More and more our privacy is lost. Our correspondence is archived, and the archivers are government contractors. The GPS give feed back which can locate us, surveillance cameras are everywhere filming people 5 times on average per day and heat cameras can film people in their homes. Google maps permit people to come all the way into your yard.
Now we learn that photos we upload on the web can carry geo tags. Check the article in the New York Times
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Defining prosperity down
"There is growing evidence that our governing elite just doesn't care about the prospects of American workers - that a once-unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal." Check the article by Paul Krugman. New York Times, August 1, 2010
Abu Hamza extradition to US blocked by Europeans
European court of human rights will not allow Abu Hamza and three other men to be extradited until satisfied he will be treated humanly check the article in the Guardian
A little bit of history, Israel preemptive strikes on neighboring countries and land grab in 1967
Reagan in Iraq, Clinton in Iraq, Bush in Iraq and Afghanistan , and Obama in Pakistan and Yemen are preemptive strikers and they are the aggressors and the real terrorists. It is time to end all wars and to stop human right violators and bullies..
U.N. Report highly Critical of U.S. Drone Attacks
This is a good article and Alston made some very remarkable comments. Check it out, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/world/03drones.html
Students who use laptops in classroom are getting lower grades than their counterparts who are not
Studies are on their way at Stanford University which preliminary results show shorter concentration span for students joggling their electronic toys and different social sites at the same time. MIT has seen a decrease in the quality of their students check PBS "Frontline: Digital Nation" (even though I do not support their conclusion, the beginning of the video looks at some of the findings).
Many colleges are responding to the crisis by shutting down internet access in their classrooms.
Riots in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
The US supports the government which is responsible for the deaths of protesters. Check the article in the Guardian.
White House approves assassination of cleric linked to Christmas bomb plot
The US is taking Justice in its own hands; willing to murder a man without giving him the right to a trial. This is very dangerous since any opposition leader could be labelled as a terrorist and murdered. This threatens our democracy and it can't be legal and must be stopped.
Original article in the Guardian.
NATO airstrike kills at least 27 civilians- Washington Post
With so many civilian casualties this month, the NATO forces are promoting the radicalization of thousands, the growing hatred of the terrorized population of Afghanistan is radicalizing the native. So, when McCrystal or Patreus think they can trust the troops they are training, they are being ignorant or they are lying to us?
Let's follow the Dutch's example and remove all of our troops in six months time. Then we cut the military budget down from over $700 billions to $300 billions. We use that money to retrain the unemployed and develop a manufacturing base.
We need our young men and women home. Already the toll is too high: nearly 5,000 deaths and over 50,000 wounded physically, some of them maimed. And the mental wounds, the distress, and anxieties many of the soldiers experience add to the emergency to bring our people home. And when they come home they can fight the fires in California and in the South East or they can help rebuild New Orleans or provide foreign aid to countries in dire needs, such as Haiti. These saving activities would help rehabilitate the soldiers. Building instead of killing and destroying will rebuild their mental strength.
Women in America, equality is still an illusion- Washington Post
Check my older post below about women in the US.
Dutch troops 'to leave Afghanistan as planned'
Let us all follow suit and get our young men and women back home where they belong.
Controversial Diabetes Drug Harms Heart, US Concludes
Who is going to jail? In 2008 over 4800 deaths and 21,000 injuries were due to side effects of prescribed drugs; see the LA Times The pharmaceutical industry is killing thousands of people and yet no one goes to jail. All they do is remove the drugs from the market, sometimes months even years after they have already caused injuries and deaths. Put the culprits in jail, and the drugs will become a lot safer.
US School district spied on students through webcams, court told
Who has access to our webcams? This article raises issues of privacy and security. Check the article in the Guardian.
How Bush's Grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power
Check this article in the guardian. How could the Guardian find the info and how is it that the Democrats did not when Bush was running?
UN find challenges Israeli version of attack on civilian building in Gaza war
When will Israel ever comply with the UN resolutions?
Kids in Crisis Behind Bars
The opinion in the New York Times triggered some souvenirs of my different jail stays.
The Jail/prison issue requires a whole book and more vivid descriptions. The strip-search procedure, which inmates have to suffer every time they have a visit, is a procedure I experienced first hand while serving a 30 days sentence in Walhalla. I was jailed for fighting against the installation of surveillance cameras in Peekskill, NY see NY Times for some context. Here are my first recollection: "After spending six hours in a holding pen, I was brought to a small room. There a female guard ordered me to undress, to bend over, spread my cheeks open and cough". The idea is that inmates bring in drugs carrying them in their orifices. But it is more frequent for the drugs to be walked in by guards.
Inmates are not assessed emotionally. One of the girl who was in jail with me, hanged herself a couple of weeks after my release. We all knew she was depressed, she was crying all the time.
A huge number of people jailed, who should be in mental hospitals, end up in jail for several years. In Walhalla, there were women with mental disorders who were with me for my first sentence and I saw them again several years later when I spent an overnight in jail this time for fighting against the Iraq war.
The jail commissaries sold terrible products at inflated prices; since my release from Jail I have boycotted Colgate, the only tooth paste you could buy in Walhalla County Jail.
MCI was the only phone company and the inmates could only call collect leaving families with huge bills. Who awarded the contract to them? And why inmates could not use a calling card like they do in Israeli prison where I spent 9 days for fighting against the occupation of Palestine? (Not that the conditions in Neve Tirza were good). Inmates in the US come from the lower socioeconomic stratum and thus they can't afford the calls. Calls which are important to their families and children.
And then, we are not discussing the women jail population which is mostly drug addicts and prostitutes; no rehab centers for the poor and the pimps rarely end up in jail.
The idle life in jail does not prepare the inmates for their release. There are not enough classes to help them acquire skills which would help them get a job once they are released. But the few classes offered will probably be cut under Obama's budget freeze.
There are many other issues, overcrowding, sex... You can't keep humans, who are sexual animals, in cages and think there won't be any sexual activities. How can this be resolved?
Certainly, placing all delinquents together under one roof can't be a solution. Most people I met in jail were known to the guards and to other inmates; they were recidivists. This could only convince us that the system of incarceration does not work.
Risky to walk and talk on the phone
Cell phones have been responsible for many deaths and injuries while driving or while walking. Check the article in New York Times
Plastic contains BFA (bisphenol
Until regulation is passed to totally remove BFA from our products, it is a good idea not to eat foods which are in plastic containers, or wrappers. It is also a good idea to restrain from eating canned food and drinking plastic bottled drinks. A boycott of plastics will result in change. See the story in the New York Times
Learning from Europe
An article worth reading which dismisses many beliefs held about Europe, its economy and social blanket. Check Mr Krugman's article in New York Times.
Women and their treatment in the US, writing in progress
I get tired of reading of the plight of women in Afghanistan, when I don't hear about their plight in the US.
Women are subjected to the violence of men, often their husbands. They are raped by them, they are battered.
And in the best of circumstances they suffer a lower social status and a lower median income for the same jobs.
Women are living in a culture which shows 13 year olds girls bikini models in Sports Illustrated magazines.
Big bonuses for the bailed out bankers
We must stop the bleeding. The middle class does not have any more savings, they have been stollen; now they loose their jobs and their homes. Stop the thieves, stop the bankers. How can these private banks have the interests of our nation in mind? Impose an "embargo" on bonuses until the wealth is redistributed more equitably and let's consider de-privatizing banks.
Keeping Urban chicken
A great video to encourage having chicken for organic eggs. Check it in the Guardian.
Maine to consider warnings on Cell Phones
Like cigarettes, cell phones must be banned from public places, and you must be 18 or older to own one. Cell phones micro-waves are dangerous and possibly cumulative when in enclosed public places. Several studies have been publish one more recently in israel which show the connection between brain tumors and cell phone usage. Maine is in the lead we should all follow. The story is in the New York Times.
Readability
Readability is a wonderful gadget which is free and let's you get rid of the clutter; it is easy to install and it works.
Get it here: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/ I found the information in the New York Times article which discussed the gadgets of 2009. For the whole story here is the link http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/technology/personaltech/31pogue.html?hpw
Grow new teeth
A cool dental procedure to grow teeth, it works in Mice and thus could work in humans. Check the article in the Guardian.
US has been violating Pakistan sovereignty
Can you imagine what we would do to a country which would lunch some operations on US soil?
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