Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Google Wants to Become an Identity Service
August 30th, 2011Oh sure. Via: Business Week: Ever since Google (GOOG) launched its new Google+ social network, we and others have pointed out that the search giant clearly has more in mind than just providing a nice place for people to share photos of their pets. For one thing, Google needs to tap into the “social signals” […]
Monsanto ‘Technology’ Breeding Superweeds and Pesticide Resistant Root Worms
August 30th, 2011This week is Environmental Terrorist Organizations. Via: Mother Jones: Over the past decade and a half, as Monsanto built up its globe-spanning, multi-billion-dollar genetically modified seed empire, it made two major pitches to farmers. The first involved weeds. Leave the weed management to us, Monsanto insisted. We’ve engineered plants that can survive our very own […]
Appeals Court to Weigh NSA Dragnet Surveillance
August 30th, 2011Via: Wired: Whether the federal government and the nation’s telecommunication companies can be held accountable for allegedly funneling every American’s electronic communication to the National Security Agency without warrants is the subject of oral arguments scheduled for a federal appeals court Wednesday. At issue is a Jan. 31, 2006 lawsuit, and others that followed, alleging […]
Battle for the California Desert: Why is the Government Driving Folks off Their Land?
August 29th, 2011No mortgage: Check. Not paying utility companies: Check. Agenda 21? In any event, this definitely isn’t a new phenomenon. Twenty years ago, I knew people who were playing cat and mouse with code enforcement nonsense way, way further out in that bone dry wasteland than Antelope Valley, which is a built-up metropolis compared to what […]
Pentagon Has Paid $720 Million in Late Fees for Storage Containers Since 2001
August 29th, 2011Via: USA Today: The Pentagon has spent more than $720million since 2001 on fees for shipping containers that it fails to return on time, according to data and contracts obtained by USA TODAY. The containers — large metal boxes stowed on ships and moved from port on trucks — are familiar sights on bases in […]
Artist’s Depiction of a Bank on Fire Drew Attention L.A. Police
August 29th, 2011Via: Los Angeles Times: Alex Schaefer’s depiction of a Chase branch going up in flames drew the attention of L.A. police, who asked if he was a terrorist. He said the work was a metaphor for the havoc banking practices have caused the economy. Standing before an easel on a Van Nuys sidewalk, Alex Schaefer […]
Cisco and Abuses of Human Rights in China
August 25th, 2011Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation: What responsibility do corporations have to consider human rights when making business deals? Are companies that build and market equipment for the purpose of surveilling and censoring pro-democracy activists in authoritarian regimes culpable when those activists are imprisoned or tortured? Do companies bear a special responsibility if they customize products to […]
Britain Will Take in Billions of Pounds from Taxes on Swiss Bank Accounts
August 25th, 2011Via: BBC: A UK government minister has defended a deal with the Swiss that could capture tax of up to £5bn but keep bank account holders’ identities secret. Undeclared money held by UK taxpayers in Swiss accounts will be taxed for the first time, at up to 34% of the total. Treasury minister David Gauke […]
Cheney Says He Urged Bush to Bomb Syria in ’07
August 25th, 2011Ahh, so that’s who Obombya is channeling… Via: New York Times: Former Vice President Dick Cheney says in a new memoir that he urged President George W. Bush to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site in June 2007. But, he wrote, Mr. Bush opted for a diplomatic approach after other advisers — still stinging […]
British Government Discusses Riots with Social Media Firms
August 25th, 2011Via: CBC: Executives from Facebook, Twitter and Canadian BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. are meeting the British government and police Thursday in the wake of the riots to discuss how to prevent social networks from being used to plot violence. Police and politicians claim young criminals used Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry’s simple and largely […]
