The post below was submitted by good buddy Leigh.
A couple tales from two, random, ordinary citizens of he United States:
I work with two men that illustrate government over-reach . One is
a
story of the ever expanding surveillance state, the other of how
close the death panels actually are.
First we have a man that served his country in the US Navy. A fact
that he is rather proud of. As is common with old Navy guys, they
tend to get nostalgic and reflect on their time in service.
One particular memory; was of a destroyed tender, off of the coast
of
a munition loading site, in Hawaii. This wasn't a relic of Pearl
Harbor, but apparently the result of carelessness handling of
explosives, that was left as a reminder. For the life of him, he
couldn't remember the name of the destroyed ship. Naturally, he
did
what any of us would do – he Googled the name of the facility.
There were numerous hits, including a web-site for the facility
itself. After perusing a couple different results he entered the
facility name into Google Earth to see if he could see the wreck
of
the vessel he had seen decades earlier. Strange???? It was showing
a
spot quite a distance inland. This had to be a mistake, or a
satellite facility. So he physically repositioned the cursor to
the
spot where he remembered the wreck to be.
What he saw next raised the hair on the back of his neck. It
wasn't
the pixelated spot on a map that startled him, but a small light
on
his lap-top he suddenly noticed. He stared at it for a second
before
it dawned on him what it was. Minimizing the main screen confirmed
what he suspected. The built in web cam had somehow managed to
turn
itself on, and there was his image staring back at himself.
In the four months he has owned that laptop, he has never
inadvertently turned on the web cam – or have it spontaneously
activate. He has no illusions as to what had happened. Big Brother
had decided that it wanted to see who was looking where it is
forbidden by the Party. So they reached out and touched him in a
brazen show of intimidation.
He is a student of history. Not just of our own; he studies the
early
Europeans, the Greeks, the Romans, etc. He has studied the causes
of
both World Wars, and the activities during them. We have discussed
the great lost civilizations of ancient times, and the decline of
our
Republic. He is concerned how far off of the path we have been
shoved. This latest incident drives home his fears.
The other fellow went to the dentist. Pretty common, right? He
thought so too; that was until he got the billing statement.
Somehow, through a glitch, it had gotten mixed up that he was
supposedly on Commie-Care. The statement declared that the
procedures, he had done, weren't covered due to the patient's age.
That's right – a check-up and a cleaning weren't going to
be covered under the Party's Glorious Insurance due to his
advanced
age. Kind of surprised him that he was deemed such a burden to
society at the ripe old age of 58! Fortunately, they got it
straightened out, and our company insurance covered the whole
thing.
From what he has been told, this wasn't an isolated incident.
Now we have a government that has voted itself the power to
control
the Internet. The people that couldn't design a health-care
website,
control the information flow to the whole World. What you are
allowed
to see will be chosen for you – to insure “fairness”, of
course. Your private life will now become property of the public
domain.
Wait, what???
You say you have nothing to hide, so you have nothing to fear?
Naïve fool.
You should be afraid.
Very afraid.
They have every electronic conversation you have ever been
involved
in.
They have your biometrics, your “meta-data”, financial data, and
voting record.
The SS and KGB were rank amateurs compared to what goes on today.
Information is now a weapon.
A weapon aimed right at the base of your skull – you just don't
realize it yet.
“Comrade, why do you have so much money in the bank? Do you not
want to be a part of our glorious Peoples' Economy? You do realize
that hoarding is a crime? Such selfishness is not to be tolerated
in
our Enlightened Society. Yet you continue to buy cigarettes,
burdening our Dear Leader's, People's Heath Care. Not that it
matters
to you, for we see that you didn't support our Supreme Comrade's
sixth glorious election to office.
Fear not Comrade, for you will no longer be a burden here in the
Workers' Paradise. Nor will your removal cause additional burden
to
the Comrades you have betrayed.....
We bought your cure in bulk.”
For over thirty years, I have been warning people about this was coming. The responses I got ranged from - disinterested at best, to "You're Crazy." at worst. Now it's here, and most people are no more concerned or interested than they were in the '80's. There is no way to stop it because there are not enough people interested in stopping it. By the time enough people realize that there is a problem, it will be too late to do anything about it. I am slowly changing my focus from trying to prevent it to how do deal with it once we're past the tipping point.
ReplyDeleteFor over thirty years, I have been warning people about this was coming. The responses I got ranged from - disinterested at best, to "You're Crazy." at worst. Now it's here, and most people are no more concerned or interested than they were in the '80's. There is no way to stop it because there are not enough people interested in stopping it. By the time enough people realize that there is a problem, it will be too late to do anything about it. I am slowly changing my focus from trying to prevent it to how do deal with it once we're past the tipping point.
ReplyDeleteJust take a small strip of duct tap, cut it in half and place one over the camera lense and the other over the microphone until you need to use it.
ReplyDelete