If You Hate Taxes . . . Found at the excellent blog What Would Jack Do?: If you’re a conservative who hates taxes, please do the following. The fact is, we pay for the lifestyle we expect. Without taxes, our lifestyles would be totally different and much harder. “I like to pay taxes. Link to original post H.R. 6304, THE FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008 June 19, 2008 The ACLU recommends a no vote on H.R. 6304, which grants sweeping wiretapping authority to the government with little court oversight and ensures the dismissal of all pending cases against the telecommunication companies. Most importantly: Make a Difference Your support helps the ACLU stand up for human rights and defend civil liberties. Give Now • H.R. 6304 permits the government to conduct mass, untargeted surveillance of all communications coming into and out of the United States, without any individualized review, and without any finding of wrongdoing. • H.R. 6304 permits only minimal court oversight. • H.R. 6304 contains a general ban on reverse targeting. • H.R.6304 contains an “exigent” circumstance loophole that thwarts the prior judicial review requirement. • H.R. 6304 further trivializes court review by explicitly permitting the government to continue surveillance programs even if the application is denied by the court.
Senate Rejects Amendment Banning Indefinite Detention Today, the Senate voted 38-60 to reject an important amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have removed harmful provisions authorizing the U.S. military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians, including American citizens, anywhere in the world. The amendment offered by Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), would have replaced those provisions with a requirement for an orderly congressional review of detention power. The Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the FBI and the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division have all said that the indefinite detention provisions in the NDAA are harmful and counterproductive, and the White House has issued a veto threat over the provisions. The next opportunity to remove the harmful detention provisions from the bill will be when House and Senate conferees meet in conference committee next week.
Infographic: In Politics Coverage, No One Asks Women About Women's Issues This chart is hard to grasp even after you’ve spent some time with it, because it seems like it has to be wrong. But the message is clear in this infographic by 4th Estate: Women still fail to be properly represented in the media--and not just any media, but rather media about women’s issues. Click to enlarge. It looks at 2012 election coverage, focusing on stories about women’s issues--topics like birth control and abortion. The results almost mock us in “it’s a boy!” and “it’s a girl!” At the same time, whereas a graphic attributes this phenomenon to media bias, there may be deeper forces to blame. The same could be said for quoting a politician. It’s also just a good lesson in the visualization of data. [Hat tip: Upworthy; Image: Everett Collection/Shutterstock]
Why Socialism? By Albert Einstein "We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive." Why Socialism? By Albert Einstein From Monthly Review, New York, May, 1949. NOTE: I (Tom Huppi) needed to remove this content due to a DCMA notice. It's hard to believe that these 'socialists' have gobbled up the intelectual property rights to something Einstein wrote 68 years ago, or at least not yet disgorged them, but that's globalism for you. Just out of curiosity I looked at some of the material of some of the people on this mail. To paraphrase Chris Rock; I'm not saying that the people should have joined right-wing death squads...but I understand. These 2017 'socialists' and 'environmentalists' work directly for the exact same 0.001% who own nearly all of the world's wealth fossil fuel and otherwise, although most in a 'useful idiot' capacity. - - Help Fight the Right!