OPINION: Are Predator Drones Watching You?

When it comes to privacy – we’re screwed.  According to the Los Angeles Times – unmanned Predator drones aren’t just for hunting terrorists in the Middle East anymore – they’re being used to hunt American citizens too.  Three men were arrested in North Dakota on suspicions they stole cattle from a nearby farm – and they were located thanks to the help of a Predator drone conducting surveillance above.  Local police are now saying they’ve used Predator drones to run at least two dozen surveillance flights in North Dakota alone since June. 

Although Congress authorized the drones to be used domestically in 2005 to patrol our Northern and Southern borders – their use for local law enforcement is increasing – with virtually no input by the American people.  And privacy experts warn continued use of drones radically threatens the privacy of all of us.  As Ryan Calo – the director of privacy and robotics at Stanford University – said, “Any time you have a tool like that in the hands of law enforcement that makes it easier to do surveillance, they will do more of it.” The rise of the military industrial complex – and the militarization of our police are nearly complete. 

As the chant goes – “this is what a police state looks like.”

OPINION: Fighting Over Dust

Here’s an example of Washington craziness.

Because the EPA has considered regulating dust thrown up by farm equipment, the House of Representatives passed a bill to block the EPA.

Then the EPA bureaucrats ridiculed the legislation, saying they don’t plan any such regulation, at least not at this time.

Then the Obama White House announced they would veto the legislation, which according to the EPA shouldn’t be a problem because they denied any plan to regulate dust on farms.

So why veto a bill that only requires the bureaucrats to keep their word?

There’s something fishy here. It sounds suspiciously like the EPA indeed wants to regulate dust on farms, which is projected to decrease food production, raise food prices, and cost jobs in rural areas.

It’s an all too-common story. If we want to create jobs, don’t create so many regulations.

From The Heritage Foundation, I’m Ernest Istook.

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OPINION: Occupying Foreclosed Homes Is Now Underway

Occupy Wall Street is going off in a new direction today – occupying foreclosed homes.  A day of action is planned today in 25 cities across America – including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago to help Americans hardest hit by foreclosure.  Occupy Wall Street patriots will take to the suburbs to stop cops from evicting people from their homes – and they’ll begin “occupying” already foreclosed and vacant homes. 

According to a press release from the “Occupy Our Homes” movement: “We, the 99%, are standing up to Wall Street banks and demanding they negotiate with homeowners instead of fraudulently foreclosing on them.”  The bankster-caused Housing crisis sucked $7.7 trillion in wealth out of the middle class. 

It’s time to start getting that money back, home-by-home, bank-by-bank.

OPINION: Squeezing Growth

From The Heritage Foundation, I’m Ernest Istook.

Most people like extra space.

But it’s common for government to restrict growth and push us to live closer together, limit road construction, and reduce our choices of where to live and where to work.

So-called “smart growth” advocates claim that we hurt the environment and waste energy if we build roads and drive cars. Restrictive zoning and opposition to roads are key tools that are used to limit where housing can be built. And the more limits that are created, the more expensive houses become. It becomes more time-consuming just to go to work, take the kids to school, go shopping, or enjoy a night out.

Radical environmentalists and smart growth advocates work at the United Nations, in the federal government, and at state and local levels to limit our freedom, making it costlier to do simple, everyday things.

From The Heritage Foundation, I’m Ernest Istook.

OPINION: The Poison-Pill That's Killing The Post Office

The Post Office is screwed!

The Republican plan to bankrupt the Post Office and its half a million unionized employees is working. Facing a fiscal crisis created solely by poison-pill legislation passed 5 years ago by a Republican Congress and signed by President Bush that required the Post Office – unlike any other company or government agency – to prefund 75 years worth of employee health benefits in a 10 year period – the Post Office is now moving forward with massive cuts in service.

Next-day mail delivery is the first to get the axe – but even more drastic cuts are coming down the pike, including closing nearly 4,000 local mail facilities and laying off as many as 100,000 postal workers. Meanwhile – Congress is doing nothing to repeal the poison pill legislation that’s threatening to kill off an institution was founded by Ben Franklin.

Call your lawmakers and tell them to help the post office and resist Republican efforts to completely privatize mail delivery in America.