yesterday, hidden amoung the smoke and mirrors of the faux bombs in London, Congress voted to extended the Patriot Act. all under the guise of keeping `us` safe.
Continue Reading...Archives For patriot act
remember when you were in school and you were taught, never assume because it makes and ass of u and me. you would think that; stupid snickers aside; this lesson would have stuck with most people, apparently not.
i`ve read in various journals support for the Patriot Act and profiling of Arab men by fairly intelligent people. what is interesting to note about those who supporting profiling is; in the grand scheme of things; the closest they will come to be profiled is the Ugly American Abroad and the greatest penalty for that is a high price at the cash register.
profiling is based on a flawed assumption that all people of a specific group will behaving in a specific manner.
all Arab men terrorists
all black men from the Caribbean drug dealers
all Americans abroad loud and obnoxious
are any of those statements 100% true? of course not, but they are the basis for a profile and it doesn`t work that way or i should rephrase, it shouldn`t. for those of you about to jump in with specific instances where the authorities have stopped someone and prevented a crime; there is a vast difference between probable cause and profiling.
i`ve said this on more than one occasion, Americans are willing to give up personal freedoms for the illusion of safety. The Patriot Act and racial profiling are not making the US any safer. profiling Arab men is stopping terrorists but people `feel` safer because it looks like they`re doing something but in the long run, organisations like Al Qaeda believe they`re fighting a holy war and they can draw on the support of many Muslims and here`s the frightening thing; they look just like you or i. one of the people captured in Afghanistan was a white middle class US citizen.
fear and shock are the basic tenets of terrorism. terrorist don`t have rules of engagement, they don`t follow set patterns. profiling people isn`t going to stop attacks, if anything they are more likely to escalate as people start to feel more marginalised and ostracised.
sadly this boils down to race; black men are still being profiled, not as much in places where there are Arab men, but it`s going on and until they start pulling white Americans out of cars and lines in airports and doing strip and full cavity searches on them, people are going continue to sit back and think profiling is a good thing.
John Ashcroft has resigned but his enduring legacy remains with us; The Patriot Act.
most people would like to believe the only people that have anything to fear from the Patriot Act are terrorists. that`s not quite true, this problem with this act isn`t just with the information that can be acquired about you, it`s about how it can be acquired.
there are checks and balances in the legal system written into the constitution to ensure it isn`t abused, the Patriot Act removes quite a number of these; the most important of which is the burden of proof. people are willing to sacrifice almost anything for the illusion of safety and the patriot act panders dangerously to that illusion.
this isn`t just about access to your personal records, under the Patriot Act you can be detained with out bail or trial; indefinitely; on a suspicion.
what is to prevent it from being you?
i don`t generally read newspapers, i haven`t really since i choose advertising as a career; i look through them to see the ads or if i have something published, i don`t watch television news either, i find the news for the most part depressing and biased, which in turn depresses me more.
Continue Reading...
but not yet, and not before they’ve jump through a few hoops first.
so the fingerprint thing (story here) has quite a few people in trinidad getting there panties in a bunch, i would be upset too, but i’ve already been fingerprinted like a common fucking criminal twice (you put up with a hell of a lot for love) and with any luck, the should have been processed by the fbi (this was done since mid-feb (the day before st. valentine’s to be exact)
this is all part of the process i’m currently going through.
am i happy about it? oh hell fucking no.
am i putting up it for the great good? fuck yes.
the only thing that gives me comfort is that with this and all other pogroms, the pendulum will swing back. there was the mccarthy era, the pendulum swing back to camelot, then back to nixon, then to carter… you get the generally idea. the major problem in the us is the lack of balance, everything is done to excess, always. the masses accept whatever is handed to them and in this age of all pervasive media, it’s become much easier to dispense the bullshit. i firmly believe that GWB will do whatever it takes to get a second term (well first actually won) in office, the best we/you can hope for is that he doesn’t kill us all before the time is up and the masses will be able see the shit that’s stuck to them.
i should probably exercise some care with what i say, because i’m begging askance at uncle sam’s door stop and in this age of the patriot act, anything i say, can and will be held against me, but you know what – FUCK THAT!
i have a brain, i can see right from wrong. i love vic dearly, but if moving to the us to be with her means giving up higher brain functions and giving into fear of persecution, we definitely need to find somewhere else to live.
thank you and good night