Sunday, January 26, 2014

Have Americans Lost Constitutional Rights?

It's a question being asked more and more --

Have Americans Lost ALL of Our Constitutional Rights? Washington's Blog: " . . . The 1st Amendment protects speech, religion, assembly and the press:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Supreme Court has also interpreted the First Amendment as protecting freedom of association. However, the government is arresting those speaking out … and violently crushing peaceful assemblies which attempt to petition the government for redress. A federal judge found that the law allowing indefinite detention of Americans without due process has a “chilling effect” on free speech. And see this and this. There are also enacted laws allowing the secret service to arrest anyone protesting near the president or other designated folks (that might explain incidents like this). Mass spying by the NSA violates our freedom of association, chilling our willingness to associate with people who are not firmly in the mainstream. The threat of being labeled a terrorist for exercising our First Amendment rights certainly violates the First Amendment. The government is using laws to crush dissent, and it’s gotten so bad that even U.S. Supreme Court justices are saying that we are descending into tyranny. . . . " (read more at links above)





Sunday, January 19, 2014

What is Sea Level? Not a simple question (video)



What is Sea Level?: It's not a simple question - "An oblate spheroid is a special case of an ellipsoid where two of the semi-principal axes are the same size."





Sunday, January 12, 2014

Iraq insurgency, Al Qaeda, Syria rebel connection

The following is a prime reason Syrian rebel cause is doomed, and should not be supported by Western democracies --

Over 100 killed in Iraq insurgency battles — RT News: " . . . Robert Naiman, policy director for ‘Just Foreign Policy’ organization, told RT that the West was effectively encouraging the increase in Al Qaeda activity in Iraq by supporting the militants in Syria. “One of the causes, clearly, for the resurgence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq is the Western support for armed jihadists in Syria, because it’s generally acknowledged it’s largely the same people on both sides of the border. The US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France are all implicated in the funding, recruiting, arming jihadist militants in Syria. That’s creating a base for jihadists’ actions in Iraq… Remember the justification for the US war in Afghanistan: “We can’t tolerate these ungoverned areas being a breeding ground, training camps, an organizing space for Al Qaeda.” That’s exactly what the West is tolerating in Syria! Not just tolerating, but helping to finance, facilitate, and encourage.”





Sunday, January 5, 2014

UK to be top European economy by 2030

UK Overtaking Germany by 2030 -- due to rising population, low-tax regime, insulation from Eurozone woes --

Britain 'will be Europe's top economy by 2030' | Business | The Guardian: "A rising population, a low-tax regime and insulation from the worst of the eurozone's problems leave Britain on course to overtake Germany as Europe's biggest economy within the next two decades, according to a study released on Thursday. The annual world economic league tables from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) predicts that Germany – for decades Europe's powerhouse economy – will have a smaller economy than the UK by about 2030."





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