2/7/2003
The Choice for Iraq's Rag-Tag Army: Be Killed by the U.S. or by Saddam :.Meat grinder: "We want America to attack because of the bad situation in our country. But we don't want America to launch air strikes against Iraqi soldiers because we are forced to shoot and defend. We are also victims in this situation."
posted by Kevin at 6:44 PM
Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 :.When Bush said it was Game Over the other day, he wasn't kidding: On Friday, February 7 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), NOW with Bill Moyers will provide details of a Justice Department draft of a bill designed to extend the powers of the Patriot Act. The draft bill was provided exclusively to NOW by Center for Public Integrity, which obtained it from a confidential government source. The document, entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, outlines significant broadening of law enforcement powers, including domestic intelligence gathering, surveillance, and law enforcement prerogatives, while decreasing public access to information and judicial review authority.Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, PDF (12mb) or HTML. SHOCKING: This provision would expand FISA's definition of "foreign power" to include all persons, regardless of whether they are affiliated with an international terrorist group, who engage in international terrorism.They will role out this nightmarish legislation after elements of U.S. Intelligence conduct the next terrorist fraud inside the U.S. Or maybe during the war with Iraq. Update: Slashdot CommentsIt's Saturday night and I'm drinking Mexican beer by the liter, reading these great comments on Slashdot. I think I like this post the best: Patriot? (Score:5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08, @12:33PM (#5259123)
"It is the duty of a patriot to protect his country from its government." -Thomas Paine This one is pretty good, too: I suspect. . . (Score:5, Funny) by Limburgher (523006) on Saturday February 08, @12:31PM (#5259111) (http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Thursday December 05, @02:46PM)
that, soon, Alot of our Base are going to Belong To Them. :( Research Credit: MR
posted by Kevin at 5:45 PM
GAO Drops Cheney Energy Pursuit :.Nothing to see here, move along. Hey, it's only overt corruption at the highest levels of government: The General Accounting Office announced Friday it is dropping its lawsuit seeking records of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
GAO Comptroller General David Walker said in a written statement that because of the demands of time and resources, the department decided not to appeal a federal judge's decision to dismiss the suit.
posted by Kevin at 3:38 PM
Chomsky: Confronting the Empire :.The most powerful state in history has proclaimed, loud and clear, that it intends to rule the world by force, the dimension in which it reigns supreme. Apart from the conventional bow to noble intentions that is the standard (hence meaningless) accompaniment of coercion, its leaders are committed to pursuit of their �imperial ambition,� as it is frankly described in the leading journal of the foreign policy establishment � critically, an important matter. They have also declared that they will tolerate no competitors, now or in the future. They evidently believe that the means of violence in their hands are so extraordinary that they can dismiss with contempt anyone who stands in their way. There is good reason to believe that the war with Iraq is intended, in part, to teach the world some lessons about what lies ahead when the empire decides to strike a blow -- though �war� is hardly the proper term, given the array of forces.
The doctrine is not entirely new, nor unique to the US, but it has never before been proclaimed with such brazen arrogance � at least not by anyone we would care to remember.
posted by Kevin at 5:09 AM
Employment Meltdown: Opportunity in the Ashes?I quit my last job when the place started ripping me off. (Don't worry, I got paid. I made them an offer they couldn't refuse.) That was just over a year ago. I haven't had a job since, and this has been one of the best years in recent memory (except for burning though my hard earned savings). For a while after I quit, I searched for jobs similar to what I had been doing; networking and sysadmin stuff. I considered getting various certifications (Cisco, Microsoft, blah, blah), but then I saw what was happening out in the world, thought about all the stress of being in IT and asked myself, "Why bother?" Information technology jobs, like most jobs, have become commoditized. In case you haven't noticed, the race to the bottom, in terms of pay and working conditions, is on. I decided to give up on the nine to fiver. I never liked it anyway. So, what difference would it make if I was a truck driver or an IT nerd? Come to think of it, driving a truck was better than anything I ever did in IT, but it was still driving a truck... Late last year, I took a class and got my real estate license. Can you believe it!? Yes, friends, I'm about to start selling the American Dream to anyone willing and able to sign on the dotted line. Nobody makes real money by working for the man. Sell the man a house, however, and now you're talking. My goal is to hopefully make enough money to be able to buy some dirt in a galaxy far, far away, or up in Oregon. There will be a chicken tractor. Power will come from wind, solar and moving water. My family says things like, "What will you do out there, all alone!?" "When I need to take a break from reading, I'll watch the wind blow through the trees." Then comes that awkward pause, as your family looks at you in stunned silence. Oh yeah! One of the new guys at my office also worked in IT for years. He's 60 years old, and just starting a new career in real estate. He's a certified Oracle DBA, MCSE, and unix head. His doctor told him he had to quit IT. The stress was killing him. Anyway, he's been in real estate a few months longer than me and he just listed a house with an asking price of 1.6 million U.S. dollars! I shit you not. Another newbie was a tech recruiter and she's beginning to carve it up as well. HAHAHA! So, all you nerds out there, fire your PHB, get a real estate license, and let's make enough money to blow this pop stand and build a freak village out in the trees. Or, something like that. Click to Open Resume, Hit DeleteOn a Friday afternoon in July, Wells Fargo database manager Jill Levine posted an ad on Monster.com for a database analyst. By Monday morning, 250 resumes were waiting in her e-mail inbox. By mid-afternoon she had double that number and pulled the ad. U.S. Economy in Worst Hiring Slump in 20 YearsThe American economy has fallen into its worst hiring slump in almost 20 years, and many business executives say they remain unsure when it will end.
With economic growth having slowed to less than 1 percent in recent months, about one million people appear to have dropped out of the labor force, neither working nor looking for a job, according to government figures. Unemployed Tech Workers Meet for SupportIt's part job fair, part support group for unemployed tech workers. And with 50 unemployed newcomers joining each week, 495 Networking Support Group is - to the distress of its members - one of the fastest-growing ventures around." This is one of the best groups I've ever been associated with," said Jason Traiger, 60, who has been job hunting since he was laid off eight months ago. "I look forward to coming every week. And I look forward to the day I don't have to come." When 495NSG (named for Interstate 495, a Boston ring road and high-tech corridor) was founded in 2001, 345,000 were employed in Massachusetts' high technology sector, according to state figures. Since then, the sector has shed more than 30,000 jobs, including 15,000 in greater Boston.
posted by Kevin at 4:32 AM
Mobile Phone Danger: "The Effects Could Be Terrifying" :.RADIATION from mobile phones destroys brain cells and may lead to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease, research has confirmed.
Scientists have found long exposure to operating handsets destroys cells in areas of the brain important for memory, movement and learning and fear it could cause the premature onset of illnesses usually linked to ageing.Related coverage: BBC
posted by Kevin at 4:23 AM
2/3/2003
Dr. Steven Greer Has Found a Candidate Device :.Listen to the audio on the site: Dr. Steven Greer has located what appears to be a suitable energy device that could replace fossil fuels.And to those of you who like to email me, saying this type of thing is impossible, save it. Related: Greer's Board of Technical Advisors looks pretty competent.
posted by Kevin at 1:31 AM
Bush Floats Biggest Deficit Spending Plan Ever :.Bush's new spending plan, which will set off months of congressional debate, projects that deficits will hit an all-time high in dollar terms -- $307 billion for the current fiscal year and $304 billion for 2004, with both years surpassing the previous record of $290 billion set by Bush's father in 1992.
posted by Kevin at 12:35 AM
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:. Reading
Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell
Readers will come to see
that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"
- fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors
such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way
into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff
from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to
genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield
monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our
farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate
farms.
Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen
and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land
movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based
on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating,
timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging
philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.
Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
The
New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques
for the Home and Market Gardener
This expansion
of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended
for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes
practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables,
with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock,
the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other
topics.
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