Category: government

North Korea – Camp 14

On By Rick McIn books, governmentLeave a comment

Here’s the argument – North Korea continues to brutalise its people and yet we do nothing

Shouldn’t we send in the Aircraft Carriers?

It worked so well for Vietnam and Iraq. … 😦

My opinion is that we should do everything non-violent to protest the brutality of North Korea. Gandhian resistance.

A new book brings this issue to the attention of the general public:

Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West.

North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and belligerent. It is also armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are being held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin’s Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. Very few born and raised in these camps have escaped. But Shin Donghyuk did.

In Escape from Camp 14, acclaimed journalist Blaine Harden tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk and through the lens of Shin’s life unlocks the secrets of the world’s most repressive totalitarian state.

Shin knew nothing of civilized existence-he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his own family. Through Harden’s harrowing narrative of Shin’s life and remarkable escape, he offers an unequaled inside account of one of the world’s darkest nations and a riveting tale of endurance, courage, and survival.

Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria

On By Rick McIn government, photosLeave a comment

Have you heard about the huge, abandoned Buzludzha Monument in Bulgaria?

Symbolic of the grandiose stupidity of Soviet Communism.

Check some of Timothy Allen’s photos.

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… In September 2011, the Bulgarian cabinet transferred ownership of the monument to the Bulgarian Socialist party.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared, “We shall let them take care of it because here it also holds true that a party which does not respect its past and its symbols has no future”.

They have still not come to an agreement about what to do with it.

To date, every year at the end of July, 30-40,000 Bulgarian Socialists still congregate at Buzludzha to mark the founding of the Bulgarian Social-Democratic Party.

read more – Human Planet

Even Liberals are Big Fans of Oil Subsidies

On By Rick McIn economics, governmentLeave a comment

Jeff Sutherland sent me a link to this article. It blew my mind.

Consumer Energy Report:

If you were to survey people and ask the question “Should we subsidize oil companies?” — the overwhelming majority would undoubtedly respond “No!” The notion that we are subsidizing oil companies generates outrage in many people, but in this article I will show why these subsidies aren’t going to go away any time soon. The reason may surprise you. …

… The summary of oil-related subsidies for 2010 totals $4.5 billion. That is a number often thrown out there; $4 billion a year or so in support for those greedy oil companies. …

The single largest expenditure is just over $1 billion for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is designed to protect the U.S. from oil shortages.

The second largest category is just under $1 billion in tax exemptions for farm fuel. …

The third largest category? $570 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. …

Many smaller subsidies are intended to keep Oil jobs in the USA, rather than overseas.

When President Obama and the Democratic National Committee complain about Oil Subsidies, they’re being disingenuous. No Democratic President is going to cut them. Much.

In fact, No money from the U.S. Treasury goes to the oil industry. Everything is a tax break.

Read the article for your self – The Hard Truth: Even Liberals are Big Fans of Oil Subsidies

related – Washington Post Fact Checker – Oil War: The ad battle between ‘Big Oil’ and DNC, Part 2

After all that, I still trust that Obama is more likely to take the side of the consumer over Big Oil. But not by much. Neither he nor Romney are going to lower the price of gas at the pump. Nor the profits of American Oil companies.

Alberta’s Highway of Death

On By Rick McIn government, product complaintsLeave a comment

An 11-year-old girl is the fifth victim to be identified in Friday’s deadly head-on crash in northern Alberta that resulted in the deaths of seven people, including one other child. …

CBC – Girl, 11, latest victim identified in Alberta highway crash

Dear Premier Redford,

The people of Fort McMurray demand to see a plan to twin Highway 63. Yes, we’ve heard about the caribou migration and the other issues – what we have not heard is a concrete plan with completion dates and a timeline. We demand that this highway be better patrolled – and frankly I don’t give a damn what it costs to do so. As has been stated again and again we are driving the provincial economy with our oil sands industry – and we are paying for it with our lives on a highway that is inadequate for the traffic it sees. …

Theresa Wells – An Open Letter to Premier Alison Redford – Fort McMurray and Highway 63

movie – The Diplomat

On By Rick McIn government, moviesLeave a comment

This is going to be fantastic.

… A strange, enigmatic and decadent white diplomat arrives in central Africa, looking like a mixture of Henry Stanley and Karl Lagerfeld.

He has recently bought an ambassadorship and claims to be a do-good rich business man, who has come to spearhead a diplomatic mission.

Officially he is there to start a factory that produces matches – this, to employ locals and teach how to make this simple piece of fire-making equipment.

Unofficially he is really there to gain access to vast reserves of diamonds.The Ambassador is a genre-breaking, tragic comedy about the bizarre world of African diplomacy. …

‘The Ambassador’ Trailer – Lars von Trier’s Production Company Explores African Diplomacy In Sundance

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Something like Hunter S Thompson doing an expose on government corruption in Africa.

You can buy an Ambassadorship for around $40,000, then use diplomatic immunity to transport illbooten gotty across borders.

Hilary Rosen’s campaign gift to Mitt Romney

On By Rick McIn government, movies2 Comments

Hilary Rosen … is an American lobbyist and Democratic pundit. She worked for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for 16 years where she was CEO from 1998 to 2003. …

CEO of the hated RIAA during the years I hated the RIAA most?

I have to assume Hilary Rosen is an idiot.

Having never heard of her before this, she certainly sounds an idiot.

Rosen on Cancer survivor Ann Romney:

… Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. …

Ann Romney via Twitter:

I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.

Here’s the misspeak on Anderson Cooper 360:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch an overview of the story on YouTube.

I’m quick to link when Republicans like Rush Limbaugh do something this stupid. This is the dumbest thing Hilary Rosen ever said out loud, and as CEO of the RIAA, she said a lot of very stupid things.

… I’m still backing Romney over Obama, by the way. But I don’t have much faith in either one.

40yrs solitary Angola Prison, Louisiana

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, governmentLeave a comment

The Louisiana State Penitentiary (… also known as Angola …) is a prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is the largest maximum security prison in the United States …

I listened to a BBC audiocast:

… two US inmates have been held in solitary … for what will be 40 years this month.

Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace

The two were originally imprisoned for armed robbery.

The men who later became known as the Angola 2 were linked to the Black Panther party, and fought for better prison conditions for the black inmates, and an end to the widespread rape and harsh work conditions.

While in prison there, they were charged with the murder of a prison guard, and convicted on the evidence of a prison inmate who had been promised his freedom if he testified against them.

… The use of solitary confinement is on the increase in the US – we ask are there good reasons for its use, and whether it is compatible with US and international law.

I have no confidence at all that the American tough on crime laws are effective. Angola would be the place to start an investigation.

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN FOR OFFICE

On By Rick McIn economics, government, humour, things getting worseLeave a comment

I’m always complaining about the American Political system where corporate lobbyists write legislation and make decisions.

But the most recent TAL came as a big surprise.

Turns out that many times it’s the politicians hounding the lobbyists to make decisions. And write legislation. Not the other way around.

As always, well worth a listen …

This American Life BROADCAST: MAR-30-12

For anyone who has ever heard the term “Washington insider” and felt outside — we are with you. So this week, we go inside the rooms where the deals get made, to the actual moment that the checks change hands — and we ask the people writing and receiving the checks what, exactly, is the money buying?

Things are getting worse, by the way. Ever since the right leaning Supreme Court ruled on the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision.

They decided that Political action committees (PACs) may accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations (both for profit and not-for-profit) for the purpose of making independent expenditures for and against politicians.

The best commentary on that idiotic decision was by comedian Stephen Colbert. He set up his own SuperPAC. Then had Jon Stewart (his boss) run it. Independently.

Here’s one of the TV ads paid for by Colbert’s SuperPAC. Mitt Romney is a serial killer.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

lobbyists write American laws

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, government, things getting worseLeave a comment

That’s the fact, Jack.

NY Times op-ed By PAUL KRUGMAN”

Florida’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, which lets you shoot someone you consider threatening without facing arrest, let alone prosecution, sounds crazy — and it is. And it’s tempting to dismiss this law as the work of ignorant yahoos. But similar laws have been pushed across the nation, not by ignorant yahoos but by big corporations.

Specifically, language virtually identical to Florida’s law is featured in a template supplied to legislators in other states by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed organization that has managed to keep a low profile even as it exerts vast influence (only recently, thanks to yeoman work by the Center for Media and Democracy, has a clear picture of ALEC’s activities emerged). And if there is any silver lining to Trayvon Martin’s killing, it is that it might finally place a spotlight on what ALEC is doing to our society — and our democracy.

What is ALEC? Despite claims that it’s nonpartisan, it’s very much a movement-conservative organization, funded by the usual suspects: the Kochs, Exxon Mobil, and so on. Unlike other such groups, however, it doesn’t just influence laws, it literally writes them, supplying fully drafted bills to state legislators. In Virginia, for example, more than 50 ALEC-written bills have been introduced, many almost word for word. And these bills often become law. …

Lobbyists, Guns and Money

One day historians will marvel at the stupidity of having for profit corporations write legislation.

related – Wikipedia – ALEC