chrisfreer

Could YOU make this? The Grandeur of Radiant Creation is even in the tiniest snow flake.

From the page: "On December 18th, 2008 an Opinion and Order was handed down by Chief Judge Ancer L. Haggerty of the Oregon court in civil case 08-233-HA, brought by Eric Pepin's Higher Balance Institute against Quantum Future Group, Quantum Future School, Signs of the Times and Laura Knight-Jadczyk. The case claimed libel/defamation, false light and intentional interference with economic relations. The case was answered with a special motion to strike the claims under Oregon's anti-SLAPP statutes. This Opinion and Order was the court's judgment on that special motion.

To cut to the chase, because this news is just too good to wait until Christmas to unwrap, the anti-SLAPP motion was granted and the claims of Higher Balance Institute have been stricken. In the process, the term "horse hockey" has been enshrined in American Case Law.

For those who have not followed this case from the beginning, SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation. According to wikipedia, it is "a lawsuit or a threat of lawsuit that is intended to intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition." Judge Haggerty's opinion not only affirms the assertion that HBI had filed suit against Laura, SOTT, et al to silence this voice, but that such attacks are not acceptable in the eyes of the law. "

From the page: "Ben Wittes ups the Orwellian ante:

Detainees who pose a grave national security threat might be unprosecutable for a variety of reasons: because of deficiencies in the criminal law as it stood in 2001, because evidence against them would not stand up in court, because the government might not have enough evidence to convict or because it obtained key evidence under coercive conditions.

"Under coercive conditions". Excuse me, but what does that mean in English? Try: Because they got intelligence from torturing people. Coercion means force. It means they forced "information" out of them. Not coax, trick, lure, force. That means the victims had no choice. And the only way in which human beings can seriously have no choice at all is by subjecting them to such severe mental and physical pain and suffering that they have no option as human beings but to tell their torturers something. This is the defining line of torture: not some arbitrary comic book technique, but a psychological and physical fact: pushing another human being to the point where choice becomes unavailable to him or her."

From the page: "Shocked by 9-11, Americans wondered who could perpetrate such a horrible crime against people. Over two thousand Americans jumped to their death, were burned, crushed, or murdered in a spectacular collapse of the Twin Towers. In a joint session of Congress a few days later, President George W. Bush gave us the first clue who "they" were. "They" hated us for our freedoms.

It seemed incomprehensible at the time but we now have an opportunity to recognize who actually hates us for our freedoms. We can identify the culprits by this simple description: They hate us for our freedoms. We need only judge them by their actions. Do you know who has destroyed most of our treasured American freedoms? When you can answer that question you will know the identity of the criminals who conceived and orchestrated the 9-11 Attack on America. They hate us for our freedoms.

Less than a week after he spoke those words, President George W. Bush presented legislation for Congress to pass into law. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 revoked much of the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution. Arabs and Muslims of al Qaeda didn't do it. George did it. Congress was given only hours to read the extensive volume and no opportunity to debate. A quick vote was required.

Does that sound familiar to you?"

From the page: "Since the McCain campaign apparently didn't even bother Googling Sarah Palin before picking her to join the Republican ticket, we've taken it upon ourselves to compile some important -- and terrifying -- revelations about Palin. Yesterday AlterNet ran a piece titled "Top Ten Most Disturbing Facts and Impressions of Sarah Palin." And in only 24 hours, almost as many exaggerations, misrepresentations and outright lies have reared their ugly heads. If you already read yesterday's piece, here's the next installment.....

From the page: "As Sarah Palin's vice-presidential nomination continues to energize the religious right, the hypocrisy of right wing authoritarians becomes more apparent than ever. According to psychologist Robert Altmeyer, authoritarian personalities are characterized by hierarchical submission to traditional authorities, aggression and conventionalism. Altmeyer has done extensive empirical research on the subject, which is summarized in his book, 'The Authoritarians'.

In the US, authoritarians gravitate towards politically conservative groups. The religious right movement is a natural fit for them as it holds socially conservative views of fundamentalist religions - the highest traditional authority one can imagine. This is why the religious right tends to support, or reject, a potential leader based on his/her personal decisions and position on matters of personal choice (such as a right to abortion).

Sarah Palin projects herself as a real person with solid values, a super-mom and a successful politician - the very picture of a female leader for the conservative electorate. However, almost immediately after she appeared on the political scene, the image began to crack. Revelations about her teen daughter's pregnancy made a splash, and unsettling facts of her own biography continue to emerge. One would expect the religious right's support of Palin to falter. Surely, if it were Hillary Clinton's teenage daughter who got pregnant, or if it were Barack Obama who once was a member of a separatist party, the public outcry would have been tremendous, wouldn't it? But, exactly the opposite happened - religious conservative blogs and organizations rallied behind Palin more than ever. "

From the page: ""He came home and before he even took his backpack off, he had tears in his eyes already," said Mohmmad Fahad Choudhary, victim's brother. Mohmmad talks about the day his little brother came home from school saying his teacher had singled him out in front of his class as an example of a terrorist.

"She used the example of if Saleh were to go on to an airplane, put his backpack down and put two wires together and the plane were to blow up - and she didn't make a point," said Christina Abraham, Council on American-Islamic Relations. Saleh Choudhary did not want to go on-camera to talk about the incident, which happened last April while he was a sixth-grader at Brentano Academy, but his brother says the 13-year-old's life hasn't been the same since.

"Everybody started teasing him and calling him a terrorist after the comments were made by the teacher," Mohmmad said.

"Sabina Guzzanti, a popular actress and comic, had joked at an anti-politics rally that Pope Benedict XVI, known for his hardline views on homosexuality, would "go to hell and be pursued by two big, gay and very active devils". Rome's prosecutor Giovanni Ferrara said he wants to start proceedings against her for "vilification" of the Pope under article of 313 of the penal code. Ferrara said that the offence caused by her comments went beyond satire.

He has officially asked the justice minister, Angelino Alfano, for permission to start proceedings. Guzzanti is also under investigation for breaching article 278 of the penal code, which allows the courts to sentence people to five years if found guilty of "offending the honour" of the Pope or the Italian president."