NSA Is Out Of Control. Time To Rein It In.

NSA Is Out Of Control. Time To Rein It In.

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James Clapper, the Obama Administration's Director of National Intelligence has said NSA does not "wittingly" collect data on citizens. General Keith Alexander, NSA's Director as well as his predecessor have testified that NSA is not spying on or collecting data on citizens. Even the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee has told the media that the American intelligence community is not intrusively monitoring the communications of our citizens without a warrant.
Wednesday Open Thread [10.29.13]

Wednesday Open Thread [10.29.13]

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The News Journal has a haunted house expose up. Here is an interesting tidbit from the story:
Former Delaware GOP Chairman Terry Strine, for example, feels exactly the opposite of Milliken about his home near Centreville where a Delaware socialite was beaten to death in her first-floor bedroom in 1967. He finds it “totally illogical, irrational and psychologically crazy” that anyone would be spooked from buying the house where Katharine “Kaa” Thompson Wood died.
In fact, he enjoys conversing with the undead spirits every night as he refines the latest Republican talking points.

Rampant child rape and abuse going unreported

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A new study says that each year approximately 7,500 children are admitted to U.S. hospitals having been raped and more than 500 children die during hospital admission as a result of rape.
An abstract of the study, titled "United States Child Rape--Disturbing Trends," was presented on Sunday by researchers at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Fla.
  Why isn't it a national scandal that this isn't covered in the media? It is almost as if someone is covering it up? Oh wait. I changed "gunshot" to "rape." Here is the original.
15 years ago, Congress kept Mickey Mouse out of the public domain. Will they do it again?

15 years ago, Congress kept Mickey Mouse out of the public domain. Will they do it again?

15 years already? I remember when this money grab went down. If you ever want to get pissed off at the BILLIONS in welfare that gets doled out to wealthy individuals and corporations, just look at copyright law. It is a sick joke. I distinctly remember writing to Senator Joe Biden's office to tell him that extending copyrights on books that should be moving into the public domain (like the Great Gatsby, for example) amounted to a HUGE tax on schools and school districts. His response was, "Go fuck yourself. The Gershwin's and Disney just wrote me some fat checks. What have you contributed?" Something to that effect. Maybe that's a paraphrase.
Monday Open Thread [10.28.13]

Monday Open Thread [10.28.13]

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We have a lot inside here today. A nice little chart that shows us when most people in Massachusetts signed up for the Exchanges in RomneyCare back in 2007. Some new polling showing that the Republican Governors in Kansas and Wisconsin may be in a little trouble. A picture of a classless and racist Halloween costume regarding Trayvon Martin. And it seems that Pot is the new culture war wedge issue, which of course means, we won the culture war.

State Rep. Paul Baumbach on Student Testing

State Representative Paul Baumbach and Senator Bryan Townsend recently took the 10th Grade version of Delaware State Student Test. Luckily, they passed. Rep. Baumbach appeared on Comcast Newsmakers to talk about his experience and the correlation between education funding and test scores.
I never thought I could like Terry McAuliffe…

I never thought I could like Terry McAuliffe…

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mostly because I never thought a dyed in the wool, liberal hating, DLC simp like McAuliffe could ever be reformed. Times change.
WHY THE VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN MATTERS: Ron Brownstein has an interesting look at how Dem Terry McAuliffe’s embrace of liberal positions on social issues, gun control, and immigration highlights the Democratic Party’s larger increasing reliance on its new coalition of minorities, young voters, and college educated whites. Other red/purple state Dems are following this trend, and if McAuliffe wins, it will cement the emerging consensus that Dems should continue embracing liberal positions and rely less and less on the culturally conservative whites Dems used to fear alienating.