Saturday, 30 June 2012

Secular Café: Texas GOP Against Critical Thinking?

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Texas GOP Against Critical Thinking?
Jun 30th 2012, 18:26

There's some things going around facebook but no links to stories, etc. It says the Texas GOP is opposed to teaching critical thinking skills in schools because it would "undermine religion and parental authority." Anyone know more? It wouldn't surprise me iatt all if it's true but haven't seen any actual stories.

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Friday, 29 June 2012

Secular Café: Upstairs, Downstairs in the US

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Upstairs, Downstairs in the US
Jun 29th 2012, 19:59

The Surprising Truths About Income Inequality in America: Big Issues: GQ
Quote:

Guess what, compatriots? The gap between the richest and the poorest among us is now wider than it has been since we all nose-dived into the Great Depression. So GQ sent Jon Ronson on a journey into the secret financial lives of six different people on the ladder, from a guy washing dishes for 200 bucks a week in Miami to a self-storage gazillionaire. What he found are some surprising truths about class, money, and making it in America.
Incomes: $200, $900, $5,000, $25,000, $125,000, and $625,000 per week.

Most of them pitied the ones with lower incomes, but thought that higher incomes would cause awkward burdens. They also did not have much of a grudge against rich people, if any at all.

Except for the one on top, who claims that he is an "enemy of the state" and who is very sore at how lazy everyone poorer than him supposedly is. In effect, noblesse n'oblige jamais.

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Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Secular Café: Visit to Mondragon cooperatives in Spain

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Visit to Mondragon cooperatives in Spain
Jun 26th 2012, 20:18

Democracy in the Workplace? Spain's Mondragon Corporation Shows Us an Alternative to Capitalism | | AlterNet

More precisely, an alternative to the central-planning, elitist-government model of businesses. I will concede that it's fun to describe right-libertarians' favorite organizations with their descriptions of their favorite villains.

Richard D. Wolff described his visit to the Mondragon Corporation (MC) in Spain.
Quote:

MC is composed of many co-operative enterprises grouped into four areas: industry, finance, retail and knowledge. In each enterprise, the co-op members (averaging 80-85% of all workers per enterprise) collectively own and direct the enterprise. Through an annual general assembly the workers choose and employ a managing director and retain the power to make all the basic decisions of the enterprise (what, how and where to produce and what to do with the profits).

As each enterprise is a constituent of the MC as a whole, its members must confer and decide with all other enterprise members what general rules will govern MC and all its constituent enterprises. In short, MC worker-members collectively choose, hire and fire the directors, whereas in capitalist enterprises the reverse occurs. One of the co-operatively and democratically adopted rules governing the MC limits top-paid worker/members to earning 6.5 times the lowest-paid workers. ...

MC displays a commitment to job security I have rarely encountered in capitalist enterprises: it operates across, as well as within, particular cooperative enterprises. ...

During my visit, in random encounters with workers who answered my questions about their jobs, powers, and benefits as cooperative members, I found a familiarity with and sense of responsibility for the enterprise as a whole that I associate only with top managers and directors in capitalist enterprises. The easy conversation (including disagreement), for instance, between assembly-line workers and top managers inside the Fagor washing-machine factory we inspected was similarly remarkable.
Founded in 1956, the (Wikipedia)Mondragon Corporation has not only survived, but also grown, expanding outside of Spain. There are numerous other (Wikipedia)worker cooperatives in several nations.

I don't know how practical this sort of organization would be for large businesses. It seems most suited for relatively small ones whose members can easily become acquainted with each other.

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Monday, 25 June 2012

Secular Café: Learn alphabet the Pakistani way

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Learn alphabet the Pakistani way
Jun 26th 2012, 03:54

"Citing stark examples from school curriculum, a prominent Islamabad-based scholar has said that extreme religious and anti-India views fed into children in schools reinforced the cycle of extremism that showed no signs of receding in Pakistan.

Pervez Hoodbhoy, nuclear physicist and prominent commentator on current issues, showed the examples at a seminar in the King’s College on the role of education in combating terrorism, organised by the Democracy Forum.

The examples showed by Hoodbhoy included images and text from a primer that mentioned the Urdu equivalent of A as ‘Allah’, B as ‘bandook’ (gun), Te as ‘takrao’ (conflict), J as ‘jihad’, H as ‘hijab’, Kh as ‘khanjar’ (knife) and Ze as ‘zunoob’ (sin).

Hoodbhoy, whose presentation title was ‘How education fuels terrorism in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’, also showed a college that is seen as going up in flames, containing images of things considered sinful: kites, guitar, satellite TV, carrom board, chess, wine bottles and harmonium. Examples cited by Hoodbhoy from another curriculum document for Class V students included tasks such as discussion on - ‘Understand Hindu', 'Muslim differences and the resultant need for Pak’, ‘India’s evil designs against Pakistan’, ‘Make speeches on shehadat and jihad’. “The poison put into education by Gen Zia-ul-Haq was not changed by subsequent regimes,” Hoodbhoy said."
- Hindustan Times, New Delhi, June 25, 2012

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Secular Café: Supreme Court U.S. Rules on Arizona Immigration Law

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Supreme Court U.S. Rules on Arizona Immigration Law
Jun 25th 2012, 14:48

Quote:

Supreme Court Upholds Key Part of Arizona Law


By JESS BRAVIN And MIRIAM JORDAN

The Supreme Court upheld a key part of Arizona's tough immigration law but struck down others as intrusions on federal sovereignty, in a ruling that gave both sides something to cheer in advance of November elections where immigration is a major issue.

The court backed a section of the Arizona state law that calls for police to check the immigration status of people they stop.

That section was one of four at issue before the high court. The others make it a crime for immigrants without work permits to seek employment; make it a crime for immigrants to fail to carry registration documents, and authorize the police to arrest any immigrant they believe has committed a deportable offense. Those other three provisions were struck down.

Five justices were in the majority choosing to strike down the three provisions. Dissenting justices argued that the whole law should have been upheld.
....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...205316110.html

Link to the full ruling: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...%3Dinteractive

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Sunday, 24 June 2012

Secular Café: Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi declared Egypt's new president

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Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi declared Egypt's new president
Jun 24th 2012, 16:01

Quote:

Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi declared Egypt's new president
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 24, 2012 -- Updated 1530 GMT (2330 HKT)
Muslim Brotherhood supporters cheer in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, June 24, after hearing of Mohammed Morsi's victory in Egypt's presidential election. Muslim Brotherhood supporters cheer in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, June 24, after hearing of Mohammed Morsi's victory in Egypt's presidential election.

Cairo (CNN) -- Mohamed Morsi was declared the new president of Egypt on Sunday, following the first democratic election in Egypt's history.

The announcement triggered massive cheers and celebratory gunfire in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Authorities had been on "high alert" for potential violence if his rival Ahmed Shafik won. Instead, the huge crowd erupted in celebration -- even in scorching temperatures near 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius).

Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, had more than 13 million votes, while Shafik -- the last prime minister to serve under ousted president Hosni Mubarak -- had more than 12 million, election officials announced.
Muslim Brotherhood candidate triumphs
Mohamed Morsi elected Egypt's president

Morsi ended up with just under 52% of the vote, while Shafik got just over 48%, officials said.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, on Facebook, called the election result a "tribute to the martyrs of our revolution." It vowed, "We will keep walking on the path."
...
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/24/wo...ics/index.html

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Secular Café: House of Lords reform

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House of Lords reform
Jun 24th 2012, 06:41

This is the big week. Nick Clegg is going to reveal his proposals to Parliament and all the vested interests will be manning the barricades. Andrew Rawnsley, IMO one of the best political journalists going has this article today in The Observer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...y-lords-reform

Quote:

The most obvious centre of resistance is the House of Lords itself, a very self-regarding institution. The esteem in which peers hold themselves is not always without justification. There are subjects – science is a good example – where the expertise in the upper house is palpably superior to anything that can be mustered by MPs. Defenders of the Lords can always point to some highly distinguished individuals who make impressively wise speeches which would be genuinely missed. What apologists for the Lords prefer not to highlight are the many members of the bloated upper house who rarely make any contribution, and the large proportion of debates which are mediocre, complacent, stale, ill-informed and distorted by the inevitable bias of a chamber inhabited by men and women of mainly advancing years who do not have to stand for election. Recent scandals have also reminded us that peers can be just as prone to temptation as MPs – the more so, because, unlike MPs, they do not have to answer to a single voter. As Walter Bagehot observed back in the 19th century: "The cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it."...

...His most difficult opponents are not in the Lords but down the corridor in the Commons. It has been resistance to and division about change among MPs that has repeatedly smothered previous attempts. Mr Clegg along with his Tory partner in this enterprise, the constitutional affairs minister Mark Harper, have tried to learn from this history. The government's proposal is for an upper chamber which is 80% elected, 20% appointed. This will not satisfy everyone. For democratic purists, it ought to be all-elected. For some, that is too many potential party hacks. For others, the continuing presence of some bishops will be objectionable. You can't please all of the people all of the time, especially not when it comes to Lords reform. The merit of the proposal is that it is a decent attempt to find an all-party consensus.
It is believed that the new model will still have bishops, but fewer. OTOH there will be other "faith community" representatives. If you're are interested in the campaign to prevent this (a very uphill struggle), have a look at this campaign http://holyredundant.org.uk/

Quote:

The Government's proposals to reform the House of Lords will preserve and entrench the influence of unaccountable representatives of the Church of England in our Parliament.

At present, the Church of England is granted privileged access to our Parliament. Anglican Bishops sit alongside Peers in the House of Lords, they have the right to vote and debate, they influence our national way of life. They acquired this right solely by virtue of their religion, their gender and their position in the hierarchy of one particular denomination of one particular Church. They are unaccountable to the public.

We want fair reform of the House of Lords which does not afford privilege to any special interest group.

We urge the Government to remove the automatic right of Bishops to sit there.
If there's a reason for them to be there, IMO they can stand for election.

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Saturday, 23 June 2012

Secular Café: Women and Profanity - possibly NSFW

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Women and Profanity - possibly NSFW
Jun 19th 2012, 18:18

I don't know where to put this, but I'm guessing that SS might be a good place.

Michigan State Rep Barred From Speaking After 'Vagina' Comments : The Two-Way : NPR
Quote:

"'What she said was offensive," said Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville. 'It was so offensive, I don't even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.'
This seems like a rather bizarre regression, because many women I've known are as capable of being as potty-mouthed as many men can be.

Is that typical?

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Friday, 22 June 2012

Secular Café: Sick Fuck Convicted

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Sick Fuck Convicted
Jun 23rd 2012, 02:59

Hopefully he never gets out.

link

Quote:

Jerry Sandusky was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years, accusations that shattered the Happy Valley image of Penn State football and led to the firing of Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno.

Sandusky, a 68-year-old retired defensive coach who was once Paterno's heir apparent, was found guilty of 45 of 48 counts.

Sandusky showed little emotion as the verdict was read. The judge ordered him to be taken to the county jail to await sentencing in about three months. He faces the possibility of life in prison.

Hopefully the sick son of a bitch gets the complete prison welcome.

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Secular Café: Philadelphia Church Official Going up the River!

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Philadelphia Church Official Going up the River!
Jun 22nd 2012, 21:56

link

Quote:

A Roman Catholic church official was convicted Friday of child endangerment but acquitted of conspiracy in a groundbreaking clergy-abuse trial, becoming the first U.S. church official convicted of a crime for how he handled abuse claims.



Monsignor William Lynn helped the archdiocese keep predators in ministry, and the public in the dark, by telling parishes their priests were being removed for health reasons and then sending the men to unsuspecting churches, prosecutors said.

Lynn, 61, had faced about 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three counts he faced - conspiracy and two counts of child endangerment. He was convicted only on one of the endangerment counts, leaving him with the possibility of 3 1/2 to seven years in prison.
About time.

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Thursday, 21 June 2012

Secular Café: Aung San Suu Ky being honoured in Europe

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Aung San Suu Ky being honoured in Europe
Jun 21st 2012, 10:46

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18529727

Quote:

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is meeting the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, ahead of her historic address to the UK's Houses of Parliament.

She will deliver a speech in Westminster Hall later, an honour normally accorded only to heads of state...

...On Wednesday, Ms Suu Kyi, who is on a four-day visit to the UK, accepted an honorary civil law doctorate from Oxford University.

In a speech, she said her memories of her time in Oxford had helped her while she was under house arrest.

Ms Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest in Burma for more than two decades, received the advanced degree - 19 years after she was awarded it.

The Nobel Laureate read philosophy, politics and economics at St Hugh's College Oxford in the 1960s...

...Her two-week-long tour to Europe - her first since 1988 - also includes visits to Switzerland, France and Norway.

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Secular Café: Back to O-levels in England?

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Back to O-levels in England?
Jun 21st 2012, 10:36

I don't see why they can't change GCSEs so that there are more demanding papers that can be sat by children who hope to get a high grade. Under the old system, I taught for both O-levels and CSEs. It wasn't that difficult and it could be done even if they all had the same name.

I'm dead against scrapping the National Curriculum for secondary schools. It has perhaps become too prescriptive and fills up too much of the timetable, but It replaced what was a real dog's breakfast beforehand.

As a child who went to lots of different schools, I suffered from a complete lack of continuity when I moved from one school to another. I went to a school that started Latin in year 7, then to two in succession that started it in year 8, then to another school with children from all sorts of school backgrounds where the teacher in despair started again in year 9. I do know mensa awfully well!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18529471

Quote:

Education Secretary Michael Gove is preparing to scrap GCSEs for England and return to O-level style exams.

Sources have told the BBC that Mr Gove believes GCSEs "have gone beyond the point of rescue".

The proposed changes, which could be brought in for pupils from autumn 2014, would amount to the biggest change to the exams system for a generation.

Less academic pupils would sit a different "more straightforward" exam, like the old CSE...

...GCSEs replaced O-levels and CSEs in the mid-1980s. Under the previous system, the more academic teenagers took O-levels while others took CSEs (Certificates of Secondary Education)...

...The plan is for students to begin studying what the leaked document says will be "tougher" O-level style exams in English, maths and the sciences from September 2014. They would take their exams in 2016...

...The leaked document also shows plans for the national curriculum at secondary level to be scrapped altogether, so that heads would decide what pupils should study.

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Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Secular Café: Amending the US Constitution

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Amending the US Constitution
Jun 20th 2012, 22:58

It's rather hard to do. An amendment has to get 2/3 support in the House and the Senate, then 3/4 support in the states.

But 27 of them have been passed over the history of the US, and numerous others proposed.

(Wikipedia)List of amendments to the United States Constitution

I'll now consider how the amendments might correlate with political movements, like Arthur Schlesinger's political cycles.
Supercomputer predicts revolutions by analyzing news articles - Secular Café
US Party Systems - Secular Café

The Bill of Rights amendments were ratified not long after the Constitution itself (1789-1791), so it falls into AS's liberal Adoption-of-Constitution era.

The 11th one, immunity of states from out-of-state lawsuits (1794-1795), was in AS's conservative Hamiltonian Federalism era.

The 12th one, revising Presidential election procedures (1803-1804), was in AS's liberal Jeffersonianism era.

The next amendments were ratified over 60 years later.

Those were the 13th one, abolishing slavery (1865-1865), the 14th one, with Equal Protection (1866-1868), and the 15th one, forbidding denial of voting rights because of race (1869-1870), are all in AS's liberal Abolition of Slavery and Reconstruction era, though trailing off into his conservative Gilded Age.

A 30-year pause until the next amendments.

The 16th one, for Federal income tax (1909-1913), the 17th, for direct election of US Senators (1912-1913), the 18th one, for prohibition of alcohol (1917-1919), and the 19th one, for women's votes (1919-1920), emerged out of AS's liberal Progressive Era, though trailing off into his conservative Republican Restoration.

The 20th one, for term starts (1932-1933), and 21th one, for repealing Prohibition (1933-1933), are at the beginning of AS's liberal New Deal era.

The 22th one, limiting the President to 2 terms (1947-1951), was in AS's conservative Eisenhower Era.

The 23th one, for DC in the Electoral College (1960-1961), the 24th one, forbidding poll taxes as a voting necessity (1962-1964), the 25th one, codifying the Presidential succession (1965-1967), and the 26th one, making the voting age 18 (1971-1971), all happened at the tail end of the Eisenhower Era and in AS's liberal Sixties Radicalism era.

The most recent one, the 27th one, states that Congressional pay changes shall only go in effect in the next term (1789-1992), and it's in what I like to call Gilded Age II, the conservative era beginning at the end of the Sixties-Radicalism era in 1978 (AS's estimate).

-

Patterns? There were relatively few amendments in conservative eras, mostly near liberal eras. But the liberal eras themselves had varying amounts of Constitutional amendments.

The champions are the Abolition, Progressive, and Sixties-Radicalism eras, with 3 or 4 amendments in each. The Equal Rights Amendment (1972 - 1979 or 1982) would have been an additional Sixties-Radicalism amendment, but the cultural counterrevolution of Gilded Age II kept it from getting enough states to ratify. It got the first 30 states quickly, then the next states slowly, getting 35 out of 38 states. Another victim of Gilded Age II was the DC voting-rights amendment (1978-1985); it only got 16 states.

Curiously, the New Dealers never tried to get any of the New Deal into the Constitution.

The future?

I suspect that any new Constitutional amendments would likely be the result of yet another AS-style liberal era, an era of big reforms. Gilded Age II has so far lasted at least as long as the previous Gilded Age, with only some doubtful hints of a possible end, like the Occupy movement.

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Secular Café: Arizona Radio Host: Obama is a ‘Monkey’

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Arizona Radio Host: Obama is a 'Monkey'
Jun 21st 2012, 00:03

http://www.care2.com/causes/arizona-...-a-monkey.html

There surely is something wrong with the south....

Quote:

An Arizona talk show host repeatedly called President Barack Obama a "monkey," said she "voted for the white guy" in 2008, and was cut off as she appeared to be about to call Obama America's "First Monkey President."

Barbara Espinoza, a radio host on KFNX-AM in Phoenix, made her remarks on her daily radio show.

"I call him a monkey," she said, in response to a caller, who had said Obama had "rabbit ears."

"Joe, I don't call him, 'guy with rabbit ears,' I call him a monkey." She continued, "I don't believe in calling him the 'First Black President,' I think he should be called –" before the caller saved her from herself by interrupting.

She continued, "I voted for the white guy, myself."

Espinoza was called out in comments at the Sonoran Alliance, a conservative website whose commenters were nevertheless aghast at Espinoza's statement.

As DailyKos writer The Klute reported, Espinoza said that she was merely responding to racist cartoons that were sent to her, and that she could not be racist because her last name was Espinoza.

Espinoza remained unrepentant in a blog post, in which she said, "I did use the word monkey and Obama in the same sentence. Yes I did say I voted for the white guy. Unless there has been a takeover of America and free speech is no longer allowed and I can be put to death for making a remark, I refuse to take the fifth."

She then continued to defend herself by cutting-and-pasting text from Wikipedia about monkeys, though she did not indicate why that would be relevant.

The Africans-are-Monkeys canard is one of the oldest racist tropes around. Sadly but unsurprisingly, the attack has been used repeatedly against the president and the first lady.

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Secular Café: House Panel Recommends Contempt Case Against Holder

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House Panel Recommends Contempt Case Against Holder
Jun 20th 2012, 22:10

Seems kind of funny that congress can file contempt against the head attorney general of the U.S.A. but hey that's why they call it the 'balance of power' I guess.

Quote:

House Panel Recommends Contempt Case Against Holder
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
Published: June 20, 2012 499 Comments

¶ WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House oversight committee voted on Wednesday to recommend holding Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress in a dispute over internal Justice Department documents related to the botched gun trafficking operation known as “Fast and Furious.”

¶ The 23-to-17 vote, which fell along party lines, came after President Obama invoked executive privilege to withhold the documents and communications among Justice Department officials last year as they grappled with the Congressional investigation into the case. As part of the operation, weapons bought in the United States were allowed to reach a Mexican drug cartel in an effort to build a bigger case.

¶ It was the first time that Mr. Obama had asserted the privilege since taking office, and it sharpened the long-festering dispute between Mr. Holder and Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Democrats called for the panel to hold off voting on the contempt citation during an often acrimonious partisan debate, but Republicans pressed forward with it.



¶ Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a letter to Mr. Issa that the president was claiming privilege over the documents, although he suggested that there might yet be a way to negotiate the release of some of the contested documents.

¶ “We regret that we have arrived at this point, after the many steps we have taken to address the committee’s concerns and to accommodate the committee’s legitimate oversight interests regarding Operation Fast and Furious,” Mr. Cole said in the letter. “Although we are deeply disappointed that the committee appears intent on proceeding with a contempt vote, the department remains willing to work with the committee to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of the outstanding issues.”

¶ But Mr. Issa said that the House had received no letter from Mr. Obama himself or a log specifying what was being withheld. He also raised doubts about whether executive privilege covered internal deliberative documents that did not relate to confidential communications involving the president himself.
....
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/us...pagewanted=all

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Secular Café: The governments right to privacy.

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The governments right to privacy.
Jun 20th 2012, 17:47

Look I remember about a year ago that the death of a border agent and talk of a government program called Fast and Furious. I never saw the movie but the teasers suggested some action freak movie that probably had some old tired plot to kill or take revenge on someone. Either of these, I've had my fill of and hearing that a government program was named after it gave me the opinion the same type adolescent B.S. artists dreamed up the program, itself.

I've sense heard that it was an extension of a program that President Bush, which gave me reason to tilt my head in the classic, "WTF" manner. I've heard vague statements from either side and have pretty much just tossed the entire subject of the compost heap that I view any political issue that arises.

What bothers me is the idea that President Obama has now through the executive privledge over the thing and what was really disturbing was that fact that all the presidents have done this and there seems to be no guidelines as to what should be placed and not placed under this protection.

My question is WTF?

(1) Should the government, any government, Federal, state, City, County or whatever have the right just to say, we aren't going to tell you crap. unless the situation imperiled lives.

(2) Should any congress be able to sapena any document or must they have a valid reason for doing so, and a need to know the information contained? I don't mean a fishing expedition for political points either. I'm talking something specific that deals with a specific issue or set time. I don't think any congress should be able to just harass any administration. That administration was legally voted in and needs to be able to do the work of the people.. PERIOD!

(3)

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Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Secular Café: Pakistan in disarray

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Pakistan in disarray
Jun 19th 2012, 21:50

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...i-disqualified

Quote:

Pakistan's top judge disqualified the country's prime minister from office on Tuesday, in a move likened to a "judicial dictatorship" by some commentators outraged that the head of government should be deposed by anything other than parliament.

Capping months of legal trench warfare between the government led by the Pakistan People's party (PPP) and the judiciary, Yousuf Raza Gilani was stripped of his office by a short statement read out in a packed courtroom by the chief justice.

Iftikhar Chaudhry, the top judge, said Gilani had effectively not been prime minister since April 26 when he had been found guilty of contempt for refusing to comply with a supreme court order to reopen dormant fraud investigations against President Asif Ali Zardari...

...The legal drama adds to political uncertainty at a time when the government can ill afford to be distracted from a dizzying array of crises, including widespread unrest over electricity shortages and Pakistan's deeply distrustful relationship with the US.

"The supreme court has edged one step closer to a judicial dictatorship of sorts," said Cyril Almeida, a journalist. "The constitution is very clear about how the disqualification process is supposed to work and the court has quite extraordinarily brushed all of that aside and is making up new rules of the game as it goes along."...

..."This is a very difficult situation because even the constitutional experts and big lawyers cannot agree on whether this is legal," the senior politician said. "But the supreme court is an organ of state and whether what they say is right or wrong, we must accept it."...

...Chaudhry's willingness to take up cases against some of Pakistan's most powerful people has earned him legions of fans. But his status as a legal hero has been undermined recently by allegations from a billionaire real estate tycoon called Malik Riaz who claims the chief justice's son had demanded millions of dollars in bribes to influence supreme court cases.

However, the ongoing controversy surrounding Chaudhry's family is likely to be wiped out by his decision to oust the prime minister.

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Secular Café: Assange asks for asylum

Secular Café
For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world
Assange asks for asylum
Jun 19th 2012, 21:25

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...asylum-ecuador

Quote:

Julian Assange has asked for asylum at Ecuador's embassy in London. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has sought political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

He walked into the embassy in Knightsbridge, London on Tuesday afternoon and asked for asylum under the United Nations human rights declaration.

A statement issued on behalf of the embassy said: "This afternoon Mr Julian Assange arrived at the Ecuadorian embassy seeking political asylum from the Ecuadorian government.

"As a signatory to the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights, with an obligation to review all applications for asylum, we have immediately passed his application on to the relevant department in Quito.

"While the department assesses Mr Assange's application, Mr Assange will remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorian government.

"The decision to consider Mr Assange's application for protective asylum should in no way be interpreted as the government of Ecuador interfering in the judicial processes of either the United Kingdom or Sweden."...

...The dramatic move by Assange followed his long-running legal bid to halt his extradition to Sweden, where he faces sex crime allegations.

The UK Supreme Court decided on 30 May that extradition was lawful and could go ahead, but Assange was given time to consider the judgment.

The Swedish authorities want him to answer accusations of raping a woman and sexually molesting and coercing another in Stockholm in August 2010 while on a visit to give a lecture.

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Secular Café: Another right-to-die case

Secular Café
For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world
Another right-to-die case
Jun 19th 2012, 20:32

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...on-lawyer.html

Quote:

People unable to travel to Dignitas face an 'amateur DIY death or continued suffering' the barrister for 'locked-in syndrome' sufferer Tony Nicklinson told the High Court.

Mr Nicklinson, 58, today began a landmark application which could open the way for a doctor to end his life.

The father-of-two from Wiltshire is almost completely paralysed after suffering a stroke on holiday in Greece seven years ago.

He communicates through a specially adapted computer which records blinks and tiny head movements...

...Lauren Nicklinson tells the court in her statement: "I know my Dad, and therefore I can only begin to understand the agony he is in, I know what he had and what he has lost.

"This pain is ongoing and there is no relief from it."

She also discloses how the family have had to accept how he has "very little interest" even in his loved-ones because his stroke "ripped the very core and essence out of him".

"He is forced to live an existence, trapped in a broken body, following someone else's rules, rules that he cannot abide by," she says.

"He is living a life he does not wish to live. This is pure torture for him."

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Secular Café: Library Saved/ Teabaggers PWNED

Secular Café
For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world
Library Saved/ Teabaggers PWNED
Jun 19th 2012, 19:48

Link

I love this.

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Monday, 18 June 2012

Secular Café: Could partition into India and Pakistan have been avoided in 1947?

Secular Café
For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world
Could partition into India and Pakistan have been avoided in 1947?
Jun 18th 2012, 08:01

And if it had been, what would the likely outcome have been for the united India?

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Sunday, 17 June 2012

Secular Café: Row in New Zealand over religion in schools

Secular Café
For serious discussion of politics, political news, policy, political theory and economics and events happening round the world
Row in New Zealand over religion in schools
Jun 17th 2012, 15:24

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/educ...divide-parents

Quote:

Parents are at a crossroads over whether God should be allowed in the classroom.

Hundreds of primary schools "close" during class time so religious teachers can come in and teach Bible-based values, and parents must opt out if they do not want their children to attend.

But a group of rationalists has launched a campaign to keep religion out of schools, saying it should be taught only as part of social studies or extra-curricular activities, and that prayer and Bible studies should ultimately be banned entirely.

A Sunday Star-Times reader poll found 49 per cent of respondents against religious studies in primary schools, and 43 per cent in favour, with 8 per cent undecided...

...Auckland parent Bruce Hubbard said he was appalled when his 7-year-old stepdaughter's school introduced "evangelical-style" religious instruction, which reduced her to tears when she was told she could end up in hell. He has since opted out.

Jeff McClintock said it took five attempts before his daughter's school finally withdrew the 6-year-old from religious instruction. "They're not teaching about Christianity. They're trying to convert them. Parents are scared [that] if they withdraw their child will be the odd one out and might get picked on." His daughter now sits out the lessons.

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