Parking in your own driveway could be illegal

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Busted for parking in your own driveway. Toledo residents along Holland-Sylvania near Nebraska received parking tickets in their own front yards.

The mayor defended the move, then refused to answer our questions.

It is illegal in Toledo to park on gravel or anything unpaved, even if it’s in front of your own home. Mayor Carty Finkbeiner says if you break a law, you get a ticket.

Charles Robertson breaks the law every single day– according to the city. Robertson told us, “I just can’t reach into my magic box of tricks and get 5 or 6 grand to pave my driveway.”

Thursday he got caught. Charles found a $25 ticket on the windshield of his truck parked in his own driveway.

The law says it’s illegal to park on unpaved ground and Robertson’s driveway is gravel.

Thursday the mayor’s streets, bridges and harbor commissioner Sue Frederick ticketed cars in their owners’ yards all along Holland-Sylvania Road.

The mayor defended Frederick’s decision, saying “She wouldn’t have written tickets unless she thought she would be vindicated in writing it.”

But city councilman D. Michael Collins didn’t agree. He took the tickets to try and get them rescinded. He says, “I want this irresponsible activity by city employees going into neighborhoods and just doing something by fiat, it has to stop.”

Ron Cousino got a ticket, too. He says, “This is a get-back, the mayor’s way to get more money coming in.”

We asked the mayor if Cousino had a point. Is this ticket-writing move an attempt to fill the budget deficit? Again he ignored us and in the process further angered the neighbors.

One of them said, “When the mayor has the audacity to tell me I’m wrong and everyone on this street is wrong, I think the mayor is wrong.”

UPDATE June 16: City councilman D. Michael Collins says he is considering creating legislation that would allow only police officers to ticket citizens. He apologized to the residents who were ticketed and says he’s keeping and paying their tickets.

If those tickets aren’t paid in 30 days, they are sent to a collection agency. There is an appeals process but that costs $50. Collins also claims there is no board to which citizens could appeal.

URL: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=6866143

Truth Action Ottawa Response to Glenn Beck

Truth Action Ottawa
June 16, 2009

Mark from Truth Action Ottawa has a few choice words for Glenn Beck after Beck tried to associate the 9/11 Truth movement with the recent attack on the Holocaust Museum.

URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/truth-action-ottawa-response-to-glenn-beck/

AG Holder Urges Congress to Pass “Hate Crimes” Legislation

Infowars
June 16, 2009

James von Brunn’s murderous rampage may soon produce concrete results — the passage of “a tougher U.S. hate crimes law,” according to AG Eric Holder.

	It is no mistake Holder mentioned “extremists” in his speech.

“Over the last several weeks, we have witnessed brazen acts of violence, committed in places that many would have considered unthinkable,” Holder told the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, an organization funded in part by the Ford Foundation. Holder cited attacks over a two-week period that killed a military recruiter, a late-term abortionist and a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In normal times, such crimes would be prosecuted as routine homicides. However, we now live in an era dominated by political correctness — engineered to foment social and political chaos — and thus crimes committed against protected groups will receive special consideration.

Holder said the recent violence “reminds us of the potential threat posed by violent extremists and the tragedy that ensues when reasoned discourse is replaced by armed confrontation.” In order to stop that violence, Holder urged Congress to legislate an updated version of hate crimes law “in order to more effectively prosecute those who commit violent attacks based on gender, disability, or sexual orientation.”

It is no mistake Holder mentioned “extremists” in his speech. According to the DHS — now supposedly vindicated by the murderous actions of James von Brunn — extremists are “rightwing” and fanatically attached to the Second Amendment, pro-life activism, and opposition to illegal immigration. The DHS report would have us believe many veterans are white supremacists who are a danger to Barrack Obama due to his skin color.

Glenn Beck and the corporate media have put in overtime to roll 9/11 truth activists into the “extremist” mix and this as well is no mistake.

URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/ag-holder-urges-congress-to-pass-hate-crimes-legislation/

Germany Prepares to Censor Internet

Netzpolitik
June 16, 2009

Germany is on the verge of censoring its Internet: The government – a grand coalition between the German social democrats and conservative party – seems united in its decision: On Thursday the parliament is to vote on the erection of an internet censorship architecture.

The Minister for Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen kicked off and lead the discussions within the German Federal Government to block Internet sites in order to fight child pornography. The general idea is to build a censorship architecture enabling the government to block content containing child pornography. The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) is to administer the lists of sites to be blocked and the internet providers obliged to erect the secret censorship architecture for the government.

A strong and still growing network opposing these ideas quickly formed within the German internet community. The protest has not been limited to hackers and digital activist but rather a mainstreamed effort widely supported by bloggers and twitter-users. The HashTag used by the protesters is #zensursula – a German mesh up of the Ministers name and the word censorship equivalent to #censursula.

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As part of the public’s protest an official e-Petition directed at the German parliament was launched. Within three days 50,000 persons signed the petition – – the number required for the petition titled „No indexing and blocking of Internet sites“ to be heard by the parliament. The running time of an e-Petition in Germany is 6 weeks – within this time over 130,000 people signed making this e-Petition the most signed and most successful ever.

During the past weeks, protests became more and more creative – countless blogs and twitter-users followed and commented the discussions within governments and opposing arguments. Many mainstream media picked up on this and reported about the protest taking place on-line. A working group on censorship was founded and the protest coordinated with a wiki, mailing lists, chats and of course employing twitter and blogs. One website „Zeichnemit.de“ created a landing page explaining the complicated petitioning system and making signing the petition easier and more accessible for non net-experts.

Over 500 people attended the governments official press conference on the planed internet censorship – a number of whom used this occasion to demonstrate and voice their concerns. In fact, demonstrators began attending some of the Minister von der Leyens public appearances, carrying banners and signs to raise attention to the stifling of information freedom in Germany.

The net community did not only oppose the governments plans, but also made constructive suggestions how to deal with the problem of child pornography without introducing a censorship architecture and circumcising constitutional freedoms. The working group on censorship demonstrated the alternatives for instance by actually removing over 60 websites containing child pornographic content in 12 hours, simply by emailing the international providers who then removed this content from the net. The sites were identified through the black lists of other countries documented on Wikileaks. This demonstration underlines the protesters main arguments: instead of effectively investing time and efforts to have illegal content removed from the internet, the German government is choosing censorship and blocking – an easy and dangerous way out. The greatest fear of the protesters is that once in place, the infrastructure will be used to censor other forms of unwanted content, not only child pornography. German politicians already seem to be lining up with their wish-list of content to be censored in future – the suggestions ranging form gambling sites, islamist web pages, first person shooters, and the music industry cheering up with the thought of finally banning pirate bay and p2p.

URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/germany-prepares-to-censor-internet/

Iraqi prisoners protest torture, rape

Reuters
June 16, 2009

Hundreds of Iraqi prisoners have launched a protest at dire prison conditions and systematic torture including rape, lawmakers said on Monday.

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The prisoners have gone on a partial hunger strike to try to draw the government’s attention to their plight, said Ahmed al-Masoudi, a parliamentary spokesman for supporters of anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

“I don’t have accurate figures but they number in the hundreds. They are protesting because they have been systematically tortured and forced to confess to things they didn’t do,” said Masoudi.

“The violations against some prisoners went as far as rape. Some of them have spent more than a year in these prisons and so far haven’t been brought to trial.”

Interior Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Most of Iraq’s prisons are heavily overcrowded and rundown. The release into Iraqi hands of thousands of people detained by the U.S. forces since the 2003 U.S. invasion is putting further strains on the prison system.

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URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/iraqi-prisoners-protest-torture-rape/

Brit Cop Punches Man While Fellow Cop Tasers Him

James Slack
Mail Online
June 16, 2009

There was fresh controversy over police methods last night after officers shot a man three times with a Taser gun and punched him repeatedly as he writhed on the ground.

Shocking footage shows one officer repeatedly stunning the 40-year-old man with the high-voltage weapon as he lies in the middle of a busy city centre.

His colleague then appears to punch the man with considerable force three times in the neck and shoulder.

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As a crowd gathers round the man, an onlooker is heard to shout: ‘He don’t look like he is resisting.’

The footage, captured by a taxi driver, was referred voluntarily to the Independent Police Complaints Commission by Nottinghamshire police, who said the man had earlier struck an officer.

But it sparked alarm over a decision by ex-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to arm police with the stun guns, which fire two darts on the end of wires carrying a 50,000-volt shock.

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URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/brit-cop-punches-man-while-fellow-cop-tasers-him/

China to Get U.S. Aid under New Climate Deal

Matt Cover
CNSNews
June 16, 2009

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U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern said that there was “no question” that China would receive both financial and technological assistance from the United States as part of upcoming climate change talks to be conducted in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“This is a developing country issue, which includes China,” Stern told reporters on Friday.  “I think there is no question that a Copenhagen agreement is going to have to include mechanisms to provide the financial flows and technological assistance to developing countries.”

The Copenhagen talks are part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the U.N. body responsible for negotiating the Kyoto Protocol and its successor treaty, negotiation of which will be finalized in Copenhagen this December.

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URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/china-to-get-us-aid-under-new-climate-deal/

Festival city says join in the fun — or pay €500 fine

Fiona Winward
The Guardian
June 16, 2009

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Every June for centuries, Pisa and its leaning tower have been illuminated by thousands of candles and oil lamps to celebrate its patron saint, Ranieri, in one of the most atmospheric festivals in Tuscany.

But tomorrow night, for the first time, participation in the Luminara festival will be compulsory under a new city law, with police set to roam the twinkling city to slap fines of up to €500 [£420] on anyone caught without a candle in their window.

The city council insists the new law is essential to prevent “black holes” of darkness ruining the overall effect of the 80,000-candle festival.

“Unfortunately black holes in the buildings along the river are a real offence to the city’s beauty,” Federico Eligi, the council’s celebrations chief, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. “There’s also a security issue, since the public lighting system is completely shut off and the candles are the only things illuminating the streets.”

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URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/festival-city-says-join-in-the-fun-or-pay-e500-fine/

The CIA’s Iranian Plan?

Information Clearing House
June 16, 2009

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran: Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert “black” operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Bush sanctions ‘black ops’ against Iran: Mr Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilise, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs.

Rice says Iran spying charges pervert rule of law: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran of perverting the rule of law by charging three Iranian-Americans with spying and denied they were involved in espionage.

Secret war report led to spy charges for Roxana: Lawyer reveals that a trip to Israel in 2006 helped to incriminate journalist

Journalist Copied Iranian Report on U.S. and Iraq: Her attorney revealed that the American-born journalist had been convicted of spying for the United States in part because she had a copy of a confidential Iranian report on the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy: How many Americans could identify the National Endowment for Democracy? An organization which often does exactly the opposite of what its name implies. The NED was set up in the early 1980s under President Reagan in the wake of all the negative revelations about the CIA in the second half of the 1970s.

URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/the-cias-iranian-plan/

The “Bomb Iran” contingent’s newfound concern for The Iranian People

Glenn Greenwald
Salon
June 16, 2009

I’m going to leave the debate about whether Iran’s election was “stolen” and the domestic implications within Iran to people who actually know what they’re talking about (which is a very small subset of the class purporting to possess such knowledge).  But there is one point I want to make about the vocal and dramatic expressions of solidarity with Iranians issuing from some quarters in the U.S.

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Much of the same faction now claiming such concern for the welfare of The Iranian People are the same people who have long been advocating a military attack on Iran and the dropping of large numbers of bombs on their country — actions which would result in the slaughter of many of those very same Iranian People.  During the presidential campaign, John McCain infamously sang about Bomb, Bomb, Bomb-ing Iran.  The Wall St. Journal published a war screed from Commentary’s Norman Podhoretz entitled “The Case for Bombing Iran,” and following that, Podhoretz said in an interview that he “hopes and prays” that the U.S. “bombs the Iranians.”  John Bolton and Joe Lieberman advocated the same bombing campaign, while Bill Kristol — with typical prescience — hopefully suggested that Bush might bomb Iran if Obama were elected.  Rudy Giuliani actually said he would be open to a first-strike nuclear attack on Iran in order to stop their nuclear program.

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URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/the-bomb-iran-contingents-newfound-concern-for-the-iranian-people/