Enough

Tuesday 17 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

The government has enough of our hard earned money to spy indiscriminately on every American contra-Constitutionally, for threatening yet another war in the Middle East, and for various other things that are blatant wastes of treasure, but they apparently don’t have enough money for a . . . fax machine, rendering it impossible for the military to process Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Despite receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in annual taxpayer funding, a surprising bit of news was reported about the Department of Defense on Thursday: one of its busiest Freedom of Information Act offices cannot afford to immediately replace a fax machine used to process information requests.

But the news, first reported by FOIA-specializing primary source publisher MuckRock, isn’t so dire, according to the employee whose words prompted the Sept. 12 article that said the only fax machine in the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff FOIA department is not currently functional, and might not be replaced until November.

The culprit? You guessed it . . . SEQUESTRATION!!!!!

Comments Off on Enough  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-17  ::  madlibertarianguy

Exactly Right

Saturday 14 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

Ken White of Popehat on the NSA and its antagonistic campaign to defeat encryption algorithms:

I am not — at least not yet — classified as a terrorist, cybercriminal, or human trafficker. So I suppose I am the “other.” I want to learn to use strong crypto effectively, and encrypt my professional and personal communications from government spying.

I am the other because I do not trust my government in general, or the people working for its security apparatus in particular.

I am the other because I believe the Security State and its representatives habitually lie, both directly and by misleading language, about the scope of their spying on us. I believe they feel entitled to do so.

I am the other because I believe the Security State and its representatives habitually violate such modest restrictions as a complacent and compliant legislature puts on their spying — again, because they feel entitled to do so.

I am the other because I don’t believe the Security State and its representatives when they say that government spying is reserved for foreign terrorists. In fact, the NSA’s “minimization” techniques — touted as methods for restricting spying to foreign terrorists instead of U.S. citizens — are often transparently and insultingly ridiculous.

I am the other because I don’t believe my government when it tries to convince us that enhanced spying techniques are used to protect us from terrorists. I believe, instead, that the increased powers acquired by my government since 9/11 have been habitually brought to bear for domestic purposes, including such things as the ruinous and amoral War on Drugs.

I am the other because I represent people accused of crimes by the government. Based on nearly 20 years experience in the criminal justice system, I believe my government and the people working for it are likely to (1) use national security apparatus to gather intelligence on defendants accused of domestic crimes, (2) pass that intelligence along to domestic prosecutors, and (3) lie about and conceal the source of the information or how it was transmitted. I know many individual prosecutors who, I believe, would not review and use intercepted attorney-client communications and conceal them from me. However, institutionally, I believe the United States government and many of its prosecutors are willing and able to do so.1

I am the other because I believe a free person needs no excuse whatsoever to keep communications secret from the government, whether those communications are weighty or frivolous. I am the other because I believe the mantra “what do you have to hide” is a contemptible and un-American sentiment that fundamentally misconstrues the proper relationship between citizen and state.

Exactly right. The government actively sees all citizens who deem it right to resist being spied upon as adversaries to be defeated. The government can go fuck itself.

Comments Off on Exactly Right  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-14  ::  madlibertarianguy

Academic Freedom

Saturday 14 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

Only when you’re in line with the narrative.

A professor in the computer science department at Johns Hopkins, a leading American university, had written a post on his blog, hosted on the university’s servers, focused on his area of expertise, which is cryptography. The post was highly critical of the government, specifically the National Security Agency, whose reckless behavior in attacking online security astonished him.

[. . .]

The post was widely circulated online because it is about the sense of betrayal within a community of technical people who had often collaborated with the government. (I linked to it myself.)

On Monday, he gets a note from the acting dean of the engineering school asking him to take the post down and stop using the NSA logo as clip art in his posts. The email also informs him that if he resists he will need a lawyer.

Academic freedom doesn’t mean what any rational person would assume the very simple phrase should mean: that academics at universities, ostensibly institutions that value free thought and diverse points of view, should be able to profess whatever their conscience and research dictates without fear of reprisal for professing said thoughts. It means towing the academic narrative that supports liberal thinking.

Comments Off on Academic Freedom  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-14  ::  madlibertarianguy

In Contrast

Thursday 12 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

In contrast to the economic boom on the wave of fracking for natural gas here in the US, Europe worries that their major push for economically inefficient forms of “renewable” green energy sources are putting European manufacturers at a major competitive disadvantage. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at The Telegraph:

“We face a systemic industrial massacre,” said Antonio Tajani, the European industry commissioner.
Mr Tajani warned that Europe’s quixotic dash for renewables was pushing electricity costs to untenable levels, leaving Europe struggling to compete as America’s shale revolution cuts US natural gas prices by 80pc.

“I am in favour of a green agenda, but we can’t be religious about this. We need a new energy policy. We have to stop pretending, because we can’t sacrifice Europe’s industry for climate goals that are not realistic, and are not being enforced worldwide,” he told The Daily Telegraph during the Ambrosetti forum of global policy-makers at Lake Como.

“The loss of competitiveness is frightening,” said Paulo Savona, head of Italy’s Fondo Interbancario. “When people choose whether to invest in Europe or the US, what they think about most is the cost of energy.”

A report by the American Chemistry Council said shale gas has given the US a “profound and sustained competitive advantage” in chemicals, plastics, and related industries. Consultants IHS also expect US chemical output to double by 2020, while Europe’s output will have fallen by a third. IHS said $250bn (£160bn) in extra US manufacturing will be added by shale in the next six years.

European president Herman Van Rompuy echoed the growing sense of alarm, calling it a top EU priority to slash energy costs. “Compared to US competitors, European industry pays today twice as much for electricity, and four times as much for gas. Our companies don’t get the rewards for being more efficient,” he said.

Europe’s deepening energy crisis has for now replaced debt troubles as the region’s top worry, with major implications for the Commission’s draft paper on shale expected in October. The EU’s industry and environment directorates are pitted against each other. The new legislation could in theory stop Britain, Poland, and others going ahead with fracking.

“Personally, I am in favour of shale gas in Europe because we have to do more for industry,” said Mr Tajani.

Pursuing policy which makes energy artificially expensive is how you kill economies and worsen the quality of life for everyone involved.

Comments Off on In Contrast  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-12  ::  madlibertarianguy

Evil, Evil Fracking

Thursday 12 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

I just knew that fracking would be evil!

In 2012, the energy boom supported 2.1 million jobs, added almost $75 billion in federal and state revenues, contributed $283 billion to the gross domestic product and lifted household income by more than $1,200, according to the report released today from IHS CERA. The competitive advantage for U.S. manufacturers from lower fuel prices will raise industrial production by 3.5 percent by the end of the decade, said the report from CERA, which provides business advice for energy companies.

[. . .]

Lower costs are also driving investment in energy-related chemical industries, where more than $31 billion will add more than 16 million tons of chemical, plastics and related manufacturing facilities by 2016.

“The unconventional oil and gas revolution is not only an energy story, it is also a very big economic story,” Daniel Yergin, IHS vice chairman and author of The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World, said in a statement. “The growth of long-term, low-cost energy supplies is benefiting households and helping to revitalize U.S. manufacturing, creating a competitive advantage for U.S. industry and for the United States itself.”

Cheap, plentiful, clean energy which makes manufacturing and power for home use significantly cheaper, enriching Americans by the tune of $1200 per year. How terrible.

Comments Off on Evil, Evil Fracking  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-12  ::  madlibertarianguy

TEH MALE GAZE!!

Monday 9 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

The dreaded male gaze strikes again! The Daily Caller:

It started out as a casual attempt to make eye contact with the attractive girl in the car next to them. But for Aaron Arias, 19, and Jamal Harris, 17, the brief attempt to score some afternoon delight turned out to be a heroic kidnapping rescue after they saw the girl they were staring out mouth “help me.”

The two Texas teens immediately called the police and followed the suspicious vehicle to keep track of the abducted female’s location.

Arias told the 911 dispatcher, “It’s me and another guy. So we’re checking out the girl in the backseat because, we’re like, ‘OK, she’s kind of attractive.’”

But suddenly, the teens realized something wasn’t right.

“Then all of a sudden the guy is turned back, looking at us. We looked in the backseat and the blonde female in the back was saying ‘help me’ or something, whispering it,” he said.

She probably would have been better off if those disgusting men wouldn’t have wanted to fuck her.

Comments Off on TEH MALE GAZE!!  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-09  ::  madlibertarianguy

Fear Mongering

Sunday 8 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

It’s good to see that war hawks are using their favorite tactic of fear mongering in order to gain support for a war of choice.

Comments Off on Fear Mongering  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-08  ::  madlibertarianguy

Intimidation

Sunday 8 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

Law Enforcement knows that paramilitary raids have very little to do with “officer safety” (as they so often claim), but with intimidation. Police State USA:

Cooper, who is training to be a wild land fire fighter, said that on August 23, he was contacted by Officer Jason Kuafman of the Prescott Valley Police Department and was told that he needed to come to the police station for an interview with the FBI.

He complied with the request for an interview, which lasted 45 minutes with federal agents present. He was released after apparently being determined to not be a threat.

“They had every Facebook post I had ever made in a huge file, along with all my wife’s information, and parent’s information,” Cooper told policestateusa.com.

Cooper said that he was told that without “defusing the situation” by complying with the interview, his house might have been raided.

“The FBI made mention they came to question me so they didn’t have to kick in my door,” Cooper told policestateusa.com.

It should be pointed out that answering questions from federal agents is an extremely risky idea, especially without the presence of a lawyer. Supreme Court case BROGAN v. UNITED STATES affirmed that it is a federal crime to tell any lie, or misrepresent any fact, to a federal agent. Even an innocent person with good intentions could commit a federal crime by misspeaking during an interview.

But apparently the alternative to complying to an interview is getting raided by the FBI.

So your choice is to be subject of a police raid that will undoubtedly put your family (and pets) in danger, or an “interview” with the feds which is designed to illicit an answer that can be somehow construed as untrue, ending in federal charges. Fucking great.

Comments Off on Intimidation  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-08  ::  madlibertarianguy

Their Own

Sunday 8 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

The reason that Hollywood has been largely absent in responding to Obama’s beating the drums of war is that they don’t want to become the victim of their own tactics that have been used against many conservatives and libertarians for 5 years now. They’re afraid of being called a racist. Paul Bond at Hollywood Reporter:

Another reason some Hollywood progressives have been reticent to speak out against war in Syria, according to Asner, is fear of being called racist.

“A lot of people don’t want to feel anti-black by being opposed to Obama,” he said.

How about you stop worrying about what others might call you and act on your principles? I’ve been called a racist because of virtually every political position I hold for over 5 years now. It sucks, is intellectually dishonest, and is bullshit designed to preclude an argument on the merits. Welcome to my world. Perhaps now you’ll reconsider your accusations of racism, or even perhaps point out to your progressive brethren that disagreeing on particular policy positions isn’t automagically indicative of racism.

Comments Off on Their Own  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-08  ::  madlibertarianguy

Where Hast Thou Gone

Thursday 5 September 2013 - Filed under Uncategorized

Anti-war movement, where hast thou gone?

There’s been a lot of talk about the absence of a strong and visible anti-war movement, the way there was during the George W. Bush Presidency. While there are protests against intervention in Syria, in general the movement seems to be a lot weaker under Obama. If you guessed that this had something to do with the fact that Obama is a Democrat, you’d be correct!

War is okay when it’s your guy waging it.

Comments Off on Where Hast Thou Gone  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2013-09-05  ::  madlibertarianguy