Another Visit to the Liberty vs. Security Debate

No article on this subject can avoid quoting one of the numerous variations on the Benjamin Franklin quote where he said something close to these reputed words, “People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.” Often simply quoting Ben Franklin is enough to consider the discussion closed, but where does one draw the line allowing for the most amounts of freedoms and liberties while also ensuring comfortable levels of security. This is where the normal discussion debates the different segments which governments utilize in order to provide security and in this information and computerized age the line can be crucial and must not be drawn with any lack of clarity. The advent of miniaturization, high powered optics, computerized facial recognition software, super-sensitive microphones, spy satellites capable of reading newsprint from orbit, thermal imaging which can “see” through walls, laser sound detectors which can monitor conversations in a room by measuring the slightest vibrations of the glass in a window, abilities to activate cell phones in order to use the camera and microphone to monitor the room were the phone sits, electronic data surveillance capabilities and processing with untold capabilities, universal electronic monitoring capabilities, and other items which easily have the ability to make privacy a quaint old idea whose time has long passed. The majority of the capabilities mentioned above have existed and been utilized by the majority of governments in the industrial world since the middle 1980s or the early 1990s at the latest. The capabilities available to current government agencies leave the citizenry absolutely no place to hide and their lack of knowledge of any person of interest that is being monitored could only be explained by human error. For those who might propose that there are limits on the government spying on their own citizens, I am happy to report that you are correct in your belief that laws guard the individual against unofficial warrantless searches and data gathering. Unfortunately, for quite a while now there has been a treaty between the English speaking nations of Canada, Britain, United States and Australia concerning this problem. By this treaty a list of persons of interest from each country is presented to the other nations who in turn request surveillance on these individuals of their home country by one or more of the other countries. Often each of the member countries would request different set of requests thus should one request be discovered the rest of the investigation would remain undisturbed. The home country then collects the information and passes the raw data which is processed by the foreign nation. Once the data has been organized and processed it is returned to the home country which wished to observe one of their citizens.

The one reassuring item is the ability that governments have displayed for incompetence and missing the forest for the trees. I would not want my privacy or worse to depend on the government’s incompetence but with the investigatory powers available to the government with all the modern data processing and state of the art sensors, no individual is beyond the government’s ability to be able to tell you all of your most guarded secrets and even the smallest of facts no matter how mundane and inconsequential. With all the technical abilities available to law enforcement and intelligence agencies it is remarkable that any crime is able to be committed without the authorities lying in wait before the crime has been committed and nabbing the lawbreaker in the midst of the crime. About the only thing lacking for the government to attempt to emulate the movie “Minority Report” are the psychics wired up to a computer in the basement of the FBI future crimes division. The government is currently gathering agreements with credit card companies, banks, credit unions, communications companies, utility providers and so much more to get them to allow the government to splice into their data banks and use all the data they have gathered on anybody without any need to bother any officials for permission. This includes the coming smart meters measuring electricity and in the near future smart grid appliances which will be capable of reporting each individual appliance and its use of power. This will also allow remote control of these appliances, remote setting of thermostats on heating and airconditioning units, even recording the number of times the power to the refrigerator increased by the small amount that turning on the light causes when you open the door. So many items which were purely science fiction a few decades ago are now or soon to be possible to government in order to inspect every tiny bit of minutia concerning your life.

Benjamin Franklin would become apoplectic if he was transported to our modern world. Once he realized the powers to intrude into the citizens’ private life by government he would likely turn hermit and remove all electronic devices from his residence. Paranoid delusions would be the likely psychological diagnosis of Ben Franklin’s mental breakdown as he was taken away babbling something about liberty has died in his dear loved country of America. The debate of how much liberty or freedoms we might compromise upon to grant government the necessary powers to make us more safe is mute and no longer necessary. We no longer have any liberties or freedoms against government interference and monitoring of every iota of our existences to trade away for security. The real problem is that even with total knowledge at their fingertips the government is still incapable of providing us with absolute security. Yesterday’s bombing in Boston stands as a case in point. About the only power the government does not possess is to be able to read your mind and know your intent, though there is a partnership between the government and Google working on understanding how the mind thinks and developing AI (Artificial Intelligence) where the government will permit Google complete access to the vast majority of their collected data collected by government agencies such as the IRS, Census Bureau, and many others at all levels of government, Federal, State, County, Township and City. They are gaining permission from all levels of governments around the nation with promises of providing better services and other benefits from this research. The amounts of data mining being accomplished by government at all levels is beyond imagination and the lack of security in our persons, houses, papers, and effects has dwindled out of existence and with it our rights as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment which reads;

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Liberties and Freedoms as envisioned by the Founding Fathers have evaporated before the heat of advancing technologies. There is virtually nothing which can be considered beyond the government’s ability to know if they are persistent and bring all of their capabilities to bear. The only hopes we have is to retain our protections against having such information from being used against us in a court of law. Beyond that we are likely fighting a losing battle. Our hopes for security of our privacy are now relegated to the whims of government bureaucrats and the officers of the government. Should this make you feel uneasy and raise your levels of concern then you probably have a desire to some level of privacy from the encroaching eyes, ears and sensors of government. It is not so much that we the people have surrendered our liberties, freedoms, and privacies as much as it is the government’s power to compromise these rights have become overtly formidable. How we regain the upper hand in this struggle is beyond me but that does not mean it is not an effort worth taking. If we can rescue even the slightest measure of our eviscerated privacies then any effort expended was worth the struggle.

Beyond the Cusp

They’re Throwing Deadly Cinderblock Size Rocks; Not Just Little Pebbles

Rocks being utilized as deadly weapons have a long and storied history in the Middle East and throughout the ancient world. Armies had divisions of archers and slingers which were equal threats in the course of combat and wars. One of the most famous and well known confrontations from ancient times pitted a young smallish shepherd boy against a giant of a man in heavy armor and the young shepherd proved victorious using a fair sized rock and a sling. The battle is, of course, the Biblical confrontation between the Philistine Goliath and the Israelite David told in the Book of Samuel. If one were to go through the effort to review the photo and video evidence of these confrontations between Palestinians throwing rocks and Israeli IDF soldiers armed with rifles they would come across evidence which points to the standoffs as not being anywhere near as disparate as the media likes to portray these events. Often one will see evidence of Palestinians using slings in order to add more force to their projectiles though many of the photographers attempt to avoid having such throwers in their frames of reference as their intent is to display the maximum advantage to the IDF in order to make the Palestinians appear the victim of a great and horrendous inequality of force. Much of the more liberal Israeli press such as Haaretz is also to blame as they tend to downplay if they even bother to cover these attacks unless there are serious injuries or even deaths. There have been numerous rock attacks which have been covered by Arutz Sheva which is located in Beth El in Samaria where the Israeli victims have required Emergency Room care or even Hospitalization and surgery which were not covered in the majority of the rest of Israeli news services thus also never being picked up by the leading news sources around the world. If the potentially fatal rock throwing were to be covered whenever there was substantial damage or serious injury then the world would be reading about them on a weekly basis multiple times and even daily during the more active periods. The world would also be familiar with one especially dangerous type of rock attack utilized by the Palestinians where they use a car at high speed on one of the narrow two lane roads in Judea and Samaria and launch their cinderblock sized rocks or cement projectiles aiming for the driver’s side of the windshield of an oncoming vehicle thus having additional force equal to the additive speed of the two vehicles to maximize the potential for penetrating the windshield and killing the driver and possibly everyone else in the vehicle should the car lose control and careen off the road crashing into trees or overturning. But these attacks are rarely covered in any of the world’s major news services while every time the IDF responds to these deadly attacks they are front page news depicting them as bloodthirsty monsters.

 

The world media lack of coverage of the often life threatening rock attacks by Palestinians upon Israeli civilians should not come as any surprise as the world media does not cover the literally thousands of rockets fired out of Gaza by Palestinian terrorists belonging to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda in Gaza, Popular Resistance Committees and any other terrorist groups targeting Israeli civilians almost exclusively with deadly intent. The only times the news services give coverage to the rocket attacks is when Israel responds with an offensive of their own such as Cast Lead and Pillar of Smoke, the actual translation of the latest Israeli response to the rocket attacks which was mistranslated as Pillar of Defense which gave a more ominous sound to the Israeli actions and avoided any reference to the Exodus in the Bible where the Israelites were led through their trek out of Egypt by a Pillar of Smoke by day and a Pillar of Fire by night. Even when the rocket attacks are covered they are contrasted against the Israeli response which makes them appear to simply be the Palestinian response to Israeli aggressions and often the coverage makes only minor references to the steady daily attacks by the terrorists in Gaza often going two, three, or even more weeks without having one day pass without at least one rocket attack. The coverage also will report the number of Palestinians who are killed often not differentiating and identifying that the largest numbers of these casualties are actual terrorists or their supporters. They also contrast that while the Israeli intervention is resulting in Palestinian fatalities that the Israelis rarely are killed by the rocket attacks and that this makes the Israeli efforts unfair and disproportionate. There is almost never any reflection or explanation of why the disparity between the two sides concerning casualties. The fact that in Gaza the terrorists demand that the civilians allow the storage of munitions and supplies within their homes, their Mosques, their Hospitals, their schools, and their public areas including shopping centers and markets with the threat of immediate execution as a collaborator if anyone should have the audacity to refuse is not reported. The rockets are almost exclusively fired from near schools, between houses, on hospital roofs, and often with children gathered around the launcher to guarantee the Israelis will not fire on the launch positions.

 

The reason that the Israelis have such a low casualty count is also hardly ever mentioned. Israel has built shelters throughout the regions which are within range of the majority of the rockets fired by the terrorists in Gaza. They require all new housing to be built with a safe room which meets structural requirements that make it able to withstand even a direct strike by the majority of rockets. The Israeli government has also reinforced schools, hospitals and people’s homes without charge for those who are unable to afford such upgrades. The Israeli government periodically offers to contribute or even to completely pay to have shatterproof reinforced windshields, rear window, and side window for the vehicles of people who live in areas prone to the rock attacks in order to keep the people safe or at least safer. Providing such services is an expensive endeavor but the Israelis having a great respect and love of life believing it is worth any price to keep the people safe. This respect for life is even seen when the Israelis must turn to using military force as they go to great extremes in attempting to avoid civilian casualties including calling off attacks if civilians are present and could possibly be placed in danger. Yes, sometimes there are mistakes which then are trumpeted by the world media endlessly for weeks, months even. One example was the massacre that never was in Jenin. Even despite the fact that the United Nations investigation into the so-called Jenin massacre proved that no such massacre took place and that of the casualties that the vast majority were combatants and there was no massacre but still there are speeches condemning the Israelis for the Jenin massacre held on college campuses during Israeli Apartheid Week and references to the Jenin massacre every year in the United Nations General Assembly recognition of the plight of the Palestinians held every year on November 29^th under the title “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”.

 

Simply ask yourself how many times you have heard about the rock attacks on Israelis by the Palestinians both in Judea and Samaria and even within the Galilee in the mixed towns, villages, and farm lands. There was one such attack just yesterday which resulted in tragedy. After an attack by Palestinians on vehicles, individual cars, buses and trucks, there were a number of resulting accidents one of which resulted in very serious wounds to a mother and her three daughters. Where the two oldest daughters and the mother are in serious condition in Beilinson Hospital, her infant one year old daughter is barely holding on to life and doctors are concerned and have reported to be doing everything in their abilities to save her delicate little life. This attack took place at the Gitai Avisar Junction where additional injuries have been reported. The wife of a former Minister of the Knesset was moderately injured when a rock crashed through the windshield of the bus in which she was a passenger shattering the glass some of which hit her face and slivers embedded in her eyes. She too is in the hospital receiving treatments and is expected to recover and retain her sight. Also, the bus driver was injured with broken glass striking his face and eyes yet somehow managed to take control of the bus and drive it beyond the ambush zone before pulling over and stopping. There were a number of other injuries at this location which continued until the Border Police and the IDF arrived on scene.

 

This was far from an isolated incident or something new, but most do not realize this as these attacks are rarely reported and when they are the coverage tends to minimize the severity and danger these attacks pose. Israeli former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was quoted giving some reference with which to frame this deadly attack by Palestinian terrorists stating, “The first victim who was killed by rock-throwing Arab rioters was soldier Esther Ohana, who had a rock thrown at her vehicle, hit her head and lost consciousness, and died two weeks later.” Lieberman was speaking about an attack which occurred in January of 1983. He added that since the murder of Ohana thirty years ago “dozens of others were hurt and seriously wounded by Arab rock-throwing rioters in Judea and Samaria.” It has possibly been the fact that such attacks have become commonplace enough that the Israeli and world press no longer sees any need to report them any longer. The problem this causes is that when Israel finally does respond to these many different, various but still consistent attacks, be they rocks or rockets, is that the heavy-handed blame Israel for the violence reporting becomes believable as the listeners have no reference or context of the months of terror attacks which forced the Israeli response. The public is left with the impression that the Palestinian rock, rocket or any other form of terror or assaults only occur in response to Israeli military actions. There is little history and reporting over the long buildup which necessitated the Israeli aggression so the Israeli response appears to have come out of the blue without any provocations. This is an injustice and only serves to discredit Israel and grant credibility to those who accuse Israel of needless violence against the poor innocent Palestinians who are cast as not being able or inclined to raise a finger against their oppressors, Israel. The truth is almost daily there are provocations where Palestinian terrorists threaten Israeli lives; destroy Israeli property, crops, vehicles, structures, homes and shops; fire rockets aiming at Israeli neighborhoods, shopping centers, synagogues, schools, buses, or anyplace that Israelis congregate; or sling rocks of varying sizes at Israeli individuals, cars, busses, light rail, and other forms of conveyance all of these disparate forms of violence intended to take Israeli’s lives or at least make their lives as difficult and treacherous as possible. While I have no illusions that the news reporting will change, I hold hope that the Israeli government will assign at least one Minister of the Knesset to publicize the violence and assaults aimed at the Israeli people and possibly begin to balance the reporting so that the people of the world can make fair and informed opinions and put an end to the propaganda and unbalanced reporting which by design makes the Palestinians victims and Israelis victimizers. The lie must be revealed and placed in the light of truth and allow the reality to be placed before the world and then when all the facts are in the open the people of the world can decide. It may not change a single opinion, but that is a different problem for another time. One calamity at a time, I cannot handle them in bunches.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

As Budget Sequestration Doth Approach

How is it that no matter how divergent the most crucial topics and interests of the day may be and despite their being completely independent of each other with disparate source all traveling their own paths that somehow they all appear to be closing in on a critical moment all of them almost in unison. The topics include but not be limited to such things as the budgetary sequestration, the Iranian nuclear situation with the related P5+1 talks, the continued strife from Mali to Afghanistan to Yemen and then some, and the fiscal crisis throughout much of the world with emphasis on the European Union and the United States. Where most of these subjects are covered with some lesser amounts of slant and bias, there is one from amongst them which has been the subject of pure and bold propaganda meant to obscure, mislead and demonize far more than any intent to truly inform, and that is the looming budget sequestration. The truth of this story is so much less and yet so completely different than most have been sold.

With March 1st fast approaching, the United States Media is playing up a deadline called the sequestration. My dictionary defines sequestration as 1) removal or separation, banishment or exile; 2) a withdrawal into seclusion, retirement; and lastly 3) the legal sequestering of property, confiscation or seizure. As usual the federal government is masking a simple action by labeling the simple forced reduction of the budget through an across the board uniform application of spending cuts with a seldom used word outside of legal or government discourse, namely sequestration. The imposition of the sequestration uniform spending cuts across all government spending is how this is being spun often leaving out completely or ignoring the facts that significantly higher cuts resulting from sequestration will be applied to military and Pentagon budgets. The really interesting item about the coming sequestration is the lies and propaganda being spread in order to magnify what should be only minor concerns into dreaded consequences which could conceivably destroy the fabric of our society. What is not being told is that the cuts will actually be less than four percent of total government spending over the next ten years. That simply means that the sequestration cuts are, as is almost always the case when our elected representatives in Washington speak of budget cuts, merely decreases in the amount that spending will be increased. Instead of telling us that even after the dread sequestration is applied the government will still spend more in 2013 than was spent in 2012 which was more than in 2011 and so on, they will just continue with he lies that the sequestration cuts are draconian. The only difference is the percentage of increase between 2013 spending from 2012 spending will be around five percent less than the percentage of increase between 2012 spending from 2011 spending. So, if they are spending more in 2013 than was spent in 2012, how is it that the claims are there will not be sufficient air traffic controllers, meals on wheels for homebound seniors, fewer teachers in the schools, reductions in the size of police and fire departments throughout the country and other high profile consequences of which most will never occur or be of any actual danger to safety or denial of assistance to those who rely on federal programs to provide care for them.

There is another disinformation about the sequestration which is being confirmed by most of the mainstream press and that is about who is to blame. The news coverage and press commentary and releases from the White House place the entirety of the blame on Congress. The next point of clarifications from these same sources is that they do not so much mean Congress as they mean the House of Representatives and not all of the members of the House of Representatives but the Republicans in the House of Representatives because they control the House of Representatives who are to blame. The truth is that the House of Representatives is partly to blame, both parties; and so is the Senate to blame in part, both parties; and lastly President Obama gave his blessings to the sequestration solution to the budget crisis and when it was enacted it was claimed to be the most brilliant and innovative budgetary solution ever conceived by the government in all of history. There will be those who will claim that the President cannot be to blame as he has not received a budget or any form of legislation addressing the budget needs which is what is going to force the implementation of the sequestration. Why, even the Senate has not had anything scheduled for discussions about budgetary plans or offers which would address the problems and avoid the implementation of the sequestration. Those comments while valid on face value do not reveal the truth of the matter. The House of Representatives has sent at the least three separate budget plans that would have avoided sequestration to the Senate. Once these bills were sent to the Senate they were never referred to committee nor were they scheduled for any discussions or votes on the floor of the Senate. The truth is they were simply shelved by Harry Reid and ignored completely. By avoiding even the idea of considering anything sent to the Senate by the House of Representatives and instead simply demanding the House of Representatives send the Senate a bill which they would find palatable, Senator Reid has absolved the President from needing to refuse anything proposed by the House of Representatives allowing President Obama to simply decry the lack of action by the Congress in addressing and avoiding the sequestration. After President Obama has complained about the lack of legislation coming out of Congress, then Senator Reid lays the blame on the Republican House of Representatives absolving the Democrat controlled Senate of any responsibility. Then the majority of the mainstream press, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, et al echoes these comments while never following up with any comments which might be forthcoming from the Speaker of the House in defense of their efforts. The major news services and programs simply repeat the Democrat line that the Republicans are out to destroy the country. The saddest part of the lies told to the people is that even should the presumably undesirable sequestration be applied on this coming Friday, March 1, 2013, it will not bring on the catastrophic destruction of America as we know her, it might actually be a decent first step to curtailing the prolific spending habits of the federal government. This would be especially true when after the sequestration, if we should be so fortunate as to have such befall us, the country does not spiral out of control from too little government spending but actually we find that things improve. Who knows, maybe we will start to demand more sequestration style cuts as the new method of writing future budgets. Wouldn’t that be a concept, a new form of federal budgeting which cuts the rate of increase every year and even reaches the point where it actually shrinks spending and the size of government until it actually will fit within the limitations presumably dictated by the Constitution. I’m beginning to like this sequestration idea.

Beyond the Cusp