5.22.2011

Memo to Stephen Hawking (an' others)








So the famous "cosmologist," Stephen Hawking thinks heaven is fer folks who believe in fairy tales an' is wishful thinking fer all those who are afraid of the dark. He doan believe in no after life.

Really?

Seems to Aunty that the fairy tale is that you can lie, steal, cheat, murder an' never be judged. I'd say "wishful thinkin'" is fer them who hope thar' ain't no after life so their deeds ain't accountable.

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The Fourth Amendment has been bludgeoned by the Indiana Supreme Court which ruled that police do not need a warrant or reasonable cause to enter your home without a warrant. The Associated Press story announcing the decision: “People have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home."

Really?

Can y'all spell G U L A G ?



* * * * * * * * *

Liberals shriek in horror over Missouri House Bill 167 that requires all persons seeking a Missouri driver's license to be able to take the driver's exam in English. "This bill targets immigrants and is fundamentally unfair" claim liberals.



Really?

What if they cannot read a sign that redirects traffic an' end up killing those most precious of liberal subjects, illegal aliens?


* * * * * * * * *

Thar' ain't no "right to privacy" in the Constitution no matter what "penumbra" Douglas thought he seen--good thang too, since, Sugar Pie, ever'thang ya done, every place ya been, every chat ya had, every photo ya' posted, every red light ya run, every jug o' milk ya bought, every movie ya watched, ever'thang yore child puts on his plate in the lunchroom --all that is in a dossier somewhar's since about 2005 when a massive network of surveillance cameras sprouted like mushrooms on every corner of MainStreet USA, thanky to DARPA.



Combat Zones That See (CTS) centerpiece " is groundbreaking computer software that is capable of automatically identifying vehicles by size, color, shape and license tag, or drivers and passengers by face." Are we havin' fun yet? No? How about this, "and creating a computerized diary that would record and analyze everything a person says, sees, hears, reads or touches."

An' you dutifully read all those "privacy" notices on web sites, doan'cha? Puff out yore chests, now, an be proud that the good Ole U.S. of A. is now the 6th worst police state on the planet.




Really?
Yeah, really. Youse got more privacy in Bulgaria (# 49) or Romania (# 47). But when I make a run fer it, I reckon I prefer the ambiance of Portugal (#44) ( not really, I jes' typed that so when they come lookin' fer me they'll try Portugal--heh, I'll double back to Argentina, # 46)




14 comments:

sparringK9 said...

but what about lance armstrong doping? how about der arnolds love child?

american journalists should be sued for malicious malpractice. I knew about all these things, aunty, but as you know it takes real effort to find reporting on our slide into tyranny.

you know you can get a 3 hectare farm in costa rica for 70K? ive thought about it. i wonder. when dos one say "get out now or go to the gulag for real?'

Anonymous said...

Auntie, too bad Cory Doctorow is wrong,huh/ (Makers, Little Brother)

fishy said...

@ K9
How large is a hectare?

Aunty,
Ain't you ever seen the Eagle Eye movie? If not ya need to see it without editing for commercials. And pay close attention, some of the stuff they talk about is based on what Washington is doin' so it ain't all science fiction and special effects.

I looked it up
1 hectare = 2.47 acres (x3) = 7.4 acres.
Is that 70k with or without a dwelling?

Aunty Belle said...

Dawgy,
listen, it DO take effort to find journalists who done reported on the New Tyranny. So I went lookin'--

Dear Mercy!! I seen that Aunty is listed by Media Matters action network! Huh??? Oh, them folks is stretchin' hard . What a riot.
Ought I to be charmed, or fearful?



Fishy,
Doan they sleep in hammocks in CR? Or under they surf boards? giggle....an yep, I has seen Eagle Eye. You know thas' right.

Aunty Belle said...

oops, Anon,'
sorry, I doan know Doctorow.

sparringK9 said...

@fishy. it had a tico style house. i have listings if youre interested. FOr 110K you can get a great house, 18 acres with fruit trees.

Aunty if you are on MM watch list then I salute you. Be charmed. I am.

Anonymous said...

cryptohippie.com?

That's your news source for "America is the 6th worse Police State?".

You lost me on that one, Auntie.

I wouldn't put the USA, even the Obamanaton USA, in the top 25.

Karl said...

Good morning Aunty Belle,

Afterlife...personally I'm hoping to spend it drinking ale in the Odin's hall.

You can't really blame DARPA. It's their mission to develop the technology. The implementation of that technology is another hands. The capabilities of some of this surveillance technology should have you scared. Recently one of my personnel was going through a background check for a security clearance. He was discussing questions asked by an interviewer with one of his references on a cellphone. The call was broken into and terminated, both parties received a recorded message "This call has been terminated for National Security" he wasn't doing anything illegal or discussing anything inappropriate, yet it still happened.

Outside the U.S. They have even more leeway. Counting the individual petals on a flower woven into the hat band of our favorite dawg down in CR isn't out of the question.

Better to be here and working toward electing people that will control these technologies, than to leave and turn it over to the riffraff.

Aunty Belle said...

K9,

wow--youse really investigated it!
I is charmed--but believe me, it is a very minor reference. Still, how in the heck I'se on their radar when thar's many way bigger fish to fry, thas' nutty.

Troll!!

hey you--I'se gonna swwitch yore fanny fer deserting us! Come by more often please--we miss ya somethin' fierce.

As for Crypto hippe as a source--well, it is mah attempt at some humor. I hear yore point--

The angle of view I'se takin' here isn't jes' the Black Panthers at the polling places. No, mah thought wuz that if we set the terms of "police state" as the pervasive invasion of privacy without yore knowledge, without reasonable cause, human tracking (not trafficking-yet) and dossier compilation, we's definitely in the top ten. Thar' are more cameras, listening devices, digital tracking, buying pattern monitoring, entertainment monitoring, medical monitoring etc applied to the average American such that by comparison, the Iranian peasant lives in far greater privacy. His every sneeze ain't "policed" by a techno guard/ minder.

While the thugs of North Korea or Iran etc are loathsome, they are limited by access to the technology toys (see Karl below) that can count the number of gnat's on a monkey's fanny from a LEO.

Ya know that rental cars have hidden tracking devices in them, right? That same technology can/ is(?) built into new cars--and look along the major x-pressways heah in Florida--thar's two foot high cameras every so many mile markers--what ya recon that camera/ monitor is recordin'? When the gubmint can literally track every mile ya drive, know every medicine ya take, see every email ya write, listen to every conversation ya have--what do that say of our freedom?

In that sense--the array of technological means plus the willingness and justification (war on terror) to apply it to regular citizens--you have a very high functioning sophisticated, police state.


Karl,

Amen--stay home an' fight for our freedom.

I knows youse right in what ya relate about yore personnel. Fer reasons ya might surmise, I has-- on very rare occasion-- had a conversation wif a source that not only turns off the cell phone but removes the battery from theirs AND mine afore they will speak "off the record."

I doan blame DARPA. They do their job, and in certain circumstances we would be babbling thankful tht they had done their job. An' I admire yore levelheaded approach
--it ain't the technology but the implementation/ application that we need to fear. An' I do.

As a very famous philosopher noted:
Fire is neutral; it can keep you warm or burn your house down. It is how fire is used that matters.

In a similar vein, a president was once advised about his stretching of the exec powers--this president had good reason to do so--but a respected adviser suggested that the president think twice again since to do so would set a precedent for the presidents to come--an not all future presidents would be as well intentioned.

As with so much in life--it is how a law, a technology, a public policy is implemented that truly matters.

Thar's enough info for another post--but thar's some public policy/ cultural trends that tighten the noose too.

As they say, "interesting times we live in."

fishy said...

"Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we NEVER get to vote on what he is to do."
Will Rogers

Anonymous said...

“eReaders, Tablets, Computers, laptops, texting, American Idol.....t­hese are all things that render human beings motionless (and snooped upon) while the government does as it will.”

moi said...

And people wonder why I'm slowly slouching toward anarchy. Anarchy does not mean chaos. It means lack of central control. Which means, one must finally come, not to just have faith in, but to embody and practice, two important ways of being: 1. The total disbelief that any government, anywhere, established for any reason, is going to do us any good in the end; 2. That individual people can, if let be, live their lives without harming others. Those that don't will be dealt with swiftly by the individual or the community.

It's the only thing that makes any sense to me anymore. Because once you begin to give a central power control of an inch, they'll take the whole damn planet.

And that stupid Obamanator, the man who was supposed to wish us all into change, is going to sign the re-up of that horrifying Patriot Act. Old boss, same as new boss. Reason #345 for Anarchy Now.

Aunty Belle said...

Fishy,

.......well, we can count on ole Will Rogers cain't we to have good sense. Wendell Berry is right along that same track. Highly reccomeded.


Anon,

welcome an' thanky fer the insight/ quote.

Moi,

lemme pour ya some spiked lemonade--we can jaw on this fer a good spell.

I hear ya'. Cain't quite git thar, as I is worriet that the Ron Pauls of the world ain't dealin' wif the consequences of their idealized libertarianism.

Human communities always form some style of gubmint. Is that 'cause libertarianism din't work in practice? Anarchy? Doan it spawn vigilante justice? Doan it give the edge to the violent sorts?

I is also a H U G E proponent of de-centralized authority--heh, you bet I is. I is a stalwart state's rights promoter. So, fer me, it's State's Rights, but not anarchy.


Seems to me, that if we re-arranged ourselves accordin' to the original foundin,' we states would take back almost all the powers the Fed done grabbed. End of Big Brother.

Thus if youse a state that mandates recycling of dental floss but criminalizes puffin' on a Cohiba in yore backyard, have at it.

If youse a state that doan want no casinos but is OK wif' a 90 MPH speed limit, so be it.

Doan like the rule in yore state, legislate fer new laws or move. But doan whine to the feds, they won't have no power to deal wif' that local stuff.

I'd like to try this--if it doan work, then anarchy remains.

moi said...

I have think thank thunked on this for years and all that thinking and pondering and twisting and turning has only ever led me to the same conclusion, every single time: gooberment is and always will be a cancer. Regardless of how small and benign it starts off, it can't help but grow until it consumes and destroys everything.

The only way to prevent this from happening is anarchy. Which, remember, does not mean chaos. It simply means lack of a centralized government. To get there, however, I will concede that baby steps are in order——a centralized government/judiciary to protect our lives, liberty, and property from internal aggression and a military to protect us from outside aggression. Otherwise, turn everything over to the states, maybe even individual communities, with strict term limits and limited pay.

But it has to start with We the Sheeple. We have to get OVER our misguided belief in government as the solution and finally accept that it does NOT exist to legislate morality, that it can't possibly ensure our health, wealth, sex appeal or tons of groovy stuff, that it cannot equal private effort when it comes to alleviating the suffering of the poor and indigent. Otherwise, we get what we deserve.