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“Facebook is revising its privacy settings to give the more than 200 million users of the social network the ability to share as much or as little about themselves online as they want. Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer at the Palo Alto, California-based company, outlined the changes in a post on the Facebook blog. Kelly said Facebook would now offer a tiered level of privacy options for its users including ‘all of your friends, your friends and people in your school or work networks, and friends of friends.’ There is also an option to publicly share with everyone on the Web in what is being seen as an effort by Facebook to compete with the hot micro-blogging service Twitter.” (07/02/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mr6gz5 | |
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“Strathclyde Police have warned that they will not tolerate ’sectarian behaviour’ at the annual Orange Order parade in Glasgow this weekend. About 8,000 marchers from 182 lodges across the city are expected to take part in Saturday’s parade. … Police said their warning over possible sectarian behaviour had the backing of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland. Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson said: ‘Whilst the parade will have a major impact on traffic in the city centre, the main issue for the force and members of the public is the excessive drinking and public nuisance caused by those who follow the parade.’” [editor’s note: Orange walks are a series of parades held annually by members of the Orange Order during the summer in Northern Ireland, to a lesser extent in Scotland, and occasionally in England, the Republic of Ireland, and throughout the Commonwealth. These typically build up to the 12th of July celebrations which mark Prince William of Orange’s victory over King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 (Wikipedia) - MLS] (07/02/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/moy7x8 | |
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“For the last 40 years, dropping into a bar in Utah has been a complicated affair: Patrons have to fill out an application, pay a fee and become a member before they can go in for a drink. It is one of several restrictive rules governing alcohol consumption in Utah that made the heavily Mormon state one of the toughest places in the nation to get a drink. But some of that will change on Wednesday when a new state law kicks in eliminating the need for people to become members of bars to go inside.” (06/30/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mcbrlh | |
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“Britons will no longer be required to register for identity cards, says Home Secretary. The Home Secretary Alan Johnson killed off the Government’s cherished compulsory identity cards scheme last night, promising that British citizens would never be forced to sign up for them. Critics urged the Government to retreat further and scrap its flagship £5bn policy outright.” (07/01/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/l3xrsv | |
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“The Virginia Citizens Defense League is used to fighting for the right to carry guns. But now it’s having to defend the right to wear stickers about carrying guns. The group says officials at the Richmond Coliseum recently attempted to stop members from handing out blaze-orange ‘Guns Save Lives’ stickers before an appearance by radio and television talk-show host Glenn Beck. ‘It’s bad enough they’re trying to trample the Second Amendment. Then you come and attack the First,’ President Philip Van Cleave said, referring to the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of the right to bear arms and to free speech.” (06/27/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/lkkkv6 | |
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“The Harrisburg Chapter of the NAACP is calling on Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to suspend some civil liberties and impose martial law in the city to halt the wave of recent lawlessness. Chapter President Stanley Lawson also called on Rendell to bring in the state National Guard … In June, there have been at least 12 shootings, many of them in the daytime …’The Guard is for floods and natural disasters. I don’t know any more of a natural disaster than of our young people being killed,’ he said … ‘It’s time for some real action,’ he said. ‘Right now the important thing is to stop this madness.’” (06/27/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mbys8g | |
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“With the Iranian government doing its best to crack down on the growing unrest following its contested election, most forms of interactive communication have been blocked. However, that firewall does not yet appear to include video games, suggesting a unique route by which Iranians can communicate with the world. … The Iranian government has since began filtering the Internet and other communications, making mobile phone difficult or impossible to use, and denying access to sites associated with the BBC, among others. For at least a little while though, it appears that the Xbox 360 and other services continue to be available. In Iran, it may be that video games have become far more important than they have ever been before.” 906/25/09) Link: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174959 | |
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“Indian scientists are to put one of the world’s hottest chilli powders into hand grenades. They say the devices will be used to control rioters and in counter-insurgency operations. Defence researchers say the idea is to replace explosives in small hand grenades with a certain variety of red chilli to immobilise people without killing them.” (06/27/09) Link: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3377473.html | |
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“A visit to your PC repair shop could be swiftly followed by a trip to court and a short stay in your local jail if it harbours any remotely questionable material — whether you knew about it or not. That, at least, is the fear as the latest confirmed outing for the Dangerous Pictures Act sees one individual prosecuted after a PC engineer spotted potentially unlawful pictures on their PC — and his line manager passed on details to the police.” (06/26/09) Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/26/dangerous_pictures_act/ | |
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Commentaries this week on the secret of a long life, state freedom rankings, The next generation of gun rights activists, Free speech vs. surveillance in the digital age, Obama and the Torturers, the Census, ACORN and other fertilizer, Towards a police reform movement and more! … In activist news, Pennsylvania Republicans urge voters to “post” tax protests, Tea party organizers plan Independence Day protests, Iran People’s revolt left to defiant hundreds and Activists get assist from “Anonymous,” Pirate Bay, and UK Coal protesters board cargo ship. In police state news, UK Hackers recruited to help fight against cybercrime, Spain reins in crusading judges, regime thugs disperse protesters and at least 24 reporters arrested since election in Iran , German Pensioners kidnap, beat financial advisor, Pennsylvania Pedestrians to carry flags to cross street, Colorado Woman faces eviction for Easter decor, UK hostages Failed by the Foreign Office and China Regime recruits net porn snitches. On the bright side, Swedish City votes to let women go topless. Til next week For freedom Mary lou Link: http://rationalreview.com/land | |
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“Reformed computer hackers are being recruited by the Government to defend Britain from international crime gangs and terrorists plotting cyber attacks on the country. With internet fraud costing billions of pounds a year and Whitehall computer systems facing repeated assaults from abroad, ministers are hiring hackers to protect state secrets. A new ‘cyber security operations centre’ at GCHQ in Cheltenham will monitor attempts, many orchestrated from abroad, to infiltrate the national computer network.” (06/26/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/kvgj4c | |
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“For more than a decade, a drab, beige building in central Madrid has been the global destination of choice for anyone wanting to file allegations of genocide, torture and crimes against humanity. The Audiencia Nacional — National Criminal Court — has heard complaints of human-rights abuses as far afield as Guatemala, Rwanda, Chile, Tibet, Gaza and Guantanamo Bay. Currently, 10 cases from five continents are being investigated by Spanish judges, under the principle of ‘universal jurisdiction,’ which holds that some crimes are so grave that they can be tried anywhere, regardless of where the offences were committed. In a recent statement, almost 100 organisations collectively praised Spain’s ‘pioneering approach,’ gushing that the country ’should feel proud of itself’ for becoming a reference point for other nations. Except, Spain’s left-leaning government sees things rather differently.” (06/25/09) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8119920.stm | |
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“The sports and recreation committee in Malmo, Sweden, has voted to allow women to go topless in the city’s swimming pools. The board struck down a motion that stated: ‘Women with two-piece swimsuits ought to wear a top piece,’ after controversy was sparked by members of the feminist Just Breasts/Bare Breasts network made visits to the city’s pools sans bikini tops.” (06/25/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mforht | |
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“Swinging clubs and firing tear gas, security forces clashed Wednesday with demonstrators who ignored a new demand by Iran’s supreme leader to end nearly two weeks of protests and accept the disputed results of the country’s recent presidential election. … Iranians who witnessed the violence wrote in Farsi-language Internet postings and blogs that many protesters were injured by security forces wielding clubs, pipes and electric cables and firing tear gas and live ammunition in the air. State-run media accounts denied there was any violence, insisting that security forces dispersed demonstrators outside a subway station at Baharestan Square, while other protesters were prevented from gathering in a nearby area.” (06/24/09) Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/1112839.html | |
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“Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and torturing him for losing £2million of their savings. James Amburn, 56, was ambushed outside his home in Speyer , western Germany, bound with masking tape and bundled into a car boot. ‘It took them quite a while because they ran out of breath,’ said Mr. Amburn, who was driven to the Bavarian lakeside home of one of the gang.” (06/24/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/n5wysd | |
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“Amidst sticky budget situation marked by a $3.2 billion deficit, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe wants taxpayers to leave Post-it Note messages on lawmakers’ doors condemning tax increases. ‘You can’t ask people to nail their protest to a government door,’ said Mr. Metcalfe, R-Cranberry. Last week, the governor proposed temporarily increasing the income tax from 3.07 to 3.57. The increase would provide $1.5 billion to offset the governor’s $28.9 billion in proposed spending for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.” (06/23/09) Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09174/979314-100.stm | |
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“More than two months after the nationwide tax day protests, anti-tax tea party groups are planning to again take to the streets. They will again be protesting, but this time they also intend to mark the nation’s birth. Plans are being crafted between the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County tea party groups, as well as others in Florida and across the nation, to hold protests on July 2 outside the offices of congressional members who support President Barack Obama’s health care plans.” (05/23/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/leu4u3 | |
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“Several hundred Iranians defied chilling warnings of a crackdown from the Revolutionary Guards to gather in a central Tehran square yesterday and continue their demonstrations against what they say was a stolen election. They did not last long, quickly dispersed by an overwhelming show of force from the security forces, who moved in, firing tear gas and live bullets into the air. Yesterday morning, the hardline Revolutionary Guards had served notice that the gloves were coming off and they would mete out punishment to anyone continuing to protest the election results.” (06/23/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/llvvnr | |
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“To cross the street in Lemoyne: look left, look right, look left again. Then, grab a flag and go. ‘Let me see if I understand this correctly,’ Bob’s Bagels employee Rose Williams said. ‘You’re supposed to take the flag, cross the street, [and deposit it in the opposite bin]?’ That’s exactly right. Inspired by a similar effort in Kirkland, Wash., the project’s two-fold goal is to make pedestrians more visible and to remind drivers that pedestrians have the right of way, Lemoyne councilman John Judson said.” (06/20/09) Link: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/06/lemoyne_flags.html | |
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“Iranian opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi urged supporters to stage more protests over the re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a direct challenge to the Islamic Republic’s leadership. … Iranian state television said 10 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded in protests in Tehran on Saturday held in defiance of a warning from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A separate report put the number of deaths at 13.” (06/22/09) Link: http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE55F54520090622 | |
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“Iranian authorities have arrested at least 24 journalists and bloggers since postelection protests began a week ago, and a media watchdog says reporters are a ‘priority target’ for Iran’s leadership. Among those detained were the head of the Association of Iranian Journalists and a Canadian reporter for Newsweek. The British Broadcasting Corporation’s correspondent has been ordered to leave the country.” (06/21/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/m55sux | |
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“An attorney for a 59-year-old woman says his client should not be forced to leave her apartment in Boulder County, Colo., because of Easter decorations. … Pineau said his client was informed by her landlord several days after Easter that her door decorations, which included Peep marshmallow candies and bunny stickers, needed to be removed. After Burdick refused, apartment managers posted a notice outlining a lease provision mandating residents keep their living areas clean and sanitary, the attorney said. ‘They’re calling her decorations garbage,’ Pineau alleged.” (06/21/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/m65fax | |
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“The bodies of two British hostages handed to the embassy in Baghdad were identified yesterday as those of two security guards, amid questions and recriminations about the way the issue of the kidnappings has been handled by the British Government. The two victims were Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, from Glasgow. Their remains are believed to be several months old, and it is unclear at present how they met their death. Three others, including Peter Moore, an IT consultant, are still missing, their fate unknown.” (06/21/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/m7d5cv | |
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“Campaigners from Greenpeace have boarded a ship delivering coal to the Kingsnorth power station in Kent. The vessel was targeted as it sailed up the River Medway, with reports of people swimming in front of the ship to stop it docking. The group, which is protesting against coal-fired power stations, climbed aboard from inflatable speedboats. However, Kent Police said the vessel still managed to dock at Kingsnorth with the protesters remaining on board.” (06/21/09) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8112076.stm | |
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“Iranian democracy activists, meet your new pals: a masked protest movement best known for needling the Church of Scientology, and a group of file-sharers so infamous they’re facing a year in jail. Anonymous Iran is a collaboration between The Pirate Bay — operators of the world’s largest torrent site, convicted in April of copyright infringement — and Anonymous, the prankster collective dedicated to exposing ‘Scientology’s crimes.’ The new site offers tips on how to navigate online in private, upload files through the Iranian firewall, find the best activist Tweeters, and launch attacks on pro-government websites.” (06/18/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ly9o7c | |
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“The Chinese government plans to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers by the end of the year to report ‘lewd’ content and ‘uncivilized’ behavior on the internet. Government-run news agency Xinhua reports volunteers will be registered under the auspices of China’s Capital Civic Enhancement Committee Office (CCECO). The government will also enlist ’supervision volunteers’ to patrol internet cafes for vulgar content and to prevent minors from accessing the computers.” (06/19/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/kw9vug | |
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Commentaries on Anarchy Day (you pick your OWN day, of course;-), Preparing women to defend Liberty, The smoking goons, Iran’s day of destiny, gulches and more! In activist news, Sikhs challenge Army’s ban on turbans, beards and EFF challenges government’s “back door wiretap”. In police state news, from the UK: Truancy rate highest since 1997, White people detained “to balance racial statistics”, Secret inquiry into Iraq war will report after the election, Australians jailed over graffiti; Uganda to jail people found using plastic bags, US Employees may be taxed for texting, Utah Artifacts theft raid called “overkill”, and Pennsylvania Man arrested after complaining to government In nanny state news New York Man allegedly posed as dead mom to draw govt benefits, Child poverty duty to become law in the UK….. and, in ‘what goes around comes around’ news, Anti-drug activist arrested on drug charge. Til next week From freedom Mary Lou Link: http://rationalreview.com/land | |
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“Truancy rates in England’s schools are at their highest since 1997, the latest figures show. An estimated 63,000 pupils truanted every day, equating to 1% of all school sessions missed without a valid reason [sic]. This is also a rise of a quarter, or 0.21 of a percentage point, on comparable figures from last year which were 0.79%. The government has written to local authorities urging them to keep up the pressure on persistent absenteeism.” (06/18/09) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7264365.stm | |
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“White members of the public are being unlawfully detained by the police in order to give ‘racial balance’ to stop-and-search statistics, a report by the Government’s watchdog on terror laws has found. Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said he knew of cases where suspects were stopped by officers even though there was no evidence or suspicion against them. He warned that police were wasting money by carrying out ’self-evidently unmerited searches’ which were an invasion of civil liberties and ‘almost certainly unlawful’ …. He said police were carrying out the searches on people they had no basis for suspecting so they could avoid accusations of prejudice.” (06/18/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/n2ub8w | |
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“Six ‘intelligent and well-educated’ Australians have been jailed for causing damage put at £70,000 during a six-month graffiti spree in London. The men targeted Tube and overground trains, Southwark Crown Court heard. The graffiti artists, who all admitted criminal damage, were caught in Ilford, east London, by police officers who heard rattling cans and smelt paint. Sentencing, Judge Michael Gledhill said it was ‘appalling’ to see ‘talented’ graffiti artists sitting in the dock. … Mulhearn received 14 months imprisonment, Shumack and Hing were both sentenced to 12 months, Vassell received a 10-month sentence and Alex Wisman was jailed for eight months.” (06/17/09) Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8105729.stm | |
Commentary
jump to News Section | jump to Action Items Section
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“It doesn’t matter whether you think [the Founders’] action was a good, bad, or indifferent thing — they had no business doing it for anyone other than themselves. It was entirely outside the realm of legitimacy for them to make such a decision on everyone’s behalf.” (07/02/09) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/92/knight/knight1.html | |
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“On 13 June the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared winner of Iran’s presidential election, with a reported 64% of the national vote. His nearest rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, won (according to official figures) just under 34%. Mousavi and his followers immediately disputed the results; and widespread protests mushroomed throughout Iran, of a size and nature not seen since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. As the protests grew in strength, the Iranian authorities cracked down on foreign media reporting in the country, disrupted cell phone use and text-messaging, and restricted internet access, making it hard to get information out of Iran. Enter Twitter and Facebook, which rapidly became vital tools to relay news and information on anti-government protests to people inside and outside Iran. Although the authorities had banned access to Facebook during the run-up to the elections, users found ways around the restrictions and, during the demonstrations, Mousavi himself used Facebook to contact supporters and the outside world.” (07/02/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/christensen07022009.html | |
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“Protestors at the week-long No Borders Camp wanted to highlight the plight of around 1,000 migrants who had hoped to cross the English Channel to claim asylum in Britain, but remain stuck in a stretch of wasteland nicknamed ‘the jungle’ by Calais’ main port. These migrants are sans papiers — paperless undocumented migrants. Jessica Mudditt reports on a protest for open borders at the wasteland migrant shanties in France.” (07/01/09) Link: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7108/ | |
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“On June 30, the government of Israel committed an act of piracy when the Israeli Navy in international waters illegally boarded the ‘Spirit of Humanity,’ kidnapped its 21-person crew from 11 countries, including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Laureate Mairead MaGuire, and confiscated the cargo of medical supplies, olive trees, reconstruction materials, and children’s toys that were on the way to the Mediterranean coast of Gaza. The ‘Spirit of Humanity,’ along with the kidnapped 21 persons, is being towed to Israel as I write.” (07/01/09) Link: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22964.htm | |
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“Are you an agitator? You know, one of those people who won’t leave well enough alone, who’s always questioning authority and trying to stir things up.If so, the Powers That Be detest you — you … you … ‘agitator!’ They spit the term out as a pejorative to brand anyone who dares to challenge the established order. … Were it not for agitators, we wouldn’t even have an America. The Fourth of July would be just another hot day, we’d be singing ‘God Save the Queen,’ and our government officials would be wearing white-powdered wigs.” (07/01/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/l5g6zc | |
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“When our governments refuse to act to stop the 22 month illegal and inhumane siege, blockade, quarantine of Gaza, citizens have stepped in to challenge the blockade. … President Obama has taken no action to alleviate the incredible humanitarian crisis for the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. However, ordinary citizens from around the world are not willing to sit by and do nothing. In groups, as individuals, or with organizations, six months after the 22 day attack on Gaza by the Israeli military, citizens are bringing into Gaza supplies forbidden by the Israeli government and the international community.” (07/01/09) Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/01-0 | |
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“When I talk with Vietnam Veterans, over and over I hear the same thing — they maybe had already arrived in Vietnam when — ‘then it hit me — I could get killed.’ Somehow — this message does not come across as real to many people until it’s too late. The soldier often believes he or she is special. They are smarter and/or stronger than everybody else. Their training is good. God will protect them. ‘Don’t worry ma, everything will be ok.’ I learned these are all lies. I learned that death and injury in a war zone is a lottery. First prize may be a college education. But second place is getting physically or emotionally wounded for life. Third place is death.” (07/01/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/rejman07012009.html | |
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“The secret government ‘Terrorist Watch List,’ reportedly already swelled to more than 1.1 million names, will have an addendum, if gun control advocates in Congress have their way. This new addendum — also to be cloaked in secrecy — would empower the U.S. Attorney General to deny a person the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights to purchase a firearm. While it is not surprising that some members of Congress are again using fear of terrorism to implement a gun-control agenda, the openly unconstitutional legislative language proponents are employing is troubling.” (06/29/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mmmvps | |
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“The Matthew Shepard Act is a ham-handed attempt to right injustice by establishing different legal treatment for some classes of crime victims. The proposed statute classifies as ‘hate crimes’ attacks based on a victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. America is well on its way to making it illegal to say anything nasty about gays, Jews, blacks and women. ‘Hate speech,’ far short of any direct incitement to violence, is on the edge of being criminalized, with the First Amendment gone the way of the dodo.” (06/28/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/cockburn06262009.html | |
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“For each of us who demands nothing more from the civilization we live in and contribute to than absolute ownership and control of our own lives (and, as Ayn Rand noted, the products of our lives) there has been nothing but increasingly bad news as long as most of us can remember. Since the turn of the 20th century, collectivism — called by every conceivable euphemism: communism, progressivism, socialism, fascism, liberalism — has taken more and more and more from us. It is insatiable. It wants everything we earn, everything we own, everything we hope to own. It wants our homes, our land, our children. It wants our cars and our weapons. It wants our very lives and strives for the means to observe and control them every minute, every step, and every breath.” (06/28/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle525-20090628-02.html | |
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“Tomoji Tanabe, a Japanese retired civil engineer, had died peacefully in his sleep overnight. He was 113 years’ and 274 days’ old and had more than 50 great-grandchildren. Having foregone alcohol and cigarettes all his life, Tanabe had became the world’s oldest man in January 2007. That mantle has now passed to Mr Allingham — the first time a British person has ever held such a title. … Mr Allingham is quieter these days, but no codger at heart. In contrast to Mr Tanabe’s asceticism, he attributes his longevity to ‘cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women.’ The Air Mechanic First Class is best known publicly for his war record, because of the many public engagements he has attended — up to 70 some years — including regular meetings with the Queen, politicians and soldiers returning from theatres of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet he dislikes talking about conflict, saying only: ‘War’s stupid. Nobody wins.’” (06/20/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/n4dwc6 | |
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This is an interactive, visual application of the data provided by statepolicyindex.com on the relative freedom enjoyed by residents in the various States. Use the sliders to adjust the weighting of various categories of policies. Link: http://freedom.robocourt.com/ | |
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The next generation of gun rights activists
Source: Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner Author: Daniel White “Now, more than ever, children are bombarded at school with anti-gun messages. Gun owners are ridiculed in the media and portrayed as either criminals or low IQ rednecks in television and the movies (except the ‘heroes,’ who are always affiliated with law enforcement or the military). Children are not taught the merits of self-defense, only to call the police and huddle under a desk until help arrives.These frequent messages attempt to mold young minds to oppose civilian gun ownership through indoctrination. If this is not countered by a pro-gun message at home, the future of gun rights will be lost.” (06/22/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ld7syw | |
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“Tools of mass communication that were once the province of governments and corporations now fit in your pocket. Cell phones can capture video and send it wirelessly to the Internet. People can send eyewitness accounts, photos and videos, with a few keystrokes, to thousands or even millions via social networking sites. As these technologies have developed, so too has the ability to monitor, filter, censor and block them.” (06/24/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ls2tnv | |
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“Since 1997, every June 26 has been formally recognized as the International Day of Support for Victims of Torture. Political leaders around the globe take the occasion to proclaim their opposition to barbarism. … President Obama will probably make the usual huff-and-puff proclamation against torture on June 26. But as long as he is protecting the torturers and torture policymakers, any anti-torture assertion he makes will be worth less than a plug nickle. Obama should either enforce the law or formally call for Congress to withdraw from the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. And if he chooses to follow that path, he should also urge Congress to repeal the 1996 Anti-Torture Act.” (06/24/09) Link: http://counterpunch.org/bovard06242009.html | |
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“Greetings fellow prisoners! Live from inside the Blue Curtain! It’s almost time for the 2010 Census. Says here that if you refuse to answer any questions you can be fined $5000 per refusal and imprisoned! I intend to answer every question like this: How many people in your home? 2 (me and my cat) (this is the only question they’re supposed to ask) How much money do you make? All of it, but my printer is broken right now. … You get the idea. There is absolutely nothing in the census law that says they have to like the answers you give.” (06/21/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle524-20090621-07.html | |
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“When you see three police cars pulled over at the side of a city street to deal with a single bicycle rider, you know there are too many cops. When all the heroes on TV carry badges and a government franchise, you know we’re in real trouble as a culture. Every day we hear of some act of brutality — people beaten and kicked when they’re unconscious, or ‘Tased’ until they die — carried out by federal, state, or local ‘law enforcement’ (a terrible misnomer, since most of the laws enforced today are unconstitutional, and therefore unlawful in themselves) against individuals or groups whose only crime was the exercise of their unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human rights. ‘Policemen’ at every level of government have become, more than any mere military organization, the ’standing army’ hated and feared by America’s Founder Fathers.” (06/21/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle524-20090621-02.html | |
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“June 18th, is my personal ‘Anarchy Day;’ a day on which I choose to perform random acts of anarchy. Feel free to celebrate with me. I think it is time for anarchists to take back the term from the nihilists who have stolen it. Anarchists don’t wish to destroy anything other than the coercive collective of government, and the slave mind-set that empowers it. On our Anarchy Day, each of us sovereign individual anarchists could commit random acts of helpful, public anarchy.” (06/17/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/kv9zuu | |
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Women on Target: Preparing women to defend Liberty
Source: Austin Gun Rights Examiner Author: Howard Nemerov “The United Kingdom and Australia instituted gun bans in 1997. Between 1995 and 2006, women in the United Kingdom suffered a 76.5% increase in rape; by 2007 Australian women experienced a 29.9% increase. Meanwhile, rape decreased 31.7% in America. ‘Today, women are raped twice as often in the UK as America, and Australian women are raped three times as often. This is damning evidence that gun control places women at greater risk. American women are hearing this message, and more and more are arming themselves every day, not only to protect themselves and their families from harm, but to ensure our government doesn’t enact laws which disenfranchise women.’” (06/16/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/nm5yz5 | |
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“Another day will come, sooner than you believe, when you will have to go to a government store, stand in a line, and when you finally reach the window, surrender your money, signature, and Social Security number to some slovenly-dressed bureaucrat smelling of sour, unwashed clothing, in exchange for a ten-pack of horrible-tasting generic cigarettes manufactured under the close supervision of the federal government. As time goes on, they’ll want your fingerprints, DNA, and retinal scans, as well. As the filtered part of your cigarette grows longer, the part with tobacco will grow shorter. Ever see what they smoke in Russia?” (06/14/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle523-20090614-02.html | |
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“It was Iran’s day of destiny and day of courage. A million of its people marched from Engelob Square to Azadi Square — from the Square of Revolution to the Square of Freedom — beneath the eyes of Tehran’s brutal riot police. The crowds were singing and shouting and laughing and abusing their ‘President’ as ‘dust.’” (06/15/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/nnw49n | |
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“We have the serious opportunity in our hands right now of terminating the era of government absolutely, and so of removing from the human race the threat of ever more brutal tyranny ending only with WMD annihilation — while opening up vistas of peaceful prosperity and technological progress which even a realist like myself cannot find words to describe. Don’t let’s blow it.” (06/15/09) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/91/davies/davies11.html | |
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“CBS News and U.S. News have posted a stunning, disturbing opinion piece by Bonnie Erbe. … Her voice is loud and reaches far. Here’s what it’s saying: ‘Round Up Hate-Promoters Now, Before Any More Holocaust Museum Attacks … something must be done about ridding the Internet and the public dialogue of hate speech … Isn’t it time we started rounding up promoters of hate before they kill?’” (06/13/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/ndwkus | |
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“As a means of forcing non-violent citizens (’subjects’ is actually the proper word) to submit to police in which there is no legitimate suspicion of a criminal act, ‘pain compliance’ is nothing other than a species of torture: Submit, helot — instantaneously and without back-talk — or Officer Pavlov with get out the sizzle-stick and make you do the electron dance. With police regularly using Tasers to administer summary punishment to non-compliant civilians, it’s not surprising that their use has now been authorized as a means of extracting self-incriminating evidence from criminal suspects.” (06/10/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mdgqrq | |
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Ezra Nawi: An activist in need
Source: Jewish Voices for Peace Author: Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky and Neve Gordon “Every so often someone comes along who is so brave and so inspiring that you just can’t sit by and remain silent when you learn they need your help. We’re writing to you today about one of these rare people. … Ezra Nawi is one of Israel’s most courageous human rights activists and without your help, he will likely go to jail in less than 30 days. His crime? He tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region. These homes and the families who live in them have been under Israeli occupation for 42 years. They still live without electricity, running water and other basic services. They are continuously harassed by Jewish settlers and the military.” (06/10/09) Link: http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/ | |
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“I despise the obsession with race that is forced upon us by the nanny state. I’m always having to fill out these forms that ask my race. Liberals are so fixated on race that they would make a Nazi Gauleiter proud. Nowadays, when I get the chance and I come across some official piece of paper that demands ‘race,’ I put an asterisk in the box and at the bottom or along the margin I write this: ‘No, not so much anymore. I’m too old, fat and out-of-shape to win.’ … The reason this came up is that a fellow just sent me an email asking the question: ‘Are you proud to be white?’ My answer went something like this: ‘No, not particularly. I am proud to be an American. My race is incidental. To think otherwise is to buy into racial collectivism, which I refuse to do.’” [editor’s note: Is geographical collectivism really any better? - TLK] (06/08/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/mrbn45 | |
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“A traffic stop for speeding in Travis County, Texas, led to the Tasering of a 72-year-old great-grandmother by a deputy. Feisty Kathryn Winkfein apparently so frightened the law-enforcement officer when she ‘used some profanity’ and ‘got violent’ that he felt it necessary to subdue her with a potentially dangerous jolt of electricity …. it’s difficult to see how the issuance of a speeding ticket to an elderly woman devolved to the point where a grown, trained law-enforcement officer could be considered justified in subjecting the speeder to an electric jolt intended to disrupt her nervous system — no matter what command of profanity she displayed.” (06/02/09) Link: http://tinyurl.com/q5fmkk | |
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Discussing guns dubbed “academic misconduct”
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal Author: Vin Suprynowicz “The forces of political correctness once vowed that, should they ever take over, their free expression on all kinds of issues — from gay rights to amnesty for illegals to space aliens inspiring the pyramids of ancient Egypt — would no longer be censored. Censored? Heck, spouting the PC line is now mandatory, as many a professor lately hauled before a college Star Chamber on charges of having ‘given offense’ now learns. … A student who wants to form a gun-rights group at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh has been threatened with disciplinary action for her efforts, reports the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.” (06/07/09) Link: http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/47141317.html | |
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“Larken Rose has in just 363 pages written what is sure to become an instant classic in the pantheon of American dystopian alternative future fiction genre. … Some of the familiar themes are the history of an America that has or will develop differently. A country where citizens gave up their rights and freedom slowly until an authoritarian, socialist/fascist, theocratic, state developed. Freedom of thought, religion, speech, personal defense and republicanism are replaced by militia, secret police, and a few men’s reign of terror. Usually they are self-serving oligarchic tyrannies where induced State and ‘law’ worship abound. Imagine a world in which the United States and/or remaining parts thereof, have been reduced to a totalitarian state; a world in which your neighbors may be spies; a world in which what passes for modern political correctness has run amok.” (06/05/09) Link: http://www.strike-the-root.com/91/wingate/wingate1.html | |
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“Elsewhere in this issue of The Libertarian Enterprise you’ll find a couple of things I wrote in 1978 and 1980 predicting certain unpleasant developments in what we laughingly call our civilization, and proposing countermeasures that badly needed to be taken to prevent them. Obviously, those countermeasures weren’t taken. Reading those essays for the first time in 30 years last night, exhumed with the kindly assistance of Jeff and Suzanne Riggenbach from the long-dead periodical Reason/Frontlines (remember TLE made its own debut a full fifteen years later, in 1995) even I was shocked at the deadly accuracy of my predictions.” (06/07/09) Link: http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2009/tle522-20090607-06.html | |
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“Trust the free market, though, to upset the pattern. If smoking and blowing out cigarette smoke was going to be illegal, what would some entrepreneur do? Come up with a way of letting people enjoy smoking without creating second-hand smoke. And that’s just what happened. E-cigarettes now allow people to enjoy nicotine and, instead of creating second-hand smoke, create second-hand water vapor, which is not alleged to be harmful. Now, if the people who favored the smoking bans really cared about second-hand smoke, they would applaud such a development, right? But they haven’t.” (06/02/09) Link: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/06/the_bizarre_wor.html | |
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“It’s hard to keep up with all the fascist, totalitarian power-grabs that the megalomaniacs in Washington have been proposing recently. Bill Clinton and his accomplices in Congress made huge leaps toward socialism. Then ‘W’ made far bigger leaps, toward both socialism and fascism (and don’t believe the bunk about fascism and socialism being opposites). Now we have Obama trying to stampede toward complete totalitarianism as fast as he can, making the others look moderate by comparison.” (06/04/09) Link: http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=2677 | |
Action Items
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“Monolithic agribusiness & biotech corporations like Monsanto are gaining more and more power over our food supply, thanks in part to Congress creating policies that give them competitive advantage while harming small farmers & competitors, but also because we consume their products every day, without knowing….Accept the Challenge:I will not buy Roundup weed killer, and will instead use an alternative method of weed control. (Please fill out the form below to accept the challenge and see your impact added to our calculator).” (06/22/09) Link: http://bytestyle.tv/node/55 | |
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“The Motorhome Diaries is the story of three friends who took to the road in April 2009 to search for freedom in America. Along the way the friends — Jason, Pete and Tom — interact with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints at college campuses, homes, businesses and organizations that are united by one thing: increasing individual freedom and responsibility and decreasing the scope of government.” [editor’s note: Every day a new adventure-MLS](04/09) Link: http://motorhomediaries.com/ | |
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“Scarecrow is an attempt to unify libertarians behind one presidential candidate in the 2012 election cycle. The fact that Scarecrow isn’t running, or even real, is a bonus. … If you want liberty and smaller government, electoral politics is a loser’s game. Still, it’s the game we play in America, and it’s so entrenched in our culture that any attempt to break free of it must first involve a widespread acknowledgment of its failings. … Scarecrow For President is a movement through which libertarians can announce to the world that we’re here, we’re correct, we’re huge in number, and we’re done with Washington’s game. … The intent of this site is to kick off a movement. It is the webmaster’s hope that the movement will grow much larger than this site. I am just an anonymous blogger with an idea. You are Scarecrow For President. You should make your own Scarecrow For President site, market it, and update it constantly. You should steal all my readers and become the center of the movement.” (02/09) Link: http://scarecrowforpresident.blogspot.com/2009/02/faq.html | |
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“The mission of the Second Amendment March is to galvanize the courage and resolve of American gun owners; to petition our elected officials against establishing anti-gun legislation; and to remind America that the Second Amendment is necessary to maintain our right to self defense. It is the one right that protects all others. We will accomplish our mission by a centralized, peaceful march on the United States Capitol, supported by satellite marches to State Capitols and smaller cities all across America.” (02/09) Link: http://secondamendmentmarch.com/ | |
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End The Fed: National Day of support
Source: Abolish the Federal Reserve Event Date(s): Saturday, November 22, 2008 @ 12pm “On November 22, 1910 a malevolent Creature was conceived at Jekyll Island. Ninety-eight years after its illegitimate conception, we will gather at the gates of its lair to signal the end of its reign! Patriots from across the country will join together to protest the Federal Reserve system. Activists will demand an END to private banker control over the nation’s money supply and the return to a hard, commodity backed monetary system. WHERE: All 38 Fed Bank/Branch locations: Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Helena, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.” (10/21/08) Link: http://www.abolishthefederalreserve.com/?p=55 | |
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“With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their ‘distressed assets,’ i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we’d give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government. We need your help and you need the Government’s help! Use the form below to submit bad assets you’d like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD ‘MMMbop,’ it’s not what you can sell these items for that matters, it’s what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets.” (09/25/08) Link: http://www.buymyshitpile.com/ | |
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Restore the Constitution in your county now
Source: from Reason to Freedom Author: Melinda Pillsbury-Foster “This is the first Restore the Constitution Project for you to undertake in your county. Using it you can deliver the message that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land. You will find instructions, sources for supplies and a Proof of Service Form for this project. Other projects, each on its own small site, will follow. Using these, you can serve law enforcement officers with a letter and a copy of the Constitution. If you like, you can also include a copy of ‘The Proper Role of Law Enforcement,’ by Sheriff Richard Mack. The project can be carried out by a small group very inexpensively. It is the first of a series of such projects. Together, the projects will enable you to restore your county to government by the people, transitioning from the present system to one that is stable and reliable and resistant to becoming uppity.” (08/08/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6ohamn | |
