Land of Opportunism

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban. And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person’s entire processes. - Republican Congressman Peter Sessions

There has arisen a movement to disassemble the United States government one piece at a time. It appears to be a throwback to Confederate secessionism that focused on states’ rights and an attempt to decentralize the federal government. There are references to state sovereignty even though states are no more sovereign than Canadian territories or Afghan tribal regions. They lack the power to wage war with foreign or domestic governments, sign treaties with foreign powers or issue their own currency.

( Who are these people? )

We need to quit acting like companies are granting us privilege because they exist. They exist to serve their own purposes and not even in the interest of the free market system overall. They hire to serve their own interests as well and not out of any sense or pretense of benevolence. There is nothing noble about their mission. As broken as the U.S. government may seem, the U.S. free market is worse.

Attack of the Online Swine

[paft.livejournal.com]

Statement by Gennette Cordova to the NY Daily News:

I've watched in sheer disbelief as my name, age, location, links to any social networking site I've ever used, my old phone numbers and pictures have been passed along from stranger to stranger.

My friends have received phone calls from people claiming to be old friends of mine, attempting to obtain my contact information. My siblings have received tweets that are similar in nature…I have seen myself labeled as the "Femme Fatale of Weinergate," "Anthony Weiner's 21-year-old coed mistress" and "the self-proclaimed girlfriend of Anthony Weiner."


( Read more. (Adult language behind the cut) )

Weapons Development

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

There is a scientific fallacy that has been propagated by neural researchers that an electromagnetic emission from brain activity cannot be detected because of its low energy level. In the electro-chemical paradigm of neural mechanics, the waves encountered in an EEG are the product of chemical reactions which occur during the firing of neurons. Given such a model of generation, brain waves seem more like a waste product than like thought itself. Those who espouse the model have difficulty with the idea than an electro-magnetic wave of external origin could give rise to neural activity.

Like most scientific research, neural studies can be divided into two categories: one concentrates on public knowledge and the other on secret knowledge. The latter category of research is usually one that is associated with weapons development. The Manhattan Project is a famous example of secret scientific research. To assume that there is no neural weapons research project would require ignoring the martial tendency for projects such as the stealth bomber and its nuclear payload. Such an assumption requires a level of gullibility and faith in martial purity that comes only from profound ignorance.

How would neural researchers hide their activity? How would they conduct experiments on unwitting research subjects? How would they hide their true intentions from the view of their subjects and from others who may be present? These may seem like obstacles that make a neural weapons project infeasible. On the other hand, given the gullibility of the average American, it doesn't seem insurmountable.

Some years back, a group of neural researchers made the mistake of testing their equipment in a public, international environment. They were under the false impression that the test domain was used strictly by private corporate entities. They tried in vain to insist that their project remain a secret. The cat was already out of the bag because the people from whom they sought to hide their activities were represented in the test space. Imagine having a "private" conversation that is actually being broadcast over the building's PA system.

Do you trust the US military with a neural wave weapon? If they were to perfect one, how do you suppose they would apply it? Who would be their top adversary.

A Tale of Two Women

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

Two stories are making the rounds of the internet which display the same theme. In the first, a Bangladesh woman cut off the penis of her attempted rapist to take it to the police as proof of the attack. Police say he will be arrested as soon as he is in better condition. This may surprise those among you who assume that since I am a feminist I am a man-hater but my first reaction was that I think she should also be charged, with assault. Then I remembered all the "If a man tries to rape you, shoot him" crowd and thought, really, how is this any different?

In the second, and this is actually an old story, I have no idea why it's being brought up again now, a woman set her daughter's rapist on fire after he taunted her while on a 3 day release from prison. She was held at the time for psychiatric treatment and is my understanding that she was released after a year. Public support was very much on her side, which led to the lenient treatment. Again, I am conflicted on this. While I have no sympathy at all for the rapist, is it really our place to enact judgment, even on the most vile of criminals?

So I ask you, what are your thoughts on these cases? Is violence against our own attackers or those of our loved ones ever the answer? And what punishment should those who do undertake violent self-defense or vigilante acts be given, if any.

Construction starts on the tallest building in the world: one mile tall - The Kingdom Tower in Jedda

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Saudi Arabia is currently working on a skyscraper that will be twice the size of the current record holder, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (here’s the view from the top and what happens when lightning strikes that one). At 1 mile (1,600 m; 5,280 ft) tall, the Saudi development has a projected cost of $30bn. A city with a capacity of 80,000 people will be constructed around the tower, extending over an area of 23 million square meters. Permission to build this beast of a building has been granted and construction work is under way. The first video below was shot at the project’s original announcement when the exact height was yet to be set. The second puts things in perspective a little more. In the aftermath of 9/11, it took New York City, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, two rounds of designs over nearly five years bickering with Larry Silverstein (he's currently "renting" the WTC from the Port Authority) to basically come up with a 10 billion dollar design that's really not iconic looking, and is pretty "meh" in terms of putting the city architecturally back on the map. Several (architectural) historians are using the trends of these types of buildings being constructed in the Middle East and Asia, as proof the "West" has lost it's creativity, and chutzpah (cf. Niall Ferguson's special series: Is the West History? To be honest, I wished the greatest city in the world would do something a little more edgey than WTC 1 :-/

( Video renderings of the proposed building behind the cut )

An opportunity to apply some consistency.

[jerseycajun.livejournal.com]

I'm big on self-defense, and on the right to gun ownership. However, I also would not defend a private individual for an act I wouldn't also expect an authority figure to be held accountable for.

Here's the story.

I've argued in the past that a key objection I have to the idea of using authority to torture a captive in the name of security and safety is that the nature of the situation is categorically insufficient to justify its use. The reason being is that the target is already in a subjugated state or prone, if you will.

Enter Jerome Jay Ersland who in the process of defending his store from being robbed, shot one of the assailants in the head, chased the other assailant outside, returned and proceeded to fetch another weapon and shoot the first attacker 5 more times, who it turned out was not carrying a weapon (the gun toting assailant was the one who was chased outside).

Now there was no telling whether Antwun Parker (the assailant killed) was still alive after the first shot, but it seems hard to believe he represented an active threat warranting 5 additional shots to subdue him. There is no sign of struggle at that point. Ersland might have just been shooting an already dead body, (That's about the only way I could see a case being made in his defense), but even so, would not the proper response to a downed assailant be to call the police and the paramedics?

The overall point here is that use of lethal force can only be justified as long as an active lethal threat remains. And that even when such a threat is active, taking a life in defense is less about intending to violate someone else's bodily integrity and dignity than protecting your own (specifically your own). When conditions become passive again, the dignity and the integrity of the individual once again become the overriding necessity.

Do I think the verdict is correct? Yes, most likely (with the only reasonable doubt being whether or not Parker was still alive at the time the additional shots were fired) but situations like this cannot be glossed over or condoned whether the person is acting as a private individual or an authority figure.

Georgia's labor shortage

[kinvore.livejournal.com]

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/farmers-tie-labor-shortage-958782.html

Ah, ironies never cease. Apparently Georgia had passed a tough new immigration bill similar to the one in Arizona. As a result many migrants have refused to work there for the upcoming harvest, and the result could cost farmers hundreds of millions and add to a growing food shortage.

Here's the irony, this whole thing has gone on to prove one point that many make against tougher anti-immigrant laws: many of the jobs taken by illegal immigrants are those most Americans won't do. Despite a 9.9% unemployment rate in Georgia they still can't find enough people to do the work, both because it's temporary and because it's difficult work.

On the flip side it also seems to enforce the conservative stereotype of the unemployed not wanting to find work, however I think this is because a flaw in our unemployment benefit system. If someone is on unemployment there is no incentive for them to take short-term work, many fear they will lose their benefits and not be able to get them back if they work short-term. Not sure how true this fear is, I think it depends on what state they're in and the pay/length of employment with their previous job.

It may feel good to go after those pesky illegals who took your jerbs, but maybe one should consider all the factors before taking their frustrations out on Chuy.

Roots to Terrorism

[queen-asante.livejournal.com]

Just a question (or two) for discussion:


How do we bring the guilty [terrorists] to justice without making them martyrs [to the other terrorists]?
 

How do we distinguish the terrorists from those who share their culture but not their cause?