Documentary Video: Argentina’s Economic Collapse…coming to USA?
UK Surveillance State
From The Telegraph:
Phone and email records to be stored in new spy plan
Details of every phone call and text message, email traffic and websites visited online are to be stored in a series of vast databases under new Government anti-terror plans.
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
9:00PM GMT 18 Feb 2012
Landline and mobile phone companies and broadband providers will be ordered to store the data for a year and make it available to the security services under the scheme.
The databases would not record the contents of calls, texts or emails but the numbers or email addresses of who they are sent and received by.
For the first time, the security services will have widespread access to information about who has been communicating with each other on social networking sites such as Facebook.
Direct messages between subscribers to websites such as Twitter would also be stored, as well as communications between players in online video games.
The Home Office is understood to have begun negotiations with internet companies in the last two months over the plan, which could be officially announced as early as May.
It is certain to cause controversy over civil liberties – but also raise concerns over the security of the records.
Access to such information would be highly prized by hackers and could be exploited to send spam email and texts. Details of which websites people visit could also be exploited for commercial gain.
The plan has been drawn up on the advice of MI5, the home security service, MI6, which operates abroad, and GCHQ, the Government’s “listening post” responsible for monitoring communications.
Rather than the Government holding the information centrally, companies including BT, Sky, Virgin Media, Vodafone and O2 would have to keep the records themselves.
Under the scheme the security services would be granted “real time” access to phone and internet records of people they want to put under surveillance, as well as the ability to reconstruct their movements through the information stored in the databases.
The system would track “who, when and where” of each message, allowing extremely close surveillance.
Mobile phone records of calls and texts show within yards where a call was made or a message was sent, while emails and internet browsing histories can be matched to a computer’s “IP address”, which can be used to locate where it was sent.
The scheme is a revised version of a plan drawn up by the Labour government which would have created a central database of all the information.
The idea of a central database was later dropped in favour of a scheme requiring communications providers to store the details at the taxpayers’ expense.
But the whole idea was cancelled amid severe criticisms of the number of public bodies which could access the data, which as well as the security services, included local councils and quangos, totalling 653 public sector organisations.
Labour shelved the project – known as the Intercept Modernisation Programme – in November 2009 after a consultation showed it had little public support.
Only one third of respondents backed the plan and half said they feared the scheme lacked safeguards and technical rigour to protect highly sensitive information.
At the same time the Conservatives criticised Labour’s “reckless” record on privacy.
A called Reversing the Rise of the Surveillance State by Dominic Grieve, then shadow home secretary and now Attorney General, published in 2009, said a Tory government would collect fewer personal details which would be held by “specific authorities on a need-to-know basis only”.
But the security services have now won a battle to have the scheme revived because of their concern over the ability of terrorists to avoid conventional surveillance through modern technology.
They can make use of phone tapping but their ability to monitor email traffic and text messages is limited.
They are known to have lobbied Theresa May, the Home Secretary, strongly for the scheme. Their move comes ahead of the London Olympics, which they fear will be a major target for terror attacks, and amid a climate of concern about terrorists’ use of the internet.
It has been highlighted by a number of attacks carried out after radicalisation took place through websites, including the stabbing by a young Muslim woman of an MP at his constituency surgery.
Sources said ministers are planning to allocate legislative time to the new spy programme, called the Communications Capabilities Development Programme (CCDP), in the Queen’s Speech in May.
But last night privacy campaigners warned the scheme was too open to abuse and could be used for “fishing trips” by spies.
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, a civil liberties campaign organisation, said: “This would be a systematic effort to spy on all of our digital communications.
“The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats started their government with a big pledge to roll back the surveillance state.
“No state in history has been able to gather the level of information proposed – it’s a way of collecting everything about who we talk to just in case something turns up.”
There were also concerns about the ability of phone and internet companies to keep the information secure.
And the huge databases could also be used by internet service providers, particularly to work out which advertising to target at users.
Broadband firms including BT came up with a scheme almost three years ago to target advertising, but it did not get off the ground.
However, if companies were able to exploit the information they will be compelled to keep for the CCDP, they would be much more capable of delivering advertising to computers and even mobile phones based on users’ past behaviour.
Gus Hosein, of Privacy International, said: “This will be ripe for hacking. Every hacker, every malicious threat, every foreign government is going to want access to this.
“And if communications providers have a government mandate to start collecting this information they will be incredibly tempted to start monitoring this data themselves so they can compete with Google and Facebook.”
He added: “The internet companies will be told to store who you are friends with and interact with. While this may appear innocuous it requires the active interception of every single communication you make, and this has never been done in a democratic society.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public.
“We meet regularly with the communications industry to ensure that capability is maintained without interfering with the public’s right to privacy.
“As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review we will legislate as soon as Parliamentary time allows to ensure that the use of communications data is compatible with the Government’s approach to civil liberties.”
Andrew Kernahan of the Internet Service Providers’ Association said: “It is important that proposals to update Government’s capabilities to intercept and retain communications data in the new communications environment are proportionate, respect freedom of expression and the privacy of users, and are widely consulted upon in an open and transparent manner.”
Jon Matonis and “Brain-banking”
Profound implications for individual privacy and freedom:
From quora:
Brain Banking (or true mobile banking) – I’m not exactly sure where this one is leading us, but BrainWallet, the concept of individually storing bitcoin in one’s own mind by memorization of a passphrase https://en.bitcoin.it/wik
Now, combine that usage scenario with the $10 trillion plus annual shadow economy and you have just facilitated a parallel economy that doesn’t require financial institutions and doesn’t even require physical currencies. You automatically receive new deposits into your brain; however, you have to locate a cafe computer or Android smartphone to spend them.
Without a “government” how would you deal with violent criminals?
Statist: “Without a state how would you deal with violent criminals?”
Voluntaryist: “Well I would start by not giving them a military.”
Live a Good Life
A Wish to Live Forever
I met a fairy today that said she would grant me one wish.
“I want to live forever,” I said.
“Sorry,” said the fairy, “I’m not allowed to grant wishes like that!”
“Fine,” I said, “then I want to die after Congress gets their heads out of their rear ends!”
“You crafty son of a gun,” said the fairy.
India’s culture of gold
“The Right to Remain Silent”
“Ten signs our own government is about to declare war on us”
From SilverUnderground:
All tinfoil humor aside, every single indication in recent years has been that the regime in Washington is increasingly treating the American people like we’re the enemy– like the global war on terror is actually a war on us– and this is a trend that has only been accelerating to a frightening pace in the last few, short months. Every time I turn my head there’s another new bill or executive order shredding the last remnants of our constitutionally-guaranteed civil liberties and declaring us all potential terrorists or terror suspects. The heavy hand of the ramped-up and ready-to-go national security apparatus that Bush and Obama have been hard at work to build is now coming down on you and me. Frankly, if you’re not getting a little scared, you’re the one who’s out of your mind. Here’s why:
1. The NDAA
Obama threatened to veto this bill, but I didn’t get my hopes up. He signed it of course, and this most recent national defense authorization includes a provision allowing the U.S. military, at the direction of the White House, to arrest U.S. citizens on U.S. soil if they are suspected of terrorism (whatever that means??) and to detain them indefinitely without charges or a civilian trial. Dictatorship has come to America, the entire country is now a war zone, and you could be considered an “enemy combatant” just because the president says you’re one.
2. The Patriot Act Renewal
The Patriot Act is one of the most hated bills from the early Bush Era, so with a Democrat in the White House who promised “change” and a Democratically-controlled Senate, you would think that sunset provisions in the Patriot Act would start to phase out its attacks on our Bill of Rights and civil liberties, right? Wrong. As key provisions of the Patriot Act that violate the 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendments to the Constitution were set to expire last May, a fight ensued to renew them, and it was Senate Democrats who led the charge to have them renewed as well as to stifle an earnest debate over their legality and necessity. A government at peace with its people would not fight so hard for the power to illegally spy on them. Something has gone horribly wrong.
3. The Global War on the Internet
As dissidents overthrow their governments in the Middle East and North Africa, you bet that the rest of the world’s governments are watching carefully and learning everything they can from these governments’ failure to hold on to power. What have they learned: that the Internet is the most powerful tool of true patriots and the worst enemy of tyranny, secrecy, and repression. So as Hollywood seeks regulation to protect its profits from the innovations of Silicon Valley, government officials are happy to oblige. Hence, SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, PCIP, and whatever else they can throw at us next. Don’t be fooled into thinking we’ve won after the successful SOPA blackout– the regime in Washington is not going to stop until it has its grimy little hands all over the Internet and the legal and technical infrastructure in place to shut it down if necessary.
4. FEMA Camps Go Live
LewRockwell.com reports:
As many of our readers know, the U.S. Senate recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which, it has been argued, authorizes the establishment of domestic war zones and the subsequent detention of those who are suspected of engaging in terrorist-related activity – including, arguably, U.S. citizens. What you may not know, however, is that just days after the passage of the act reports are surfacing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security, is requisitioning private contractors to provide services for government, defense & infrastructure pertaining specifically to FEMA activities with respect to emergency services.
At first glance, this may seem like no big deal. Why shouldn’t the government prepare for emergencies?
However, a review of an email made available through Info Wars from Kellogg, Brown & Root Services (KBR), a subsidiary of mega government contractor Haliburton, notes that the contracting opportunities available through the government and KBR are specifically for “temporary camp services and facilities.”
Guess what else:
Additionally, we have learned over the last couple of years that FEMA has requisitioned manufacturers for 140 Million Packets of Food, Blankets, and Body Bags, while the U.S. military is Actively War Gaming ‘Large Scale Economic Breakdown’ and ‘Civil Unrest’ which includes training for over 20,000 US military personnel for contingencies that may include riots and/or mass detentions.
While mainstream media will not report this, and most of the population will either ignore it or chalk it off as being once again blown out of proportion by the alternative news sphere, the evidence is right in front of us – it is overwhelming and very compelling.
Our government is, without a doubt, preparing for an event(s) that will likely result in the mass detentions of tens of thousands of individuals across the entire United States.
5. Drone Warfare
The increased use of drones in warfare by the U.S. Department of Defense is itself an unsettling development in world history and looks to be setting off a “drone arms race” with other world powers. Best case scenario, the ultimate result is “not as horrific” as it could be. But like all other aspects of the war on terror, we are seeing the beginning signs of mission creep as the drones are starting to be employed here in “battlefield America.” Last year America saw the “first known arrests of U.S. citizens with help from a Predator, the spy drone that has helped revolutionize modern warfare.” The report at that link also says: “Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June. The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration have used Predators for other domestic investigations, officials said.”
One if by land, two if by sea… three if by drone.
6. War Gaming in American Cities
In yet another example of the rapidly blurring lines between home front and battlefield, LAPD and the Pentagon conducted military drills in downtown L.A. this January:
The Los Angeles Police Department teamed with military special operation forces Wednesday evening to conduct multi-agency tactical exercises in the skies above downtown LA.
Many questioned what was going on Wednesday night as a Black Hawk helicopter and four OH-6 choppers – or “Little Birds” – flew over the city, at one point hovering just above the US Bank building downtown and later flying low over the Staples Center as the Lakers played inside.
Someone could be seen sitting inside an open chopper with his legs hanging off the side.
Sky9 spotted the Black Hawk in the dark, making what appeared to be a drop off at a park before quickly ascending back into the air.
Throughout the exercise, the five rotorcrafts were staged at Dodgers Stadium.
The LAPD said the purpose of the training was in part to ensure the military’s ability to operate in urban environments.
…
Similar exercises have been seen in Miami and Boston.
7. Restricted Air Travel
No one in this country likes the TSA, yet it persists in its unconstitutional canvassing of every single U.S. citizen that passes through an airport. If the federal government wants to search a U.S. citizen, the Fourth Amendment requires a warrant from a judge specifically citing the person or place to be searched and the items to be seized. The TSA’s blanket searches do not meet this criteria so they are unconstitutional and illegal. They also haven’t made us more safe. There is as of this writing, no evidence that any terror plot has ever been thwarted by the TSA as it burns through billions in taxpayer dollars and feels up nuns and children passing through airports. The purpose isn’t to keep us safe but to humiliate, demoralize, and habituate us to submitting to the Washington regime’s uniformed agents no matter how illegal, irrational, and abusive their behavior. Meanwhile the no-fly list just keeps growing.
8. Surveillance
Big Brother is watching you closer than ever before:
The Department of Homeland Security has declared its intention to gather personal data on journalists or others who might use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”
New guidelines allow for a broader reach in collecting such personal information than before. Any reporter or broadcaster, from a Fox News anchor to a lowly little blogger angry at the government, could find himself ensnared by DHS’s newest arm of the surveillance state.
Almost seven years ago, it became known that the FBI was monitoring the ACLU and antiwar groups. The institutional paranoia extended to the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, who even made sure to spy on those dangerous terrorists known as Quakers.
With Obama in charge we see the full power of the bipartisan surveillance state—an apparatus that sees any thorn in the side of the regime as a potential threat to national security. The DHS, in particular, has targeted both “rightwing extremists” and peace activists. And of course, everyday Americans are caught up in the dragnet of the NSA’s wiretapping program, itself a huge presidential power grab even compared to the very lax standards that existed under FISA and the Patriot Act.
9. Iran
Iran’s next. The sabre-rattling cannot be mistaken as anything but an overture to war, either overtly, or via Washington’s satellite states like Israel. The deployment to the Middle East of the Navy’s “floating base” which some commentators call “the mothership” is just the latest signal from the Pentagon that war is ahead while commentators in the media ramp up the scare rhetoric over Iran’s nuclear program. The truth is that Iran’s nuclear program does not represent a credible threat to the United States. It is a regional threat and a regional issue for people in the Middle East to deal with. That’s how our Founding Fathers would have it, but as George Orwell so brilliant depicts in his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the only way a government can continue waging war against its own people is by waging perpetual war against other nations as a distraction, a means of rallying its citizens victims together, and an excuse for violations of its own citizens’ rights. As Orwell also points out in his narrative, the government is always changing sides and fighting new enemies. Washington’s overt, military attack on Iraq and its impending one on Iran are both the means toward a different end: its covert, economic and legal attack on its own people, their material wealth, and their liberties.
10. We’re All Terrorists Now
With no end in site to the war on terror, you should be frightened to know that you’re a terrorist now. Droves of media commentators as well as top-ranking politicians all the way up to the Vice President have been calling Tea Party activists terrorists for months now; Occupy activists have also been called the T word, as well as– get this– peace activists; the DHS circulated two different memos in 2009 warning that people with the “wrong” kinds of bumper stickers on their vehicles (like anything pro-life, pro-gun, anti-income tax, or even pro-Ron Paul) might be terrorists; if you are missing fingers, the DOJ says you might be a terrorist; if you have weather proofed ammo, you might be a terrorist; if you have more than seven days of food in your home, you might be a terrorist; who knows, you’re probably a suspected terrorist if you read The Silver Underground. The problem is that Washington has made all these special exceptions for its fight against terrorism and now the meaning of that word is rapidly expanding to include just about anybody.
Conclusion
It’s hard to ignore all these signs. It’s hard to see this all happening so fast and at an accelerating rate without connecting the dots and fearing that Washington is making preparations to declare war on the American people. And maybe in addition to scaring us, this should give us hope because it could mean that the government is just as scared of us as we should be of it. It could mean that the establishment is holding its finger to the winds of change and senses something big on the horizon, something it wants to prepare for, something it wants to avert– like a true revolution in how we think and what we believe, a great awakening of the American mind to the racket in Washington and at the Federal Reserve, a major push to reform our government and once again enforce the freedoms that are guaranteed to us by right and by law, the beginnings of real liberty and justice for all, not special privileges and unchecked power for the few.
One way or the other, it’s not hard to see that Washington is getting ready for something…
And don’t forget to visit our official website to learn more about the Silver Circle Movie:http://SilverCircleMovie.com
Urban farming on the rise nationwide
From cbsnews:
(MoneyWatch)
The economy is still wobbly and unemployment figures remain high, but that doesn’t mean prices of necessities, like food, have come down.
While jobs, home equity and retirement account values continue their downward spiral, the costs of some foods and fuel are climbing. My colleague Dan Burrows at CBS wrote a piece last year about rising food prices. He revealed the average household grocery bill will skyrocket four to five percent once the numbers for 2011 are complete, as compared to 2010.
Many families are trying to combat high prices at the cash register by focusing on food sustainability. Individuals and communities feeding themselves in an environmentally responsible way is gaining popularity, and farming is no longer confined to the country.
In decades past, Americans relied on rural farms to meet the food supply needs of the rest of the nation. But the capability to grow fresh fruits and vegetables, even of the super-trendy organic variety, is coming to the city. If you don’t believe me, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says “around 15 percent of the world’s food is now grown in urban areas.”
Real estate trends: College town real estate
Fewer homeowners underwater, but number is still high
Picking up on this movement, the folks at Zillow recently mined their real estate listings to locate city homes for sale that may feel more like Green Acres.
Take for example one Austin, Texas, home listed at $391,500: That price will get you a two bedroom, one bathroom, 1,196 square foot home in the city limits. In addition to modern luxuries, your down payment also gets you a chicken coop and vegetable garden.
(Credit: Zillow)And would you ever expect to find goats living in the suburbs of New York City? With the growth of the urban farm trend anything is possible.
This four bedroom, two bathroom home occupies 1,748 square feet and recently underwent a price cut. All of that living space (and the goats) could be yours for just $149,900.
A property is an investment and as mortgages, taxes, insurance and other costs strain the pocketbook, a growing number of homeowners are asking more from their property – such as the ability to raise livestock and fresh food. While this is certainly an inventive way to maximize living space and make a dent in the grocery bill, you have to remember that laws and codes vary widely from city to city. This past summer, according to a report from ABC News, a Michigan woman faced criminal charges for growing a vegetable garden in her front yard that violated municipal ordinances.
The best way to try your hand at urban gardening – without running afoul of the law – is to educate yourself regarding local regulations and zoning laws.
Bitcoin Accepted Here
