Washburn's World

My take on the world. My wife often refers to this as the WWW (Weird World of Washburn)

My Photo
Name:
Location: Germantown, Wisconsin, United States

I am a simple country boy transplanted from the Piehl Township in northern Wisconsin to the Milwaukee metropolitan area who came down "sout" in 1980 for college and have stayed in the area since.
If this blog is something you wish to support, consider a donation.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Fort Detrick losing Samples

One of the things I like to watch for is news about Fort Detrick. This is because Fort Detrick is the source of the lethal pathogen used in the only known bio-terrorist attack within the US; The October, 2001 Anthrax attacks on:
  1. Two political opponents of George Bush,
  2. A newspaper photo journalist critical of Bush's drunken daughter, Jenna, and
  3. The unfortunate postal workers who were the delivery vehicle(s)
In two articles, here and here, it is noted that Fort Detrick has lost many samples of its various viruses and bacteria; both weaponized and not. Now to be fair, the lab may not have lost the samples, but just may have an inventory control system such that quartermaster at Fort Detrick cannot either
  1. locate the samples within Fort Detrick, or
  2. cannot determine when, where, or to whom the samples were transferred from Fort Detrick
I honestly don't know which scares me more; that the lab lost samples or has inventory control so poor that samples only "appear" missing.

To truly add to my pessimism is the fact that the Wall Street Journal opined that the current, scary strain of swine flu is synthesized from 4 different strains affecting 3 different species (Human, swine, and avian) from 3 continents (North America, Europe, Asia). The hysteria over the swine flu is just that: hysteria whipped up by pompous power grabbers looking for a chance to prove their usefulness via "appropriate responses". Also the initial report of the recombinant nature of the flu strain appears in error and may only be two comingled strains of pig flu which have, without warning or precedent, broken out first among humans instead of swine.

Also the US government turned over the current strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, to a Boston lab, Replikins Ltd sometime before April 8, 2008.

So what we have are dots which probably done even form a plane let alone a line.
  1. A laboratory with a history of providing/losing lethal pathogens to person or persons unknown who in turn release those pathogens on US citizens.
  2. A facility which admits doing research on the many strains of influenza virus
  3. Including the 1918 strain which Dr. Taubenberger, of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (located at Fort Detrick), ordered dug up from the Alaskan permafrost.
  4. A strain of the influenza virus identified last April as the one most likely to cause a pandemic, and
  5. This year that same swine flu virus emerges for the first time in the human population without first having emerged in the swine population.
It is unlikely these dots are as connected as the listing above would indicate, but it would be prudent to ask questions such as:
  1. When did Fort Detrick first receive the H1N1 strain of the influenza virus?
  2. Are all the samples of N1H1 virus at Fort Detrick properly secured and accounted for?
As always with Fort Detrick, there are far more questions than answers.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

In Memorium - John Gideon

I was stuck with the news that one of my friends, John Gideon, had died today. Well, yesterday, since it has taken me until after midnight to compose my thoughts on the passing of this great man.

John Gideon was the co-founder of VotersUnite.org, the editor of the Daily Voting News, and a tireless advocate for justice and election integrity. You can read more of his work in this eulogy at the BradBlog.com.

But, John is and was more than his work.

I have a limited number of friends and I count myself blessed to be able to claim John Gideon as one of them. I only physically met John Gideon once when we attended the National Summit to Save Our Elections in October of 2005. Over the past 3-1/2 years we often worked together via email and telephone. In that time, we became friends.

I have benefited greatly from his sage advice, his affectation for technical incompetence, his stiff-necked inspiration, but mostly from his good humor.

More than once he reminded me that Liberty in general and election integrity in particular is a day to day swim against a sometimes stiff current. His humor and optimism combined with his diligence and persistence is/was an inspiration to me an others.

My world, our world, is smaller and poorer place for his absence. I will remember and cherish our friendship until the day I am called home.

Good bye, My Friend. Truly, may you now rest in peace where the yoke is easy and the burdens are light.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Stasi In the USA

I reported earlier on the official government designation of terrorist to all who think the US Constitution is the supreme law of the land and is primarily power-limiting document rather than a power-granting document.

As would be expected, the imperial follow-up after such classification is to spy on said dissenter(s) terrorist(s) Enter the Homeland Security Department called the Extremism and Radicalization Branch and its official plan for said spying. This is the administrative creation of the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act. (See here: for the six representatives who took their oath to support the Constitution seriously. (Not surprisingly, Jim SenselessBrenner was not among them. Surprisingly, neither was Ron Paul).

This means that for the first time in American history, the federal government has a full-time intelligence organ devoted exclusively to scrutinizing the political opinions and affiliations of U.S. citizens. Well, the first time the domestic spying was public.

If you think I am exaggerating, I will let the J-BERB's speak for themselves:
DHS/I&A will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months to ascertain with greater regional specificity the rise in rightwing extremist activity in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the political, economic, and social factors that drive rightwing extremist radicalization
Oh, by the way, this DHS-ERB document is not to be shared with the public, media, or Congress and is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The relevant quotes are [emphasis mine]:
LAW ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION NOTICE: This product contains Law Enforcement Sensitive (LES) information. No portion of the LES information should be released to the media, the general public, or over non-secure Internet servers. Release of this information could adversely affect or jeopardize investigative activities.
and
Warning: This document is UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (U//FOUO). It contains information that may be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). It is to be controlled, stored, handled, transmitted, distributed, and disposed of in accordance with DHS policy relating to FOUO information and is NOT to be released to the public, the media, or other personnel who do not have a valid need-to-know without prior approval of an authorized DHS official. State and local homeland security officials may share this document with authorized security personnel without further approval from DHS.
Someone is facing a year in jail for disclosing this document. Here is the relevant quote from §214 (f) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002
... shall be fined under title 18 of the United States Code, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, and shall be removed from office or employment.
Thank goodness there are still some peace officers scattered among the legions of police and law enforcement officers in the country.

The continued domestic spying on citzens in general and dissidents in particular, is just further implementation of the Ten Steps to Closing Down a Free Society by Naomi Wolfe from her 2007 book, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Those ten steps are:
  1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
  2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
  3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
  4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
  5. Harass citizens' groups.
  6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
  7. Target key individuals.
  8. Control the press.
  9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors.
  10. Suspend the rule of law.
The DHS-ERB is the American version of the Stasi (Stasi 2.0 if you will) for the post-republican, imperial Bush-Obama regime.

My prediction is the ERB and their minions, the J-BERB's (Jack Boots at the Extremism and Radicalization Branch), will exceed the reach, scope, and terror of the East German Stasi and will do so with the thunderous applause of Law and Order conservatives and ACORN radicals.

h/t to Pro Libertate

P.S.
If you have not heard of Naomi Wolf, then I recommend the following videos:

Banksters at "Work"

Goldman-Sachs Posted a 1.8 billion profit for the first quarter of 2009. The funny thing about that is that Goldman-Sachs had $1.3 billion in write-downs for December, 2008. How do you lose 1.3 billion in a single month (December, 2008) and still make 1.8 billion over three months (December, January, February)?

Simple, you ignore the losses from December and report on the 3 months (January, February, and March 2009) for which you had profits. Here is the report from the New York Times and a similar report from The DOW Jones Report.

How this legal scam works is simple. The 2008 Fiscal Year 2008 for Goldman-Sachs Fiscal ran from December 2007 to November 2008. Goldman-Sachs changed its fiscal years to now coincide with the calendar year. Because of the change the fiscal year 2009 for Goldman-Sachs will runs from January 2009 through December 2009. Notice December 2008 is in neither fiscal year. This makes December 2008 a "stub month" and is not reported within either fiscal year. Most likely the results for December 2008 will appear in a footnote of the consolidated finacial reports.

In simpler terms:
  1. Move all your losses to a single month; December 2008
  2. Change the definition of your fiscal year to so no fiscal year includes the month with all the losses.
  3. Vacuum up billions of bailout money through the bankster money conduit known as AIG via (arguably fraudulent) credit default swap (CDS) contracts.
  4. Report that you "beat your numbers in a spectacular way" and offer to sell more than $5 billion of stock to the unsuspecting public.
While the stubbing of December is legal, the Emperor of the Treasury can do ANYTHING he wants to Goldman-Sachs because of the Orwellianly named, Emergency Economic Recovery and Stabilization Act. And any action taken by the Emperor of the Treasury is beyond legal review by any court but the US Supreme Court. See section 119.

Good thing the US Treasury department is full of ex-Goldman-Sachs Boyz (eGSB'z). So rest assured, there will be no heavy handed investigation of Goldman-Sachs cooking their books, ripping off US taxpayer via the Government laundering money through AIG, and no firing of executives at Goldman-Sachs by Obama, the Blessed.


H/T to George Washington's Blog

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Big Brother Watches us so, we We Watch Him Back

Update Below
One of the songs I love is Wake Up! (It's 1984) by Oingo Boingo. The title of this post is from the lyrics of this song.

Most technology is morally neutral and can be used for good and evil; often time simultaneously. It is a technological arms race between those of us who use technology to expand Liberty those who use technology to expand Government. Because as one waxes the other wanes. The exercise of your G-d given rights is a zero sum game; either Govenment is powerless to prevent your expression or it CAN limit your expression.

Here is a small battle on the Liberty-Government front where technology was used for Liberty.
If I get the the full 25 minutes of audio I will post it.
Here is link to the full audio. As expected the TSA goons have trouble handle free men instead of serfs. I especially like the threat "I'll help you understand". Didn't Rodney King also get such instructional help?


His "game" was to not cower like a serf. His "game" was to not answer a question without his attorney present. His "game" was to ask the appropriate questions; "Am I legally required to answer that question?" and "Am I free to go?". His "game" was assuming the Constituion of the United States survived its encounter with George W Bush.

Clearly, this guy is one of those Consitutional terrorists MIAC warned the ST. Louis TSA about, because Silence in the Face of Official Questioning is protected by the fifth amendment of the Constitution.

In case you need to know why that is important read the story of Sir Thomas Moore.

But the practical reasons are stated in this video by defense attorney, James Duane.
The advice is simple (and in the first 30 seconds): "NEVER speak to the POLICE without an attorney." In case you think only defense attorneys believe this, here is the same advice from a police detective with 25 years of experience.
Officer Bruch's advice is the same : "NEVER speak to the POLICE without an attorney."

We recently had a case where an honest, law-abiding citizen was doing what Shirley Abrahamson ordered him to do if he wanted to exercise the G-d given right protected under Article I section 25. In Philip Cole v Wisconsin, Shirley Abrahamson, ruled that Wisconsin is an unfettered open carry state. It was a good thing he too recorded his conversation with the police. I speculate that recording and the threat of it being played in open court helped with the dismissal of the case.

Honest citizen needs to record there interactions with the police if possible. Wisconsin is a single party recording state and having your own recording is really useful when there is a "glitch" with the dashboard cam and/or the body mike.

Tape the Police when you can because it may keep you out of jail, but mostly because you still can.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Tyranny is as Tyranny Does

My appologies to Forest Gump, but Tyranny is defined by its acts nothing more and noting less. Thus,

Tyranny is as Tyranny Does. This is the American defintion of tyranny and has been so from the beginning.

We Americans have for more than two centuries defined a tyrant as A ruler, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, are unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Jack Harris, the Police Chief of Phoenix Arizona, is just such a tyrant.

The lastest foray into tyranny by Chief Harris is to arrest and begin the prosecution one of his most effective critics.

On April 2, 2009, the police raided the home of Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops. Mr. Pataky's "crimes" are:
  • "Petty theft" for making name plates that look so good the Police Chief thought they were stolen.
  • "computer tampering with the intent to harass” which seems to translated from into English from PoliceSpeak to "effective detective of bad cops".
I would urge you to go to Jeff Pataky'ssite, Bad Phoenix Cops, and read his past "criminal" acts of harrassing.

Didn't Woodward and Bernstein get a Pulitzer for similar "harrassing"?

A critic to whom the few peace officers in the Phoenix police department feed tips about the