The Decepticons

Governments lie to the people. Some lie more than others but they all lie. Politicians and the institutions they infest are, regardless of what they might have once thought to become, career liars. If one is willing to divorce ones self from the pervasive propaganda, aggressive manipulation of reality and the almost child like pumping of slogans (Freedom Fries-sigh) and slinging of mutually humiliating insults, then it's nothing more than a trip to the local library (yes, they do still exist) or a twenty minute search on Google to unearth all the evidence needed to establish a very damning timeline in regards to America's track record in the practice of spinning fabulous untruths and force feeding them to the unaware and overly patriotic public.

The Decepticons
Anyone that has ever read comics, seen the cartoon, or suffered through the (horrible) movies is all set: The analogy is too obvious to miss.

The Autobots were this totally peace loving, beer drinking group of hip car and truck enthusiasts that really just wanted to coalesce with all the other life formers on planet earth. The leader of the group was a truck driver and little else says salt of the earth like big rigs and moving freight cross country. Sure, there were some showoffs but who doesn't have a friend that is more into Lamborghinis than your fixer-upper you have on blocks in the front yard? It was still all good and the point was good times and keeping things sustainable.



There's trouble in paradise though, even in a universe where sentient robots from a place called Cybertron exist. Decepticons. This is a group comprised of duplicitous, two faced, warmongering imperialists bent on one thing: World domination and the enslavement/eradication of humanity. They are known for there ability to "transform" into military vehicles and weapons and also possess massive air-power.

This sounds oddly familiar.




The politicians on Capitol hill, although not sentient robots from another planet (that we know of),share a lot in common with their red eyed antagonistic brothers the Decepticons. Lying and the pervasive abuse of truth is one such shared characteristic.

Now, a note on lying. If someone is a bit overweight and I stroll up and ask them "Hey, what did you eat for lunch?" and they say "A salad." when in reality they had a pizza, some chili fries, an XXL milkshake and a small stray dog they found sleeping under their car- I can understand that. It's a lie but it's a lie that hurts nobody but themselves (and a homeless animal). This is slightly different than say that one time when...

-In August 1941 when President Franklin Roosevelt lied to the American people about the German attack on the USS Greer to get the United States into WW2. Or that other time....

-In 1964 when President Lydon Johnson told everyone that 1. There was "complete and incontrovertible evidence" that the North Vietnamese had attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. The fantasy war making didn't end there however as Johnsons administration claimned that the Maddox was on a "routine patrol" (read:spying) in the Gulf and that the alleged attack was "delibrate and unprovoked." Johnson then according to reports cackled wildly and rubbed his hands together realizing he had duped the US people into another war in a country far away that nobody wanted. Oh but then there was that other time when....

-Secretary of Defense Rumsfield said on September 27th, 2002 that he had "bulletproof" evidence that Saddam Hussein was closely allied with Osama bin Laden.

By 2004 the Decepticons had achieved everything they wanted and Rumsfeld no longer even felt compelled to lie, he didn't feel that he even needed the protection of a lie, that is how complete their victory was. He then told the Council on Foreign Relations that "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two (Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein)." It wasn't only Rumsfeld that lied with impunity but also the "well-respected" Colin Powell who had claimed up and down that before the war Bin Laden was "in partnership" with Iraq and that there was a "sinister nexus between Iraq and Al-Qaeda" but then, he too after the evil Decepticons had achieved their goals of stripping normal Americans of a variety of civil rights, invading a sovereign nation based on smoke and mirrors and then irreparably damaging America's credibility abroad he then said that "I have not seen a smoking-gun, concrete evidence about the connection..." These examples above are but a very small amount of the concrete evidence damning our leaders, agencies and military of various crimes against humanity.

Still to this day none of these "prestigious leaders" have ever paid in any way for some of the most heinous lies you can tell your own people. Lying about economic realities is loathsome and hurtful to the average citizen, but lying your way into a war of aggression in which many of the middle and lower classes will surely die is absolutely disgusting, and is a crime.

The most satisfying thing about the Tranformers was that the peace loving Autobots always came back from the edge of defeat and kicked some Decepticon ass. How long will it take for average suffering Americans to realize that the system is broken. The people in power are the principle enemy and voting for the lesser of two evils will not save you. Drastic change requires drastic action.

Autobots- Transform.

Or else...




Read more from Eric on his blog GAIJINASS

Watching (Part 1)

By Martin Schatz

The scariest part of Orwell's masterpiece, "1984," was always the slight feeling of familiarity that pervaded the story.  We understand the "newspeak" immediately, even before the author lets us in on the definitions.  "Doublethink" is something that we recognize from reading the news everyday, especially during any mention of something as neutral as "collateral damage."  There is always the sense that, while things aren't that bad yet, we can foresee the possibility that things could, given the wrong set of circumstances, get to that point.


Technologically, there are no longer any restrictions to the Big Brother state that the citizens of "1984's" London find themselves in.  New and improved technologies, such as implantable microchips, data mining, DNA chips, and "brain-wave fingerprinting" all currently exist.  What keeps them from being used is a rapidly eroding set of laws and rights.  This safety net is being destroyed by both the privization of data collection and the quickening pace of technological breakthroughs.  Our laws simply do not have the time to keep up with the rapid-fire pace of innovation.


Consider the words of the ACLU's report titled "Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains:"
"The technologies of surveillance are developing at the speed of light, but the body of law that protects us is stuck back in the Stone Age.  In the past, new technologies that threatened our privacy, such as telephone wiretapping, were assimilated over time into our society. The legal system had time to adapt and reinterpret existing laws, the political system had time to consider and enact new laws or regulations, and the culture had time to absorb the implications of the new technology for daily life. Today, however, change is happening so fast that none of this adaptation has time to take place – a problem that is being intensified by the scramble to enact unexamined anti-terrorism measures. The result is a significant danger that surveillance practices will become entrenched in American life that would never be accepted if we had more time to digest them (italics my own)."

Historically, we have been very slow in recognizing how new technologies infringe on our 4th Amendment rights.  It took nearly 40 years for the Supreme Court to reverse its ruling that wire tapping did indeed constitute a "search" that would require a warrant before being undertaken.  This slow pace of evolution is, quite simply, terribly insufficient in terms of protecting us from new technologies.

 

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

A situation where we find ourselves in a state of perpetual surveillance does not require any apocalyptic event or radical change in government.  Instead, it can simply proceed through the mostly good intentions of law enforcement and intelligence services and with the support of people who are looking to keep Americans "safe."  The greatest evolutionary leap in surveillance capability and allowance was adopted in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks in New York City.  

The Patriot Act was quickly developed after the 9/11 attacks as anti-terrorism legislation, signed into law little more than a month after the attacks, and was given little debate or oversight from Congress.  The ways in which this Act has eroded civil liberties and personal rights are well-documented, but for the sake of reference, I will borrow the below list from the Electronic Frontier Foundation:     

The law dramatically expands the ability of states and the Federal Government to conduct surveillance of American citizens. The Government can monitor an individual's web surfing records, use roving wiretaps to monitor phone calls made by individuals "proximate" to the primary person being tapped, access Internet Service Provider records, and monitor the private records of people involved in legitimate protests.

PATRIOT is not limited to terrorism. The Government can add samples to DNA databases for individuals convicted of "any crime of violence." Government spying on suspected computer trespassers (not just terrorist suspects) requires no court order. Wiretaps are now allowed for any suspected violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, offering possibilities for Government spying on any computer user.

Foreign and domestic intelligence agencies can more easily spy on Americans. Powers under the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) have been broadened to allow for increased surveillance opportunities. FISA standards are lower than the constitutional standard applied by the courts in regular investigations. PATRIOT partially repeals legislation enacted in the 1970s that prohibited pervasive surveillance of Americans.

PATRIOT eliminates Government accountability. While PATRIOT freely eliminates privacy rights for individual Americans, it creates more secrecy for Government activities, making it extremely difficult to know about actions the Government is taking.

PATRIOT authorizes the use of "sneak and peek" search warrants in connection with any federal crime, including misdemeanors. A "sneak and peek" warrant authorizes law enforcement officers to enter private premises without the occupant's permission or knowledge and without informing the occupant that such a search was conducted.    

This is alarming, but as a normal, law-abiding citizen, should you care?  After all, if you are doing nothing wrong, then why worry? 

In our next segment on the subject, we will go into the ways in which this power is being subverted and expanded, and how we all are affected by this erosion of our civil liberties and the increasing power and secrecy available to Government, Business and Law Enforcement.


PDF Patriot Act
How PATRIOT Threatens Online Civil Liberties
FBI Surveillance - 4th Amendment 
Data Mining - How Companies Know Your Personal Information
Bigger Monster, Weaker Chains
Is the U.S. Turning Into a Surveillance Country
Obama: Giving Up On Change When it Comes to 9/11 Trials