COMMENTS
In a
Casino Mentality, The Economy Goes From Bubble to Bubble
New
20 Civil Liberties Laws Every American Should Know
With over half of Americans not knowing
what “due process” is, not to mention how it relates to civil
liberties, it is apparent that despite Americans’ love for our civil
liberties, more than a few of us need to brush up on the basic laws which
provide the foundation of our civil liberties.
While there are literally hundreds of laws, not to mention
constitutional protections under the Bill of Rights which comprise our civil
liberties, we have chosen 20 laws which every American should know because of
their current political importance and relevance. Understanding the basics of
these 20 laws is an important first step for every American to know the extent
and limitations of the civil liberties he or she is afforded.
Social Discrimination
Same sex marriages and those with disabilities are still discriminated
against even though they are protected by the law. Find out which legislations
stand up for you.
The Fair Housing Act was first
adopted in 1968 but has undergone several amendments since then. The
legislation was enacted in order to make it illegal for anyone to refuse to
rent, sell, or make housing available to another person based on their national
origin, race, color, religion, sex, handicap or familial status. The law also
protects individuals in mortgage lending circumstances, making it illegal for
anyone to discriminate when appraising property or require different fees or
contracts of someone just because of their race, religion, etc. The Fair
Housing Act extends protection to individuals with a disability like AIDS,
hearing or visual impairment, mental retardation, chronic alcoholism and
others. These individuals are allowed to make changes to their new home as long
as they are necessary for the disabled to live comfortably in the home.
Racial profiling affects
minorities of all ethnic and religious backgrounds in the United States. While
states like Oregon, Arizona, Louisiana, New York, Georgia, North Carolina and
Iowa have no racial profiling ban, Amnesty International reports that states
like Nevada, California, Washington, Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma do have bans
on racial profiling of motorists, pedestrians, or both. Some states have chosen
to extend this ban to profiling based on religion and religious appearance.
Make sure you understand the profiling laws in your state in case you are
unjustly accused of criminal behavior.
The California and Massachusetts
governments cannot prohibit same sex couples from getting married.
Massachusetts legalized gay marriage in 2004, and California overturned the ban on same sex marriages in
2008. The California Supreme Court ruled that “an individual’s
sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does
not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal
rights.”
. Voter I.D. Requirement Laws:
In April 2008, when the U.S.
Supreme Court backed Indiana’s new rule requiring citizens to present a
photo I.D. when they show up to vote, civil rights advocates were upset about
the disenfranchisement of the “thousands of elderly, poor and minority
voters [who] could be locked out of their right to cast ballots,” as
reported by CNN. These individuals may not have access to or the ability to
obtain driver’s licenses or state identification cards, according to the
legislation’s opponents. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles, however, will provide
a voter I.D. card to anyone who wants one, free of charge. Though this case
focuses on Indiana state law, citizens in all U.S. states may want to be
prepared in case the trend spreads to other areas of the country and changes
the voting process.
Workplace and Labor
These laws focus on equal pay and employers’ rights or
limitations when hiring minority employees.
. Americans
with Disabilities Act:
Job seekers afraid of
discrimination need to know about the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
This law makes it illegal for employers — including private and
government employers — to refuse to hire a qualified individual based on
a disability that would not interfere with their job. Employers are not allowed
to ask about the person’s disability or give them a special medical
examination that isn’t already required of all job candidates. Employers
are allowed, however, to ask if the individual is able to perform the duties
directly associated with the particular job opening.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963
“requires the employer to pay equal wages within the establishment to men
and women doing equal work on jobs requiring equal skill, effort, and
responsibility, which are performed under similar working conditions,”
according to the Feminism and Women’s Studies website. In addition, women
who discover that they have been paid less than their males colleagues for a
certain amount of time may file a suit or complaint to request that back wages,
including salary raises and back pay, be awarded to them.
This court case, settled in 2007,
involves Lilly Ledbetter, an employee at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
in Gadsden, AL, who, after nearly twenty years of work, realized that she was
being paid less than her male colleagues. Ledbetter sued Goodyear, citing the
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963.
Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that because Ledbetter did not make
the complaint within 180 days of the discrimination taking place, she did not
get any rewards. This ruling affects gender pay discrimination and race pay
discrimination.
Health and Medical
For information about euthanasia, abortion, emergency contraception,
and medical marijuana, check out this list.
. Oregon
Death With Dignity Act:
Oregon’s Death With Dignity
Act is as close as the United States has gotten to legal euthanasia. In 1997,
the state made it legal for “terminally-ill Oregonians to end their lives
through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medications, expressly
prescribed by a physician for that purpose,” according to the Oregon
state government website.
. Roe
v. Wade:
Even though Roe v. Wade was
settled in 1973, much controversy surrounds the legality of abortion and the
woman’s right to choose. Despite protests, terrorist threats and action,
and other campaigns, abortion is legal in the United
States, though the processes, time frames and rules for minors vary by state.
EC in the ER stands for Emergency
Contraception for Sexual Assault Victims in the Emergency Room. Several states
like California, Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, New Mexico and Washington
require emergency room staff to provide victims of sexual assault with
information about emergency contraception that can prevent unwanted
pregnancies.
Many groups feel that interfering with an individual’s
right to eat, drink or otherwise consume whatever he or she wants is
unconstitutional. The medical marijuana controversy takes the issue to the next
level, arguing that patients deserve to access medicine or other substances
that help them lead a more comfortable life. Medical marijuana is legal in
states like California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and Alaska.
. Occupational Safety
and Health Act:
The Occupational Safety and Health
Act was passed in 1970 to “assure safe and healthful working conditions
for working men and women,” as stated in the legislation. Working
conditions that are considered harmful include exposure to toxic chemicals,
unsanitary work spaces, too-loud noises, dangerous machinery or exposure to
extreme heat and cold. If an employee tries to exercise his or her rights under
the protection of the act, an employer cannot become discriminatory towards
that employee or fire the employee. Through the Occupational Safety and Health
Act, employees are also protected by 16 statues, including The Clean Air Act,
The Solid Waste Disposal Act, The Safe Drinking Water Act, and others.
Family and Children
Parent-custody laws and protecting children against predators online
are major issues right now. This group discusses them both.
Child custody laws vary by state,
and citizens need to understand the policies enforced by institutions like
Child Protective Services, as well as the state government. If the state
declares a parent unfit, the government can take custody of the child, without
getting approval from the parent. For more information on your state’s
statues regarding child welfare, adoption, child abuse and child neglect, visit this page.
. Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act:
This legislation, enacted in 2006,
is designed “protect children from sexual exploitation and violent crime,
to prevent child abuse and child pornography, to promote Internet safety, and
to honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other child crime victims,” as
stated in the act. Adam Walsh, the son of America’s Most Wanted’s John Walsh, was
kidnapped and murdered when he was seven years old. The act also organized a
database of child molesters and child predators to increase the protection and
security of children.
Immigration
Learn more about the civil rights for immigrants in U.S. custody and
detainee camps here.
. Detainee Basic Medical Care Act:
Immigration is a big issue in the
United States, affecting politics, the economy, social and moral standards, and
civil rights. In 2008, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey proposed the
Detainee Basic Medical Care Act, which if passed, would “develop
procedures to ensure adequate medical care for all detainees held by U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” according to the American
Civil Liberties Union. Currently, there are no standards of providing real
medical care to detainees in immigration camps run by the U.S. government.
Privacy, Security and Right to Information
From The National Security Act of 1947 to the U.S. Patriot Act, these
civil liberties laws are controversial today.
. The National Security Act of 1947:
According to the ACLU, The
National Security Act of 1947 prohibited the U.S. government and U.S.
intelligence services “from operating domestically.” This law is
cited when criticizing the Bush administration’s allowance of the NSA to
“eavesdrop” on U.S. citizens after
September 11 via e-mail and telephone calls without securing a warrant, as
reported in The New York Times.
The controversial U.S. Patriot
Act, passed in 2001, allows the U.S. government to have more jurisdiction and
more leniency when investigating terrorism threats and suspects, even in the
United States. The act also gives the Secretary of Treasury more
“authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those
involving foreign individuals and entities,” as reported by Wikipedia,
and it introduced stricter policies regarding immigration and border security.
National Public Radio lists several “key
controversies” surrounding the U.S. Patriot Act, including “sneak
and peak” warrants, “which let authorities search a home or
business without immediately notifying the target of a probe.”
Anyone, including foreign
nationals, is allowed to submit a request for information from U.S. federal
government agencies, including agency records. The Freedom of Information Act
was passed in 1966 and does include some exemptions, including for information
pertaining to national security, personal privacy, certain law enforcement
records, geological information and more. A 2007 report found that “only
one in five federal agencies actually complies with” the Freedom of
Information Act.
The sketchy U.S. policy of
extraordinary rendition has garnered more attention since the terrorist attacks
in September 2001, and it was even the subject for a major
movie in 2007, Rendition. Extraordinary rendition features
a partnership between the U.S. government and the CIA and is an
“intelligence-gathering program involving the transfer of foreign nationals
suspected of involvement in terrorism to detention and interrogation in
countries where — in the CIA’s view — federal and
international legal safeguards do not apply,” according to the ACLU. The
interrogation methods used do not have to follow traditional U.S. regulations,
questioning their compliance with basic human and civil rights. In 2005, the
Bush Administration was under fire for the hasty seizure of
ultimately innocent individuals.
. No laws for the terrorist watch list:
We chose to highlight the final
item on this list because of its total lack of any civil liberties law. Many
Americans already know about the TSA’s terrorist watch lists, which can
be used when screening passengers ready to board a commercial flight. The ACLU estimates that as of February 2008,
“the government’s centralized terrorist watch list passed the
900,000 name mark,” as reported by Wired.com. The indistinct and possibly
inaccurate nature of the list is guessed to include names of innocent people,
and Jon Stokes of ars technica reports that everyone from an
anti-terrorist specialist to a State Department diplomat have found themselves
on the list. There are no civil liberties laws protecting individuals if they
find themselves on the list, and you probably won’t even be notified if
your name is included.
New
A
vision in 1961; the global-churning business practice, proliferating
machination of the 21st century.
Michael
New
Posted,
Thursday, May 22, 2008 9:02 am
I
want to share with you the following Letter to the Editor of the San Francisco
Chronicle I wrote and sent earlier today. I remember reading months ago some of
your writings on your blog when you mentioned how Bernanke's lowering of the
interest rates would raise the cost of a barrel of oil. At the time the cost of
a barrel of oil was about $70 and you predicted it would go to $120. You were
so right and he kept on lowering interest rates. It is strange to me how seldom
is mentioned the connection of he lower interest rates with the higher
oil. Almost everything else or nothing is mentioned as the cause.
Dear
Editor,
"I
have been watching and reading the news for weeks for a report or an
acknowlegement about what is causing the price of a barrel of oil to rise
to record highs.
The
U.S. Senators were blaming the oil executives for raising the costs of oil. The
presidential candidates say nothing about why oil is high. The President in
Saudi Arabia meekly asks the oil lord to release more oil from his pumps, and
he refuses to do so as if that matters anyway.
The
deception is almost complete again like it was with the Greenspan Federal
Reserve lowering of interest rates to 1% to fuel the subprime mortgage swindle
to create the housing bubble.
Now
it is the Bernanke Federal Reserve swindle of lowering interest rates
continually since the Fall of 2007 to the present 2% that is creating the new
bubble of escalating oil prices. The Wall Street investors are making untold
billions of dollars in speculating on the misery they created in the oil price
bubble. It is causing food and gasoline prices to soar.
All
of our leaders are blaming others like the oil executives to cover up the real
cause which is the relentless lowering of interest rates to lower the value of
the U.S. dollar and thus bring up the cost of oil which is tied to the dollar.
Are
our esteemed politicians and economists and journalists invincibly ignorant or
are they covering up again for the economic devastation being unleashed by the
Federal Reserve? Raise interest rates and the cost of oil and food will fall
and the value of the dollar will increase."
New
Posted,
Friday, May 16, 2008 01:04 am
I am a member of
the Yahoo Alternative Energy Politics Group. I was impressed with your Posting
on the 15th of May regarding the Oil problem in the U.S.A. There are a couple
of points that I would very much appreciate your insight on.
Are you familiar
with the Book 'Black Gold Stranglehold'? Do a Search. Better yet, get a copy,
and read it. There are a number of interesting issues brought forth regarding
the true origin of Petroleum. Supposedly, there is no such thing as
"Fossil Fuel", and NASA has irrefutable proof that Petroleum exists
on other Planets. If this is true, then how did "Fossil Fuel" arrive
there ?
My second point is the fact that gasoline can be
safely converted into something that is far superior to natural gas, or propane.
By simply vaporizing gasoline to 100 parts of air to 1 part of fuel, even the
largest SUV could easily get 50 + MPG, with 10 X less emissions, and far more
engine power than with a conventional fuel system, which operates at 14.7 parts
of air to 1 part of fuel. I'm not the first to realize this. Far from it! For
proof, go to http://energy21.freeservers.com/bookrep.html
.
...
There is a movie coming out, http://www.gasholemovie.com that
supposedly addresses this issue. I very much appreciate the fact that you have
taken the time to read through this, and I would also very much appreciate
your opinion of what I have said, even if you disagree with me. I will say that
we do need to limit our use of petroleum, and develop sustainable viable
sources of alternative energy. After all, that's what Alternative Energy
Politics is all about!
Gary
New
I have just read
your article, the casino mentality, and have a question. In fact, regarding oil
price spikes in the next 10 to 20 years, is this solely attributed to China or
India's consumer choices to use more oil? Or is it predicted for this oil price
spike to occur anyway, due to peak oil?
Alex
Answer by R.T.:
The answer is
both, plus speculation.
World demand for conventional oil is increasing faster than production.
But peak oil production of conventional oil, i.e. when production will reach a
maximum is near. So, the world economy will have to cross a valley in the next
10 to 15 years in order to restructure for new sources of energy besides
conventional oil. This will be costly.
New
Posted, Thursday, May
15, 2008 12:00 pm
I
enjoyed your article. However, I have a question: If the US dollar is falling like a rock, why are people
owning the oil whose price is rising like a meteor still willing to trade? Why
would someone trade oil (valuable) for cheap dollars (less valuable)? There are
two sides to a bet, and you cannot look at only one side
Answer by R.T.:
A
lot of oil exporters are now asking to be paid in euros or in yens. Also, the
dollar may have bottomed for the next 6 to 9 months and can rally (maybe until
the election, provided the Fed does not lower interest rates further!)
New
Posted,
Thursday, May 15, 2008 08:48 am
Continuing
with civilization requires more than fine tuning the present system. It requires metamorphosis.
Climate
change, peak oil and all the other unfolding crises associated with pollution
and resource depletion are all symptoms of one problem.
There
has been a fundamental change in the relationship between people and the
Earth. We no longer have new frontiers
to expand into when resources get scarce or our waste becomes intolerable. This change marks the maturity of the
human species. Well-being now
requires an equally fundamental change in how we manage our societies.
As
long as the goal of expanding production and consumption is considered
legitimate, we are in danger of overshooting planetary limits and
collapsing. When sustainability
gains legitimacy, as our primary goal, the possibility will emerge for evolving
a mature social form, capable of long-term well-being. It is a Question of
Direction.
"Enough"
is the cue indicating physical maturity. A caterpillar spends its entire life
gathering natural resources and growing. When it is big enough, it stops
growing and undergoes a change of purpose. The butterfly that emerges from its cocoon is beautiful, it
lives very lightly on the Earth, sipping the nectar of flowers, and its primary
purpose is to launch the next generation.
This
image speaks to a sustainable future.
If we were to gather our satisfaction from the beauties of life and use
the material world primarily to provide nutritious food and energy efficient
shelter, we too could safely usher the next generations.
Moving
beyond "enough"
Unfortunately,
as a society, we missed our cue.
Industrial
civilization reached "enough" in the 1920s when human need was
vanquished. The industrial order
went into crisis. What could they
do to keep monetary fortunes expanding when productivity had grown to the point
where everyone's needs could be met?
On top of that, the labour force was campaigning for a 30 hour work
week.
The
work week had already shrunk, in recent decades, from 80 hours to 70, to 60, to
50, to 40 hours, on the premise that, due to high productivity, work had to be
shared for everyone to have jobs.
Fewer work hours would allow people to spend more time with their
families, to pursue friendships, the arts, sports, education, and to develop
parts of themselves that longed for expression. This was the cue that civilization had come of age.
Rather
than celebrating our maturity and exploring the many wonders of being alive,
the decision makers of that time launched a campaign against shorter hours and
turned to advertising to encourage people to want more. After millennium of being content with
the clothes, furniture and other goods that people worked hard to produce, an
attitude of wastefulness was cultivated.
The
fallacy of perpetual growth
By
the 1950s this new "Gospel of Consumption" was well established.
Retail analysts Victor Lebow described it thus:
"Our
enormously productive economy .
. . demands that we make
consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into
rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in
consumption. We need things
consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing
rate."
The
critical evolutionary cue of "enough" was lost in the flurry of
wasteful production that has brought us to the edge of ecological
collapse. If we want to resolve
climate change, or any of the other problems arising because we are outgrowing
our planet, we have to acknowledge our changed circumstances and clearly adopt
the goal of sustainability; not as a new style, or add-on, but as the core
aspiration for decision making.
The
illusion of our growth based economy is that disaster will strike if we stop
growing. This is only true because of the way that mutual provision (the
economy) is presently structured.
Explaining why most of the
world uses this system, what the problems with it are, the alternatives
available and how to encourage the transformation, would take an entire
book. Such is the purpose of my
book. I only want to point out
here that we have a fundamental choice to make, between growing until we drop
and aiming for sustainability.
Just
think what human imagination and creativity would come up with if we applied it
to making goods durable, rather than engineering their obsolescence; if our
educational and persuasive abilities were used to encourage the celebration of
what life offers and to affirm each individual's potential, rather than
promoting materialism and sewing the seeds of doubt and fear, only to suggest
purchases to make the discomfort go away.
We
could reduce our collective ecological footprint to the point where there
certainly wouldn't be enough work to keep everyone busy all the time. We would then have to share the work
that remained, breathe deeply, and learn how to enjoy our selves.
Deciding
on direction
Legitimacy
is the key to transformation.
Imagine yourself, with a pack sac full of tools going into the
wilderness with the intent of staying there, by yourself, for two years. How many of us would emerge after two
years, in good health? And that is
with tools that somebody else made and with a knowledge of how to use them
obtained from our culture.
Even
the words and concepts with which we think, we get from the people around
us. Without a society, a person is
almost as useless as a computer with no programs. With no social support, survival would be a long shot.
Even
in today's arms length economy, we are totally dependent on the products of
other people's labour. In earlier
times it was very clear that if our tribe or clan were to leave us behind, we
would perish. We want, very
deeply, to belong. The price of
membership is subscription to the value system of one's society.
As long as our
society ascribes legitimacy to the goal of producing and consuming ever more,
it will be an uphill struggle to avoid over-exploiting natural resources and
polluting beyond the limits of tolerance.
If
the goal of sustainability were wholeheartedly adopted, and was sincerely used
as the foundation of decision making, we would, within a decade, be moving so
clearly toward a sustainable world that we would no longer be worried for our
children and grandchildren.
It
is important to turn off unnecessary lights, compost and support local
producers. Each step slows the
expansion of human impacts on the Earth.
More critically, your acts are testimony to the goal of
sustainability. When such
testimony, reach critical mass, anyone wishing to accelerate growth will feel
like a smoker lighting up in a public space.
From
that point, solutions will emerge everywhere and be implemented in every corner
of our world.
(Home: TheNewAmericanEmpire.com)