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translucent_futures [2008-07-01 13:55] – angelo | translucent_futures [2008-07-01 14:33] – angelo |
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=== Activist groups === | === Activist groups === |
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| == Bakelblog.com == |
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| //On this blog, I return frequently to the things I'm most passionate about — especially civil liberties — from a mostly libertarian point of view. That said, I hate doctrinarian thinking, so every once in a while I'll stray from the course and antagonize even my libertarian friends. Of course, my professional affiliations and long-suffering clients notwithstanding, the thoughts expressed here are mine alone, as are the inevitable typos and other glaring shortcomings. Speaking of which: if you catch a mistake, or a link that doesn't work, please e-mail me and I'll fix it. |
| [...] |
| I've borrowed the title "Nobody's Business" from a book that seriously influenced my political thinking: the late Peter McWilliams' "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do" (the Billie Holiday song of that name isn't bad either). Peter's book is a great libertarian screed based on one simple idea: Consenting adults should not be arrested or punished unless they physically harm the person or property of a nonconsenting other. It's an especially powerful argument when you apply it to the War on Drugs that we've been fighting (and losing, no contest) for the better part of a century. Here's a quick overview of the book. If you want more, you can actually download the whole tome from the McWilliams site.// |
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| http://www.bakelblog.com |
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=== Activist art === | === Activist art === |
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http://www.bakelblog.com/nobodys_business/2008/07/amateur-terror.html | http://www.bakelblog.com/nobodys_business/2008/07/amateur-terror.html |
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| == U.S. defense contractors help to build a high-tech police state in Shenzen, China == |
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| Rollingstone.com, Naomi Klein, May 29, 2008. |
| //The Communist Party chose Chenzen — thanks to its location close to Hong Kong's port — to be China's first "special economic zone," one of only four areas where capitalism would be permitted on a trial basis. The theory behind the experiment was that the "real" China would keep its socialist soul intact while profiting from the private-sector jobs and industrial development created in Shenzhen. The result was a city of pure commerce, undiluted by history or rooted culture — the crack cocaine of capitalism. |
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| Over the past two years, some 200,000 surveillance cameras have been installed throughout the city. Many are in public spaces, disguised as lampposts. The closed-circuit TV cameras will soon be connected to a single, nationwide network, an all-seeing system that will be capable of tracking and identifying anyone who comes within its range — a project driven in part by U.S. technology and investment. Over the next three years, Chinese security executives predict they will install as many as 2 million CCTVs in Shenzhen, which would make it the most watched city in the world. (Security-crazy London boasts only half a million surveillance cameras.) |
| The security cameras are just one part of a much broader high-tech surveillance and censorship program known in China as "Golden Shield." The end goal is to use the latest people-tracking technology — thoughtfully supplied by American giants like IBM, Honeywell and General Electric — to create an airtight consumer cocoon: a place where Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cellphones, McDonald's Happy Meals, Tsingtao beer and UPS delivery (to name just a few of the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics) can be enjoyed under the unblinking eye of the state, without the threat of democracy breaking out.// |
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| http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20797485/chinas_allseeing_eye |
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| === Libertarianism === |
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| == Peter McWilliams, Ain't nobody's business if you do, 1996 == |
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| //McWilliams marshals a vast army of anecdotes, quotes, statistics and assertions to argue that America would be a lot better off if we stopped using the force of law to save each other from drugs, alcohol, gambling, pornography, suicide and sex in its more exotic flavors.// - New York Times |
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| //There's a huge difference between crime and sin - and the government has no business making the former out of the latter. At least, not in America.// - New York Newsday |
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| //In witty, well-researched pages, McWilliams gives a series of compelling arguments to back up his contention that it's morally wrong to prosecute people for victimless crimes against morality.// - Detroit News |
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| Download the entire book for free at http://mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/ |
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=== Related nodes === | === Related nodes === |
* [[Transparent society]] | * [[Transparent society]] |