Happy News Eve from the TSA

Mail Travels Through Bethlehem, NH, For Postmark

Mail Travels Through Bethlehem, NH, For Postmark
Post Office Processes Tens Of Thousands Of Pieces Of Mail

The Christmas season is a special time for the post office in Bethlehem. Each year, letters are sent to the town from across the country to get the official Bethlehem postmark.
"We average about 50,000 pieces of mail that we cancel in the month of December from Thanksgiving to Dec. 31," said Postmaster Brian Thompson.

http://www.wmur.com/r/26198451/detail.html

Merry Christmas From the TSA

Dead Beat States

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/12/20/video-the-coming-collapse-in-the-state-budgets/

Has the TSA Been Good or Bad?

The NMA.tv carolers present the 'TSA Christmas Carol'

Former TSA officer sentenced for stealing from fliers' bags

Former TSA officer sentenced for stealing from fliers' bags
By Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY

"Authorities say 37-year-old Troy Davis, of Willingboro, N.J., took five laptop computers and a PlayStation game in March 2009," The Associated Press writes. "An airline baggage handler spotted him hiding the items behind an explosive-detection machine."

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2010/12/tsa-officer-sentenced-for-stealing-from-fliers-bags/135489/1

NH Dems under fire for criticizing GOP House member's religious speech

NH Dems under fire for criticizing GOP House member's religious speech

A dispute over a religious speech given by a Republican state representative a few weeks ago in Plymouth, Mass., received national attention Thursday.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=NH+Dems+under+fire+for+criticizing+GOP+House+member's+religious+speech&articleId=a784b74e-0102-493b-a02f-0c81131d90f0

Ex-TSA Worker Faces Child Porn Charges

Ex-TSA Worker Faces Child Porn Charges
Thousands Of Images, Videos Found On Man's Computer, DA Says

Boston -- A former TSA employee was arraigned on child pornography charges, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said Thursday.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/26165594/detail.html

December Issue of OTM Foreclosure Crisis Monthly

Banks Push Fed to Curb Borrowers' Right to Rescind Mortgages

Mortgage firms are pressing the Federal Reserve to curb homeowners’ right to invalidate loans based on flawed documents -- a right consumer groups say is one of the few weapons borrowers have to battle unfair lending.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-16/fed-mortgage-recission-plan-sparks-fight-between-lenders-consumer-groups.html

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December Issue of Foreclosure Crisis Monthly
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogdec10/foreclosure-monthly12-10.html

TSA’s “checkpoint-heavy” approach not effective?

TSA's "checkpoint-heavy" approach not effective?

Nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks and decades after hijackers first began to target passenger airliners, the United States has invested billions of dollars in an airport system that makes technology the last line of defense to intercept terrorists.

It has yet to catch one.

In every known recent attempt, terrorists have used a different tactic to evade the latest technology at airport checkpoints, only to be thwarted by information unearthed through intelligence work – or by alert passengers in flight.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/12/17/tsas-checkpoint-heavy-approach-not-effective/

The TSA Watchlist Against People Who They Don't Like

Roxi Copland- I'll be groped for Christmas (TSA Edition)

Grandma Got Molested At The Airport

NFL on Fox: Metrodome Collapse

Mexico's Drug War Leaves 30,196 Dead in Four Years

Mexico's Drug War Leaves 30,196 Dead in Four Years
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-16/mexico-drug-war-death-toll-climbs-to-30-196-since-2006-government-says.html

Ron Paul: The Philosophy of the Federal Reserve Gets an 'F'

Robert Gibbs says he believes Congress will read the entire 1924-page Omnibus spending bill, reporters laugh

http://www.ihatethemedia.com/robert-gibbs-says-he-believes-congress-will-read-the-entire-1924-page-omnibus-spending-bill-reporters-laugh

Will the Fed be able to survive Ron Paul?

Will the Fed be able to survive Ron Paul?

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/14/congressman-ron-paul-end-the-fed/

Austria: Judge Rules That Yodeling Offends Muslims

Austria: Judge Rules That Yodeling Offends Muslims

Unfortunately for Helmut G., his neighbors were in the middle of a prayer when he started to yodel. The Kronen Zeitung reported that he was fined 800 Euros after judges ruled that he could have tried to offend his neighbors and ridicule their belief.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141152

N.H. town plans tour of inns, arts

N.H. town plans tour of inns, arts
BY ROCHELLE LASH, FREELANCE
montrealgazette.com

The six inns are Adair Country Inn & Restaurant and Bear Mountain Lodge in Bethlehem, N.H., Franconia Inn and Lovetts Inn in Franconia, and Sugar Hill Inn and Sunset Hill House in Sugar Hill. All are set in the rugged White Mountain National Forest. The area is great for hiking around Mount Washington or downhill and cross-country skiing at Bretton Woods, Loon Mountain or Cannon Mountain.

The Adair also offers a fabulous fresh-air tour. Full Moon Snowshoe Evenings are organized by the Adair Country Inn & Restaurant in Bethlehem, in collaboration with The Rocks Estate, a nearby conservation area. Snowshoe evenings will be held Dec., 19, Jan. 20, Feb. 18, and March 19, starting at 5:30 p.m. with a buffet dinner, followed by a moderate trek, with a hot drink around an outdoor fire pit.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/town+plans+tour+inns+arts/3892932/story.html

LAME DUCK DEMS PULL FAST ONE WITH FOOD-SAFETY BILL

DEMS PULL FAST ONE WITH FOOD-SAFETY BILL

It didn’t take long for Democrats in the House to figure a way around the constitutional roadblock that halted the advance of S. 510: The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, following its approval by the Senate last week.

When proponents found the measure couldn’t move forward in the House, they quietly attached it as an amendment to the $1.1 trillion continuing resolution (CR), H.R. 3082: “The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011” – a measure designed to fund the government through September, that was headed to the floor for a vote.

Say goodbye to the ability for family farms to take their produce directly to the market. They'll be killed by a thousand cuts of compliance. Food distribution will be even more centralized, just like France.

http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news233.htm

President Obama Yields White House Press Conference to President Clinton; Goes to Party; Bernie Sanders Filibustering Obama's Tax Proposal

Triangulation?

Obama Ditches Tax Cut Presser After Bill Clinton Takes Control
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/12/10/obama_ditches_tax_cut_presser_after_bill_clinton_takes_control.html

Sanders Stages Old Style Filibuster On Senate Floor
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/89483/

How tax cut revolt helps Obama: It's a page from Clinton playbook
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2010/1210/How-tax-cut-revolt-helps-Obama-It-s-a-page-from-Clinton-playbook

Is Obama Swindling GOP? - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/09/AR2010120904472.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Charities Lobby to Reinstate Death/Estate Tax to 45%

Charities Push To Block Changes To Estate Tax

On its Web site, Independent Sector urged nonprofits to pressure their representatives “to oppose any effort to weaken the estate tax beyond 2009 level of $3.5 million and a tax rate of 45 percent.”

http://www.nptimes.com/10Dec/IF-12092010.html?tr=y&auid=7482333

Ron Paul announces his House leadership position last night on Freedom Watch

Ron Paul announces his House leadership position on Freedom Watch

http://www.examiner.com/finance-examiner-in-national/ron-paul-announces-his-house-leadership-position-last-night-on-freedom-watch

Fraudular Reserve Chairman Bernanke Can't Keep Track of His Lies

Bernanke's 21-Month U-Turn Takes 60 Minutes: Caroline Baum
By Caroline Baum
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-08/bernanke-s-21-month-u-turn-takes-60-minutes-commentary-by-caroline-baum.html

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Bernanke:

We’re not printing money. The amount of currency in circulation is not changing. The money supply is not changing in any significant way.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=FARBCRCL:IND
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=M2:IND
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=174377

WikiLeaks vs. The Establishment

WikiLeaks Nearly Immune to Takedown, Says Researcher
By Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld

Massive network attacks and other punitive actions taken against WikiLeaks over the past few days only appear to have made the site and its contents far more resilient to takedown attempts, a security researcher said.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/212922/WikiLeaks_Nearly_Immune_to_Takedown_Says_Researcher.html?tk=rss_news

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Patriot Act for the Internet Ahead?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/72700.html



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Dead Letter: 1st Amendment

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Julian Assange Captured by World's Dating Police
Naomi Wolf

As a longtime feminist activist, I have been overjoyed to discover your new commitment to engaging in global manhunts to arrest and prosecute men who behave like narcissistic jerks to women they are dating.
...
Thank you again, Interpol. I know you will now prioritize the global manhunt for 1.3 million guys I have heard similar complaints about personally in the US alone

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/interpol-the-worlds-datin_b_793033.html

TSA Denies Passage to Man In Speedo, Demands He Submit to Pat Down in Clothes

http://www.azfamily.com/news/First-woman-in-bra-and-now-man-in-speedo-at-airport-111306619.html

Second Place: Team 6611, PatroBots, Profile Middle School, Bethlehem

Local students win FIRST championship

Second Place: Team 6611, PatroBots, Profile Middle School, Bethlehem – Alex Meyer, Asher Merrill, Nate Sampo, McKenna Cisler and Marshall Doughty. The coach is Stephen Noga.

http://www.telegraphneighbors.com/localnews/901838-147/local-students-win-first-championship.html?CSAuthResp=1234::5000:1:24:approved:0F4585785573305EC4153626DBD917C5

Gene Simmons Wants His Obama Vote Back

Federal Aid to the States by Department or Agency

In My Mind’s Eye: Bethlehem

In My Mind’s Eye: Bethlehem

To get a jump on holiday giving, I went to Bethlehem. I didn’t have enough air miles to fly to the Bethlehem near Jerusalem, so I drove up to Bethlehem, New Hampshire.

It may not be the cradle of biblical history, but this New England Bethlehem has its own Christmas cradle of kitsch, quirkiness, and some Hanukkah devotees, too, I discovered.

A town marker informs, “Bethlehem is the highest elevated town East of the Rockies.” And it was incorporated on Christmas Day, 1799. What could be more Christmas-like?

http://www.wickedlocal.com/sandwich/news/lifestyle/columnists/x1743705104/In-My-Mind-s-Eye-Bethlehem

Students Help Brighten Military Christmas

Students Help Brighten Military Christmas

Raelene Lalumiere liked the teamwork ...
http://caledonianrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=145&ArticleID=52871&TM=37343.45 (login required)

On TSA: Liberty-Loving Cons vs. Authority-Loving Cons

On TSA: Liberty-Loving Cons vs. Authority-Loving Cons
By John R. Guardiano

The controversy surrounding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its use of porno scanners, pat-downs and feel-ups has split the conservative movement into two camps. It's the authority-loving cons versus the liberty-loving cons.
...
And so, when he is presented with the facts about the TSA -- which are that it is utterly useless and ineffective at finding and stopping terrorists -- he does what any reasonable and sober-minded person must do: He admits that we must disband the TSA and start over.

http://spectator.org/blog/2010/11/30/on-tsa-liberty-loving-cons-vs

Federal Spending by Dept or Agency, 2010

http://www.downsizinggovernment.org

If the tree fits, click it

If the tree fits, click it
For some modern families, ordering online is replacing the cold night search for the perfect fir

Surfing the Web was the way Michelle Toe kicked her fake tree habit. Toe, a 25-year-old medical school student in the Bronx, was intent on getting a real tree and setting it up the day after Thanksgiving. When she couldn’t find an affordable tree from local growers, a quick online search connected her with The Rocks Estate in Bethlehem, N.H.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2010/12/04/if_the_tree_fits_click_it/

Bethlehem Tree Lighting

Bethlehem Emergency Services-TREE LIGHTING

Saturday, December 04, 2010 , 6:30 PM - 6:30 PM

The First Annual Lighting of the Grand Christmas Tree.

Please join the Celebration in front of the Town Building.

SANTA will be there too!

for further information bethfiredeptaux(at)gmail.com

http://www.nh.com/nh/events/community-events/27154/bethlehem-tree-lighting

Holiday Homes and Inns Tours

Name: Holiday Homes and Inns Tours
Date: 12/04/2010 to 12/04/2010
Time: 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Days: Sat
Venue: Adair Country Inn & Restaurant
Address: 80 Bethlehem, NH
Phone: 603-444-2600

http://www.nh.com/nh/events/community-events/26874/holiday-homes-and-inns-tours

This weekend in New Hampshire

There’s no better place for a special Christmas Holiday Weekend! Once again this year, Bethlehem will do its Holiday best for a Bethlehem Christmas. Dress up warm and join the “Bethlehem Holiday Homes and Inns tour”. Inns and homes in Bethlehem will open their doors between 12noon and 4:30pm. Booklets with maps are for sale at Maya Papaya, Wren Gallery and the Bethlehem Visitors Center all located on Main Street, Bethlehem. Receive a FREE collectors Christmas ornament with paid for booklet.

http://www.nh.com/nhbloggers/901334-180/this-weekend-in-new-hampshire.html

Touring NYC by RC Airplane

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/12/how-a-rc-airplane-buzzed-the-statue-of-liberty-with-no-arrests.ars

The Fed's Dealings and Freedom Watch Dec 2

James Madison on the Means of Defense Against Foreign Danger

“The means of defence agst. [sic] foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.”
- James Madison

http://jolt.richmond.edu/v17i1/article4.pdf

Earmarks, shmearmarks

What The T.S.A. Hasn’t Told Us

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/what-the-t-s-a-hasnt-told-us
By NATE SILVER

What we aren’t told, however, is how many of those 50,000 passengers were asked to pass through the full-body scanners — what the T.S.A. calls “advanced imaging technology” or AIT — in the first place.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/what-the-t-s-a-hasnt-told-us

Senator-Elect Mike Lee Interviewed at Federalist Society Convention

Full Body Scanners Great For Catching Dope Users, Not Effective For Finding PETN Explosive

Smuggling PETN Explosive? No Worries:
Why The TSA Can't Back Down
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/12/why-the-tsa-cant-back-down/67337/

Smuggling Dope? You Should Worry:
Rapper Kurtis Blow Busted With Pot After TSA Body Scan
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/12/02/rapper-kurtis-blow-busted-pot-tsa-body-scan/

Harvard pair sue TSA over screenings

Harvard pair sue TSA over screenings
By Donna Goodison

Two Harvard Law School students are suing the Transportation Security Administration, claiming the so-called “nude body scanners” and intrusive pat-downs used to screen airline passengers are unconstitutional.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1300257&srvc=rss

TSA Reported Screening at Framingham/Boston MBTA Commuter Line

TSA Reported Screening at Framingham/Boston MBTA Commuter Line

They were out in full force this morning on the Framingham/Boston MBTA commuter line absolutely barking at the cattle to put their bags on some machine, open their bags, etc

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/71765.html

3 Reasons the Mid-Terms Didn't Change Anything

Did the Midterms Matter?
A cynical (or realistic) take on the change in D.C. power.
Nick Gillespie

http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/29/did-the-midterms-matter

Full Body Scanners next at Ski Slopes?

Long Arm of the Law
BY: KELLY BASTONE

After ticket scanners confirm that skiers’ lift passes are legit, a panel of uniformed police officers pats everyone down and inspects backpacks for contraband such as alcohol. Refuse the search, and that $97 day-ticket becomes null and void. Still, on this bluebird day, one baby boomer flexes his ’60s-honed flower power and bucks the system. “You don’t have any right to search me!” he shouts. Throughout the loading zone, heads swivel toward the lone renegade. The cops try to respond to him in hushed tones. But he won’t be quieted. “You have no right!” he repeats.

Police are increasingly patrolling Colorado ski areas. But are they actually making us safer or just destroying the free-wheeling culture of the slopes?

http://www.5280.com/magazine/2010/12/long-arm-of-the-law?page=0,0

Did TSA Make Opting-Out Impossible over Thanksgiving?

Newark airport controversial scanners are barely used on busiest travel day

NEWARK — The choice between a "virtual strip search" and a "grope" was strictly academic Wednesday for most holiday travelers flying out of Newark Liberty International Airport.

The majority of Newark’s full-body scanners were idle throughout much of the day, depriving most passengers of the chance to opt out of the controversial screening procedure even if they had wanted to.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/newark_liberty_airport_controv.html

MythBusters' Adam Savage Tears Into The TSA's Body Scanners

MythBusters' Adam Savage Tears Into The TSA's Body Scanners



http://www.businessinsider.com/mythbusters-adam-savage-tears-into-the-tsas-body-scanners-2010-11

Drudge Fought The TSA….And Drudge Won

Drudge Fought The TSA….And Drudge Won
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones

Despite the establishment media presiding over another mass hoax in claiming that Americans were completely happy with invasive airport security measures, contrary to polls showing a majority in opposition, and that the national opt out day was a failure, the fact that the TSA was forced to change its policy by mothballing naked body scanners and curtailing aggressive pat downs clearly goes to show that the man who almost single-handedly drove the issue, Matt Drudge, fought the TSA and he won.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/drudge-fought-the-tsa-and-drudge-won.html