Moments of Awareness

  The military's not-at-all-complicated plan to read your mind: Air Force/Wired Minority Report fans, your moment has arrived: The Air Force's top scientist is trying to develop a system that can predict conflicts and terrorist attacks by collecting and analyzing your thoughts. "Social radar," as Dr. Mark Maybury calls it, is just a natural extension of what the military already does with conventional sonar and radar—except, in this case, "we also want to see into the hearts and the minds of people." It's a demand that comes straight from the US's top politicians and military brass, Maybury tells Noah Shachtman , editor of Wired 's Danger Room blog: "We're supposed to provide ISR," says Maybury, using the military acronym for intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance. "But our constituents [...] Full article at  motherjones.com   Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

Sana/Handout / EPA An image of President Bashir al-Assad watches over the scene of a pro-government rally at Sabe Bahrat square in Damascus in December. Editor's note: Cairo-based NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin is reporting from Syria this week. Follow his updates on Twitter @Aymanm By Ayman Mohyeldin , NBC News correspondent Insi de Syria Day 1 DAMASCUS -- To say that Damascus suffers from a cult of personality is an understatement. Arriving in Damascus airport, there is no mistaking who runs Syria: "Doctor Bashar al-Assad." In the short walk from the airplane to the car, I counted more than 200 posters plastered on the walls, columns, doors and pretty much everywhere my eye turned. All I could see were pictures carrying the image of Assad. From planting olive trees to donning full military dress, Assad is everywhere. Even customs officials processing our paperwork were humming pro-Assad songs. [...] Full article at  worldblog.msnbc.msn.com

Could Rosa Parks, who was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 for violating segregation laws by sitting in the white-only section of a bus and refusing to move, be considered a “homegrown terrorist” by the U.S. government today? Under the terms defined in the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act she just might be. Summary Bill Status Bill Origin & History CCR's Recommendations to Congress Government Opposition Summary back to top The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Act of 2007 (S.1959 / H.R.1955), with an estimated budget of $22 million over four years, would establish a national bipartisan commission to “[e]xamine and report upon the facts and causes of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United [...] Full article at  ccrjustice.org Of course, we'd do well not to forget about this one amidst all the hullabaloo around SOPA & PIPA. Posted via email

112 th Congress: 2011-2012 Bill numbers restart from 1 every two years. Each two-year cycle is called a session of Congress. This bill was created in the Congress, in . The titles of bills are written by the bill's sponsor and are a part of the legislation itself. GovTrack does not editorialize bill summaries. --> 91% 9% To limit the application of Federal laws to the distribution and consumption of marihuana, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep. Barney Frank [D-MA4] Status: This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. via govtrack.us Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

I love it when I can grab a bunch of stuff out of my fridge and create a great recipe.  Turns out Isa Chandra Moskowicz and I obviously share an icebox.  I got into Isa’s cookbooks only recently as I am not Vegan , only Vegan-ish.  I’m considered Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian , so it was just a bit ago that I discovered that her TV show Post Punk Kitchen is now available on Google Video.  As a side note, I’m happy to say that this Oprah mainstream stuff did not inspire me to go Veg or Vegan for that matter and I don’t rely on a personal chef to cook my meals for me.  Hell, if I have a personal chef, of course I’d be Vegan!!!!!  I’d also have a personal trainer, a car service, a magical camera to make me look skinny from all angles, the list goes on, and on.  However, I don’t live on Fantasy Island and I certainly do not have humpback whales to give each of you [...] Full post at  vegbonvivant.wordpress.com   Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

From: Jess Kutch, Change.org Date: Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 11:25 PM   Ask gaming company Electronic Arts to oppose the Internet censorship bill. Congress has a plan to change the Internet forever. A bill they're debating right now would  give the government power to shut down whole websites, and even let corporations say which websites should be shut down . That means a huge corporation could have any website even suspected of violating a copyright shut down -- no questions asked. The government could then  completely block all access to sites as big as Facebook or YouTube  if  one  person posts  one  thing on those websites that corporations don't want online. Most major entertainment companies have come out in support of the bill, but despite swirling rumors, the huge video-gaming company Electronic Arts (EA) has yet to take an official stance. However, EA is part of the Entertainment Software Association, one of the big corporate lobby