Tag Archives | United States

Video Games Now Legally Considered An Art Form In The U.S.

By on May 23, 2011 in News 16

Pac ManPaul Tassi writes in Forbes:

Roger Ebert’s Twitter has informed me this morning that the government has attempted to prove him wrong in the seemingly endless “games as art” debate.The famed critic got many riled up when he said that no, games were not art, and in fact, they never possibly could be. He was hailed by some as an old man out of touch, but more pressingly, one who didn’t PLAY the games he was critiquing, which is rather essential to the experience.

But gamers have now found themselves an unlikely ally in the debate, the National Endowment for the Arts, which for 2012 has reclassified their definition of “art” to the following:

Projects may include high profile multi-part or single television and radio programs (documentaries and dramatic narratives); media created for theatrical release; performance programs; artistic segments for use within an existing series; multi-part webisodes; installations; and interactive games. Short films, five minutes and under, will be considered in packages of three or more.

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The Rise of ‘Sovereign Citizens’ (Video)

By on May 21, 2011 in News 57

A slanted, but interesting story from CBS’ 60 Minutes:

This is a story about a group of Americans you’ve likely never heard of: they’re called “sovereign citizens.” Many don’t pay taxes, carry a driver’s license or hold a Social Security card. They have little regard for the police or the courts, and some have become violent.

The FBI lists them among the nation’s top domestic terror threats.

By some estimates, there are as many as 300,000 sovereign citizens in the U.S. And with the sluggish economy and mortgage mess, their ranks are growing.

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Wikileaks Cables Show Race To Carve Up Arctic

By on May 14, 2011 in News 18

ArcticBBC News reports:

Secret US embassy cables released by Wikileaks show nations are racing to “carve up” Arctic resources — oil, gas and even rubies — as the ice retreats.

They suggest that Arctic states, including the US and Russia, are all pushing to stake a claim.

The opportunity to exploit resources has come because of a dramatic fall in the amount of ice in the Arctic.

The US Geological Survey estimates oil reserves off Greenland are as big as those in the North Sea.

The cables were released by the Wikileaks whistleblower website as foreign ministers from the eight Arctic Council member states – Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland – met in Nuuk, Greenland on Thursday to sign a treaty on international search-and-rescue in the Arctic and discuss the region’s future challenges.

The cables claim the Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller joked with the Americans saying “if you stay out, then the rest of us will have more to carve up in the Arctic”.

… Read the rest

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Why The Ron Paul Presidential Run Will Be A MUCH Bigger Deal This Time Around

By on May 1, 2011 in News 20

Ron PaulWill Ron Paul be a serious presidential contender for the 2012 election? Joe Weisenthal writes for Business Insider:

It’s just obvious that in the last four years, since the last time Ron Paul ran for President, the ideological center of gravity in the GOP — and the whole country for that matter — has shifted a lot closer to Ron Paul’s position.

In 2008, Paul ran a cult campaign as a libertarian, anti-Fed, anti-war Republican.

At the time, nobody in the GOP really cared about the Fed, and for the most part, Bush’s wars enjoyed broad support.

Today they’re Obama’s wars, and the Fed is one of the most disliked institutions around, taking daily abuse even from mainstream outlets like CNBC.

It’s inconceivable to think that in the GOP primary, candidates won’t be asked for their position on Bernanke, quantitative easing, the role of the dollar, and of all the candidates, only Ron Paul has made a career on all these issues.

… Read the rest

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Superman Giving Up American Citizenship

By on April 29, 2011 in News 48

SupermanWhat I want to know is why he didn’t do this after the Bush administration lied through its teeth in order to launch two never-ending preemptive wars. Needless to say the usual suspects are outraged at Superman’s perceived lack of patriotism. The Guardian reports (thanks to Lynne C. for sending us the link):

After years of declaring he stood for “truth, justice and the American way,” Superman has provoked the ire of rightwingers by threatening to renounce his US citizenship.

In the latest issue of Action Comics, which went on sale on Wednesday, the Man of Steel decides to take the step after he intervenes in a protest against the Iranian government.

After the Islamic regime brands his non-violent protest as an act of war taken on behalf of the US president, the DC comic hero says he will renounce his citizenship before the United Nations.

“I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of US policy,” he says.

… Read the rest

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Dogs Playing Poker: Leave The Gamblers Alone!

By on April 24, 2011 in News 6

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, 1903.

John Stossel writes on Fox Business:

Yesterday ESPN announced they will remove all poker-related programming and advertising (except for this year’s World Series of Poker).

Wimps. And the gambling industry is no better. Industry lobbyist, former senator Al D’Amato, claims “[poker] is a game of skill” and therefore should not be subjected to federal anti-gambling laws. “Regulate it, but don’t ban it,” he says.

Give me a break. The cowardice of business in standing up for free markets never ceases to amaze me.

What wimps! Why don’t they have the courage to say the government has NO business intervening in an activity between consenting adults? I’d hope the poker lobby and the leading sports network would defend the game and its players. Instead they push legal tricks or distance themselves from poker.

The feds accuse the companies of bank fraud and money laundering…

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U.S. Homeland Security Changes Color Coded Terror Alert

By on April 20, 2011 in News 10

431px-US_Navy_020312-O-0000X-001_Homeland_Security_Advisory_SystemFrom Peter Fedynsky at Voice Of America:

The United States is adopting a new terror alert system to replace the color-coded one put into place after the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made the announcement Wednesday in New York’s Grand Central railway station.  The new system is set to go into effect on April 26.

Secretary Napolitano told reporters that most Americans have ignored current alert system, while some have lived in fear because of it.

“We don’t want people to live in fear; we want people to live in a state of alertness and awareness,” said Secretary Napolitano. “And we want people to know how they can help themselves, how they can assist their community.  One way to do that is to provide people with more information.”

Napolitano noted that the new National Threat Advisory System minimizes, but does not eliminate, the risk of terrorist attacks because, as she puts it, “the United States cannot be put under a glass dome.”  But she said the new system maximizes the amount of information shared with the public about credible threats.

… Read the rest

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Constitutional Lawyer Drafts Obama Impeachment

By on April 16, 2011 in News 26

Ben Smith writes for Politico:

A prominent libertarian constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian has drafted an article of impeachment against President Obama over his attack on Libya, throwing down a legal gauntlet that could be picked up by some Congressional Republicans.

Bruce Fein, a former Reagan administration official in the Department of Justice and chairman of American Freedom Agenda writes in his 15-page argument of Obama’s course that “Barack Hussein Obama has mocked the rule of law, endangered the very existence of the Republic and the liberties of the people, and perpetrated an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.”

Fein is a small-government conservative who worked on the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and also called for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and his work doesn’t represent the Republican Party line. But it comes as some Republicans on the Hill, led by Senator Rand Paul, object vociferously to Obama’s decision to strike targets in Libya without Congressional authorization.

… Read the rest

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More Black Men Now In Prison System Than Were Enslaved Before the Civil War Began

By on April 2, 2011 in News 104

LA Progressive reports on law professor Michelle Alexander’s stunning claims:

“More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began,” Michelle Alexander told a standing room only house at the Pasadena Main Library this past Wednesday, the first of many jarring points she made in a riveting presentation…

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Indiana Prosecutor Resigns After Suggesting Staging ‘Fake Attack’ In Wisconsin

By on March 27, 2011 in News 12

Carlos F. LamVic Ryckaert and Kevin O’Neal report in the Indianapolis Star:

For the second time, an Indiana public official has lost his job because of provocative comments made about the political brouhaha in Wisconsin.

Carlos F. Lam, a Johnson County deputy prosecutor, resigned Thursday after acknowledging he sent an email last month urging Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to discredit labor union protests by orchestrating a fake assault on himself.

Possibly, Lam suggested, the pretend assailant might even use a firearm.

Lam’s boss, Prosecutor Bradley D. Cooper, accepted the resignation. He called Lam’s Feb. 19 email to Walker a “foolish suggestion.”

On Feb. 23, the Indiana Attorney General’s office fired deputy Atty. Gen. Jeff Cox after he suggested in blog posts and on Twitter that police use live ammunition on protesters who had poured into Wisconsin’s Capitol.

The political fight in Wisconsin erupted when Walker, a Republican, called for eliminating collective bargaining for public employees.

… Read the rest

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