Boogie Man Journal: What really happened at Occupy Oakland on Saturday January 28 - Read my firsthand account, not the news. Please Spread.

Boogie Man Journal: What really happened at Occupy Oakland on Saturday January 28 - Read my firsthand account, not the news. Please Spread.: "If you only remember one detail be it this: Tonight's mass arrest occurred without a dispersal order. No law was broken. The only order given was: "You are under arrest. Submit to your arrest." 300 peaceful protesters walking down a street were trapped and arrested unlawfully."

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This was posted on Facebook by a friend. I cannot speak to its veracity but it feels-at the very least-honest in its perception. Some people may disagree with the author's version of events but it seems to jibe well with some other brief accounts.
The alleged behavior of Oakland P.D. seem par for the course when you consider this story:
A federal judge has granted significant decision-making powers to the monitors charged with overseeing court-ordered reforms at the Oakland Police Department, a move that brings the department one step closer to a federal takeover.

Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/15nJN)

Avaaz - ACTA: The new threat to the net

Avaaz - ACTA: The new threat to the net: "ACTA - a global treaty - could allow corporations to censor the Internet. Negotiated in secret by a small number of rich countries and corporate powers, it would set up a shadowy new anti-counterfeiting body to allow private interests to police everything that we do online and impose massive penalties -- even prison sentences -- against people they say have harmed their business."

The internet represents the last true public platform for freedom of expression. If you think that your rights are secure and unfettered you are asleep. Please read this and sign, it is a very easy way to fight for what is right. The interne is the result of research funded by us.
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SOPA Is Dead: Smith Pulls Bill

SOPA Is Dead: Smith Pulls Bill: "Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”"
This is some of the best news possible. I wish I could say I had more of a hand in this other than just raising awareness, but I am proud to live in a country where you can actually be heard sometimes. This bill would not only have been the end of the internet, but it would chill democracy and lead to massive piracy and crime-up to and including a full-blown Darknet that everyone used instead of the internet. Think of the Interstate and rail systems in the U.S. being owned and operated by the Russian mafia. SOPA was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.
Thank God Lamar Smith had the brains to read the writing on the wall. The next time around it'll be waayyyy sneakier-probably hidden inside another bill.
Be wary, Monkeys.
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Executive Compensation and the Evils of Income Inequality: How I Once Again Know the Answer to Everything.

This is my response to someone's comment about Tim Cook' compensation package not being unreasonable.
I am ashamed at how articulate and civilized I was. My apologies to you all.


 There is almost correlation behind excessive CEO salaries, stock performance and economic growth. The rub is that he Tim Cook will pay taxes at a lower rate than all but the poorest Americans, which means effectively, if we are running a deficit, we are subsidizing his paycheck.
   For an individual to get paid an enormous sum isn't a bad thing, it is the fact that it is a societal norm that is bad. The massive concentration of wealth at the top of the income spectrum is highly deleterious to any society-to the point that it is one of the statistical indicators the CIA uses to determine how stable a country might be. The greater the income inequality the higher the likelihood of violent insurrection.
Currently, according to the CIA World Fact Book, the US should be involved in violent civil unrest and social upheaval up to and including rebellion and revolution. The US currently ranks lower than several countries that are undergoing such destructive social change. This fact has been one of the issues that has caused Sec. Napolitano (among others) to make statements that people find offensive and potentially threatening of civil liberties. It isn't just out of thin air.
The threat of an overly-unbalanced distribution of wealth is one of the primary drivers behind progressive income taxes with a deduction-laden incentives. The idea is not to prevent great wealth, but to prevent great, unearned wealth not tied to any productivity. Especially in these days of a globalized economy, someone worth millions or billions doesn't necessarily take their massive windfall and invest it in another business venture, the people they PAY to handle their money have a fiduciary responsibility to put that money where it will have the most opportunity to grow. For the last 10-15 years that has been OUT of the United States (not my opinion, the opinion of former Sec. Labor Robert Reich). Higher tax rates with targeted deductions are a 'passive' government incentive to reinvest money here.
   As for the the income inequality, check into: http://www.wagingnonviolentstruggle.com/
-and its correlation to not only the Occupy movement but the Arab Spring and the fall of the Iron Curtain. It is one of the reasons why all those demonstrations have been peaceful.
   I am not saying that the government should put a direct cap on what a CEO can make, but there should be some incentive to EARN the money. Jobs-love him or hate him-revolutionized the way humans interact with information, create, design, and do business as did Henry Ford and many others who built great fortunes, they didn't step into a position that already existed and Hoover massive amounts of cash out of it regardless of their abilities. There is a major difference.