I wrote two years ago about the carrot of convenience the corporations will dangle over the heads of the consumer nation to coerce them into forfeiting their own freedoms.
New “fast-pass” traffic lanes between California and Mexico promise to speed processing of the 55,000 vehicles that enter the U.S., provided they’re willing to be tagged with background check information encoded into their SENTRI PortPass, which features Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) transponder technology.
This sprint toward fascism is met by the popular press without criticism. On the “morning news” this week (which is easily the happiest TV news there is) they were hyping the new $99.95 “Clear Card” which allows travelers to jump to the head of the security line in participating airports. It doesn’t actually get you through security, it just pops you to the top. And all you have to do is submit your bio stats, along with a retinal scan, and this data is encoded into the card for easy scanning!
The angle they played up was the convenience. The angle they didn’t play up was that this data was stored by a government contractor: “Clear® is a subsidiary of Verified Identity Pass, Inc.” A contractor, mind you — which means that they take your data for profit. A corporation storing your data. That’s… um… I think they have a word for that.
It’s not even the clear card itself, but the press’ attitude toward these things that really got me. Where’s the outcry? (Well, it’s online, but that’s not surprising.) This is how the fascists win: by making it “convenient” to give up your freedoms, and by framing “privacy” as difficult or, even worse, as suspicious.
Signed on October 17th, Public Law 109-364 (H.R.5122) allows the President to declare a “public emergency” and station troops anywhere in America, and to take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to “suppress public disorder.”
Keith Olbermann identifies the beginning of the end of America
According to airport security goons, denouncing figures of authority is no longer a protected right. At least not in a reliable way. For instance, merely writing that Transportation Security Administration secretary Kip Hawley is an idiot on your state-prescribed zip-top liquids baggie–true as it may be–may provide authorities with the reasonable cause to detain you. On September 26th Ryan Bird of Milwaukee enjoyed 25 minute detention and was booked as a threat to the nation because the words “Kip Hawley is an idiot” were emblazoned on his “liquids bag” at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport.
[The TSA Supervisor on duty] grabbed the baggie as it came out of the X-ray and asked if it was mine. After responding yes, he pointed at my comment and demanded to know “What is this supposed to mean?” “It could [mean] a lot of things, it happens to be an opinion on mine.” “You can’t write things like this,” he said. “You mean my First Amendment right to freedom of speech doesn’t apply here?” “Out there (pointing pass the id checkers) not while in here (pointing down),” was his response.
(via flyertalk.com)
Facing public scrutiny, TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark later backpedaled, saying that Bird was free to express his opinion, that writing on bags is not prohibited. “The passenger was never detained by TSA,” she explained. “Local law enforcement briefly interviewed him and determined he had not broken any laws, and he was allowed to fly.”
BoingBoing’s own Cory Doctorow describes his experience with arbitrary seizure of property:
I flew from SFO to LAX yesterday morning, and was robbed at gunpoint by a TSA agent, who stole my cologne, face-wash, and moisturizer. She said that my moisture baggie could only contain vessels of 3 oz or less’ worth of moisture. I pointed out that all these vessels did have less than 3 oz’ worth of moist substances in them, as they were all half-empty, and she said yes, but the vessels were capable of holding more than 3 oz.
(via BoingBoing)
I feel safer already. Don’t you?
(via BoingBoing)
The ad-sponsored memorial orgy reached its annual frothy peak today. One and all were invited to relive our most celebrated national tragedy, complete with theme music and flying logos.
Slow-panning retrospectives (somber horns and violins accompany) lovingly presented every detail before cutting to the advertisement chaser: life insurance, banking, and indigestion.
Then we were treated to the falling twins (rhythmic bass line, synth arpeggios accompany) before another cluster of ads: political campaign, car insurance, and indigestion.
So why were the ads suddenly more relevant than the editorial pabulum the networks served up?
No link love this time. The media have had enough to eat already.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate groups have been infiltrating the US military. But isn’t this splitting hairs? I mean, I’m sure that not every bright-eyed, camo-wearing jingo enlisted specifically to rape the poor–no one can deny that the job has its perks.
But it doesn’t require much of an imagination to realize that anyone seeking to bear arms in these times has a charred little hate cinder somewhere beneath their flag tattoo.
Republican Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado announced on Fox News Radio that Senator Russ Feingold (D - WI) had “time and time again [sided] with the terrorists” by introducing a resolution to censure George Bush.
Senator Feingold’s censure resolution would hold the Bush regime accountable for its domestic spying program–which violates federal law–and for misleading the country about its existence and legality.
All of us in this body took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and bear true allegiance to the same. Fulfilling that oath requires us to speak clearly and forcefully when the President violates the law. This resolution allows us to send a clear message that the President’s conduct was wrong.
And we must do that. The President’s actions demand a formal judgment from Congress.
(via Senator Feingold’s site)
But this resolution–not to mention the 1st Amendment–runs afoul of Senator Allard, who feels strongly that holding President Bush accountable for violating federal law would be falling into the terrorists’ trap.
What does it say of Allard when he questions the patriotism of a Senator who would asks the Congress to live up to its responsibility? Does Allard even know what an American is?
Despite being decommissioned more than two years ago, the Defense Department’s Total Information Awareness program is still collecting data. According to a report in the National Journal, project names were changed to conceal their identities, but their funding remains intact, often under the same contracts.
The projects that moved, their new code names, and the agencies that took them over haven’t previously been disclosed. Sources aware of the transfers declined to speak on the record for this story because, they said, the identities of the specific programs are classified.
Knowledge of everything is too compelling a thing to give up. After all, total awareness corrupts totally.
Seiko Epson Corp. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, filed lawsuits in a US District Court against 24 firms who manufacture after-market ink cartridges for Epson printers, citing Patent Infringement
Seiko Epson’s complaint, filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), calls for a general exclusion order banning the import or sale of less expensive third party cartridges in the U.S.
Epson is able to sell cheap printers because its business model is such that profits can be gained from the sale of replacement ink cartridges. However, Epson is not so interested in fair competition, from outward appearances. And who can blame them? After posting a 56 percent drop in quarterly profits last month, and with more losses forecasted, the company can barely afford to play on an even field.
Meanwhile, the question for consumers becomes: would you buy a toaster that accepted only one brand of bread?
By embracing a strategy of isolation and sanctions (foreign policy = starvation?), the far-right militants of the U.S. and Israel are once again building walls where words would be more appropriate.
Guess we learned a lesson from our stunning victory over Cuba. Meantime–and here’s the really interesting part–Khaled Meshal, head of the political bureau of Hamas, delivers a lucid address on his party’s stance on world affairs:
Our message to the Israelis is this: we do not fight you because you belong to a certain faith or culture. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for 13 centuries in peace and harmony; they are in our religion “the people of the book” who have a covenant from God and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be respected and protected. Our conflict with you is not religious but political. We have no problem with Jews who have not attacked us - our problem is with those who came to our land, imposed themselves on us by force, destroyed our society and banished our people.
(via Electronic Intifada)
I never thought it would come to pass, but even Hamas makes the State Department sound like a band of petulant thugs.