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unhappycamper
unhappycamper's Journal
unhappycamper's Journal
April 17, 2014
These Nine Maps Show How The GOP is Destroying Southern States
Posted by: John Prager in Economic Issues, Religion March 6, 2014
~snip~
This map shows U.S. poverty rates, which are highest in the south. Red-shaded states indicate poverty rates between 17.9 and 22.8 percent. Orange is 15,9-17.8 percent. Light orange indicates 12.2-15.8 percent, and yellow indicates 9-12.1 percent.
Given the poverty rates it is unsurprising that the minimum wage is depressing, as well in southern states. With the exception of Florida, most southern states have not bothered to raise the minimum wage above the federal level.
Upward mobility is also a scenario that southerners cannot expect to experience at a rate matching the more sensible parts of the country. Red state voters have a decreased likelihood of moving up the economic ladder, as shown below. The dark red areas are places where the American Dream is all but dead.
Despite the economic woes in the south, elected officials (in their infinite wisdom) have decided that the people whose wages they have kept as low as possible have as difficult of a time as possible clawing their way up  from  the pit of despair that is crushing poverty–by refusing to expand Medicaid and denying them affordable health care. States that have not elected to expand Medicaid are highlighted in light gray.
These Nine Maps Show How The GOP is Destroying Southern States
https://aattp.org/these-nine-maps-show-how-the-gop-is-destroying-southern-states/These Nine Maps Show How The GOP is Destroying Southern States
Posted by: John Prager in Economic Issues, Religion March 6, 2014
~snip~
This map shows U.S. poverty rates, which are highest in the south. Red-shaded states indicate poverty rates between 17.9 and 22.8 percent. Orange is 15,9-17.8 percent. Light orange indicates 12.2-15.8 percent, and yellow indicates 9-12.1 percent.
Given the poverty rates it is unsurprising that the minimum wage is depressing, as well in southern states. With the exception of Florida, most southern states have not bothered to raise the minimum wage above the federal level.
Upward mobility is also a scenario that southerners cannot expect to experience at a rate matching the more sensible parts of the country. Red state voters have a decreased likelihood of moving up the economic ladder, as shown below. The dark red areas are places where the American Dream is all but dead.
Despite the economic woes in the south, elected officials (in their infinite wisdom) have decided that the people whose wages they have kept as low as possible have as difficult of a time as possible clawing their way up  from  the pit of despair that is crushing poverty–by refusing to expand Medicaid and denying them affordable health care. States that have not elected to expand Medicaid are highlighted in light gray.
April 17, 2014
The FBI's Facial Recognition Database Combines Lo-Res Photos With Zero Civil Liberties Considerations
from the non-criminal-photos-mixed-in-just-for-fun! dept
Privacy
by Tim Cushing
Tue, Apr 15th 2014 12:40pm
Another FOIA lawsuit brought against the government by the EFF has resulted in the release of previously withheld documents. The papers cut loose this time detail the FBI's facial recognition database and other parts of its "Next Generation Identification" (NGI) program, one that aims to compile a collection of biometric data.
EPIC's FOIA lawsuit over similar information revealed last year that the FBI's facial recognition software (as of 2010) had an acceptable margin of error of 20%. With a 1-in-5 chance of "recognizing" the wrong person, the accuracy of the database had nowhere to go but up. But it appears the FBI prioritizes quantity over quality, as the first number to hit you from the "released" documents is a big one.
~snip~
This program has some very serious issues, and it's only going to get worse unless someone outside the FBI intervenes. It's obvious from its caveat emptor-esque "policy" ("not our fault if you arrest the wrong pixelated suspect"
governing law enforcement's use of the intermingled good guy/bad guy database that it has no interest in policing itself.
The FBI's Facial Recognition Database Combines Lo-Res Photos With Zero Civil Liberties Consideration
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140414/16045126909/fbis-facial-recognition-database-combines-lo-res-photos-with-zero-civil-liberties-considerations.shtmlThe FBI's Facial Recognition Database Combines Lo-Res Photos With Zero Civil Liberties Considerations
from the non-criminal-photos-mixed-in-just-for-fun! dept
Privacy
by Tim Cushing
Tue, Apr 15th 2014 12:40pm
Another FOIA lawsuit brought against the government by the EFF has resulted in the release of previously withheld documents. The papers cut loose this time detail the FBI's facial recognition database and other parts of its "Next Generation Identification" (NGI) program, one that aims to compile a collection of biometric data.
EPIC's FOIA lawsuit over similar information revealed last year that the FBI's facial recognition software (as of 2010) had an acceptable margin of error of 20%. With a 1-in-5 chance of "recognizing" the wrong person, the accuracy of the database had nowhere to go but up. But it appears the FBI prioritizes quantity over quality, as the first number to hit you from the "released" documents is a big one.
The records we received show that the face recognition component of NGI may include as many as 52 million face images by 2015. By 2012, NGI already contained 13.6 million images representing between 7 and 8 million individuals, and by the middle of 2013, the size of the database increased to 16 million images. The new records reveal that the database will be capable of processing 55,000 direct photo enrollments daily and of conducting tens of thousands of searches every day.
~snip~
This program has some very serious issues, and it's only going to get worse unless someone outside the FBI intervenes. It's obvious from its caveat emptor-esque "policy" ("not our fault if you arrest the wrong pixelated suspect"
governing law enforcement's use of the intermingled good guy/bad guy database that it has no interest in policing itself.
April 17, 2014
Researchers say the Rössing uranium mine's 1,500 workers are still exposed to dangerous dust
Legacy of US Nuclear Weapons Still Killing Uranium Miners Decades Later: Study
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 by Common Dreams
The race by the U.S. and British governments to build nuclear arms and power plants in the 1970s has left behind a deadly—and largely ignored—legacy for those who worked at the world's oldest open-pit uranium mine in Namibia.
Workers who mined uranium ore in Namibia for the British and U.S. military in the Rössing uranium mine during the 1970s are dying of cancers and unexplained illnesses, according to The Guardian, which obtained exclusive access to a study by Earthlife Namibia and the Labor Resource and Research Institute that is slated for release later this week.
The workers dug materials for U.S. and UK nuclear weapons and power plants at the mine, which is located in the Namib desert and still produces 7 percent of the world's uranium.
~snip~
Based on a survey of current and former workers at the mine, the study found that every respondent knew people suffering lung infections and other illnesses they believe are linked to conditions at the mine.
Legacy of US Nuclear Weapons Still Killing Uranium Miners Decades Later: Study
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/16-6Researchers say the Rössing uranium mine's 1,500 workers are still exposed to dangerous dust
Legacy of US Nuclear Weapons Still Killing Uranium Miners Decades Later: Study
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 by Common Dreams
The race by the U.S. and British governments to build nuclear arms and power plants in the 1970s has left behind a deadly—and largely ignored—legacy for those who worked at the world's oldest open-pit uranium mine in Namibia.
Workers who mined uranium ore in Namibia for the British and U.S. military in the Rössing uranium mine during the 1970s are dying of cancers and unexplained illnesses, according to The Guardian, which obtained exclusive access to a study by Earthlife Namibia and the Labor Resource and Research Institute that is slated for release later this week.
The workers dug materials for U.S. and UK nuclear weapons and power plants at the mine, which is located in the Namib desert and still produces 7 percent of the world's uranium.
~snip~
Based on a survey of current and former workers at the mine, the study found that every respondent knew people suffering lung infections and other illnesses they believe are linked to conditions at the mine.
April 17, 2014
Pension lawsuit from Rhode Island retired public employees allowed to proceed
By Reuters
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 16:52 EDT
(Reuters) – A lawsuit by retired Rhode Island public employees over the state’s sweeping 2011 pension system overhaul will continue after a judge on Wednesday rejected a move by state officials to have the case thrown out.
Superior Court Associate Justice Sarah Taft-Carter found that the retirees’ pension benefits, for which they had previously bargained, suggested enough of a contractual relationship with the state for their claims to continue.
Rhode Island’s 2011 pension overhaul, considered among the most far-reaching in the United States, has been used by other state and local governments as a model to rein in the ballooning cost of retirement benefits for public-sector workers.
But pension changes also prompted public employees’ unions to sue on the grounds their retirement benefits were contractual relationships that were allegedly violated by reforms.
Pension lawsuit from Rhode Island retired public employees allowed to proceed
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/16/pension-lawsuit-from-rhode-island-retired-public-employees-allowed-to-proceed/Pension lawsuit from Rhode Island retired public employees allowed to proceed
By Reuters
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 16:52 EDT
(Reuters) – A lawsuit by retired Rhode Island public employees over the state’s sweeping 2011 pension system overhaul will continue after a judge on Wednesday rejected a move by state officials to have the case thrown out.
Superior Court Associate Justice Sarah Taft-Carter found that the retirees’ pension benefits, for which they had previously bargained, suggested enough of a contractual relationship with the state for their claims to continue.
Rhode Island’s 2011 pension overhaul, considered among the most far-reaching in the United States, has been used by other state and local governments as a model to rein in the ballooning cost of retirement benefits for public-sector workers.
But pension changes also prompted public employees’ unions to sue on the grounds their retirement benefits were contractual relationships that were allegedly violated by reforms.
April 17, 2014
Would You Trust The NSA's Advice On How To Deal With Heartbleed?
from the didn't-think-so dept
(Mis)Uses of Technology
by Mike Masnick
Tue, Apr 15th 2014 5:16am
Somewhat late to the game (by about a week), after the Heartbleed vulnerability was publicly revealed, and a few days after it was reported and denied that the NSA was already well aware of Heartbleed and exploiting it, the NSA has put out a one page PDF about Heartbleed. This seems like something of a too little, too late effort by the NSA to live up to its semi-promise of a "bias" towards revealing vulnerabilities over exploiting them. However, that leads to the simple question that plenty of people should be asking: given everything you've learned about the NSA recently (or, well, for years), would you trust the NSA's advice on how to deal with Heartbleed? Not that I think the NSA would publicly suggest anything bad, but at this point, the NSA has a serious trust problem in convincing anyone engaged in computer security that they have their best interests in mind.
--
The NSA one page handout:
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1112649/slicksheet-openssl-web.pdf
Would You Trust The NSA's Advice On How To Deal With Heartbleed?
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140414/16111926910/would-you-trust-nsas-advice-how-to-deal-with-heartbleed.shtmlWould You Trust The NSA's Advice On How To Deal With Heartbleed?
from the didn't-think-so dept
(Mis)Uses of Technology
by Mike Masnick
Tue, Apr 15th 2014 5:16am
Somewhat late to the game (by about a week), after the Heartbleed vulnerability was publicly revealed, and a few days after it was reported and denied that the NSA was already well aware of Heartbleed and exploiting it, the NSA has put out a one page PDF about Heartbleed. This seems like something of a too little, too late effort by the NSA to live up to its semi-promise of a "bias" towards revealing vulnerabilities over exploiting them. However, that leads to the simple question that plenty of people should be asking: given everything you've learned about the NSA recently (or, well, for years), would you trust the NSA's advice on how to deal with Heartbleed? Not that I think the NSA would publicly suggest anything bad, but at this point, the NSA has a serious trust problem in convincing anyone engaged in computer security that they have their best interests in mind.
--
The NSA one page handout:
http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1112649/slicksheet-openssl-web.pdf
April 17, 2014
Canadian 'Digital Privacy' Bill Actually Puts Everyone's Privacy At Risk; Will Be A Boon To Trolls
from the no-anonymity dept
by Mike Masnick
Wed, Apr 16th 2014 3:42pm
Michael Geist is raising the alarm on a dangerous new bill in Canada, called the "Digital Privacy Act" (Bill S-4), which will actually serve to undermine many people's privacy. Much of the bill is focused on security breach disclosure rules, something that is important and useful. But, with that are some hidden, and extremely problematic, sections as well.
In light of revelations that telecom companies and Internet companies already disclose subscriber information tens of thousands of times every year without a court order, the immunity provision is enormously problematic. Yet it pales in comparison to the Digital Privacy Act, which would expand the possibility of warrantless disclosure to anyone, not just law enforcement. Bill S-4 proposes that:
~snip~
It's difficult to see how a bill that is supposed to be about protecting people's privacy actually has this clause that will effectively decimate privacy for many individuals. Industry Canada insists that this provision is narrowly targeted, but Geist highlights how the government rejected much narrower constructions, and seems unable to comprehend how disastrous the current bill will be for Canadians' privacy.
Canadian 'Digital Privacy' Bill Actually Puts Everyone's Privacy At Risk; Will Be A Boon To Trolls
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140414/17452326913/canadian-digital-privacy-bill-actually-puts-everyones-privacy-risk-will-be-boon-to-trolls.shtmlCanadian 'Digital Privacy' Bill Actually Puts Everyone's Privacy At Risk; Will Be A Boon To Trolls
from the no-anonymity dept
by Mike Masnick
Wed, Apr 16th 2014 3:42pm
Michael Geist is raising the alarm on a dangerous new bill in Canada, called the "Digital Privacy Act" (Bill S-4), which will actually serve to undermine many people's privacy. Much of the bill is focused on security breach disclosure rules, something that is important and useful. But, with that are some hidden, and extremely problematic, sections as well.
In light of revelations that telecom companies and Internet companies already disclose subscriber information tens of thousands of times every year without a court order, the immunity provision is enormously problematic. Yet it pales in comparison to the Digital Privacy Act, which would expand the possibility of warrantless disclosure to anyone, not just law enforcement. Bill S-4 proposes that:
"an organization may disclose personal information without the knowledge or consent of the individual... if the disclosure is made to another organization and is reasonable for the purposes of investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province that has been, is being or is about to be committed and it is reasonable to expect that disclosure with the knowledge or consent of the individual would compromise the investigation;
~snip~
It's difficult to see how a bill that is supposed to be about protecting people's privacy actually has this clause that will effectively decimate privacy for many individuals. Industry Canada insists that this provision is narrowly targeted, but Geist highlights how the government rejected much narrower constructions, and seems unable to comprehend how disastrous the current bill will be for Canadians' privacy.
April 16, 2014
F#ck the Poor
by Abby Zimet
04.10.14 - 11:52 PM
A provocative new campaign from The Pilion Trust, a small U.K. charity hit hard by austerity cuts, asks Londoners to put their money where their mouths are when it comes to caring about the most vulnerable among us. See what happens when he flips the sign.
"We understand that some may be shocked by this footage. We are more offended, however, that people across the United Kingdom are living in adverse poverty."
F#ck the Poor
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2014/04/10-2F#ck the Poor
by Abby Zimet
04.10.14 - 11:52 PM
A provocative new campaign from The Pilion Trust, a small U.K. charity hit hard by austerity cuts, asks Londoners to put their money where their mouths are when it comes to caring about the most vulnerable among us. See what happens when he flips the sign.
"We understand that some may be shocked by this footage. We are more offended, however, that people across the United Kingdom are living in adverse poverty."
April 16, 2014
The Tax Breaks That Are Killing the Planet
by Zoë Carpenter
Published on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 by The Nation
ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, hauled in a $32.6 billion profit last year. Chief executive Rex Tillerson got a 3 percent bump in his pay package, sending it above $28 million. And today the company gets its annual boost from the federal government: an estimated $600 million in tax breaks.
All told, the government gifts as much as $4.8 billion to the oil industry each year, more than any other country. Much of that comes not as direct handouts but instead via loopholes in the tax code; deductions for depleting oil reserves, for example, and write-offs for the expense of drilling a new well. These reflect a long-past era in which oil exploration was financially risky, and prices were low. Now oil prices and profits are high, and the government is losing revenue while promoting the continued exploitation of carbon-intensive fuels. In the face of a changing climate and a constrained domestic budget, the lunacy of such preferential treatment is hard to overstate.
“Perverse” is the word the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found for such policies in its latest report, which was released in full on Tuesday. Globally, subsidies for fossil fuel production—amounting to $1.9 trillion in 2011, or 8 percent of government revenues, according to the International Monetary Fund—“prove to increase emissions and put heavy burdens on public budgets,” reads the report.
On the other hand, rolling them back could be a key part of a serious climate agenda. The IMF estimates that eliminating fossil fuel subsidies could lower emissions by 13 percent. That general principle, if not the exact figure, is supported by the IPCC, which wrote, “Lowering or removing such subsidies would contribute to global mitigation, but this has proved difficult.”
The Tax Breaks That Are Killing the Planet
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/16-4The Tax Breaks That Are Killing the Planet
by Zoë Carpenter
Published on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 by The Nation
ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, hauled in a $32.6 billion profit last year. Chief executive Rex Tillerson got a 3 percent bump in his pay package, sending it above $28 million. And today the company gets its annual boost from the federal government: an estimated $600 million in tax breaks.
All told, the government gifts as much as $4.8 billion to the oil industry each year, more than any other country. Much of that comes not as direct handouts but instead via loopholes in the tax code; deductions for depleting oil reserves, for example, and write-offs for the expense of drilling a new well. These reflect a long-past era in which oil exploration was financially risky, and prices were low. Now oil prices and profits are high, and the government is losing revenue while promoting the continued exploitation of carbon-intensive fuels. In the face of a changing climate and a constrained domestic budget, the lunacy of such preferential treatment is hard to overstate.
“Perverse” is the word the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found for such policies in its latest report, which was released in full on Tuesday. Globally, subsidies for fossil fuel production—amounting to $1.9 trillion in 2011, or 8 percent of government revenues, according to the International Monetary Fund—“prove to increase emissions and put heavy burdens on public budgets,” reads the report.
On the other hand, rolling them back could be a key part of a serious climate agenda. The IMF estimates that eliminating fossil fuel subsidies could lower emissions by 13 percent. That general principle, if not the exact figure, is supported by the IPCC, which wrote, “Lowering or removing such subsidies would contribute to global mitigation, but this has proved difficult.”
April 16, 2014
Marcellus Shale Gas Well, Lawrence County, Penn.
Study: Fracking Emissions Up To 1000x Higher Than EPA Estimates
- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer
Published on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 by Common Dreams
Natural gas drilling is emitting far higher levels of methane into the atmosphere than federal regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency have said, according to the findings of a new study released Monday.
"We identified a significant regional flux of methane over a large area of shale gas wells in southwestern Pennsylvania in the Marcellus formation and further identified several pads with high methane emissions," said the report, conducted by a team of scientists led by Purdue University and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
While past EPA studies have said gas well sites emit as little as between 0.04 and 0.30 grams of methane per second, this new study found numbers between 100 to 1,000 times higher than what the EPA has calculated, with levels closer to 34 grams of methane per second at some of the Pennsylvania sites. Methane is up to 30 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
Of particular curiosity for the research team was the fact that the highest levels of methane were coming from well sites that were being preliminarily drilled for production, but had not yet gone through the controversial gas production process known as fracking.
Study: Fracking Emissions Up To 1000x Higher Than EPA Estimates
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/15-4Marcellus Shale Gas Well, Lawrence County, Penn.
Study: Fracking Emissions Up To 1000x Higher Than EPA Estimates
- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer
Published on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 by Common Dreams
Natural gas drilling is emitting far higher levels of methane into the atmosphere than federal regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency have said, according to the findings of a new study released Monday.
"We identified a significant regional flux of methane over a large area of shale gas wells in southwestern Pennsylvania in the Marcellus formation and further identified several pads with high methane emissions," said the report, conducted by a team of scientists led by Purdue University and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
While past EPA studies have said gas well sites emit as little as between 0.04 and 0.30 grams of methane per second, this new study found numbers between 100 to 1,000 times higher than what the EPA has calculated, with levels closer to 34 grams of methane per second at some of the Pennsylvania sites. Methane is up to 30 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.
Of particular curiosity for the research team was the fact that the highest levels of methane were coming from well sites that were being preliminarily drilled for production, but had not yet gone through the controversial gas production process known as fracking.
April 16, 2014
PayWatch: At WalMart, 1,372 Minimum Wage Hours = One CEO Hour (And It's Getting Worse)
by Abby Zimet
04.15.14 - 10:25 PM
Ever more appalling economic news, with the AFL-CIO's 2014 online database Executive PayWatch tracking CEO pay - average $11.7 million - that's now 331 times what the average worker makes, and 774 times that of minimum wage workers, thus earning the U.S. by far the world's largest wage gap. Using state-by-state data and cool interactive graphics, it highlights five low-wage companies, for example contrasting WalMart CEO Michael Duke's $20,693,545 pay with the $12,000 earned by a full-time worker who has to rely on public assistance for her kids. Those same companies who whine they can't afford to raise wages are also earning more off workers than ever before, thus "cannibalizing their own consumer base." Last year, they made $41,249 in profits per employee, a 38% increase and more than three times what their beleaguered employees earn for themselves in order to, you know, feed their children. Elsewhere, the news is just as bad: Palo Alto in California's Silicon Valley, where 92% of the homeless lack shelter, just passed a law making it a crime to sleep in a parked car, citing "quality of life" issues, and no not for the homeless. Oklahoma's GOP Gov. Mary Fallin just signed a bill banning cities from raising minimum wages or enacting paid sick leaves because yup that'll save their economy. And members of al-Qaeda are said to have hatched a coordinated plan to "sit back and enjoy themselves" while "America as we know it gradually crumbles under the weight of its own self-inflicted debt and disrepair,” a plot said to be "already well under way." From The Onion.
PayWatch: At WalMart, 1,372 Minimum Wage Hours = One CEO Hour (And It's Getting Worse)
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2014/04/15-3PayWatch: At WalMart, 1,372 Minimum Wage Hours = One CEO Hour (And It's Getting Worse)
by Abby Zimet
04.15.14 - 10:25 PM
Ever more appalling economic news, with the AFL-CIO's 2014 online database Executive PayWatch tracking CEO pay - average $11.7 million - that's now 331 times what the average worker makes, and 774 times that of minimum wage workers, thus earning the U.S. by far the world's largest wage gap. Using state-by-state data and cool interactive graphics, it highlights five low-wage companies, for example contrasting WalMart CEO Michael Duke's $20,693,545 pay with the $12,000 earned by a full-time worker who has to rely on public assistance for her kids. Those same companies who whine they can't afford to raise wages are also earning more off workers than ever before, thus "cannibalizing their own consumer base." Last year, they made $41,249 in profits per employee, a 38% increase and more than three times what their beleaguered employees earn for themselves in order to, you know, feed their children. Elsewhere, the news is just as bad: Palo Alto in California's Silicon Valley, where 92% of the homeless lack shelter, just passed a law making it a crime to sleep in a parked car, citing "quality of life" issues, and no not for the homeless. Oklahoma's GOP Gov. Mary Fallin just signed a bill banning cities from raising minimum wages or enacting paid sick leaves because yup that'll save their economy. And members of al-Qaeda are said to have hatched a coordinated plan to "sit back and enjoy themselves" while "America as we know it gradually crumbles under the weight of its own self-inflicted debt and disrepair,” a plot said to be "already well under way." From The Onion.
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