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American Police Forces Plan To Arm Domestic Drones

majestic — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:49:31 +0000

If American police forces start using unmanned aerial drones to attack citizens, does that by definition make the United States a police state? Report by Hannah Yi for The Daily:

As a Texas sheriff prepares to use an unmanned drone as his force’s eye in the sky, and perhaps even arm it with nonlethal weapons like Tasers and rubber bullets, civil liberties groups are crying foul.

In the coming weeks, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office north of Houston says it will deploy a $300,000 ShadowHawk drone — bought with a federal homeland security grant — to spy on criminals, support SWAT operations and look for missing persons. The unmanned helicopter is about the size of a large dog, has a range of 25 miles and...
American Police Forces Plan To Arm Domestic Drones is a post from: We Want Information
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United States Justice: 2,000 Convicted Then Exonerated Over 23 Years

imkaan — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:00:10 +0000

Reports the AP via CBS News:

More than 2,000 people who were falsely convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated in the United States in the past 23 years, according to a new archive compiled at two universities.

There is no official record-keeping system for exonerations of convicted criminals in the country, so academics set one up. The new national registry, or database, painstakingly assembled by the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, is the most complete list of exonerations ever compiled.

The database compiled and analyzed by the researchers contains information on 873 exonerations for which they have the most detailed evidence. The researchers are aware of nearly 1,200 other exonerations, for which they have less data.

They found that those 873 exonerated defendants spent a combined total of more than 10,000 years in prison, an average of more than 11 years…

United States Justice: 2,000 Convicted Then Exonerated Over 23 Years is a post from: We Want Information

Who Creates Jobs (and Other Critical Questions)

Good Men Project — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:01:25 +0000

Tom Matlack writes on The Good Men Project:

The web is abuzz with TED’s decision not to let a former Amazon.com investor make his case for middle-class job creation. Meanwhile Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gets ready to watch his $20 or so billion become liquid when his company opens trading this morning. The French and Greeks have elected liberal leaders who campaigned against austerity as the answer to the Euro debt crisis. And here in the United States the general election is kicking into high gear with the Romney campaign releasing this ad yesterday in key swing states.

Let’s try to get a few things straight here before resorting to mud slinging.

1) Any way you slice it we have a debt problem threatening to kill us.

Government spending here in the United States and across much of the developed world is completely out of control. As of March 2012, debt held by the public was…

Who Creates Jobs (and Other Critical Questions) is a post from: We Want Information

Annular Solar Eclipse Brings Ring Of Fire (May 20, 2012)

majestic — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:00:21 +0000

Photo: sancho panza (CC)

This Sunday brings the first annular solar eclipse visible in the western United States in almost 18 years. Mike Wall reports for Space.com:

Skywatchers in East Asia and the western United States should circle Sunday (May 20) on their calendars. That’s when a solar eclipse will block out most of the sun, leaving a spectacular “ring of fire” shining in the sky for observers located along the eclipse’s path.

The event is what’s known as an annular solar eclipse — from the Latin “annulus,” meaning “little ring” — and its full glory should be visible from much of Asia, the Pacific region and some of western North America, weather permitting. At its peak, the eclipse will block about 94 percent of the sun’s light.

Other parts of the United States and Canada will still see a partial solar eclipse, without being treated to the ring of fire effect, though the…

Annular Solar Eclipse Brings Ring Of Fire (May 20, 2012) is a post from: We Want Information

Talk Nation Radio: Cindy Sheehan on the Venezuelan Constitution as a Model for the United States

Dori — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:27:14 +0000

Cindy Sheehan discusses the new Venezuelan Constitution as a model for reforming the U.S. Constitution in the direction of greater democratic and economic rights, as well as the politics of Hugo Chavez, and her new book, Revolution: A Love Story. Cindy Sheehan is a leading U.S. peace actvist, a gold star mother, an author, blogger, [...]

Talk Nation Radio: Cindy Sheehan on the Venezuelan Constitution as a Model for the United States is a post from: We Want Information

#NoNATO: Breaking The Cycle And Building A Better World

aaroncynic — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:00:41 +0000

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, DC on 4 April 1949.

Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:

After assuming command of NATO in 1950, then General Eisenhower said “If in 10 years, all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States, then this whole project will have failed.” The Cold War is over. NATO has long outlived its original purpose.The old system of alliances does little to do to protect sovereign nations, and instead gives more ability to industrialized, wealthier nations to exploit weaker States. Even NATO actions that are done under the guise of “humanitarian intervention” often have catastrophic consequences for the local population. As so many of these interventions have included bombing campaigns, civilian casualties are high. Often, NATO forces have used weapons banned by the Geneva Conventions, including depleted uranium and cluster bombs. Both of these weapons have…

#NoNATO: Breaking The Cycle And Building A Better World is a post from: We Want Information

Please End The Circular Firing Squad! It’s Time to Get Back to WORK. We’re WINNING!

Kathleen Gee — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:22:17 +0000

I've been a Ron Paul supporter since 2007 and have put in hundreds of hours and hundreds of FRNs in the fight to restore the United States to its free market, limited government, Constitutional roots. My goal hasn't changed. My goal will NEVER change....

Please End The Circular Firing Squad! It’s Time to Get Back to WORK. We’re WINNING! is a post from: We Want Information

The "Anyone but Obama" Mentality and Why It Is Destroying our Political Process!

principle_first — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:33:34 +0000

I do not support a second term for Barack Obama. With that said, I want to comment on this "anyone but Obama" mentality that seems to be a popular campaign slogan for the Republican party. I have a lot of beef with this. It is not because I don't ag...

The "Anyone but Obama" Mentality and Why It Is Destroying our Political Process! is a post from: We Want Information

How Germany’s Pirate Party is Hacking Politics (With Liquid Feedback)

HAL9000 — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:29:25 +0000

Would be great if this caught on in the United States. As David Meyer writes on GigaOM:

In the furores over SOPA, CISPA and similar bills, many have suggested that politicians just don’t get technology. That’s not an accusation that can be leveled at the Pirate movement, which is gaining traction in Europe at impressive speed. The Pirates saw their first major electoral success in the European elections of 2009, when voters in the movement’s birthplace of Sweden returned a Pirate to the European Parliament. The Swedes didn’t vote the Pirates into their own legislature, mind you, but now big wins are coming in Germany, the continent’s largest economy and the ideological home of the hacker movement. Why Germany? Because that’s what the Pirates are trying to do: hack politics, in the sense of making-and-tweaking-stuff sense, rather than destroying it. The movement may have begun with a narrow focus on intellectual property, but it has developed into an attempt to make the political process transparent — and of course better suited to the digital age.

How Germany’s Pirate Party is Hacking Politics (With Liquid Feedback) is a post from: We Want Information

Why Are You Working So Hard?

Good German — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:25:09 +0000

Annie-Rose Strasser writes at Think Progress:

The 99 Percent Movement is bringing May Day, the worldwide annual celebration of labor, to the United States today with protests in over 135 cities. The theme of the protests is “A Day Without the 99 Percent,” and occupiers are encouraging people to spend the day outside of the U.S. economy. According to the May Day organizing site for New York, “It’s a day to recognize the value of our work, and the power we have to collectively change our working conditions and our world.”

It’s true that the 99 percent make up the majority of workers in all the industries for which America is known. Farming, manufacturing, and transportation, to name just a few, wouldn’t survive without the working people who carry the burden of productivity in those fields. Manufacturing alone makes up 20.3 percent of the labor force. But rewarding those workers is a different question. Currently,…

Why Are You Working So Hard? is a post from: We Want Information