close

Subscriptions

robalexander

Last seen: 3 months ago

Rob is a 34 year old guy from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

  • US government to drop espionage charges against Aipac...

    Rated May 02 2009 • 3 reviews • alternative news, politics • guardian.co.uk

    The two accused, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, worked for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which drives fundraising for some members of the US Congress. They were accused of providing defense secrets to the chief political officer at the Israeli embassy in Washington, Naor Gilon, about US policy toward Iran and al-Qaida in league with a former Pentagon analyst, Lawrence Franklin, who has since been jailed for 12 years for disclosing classified information to Rosen and Weissman.

    The case has been further complicated by a scandal revealed last month by a political publication, Congressional Quarterly, around a member of Congress, Jane Harman, who was secretly taped telling an Israeli agent that she would pressure the Justice Department to reduce spying charges against the two former AIPAC officials.

    An FBI probe of Harman was dropped after the intervention of President Bush's attorney general, Alberto Gonzales.

    32 views
    US government to drop espionage charges against Aipac officials | World news | guardian.co.uk

  • The American Conservative -- The Republic Strikes Back

    Rated May 01 2009 • 2 reviews • politics • amconmag.com

    ...He introduced himself as Gary Johnson, the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico. Over the next day, I spent a fair amount of time chatting with Governor Johnson: mountain-climber, triathlete, vetoer of 750 bills.

    He told me that he may take a shot at the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 as an antiwar, antiFed, pro-personal liberties, slash-government-spending candidate.

    South Carolina governor Mark Sanford seems to be carving out similar space in the GOP. While Sanford's stubborn parsimony within the spendthrift GOP is welcome--he is surely a stream of fresh air in a mephitic party--consider, if you will, Gary Johnson.

    Yes, as a congressman Sanford opposed the U.S. intervention in Kosovo under a Democratic president; Gary Johnson opposed a Republican president's war upon Iraq. Sanford reluctantly endorsed McCain in 2008; Johnson emphatically endorsed Ron Paul. Sanford has potential on civil liberties; Johnson has the guts to call for an end to the drug war...

    1 view
    The American Conservative -- The Republic Strikes Back

  • http://www.dailytitan.com/opinion/editorial-swinefluenza-...

    Rated Apr 30 2009 • 1 review • politics • dailytitan.com

    It all seems like much ado about nothing. It happened before too, but nothing much came to light.

    On February 5, 1976 an army recruit at Fort Dix, N.J. complained of feeling tired and weak. The next day he was dead.

    Four fellow soldiers were hospitalized and two weeks later health officials announced swine flu was the cause...

    Ron Paul, a doctor and former presidential candidate from Texas, was in his first year in congress in 1976. He was one of two Congressmen who voted against the massive government inoculation program. The other Congressman was also a doctor.

    Only 1 person died from swine flu in 1976, according to Paul, but 25 people died from a paralyzing neuromuscular disorder caused by the vaccine.

    Paul posted a video yesterday comparing the 1976 swine flu "panic" to today's panic, which he calls "totally out of control."

    "It's practically like we've been attacked by nuclear weapons," he said. "How did the Department of Homeland Security get into the medical business?"...

    182 views
    http://www.dailytitan.com/opinion/editorial-swinefluenza-overreaction-1.1738612

  • US Troops 'Must Leave Cities by June Deadline' --...

    Rated Apr 29 2009 • 1 review • politics • antiwar.com

    Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari says that despite the rising violence across the nation, US forces will have to leave Iraq's cities by the June 30 deadline dictated by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the two nations.

    Earlier this month, top US commander General Ray Odierno said that the United States might decide to "ignore" the deadline and remain in some cities beyond the date. Nineveh Commander Col. Gary Volesky pointed to Mosul as a likely city where the US forces would remain.

    Maj. Gen. Askari did leave an obvious out, however, saying that the troops could return to the cities after their withdrawal, but "only with permission from the Iraqi government." Last month, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that US troops would only be able to leave areas with the explicit permission of the Iraqi government, and then only in cases when they were 100 percent secured. The newfound eagerness to see them leave the cities may be tied to Iraqi outrage over a US raid in the city of Kut yesterday morning digg.com/d1plG5 [digg.com/d1plG5] ), which Maliki called a criminal violation of the SOFA.

    61 views
    US Troops 'Must Leave Cities by June Deadline' -- News from Antiwar.com

  • Tribune Blogs -- GenRolly Speaking

    Rated Apr 24 2009 • 1 review • politics • sltrib.com

    Keith Kuder is running for party secretary in Utah County to replace Susan Bramble, wife of Sen. Curtis Bramble, who is stepping down. Two other candidates for party secretary are Lisa Shepherd, who got a bit sideways with the party establishment last year when she had the audacity to challenge an incumbent legislator in the GOP convention, and Matt Thompson, the son of Utah County Auditor-Treasurer Brian Thompson and the apparent favorite of the party bosses, according to the endorsements.

    So perhaps it is not a surprise that Kuder, a relative newcomer to party politics, was told in a conference call from Susan Bramble and Party Chair Marian Monnahan that he had to remove the Republican logo featuring two elephants from his electronic newsletter he was sending out to delegates. He was not a representative of the party, the officers told him, just a candidate, so he could not use the logo.

    Former Senate President John Valentine, R-Provo, a leader in the Utah County GOP, was a bit dumbfounded himself when learning of the rule against the logos.

    "If you're a Republican candidate for anything, you ought to be able to display the Republican logo to show who you are," he says.

    202 views
    Tribune Blogs -- GenRolly Speaking

  • Deseret News | Universities will be 'irrelevant' by 2020,...

    Rated Apr 23 2009 • 1 review • university • deseretnews.com

    ..."Your institutions will be irrelevant by 2020."

    America's colleges and universities, says Wiley, have been acting as if what they offer -- access to educational materials, a venue for socializing, the awarding of a credential -- can't be obtained anywhere else. By and large, campus-based universities haven't been innovative, he says, because they've been a monopoly.

    But Google, Facebook, free online access to university lectures, after-hours institutions such as the University of Phoenix, and virtual institutions such as Western Governors University have changed that. Many of today's students, he says, aren't satisfied with the old model that expects them to go to a lecture hall at a prescribed time and sit still while a professor talks for an hour.

    Wiley is the founder of the Utah Open High School, which debuts next fall. It will use open content materials, and will provide an online education for 125 students...

    8 views
    Deseret News | Universities will be 'irrelevant' by 2020, Y. professor says

  • High Court Curbs Power of Police to Search Cars - WSJ.com

    Rated Apr 22 2009 • 1 review • politics • wsj.com

    ...Reviving a constitutional protection against unreasonable searches, the court effectively closed a loophole opened in a 1981 opinion that has been widely interpreted to allow police, without a warrant, to search cars--as well as bags or containers within them -- when they arrest a driver or passenger.

    Cited was one of the landmark opinions of the court under Chief Justice Earl Warren, which held that warrantless searches are inherently unreasonable apart from "a few specifically established and narrow exceptions."

    The court has tended to give police wide leeway in searching people during vehicle stops. In Tuesday's opinion, the justices reminded police that such power has limits. Although the privacy interest in one's car is lower than for a home, it "is nevertheless important and deserving of constitutional protection," Justice Stevens wrote.

    The Fourth Amendment was drafted to deny "police officers unbridled discretion to rummage at will among a person's private effects,"...

    2 views
    High Court Curbs Power of Police to Search Cars - WSJ.com

  • Rolly: Fun and games in Utah County - Salt Lake Tribune

    Rated Apr 19 2009 • 1 review • politics • sltrib.com

    The Utah County Republican Party for years has been an interesting animal to observe, with accusations of sophomoric shenanigans and clannish behavior...

    Now, it's time for the party to elect new officers and Republican Central Committee members, and old suspicions are rising up between the so-called clique and those who have had the audacity to challenge that clique's power...

    Jacqueline deGaston became a controversial figure in Utah County when she challenged Bramble in the Republican convention last year. She reported favoritism toward the Brambleites and all sorts of manipulation to prevent her supporters from becoming delegates.

    She lost at the convention and perhaps was reminded of her insubordination this year when she filed by e-mail to run for one of the Utah County slots on the Republican State Central Committee.

    Even though she filed on time, her name was not included in the original candidate list submitted to the delegates scheduled to attend Saturday's convention...

    1 view
    Rolly: Fun and games in Utah County - Salt Lake Tribune

  • TPJ.org

    Rated Apr 11 2009 • 1 review • politics • tpj.org

    After launching his career at the federal Export-Import Bank, Tim Bridgewater went on to start two companies with George W. Bush's Pioneer brother Neil. Bridgewater founded the precursor to investment bank and consulting firm Interlink Capital Strategies in 1994 with Neil Bush, who was banned from traditional banking because of his role in the $1 billion failure of Silverado Savings & Loan. After Bush ran InterLink from 1994 to 1999, Bridgewater moved to Utah to takeover while Bush headed the duo's new educational software company Ignite!. Bush and Bridgewater's first company, Interlink Management Corp., started as a merchant bank that built relationships between U.S. and Asian companies. A frequent Asian partner of Interlink is the Charoen Pokphand Group. CP Group's Thai owner attended an infamous 1996 kaffeeklasch with Bill Clinton arranged by outlaw Democratic fundraiser John Huang. The Nation reported that Bush and Bridgewater started Interlink shortly after CP Group paid ex-President Bush $250,000 in 1994. The ex-president opened Asian business doors and attended a Bangkok gala for a new paint factory opened by CP partner Advance Paint and Chemical, which had just secured rights to sell Dutch Boy paints in China. On that visit, the elder Bush discussed U.S.-Thai business ventures with officials of CP Group's TelecomAsia, which later hired Bridgewater as an adviser.

    102 views
    TPJ.org

  • Privateers vs. pirates - EDITORIAL - The News Herald

    Rated Apr 10 2009 • 1 review • politics • newsherald.com

    The easiest solution to sea piracy would be to arm crews so they can defend themselves. It shouldn't take too much firepower. Most Somali pirates are lightly armed and use small power boats, grappling hooks and ladders and the element of surprise to overtake their unarmed prey. Self-defense is preferable to relying on naval warships to respond in time to thwart attacks.

    Also, instead of deploying an already-spread-too-thin Navy in the role of swatting mosquitoes on the high seas, why not outsource security?

    Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution authorizes Congress to grant letters of marque and reprisal, which allow private parties - privateers - to attack and seize the property of other parties that have committed violations of international law.

    Why not issue letters of marque to private contractors to patrol the Somali coast in order to protect U.S. ships? Let the privateers go after the pirates.

    135 views
    Privateers vs. pirates - EDITORIAL - The News Herald