(AP) George Lucas, left, and Courtney Bennett, stand near Lenox Avenue and 142nd Street in Harlem, New... Full Image
NEW YORK (AP) - A teenager trying to get into his apartment after school is confronted by police. A man leaving his workplace chooses a different route back home to avoid officers who roam a particular street.
These and hundreds of thousands of other Americans in big cities have been stopped on the street by police using a law-enforcement practice called stop-and-frisk that alarms civil libertarians but is credited by authorities with helping reduce crime.
Police in major U.S. cities stop and question more than a million people each year - a sharply higher number than just a few years ago. Most are black and Hispanic men. Many are frisked, and nearly all are innocent of any...
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It could be a van with a plumber logo on it or a yellow livery cab. Or maybe it's a generic gray sedan, driven by a man who looks like an accountant.
Advance file photoCouncilman James Oddo
The only way you will really know what the top-secret surveillance vehicle that recently hit the streets of the Mid-Island's 122nd Precinct looks like is if you get busted in some criminal act.
Similar to the one launched by the Island's MTA police two years ago, the $55,000 high-tech ride was funded by City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) to help combat quality-of-life crimes. The "vehicle" has helped nab dozens of graffiti vandals on and around the Staten Island Railroad.
Oddo had a warning for others:
"People should think long and hard before they do anything wrong, because we are watching."
Advance sources are mum on the exact make and model of the vehicle, but did say it is equipped with a periscope, digital cameras, recorders and some "neat computer stuff."
Friday, September 25, 2009It’s a shocking scene that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the streets of Nazi Germany or Maoist China in humanity’s darkest historical period – a protester is shoved into an unmarked car by military thugs and driven away to whatever Godforsaken fate awaits him. And yet this is America in 2009, where the First Amendment is now officially a criminal offense and people who dare exercise it are attacked and abducted by military police in broad daylight.The video shows an unmarked gold Sedan drive up to a side street near Baum Ave & S Millvale Ave. in Pittsburgh. Men in military fatigues wrestle with the protester as other men in cammo exit the vehicle. The protester is shoved forcefully into the car as the military thugs follow him in and the car speeds away.Protesters scream “what the fuck is wrong with you” as the Sedan disappears into a cloud of tear gas.In another You Tube clip, the man with the red bandana seen protesting as the other man is abducted is subsequently arrested by riot cops, presumably...[More]
Santa Rosa County, FL – Today Liberty Counsel successfully cleared Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman of criminal contempt charges that arose out of a simple blessing of a meal. The criminal contempt hearing began when the ACLU asked that Lay and Freeman be held in contempt for offering a prayer over a meal at a luncheon where they honored donors to the athletic Field House project.
The federal courtroom in Pensacola, Florida, was packed with people supporting Lay and Freeman. The Pace High School students made T-shirts with the image of a potato chip that read: “Lay’s Supportive Patriots.” Busloads of people jammed the steps of the courthouse to cheer and show their support.
Members of Congress made speeches on the House floor in support of Lay and Freeman, including Cong. Randy Forbes, the Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Prayer Caucus. In his speech Forbes warned that this case represents what might be coming as result of the ACLU’s agenda: “Make no mistake, there will come a day when the speaker of this house will be hauled...
AFP/Getty Images/File – Girl scouts display various badges. The United States wants to enlist its 3.4 million Girl Scouts in …
Tue Sep 8, 2:56 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States wants to enlist its 3.4 million Girl Scouts in the effort to combat hurricanes, pandemics, terror attacks and other disasters.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a campaign Tuesday to entice the blue, brown and green-clad multitudes to be even more prepared, with the promise of a new patch if they pitch in.
The young scouts will be able to emblazon their sashes or vests with the patch if they undergo the training which readies them for an emergency.
"This new preparedness patch will increase citizen preparedness and enhance our country's readiness for disasters," said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in a statement.
"As a former Girl Scout, I know the 'Be Prepared' motto well, and I look forward to working with the Girl Scouts to spread the preparedness message to all of our nation's citizens."
The move is part of a month-long government effort to make Americans better able to cope with natural and man-made disasters.
Napolitano has urged individuals, families and businesses to stock...
BORN IN THE USA? WorldNetDaily Exclusive Shocker! Judge orders trial on eligibility issue Arguments planned Jan. 11 for major Obama challenge Posted: September 08, 2009 4:42 pm Eastern By Jerome R. Corsi WorldNetDaily
Is this the footprint of baby Barack Obama?
A California judge today tentatively scheduled a trial for Jan. 26, 2010, for a case that challenges Barack Obama's eligibility to be president based on questions over his qualifications under the requirements of the U.S. Constitution.
If the case actually goes to arguments before U.S. District Judge David Carter, it will be the first time the merits of the dispute have been argued in open court, according to one of the attorneys working on the issue.
In a highly anticipated hearing today before Carter, several motions were heard, including a resolution to long-standing questions about whether attorney Orly Taitz properly served notice on the defendants, which she had.
In a second ruling, Carter ordered that attorney Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation can be added to the case to represent plaintiffs Wiley Drake and Markham Robinson, who had been removed by an earlier court order. Drake, the vice presidential candidate for the American...
Writing in the New York Times last month, President Barack Obama asked that Americans "talk with one another, and not over one another" as our health-care debate moves forward.
I couldn't agree more. Let's engage the other side's arguments, and let's allow Americans to decide for themselves whether the Democrats' health-care proposals should become governing law.
Some 45 years ago Ronald Reagan said that "no one in this country should be denied medical care because of a lack of funds." Each of us knows that we have an obligation to care for the old, the young and the sick. We stand strongest when we stand with the weakest among us.
We also know that our current health-care system too often burdens individuals and businesses—particularly small businesses—with crippling expenses. And we know that allowing government health-care spending to continue at current rates will only add to our ever-expanding deficit.
How can we ensure that those who need medical care receive it while also reducing health-care costs? The answers offered by Democrats in Washington all rest on one principle: that increased...
The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world's monetary system since the Second World War.
By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor Published: 6:45PM BST 07 Sep 2009
A number of countries, including China and Russia, have suggested replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency
In a radical report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said the system of currencies and capital rules which binds the world economy is not working properly, and was largely responsible for the financial and economic crises.
It added that the present system, under which the dollar acts as the world's reserve currency, should be subject to a wholesale reconsideration.
Although a number of countries, includingChinaand Russia, have suggested replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency,the UNCTAD reportis the first time a major multinational institution has posited such a suggestion.
In essence, the report calls for a new Bretton Woods-style system of managed international exchange rates, meaning central banks would be forced to intervene and either support or push...
Councilman James Oddo 
