Freedom Riders

DeathWatch Part Whatever: Being functionally literate in America

greengoddess — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 18:58:30 +0000

Reichstag, Berlin, Germany (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The reason I am continuing this Deathwatch Series (and I hope the sequals keep getting better) is that my own situation mirrors rather exactly what is happening to this country.

If you might think I’m off my rocker, let me just tell you what I found out about today.

Elizabeth Warren‘s takedown of financial regulators made for great TV, has been posted on You Tube, among other places, and already has a million views.

As someone who has personally been involved in both sitting in and filming Congressional testimony, not to mention do happen to be one of the minority viewers in this country who occassionally still turns into C-SPAN for entertainment (the last classic I recall is one Henry Waxman doing a takedown over the Hatch Act (the law that requires all federal employees to not campaign for candidates at work for obvious reasons). It was fabulous.

So was the Warren questioning of the regulators.

The difference of course is that this time, C-SPAN actually got a “hit audience.” Right up there with YouTube who of course commercialized it.

Normally, that would be time to cheer (minus the fact that YouTube is commercializing government clips which is profoundly disturbing). One might think the public are finally getting hip that what is going on behind closed doors (if not the White House press corps, who are reportedly furious at their lack of access to presidential events like oh, golf games with Tiger Woods).

The problem is, that this is all distraction from what is really going on.

Yes, watching a woman who was supposedly ambushed in DC for daring to ask that financial regulation take place now in the Senate grilling the same idiots supposed to be on guard, as well as, frankly, the FREAKING WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS complaining that they couldn’t get a photo opp of the President playing golf with a famous black golfer, is actually just the same.

Entertainment and false drama. Or “reality politics.”

Either way, also called distraction if not very clever propoganda.

Who the hell cares who Obama is playing golf with? I’d rather see the press corps, White House or not, get PO’d at Obama for his fricking drone policy, his secrecy policies, and all sorts of “conspiracy theories” suddenly going, um, excuse the public health if not IT reference, viral. Oh, and if you think that’s the only thing I want Obama to talk about, wrong. That’s just the fricking start of it. More on that list (but by no means complete), FISA, Drone Policy (domestic and overseas), the Kill List, No Accountability, Lies, Extreme Secrecy, etc. and ad nauseum.

Second issue. There are now all sorts of videos all over You Tube and the Internet in general of how Sandy Hook was staged by actors all over YouTube. Who benefits? Google. They have ads on those too.

Who the hell knows what is going on there? Not to mention all those “conspiracy theories” about 9/11, if not of course historical “conspiracy theories” like the “magic bullet” etc. The point here is that the more “conspiracy theories” there are, the easier it is to dismiss them. And there’s been a dramatic increase in these since that date. Which means two things. We are distracting ourselves. Or buying into distraction served up by the very people we trust and elect to look out for us to distract us from what’s going on behind closed doors and under the proverbial covers.

So let’s start with Aaron Schwartz and the “conspiracy theory” (also called very freaking suspicious in a real sense), that he was murdered by the government he just embarressed if not called out.

How come you can’t find Aaron Schwartz’s testimony to Congress anywhere on US Google? Or YouTube for that matter? I mean hell, that kind of smackdown would be GREAT for advertisers. Why isn’t it on You Tube?

Why not I ask again?

I mean the country is ready for a takedown in some of the worst possible ways, including the exciting news that posse commitatis in the form of police surveillance drones is about to go down the tube. That means the police force is now being militarized in the most direct way. And the public is tuning into C-SPAN in record numbers to see some whup ass. So why then would the takedown of Congress by Schwartz not be available at least on US Google, but alot of rather staged BS is instead?

The reason is that Schwartz, who most reasonably functionally literate people believe was killed by the government (which also means computer literate or a tiny fraction of the population), gave a smackdown in HIS Congressional testimony about the LACK of functional literacy in this country, and wiped the committee’s rear end all over the map. And Congress if not our ruling elite, don’t want YOU to see that.

Why is this important?

To be “functionally literate” as opposed to “literate literate”(as in being able to read written writing) means by definition that you know how your world operates. If you haven’t figure this out by now, not being computer literate is the definition of being functionally illiterate, simply because the Internet has become the global operating system (or OS) of our planet. That’s what Schwartz testified about and why nobody wants you to see this in the US.

If you don’t know that, you don’t know how your world works.

And today, that is extremely dangerous.

Politics is not “reality TV.”

And when it starts to be, as it clearly is (starting with that “nutcase” John Stewart who I find very effective and funny) you have the slide into something else.

When Politics becomes “reality TV” that means that you are watching propoganda.

A tactic used very successfully for years, since propoganda via media literacy was perfected by one Adolph Hitler.

Bottom line. I don’t care if Sandy Hook was an “airbrushed” conspiracy, with supposed actors being put in front of cameras, some wierd ass video of three shooters (also on You Tube). I don’t care really, about a Congressional grilling that ain’t going nowhere.

What I’m concerned about is that this country is ready for change but being deliberately confused about how to do it, if not kept deliberately uninformed or scared out of one’s wits.

And unless we understand exactly how our government (also called America’s OS) works, we as the people will be destracted to death because if you don’t know how something works (or doesn’t) you have no idea about how to “fix it.”

Bottom line, what you are seeing is a government increasingly beyond the reach if not ken of the people it is supposed to be accountable for, kill lists, and “Reichstag Fires” all over the place for one very simple reason.

We either change our OS, or we will be game over.

Whether it’s described as a “bug splat” (the military’s term for piloting remote drones to kill people), a video game, or a distraction. Or a “conspiracy theory.” Or say a fire in a major government building. Just like what happened in a country called Germany about 80 years ago.

What’s coming, I am really afraid now, is the next version if not incarnation of a German midget with a funny mustache) who did the same things in a place called Germany during the 1920′s to 1945.

Is Obama Hitler?

Nah.

But his policies and this country are becoming increasingly dangerous just because we can’t see under the covers and Congress if not the White House is no longer the servant of the people.

It considers itself the people’s master.

And when that happens, democracy is toast.

Or burnt to a crisp in the current day, new millenium version of “The Reichstag Fire.” The event, for those of you without a background in Jewish history, know, was the staged event that allowed Hitler to take out the Weimer Republic and replace himself as “The Fuhrer.”

Where do you think we are, given this information, on the Reichstag scale right now?

I’ll leave you pondering with that thought for the day.

Now back to other pressing issues.

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The Tragedy of Oscar Pistorius – AKA The Trials of The Golden Gimp with Blades of Clay

greengoddess — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:43:06 +0000

Oscar Pistorius (Photo credit: Elvar Freyr)

For those of you who know the real significance of London 2012 last year, specifically two athletes with disabilities competed in both the “real” Olympics and the Paralympics, you might immediately know what I am referring to.
Despite the fact that Pistorius was brave, went through all kinds of hell to get INTO the “real” Olympics (when medically, this was stupid, since those who know what they are talking about know that the “controversy” about the spring in his specially designed racing prosthetics, was actually bogus as he also lacked enough muscle and bone mass in his upper legs to benefit and actually had to work harder) and given the lion’s share of attention because he is white, good looking, from South Africa (and not Korea), and despite not winning a medal (like the blind Korean archer who hit the bullseye in archery at a distance 3/4ths of an American football field, and walked off with the Gold, while Pistorius made it to semi finals, there are a couple of issues I feel compelled to address.

1. The Olympics have always been politicized. Even if they are meant not to be.
2. The tragedy for Pistorius (who has now been charged with premeditated murder of his model girlfriend late last week) is that he is as much of a victim of discrimination if not more so, simply because he seemed to be the golden boy who turns out had (prosthetic) feet made of, um, the proverbial clay. That is also a product of the stigmatization if not criminalization of disability, and what I want to discuss in this post.

Pistorius is a human being. He is not perfect. He was set up for a failure by people who do not know that what Pistorius did is no different in many ways (although far more visible) than most of us other gimps who might not get any credit for what we do, but face the same issues, and never had any of the advantages he had, which included a rich father, parents who supported the (extremely expensive) prosthetics, surgery, and training required.

And also like many “stage” parents, don’t understand the toxicity of global fame.

Pistorius also hails from a country (South Africa) which is just about as violent as the U.S. He grew up with guns, had many around his house, including apparently a machine gun in his bedroom window, and apparently, in a fit of rage, or fearful of an intruder (details are not clear at this point) shot and killed his model girlfriend by shooting through the bathroom door she had slammed shut while apparently running away from him. Complicating the story even more, is that while Pistorius immediately informed a friend he had accidentally shot his girlfriend because he thought she was an intruder, there are now apparently reports from neighbors that say that domestic abuse appears to have been prevalent in this relationship and one other who is now going public.

Even more complicating is that the reality remains that any gimp is an automatic target for violence. Trust me. I know. I’ve been beaten up so many times in the last five years (including by law enforcement officials) that I can’t count. Bottom line. You are a gimp, therefore you are a target. Even if you live in a posh, walled off community.

I never met Pistorius. I only knew what I read about him. I didn’t think he was as perfect as the carefully airbrushed, photoshopped, spun image of him on full display. I also think there are some other things going on here however that bear discussing.

Athletes at that level have certain qualities that most of us don’t have. Specifically, balance, the ability to have fast reflexes, and produce naturally, large quantities of endorphines, adrenaline, and other naturally occuring “drugs” that allow them to be world class athletes in the first place.

The fact that this incident happened on Valentines Day, combined no doubt with deep seated issues that come from not being perfect, not “winning” a medal in the Olympics (although he did a damned good job and won them in the Paralympics), and also being in love, supposedly, with a smart, beautiful girlfriend in a violent society that demeans women and adores guns (just like the US) are all factors in this.

I also think the prosecution is corrupt. I don’t think this was premeditated. It might be accidental manslaughter. And maybe somone with a little sense might have suggested to Pistorius that it wasn’t a good idea to be so heavily armed. Or taken those domestic violence signs seriously.

I think this is a tragedy on all fronts and for everyone.

But it’s also a lesson.

Athletes are athletes. They are not heroes, better than the rest of us, role models, or anything else. They are usually gifted with talents that are there from birth and carefully honed with lots of training and discipline. Holding them to a higher standard is ridiculous in the first place. And global fame is usually always toxic.

The reality is however, that a blind kid from Korea who got far less press attention but walked off with a gold, still proves that “disability” is being finally redefined.

And no matter what success is won on the field of sport, that is no real measure of the person who acheives said goals. Athletes are athletes. They are no different really than construction workers or any other type of manual laborer. Their achievements on a global stage and paychecks are different, but in every other way, it is a job no different than say a bricklayer, a construction worker, or any manual laborer.

Pistorius may spend the rest of his life in jail for reasons that are political (the ANC is a mess and this is exactly the kid of corrupt crap that happens in this country). Pistorius may well have been startled from his sleep and acted out of fear without thinking. Perhaps he woke to hear a noise, did not feel his girlfriend beside him, and immediately went into “athlete” mode, while picking up a gun on the way. Along with a supposed new piece of evidence now released, a bloody cricket bat apparently used to hit his girlfriend.

It could just be an open and shut case of a guy who was cut too much slack, was a risk taker, and born and bred in a society where competitiveness, sport, guns and misogyny and discrimination of all kinds, along with a rich family, allow passes for those who revel in the spotlight but would never be granted in any other situation.

It also sounds like the fact that he was in fact overwhelmed by global fame. Which can be also a trigger for PTSD. And that is why I don’t think this was premeditated, but could have been prevented if people around him treated him normally and intervened in what appears to be a long covered up history of reckless driving, previous domestic violence, love of guns, and pressure of the kind that is not uncommon to say combat soldiers.

Plus, let’s face it. To be an athlete able to compete on a global stage means that Pistorius is fundamentally wired, by birth and training, to be different from most of us. His body naturally produces all sorts of chemicals and in quantities required to compete that most of us don’t have or have chance to develop. That is the way his body is now trained to respond. And unless credible evidence emerges that the issues that led up to this were dealt with (and it appears they were not), this is just another story that is dripping with prejudice and stigma that goes with disability, and reflects how flawed societies are when they are obsessed with guns, extremely violent, and have no respect for women, discriminate with impunity. If not are politically corrupt. The ANC today is disgusting and a far cry from the political party that fought for freedom. That I helped win freedom for in my own way when I put my scholarship on the line at UNC Chapel Hill to force the University and then the entire state of North Carolina, to divest all scholarship funds and state worker pension funds from companies doing business in South Africa. The first Southern State to do it. And considered the tipping point of the change in American support of Apartheid. Particularly because at the time, our senior federal senator from the state, “I’m not really a racist twerp and closeted Klan member” Jesse Helms, who at the time was also head of the Senate foreign relations committee, got the b*tch slap he richly deserved.

But just from what is emerging about process, and what led up to this tragedy sounds alot like us, right here in the good old US of A, doesn’t it?

So watch and learn. Unfortunately for Pistorius, a man facing a death sentence for probably a couple of toxic factors leading up to this that could have easily been addressed by those who now rush to his defense, he may well become a symbol of something far different than he imagined. But the debate I hope this unleashes, no matter what the outcome, is still a “game changer” in the mainstreaming of all of us gimps.

No “gimp” is a hero. No “gimp” is a failure. No “gimp” is less than human than anyone else.

We just act differently, move differently, interpret stimuli differently, are always targets for violence, discrimination and stigma. And when we achieve something the able bodied see as “success” put on a pedastal most of us know we don’t deserve. I know despite the hell that’s been my Kafkaesque existence for the past five years since developing my own disability, that there are other gimps in far worse shape than me. And I’m facing down a death sentence of a month of life left.

I am truly sorry about what happened to Pistorius. But perhaps the golden boy, with the feet of clay blades, will become a symbol for all of us, just not quite in the way everyone expected this to unfold.

Welcome to life.

And welcome to the land of gimp.

More coming soon.

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Death Watch Part III: It Just Gets More Bizarre, Corrupt & Broken. If not, um “Disabled” & “Retarded”

greengoddess — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:30:49 +0000

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So in an effort to engage SOMEONE with common sense in the least aggressive way possible, I actually called the OIG’s office at HUD today (that would be Office of the Inspector General) to try to get some help with the outrage just perpetuated against me by Centralina COG, Jim Prosser, if not other unbelievably corrupt crap going on in these parts, like the non vetting of the developers of the Johnson and Mecklenburg Mills right here in Charlotte.

The situation did not go well from the start.

First, when I called their “Fraud Hotline” which might as well be named “slower than a gimp snail without any wheelchair or other accomodation” since it took me three times to even get through (the phone went dead, the operator told me the line was disconnected and one incident where the phone call did not go through at all (TO A GOVERNMENT FRAUD HOTLINE, ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?), I finally got through to “analyst” numero uno. A kid barely out of college. I just had introduced myself when the line went dead.

I called back and got another uninformed staffer who asked me to put my complaints in writing.

I told her I was tired of writing emails, including to the head of the Sustainability Program (Shelley Poticha) that never got answered, never were acted on, and no I didn’t want to cause a sh*tstorm by actually filing the complaint.

So here is a little piece of writing, that maybe they might pay attention to, rather than filing it in the circular filing cabinet (the trashcan).

HUD has no oversight in North Carolina

HUD recipients of funds are apparently stripping required civil rights laws off at the border (they are required to be down streamed to all recipients).

HUD personnel in North Carolina are absolutely NOT trained to do their jobs that we are all paying them to do. I actually had a senior HUD guy in the region who told me (without shame) yesterday “you know more about this than I do.”

Great. So why exactly are we paying him? And why can’t I get a freaking job, much less a grant I won when I know this crap, worked for free and got screwed over by our local source of toxic waste (I mean HUD grant recipient), the Centralina Council of Governments under one Jim Prosser.

The reality is, for those not in the know, that HUD grant recipients are wasting taxpayer dollars on going to “training conferences” in Washington where they sleep with their eyes open or for some reason think that those “mandatory” issues mentioned in the memo and agenda of said training session I found online (with names of Centralina COG attendees in attendance too) are not so mandatory when nobody is paying attention.

There is NO HUD oversight officer in the state who is competent, trained, does any kind of oversight, much less appears to be able to spell COMPLIANCE, and we are now paying with our tax payer dollars for “low income housing” at $300K per unit and “homeless shelter beds” at $100K a pop.

Prices that might look relatively market norm in say San Francisco (maybe) if not New York (as in Island of Manhattan) but certainly not Charlotte.

And developers who get CDBG block grants for “low income” housing (see above) who are not vetted by anyone and are so corrupt you can spot their illegal crap from space.

So there you have it.

If you want to call and complain too (and have patience to deal with their crappy phone system, if not ignorant front line “analysts” go to it.) THEY NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU.

The URL to go to is http://www.hudoig.gov/

The, um “hotline” number to call to report fraud, waste and abuse is 1-800-347-3735

Good luck, and go to it.

Maybe we can “Occupy” the OIG’s office at HUD.

If not get someone, somewhere in what is known to be possibly the most corrupt government agency (outside DOD) to actually do what they are supposed to do instead of throwing our tax dollars down the toilet to make a few developers rich, increase the tax base because of the disastrous non response to municipal finances caused by the bankers who nobody has punished.

And causing massive suffering, homelessness, and a property bubble that’s going to pop again soon with even more disastrous consequences coming your way soon.

GO AT IT!!!

Remember, if they don’t do their jobs and their phone systems don’t work, that’s your tax dollars going down a deep black hole of BS, corruption, waste and fraud creating more downstream misery for the rest of us.

It might be nice if someone in even the OIG’s office noted that.

IN WRITING.

Or even called me back.

UPDATE

As you can see from the OIG HUD website, no they don’t need written complaints to start an investigation. All they need is a phone call. And since I have now called OIG directly several times, complained to program manager Shelley Poticha, several times, and also called quite a few agencies about this, I should think, per their OWN information, that this would be enough to start an investigation. See below.

Then again, why am I so surprised by bureaucratic inertia? Their phones don’t even work.

Banana Republic anyone? Because clearly the real “criminals” get off scott free, and the rest of us have to deal with broken down phones, undertrained staff, and agencies that don’t even train the people they hire to follow THEIR OWN DEPARTMENTAL POLICIES.

Silly me. I thought we had taxation with representation in this country. I know this is not exactly news, but well, here is another perfect example that well, that’s a lie.

The banks and other big corporate criminals get off for free (and even make profits if not handsome bonuses).

The rest of us are stuck on hold, dialing numbers that don’t work, cut off when they connect, and if in the few seconds you actually speak to a warm body of even median intelligence, they tell you to follow procedures that don’t exist, or are not followed.

I am like, so impressed.

NOT.

Ick. Grody.

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DEATH WATCH PART II: No Oversight, No Compliance. North Carolina defies federal civil rights

greengoddess — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:51:44 +0000

English: State seal of North Carolina (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before I start publishing the illegal crap that is being used throughout North Carolina if not other states to prove how out of compliance this state not country are on basic federal requirements that come with receipt of federal funding, I thought I would introduce the issue in layman’s terms.

1. After escalating to one Shelley Poticha, supposedly the manager of the Sustainability HUD grants several times, I finally got her to ask me to send her a document issued by Centralina COG that is facially discriminatory. In English that means that JUST THIS ONE DOCUMENT was illegal because it required me to give up my right to contest federal civil rights problems in the HUD Sustainability Grant my proposal helped Centralina COG win (the third largest in country in 2011). To wit, when in receipt of ANY federal funds, the ONE no negotiation string attached is that awardees MUST be in compliance with all federal civil rights laws. Those can only be brought in federal court. Any document that says your only source of complaint is county court (as the idiots at Centralina COG and their equally incompetent attorney seem to think does not apply to them, lie when faced with evidence they are wrong, and further deliberately lie to try to make this gimp go away or preferably die) should know, probably do, but think they can get away with breaking anyway because they think I’m stupid, or I’ll die first. Bad idea.

2. Ms. Poticha has so far refused to call me back after I finally got her to agree to take a look at the same (just one of many toxic documents I have which prove that Centralina COG wasted taxpayer dollars to send their staff to DC in February of 2012 and practiced sleeping with their eyes open. I have the agenda. I have the attendees. I even have the suggested hourly rate (which our team was already under). That is a problem. Called “we don’t care if we are out of compliance. We don’t care if you die. We don’t care that civil rights laws are broken. And GO AWAY GIMP.”

3. The amount of bureaucratic BS on every level (federal, state, municipal) is appalling. So is the admission by many who collect salaries from your taxes that they don’t know who runs oversight of COG, who runs oversight of affordable housing, or who is responsible for any oversight, at all, in any agency in either the federal government OR anywhere else is endemic if not horrific. If not should ban all federal funding coming into this state until there is something called EFFECTIVE OVERSIGHT AND COMPLIANCE, and people who are trained to do the same.

4. It is safe to assume, therefore, that ALL federal funding flowing into the state from EVERY federal agency is having those rights cut off at the state border. That is not only illegal, but criminally so.

5. As a corrollary, that means that women, minorities, and people with disabilities are routinely excluded from ALL FEDERAL GRANTS in North Carolina. That means either the state/county/municipal agencies should be barred from receipt of any federal funding at all, pronto by law, OR hire some people who understand oversight and DO THEIR JOBS.

6. Excuses like “we don’t know,” “we don’t know who to send you to,” “you know more than we do,” “we don’t know who oversees X program because we are too lazy, stupid or incompetent to do our jobs” are rampant and yes, that dawg don’t hunt. But that’s what you get when you try to be reasonable. Bureaucrats rarely do their jobs, much less respond effectively to emergency situations. That is also called throwing your tax money down the dark hole of incompetence because naturally nobody except rich, white men (usually) or cronies of those dispersing the funds (usually white, male, 25-45 and make more money than anyone else) get a disproportionate share of federal funding because naturally they are biologically superior, and who on earth would doubt that maybe other people deserve to get equal chances, equal pay, and don’t like the current scenario. Or die because of it.

7. The excuse that “you obviously know more than I do,” “we don’t know what to do or who to refer you to,” or any other idiotic response is also not acceptable. That’s why we pay these people. If they don’t know how to do their jobs, why on earth are they collecting salaries from, you guessed it, YOUR TAX MONEY. ALSO NOT ACCEPTABLE.

8. There is, from what I have seen in my two years in residence in this state, NO COMPLIANCE ANYWHERE. IF NOT NO OVERSIGHT. That means there is a very good chance that every federal grant that comes into the state is stripped of its federal civil rights mandates at the border. It also means, by federal law, that no more should come down here until there is something called OVERSIGHT AND COMPLIANCE.

9. I now have a ticking clock on my lifespan because of this crap. Six weeks in fact. Nobody cares, nobody is doing anything, and what a great way to get rid of a “useless” girl gimp. RIGHT?

10. More coming soon. But as of today, NO FEDERAL, STATE OR MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEE I have called to discuss this with, much less expected action and follow up from has called me back YET.

This is what your “New World Order” looks like from this location on the planet (Charlotte, NC).

Isn’t it great?

More coming soon. Including posting those illegal documents online so you can see how incompetent your government is, and how casually it breaks the law, not to mention how those folks in DC who are supposed to stop this, ARE NOT, HAVE NO INTENTION OF DOING SO AND DO NOT CARE.

Also called pouring more of your federal tax dollars down a useless drain.

We even hear now that Jim Prosser at COG is now wasting more money we helped them win by merely funding his staff to do a request for proposal for in-kind. In other words, people (who must be stupid) are wasting their time for free, to compete to work for the government for free.

Does that make ANY sense to you? Not to mention who on earth would be dumb enough to do it.

I have never heard of anyone, in any culture, at any time, compete to be a slave. And bottom line, that’s what this is about.

Don’t you feel just great?

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Countdown to Death Watch: One Gimp’s Decreasing Deadline to Pushing Up Daisies

greengoddess — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:24:35 +0000

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since North Carolina as a state, if not to mention national non-compliance and corruption that appears to be on rampant display everywhere in America if not globally, is out of compliance with just about if not EVERY civil rights protection if not federal statute designed to protect people with disabilities, we decided to provide a countdown diary that is very personal (mine) to show the devastating consequences of the current situation if not gross non compliance with (in this case) both civil rights laws and a lack of concern for those who suffer the consequences.

I am a person with a disability. I am not “disabled.” For those unfamiliar with the legal mumbo jumbo on the topic, let’s skip the legal eagle geek speak and go straight to the heart of the matter.

Because of said non-compliance or even oversight in NC in particular, which a is a state I am now in residence (if I don’t croak because of these violations if not complete lack of concern or attempt to address the same in less than two months) and is, at this point a federal crime just in my case alone per 18 USC (federal criminal violation of civil rights) has now put a ticking time bomb (figuratively speaking) on my lifespan. I will be lucky to reach my 46th birthday this year which occurs two weeks before the end of Q’1 this year. So I thought it would be a good idea to start the countdown clock in public so you can all see how such activity if not deliberate violation of mandatory civil rights compliance will kill me, and further do so in easy to understand metrics and language for the rest of you.

It’s the least I can do. After all, if I croak because those who could do something about this and haven’t for TWO YEARS ALONE IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, this is perhaps the best and most effective legacy I could possibly leave behind as my last contribution to the planet before I begin pushing up daisies.

Or my salvation, depending on who gets the message that they could end up in jail for life if not face the death penalty under 18 USC (criminal felony charges resulting in mandatory life in the federal big house if not the death penalty themselves if I croak) if they continue to perpetuate such activity and appear to think that compliance is something that does not apply to them. Or apparently don’t even know how to spell it or understand what that word means. After all, it is a three syllable word in a state which literacy leaves alot to be desired.

So here goes.

Since I have been resident in North Carolina for the last two years, I have been continually discriminated against in the most horrific ways. And will run out of money (since I can’t get hired, don’t qualify for benefits (I do actually, but the agencies who are supposed to provide them cook up unbelievably “creative” ways to deny the same) and as a result, I have suffered in appalling ways from ongoing lack of intelligence, action or even awareness from those I have been forced to deal with since I landed here). As a result, there is a very high chance I will die on the street in horrific neuropathic pain, an aneurism, a stroke, paralysis, the inability to speak, or even move as a result, because of (federally illegal) systems that deny me required and mandatory access to medication, food, shelter and a way to support myself since I fall through all the gaps in less than two months if this is not addressed pronto.

1. My family is a disgrace and doesn’t care if I die. In fact they would prefer it that way since it would get rid of the inconvenient fact that they are largely responsible for this situation in the first place. Naming and shaming of said individuals coming soon.

2. There is NO agency in North Carolina (state, county, municipal, etc.) that is in compliance with basic federal civil rights laws which are mandatory, but always overlooked or creatively misinterpreted so I will die. After all, what better and more efficient way to cut costs. Kill people this society throws away, and doesn’t have any interest in since naturally, all gimps like me are a “drain” to society. Or at least that is the prevailing attitude and stereotype on full display, and even more stupidly, perpetuated on paper, websites and public policies that stem from lack of federal oversight, lack of proper training, and a complete disregard for human if not civil rights, much less my life. Or all gimps for that matter, since naturally we are not good for anything except maybe traffic bumps, doorstops or houseplants. And expected to be grateful for even that, um “opportunity.”

2. The Medicaid system in this state in particular is so out of compliance, if not enforcement of all civil rights (from Title VII to the ADA or even the 1973 Rehab Act) is so appallingly widespread that this concept might as well be in another galaxy. We are not even sure they know how to spell COMPLIANCE. At this point, we are not even sure that even government employees directly tasked with compliance and given federal money to address such issues, are even aware of their responsibilities on that score, much less give a damn if their “clientele” dies on them because of their deliberate lack of compliance. After all, what a great way to get rid of people this society considers worthless. RIGHT?

3. Since my biological family moved me back to this state two years ago (and then left me to die), I have been completely unable to access any services from those agencies required to provide them. I have been turned down for mandatory medication under the FEDERAL medically needy persons laws. I have had to fight for TWO YEARS to even get in the door of “Gimp Jobs” (aka Vocational Rehabilitation) where I now am drafting a business plan that will probably only get approved after my death and is also out of compliance, since they assume all gimps are “disabled” and despite a new program designed to get PWDs into their own businesses, the only money they will give you is expenses money, since they assume all gimps exist on SSDI. WRONG. Further, the Centralina Council of Governments has grossly discriminated against me and “fired” me eight months after my proposal won them a large grant with unbelievably toxic paper trails even proving that (but nobody cares about that either) even after I submitted the proposal that won them the entire sustainability grant they were awarded a year ago and are now wasting on bureaucratic make-work activities designed less to implement sustainable communities than expand the bureaucratic “empire” of one Jim Prosser, ED of the Centralina Council of Governments.

And further I can’t get hired for dogcatcher for various reasons which range from overt discrimination, to a seeming lack of understanding that well, if you can’t drive, and do not get access to transportation, nobody will hire me, particularly as the drugs I have to take and prescribed legally by my doctor to control my condition light up every drug test on the planet. Apparently telecommuting is a concept that is light years away in a state not exactly known for compliance with ANY civil rights law, much less IT literacy (or literacy at all for that matter, given the appalling state of our public school system which has consistently ranked in the bottom five to ten states nationally in the education provided. Not to mention the unbelievable lack of compliance of even members of the bar in this state who have actually been stupid enough to tell me (a person who helped pass several relevant laws on these issues in DC twenty years ago) that, for example Section 508 of both the Rehab Act and the ADA (online accessibility) does not apply to either telco or websites other than those one builds for the government. Apparently they missed the CLE classes on the topic, not to mention don’t keep up with national, federal class actions in the last decade which firmly apply this to both the private sector AND the government.

So I have about two months of cash left (MAYBE) and then I get to push up daisies at the ripe old age of 46 (maybe), unless something is done pronto.

So keep tuned. This is about to get even more gruesome unless someone wakes up or even gives a damn.

More details coming soon.

Prepare to be shocked if not horrified.

Welcome to our “New World Order.”

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FINALLY: Obama gets called to task on poverty

greengoddess — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:19:15 +0000

A homeless man in New York with the American flag in the background. (This is an edited version of Image:Homeless – American Flag.jpg, slightly less noise and some overexposure reduced.) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for a story like this to appear.

Not because I like the news (I know the stats all too well) but that rather someone is actually putting this topic into the blogosphere. And perhaps, just perhaps, in a very uncertain year, America if not the Administration will get going on the issue.

The reality is beyond all the photo opps (and there really haven’t been all that many to begin with) Obama has done absolutely NOTHING about the issue of poverty in America.

NOTHING.

He would, like many politicians before and I assume after him, rather focus on the so-called middle class.” A breed that is now endangered, in large part because of both Obama’s complete lack of interest in the topic, if not policies, along with quite a few of his predecessors of both parties for at least since the “war on poverty” was last addressed.

The fact that I’m FINALLY not alone in this assessment, is, however, a bit of a mixed bag of news. The reason I’m happy that this debate is finally being raised is that if it’s not, it’s invisible, and keeps falling off the map.

But you also see, when you honestly look at the issue without Cassandra, rose tinted glasses, how difficult the problems are, how entrenched they have been, and despite (particularly) supposedly “progressive” hand wringing on the topic, it’s been a verbotten topic for a very long time.

The reasons?

“America doesn’t have hunger or homelessness” (per one Edwin Meese)

“Welfare queens rip off the system and live on the “middle class” while having lots of children and driving big expensive cadillacs.” (Anonymous but way too often overheard.)

“Job Creators” should get all the money, because they create (low wage, dead end) service Mcjobs.

“Corporate” welfare is better than “people” welfare (for some unknown reason).

There does not appear to be any attempt to stop the rape of Main Street by Wall Street.

From HUD (who outrageously claims that homelessness is on the decline), along with policies designed to increase homelessness if not drive people out of their homes by their policies, to even more locally, organizations like the NoDa “Community” Meeting, who also claim that $100K is perfectly acceptable to spend on every bed in the first (and only and already overcrowded) woman’s shelter in Char-Meck. If not label $300K housing “low income” (for their own benefit, since a property valuation like this would increase their own property values.).

The reality is also, that the reason the poor remain the poor and more people are sliding into the abyss, is that the people who could actually do something to stem if not address the real problems would rather get rich off exploiting the poor instead.

It’s an age old story.

The poor only have value, if not surface for a second, usually because some grifter wants to get rich off them.

A sentiment aptly summed up lately by Hollis Nixon, NoDa Board President, by claiming to the press, the Mayor, the city council and anyone who actually takes that self absorbed, law breaking idiot seriously, that there were actually “unused” CDBG block grant funds for real low income housing that were “extra” if not “unused” in the city’s budget for the same last year.

Note to Ms. Hollis. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “UNUSED” CDBG LOW INCOME HOUSING FINANCING. Maybe it’s time you recognized that.

I guess it depends on your point of view. Ms. Nixon’s house, not too far from the project she is trying desperately to throw your taxpayer money at in partnership with some of the most corrupt HUD developers we have ever run across, merely to raise her own property value, might have some influence on her stupid, uninformed statements if not defamatory comments to those who call her out on the topic. But she is not the only one. Just the one most local.

In Obama’s “home, adopted state” of Illinois, the “poor” are literally 1/3 of the population. That’s Depression era levels of poverty. The sad fact, however is, that this is a label not just now afixed to the terminally unemployed, but rather those who used to be part of the “storied middle class” every politician only seems to want to talk about while implementing policies that speed the decline of the “species.” If not demographic.

And Obama is no different from his predecessors (of both parties) over at least the last forty years.

The reality is, as most of us know, is that it’s easier to look away than pay attention.

But it’s also reality that most of us also know that one wrong step, and there we walk too.

It’s time to realize that boxes are not for policy thinkers or people who want to find a way out of this. Not to mention are not suitable housing for anyone.

It’s way overdue for all of us to come together, whether or not Washington gets the message (if not out of a deadlock that many don’t see lifting for at least the next two to four years).

Because “the poor” are all of our problems.

If not us, if we are not in the seats of the overpaid, and far too criminal 1%.

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You have to be F’ing Kidding Me. The “Evil Empire” (I mean the White House) denies rumors it’s going to construct a real “Death Star.”

greengoddess — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:09:06 +0000

The second Death Star under construction in Return of the Jedi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you thought things were about to go into hyerspeed, way out, Twilight Zone wierdness this year, don’t worry.

Your prediction has now OFFICIALLY come true. And we’re only into (barely) the second week of the year. Get ready for more zingers. I mean this was barely after we’d stopped laughing at that Trillion Dollar Coin stupidity.

This one however, in light of recent Drone policy (for example) is much more “Death Star” ish, than just plain old stupid. Or hypocritical, depending on your tendency to equate such things to oh, I don’t know, the official “secret” policy on Drones, which might not take out planets, but do a great job of taking out lots of civilians with usually darker skin tone than the average Jedi Knight.

But back to the real Twilight Zone occuring right here on this planet.

Apparently, according to “official sources” (I am laughing so hard I can barely type) “The Administration Does Not Support Blowing Up Planets.” You can read all about it here. I wonder what genius got this petition going, not to mention the other dingbat in the White House who decided to “officially” answer it.

This along with the news from across the Pond in England, that apparently the number of people identifying their religious following as “Jedis” is actually declining (I wonder who wasted the taxpayer dollars on that “important” if not “scientific” study.)

However, given the current administration’s stance on several issues that make it look suspiciously like it wants to ape Darth Vader (and no, that’s not a RACIST COMMENT but rather one designed to criticize the unbelievable militarism of our “annointed leaders”, like oh, say Obama‘s reauthorization of FISA if not Empire-like proclivities such as Wars-R-Us every freaking day of the year, I thought you all would sleep better at night knowing at least, for now, until the next “correction” that the budget busting price tag alone has the beancounters assuring us the White House in not in the planet if not budget busting business.

Aren’t you relieved?

But honestly, where’s Luke and Leia when you need them? If not Yoda.

Not to mention, well, I think the “Force” in this case was probably on OUR side this time.

At least until the next “correction.” Or maybe the suggestion they use the (laughable) Trillion dollar coin to pay for it.

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I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy: A Memorial to Aaron Swartz, if not our IT Innocence

greengoddess — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 01:03:59 +0000

English: Aaron Swartz at a Creative Commons event. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Okay, so maybe you’ve heard about it, and maybe you haven’t.

And maybe you don’t care.

But like the rockstars of yore, it appears we’ve entered a new trend. Shooting stars in the Age of Information, who go out young. And a government absolutely determined to shut this down.

From my perspective, this is yet again, being framed as a “brilliant” young geek (some say gimp too), who took his own life by HANGING HIMSELF. Perhaps the most uncertain way to go out, if not the most grotesque. And not even used in most states anymore (except maybe Texas, but that doesn’t count because on this issue alone the state is still clearly in a Neanderthal state of mind), simply because it is so grotesque if not efficient.

You see it’s not so easy to hang yourself, although it makes for one hell of a creepy symbol.

If this kid was as bright as he was supposed to be (co-writer of RSS, co-founder of REDDIT, founder one of those “bothersome” non-profits that stopped, momentarily, the ever present creep of legislation that is in fact worrisome to all who care about free information if not access to education and information if not IP in a world where “knowledge workers” are the most prized (and paid most of all). And are usually overpriviliged white boys with a trust fund, with a well placed mentor or ten, or managed through either/or predilection to gain access to a whole bunch of money or digital information (or both).

When a female black hacker gets the same kind of press (no matter what she does), or even a geezer like my dad (who hacked both NATO and Barclays Bank way back when hacking by middle aged Jews briefly made the news and was seen as alternatively, depending on which month you read Scientific American “brilliant” or “criminal.” Way back in the early eighties.)

So I’m used to these kinds of stories. It’s not that I’m not sympathetic, but I’ve seen it before.

And it’s not that I am not concerned about the legislation Swartz managed to derail (briefly, apparently, given Obama’s recent resigning (Ugh) AGAIN of FISA). It’s that Swartz is the all too familiar stereotype. For those with any curiosity at all, those draconian, and downright scary as all git out pieces of legislation were known as SOPA and PIPA in IT geek speak. Click through to explanations about both, and you’ll understand at least the basics of what all this fracus was about.

For good or for bad.

And when I first heard he hanged himself (ostensibly), the first thing I thought was not about my dad, or Julian Assange, or even Bradley Manning (the latter were the guys involved in Wikileaks).

I thought about a place called Blechley Park. In another war, long ago. And a country called England. Blechley Park was spook central during WWII, the center of British and then British and American “intelligence.” If not the home of the most famous hacking/encryption stunt if not secret EVER in any war, the creation of the so-called “Enigma” Machine. An early computer that was used to crack German and “enemy” communications.

The reason I know about it, it because this is the war my dad fought in and was also used for his skills that were remarkably close, even at that age, to the person I thought of next. And the Brits love to tell stories of their glorious past. The Enigma Machine was perhaps, their last big blaze of glory. A glory which was quickly snuffed out, both in the implications of what it held in store for what they were supposedly fighting for (and against) if not their subsequent actions against the man who pioneered the way.

You see when I heard the news of Swartz’s death, I immediately thought of the Enigma Machine. And more importantly, its creator. And what happened to him.

His name was Alan Turing. The offspring of a high ranking diplomat in the Indian Civil Service, who was later a product of the “Oxbridge Set.” And thus considered qualified of being in such a crucial part of Britain’s defense during the war. Who not only created the machine that won the war, but who took his own life (or so some people still want to claim) not many years after what should have been a career insuring triumph.

Turing, after a brief spin at wartime celebrity (even awarded an OBE before the age of 40) was, literally less than a decade later after saving the UK from German bombs, raids, and ultimately turned the war if such credit could ever be given to one man or invention, was then convicted of homosexuality. In England, this was still a crime (if not considered a “mental illness”). Turing admitted guilt in a situation that could have been lifted straight from an E. M. Forster drama (another British writer, also gay, who faced Britain’s anti-homosexual “official stance” even as it is a right of passage in the schools of the all male, British upper class) and wrote in one of his novels about a case very much like Turings – that of a gent who fell from “society” because of his sexuality, and was betrayed by a working class lad, either paid to be bait or paid to “confess.” The novel, later turned into a movie, was called Maurice, and was considered so controversial when he wrote it that it wasn’t published until the 1970′s (post humously).

In Turing’s case, faced with a year in prison, or another, far worse route, Turing took the worse route on the grounds that everyone knew he couldn’t “sin” again. And wouldn’t hinder, or so he thought, going back to work at what he was good at after it was all over.

In other words, he underwent treatment of female hormones (also known as chemical castration), suffered all the side effects, including growing breasts to avoid going to jail, found he could no longer be hired by the national security state even after “doing his time,” and was found dead as a doornail after also committing “suicide” (by ingesting large qualities of cyanide) and found famously next to a half eaten apple that wasn’t ever tested for poison. And that Steve Jobs always denied was the inspiration for the famous “Apple” logo.

Turing took his life about a year after his sentence was over. . .And a realization, suddenly, that he was essentially dead. Or the national security state wanted that to be the case. No matter that he couldn’t ever bugger other men again. The speculation always was that he was set up (his family in that case denied he was depressed and the public records show he had plans and even reservations for the near future.) Perhaps we’ll never know. Perhaps we don’t really care.

We are a nation who revels in national amnesia. Forget Monday Night Football. Forgetting our past is actually the ongoing, transcendent national passtime.

The English at least, never forgot. Gordon Brown, when Prime Minister, very famously (and conveniently) post humously forgave Turing and apologized to existing family after a petition went out from those who knew him or studied his work, to forgive him. Sometime around what would have been his 100th birthday.

America, which never learned this particular lesson, if they ever learned it at all, not to mention is famous for amnesia for its past (those who forget history are doomed to repeat it) seem hell bent in the days after Obama’s election even in 2008, to go down in history as the folks who took out hackers everwhere. One way or another. And made massive changes to things that are mentioned only on the fringes of all the moving RIPS for Swartz and all the outraged editorials on full blown attacks on Constitutional Rights since at least the year 2000.

The latest RIP goes out in our New World Disorder, to Aaron Swartz (notice they only mention the boys), or for those who hadn’t heard the news, another “genius”", white boy, computer whiz kid (white, male, 26),who was found dead in his apartment in Brooklyn last Friday.

The whole geek world is mourning.

At least those hip and tech savvy enough to know what he did. Or teach him. Or know him. All of the above usually take money. What’s new about this story?

The rest of America, right now ( the majority) couldn’t care less. Even if they use what Swartz invented, designed and did.

That’s because they are functionally if not IT, if not literally illiterate because our society has been dumbed down so much, because things changed fast over the last decade, including the pace of IT, public schools have been sacrificed for bonuses on Wall Street, and the national security state of George Bush has only been increased by his successor.

And of course the war has also been waged almost solely online, which just by the demographics of the digital divide, has as much chance of changing things (because for the most part those who really knew who he were are aging Boomers who underestimate (as usual) that this “Vietnam” is going to be waged on our own streets (if not courtrooms), but nurtured him along, and maybe Gen X if not definitely middle class to the 1%ers of Gen Y who grew up thinking cell phones and laptops, and the internet and social media were all the new “norm.”

Guess what? They are right. And that’s part of the problem.

You see they’ll grieve Aaron Swartz, if not write peons to him. And then they’ll see where the boundaries are (because to really understand this, you have to be of a certain demographic, which is overwhelmingly white, male, and upper class, and seeks to have a professional future.) And they’ll stop short because they don’t want that to happen to them.

And that is the saddest part of the story.

This, if accidental, or caused by stress on a kid by an “overzealous” prosecutor, or was a deliberate attempt at taking out a kid before he got to trial or even really suicide, doesn’t matter.

What does is what is going to happen next.

You see while what you might read about the kid who just bought it in Brooklyn leaves out some key facts.

1. The Internet has already started to be “regulated” in that sales tax can be charged on goods bought on it (a lost battle long, long ago, in say oh, the early naughts). If not civil rights law that requires websites and companies who run them to actually be subjected to civil rights. According to international human rights law (which the US is doing its best to ignore, forget, claim it doesn’t apply, or breaks with impunity) lack of access to the internet and all that is online, is also a violation not only of civil rights, but human rights. So this is kind of murky territory for those who don’t know the ropes.

2. This was inevitable. As soon as Darpanet went viral, and Steve Jobs figured out in his now famous basement that the telephone frequency that dialed into other computers was in the same range as the human voice (that’s a techie thing).

3. Swarttz knew his future was uncertain if not ours in no uncertain ways. Even if he got off at trial for the crime of what legitimately is being called “the electronic equivalent of checking out too many books from the library”, Swartz’s Reddit was under attack and he couldn’t help but know it.

Hell I KNEW something was going wrong when a story in the Huffpost announced early last fall, that REDDIT was going to be Obama’s first priority for receiving articles and blog posts in a sign he was “listening” to the public (the ones who know about Reddit anyway, and also read rags (online or off) where this tidbit was announced.

And then what happened? First Reddit suffered a major “outage” that was, to my knowledge, never reported on. And what made it weird at the time was that it was right before an important campaign event. And also that Reddit, like Wikileaks, was using Amazon’s “cloud.”

Not to mention the bright red warning that suddenly popped up, claiming the site had decided, despite Obama’s plea for a pipeline of public feedback and comment from the social bookmarking site specifically BY NAME, did not accept any POLITICALLY related stories. At all. For about two months before the election.

So, yes, I am sorry to see another “brick in the wall” fall.

No, I’m not terribly surprised.

And frankly, given what’s at stake here, what I don’t get is why the opposition hasn’t understood why the government is so determined to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants.

Because too much knowledge is “dangerous.” To the status quo, to those who are now in power. To those who want to change the way we operate as a nation and a planet.

Dangerous to the way things are. Dangerous enough to thwart its positions.

The Internet, which technically belongs to the people whose taxpayer dollars built it, is now considered “private domain.” As are the public domain research papers Swartz seeked to “liberate.”

And that is the issue at heart, even if never expressed that way. What I’ve seen so far are laments about the ever encroaching “encroachment” of civil rights – usually the First Amendment.

What I haven’t heard or seen, perhaps because the defense is being guided by a previous generation, or one that doesn’t really understand the still standing law, is that what is actually going on here is larger than privacy. Larger than due process. Larger than government “bullying.”

It is in fact, a government war on its own citizens. It’s even paid for by us.

You see, your citizenship, as an American, is based on an “implied contractual” relationship with the state. A place where property rights (including IP), contractual rights (including IP) and civil rights (including IP) all come together.

And any perceived “violation” of the same, which in this case is literally deliberately “throwing the book” at a kid for one reason or another, will not be effectively countered unless people wise up and recognize this for what it is.

It is in its very essence, a war financed by the people on the people.

And that is the scariest thing of all.

A fact Aaron Swartz recognized.

And perhaps will be found, long after the fact, just like Turing, to have gone to another place before the real storm hits.

The ones who might remember him long after his demise, just like in Turing’s case, may ultimately conclude that this was the act of a man who knew he’d been handed a death sentence. And who-ever carried out the final act of violence, may have spared a kid who was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and stood up for things that were worth fighting for, a life much worse that the brief time he had as a “success” here on Planet Earth. It’s a terrible thing to die in one’s lifetime. And that’s what Swartz and Turing, and a few others who have served their country’s ideals have later faced.

It’s an old, and very sad story.

And one not limited to high tech geekery or online virtual petitions.

Our history is littered with the brave who stood up for our rights, only to get mown down in a mass of legal mumbo jumbo, collective amesia, or fright, or just because it’s yesterday’s news and we have tomorrow to face. It wasn’t us. Moving on. Note to future self. Don’t hack research you paid for behind a paywall designed to profit not even the professors who engaged in the same. But only to create an income that satisfies shareholders and maintains a stranglehold on information. Even if you have a guest pass.

But unlike many of his followers, Swartz had the insight to know that his fateful “bite of the apple” was just as deadly for him, personally, as it was for Turing, and a more famous if not Biblical association with the same fruit, only this time, involving the Garden of Eden too.

Swartz had every reason to believe he was going to lose his life one way or another. Particularly given that he was about a month from facing a federal trial in which he stood to lose his meaningful life in federal prison and some rather big fines which would have rendered this wonderboy wizkid with a lot of bucks, a forgotten figure, if not a broke, middle aged former hack when he rejoined the world again. If he ever did. Left behind, with forty years of IT geekery to catch up with.

If you know what that really means, by personal or next door association, who would blame anyone for taking a path that promised relief vs. a future that was profoundly unsure if not terribly scary future, you know one of two things.

You know not to pass judgement if you’ve never been there. Or, as a corrollary, even if you have. It’s an impossible thing to face. Be punished for a “crime” that didn’t even really exist, much less was prosecuted with such zeal less than a decade ago. In a world that remains profoundly ignorant, outside the over-educated and elite set, of what it is you actually accomplished. And therefore could never be judged by a jury of his peers. Just because there aren’t a whole lot of them. And most of them do everything they can to avoid jury duty.

That to me, and those who read this story for what it is worth, know that this is really either the beginning of the end, or, like global warming, rather towards the end of the end.

If the government ever manages to pass bills as draconian as the ones Swartz is credited for leading the charge against, just like FISA, it will become the “New Normal,” “New World Order,” if not just another brick in the wall.

And if the government on top of that, lies about its intent to receive “input” from its people via the bullhorn you helped set up in various underhanded if not reported ways, you know there is problem in mission control, whether or not it is in Houston.

Swartz knew this too.

I just hope his many grieving survivors grieve enough to understand really what just happened. And not, as the government no doubt hoped (or even planned) disperse in confusion in the face of a goliath whose might has turned against its own people.

Not to mention always remember, the first casualty in any war is the truth.

And the “truth” right now is as murky as where we all are headed if we allow this kind of thing to continue. In a real war that appears not only to be perpetual, but involves a government that is finally admitting, in that shadowy way it has of doing sometimes when caught red handed as in this situation, that it is an oligarchy.

Funded by, and at war with, its own people.

CORRECTION: When first posted, this article incorrectly identified Evelyn Waugh rather than E.M Forster with the authorship of Maurice. Easy to do, they were both homosexuals, as were Melville, “America’s poet” Walt Whitman (who also lived in Brooklyn), and many members of the American and British establishment. Many of whom outed and persecuted other gay men. Starting with Roy Cohn. We also clarified this article to link to the specific legislation at stake, and clarified that Obama specifically asked to receive public comment via Reddit right before the election and it was publicly blocked on several occasions, including a blackout of Reddit on Amazon’s server that went largely unreported right before an Obama event, and then there was indeed a two month ban right before the election, of anything related to “politics” posted at the top of the REDDIT page.

Swartz (and apparently attorneys close to the case) said the government was going to get jail time out of him, even on a technicality.

That is pretty hard to understand, considering that if he had had decent counsel (and that doesn’t automatically go with a paycheck) how the defense could have screwed up this much.

Including pointing out at trial that Massachusetts, a supposedly “liberal” state, has a governor with strong connections to the White House, named Duval Patrick, who also (unbelievably) asked both DOJ and Obama to allow Massachusetts as a state to skip out on its federal, civil rights obligations when he asked for a pass on ADA compliance for all ARRA funds.

Disgusting, yes, but something that could have been used at trial.

And further, if these genius twerps who really wanted to defend this kid had done their homework, they would have asked for a change of venue to California, where the Unruh Act (the state law protecting people with disabilities and home of some of the most advanced American law on the topic particularly as it relates to IP if not disability) would have found plenty of reasons to dismiss the case automatically. Starting with the fact that under California and International Law, it is a human rights violation, not “just” a civil rights one, that would have protected Swartz from prosecution. Specifically, banning access to the Internet in countries more humane than ours, is considered, even in countries with IP laws much stronger than the US (which as a history of gross violation of them too) a human rights crime. I.e. a crime against humanity.

Or a war crime.

Take your pick.

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Ripping Off Gimps: Crony Capitalism Reaches the Gimp Marketplace

greengoddess — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:00:15 +0000

no words need be spoken (Photo credit: fallsroad)

Over 40 years after the first civil rights bill for people with disabilities passed in this country (the 1973 Rehab Act) and nearly 30 after the passage of the ADA, for the most part, us gimps remain invisible, noiseless, and soundless.

Ignored by one and all.

Except of course when they want to rip us off.

And then its free game and logic goes out the door.

A perfect example of this is the intersection of electric vehicles and ADA compliance. Namely, that greener vehicles, EVs in particular, pose a threat to the non seeing because they are too quiet. On top of that, there is a new insult. Suddenly, the federal government is requiring that all EV cars buy backup noise makers for any EV that travels at speeds below 18mph.

Ignoring of course the fact that at the current ambient sound level EV’s tend to make when cruising is lower, so the overall noise pollution factor is considerably less.

If you want to make a difference and tell these folks how ridiculous this is, please CLICK HERE to petition the government that:

1. The government’s own tests concluded that EV’s even without extra noise makers, were detectable to both blind human beings, not to mention their guide animals.

2. While common sense rules that everyone has to implement (such as vehicles adding beeps when they are backing up) the fact is this is another attempt to make the world less accessible by putting the burden on small business and even those with disabilities, to buy more expensive equipment than they need to keep the public safe as we all go green. As it is, current EVs make enough noise that can be heard by both the seeing impaired and of course THEIR SERVICE ANIMALS.

3. It is that last issue (service animals) that really gets my goat. There is a severe crisis in that there aren’t enough service animals to go around. The government would rather make consumers if not carmakers pay for a new noisemaker that even its own wonks said wasn’t necessary.

Typical.

Why can’t the government EVER figure out what it is its population wants and needs?

Especially when the individuals involved are seen as weak, non-effective, and of course need “protection” in the form of an added regulation that will put money in the pocket of a politically connected manufacturer and make life more expensive (if not noisy) for everyone else.

Scridb filter

The Trillion Dollar Platinum Coin & Other Just Plain Old “Retarded” Economic Scams (I mean ideas)

greengoddess — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:38:19 +0000

Trillion Dollar Coin (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

Given some rather interesting levels in certain verticals I deal with, there are often these bizarre moments when some of them cross in some interesting ways. Like in this case, economics and um, “disability.” Also known as stupidity. Thus the use of the derogative in the title.

For those who may have heard about this (unbelievably dumb) idea that is currently being floated (and I do kind of mean that literally for most of this nonsense is coming from a place (Washington DC) that is clearly and plainly to most Americans outside “The Beltway” if not “punditshpere” as existing on another planet if not galaxy.

This idea is just one more bit of proof that the world they live in also doesn’t follow the rules of gravity. Not to mention common sense.

For those slow on the uptake or living in another kind of bubble, here’s the elevator pitch summary.

The Obama administration (and some very stupid people and even some intelligent ones who either changed their minds when reminded of economic rules like hyperinflation and well, just plain forgery if not global mockery or were that economically ignorant from the git go). Or knew something that was hastily reached as a “correction” (read clarification) that they weren’t going to REALLY create a “Platinum” standard tied back to the dollar. That would indeed cause hyperinflation.

Instead, as surfaced yesterday, they were only planning on using a “small piece” of platinum in each coin under a loophole in the laws over there at Treasury usually only reserved for memorial coins for collectors.

Also called blatant counterfeiting of currency, but we won’t go there now the “correction” has hit the atmosphere.

But all in all bizarre.

There are some who claim that the 16 Magic Coins that the White House (and some members of Congress if not economists we normally respect for their keen insight) would deposit at the Fed would go either to paying off the national debt. There are others who claim it is really another secret backdoor giveaway to waive hocus pocus and support the 16 banks that caused this crisis in the first place.

“One Coin To Rule Them All” as one intrepid columnist put it yesterday.

Exactly. Don’t tempt me to mention the automatic associations that most people make. Not to mention the one that I immediately had upon seeing this balloon floated, involving another Tolkien reference. As in Sauron. Oops. Did I write that? No, I’m not calling the current resident of 1600 Penn “the devil.”

I’m calling the idiots who are floating this idea (even if in response to equally dumb ones), for what they are. The Emperors have no clothes.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to go shopping instead?

And tip to those who use this retail option. Use plastic. I know it’s still not biodegradeable, but it’s at least commonly accepted “debt” financing.

Oh no. Another long and tedious debate. Time to go.

That’s the point.

THE MUCH BIGGER ONE.

How many scams do we have to sit through and sigh, or tune out all together, before the country comes to a collective decision about “insanity” in that general geography on the planet and does something about it (hopefully at the polls)?

Or, given the wierd ideas floated lately, maybe banish them to a desert isle, or transport them (to the future or preferably past) in our collective “time machines.”

WARP 10, Chewie. Now.

Because this manure is getting so high, I sometimes feel up to my neck in it.

Aren’t you longing for a real breath of fresh air too?

Scridb filter

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