In the 2008 presidential campaign, there were certain lines that were clearly drawn. Republicans said they were strong on defense and the Democrats were weak. Republicans said they wanted government out of our lives and the Democrats wanted a "nanny state". Republicans chanted "drill, baby - drill!" to Democratic concerns about the environment. A strange thing happened on the way to the gas pump, however. President Obama picked up the pursuit of Osama bin Laden that President Bush had abandoned, and was able to successfully remove him from the picture. Republicans - on both a state and national level - have been pushing medieval abortion legislation that puts government in the doctor's office in an unprecedented way. And - oddly enough - domestic oil production is up. Continue reading...
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Back in December of 2010 I wrote a post titled Anonarchy. I said a few weeks ago in one of my blogs:
Some may think this information dump is a good thing, for our freedom, for transparency. I can't disagree with that from an idealistic point of view. From a pragmatic point of view, I don't know. I am personally concerned of a bigger clampdown of information. Sometimes there is a right way of going about things and a wrong way -- it doesn't have anything to do with what's legal. It has to do with what is best for our fragile democracy.
There are those that are celebrating the acts of Wikileaks. They are celebrating transparency, as an act of true patriotism. Will they celebrate when the government's website is taken down?
It just happened to Sweden.
Knowing they are capable of that, what will they say when they have their bank accounts hacked? Cellphone? How about the nation's power grid? How about when they decide to take down Wall Street, and financial institutions? Is that worth it in the name of revealing the "truth"?
It looks like the answer will soon be forthcoming. THIS is what Julian Assange has wraught. I wonder if the ends justify the means or vice versa.
One thing I do know: it's not going to get better anytime soon. It may not be a country attacking, but this is an attack -- you can be assured that nations will fight back. This is no longer about freedom of speech, this is designed to create insecurity among people as well as governments.
Fasten your seatbelts -- it's gonna be a bumpy ride. Welcome to the world's first cyber war, where we don't really know who is fighting it. )
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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec
Date: 07/09/2013 10:15:30
Good Morning. Today is our 4,293rd day in Afghanistan. We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com: US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,241 Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,098 We find this morning's Cost of War passing through: $ 1, 454, 376, 700, 000 .00 I usually keep a 'clipboard' of links and stories that I'll pick and choose from on any given week. It's the nature of the beast that I always have more saved than what I have space for in any given week. So this week before vacation, I've decided to do a "story dump"....I'll clear out some of the oldest stuff with a minimum of commentary.
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The worsening situation in Egypt is creating a difficult situation both inside and outside of that country. It's made for strange bedfellows from a U.S. political perspective. It's created almost a civil war situation in Egypt. The problem is that after last year's ouster of Mubarak, Morsi was democratically elected by a (slim) majority of Egyptians. A year later they have buyer's remorse, and use a non-democratic method to oust him. Those here and abroad that support the democratic process are understandably concerned of the precedent this is setting. Those who distrust the Muslim Brotherhood are supporting his ouster. Those who abhor the suppression of civil rights and the rights of people over government suppression are supporting his ouster. In U.S. political circles, this has led to fractures within typically homogeneous political parties.
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Tit for Dat
Author: velveeta jones
Date: 07/07/2013 14:22:29
Velveeta is happy to be behind the keyboard again. After some minor flooding and some travel and some major work. Whew, it's been a hellava couple of weeks! What's been happening? I hear there's this upstart in Texas who stood up and fought off some heinous bill. But, it must have been a very fair bill that was being debated, right? I mean it was put forth by republicans so of course it was all about republican things like freedom™, Liberty, God, Flags, and of course small Government. Right?
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Morning, comrades. I'm sure your favorite local right-wing outrage generator has had this story on heavy rotation for the last 24 hours now. Our secretary of state rather quietly spend a few hours on his boat over the long Fourth of July weekend.
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Friday -- Hit me!
Author: Raine
Date: 07/05/2013 13:10:36
It's probably a slow day for a lot of people -- are you at work today? How was your holiday? I'm sifting through the news and seeing a lot of the same stuff... For now here is a video of sleepy animals... Continue reading...
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Eleven score and 17 years ago, our forefathers declared their independence from the monarchy in England. The colonies had endured decades of rule which seemed only interested in using them as labor to enrich the home country. The residents in England had a say in the governance, but the colonists did not. Thus, they ended up getting the short end of any regulations. This was the root of the "no taxation without representation" mantra that ultimately resulted in the colonies declaring their freedom from England 237 years ago today. After the war ended and we had won our freedom, a framework was put into place to create a representative democracy, where people elected a congress and president to speak and act for them. It's been tweaked a little through the years, but it is still the framework we use to this day. The problem with democracy is that there is always a minority on the losing end of election day that is not happy. Any alternative, however, is worse, so we have live with the reality that there will always be those unhappy with the government.
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There was some plane drama yesterday: PARIS — Bolivia's president left Europe for home on Wednesday in a flurry of diplomatic drama after his flight was rerouted and delayed in Austria, allegedly because of suspicion he was trying to spirit NSA leaker Edward Snowden to Latin America.
Bolivia accused the United States of ordering European countries to block President Evo Morales' flight from their airspace, and accused European governments of "aggression" by thwarting the flight.
However it's still unclear whether European countries did block the plane and, if so, why. French, Spanish and Portuguese officials all said Wednesday the plane was allowed to cross their territory. This is a pertinent part: Continue reading...
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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec
Date: 07/02/2013 10:14:36
Good morning. Today is our 4,286th day in Afghanistan. We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com: US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,241 Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,098 We find this morning's cost of war passing through: $ 1, 452, 481, 900, 000 .00
Continue reading...
62 comments )
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