The Eloquent Mr. Cheney

"Civil Liberties don't matter if you're dead from a terrorist." - DICK "Tator" Cheney on the extension of the PATRIOT act.

Now, it's been said that freedom requires eternal vigilance. However, how does one balance the freedoms you allow against the freedoms to take away in order to allow freedom in the first place?
Let's bring this back to the beginning. To have 'freedom', you must exist. Okay, not that far. Let us suppose you exist in a world with other people. In order to ensure personal freedoms, we must initially impose on other's freedom - ex: You can't use your freedom to kill me, because that would negatively affect my ability to use my freedom. So we start drawing lines. "You can't purposely limit my freedom to physically act, so long as my actions do not limit other's freedom to physically act." Do unto others..., basically. Then we start taking it further. "You're free to live anywhere you want, but if you want to live within these arbitrary lines, you have to abide by these rules. They may affect your freedom, but we think they will allow more freedom then if we didn't have these rules. And if you don't like them, then get out of our arbitrary lines or accept that we'll really restrict your freedom for breaking the rules."
So, the basic rules become: 1 - You can't limit other's freedom to act. 2 - You can't sabatoge the governing body that decides, implements and enforces the rules.
Okay, so 'terrorism' limits other's freedom to act. One way to ensure that no terrorism occurs is to know and control what everyone is doing at all times. However, not only is that not cost effective, it's also unnecessary because most people have no interest in terrorizing. On top of that, no one would have any freedom, so you're doing more than cutting off the nose to spite the face, you're just cutting off the entire damn head. So we have to draw another line. Certain actions should be known and controlled in order to prevent terrorism. Moreover, terrorism should be defined properly, so that we don't get into the same mess of everyone being watched and controlled. So, let's use the government's apparent definition: acts which instill, or contribute to the instillation of, terror or fear on such a level as to be socially debilitating for a notable segment of the total population. It's vague, but it at least includes 9-11 and excludes a brother being an asshole to his little sister.
So the questions become: which actions need to be known in order to prevent terrorism and how does one become aware of those actions. Enter the PATRIOT act. Sure, we already had FISA - the Foreign Intelligence Agency Act, but hey, according to the Bush regime, we don't have the time to go through the red tape of 'legal surveillence'. But FISA allows for a 72 hour grace period before the surveilleur even needs to start the process of going through proceedure, isn't that enough? Of course not. Our government needs to be able to watch anyone at any time without any oversight or control. So how does the government gain access to that kind of power? The American people wouldn't just hand it over to them, would they? As is the case in very few issues as complex as this, there is a one word answer: FEAR. If the American public is scared, they will give up any and all freedoms just to get rid of that fear. At no point in history since it was first said has this statement been more relevant: There is nothing to fear except fear itself.

A Philosopher's Rant

Dammit, I'm tired. I'm tired of having to explain myself every time I tell someone that I majored in Philosophy. "oh... Philosophy, eh? What are you going to do with that?" What am I going to do with a background in Philosophy? What am I going to do?! It doesn't even matter what it is that I'll do, I'm going to do it logically. I'm going to do it ethically. I'm going to do it while being aware. Shit. I'm not going to work at Burger King. I'm not going to be a pseudo-existential, apathetic slacker whose only argument against every question of purpose is "why?". Do you think that Plato was working for minimum wage, complaining about the inability of the individual to make significant change? Was Kant a bum, whining about how ethical decisions are all relative? Was Satre a loser who let others label him as an entertainment whose ideas were interesting, but not applicable in real life? NO! Hell no they weren't.
You know what, I'm not going to be a teacher in the ivory tower, and I may not ever write any philosophical works, but does that mean that my degree was all for naught? Does that mean that I've stored volumes of useless knowledge that will never be used again? Fuck that. Philosophy, if nothing else, has taught me how to LIVE. Philosophy has taught me to critically analyze my beliefs and to not settle for contradictions. Philosophy has taught me to break down the arguments of my opponent, reshape them to my benefit, then give them an intellectual dick slap in the face. What am I going to do with a background in Philosophy? Shit. What are you going to do without it?

Left, Right & Commie

So, this blog was not created so that I can babble endlessly about all the unimportant things that are happening in my pathetic little life, (no offense to all my dear friends who use their blogs for that very reason). No, this blog was created to babble endlessly about all of the 'important things' that are happening on this pathetic little planet. One of the regular entries that you can look forward to is 'Left, Right & Commie'. In this little gem, I will take a 'pure fact' or a quote, show the spin put on it in the left and right media, and then write what a communist would say about it. I think it will provide an unnecessary yet mildly entertaining perspective on current events, and maybe even be slightly insightful since most of us, myself included, hear only one side of a given story. So, here goes nothing.

Fact: President Bush has nominated Samuel Alito to be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.


From FoxNews, November 14th, 2005

"I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the constitution does not protect a right to an abortion," Alito wrote.
Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and FOX News contributor, said Monday that although the writings show Alito was pro-life, they don't necessarily show how he will rule on the court.
Kirstin Powers, a Democratic strategist, told FOX News on Monday that while the application sheds some light on his legal views on abortion, "this was a long time ago and he has shown some deference to precedent."
"I believe very strongly in limited government, federalism, free enterprise" and "the supremacy of the elected branches of government," Alito wrote.


From Village Voice, November 14th, 2005

"I am and always have been a conservative," the Times quotes him as writing in an attachment to his appointment form. "I am a lifelong registered Republican."
Alito also said, "I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." At the time Alito was working as a deputy to the solicitor general.The document comes from the Ronald Reagan presidential library.
To put it mildly, Alito comes off as a right-wing yes-man ever so anxious to be brought into Meese's inner circle. Alito rattles off the conservative mantra: devotion to limited government, abhorrence of activist judges, strong support for free enterprise, a yen tough law enforcement, and a love for stiff defense policy.


From a Commie

The goddam dirty capitalist pigdogs have once again attempted to usurp the rights of the working man. Satan, that is, President Bush, has nominated one of his minions to carry on his reign long after the people no longer have to see the big-eared, small-brained, barely-evolved puppet who has taken civilization backwards innumerable years. Now, as the dirty underbelly of the recently nominated Alito comes to light, the public can see how racist and sexist this tool of the lord of lies actually is.
Alito said, "I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."
This quote clearly displays how the soon-to-be-destroyer-of-the-little-progress-this-country-has-made has no filter for the rational, and still believes in the superiority of the white male. Alito would like the country to believe that this nation, in it's current state, is capable of providing fair opportunities to all races and ethnicities, and that some little fetus has a claim over the mother. This is the same person, mind you, who said that women should still be subservient to their abusive, chauvinisticc husbands. Of course, if the class struggle imposed and sustained by the bourgeoisie didn't exist, then maybe we could trust that all people would be afforded an equal chance at education, and consequentially vocation. Until then, any effort to strip the oppressed of a chance to better themselves should be seen as a direct attack on the working class. As for his comments on abortion, Alito apparently thinks that women are inferior and exist solely for the purpose of popping out babies and obeying their spouse.
The constitution, it should be noted, was written to evolve. Alito must believe otherwise since he seems to say that the women's rights movement and the minority movements in this country aren't 'constitutionally protected' and therefore should be stricken from the record.

What have I gotten myself into

My first blog posting... ever. I feel as if I should say something profound and new. Hmmm. Luck is merely probability taken personally... in bed. There, I think that fills both qualifications.
Oh, and, of course, the random crap I spew here doesn't reflect my employer, my employer's affiliates, my affiliates, my affiliate's employers, or my affiliate's employer's affiliates.