coeus:

disobey:

Army private Bradley Manning, who provided classified military documents to WikiLeaks, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

(Photo: Patrick Semansky / AP via the New York Daily News)

If anyone deserves it, this man does. How great would it be if a Nobel Peace Prize recipient was being wrongfully held for years in solitary confinement, in federal prison, by another Nobel Peace Prize recipient?

Brilliant.

He’s far more deserving than Obama. This is truly the only chance the Nobel Committee has to redeem themselves.

Honestly, even if Bradley Manning wins the Nobel Peace Prize, I wouldn’t be entirely convinced that the whole thing isn’t a big fat farce. While Manning definitely did do something good (and it’s shameful that he has to suffer in prison for it), I wonder just how much peace it brought about? Not much, really. The US is still in its multiple wars, with troops all over the planet, and still hellbent on locking up people who go against its government. I understand that the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t meant to be given to those who actually bring about peace, but those who have attempted to, or who have bettered human relations in some way (that’s my understanding of it anyway). Manning hasn’t done this, and even though giving WIkileaks classified government documents is certainly honourable, I don’t think the actions have brought about any sort of change for the better at all. 

Just my two cents on that. 

I disagree. Bradley Manning exposed war crimes the US military commits frequently and without even a slap on the wrist, bringing awareness to the cruel nature of US occupation abroad. Bradley Manning’s extremely inhumane incarceration highlighted the human rights abuses the government undertakes against nonviolent protest under the guise of ‘national security’—those documents were unclassified and Manning’s actions served only to disseminate the information, which I believe is defended under not only free speech itself, but SCOTUS precedent on information privacy. Nonviolent acts of protest like Manning’s send some of the most powerful shocks to the system, as defiance itself as well as bringing awareness to the issues at hand, and while I wouldn’t compare him to any of the great nonviolent leaders of the 20th century, Manning is currently one of the most prominent individuals who was punished for serving honorably by the military industrial complex and his story resonates with both the left and the (non-neocon) right. I would also say that he also gave victims of those war crimes the most justice they could possibly get under the current conditions, given the stronghold the US military has on the ‘rule of law’ of the regions in which those seriously disturbed soldiers choose to rape and pillage.

I think the more important issue it the fact that Obama received the prize by virtue of a well-executed election campaign (over Manning, who was nominated that year, as well), which invalidates the fundamental integrity of the award, so I couldn’t care less about who gets the damn thing.

(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/bradley-manning-u-s-soldier-accused-leaking-material-wikileaks-nominated-nobel-peace-prize-article-1.1029156)

ladyatheist:

msmalcontent:

kemetically-ankhtified:

18 Signs That Life In U.S. Public Schools Is Now Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons

#1 Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has announced that school officials can search the cell phones and laptops of public school students if there are “reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school.”

#2 It came out in court that one school district in Pennsylvania secretly recorded more than 66,000 images of students using webcams that were embedded in school-issued laptops that the students were using at home.

#3 If you can believe it, a “certified TSA official” was recently brought in to oversee student searches at the Santa Fe High School prom.

#4 A few years ago a class of 3rd grade students at one Kentucky elementary school were searched by a group of teachers after 5 dollars went missing.  During the search the students were actually required to remove their shoes and their socks.

#5 At one public school in the Chicago area, children have been banned from bringing their lunches from home.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Students at that particular school are absolutely prohibited from bringing lunches from home.  Instead, it is mandatory that they eat the food that the school cafeteria serves.

#6 The U.S. Department of Agriculture is spending huge amounts of money to install surveillance cameras in the cafeterias of public schools so that government control freaks can closely monitor what our children are eating.

#7 A teenager in suburban Dallas was recently forced to take on a part-time job after being ticketed for using bad language in one high school classroom.  The original ticket was for $340, but additional fees have raised the total bill to $637.

#8 It is not just high school kids that are being ticketed by police.  In Texas the crackdown extends all the way down to elementary school students.  In fact, it has been reported that Texas police gave “1,000 tickets” to elementary school kids over a recent six year period.

#9 A few months ago, a 17 year-old honor student in North Carolina named Ashley Smithwick accidentally took her father’s lunch with her to school.  It contained a small paring knife which he would use to slice up apples.  So what happened to this standout student when the school discovered this?  The school suspended her for the rest of the year and the police charged her with a misdemeanor.

#10 A little over a year ago, a 6 year old girl in Florida was handcuffed and sent to a mental facility after throwing temper tantrums at her elementary school.

#11 In early 2010, a 12 year old girl in New York was arrested by police and marched out of her school in handcuffs just because she doodled on her desk. “I love my friends Abby and Faith” was what she reportedly wrote on her desk.

#12 There are actually some public schools in the United States that are so paranoid that they have actually installed cameras in student bathrooms.

#13 Down in Florida, students have actually been arrested by police for bringing a plastic butter knife to school, for throwing an eraser, and for drawing a picture of a gun.

#14 The Florida State Department of Juvenile Justice has announced that it will begin using analysis software to predict crime by young delinquents and will place “potential offenders” in specific prevention and education programs.

#15 A group of high school students made national headlines a while back when they revealed that they were ordered by a security guard to stop singing the national anthem during a visit to the Lincoln Memorial.

#16 In some U.S. schools, armed cops accompanied by police dogs actually conduct surprise raids with their guns drawn.  In this video, you can actually see police officers aiming their guns at school children as the students are lined up facing the wall.

#17 Back in 2009, one 8 year old boy in Massachusetts was sent home from school and was forced to undergo a psychological evaluation because he drew a picture of Jesus on the cross.

#18 This year, 13 parents in Duncan, South Carolina were actually ticketed for cheering during a high school graduation.

(number 14 makes me want to destroy computers.)

source»

(via mujerinterrumpida)

Enjoy your school year, kids.

Can I add a number 19? My high school’s surveillance and intercom system was designed by the same company who did the jail and prison camp that was down the street. We had Sheriff deputies patrolling the halls and they brought in drug sniffing dogs in to do sweeps every month. They also conducted surprise searches. During the searches you could only enter the school through the front doors. All of the other entrances were guarded either by teachers or officers. You had to go through metal detectors and if they went off they used the wand and searched your bags. High school. The best years of your life.

I went to a magnet school in the ghetto. We had security guards who would call the Black and Mexican kids derogatory names and tell them to ‘go downstairs’ if they were on the second floor, which was the magnet school (the first floor was the regular school), simply because they weren’t Asian or white.

We had drug dogs randomly search classrooms on a whim, because the standards for the 4th Amendment are so low in public schools.

I was forced to take 7 classes my last year (they ‘let’ me take my 8th class off), even though I needed 2 credits to graduate (Government, Macroeconomics, and English). I had a teacher that gave me a 69.5 in Calculus (which rounded up, luckily), because she was an angry, hormonal, pregnant woman who had been transferred to our school—because they can’t fire public school teachers, just move them—but made a 5 on my Calculus AP. Those were, without a doubt, the worst years of my life. 

Then, last year, after I graduated, they cut funding from my school, which ranks #21 nationally and already received the lowest funding in the district (there’s actually a negative correlation between spending and performance in Austin ISD) with around $5,000 spent per student, while some schools couldn’t pass basic tests and were receiving upwards of $10,000.

(Source: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/18-signs-that-life-in-u-s-public-schools-is-now-essentially-equivalent-to-life-in-u-s-prisons)

mousepolitico: A grand total of…zero. Meanwhile the unemployment rate stays a steady 9.1%. Not only that, but it was revealed that the unemployment rate may not fall to 6% until the year 2017, two years later than expected. Perhaps it’s time for the government to try something else. I’m curious to see what… Actually, those statistics are wrong. One, they’re from the government, which has an interest in fudging them. Two, the number of unemployed would be much higher, were those who have simply given up searching for jobs taken into account, which they are not (as official unemployment statistics only count those actively searching for work). I think I heard something closer to 16%; I may be an Econ major, but if people aren’t actively looking simply out of sheer desperation and stagnation, I don’t think the technical statistic is representative or useful in the evaluation of the severity of our situation. So yeah, I am insanely happy to live in a city experiencing only positive growth (3rd highest in the nation, in fact). The season is almost over, though, which means I either need to apply at Barton Springs or Deep Eddy or find a non-aquatic job… Definitely don’t want to go through open water certification, so… Blerg.

How many jobs did the United States gain in August?

coeus:

The best Iraq Exit Strategy put forward as of yet. 

This is obviously too complicated for our politicians. Maybe they think ‘U.S.A.’ really means ‘Afghanistan’; politician illiteracy is a battle we are still fighting to this very day. 

Would you support Texas Secession from a Libertarian or Constitutional standpoint?

First of all, you mean little-L libertarian, otherwise I’d just have to say that I don’t know (or care) what the Libertarian Party thinks about succession. I can, however, attest to the idiocy of the Libertarian Party of Texas’ little mascot Libby, some chick with cowboy boots.

Anyway, Texas’ succession (not sure why you capitalized that) is justified both legally and by the libertarian ideology. However, I don’t necessarily condone or disparage the idea; I’m generally a pragmatist, even in my most academic moments, so I tend to focus on the fact that regardless of its membership in the union, the Texas legislator is still absolutely bat-shit crazy, making succession totally ineffectual as well as unnecessarily provocative.

Anyway, back to the actual question—sorry, I’m ADHD and my meds wore off a couple of hours ago… Libertarians believe that government should be voluntary and strictly by the consent of the governed, which pretty much allows the people of Texas to end its voluntary membership in the union, provided that the marriage is no longer consensual. [Obviously, the US would likely refuse to be left and would slaughter countless civilians, as Texas accounted for 45% of net U.S. job creation during the recession in addition to the fact that the US really just has a problem with power-tripping.]

The Texas Constitutions (1836 and 1876) both said, “All political power is inherent in the people … they have at all times the inalienable right to alter their government in such manner as they might think proper.” Severing ourselves from the rotting corpse that is the rest of the US seems to fit under this logic.

Also, similar to the libertarian justification, the Declaration of Independence notes that “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed” and “whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends [i.e., protecting life, liberty, and property], it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government” and “when a long train of abuses and usurpations…evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

But we all saw how well that turned out during the Civil War, so no matter what Governor Perry says, nothing’s happening.

P.S. Your page says ‘Der Gott Maschine’. Meinst du ‘Die Gott-Maschine’ oder ‘Die Gottmaschine’? If not, I apologize for being a grammar statist; it just irked me so I had to mention it, haha.