Loss of Privacy

The ACLU has revealed that an RNC document on Wikileaks details illegal activity [pdf] by the RNC and the US government.

There are two major points of information that we should be aware of.  First, the military was used to spy upon US citizens, which is highly illegal.  It is also alleged that military forces have been secretly deployed on US soil, again, something that is illegal.

The second point is that the US is spoofing cell phone towers so that they can intercept cell phone calls and track users.  This particular practice used to be illegal, however, the Patriot Act removed much of the provisions required, such as obtaining a warrant, to do this.

You can go directly to the document page and read a detailed analysis of the document.

Viewing this image online is a crime, so if you click this link, go report yourself to the police immediately.

Remember, even your manga collection isn’t safe.  You can, and probably will, be prosecuted for possessing it.  If you have any Yaoi or lolicon on your computer, you might want to think twice about it, especially if you live in America.  It’s still a bit murky here, but there may be laws already on the books making certain types of manga and anime illegal.

Dr. Neal Krawetz of Bad Science has taken “Dr. Ron Polarik” to task over claims that President-Elect Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fake.  This is the second time these claims have been debunked on the site.

Mr. Polarik has claimed many times that he has a degree in this, that or the other thing.  It seems that his phD is in whatever he is talking about at the time, which leads to a massive problem of credibility aside from the obvious lack of understanding of digital images that Bad Science has pointed out.

This, of course, will not prove that the document is authentic.  All this does is verify that the digital image we have all seen is authentic and that it is highly likely that Mr. Polarik has tampered with the image to suit his needs.

For the past few days, there have been news reports explaining how dumb Americans really are.  It started with the report that, not only are Americans, in general, stupid, but so are their politicians.

You can take the quiz online to test your own knowledge of Civics.

Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the following test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better? Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams.

Here are my results:

You answered 32 out of 33 correctly — 96.97 %

Average score for this quiz during November: 78.1%

Average score: 78.1%

Answers to Your Missed Questions:

Question #27 – A. the price system utilizes more local knowledge of means and ends

While surfing around reddit, I found this amusing link.  Send in your $5 ASAP.

From the website:

Send a message to the Mormon church, whose members raised more than $15 million to fund the deceitful advertising campaign for Proposition 8, the initiative that takes away the right to marry for same sex couples in California!

Make a tax-deductable donation, in the name of the president of the Mormon church, to support the legal organizations working to invalidate Proposition 8 and to fund grass-roots activities in support of full marriage equality. For every donation of $5 or more, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center will send the following postcard to President Thomas Monson’s office in Salt Lake City, acknowledging your donation in his name.

Let’s work to overturn Prop. 8 while sending a message to the Mormon church that it’s wrong for any organization to exert political influence to deny the civil rights of any group!

As of Friday, Nov. 14, InvalidateProp8.org has raised more than $60,000, generating more than 2,300 postcards–from people in nearly every state and all over the world–to the president of the church!  Read the latest news release!