Be INFORMED

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Government Seeks New Internet Laws

 

    All of the major law enforcement agencies in the United States want new laws for the internet in order to track terrorist and their activities more easily since those groups are now using the net more frequently to communicate with each other. So folks, look out because we are about to get fucked by the government once again in regards to our civil liberties.

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 unscramble encrypted messages.                 New York Times

    I am a very heavy user of Skype and for many years governments all over the world have been trying to get this p2p to make it easier to track communications on the network.

   The Barack Bush Obama administration plans on introducing a bill to our lawmakers next year, one which will no doubt have the backing of the Republicans on the other side of the isle.

James X. Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet policy group, said the proposal had “huge implications” and challenged “fundamental elements of the Internet revolution” — including its decentralized design.

“They are really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique, and now pervasive, architecture of the Internet,” he said. “They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function.”

   One of the joys of the digital age is that law enforcement can track you down at the snap of a finger if they have the authorization to do so. Do you remember those illegal wiretaps that the Bush administration did with the help of ATT? Can you imagine the information that could be gotten on the net with the help of a company such as Comcast?  I can, and it is a scary thought.

“We’re talking about lawfully authorized intercepts,” said Valerie E. Caproni, general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We’re not talking expanding authority. We’re talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.”

Investigators have been concerned for years that changing communications technology could damage their ability to conduct surveillance. In recent months, officials from the F.B.I., the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the White House and other agencies have been meeting to develop a proposed solution.

    Where have I heard similar words before?

    Read more on this

 

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Republican Supporters Out In Full Force To Keep Bush Tax Cuts Going…

 

…and they even have a few of their former wannabe presidents out in the countryside with their petitions to Congress urging them to not let those cuts expire at the end of the year.

   Fred Thompson (remember him?),the man who did for campaigning what George Bush did for reading, has an urgent video message posted over at The League of American Voters telling you how much your taxes will go up if Bush’s bullshit cuts are allowed to die. We get to hear that with an economy that is in such bad shape that now is not the time to be forcing a tax increase on the American public.

   I have not had time on this Sunday morning to verify the accuracy of the numbers which the league has on their post, but here they are:

  • 35% bracket which will increase to 39.6%
  • 33% bracket which will increase to 36%
  • 28% bracket which will increase to 31%
  • 25% bracket which will increase to 28%
  • 10% and 15% will condense to 15%

Whereas the capital gains tax will increase from 15% to 20%

Whereas the tax on dividends will increase from 15% to 39.6%

   One more time for those of you who may have your heads stuck up your asses. Those Republican tax cuts that they all seem to love so much are partially responsible for our current economic bag of shit in the first place. How many times have you not read,or seen some of the results from the cuts, which have trickled down from the federal level to your neighborhood? You local news stations and the local papers call them “budget cuts” when they should be called “tax cuts.”

    It is because of said cuts that the budgets are being slashed in city’s and town all over this country. Those cuts are responsible for many police departments having to fire or lay off their officers,as is the case here.

Dow Constantine, the county executive, directed the sheriff’s office to cut $7 million from its budget to help close a $60 million hole in the county budget. The cuts in the sheriff’s office include laying off 28 deputies, which according to Maple Valley City Manager David Johnston, could cause serious problems for the city.

Maple Valley, like Covington, contracts city police services from King County and Johnston said the city has been able to maintain a smaller police force because Precinct No. 3 is located in the city. The city manager said on top of the layoffs, the precinct is on the chopping block and is to be closed by the end of 2011, if not sooner.

   This means less services and more concern about public safety.

   If you have an I.Q. over 1, you’ll be pushing for those cuts to be left to die a painful death at the end of the year. If not, then you and I both will be going through more pain than we care to go through.