Friday, January 22, 2010

OTN: TSA follows a citizen documentarian

BTC- The Obscured Truth Network (OTN) has done a great job here of presenting the power of live, real-time accountability on airport security. TSA's reputation of harassing citizens and NOT catching terrorists continues.

It has come to our attention that TSA is making an effort to improve by removing all of the 8 year olds from the watch-list. It's still one step forward and two steps back for the TSA as they do their best to defend themselves from the public and their corporate bosses who insist they catch-as-catch-can.

Since OTN is a YouTube exclusive channel, I couldn't embed the media directly. However, I still suggest you add them as a media subscription. The producer Sam Dodson has lost his fear of the worst after being frivolously jailed for 2 months for his documentary work.

For expediency here links to the 3 part story, running approximately 30 minutes:


Good work, Sam. We support you.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Waking Up Orwell suffers a "cut mic"

BTC - Typically the joy of Thursday mornings comes with the radio magazine piece we do called, Waking Up Orwell. This week's guest, William Lewis, had piles of documented dirt and background on the American intelligence machinery. His documentaries are intense and informative.

However - the broadcast outputs were mysteriously cut shortly after the intro. Neither myself or William could be heard over BlogTalkRadio.com. The show ran for 60 minutes, but less than 5 minutes were broadcasted live over the internet last Thursday.

BeatTheChip.org recently posted 2 pieces on Cass Sunstein declaring open season on "conspiracy theorists" as qualified intelligence targets. This is where it get's complicated. "Conspiracy" is a government term which is being twisted to sonoymously dispose of another word - dissent.

Think for yourself.

The U.S. government's universal targeting on dissent comes down to documenting their wrongdoings. For example, a Philadelphia reporter was arrested for photographing a GITMO protest and charged with "criminal conspiracy". Her photos were confiscated. Here's the good news - the charges were proven to be bogus and they were dropped. However "conspiracy" is now being redefined with treasonous meaning against The Establishment.

Below is the rest of the show after we aired a short clip from an interview with Aaron Russo. I'll be the first to admit, if the government wants me to stop doing something that isn't illegal and is in the range of my Bill of Rights - I'm going to test it.

William Lewis, whose mic is routinely cut during interviews to promote his films, didn't tell me that he was doing his own recording of the program. This episode will go down in Waking Up Orwell's history as sort of a media actvism bootleg.

WAKING UP ORWELL featuring Filmaker William Lewis

The reasons why my mic was cut are currently ascribed to "technical glitches" on behalf of BlogTalkRadio.com. We sincerely hope that is all that it was.


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

"SSA Fails to Verify With E-Verify"

c/o Cato's Jim Harper

Stephen Dinan reports in the Washington Times that the Social Security Administration—an integral part of the E-Verify government background check system—regularly fails to use E-Verify properly.

Despite helping run the government’s electronic database designed to weed out illegal-immigrant workers, Social Security failed to run E-Verify checks on its own employees nearly 20 percent of the time.

That’s according to this report, which also found that SSA failed to verify employees during the correct time-frame a whopping 49% of the time.

E-Verify is not supposed to be used for pre-screening, but SSA ran a background check before hiring new employees 25% of the time. Fifty-one percent were screened timely. The remaining 24% were screened after the seven-day window during which new hires are supposed to be screened.

If the federal agency at the heart of this background check system can’t operate it well, this casts doubt on the idea of mandating every private employer across the country to use it.

I discussed some of the problems with programs like E-Verify in my paper, “Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification: Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration.”

Real ID problem for Florida doctor

BTC- Here's my analysis on Nevada and Florida sitting around patting each other on the back for being chip-eaters. The federal government owns 90% of the land in Nevada. Florida has *no policy* to defend anyone's Bill of Rights or even human rights, for that matter. Utah... god bless poor old, Utah... they just think they're obeying the law.

I think the sum total of states escalated in a few months (starting from defiant non-compliance) went from 24 to a materially non-compliant total of 46 states by the Dec. 31st deadline. 3 states dumb enough to tax their people for this helps AAMVA cut their loses, along with the tech vendors. It's just sad. Sad to see people liquidate or lose their...privacy and identity rights.


PORT ST. LUCIE — The lack of a middle name typed onto his birth certificate decades ago kept a Port St. Lucie doctor from getting his driver’s license renewed under the new federal rules.

Before going to the state Division of Motor Vehicle office to renew his license last week, Jordan Bromberg gathered all the paperwork now required under the stringent Real ID rules that have been in place since the start of the year.

For his primary forms of identifications he brought his U.S. passport and the Social Security card he’s had since he was 12.

Bromberg, 52, figured he’d be in and out of the state’s Port St. Lucie office quickly with a state issued Real ID.

Since the start of the year, Florida, following federal guidelines, has required more backup documentation to get a license, renew the license or change one’s name or address on the ID card. The change was part of the federal “Real ID” Act of 2005, designed to combat terrorism and fraud by toughening ID paperwork nationwide.

Instead, because Bromberg’s name didn’t match on his primary documents, his renewal application was rejected.

Both documents had Jordan Bromberg, his first and last name. His passport includes his middle name, his Social Security Card did not.

After several days making calls with the state Division of Highway and Safety, including getting assistance from the office of state Rep. Adam Fetterman, D-Port St. Lucie, Bromberg has been told he will be able to get the renewal completed. But it’s been “frustrating” and time consuming, he said.

“I went to the computer, followed everything line by line, I had every single piece of documentation that you needed,” Bromberg said. “But it was simply because whoever did my Social Security card 40 years ago didn’t type my middle name on it.”

More than 50,000 Florida Real IDs were issued in the first week in January, which is about half the number normally issued in that time period.

David Westberry, communications director with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said it’s unknown if the drop off is because of people taking the time to gather the needed paperwork. But he said there has been a learning curve in the motor vehicle offices as they work to handle each unique circumstance, while at the same time trying not to water down the rules.

“The last thing we want to do is take a system that is designed to be very secure and start making exceptions to the point where it no longer has the validity that it needs to have,” Westberry said.

Tax collectors in Indian River and Martin counties, whose offices issue driver’s licenses, knew there would be problems with the new rules. But they mostly expected them to be with women who have changed their last names to reflect marriages or divorces.

Still, they said the process has moved smoothly.

“We do what we have to do to get them renewed,” said Martin County Tax Collector Ruth Pietruszewski. “That has a such a huge impact on someone’s life if they can’t get their driver’s license.”

Compliance with Real ID will eventually be necessary to board a commercial airliner or enter a federal building.

Florida is one of the first states to enact the new law.

By Dec. 1, 2014, all drivers ages 50 and younger must have the Real ID. Those older than 50 can wait until Dec. 1, 2017 to comply.

Indian River County Tax Collector Carole Jean Jordan said the rules may become even tighter following the failed attempt by a 23-year-old suspect from Nigeria to blow up a transatlantic Northwest Airlines flight prepared to land in Detroit in December.

“I think that’s moved off the front pages because of the horrible situation in Haiti, but I think you’ll see other states having to comply,” Jordan said. “And good for Florida for complying, because you can go in a federal building or you can board an airplane with a Florida driver’s license, and once this is implemented nationally your license will be good for that while other states won’t.”

[Editor's Note: Poor Floridians. This guy didn't get the memo that nothing happens to states who don't comply. Someone should do something. Other states live normally. They board flights. They get on with their lives. They visit federal buildings - if so, with other documents other than a national ID card. This man was duped. He's completely ignorant of how dead this Real ID law is.]
REAL ID REQUIREMENTS

  • Examples of primary identification:
  • Certified U.S. birth certificate, including territories and District of Columbia
  • Valid U.S. passport or passport card
  • Consular report of birth abroad
  • Certificate of naturalization, Form N-550 or Form N-570
  • Certificate of citizenship, Form N-560 or Form N-561
  • Examples of Social Security number:
  • Social Security card
  • W-2 form
  • Paycheck
  • Examples of residency proof: Deed, mortgage, monthly mortgage statement, mortgage payment booklet and/or
  1. Residential rental/lease agreement
  2. Utility bills, not more than 2 months old
  3. Florida voter registration card
  4. Florida vehicle registration or title
  5. A note from a parent, step-parent or legal guardian of an applicant who resides at the same address
  6. A letter from a homeless shelter, transitional service provider, or a half-way house verifying that the customer resides at the shelter address
  7. Transients — Sexual Offender/Predator/Career Offender: — FDLE Registration form completed by local sheriff’s office
To navigate the changes, visit gathergoget.com or call (850) 617-3995.

Charges of "criminal conspiracy" dropped; reporter vindicated


Police unjustly arresting media and photographers during political protests is an ongoing issue. Hetznecker warns of this "dangerous development" saying "I think this has become a pattern throughout the country that individuals who attempt to independently document an event that is governed or controlled by police action are going to be subject to arrest, unfortunately false arrest, and accusations of involvement or participation in the particular demonstration is an issue."
c/o Op-Ed News :::MORE HERE:::