Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Heard on BBC radio, in reference to attacks on women in India: "Each attack is more brutal than the next." Um, doesn't that mean the attacks are decreasing in brutality?
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"The government didn't violate a convicted terrorist's constitutional right to a speedy trial when it detained him for five years at Guantanamo Bay before trying him in court, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday" [not this past Thursday]. Details here. Basically, a federal court ruled that his right to a speedy trial was not abridged by his having been held at Guantanamo for more than five years without charges, during which time he was subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques". From the WSJ Law Blog, "The circuit court agreed with a lower-court judge that the government’s decision to delay prosecution so it could extract valuable intelligence on al Qaeda was reasonable."
Let me get this straight. The court said that a speedy trial does not trump national security, so it's ok to keep this guy for five years of intense interrogation because he's a terrorist, BEFORE a trial to determine if he's a terrorist. In other words, if the authorities think you're guilty then you're guilty. He was convicted right off the bat, with no hearing and no lawyer, without a trial, by his captors. And this is ok?
I don't know about you, but that's scary, and even scarier that a federal court said it was ok. What if that kind of thinking spreads to other federal or state agencies?
Actually, it has been going on for a long time. If you are arrested on on drug dealing charges, or even if you are only suspected of illegality, the state/feds can confiscate practically everything you own and sell it, and keep the money, BEFORE your criminal trial. If it turns out you are not guilty, you don't just get your stuff back. It's a long expensive legal battle you can't afford and are unlikely to win. Too bad, so sad. Your property is long gone, you had been "convicted" and fined on mere suspicion. Look up "asset forfeiture" on Wikipedia.
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Ever wonder whence the expression "short shrift", meaning you were shrugged off quickly and not taken seriously? Not being Catholic, I didn't know that shrift is confession to a priest and the penance and absolution that follow. So if you were given short shrift, either your sins were minor, or you got a brushoff. Simple. Wow.
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Google wants to scan and digitize millions of books, the entire book, from research libraries as grist for their search mill. They'd already processed gazillions of books when publishers and authors' guild(s) protested that it was copyright infringement. It's significant that research libraries buy the books, and don't make money on them. Google has not purchased the books, and will make money on them through advertising on search results pages. Fair use? Not? I say no, get permission, but I'm not the judge.
If you're interested, the story's at http://mashable.com/2013/09/24/google-books-lawsuit/.
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I'm thinking Google is getting too big. They provide an lot of very expensive services for free (think of Google maps - how much must THAT cost?) and supposedly they get income from advertising, but, uh, when's the last time you were very aware of Google advertising? They are gradually taking over the internet, and then tying it all together (Blogger, Gmail, Chrome, you can't have a YouTube account anymore unless you also have a Google+ account, etc.) and they are asking for a LOT of information through those accounts and gathering more information from your activities on those accounts.
Advertising isn't paying for everything Google is doing, I guarantee
that. Not even selling top ranking in search results. I am very
suspicious.
Pretty soon for every house on those Google maps, they will have the names, ages, details, photos, interests, purchasing habits and preferences of all the occupants.
Who is funding all this, and what is the ultimate purpose?
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Showing posts with label conspiracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conspiracy. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
3224 More conspiracy theory
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wow! Companies are hiring! 60% of employers report that they plan to hire this year, and almost none plan layoffs. The economy is in danger of improving. (Much of this is due to a little-known initiative of the Obama administration last year which allows writeoff of capital equipment. Republicans were solidly against it, and now they're claiming credit for it. Oh, well. To be expected.)
However, now we have a panic. We can't allow the economy to improve while the beige man is in the White House! Oh, my, what to do? Hey, great idea! Whisper a few words to our friends and raise the price of oil! That'll do it! And with the disruption in the middle east and the growth in China, no one will ever blame it on us!
Snork snork....
(Think I'm blowing smoke? I'm not. I'm perfectly serious.)
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I took many pounds of paper that I brought from the old house to the recycle center today. It felt good.
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On abstract art: The subject is limited, and there's no emotional connection.
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Wow! Companies are hiring! 60% of employers report that they plan to hire this year, and almost none plan layoffs. The economy is in danger of improving. (Much of this is due to a little-known initiative of the Obama administration last year which allows writeoff of capital equipment. Republicans were solidly against it, and now they're claiming credit for it. Oh, well. To be expected.)
However, now we have a panic. We can't allow the economy to improve while the beige man is in the White House! Oh, my, what to do? Hey, great idea! Whisper a few words to our friends and raise the price of oil! That'll do it! And with the disruption in the middle east and the growth in China, no one will ever blame it on us!
Snork snork....
(Think I'm blowing smoke? I'm not. I'm perfectly serious.)
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I took many pounds of paper that I brought from the old house to the recycle center today. It felt good.
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Friday, November 12, 2010
3159 The rich get richer and the poor, well, what do they matter?
Friday, November 12, 2010
Piper and I have some social and political differences. He is Republican to the point of thinking Sarah Palin makes sense. When you get him started he rails against lazy people who don't work, don't save, and who are experts at "working the system". Yeah, I saw a lot of that when I was doing court and family mediation, and I don't like it either. Where we differ is that he wants to eliminate all government social programs. He doesn't seem to realize that there are people who are in honest need of assistance. He seems to think that it is always their own stupidity that puts them in that position, and he shouldn't have to pay for their lack of planning.
Here's where that kind of thinking leads:
Read the article. It's frightening, and I believe it to be absolutely true. Giving tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations, and giving tax dollars to the military industry, creates deficits that some people, mainly the beneficiaries of those programs, want to use as an excuse to reduce or cut out social programs.
My tin hat is buzzing so hard it's giving me a headache.
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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
-- Aristotle --
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-- Aristotle --
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Piper and I have some social and political differences. He is Republican to the point of thinking Sarah Palin makes sense. When you get him started he rails against lazy people who don't work, don't save, and who are experts at "working the system". Yeah, I saw a lot of that when I was doing court and family mediation, and I don't like it either. Where we differ is that he wants to eliminate all government social programs. He doesn't seem to realize that there are people who are in honest need of assistance. He seems to think that it is always their own stupidity that puts them in that position, and he shouldn't have to pay for their lack of planning.
Here's where that kind of thinking leads:
The real 'death panels' are coming from the GOP
Read the article. It's frightening, and I believe it to be absolutely true. Giving tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations, and giving tax dollars to the military industry, creates deficits that some people, mainly the beneficiaries of those programs, want to use as an excuse to reduce or cut out social programs.
My tin hat is buzzing so hard it's giving me a headache.
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Thursday, April 02, 2009
2339 Fire control
Thursday, April 2, 2009
In previous years, you could get a (free) burn permit that was good for about two weeks. The fire district wanted permits of limited duration so that they could withhold permits when weather conditions were bad for fires. There's a healthy fine for having a fire without a permit.
When I got the permit today, I was surprised to find that it was valid for a full year. I walked out wondering what that would mean when it got real dry in late summer.
The local fire department is completely volunteer. When I was a member, there were over 200 volunteers. Now it's down to a third or a quarter of that, and they are desperate for people. The town wants to go with professional firefighters, which would mean a good-sized increase in taxes, which has almost no chance of passing a referendum.
It seems to me that if your fire department is understaffed, you'd want to limit outdoor brush burning to only safe times and conditions. So what's with this unlimited burn permission?
The conspiracy theorist that lives in the back of my head is whispering that the town hopes to have a few good fires. Let a few people accidentally burn down a few houses and barns by burning brush in dry or windy conditions. Let the fire spread and threaten more houses and businesses. Let folks see how inadequate our current fire coverage is. That would drum up some support for a pro fire department. It's not like they're targeting anyone - it would be completely the luck of the draw.
Hmmmm.
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In previous years, you could get a (free) burn permit that was good for about two weeks. The fire district wanted permits of limited duration so that they could withhold permits when weather conditions were bad for fires. There's a healthy fine for having a fire without a permit.
When I got the permit today, I was surprised to find that it was valid for a full year. I walked out wondering what that would mean when it got real dry in late summer.
The local fire department is completely volunteer. When I was a member, there were over 200 volunteers. Now it's down to a third or a quarter of that, and they are desperate for people. The town wants to go with professional firefighters, which would mean a good-sized increase in taxes, which has almost no chance of passing a referendum.
It seems to me that if your fire department is understaffed, you'd want to limit outdoor brush burning to only safe times and conditions. So what's with this unlimited burn permission?
The conspiracy theorist that lives in the back of my head is whispering that the town hopes to have a few good fires. Let a few people accidentally burn down a few houses and barns by burning brush in dry or windy conditions. Let the fire spread and threaten more houses and businesses. Let folks see how inadequate our current fire coverage is. That would drum up some support for a pro fire department. It's not like they're targeting anyone - it would be completely the luck of the draw.
Hmmmm.
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Saturday, September 27, 2008
2038 The Conspiracy!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
I'm not going to footnote (i.e. link) anything because you can find anything you like on the internet, so have at it.
Ok. Here's what I've heard and/or read lately, no assurances that any of it is true, but when do you ever get assurances with conspiracy theories?
My Very Own Conspiracy Theory:
Point 1: The US economy is a mess. The debt is enormous. Tax relief, let alone anything like health care assistance will be impossible. Foreign affairs are a mess. The world hates us. We're in one war we can't win and another we don't dare lose, and we can no longer afford either.
Point 2: I hear that Sarah Palin's handlers are having fits. They've had some practice debates, and some mock news conferences, and they've been total disasters. They'd like to cancel the upcoming Palin/Biden debate, or postpone, but that doesn't seem possible. People are freaking. There are those in the GOP rarified levels that would like her to voluntarily withdraw (but I'll bet she keeps insisting she's ready), but it probably wouldn't help anyway (that "experience and judgment" thing McCain thinks he has going for him would be shot full of holes).
Point 3: I hear that Palin was recommended to John McCain by none other than Henry Kissinger.
Point 4: Of all the people in the world who suffers least from cognitive dissonance, I'd put Kissinger pretty far up there. I see him as coldly logical.
Point 5: I think Kissinger knew exactly what he was doing, and I think others were involved.
Conclusion: The GOP wants to lose this election. They will be happy to hand the whole mess over to the Democrats, who will be forced to do some unpleasant and very unpopular things to clean it up. The American public has a very short memory. In a few years, they'll forget who created the mess, and all the anger and frustration of the cleanup will be dumped on the Democrats (who not incidentally don't know how to use the media to the same effect as the right), and in 2012, the Republicans will be able to waltz right in, and look like saviors. And in running McCain and Palin, well, it's not like they sacrificed any of their valuable players.
How's that for a conspiracy theory?
(Oh, and don't forget what the Mayan calendar and Nostradamus and some interpretations of the Bible have to say about 2012.)
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I'm not going to footnote (i.e. link) anything because you can find anything you like on the internet, so have at it.
Ok. Here's what I've heard and/or read lately, no assurances that any of it is true, but when do you ever get assurances with conspiracy theories?
My Very Own Conspiracy Theory:
Point 1: The US economy is a mess. The debt is enormous. Tax relief, let alone anything like health care assistance will be impossible. Foreign affairs are a mess. The world hates us. We're in one war we can't win and another we don't dare lose, and we can no longer afford either.
Point 2: I hear that Sarah Palin's handlers are having fits. They've had some practice debates, and some mock news conferences, and they've been total disasters. They'd like to cancel the upcoming Palin/Biden debate, or postpone, but that doesn't seem possible. People are freaking. There are those in the GOP rarified levels that would like her to voluntarily withdraw (but I'll bet she keeps insisting she's ready), but it probably wouldn't help anyway (that "experience and judgment" thing McCain thinks he has going for him would be shot full of holes).
Point 3: I hear that Palin was recommended to John McCain by none other than Henry Kissinger.
Point 4: Of all the people in the world who suffers least from cognitive dissonance, I'd put Kissinger pretty far up there. I see him as coldly logical.
Point 5: I think Kissinger knew exactly what he was doing, and I think others were involved.
Conclusion: The GOP wants to lose this election. They will be happy to hand the whole mess over to the Democrats, who will be forced to do some unpleasant and very unpopular things to clean it up. The American public has a very short memory. In a few years, they'll forget who created the mess, and all the anger and frustration of the cleanup will be dumped on the Democrats (who not incidentally don't know how to use the media to the same effect as the right), and in 2012, the Republicans will be able to waltz right in, and look like saviors. And in running McCain and Palin, well, it's not like they sacrificed any of their valuable players.
How's that for a conspiracy theory?
(Oh, and don't forget what the Mayan calendar and Nostradamus and some interpretations of the Bible have to say about 2012.)
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