Mental Retardation
Justice Department seeking lawyers with ‘mental retardation’
In its ostensible attempt to create a nondiscriminatory application process, the Department of Justice is inviting candidates with "mental retardation" to pursue attorney posts.
A DOJ job listing at its official Web site reveals that its Civil Rights Division is seeking 10 "experienced" trial attorneys for its Voting Section in Washington, D.C. and is encouraging "qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply."
The targeted disabilities it mentions include "mental retardation" and "mental illness," among others such as blindness and deafness.
This is so wrong and lovely on so many levels.
Better Off Deadbeat: Craig Cunningham Has a Simple Solution for Getting Bill Collectors Off His Back. He Sues Them.
Cunningham armed himself with this knowledge, and the next time a debt collector called, the trap was set.
It didn't take long. Cunningham had canceled a home alarm service with ADT Security after two months, and the company had billed him a $450 early termination fee, which he disputed. ADT sent his account to Equinox Financial Management Solutions, a third-party debt collector. The collection agency sent him a letter asking that he call back immediately. He dialed, armed with a voice recorder.
"Can you garnish my wages if I don't pay?" he asked.
"Yes," the voice on the other end of the line said.
"Can you put a lien on my house?"
"Yes."
Wrong answers. Turns out, Texas consumer rights laws are some of the most consumer-friendly in the country. And according to a federal consumer protection law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), debt collectors are prohibited from threatening legal action that would violate state laws. In this case, garnishing wages or putting a lien on Cunningham's house would violate the Texas Debt Collection Act.
Cunningham knew he had a good enough case to file a lawsuit against the debt collection agency, and for his first lawsuit, he decided to enlist the help of a lawyer. Two months later, he had a check in his hand for $1,000.
"It's like discovering fire," says Cunningham, thumbing through the stack of lawsuit papers on his table.
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Like Cunningham, Smith now armed himself with voice recorders and began keeping meticulous financial files. His file cabinet grew quickly. "I mean there's nothing I don't document now and that's probably the best thing a consumer can do."
Find out the laws in your state and take action. This is not a bad idea.
Detroit, Criminalizing Poverty, and our Sad State of Affairs
If you thought this was bad:
SLUMS OF DETROIT: A LOOK AT THE HEART OF AMERICA’S 2ND MOST DESERTED CITY
Then check out this:
Criminalizing Poverty For Profit: Local Government's New Debtors Prisons
In other words, we are starting to lock away by criminalizing their situation. The Nazi's locked away Jewish people. This time it's going to be the poor. I'm not saying that being in poverty means you can do anything against the law but many of the laws we have here in the United States are aimed at a thriving economy with a solid middle class. This balance is starting to change. Our society is starting to reduce away from such standard. We don't have the money to criminalize petty actions any more. Locking these people away is costing much more than the value they add to the society by being free, abet irresponsible.
The banks and government are making us poor through inflation (and bail-outs). They continue to suck out our wealth to fund impossible ideals whether through taxes or inflation, they are the same. We need to stop this idea that both parties have of big government whether for the people or the corporations. Big is just not possible right now. Not with the Federal Reserve and Banking system stealing the wealth of the citizens by inflation and bailouts. We cannot afford to keep this up. Not with us, nor on the international scene.
This is some serious shit people. Every day America is looking more like Collapsing Fascist State: from the corporate control that we can CLEARLY see in the Health System Reform Bill changes, to criminalizing the poor, to perpetual war started on false pretenses, to the over-funding of the military industrial complex, to collapsing states, the commitment and preferential treatment for corporation and especially banks.
This whole system stinks. It smells to high hell of control, rigging, "cronyism," trickle up economics, and, well, fascism. Even the markets seem (in a few cases, are known) to be rigged.
The banking crisis: Till debt us do part
Some governments are borrowing so much that markets are becoming wary and may stop lending to them. Could this be the next leg of the crisis?
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The big fear is that, if economies such as America and Britain were downgraded by the agencies and their borrowing costs rose, the effect would be felt throughout the credit markets, making it more expensive for businesses and emerging-market economies to borrow. It could set back the global economic recovery.It is not all one-way traffic. Some economies in Asia and Latin America have received upgrades or are about to get them. So far, however, they are outnumbered by countries facing downgrades.
If we get down graded, will the Chinese stop taking our fake dollars? What will happen to 95% of all products in Walmart?
Is Sovereign Debt the New Subprime?
To varying degrees, Greece, Spain, Ukraine, Austria, Latvia, Mexico are just a handful of the nations viewed at risk of defaulting. Meanwhile, Dubai only just avoided a similar fate thanks to a $10 billion bailout from their oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi.
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Few investors seriously worry about an imminent default by the U.S. or the U.K. But with worries about Dubai's ability to pay its debts shaking markets across the globe in recent weeks, investors are on guard about which other countries might be in dire financial straights.
Who ever wrote this article was a moron. What happens in the future when the U.S or U.K. are imminently going to default? It may not be soon but we have $50-$60 Trillion in obligations coming due and that money isn't going to be from taxes or foreign governments or banks. The U.S. is too big to fail... This time we don't have anyone to bail us out.
Blackwater (Xe) is headed by CIA Asset
Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy
Erik Prince, recently outed as a participant in a C.I.A. assassination program, has gained notoriety as head of the military-contracting juggernaut Blackwater, a company dogged by a grand-jury investigation, bribery accusations, and the voluntary-manslaughter trial of five ex-employees, set for next month. Lashing back at his critics, the wealthy former navy seal takes the author inside his operation in the U.S. and Afghanistan, revealing the role he’s been playing in America’s war on terror.
Is this enough evidence that the government is the corporation and the corporation is the government? This is fascism. Thank you Vanity Fair for exposing this monstrosity of anti-capitalism.
Feds ‘Pinged’ Sprint GPS Data 8 Million Times Over a Year
Feds ‘Pinged’ Sprint GPS Data 8 Million Times Over a Year
Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with customer location data more than 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009, according to a company manager who disclosed the statistic at a non-public interception and wiretapping conference in October.
The manager also revealed the existence of a previously undisclosed web portal that Sprint provides law enforcement to conduct automated “pings” to track users. Through the website, authorized agents can type in a mobile phone number and obtain global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the phone.
The revelations, uncovered by blogger and privacy activist Christopher Soghoian, have spawned questions about the number of Sprint customers who have been under surveillance, as well as the legal process agents followed to obtain such data.
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But he said that a single surveillance order against a lone target could generate thousands of GPS “pings” to the cell phone, as the police track the subject’s movements over the course of days or weeks.
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He cites a telecom attorney named Al Gidari who claimed at a talk last year that each of the major wireless carriers received about 100 requests a week for customer-location data. At 100 requests a week for each of the top four wireless carriers, the total should be around 20,000 requests a year.
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There are four circumstances under which law enforcement agents can use the Sprint website and obtain GPS data: 1) under the authority of a court order; 2) to track the location of a customer who has made a 911 call; 3) in an emergency situation, such as tracking someone lost in the wilderness or trying to locate an abducted child or hostage; 4) with a customer’s consent.
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In the case of court orders, Taylor said agents are required to provide Sprint with the order, after which the company provisions the law enforcement account to allow an agency to track the targeted phone number. Court orders cover a 60-day period, and agents can do automated pings to obtain real-time GPS data every three minutes throughout that 60-day period
You should note that 8m divided by 20k is 400 pings per request. There are 1440 minutes each regular day so 480 pings per day per request are allowed. This means that law enforcement is capturing almost a days worth of GPS data per request.
Do you want to bet that AT&T and all the other wireless operators have a similar system? While this is a shocking headline, the numbers aren't horrible. This is what is shocking, "authorized agents can type in a mobile phone number and obtain global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the phone";
What is amazing is the potential for abuse. The phone companies, I'm sure, don't just allow access to your present location right now but have a historical record of where you were. What kind of access do law enforment agents have to that data as well?
32% Inflation in UCLA Tuition Causes Near Riots (14 Arrested, 1 Tasered)
This is HUGE. This is why:
Recession Still Causing Trouble for States
Although the recovery package is mitigating states’ fiscal problems, states are continuing to cut services like education and health care as they implement 2010 budgets. Additional cuts are likely for 2011. To date at least 42 states have addressed their shortfalls by reducing services to their residents, including some of their most vulnerable families and individuals. Cuts to state services not only harm vulnerable residents but also worsen the recession by reducing overall economic activity.
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At least 48 states addressed or are facing shortfalls in their budgets for the new fiscal year totaling $190 billion or 28 percent of state budgets.
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To keep pace with the cost of services, state revenues must grow. But overall revenues last year were essentially flat and have weakened dramatically this year. The U.S. Census Bureau reports state tax collections fell 17 percent in the second quarter of 2009 compared with last year — the worst decline ever.Sales taxes are the largest source of state tax revenue, and they are declining due to the fall in both personal consumption and business purchases. Income taxes and other taxes are also falling as wages and investment income decline. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, income tax collections during the second quarter of this year fell by 28 percent compared to the same period last year. Continued job losses will depress revenues further.
Basically, all state funded education institutions are looking down the barrel of this gun. This could be further exasperated by any corrections in the market that impact school endowments.
The point is that all institutions, companies, and individuals need to scale back. Our wealth is evaporating. It is being squandered on failed bailouts to failed companies. These actions are not creating jobs and this directly affects those in higher education because when the students are done with school... there are no places left for them except back home. Is an education worth it at this point? Being straddled with student debt for the next 30 years is not going to create wealth in the US.
This is just the beginning people. Things can only get worse as our dollar is intentionally or unintentionally devalued.
If the federal government decided tomorrow that it won't be paying interest on its own debt money to the Federal Reserve, there would be enough cash for US government to finance all the state deficits twice over without any impact. We could also stop these pointless wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Drugs, etc) and pay for the state deficits 6-10 times over without having to monetize the gap. Also, instead of supporting fascism in America, would could let capitalism run free and let failed companies actually fail like they are supposed to. That bailout money could have financed state deficits 6-8 times over. If you use the real projections of $10 trillion that would be 100 times over.
What do we have to show for the bailouts? Well, a good number of those companies are going bad again and rightly so... their failed business model was never fixed with the bailouts. They only got some limited life support. The rest of us get our daily prozac from TV. Awesome.
Mean while, we are trying to stop the actual, and direly needed, correction. If it takes a depression to fix things then I'm all for it. The longer we put off the pain the worse it will be. If Greenspan stopped making bubbles in the 90s then that resulting recession would have been worse but we wouldn't be in this situation.
So, my heart goes out to the students at UCLA... and, soon, all the students in America.
Billionaires Plunder Alabama, U.S. Troops Occupy Towns… Illegally
As the Billionaires Plunder Alabama, U.S. Troops Occupy Towns… Illegally
One of the creepiest details to emerge in the shooting rampage were reports that troops from nearby Fort Rucker were brought into Samson [by police request] and other surrounding areas to patrol the streets. This is a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, every freedom-loving American’s worst nightmare.
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Indeed. For a lot of Americans, the sight of troops occupying their towns is their worst nightmare come true — part of the reason that America came into existence was to create a country where this sort of thing would never happen, even if the Army’s sole intent was to be a good neighbor and help old ladies cross the streets.
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But what even the right-wing anti-government people won’t report is the true reason why the Army was called out in the first place, something that goes right back to the cause of the shooting rampage: billionaire exploitation of the local Alabamans, not just by the chicken oligarch, but from higher up the predator food chain — Wall Street banking behemoth JP Morgan Chase.You see, thanks to a combination of corporate-tax holidays (which reduce local revenues), billionaire greed like the sort that bankrupted Pilgrim’s Pride, and Wall Street investment-banking scams on places like Alabama that result in corrupted local officials and bankrupted municipalities, counties and states — now, there’s no money left to fund local police forces
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Yeah, why bother commenting to the public when you own the bastards? JPMorgan, which took $25 billion in direct bailout money and tens of billions more in backdoor subsidies and handouts, just posted a massive $3.6 billion quarterly profit, and has set aside at least $11.1 billion for management bonuses. Meanwhile, Alabamans can’t afford to flush their toilets.This is what inequality looks like. From Wall Street, it must look extremely appealing; for the rest of America, it’s a nightmare that’s only getting worse.
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The state’s response is right out of the Central America banana republic playbook: When there’s no money left for the people, send in the troops.
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In light of all of this, the Army’s brief, illegal occupation of a string of towns in Alabama this past spring no longer looks like a freak one-off, but rather a logical progression in the ongoing billionaire plunder of America.
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Now you can see why Alabamans are loading up on so many weapons. That makes sense. Now they need to understand who the real enemy is. Not the make-believe liberal bogeymen of their nightmares. Rather, Alabamans should focus their anger on the real-world billionaires who are making this country a living hell.
This is the America we live in today. It may be just one place now but this could very quickly and painfully spread. Are you ready?
Copyright Treaty Is Policy Laundering at Its Finest
Copyright Treaty Is Policy Laundering at Its Finest
The blogosphere is abuzz over an apparently leaked document showing the United States trying to push its controversial DMCA-style notice-and-takedown process on the world. But since Threat Level already lives in the land of the DMCA, or Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we’re more bothered by the fact that the U.S. proposal goes far beyond that 1998 law, and would require Congress to alter the DMCA in a manner even more hostile to consumers.
At issue is the internet section of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being developed under a cloak of secrecy by dozens of countries. The leaked document is a three-page European Commission memo written by an unnamed EU official, which purports to summarizes a private briefing given in September by U.S. trade officials.
The language in the Sept. 30 memo shows the United States wants ISPs around the world to punish suspected, repeat downloaders with a system of “graduated response” — code for a three-strikes policy that results in the customer eventually being disconnected from the internet with the ISP alone deciding what constitutes infringement and fair use.
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The Obama administration has been obsessively secretive about the draft ACTA treaty — even, at one point, claiming national security could be jeopardized if the proposed treaty’s working documents were disclosed to the public. Now, it seems, we know what the administration is hiding.
Obama hasn’t asked Congress to implement a three-strike policy, which could anger consumers and watchdog groups. But if the administration gets three strikes written into ACTA, and the United States signs and ratifies the treaty, Congress would be obliged to change the DMCA to comply with it, while the administration throws its hands in the air and says, “It wasn’t our idea! It’s that damn treaty!”
That practice is common enough to have a name: policy laundering.
This is WIRED magazine damning the Copyright Treaty and the Obama Administration.
When will we learn that the Republicrats are screwing us?
Britain’s Protesters Rebranded “Domestic Extremists”
Britain's Protesters Rebranded "Domestic Extremists"
In "Mind Your Tweets: CIA and European Union Building Social Networking Surveillance System," Antifascist Calling explored the trend by security agencies in Europe and the United States to build political dossiers on dissidents by data mining their electronic communications.
Taking a page from America's political police force, the FBI, the British state is beefing-up an ever-growing watch list of "domestic extremists."
Investigative journalists Paul Lewis, Rob Evans and Matthew Taylor provided chilling details how police and corporate spies "are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases."
As the journalists point out, the phrase "domestic extremism" is not a lawful term. In fact, the widespread use of the term is a demonstration of how powerful constituencies have perverted law, thus creating their own all-embracing interpretation of the role of protest in a democratic society.
Where to even start... damn!