The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire

we should do a posting about "The Decline and Fall of The Alberta Advantage"

I hadn't heard that Iran and its satellite Palestine had surrendered...

Drudge's news-stacking haiku can't touch your juxtaposition ninja skills!

The war on terror is over; let the war on the American people begin.

The war on terror is over; let the war on the American people begin.

Of course the war on terror is over. If you don't end it, the mob attacks and threats of citizens by the likes of Black Panthers and government officials would fall under this classification and a lot of supposedly important people would be in jail.

BC RCMP just obtained a drone.

The first of many I am sure.

Not a squeak or an eek anywhere.

Canadian mice are no braver than American mice.

"The war on terrorism is over, the war on the American people will now begin."

Take note that the one single Border Patrol drone site is in North Dakota, directly south of Winnipeg. There are zero border patrol drones on the -southern- border, and zero active drone sites in Southern California or Arizona.

http://phantomsoapbox.blogspot.ca/2012/04/location-of-us-drone-sites-released-not.html

Phantom nails it. Oh look a puppy!

The Phantom: "Take note that the one single Border Patrol drone site is in North Dakota, directly south of Winnipeg. There are zero border patrol drones on the -southern- border, and zero active drone sites in Southern California or Arizona."

And here is the footnote attached to that CBP site in ND: "Note that at this point, the FAA has only confirmed that CBP is flying drones, and has not yet told the public where those drones are being flown. However, from a Los Angeles Times article in December 2011, we know that CBP has drones in this location."

That is, the ND CBP site just happens to be the only one that's been disclosed. There are others, but for obvious reasons, CBP would rather not make that information publicly known. Same goes for the Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force, and a few others.

Looking forward to your updated blog post, Phantom.

There's a CBP drone that regularly monitors the border on the St. Clair River from Detroit/Windsor to Port Huron/Sarnia.

So, the 'War on Terror' is over, eh ? Well, I reckon Muhommed Al-Muhammed is gona be really pleased with Obama.
,

Davenport said: "Looking forward to your updated blog post, Phantom."

Hey, whenever they release it I'll post it. What we have right there doesn't look good for CBP or for the FAA, given that the Electronic Freedom Foundation had to -sue- them to get it.

But Davenport, do you think its a good idea to be flying surveillance drones at all? They crash, you know. Wouldn't it be better/smarter/cheaper to put a couple of cops in a Piper Cherokee with a camera?

BTW, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/24/top-dem-vows-overturn-supreme-court-immigration/

"Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday he wants to overturn a Supreme Court ruling last year that allowed states to require businesses to make sure their workers are in the country legally and said Congress should also be prepared to overturn a possible future ruling favoring state enforcement of immigration laws."

Tinfoil hat? Or observation of DemocRat party behavior?

the sad part is...with 'bama at the helm...I'm not sure iran isn't just babbling foolishness about the US Navy 'submitting to inspection'

NICOSIA — In the first such claim, Iran said it was imposing a blockade on
unauthorized ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

A senior commander for Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said all ships, including those from the
U.S. Navy, must undergo inspection before proceeding through the strait.

“The alien vessels which enter the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz always provide the needed answers and information to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps units,” IRGC deputy navy commander Rear Adm. Alireza Tangsiri said.

In a statement on April 18, Tangsiri said IRGC was already enforcing the blockade of Hormuz. The officer said the U.S. Navy was submitting information before its ships, including an aircraft carrier, enter Hormuz.

“This vessel, similar to the other warships, answered all the questions
asked by the IRGC Navy without any problem or making any particular move and then continued the path to its specified destination,” Tangsiri said.

In mid-April, the U.S. Navy deployed a second aircraft carrier in the
Gulf. The USS Enterprise, based in the Gulf Cooperation Council sheikdom of
Bahrain, joined the Abraham Lincoln in what the navy termed a routine
deployment in the region.

Later, another senior Iranian commander confirmed Teheran’s policy.
Iranian Army commander Gen. Ataollah Salehi said the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet
was warned to stay away from unspecified areas in Hormuz.

“We have warned them before that some areas in the Persian Gulf are
considered by us as zones of threat and they should not stop in those
areas,” Salehi said. “Of course, they have paid attention to the warning and
are respecting it.”

"The War on Terror is Over" - Obama.

"But the War on Terriers has just begun!" - Jim Treacher.

Yes, nothing like surveillance when you think it's on your side. Unfortunately......

"Oh but I don't do anything wrong what do I need to worry about"?

Maybe a future government may find gay sex punishable by death. Watering your lawn, growing non government approved organic vegetables maybe? Who did you pass or speak to at a bus stop; did you know he was a terrorist suspect? He may just be a radical with his own private ham radio, but you’re guilty by association no matter where you go.

Here's the problem with Davenport. She doesn't think anything bad could happen with widespread drone use by the US (and Canadian!) government. Let's try a little thought experiment shall we?

Here's a (pretty rude) video captured in Iraq by a US helicopter, in the pitch dark, at a range of perhaps as much as a mile or more.

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/6/getting-caught-by-a-helicopter-with-nightvision-in-iraq-517731

Drones carry cameras this good or better. Lets assume some voyeur captures this, then a Right Wing Bad Person decides the couple in the video must be punished. The Church Lady lets say, just for the sake of argument. Can they figure out who the couple are?

Yes, in minutes. The drone feed can triangulate their exact position by GPS down to the foot. It has to be able to do that, its a bomb aiming system.

A quick database check of who's house that is will reveal what cars are usually parked there. A convertible can be identified and the owner looked up on the database again. If necessary the drone can read the car's license plate and get close enough for identifiable pictures of the couple. Other surveillance cameras in the area can be checked etc. etc. etc.

Bottom line, if the Mean Church Lady wants them, they're busted. In real time, or anytime later as long as the databases remains relatively current.

You want to live like that Davenport? Tell me again about the tinfoil hat.

The Phantom: "But Davenport, do you think its a good idea to be flying surveillance drones at all?"

No, it's a terrible and dangerous idea, one that's an unfortunate though hardly surprising consequence of a post-9/11 Fortress America mentality (e.g., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act).

I'm glad to see you're finally speaking up. My question is, where were you five, ten years ago, when these policies and progams were first introduced? (e.g., news.cnet.com/2100-11746_3-6055658.html)

Where were you when the (evil, left-wing) MSM was writing about this issue years ago, and when groups like the ACLU were first expressing concerns? (e.g., nytimes.com/2008/03/27/business/worldbusiness/27iht-drone.4.11474996.html?_r=1)

Where we're you when people who protested against enabling legislation like the Patriot Act, on grounds that it violated civil liberties, were accused of being unpatriotic, of siding with the terrorists? (e.g., archives.cnn.com/2001/US/12/06/inv.ashcroft.hearing).

Where were you as folks like Glenn Greenwald were critiquing the US government's War on Terror/Endless War mindset and the domestic security policies (first enacted by the Bush administration, and extended by the Obama administration) that grew out of it, the dangerous and incestuous role that private weapons industry lobbyists play in Washington, the militarization of domestic policing, the gradual expansion of police powers under a "tough on crime/illegal immigration" agenda, etc.? (e.g., salon.com/2011/12/12/the_growing_menace_of_domestic_drones).

I hope you were as vocal and animated then as you are now, you know, backwhen it wasn't a Democrat in the White House.

The drones are designed to only pick off only the slower pedestrians in crosswalks. It's all designed to improve traffic flow.

Don't worry, be happy.

Now that U.S. foreign policy favours the rise of the M.B., we know who they aren't designed to monitor.

Davenport said "I'm glad to see you're finally speaking up. My question is, where were you five, ten years ago, when these policies and progams were first introduced?"

Davenport? READ MY BLOG.

I don't really know what its going to take to communicate this to you, but I do not like Big Government. Republican or DemocRat, Liberal or CPC. It needs to be SHRUNK. I'm forced to support whichever party leans the farthest in that direction. In Canada right now that's the CPC, and they aren't doing enough to keep me happy. In the USA its the Tea Party, the Republicans are useless leaning toward dangerous. The DemocRats are the main source of the problem.

Oh and by the way, which party held the US House and Senate from 2004 on? Patriot Act and etc. was passed by DemocRats ducky. They voted for it.

Securing the US southern border is something that seriously needs doing if only to save lives. Do you know how many men, women and children die of thirst in the Arizona desert every year Davenport? Not dozens. Hundreds.

Bush didn't improve the situation. Ten year fail! Obama by contrast has pretty much ordered the Border Patrol to stop arresting illegals, and lets not forget Fast and Furious. Its wide open now. There's warning signs on the highways, "Watch out for armed drug smugglers". The Mexican cartels have semi-permanent lookouts camped on mountain tops in Southern Arizona so they can run their mule trains across wholesale. Tour guides in Organ Pipe National Forest are armed with rifles. By the feds, no less. Its a disaster down there. New Mexico, Texas and California likewise.

A disaster I have seen first hand by the way, and you have not.

Using drones on the border is -not- an effective way of cutting back illegal immigration or the drug trade. Its a way to look like you're doing something while in fact not doing it. Its like England replacing cops in London with cameras. It doesn't work, but it looks good on TV and it feeds money to the Military Industrial Complex that you hate so harshly.

Its also dangerous as all hell. Like I said, they crash. And they look in windows.

One side of the political spectrum, -your- side, is enthusiastically proceeding with these dangerously stupid "ubiquitous surveillance" polices while the other side is proceeding with them much more slowly. No party in federal politics in Canada or the USA is suggesting rolling anything back, as yet.

I'm stuck supporting the side that's least evil, Davenport. What on earth are you doing?