Obama is the Democrats nominee.

• Man beaten by Denver police. “Someone had a chokehold and they were all on top of me and I couldn’t breathe and I thought I was going to die.”
• Judge drops murder charges against New Orleans police in Katrina shootings.
• Informant police used lied and strong-armed hacker that brought on a 9 year sentence.
• A coroner’s report showed that a Louisiana man was handcuffed and on the ground when the police tasered him to death.
• Buffalo NY police batter their way into family home.  It turns out they raided the wrong house.  From the article: ” She says she’s left with a broken door, an injured husband, jittery children and — what bothers her most — still no apology from police. “They know they did something wrong and they were still ignorant,” said the 29-year-old Pennyamon. “At first, I just wanted an apology. Now, because they want[ed] to be ignorant and rude, I have to take it to the next level.”"
• And the DNC Police State.

• Recently, chemists and pharmacists all five cannabinoids in marijuana (THC, CBD, CBG, CBC, and CBN) is effective in killing bacteria and is an effective antiseptic.  Of course, no medical purpose for marijuana exists.  Even though this is helping in fighting the MRSA bacteria, which kills more in the United States every year than AIDS.
• “Louisiana Lawmen Play Loose and Fast with the Constitution“
• The DEA found a one million dollar marijuana garden was found in a Miami shopping mall.
• Atorney General of California Jerry Brown is cracking down on medical marijuana clubs making “big profits”.

Watch Charlie Rose interview Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This is the guy we are supposed to be afraid of?  Give me a break.

What a political circus.

They wasted an entire day talking about petty and personal things.  I don’t agree with James Carville, the “Ragin’ Cajun”, very often but he is right that the Democrats have lost their message.  Instead of focusing on the War on Iraq, Afghanistan, gas prices, etc.  It’s unfortunate that the Democrats are instead stooping down to a boring, mind numbing yawn fest.  I would say the best speech does have to go to Dennis Kucinich thus far.  I don’t agree with him on his abysmal and undesirable economic policies, but he does highlight the Bush blunders on foreign policy and civil liberties.  But in the end he had to endorse Barack Obama.  Ah, how sweet, but that’s partisanship for you.  You know he wouldn’t have got a speaking position if he didn’t.

When it comes to the Michelle Obama speech the blogosphere blew up.  However, I wasn’t impressed at all.  To be sure, she gave a very touching speech with a very populist message.  She talked about her growing up in a poor family and her struggles and problems, as if no one else has struggled in life before.  Instead of going on to doing something with their incredible intelligence, like Baracks brother living in China who creates jobs as an entrepreneur she decided to work in public service using taxpayers dollars and talked Barack who decided to become a politician into helping her get a $200,000 raise.  How nice of him.

She criticized those who work on Wall Street, as if they were criminals.  The businessmen on Wall Street are far more important to creating jobs than Barack Obama has ever done as a politician.  She said that Obama wants to get out of Iraq, responsibly of course.  But isn’t that the same thing McCain wants?  She talks about sending troops home with jobs and healthcare.  But why should we even have to talk about that if we bring them all home and keep them home perminately.  In my opinion the whole speech was very empty and just encouraged more statist means.

Ted Kennedy’s speech–double yawn.  He promised to come back so he can work so hard to make sure more wealth gets transferred from one pocket to another.

Pelosi–same old partisan B.S.

So all in all, fairly uneventful thus far.

I guess the most entertaining thing about the convention so far is the protesters.  But while entertaining it’s kind of disgusting.  I really wish they would have said something important when given a platform by the mainstream media other than acting like teenagers.  Someone told me “but duuude, it’s FOX News.  They are just going to spin the message anyways”.  My response to that was “well when they were belligerent they spun it anyways by saying the crowd was against free speech”.  It’s silly, unnecessary, and really quite daunting to me that some of the antiwar crowd could act this way as if it will further their cause.  It’s simply not and is doing the very opposite by turning people off from any type of movement they may be trying to start.

Warning: Video contains foul language.

Ah Dick, way to rewrite history.  We did not go into Iraq at the request of the Iraqi government.  If anything, we went in at the request of the Israeli government leadership and the NeoCons. If we remember there was somewhat of a resistance that we met when we went in otherwise, why did we kill so many hundreds of thousands of people those first few days?  It wasn’t their welcoming committee, was it?

(H/T ADS)

That’s the headline of a Wired article.  In the article it talks about a study done by the Department of Defense of different mind altering techniques that can be used to make better soldiers and more compliant enemies.

• Mind reading. The development of psychological models and neurological imaging has made it possible to see what people are thinking and whether they’re lying. The science is, however, still in its infancy: Challenges remain in accounting for variations between individual brains, and the tendency of our brains to change over time.

  One important application is lie detection — though one hopes that the lesson of traditional lie detectors, predicated on the now-disproven idea that the physiological basis of lying can be separated from processes such as anxiety, has been learned.

  Mind readers could be used to interrogate captured enemies, as well as “terrorist suspects” passing through customs. But does this mean, for example, that travelers placed on the bloated, mistake-laden watchlist would have their minds scanned, just as their computers will be?

  The report notes that “In situations where it is important to win the hearts and minds of the local populace, it would be useful to know if they understand the information being given them.”

• Cognitive enhancement. Arguably the most developed area of cognitive neuroscience, with drugs already allowing soldiers to stay awake and alert for days at a time, and brain-altering drugs in widespread use among civilians diagnosed with mental and behavioral problems.

  Improved drug delivery systems and improved neurological understanding could make today’s drugs seem rudimentary, giving soldiers a superhuman strength and awareness — but if a drug can be designed to increase an ability, a drug can also be designed to destroy it.

  “It’s also important to develop antidotes and protective agents against various classes of drugs,” says the report. This echoes the motivation of much federal biodefense research, in which designing defenses against potential bioterror agents requires those agents to be made — and that raises the possibility of our own weapons being turned against us, as with the post-9/11 anthrax attacks, which used a military developed strain.

• Mind control. Largely pharmaceutical, for the moment, and a natural outgrowth of cognitive enhancement approaches and mind-reading insight: If we can alter the brain, why not control it?

  One potential use involves making soldiers want to fight. Conversely, “How can we disrupt the enemy’s motivation to fight? [...] How can we make people trust us more? What if we could help the brain to remove fear or pain? Is there a way to make the enemy obey our commands?”

• Brain-Machine Interfaces. The report focuses on direct brain-to-machine systems (rather than, for example, systems that are controlled by visual movements, which are already in limited use by paraplegics.) Among these are robotic prostheses that replace or extend body parts; cognitive and sensory prostheses, which make it possible to think and to perceive in entirely new ways; and robotic or software assistants, which would do the same thing, but from a distance.

That’s the State for you.  Always looking for the better and more efficient ways of killing and destroying lives.  But, Luckily there are critics as the article points out.

“I think most reasonable people, if they imagine a world in which all sides have figured out how to control brains, they’d rather not go there,” he said. “Most rational human beings would believe that if we could have a world where nobody does military neuroscience, we’ll all be better off. But for some people in the Pentagon, it’s too delicious to ignore.”

Of course they are doing this in the name of “saving lives”.  As if all we need to do is destroy and maim lives to save some.

Question: Why is it illegal for citizens to sell their vote for money when politicians sell their vote to lobbyists everyday?

1. The Last Republican by Bill Kauffman.
2. Oh, Me! Me! Shoot Me! by Peter S. Rieth.
3. Ambivalence of War by Charlie Reese.
4. Why we love America’s Outrageous War Economy by Paul B. Ferrell.
5. The Lessons of Endless War by Andrew Bacevich and Tom Engelhardt.
6. There May Be Mushroom Clouds in Our Future by Paul Craig Roberts.
7. Something Besides Money Growth Causes Inflation?  It just isn’t so! by Howard Baetjer, Jr.
8. How Foreign Policy Affects Gas Prices by Ron Paul.
9. Patriotism by Herbert Spencer.
10. Bizzaro Imperialism by Justin Raimondo.
11. The Real Cost of a Full Bailout by Don A. Rich.

An great interview with Pat on Russian TV.

With the surge in violence in Afghanistan the Pentagon plans to have a surge in sending more young men and woman putting them in danger to kill more Afghanis.

The Pentagon will be sending 12,000 to 15,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, possibly as soon as the end of this year, with planning underway for a further force buildup in 2009.

A request by Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, for three U.S. brigades with support staff has been approved. “Now that means we just need to figure out a way to get them there,” adds a senior defense official.

Remember those toilets Seattle was selling on EBay?

Well, they sold for $12,549.  Just over .01% the price they were purchased for.

Time line of the loss of liberties since 9/11.

After spending one year in a Syrian prison enduring torture and not understanding to this day why he was sent there by American government from his home in Canada, Arar will finally have his day in court.  Hopefully it will disclose the reason why he was sent to Syria and prove to hold those responsible accountable.  It may even aid in making sure it doesn’t happen to others.

Although, I wouldn’t count on it.  It’s well known governments are rarely held accountable for their mistakes.  Even ones as serious as sending someone overseas away from their home and torturing them for information he didn’t even have.

11year old Katie and her little 3 year old sister Sabrina were selling their extra fruits and vegetables from their family garden at a stand near their house during the summer.  However, when city officials got wind of the operation they promptly shut it down.

“They said traffic was being stopped and then they came up with we can’t have a roadside stand and then they said it was a commercial enterprise,” said Katie Lewis, former produce seller.

Horrendous!  This will teach them economics–the government way.  Pay your fees, taxes, and get the proper permits or your a criminal.  Typical statist mindset.

Of course there was no traffic problem, says their neighbor.

As for the traffic issue, neighbor Terri Highsmith says there isn’t one.

“On the weekends is when I mostly notice them selling. I come and go a lot and I’ve never seen any traffic problems,” said Highsmith.

However, the mayor of the town disagrees that there isn’t a problem.

“They may start out with a little card-table and selling a couple of things, but then who is to say what else they have. Is all the produce made there, do they make it themselves? Are they going to have eggs and chickens for sale next,” said Manning.

How horrible.  Selling services people want at a profit!  Terrifying.

Way to teach them to submit to the state rather than something that can benefit everyone involved, such as free enterprise and business principles Mayor Manning.  Luckily they and their father are fighting back, the terrible father that he is.  How dare he teach them how to use their talents and resources as good entrepreneurs to make a little money!

Private Robin Long was sentenced for 15 months for desertion.  The sentence is the longest an army deserter has been sentenced since 2003.

Of the thousands of soldiers sentenced for desertion or going AWOL – and the estimated two dozen tried for protesting the war – only former army sergeant Kevin Benderman received an equal sentence in 2005.

About two-dozen anti-war supporters gathered around the courthouse at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo., yesterday afternoon as a military judge handed down Long’s sentence.

Though initially sentenced to 30 months in prison, that time was reduced to the 15-month maximum military prosecutors had agreed on when arranging a plea deal last week.

Long, 25, came to Canada in 2005 to flee a scheduled deployment to Iraq. While here, he was briefly engaged to an Ontario woman – with whom he had a child last year – before he moved to British Columbia, supporters have said.

He was deported and taken into the custody of the U.S. Army last month following a series of failed attempts to gain refugee status or permanent residency in Canada.

Late last week, Long’s lawyers reached an agreement with prosecutors that would see him plead guilty on charges of desertion with the intent to stay away permanently.

In return, prosecutors agreed not to move forward on the most serious charges of desertion with the intent to shirk hazardous duty.

Standing calmly and waiting for his sentence after three hours of testimony at yesterday’s hearing, Long appeared stoic and ready to serve his time in a military jail, supporters said.

To me he’s a hero for refusing to kill stangers in a strange land in an illegal and undeclared war, but to the neocons he is a criminal deserving second class citizenship.  Justice is served…

In a seemingly smart move organized criminals all over the world are dumping their U.S. dollars and instead wanting to be paid in Euros.  Of course the reason for this is because our politicians, elected and unelected, the Federal Reserve, etc have destroyed our dollar.

So does that make criminals smarter than politicians monetarily?  Well, they apparently aren’t stupid.

• Psychologists hired by the state to evaluate sex offenders cost the state of California over $24 million in compliance with Jessica’s Law.  14 of those evaluators billed the state over half a billion dollars each.
• Bars hold protest over smoking ban in West Virginia.
• A Los Angeles official wants to ban smoking outdoors.
• In Australia some officials want to ban smoking in cars with children.
• Over in the U.K. the government wants to take fat children away from their parents to curb obesity.
• Homeschooling trade off in California.  Times labels it a win, but while it does allow children to be homeschooled it does add more bureaucracy.
• Milk Wars, how the FDA enjoys harassing small business.
• At JFK airport denying basic rights is just another day at the office.
• U.S. Lawmakers want the FBI to have broader powers to conduct surveillance on U.S. citizens.
• The government loves recording you whether you are committing a crime or not, but when you are filming officers it could land you in jail in Massachusetts.
• Fliers without I.D. placed on TSA watch list.
• Police forces around the U.S. are using GPS tracking tags without warrants.
• How Big Brother Watches Your Every Move.  Government cameras can be filming you up to 3,000 times a day–in Britain.  But don’t think that’s not coming to a city near you!

More good than bad.

• An ex-drug policy director in the U.K. calls for Drug Legalisation.
• Former Seattle Police Chief talks to reason.tv on the high cost of the Drug War and why drugs should be legal.
• Denver may allow marijuana use during the Democratic National Convention and may focus on other things–like people practicing their first amendment rights.  (Okay, I added that last part but you know it’s true.)
• Over 100 college student body presidents are making the case that drinking age laws are at least partially the cause for so many students going off campus to binge drink and partake in other promiscuous activities.  Interestingly, or not so interestingly depending on your take, the “libertarian” Steve Chapman makes the case to keep the drinking age at 21 over at Reason.
• Pigeon in custody for smuggling drugs to Bosnian prisoners.

In the While I Was Away post just over a week ago I reported on the fact that a court had barred MIT students from showing how easy it was to hack into Boston’s subway system.

Well, they appealed and a federal judge gave them the go-ahead to show their demonstration at a hacker conference in Las Vegas.

Based on Kurt Vonnegut’s book Harrison Bergeron.  In a time where “everyone is finally equal” by government force.  Those who are beautiful are forced to wear masks, those who are graceful or strong are forced to wear “handicaps”, and the intelligent must have their thoughts intercepted.  Where the State is mandated to “destroy any trace of the extraordinary” but luckily, as the trailer points out, the extraordinary is out of the State’s reach.

Murray Rothbard would surely love this movie.

Watch the trailer:

To see a high def version of the trailer visit the website which is brilliantly named finallyequal.com.

(H/T LRC)

In an unfortunate decision by the Canadian Border Control Agency Jeremy Hinzman has ordered that he pack up his belongings and leave the country back to the United States where he deserted the army when his unit was sent to Iraq.  If he does not leave “voluntarily” he will be forced out of the country by September 23rd via deportation.  Him, his wife and son fled Fort Bragg back in 2004.

Even after serving one tour of duty in Afghanistan the Army wanted to send him off to more combat missions.  But this time he wasn’t going–so he fled and has struggled since to get refugee status from the Canadian government.  Unfortunately he has failed in his efforts.

It’s expected that the U.S. Army will court martial him and he could end up serving five years in prison if he is convicted of desertion.  But who holds the moral high ground here?  The government which wants to forcefully send him to foreign lands to kill strangers or the young man who can’t bring himself to kill another human being?

Hinzman enlisted voluntarily and said he joined the army for a variety of reasons, including the college fund, the adventure and the stability. But after joining, he realized he could not bring himself to kill any one.

“I went through all the training. I served honorably in my unit. I used army provisions to try become a noncombatant and remain in the army as a medic or something, but I still would be subject to going on combat missions as a medic,” Hinzman said.

“I can’t bring myself to shoot another person. If people want to criticize me for that, then I’m honored to be criticized because I’m not a killer.”

The sad and unfortunate thing about the army is it entices our young men with incentives such as college that they maybe could not have been able to afford otherwise.  Promises of adventures and traveling all over the world.  But when it comes down to it–these men are trained to kill and that becomes their ultimate purpose for the government.

When some of these men realize they can’t kill or don’t want to be killed and that they and their government have gotten themselves in over their heads they must make a decision.  Some apply for conciencus objector status–which are often denied, some will flee, some will even act homosexual.  Others will do even more unfortunate things such as injure themselves or committ suicide.

In the words of General Smedley Butler, “War is Racket“.

Yesterday the Feds closed another bank today.  The ninth bank to fail this year is Columbian Bank and Trust Co. of Topeka, Kansas.

The bank, with $752 million in assets and $622 million in total deposits, was shuttered by the Kansas state bank commissioner’s office and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the FDIC said yesterday in a statement.