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I'm Finally Leaving America's Crazed Police State

police state
© benfrank.net
Dudes, I'm done with this. I'm leaving the United States today, and won't be back for a while. I recently visited my childhood hometown and noticed a whole bunch of brand new surveillance cameras at nearly every intersection and street corner; this is just a town, mind you, not some city of national or international significance.

After doing some research, it turns out the cameras are "high-definition" 24/7 surveillance cameras, manufactured and operated by Sprint Nextel Corp, and paid for through federal Department of Homeland Security grants to the town's local police department.

In fact, the number of these cameras in my hometown has reportedly tripled over the past couple years. There are as many as six of them at each intersection, they aren't red light traffic cameras (topic for another article altogether, though). Here's a photo I took of the cameras.

Do you really think these are there to make your 10 minute drive to the Applebee's safe from terrorists? Do you?

On another note, I was recently at a ball game: they now ask you to rise twice to sing the national anthem and pledge your allegiance. As a child, I only remember this occurring once, normally at the start of the game.

It was recently revealed that the NSA, according to a former high-ranking official there, is building "dossiers" on MILLIONS of American citizens and may be routinely spying on countless Americans on U.S. soil, in clear violation of our laws and principles as a nation.

Cult

Priests Could Be Ordered to Report Confessions of Sex Abuse to Police

UPDATE: The prospect of government forcing priests to report what was said in confession is the sign of a "police state mentality", says a priest and law professor.


Australia - Hundreds of years of Catholic tradition in the confessional could be overturned by Victoria's inquiry into child sex abuse.

Priests would be ordered to reveal crimes told to them in private confessions under one proposal before the inquiry.

But priests say they will resist being forced to reveal secrets of the confessional.

Priest and law professor Father Frank Brennan said the move would be a restriction on religious freedom.

"If a parliamentary inquiry were to recommend a law by parliament saying that priests were forced to disclose anything revealed to them in the sacrament of confession I think that would be a serious interference with the right of religious freedom," Father Brennan said today.
Australia

Crusader

Retired Judge Whitlam Heads Inquiry into Church Handling of Priest Who Admitted Sexually Abusing Boys as Young as 10

Anthony Whitlam
© Andrew Taylor
Anthony Whitlam, QC.
Australia - The Catholic Church has appointed a retired Federal Court judge to head an inquiry into its handling of a NSW priest who admitted sexually abusing boys as young as 10.

Antony Whitlam, QC, a former federal politician and the son of the former prime minister Gough Whitlam, was appointed to lead the independent inquiry jointly commissioned by the Bishop of Armidale, Michael Kennedy, and the Bishop of Parramatta, Anthony Fisher.

A statement from the two clergymen did not outline the terms of reference for the inquiry other than to say that it would look at ''the processes related to the management of 'Father F''', who has been the subject of media reports in relation to allegations of abuse of children.

''Further details of the inquiry process will be developed in consultation with Mr Whitlam, QC,'' the statement said.

Father F, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was removed from public ministry after a meeting with three clergy in 1992, following continued allegations of abuse after he was moved from the Armidale diocese to Parramatta.

Question

Shit-stirrer Sheriff Arpaio is at it again - Obama Birth Certificate 'Definitely Fraudulent'

Barack Obama
© AFP Photo/Jewel Samad
US President Barack Obama.
The long-form birth certificate released by the White House in April 2011 is fraudulent, claim investigators acting as a posse for Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The posse had earlier said the certificate may have been a computer-generated forgery, but now they say they are positive that the document is a fake.

Mike Zullo, the posse's chief investigator, said numeric codes on certain parts of the birth certificate indicate that those parts were not filled out. He added that those sections asking for the race of Obama's father and his field of work or study were completed.

Zullo said investigators previously did not know the meaning of the codes, but they were explained by a 95-year-old former state worker who signed the president's birth certificate.

So-called "birthers" believe that President Barack Obama is not eligible to hold America's highest office because he was allegedly born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and thus is not a natural US citizen.

Comment: The birth cert issue is obviously a distraction from the real reason why Obama isn't fit to rule: he's a psychopath.


Gear

Virgin Mary Statue 'Bleeding' in Louisiana


Baton Rouge, LA - Believers are flocking to this Baton Rouge neighborhood to see a statue of Mother Mary with their own eyes. You see, everyone here believes the statue is bleeding.

Hai Nguyen is the owner. His daughter translated for him and says he was doing lawn work when the unexpected happened.

"He looked up and saw blood coming down."

Blood dripping from the side of Mary's face, and the word spread quickly.

"He don't know how to explain it. He just know that maybe God sent a message through Mary."

Stormtrooper

Caught on camera: Moment 'deputy stomped on head of suspect as he lay helpless on floor'

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy has been caught on camera kicking a suspect laying on the pavement in the head. Since the footage was discovered, one deputy has been relieved of his duty and the Sheriff's Department have launched a criminal investigation into the matter. The incident happened on Friday when Alexis Husmario Torres, 31, was suspected of groping a woman in downtown Los Angeles.


No Entry

Residents Warned: 6-foot Lizard Loose in Colorado

Monitor Lizard
© Arvin C. Diesmos/National Museum of the Philippines
A 6-foot monitor lizard, similar to the one pictured here, is on the loose in Colorado.
Denver - A sheriff has warned residents in a tourist town northwest of Colorado Springs that a strong, aggressive 6-foot lizard that eats small animals - including dogs and cats - is on the loose in the area.

Teller County Sheriff Mike Ensinger said Tuesday that a 25-pound pet Nile monitor lizard has gone missing after breaking a mesh leash and crawling away.

Ensinger said about 400 homes in the Woodland Park area were warned. He added that the animal, which escaped Monday and is known as Dino, has not bitten any humans - yet.

"We have a 6-foot reptile out and about," Ensinger said. "If it gets hungry enough, we don't know what it will do."

Ensinger said his animal control division is searching for the animal.

Star of David

Pro-Palestinian Ads Ignite Firestorm Of Controversy

"I think the ad is very offensive, it's certainly offensive to Jews," said Dovid Efune, the the editor of the Jewish newspaper The Algemeiner.


A seemingly endless debate over politics, religion and territory is coming to a train station near you.

An explosive ad about Israel is now igniting a firestorm of controversy.

The display shows shrinking Palestinian territory in Israel over the years and refers to 4.7 million Palestinians there as refugees.

The ads are appearing in 50 Metro-North stations.

Arrow Down

Train Derails in Egyptian Capital Cairo

Image
© unknown
At least two carriages derailed, but officials said nobody was killed
A train has derailed south of Egypt's capital Cairo, injuring at least 15 passengers, officials have said.

There are differing reports on what caused the crash, and on the number of people hurt.

One passenger told BBC Arabic in Cairo that some people had been killed, although a health ministry spokesman said no-one had died.

The train was heading into Cairo from the province of Suhag when it came off the line in the Badrashin area of Giza.

"Three wagons of train number 990 came off the tracks without any loss of life," Kamal el-Daly, head of Giza police investigations department, told Reuters news agency.

Stop

German Circumcision Ban Incites New Religious Controversy in Europe

The ruling of a court in Cologne in June to ban circumcision of young boys for religious reasons has riled Muslims and Jews alike.
  • A summary of global reports on the German court ruling.
Angela Merkel
© dts Nachrichtenagentur
A German court set off religious controversy late last week with its ruling that the circumcision of young boys on religious grounds is illegal. Some commentators categorize the ban as just one of many legislative restrictions on religious minorities in Germany, and as part of growing religious intolerance in Europe.

Reuters reports that the Cologne court took action after police were alerted by a doctor who treated the 4-year-old son of first-generation Turkish immigrants Muhsin Sapci and his wife, Gonca, for bleeding after the boy underwent circumcision. A prosecutor sued the doctor in court.

The court ruled that the removal of the boy's foreskin amounted to bodily harm and involved intolerable health risks. The Economist writes that circumcision was deemed to violate Germany's constitutional protection of individuals' physical integrity - religious freedom and parents' rights came second - and thus should be considered a crime. The court further suggested waiting until the age of 14 so boys themselves could decide whether to be circumcised.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel intervened over the court's decision last Friday by promising the Muslim and Jewish communities that they are free to circumcise their children. Meanwhile, the Guardian writes that the government is urgently looking for a way around the ban.

Comment: For more information on circumcision please read the following:
Sott Focus: "Foreskin Man" Takes On Genital Mutilation
Study Links Circumcision to Personality Trait Disorder
Circumcision Fight: Profit, Pleasure, or Population Control?
We Need To Stop Circumcision