Douger
Rookie
- Banned
- #1
I had no idea where to post this. It's from a newsletter I receive.
This is for the Gunny's , Sarges, Howdy fucking doodooz, and any of the clowns that believe they are ' protecting and serving"
There is an Indian legend which says when a human dies, there is a bridge they must cross to enter into heaven.
At the head of that bridge waits every animal that human encountered during their lifetime.
The animals, based, upon what they know of this person, decide which humans may cross the bridge ...
and which are turned away ...
~Unknown Author~
The Transformation Of Humanity
They do not want humanity, the whole of humans on this earth to develop a conscience. If we did, we would be opposed to war, killing of all types, the ongoing and widespread environmental destruction, animal torture and laboratory testing and all other forms of animal abuse we practice (including the factory farming of "meat").
The human conscience must be heavily indoctrinated with massive level of propaganda in order for us to suppress our natural desire to live and let live. This must also be suppressed if we are going to continually sacrifice our ownselves or the lives of our own children in the name of "God and country". A constant barrage of misinformation and propaganda is necessary to convince us to act against our own basic nature.
No sane person wants to hurt another. Nobody sane would want to go to war either, or attack civilians, or bomb other people into oblivion. To force humans to do this, we must be constantly exposed to brainwashing techniques that suppress our natural instincts to refrain from such activities.
Our natural desire to live is very strong, and it takes a much stronger message to encourage us to kill and to go on killing.
We are exposed to multiple levels indoctrination from birth until death by many aspects of our society. Even after our death in some "heroic" way, our survivors are to be 'reminded' that our "sacrifice" was "necessary" for the common good in some inexplicable and convoluted way the defies logic and sane reason. We're taught not to question even this, being told that to question is unpatriotic, insensitive and even traitorous behavior.
Yet lying dead in the dirt are those who we seek to answer for -- the lives they've lost, the dreams cut short, the lands that were burned and destroyed and all the vast amounts of human suffering that there were a part of. The horrible truth here is that we MUST speak up for them, for they cannot speak for themselves any longer.
The real beneficiaries of the lies we are told are always the same, but we have to be reminded again and again that this is really "for us" and for our children. Most of us know already that this cannot possibly be true, as wives cannot receive what they no longer have, mothers and fathers cannot benefit from what has been taken.
We must be kept constantly desensitized to the real truth, what our abusive nature and practices to each other and to the world at whole actually does, and why we keep on allowing this to happen. Without this desensitization we would finally wake up to who and what we have really become and this realization would be abhorent to us all.
There are various ideologies that must be first opposed, then broken if possible, that dispute these things, revealing another truth and another reality in its entirety. The anti-war movement, the animal rights movement, the living earth movement, all these groups are opposed to the needless killing of sentient beings and the living biosphere, recognizing the simple fact that what we allow is what is actually going to destroy us all.
The animal rights movement for example, opposes all of these lies and deceptions which is what makes them so dangerous and violently opposed, even though the real violence is almost always exhibited by the other side in hugely immense numbers reaching into the billions of deaths. If we were to wake up and realize what we have truly become, as voracious killing monsters, it would destabilize everything. It would expose all that we know and all that we do and all that we practice, day in and day out, and all that we support with our labor, our money, our time and our committments, and this must not ever be allowed to happen.
We must be fully and totally controlled, manipulated no less then marionette puppets on a string to react, respond, to think and to speak exactly like the puppet masters demand. If one of our numbers manages to snap one of these manipulating lines and break through the multiple lies that they support, they must be swiftly dealt with in the most violent way possible.
There is an increase in attack on these kinds of things, the reactionary response to the growing humanistic reason and compassion to our ongoing practice of torture, abuse, killing, murder and death throughout the entire biosphere, encompassing all living things and sentient beings.
But what is not so obvious is that in order for society to act and behave like it already does, right now, without conscience -- we must come to admit that we must already be fully controlled now and have been for some time.
This is a glaring but widely ignored truth about our condition, the depths of our desensitization and indifference is so great and so complete already that nothing less then total control of our minds and our thoughts must already be fully in place.
To understand this, and to embrace the significance of this realization is immensely important. It is the beginning of understanding towards our path to freedom, to justice, to equality, to liberty and to true human compassion. We do not have to be these monsters that we have become, but we must first come to understand what we are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Technology As A Weapon Of Mass Manipulation
Most futurists, and probably all technologists envision a future where there is an increase in technology and application as opposed to a decrease.
From a personal standpoint, I seek a constant decrease, a gradual decline, because this is the only methodology that will actually reduce human dependency and our destructive nature to dominate all living things.
Since all technology requires a "taking away" from natural systems and natural practices of living in lifestyle, consumption, employment, commerce, transportation -- essentially everything that humans do, and at a price to the rest of the biosphere that we are far too quick to ignore -- then it follows that more technology will create more destruction and even more dependencies then we have today.
Technology is not the pathway to freedom. This is a heretical thought to most people in the modern world, who have accepted the notion that we will (somehow) finally achieve true human freedom if we have fully conquered all of nature and the nature world, and even space itself, and finally figured out a way to distribute this "freedom" to humans throughout the galaxy.
Nothing could be further from the truth. This would create a hellish future similiar to the terrifying scenes in Bladerunner, where massive poverty and inequality exist, with widespread environmental destruction and a choking atmosphere that made living nearly impossible and surveillance of every nuance of life was considered normal.
Not worse then the planetary abuse, but equally bad for humans is how such technology would be used to control human expression and human freedoms in the most negative ways possible, giving rise not to freedom and eglatarian lives, but a monstrous totalitarian expression in the worst possible ways.
All would be controlled, monitored, tracked, surveilled, cataloged and arrested, a diastopian society of hellish proportions. And yet, this is exactly the direction futurists and even those that embrace technology are taking us.
We already have many examples of this dystopia today. Look at how we have swept into countries like Iraq and Afghanistan with our military superiority and vast surveillance capabilities, which we are even using here in the United States, England and throughout the world. It is not more freedom that we are "offering" and supporting, but far less. Those that oppose this freedom are being bombed into oblivion as dissenters are simply not tolerated.
A simplistic example certainly, but accurate nonetheless. Technology is being used to control human expression and behavior, but not in ways which enable us but disable us. It is always the technologists and their puppetmasters themselves who claim superiority and control over everyone else, using technology is very harmful and destructive ways. The crumbs they leave over for us, but deny the common man are always less then what they have and use for our control. Ultimately, at their behest is the surveillance drone, satellite tracking, GPS implants and push-button death from afar.
We're told that we must trust these puppet masters with these technological toys and all of their applications, but all we've received from them all over the world is death and more death in exchange for our unwavering subservience and slavery. Unending rivers of death drenched in the blood of innocent civilians, bystanders and "insurgents" who's only real desire is to be left alone and to live their own lives in peace without intrusion or coercion.
I bring this all up because of an interesting conversation that I had with an investor recently who outlined some pretty sweeping ideas on what the future holds in his view. At the core of these ideas we discussed is the notion that less personal freedom and anonymity will equal greater security and even better commerce for the average consumer.
I do not agree with this. The cornerstone of freedom is anonyminity. The ability to buy and sell, travel, work, earn or even just comment online or conduct any sort of personal transaction (not just commerce, but anything a human might do) requires varying levels of anonyminity if it is every going to be enabling (freedom) versus disabling (controlled, ie, monitored, tracked, taxed, regulated, permited, fined, etc.).
Everytime technology is deployed and utilized to catalog, log, database and collate information on human activity, it is very often used to restrict and control those activities too, allegedly for our benefit, but never in reality. We seem to have a very strong tendency to try and control each other using our technology, and especially our data gathering efforts on each other, versus using technology to actually free us from the political contraints and social restrictions already in place.
I believe that our social structures have utterly failed to evolve along with the rapid development of technology. But it also readily apparent that what evolution that we have undergone has gone largely in the opposite direction of enabling real freedom and issues such as personal privacy and even physical protections. We now find ourselves in the unenviable position of having to protect ourselves from technology and technophiles and all sorts of evildoers, including bureaucrats and politicians and even private and government assassinations squads, depending on where you live.
From a personal standpoint, it is actually safer to fully unplug from technology and the data gathering that this usage enables. I could give a few tips out on this (and have) as the level of abuse is increasing all of the time.
We are seeing staggering levels of abuse and opportunity to do incredible damage as we embrace more and more and effectively receive less and less. We must give away the very essences of ourselves to databases and social websites, to cell phone tracking and call logging, email monitoring and IP collection efforts, being either careful or simply careless in what we reveal and what we don't.
Technology is not benign as I have seen alleged. The very nature of technology is invasive, beginning with its destructive elements ripped from the earth, mined from the raw ore with gigantic slag heaps and belching smokestacks polluting the atmosphere. From inception to implementation and widespread adoption, technology requires the earth to give up her treasures in exchange for pollution, environmental devastation and widespread destruction, and ultimately for our control and increasing dependency.
We may even believe the lies that we are told that technology can also benefit the environment, but this is an impossible story to accept, as nothing can benefit the environment or the life in the environment any better then simply leaving it alone.
Technology is at best very destructive, highly controlling and apt to be used to further control humans and take dominion over all living creatures and even the earth itself. To call this benign in any way is to ignore all the evidence of its use, its manufacture and its destructive force and our propensity to use technology as a highly destructive tool to manipulate billions of humans to our whims and desires.
I am an advocate of living simple, especially as technology continues to make itself "irreplaceable", pretending to be what it can never be, which is at its root meaning a replacement for the earth and the natural systems themselves.
Do not let technology rule you or how you live your life. Discard those unnecessary accoutrements that you can live without. Break free from from the data collection, computerized records, electronic surveillance, satellite monitoring in the GPS system on your vehicle and all other forms of technology that are invasive, destructive, prone to abuse and empowering to the puppet masters over your life.
Don't fall for the lies that you "need this". Nobody needs this, anywhere on the planet. Humans have lived here a very long time, experiencing untold levels of freedom, personal autonomy and rich, fulfilling lives without any of the crap that we have come to embrace.
This is the kind of thing we are up against, and an example of how technology is always being used to provide greater and greater levels of control: Police Want BackDoor To Web Users Private Data
There is also this: Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
"The critical question is: At what level will the American public be comfortable with Google sharing information with NSA?"
That's a no brainer, the answer is "none". Anything else is asking us to trust an agency that has long been known to illegally spy on Americans and use data in very harmful ways. With Google getting involved, it can't possibly be good. The laws the allegedly protect Americans and their privacy, simply don't. This is a disturbing development in my opinion, one that will not prove beneficial for the citizenry at all.
Web communications of any sensitive nature should be encrypted with strong encryption programs like PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) or something similiar. Better yet, don't share email if you're sending sensitive information.
The easiest way to defeat technology is very simple: don't use it. This makes it exceedingly hard for snoopers and spies to use technology against you. If you are not dependent upon technology, then you remove the leverage technology gives the puppet masters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obama's Secret Afghan Prisons: Investigation Unearths New US Torture Site, Abuse Allegations in Afghanistan
Harper's has more here, Obama's Secret Aghan Prisons
The ongoing debacle and human tragedy in Haiti is eye-opening, if you don't already understand how these things are consistently "capitalized". Democracy Now has a page with many articles, stories and pictures that reveal the mind-boggling "response" to this humanitarian crisis.
Sent in by Jay and worthy of an entire reprint - 545 People vs 300,000,000
545 PEOPLE By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems..
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it... Is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren't so darned true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
Taxes drove me
to my doom...'
When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge T ax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Ser vice FeeTax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge=2 0Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
And I still have to 'Press 1' for English?
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!
The Nature And Morality Of Government
Spring Is Here (for some of us)
By the way, the East is being blasted with a real winter, but it never did arrive here. In fact, it's springtime already, with Class 3 road restrictions already now in force back in January (limiting heavy truck travel).
There is mud everywhere as the ground is thawing out very rapidly, what little snow we got is now gone and I'm already sleeping with with windows wide open for fresh air. The spring thaw is 2 - 3 months early this year which is going to play havoc on all the plant and animal life. Pollination may be seriously affected, but I'm not a bee keeper to guess that.
I'm experiencing climate change in a big way.
This is for the Gunny's , Sarges, Howdy fucking doodooz, and any of the clowns that believe they are ' protecting and serving"
There is an Indian legend which says when a human dies, there is a bridge they must cross to enter into heaven.
At the head of that bridge waits every animal that human encountered during their lifetime.
The animals, based, upon what they know of this person, decide which humans may cross the bridge ...
and which are turned away ...
~Unknown Author~
The Transformation Of Humanity
They do not want humanity, the whole of humans on this earth to develop a conscience. If we did, we would be opposed to war, killing of all types, the ongoing and widespread environmental destruction, animal torture and laboratory testing and all other forms of animal abuse we practice (including the factory farming of "meat").
The human conscience must be heavily indoctrinated with massive level of propaganda in order for us to suppress our natural desire to live and let live. This must also be suppressed if we are going to continually sacrifice our ownselves or the lives of our own children in the name of "God and country". A constant barrage of misinformation and propaganda is necessary to convince us to act against our own basic nature.
No sane person wants to hurt another. Nobody sane would want to go to war either, or attack civilians, or bomb other people into oblivion. To force humans to do this, we must be constantly exposed to brainwashing techniques that suppress our natural instincts to refrain from such activities.
Our natural desire to live is very strong, and it takes a much stronger message to encourage us to kill and to go on killing.
We are exposed to multiple levels indoctrination from birth until death by many aspects of our society. Even after our death in some "heroic" way, our survivors are to be 'reminded' that our "sacrifice" was "necessary" for the common good in some inexplicable and convoluted way the defies logic and sane reason. We're taught not to question even this, being told that to question is unpatriotic, insensitive and even traitorous behavior.
Yet lying dead in the dirt are those who we seek to answer for -- the lives they've lost, the dreams cut short, the lands that were burned and destroyed and all the vast amounts of human suffering that there were a part of. The horrible truth here is that we MUST speak up for them, for they cannot speak for themselves any longer.
The real beneficiaries of the lies we are told are always the same, but we have to be reminded again and again that this is really "for us" and for our children. Most of us know already that this cannot possibly be true, as wives cannot receive what they no longer have, mothers and fathers cannot benefit from what has been taken.
We must be kept constantly desensitized to the real truth, what our abusive nature and practices to each other and to the world at whole actually does, and why we keep on allowing this to happen. Without this desensitization we would finally wake up to who and what we have really become and this realization would be abhorent to us all.
There are various ideologies that must be first opposed, then broken if possible, that dispute these things, revealing another truth and another reality in its entirety. The anti-war movement, the animal rights movement, the living earth movement, all these groups are opposed to the needless killing of sentient beings and the living biosphere, recognizing the simple fact that what we allow is what is actually going to destroy us all.
The animal rights movement for example, opposes all of these lies and deceptions which is what makes them so dangerous and violently opposed, even though the real violence is almost always exhibited by the other side in hugely immense numbers reaching into the billions of deaths. If we were to wake up and realize what we have truly become, as voracious killing monsters, it would destabilize everything. It would expose all that we know and all that we do and all that we practice, day in and day out, and all that we support with our labor, our money, our time and our committments, and this must not ever be allowed to happen.
We must be fully and totally controlled, manipulated no less then marionette puppets on a string to react, respond, to think and to speak exactly like the puppet masters demand. If one of our numbers manages to snap one of these manipulating lines and break through the multiple lies that they support, they must be swiftly dealt with in the most violent way possible.
There is an increase in attack on these kinds of things, the reactionary response to the growing humanistic reason and compassion to our ongoing practice of torture, abuse, killing, murder and death throughout the entire biosphere, encompassing all living things and sentient beings.
But what is not so obvious is that in order for society to act and behave like it already does, right now, without conscience -- we must come to admit that we must already be fully controlled now and have been for some time.
This is a glaring but widely ignored truth about our condition, the depths of our desensitization and indifference is so great and so complete already that nothing less then total control of our minds and our thoughts must already be fully in place.
To understand this, and to embrace the significance of this realization is immensely important. It is the beginning of understanding towards our path to freedom, to justice, to equality, to liberty and to true human compassion. We do not have to be these monsters that we have become, but we must first come to understand what we are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Technology As A Weapon Of Mass Manipulation
Most futurists, and probably all technologists envision a future where there is an increase in technology and application as opposed to a decrease.
From a personal standpoint, I seek a constant decrease, a gradual decline, because this is the only methodology that will actually reduce human dependency and our destructive nature to dominate all living things.
Since all technology requires a "taking away" from natural systems and natural practices of living in lifestyle, consumption, employment, commerce, transportation -- essentially everything that humans do, and at a price to the rest of the biosphere that we are far too quick to ignore -- then it follows that more technology will create more destruction and even more dependencies then we have today.
Technology is not the pathway to freedom. This is a heretical thought to most people in the modern world, who have accepted the notion that we will (somehow) finally achieve true human freedom if we have fully conquered all of nature and the nature world, and even space itself, and finally figured out a way to distribute this "freedom" to humans throughout the galaxy.
Nothing could be further from the truth. This would create a hellish future similiar to the terrifying scenes in Bladerunner, where massive poverty and inequality exist, with widespread environmental destruction and a choking atmosphere that made living nearly impossible and surveillance of every nuance of life was considered normal.
Not worse then the planetary abuse, but equally bad for humans is how such technology would be used to control human expression and human freedoms in the most negative ways possible, giving rise not to freedom and eglatarian lives, but a monstrous totalitarian expression in the worst possible ways.
All would be controlled, monitored, tracked, surveilled, cataloged and arrested, a diastopian society of hellish proportions. And yet, this is exactly the direction futurists and even those that embrace technology are taking us.
We already have many examples of this dystopia today. Look at how we have swept into countries like Iraq and Afghanistan with our military superiority and vast surveillance capabilities, which we are even using here in the United States, England and throughout the world. It is not more freedom that we are "offering" and supporting, but far less. Those that oppose this freedom are being bombed into oblivion as dissenters are simply not tolerated.
A simplistic example certainly, but accurate nonetheless. Technology is being used to control human expression and behavior, but not in ways which enable us but disable us. It is always the technologists and their puppetmasters themselves who claim superiority and control over everyone else, using technology is very harmful and destructive ways. The crumbs they leave over for us, but deny the common man are always less then what they have and use for our control. Ultimately, at their behest is the surveillance drone, satellite tracking, GPS implants and push-button death from afar.
We're told that we must trust these puppet masters with these technological toys and all of their applications, but all we've received from them all over the world is death and more death in exchange for our unwavering subservience and slavery. Unending rivers of death drenched in the blood of innocent civilians, bystanders and "insurgents" who's only real desire is to be left alone and to live their own lives in peace without intrusion or coercion.
I bring this all up because of an interesting conversation that I had with an investor recently who outlined some pretty sweeping ideas on what the future holds in his view. At the core of these ideas we discussed is the notion that less personal freedom and anonymity will equal greater security and even better commerce for the average consumer.
I do not agree with this. The cornerstone of freedom is anonyminity. The ability to buy and sell, travel, work, earn or even just comment online or conduct any sort of personal transaction (not just commerce, but anything a human might do) requires varying levels of anonyminity if it is every going to be enabling (freedom) versus disabling (controlled, ie, monitored, tracked, taxed, regulated, permited, fined, etc.).
Everytime technology is deployed and utilized to catalog, log, database and collate information on human activity, it is very often used to restrict and control those activities too, allegedly for our benefit, but never in reality. We seem to have a very strong tendency to try and control each other using our technology, and especially our data gathering efforts on each other, versus using technology to actually free us from the political contraints and social restrictions already in place.
I believe that our social structures have utterly failed to evolve along with the rapid development of technology. But it also readily apparent that what evolution that we have undergone has gone largely in the opposite direction of enabling real freedom and issues such as personal privacy and even physical protections. We now find ourselves in the unenviable position of having to protect ourselves from technology and technophiles and all sorts of evildoers, including bureaucrats and politicians and even private and government assassinations squads, depending on where you live.
From a personal standpoint, it is actually safer to fully unplug from technology and the data gathering that this usage enables. I could give a few tips out on this (and have) as the level of abuse is increasing all of the time.
We are seeing staggering levels of abuse and opportunity to do incredible damage as we embrace more and more and effectively receive less and less. We must give away the very essences of ourselves to databases and social websites, to cell phone tracking and call logging, email monitoring and IP collection efforts, being either careful or simply careless in what we reveal and what we don't.
Technology is not benign as I have seen alleged. The very nature of technology is invasive, beginning with its destructive elements ripped from the earth, mined from the raw ore with gigantic slag heaps and belching smokestacks polluting the atmosphere. From inception to implementation and widespread adoption, technology requires the earth to give up her treasures in exchange for pollution, environmental devastation and widespread destruction, and ultimately for our control and increasing dependency.
We may even believe the lies that we are told that technology can also benefit the environment, but this is an impossible story to accept, as nothing can benefit the environment or the life in the environment any better then simply leaving it alone.
Technology is at best very destructive, highly controlling and apt to be used to further control humans and take dominion over all living creatures and even the earth itself. To call this benign in any way is to ignore all the evidence of its use, its manufacture and its destructive force and our propensity to use technology as a highly destructive tool to manipulate billions of humans to our whims and desires.
I am an advocate of living simple, especially as technology continues to make itself "irreplaceable", pretending to be what it can never be, which is at its root meaning a replacement for the earth and the natural systems themselves.
Do not let technology rule you or how you live your life. Discard those unnecessary accoutrements that you can live without. Break free from from the data collection, computerized records, electronic surveillance, satellite monitoring in the GPS system on your vehicle and all other forms of technology that are invasive, destructive, prone to abuse and empowering to the puppet masters over your life.
Don't fall for the lies that you "need this". Nobody needs this, anywhere on the planet. Humans have lived here a very long time, experiencing untold levels of freedom, personal autonomy and rich, fulfilling lives without any of the crap that we have come to embrace.
This is the kind of thing we are up against, and an example of how technology is always being used to provide greater and greater levels of control: Police Want BackDoor To Web Users Private Data
There is also this: Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
"The critical question is: At what level will the American public be comfortable with Google sharing information with NSA?"
That's a no brainer, the answer is "none". Anything else is asking us to trust an agency that has long been known to illegally spy on Americans and use data in very harmful ways. With Google getting involved, it can't possibly be good. The laws the allegedly protect Americans and their privacy, simply don't. This is a disturbing development in my opinion, one that will not prove beneficial for the citizenry at all.
Web communications of any sensitive nature should be encrypted with strong encryption programs like PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) or something similiar. Better yet, don't share email if you're sending sensitive information.
The easiest way to defeat technology is very simple: don't use it. This makes it exceedingly hard for snoopers and spies to use technology against you. If you are not dependent upon technology, then you remove the leverage technology gives the puppet masters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obama's Secret Afghan Prisons: Investigation Unearths New US Torture Site, Abuse Allegations in Afghanistan
Harper's has more here, Obama's Secret Aghan Prisons
The ongoing debacle and human tragedy in Haiti is eye-opening, if you don't already understand how these things are consistently "capitalized". Democracy Now has a page with many articles, stories and pictures that reveal the mind-boggling "response" to this humanitarian crisis.
Sent in by Jay and worthy of an entire reprint - 545 People vs 300,000,000
545 PEOPLE By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it's because they want them in IRAQ.
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems..
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it... Is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren't so darned true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts
Anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
Taxes drove me
to my doom...'
When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge T ax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Ser vice FeeTax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge=2 0Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the hell happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
And I still have to 'Press 1' for English?
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!
The Nature And Morality Of Government
Spring Is Here (for some of us)
By the way, the East is being blasted with a real winter, but it never did arrive here. In fact, it's springtime already, with Class 3 road restrictions already now in force back in January (limiting heavy truck travel).
There is mud everywhere as the ground is thawing out very rapidly, what little snow we got is now gone and I'm already sleeping with with windows wide open for fresh air. The spring thaw is 2 - 3 months early this year which is going to play havoc on all the plant and animal life. Pollination may be seriously affected, but I'm not a bee keeper to guess that.
I'm experiencing climate change in a big way.
