field marshall hrádek

Regarding this article about America's journey towards a police state and a populace herded by fear a friend of mine brought to me this response on Slashdot. Its actually a very well written response. Having visited a Soviet Bloc country a few times before the fall of Communism I must say that this brought back some intense memories and recollections of stories I had heard through my youth. Of course, the article itself doesn't really surprise us. Its the collection of all the different stories.

No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.

— Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964

Of course we must also be weary of any self proclaimed patriots who are willing to spit on individual freedoms and other preservations of dignity in the name of America or any institution for that matter. Anyway, here it goes:

Two Words: Chilling Effect

(Score:5, Insightful) by Moraelin (679338) on Friday June 09, @11:57AM (#15502829)
(Last Journal: Monday June 21, @05:25PM)

I'll tell you a different kind of a "in soviet russia" story, and it's not a joke. I'll tell you what kept those people in line under most totalitarian regimes. Yes, the short story is "the secret police", but that's only a very superficial view of the problem.

The communist block's secret police didn't always have the indiscriminate brutality of Stalin's black cars and summary executions. It eventually evolved into something more "subtle": the widespread idea that somewhere they have a dossier of what you've said and who you've associated with. That even if you don't land in the Gulag (but then again, you might land there anyway) for going drinking again with comrade Piotr who speaks against the government, there'll be a page in your dossier for ever flagging you as sharing Piotr's subversive views. And it someday might bite you in the ass. E.g., maybe some day you won't get a promotion, or the party's approval to go abroad (on business or holyday), or whatever, just because somewhere there's a page in your dossier saying you're a subversive element and associate with traitors.

Now they didn't have the computers or manpower to actually do that on anywhere near the scale NSA is doing it, so the probability was really low, but the chilling effect was thorough anyway. People didn't want to take risks, so they tended to shut up.

But the effect was more perverse than that. Anyone who openly spoke against the government was seen as a potential agent provocateur, trying to bait you into saying something that'll come back to haunt you later. It's the most perverse thing you can do to prevent organized resistance: make sure that people don't trust each other. The guy shouting against the government might be paid by the government, or may be someone who has a petty grudge against you and tries to get you to say something you might regret.

Basically, the most effective threats don't have to be explicit, but vague and implicit. People don't have to know that the government will swiftly come and send them to Guantanamo for speaking against it. The most effective threat is to just have everyone know that you know everything they did and everyone they associated with, that it's for ever attached to their file somewhere, and they don't know how or when you'll use it. Maybe you'll go for direct retaliation, or maybe their son won't be able to get a government scholarship/job/whatever because of what they said, or whatever. That unknown can pretty chilling while costing very little to maintain. (A lot less than trying to execute everyone who disagrees, and creates less martyrs.)

And all this mining phone calls and social sites (a lot do have personal information, e.g., dating sites) has the potential to create a chilling effect of epic proportions. Is John speaking out against the new fascist government? Well, then better make sure you're not on his friends list or calling him every week. You don't want to have _that_ on your file, now do you? If you're an employer, better get rid of him on your own, because otherwise, you know, that relationship goes on your file too. Plus, you know they'll make a connection every time he calls you to take a sick day, or you call him to ask why the server isn't up. Better not risk losing a fat government contract just because you're associating with and employing undesirables.

Does that have to be accurate and filtered clean of character assassination bullshit? No, it's probably better if it isn't. Might get some people thinking they already have plenty of bogus or inaccurate stuff on their file anyway, so all the more reason not to add real stuff to it too. Better keep low and try not to trip their radar, than have to explain which stuff is bogus and which isn't.

GOP leaders told Bush that his hard core push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

And please, for the love of all things sacred, don't start telling me Kerry would be any better. Republican, Democrat, Republ-crat... they are all the same. Generation after generation of terrible leadership leading the citizens of this nation to complete government control. Their methods or paths are different but the finish line is the same: A country where the government dictates everything. The will of the few is imposed upon all. Our population isn't interested in discussing matters that affect freedoms as long as the sheeple feel safe. Remember, the government is supposed to serve you not the other way around. Seeing the sheep herded out of a plane with their hands over their heads after US Gestapo agents killed a man who claimed he had a bomb is terrifying. People talk about the Constitution and Bill of Rights like some sort of bygone era of lofty idealism which scholars discuss around in a parlor sipping tea and eating crumpets. We need to educate ourselves, everyone around us and our children principles of liberty. Allowing "them" to call it a living document and thus allowing themselves to change it to suite their needs for better control is unacceptable. Did you know that "The names and license plate numbers of about 30 people who protested three years ago in Colorado Springs were put into FBI domestic-terrorism files, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado said Thursday." according to the Colorado Srpings Gazette? Isn't that insane? Is gathering in peaceful protest a domestic-terrorism issue? Did you know that the Patriot Act has been used countless times in non-terrorism cases but perhaps a couple of actual real terror incidents? Because some fools flew a plane into a building (heheh, now this is tricky because there are reports that the buildings were laced with explosives including the 3rd building, to ensure they fell but this is diving into conspiracism which often times can discredit anything someone says but it needs to be examined) we are all subjected to insane laws of search and seizure based on fear? Isn't fear amazing? Startle someone or cause fear and it is amazing what they will do or suggest what can be done. Life happens and some mother's child is killed in a car accident and suddenly you have an emotionally driven crusade to rampage civil liberties. Ask anyone this: Knowing only whether the parents own guns or that they own a pool, which family's home would you let your children visit? The gun owner's or the pool owner's?

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First off, I wanted to say that I am going to Tacoma on a grand tour of friendship. Think of it as Premier Krushchev riding an armored train to various satellite states during the old Soviet regime in Russia. Its been way too long with school, work and all. I suppose that I will write all those affected and finalize things but those are my plans. Unfortunately, I don't know if my wife will come along. She feel sick frequently being prego and all. It makes any long term type things (including work) almost unbearable.

School has been going well, I think. So far, my CS 110 class I have a 100% grade. I scored a perfect score on my midterm. My Math 119 midterm went really well and the only problem I did not know the answer to was: Define argument. Otherwise, I think I did okay. I have a couple large projects that I need to work on. One is for the CS class involving articles on emerging technology and the other is for History. I picked Helenistic science as my presentation subject. After a month of knowing what the assignment is and having done some reading, I still have no idea what to do.

I have been in a game lull now for a while. I play only on weekends or I force a late nighter after homework on the weeknight. I usually fall back on Day of Defeat but I just found a really fun game called Navy Field which is a lot like Guild Wars but you play online against other people in a show of strength using battleships and frigates. Its actually quite fun and although it may seem boring to some people, riding the waves and blowing up other warships is pretty cool. You gain experience and money and you upgrade your ships or buy new ones. Your crew gains levels. Its such a cool new twist to role playing and online games. The client is a mere 250 MB and its such a blast to play. I caution those who want a quick fight. Coordinating speed, torpedoes and gun fire can be challenging. I recommend it because right now its a free open beta. Hopefully if it ever goes gold, they will keep it free like Guild Wars after an initial purchase. Also, I have played the demo for F.E.A.R. and Age of Empires III. Both are interesting but I am tired of RTS and FPS games.

A lot of political mumble jumble has been going on lately. Our president has made some startling nominations for the Supreme Court. I honestly don't have a problem with these nominations and I am glad that the Senate is doing its job in trying to put pressure on the nominated people to get more info out of them. My biggest problem is activism. A majority of stuff I see regarding the government is activism and it is so aggravating especially when the term and its implicitives are used to commonly. You see, whenever a Senator is quoted as to why he or she is being so critical or a judge, they use terms like "judicial activism" and "legislation from the bench" and the term is very wrong. Basically, the executive and legislative branches of our government want judges to simply rubber stamp every and any piece of legislation without giving it any consideration against our embattled Constitution. Everytime a law is passed that the judges feel violates key priciples, they get all anxious and it shows. The legislative branch feels that the judicial branch should turn a blind eye and it pisses me off.

Now on the flip side, there can be a threat of judicial activism I suppose but that is very hard to prove or even find examples of. The whole system has become one giant power play. Is it possible that after decades of disgusting legislative perversions commited by the legislators and executives of this country are finally becoming more and more scrutinized? Here is a great article from findlaw.com which discusses the conundrum of these terminologies. I believe that when you hear those phrases by the folks of Congress, you are basically hearing an attitude that echoes greed and self-interests. These people don't want a judge that will help preserve the Constitution (even though its not their purpose. The preservation of the Constitution lies in the President and Congress which swears to uphold the Constitution but signs into law so many un-Constitutional laws we could pave all the freeways in the United States with their pages) but rather someone who will sit back and flow with liberal or activist society. Someone who will allow and disallow things that they see fit and what will gaurentee them a longer stay in office.

And going on about how the government is messed up, don't even get me started about this war in Iraq. Its a complete mess and has just become another Vietnam. Sure, 2,000 United States citizens aren't as much as the 50,000 that died in Vietnam, but how many deaths are required to make a comparison between two futile, illegal wars? What is surprising is that a majority of people know the reason for going to war in Iraq qas a sham. The lies from forged documents, false intelligence, and assertions of an Al Quida link to Saddam Huissen are completely preposterous. The entire globe was lied to. To top all this off, there is this smear campaign the White House attempted on a C.I.A. operative when that operative debunked the regime's story that Iraq was buying or attempting to buy uranium from Niger. Sure Mr. Hussein was a bad guy. The world is full of them. The region has to develop a thirst for democracy on its own through natural evolution of the local political landscape. Forcing it on them is not a solution. My favorite comeback is that Mr. Hussein shipped all the weapons of mass destruction to neighboring countries before we invaded. Come on people, you were fucked over and lied to. Take Mr. Bush's dick out of your ass and either do something about it or get over it. If it were that obvious that WMD existed, let's see it. When Russia was stockpiling weapons in Cuba, we saw it. We saw the missiles and the launch pads. There was no playing around and hiding shit.

So now we have this region destabilized even more. The Iraqi nation is on the verge of civil war and a government ensuring support for the new Iranian fundamentalist state has been installed. Oh and Gauntalamo Bay? The U.N.? What beast have we created? The U.N. is telling Syria that having members of its governing elite assisted is just unacceptable and now the U.N. will impose sanctions if they don't root those people responsible out. Inspectors want to visit this prison in Cuba. The Pentagon is saying no but people still support the U.N. which is the biggest threat to our sovereignty other than ourselves. Wake up Mr. and Mrs. America. You idiots that are asking the U.N. to monitor your elections should realize that one day they will monitor what you can and can't say. There are some massive precedents that will change the history of the world forever. Perhaps my thoughts aren't complete but these are the things that have had me captivated over the last couple weeks,

Popular suffrage is in itself no guarantee of freedom. People can vote themselves into slavery.

— Frank Chodorov

In a recent landmark battle regarding the medical use of marijuana, the Federal Supreme Court released its opinion in the Raich v. Ashcroft case today. In short, the ruling solidifies the federal position regarding drugs and trumps any State laws saying otherwise.

This is another loss in the continual battle between States' rights and the federal government. The federal government continues to solidify its tyranical position over this land perverting the Constitution and creating legitamcy for its power and beauracy by interpreting simple English words to mean things other than what they do. I do not see how the Commerce Clause can be taken so out of context, misused and abused as it has by our federal government unless our federal government is truely a self serving, evil whore that thrives off bribery and manipulation.

Today's ruling empowers the federal government more. Through the mastery of wording and political manipulation, the Supreme Court affirms that the Congress can do whatever it wants and the more it wants to do it, the more legitacy it has to do what it wants. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and all the writings and wisdom of the founding fathers has essentially been flushed down a toilet and disregarded now for decades. This is no new news I suppose. Its sad how people take so many things for granted until they are gone.

To me its not about the drugs. I don't care if someone wants to use drugs. Its preservation of the Constitution that I hold in the highest. To remain truley free and not some sheep. I don't want to have the illusion of freedom. And on final note, the whole drug war is a waste of time and money. People use the stuff anyway. Just like prohibition of alcohol last century, prohibition of drugs has done less good than bad.

Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.

— William F. Buckley, Jr.

On a fundamental level, Libertarians believe that it is the unalienable and constitutional right of individuals to medicate themselves and choose for themselves what to put into their bodies, as long as they live up to the consequences of their actions. The federal government has no proper say in the matter, and state governments violate the rights of the people in their own attempts to enforce morality. The decision to ingest, smoke or consume any drug should be up to the individual, under the advice of his or her physician, when appropriate. Locking people up for trying to relieve their pain is cruel and unusual punishment for an act that hurts no one.

— Michael Badnarik Libertarian presidential nominee 2004

We are the only ones who know what is good for the country, and we are the only ones who can do anything about it.

— Joseph G. Deegan FBI Special Agent, 1977

And there you have it! The sheep are too stupid to shepherd themselves. This was said in 1977. More on Waco and Ruby Ridge here. Yes those ignorant and sleepy people. Obsessed with their giant SUVs, babbling about this or that and the next big thing. As long as they are screwing someone, doing whatever to keep themselves happy, keep that wool drawn over their eyes. I am simply asking that people be aware of government activites and gross neglagence. We shouldn't let our servants rule us.

In a recent article, an anti-gun campaign official made an interesting comment:

They’re (the FBI) violating the existing law, and I’m sure glad they’re doing so.

— Peter Hamm Brady Campaign

So wait, the government is excused from obeying laws but the sheep are not? Whoa, wait a second. Sir, do you realize how dangerous such an attitude is? You are only safe because you encourage their agenda. Its never a argument of who keeps the government in check. Its always some emotionalism that is completely irrational. Yes, 5 people died because some whack-o decides to kill everyone he sees. The question is "Why did he do this? What has changed in our society to encourage such events?" and should never, ever be "What laws should we pass to make us look good?" or "See, the government will arrive after everyone is dead! They are here to protect the dead! Give up your guns! Make your place of employment and schools free kill zones!" I hope you got that sarcasm. People are willing to sacrifice a lot for everyone else to accomplish little for themselves.

I guess I am just ranting. I pose these questions rhetorically. Check out EFF about to read more about government freedom reducing legislation. Also check out some commentary about the Patriot Act and how you will qualify as a deportable "terrorist". Also, check out info about Executive Orders which have at times resembled mandates from a dictator.

I suppose there is plenty of information regarding all these issues on the Internet. Its just a matter of filtering and deciding what is true and what may be false. Perversions to the Constitution are happening. We need to defend it.

Laws are like sausages. You sleep far better the less you know about how they are made.

— Otto Von Bismark died 1898

A fool and his money are soon elected.

— Will Rogers died 1935

Nothing's changed.

An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation. We must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homeland.

— Adolf Hitler justifying the creation of The Gestapo

Sounds familiar to the language used by our president in regards to "homeland security" and various freedom elimilating legislation passed by the US Congress. I keep repeating myself when I talk about this stuff. For as much hate Mr. Hitler generates with just the mention of his name or ideas, its funny to see the same people endorse a lot of things he had done during his regime. Its not a swastika this time around people, this time its the American flag.

Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.

— Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

— James Madison while a United States Congressman

Perhaps being reactionary has its drawbacks. But really after thinking about it I think erring on the side of caution is better than not. Seeing the world develop around us, seeing the changes occurring in our civil liberties and witnessing the gross negligence to the limits of Constitutional powers makes me afraid. I suppose that there is a small group that holds the candle while the rest of society goes on whoring, hording and fulfilling whatever other daily wants. And although there isn't substantial proof and perhaps these views can be regarded as phobic in nature I must stress that the man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.

— Benjamin Franklin

time you wrote your "representatives" to ensure your voice is heard? When's the last time you peacefully protested? When is the last time you refused to shop, buy or see something? Voting is not enough!