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  • mazsa 14:15 on April 11, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , United States,   

    “[...] The hub of activity for the targeted killings is the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, where lawyers—there are roughly 10 of them, says Rizzo—write a cable asserting that an individual poses a grave threat to the United States. The CIA cables are legalistic and carefully argued, often running up to five pages. Michael Scheuer, who used to be in charge of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden unit, describes “a dossier,” or a “two-page document,” along with “an appendix with supporting information, if anybody wanted to read all of it.” The dossier, he says, “would go to the lawyers, and they would decide. They were very picky.” Sometimes, Scheuer says, the hurdles may have been too high. “Very often this caused a missed opportunity. The whole idea that people got shot because someone has a hunch—I only wish that was true. If it were, there would be a lot more bad guys dead.”

    Sometimes, as Rizzo recalls, the evidence against an individual would be thin, and high-level lawyers would tell their subordinates, “You guys did not make a case.” “Sometimes the justification would be that the person was thought to be at a meeting,” Rizzo explains. “It was too squishy.” The memo would get kicked back downstairs.

    The cables that were “ready for prime time,” as Rizzo puts it, concluded with the following words: “Therefore we request approval for targeting for lethal operation.” There was a space provided for the signature of the general counsel, along with the word “concurred.” Rizzo says he saw about one cable each month, and at any given time there were roughly 30 individuals who were targeted. Many of them ended up dead, but not all: “No. 1 and No. 2 on the hit parade are still out there,” Rizzo says, referring to “you-know-who and [Ayman al-] Zawahiri,” a top Qaeda leader. [...]” http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/13/inside-the-killing-machine.html

     
  • mazsa 08:53 on April 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , United States   

    How to Pay No Taxes: 11 shelters, dodges, and rolls—all perfectly legal—used by America’s wealthiest people http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_16/b4224045265660.htm

     
  • mazsa 21:23 on April 6, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States   

    The Purple Healthcare Plan

    We, the undersigned economists, support the following principles governing fundamental healthcare reform and endorse immediate implementation of the Purple Healthcare Plan.

    Principles of Healthcare Reform

    1. All Americans need a basic health plan and should be free to purchase supplemental health insurance coverage.
    2. Healthcare should be privately provided with people free to choose their doctors and hospitals.
    3. All who can pay for their health plans should do so through a combination of existing tax payments and health plan co-payments.
    4. The government’s projected healthcare costs must be strictly capped and affordable on a long-term basis.
    5. Health plans should be affordable regardless of one’s pre-existing health conditions or risk.
    6. The system must provide strong incentives to prevent overuse of healthcare services and discourage bad healthcare behavior.
    7. Medical malpractice reform is needed to keep providers from engaging in unaffordable defensive medicine.

    The Standard Plan

    1. All Americans receive a voucher each year to purchase a standard plan from the private-plan provider of their choice.
    2. Vouchers are individually risk-adjusted; those with higher expected healthcare costs, based on documented medical conditions, receive larger vouchers.
    3. Participating insurance companies providing standard plans cannot deny coverage.
    4. Each year a panel of doctors sets the coverages of the standard plan subject to a strict budget, namely that the total cost to the government of the vouchers cannot exceed 10 percent of GDP.
    5. Insurance companies providing standard plans contract with private providers to cover their plan participants.
    6. Americans choose doctors and hospitals included in the standard plan they choose.
    7. Plan providers compete and provide incentives to improve participants’ health and limit bad health practices.
    8. Plan providers offer supplemental plans to their participants and cannot deny supplemental insurance coverage to their participants.
    9. The government (federal and state) ends the tax exclusion of employer-provided health insurance premiums.
    10. Like all other Americans, Medicare, Medicaid, and health exchange participants are covered by the Purple Health Plan subject to appropriate transition provisions.
    11. The roughly 10 percent of GDP now spent or allocated by federal and state government on these and related programs, as well as on the tax exclusion of employer-provided health insurance premiums, is reallocated to help finance the vouchers.

    http://thepurplehealthplan.org/node/2

     
  • mazsa 21:44 on April 4, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States   

    What is your Position on Internet Freedom Act?

    A BILL
    To prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from further regulating the Internet.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
    SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the `Internet Freedom Act’.
    SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OF THE FCC.

    (a) In General- The Federal Communications Commission shall not propose, promulgate, or issue any regulations regarding the Internet or IP-enabled services.
    (b) Exception- The limitation set forth in this section shall not apply to any regulations that the Commission determines necessary–
    (1) to prevent damage to the national security of the United States;
    (2) to ensure the public safety; or
    (3) to assist or facilitate any actions taken by a Federal or State law enforcement agency.
    (c) Rule of Construction- Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede, repeal, or negate any regulations regarding the Internet or IP-enabled services that were in effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act, including any regulations established pursuant to the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (47 U.S.C. 1001 note).
    (d) General Principles- Congress finds that–
    (1) the Internet and all IP-enabled services are services affecting interstate commerce; and
    (2) such services are not subject to the jurisdiction of any State or municipal locality.
    END

    http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:h96:

    Present status: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-96

    US citizens: pls support/oppose: https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hr96

     
  • mazsa 18:58 on April 3, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States   

    “Why the US needs to blacklist, censor pirate websites”: “Piracy runs rampant on the Internet, but Daniel Castro says it doesn’t have to be this way. He wants the US government to start creating a blacklist of Internet sites; once approved by a judge, each site would be cut off from American Internet users at the Domain Name System (DNS) level, where readable locations like “arstechnica.com” are turned into numerical IP addresses. US-based credit card companies would be forbidden from doing any business with the site, and US-based advertising networks couldn’t serve ads to the site. [...]

    I spoke to him recently about Web blocking, censorship, and why he believes that deep packet inspection (DPI) of Internet traffic by ISPs is more like Gmail than wiretapping. As for due process, Castro says COICA is fair—but he’s open to some tweaks”: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/04/why-the-us-needs-to-censor-pirate-websites.ars

     
  • mazsa 10:18 on April 3, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , United States   

    “Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution” http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tax-the-super-rich-now-or-face-a-revolution-2011-03-29

    Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1% : http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105?currentPage=all

    vs.

    “Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think.” http://listverse.com/2007/12/13/top-25-ayn-rand-quotes/

     
  • mazsa 07:54 on March 29, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , United States   

    6Reasons Google Books Failed + Judge Chin’s original opinion:

    http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/mar/28/six-reasons-google-books-failed/

    http://thepublicindex.org/docs/amended_settlement/opinion.pdf

     
  • mazsa 09:05 on March 24, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , United States   

    “As former chairmen and chairwomen of the Council of Economic Advisers, who have served in Republican and Democratic administrations, we [...] find ourselves in remarkable unanimity about the long-run federal budget deficit: It is a severe threat that calls for serious and prompt attention. [...]”

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51864.html

     
  • mazsa 09:53 on March 23, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , United States   

    Hugh Laurie on America:)

     
  • mazsa 19:49 on March 22, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , United States   

    #Libya, a Seventh-Tier Problem for America “Here is a quick, back-of-the-envelope list of areas across the greater Middle East that demand more American attention than Libya:” http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/03/libya-a-seventh-tier-problem-for-america/72760/

     
  • mazsa 06:01 on March 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , United States   

    5 Reasons Why the US Domain Seizures Are Unconstitutional http://torrentfreak.com/5-reasons-why-the-us-domain-seizures-are-unconstitutional-110312/

     
  • mazsa 16:26 on March 20, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States,   

    Obama on #Libya

    Today [Saturday] I authorized the Armed Forces of the United States to begin a limited military action in Libya in support of an international effort to protect Libyan civilians. That action has now begun.

    In this effort, the United States is acting with a broad coalition that is committed to enforcing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which calls for the protection of the Libyan people. That coalition met in Paris today to send a unified message, and it brings together many of our European and Arab partners.

    This is not an outcome that the United States or any of our partners sought. Even yesterday, the international community offered Muammar Qaddafi the opportunity to pursue an immediate cease-fire, one that stopped the violence against civilians and the advances of Qaddafi’s forces. But despite the hollow words of his government, he has ignored that opportunity. His attacks on his own people have continued. His forces have been on the move. And the danger faced by the people of Libya has grown.

    I am deeply aware of the risks of any military action, no matter what limits we place on it. I want the American people to know that the use of force is not our first choice and it’s not a choice that I make lightly. But we cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy, and his forces step up their assaults on cities like Benghazi and Misurata, where innocent men and women face brutality and death at the hands of their own government.

    So we must be clear: Actions have consequences, and the writ of the international community must be enforced. That is the cause of this coalition.

    As a part of this effort, the United States will contribute our unique capabilities at the front end of the mission to protect Libyan civilians, and enable the enforcement of a no-fly zone that will be led by our international partners. And as I said yesterday, we will not — I repeat — we will not deploy any U.S. troops on the ground.

    As Commander-in-Chief, I have great confidence in the men and women of our military who will carry out this mission. They carry with them the respect of a grateful nation.

    I’m also proud that we are acting as part of a coalition that includes close allies and partners who are prepared to meet their responsibility to protect the people of Libya and uphold the mandate of the international community.

    I’ve acted after consulting with my national security team, and Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress. And in the coming hours and days, my administration will keep the American people fully informed. But make no mistake: Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/03/20/remarks-president-libya-today-we-are-part-broad-coalition-we-are-answering-calls-thr

     
  • mazsa 11:40 on March 14, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States,   

    “[...] The problem with the U.S. government is that its allocation of resources is highly inefficient. We spend vast amounts of money on subsidies for housing, agriculture and health, many of which distort the economy and do little for long-term growth. We spend too little on science, technology, innovation and infrastructure, which will produce growth and jobs in the future. For the past few decades, we have been able to be wasteful and get by. But we will not be able to do it much longer. The money is running out, and we will have to marshal funds and target spending far more strategically. This is not a question of too much or too little government, too much or too little spending. We need more government and more spending in some places and less in others.

    The tragedy is that Washington knows this. For all the partisan polarization there, most Republicans know that we have to invest in some key areas, and most Democrats know that we have to cut entitlement spending. But we have a political system that has become allergic to compromise and practical solutions. This may be our greatest blind spot. [...]” http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2056610,00.html

     
  • mazsa 09:46 on March 11, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States   

    Tax competition at work: Amazon vs Illinois

    Hello,

    For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of Illinois residents. Unfortunately, a new state tax law signed by Governor Quinn compels us to terminate this program for Illinois-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by Illinois-based affiliates like you – even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

    We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It was supported by national retailing chains, most of which are based outside Illinois, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.

    As a result of the new law, contracts with all Illinois affiliates of the Amazon Associates Program will be terminated and those Illinois residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to April 15, 2011 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of April 15, 2011, any final payments will be paid by July 1, 2011.

    You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If you are not currently a permanent resident of Illinois, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state after April 15, please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

    To be clear, this development will only impact our ability to continue the Associates Program in Illinois, and will not affect the ability of Illinois residents to purchase online at http://www.amazon.com from Amazon’s retail business.

    We have enjoyed working with you and other Illinois-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to Illinois residents.

    Regards,

    The Amazon Associates Team

    http://directmatchmedia.com/amazon-terminates-illinois-affiliates.php

     
  • mazsa 09:39 on March 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , United States   

    “In the very near future you may be forced to go through a “professional” to get access to your genetic information. [...]” http://www.gnxp.com/wp/2011/03/09/your-genes-your-rights-fdas-jeffrey-shuren-not-a-fan/

     
  • mazsa 09:26 on March 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , Tunisia, United States   

    “[...] Bradley Manning, directly and indirectly, has probably done more for freedom than any single human being in years.

    His exposure of war crimes by U.S. forces in Iraq, and his exposure of how the sausage of U.S. foreign policy is made, benefit freedom in their own right insofar as they undermine — to whatever extent — the global and domestic credibility of the United States government.

    But more importantly, the cables Manning leaked — which were published on Wikileaks — played a central role in triggering the so-called Twitter revolution that started in Tunisia, spread to Egypt and much of the Middle East, and is now striking Qaddafi with hurricane-force winds of freedom. Among the cables which Wikileaks published were detailed descriptions of the Tunisian regime’s corruption, which galvanized local dissident groups into launching the movement that overthrew the government. [...]” http://c4ss.org/content/6386

     
  • mazsa 07:30 on March 5, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States   

    “Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [...] has now arrested someone and charged him with criminal copyright infringement, such that he’s now facing five years in jail (as well as fines). This is interesting, because when that domain was seized, we had noted that channelsurfing did not appear to host any content itself, but merely embedded content from other sites (Cf. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110202/01203012918/homeland-security-domain-seizures-raise-more-questions-is-embedding-video-criminal-infringement.shtml?cid=195 ). That raises an awful lot of serious questions: specifically, what part of copyright law is infringed here. The site does not host any of the content. It does not make any copies. It does not distribute the content. All it does is put in a snippet of code that a user’s web browser then uses to request content from another site.” http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110303/16584013356/ice-arrests-operator-seized-domain-charges-him-with-criminal-copyright-infringement.shtml

     
  • mazsa 06:44 on March 4, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , United States   

    Critique of The Story of Citizens United v. FEC: Annie Leonard released a video titled “The Story of Citizens United v. FEC,” an eight-and-a-half-minute criticism of http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/420

    Lee Doren made his own video critique above in response to Ms. Leonard’s offering.

     
  • mazsa 22:11 on March 2, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , United States   

    Supreme Court Backs Government Transparency Over Corporate Privacy Claims https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/03/supreme-court-backs-government-transparency-over

    Cf. http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/supreme-court-whether-corporations-may-assert-personal-privacy-interests

     
  • mazsa 20:27 on February 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Neutrality, United States   

    Republicans: No compromise on net neutrality:

    The last thing we need, in my view, is the FCC serving as Internet traffic controller, and potentially running roughshod over local broadcasters who have been serving their communities with free content for decades.

    At the end of the last Congress, some members of Congress sought a compromise on net neutrality that would give Washington temporary control of the Internet while we sort this all out.

    As far as I’m concerned, there is no compromise or middle ground when it comes to protecting our most basic freedoms.

    So our new majority in the House is committed to using every tool at our disposal to fight a government takeover of the Internet…

    We’re also going to do what we can to see that no taxpayer dollars are used to fund these net neutrality rules.
    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/republicans-no-compromise-possible-on-net-neutrality.ars

     
  • mazsa 14:25 on February 28, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , United States   

    USA: It’s Official: You Must Report Offshore Insurance, Annuity, and Gold Accounts “The proposals were retroactive to 2009.” http://www.lewrockwell.com/nestmann/nestmann21.1.html

     
  • mazsa 07:47 on February 26, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , United States   

    (a) the term “person” means an individual or entity; (b) the term “entity” means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization; and (c) the term “United States person” means any United States citizen or national, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.

    EXECUTIVE ORDER BLOCKING PROPERTY AND PROHIBITING CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO LIBYA
     
  • mazsa 06:07 on February 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , United States   

    The End of the Copyright Trolls’ Business Model? “Thousands of unnamed “John Does” in P2P file sharing lawsuits filed in California, Washington DC, Texas, and West Virginia have been severed, effectively dismissing over 40,000 defendants. The plaintiffs in these cases must now re-file against almost all of the Does individually rather than suing them en mass. These rulings may have a significant impact on the copyright trolls’ business model, which relies on being able to sue thousands of Does at once with a minimum of administrative expense. The cost of filing suit against each Doe may prove prohibitively expensive to plaintiffs’ attorneys who are primarily interested in extracting quick, low-hassle settlements.” https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/02/over-40-000-does-dismissed-copyright-troll-cases

     
  • mazsa 01:52 on February 23, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , United States   

    Paul Wolfowitz on #Libya : “It is shameful to be sitting on our hands” http://blog.american.com/?p=27379

    Cf. “As persons we shall [9.] pacify those who attack.” http://theunitedpersons.org/constitution/statement/cs9

     
  • mazsa 18:08 on February 11, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , United States   

    Tax: Amazon Pulling Out of Texas Over $269M Tax Bill http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/02/11/1653252/Amazon-Pulling-Out-of-Texas-Over-269-Million-Tax-Bill

     
  • mazsa 18:02 on February 11, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States   

    How 1researcher helped US beat China’s censors http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/05/how-one-researcher-enabled-the-u-s-government-to-slip-news-through-chinas-censors/

    https://code.google.com/p/foe-project/

     
  • mazsa 06:53 on February 11, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , United States   

    Obama on #Egypt:

    The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient. Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world. The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity.

    As we have said from the beginning of this unrest, the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people. But the United States has also been clear that we stand for a set of core principles. We believe that the universal rights of the Egyptian people must be respected, and their aspirations must be met. We believe that this transition must immediately demonstrate irreversible political change, and a negotiated path to democracy. To that end, we believe that the emergency law should be lifted. We believe that meaningful negotiations with the broad opposition and Egyptian civil society should address the key questions confronting Egypt’s future: protecting the fundamental rights of all citizens; revising the Constitution and other laws to demonstrate irreversible change; and jointly developing a clear roadmap to elections that are free and fair.

    We therefore urge the Egyptian government to move swiftly to explain the changes that have been made, and to spell out in clear and unambiguous language the step by step process that will lead to democracy and the representative government that the Egyptian people seek. Going forward, it will be essential that the universal rights of the Egyptian people be respected. There must be restraint by all parties. Violence must be forsaken. It is imperative that the government not respond to the aspirations of their people with repression or brutality. The voices of the Egyptian people must be heard.

    The Egyptian people have made it clear that there is no going back to the way things were: Egypt has changed, and its future is in the hands of the people. Those who have exercised their right to peaceful assembly represent the greatness of the Egyptian people, and are broadly representative of Egyptian society. We have seen young and old, rich and poor, Muslim and Christian join together, and earn the respect of the world through their non-violent calls for change. In that effort, young people have been at the forefront, and a new generation has emerged. They have made it clear that Egypt must reflect their hopes, fulfill their highest aspirations, and tap their boundless potential. In these difficult times, I know that the Egyptian people will persevere, and they must know that they will continue to have a friend in the United States of America. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/02/10/president-obama-egypt

     
  • admin 14:14 on February 9, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , United States   

    “It is one of the strangest and most important financial whistleblower cases of all time.

    Bradley Birkenfeld once lived the high life as secret Swiss banker at UBS in Geneva. Then he delivered some of the world’s best-kept secrets to the US government, expecting a great reward. And now he sits in federal prison in Pennsylvania [...]“: http://www.cnbc.com/id/41257962

     
  • mazsa 08:30 on February 6, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , United States   

    How To Stop Domain Names Being Seized By The US Government http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-stop-domain-names-being-seized-by-the-us-government-110205/

     
  • mazsa 10:20 on February 4, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , United States   

    How states can amend US Constitution to limit government

    1/3: http://goldwaterinstitute.org/article/5007

    2/3: http://goldwaterinstitute.org/article/5353

    3/3: ?

     
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