Text Message Donations Good for Democracy, Risky for Privacy
Financial involvement in elections, even in small amounts, serves as a “gateway” to other forms of engagement in the political process – displaying lawn signs, volunteering for campaigns, passing out literature – and studies show that small donors are more likely to engage in these kinds of civic participation than large donors. Permitting small donations by text message is therefore an innovative measure that could invigorate citizen participation in the voting process, and the FEC should encourage providers to resolve the hurdles to implementation.
Weapons For The Weak In The Climate Struggle If there is any doubt that the abnormal is now the norm, remember that this is shaping up to be the second straight year that nonstop rains have wreaked havoc in Southeast Asia. Last year, the monsoon season brought about the worst flooding in Thailand’s history, with waters engulfing Bangkok and affecting over 14 million people, damaging nearly 7,000 square miles of agricultural land, disrupting global supply chains, and bringing about what the World Bank estimated to be the world’s fourth costliest disaster ever. http://www.countercurrents.org/bello170812.htm
Poll: 55 Percent of Tea Partiers Believe in Carrying Guns into Church
According to a survey published by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) on Wednesday, 55 percent of Tea Party movement supporters think people should be allowed to bring concealed guns to church.
Tom Morello's Epic Retort to Paul Ryan, Apparent "Rage" Fan
Says Ryan has "rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment."
Creepy Tea Partiers Think They Own the Military--And Can Use It Against the Rest of Us!
First, it's easily construed as a call for a military coup, which is as un-American as if gets. Second, these people believe they own the military and use it as a weapon against the rest of us. It's a very creepy dynamic.
Get Ready for a Catastrophic War: Israel Likely to Strike Iran Before November Elections
The Israeli government is exploiting the American political timetable to pressure President Obama to support an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.
New Evidence Shows: US Cover-Up of Murdered Civilians The new evidence also shows that the statistical tally of casualties from drone attacks in Pakistan published on the web site of the New America Foundation (NAF) has been systematically understating the deaths of large numbers of civilians by using a methodology that methodically counts them as "militants." http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32211.htm
With very rare exception, all of this material washed in from the waves. Lobster trap vinyl scraps, bait bags, claw bands, bottle caps, coffee-cup tops, cable ties, plant pot fragments, dollhouse parts, inner tube chunks, a saw handle, coat hangers, a crate lid, an air filter, a car arm rest. On and on, anything you can think of.
Cover-Up of Civilian Drone Deaths Revealed by New Evidence
The new evidence also shows that the statistical tally of casualties from drone attacks in Pakistan published on the web site of the New America Foundation (NAF) has been systematically understating the deaths of large numbers of civilians by using a methodology that methodically counts them as "militants."
Earlier this week, the International Association of Chiefs of Police published a set of guidelines for the use of the unmanned aircraft — drones — that have been proliferating across the United States and the world beyond. The guidelines aren't binding but they do give us an "industry standard" to which we can point if any given police department or law-enforcement agency colors too far outside the lines. And yes, one of the points on which the organization's Aviation Committee members agree is that drones shouldn't be lethal. Well, not deliberately so, anyway.
Baseless Deconstruction: How Your Dollars Became Ghost Towns in Iraq
At the height of the American occupation, in the face of Sunni and Shiite insurgencies and a bloody civil war, the Pentagon built 505 bases there, ranging from micro-outposts to mega-bases the size of small American towns -- in one case, with an airport that was at least as busy as Chicago’s O’Hare International. As it happened, during all but the last days of those long, disastrous years of war, Americans could have had no idea how many bases had been built, using taxpayer dollars, in Iraq. Estimates in the press ranged, on rare occasions, up toabout 300. Only as U.S. troops prepared to leave was that 505 figure released by the military, without any fanfare whatsoever. Startlingly large, it was simply accepted by reporters who evidently found it too unimpressive to highlight.
My dreams weren’t outrageous and of great wealth. No, my dreams were of a comfortable home, food on the table, children, a meaningful job, and perhaps the “freedom from want” signaled by not being terrified that I wouldn’t make it to my next paycheck. I wanted to pay the bills without fretting. I wanted an occasional vacation from work. And I looked forward to a little time in retirement with enough health left to spend with my husband, kids and grandkids before leaving this earth. Now I am so tired in my late 50s of the struggle and the futility of trying to be heard, that I am angry beyond belief.
