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. …
Vic Toews Canadian Conservative Public Safety Minister said on February 13, 2012:
“.. either stand with us or with the child pornographers” in response to questions from Quebec MP Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac-Saint-Louis) regarding extensive Privacy Commission concerns about ‘warrant-less access’ to all Canadian Internet and Cell phone accounts under C-30
Does that sound familiar?
… George W. Bush, in an address to a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001 said,
“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
Toews has been mocked and attacked for that polarizing, disingenuous statement.
The statistics are sickening. The UN reports approximately 200 million girls in the world today are ‘missing’. India and China are said to eliminate more female infants than the number of girls born in the US each year. Lianyungang in China has the worst infant gender ratio on record with 163 boys born for every 100 girls. …
Fox is the cheapest national brand in the USA, it seems.
For many cities you can get a vehicle for $50/week. Or even $6/day. … At least that’s what their website claims.
So why was my bill — still cheaper than the competition — more than double what I saw online:
$82 / week
$3.61 SEA Concess
$8.13 Tax SEA
$6.59 WA Rental Tax
$.26 WA MotVehTx
$35 CFC … (explained to be some sort of new building fee)
$3.36 VLF
Of course you are hassled with a scary up-sale of insanely expensive daily insurance options.
All in all, a terrible customer experience. Like this guy had:
On a recent trip to the airport rental counter I marveled at the ability of the Avis/Budget representative to make me feel like a criminal, a moron, and an irresponsible lout gambling with my life all in the space of about eight minutes. Welcome to modern car rental. …
Are there any rent-a-car companies who actually tell you the entire cost? …
Canada must have more rules against deliberately obfuscating prices. The same company prices online are about double in Canada for the same vehicle as in the States.
I’ve four times crossed the Pacific this Fall. Air travel is horrible in 2011.
Departing Philippines, here are the line-ups I suffered.
1. Car entering the Airport was stopped. (1min)
2. Line-up and luggage x-ray entering building (15min)
3. Check-in and collecting boarding pass (20min)
4. Immigration (10min)
5. Security check-in (15min) … removing shoes
6. Boarding pass checked before entering the gangway (4min)
At each step it was clear to me that no real security inspection was underway. It was all theatre. Laughable.
The best article I’ve read yet on Security Theatre has been getting wide circulation online.
Charles C. Mann:
… To walk through an airport with Bruce Schneier is to see how much change a trillion dollars can wreak. So much inconvenience for so little benefit at such a staggering cost. …
Terrorists will try to hit the United States again, Schneier says. One has to assume this. Terrorists can so easily switch from target to target and weapon to weapon that focusing on preventing any one type of attack is foolish. Even if the T.S.A. were somehow to make airports impregnable, this would simply divert terrorists to other, less heavily defended targets—shopping malls, movie theaters, churches, stadiums, museums. The terrorist’s goal isn’t to attack an airplane specifically; it’s to sow terror generally. “You spend billions of dollars on the airports and force the terrorists to spend an extra $30 on gas to drive to a hotel or casino and attack it,” Schneier says.
… “We’re spending billions upon billions of dollars doing this—and it is almost entirely pointless. Not only is it not done right, but even if it was done right it would be the wrong thing to do.”
In Narita, Tokyo I was twice questioned by serious, skilled security officers. Both times outside the normal procedures. That was impressive — and scary.
In Vancouver, Canada I was selected for extra inspection, along with suspicious Russians and Iranians. That screening was very skilled and professional, too.
What do you get when you take a P.I. firm, then add in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, official sponsorship from Glock, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur? This week’s show.
Ira explains how a man named Chris Butler created a private detective agency where the investigators were good-looking soccer moms. Their publicist invited a reporter named Pete Crooks from Diablo magazine to do a ride-along with the PI Moms on a case. Pete thinks it’ll be a simple, fun assignment. Turns out he was wrong. …
Chris Butler is a megalomaniac who decides that his Soccer Mom private investigators would make him a reality TV celebrity. He now faces life in prison.
… On one level it’s a brilliant, astonishing story. On another an indictment of American “culture” in 2011.
To listen download from here, or subscribe to the audiocast via iTunes.
One bit of good news — the P.I. Soccer Moms reality TV show was cancelled.
THE New York Times has declared that nobody telephones anybody any more. In a recent story by Pamela Paul called Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You, it said that we’ve all given up on the telephone in favour of texts and e-mails. …
“Phone calls are rude. Intrusive. Awkward,” wrote Paul. …
I’m not the only one who chooses to respond to a work-related message on my telephone with a conversation-avoiding e-mail; according to Paul, that’s the norm. …
At first it seemed that the best case scenario would be to have a government owned digital superhighway … and let competition innovate. And keep prices low.
But can the government do anything efficiently?
If corporations build “the tubes”, shouldn’t they be able to charge what they want for using them?
Certainly. If there was competition.
But most people have 3 choices: phone company or cable company or satellite. Sadly, that’s not competition enough.
If the Internet Service providers (TELUS, Shaw, Verizon, etc.) have their way, your internet service will be about as good as your current TV service.
The worst case scenario is explained in a fun, graphic way on a new website. Click through to see it – TheOpenInter.net
Jeff Jarvis is working on a Bill of Rights for the internet:
I. We have the right to connect.
II. We have the right to speak freely.
III. We have the right to assemble and act.
IV. Information should be public by default, secret by necessity.
V. What is public is a public good.
VI. All bits are created equal.
VII. The internet shall be operated openly.
I think he’s more on the right track than anyone else.
Corporations often try to deny you those rights to maximize their profits. Especially internet service providers.
Politicians try to deny you those rights when corporate lobbyists buy their votes.
Citizens will have to demand their “rights” online, or they’ll be eroded. … Imagine a nation where you must log-in to the internet with a passport, and the only website you can access is the Central Propaganda Department.
Things are getting worse on the internet right now. I’d like to think it will sort itself out in the end. Eventually people will demand freedom. Politicians will still pocket money from lobbyists, but explain they can only do so much.
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. …
Rick McCharles 