Monday, May 21, 2012

Americans Want to Cut Defense Spending...Romney and Obama Don't

The Center for Public Integrity: Public overwhelmingly supports large defense spending cuts
"While politicians, insiders and experts may be divided over how much the government should spend on the nation's defense, there's a surprising consensus among the public about what should be done: They want to cut spending far more deeply than either the Obama administration or the Republicans."

You Can't Force People To Stay and Pay. Do We Want Talent To Leave?

Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO- Bloomberg
"Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill."

US military course taught officers 'Islam is the enemy'

m.guardian.co.uk
"A course for US military officers has been teaching that America's enemy is Islam in general and suggesting that the country might ultimately have to obliterate the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina without regard for civilian deaths, following second world war precedents of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima."

The US created and still runs the Office of Strategic Influence to psychologically influence its population to support the War on Terror through propaganda

Office of Strategic Influence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Office of Strategic Influence, or OSI, was a department created by the United States Department of Defense on October 30, 2001, to support the War on Terrorism through psychological operations in targeted countries, which did not include the United States because the Pentagon is barred from PSYOPs in the U.S."

Americans Can't See The Truth of the Bay of Pigs 50 Years After Event

Draft CIA Bay of Pigs report stays secret - UPI.com
The CIA argued that releasing a draft would "have a chilling effect"

FBI Inventing 'Terrorists' Through Entrapment

Your Phone Eavesdrops On You

Google's eavesdropping technology: Going too far to sell ads? - The Week

"Google filed a patent for the ability to eavesdrop on conversations, so that
they can deliver better targeted advertising. Not just phone calls, either - any
sound that is picked up by the headset mics."

Illegal to Say Bad Things About Yemen?

Obama’s new free speech threat - Salon.com
President Obama plans to issue an executive order Wednesday giving the Treasury Department authority to freeze the U.S.-based assets of anyone who “obstructs” implementation of the administration-backed political transition in Yemen.

The unusual order, which administration officials said also targets U.S. citizens who engage in activity deemed to threaten Yemen’s security or political stability, is the first issued for Yemen that does not directly relate to counterterrorism.

Being Tracked With Your License Plate

In Massachusetts, A Registry of Everywhere You’ve Ever Driven?

<tt>"In Massachusetts, A Registry of Everywhere You’ve Ever Driven?--"As license 
plate location data accumulates, the system ceases to be simply a mechanism
enabling efficient police work and becomes a warrantless tracking tool, enabling
retroactive surveillance of millions of people."</tt>

Mandatory Black Box in Your Car in 2015

Senate OKs mandatory black boxes in cars for 2015, House expected to follow
This raises the specter of government snooping, of course. The Senate version at least specifies that the data contained in the little electronic box is actually owned by the owner of the vehicle, according to the report. Johnny Law can still come around with a warrant to gain access to it, however, and first responders and paramedics would be able to do so without the warrant, provided they needed the information to respond to the emergency.

1 acre of hemp can make as much paper as 4.1 acres of trees, and that hemp fiber to make paper can be yielded in 90 days whereas tree paper comes from trees that take 15-50 years to grow.

Byzantine Trade Law Insanity

There is a law in America where importing toys resembling humans are  taxed higher than those that do not; Marvel successfully argued in court that  because their X- men action figures are mutants, they should be exempt from the  tax.

Slate.com - How Trade Policy Cost The X-Men Their Humanity
"It's remarkable, incidentally, the extent to which the politics of "trade deals" have gotten away from the fundamental issues of free trade as seen in an economics textbook. What we have here is a federal 12% sales tax on dolls, but only if the dolls are made in foreign countries, and a different -- arbitrarily lower -- 6.8% federal sales tax on toys, but again only if the toys are made in foreign countries."

House Passes Law to Give Israel Blank Check

House Passes Stealth Legislation by Philip Giraldi -- Antiwar.com

<tt>"House bill basically provides Israel with a blank check drawn on the U.S. 
taxpayer to maintain its “qualitative military edge” over all of its neighbors
combined."</tt>

U.S. lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders | Reuters

Exclusive: U.S. lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders | Reuters
China can now bypass Wall Street when buying U.S. government debt and go straight to the U.S. Treasury, in what is the Treasury's first-ever direct relationship with a foreign government, according to documents viewed by Reuters.