Heating Funds for Poor Get Cut as Trillion-Dollar Budget Gets Passed

The government just passed a TRILLION-dollar budget, but there is no money for the poor, many of whom will die as a result. Meanwhile oil companies continue to post tax-free record profits and fuel prices continue to climb as the cold weather settles in just in time for the holidays.

Northeast states cut heating aid to poor

Mary Power is 92 and worried about surviving another frigid New England winter because deep cuts in federal home heating assistance benefits mean she probably can’t afford enough heating oil to stay warm.

She lives in a drafty trailer in Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood and gets by on $11,148 a year in pension and Social Security benefits. Her heating aid help this year will drop from $1,035 to $685. With rising heating oil prices, it probably will cost her more than $3,000 for enough oil to keep warm unless she turns her thermostat down to 60 degrees, as she plans.

“I will just have to crawl into bed with the covers over me and stay there,’’ said Power, a widow who worked as a cashier and waitress until she was 80. “I will do what I have to do.’’

Thousands of poor people across the Northeast are bracing for a difficult winter with substantially less home heating aid coming from the federal government.

“They’re playing Russian roulette with people’s lives,’’ said John Drew, who heads Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., which provides aid to low-income residents in Massachusetts.

Read more at link: http://articles.boston.com/2011-12-11/news/30505478_1_heating-aid-heating-oil-home-heating

Herd Mentality

I was recently debating my pet hot-button issue of the month, drug testing of welfare recipients. My opponent made the logically-void argument that their position was correct, because nearly 3 million people have voted in favor of drug testing the poor, while I voted in the minority of less than 150,000 people who are against the drug testing laws. I have seen this same sort of argument made many times, over various issues, that that the majority is always right. This same mentality is why our Constitution has been reduced to nothing more than a scrap of paper. After all, the Constitution is there to protect ideas that are not popular. Popular ideas don't need to be protected. But let me stop myself there before I go off on a little rant about the lessons of logic and liberty, and instead show you this clear example, that even the most simple-minded among the sheeple might grasp the lesson of...

12 Extremely Disappointing Facts About Popular Music

1. Creed has sold more records in the US than Jimi Hendrix

2. Led Zeppelin, REM, and Depeche Mode have never had a number one single, Rihanna has 10

3. Ke$ha's “Tik-Tok” sold more copies than ANY Beatles single

4. Flo Rida's “Low” has sold 8 million copies – the same as The Beatles' “Hey Jude”

5. The Black Eyed Peas' “I Gotta Feeling” is more popular than any Elvis or Simon & Garfunkel song

6. Celine Dion's “Falling Into You” sold more copies than any Queen, Nirvana, or Bruce Springsteen record

7. Same with Shania Twain's “Come On Over”

8. Katy Perry holds the same record as Michael Jackson for most number one singles from an album

9. Barbra Streisand has sold more records (140 million) than Pearl Jam, Johnny Cash, and Tom Petty combined

10. People actually bought Billy Ray Cyrus' album “Some Gave All…” 20 million people. More than any Bob Marley album

11. The cast of “Glee” has had more songs chart than the Beatles

12. This guy exists.

 

"All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach." -Adolf Hitler

DNA Hackers Will Exploit You as Easily as Your PC

From the "freaky files" of our probable not-too-distant future comes the following article. If people realized what power their DNA holds, particularly in the hands of someone who might not be looking out for your best interests, society would be taking things a lot more seriously when it comes to things like DNA testing and other collections of biological sampling. Would you trust a cop in a random traffic stop enough to hand over your bank account password to them? Probably not, but this is by far a lot worse. Not even because of potential abuses by the powers-that-be. But because of the risk that your DNA data might wind up in the hands of criminals and terrorists.

DNA Hackers: Synthetic biology weaponized virus, zero-day exploit to infect your brain?


From the let's get futuristically freaky department, future hacking crimes could take a decidedly sinister twist; not hacking to breach systems but brains, bodies and behaviors. This DNA hacking goes way beyond potentially using police bees to bust biohackers, or even storing unhackable data in box of bio-encrypted bacteria. It's not science fiction to hack insulin pumps or to use jamming signals to stop hackers from lethal pacemaker attacks, but now bioengineers and security futurists are warning that the day is coming when criminals and bioterrorists hunt for vulnerabilities that will give a new meaning to zero-day exploits. In the future, a weaponized virus will aim to infect you, your brain and body biology, and not just your computer or mobile device.

While some people resist the idea of needing antivirus or other security software defenses for their smartphones, in the world of synthetic biology, a world where bits, bytes, atoms and biology mix dreams with nightmare realities, it could be lethal to lag behind in patching potential vulnerabilities. Some day, when you hear about something going 'viral,' it will not apply to an idea or video but to a DNA hack going viral to infect the masses. When a computer is infected with malware or a virus, you can reformat a hard drive, but will a future security scenario include needing to worry about BSOD and reformatting your brain?

Read the rest of the article from Computerworld here: http://blogs.computerworld.com/19409/dna_hackers_synthetic_biology_weaponized_virus_0day_exploit_to_infect_your_brain

False Allegations of Domestic Violence, Why You Should be Concerned

Why Should Persons be Concerned about False Allegations of Domestic Violence?

Approximately two million Americans experience intimate partner violence each year(1). These persons need counseling services, legal assistance, shelter resources, and protection by the criminal justice system.

Unfortunately, each year 2-3 million restraining orders are issued in the United States (2), of which as many as 80% are unnecessary or false (3). As Elaine Epstein, former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, revealed,

Everyone knows that restraining orders and orders to vacate are granted to virtually all who apply…In many cases, allegations of abuse are now used for tactical advantage. (4)

False accusers not only divert resources away from the true victims of domestic violence, they render harm to the targets of their legal abuse. False allegations stain a person’s reputation, deplete that person’s assets, and can ruin a person’s career. They may deprive a child of parental love and attention which every child needs.

Kristin Ruggiero registered a disposable cell phone under her ex-husband’s name and sent herself a dozen threatening messages that portrayed her ex as an unrelenting batterer. During Ruggiero’s sentencing to serve 7-14 years in prison, Judge McHugh commented, “As a result of her actions, [other victims’] cases, their safety, their security has been damaged. The web for this is much greater than what has just happened to Mr. Ruggiero.”

References:

(1) Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women. National Institute of Justice, Publication No. NCJ 183781, November 2000.

(2) Stop Abusive and Violent Environments. The use and abuse of domestic restraining orders. Rockville, MD. 2010.

(3) Foster BP. Analyzing the cost and effectiveness of governmental policies. Cost Management, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2008.

(4) Epstein E. Speaking the unspeakable, Massachusetts Bar Association Newsletter, 1993.

SAVE Special Reports:
(1) Incentives to Make False Allegations of Domestic Violence

(2) How False Allegations Harm Families and Children

(3) What is the Cost of False Allegations of Domestic Violence?
All SAVE Special Reports are available here.

Click here to return to list of topics.

Please visit the original page where this information was found, for more links and resources...

http://www.saveservices.org/falsely-accused/why-should-persons-be-concerned-about-false-allegations-of-domestic-violence/

The American War Machine with Joe Rogan

'Terrorist?' by Lowkey

I don't really go for racism in any form, even counter-racism, but this video does have some validity.

You Don't Have to Have Physical Contact to Arrest for Assault, Former DC Detective

I might stop back later to pull this video apart piece by piece, but I think I am just going to go throw up for now. The blatant propaganda here is surreal, and downright dangerous to your physical health. How long before someone shoots someone else because they saw this idiot cop kiss Bill O'Really's ass so hard that he actually states that people "need to be dealt with" if they walk toward you.



Here's a more impartial report on the matter...



Just for the record, I am a firm believer in the right to bear arms, but damn, good thing O'Really didn't have a piece.

Controversial Police Chief Resigns

Town of Hyde Park, NY Police Chief Charles Broe will resign from his post, effective December 23.

Broe began his stint with the department under a cloud, as an unpopular political appointment. He replaced the acting chief, a well-liked long-time department veteran who was pushed aside amid unsavory political wrangling. Through his brief career with the town, Broe had the staunch support of Town Supervisor Tom Martino, who himself became so unpopular with the town that his political party failed to endorse him for a second term election run. To many townspeople, it comes as no surprise that Broe will be leaving just days before Martino's term expires.

But it was not his strong ties to the unpopular town supervisor alone that cast a shadow over the police chief. His bumbling leadership amid the high profile homicide case of teen gymnast Katie Filiberti, embroiled himself and the department in a scandalous controversy that still divides the town to this day. There are still strong suspicions which linger too, as the people of the town and surrounding communities await the start of a murder trial in that case.

The Poughkeepsie Journal has removed their story about Broe's resignation for unknown reasons, but still left this interview available to share through an embedding code at their website.