Happy Holidays

The Bell Tower of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

Christmas Bells

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1863

Found this on Christopher Bollyn's website this morning. It's about as close as I've come to having any of the old fashioned Christmas spirit this year. Not saying I didn't have a good time with the kids and grandkids, cause I did, but I think their joy of the holiday is what really counted.

Anyways, thanks to the old truth seeker, I feel better, and I'm ready for another New Year. Hope this New Year brings peace, harmony, and love to y'all in 2010...G:

911 Weirdness

Lightning Sam Hopkins



chopper 5

Obama Administration Diverts Small Business Funds to General Dynamics, According to the American Small Business League.

Small business loans? They go to the Military Industrial Complex!

The Free Library

Obama Administration Diverts $28.5 Million in Small Business Dollars to General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) is a defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2006 it is the sixth largest defense contractor in the world. The company has changed markedly in the post-Cold War era of defense consolidation.

Dec. 9, 2009

PETALUMA, Calif. -- The following is a statement by the American Small Business League:
Obama Administration Diverts Small Business Funds to General Dynamics, According to the American Small Business League.

The Obama Administration has awarded a $28.5 million small business contract to Fortune 500 firm General Dynamics. As America's fourth largest prime contractor, General Dynamics did more than $29.3 billion in sales during fiscal year (FY) 2008 and maintains more than 92,000 employees. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20091202GeneralDynamics_Created_20091027.pdf

According to the most recent data from the Federal Procurement Data System The Federal Data Procurement System (FPDS) is a single source for US government-wide procurement data. External Links
[https://www.fpds.gov Federal Data Procurement System] - Next Generation (FPDS-NG FPDS-NG Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation ), General Dynamics is just one of hundreds of corporate giants that are currently receiving federal small business contracts from the Obama Administration.

More of the same




In May of 2009, Congressman Hank Johnson (D-4-GA) introduced H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. If passed the bill would halt the flow of federal small business contracts to large businesses and redirect more than $100 billion a year in federal infrastructure spending to legitimate small businesses. Although the bill has bipartisan support with 19 co-sponsors, to date President Obama has refused to endorse the legislation.

More on Home Nature Report
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Obama administration pushes for Patriot Act renewal

Feingold expresses frustration over Senate version

lakelandtimes.com 12/18/2009

Richard Moore Investigative Reporter 12/18/2009

With key sections of the U.S. Patriot Act set to expire Dec. 31, the Obama administration - essentially tiptoeing through the corridors of Congress and using the raucous health care debate as cover - has quietly maneuvered for renewal of the controversial provisions, which he opposed as a senator.

Perhaps the most contentious measure is the business records provision, also known as the library provision, which allows the government to seek a court order forcing private entities such as banks, hospitals, and libraries to hand over "any tangible thing" - from library circulation records to medical records - officials think is relevant in a terrorist investigation.

This week, with time running out and no time to debate the bill on its merits, Democratic supporters of reauthorization in the Senate tried but fail to win House support to embed the provisions in a separate $626 billion Pentagon funding bill. The House has passed a bill with stronger civil liberties protections, but that version is not expected to survive.

Congress will now likely approve temporary extensions and deal with reauthorization early next year, giving opponents renewed hope they can still defeat or modify aspects of the national security language.

In early October, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to send the measure to the Senate floor. The provisions would allow the government to continue to use roving wiretaps to monitor suspects, to obtain business records of national security targets, and to track and surveil so-called 'lone wolves' whose connection to a foreign government or terrorist group has not been established.

The legislation, co-sponsored by judiciary committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), would tweak the ability of the FBI to gain certain personal records of citizens, requiring the agency to show "specific facts" that requested records pertain to a terrorism investigation.

Core language remains

Still, the most controversial aspects remain intact. Earlier this year, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) had worked to place language in the bill strengthening civil liberties protections, but in the judiciary committee the Obama administration worked with Republicans to craft seven amendments, effectively watering down Feingold's work.

Feingold said the bill that emerged from the judiciary committee left him "scratching his head."

"The Patriot Act reauthorization bill passed by the Judiciary Committee falls far short of adequately protecting the rights of innocent Americans," Feingold said in a statement. "Among the most significant problems is the failure to include an improved standard for Section 215 orders (getting personal information through national security letter requests), even though a Republican controlled Judiciary Committee unanimously supported including the same standard in 2005."

Feingold said what was most upsetting to him was the willingness of too many members of the Democratic-controlled committee to defer to behind-the-scenes complaints from the FBI and the Justice Department.

"We should, of course, carefully consider their perspective, but it is our job to write the law and to exercise independent judgment," Feingold said. "After all, it is not the prosecutors' committee; it is the judiciary committee. And while I am left scratching my head trying to understand how a committee controlled by a wide Democratic margin could support the bill it approved, I will continue to work with my colleagues to try to make improvements to this bill."

The rest of the story

Working with Small Business to Drive Recovery

Tarp funds diverted to boost job projects

By Edward Luce and Krishna Guha in Washington

Published: December 9 2009 02:00 | Last updated: December 9 2009 02:00

Barack Obama yesterday announced that some of the $200bn in lower-than- expected spending under its bank bail-out programme would go towards projects aimed at ensuring jobs growth "matches economic growth".

In a speech to the Brookings Institution , the US president laid out a series of initiatives to spur this growth . These included measures aimed at stimulating lending to small businesses, which have been hit hard by the drying up of credit over the past 15 months.

Mr Obama emphasised support for small business, infrastructure and clean energy: "These are areas in which we can put Americans to work while putting our nation on a sturdier economic footing," he said.


NDIA Small Business Winter Social - January 29, 2010

Date: January 29, 2010

Time: 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Place: Coronado Island Marriott Resort
2000 2nd Street
Coronado, CA

The National Defense Industrial Association San Diego Chapter periodic event is our monthly NDIA Luncheon meeting which takes place from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm every second Wednesday at the Catamaran Hotel and Resort located at 3999 Mission Blvd. San Diego, CA 92109.

More than one hundred defense industry leaders regularly attend this prestigious event. Because the NDIA luncheons provide a unique forum for local government representatives, San Diego defense company leadership, vendors, local media, and higher learning centers to share ideas and interact, the NDIA SD Luncheons are ideal events for your business networking opportunities.



Exerpts from The Free Library



Obama Administration Diverts $28.5 Million in Small Business Dollars to General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) is a defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2006 it is the sixth largest defense contractor in the world^[1]. The company has changed markedly in the post-Cold War era of defense consolidation.
..... Click the link for more informatio

Dec. 9, 2009
PETALUMA, Calif. -- The following is a statement by the American Small Business League:
The Obama Administration has awarded a $28.5 million small business contract to Fortune 500 firm General Dynamics. As America's fourth largest prime contractor, General Dynamics did more than $29.3 billion in sales during fiscal year (FY) 2008 and maintains more than 92,000 employees. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20091202GeneralDynamics_Created_20091027.pdf

According to the most recent data from the Federal Procurement Data System The Federal Data Procurement System (FPDS) is a single source for US government-wide procurement General Dynamics is just one of hundreds of corporate giants that are
currently receiving federal small business contracts from the Obama Administration.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) has estimated that every year more than $100 billion in federal small business contracts are diverted away from legitimate small businesses and into the hands of some of the largest corporations in the world. The most recent data released by the Obama Administration indicates that firms counted as small businesses included: Xerox, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and Finmeccanica SpA, which is located in Italy with 73,000 employees.

In May of 2009, Congressman Hank Johnson (D-4-GA) introduced H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act. If passed the bill would halt the flow of federal small business contracts to large businesses and redirect more than $100 billion a year in federal infrastructure spending to legitimate small businesses. Although the bill has bipartisan support with 19 co-sponsors, to date President Obama has refused to endorse the legislation.