On any given day we’re lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lie can be subtle and counter-intuitive. Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, shows the manners and “hotspots” used by those trained to recognize deception — and she argues honesty is a value worth preserving.
10 Amazing Facts About the Human Face and How It Reveals Deception:
CIA Director George Tenet showed at least a few of Pamela Meyer’s 30 “tells” of deception during his time in front of the 9/11 Commission investigation.
Recently an architect called for keeping terrorism and fear in mind when planning an urban development. The media everyday reminds us of “terrorists” and that we should be alert, vigilant and willing to be groped for our safety. How many times are the FBI really just setting up young, desperate, dark-skinned men as opposed to actually stopping a “terror plot”?
Well, here are some excerpts from an article I found recently detailing a few changes in the school’s safety apparatus since 9/11. The article comes from Walden University. Lets take a look:
According to SchoolSecurity.org, several schools were unprepared for terrorist threats on U.S. soil before 9/11….
Many school emergency plans around the country were useless to the children because they did not address terrorism specifically.
Since 9/11, safety drills in schools have become more frequent….
New safety programs seek to identifying different types of emergencies, such as domestic terrorism, nuclear accidents, hostage situations, bomb threats and student violence. Schools nationwide have implemented stronger police-school-community partnerships and more cost-effective security measures during national security terror level alerts.
Some parents may feel intimidated or apprehensive when they see additional law enforcement or metal detectors placed in schools. Schools are protecting children from the worst case scenarios, such as terrorist or bomb threats, sniper attacks and bomb detonations. They are also protecting the school against other students that could harm or pose a threat to students and faculty. Since 9/ 11, not only terrorist attacks have become a possibility, so has student violence and the increased threat for biological terrorism.
Since 9/11 more preventative measures have been established. Cameras that track the footage of most areas of the school premises are common. School lock-down procedures during which no child or adult is allowed to enter or exit the building establishes better safety procedures. Diligence and an increased awareness….have been some of the most beneficial changes in promoting safety awareness in schools since 9/11.
The U.S. spends more for war annually than all state governments combined spend for the health, education, welfare, and safety of 308 million Americans.
Joseph Henchman, director of state projects for the Tax Foundation of Washington, D.C. says the states collected a total of $781 billion in taxes in 2008.
For a rough comparison, according to Wikipedia data, the total budget for defense in fiscal year 2010 will be at least $880 billion and could possibly top $1 trillion. That’s more than all the state governments collect.
We are fighting illegal preemptive wars against three countries. Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. The resulting wars have caused well over 1,000,000 casualties. Preemptive war is illegal according to the Nuremberg Charter, and the United Nations charter. These wars are destabilizing the entire Middle East, and causing anti-American sentiment throughout the world.
In America, the Constitution is being forgotten with the passage of bills like the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act. Americans are forced to wonder if their conversations are being monitored through the use of illegal wiretapping. The freedom of the press, and the right to peacefully assemble is being discarded.
Executive Power within the United States is being expanded to the point of near-dictatorship, and accountability for the actions of the Executive, and other members of Government is non-existent.
A constant state of fear is the norm.
Billions upon billions are being spent on the previously mentioned wars, and things that are needed for the people are being forgotten about.
Soldiers are dying, are being subjected to multiple tours of duty, are being exposed to depleted uranium and chemical weapons, are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, are committing suicide at an astounding rate, are being fed propaganda in order to murder innocents, and are having their families destroyed.
With overwhelming bipartisan support, the United States House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a massive $636 billion military appropriations bill for 2010.
The bill includes some $128 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it does not fully fund the Obama administration’s escalation in Afghanistan, making likely further appropriations for war spending next year.
The deployment of 30,000 additional US troops is expected to cost $35 to $40 billion a year. On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that the first of the new troops ordered to Afghanistan have begun to arrive.
December 15 is neglected by most Americans for its historical significance as the anniversary of the Bill of Rights. Even worse, American politicians neglect the actual Bill of Rights on a day-to-day basis.
Whether or not the Bill of Rights can ever be an effective means of limiting the government is open to debate. However, the Bill of Rights does offer a fairly good outline of a free society, and it shows how far our country has strayed.
In an America with a full respect for the Bill of Rights, there would be no Federal Communications Commission regulating the airwaves and forbidding certain speech, no Federal Election Commission limiting how much Americans can donate to political candidates or what they can say in independent political ads, no Food and Drug Administration harassment of pharmaceutical and wine producers regarding their commercial speech, no federal laws that have anything to do with religion whatsoever, and no federally established “free-speech zones.” Read the rest of this entry »
Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not “set them free” but instead further demoralize them? Has such a demoralization happened in the United States? Do some totalitarians actually want us to hear how we have been screwed because they know that humiliating passivity in the face of obvious oppression will demoralize us even further? What forces have created a demoralized, passive, disCouraged U.S. population? Can anything be done to turn this around?
Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not “set them free” but instead further demoralize them?
YES. It is called the “abuse syndrome.” How do abusive pimps, spouses, bosses, corporations, and governments stay in control? They shove lies, emotional and physical abuses, and injustices in their victims’ faces, and when victims are afraid to exit from these relationships, they get weaker; and so the abuser then makes their victims eat even more lies, abuses, and injustices, resulting in victims even weaker as they remain in these relationships.
All 40 occupiers were released from Wheeler Hall a little after 9 p.m. to cheers and applause from the crowd which surrounded the building. Read the rest of this entry »
Shortly before 8:00 Tuesday morning, a concerned parent visited the elementary school at West-Mont Christian Academy in North Coventry, Pennsylvania. After checking in at the desk, the teacher was escorted to the lobby to wait for his child’s kindergarten teacher. Read the rest of this entry »
Police arrested 52 students protesting a tuition hike Thursday at the University of California-Davis and held them in jail overnight without food. One was reportedly beaten by police, a source close to the incident tells Raw Story. Read the rest of this entry »
Political observers like The Atlantic‘s Andrew Sullivan have argued that one of the most dangerous elements of the Bush administration’s torture policies was the risk that a “torture mentality” would take hold in American society.
Those who seek evidence for that theory need look no further than Great Falls, Montana, where two teacher’s aides have been charged with using water torture on a middle school student.
Julie Ann Parrish and Kristina Marie Kallies face one count each of felony abuse after allegations that they forced a 13-year-old autistic boy’s head under water after he fell asleep in class. They also stand accused of “forcing him to sit in his soiled pants for hours and making him eat his own vomit when he got sick,” reports KTLA in Los Angeles.
Posted by Brian 
