Temporarily at My Life as a Spam Blog
According to a classified document, "Special Operations and Joint Forces in Countering Terrorism" prepared for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by his Defense Science Board, a new organization has been created to thwart potential terrorist attacks on the United States. This counter-terror operations group— the "Proactive Preemptive Operations Group" (P2OG) will require 100 people and at least $100 million a year. The team of covert counter-intelligence agents will be responsible for secret missions designed to target terrorist leaders. The secret missions are designed to "stimulate reactions" among terrorist groups, provoking them into committing violent acts which would then expose them to "counterattack" by U.S. forces.
Appropriately enough for a story about the deepest possible covert operation — penetrating terrorist cells and provoking them into action — the saga of the Pentagon's "Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group" (P2OG) went straight back into the dark after strutting its brief hour upon the stage. There has been no new information about the group since it was first mentioned nationally in the Los Angeles Times as part of a larger story on Pentagon plans for new "secret armies." Was it funded? Is it operational? Has it "flushed out" any terrorists lately by goading them into "action"? Are any of the post-Iraq War spate of terrorist atrocities linked to P2OG activities?
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has introduced bipartisan (I think Grover was right, it is date rape)legislation affirming that pest management professionals (PMPs) and other applicators using federally registered pesticides in accordance with label directions do not have to obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Fairfax, Va.-based National Pest Management Association (NPMA) supports the bill, which was filed by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.).
The Pest Management and Fire Suppression Flexibility Act was created in response to recent U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rulings, which require persons applying pesticides directly to or over bodies of water to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES) under CWA.
The Pest Management and Fire Suppression Flexibility Act was created in response to recent U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rulings, which require persons applying pesticides directly to or over bodies of water to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES) under CWA.
WASHINGTON — Bipartisan (there's that word again) legislation affirming that applicators using federally registered pesticides in accordance with label directions do not have to obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA) was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Fairfax, Va.-based National Pest Management Association (NPMA) supports this measure.
Filed by U.S. Representative Butch Otter (R-Idaho), the Pest Management and Fire Suppression Flexibility Act was made necessary by recent U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decisions that misinterpreted the intended relationship between CWA and federal pesticide law. The rulings require persons applying pesticides directly to or over bodies of water to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES) under CWA, a costly and potentially time-consuming process.
The Pence-Wynn "Show Me the Money" campaign finance bill, which would gut 30 years of campaign finance reform, is racing through the House of Representatives and could come up for a vote as early as next week. The bill would allow a single individual to give more than $1 million in campaign donations to federal candidates.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men
who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors,
and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army;
another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or
hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their
fortunes,
and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.
Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large
plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but
they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing
full well that the penalty would be death if they were
captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and
trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the
British Navy. He sold his home and properties to
pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British
that he was forced to move his family almost
constantly.
He served in the Congress without pay, and his family
was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from
him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery,
Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge,
and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted
that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the
Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged
General George Washington to open fire. The home was
destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few
months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she
was
dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His
fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more
than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning
home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted,
but we shouldn't.
George W. Bush is not Lord. The Declaration of Independence is not an infallible guide to Christian faith and practice. Nor is the U.S. Constitution, nor the U.N. Universal Declaration on Human Rights. "Original intent" of America's founders is not the hermeneutical key that will guarantee national righteousness. The American flag is not the Cross. The Pledge of Allegiance is not the Creed. "God Bless America" is not the Doxology.
Sometimes one needs to state the obvious—especially at times when it's less and less obvious.
I don't know the source for the story about the signers, but I do know I lifted the last quote from the Slactivist.
