Tube-tied

“Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?”

Axing online poker was just the first of many small steps, folks. It is yet another “benefit” of the marriage between monolithic corporate entities and our government. The only regulations being laid down are those that protect and increase profits, not to enhance public knowledge or welfare.

Why won’t Congress sign a Net Neutrality bill into law?

Why is the FCC holding private meetings with bankers?

The above links are simply primers that will hopefully pique your interest on this subject--you should be VERY interested because this WILL effect you.

I work with this stuff—believe me when I say that QoS, while certainly having legitimate usefulness, will become the bane of your existence if this is not stopped.

I’ll likely be posting massive commentary of my own on this subject in the near future, but this post should get you started down the path of doing your own research.

Will you let these people legislate chains around what is arguably the last truly free space in our world just so you can have DRM-laden TV programming on your computer? Are we people so frightened and childlike that we need this parenting from corporations and governments skipping hand-in-hand through rainshowers of our money?

As goes Texas, so goes the nation

Follow the link and then watch the video....

KVUE news

Response to StB, Part I

"Criticizing and questioning our government is the responsibility of every patriot" - Theodore Roosevelt

Response to StB: Part I

Hitler Youth? I have read that article a couple of times. How that one
sentence suddenly inspires the kids of the Third Reich is mysterious. What
about these sentences:
“The entire program is designed for teens who may be teenage parents,
juvenile delinquents, low income, or coping with a learning or other
disability.”
“There is no tuition, and the campers, mostly 11th and 12th graders, are
paid minimum wage so that they can spend these hours learning instead of
flipping burgers.” “
“When the eight-week program ends Aug. 23, graduates will be certified in
first aid, CPR (both human and animal), and what organizers call "terrorism
response."”

What about these sentences-- What about them? I have no quarrel with kids being certified in first aid or CPR, a point I specifically addressed in my first response which evidently bears repeating:

Do I think that volunteering to help out one’s community is evil? Certainly not. In bringing up the subject of Hitler Youth, do I mean to imply that the children of our country that want to do good works are Nazi’s? Most. Certainly. NOT.

My assertions were not an indictment of volunteer work. Rather they were and are meant as an indictment of government run and/or funded volunteer service programs in the context of the horrifically aggressive government and intelligence apparatus of the last six years (minimum).

StB continues…

Sounds like the kids are being taught skills that they may be able to use
later in life. In fact that is what is happening. The program is funded by
the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training. Not Homeland Security.
Fact is, the Department of Homeland Security has nothing to do with the
camp. Neither would I consider learning CPR or first aid part of a
“horrifically aggressive government and intelligence apparatus”. It is just
camp. Why read into it?

Again, my reason for reading into it has been stated. I specifically pointed out in my first response the following sentence from the original article, a sentence and point that you failed entirely to address in your rebuttal:

And those skills include math: "If I have 40 acres of forest," runs a typical problem, "how many search dogs will I need to find a fugitive?"

Call me nuts if you like, but I’m not particularly comfortable with the idea that a camp ostensibly promoting volunteer service and community outreach has within its curriculum instruction on enforcement methodology. I’m also pretty uncomfortable with the fact that said enforcement is being taught to juvenile delinquents and the learning disabled. Intellectual prowess is not a trait generally associated with either of these groups (and yes, I freely acknowledge that there are exceptions--perhaps many, but not enough-- to this, as there are exceptions to most groups or subjects). It is an abuse of the volunteer youth civil service concept (of helping people, not hunting them), and has great potential to become nothing more than a breeding ground for a force of intellectually devoid and wholly indoctrinated stormtroopers for the future War on Terror.

What is next? Are the Boys Scouts part of the conspiracy? After all, they
learn the same skills that these campers are being taught. Maybe computer
camp should be banned so the next generation won’t become minions of
Microsoft. If you aren’t meaning to compare these kids to Nazis, then why
bring up the Hitler Youth to begin with? The inference has been made.

You’re right, an inference has been made, but not the one you assert, as evidenced in my previous specific statements. I am not comparing the kids to Nazi’s; I am inferring the programs themselves have a growing Nazi stench about them. I don’t see how I can be much more specific than I have been already. In the same way that Hitler took advantage of impressionable youth (many of which, no doubt, joined the group with the best of intentions), so also do these programs show increasing potential for the same.

**********

There is another part of your response I would like to deal with more specifically.

The program is funded by the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training. Not Homeland Security. Fact is, the Department of Homeland Security has nothing to do with the camp.

Of course these are not being funded by DHS directly—they already tried that with the TIPS program and people were so pissed off about it the government was forced to rein it in. Bush and pals have shown respect for no law other than their own whims. Do you really think they gave up on the original aims of the program?

The Kentucky Office for Employment and Training is an agency of the Education Cabinet.

Now, take a look at the Education Cabinet budget sheet and see Federal funds under Expenditures by Fund Source.

And in other "benign volunteer program" news…

Page 7 displays Homeland Security funding—take note of the column headers.

Citizens Corps is coordinated by FEMA. FEMA is directly under the umbrella of DHS.

Read about Citizens Corps affiliate programs:

Department of Education
Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools
OSDFS administers, coordinates, and recommends policy for improving the quality and excellence of programs and activities that are designed to provide financial and technical assistance for drug and violence prevention and to promote the health and well being of students in elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education. Additional areas of focus include student-led crime prevention; health, mental health, environmental health, and physical education programs; crisis planning and emergency planning, including natural disasters, violent incidents and terrorist acts; and programs relating to citizenship and civics education.
Learn more by visiting www.ed.gov/offices/OSDFS.

And finally, take a look at this org chart for the Federal Government.

(By now everyone has a headache and is wondering what the hell is my point, so I’ll get to it.)

The federal government, per the org chart and the few above financial examples, is a massive, sprawling, and powerful beast of a thing that spreads around a metric fuckton of money. It is increasingly complex in its inter-agency dependencies and roles, and this goes double when it comes to government financials and accounting. Not a single one of us will ever find a sheet of paper simply stating that DHS has given x amount of dollars to so-and-so’s civic volunteer organization. The system is specifically set up so that the average citizen becomes completely discouraged and fails to care due to their not having personal team of forensic accountants at their disposal (and this is assuming complete governmental transparency, which is only believed by fools to exist).

It is quite simple. Some things have no hidden meaning. Just a job program
helping kids attain skills that may help them later in life. They are not
becoming secret minions to be called into service at a later time.

In the face of this ever-increasing governmental complexity our politicians and media encourage thinking in simple terms, and this flies directly in the face of our duties as American citizens. In this unbelievably politically charged climate, rare is the occasion when the action of any agency or department won’t have something to do with the current (and never-ending) War on Terror. Anything to do with the War on Terror will certainly have a path leading to DHS or one of its attendant agencies—to think that any agency, regardless of sector, will not cow to DHS dictates(by way of the Executive) displays maximum foolhardiness and perilously blind trust. Agencies that take money from the federal government to support their own bureaucratic machines are expected to comply with Federal rules, regulations, dictates, and laws—that they would not suck the Federal tit isn’t even a consideration today.

In its sheer size, complexity, corruption, secrecy, and growing brutality, the Federal government is a testament to our true downward spiral as a society. Wallowing in our ignorance, laziness, and fear we have begged for government to take control and they have been only more than happy to oblige. It is now at the point where states are merely extensions of an increasing Federal arm; an arm that grows day by day in scope and power, leaving state and individual citizen independence far, far behind.

(Part II forthcoming)

StB's Response

(Note: The following response from StB is posted without edit. For those just joining the discussion, start here and work your way forward. My own response to this will likely come in two or three parts, the first of which I hope to have posted this afternoon or evening.)

Hitler Youth. Not at war. And inferring that 9/11 was an inside job,
supported by a link to a group that is largely a joke.

Hitler Youth? I have read that article a couple of times. How that one
sentence suddenly inspires the kids of the Third Reich is mysterious. What
about these sentences:
“The entire program is designed for teens who may be teenage parents,
juvenile delinquents, low income, or coping with a learning or other
disability.”
“There is no tuition, and the campers, mostly 11th and 12th graders, are
paid minimum wage so that they can spend these hours learning instead of
flipping burgers.” “
“When the eight-week program ends Aug. 23, graduates will be certified in
first aid, CPR (both human and animal), and what organizers call "terrorism
response."”

Sounds like the kids are being taught skills that they may be able to use
later in life. In fact that is what is happening. The program is funded by
the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training. Not Homeland Security.
Fact is, the Department of Homeland Security has nothing to do with the
camp. Neither would I consider learning CPR or first aid part of a
“horrifically aggressive government and intelligence apparatus”. It is just
camp. Why read into it?

What is next? Are the Boys Scouts part of the conspiracy? After all, they
learn the same skills that these campers are being taught. Maybe computer
camp should be banned so the next generation won’t become minions of
Microsoft. If you aren’t meaning to compare these kids to Nazis, then why
bring up the Hitler Youth to begin with? The inference has been made.

It is quite simple. Some things have no hidden meaning. Just a job program
helping kids attain skills that may help them later in life. They are not
becoming secret minions to be called into service at a later time.

Have you been having drinks with GeorgeSoros lately? Seriously, to say there is no War on Terror is silly.
There are people out there that would like to kill you just because you are
a citizen of the United States. The don’t care that you are a good guy.
They want to kill you. Unless you will change to their ways life under sharia law and dhiminitude.
To prevent this we need more actions like the MilitaryCommission Act. Unlike how you would like to interpret the Act, I agree with the side that says habeus corpus is not being removed from American citizens. While our enemy is slitting throats of prisoners, we get them fat.
Sounds like pretty solid torture, eh?

Same with the wiretapping and bank wires. Unlike how others would like you
to believe, they were not taping conversations between you and your Aunt
Milly. It is illogical. Thus, unless I talking with someone in a terrorist
nation, have made trips to jihadi military camps, and were on the verge of
change your religion, citizenship and name to Bahtenda al-Needabeer, they
are not listening to my calls. It is impossible. It would be very nice if
reporters who have their own agenda to put forward would not put you and me
at risk. Not every law that is passed is going to affect law abiding
citizens.

It would be nice if the media would work with the government, instead of
against it. They would everyone to think it is ugly all over Iraq. I am
not saying it is pretty but it would be nice if they would actually have
reporters there, on the scene instead of relying on the enemy to report false news.
How about the good the American soldier has done? The country will be much
better off for having him out of power.

The link to the nutballs at the Scholars for Truth had to be for comedic
effect. Any group that has lots of infighting and believes some kind of Star Wars death ray brought the
towers down is funny.

I am sure some of this sounds pretty naive to you but it shouldn't.
Actually it is just seeing things for how they are. Not all things have a
hidden meaning indicating the government is out to get me, nor are they
stripping me of my rights. Well except to spend money as I see fit in
online poker rooms.

Give it a name

(I know I’m biting the Glenn Greenwald's style, but I cannot help myself at the moment)

Can someone please tell me why, for the love of holy pete, there is still so much frenzied and grandstanding rhetoric surrounding Michael Richards and his breakdown on stage?

(NOTE: YouTube insists you to login to watch so the delicate children can’t view the “horrific” scene)

From earlier today on CNN:

At the press conference, comedian Paul Mooney said he has used the "n-word" numerous times during stand-up performances but will no longer do so after watching Richards' rant.

"He's my Dr. Phil," the black comedian said. "He's cured me."


This is sad news and I will miss you, Negrodamus.

I will miss you in this cosmopolitan age when we love our bread and circuses every bit as much as the societies that rose and fell before we came along. In a time when every day brings its own special brand of depressing insanity and inanity, this day stands out as interminably sad among them.

**********

The word nigger is being unofficially and unequivocally outlawed. Look at that, I didn’t even use stars to blot out the “power” of the word. Such is the depravity of my innate inconsideration of others and their massive sensitivity.

Earl Hutchinson is the kind of guy who (now, this is a guess) would disagree with my sentiments. I never heard of the man before today, but his statements deserve a response.

“During a panel discussion at the Summer Television Critics Association tour in 2005, Aaron McGruder, creator of the popular comic strip Boondocks[*], defiantly told the audience that he'd use the N-word as much as he pleased. If folks didn't like it, well, tough.

N-word users and apologists serve up the lame rationale that the more an African American person uses the word, the less-offensive it becomes. They claim that they are cleansing the word of its negative connotations so that racists can no longer use it to hurt African Americans.

The apologists tick off an endless storehouse of defenses to justify use of the word. Some claim it's a term of endearment or affection. Others use it to convey anger or disdain. Still others are defiant. They say they don't care what a white person calls them because words can't harm them.

They forget, ignore or distort one thing: Words are not value-neutral. They express concepts and ideas. Often, words reflect society's standards. If color-phobia is a deep-rooted standard in American life, then something as emotionally charged as the N-word will always reinforce and perpetuate stereotypes. It can't be sanitized, cleansed, inverted or redeemed as a culturally liberating word. It can't be made acceptable, no matter whose mouth it comes out of or what the excuse is for using it.”

*The Boondocks is a fantastic cartoon. Thank you, Aaron, for not being an idiot.

Mr. Hutchinson would have us all believe that it’s a given that the word nigger is now, and has always been, the most offensive word imaginable. He adopts the phrasing “N-word users and apologists” as though any association with that word should be frowned upon and reviled in any and all curcumstances. Using the word “apologists” yet again in the very next paragraph, he is tireless in his attempts to make sure that we all realize just what bad people we are should we decide to say something (in anger, or otherwise) that might offend someone else.

Mr. Hutchinson rolls on.

He admonishes us that “Words are not value-neutral”, preceding this admonishment with the sentiment that if anyone thinks otherwise “they” are forgetting, ignoring, or distorting—if someone is of any other opinion, they are automatically to be associated with these less than desirable qualities.

“They express concepts and ideas.”

Yes, and they also cannot be taken in a vacuum. They must be taken in context along with tone and a host of other smaller variables that most people don’t take the time to consider anymore, including you. It is generally not in dispute that Michael Richards used that word in the most hateful and ugly way time and again during his tirade. We can all say that we know this by not only his words but by taking into account (whether we realize it or not) the tone with which he used them and the circumstances involved. People react when that word is spoken not due to the word itself, but because of the easily perceived hate that, unfortunately, often lies behind it.

I’m going to skip Mr. Hutchinson's next sentence for now and be back to it in a moment. Continuing on...

“If color-phobia is a deep-rooted standard in American life, then something as emotionally charged as the N-word will always reinforce and perpetuate stereotypes. It can't be sanitized, cleansed, inverted or redeemed as a culturally liberating word. It can't be made acceptable, no matter whose mouth it comes out of or what the excuse is for using it.”

It is so emotionally charged due to the fact that you and all of the other broken record media mouthpieces hype it as such and look to promulgate the irrational hate that is many times along for the ride. If you had expended even the slightest bit of effort to be complete or harbored even a bit of true intent to help “heal the racial divide”, you would have peeked into the history of the word and its use in our past and made sure that everyone who might hear you is reminded of these facts. You fail to consider a subject before you begin parroting the thoughts of others who have failed to do the same. Such ill-informed rhetoric is the embodiment of GroupThink, the triumph of baseless assertion over reason.

“It can't be made acceptable, no matter whose mouth it comes out of or what the excuse is for using it.”

(From the Wikipedia article under Usage)

“A striking example is in televised coverage of a march in Birmingham, Alabama, when protesters, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, were met with attacks from dogs and fire hoses. A white woman from another Alabama county was interviewed. Visibly upset, she said, "It's not right. We don't treat niggers like that here."

Pat Buchanan has made past reference to the fact that if you would have called a black person in the 60’s “African-American” you would have just as likely been punched as not. While I certainly can’t speak from personal experience given I wasn’t alive at the time, I’m inclined to believe him when taking in his statement with some history.

There is a massive unnoticed horror in the eye of this media-officiated storm--we are now expected to self-police en masse, and indeed we are promoting the concept amongst ourselves. Any use of the word nigger should now be vilified to the extreme, regardless. It, alongside other unpleasantness has been expunged in favor of the kinder, gentler Newspeak, and Zero Tolerance is back on the scene with a pretty new dress. All we need to go with that is a side of ‘pain compliance’.

It does well to note here that all of it—all. of. it.--is so someone, somewhere won’t get their increasingly sensitive feelers hurt. Someone somewhere might get their “dignity” taken away. Dignity is what a person makes it. Is it so difficult to imagine that it is possible to be dignified when confronted with what may oftentimes be the polar opposite? Dignity is a characteristic that is visible only in those who truly value themselves—if it can be taken away by a word used in a hateful manner then perhaps not enough dignity exists there in the first place.

Crackers and niggers everywhere! It’s time to play Crabs in a Bucket! This time tested media-sponsored game show has reached the height of ridiculousness and it’s about time we begin to sit out instead of clamoring to play. Michael Richards is surely not undeserving of a public rake through the muck for his temporarily unmitigated bile, but to have the issue drawn out in such an extended and blatantly stage-directed manner is beyond the pale.

Now what about the sentence I skipped earlier? Hutchinson says, “Often, words reflect society's standards.” These five words contain a measure of ironic truth that I am sure was unintended because I read the rest of the article. Words (always, not often) do reflect our standards. The problem is that we don’t like what we see and instead of having the courage to face it, we tacitly ignore it—We seek the help of government in outlawing the very words that afford us the opportunity to reflect on who and what we are as an American people.

In a recent interview, Gore Vidal brings up Tiberius—

“Tiberius, when he became Emperor, the Senate sent him a message saying that whatever he wanted enacted would become law. And he sent it back to them and he said, 'Now don't be stupid. Suppose the Emperor has gone mad. Suppose he's ill. Suppose he's been replaced secretly. You can't give such powers.' And they sent it back to him, and he sent back a message, 'How eager you are to be slaves.'”

If words are taken or given up, the standards are forgotten as there are no more reflections to remind us of who we are. If we forget who we are we cannot define who we will be. If we cannot define who we will be, someone will define it for us and dignity will no longer be part of the equation because it has effectively ceased to exist.

Political correctness makes niggers of us all.

If I cover my eyes, they can't see me

An interesting tidbit for today, my friends.

Browsing around the Intarweb tubes with the help of ‘the google’ I happened upon the following story (published yesterday, 11/25/06) from Reuters by way of the Washington Post:

“The Transportation Security Administration said yesterday that it will charge $28 a year to process background checks on each airline passenger who joins a privately run traveler registry.

Congress created the Registered Traveler program after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in response to complaints about long security lines that became common at airports with stepped-up passenger and bag screening.

The program is mainly aimed at frequent fliers, which include premium-paying business travelers on major airlines at busier airports.

The fee, charged to the private companies that run Registered Traveler, would cover the TSA's costs for performing the checks and overseeing the program, the agency said.

Previous TSA fee estimates of up to $100 had generated a backlash from airports and companies interested in the program. They said higher cost would sap passenger interest.

Supporters say Registered Traveler will lead to a faster and easier trip through airport security for those who sign up and agree to submit personal information for background checks and fingerprints or other biometric information to be embedded on an identity card.

The program has been slow to get going and so far is in place only at the Orlando airport. There, passengers pay $99.95 for a one-year membership, which covers expenses for TSA vetting. Verified Identity Pass Inc. said it has registered more than 30,000 people for its registered traveler programs, most from the effort in Orlando.

The company, which is privately held, , said it plans to expand the service to Cincinnati, Indianapolis, San Jose and the British Airways terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport by January.”

[Let’s seeee, $99.95 x 30000 = 2,998,401. Not bad for the first launch at the first airport. Not too bad as an annually replenishing passive income stream, either. As this becomes more intertwined with the airline and DHS way of doing things, one can’t help but wonder how high this fee will eventually rise, what with inflationary concerns, more stringent security requirements as time goes on, and new measures deemed necessary to protect future data after an invariable “data loss”. What happens to someone who joins and then doesn’t want to renew? Is that person now “suspect” as trying to avoid this thing that “is for our own good”? Just some questions worth pondering…..]

Security and Convenience for just a bit more cash. Who wouldn’t want that? I decided to dig a wee bit deeper to check for “monsters under the bed”, if you will.

First, a trip to the website of Verified Identity Pass, Inc. The main page greets potentials with fantastic news, namely that it has the backing of Michael Chertoff. If it’s good enough for Chertoff and the Ministry of Truth DHS, it good enough for me.

Moving on.

A search of the address listed on the website reveals some information that should be of note. In looking at the list of associated businesses, one name in particular jumped out:, Kroll (in its many forms). Severely underwhelming, you say? Who cares, right?

Indeed, who cares, except for one small detail. Kroll was the company responsible for security up to the attacks that illuminated the imminent, ever-present, and “for the foreseeable future” terror threat. Boy, thank goodness they’re in our corner. (Also enjoy, with compliments, these tasty morsels from The Center for Public Integrity or Demopedia)

What about the folks at the top? Such people will surely have no motivation other than the altruistic sort. In the interest of time let’s take a brief look at the two persons at the top of this latest venture to contribute to the public well-being.

In the first Director Chair we have Samuel Berger, who happens to be a former National Security Advisor. He also happens to have been recently convicted of a misdemeanor. It is the details of said misdemeanor from a Justice Department document that are of particular note—yet another innocuous coincidence in a world filled with so many, no doubt.

(While certainly no law expert, I have the sneaking suspicion that had you or I been the ones removing, destroying, and/or otherwise altering National Archive documents, much more serious charges and penalties would have been levied and enforced. Congratulations! You’ve won a free trip to a secluded and rustic location of our choice!)

In the second Director Chair we have Steven Berkenfeld. Mr. Berkenfeld is a managing director of Lehman Brothers. He is a Director of RSI Holding Corporation (who acquired Employment Solutions, Inc. in 2002, who are “…in the business of locating and providing labor to industrial companies.”), and is a Member of the Corporate Financing Committee at the NASD. (this information comes from Tiger 21, itself an interesting site).

Start reading. Begin recognizing the chains that increasingly bind.

***********

Just what is all this trying to imply? That it’s all a big shell game? Perish the thought.

We are informed, ad nauseum, by our elected parents that these monsters under the collective bed do not exist. Who to believe? Our dependency on the ‘rents is strong. Will we grow up and learn to depend on ourselves once again or will we regress further still? Will we continue to retreat to the fake comforts of a televised reality that says what we so desperately want and need to hear because glimpsing the beginnings of truth means facing an ugliness we never really thought possible?

I wonder why our media ringmasters think it unnecessary to let us know these things. I wonder why digging for said information never seems to have occurred to them in the first place.

Okay, that’s a lie. I don’t wonder at all. If these “little” bits of information were actually sought after and reported in the main, it just might lead people in a truly informed democracy to think that they might not need all of these new measures, costs, and restrictions in order to be safe in the almighty scam that is the War on Terror. People just might be very averse to the idea that this is yet another way to extract from them more flesh, less in pounds, but more in survivable and sustainable ounces. It is the bar mitzvah of our new microfleshcash economy, transforming people into the new and improved, more frightened and easily controlled, money machines they always knew we could be.

Basil, this coffee smells like shit.

It *is* shit, Austin.

Oh, good, then it’s not just me.