Ten for Orwellistan!

"The legal hallmark of dictatorship has always been Preventative Law -- the concept that a man is guilty until he is proven innocent..." --Ayn Rand

"Bear with us here. We are used to reacting to crime after it happens. Preventing crime before it happens is new to us and we must adapt. Prevention is now our top priority. We're learning with each new incident." --U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, CNBC, October 16, 2001, 12:45:10

Homeland Security moves forward with 'pre-crime' detection --Privacy Inc. - Declan McCullagh CNET News

"This study, just released, reveals that the U.S.government has played a major role in orchestrating most of those (399 U.S. Justice Dept. reported) terrorist plots. 94% of those cases involved pre-emptive prosecutions. That's the practice of targeting those who officials deem predisposed to committing crimes before an actual crime is committed. ...Unless there is a public outcry over government manufactured crimes, that too may become common practice to target anyone." --Marina Portnaya, Headline News, RT, June 13, 2014

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws." --Atlas Shrugged (1957)

...approximately 40,000 new state laws took effect in the U.S. just at the beginning of 2012 alone. There are so many, even Congress can't figure out how many it passed, let alone all the laws passed by states, counties and municipalities, etc. And the rules, regulations, orders and controls promulgated by bureaucracies at every level. And remember, ignorance of the law is no excuse - - - even when there are millions of them. --But Does Peeping Tom Protect You?, by L. Reichard White

There are 100 million words of binding federal law or regulation... more than any person or business can reasonably expect to comprehend. Only a small fraction of these can be enforced - but which [fraction] changes depending on the whim of the inspector on the scene. --'The Rule of Nobody' - Washington Times

"Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded. You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody, even by a wrong call, and then they can use the system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made, every friend you've ever discussed something with." --Whistle blower Edward Snowden: Leak of NSA spy programs "marks my end" - CBS News

Every year, thousands of upstanding, responsible Americans run afoul of some incomprehensible federal law or regulation and end up serving time in federal prison. What is especially disturbing is that it could happen to anyone at all -- and it has.... Federal law in particular now criminalizes entire categories of activities that the average person would never dream would land him in prison. --You're (Probably) a Federal Criminal, Brian Walsh - FOXNews.com, - July 21, 2009

Boston civil-liberties lawyer Harvey Silverglate calls his new book "Three Felonies a Day," referring to the number of crimes he estimates the average American now unwittingly commits because of vague laws. ... L. Gordon Crovitz: You Commit Three Felonies a Day - WSJ

JEREMY SCAHILL: …you were one of only half-a-dozen members of Congress - not a single senator - to simply state on the record that American citizens have the right not to be assassinated by their own government without due process.

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: …it's amazing that we're in an America where we have to defend the rights of Americans to be free from assassination by their own country… How long is it before some local police department uses a drone to intercept and kill a suspect, and when that becomes commonplace? --Jeremy Scahill and Dennis Kucinich: In Obama's 2nd Term, Will Dems Challenge U.S. Drones, Killings?

ALSO OF INTEREST?

"Fiat money: The historical connection to totalitarianism" | L's Little Letters

UNCOMMON SENSE: The FBI's Greatest Hits, February 26, 2012

Who Ya Gonna Call? -- LewRockwell.com

The Handschu Scam: Short & Sweet, By L. Reichard White

Brief History of a Banana Republic, Compiled by L. Reichard White

UNCOMMON SENSE: Orwellistan? Are we there yet mommy??

Bonus Army: US military attacks demonstrating American War Veterans - YouTube

What CAN happen here -- « Antiwar.com Blog

EU funding 'Orwellian' artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for "abnormal behaviour" - Telegraph

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Where Wars Do -- and Don't Come From

Where wars DO come from:

Why of course the people don't want war. ... That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along --Head NAZI Hermann Goering

"It is not civilizations that promote clashes. They occur when old-fashioned leaders look for old-fashioned ways to solve problems by rousing their people to armed confrontation." --Kenichi Ohmae, The End Of The Nation State, (New York: The Free Press 1995), p. 11.

Mr. Bertie Felstead: "A German began singing All Through The Night, then more voices joined in and the British troops responded with Good King Wencelas... the next morning, all the soldiers were shouting to one another, "Hello Tommy, Hello Fritz" ... The Germans started it, coming out of their trenches and walking over to us. Nobody decided for us - we just climbed over our parapet and went over to them, we thought nobody would shoot at us if we all mingled together... There wouldn't have been a war if it had been left to the public. We didn't want to fight but we thought we were defending England." England's Oldest Man Remembers The 1915 Christmas Truce

People do not make wars; governments do. --U.S. President Ronald Reagan

President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials... made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. ...an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that ...led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses. --Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith, False Pretenses: Iraq THE WAR CARD Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War, www.publicintegrity.org

Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. ...The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another's throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose--especially their lives. ...the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace. Yours not to reason why; Yours but to do and die. That is their motto ... The Anti-war Speech That Earned Eugene Debs 10 Years in Prison, Socialist Party convention in Canton, Ohio, 16 June 1918

By contrast, where wars DON'T come from:

...we preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All we wanted was peace and to be left alone. Soldiers came and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer) came...They say we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first impulse was to escape but we were so hemmed in we had to fight. - Crazy Horse/Tashunkewitko

The Aztec strategy of war was based on the capture of prisoners by individual warriors, not on working as a group to kill the enemy in battle. By the time the Aztecs came to recognize what warfare meant in European terms, it was too late. - Aztec

New England's first Indian war, the Pequot War of 1636-37, provides a case study of the intensified warfare Europeans brought to America. Allied with the Narragansetts, traditional enemies of the Pequots, the colonists attacked at dawn. ... The slaughter shocked the Narragansetts, who had wanted merely to subjugate the Pequots, not exterminate them. The Narragansetts reproached the English for their style of warfare, crying, "It is naught, it is naught, because it is too furious, and slays too many men." In turn, Capt. John Underhill scoffed, saying that the Narragansett style of fighting was "more for pastime, than to conquer and subdue enemies." Underhill's analysis of the role of warfare in Narragansett society was correct, and might accurately be applied to other tribes as well. Through the centuries, whites frequently accused their Native allies of not fighting hard enough. -James W. Loewen, LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, (New York, NY: Touchstone 1996), p. 118

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Which side of the same party will you vote for?

"The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can 'throw the rascals out' at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy." --Carroll Quigley, U.S. President Bill Clinton's mentor, "Tragedy and Hope," pg. 1247, 1966AD

"In the US, there is basically one party -- the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies. By and large, I am opposed to those policies. As is most of the population." --Noam Chomsky

WE'RE NOT CELEBRATING THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

Remember -- WE'RE NOT CELEBRATING THE U.S. CONSTITUTION TODAY, we're celebrating THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.  It was the Declaration, establishing true freedom from King George's repressive tyrannical government that was signed on July 4, 1776.  The U.S. Constitution, establishing a different repressive tyrannical government, wasn't signed until a little over eleven years later on September 17th, 1787.  --L. Reichard White, Wednesday, July 04, 2012 11:52 AM

Orwellistan? Are we there yet mommy??

Well, are we??

Unfortunately the stuff below only starts with impeccable Democracy Now and from three nearly impeccable guests:

1. William Binney, an NSA whistle blower who worked as a manager there for more than 30 years,

2. Jacob Appelbaum, a TOR and privacy software designer and activist

3. Laura Poitras, an Oscar-nominated anti-war filmmaker intimidated by Uncle ~40 times because she is.

--Whistleblower: The NSA is Lying-U.S. Government Has Copies of Most of Your Emails  http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/whistleblower_the_nsa_is_lying_us

--Exclusive: National Security Agency Whistleblower William Binney on Growing State Surveillance   http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/exclusive_national_security_agency_whistleblower_william

--Detained in the U.S.: Filmmaker Laura Poitras Held, Questioned Some 40 Times at U.S. Airports  http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/detained_in_the_us_filmmaker_laura

--"We Do Not Live in a Free Country": Jacob Appelbaum on Being Target of Widespread Gov’t Surveillance  http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/we_do_not_live_in_a

And another interview with Mr. Binney:

--NSA Whistleblower: U.S. Assembling Information On Every U.S. Citizen

And here's a good measure of just how pervasive Orwellistan U.S.A. has already become:

--Confirmed: New Nationwide "Trapwire" Surveillance System Is Actively Recording, Monitoring Everything

--WIKILEAKS: Surveillance Cameras Around The Country Are Being Used In A Huge Spy Network - Business Insider

Then there are the USA domestic spy-drones:

--These Police Surveillance Drones Could Be Watching You Right Now - Business Insider

And, perhaps, even more "interesting" tools and techniques:

--14 Incredibly Creepy Surveillance Technologies That Big Brother Will Soon Be Using To Spy On You - BlackListedNews.com

Don't even have an appropriate closing.  Maybe - - - 

"Of course you're free. Now shut-up     ---    if you want to stay that way."

r.

P.S. Great weather!  How about those Cubbies!  I think I'll plant zucchinis again this year.  Do you guys like pizza as well as I do?  

The OTHER police state - - -

With the death of Kim Jong Il, everyone was reminded of the North Korean police state. But what about the OTHER police state - - -

Study: One-Third of Young People Will Be Arrested Before Age 23

Another study found about one-third of young people [in the U.S.] will be arrested before they turn 23. The study examined arrests - not including minor traffic violations - for kids ages eight to 23. Researchers said they found between 30.2 percent and 41.4 percent had been arrested. --DemocracyNOW! Headlines for December 20, 2011

And that's BEFORE the indefinite detention of Americans without charges or trial enshrined in the so-called "National Defense Appropriations Act."

That OTHER police state also treats its unjailed kids well - - -

Study Finds 1.6 Million Children Homeless in 2010

In other economic news, a study has found 1.6 million children in the United States - or one in 45 kids - were homeless last year. The National Center on Family Homelessness said its study is a "call to action for all of us to address child homelessness before we lose another generation." The group said the child homelessness rate has jumped 33 percent since 2007. --DemocracyNOW! Headlines for December 20, 2011

The nature of "reality" via Bohr, Feynman, & Quantum Mechanics

"You decry "states", forgetting that without existing in a "state" you have no existence whatsoever (I am referring here to your earlier comment on how the root word "state" means "static" or unchanging)...that which is not in some recognizable state is an undefined cloud of random nothingness." --Greg

I see where the problem lies.

"States" are never unchanging -- except in someone's imagination. Those Rocky Mountains are slowly weathering away and in the distant future will be old worn down mountains like the Appalachians out east (which, aeons ago, were the tallest mountains in Earth's history), etc. We may, in such cases, ignore the changes which are, none the less, always occuring in everything and ASS-U-ME that the changes don't matter for current purposes -- and hope that assumption is right. None the less, the changes are, as any first year science student should be able to tell you, still occuring whether we like it or not.

And most folks don't like it. It makes them feel insecure. So, many seek the false security of an "unchanging condition" AKA, "state," which simply can't exist. And sometimes that imaginary concept metastasizes into a political "State."

As the Niarga River inexorably eats away at the bedrock beneath, Niagra Falls moves upstream from 3.5 to 7 feet per year. As a result, during its lifetime, the falls has moved about seven miles upstream. That's why it's where it is today. And, unsurprisingly, there is an organization that wants to stop the process. Lots of luck with that.

Like it or not, universal change is solidly based on established principles of Physics -- and is a basic tenet of General Semantics.

The most basic level models we have of "reality," especially quantum mechanics, indeed tell us everything is pretty much "an undefined cloud of random nothingness." Einstein didn't like this a bit. Neither did seminal quantum physicist Neils Bohr.

Which is probably why he quipped, "If you are not surprised by quantum mechanics then you have not understood it." And, further, likely as a result,

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." --Seminal quantum physicist Niels Bohr

Another legendary physicist, Richard Feynman, agrees with Bohr about Quantum Mechanics - - -

"I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics." --Richard Feynman

Since quantum models show "reality" to be pretty much "random nothingness" -- and have been reluctantly accepted by main-stream physics -- this probably explains another of Feynman's famous quotes - - - 

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything"... --Richard Feynman

At this point, either you "get" it or you don't.

It took me six months of intensive discussion with one of my friends before he "got" it. Another read "People in Quandaries" and "got it" pretty much on his own. It's not easy either way.

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