Category Archives: News

Student Essay Winners Announced in Wilmington, Ohio: Third Place Winner

by Editor

essaywinnersCandlelight’s favorite children’s author, Artie Knapp, working with the Wilmington News Journal, sponsored a fourth grade student essay writing contest and the winners have been announced! The students were asked to write about Clinton County, Ohio where they live. Their essays were judged by education majors at Wilmington College.

This is one of those encouraging activities that can really make a kid feel like they’re at the top of their game. It makes them want to keep writing and reading and learning. Artie tells me that Clinton County has been absolutely devastated by high unemployment since DHL moved out. Rachel Ray and Jay Leno have recently done free shows there to help feed some of the people who are hurting. I think these three kids who can write so well are really helping everybody in their county to feel good this holiday season.

Excellent job, kids! Keep up the fantastic work and keep writing!

Here is the third place winner by Katlyn Jamiel, a student at Sabina Elementary School.

What I like best about Clinton County
By KATLYN JAMIEL

jamiel, katlynI love Clinton County.

These are some things that happen in Clinton County. Clinton County has good places to have a home. In Clinton County police keep us safe. In Clinton County you meet new and nice people. Clinton County has nice jobs for parents too. Sabina is a nice place because it is very small and has nice homes. That’s some of the things I like about Clinton County.

In Clinton County these are some festivals and parades that go on during the year. One of my favorites is the Clinton County Fair. I like all the rides that they have at the fair because they are fun to ride, because they’re all different.

These are some activities that I do in Clinton County. I go to the bowling alley and I go to the YMCA to exercise and swim. I go do putt-putt golf and sometimes I go to the track too.

These are some of the restaurants and shops I go to. I go to Subway and Frosties too. I also go to West Side and IGA. I go to the China Buffet and Family Dollar. I go to Walmart and Dollar Tree. I also go to Corner’s Pizza and Charlie’s place too. These are some of the places I go to.

I go to school and the library too. I like Clinton County because there are a lot of fun things to do with my family. When I moved to Sabina it was a great feeling. Clinton County is a wonderful place because there are a lot of fun activities and some great jobs for parents. Clinton County is a wonderful place because it has a lot of space for new houses. When you first move to Clinton County you won’t believe what you see. I like Clinton County because it is a nice peaceful place. Clinton County is a great place because your kids get a good education. At Clinton County schools you learn new and great things.

If you lived in Clinton County you would have a lot of fun with your family and friends because there are a lot of activities, like putt-putt golf, the bowling alley, and more. Your kids will like Clinton County because there are a lot of parks and a lot of nice children. I like Clinton County because there are a lot of new restaurants. I like Clinton County because Walmart has a lot of good things at a lot of good prices. I like Clinton County because there are a lot of wonderful people. (When I go to school I learn a lot of great things like multiplying and dividing. I like going to school because I get to learn a lot of great things.) I like Clinton County because every time I go somewhere in Clinton County I fell like I’m learning more and more about it. I like Clinton County when Halloween comes because you get to walk around town and you get candy and you get to dress up into a costume.

I also like Clinton County because at Wilmington College I got trained by a Wilmington College coach. I like Clinton County because I get to go to Wilmington park and practice soccer. I like Clinton County because there are ducks you can feed at the Wilmington park and there are picnic tables where you can eat too. I like the Sabina park because you get to watch baseball and ride your bike and run track if you want to. I like Clinton County because most of my family lives here and I get to see them a lot.

Student Essay Winners Announced in Wilmington, Ohio: Second Place Winner

by Editor

essaywinnersCandlelight’s favorite children’s author, Artie Knapp, working with the Wilmington News Journal, sponsored a fourth grade student essay writing contest and the winners have been announced! The students were asked to write about Clinton County, Ohio where they live. Their essays were judged by education majors at Wilmington College.

This is one of those encouraging activities that can really make a kid feel like they’re at the top of their game. It makes them want to keep writing and reading and learning. Artie tells me that Clinton County has been absolutely devastated by high unemployment since DHL moved out. Rachel Ray and Jay Leno have recently done free shows there to help feed some of the people who are hurting. I think these three kids who can write so well are really helping everybody in their county to feel good this holiday season.

Excellent job, kids! Keep up the fantastic work and keep writing!

Here is the second place winner by Erin Wilson, a student at Blanchester Intermediate School.

What I like best about Clinton County
By ERIN WILSON

wilson, erinThere is a lot of places that I like in Clinton County, but here are some of my favorite places.

First there is the Clinton County Fair. I like the Clinton County Fair because I like to look at the animals. I like to show animals too. I like to show goats and chickens at the fair. I love the fair food too. That food is so good I don’t want to go home and eat.

The second thing is the corn festival in Clinton County. The corn festival is cool because there is lots of fun crafts to do. There is lots of good food to eat and cool stuff to buy. I like to look at all the cool tractors too. There is tons of them there. I love going with my family and running a booth.

The third thing I like is Cowan Lake because it is so pretty. I love to go fishing too at Cowan Lake. I love to go sailing also. The water is so pretty. I just love it at Cowan Lake. I like to camp there too. I like to camp there because you can ride your scooters or bikes there and you can have camp fires. You can also just hang out with your family too.

The fourth thing I like in Clinton County is Walmart Super Center. I like Walmart because the food that you buy from them is really good. I like to buy toys from Walmart too. I love to buy clothes from Walmart.

The fifth thing that I like is the Murphy Theatre. I like the Murphy Theatre because it is really old. They have a lot of good plays. I like it also because it is really pretty inside because of all the decorations.

The sixth place that I like in Clinton County is Denver Park. I like Denver Park because it is really fun, and the playground is really cool. I like the Denver Park also because you and your family can hang out there all day and maybe even have a picnic. Or you and your friends can hang out there just for fun.

Another thing I like is the Caesar Creek Flea Market. I like the flea market because there is a lot of cool and interesting stuff to look at and buy. I like the flea market also because all the traditional stuff is there.

The last thing I want to talk about is my church. My church is the United Methodist Church. I love my church because it has a lot of really nice people and my best friends. I have a big church. My church has an upstairs and a downstairs. I love my county, Clinton County.

Student Essay Winners Announced in Wilmington, Ohio: First Place Winner

by Editor

essaywinnersCandlelight’s favorite children’s author, Artie Knapp, working with the Wilmington News Journal, sponsored a fourth grade student essay writing contest and the winners have been announced!  The students were asked to write about Clinton County, Ohio where they live.  Their essays were judged by education majors at Wilmington College.

This is one of those encouraging activities that can really make a kid feel like they’re at the top of their game.  It makes them want to keep writing and reading and learning.  Artie tells me that Clinton County has been absolutely devastated by high unemployment since DHL moved out. Rachel Ray and Jay Leno have recently done free shows there to help feed some of the people who are hurting. I think these three kids who can write so well are really helping everybody in their county to feel good this holiday season.

Excellent job, kids! Keep up the fantastic work and keep writing!

I am going to post the three winning essays over the next few days.  Here is the first place winner by Jared Penick, a student at Roy E. Holmes Elementary School in Wilmington.

What I like best about Clinton County
By JARED PENICK

Penick, JaredI moved to Clinton County Sept. 18, 2005. My mom’s job moved from Kentucky. I really liked my new school, Holmes Elementary. When I began kindergarten at 5 years old, I loved how I wrote letters to my mom and dad.

I like the Clinton County YMCA because I learned how to swim at Summer Day Camp. I took fun field trips to Kings Island.

I love Clinton County’s library because they have interesting books, movies and music tapes. The hill across the street is the best place to go sleigh riding because you can make ice ramps and ramp off them. At the end of the hill boys and girls make snowmen. Children enjoy playing inside the tree that is there.

Tractor Supply is so awesome. I wish I could have everything in the store. I like how Tractor Supply has baby chicks to pet and sell. I like how they sell farm supplies like fence, feed, wires, hats, shoes, gloves, buckets, halters, lead ropes, whips, bridles, toys, go carts, four wheelers, lawn mowers, dirt bikes and wormer for animals.

I like Clinton County’s beautiful farms. I like the big crops of soy beans, corn and alfalfa hay fields. Their animals are called pigs, cows, dogs, goats, sheep, horses and chickens.

I like Clinton County’s sports like football, baseball, basketball, bowling, soccer ball, put put golf, volleyball, track, tennis and lacrosse.

The rock that is in front of the Wilmington College is huge and fun to watch. It also gets painted once a month. When they paint it, the rock looks like it gets thicker. Sometimes people make good designs and words like go Hurricanes and this is the best college ever. Also the rock sits up on a hill for everyone who drives by.

Denver park is one of the best places to run and play. I like to play on the equipment like slide, swing, monkey bars and the tires stacked on top of each other. I like the pond because kids can fish without a license.

At the Murphy Theatre is a very cool building with the stage of talent where people sing, dance and act. It gives Clinton County residents a chance to be a star for the night. In the third grade my class went to the theater to watch a movie called Hotel for Dogs. The seats are comfy and sized just right. I had a fun time with my class mates watching that great movie.

There is a really cool horse arena called Roberts Arena. One of my favorite things to do is horse pull competitions. Some of the horses are black, bay, sorrel, brown, white and redwhite. Some of them are big and strong muscles to help them pull. They have light weight and heavy weight competitions. Horses pull over 9000 pounds to win. Horses also sometimes strain themselves so they can pull. Horses wear harness to work them and control the horses.

These are the things I like best about Clinton County.

YouTube Launches Open-Source Application for Citizen Journalism

by Editor

CitizenTubeYouTube has built an open-source application called YouTube Direct that allows news organizations to request and accept uploaded videos from citizen journalists anywhere in the world.  The idea is to give news organizations the ability to put out a call for videos on a specific news story and then review the direct uploads to select the ones they want to broadcast on their web sites or even over the air.  The video creators get to keep their videos on YouTube for access just like any other video on the site.  There’s more information available in their Citizen Tube information area.

The camera in the hands of the average citizen has proven to be an extraordinarily powerful tool for news-gathering over the past few years.  Instances of police abuse, natural disasters, and political turmoil have been captured by cell phone cameras all over the world.  This seems like a very smart move by YouTube that could have a profound effect on the news.  I can see this as a major benefit to smaller start-up news organizations that mostly rely on the web.

It remains to be seen, however, if YouTube makes this widely available to small sites and creative outlets, or if they stick to a larger scale more corporate membership.  That would be disappointing, but it would still broaden the availability of citizen journalism.

New Copyright Watch Web Site

by Editor | 1 Comment

copyrightwatchThe Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has just started a new Copyright Watch site which will monitor developments in copyright law around the world.  With a confusing world of corporations trying to prevent us from copying our own DVDs, books, and games, we need all the help we can get to try to keep corporations, lobbyists and politicians in line with something resembling common sense.  The best argument I can think of against ebooks, in favor of paper books, is that you actually own your paper books.  You can sell them to the shop on the corner if you want to.  That simple right is being removed by all the user licenses and copyright lawsuits being brought against people who are just doing innocent things like tinkering with their own game machines, making personal copies of things they own, or trying to lend a book to a friend.

EFF will try to bring together the most recent copies of laws, track proposals, conferences, and discussions about new copyright regulations that could have a profound effect on all of us.

International Space Station May Be Dumped Into the Ocean by U.S. Congress

by Editor

The International Space Station which has taken 11 years and $44 billion to finally bring to a state of completion may be scuttled when its funding runs out in 2015. How about that? One of the greatest achievements in human history – greater than the building of the pyramids – may be dumped into the ocean before it can perform its intended mission which is scientific research and experimentation outside of the Earth’s gravity.

So we elect a man to the presidency twice over who is on the intellectual level of a monkey and give him $80 billion every few months so that he can arbitrarily slaughter the boys and girls of the people who elected him by sending them into a needless Iraqi hell on earth without adequate protection. But we can’t keep the greatest machine ever built by a human hand orbiting the planet? Someone simply must be kidding. I refuse to accept this as a possibility. There’s death money and there’s life money.  Iraq war money is death money and sets human civilization back.  The space station money is life money and it moves civilization forward.  This is a simple equation that almost anyone can figure out.  Except of course the drooling moron retired in Texas.

Philadelphia Thinks Photographers are Terrorists

by Editor

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania thinks people who take photos of its SEPTA trains might be terrorists.  CBS3 in Philadelphia prints what I can only interpret as a serious article about a cashier at a train station who reported two men taking pictures near the train lines as ‘suspicious.’ This cashier actually questioned one of the photographers about his activities while waiting for police to arrive.  The photographer understandably left the scene before the officers could arrive.  I would have too.

How do you take a suspicious photograph?  I’ve always harbored ambitions of taking some suspicious photos but I’ve never quite been able to figure out how.  Do you hold the camera behind your back and then flip it out real quick while pointing the other way and yelling, ‘Hey, look at that!  What is that over there?’  Do you take photos through holes cut out of your pants?

Or do you take photos while sporting a beard?  Or dark skin? Do you have to be male?  What makes a suspicious photographer?

Nothing does.

Look at this:  National Terror Alert posts about it in all seriousness.

I’ve never seen a photograph explode.  I’ve never seen a camera explode.  I suppose one could.  But most terrorists I’ve ever heard of use other things – like shoes.

Photographers actually make people safer.  Wherever you see people taking pictures you have more safety for obvious reasons.  Furthermore, U.S. intelligence agencies have made it very clear that there is no evidence that a terrorist has ever used photography as a means to prepare for an attack. I want photographers in my train stations.  At my bank too.  In the department store… wait, there are cameras in those places.  They’re hidden in the ceilings I think.  Suspicious.  Everywhere we go we are photographed for security reasons.  But as soon as one of us regular old folk take a camera out in a train station we are regarded as ‘suspicious.’

I declare the weekend of September 26 and 27 ‘Photograph a Philadelphia Train Station Weekend.’ Everyone should feel free to descend upon a SEPTA station and take some flattering photos of the helpful cashiers.

Here’s a blog written by a photographer who was arrested in Miami, Florida in 2007 for taking photos of police which is a totally legal act in all parts of the U.S.

The problem is that police across the United States are totally out of control when it comes to people utilizing their constitutional right to free speech.  After all, the taking of photographs is nothing more than the exercise of free speech which is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.  What’s really going on is that all these cameras everywhere, built into cell phones and hidden in sunglasses, are driving police crazy because they get caught doing illegal things.  Cops don’t like cameras.

When I lived in New York City I once pulled out my video camera and filmed a group of perhaps twenty cops who pulled up in front of a brownstone apartment building and ran inside.  One cop ran across the street toward me and screamed, ‘What are you filming?’

I said, ‘You!’

He said, ‘Well, anyone taking pictures when police come on a call is suspicious because sometimes people call us just to film us.’

I said, ‘Yeah, well you never know do you?’

He turned and went back to his job.  And I’ve still got that video.

Suspicious, isn’t it?

Cambridge Cop Refuses to Apologize for Unconstitutional Arrest of Black Professor

by Editor | 3 Comments

So President Obama sat down today for beers in the Rose Garden with professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the cop who arrested him for being uncooperative and making loud insulting remarks to the police while inside the comfort of his own home.  Apparently, Obama felt bad for having called the Cambridge police ‘stupid’ after receiving news of the arrest for what the police call ‘disorderly conduct’.  Many disorderly conduct laws have actually been ruled to be unconstitutional and the idea that a person could be arrested for insulting a police officer while on his own property is frightening.  Anywhere in the United States, a person is free to insult police officers without fear of arrest.  Such speech is fully protected by the U.S. Constitution.  We are also free to not cooperate with a police officer when asked questions or when asked to step outside of our homes.  We can refuse totally without any fear of arrest whatsoever.  Any police officer who arrests someone under such circumstances is breaking the law and is denying someone their clear constitutional rights.  I would not have any beers with such an officer.  I would not attend any meetings with him and the president.  The officer said in his press conference that both men had agreed to ‘look forward, rather than backward.’ I’m really not sure what forward he could possibly mean.  It would be more productive to look squarely backward at his illegal and shocking arrest of a man who simply didn’t like him.

I watch the officer in the video above and I see a person of limited intelligence, with no understanding of his unlawful act.  Harvard University needs to move itself the heck out of Cambridge if this guy is an example of how the locals are thinking up there. What an embarrassment.

Christopher Hitchens has written an excellent short article about why race is not as important a factor in this episode as one’s constitutional right to mouth off at police officers.

Also, in Washington, D.C. this week a young attorney was out with his friends discussing the Gates arrest.  He decided to have some fun and test the constitutional principal which gives protection to people to who express their dislike of police.  He walked past several police cars that had stopped another vehicle and he chanted ‘I hate the cops. I hate the cops.’

According to him, he was immediately rushed by an angry D.C. police offer who pushed him against a utility box and said, “Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?”  The officer arrested the young attorney for disorderly conduct.  The young man now has an actionable claim against the police department and is probably going to sue them and win because, contrary to what the cop thinks, the young man does have the right to talk to a police officer like that.  Many police seem to think that because they protect security they have rights and privileges beyond what the U.S. Constitution provides.  This problem is getting worse, not better.  The fundamental right to freedom of speech and the right of free assembly in this country is under direct and heavy assault from police who see their responsibility to protect security as trumping all other rights and constitutional safeguards.

Police who do not understand that people can insult them and dislike them and say nasty things to them should be dismissed immediately from duty wherever they serve.  And our president should feel free to call them stupid.

YouTube Offering Citizen Journalism

by Editor

A fascinating development at YouTube: The Reporters’ Center, where you can get tips on effective journalism from prominent reporters. The new YouTube channel went live today and is already offering some interesting how-to videos like the one above by reporter Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. He shows you how to be careful when trying to interview war lords with big guns, how to hide your money, and how to always be a little skeptical and double-check witness accounts and stories that sound too good. Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post has a video about the impact of citizen journalism best demonstrated by the recent uprising in Iran. During the past few weeks, the government of Iran tried to shut down the operations of journalists and restrict the use of internet and text messaging in order to suppress information about government violence against protesters. But they were not able to prevent people with cell phone cameras from making videos and sending them out of the country for the world to see. These people have also been reporting on the situation via Twitter to give real-time coverage of many events in Iran.

This movement toward citizen journalism is extremely interesting because it democratizes the press. Cameras in the hands of millions become a formidable tool for keeping an eye on government and limiting its ability to suppress information.  The press has always functioned like a fourth branch of the U.S. government, preventing the administrative, legislative, and judiciary from thinking they operate out of sight.  In fact, it probably wouldn’t hurt to constitutionally formalize the press as some kind of fourth branch!

Continue reading …

Iran Election Fraudulent Because of No Free Press and No Free Women

by Editor

The protests raging over the recent presidential election in Iran are an expression of distrust of the official election results that seem to declare the current and totally insane president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the overwhelming victor.  Riots are becoming extremely violent, with police beatings in the streets and clouds of black smoke rising above Tehran.  However, the arguments over whether or not the election was fraudulent are a complete waste of energy.  No election in any country that does not have a free press can ever be legitimate.  Without a free press to report on an election and possible election fraud there is no one to hold a sitting government accountable to the people.  You cannot have a democracy or an election in a country that does not allow reporters freedom to write whatever they want.  It’s impossible.  Iran’s election is fraudulent because Iran’s government is controlled entirely by Islamic clerics who have absolutely no respect for freedom of expression, freedom of information, freedom of religion, freedom of education, or freedom of women.

I define as barbaric any country anywhere on the planet that forces women to wear specific attire.  Iran is a barbaric nation with a population of extremely fearful males lacking in an essential self-confidence.  This is what drives male-dominated Islamic governments to require certain codes of conduct and dress for women.  In countries where elections are legitimate women wear shorts and makeup.  Think I’m just being glib?  Go check it out.

Iran has cut off internet services, cell phone service, and texting services in order to prevent discussion and organization of opponents to the religious government.  It has arrested journalists, shut down newspapers, and confiscated television cameras in a crackdown on activities of the international media in Iran.  These are the actions of a total dictatorship.

In fact, there is almost no hope at all for the protesters in Iran.  Even if they succeed in overturning the election, they would not be able or willing to eliminate religious control of their government.  Countries ruled by Islam are permanently and hopelessly barbaric.  It’s like a law of physics that’s completely unbreakable.

The root of the problem with Iran is the root of the problem for almost every single government in the Middle East: religious control.  There is no possibility of the slightest freedom of expression or freedom for women in any country controlled by a religious entity.  None whatsoever.

Photo from AFP/Getty

20-Year Anniversary of China’s Public Massacre

by Editor

Twenty years ago, on June 4, 1989, the Chinese government ordered its military to kill the unarmed peaceful student protesters for democracy gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The army then shot the students and ran them over with tanks. In its murderous effort to suppress any form of free expression or protest, the Chinese government and its military murdered the people in Tiananmen Square while the entire world watched. China is now preventing any sort of commemoration or discussion of those events or the twenty-year anniversary by almost completely shutting down internet access to any material that could possibly mention the murder of Chinese people in Tiananmen Square.

You can see the police with umbrellas blocking the view of the BBC news cameraman in the embedded video. The entire square is closed to the press on this important day in Chinese history. The government does not want anyone in China to know anything about or understand what happened in 1989.

It is an honor to have a web site banned in China. Candlelight Stories receives a large number of visits from China and is actually used in English classes there. However, Candlelight Stories urges the citizens of China to wake up in the morning and completely overthrow and eliminate their oppressive government. It would be enlightening to see the government officials of China dragged by Chinese citizens into the middle of Tiananmen Square where the world could serve as witness to the end of this horrendous period in Chinese history.  Why any company or country does any business at all with the brutal despots ruling China is a complete and pitiful mystery to any rational thinker.  And people who site see in China would have probably been perfectly comfortable touring concentration camps in 1944.

Now, China, press the red button and ban me.

California Supreme Court Legalizes Bigotry

by Editor

The California Supreme Court has upheld a recent statewide vote that amended the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.  This is the same court that only months ago ruled that any ban on gay marriage was a violation of rights.  Their recent ruling, however, focuses on the legality of the vote to amend the constitution to rule out the possibility of same sex marriage.  If it is legal for voters to take away the right for gay people to marry by passing a constitutional amendment, then it would be just as legal for those voters to amend the constitution to say that marriage is only between a white man and a white woman.  That’s what California’s Supreme Court has ruled in all its wisdom.  They have legalized rampant bigotry.

Continue reading …

President Obama Moves Toward Fascist Ideas

by Editor | 1 Comment

Watch liberal MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow in this video.  Watch the whole thing.  She’s leading us through what may amount to the most terrifying fascist speech ever delivered to the people of the United States.  The sitting president is moving toward setting up a legal structure that will place people in ‘prolonged detention’ BEFORE they have committed any crime or have even been charged with a crime if they are determined to be a possible danger to the United States.  Maddow points out how this is the exact premise of the science fiction film Minority Report which was based upon a Philip K. Dick story.  This is a well-known liberal commentator who says at the end of the video that this Obama speech is ‘one of the most radical proposals for defying the Constitution that we have ever heard made to the American people.’

The American Civil Liberties Union has responded with short statement.

The bottom line is that this president is shocking human rights and civil liberties organizations all over the world with his rapid move toward fascism.  These are largely liberal organizations that once looked upon Mr. Obama as a welcome change from eight years of assaults on civil liberties.  They and many liberal voters in the United States are profoundly disappointed and legitimately horrified at what they are hearing from this president.

So, if you write or say something that makes someone somewhere in the Obama administration decide that you might be some sort of danger in the future, you could be arrested and held in a new separate legal structure that could keep you imprisoned indefinitely – forever.

That is a profoundly un-American and illegal idea.

Guatemala Imprisons Man for Twitter Suggestion that People Withdraw Their Money From Bank

by Editor

The government of Guatemala has arrested and imprisoned a man named Jean Anleu Fernández who posted on Twitter yesterday the following message: “The first action people should take is to remove cash from Banrural, and break the banks of corrupt people. #escandalogt”

His Twitter message was in response to the suspected involvement of the Guatemalan president in the recent assassination of a prominent lawyer who was investigating government corruption.  What we are seeing here is the new power of words.  Their power to take down a government.  The outrageous action of Guatemala has created a worldwide eruption of blog and Twitter outrage in which Anleu Fernández’ original message is being reproduced countless times.  Boing Boing is doing excellent coverage of this story.

I agree with Mr. Anleu Fernández in his suggestion that people withdraw their money from a bank that people suspect of corruption.  I would withdraw my money if I were in Guatemala.  I also think the people should probably withdraw themselves from Guatemala if at all possible since it is quite obviously moving toward total collapse.  If Guatemala thinks I’m creating panic, then I would suggest that people actually run screaming from the country because panic is exactly what should be happening there.  When police start arresting people for telling other people to pull money out of a bank, then it’s all over.

White House Terrorizes New York City

by Editor

The Obama administration has committed what amounts to an act of terrorism.  The president’s Air Force One backup plane was flown low in banking circles around lower Manhattan, trailed by an F16 fighter plane that appeared to most observers to be giving chase.  In an FAA memo released today it became clear that the administration knew the flight could cause panic in New York but threatened the New York City police and the mayor’s office with federal sanctions if they let the secret get out into the public.  The president has since apologized and said that he is furious and had no knowledge of the flight.  But it’s his plane.

I am becoming increasingly concerned that my support of Mr. Obama may have contributed to placing an absolute incompetent in the office of president.  An act like this shockingly callous flyover simply beggars belief.  Having lived in New York City for ten years, I know that if you manage to send thousands of New Yorkers running out of their buildings screaming in terror, you have really done something profoundly frightening.  New Yorkers are a hardy lot and have a real ‘been there seen that’ attitude.  These people were terrified at what was happening in the sky above them.  The windows of their buildings were shaking because the plane came in so low.  It came right at them!  The White House says it was for a ‘photo-op’ so that they could take pictures of their airplane with the Statue of Liberty behind it.  Seriously!  These people are running the United States.

I think that the hero-worship of Mr. Obama needs to end immediately and we need to ascertain just exactly what is going on here.  The NBC video above which shows Obama’s press secretary saying ‘I don’t know’ about the flight is very scary.  Perhaps Mr. Obama will consider parking a yellow rental truck in front of an Oklahoma federal building next week for a ‘photo-op.’  That should help build his reputation there, don’t you think?

By the way, NBC news anchor, Brian Williams is furious too and thinks somebody should pay for what happened.