Zalatix
Zalatix's JournalIs it time to have another JAM ECHELON day? Fire up the Anonymous bat signal!
http://www.thedailysheeple.com/echelon-rising-everything-you-say-write-or-tweet-is-analyzed-processed-and-prioritized_022012Echelon Rising: Everything you Say, Write, Or Tweet Is Analyzed, Processed and Prioritized
Mac Slavo
The Daily Sheeple
February 1st, 2012
DHS saw his messages and detained him and his friend upon their arrival at LAX. They were held and questioned for five hours before being handcuffed and transferred to prison cells guarded by armed officials.
Leigh says he tried to explain that ‘destroy’ is slang for partying hard in Britain but the DHS officials held the two on suspicion of planning to “commit crimes.” The story goes that they thought Leigh’s friend Emily was there to act as a look-out while Leigh raided the crypt of Marilyn Monroe. They even checked their luggage for shovels. The two were sent home on a plane the next morning, but Leigh was also issued with papers detailing the reason he was refused entry to the U.S.
Source: Tom’s Guide
Romania's government collapses in the face of anti-austerity protests! Hoorah!
I hope the bankers and corporate elite who bet on these austerity cuts get absolutely positively ZIP out of this.
http://news.yahoo.com/romanias-government-collapses-protests-151141275.html
Romania's government collapses after protests
Associated PressBy ALISON MUTLER | Associated Press – 1 hr 11 mins ago
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's government has collapsed following weeks of protests against austerity measures, the latest debt-stricken government in Europe to fall in the face of raising public anger over biting cuts.
Emil Boc, who had been prime minister since 2008, said Monday he was resigning "to defuse political and social tension" and to make way for a new government. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets in January to protest salary cuts, higher taxes and the widespread perception that the government was not interested in the public's hardships in this nation of 22 million.
President Traian Basescu quickly appointed Justice Minister Catalin Predoiu, the only Cabinet member unaffiliated with a political party, as interim prime minister to serve until a new government is approved.
Basescu also nominated Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, the head of Romania's foreign intelligence service, as the country's new prime minister and asked him to form a Cabinet. Parliament must approve Ungureanu and his ministers in 60 days, or the legislature will be dissolved and new elections held.
So we've reduced our pollution footprint? Really? Uh, not really. (Pic, video and text heavy)
Frankly, I don't know how much I can say that will get people to realize the horrendous magnitude of hypocrisy present in America's environmental policy. It's even worse when you consider the contributions to environmental degradation from our half of America.
Democrats pushed America to reduce industrial pollution and carbon emissions, we led the fight on this. Yet we're being hoodwinked into believing that we have made big progress in this area. On the surface, we have. Factories in America, while still being sources of intolerable levels of pollution, are nonetheless held to far stricter emission standards and pollution controls than they were decades ago.
However, if Democrats seriously realized how this was achieved, we would be staggering under the emotional weight of remorse and guilt. And those wise folks among us who wouldn't feel guilt over the truth, would at least know fear of the inevitable price that all of humanity will at some point pay.
First, let me make up a story for you to read.
Now for the details. Your country will receive trillions of dollars. In exchange for this, people in another nation will die. All you or your successor in the Oval Office has to do is open the glass and push that red button within the next 60 years and the money will be yours.
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You call for the Secret Service but no one hears you. He leaves, and you and your Presidential successors are the only people who can see the box on your desk.
Would you accept the deal? Of course not. You're a Democrat. You would never endanger someone else's life for a profit. Nor would your successors.
So the box sits there on the table and gathers dust. No President pushes the button; they pass the message onto their successors, who avoid that box like the plague. Finally, the mysterious stranger returns to visit your successor 60 years down the line and pick up the box. To his/her surprise, the mysterious stranger says that a President of the United States did in fact push the button, and hands them a multi trillion dollar check.
How in the world did one of the Presidents over the last 60 years push the button when you left it completely alone?
Well, he says, your nation has been reaping trillions of dollars in the form of huge savings in the form of cheaper prices for consumer goods. Part of your savings came from not having to enforce stricter emissions standards on domestic factories. Significant amounts of the pollution that your country previously choked on to produce your goods domestically were moved out of America and moved elsewhere, which also means your people have become healthier and as a result you have also saved billions in medical expenses. You also gained higher productivity due to having a healthier workforce.
In exchange for this, people in other nations were plagued with this pollution that you would normally have to choke on or pay through the nose to reduce.
Having explained this to your successor 60 years down the line, the mysterious stranger picks up the box and leaves.
The reality we live in is not much unlike that of this made-up story I just wrote.
The fact is, we're contributing to the destruction of the world's ecosystem... but instead of generating the pollution in our own back yard, we've tricked the Chinese into doing it in their own back yards.
In doing this, we sidestepped the expensive task of forcing industries to clean up their act and produce goods with a lower carbon footprint and less pollutants going into the air, water and soil. Industries told us this was far too expensive and when we didn't back down, they took their factories overseas, where emissions laws are more relaxed. We said fine, go ahead, and as a result computers and consumer electronics (with the help of Moore's Law as well) started dropping in price. We closed factories here and sent 100% of our pollution over to China. Our life expectancy went up, and goods became cheaper.
Meanwhile, in China and other nations, people commit suicide in ultra harsh factories and leave work to get sick from the pollution we've outsourced to them. The Chinese Government cares little, if any, and is at best sluggishly creating committees to look at the problem. Meanwhile many people, particularly those who live in factory cities and those who consume water downstream from them, are dying of things like lung cancer and emphysema, their water is increasingly becoming poisoned, and the problem is even endangering their soil for agriculture. That's their food supply.
But we don't have to worry... all that is happening in China, not here.
Is this a good attitude for America to take? Of course not. But what is America doing about it? We're certainly not pressing China to adopt Western anti-pollution standards for their industries. Why? Because it would make consumer goods a lot more expensive, primarily, and you know what the argument is about consumer goods becoming more expensive - it makes America poorer. Who cares if China's environment becomes our industrial toilet - we need our cheap goods. We can't bear to take the hit on our standard of living, so we make the Chinese take the hit on their environment instead. Who here wants to say this does not make us poor global citizens? We may not be arguing that pollution is okay, but our actions clearly say it is... as long as it happens elsewhere, that is.
Now, you must also ask, is this for real? Is Zalatix just being alarmist? That's a legitimate question. Do I have an agenda? HELL YES. Free trade is flawed at its core. There, it's out in the open. Now what's your agenda? Do you care about the environment as all of us Democrats are called upon to care, or not?
If you do care, then these hard numbers should grab you, real fast.
http://carnegiescience.edu/news/carbon_emissions_outsourced_developing_countries
A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution for Science finds that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. Some countries, such as Switzerland, “outsource” over half of their carbon dioxide emissions, primarily to developing countries. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the U.S. but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China.
1) Almost 25% of China's pollution is created by making goods for other nations.
2) You, as a Democrat party member of the United States of America, produce an average of 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide not in America, but in other nations, such as China, India, Mexico, etc. The third world is the first to pay the price for your standard of living; America and the world, of course, pays the price later, in the form of global warming.
Peoples in other nations have a right to a better lifestyle. They're not going to maintain that increased standard of living, though, when they cannot even see the sun or stars because of smog and an increasing percentage of their water is too dangerous to even wade in, much less drink. We're destroying other countries for our benefit. How is this being a good global citizen?
What can we do about this? We can demand that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress make a big stink about using other nations as our industrial toilet. Demand high pollution control standards for all nations that we buy goods from. Free trade is one thing... but taking an industrial-sized toxic dump on other peoples is terrible negligence when you are unaware of it, and downright criminal once you are made aware and refuse to stop.
Until then, someone needs to compile an outsourced pollution footprint website to match the slaveryfootprint.org website. Call it the environmental hypocrisy index, or something.
You wouldn't want this in your country, would you?
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Then why would we inflict this on foreigners? Don't they have a right to a healthy environment, too?
Let's get real. Cheap consumer goods, produced here or abroad, have a terrible, measurable price when they are produced with relaxed emissions and pollution standards. America should never be allowed to consume stuff made by factories ANYWHERE that pollute more than technology has the power to control. Again that means here, or abroad. We may be afraid of TVs going up in price but we'll pay a bigger price if we don't knuckle down and deal with it.
Other nations should be pressured into curbing their emissions and pollution standards, too. We are in a position to apply that kind of pressure so they can have a better standard of living that doesn't include mortgaging their environment in the process. We can still have globalism and free trade, but we can have it without turning other nations into our toxic dumps. However it will mean far less production is sent out of the country (especially that which is done to escape pollution regulations), and other countries' factories will be producing more for themselves and not just for export: which means prosperity for everyone.
If this doesn't raise awareness to our environmental hypocrisy, well, I dunno what will.
Proposed: adding racism and sexism to the definition of TV obscenity?
Ads that clearly single out members of racial groups, genders, religions, nationalities, or sexual orientations, and depict them in negative ways that reflect known stereotypes, should be assessed a huge fine. One big enough to mess up a company's stock value. Or they may be barred for X amount of time from advertising anywhere.
Yes, I know this is arbitrary. But I'd like to see huge fines assessed for this:
and this:
#!
and this:
and this:
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Go, Greece!!! Greek unions and employers reject austerity wage cuts!
http://yhoo.it/wZvgalGreek unions, employers reject wage cuts
By DEREK GATOPOULOS | Associated Press – 5 hrs ago
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Unions and employers' associations in Greece have rejected demands for private-sector wage cuts, despite pressure for the country to introduce strict austerity measures if it is to receive a crucial bailout package.
In a letter to the government Friday, unions and employers said they rejected proposals for the minimum wage to be slashed and annual salaries to be paid to Greek workers in 14 installments.
Wage costs have emerged as a major sticking point in negotiations between the government and rescue creditors from Greece's partners in the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund for a new bailout worth at least euro130 billion ($170 billion).
Without that deal, and a related bond swap that seeks to cut the country's privately held debt, Greece would go bankrupt in late March, when it faces a euro14.5 billion bond redemption it cannot afford.
Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the bond swap deal, known as the Private Sector Involvement, or PSI, and the parallel negotiations with the eurozone, European Central Bank and IMF debt inspectors for the second bailout were almost complete.
Prison labor workers f%^k up police car decals.
That's what you get for making prisoners do work for blow market wages.
This is worse than a strike.
http://news.yahoo.com/vermont-inmates-hide-pig-official-police-car-decal-004403610.html
By Zach Howard | Reuters – 15 hrs ago
(Reuters) - Inmates working at a Vermont correctional unit's print shop managed to sneak a prank image of a pig into a state police crest that is emblazoned on police cars, and 30 cruisers sported the design for the last year, officials said on Thursday.
The official crest depicts a spotted cow against a background of snowy mountains, but the inmates' version featured one of the cow's spots shaped like a pig in an apparent reference to the pejorative word for police, state police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.
"It dishonors the memory of those past and present members, especially for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty," Dasaro said.
Vermont contracts with correctional facilities employing prisoners to make some print products, including the cruiser decals. Police said someone who works at the print shop changed the emblem from the officially sanctioned design.
A police employee noticed the prank on Wednesday and reported it. Police said the 60 16-inch door decals would be removed as soon as it was practical.
The "source and timing" of the change to the design is under investigation, Dasaro said.
"While some may find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the taxpayers," Police Major Bill Sheets said in a statement.
(Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst and Cynthia Johnston)
Manna, by Marshall Brain - please read if you're concerned about the future of the working class
I just got this sent to me in email. It's speculative fiction but you'll see very quickly that this is extremely likely to happen, and its implications for the working class is unbelievably ugly.
I've even programmed a few cash registers in the past that tell you to count change and tell the customer "thank you"... this thing that is being talked about in the article is only a larger-scale version of this and I would not doubt that it is already being tested somewhere.
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
The top 10 nations that are most in debt are Western nations. Guess who's not on that list.
All the countries that Western jobs are going to: the BRICs. (Brazil, Russia, India, China.)
Anyone smell a coincidence? Anyone have an idea what will happen to the BRICs prosperity when our growing debt finally explodes in our faces?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/30308959?slide=11
The world's about to learn that you can't base your prosperity by sucking other nations' blood... eventually the vein runs dry.
Aw, boo hoo, the "globalism is not a zero sum game" scam is being outed as BULLSHIT... worldwide!
The old saw that "globalism is not a zero-sum game" is being seen through as the total pile of horseshit that it is.
The world is starting to wake up to the fact that it is a negative-sum game.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/24/the_end_of_the_win_win_world?page=0,0&wpisrc=obinsite
The End of the Win-Win World
Why China’s rise really is bad for America -- and other dark forces at work.
BY GIDEON RACHMAN | JANUARY 24, 2012
In my book Zero-Sum Future, written in 2009, I attempted to predict how the global economic crisis would change international politics. As the rather bleak title implied, I argued that relations between the major powers were likely to become increasingly tense and conflict-ridden. In a worsening economic climate, it would be harder for the big economies to see their relationships as mutually beneficial -- as a win-win. Instead, they would increasingly judge their relationships in zero-sum terms. What was good for China would be seen as bad for America. What was good for Germany would be bad for Italy, Spain, and Greece.
Now, as the paperback edition of my book comes out, the prediction is being borne out -- which is gratifying as an author, although slightly worrying as a member of the human race. The rise of zero-sum logic is the common thread, tying together seemingly disparate strands in international politics: the crisis inside the European Union, deteriorating U.S.-Chinese relations, and the deadlock in global governance.
This new, more troubled mood is reflected at this year's World Economic Forum. In the 20 years before the financial crisis, Davos was almost a festival of globalization -- as political leaders from all over the world bought into the same ideas about the mutual benefits of trade and investment and wooed the same investment bankers and multinational executives. At Davos, this year, the mood is more questioning -- with numerous sessions on rethinking capitalism and on the crisis in the eurozone. The European Union is an organization built around a win-win economic logic. Europe's founding fathers believed that the nations of Europe could put centuries of conflict behind them by concentrating on mutually beneficial economic cooperation. By building a common market and tearing down barriers to trade and investment, they would all become richer -- and, eventually, would get used to working together. Good economics would make good politics. The nations of Europe would grow together.
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