Source: Daniel Ellsberg The Guardian opinion titled Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America by Daniel Ellsberg
Ellsberg goes on to say:
Obviously, the United States is not now a police state. But given the extent of this invasion of people’s privacy, we do have the full electronic and legislative infrastructure of such a state. If, for instance, there was now a war that led to a large-scale anti-war movement – like the one we had against the war in Vietnam – or, more likely, if we suffered one more attack on the scale of 9/11, I fear for our democracy. These powers are extremely dangerous.
And there is the paradox, the Catch22. These policies have thwarted other attacks. With them we lose freedoms, without these policies we may lose yet more freedoms.
It’s not ideal. But if one more 9/11-scale attack gets through, the cost to civil liberties will be so much greater. (Thomas Friedman, NY Times)
(thanks/via: guardian.co.uk)
Blowing a Whistle by Thomas Friedman is another excellent posting from NY Times Opinion pages regarding the question of Edward Snowden being a “hero” or not. Read the column here.
This week’s column by David Brooks in the NYTimes titled The Solitary Leaker resonates. (Read the entire opinion here.)
My opinion:
David Brooks may seem to take a harsh view of 20-something males although, knowing a little about brain development and how cultures and the military machines takes advantage of that brain structure to fight wars, this concern may be understandable. Surely NSA know that some young men of this age process their fears and beliefs to undertake actions with drastically fatal consequence. As evidence look at every mass murder event in the American news of the past few months.
(thanks/via: NYTimes.com)
Wow they’ve got some really intelligent (dripping sarcasm here) lawmakers in Tennessee who have found yet another way to take away from the already poor. Considering recent reporting in NY Times:
American students from prosperous backgrounds scored on average 110 points higher on reading tests than disadvantaged students, about the same disparity that exists between the average scores in the United States and Tunisia. It is perhaps the main reason income inequality in the United States is passed down the generations at a much higher rate than in most advanced nations. (source NY Times)
If these lawmakers had read that NY Times article they would have learned that investing in very young children reaps incredible gains.
Research by Mr. Heckman and others confirms that investment in the early education of disadvantaged children pays extremely high returns down the road. It improves not only their cognitive abilities but also crucial behavioral traits like sociability, motivation and self-esteem.
Studies that have followed children through their adult lives confirm enormous payoffs for these investments, whether measured in improved success in college, higher income or even lower incarceration rates.
Which leads one to wonder if Tennessee’s lawmakers are really just shooting themselves in the foot with their efforts to take money away from poor students in their state. Supporting parent education and encouraging parental involvement in education is great but likely the stick won’t work as well as a more progressive approach.
Read more here
An airline fears its stock price might go down with an accident. No such protection for children. Money is more important than a life.
(thanks/via: liberalsarecool)
But her heresies are too big for such fig leaves, and they begin with her startling opening line:
It’s not a debt and deficit crisis, it’s a jobs crisis.Say what? The biggest argument in Washington is about which is more urgent, the unemployment problem or the deficit and debt problem. Democrats say it’s unemployment and therefore advocate stimulus, which causes an increase in the deficit (though not necessarily in the long-term debt). Republicans say it’s the deficit/debt and therefore advocate austerity, which causes an increase in unemployment. (To be fair, Republicans are willing to swallow a bit of stimulus as long as it takes the dubious form of lowering taxes on the rich.) (Read more/source)
(thanks/via: New Yorker)
Wealth Inequality in America (by politizane)
Mr. Boehner can you explain again why we cannot address this shameful inequality? Also, would you explain why we should tolerate working citizens living below the poverty level in order to protect wealth from taxes?
Editorial cartoonist and commentator David Horsey takes U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to task for his comments this week during oral arguments over a challenge to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
In 2006 when Congress extended the act for 25 years, Horsey writes:
The vote was overwhelming in the House, unanimous in the Senate and was hailed by President George W. Bush as a victory for American democracy.
In court on Wednesday, however, Scalia mocked that vote. He said the Senate’s unanimity simply proved the law had not been given serious consideration. The senators were afraid, he said, to cast a vote against a law with a “wonderful” name. He went on to assert that the reauthorization…was merely “a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement.”
That sort of legal reasoning may be good enough for someone sitting on a bar stool well into his third pint, but it is not good enough for the highest court in the land. Scalia makes self-serving assumptions about what was on the minds of senators in 2006 — afraid, not serious, enamored with a name — with no facts to back up his barbs.
Read the full post: http://lat.ms/XeTuFn
This comment alluding to “racial entitlement” in terms of voting by Scalia is shocking and scandalous. Of course there SHOULD be racial voter entitlement.
You should read every post from Robert Reich. He is knowledgeable, experienced, informed, and just a good read though what he writes might scare you.
Imagine a plot to undermine the government of the United States, to destroy much of its capacity to do the public’s business, and to sow distrust among the population.
Imagine further that the plotters infiltrate Congress and state governments, reshape their districts to give them……
(thanks/via: robertreich)
How Liberals Became ‘Real Americans’ is a really intersting read at New Republic
This quote is revealing:
We think of rural-heartland dwellers as real Americans, but they currently represent less than 20 percent of the population; nearly all of us live in and around cities. We think of churchgoers as real Americans, butonly 40 percent of Americans attend any kind of religious service at least once a week; most of us sleep in. We think of people who own guns as real Americans, but they represent only 21 percent of the population; the great majority of us don’t own guns. All these percentages reflect declines over the past few decades. The percent owning guns, for instance, is down by about one-third since 1985.
(thanks/via: New Republic)
Think You Can Beat the Immigration Maze?
“Back of the line” is one reason I don’t like the current solutions being floated to solve undocumented issues. We are talking about people who already work and contribute in our society, people who are invested in our society, people who often already pay taxes, and people who have started thriving small (and large) businesses. Instead of embracing these remarkable people lawmakers are demanding fences and more fences plus a police state along our borders and they want these people to wait a lifetime for a chance to get a green card. That isn’t a solution
(thanks/via: Mother Jones)
(thanks/via Infographic: Paternity Leave Around the World from GOOD)
Cartoon of the day: The public has spoken
CHAN LOWE © 2013 Tribune Media Services
Perfect!
(thanks/via: theweekmagazine)
How The Zero Weeks Of Paid Maternity Leave In The U.S. Compare Globally
Appalling in a country having constant, distracting, kurfuffle over abortion and family. Many of the counries on this chart fare well financially. Is the lack of paid maternity leave in the US attributable simply to the viles capitalism?
(thanks/via: ThinkProgress)
