Rights as an American Citizen

Black Cross wrote:
"And nobody has taken away any of your rights. Stop harping. "

Telling me to stop using my FIRST amendment right becuase I believe the FOURTH amendments is being violated is by far the height of comedic irony. I've got a better idea... stop listening. That is well within your rights.

If you continue to listen. Tell me if our mutual friend TunnelRat is being surveyed. He calls Germany regularly. Does he not have the right to speak to his family in privacy? How about his wife. With family in Puerto Rico, is she a target? Do they give up their rights because they have family overseas? I would hope not.

This weekend I'm going to call 3 numbers in Syria at random. Then follow it by 3 in Iraq. Will I then be a target? Do I NOT have a right to do this very asinine and stupid thing in private? Are my rights then being violated. If they aren't (even right now), prove it. Get a warrant. No one branch of government should have the right to spy on US citizens without oversight. That's what checks and balances are all about.

On Torture... How we treat prisoners has nothing to do with who THEY are, but rather who WE are. To lower ourselves because our enemy does is ridiculous. We were fighting Germans in WWII, and they slaughtered Jews. Should we have then slaughtered Germans? The answer is an unerringly NO. So the argument that we behave inhumanely becuase our enemy does make US our own enemy.

On Torture

BlackCross said: "
Now wait...I said physical interrogation techniques are acceptable to keep us safe. And while I'll agree to adhere to the Geneva Conventions, the conventions don't protect terrorists. Neither should the U.N. But why should I expect them (the U.N.) to change now?"

So you are declaring war on terror but don't want to follow rules for prisoner treatment under the geneva conventions that deal with war. Is this a war or isn't it? The answer of both is NOT possible.


And the link you posted about data mining is not a valid link. But I'm assuming that you agree with me that an American Citizen has the right to NOT be wiretapped without a warrant, or you would not have altered the topic. If you don't agree with the above, please enlighten me as to who has the power to take away my rights without oversight.

Mammoth Schedule released

On www.nll.com the schedule for the upcoming season has been released.

The Mammoth will play a brutal schedule this year as defending champions. In addition, the nights we play are 2 Thursdays, 1 Friday, 4 Saturdays and 1 Sunday (calgary of all teams).

It's time to start looking at a road trip. Teams who we visit this year are

• Arizona (Jan 5th)
• Edmonton (Jan 19th)
• Calgary (Jan 20th)
• Portland (Feb 15th)
• Toronto (March 17th... St Patty's day!!)
• Buffalo (March 24th... why would we go to that hell hole)
• Minnesota (March 31st)
• San Jose (April 13th)

The two PRIME candidates to me would be a Canadian road trip in Jan. With a double header in Edmonton and Calgary. The other is of course the beautiful San Jose in April.

On Wiretapping

I have reviewed the materials supplied in the first links
A great deal of this material talks about how other democracies are willing to suspend civil rights in a time of war.
It is typically understood that these laws apply under a formal declaration of war (in fact all the examples given were under formal declaration) there is an expected end. In this "war" on terror there is neither formal declaration nor an end envisioned. We are in a perpetual state of self fueling conflict.

And these article paint a frightening picture of the president unable to get a warrant and the dangerous terrorist going free to harm you. First, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but the FISA courts have turned down 5 warrants since it's founding, so that's a VERY slim chance. This is a ridiculous argument for NOT applying for a warrant. That's very akin to saying there is a slim chance my car won' make it... I won't go to avoid that problem. The answer is simple, you go and deal with problems IF there are any.

Secondly, Torture is this. It is a broad definition, true. But it's one I will hold too, and since we agreed to it as a nation, I think that's only right. (Waterboarding would be illegal under this agreement)

You say Torture is acceptable to keep us safe. The article mentions a torture session conducted by Pakistan. I'm so glad to see that we are willing to raise ourselves to the standard that PAKISTAN has set for human rights. Unless you view a terrorist as non-human.

I'll pose a question to you... do you hate terrorists?

Comment response

I am going to respond to 2 points only from the comments from BlackCross at this time.

The first counter point is
"Warrants are unnessessary when the goal is gathering military intelligence. Unless you (or "your fellow Americans") have been talking to known Al-Qaeda or other terrorist sympathizers overseas, odds are your phone hasn't been wiretapped by the administration or the DoD. Oh, and one court agreed with you - and the judge should have recused herself. http://www.sweetness-light.com/archive/judge-had-conflict-of-interest-in-wiretap-case "

To that I would respond simply. It is impossible to gather military intelligence on American citizens. (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=military+intelligence&x=44&y=20 ). So the "goal of gathering military intelligence" is completely fallicious. Secondly, the classic argument of "if you haven't been doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear" is equally bogus. Simply because without warrants there is no check on who and why is being wiretapped.

There are two groupings of law that pertain to wiretapping that are important here. The first is Ammendment 4 to the US Constitution. (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/) Which, while originally ruled that it did NOT pertain to wiretapping, under currently rulings and statutes does. In Katz v. United States the SUPREME COURT (should they have recused themselves?) found that to determine if an electronic survelance was reasonoable or not could only be determined though the warrant process.

Secondly is FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) law. (info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Act , you'll have to look the full act up yourself if you wish to get deep sleep). FISA law is extremely clear that a warrant is necessary when dealing with US citizens. And to counter the "that's not fast enough" argument that so many use. FISA allows for wiretapping to occur up to 72 hours BEFORE you obtain a warrant. So you can tap whn it's very important and get the clearence after the fact. A FISA court is also a secure court in that it's results do not necessarily have to be published. This maintains national security.

Also, FISA courts have only rejected 5 warrant requests in it's almost 30 year existence. (it was finally enacted in 1978). It's founding has a lot of roots in the Watergate scandal brought fourth by Richard M Nixon to prevent abuse of power by the executive. It's a reinforcement of the concept od checks and balance that is so sorely lacking in this nation now.

So given all the tools above, what is the argument for NOT getting a warrant. I've never said that WIRETAPPING is a problem. That is a very useful tool to those who would harm us. However, as a US citizen you have rights that protect you from unwarranted (perfect word for this argument) suspicion. What would give the right to the government to wiretap me if I make a call to Iraq... and if you say that's not what they are doing. I'd ask them to prove it, by getting a warrant.

The other point I would argue at this time was.
"You would place physical interrogation techniques in the same classification as cutting people up for fun? What would you define as torture?"

Unequivocabbly YES!!! They are exactly the same thing, harming people who are not immediately threatening you. I have never understood how any christian person can advocate the harming of another human for purposes other than immediate self defense. Can you honestly look at me and say that Jesus Christ would look at this and support it. (graphic link... pics of Abu Ghraib). If so, explain.

And that doesn't even begin to go into the simple fact that torture doesn't work. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2302-2005Jan11.html . (go ahead and say it's a "liberal" source. I don't care. The quotes from the military personel are what I want to draw attention too. They are who they are and said what they said).


That's all I have for today. I have to get to work.

Excellent article.

And of course, it comes from a foreign source.
This is what I think of when I imagine a simple factual article. This discusses the run up to the Lebaneese conflict, going back to 2000. This (as anyone familiar with the politics of this region) is NOT a response to just the kidnapping of 2 Israili troops.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1839244,00.html

I pose a question

To any of my right wing friends and relatives. Am I a traitor to this country? I believe firmly in the following...

• The Iraq war is an illegal and criminal act. (and I DO think there is a reasonable withdrawl strategy... but fox says Dems don't have a plan... so I MUST be crazy, right?).
• Warrantless wiretapping of US citizens is an illegal and criminal act. And the courts of the US seem to agree with me.
• That torture is NOT to be used against ANY human being anywhere in the world. This includes "outsourcing" to keep our hands in this country clean.
• That cutting veterans benefits is a violation of the contract that we as a nation made with our soldiers and is an illegal and criminal act of neglect.

Fox News has called people who believe and act upon the above traitors and unpatriotic at different times in the past. So, is questioning and holding dissenting opinion Treason? If so, call me a traitor to my face, and not just nod your head along with the TV. If you agree that the above is treasonous, then I am a traitor in your eyes. If you don't... why do you trust that source? Why listen to the bile and the hatred that comes from that.

The disgust spreads.

I got a call later last night from a friend that echoed my sentiments on the JonBenet boolshit (sp intended). He had just found out that a district court judge ruled the wiretapping (without warrants) by the administration to be un-constitutional.

That happened Thursday of last week.

Other stories that you may have missed due to the 24X7 screaming about a 10 year old murder case.

• Iran has agreed to resume talks about halting it's nuclear enrichment program. And our administration has flatly redused them. Thanks for making us safer by defusing a FUCKING NUCLEAR THREAT.
• King George gave a press conference Monday. And during that conferece clearly admitted that Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction. Direct quote : "Now, look, part of the reason we went into Iraq was -- the main reason we went into Iraq at the time was we thought he had weapons of mass destruction. It turns out he didn't, but he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction." Practically EVERY nation on earth has the capacity!!! So fuck you Fox news... you've been lying about this shit all along. Now what are you going to say? (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060821.html)
• Locally... TREX finished up. Ahead of schedule, and under budget. This is a MAJOR accomplishment that isn't getting near enough kudos for what it is! Hats off to the CDoT
• 2 fox news reporters were kidnapped in Gaza. Oddly, Fox News itself pre-empted this story for more on JBR.

The moral of the story is if you want to know what is going on in this fucked up world of ours, you have to look on your own. You can't trust any one news source and when you hear something... you have to verify it. We as citizens are being misled, lied too, and inundated with useless information to distract us on a daily basis. Be informed.

A Big Middle Finger to our tax policy

Frankly, when I read government accountability reports that show 95% of the Fortune 500 companies pay less than 5% in taxes.

I am squarely in the middle class. MY tax rate is about 37%. WTF!!!!!! Can someone explain to me why this is right? Please. Anyone.

And people wonder why I'm so upset that they are trying to make these federal tax cuts permanent... WHAT TAX CUTS??? I'm paying more % wise than I EVER have.

So, just what does a Muslim look like?

I am hearing a lot of gum flapping from the neo-conservative portions of our political system about profiling being a good thing. I've heard from Bill O'Reily that we should be targeting Muslims and Arabs for extra scrutiny. Another radio host, Mike Gallagher, suggested Musilm-only lines.

Wow... I really don't know where to start. First, see my previous post about fear. This kind of selective attacks are just trying to make you afraid of people with a certain color of skin. Has a timeless quality to it doesn't it? Mrs. Parks, your seat is ready... it's in the back! Which is a ridiculous concept as Islam is a FAITH... not an ethnicity. A co-worker here is Muslim, he was born in France, is EXTREMELY white, and speaks French and English. He is very devout to the point that he politely gets up and prays 5 times to mecca and partakes in the same ritual manner of washing that I have seen in other Muslims.

So, Bill and Mike. How do you pick HIM out of a lineup as a "Muslim?" Huh? Idiots.

Secondly, to profile an entire faith is clearly religious persecution. Again, I will go back to a previous thought and ask, what would the reaction be if we made a "Jewish-only" line? Can you say massive protests.

Lastly, this sort of non-sense would only make us LESS "safe." When you focus your attention on one appearence, those who would do you harm would simply change the way they look. Does anyone think there aren't extremist white, black, yellow, red, green, or purple people? Extremism and Absolutism are thought patterns, not genetic. So I assume those of you who think targeting or profiling muslims can read minds? Neat trick, care to share?

I am quitting the TV society

I'm done.
I have absolutely had it.
Does anyone want my extra television?
This utter fucking bullshit about them finally catching the JonBenett killer (alleged) and the 24 x 7 news cycle that involves them doing everything but burping the ransom letter has pushed me over the edge. Look, they caught the guy. Report it and move on. For the love of all that is holy I do NOT need to hear over and over that "this has been a long hard case" and "we have nothing new to report, so let's repeat everything we do know until your head spins and you vomit up your spleen!!!"

I'm giving up. I'm calling comcast today and shutting off my cable TV. (I'll turn it back on for Mammoth season). The noise has GOT to stop.

yes... there IS some good things on television (escpecially the history and discovery channels). But there are also a LOT of good things in books and magazines. Movies and other literature. I have decided that the television is an anathema to the way I wish to live my life. It's gotta go.

I am very serious. I have a nice 27" Sony Wega that is up for grabs. Anyone want it?

Not Terrified

Terror. Seems a simple thing on the surface, but is it?

Dictionary.com defines it as

1 ) Intense, overpowering fear. See Synonyms at fear.
2) One that instills intense fear: a rabid dog that became the terror of the neighborhood.
3) The ability to instill intense fear: the terror of jackboots pounding down the street.
4) Violence committed or threatened by a group to intimidate or coerce a population, as for military or political purposes.

Hence a terrorist is someone who attempts to cause the above... From a techincally linguistic point of view, any military action (such as Israel's invasion of Lebanon or the US's incursion into Iraq or Afghanistan) can be viewed as Terrorism under point 4.

Now, the question that comes to my mind, can you defeat terror by causing terror? Technically the War against Terror is not only unwinnable, but self defeating. As by waging war, you CAUSE terror. In fact, the opening "Shock and Awe" salvo that was so widely touted is indeed a terror causing methodology.

In my opinion, the best way to defeat terrorism is to STOP BEING AFRAID!!! Statistically, we in America have a far better chance of dying due to a drunk driver (86,103 from 2000 to 2004) than a terrorist attack (2,752 from 2000 to 2004). Once we stop believing the fear mongering that is coming from both within and without of our government, perhaps we would have a chance to rationally pacify those who would actually harm a tiny percentage of our population. Our current policy is akin to an elephant being stung by a bee and then flattening the village he lives in. The bee just flitters away, and the elephant isn't REALLY wounded. But woe be to those who catch his angry eye.

I'm not saying that I have all the answers. But I do know that destroying the world/nation/religion to save it is NOT the right course of action. There are those that say we are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. Can you explain to me how to stop "terror" with troops and bombs? According to a Johns Hopkins study the CIVILIAN death toll is over 100,000 (directly and indirectly attributed to the war. More here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_survey_of_mortality_before_and_after_the_2003_invasion_of_Iraq) Now that I find terrifying.

As the great Albert Einstein once said, "You cannot simultaneously desire peace and prepare for war." I would extend that thought to include you cannot defeat terror by causing it. Frankly, I'm through being scared. I find the fluid restrictions on airplanes ridiculous. What's next, martial artists can't fly because they can kill... All nude flights for security reasons (actually... I LIKE that idea... maybe Hooters air can use that as a promotion)... all passengers to be handcuffed on boarding the flight? We are dangerously close to the absurd.

The sad part is that we (as a global community) STOPPED the most recent threat without these insane restrictions. Yet they are imposed on us in the vein of "making us safe." That very phrase implies that we weren't before and is intended to scare us. The number of people I've heard saying "I was just starting to feel safe again, but now..." Feels like an election year to me.

Defeating "terrorists" is a police action. NOT a military one. What stopped the Brittish plot was good police work, and that is ALL it will take to prevent future attacks in this country. Not crazy restrictions (I still like the idea of nude bondage flights... but that isn't for everyone), and not bombing nations that had nothing to do with this. You can't declare war on nationless people, and you certainly can't fight terror by causing it.

Rest for the Wicked

Ahhhhhhhh, *big sigh*. I just got off of a 4 day vacation. I'm well rested and feeling chipper.

Accomplishments... I fixed (mostly) the trim in the upstairs hall. As part of this I learned the trueism of measure twice - cut once first hand. Or more importantly... read your note, don't trust your memory. I measured the need for a 36.75" piece of trim for one side. Went downstairs to the garage to cut it. At least I rememberd the 6.75 part. Sadly my brain put in a 2, so I cut a 10" short piece. I'll have to re-cut a new piece tomorrow night. C'est la vie.

I accomplished nothing else. I played a lot of WoW (got Hurricaine [that bow ROCKS!!!!] and the first two pieces of my Beaststalker armour.) . Went to my friends house and drank Mojitos all day on Sat. Enjoyed the wonderful embrace of my sofa on Sunday. Why of why can't we in adult society realize that nap time is a GREAT idea. It's such a lovely luxury to NOT live life at a break neck pace.

So they are predicting at least another 3 months on this project. But it's now paid change request work and I'm going to be assigned to an app dev team. My guess is that we will NOT end up in a death march again. I plan on living life and taking my weekends to be me. Granted that might change for a weekend or two if they decide to re-convert. That's a LOT of data. I'll let ya'll know.

I miss my friend who moved to Washington. Thinking about her a bit lately. Got to chat a bit on Wendsday night? (don't remember). She's a good woman. I wish I could find one like her... but I'm sure I'd just screw it up. -LOL. I've been thinking lately that outside of the celibacy, I'm pretty happy being single and free. I can be irresponsible and no one cares. If I feel like sitting on my ass for a couple of days and just play WoW. So be it.

I did NOT play a poker tournament this weekend at all. If I can get this trim fixed quick tomorrow, I may play in a $10 SnG tomorrow night. I will also be playing in a DPT tournament at Dave and Busters on Thursday night.

Another friends grandmother just died, and two other grandmothers of friends are having serious health issues. (stroke and massive weight loss... neither fun). One conversation with a friend left me reminded of a line from "House". (paraphrased) "You can't die with diginity, it's always messy and doesn't end well! You can only LIVE with dignity." As we as humans age, we are going to have failures in the system that are not pretty. This is inevitable unless we die young, and even then, the post death system shut down isn't pretty or dignified. The more I think on that, the more I am convinced it's far more important how we live our lives day in and day out. While those of us that are left behind are left to grieve and miss those that have died, I do find it comforting to reflect on the diginity of the departeds life. I hope the same can be said about me when I die. I know I have some pretty crazy quirks, but I think I'm a good person.

This has turned into a pretty long ramble. Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far.

It's quiet... Too quiet

I'm going nuts. Work has stalled to a complete crawl. There are almost 30 changes that are being discussed, whether or not we are going to do certain items before go-live and how long it will take.

Because of this, we workers are stuck just kinda spinning until it's decided (should be mid next week) by the client and our executive staff. I've been studying some VERY dry material, (Windows Server 2003) and it's hard to stay awake for more than 2 hours or so without a break. Granted, that's good study habits, so I'm not too upset.

(ewww... just took a drink of cold coffee)

So I'm going to take off the next two days and do some additional work around the house. I've been systematically killing my back lawn off so I can have a landscaper re-do it next spring. I also want to finish the shift of my office into a workout room and finish fixing the trim in my house.

I've got so little going on at the moment that I don't know how to react. It's such a radical change from the last year that I am feeling a little scared. It'll pass, but that's pretty much how I operate. When things change in my life I get inwardly frightened.

So. hmmm... I don't really have anything serious to say at the moment. I'm bored with life. Oddly, I'm not lonely at all anymore. I'm just a little tired. I feel for a good friend of mine, as her mother just had a massive stroke. She's going to live, but there is a lot of recovery ahead. I can't imagne what that would be like. I need to call my mom tonight. Just let her know how much I love her. This MUST be what limbo feels like.

Random thoughts

1) VOTE TODAY!!! I know it's only the primaries... but for the love of this country you have to participate if you want this grand experiment to work. Go Vote!!!

2) Lax thought of the next few days. If SF wins their afternoon game, the Outlaws can still eliminate them from playoff contention by LOOSING. Should we throw the game? With as deadly as Ryan Powell has been to us all year (the only team that has managed to beat us), I say throw the game and screw SF. If SF looses to 0-11 Chigago in the afternoon, it won't matter. So here's hoping they *choke*

A Scanner Darkly

Tuesday night I finished Philip K. Dicks novel, A Scanner Darkly. This is a BRILLIANT book that ends up challenging the READERS sanity as much as it challenges the characters.

Then, last night, I went to see the film based off the book. My thoughts are that the animation was spot on PERFECT for the source material. The perspective on several items and scenes was just wrong. Like the viewers perseptions are all messed up... which is the exact feel the novel captures perfectly.

However, they re-arranged the order of events in the movie and it makes for less of an impact when certain items are revealed. I will not publish any spoilers here and discuss what those are... but if you've seen the movie and read the book, the impact of the movie is distinctly less than the novel.

Sadly, I cannot recoemmend the film if you have not read the novel. It's such a unique experience that I simply cannot know if someone who has not read it would feel. I would love to hear from someone who sees the film without the depth of the novel to fall back on.

I am a donkey

So... Tuesday night I played in the first of a series of 8 $10 tournaments.

I busted out in 16th out of 18 spots at the begining of Level 2!!!

I got caught with a BB special, dealt J5 and the pot was unraised. So I took the option and checked to see if I could hit a monster. Sure enough, flop comes down JK5 rainbow. I lead the post flop betting, bet raised by the player immediately to my right. It folds around to me, and I easily make the call.

Turn comes down an 8, I bet the pot (420 at this point, about 25% of my stack, leaving me with just over 1K) and he calls. He's definately got the K. The pot is just over 1K now and I'm feeling good.

Then disaster strikes and the river pairs the 8. And here's where I go dumb. I loose track of the TOURNAMENT in lieu of the HAND. I figure I've got a chance of pushing this guy out of the pot (he's got 1400 in chips to my 1000.) and I go all in. He had fallen in love with his AK and called without even registering that I could have an 8, so my bluff had little chance of working. I'm knocked out becuase I'm an idiot.

Next time, I'll chalk it up to bad luck that that river card hit and lay it the fuck down.