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Like sands through the hourglass, so is the mantel in my living room. The sucker is a revolving door of indecision. As my dear friend Linda says, I'm mantelly challenged. In fact, I've even got a board on Pinterest just for mantels - it is an obsession.

The bug hit again not too long ago and I changed it up after seeing what Bryn did with a client's mantel. I've got a collection of milk glass, why not put it to use.


This is probably the happiest I've been with the mantel in a while. Says the girl that will probably change the whole thing around next month.

I cannot begin to even count how many times I've changed this mantel around. This is the fourth mirror in 6 1/2 years, if that tells you anything. Psycho much?

I even found a few pictures of the evolution.










Thanks CNN Living for sharing my most recent mantel this week. Check it out here.

Is there a spot in your house that you change even more frequently than others? Do you have a mantel that you feel is never quite right? Want to place bets on how long before I change it all around again?

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny


Apparently some democrats and progressives consider putting a National Park on the Moon, at what cost only Zeus knows, is money money well spent.

THE HILL - Two House Democrats have proposed legislation that would establish a national historical park on the surface of the moon to mark where the Apollo missions landed between 1969 and 1972.

The bill from Reps. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) would create the Apollo Lunar Landing Sites National Historical Park. The park would be comprised of all artifacts left on the surface of the moon from the Apollo 11 through 17 missions.

The bill says these sites need to be protected because of the anticipated increase in commercial moon landings in the future.

"As commercial enterprises and foreign nations acquire the ability to land on the Moon, it is necessary to protect the Apollo lunar landing sites for posterity," according to the text of the Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act, H.R. 2617.

Under the legislation, the park would be established no later than one year after the bill passes and would be run jointly by the Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). {Read More}

Via: Memeorandum

The U.S. Senate’s “Gang of Eight” immigration-reform plan, as well as a strikingly similar plan now being backed by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and a bi-partisan House “Gang,” both offer the “roadmap to citizenship” originally conceived and carefully developed by members of the Communist Party USA working within the Democratic Party and the radical left activist network. It is no surprise that their only real purpose is to use amnestied illegals to build a “permanent progressive majority.”

That is the inescapable conclusion readers will draw after reading the forthcoming book by acclaimed researcher and blogger Trevor Loudon, titled “TheEnemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress.”Although not yet published, Loudon agreed to allow WND readers to preview one chapter, titled “LatinoImmigrants: Tools to Ensure a ‘Governing Coalition’ for the Left.”

In the book, Loudon exhaustively documents the Left’s longtime agenda regarding illegal aliens and how its activists have gone about implementing it. He provides irrefutable proof that the entire immigration-reform movement was the brainchild of American communists and that their goal has long been to establish unchallengeable political supremacy.

According to Loudon, the Communist Party USA has influenced U.S. policy toward illegals since at least the 1960s. He traces the history, showing how communists and communist-founded organizations slowly built the movement from the ground up. While other groups certainly joined the effort, the communists were always at the center.

For example, he tells the story of CPUSA member Bert Corona, the “Communist Father of the ‘Immigrants Rights’ movement.” In 1964, Corona, Cesar Chavez and future Democratic Socialists of America member Dolores Huerta forced Congress to end the guest worker “Bracero” program. Later, Corona sought ways to address “problems confronting Mexicans in the United States who had no visas or citizenship documents” – in other words, illegal aliens – including “how to defend persons detained by immigration authorities and how to help immigrants acquire disability and unemployment insurance and welfare.”

Along the way, Corona founded and/or led numerous organizations, such as the Mexican American Political Association, or MAPA, Centro de Action Social Autonoma, or CASA, and La Hermandad Mexicana Nacional (the National Mexican Brotherhood), all influential in the “immigrant rights” movement. The Communist Party still has strong influence in MAPA, which acts as a king-maker for Democratic Party candidates in the Los Angeles area.

Antonio Villaraigosa, former Los Angeles mayor and 2012 chairman of the Democratic National Convention, got his start with CASA. He was also a former member of the Communist Venceremos Brigades and worked with the Brigades in Cuba. As mayor of Los Angeles, he was “the most pro-illegal immigrant mayor the city has ever seen.”

Lorenzo Torrez, a long-time organizer of the Arizona Communist Party, paved the way for Communist-backed Congressmen Ed Pastor and Raul Grijalva to win congressional seats in Arizona. He organized opposition to Southwestern states attempting to prevent illegal immigration and also helped change voting patterns across the entire region.

Loudon’s book identifies many influential communist and socialist politicians holding positions of influence in Congress and state and local governing bodies. For example, Rep. Judy Chu,D.-Calif., writes Loudon, has “a thirty-year history with the now defunct pro-China Communist Workers Party (CWP) and its surviving networks.” Chu is an advocate for “progressive” immigration reform and was a co-sponsor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) in 2010. In 2012, Chu served as co-chair of President Obama’s reelection campaign.

For his part, Gutierrez is a former member of theMarxist-Leninist Puerto Rican Socialist Party, and chairs the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Longtime amnesty activists Gutierrez and Rep. Xavier Becerra(D-CA), both members of the CongressionalProgressive Caucus, are working with House Republicans on this latest amnesty effort.

As for the Communists, today’s Communist Party USA cites the current amnesty effort as its top legislative priority. Its official position is virtually indistinguishable from that of the Democratic Party…

More…

Stolen from (with permission) Wake Up America

This one will get your dander up.


Click here if video fails to load.

Mark Dice asks California beach goers if they'll sign a petition showing support for Obama in his quest to repeal the Bill of Rights.

Another Modern Day Prometheus
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
**************

It is said that Global Warming is the greatest hoax ever played upon mankind.  

Coming in a very close second is -- the need for a Department of Homeland Security -- the greatest hoax ever played upon the people of the United States.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why we ever thought we needed such a department in the first place.  Its creation is the very apex of examples of knee-jerk reactions. 

At the time DHS was created, we already had more than enough intelligence agencies.  The problem was -- they were not coordinating with each other -- at least as far as intelligence gathered referencing terrorism and the physical, geographical, place on the globe we call home -- America.

That could have been fixed, repaired, made whole.  But that is not the way Progressives/Statists/Socialists who absolutely adore BIG government think.  THEY think MORE government, expanded power over the people, MORE taxpayer money to squander, and, well, you get the picture. 

DHS is the crown jewel in the "tiara" of the American left.  With DHS they get darn near everything they need to control the populace of America.

And consider this:  The goal, at the creation of the DHS, was stated as -- allowing the top intelligence agencies (commonly thought of as the FBI and the CIA)  to coordinate and "talk" with each other far easier, and with more regularity, than before DHS.  But -- when you look closely at the formulation of the agencies under the DHS umbrella today -- the FBI and the CIA are STILL independent of DHS.   (Cue the sighing and the eye-rolling!)

 Columnist Glen Greenwald, in an article back in 2011,  called it “Exaggerating, manipulating and exploiting the Terrorist threat for profit and power.”  Here's what Greenwald said then:  "Exaggerating, manipulating and exploiting the Terrorist threat for profit and power has been the biggest scam of the decade; only Wall Street’s ability to make the Government prop it up and profit from the crisis it created at the expense of everyone else can compete for that title. Nothing has altered the mind set of the American citizenry more than a decade’s worth of fear-mongering So compelling is fear-based propaganda, so beholden are our government institutions to these private Security State factions, and so unaccountable is the power bestowed by these programs, that even a full decade after the only Terrorist attacks on U.S. soil,* its growth continues more or less unabated.”  (*Editor's note:  Remember this article was written before the Boston Bombing.) SOURCE:  http://www.salon.com/2011/08/29/terrorism_39/

" ... while the Security State has little to do with addressing ostensible Terrorist threats, it has much to do with targeting perceived domestic and political threats, especially threats brought about by social unrest from austerity and the growing wealth gap." says Greenwald. 

Then Greenwald zeros in on the concern of many Americans about DHS today. He continues: " ...  the prime aim of the growing Surveillance State is to impose domestic order, preserve prevailing economic prerogatives and stifle dissent and anticipated unrest."  SOURCE:  http://www.salon.com/2011/08/29/terrorism_39/

Liberty News Network (LNN) national correspondent and law-enforcement advocate, Andy Ramirez, in an article at thenewamerican.com was quoted as saying:  "Agencies like CBP, ICE, TSA, and the like were placed under DHS' roof for command and control purposes.  However the real purpose has been to keep the facts from reaching the public. In point of fact, DHS is a propaganda ministry in its own right, given the blatant misinformation released by top officials. In the wrong hands it could easily act in a way similar to ‘State Security’.”  SOURCE:  http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/14941-homeland-security-demands-obedience-in-message-to-agents

The concern of many Americans today is whether the US government has any real intention of protecting citizens from terrorism. Or, is the goal to harness it, and actually use terror as a political tool of oppression against its own people.

Consider the following:  "The DHS serves only one purpose. It shows the American people the Feds are "doing something" about terrorism. But that is a lie . . .

The two agencies most responsible for failure to coordinate and "connect the dots" before 9/11 are the FBI and CIA. Yet neither the CIA nor the FBI (a domestic agency) has been placed under the DHS umbrella. This makes a coordinated, DHS-led antiterrorism strategy impossible. Leaving FBI and CIA out defeats the very purpose of the DHS.

As if that's not bad enough, taxpayers are defrauded too. Only 25% of DHS anti-terrorism "grants" to local governments goes to actual terrorism prevention and response. DHS is a definitional example of pork-barrel politics -- a Department of Porkland Security."

The article continues:

"The crimes of the DHS's Transportation Security Agency (TSA) are well-known. DownsizeDC.org already has a campaign against this heinous agency.

But there are even more ominous developments which threaten your civil liberties.

For instance, the DHS is funding a "pre-crime" program called FAST.  This "Minority Report" styled boondoggle conducts experiments to "predict whether a person will commit a crime."

 DHS is betting on algorithms: it’s building a 'prototype screening facility' that it hopes will use factors such as ethnicity, gender, breathing, and heart rate to 'detect cues indicative of mal-intent.'

It gets worse.

The DHS provides funding for unaccountable "fusion centers." These are state, local, and regional intelligence information centers created to help share information between law enforcement agencies. There's little or no actual coordination or sharing of information between fusion centers and the FBI. Fusion centers can actually undermine FBI anti-terrorism efforts because they duplicate the work of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

Fusion centers have issued politically-charged "threat reports." The DHS itself has also issued its own threat assessments. Among these various reports, we find that potential terrorists can be recruited from . . .

Student groups at historically black colleges

Politically active Islamic groups

Members of third parties, including
Libertarian, Constitution, and Green parties
Pro-life AND pro-choice groups
   
Environmentalists and anti-war activists
   
Tea Party AND anti-Tea Party groups (one could rightfully expect that Occupy has recently made it into of these assessments)

That is to say, ANYONE who dissents or is dissatisfied with the Status Quo might be a terrorist. Such assessments reflect the paranoid minds of Statist bureaucrats and their political bosses, rather than reality.

Will the combination of pre-crime boondoggles and "fusion" assessments provide the basis for infiltration into the private lives and activities of ALL peaceful people?"  We recommend you read this article ("Abolish the Homeland Security Department") in its entirety at: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/dhs/

This scribe has made no secret of my distaste for the DHS from day one.  I have noted, numerous times, how the very name of the agency conjures up memories of 1930's Germany. 

Well, the folks at "Downsize DC" (https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/dhs/
) clearly agree with me. They say:  "... the word "homeland" is offensive. It evokes the "blood and soil" patriotism of European-style nationalism or totalitarianism rather than the American patriotism traditionally understood as devotion to republican liberty. One has to wonder, was the initial use of the word "homeland" intentional? . . . is it conditioning us for the collar of tyrannical rule?"  SOURCE: https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/dhs/

Abolishing the Department of Homeland Security is an idea whose time came rather a while ago.  The question now is whether this parasite can be eradicated -- without killing the host -- America.

You may recall that a young English novelist, named Mary Shelly, wrote of just such a problem we face in America today in her book titled:  "The Modern Prometheus."  You may recognize the book better by its later, more popular, title:  "Frankenstein."

© J. D. Longstreet

The following chart shows corporate profits divided by wage and salary disbursements going back to 1947. I have added three trend lines for your consideration.


Click to enlarge.

Other than being near the very top of an exponential trend channel that cannot mathematically even exist long-term, what could possibly go wrong? And for those who think the exponential trend channel is sustainable, I would ask how corporate profits can someday exceed wages?

In my opinion, this is simply an accident waiting to happen. I expect a return to the blue trend line at some point in my lifetime, perhaps even many points.

In related news, I was driving back from 4th of July activities. Complacency struck me at a rest stop. I expected rest. What I got was a somewhat different outcome. I exited my vehicle and walked about 10'. My foot slid off the curb to the right and my body fell to the left. I sprained my ankle to the point I required a trip to the emergency room once I got home (250 miles away). I am now on crutches, much like this supposedly strong and resilient economy of ours. Sigh.

The good news is that unlike our economy over the last decade or so, I did not actually break anything.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

50-year-old American refused to pay a $1.60 cab fare and then gets fatally hacked with an 18" machete by 32-year-old Bangkok cab driver.

                                                         A "little"endless blue post.
                                                     This dress and the view complement each other so great, don't you think?




                                                                   
                                                                                    Dress: c/o Lulu's.com/ Here
                                                                                    Sandas: Zara/ option Here and Here 
                                                                                    Sunglasses: Ralph Lauren
                                                                                    Necklace: c/o Cooee/ Here

Happy Monday (she says with a forced smile that comes after a long holiday weekend)! Thanks everyone for the kind words about the CNN feature and my birthday. 'Merica and I had one great birthday celebration. Here is hoping your weekend was filled with summer fun.

I'm going to diverge from design today to give y'all an update on the potty training front and share some successes and some rather stinky failures. If you don't want to hear about the bodily movements of a toddler, I totally understand and I'll talk with you on Wednesday. For the rest of you, let's chat.

As I said before, I changed up my tactics a bit this time around to accommodate for my independent Eve. I read blogs, books, articles, and talked to anyone and everyone to find out what worked for them. And from all of that research the only thing I learned is that there is no magic potion. For every person who said, "Blank worked really well for my child", I had someone else who said, "Don't do blank, it didn't work for my child". Only you know your child - their temperaments and sticking points - so don't follow one theory or method, but instead follow your gut and go with the flow (I couldn't not have a pun).

So with that in mind, I'm not going to give a tutorial or the 10 best tips etc, because I don't think this is something that can be wrapped up that easily. I'm simply sharing what we did. Take it as advice or just a funny antidote. Whichever you choose.


I want to be just like you.
Eve has no interest in following my directions, however she is more than happy to do anything her big sister does. So for several weeks before we officially started training I left the door open while Amelia went to the bathroom (I know, eww). Eve would hang out in there, sometimes watching and sometimes just playing in the sink. But she noticed.

Take your pants off.
We took the standard trip to Target where Eve got to pick out any underwear she wanted (Dora) and any candy she wanted (Peanut Butter M&M's). But for the first few days she had no underwear on at all and she's worn only dresses. This saves valuable seconds between the 'I have to go' and the actual...going. It may not seem like much but that could be the difference in those first days between celebrating success and just almost making it.


Cold turkey.
This goes right along with the whole pants thing - No pull ups. We go all the way in this house. It makes for a messy few days but I think its worth it in the long run. How confusing to put on things that look and feel just like diapers but be told they aren't diapers. We do however do wear the night time pull ups but that's mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to change sheets in the middle of the night. One battle at a time I think.

Clear the decks.
I have a hard time hiding my frustration when my favorite pillow/chair/rug is hurt in any way (mean mommy) and if there is one time when a child's ego is especially delicate it is when they are trying to master a new task. So to decrease the chance of injuring any of mommy's favorites and keeping spirits high, I covered furniture with towels and rolled up any rugs I was concerned about. We also tried to hang out in the yard whenever possible as nature doesn't care about her floors as much as I do.


House arrest.
This goes right with the no pull ups and no underwear thing. Eve and I hunkered down and didn't leave the house until we had a full successful day, (Well, that isn't entirely true but I'll get to that in a minute) which turned out to be about four days. Amelia was at camp every day so Eve and I had the house to ourselves and it was all about her. I didn't let her out of my sight until we had a few successes as I didn't want her failure to be because I wasn't there to help her get on in time. That potty was two carted around everywhere.

Don't ask me again.
The first day I did the 'let's sit down every 10 minutes and see if anything happens' theory but I quickly found that it created more anxiety than necessary. It is a big change to all of a sudden have to sit on this little throne and Eve was confused as to why she was being made to sit in that chair so often. It was starting to become a frustration for her and I wanted that chair to be something positive. So I changed course and backed off the regimented schedule. Instead I'd ask her after snacks, short walks around the yard, a tv show or anytime I went. This kid is far more 'go with the flow' so by making our training more relaxed she felt more comfortable and willing to give it a try.


Pavlov's Dog.
If there is one thing this girl loves, it is candy. Stickers work better for some kids, little figurines, whatever. The point is it is a prize. However, the prize is not given just for sitting on the potty. M&M's are only handed out once there is a success. I know a lot of people give out the treat anytime the kids says they need to sit down, whether they do anything or not. But (again mean mommy) I think this is silly and confusing. If all I had to do to get something I wanted was just do 20% of the job, hell I'd be asking to sit on the potty every 5 minutes. Nope. You give me something to flush and I'll give you some chocolate and peanut butter goodness.

And the oscar goes to. Hand in hand with the M&M's come the theatrics. Accomplishments need to be celebrated much in the same way a Kardashian throws a wedding - over the top. We cheered, we clapped, we danced, we sang, we called people to tell them. In the words of Kool and the Gang - Celebrate good times, come on.

The P word.
Our downfall. Eve got the hang of peeing on the potty pretty quickly (day 2), but the other P word however was not so easy. The first day she didn't have one at all and the second day we had an accident. No biggie. The third day we had one success and one failure. Moving in the right direction. Then we arrived at the fourth day. Ugh, the fourth day. We had been doing so well up until then that she and I got a little cocky and decided to break one of my cardinal rules - Stay HOME. We picked up Amelia and her friend from camp and I decided to treat the girls to McDonald's. Eve had just gone to the bathroom before we left and I even brought the potty in the car, just in case. We waited in line, got our food and found a seat right next to the play place, all without incident. But then Eve walked over to the slide. The horror. I'll spare the specifics but my tiny 2-1/2-year-old managed to  horrify and disgust two 10 year old. Boys that just a few minutes before were enjoying a very creative burping contest. The janitor had to be called over and gave me the look of death as he put up the yellow cones. I had been shamed out of McDonalds. I didn't think it was possible. And all because I broke the 4th rule of fight potty club - stay home.

A Responsibility To Lead
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
****************

This what you get with a bunch of amateur Progressive/Socialists in the White House.  I am referring to Egypt, Syria, Libya, and, well, you name an area of the world, outside the western sphere of influence, and you can quickly see what happens when the US either withdraws, as in "leading from behind," or interferes by taking sides, especially when the side the US takes is the side against the people of a particular country. 

As I write these few words, Syria and Egypt are both in flames. And worse -- they bracket Israel.  A regional conflict is just one misstep away.

Our jet set, playboy, President and his entourage are, well, where the heck ARE they this week?  Huh?  Our illustrious Secretary of State was off yachting somewhere last week while all hell was breaking loose.

I have seen a lot, I mean A LOT, of presidential administrations come and go, and this one is, by far, the most disconnected from the people of the US of any administration prior to, at least,  FDR.  Hell, the Obama Administration isn't even good at PRETENDING to be paying attention to the people of the country.

Look.  I am an isolationist by nature.  I would be the most happy if I could withdraw and go live in the woods someplace -- quite alone.  See, I understand what drove the old "mountain men," and "frontiersmen" of the early days of this country.  I share their yearning for peace and quiet and room for a man to breath. I'm convinced some of us come wired that way.  As then, nowadays we are considered "a breed apart" even weird.

It has never particularly troubled me, one iota, what other people think of my attitude, or my predilections toward keeping my own counsel.

I am sharing all this to say that while individuals can seek -- and even enjoy -- isolation, nations cannot. If you require evidence as to the "rightness" of this statement, we direct your attention toward the DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of  Korea) -- especially at night.  That's when the impact of their self imposed isolation is most evident when seen from space.  While the remainder of the world, away from the sun, is lit and bustling with activity, North Korea is blacked out, sitting in a deep despairing darkness their leaders have created just to control the citizens of that hapless country.

America, on the other hand, has never known anything but the glare of the spotlight. 

When a tiny little group of American colonists revolted and went to war, deliberately, against a world super power, Great Britain, there was no way the remainder of the world WOULD NOT sit up and pay attention.  They've been sitting up and paying attention for over 237 years now and continue to be surprised time and time again at the audacity and, at times, the utter stupidity of the Americans.

This is one of those times when their unrelenting surveillance of America is rewarded with a show of world class stupidity.

America has in charge (at the moment) quite likely the least qualified man to ever sit behind the desk of the Oval Office in the White House -- in the history of the United States.  WE elected him!  How dare we actually expect him to do the right thing for America.  After all, he has told us plainly that he is a "citizen of the world."

See, this is a "brave new world."  One in which a president puts his country second to his fellow citizens of the world.    The wants, needs, and desires of the people who elected him simply have to wait.  We Americans will just have to get over our angst ignited by the progressive/socialists when they side-lined the constitution as if it no longer applies.

We will just have to content ourselves with whatever degree of attention our "paternalistic ruling elite" allows us during those infrequent periods between vacations and golfing trips. 

Over the past four-and-a-half years Obama's fellow "citizens of the world" have learned that they, too, are victims of the President's narcissism.  Unable to focus for long on anything, or anyone, other than himself, Obama's Caliph-in-Chief image has proven a false facade and has left his Muslim followers stymied and, as in Egypt, up that "proverbial creek" without a paddle -- and as Egypt's former President Morsi is discovering, likely without so much as a canoe, either.

The mess in Libya -- Benghazi, to be exact  -- is still unresolved and is not likely to be resolved until after Ms. Clinton's first or second term.

In Syria, well, the war there is already lost.  US troops who die there will be dying in the name of politics only.  But, HEY!  Obama is a politician!  That's what he does! 

Mr. Obama is a lot of things. Sadly, being a leader is not among them. 

Ask the common, every day, American and he will tell you, a nation must pick its battles and its wars.  A wise nation only chooses to initiate or join in a fight in which its interests are at stake.

A "responsibility to protect" is one of those "citizen of the world" philosophies that "feels" good.  Never mind that it perpetuates war(s). And never mind that it does not inquire as to America's interest in any given situation that includes gunfire, loud explosions, and mangled body parts. 

A true leader assesses a situation and decides "yes" or "no" on his nation's involvement based upon that simple test mentioned above:  Are there American interests involved?  If there is not, then America should not get involved -- at any level.  That is when a President is called upon, indeed, has the awesome responsibility to say, loudly and clearly, NO!  He must mean it -- and he must convince the remainder of the world that he means it -- by not backing down, or surreptitiously running guns to one side or the other.

So this is what America gets, heck, what THE WORLD gets, when America chooses a person to lead and that person is incapable of leading. 

Buckle up.. It's a long way to January 20th 2017. Rest assured -- things WILL get worse.

© J. D. Longstreet

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny


Following 911, and the understandable fear it created in the hearts and minds of Americans, our federal government took steps to insure the security of the nation's citizenry and prevent possible future terrorist attacks. Beginning with the enactment of the Patriot Act the United States of America, in the pursuit of enhanced put into motion the legal mechanisms that can just as assuredly be used against the liberty of individuals as it can be used to provide national society ad thwarting terrorist attacks.

Certainly the argument for grossly expanded federal power in the name of protecting the American people is a powerful one, one few people took issue with following the Islamist attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. From the initial enactment of the Patriot Act federal agencies like TSA, NSA, and the FISA court have grown ever more intrusive of the rights of innocent and law abiding citizens. This is, or should be considered a most frightening trend. As government becomes more intrusive and secretive the possibility, indeed the likelihood the government will use data in liberty sapping ways is increased significantly. The inevitable result will most certainly be an erosion of liberty and a more entrenched and powerful federal government.

GWB is synonymous with the Patriot Act and setting in motion greater expansion of government power. GHO has continued to oversee these expanded powers and the continued enlargement of them.

The New York Times (WASHINGTON) - WASHINGTON — In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation’s surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks, officials say.

The rulings, some nearly 100 pages long, reveal that the court has taken on a much more expansive role by regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important judicial precedents, with almost no public scrutiny, according to current and former officials familiar with the court’s classified decisions.

The 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, was once mostly focused on approving case-by-case wiretapping orders. But since major changes in legislation and greater judicial oversight of intelligence operations were instituted six years ago, it has quietly become almost a parallel Supreme Court, serving as the ultimate arbiter on surveillance issues and delivering opinions that will most likely shape intelligence practices for years to come, the officials said.

Last month, a former National Security Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden, leaked a classified order from the FISA court, which authorized the collection of all phone-tracing data from Verizon business customers. But the court’s still-secret decisions go far beyond any single surveillance order, the officials said.

“We’ve seen a growing body of law from the court,” a former intelligence official said. “What you have is a common law that develops where the court is issuing orders involving particular types of surveillance, particular types of targets.”

In one of the court’s most important decisions, the judges have expanded the use in terrorism cases of a legal principle known as the “special needs” doctrine and carved out an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of a warrant for searches and seizures, the officials said. {Full Article Here}

A very wise man once said, and it still holds true today... "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And, there is most definitely unintended consequences. Even when the initial actions were intended for good.

Via: Memeorandum