Archive for the 'Outsourced' Category
The Death of Neil Heywood in China
March 28th, 2012Via: Telegraph: Immaculately dressed, often in cream linen, Neil Heywood was the epitomy of a British gentleman abroad, but his death in a hotel room in China has left those who knew him asking what secrets he may have taken to his grave. The 41-year-old Old Harrovian was a vastly experienced China hand, who advised […]
U.S. Funded, Trained and Equipped Afghan Air Force Running Guns and Drugs
March 10th, 2012Here are a few related posts to consider: Afghan Opium Production Rises by 61% Compared with 2010 Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on CIA Payroll U.S.-Built Bridge is Windfall for Illegal Afghan Drug Trade The Invisible Hand of the Market: British Troops Seize £50 Million of Afghan Opium Officials Puzzle Over Millions […]
Indian Slums Provide Pharmaceutical Companies with Endless Supply of Human Guinea Pigs
March 7th, 2012Bargains. Via: MSNBC: Few people in the slums of Ahmedabad, India, know more about the supply of human guinea pigs for clinical drug trials than Rajesh Nadia. When Indian firms working for pharmaceutical companies need test subjects, they often turn to Nadia, who has carved a small niche for himself as a recruiter in the […]
Britain: Government Plans Radical Privatization for Police
March 5th, 2012I like this moment of clarity from the unnamed West Midlands police authority spokesman: “Combining with the business sector is aimed at totally transforming the way the force currently does business – improving the service provided to the public.” Law enforcement = business. If you start thinking about Mussolini and corporatism as you read the […]
Corrections Corporation of America Wants to Buy State Owned Prisons and Then Get States to Commit to Keeping Them Full of Prisoners
February 23rd, 2012Via: ACLU: Recently we learned that the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest private prison company in the country, sent a letter to 48 state governors offering to buy up their state-owned and operated prisons and put them under CCA control. If offering cash-strapped states a quick infusion of money by taking control of […]
Detroit Citizens No Longer Rely on Police as Self-Defense Killings Skyrocket
February 9th, 2012Via: The Daily: Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police […]
Six Million People Are Under Correctional Supervision in the U.S.—More Than Were in Stalin’s Gulags
January 25th, 2012Via: New Yorker: For a great many poor people in America, particularly poor black men, prison is a destination that braids through an ordinary life, much as high school and college do for rich white ones. More than half of all black men without a high-school diploma go to prison at some time in their […]
Sorry iBooks, Paper Books Still Win on Specs
January 22nd, 2012Apple’s vision for ebooks is to make them like webpages, complete with embedded music, videos, lectures, 3D models, etc; the more distracting, the better. One of the most irritating experiences that I can think of is being interrupted as I’m trying to concentrate. When I sit down to read a book, I don’t want my […]
Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory
January 16th, 2012Update: Apple’s Chinese iPhone Plants Employ Forced Interns, Claim Campaigners Via: Guardian: Apple’s factories in China are employing tens of thousands of students, some of them on forced internships, according to campaigners lobbying for better labour conditions at Foxconn plants, which assemble iPhones. Some students could be as young as 16. The Foxconn chairman, Terry […]
Civilian Contractors in the Kill Chain
January 1st, 2012The absurdity is reaching Strangelovian proportions: “Our No. 1 manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platforms,” said Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, Air Force vice chief of staff. Via: Los Angeles Times: After a U.S. airstrike mistakenly killed at least 15 Afghans in 2010, the Army officer investigating the accident was surprised […]
