News and Politics

Bad credit? No credit? Then you might just be an airline security risk

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CNN news story on yet another level of security checks for airline passengers. According to the Transportation Department Agency, CAPPS II will be rolled out within 90 days. CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System) will check such things as credit report and bank account activity to determine the security level risk that each and every individual passenger poses. [Kuro5hin.org]

Sheesh! This is starting to go beyond ridiculous.

Ashcroft rewrites the law?

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Yesterday the United States Justice Department brought to fruition operations Pipe Dreams and Headhunter. Their official stance was they have Put Illegal Drug Paraphernalia Sellers Out Of Business. But is this really what happened? [Kuro5hin.org]

I’m sure this makes us all feel a lot safer now that all of those dangerous criminals were taken off the street. This was also a big victory in our war on terror.

Surviving chemical, biological and nuclear attacks

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“Your defense is as always to not panic.” I have no way to evaluate this guy’s credentials or the validity of his advice–the host site seems a bit wonky, to put it mildly–but he provides a pithy, duct-tape-free, and oddly comforting counterpoint to some of the official recommendations on surviving chemical, biological and nuclear attacks. [metafilter.com]

I think the “orange alert” is pure bullshit. I’m more afraid of our own government starting World War III with an unprovoked attack on Iraq than I am about any terrorist attacks.

I’m not doing anything different. I plan to go on with my life as usual. I’m also NOT going to get vaccinated against smallpox since I don’t believe there’s any threat. More people will die of the vaccine than they would even if we were attacked, which is even less likely than being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. Plus, I don’t believe that Iraq, Al Qaida, or Korea have Smallpox bioweapons.

I’m not going to go along with the government fear-mongering.

Protecting and Improving Democracy: Canadian Style

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The Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, recently submitted Bill C-24 to the House of Commons entitled Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Income Tax Act(Political Financing). He then delivered a speech about Democracy and how it has been corrupted in the United States and how it will be improved in Canada. Mr. Speaker, democracy is a living thing. The history of the world teaches us it is a fragile thing, as well. To be nurtured. To be encouraged. To be promoted. And to be defended. I know philosophers say that there is no such thing as a “perfect democracy”. Of course that is true. Any society is a work in progress. But the truest test of a living, growing democracy like Canada is the extent to which our institutions strive to live up to our ideals. For it is in continuing to measure ourselves against our ideals that we reaffirm their power to inspire….In the United States the fitness of a candidate for office is judged first on his or her ability to raise huge sums of money. Rather than on his or her brains or ability to lead. They call it the “money primary”, Mr. Speaker. And it takes place in the shadows. Long before an idea is expressed. Before a speech is given. Before a vote is cast.1 [Kuro5hin.org]

Vote To Impeach

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http://www.votetoimpeach.org/

The U.S. Constitution provides the means for preventing George W. Bush from engaging in a war of aggression against Iraq, and from advancing a first strike potentially nuclear preemptive war. It’s called impeachment.

Impeachment is the direct constitutional means for removing a President, Vice President or other civil officers of the United States who has acted or threatened acts that are serious offenses against the Constitution, its system of government, or the rule of law, or that are conventional crimes of such a serious nature that they would injure the Presidency if there was no removal.

Impeachment appears six times in the U.S. Constitution. The Founders weren’t concerned with anything more than with impeachment because they had lived under King George III and had in 1776 accused the king of all the things that George W. Bush wants to do: Usurpation of the power of the people; Being above the law; Criminal abuse of authority.

Impeachment is the means by which We The People of the United States and our elected representatives in Congress can prevent further crimes by the President and the human catastrophe they threaten and force accountability for crimes committed.

Congressional proceedings for impeachment can bring about open, fearless consideration of the most dangerous acts and threats ever committed by an American President. If courageously pursued, they can save our Constitution, the United Nations, the rule of law, the lives of countless people and leave open the possibility of peace on earth.

Each of us must take a stand on impeachment now, or bear the burden of having failed to speak in this hour of maximum peril.

http://www.votetoimpeach.org/