I congratulate the U.S. Congress for ending the government shutdown and extending the debt limit Wednesday. I say that without any sarcasm. They could have let pride push all of us over the edge. They decided as a body not to do that. For that I am very thankful.
What did pushing it that far accomplish? Effectively nothing. Senator John McCain referred to the episode as a "fool's errand," and I have to agree. However, what would have been worse would have been to allow this episode to continue.
Did they kick the can down the road? Yes, but better than letting it explode in our face. I have the smallest sliver of hope that perhaps the Congress will have been singed enough from this fiasco to work to prevent it at least in the immediate future.
If not, I may have to consider supporting Jesse Ventura for president. And, the funny thing is, I don't know whether I'm kidding.
I have made it my business to avoid the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case. To me it's just another court case singled out for special media attention, one out of the thousands that occur in the U.S. It is just one of all those that illustrate the continuing prejudices and racism that continue to run through our society.
Where is the outrage for all the other sons who are assaulted or killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time through no fault of their own?
I hate that this case was presented as a referendum on justice for all the kids (regardless of their race or ethnicity) who are unfairly suspected to be up to no good. It's too much pressure for a case like this to withstand.
Those people who were looking to this case for justice would be satisfied with nothing less than the conviction of George Zimmerman whether or not he was guilty of breaking the law. (Maybe the law is bad and should be changed, but that is an entirely different issue.)
Friday, President Obama was quoted as saying, "Trayvon could have been me." That is certainly true. I imagine he was watched and monitored unfairly through his whole life, probably more so as he entered elite universities, etc.
I do think that the prevalence of racism is better than it was 35 years ago. That is not saying that I think it's good. Racial profiling still goes on everyday, just ask your Muslim neighbors.
We don't even have to be in any particular category to be watched. President Obama said that Treyvon Martin could have been him, but the truth is that we're all being watched and monitored everyday. If you didn't realize it before, the recent information that has come out about the NSA data collection systems and capabilities has shown it to us.
We all have cause to feel like Trayvon being watched and followed even though we haven't done anything illegal. Where's President Obama's outrage about that?
What happened between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman that fateful day is a tragedy. Period. It's just about two people, one African-American and one Hispanic, and their families. It's tragic enough without making it the standard bearer for justice in our society.
Rather than asking one person to be punished for the sins of our society, perhaps we should look at the institutions within our society that have us running so scared, acting so paranoid, that we must watch everyone in order to feel safe.
Edward Snowden is experiencing his 15 minutes of fame. Mr. Snowden, formerly working for a government contractor working for
the NSA, released/leaked classified information, which revealed that the
NSA has ordered Verizon (and other wireless carriers) to provide a
database of all the calls of all of their numbers. All. Every. One.
Apparently, Mr. Snowden currently is enjoying the comforts of Moscow's transit lounge en route to a country that will offer him asylum. I find it interesting that the media are more focused on this chase around the world that is starting to resemble a game of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego than about the massive database possessed by the NSA. They were somewhat less blasé when the story broke about the wiretaps at the Associated Press. Interesting, redirecting the narrative to reduce focus on the truly disturbing aspects of these revelations, very interesting.
But, I want to get back to this point that the NSA has these "rolling court orders," which they can use to order carriers to provide this metadata to them. They provide the calling number, the receiving number, the date/time/length of call, which can be kept on file for five years.
Whether Mr. Snowden is a patriot or a traitor is a discussion for another day. Regardless, we would not know that this was going on if he had not shared this information. Truth be told, I read enough spy novels that I thought they were doing this, but I was surprised at my indignation of having my suspicions confirmed.
How do you feel about the government having all of your call information? As you may suspect, I'm not too happy about it. Why?
The "party line" from the Intelligence Community is that they need it, so if they get a lead on a particular phone number, they can search the database to which numbers they're talking to. It's all okay because they originally receive a secret court order that our cell provider is prohibited from revealing to anyone. We shouldn't feel like we're under surveillance because there are no names on the database.
Let me tell you something. There's this thing called the internet. You may be familiar with it. You give me a phone number, and in 30 seconds or less, I'll be able to tell you all kinds of things about the person linked to that number, including their name. The NSA or the White House saying that we have nothing to be concerned about because our name isn't in the database is worse than nonsense. It implies that they think we're stupid.
The next insulting proposition is that if I don't support storing and trolling of this metadata information that I must not care about security. Wrong. I just think that if they have suspicions about someone, they should have to get an individual personalized warrant for the information. What I don't understand is the need for generic, just give us everything on everyone, rolling court order. This trolling net captures the innocent along with the guilty. It seems to be the very definition of "unreasonable search and seizure."
You may ask, "If I'm not doing anything wrong, why should I worry? They're never going to have a reason to look at my information. They're never going to feel the need to waste their time matching my number with my name, right?" Well, that may be true today. Let's even say that there are checks and balances within the system that keeps the government from abusing my information (that we're just starting to learn about now). Let's say that everyone is even following all the rules all the time with all of this information. I think that's a lot to presume with the number of people involved, but still, let's go with it for the moment.
Today, I'm not considered an enemy of the state. What about tomorrow, next week, next year, the next presidential administration? Just having that information on file is a temptation. It doesn't even have to be intentional. It can be as simple as the IRS being suspicious about the legitimacy of non-profit groups that include the words "patriot" or "progressive" in their names. (Presuming that the mid-management scapegoats that "they" have decided to blame for that debacle weren't directed by higher authority.)
See what I mean about the potential abuse of power, and you wonder about the apprehension of some about government attempts to limit citizens' 2nd Amendment rights to bear arms? Again, that's a whole different post.
Bottom line, I am not convinced that the NSA needs to stockpile all this phone information for all mobile phone users. Do I want them to be able to access it? Yes, after they have established probable cause. Am I willing to sacrifice some of my privacy for increased security? Yes, but this NSA thing goes way over the line.
President Obama says we need a national debate on this, and I agree. A country needs secrets in order to function, but as one of the authors of my spy novels would say, Intelligence people would classify the phone book. As Senators Wyden and Udall of the Senate Intelligence Committee put in a letter to NSA director, General Keith Alexander:
"We believe the US government should have broad authorities to investigate terrorism and espionage, and that it is possible to aggressively pursue terrorists without compromising the constitutional rights of ordinary Americans ... Achieving this goal depends on not just secret courts and secret congressional hearings, but on informed public debate as well."
We need to shine some light on the process of under what circumstances and how our information is used. That is the only way that we can be assured that the power isn't being abuse.
It's the night before the big day in the United States, Election Day. I felt the Political Scientist in me trying to break out the last couple of weeks. I found myself less interested in the actual outcome of the election than by the possibility that there would be a tie in the Electoral College, and the election results would be decided by the sitting U.S. Congress.
You may wonder why we even have such a thing as an Electoral College. Why don't we simply have majority rule? Bottom line is that it's the same reason that we have two senators from each state regardless of population, and we have the Bill of Rights. It is to ensure that "majority rule" does not become "mob rule." These things protect minority groups and give them voice.
In the case of the Electoral College, it gives states with lower populations a little more power. With a country as large as the United States, if we went with a strict majority rule, presidential elections could be decided exclusively by the people of New York, California, and Texas. This would effectively disenfranchise the rest of the population from the presidential election. There's certainly no way that New Hampshire or Iowa could seen as important swing states. The truth is that the results of the Electoral College are usually the same as the popular vote, so it usually isn't an issue. But, I'll concede that no system is perfect.
One of the weirder things is that if no one wins the Electoral College, the election will be decided by Congress. The House of Representatives chooses the president, and the Senate chooses the vice-president. If you think that it's crazy watching all the political commentators trying to pick the winner now, just imagine if the election went to the Congress!
The possibilities are intriguing. Could the House pick Mitt Romney and the Senate pick Joe Biden? It's almost too much. Then I stopped. I stopped and considered the chaos that would ensue. No, no, no. No ties, please. Let's not test it.
I've picked my candidate. Don't be too sure that you know who it is. If there's only one thing that you can be sure of about me is that I am an Independent with a capital "I." If I ever follow the tendencies of my demographic group(s), it's pure coincidence.
I am thankful that I have a vote, and I will cast it. After that it's out of my hands. No matter what the result, we will still be the United States of America.
Yay! I found my passport. No, no, I'm not planning on going anywhere, but what it means is that I get to vote!
I know. I know. My last post was how I was tired of all the pre-election blather, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to take advantage of this amazing privilege we have.
And why do I need my passport, you may ask? Due to circumstances entirely within my control, I can assure you. Yet, I will still be able to vote. I probably couldn't get a post office box, but I can vote.
Just remember, if you don't exercise your right to vote, you have no cause to complain. Who can turn down a deal like that?
I am so ready for this presidential election to be OVER! I can only imagine what it must be like if you live in a "battleground state." Both sides are lying misrepresenting the facts. Both are attacking their opponent in a fraudulent way.
It is times like these that I wish we had a system more like the one in the United Kingdom where the "official" general election campaign is about four weeks. Here in the United States the next presidential campaign will presumably begin the minute after all of the "hanging chads" ballots have been counted.
Right now, I have an intense dislike for both of the presidential candidates. I am not quite sure which is the least bad option (to paraphrase Argo). There has been a lot of talk about undecided voters these past few weeks. Many people do not believe that it is possible for an intelligent person not to have made a decision yet. Perhaps, it is more of a question of picking between the lessor of two evils. Who wants to make that kind of decision before they have to? For that, I have some sympathy.
Truth be told, I made my decision. I made it months ago. However, it's not too late for that person to lose my vote. I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't the only person that feels that way. I just wish it was already over!
P.S. I was going to include an image from the 2nd debate, but I really don't want to look at either of them right now.
commentary,current events,election,government shutdown,Jesse Ventura,politics,presidential election,United States politics
4 comments
commentary,current events,election,government shutdown,Jesse Ventura,politics,presidential election,United States politics
4 comments
