Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Life under Stalin, from music bans to vanishing vodka


Thanks to the latest technology and some clandestine chicanery, Britain’s secret eavesdropping agency GCHQ is renowned for its ability to listen to the conversations of the leaders of Britain’s enemies and, occasionally, its friends.
Less known is the shadowy Government Communications Headquarters’ unblemished record in gaining information on the average duration of a Soviet tyre and plans for celebrating Stalin’s 70th birthday.
Thousands of pages of intelligence intercepts from the early days of the Cold War were made public yesterday, showing how British intelligence not only tapped into communications from deep inside the Kremlin but also built up a vast bank of data dealing with the minutiae of life in the Soviet Union as Britain’s wartime ally rapidly became the “Red Menace”.
The documents, released by the National Archives in Kew, west London, reveal how Britain struck a top-secret deal with the United States in 1946 to formalise the sharing of secret intelligence between the two countries which had developed during World War II. It helped cement the “special relationship”
The result was a wholesale effort by the Government Communications Headquarters, which moved to Cheltenham in 1951, to tap phone lines, bug offices and electronically eavesdrop on conversations to plug a gap in Britain’s understanding of life behind the Iron Curtain.
From a ban on “pseudo and inartistic” folk songs in the furthest eastern provinces of Russia to an exhortation by Moscow to resolve a vodka shortage in Dagestan, a comprehensive trawl of conversations across Soviet government was laid before British and American intelligence chiefs to try to gauge the stresses and strains in Russian society.
Dr Ed Hampshire, the head of specialist records at the National Archives, said: “This material was provided to the heads of intelligence to build up military, political, economic and social intelligence.More

Prospects for the Homeland Security Department: The 1947 Analogy

Published 09/12/2002 James Jay Carafano
Congress has returned from its summer recess to take up again the administration’s proposal creating a Department of Homeland Security. There is a good deal of work left to do. When the president introduced his plan, he described it as the most sweeping reorganization of the federal government since the outbreak of the Cold War when the National Security Act of 1947 unified the Armed Forces under a single department and created the National Security Council (NSC) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).1 The reference to the National Security Act is apt. An assessment of the prospects for the new department suggests it may encounter three major problems reminiscent of the obstacles faced in organizing to confront the Soviet Union during the early years of the Cold War.
  •  
  • “It is not all that it seems.” The proposal for a Department of Homeland Security is far less sweeping than the name of the department implies. The president’s legislation does not address all the current, critical organizational deficiencies that exist with respect to protecting the homeland.
  • “The devil is in the details.” Compromises in standing-up the department could result in an organization that is incapable of delivering the promised efficiencies and reducing overlap, duplication, and overhead.
  • “Things may get worse before they get better.” In the short term the government’s effectiveness in providing homeland security may decline as organizations transferred to the department adapt to new lines of authority and develop appropriate practices, systems, and organizational cultures.
This analysis reviews the administration’s proposal, the major modifications offered in the House (H.R. 5005) and Senate (S. 2452) versions of the bill, and outlines the advantages reorganization could bring to the task of protecting the nation. It then explores the difficulties that may lie ahead. The comparison to the last great reorganization of the federal government in 1947 raises some troubling issues for the new Homeland Security Department. This assessment concludes action is needed to provide: additional initiatives and reforms in the areas of law enforcement and intelligence; substantially more budgetary resources; and, an even greater and more formalized role for the Executive Office of the President in orchestrating homeland security activities.
The Plan The rationale for combining numerous federal agencies, programs, and facilities under a single Homeland Security Department parallels the thinking behind the formulation of the 1947 National Security Act, consolidating key assets into one big, powerful organization and creating the means to orchestrate that department’s efforts with other federal activities. Large, centralized organizations have drawbacks, the most obvious being managing a vast bureaucracy.2 But big organizations can also have great strengths, to include providing unity of purpose, a wealth of capabilities, economies of scale, and fostering a common institutional culture and practices that build trust and confidence, and facilitate coordinated action. Large federal departments with sizable budgets also hold the attention of official Washington, increasing the likelihood that policymakers will provide proper oversight for the task of protecting the homeland, an important factor considering that terrorist threats may be enduring as well. For these reasons, the president’s proposal to create the Homeland Security Department makes eminent sense.
The proposed department would provide an appropriate core capability for protecting the homeland by combining agencies and activities that make major contributions to the most critical homeland security tasks, providing the means to: 1) prevent terrorist attacks from entering the United States; 2) protect against attacks by reducing vulnerabilities; and 3) respond to mitigate the effects of an attack. In addition, the proposed department would provide a science and technology base for developing future capabilities to support each of these efforts.
The administration’s plan calls for a department comprising of four major divisions: border and transportation security; information analysis and infrastructure protection; emergency preparedness and response; and chemical, biological, and nuclear-related countermeasures.3 The House and Senate versions of the legislation modified this proposal.4 Key differences are noted below, but for the most part, under each plan the department would be created by shifting existing resources and responsibilities.
Border and Transportation Security Division. This organization will assume responsibility for controlling the borders and monitoring the flow of people, goods, and services. In addition, while not assuming control of the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, it will have the authority to establish rules and regulations governing the issuance of visas. The Border and Transportation Security Division will also include: more

Polish police question 2 Canadian Teachers Over Suspected Theft of Nails From Auschwitz


Polish officials say they detained two Canadian men after visitors to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp reported seeing them pick up loose nails from a railway track at the memorial. Prosecutor Mariusz Slomka said the 30-year-old suspects, both teachers, were released after being questioned
The nails were recovered from their backpacks, and the men were allowed to leave Poland. Authorities will decide whether to bring charges.
Local police Chief Robert Chowaniec said Monday they could face up to 10 years in prison if the nails prove to be historic artifacts.more
thank you Battleskin

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Why Not Allow The Public To “See Something, Say Something” With More Educated Eyes & Mouths


J. D. Abolins:
Thanks for the videos and links. They are helpful.
One of the ways in which citizens can be of great help is their awareness within their set of skills, life situations, and activities.
For example, an agricultural supply outlet people have an idea of what are the normal types of customers who might purchase ammonium nitrate fertiliser. They are in a good position to sense if a customer is “off”, doesn’t seem to be a farmer, etc. (Real life example: Following the OKC bombing a news crew from a major city went to an ag supplier in an adjacent state to get some ammonium nitrate to show how easy it is obtain. The clerks noticed the out-of-state plates, their clothing was too delicate for farming, the customers were not familar with farming terminology, etc. They called it in to the auhorities. Spoiled the news story but provide a good illustration how citizens can discern suspicious *behaviours* from their areas of expertise.
Since the Times Square bombing attempt, I have been writing about the role of the citizen in homeland security and in particular the use (and potential) of “See Something, Say Something”-type campaigns. In the aftermath of the New York incident and the ‘Christmas Day bomber’ Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – both foiled with the help of average citizens — officials have lauded the public’s role in homeland security.
However, despite reports that the terror threat to the U.S. is increasing and experts extolling the importance of citizen awareness, there hasn’t yet been a subsequent effort to try to broaden or improve civilian involvement.

There are some training materials for citizens that are publicly available which have had limited release, but government officials are not publicizing them widely. It’s as if we’re only going halfway on citizen involvement even with the new emphasis on the public’s role and the rising threat. One of the resources is a video I recently posted produced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “What’s in Store: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Events,” aimed at helping employees spot suspicious activity. This video was made for the retail industry, but the “suspicious activity” examples shown include mall customers making observations, and so it would be useful for any citizen to see.



There is a major caveat in any expansion of the citizen role. It is crucial that in empowering the public to play a role in the nation’s homeland security that we do not overdue things. There is a balance between informed/engaged and paranoid/overaggressive. However, I think is important that if indeed security officials believe that average citizens are integral to the nation’s safety then they should further educate them so they can be the most useful. The initiatives listed above offer the kind of information and training that I think would be helpful, and I hope that officials will begin broadening their use to the citizenry.MORE

It's Raining Oil In Louisiana?

Louisiana residents 45 miles off the Gulf of Mexico claim to have videotaped an oily substance raining down. Worst case scenario? It's petroleum mixed with Corexit, the cancer-causing dispersant BP's spraying on its oil slick. Best case scenario? Dirty roads.

Video is circulating which purports to show the effects of an oily rain coming down off the coast of Louisiana. It could be as simple as the sheen which develops on the road following rain on a dirty road or someone attempting a sensationalist hoax. At this point nobody knows. A smattering of reports from along the coast indicate similar occurrences accompanied by a strong odor of oil.

Our first thoughts were oil we're accustomed to dealing with generally doesn't evaporate, and that's true for engine oil sitting on a shelf, however crude oil at sea is an entirely different story. According to a 2003 study titled "Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects" put out by Ocean Studies Board, Marine Board, and Transportation Research Board, oil behaves very differently when on the open water. The study states:

Within a few days following a spill, light crude oils can lose up to 75 percent of their initial volume and medium crudes up to 40 percent. In contrast, heavy or residual oils will lose no more than 10 percent of their volume in the first few days following a spill. Most oil spill behavior models include evaporation as a process and as a factor in the output of the model.







The oil included in the Deepwater Horizon disaster is most certainly crude, and was at one point a heavy crude, which reduces the overall loss to evaporation, however it's been mixed up by the effects of the ocean and become an emulsification, which according to the study, enhances the likelihood of evaporation:

Emulsification, if it occurs, has a great effect on the behavior of oil spills at sea. As a result of emulsification, evaporation slows spreading by orders of magnitude,more from live leak

BOLSHEVISM

BOLSHEVISM                                                            

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Big Brother/Stasi Style Tactics Coming To Vegas With The “See Something, Say Something”


Las Vegas law enforcement agencies are launching a new effort aimed at encouraging regular citizens to watch out for suspicious activity.
The program is called “See Something, Say Something”. The program is designed to make average citizens the eyes and ears of law enforcement when officers aren’t around.
Authorities say a prime example of how well that can work is the attempted attack on Times Square in New York City. Faisal Shahzad is accused of trying to rig a car bomb in the crowded New York City plaza. more

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Court Ruling In Central Ohio Allows Thousands To Be Removed From Sex Offender Registry


For years, the state's sex offender registry has been the go-to Web site for concerned parents or anyone who wants to know who's living in their neighborhood. Now, a decision by the Ohio Supreme Court is allowing thousands of registered sex offenders in Ohio to be removed from the registry.
Angela Beatty, who lives in Franklin County, said she likes knowing who lives around her, which is one reason she said she's checked the state's sex offender registry.

But some who are on the registry today may soon not be there at all after the Ohio Supreme Court invalidated provisions of the Adam Walsh Act on separation-of-powers grounds.
That means approximately 26,000 sex offenders in Ohio who were sentenced before 2008 will have to be reclassified.

Adam Walsh Act Ohio



Under the Adam Walsh Act, offenders had to register with their county's sheriff's office four times a year for life. Now, like before the act, some 2,600 offenders will have to register only once a year for ten years from their sentencing. When that time is up, they're off the list. For some, that time has already come.
"Once they are off, they will have the same right as any other citizen," said Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen.
Of the 120 registered sex offenders in Fairfield County, Phalen said 40 will be removed from the list in the coming years.
"Had it not been for this court decision, they would have been reporting for life," said Phalen.

Columbus City Council In Immigrants Back Pocket


A resolution urging for national immigration reform is now headed to Washington D.C. Monday evening, Columbus City Council approved the resolution. While many supporters of reform couldn’t be happier, the question remains – what does Columbus City Council have to gain by sending a resolution to the federal government?
The resolution that was approved Monday, among other things, urges for tighter security at the border and a path to citizenship for those who are currently in the United States illegally. “It is the federal government’s responsibility. We want consistency throughout the 50 United States of America,” said Councilwoman Charleta Tavares.
To support comprehensive immigration reform and urge action from Congress and the Ohio General Assembly to support the needs of Columbus as well as other cities and towns as we integrate immigrants into Ohio and American communities.

WHEREAS, immigration is a federal responsibility and a comprehensive approach to solve our broken immigration system is necessary to meet the goals of ensuring a thriving and secure community and economy in Columbus and throughout the State of Ohio and the nation; and
WHEREAS, protecting the human and civil rights of immigrants and citizens is paramount to the success of Columbus, the State of Ohio and all communities in America as we move forward in the 21st Century; and
WHEREAS, the inability of government at all levels to reach consensus on a solution to immigration has created financial, cultural and political strains in communities across America; and

WHEREAS, immigration reform must occur in a comprehensive, thoughtful manner that focuses on improving homeland security, helping integrate immigrants into the community and alleviating the costs of providing services such as public safety, language services, housing, health, education, and social services;
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL:
That this Council requests that Congress enact comprehensive immigration reform that addresses: (1) border security and interior enforcement; (2) workplace enforcement; (3) guest workers; (4) legalization of undocumented workers currently in the U.S.; (5) a path to citizenship for immigrants now in the country; and (6) resources to local and state jurisdictions to alleviate the local impacts of delivering services to new immigrants.
That this Council requests that Congress provide adequate federal funding to help communities integrate new residents into their communities.more from nbc4i

Columbus City Council
City Hall
90 West Broad Street, Room 231
Columbus, OH 43215-9015

Main Switchboard (614) 645-7380
a244 22 June 2010 at 3:48 am
No good! Praise your friends and ignore your enemies.
Do not communicate with this people!


colony322
why is that a244 they are traders and elected by the ppl, and if i’m not mistaken it’s their job too i didn’t know they were immune from the same laws the feds went by. I’m sick of all this passing the buck crap it’s not my job, she needs to get her black ass working if they want to hold the office they were elected in but never mind all them ‘illegals’ illegaly help vote them into office while we pay for them and what they aren’t doing as they take and take from us and destroy. You ain’t got to rite your name and stuff just put that u are an amerikan citizen and voter. Freedom of speech

Friday, June 18, 2010

Obama Gives Back Major Strip of AZ to Mexico


The federal government is now telling American citizens to stay out of three southern Arizona counties. It is too dangerous because of armed smugglers from Mexico.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu: Quite frankly I’m telling you as a sheriff that we don’t control that part of the county. My county is larger than the state of Connecticut and we need support from the federal government. It’s their job to secure the border and they haven’t done it. In fact President Obama suspended the construction of the fence.more



Thursday, June 17, 2010

Seattle Cop Punches Woman Who Chimps Out ‘Nobody was injured during the incident, police said.’

SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating what they call an assault of an officer in South Seattle.
However, a police officer is seen punching a 17-year-old girl in the face during the incident captured by a video camera on Monday.
According to Seattle police, the incident began when an officer spotted a man jaywalking in the 3100 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way S. at approximately 3:10 p.m. The man was some 15 feet away from a pedestrian overpass, police said.
The officer was talking to the man when he saw four young women jaywalk across the same street at the same spot. The officer asked the women to step over to his patrol car, but the women were being “verbally antagonistic toward the officer,” according to officials.
One of the women, later identified as a 19 year old, began to walk away from the scene despite the officer’s instructions, prompting the officer to walk over to her and escort her back to his patrol car.more

SO WHY IS EVERYBODY SO UPSET ABOUT ARIZONA ???

Simple solutions to a not so complex problem!
The “Show Me” state has once again shown us how it should be done. They need more exposure on this. Let’s pass it around.
In 2007, Missouri placed on the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment designating English as the Official language of Missouri . Nearly 90% voted in favor! English became the official language for ALL governmental proceeding in Missouri . It also meant no individual had the right to demand government services in a language OTHER than English.
In 2008 a measure was passed that required our Highway Patrol and other law enforcement officials to verify the immigration status of any person arrested, and inform federal authorities if the person was found to be here illegally. It allowed Missouri law enforcement offices to receive training to enforce federal immigration laws. The bill made it clear that illegal immigrants would NOT have access to taxpayers benefits such as food stamps and health care through Missouri HealthNET.

Read More

Lieberman Bill Gives Feds ‘Emergency’ Powers to Secure Civilian Nets

Joe Lieberman wants to give the federal government the power to take over civilian networks’ security, if there’s an “imminent cyber threat.” It’s part of a draft bill, co-sponsored by Senators Lieberman and Susan Collins, that provides the Department of Homeland Security broad authority to ensure that “critical infrastructure” stays up and running in the face of a looming hack attack.
The government’s role in protecting private firms’ networks is one of the most contentious topics in information security today. Several bills are circulating on Capitol Hill on how to keep power and transportation and financial firms running in the event of a so-called “cybersecurity emergency.”
Last week, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn floated the idea of extending a controversial cybersurveillance program to hacker-proof the firms.

Lieberman and Collins’ solution is one of the more far-reaching proposals. In the Senators’ draft bill, “the President may issue a declaration of an imminent cyber threat to covered critical infrastructure.” Once such a declaration is made, the director of a DHS National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications is supposed to “develop and coordinate emergency measures or actions necessary to preserve the reliable operation, and mitigate or remediate the consequences of the potential disruption, of covered critical infrastructure.”


Read More

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

American Eugenics by Tony Platt

American Eugenics                                                                                                                                   

Monday, June 14, 2010

U.S. Discovers Vast Riches of $1 Trillion in Minerals in Afghanistan,

 Dec 11, 2009 Jack Lifton: Safeguarding Our Future Supply of Rare Earths

“Price may not be as important as security of supply,” says Jack Lifton, an independent consultant with more than 45 years of experience in sourcing nonferrous strategic metals. In the U.S., our dependence on rare metals is undermined by the simple fact that we’re not producing any. Given that China now controls 95% of these ‘technology metals’ and the world is projected to eat 200,000 tons of rare earth metals near 2015, Jack tells The Gold Report we need to jumpstart our own domestic supply chain and, more importantly, build the refineries to process them—rather than sending them to China for refining, which is our only option currently.more


Published: June 13, 2010

 he United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
Trace Minerals
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberries.

October 31, 2009

International Lithium Corp. put a new presentation on its website with timescales for different type of Lithium and REE deposits. If we are going to enjoy advance in Lithium-ion battery’s technology in our electric cars in five years time on a truly mass market scale with penetration more then 5% Lithium supply must be doubled. Time is today to develop the new secured resources for strategic commodities of the nearest future



“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”
The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries.more


 

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Dutch ruling party loses election to the Liberals


Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has resigned as his party’s leader as exit polls showed his Christian Democrats were defeated in the parliamentary elections. 

According to preliminary results released by local TV NOS early in the morning, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) won 31 out of the total 150 parliamentary seats, becoming the biggest party in the second Chamber of the States-General. It was followed by the Labour Party (PvdA) which grabbed 30 seats.
'I chose that picture of Geert Wilders, because I honestly think there needs to be a recount in votes and also to show that the Jews and Muslim/Islamic are afraid of our freedoms and will not stop until they have conquered over white nations'
The Christian Democrats lost 20 seats and finished with 21.

On Wednesday, Balkenende also resigned his parliamentary seat, accepting full responsibility for the party’s poor performance.

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), an extreme anti-immigrant party, appeared to have leapt to third place with 23 seats. more

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Berlin bars Muslim from prayers at school


A German court has rejected a legal bid by a 16-year-old Muslim student to have the right to conduct prayers at his school, reports say.  The court in Berlin ruled on Thursday against Yunis’ bid to pray, stating that it would upset peace in the school, and abuse students’ rights to the entitlement of a calm and educational environment, Reuters reported.

The maintenance of an academic school environment takes precedence over the student’s right to religious observance, the appeals court said.  “The Islamic prayer ritual has a demonstrative character and serves as social control,” a Berlin Senate official said in favor of the ruling.

“This is a good day for the Berlin school,” school director Brigitte Burchardt said after the verdict.
She said the decision would reduce potential conflict that may arise in the school. Last year the same pupil had initially been given the right to pray once a day in the same school. This year a higher Berlin court overturned that judgment.more

Déjà Vu? Hispanics flee

 

Illegal Immigrants Returning to Mexico in Record Numbers

08/25/2008

DALLAS — Illegal immigrants are returning home to Mexico in numbers not seen for decades — and the Mexican government may have to deal with a crush on its social services and lower wages once the immigrants arrive.
The Mexican Consulate’s office in Dallas is seeing increasing numbers of Mexican nationals requesting paperwork to go home for good, especially parents who want to know what documentation they’ll need to enroll their children in Mexican schools.  “Those numbers have increased percentage-wise tremendously,” said Enrique Hubbard, the Mexican consul general in Dallas. “In fact, it’s almost 100 percent more this year than it was the previous two years.”MORE
 
Hispanics flee Arizona ahead of immigration law 06/08/2010

Arizona’s tough new immigration enforcement law is fueling an exodus of Hispanics from the state seven weeks before it goes into effect, according to officials and residents in the state.
Though no one has precise estimates, reports from school officials, businesses and individuals indicate worried Hispanics — both legal and illegal — are leaving the state in anticipation of the law, which will go into effect July 29.
Schools in Hispanic areas report unusual drops in enrollment. The Balsz Elementary School District is 75% Hispanic, and within a month of the law’s passage, the parents of 70 students pulled them out of school, said District Superintendent Jeffrey Smith. The district lost seven students over the same one-month period last year, and parents tell Smith the Arizona law is the reason for leaving.
“They’re leaving to another state where they feel more welcome,” he said.
The measure, signed into law April 23 by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, requires a police officer to determine a person’s immigration status if they are stopped, detained or arrested and there is “reasonable suspicion” they are in the country illegally.
About 100,000 illegal immigrants left Arizona after the state passed a law in 2007 that enhanced penalties on businesses that hired them, more

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Mr Death The Rise and Fall of Fred A Leuchter Jr.




"Mr. Death" is a stylized documentary that deals with the life and work of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., a US Federal Court qualified expert in execution technology. On the basis of his qualifications, in 1988 Leuchter was commissioned by German-Canadian publisher Ernst Zundel to conduct the first thorough forensic examination of the alleged Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. After Leuchter testified that the alleged facilities were not -- and could not have been -- used for mass extermination, Jewish activists ruined his life. Leuchter comes across just as straightforward and guileless on film as he is in real life. As a result, some viewers of earlier versions at the Sundance Festival, the Toronto Film Festival and Harvard University began to question the Holocaust extermination stories they'd been told, while others suspected that Morris himself might have been converted to Holocaust revisionism. At the eleventh hour, Morris re-edited the film in an effort to emphasize his anti-revisionist point of view. Character assassination aside, the question remains as to whether or not Leuchter's findings regarding the alleged Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz and Birkenau are correct. http://www.freespeechwar.com«

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Art of Spelling And Telling Time, Lost! When Is ‘Enuf is enuf’


Remember when MTV came out and the first video they played was ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’, by The Buggles?


Since the creation of MTV amongst other things so much has been lost.  How much further can America and  the world be dumb ed down.  I know speaking from growing up in the MTV generation and seeing for myself the dumbing down  take place.  What happened to being able to read a clock with hands is gone to the ‘digital’, along with many other things and the article below is just one more nail in the coffin of intelligence.

Protesters in bee suits outside Spelling Bee want to make English simpler

 

The nation’s capital always draws its share of protesters, picketing for causes ranging from health care reform to immigration policy.

But spelling bee protesters? They’re out here, too.

Four peaceful protesters, some dressed in full-length black and yellow bee costumes, represented the American Literacy Council and the London-based Spelling Society and stood outside the Grand Hyatt on Thursday, where the Scripps National Spelling Bee is being held. Their message was short: Simplify the way we spell words.
Roberta Mahoney, 81, a former Fairfax County, Va. elementary school principal, said the current language obstructs 40 percent of the population from learning how to read, write and spell.

The protesting cohort distributed pins to willing passers-by with their logo, “Enuf is enuf. Enough is too much.”
According to literature distributed by the group, it makes more sense for “fruit” to be spelled as “froot,” ‘’slow” should be “slo,” and “heifer” — a word spelled correctly during the first oral round of the bee more

Bound for Glory - I Stood