Government

U.S. Regulatory System “Stymied by Special Interests”

June 13, 2013 Carey L. Biron, www.ipsnews.net Educate! Corporatism, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Government

“[The U.S.] regulatory system is frequently subject to undue influence from regulated industries during the development and review of standards and rules,” a new CSS report, released Tuesday, states. That system “is not as responsive in the face of new knowledge and new risks as the … public has a right to expect. Instead, it is plagued by a number of problems that make it difficult for federal regulatory agencies to react to identifiable hazards in a timely, proactive fashion.” CSS is an umbrella of nearly 150 state and national business, labour, science, health, advocacy and environment groups. Nearly four decades after U.S. public interest regulation began in earnest – covering issues such as public health, safety and the environment – the report points to a slew of regulations that have already been approved by legislators but currently remain mired in judicial or executive approval processes.

All the Infrastructure a Tyrant Would Need, Courtesy of Bush and Obama

June 13, 2013 Conor Friedersdorf, www.theatlantic.com Educate! Government, NSA

This isn't a argument about how tyranny is inevitable. It is an attempt to grab America by the shoulders, give it a good shake, and say: Yes, it could happen here, with enough historical amnesia, carelessness, and bad luck. We're not special. Our voters won't always pick good men and women to represent us. Some good women will be corrupted by power, and some bad men will slip through. Other democracies have degraded into quasi-authoritarian states; they didn't expect that to happen until it was too late to stop. We have safeguards to prevent us from following in their footstep. Stop casting them off because you fear al-Qaeda. Stop tempting fate.

Apathy: The Ultimate Enemy

June 13, 2013 Sibel Edmonds, www.boilingfrogspost.com Organize! Corporatism, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Government, Human Rights, Solidarity, Worker Rights and Jobs

I find myself standing alone when I now answer the questions directed at me following the endless atrocities and scandals. I am no longer the provider of the popular answer. My answer is one of the most unpopular, if not the most, in the eyes and ears of the public. I accept the consequences. I may never be sought as an opinion-provider after the never-ending breaking news on ever-expanding and continuing scandals. And that’s okay. Because I know there will be no hope of any meaningful action or changes so long as we stick with our national pride. The enemy has been us; we the people. We the majority – in denial. Our national apathy. Our large majority’s denial, indifference; apathy. Apathy is a must ingredient for any police state, authoritarian regime, dictatorship, for abuses of power, for corruption, national atrocities, genocide … Some ingredients may be decreased, increased or substituted, but one key ingredient remains constant: Public Apathy.

86 Civil Liberties Groups and Internet Companies Demand an End to NSA Spying

June 12, 2013 Rainey Reitman, www.eff.org Resist! Government, Human Rights, NSA

In an open letter to lawmakers sent today, the groups call for a congressional investigatory committee, similar to the Church Committee of the 1970s. The letter also demands legal reforms to rein in domestic spying and demands that public officials responsible for this illegal surveillance are held accountable for their actions. The letter denounces the NSA’s spying program as illegal, noting: "This type of blanket data collection by the government strikes at bedrock American values of freedom and privacy. This dragnet surveillance violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which protect citizens’ right to speak and associate anonymously and guard against unreasonable searches and seizures. . ." The letter was accompanied by the launch of StopWatching.us, a global petition calling on Congress to provide a public accounting of the United States' domestic spying capabilities and to bring an end to illegal surveillance.

Hong Kongers to Protest in Support of Edward Snowden

June 12, 2013 Agence France-Presse, www.rawstory.com Resist! Government, NSA

Up to a thousand supporters of US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden are expected to stage a protest in Hong Kong on Saturday to call on the government to protect him, organisers told AFP. The protesters, set to include lawmakers, will march first to the US consulate and then government headquarters, urging the administration of the semiautonomous territory to not extradite the former CIA technical assistant who blew the lid on a vast electronic surveillance programme. “We should protect him. We are calling on the HK government to defend freedom of speech,” Tom Grundy, a rally spokesman said Wednesday.

Why Did Edward Snowden Go to Hong Kong?

June 12, 2013 Dave Lindorff, www.thiscantbehappening.net Educate! Government, NSA

A lot of people in the US media are asking why America's most famous whistleblower, 29-year old Edward Snowden, hied himself off to the city state of Hong Kong, a wholly owned subsidiary of the People's Republic of China, to seek at least temporary refuge. Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the US, they say. And as for China, which controls the international affairs of its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, while granting it local autonomy to govern its domestic affairs, its leaders "may not want to irritate the US" at a time when the Chinese economy is stumbling. These people don't have much understanding of either Hong Kong or of China. As someone who has spent almost seven years in China and Hong Kong, let me offer my thoughts about why Snowden, obviously a very savvy guy despite his lack of a college education, went where he did.

History Teaches That We Have the Power to Transform the Nation, Here’s How.

June 12, 2013 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.truth-out.org Strategize! Government, Human Rights, Mutual Aid, Solidarity

The fact is, United States and world histories show that an organized and mobilized populace is what has always caused transformational change. This history is not taught in our education system or emphasized in the heroes we idolize in our culture, but it is so significant that it cannot be hidden from view. The country could not operate if the people refused to participate in its corrupt systems. The ultimate power is with us, if we let go of fear and embrace it. Now that there is a history of more than 100 years of modern resistance movements, there is data to show what works and what doesn't. As a result, we can develop a vision, a strategic plan and tactics that make success more likely than ever before.

G8 Protests in London: Carnival Against Capitalism

June 11, 2013 Press Association, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk Resist! Corporatism, Finance and the Economy, Government

Riot vans and a strong police presence were deployed in London today amid demonstrations ahead of the G8 conference. Around 100 police officers were in Soho, central London, where protesters with banners were believed to be occupying a former police station in Beak Street. The move by police came as protesters from the group Stop G8 planned a "Carnival Against Capitalism" in central London, ahead of the G8 conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There were reports on Twitter of strong police presences in the Oxford Circus and Regent Street area of central London and Golden Square, close to Beak Street. The leaders of the world's eight wealthiest countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are due to meet at the luxury Lough Erne resort in Co Fermanagh for the two-day conference next week.

ACLU Sues Obama Administration Over NSA Surveillance

June 11, 2013 Jacob Chamberlain, www.commondreams.org Resist! Government, NSA

Following this past week's groundbreaking NSA leaks=, the ACLU has now filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the agency's vast phone spying practices—a move that could pose an eventual Supreme Court challenge to the NSA's now exposed "dragnet" surveillance network. As a Verizon customer, the ACLU—who is known as an active critic and opponent of U.S. government secrecy and overreach—was targeted by the NSA, and has thus had their ability to "engage in legitimate communications with clients, journalists, advocacy partners, and others," undermined, the ACLU argues. The ACLU says the unprecedented 'metadata' now known to be collected by the NSA, "gives the government a comprehensive record of our associations and public movements, revealing a wealth of detail about our familial, political, professional, religious and intimate associations," adding that it “is likely to have a chilling effect on whistle-blowers and others who would otherwise contact” the ACLU.

Tell Congress to Stop Illegal NSA and FBI Surveillance!

June 11, 2013 a coalition of civil rights organizations, www.stopwatching.us Petitions and Online Actions Government, NSA

- GO STRAIGHT TO THE PETITION HERE - The revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance apparatus, if true, represent a stunning abuse of our basic rights. We demand the U.S. Congress reveal the full extent of the NSA's spying programs. We write to express our concern about recent reports published in the Guardian and the Washington Post, and acknowledged by the Obama Administration, which reveal secret spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) on phone records and Internet activity of people in the United States.

Student Debt Activists Want to Go Further Than Obama Proposals

June 11, 2013 Tyler Kingkade, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Education, Finance and the Economy, Government, Human Rights

An April 10 joint statement from several student advocacy groups -- OurTime.org, Rock the Vote, Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, National Campus Leadership Council, U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Young Invincibles -- voiced united opposition to the Obama plan. Depending on the type of loan students took out, their interest rate would fall to between 2.74 and 5.74 percent under Obama's plan, lower than the current rates settled between 3.4 and 7.9 percent. But as The Atlantic points out, rates could still climb to between 8 and 12 percent, putting federal loans on par with private student loan rates, which makes the plan unpopular

NY Times Belittles Glenn Greenwald After Surveillance Scoops

June 10, 2013 Yves Smith, www.nakedcapitalism.com Educate! Glenn Greenwald, Government, Media

The Grey Lady roused itself to profile Glenn Greenwald after his blockbuster stories of the last two days: the first on a secret court order now in effect for Verizon to provide the NSA on all telephone records in its systems, the second on the PRISM program, which has given the NSA direct access to servers of information giants including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, since 2007. But the piece is mean-spirited, underplaying Greenwald’s credentials and coming too close for comfort to character sniping.

Occupy Oklahoma Relief: Mutual Aid Without the Bureaucracy

June 9, 2013 Zakk Flash, www.faulkingtruth.com Organize! Food and Agriculture, Government, Mutual Aid, Solidarity

Money sent to the big players was ending up in Washington, DC. Certainly some would be spent on affected people in Oklahoma, but the vast majority would be sent to other areas or spent on overhead, administration costs. At last count, the Red Cross was still sitting on $110 million allocated for Superstorm Sandy. While some NGOs have done some fantastic work , Oklahoma communities know their needs best. There had to be a better way. OpOK Relief stepped in to fill the gaps as part of the People’s Response. As a convergence of Occupy groups, anarchists, libertarian socialists, Food Not Bombs, Rainbow Family, IWW, teachers, social workers, and non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic relief groups.

Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations Steps Forward

June 9, 2013 Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras www.guardian.co.uk Resist! Government, Human Rights, NSA, Privacy, Surveillance

The Guardian has revealed the identity of the NSA whistleblower at his request: "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong." Edward Snowden is one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He added: "My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." He has "a very comfortable life" that included a salary of roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves. "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."

Two Thousand Rally for Bradley Manning at Ft. Meade

June 2, 2013 Bradley Manning Support Network www.bradleymanning.org Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Government, Human Rights, Wars and Militarism

Nearly two thousand supporters of US Army PFC Bradley Manning rallied and marched on Fort Meade, Maryland, this afternoon for the young whistle-blower. Under a sweltering sun, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg, former political prisoner-turned-human rights advocate Sarah Shourd, LGBT activist and US Army LT Dan Choi, and retired US Army Col. Ann Wright addressed supporters at the Llewellyn Gate, nearest the military courtroom. The demonstration, which lasted several hours, comes two days before Manning’s trial is set to begin at Ft. Meade, on June 3, and three years after his arrest. The government is charging Manning with indirectly “aiding the enemy” for releasing hundreds of thousands of war logs, diplomatic cables, and military videos to the transparency website WikiLeaks.

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