Hey NSA! Cut It Out!!

*****Sorry I didn't post an article last week! I was on the road and couldn't get angry enough to rant about something!!*******

Have we ever believed we are not right? We think we are 100% right about something and most times, when we are proven wrong, we feel little to no consequence. How can we learn if we don't believe we are ever wrong?

At one time, we believed the following was true about Malaria:

Mal-Aria : Bad Air -- It was believed that these diseases were caused by poisonous gas released by subtropical vegetation in the hot, humid air
 

Not so long ago, medical doctors were recommending which brand of cigarette best eased throat irritation.

For real.

How can we continue to be sure we are right about so much?

How does our legal system continue to work when only those who are too poor to defend themselves, are forced to abide by our laws? Rob a bank and you will go to jail if/when you are caught. Use a bank to rob people, that's nothing. No big deal. Move along folks, nothing to see here. Shut up.

The NSA scandal was going on long before President Obama took office. Although candidate Obama promised it would be stopped.

Here's what I think happened. President Obama took office and was immediately convinced by the CIA, NSA and The Pentagon, these breaches of the constitution were yielding too many results and preventing many possible terrorist attacks. He would put the nation in great peril if he were to close the program down.

He may have even told himself "I'll keep it there for a year and then re-assess the situation." The longer he kept it going, the harder it was to shut down.

It's like a safety blanket for all the people trying to keep America safe. I think they are over confident in their ability to intercept messages. I think they are often wrong when the 'powers-that-be' interpret something to be insidious (Salon.com). Just look at the number of people who have ended up on the no-fly-list by mistake and can't get themselves off of it.

I and I suspect many other people, would like to get a look at this amazing intelligence they have gleaned while spying on people domestically. I bet a lot of it is pure bullshit. I bet it is not nearly as good as they think it is. If it is so good at stopping terror attacks, why didn't it catch the Boston Bombers? or the ricin letters to the President and Mayor Bloomberg.

I also believe that many governments practice the same policies. It has already come to light that the U.K. and Canadian governments are running similar projects. You can go ahead and laugh off any insistence by them, that these programs are never used domestically. Just pick up your phone in any of these countries and tell a friend you would like to start a terror cell, hang up and wait for the white unmarked van to pull up across the street from your house.

Having this spy technology means it is either on or off. Once it is on, nobody has any digital privacy anymore.

I have heard some people say, "So what? Who cares? They want to listen to my boring conversations? Go ahead?"

I understand and empathize with this level of apathy, however, I don't think it is genuine.

Let's just say I am a Police Officer. I show up at your door while you are having dinner and I say "Tell me who you called yesterday and what each call was about. Remember to include any emails or texts you may have sent as well."

So you say "What is this about?" and I say "Shut up and tell me or I will just use our super awesome computer program to find out."

So you think, "oh well, who cares? I'll just tell him" but as you tell me, I start to ask a lot of questions about certain calls you made. The more you explain, the more obviously suspicious I become. You know you have done nothing wrong, nor do you deserve this kind of scrutiny without being accused of something but your innocence is harder to prove than you thought it would be.

Look back at 'secret police states' from the iron curtain communist era and you will see how quickly these things get out of hand.

Our ancestors fought long and hard for the legal rights we have. Don't let the terrorists win. They have watched us take away our own freedoms and bankrupt ourselves while we do it. They are turning our countries into the kind of freedom hating, narrow minded jump to conclusion bullshit society they want for themselves.


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Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email at shaunabout@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!!

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Pic of the day courtesy of Reddit.com/r/pics

Michael Imperioli and Steve Buscemi at James Gandolfini's funeral.

Atheism

For me, atheism came in the form of a realization about our eventual encounter with another species from a different planet. I believe it is an eventuality because to me, mathematically, there are just too many other planets in our Galaxy for there not to be life similar to ours out there. Somewhere.

I believe the only obstacle to this happening, is us. We may blow ourselves up, on purpose or accidentally. We may never get the chance to meet another people, from another world. That would suck.

So when (if) we meet this other species, will they already know about Jesus Christ? or Buddha? or Mohammed? Of course not! How could they? Their culture will make up their own stories.

So how could a God who is omnipotent, not tell this alien culture about Jesus, who is (according to Christians), the only way into heaven?

I know that is a similar argument to the "God so loved the white Europeans, that he told them about Jesus a millennium and a half before telling the Natives of North America." I think my realization trumps even this obvious problem with the theory. To me, it goes to the root of religious fallacy.

Would we really be so pompous and arrogant as to suggest to these other worlders, that their version of their own history is incorrect.

It was an apple in a garden. It was a spectacular flood that wiped out most of the world. It was a mountain that moved. Frickin' moved.

It was Jesus, not whatever story you came up with. "Your stories just don't add up like ours do."

But I digress. If we are fortunate enough to see the day that our people, meet people from another planet and they say "Have you heard the Good News about Jesus Christ?" I will eat my hat. Until then. I'm not buying any of it.

What do I believe in? Science. Us. We can do it and in fact, have done it. To give credit to a supreme being is to take credit away from us.

I am not against religion as much as I am for Science and Space Exploration.



Additional Reading:

National Post Survey


Pic of the week from Reddit.com/r/pics

Only Slightly Racist

So, racism. Yeah. Ya know. White people need to knock that shit off.

Right?

I bet we wouldn't believe that if we spoke Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Hindi or any other 'non-white' language. English speaking people of colour have lots of thoughts on the subject too. I bet we would hear racism as a constant throughout the world if we could listen in on all the private conversations going on around us. 

To me, racism is the act of judging an entire race by the actions of one person or a small group of people within a given race.

"You see? That's how they act? Those people." 

And when a finger is pointed back "well what about people of your race? I have seen them act like that too."

The answer is a variation of "you can't accuse me of that! Not all of us are like that!" 

Ah ha! Double Standard Revealed!

I am proud to live in a diverse country. I am proud of the fact that we work hard to welcome new people into our communities and do things to help them assimilate to their new surroundings.

I know multiculturalism is not assimilation by the strictest definition but a certain amount of assimilation is necessary to get along in a new country. I know appreciate being shown around when I am in a new place.

We need to work on ending the subtle forms of racism that creep into our lives every day.

"Stupid Asian driver!"

Why not just "stupid driver"? They didn't use common courtesy or they did something a little dangerous, it's not because they are Asian. They are driving badly and, in my opinion, deserve a little horn honk or an exasperated glare but that's where it should end.

No one can convince me that only Asian drivers are bad drivers. All races have their share of bad drivers and here is the real kicker, we have all done something stupid while driving.

Everyone who drives. Without exception.

I have been honked and glared at. I deserved it.


I may have been called a stupid Gweilo. No biggy.

When we are angry with a stranger, part of our anger stems from our perception of ourselves as perennial victims.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" invariably leads to "and what are they doing here anyway".

When we allow ourselves to be victims, we start to believe we have a right to put down our oppressors in any way we see fit. Liberally throwing blame around.

We are not making use of the best parts of ourselves when we act like that.

I also guarantee there are some racial tendencies we 'Anglo folk' have that annoy the crap out of other cultures. Some of us smell funny. Some of us are rude and intolerant.

I always hope people who run up against 'stupid white folk' will remember that for every asshole, there are 100 good people (these numbers are not scientific and should not be tested).

So lets ease up on each other with the racial profiling stuff.

We are better than that.

Let's remember we are strong and our words and actions can hurt people.


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Pic of The Day Courtesy of Reddit.com/r/pics

Yesterday was the 69th Anniversary of D-Day. Thanks to people like this, the world has a little less tyranny in it...