The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks’ Watcher’s Council Results

‘Duck Dynasty’ Suspension Lifted to Resume Filming With Phil Robertson… No Response from Phil or Family Yet

Alea iacta est…The Council Has Spoken! has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results  for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.- Proverbs 10:18

“We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.” – George Orwell, 1984

Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed details of electronic surveillance by American and British spy services, warned of the dangers posed by a loss of privacy in a message broadcast to Britain on Christmas Day.

In a two-minute video recorded in Moscow, where Snowden has been granted temporary asylum, he spoke of concerns over surveillance and appeared to draw comparison with the dystopian tale “1984″ which described a fictional state which operates widespread surveillance of its citizens.

“Great Britain’s George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information. The types of collection in the book – microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us are nothing compared to what we have available today.” “We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person,” he said.

“A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all,” said Snowden. “They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalysed thought. And that’s a problem because privacy matters, privacy

This week’s winner, The Noisy Room’s The Silencing of the Ducks is her sharp, well written examination of the recent A&E/Duck Dynasty controversy and what it reveals about the Angry Left’s attempt at thought control and the war on America’s culture…including traditional Christianity and the right to profess its values. Here’s a slice:

I did not start viewing Duck Dynasty until a few months ago. It has since become our favorite show and we can’t get enough of it. Christian values, real people, guns and hunting – what’s not to love? But it would seem that being a Christian and espousing your beliefs in America is now becoming ever more dangerous. As RedState pointed out, ultimately you will care and you will have to take a stand and take sides.

Phil Robertson, the patriarch of Duck Dynasty, just did a GQ interview where he stated his Christian beliefs, which included those concerning Gays. This whole blowup is not so much about the Gay issue, but far more about the Constitution and the First Amendment. In the interview, Phil was asked if he thought homosexuality was sinful:

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he told GQ, before paraphrasing the Bible in Corinthians. “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

For telling the truth and stating what he personally believed, A&E put him on indefinite hiatus. They fired him. I would be very surprised if the family did not tell A&E to stuff it. They managed to take THE most popular rated show ever and scuttle it. Phil had told A&E earlier that if they insisted he remove God or guns from his show, they were through:

On May 9, Greensboro, NC country station 93.1 The Wolf reported that after receiving complaints over prayers to God and the frequent use of guns on air, Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson said, “God and guns are part of our everyday lives [and] to remove either of them from the show is unacceptable.”

Sarah Palin came to Phil’s defense with the following quote:

Free speech is an endangered species. Those “intolerants” hatin’ and taking on the Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us.

She’s right and this will backfire on A&E and all the others out there that are anti-Christian. Phil Robertson just became a warrior for God and the Constitution and I am sure he is up to the task. An attack on one Christian, is an attack on all of us. Time to draw our line in the Marxist sand.

Much more at the link.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Victor Davis Hanson with  Pajama Boy Nation submitted by Joshuapundit. It’s an examination of the metrosexual Pajama Boy used as a shill fro ObamaCare and what it says about the Left and how they see the country.  This opening paragraphs are a nice taste:

Will Kane of High Noon Pajama Boy wasn’t. Somehow we as a nation went from the iconic Marlboro Man to Pajama Boy — from the noble individual with a bad habit to the ignoble without a good habit — without a blink in between.

There are lots of revolting things in the Pajama Boy ad. After all, how can you top all at once a nerdy-looking child-man dressed in infantile pajamas while cradling a cup of hot chocolate with the smug assurance that he is running your life more than you his?

Do read it.

OK, so here are this week’s full results. Both the Mellow Jihadi and VA Right were unable to vote this week,but neither was subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 2 1/3 votes! - The Noisy Room – The Silencing of the Ducks
• Second place with 2  votes – Bookworm Room – The Obama Christmas card reveals the zero at the center of our government
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – The Right Planet – U.S. Army Tells Soldiers Not to Say ‘Christmas’
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Joshuapundit - Crash And Burn – Obama Waives Individual Mandate On ObamaCare
• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Liberty’s Spirit – Fat-Shaming, Body Image and a Culture of Dehumanization
• Fourth place  with 1 vote – Simply Jews – Sweden’s conflictual relationship with issues of tolerance
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Nice Deb – Young Invincibles Insulted By ObamaCare Ads (Video)
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – Israel & Iran. Good against Evil…
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – US Navy and cancer: Fukushima has been extremely hazardous to their health!
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Killing Our Enemies On Christmas Day Since 1776
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Razor – Would a Different Software Methodology Have Saved Obamacare?
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – May I Point Out That Phil Robertson Was Indisputably Right About One Thing?

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Victor Davis Hanson - Pajama Boy Nation submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 2 2/3 votes – Pressure Points – The Un-American Studies Association submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Second place *t* with 2 2/3 votes – Bret Stephens/WSJ – Of Jane Fonda and Pope Francis submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Second place *t* with 2 2/3 votes – Larry Correia/Monster Hunter Nation – Angsty Emo Outrage and Ducks submitted by The Noisy Room
• Third place with 1 vote – John O’Sullivan/NRO -  The New Blacklist submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fourth place with 2/3 vote-Nick Nipclose – Cyber-libertarians for Child Pornography submitted by Simply Jews
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes -Washington Free Beacon - A Year of Inspiring Democratic Quotes submitted by Nice Deb
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Big Jolly Politics – Christopher Busby, HCRP Precinct Chair submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Buckhorn Road – Freedom Died On This Day 100 Years Ago submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - The People’s Cube – Duck Dynasty’s Robertson Angers Alcoholics, Philanderers submitted by The Razor
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Arnold Kling – Obama Repeals Obamacare submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Cato@Liberty – It’s a Very Merry Christmas for Washington Insiders submitted by The Watcher

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – Simpler Times, A Groetzmeier Christmas – WoC 2013
• The Independent Sentinel – Wow! Susan Rice Doesn’t Have Time For Benghazi, The False Controversy
• Right Truth – Lesbian Supervisor Allegedly Fired Male Gym Teacher Because He Was Heterosexual And Married
• The Pirate’s Cove – Here’s A Handy Dandy Warmist Survival Guide For Christmas Climate Change Discussions

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Technorati Tags: Duck Dynasty,Snowden,Surveillance,Freedom,Victories,Stand-up,WoC,Palin 2016,Ducks,ObamaCare,Watcher’s Council,Alternative media,News nuggets,News,Bloggers,Blogosphere,Politics,NSA,Free Market,Collection of Articles,Obamaland,Get-Involved,Knowledge,Holidays,Christmas,War on Chtistmas,Religion,Simpler Times

NROL – Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – The NoisyRoom – Cross-Posted at AskMarion

Seriously? Having created an uber tense surveillance climate, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office decided this was the perfect time to unveil their new logo of the squid who spied on me. It’s a monster octopus with tentacles that encircle the globe. I share Doug Ross’ sentiments… I’m all for a strong U.S. intelligence capability, as long as it is not used against Americans. But after the whole NSA kerfluffle (which by the way, is ridiculous since everyone is spying on everyone else and then screaming over the US doing it), this is a giant ‘F’-you moment to the world. Boy, talk about poking the Russian bear and the Chinese dragon – you might as well flash neon saying: “Please attack me.” You know, like the sign on Biden’s back that he sports during his foreign policy comedy tour.

Sometimes, The Register approaches Godhood in their prose:

The NRO are totally embracing their menacing Big Brother persona and putting it out there for world+dog to see, having launched a bunch of satellites and a mysterious payload on a spacecraft yesterday – complete with the logo of a creepy octopus sucking the life out of our world.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) tweeted pictures of an Atlas 5 rocket bearing the NROL-39 getting ready for launch yesterday, which it said was carrying a “classified NRO payload” along with some cubesats.

The NRO is the agency in charge of designing, building, launching and maintaining America’s spy satellites. The DNI said that its latest rocket would carry a dozen mini satellites co-funded by NASA as well as its unknown primary payload.

The DNI did not say just why the NRO thought that a good logo for its spy-craft would be a hugely evil-looking octopus with its tentacles wrapped around the Earth and the inscription “Nothing is beyond our reach”.

Thursday’s launch was the second time an Atlas 5 rocket has lifted off from the West Coast this year. Hmmm… Wonder what is in that payload? Nothing good, I would imagine. Looks like the surveillance state is not lacking for funding and is reaching out to touch everyone. Look out boys, your evil intentions are showing. You are taking the ‘Intelligence’ out of ‘Intelligence Agency.’

From Fox News:

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office launched a new spy satellite Thursday evening on mission NROL-39 — and the new logo and tagline are quite an eye opener.

The new logo features a giant, world-dominating octopus, its sucker-covered tentacles encircling the planet while it looks on with determination, a steely glint in its enormous eye. The logo carries a five-word tagline: “Nothing is beyond our reach.”

Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst with the ACLU, raised a quizzical eyebrow at the new slogan.

“Advice to @ODNIgov: You may want to downplay the massive dragnet spying thing right now. This logo isn’t helping,” he wrote.

An agency spokeswoman told Forbes that there’s a very good reason for the symbol: The octopus is intelligent, and therefore a good emblem for an intelligence agency.

“NROL-39 is represented by the octopus, a versatile, adaptable, and highly intelligent creature. Emblematically, enemies of the United States can be reached no matter where they choose to hide,” said Karen Furgerson, a spokeswoman for the NRO. “‘Nothing is beyond our reach’ defines this mission and the value it brings to our nation and the warfighters it supports, who serve valiantly all over the globe, protecting our nation.”

The NROL-39 mission was classified, as are nearly all missions and satellites launched by the secretive NRO. It was carried aloft by a United Launch Alliance rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 11:13 p.m. PST, according to NASAspaceflight.com. Because the launch trajectory matched that used by other launches, it was likely carrying a third satellite for the agency’s radar reconnaissance fleet, the site said.

Along with its secretive payload, the rocket also carried the Government Experimental Multi-Satellite (GEMSat) payload, which contained 12 “nanosatellites” that will perform a variety of science missions.

The NRO mission is to design, build, launch, and maintain America’s intelligence satellites.

Twice in one week, I’ve had to agree with the commies at the ACLU. This is getting surreal. Depicting a weakened America as a sea monster that has the planet in her 8-armed embrace is laughable. They’ve turned us into a cartoon character with just about as much menace. Seriously, who isn’t afraid of the Russian bear waiting to tear you apart? Or the Chinese dragon that could burn you to ashes while eviscerating you? We get an octopus? It’s like getting Obama instead of Reagan. It’s a joke. Next, really cool makeup for the military and snappy uniforms – oh, wait…

Deaf, insensitive and invasive… yep, nothing is beyond Obama’s reach.

The Council Has Spoken!! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results - 08.02.13

JoshuaPundit on Aug 02 2013:

Alea iacta est… The Council Has Spoken!, the votes have been cast, and we have the results  for this week’s Watcher’s Council match up.

“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.” - Booker T. Washington

“No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems — of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind.” – Thomas Sowell 

This week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s The Great Divider    is my reaction to President Obama’s little speech on race after the Zimmerman verdict.What he had to say pretty much passed unnoticed by the legacy media, but as I point out, a lot of what he had to say merited notice for what it revealed about him and his mindset.  Here’s a slice:

Video: Obama Talks About Trayvon, part 1

Video: Obama Talks About Trayvon, part 2

President Obama had a few things to say last Friday about the Zimmerman trial, about Trayvon Martin, and of course about race.

It amazes me that the full import of his remarks will pass unnoticed by the legacy press and indeed by most of America. Because what the president had to say was nothing less than astounding coming from a sitting president of the United States.

It’s necessary to translate his remarks. As the president said, context is important.

President Obama started out after the pro forma remarks by upping the ante. Now, it’s not just that if he had a son he would have looked like Trayvon, but that 35 years ago he was Trayvon:

But I did want to just talk a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people are feeling. You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African- American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African- American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that — that doesn’t go away.

The president said this while violent protests that amounted to riots were going on in many locales and random whites were being assaulted by blacks using ‘justice for Trayvon’ as their excuse.

This is quite similar to the logic terrorism groupies try to foist on the unwary to justify terrorist activities; ‘well you know I certainly don’t condone violence but you have to understand their rage.’ Needless to say, that never works the other way around when objects of terrorism like the Israelis defend themselves. Any response is deemed ‘disproportionate’. And make no mistake. President Obama’s excusing the Trayvon riots on the basis of experiences and history is yet another important message, given that all important context. When he says “this experience and history doesn’t go away” he is not only justifying that violence but letting America know that no matter what, our country is guilty and no matter how much money or good will we expend, it will never be enough. It will never end.

Which means of course that according to President Obama, blacks of necessity have to nourish grievance for eternity and are not responsible for their own actions, no matter what.

That was President Obama’s central message. As I pointed out earlier, President Obama’s entire stance on this is political in nature . Trayvon Martin was a  useful  smokescreen to divert attention from his own failures, the scandals permeating his administration and a tool  to get black voters to the polls in record numbers in 2014 to support his agenda. It’s worth remembering that it was Obama’s Department of Justice that actually played a significant part in orchestrating, funding and organizing the violent protests that made the Trayvon Martin shooting a national issue. Because there’s money and power to be had by nourishing that black sense of grievance.

Roll that over in your mind a moment. Here we have a president whose Department of Justice deliberately assisted in fanning the flames that turned an obscure local incident into a national racial firestorm led, coordinated  and abetted by President Obama’s intimate associate Al Sharpton. We have the president’s own willingness  to exacerbate things  further by making a national statement inserting himself  into the matter and by.putting political pressure on local authorities to prosecute someone who had already been cleared of any wrongdoing after a through investigation by police with a case so shoddily put together that the special prosecutor had to bypass the grand jury mechanism standard in such cases to even have George Zimmerman charged and brought to trial.

Yes, President Obama’s quite right that the sense of racial grievance doesn’t go away. Especially when you deliberately pour gasoline on it .

The president’s attempt to embellish this message by whining about the indignities he supposedly suffered as a young black male..being watched when he went shopping in a store, walking across the street and hearing door locks on cars click, having women in an elevator clutch their purses tighter..’ was even more ridiculous coming from someone who has lived a life of privilege and ease his entire life and has known nothing but the best America has to offer.

Yes, this picture of the racist hell the president endured 35 years ago while going to the ultra elite Punahou Prep School in Hawaii tells it all, doesn’t it?

More at the link

In our non-Council category, the winner was Bill Whittle with  The Lynching submitted by The Watcher. It’s an extraordinary video that examines the Zimmerman trial and in particular things about Trayvon Martin that would have a definite bearing on the public perception of the case if the media had covered them as they did  every detail of George Zimmerman’s life. Do watch  it.

Video: The Lynching

OK, here are this week’s full results. Only Bookworm was unable to vote this week but was not subject to the usual two thirds voter penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 1/3 votes! Joshuapundit – The Great Divider
• Second place with 3 votes – The Right Planet – The So-Called ‘Dialog on Race’
• Third place  with 1 vote – The Razor - Primary Care Physicians: Between A Rock and a Hard Place
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room - Rolling In The Deep… With Communists
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Liberty’s Spirit - It’s Only Dead Jews-Who Cares? Not the Obama Administration For Certain
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Nice Deb - Drip-Drip-Drip – New Obama Scandal Emerges At DOE – Drip-Drip – Whistleblowers Illegally Gagged – Drip-Drip-Drip
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator - The Weiner-Huma-Hillary Unholy Alliance!
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – What happens when you hire complete nitwits
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – The NRSC Asks ‘Are You Still a Republican?’ – I’m Not Sure How to Answer That!
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Bookworm Room – A bit of Irish history with some sightseeing thrown in too
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Glittering Eye – Not Dead Yet
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews – Pissing on your mobile – it is a coming thing
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Sinai Insurgency

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Bill Whittle - The Lynching   submitted by The Watcher
• Second place *t* with 2  votes – Diana West – Why Won’t the Media Cover Huma Abedin’s Ties to Global Jihad Movement?   submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – Caroline Glick –  How to Respond to EU Sanctions  submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Zenpundit - How to Lose the Next War submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
•   Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - According To Hoyt - Forever Young   submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes - Hot Air – Man, all of these “phony scandals” have really been getting in the way of this economic recovery we’re in   submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fourth place  with 1 vote - Michael Totten – Tunisia on the Brink submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Elder of Ziyon – The Elephants in the Room 2013   submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Adina Kutnicki – Obama: Shield For Islamic Regimes exposed His Hand   submitted by The Political Commentator
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Kevin Jackson/American Thinker – Obama, Alinsky and the Devil   submitted by The Right Planet
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -  Roger L. Simon – Christie, Paul, Libertarianism, and the NSA   submitted by The Razor
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote - Joel Pollack/Big Journalism – WSJ: Obama Worst President for Middle Class ‘in Modern Times’  submitted by Nice Debt

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – Spying on America – Thor to O’Reilly: My Contacts Tell Me Government is Recording All Phone Calls - Updated
• Maggie’s Notebook – North Carolina: Teacher Tenure Reform Passed
• The Pirate’s Cove – Don’t Forget, Warming Really Isn’t About The Surface Temperature

Related: Forum: What Effect Do You Think Barack Obama’s Presidency Has Had On Race Relations? Why?

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in…don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter…..’cause we’re cool like that!

Technorati Tags: Watcher’s Council,scandals,phony scandals,Benghazi,Fast and Furious,smoke and mirrors,Obamaland,IRS-gate,NSA-gate,collection of articles,you be the judge,bloggers,news,Constitution,Barry,educate yourself,knowledge,freedom,history,Barry Soetoro,news nuggets,Politics,blogosphere,alternative media,race,race card,divide and conquer,spying,espionage,Trayvon Martin,Bill Whittle,Booker T. Washington

Yes We 'Scan' - Obama Defends NSA Spying Program! - (But) I'm No Dick Cheney!

Video:  Yes We 'Scan' - Obama Defends NSA Spying Program! - (But) I'm No Dick Cheney!

Technorati Tags: NSA,manipulation of the public,lies,Dick Cheney,NSA spying,Big Brother tactics,1984,scandals,cover-ups,Constitution,surveillance,flip-flop,freedom

Watcher’s Council Nominations – Under Surveillance Edition - 06.12.13

JoshuaPundit on Jun 12 2013 | Nominations

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere’, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

Ch-ch-ch-Changes: Council Members Gay Patriot and The Independent Sentinel have departed the Council due to the need to concentrate on other pursuits, although they will still remain members of the WoW community. We’ve greatly enjoyed having them as part of our group and wish them well in their future endeavors.

But hey, just looky what we have here!

This week marks the stellar debut of Liberty’s Spirit and Nice Deb, two awesome writers we’ve been fans of for some time. They’re definitely going to add something special to the Council mix… check out their submissions this week and see if you don’t agree.

This week, Ask Marion, Right Truth, and The Pirate’s Cove earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

Council Submissions

• The Political Commentator – Connecting the radical dots in Boston!
• Simply Jews – More fun and games with Alice Walker
• The Noisy Room – Samantha Power: The Hand That Rocks A Nation
• Liberty’s Spirit – Autism-Meme as Political Insult
• The Razor – The Power of Islamic Propaganda
• Joshuapundit - The Anniversary Of A Miracle – Israel’s Victory In The Six Day War
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Poll Shows Support for Affirmative Action Dwindling
• Nice Deb – National Organization for Marriage’s John Eastman RIPS Democrats At IRS Hearing + Proof IRS Leaked Confidential Donor List to Political Rival
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Beirut Is The Next Benghazi
• The Right Planet – What Are Some Good ‘Liberal’ Books?
• Bookworm Room – Game of Thrones and how the things that we watch reveal something about who we are and what we’ve become
• VA Right! - NSA Leaker Snowden: Hero or Traitor?
• The Glittering Eye - Weasels
• Rhymes With Right – A Long Distance Dedication To Obama Voters
• The Mellow Jihadi – My First Fist-Fight in the Navy

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion – NSA Whistleblower Snowden in Exile as the Obama Scandals List Grows
• Right Truth – Soldier Who Read Conservative Books Faces Charges…
• The Pirate’s Cove – Bummer: NY Times Admits To 15 Year Pause In Global Warming

Non-Council Submissions

• Zero Hedge - Are Central Bankers Losing Control? submitted by The Political Commentator
• The Texas Scribbler – Our Creepy President submitted by Simply Jews
• Sultan Knish – We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here submitted by The Noisy Room
• This Ongoing War: A Blog – Will Appeasing Hezbollah Work Better Now Than it Did With Nazi Germany? submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
• Victor Davis Hanson – Obama is Just Obama submitted by The Razor
• Mark Steyn – The All Seeing State submitted by Joshuapundit
• Reason.com – Obama’’s Last Gasp at a Legacy submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Doug Ross @ Journal – The Complete IRS Scandal Timeline in Spreadsheet Format [Updated] submitted by Nice Deb
• The Long War Journal – Iran’s Latin American Terror Network submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• The National Journal – NSA Spying Scandal: 2006 or 2013? submitted by The Right Planet
• Israel Thrives - The Nakba Stratagem submitted by Bookworm Room
• Michelle Malkin – Assimilation, Not Amnesty submitted by VA Right!
• Alexis Simendinger/RealClearPolitics – Privacy, Security and Obama’s Uphill Quest for Trust submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Red State – IRS lectures pro-life group on acceptable speech, practice of religion. submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Chicago Boyz – Peggy Noonan is figuring it out … submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Gatestone Institute/Raheel Raza – On Israel’s President’s Conference submitted by The Watcher
• Ann Coulter – Tips For Right-Wingers On The IRS Scandal submitted by Watcher 

Forum: Given The Scandals Surrounding His Administration, Will Obama Finish His Second Term?

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

Technorati Tags: Watcher's Council,bloggers,blogosphere,patterns,education,media,articles,news,news-nuggets,connections,freedom,knowledge,scandals,cover-ups,NSA,IRS-gate,Obamaland,surveillance

NSA Whistleblower Snowden in Exile as the Obama Scandals List Grows

By Marion Algier - AskMarion

Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political thinker and historian who is most famous for his work Democracy in America (paperback), said, “People get the government they deserve.” and there is a similar and well-documented quotation by Joseph de Maistre: "Every country has the government it deserves.” 

They are both quotes usually used to explain why our governments (worldwide) are generally pretty awful. The inference is that if people were more careful who they voted for, if they took the time to inform themselves and if more people took the trouble to vote (and get involved in the system) in the first place, we would not have such mediocre or corrupt people in government, and indeed politicians would have to clean up their act and work a lot harder than they do or they would be replaced. 

When I was a young student of history, government and politics, I used to think those comments were pretty cynical, but as I have watched and chronicled America’s decline since the Reagan era I have sadly found them to be more true than I ever wanted to believe or admit.

The Great American Experiment, as America is often called, was supposed to prove that the common man could rule himself and America’s Founding Fathers gave us every tool we needed to survive as long as we stayed engaged.  But even with those tools the average American is lost, uninformed and disinterested, even now as they watch the one-time greatest country in the world crashing down around them!

The American people as a whole have given the politicians in Washington D.C., and even locally, carte blanche with little oversight or interest for decades.  A trend that really began as the so-called ‘Greatest Generation’ returned home from war and the inattention and apathy has grown with each generation thereafter, except by those focused on destroying America.   We have allowed ourselves and our children to methodically be dumbed-down, indoctrinated, and manipulated to the point that Pravda, the former propaganda newspaper for the USSR dubbed us Sheeple. We elected and re-elected a president that we still don’t really know and who has ‘always’ surrounded himself with radicals that didn’t like the American system, American ideals or the values of the average American.  And we now find ourselves with a president, his administration and a government in general embroiled in scandal, cover-ups, and over-reach.  Yet half the people still don’t know about or understand the scandals, that the 2012 election probably was stolen and when asked they just say, “Our president, ‘Obama’, is cool.” The other half are losing or have already lost faith in the government, as well as in their low-informed counterparts.

How many scandals are there now?  Benghazi-gate, IRS-gate, NSA-gate, Press-gate… Sebelius-gate (or ObamaCare-gate), EPA-gate, Fast and Furious, voter/election fraud and the list goes on… now State Dept-gate and maybe Islamist-gate.  They are spying on us and collecting our data without cause or warrants; using czars and Executive Orders to circumvent the Constitution; they arrogantly promote and defend those involved in the corruption and they investigated and suppressed the activities of anyone or group that opposed them to steal an election.  And now courageous whistleblowers and witnesses, who are finally stepping up but are afraid enough that they won’t get a fair trial (or worse), are fleeing the country.  Where is the outrage?

FoxNews:  NSA whistle-blower who sought to 'inform the public' in surveillance risks decades in jail. 

The source of the bombshell leaks about the U.S. government gathering information on billions of phone calls and Internet activities risks decades in jail for the disclosures if the U.S. can extradite him from Hong Kong, where he says he has taken refuge after saying his sole motive was to “inform the public.”

“We have the elements of a Police State here”- Mark Levin

Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, fully approves of Edward Snowden's leak about a top-secret National Security Agency surveillance program.

"I'm very impressed by what I've heard in the last couple of hours, including Snowden's own video here. I think he's done an enormous service, incalculable service," Ellsberg said Sunday night on CNN.

As for the surveillance program, Ellsberg said, "I have no doubt that this violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution and probably other parts of the Bill of Rights and should have been exposed."

"Can it really be a crime to expose crime?" Ellsberg asked.

 Photo: AP Edward Snowden, who worked as a contract employee at the National Security Agency, on Sunday, June 9, 2013, in Hong Kong. The Guardian identified Snowden as a source for its reports on intelligence

HONG KONG (AP) — The American intelligence contractor who disclosed the U.S. government surveillance programs fled to Hong Kong because he believed he wouldn't get a fair trial in his home country. 

Snowden says he worked as a contractor at the National Security Agency and the CIA. He allowed both the Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers to reveal his identity on Sunday (06.09.13) as the source of a series of top-secret documents outlining two NSA surveillance programs.  He told the papers if the DOJ indicts him, which seems almost inevitable, that he doesn't really trust the judicial system in the United States to give him a fair trial".  Most would agree that he is right.

One can only ask… wow, has America really fallen that far?  It wasn’t so long ago that those would have headlines expected out of the USSR, not the USA.

Video: Neil Cavuto Erupts Over Democratic Operative's Defense of Government NSA Scandal

Infowars.com:  Fox News host Neil Cavuto and Democratic strategist Julian Epstein erupted at each other on Saturday morning, when Cavuto demanded Epstein see the NSA subpoena as part of a larger pattern of oppressive behavior on the part of the Obama administration. “You see one incident after another that comes up,” Cavuto said. “It all comes back to the same basic issue: privacy invaded or potentially invaded. Institutions of all sorts doing the same thing. There is a pattern.”

Video: Judge Jeanine Slams IRS, NSA and Obama for Expanding Surveillance Program - Opening Statement

Video:  “We have the elements of a Police State here”- A fired up Mark Levin talks to Neil Cavuto

Where are men (and women… the Margaret Thatchers of our day) like Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan, presidents/public servants who knew the buck stopped with them, who would have made the tough decisions and taken responsibility? In Obamaland it is everyone’s fault but his.  And when they (present day leaders) do surface… why don’t we recognize them?  What has happened to Americans who expected their elected leaders to represent their interests and values and who would have called for the resignations or impeachments of those in power today?

Yet when we look for responsibility and blame we must also add ourselves plus everyone in Congress, government workers and the mainstream media to the list.  How many people voted without knowing who or what they were voting for?  How many parents and grandparents even have knowledge of the anti-American rhetoric being taught in our schools… about the Common C.O.R.E. educational program? How many informed public servants and media have remained silent?  How many have misled or lied under oath?  How many are uninformed themselves?  Did Congress tell us about the PRISM Project… the data centers (Utah) being built and is Congress asking the right questions now?

We, and globally, have already been so programmed that too many Americans actually believe that spying on and droning American citizens is okay. After all most people voluntarily post all their information on social media for the powers that be, and everyone else, to access.   We are being led like sheep(le) to the slaughter.  See: Timeline of revelations about surveillance that sweeps up Americans' phone calls, data  Founding Father Benjamin Franklin said, “He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither”, yet in an America who no longer knew (knows) her (or world) history, Americans could not wait for “W” and Congress to ram through the Patriot Act after 9/11, which 12-years later has only become ever more intrusive.  People… if the government is watching and monitoring you, it is never good!!  We are living in George Orwell’s 1984… Hear Beck’s emotional 1984 monologue HERE.

America… it is the responsibility of each of us to be informed, to vote for integrity and demand it.  If the America our Founding Fathers left us is to survive, it is up to all of us to take a stand and get involved… today!  Or there won’t be an American tomorrow that you will be comfortable leaving to your children!!  Remember the words of Alexis de Tocqueville, “People get the government they deserve.”  If you don’t inform yourself and get involved, what will you tell you children and grandchildren you were doing when America and freedom was being stolen?

Technorati Tags: Cavuto,scandals,cover-ups,Snowden,whistleblowers,Obamaland,Fox,Fox News,Obama,IRS-gate,IRS,NSA,NSA-gate,paternalism,surveillance,sheeple,1984,warnings,connecting the dots,wake-up,lies,Levin,Ellsberg,Tocqueville,Constitution,privacy,Fourth Amendment,patterns,connect the dots

ICE – Deporting American Citizens and Displaying Massive Incompetence

Well, ICE surely screwed the pooch on the case of Jakadrien Lorece Turner. Jakadrien ran away from home in 2010 at the age of 14. She’s from Houston, TX where she lived with her mom and her step-father. Her grandmother and mother say that they were a very close family and they cannot figure out why she ran away. Her grades had been slipping and some of her privileges were taken away, so there may be a reason to be found there.

In 2011, Jakadrien was arrested for shoplifting in Houston, TX and at that time claimed to be someone she was not – Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian woman born in 1990. As I understand it, she claimed to be this woman who is a 22 year old illegal alien from Colombia. This is where you just can’t wrap your head around all this… ICE says they performed bio-metric tests on the girl matching her iris’, fingerprints and DNA to the illegal alien. Really? Seriously? I understand the girl kept insisting on the identity, but when the bio-metric info. didn’t match, did you just decide to lie to get this case off your desk or in fact, did you never perform the tests? Because it’s one of the two.

Obviously, you didn’t get any id off the girl, or if you did, you did not do your due diligence and verify the validity of it. She looks like a little girl, not a 22 year old. So what happened? She was deported to Colombia with the assistance of ICE, the State Department and the NSA.The NSA got her documents drawn up (obviously fake), so she could live and work there as a maid and at a call center, among other things.

According to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the girl was enrolled in the country’s “Welcome Home” program after she arrived there. She was given shelter, psychological assistance and a job at a call center, a statement from the agency said. When the Colombian government discovered she was a U.S. citizen, it put her under the care of a welfare program, the statement said.

And…

The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Jakadrien was issued travel documents at the request of the U.S. National Security Agency and with information submitted by U.S. officials. Colombian officials are investigating what kind of verification was conducted by its Houston consulate to issue the temporary passport.

There was just one Fed here that was incompetent and screwed up, there was a whole chain of them. This girl would have disappeared if her grandmother had not become obsessed and demanded the Dallas Police Department find her. Which they did in conjunction with the Colombian government after looking for her for some time. She may be coming home soon after being down there for a year. She’s pregnant – that should be looked into, seriously. Even if it was consensual, she’s a minor. And the government is making noises of charging the child with claiming a false identity. Kids do stupid things, but evidently, ICE is even dumber and can’t do their job. They are great in letting illegal immigrants run rampant in our country breaking our laws etc., but they are Johnny On The Spot when it comes to deporting American citizens (especially minors).

I read some of the girl’s Facebook postings. Jakadrien seems to live in a fantasy land and may need psychological help. Recently, she has begged to come home. This whole time she has been working menial jobs and has not been in school. She is staying with God-knows-who and has been through the wringer. While ICE is deporting American citizens and displaying massive incompetence, I hope the girl’s family is retaining a great attorney who sues the government for all they are worth. This is one suit I could get behind in a heartbeat.

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton - the NoisyRoom

BFP Report: Meet the Department of Homeland Security’s ‘Distinguished’ Privacy Advisory Committee Members

Wednesday, 30. November 2011

Let’s See Who is Watching DHS Mega Fusion Center

Yesterday I came across an article on DHS plans to create its own internal fusion center so that its many agencies can aggregate the data they have and make it searchable from a central location. Let’s read a few excerpts from this typical half-hearted MSM attempt to provide a semi-complete picture of the state of ‘things’ when it comes to our government:

Information sharing (or lack thereof) between intelligence agencies has been a sensitive topic in the U.S. After 9/11, there was a push to create fusion centers so that local, state, and federal agencies could share intelligence, allowing the FBI, for example, to see if the local police have anything in their files on a particular individual. Now the Department of Homeland Security wants to create its own internal fusion center so that its many agencies can aggregate the data they have and make it searchable from a central location…

Of course this is another troubling development in an extremely troubling state of ‘things.’ However, this wasn’t the focus my attention. Here comes the not-really-reported angle in this half-covered story [All emphasis mine]:

The DHS is calling it a “Federated Information Sharing System” and asked its privacy advisory committee to weigh in on the repercussions at a public meeting in D.C. last month…

So what is this ‘privacy advisory committee’ and who are its members? This is what the article provides on that front:

The committee, consisting of an unpaid group of people from the world of corporate privacy as well as the civil liberty community, were asked last December to review the plan and provide feedback on which privacy protections need to be put in place when info from DHS components (which include the TSA, the Secret Service, and Immigration Services, to name a few) are consolidated. The committee raised concerns about who would get access to the data given the potentially comprehensive profile this would provide of American citizens…

It sounds good. Doesn’t it? It hits all the rights adjectives and catch phrases: Unpaid, Civil Liberties Community, Corporate Privacy Activists-Experts …Let’s read one more relevant excerpt and then I’ll tell you the ‘real’ significance of this half-covered report:

The committee’s recommendations are available in draft form below. DHS would not provide the original document — a “tasking letter” — that it issued to the committee describing its plans. But DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division did announce this month that it had awarded a contract to Raytheon for a “new system [that] will enhance how agencies manage, investigate, and report on law enforcement and intelligence activities by improving data sharing between multiple law-enforcement agencies,” reported Information Week. Raytheon’s work started on September 27, a week before the privacy committee got back to DHS with its draft privacy policy recommendations (available below). The committee noted that it had been given an “aggressive timeline” by DHS on coming up with its recommendations…

What got my mind wondering, what should have gotten the wheels turning in MSM reporters’ head, was this question:

Who are the members of this ‘selected’ aka government hand-picked, privacy-integrity advisory committee?

An important and very logical question, no? And I tell you what, not a difficult one to find an answer to. The article even had a link to the DHS website where the members of this ‘select’ committee are listed by name with their background. Check for yourself here. Because the information contained in this page is at least as significant and revealing as the point half-covered in this quasi exposé. Let me show you a few examples of what I am talking about here:

Chairman: Richard V. Purcell, Chief Executive Officer, Corporate Privacy Group, Nordland, Wash. Mr. Purcell runs an independent privacy consulting group, focusing on policies, practices, and education. He is currently Chairman of TRUSTe and was formally the Chief Privacy Officer for the Microsoft Corporation.

Well, Mr. Purcell had served Microsoft Corporations for many years, and only recently left MS to start his ‘vague’ consulting business.

In 2003 Microsoft was chosen as exclusive Department of Homeland Security contractor.

DHS has chosen Microsoft Corp. as its preferred supplier of desktop computer and server software, according to a statement issued late Tuesday…The contract “establishes a key partnership relationship” between the government and Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, the statement said…The deal is worth $90 million.

The business (and the large dollars involved) between Microsoft and DHS has been growing and prospering ever since. Every year, including this year, 2011, Microsoft is listed as one of DHS’ major private business contractors. Are you with me so far? Now during all these lucrative Microsoft-DHS business marriage years, Mr. Purcell was working as the CPO at Microsoft. Not only that, he was royally exposed in his involvement in the Microsoft-NSA Key-Echelon case and its subsequent cover up. You can read more on this major 2000 exposé and related communications here at Cryptome. Here is the title of the exposé and some background on Microsoft’s and Purcell’s  ‘intimate’ involvement in the NSA Key controversy and the subsequent cover up:

Microsoft Offer to Resolve “Questions About NSA_Key”, then Put Up a Brick Wall

Background : Duncan Campbell gave a presentation on Global surveillance and the Echelon network at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2000 (CFP2000) conference held in Toronto, Canada from 4-7 April 2000. During the presentation, he instanced the NSA_KEY controversy as one of a number of outstanding issues related to security and surveillance.

Richard Purcell, Microsoft’s Director of Corporate Privacy, also attended the CFP2000 conference. After the presentation, Purcell approached Campbell. He said that he wished to resolved the doubts about NSA_KEY. He would see that this was done.

Campbell then put a number of key questions, politely but persistently. After three weeks, Microsoft backed off. They refused to answer outstanding questions. They declined even to explain why they were unwilling to continue contact. They stopped answering e-mail.
…

I encourage you to read the entire communication-correspondence between the investigator and Purcell’s unit at Microsoft here. Also check out this article on ‘How NSA Access was Built into Microsoft Windows.’

You see, our government, the Department of Homeland Security, could not have cherry-picked a better candidate as its Chairman of Privacy-Integrity Advisory Committee. With his long years in Microsoft as an executive until recently, with his stocks and shares tied to Microsoft, with his proven track record in covering up privacy and liberty-violating government-private business collusion and practices, Mr. Richard Purcell appears to be the best candidate to chair the Department of Homeland Security’s ‘Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee.’

Let’s check out another hand-selected colluder by DHS for its mockery of an advisory board on ‘privacy and integrity’:

Christopher Pierson, Chief Privacy Officer and Senior Vice President, Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (Royal Bank of Scotland- RBS). Dr. Pierson was President and Chairman of the Board of the Intraguard Phoenix Member’s Alliance, Inc., from 2003-2007 and served on the Arizona Office of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Coordinating Council from 2003-2006.

Well, right off the bat, this dude used to directly work for the Department of Homeland Security; 2003-2006. Now, what is this the Intraguard Phoenix Member’s Alliance, Inc.? Here are a few noteworthy excerpts from its website:

Arizona InfraGard is an alliance between the Arizona Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and individuals committed to protecting the nation’s infrastructure and its people. The members, who are representative of all infrastructure sectors, public and private, identify and mitigate physical and cyber threats through information sharing. Arizona InfraGard promotes best practices, security awareness and training, community outreach, and the exchange of information between law enforcement and infrastructure owners and operators.

So we have Mr. Christopher Pierson hand-picked by the DHS to watch over DHS practices and objectively advise on whether certain policies and practices violate the people’s privacy and integrity. The man used to work for them-the DHS, he worked with the FBI to help ‘share data,’ and now he will watch out for your privacy and mine!

Let’s check out other member:

David A. Hoffman, Director of Security Policy and Global Privacy Officer, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Ore. Mr. Hoffman has experience in privacy policy issues at the business and technical level, working on issues of interoperability, improved data quality, and data retention. He serves on the board of directors for the non-profit privacy compliance organization, TRUSTe.

Where do I begin? Let’s begin with Intel Corporation’s business and services to the federal government as a contractor. They had so much that they had to form a wholly owned subsidiary ‘Intel Federal LLC.’ Of course Intel has major contracts and advisory positions with DHS. Oh, interestingly he is closely connected to Richard Purcell, the Chairman of this DHS mockery privacy advisory committee. Purcell is the chairman of this TRUSTe, and Hoffman serves on its board of directors. And here is another blurb on Hoffman from a release only 3 months ago:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a nonprofit public-private partnership focused on cybersecurity awareness and education for all digital citizens, today announced that David Hoffman, director of security policy and global privacy officer at Intel Corporation, has joined the organization’s board of directors.

…

NCSA board includes all our government partners and contributors to its surveillance program:

NCSA board members include: ADP, AT&T, Bank of America, Cisco Systems, EMC Corporation, ESET, Facebook, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Google, Intel, Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services, McAfee, Microsoft, PayPal, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Symantec, Verizon and Visa…

Please check the list of this laughable privacy advisory board and continue this thread. Whether it is a member from other government contractor moguls like IBM, or academics from University departments generously and heavily funded by our governments, or lap-dog watch-dog organizations funded by the shadow government players such as Rockefellers, Soros, Carnegie, Ford…you’ll see a board of clowns juggling self-interest and profits while faking advisory roles on the 99% absent-privacy and long-gone integrity committee.

Please follow the links in the article to find out more.

Also check out this article on ‘How NSA Access was Built into Microsoft Windows.’

Source:  Boiling Frogs  - h/t to Jean Stoner