September 2010
10 posts
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U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the... →
“Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and...
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Zapping Inmates To Control Them: Harmless Or... →
“Three years ago, the Department of Defense demonstrated a bigger version of the device it considered using. During one simulation, it repelled a pretend group of protesters with the “Active Denial System” direct energy weapon mounted on a military vehicle.
These weapons are always sold as safe, they’re new, they’re high tech, nobody gets hurt. We heard that...
Unemployed? You Can Have a Job, But Not a Living... →
The New York Times reported last week that many who were laid off during the recession are finding work, but that work doesn’t pay enough to make ends meet. A study by the National Employment Law Project shows that of jobs that have been added to the economy since the recession, a disproportionate amount are low wage (pdf), paying less than $15 an hour. And while any work is something, that kind...
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America’s History of Fear - NYTimes.com →
“Screeds against Catholics from the 19th century sounded just like the invective today against the Not-at-Ground-Zero Mosque. The starting point isn’t hatred but fear: an alarm among patriots that newcomers don’t share their values, don’t believe in democracy, and may harm innocent Americans.
Followers of these movements against Irish, Germans, Italians, Chinese and other immigrants...
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WatchNouriel Roubini: Double-Dip Odds Now Greater Than 40%, GDP To Be ‘Pathetically Lousy’ (VIDEO)
Roubini argues that the U.S. will likely enter in to a deflationary spiral similar to that of the Japanese economy in the 1990s. He predicts that aggregate demand will continue to fall throughout 2010 and that companies will not begin investing or hiring new workers because there is already...
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The truths about Iraq that Obama couldn't utter -... →
“He could not say, for instance, that the Iraqis are broadly resentful of the U.S. presence in their country and have wished to see us go for years. He could not say what even the most enthusiastic supporters of the Iraq war have been forced to admit: namely that peace in Iraq is tenuous and bloody civil conflict could soon break out again.
He could not say that the predictions of the...
