Security theater... of the absurd!

Apparently, the United States of America has quietly stopped policing its borders.  Amazing.

"Orders have been sent out from Border Patrol headquarters in Washington, D.C., to Border Patrol sectors nationwide that checks of transportation hubs and systems located away from the southwest border of the United States will only be conducted if there is intelligence indicating a threat," the release says.

Those who have received the orders said agents may still go to train and bus stations and airports if they have specific "actionable intelligence" that there is an illegal immigrant there who recently entered the country. An agent in Washington state said it's not clear how agents are supposed to glean such intelligence, and even if they did, under the new directive they still require clearance from Washington, D.C., headquarters before they can respond.

 What are they doing instead?

The situation is similar in upstate New York, where an agent told the AP - also on the condition of anonymity - that a senior manager relayed the new directive during a morning roll call last month. Since then, instead of checking buses or trains, agents have spent shifts sitting in their vehicles gazing out at Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where few illegal immigrants cross.

"They're already bored," the agent said. "You grab the paper every day and you go do the crossword."

Why does this crossword need done  so urgently by so many agents?

Current and former Border Patrol agents said field offices around the country began receiving the order last month - soon after the Obama administration announced that to ease an overburdened immigration system, it would allow many illegal immigrants to remain in the country while it focuses on deporting those who have committed crimes.

In English, that means the Border Patrol has been ordered not to arrest illegals so the INS doesn't have to process them, and so that Barry can get more of that much needed illegal Mexican vote.

All in all, a great time to be a drug mule.

The Phantom

Sometimes... one is at a loss for words.

Coming to you from Small Dead Animals, a link to a person so fundamentally mental... I'm unable to really grasp what his malfunction is.

The Conservative government's bill to scrap the requirement to register long-guns comes with a surprising clause: it requires the Commissioner of Firearms destroy all records of registered long-guns.
<snippage>
But, personally, I find the destruction of any kind of government data utterly abhorent and contrary to the concept of open government.

In response, I'm posting publicly a copy of the gun registry database I received via the Access to Information Act in 2007.

We used this data in an Ottawa Citizen series called "Rapid Fire" that explored issues involved in gun ownership in Canada.

So here we have a guy, Glen McGregor, who views government records of private citizen's personal property as being so holy, so important, that he's going to post HIS OWN REGISTRY. To, you know, save it. Or something.
Here's what he says about himself, right off the mast head of his web page:

Ottawa Citizen reporter covering government, politics and anything else that interests me. Specializing in data journalism and Twitter evangelism. This is just a place to dump Hill droppings and other found items that are too long for Twitter. Follow me there at @glen_mcgregor or email me at sushiboy21@gmail.com.

Ottawa Citizen reporter. Uh HUH. Nice three day beard dude. You look mahvelous.

And we all wondered -why- the media never ever EVER gives us the straight unvarnished goods in a gun related story. Its because DICKHEADS run it.

My comment on Little Glenny's blog was this:

So Glen, is it ok if I dig up your address and post it on my blog? How about a Google map and a StreetView of your house too? And maybe a list of your major appliances and more expensive possessions, you know, just in case anybody's interested?

Love to hear your opinion on that little undertaking, dude.

Currently awaiting moderation, as of 10:22 pm. So we'll see what Little Glenny has to say. I'm not expecting anything too coherent, I must say.

The Phantom

Barry gathers his troops.

Barry must be having a cow.  He's in Hollywood assembling the First Propaganda Division of Barry's Army.

Among the small group of industry insiders who were invited to attended the early-morning meeting with the president at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel were: Weinstein Co. studio head Harvey Weinstein, CAA managing partner and music head Rob Light, ICM president Chris Silbermann, Modern Family creator Steve Levitan, Atlantic Records chairman Craig Kallman, producer/songwriter Bruce Roberts, talent manger and producer Jason Weinberg, UTA music agent Rob Prinz, talent manager and producer Eric Ortner, Island Def Jam senior vice president Karen Kwak, Warner Bros. Records president Livia Tortella, talent manager Greg Mertz, ID PR publicists Kelly Bush and Mara Buxbaum, talent managers Bruce Flohr, Michael Green, Steve Moir and Bill Silva, Universial Music Publishing Group executive vice president and head of creative Tom Sturges, entertainment attorney Chuck Ortner and actor/activist Kal Penn.

The event was not a fundraiser, and attendees were not asked to donate to the Obama reelection campaign. But those invited have been ardent supporters of the president and were identified as "influencers" with the ability to help Obama shape the national political conversation heading into a tough race in 2012.

Their donations will be more in kind than in money, no doubt. I do believe we will be treated to a big bunch of socialist propaganda movies over the next year.  Huzzah.  And as previously noted, people wonder why media company stocks are circling the bowl...

The Phantom

Duh alert... Media company execs are MORONS.

This just kills me.  Check it out:

The rapid adoption of tablet computers like iPad has not reversed the slide in paying customers for news, as many media company executives had hoped the devices would.

Are you kidding me? There are actually executive corner office types who were doofus enough to think that the -shape- of the computer people surf on would change their willingness to pay for something they can get for free?

"When it was launched, many observers believed that the tablet might help change the experience of news consumers and the economic ground rules of digital news consumption," writes the authors of the Pew Research Center report. "That belief was based on the sense that people would consume information on tablets largely through special applications or apps that provide content from a favorite news organization like the New York Times or one's local newspaper." The survey showed more than 70 percent still use the web browser or a combination of the web and apps to get their news. Just a fifth of tablet users use apps as their primary source for news.

Truly, there are some guys out there living in Fantasy Land. The reason nobody is willing to pay for the "news" is that it ain't NEWS.  Its propaganda for the American DemocRat party and obviously so. The whole blogosphere basically exists as a fact check on the "news". Furthermore nobody wants to live in the walled garden of the Apple Ap-store when the whole web is sitting there free to surf.

Sell that media stock my friends.  Those companies are dead ducks walking.

The Phantom.

Self Inflicted Wounds.

Apparently the people who live around Zuccotti Park are getting tired of the smelly hippies. Poor babies.

New Yorkers who live near the park where anti-Wall Street protesters have been camping out for more than a month are complaining that their quality of life has declined.

At a two-hour meeting Thursday night, some neighbors said protesters urinated in the streets and beat drums in the middle of the night.

"They're defecating on our doorsteps," said Catherine Hughes, a member of the area's community board, a representative panel that helps funnel local concerns to city officials.

That's what you get when you vote the way they always do. You asked for it, you got it. Toyota.

Lets be clear whose doorstep is getting crapped on here.  You live near Zuccotti Park, you've got some -serious- dough to blow on housing.  We're talking millions of bucks for a two bedroom condo.  That would be "million-S" in the plural.
So, what does a big huge bank account get you in NYC?

Some neighbors who attended the packed meeting called for the protesters to vacate Zuccotti Park, the plaza where protesters have set up their base camp.

But the board voted unanimously for a resolution that recognized the protesters' First Amendment rights while calling for a crackdown on noise and public urination and defecation.

Three local elected officials praised the resolution in a statement Thursday.

It gets you nuttin', is what.  Because the "three local elected officials" are  DEMOCRATS, one of whom is Gerold "The Mouth" Nadler. This doorstep-crapping, stairwell-pissing astroturf freak show is -their- personal clown circus, bought, paid for and put on by DemocRats, for the benefit of DemocRats, and screw everybody else.

My questions for today: how stupid are the hyper-rich of New Yawk?  Will they continue to vote for the guys who are happily throwing them under the bus just to get a cheap propaganda show on the TV? Do they realize that this mob could decide to BURN DOWN their apartment buildings pretty much any time?  Do they comprehend that their "local elected officials" are the sole reason that these Occupy Somebody Else's Private Property imbeciles are taking a dump on their twenty million dollar real estate?

Or is it more a matter of going along with the gag so the gravy train your zillions are coming from doesn't come off the rails?  Because zillionairs aren't primarily known for stupidity.

Just wondering.

The Phantom

Wag the dog 2011-style.

Reposted from Small Dead Animals, -proof- of the connection between Big Media, Barry's 2012 campaign, and the collection of pinheads known to the media as "Occupy Wall Street".  99% bullshit, 1% useful idiots.  We've got the email archive, which a mole helpfully posted to the web. Big Journalism's post on the subject is here, and really worth a look.

So just in case you've been wondering why the media is paying so much attention to some smelly hippies leaving raw sewage on private property they don't own in NYC, while they utterly ignored about a third of the country turning out for the Tea Parties, wonder no more.  Its a put up job.  Otherwise known as, the main stream media of the USA (and Canada!!!) is bought and paid for.  And we just proved it.  Again.

The Phantom

What is THE difference between the USA and Canada?

In Canada, this would be legal:

On September 22, 2011, H.R. 3011 was introduced in the House. It is entitled the "Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act of 2011" and it contains some curious language.
...

The language states that it would be illegal to "convey the impression" that you are representing the TSA, but this interpretation would likely be left to federal prosecutors.

In the past, satire was protected under the First Amendment, but it may soon be illegal to poke fun at the TSA or use its logo or even utter its name. Notice there is no exception in the above language for parody.

Political satire is as old as the Greeks and the Bible. But it may now become a punishable crime if this legislation is enacted.

Yes, my fellow Canadians, let's not fool ourselves.  In Canada the Parliament really can pass a law making it illegal to lampoon, parody, or otherwise mock government agencies and/or employees.  In fact, its been done already.  Right now our Supreme Court is grappling with the weighty issue of whether or not to ALLOW us to say mean things about members of certain protected groups.  Not to be mean to them mind you, just to say things about them.

In the United States, this law can't survive its first day in court.  Well, unless Barry and friends find a way to pack the court, of course.  Then all bets are off. 

Kind of like they are here in Canada, our courts got packed in the 1970's.  Frankly, its been pretty much down hill ever since Pierre Trudeau declared war on freedom in this country.

The Phantom

Ass-Backward into the Future!

One of the things I rage on about here constantly is that we have too much government.  This is best seen in the small things, like this:

A tree house is causing controversy in one Falls Church neighborhood after a father built it for his two young boys. Fairfax County officials are considering tearing it down because the tree house violates county rules because it was built in the front yard. He needed a permit first to build the tree house.

One of the other things I rage on about is our too-much-government looking the other way and allowing outrages to be perpetrated.  This is best seen in the large things, like this:

Occupy Wall Street is on the move ... uptown.

Why uptown? Because that's where the rich folks live!

Organizers are planning a march on Tuesday that will visit the homes of JP Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) CEO Jamie Dimon, billionaire David Koch, hedge fund honcho John Paulson, Howard Milstein, and News Corp (NWSA, Fortune 500) CEO Rupert Murdoch.

The millionaires and billionaires are being targeted for what event organizers called a "willingness to hoard wealth at the expense of the 99%."

Just so we are clear here: you CAN mob the house of people you don't like if you are part of a rent-a-mob for the DemocRat Party, but you CAN'T build a tree house for the kids without a permit.  And likely a bribe for the building inspector.

The Phantom

Andrew Coyne has been reading my mind.

It takes a little while to get to the good part, but this column by Andrew Coyne has goodness in it.

The Ontario Conservatives have lost three elections in a row with this same nicely-nicely, Clever Dick approach; the Manitoba Conservatives, four. At some point, you'd think it would occur to them: this isn't working. But it never seems to.

So let me spell it out for them. Conservatives: unless you give voters a reason to vote for you, they will not. Until you trust in yourselves, they will never trust you. They can smell fear, and they can tell when people aren't being straight with them. Don't want to be accused of hidden agendas? Have an agenda. Don't think you can sell that vision? Find another line of work. You're in the persuasion business.

That's what I'm talking about.  You want to be a Conservative?  BE ONE THEN.  You don't think Conservatism can win? Join the Liberals!!!

The Phantom

Liberals win Ontario election.

We are -so- fracked...

The Phantom

BUSTED!

Eric Holder knew about Fast&Furious in July 2010. 

New documents obtained by CBS News show Attorney General Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial Fast and Furious operation as far back as July 2010. That directly contradicts his statement to Congress.

On May 3, 2011, Holder told a Judiciary Committee hearing, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."

Yet internal Justice Department documents show that at least ten months before that hearing, Holder began receiving frequent memos discussing Fast and Furious.

He lied to Congress. Like a Persian carpet.

How unexpected!

The Phantom