My latest reading of Arianna Huffington’s Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream was rather discouraging, for it concerned the influence of special interests on the government.

According to Arianna, while the media may portray debates over legislation as dramatic conflicts over the public good, the sad fact is that, if legislation made it far enough to be debated, the lobbyists had their hands in it beforehand, making sure that there were enough loopholes for them to get by with what they do.  Moreover, Arianna discusses how the monetary penalties on unsafe mines and on certain polluters are far from tough, for they are not much money, in light of what the mines and the polluters make.  The problem, for Arianna, is not that there aren’t enough regulatory bureaucrats, but rather that the actual oversight is not adequate.  Arianna…

AL JAZEERA

“…Hundreds of students from various colleges and educational institutions in Islamabad had begun clashing with police as security forces tried to block them from reaching the embassy compoud, which also includes the British and French diplomatic missions.

The students responded by pelting the police with stones, and the police retaliated by firing tear gas shells. 

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the situation was eventually brought under ‘control’ by police and the military.

‘Police tried to control the crowd by firing in the air and using tear gas. But because of the size of the crowd, the police were forced to ask for help from the military,’ he said….

…Several students were injured when policemen hurled the stones back at the crowd. According to local television channels, several policemen were also injured.

‘Our policemen are not any better than the Americans because they are trying to stop us. They are in the same league…

The Voice For School Choice

“But private schools can’t meet the needs of all students!” We’ve often heard this claim put forward by status quo advocates at school choice hearings before the state legislature.

That statement is concerning on many levels, but the assumption that public schools are somehow meeting the needs of all students is particularly troubling. For one thing, it’s an assumption that can only be made through ignorance of graduation rates, the achievement gap, and college entrance exam scores from public schools across the state.

Is Beaufort School District meeting the needs of all students?

Not according to the State Department of Education. In fact, the district has apparently been violating federal rules about the treatment of disabled children. According to investigators from the State Department of Education, special needs students who were suspended from school for more than ten days have not been receiving required special education…

RT.com

It’s no secret that the NYPD regularly tracks movement across Manhattan using thousands of surveillance cameras installed on the island, but protesters at last week’s Occupy Wall Street anniversary were in the presence of a whole new spy system.

Researchers with the PrivacySOS.org blog spotted an unusual get-up attached to a New York Police Department vehicle during the recent September 17 actions that commemorated Occupy’s one-year anniversary. More than a week later, little remains known about unusual equipment assumed to be state-of-the-art surveillance technology previously used during presidential motorcades.

According to the post published Wednesday to PrivacySOS, increased surveillance was evident in Lower Manhattan during the OWS anniversary in the form of watch towers and cameras affixed to poles atop unmarked police cars. At least one unmarked law enforcement vehicle was also equipped with a series of spooky gadgets and gizmos connected through heavy duty cables, resembling some sort…