Abraham Lincoln in The New Millenium

Do the famous principles of our most iconic forefather, Abraham Lincoln, still hold any weight? Special guest contributor Neal Tarshis presents an informative look into the life, lessons, and legacy of our 16th President. COMING SOON!

NAVY SEAL BICKLE CAUGHT RED-HANDED IN STOLEN ARMS SCANDAL

This is especially a shame because to me, a Navy Seal is somewhere between Superman, Captain America, and GI Joe...the ULTIMATE powerhouse and delivery boys for brute force needed at times to keep our nation...and maybe even the world a little safer. Damn-it man! Why did ya have to tarnish your outfit's image? I know there is a lot I know nothing about--and I understand the urge to take advantage of a money-making opportunity (since we all know about the "riches" bestowed upon you by our tight-wad government for risking your life in the name of America's safety. )...but your a damn-near super hero, man!! A NAVY SEAL! Fuck! Ya let us down--but so what? The world keeps spinning. I hope they go easy on you for once in your professional military career. Good Luck, Mr. Bickle!
November 5, 2010 8:28 p.m. EDT
FROM CNN

Nicholas Bickle appeared before a judge in San Diego, California, on Friday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Navy SEAL is accused of trying to sell powerful weapons fresh off Iraqi battlefields
• SEAL Nicholas Bickle due to appear in court in San Diego, California
• Agents got information from an informant, the complaint indicates
• SEALs are supposed to pass same strict checks entering U.S. as other troops, officials say

Washington (CNN) -- The arrest of a Navy SEAL accused of trying to sell arms smuggled from Iraq or Afghanistan has raised questions about how he managed to get 80 high-powered weapons into the U.S. through military transport.
The questions were buzzing Friday inside the ranks of the U.S. military after an accusation that a Navy SEAL, one of America's elite warriors, was at the center of a weapons smuggling ring.
The 18-page criminal complaint from the U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas, Nevada, reads like a paperback thriller -- full of machine guns, cash, threats and bravado, a lot of it told to federal agents by a cooperative informant who had been facing domestic battery and robbery charges.
The AK-47 rifles are described as fresh off the battlefield, marked with the Arabic letter that signifies they were part of the Iraqi Army arsenal -- or, as one of the alleged conspirators said: "There is still Iraqi sand in this [expletive]."
The Navy SEAL is identified as Nicholas Bickle. He talked tough, according to the complaint.
"If you ever [expletive] with me you know who we are. We're the government, we'll catch you," he told one person.
From what little information could be gleaned from the Pentagon and Bickle's Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego, California, he's 33 years old, enlisted in 2004, and pinned on the SEALs' trident insignia in 2005. Bickle deployed twice to Iraq, according to Kate Wallace, a spokeswoman at Naval Special Warfare Command.
Bickle appeared in a San Diego federal court Friday.
The military rules are clear: Everyone gets searched before heading home from deployment. Military screeners are trained by Customs and Border Protection officials and they screen the people, the luggage, the gear and the cargo, according to Wallace.
"Our special forces members don't have special waivers for customs inspections. They're subject to all the same rules and restrictions as anyone else in uniform," said Wallace.
But the rules seem to bend a little for special operations forces.
"The regular guys go through a more robust search, but it's only a cursory search for special forces guys," one person with insider knowledge of military procedures told Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence,
A special forces team might travel with far more equipment, including classified hardware, have a shorter deployment, and might arrive and leave on a far different and less formal schedule than regular troops.
Rank-and-file military get even more rigorous treatment than civilians might face in an airport line: Put the duffel on the conveyor belt, have it X-rayed, and then dump the contents out on a table and have them picked over. And then pack it up and have it X-rayed again before heading to the plane and home.
Outside, before troops get to the military screeners, there are so-called "Amnesty Boxes," a last chance for a military man or woman who might "forget" to hand in that battlefield souvenir or might have an extra live round in a pocket. They can drop items in the box with no questions asked. And the rules are strict about not bringing back weapons, apart from those assigned and supplied, which are placed in the aircraft hold.
"To bring any kind of war trophies back, you have to go through a process," Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said Friday. Asked what might follow the arrest of Bickle, Lapan would only say, "Too soon to tell."
There are cases of troops taking unauthorized equipment from the battlefield, but almost all of those involve smuggling items home as personal souvenirs, according to the Defense official.
"This seems to go way beyond that. We have dangerous gangs operating just over that Southwest border, and here we have a SEAL arming the very guys we could be fighting," the Defense official said.
The Naval Special Warfare Command is cooperating with federal officials, but it is not conducting its own investigation into how Bickle allegedly smuggled in all the weapons as a SEAL.

"If it's determined we need to reassess procedures in place to make sure our members are not transporting items stateside, then we'll certainly do that," Wallace said.

Senior N.A.D. News Wire Editor Flexes His America Muscles

By ADAM DOLIN,
News Wire Editor, Guest Contributor, & Ronin

 I see a country that is no longer split. No longer "bi-partisan." A country that has no solutions...only complaints. A country that will so passionately preach those complaints that they will go to the reaches of saying things like "the problem with this economy is that we have gotten away from being a catholic nation. If you want to fix the economy, listen to our forefathers who created this land as a catholic nation, and return it to that state."
I see the 50+ responses to that sort of a post, and the extreme belief in it. I look at the other posts that these people submit. I see the glenn beck clips. I see less of them, but i also see almost as many people that subscribe to articles with the title "Right-wing extremism may be on rise, report says."
Report says...REPORT FUCKING SAYS??? Who has the right to report, and why are there so many extremists that follow them?

The person that posted the article about us needing religion to fix our economy happens to be a very dear friend of mine. He posts Glenn Beck's "news cast" on a daily basis. Sometimes an hourly basis...and unfortunately, I can't say any different for the other side.

He is the same person that continuously posts messages (and gets very heated responses) about the hate crimes and "terrorism" that has been caused by religious extremists from the middle east...and I would like to pose a question to every american soul that has a BRAIN OF THEIR OWN.

Where did those extremists that blew your shit up start coming up with those ideas? Was it the hatred of your own personal feeling of superiority? Was it the hatred of what America is becoming? Did it start from one person who was capable of getting up on a podium and preaching to a group of 100 people that what they believe is right? Was it that person's ability to speak the way that I am right now?

Well let me pose one more question...from an editor to the president of the national affairs desk......what happens when those other 100 people that post their affirmation of what the "leader" believes, continue to expose themselves to the same media that he does? What happens when those same uneducated people, who are just looking for something powerful to latch onto decide to do something about it? What happens when they decide that because they don't know anything whatsoever, and don't care about that fact, that they will start subscribing to the same media that their "leader" does. And what are the consequences that this world will suffer when they decide to act on it the same way that the extremists in the middle east that they preach about did?

Are we any different than a middle eastern between the ages of 17-34 if we go and blow up one of their buildings? Why? Because we are american?

The second most disturbing thing about this problem is that those middle eastern males between the ages of 17-34 know what they are talking about. The most disturbing thing about this subject, is that clearly...american males that preach this way don't. They are simply fed powerful propaganda and "news reports" from people like john stewart and glenn beck. Not to say that john stewart and glenn beck aren't right about some of the things that they say. But it becomes a problem when you have a nation of morons who gather their information from the biggest extremist in the country. It becomes and even bigger problem when they start preaching the same bullshit that they hear. It becomes a catastrophy when those people build a big enough netword of people that don't know what else to latch onto because they are too lazy to think for themselves. And it becomes the end of the world when they begin to act on it.

So in honor of The Woody Creek chapter 11, I am reaching out to anyone that is in the age group of americans that will be the future of our world, AND are capable of thinking AND acting for themselves.

I am asking for those people who have their specific talents, and are passionate enough about using their brain for a greater good. Not passionate about using their amazing talents for negativity. I am asking for the support of people like you, to realize that YOU CAN THINK FOR YOURSELF. You can be thankful for what you have. You can find the positive in a negative situation. I am simply asking that you do that.

With all of the negatives that our society exposes us to, our minds are trained to pick a side. Once you've picked your side, whether you have any clue about what you are talking about or not...unfortunately your side is made up.

But what if there was a side in the middle. A side that tries to find the good in life, and cultivate it. Rather than exposing as many people as you can with your talents to the negatives in our society, why not be an innovator? Why not get the public to realize the positives. And what happens when a nation of extreme negativists turn into a nation of people that want to feel happy again?

I need people like you Matt. I need people like me, and people like brian lapins, and people like llonatan axle, and people like Tal Ben-Shahar, and Martin Seligman. I have submitted these same ideas to Dr. Seligman (president of the American Psychology Association and National Positive Psychology Association). And I WILL get a response. And I will not only get a response, I am ready to make a difference in this world. Because it needs people that are willing to start a website called the "national affairs desk." And it needs people that are willing to find the positive in a society filled with greed, finger pointing, and ultimately...............finish that sentance yourself.

I will be a poster boy. I have created the connections to be a poster boy. I will get up on stage and I will tell the public that they are MISGUIDED!

But I need minds like yours.

So thankyou for reading my soap-box message board post. If you would be so kind as to post it on your web-site, it would be much appreciated. But this society will end if all we have are two groups of people, or three groups of people, or four groups, or a world of people that are only capable of finding things that are wrong with the world, and never anything that is right, or a solution to their problems. We will crumble as a planet, not just as a nation, if all we are capable of focusing on are the things that are already destroying us. We have focused on that long enough. It is time for a new era. A new era of positive thought. An era of thought that will move us FORWARD, instead of dwelling on why we are moving backwards.

I have an attorney, an investment banker, a college professor with a PHD in positive psychology, a close friend who literally aced his LSAT, a brother with an MBA and 4 other BA's in business, accounting, statistics, and valuation. I have a strangle hold on the insurance industry, and am now licensed in every state in the country to sell not only what our people NEED as far as insurance goes, but also what they NEED as far as investment, and life insurance go. I have the capability now to show the people our age, who have no idea what to think, but are never the less subject to having their thoughts controlled...ways to counter act the fact that our generation will not have social security. I am licensed in every state of the US to sell insurance, banking products, and securities of every kind, and I have the contacts to start a revolution of people that WANT to be educated. The only reason they aren't is because the generation before us did such a good job with their generation that they didn't take the time to teach us how to do the same thing.
So I guess this is my form of an extremist post. I am extreme in the way of saying fuck you to all the close minded morons, who make opinions that are SO strong, based on nothing but the words of a glenn beck.
Please feel free to pass this message on to anybody who has an open mind, and has been misguided to this point in their lives. Because we are at a point where either the people like you and I will educate our world...or the uneducated will destroy it.

By National Affairs Desk Syndicate Senior Editor,
ADAM DOLIN

Obama Administration Lifts Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium

By Tom Cohen, CNN

October 12, 2010 4:54 p.m. EDT

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued the moratorium in May, which was overturned, then issued a second ban in June.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Gibbs denies any political reason for timing of the decision
• Bromwich expects some permits for new drilling this year
• Salazar announces conditions for resumed drilling
• Moratorium was declared after the Gulf oil spill disaster

Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration is lifting the moratorium on deep-water oil drilling -- put in place after the Gulf oil spill disaster -- for operators who comply with tough new rules and regulations, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday.
"There will always be risks associated with deep-water drilling," Salazar said. "We have reached a point where we have significantly reduced those risks."
The six-month moratorium was first issued by Salazar in May after the April 20 explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people and triggered one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. An estimated 4.9 million barrels (206 million gallons) of oil gushed into the Gulf before the broken well, 5,000 feet below the surface, was capped.
Salazar's initial moratorium was overturned by a federal judge whose ruling was upheld by an appeals court. The interior secretary then issued a second ban in June that was scheduled to expire in November.
Critics of the ban, including Republican leaders, Gulf state officials and Gulf Coast residents, said it would only hurt oil and gas workers in the already hard-hit coastal communities, where hundreds of jobs were lost because of the disaster.
Environmental groups and other supporters of the moratorium argued it was necessary due to a lack of effective regulation of deep-water drilling that allowed the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent spill to occur.
Tuesday's decision came three weeks before congressional elections in which Democrats are expected to lose seats in both chambers, and possibly lose control of the House. Asked if the move was politically motivated to help Gulf state candidates in tough races, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said it was based on the completion of a proper policy review.
"This is a very deliberative policy process," Gibbs said. "It puts in place some important safety steps to ensure that when it is done again, it is done safely."
Salazar said the moratorium provided time to make sure similar accidents involving a failed piece of equipment called a blowout preventer wouldn't occur, and that rig operators were prepared to deal with worst-case scenarios if it did happen.
Under the new requirements, operators must show that their proposed development and exploration plans can deal with potential blowouts and undergo detailed inspections and design reviews of blowout preventers by independent third parties, said Michael Bromwich, the new head of the federal agency that oversees offshore oil drilling.
Bromwich said it might take time for companies to come into full compliance, but he expected some permits for resumed drilling to be approved by the end of the year.
"We will not approve permits without vital supplemental information required by the rules," said Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, a critic of the moratorium, called Tuesday's announcement a good first step but said more was needed to help the region's oil and gas industry get back to work.
"This means that the administration must continue to accelerate the granting of permits in shallow and deep water, and provide greater certainty about the rules and regulations industry must meet," Landrieu said in a statement.
Landrieu has blocked Senate consideration of President Barack Obama's nomination of Jacob Lew to become the new director of the White House Office of Management and Budget to protest the moratorium. Her statement said she would study the situation in coming weeks before deciding whether to lift her hold on the nomination when the Senate returns from recess after the November 2 congressional elections.
Gibbs told reporters that the Lew nomination was unrelated to the oil spill issue and he criticized Landrieu for playing politics.
"We have said from the beginning that the hold was unwarranted and outrageous," he said.
The chairman of the House Energy and Environment subcommittee, Democratic Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, praised the moratorium as a necessary step to instill safety in the drilling industry.
"This deepwater drilling suspension was always about keeping the Gulf workers and waters safe from another oil spill, and it has been effective in doing so," Markey said in a statement. "The new rules that the Interior Department has issued will help ensure that if oil companies are going to drill ultra-deep, they are doing so in a manner that is ultra-safe."
Environmental groups questioned if enough had been done to prevent another rig explosion and spills like the one that took oil giant BP and the government months to contain.
"Today's actions are premature," said a statement from Peter Lehner, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The difficult clean-up process in the Gulf has taught us prevention is key. To ensure a disaster like this never happens again, we must know what caused it in the first place. We're still waiting for that answer and until we get it -- the moratorium should remain in place."
David Guest, an attorney for Earthjustice, said it was "surprising the federal government thinks it has so quickly resolved all the problems that contributed to the spill."
"We learned from this spill that we have only a tiny fraction of what's necessary to control deep water oil spills," Guest said in a statement. "While we've now got some new regulations that address technology and safety, the federal government still hasn't come up with any new regulations addressing oil spill response. We still don't have the equipment or technology to control or contain the oil from a major blowout in the Gulf."
However, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said the moratorium should have been lifted sooner, and that he now worried that "severe bottlenecks in the federal permit review process have resulted in a de facto moratorium for shallow water drilling,"
The moratorium affected 36 operators, half of which were able to continue some level of work such as helping to dig relief tunnels that capped the broken well, Salazar said. Lifting the moratorium means applications for 18 exploratory wells can again move forward, providing they comply with the tougher new regulations and rules, he said.

"The policy position we've articulated today is that we're open for business," Salazar said. "We will be taking applications for drilling in the deep water and we'll be processing those applications under the road map ... created in the last six months."

Mobster "Shocks Us All" By Finding Loophole To Escape Prison Time

(Reuters/ National Affairs Desk) -SICILY - A court in Sicily has ruled that an accused Mafioso can be put under house arrest because he is too fat for any Italian jail. Regardless of accommodations offered, the only "reasonable" plan was to simply send the hardened criminal home so he could be comfortable.

Salvatore Ferranti, who weighs 210 kg (462 pounds), was allowed to go home after spending six months in four Italian prisons, his lawyer told Reuters, confirming a local newspaper report.

Guards at the first two prisons said they constantly needed to help Ferranti, 36, get dressed and undressed, move about and go to the bathroom.

"If we refused to aid him, we would have been stuck cleaning up all his [feces]," Said one of the guards. "...which there was an enormous amount of. It was amazing because he was only given two plain sandwiches a day."

Guards at other prisons said there was no bed big enough for him, that he could not get through the bathroom door, and that they would be at a loss if he had to be taken to a hospital in an emergency.

Ferranti was accused of being a member of the Mafia clan once headed by Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the "boss of bosses" arrested last November.

Mob Lawyer Raffaele Bonsignore filed a motion with a court in Palermo to release him under house arrest because he suffered from "grave obesity", calling it "a pathology incompatible with prison".

"Just because he is a drug dealing, bank-heisting murderer and criminal mastermind is no justification for him needing to be uncomfortable in a jail cell. Home is where he belongs. And he can also eat what he likes there as well, which he will enjoy.".

(reporting by Philip Pullell) (with comical addition from the NADNW)

"EYES WIDE SHUT PARTIES REAL!!"

I know it's not current events but I almost fell on the floor when I saw this. For those of you who haven't seen the film...its no use--just go watch it. This is an advertisement for a "company" that coordinates similar parties around the world. I have researched them and yes, they are REAL. They have hosted a over a dozen of these parties and still, no one has video or comments on them. Could this be a recruiting front for an actual secret society?


Here is a clip from the movie...a scene a could never see too many times.