Surveillance State, Techie's Dream

Many nations now seek to monitor communications of their entire populations (UK plans are reported here - link). The State can access our information; they try to assure us we're thus better protected.

Internet and telephone provider firms are forced to pay for surveillance & storage equipment, costs passed to consumers. These ludicrous systems will cause many multiples more problems than potential successes. The banks & credit card companies are already thus regulated, but at least (because of the money) security & secrecy are part of their basic mandate.

Giving anyone access to such telephone, email, and computer interactions is monstrously problematic. Under existing & proposed laws, private sector providers will be required to store data for many months or years. From a security perspective, your data is at grave risk of hijacking. Technical entrepreneurs are sure to hugely profit from some such files or metadata. Resale? Blackmail? Piracy? Government snoops are angelic in comparison.

We'll soon be hostage to minimally-trained private sector tech staff who recognize the value of information they collect & control.

RIP Trayvon Martin, Afghan Hero

Teenager Trayvon Martin was reportedly stalked & shot dead in Florida. His attacker misread the situation, acted hastily (perhaps he was scared), and used deadly force to kill an innocent person.

This is a microcosm of the blundering American military in Afghanistan, often brutally killing innocent people as we stumble through their neighborhoods. We've no right to be there. We've no clear purpose there. We should pack-up the occupying armies and leave the Afghans to handle their own affairs.

Many people we've slaughtered never left home. Perhaps trying to protect family members, killed in their ancestral villages, many never heard of Washington DC, Obama or the twin towers.

But the American cowboy continues to execute those in his path. After decades of amplified threat from Soviet nuclear weapons, the deadly Vietcong, Nicaraguan Sandanistas, Somali pirates, and Al-Qaeda militants, the American people are terrorized and quickly over-respond... Too many are oddly eager to kill.

We can't afford to continue murdering innocent people. Trayvon is now a symbol for misguided violence. Trayvon Martin, Afghan Hero (1995-2012), RIP.

Integration of Migrants

Went to a seminar this evening about Migration & Identity (thank you Michelle Mann). A key consideration is determining what is successful integration?

Is it enough that a migrant becomes self-supporting, and stays away from trouble with the law?

Migrants from different cultures should not all be expected to mirror a native ideal of their adopted homeland. (Surely many local-born people often fail to observe each tradition). Society would be far poorer without individual characteristics of a disparate population.

Sure some will study & enjoy local traditions, foods, and culture. But those who march to a different drumbeat (or don't march at all) are not signs of failure.

Health Care for All

A healthy society is impossible without health care for all. The US system is horrible.

Obama's reforms preserve the medical profession's iron grip on health. Self-serving barriers to entry perpetuate high medical costs. Professional providers cite freedom only as it suits their own interests. Citizen self-treatment is not an option. We can only buy care at sky-high prices, from the AMA company store.

Public health is vital to all. We cannot have people in our midst with undiagnosed easily-communicated diseases, such as tuberculosis and hepatitis. Too many preventable problems get bigger, often involving children. "Preventable dental conditions led to more than 830,000 emergency room visits... straining already stressed emergency room staff." (link). "In 2009, 56 percent of Medicaid-enrolled children did not receive dental care, not even a routine exam." Perhaps their parent(s) knew nothing of health care options.

The main problem with health care is too many don't care if neighbors live or die. Political bombast condemns too many people to needless suffering.

The USA needs a universal health care system. Partisan lobbyists & politics lead millions to early death, at uncounted cost. 

Cheney's Change of Heart

Dick Cheney take heart.

Cheney's new heart is sure to get tongue's wagging. Did the old heart wither through misuse? Was love of money insufficient to keep it fueled? Can we imaginable someone was butchered-to-order, filling the gap in Dick's brokenhearted life? 

I'd like to think Dick Cheney is simply misunderstood, maybe misquoted, a monster in our minds.

But no - Dick is selfish & unabashed - a defiant, deceitful capitalist. Dick Cheney is a me-first social Darwinist who believes wholeheartedly the strong & assertive deserve the fruits of the world; the weak are in the way, and to cheat is OK. Whereas I believe no society can sustainably survive dog-eat-dog competition -- we're all weak sometimes.

Oops - if unmended Dick reads such talk, he might blow a gasket.

After Occupy comes...

Occupy has been beaten-down, gassed & subdued.

But the war isn't over. What's next may be more dangerous.

Violence against peaceful protest was a bad mistake.
Corruption & costly militarism enslave people with little to lose.

Hide the problem -- it becomes more threatening.

We must work together creating community opportunity.

Authorized Violence is not acceptable.

Crazy Jason Russell?

I'd never heard of Jason Russell before he was reported to have run naked in daytime San Diego, yelling incoherently about the devil and swearing at bystanders (link). It seems the guy was overloaded by sudden fame after a project he began in 2003 "went viral" in March 2012. He'll now spend some weeks in hospital. Get well soon!

He's lucky to be WASPish (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) -- otherwise he'd be shot by police or tazered. Maybe his deluded mind shortcut to fame?

Performance pressure made him already creepy-looking. Celebrity America...

Corporate-Owned Justice

Prison assignments for The Pirate Bay convicts have been finalized by the Swedish government. The four founders of the guide, which lists bittorrent information, were sentenced to imprisonment and fined nearly US$4.5 million (30 million Swedish kronor). Any of their assets are liable for seizure, the fines remain unpaid.

So the Government of Sweden, along with the U.S. Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), seem to have broken further threat from these criminals.

Is this proper? I don't think so.

The logic that convicted these publishers should threaten a newspaper publisher whose paper is used to start a fire. It condemns the postman for delivering mail, and auto industry executives when their product is misused in a crime. Librarians are thus evildoers.

Who should bear the burden to protect & to censor? The systems protecting industrial rights and intellectual property are failing, with major, fundamental inadequacies. Why should taxpayers foot the bill, and pay to protect unguarded assets? Rights holders should be interested in protecting the system. Are they investing appropriately? It is unworkable & non-sustainable to push government officials to simply shoot the messenger.

Sympathy for Murderers

The recent slaughter of 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar is notable as a lesson in misplaced sympathy and lack of contrition. Sure, US government spokespeople expressed regret, and President Obama says the incident (where nine kids were massacred) was "tragic and shocking" -- but the faraway military occupation continues.

Western corporate media now widely reports the accused killer had a friend injured in Kandahar the day prior to this violence.

We're not instructed to feel tragedy or pity, but the back story is notable: because nobody bothers to explain background or disclose justification for peoples bullied & bloodied by overseas occupying forces. Foreign armies take huge tracts of land, cause great damage throughout the social system, and park themselves in the country for untold years. Damage and slaughter has led some Afghan people to hit back - but they are labeled terrorists, often summarily condemned to detention or execution. Overseas military-occupation is a cruel, unjust colonial obstruction. Until we withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, The Rape of Kandahar continues...

Hawaii's military occupation should end too ...