Month: April 2012

It Couldn’t Happen to Nicer People

The Republican Party of Minnesota has been pushing two major initiatives: a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and a constitutional amendment to require photo ID when voting. They are fighting hard for both of these initiatives while the most critical issues, namely the deficit and ever increasing oppressive nature of the government, are being entirely ignored. Needless to say they’re complete failures as far as small government and fiscal responsibility are concerned so I can’t help but laugh at this:

“We continue to be in a very precarious working capital position,” wrote Bron Scherer, the Secretary-Treasurer of the state party, in a March memo marked “Confidential, Do Not Forward.”

In the memo to the state party executive committee, Scherer noted that “we are not paying our office lease rent payment currently…and have not yet negotiated long-term payment schedules and/or negotiated settlements relating to most of the vendors on the accounts payable aging.”

Said one Minnesota Republican about a state with at least two House Republicans facing competitive re-elections: “I don’t know how the party is going to be at all capable of doing anything this cycle.”

A fate well deserved. I’m glad to see they don’t even have enough money to pay rent for their office, they have been doing nothing constructive and plenty that is destructive. They’ve made their bed and now they’re being forced to lay in it and they damn well deserve it. There could be some hope that the Minnesota Republican Party would do some internal changes in the hopes of getting in good with the people again but I doubt that will happen. Instead of appeasing the people of Minnesota the Republican Party will just find some way of blaming the Democrats for their current woes and appeal to the authoritarians with more neocon malarkey.

We’re Literally Serfs Now

I often use the term serf as an example of how the state thinks of the people under it’s rule. It appears that my statement may be more literal than I thought:

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or NDAA, signed into law by Hope/Change enthusiast Barack Obama on December 31, 2011, potentially ends right to due process and habeas corpus for US citizens. You can now be detained by military forces and imprisoned, without trial or charges, for as long as the government deems necessary.

The Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011, or Trespass Bill, signed into law by Barack Obama on March 9, 2012, “potentially makes peaceable protest anywhere in the U.S. a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.” Nice. More specifically, peaceful protest within proximity to those protected by the Secret Service, including presidential candidates and the President, may be a federal felony now. So much for that First Amendment, huh? (Source.)

The Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011, or H.R. 1981, is the brainchild of SOPA author Rep. Lamar Smith. The bill, according to VentureBeat and others, “would alter U.S. code Chapter 18 section 2703 ‘Required Disclosure of Customer Communications or Records’ so that all Internet service providers would need to store your IP address for at least 12 months, along with any highly sensitive personal information such as credit card data.” Keep in mind, this would be used on ALL Americans who use the Internet, including you and I. Just in case, you know, we are harming children. Police state surveillance: it’s all for the kids!

[…]

The National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order, or NDRP, was released by Barack Obama’s administration on March 16, 2012 — it received very little broadcast media attention. According to a columnist at The Washington Times, “It states that, in case of a war or national emergency, the federal government has the authority to take over almost every aspect of American society. Food, livestock, farming equipment, manufacturing, industry, energy, transportation, hospitals, health care facilities, water resources, defense and construction…

In short, the order gives Mr. Obama the ability to impose martial law. He now possesses the potential powers of a dictator. The order is a direct assault on individual liberties, private property rights and the rule of law. It is blatantly unconstitutional.”

The United States, land of the formerly free.

Because Police Oversight is Overrated

Even though the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) has a rather colorful history that demonstrated a need for oversight the goons at the state capitol have decided police oversight is unnecessary:

A state law enacted over the opposition of city leaders has significantly reduced the power of the Minneapolis panel that investigates police misconduct, throwing the city’s 22-year-old system of civilian police oversight into doubt.

The bill to prohibit the Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority (CRA) from issuing “findings of fact” was introduced at the request of the Minneapolis Police Federation, the politically influential police union, and won overwhelming bipartisan support in the Minnesota Senate and House. Despite appeals from Mayor R.T. Rybak’s office and City Council members, Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bill into law Thursday.

“I fully share the desire to assure the highest standards of police conduct,” Dayton said in a statement Friday. “However, serious concerns have been expressed about the Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority, prompting the city to begin its own review. This will be an opportunity to improve the authority’s procedures, so that it can better carry out its important responsibilities.”

Serious concerns have been expressed about the Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority? What kind of concerns? Did they stumble across another Gang Task Force-esque blunder and had to be shut up before it was brought to light?

I’m sure MPD will enjoy their new reign, free of any pesky oversight by mere civilians.

Blackwater, or Whatever They Call Themselves Today, are Up to No Good Once Again

When the United States “left” Iraq we apparently forgot to take our Blackwater Xe Academi mercenaries with us. What happens when you leave a bunch of unaccountable crusaders behind in an Islamic country? Shit like this:

Stumbled upon this video that allegedly shows Blackwater contractors going wild in Iraq. Here is the original video description posted with this: “Videos posted by Harper’s Magazine show the private contractor formerly known as Blackwater in Iraq running over a woman with a car, smashing into Iraqis’ cars to move them out of the way and firing a rifle into traffic. The behavior by Blackwater seen in the videos adds even more fuel to evidence that the company “encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life.”

With top notch employees like that it’s not wonder many Iraqis hate our guts to this day.

Monday Metal: Live Forevermore by Wisdom

It’s Monday, which means it’s time for your weekly dose of metal. Once again I’m bringing you some power metal because I like power metal (and if you don’t too bad, it’s my site and I get to do what I want). Today’s song is Live Forevermore by Wisdom and it’s full of the usual cheese that accompanies power metal (although I don’t think this song is about dragons):

Cook County’s “Assault Weapon” Ban to be Challenged

It appears that the Illinois Supreme Court will be hearing the challenge to Cook County’s “assault weapon” ban:

Gun rights advocates scored a victory Thursday when the Illinois Supreme Court decided to allow a challenge to Cook County’s assault weapons ban to proceed.

The court ruled that lower courts were wrong to throw out the challenge. The Supreme Court said it wants the trial court to hear evidence on whether assault weapons get the same Second Amendment protections as handguns.

[…]

The ban was challenged by three Cook County residents who said they had perfectly valid reasons to own the prohibited weapons, from hunting to target shooting to personal protection. They argued that the law was too vague and too broad, with little connection to the goal of increasing public safety.

This could be good news to the denizens of Cook County but it’s even month on how the Illinois Supreme Court will rule. Illinois has a hardon for gun control and are the last remaining state that offers no means for a citizen to legally carry a firearm. Furthermore, even though the Supreme Court shot down Chicago’s handgun ban city officials have been doing everything in their power to prevent residents from purchasing handguns (and any other type of firearm).

The Canadian Long Gun Registry is Dead

Good news for my northern neighbors, the Canadian long gun registry has finally been put down:

The Conservative government vowed during the 2011 election to eliminate the long-gun registry. On Wednesday night, the bill to officially end the registry had its final vote in the Senate — leaving only a signature from the Governor General needed to officially kill the registry.

That signature signing Bill C-19 into law should come Thursday morning.

By a vote of 50-27, senators approved the bill, marking the last political hurdle needed to kill the registry.

It’s good to see Canada finally killing off the $2.7 billion registry that didn’t manage to solve a single crime. Of course the battle isn’t entirely over as Quebec has made it known that they want to maintain their own registry:

The Quebec government has asked repeatedly that records on Quebec residents be transferred so the province can create its own registry, but the federal government has steadfastly rejected the request.

Hopefully the federal government continues to maintain tight control over the long gun registry data. If Quebec wants to implement its own registry make it cost them dearly for their stupidity.

Tapping Phones is Expensive

It’s nice to know I’m not the only person being gouged by cell phone providers:

But at least one document also details the day-to-day business of telecoms’ handing over of data to law enforcement, including a breakdown of every major carrier’s fees for every sort of data request from targeted wiretaps to so-called “tower dumps” that provide information on every user of certain cell tower. The guide, as provided by the Tucson, Arizona police department to the ACLU, is dated July 2009, and the fees it lists may be somewhat outdated. But representatives I reached by email at Verizon and AT&T both declined to detail any changes to the numbers.

Here are a few of the highlights from the fee data.

  • Wiretaps cost hundreds of dollars per target every month, generally paid at daily or monthly rates. To wiretap a customer’s phone, T-Mobile charges law enforcement a flat fee of $500 per target. Sprint’s wireless carrier Sprint Nextel requires police pay $400 per “market area” and per “technology” as well as a $10 per day fee, capped at $2,000. AT&T charges a $325 activation fee, plus $5 per day for data and $10 for audio. Verizon charges a $50 administrative fee plus $700 per month, per target.
  • Data requests for voicemail or text messages cost extra. AT&T demands $150 for access to a target’s voicemail, while Verizon charges $50 for access to text messages. Sprint offers the most detailed breakdown of fees for various kinds of data on a phone, asking $120 for pictures or video, $60 for email, $60 for voice mail and $30 for text messages.
  • All four telecom firms also offer so-called “tower dumps” that allow police to see the numbers of every user accessing a certain cell tower over a certain time at an hourly rate. AT&T charges $75 per tower per hour, with a minimum of two hours. Verizon charges between $30 and $60 per hour for each cell tower. T-Mobile demands $150 per cell tower per hour, and Sprint charges $50 per tower, seemingly without an hourly rate.
  • For location data, the carrier firms offer automated tools that let police track suspects in real time. Sprint charges $30 per month per target to use its L-Site program for location tracking. AT&T’s E911 tool costs $100 to activate and then $25 a day. T-Mobile charges a much pricier $100 per day.

Here I was thinking my bill was high, the state’s bill must be insane considering the cost of obtaining customer data and the frequency in which they attempt to buy it. Just remember, when you carry a cell phone you’re carrying a personal state spy around in your pocket.

Another Major Media Source Caught Fabricating Evidence

Hot on the heels of MSNBC being forced to issue an apology for fabricating evidence showing Zimmerman as a racist, CNN is now backpedaling:

Recently, CNN enhanced audio of George Zimmerman — the man who shot Trayvon Martin — to try and determine if he did, in fact, use a racial slur while calling police on the night of the shooting. Back then, it sounded like Zimmerman might have used the phrase “fu**ing coons,” and his critics have cited it as evidence of a racially-motivated attack. But now CNN has enhanced the audio again, and the reporter is casting doubts that the term was used.

“It certainly sounds like that word to me,” Gary Tuckman said when the audio was first enhanced. But after the latest enhancement, he’s not so sure:

“Now it does sound less like that racial slur. … From listening in this room, and this is a state-of-the-art room, it doesn’t sound like that slur anymore. It sounds like … we‘re hearing the swear word at first and then the word ’cold.’ And the reason some say that would be relevant, is because it was unseasonably cold in Florida that night and raining.”

Shows like CSI would have you believe one can easily and accurately enhance any audio or visual data to get data that isn’t stored in the source material. How many times have we seen the TV cops take a low definition video and “enhance” it to the point of crystal clarity? The real world is an asshole and doesn’t abide by precedents set by Hollywood so the whole idea of “enhancing” audio or visual data and getting reliable data from it is foolhardy.

Sadly the damage to Zimmerman’s name is done. Stating outrage over an apparently race driven crime is fun because it makes one’s self feel righteous, but later admitting you were suckered into the media’s cheap attempt to boost ratings isn’t.