These scanners are an outrageous affront to the natural human right of dignity and need to be made illegal. They are a disgusting, and sad, symptom of a crippled global society. They also pose a far more likely, and far more destructive danger to us than terrorism, because they threaten to destroy our sense that we have the fundamental human right of dignity, which is directly and significantly tied to our individual security.
Agreed, trust is a quantitative grant based in part on the probability of betrayal. My point is that the probability of betrayal is high, easily high enough that I don't want to surrender my God-given right to privacy, my genetic information, or be imaged nude when I travel.
Here's something fascinating: it appears that we in the USA could learn about freedom and human rights from the Germans. The very first sentence in the German Constitution reads:
"Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority." (again from Wikipedia)
Furthermore, and also fascinating:
" 14(3) of the Luftsicherheitsgesetz, which would have allowed the Bundeswehr to shoot down airliners if they are used as weapons by terrorists, was declared unconstitutional mainly on the grounds of human dignity: killing a small number of innocent people to save a large number cannot be legalized since it treats dignity as if it were a measurable and limited quantity."
The Germans are absolutely right. What the hell is wrong with our country?
That's a slippery slope, and IMHO a very scary opinion. You should reconsider it.
And since this is "security theater", not real security, the only purpose, public or otherwise, here is to subjugate us, humiliate the individual, and make a mockery of our natural, God-given rights - like Dignity, which is one of them. Ask Amnesty International. Or Wikipedia.
We have become a nation of cowards, content only to live in abject fear, butchering all of what it has ever meant to be free, and our cowardice will only continue to destroy us.
The fact of the matter is that this NSA program was illegal. The Newsweek article suggests that several high-ranking members of the Justice Department were aware that the program was illegal, and did nothing to stop it.
Such a violation of the law represents a fundamental failure of our system of government to protect the rights of its citizenry. Because the Bush administration has willfully broken the law, the federal government no longer has the moral right or authority to govern the people of the United States.
Barack Obama needs to take drastic steps, including impeachment and prosecution of all those within the Bush administration who have broken the law, if he wishes to restore the validity and authority of the federal government.
How sad that of all the entities that can see benefit in defacing Wikipedia, the one that does it is our own government - which is supposed to exist for the general good. A sure sign that the U.S. culture of corruption is out of control. It trickles down from the top, doesn't it?
You drank all the Kool-Aid, didn't you? Don't watch Fox News, they are filling your head with bullshit.
I think Bush is responsible for royally fucking up our Katrina recovery.
"And, oh yeah, we haven't had any terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11."
Yes, that's because the threat of terrorism is greatly exaggerated. As I mentioned before, I am far more afraid of people who give this president free reign to wipe his ass with our Constitution just because we're perpetually in fear.
WE ARE COWARDS. Stand up for justice, and don't make vaguely genocidal statements such as "the Muslim extremist wants to kill us all". Perhaps the Christian extremists want to kill all Muslims? I certainly have met people saying things like that. I hope you all kill each other, I just wish you didn't fucking wreck my country in the process.
Yes, nothing has made me want to buy guns more than the Bush administration's wanton disregard for the rule of law. George Bush is a criminal, has repeatedly, intentionally violated the law of the land, and he belongs in jail.
Things in Iraq are much, much worse for the average person than before our invasion. And that's those that have survived - nearly an entire generation of Iraqis has been wiped out. See http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1 104 And it's going to get worse. I agree that Saddam was a Bad Guy(tm), but the cold reality is that military force is simply incapable of changing a society for the better. Why the hell didn't we just buy Iraq instead of bomb it to smithereens? That would have been cheaper, and more effective.
I have a neighbor, who works for Boeing, who claimed that the loss of life in Iraq was an acceptable consequence of our need to support his company and the military-industrial complex as a whole. That, my friend, equates to killing people for money, which I equate to mass murder, not war. It's one of the most despicably immoral things I've ever heard.
So are we really such cowards that we have to abandon our most sacred principles in the name of our fear of terrorism? I, for one, am not afraid of "terrorists". What I am afraid of is the effect that this fear is having on our society.
Our cowardice makes me ashamed to be an American. Because being an American is supposed to be about having courage, and standing up for justice - the only way to create real freedom.
No, really - I consider myself a patriot and would much rather take a stand toward reforming the US government and restoring our Constitution, which as I'm sure you've noticed is no longer anything but a joke. But this, of course, is easier said than done. And the harsh reality of the situation is that our government exists not to preserve and maintain the liberties of its citizens, but to protect the interests of the military-industrial complex and some other powerful entities. As a result we are not acting as a force for enlightenment and justice but instead as a force for some very bad things - I would even use the word evil. For profit. That is the definition of corruption. So yes, it does make me ashamed to be an American - ashamed that it has happened, and ashamed that we as a whole are unable to do anything to better our government, because frankly we suffer from cowardice.
If you have a way to fix that, please let me know - I'm all ears.
Come to think of it, maybe our obsession with religion and mistrust of science is the reason we haven't been contacted by more intelligent species yet. Maybe they're waiting to see if we all nuke one another out of existence because of religious and race wars (!)
It's disgusting to think that we would bring our savage and brutish religions to the table if we met an exterrestrial race. Trying to convert another race to our religions will make us look as undeveloped, foolish, infantile, and irrational as all the missionaries that have gone to Iraq recently to try to convert the Muslims to Christianity.
If we communicate with another intelligent species, that communication must be based on science, and celebrate scientific understanding instead of the fear and confusion that truly is religious faith.
Slashdot Mirror
Robert Gates said that the release of the WikiLeaks documents may damage our reputation in Afghanistan.
Perhaps it is rather the fact that we kill people and lie about it that damages our reputation in Afghanistan.
We have a right to be informed, because if the public is misled, democracy itself becomes false.
Those who fear the truth are not fit to lead.
Maybe we should get the fuck out of their country.
...just another civilian torture device. It's 2010, and it's dystopian.
These scanners are an outrageous affront to the natural human right of dignity and need to be made illegal. They are a disgusting, and sad, symptom of a crippled global society. They also pose a far more likely, and far more destructive danger to us than terrorism, because they threaten to destroy our sense that we have the fundamental human right of dignity, which is directly and significantly tied to our individual security.
Agreed, trust is a quantitative grant based in part on the probability of betrayal. My point is that the probability of betrayal is high, easily high enough that I don't want to surrender my God-given right to privacy, my genetic information, or be imaged nude when I travel.
Even in the United States of America, given our track record.
Anyone who believes that this is the land of the free, or the home of the brave, is a fool.
about this steady stream of idiots who are willing to mindlessly trust the government. Have the horrible lessons of the twentieth century already been forgotten?
Here's something fascinating: it appears that we in the USA could learn about freedom and human rights from the Germans. The very first sentence in the German Constitution reads:
"Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority." (again from Wikipedia)
Furthermore, and also fascinating:
" 14(3) of the Luftsicherheitsgesetz, which would have allowed the Bundeswehr to shoot down airliners if they are used as weapons by terrorists, was declared unconstitutional mainly on the grounds of human dignity: killing a small number of innocent people to save a large number cannot be legalized since it treats dignity as if it were a measurable and limited quantity."
The Germans are absolutely right. What the hell is wrong with our country?
That's a slippery slope, and IMHO a very scary opinion. You should reconsider it.
And since this is "security theater", not real security, the only purpose, public or otherwise, here is to subjugate us, humiliate the individual, and make a mockery of our natural, God-given rights - like Dignity, which is one of them. Ask Amnesty International. Or Wikipedia.
We have become a nation of cowards, content only to live in abject fear, butchering all of what it has ever meant to be free, and our cowardice will only continue to destroy us.
Thank you for posting this, you are 100% right on the money.
Just imagine some TSA creeps snickering at an image of your girlfriend's, your father's or your mother's naked body.
We are all endowed with certain inalienable rights, including the right not to be examined nude en masse by the government when we travel.
Dignity is an essential human right. How dare we sacrifice it to terror?
Freedom? Yeah, right!
If Watts' account is even close to correct, those agents belong in fucking jail.
Thank you for saying this! Are cops today really such cowards that they have to bash someone's head in at the drop of a hat?
There is, in fact, a technical term for these legislators:
Douchebags.
Our system of jurisprudence in this country, and therefore any sense of American "freedom" is, frankly, complete bullshit.
Get used to it.
The fact of the matter is that this NSA program was illegal. The Newsweek article suggests that several high-ranking members of the Justice Department were aware that the program was illegal, and did nothing to stop it.
Such a violation of the law represents a fundamental failure of our system of government to protect the rights of its citizenry. Because the Bush administration has willfully broken the law, the federal government no longer has the moral right or authority to govern the people of the United States.
Barack Obama needs to take drastic steps, including impeachment and prosecution of all those within the Bush administration who have broken the law, if he wishes to restore the validity and authority of the federal government.
How sad that of all the entities that can see benefit in defacing Wikipedia, the one that does it is our own government - which is supposed to exist for the general good. A sure sign that the U.S. culture of corruption is out of control. It trickles down from the top, doesn't it?
"Have you not noticed the Muslim extremist's stated objective of killing every non-Muslim? I for one would rather live."
I would rather die than commit a genocide, or rape our Constitution. But then, I am not a coward. You apparently are.
See http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2007/08/viscus i_on_risk.html
It's a scam. The War on Terror is not about protecting anybody, it's about keeping Americans afraid. We are captors of our own cowardice.
You drank all the Kool-Aid, didn't you? Don't watch Fox News, they are filling your head with bullshit.
I think Bush is responsible for royally fucking up our Katrina recovery.
"And, oh yeah, we haven't had any terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11."
Yes, that's because the threat of terrorism is greatly exaggerated. As I mentioned before, I am far more afraid of people who give this president free reign to wipe his ass with our Constitution just because we're perpetually in fear.
WE ARE COWARDS. Stand up for justice, and don't make vaguely genocidal statements such as "the Muslim extremist wants to kill us all". Perhaps the Christian extremists want to kill all Muslims? I certainly have met people saying things like that. I hope you all kill each other, I just wish you didn't fucking wreck my country in the process.
Yes, nothing has made me want to buy guns more than the Bush administration's wanton disregard for the rule of law. George Bush is a criminal, has repeatedly, intentionally violated the law of the land, and he belongs in jail.
1 104 And it's going to get worse. I agree that Saddam was a Bad Guy(tm), but the cold reality is that military force is simply incapable of changing a society for the better. Why the hell didn't we just buy Iraq instead of bomb it to smithereens? That would have been cheaper, and more effective.
Things in Iraq are much, much worse for the average person than before our invasion. And that's those that have survived - nearly an entire generation of Iraqis has been wiped out. See http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=
I have a neighbor, who works for Boeing, who claimed that the loss of life in Iraq was an acceptable consequence of our need to support his company and the military-industrial complex as a whole. That, my friend, equates to killing people for money, which I equate to mass murder, not war. It's one of the most despicably immoral things I've ever heard.
So are we really such cowards that we have to abandon our most sacred principles in the name of our fear of terrorism? I, for one, am not afraid of "terrorists". What I am afraid of is the effect that this fear is having on our society.
Our cowardice makes me ashamed to be an American. Because being an American is supposed to be about having courage, and standing up for justice - the only way to create real freedom.
Not a bad idea - Canadian girls are HOT!
No, really - I consider myself a patriot and would much rather take a stand toward reforming the US government and restoring our Constitution, which as I'm sure you've noticed is no longer anything but a joke. But this, of course, is easier said than done. And the harsh reality of the situation is that our government exists not to preserve and maintain the liberties of its citizens, but to protect the interests of the military-industrial complex and some other powerful entities. As a result we are not acting as a force for enlightenment and justice but instead as a force for some very bad things - I would even use the word evil. For profit. That is the definition of corruption. So yes, it does make me ashamed to be an American - ashamed that it has happened, and ashamed that we as a whole are unable to do anything to better our government, because frankly we suffer from cowardice.
If you have a way to fix that, please let me know - I'm all ears.
This kind of shit makes me ashamed to be an American.
Wow - I'm *really* not going to be buying any more CDs anytime soon, then. Way to go EMI, gutting your own business and all!
Come to think of it, maybe our obsession with religion and mistrust of science is the reason we haven't been contacted by more intelligent species yet. Maybe they're waiting to see if we all nuke one another out of existence because of religious and race wars (!)
It's disgusting to think that we would bring our savage and brutish religions to the table if we met an exterrestrial race. Trying to convert another race to our religions will make us look as undeveloped, foolish, infantile, and irrational as all the missionaries that have gone to Iraq recently to try to convert the Muslims to Christianity.
5 409469/qid=1084454712/sr=8-2/ref=pd_ka_2/002-92996 28-6892005?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
If we communicate with another intelligent species, that communication must be based on science, and celebrate scientific understanding instead of the fear and confusion that truly is religious faith.
If this post made you angry, please read this book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/034