Obama Promise To 'Protect Whistleblowers' Just Disappeared From Change.gov

The folks from the Sunlight Foundation have noticed that the Change.gov website, which was set up by the Obama transition team after the election in 2008 has suddenly been scrubbed of all of its original content. They noted that the front page had pointed to the White House website for a while, but you could still access a variety of old material and agendas. They were wondering why the administration would suddenly pull all that interesting archival information... and hit upon a clue. A little bit from the "ethics agenda": (another unfulfilled promise from candidate Obama)

Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

Yet we end up with the exact opposite, not really the change we were hoping for...

Yeah. That statement seems a bit embarrassing at the very same time Obama's administration is threatening trade sanctions against anyone who grants asylum to Ed Snowden. Also... at the same time that we get to see how whistleblower Bradley Manning's "full access to courts and due process" will turn out. So far, it's been anything but reasonable, considering that the UN has already condemned Manning's treatment as "cruel and inhuman." And people wonder why Snowden left the country...

Source: 

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130726/01200123954/obama-promise-to-protect-whistleblowers-just-disappeared-changegov.shtml

When Will The Economy Collapse?

Its a bleak picture, but it is also difficult to dismiss the folks at Storm Clouds Gathering. 

http://stormcloudsgathering.com/when-will-the-economy-collapse-0

Fear and Schooling

From Seth Godin's Stop Stealing Dreams:

To efficiently run a school, amplify fear (and destroy passion)
School's industrial, scaled-up, measurable structure means that fear must be used to keep the masses in line. There's no other way to get hundreds or thousands of kids to comply, to process that many bodies, en masse, without simultaneous coordination.
And the flip side of this fear and conformity must be that passion will be destroyed. There's no room for someone who wants to go faster, or someone who wants to do something else, or someone who cares about a particular issue. Move on. Write it in your notes; there will be a test later. A multiple-choice test.
Do we need more fear?
Less passion?

Its no coincidence that the Prussian paramilitary school system was the model on which the US education system was built, and it has long since served the purpose for which it was designed. Its time for something truly different. 

Boom! Democrat-run city of Detroit officially files for bankruptcy

One down, hundreds to go. Even better, it happened under the reign of the far Left, showing us that high government spending, regulation and taxation of an economy and workers only ends one way; bad. 

http://www.libertarianrepublican.net/2013/07/boom-democrat-run-city-of-detroit.html

Initial unemployment compensation claims return to lower level

It is hardly a sign of economic recovery, or improved employment rates, when we see charts that appear to show a decline in the unemployment rate. The numbers don't tell the full story. 

First, we know that more part-time jobs have replaced full-time jobs, a way for employers to cut costs as government regulations put pressure on firms. The Obama administration take credit for this creation of jobs, but burdensome regulations have created lower-paying jobs and underemployment, definitely not a net gain. 

Next, we consider that unemployment regulations make it more difficult to qualify for benefits, also not a positive shift. It also excludes the growing number of workers who's benefits have expired. These realities are definitely not positive gains in employment, but show the continue decline of the overall economy. 

http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/Psd8s-SNEfw/-Initial-unemployment-compensation-claim-returns-to-lower-level

This is What Budget Cuts Have Done to Detroit

The language of budget cuts, austerity, and sequestration seem to dominate the media's landscape these days, instilling fear into Americans of vital government services being cut and chaos ensuing if governments aren't allowed to spend and borrow infinitely. Conservatives decry supposed cuts to the military-industrial-complex, and liberals bemoan that without government welfare transfer programs, there would be social Darwinism. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) even blamed the Benghazi scandal on — wait for it — budget cuts and the sequester. 

Leaving aside the details on whether the U.S. budget is actually shrinking, one needs to look no further than the city of Detroit to find the spontaneous order, civic cooperation, and peaceful market forces that take over when government simply isn't around. 

Detroit is absolutely bankrupt. The city faces a cash shortfall of more than $100 million by June 30. Long-term liabilities, including pensions, exceed $14 billion. Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants to bail out Detroit's city government even further. Thanks to the financial situation of Detroit, emergency services like police and fire departments are being severely cut short. 911 is only taking calls during business hours. Homes have been abandoned making parts of the city look like a ghost town. 

If our public servants are right and wouldn't dare lie and try to scare us, then chaos, anarchy and lawlessness should reign in Detroit now, right? Well, not exactly.

More: This is What Budget Cuts Have Done to Detroit ... And It's Freaking Awesome

Frederic Bastiat: The Primacy of Property: Redistribution of Wealth

When government goes beyond the limits of universal justice and uses the law for plunder, rent-seeking will replace profit-seeking. The doors of government will then be open for endless interventions and redistributions to benefit some individuals or groups at the expense of others. Civil society will diminish as the rule of law erodes, and wealth creation will slow as the free market is suppressed. 

Sound familiar yet?

In the redistributive state, self-sacrifice for the common good is regarded as a public virtue, and self-interest is frowned upon. The law is perverted and transformed from its legitimate function of protecting persons and property to forcing the transfer of income and wealth through market interventions, outright takings, and heavy taxes. Artificial rights (welfare rights) replace natural rights (property rights), and justice is turned on its head. 

Now that hits closer to home.

Bastiat clearly recognized that when the government oversteps its legitimate boundary, there is no end to the demand for further interventions and redistributions to benefit some individuals or groups at the expense of others. Instead of a positive-sum game, as occurs under limited government and voluntary exchange, there will be a zero-sum or negative-sum game under the redistributive state and its instrument of “legal plunder.”

More: Frederic Bastiat: The Primacy of Property : The Freeman : Foundation for Economic Education

Goodbye economic prosperity and individual liberty. Hello collapse.

The Five Stages Of Collapse, By Dmitry Orlov

Many of us who have been researching collapse for a decade or more repeatedly use the word in writing, speaking, and daily conversation, but few of us have the opportunity to define it with such precision or personal experience as one finds in Dmitry Orlov’sforthcoming book Five Stages of Collapse: ASurvivor’s Toolkit (New Society Publishers, 281 pages). I first heard of Dmitry when I was writing for From The Wilderness in 2005 after FTW published “Post-Soviet Lessons For A Post-American Century,” one of Orlov’s first articles in the United States naming our predicament and likely outcome.
Since then I have been a huge fan of Dmitry’s work, and I must concur with Richard Heinberg who says, “Even if I believed collapse were impossible I’d still read everything Dmitry Orlov writes: he’s that entertaining.” Incisive articulation of reality tempered with irrepressible humor and sarcasm define his writing style and not only compel us to stay with what some describe as a “dark Russian perspective,” but reveal a man who has found a way to live with what is so and navigate it with buoyant humanity.
The Five Stages of Collapse is nothing less than a definitive textbook for a hypothetical course entitled “The Collapse Of Industrial Civilization 101” or perhaps a bible of sorts for an imaginary “Institute of Collapse Studies.” While to my knowledge no such courses or organizations presently exist, this book would be an essential aspect of any such entity’s credibility.

More: The Five Stages Of Collapse, By Dmitry Orlov, Reviewed By Carolyn Baker « Speaking Truth to Power

Cengage Files Chapter 11, Blames a Changing Publishing Market

Cengage Learning filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week as part of a "restructuring support agreement" to help reduce its $5.8 billion debt.

 

"The decisive actions we are taking today will reduce our debt and reduce our capital structure to support our long-term business strategy of transitioning from traditional print models to digital educational and research materials," Michael Hansen, Cengage Learning CEO, said in a statement.

In the past, the Company and its peers in the educational materials market produced only traditional print products.

From kindergarten to higher education to career training, students, instructors, and institutions depended on printed goods, typically as an accompaniment to live classroom teaching. The publishers in this market provided textbooks, workbooks, and other instructional materials and relied heavily on their profits from selling new print products.

Now, the educational publishing market has entered the early stages of a major transition from print business models to a greater focus on digital products, with digital market share growing as quickly as 20 percent annually over recent years. The move to digital began with the simple substitution of electronic versions of textbooks for the printed forms. Over time, digital products such as homework programs and interactive learning software have increasingly been paired and integrated with print materials.

And in some cases, digital products are becoming a favored medium for learning materials in the classroom. As much as 15 percent of learning materials sold today are sold in digital format, including course materials, homework programs, and interactive and online learning platforms. All indications are that digital will continue to grow in importance in this market.

More: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/723898-dk000015-0000.html#document/p4/a108470

By failing to adapt to a changing market, Cengage essentially signed its own death certificate. I don't think that print is dead, but the publishing industry is changing, and fast. Those companies that didn't see the changes coming years ago don't have time to react now, and those that did and had the foresight to adapt to that coming change have and will survive. Blaming a changing market instead of adapting to it is hardly productive. That sort of debt-to-revenue imbalance can not be sustained. Only the government can maintain long-term losses and get away with it (taxpayer bailouts). Companies must maintain profits to compete and survive by serving their customers.

Lincoln: The Birth of Electronic Evesdropping

Think that PRISM and NSA/CIA/FBI/government spying on Americans and everyone else in the world is a recent development? Think again. President Obama seems to enjoy being compared to the "great emancipator," and there are more disturbing similarities between the two than left-statists would like to admit. 

In 1862, Lincoln authorized sweeping control over the American telegraph infrastructure for Edwin Stanton, his secretary of war. Telegraphs were re-routed through his office, and Stanton used his power to spy on Americans, arrest journalists, and even control what was or wasn't sent. It was a critical tool in wartime, but a massive invasion of privacy that surely angered citizens.

Mindich argues that despite the huge differences in scope and technology, the Lincoln-era example is a neat comparison to the current war on terror. For those that take issue with the current NSA procedures, he says, the only real solution is to end the war — that's the only way Stanton's grasp of the telegraphs was loosed. "As the war ended, the emergency measures were rolled back. Information — telegraph and otherwise — began to flow freely again." Until this war is over, Mindich cautions, invasive governmental overreaching is a fact of life; whether it's Western Union or Microsoft, Lincoln or Obama, that's how it's always been.

Via: theverge

See more at: http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/lincoln-the-birth-of-electronic-evesdropping/#sthash.XjHTvzKs.dpuf

Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics

If everyone took the time to learn about economics from a sociological perspective, society might achieve much more than ever before, in a voluntary manner. Unless, that is, people relegate social decision-making to a small group of sad sociopaths. That worked well for Germany, the USSR, Great Britain, and many other prior empires. Now its America's turn, I'm sure the central planners get it right this time... 

Those who fail to learn from the History Channel are doomed to watch it on repeats. 

Hazlitt's gift to us both clears any misconceptions about the science of economics and reinforces it with the moral arguments against violence and coercion by the state. Statists come in all flavor. We must each take up intellectual arms against tyranny to conquer the ruling ignorance that seeks to guide society, it would rather watch us stagnate and suffer. If you think you know anything about economics, let Henry school you. 

Reviews at:

Economics in One Lesson: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3028.Economics_in_One_Lesson

Also available for free courtesy the Mises Institute's publishing efforts to bring prosperity to society.

http://mises.org/document/6785/Economics-in-One-Lesson

If You Like The Surveillance State, You’ll Love E-Verify

From massive NSA spying, to IRS targeting of the administration's political opponents, to collection and sharing of our health care information as part of Obamacare, it seems every day we learn of another assault on our privacy. Sadly, this week the Senate took another significant, if little-noticed, step toward creating an authoritarian surveillance state. Buried in the immigration bill is a national identification system called mandatory E-Verify.

I find it odd that left-statists protest voter registration but not this...

The Senate did not spend much time discussing E-Verify, and what little discussion took place was mostly bipartisan praise for its effectiveness as a tool for preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining employment. It is a tragedy that mandatory E-Verify is not receiving more attention, as it will impact nearly every American's privacy and liberty.

The mandatory E-Verify system requires Americans to carry a "tamper-proof" social security card. Before they can legally begin a job, American citizens will have to show the card to their prospective employer, who will then have to verify their identity and eligibility to hold a job in the US by running the information through the newly-created federal E-Verify database. The database will contain photographs taken from passport files and state driver's licenses. The law gives federal bureaucrats broad discretion in adding other "biometric" identifiers to the database. It also gives the bureaucracy broad authority to determine what features the "tamper proof" card should contain.

Hello, 1984, are you just visiting or here to stay?

More:

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Intelwar/~3/0SAw14IzXRg/if-you-like-the-surveillance-state-youll-love-e-verify_062013