I live in a city where bicycling is common. There are co-ops that help you build bicycles. There are bike lanes everywhere. Walking to a store or to work is common and all the public transportation has bike racks. A good portion of the population does this and here, at least, you are not viewed as a "loser" for not having a car. There are other cities like this as well.I find myself turning into a system-hater like you, Green. I'm barely on the grid, but I had to go in for a debit card last week - I worried that my grumbling about the system sounded crazy to the banker. ;nutz; But man, the system and the bosses grind you up like hamburger, all the better to press-mold into slaves.
I have lived like this for years and I am in my 40s. However, due to my extreme lifestyle (which is not too extreme here) I look in my late 20s. You hardly ever see really fat people here unless they are tourists. I have seen other folks from the suburbia I left decades ago. Most of the middle class men have had strokes and hear attacks from a sedentary lifestyle. The women my age who were hawt now hideously out of shape behind a SUV that costs a years salary to some. So, I take small comfort.
There is nothing wrong with biking.. even into your 40s, 50s and beyond despite what society declares or some potential wannabe trophy wife may think they need to have to show off to the other soccer moms. One guy I know is my friend. He is 70. He looks 40. He never drives and rides bikes everywhere. Needless to say, dude has a wife 20 years younger, a nice house he bought for peanuts and fixed up, and a free life without rent or employers and his health... all for not paying extortion car notes, insurance, tickets from pigs that ambush honest citezens, and gas.
I find myself turning into a system-hater like you, Green. I'm barely on the grid, but I had to go in for a debit card last week - I worried that my grumbling about the system sounded crazy to the banker. ;nutz; But man, the system and the bosses grind you up like hamburger, all the better to press-mold into slaves.
And every time I have to deal with medical professionals, I passionately reflect that something the Republicans are right about is the evils of bureaucracy...
That's one of the reasons I'm selctive about who I'll discuss deep stuff with. In not-quite-four-years, even among a superior crowd, I've tripped over people who only seem to be able to handle it.
Well, the economics of plastic is a different subject. This is a check card basically. It just means I got a little money in the bank. (The man don't know about the 9,000 I got with Bank of Mom, but then, I don't spend that money.) Believe me, I'm a practicing miser, and it took some doing to get me to use plastic at all, but it's not like giving your money away to the credit card company, the way credit does. The bank hasn't been gouging me with secret charges, and won't ever for two months in a row.
I've only had one falling out over an online collaboration, and that wasn't so major we stopped speaking or became bitter foes...
Again, practicing. miser.
That ain't never gonna be a problem. Most people in this country can't keep a nickle in their pocket to save their lives, but I can. That $9,000 is left from a $10,000 inheritance a bit over 9 1/2 years ago.
Also, the bank is a Credit Union, and I think they're not very predatory.
Well, hermit isn't for everyone; I just ain't quite right ;nutz;, and have kinda given up on people and the way they make me want to rip their heads off constantly.
Well, that's such a complex issue of human interaction that ;...
But I've brought out the worst in too many people, and I don't particularly care to give them more chances to treat me badly.
At least on the web, no one can get the bad idea of trying to hit me, and nothing's at stake.
if we dynamite the exits off the main highway to keep the refugees from Charlotte out
When I heard "bicycle", I assumed I was talking with fellow anarchists and disobeyed my own rules.
Variety is good. As Robert Heinlein siad, "I never learned from a man who agreed with me."
You mean To Sail Beyond the Sunset? How appropriate a title for a last novel is that?
RAH was a fringe political crank and a disgusting pervert, and crammed both down our throats increasingly in his old age.
He really had his moments, though.
- makes sense on paper, hopelessly naive about human nature and completely unworkable in practice.
Insight: Putin's Russia - more fragile than it lookshttp://news.yahoo.com/insight-putins-russia-more-fragile-looks-060214902.html (http://news.yahoo.com/insight-putins-russia-more-fragile-looks-060214902.html)
By Michael Stott | Reuters – 7 hrs ago.. .
MOSCOW (Reuters) - When Vladimir Putin celebrated his 60th birthday last month, a group of patriotic mountaineers unfurled a portrait of the Russian leader on a 4,150-metre mountain peak.
Hailing him as a guarantor of happiness and stability, the climbers' leader explained: "We have stuck Putin's portrait on a rock wall we see as unbreakable and eternal as Putin".
But as Putin nears the end of his 13th year ruling this vast country, Russians feel increasingly unhappy and worries over long-term political and economic stability are growing.
Russia is exporting three things in great quantity, says a leading Moscow banker: natural resources, capital and people.
Only the first could be regarded as healthy and sustainable; the other two imply that oligarchs and ordinary citizens alike are turning their back on Putin's Russia.
Almost a third of city-dwellers would like to emigrate from Russia, according to a poll in September. Among young people the proportion rose to nearly half. The most favored destinations were Europe, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
The reasons for this exodus of talent and money? A growing sense among educated Russians that their country is heading in the wrong direction, and that no change is likely.
It all began very differently. Putin replaced Boris Yeltsin in the Kremlin on December 31, 1999. His early years generated hope as the chaos of the Yeltsin era was replaced by order, the economy grew strongly - Russia's GDP has grown nearly 10-fold under Putin - and a consumer boom created a new middle class.
A group of reform-minded ministers led by Alexei Kudrin at Finance and German Gref at Economy raised hopes of real change to increase private investment, modernize industry and infrastructure and reduce dependence on raw material exports.
Fast forward to 2012. Putin began a fresh six-year presidential term this March, with his supporters calling for him to stay in power until a constitutional term limit of 2024 - by which time the former KGB spy would have ruled longer than any Kremlin leader since Stalin.
Outwardly Putin's reform agenda continues. The president and his government repeat the mantra of modernization - a concept beloved of tsars for centuries.
Putin told Russia's main economic forum this summer that his government would implement a program of major transformation to build a new economy, create or modernize 25 million jobs and become an exporter of innovative goods and services.
But the facts on the ground point in a different direction.
POLITICAL THAW REVERSED
A brief and shallow political thaw under Dmitry Medvedev's 2008-12 presidency (in which Putin continued to wield ultimate power from the prime minister's office) is being reversed.
Opposition leaders have been arrested on charges which human rights organizations say are trumped-up, new controls have been clamped on the Internet and a Medvedev repeal of slander laws has been reversed.
Gref and Kudrin are both long gone from the government and unconfirmed rumors swirl in Moscow that Medvedev himself will be fired by Putin before the end of the year.
Growth presses on but at the same time Moscow has the world's biggest population of billionaires, corruption is rampant and the country's huge wealth is very unevenly spread.
Kudrin helped to fund a startling study from the Centre of Strategic Research think-tank, published last week. It concluded from interviews with focus groups in Moscow and regional cities that Russians saw little chance of changing their "predatory" ruling elite through the ballot box.
Most thought a revolution was possible and even desirable.
Medvedev cuts an increasingly lonely figure in Moscow, his credibility with voters gone after stepping aside without a murmur to make way for Putin's return to the Kremlin this year. His supporters privately despair of any chance for real change in an economy that looks increasingly Kremlin-controlled.
One recent mega-deal shows the trend. Last month, state-controlled oil giant Rosneft said it would take over the number three oil producer, TNK-BP. Rosneft will buy out the current owners - four Soviet-born oligarchs and Britain's BP - to create the world's biggest publicly listed oil company.
At a time when Russian oil production is falling and large-scale investment is badly needed to open up new fields, the Kremlin is instead spending $55 billion in cash and shares to acquire control of a major oil company from the private sector.
As the government splurges, Russia's oligarchs are shifting more money abroad because of the poor investment climate. Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach estimates that $50-60 billion of private capital will flow out of Russia this year. Moscow bank Uralsib predicts the figure could hit $80 billion.
"MIXED FEELINGS"
Putin told a group of visiting academics and journalists last week over dinner at his residence that he had "mixed feelings" about the Rosneft takeover of TNK-BP because it increased state participation in the economy.
Russia-watchers, however, had little doubt that the takeover was scripted inside the Kremlin. Rosneft is run by Igor Sechin, a long-time close Putin ally and Kremlin hard-liner who has always favored extending state control over key assets.
The two-hour, seven-course dinner with the Valdai Group of Russia experts was held at Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence in an exclusive wooded suburb outside Moscow.
The occasion was billed as a chance to gain insight into the latest Kremlin thinking and learn Putin's ideas for his new term. But at dinner, the Kremlin chief surprised some attendees with an uncharacteristically flat performance, devoid of the quips and bravado for which he is renowned and lacking in new ideas.
Corruption is one of the biggest problems in Russia for ordinary citizens, businessmen and foreign investors. The country has slid to 143rd place out of 182 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, tied with Nigeria.
Yet Putin shrugged off a question about corruption with a tired sigh, asking his audience what they expected him to say that was new about such a perennial topic.
Intimations of Putin's mortality have surfaced. The president's press secretary last week denied a Reuters report that the Kremlin leader needed surgery to correct a back injury, then days later squelched fresh rumors about Putin's health, saying he was working from home to avoid traffic congestion.
Such issues are no minor matter in a country where so much power is concentrated in the hands of one man, a man with no visible successor.
President Barack Obama memorably described Putin before their first meeting in 2009 as a leader with one foot stuck in the Soviet past, and signs of a drift backwards are visible in Moscow.
The Kremlin administration is now headed by 59-year-old former KGB spy Sergei Ivanov, who likes to describe himself as "rather conservative on national security but quite liberal on economics". Ivanov previously headed the Defence Ministry and the military-industrial complex.
ZASTOY AND PUTIN
On the lips of many educated Muscovites today is the word "zastoy" (stagnation) - an epithet which came to define the lackluster latter years of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in the 1970s and early 1980s, but is now increasingly used of Putin.
Despite years of government promises, Russia has yet to build a modern pensions saving system, improve regulation to create a viable financial market trading centre to compete with Dubai or invest in its crumbling infrastructure.
Already weighed down by the cost of hefty public sector pay rises ahead of this year's presidential election, the Russian government's latest budget envisages spending $620 billion by 2020 re-equipping the country's military, while cutting spending on infrastructure and education.
These priorities have upset business leaders, who are desperate for improvements to the creaking road network.
And despite repeated Putin's pledges to cut the economy's dependence on oil and gas exports, the oil price required by the Kremlin to make its budget sums add up has more than doubled over the pasts five years to $110.
In foreign policy, Medvedev's much-vaunted plan to reset relations with the United States on a more constructive track has stalled. Instead Moscow has confronted the West over Syria and given priority to pursuing a free trade area with former Soviet neighbors Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, says Russia wants to be an "independent centre of attraction" for nations in its neighborhood and adds:
"The West made a major mistake wanting Russia to be like the West - Russia wants to be Russia".
PUNISHING [ladyparts, sissy] RIOT
One of the clearest signs of divergence between Russia and the West is the treatment of [ladyparts, sissy] Riot - a punk feminist band who staged a protest song in Moscow's main cathedral this year imploring the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Putin.
Three of its members were jailed for two years - one later released on a suspended sentence - for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred".
Putin said the women had "got what they deserved" because their performance amounted to a vulgar act of group sex and threatened the moral foundations of Russia. Western governments and human rights groups were outraged at what they saw as a grossly disproportionate punishment.
Yet the harsh treatment meted out to [ladyparts, sissy] Riot may signify something deeper than moral indignation.
Many analysts see the jail terms as a sign of something deeper - Kremlin insecurity amid rising popular discontent.
While the street protests which swept Moscow last winter have now abated, political analysts say the urban, educated population is increasingly unhappy with Putin's leadership.
Far from the grandeur of Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence, its wrought-iron gates topped with the double-headed Russian eagle, to the north of Moscow lies the featureless dormitory town of Krasnogorsk.
Inside a small, noisy McDonald's restaurant there, a diminutive 30-year-old woman energetically explained her prediction for Russia's future under Putin, as a snowstorm swirled outside.
"The system itself is crumbling," said Yekaterina Samutsevich, the released [ladyparts, sissy] Riot member. "It's becoming more repressive ... those in power have very strong fears and their behavior is more and more wild. We could end with a total collapse like the Soviet Union."
Whether the vision of the strong, stable, great power projected by Putin or the apocalyptic prediction of the young punk rocker come to pass remains to be seen.
But in the meantime Russia's people and its business elite are voting with their feet and their wallets. And Putin is not winning.
Insight: Hunger strikes in industrial Russia test loyalty to Putinhttp://news.yahoo.com/insight-hunger-strikes-industrial-russia-test-loyalty-putin-060436356.html (http://news.yahoo.com/insight-hunger-strikes-industrial-russia-test-loyalty-putin-060436356.html)
By Alissa de Carbonnel | Reuters – 15 hrs ago.. .
VERKHNYAYA SINYACHIKHA, Russia (Reuters) - Factory smokestacks tower over weathered wooden houses in this provincial Russian town, part of the industrial heartland that helped propel Vladimir Putin into the presidency.
Towns like Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha in the vast metals and manufacturing province of Sverdlovsk in the Ural Mountains, some 2,000 km (1,240 miles) east of Moscow, have long been regarded as the backbone of support for the former KGB spy.
But that loyalty has been tested by hunger strikes over unpaid wages in at least three factories in Sverdlovsk this year that have prompted authorities to step in to rescue the biggest employers.
The government subsidies recall generous industry bailouts that stemmed social unrest during the 2008-09 global economic crisis and signal Kremlin concern that support from working-class Russians, long inured to quietly shouldering hardships, could be at risk nearly 13 years after Putin rose to power.
"The first time he ran, we voted for him. The second too, but this time we didn't," said Igor Ilyukhin, 41, one of 47 steel mill workers who fasted for 11 days for unpaid wages, camping on the rotten planks of an abandoned building near the shuttered gates of their bankrupt employer.
It is not clear how widespread such rumblings of working-class discontent with Putin are. He won nearly two-thirds of votes handing him a third presidential term in May and told a TV interviewer before his 60th birthday last month that "the overwhelming majority of people still support me."
During his election campaign, Putin depicted blue-collar workers as the "real Russia" and pitted them against the mainly middle-class protesters who have staged big rallies against him in Moscow and were referred to by him as "chattering monkeys".
But the hunger strike in which Ilyukhin took part was the fourth this year by former workers of the plant that until recently employed 400 people in Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha, a town of 9,800 people 145 km (90 miles) from the regional capital Yekaterinburg.
Hunger strikes have also struck a truck-manufacturing plant and a smelter owned by Russia's largest aluminium producer RUSAL in two separate factory towns in the Urals region.
Another strike is threatened in the region by 98 workers of a small-parts manufacturer who have given their bankrupt employer until November 6 to pay the wages they are owed.
"Maybe we're tired of how we're living," Ilyukhin said.
A WAY TO GET PAID
The workers, hunched around a smoky campfire in padded state-issue overalls, said that striking was the only way to get paid, and that it was a safe bet the government would step in to ensure they were when they did strike.
"We strike and they pay us a bit. We strike again and they pay us a bit more. We don't know where the money comes from," said Andrei Zhukov, taking a pragmatic view of what may seem like a desperate tactic.
Zhukov, one of the organizers, said it was easy to gather a list of willing strikers by word of mouth - despite this being the fourth yet by former workers - and register the protest with the town hall.
A visit by police to the homes of two participants did little to dissuade them from striking.
"We're used to being paid late but we want what we are owed, nothing more," he said. For Zhukov, that meant 20,000 roubles($639) severance pay and back wages, though many who took part in the strike that left about half the group in hospital asked for much less. Monthly pay at the plant was about 9,000 roubles.
"For us, this is real money," Zhukov said.
Industry leaders and economists warn that the government's hands-on approach to resolving crises, including at privately-owned factories like that in Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha, is stalling reforms.
The tactic is short-sighted and increases the country's problems, they say, if there is a drop in the price of oil - the main driver of Russia's budgetary largess.
"The state is now taking ever more facilities, industries, entire sectors under its wing," metals tycoon Vladimir Potanin, Russia's fourth richest man, told Reuters in September.
"As long as the government has strength, it keeps them ticking over, then at some point - bam - it's a problem," he said. "Efficiency is not growing and there is no competition."
'WE ARE FOR STABILITY'
The hunger strikes in Sverdlovsk, a region that was once the power base of late President Boris Yeltsin, hark back to the economic mayhem that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and, with it, Communist central planning.
In the decade that followed, workers went unpaid for long spells and some lived off produce from their kitchen gardens.
"In the 1990s, everything was a mess," said Igor Kholmanskikh, a former tank factory foreman whom Putin appointed as his envoy to the Urals region this year.
A man of few words, the ruddy-faced 43-year-old offered during a television call-in show with Putin last December to travel to Moscow with "the boys" and wipe the streets clear of protesters.
"He is our 'Plumber Joe'," Kholmanskikh's spokesman said, drawing a parallel with the U.S. Republican party's championing of an American who questioned then-presidential candidate Barack Obama on tax policy during his 2008 campaign.
Clenching his broad hands and looking ill at ease with his sudden elevation from factory floor to the opulent, marble-lined halls of his seat of power in the region, Kholmanskikh stuck closely to the Kremlin's party line to woo blue-collar support.
Putin is owed gratitude for presiding over an oil-fuelled economic boom in his first two terms from 2000 until 2008, Kholmanskikh said, warning that protests in Moscow could throw Russia back to the turmoil of the 1990s.
"Life has changed, people now have work and social safety nets and life's got better," he said. "Obviously, this is due to Vladimir Putin becoming the country's leader. That is why one of our first campaign slogans was: 'We are for Stability!'"
Putin's government is now working to meet that pledge, turning to a host of stopgap measures to keep doors open at factories that have been mismanaged or are simply unprofitable.
When more than 85 workers at truck-maker AMUR held a second hunger strike in Novouralsk demanding nearly a year's worth of back salaries in September, local authorities ordered state-owned tank-maker Uralvagonzavod to hand over part of its orders.
Regional opposition deputies say the intervention - before mayoral elections in the region on October 14 - was little more than a move to plug the gap at the aged plant burdened by 4.5 billion roubles in debt, 28 million of which is wage arrears.
In another industrial town where three city council members joined hunger strikers, Putin ordered electricity tariffs lowered by 30 percent for the Bogoslovsky aluminium plant (BAZ), owned by RUSAL, in the town of Krasnoturinsk.
"Take any of our enterprises - they all rely on support," Potanin said. "The government encourages us to pass the hat."
CALLS FOR NEW POLICY
Built in 1770, the steel mill in Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha is a cornerstone of this factory town. A snow-dusted statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin stands at its gate and until recently it was still the second largest employer.
Like hundreds of other remote factory towns scattered from Russia's far north to eastern Siberia - where the closure of a single plant could throw a whole population out of work - it has seen little investment and struggled to stay profitable since the end of Soviet economic planning.
"They (industry owners) have no clear plan or understanding of development, they pass on the weight of incompetence onto the government's shoulders," Sverdlovsk regional governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev said at a televised government meeting last month.
He called for a new policy aimed at helping industry to modernize to remain competitive.
In a sign of possible trouble to come, the Kremlin's chief federal inspector in the Sverdlovsk region said last month some 50 more enterprises were on the verge of bankruptcy.
The town of Rezh may be the next hot spot, if workers are not paid before the November 6 deadline they have set.
"We need to anticipate the fires, not put them out when they are already burning," said Anton Danilov-Danilyan, a former Kremlin advisor. "But in some cases, the social cost of closing a plant is more significant to the state than the cost of maintaining the factory."
DIVIDED RUSSIA
The Kremlin's firefighting style of economic management has set Putin up as a champion of the working man - an image he has cultivated by publicly dragging wealthy businessmen over the coals when they face problems at their plants.
Such performances serve as a counterweight to accusations by critics of cronyism and anger simmering over the widening gap between Russia's rich and poor.
Putin's appointment of Kholmanskikh, dismissed by critics as a Kremlin puppet, has gone down well in his own province.
"If he is a man of the people, then he is better qualified than any official who ... learned from his businessman father how to take bribes," said Dmitry Fomenkov, 26, a construction worker in Yekaterinburg.
Despite frustration with the local authorities, and dissatisfaction with their lot under Putin, many workers still struggle to see any alternative to him - a factor which could play into the president's hands.
Many residents voice an almost visceral dislike for the largely middle-class, Moscow-centric opposition protesters, who they say have no understanding of what it is to grapple with everyday problems.
"At those protests, they insulted us - the workers," said Albina Tatarinova, 50, stamping her feet in the light snow by the campfire in Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha.
"They called us 'cattle'. We gave them their own back: Of course, we voted for Putin. There was no alternative."
Well, the system in place is what it is, and killing the bosses is an unworkable solution for many reasons. The goverment is entwined with business in a disgusting incestuous embrace that makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish the two.
The approach you articulate is good - but honestly, until a LOT more people can be persuaded to board the bus, a few hippies denying themselves is not gonna accomplish much.
So education is indeed KEY, this being technically still a democracy. To my view, one of the few things government is really useful for is to play off against the robber barons. Well that takes getting involved in the process on some level, to get a crowbar between the two and instigate a quarrel. In my case, it's trying to articulate some ideas - plant seeds in a few minds. Ideas have power to change the worlde. The political right wing is the enemy of the people, and about half the people are collaborating in their own enslavement without even realising it.
We are all, with a few exceptions in the ruling class, the man caught on a cliff between the tigers of Government and Business - both want to eat/enslave us, and the solution is not eating strawberries, but getting the tigers to fight.
Americans’ Biggest Money Mistakeshttp://news.yahoo.com/americans-biggest-money-mistakes-152733564.html (http://news.yahoo.com/americans-biggest-money-mistakes-152733564.html)
By Chad Brooks, BusinessNewsDaily Contributor | LiveScience.com – 37 mins ago.. .
Unnecessary missteps with money can keep people from achieving financial security. Whether it's over-using credit cards or not properly saving for unexpected expenses, financial experts see many errors that are relatively easy to correct. Here are 10 of the more common money mistakes American's make:
Budgeting
One of the most common financial mistakes is not setting and keeping to a monthly budget, said Kevin Gallegos, vice president of Phoenix operations for Freedom Financial Network.
"Budgeting may not sound exciting, but it is the number one, sure-fire way to stretch a salary and save money," Gallegos told BusinessNewsDaily. "Don’t do it, and you’re like a rudderless ship without a way to get where you want to go."
Creating a budget doesn't have to be a complicated process.
"The key is to set goals," Gallegos said. "Whether your goal is to take a European vacation, save for retirement, or budget time and money to train for a 10K, write down the goals and build your budget with the goals in mind."
Credit cards
Financial attorney Leslie Tayne believes many financial problems can be traced back to the use of high-interest credit cards.
"If you only pay the minimum on your balance, or miss credit card payments, you are perpetuating the debt cycle," Tayne said. "You are likely to continue accruing high interest and/orpenalties on your accounts, exacerbating your debt."
Keeping things to yourself
While talking about money might taboo, Nick Richtsmeier, a regional vice president for Trilogy Financial Services, said the number one mistake he sees is that too many people keep their financial moves a secret.
"If absolutely no one knows what you are doing with your finances then guaranteed you are fooling yourself into thinking you are doing better than you are," Richtsmeier said. "Have at least one person (in addition to your spouse) that can ask you honest questions about how your money decisions match your goals."
That person can be anyone from a reliable friend to a professional financial advisor, he said.
Credit reports
Credit coach Jeanne Kelly said a common misstep is not keeping track of a credit report.
"A big problem is people use credit and do not educate themselves on it," Kelly said. "Your credit report can change with you not even knowing it because you never look at it for accuracy."
Kelly’s first rule of credit is to regularly pull your credit report to ensure you are aware of what is being reported and how that can affect your financial well-being.
Not saving for repairs
Sally Palaian, a licensed psychologist who specializes in treating financial dysfunction, said too often people pretend they don't need to put money aside for maintenance, repairs and replacement of the things they depend on.
"I teach people that everything is going to break: dishwashers, car brakes, furnaces, teeth, computers and phones," Palaian said. "We need savings to handle these very predictable expenses that happen to everyone."
Buying a house
Buying a house that'smore than you can afford is the top mistake that will cripple a long-term financial plan, according to Ted Jenkin, CEO and founder of oXYGen Financial, Inc.
Jenkin advises his clients to only buy homes when the mortgage payments aren't more than between 28 and 34 percent of their total gross monthly income.
"It is impossible to squeeze into a home financially like you would a car or some other one-time purchase," Jenkin said. "Use that statistic in conjunction with putting 20 percent down on your home purchase and you will typically avoid this number one financial disaster."
Lending terms
David Rodriguez, a financial education advocate for Generations Federal Credit Union, says the biggest mistake he sees among his clients is their lack of understanding of lending terms such as APR, balance transfers and hidden fees.
"The most common issue I have come across in teaching my financial education classes is the lack of understanding on how to calculate monthly APR, one of the most critical components of any loan or credit card," Rodriguez said. "Not understanding these key terms can easily land consumers in jam very quickly."
Diversify investments
Thinking its okay to invest all your money in one place is a near-certain way to get into major financial difficulties, financial advisor Darrell Canby said.
"Investing all of your money in a single stock is like going to the track and putting all of your money on a single horse," Canby said. "Both are big gambles."
Prudent investors divide their investments between stocks, bonds and other investments, as well as keep a small amount in cash equivalents such as money market funds, Canby said.
Retirement planning
While the population is beginning to live longer, certified financial planner Damian Rothermel still sees many people planning their retirement based on living only until age 90.
"This is probably too short of a timeframe, as many individuals live longer," Rothermel said. "The concern is the plan put in place may not last as long as the client lives."
Life insurance
While it might not be easy to think about your death, financial advisor and insurance broker Liran Hirschkorn said a big mistake is not thinking about the financial wellbeing of loved ones left behind.
"I constantly hear stories of people who lost the breadwinner and are suddenly put into a very tough financial situation," Hirschkorn. "Protecting yourself with proper disability and life insurance is key."
Most of that's Yeltsin, I would guess. He always looked like a cynical opportunist to me, with no real beliefs. That's a bad start for a new system to get off to. Putin looks good by comparison.
Putin suggests some flexibility on anti-dissent lawshttp://news.yahoo.com/putin-suggests-flexibility-anti-dissent-laws-203826038.html (http://news.yahoo.com/putin-suggests-flexibility-anti-dissent-laws-203826038.html)
By Denis Dyomkin | Reuters – 33 mins ago.. .
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he was ready to review or move more slowly on a clutch of recent laws that rights campaigners say are aimed at silencing his critics.
Since Putin's re-election in March, preceded by the largest protests in his 12 years in power, parliament has rushed through laws tightening controls on the Internet, increasing the penalties for defamation and expanding the definition of high treason, among others.
Rights activists and political opponents say Putin has orchestrated the clampdown, and the West has also expressed concern that civil liberties are being rolled back.
"Everything that is taking place here is done for a sole purpose - that of our country being stable. Effective and stable," Putin told a meeting of the Civil Society and Human Rights Council, his own advisory body.
"It cannot be more stable if it is only based on the power of law enforcement and repressive agencies. It will be more stable if society is more collective, effective, responsible, if a bond is established between society, the citizen and the state," he added, according to RIA news agency.
Putin was heading the first meeting of the council since 39 new members were elected in an online vote to replace prominent rights campaigners who resigned after his re-election in March.
He told the meeting he was ready to reconsider the law on high treason, which rights campaigners say could mean that any Russian citizen who had contacts with a foreigner could be accused of trying to undermine the state.
Putin also offered to rephrase wording in another bill that envisages stiffer punishments for defamation, and said parliament should not rush to adopt a law that would introduce jail sentences for offending religious feelings.
He also said he would "look again" at legislation signed in July that requires foreign-funded non-governmental organizations to register as "foreign agents", saying its main aim was to prevent foreign meddling in Russia's domestic affairs.
Council members said it was not clear what kind of concessions, if any, Putin might ultimately make.
"What was that? The way I see it, an attempt to get some sort of feedback on all the laws that have irritated society," said Irina Khakamada, a member of the Council. "Let's see what the result will be. I don't know."
Russia's Putin signs new treason lawhttp://news.yahoo.com/russia-expands-definition-treason-under-law-110613866.html (http://news.yahoo.com/russia-expands-definition-treason-under-law-110613866.html)
By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya and Steve Gutterman | Reuters – 7 hrs ago.. .
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia introduced a new law broadening the definition of treason on Wednesday, alarming opponents who say Vladimir Putin will use it to silence his critics and that almost anyone in contact with foreigners will be at risk.
The legislation allows Russians representing international organizations to be charged with treason, as well as those working for foreign states and bodies, and expands the range of actions that can be considered treasonous.
Putin signed the law on Tuesday and it took effect on Wednesday when it was published in the official gazette, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, despite a promise by the president on Monday that he would review it.
Political opponents and rights activists say the legislation is the latest in a series of laws intended to crack down on the opposition and reduce foreign influence since he returned to the Kremlin in May for a six-year third term.
"It's an attempt to return not just to Soviet times but to the Stalin era, when any conversation with a foreigner was seen as a potential threat to the state," said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, 85, a former Soviet dissident and veteran human rights activist.
She said it would probably be used selectively against Kremlin critics and others "who irritate the authorities".
Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst sympathetic with anti-Putin protests this year, said the motivation behind the law was that "the state is more important than its citizens, so there must be as much control over citizens as possible".
The law was backed by the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor of the Soviet KGB, and landed on the desk of longtime KGB officer Putin after being approved by both houses of parliament in the space of nine days last month.
The FSB, in a rare public comment, was quoted by state-run news agency Itar-Tass as saying the law had been updated after being unchanged since the 1960s because "foreign intelligence agencies' methods and tactics for gathering information have changed".
Putin whipped up anti-U.S. sentiment during his campaign for the March presidential election, and Russian officials have said the law is needed to help prevent foreign governments using organizations in Russia to gather state secrets.
"Citizens recruited by international organizations acting against the country's interests will also be considered traitors", Rossiyskaya Gazeta said in a commentary on its website.
ANTI WESTERN SENTIMENT
Putin has frequently accused Western nations of seeking to undermine Russia's security and weaken the nuclear-armed nation, and has suggested they use non-governmental organizations to do so.
Moscow ordered the U.S. Agency for International Development to cease its Russian operations in October, accusing it of seeking to influence elections.
In July, Putin signed a law requiring foreign-funded NGOs deemed to be engaging in political activity to register as "foreign agents", and critics say other legislation is also aimed at silencing opponents.
The United States and the European Union have criticized the laws, and expressed concern about criminal charges laid against several opposition leaders in the last few months.
During his election campaign, Putin faced protests which at times drew tens of thousands of people into Moscow's streets, and he accused the United States of whipping up demonstrations against his rule.
The maximum sentence for high treason remains 20 years, but the legislation signed by Putin also introduced prison terms of up to eight years for Russians acquiring state secrets in certain ways even if they are not passed on to foreigners.
It broadened the spectrum of actions that can attract treason charges to include giving "financial, material, technical, consultative or other aid" to a government or organization deemed to be seeking to undermine Russian security.
Those changes, as well as the removal of the stipulation that actions must be aimed against Russia's "external" security to be considered treasonous, have raised concerns the law could be applied broadly to punish government opponents.
At a meeting of his human rights council on Monday, Putin listened to a retired Constitutional Court judge's concerns about the legislation, which she said did not require authorities to prove a suspect damaged state security.
But although Putin said he would look again at the law, his spokesman said he had signed it a day later.
"It's not the first time Putin has said the right words while slowly tightening the screws," Alexeyeva said.
Ron Paul: 'Our Constitution Has Failed'http://news.yahoo.com/ron-paul-departs-constitution-failed-230217615--abc-news-politics.html (http://news.yahoo.com/ron-paul-departs-constitution-failed-230217615--abc-news-politics.html)
By Chris Good | ABC OTUS News – 3 hrs ago.. .
Rep. Ron Paul, the iconic libertarian congressman from Texas, has delivered what will most likely be his final address to Congress.
In a sprawling, 52-minute speech to the House chamber, Paul lambasted U.S. government, politicians and special interests, declaring that the U.S. people must return to virtue before the government allows them to be free, and that the Constitution has failed to limit the scope of an authoritarian bureaucracy.
"Our Constitution, which was intended to limit government power and abuse, has failed," Paul said. "The Founders warned that a free society depends on a virtuous and moral people. The current crisis reflects that their concerns were justified."
For the retiring Republican, 77, the "current crisis" isn't quite what it is for other members of Congress, who routinely use that word to describe the economic recession that followed the 2008 financial crash. To the Texas Republican, that's part of it, but the causes are deeper, and it's also a crisis of governmental authoritarianism and the vanishing of personal liberty.
"If it's not accepted that big government, fiat money, ignoring liberty, central economic planning, welfarism, and warfarism caused our crisis, we can expect a continuous and dangerous march toward corporatism and even fascism with even more loss of our liberties," said Paul, an obstetrician-gynecologist by training.
The problem isn't just government's size, but its use of force, both in starting preemptive wars and as it coerces U.S. citizens with police power. To Paul, this is the fault of Americans who no longer prioritize liberty, and it will lead to the unraveling of orderly society unless people change.
"Restraining aggressive behavior is one thing, but legalizing a government monopoly for initiating aggression can only lead to exhausting liberty associated with chaos, anger and the breakdown of civil society," Paul said. "We now have a standing army of armed bureaucrats in the TSA, CIA, FBI, Fish and Wildlife, FEMA, IRS, Corp of Engineers, etc., numbering over 100,000 civil society."
More than coercive, to Paul the government is also corrupt: "All branches of our government today are controlled by individuals who use their power to undermine liberty and enhance the welfare/warfare state-and frequently their own wealth and power," he said.
Throughout his speech, Paul questioned not only the fundamental health of America's social compact, but specifics like fiat money, the power of the Federal Reserve, the PATRIOT Act, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act modifications, undeclared war, the illegalization of medical marijuana, mandatory sentencing requirements for drug crimes, the illegalization of hemp, TSA searches, federal debt and borrowing, the White House's authority to assassinate those it declares terrorists, the legalization of detaining U.S. citizens for national-security purposes, the political power of AIPAC, and the regulation of light bulbs and toilets in people's homes.
For Paul, the list of grievances is long, and he might not have accomplished much in Congress: "In many ways, according to conventional wisdom, my off-and-on career in Congress, from 1976 to 2012, accomplished very little," he said. "No named legislation, no named federal buildings or highways, thank goodness. In spite of my efforts, the government has grown exponentially, taxes remain excessive, and the prolific increase of incomprehensible regulations continues. Wars are constant and pursued without congressional declaration."
In thinking about the champions of liberty, his lesson is a bitter one: "History has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of authoritarians which are rarely if ever fulfilled," but his prescription is hopeful.
Paul left the podium, for the last time, offering an "answer" to all of these problems: that people should choose liberty and limit government, and seek change within themselves.
"The number one responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow," Paul said, urging an end to two motives that have hindered U.S. society: envy and intolerance.
"I have come to one firm conviction after these many years of trying to figure out the plain truth of things. The best chance for achieving peace and prosperity, for the maximum number of people worldwide, is to pursue the cause of liberty. If you find this to be a worthwhile message, spread it throughout the land."
Crisis over president's powers exposes Egypt divisionshttp://news.yahoo.com/clashes-cairo-mursi-seizes-powers-063444506.html (http://news.yahoo.com/clashes-cairo-mursi-seizes-powers-063444506.html)
By Tom Perry | Reuters – 3 hrs ago.. .
CAIRO (Reuters) - Youths clashed with police in Cairo on Saturday as protests at new powers assumed by President Mohamed Mursi stretched into a second day, confronting Egypt with a crisis that has exposed the split between newly empowered Islamists and their opponents.
A handful of hardcore activists hurling rocks battled riot police in the streets near Tahrir Square, where several thousand protesters massed on Friday to demonstrate against a decree that has rallied opposition ranks against Mursi.
Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of teargas hung over the square, the heart of the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power in February 2011.
More than 300 people were injured on Friday. Offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled Mursi to power, were attacked in at least three cities.
Egypt's highest judicial authority said the decree marked an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary, the state news agency reported.
Leftist, liberal and socialist parties have called for an open-ended sit-in with the aim of "toppling" the decree which has also drawn statements of concern from the United States and the European Union. A few dozen activists manning makeshift barricades kept traffic out of the square on Saturday.
Calling the decree "fascist and despotic", Mursi's critics called for a big protest on Tuesday against a move they say has revealed the autocratic impulses of a man jailed by Mubarak, who outlawed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.
"We are facing a historic moment in which we either complete our revolution or we abandon it to become prey for a group that has put its narrow party interests above the national interest," the liberal Dustour Party said in a statement.
Issued late on Thursday, the decree marks an effort by the Mursi administration to consolidate its influence after it successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August.
The decree reflects the Muslim Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days: it guards from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.
It also shields the assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the Islamist-dominated assembly with dissolution.
The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.
"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.
"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down," Zarwan said.
"INTIFADA"
A central element of Egypt's transition, the drafting of the constitution has been plagued by divisions between Islamists and their more secular-minded opponents, nearly all of whom have withdrawn from the body writing the document.
Mursi's new powers allowed him to replace the prosecutor general - a Mubarak holdover who the new president had tried to replace in October only to kick up a storm of protest from the judiciary, which said he had exceeded his authorities.
At an emergency meeting called to discuss the decree, the Supreme Judicial Council, Egypt's highest judicial authority, urged "the president of the republic to distance this decree from everything that violates the judicial authority".
Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising. "The people support the president's decisions," declared Freedom and Justice, the newspaper run by the Brotherhood's political party.
The ultraorthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind the decree.
The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.
Facing the biggest storm of criticism since he won the presidential election in June, Mursi addressed his supporters outside the presidential palace on Friday. He said opposition did not worry him, but it had to be "real and strong".
Candidates defeated by Mursi in the presidential vote joined the protests against his decision on Friday. Former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa was photographed linking arms with leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, liberal Mohamed ElBaradei and others.
Mursi is now confronted with a domestic crisis just as his administration won international praise for mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process, while the United Nations expressed fears about human rights.
Oh, I'm not making a major project of it myself. The best thing I can do for the world is to do no harm and take care of my own problems.
Bitter struggle over Internet regulation to dominate global summithttp://news.yahoo.com/bitter-struggle-over-internet-regulation-dominate-global-summit-040702595--sector.html (http://news.yahoo.com/bitter-struggle-over-internet-regulation-dominate-global-summit-040702595--sector.html)
By Joseph Menn | Reuters – 5 hrs ago
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An unprecedented debate over how the global Internet is governed is set to dominate a meeting of officials in Dubai next week, with many countries pushing to give a United Nations body broad regulatory powers even as the United States and others contend such a move could mean the end of the open Internet.
The 12-day conference of the International Telecommunications Union, a 157-year-old organization that's now an arm of the United Nations, largely pits revenue-seeking developing countries and authoritarian regimes that want more control over Internet content against U.S. policymakers and private Net companies that prefer the status quo.
Many of the proposals have drawn fury from free-speech and human-rights advocates and have prompted resolutions from the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, calling for the current decentralized system of governance to remain in place.
While specifics of some of the most contentious proposals remain secret, leaked drafts show that Russia is seeking rules giving individual countries broad permission to shape the content and structure of the Internet within their borders, while a group of Arab countries is advocating universal identification of Internet users. Some developing countries and telecom providers, meanwhile, want to make content providers pay for Internet transmission.
Fundamentally, most of the 193 countries in the ITU seem eager to enshrine the idea that the U.N. agency, rather than today's hodgepodge of private companies and nonprofit groups, should govern the Internet. The ITU meeting, which aims to update a longstanding treaty on how telecom companies interact across borders, will also tackle other topics such as extending wireless coverage into rural areas.
If a majority of the ITU countries approve U.N. dominion over the Internet along with onerous rules, a backlash could lead to battles in Western countries over whether to ratify the treaty, with tech companies rallying ordinary Internet users against it and some telecom carriers supporting it.
In fact, dozens of countries including China, Russia and some Arab states, already restrict Internet access within their own borders, but those governments would have greater leverage over Internet content and service providers if the changes were backed up by international agreement.
Amid the escalating rhetoric, search king Google last week asked users to "pledge your support for the free and open Internet" on social media, raising the specter of a grassroots outpouring of the sort that blocked American copyright legislation and a global anti-piracy treaty earlier this year.
Google's Vint Cerf, the ordinarily diplomatic co-author of the basic protocol for Internet data, denounced the proposed new rules as hopeless efforts by some governments and state-controlled telecom authorities to assert their power.
"These persistent attempts are just evidence that this breed of dinosaurs, with their pea-sized brains, hasn't figured out that they are dead yet, because the signal hasn't traveled up their long necks," Cerf told Reuters.
The ITU's top official, Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, sought to downplay the concerns in a separate interview, stressing to Reuters that even though updates to the treaty could be approved by a simple majority, in practice nothing will be adopted without near-unanimity.
"Voting means winners and losers. We can't afford that in the ITU," said Touré, a former satellite engineer from Mali who was educated in Russia.
Touré predicted that only "light-touch" regulation on cyber-security will emerge by "consensus," using a deliberately vague term that implies something between a majority and unanimity.
He rejected criticism that the ITU's historic role in coordinating phone carriers leaves it unfit to corral the unruly Internet, comparing the Web to a transportation system.
"Because you own the roads, you don't own the cars and especially not the goods they are transporting. But when you buy a car you don't buy the road," Touré said. "You need to know the number of cars and their size and weight so you can build the bridges and set the right number of lanes. You need light-touch regulation to set down a few traffic lights."
Because the proposals from Russia, China and others are more extreme, Touré has been able to cast mild regulation as a compromise accommodating nearly everyone.
Two leaked Russian proposals say nations should have the sovereign right "to regulate the national Internet segment." An August draft proposal from a group of 17 Arab countries called for transmission recipients to receive "identity information" about the senders, potentially endangering the anonymity of political dissidents, among others.
A U.S. State Department envoy to the gathering and Cerf agreed with Touré that there is unlikely to be any drastic change emerging from Dubai.
"The decisions are going to be by consensus," said U.S. delegation chief Terry Kramer. He said anti-anonymity measures such as mandatory Internet address tracing won't be adopted because of opposition by the United States and others.
"We're a strong voice, given a lot of the heritage," Kramer said, referring to the U.S. invention and rapid development of the Internet. "A lot of European markets are very similar, and a lot of Asian counties are supportive, except China."
Despite the reassuring words, a fresh leak over the weekend showed that the ITU's top managers viewed a badly split conference as a realistic prospect less than three months ago.
The leaked program for a "senior management retreat" for the ITU in early September included a summary discussion of the most probable outcomes from Dubai, concluding that the two likeliest scenarios involved major reworkings of the treaty that the United States would then refuse to sign. The only difference between the scenarios lay in how many other developed countries sided with the Americans.
ITU officials didn't dispute the authenticity of the document, which was published by Jerry Brito, a researcher at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University as part of a continuing series of ITU-related leaks.
Touré said that because the disagreements are so vast, the conference probably will end up with something resembling the ITU's earlier formula for trying to protect children online — an agreement to cooperate more and share laws and best practices, perhaps with hotlines to head off misunderstandings.
"From Dubai, what I personally expect is to see some kind of principles saying cyberspace is a global phenomenon and it can only have global responses," Touré said. "I just intend to put down some key principles there that will lay the seeds for something in the future."
Even vague terms could be used as a pretext for more oppressive policies in various countries, though, and activists and industry leaders fear those countries might also band together by region to offer very different Internet experiences.
In some ways, the U.N. involvement reflects a reversal that has already begun.
The United States has steadily diminished its official role in Internet governance, and many nations have stepped up their filtering and surveillance. More than 40 countries now filter the Net that their citizens see, said Ronald Deibert, a University of Toronto political science professor and authority on international conflicts in cyberspace.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said this month that the Net is already on the road to Balkanization, with people in different countries getting very different experiences from the services provided by Google, Skype and others.
This month, a new law in Russia took effect that allows the federal government to order a Website offline without a court hearing. Iran recently rolled out a version of the Internet that replaced the real thing within its borders. A growing number of countries, including China and India, order sites to censor themselves for political, religious and other content.
China, which has the world's largest number of Internet users, also blocks access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter among other sites within its borders.
The loose governance of the Net currently depends on the non-profit ICANN, which oversees the Web's address system, along with voluntary standard-setting bodies and a patchwork of national laws and regional agreements. Many countries see it as a U.S.-dominated system.
The U.S. isolation within the ITU is exacerbated by it being home to many of the biggest technology companies - and by the fact that it could have military reasons for wanting to preserve online anonymity. The Internet emerged as a critical military domain with the 2010 discovery of Stuxnet, a computer worm developed at least in part by the United States that attacked Iran's nuclear program.
Whatever the outcome in Dubai, the conference stands a good chance of becoming a historic turning point for the Internet.
"I see this as a constitutional moment for global cyberspace, where we can stand back and say, `Who should be in charge?' said Deibert. "What are the rules of the road?"
Tajikistan blocks Facebook access to silence criticshttp://news.yahoo.com/tajikistan-blocks-facebook-access-silence-critics-121104317.html (http://news.yahoo.com/tajikistan-blocks-facebook-access-silence-critics-121104317.html)
By Roman Kozhevnikov | Reuters – 4 hrs ago.. .
DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan has blocked access to Facebook in response to a slew of comments spreading "mud and slander" about veteran President Imomali Rakhmon and officials in the Central Asian republic.
The ban on the popular social networking site is the latest crackdown on dissent in Tajikistan a year before an election that could extend Rakhmon's two-decade rule.
Beg Zukhurov, head of the state-run communications service that is enforcing the ban - the second time Tajikistan has blocked Facebook this year - accused unnamed donors of paying users to post negative comments about "respected figures".
"The best representatives of the public - among them academics, doctors and important cultural figures - are tired of the stream of mud and slander that flows from the website called Facebook," Zukhurov told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday.
"With this public support, a decision was taken to block this site, where some people are receiving $5,000 to $10,000 for every critical comment that they post."
He did not offer any evidence for this allegation or say who might be funding these posts.
Rakhmon has ruled since 1992 in Tajikistan, an impoverished ex-Soviet republic of 7.5 million people lying on a major transit route for Afghan drugs to Europe and Russia.
Victory in a November 2013 election would give the 60-year-old former cotton farm boss a further seven years in charge of a country still finding its way after a civil war in the 1990s that killed tens of thousands.
In recent months, the government has turned its attention to damping down dissent by creating a volunteer-run body to monitor Internet use and reprimand those who openly criticize the government.
WARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Tighter Internet controls echo measures taken by other former Soviet republics in Central Asia, where authoritarian rulers are wary of the role social media played in revolutions in the Arab world and mass protests in Russia.
Tajikistan authorities have also launched a crackdown on religious groups and imprisoned more than 150 people in the last three years on charges of extremism and attempting to subvert the constitution.
Officials have blocked access to Facebook before, for the same reason. The site was shut for 10 days in March, prompting criticism from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Facebook's popularity has soared in Tajikistan. Membership has trebled to more than 40,000 over the last 18 months.
"Does Facebook have an owner? I'd like to speak to him," Zukhurov said. "Let him come here and meet me in my office."
Zafar Abdullayev, a political analyst in the capital Dushanbe, said he believed the ban reflected concerns about rising public criticism ahead of the presidential election.
"We can expect to see more steps to restrict freedom of speech on the Internet, as the authorities have made no secret of the fact they see a real threat in social networking sites," he said.
The website of Russian news agency RIA Novosti and state-run television channel Rossiya-24 were also blocked along with Facebook in March, and access has not been restored.
Some Internet users in Tajikistan, however, have installed software that allows them to circumvent the blockage.
Egypt army gets temporary power to arrest civilianshttp://news.yahoo.com/egypt-army-given-arrests-over-referendum-113849380.html (http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-army-given-arrests-over-referendum-113849380.html)
By Marwa Awad | Reuters – 17 mins ago
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's government has temporarily given the military the authority to arrest civilians to help safeguard a constitutional referendum planned for Saturday, the official gazette said.
The order, gazetted late on Sunday, said the military would support police and liaise with them to protect "vital institutions" until the referendum result is declared.
The decree gave army officers the right to make arrests and transfer detainees to prosecutors.
Despite its limited nature, the edict will revive memories of Hosni Mubarak's emergency law, also introduced as a temporary expedient, under which military or state security courts tried thousands of political dissidents and Islamist militants.
But a military source stressed that the measure, introduced by a civilian government, would have a short shelf-life.
"The latest law giving the armed forces the right to arrest anyone involved in illegal actions such as burning buildings or damaging public sites is to ensure security during the referendum only," the military source said.
"The armed forces secured polling stations during previous elections when it was in charge of the country," the source said, referring to 16 months of army rule after Mubarak fell.
"Now the president is in charge. In order for the armed forces to be involved in securing the referendum, a law had to be issued saying so," the source added.
Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said the committee overseeing the vote had requested the army's assistance.
"The armed forces will work within a legal framework to secure the referendum and will return (to barracks) as soon as the referendum is over," Ali said.
On Saturday, the military urged rival political forces to solve their disputes via dialogue and said the opposite would drag the country into a "dark tunnel", which it would not allow.
A statement issued by the military spokesman and read on state radio and television made no mention of President Mohamed Mursi, but said a solution to the political crisis should not contradict "legitimacy and the rules of democracy".
A military source close to top officers said the statement "does not indicate any future intervention in politics".
A military council took over after a popular revolt ended Mubarak's 30 years of army-backed rule last year. It then handed power to Mursi, who became Egypt's first freely elected leader in June. The military has not intervened in the latest crisis.
The army statement said the military's duty was to protect national interests and secure vital state institutions.
"The armed forces affirm that dialogue is the best and only way to reach consensus," it added. "The opposite of that will bring us to a dark tunnel that will result in catastrophe and that is something we will not allow."
Hassan Abu Taleb of the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies said Saturday's army statement suggested the military wanted both sides to talk out their differences, but discounted the chance of direct military intervention.
"They realize that interfering again in a situation of civil combat will squeeze them between two rocks," he said.
1d. Politics is never a honest business or profession.I disagree. Politics is almost never a honest business or profession.
1h. That a lot people are unwise with their personal finances.
NSA Spying Isn't Just an Illegal Invasion of Privacy—It Doesn't Stop Terror Attackshttp://news.yahoo.com/nsa-spying-isn-39-t-just-illegal-invasion-193439815.html (http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-spying-isn-39-t-just-illegal-invasion-193439815.html)
By Sarah Parvini | Takepart.com | 22 hours ago
The National Security Agency surveillance program that keeps tabs on almost every phone call in the U.S. is illegal and should be shut down—especially considering no terrorist threats have been discovered through the massive data collection, according to a new report released by a federal privacy watchdog.
The five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board—an independent agency created by Congress in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks—came out with its scathing review of the NSA's “bulk telephony metadata collection program” (the fancy name for collecting your phone records) on Thursday, claiming the program has essentially been useless in the battle against terrorism.
"We have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation," writes the board, which reviews actions taken by the government to protect the country from terrorism.
The report credits the NSA with thwarting just one potential supporter of terrorists: San Diego cab driver Basaaly Moalin, a Somali immigrant who was convicted of sending $8,500 to the Islamist group al-Shabaab last year.
The board notes that while there was "critical value" in stopping the funds, Moalin's case was the only instance in seven years of NSA surveillance in which the program helped tip off authorities. Even then, the board suggests, the FBI could have found Moalin without the NSA's help. The NSA also could have received the same information without invasive bulk data collection, according to the report.
The findings, laid out in a 238-page document, will inevitably spark greater debate in an arena already rife with friction over the merits and legality of the program. Federal judges are currently sparring over the massive phone record collections and debating whether such surveillance is necessary or "Orwellian."
The report hinges on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows federal investigators to request records relevant to an authorized national security investigation, but not the bulk collection of information that "cannot be regarded as 'relevant.' "
The panel argues the NSA's tracking program "bears almost no resemblance" to the descriptions listed in the law and concluded that it “lacks a viable legal foundation under Section 215, implicates constitutional concerns under the First and Fourth Amendments, raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value.”
The program has “contributed only minimal value in combating terrorism beyond what the government already achieves through these and other alternative means,” according to the report.
Yet despite its damning review, the panel was not unanimous on the issue of ending this type of data collection. Two members—Rachel L. Brand and Elisebeth Collins Cook, who served in the Justice Department during George W. Bush’s administration—argued the program should continue, if modified, to address greater privacy protections.
Brand writes:
"...[T]he government does not collect the content of any communication under this program. It does not collect any personally identifying information associated with the calls. And it does not collect cell site information that could closely pinpoint the location from which a cell phone call was made. The program is literally a system of numbers with no names attached to any of them. As such, it does not sweep in the most sensitive and revealing information about telephone communications. This seems to have gotten lost in the public debate."
Supporters of the NSA program agree with Brand and Cook, arguing that the board should not participate in “unwarranted legal analysis.”
“As those of us with law enforcement experience know, successful investigations use all available tools—there often is ‘no silver bullet’ that alone thwarts a plot,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told The Washington Post.
The power of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board lies in its recommendations—the agency holds no legal power and can only advise the government on the best ways to put policies and regulations into practice without trampling on civil liberties and privacy.
“Cessation of the program would eliminate the privacy and civil liberties concerns associated with bulk collection without unduly hampering the government’s efforts,” the board writes, “while ensuring that any governmental requests for telephone calling records are tailored to the needs of specific investigations.”
The board's landmark statements coincide with President Barack Obama's recent speech calling for modest changes to the NSA's call tracking program, as well as a separate set of harsh recommendations from a White House–appointed review panel in December.
While the new report staunchly opposes third-party involvement with the database, the panels agreed that the government would still have the capability to obtain phone records through traditional court orders.
The panel’s recommendation to end the program takes things a step further than the president-appointed review panel, which suggested NSA data be taken out of government hands while still preserving the agency's power.
The government is reviewing whether telephone companies should hold the NSA data or if a third-party agency should be created to collect the information.
Though the board’s analysis can only urge the government to make changes, its report provides the information required for the NSA to explore its options while setting the tone for debates on NSA reform.
Finland No. 1, US sinks to 46th in global press freedom rankingshttp://news.yahoo.com/finland--1--us-sinks-to-46th-in-global-press-freedom-rankings-145044630.html (http://news.yahoo.com/finland--1--us-sinks-to-46th-in-global-press-freedom-rankings-145044630.html)
By Olivier Knox, Yahoo News 4 hours ago
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In this image made from video released by WikiLeaks on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden speaks during a presentation ceremony for the Sam Adams Award in Moscow, Russia. Should Snowden ever return to the U.S., he would face criminal charges for leaking information about NSA surveillance programs. But legal experts say a trial could expose more classified information as his lawyers try to build a case in an open court that the operations he exposed were illegal. (AP Photo)
The United States did not live up to the promise of the First Amendment last year, “far from it,” sinking to 46th in global press freedom rankings, a respected international nonprofit group said Wednesday.
The U.S. plummeted 13 slots to 46th overall “amid increased efforts to track down whistle-blowers and the sources of leaks,” Reporters Without Borders warned in an annual report.
“The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information that would clearly be in the public interest,” the organization said.
The group, known by its French initials, RSF, also cited the Department of Justice’s seizure of Associated Press telephone records and a court’s pressure on New York Times reporter James Risen to testify against a CIA staffer accused of leaking classified information.
“The whistle-blower is clearly the enemy in the U.S.,” Delphine Halgand, who heads the RSF outpost in Washington, told Yahoo News. “Eight whistle-blowers have been charged under the Obama administration, the highest number of any administration, of all other administrations combined.”
It’s “a clear strategy of the administration” to “avoid any other version than the official version on what the administration is doing,” Halgand said.
Overall, RSF said in its report, “countries that pride themselves on being democracies and respecting the rule of law have not set an example, far from it.”
“Freedom of information is too often sacrificed to an overly broad and abusive interpretation of national security needs, marking a disturbing retreat from democratic practices. Investigative journalism often suffers as a result,” the group said.
So who does a better job than the U.S. of protecting press freedoms?
Here, in order of rank, starting with No. 1 Finland: Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, Estonia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Jamaica, Canada, Poland, Slovakia, Costa Rica, Namibia, Belgium, Cape Verde, Cyprus, Uruguay, Ghana, Australia, Belize, Portugal, Suriname, Lithuania, Britain, Slovenia, Spain, Antigua and Barbuda, Latvia, El Salvador, France, Samoa, Botswana, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Papua New Guinea and Romania.
Italy was 49th. Israel was 96th. Afghanistan was 128th. Russia was 148th. China was 175th.