Government feeds on America’s obsession with patriotism and fears of terrorism. In doing so, they abandon constitutionally protected rights and freedoms. NDAA’s section on counterterrorism does just that. But there are challenges to that law.

On New Year’s Eve, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (NDAA).

It is important legislation. But sections 1021 and 1022, titled “Counterterrorism,” gives the government frightening powers that are unconstitutional, outrageous, and dangerous. The Act appropriates Pentagon spending for 2012 that includes a pay raise for the Armed Forces. However, Congress amended the legislation to include changes in the law that leaders felt were necessary to combat counterterrorism. Those changes ominously allow military detention of American citizens without trial and the use of military force on U.S. soil.

Read article here: Totalitarian Systems of Power: The Psychological Weapon of Fear

A Revolution of Values, the Fierce Urgency of Now

Americans should not be silent when the war drums beat and imperialistic goals mean more to leaders than the wellbeing of ordinary Americans. That is the essential message from Martin Luther King in his Beyond Vietnam speech. It is all up to you and me

Monday, January 16, was Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. A day America celebrates Dr. King’s selfless and courageous non-violent struggle for social change.

Of all Dr. King’s oratory accomplishments, the best known is his 1963 “I have a Dream” speech. However, “Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence,” delivered at New York’s Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, is equally as significant.

The speech addressed poverty, racism, and militarism at a time in our country when the Vietnam War and racism deeply polarized America. It was a time …

Read full article here: A Revolution of Values, the Fierce Urgency of Now

The Republican View of Small Government and Freedom Contradict Their Record

Republicans pontificate the efficiencies of a limited federal government. They preach on how freedom needs to be restored after the attack on it by Barack Obama. However, in light of their congressional record, their words are not to be believed.

The starkest contrast between today’s Republicans and Democrats is their different positions regarding a limited federal government.

Republican presidential candidates, like all republicans, preach the efficiencies of a limited government. They believe the creation of wealth and supporting economic wellbeing for a few will trickle down to be the rising tide that lifts all boats and that that will bring everyone else, including those in poverty, to realize the “American Dream” and reduce the need for entitlements. Republicans believe in strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution. They believe that only within the structure of a limited federal government and a free market economy greater individual freedom is achieved.

Republicans say the way to a limited federal government is for individual states to take on powers not specifically delineated in the Constitution to the federal government.

They believe the private sector would be more efficient if they took up some of the services now provided by the federal government.

So that means state governments …

Read full article here: The Republican View of Small Government and Freedom Contradict Their Record

A Belief in Human Values and Love, Not Religion or God

News of eminent atheist Christopher Hitchens’ death triggered a revisit to days when my life was simple, believed that the bible was the word of God, and when religious faith was a part of my life.

The passing of Christopher Hitchens, who recently died of pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer, triggered a revisit to those days when life was so simple. It was a time when I attended church, believed that the bible was the word of God, and a time when religion was very much a part of my life.

Christopher Hitchens was an intellectual, author, a provocative essayist, and formidable polemicist. Like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, he too was an avowed atheist and champion of the New Atheism movement.

Like Hitchens, Harris, and Dawkins, now, I too believe time has come to cast out religious ideology. I no longer believe in an anthropomorphic Personal God, God of the Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, who are and have been the reason for so much suffering and misery in this world.

The transformation from youthful credulity …

Read article here: A Belief in Human Values and Love, Not Religion or God

America’s New Totalitarianism

Fear of terrorism and obsessive patriotism created an America at war with itself; a totalitarian threat perpetrated by a Congress who have betrayed citizens, subverted the Constitution, and made an unacceptable allegiance with the military.

 Read article here: America’s New Totalitarianism

A Desperate Need for a Change of Attitude toward Unemployment

10 U.S. SENATORS CO-SPONSOR A TIER 5 UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENSION BILL TO HELP MILLIONS OF AMERICANS OUT OF WORK WHILE ALSO PROVIDING TAX INCENTIVES TO SMALL BUSINESSES WHO HIRE LONG TERM UNEMPLOYED WORKERS. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Harry Reid (D-NV), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Carl Levin (D-MI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Dodd (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

Republicans demonize the unemployed, calling for benefit reductions, drug test and reforms when the real reform needs to be their attitude. With unemployment benefits expiring and being once unemployed, I understand the anxiety they are causing.

On December 15, 2008, after a forty-four year management career, I experienced my first layoff. Granted I was an old guy, well into years when many my age would have been into retirement, nevertheless, I was dependant on that income and certainly was not prepared to retire.

I received unemployment benefits for the allowed ninety-nine weeks. I received the maximum weekly benefit, which was federal and state taxable. After taxes, it was not that much, but I also had been receiving Social Security benefits so the impact was not as great as it could have been. Often I have considered what unemployment would have been like when I was a younger man. With my wife, who does not work, and five children, we would not have economically survived for very long without income significantly greater than unemployment insurance.

Over the weeks, while collecting unemployment …

Read full article here: A Desperate Need for a Change of Attitude toward Unemployment

Gambling Bug Has Reached Epidemic Proportions in Taxachusetts

The lure of the big win has thoroughly infected Massachusetts. It may or may not be a win for the taxman but it certainly will be a detriment to citizens who also think that big win can be theirs too.

Casino Gambling Chips

Across America, more and more states are turning to casino gambling as a way to increase tax revenues. They look at casino gambling as a way to stimulate the economy, create jobs with casino construction and building supporting infrastructures, creating jobs in the casinos themselves, and other jobs within the communities the casinos reside. Many claim that portions of tax revenues will be used to generate economic development to create other new jobs.

Last month Governor Deval Patrick signed into law legislation legalizing casino gambling in Massachusetts. The law permits one slots parlor and three resort-style casinos with full-scale table games in each of three geographic zones: east, west, and in the southeast.

With Patrick’s signature on the new legislation hardly dry, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft invited billionaire Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts Ltd …

Read full article here: Gambling Bug Has Reached Epidemic Proportions in Taxachusetts 

The Make-believe of Simon Cowell

Despite all appearances of authenticity, X Factor is a charade

X Factor showed its true colors when Executive Producer Simon Cowell let Melanie Amaro go, later called it a mistake, flew to her home to apologize and invite her back on the show. Her performances have been skillfully orchestrated.

Wow! Simon Cowell made a mistake … really. Well, I don’t believe it. Although these shows try very hard to convey it, live Reality TV, like Fox’s X Factor, is not about spontaneity. As with any live production, there are no chances taken that allow for risks associated with impulsive behavior or unplanned events, or, at least, the possibility of those contingencies occurring are minimized.

Nevertheless, X Factor’s Cowell said he made a mistake when he eliminated Melanie Amaro from those vying for the show’s first season five million dollar record deal with him and Sony Music. He said, “I think I’ve made a massive mistake, I do. An hour ago, I felt fine, in hindsight, I can feel it in my gut… I made a big mistake.” But, how could he have made such a mistake …

Read full article here: The Make-believe of Simon Cowell

Happy Valley and Penn State’s Immorality Problem Is an American Problem

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno over the final verse of the Penn State Anthem.

The idyllic community of Happy Valley was not as it was portrayed. Keeping domestic violence and the sexual abuse of little boys by Jerry Sandusky hush-hush was necessary to preserve their economic way of life.

State College Police Detective Deirdri Fishel: Everyone looks at it as the picture perfect postcard, and for the most part, it’s really what it is. Central Pennsylvania is a very rural area, and then in the middle of it, this community popped up around Penn State University. It’s not a high crime area and you can walk to the grocery store at night if you want to, because it’s this idyllic community — Everybody here is happy … nothing ever goes wrong in Happy Valley. But underneath lies the fact that there is violent crime occurring, and unfortunately, a lot of that crime is within households. In the last 2 years my unit has handled over 500 cases of domestic violence, and for a couple of years all of our homicides in Centre County were a result of domestic violence. Meaning if you were not in a domestic violence relationship it’s a pretty safe area, but if you can’t be safe in your own home does it matter whether the community is safe.

That is how Detective Fishel introduced the trailer to “Telling Amy’s Story…

Read full article here: Happy Valley and Penn State’s Immorality Problem Is an American Problem

Will Americans Be Deceived Into a War With Iran?

The IAEA reports Iran is building a nuclear weapons program, and the warrior class heats up the call for war. As with Iraq, the justification is no more persuasive and the moral authority of those seeking to go on the attack is suspect.

Air Force file photo of the first launch of a Trident missile on Jan. 18, 1977 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV). The Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) is armed with nuclear warheads

Just as we are withdrawing from Iraq and have a plan in motion to withdraw from Afghanistan, the drumbeats for war rise again. The instigator is the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) most recent report indicating that Iran is experimenting with technologies that lead to development of a nuclear weapons program. That’s enough for America’s hawks again to call for war and air strikes by Israel or the United States on Iran.

However, the report is in contradiction to earlier IAEA determinations. According to its former Director General, Mohamed Elbaradei, there is “no credible evidence” of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. It’s a contradiction of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, as well.

The new IAEA report comes from its current Director General, Yukio Amano …

Read full article here: Will Americans Be Deceived Into a War With Iran?