Privacy Wars

February 18, 2009 at 12:10 pm (Rants, Things Worth Discussing, Uncategorized) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

So, in light of this whole Facebook ordeal (Facebook website changing its policy and user agreement to say they pretty much own anything you put on their site) I have been thinking about privacy rights and our rights as Americans. Being an American means you lend the government the right to control various aspects of your life under the belief that this government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Therefore, we oughtn’t have reason to believe that the government, which technically is ourselves, has anything but our best interest at heart. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case.

My attention has also been drawn to news reports of police charging teenagers (as in, high school age kids) with child pornography and solicitation of a minor and a myriad of other serious crimes and even felonies for sending nude photos of themselves to other teens. Now, I have no problem with them being charged with something more like a misdemeanor count or something, but felony charges? Really??? One of the articles mentioned that these charges would go on their “Confidential Permanent Record”. That’s what really hit me.  Why the &(#$ do we, as Americans have “Confidential Permanent Records”? Who said THEY could keep tabs on US?

Now I can understand, somewhat, the need to catalog someones criminal past up to a certain extent. But notice I use the word “criminal”. Misdemeanor misconduct like sending a nude shot of yourself to someone else (solicited or otherwise) should not constitute being marked so that you can’t get certain jobs, you have to announce to the world you are a sex offender when you change residences, etc. etc. It’s an outrage and it is a clear violation of our rights as Americans.  This is almost as insulting as the NSA wire-tapping that took place following 9-11. Unfortunately, no one is standing up to this the way some of the telecom giants stood up to the feds.

To borrow some words from an excellent article I read on The Guardian’s website, “In their book Born Digital, John Palfrey and Urs Gasser review the characteristics of “digital natives,” those who were born (after 1980) into the digital age – those who have never known life without the internet. These kids have “digital dossiers,” which begin with their first ultrasound and continuing throughout their life. By the time they reach adulthood these children will have rich digital files, ripe for privacy violations and information mining. The authors liken aspects of the dossier to a tattoo, something personally identifiable and often regrettable, perhaps a racy photo a teen posts on MySpace. Palfrey and Gasser ask, will “digital natives” worry about privacy as we know it? Or do they have a completely different view of what privacy is, shaped by the societal changes wrought by the digital age?”. The whole article can be read here : http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/17/privacy-children-internet-digital. I think that’s a very good point and something a bit eerie to consider. It is never a good thing to have so much personal information be so very public. What will the future be like when you can simply google someone’s name and get all their information, life history even baby pictures? The idea of poor choice pictures posted on the internet being available to anyone and everyone is a frightening thought. Especially here in the US where a picture on a web-based community website can prevent you from getting a job or even get you fired as has been the case in several instances in which the pictures ranged from sexy (albeit clothed) pictures of a school teacher to (yet another teacher) brandishing a fire arm. What is really harmful is that no one seems to be concerned about the context in which the photos are taken and I don’t expect there will be any change in that in the future.  I think all in all, it’s just safer to try and be as opaque and as invisible as possible when it comes to the internet.

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It’s Been A While…

February 12, 2009 at 1:32 pm (Rants, Things Worth Discussing, Uncategorized) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

Okay, time for a brief update before I break into another rant. I am all moved in to my new place and I like it for the most part. There are things about it that annoy me (like the apparently INSANE guy living upstairs who opens and closes his sliding glass door 24/7 over and over and over again!) but for the most part it feels like home. Sort of. I’m working on the finishing touches- wall coverings, plants, etc.

I am also getting some schoolwork done these days. One class is more or less a dissertation course and the other is a class solely on Chaucer which makes me want to eat paint and dive in front of moving vehicles.

The weather here is unseasonably warm- mid70s- and we are expecting snow next week. This is why I hate this state so much. My sinuses have been on a roller-coaster ride from hell.

Ok, now that that’s out of the way…

I was on facebook today (I hate social networking sites, but its not a bad way to keep touch with people) and I saw some posts from a friend of my cousin who is a raging republican. His posts addressed (essentially) Media Bias and Government Spending Bills to recover the economic fallout which he tied to a comparison between the current US situation and the Japanese economic failure in the 90s.  I already rebutted his statements, but it got me thinking and this blog is where I do most of my thinking in writing… so here we go:

First off, media bias. I hate to break it to everyone out there, but if what you are reading has any advertisements in it, then it is biased. That is just how it works folks. That’s why when you cite sources of research in school most of your sources are academic journals, professional journals or the like. They are reputable sources because they are not influenced by the threat of some other company that is paying the bills pulling out their dollars because they didn’t agree with something that showed up in print. You can’t get any real opinions or any news that might be controversial from regular newspapers because most of them don’t want to print something that might cause a sponsor to pull out.

Speaking of sponsors, it s a good idea to know the chain of command in the corporate world as it relates to your news outlets. NBC is owned by General Electric. General Electric is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of nuclear power components. It then begins to make a lot of sense as to why you never see anything on the news that shows nuclear power as anything other than a “clean, renewable, green energy source”. When it comes to things like this, only the government gets to override the companies. That’s why when you hear the word nuclear on TV and it isn’t followed by a promotion as an alternative power source, it is followed by the word “bomb” or “missile”. The government still loves to play that nuclear apocalypse fear card when things get rough. Fear is the second greatest tool of control.

If you are concerned about liberal or conservative bias in your news, you should probably go stand in front of a bus as you have been effectively brain-washed and have no real opinions. If you think the republicans and democrats are separate parties, you are wrong. They are so much alike it is absurd. And where do they differ? On issues that the government has no place in being involved with such as marriage and abortion. They can oversee it as much as they want, but they have no right to tell you yes you can or no, you can’t. The only other notable difference is that the dems are honest about who they are and the republicans are not. Regan, HW and GW Bush ran as “fiscal conservatives” and then ran up insane deficits. Clinton had a surplus, but I see Obama running a deficit. The way I see it, these guys are the same party and just differ on tiny, relatively inconsequential points.

Now… the economy. Let it collapse. If you think the free market will fix it, then let the free market fix it and screw the bailouts. The way I see it, modern banking is effectively the same deal as the system of secret treaties between european nations that led to the first world war (not the cause, but the cause of its escalation). Only this time, instead of war, we are all getting drawn into poverty. As popular as the saying is, no one seems to ever learn from history.

Now, if you are one who thinks it is the government’s job to save these failing banks and whatnot, then congratulations- you are either a communist or a socialist (the same difference as republicans and democrats). I could jump off here and start a whole other rant, but I will refrain for now.  The point I want to make to this group of people is, why SHOULD the government bail out these people? Because if they don’t there’s gonna be, what? CONSEQUENCES??? You’re damn right there will be, and there better be. I maintain that the proper way to have handled this is to make the companies and ONLY the companies pay for this. Those boardmembers and CEOs should have had to claim personal bankruptcy as well as commercial and the proceeds from the liquidation of their personal assets should go to pay unemployment to all the workers who lost their jobs as a result of the higher-ups’ irresponsibility. The company’s assets should have been liquidated and any loans they owned under X (say, $150,000?) amount should have been absolved. All others should have been sold to other companies still in business. The loans that were made on those crooked adjustable rate mortgages should be refinanced as fixed rate mortgages. Other than a couple weeks of unemployment, the government wouldn’t have paid a dime. Now, since a lot of local governments and other state and national owned operations got caught up in the mess, those loans should be bought out by the government and absorbed into the national debt since they are, after all, government owned. We were paying the bill for them anyway, might as well continue to do so. These would be refinanced as well.

I think that is all for now.  My brain hurts.

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Inauguration Day Perspectives

January 20, 2009 at 3:10 pm (Things Worth Discussing, Uncategorized) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

It is now about 1:30pm Eastern time. I am writing from Richmond, Va- a mere 2 hours from the enormous crowds that arrived to witness, in person, the historic inauguration of America’s first African-American president.  As I watched the event live on the television I couldn’t ignore the feeling of a rising hope for the direction in which (hopefully) our country is now headed. I voted for Obama in the recent election. Not because I bought into the hype and not because I wanted to see an African-American president (though I admit I was interested in the difference of perspective). I saw the way his speaking inspired people. He was the most eloquent speaker of the Democratic party’s candidates. It was my personal hope that, if nothing else, his ability to inspire and bring people together under a common goal would be enough to move us forward into a more positive era.  That being said, more so than at any other time up to this point, I was moved and filled with hope by his inaugural address. I felt that many things were said that needed to be said and several different aspects of this historic event were acknowledged. I appreciated that he acknowledged the significance of his being the first black president, but I also appreciated that it was not the focal point of the day. I feel that race is a minor issue in these times (though not entirely unimportant), especially in comparison to the enormity of the importance that we have a clean slate on which to start a new chapter in history and perhaps the ability to undo much of the damage that has been incurred in the past 8 years.

Moving on, there were many things about this inauguration which were memorable. From the speakers to the speeches and the performances.

The John Williams piece as performed by the quartet which included Pearlman and YoYo Ma was incredible.

Having Aretha Franklin perform was a nice touch (I would have preferred Gladys Knight or Tina Turner personally, but no complaints).

The gentleman that gave the benediction was fantastic. He had a voice that suited the purpose and the words which he spoke. I think this was my favorite part of the inauguration. His words were wise, and beautiful and gracious. He had a perfect blend of sombreness and lightheartedness. I appreciated that he closed with a bit of a laugh.

I think HW Bush’s outfit was a bit… odd. The furry beaver hat a-la Moscow, combined with his purple scarf and (yellow?) shirt made it look like he was part of the Moscow Lakers… I couldn’t help but laugh each time I saw him.

All in all, I think this was better than we had all anticipated it to be. I think what is most important now is to look ahead and for Obama to pick his first few actions very carefully. I think it will be very important that his first several tasks succeed. I think if there are many failures early on it may shatter the image and spend the hope of all who have waited for the promised change. It will be pivotal to have some small successes right off the bat to help support the promise of hope.

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A Pox, A Plague… A Cold.

January 14, 2009 at 11:00 am (Rants, Things Worth Discussing, Uncategorized) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

Well, it’s been a while… a long while, in fact, since last I was sick. I am not certain as to what I have caught this time around and since I have no health insurance I suppose I won’t be finding out (at least not through the regular venues of sickness diagnosis).

Here’s the deal…

It started with a sore throat and pretty intense body aches. A day later we added a cough and the sore throat got bad enough that I started to suspect strep. Two days later everything stayed more or less the same. The body aches were less, but then I WAS on a steady diet of Theraflu. To their credit, that stuff works AMAZINGLY well and tastes better than everything else I had tried.  3 days later the sore throat began to fade and I developed a small cough. Day 4- Sore throat gone. Body aches in the morning and the coughing went from a 1 to a 5.  Day 5- Today I feel like someone clubbed me in my sleep. I have a minimal appetite (I ate a waffle for breakfast regardless of how hungry I though I was… now I feel like dying.) and I am EXHAUSTED! My lungs feel like they have rocks in them and nothing seems to be doing a very good job of loosening the phlegm. I have taken expectorants and mucus thinners… Dimatapp, Robitussin, Day/Nyquil. I get a little bit of relief from them, typically just enough to go on with my day.  The next step is to hook up the vaporizer at night and take a sudafed before bed. That worked last time I had a bad cough and chest congestion.

 

Aside from myself though, it seems a lot of people I know got sick this past weekend. One friend managed to catch what his doctor called a bacterial version of the flu. It came complete with vomiting, dizziness and a fever of 102.7F. Fun times.

My roomates girlfriend also managed to catch something. Her symptoms point to some sort of allergy. wouldn’t be surprised if it was related to our heater. I think the heating ducts are really really dusty. I’ve also looked into changing the filter in the heat pump to a HEPA filter, but for some reason the filter piece of the furnace has been blocked and looks like I would have to do some minor construction work to get to it. Knowing this place, that filter has probably never been changed. I should call the local news station down to check this place out. Air leaks at all the windows and doors, bad heater, bad water heater, exposed wall sockets… I smell potential lawsuit.

And I COULD use some extra $$$. haha. Oh, America…Land of frivolous lawsuits and wreckless self gain at another’s expense.

I think if I don’t get rid of this cough soon I am just gonna die so I don’t have to deal with it anymore. My abs and ribs hurt soooooo bad from the incessant coughing.

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Holiday Thoughts

December 23, 2008 at 12:23 pm (Family, Friends, Relationships, Things Worth Discussing, Uncategorized) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

Christmastime has always been a favorite of mine. I consider myself to be a holder of Christian beliefs, but I don’t observe the holiday as a religious holiday (in all honesty, I don’t see how one could seeing as it is an amalgam of purely Catholic beliefs and pagan rituals…but that is a discussion for another time). I’ve been more a fan of the general spirit of togetherness, family and of course- blinking lights.

In recent years I’ve noticed a decline in my excitement for the holiday season. Currently, it is two days before Xmas and I just am not feeling it. No excitement. No anticipation. It feels like just another week out of the year. In the realization of this indifference to the season I have been wondering what has lead me to this point? How could something I once loved and was excited for become something that is about to pass me by with little notice?

Iv’e thought long and hard. Some of the answer is obvious. It’s been a rough year, for one. My grandfather, with whom I spent my first adult Christmas last winter (I had not seen him for 18 years) passed away in July of a sudden heart attack. I have a whole other post devoted to that incident so I will not waste time by going into details here. Suffice to say that it was hard to come to terms with and it is something with which I still struggle.

In addition to that my mom’s second marriage has collapsed. My stepdad has been nothing if not vengeful and childish over the entire matter which started over his inability to leave things in the past and move on. He deserves a post all to himself, but I wouldn’t waste my time on it. Caught in the fray is my younger brother (half brother in reality, but I never even considered that nor did it cross my mind until the divorce proceedings began). Mom and I have done all we can to keep life for him as normal as can be. His father is witholding money from my mom who only works part time as a pharmacy tech. , so money is tight for her. To help out, she and I go half and half on gifts for my brother. When you are that young presents matter and I understand that. I want him to have everything I had growing up and more. Much more.

Also, I was supposed to be married this year. The marriage was set to take place in October. It was called off in July and the relationship between me and my once-fiancee went back and forth for a while. Now we realize that we love one another, but I am struggling with the desire to settle down and the desire to be on my own. As a result I have decided to take the next year to live on my own. I’m still wondering if that was the right decision.

Something else that has led to my decline in interest for this season has been the steady falling away from family that has occured over the last several years. My mom’s sister and her family (a large family) live about an hour north of my mom and I. I don’t think they’ve been face to face this year. Sometimes her sister calls, but that’s not the same. I’ve become a little disgust with them as mom’s relationship problems have gotten worse. There have been times that I was the only person around she could talk to. I try to be as helpful as I can, but I’ve never dealt with issues like hers. Your mom isn’t supposed to come to YOU for advice. That’s just not how it works. Still, I think the dissolution of our close nit family (we were at one time, I think) has hurt me more than anything. Family has always been important to me. To have them just remove themselves from your life without a word of warning has been surprising and hard to take.

As if all that wasn’t enough, my 20 year old, heavily indebted sister got pregnant shortly after thanksgiving. Bad news. Bad timing. She just started a new job that is NOT secure by any means and her boyfriend, who was working on starting his own landscaping business, had to go work for his father. I think they will be alright, but not as well off as they could have been. She’s been making really bad decisions lately and its so hard to watch your sister ruin her life by ignoring everything she’s been told, manipulation others, and generally wasting the little help that’s been offered her. The sad part is, she can’t help herself and no one else is in a position to help her. I hope her boyfriend is as good a man as he seems. She’s going to test his patience for sure.

All of these things have combined and served as a dividing force amongst the many facets of my family and their lives. As someone who has held closeness of family as one of the most important factors in his life, this rapid dissolution has been hard to deal with. Though I know it is not the case, I can’t help but feel like I am alone. The holiday has become hollow. I long for the days when we had 30-some family members gathered around the tree and the fire and we ate and drank and talked and traded gifts. I think if I could have one wish it would be to able to have ALL my family and friends come together for a couple days over the holiday and share some time together. I’d give up any hope of being fiscally affluent, or any chance of being a well-known writer, artist or photographer. I’d live my days out alone if I could have this one wish. Nothing seems more important and right now, nothing seems more distant. Every holiday song about family and togetherness reminds me of the way things were and the way things no longer are. I had to be the sad one on such a happy holiday, but these thoughts have possesed me and I am unable to let go of them. I suppose there is time yet to make this work. Indeed, I consistently struggle onward to achieve this end. It is my hope that one day I will be capable of bringing us all together for a few days out of the year.

That being said, I wish to say something that is not a complaint. I want everyone out there that happens to read this to take a moment and, if you do have family and friends close by this season, tell them how much they mean to you. Let them know that their presence is valued. Don’t lose touch. Ignore all the holiday frustrations and take a deep breath. Ease your mind with the thought that for all you have endured there are others around you who are there to carry you when the road is too hard to walk. Not everyone is so fortunate.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah’s and Happy New Year to everyone.

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