CoOlDiGgY news (late edition)

Gov't Laptops Took Thousands of Images of Kids

The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats, says a new motion filed in a suit against the district.

More than once, the motion asserts, the camera on Robbins' school-issued laptop took photos of Robbins as he slept in his bed. Each time, it fired the images off to network servers at the school district.

Back at district offices, the Robbins motion says, employees with access to the images marveled at the tracking software. It was like a window into "a little LMSD soap opera," a staffer is quoted as saying in an e-mail to Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program.

"I know, I love it," she is quoted as having replied.

Those details, disclosed in the motion filed late Thursday in federal court by Robbins' attorney, offer a wider glimpse into the now-disabled program that spawned Robbins' lawsuit and has shined an international spotlight on the district.

Read more...


*CBS Poll: Republicans Have Absorbed the Tea Party

*Don’t Drink the Water

*Rhode Island and California's jobless rate hits high of 12.6% in March

*Meteor Lights Up Night Sky




earlier:

US Strikes Killing More of Afghan Civilians

The number of Afghans civilians killed by US-led forces is more than doubled over this time last year

KABUL — Deaths of Afghan civilians by NATO troops have more than doubled this year, NATO statistics show, jeopardizing a U.S. campaign to win over the local population by protecting them against insurgent attacks.

NATO troops accidentally killed 72 civilians in the first three months of 2010, up from 29 in the same period in 2009, according to figures the International Security Assistance Force gave USA TODAY. The numbers were released after Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, issued measures to protect ordinary Afghans.

A Red Cross report out Thursday said the number of civilians killed and wounded by Taliban roadside bombs has soared in Kandahar, where NATO and Afghan forces are preparing for a major offensive against the insurgent stronghold.

Some Afghans say the rise in civilian deaths may help the enemy. "If (it) continues, people will abandon the government and join the Taliban," says Malalai Ishaqzai, a member of parliament.


Read more...

*US Accuses Goldman Sachs of Fraud

*Obama Admin Indicts Bush Whistleblower Thomas Drake...

*...Glenn Greenwald: What this indicts says about Obama

*Justice: Racist former LAPD chief, Daryl Gates, dies of cancer

*Elena Kagan: How liberals will be tricked into supporting a conservative Supreme Court nominee

*8 dead in hospital attack in Pakistan


*Delaying kids may prevent financial 'motherhood penalty'

*Federal judge strikes down National Day of Prayer statute

*2009 a mixed year for food-borne pathogens

*Same-sex partners to finally get the same privileges granted heterosexual couples in hospitals that get Medicare or Medicaid funds

*Volcanic cloud casts long shadow over US travel

*As Okla. City date nears, militias seen as gaining strength


*Ousted Kyrgyz president leaves country

*Eight Republicans who may break ranks on bank bill

*Questions Surround Fiorina's Involvement In HP Bribery Scandal

*L.A. City Council and DWP end standoff and will hike rates


*US suspended from adopting Russian children

CoOlDiGgY news (late edition)

What do your IRS taxes really pay for?

In this unique Federal Reserve/Federal Government relationship the IRS works as the “Taxing Arm For The FED” – NOT the Federal Government which is prohibited from direct taxing at Article 1 section 9 clause 4 of the Constitution

Most taxpayers have no idea what their federal income taxes actually provide. When I ask folks if they know where their IRS check goes I get answers from, “…it pays for the operation of the Federal Government.” to, “… hummm, I really don’t know.” Actually both answers are partially true. Why were the IRS and the Federal Reserve created by the same act of Congress — what is their relationship to the Federal Government?

About a year ago, I made the assertion that the Federal Reserve through the IRS has the power to tax directly by congressional action and indirectly by inflation. It is very easy to see when you understand the “not quite governmental, not quite private” structure of the Federal Reserve System and its taxing arm the IRS.

Here is how it works. Congress passes a law, the House appropriates the funds. The Federal Treasury Department prints the notes for the appropriation. Then the Federal Reserve purchases these notes/paper at the cost of printing, about 4 cents note. A $1bill, $100 bill, or $1000 bond, costs the same 4 cents. The Federal Reserve then loans this money back to the Federal Government at interest based on face value. This interest rate may fluctuate. The cash is then distributed to the regional Federal Reserve banks from which the appropriations are disseminated as per the Congressional mandate.

Now, as the interest climbs with each appropriation, this debt requires payment your taxes – and occasionally the taxes must be increased to keep up with the “can never be paid off by design, debt”. The Federal Reserve profits greatly on this value created out of thin air paid by IRS collected taxes, and OUR REAL ASSET collateral on loans that go into foreclosure/confiscation.

Periodically, the Federal Reserve will ask Congress for an increase in money supply. This indirectly taxes folks by pumping cash into the economy which decreases the buying power of the dollar. This makes it seem as though prices have risen – not the case, the money added causes the value of the dollar to drop. This is the inflation tax. A tax that causes big problems for people with savings or on fixed incomes. The frightening thing is, the FED-IRS has NEVER had it’s books opened to Congressional scrutiny.

Read more...

*Truth or Fiction: New conspiracies theories surround death of Polish president


*Cindy Sheehan: Take This Empire and Shove It!

*Ahmadinejad urges Ban to probe 9/11 attacks

*Ukraine de-nuked

*Will Israel drag US into new war

*Depressed about our future





earlier:

The Obama Doctrine: Kill, Don't Detain

George Bush left a big problem in the shape of Guantánamo. The solution? Don't capture bad guys, assassinate by drone

In 2001, Charles Krauthammer first coined the phrase "Bush Doctrine", which would later become associated most significantly with the legal anomaly known as pre-emptive strike. Understanding the doctrine with hindsight could lead to a further understanding of the legacy that the former administration left – the choice to place concerns of national security over even the most entrenched norms of due process and the rule of law. It is, indeed, this doctrine that united people across the world in their condemnation of Guantánamo Bay.

The ambitious desire to close Guantánamo hailed the coming of a new era, a feeling implicitly recognised by the Nobel peace prize that President Obama received. Unfortunately, what we witnessed was a false dawn. The lawyers for the Guantánamo detainees with whom I am in touch in the US speak of their dismay as they prepare for Obama to do the one thing they never expected – to send the detainees back to the military commissions – a decision that will lose Obama all support he once had within the human rights community.

Worse still, a completely new trend has emerged that, in many ways, is more dangerous than the trends under Bush. Extrajudicial killings and targeted assassinations will soon become the main point of contention that Obama's administration will need to justify. Although Bush was known for his support for such policies, the extensive use of drones under Obama have taken the death count well beyond anything that has been seen before.

Read more...

*Coal-funded Obama to probe mine disaster in secret

*IDF order will enable mass deportation from West Bank


*Joseph Stiglitz: Build Strong Financial Reform

*Congress is poised to miss its April 15 budget deadline

*Confidential document reveals Obama's hardline US climate talk strategy

*Cancels Climate Aid to Bolivia, Ecuador over Copenhagen Opposition

*Ron Paul: Obama is Not a Socialist, He is a Corporatist

*New Docs Show Kissinger Rescinded Warning on Assassinations Days Before Letelier Bombing in DC

*Social workers take baby boy after mom refuses him junk food

*Greece Saved For Now - Is Portugal Next?

*PIMCO's Bill Gross Frantically Dumping Treasuries, Thinks US Interest Rates Will Soar

*Oil + Uranium = Darfur