Today, Edward Snowden is a Genuine American Hero

Washington, DC--U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled today that the government NSA domestic telephone spying program was a violation of our rights under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

On June 5, 2013, UK publication, The Guardian dropped the Edward Snowden bombshell that our NSA and various telecommunication companies had a domestic spy program in place collecting our telephone conversations and other data.  This was without the pre-requisite search warrants or even minimal probable cause.

Government snoops can simply access any of our past calls and listen in at will! 

The group Judicial Watch and others, including Larry Klayman filed suit against Barack Obama in the D.C. U.S. District Court seeking an injunction halting the outlaw behavior. 

The Obama Administration claimed this lawless program was necessary to thwart terrorism but the government could not cite a single event where a terrorist act was interrupted because of the program.

Snowden told anyone who’d listen that this was really for gathering intelligence information against political enemies and others targeted by the Obama Administration.   Discovery and abuse of any illicit sexual or criminal activity by would definitely be used nefariously to sway Congressional votes, judicial decisions and control those who may or may not run for public office.  Could this be the cause of Supreme Court Justice John Roberts to make a surprise ruling on Obamacare?

We now have government by extortion and blackmail.  Imagine the shameful FBI COINTELPRO program today with this advanced technology!  This is COINTELPRO on steroids!

This phone snooping program was and is  Orwellian and criminal.  Anyone connected to this should be tried as common criminals.  Disgraced former Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano has been rotting in prison for the same behavior for nearly a decade and it will be several more years before he will be considered for release.

Our politicians and bureaucrats have no special legal immunity and those involved should be brought to justice for their crimes regardless of political party affiliation.

Judge Leon found the program was a violation of American’s rights and issued an injunction but stayed it subject to appeal.  This should set the stage for the Impeachment of Barack Obama and criminal prosecution for all of those involved.

Our freedom is much safer tonight because of Edward Snowden who left a lucrative job, risked his freedom and life exposing this tyranny.  We owe Snowden a lot for what he did.  To suggest that lives were jeopardized by Snowden’s leaks is outrageous. Every American is endangered by the Obama Administration's criminal conduct.  

Our job as American citizens is to now take whatever action is necessary to take charge of or nation and bring these political and government thugs to justice.  It may well take more than lip service but the force our founders gave us the right to use under the Second Amendment. Edward Snowden is deserving of our nations highest award for bravery.

Taking Stock of My Life Today, Things are positive!

Here I'm at Berlin's Reichstag

Earth—This planet we inhabit is quickly getting incredibly smaller.  We travel where we please easier than ever despite the thieves and thugs of the TSA.  When we can’t travel we make wonderful free video calls to our friends even internationally via Skype.com and can send e-mail.

I’m blessed with incredibly wonderful friends here in the USA, Europe and even India.  All of my friendships are threatened simply because because life itself is fragile.  Many of my friends have left me for the hereafter. Many died way too young.  

I’m in reasonably good health despite the reality that time is marching and I can’t reverse the aging process. 

I’ve been both blessed and cursed with more excitement in my life than most people will ever see.  Surviving a life changing shooting in 1987 and a career that brought me face to face with horrible violence, injustice, tyranny and some really wonderful experiences.   I'm by nature an adrenalin Junkie. I must always be where the action is. 

I have had to come to grips with my taking the wrong career direction as a young man.  After my stint as an Army medical corpsman I should have tackled medical school and not surrendered to a fear of advanced mathematics.   I had no parents to help me overcome the difficult financial issues associated with that kind of an education.

Life has thrown me some curve balls and fortunately I’ve not yet struck out.  I’m still carefully watching the ball.

I do regret returning to the USA to live after my incredible military obligation and love for life in Germany.  Those 18 months in Europe were truly the best times of my life.  I learned about kindness, art, music, and some incredibly elegant women. 

The United States has deteriorated dramatically.  People are only knowledgeable about inane pop culture crap, video games and reality TV.  Kindness here has all but disappeared, being replaced with suspicion, divisiveness and even hate.  As for elegance one need only check out the customers shopping at any local WalMart.  I can remember when people dressed up to go see a movie but not anymore.

My politics all but make me an anarchist.  I’m not fond of the heavy hand of government.  I’ve always resented authority and particularly those laws or regulations designed to protect me from myself.  I’m unhappy to see more and more of our hard won freedom stolen by politicians. We've replaced freedom with abject fascism.  

I don’t know what adventures or romances lay ahead for me.   Everyday is a new day and I must only look forward.  There is no going backward.  We don’t get to relive our lives and correct our mistakes.

All I know is that without my friends my life would be worthless and unbearable.   For all of those wonderful people that have been kind to me or befriended me I have two words, thank you.

NBC’s The Sound of Music Live, My Review

New York, NY—NBC put on two projects, the making of this project and then a week later the live play.

This was a classic film with Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews.  It was based on a great World War Two inspired story of the von Trapp family. 

Okay I much preferred the show about making the show better than the show itself. 

The first problem was ridicules miscasting of the talented singer Audra McDonald as Mother Abbess.  It was beyond dopy to cast an African-American woman as the Austrian Catholic Mother Superior.  Was this some sick idea of political correctness?  This was distracting to say the least.  

Carrie Underwood was wonderful as was Stephen Moyer.  Underwood is a versatile performer.  The cameras all loved her and she delivered.  This despite her pure American persona rather than being a European like the real deal. 

The Children were adorable and I can only imagine how their parents were on Cloud 9 beaming with pride.  I’m sure many of them bought the latest and greatest big screen TV to watch their kids in this event.

The great story and music carried this project even though it was somewhat awkward and stagy.  Parts of the show were reminiscent of bad community theater productions.

The real test was how many people including those tweeting criticisms those did not change the channel.  We all watched and no matter what were touched by parts of this production.

Audra McDonald has a great singing voice but seemed to lack needed acting chops.  It was like she knew that she just did not fit into this story.  I can’t blame McDonald for crappy casting.  I’d like to hope that African-Americans would not have been offended by not seeing their own in this production.

Should NBC continue with this kind of programing?  Certainly, but I hope they learn from mistakes.  Anything beats the reality crap that plays to the lowest common denominator of the typical low brow American audience.  The Cast:

Carrie Underwood - Maria von Trapp

Stephen Moyer - Captain von Trapp

Laura Benanti - Elsa Schrader

Christian Borle - Max Detweiler

Michael Campayno - Rolf Gruber

Sophia Anne Caruso - Brigitta von Trapp

Peyton Ella - Gretl von Trapp

Michael Nigro - Friedrich von Trapp

Ariane Rinehart - Liesl von Trapp

Grace Rundhaug - Marta von Trapp

Ella Watts-Gorman - Louisa von Trapp

Joe West - Kurt von Trapp

More Guns Than Ever In The US as the Murder Rate Rapidly Declines!

Chicago, IL—Officials here are saying that the murder rate has suddenly declined to 1965 levels.  The same is happening all across the nation. However having anti-gun or self-defense zealot Barack Obama in the Whitehouse has brought on a huge surge of never before seen levels of civilian gun buying. 

Wow! Those that think that more guns in the hands of civilians would create massive bloodbaths or worse with the considerably relaxed laws on possessing or carrying them have been proven wrong.    

Chicago went from a total gun ban to “shall issue” carry permits for the law-abiding.  The program has not yet been implemented but prosecutors cannot enforce the bans on gun carrying by the large population of people possessing state firearm ID cards.

The George Zimmerman shooting and trial was the greatest PR event against crime ever by sending a highly publicized message to thugs everywhere.  That message is that doing the things that thugs do is now suddenly very hazardous.  Thankfully most thugs are cowards. 

With the significant proliferation in people carrying guns for self-defense we are having fewer murders and also surprisingly fewer gun accidents. 

On the issue of safety there are two contributing factors to the reduction of accidents.  One is that people carrying guns are getting professional safety training.  The other factor is that guns are not being left behind in homes where children may get their hands on them.  Instead those guns are in holsters being carried by their owners. 

There are those folks that still believe gun registration laws are needed.  They really can’t explain why simply because they’ve been brainwashed through misleading political propaganda. 

Most people don't know that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled twice, exempting felons and those prohibited by law from possessing firearms from registering them!  It’s all about self-incrimination and the Fifth Amendment.  Filing out registration forms violates their rights!

Guns are only left at crime when a criminal is killed, wounded or captured at the scene.  Under those circumstances police have all the information they need and registration accomplishes nothing!  

Gun owners that become victimized by theft of firearms reports the thefts to police and the serial numbers are entered into a national database. If someone gets caught with a hot gun or one with a defaced serial number a jail cell awaits him or her.

The fact is crimes are incredibly seldom or never committed with guns in possession of their registered owners.

Gun registration is meaningless other than to provide political despots a list of people to disarm or otherwise attack.  Newspapers have also printed the names and addresses of registered gun owners informing burglars wither homes to avoid or ones where they can steal firearms. 

Professor John Lott made the case for that premise in his book titled, “More Guns, Less Crime.”   With all the restrictions lifted since and the sales of millions more guns Lott has proven to be absolutely correct on every count! 

As Americans we have a duty to protect each other from a tiny minority of criminals that would victimize us.  We cannot ever depend on the police arriving minutes or longer after the crime to make any meaningful difference.

The evidence and facts about gun rights are a lot different that the political propagandists have been claiming for decades.

To look at the reverse of this more guns, less crime argument simply look to the UK and Australia where they more recently in the last few decades outlawed guns.  Crime and particularly murders and serious assaults have skyrocketed since the bans went into effect.

The real facts are that the gun-rights haters are driven by misguided emotions or a desire to disarm Americans for nefarious purposes.

Remote Control Drones For Business, Fun and Mischief

Phoenix, AZ—I just had to have one of these things when I learned they could carry my wildly popular high definition GoPro cameras to new heights capturing previously impossible video.

I now have the Blade 350 quadcopter that I obtained from B&H Photo.  I also now have two GoPro cameras and a large box of accessories including lots of clever camera mounts.  Two GoPro cameras are not enough for filmmakers that need to cover every angle.  I think I need three more.

Amazon.com just announced their plan to utilize drones to deliver packages less than five pounds in 30 minutes to our homes.   There are some huge hurdles that may prevent that from ever happening.  However the free publicity for Amazon at the beginning of the Christmas season obviously motivated that announcement.

A drone was recently discovered being used to deliver drugs and cell phones to prison inmates. 

One drone owner friend said using his drone in Las Vegas enabled him to peer into various hotel windows to see who was having more fun than he was. 

In an era where TV news is losing its audience to bloggers and other Internet sources drones can cheaply and easily obtain video images that only incredibly expensive helicopters could previously cover. 

The drones can legally be flown at much lower heights than traditional helicopters. Drones for Electronic News Gathering or ENG will become routine.

Ranchers and farmers can use the little drones check on cattle and crops with ease.

Micro-budgets filmmakers can get those overhead shots from the angles of those expensive cranes and jibes.  Of course the angles and heights only helicopters could reach are easy for drones to handle.

GPS and operators using line of sight presently guide the new crop of affordable drones.  There are remote viewing devices including the GoPros alone sending back live video to tablets and smartphones at a somewhat limited range. 

The real estate industry can use these things to obtain terrific aerial images of the properties they're selling.  Building contractors can inspect their projects at every stage of development.

Mall security workers can inspect and patrol their vast parking lots by drone. 

Research and development into drone technology is right now in overdrive.  A simple small drone with a GoPro or similar camera like mine can be purchased for around $1,000.00.   There are bigger and more complex drones with much higher price tags. 

I anticipate drones will very soon be available that can livestream quality video on the Internet for extended periods for less than $10,000.00 in the near future. 

We don’t yet know what laws will be put into place regulating drones or how they will even begin try and to enforce them.  

The survivalists and anti-government crowd were complaining about Big Brother using drones to spy on them.  The tables are turning because these same tools can be now be used to spy on Big Brother.