Politics

In 1935 Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations for assistance after attacked by a group of Italian-backed Somalis. The comedy that followed demonstrated that the League was impotent if a permanent member of the League so wanted it. Peter Wilson, for example, writes in League of Nations: Wikipedia likewise writes on the demise of the League: Veto power gave any permanent member the ability to completely abrogate the function of the League of Nations. It wasn't lost on the British PM when it happened: Unfortunately, it looks like nations that could commit to collective security, are once again abandoning it, and the UN is slowly and predictably dyin…

Firstly - excuse the title; this is to do with English Law and not with the warning given to suspects in the USA - I just couldnt resist the pun. Setup Glenn Greenwald is the reporter with the British newspaper the Guardian who has been working with Edward Snowden in publishing the files that Snowden is leaking from the NSA. The English law on stopping, searching and questioning tends to be based on the idea of reasonable suspicion - ie the PC cannot search or question a person randomly or in order to ascertain if any offence might have taken place; the PC should have a pre-existing and reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a specific offence. Whils…

http://lavabit.com/ Because it was found that Snowden had used this e-mail service the government forced the owner of Lavabit to close it's doors. Silent Circle also stopped because of this event. I feel the people should be doing something now. Clearly the government is after Snowden for some reason and it is affecting the internet's ability to spread information freely without government intervention. If the government can do this, then the government can declare what scientific research should be released and what is not to be, if it could help countries with poverty and such. What does everyone think of this?

Most nations have a legal drinking age, this varies from 16 in Switzerland, 18 in the UK and 21 in some US states. The purpose of this drinking age is to prevent individuals below this arbitrary age from obtaining alcohol or entering a premises in which alcohol is served. This is intended to protect individuals below this age from the negative effects of alcohol. Unfortunately these drinking age laws are not only unenforceable but counter productive. Teenagers under the arbitrary drinking age will still obtain and drink alcohol, via older friends/parents/siblings and so on. Because these underage drinkers are not allowed to drink legally they do so on street corners, …

What are the rules and principals that a political discussion should obey? A view is considered in below, any other view or experience? any objection? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seemingly a complete Political dialogue should containes 4 elements: 1.To be critical of the present situation (or to defend it) 2.What would be the ideals and alternatives for the present situation? 3.Is there any way to achieve these ideals and alternatives? 4.Are there any ways to stablize these ideals and alternative? Most of the…

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/07/republican-war-obamacare-reaching-absurd-new-heights Republican War on Obamacare Reaching Absurd New Heights Any other examples of lying and hypocrisy? Do you agree with the title that republicans would probably fare better in elections if they weren't so often lying and spouting such hypocritical absurdities?

I've had several ideas of how to "level the playing field", so to speak. The most recent one JUST popped into my head, but I will start chronologically. 1. Job Trade Holiday We all get stuck in a highly redundant process of achieving survival by getting our paycheck. What if we chose to implement some sort of Job Trade Holiday, where everyone, under some restrictions, gets the opportunity to trade their job with someone else? Note: This idea was developed very early in my Philosophy training, probably while I was taking Ethics. It's not complete at all, just a suggestion for a new radical type of holiday that would give us the chance to liberate ourselves. 2.…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/02/white-house-delays-employer-mandate-requirement-until-2015/?print=1 Is this the beginning of the end for ACA (aka Obamacare)? Why not go ahead and save all that money by implementing ACA on time? Why miss a year of savings? You would think Obama and the Democrats would want to bask in the glory of ACA in the lead up to the next election. Okay, enough of the sarcasm. I doubt employers will rejoice in this delay. Perhaps they will postpone some layoffs and some hour cut back plans but I doubt it. Employers hate uncertainty. The uncertainty of the impact of ACA has been holding back the economy long enou…

Introduction and summary In this short video, I reject of the idea of peace talks with the Taliban and present an outline of my proposed strategy to beat the Taliban (and win the war on terror). Transcript from the video - The desire for "peace talks" with the enemy is where poor generals with a failed war strategy end up Why would NATO and specifically the US want to encourage "peace talks" with the enemy Taliban? Why not simply crush the enemy? What's the political or military issue here that might mean "peace talks" would be part of an exit strategy for the US and allies? Key failures have been - Weak strategic thinking and planning …

The Gold price has lost more than 22% in only three months (April_2013) And more than 2% on this Friday. Yet it is the absolute safe haven. What's next? If it continues like this until the next Nobel Prize Award will not be more than a symbolic dollar.

there had been discussion in 2011-2012 about two papers about how to manipulate the deadly H5N1-influenza virus so it could be transmitted from human to human, maybe just like normal flu. The USA NSABB first recommended to not publish the papers in full, but finally agreed to publish them. A "moratorium" followed, during which international researchers agreed to not research this further. This has ended earlier this year and research resumed. There was an editorial in Nature http://www.nature.com/news/h5n1-viral-engineering-dangers-will-not-go-away-1.12677 and a letter to Obama's bioethics commission signed by leading virologists. http://www.cidrap.um…

So far, DOMA is struck down. Prop 8 is dismissed on standing meaning there was no grounds to appeal and thus SSM is once again legal in CA. Watch the announcements live here.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prop8-supreme-court20-2008nov20,0,2453702.story The California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. The court overturned a ban on same-sex marriage on May 15 in a 4-3 historic decision. Opponents of gay marriage gathered enough signatures to place Proposition 8 on the ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment. Gay rights advocates argue that the measure was actually a constitutional revision, instead of a more limited amendment. A revision of the state Constitutio…

In light of the NSA data gathering (discussed here), here's an important question: Is metadata private? (I will answer when I have some more time)

There is I think an interesting issue concerning what constitutes an "unresonable search and seizure". If warrants are issued based upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, what should be the result if the basis for the search, the "oath or affirmation" is a lie? Some years ago while I was driving I was pulled over by the police who requested to see my license and registration. To make trouble for me someone (I have a pretty good idea of who it was) had reported to the police that my car had been stolen, hence the police believed that I was the driver of a stolen automobile. The police had "invaded my privacy" by pulling me over and requesting identificati…

The Federation of American Scientists' "Project on Government Secrecy" Updated news and reports concerning government secrecy, a project of the Federation of American Scientists.

Given the fact that quite recently there are proposals for "the right to be forgotten" in the EU, the EU may not let this go so easily. Also, the EU and Germany have more than once raised privacy issues with large corporations. It is my opinion that the USA (and therefore the NSA) has no rights to snoop around any European data. I know that the data often goes through US-based data centers, and is handled by US corporations, and that if you read the US laws, this is not against the law. But I never voted for those laws, and I do have rights. This has been mainstream news in most (if not all) EU countries, and I notice an old sentiment coming back that I last saw when …

In speaking of some special scope of human science, we categorise the problems in two scopes: 1.Cultural 2. Economical But the intervene of these two sacopes are higher. In fact clearly in the chapter of culture we have a subsection of economiy and in the chapter of econmy we should have a subsection of culture. The problem arise more when under a heavy cultural environments mathematical models of economy do not work. So, the first thing which come in mind is: The cultural points are so important here, which we should consider them as a parameter in our economical theories. If we do not do that, irregularities arises intensively, and some times it changes…

Excuse my ignorance 'cos I'm from the wrong side of the pond but is the SCOTUS politically independent? If not then their opinion might be as valid as that of the NRA.

We've been amending our Constitution every so often, and I'd say we're about due for amendment #28. If you could amend the Constitution, how would you amend it? Do you think your proposed amendment has a snowball's chance in hell of passing? I'll collect the more popular proposals later for a poll. My suggestion: Every 10 years since a law was enacted, it must go back to the legislature for renewal. Unless voted for by at least 40 votes in the Senate it shall be stricken from the laws. Will it pass? One can only dream...

If Obamacare is such a great idea, why shouldn't it apply to our lawmakers and their staff? http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/obamacare-exemption-lawmakers-aides-90610.html Why does anything need to be done? Obamacare is awesome! Hypocrites? Why would anyone think that? We all know that those in government are better than the rest of us. Right? Well for this to be true one has to assume that those in government have brains, which is a stretch. Now why would anyone want to flee the amazing benefits of Obamacare? It's fun to watch the White House try to delay Obamacare mandates due to come into effect next year in the hope of winning t…

I was reading a novel about byzantine era of 800 a.d. of wolfgang amadeus mozart. In it the cast of the novel is not fiction but real people who once were the court of byzantine empire. The ministers constituted mainly italians noble men and spanish dignitaries! The head of byzantine empire was surprisingly not a britisher monarch, but king joseph of austria who in other words was called the 'chancellor of germany.' The ruler of england monarch was king george V generations but never proclaimed itself emperor of their imperialist countries nor the ruler of byzantine empire! They both were superheaded by archbishop of the church! The kingsmead byzantine empire army constit…

Hello people of the internet, my friends, acquaintances, family members - Many of us love our country - and don't get me wrong: Nice resources, Nice land, kind people, but however many are brainwashed by low grade propoganda. What CISPA will do: - Allow searches of databases and computers without warrants. - Allow EVERYTHING you send to be put into a database; your secrets, card numbers, software This bill is has been or is close to being passed at 10:54 PM April 18 Some sources claim this has passed the senate, at this point even a presidential veto could be overridden. CISPA Documentation: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c112:4:./temp/~c112Lh9L…

The United States Military is in the process of the planning and installation of the Free Electron Laser Defense System which at first will be installed on all U.S. Carriers starting with the new Gerald R. Ford and J.F.K. as well as this Laser will be installed on all Aegis Cruisers. This Laser is not effected by atmosphere and on Carriers will use a Networked Supercomputing Target and Acquisioning system as well as be supplied power by the carriers 2 A1B Nuclear Reactors which will allow the Laser sufficient power to vaporize any target in Air, Space, Land or Sea. Discover Magazine has reported that this Nuclear Reactor power supplied Free Electron Laser can vap…

“Free World” is a Cold War–era term often used by the U.S. and its allies to describe those countries that were not in the sphere of influence of, or allied with communist states, particularly the Soviet Union or the People’s Republic of China, but which showed a strong commitment to ideologies of liberalism and capitalism. It is often used interchangeably with “First World”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_World The term usually refers to countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, and organizations such as the European Union and NATO. In addition, the “Free World” includes the Commonwealth realms, Japan, Israel, and India. The “Le…