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Torture and domestic Spying, the really big picture.

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I have been reading some of the Right-Wing Blogs, and they either don’t get it, or they do and believe that anything that will protect them from the great terrorist boggy man is Ok by them.

Don’t they ever get the point, Domestic spying is illegal. The Bush Administration know this. They also know that any evidence acquired in this method can never be used in an American Court of Law. It would be thrown out for being illegally obtained, this is why the FISA courts began denying so many of the taps requested by this Administration.

If they can not use this information to bring criminals and terrorist to trial, what good is it?

It’s being used to snatch people in the U.S., and other countries, for the other illegal act they are promoting, Rendition, a pretty word for Kidnapping and Torture.

Hasn’t anyone else figured this out yet?

Bush and Chaney had no intention of ‘bringing terrorist to justice’ they are too busy establishing a Rein of Terror of their own.

Impeach Bush, Chaney and the rest of this corrupt and Illegal government.

Update: FBI Sought Data on Thousands in ’05

Updated again: The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans

Any more arguments?

Osama Bin Laden as counterpoint

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Isn’t it so very interesting that everything in the speech from Bin Laden acts as a counterpoint to George Bush. At a time when Bush’s popularity is at it’s lowest.

Osama opens his mouth, and fill George’s hand with trumps.

I may have to add another layer to my tinfoil hat.

Update: looks like I’m not the only one who thought that the reappearance of Osama was ‘convenient’ Duke Professor Skeptical of bin Laden Tape

Conservative’s and The Fear of Change

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I have been in some ‘discussions’ with the other side of the political fence. And the first impressions I have received in many of these cases is, one of fear. Having read Why I Am Not a Conservative I quote:

Conservatism proper is a legitimate, probably necessary, and certainly widespread attitude of opposition to drastic change…

…It is that by its very nature it cannot offer an alternative to the direction in which we are moving. It may succeed by its resistance to current tendencies in slowing down undesirable developments, but, since it does not indicate another direction, it cannot prevent their continuance. It has, for this reason, invariably been the fate of conservatism to be dragged along a path not of its own choosing.

It’s no wonder that often the ‘banter’ from the Right so often results in name calling. Much like a child who either does not get his way, or the way is not of his choosing, and is then resisting without being able to give an alternative.

The child in the conservative is unable to cope with change. And the faster the change the more the resistance to change.

We live at Internet speeds, information on so many subjects smacking us in the face all the time. Things like religion being confronted by Science, Politics and truth. Mass Media, and Blogs. All constitute changes that draw fire from the conservatives.

There was a great program on RTE about Petrol Dollars and Petrol Euros and the real reason for the invasion of Iraq. ‘The continuation of American Dominance through the perpetuation of the Petrol Dollar as the foundation of the American Economy.’ Change, creates Fear, fear of what might happen to the U.S. economy which is founded almost entirely on the non renewable resource of oil.

And just like the child, the conservative, who can not offer up an alternative (like alternative energy) the conservatives resist, like a child, clutching onto the bitter end of a dropped stick of candy. Unable to see another new piece to suck on. The conservatives will never see another source of economic stability other than Oil.

So rather than accept change, a change that will come anyway, they would rather kill thousands, rob and pillage billions from others to hold on to their savior, God of Oil.

There will be Petrol Euros, and Evolution is a fact. If we could put all the conservatives into a padded cell until the changes that will happen, do. We are stuck educating the conservatives with the truth. Baby spoons anyone?

Whither we like them or not, such changes are going to happen. Unless we are open-minded enough, meaning liberal enough, to discover alternatives to these changes. we will cease to continue on this planet.

The future will happen without us, if it has to.

Fraudulent Externalities

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I am still fascinated by Externality. Much of the thought is about assumptions. If you mask the Externalities you create from your assumptions, or control the appearance of the Externality you created, having certain assumptions, until the cost of the externality comes due.

Would this be considered fraud, or merely inadequate assumptions?

If the Externality is one you could not see when you made your assumption. Either from inexperience, or not seeing the bigger picture.

Is this then a valid definition of Incompetence?, or Negligence?

Either way, Incompetence, or fraud, would the American people have stood by the President if they knew that the war on Iraq would have cost 1 to 2 Trillion (yes, trillion) U.S. Dollars, more than 2000 plus dead U.S. soldiers 18,000 Wounded. And 30,000 plus Iraqi civilians?

Incompetence, or fraud, either one is an Impeachable offense.

Time to Impeach the entire NeoCon agenda. Starting with Bush

This should scare everyone.

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There is nothing in the world that won’t be used to increase taxes. Navigating future for road charges. GPS was invented to help navigate, defend and attack. Not as a means to spy on and make money from new taxes.

Powerful applications are expected on the roads; the Galileo network would allow a vehicle’s exact movements to be tracked, presenting new possibilities for road-user charging and tolling.

And it’s not like the government will stop road tax and petrol dutys. After all, they will claim that they must continue, “because not all vehicle’s are currently equipped with the GPS” nanny monitors.

But beyond this as a money making tool, what about the privacy issues.

Can you imagine.

Maybe you should.

The ‘Liberal’ Press?

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I have been bothered by a recent study the claims to document the ‘Liberal’ bias of the press. And it struck me that the problem here is that word, Liberal. The has been another propaganda word. Spun to mean something bad.

Liberal
broad: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; “a broad political stance”; “generous and broad sympathies”; “tolerant of his opponent’s opinions”

This is clearly a definition of real America Values like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion In America, to be a good citizen you need to be ‘Liberal’, period! To respect the fact that someone might hold an opinion other than your own. If not for the ‘Liberal’ Press who would represent any opposing view point. The press, were it not Liberal, would be required to represent only one viewpoint. And that wouldn’t be Freedom of the Press

But for most, this is a hard job. But no one said U.S. citizenship was supposed to be easy. To allow someone to shout at the top of their lungs, that which you would oppose at the top of your lungs, takes real effort, real citizenship.

This citizenship seems to be sadly lacking in the Right-Wing blogsphere, and the Republican propaganda machine.

There were these two fishing buddies…

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And every year they would fish together and catch each other up on events.
One was a Catholic Priest and the other was a Jewish Rabbi.

One year the Priest tells his buddy the Rabbi;

“There was a young fellow from my parish who just became a Priest.”

And the Rabbi replied;

“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”

Years later the Priest is telling his fishing partner;

“You know that young priest from my parish, well, you know he just became a Bishop.”

And the Rabbi replied;

“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”

Several years later and the Priest continues;

“You know that Priest from my parish that became the Bishop? Well now he’s become a Cardinal. Can you believe that?”

And the Rabbi replied again;

“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”

Many years later and the Priest begins again;

“You know that Priest from my parish who became a Bishop, then became a Cardinal. He’s now the Pope, isn’t that fantastic?”

And the Rabbi replied again;

“Sure, sure, that’s nice. No big deal.”

At this point the priest can make no more, and explodes;

“Why do say that this, is it not a grand thing, this priest went from being a priest in my village to being the Pope, leader of the Christian faith. And you tell me this is not a big deal. What do you want him to be, Jesus Christ?”

And the Rabbi replies;

“Why not? One of our guys made it!”

Merry Christmas to all.

Traffic Lights in a Democratic Republic

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Having read again that the U.S. isn’t really a true democracy, but a republic. A republic that has at it roots, protections of the rights of the minority. It brings to light more of the ‘Republican’ goals, to replace the Republic with a democracy, where the majority requires the conformance of the minority. To reflect in everything they profess, no Gay rights, no Evolution, no Abortion, NO PERSONAL CHOICE only the majority chooses what it right, and correct for everyone. And only what is commercially correct. Everyone must believe in Christmas, Christmas is good for business.

I prefer the protection of the Republic for the rights of the individual and minority groups. Like freedom of speech, and religion.

I have often often wonder how ‘founded’ this ideal is, in the real world. And it came to me, traffic lights. (I know very strange)

Have you ever sat a traffic light, where no cars were crossing. Or where you are in a main traffic way, and the lights stop you, and hundreds of other car to allow only one car to cross or enter your traffic? That is the republic in action, protecting the single car from the majority of others from entering or crossing the lane.

In Ireland and other European countries, the ’roundabout’ is common, a truly democratic traffic condition, a single car cannot enter or cross until there is a break in the majority lane. I can not count the times when I have heard ’roundabouts’ equated with ‘chaos’ and they are. The term ‘Fate favors the Foolish’ can be attributed to roundabouts. But here in Ireland, and I’m sure in other places as well, traffic lights have been instituted at roundabouts, because in high traffic periods, roundabouts (ie. democracies) cannot cope. The republic rules, to correct the inadequacy of the democratic chaos created by the roundabout.

Here’s hoping.

History upon a media floats.

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Watching a documentary about underage British soldiers in WWI. They presented many cases of mail, not email but letters, from the soldier to parents and loved ones, and from parents to their children. And it struck me that much of the domestic history we view is wrapped up in letters. Paper letters, written most often longhand, and delivered by whatever postal method existed at the time.

One of the most important archeological artifacts of our time is called The Rosetta Stone. which is really only a set of decrees. Not some piece of literature in a library, but a plain bit of government ‘paperwork’ . It provided a vital key in cross translation that was missing in ancient Egyptian language.

Moving forward, to current times, I look at the way my wife and I treat our emails. I have always kept my in folders in my email system. My wife will always print any important email, then delete everything else in the inbox. She never keeps email electronically. Bill Gates mentioned that the Blu-Ray, HD DVD media will be the last physical media ever produced. And while I doubt this, it brings up an important issue. Who will document us as a people in the future, and with what? If all future media, literature, emails, communications will be stored in ephemeral media electronically or otherwise. What will tell of our stories in the future?

If the electronic history is anything, it is a story of change. Changing protocols formats, (ASCII, Unicode) different document formats, and storage media. If say, I had keep my resume on 8 inch Floppies, who in the future would be able to read my CV on a IBM-3740 format encoded in BCD and what “Rosetta Stone” would they be using?

When is the last time you watched a movie about a lost or misdirected email in a romantic setting. Letters, yes, email not a chance. What if Shakespeare, had written his works in WordStar version 1? Would anyone value a newly discovered e-manuscript? Or even be able to read it? Not a chance. Physical media, substance, printed materials, BOOKS, will survive. They are our future for history.

Massachusetts may have hit upon a weak link in this electronic history when it attempted to standardize on an open document for future government documents. These may prove to be the future Rosetta stone for the historians. A method to remember the meaning of all language translations, or not.
But for now, I think I’m going to stop saving my important documents in PDF. and start printing them on good low acid paper and black ink. (and who said computers would make a paperless office ;-))

The story never changes, only the stage upon which it is played.

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I am not a reader of the Nuremberg Trials documents, but this one was posted at AMERICAblog and the quote brings to light that we as humans are still governed like cattle.

“Naturally, the common people don’t want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.”

Hermann Goering, Hitler’s Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials

So the actors have changed, but the plot remains the same.

World Wide Thanksgiving

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It looks like the entire Blogspace and most of the RSS feeds I read have dried up for American Thanksgiving.

I’m not sure if I’m that grateful. But I’ll get by. If the Republicans are stuffing themselves with turkey, they they won’t be causing any disasters today. Unless excessive flatulence increases global warming or something.

I’m just glad my wife made a pumpkin pie.

The spoils of war = The mission of the War

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I wrote about this issue here: Follow the Money
And maybe someone listened, but now the facts are really coming out.

The postmortem of war is this, “The Ends, Justify the Means!” and hence the motivations as well. The Iraq war was never about terrorism, it was about American and British Oil companies wanting control of Iraqi oil.
and you can read more here, Iraq’s oil: The spoils of war