Archive for the Category » abuse of power «

Around and About these Ewe Knighted States

June 28th, 2010 | Author: akagaga

Making all you gun-lovers happy, the Supreme Court today ruled that Chicago’s handgun ban violates the Second Amendment. Here are some details.
In case you’ve been oblivious to happenings on the West Coast, the trial of Former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle is well underway in Los Angeles. You’ll remember him as the cop who shot a man in the back while he was face down on the ground on New Year’s Day 2009. In a surprise move that broke his year and a half long silence, Mehserle testified on Friday, saying that he thought he was tasing Oscar Grant, not putting a bullet in his back. This cell phone video seems to support his claim. In case Mehserle is acquitted of murder charges, Oakland area cops are preparing for rioting á la Rodney King.
Moving east to Oklahoma, a woman has filed a lawsuit because a cop shot and killed her dog when he stopped to ask for directions (which begs the question, why don’t the cops know where they’re going?) Not surprisingly, his story about the shooting changed when he found out it was captured on a security video. You can watch a news report about this here.

Reporting live from upstate New York, this is akaGaGa.

Category: abuse of power, Bill of Rights, dog, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

June 19th, 2010 | Author: akagaga

Most of us realize that cell phones and their GPS capabilities limit our privacy. We know that the internet can be lethal to that privacy. And, of course, we had Google driving around stealing private information. But until recently, I never thought to worry about my printer or my copier. Read on and learn how Big Brother (or other bad geeks) can learn all they want to know about you.

The other day Rebecca posted this story from CBS. It seems that many copiers have hard drives that store all the images they copy. If that copier is recycled or the lease runs out, (or the cops confiscate it?) all that personal information is up for grabs. Watch and learn:

Then tonight I read this at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):

Imagine that every time you printed a document, it automatically included a secret code that could be used to identify the printer – and potentially, the person who used it. Sounds like something from an episode of “Alias,” right?

Unfortunately, the scenario isn’t fictional. In a purported effort to identify counterfeiters, the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public. A communication tool you’re using in everyday life could become a tool for government surveillance. And what’s worse, there are no laws to prevent abuse.

The ACLU recently issued a report revealing that the FBI has amassed more than 1,100 pages of documents on the organization since 2001, as well as documents concerning other non-violent groups, including Greenpeace and United for Peace and Justice. In the current political climate, it’s not hard to imagine the government using the ability to determine who may have printed what document for purposes other than identifying counterfeiters.

EFF is compiling a list of printers that appear to have some type of coding. It includes most of the popular brands.

My husband watched a TV show tonight about the effects a large solar flare could have on our earthly electronics. The technical effect is “Poof! All gone!”

Given the increased privacy issues that keep popping up, maybe we’d be better off with a solar flare.

Category: abuse of power, Big Brother, Bill of Rights, computer stuff | One Comment

Remembering Soldiers as Victims of War

May 31st, 2010 | Author: akagaga

I’ve been trying for days – unsuccessfully – to come up with a post for Memorial Day. Today, though, I found one that expresses my unconventional, some would say unAmerican, thoughts. Thanks to Colin at Zeal for Truth.

Today is memorial day in my country of birth – the United States. In this country, so often the soldier is seen to be the archetype of American heroism. Much like in ancient Rome, an individual hero, made of moral selflessness, who submits himself to the collective, ordered machinery of the military to provide for the defence of his family, community and nation.

I see things quite differently.

Throughout history, the soldier has often come from the poorest of backgrounds, having been told by the propaganda of the state that the military is his best option in life. His individuality is broken down, and his is used on behalf of those elites which control and direct the military to kill other people who have been similarly conditioned.

We should remember soldiers as victims of the state. The state lied to them with false promises, and exploited their very lives as the means to control some resource, obtain some territory, advance some ideology or, at worst, eliminate or subjugate some peoples. We should mourn the American soldier as we mourn the German Soldiers from 1939-1945: men and women who could have produced so much for the benefit of humanity, but who were instead sucked dry, and summarily discarded like so much trash.

There is nothing glorious about the military. There is nothing glorious about war.

We should mourn and weep for the soldiers who have died. We should see them as the victims of sinful, fallen man and cease to demand their service, except only in the most dire need of defence.

Category: abuse of power, foreign aggression, war | 2 Comments

Schumer, et al, want to outlaw prepaid cell phones

May 27th, 2010 | Author: akagaga

from Wired:

Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and John Cornyn (R-TX) joined forces and announced a new bill that would require an ID at the point of sale. Phone companies would need to keep this information on file in order to help police thwart “terrorists, drug lords and gang members,” along with the occasional hedge fund manager.

It’s no surprise, of course, that Chuck Schumer would propose another restriction on our freedom, but nonetheless, it ticks me off. When my hubby and I have “what if” conversations around here, prepaid’s are definitely part of the plan.

What if …

being critical of the government becomes illegal?
being Christian becomes illegal?
being alive becomes illegal?

Well, you get the idea. A good laptop with wifi and a prepaid cell were part of our escape package. Now we’ll probably have to dig a bunker, instead.

Category: abuse of power, Big Brother, Bill of Rights | 4 Comments

Fat Police Take Aim at Our Kids

May 26th, 2010 | Author: akagaga

from CNSNews.com:

A bill introduced this month in Congress would put the federal and state governments in the business of tracking how fat, or skinny, American children are.

States receiving federal grants provided for in the bill would be required to annually track the Body Mass Index of all children ages 2 through 18. The grant-receiving states would be required to mandate that all health care providers in the state determine the Body Mass Index of all their patients in the 2-to-18 age bracket and then report that information to the state government. The state government, in turn, would be required to report the information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for analysis.

The Healthy Choices Act–introduced by Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee–would establish and fund a wide range of programs and regulations aimed at reducing obesity rates by such means as putting nutritional labels on the front of food products, subsidizing businesses that provide fresh fruits and vegetables, and collecting BMI measurements of patients and counseling those that are overweight or obese.

Section 101 of the bill amends the Public Health Services Act by stating that health care providers must record the Body Mass Index of all children ages 2 through 18. “The provision relates to all children in states that accept grants under the bill,” a spokesperson for Rep. Kind told CNSNews.com. “However, it is important to note that no one is forced to come in for a doctor’s visit to get their BMI tested. BMI will be taken at times when the child makes an otherwise scheduled doctor’s visit.”

BMI is calculated by taking one’s weight in pounds and height in inches, multiplying that number by one’s height in inches and then multiplying that number by 703. Any number over 24 is considered overweight, with higher numbers resulting in a diagnosis of obese (BMI = [weight / (height x height)] x 703).

To pay for implementing BMI data gathering, Sec. 102 of the bill states that the federal government will give grants to states that meet certain criteria, including having “the capacity to store basic demographic information (including date of birth, gender and geographic area of residence), height, weight, and immunization data for each resident of the state.”

The grants also will pay for personnel and equipment necessary to measure patients’ BMI.

The grants also require that if a child’s BMI is greater than the 95th percentile for the child’s age and gender, the state will provide “information on how to lower BMI and information on state and local obesity prevention programs.”

Read the rest here if you can stand it. Me? I’m gonna raid the fridge.