Minority report, Tom Cruise, arresting people for what they think

Notes 33

We are already arresting people for crimes they might commit a la movie Minority Report. What concerns me is the risk of labeling every political dissident as a risk who needs locking up in an institution. That’s the next step in our race to rewrite judicial system.

An American Suicide Terrorist
William John Cox, Truthout: "As we evaluate the cause and effects of the Tucson murders, assign responsibility and seek solutions, we must continue to uphold the freedom of speech while taking reasonable steps to avoid violent consequences. Political speech has always been inflammatory in the United States, but perhaps due to the increasing militarization of the nation, politicians and commentators have come to routinely talk about 'hunting' and 'targeting' political opponents.... As best we can, given the Second Amendment as currently interpreted by the Supreme Court, we must do everything we can to legally ensure that mentally disturbed people, including those under the influence of highly-charged, political speech, cannot purchase, possess and carry concealed firearms, particularly those with combat capabilities."

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Difficult to rouse any passion against wars here. Must be really difficult in Israel

In Israel/Palestine, Occupation Has No Future
"In the Fall of 2009 I had the privilege of following a delegation of US veterans and war resisters traveling to Israel/Palestine to meet with their Israeli counterparts in an effort to strengthen connections between the US and Israeli anti-militarist movements and to share their experiences of refusing to be part of an occupying army.... My latest film, Occupation Has No Future: Militarism + Resistance in Israel/Palestine, is the result of dozens of exchanges and encounters during the month that [I] spent in Israel/Palestine.... Through conversations with Israeli conscientious objectors, former soldiers, and civil society activists ... the consequences of Israeli domestic policy are revealed in stark terms, not only for the Palestinian people, but for Israeli civil society as well."

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How neat. Being able to lever public fear and support by controlling the estimates of the danger. Sort of like the threat levels established by Ashcroft for air travel.

After failed Iran nuclear talks
ISTANBUL –
Israeli officials now talk of a three-year window — until 2014 — before Iran can make a bomb. That compares with projections of 2011 just three years ago.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told NBC's "Today" show earlier this week that the new Israeli estimates are "very significant." The delay, she said, "gives us more of a breathing space to try to work to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
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Obama defends U.S. soil against possible attack by North Korea. It’s not China OR North Korea that are in America’s back yard. Typical of U.S. ludicrous sense of the world’s threats to its sovereignty.

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Obama warned his Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao, that if Beijing did not step up pressure on North Korea, Washington would redeploy its forces in Asia to protect itself from a potential North Korean strike on U.S. soil.
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There will be no end and no embarrassment for the broken compact with the American people

WASHINGTON – The U.S. awarded a no-bid, $266 million contract for a lucrative electricity project in southern Afghanistan despite promising last year to seek competitive bids, The Associated Press has learned.
The U.S. Agency for International Development made the change despite criticism over how it has managed billions of dollars spent on reconstruction contracts.
In January 2010, the agency said companies would compete for the project, which was awarded to Black & Veatch Corp. of Overland Park, Kan. USAID had chastised the company for cost overruns and busted deadlines on a diesel-fueled power plant in Kabul.
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With a godfather like D.C., how can you fail? Xe nee Blackwater, one of America’s stellar international corporations, is teaching ruthless lessons with the gun first paid for by D.C. through special forces training and then by government contracts funding an off the books Middle East private army to hide the cost of the Iraq war.

Blackwater Invades Somalia
by Mishima
Sat Jan 22, 2011 at 04:57:46 AM PST
Blackwater the mercenary army run by Erik Prince from North Carolina has obtained a contract from several Middle Eastern governments to fight piracy originating in Somalia. Given Blackwater's record no Xe services prior record the out come of this operation will only lead to further tragedy for the Innocent while the perpetrators continue to operate with impunity.
Even though Blackwater and its agents have committed numerous illegal transgressions while in the employee of the U.S. government lucrative contracts continue to come thier way. How can you faio with a godfather like that?

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The long hand of U.S. extra judicial proceedings, pirating people for rumors, not money.

Nairobi, Kenya – They came for Ismail Abubakar at nightfall on Aug. 9, 2010, plucking him from an outdoor market near the mosque where he had just finished teaching young Kenyans how to read the Quran.
Three months later, Abubakar and two dozen other bombing suspects were released for lack of evidence. But the story of his rendition, and the ongoing detention of nine other Kenyans for the bombing, highlights a troubling pattern of extra-judicial abduction and human rights abuses as Africa increases efforts, often at the request of US counterterrorism officials, to combat rising Islamic terrorism.

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Deciding the successful model for the future

China’s on the correct path--"They are thinking each and every day about how to educate their work force, rebuild their infrastructure, enter into new markets," Obama said in November, after wrapping up a 10-day Asia trip. "We should feel confident about our ability to compete, but we are going to have to step up our game."

Congress is on the wrong path, cutting costs instead of raising taxes: Some House Republicans have promised to cut $100 billion from the budgets of domestic agencies. They plan to vote next week on a resolution setting appropriations for the rest of the year at 2008 levels, in place before Obama took office.