Today's "SHUT UP!!!!" report, Barry O is now the King of SHUT UP!!!!

If you squealed on the Bush regime you were an heroic whistle blower. If you squeal on Barry's Hope 'N Change Extravaganza you are a spy.

The Obama administration, which promised during its transition to power that it would enhance "whistle-blower laws to protect federal workers," has been more prone than any administration in history in trying to silence and prosecute federal workers.

The Espionage Act, enacted back in 1917 to punish those who gave aid to our enemies, was used three times in all the prior administrations to bring cases against government officials accused of providing classified information to the media. It has been used six times since the current president took office.

Comment from the eeeeevile Bushites:

Mark Corallo, who served under Attorney General John D. Ashcroft during the Bush administration, told Adam Liptak of The New York Times this month that he was "sort of shocked" by the number of leak prosecutions under President Obama. "We would have gotten hammered for it," he said.

"Hammered" is I think an understatement so vast as to be grotesque.  Who's making a fuss?  All the useful idiots who thought Barry was going to bring actual "openness" to the US government. Barry is predictably acting like the tin-pot dictator of a banana republic, and they're all surprised by this.

So how about in other areas? How's Barry doing on the Social Justice front?

At Columbia University and elsewhere, the fear that the New York Police Department might secretly be infiltrating Muslim students' lives has spread beyond them to others who find the reported tactics "disgusting," as one teenager put it.

The NYPD surveillance of Muslims on a dozen college campuses in the Northeast is a surprising and disappointing violation, students said Saturday in reaction to Associated Press reports that revealed the intelligence-gathering at Columbia and elsewhere.

Hmmm, Big Brother following kids around with a microscope, doesn't sound good. What's that got to do with Barry?

Millions of dollars in White House money has helped pay for New York Police Department programs that put entire American Muslim neighborhoods under surveillance.

The money is part of a little-known grant intended to help law enforcement fight drug crimes. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush and Obama administrations have provided $135 million to the New York and New Jersey region through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, known as HIDTA.

Who's all mad about it?

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations are separately calling for investigations into White House funding of a domestic spying program launched by the New York Police Department against Muslim-Americans.

The AP reported Monday that White House funds managed by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program went to buy equipment and vehicles for a domestic surveillance program designed to infiltrate Muslim groups.

So basically what we have here is the liberals getting hoisted on their own Big Government petard. You've got Big Socialist Government run by a no-kidding Saul Alinsky apostle, doing what Big Government does: anything it wants, and smacking down anybody who objects. And you've got the uber liberals all dismayed that their guy Barry and his little friends are the ones doing all this stuff that they (falsely) accused Bush of.

The irony is sweet, is it not?

The (just can't seem to shut up) Phantom

Your papers, please.

Man arrested after daughter draws picture of gun at school.

No, not in North Korea, in Kitchener Ontario. They grabbed this guy and tossed him in the slammer with their evidence totaling one (1) picture of a gun drawn by a four year old girl. Zero criminal record mentioned, they just bagged him in case something might happen. Bagged the wife and kids too.

I suggest EVERYBODY should get on the blower to your MP, your MPP and whoever else you can scare up and melt the phone to their head. Nobody is safe from shit like that. Nobody.

Oh, and show your kids too. Let them know how psychotic their fricking teacher might be, and what could happen.

UPDATE: For those of you who are sitting there thinking I'm full of crap, here's a guy on TV who seems to have read my freakin' mind.

Upperdate: My mistake! It seems Jessie Sansone -does- have a criminal record, so if he was in possession of a firearm it would be a crime. Which makes absolutely no difference to the story, seeing as how a picture drawn by a four year old at school is not a firearm. Or evidence.

However it does explain why the cops didn't tell the school principal to grow a brain. Perfect excuse to shake down Jessie CONVICT BOY Sansone and remind him who's the boss. Cops are known for doing that kind of thing when they think they can get away with it.

So just SHUT UP and keep paying your taxes, you worthless peons.

Conservatives finally showing up to riot?

What -does- one do when the bunny huggers show up to disrupt one's pigeon shooting contest? 

A remote-controlled aircraft owned by an animal rights group was reportedly shot down near Broxton Bridge Plantation Sunday near Ehrhardt, S.C.

Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness), said his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft from flying.

"It didn't work; what SHARK was doing was perfectly legal," Hindi said in a news release. "Once they knew nothing was going to stop us, the shooting stopped and the cars lined up to leave."

He said the animal rights group decided to send the drone up anyway.

"Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots rang out," Hindi said in the release. "As an act of revenge for us shutting down the pigeon slaughter, they had shot down our copter."

Did the SHARKs have frickin' lasers? That's what I want to know.

I may be way off, but I think we may be going to see a whole hell of a lot more of this kinda thing this year.  I'm thinking maybe the "angry white males" of the USA, those Flyover people still "clinging to their guns and religion", are maybe going to start pushing back. And maybe maybe the stupid punks who form the front ranks of the Lefty goon brigade are going to discover, to their shock and surprise, just how restrained all them racist/bigot/homophobe rednecks have been all these years.

The Phantom

Ice ICE, Baby!

US Border guards, deprived of the ability to shoot at armed and dangerous Mexican drug smugglers are now reduced to shooting at each other.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is dead after a workplace dispute erupted into gunfire at the agency's offices in a California federal building, officials said.

In the incident at the Glenn M. Anderson Federal Building in Long Beach, Calif., an ICE agent allegedly opened fire on a colleague Thursday evening, leaving that colleague hospitalized in stable condition with multiple gunshot wounds, ICE officials told ABC News.

"This situation began with what we can characterize as an incident of workplace violence," Steven Martinez, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office, told reporters late Thursday Pacific Time.

However, a third ICE agent evidently intervened by firing at the initial shooter, Martinez said.

"This resulted in the death of the shooter," Martinez said. "At this time, we believe this was an isolated incident and the shooter was acting alone."

The intervening ICE agent was unharmed, officials said.

Citizens are left to ponder the workplace conditions and internal politics that led to this shooting. (Subtext, was it money, drugs or women?) 

Going Postal, not just for Posties anymore.

The Phantom

More "you're not paranoid enough", private sector division.

I have to get a new file cabinet for this stuff, its spilling out everywhere. This one from our loyal reader Marco The Magic One Trick Pony:

Target stores know if you're pregnant. 

Every time you go shopping, you share intimate details about your consumption patterns with retailers. And many of those retailers are studying those details to figure out what you like, what you need, and which coupons are most likely to make you happy. Target, for example, has figured out how to data-mine its way into your womb, to figure out whether you have a baby on the way long before you need to start buying diapers.

Both this link and the original  New York Slimes story are worth reading. The surveillance is literally all-encompassing. The potential for abuse is overwhelming.

If its creeping you out like it does me, may I suggest snipping the credit card and paying cash for stuff? Because its not the big ticket items they're figuring you out with, its what brand of lotion and how many cotton balls you bought this week compared to last month.

The Cash is King Phantom

Backfield in motion: Barry's going DOWN.

"Yes, I am going to kick Barry's narrow ass."

As previously noted here at the illustrious Soapbox, I very much doubt that Barrack Hussein Obama is going to be the DemocRat presidential candidate this year. He's like frickin' poison for them. Everything he does digs their hole deeper. This latest jazz about universal free contraception may have been the last nail in his coffin.

Evidence for today is:

San Francisco philanthropist Susie Tompkins Buell, one of the Democratic Party's most generous benefactors, is keeping her checkbook closed when President Obama holds high-priced California fundraisers this week

Buell, a co-founder of the Esprit clothing company, has donated millions of dollars to Democratic causes and presidential candidates, including Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Al Gore and her good friend, Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the past 10 years, she has given $25 million to progressive political and charitable causes and has raised $10 million for candidates and committees, her office said.

Now you know who to boycott. Anyway, note the respectful tone of the piece, Susie-baby's a PHILANTHROPIST damnit, not a mere political contributor and would-be king maker.

The other evidence du jour is this:

Rock star Bruce Springsteen said on Thursday he still supported US President Barack Obama but indicated he would not be taking part in the campaign to get him re-elected.

Because hey, when you've lost The Boss...

The Phantom

And now, caption contest!

Man, sometimes the gods of mockery smile upon us don't they? Bwaha!

The Phantom

About freakin' time, dudes.

CPC FINALLY keeps their promise and kills the gun registry.

The Harper government's controversial bill to end the long-gun registry has passed the House of Commons, marking the end of a long political battle over one of the most controversial law enforcement measures in recent memory.

The bill passed easily, by a margin of 159 to 130, as the Conservatives used their majority in the House secure passage of the bill, which now goes to the Senate where the Conservatives also have a majority. The Senate hearings are expected to take several weeks before the bill is passed into law.

I've been waiting for this since Kim Campbell ramrodded C-17 through, the original "assault weapons" ban of 1991 and the beginning of Alan Rock's gun registry ambitions.

Twenty years is a LONG F-ING TIME TO WAIT, O great CPC overlords. I'd appreciate it if y'all would get the lead out so I can go shooting this spring.

The Phantom

Today is Starbucks Appreciation Day.

As relayed by The Captain at Kate McMillan's Small Dead Animals, today is not just Valentine's Day. It is also Starbucks Appreciation Day.

Apparently some hoplphobe gun grabber outfit approached Starbucks about not serving gun owners, and Starbucks told 'em to push off. Very out of character for a Seattle based outfit, and a welcome change from the usual behaviour we have come to expect from Corporate America. I would guess that an accountant deep in the bowels of headquarters compared the number of  true-believer gun control fanatics to the annual gun sales in the USA, and went with the bigger figure.

So, for returning to profitability and common sense over pie-in-the-sky utopian whackoism, The Phantom applauds Starbucks and says to all you faithful out there: "Go buy a coffee."  Make mine a double cappuccino with extra caffeine please, still haven't got my motor running this morning.

The Decaffeinated Phantom

Is Liberalism a disease, and if so is it contagious?

New evidence says... maybe!

Hat tip to Small Dead Animals.

The Phantom

From today's "No, you are not paranoid enough" file...

Three items which taken separately are alarming, when taken together they're... how shall I say this without tipping off the watchers... they are double-plus ungood.

1:" The LAPD is fighting crime from a high-tech war room that gives it eyes all over the city. The surveillance hub is now a model for police forces around the world..."

You know where else they have surveillance hubs? Prisons. Check out how they caught the LA arsonist:

Most recently, RACR was invaluable in putting an end to the Hollywood arsons.

Malinowski says RACR plotted each arson fire incident as it happened, creating a three-square-mile geographic hot spot that resulted in the quick arrest of accused fire starter Harry Burkhart.

"At the time he was taken into custody, this area was flooded with sheriffs and with LAPD officers," says Malinowski. "Based on the fact that we kind of could see his movements in real time."

They can catch that guy, they can catch YOU. For doing NOTHING. Or maybe for voting Republican.

2: Homeland Security is monitoring the web for anti-government sentiment and signs of social unrest.

A privacy advocacy group has swayed Congress to hold a hearing next week into the Department of Homeland Security's practice of monitoring social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as media reports and organizations, including The Drudge Report.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently obtained close to 300 pages of documents, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, detailing the federal agency's "intelligence gathering" practices on the web.

Among the documents were guidelines from DHS instructing outside contractors to monitor the web for media reports and comments that "reflect adversely" on the agency or the federal government.

11 million bucks worth, from the article.  Here's two Brits they pulled this Twitter surveillance on. Here's a Canadian.

3: Occupy CPAC protesters were paid $60 each.

Protesters at Friday's "Occupy CPAC" event, organized by AFL-CIO and the Occupy DC movement, told The Daily Caller that they were paid "sixty bucks a head" to protest outside the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

One protester told TheDC that all the "Occupy" activists were being paid to protest, and that his union, Sheet Metal Workers Local 100, approached him about the money-making opportunity.

"I have nothing nice to say about Local 100. … They just told me 'you wanna make sixty bucks? So c'mon,'" the protester said.

Other "Occupy CPAC" protesters were unwilling to speak on camera because they were unaware what they were protesting and what the CPAC event was about.

So at the VERY SAME TIME that the cops are gearing up war rooms and the federal spooks are haunting your internet connection, friends of the regime are gettin' paid to frig up the opposition's political events.

That's what I call double-plus ungood, baby.

But the cherry on top of this sh*t sandwich has to be Barry's announcement about churches and reproductive medicine.

The White House announced today that, instead of forcing religious employers to pay for birth control, it will force insurance companies to offer the drugs free of charge to all women, no matter where they work.

What's alarming about this, even if you're not Catholic or whatever, is that the President of the United States doesn't have the power to tell private insurance companies to pay for this stuff. He can't do that. And here he is, doing it anyway. While paying punks to beat up people he doesn't like and spying on everybody.  Oh, and if he does win in November he's not only got 4 more years to do whatever the hell he wants, as in more of the same, he's got the power to appoint new Supreme Court Justices. So as the NRA says, you can kiss your guns goodbye.

Got that private island in the Pacific ready to run to?

The Phantom

Paranoia update: Canada joins in the fun!

Big Brother Inc. (Canadian division) has begun reading your texts and will arrest you for unlawful figures of speech.

A Muslim businessman in Canada became a terror suspect for telling his sales staff in a text message to "blow away" the competition at a New York City trade show, a religious association said Friday.

Moroccan-born Saad Allami, who works as a telecommunications company sales manager, was arrested three days after he sent the message in January 2011 and detained while police searched his home, said the Muslim Council of Montreal.

"The whole time, the officers kept repeating to the plaintiff's wife that her husband was a terrorist," said court filings in a lawsuit filed by Allami, cited by local media. Allami was released after four hours of questioning.

Some of his colleagues reportedly claimed they were also held for hours at the Canada-US border on account of the accusations made against their boss.

I predict this kind of thing is going to become extremely common over the next few years as these keyword-trawlers start getting used by every podunk cop-shop in N. America and Europe. You're going to write "I was blown away by that movie" in an email and have a cop on your doorstep twenty minutes later.

I recommend increased use of euphemism and creative spelling. Or maybe just send lists of keywords to your whole address book a couple times a day, that works too.

Or we could assert our rights as free people and put a stop to this crap.  Radical idea I know but hey, nobody has tried it recently.

fun and useful hack, tiny display.

From Hack-A-Day, this excellent hack of a cheapie little 1.5" display.

Little, no name, 1.5 inch LCD photo key-chains are all over the place for practically nothing. Not too surprisingly these things do not vary much in the parts that they use, some flash ram, a little lipo battery and a 16 bit color LCD. Wanting to find a way to reuse that LCD [Simon] Has an excellent tutorial on how to reuse a FTM144D01N LCD with a ILITEK ILI9163 LCD driver for your electronic projects.

What I like about this article is it shows you how to figure out the display's logic from scratch. Using this guy's method most any small display of unknown provenience can be used to do something fun.  I've been thinking those cheapie picture frame displays would be nice to use for something, but there are never any drivers for them.

Now we can write our own. Yay!

The Phantom

Self guiding bullet no longer just for Flash Gordon.

This is extremely cool.