Man plans 'moon' mission against U.S. surveillance balloon

[JBoy]

Source: Vancouver Sun

SARNIA, Ont. — A Sarnia resident is organizing a protest to express his displeasure over a balloon equipped with a surveillance camera that was hoisted last week just across the St. Clair River in Port Huron, Mich., with its eyes set on the border.

Eli Martin said Thursday he hopes protesters at "moon the balloon" will simultaneously drop their trousers to send a signal that Sarnia "doesn't like being watched."

The 15-metre long balloon has a high-tech camera capable of identifying the name on a ship 12-15 kilometres out in Lake Huron, according to the American company operating it. The Sierra Nevada Corp., is testing the technology that could eventually be used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

...

The tethered balloon has already rankled Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley who wrote Thursday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to express his concerns.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/plans+moon+mission+against+surveillance+balloon/1846279/story.html

[lapfog_1]

1. This thing has been flying over Sierra Vista AZ for years now

about 40 miles south of where I live.

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Looks like "Fat Boy" with a hernia!

.
.
.

[wroberts189]

5. Pull out the radar, put in a hot tub, add some windows...

and you might actually have something useful.

[Kali]

9. where is that?

40 miles north of SV is in my neighborhood:hi:

[lapfog_1]

13. Near Benson... about 10 miles south of Benson

little town called St. David. Very Mormon. I live just outside.

[Kali]

15. we are almost within walking distance (and plenty do walk it)

I'm up in Texas Canyon. Are you on the Horse Ranch? (I can't bring myself to write the new name - DMR)

There is at least one other Cochise County DUer - panaderO - he is over near Sierra Vista.

Cool!:toast:

[lapfog_1]

16. No, I'm on the west side of the river, near Apache Powder

Officially I'm still a resident of California, just visiting here.

But it's been a while now. Don't know when I'll get back to Silicon Valley.

congress critter Giffords (a blue dog) will be in Douglas next Wednesday, I'm planning to travel down and give her a piece of my mind (so I guess I should change my official residence status).

[Kali]

18. ah

well be sure to hit the Ueta if you drink and are going to Douglas!:7

[lapfog_1]

19. Only driven through Douglas before

I don't drink that much. I'm guessing that Ueta is a bar or restaurant?

Anyway, the public meet and great is in the middle of the afternoon. I figure to personally convey my feelings on single payer universal health care.

[Kali]

20. Duty free shop.

On reflection I think you may need a passport to come back across now. I'm not sure.

Anyway if you want to get mainstream booze, cigs, or fake stenches (perfumes) even cheaper than IN Mexico, the Ueta is the place to go. You go in, buy your bottle and then go to the corner (car or walk) and they bring it out to you - its duty free because you have to take it across. You can bring back one bottle per adult (or get as much as you want and drink it there-heh). You just walk across the line, cut to the left and come back through the pedestrian area or drive around the block (lunch in AP is a good side trip too).

It's the last shop on the left before you go across - you have to turn left across yellow lines or maybe there is a back way in, I never bothered to find it.

Where is the Giffords thing? at the Gadsden?

[lapfog_1]

21. Oh, yeah you need a passport now.

My Mexican dentist was right in the same place, just behind the first line of shops, on the left.

The Giffords thing will be at Safeway (emulating Obama?)

from her email:

Douglas Congress on Your Corner
Event Details:
Wednesday, August 5, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Safeway
90 Fifth Street
Douglas, AZ 85607
Just west of Pan American on 5th Street

[Kali]

22. How do you like your dentist?

I need to get the husband to one. I know of somebody down near Fronteras, but I know him from ranch stuff and not sure how to go about connecting for dental stuff.

I had probably driven past the Ueta 100 times. Never even noticed it. I have some friends from Germany, a mother and daughter - the daughter was here studying issues on the San Pedro when we met - anyway the mother is the BEST shopper on the planet. She knew about the Ueta and told me and her daughter to check it out next time we went that way. That is how I found out about it.:rofl:

[IndianaGreen]

3. There is no law against shooting at the darned thing

Let's see our citizens exercise their Second Amendment rights by putting bullet holes on that dastardly contraption.

[Sherman A1]

4. Might be that destruction of government property thing, but

whatever works for you. :popcorn:

[IndianaGreen]

6. Tell the feds you thought you were shooting at a UFO

and you didn't want illegal aliens landing on this planet.

[DRoseDARs]

7. Yeah, tell us Agent Mike's reaction to that explanation, you know, after you get out of prison.

:P

[IndianaGreen]

8. Agent MIke is spying on peace groups as we speak

Agent Mike should be unemployed, and his bosses should be in prison.

Nothing has changed since November.

Published on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 by TruthDig.com

Obama’s Military Is Spying on US Peace Groups

by Amy Goodman

Anti-war activists in Olympia, Wash., have exposed Army spying and infiltration of their groups, as well as intelligence gathering by the Air Force, the federal Capitol Police and the Coast Guard.

The infiltration appears to be in direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act preventing U.S. military deployment for domestic law enforcement and may strengthen congressional demands for a full-scale investigation of U.S. intelligence activities, like the Church Committee hearings of the 1970s.

Brendan Maslauskas Dunn asked the city of Olympia for documents or e-mails about communications between the Olympia police and the military relating to anarchists, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) or the Industrial Workers of the World (Dunn's union). Dunn received hundreds of documents. One e-mail contained reference to a "John J. Towery II," who activists discovered was the same person as their fellow activist "John Jacob."

Dunn told me: "John Jacob was actually a close friend of mine, so this week has been pretty difficult for me. He said he was an anarchist. He was really interested in SDS. He got involved with Port Militarization Resistance (PMR), with Iraq Vets Against the War. He was a kind person. He was a generous person. So it was really just a shock for me."

"Jacob" told the activists he was a civilian employed at Fort Lewis Army Base and would share information about base activities that could help the PMR organize rallies and protests against public ports being used for troop and Stryker military vehicle deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2006, PMR activists have occasionally engaged in civil disobedience, blocking access to the port.

Larry Hildes, an attorney representing Washington activists, says the U.S. attorney prosecuting the cases against them, Brian Kipnis, specifically instructed the Army not to hand over any information about its intelligence-gathering activities, despite a court order to do so.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/29-0

[primavera]

11. We need some helpful critter to chew away the tether ropes...

... just an innocent force of nature at work.

[ieoeja]

17. A flying critter would work best. Maybe a trained chicken with really sharp teeth.

... waiting ....

[CHIMO]

23. Not A Government Thingy

The balloon in Sarnia, which is owned by the Sierra Nevada Corporation, is shaped like an airplane wing and carries a $1-million camera sensitive enough, U. S. officials say, to read the name of a ship from a distance of nine miles.

The company is testing it at the St. Clair River international boundary and hopes to sell the technology to U. S. Homeland Security.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is an electronic systems provider and systems integrator supporting the US military and NASA. The company is headquartered in Sparks, Nevada.

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1681901



American may join balloon protest
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1682023

[CHIMO]

24. Also

Seen something about a laser.

[CHIMO]

10. 'Moon the Balloon' protest grows, mayor writes PM

Source: The Observer

More than 70 people say they will participate in a “moon the balloon” demonstration Aug. 15 by dropping their drawers to protest a high-tech surveillance balloon and camera monitoring the international border at Sarnia.

City police said Thursday they plan to turn a blind eye to the cheeky protest in Centennial Park, but Sarnia's mayor has asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to get involved in what he calls an assault on Canadian privacy.

In a letter to the PM Thursday, Mike Bradley said the camera hovering over Port Huron, Mich. is scanning Sarnia’s waterfront, which includes many homes, private businesses and government offices.

“There was absolutely no consultation with the local community and I am not aware if there has been at the national level about this particular initiative,” he said.



Read more: http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1680060

[tj2001]

12. Protecting us against illegal Canadian immigrants

Cheaper than building a border, eh?

[Regret My New Name]

14. "testing the technology"

What are they testing? I don't think we're talking state of the art technology here, aye?

Cameras and balloons...