-
-
related tags:
- CensorSHIT
- Internet Censorship
- H.R.3261
- s.968
- Protect IP act
- SOPA
- Freedom of Speech
- Representative Lamar S. Smith
- pipa
- Stop Online Piracy Act
- Censor
- Senator Patrick J. Leahy
- Media censorship
- Net Neutrality
- Free Speech
- Censored
- blacklist
- Internet
- Banned
- Freedom of the Press
- January 18 2012
- China
- First Amendment
- Keep the internet free
- Government Censorship
- Combating Military Counterfeits Act of 2011
- Project Censored
- Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
- Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011
- book ban
- Save the Internet
- Senator Patrick Leahy
- S.1228
- Press Freedom
- 1st Amendment
- Free Press
- Freedom
- Media
- Wikileaks
- Patrick Leahy
- FCC
- Thought Crimes
- Gorki Aguila
- test1
- Protect IP
- Porno Para Ricardo
- Internet Freedom
- Censored News
- Net
- Journalism
tagged w/ Censorship
-
Censorship in China: Crackdown on bloggers as rumours of coup swirl
Six people are held and 16 websites shut down as political crisis grips Beijing after sacking
China has intensified online censorship by closing 16 websites, taking the toughest steps yet against major microblogs and detaining six people for spreading rumours of a coup amid Beijing's most serious political crisis for years.
The moves underline official anxieties ahead of this year's leadership transition, particularly since the sacking of Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai led to widespread speculation about infighting at the top.
As the mood on microblogs grew increasingly febrile, there were even claims of an attempted coup in the Chinese capital – complete with photographs of military vehicles that turned out to be from a parade three years ago.
State news agency Xinhua said Beijing police detained six people for spreading rumours of "military vehicles entering Beijing and something wrong going on in Beijing". Citing a spokesman for the state internet information office, it said the claims were "fabricated by some lawless people" and had been a bad influence on the public.
The office also closed 16 websites for allegedly spreading the rumours.
The spokesman said that Sina and Tencent, the organisations which operate China's most popular versions of Twitter, and which each have hundreds of millions of microbloggers, had pledged to strengthen their managements after being "criticised and punished". The two firms have disabled their comment functions for three days.
Internet users have become increasingly bold in their willingness to discuss current affairs and even sensitive political news, prompting officials to seek new ways of reining them in. From two weeks ago real name registration is supposed to be in force for all users of the Sina and Tencent services, although several users say they have posted material without having given their details.
"By falsely packaging lies and speculation as 'truth' and 'existence', online rumours undermine the morale of the public, and, if out of control, they will seriously disturb the public order and affect social stability," said a commentary in the People's Daily, the official Communist party newspaper.
"Tackling 'rumours' is the way they are sugar-coating this intensified control. It seems relentless," said David Bandurski, of Hong Kong University's China Media Project. "This is a phenomenon we will probably see through the rest of the year. For China this is the ultimate sensitive year.
"I have no doubt they will keep exploring ways to disrupt the conversation on [microblogs] as much as they have to [by] keeping control of discussion on sensitive issues and speculation, some of it well-grounded."
With original posts still allowed, tens of thousands of microbloggers left comments attacking the decision.
Investor Wang Ran told his 1.5 million followers over the weekend: "What happened today reminds us again how important, imperative and remote is the use of law to rule China.
"Without using law to rule China, we can't avoid danger, or absurdity."
Property tycoon Zhang Xin, who has more than 3 million followers, wrote: "What is the best way to stop 'rumours'? It is transparency and openness. The more speech is discouraged, the more rumours there will be."
"The underlying problem is that you can't get the truth out of the government, so you might as well believe stuff flying around on the internet," agreed Jeremy Goldkorn, who runs the Danwei website on Chinese media. "But what this does is remind everyone who is in charge … Sina and Tencent are going to be pretty cautious and I think will be stepping up censorship: this is a shot across the bows."
Some have asked why rumours about senior political leaders – particularly Bo – have circulated for so long recently, given that censors are usually quick to delete such speculation.
"I do get the sense that some things have been tolerated that perhaps in other times would not be. Certainly, it seems it's been allowed that enough has been circulated about Bo Xilai to blacken his name," said Goldkorn.
In a separate move, police in Beijing said they had arrested more than 1,000 suspects, deleted more than 208,000 "harmful" online messages and punished 70 internet companies that defied warnings in a crackdown on web-related crimes. The spokesman said that the "Spring Breeze" campaign focused on information relating to smuggling firearms, drugs and toxic chemicals, as well as the sale of human organs, counterfeit certificates and invoices, and trade in personal data.Six people are held and 16 websites shut down as political crisis grips Beijing after... more-
- BRAVATRAVELS
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 3 comments
-
-
Hackers Group Anonymous Launches Anti-CISPA Plan
In protest against the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) recently voted on by the House of Representatives, the notorious hackers/hacktivist group “Anonymous” has released a video on YouTube outlining its plan for a series of citizen protests and boycotts they are calling Operation Defense, Phase II.
Posting under the YouTube username of “TheAnonMessage” the video bears the following warning in the description:
CISPA…
Your creators, supporters, and counterparts have become sworn enemies of Anonymous. Expect us.
Emergency Action Authorized.
Follow @TheAnonMessage for the latest updates.
#OpDefense #CISPAction
Rather than participating in DDoS-style cyber attacks as they have in the past, the group is opting for a more traditional form of making their voices heard, since they acknowledge the former is no longer as effective due to companies upgrading their web servers to better withstand these types of threats.
Anonymous is calling on the participants of Occupy Wall Street and similar movements, as well as all regular citizens who value the security of their online information and freedoms on the internet to participate in the demonstrations, scheduled to take place throughout the entire months of May and June, beginning today, May 1st, when many workers across the country are already holding “May Day” general strikes and demonstrations for International Worker’s Day in protest of the inequalities in the system towards the working class of the nation.
Operation Defense, Phase II includes guidelines as to which CISPA backing companies should be protested against or boycotted on which dates, as follows:
AT&T May 1st-5th
IBM May 4th-7th
Intel May 8th-13th
Microsoft May14th-19th
Verizon Wireless May 20th-26th
Bank of America May 27th-June 2nd
Chase Bank June 3rd-6th
McGraw-Hill Publishing June 7th-10th
Coca-Cola & Pepsi June 11th-14th
Target June 15th-20th
Walmart June 21st-25th
CVS 26th-28th
Mastercard, Visa, American Express June 29th-30th
The video includes general instructions as to what each protest/demonstration will entail, tips on how to make the most impact, such as focusing on the busiest locations, and guidelines like making sure to hold your protest across the street from the buildings so as not to get arrested.
They also are promoting participants to use the hashtags #OperationDefense and #Occupy throughout to stay informed and organize with others, and are encouraging everyone who can to wear Guy Fawkes masks.
Although Anonymous has successfully garnered much attention in the past with its hacktivist agenda, it will be interesting to see if they will be any more successful with this more traditional protest method versus their usual tactics of online hacking attacks and leaking of sensitive information to the public.
One thing is becoming more clear though, and that is that if today’s ‘May Day’ demonstrations proved anything it’s that the people are fed up. Not everyone agrees with the 99% and Occupy movements, but they can no longer simply just be ignored by our elected officials and policy makers. More and more, the people are demanding to be heard.
Expect them.
http://www.buzzpatrol.com/hackers-group-anonymous-launches-anti-cispa-plan/In protest against the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) recently... more -
Don’t shout at the telly: The Leveson Inquiry
In this gripping on the sofa discussion, volunteers raise questions on the press and free speech in light of the Leveson Inquiry. The online journal Spiked has launched a campaign against the Leveson Inquiry and spiked journalist Patrick Hayes challenges participants not to go along with the Inquiry’s dangerous underlying assumptions. Support for the Leveson inquiry with its bewigged judges, celebrities and government seeking to control the press, shows nothing but elitist snobbery and contempt for the public. Free speech and a free press with no ‘buts’ are essential for democracy he argues and while not everyone on the sofa agrees, WORLDwrite and WORLDbytes does.In this gripping on the sofa discussion, volunteers raise questions on the press and... more-
- worldwrite
- added this
- 29 days ago
- |
- 1 comment
-
-
Microsoft backs away from CISPA support, citing privacy
Microsoft is no longer as enthusiastic about a controversial cybersecurity bill that would allow Internet and telecommunications companies to divulge confidential customer information to the National Security Agency.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved CISPA by a 248 to 168 margin yesterday in spite of a presidential veto threat and warnings from some House members that the measure represented "Big Brother writ large." (See CNET's CISPA FAQ.)
In response to queries from CNET, Microsoft, which has long been viewed as a supporter of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, said this evening that any law must allow "us to honor the privacy and security promises we make to our customers."
Microsoft added that it wants to "ensure the final legislation helps to tackle the real threat of cybercrime while protecting consumer privacy."
That's a noticeable change -- albeit not a complete reversal -- from Microsoft's position when CISPA was introduced in November 2011.
In a statement (PDF) at the time, Microsoft vice president for government affairs Fred Humphries didn't mention privacy. Instead, Humphries said he wanted to "commend" CISPA's sponsors and "Microsoft applauds their leadership." He added: "This bill is an important first step towards addressing significant problems in cyber security."
That wasn't exactly an full-throated endorsement of CISPA, but it was enough for the bill's author, House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), to list Microsoft as a "supporter" on the committee's Web site.
And it was also enough for news organizations, including the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, to list Microsoft as having an unqualified pro-CISPA stand.
To be sure, Microsoft's initial reaction to CISPA came before many of the privacy concerns had been raised. An anti-CISPA coalition letter (PDF) wasn't sent out until April 16, and a petition that garnered nearly 800,000 signatures wasn't set up until April 5.
What makes CISPA so controversial is a section saying that, "notwithstanding any other provision of law," companies may share information with Homeland Security, the IRS, the NSA, or other agencies. By including the word "notwithstanding," CISPA's drafters intended to make their legislation trump all existing federal and state laws, including ones dealing with wiretaps, educational records, medical privacy, and more.
CISPA would "waive every single privacy law ever enacted in the name of cybersecurity," Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat and onetime Web entrepreneur, said during yesterday's floor debate. Its sponsors, on the other hand, say it's necessary to allow the NSA and Homeland Security to share cybersecurity threat information with the private sector.
What Microsoft appears to favor is a Senate bill introduced in February called the Cybersecurity Act.
At a Senate hearing in February, Microsoft vice president Scott Charney was more effusive about the Cybersecurity Act than his colleague was about CISPA three months earlier. The Senate bill provides "an appropriate framework to improve the security of government and critical infrastructure systems," one which will be "flexible enough to permit future improvements to security" over time, Charney said (PDF).
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been active in an anti-CISPA coalition, welcomed Microsoft's new statement.
"We're excited to hear that Microsoft has acknowledged the serious privacy faults in CISPA," said Dan Auerbach, EFF staff technologist. "We hope that other companies will realize this is bad for users and also bad for companies who may be coerced into sharing information with the government."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-33062_3-57423580/microsoft-backs-away-from-cispa-support-citing-privacy/Microsoft is no longer as enthusiastic about a controversial cybersecurity bill that... more -
House Passes CISPA, White House May Veto
The Stew Breaks Down CISPA --
It allows for collusion between corporate entities and the government through the trading of private information, and that information does not have to be redacted and no court order or warrant is required. Moreover, should that information be misused or compromised, the person whose information was compromised has absolutely no recourse whatsoever to hold anyone accountable. In addition, the law basically wipes all other privacy laws off the map with its Federal Preemption clause...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=34519The Stew Breaks Down CISPA -- It allows for collusion between corporate entities... more-
- StewSteve
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
Facebook asks mom of 7-year-old with Down Syndrome to remove pics
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A mother says Facebook asked her to remove pictures of her son taking part in a Special Olympics event over the weekend in Davidson County.
Diana Cornwell says the Facebook message she received mentions violating Facebook terms and asks her not to upload pictures which include hate speech, support for violent organizations or include threats to harm others.
Her account has been blocked for three days as a result.
Cornwell says the pictures show nothing more than her son having a great time.
"He struggles with Down’s Syndrome. He's seven years old and he doesn't speak,” Cornwell said about her son Cole.
Cole was all smiles Friday while taking part in his first Special Olympics at a local high school. She took pictures of him whenever she could.
"A very proud moment for him,” she said.
Full Story: http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Facebook-forces-photos-of-7-year-old-with-Downs-Syndrome-to-be-removed-148570995.htmlCHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A mother says Facebook asked her to remove pictures of her son... more-
- Radical_Centrist
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 1 comment
-
-
800+ major corporations and U.S. Chamber of Commerce support internet freedom-crushing CISPA
It’s quite sad for me to say that over 3 million businesses in the United States represented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, not to mention 800+ other major corporations (see below list), all have shown their support for the disturbing legislation known as CISPA, or the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.
This long list includes corporations like Google, Facebook, AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, Intel, the Financial Services Roundtable, Lockheed Martin, Qualcomm, Northrop Grumman, VeriSign, Symantec, Oracle, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the Internet Security Alliance, the information Technology Industry Council, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance, Cyber, the Space & Intelligence Association, CTIA – the Wireless Association, the Business Roundtable and more (all of which are listed below).
Please take a moment out of your day to either share this article or at least the list of corporations behind this legislation in order to help coordinate a boycott effort.
I believe it would also be beneficial to call them repeatedly (inundating their phone lines can be a major headache), shower them with emails, letters, etc. all in an attempt to get them to back away from CISPA.
Widespread protest efforts were quite successful in bringing down the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), but now we have to keep in mind that many of the corporations who were anti-SOPA are actually pro-CISPA.
This means that the public will have to be engaged to a much more significant degree in order to have an impact even remotely comparable to what we saw in opposition to SOPA and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
The real reason that corporations who were against SOPA and PIPA but are now behind CISPA is because, unlike the previous legislation, it removes all liability from the corporations and shifts the regulatory pressure away from the company.
SOPA actually required private corporations to keep tabs on all of their user activity and made them liable for their users and their activities.
CISPA, on the other hand, shifts that responsibility away from the private corporations completely and hands that role over to a government entity.
This makes it so corporations are protected from lawsuits from a user who has their private information given to the government under CISPA.
Now I’m sure you can see why companies like Google (which protested SOPA in a quite visible manner) and Facebook (which also voiced opposition to SOPA) are champing at the bit to get behind CISPA.
“CISPA would allow ISPs, social networking sites and anyone else handling Internet communications to monitor users and pass information to the government without any judicial oversight,” according to the Activism Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Rainey Reitman. “The language of this bill is dangerously vague, so that personal online activity — from the mundane to the intimate — could be implicated.”
What exactly does “dangerously vague” mean, you ask? Well, the EFF has done a fantastic job of explaining exactly what they mean.
CISPA would allow “access to any information regarding a ‘cyber threat’ is granted to the government, privacy security agencies and private companies.”
CISPA’s definition of a “cyber threat” is as follows:
Efforts to disrupt or destroy government or private systems or networks.
Theft or misappropriation of private or government information, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information.
In this context, misappropriation means “wrongful borrowing” and intellectual property means anything protected by a copyright including programs like Photoshop and Microsoft Office, MP3s, television shows and movies, and absolutely anything in between.
The purposefully vague language of CISPA leaves room for abuse in the following ways (according to this informative infographic from the EFF):
The government, private security agencies (think HB Gary and many more), and private companies (which are already being brought into the fold) acting in “good faith” actually means maybe you did it (whatever it allegedly may be).
These entities can share “cyber threat information” which, in reality, is your personal information with other private companies, private security agencies and government entities.
They can do this all with total anonymity, meaning that they don’t have to tell you what they’re doing or if they’re sending your information to someone or even who they are sending it to.
It also gives these entities immunity to legal action, which means that you can’t take action against any of them, even if they made a mistake with your information.
The EFF graphic aptly sums it up by saying, “Privacy policy? LOL.”
More: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/04/800-major-corporations-and-us-chamber.htmlIt’s quite sad for me to say that over 3 million businesses in the United States... more-
- JRBarilla
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 4 comments
-
-
Civil Libertarians Launch Campaign Against CISPA
Congress is rolling out the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and related legislation in a set of votes next week under the banner of “Cybersecurity Week.”
“Stop Cyber Spying Week” is the ACLU and other rights organizations' response to the legislation, which would allow online companies to share information collected about you to the government.
The companies that’d be sending the information to the government, predictably, aren’t opposing CISPA with the same vigor as they did SOPA. Nevertheless, the ACLU and others hope to be able to replicate the online activism that led to SOPA’s demise.
CISPA’s supporters assert the program is for “voluntary” information sharing between private companies and the government’s security apparatus. These companies collect a lot of private information from their consumers, and the government, it would seem, would simply want access to this information for national security purposes.
This “voluntary” information sharing program comes in the wake of a recent rules change at the National Counterterrorism Center that allows the government to hold records collected on you for five years, ten times the previous 180 day limit, whether or not you’re the target of an investigation or suspected of anything criminal at all. It could explain why the NSA’s latest “surveillance hub” is a $2 billion, 1,000,000 square foot project.
SOPA was roundly criticized for letting media companies and the government team up to shut down websites accused of copyright infringement without due process. CISPA, on the other hand, merely formalizes the relationship between the government’s security apparatus and the private companies we willingly share our private information with. But CISPA erodes the right to due process as well. After all, who needs a warrant when the sharing is voluntary?
http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/16/civil-libertarians-launch-campaign-againCongress is rolling out the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and... more -
Nicholas Merril Wants to Build a National Privacy-First ISP
From Declan McCullagh of CNET:
This Internet provider pledges to put your privacy first. Always.
Nicholas Merrill is planning to revolutionize online privacy with a concept as simple as it is ingenious: a telecommunications provider designed from its inception to shield its customers from surveillance.
Merrill, 39, who previously ran a New York-based Internet provider, told CNET that he's raising funds to launch a national "non-profit telecommunications provider dedicated to privacy, using ubiquitous encryption" that will sell mobile phone service and, for as little as $20 a month, Internet connectivity.
The ISP would not merely employ every technological means at its disposal, including encryption and limited logging, to protect its customers. It would also -- and in practice this is likely more important -- challenge government surveillance demands of dubious legality or constitutionality.
A decade of revelations has underlined the intimate relationship between many telecommunications companies and Washington officialdom. Leading providers including AT&T and Verizon handed billions of customer telephone records to the National Security Agency; only Qwest refused to participate. Verizon turned over customer data to the FBI without court orders. An AT&T whistleblower accused the company of illegally opening its network to the NSA, a practice that the U.S. Congress retroactively made legal in 2008.
By contrast, Merrill says his ISP, to be run by a non-profit called the Calyx Institute with for-profit subsidiaries, will put customers first. "Calyx will use all legal and technical means available to protect the privacy and integrity of user data," he says.
Merrill is in the unique position of being the first ISP exec to fight back against the Patriot Act's expanded police powers -- and win...
http://theschismatic.blogspot.com/2012/04/nicholas-merril-wants-to-build-national.html
This is a fantastic idea, and if he can launch this it will be yet another significant step towards the Internet fulfilling its mythic expectations as a savior of honest democracy for the world.From Declan McCullagh of CNET: This Internet provider pledges to put your privacy... more-
- JRBarilla
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 2 comments
-
-
CAUCUS INVOCATION: Thank God we live in a country free of oppression?
This just past Saturday (3/10/2012) this author attended the Wright County MN BPU Convention in Buffalo Minnesota. (In a previous article, this author exhorted: Why you must attend your Caucus this year! http://bit.ly/AyRuGRaka walking the walk)
Among the items of business on the Agenda was an Invocation at about 9:30am.
As the author listened to the invocation, I heard words to this effect:
“Thank God we live in a country free of oppression.”
And this author found himself taking exception to this statement. It is not this author’s life experience that citizens of this country are free of oppression, suppression nor repression.
As the meeting continued, this author thought to himself, seeking just to go along to get along, perhaps the person giving the invocation has not been exposed to the oppression, suppression and repression that is America.
[Article Continues below almost universal translator]
Vertaal na Afrikaans |Translate në shqip | ترجمةإلىالعربية | Թարգմանելհայերեն| Azərbaycan Tərcümə | Euskal Translate| Перавесці на беларускай| বাংলাঅনুবাদ | Превод на български| Traduir al català | 转换为中文（简体)|翻譯到中國（傳統） | Prevedi na hrvatskom | Translate to Czech | Oversæt til dansk | Te vertalen naar het Nederlands | Tõlgi eesti | Isalin sa Filipino sa| Käännä Suomen | Traduire en français | Traducir a Galego | თარგმნეთსაქართველოს| Übersetzen auf Deutsch | Μετάφραση στα ελληνικά| ગુજરાતીઅનુવાદ | Tradui kreyòl ayisyen | תרגוםעברית | सेहिन्दीअनुवाद| Fordítás magyar | Þýða til Íslenska | Terjemahkan ke bahasa Indonesia| Aistrigh go Gaeilge| Traduci in italiano | 日本語に翻訳| ಕನ್ನಡಗೆಭಾಷಾಂತರಿಸಿ | 한국어번역| Translate to Latine | Tulkot uz latviešu | Latvian Tulkot uz latviešu| Versti į lietuvių| Преведете на македонски| Terjemah ke Bahasa Malaysia| Ittraduċi għall-Malti| Oversette til norsk |ترجمهبهفارسی| Przekłada się na polskim | Traduzir para Português | Traduceţi în română |Перевести на русскую|Преведи на Српском | Preložiť na slovenský |Prevedi v slovenski | Traducir al español | Tafsiri kwa Kiswahili | Översätt till svenska | தமிழ்மொழிபெயர்க்கவும்| తెలుగులోఅనువదించడానికి | แปลเป็นไทย| Çevir Türkçe>| Перекласти українською| اردومیںترجمہکریں | Dịch cho người Việt Nam| Cyfieithu i'r Gymraeg | איבערזעצןצוייִדיש|
Perhaps the person who gave the invocation was merely thinking about the recent violence in Syria, Egypt, Libya and the long running oppression in North Korea. Or even China’s Tiananmen Square Tragic expression of Tyranny…
Trying to give the benefit of the doubt, the author postulated that perhaps the person who gave the invocation, was not familiar with the various kinds of oppression, suppression and repression.
But as hard as this author tried to let the statement go, something kept clawing at him to not let this misstatement stand unchallenged.
And so, in the early afternoon, this author privately asked the chair of the convention for 5 minutes as a point of personal privilege (Look it up in Robert’s Rules http://bit.ly/yjCYqc) for 5 minutes to address the misstatement.
This request was summarily denied. The Chair stating that oppression was a matter of opinion. But this author appealed to the parliamentarian who ruled, “A point of personal privilege is always in order”
Before a pause in the proceedings occurred that this author might force the chair and floor to hear my point of personal privilege, the recalcitrant chair announced (to CYA) that the “person who wished to express a point of personal privilege could address the floor”
With that, this author stepped to the nearest mike and did address the floor. However, this author does not think he did the point justice. But given the circumstances, this author did the best he could extemporaneously.
And, therefore, this would like to take this opportunity to put my thoughts on the alleged “lack of oppression in America” to writing. So here goes.
Oppression, Suppression and Repression comes in all forms, shapes and sizes. Many think of oppression coming at the point of a gun. While that ultimately is true in all circumstances, most suppression in America is presented in such a way so as to not cause WE THE PEOPLE to think our government is bad or evil. At least not as bad or evil as WE THE PEOPLE think due to the propaganda, media bias and indoctrination regarding Oppression in Countries such as Russia (Stalin’s Purge), China (Tiananmen Square), Iraq (Hussein’s Rape Squads), and the current situation in Syria.
WE THE PEOPLE, the rank and file citizens of America like to believe the fairytales about Oppression that we were indoctrinated with in Public School, and which are later supplemented with by a compliant, duplicitous and corruption enabling major media.
This author remembers how happy, secure in his person and superior he felt in the aftermath of his indoctrination in the public schools. Superior in the knowledge that our Country’s Government was honest and trustworthy unlike all the other Government in the world, especially the Communists. Happy and Secure in my person that my government, unlike other government in the world, made decisions based on the best interests of its citizens… Ah… ignorance is most assuredly bliss.
In a peremptory attempt to ward of a public lynching, this author again states that our government, is still the best form of government in the world, despite its current issues. But WE THE PEOPLE would be remiss to not weld ourselves to the truth rather than the fiction of what our government is and isn’t.
Our current elected officials have just stopped obeying Natural Law, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and common sense. And with that peremptory attempt to reduce the possibility of this author’s spontaneous lynching out of the way, here goes:
KENT STATE MASSACRE
The associated video speaks for itself. 4 students at Kent State were gunned down for exercising their Constitutional Rights to protest the War.
THE PROPOSED NDAA
This bill calls for American citizens who commit “belligerent acts” to be imprisoned indefinitely.....
Continue reading for free here: INVOCATION: Thank God we live in a country free of oppression?
http://exm.nr/I3FnLW
Those were my thoughts.
In Closing:
Thank you, my fellow citizens, for taking your valuable time to read and reflect upon what is written here.
Please join with me in mutually pledging to each other and our fellow citizens our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to our mutual endeavors of restoring liberty and economic opportunity to WE THE PEOPLE as our Founding Fathers envisioned and intended. [Last
This article is written with the same intentions as Thomas Paine http://ushistory.org/paine. I seek no leadership role. I seek only to help the American People find their own way using their own “Common Sense” http://amzn.to/kbRuar
TellMyPolitician http://goo.gl/1FWfz
Keep Fighting the Good Fight!
In Liberty,
Don Mashak
The Cynical Patriot
http://twitter.com/dmashak
Google Plus http://goo.gl/1AUrE
http://Facebook/Don.Mashak
WE THE PEOPLE TAR
http://WETHEPEOPLETAR.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/WETHEPEOPLETAR
End the Fed(eral Reserve Bank System)
National http://bit.ly/ta3Rju Minneapolis http://bit.ly/tjZJKF
Lawless America
http://LawlessAmerica.com
Justice in Minnesota #JIM
http://JusticeinMN.com
Bring Home the Politicians #BHTP
http://BringHomethePoliticians.com
Get out of our House #GOOOH
http://GOOOH.com
Critical Thinking Notice - This author advises you as no politician would dare. Exercise Critical Thinking (http://bit.ly/ubI6ve) in determining the truthfulness of anything you read or hear. Do not passively accept nor believe anything anyone tells you, including this author... unless and until you verify it yourself with sources you trust and could actively defend your perspective to anyone who might debate you to the contrary of your perspective.This just past Saturday (3/10/2012) this author attended the Wright County MN BPU... more-
- DMashak
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
Worse Than SOPA! New CISPA Cybersecurity Bill Will Censor The Internet!
April 03, 2012 Russia Today News http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoM_tKfwDWA-
- JRBarilla
- added this
- 1 month ago
- |
- 4 comments
-
-
NYC Department of Education Bans Words Deemed “Offensive”
– What are your children learning, or rather not learning, in the classroom? The New York City Department of Education is looking out for the feelings of its students by banning words they deem offensive. No, this isn’t the list of “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” Companies that make standardized testing have been instructed to ban some of the following words and topics: dinosaurs, Halloween, birthday, dancing (except ballet), and computers (unless mentioned in reference to schools and libraries).– What are your children learning, or rather not learning, in the classroom? The... more-
- joeeddy
- added this
- 2 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
UK MPs recommend laws compelling Google to censor search results « Occupy The Planet
shame!-
- Itsbatman_Durr
- added this
- 2 months ago
- |
- 3 comments
-
-
Tunisian 'Pirate Party' gets legal approval
Tunisian bloggers succeeded in getting permission to form the first anti-censorship party in Africa and the Arab world. ----- The Tunisian interior ministry just legalised Africa's first anti-censorship political party. The Tunisian Pirate Party, approved on March 13th, is a branch of the worldwide cyber-activist movement. The party consists mainly of bloggers, many of whom were active during the Tunisian revolution and were imprisoned under the former regime. Their goal is to protect the right of more than two million Tunisian internet users to access information without restrictions, according to the party statute. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/free-stuff/43057-tunisian-pirate-party-gets-legal-approvalTunisian bloggers succeeded in getting permission to form the first anti-censorship... more-
- worrg
- added this
- 2 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
Pennsylvania Gags Healthcare Professionals on Dangers of Fracking
A new Pennsylvania law endangers public health by forbidding health care professionals from sharing information they learn about certain chemicals and procedures used in high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing. The procedure is commonly known as fracking.
Fracking is the controversial method of forcing water, gases, and chemicals at tremendous pressure of up to 15,000 pounds per square inch into a rock formation as much as 10,000 feet below the earth’s surface to open channels and force out natural gas and fossil fuels.
Advocates of fracking argue not only is natural gas “greener” than coal and oil energy, with significantly fewer carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur emissions, the mining of natural gas generates significant jobs in a depressed economy, and will help the U.S. reduce its oil dependence upon foreign nations. Geologists estimate there may be as much as 2,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas throughout the United States. If all of it is successfully mined, it could not only replace coal and oil but serve as a transition to wind, solar, and water as primary energy sources, releasing the United States from dependency upon fossil fuel energy and allowing it to be more self-sufficient.
The Marcellus Shale—which extends beneath the Allegheny Plateau, through southern New York, much of Pennsylvania, east Ohio, West Virginia, and parts of Maryland and Virginia—is one of the nation’s largest sources for natural gas mining, containing as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Each of Pennsylvania’s 5,255 wells, as of the beginning of March 2012, with dozens being added each week, takes up about nine acres, including all access roads and pipe.
Over the expected life time of each well, companies may use as many as nine million gallons of water and 100,000 gallons of chemicals and radioactive isotopes within a four to six week period. The additives “are used to prevent pipe corrosion, kill bacteria, and assist in forcing the water and sand down-hole to fracture the targeted formation,” explains Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research. However, about 650 of the 750 chemicals used in fracking operations are known carcinogens, according to a report filed with the U.S. House of Representatives in April 2011. Fluids used in fracking include those that are “potentially hazardous,” including volatile organic compounds, according to Christopher Portier, director of the National Center for Environmental Health, a part of the federal Centers for Disease Control. In an email to the Associated Press in January 2012, Portier noted that waste water, in addition to bring up several elements, may be radioactive. Fracking is also believed to have been the cause of hundreds of small earthquakes in Ohio and other states.
The law, an amendment to Title 52 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, requires that companies provide to a state-maintained registry the names of chemicals and gases used in fracking. Physicians and others who work with citizen health issues may request specific information, but the company doesn’t have to provide that information if it claims it is a trade secret or proprietary information, nor does it have to reveal how the chemicals and gases used in fracking interact with natural compounds. If a company does release information about what is used, health care professionals are bound by a non-disclosure agreement that not only forbids them from warning the community of water and air pollution that may be caused by fracking, but which also forbids them from telling their own patients what the physician believes may have led to their health problems. A strict interpretation of the law would also forbid general practitioners and family practice physicians who sign the non-disclosure agreement and learn the contents of the “trade secrets” from notifying a specialist about the chemicals or compounds, thus delaying medical treatment.
The clauses are buried on pages 98 and 99 of the 174-page bill, which was initiated and passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and signed into law in February by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
“I have never seen anything like this in my 37 years of practice,” says Dr. Helen Podgainy, a pediatrician from Coraopolis, Pa. She says it’s common for physicians, epidemiologists, and others in the health care field to discuss and consult with each other about the possible problems that can affect various populations. Her first priority, she says, “is to diagnose and treat, and to be proactive in preventing harm to others.” The new law, she says, not only “hinders preventative measures for our patients, it slows the treatment process by gagging free discussion.”
Psychologists are also concerned about the effects of fracking and the law’s gag order. “We won’t know the extent of patients becoming anxious or depressed because of a lack of information about the fracking process and the chemicals used,” says Kathryn Vennie of Hawley, Pa., a clinical psychologist for 30 years. She says she is already seeing patients “who are seeking support because of the disruption to their environment.” Anxiety in the absence of information, she says, “can produce both mental and physical problems.”
The law is not only “unprecedented,” but will “complicate the ability of health department to collect information that would reveal trends that could help us to protect the public health,” says Dr. Jerome Paulson, director of the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Dr. Paulson, also professor of pediatrics at George Washington University, calls the law “detrimental to the delivery of personal health care and contradictory to the ethical principles of medicine and public health.” Physicians, he says, “have a moral and ethical responsibility to protect the health of the public, and this law precludes us from doing all we can to protect the public.” He has called for a moratorium on all drilling until the health effects can be analyzed.
Pennsylvania requires physicians to report to the state instances of 73 specific diseases, most of which are infectious diseases. However, the list also includes cancer, which may have origins not only from chemicals used to create the fissures that yield natural gas, but also in the blow-back of elements, including arsenic, present within the fissures. Thus, physicians are faced by conflicting legal and professional considerations.
“The confidentiality agreements are worrisome,” says Peter Scheer, a journalist/lawyer who is executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. Physicians who sign the non-disclosure agreements and then disclose the possible risks to protect the community can be sued for breech of contract, and the companies can seek both injunctions and damages, says Scheer.
In pre-trial discovery motions, a company might be required to reveal to the court what it claims are trade secrets and proprietary information, with the court determining if the chemical and gas combinations really are trade secrets or not. The court could also rule that the contract is unenforceable because it is contrary to public policy, which places the health of the public over the rights of an individual company to protect its trade secrets, says Scheer. However, the legal and financial resources of the natural gas corporations are far greater than those of individuals, and they can stall and outspend most legal challenges.
Continued at:
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/03/fracking-pennsylvania-gags-physicians
---------------------------------------------
My state has REALLY been pissing me off lately. >:|A new Pennsylvania law endangers public health by forbidding health care professionals... more-
- JRBarilla
- added this
- 2 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
Stop Internet censorship in Pakistan
Please see following regarding internet censorship in Pakistan:
https://www.accessnow.org/page/m/3717cdec/13a541ab/72db32e2/1de40545/2974734814/VEsC/
... please sign the petition, a little thing can add up to a big thingPlease see following regarding internet censorship in Pakistan:... more-
- frankpatton
- added this
- 3 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
ABFFE and NCAC Protest PayPal’s Erotic Content Policy
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition Against Censorship have written a letter to PayPal and parent company eBay in protest of PayPal’s threat to deactivate the accounts of publishers over certain kinds of erotic content.
http://cbldf.org/homepage/abffe-and-ncac-protest-paypals-erotic-content-policy/The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the National Coalition... more-
- alfreeland
- added this
- 3 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
-
Forgetting the Past, One Military Movie at a Time
- When the entertainment industry gets in bed with the Pentagon, censorship is inevitable. -
Top Social Media Websites Caught Censoring Controversial Content
Facebook pays low-wage foreign workers to delete certain content based upon a censorship list. For example, Facebook deletes accounts created by Palestinian resistance groups.Facebook pays low-wage foreign workers to delete certain content based upon a... more-
- joeeddy
- added this
- 3 months ago
- |
- 27 comments
-
-
From the Extremist Files: Bill Maher Censored, Racism, Culture Wars and Nuns (VIDEO)
Veracity Stew's collection of crazy stories, extreme headlines and top topics...sanitized for your protection...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=31128Veracity Stew's collection of crazy stories, extreme headlines and top... more-
- StewSteve
- added this
- 3 months ago
- |
- 0 comments
-
