"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
President Abraham LincolnNovember 19, 1863
When Abraham Lincoln spoke those words at Gettysburg, nearly eight thousand young soldiers had recently given their lives on that battlefield to determine the fate of the Union. The President spoke of hallowed ground, consecrated with the blood of many brave men, men who gave “the last full measure of devotion” to their country, and to everything it stands for. He spoke of young soldiers sustaining a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people”. In the nearly one hundred and fifty years since those words were first uttered many more tens of thousands of American soldiers have given their lives for that same purpose, that liberty should not vanish from this earth. As the President said, it is far beyond our poor ability to consecrate the hallowed ground where they rest, they have done that all too well with their suffering and their blood. We today can only remember those young soldiers and their sacrifice, and we can offer a silent prayer that the Lord will look after them. They have brought us as far as they could, and now, lest their sacrifice be in vain, we the living must shoulder their burden, and continue on the path they have set before us.
On Memorial Day, take a moment from your holiday festivities to remember that this Nation's great heritage, the strength of its ideals and the freedoms we enjoy today, came at a terrible price, the blood of so many patriots. In the course of our nations 233 year history, America’s soldiers have given their lives in 85 wars and military actions. Remember those young soldiers who died for our country, and yes, remember those who are dying today on other battlefields. Be proud of them, and be thankful for what they have done for us. And you might also offer a prayer of thanks that this nation can produce young people like these, brave and dedicated young people who will lay down their lives in the name of liberty and freedom, so that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not vanish into the night. It is only fitting that we should honor the sacrifice of our departed soldiers by dedicating our lives to the ideals for which they fought and died, that tyranny shall not prevail over this land.
I’ve always considered myself to be a pretty tough old buzzard, but somehow I choke up and shed a silent tear whenever I hear Taps being played. I’ll bow my head to hide that tear, and yes, to pay respect as well, to those who are no longer with us. Like most old soldiers, I remember far too many young soldiers who gave up their hopes, their dreams, their futures, that this nation should continue to be the land of the free. We should all keep in mind that while Memorial Day is a fine day for parades, speeches, and ceremonies honoring our departed warriors, everyday should be a day to remember them.
I’ll be at Grangeville’s Memorial Day ceremony at Prairie View Cemetery on Monday, May 26th. Please, join me there in paying tribute to that long and tattered line of American heroes.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Liberty Tree
The picture I included in the newspaper edition of this column is a drawing of the famed "Liberty Tree". Unfortunately I don't know how to get it posted here!
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The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
The eagle-eyed reader will probably notice that there’s been a slight change in the heading of this column. In the course of my soapbox rants I’m generally heard to be decrying the demise of liberty in this nation, and in the course of mumbling to myself on the subject I suddenly got the bright idea of adding the “Tree of Liberty” to the heading. And once again I’ve included Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote about refreshing that tree.
Wikiapedia, the on-line encyclopedia, explains that “The Liberty Tree (1646–1775) was a famous elm tree that stood near the commons of Boston, Massachusetts Colony, in the days before the American Revolution. The tree was a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of England... On August 14, 1765, a group of men calling themselves the Sons of Liberty gathered in Boston under a large elm tree at the corner of Essex Street and Orange Street near Hanover Square to protest the hated Stamp Act. The Sons of Liberty concluded their protest by hanging two tax collectors in effigy from the tree. From that day forward, the tree became known as the "Liberty Tree." When the news of the Liberty Tree spread throughout the colonies, local patriots in each of the 13 colonies formed a Sons of Liberty group and identified a large tree to be used as a meeting place… flags bearing a representation of the Liberty Tree were flown to symbolize the unwavering spirit of liberty. ”
So… now you know the story of the Liberty Tree.
Another quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson that should be considered prophetic is; “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” While we remain the world’s freest nation today, our precious freedoms are disappearing one by one, and their rate of disappearance is rapidly accelerating. Our ever-expanding government has been collecting information about Americans as a group since our nation’s inception. They’ve been collecting information on us as individuals for nearly a hundred years now. And information is, believe it or not, the key to controlling any people. In the name of public welfare and “trust busting” the government effectively assumed overall control of our nations business, industry, and transportation, a hundred years ago. Our National Parks and National Forests supposedly gives our people multi-use lands for recreation, logging, mining, and ranching, public lands that the government retains control over, and we now find they can bar our use of those lands whenever they please.
Taxes, both the obvious ones and hidden taxes, give all levels of government seemingly unending access to our not so deep pockets, and a means of controlling our personal finances. Now the government is forcing a national identification card on us, which will soon become a legal necessity if we wish to do much of anything within our own country, and which the government can rescind at will. You might also have noticed that cash, the once well known “greenback dollar” is giving way to plastic cards and the electronic transfer of funds. Funding transfers that can be instantly halted at the stroke of a government controlled key. We’re being disarmed, in violation of the Second Amendment, in the name of crime control (which never seems to get controlled). Now we have Homeland Security who, in the name of public safety, is happily spying on us, searching us if we want to travel anywhere, spending huge amounts of our tax dollars, and generally limiting what’s left of our freedoms. To “improve” the education of our children, the federal government has assumed control of our schools, teaching our kids what “they” want, and not necessarily what we want. It’s no wonder that so many Americans see all this as a “vast government conspiracy”!
Returning to Wikipedia; “Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential founding fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States… He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government.”
Despite all the derogatory press and rewritten history in recent years, Tom Jefferson sounds like the kind of guy I could get to like! Reading the many quotes attributed to him gives one a good look into his political philosophy, and I think I can safely say he wouldn’t like what he’d see in this country today. On that line, a third Jefferson quote is; “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
Humm… Perhaps it’s time Americans reinstituted the Sons of Liberty, and found themselves another Liberty Tree?
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The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
The eagle-eyed reader will probably notice that there’s been a slight change in the heading of this column. In the course of my soapbox rants I’m generally heard to be decrying the demise of liberty in this nation, and in the course of mumbling to myself on the subject I suddenly got the bright idea of adding the “Tree of Liberty” to the heading. And once again I’ve included Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote about refreshing that tree.
Wikiapedia, the on-line encyclopedia, explains that “The Liberty Tree (1646–1775) was a famous elm tree that stood near the commons of Boston, Massachusetts Colony, in the days before the American Revolution. The tree was a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of England... On August 14, 1765, a group of men calling themselves the Sons of Liberty gathered in Boston under a large elm tree at the corner of Essex Street and Orange Street near Hanover Square to protest the hated Stamp Act. The Sons of Liberty concluded their protest by hanging two tax collectors in effigy from the tree. From that day forward, the tree became known as the "Liberty Tree." When the news of the Liberty Tree spread throughout the colonies, local patriots in each of the 13 colonies formed a Sons of Liberty group and identified a large tree to be used as a meeting place… flags bearing a representation of the Liberty Tree were flown to symbolize the unwavering spirit of liberty. ”
So… now you know the story of the Liberty Tree.
Another quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson that should be considered prophetic is; “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” While we remain the world’s freest nation today, our precious freedoms are disappearing one by one, and their rate of disappearance is rapidly accelerating. Our ever-expanding government has been collecting information about Americans as a group since our nation’s inception. They’ve been collecting information on us as individuals for nearly a hundred years now. And information is, believe it or not, the key to controlling any people. In the name of public welfare and “trust busting” the government effectively assumed overall control of our nations business, industry, and transportation, a hundred years ago. Our National Parks and National Forests supposedly gives our people multi-use lands for recreation, logging, mining, and ranching, public lands that the government retains control over, and we now find they can bar our use of those lands whenever they please.
Taxes, both the obvious ones and hidden taxes, give all levels of government seemingly unending access to our not so deep pockets, and a means of controlling our personal finances. Now the government is forcing a national identification card on us, which will soon become a legal necessity if we wish to do much of anything within our own country, and which the government can rescind at will. You might also have noticed that cash, the once well known “greenback dollar” is giving way to plastic cards and the electronic transfer of funds. Funding transfers that can be instantly halted at the stroke of a government controlled key. We’re being disarmed, in violation of the Second Amendment, in the name of crime control (which never seems to get controlled). Now we have Homeland Security who, in the name of public safety, is happily spying on us, searching us if we want to travel anywhere, spending huge amounts of our tax dollars, and generally limiting what’s left of our freedoms. To “improve” the education of our children, the federal government has assumed control of our schools, teaching our kids what “they” want, and not necessarily what we want. It’s no wonder that so many Americans see all this as a “vast government conspiracy”!
Returning to Wikipedia; “Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential founding fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States… He idealized the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government.”
Despite all the derogatory press and rewritten history in recent years, Tom Jefferson sounds like the kind of guy I could get to like! Reading the many quotes attributed to him gives one a good look into his political philosophy, and I think I can safely say he wouldn’t like what he’d see in this country today. On that line, a third Jefferson quote is; “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
Humm… Perhaps it’s time Americans reinstituted the Sons of Liberty, and found themselves another Liberty Tree?
Monday, May 12, 2008
More on Agenda 21
My weeping, wailing, sniveling and raging about Agenda 21 was never intended to turn into series of articles, but that seems to be what it’s becoming, mostly because of so much material to cover. A quick search of the internet discloses nearly fourteen million documents under that name, most of which probably have nothing at all to do with the matter at hand. But there is a lot of information around if anyone wants to spend the rest of his life digging through it! So far I’ve explained where Agenda 21 came from and what it purports to be. I’ve also indicated portions of what is presently being done to implement it (or at least what I believe is being done), by the UN and our government.
From the preface to the “United Nations Millennium Goals 2006” report, I read; “Six years ago, leaders from every country agreed on a vision for the future – a world with less poverty, hunger and disease, greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, better educated children, equal opportunities for women, and a healthier environment; a world in which developed and developing countries worked in partnership for the betterment of all. This vision took the shape of eight Millennium Development Goals, which are providing countries around the world a framework for development, and time-bound targets by which progress can be measured.” All the UN wants for now is a declaration that commits nations to banning 'small arms and light weapons' and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UN wants quite a lot it seems.
First, whether we agree with them or not, the fine sounding goals of Agenda 21 are supported (knowingly or otherwise) by a good many Americans. After all, saving the Earth, and protecting women and children are goals we can readily understand. Besides, how many people in this country have been led to believe that all encompassing federal “cradle to grave” care is not only inevitable, but desirable as well? How many more have been taught by our schools and by the incessant blathering of the far left media that “America is wrong” or that “It’s all America’s fault”? How many seemingly sane Americans firmly believe the European idea that America should always agree with European goals, irregardless of the effect those goals have on this country? How many more believe that it’s actually possible for an omnipotent international government to solve all the problems of life for the six billion inhabitants of Earth, merely with the stroke of a pen?
Remember when we were taught that America was the “great melting pot”, where people of all nations could come together, and in short order were assimilated into the great “Us”, Americans all? Today we are being told that diversity is the proper course, and rather than being “the American people”, we should be a land occupied by a large number of ethnically separate communities, held apart by race, creed, and language. We can’t even agree on a common language anymore. Seemingly every ethnic group in this country supports our constitution, until it interferes with one of their sacred cows, and then the constitution suddenly becomes irrelevant. No wonder we’re so divided! I can remember the days when I had to go overseas to meet a foreign people. Now it seems that all one has to do is cross the street in most American cities!
There was a time when we were taught to be honest with ourselves and each other, industrious, thrifty, and self sufficient. Now of course we’re being taught that self sufficiency has given way to “the government” taking care of us by way of “entitlements”. Thrift has given way to credit cards and mind numbing debt loads. Honesty has passed away, replaced by a parody of Hollywood’s “crime does pay” version of reality. We’re still industrious of course; we have to be to pay off those credit card bills, and to keep up with the neighbor’s newest gadgets. Sobriety has been replaced with a mountain of mind numbing drugs. It doesn’t matter if you’re personally religious or not, you’ve seen Christianity being replaced by everything from atheism to idolatry to devil worship. (All arguments aside, Christianity was the glue that held this nation together for a couple of hundred years, yet today political correctness has all but banished it from our nation.) Today Americans are supposed to worship only at the altar of globalization! You might also have noticed that globalization is essentially economic, business driven, and so far is only advantageous to international mega-corporations. We also must remember that globalization is but one portion of Agenda 21, which gives the whole thing a stamp of approval to the far left (and the New York Times), despite what the rest of us might want.
The United States Senate may soon vote on the imposition of an $845 BILLION global tax on American citizens. It's called the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), and it is being sponsored by none other than US Senator Barack Obama. According to some sources this legislation could cost U.S. taxpayers $845,000,000,000.00 a year on welfare to third-world countries. Activist Phyllis Schlafly recently wrote: "Obama's costly, dangerous and altogether bad bill (S. 2433), which could come up in the Senate any day, is called the Global Poverty Act. It would commit U.S. taxpayers to spend 0.7 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on foreign handouts..." That’s in addition to the three hundred billion a year we already spend on international welfare. According to my calculator that’s $190.83, in US funds, handed free gratis to every man, woman, and child on the Earth. That’s not much money per person of course, but how much of it would actually get past the third world’s petty dictators and their Swiss bank accounts? On the flip side, advocates of the Global Poverty Act are claiming that it does not really commit the United States to anything... that it won't really cost anything... that it simply requires the President, working with the Secretary of State, to develop a plan to eliminate world poverty. Sen. Joe Biden states that "implementing S. 2433 would cost less than $1 million per year..." Well, technically he's correct I guess... after all, merely planning something doesn't really cost that much. But why bother to develop such a plan if there’s no intention of following through with it?
Methinks the air is getting a little thin in the ivory towers of our nations capitol, and not enough oxygen is reaching our elected representatives brains. Perhaps it’s time that the American voters got mad about this high-handed foolishness, and replaced those congressmen with people whose brains are still functioning. Winston Churchill once said: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
Wise words… words we might all remember as we sit in front of the TV, patiently waiting for someone else to halt Agenda 21 and the ending of our nation.
From the preface to the “United Nations Millennium Goals 2006” report, I read; “Six years ago, leaders from every country agreed on a vision for the future – a world with less poverty, hunger and disease, greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, better educated children, equal opportunities for women, and a healthier environment; a world in which developed and developing countries worked in partnership for the betterment of all. This vision took the shape of eight Millennium Development Goals, which are providing countries around the world a framework for development, and time-bound targets by which progress can be measured.” All the UN wants for now is a declaration that commits nations to banning 'small arms and light weapons' and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The UN wants quite a lot it seems.
First, whether we agree with them or not, the fine sounding goals of Agenda 21 are supported (knowingly or otherwise) by a good many Americans. After all, saving the Earth, and protecting women and children are goals we can readily understand. Besides, how many people in this country have been led to believe that all encompassing federal “cradle to grave” care is not only inevitable, but desirable as well? How many more have been taught by our schools and by the incessant blathering of the far left media that “America is wrong” or that “It’s all America’s fault”? How many seemingly sane Americans firmly believe the European idea that America should always agree with European goals, irregardless of the effect those goals have on this country? How many more believe that it’s actually possible for an omnipotent international government to solve all the problems of life for the six billion inhabitants of Earth, merely with the stroke of a pen?
Remember when we were taught that America was the “great melting pot”, where people of all nations could come together, and in short order were assimilated into the great “Us”, Americans all? Today we are being told that diversity is the proper course, and rather than being “the American people”, we should be a land occupied by a large number of ethnically separate communities, held apart by race, creed, and language. We can’t even agree on a common language anymore. Seemingly every ethnic group in this country supports our constitution, until it interferes with one of their sacred cows, and then the constitution suddenly becomes irrelevant. No wonder we’re so divided! I can remember the days when I had to go overseas to meet a foreign people. Now it seems that all one has to do is cross the street in most American cities!
There was a time when we were taught to be honest with ourselves and each other, industrious, thrifty, and self sufficient. Now of course we’re being taught that self sufficiency has given way to “the government” taking care of us by way of “entitlements”. Thrift has given way to credit cards and mind numbing debt loads. Honesty has passed away, replaced by a parody of Hollywood’s “crime does pay” version of reality. We’re still industrious of course; we have to be to pay off those credit card bills, and to keep up with the neighbor’s newest gadgets. Sobriety has been replaced with a mountain of mind numbing drugs. It doesn’t matter if you’re personally religious or not, you’ve seen Christianity being replaced by everything from atheism to idolatry to devil worship. (All arguments aside, Christianity was the glue that held this nation together for a couple of hundred years, yet today political correctness has all but banished it from our nation.) Today Americans are supposed to worship only at the altar of globalization! You might also have noticed that globalization is essentially economic, business driven, and so far is only advantageous to international mega-corporations. We also must remember that globalization is but one portion of Agenda 21, which gives the whole thing a stamp of approval to the far left (and the New York Times), despite what the rest of us might want.
The United States Senate may soon vote on the imposition of an $845 BILLION global tax on American citizens. It's called the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), and it is being sponsored by none other than US Senator Barack Obama. According to some sources this legislation could cost U.S. taxpayers $845,000,000,000.00 a year on welfare to third-world countries. Activist Phyllis Schlafly recently wrote: "Obama's costly, dangerous and altogether bad bill (S. 2433), which could come up in the Senate any day, is called the Global Poverty Act. It would commit U.S. taxpayers to spend 0.7 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on foreign handouts..." That’s in addition to the three hundred billion a year we already spend on international welfare. According to my calculator that’s $190.83, in US funds, handed free gratis to every man, woman, and child on the Earth. That’s not much money per person of course, but how much of it would actually get past the third world’s petty dictators and their Swiss bank accounts? On the flip side, advocates of the Global Poverty Act are claiming that it does not really commit the United States to anything... that it won't really cost anything... that it simply requires the President, working with the Secretary of State, to develop a plan to eliminate world poverty. Sen. Joe Biden states that "implementing S. 2433 would cost less than $1 million per year..." Well, technically he's correct I guess... after all, merely planning something doesn't really cost that much. But why bother to develop such a plan if there’s no intention of following through with it?
Methinks the air is getting a little thin in the ivory towers of our nations capitol, and not enough oxygen is reaching our elected representatives brains. Perhaps it’s time that the American voters got mad about this high-handed foolishness, and replaced those congressmen with people whose brains are still functioning. Winston Churchill once said: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
Wise words… words we might all remember as we sit in front of the TV, patiently waiting for someone else to halt Agenda 21 and the ending of our nation.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Trust
Isn’t it wonderful how the United States government trusts the American people who are, quite literally and according to our Constitution, the government? (“Of the People, By the People, and For the People”.) As I understand things, our government is made up of folks whom we elect to represent us in Congress to enact the occasional law or two, decide where and how our tax monies are to be spent, and to determine if we really want to go to war with this or that country. Congressmen are supposed to be aided by a few “hired hands”, who are specialists in whatever subject seems interesting at the moment. Overseeing the day to day operations is the President, who we hope is a good office manager with the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of Audie Murphy, and the common sense of Abe Lincoln. The President is supposed to be assisted by a few advisors who are experts in their respective fields, and who really should have a bit more than a little common sense of their own. Overseeing the entire government is a very special group of individuals that we call the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court consists of highly qualified legal specialists whose sole job is to determine whether or not the activities of both Congress and the President are in accordance with our Constitution, which is of course the supreme law of the land. The Supreme Court is also aided by a few people, who are supposed to be nothing more than the office staff and a handful of legal researchers.
As I learned American history in grade school and high school, each branch of our government (legislative, executive, and judicial) will, in theory, jealously guard the prerogatives of their particular office from intrusion by another branch. Thanks to the wording of our constitution, the individual states got into the action as well. While the states don’t have the authority to derail the federal government, they certainly do have the authority to apply the brakes! As things were set up, John Q. Citizen paid his taxes to the state in which he resided, and the state handed a portion of those tax dollars to the federal government as needed. With this system the federal government was never in a position to make severe monetary demands on either the state or the citizen, but was forced to live within its budget each year. If extra funds were needed, the feds had to go to the states, hat in hand, and hope the state was in a good mood. Thus there wasn’t a whole lot of federal wastage going on.
Congress also operated a bit differently. The members of the House of Representatives, then as now, were elected by the citizens of each state (by popular vote), specifically to represent the people, and were answerable only to the voters. Representatives are responsible for how much money the government spends each year, and if they handed out to many blank checks, would (theoretically) find themselves out of a job next year. Senators on the other hand were selected by their individual statehouse, and were sent to Washington to only to represent the specific interests of their particular state, not the individual voters therein. In 1913, we passed the seventeenth amendment to the constitution and made mandatory the direct (popular vote) election of US Senators. With that popular vote, all our congressmen found themselves handing out favors to the electors, usually in the form of various entitlements and pork barrel projects, to keep the voters happy and hold on to their political office. (1913 was a bad year for America, as it also saw the sixteenth amendment passed, which brought about our income tax program.) The early years of the twentieth century saw the beginning of the American police state, as the FBI, BATF, the beginnings of the DEA came into being, along with a number of smaller and quite specialized law enforcement agencies whose sole purpose to exist is to protect the US government… from the American people. With 9-11 we got Homeland Security, authorized by congress in a panicky effort to be seen as doing something to combat terrorism and protect the American people. Unfortunately, and as usual, Congress wasn’t thinking very well that day. With Homeland Security and the equally odious Patriot Act the federal government gained dictatorial powers over American citizens, which includes a congressional OK to ignore our constitution and bill of rights, wherein they can spy on us, seize our property, arrest and hold us on the flimsiest excuse, and seemingly do just about anything else they might want. Originally the idea was to catch terrorists. Shortly thereafter organized crime and drug cartels were added to the hit list. Now it includes any real or suspected criminal activity, along with, apparently, arcane religious beliefs. What’s next? Even more spying on us of course, to make sure we’re not planning to overthrow the government I guess.
We’ve had the “Real ID” program crammed down out throats, which is little more than a government issued (and government revocable) permit to live in the United States. With RFID, that ID card can be used to track your every movement, in real time. Camera systems are being installed on the streets of our cities to keep track of the goings on. When hooked to a computer system they will also identify any individual within the field of view. Biometrics can be used to identify you whenever you go through a door, or even walk past a lamp post! GPS systems installed in automobiles track their every movement, (only to monitor whatever improper activity your teenagers are up to of course), and to help with the recovery of stolen vehicles. Your new remote reading electric meter could be used, once your average power use is calculated, to make sure you’re not wasting energy by keeping the house overly warm, or to monitor the use of gro-lights in your basement “farm”. Homeland security is already using military spy satellites, and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to watch everything that happens in the US… Ahh… pardon me, only to catch drug smugglers and illegal aliens…
Now there’s even more government surveillance coming down the pike.
What's got a 500-foot wing, flies at 90,000 feet and can stay in the air for nearly five years at a time? It'll be the “Vulture”, a long-range, solar powered, unmanned surveillance aircraft sponsored by the pentagon and being closely followed by homeland security. Essentially it’s a highly maneuverable satellite replacement, a fixed-wing aircraft flying high enough to "see" large parts of the Earth, but one that can circle and focus on areas of particular interest for a long time, something a satellite can't do. Modern sensor arrays can see underground and underwater as well as on the surface of the earth, during the day, or at night. Cameras can read a newspaper headline from a hundred miles away, while radar can literally count the fillings in your teeth if anyone wants to take the time to look! Some thermal imaging systems could be used to count the mice in the backyard, or determine what room of the house you’re presently in (along with getting a pretty good idea of what you’re doing in there).
I don’t mind the cops, federal, state, county, or city, catching the “bad guys”, in fact I’ll applaud their efforts. But I do object, strenuously so, to the government spending my tax money to watch my every movement! As an American citizen, where I go, or what I do and think, is none of their damm business until after I break some law or other!
As I learned American history in grade school and high school, each branch of our government (legislative, executive, and judicial) will, in theory, jealously guard the prerogatives of their particular office from intrusion by another branch. Thanks to the wording of our constitution, the individual states got into the action as well. While the states don’t have the authority to derail the federal government, they certainly do have the authority to apply the brakes! As things were set up, John Q. Citizen paid his taxes to the state in which he resided, and the state handed a portion of those tax dollars to the federal government as needed. With this system the federal government was never in a position to make severe monetary demands on either the state or the citizen, but was forced to live within its budget each year. If extra funds were needed, the feds had to go to the states, hat in hand, and hope the state was in a good mood. Thus there wasn’t a whole lot of federal wastage going on.
Congress also operated a bit differently. The members of the House of Representatives, then as now, were elected by the citizens of each state (by popular vote), specifically to represent the people, and were answerable only to the voters. Representatives are responsible for how much money the government spends each year, and if they handed out to many blank checks, would (theoretically) find themselves out of a job next year. Senators on the other hand were selected by their individual statehouse, and were sent to Washington to only to represent the specific interests of their particular state, not the individual voters therein. In 1913, we passed the seventeenth amendment to the constitution and made mandatory the direct (popular vote) election of US Senators. With that popular vote, all our congressmen found themselves handing out favors to the electors, usually in the form of various entitlements and pork barrel projects, to keep the voters happy and hold on to their political office. (1913 was a bad year for America, as it also saw the sixteenth amendment passed, which brought about our income tax program.) The early years of the twentieth century saw the beginning of the American police state, as the FBI, BATF, the beginnings of the DEA came into being, along with a number of smaller and quite specialized law enforcement agencies whose sole purpose to exist is to protect the US government… from the American people. With 9-11 we got Homeland Security, authorized by congress in a panicky effort to be seen as doing something to combat terrorism and protect the American people. Unfortunately, and as usual, Congress wasn’t thinking very well that day. With Homeland Security and the equally odious Patriot Act the federal government gained dictatorial powers over American citizens, which includes a congressional OK to ignore our constitution and bill of rights, wherein they can spy on us, seize our property, arrest and hold us on the flimsiest excuse, and seemingly do just about anything else they might want. Originally the idea was to catch terrorists. Shortly thereafter organized crime and drug cartels were added to the hit list. Now it includes any real or suspected criminal activity, along with, apparently, arcane religious beliefs. What’s next? Even more spying on us of course, to make sure we’re not planning to overthrow the government I guess.
We’ve had the “Real ID” program crammed down out throats, which is little more than a government issued (and government revocable) permit to live in the United States. With RFID, that ID card can be used to track your every movement, in real time. Camera systems are being installed on the streets of our cities to keep track of the goings on. When hooked to a computer system they will also identify any individual within the field of view. Biometrics can be used to identify you whenever you go through a door, or even walk past a lamp post! GPS systems installed in automobiles track their every movement, (only to monitor whatever improper activity your teenagers are up to of course), and to help with the recovery of stolen vehicles. Your new remote reading electric meter could be used, once your average power use is calculated, to make sure you’re not wasting energy by keeping the house overly warm, or to monitor the use of gro-lights in your basement “farm”. Homeland security is already using military spy satellites, and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to watch everything that happens in the US… Ahh… pardon me, only to catch drug smugglers and illegal aliens…
Now there’s even more government surveillance coming down the pike.
What's got a 500-foot wing, flies at 90,000 feet and can stay in the air for nearly five years at a time? It'll be the “Vulture”, a long-range, solar powered, unmanned surveillance aircraft sponsored by the pentagon and being closely followed by homeland security. Essentially it’s a highly maneuverable satellite replacement, a fixed-wing aircraft flying high enough to "see" large parts of the Earth, but one that can circle and focus on areas of particular interest for a long time, something a satellite can't do. Modern sensor arrays can see underground and underwater as well as on the surface of the earth, during the day, or at night. Cameras can read a newspaper headline from a hundred miles away, while radar can literally count the fillings in your teeth if anyone wants to take the time to look! Some thermal imaging systems could be used to count the mice in the backyard, or determine what room of the house you’re presently in (along with getting a pretty good idea of what you’re doing in there).
I don’t mind the cops, federal, state, county, or city, catching the “bad guys”, in fact I’ll applaud their efforts. But I do object, strenuously so, to the government spending my tax money to watch my every movement! As an American citizen, where I go, or what I do and think, is none of their damm business until after I break some law or other!
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