Category: Politics

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I’m more than a little uncomfortable with this

This article is disturbing to me on a number of levels.

UAVs

The US government is beginning to use UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) to conduct surveillance over the United States. 

First and foremost, I’m mindful that ALL Governments abuse their power. I have no reason to believe that our government is any different.

In the aftermath of 911 our government enacted The Patriot Act. I, like most Americans at the time thought, “Sure, a temporary abridgment of our rights is worth it to provide for the security of our nation.

At the time I thought that the US government would simply contact everyone that was here on expired visas and give them a deadline to leave. I expected that we’d also severely restrict travel from any countries that were known to harbor extremists. Further I thought that all student visas would be cancelled and foreign students would be asked to return to their home countries while we assessed the threat, and came up with a plan to secure our borders.

All of these logical preventative measures while inconvenient to those affected would have allowed the country some breathing room. Yes it sounds xenophobic… However at the time it was pretty damn obvious that the enemy in an as yet undeclared war was already within our borders.

As we now know… none of these logical steps were taken.

In the period after 9/11 to this day our borders are not secured. There are people from every country in the world who have remained here after their visas ran out, and still others who are here after crossing the border like thieves in the night. Some of these people contribute to the economy and some do not…

The one common element is that all of these people are here and remain so illegally.

Obviously The Patriot Act wasn’t what we thought it was, and it’s purpose was not to help protect the country from external threats.

What I and millions of other Americans forgot is;  once rights are taken away by the State, they are never returned. This truism was brought home by none other than President Obama when he signed the extension of The Patriot Act.

Hope and Change? MY ASS!

Obviously, the government wants to maintain the “Special Powers” so that they can continue the inexorable march toward a police state.

Using Drones over American Soil is another step toward a state wherein the enemy of the United States (AKA Our Government) is in fact the people that are being governed.  

Aerial surveillance is a simple way to bypass the expense of having surveillance cameras mounted everywhere as is done in London. A side benefit is that the populace may not notice a UAV flying overhead sending live video data back to law enforcement. 

There are those that argue surveillance of the kind used in London deters crime.

I agree and disagree. Those people marginally tempted to commit an opportunistic crime will probably be deterred by cameras on every street corner.

A hardened criminal will be undeterred and will actively find methods to obfuscate their identities. The ever popular ski mask and hooded sweatshirt come to mind. 

So while you may not have as many purse snatchings, you’ll still have the really hard crimes.

I’m absolutely opposed to a UAV flying over my house taking pictures of my mundane life, and every other American should be too.This is a violation of privacy, and the potential for abuse is far too high.

Currently thanks to The Patriot Act and other more clandestine laws abridging our rights, our government has the right, desire, and ability to watch virtually every aspect of our lives.

Every communication via whatever media (Landline, Cellphone, Internet, radio) can be monitored without warrant or notification right now!

Don’t forget, your cell phone, and many new vehicles with OnStar type systems can also easily be tracked. My car for example, has the ability to report it’s exact location via GPS. Another thing few people consider is that most cars with all their modern electronics can be disabled remotely.

Sure, it’s called anti theft but the other side of that coin is that if, for some reason the government or law enforcement wanted to arrest you it’s a pretty simple matter to immobilize you in your fancy new car. Spike strips, high speed chases? Nahhh a single command transmitted via the cellular network and your engine simply turns off.

Our government using UAVs simply means that in addition to all the above… Any citizen can be followed, observed, their activities recorded, their acquaintances documented and whatever “evidence” is collected can be used against the citizen by an all powerful, all seeing government.

UAVs don’t have to be large. The same technology that allows you to upload a YouTube video from your cellphone, can be used to allow a small inexpensive UAV to spy on you.

George Orwell’s 1984 is happening right now.

So what are We The People going to do about it?

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In yet another spectacular failure of the American Education System…

Anderson Cooper interviews a supporter of Pastor Charles Worley.

Pastor Worley has recently come to national attention because of a sermon he delivered, in which he suggested that the Gays should be put in concentration camps to die off.

The good pastor and his church have taken a lot of heat for his sermon.

This young lady, I respect because she at least had the gumption to stand up for her pastor, her church, and her beliefs.

Sadly it appears that she hadn’t really thought out her game plan and she was obviously no match for Anderson.

A friend sent me this link

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/05/24/ac-intv-church-member-defends-pastor.cnn

After watching the video I almost felt sorry for her.

However, my brain was hurting so badly by that point all I could think is, “She’s obviously a poster child for the failure of the American education system.”

Then I thought, “This is why we must teach human reproduction in school, cause this lady obviously doesn’t understand how babies are made.”

In fairness she does apparently come from an area of our country where fundamentalist Christians manage to block almost any social or scientific progress. Unless of course the scientific progress is in proving that God exists, or improved lung cancer treatments. I do hope she knows you can’t get pregnant from a toilet seat.

Anderson was nice to her too. He really didn’t rip her up as much as he could have. I guess thats one of the things I like most about Mr. Cooper, he adjusts his style to the intellect level of the interviewee.

Unfortunately… for Anderson to have reduced himself to her level would have required a Doctor and a Lobotomy.

Lets review;

1) Gay People are usually born to straight parents…

2) Putting all the gay men in one camp and all the lesbians in another camp would simply create one hell of a party! All these people wouldn’t have to work anymore and they could devote all that free time to working on their tans, literature, science, architecture, and of course… the next haute couture and hairstyling products for the straight people.

Mr Cooper did make one minor tactical error. It’s not his fault.

How could he have known about the time warp that exists in the Carolinas?

The folks living  there are still trying to get over the North having won the Civil War. They’ve only just begun to work through the complexities of World Wars 1 & 2. This poor lady probably didn’t realize that gay people were exterminated right along with Jewish people. That’s IF she even knew what a concentration camp was…

I’m sure that she’s never met a gay person. <wink, wink, nudge, nudge> At the risk of invoking a stereotype… I KNOW she’s never met a gay person! Clearly her hair dresser is straight!

The friend who sent me the clip said “You can’t fix stupid”

My response was “Sure you can… You give everyone IQ tests and the really dumb ones you put into two camps, all the men in one camp and all the women in another.  Then you make sure the fences are electrified and wait for the stupid people to die off. OH Wait!!! I’ve heard this plan before somewhere!“

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Psycho News #1

The recent flap over Ted Nugents comments started me thinking…

120504 ted nugent 380

More often than not I read or watch news broadcasts and find myself saying WTF? It’s led me to the conclusion the reason the world thinks we’re nuts is beacuse of News like the following bits of psychosis.

Here for your amusement is the first installment of Psycho News…

Mr Nugent said some things that the liberal media blew up into a “potential threat”. The media flap cost the American Taxpayers a chunk of change because the secret service felt obligated to investigate.

Really?

Ted Nugent NEVER, I REPEAT never threatened the president. At worst his comments sounded to me like he expected to be in jail because of his participation in protests of acts of civil disobedience. It’s not like we haven’t seen people arrested in recent years during protests… That Nugent said it was possible that he might be dead speaks to a general belief among conspiracy theorists that vocal dissenters end up having “Accidents“.

It’s all in how you choose to interpret the information. In this case a simple statement was blown out of proportion by an overly sensitive liberal sensationalist media.

Then I saw an interview on 60 Minutes with Leslie Stahl where she was interviewing a former CIA operative Jose A Rodriguez Jr. about his book Hard Measures.

 Leslie StahlAs I watched the 60 Minutes piece I couldn’t help noticing the squeamishness of Ms. Stahl while Mr Rodriguez calmly and rationally explained the mechanics of getting information from detained terrorists.

Ms. Stahl appeared at points downright argumentative. She kept using the word torture like a hammer.  Yeah by any stretch of the imagination we tortured detainees. We didn’t slit their throats, or saw off their heads on camera. We engaged in “Torture Lite”, we had protocols and rules and with few exceptions we followed those protocols. 

My opinion of the interview was that Ms. Stahl was trying to spin the CIA, Mr. Rodriguez, and our interrogation methods as negatively as possible. 

I found Mr. Rodriguezs reasoning sound. In defense of my nation well…. In all honesty I would have been far less humane about how I gathered information. I’m a firm believer that communication is best facilitated when you’re speaking the same language.

In the case of Al Qaeda and The Taliban the language that they use to make their point is a language of brutality and torture. Torture, I might add that is far worse than anything the CIA has done.

I could see dusting off Torquemadas‘ and the Marquis de Sades‘ reference books on the subjects of compliance and conversion then pulling out all the stops. Just imagine The Rack powered by a wench motor!

However, were I to speak to Al Qaeda and The Taliban in this language I’d be labeled a “War Criminal” and no doubt be brought to trial.  In the case of the Al Qaeda and Taliban murderers… It’s obvious there will never be any changes filed in any court either here in the US or in The World Court at The Hague.

470 pastor responds 120503

Last Sunday a preacher in North Carolina advocated torture of effeminate boys as he ranted against a ballot measure 1. So much for freedom and tolerance guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution… and where the hell is Leslie Stahl? Shouldn’t she be interviewing people in this church? Where is the liberal medias sensitivity in this case?

What does it mean when we’ll express concern over torturing combatants in war, and yet remain silent when a man of the church espouses torture of our own children because of perceived sexual orientation in prepubescent boys. Dr Robert Cargill asks a chilling question at the end of a blog entry about this story. The question is below, Dr Cargill’s blog is worth reading don’t pass it up.

“at what point can we conclude that advocating violence against children – for whatever reason, but especially for reasons of bigotry – from a Christian pulpit is ABSOLUTELY NO different than when militant preachers of other religious traditions advocate violence from the pulpit?? Can we condemn one and not the other? And can we go ahead and admit that inciting violence in the name of God is reprehensible and unworthy of the protections commonly afforded religious institutions?“

800 tanning mother 120502

Yet we have National outrage because a woman in New Jersey took her child to a tanning salon. It’s not even clear if the woman allowed her 5 year old to be in the tanning booth. The mother in question looks like a poster child on the ills of tanning and skin cancer and is seriously scary looking. That however doesn’t automatically make her a bad mother or a criminal. 

This week, Mitt Romneys campaign lost Richard Grenell due to the so called religious base in the GOP bitching because Grenell is an out Gay man. This is hysterically funny since as an out gay man he’s living his life honestly.

Think about it, what kind of scandal is likely to come out of an open gay mans life? The worst the GOP base had to worry about is that Mr. Grenell might be caught in bed with… a woman (gasp)!

Richardgrenell 200x200

The scandals that have rocked our country have been those created by “Discovery” that the Jerry Sanduskys, and Larry Craigs are “straight” but like sucking or fucking boys or men in restrooms or public showers.

The GOP Religious wingnuts ignore those facts and instead bitch and whine loud enough that the best qualified person for the job feels compelled to step aside for the benefit of the campaign and arguably for the benefit of the American People as a Nation. Not because he’s ashamed or intimidated, but because he was concerned about the controversy damaging the campaign

Presumably Grenell believes that Mitt Romney is the best man for the office of President. If you get right to it, by extension he was attempting to act in the best interests of our Nation by working for the Romney campaign.

By that logic… you can argue that the GOP Wingnuts did a disservice to the country, because they may have weakened Romneys staff.

 

 

That’s it… These are the news stories that have left me saying WTF this week.

As I sit shaking my head I sometimes consider getting my backpack, tent, Bow and supplies and just heading out into the forest.

Perhaps there is such a thing as too much information….

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My first shooting match… AKA FUN!

I’ve been Slow to Blog.

Monday I woke up crabby, hurting, and out of sorts. A massage helped out there. Today… well it just sort of got away from me.

Sunday, I participated in my first shooting match ever.

I was nervous. Here’s the deal, whenever I try anything new I get nervous. I’m not talking butterflies in the stomach I’m talking hands shaking nervous. In extreme cases it looks like I’ve got the DTs. 

The more dangerous the activity the worse the shakes get even if that danger is only perceived. Opening a 100K computer system isn’t any big deal for me because I know what to expect NOW, but that first system in front of the customer… I looked like I was fresh out of the Betty Ford Clinic. The shakes don’t instill confidence in your audience… Trust me on this!

The same was true Sunday. 

I had a number of “New” things. going on.

1) I’d never walked around with a holstered weapon (Unloaded) at a firing range.

2) I’d only fired guns around my family members (picture small groups of immediate family)

3) I’d only fired at targets from a stationary position, this competition you move to engage targets at some of the stages.

4) I’m familiar with firearms, but not confident enough yet that we’ve seen each other naked.

Thank goodness I was there with friends. One friend was teasing me right from the start. He said “Perhaps you should have taken an Ambien before you got onto the range.” Believe it or not that made me feel better. You know there’s not much point in trying to hide the shakes when your bud just called you out on ’em. By the third stage the shakes were minimal. By the end of the match I was annoyed with my target accuracy or lack thereof instead of being pleased that I was hitting the targets.

I want to point out that while I had fun… Safety is first and foremost in everybody’s minds. There is a pretty strict protocol and the rules are to be followed at all times. The Club reserves the right to ask you to leave if you’re doing something unsafe. On the other side of the coin… there are tons of experienced people around who will answer any questions or give you helpful hints.

The folks at the Palm Springs Gun Club were awesome the weekend before last, and equally awesome this past weekend. 

I felt very comfortable and “at home” at the club. There’s a “Stock Gun Match” next Saturday. I’m sorry that I’m going to miss it. I’ve got plans with a friend on Saturday afternoon and Don’t think that I could get to the match and still get back to my place in time.

Of course the other factor is that I’m waiting on a grip screw from Sig Sauer.  Sometime during the match on Sunday,  I lost a screw and as I finished the match the grip was working itself loose. (being held on by only one screw.) I’m not going to say that the loose grip affected my score… I could probably make a case for it, but none of the guys I was shooting with would buy it… so there’s no point.

The  friend who talked me into trying this shooting match thing suggested that I just tape the grips on the gun and go for it. Tempting!!! But then I started thinking about cleaning the sticky tape crap out of the textured part of the grips and figure… Nah I’ll wait & go to the next match.

Here is a video of me shooting. Yeah I SUCK! So what? It’s a condition that is reparable with lots and lots of practice. I also noticed watching the video that I’m so tense that I was trying to loosen up by unconsciously shrugging my shoulders and it was like I just couldn’t quite get comfortable.

You’ll also see that I’m struggling to get magazines out of my pockets during the reload. My hearing protection and my magazine holders finally showed up this week. Gee, only two days late!

I’m slow as sin but I was very fortunate to have a friend that’s been doing this for a long time, encouraging me. You can also hear the Range Safety Officer encouraging and coaching me.

You see John the Range Safety Officer standing behind me to the right. At one of the other stages of the match John, stopped me and corrected me on a potentially unsafe thing I did. (Finger on trigger… while moving to engage another group of targets.) It wasn’t a major infraction it was a simple mistake and frankly I appreciated that he was keeping an eye on me.

After I finished that stage I said “Thank you, I didn’t give it a thought.” He gave me this big smile and said “You never think of stuff like that until you stumble and shoot yourself…” I didn’t make that mistake for the rest of the day.  At the next stages, John began volunteering info about my stance and how to better proceed and improve. I don’t think I told him Thank you nearly enough… 

Next Time I see him… I will.

Now that you’ve seen what a sucky inexperienced shooter looks like… 

Here’s a video of what someone who knows what they’re doing looks like. This is from a different match at a different location.

I’m not completely sure, but I think this gentleman is the man behind me acting as a Range Safety Officer in the first video. The reason I’m not completely sure is that he was firing an exotic looking weapon in the match where he was a Range Safety Officer for me, and in this video he isn’t firing the same gun plus you never see his face. 

Nonetheless, this is a representative example of how you’re supposed to shoot in these matches.

In the first video you can hear coaching and encouragement. You have to admire the fact that really experienced competitive shooters are patient and willing to coach complete newbies.

Needless to say I was, and am impressed.

So In summary, I had a great time. I suck. These people are very nice. I want to go again. 

I’m going to catch some matches at a couple of other sites and then probably join one of the gun clubs as a regular participant.

***** (5 Star Activity Rating)

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CISPA Ahhh a rose by any other name, Is still a stinking pile…

First it was SOPA, and PIPA.

Now it’s CISPA.

People, this is classic government Bull Shit! One of the thnigs that you must remember about our governement is that the idiots running it are… well idiots! 

Having worked however briefly with the government, I can tell you one true thing. Projects, AKA Bad Ideas never die. They’re just recycled.

Politicians are inherently lazy. They’re not going to create anything new or original they’re going to pick up the tattered remains of some discarded bill. They’ll read about 10 lines of the summary, then they’ll put a new name on it, dress it up with some fancy new benefit and have it on the Senate floor again in a year.

“One Bill” Gill Cedillo is a great example of this. Except in his case he kept presenting the same bill over and over again in the House. He thought it was a good idea for illegal immigrants to have drivers licenses. Every year for 4 or 6 years he’d dust off this stupid bill and present it to the House.

One year is was about Safety, then Next years he said the illegals would get insurance, the next year he made the case that California would see increased registration fees, and so on. In every case his bill was voted DOWN because the people raised hell and in a loud voice told Sacramento HELL NO! 

The people saw that giving Drivers Licenses to illegal immigrants would make being here illegally seem more legitimate. 

The problem with politicians is that they keep presenting the same shit in a different Sunday Hat over and over again. After a while, we’ve all heard about some astoundingly bad idea and voted it down enough times that we think it’s a dead issue. When we turn our attention elsewhere… that’s when one of these moronic ideas gets through the House and Senate and becomes Law.

So it is with this new stupidity.

CISPA Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

First of all there are only a few organizations within our Government that have the technology and / or brain power to begin to worry about cybernetic data. They ALREADY share information and have since shortly after 911.

The real concern with this Act is much the same the same as it was with SOPA and PIPA OUR privacy. Unless you’re ready for an Orwellian future we all need to pay close attention to the erosion of our privacy.

The primary opposition for this incarnation of a Gee we’re the government you can trust us to spy on you act is that the controls for who is spyed on, where, when, and why are so weak. By WEAK I mean without warrant, or even probable cause.

Even President Obama who in my opinion has serious socialist leanings is against this particular act. He’s already stated publicly that he will not sign this into law. (Hey, even a broken clock is right 2 minutes a day.)

So for those who missed it the first time…

365 Orwell1984

CISPA Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

Allows for the routine monitoring of any corporation, or individual who the government may find of interest. This monitoring will be done with no warrants, and no judicial oversight.

Couple this with the concept that all it takes for you to BE a terrorist is for the President to SAY you are a terrorist.

The implication is obvious. If someone in the government were to decide that you were a bit too much of an activist or you were exposing criminal wrongdoing via a blog, email, YouTube, or other electronic means. (Think about the secret service scandal. )

The electronic evidence could and would be turned over to government representatives simply because they asked Google, AT&T or whoever. BOOM, suddenly you’re arrested for being a terrorist insurgent trying to undermine the United States. Oh and by the way,  the government would have all the evidence they needed to try, and convict you in a military court. Hope you like GITMO during hurricane season.

This act if passed would also circumvent the Wiretap act and Electronic Privacy act. Both of these acts were passed specifically to prevent this kind of abuse.

So get on the phone, get on email, post your opposition to your blogs, LIGHT UP THE CONGRESSIONAL SWITCHBOARD Demand to be heard.

Demand that your representative answer why suddenly they’re willing to undermine our freedoms? Why haven’t they repealed the Wiretap act and Electronic Privacy act if they now think that CISPA is the proper way to go?

Take control, make your representatives REPRESENT YOU!