Tag: america

Save the Internet

Posted by Nexus – 26/11/2011

Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world’s Internet — creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!

To all Members of the US Congress:

As concerned global citizens, we call on you to stand for a free and open Internet and vote against both the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act. The Internet is a crucial tool for people around the world to exchange ideas and work collectively to build the world we all want. We urge you to show true global leadership and do all you can to protect this basic pillar of our democracies worldwide.

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It’s not just about oil….but

Posted by Nexus – 26/02/2011

[via llewblog.squarespace.com, originally written by Robert Llewellyn]

As we all know, the slightest slip up or misinterpretation on the Twitters can lead to some serious upset. I have made many twitter boo boo’s but in my top ten all time stinkers was a mention on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 massacre of the link between the attack and our dependence on oil.

This really upset people, I got a lot of very angry tweets, yet again surprising myself with my naivety and possibly stupidity. Many American’s admonished me for daring to make a connection. ‘It had nothing to do with oil, it was to do with terrorism and religion.’

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Wall Streeters’ Chain Email Reveals They’re Even Worse People Than We Thought

Posted by Nexus – 05/05/2010

[via disinfo.com]

Think that the financial crash has left investment banking hotshots humbler and wiser? Not likely. The National Review blog The Corner has a defiant email that has been circulating over the last couple days among discontented Wall Streeters. Seriously, these people are as douche-y as you imagined:

We are Wall Street. It’s our job to make money. Whether it’s a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable. I didn’t hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone’s 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose. I’ve never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they won too much in Vegas.

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Multiple Pedestrians Ignore Dying New York Hero

Posted by Nexus – 29/04/2010

[via aolnews.com]

A homeless man who was stabbed while saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker lay dying in a pool of his own blood for more than an hour while several New Yorkers walked past without calling for help.

Surveillance video obtained by the New York Post shows that some passers-by paused to gawk at Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax early Sunday morning and yet kept on walking.

One man came out of a nearby building and took a cellphone photo of the victim before leaving. Another leaned over and vigorously shook the dead man before walking away. But most people never stopped.

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Harvard profs trash ACTA, demand oversight, threaten lawsuit

Posted by Nexus – 27/03/2010

[via arstechnica.com]

Harvard Law School professors Lawrence Lessig and Jack Goldsmith took to the op-ed page of the Washington Post today to slam the Obama administration’s approach to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)—and to threaten a lawsuit if ACTA is signed without Congressional oversight.

The US has positioned ACTA as an executive agreement rather than a treaty. Such a move means that ACTA doesn’t need Senate approval, but it also means that the agreement should not alter US law, either. If you want to change the law, you go to Congress.

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US and Russia ‘near’ new nuclear arms treaty

Posted by Nexus – 14/03/2010

[via bbc.co.uk]

The Start treaty led to huge reductions in the Russian and US nuclear arsenals.

Russia and the US have both said it should soon be possible to conclude a new nuclear disarmament treaty.

Officials in Moscow and Washington said US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had a “good conversation” reviewing negotiations.

The two countries are trying to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired last December.

The US says it has more than 2,000 nuclear weapons, while Russia is believed to have nearly 3,000.

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Obama czar in ‘clean energy’ corruption?

Posted by Nexus – 13/03/2010

[via WorldNetDaily]

John Holdren

President Obama’s “science” czar, John Holdren, was co-author of a 2004 energy policy paper that recommended “cap and trade” legislation, including “clean coal” technology and $2 billion from the federal budget for construction of one or two new nuclear facilities.

WND has learned a co-author of the paper with Holdren is John Rowe, a financial bundler for President Obama’s 2008 campaign who serves as chairman of Exelon, the mega-utility owning 30 percent of all U.S. nuclear plants.

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ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan

Posted by Nexus – 10/03/2010

[via wsj.com]

Customs and Border Protection agent Jesus Gomez checks a passport at the vehicle crossing at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in California.

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain.

Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.

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Nurse to Stand Trial for Reporting Doctor

Posted by Nexus – 09/02/2010

[via nytimes.com]

It occurred to Anne Mitchell as she was writing the letter that she might lose her job, which is why she chose not to sign it. But it was beyond her conception that she would be indicted and threatened with 10 years in prison for doing what she knew a nurse must: inform state regulators that a doctor at her rural hospital was practicing bad medicine.

Anne Mitchell, left, and Vickilyn Galle, right, wrote the letter to regulators that drew felony charges.

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Night Launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour

Posted by Nexus – 09/02/2010

[via APOD]

Click image for full-size picture (3000x1996)

Sometimes, the space shuttle launches at night. Pictured above, the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off in yesterday’s early morning hours from Launch Pad 39A in Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, bound for the International Space Station (ISS). A night launch, useful for reaching the space station easily during some times of the year, frequently creates vivid launch imagery.

The shuttle, as pictured above, is framed by an enormous but typical exhaust plume ejected as the shuttle’s powerful rockets began lifting the two million kilogram space bus into Earth orbit. Endeavour’s mission, labelled STS-130, includes the delivery of the Tranquility module to the space station.

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