ROPE Takes the High Road, Calls Barresi on the Carpet

Kaye Beach

May 31, 2011

This article is from Restore Oklahoma Public Education-R.O.P.E.’s latest newsletter. (sign up here to receive ROPE’s newsletter by email)

I admire their courage and adherence to principle over politics.  This is what separates the mere advocate from the Watchdog.

Thanks ROPE!

At the State Republican Convention in May, State Superintendent Dr. Janet Barresi told members present that she went up to “The Hill” to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce and told the Federal Government to stay out of “our business”.

In the actual testimony, Dr. Barresi states, “As all participating states prepare to transition to Common Core curriculum standards [initiated with Arne Duncan and the DOE], more flexibility is also needed in the use of federal funds for professional development that would support effective instructional practices. Additionally, broadening the scope of the designation of Title programs to include a wider array of subject matter, such as STEM initiatives, would help enable states to offer a more challenging curriculum.”

This does not sound like “get out of our business” so much as “give us the money and let us spend it the way we want”.

Republican Ronald Reagan wanted to abolish the Federal Department of Education created by Jimmy Carter. Our state Republican platform specifically says, “The federal government has no constitutional role in education”

Though Dr. Barresi has stated on numerous occasions that she advocates for “local control”, a post on the State Department of Education website dated “May 19th” heralded the announcement that Dr. Barresi had just joined Jeb Bush’s Chiefs for Change.

As is visible from the post on the left, the Chiefs are very specifically advocating MORE federal control of the already over-federalized Elementary and Secondary Education Act. How does surrendering local control of our elementary and secondary students to the federal government in turn provide local control?

According to a CATO study it doesn’t. “We find strong evidence that the widespread adoption of preschool and full-day kindergarten is unlikely to improve student achievement.”

Though recently, Dr. Barresi told an audience in Tulsa that she had not used Federal money for education reforms she has touted, the NewsOk article in the upper left, Oklahoma State Education Board awards millions to poor-performing schools, flies in the face of such a statement.

ARRA (stimulus) funds are those used to “turnaround” failing schools. Is this semantics? If the Oklahoma State Department of Education is simply ‘passing’ on the funds from the federal government to the local school, then the Department is not spending them so the Department is not taking federal funds for education reforms?

ROPE has found at least one bill “requested” by the Department containing references or inclusions for access to federal grants. Additionally, ROPE has uncovered the mechanism by which the Core Curriculum Standards and something called the P20 data system (begun by a “requested” bill) which will collect data from children across a wide range of data points and share that information in  without parental consent are linked to federal funding. We will share that with you soon.

In the meantime, we must be vigilant and continue to monitor the words and actions of our newly elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Baressi, and hold her accountable for them.

In This Issue

Oklahoma State Education Board awards millions to poor-performing schools The School Improvement Grants were approved by the board Thursday and the federal money is intended to help the schools, all of which are in Oklahoma City, improve a track record of poor student performance. “We’re hopeful that this will have an impact,” state schools Superintendent Janet Barresi said.

Oklahoman plays key role in announcement of new Race to the Top “Early childhood education, special for children ages birth to 3, is both a profound moral obligation and the most effective way to reverse the cycle of poverty in  America,” Kaiser said in a town-hall meeting in Washington, D.C., following Duncan’s announcement.

State Superintendent Janet Barresi Joins Jeb Bush’s “Chiefs For Change”In the “Statement of Principles for Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act” dated May 19, 2011, the Chiefs maintain: Federal law should incentivize rigorous academic standards. Federal law should encourage transparent and rigorous accountability. Federal law should recognize and reward excellence. Federal law should encourage states to replace failure with success. Federal law should encourage and reward the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers and leaders. Federal law should encourage viable options for all students.

Q&A With State Supt. Baressi with the Oklahoma Education Association
“No. I don’t like mandates. I’m a local control type of fan and advocate. I’m sure Oklahoma City would be happy to share their best practices in this area and results from this. My bottom line is this: I want to see the numbers. I want to see the academic outcomes as a result of this process, after they’ve had it in for a couple, three years. I want to see how it facilitates outcomes, how it facilitates learning.”

Oklahoma charter schools hire math, science teachers from overseas

The schools have come under scrutiny by conservative and tax watch groups throughout the nation, including Restore Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE), which can be defined as both.

“If Oklahoma teachers are being laid off, why are we as Oklahoma taxpayers paying people from not even inside our country to come and teach our children?” asks Jenni White, president of ROPE.

To Read More information collected on Gulen Schools by ROPE, see this article just recently added to our website.

Central Oklahoma Going “Metro”?

Kaye Beach

May 30,2011

Regional Governance, also called “New Regionalism” or Metro Government,  is getting a boost from the federal government with the passage of the Livable Communities Act which made law a partnership between HUD, US DOT, and the EPA.  The Livable Communities Act  created a new office within HUD, called the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities. This office is  distributing billions to local governments through Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants.

The Move to Regional Government

In most U.S. cities, the smart-growth coalition described in the preceding section has little political power over the suburbs. Most suburbs have a long history of resisting annexation or merger with their central cities. To overcome that resistance, smart growth advocates support regional government agencies with authority over both the central city and the suburbs.

Some writers are explicit that the purpose of regional government is to prevent local areas from democratically resisting smart-growth proposals.

Douglas Porter (1991) of the Urban Land Institute writes “about the gap between the daily mode of living desired by most Americans and the mode that most city planners and traffic engineers believe is most appropriate” (65), He supports “regional agencies [with] substantial powers to influence local decision making on land use issues”

. . .a regional government made up of local government representatives “can take controversial stands without making its individual members commit themselves to those stands. Each member can claim that ‘the organization’ did it or blame all the other members”

Is Urban Planning Creeping Socialism?  O’Toole

Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant

On October 14, 2010, HUD announced that it is awarding nearly $100 million in Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants to support more livable and sustainable communities across the country. Forty-five regional areas will receive funding through a new initiative intended to build economic competitiveness by connecting housing with good jobs, quality schools and transportation.

HUD press release: HUD Awards Nearly $100 Million in New Grants to Promote Smarter and Sustainable Planning for Jobs and Economic Growth

In addition to helping to push sustainable development policies that run counter to the tradition and law of the US, the grant also makes it a point to reinforce regional governance mechanisms. Only “multijurisdictional and multi-sector partnership consisting of a consortium of governmental entities and non-profit partners.” are eligible.

Regional governance makes government more remote from the people and sets up numerous boards, councils and commissions of unelected bureaucrats.

Charlotte Iserbyte, in her book “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America” writes,

THE DAILY WORLD OF NOVEMBER 8, 1975 CARRIED A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE ENTITLED “Planning Is Socialism’s Trademark” by Morris Zeitlin.

We have no regional government and no comprehensive regional planning to speak of. Regional government and planning remain concepts our urban scholars and planners have long advocated in vain….

. . .In socialist countries, metropolitan regions enjoy metropolitan regional government and comprehensive planning.

. . .The economic and functional efficiencies and the social benefits that comprehensive national, regional and city planning make possible in socialist society explain the Soviet Union’s enormous and rapid economic and social progress.

The Daily World (newspaper of the Communist Party USA) was formerly known as The Daily Worker and was founded in 1924.

The importance of this article lies in its blatant admission that regionalism, which is gradually becoming the accepted method of unelected governance in the United States (unelected councils and task forces, participatory democracy, public-private partnerships, etc.) is the form of government used in democratic socialist and communist countries.

(Page 134 of The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Iserbyte)

On August 10, 2010 the City of Norman, Oklahoma passed a Resolution in support of ACOG’s (Association of Central Oklahoma Governments) application for federal money under the Sustainable Communities Initiative that would be used to create a regional plan for Sustainable Development.

In a paper entitled,  The Promise and Perils of “New Regionalist” Approaches to Sustainable Communities, Lisa T. Alexander writes;

“The Grant Program’s unique targeting of regions as sites for regulatory reform, as well as its multijurisdictional and multisectoral emphasis, make it an example of what scholars and policymakers call “New Regionalism.”

The Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program is an attempt by the Obama Administration to resurrect federal incentives to facilitate regional collaboration as a condition to receive federal funding

Yet, other than the 1960’s housing and transportation programs mentioned previously, there is little precedent in our federalist system for this type of federal/regional regulatory cooperation.

 http://ssrn.com/abstract=1818030

Councils of Government and Metropolitan Planning Organizations

ACOG, the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments applied for and was awarded funds from HUD’s Communities Regional Planning Grant.

ACOG Seeks Partners for Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Program

Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) is seeking regional partners for the new HUD Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant program

To kick things off, on July 19 ACOG hosted a Sustainable Communities Workshop on the Chesapeake Energy campus.

According to HUD, the regional planning grants will be awarded competitively to regional partnerships consisting of state and local governments, MPOs, educational institutions, non-profit organizations and philanthropic organizations.

Read more

The consensus seems to be that Metropolitan Planning Organizations are the natural choice as a vehicle for regional governance and that coordination of land use transportation, housing and economic development are the areas of society that must be integrated. 

“Responsible for planning and programming transportation investments, metropolitan planning organizations [MPOs] are the most widespread form of regional governance in the United States today”…. Myron Orfield  American Metropolitics: The New Suburban Reality, (The Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 2002), p. 137

ACOG is one of eleven regional councils of government in Oklahoma and one of only two that is a federally recognized as an MPO, a Metropolitan Planning Organization.

With only a few unique exceptions nationwide (such as the MPO in Portland, Oregon), MPO policy committee members are not elected directly by citizens. Rather, a policy committee member typically is an elected or appointed official of one of the MPO’s constituent local jurisdictions.

From Wikipedia

Of course, federal money will be provided for this endeavor and as shown above, federal money is contingent upon the regionalist approach to these endeavors which largely bypasses both the participation and notice of the average taxpayer.

From an editorial in the CHATTANOOGA NEWS-FREE PRESS of November 18, 1972, about the perils of accepting federal funding for local needs;

“Philosophically, local governmental dependence upon federal grants through revenue sharing lessens the independence of action and decision by local government, thus becoming… (a) threat to the degree of freedom we have experienced and should guard carefully.”

In the future, State and local governments will look to the federal government to provide them with funds rather than to their own initiative. As a consequence, they will become increasingly more dependent upon the federal government and increasingly more impotent themselves.

Forcing Change

Sustainable communities present three problems:

(1) the initiative for a community to become a sustainable community almost always comes from outside the community;

(2) the comprehensive plan through which a community is transformed into a sustainable community always infringes, and in many instances completely destroys, private property rights; and

(3) the local community rarely knows anything about the plan until it reaches the final stages of adoption

This process, of course, is by design. In communities that have been transformed, individuals may discover that they cannot build a house for grandma on five acres of their own land because the county’s comprehensive plan requires no more than one home per 40-acres. Many communities discover that their comprehensive plan includes a provision to incorporate by reference the entire set of 13 different codes developed by the International Code Council. Each of these codes amounts to government dictating human behavior.

These codes go far beyond building and fire safety codes. They include: residential, property maintenance, energy conservation, wildland interface, and other behavior modification codes.

. . .Sustainable development is coming to your community, or is already there. Your property rights have been diminished, or soon will be. The only way to protect your community and your property and profit is to reject the entire concept of government-dictated land use and behavior codes.

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/forcing-change/010/11-sustainable.htm

How The Radiation Lobby Puts Air Travelers At Risk

Kaye Beach

May 25, 2011

Published May 24, 2011 From Ivestors.com

How The Radiation Lobby Puts Air Travelers At Risk

Homeland Security:Why would TSA expose low-risk passengers to radiation instead of just profiling high-risk passengers? Muslim pressure groups? No, another lobby’s behind this outrage.

Led by a revolving door of ex-Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration officials, this Beltway lobby holds far more sway over such security decisions.

We’d been under the impression that the TSA chose to subject passengers to radiation-emitting body scanners at all airports (by 2014) largely because it’s politically incorrect to profile young Arab Muslim men.

But the manufacturer who landed the federal contract has a powerful lobbyist in Washington: former DHS chief Michael Chertoff. He and his partners at the Chertoff Group have been all over the airwaves touting this technology while badmouthing profiling.

Read More

That isn’t all Chertoff is lobbying for.

In 2008 the biometrics industry was elated with the work of then DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Federal identity programs boost biometrics market

By Chris Strohm, National Journal 07/03/2008

In announcing major new regulations in January that set national standards for driver’s licenses under the 2005 Real ID Act, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff declared, “This is a great teaching moment on the challenges of really reconfiguring a society.”

Chertoff’s announcement was music to the ears of private companies and lobbyists who see major national security benefits, as well as the potential for big bucks, in helping agencies verify individuals’ identity. http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080703_8678.php?oref=search

L-1 Identity Solutions is the largest biometric company in the US and dominates the state driver’s license business.  L1 also produces all passport cards

The biometrics giant, L1, also provides ID documents for the Department of Defense and has contracts with nearly every intelligence agency within our government

In 2010 L1 announced the sale of its biometric and document divisions to a French corporation, Safran which is owned in part by the French government.

Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff is representing Safran.

Safran Group Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire L-1 Identity Solutions

On September 20, 2010, the Safran Group announced a definitive agreement with L-1 Identity Solutions to purchase L-1’s Biometric, Secure Credentialing and Enrollment Services for $1.09 billion in cash on hand. Once the transaction is complete, Safran intends to incorporate these L-1 divisions as part of the Safran Group’s existing security business, Morpho, and solidify Safran’s presence as an industry leader for biometrics and identity management solutions. The transaction is expected to close during 2011, subject to regulatory approvals.

During this transaction, The Chertoff Group served as strategic advisors to Safran. The Chertoff Group members of the advisory team included: Michael Chertoff, Co-founder and Managing Principal at The Chertoff Group; Chad Sweet, Co-founder and Managing Principal at The Chertoff Group; and J. Bennet Waters PhD., Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at The Chertoff Group. http://chertoffgroup.com/cgroup/media/press-releases/

Lawmakers express concerns about the contract with Safran

In letters to FBI director Robert Mueller, the lawmakers expressed uneasiness about granting a contract involving national security to Safran SA, partly owned by the French government. “Allowing a foreign government to provide services regarding sensitive information to our law enforcement and intelligence communities could potentially pose a grave counterintelligence threat to the U.S. government,” wrote Representative John Kline (R-Minnesota), a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “I urge the FBI to assess whether any domestic companies are capable of this work and weigh carefully the risks versus the benefits of granting a foreign government access to this sensitive data,” he wrote.

http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/republican-oppose-safrans-fbi-contract

Read more about the sale of L1 to Safran and Michael Chertoff  “The Revolving Door That Never Stops Turning” 

Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak May 24,2011 First Videos and Reports

Pic from twitter by Shelby Barrow

http://twitter.com/#!/ShelbyBarrow1

Kaye Beach

May 24, 2011

I just spent about an hour at a local storm shelter in Norman until the twisters moved on.

That  is a shot of one that passed just west of us.  Debris was falling from the sky in the parking lot of the Sooner Fashion Mall where we took shelter.

Will be updating….

May 25, 2011

Toolbar sponsor: David Stanley Ford

Oklahoma tornadoes: 9 confirmed dead after storms

The death toll from Tuesday’s tornadoes in Oklahoma is nine. A child has died at a hospital. Searchers are still looking for a 3-year-old boy from Piedmont.

National Weather Service officials said at least seven tornadoes struck Oklahomaon Tuesday, leaving paths of destruction that ranged from four to 75 miles.

Read more: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-tornadoes-9-confirmed-dead-after-storms/article/3571210#ixzz1NQdZFmdh

Read more:

Shot from Southwest OKC, Cleveland County

by banjojones on You Tube

Listening to RadioReference.com Live Police, Fire and EMS scanner feeds for Oklahoma

It’s a record year for deadly tornadoes-

The number of fatalities so far this year is more than 8 1/2 times the average number for an entire year — 56, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. link

The Zero Meter Club Weather: Channel Storm Chasers

Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas

CNN Tornado kills two near Oklahoma City, officials say

(Latest local reports is 7 fatalities as of 7:30 pm)

Child missing Local video coverage

KOCO Channel 5 Raw footage from Central Oklahoma

City Sentinel reports;

Despite a massive surge of storms and tornadoes around Oklahoma, no tornado damage has been reported in the Oklahoma City limits. City officials told The City Sentinel this evening (Tuesday, May 24) that wind damage to trees and power lines have been reported in south Oklahoma City.

Tornado Strikes Oklahoma City Suburbs, Kills 4

Published May 24, 2011 Associated Press

Canadian County emergency director Jerry Smith said two people died when the storm hit El Reno and Piedmont in his county just west of Oklahoma City. He did not have any immediate details about the deaths.

Three children suffered major injuries in Piedmont, according to Lara O’Leary, a spokeswoman for the region’s Emergency Medical Service Authority. She said emergency workers also were dispatched to a natural gas facility near El Reno after reports of an explosion. Read more

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/24/tornado-blows-oklahoma-city-area-near-rush-hour/#ixzz1NK4CtgIs

16:41 (CALUMET – ) FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTING MANY HOUSES DESTROYED BY TORNADO WITH ENTRAPMENT, REQUEST ADDIT MANPOWER FOR SEARCH & RESCUE

17:00 (EL RENO – ) UNITS RPTG DEVON ENERGY TOOK A DIRECT HIT, 2 CRITICAL INJS AT THIS TIME, HY STRUCTURE DAMAG

HAZMAT

17:21 (YUKON – ) FIRE DEPARTMENT RPTG 5 HOUSES HIT BY TORNADO, LARGE GAS LEAK IN AREA, EVACUATION OF RESIDENTS IN PROGRESS [ILL279]

9:14 There is tornado damage in Haskell. Meteorologist George Flickinger says there is a gas leak in Haskell. Some roofs are missing. Power is out. Tree limbs are down. He says it does not appear to have been a large tornado. Possible an EF-1.  Reported by @KJRH2HD Tulsa OK  http://twitter.com/#!/KJRH2HD

Search and Rescue reports 17:35 (PIEDMONT – ) SEVERAL HOUSE LEVELED – NATURAL GAS IN AREA CREWS SEARCHING FOR VICTIMS

17:37 (PIEDMONT – ) UPDATE: 3 CHILDREN KNOWN MISSING – DEER CREEK, EDMOND, OKC

Tornado Slams into a Semi

South of Norman

This is at SW 134 and Sante Fe in OKC. This was the second wave around 6:30 PM from the cell that dropped a tornado on Goldsby (Norman).

Near Moore and Purcell

VIOLENT Dibble/Washington/Goldsby Tornado! May 24, 2011

North of Canton Oklahoma

Canton, OK

Canadian County

AP Photo

Longdale Oklahoma

El Reno

uploaded by KFish1051

Near Newcastle

Piedmont Storm Chasers startled by big tornado

Tinker AFB

(some profanity)

Chickasha

Haskell

Piedmont

First Pics coming in

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Stories

Horse Lands In Swimming Pool After Tornado Ride

Tornado destroys home in southwest Stillwater

Dallas Texas gets a twister

Denton too!

Keller Texas

Fort Worth

Arkansas

FORT SMITH, Ark. — The National Weather Service is reporting that a large, dangerous tornado has destroyed the town of Denning, Arkansas, in Franklin County, just south of Altus.The tornado hit the area about 12:15 a.m., and it continued to the northeast. Spotters reported that this large tornado was up to a mile wide at one point just before it struck Denning.

Read More

May 21, 2011 Ada Oklahoma Tornado

Tornado, Joplin MO May 22, 2011 Early videos and reports

Listening to Jasper County fire, EMS and Police scanner-

12:57 National media arrives and emergency workers aren’t quite sure what to do with them.

9:08 pm emergency personnel report natural gas leaks in Joplin and ask to start area evacuations.

The tornado is thought at this time to have been between three-quarter to one-mile wide and the damage path is at least three miles long. It’s ranking on the Fujita (F1-F5) has not been determined.

There are multiple reports of people being trapped in cars and in buildings. The Red Cross has a page set up to help you find people you know who might be missing, and to report yourself as being safe. The page is at  redcross.org/safeandwell .

Read more

8:54 pm …fire’s  and national guard reported on scene.

Looters reported at app. 8:30 pm

Early pictures

“St. John’s Regional Medical Center has been struck by what appears to be a tornado. Extensive damage to the building and a threat for more danger around the building has precipitated a full evacuation. Officials are asking that people stay away from the area.” link

Pictures of debris from Joplin that landed in Springfield-70 miles away!

Joplin Home destroyed, family survives

bufordsuggins

Storm chaser gets the Joplin monster on video

Deat toll rises to 122

Clouds after the tornado passes in MO

Is Urban Planning “Creeping Socialism”?

Kaye Beach

May 21, 2011

The following paper deals mostly with urban and suburban physical planning and exposes some of the most glaring aspects of the flawed logic of smart growth.

It is one of the most coherent articles on the topic that I have found and I highly recommend it to anyone who is trying to understand things like how in the world increasing density in a city is supposed to reduce congestion and pollution.

And if you ask the planners,  they tell you things like this;

Myth: SmartCode increases traffic congestion.
Truth: SmartCode uses narrower (but straighter) streets and on-street parking to slow traffic. While you might think this would increase congestion, just about everything you need on a daily basis would be in/near your neighborhood, so why drive to, say, the grocery store when you can walk or bike safely to it? Having neighborhood schools and reliable public transit to employment centers could eliminate the need to drive on a daily basis altogether

Link

Now this is how I used to handle my kids when they would ask questions that I would  rather not answer. Redirection and suggestion are powerful tactics when you are dealing with children.  I don’t know how long that is going to  hold with taxpaying adults but let me venture a guess.  About as long as it takes for the nonsense to come to their neighborhood.

Trying to understand “smart growth” has made me about as frustrated as trying to understand how spending money keeps you from going bankrupt

or how the tax system is voluntary but not really.

I guess that’s why we need to leave all of this complicated stuff to the experts.

by Randall O’Toole

Socialism is commonly defined as government ownership of the means of pro
duction. With the exception of a number of services that are viewed as natural
monopolies, such as sewer and water supplies, socialism in the form of government ownership has never achieved prominence in the United States. Instead, governments here have relied on regulation as a way of obtaining the same goals that socialists claim to seek: efficiency, equality, and control of externalities. If this approach is socialism, then urban planning has represented creeping socialism since around 1920. But it has recently accelerated and is now running rather than creeping.
Moreover, it has such a head start that lovers of freedom may not be able to halt it, much less turn it around.

Read More

FBI lab reports on anthrax attacks suggest another miscue

May 19, 2011

WASHINGTON — Buried in FBI laboratory reports about the anthrax mail attacks that killed five people in 2001 is data suggesting that a chemical may have been added to try to heighten the powder’s potency, a move that some experts say exceeded the expertise of the presumed killer.

The lab data, contained in more than 9,000 pages of files that emerged a year after the Justice Department closed its inquiry and condemned the late Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator, shows unusual levels of silicon and tin in anthrax powder from two of the five letters.

Those elements are found in compounds that could be used to weaponize the anthrax, enabling the lethal spores to float easily so they could be readily inhaled by the intended victims, scientists say.

The existence of the silicon-tin chemical signature offered investigators the possibility of tracing purchases of the more than 100 such chemical products available before the attacks, which might have produced hard evidence against Ivins or led the agency to the real culprit.

But the FBI lab reports released in late February give no hint that bureau agents tried to find the buyers of additives such as tin-catalyzed silicone polymers.

The apparent failure of the FBI to pursue this avenue of investigation raises the ominous possibility that the killer is still on the loose.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/19/114467/fbi-lab-reports-on-anthrax-attacks.html#ixzz1N1fO4Yqi

AxXiom for Liberty Live Friday May 20, 2011 Ready for “IntelliDrive”?

Tonight on AxXiom for Liberty

GPS Mileage Tax part of Federal IntelliDrive Program MN Documents Show

Dan Feidt, intrepid reporter, researcher and multi-purpose activist along with  Attorney Nathen Hansen (using his powers for good and not evil)  have worked to uncover this plan and will be joining Howard and I to tell us what they have found.

Also a dust up of recent political events and free ranging discussion on our present governmental predicaments.

Listening info

Join us!

Call in 512-646-1984

GPS Mileage Tax part of Federal IntelliDrive Program MN Documents Show

Kaye Beach

May 19, 2011

Kudos to Dan Feidt, independent researcher and activist,  for helping sleuth this one out!

TCIMC Exclusive: Contracts for IntelliDrive MnDOT Military-Industrial/U of M plan to GPS-track all cars Submitted by TCIMC on Thu, 05/19/2011

By Dan Feidt for Twin Cities Indymedia – Key info about Minnesota’s elusive “GPS Mileage Tax” test program has finally turned up.

It’s actually part of a federal program called “IntelliDrive”, as shown by new documents obtained on Wednesday. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has entered into a pilot program called the “Mileage Based User Fee Policy Examination” which includes a contract with the huge low-profile military-industrial intelligence contractor SAIC of McLean Virginia, a system intended to pass all GPS data from everyday travel into centralized vehicle databases.

The University of Minnesota has a main leading role, along with the Battelle Institute, URS Corporation, Mixon-Hill in Kansas and the local Pierce Pini & Associates. The MnDOT data practices “handler” at headquarters in St Paul didn’t like it when these documents were photographed, and they denied a request to simply copy the mileage tax project contracts onto a USB flash drive, which is the only reason we don’t have the complete material at hand right now.

Read More

Also see Attorney Nathan M Hansen’s  write up on his effort to get the documents from MN DOT.

He says,  “I was only allowed to take pictures of some of the documents with my phone. Negotiations relating to obtaining all of the documents asked for continue.”