Obama and McCain differ on Native Hawaiians

Indianz.Com > News > Obama and McCain differ on Native Hawaiians

Native Hawaiians will be treated very differently by the person who wins this year's presidential election.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois), who was born in Hawaii, said he will push for passage of a bill to extend the policy of self-determination to Native Hawaiians. If that doesn't happen this year, he said he will definitely sign the bill into law if he is elected president.

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), on the other hand, does not support recognition for Native Hawaiians. He said doing so would create "race-based" government, an argument other conservative Republicans have made against the bill.

Delegates at the Democratic National Convention will vote on adding Native Hawaiian recognition to their platform. In 2000, the Republican Party included Native Hawaiians in the same section of their platform as American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Special Correspondent Thea Lim: New study: biracial asian-americans are more likely to be sad

New study: biracial asian-americans are more likely to be sad at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

Do you remember last last week’s Freakonomics study that claimed biracial black/white kids were liable to be twice as messed up as kids who were monoracially black or white?Apart from the racist generalisations of that study, some of our readers (including myself) were peeved at the insinuation that the only kind of biraciality that exists is the black/white kind. But good news everybody: there’s now a study for Asian/white biracials too!

Biracial Asian-Americans are twice as likely as monoracial Asian-Americans to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder, U.S. researchers said.

At first glance, this study seems to be treading the same problematic lines as the Freakonomics study. Like, call us crazy (haha!), but us biracial Asian Americans don’t like being told by a researchers that we’re twice as likely to be bananas as our monoracial Asian friends and relatives.

Surveillance made easy

Surveillance made easy - tech - 23 August 2008 - New Scientist Tech

"THIS data allows investigators to identify suspects, examine their contacts, establish relationships between conspirators and place them in a specific location at a certain time."

So said the UK Home Office last week as it announced plans to give law-enforcement agencies, local councils and other public bodies access to the details of people's text messages, emails and internet activity. The move followed its announcement in May that it was considering creating a massive central database to store all this data, as a tool to help the security services tackle crime and terrorism.

Limbaugh: Obama won primaries because no one ‘had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy.’»

Think Progress » Limbaugh: Obama won primaries because no one ‘had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy.’

Yesterday on his radio show, right-wing talker Rush Limbaugh said it’s “striking how unqualified Obama is and how this whole thing came about within the Democrat Party. I think it really goes back to the fact that nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy.” Limbaugh continued:

limbaughweb.jpgI think this is a classic illustration here where affirmative action has reared its ugly head against them. It’s the reverse of it. They’ve, they’ve ended up nominating and placing at the top of their ticket somebody who’s not qualified, who has not earned it. […]

It’s perfect affirmative action. And because of all this guilt and the historic nature of things, nobody had the guts to say, well, wait a minute, do we really want to do this?

Media Matters has the audio.

Texas Death Row Prisoner Faces Execution Tonight for Murder He Didn’t Commit

Democracy Now! | Texas Death Row Prisoner Faces Execution Tonight for Murder He Didn't Commit

A thirty-five-year-old man on death row in Texas faces execution tonight for a murder he didn’t commit. Jeff Wood is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6:00 p.m., unless Governor Rick Perry grants him clemency. Wood was an accomplice in a 1996 convenience store robbery. He was sitting in a truck outside when the clerk was shot and killed. The man who pulled the trigger was executed six years ago, but Wood was given a death sentence for the same crime under the Texas law of parties. We go to the prison where Jeff Wood is awaiting death to speak with his wife, mother and father outside. We also speak with Liliana Segura of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty.

No one disputes the fact that Jeff Wood did not kill anyone. But he
was convicted and sentenced to death under Texas’s law of parties
for the 1996 murder of convenience store clerk Kriss Keeran. Wood was
sitting in a truck outside the store when the murder occurred. The man
who confessed to the murder, Daniel Reneau, was executed six years ago.

But
the Texas law of parties allows accomplices to be subject to the death
penalty if a murder occurs during a crime, even if he or she did not
commit it. So one year after Renaeu was given a death sentence for
killing Keeran, Jeff Wood, was given a death sentence for the same
crime. Essentially, for failing to anticipate that a murder would occur
during the robbery.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied
Wood clemency on Tuesday, the day he turned 35 on deathrow in
Livingston, Texas. His lawyers have filed a clemency letter with
governor Rick Perry requesting a 30-day reprieve. The letter notes that
Wood may be incompetent to be executed and requires mental health
services. An initial jury had found Wood to be mentally incompetent to
stand trial.

How RFID Tags Could Be Used to Track Unsuspecting People

How RFID Tags Could Be Used to Track Unsuspecting People: Scientific American

Average consumers may not realize how many RFID tags they carry around.
The devices are embedded in personal items and even some clothing.

If you live in a state bordering Canada or Mexico, you may soon be given an opportunity to carry a very high tech item: a remotely readable driver’s license. Designed to identify U.S. citizens as they approach the nation’s borders, the cards are being promoted by the Department of Homeland Security as a way to save time and simplify border crossings. But if you care about your safety and privacy as much as convenience, you might want to think twice before signing up.

The new licenses come equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags that can be read right through a wallet, pocket or purse from as far away as 30 feet. Each tag incorporates a tiny microchip encoded with a unique identification number. As the bearer approaches a border station, radio energy broadcast by a reader device is picked up by an antenna connected to the chip, causing it to emit the ID number. By the time the license holder reaches the border agent, the number has already been fed into a Homeland Security database, and the traveler’s photograph and other details are displayed on the agent’s screen.

* Radio-frequency identi­fication (RFID) tags are embedded in a growing number of personal items and identity documents.
* Because the tags were designed to be powerful tracking devices and they typically incorporate little security, people wearing or carrying them are vulnerable to surreptitious surveillance and profiling.
* Worldwide, legislators have done little to address those risks to citizens.

Although such “enhanced” driver’s licenses remain voluntary in the states that offer them, privacy and security experts are concerned that those who sign up for the cards are unaware of the risk: anyone with a readily available reader device—unscrupulous marketers, government agents, stalkers, thieves and just plain snoops—can also access the data on the licenses to remotely track people without their knowledge or consent. What is more, once the tag’s ID number is associated with an individual’s identity—for example, when the person carrying the license makes a credit-card transaction—the radio tag becomes a proxy for that individual. And the driver’s licenses are just the latest addition to a growing array of “tagged” items that consumers might be wearing or carrying around, such as transit and toll passes, office key cards, school IDs, “contactless” credit cards, clothing, phones and even groceries.

Web browser to get 'privacy mode'

BBC NEWS | Technology | Web browser to get 'privacy mode'

Microsoft is planning a "privacy mode" for the next release of its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser.

By clicking a button, users of IE8 will be able to limit how much information is recorded about where they go online and what they do.

Microsoft watchers have spotted two patent applications covering ways to manage the amount of information a browser logs.

When introduced the privacy mode will match features found on other browsers.

Medical test

Australian blogger Long Zheng has found two patent applications made by Microsoft on 30 July for ideas it calls "Cleartracks" and "Inprivate".

The applications deal with methods of erasing data that browsing programs log, turning off features that record sites visited or notifying users of what sites are doing to log a visit.

Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, R.I.P.

Rest in peace, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-J0nes. You'll never be forgotten.

Neue Filmdoku: “The 911 Chronicles - Truth Rising”

The 911 Chronicles - Truth Rising (mit Deutschem Untertitel von infokrieg.tv) | Radio Utopie

Die neue Dokumentation von Alex Jones zeigt, mit deutschen Untertiteln von infokrieg.tv, wie sich sieben Jahre nach den Anschlägen vom 11. September der Widerstand mehrt.

Gezeigt werden wenig beachtete Hintergründe, Berichte von Ersthelfern, Feuerwehrleuten und Angehörigen die eine andere als die offizielle Geschichte zu erzählen haben.

Hier wird einigen “Persönlichkeiten” mal richtig auf den Zahn gefühlt. Einschlägig bekannten Personen des öffentlichen Rechts werden vor laufender Kamera extrem unangenehme Fragen gestellt. z.B. Rudolph Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Zbigniew Brzezinski und einigen mehr! Und vor allem handelt die Dokumentation von aktivem Widerstand, den jeder leisten kann. (TATEN und nicht nur Worte)

International Action Day "Freedom not fear - Stop the surveillance mania!" on 11 October 2008

Stoppt die Vorratsdatenspeicherung! - International Action Day "Freedom not fear - Stop the surveillance mania!" on 11 October 2008

A broad movement of campaigners and organizations is calling on everybody to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and businesses. On 11 October 2008, concerned people in many countries will take to the streets, the motto being "Freedom not fear 2008". Peaceful and creative action, from protest marches to parties, will take place in many capital cities.

Surveillance mania is spreading. Governments and businesses
register, monitor and control our behaviour ever more thoroughly. No
matter what we do, who we phone and talk to, where we go, whom we are
friends with, what our interests are, which groups we participate in -
"big brother" government and "little brothers" in business know it more
and more thoroughly. The resulting lack of privacy and confidentiality is putting at
risk the freedom of confession, the freedom of speech as well as the
work of doctors, helplines, lawyers and journalists.

The manifold agenda of security sector reform encompasses the
convergence of police, intelligence agencies and the military,
threatening to melt down the division and balance of powers. Using methods of mass surveillance, the borderless cooperation
of the military, intelligence services and police authorities is
leading towards the construction of "Fortresses"
in Europe and on other continents, directed against refugees and
different-looking people but also affecting, for example, political
activists, the poor and under-priviledged, and sports fans.

People who constantly feel watched and under surveillance
cannot freely and courageously stand up for their rights and for a just
society. Mass surveillance is thereby threatening the fabric of a
democratic and open society. Mass surveillance is also endangering the work and commitment of civil society organizations.

Dix soldats français ont été tués en Afghanistan

Dix soldats français ont été tués en Afghanistan - Asie-Pacifique - Le Monde.fr

Dix parachutistes français de la force de l'OTAN en Afghanistan ont été tués dans une embuscade tendue par des talibans. Vingt et un militaires français ont également été blessés mais leur "état sanitaire est maintenant stabilisé", a indiqué le ministre de la défense, Hervé Morin. Les combats se sont déroulés lundi à une soixantaine de kilomètres à l'est de Kaboul et se sont poursuivis dans la nuit.

Nato cools relations with Russia after emergency summit on Georgian crisis

Nato cools relations with Russia after emergency summit on Georgian crisis - Telegraph

At an emergency summit in Brussels the 26 Nato states said that they were "seriously considering" the implications of Moscow's actions over their failure to withdraw their troops from Georgia in accordance with a ceasefire agreement.

Separately, they agreed to set up a new forum known as a Nato-Georgia Commission to deepen ties with Tbilisi.

The Alliance condemned Russian military action in Georgia as "disproportionate and inconsistent with its peacekeeping role" in the joint statement, stressing that "there is no military solution to the unresolved conflicts."

Although Russia has repeatedly announced it is pulling out the troops which poured into the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkazia to support rebel militias, little evidence of the withdrawal has emerged on the ground.