There is more Big Brother legislation in the works. The president is seeking to increase surveillance powers further by taking advantage of the fear and uncertainty of the populace. Next on the law enforcement wish list is the ability to snoop email without a court order. All of these recent attempts to expand police state powers are pointing out more and more how scared large undemocratic institutions like the government are worried about recent democratizing trends. When people can communicate easily outside of the roving eye of government you will see a diminishing of their power. They are seeking to reverse this. It is no different than what the Chinese have recently done by closing internet cafes and attempting to create a wall around their internet. Of course, technology is neutral and can be used to decrease or increase freedom. It is up to everyone to force the issue. One should not obey laws and edicts that are plainly wrong. Also, everything must be done to fight this power grab on the political and technological level. We are at an important place in history that will decide the course of the future.
More evidence of the fear taking hold in the minds of our corporate/governmental slave masters:
- Ashcroft seeks authority to spy on political groups.
- Feds bugging cable modems
- Ashcroft wants to dump habeas corpus
- More on the propaganda war…keeping the press in line.
- Government retreating into secrecy.
- On the propaganda (aka public diplomacy) war from The Economist.
Want to show your support for peace without getting your ass kicked by some american brownshirt? Buy a peace flag and represent.
More innocent blood on america’s hands. 300 more civilians die in american bombings. Do you think this father wants revenge? War is pointless murder and destruction. Anyone who thinks differently is an idiot. (Editorializing *smile*) See more destruction wrought by ‘the light of freedom in the world’.
- “US fundamentalism is the root cause of the horror inflicted on Washington and New York, says John Pilger”
- The US has no problem with terrorism as long as we are not the victims. “They’re our terrorists.”
- Interesting BBC interview with the Taleban’s Mullah Omar. How come our leaders sound more insane than this guy? With all the references to God he sounds like Bush Jr.
- The Bushes and the Carlyle Group. A chronology of crookedness from Bushwatch. (Great site!)
- The SS (Secret Service) comes calling on a Durham activist because of a poster on her wall:
It’s illegal to make threats against the president, to burn him in effigy, or to announce a desire for his death. Can you announce a desire to shrink him to the size of a mouse or to doctor porn photos to include him in? I better bust out the photoshop.
- Analysis of the latest spin from prwatch.
The military is obsessed with this idea of a “revolution in military affairs” or RMA in government speak. (There was a good story about this on This American Life). It is the idea that military strategy is about to undergo a paradigm shift. Seemingly immutable laws of warfare are becoming outmoded. The US has for a long time practiced the so-called doctrine of ‘overwhelming force’. The idea that to win a war we would basically overwhelm the opponent with our military might. This strategy in a world where the US is the dominant super-power is no longer relevant. The new paradigm is what has the powerful institutions worried. This is one of the reasons for the strength of response to the September 11th disaster. It is becoming more and more evident that governmental institutional power is extraordinarily easy to combat. In other words, the emperor has no clothes. After the USS Cole attack I was amazed. A massive, expensive symbol of american military hegemony was destroyed by two men in a rubber dingy? The idea is extraordinary. The ability to multiply the effects of an attack by targeting weaknesses. It is the same with the destruction of the World Trade Center. How can you fight these sorts of attacks? In Israel, where they are as tough as can be on terrorists you still have these attacks. The power of the government exists more in the mind than in reality. It presents an image of omnipotence and omniscience but this image is under attack on all fronts. It is now grasping at straws hoping to stem the changes wrought by advances in global communication and data transmission. The buffoonery of the government is showcased in the media for all to experience. We still have no leads on the terrorist attacks or on the anthrax-laden letters. Even our response to the WTC attacks is unlikely to affect those responsible. The US is like a wounded cyclops. It has been blinded and is impotently attacking everything around it in its anger and frustration. Yet, it tries desperately to appear as if everything is under control.
Last night I watched the new Richard Linklater movie, Waking Life. It was great. Alex Jones made a nice appearance in it. I wish I had a transcript of his piece. It was very stirring.