London’s dystopian Olympics: criminal sanctions for violating the exclusivity of sponsors’ brands

As London ramps up for the 2012 Olympics, a dystopian regime of policing and censorship on behalf of the games’ sponsors is coming online. A special squad of “brand police” will have the power to force pubs to take down signs advertising “watch the games on our TV,” to sticker over the brand-names of products at games venues where those products were made by companies other than the games’ sponsors, to send takedown notices to YouTube and Facebook if attendees at the games have the audacity to post their personal images for their friends to see, and more. What’s more, these rules are not merely civil laws, but criminal ones, so violating the sanctity of an Olympic sponsor could end up with prison time for Londoners. [via boingboing]

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I can probably be detained just for writing this about the 2012 Olympics

I think it may be time to once and for all put the Olympics out of its misery. Read on to learn how London is designing a police state that North Korea would be jealous of.

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Right = Wrong, The War with the Customer Shortlink

Romney: “I have a Hispanic fellow who mows my lawn and I would have him do that at the White House.” (via @BorowitzReport)

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Romney income calculator: How much does Mitt make? How long would it take him to earn your salary?

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/01/romney_income_calculator_how_much_does_mitt_make_how_long_would_it_take_him_to_earn_your_salary_.html

It would take me 288 years, 9 months, 24 days, 18 hours, 58 minutes and 45 seconds to make what Mitt made in 2010.

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Warren Buffet on class warfare


As Warren Buffet commented on the Republicans’ assertion that taxing the rich is class warfare, “If this is a war, my side has the nuclear bomb.”

Right = Wrong Shortlink

A 375-Year-Old French Bank Forgives Debts of Paris’ Poorest

http://www.good.is/post/a-375-year-old-french-bank-forgives-debts-of-paris-poorest/

Fun Stuff Shortlink

Guess they pay artichoke pickers too much around here

Watching the only TV station (KSBW) on the Monterey peninsula this morning, I was surprised to see an Editorial – I didn’t know they did those anymore on local tv. But as I listened to the president and general manager, Joseph Weston, I started yelling at the screen.
In a nutshell: he’s opposed to raising the minimum wage. The tired argument he trotted out was that it would raise prices. Then he played video of an editorial he did 8 years ago about the same subject. For the better part of a decade, here’s what he has been advocating:

  • Instead of giving the poor more money, lower their taxes so they could keep more of their own money.
  • to compensate for that tax cut, raise user fees.

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Right = Wrong Shortlink

Struggling woman caring for her sick child is given $60 by multimillionaire candidate for president. http://t.co/E3lQnCKe (from @cnn)

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