Westboro Baptist Church tweets intent to 'picket' funerals of Arizona firefighters.

PHOENIX - The notoriously outspoken and often controversial Westboro Baptist Church has made several threats through social media intending to picket the funerals of the 19 firefighters killed in the Yarnell Hill wildfire near Prescott, Arizona.

Westboro Baptist Church posted several tweets from their Twitter account within the last 48 hours, connecting the firefighter deaths to punishment for the world's apparent tolerance of homosexuality.

In a tweet posted at 2:56 p.m. Monday, the church said, "Westboro Baptist Church THANKS GOD for AZ fires that killed 19 firefighters!"

In another post, they retweeted Arizona Senator John McCain, adding their intent to picket: "WBC to picket! "@SenJohnMcCain: The City of Prescott has released the names of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who lost their lives yesterday."

In another tweet, "Arizona already starting their idolatrous procession of doom! Shame on you all! Stop worshipping MEN & worship GOD!"

On Tuesday morning, the Twitter account was announcing the names of those killed with the words "Roster of the Damned" before it.

The church is known for making these threats after national tragedies capture the world's attention. Whether they will make the 1,118-mile trek from their base in Kansas, a little more than 18 hours driving, remains to be seen.

Clackamas man, armed, confronts mall shooter

PORTLAND -- Nick Meli is emotionally drained. The 22-year-old was at Clackamas Town Center with a friend and her baby when a masked man opened fire.

"I heard three shots and turned and looked at Casey and said, 'are you serious?,'" he said.

The friend and baby hit the floor. Meli, who has a concealed carry permit, positioned himself behind a pillar.

"He was working on his rifle," said Meli. "He kept pulling the charging handle and hitting the side."

The break in gunfire allowed Meli to pull out his own gun, but he never took his eyes off the shooter.

"As I was going down to pull, I saw someone in the back of the Charlotte move, and I knew if I fired and missed, I could hit them," he said.

Meli took cover inside a nearby store. He never pulled the trigger. He stands by that decision.

"I'm not beating myself up cause I didn't shoot him," said Meli. "I know after he saw me, I think the last shot he fired was the one he used on himself."

The gunman was dead, but not before taking two innocent lives with him and taking the innocence of everyone else.

From KGW TV (NBC-affiliate) http://www.kgw.com/news/Clackamas-man-armed-confronts-mall-shooter-183593571.html

I just seen this, don't know if it has been posted already.

I am a ham radio operator,

We live just about 30 miles from the nearest land line. We do depend upon cell phones here as that is all that is available. But I have access to repeaters and also hf radio that will work to establish communications in emergencies without repeaters.

For those that want to become a "ham" , the FCC has eliminated the requirement to learn Moris Code, so that removes a stumbling block for many people. It is a great hobby and filled with many wonderful people. You can install transceivers in your home, in your car or even carry a "walkie-talkie", but keep in mind that if cell sites go down many repeaters (2 meter) will also for the same reasons.

Cellular sites can go down for many reasons such as lack of power, loss of microwave communications to or from the next site, heavy congestion or electronic failure.

It is a great comfort to know there is an emergency back up in place.

The movies that we have watched over and over are:

The money pit
Dances with wolves
Patton
Avatar
Mars attacks

Another that we have watched over and over is a really old one called "30 seconds over Tokyo", Because we knew two of the characters portrayed in the film. (My uncle, Col. Travis Hoover and Ellen Lawson, his close friend.)

Has the First Amendment become an exercise in futility?

Just read a good column from a tiny newspaper on the state line of California & Arizona.

From The Paloverde Valley Times

By John W. Whitehead

Living in a representative democracy such as ours means that each person has the right to stand outside the halls of government and express his or her opinion on matters of state without fear of arrest. That's what the First Amendment is all about.

It gives every American the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances." It ensures, as Adam Newton and Ronald K.L. Collins report for the Five Freedoms Project, "that our leaders hear, even if they don't listen to, the electorate. Though public officials may be indifferent, contrary, or silent participants in democratic discourse, at least the First Amendment commands their audience."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~snip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Indeed, while lobbyists mill in and out of the homes and offices of Congressmen, the American people are kept at a distance through free speech zones, electronic town hall meetings, and security barriers. And those who dare to breach the gap - even through silent forms of protest - are arrested for making their voices heard. The case of Harold Hodge is a particularly telling illustration of the way in which the political elite in America have sheltered themselves from all correspondence and criticism.

On a snowy morning on Jan. 24, 2011, Harold Hodge walked to the plaza in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building with a sign around his neck. The 3' x 2' placard read: "The U.S. Gov. allows police to illegally murder and brutalize African Americans and Hispanic people." Hodge, a 45-year-old African-American, stood silently at attention in front of the building displaying his message. There weren't many passersby, and he wasn't blocking anyone's way. However, after a few minutes, Hodge was approached by a police officer for the Supreme Court. The officer informed Hodge that he was violating a law prohibiting expressive activity in and around the Supreme Court building and asked him to leave.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~snip~~~~~~~~~~

To read the complete article, go to:

http://www.paloverdevalleytimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=807&ArticleID=16653



I thought this to be a really good piece of writing and the paper is in a very conservative area.

Mexican Death Toll in Drug War to 47,515

The Mexican government updated its drug war death toll on Wednesday, reporting that 47,515 people had been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderón began a military assault on criminal cartels in late 2006.

The new official tally provided by the attorney general’s office included data only through September, and it showed that drug-related killings increased 11 percent, to 12,903, compared with the same nine-month period in 2010. Still, a government statement sought to find a silver lining, asserting that it was the first year since 2006 “that the homicide rate increase has been lower compared to the previous years.”

But that will hardly calm a public scared by the recent arrival of grisly violence in once-safe cities like Guadalajara, nor will Wednesday’s limited data release silence the increasingly loud call for better, more transparent government record keeping.