Subject: Coddling Corporations was RE: east & west state names
Bob,
Exactly right.
We have become so used to being lied to by eager corporations attempting to
get their hands in our pockets, that we overlook the fact that they are
robbers, just as surely as if they had snuck into our home during our
absence and took our possessions.
Advertisers have become extremely clever at misleading us into believing
something that really doesn't exist. Looking into my own "Flat fee for
unlimited long distance", I find some fine print that is buried in the
depths of piles of words, telling me that "unlimited" means up to 5,000
minutes per month.
So, which is it? Unlimited or limited?
Does it matter that I will never come close to using 5,000 minutes per
month? That is not the point. The point is that the phone company, Century
Link, has deliberately lied to me in order to get my money.
But as I say, the real crime is that we allow this to go on.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Hachey" <bhachey@verizon.net>
To: "'JOHN HUFFMAN'" <J73.HUFFMAN@COMCAST.NET>; "'NJ Lynn'"
<freespirit.stl@att.net>; "'ACB List'" <acb-l@acb.org>
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 5:19 AM
Subject: [acb-l] Coddling Corporations was RE: east & west state names
Hi all,
I have fallen a bit behind on this thread.
I am amazed that anyone here on this list could side with the phone
companies in cases like this. IF they're going to offer unlimited long
distance, it is none of their flipping business who any of their customers
choose to call. IN fact, I might even venture to say that if they're keeping
track of who we call other than to put it on our bills, that's an invasion
of our privacy unless it is part of a legitimate criminal investigation.
If they want to change their services and stop offering unlimited service,
that's their right but they'd better be letting us know well in advance of
such changes, like at least 60 days in advance.
Corporations seem to accumulate more and more power here in America and it
is ruining our society in a number of ways.
The most obvious is how corporations buy and pay for many of our leaders in
Washington and state capitols on both sides of the aisle.
I am equally dismayed over a more subtle way that our society is worse off.
IT seems that, through advertising and other means, many Americans are
almost brainwashed into thinking that we owe something extra to
corporations. After all, some say, they create jobs. Perhaps it used to be
that way and perhaps not. But nowadays any American jobs created by
corporations are purely incidental to the creation of short run profits. Too
many corporations are happy to export jobs overseas if they can squeeze one
more nickel of profit as a result. I do highly commend those corporations
who choose to keep jobs here in America even though that might mean a
smaller profit margin.
Finally, back to Bonnie's phone issue. Even if one argues that those who use
the phone for commercial use ought to pay a higher rate, folks like Bonnie
ought to be exempt from paying a higher rate no matter how many minutes she
uses. Bonnies phone use is not earning her one thin dime in hard cold cash.
I see here a case of Frontier using a one size fits all approach and Bonnie
is unlucky enough to be on the bad side of that approach. While I agree with
Ann that Bonnie might consider getting a lawyer, that won't come cheap and
the way the laws of this nation have been twisted to favor corporations, I
have a sinking feeling that the law may not be on Bonnie's side.
Bob Hachey
_______________________________________________
acb-l mailing list
acb-l@acb.org
http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-l
Friday, June 28, 2013
Change or no change?
Marsha,
It's the tired old argument that change will destroy the existing status
quo, and that will be bad for us all. But of course change is what advances
us, if we can call our current situation "advanced".
Those in power just love to beat us up with this idea that we must have
absolutes in order to make sense out of our existence.
What they forget is that they came into power on the back of change. What
they are really saying is that they like things the way they are, and they
don't tolerate change. To back up their claim to the idea that there are
absolute universal laws controlling our behavior, they invented a Supreme,
All-wise Being. And this God lays down the laws of the Universe, and we
shall not try to change them.
Anyway, I think the washing machine stopped and my fig leaves are ready for
the dryer. Cathy should be back soon. She went out to pick some new fruit
she noticed on a tree in the center of our Garden of Eden.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marsha" <marcatony@yahoo.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 7:59 AM
Subject: Re: marriage
Hi Alice
This is a good point.
I have another point. I hope I can explain it well. I don't know if it
was on this list or somewhere else but here it is. The anti-same sex, yes I
agree it should just be marriage, but I had to say it here, say that this
will destroy the institution of marriage. Someone said it might actually
strengthen marriages. The reason for this is that people don't have to get
married in order to cover up their real feelings.
Marsha
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
It's the tired old argument that change will destroy the existing status
quo, and that will be bad for us all. But of course change is what advances
us, if we can call our current situation "advanced".
Those in power just love to beat us up with this idea that we must have
absolutes in order to make sense out of our existence.
What they forget is that they came into power on the back of change. What
they are really saying is that they like things the way they are, and they
don't tolerate change. To back up their claim to the idea that there are
absolute universal laws controlling our behavior, they invented a Supreme,
All-wise Being. And this God lays down the laws of the Universe, and we
shall not try to change them.
Anyway, I think the washing machine stopped and my fig leaves are ready for
the dryer. Cathy should be back soon. She went out to pick some new fruit
she noticed on a tree in the center of our Garden of Eden.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marsha" <marcatony@yahoo.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013 7:59 AM
Subject: Re: marriage
Hi Alice
This is a good point.
I have another point. I hope I can explain it well. I don't know if it
was on this list or somewhere else but here it is. The anti-same sex, yes I
agree it should just be marriage, but I had to say it here, say that this
will destroy the institution of marriage. Someone said it might actually
strengthen marriages. The reason for this is that people don't have to get
married in order to cover up their real feelings.
Marsha
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
Thursday, June 27, 2013
feeling the president's embarrassment
Gosh, I can sure feel President Barak Obama's pain. Here he is, the Prince
of Peace, the most powerful leader of all time, and he's the laughing stock
of the entire planet Earth.
Macho Guys, especially the Numero Uno Macho Guy, do not like to be laughed
at. It messes with their testosterone. And of course this goes for the
entire Industrial/Military Corporate Empire.
Talk about puffed up power brokers with a major hard on for Edward Snowden!
They don't really believe that he has damaged our security, they are just
plain pissed off that some little punk has dared to rise up out of the herd
and embarrass them.
And that's all it's about.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
To: "blind democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 6:38 AM
Subject: where's waldo one?
Russia rejects US demand for Snowden's extradition By Vladimir Isachenkov By
Vladimir Isachenkov MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister bluntly rejected U.S.
demands to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, saying
Tuesday that Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border. Sergey Lavrov
insisted
that Russia has nothing to do with Snowden or his travel plans. Lavrov
wouldn't say where Snowden is, but he lashed out angrily at Washington for
demanding
his extradition and warning of negative consequences if Moscow fails to
comply. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday urged Moscow to "do the
right
thing" and turn over Snowden. We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of
violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of all
that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable,"
Lavrov said. There are no legal grounds for such conduct of U.S. officials.
The defiant tone underlined the Kremlin's readiness to challenge Washington
at a time when U.S. -Russian relations are strained over Syria and a Russian
ban on adoptions by Americans. U.S. and Ecuadorean officials said they
believed Snowden was still in Russia. He fled there Sunday from Hong Kong,
where
he had been hiding out since his disclosure of the broad scope of two highly
classified U.S. counterterror surveillance programs. The programs collect
vast amounts of Americans' phone records and worldwide online data in the
name of national security. Lavrov claimed that the Russian government found
out
about Snowden's flight from Hong Kong only from news reports. We have no
relation to Mr. Snowden, his relations with American justice or his travels
around
the world," Lavrov said. He chooses his route himself, and we have learned
about it from the media. Snowden booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight from
Moscow on Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador,
but he didn't board the plane. Russian news media have reported that he has
remained in a transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, but journalists
there haven't seen him. A representative of WikiLeaks has been traveling
with
Snowden, and the organization is believed to be assisting him in arranging
asylum. The organization's founder, Julian Assange, said Monday that Snowden
was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador,
Iceland and possibly other countries. A high-ranking Ecuadorean official
told The
Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden could
go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador
to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Ecuador's
foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, hailed Snowden on Monday as "a man
attempting to bring light and transparency to facts that affect everyone's
fundamental
liberties. He described the decision on whether to grant Snowden asylum as a
choice between "betraying the citizens of the world or betraying certain
powerful
elites in a specific country. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell
said the U.S. had made demands to "a series of governments," including
Ecuador,
that Snowden be barred from any international travel other than to be
returned to the U.S. The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport. We're
following all
the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to
make sure that the rule of law is observed," President Barack Obama told
reporters.
Some experts said it was likely that Russian spy agencies were questioning
Snowden on what he knows about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow. If
Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have
been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in Russia's
top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24
television. The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to
consider Snowden's
request for asylum. Snowden is a former CIA employee who later was hired as
a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that he
gave to newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he
contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government. Snowden also
told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong that "the NSA does
all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of
your
SMS data. He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive
documents in laptops he is carrying. Some observers said in addition to the
sensitive
data, Snowden's revelations have provided the Kremlin with propaganda
arguments to counter the U.S. criticism of Russia's crackdown on opposition
and civil
activists under President Vladimir Putin. They would use Snowden to
demonstrate that the U.S. government doesn't sympathize with the ideals of
freedom
of information, conceals key information from the public and stands ready to
open criminal proceedings against those who oppose it," Konstantin
Remchukov,
the editor of independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said on Ekho Moskvy
radio. Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating protests
in
Moscow against his re-election for a third term and has taken an
anti-American posture that plays well with his core support base of
industrial workers
and state employees.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
of Peace, the most powerful leader of all time, and he's the laughing stock
of the entire planet Earth.
Macho Guys, especially the Numero Uno Macho Guy, do not like to be laughed
at. It messes with their testosterone. And of course this goes for the
entire Industrial/Military Corporate Empire.
Talk about puffed up power brokers with a major hard on for Edward Snowden!
They don't really believe that he has damaged our security, they are just
plain pissed off that some little punk has dared to rise up out of the herd
and embarrass them.
And that's all it's about.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
To: "blind democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 6:38 AM
Subject: where's waldo one?
Russia rejects US demand for Snowden's extradition By Vladimir Isachenkov By
Vladimir Isachenkov MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister bluntly rejected U.S.
demands to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, saying
Tuesday that Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border. Sergey Lavrov
insisted
that Russia has nothing to do with Snowden or his travel plans. Lavrov
wouldn't say where Snowden is, but he lashed out angrily at Washington for
demanding
his extradition and warning of negative consequences if Moscow fails to
comply. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday urged Moscow to "do the
right
thing" and turn over Snowden. We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of
violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of all
that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable,"
Lavrov said. There are no legal grounds for such conduct of U.S. officials.
The defiant tone underlined the Kremlin's readiness to challenge Washington
at a time when U.S. -Russian relations are strained over Syria and a Russian
ban on adoptions by Americans. U.S. and Ecuadorean officials said they
believed Snowden was still in Russia. He fled there Sunday from Hong Kong,
where
he had been hiding out since his disclosure of the broad scope of two highly
classified U.S. counterterror surveillance programs. The programs collect
vast amounts of Americans' phone records and worldwide online data in the
name of national security. Lavrov claimed that the Russian government found
out
about Snowden's flight from Hong Kong only from news reports. We have no
relation to Mr. Snowden, his relations with American justice or his travels
around
the world," Lavrov said. He chooses his route himself, and we have learned
about it from the media. Snowden booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight from
Moscow on Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in Ecuador,
but he didn't board the plane. Russian news media have reported that he has
remained in a transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, but journalists
there haven't seen him. A representative of WikiLeaks has been traveling
with
Snowden, and the organization is believed to be assisting him in arranging
asylum. The organization's founder, Julian Assange, said Monday that Snowden
was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador,
Iceland and possibly other countries. A high-ranking Ecuadorean official
told The
Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden could
go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador
to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Ecuador's
foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, hailed Snowden on Monday as "a man
attempting to bring light and transparency to facts that affect everyone's
fundamental
liberties. He described the decision on whether to grant Snowden asylum as a
choice between "betraying the citizens of the world or betraying certain
powerful
elites in a specific country. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell
said the U.S. had made demands to "a series of governments," including
Ecuador,
that Snowden be barred from any international travel other than to be
returned to the U.S. The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport. We're
following all
the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to
make sure that the rule of law is observed," President Barack Obama told
reporters.
Some experts said it was likely that Russian spy agencies were questioning
Snowden on what he knows about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow. If
Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have
been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in Russia's
top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24
television. The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to
consider Snowden's
request for asylum. Snowden is a former CIA employee who later was hired as
a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that he
gave to newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he
contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government. Snowden also
told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong that "the NSA does
all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of
your
SMS data. He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive
documents in laptops he is carrying. Some observers said in addition to the
sensitive
data, Snowden's revelations have provided the Kremlin with propaganda
arguments to counter the U.S. criticism of Russia's crackdown on opposition
and civil
activists under President Vladimir Putin. They would use Snowden to
demonstrate that the U.S. government doesn't sympathize with the ideals of
freedom
of information, conceals key information from the public and stands ready to
open criminal proceedings against those who oppose it," Konstantin
Remchukov,
the editor of independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said on Ekho Moskvy
radio. Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating protests
in
Moscow against his re-election for a third term and has taken an
anti-American posture that plays well with his core support base of
industrial workers
and state employees.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
smoke and mirrors
And through all the smoke and mirrors, what has become of the real issue.
How does a free people stay free when they are told nothing and ordered to
keep their mouths shut?
Snowden's future looks grim. Once his location is pin pointed on the
strategic Pentagon maps, a drone will take him out, and we will be told that
we are all so much safer.
Here's another dilemma. Random killing by unmanned drones, along with our
troops pushing people around in other countries, make life less safe for
Americans, both at home as well as abroad. But what makes life unsafe for
the Corporate Empire is transparency. Transparency is the biggest single
threat to an Empire's control.
You know something else? I'm feeling lately like I'm living in Merry Old
England, and we're trying to stamp out them pesky, uppity colonists.
Why can't they just live by our laws?
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: where's waldo one?
You got that right!
And every country including Russia/Putin are chuckling. Of course Putin the
former KGB big wig has his "sins". But, regardless where is Waldo?
I was highly amused both with the MSNBC coverage of the hunt for Snowden as
well as CNN's....
Looks like one 30 year old geek with only a GED and all that sort of crap
has the entire United States government confused as to his whereabouts....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 10:24 AM
Subject: Re: where's waldo one?
> Gosh, I can sure feel President Barak Obama's pain. Here he is, the
> Prince
> of Peace, the most powerful leader of all time, and he's the laughing
> stock
> of the entire planet Earth.
> Macho Guys, especially the Numero Uno Macho Guy, do not like to be laughed
> at. It messes with their testosterone. And of course this goes for the
> entire Industrial/Military Corporate Empire.
> Talk about puffed up power brokers with a major hard on for Edward
> Snowden!
> They don't really believe that he has damaged our security, they are just
> plain pissed off that some little punk has dared to rise up out of the
> herd
> and embarrass them.
> And that's all it's about.
>
> Carl Jarvis
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
> To: "blind democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 6:38 AM
> Subject: where's waldo one?
>
>
> Russia rejects US demand for Snowden's extradition By Vladimir Isachenkov
> By
> Vladimir Isachenkov MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister bluntly rejected
> U.S.
>
> demands to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden,
> saying
> Tuesday that Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border. Sergey Lavrov
> insisted
>
> that Russia has nothing to do with Snowden or his travel plans. Lavrov
> wouldn't say where Snowden is, but he lashed out angrily at Washington for
> demanding
>
> his extradition and warning of negative consequences if Moscow fails to
> comply. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday urged Moscow to "do
> the
> right
>
> thing" and turn over Snowden. We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of
> violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of
> all
>
> that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and
> unacceptable,"
> Lavrov said. There are no legal grounds for such conduct of U.S.
> officials.
>
> The defiant tone underlined the Kremlin's readiness to challenge
> Washington
> at a time when U.S. -Russian relations are strained over Syria and a
> Russian
>
> ban on adoptions by Americans. U.S. and Ecuadorean officials said they
> believed Snowden was still in Russia. He fled there Sunday from Hong Kong,
> where
>
> he had been hiding out since his disclosure of the broad scope of two
> highly
> classified U.S. counterterror surveillance programs. The programs collect
>
> vast amounts of Americans' phone records and worldwide online data in the
> name of national security. Lavrov claimed that the Russian government
> found
> out
>
> about Snowden's flight from Hong Kong only from news reports. We have no
> relation to Mr. Snowden, his relations with American justice or his
> travels
> around
>
> the world," Lavrov said. He chooses his route himself, and we have learned
> about it from the media. Snowden booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight
> from
>
> Moscow on Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in
> Ecuador,
> but he didn't board the plane. Russian news media have reported that he
> has
>
> remained in a transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, but
> journalists
> there haven't seen him. A representative of WikiLeaks has been traveling
> with
>
> Snowden, and the organization is believed to be assisting him in arranging
> asylum. The organization's founder, Julian Assange, said Monday that
> Snowden
>
> was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador,
> Iceland and possibly other countries. A high-ranking Ecuadorean official
> told The
>
> Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden
> could
> go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador
>
> to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on
> condition
> of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
> Ecuador's
>
> foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, hailed Snowden on Monday as "a man
> attempting to bring light and transparency to facts that affect everyone's
> fundamental
>
> liberties. He described the decision on whether to grant Snowden asylum as
> a
> choice between "betraying the citizens of the world or betraying certain
> powerful
>
> elites in a specific country. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell
> said the U.S. had made demands to "a series of governments," including
> Ecuador,
>
> that Snowden be barred from any international travel other than to be
> returned to the U.S. The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport. We're
> following all
>
> the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to
> make sure that the rule of law is observed," President Barack Obama told
> reporters.
>
> Some experts said it was likely that Russian spy agencies were questioning
> Snowden on what he knows about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow.
> If
>
> Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have
> been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in
> Russia's
>
> top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24
> television. The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to
> consider Snowden's
>
> request for asylum. Snowden is a former CIA employee who later was hired
> as
> a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that
> he
>
> gave to newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he
> contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government. Snowden
> also
>
> told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong that "the NSA
> does
> all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of
> your
>
> SMS data. He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive
> documents in laptops he is carrying. Some observers said in addition to
> the
> sensitive
>
> data, Snowden's revelations have provided the Kremlin with propaganda
> arguments to counter the U.S. criticism of Russia's crackdown on
> opposition
> and civil
>
> activists under President Vladimir Putin. They would use Snowden to
> demonstrate that the U.S. government doesn't sympathize with the ideals of
> freedom
>
> of information, conceals key information from the public and stands ready
> to
> open criminal proceedings against those who oppose it," Konstantin
> Remchukov,
>
> the editor of independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said on Ekho Moskvy
> radio. Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating protests
> in
>
> Moscow against his re-election for a third term and has taken an
> anti-American posture that plays well with his core support base of
> industrial workers
>
> and state employees.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blind-Democracy mailing list
> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
> http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blind-Democracy mailing list
> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
> http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
How does a free people stay free when they are told nothing and ordered to
keep their mouths shut?
Snowden's future looks grim. Once his location is pin pointed on the
strategic Pentagon maps, a drone will take him out, and we will be told that
we are all so much safer.
Here's another dilemma. Random killing by unmanned drones, along with our
troops pushing people around in other countries, make life less safe for
Americans, both at home as well as abroad. But what makes life unsafe for
the Corporate Empire is transparency. Transparency is the biggest single
threat to an Empire's control.
You know something else? I'm feeling lately like I'm living in Merry Old
England, and we're trying to stamp out them pesky, uppity colonists.
Why can't they just live by our laws?
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: where's waldo one?
You got that right!
And every country including Russia/Putin are chuckling. Of course Putin the
former KGB big wig has his "sins". But, regardless where is Waldo?
I was highly amused both with the MSNBC coverage of the hunt for Snowden as
well as CNN's....
Looks like one 30 year old geek with only a GED and all that sort of crap
has the entire United States government confused as to his whereabouts....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 10:24 AM
Subject: Re: where's waldo one?
> Gosh, I can sure feel President Barak Obama's pain. Here he is, the
> Prince
> of Peace, the most powerful leader of all time, and he's the laughing
> stock
> of the entire planet Earth.
> Macho Guys, especially the Numero Uno Macho Guy, do not like to be laughed
> at. It messes with their testosterone. And of course this goes for the
> entire Industrial/Military Corporate Empire.
> Talk about puffed up power brokers with a major hard on for Edward
> Snowden!
> They don't really believe that he has damaged our security, they are just
> plain pissed off that some little punk has dared to rise up out of the
> herd
> and embarrass them.
> And that's all it's about.
>
> Carl Jarvis
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
> To: "blind democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 6:38 AM
> Subject: where's waldo one?
>
>
> Russia rejects US demand for Snowden's extradition By Vladimir Isachenkov
> By
> Vladimir Isachenkov MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister bluntly rejected
> U.S.
>
> demands to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden,
> saying
> Tuesday that Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border. Sergey Lavrov
> insisted
>
> that Russia has nothing to do with Snowden or his travel plans. Lavrov
> wouldn't say where Snowden is, but he lashed out angrily at Washington for
> demanding
>
> his extradition and warning of negative consequences if Moscow fails to
> comply. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday urged Moscow to "do
> the
> right
>
> thing" and turn over Snowden. We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of
> violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of
> all
>
> that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and
> unacceptable,"
> Lavrov said. There are no legal grounds for such conduct of U.S.
> officials.
>
> The defiant tone underlined the Kremlin's readiness to challenge
> Washington
> at a time when U.S. -Russian relations are strained over Syria and a
> Russian
>
> ban on adoptions by Americans. U.S. and Ecuadorean officials said they
> believed Snowden was still in Russia. He fled there Sunday from Hong Kong,
> where
>
> he had been hiding out since his disclosure of the broad scope of two
> highly
> classified U.S. counterterror surveillance programs. The programs collect
>
> vast amounts of Americans' phone records and worldwide online data in the
> name of national security. Lavrov claimed that the Russian government
> found
> out
>
> about Snowden's flight from Hong Kong only from news reports. We have no
> relation to Mr. Snowden, his relations with American justice or his
> travels
> around
>
> the world," Lavrov said. He chooses his route himself, and we have learned
> about it from the media. Snowden booked a seat on a Havana-bound flight
> from
>
> Moscow on Monday en route to Venezuela and then possible asylum in
> Ecuador,
> but he didn't board the plane. Russian news media have reported that he
> has
>
> remained in a transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, but
> journalists
> there haven't seen him. A representative of WikiLeaks has been traveling
> with
>
> Snowden, and the organization is believed to be assisting him in arranging
> asylum. The organization's founder, Julian Assange, said Monday that
> Snowden
>
> was only passing through Russia and had applied for asylum in Ecuador,
> Iceland and possibly other countries. A high-ranking Ecuadorean official
> told The
>
> Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden
> could
> go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador
>
> to Moscow had not seen or spoken to Snowden. The official spoke on
> condition
> of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
> Ecuador's
>
> foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, hailed Snowden on Monday as "a man
> attempting to bring light and transparency to facts that affect everyone's
> fundamental
>
> liberties. He described the decision on whether to grant Snowden asylum as
> a
> choice between "betraying the citizens of the world or betraying certain
> powerful
>
> elites in a specific country. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell
> said the U.S. had made demands to "a series of governments," including
> Ecuador,
>
> that Snowden be barred from any international travel other than to be
> returned to the U.S. The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport. We're
> following all
>
> the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to
> make sure that the rule of law is observed," President Barack Obama told
> reporters.
>
> Some experts said it was likely that Russian spy agencies were questioning
> Snowden on what he knows about U.S. electronic espionage against Moscow.
> If
>
> Russian special services hadn't shown interest in Snowden, they would have
> been utterly unprofessional," Igor Korotchenko, a former colonel in
> Russia's
>
> top military command turned security analyst, said on state Rossiya 24
> television. The Kremlin has previously said Russia would be ready to
> consider Snowden's
>
> request for asylum. Snowden is a former CIA employee who later was hired
> as
> a contractor for the NSA. In that job, he gained access to documents that
> he
>
> gave to newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post to expose what he
> contends are privacy violations by an authoritarian government. Snowden
> also
>
> told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong that "the NSA
> does
> all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of
> your
>
> SMS data. He is believed to have more than 200 additional sensitive
> documents in laptops he is carrying. Some observers said in addition to
> the
> sensitive
>
> data, Snowden's revelations have provided the Kremlin with propaganda
> arguments to counter the U.S. criticism of Russia's crackdown on
> opposition
> and civil
>
> activists under President Vladimir Putin. They would use Snowden to
> demonstrate that the U.S. government doesn't sympathize with the ideals of
> freedom
>
> of information, conceals key information from the public and stands ready
> to
> open criminal proceedings against those who oppose it," Konstantin
> Remchukov,
>
> the editor of independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said on Ekho Moskvy
> radio. Putin has accused the U.S. State Department of instigating protests
> in
>
> Moscow against his re-election for a third term and has taken an
> anti-American posture that plays well with his core support base of
> industrial workers
>
> and state employees.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blind-Democracy mailing list
> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
> http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blind-Democracy mailing list
> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
> http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
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more signs of the Times: is the NFB thinking outside of the box?
It's always interesting to see just how blind we are to our own
inconsistencies. The NFB, that organization which promotes independent
travel under existing conditions, using only the long white travel cane and
our wits, the very same organization proclaiming that audible traffic signs
make blind people more dependent upon, and different from, sighted folks,
The very organization that has long proclaimed that with proper attitudes
and training, the average blind person can do the average job in the average
place of business, at their own convention employs the services of "Callers"
to shout out locations to the bustling blind attendees.
To carry this one thought outside the walls of the convention, would this
same organization now promote cities hiring live "Callers" to stand on
street corners and, using a megaphone, holler out the names of the streets
and perhaps some of the store fronts in the immediate area? In fact, I am
willing to set up a program to provide blind people the skills they would
need to become these "callers". Imagine the jobs this will open up. Just
count the number of lighted intersections in the USA, and you'll have an
idea of what we can do to lower that pesky 70% unemployment among the blind.
We most likely will need sighted "callers" at major bus terminals, spotting
and calling out the number and destination of each incoming bus. The list
is endless. Just think of those times you've been in a line wondering if
the folks in front of you have moved ahead, leaving you standing alone while
other customers move around you. A "caller" will solve that little problem.
Buffet lines, airports, expansive lobbies in busy office buildings could all
be potential employers of "callers".
Well, a tip of the hat and a big thank you to the NFB for bravely going
where no blind person has gone before. This is what is called "thinking out
of the box".
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: <ckrugman@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 11:47 PM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
when attending the NFB convention in Detroit a few years ago they used that
method and I thought it was revolting. It was also meaningless because in
the hotel in Detroit where the convention was held they were doing it in an
atrium area and their hollering was carried throughout several levels of the
hotel so their directions in actuality were totally confusing and worthless
for someone who heard them from an upper or lower level. Does this method
really promote independence??? This is almost as bad as my former substance
abuse clients who claimed to have nine months of sobriety when in actuality
they were in a locked residential treatment program or incarcerated so they
were forced to be sober.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: David Chittenden
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
When I attended my last NFB convention in the late 90's as a vendor, I
noticed they had an interesting practice to aid "independent" navigation.
They used what they called, "volunteer callers". A caller stands next to
something and calls out what it is every 15 or so seconds. This way, the
federationist receives a constant audio view of the area. So, when I was in
the general area after the general session ended, I heard, "elevators"
"stairs" restrooms" "outside exit" to aid me with my personal, independent
navigation. At the same time, I had to watch them damn federationists
because the NFB was actively against guide dogs, so many people kept trying
to whack my dog with their canes. It made for a very stressful week. Note:
one federationist who very specifically moved across a wide passageway and
swung very wide to hit my dog got his cane kicked out from his hand and sent
a ways down the passage for his trouble. Yes, karate trained fast front snap
kicks can be most useful. And, as we were the only two people in the
passage, I left a male federationist yelling for his cane to be returned
whilst standing still in the middle of a wide passage.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 09/10/2012, at 12:09, Alice Dampman Humel <alicedh@verizon.net> wrote:
but IMO the tactile warnings are indeed quite discreet. They are the
same dimensions as the wide yellow warning strip visible to the sighted, and
the truncated domes as they're called do little more than to add texture to
the color, for the whole strip, including the texture, is painted yellow.
Isn't that less intrusive than something making some noise if a person
gets too close to the edge?
As for the cost of the installation of tactile warnings in the DC
subway, they wanted to use some special ceramic or stoneware tiles, not just
what were called the plastic strips or whatever they are that have been used
everywhere else.I had not read anything about the audible warnings.and why
would the, IMO, far more intrusive audible warnings not be any more "just
for the blind" than would the tactile marks on the floor within the confines
and in the same color as the visible warnings for the sighted?
On Oct 8, 2012, at 5:17 PM, David Chittenden <dchittenden@gmail.com>
wrote:
Yes, and the subway issue is because NFB was pushing a high-tech
solution which would make directed audible tones at the person who crossed
the line before the train pulled in to the station. This all actually fits
in with NFB philosophy. Tactile warnings really stand out and make it
obvious that they are just for the blind. Any solution which is less
noticeable is, of course, automatically preferred by NFB philosophy. So,
what about the high-tech solution? It would have cost over a million dollars
per station, and was never able to develop the fine sound directional
control that was necessary, so experimentation on it was quietly dropped
several years ago.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 09/10/2012, at 5:30, Alice Dampman Humel <alicedh@verizon.net>
wrote:
speaking of truncated domes...did you read the article about the
detectable warnings in the DC subway?
Not even in the federal city.and, if I read the article right, they
were claiming that putting detectable warnings into even some of the
stations would cost millions of dollars..turns out, they want to use some
really fancy-schmancy system, not the materials that have been used in other
cities for, I believe, a hell of a lot less money.
That's probably not the federal highway department, but.
and there's a problem, too.what do they do on federal, state,
county, local, roads?
It's a mess.
But no big government, oh, no, not that.because then, there just
might be some uniformity and the world might make a lot more sense to all,
particularly the disabled.that was one of the things the woman quoted in the
article said.the biggest problem is that there's no consistency. There are
detectable warnings in some stations, but not others, so which station am I
in? Am I going to teeter off the edge without ever hitting a detectable
warning, or am I safely standing three feet away? And of course, the NFB
argues that if you're a competent traveler, you don't need the detectable
warnings. Yeah, right. It's exactly the same information the sighted
traveler gets by seeing that bright yellow strip.all it does is put the
yellow line into accessible format, and even still, the sighted person sees
it a hell of a lot sooner than we feel it with cane, foot or dog.
Alice
On Oct 8, 2012, at 11:07 AM, joe harcz Comcast
<joeharcz@comcast.net> wrote:
You have some good points here Ted.
Now this goes to something we agree with and that is enforcement
of laws like Section 504 and 508.
In those regards the NFB has been quite good nationally and also
ACB in targetting universities, and particuarlly the feds in only purchasing
accessible products like book readers, etc.
This is indeed the way to push companies to do what Apple did....
If especially the federal government 508 procuremennt standards
were met and enforced all would indeed be fully accessable by now just as if
the ADA were enforced there would be compliant curb cuts on every corner by
now for WC users and, by the way with Federal Highway Administration
required truncated domes.
Regardless it has been my contention that access is indeed a civil
right, the laws are there and if followed and the private sector was hit in
the pocket book then all would be compliant.
But Hell I can't even get fully accessable documents from the U.S.
Department of Civil Rights at Ed. Man, what do we do when the enforcers of
these lawsnot only don't enforce them but also violate them themselves?
Sorry for the digression only slightly, but I agree Ted with this
and always have so.
----- Original Message ----- From: "ted chittenden"
<tchittenden@cox.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List"
<blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 10:47 AM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
While David C. took the opportunity to vote with his wallet, it
should be noted that he couldn't actually do so until 2007 or so when Apple
introduced its speech access technology. Prior to that, Microsoft was the
only game in town as OutSpoken, the private company that was providing voice
for the Macs, had not been updated since 2001 or so. And Apple's making its
products more accessible was not a charitable choice or even a decision by
good people to think in the long term; rather it was a response to U.S.
Federal laws that required that any computer program or software that was
sold to the U.S. government had to be accessible to its blind employees.
And tying this nicely into politics, if Mr. Romney was to be
elected U.S. President, I am sure that he would seek to relax these
requirements.
--
Ted Chittenden
Every story has at least two sides if not more.
---- David Chittenden <dchittenden@gmail.com> wrote:
Yep, so I voted with my wallet rather than just complaining
about how unfair it is.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 08/10/2012, at 14:18, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
But the discussion started with Frank's original statement to
the effect
that in 2000 when Microsoft was willing to build in
accessibility to
Windows, NFB used its influence to prevent this. And I said,
if this is
true, the blind people who are angry at Freedom Scientific
because of the
cost of its product, should be angry at NFB. And what in the
world would
NFB's motive be unless it, or its influential members would
pfofit
financially from having to have a separate accessibility
company?
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of
David Chittenden
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 7:23 PM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
Which is why I have switched to the only consumer electronics
company which
has truly adopted accessibility into its core model. I am, of
course,
speaking about Apple. I just upgraded my Mac's OS to Mountain
Lion for
$29.99. This included a free upgrade of Voice-Over, Mac's
built-in screen
reader. Though the command set is quite different from the
Windows screen
readers, I have become use to it now. It is as powerful as
Jaws. It is very
customisable. Like any other screen reader, it does not work
with all
programs, but it is quite customisable. It works with the
trackpad on my
MacBook Air. And, many of the iPhone gesture commands work
using the
touchpad. Oh, and it works quite well with my braille display,
which is also
extremely customisable.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 08/10/2012, at 12:03, Frank Ventura
<frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com>
wrote:
Miriam, I think that is misplaced anger. AT companies like
FS have
the same operating costss as any other company. That is not
too say I don't
feel the pain as well. Since I work in the AT arena I need to
keep up with
the latest developments myself. I personally own 4 JFW
licenses which I keep
up to date, likewise with other screen readers, magnifiers,
OCR programs,
etc. Thats a lot to keep up with each year and it doesn't even
scratch the
surface of all the hardware to keep on. It adds up to well
into five figures
each year for me so I am no stranger to what those folks feel
when you say
they are angry. But, shouldn't that anger be directed towards
the general in
accessibility we face and not the vendors who are tackling the
issue?
Speaking of AT, I have beengetting alot of work with
deaf-blind clients so
it looks like I may need a deaf-blind communicator and/or
braille display.
All of a sidden all those JFW, Windoweyes, Magic, Zoomtext,
Kurzweil,
Openbook, etc upgrades don't look so bad (grin).
Sorry about the spelling and composition. This flu is really
got me
run down today.
Frank Ventura
Email: frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com
Voicemail: 781 492-4262
Imessage: frankmventura@mac.com
*Sent from my Mac Book Air*
On Oct 7, 2012, at 11:35 AM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
Frank,
People express anger at Freedom Scientific because of
the
cost of the
product. Actually, if you keep up to date on their
SMA's, it
averages $60 a
year. But if you fall behind and have to pay for a new
version of Jaws, it's
a lot of money.
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf
Of
Frank Ventura
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 10:37 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
Miriam, I never really have been put off by Freedom
Scientific. Actually,
what they come up with mostly impresses me given the
task.
Now, the NFB ...
you know where I stand on that one.
Frank Ventura
Email: frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com
Voicemail: 781 492-4262
Imessage: frankmventura@mac.com
*Sent from my Mac Book Air*
On Oct 7, 2012, at 10:22 AM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
Frank,
If it were known that NFB is responsible for
people
having to pay
the high
prices that they do in order to buy Jaws and its
updates, I think
there'd be
a blind uprising. Instead of being so angry at
Freedom Scientific,
people
would be furious at NFB.
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On
Behalf Of Frank
Ventura
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 8:31 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
Miriam, I agree with everything said here with
one
little exception.
The NFB
hasn't always fought for accessible technology,
instead what they
fought for
was the accessible technology (AT) industry. This
came to a head
when
Microsoft was preparing to launch Windows 2000.
That
was the first
version
of Windows NT that was marketed directly to the
general public.
Microsoft
was all ready to have a fully functional built in
screen reader.
When this
came to light the NFB got their 'nads in an
uproar
and sent their
usual cast
of bully boys to protect the AT vendors. As a
result
Windows NT, and
all
subsequent versions of the Windows NT operating
system were
essentially
inaccessible to the blind without the addition of
a
third party
screen
reader. They took a very similar stance in the
mid
2000's with
Apple's
Macintosh line of computers. However that time
they
telegraphed
their punch
and the reaction of the blindness community
caused
them to retreat.
I think
I even remember publishingthem a semi-retraction
in
the Braille
Monitor.
Other then that I completely agree with what you
said, especially
about the
parts about the adventitiously blind and the less
tech savy blind.
Frank Ventura
Email: frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com
Voicemail: 781 492-4262
Imessage: frankmventura@mac.com
*Sent from my Mac Book Air*
On Oct 6, 2012, at 10:02 AM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
NFB has always fought for access when it
comes
to computer
technology,
websites, etc. On one level, this is
somehwat
elitest because
it is
the well
educated, high functioning, usually
employed
people, blind
from
infancy or
an early age, for whom these are issues.
The
people who
become blind
late in
life, the less capable, the unemployed,
the
less affluent,
these
folks
aren't able to use computers for one
reason or
another. But
NFB has
not
fought for audible trafic signals or
safety
precautions in
our
public
transportation systems. They have fought
against audio
description
and
accessible money. In other words, they
have
been opposed to
any
accomodations in the environment that show
visible
recognition that
blindness is a disability and that
accomodation should be
made for
it. They
assert that every blind person can
function
llike a sighted
person
if he or
she receives adequate training. This
denies
individual
differences
and, as
far as I'm concerned, it denies the
reality of
most blind
people's
lives. I
don't deny the capabilities and level of
competence of many
blind
people,
but I don't think that this should be used
as
a reason for
denying
essential
assistance to the majority.
Miriam
________________________________
From:
blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org]
On Behalf Of
joe
harcz
Comcast
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2012 8:04 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
While this would certainly work Dick there
is
no cause in my
opinion
for
doing so. Now, again, I'm currently a
member
of NFB and I
have now
and
always have had issues with NFB being
directly
in the Rehab
business. The
issue I have with it is not illegality, or
even philosophy.
It is
the fact
that whenever any advocy org gets involved
in
direct delivery
of
services
then it tends more often than not to be
co-oppted.
I've seen this as well with Centers for
Independent Living.
So it's
not just
an NFB thing for sure. In fact my local
CIL
which is
retaliating
against me
for exposing major ADA/504 violations by
the
City of Flint
that they
are
cozy with through CDBG funds and other
issues
is virtuallya
component of our
VR system here.
As such they are totally conflicted in
reforming it too and
going
after the
illegal instances recently by the Governor
on
both our
general VR
agency and
the Michigan Commission for the Blind.
Simply these organizations are getting in
to
areas they don't
belong
and
don't wish to bite the hand that feeds
them
because they
don't wish
to lose
money and jobs, mostly for higher ups.
Consumers, who should
be the
main
focus be damned.
Beleive me though I'm trying to get on the
board of our local
CIL!
Finally though as stated before NFB
nationally
has
substantially
changed I
think organiationally on ADA and access
issues. Note suits
and other
actions
related to Target, inaccessable e-book
readers, kiosks, etc.
Those things I do suppport just as I
openly
supported the
Treasury
and SSA
suits from ACB for both serve the
interests,
the civil rights
interests of
all blind folks and not just some narro
membership, or
leadership
pool.
----- Original Message -----
From: R. E. Driscoll Sr
<mailto:llocsirdsr@att.net>
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
<mailto:blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2012 5:34
PM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
All:
As an outsider the easiest way to
destroy or debase
NFB would
be to
force it to divest itself of its many
money
making facilities
and
drop its
charitable tax status.
R. E. (Dick) Driscoll, Sr.
On 10/5/2012 9:28 AM, Miriam Vieni
wrote:
Carl,
Without knowing all the
inside
details, it is
my
impression
that in New
York, the NFB has been
attempting to take
control of
the
blindness system
and to change the ways in
which
the private
agencies
function. Up until now,
it is the large private
agencies that have
provided
most of
the services in
the downstate area. ACB has
supported the
private
agencies
and fought
against an NFB takeover.
They
do not want the
NFB
rehab
philosophy to be
instituted here.
Furthermore,
ACB and the
agencies
have
fought for safety
precautions on subway and
elevated rapid
transit as
well as
audible traffic
signals while NFB has been
strongly opposed to
these
measures. When David
paterson became Lieutenant
Governmor and then
Governor, he
was courted by
NFB and it looked as if
they
would win the
battle.
But his
political
influence waned, as did
their's.
Miriam
________________________________
From:
blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org]
On
Behalf Of
Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, October 04,
2012 11:49 PM
To: Blind Democracy
Discussion
List
Subject: Re: Signs of the
Times
Mal and Gary,
There's a fellow living in
Texas, a member of
the
NFB, whom
I hold in high
regard. Mark Noble is a
former
chair of the
Washington
State Rehabilitation
Council for the Department
of
Services for the
Blind.
I
served with the
likes of Mark, Dan Frye and
Noel Nightingale.
Another
Federationist,
serving on that committee,
whose name is
known
around the
nation is Mike
Freeman.
I count all of these people
as
personal
friends and
have
great respect for
them. During my time on
the
SRC, Dan Frye
Mark Noble
and I
were appointed
to review the Orientation
and
Training Center
and
recommend
any changes we
felt would strengthen the
program.
Our organizational
affiliation
never got
between us
and the
work at hand.
We produced a strong set of
recommendations
and they
were
approved by the
full Council and issued to
the
OTC for
implementation.
This personal association
does
not change my
opinion
that
the NFB has
morphed over the years into
a
national agency
for the
blind,
and the ACB
remains the only
nation-wide
membership
organization.
Carl Jarvis
inconsistencies. The NFB, that organization which promotes independent
travel under existing conditions, using only the long white travel cane and
our wits, the very same organization proclaiming that audible traffic signs
make blind people more dependent upon, and different from, sighted folks,
The very organization that has long proclaimed that with proper attitudes
and training, the average blind person can do the average job in the average
place of business, at their own convention employs the services of "Callers"
to shout out locations to the bustling blind attendees.
To carry this one thought outside the walls of the convention, would this
same organization now promote cities hiring live "Callers" to stand on
street corners and, using a megaphone, holler out the names of the streets
and perhaps some of the store fronts in the immediate area? In fact, I am
willing to set up a program to provide blind people the skills they would
need to become these "callers". Imagine the jobs this will open up. Just
count the number of lighted intersections in the USA, and you'll have an
idea of what we can do to lower that pesky 70% unemployment among the blind.
We most likely will need sighted "callers" at major bus terminals, spotting
and calling out the number and destination of each incoming bus. The list
is endless. Just think of those times you've been in a line wondering if
the folks in front of you have moved ahead, leaving you standing alone while
other customers move around you. A "caller" will solve that little problem.
Buffet lines, airports, expansive lobbies in busy office buildings could all
be potential employers of "callers".
Well, a tip of the hat and a big thank you to the NFB for bravely going
where no blind person has gone before. This is what is called "thinking out
of the box".
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: <ckrugman@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 11:47 PM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
when attending the NFB convention in Detroit a few years ago they used that
method and I thought it was revolting. It was also meaningless because in
the hotel in Detroit where the convention was held they were doing it in an
atrium area and their hollering was carried throughout several levels of the
hotel so their directions in actuality were totally confusing and worthless
for someone who heard them from an upper or lower level. Does this method
really promote independence??? This is almost as bad as my former substance
abuse clients who claimed to have nine months of sobriety when in actuality
they were in a locked residential treatment program or incarcerated so they
were forced to be sober.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: David Chittenden
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
When I attended my last NFB convention in the late 90's as a vendor, I
noticed they had an interesting practice to aid "independent" navigation.
They used what they called, "volunteer callers". A caller stands next to
something and calls out what it is every 15 or so seconds. This way, the
federationist receives a constant audio view of the area. So, when I was in
the general area after the general session ended, I heard, "elevators"
"stairs" restrooms" "outside exit" to aid me with my personal, independent
navigation. At the same time, I had to watch them damn federationists
because the NFB was actively against guide dogs, so many people kept trying
to whack my dog with their canes. It made for a very stressful week. Note:
one federationist who very specifically moved across a wide passageway and
swung very wide to hit my dog got his cane kicked out from his hand and sent
a ways down the passage for his trouble. Yes, karate trained fast front snap
kicks can be most useful. And, as we were the only two people in the
passage, I left a male federationist yelling for his cane to be returned
whilst standing still in the middle of a wide passage.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 09/10/2012, at 12:09, Alice Dampman Humel <alicedh@verizon.net> wrote:
but IMO the tactile warnings are indeed quite discreet. They are the
same dimensions as the wide yellow warning strip visible to the sighted, and
the truncated domes as they're called do little more than to add texture to
the color, for the whole strip, including the texture, is painted yellow.
Isn't that less intrusive than something making some noise if a person
gets too close to the edge?
As for the cost of the installation of tactile warnings in the DC
subway, they wanted to use some special ceramic or stoneware tiles, not just
what were called the plastic strips or whatever they are that have been used
everywhere else.I had not read anything about the audible warnings.and why
would the, IMO, far more intrusive audible warnings not be any more "just
for the blind" than would the tactile marks on the floor within the confines
and in the same color as the visible warnings for the sighted?
On Oct 8, 2012, at 5:17 PM, David Chittenden <dchittenden@gmail.com>
wrote:
Yes, and the subway issue is because NFB was pushing a high-tech
solution which would make directed audible tones at the person who crossed
the line before the train pulled in to the station. This all actually fits
in with NFB philosophy. Tactile warnings really stand out and make it
obvious that they are just for the blind. Any solution which is less
noticeable is, of course, automatically preferred by NFB philosophy. So,
what about the high-tech solution? It would have cost over a million dollars
per station, and was never able to develop the fine sound directional
control that was necessary, so experimentation on it was quietly dropped
several years ago.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 09/10/2012, at 5:30, Alice Dampman Humel <alicedh@verizon.net>
wrote:
speaking of truncated domes...did you read the article about the
detectable warnings in the DC subway?
Not even in the federal city.and, if I read the article right, they
were claiming that putting detectable warnings into even some of the
stations would cost millions of dollars..turns out, they want to use some
really fancy-schmancy system, not the materials that have been used in other
cities for, I believe, a hell of a lot less money.
That's probably not the federal highway department, but.
and there's a problem, too.what do they do on federal, state,
county, local, roads?
It's a mess.
But no big government, oh, no, not that.because then, there just
might be some uniformity and the world might make a lot more sense to all,
particularly the disabled.that was one of the things the woman quoted in the
article said.the biggest problem is that there's no consistency. There are
detectable warnings in some stations, but not others, so which station am I
in? Am I going to teeter off the edge without ever hitting a detectable
warning, or am I safely standing three feet away? And of course, the NFB
argues that if you're a competent traveler, you don't need the detectable
warnings. Yeah, right. It's exactly the same information the sighted
traveler gets by seeing that bright yellow strip.all it does is put the
yellow line into accessible format, and even still, the sighted person sees
it a hell of a lot sooner than we feel it with cane, foot or dog.
Alice
On Oct 8, 2012, at 11:07 AM, joe harcz Comcast
<joeharcz@comcast.net> wrote:
You have some good points here Ted.
Now this goes to something we agree with and that is enforcement
of laws like Section 504 and 508.
In those regards the NFB has been quite good nationally and also
ACB in targetting universities, and particuarlly the feds in only purchasing
accessible products like book readers, etc.
This is indeed the way to push companies to do what Apple did....
If especially the federal government 508 procuremennt standards
were met and enforced all would indeed be fully accessable by now just as if
the ADA were enforced there would be compliant curb cuts on every corner by
now for WC users and, by the way with Federal Highway Administration
required truncated domes.
Regardless it has been my contention that access is indeed a civil
right, the laws are there and if followed and the private sector was hit in
the pocket book then all would be compliant.
But Hell I can't even get fully accessable documents from the U.S.
Department of Civil Rights at Ed. Man, what do we do when the enforcers of
these lawsnot only don't enforce them but also violate them themselves?
Sorry for the digression only slightly, but I agree Ted with this
and always have so.
----- Original Message ----- From: "ted chittenden"
<tchittenden@cox.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List"
<blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2012 10:47 AM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
While David C. took the opportunity to vote with his wallet, it
should be noted that he couldn't actually do so until 2007 or so when Apple
introduced its speech access technology. Prior to that, Microsoft was the
only game in town as OutSpoken, the private company that was providing voice
for the Macs, had not been updated since 2001 or so. And Apple's making its
products more accessible was not a charitable choice or even a decision by
good people to think in the long term; rather it was a response to U.S.
Federal laws that required that any computer program or software that was
sold to the U.S. government had to be accessible to its blind employees.
And tying this nicely into politics, if Mr. Romney was to be
elected U.S. President, I am sure that he would seek to relax these
requirements.
--
Ted Chittenden
Every story has at least two sides if not more.
---- David Chittenden <dchittenden@gmail.com> wrote:
Yep, so I voted with my wallet rather than just complaining
about how unfair it is.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 08/10/2012, at 14:18, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
But the discussion started with Frank's original statement to
the effect
that in 2000 when Microsoft was willing to build in
accessibility to
Windows, NFB used its influence to prevent this. And I said,
if this is
true, the blind people who are angry at Freedom Scientific
because of the
cost of its product, should be angry at NFB. And what in the
world would
NFB's motive be unless it, or its influential members would
pfofit
financially from having to have a separate accessibility
company?
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of
David Chittenden
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 7:23 PM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
Which is why I have switched to the only consumer electronics
company which
has truly adopted accessibility into its core model. I am, of
course,
speaking about Apple. I just upgraded my Mac's OS to Mountain
Lion for
$29.99. This included a free upgrade of Voice-Over, Mac's
built-in screen
reader. Though the command set is quite different from the
Windows screen
readers, I have become use to it now. It is as powerful as
Jaws. It is very
customisable. Like any other screen reader, it does not work
with all
programs, but it is quite customisable. It works with the
trackpad on my
MacBook Air. And, many of the iPhone gesture commands work
using the
touchpad. Oh, and it works quite well with my braille display,
which is also
extremely customisable.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
Email: dchittenden@gmail.com
Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
Sent from my iPhone
On 08/10/2012, at 12:03, Frank Ventura
<frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com>
wrote:
Miriam, I think that is misplaced anger. AT companies like
FS have
the same operating costss as any other company. That is not
too say I don't
feel the pain as well. Since I work in the AT arena I need to
keep up with
the latest developments myself. I personally own 4 JFW
licenses which I keep
up to date, likewise with other screen readers, magnifiers,
OCR programs,
etc. Thats a lot to keep up with each year and it doesn't even
scratch the
surface of all the hardware to keep on. It adds up to well
into five figures
each year for me so I am no stranger to what those folks feel
when you say
they are angry. But, shouldn't that anger be directed towards
the general in
accessibility we face and not the vendors who are tackling the
issue?
Speaking of AT, I have beengetting alot of work with
deaf-blind clients so
it looks like I may need a deaf-blind communicator and/or
braille display.
All of a sidden all those JFW, Windoweyes, Magic, Zoomtext,
Kurzweil,
Openbook, etc upgrades don't look so bad (grin).
Sorry about the spelling and composition. This flu is really
got me
run down today.
Frank Ventura
Email: frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com
Voicemail: 781 492-4262
Imessage: frankmventura@mac.com
*Sent from my Mac Book Air*
On Oct 7, 2012, at 11:35 AM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
Frank,
People express anger at Freedom Scientific because of
the
cost of the
product. Actually, if you keep up to date on their
SMA's, it
averages $60 a
year. But if you fall behind and have to pay for a new
version of Jaws, it's
a lot of money.
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf
Of
Frank Ventura
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 10:37 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
Miriam, I never really have been put off by Freedom
Scientific. Actually,
what they come up with mostly impresses me given the
task.
Now, the NFB ...
you know where I stand on that one.
Frank Ventura
Email: frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com
Voicemail: 781 492-4262
Imessage: frankmventura@mac.com
*Sent from my Mac Book Air*
On Oct 7, 2012, at 10:22 AM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
Frank,
If it were known that NFB is responsible for
people
having to pay
the high
prices that they do in order to buy Jaws and its
updates, I think
there'd be
a blind uprising. Instead of being so angry at
Freedom Scientific,
people
would be furious at NFB.
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On
Behalf Of Frank
Ventura
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 8:31 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
Miriam, I agree with everything said here with
one
little exception.
The NFB
hasn't always fought for accessible technology,
instead what they
fought for
was the accessible technology (AT) industry. This
came to a head
when
Microsoft was preparing to launch Windows 2000.
That
was the first
version
of Windows NT that was marketed directly to the
general public.
Microsoft
was all ready to have a fully functional built in
screen reader.
When this
came to light the NFB got their 'nads in an
uproar
and sent their
usual cast
of bully boys to protect the AT vendors. As a
result
Windows NT, and
all
subsequent versions of the Windows NT operating
system were
essentially
inaccessible to the blind without the addition of
a
third party
screen
reader. They took a very similar stance in the
mid
2000's with
Apple's
Macintosh line of computers. However that time
they
telegraphed
their punch
and the reaction of the blindness community
caused
them to retreat.
I think
I even remember publishingthem a semi-retraction
in
the Braille
Monitor.
Other then that I completely agree with what you
said, especially
about the
parts about the adventitiously blind and the less
tech savy blind.
Frank Ventura
Email: frank.ventura@littlebreezes.com
Voicemail: 781 492-4262
Imessage: frankmventura@mac.com
*Sent from my Mac Book Air*
On Oct 6, 2012, at 10:02 AM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
NFB has always fought for access when it
comes
to computer
technology,
websites, etc. On one level, this is
somehwat
elitest because
it is
the well
educated, high functioning, usually
employed
people, blind
from
infancy or
an early age, for whom these are issues.
The
people who
become blind
late in
life, the less capable, the unemployed,
the
less affluent,
these
folks
aren't able to use computers for one
reason or
another. But
NFB has
not
fought for audible trafic signals or
safety
precautions in
our
public
transportation systems. They have fought
against audio
description
and
accessible money. In other words, they
have
been opposed to
any
accomodations in the environment that show
visible
recognition that
blindness is a disability and that
accomodation should be
made for
it. They
assert that every blind person can
function
llike a sighted
person
if he or
she receives adequate training. This
denies
individual
differences
and, as
far as I'm concerned, it denies the
reality of
most blind
people's
lives. I
don't deny the capabilities and level of
competence of many
blind
people,
but I don't think that this should be used
as
a reason for
denying
essential
assistance to the majority.
Miriam
________________________________
From:
blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org]
On Behalf Of
joe
harcz
Comcast
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2012 8:04 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
While this would certainly work Dick there
is
no cause in my
opinion
for
doing so. Now, again, I'm currently a
member
of NFB and I
have now
and
always have had issues with NFB being
directly
in the Rehab
business. The
issue I have with it is not illegality, or
even philosophy.
It is
the fact
that whenever any advocy org gets involved
in
direct delivery
of
services
then it tends more often than not to be
co-oppted.
I've seen this as well with Centers for
Independent Living.
So it's
not just
an NFB thing for sure. In fact my local
CIL
which is
retaliating
against me
for exposing major ADA/504 violations by
the
City of Flint
that they
are
cozy with through CDBG funds and other
issues
is virtuallya
component of our
VR system here.
As such they are totally conflicted in
reforming it too and
going
after the
illegal instances recently by the Governor
on
both our
general VR
agency and
the Michigan Commission for the Blind.
Simply these organizations are getting in
to
areas they don't
belong
and
don't wish to bite the hand that feeds
them
because they
don't wish
to lose
money and jobs, mostly for higher ups.
Consumers, who should
be the
main
focus be damned.
Beleive me though I'm trying to get on the
board of our local
CIL!
Finally though as stated before NFB
nationally
has
substantially
changed I
think organiationally on ADA and access
issues. Note suits
and other
actions
related to Target, inaccessable e-book
readers, kiosks, etc.
Those things I do suppport just as I
openly
supported the
Treasury
and SSA
suits from ACB for both serve the
interests,
the civil rights
interests of
all blind folks and not just some narro
membership, or
leadership
pool.
----- Original Message -----
From: R. E. Driscoll Sr
<mailto:llocsirdsr@att.net>
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
<mailto:blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2012 5:34
PM
Subject: Re: Signs of the Times
All:
As an outsider the easiest way to
destroy or debase
NFB would
be to
force it to divest itself of its many
money
making facilities
and
drop its
charitable tax status.
R. E. (Dick) Driscoll, Sr.
On 10/5/2012 9:28 AM, Miriam Vieni
wrote:
Carl,
Without knowing all the
inside
details, it is
my
impression
that in New
York, the NFB has been
attempting to take
control of
the
blindness system
and to change the ways in
which
the private
agencies
function. Up until now,
it is the large private
agencies that have
provided
most of
the services in
the downstate area. ACB has
supported the
private
agencies
and fought
against an NFB takeover.
They
do not want the
NFB
rehab
philosophy to be
instituted here.
Furthermore,
ACB and the
agencies
have
fought for safety
precautions on subway and
elevated rapid
transit as
well as
audible traffic
signals while NFB has been
strongly opposed to
these
measures. When David
paterson became Lieutenant
Governmor and then
Governor, he
was courted by
NFB and it looked as if
they
would win the
battle.
But his
political
influence waned, as did
their's.
Miriam
________________________________
From:
blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org]
On
Behalf Of
Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, October 04,
2012 11:49 PM
To: Blind Democracy
Discussion
List
Subject: Re: Signs of the
Times
Mal and Gary,
There's a fellow living in
Texas, a member of
the
NFB, whom
I hold in high
regard. Mark Noble is a
former
chair of the
Washington
State Rehabilitation
Council for the Department
of
Services for the
Blind.
I
served with the
likes of Mark, Dan Frye and
Noel Nightingale.
Another
Federationist,
serving on that committee,
whose name is
known
around the
nation is Mike
Freeman.
I count all of these people
as
personal
friends and
have
great respect for
them. During my time on
the
SRC, Dan Frye
Mark Noble
and I
were appointed
to review the Orientation
and
Training Center
and
recommend
any changes we
felt would strengthen the
program.
Our organizational
affiliation
never got
between us
and the
work at hand.
We produced a strong set of
recommendations
and they
were
approved by the
full Council and issued to
the
OTC for
implementation.
This personal association
does
not change my
opinion
that
the NFB has
morphed over the years into
a
national agency
for the
blind,
and the ACB
remains the only
nation-wide
membership
organization.
Carl Jarvis
Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
Subject: Re: Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
No Joe, not Santa Claus. God. God is the original gatherer of all
information and trivia. Oh sure, he does send Santa once a year to drop in
and leave gifts as a cover for stealing all of your personal information,
but He really can do it without Santa's help.
By the way, don't spill your guts to the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny,
either.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
You better watch out. You better not shout.
He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake.
Oh my God! Was Santa Claus the original Big Brother?
He sure was big.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 12:10 PM
Subject: Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
>
> Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
>
>
> Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
>
> By Jon Rappoport
>
> June 25, 2013
>
> www.nomorefakenews.com
>
> Sometimes cognitive dissonance, which used to be called contradiction,
> rings
> a gong
> so loud it knocks you off your chair.
>
> But if you're an android in this marvelous world of synthetic reality, you
> get up,
> put a smile back on your face, and trudge on...
>
> Let's see. NSA is the most awesome spying agency ever devised in this
> world.
> If
> you cross the street in Podunk, Anywhere, USA, to buy an ice cream soda,
> on
> a Tuesday
> afternoon in July, they know.
>
> They know if you sit at the counter and drink that soda or take it and
> move
> to the
> only table in the store. They know if you lick the foam from the top of
> the
> glass
> with your tongue or pick the foam with your straw and then lick it.
>
> They know if you keep the receipt for the soda or leave it on the counter.
>
> They know whether you're wearing shoes or sneakers. They know the brand of
> your
> underwear. They know your shaving cream, and precisely which container it
> came
> out of.
>
> But this agency, with all its vast power and its dollars...
>
> Can't track one of its own, a man who came to work every day, a man who
> made
> up
> a story about needing treatment in Hong Kong for epilepsy and then skipped
> the country.
>
> Just can't find him.
>
> Can't find him in Hong Kong, where he does a sit-down video interview with
> Glenn
> Greenwald of The Guardian. Can't find that "safe house" or that "hotel"
> where
> he's staying.
>
> No. Can't find him or spy on his communications while he's in Hong Kong.
> Can't
> figure out he's booked a flight to Russia. Can't intercept him at the
> airport
> before he leaves for Russia . Too difficult.
>
> And this man, this employee, is walking around with four laptops that
> contain the
> keys to all the secret spying knowledge in the known cosmos.
>
> Can't locate those laptops. Can't hack into them to see what's there.
> Can't
> access
> the laptops or the data. The most brilliant technical minds of this or any
> other
> generation can find a computer in Outer Mongolia in the middle of a
> blizzard, but
> these walking-around computers in Hong Kong are somehow beyond reach.
>
> And before this man, Snowden, this employee, skipped Hawaii, he was able
> to
> access
> the layout of the entire US intelligence network. Yes. He was able to use
> a
> thumb
> drive.
>
> He walked into work with a thumb drive, plugged in, and
> stole...everything.
> He
> stole enough to "take down the entire US intelligence network in a single
> afternoon."
>
> Not only that, but anyone who worked at this super-agency as an analyst,
> as
> a systems-analyst
> supervisor, could have done the same thing. Could have stolen the keys to
> the kingdom.
>
> This is why NSA geniuses with IQs over 180 have decided, now, in the midst
> of the
> Snowden affair, that they need to draft "tighter rules and procedures" for
> their
> employees. Right.
>
> Now, a few pieces of internal of security they hadn't realized they needed
> before
> will be put in place.
>
> This is, let me remind you, the most secretive spying agency in the world.
> The
> richest spying agency. The smartest spying agency.
>
> But somehow, over the years, they'd overlooked this corner of their own
> security.
> They'd left a door open, so that any one of their own analysts could steal
> everything.
>
> Could take it all. Could just snatch it away and copy it and store it on a
> few
> laptops.
>
> But now, yes now, having been made aware of this vulnerability, the agency
> will
> make corrections.
>
> Sure.
>
> And reporters for elite US media don't find any of this hard to swallow.
>
> A smart sixth-grader could see through this tower of fabricated baloney in
> a
> minute,
> but veteran grizzled reporters are clueless.
>
> Last night, on Charley Rose, in an episode that left me breathless, a
> gaggle
> of
> pundits/newspeople warned that Ed Snowden, walking around with those four
> laptops,
> could be an easy target for Chinese spies or Russian spies who could get
> access
> to the data on those computers. The spies could just hack in.
>
> But the NSA can't. No. The NSA can't find out what Snowden has. They can
> only
> speculate.
>
> It's charades within charades.
>
> This whole Snowden affair is an op. It's the kind of op that works because
> people
> are prepared to believe anything.
>
> The tightest and strongest and richest and smartest spying agency in the
> world can't
> find its own employee. It's in the business of tracking, and it can't find
> him.
>
> It's in the business of security, and it can't protect its own data from
> its
> employees.
>
> If you believe that, I have timeshares to sell in the black hole in the
> center of
> the Milky Way.
>
> In previous articles, I've made a case for Snowden being a CIA operative
> who
> still
> works for his former employer. He was handed a bunch of NSA data by the
> CIA.
> He
> didn't steal anything. The CIA wants to punch a hole in the NSA. It's
> called
> an
> internal turf war. It's been going on as long as those agencies have
> existed
> side
> by side.
>
> For example....the money.
>
> Wired Magazine, June 2013 issue. James Bamford, author of three books on
> the
> NSA,
> states:
>
> "In April, as part of its 2014 budget request, the Pentagon [which rules
> the
> NSA]
> asked Congress for $4.7 billion for increased 'cyberspace operations,'
> nearly $1
> billion more than the 2013 allocation. At the same time, budgets for the
> CIA and
> other intelligence agencies were cut by almost the same amount, $4.4
> billion. A
> portion of the money going to...[NSA] will be used to create 13
> cyberattack
> teams."
>
> That means spying money. Far more for NSA, far less for CIA.
>
> Turf war.
>
> But in this article, let's stay focused on the fairy tales, which are the
> cover
> stories floated to the press, the public, the politicians.
>
> We have reporters at the Washington Post and at The Guardian. We have
> Julian
> Assange,
> the head of Wikileaks. They're all talking to Snowden. The NSA can spy on
> them.
> Right? Can listen to their calls and read their emails and hack into their
> notes.
> Just like people have been hacking into the work and home computers of
> Sharyl Attkisson,
> star CBS investigative reporter.
>
> But the NSA can't do all this spying and then use it to find Snowden. Just
> can't
> manage it.
>
> So...everybody in the world with a computer has passwords. The NSA can cut
> through
> them like a sword through hot butter. But Assange and the Post and
> Guardian
> and
> Snowden must have super-special passwords.
>
> They got these passwords by sending a stamped self-addressed envelope,
> along
> with
> 25 cents, and a top from a cereal box, to The Lone Ranger. These passwords
> are
> charged with atomic clouds that obscure men's minds so they cannot see or
> spy.
> They're immortal and invulnerable.
>
> The NSA can spy on anyone else in the world, but they can't get their foot
> in the
> door, when it comes to the Post, The Guardian, and Assange.
>
> And if Snowden winds up in Ecuador, that too will become an insurmountable
> mystery.
>
> "Nope, we don't know where he is. He's vanished. Ecuador has a Romulan
> shield
> surrounding it. The cloaking technology is too advanced."
>
> Perhaps you recall that, in the early days of this scandal, Snowden
> claimed
> he could
> spy on anyone in the US, including a federal judge or even the president,
> if
> he
> had their email addresses.
>
> Uh-huh. But the combined talents of the NSA, now, can't spy on Snowden. I
> guess
> they just can't find his email address.
>
> Snowden isn't the only savvy computer kid in the country. There must be a
> million
> people, at minimum, who can cook up email addresses that evade the reach
> of
> the
> NSA. Yes?
>
> What we have here are contradictions piled on contradictions piled on
> lies.
>
> And in the midst of this, a whole lot of people are saying, "Don't look
> too
> closely.
> Snowden is a hero and he exposed the NSA and that's a wonderful thing."
>
> And a whole lot of other people are saying, "Snowden is a traitor and he
> should
> be tried for treason or killed overseas. That's all you need to know."
>
> The truth? Well, the truth, as they say, is the first casualty in war. But
> in
> the spying business, the truth was never there to begin with. That's one
> of
> the
> requirements of the industry.
>
> "Son, if you think you've lied before, you haven't got a clue. We're going
> to tell
> you to do things that'll make your head spin. That's the game we're in.
> We're
> going to make you tell lies in your sleep."
>
> And these are the people the public believes.
>
> It's a beautiful thing. It really is. The fairy tales are made of sugar
> and
> the
> public, the press, and the people eat them. And then they ask for more.
>
> Jon Rappoport
>
> The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM
> THE MATRIX,
> Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of
> California.
> Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter
> for
> 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS
> Healthwatch,
> LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the
> US and
> Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics,
> health,
> logic,
> and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his
> free
> emails at www.nomorefakenews.com
>
> Jon Rappoport
>
> The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, and the New
> EXIT
> FROM
> THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th
> District
> of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an
> investigative
> reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health
> for CBS
> Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and
> magazines
> in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global
> politics,
> health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can
> sign up
> for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com
>
> www.insolutions.info
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>
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_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
No Joe, not Santa Claus. God. God is the original gatherer of all
information and trivia. Oh sure, he does send Santa once a year to drop in
and leave gifts as a cover for stealing all of your personal information,
but He really can do it without Santa's help.
By the way, don't spill your guts to the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny,
either.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
You better watch out. You better not shout.
He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you're awake.
Oh my God! Was Santa Claus the original Big Brother?
He sure was big.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 12:10 PM
Subject: Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
>
> Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
>
>
> Ed Snowden, NSA, and fairy tales a child could see through
>
> By Jon Rappoport
>
> June 25, 2013
>
> www.nomorefakenews.com
>
> Sometimes cognitive dissonance, which used to be called contradiction,
> rings
> a gong
> so loud it knocks you off your chair.
>
> But if you're an android in this marvelous world of synthetic reality, you
> get up,
> put a smile back on your face, and trudge on...
>
> Let's see. NSA is the most awesome spying agency ever devised in this
> world.
> If
> you cross the street in Podunk, Anywhere, USA, to buy an ice cream soda,
> on
> a Tuesday
> afternoon in July, they know.
>
> They know if you sit at the counter and drink that soda or take it and
> move
> to the
> only table in the store. They know if you lick the foam from the top of
> the
> glass
> with your tongue or pick the foam with your straw and then lick it.
>
> They know if you keep the receipt for the soda or leave it on the counter.
>
> They know whether you're wearing shoes or sneakers. They know the brand of
> your
> underwear. They know your shaving cream, and precisely which container it
> came
> out of.
>
> But this agency, with all its vast power and its dollars...
>
> Can't track one of its own, a man who came to work every day, a man who
> made
> up
> a story about needing treatment in Hong Kong for epilepsy and then skipped
> the country.
>
> Just can't find him.
>
> Can't find him in Hong Kong, where he does a sit-down video interview with
> Glenn
> Greenwald of The Guardian. Can't find that "safe house" or that "hotel"
> where
> he's staying.
>
> No. Can't find him or spy on his communications while he's in Hong Kong.
> Can't
> figure out he's booked a flight to Russia. Can't intercept him at the
> airport
> before he leaves for Russia . Too difficult.
>
> And this man, this employee, is walking around with four laptops that
> contain the
> keys to all the secret spying knowledge in the known cosmos.
>
> Can't locate those laptops. Can't hack into them to see what's there.
> Can't
> access
> the laptops or the data. The most brilliant technical minds of this or any
> other
> generation can find a computer in Outer Mongolia in the middle of a
> blizzard, but
> these walking-around computers in Hong Kong are somehow beyond reach.
>
> And before this man, Snowden, this employee, skipped Hawaii, he was able
> to
> access
> the layout of the entire US intelligence network. Yes. He was able to use
> a
> thumb
> drive.
>
> He walked into work with a thumb drive, plugged in, and
> stole...everything.
> He
> stole enough to "take down the entire US intelligence network in a single
> afternoon."
>
> Not only that, but anyone who worked at this super-agency as an analyst,
> as
> a systems-analyst
> supervisor, could have done the same thing. Could have stolen the keys to
> the kingdom.
>
> This is why NSA geniuses with IQs over 180 have decided, now, in the midst
> of the
> Snowden affair, that they need to draft "tighter rules and procedures" for
> their
> employees. Right.
>
> Now, a few pieces of internal of security they hadn't realized they needed
> before
> will be put in place.
>
> This is, let me remind you, the most secretive spying agency in the world.
> The
> richest spying agency. The smartest spying agency.
>
> But somehow, over the years, they'd overlooked this corner of their own
> security.
> They'd left a door open, so that any one of their own analysts could steal
> everything.
>
> Could take it all. Could just snatch it away and copy it and store it on a
> few
> laptops.
>
> But now, yes now, having been made aware of this vulnerability, the agency
> will
> make corrections.
>
> Sure.
>
> And reporters for elite US media don't find any of this hard to swallow.
>
> A smart sixth-grader could see through this tower of fabricated baloney in
> a
> minute,
> but veteran grizzled reporters are clueless.
>
> Last night, on Charley Rose, in an episode that left me breathless, a
> gaggle
> of
> pundits/newspeople warned that Ed Snowden, walking around with those four
> laptops,
> could be an easy target for Chinese spies or Russian spies who could get
> access
> to the data on those computers. The spies could just hack in.
>
> But the NSA can't. No. The NSA can't find out what Snowden has. They can
> only
> speculate.
>
> It's charades within charades.
>
> This whole Snowden affair is an op. It's the kind of op that works because
> people
> are prepared to believe anything.
>
> The tightest and strongest and richest and smartest spying agency in the
> world can't
> find its own employee. It's in the business of tracking, and it can't find
> him.
>
> It's in the business of security, and it can't protect its own data from
> its
> employees.
>
> If you believe that, I have timeshares to sell in the black hole in the
> center of
> the Milky Way.
>
> In previous articles, I've made a case for Snowden being a CIA operative
> who
> still
> works for his former employer. He was handed a bunch of NSA data by the
> CIA.
> He
> didn't steal anything. The CIA wants to punch a hole in the NSA. It's
> called
> an
> internal turf war. It's been going on as long as those agencies have
> existed
> side
> by side.
>
> For example....the money.
>
> Wired Magazine, June 2013 issue. James Bamford, author of three books on
> the
> NSA,
> states:
>
> "In April, as part of its 2014 budget request, the Pentagon [which rules
> the
> NSA]
> asked Congress for $4.7 billion for increased 'cyberspace operations,'
> nearly $1
> billion more than the 2013 allocation. At the same time, budgets for the
> CIA and
> other intelligence agencies were cut by almost the same amount, $4.4
> billion. A
> portion of the money going to...[NSA] will be used to create 13
> cyberattack
> teams."
>
> That means spying money. Far more for NSA, far less for CIA.
>
> Turf war.
>
> But in this article, let's stay focused on the fairy tales, which are the
> cover
> stories floated to the press, the public, the politicians.
>
> We have reporters at the Washington Post and at The Guardian. We have
> Julian
> Assange,
> the head of Wikileaks. They're all talking to Snowden. The NSA can spy on
> them.
> Right? Can listen to their calls and read their emails and hack into their
> notes.
> Just like people have been hacking into the work and home computers of
> Sharyl Attkisson,
> star CBS investigative reporter.
>
> But the NSA can't do all this spying and then use it to find Snowden. Just
> can't
> manage it.
>
> So...everybody in the world with a computer has passwords. The NSA can cut
> through
> them like a sword through hot butter. But Assange and the Post and
> Guardian
> and
> Snowden must have super-special passwords.
>
> They got these passwords by sending a stamped self-addressed envelope,
> along
> with
> 25 cents, and a top from a cereal box, to The Lone Ranger. These passwords
> are
> charged with atomic clouds that obscure men's minds so they cannot see or
> spy.
> They're immortal and invulnerable.
>
> The NSA can spy on anyone else in the world, but they can't get their foot
> in the
> door, when it comes to the Post, The Guardian, and Assange.
>
> And if Snowden winds up in Ecuador, that too will become an insurmountable
> mystery.
>
> "Nope, we don't know where he is. He's vanished. Ecuador has a Romulan
> shield
> surrounding it. The cloaking technology is too advanced."
>
> Perhaps you recall that, in the early days of this scandal, Snowden
> claimed
> he could
> spy on anyone in the US, including a federal judge or even the president,
> if
> he
> had their email addresses.
>
> Uh-huh. But the combined talents of the NSA, now, can't spy on Snowden. I
> guess
> they just can't find his email address.
>
> Snowden isn't the only savvy computer kid in the country. There must be a
> million
> people, at minimum, who can cook up email addresses that evade the reach
> of
> the
> NSA. Yes?
>
> What we have here are contradictions piled on contradictions piled on
> lies.
>
> And in the midst of this, a whole lot of people are saying, "Don't look
> too
> closely.
> Snowden is a hero and he exposed the NSA and that's a wonderful thing."
>
> And a whole lot of other people are saying, "Snowden is a traitor and he
> should
> be tried for treason or killed overseas. That's all you need to know."
>
> The truth? Well, the truth, as they say, is the first casualty in war. But
> in
> the spying business, the truth was never there to begin with. That's one
> of
> the
> requirements of the industry.
>
> "Son, if you think you've lied before, you haven't got a clue. We're going
> to tell
> you to do things that'll make your head spin. That's the game we're in.
> We're
> going to make you tell lies in your sleep."
>
> And these are the people the public believes.
>
> It's a beautiful thing. It really is. The fairy tales are made of sugar
> and
> the
> public, the press, and the people eat them. And then they ask for more.
>
> Jon Rappoport
>
> The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM
> THE MATRIX,
> Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of
> California.
> Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter
> for
> 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS
> Healthwatch,
> LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the
> US and
> Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics,
> health,
> logic,
> and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his
> free
> emails at www.nomorefakenews.com
>
> Jon Rappoport
>
> The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, and the New
> EXIT
> FROM
> THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th
> District
> of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an
> investigative
> reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health
> for CBS
> Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and
> magazines
> in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global
> politics,
> health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can
> sign up
> for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com
>
> www.insolutions.info
> [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=px9j9a44&et=1106711601712&s=1143&e=001uMQrhNeWBBgJZ4OchbWgMNBG0k4gqykauuTnUj2j90pLDdGU3Pl_iA3ZLiypMprmv62nUI8fPldtyvo6YGVF29oifKwPkbfje0CQpZHpK1Ccv6Ge01U3Cw==]
>
> qjrconsulting@gmail.com [mailto:qjrconsulting@gmail.com]
> www.nomorefakenews.com
> [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=96xhsnnab.0.nvimlygab.4tixiugab.14778&ts=S0923&r=3&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nomorefakenews.com]
>
> Use this link to order Jon's Seminar Series
> MARKETPLACE
> [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=96xhsnnab.0.ovimlygab.4tixiugab.14778&ts=S0923&r=3&p=http%3A%2F%2Fmarketplace.mybigcommerce.com%2F]
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> [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=96xhsnnab.0.qvimlygab.4tixiugab.14778&ts=S0923&r=3&p=http%3A%2F%2Fscicn.com]
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Confronting the Growing Security State
What do we call a place where people are kept safe, with high security at
the walls and monitoring of every action within?
A prison, you say?
Think again. We're talking about the United States of America.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "S. Kashdan" <skashdan@scn.org>
To: "Blind Democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 7:23 PM
Subject: Confronting the Growing National (In)Security State
Confronting the Growing National (In)Security State
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
Truthout, Wednesday, June 26, 2013
http://truth-out.org/news/item/17208-confronting-the-growing-national-insecurity-state?tmpl=component&print=1
The national security state dominates US foreign policy and now increasingly
domestic policy. It has become a behemoth, a monster with an insatiable
appetite that both looks for opportunities to expand and creates reasons to
justify its expansion. Driven largely by profit and geopolitical positioning
to control the world's resources, the national security state may finally be
overreaching to the point that people are seeing through the myth of they
hate us for our freedom and realizing that we are all being duped.
The United States is stuck in a cycle that it created by decades of military
intervention, war and economic hegemony. This has created a self-fulfilling
prophecy of growing insecurity that fuels the demand for more security. As
real and perceived threats against US security result in a national security
response of more military, more spying and more intervention, the consistent
response abroad is more threats to the security of Americans and attacks on
the US military and transnational US corporations. Reaction by the United
States is inevitably more security state violence. And the cycle continues
to spiral.
Real feelings of insecurity have been used to scare people in the United
States into accepting the growing erosion of our civil liberties. We are
taught to treat each other as potential terrorists and to be on the lookout
for threats. We are accustomed to being complicit with gross invasions of
our privacy as a trade-off for greater security. But this is an illusion, as
is the idea that if someone is not doing anything wrong, then this state of
hypervigilance doesn't affect them.
Now these illusions are being exposed. Four years ago, Pfc. Bradley Manning
was arrested for leaking documents on the wars and US foreign policy that
showed crimes, unethical behavior and abuses of power. The government
reacted harshly, held him in solitary for one year and sought to make an
example of him to frighten others from coming forward. These actions showed
how the government will abuse its power to cover up its own misbehavior. But
rather than deter, this abuse has led to more leaks.
As Glenn Greenwald writes, The more they overreact to measures of
accountability and transparency - the more they so flagrantly abuse their
power of secrecy and investigations and prosecutions - the more quickly that
backlash will arrive. In the more than three years since Manning's arrest,
there have been multiple leaks, including perhaps the most important, the
recent leaks by Edward Snowden. Intimidation is not working.
And the national dialogue is changing. Just as these whistleblowers had
hoped, people are questioning whether the national security state is
justified and just whose interests it represents. Coalitions of
organizations are forming to demand greater transparency and accountability,
and serious questions are being asked about the effects of a privatized
security state on democracy and the broader interests of the public.
The Dangerous National Security Spiral
Wars and military interventions occur out of the Office of the President,
which has become an imperial presidency that does not wait for Congressional
or UN approval. Fred Branfman, who exposed the illegal bombing of Laos and
the targeting of civilians by the United States during the Vietnam War, says
that since 1962, the United States has killed 20 million human beings, the
vast majority of them civilians, more than any other country in the world
during that time period.
This mass slaughter of people, and the displacement of an equal number who
were forced to flee their homes and often their countries, continues no
matter who is president. No doubt part of the problem is the mirage
democracy and managed elections in the United States which limit our
choices, but the bigger problem is the institution of the executive branch,
the vast military and intelligence apparatus, and ongoing foreign policy
that emphasizes intervention and domination rather than diplomacy. These
institutional forces need to be changed if we are to have any hope of
redirecting US relations with the world.
Branfman describes part of the dangerous cycle of the national security
state And today's U.S. executive branch policies pose an even greater
long-term threat to U.S. strategic interests, not only abroad but at home.
The evidence is overwhelming, including the statements by several dozen U.S.
national security experts cited at the end of my recent piece, that U.S.
leaders are not protecting national security but rather weakening it as
never before.
They are weakening security by creating more enemies every day. Branfman
points out that the Joint Strategic Operations Command (JSOC), essentially a
team of assassins operating on a global scale, is active in 60 countries.
Obama has used drones in many countries, most with which the United States
is not at war. This remote-control policing of the globe is increasing
hatred against the United States. A 2011 Pew poll shows 74 percent of
Pakistanis, 130 million people, regard us as their enemy. Branfman points
out, It makes no national security sense to be at war with 1.8 billion
Muslims.
Numerous officials have made similar points; retired General Stanley
McChrystal says every civilian the US kills creates ten enemies. Who are
these security-state-created enemies The tens of thousands families, friends
and neighbors of people killed in drone strikes or held without trial in
Guantanamo Bay or other secret prisons. They include the vast numbers of
people under drone surveillance and threat of attack in numerous countries
in Africa, the Middle East and East Asia. Also, this includes the people
threatened with full-blown war as the United States moves from the
destruction of Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya and now to Syria, with Iran and
North Korea in its sight and under threat, and even China being encircled
militarily in Obama's Asian pivot. The undermining of democracies throughout
the world adds to the problem, especially in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia,
countries that have broken from US empire. The United States does not become
more secure by turning the people of the world against us.
As a result of this ongoing policy of intervention and domination, the US
security state apparatus has grown dramatically. This security state
includes not only government agencies but thousands of corporations that are
hard to distinguish from the government. The merger of corporations and
state is evident in the intelligence gathering apparatus, each entity
sharing information with the other. For example, a recent leak from Edward
Snowden on British intelligence's seizure of virtually every worldwide phone
call and Internet activity, reveals that it shares the information with
850,000 outside contractors, as well as the NSA.
There are important legal and moral issues that challenge all of these
policies, but Branfman points out, the security state apparatus is also
endangering us, undermining security and creating enemies. Further, It is
our government that is endangering our national security, not the
whistleblowers.
The security state is becoming more insecure itself as people in the United
States learn about the extent of domestic and global spying. This creates a
potentially volatile situation. Branfman says that No president has done
more to create the infrastructure for a possible future police-state than
President Obama. Branfman sees three ways that this infrastructure could be
used to escalate to a full police state that would destroy our democratic
ideals (1) another 911 type attack, (2) domestic unrest due to the economic
collapse and growing inequality; and (3) global disruption due to climate
change. These are all very real possibilities and one interesting thing
about each – current government policy not only fails to solve or minimize
these problems, it actually makes each worse.
The National Security State Used Against Americans
Thomas Drake, a former executive of the National Security Agency who became
a whistleblower and was accused of violating the Espionage Act says, We have
all become foreigners, all subjects of the surveillance state and it has
really very little to do with counter-terrorism. Further, the security
apparatus is treating the United States as a foreign nation consistent with
the Obama administration's claim that the whole world is a battlefield, and
that includes the United States.
Drake points out that he and his colleagues in the NSA showed the agency how
it could collect the data it needed to protect the United States from its
enemies, while at the same time operating within the limits of the
Constitution, consistent with the Fourth Amendment and protecting the
privacy of Americans. But, the NSA rejected that approach and instead
because of a perverse incentive to keep track of everyone, gathered all
information so that they would have it in case they needed it at a later
date. According to Drake, the NSA wants to own the Internet.
An East German expert, Drake says the Stasi would be drooling at what the US
surveillance state is doing with their collection of information. The full
review of how Americans are spied on is breathtaking. There is so much
information being gathered that the NSA is building a data facility in Utah
that will use as much energy as Salt Lake City to hold 100 years' worth of
worldwide communications, including phone and Internet communications. The
surveillance state has been building relatively consistently for 100 years.
With every advance in technology; the surveillance state has expanded to use
that technology.
What is the extent of monitoring The American government is in fact
collecting and storing virtually every phone call, purchase, email, text
message, internet search, social media communication and credit card
transaction. They also gather information about finances, health,
employment history, travel and student records, and virtually all other
information on every person in the United States. The British government
taps into trans-Atlantic cables to gather telephone and Internet traffic
which they share with NSA and corporations. In 2011, they collected 600
million telephone events each day.
Then there is the monitoring of the travel of Americans through a massive
surveillance system of CCTV cameras which could be upgraded with facial
recognition technology. In addition, the federal government has used drones
on Americans, 13 police departments are using them and 30,000 drones are
projected to be licensed in the United States in the next decade.
When we travel, our conversations will also be monitored as cities across
the country are quietly installing microphone-enabled surveillance systems
on public buses that would give them the ability to record and store private
conversations. Street lights are being installed that can spy in some
American cities. Cell towers and cell phones can track where your phone is.
And, phone companies responded to at least 1.3 million law enforcement
requests for cell phone locations in 2011. The government is pushing for
black boxes being installed in cars to track people.
When Americans travel they go through often abusive and always degrading,
invasive searches at airports, but the TSA is now moving beyond airports to
trains and sports stadiums, as well as deploying mobile scanners to spy on
people in many places. Related to this is expanding the geographic area for
border searches to 100 miles away from the border. When the government
conducts a border search it is not constrained by the Fourth Amendment.
And then there is the corporate side of the security state. Big companies
are giving data to the NSA and other government agencies in return for
special treatment. The NSA built a back door to all Windows software and the
FBI wants a backdoor to all software. Companies are creating new products
like bill boards that can watch you. And a recent patent application by
Verizon would allow your television to watch you, track what you are doing,
who you are with, what you're holding, and the mood you're in.
All of this is happening within the framework of law and congressional
oversight. But, as Thomas Drake says Oversight has been co-opted and
compromised, it is a kabuki dance. Secret surveillance is approved by secret
courts. Compromised congressional oversight includes gag orders to silence
elected representatives so they cannot tell their constituents what is going
on. It really inverts the system of justice, he says.
Former NSA official William Binney describes, in a USA Today interview, how
the oversight system fails to work saying, We tried to stay for the better
part of seven years inside the government trying to get the government to
recognize the unconstitutional, illegal activity that they were doing and
openly admit that and devise certain ways that would be constitutionally and
legally acceptable to achieve the ends they were really after. And that just
failed totally because no one in Congress or — we couldn't get anybody in
the courts, and certainly the Department of Justice and inspector general's
office didn't pay any attention to it. And all of the efforts we made just
produced no change whatsoever. All it did was continue to get worse and
expand.
Jesslyn Radack, an attorney with the Government Accountability Project,
tells USA Today not only did the system fail to respond, but more than that,
it was turned against them. … The inspector general was the one who gave
their names to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution under the
Espionage Act. And they were all targets of a federal criminal
investigation, and Tom [Drake] ended up being prosecuted — and it was for
blowing the whistle.
Radack calls the oversight system a rubber stamp, Congress has been a rubber
stamp . . . and the judicial branch has been basically shut down from
hearing these lawsuits . . . So the idea that we have robust checks and
balances on this is a myth. Further in 2012 the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance (FISA) court approved 98 percent of the 1,856 applications for
surveillance and searches outright, with one withdrawn and 40 others
modified, which is consistent with its practice since it was founded in
1978. But still, President Obama describes the system of secret
surveillance, secret courts, secret congressional oversight and gag orders
it is transparent.
Making these already weak checks and balances weaker is the dishonesty of
intelligence officials and the inability of either courts or congress to
check their truthfulness. For example, Sen. Ron Wyden asked the director of
national intelligence, James Clapper, if there was mass data collection of
Americans. He said no. In USA Today Drake described that as This is
incredible dissembling . . . the oversight committee, unable to get a
straight answer because if the straight answer was given it would reveal the
perfidy that's actually going on inside the secret side of the government.
Binney added, It can't work the way it is because they have no real way of
seeing into what these agencies are doing. They are totally dependent on the
agencies briefing them on programs, telling them what they are doing. The
same is true for the FISA court.
Branfman says it more starkly saying We cannot trust government
spokespersons as they have been lying to us for 50 years. Indeed, the
dishonesty of government representatives has become so consistent that we
take it for granted when they lie to us, we expect it and accept it.
Further, when they get caught in a lie, they cover-up and if the cover-up
does not work they call it an aberration and blame a low-level official. He
explains that security state officials do not think it terms of truth in
lies, they think in terms of what do they have to say to support their
mission and enlarge their budget.
Nobody in the country is immune to this extensive monitoring. Of course we
know that FBI Director Hoover spied on President Kennedy and his brothers.
And NSA whistleblower Russ Tice revealed that members of congress, Supreme
Court justices and the young state senator Obama were spied on. And that is
why the spying affects all of us. Information that is collected on elected
officials, judges and the media can be used to make them 'behave' under
threat of losing their careers. This undermines democracy and the rule of
law.
How Do We Deal With and Dismantle the Security State
Thomas Drake reminds us that Senator Frank Church warned us in 1975 - when
the surveillance state was used against the American people, including
protesters. Can we pull ourselves out of the abyss Is it embedded in the
infrastructure of our society so deeply that we can't Drake is dedicating
his life to restoring the Constitution, privacy and the Fourth Amendment, so
he has not given up.
And, many Americans have not given up either. Over 200,000 people have
joined an effort to stop the spying at www.StopWatching.US, and more than
100 organizations have signed onto a letter calling for a congressional
investigation modeled on the Church Committee of the mid-70s. They describe
the spying as blanket data collection by the government [that] strikes at
bedrock American values of freedom and privacy. This dragnet surveillance
violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which
protect citizens' right to speak and associate anonymously and guard against
unreasonable searches and seizures… They seek to have the Patriot Act
repealed and officials who put this unconstitutional program in place held
accountable.
Another group is taking on CCTV cameras, seeking to create a data base
describing where they are. There have been incidents in the United States
and around the world of activists destroying CCTV cameras.
Others are sharing information on how to stop the security state from spying
on you. And some are providing detailed specific steps you can take to have
more private communications, as well as evaluating the tools available for
safer communication.
During our interview with them on Clearing the FOG, Thomas Drake and Fred
Branfman said that to end the security state, we need to build a mass
popular movement to challenge the system and demand that it ends. To
restore democracy Drake calls for maximum openness and transparency; and
real checks and balances in government. The government needs to be
re-chained to the US Constitution and the limits on searches and seizures.
It needs to stop violating the rights of Americans and people all around the
world.
Branfman believes this is an issue that the right and left of the American
political spectrum should join together on, recognizing we need a potent
political movement to challenge the entrenched security state. He sees the
only way we will be able to turn back the security state is through popular
ferment over the next decade.
Drake is heartened by Edward Snowden whom he describes as a classic
whistle-blower acting in the public interest. He notes that East Germany
collapsed from within and part of the reason was people in the security
state seeing they were on the wrong side. Now in the United States, he says,
people are seeing the initial outlines and contours of a very systemic, very
broad, a Leviathan surveillance state and much of it is in violation of the
fundamental basis for our own country — in fact, the very reason we even had
our own American Revolution. Snowden has helped to start the debate we have
needed to have since 911.
Edward Snowden showed the incredible power that one person has who is on the
inside and breaks ranks. A key ingredient of a strategy that will succeed in
shifting power is people on the inside switching to the side of the people.
When Bradley Manning leaked documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan
War, the Guantanamo Bay prisons and Foreign Service documents that showed
the operation of US empire around the world, the national security state
came down on him aggressively. Their goal was to scare others, but since his
arrest and abuse four years ago there have been many important national
security leaks, with Edward Snowden producing perhaps the most important.
While intimidation may work on some, others will be encouraged by their
abuse and every one person who blows the whistle makes a tremendous
difference.
Whistleblowing is critical to progress against a security state that is
undermining democracy. The actions of Manning, Snowden and others like them
will inspire a new generation of whistleblowers. Indeed, whistleblowing has
been democratized as relatively low-level techs gain access to critical
information. As Julian Assange says They are young, technically minded
people from the generation that Barack Obama betrayed. They are the
generation that grew up on the internet, and were shaped by it. While it may
seem impossible to safely blow the whistle in the US security state, in fact
it can be done. Here's a brief guide on how to safely expose crime and
abuse of government and big business by phone, email and mail.
We are confident that while some may be frightened by the security state,
others will feel that it is their duty to come forward with the truth. They
may do it anonymously, as many have, or they may do it publicly, as Edward
Snowden did, but they will come forward. In the end, the crimes will be
exposed and those participating in them need to know, they will be held
accountable.
As Edward Snowden said in answering questions posed by the public
Binney, Drake, Kiriakou, and Manning are all examples of how overly-harsh
responses to public-interest whistle-blowing only escalate the scale, scope,
and skill involved in future disclosures. Citizens with a conscience are not
going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they'll be destroyed for it the
conscience forbids it. Instead, these draconian responses simply build
better whistleblowers. If the Obama administration responds with an even
harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they'll soon find
themselves facing an equally harsh public response.
Julian Assange warns Obama and the security state adding And by trying to
crush these young whistleblowers with espionage charges, the US government
is taking on a generation, and that is a battle it is going to lose.
Now that the dangerous national security spiral is hitting home with mass
surveillance of Americans, and more and more are seeing that so-called
national security actually make us less safe and less free, the cycle can be
broken. Every American is now directly affected by the US security state,
and more and more will speak up and take action to end it. The popular
resistance that Drake and Branfman say is needed is starting to build. More
and more people are asking themselves the same question Manning, Snowden,
Branfman, Assange and others have asked what is my breaking point
You can listen to NSA Leaks, Spying and the Myth of National Security with
Thomas Drake and Fred Branfman on Clearing The FOG.
Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD co-host ClearingtheFOGRadio.org on We
Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic Democracy Media and on
UStream.TVItsOurEconomy, co-direct It's Our Economy and are organizers of
PopularResistance.org. Their twitters are @KBZeese and @MFlowers8.
_______________________________________________
Blind-Democracy mailing list
Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
the walls and monitoring of every action within?
A prison, you say?
Think again. We're talking about the United States of America.
Carl Jarvis
----- Original Message -----
From: "S. Kashdan" <skashdan@scn.org>
To: "Blind Democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 7:23 PM
Subject: Confronting the Growing National (In)Security State
Confronting the Growing National (In)Security State
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
Truthout, Wednesday, June 26, 2013
http://truth-out.org/news/item/17208-confronting-the-growing-national-insecurity-state?tmpl=component&print=1
The national security state dominates US foreign policy and now increasingly
domestic policy. It has become a behemoth, a monster with an insatiable
appetite that both looks for opportunities to expand and creates reasons to
justify its expansion. Driven largely by profit and geopolitical positioning
to control the world's resources, the national security state may finally be
overreaching to the point that people are seeing through the myth of they
hate us for our freedom and realizing that we are all being duped.
The United States is stuck in a cycle that it created by decades of military
intervention, war and economic hegemony. This has created a self-fulfilling
prophecy of growing insecurity that fuels the demand for more security. As
real and perceived threats against US security result in a national security
response of more military, more spying and more intervention, the consistent
response abroad is more threats to the security of Americans and attacks on
the US military and transnational US corporations. Reaction by the United
States is inevitably more security state violence. And the cycle continues
to spiral.
Real feelings of insecurity have been used to scare people in the United
States into accepting the growing erosion of our civil liberties. We are
taught to treat each other as potential terrorists and to be on the lookout
for threats. We are accustomed to being complicit with gross invasions of
our privacy as a trade-off for greater security. But this is an illusion, as
is the idea that if someone is not doing anything wrong, then this state of
hypervigilance doesn't affect them.
Now these illusions are being exposed. Four years ago, Pfc. Bradley Manning
was arrested for leaking documents on the wars and US foreign policy that
showed crimes, unethical behavior and abuses of power. The government
reacted harshly, held him in solitary for one year and sought to make an
example of him to frighten others from coming forward. These actions showed
how the government will abuse its power to cover up its own misbehavior. But
rather than deter, this abuse has led to more leaks.
As Glenn Greenwald writes, The more they overreact to measures of
accountability and transparency - the more they so flagrantly abuse their
power of secrecy and investigations and prosecutions - the more quickly that
backlash will arrive. In the more than three years since Manning's arrest,
there have been multiple leaks, including perhaps the most important, the
recent leaks by Edward Snowden. Intimidation is not working.
And the national dialogue is changing. Just as these whistleblowers had
hoped, people are questioning whether the national security state is
justified and just whose interests it represents. Coalitions of
organizations are forming to demand greater transparency and accountability,
and serious questions are being asked about the effects of a privatized
security state on democracy and the broader interests of the public.
The Dangerous National Security Spiral
Wars and military interventions occur out of the Office of the President,
which has become an imperial presidency that does not wait for Congressional
or UN approval. Fred Branfman, who exposed the illegal bombing of Laos and
the targeting of civilians by the United States during the Vietnam War, says
that since 1962, the United States has killed 20 million human beings, the
vast majority of them civilians, more than any other country in the world
during that time period.
This mass slaughter of people, and the displacement of an equal number who
were forced to flee their homes and often their countries, continues no
matter who is president. No doubt part of the problem is the mirage
democracy and managed elections in the United States which limit our
choices, but the bigger problem is the institution of the executive branch,
the vast military and intelligence apparatus, and ongoing foreign policy
that emphasizes intervention and domination rather than diplomacy. These
institutional forces need to be changed if we are to have any hope of
redirecting US relations with the world.
Branfman describes part of the dangerous cycle of the national security
state And today's U.S. executive branch policies pose an even greater
long-term threat to U.S. strategic interests, not only abroad but at home.
The evidence is overwhelming, including the statements by several dozen U.S.
national security experts cited at the end of my recent piece, that U.S.
leaders are not protecting national security but rather weakening it as
never before.
They are weakening security by creating more enemies every day. Branfman
points out that the Joint Strategic Operations Command (JSOC), essentially a
team of assassins operating on a global scale, is active in 60 countries.
Obama has used drones in many countries, most with which the United States
is not at war. This remote-control policing of the globe is increasing
hatred against the United States. A 2011 Pew poll shows 74 percent of
Pakistanis, 130 million people, regard us as their enemy. Branfman points
out, It makes no national security sense to be at war with 1.8 billion
Muslims.
Numerous officials have made similar points; retired General Stanley
McChrystal says every civilian the US kills creates ten enemies. Who are
these security-state-created enemies The tens of thousands families, friends
and neighbors of people killed in drone strikes or held without trial in
Guantanamo Bay or other secret prisons. They include the vast numbers of
people under drone surveillance and threat of attack in numerous countries
in Africa, the Middle East and East Asia. Also, this includes the people
threatened with full-blown war as the United States moves from the
destruction of Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya and now to Syria, with Iran and
North Korea in its sight and under threat, and even China being encircled
militarily in Obama's Asian pivot. The undermining of democracies throughout
the world adds to the problem, especially in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia,
countries that have broken from US empire. The United States does not become
more secure by turning the people of the world against us.
As a result of this ongoing policy of intervention and domination, the US
security state apparatus has grown dramatically. This security state
includes not only government agencies but thousands of corporations that are
hard to distinguish from the government. The merger of corporations and
state is evident in the intelligence gathering apparatus, each entity
sharing information with the other. For example, a recent leak from Edward
Snowden on British intelligence's seizure of virtually every worldwide phone
call and Internet activity, reveals that it shares the information with
850,000 outside contractors, as well as the NSA.
There are important legal and moral issues that challenge all of these
policies, but Branfman points out, the security state apparatus is also
endangering us, undermining security and creating enemies. Further, It is
our government that is endangering our national security, not the
whistleblowers.
The security state is becoming more insecure itself as people in the United
States learn about the extent of domestic and global spying. This creates a
potentially volatile situation. Branfman says that No president has done
more to create the infrastructure for a possible future police-state than
President Obama. Branfman sees three ways that this infrastructure could be
used to escalate to a full police state that would destroy our democratic
ideals (1) another 911 type attack, (2) domestic unrest due to the economic
collapse and growing inequality; and (3) global disruption due to climate
change. These are all very real possibilities and one interesting thing
about each – current government policy not only fails to solve or minimize
these problems, it actually makes each worse.
The National Security State Used Against Americans
Thomas Drake, a former executive of the National Security Agency who became
a whistleblower and was accused of violating the Espionage Act says, We have
all become foreigners, all subjects of the surveillance state and it has
really very little to do with counter-terrorism. Further, the security
apparatus is treating the United States as a foreign nation consistent with
the Obama administration's claim that the whole world is a battlefield, and
that includes the United States.
Drake points out that he and his colleagues in the NSA showed the agency how
it could collect the data it needed to protect the United States from its
enemies, while at the same time operating within the limits of the
Constitution, consistent with the Fourth Amendment and protecting the
privacy of Americans. But, the NSA rejected that approach and instead
because of a perverse incentive to keep track of everyone, gathered all
information so that they would have it in case they needed it at a later
date. According to Drake, the NSA wants to own the Internet.
An East German expert, Drake says the Stasi would be drooling at what the US
surveillance state is doing with their collection of information. The full
review of how Americans are spied on is breathtaking. There is so much
information being gathered that the NSA is building a data facility in Utah
that will use as much energy as Salt Lake City to hold 100 years' worth of
worldwide communications, including phone and Internet communications. The
surveillance state has been building relatively consistently for 100 years.
With every advance in technology; the surveillance state has expanded to use
that technology.
What is the extent of monitoring The American government is in fact
collecting and storing virtually every phone call, purchase, email, text
message, internet search, social media communication and credit card
transaction. They also gather information about finances, health,
employment history, travel and student records, and virtually all other
information on every person in the United States. The British government
taps into trans-Atlantic cables to gather telephone and Internet traffic
which they share with NSA and corporations. In 2011, they collected 600
million telephone events each day.
Then there is the monitoring of the travel of Americans through a massive
surveillance system of CCTV cameras which could be upgraded with facial
recognition technology. In addition, the federal government has used drones
on Americans, 13 police departments are using them and 30,000 drones are
projected to be licensed in the United States in the next decade.
When we travel, our conversations will also be monitored as cities across
the country are quietly installing microphone-enabled surveillance systems
on public buses that would give them the ability to record and store private
conversations. Street lights are being installed that can spy in some
American cities. Cell towers and cell phones can track where your phone is.
And, phone companies responded to at least 1.3 million law enforcement
requests for cell phone locations in 2011. The government is pushing for
black boxes being installed in cars to track people.
When Americans travel they go through often abusive and always degrading,
invasive searches at airports, but the TSA is now moving beyond airports to
trains and sports stadiums, as well as deploying mobile scanners to spy on
people in many places. Related to this is expanding the geographic area for
border searches to 100 miles away from the border. When the government
conducts a border search it is not constrained by the Fourth Amendment.
And then there is the corporate side of the security state. Big companies
are giving data to the NSA and other government agencies in return for
special treatment. The NSA built a back door to all Windows software and the
FBI wants a backdoor to all software. Companies are creating new products
like bill boards that can watch you. And a recent patent application by
Verizon would allow your television to watch you, track what you are doing,
who you are with, what you're holding, and the mood you're in.
All of this is happening within the framework of law and congressional
oversight. But, as Thomas Drake says Oversight has been co-opted and
compromised, it is a kabuki dance. Secret surveillance is approved by secret
courts. Compromised congressional oversight includes gag orders to silence
elected representatives so they cannot tell their constituents what is going
on. It really inverts the system of justice, he says.
Former NSA official William Binney describes, in a USA Today interview, how
the oversight system fails to work saying, We tried to stay for the better
part of seven years inside the government trying to get the government to
recognize the unconstitutional, illegal activity that they were doing and
openly admit that and devise certain ways that would be constitutionally and
legally acceptable to achieve the ends they were really after. And that just
failed totally because no one in Congress or — we couldn't get anybody in
the courts, and certainly the Department of Justice and inspector general's
office didn't pay any attention to it. And all of the efforts we made just
produced no change whatsoever. All it did was continue to get worse and
expand.
Jesslyn Radack, an attorney with the Government Accountability Project,
tells USA Today not only did the system fail to respond, but more than that,
it was turned against them. … The inspector general was the one who gave
their names to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution under the
Espionage Act. And they were all targets of a federal criminal
investigation, and Tom [Drake] ended up being prosecuted — and it was for
blowing the whistle.
Radack calls the oversight system a rubber stamp, Congress has been a rubber
stamp . . . and the judicial branch has been basically shut down from
hearing these lawsuits . . . So the idea that we have robust checks and
balances on this is a myth. Further in 2012 the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance (FISA) court approved 98 percent of the 1,856 applications for
surveillance and searches outright, with one withdrawn and 40 others
modified, which is consistent with its practice since it was founded in
1978. But still, President Obama describes the system of secret
surveillance, secret courts, secret congressional oversight and gag orders
it is transparent.
Making these already weak checks and balances weaker is the dishonesty of
intelligence officials and the inability of either courts or congress to
check their truthfulness. For example, Sen. Ron Wyden asked the director of
national intelligence, James Clapper, if there was mass data collection of
Americans. He said no. In USA Today Drake described that as This is
incredible dissembling . . . the oversight committee, unable to get a
straight answer because if the straight answer was given it would reveal the
perfidy that's actually going on inside the secret side of the government.
Binney added, It can't work the way it is because they have no real way of
seeing into what these agencies are doing. They are totally dependent on the
agencies briefing them on programs, telling them what they are doing. The
same is true for the FISA court.
Branfman says it more starkly saying We cannot trust government
spokespersons as they have been lying to us for 50 years. Indeed, the
dishonesty of government representatives has become so consistent that we
take it for granted when they lie to us, we expect it and accept it.
Further, when they get caught in a lie, they cover-up and if the cover-up
does not work they call it an aberration and blame a low-level official. He
explains that security state officials do not think it terms of truth in
lies, they think in terms of what do they have to say to support their
mission and enlarge their budget.
Nobody in the country is immune to this extensive monitoring. Of course we
know that FBI Director Hoover spied on President Kennedy and his brothers.
And NSA whistleblower Russ Tice revealed that members of congress, Supreme
Court justices and the young state senator Obama were spied on. And that is
why the spying affects all of us. Information that is collected on elected
officials, judges and the media can be used to make them 'behave' under
threat of losing their careers. This undermines democracy and the rule of
law.
How Do We Deal With and Dismantle the Security State
Thomas Drake reminds us that Senator Frank Church warned us in 1975 - when
the surveillance state was used against the American people, including
protesters. Can we pull ourselves out of the abyss Is it embedded in the
infrastructure of our society so deeply that we can't Drake is dedicating
his life to restoring the Constitution, privacy and the Fourth Amendment, so
he has not given up.
And, many Americans have not given up either. Over 200,000 people have
joined an effort to stop the spying at www.StopWatching.US, and more than
100 organizations have signed onto a letter calling for a congressional
investigation modeled on the Church Committee of the mid-70s. They describe
the spying as blanket data collection by the government [that] strikes at
bedrock American values of freedom and privacy. This dragnet surveillance
violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which
protect citizens' right to speak and associate anonymously and guard against
unreasonable searches and seizures… They seek to have the Patriot Act
repealed and officials who put this unconstitutional program in place held
accountable.
Another group is taking on CCTV cameras, seeking to create a data base
describing where they are. There have been incidents in the United States
and around the world of activists destroying CCTV cameras.
Others are sharing information on how to stop the security state from spying
on you. And some are providing detailed specific steps you can take to have
more private communications, as well as evaluating the tools available for
safer communication.
During our interview with them on Clearing the FOG, Thomas Drake and Fred
Branfman said that to end the security state, we need to build a mass
popular movement to challenge the system and demand that it ends. To
restore democracy Drake calls for maximum openness and transparency; and
real checks and balances in government. The government needs to be
re-chained to the US Constitution and the limits on searches and seizures.
It needs to stop violating the rights of Americans and people all around the
world.
Branfman believes this is an issue that the right and left of the American
political spectrum should join together on, recognizing we need a potent
political movement to challenge the entrenched security state. He sees the
only way we will be able to turn back the security state is through popular
ferment over the next decade.
Drake is heartened by Edward Snowden whom he describes as a classic
whistle-blower acting in the public interest. He notes that East Germany
collapsed from within and part of the reason was people in the security
state seeing they were on the wrong side. Now in the United States, he says,
people are seeing the initial outlines and contours of a very systemic, very
broad, a Leviathan surveillance state and much of it is in violation of the
fundamental basis for our own country — in fact, the very reason we even had
our own American Revolution. Snowden has helped to start the debate we have
needed to have since 911.
Edward Snowden showed the incredible power that one person has who is on the
inside and breaks ranks. A key ingredient of a strategy that will succeed in
shifting power is people on the inside switching to the side of the people.
When Bradley Manning leaked documents concerning the Iraq and Afghanistan
War, the Guantanamo Bay prisons and Foreign Service documents that showed
the operation of US empire around the world, the national security state
came down on him aggressively. Their goal was to scare others, but since his
arrest and abuse four years ago there have been many important national
security leaks, with Edward Snowden producing perhaps the most important.
While intimidation may work on some, others will be encouraged by their
abuse and every one person who blows the whistle makes a tremendous
difference.
Whistleblowing is critical to progress against a security state that is
undermining democracy. The actions of Manning, Snowden and others like them
will inspire a new generation of whistleblowers. Indeed, whistleblowing has
been democratized as relatively low-level techs gain access to critical
information. As Julian Assange says They are young, technically minded
people from the generation that Barack Obama betrayed. They are the
generation that grew up on the internet, and were shaped by it. While it may
seem impossible to safely blow the whistle in the US security state, in fact
it can be done. Here's a brief guide on how to safely expose crime and
abuse of government and big business by phone, email and mail.
We are confident that while some may be frightened by the security state,
others will feel that it is their duty to come forward with the truth. They
may do it anonymously, as many have, or they may do it publicly, as Edward
Snowden did, but they will come forward. In the end, the crimes will be
exposed and those participating in them need to know, they will be held
accountable.
As Edward Snowden said in answering questions posed by the public
Binney, Drake, Kiriakou, and Manning are all examples of how overly-harsh
responses to public-interest whistle-blowing only escalate the scale, scope,
and skill involved in future disclosures. Citizens with a conscience are not
going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they'll be destroyed for it the
conscience forbids it. Instead, these draconian responses simply build
better whistleblowers. If the Obama administration responds with an even
harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they'll soon find
themselves facing an equally harsh public response.
Julian Assange warns Obama and the security state adding And by trying to
crush these young whistleblowers with espionage charges, the US government
is taking on a generation, and that is a battle it is going to lose.
Now that the dangerous national security spiral is hitting home with mass
surveillance of Americans, and more and more are seeing that so-called
national security actually make us less safe and less free, the cycle can be
broken. Every American is now directly affected by the US security state,
and more and more will speak up and take action to end it. The popular
resistance that Drake and Branfman say is needed is starting to build. More
and more people are asking themselves the same question Manning, Snowden,
Branfman, Assange and others have asked what is my breaking point
You can listen to NSA Leaks, Spying and the Myth of National Security with
Thomas Drake and Fred Branfman on Clearing The FOG.
Kevin Zeese JD and Margaret Flowers MD co-host ClearingtheFOGRadio.org on We
Act Radio 1480 AM Washington, DC and on Economic Democracy Media and on
UStream.TVItsOurEconomy, co-direct It's Our Economy and are organizers of
PopularResistance.org. Their twitters are @KBZeese and @MFlowers8.
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