The decline and eventual fall of the USA as world superpower?

[Enishi]

Here's some thoughts on how to escape from the parasitic banking network of which the Federal Reserve is part:

 

 

Overthrow the Speculators

by Chris Hedges

Money, as Karl Marx lamented, plays the largest part in determining the course of history. Once speculators are able to concentrate wealth into their hands they have, throughout history, emasculated government, turned the press into lap dogs and courtiers, corrupted the courts and hollowed out public institutions, including universities, to justify their looting and greed. Today’s speculators have created grotesque financial mechanisms, from usurious interest rates on loans to legalized accounting fraud, to plunge the masses into crippling forms of debt peonage. They steal staggering sums of public funds, such as the $85 billion of mortgage-backed securities and bonds, many of them toxic, that they unload each month on the Federal Reserve in return for cash. And when the public attempts to finance public-works projects they extract billions of dollars through wildly inflated interest rates.

 

Speculators at megabanks or investment firms such as Goldman Sachs are not, in a strict sense, capitalists. They do not make money from the means of production. Rather, they ignore or rewrite the law—ostensibly put in place to protect the vulnerable from the powerful—to steal from everyone, including their shareholders. They are parasites. They feed off the carcass of industrial capitalism. They produce nothing. They make nothing. They just manipulate money. Speculation in the 17th century was a crime. Speculators were hanged.

 

We can wrest back control of our economy, and finally our political system, from corporate speculators only by building local movements that decentralize economic power through the creation of hundreds of publicly owned state, county and city banks.

 

The establishment of city, regional and state banks, such as the state public bank in North Dakota, permits localities to invest money in community projects rather than hand it to speculators. It keeps property and sales taxes, along with payrolls for public employees and pension funds, from lining the pockets of speculators such as Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein. Money, instead of engorging the bank accounts of the few, is leveraged to fund schools, restore infrastructure, sustain systems of mass transit and develop energy self-reliance.

 

The Public Banking Institute, founded by Ellen Brown, the author of “Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free,”

and other grass-roots activists are attempting to build a system of public banks. States such as Vermont and Washington and cities such as Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Reading, Pa., have begun public banking initiatives. Public banks return economic power, and by extension political power, to the citizens. And because they are local they are possible. These and other grass-roots revolts, including sustainable agriculture, will be the brush fires that will, if they succeed, ignite the overthrow of the corporate state.

 

"We can wrest back control of our economy, and finally our political system, from corporate speculators only by building local movements that decentralize economic power through the creation of hundreds of publicly owned state, county and city banks."

 

“The debate about public or private control of the monetary system has been going on for hundreds of years,” Armstrong, the executive director of the Public Banking Institute, said when I reached him by phone. “The American Revolution had everything to do with who controlled our economic destiny. The money supply is central to that control. North Dakota has proven that a state can use a public bank to further the economic interests of its people. North Dakota funds its own infrastructure and capital investment projects. It provides funding for commercial lending throughout the state. It develops the areas of its economy it wants to prioritize, areas that are often not funded by private banks.”

 

“When a public bank such as the bank in North Dakota funds infrastructure projects the interest costs, which [otherwise] are often 50 percent or more of a project, in essence fall to zero because the interest is returned to same people who own the bank and paid the interest in the first place,” said Armstrong, who previously worked for IBM Finance. “[Americans typically] hold labor costs under a microscope, but ... don’t hold interest costs under a microscope. North Dakota can offer commercial loans as low as 1 percent. Compare this with Wall Street banks that charge 14 or 15 percent. We can use bank credit, the tool Wall Street banks use to amass wealth and power, to empower ourselves.” And because credit, Armstrong notes, is the source for 97 percent of the nation’s money supply, this power would be huge.

 

The Bank of North Dakota, the vision of socialists from a century ago, has been in operation for 90 years. It offers the state’s farmers and businesses low interest rates on loans. After

much of Grand Forks in 1997 the bank provided a six-month moratorium on mortgage payments and gave low-interest loans to the community to rebuild, a sharp contrast with the raw exploitation that marked the arrival of Wall Street bankers and speculators in Gulf Coast areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. Public banks in the United States, like the public banks in Germany, fund things such as solar power because it is good for communities rather than the portfolios of speculators.

 

Public banks also protect us from the worst forms of predatory capitalism. Reporters Trey Bundy and Shane Shifflett last January wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle on how one of Wall Street’s numerous scams works. When the Napa Valley Unified School District in California needed funds in 2009 to build a high school in American Canyon it took out a $22 million loan with no payments due for 21 years. “By 2049, when the debt is paid,” the paper noted, “the $22 million loan will have cost taxpayers $154 million—seven times the amount borrowed.” And Napa, the paper reported, is one of at least 1,350 school districts and government agencies across the nation that have engaged in this form of borrowing, called capital appreciation bonds, to finance major projects. Capital appreciation bonds mean billions in debt for the public and hundreds of millions of dollars for the speculators, the reporters pointed out. And this kind of scam is writ large across the entire society.

 

“California public schools received $9 billion in loans over the last seven years,” said Armstrong, who is from California. “In 25 to 30 years the interest due on that $9 billion will be $27 billion. This is just one example of the massive societal crisis being caused by big banks. Wall Street investment banks should not be permitted to handle public financing, which has become simply another way for Wall Street to monetize and extract our nation’s wealth.”

The potential windfall for communities through the establishment of public banks is huge. In a study prepared in Vermont in support of establishing a public bank it was estimated that a public bank could make loans equal to 66 percent of state funds on deposits, or $236.2 million in credit for economic development in the state. This would expand the total credit supply available for state lending agencies by $236.2 million. Furthermore, the credit would be at a low cost to the state because public banks do not have to borrow money by selling bonds. Public banks make loans based on deposits. Interest returns to the state on loans and deposits. In essence, the state lends money to itself. The availability of $236.2 million in new lending, the study estimates, would create 2,535 new jobs, $192 million in value added (gross state product) and a $342 million increase in state output. “If used to finance state capital expenditures, funding through a public bank could save close to $100 million in interest costs on [fiscal year] 2012-13 capital spending, due to most interest payments no longer leaving the state,” the report says.

 

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon have called for a national infrastructure bank. The U.S. Postal Service would fund the proposed bank. The Postal Service—which from 1911 until 1967 provided basic checking and savings services to the public—with its offices in nearly every community has the physical infrastructure to jump-start a national public bank. Deposits would be invested in government securities. These securities would be used to finance infrastructure projects. And the proposal would not require raising taxes. The plan, which I doubt the banking lobbyists and their lackeys in Congress will ever permit, would in addition to saving the Postal Service itself provide access to banking for the one in four households that cannot get such services.

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/30-3

Edited January 7, 2014 by Enishi

[ralis]

[joeblast]

I'll have those n*ggers voting democratic for the next 200 years

-LBJ

[ralis]

 

I'll have those n*ggers voting democratic for the next 200 years

-LBJ

 

What is your point?

[joeblast]

I could have asked you the same. I'll applaud you though, I was fairly certain you were going to simply accuse me of being racist again

 

bottom line, both are superlative failures at their "goal" as presented to the public. whether or not they were ever designed, intended, or had the capacity to produce such results, well, that's another question.

 

'trickly down' only works with something resembling a republic, resembling some sort of democracy, some sort of functional market where rules are applied evenly and not have certain entities pretty much immune from any wrongdoing. and it certainly doesnt "work" when the "trickle down" merely consists of central bank printing, because THAT is only shit trickling down hill, not actual prosperity resultant from good commerce.

Edited January 11, 2014 by joeblast

[zerostao]

politicians should wear logos in the same fashion that nascar drivers do. sponsorship transparency.

this is the true trckle down from the corporation trickling down to the politician. pretty much just pissin on the rest of us.

[ralis]

This journalistic piece is well worth reading.

 

Some Folks Say It's the Beginning of the End for the Christian Right -- Dream On, They're Getting More Powerful

 

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/idea-christian-right-retreat-almost-dangerous-christian-right

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Ruslan Grumble

• January 8, 2014 |

In the aftermath of the government shutdown, and the ongoing Republican Party internal civil war that followed, progressive media outlets have embraced the notion that the Christian Right is finally facing its demise. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The autopsy of the 2012 election produced a swarm of op-ed obituaries that either celebrated or foretold the political end times for the Christian Right. Jonathan Merritt, a columnist for the Atlantic, observed that the GOP’s electoral hammering in 2012 marked the end of evangelical dominance in U.S. politics. More recently, Steven Conn, a contributor for the Huffington Post, predicts the rise of Pope Francis will dissolve the glue holding the Christian Right together.

While these observations make for sound logic when examining national politics, they completely overlook the Christian Right’s state-by-state strategy.

The Christian Right is flying mostly under the radar because the media tend to be attracted to bright, shiny things that grab attention at the national level. The nation’s theocrats, however, are waging a battle for America’s soul at the local and state level, and these battles generally do not make their way onto CNN or the front page of the New York Times.

But don’t be fooled, the Christian Right has not only seized control of the Republican Party, but is also seizing control of state legislatures and governors' mansions while we laugh at Ted Cruz.

Poll after poll shows America is becoming increasingly liberal on most issues, from gun control and same-sex-marriage, to pot legalization and reproductive rights, but our state legislatures are being governed further to the right, and it’s happening while nobody notices. A new report from the Guttmacher Institute shows that over the past three years, state legislatures have enacted a staggering 205 restrictions on reproductive rights. That number is especially mind-blowing when you consider that the number of anti-abortion bills enacted during the entire previous decade was a total of 189. In fact, in the first three months of 2013 alone, Republicans put forward 694 provisions related to reproductive health.

This radical right-wing social engineering, to borrow Newt Gingrich’s phraseology, was made possible by the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Citizens United vs. the Federal Electoral Commission. While there’s plenty of hullabaloo about the Chamber of Commerce delivering a war chest of $50 million for the purpose of ensuring really crazy Christian Right candidates don’t scuttle the GOP’s chance of winning the Senate in 2014, the oligarchs and plutocrats cannot ignore the fact that the soul of the Republican Party remains in the hands of the most politically agitated and reliable voting bloc in America: the Christian Right. The GOP base gets its cues from Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, rather than from Chamber of Commerce darlings John Boehner and Mitch McConnell. To that end, Limbaugh and Coulter are all in with the national spiritual leader of the Christian Right: Ted Cruz.

Sarah Posner, an adept observer of the Christian Right, writes: “The religious right is not a movement with one or even two or three or four leaders. Because it's a political and cultural undertaking that is playing a long game—rather successfully—it has produced many disciples.”

To pen an obituary for the Christian Right is to completely misunderstand the vice-like grip theocrats have on the Republican Party. The Christian Right is no longer the fringe; it’s the center. In fact, the Christian Right now holds a majority of seats in more than half of all Republican Party State Committees. Nearly half of the Senate, and half of all congressmen have a 80-100 percent approval rate from the three most influential Christian advocacy groups: the Christian Coalition, Eagle Forum and the Family Research Council.

The Christian Right’s state-by-state strategy is paying remarkable dividends, yet few political commentators are pointing to their successes. Republican legislatures in Colorado, Missouri, Montana, and Oklahoma have introduced bills intended to reintroduce the unconstitutional teaching of creationism and religious dogma in school classrooms. Alabama, North Dakota, Mississippi, and Tennessee are among the latest Republican-controlled states to impose restrictions on women’s access to abortion and contraception.

There’s no reason to think that what happens in a swing state like North Carolina can’t happen in any one of the other 50 states. Until 2010, North Carolina was seen as the most progressive state in the South. Now, thanks to the influx of millions of dollars from billionaires like Art Pope and the Koch brothers, the far right not only controls both houses and the governor’s mansion for the first time in 150 years, it now also has a super-majority in the legislative chamber. We all know what happened next. North Carolina has been turned into a far-right-wing laboratory, with deep spending cuts to public education to make way for even deeper tax breaks for the rich; an erosion of public safety nets; a repeal of environmental regulations; and, of course, a bill to make Christianity the official religion of the state, while obstacles to abortion are erected at the same time obstacles to the death penalty are removed.

To buy into the wishful idea that the Christian Right is on the ropes serves only to make these radical theocrats an even greater threat in 2014. The Christian Right is far too organized and well-funded to just fade away into the background of American politics. Frederick Clarkson, a senior fellow at Political Research Associates, warns, “The Religious Right will never be dead, no matter how hard some may wish it to be so. There is a vast infrastructure of schools, churches, organizations and media outlets that did not exist a generation ago.”

The progressive agenda has already paid a massive price for failing to take the Christian Right seriously when Democrats sat out the 2010 election. In 2014, the Christian Right will be as passionate as it was four years ago, as they see this as the final opportunity to wound a president for whome they have a pathological hatred. They really do believe the Christian agenda is under attack in this country—one only had to witness the vitriol that spewed from the Right in defense of Phil Robertson’s biblically supported bigotry. Angry white Christians feel their way of American life is threatened by gays, women, atheists, liberals, and scientists. When an animal feels cornered, it's even more vicious.

Chris Hedges, author of American Fascists, writes, “All ideological, theological and political debates with the radical Christian right are useless. It cares nothing for rational thought and discussion. Its adherents are using the space within the open society to destroy the open society itself. Our naive attempts to placate a movement bent on our destruction, to prove to it that we too have 'values,' only strengthen its supposed legitimacy and increase our own weakness.”

Progressives still have no idea how to talk to the beast that is the Christian Right, for fear of sounding politically incorrect or equally intolerant. But it’s time to call a shovel a shovel; the ideology of the Christian Right has nothing to do with love and compassion, and everything to do with violence and hatred. The movement draws its power from our complacency and timidity. Political op-eds that foretell the Christian Right’s demise serve only to make it an even greater threat to our democracy.

[zerostao]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/man-gives-change-to-homeless-person--is-handcuffed-and-held-by-police-for-an-hour-223247155.html

[ralis]

[joeblast]

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2014-01-21/how-does-fascism-work-2013-america

 

 

How does fascism work in 2014 America?

I am certainly no political science expert, nonetheless, what follows is three-point example of Microsoft legislating profits that is so simple to understand even most Americans should be able to get it.

Let's start with the following as a premise, a partial definition of 21st Century Fascism:

 

Corporate Power is Protected

- The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Point A

From the most excellent website, OpenSecrets.org...

Microsoft Corporation's top candidate recipient for "political contributions" in 2011-2012 was: Barack Obama (D) $815,395.

Click here to see the very, very, long list of politicians that received "donations" from Microsoft and its affiliates.

In addition to "political contributions" Microsoft is engaged in "lobbying" which for some strange reason is always tracked in dollars, instead of the number of letters written to elected officials, or the hours and minutes Microsoft's employees spent in politicians' lobbies and offices.

LOBBYING: $8,086,000 (2012)

REVOLVING DOOR: 75 out of 97 Microsoft Corp lobbyists in 2012 have previously held government jobs

I am not even going to discuss all of the media content such as MSN.com and Bing Search that Microsoft controls. It should already be evident that, "The industrial and business aristocracy [in this case Microsoft and its affiliates] of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power..."

 

Point B

Moving on to, "...creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite." In addition to, "political donations," how do government officials benefit from legislating profit for Microsoft? That is simple enough to see:

Members of Congress who own Microsoft Corp shares: 51

• Baucus, Max (D-MT)
• Beatty, Joyce (D-OH)
• Black, Diane (R-TN)
• Boehner, John (R-OH)
• Buchanan, Vernon (R-FL)
• Burgess, Michael (R-TX)
• Camp, Dave (R-MI)
• Capito, Shelley Moore (R-WV)
• Carper, Tom (D-DE)
• Clay, William L Jr (D-MO)
• Cohen, Steve (D-TN)
• Cole, Tom (R-OK)
• Collins, Susan M (R-ME)
• Conaway, Mike (R-TX)
• Cooper, Jim (D-TN)
• Crowley, Joseph (D-NY)
• Delaney, John K (D-MD)

• DelBene, Suzan (D-WA)
• Dingell, John D (D-MI)
• Frankel, Lois J (D-FL)
• Frelinghuysen, Rodney (R-NJ)
• Gabbard, Tulsi (D-HI)
• Hagan, Kay R (D-NC)
• Hanna, Richard (R-NY)
• Harkin, Tom (D-IA)
• Himes, Jim (D-CT)
• Hinojosa, Ruben (D-TX)
• Hoeven, John (R-ND)
• Holding, George (R-NC)
• Inhofe, James M (R-OK)
• Isakson, Johnny (R-GA)
• Kelly, Mike (R-PA)
• Kennedy, Joe III (D-MA)
• Lummis, Cynthia Marie (R-WY)

• Marchant, Kenny (R-TX)
• McCaul, Michael (R-TX)
• O'Rourke, Beto (D-TX)
• Peters, Gary (D-MI)
• Radel, Trey (R-FL)
• Renacci, Jim (R-OH)
• Roberts, Pat (R-KS)
• Rogers, Hal (R-KY)
• Rooney, Tom (R-FL)
• Rothfus, Keith J (R-PA)
• Ruiz, Raul (D-CA)
• Sanchez, Linda (D-CA)
• Schrader, Kurt (D-OR)
• Sensenbrenner, F James Jr (R-WI)
• Sessions, Pete (R-TX)
• Smith, Lamar (R-TX)
• Speier, Jackie (D-CA)

• Titus, Dina (D-NV)
• Upton, Fred (R-MI)
• Welch, Peter (D-VT)
• Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI)
• Wyden, Ron (D-OR)
• Yarmuth, John A (D-KY)

Therefore, if Microsoft does well, then so do the elected officials/shareholders, such as these 51 congressional representatives that we have put in charge of the public duty of lawmaking.

Cognitive Dissonance Alert! Do not read the following definition of bribery if extreme cognitive dissonance causes you to experience negative side effects.

 

Bribery is an act of giving money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty.

 

Point C

Finally, we take a quick look at the business side of, "...creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite." How does Microsoft benefit from this relationship? I assure you that there are more ways to benefit than there are ease-of-use commonalities between Windows 7 and Windows 8, but let's go with just one example from this morning...a Federally Mandated Operating System Upgrade.

Below is a broadcast email from the Federal government's Medicare monopoly contractor, Novitas Solutions. Novitas currently administers the Medicare Administrative Contract which spans 11 states and Washington D.C., Indian Health Service (IHS), Veterans Affairs (VA); and the payment processing for the Federal Reimbursement of Emergency Health Services Furnished to Undocumented Aliens contract, as authorized under Section 1011 of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act.

 

From: Novitas Solutions, Inc.

Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 8:XX AM

To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Subject: Important Information for Windows XP Users

Important Information for Windows XP Users

Microsoft has announced that as of April 8, 2014, they will not release any security patches for the Windows XP operating system. Without this support, Windows XP will be non-compliant with HIPAA. If you are using Windows XP, we encourage you to speak to your IT department to discuss possible options to remain HIPAA compliant. Please note, while software products such as PC-ACE may still run on Windows XP, the operating system will be non-compliant with HIPAA as of April 8, 2014.

EDI Services

1-877-235-8073 (JL)

1-855-252-8782 (JH)

www.novitas-solutions.com

Holy shit, Doctor Buttscope! You must upgrade all of your Microsoft XP computers you purchased for the last HIPAA mandate with new Microsoft operating systems (and upgrade or purchase new Electronic Health Record systems, Practice Management systems, and Accounting systems), or else you are going to be in violation of HIPAA (MSFT will miss earnings estimates) and the Feds will be up YOUR ass with an endoscope, and they can no longer afford the lube thanks to the sequester! No, Dr. Buttscope, your Federal government doesn't give a stool sample that all those computers running XP you purchased still work just fine for you, Doc. This is about HIPAA compliance! You don't want to be out of compliance with HIPAA!!!

Honestly, it is probably more important that Doctor Buttscope remain in compliance with The President's Huge Stimulus Package...

 

The recently passed stimulus legislation -- the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- includes language that requires any physician office that has discovered a breach involving unsecured data to notify by letter every affected patient. The requirement is the same whether records are on a computer or in paper form. You have until 60 days after discovering the data breach to let patients know it happened.

 

If more than 500 patients are affected, you also have to immediately notify local media and the Dept. of Health and Human Services. HHS will post notice of the breach on its Web site. If fewer than 500 patients are involved, you must file an annual report with HHS.

http://www.amednews.com/article/20090316/business/303169998/5/

 

Remember, dear ZeroHedge reader, what HIPAA compliance is really all about? You probably mistakenly believed that it protects patient privacy. Wrong! Every day is opposite day when it comes to naming federal legislation.

 

In phase 1,

the health insurers and government were guaranteed all of your medical records under HIPAA

. When you visit a physician, you don't sign a release for this information, you sign a statement recognizing the physician is required to divulge it under HIPAA. There is no privacy in HIPAA.

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-17/ten-things-expect-obamacare-201...

The P in HIPAA stands for portability, not privacy. HIPAA mandates that physicians divulge your records to the government and health insurers. Don't believe me? Next time you are at a physicians office, just read the Notice of Privacy Practices and the Acknowledgement that you are required to sign before you receive any healthcare.

The Notice will read very close to something like this:

 

This Notice describes how medical information about you may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. Please review it carefully.

 

Et cetera and so forth...

The Acknowledgement you sign will read something like this:

 

I acknowledge that Dr. Benjamin Shalom Buttscope provided me with a written copy of his Notice of Privacy Practices.

Patient's signature: _____________________________

Agreed to on (today's date): ______________________

Even if the purpose of HIPAA was to protect privacy, it isn't as if the new technology is more secure than Windows XP. Tax-payer funded NSA hacking research has assured us all that nothing digital (including our money) will ever be truly secure again.

To sum it all up, in 2014 America, corporate profits are protected - The technology and business aristocracy of our fascist nation, such as Microsoft, are the ones who put our government into office with money and media control, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship that includes companies like Microsoft paying lawmakers who are also shareholders to legislate profits for these very same corporations. Remember...

 

Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty.

Finally, if you haven't had enough, then please do (re)read these two recent ZeroHedge articles, keeping in mind what you just learned.

Cronyism Strikes Again: Ex-Microsoftee Married To Democrat Congresswoman Set To Take Over Obamacare Exchange

Security Expert Hacks Obamacare Website In 4 Minutes; Accesses 70,000 Records

 

Regarding this last article, as a reminder, Mr. President, under your Huge Stimulus Package, you have until 60 days after discovering the data breach to let patients know it happened. If more than 500 patients are affected, you also have to immediately notify local media. What am I saying? Never mind. I bet you gave yourself a waiver.

 

Fascism...we are soaking in it.

[ralis]

The overreach of Big Brother Homeland Security. This 60 billion plus agency that was created after 9/11, is busting Google Glass users in a theater. Why? To protect corporate interests and in this case, the MPAA.

 

http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-google-glass-is-no-threat-but-mobile-phones-are-140125/

 

 

MPAA: Google Glass is No Threat, but Mobile Phones Are January 25, 2014

• 129
• mpaa
• Print

Earlier this week a man was detained by Homeland Security for wearing Google Glass in an AMC movie theater. The MPAA, who referred the man to the feds, tried to fix their mistake by stating that Google Glass is not yet a significant movie piracy threat. However, a quick look at the draconian anti-piracy guidelines that the MPAA recommends to theater owners puts this statement in doubt.

The MPAA sees illegally recorded movies as one of the biggest piracy threats, and it will go to extremes to stop it.

This stance was illustrated once again this week when a Google Glass wearer was detained in Ohio. When employees at the local AMC movie theater spotted the man they alerted the MPAA, who quickly escalated the matter to the Department of Homeland Security.

The feds wasted no time and rushed to the scene to remove the man from his seat, all while the movie was playing.

“About an hour into the movie, a guy comes near my seat, shoves a badge that had some sort of a shield on it, yanks the Google Glass off my face and says ‘follow me outside immediately’,” the Google glass wearer later recalled.

After hours of questioning and a careful review of the Glass’ contents on a laptop, the feds concluded that the man had done nothing wrong. He was merely using his Google Glass as prescription glasses, and had not recorded a single frame.

Soon after the story made headlines all over the world. The MPAA received numerous inquiries from the press and eventually delivered an official response. The movie group said that the whole incident was an unfortunate misunderstanding, and that Google Glass is actually not a significant piracy threat.

“Google Glass is an incredible innovation in the mobile sphere, and we have seen no proof that it is currently a significant threat that could result in content theft,” the MPAA said in a statement.

The MPAA’s response was cited in dozens of reports without any questioning, but to us it seems puzzling for a number of reasons.

It’s no secret that the MPAA has a strict set of anti-piracy practices they want movie theater owners to adhere to. When reading some of these recommendations it becomes clear why the AMC employees acted as they did.

“The MPAA recommends that theaters adopt a Zero Tolerance policy that prohibits the video or audio recording and the taking of photographs of any portion of a movie,” MPAA states.

The movie group further emphasizes that employees should take immediate action when they spot someone with a recording device, including smartphones. Even when in doubt, the local police should be notified as quickly as possible.

“Theater managers should immediately alert law enforcement authorities whenever they suspect prohibited activity is taking place. Do not assume that a cell phone or digital camera is being used to take still photographs and not a full-length video recording,” MPAA writes.

“Let the proper authorities determine what laws may have been violated and what enforcement action should be taken,” they add.

But Google Glass isn’t a phone or camcorder, one might think. That is true, but in its best practices the MPAA specifically states that all recording-enabled equipment should be considered a threat, including recording equipment concealed in glasses.

“Movie thieves are very ingenious when it comes to concealing cameras. It may be as simple as placing a coat or hat over the camera, or as innovative as a specially designed concealment device (e.g., a small camera built into eyeglass frames or a camera built into the lid of a beverage container),” MPAA warns.

A camera built into eyeglass frames? Doesn’t that sound exactly like Google Glass?

TorrentFreak asked the MPAA to clarify their stance and explain why Google Glass isn’t seen as a threat. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard back from them on this issue, and it’s doubtful that we ever will.

To us the MPAA’s Google Glass comments were nothing more than an attempt to redirect responsibility for this week’s PR disaster. It’s a clever way to conceal the fact that they themselves are likely the number one reason why the incident escalated in the fist place.

The MPAA clearly instructs theater owners to be suspicious of any device that can capture a single frame of a movie. To them, every person is a potential movie pirate, and they even go as far as putting a $500 bounty on their heads.

 

As for the future, hopefully people will still be able to see a few minutes of a movie on the big screen, in between the pat downs, questioning rounds, and other anti-piracy efforts.

Edited January 26, 2014 by ralis

[ralis]

[Marblehead]

I have made that error of suggesting that some people were being lazy where in reality they just couldn't find a decent job. In most places in the US if you accept a job at minimum wage your income leaves you far below the poverty line. This is truely sad.

 

Throughout this entire "recovery" wages have remained stagnent. Who is recovering? The wealthy, of course. Recovering what? more of the working class's fair compensation.

 

I still have a hard time relating with what is going on with the middle class America because I came from a period of time in America when if you wanted to work there were always jobs available. Sadly, not so any more.

 

But the rich continue to become richer and the government continues to give the wealthy tax breaks but takes away the breaks that the lower and lower middle class at one time had. This includes taking away breaks that used to be available for seniors over 65 years of age. (I qualified for that break the first year after turning 65 but they changed the laws the next year and I no longer qualified because I was making too much money. I was just a hair above the poverty line.)

[zerostao]

they are also taking away some benefits that veterans have already earned. by all means, let's put the burden on the veterans who have risked their ass literally for this country, by all means, lets raise the interest rates on students trying to improve their prospects by going deep in debt for the hope of an opportunity. by all means, lets cut food stamps benefits to the people who cannot even afford groceries. someone could work 2 or 3 of these minimum wage jobs and still be below the poverty line. and many do exactly that.

certainly it makes all the sense in the world to continue to raise taxes on the poor. it doesnt matter if its called a tax or not, it is quite taxing to be sure. and by no means, ever consider that someone who can afford 6 bugatti's and a home on every continent might be asked to pay one cent more in taxes.

[ralis]

Fundamentalist right wing religion will not stop until this country is a theocracy. These people yap about freedom from authority and at the same time wish to impose their authoritarian belief systems on others. Creationism is not science! This is another way to brainwash children who are not equipped with critical thinking skills.

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/31/republicans-blitz-four-states-with-five-creationism-bills-so-far-this-year/

 

 

 

 

Republicans blitz four states with five creationism bills so far this year

By Travis Gettys
Friday, January 31, 2014 15:19 EST

Republican legislators in four states have introduced five bills so far this year that would allow teachers to teach creationism alongside the theory of evolution.

South Dakota Republicans introduced a Senate bill on Wednesday that would that would forbid school boards or administrators from acting to prohibit teachers from “providing instruction on intelligent design or other related topics.”

The broadly worded statute clearly violates federal law, according to the head of a science education advocacy group.

 

“A federal court already ruled in 2005 that teaching ‘intelligent design’ in the public schools is unconstitutional, so (Senate Bill) 112 is a recipe for disaster,” said Ann Reid, executive director of the National Center for Science Education. “If enacted, school districts are going to find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place — and they’ll wind up in court.”

The bill is the fifth such measure introduced this month alone that would allow creationism to be taught, the group said.

Lawmakers in Oklahoma and Virginia are considering similar measures, while Missouri has two separate bills under consideration.

Virginia’s broadly written measure encourages teachers to present scientific controversies and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a scientific theory without interference from school officials.

Similar measures in Oklahoma and Missouri would encourage teachers with “idiosyncratic opinions to teach anything they pleased,” the NCSE said.

A House bill in Missouri would mandate equal class time for “intelligent design” alongside science instruction in public schools, including introductory courses at colleges and universities.

[Marblehead]

And Texas is the worst of those states trying to eliminate science and establish creationism in the public schools.

[ralis]

"All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism ..."

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2014 by ralis

[Aaron]

I fear that the tide is one that can't be stopped. In the next twenty years democracy as we know it will be a distant memory. Everything we say or do will be monitored LEGALLY. The mere sign of dissent from the masses and government controlled ideology will warrant swift action. People advocating liberty will lose their families, their children, their property, and in some cases, their lives. They will be incarcerated and detained under the guise of security, when in fact it will be for monetary reasons.

 

We started the system when we advocated unfair criminal sentencing out of fear. We started the system when we stopped caring about the civil rights of those the government has called enemies. We started the system when we were more worried about running out of oil than losing our freedoms. The tide is coming, it's rising every day and most people don't even notice because it's so gradual, and even when someone stands up and screams "look at this!" We've been taught so well to ignore the blatant facts and focus on the mundane and non-consequential, that we ignore it, or only address it in passing. There will come a day when they knock on your door, or the door of your neighbor, and you have been so well trained in thought and mind, that you let them in smiling, and when they take your loved ones you encourage them, all for the sake of patriotism.

 

1984 may very well be 2034. If we don't wake up, open our eyes and fight back, then it will almost certainly be so.

 

Aaron

Edited February 9, 2014 by Aaron

[silent thunder]

"All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism ..."

 

 

 

 

All you need is football, beer and arguments about abortion, or gay marriage.

simple indeed.

Edited February 9, 2014 by silent thunder

[zerostao]

for some of us in appalachia your 2034 already happened even before 1984.

anyways

in a kentucky hotel,,,,

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEcRFQf-qWc

[ralis]

"When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" - Sinclair Lewis

[ralis]

This is a good one! Dumb and dumber!

D’Oh! 1 in 4 Americans don’t know Earth circles Sun.

 

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014728663

 

http://rt.com/usa/science-education-survey-americans-178/

[Marblehead]

Well, what do you expect when the Science Channel presents programs about aliens, bigfoot, sea monsters, and the like? But we all know that werewolves come out on a full moon.

[silent thunder]

This is a good one! Dumb and dumber!

D’Oh! 1 in 4 Americans don’t know Earth circles Sun.

 

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014728663

 

http://rt.com/usa/science-education-survey-americans-178/

wowowowowowowowow.

wow.

 

ouch.

[zerostao]

If the controversial oil-services company Halliburton (NYSE: HAL ) has its way, then small investors may soon lose one of their most potent weapons against corporate fraud: the ability to file class-action lawsuits under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

At the end of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Halliburton's appeal in a class-action case brought by investors against it and CEO David Lesar for "knowingly or severely recklessly misleading" the public more than a decade ago about the company's liability for asbestos claims.

Indeed, it's no exaggeration to say that the very existence of securities fraud class actions hinges almost entirely on the outcome of this case.