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Double Edged Borders

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Posted by W Edwin Hinds IV on May 14, 2010 in immigration, Police State | 4 comments

The double-edged sword of border enforcement is being worked on the Federal grinding wheel, masterfully honed in what the government typically hopes is the obscure darkness of bureaucracy. The secret courts who follow no known rules of judicial proceeding are gearing up for the expulsion of American citizens. Black clad thugs are checking the batteries on their electro-shock torture devices and government checkpoints spread into the big cities. Fear and uncertainty grip the economy while the media spins so many lies that the people just regurgitate the latest talking points tirade. The rights supposedly “guaranteed” by the constitution are washing ashore like a million gallons of crude.

The borders are being militarized and expanded by the Department of Homeland Security, effectively allowing border checkpoints within one hundred miles of any border or coastline. The great many of Americans – roughly 2/3 of all Americans – live within these vast swathes of 4th amendment free zones, where the traditional rights elucidated in the constitution have no meaning. This is akin to what happens when an area is declared to be in a state of emergency upon the occurrence of such tragedies as Hurricane Katrina. Massive power is concentrated in agencies of fear via executive order. FEMA and the DHS, whose goal is to have limitless annual budget expansion, are always on the lookout for any incident that they can portray as making their respective bureaus essential to the continuity of government. Judging by the recent behavior of ICE – which is now a part of the DHS – and FEMA, one can easily see this malevolent machinery being turned inwards. These fed controlled free-fire zones are already under occupation, they have weakened civil liberties, warrantless checkpoints and armed goons who received grants for doing special FEMA anti-terrorism classes.

The economy is being propped up by an ever inflating, elastic currency. This dollar devaluation and general lack of faith in the governments ability to make responsible fiscal legislation is drying up one of the root causes of human mass migration across the north American land mass. Yet despite the decreased number of migrant humans digging, dashing and diving past the gendarmes of the imaginary line, the “illegal immigrant” rhetoric is kicking into high gear. Particular attention being paid to the southern border and the naturalized hispanics on the northern side of the imaginary line. The Arizona government is actively pursuing passive aggressive anti-hispanic legislation at every twist and turn, while Robert Rodriguez turns his race baiting faux-trailer Machete (remember Grindhouse?) into a full fledged movie. Within the recently released script for the movie, Rodriguez pits poor against poor just how the corporatist whores in the film industry do it best. Folks like Rodriguez receive massive tax benefits from state and municipal theft guilds and sometimes even get to borrow a helicopter from the Federal overlords if they sing in tune with the state. The relationship between hollywood and the US Military has been very well documented, so it should come as no surprise when hollywood attempts to balkanize the people. If they can get us to fight amongst each other, they can let the government step in as a savior.

It is not just the US/Mexico border that is being treated as another front in the war on humanity. The northern border has had its share of ridiculous incidents, where the anointed punitive priesthood has been hard at work defending us helpless citizens from belligerent Canadian science fiction writers. Not only is it completely ludicrous that the border of Canada has guards that are NOT dressed in moose costumes, they also beat and detained Dr Peter Watts for simply asking why he was being stopped. Apparently this author of dystopic futures didn’t realize until after his beating that he was crossing over into Prussianized Amerika. The downright asinine actions at the northern border do not really end there, It recently came to my attention that people who have committed misdemeanor crimes in the US are being targeted by secretive immigration courts that are revoking citizenship and sending folks off to Canada. Thats the short and sticky part of the Mike Burrows story, a man with a permanent resident visa, who is being deported because of a misdemeanor conviction from when he was 18.

Naturally it doesn’t even end with foreign born US citizens. The government has no problem pursuing extra judicial means to murder its naturalized citizenry. In what Salon writer Glenn Greenwald calls “unbelievably Orwellian and tyrannical” the current administration has expanded on the rhetoric of the previous jobholder, maintaining that it reserves the right (yes, they said “right”) to carry out assassinations on any US citizen, anywhere in the world. That little tidbit came from congressional testimony that was given by Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair.

Instead of breaking the law outright the feds are dancing around them with secret courts, extra judicial killings and black site detention centers. As McCain pushes for the Berlin Wall inspired border fence, the last pieces of the puzzle for total federal domination are falling into place.

Home Depot’s CEO may be gone, but analysts say fix-up will take time

The Record (Bergen County, NJ) January 7, 2007 | HARRY R. WEBER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HARRY R. WEBER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Record (Bergen County, NJ) 01-07-2007 Home Depot’s CEO may be gone, but analysts say fix-up will take time By HARRY R. WEBER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Date: 01-07-2007, Sunday Section: BUSINESS Edtion: All Editions ATLANTA — With Bob Nardelli gone as chief executive, the challenge facing Home Depot Inc. is to turn its stores back into the irresistible shopping destinations they were a decade ago — making them more customer-friendly, with more knowledgeable employees, cleaner aisles and better-stocked shelves.

That, industry analysts say, will require a change in Home Depot’s corporate culture.

The world’s largest home improvement store chain has not revealed any of its plans since Wednesday’s sudden announcement that Nardelli had resigned. Analysts hope to gain some insight into the Atlanta-based company’s future at an investor conference next month — but no one is expecting a miracle cure. go to web site home depot promotion code

“They’re not going to wave a wand and instantly have a change in course,” said Jeff Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale School of Management.

Nardelli believed in centralizing functions and running a tight ship. Profits and revenue soared under his six-year tenure, but customer service was often a sore spot. Some Home Depots looked tired and disorganized, and finding an employee to help find items could be a chore at times.

Home Depot has pumped millions of dollars into trying to resolve those issues over the last few years, but observers, and even Nardelli before he departed, said more needs to be done. The company’s profit dropped 3.1 percent in the third quarter, while sales at stores open at least a year fell 5.1 percent; Home Depot has also warned that 2007 would be challenging. Fourth-quarter results will be released Feb. 20.

Industry observers say Home Depot would benefit from allowing store managers more of a say in serving their local markets and by improving the morale and training of its employees. Analysts suggest the company return to some of the strategies that made it so successful in the 1990s.

“Instead of having people that really knew electric, knew carpentry and were around to help you, they disappeared,” Sonnenfeld said, noting that Home Depot’s salespeople “ended up to be overworked store clerks you could get anywhere.” Sydney Finkelstein, a management professor at Dartmouth College’s business school and author of “Why Smart Executives Fail,” said Home Depot once had a culture where employees enjoyed coming to work and the shelves were filled with world-class merchandise.

“They created a place where people were energized, excited,” Finkelstein said. “Nardelli comes in and puts in a set of systems, processes that do have the potential to work very well but ran up against a very tough situation at Home Depot, which was a much more entrepreneurial, retailing organization.” Besides having to solve its internal problems, the company also faces fierce competition from Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’s Cos., which has surpassed Home Depot in some regards.

Craig R. Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultancy in New Canaan, Conn., said Home Depot has far to go to cater to new classes of home improvement shoppers: women and the do-it-for-me consumers, rather than the do-it-yourselfers who fed its earlier success.

“Home Depot has made improvements, but Lowe’s keeps raising the bar,” said Johnson.

Patricia Edwards, a retail analyst in Seattle for Wentworth, Hauser and Violich, agreed.

She noted that despite some improvements, “Home Depot is much more of a warehouse; Lowe’s is much more of a shopping experience.” She called Home Depot stores “cluttered, dark and dirty.” Edwards recalled how she recently waited more than a week for a delivery of a door lock from Home Depot although she had been told she would get it the next day. She also said she did have a positive experience last week, when a rush order for material for her outdoor deck arrived on time. go to web site home depot promotion code

Finkelstein said successful retailing is about picking the right products, marketing them and selling them.

“There’s not a lot of science that goes there,” he said, adding that Nardelli, who had spent a good part of his career rising through the ranks at General Electric Co., might not have been the best fit for Home Depot.

Nardelli’s replacement at Home Depot is Frank Blake, another former GE executive who was elevated to the CEO’s job after serving as Home Depot’s vice chairman.

Home Depot said in a statement Friday that Blake “plans to spend the next several weeks engaging with associates at all levels to listen to their ideas and input and relate his vision for the business going forward.” He said in a memo to employees Wednesday that “commitment to the customer” is the company’s No. 1 priority.

The Home Depot board made a point of saying when it announced Nardelli’s abrupt resignation that it was confident in its current strategy. Industry watchers are mixed on whether there will be changes in that strategy.

Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter said in a research note to clients Thursday that while Nardelli’s departure is a positive move, he believes the near-term winner will still be Lowe’s.

“Blake is unlikely to do anything radical in retail, and given that he was behind much of the strategic direction is unlikely to reopen the spigot into either more hours or lower pricing to drive sales,” Balter wrote.

He’s hoping what Home Depot executives say at the company’s February analyst meeting will give investors the answers they are looking for.

Sonnenfeld, meanwhile, expects changes on Home Depot’s board.

“It’s good to get a fresh start, some new direction, some new faces on this board,” he said.

“They need some fresh blood.” Illustrations/Photos: * *

HARRY R. WEBER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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  • http://twitter.com/leareiter Lea Reiter

    Welcome to the Fourth Reich.

  • http://twitter.com/leareiter Lea Reiter

    Welcome to the Fourth Reich.

  • http://www.gonzotimes.com/ PunkJohnnyCash

    It is as if I reached a point that I discovered all that the state schools taught me was complete rubbish. stuff like this is where I see it most. You think of the totalitarian state as something in another country or in the history books. Then one day your eyes open and you see it is here, now. They fed you nothing but rubbish. The slumber I was in I slowly awoke to and here I see once more the disturbing reality. I pray people begin to open their eyes.

  • http://www.gonzotimes.com/ PunkJohnnyCash

    It is as if I reached a point that I discovered all that the state schools taught me was complete rubbish. stuff like this is where I see it most. You think of the totalitarian state as something in another country or in the history books. Then one day your eyes open and you see it is here, now. They fed you nothing but rubbish. The slumber I was in I slowly awoke to and here I see once more the disturbing reality. I pray people begin to open their eyes.