Category: Uncategorized

HR 341: One more step towards Neo-Feudalism

Posted: 02 Mar 2012 10:54 AM PST

In feudal times, you could be put to death if you didn't kneel when the carriages of the nobility passed by.  This is a step in that direction (although very few people care).  ‘

I'm not that excited to write about this type of things.  Seems like more of a chore than something I want to do.  Why do I write about it?  It's another milestone on the decline of the US that is worth highlighting for future historians.

I can see these future historians now:  pouring over the output from software systems that cull trends out massive social media repositories.  Some will be shaking their heads, asking themselves: what were those numbskulls in the early 21st Century thinking about when their governments began to hollow out?  Why were they so passive as things began to fall apart?

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This new bill, about to be signed by the President, is called the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011.  It is not as innocent as its name.

Essentially, it makes it a federal offense to be anywhere near, from being in the area or in the same building, somebody protected by the secret service.  That's from the President to candidates for political office (Romney or Santorum) to senior government officials to foreign dignitaries (G20).  In other words, lots and lots of people.

While being sold as a way to close a loophole in the current law regarding White House security, it is actually much more than that.  It changed one word that made a world of difference.  What's the difference?

To be arrested and imprisoned, all you need to do is be the same building or area around a person that has secret service protection.  You don't even need to know they are there to be arrested and imprisoned.  If you are merely walking by the area, you can be legally jailed for one year.  If you are carrying something that can be seen as a weapon (legally or not), that imprisonment can be extended to ten years.

In short, if you are within the same building or neighborhood as a political or foreign personage without their expressed permission, you can be imprisoned.

“Trust us” or “they are good people” isn't a valid answer to this critique. If a new power can be abused legally, it will eventually be abused.  Very simple tautology.

OWS: Prove That You Truly Represent the 99%

Only 54% Of Young Adults In America Have A Job

Tyler Durden

ZeroHedge, 29 February 2012

A month ago, Zero Hedge readers were stunned to learn that unemployment among Europe's young adults has exploded as a result of the European financial crisis, and peaking anywhere between 46% in the case of Greece all they way to 51% for Spain. Which makes us wonder what the reaction will be to the discovery that when it comes to young adults (18-24) in the US, the employment rate is just barely above half, or 54%, which just happens to be the lowest in 64 years, and 7% worse than when Obama took office promising a whole lot of change 3 years ago.

And while technically this means 46% are unemployed, or the same percentage as in Greece, the US ratio, which comes from Pew, shows the ratio as a % of the total population: a very sensitive topic now that every month we see another 250,000 drop off mysteriously from the total labor force. However, unlike those on the trailing age end, young adults by definition are the labor force in their age group demographic, so it would be difficult to explain away this horrendous number by claiming that ever more 24 year olds are retiring. Although, yes, we agree that some may be dropping out of the labor force in order to go to college, incidentally the locus of the latest credit bubble, where they meet a fate worse even than secular unemployment: they become debt slaves of the Federal System, with non-dischargable debt at that, which even assuming they can get a job would take ages to pay back!

But wait: there's more – of all age groups, this is the one that has actually seen its wages drop the most under the Obama administration.

So not only are they unemployed, young adults are at least poor.

Net result: double the change, zero the hope.

Bloomberg Video 1:16

What does it say about a country when a) half of its defense and intelligence program is arguably fraud, waste, and abuse; and b) the only people charged with espionage are the whistle-blowers that are invariably truthful about this same fraud, waste, and abuse?

Blurred Line Between Espionage and Truth

David Carr

New York Times, 26 February 2012

EXTRACT:

The Espionage Act, enacted back in 1917 to punish those who gave aid to our enemies, was used three times in all the prior administrations to bring cases against government officials accused of providing classified information to the media. It has been used six times since the current president took office.

Setting aside the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst who is accused of stealing thousands of secret documents, the majority of the recent prosecutions seem to have everything to do with administrative secrecy and very little to do with national security.

Read full article.

See Also:

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Blurred Line Between Espionage and Truth – Prosecution of US Truth-Tellers Rampant + Secrecy RECAP”

Mobile Technologies, Crisis Mapping & Disaster Response: My Talk at #WMC12

Many thanks to GSMA for their kind invitation to speak at the 2012 World Mobile Congress (WMC12) in Barcelona, Spain. GSMA is formally launching its Disaster Response Program at WMC12 with an inaugural working group. “The Disaster Response programme seeks to understand how mobile operators can most effectively support each other and improve resilience among networks in disaster scenarios, and identify how the mobile industry can best help citizens and humanitarian organisations on the ground following a crisis.” Below is the presentation I plan to give.

When disaster strikes, access to information is equally important as access to food and water. This link between information, disaster response and aid was officially recognized by the Secretary General of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the 2005 World Disasters Report. Since then, disaster-affected populations have become increasingly digital thanks to the widespread adoption of mobile technologies. Indeed, as a result of these mobile technologies, affected populations are increasingly able to source, share and generate a vast amount of information, which is completely transforming disaster response.

Take the case of Haiti, for example. Within 48 hours of the devastating earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince in 2010, a dedicated SMS short code was set up to crowdsource information on the urgent needs of the disaster-affected population. This would not have been possible without the partnership with Digicel Haiti since they're the ones who provided the free SMS short code that enabled anyone in Haiti to text in their most urgent needs and location.

Continue reading “Patrick Meier: Mobile Technologies, Crisis Mapping, & Disaster Response”

Below is Iranian slant from a Canadian journalist.  What they are not saying is that the oil companies make money regardless, and the financial speculators that bet on high futures really need the sanctions and the shortages to cover their bets.  At the same time, the US incumbent administration seem to feel that more war is good for the election cycle.  Nobody cares about the consumer.

Anti-Iranian Sanctions Backfire on Western Imperialist Countries

When Western Nations Begin To Believe Their Own Propaganda Elementary Principles of Supply and Demand Get Overlooked

Press TV has interviewed writer and journalist, Joshua Blakeney, on his view on the recent hike in fuel prices.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota:  2004 Warning from Author Joseph Sobran

EXTRACT:

So when the government tells us it’s protecting us from the world’s most ruthless criminals, we ought to wonder if perhaps we need to be protected from criminals a little closer to home.  The chances of your being harmed by terrorists are mathematically minute. The chance of your being robbed by your own government? That’s easy: 100 per cent.

Are We Sheep for the Government Fox?

Joseph Sobran

LouRockwell.com, 1 January 2004

Read full article.