/wolves/birchkirkschlaf.htm

Search results

http://www.sweetliberty.org/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?Realm=&Match=1&Terms=protocols%20elders%20zion&maxhits=20&Rank=21

Documentary explores misinfo about 9/11 and Jews

Just finished watching the rented movie Protocols of Zion DVD by Marc Levin released November 23, 2005

http://gothamist.com/2005/10/19/marc_levin_director_protocols_of_zion.php

Downtown Passover Seder interview with man in the hat

We've been a small people that have been put into exile spread all over the world...Sometimes people see the jews and they see this is not a normal people there is something different about us something supernatural almost about us and they want to take things out on us...

Read some Reviews

http://www.tvguide.com/movies/protocols-zion/195455

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436686/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/protocols_of_zion/about.php

blog...

http://betbender.blogspot.com/2006/11/protocols-of-zion-its-all-true-and_24.html

More

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion - Fact or Fiction?

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread54862/pg1

Protocols of Zion

No matter how you feel about it, a documentary about anti-Semitism isn't anybody's idea of a good time. But director Mark Levin ("Slam") pulled off an extraordinary feat: "Protocols of Zion" is an invigorating movie on a complex topic. Levin grants every side of the controversy equal screen time and still manages to come through loud and clear with his guardedly hopeful message: never stop believing that it is possible for people to overcome their differences and come together.
In the months after September 11, Levin kept coming across the following question: "Have you heard," people would ask him, "that no Jews died in the World Trade Center?" Levin, who is Jewish himself, decided to investigate. The trail of the conspiracy that supposedly warned all Jewish workers to stay at home on 9/11 led to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a 19th century book that details plans for a secret Jewish cabal to rule the world. Even though the "Protocols" have been discredited as a fake circulated by anti-Semites for decades, they still sell, and they still have the power to convince.

http://worldfilm.about.com/od/documentaryfilms/fr/protocolsofzion.htm

Recalled a site visited from years back

Sweet Liberty Site

http://www.sweetliberty.org/index.shtml

Owner of site wrote:

JEWISH PERSECUTION

TOOL of the International Zionists' Plan for World Dominion

PART ONE by Jackie Patru May 16, 2002

http://www.sweetliberty.org/perspective/jewishpersecutionintro.htm

Washington Post article

A Dangerous Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
'Protocols of Zion': The Life of a Fraud & Its True Believers

By Philip Kennicott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 22, 2006; Page C01

If you're curious to read "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," the century-old anti-Semitic tract that was beloved of Hitler, Henry Ford and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, then you have already entered into its complex web. To read it you must find it, which isn't hard, but should you pay for it? You can buy a copy on Amazon.com ("used and new from $14.90"), but that would require you to participate in the commercial circulation of an ugly book. Or you can download it for free at various Islamic and anti-Semitic Web sites and drive up their traffic while dropping your computer's identifying cookie on Web pages you'd rather not be seen visiting. Either way, you'll feel a little dirty afterward.

"The Protocols," a badly written text of about 100 pages that purports to be a secret plan for world domination hatched at a meeting of powerful Jewish leaders, has been circulating publicly since 1903, when it appeared in serial form in a Russian newspaper. It is the subject of a new exhibition that opened yesterday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is also the inspiration for Marc Levin's 2005 documentary, "Protocols of Zion," which takes the book's popularity among bigots and conspiracy theorists as the starting point for a meditation on what it means to be Jewish in a world that still hatches notions such as Jews being responsible for 9/11. The new exhibition also features a computer screen showing Internet sites from around the world -- some celebrating, others debunking "The Protocols." The inescapable conclusion is that the book is alive and well, and its message is finding fertile new ground in susceptible readers...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/?node=cityguide/profile&id=1122699&venueid=799652

China Conspiracy Game

Somebody should make a game featuring the China Con. Recalls of pre-school toys in U.S. due to illegal content of lead recently put the toy manufacturers on the spot. But the breakdown had to be in China since China sought and got most favored nation status a few years ago. That status entails complying with all sorts of international standards and regulations. So why didn't China factories comply?

It's possible the standards aren't binding, either, on everybody else except the United States of America...

Toy Recall Raises Red Flag on Chinese-Made Toys
Aug. 6, 2007

On the heels of scares over pet food, toothpaste and tires, another Chinese import has caused serious concern.

Toy-making giant Mattel recalled about a million of its most popular toys because they were painted with paint containing lead.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=3450852

Mattel to recall more Chinese-made toys
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
...In documents filed Aug. 3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mattel noted that additional information became available in July on "other smaller product recalls and similar charges were recorded." Those recalls involved design problems, according to company officials questioned last week.

Days after the Fisher-Price recall, Chinese officials temporarily banned the toys' manufacturer, Lee Der Industrial Co., from exporting products. A Lee Der co-owner, Cheung Shu-hung, committed suicide at a warehouse over the weekend, apparently by hanging himself, a state-run newspaper reported Monday.

Lee Der was under pressure in the global controversy over the safety of Chinese-made products, and it is common for disgraced officials to commit suicide in China.

In June, toy maker RC2 Corp. voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. The company said that the surface paint on certain toys and parts made in China between January 2005 and April 2006 contain lead, affecting 26 components and 23 retailers.

In July, Hasbro Inc. recalled Chinese-made Easy Bake ovens, marking the second time the iconic toy had been recalled this year.

Before this month, Fisher-Price and parent company Mattel had never before recalled toys because of lead paint.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_522133.html

More Info

most-favored-nation clause
http://www.answers.com/topic/most-favored-nation?cat=biz-fin

China: most-favored-nation status - President Bill Clinton statement, Executive Order

Executive Order--conditions for Renewal of Most-Favored-Nation Status for the People's Republic of China in 1994

Released by the White House, Office of the Press Secretary, Washington, DC, May 28, 1993.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1584/is_n24_v4/ai_13208513/pg_2

Toy Recall Shows
Challenge China
Poses to Partners
By JANE SPENCER in Hong Kong and NICHOLAS CASEY in Los Angeles
August 3, 2007; Page A1

Mattel Inc.'s recall of nearly one million lead-tainted toys shows the challenge Chinese companies increasingly pose for U.S. partners: how to benefit from low-priced goods without getting torpedoed by safety and regulatory risks.

The Mattel recall, comprising 83 types of toys from its Fisher-Price unit, involves excessive levels of lead paint in toys -- a common problem in China despite lead-paint regulations both there and in the U.S.

China makes nearly 80% of the toys that come into the U.S. and is a leading exporter of products from electronics to apparel to auto parts. Recent weeks have brought a spate of quality-control concerns about Chinese exports, from pet food to toothpaste to tires, which besides spooking consumers has heightened existing trade tensions with Washington. The events also are triggering questions about the role Western companies should play in monitoring the complex supply chain that links them to low-cost production facilities in China...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118607762324386327.html

Rather Reports' on Vote-Count Fiascos
Aug 13 03:08 PM US/Eastern
By FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer
With the 2008 election season heating up, familiar scapegoats continue to take the hit for past hang-ups at the polls. Those include bad graphic design (Florida's confusing "butterfly ballot" in 2000) and software glitches in certain voting machines.
But this week's edition of "Dan Rather Reports" explores other culprits: the very paper from which punch-card ballots were made, and glaring shortcuts in how certain touch-screen voting machines were produced.

"Our story is not that the election would have turned out differently in 2000 if certain things hadn't happened. No one can know that," Rather said Monday. But his eight-month investigation has "dug down vertically as deep as we were capable of doing" to probe the brewing problems—including on-camera interviews with workers who had a front-row seat.

The hourlong news program premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. EDT on cable's HDNet channel, with subsequent re-airings and streaming online video.

Rather's report begins with the current congressional bid by Democrat Christine Jennings, who lost her 2006 race by 369 votes in Florida's Sarasota County, where touch-screen machines showed 18,000 ballots with no candidate selected in that race.

How could that happen?

The broadcast hears from Gene Hinspeter, an electronic operations specialist in nearby Lee County, who speaks of a "calibration issue" with the touch-screen devices: on a misaligned display, choosing one candidate's name might actually trigger a vote for another candidate.

The touch-screen machines are hard to keep calibrated, says Hinspeter. He describes them as "unreliable."

While the touch-screens at issue were manufactured in the U.S., they are one of many components assembled in a factory in the Philippines.

Eddie Vibar, an electrical engineer who worked there between 1999 and describes the bare-bones performance testing ("They shook the machines"). He adds that conditions were oppressive at the factory, where the temperature sometimes rose above 90 degrees and only a few air conditioners were operative.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8R0AP080&show_article=1

Libertarian National Party Should Act in 2008

Why wait for 2010 or 2012 to consider holding a convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? Why not key into area native Ron Paul's efforts to get libertarian issues out front and center in the presidential election for 2008? There may be some differences between Paul's stances on several issues and the overall Libertarian Party, but the foundational issues are a match...

The Time is Now video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy4P2KZI-eM

Libertarian leaders eye Pittsburgh for convention
By David M. Brown
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, July 19, 2007


Leaders of the Libertarian Party plan to size up Pittsburgh this weekend as a potential site for a future national convention.
While it wouldn't draw the crowds that typically attend the Republican and Democratic national conventions, the organization that bills itself as the nation's third-largest political party could bring as many as 1,000 delegates, family and guests here, Libertarian National Chairman William Redpath said Wednesday.

"We are different from Republicans and Democrats," Redpath said. "Republicans and Democrats try to control people's lives in various ways."

Redpath maintains Libertarians represent "the only party that is consistently in favor of individual freedom and individual responsibility."...

More than 200,000 Americans are registered as Libertarians, according to the party's Web site. In 2006, about 13.4 million votes were cast for Libertarian candidates around the nation, according to information on the site.

"In a nutshell, we are advocates for a smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom," it says...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_517968.html

Related

Presidential candidate Paul to speak at Marshall rally
By The Tribune-Review
Wednesday, August 1, 2007


Ron Paul, a Green Tree native seeking the Republican nomination for president, will speak at a public rally at 8 p.m. Friday at the Four Points by Sheraton Pittsburgh North, 910 Sheraton Drive, Marshall.
Paul, a congressman representing Texas' Gulf Coast, is a graduate of the former Dormont High School and an obstetrician/gynecologist. He lives in Lake Jackson, Texas.

He supports an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, as well as dismantling much of the federal government -- from the U.S. Department of Education to the Internal Revenue Service. He wants to end corporate welfare and farm subsidies, and sever U.S. ties with the United Nations.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_520005.html

Oakland Libertarian files for mayoral run
By The Tribune-Review
Friday, August 10, 2007


Tony Oliva, 27, of Oakland, has filed paperwork to run for Pittsburgh mayor as a Libertarian, making four candidates for the city's top office.
Oliva filed on Thursday to be a replacement candidate for Libertarian Mark Rauterkus, who withdrew from the mayor's race Wednesday. Rauterkus still is running as a Libertarian for City Council in District 3 and City Controller.

Democratic Mayor Luke Ravenstahl also faces Republican Mark DeSantis and Socialist Workers Party candidate Ryan Scott in the Nov. 6 election

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_521569.html

Candidate Won't Challenge Nomination Petitions

Hooray, finally, somebody gets that the United States is a republic, a nation of laws, with a democratic process of elections and legislative system...

Still, if a candidate seeking office, no matter which office and no matter who, circulates nomination petitions and there is the potential of irregularities, shouldn't somebody challenge such petitions?

Doesn't the nation of laws rest on principles?

It is after all as well, the sworn duty of county officials who comprise the Election Board and the Voter Registration Commission to enforce and uphold the state election laws. That includes being the keepers so to speak of the county voter registration database.

Somebody needs to weed the county's voter registration database of any and all ineligible voters. Start with an accurate database, and there will be less of a liklihood of fraud and tampering with the database during the political process of elections.

First and foremost, as noted before, it is the voter registration database which must be purged of names of the deceased and names of those who have moved out of the state and, this is important, do NOT maintain a permanent residence in the state.

As well, those who have moved to another precinct in the same county should have their voter registration updated, now, today.

Similarly with names which remain on the voter registration rolls of other counties within the state even though those persons moved to another county in the same state. Those should be updated, now, today.

When the database of voter names remains inaccurate, year after year, none of us can truly trust that someone might not be tempted to misuse the database.

The current county election board and registration commission should review all names on the database of electors prior to this next election of November 2007, and begin the process to ensure the registry is accurate so as to preclude potential for fraud and tampering.

It couldn't be more simple than that.

There is time to conduct a review, and send out confirmation of voter registration mailings.

A republic, indeed, a nation of laws, no matter how tiny and insignificant they may appear...

None of that is to claim there are irregularities and fraud going on with these local nomination petitions.

Evidence rules, not rumor, not speculation, but cold, hard facts and proof.

It all boils down to this: upon taking office elected officials raise their hands and swear to uphold the laws, all of the laws, including providing for a process of elections which is trustable.

5 to run for Fayette county commissioner seats
By Liz Zemba
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 3, 2007

A Fayette County businesswoman has entered the race for county commissioner as an Independent candidate.
Marilyn Cellurale, of Lemont Furnace, filed nominating papers with the county election bureau on Wednesday, the last day to file. She listed her party as "Cellurale County Commissioner."

Cellurale, owner of the family-run Cellurale Garden Center on Route 119 South in Dunbar Township, could not be reached yesterday for comment.

She becomes the fifth candidate seeking three seats on the board. The others who are running are incumbent Republicans Angela Zimmerlink and Joe Hardy, and Democrat Vince Vicites

The only other challenger to the three incumbents is another Democratic candidate, Vincent Zapotosky.

Zapotosky said he does not intend to challenge Cellurale's candidacy.

"I have no intentions of challenging Ms. Cellurale's nominating petitions," Zapotosky said. "It's a republic we live in, and it's a democratic process."

Zapotosky said he looks forward to learning more from Cellurale regarding her platform.

Zimmerlink, Vicites and Hardy could not be reached for comment.

Several individuals filed nominating papers to run for other offices...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_520486.html

Voter Registry Database Signatures Potential for Fraud

The county's database of some 89,000 plus registered voters should be on trial - yesterday.

An investigation should already have been started by the county Election Boards across Pennsylvania the instant the state imposed the new statewide "electronic" registry of voters on counties. (In Pennsylvania, the database is called, SURE)

And the state should have assigned each county an election overseer to monitor the process of ensuring that every single signature which was scanned into the new digital database from the original voter registration cards were indeed valid and current, and not duplicated in any other county, precinct, and/or state.

Who on earth scanning in thousands and thousands of voter registration signatures would have known if individuals had moved from the district to another district, or to another state, or were deceased?

Nobody checked the names prior to scanning in the signatures. This county had not undergone a purge in current times and many of the names may not have been checked due to the excuse federal regulations impose waiting two federal elections before removing "inactive" voters.

Yet, every county in PA was mandated to scan in signatures and input the old data from cards potentially dated from the early 1900s!

Pennsylavania legislators have failed us since they did not require a check of the local voter registry prior to the signatures being scanned.

It is yet to be seen whehter an investigation will unfold but the start should be with the county database of registered voters.

Controller wants inquiry of Lally's election tactics
By Patti Dobranski
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, August 2, 2007


A Fayette County row officer who lost the Democratic nomination in the primary election wants the election board to conduct an investigation of his opponent's election activities.
Mark Roberts, the controller, petitioned the county's election board late Wednesday to "investigate violations of the election code and several other crimes Sean Lally" allegedly committed.

Among the offenses Roberts alleges Lally committed are false testimony, election fraud and illegal voting.

In the primary, Lally won 52 percent of the vote to Roberts' 48 percent. Before the primary, Roberts tried unsuccessfully to have Lally removed from the ballot by challenging 15 of his nominating petitions on grounds they were plagued by irregularities and deficiencies.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/fayette/s_520286.html

Mark Roberts petitions election board to investigate claim By Amy Zalar, Herald-Standard
08/03/2007
Updated 08/04/2007 12:06:03 AM EDT

Fayette County Controller Mark Roberts, who lost his bid for the Democratic nomination for re-election earlier this year to Sean P. Lally, has petitioned the county election board in an attempt to investigate alleged election fraud by Lally.


The petition, filed Wednesday afternoon, asks the election board to "investigate violations of the election code and several other crimes Sean Lally committed in connection with his campaign and candidacy for the office of Fayette County controller," the petition states.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18659362&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=480247&rfi=6