Britain: A Request to Snoop on Public Every 60 Seconds
August 10th, 2009Via: Telegraph:
Councils, police and other public bodies are seeking access to people’s private telephone and email records almost 1,400 times a day, new figures have disclosed.
The authorities made more than 500,000 requests for confidential communications data last year, equivalent to spying on one in every 78 adults, leading to claims that Britain had “sleepwalked into a surveillance society”.
An official report also disclosed that hundreds of errors had been made in these “interception” operations, with the wrong phone numbers or emails being monitored.
The figures will fuel concerns over the use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act by public bodies.
The Act gives authorities – including councils, the police and intelligence agencies – the power to request access to confidential communications data, including lists of telephone numbers dialled and email addresses to which messages have been sent.
Councils have been accused of using the powers, which were originally intended to tackle terrorism and organised crime, for trivial matters such as littering and dog fouling. Only last month, it emerged that councils and other official bodies had used hidden tracking devices to spy on members of the public.
The latest figures were compiled by Sir Paul Kennedy, the interception of communications commissioner, who reviews requests made under the Act. They relate to monitoring communication “traffic” – such as who is contacting whom, when and where and which websites are visited, but not the content of conversations or messages themselves.
Sir Paul found that last year a total of 504,073 such requests were made. The vast majority were made by the police and security services but 123 local councils made a total of 1,553 requests for communications data. Some councils sought lists of the telephone numbers that people had dialled.
Unemployed? Work to Pass Obamacare, $9 to $14 per Hour
August 10th, 2009The organization behind this is called Fund for Public Interest Research.
Via: Craigslist:
Aug 7 – Make social change – Help Pass Obama’s Health Care Reform!!! – (Sacramento)
Jul 31 – Help Pass Obama’s Health Care Reform! Earn $325-550 per week! – (Sacramento)
Jul 29 – Work to Pass Obama’s Plans this Summer! Earn $9-14/hr! – (Sacramento)
Jul 28 – Build Support for Obama’s Plans!!! Earn $325-550 a Week! – (Sacramento)
Jul 27 – HELP PASS OBAMA’S PLANS AND EARN $325-550 A WEEK!!! – (Berkeley)
Jul 27 – HELP PASS OBAMA’S PLANS AND EARN $325-550 A WEEK!!! – (Sacramento)
Jul 23 – HELP PASS OBAMA’S PLAN TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING! EARN $9-14/HOUR!!! – (Sacramento)
Jul 21 – BUILD PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR OBAMA’S PLAN & EARN $9-14 AN HOUR!!! – (Sacramento)
Jul 15 – Make $350-550 per Week Working for OBAMA’s PROGRESSIVE AGENDA!!! – (Sacramento)
Do Americans Need a Health Care Equivalent of Kiwibank?
August 10th, 2009A lot of people are submitting stories about the health care issue that’s boiling over in the U.S. at the moment. As you guys have obviously noticed, I’m not paying attention to most of it because the conventional medical industrial complex is the last place that I would turn for any health related issue; I don’t care who’s paying for it. (I live in New Zealand where conventional health care is almost totally publicly funded.)
I’m not saying that you should go to a naturopath if you have been in a severe car crash. Of course, in an immediate, life threatening emergency, a hospital is the place to go. However, the conventional medical responses to chronic, degenerative diseases are insane at best and atrocities for profit at worst. I wouldn’t put most pharmaceutical drugs into a landfill, much less into my body. (In practice, they are put into drinking water.)
I’ve come up with a term for people who are routinely involved with prescription drugs: Homoallopathicus. Toxic drug people. The toxic drug people I’ve known want their toxic drugs. They need their toxic drugs. They’re prescribed more drugs to deal with the symptoms caused by the previous batch of drugs. I’ve seen this with close family members, friends, friends of friends, ex-girlfriends, workmates, etc. It’s just f*&%$# nuts.
So, is it ridiculous that Americans are routinely winding up in bankruptcy as a result of seeking dangerous treatments to address conditions caused by decades of exposure to toxic work, food, air, water, etc? Yes, definitely. Is it ridiculous that the government now wants to make the toxic drug religion compulsory for everyone? Yes, definitely.
What you’ve got there in America is a massive shit sandwich. There’s going to be no pleasant way to choke that thing down. On the one hand, you have the diabolical medical industrial complex buying off every breathing politician, writing the text books used in medical schools, running full time PSYOP against providers of viable alternatives (this list could go on forever), and on the other hand, you have millions of morbidly obese zombies looking for a pill to make it all better.
I know. It sounds harsh. But do you ever notice what “normal” people eat? Go to a big box store and look in the shopping carts. Here are the major food groups: Genetically engineered corn and soybeans, liquor, sugar and carcinogens. If you don’t know what’s actually made out of genetically engineered corn, you’re in for the shock of your life if you look into it. That’s why I didn’t mention meat; see genetically engineered corn. Now, the government is going to tax the living shit out of everyone and borrow even further into oblivion in order to patch up the zombies so that they can keep eating their DingDongs and breakfast sticks?
It’s an open air nut house. It’s beyond nuts. It’s Steve-O-on-Jack-Ass-launching-sky-rockets-out-of-his-butt nuts! (You can find your own links to that, if necessary.)
It’s sad that medical science is so badly compromised, but now the plan is to expand that system by borrowing money from other countries! I don’t see how mixing that grim situation up with a steaming heap of Hope and Change is going to improve anything.
All of that said, there are definitely times when “the market” fails. The market has failed, in terms of health care in the U.S. Call it over regulation. Call it collusion. Call it anything your want. Brother, that thing is screwed.
I see failures of the market all the time in New Zealand. While it’s nothing like the terrifying state of health care in the U.S., maybe there’s something to be learned here for Americans.
In 2005, the World Bank called New Zealand the most business friendly country in the world. What does that mean?
In practice, what that means is that instead of the state controlling the show, a handful of crooked private companies run things. In New Zealand, this mostly means Fonterra, and lots of Australian companies, but Telecom New Zealand is the one people love to hate.
Let’s look at banking.
The Aussie banks that dominate the scene in New Zealand all got together and decided to charge everyone absurd fees for routine banking services. Of course, I can’t point to names and dates where this agreement happened, but that’s definitely what happened. The situation that the alleged “market” produced sucked for everyone, except the Aussie banks.
In 2002, a Labour and Alliance Party coalition formed Kiwibank, a bank that is wholly owned by the New Zealand government. When National Bank (One of the Aussie banks) was constantly screwing up and charging us ridiculous fees for the privilege, Becky and I decided that enough was enough. We shopped around and compared the fees. Kiwibank was, by far, the best option. We think Kiwibank is excellent and we’re not alone. About 300 New Zealanders move their accounts to Kiwibank each day.
Kiwibank is a case that demonstrates how the state can set up an enterprise and compete with private corporations and be incredibly successful at it.
The New Zealand government should do more of that kind of thing in areas that are deeply and profoundly screwed, such as with rural Internet pit of despair. I’ve never been bent over a barrel the way I am right now to have a usable Internet connection. The market has failed in a spectacular manner out here in rural New Zealand.
I know, the rah rah free market heads will say that the market didn’t fail, but simply that it’s not in any company’s financial interest to provide any sort of terrestrial broadband Internet connection out here. The only alternative is to pay 3X more for a substandard satellite connection.
In other words, the market can and does fail to provide people with critical services at affordable prices.
Here’s another example of how the market failed in New Zealand: Pre-paid mobile phone service. Up until a couple of days ago, Telecom and Vodaphone colluded competed in providing pre-paid mobile phone service in New Zealand. Vodaphone charges NZ$.89 per minute. Telecom charges NZ$.89 per minute. Fascinating coincidence. Maybe that’s just what it costs in New Zealand. Right? (New Zealand has some of the highest voice and data costs in the developed world.)
2degrees went live on August 5th offering prepaid mobile for NZ$.44 per minute.
Half.
It’s a free market, anyone is can start up a business to compete and 2degrees eventually did. But it took nine years to launch 2degrees Mobile. NINE YEARS. Nine. Is there a functioning market in place when two different private companies are able to price gouge like this for so long? No. Not in my opinion.
With health care, there are private hospitals in New Zealand. I don’t know who uses them, but people do or they wouldn’t be here. They obviously provide a compelling service that people are willing to pay for.
If the U.S. government thinks that it can provide health care at a more affordable price, why doesn’t it try to compete with the private health care sector the way Kiwibank competes with the big Aussie banks?
Yes, the health care system in the U.S. is broken. However, the quasi fascist urges of the Obama regime and its collusion with the pharmaceutical industry are breathtaking.
Perhaps the Kiwibank example offers another path. When private corporations created a system as corrupt and sloppy as the Aussie banks created in New Zealand, it took a 100% NZ government owned bank to demonstrate to everyone how crooked the situation was. Rather than trying to legislate the Aussie banks into behaving, the government just met them eye to eye in the marketplace and went for it. Kiwibank beats all of the Aussie owned banks in customer satisfaction.
Maybe a similar type of thing can be tried with health care in the U.S.
The BushObama Banner Image
August 10th, 2009The current image has generated the most interest than any other image that I’ve posted in the past. I don’t know who created it. I found it at a site called dotgiri.com and the full size image is here.
Criminal Investigation Into CIA Treatment of Detainees Expected
August 9th, 2009Unless Cheney and Bush are prosecuted, this is just another bullshit distraction.
Via: Los Angeles Times:
U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials said.
A senior Justice Department official said that Holder envisioned an inquiry that would be narrow in scope, focusing on “whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized” in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws.
Current and former CIA and Justice Department officials who have firsthand knowledge of the interrogation files contend that criminal convictions will be difficult to obtain because the quality of evidence is poor and the legal underpinnings have never been tested.
Some cases have not previously been disclosed, including an instance in which a CIA operative brought a gun into an interrogation booth to force a detainee to talk, officials said.
Other potentially criminal abuses have already come to light, including the waterboarding of prisoners in excess of Justice Department guidelines, and the deaths of detainees in CIA custody in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002 and 2003.
Opening a criminal investigation is something Holder “has come reluctantly to consider,” the Justice Department official said, emphasizing that Holder had not reached a final decision but noting that, “as attorney general, he has the obligation to follow the law.”
Others familiar with Holder’s thinking say that such an investigation seems all but certain, and that a prosecutor will probably be selected from a short list that Holder asked subordinates to assemble.
Such a prosecutor would examine cases that are generally at least five years old, and probably some that were previously reviewed by career prosecutors who concluded that they could not be pursued.
Britain: Police Told to Ignore Human Rights Ruling Over DNA Database
August 9th, 2009Via: Guardian:
Chief constables across England and Wales have been told to ignore a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights and carry on adding the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of innocent people to a national DNA database.
Senior police officers have also been “strongly advised” that it is “vitally important” that they resist individual requests based on the Strasbourg ruling to remove DNA profiles from the national database in cases such as wrongful arrest, mistaken identity, or where no crime has been committed.
European human rights judges ruled last December in the S and Marper case that the blanket and indiscriminate retention of the DNA profiles and fingerprints of 850,000 people arrested but never convicted of any offence amounts to an unlawful breach of their rights.
Britain already has the largest police national DNA database in the world, with 5.8m profiles, including one in three of all young black males. Thousands more are being added each week.
So far the Home Office has responded to the judgment by proposing a controversial package to keep DNA profiles of the innocent for six to 12 years, depending on the seriousness of the offence. The official consultation period ended today.
The advice to senior officers comes in a letter from the Association of Chief Police Officers criminal records office. The letter, seen by the Guardian, tells chief constables that new Home Office guidelines following the ruling in the case of S and Marper are not expected to take effect until 2010.
“Until that time, the current retention policy on fingerprints and DNA remains unchanged,” it says. “Individuals who consider they fall within the ruling in the S and Marper case should await the full response to the ruling by the government prior to seeking advice and/or action from the police service in order to address their personal issue on the matter.
“Acpo strongly advise that decisions to remove records should not be based on [the government’s] proposed changes. It is therefore vitally important that any applications for removals of records should be considered against current legislation.”
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats’ shadow home secretary, said it was clear from the letter that the government intends to string out its response to the European court ruling that they should not keep the DNA of innocent people.
“It is unacceptable that new guidance won’t be provided to police until 2010. In that time thousands more innocent people will have been added to the database, where they will remain for years.
“It is not up to police forces to ignore court judgments because they or their masters do not like them.”
All Cars Would Carry GPS to Track Miles Under Blumenauer Bill
August 9th, 2009Via: Daily Emerald:
On July 23, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer introduced legislation that would fund a pilot program demonstrating the potential viability of replacing a national gas tax with a national mileage fee to generate more money for the construction of highways.
Opponents say the mileage fee would increase taxes, but Blumenauer said the increase is critical to ensure that federal funds set aside for highways do not go into deficit.
The Vehicle Miles Traveled program would track each car’s mileage though a GPS installed in each vehicle and collect the number of miles traveled through an electronic reader every time a vehicle filled up the tank a gas station.
This type of pilot program has already been tested in Oregon, along with a few other states. In November 2007, 260 Portland residents volunteered to have a mileage-tracking device installed in their cars as a VMT program trial run. Because the program was only meant to run statewide, the GPS excluded any miles traveled outside of Oregon.
Barracks and Burger King: U.S. Builds a Supersized Base in Afghanistan
August 9th, 2009Via: Politics Today:
Anyone who thinks the Afghanistan troop “surge” is a temporary, one-time deal should watch the construction here of a vast new $17 million barracks building.
It’s not temporary. It’s three stories of concrete.
Eight years after American forces scattered the Taliban and effectively conquered Afghanistan, the United States is embarked on a frenzied $220 million building campaign at this sprawling and still expanding military air base. Just to meet the base’s demand for fresh concrete, it has two of its own cement factories working full time.
There’s plenty of guessing these days about whether Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, will recommend a large troop increase here, and if so, how many, and if he does, whether President Obama will agree. But perhaps the construction of the new troop barracks, and permanent new facilities such as water treatment plants, headquarters buildings, fuel farms and power generating plants says more about the size and duration of this war than any White House press conference or Pentagon power-point presentation.
When I first visited this war-battered former Soviet base in January 2002, the military was erecting canvas tents for incoming troops. Infantrymen of the 10th Mountain Division were hammering together plywood outhouses; hot showers were a cruel rumor, and the few buildings left intact from the Mujaheddin war with the Russians were getting a cursory remodeling (i.e., windows).
“Low profile” was the directive coming down from Washington, senior officers told me then. That meant no big construction. Wartime living conditions. Nothing could be built that couldn’t be turned over to and used by the Afghans themselves in a year or two, they vowed. Mornings, we shaved outdoors.
Well, that was then.
Today, Bagram sports a Burger King and Pizza Hut, five mess halls, and living quarters for 20,000 people (so far), office spaces for the command, Joint Task Force-82, and for dozens of other headquarters and agencies. A well-stocked PX sells everything from potato chips to vacuum cleaners.
Russian minefields on the south and east sides of the long runway have been cleared for freight yards, aircraft aprons, bulk fuel storage, hangars and maintenance sheds. New logistics warehouses bake in the sun amid acres of parked armored vehicles. A network of new roads connecting it all is jammed with dusty SUVs, fuel and water tankers, troop buses, cement mixers, dump trucks full of crushed rock and tractor-trailers piled with steel girders and concrete pipe.
Bagram’s air facilities, its supersized runway, parking aprons, cargo handling machines and maintenance bays are sized for the stream of intercontinental and local cargo aircraft, aero-medical evacuation planes, bombers, strike fighters, unmanned drone aircraft and cargo and attack helicopters that roar in and out of here day and night.
Although all this would presumably belong to the Afghans, should the U.S. someday pull out, it’s hard to see how this air base could be used efficiently by Afghanistan alone. Its civilian air hub, Kabul International, is barely 40 miles away. And Afghanistan’s air force of seven medium cargo planes and 13 helicopters would be dwarfed here.
Still, the work continues. Long dust plumes mark where armored bulldozers are plowing up old minefields. Behind them come earth movers leveling off small hills. Gangs of turbaned Afghans lay steel pipe in deep, newly dug trenches. Lines of cement mixers stand ready to pour.
“The whole landscape is changing rapidly – every time I come out here it’s something new,” Army Capt. Scot R. Keith, a staff officer, told me on a drive around the base.
I recently had a lengthy conversation about Afghanistan’s future with Army Col. Scott Spellmon. This combat-decorated counterinsurgency expert, finishing up a 15-month tour here as a brigade commander, said he thinks that in northeast Afghanistan, at least, American involvement will become less military, more civilian. As security improves, with forces hunting down the last pockets of insurgents and Afghan army units and police improving, the work can shift more toward development.
He already sees signs that this is happening, he said, with Afghans taking over security completely in some large areas and the State Department sending out civilian reinforcements. That’s the plan for the rest of Afghanistan, too. Just don’t look for it to happen anytime soon. The concrete suggests otherwise.
Google Pulls Sibel Edmonds’ Access to Her Blog
August 9th, 2009I don’t know what it’s going to take to make people understand that Google (and its associated brands, Blogger, YouTube, Google Video, Gmail) are NOT to be trusted for communicating controversial information. The fact that dissidents don’t understand this basic information is just more evidence of how screwed we are.
Via: Justacitizen:
My Blog Site http://123realchange.blogspot.com is now blocked by Google’s Blogger. They will not let me post during this most sensitive period, when I am about to provide deposition on Foreign US government illegal operations in the United States!
Research Credit: magda
British General: Afghanistan Will Take 40 Years
August 8th, 2009Via: Times Online:
Britain’s mission in Afghanistan could last for up to 40 years, the next head of the Army warns today in an exclusive interview with The Times.
General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff on August 28, said: “The Army’s role will evolve, but the whole process might take as long as 30 to 40 years.”
He emphasised that British troop involvement, currently 9,000-strong, should only be needed for the medium term, but insisted that there was “absolutely no chance” of Nato pulling out. “I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner — development, governance, security sector reform — for the next 30 to 40 years,” he said.
Three paratroopers from the Special Forces Support Group were killed yesterday when their Jackal armoured vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb north of Lashkar Gah.
