tagged w/ Ruling
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A federal rule that requires tobacco companies to display pictures of diseased lungs or other graphic images on cigarette packs is unconstitutional, a judge in Washington ruled Wednesday.
Regulations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have required tobacco companies to display the images on the top half of cigarette packs, front and back. It was scheduled to take effect in September.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the Obama administration failed “to convey any factual information supported by evidence about the actual health consequences of smoking through its use of these graphic images.” The rule, he said, violates companies’ First Amendment protections against government-compelled speech.
Ruling: http://www.scribd.com/doc/83237049/Leon#fullscreenA federal rule that requires tobacco companies to display pictures of diseased lungs... more
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You control our world. You’ve poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the water we drink, and copyrighted the food we eat. We fight in your wars, die for your causes, and sacrifice our freedoms to protect you. You’ve liquidated our savings, destroyed our middle class, and used our tax dollars to bailout your unending greed. We are slaves to your corporations, zombies to your airwaves, servants to your decadence. You’ve stolen our elections, assassinated our leaders, and abolished our basic rights as human beings. You own our property, shipped away our jobs, and shredded our unions. You’ve profited off of disaster, destabilized our currencies, and raised our cost of living. You’ve monopolized our freedom, stripped away our education, and have almost extinguished our flame. We are hit… we are bleeding… but we ain’t got time to bleed. We will bring the giants to their knees and you will witness our revolution!
Sincerely,
The Serfs.
http://weaintgottimetobleed.com/You control our world. You’ve poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the... more
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The following is an except from an article I wrote on Examiner.com:
"From now until the 2012 elections, I am going to write a series of articles with the express purpose of trying to get the average reader to "think outside of the box" At the same time, I hope I am up to the task of keeping the subject matter entertaining. Before the next election occurs, it is my hope to get WE THE PEOPLE aka the Common person aka the General Public to experience a paradigm shift in their thinking with regard to poltics and voiting.
Ultimately, I want to change your perception of reality to one that reflects your own true thought processes. This as opposed to the your current perception of reality induced by the propaganda, censorship and duplicity of America's Major Media, Entertainment Industry, Big Business and our own alleged political leaders. All this with the goal of having you vote your own mind, rather than vote in the manner your Government and major media have manipulated you to.
That having been said....
I was first introduced to Chaos theory in college. It was one of those hazy late night philosophical discussions we often had in college.
FREE WILL vs CHAOS THEORY
In America, during our youthful years of public education we are indoctrinated with a belief that everything we choose to do is a matter of free will. If I choose to turn left, kick a can, drink water, blow off class, cast a vote or any act you can think of, we are taught to believe we had the ability aka free will, to choose to do something else. Turn Right, not drink, not skip class, not vote. We are taught that every action we take is fully within our personal control and we make our choices of our own free will.
Chaos Theory (Determinism) states that no matter what we do, we have no choice... we have no free will. According to Chaos Theory, so many external factors have acted upon you that you have no choice but to do what ever action you have done. Your choice has been predetermined by a multitude of previously occurring, external influences.
Being much younger then, of course I knew it all and immediately dismissed this proposed Chaos Theory as psycho-babble. Yet, almost half a life time later, I am willing to consider chaos theory as a viable explanation of certain political events and attitudes.
WISCONSIN PUBLIC EMPLOYEES
My personality is that of an analytical driver. I gather facts and make decisions. It has been my life’s presumption that the vast majority of people also act out of reason and logic.
It escapes me by what logic Rank and File Wisconsin Public Employees do not recognize..."
Continue reading for free on Examiner.com: Chaos Theory,Rank & File Wisconsin Public Employees & True Grassroots TEA Party - Minneapolis Independent | Examiner.comhttp://www.examiner.com/independent-in-minneapolis/chaos-theory-wisconsin-public-employees-and-justice-minnesota#ixzz1GJLiEqpL
Those were my thoughts.
Don Mashak
The Cynical Patriot
http://twitter.com/dmashakThe following is an except from an article I wrote on Examiner.com:
"From now... more
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The US Congress, under-appreciated because it does too much ruling and too little governing. Students and citizens express their incredulity that a Congress that passes thousands of laws restricting freedom would wonder it is not loved.The US Congress, under-appreciated because it does too much ruling and too little... more
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drlara
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added this
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1 year ago
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State Attorney Bill Cervone released a partial judgment Friday stating the University Police officers who shot a Ghanaian graduate student in his on-campus apartment will not face any illegal action.
Cervone based his judgment on the completed Florida Department of Law Enforcement internal investigation.
The judgment gives UF the ability to complete its own internal affairs investigation, which is being independently reviewed by Margolis Healy & Associates, a campus safety organization, according to a statement released Friday by university spokeswoman Janine Sikes.
Cervone has yet to announce judgment on the student, 35-year-old Kofi Adu-Brempong, who currently faces charges of one count of second-degree aggravated assault and one count of third-degree resisting arrest with violence.
In his statement, Cervone acknowledged UPD's right to enter the residence, as the officers had a legitimate reason to believe Adu-Brempong might have hurt himself inside.
"Had that action not been taken and had he or others come to harm because of inaction," he said, "...an equal or stronger issue as to the propriety of police inaction would doubtless have been raised."
Cervone added that it is not his place to review crisis procedure, just the legality of the action. He said questions of policy were best left to community discussion.
He also found no reason to charge the officers for their use of force, citing that "No one else, civilian or otherwise, was in a position to hear anything directly relevant to those events other than Adu-Brempong," adding that the student's credibility was tarnished by his apparent unstable mental health.
Under Florida law, anyone has the right to use deadly force against someone who appears threatening. Cervone reasoned the police reports were concurrent with that law.
Cervone ended his statement with a call to put the issue to rest.
"I would like to assure those who are concerned about the time required for this process to be completed," he said, "that all involved, including Adu-Brempong's defense team, have been in frequent and productive contact."
Cervone said more information will be released as his decisions are reached. In the mean time, he said, community interaction should be continued within the proper public forum.
"[A]ll involved should be cognizant of the dangers of drawing conclusions before facts are established," he saidState Attorney Bill Cervone released a partial judgment Friday stating the University... more
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Strange bedfellows: artists look to regulators for help
by Jason C. McLean
It’s funny how one time enemies can become allies. For years, the FCC was always the enemy of the artist, censoring for outdated reasons at what seemed like the drop of the hat. Meanwhile in Canada, the CRTC was an ineffective though annoying entity that was supposed to defend the interests of Canadian content creators but instead only helped Canadian networks make money off American shows.
Old foe of the artists: FCC logo
Fast-forward to today, where pretty much all media seems to be moving online. The CRTC is still ineffective and playing the same game when it comes to helping only the distributors while the FCC has gone from this:
to the last hope for independent voices to get their message out in the US.
Net Neutrality, the principle that all content on the internet can be accessed equally, has been threatened recently by internet service providers throttling users in Canada and blocking certain types of content in the US. In Canada, the CRTC ruled that ISPs couldn’t throttle users except as a “last resort” while the FCC, under the guidance of Barack Obama, ruled that Comcast couldn’t block certain content.
As ineffective as always: CRTC logo
Unfortunately, a US Federal Appeals Court ruled that the FCC didn’t have the proper authority to make such a ruling. This is unfortunate for all independent artists and content producers in the US and those looking for an audience in the states. It also sets a bad precedent for other countries because of the influence American culture has on the rest of the western world.
Even though the ruling in question dealt specifically with a company blocking users of Bit Torrent, the principle is what really matters. If you allow ISPs the right to decide what content people can and can’t access, what’s to stop them from blocking content from competitors or using their power to make it, once again, a battle for those without funding or with “undesireable” ideas just to get their stuff seen, read or heard.
The Young Turks explain this pretty succinctly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbAoRZJyoJI
and Democracy Now goes into greater detail on how this ruling may turn out to work against Comcast and other like-minded ISPs by forcing the government to give the FCC full authority to regulate the internet:
While the thought of more regulation may seem a little scary, the thought of profit-minded companies, some of them with their own media interests, being allowed to determine what content is accessible is even more frightening as it would destroy the great equalizing power of the internet. In fact, you might not even be able to watch the two clips above or read this article if Net Neutrality is done away with.
So, for now, independent content creators and agencies like the FCC and CRTC have to live as strange bedfellows.
for more check out our site forgetthebox. netStrange bedfellows: artists look to regulators for help
by Jason C. McLean... more
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Corporation Says It Will Run for Congress
By CATHERINE RAMPELL
Following the Supreme Court decision implicitly granting corporations the right to free speech (by determining that political spending is a kind of speech), a corporation has decided to take what it believes to be “democracy’s next step”: It is running for Congress.
With more than a twinge of irony, Murray Hill Incorporated, a liberal public relations firm, recently announced that it planned to run in the Republican primary in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
Here is the company’s first “campaign” ad:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/corporation-says-it-will-run-for-congress/Corporation Says It Will Run for Congress
By CATHERINE RAMPELL
Following the... more
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I wrote earlier about the most effective way to deal with the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns is a Constitutional Amendment clarifying that money is not speech, and is therefore subject to regulation. I see now that both MoveOn and Public Citizen are taking up the cause of passing a constitutional amendment to “reverse” that Supreme Court decision. Unfortunately, they are backing the an amendment that ensures that corporations stay in power. Their amendment states that First Amendment rights belong to natural persons and the press and do not apply to for-profit corporations. However, the press is mostly owned by for-profit corporations, so right there that amendment contradicts itself. The problem isn’t freedom of speech. Everyone should have freedom of speech, including corporations. The problem is equating money with speech. Money is not speech. A dollar bill is not pro-abortion or anti-abortion. It carries no message, no idea, no information. It is not speech at all. Money is power. Money is a method of transferring energy. We need a Constitutional Amendment clarifying that money is not speech, and is therefore subject to regulation.
At the same time, we need another Constitutional Amendment clarifying that corporations are not persons under the law. Corporations are chartered by our government, and are therefore creations of our government. Our government, our creations. We the People have every right to regulate our creations.
These two Constitutional Amendments will clearly get to the roots of the problem without contradiction or confusion. Please go to MoveOn at then click on contact, and ask them to reconsider their position, and to take on a cause that will actually solve the problem. Also please go to Public Citizen at and tell them the same thing.
The last time I posted here about this Constitutional Amendment, someone responded that we can’t pass such an amendment, and they sited their experience with trying to get an equal rights for women amendment passed. I appreciate their perspective, however I have two responses to that:
1. This time it may well be that the survival of our Democratic Constitutional Republic is at stake, so there may be more support for amendments that will really get to the root of the problem.
2. The other option is to let our nation slide away into a corporate-run tyranny. Our founding fathers staked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor on the cause of creating this nation that has a system in place for us to modify our government without war, without violence. The least we can do is use that system as best we can to keep our government in our hands. If it’s going to be a government of the people, we have to do it.
Eli DumitruI wrote earlier about the most effective way to deal with the recent Supreme Court... more
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By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday rolled back restrictions on corporate spending on federal campaigns. The decision could unleash a torrent of corporate-funded attack ads in upcoming elections.
That's it. Corporations have officially taken over the country...By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday rolled back restrictions on corporate... more
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I don't understand. Bin Laden has not been indicted for anything? He's not been officially charged with anything so technically he's no different than you or I donating to Sarah Palin.I don't understand. Bin Laden has not been indicted for anything? He's not... more
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Ten hours a day, every day, Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes confines herself to a galvanized-steel-and-porcelain shed outside her house. Inside are a toilet, a metal cabinet, a box spring with the metal coils exposed, and a pile of organic cotton blankets. Aluminum foil covers the window. The place is as austere as a prison cell — but it's also her sanctuary from an outside world that she says makes her violently ill.Ten hours a day, every day, Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes confines herself to a... more
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A judge in Montana granted a woman joint custody of two children she and her former lesbian partner adopted when they were a couple. Michelle Kulstad sought joint custody of her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter after she and former partner Barbara Maniaci split up in 2006 after a 10-year relationship.
Maniaci, who is now married to a man, says she and her husband should raise the children as they see fit because Kulstad was neither an adoptive parent nor a biological relative. She was represented by an attorney from the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.
"To discriminate further against Ms. Kulstad because of her sexual preference in this day and age is no different than telling a person to go to the back of the bus because of her skin color," district judge Ed McLean wrote.
"By acknowledging Kulstad as a parent, the court today recognized that it would be both cruel and against established Montana law for her children to be denied the parental love and support Kulstad has shown them since they entered her home," Kulstad’s attorney Susan Ridgeway said in a press release.A judge in Montana granted a woman joint custody of two children she and her former... more
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Hundreds of children who were removed from a polygamist ranch by Texas child welfare authorities will remain in state custody, a judge ruled Friday night. Judge Barbara Walther also ordered court DNA testing for all 416 children taken from the ranch to determine their biological parents.Hundreds of children who were removed from a polygamist ranch by Texas child welfare... more
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