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Recovery for Wisconsin: "Feingold has been a long-time proponent of investing in rural broadband as a way to erase the digital divide and improve business and employment opportunities in rural areas."
Baldwin Telecom got $9 million but they already offer broadband (at least 1 MB download) to all of there customers.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
How Do Bureaucracies Work? | Jason Kuznicki | Cato Institute: Commentary
How Do Bureaucracies Work? | Jason Kuznicki | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Much of the material is clearly neither sensitive nor embarrassing, and a good deal of it appears to be so abbreviated that it's essentially uninformative, as war veteran and eyewitness Noah Schachtman has observed. Yet it was collected anyway and made classified. Perhaps this happened simply because information collection in the digital age is so ridiculously easy. More, though, does not always mean better, particularly not when what you really need is possibly a single piece of high-value information amid gigabytes of data."
Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images | Privacy Inc. - CNET News
Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images | Privacy Inc. - CNET News: "For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they're viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that 'scanned images cannot be stored or recorded.'
Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse."
"William Bordley, an associate general counsel with the Marshals Service, acknowledged in the letter that 'approximately 35,314 images...have been stored on the Brijot Gen2 machine' used in the Orlando, Fla. federal courthouse. In addition, Bordley wrote, a Millivision machine was tested in the Washington, D.C. federal courthouse but it was sent back to the manufacturer, which now apparently possesses the image database."
Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse."
"William Bordley, an associate general counsel with the Marshals Service, acknowledged in the letter that 'approximately 35,314 images...have been stored on the Brijot Gen2 machine' used in the Orlando, Fla. federal courthouse. In addition, Bordley wrote, a Millivision machine was tested in the Washington, D.C. federal courthouse but it was sent back to the manufacturer, which now apparently possesses the image database."
Monday, August 02, 2010
Few Batting Eyes at Obama's Deadly Drone Policy | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary
Few Batting Eyes at Obama's Deadly Drone Policy | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "He reports that, contrary to the administration's claim that only high-level terrorists researched are targeted, 'the CIA has killed around 12 times more low-level fighters than mid-to-high-level al-Qaida and Taliban leaders since the drone strikes intensified in the summer of 2008.'
Another of his sources, who was involved in our robotic warfare and has since left the service, told him that the CIA's targeting of low-level foot soldiers worries him because 'it degrades the notion we're going after serious threats to the United States.'"
"other American intelligence officers 'proudly tout the drone campaign as the most precise and possibly humane targeted killing program in the history of warfare.'"
Another of his sources, who was involved in our robotic warfare and has since left the service, told him that the CIA's targeting of low-level foot soldiers worries him because 'it degrades the notion we're going after serious threats to the United States.'"
"other American intelligence officers 'proudly tout the drone campaign as the most precise and possibly humane targeted killing program in the history of warfare.'"
What Happens If U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan? Not the End of the World As We Know It | Leon T. Hadar | Cato Institute: Commentary
What Happens If U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan? Not the End of the World As We Know It | Leon T. Hadar | Cato Institute: Commentary: "[If we need to say in Afghanistan] 'To prevent Afghanistan becoming a failed state and a haven for terrorists,' by asking, 'If we are in Afghanistan, why are we not also in Somalia, Yemen or Pakistan?' Rachman point out that these countries (one could add Kashmir and some of our beloved Central Asia's 'Stans' to the list) have become centers of operations for mishmash of radical Islamist terrorist groups"
Friday, July 30, 2010
Raising Retirement Age Won't Work | William Shipman | Cato Institute: Commentary
Raising Retirement Age Won't Work | William Shipman | Cato Institute: Commentary: "He retired at the end of 2008, when he suffered a significant loss because stock markets around the globe collapsed, down 37 percent in the United States alone. Yet even after the loss, his accumulated wealth still would provide more than Social Security's $18,324 benefit, namely $30,000 in the first year, and indexed for inflation for 19 more years."
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Defending the Blackmailer - Walter Block - Mises Daily
Defending the Blackmailer - Walter Block - Mises Daily: "With the gossip, all is lost; with the blackmailer, one can only gain, or at least be no worse off. If the price requested by the blackmailer is lower than the secret is worth, the secret-keeper will pay the blackmailer — this being the lesser of the two evils. He thus gains the difference to him between the value of the secret and the price of the blackmail. When the blackmailer demands more than the secret is worth, his demand will not be met and the information will become public."
"Many actions in the public arena qualify as acts of blackmail, but, instead of being vilified, they have often attained a status of respectability! For example, the recent lettuce boycott is a form of blackmail. Through the lettuce boycott (or any boycott), threats are made to retailers and wholesalers of fruits and vegetables. If they handle nonunion lettuce, the boycotters assert, people will be asked not to patronize their establishments. This conforms perfectly to the definition: a threat that something, not in itself illegal, will take place unless certain demands are met."
"In addition to being a legitimate activity, blackmail has some good effects, litanies to the contrary notwithstanding. Apart from some innocent victims who are caught in the net, who does the blackmailer usually prey upon?
In the main, there are two groups. One group is composed of criminals: murderers, thieves, swindlers, embezzlers, cheaters, rapists, etc. The other group consists of people who engage in activities, not illegitimate in themselves, that are contrary to the mores and habits of the majority: homosexuals, sadomasochists, sexual perverts, communists, adulterers, etc. The institution of blackmail has beneficial, but different, effects upon each of these groups.
In the case of criminals, blackmail and the threat of blackmail serve as deterrents."
"Legalizing blackmail would thus allow anticrime units to take advantage of two basic crime fighting adages at the same time: "divide and conquer," and "lack of honor among thieves." It is quite clear that one important effect of legalizing blackmail would be to diminish crime — real crime, that is."
"In reflecting on the old aphorism, 'the truth shall make you free,' the only 'weapon' at the disposal of the blackmailer is the truth. In using the truth to back up his threats (as on occasion he must), he sets the truth free, very often without intent, to do whatever good or bad it is capable of doing."
"Many actions in the public arena qualify as acts of blackmail, but, instead of being vilified, they have often attained a status of respectability! For example, the recent lettuce boycott is a form of blackmail. Through the lettuce boycott (or any boycott), threats are made to retailers and wholesalers of fruits and vegetables. If they handle nonunion lettuce, the boycotters assert, people will be asked not to patronize their establishments. This conforms perfectly to the definition: a threat that something, not in itself illegal, will take place unless certain demands are met."
"In addition to being a legitimate activity, blackmail has some good effects, litanies to the contrary notwithstanding. Apart from some innocent victims who are caught in the net, who does the blackmailer usually prey upon?
In the main, there are two groups. One group is composed of criminals: murderers, thieves, swindlers, embezzlers, cheaters, rapists, etc. The other group consists of people who engage in activities, not illegitimate in themselves, that are contrary to the mores and habits of the majority: homosexuals, sadomasochists, sexual perverts, communists, adulterers, etc. The institution of blackmail has beneficial, but different, effects upon each of these groups.
In the case of criminals, blackmail and the threat of blackmail serve as deterrents."
"Legalizing blackmail would thus allow anticrime units to take advantage of two basic crime fighting adages at the same time: "divide and conquer," and "lack of honor among thieves." It is quite clear that one important effect of legalizing blackmail would be to diminish crime — real crime, that is."
"In reflecting on the old aphorism, 'the truth shall make you free,' the only 'weapon' at the disposal of the blackmailer is the truth. In using the truth to back up his threats (as on occasion he must), he sets the truth free, very often without intent, to do whatever good or bad it is capable of doing."
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Our View: When government is too big, who is keeping an eye on the wallet? | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin
Our View: When government is too big, who is keeping an eye on the wallet? | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin: "Any time government grows too large, following close behind is cheating, fraud and waste. Unless someone puts on the brakes and re-evaluates the current situation, the taxpayers lose."
FOXNews.com - Court: University Can Expel Student Who Opposes Homosexuality
FOXNews.com - Court: University Can Expel Student Who Opposes Homosexuality: "Judge Steeh said the university had a rational basis for adopting the ACA Code of Ethics.
“Furthermore, the university had a rational basis for requiring students to counsel clients without imposing their personal values,” he wrote in a portion of his ruling posted by The Detroit News. “In the case of Ms. Ward, the university determined that she would never change her behavior and would consistently refuse to counsel clients on matters with which she was personally opposed due to her religious beliefs – including homosexual relationships.”
Ward’s attorneys claim the university told her she would only be allowed to remain in the program if she went through a “remediation” program so that she could “see the error of her ways” and change her belief system about homosexuality."
“Furthermore, the university had a rational basis for requiring students to counsel clients without imposing their personal values,” he wrote in a portion of his ruling posted by The Detroit News. “In the case of Ms. Ward, the university determined that she would never change her behavior and would consistently refuse to counsel clients on matters with which she was personally opposed due to her religious beliefs – including homosexual relationships.”
Ward’s attorneys claim the university told her she would only be allowed to remain in the program if she went through a “remediation” program so that she could “see the error of her ways” and change her belief system about homosexuality."
FOXNews.com - Lying for sex _ Arab's conviction raises charges of Israeli racism and legal intrusiveness
FOXNews.com - Lying for sex _ Arab's conviction raises charges of Israeli racism and legal intrusiveness: "'If she hadn't thought the accused was a single Jewish man interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated,' Judge Zvi Segal wrote in sentencing Qashor. The court must protect the public from 'sophisticated and slick-tongued criminals who would lead innocent victims astray, at the unbearable price of the sanctity of their bodies and souls.'"
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