Bands of roving “road pirates” have been stalking drivers along South Africa’s main highway linking OT Airport to Pretoria for the last three months, raising concerns for the safety of tourists coming for the 2010 World Cup Games.
Businessmen, road crews fixing the highway, and even US Aid agency workers have fallen prey to the gangs, which usually travel in packs of 8 to 20.
“They stole my watch, wallet and cellphone. When I tried to escape they grabbed me and tied me up with barbed wire,” said businessman Jannie Schoeman, who was recently caught by the pirates when he stopped to change a flat tire near St. George’s Hotel. Schoeman was also shot in the legs by the pirates.
What little security around the area has little effect on the crime spree. A security guard was seriously injured recently after being shot in an exchange with the pirates.
The attacks happen mostly between 9pm and 4am, between the Tembisa Road Bridge and the N1/R21 interchange. Motorists are stopped by debris thrown off bridges or rocks that have been lined up on the roadway.
As typical for the country, South African police have known about the attacks since at least September yet have done little to stop them, leaving the pirates to work with impunity. Little has been done to warn the public, save for a recent notice from the Pierre van Ryneveld community policing forum (CPF).
About the best that can be said about the Senate health-care bill that Harry Reid revealed this week is that it’s marginally less destructive than the House monster. By a hair. Its $1.2 trillion cost (more like $2.5 trillion if you discount the accounting gimmicks), multiple and damaging new taxes, and new regulations will make health insurance more expensive for most Americans while reducing the quality of medical care.
We’ll dissect the damage in the days to come. But for today let’s focus on the damage the bill would do to consumer-driven health plans—the kind that give individuals more control over their health dollars and insurance choices. The 2,074-page bill crushes them with malice-aforethought.
Start with its attack on flexible spending accounts that are an important part of many employer plans. Flex accounts let employees set aside some portion of their pre-tax pay for out-of-pocket costs or medical services that their insurance plan doesn’t cover, such as a child’s orthodontics or testing supplies for diabetics. The Reid bill caps these now-unlimited accounts at $2,500 per year and imposes new restrictions on qualifying medical expenses, raising some $5 billion by exposing income above the non-indexed cap to taxes.
Democrats say flex accounts encourage wasteful spending, because an arbitrary “use it or lose it” rule doesn’t allow balances to roll over year to year. But they really hate them because they give consumers a more active role in managing spending, instead of having the government decide.
The Reid bill also assaults health savings accounts, or HSAs, which allow individuals to accumulate tax-free funds for future medical expenses when coupled with low-premium, high-deductible insurance. The Reid bill changes tax provisions to make HSAs less attractive, but the real threat comes via increased regulation.
These insurance products will likely be barred from the insurance “exchanges” that will demolish and supplant today’s individual market. Employers will also find them more difficult if not illegal to offer once the government has new powers to “define the essential health benefits” that all plans must eventually offer. Plans that focus mainly on catastrophic health expenses, instead of routine procedures, aren’t generous enough for Democrats.
Liberals claim people who choose these options aren’t helping as much to finance a common pool and may encourage adverse selection if too many young or healthy people opt out. While all insurance involves some degree of risk-sharing, Democrats want to impose true social insurance a la Europe by obliterating the flexibility of insurers to design products that are tailored to suit different individual needs.
In fact, about 40% of tax filers with HSAs earn under $60,000, according to the IRS. The Employee Benefit Research Institute reports that 4% of adults with private insurance have an HSA this year—up from 1% in 2006—and about 9% are enrolled in some form of consumer-directed health plan. It also found that beneficiaries are evenly split between those with health problems and those without.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, whose members dominate the HSA market, says that enrollees are more likely than those with traditional insurance to be better consumers. They’re more likely to track expenses (63% to 43%), save for the future (47% to 18%), and search for information on physician quality (20% to 14%). They’re also more likely to participate and see results from wellness programs like weight loss, fitness and smoking cessation. This makes intuitive sense: They’ve got skin directly in the game.
David Goldhill, a media executive, recently wrote in the Atlantic Monthly that if a 22-year-old starts at his company today earning $30,000 and health costs grow at 3%, by the time he retires he’ll have paid out $1.77 million in premiums, lower wages, out-of-pocket costs and both sides of the Medicare payroll tax.
If all that money were instead available via an HSA, including by borrowing against future contributions, “wouldn’t you be able to afford your own care?” Mr. Goldhill asks. “And wouldn’t you consume health care differently if you and your family didn’t have to spend that money only on care?”
This is precisely the future liberals fear because it would make health care less susceptible to political control. The Reid bill makes it impossible for people to choose better reform alternatives, the ones that can only be discovered through innovation and competition in a dynamic marketplace.
Not that any of this seems to matter at this stage of the health-card debate. The polls show the public opposes the Democratic bills, President Obama is below 50% job approval in the Gallup poll, and business and medical providers are increasingly horrified at what reform will do to consumers and patients. But so what? This is about putting government in charge of health care, whether Americans like it or not.
It is the year 2011. The United States has become saturated with suspicion and unrest. Since early 2010, President Barack Obama, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, and Prime Minister Stephan Harper of Canada have been conducting private meetings with each other and various political heads of the U.N. None of the meetings are open to the media, let alone the public.
Americans, thoroughly disgusted with the socialistic programs that have been thrust upon them over the last few years, vote out seventeen of the nineteen Democrats in the Senate and 178 in Congress that were up for reelection.
The secrecy of the President became an issue tacked onto the political platforms of candidates running for the Senate and Congress in the November 2010 elections. When asked for his opinion on this monumental power shift in favor of liberty-minded Republicans during the November elections, President Obama is quoted as saying the elections were “ultimately inconsequential;” he allowed the cryptic statement to stand alone and said nothing more on the subject until January’s swearing-in ceremony.
In January 2011, two days prior to the swearing-in of the new Senators and Congressmen, President Obama holds an emergency conference that interrupts the regular broadcasting of every station in the United States, and is replayed on major news networks throughout the day. The news is horrifying, and the ramifications of what the president has said have a numbing effect on the public.
Private Ownership of firearms has been outlawed, and Obama has promised a new era of equality and peace. Unfortunately for Obama, Americans would not act like the sheep he had taken them for. Revolution begins.
Americans re-tell the speech to each other, repeating Obama’s flowery language and tired cliches. The swearing-in ceremonies are suspended indefinitely, and the current Congress is to remain in place until this “historic transition” is completed. The United States is a creation of “racists and warmongers,” Obama says to a stunned America, and is to be replaced by the North American People’s Union. In the course of this very broadcast, Obama, with two simple pen strokes, signs the “treaties” into law. One dissolves the United States and its Constitution, and the other disarms what is left of the gun-owning United States citizenry, as part and parcel of a United Nations Treaty to ban all firearms, which had already been signed into law by over 40 nations. The Marxist Coup Had begun! It was obvious that Obama’s employees and czars were followers of Marx including Holdren, Sunstein, Lloyd at the FCC, Ron Bloom the Manufacturing Czar, Anita Dunn – all caught on tape and back in 2009! See Videos below and be amazed how Americans were kept in the dark by the media.
Private ownership of firearms has been outlawed, and Obama promises a new era of equality and peace. Unfortunately for Obama, Americans will not act like the sheep he has taken them for. Revolution begins. Over 20 million armed American citizens begin seizing local and federal government buildings and officials.
The Congress of Rejected and Neglected Youth (C.O.R.N.Y.) controls three counties near Washington D.C., with reports of having at least 60,000 loyalists for Obama.
Chaos ensues throughout the nation! The Second American Revolution is in full swing by February of 2011, with lists posted by patriots, county by county, naming dozens of government employees and the bounties that can be fetched by their capture. After 7 weeks of fighting in every state, and with the refusal of most United States military branches to obey orders to fire upon American citizens, Obama’s forces are slowly whittled away. The remnants of the Obama loyalists retreat to Virginia. After tens of thousands of their troops are killed, The International Service Union Empire (I.S.U.E.) has just 40,000 left, but still controls three full counties in the name of former President Barack Hussein Obama… Or so they think. The Congress of Rejected and Neglected Youth (C.O.R.N.Y.) controls three counties near Washington D.C., with reports of having at least 60,000 loyalists for Obama.
The Federal Reserve has two counties under control. The Cong, also un-affectionately known by patriots as the American Politboro, consists of former Democratic Congressional Leaders and control two counties. The Americorp Civil Defense Forces control four counties. A group of Obama loyalists, mostly comprised of members of the Black Tigers and the Nation of Malsi, have a grip on 3 more counties. Patriot revolution is exploding in every county with a rage unseen since the first American Revolution. Patriots from all over the United States are closing in on them.
With the Joint Chiefs of Staff guaranteeing the nationwide free elections 60 days after Obama’s capture, it seems America’s Second Revolution is nearly at an end.
Join in NOW and help Capture Obama and the renegade Cong. Defeat the Union Troops and other allies of the former President and help safeguard American Freedom.
History / Timeline – Read Below and YOU decide if it’s a game or reality!
Play 2011 Obama’s Coup Fails Now and Help Safeguard America’s Future. Teach your children well and spread the word. The Marxists are in our own government and anyone who doesn’t believe it can simply listen and watch each Czar on tape right here in one place. See the links that load right here in the History/Timeline.
As far back as the 1950s there were many who would talk of the N.W.O., or New World Order, behind closed doors–and the plan to implement it. Rumors of this clandestine planning were scoffed at by the media and political elite, and the majority of people were in the dark concerning the true nature of the processes and policies unfolding before their eyes. By 2007 the N.W.O was being spoken about freely in the media. By 2009, the President of the United States and world leaders openly discussed how to achieve this New World Order, and how to ensure the permanency of a regime that would represent the successful culmination of the Marxist experiments of the 20th century. Back in 2007, one brave newscaster was the first in what used to be called the ‘mainstream media’ to ring the alarm bell. That man was Lou Dobbs of CNN. Click to see video. Lou Dobbs was reported missing during the media purges of January and February 2011, when Mark Lloyd and the FCC, on Obama’s orders, cracked down on all dissent in broadcasting. Glen Beck another broadcast media personality who rang the alarm bell before the coup, was found dead of an ‘aspirin overdose’ in late 2010, after the devastating elections in November.
Other broadcasters and ‘new media leaders’ Neil Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Mike Savage were among the hundreds of others who dared to speak against what was going on. They were rounded up shortly before the newly elected Congresspeople and Senators were to be seated. This event is now referred to as the Great Media Purge of 2011. President Obama and the Draconian FCC, now filled with his appointed Marxists including Mark Lloyd (Click to watch video), were quick to abolish FOX news, talk radio and all other dissent. The elite media, formerly called the mainstream media, were ecstatic as their audience had been declining week after week beginning in 2008. Unable to face a real media that investigated and reported news, they acted in self-interest in hope of getting government bailout money promised to them by officials in the Obama administration. This was the first step in the nationalization of all media in America, which officially began in 2010, a move that Americans would not welcome and helped spur the Second American Revolution. Obama had the White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, yet another Marxist who envied Mao begin the war on the free media in October of 2009 Click Here video loads right here . Did we need any better clue than Obama’s appointed Manufacturing Czar who is such a committed Marxist that he dared to utter the following on video Click – video loads right here. With such contempt for America by every single Obama official, the citizens were justified in their actions during the Second American Revolution. Actions taken against Obama’s officials as well as the ‘elite’ media that hid all of these facts from the public as best as they could. It all seemed to be coming to a head by late 2009. With over a million (by some estimates) people gathering in Washington D.C. for the anti-tax rally on 9/12, spurred on by Americans from all parties, the media’s complicit bend toward dictatorship showed itself for the world to see.
Yahoo News, NY Times, and most other media outlets simply ignored the rallies. Rather than cover the news as news outlets used to do before journalism died in 2008, they preferred to tar the attendees as “racists” and “extremists.” It now seemed as if all of middle America were being called racists and extremists. The entire media and the White House played the race card over and over while a stunned American public looked on. Even the Department of Homeland Security put all Patriots on a watch list for daring to want smaller government or less taxes.
which helped to add to the military’s disgust with the Obama Administration and media. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for most Americans came when Obama appointed avowed communists and ex-felons such as Van Jones to White House positions “advising” Obama. People like Cass Sunstein Click Here For Cass Sunstein and Mark Lloyd who you can hear yourself praising Chavez Click Here For Mark On Video. Amazingly the White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, yet another Marxist on orders from Obama went after the one media outlet in the mainstream media named FOX News that dared to stay ‘Fair and Balanced.’ Click Here For Anita in her own words on video praises Mao Tse Tung who Murdered 70 million people! No one to this day knows how such people could pass the formerly required background checks of the F.B.I. The NY Times, oozing bias, formerly the newspaper of record, didn’t even mention most of these Czars’ or other Marxists’ and Communists’ names until the bloggers and FOX investigative reporting outed them as the crazed radicals that they were. Which is obviously why the White House led the Holy Marxist jihad against them starting in 2009.
led the way in exposing the communists in ACORN and their massive voter fraud schemes. The elite media turned a blind eye as usual. The bloggers came out over and over again exposing the entire collapse of our financial system and how it was executed via the CRA or Community Reinvestment Act
These facts further incensed the public. The Revolution brewed and brewed and nothing had stopped it by early 2010. Obama signed the Marxist Climate Control Treaty that took away American Sovereignty Click Here.
The powderkeg had a short fuse, which Obama was more than happy to light. American citizens were not sheep like the citizens of Britain, who allowed their government to take away their right to bear arms, and Americans would not go quietly into the night. American citizens were also well-prepared and knew ahead of time that Obama would take down all Patriotic websites as well as the free media like FOX and radio with the law he had passed to give him control of the internet in 2009 Click here for details.
the Revolution turned out to be one of the bloodiest any nation would ever see. With literally millions of Americans taking to the streets and even facing down Federal troops in Michigan, New York, California, Texas, and Illinois, Obama knew his days were numbered. Admiral Mullen of the Joint Chiefs finally recalled all Federal troops from their remaining posts in American cities after 4,000 soldiers in Michigan, most of them Oathkeepers, turned on and killed the commander Obama had hand-picked for them. This was the 8th incident across America where American Soldiers or Marines dared to follow the Constitution and not obey the Un-Constitutional orders given to them by Obama’s appointed commanders. The Joint Chiefs decided not to be on the wrong side of history and declared that the military would stand aside and guard against any foreign threats during the remaining days of the crisis.
<!–Servers Being upgraded at Midnight. We will be down 12 Midnight to ?. One game scheduled at 5:30 EDT.
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2011 Obama’s Coup Fails is an action packed, satire-filled war game that takes place in the not-so-distant future. Right after the November 2010 election, to be precise. It has been said that America would never be destroyed by a foreign power. It does seem our biggest enemies are not from outside our borders. Could the scenario described above ever really happen? If current events keep transpiring as they are, then 2011 Obama’s Coup may in fact become a dark chapter in American History. Stay informed and visit the United States of Earth Blog daily for the real facts taking place from the currently free media. Reality is far more scary and ominous than fiction. Obama is putting real Marxists into power all over America and you can listen to these people in their own words. Be Afraid America. Freedom hangs in the balance. If you read the history /timeline and click the videos contained within you may very well ask yourself ” Is this a game or is it reality?” Tell a friend today!
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
– Benjamin Franklin
Let us Pray that there never is a real Second American Revolution. If that day ever does come, Well then lock and load my fellow Americans. Never give up the right to bear arms. The 2nd Amendment is the enforcement clause of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We are Americans and we shall not go quietly into the night.
The Game Facts: Please Read!
Location: Virginia, U.S.A.
You are a militia commander and in control of 1 county.
Mission: To defeat all enemies of the United States, both foreign and domestic. Includes:
C.O.R.N.Y. (Congress of Rejected and Neglected Youth) Shock Troops
Obama’s police force (Ameritroops)
The Cong (Former congressional leaders)
Nation of Malsi (Islamic fundamentalist troops)
Black Tigers (black nationalist troops loyal to Obama)
NHKS (National Honor Killing Society) Yet another Islamic army
I.S.U.E. ( International Service Union Empire) Troops
U.N. (United Nations) Peacekeepers
To Win: If you control 10 counties by end of turn 40, you get 1 ‘win’ in challenge section.
Game Time: 1 turn per minute with each turn representing days of battle. It takes 2 turns to take over a district, county, or city with the Blitzkrieg attack. All troops in a Blitzkrieg cannot be used until Blitzkrieg is settled.
Misc. Details: Be sure to train your troops at start-up by clicking ‘resources’ then paying for the type of militia troops you want. You will need to do this every turn (every minute). You start with 3000 points and get 300 more militia recruits eager for battle per turn per county controlled. You will also get more militia troops joining after each battle you are in, as the people are eager to defeat all tyrants. You will also get 300 points per turn per county controlled.
Note: Your mission is to control as many counties in Virginia as possible. Enemy forces are in most counties so do not hesitate to attack any player not under your control as anarchy reigns in Virginia until Obama and his loyalists are defeated and game ends after 40 minutes (40 turns)
The Regular global United States of Earth game is also on 24/7 and always FREE to play. You can make a difference and help save America by writing about this game and telling all to watch the videos and see for themselves what is going on in Washington D.C. The creation of this Marxist shadow government must be stopped and many of us have pledged our lives to this goal. Help us in saving freedom, America and your own family by spreading the word. Even progressives who see the videos in this article realize that something is wrong and take notice. Can it be that every appointee and employee of Obama is a Marxist that praises Mao? Is it all an accident? These are the questions that need answering. The White House refuses to answer them or let his czars be interviewed. Ask yourself why! Together we can all guarantee American freedom and avoid a real Second American Revolution. After anyone reads the History/Timeline and watches the videos contained within they all ask “Is this a game or is reality?”
Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd (The Man Of the Ban) Captured
March 6, 2011 – Mark Lloyd, the Marxist who was put in charge of the FCC by Barack Obama was captured today by the MRC Militias run by L. Brent Bozell. Lloyd is the man at the FCC who banned FOX News and talk radio at the start of the Obama purges in January. Bozell stated ” It was an atrocity to freedom to have this committed Marxist, who envied Castro and Chavez, run our FCC. ” Obama proved himself a tyrant with his little coup but we all knew over a year earlier who he was when he appointed Marxists and Communists to all positions of power in 2009. As P.J. O’Rourke said, “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” Mark Lloyd’s trial is set for 3 weeks from today. Click 1 below for video of this Obama Czar speaking of how fantastic Chavez and Castro were for their ‘people’s revolutions’.
March, 2011 – Clark County, VA – A FEMA camp was liberated today, one of two still controlled by the war criminals loyal to Obama. Rush Limbaugh was executed over a week earlier, we are told, and Glenn Beck was found in his cell and has died, incredibly of an ‘aspirin overdose’, the preferred way to send a message to the enemies of Obama. The NY Times came out with the typically disgusting headline, “Shots Fired in Virginia; Rush and Beck Finally Shut Up”, in their first admission that there is even a war going on. Their last half dozen readers were later surprised when their Queens, NY printing center and offices were firebombed by Patriots who simply had enough of that trash propaganda outlet. Thomas Jefferson said “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”
March, 2011 – Former Speaker of the House and War Criminal Nancy Pelosi was captured today. Militia leaders Ollie North and Rand Paul (son of Ron Paul) received an intelligence report from an unnamed source helping to pinpoint the witch’s whereabouts. When they caught up to her she was unconscious and on her chest was pinned a paper with a small hand written poem. There once was a Speaker named Nancy, who said some things that were chancy. She pissed off some spies and that wasn’t wise, because those guys can play nasty.
Czar Cass Sunstein (The Rat) Almost Choked to Death on Rat Lawsuit
March, 2011 – Richmond VA – Cass Sunstein, the former Regulatory Czar under Obama, was found choking on a mass of papers while tied to a tree. “We found him with all of these papers stuffed in his mouth. It turns out that he almost choked to death on a lawsuit brought against a citizen by a rat,” said Mike Savage, of the New Sons of Liberty. Cass was an advocate of allowing animals to sue people as well as the outlawing of hunting and meat. It is Benjamin Franklin who said “We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” This fits Sunstein quite well. “It is ironic that this rat was choking to death on papers from a rat law case,” said Savage. The trial will be held in four weeks. Mike Savage, formerly a Patriotic radio talk show host, ran off with several hundred militia members in pursuit of the Marxist Science Czar John Holdren, who was guarded by his Hamas and Ameritroop guards.
March, 2011 – In what has now been revealed to be yet another completely ridiculous Czar, originally exposed back in 2009, we have the tale of Kevin Jennings. Kevin was named the ‘Safe Schools Czar’ by Barack Obama in 2009. Of all things to be guilty of this man was exposed early on for his advocating that homosexuality should be promoted in the public school systems of America, as well as hiding pedophilia! Parents nationwide didn’t take action against this insane Czar advising the President in an actual White House job. How could they, as the media as always did their best to hide the Czar’s past? He later went on in 2010 to actually have Obama agree to issue an Executive Order mandating that all public schools have a daily Michael Jackson Recess, where children in grades K-4 would be advised on how to love all races, colors, creeds and genders. Today he was arrested just outside Alexandria, Virginia by the New Sons of Liberty. The NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) supporter’s trial is set for 4 weeks from today
March 5, 2011 – The Congress of Rejected and Neglected Youth had an ACORN planting party in Fairfax County. It was attended by Barack Obama and hundreds of Madrasas students chanting “Death to America, Long Live Obama!”. The rally was attacked by a few hundred Militia members led by Ted Nugent. The children were spared but all others were slaughtered except former President Obama who escaped with his own police force guard, the Ameri-troops. Ted was quoted as saying, “If you value the American way, if you believe in the words and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and our sacred Bill of Rights, if you know in your heart that you have the right, the duty, and the spiritual obligation to protect yourself and your loved ones from evil in all of its forms, then lock and load motherf***er.”
President Obama’s political arm, Organizing for America, has sent a fundraising e-mail seeking to raise $500,000 in the next week to stop a “dangerous” Palin from derailing the Democrats’ effort to overhaul health care.
With the media spotlight squarely on Sarah Palin and her “Going Rogue” book tour across the nation, Democrats are gearing up for a battle — and trying to cash in.
President Obama’s political arm, Organizing for America, has sent a fundraising e-mail seeking to raise $500,000 in the next week to stop a “dangerous” Palin from derailing the Democrats’ effort to overhaul health care.
“Remember, this is the person who coined the term ‘Death Panels’ — and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists,” the e-mail read.
“Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform,” the e-mail said.
Palin began a promotional tour this week for her memoir, with plans to travel through several states that were key to the 2008 election. The memoir was released Tuesday but has topped best-seller lists for weeks.
Her tour has already attracted controversy
The U.S. Army had planned to ban the media from Palin’s book signing next week at Fort Bragg, fearing it would turn into political grandstanding against Obama. But the Army decided to allow the media limited coverage after the the Associated Press and a local newspaper protested.
Insiders who’ve spoken with Palin recently said she seems eager to run in 2012, and opinion polls show she has the most public support of any Republican hopeful.
The e-mail system of one of the world’s leading climate research units has been breached by hackers.
E-mails reportedly from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), including personal exchanges, appeared on the internet on Thursday.
A university spokesman confirmed the email system had been hacked and that information was taken and published without permission.
An investigation was underway and the police had been informed, he added.
“We are aware that information from a server used for research information in one area of the university has been made available on public websites,” the spokesman stated.
“Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm that all of this material is genuine.
“This information has been obtained and published without our permission and we took immediate action to remove the server in question from operation.
“We are undertaking a thorough internal investigation and we have involved the police in this enquiry.”
Researchers at CRU, one of the world’s leading research bodies on natural and human-induced climate change, played a key role in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report, which is considered to be the most authoritative report of its kind.
‘Inside information’
Graham Cluley, a computer security expert, suggested that December’s key climate summit in Copenhagen, which has made headlines around the world, could have increased the university’s profile as a possible target among hackers.
“There are passionate opinions on both sides of the climate debate and there will be people trying to knock down the other side,” Mr Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, told BBC News.
“If they feel that they can gather inside information on what the other side is up to, then they may feel that is ammunition for their counterargument.”
Mr Cluley added that universities were vulnerable to attacks by hackers because some many people required access to IT systems.
“You do need proper security in place; you need to be careful regarding communications and make sure your systems are secure.
“I trust that they will now be looking at the systems, and investigating how this happened and ensuring that something like this does not happen again.”
Educate yourself and read this article so you understand what’s going on in the senate with healthcare bill
The filibuster is a historical method used to delay vote or block debate in the Senate. Some call it unconstitutional, unfair, a historical relic. Others insist that it is a tool that protects the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority.
By their nature, filibusters elevate visibility of the issue at hand and have, as a by-product, the potential to inspire compromise. A final vote can only be taken if 60 Senators agree; this is called a vote of cloture (vote to end the filibuster).
According to the US Senate website, the word filibuster — derived from a Dutch word meaning “pirate” — was first used more than 150 years ago to describe “efforts to hold the Senate floor in order to prevent action on a bill.”
Rule 22
The filibuster is related to “cloture,” a rule adopted almost 100 years ago requiring a two-thirds vote. At times this was two-thirds of those voting; for a limited time, it was two-thirds of membership.
In 1975, the Senate reduced the number of votes needed to invoke cloture to three-fifths (60) of Senate membership. At the same time, they made the filibuster “invisible” by requiring only that 41 Senators state that they intend to filibuster; critics say this makes the modern filibuster “painless.”
Historical Timeline
1841: Henry Clay “threatened to change Senate rules to allow the majority to close debate” when Democrats blocked a bank bill.
1872: Vice President Colfax ruled that “under the practice of the Senate the presiding officer could not restrain a Senator in remarks which the Senator considers pertinent to the pending issue.”
1919: First use of Rule 22 when Senate invoked cloture to end debate against the Treaty of Versailles.
1935: Huey Long (LA) filibustered for 15 hours and 30 minutes trying, without success, to keep Senatorial oversight of National Recovery Administration’s senior employees.
1957: Strom Thurmond (SC) set a filibuster record — 24 hours and 18 minutes — part of a move that successfully blocked the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
1964: Robert Byrd (WVA) filibustered for 14 hours and 13 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to block the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1968: The Abe Fortas appointment to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was derailed by Republicans through filibuster.
2000: Majority Leader Bill First voted against cloture (85-14) on the Richard Paez nomination to the Ninth Circuit; he was confirmed ( 59-39).
Other Procedures of Delay
The filibuster is only one way that Senators can block a vote. For example, the party in power can bottle up a bill or nomination in Committee, thus keeping it from coming to the floor for a vote.
The Senate has a process in place for amending rules; this process requires a two-thirds [67] vote. According to Congressional Quarterly, from 1919-1971, there were nine filibusters relating to Rule 22; in each case, there were insufficient votes to invoke cloture.
In 2005, then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist threatened to end Democratic filibuster of judicial nominees by something called the “nuclear option.” It is actually a series of steps designed to bypass the two-thirds vote requirement to change rules: (cite)
The Senate moves to vote on a controversial nominee.
At least 41 Senators call for filibuster.
The Senate Majority Leader raises a point of order, saying debate has gone on long enough and that a vote must be taken within a certain time frame. (Current Senate rules requires a cloture vote at this point.)
The Vice President — acting as presiding officer — sustains the point of order.
A Democratic Senator appeals the decision.
A Republican Senator moves to table the motion on the floor (the appeal).
This vote – to table the appeal – is procedural and cannot be subjected to a filibuster; it requires only a majority vote (in case of a tie, the Vice President casts the tie-breaking vote).
With debate ended, the Senate would vote on the issue at hand; this vote requires only a majority of those voting. The filibuster has effectively been closed with a majority vote instead of a three-fifths vote.
Okay, I am going to take a very Deep breath, cuz, the time has come for all and I mean ALL of us in North Carolina to take a stand.
I called a meeting last night about takine our State back with a few of our 9-12 founders in Haywood and several things came up. Courage and Fear. Oh my!
Courage: Principles and Values
We MUST step up to the plate and claim our AMERICAN RIGHTS…………. Those Rights given to us by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights that have been taken away by our currently run state and national leaders.
Fear: the word Militia….. Maybe we use the word Coalition instead
Here are the Definitions:
Militia : Any army composed of citizens rather than professional soldiers, called up in time of emergency
Coalition: A temporary alliance of factions, nations, etc., for some specific purpose, as of political parties in times of national emergency…..
We have to find a balanced approach that will ignite those of us that will stand on the front line and give those who fear that kind of action but know they must do something a safe way to support the movement without scaring them to death. We have to find a way to unite the old, the young, the strong, the weak, the couragous, and the not so couragous but all believe we need to take back our States and our Country.
Everyone seems to be asking WHAT NEXT? It will take a multi-facited approach, so, that we have the numbers we need to accomplish what we have been working on for the last year. It is kind of like being BORN AGAIN but it is about our country and what it was founded on. We must reclaim what many died for.
We have 9-12 project w/Glenn Beck along with many other resources behind them.
We have NC Freedom (plus many other groups)………………………………………………..>>>>
We can consult with Robert Levy of the CaTo institute.
We have GOOOH
We have John Ainsworth leading his own way. There are few more of these soilders out there.
We have truth and righteousness on our side
We have God, who I personally believe expects us to stand up for what our founding fathers died for
And I could go ON……….and ON…… with names of other organizations and people but I’ll spare you.
UNITE FOR A NORTH CAROLINA ROAD SHOW.
Standing up for canidates that are like us and want our country/state back. Who in your area is worthy? Who has constitutional values and will do what they say. We have had enough BS shoved down our throats and I am at the EOUNGH point. Where is your Enough is Enough pinnical Point?
Nidal Hasan shooter of Fort Hood was on the for Obama’s Homeland Security Transition Team and no-one has called him and extremist nor the FACT that he is a Terrorist. What is wrong with this picture?
Please watch the following videos and add yours to it and lets come up with a game plan for the Carolinas and S&G! ( David De can explian S&G ) The time has come for ACTION to unite our state and put this dog and pony show on the road and make a difference. Who of you want to be part of a solution……
We have a few action plans and we would like to hear from you.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin201.htm This is an approach that we need to consider, however in our meeting last night the concern for the word “ Militia” brought us some very good points of how the word has been portrayed in the media Can we use the word Coalition
NC Freedom