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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Monday, January 26, 2004 Another link on the sidebar of political sites: The Yellow Doggerel Democrat. Steve is a fellow computer type, a fluent writer and a common-sense thinker. I'm glad I ran across his blog. We're still snowed in here, though the predicted freezing rain hasn't materialized yet. Tomorrow the roads had better be passable off the hill, because we're going to be eating nothing but oatmeal and tuna fish if I don't get to the grocery store pretty soon. I've been wanting to address the noise over the alleged "Bush-as-Hitler" comparisons. Perhaps some of them are indeed as scurrilous as the accusations say—I haven't seen any that I would put in that category. Folk, there is a huge difference between comparing one person to another, and seeing similarities in the policies of their respective governments. You can't read the provisions of the so-called Patriot Act without making uneasy comparisons with the way people were taken away in the middle of the night in 1930's Germany. Never before in our country has there been a legal mechanism for the detention of a United States citizen without being charged and without being allowed access to legal counsel, and for searches and seizures without judicial oversight (which is just a fancy way to say you have to prove to a judge that you have a good reason for the searching and seizing). That's not to say those things never happened; they were just never legal. Now they are. Never before in our country has the government set up an official corps of citizen informers. TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System) has been canned, you say? Yes, the national organization is no longer in operation. However, a quick search of the net turned up instance after instance of state and local sites with lists of "suspicious activities" to report. TIPS has only been carefully and slyly hidden. For example, the list of "red flag" activities from the city of Burbank, California, website includes these reasons for suspicion:Subject of news reports, rumors or an investigation indicating possible criminal activity Are we to understand that rumor is now justifiable grounds for suspicion?Insists on using a post office box or mail dropI guess it's just too bad if you do business in a town with a rural post office where you have no choice but to get a post office box. A rural post office, for those who haven't been introduced to them, is one where the mail is delivered solely by vehicle. If your home or business is located within one-quarter mile of the post office building, or if you are unable to provide a safe place for the delivery vehicle to pull off the road, you can receive mail only by renting a post office box.May be reached solely by pager, cell phone or emailOops, now I'm in trouble--I never give out my home phone number, only my cell phone, especially since I'm on the road eighty percent of the time and that truly is the only way to reach meHigh employee turnover Well, there go all the McDonalds!Dishonest, untruthful, evasive, or never looks you in the eye when talking or listening Italics mine—you don't suppose this person might be from a culture where looking you in the eye is considered to be aggressive and impolite, do you?Personality anomalies Even the professionals can't agree on what constitutes a personality "anomaly" —ordinary citizens are supposed to know?Known womanizer You wouldn't think a male dominated city government would be stupid enough to include that oneand finally, ta-da . . . Immaturity, inappropriate dependence upon spouse or parents, unable to accept responsibility or make decisions, unusual attraction to child-oriented toys, video equipment, photographic equipment, Jacuzzi, or swimming poolThe sloppy writing of this catch-all description would be enough all by itself to make me shrug it off, but you shutterbugs out there better be careful from now on about taking pictures of anyone in the Jacuzzi or swimming pool!Do you notice the exceptionally large number of subjective words in this very short excerpt of suspicious activities? Evasive, inappropriate, unusual . . . these are words your high school English teacher told you not to use unless you could back them up, words that lawyers are cautioned for using in witness examination, words with emotional connotations far beyond their dictionary definitions. If the thought of using these words in connection with other people doesn't bother you, how do you feel about them applying these words to you? Think it can't happen? You might want to read what happened to Marc Schultz, a bookstore employee in Atlanta, Georgia. And if you'd like to see what the TIPS website and related sites originally said, before the content was removed or changed, The Memory Hole has cached many of them and made them available. Bush-as-Hitler? That's a stretch. Nazi-style subjugation of a formerly free people? It's already happening. posted by Liz @ 6:10 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Another link on the sidebar of political sites: The Yellow Doggerel Democrat. Steve is a fellow computer type, a fluent writer and a common-sense thinker. I'm glad I ran across his blog. We're still snowed in here, though the predicted freezing rain hasn't materialized yet. Tomorrow the roads had better be passable off the hill, because we're going to be eating nothing but oatmeal and tuna fish if I don't get to the grocery store pretty soon. I've been wanting to address the noise over the alleged "Bush-as-Hitler" comparisons. Perhaps some of them are indeed as scurrilous as the accusations say—I haven't seen any that I would put in that category. Folk, there is a huge difference between comparing one person to another, and seeing similarities in the policies of their respective governments. You can't read the provisions of the so-called Patriot Act without making uneasy comparisons with the way people were taken away in the middle of the night in 1930's Germany. Never before in our country has there been a legal mechanism for the detention of a United States citizen without being charged and without being allowed access to legal counsel, and for searches and seizures without judicial oversight (which is just a fancy way to say you have to prove to a judge that you have a good reason for the searching and seizing). That's not to say those things never happened; they were just never legal. Now they are. Never before in our country has the government set up an official corps of citizen informers. TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System) has been canned, you say? Yes, the national organization is no longer in operation. However, a quick search of the net turned up instance after instance of state and local sites with lists of "suspicious activities" to report. TIPS has only been carefully and slyly hidden. For example, the list of "red flag" activities from the city of Burbank, California, website includes these reasons for suspicion:Subject of news reports, rumors or an investigation indicating possible criminal activity Are we to understand that rumor is now justifiable grounds for suspicion?Insists on using a post office box or mail dropI guess it's just too bad if you do business in a town with a rural post office where you have no choice but to get a post office box. A rural post office, for those who haven't been introduced to them, is one where the mail is delivered solely by vehicle. If your home or business is located within one-quarter mile of the post office building, or if you are unable to provide a safe place for the delivery vehicle to pull off the road, you can receive mail only by renting a post office box.May be reached solely by pager, cell phone or emailOops, now I'm in trouble--I never give out my home phone number, only my cell phone, especially since I'm on the road eighty percent of the time and that truly is the only way to reach meHigh employee turnover Well, there go all the McDonalds!Dishonest, untruthful, evasive, or never looks you in the eye when talking or listening Italics mine—you don't suppose this person might be from a culture where looking you in the eye is considered to be aggressive and impolite, do you?Personality anomalies Even the professionals can't agree on what constitutes a personality "anomaly" —ordinary citizens are supposed to know?Known womanizer You wouldn't think a male dominated city government would be stupid enough to include that oneand finally, ta-da . . . Immaturity, inappropriate dependence upon spouse or parents, unable to accept responsibility or make decisions, unusual attraction to child-oriented toys, video equipment, photographic equipment, Jacuzzi, or swimming poolThe sloppy writing of this catch-all description would be enough all by itself to make me shrug it off, but you shutterbugs out there better be careful from now on about taking pictures of anyone in the Jacuzzi or swimming pool!Do you notice the exceptionally large number of subjective words in this very short excerpt of suspicious activities? Evasive, inappropriate, unusual . . . these are words your high school English teacher told you not to use unless you could back them up, words that lawyers are cautioned for using in witness examination, words with emotional connotations far beyond their dictionary definitions. If the thought of using these words in connection with other people doesn't bother you, how do you feel about them applying these words to you? Think it can't happen? You might want to read what happened to Marc Schultz, a bookstore employee in Atlanta, Georgia. And if you'd like to see what the TIPS website and related sites originally said, before the content was removed or changed, The Memory Hole has cached many of them and made them available. Bush-as-Hitler? That's a stretch. Nazi-style subjugation of a formerly free people? It's already happening.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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