We were promised by our government that drones would not ever be used against us, as citizens. They would only be used against potential terrorists in the name of public safety. This rancher was not going to use those cows as weapons of mass destruction. Nobody was in any threat of danger over those cows. In fact, here in Texas, if someone's animals walk up on your ranch, it's your legal right to shoot it. Yum! Steak dinners for a year. The original owner was lucky and should have kept his animals corraled appropriately. (Imagine that. Somebody being responsible for their own property! It is such a novel idea these days, isn't it?)
By the way, the rancher in question was acquitted of the charges for cattle rustling but was then charged with terroristic acts towards police officers.
One commenter was cheering for the use of drones in all areas of law enforcement. She didn't quite get it. An object built to be a military weapon was used against a citizen. That citizen wasn't holding people hostage, rampaging at kids with a gun, or anything else. This action was intended to be a display of strength and intimidation. That's all. The people running that drone did so in order to make it clear to the public that we have no recourse. We have to submit because they are stronger! That is the message they sent when cows were rescued using a drone.
This is also a privacy issue. That drone flew over a home in order to gather data it otherwise was not entitled to. If there was no search warrant, then this is an illegal search and seizure case. If there was no search warrant, then this was a violation of that man's constitutional rights!
Now, to be clear, we have no information as to whether there was a warrant or not. I am merely presuming that there wasn't. I am only operating on the 'what if' here.
What if there was no search warrant?
Correction: Ms. Miranda Ham provided the following information: "It does NOT matter if there was a search warrant or not, as one was NOT needed for aerial surveillance. You do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy from the air. I'm not saying that I agree with it. Just that we do not have that expectation according to the US Supreme Court. Florida v. Riley, 488 U.S. 445 (1989)" This means that a search warrant was not required.
Even so, the use of military grade weapons against a citizen of the US for a property dispute is well beyond crossing the line. It is something to be angry about.
Do you remember why the right to privacy was put into the Constitution to begin with? A very long time ago, nobody had any rights at all. Information was king. If someone didn't like you, they could make an accusation against you. This accusation didn't have to be true. The investigation would be people digging into everything and everyone who ever said 'Hi' to you. They would invade your privacy and use the information to support charges against you. Then, BAM! You're either imprisoned or dead.
You couldn't speak out against your government. If you so much as wrote a simple letter to a relative that disagreed with your rulers, that letter could cause you to be tried for treason. Yes, the mail was read back then. Soldiers could come into your home at any time, just to dig around for anything to charge you with.
If the government wanted your stamp of approval, vote, or just for you to go along with them, they would use whatever they dug up to blackmail you into submission. Something perfectly innocent could be used against you as blackmail. Yes, governments blackmailed their people quite often way back then! It was our rulers that first invented the fine art of extortion.
This, in fact, was the government's greatest weapon against we, the people.
It was tyrrany, plain and simple. So our forefathers, in their infinite wisdom, had this fantastic idea. They said, "dude, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again 400 years down the road. When our grandchildren's grandchildren are experiencing new technologies such as Internet, when their children are inventing new things such as E-Mail and when our politicians have become such a zoo that they are represented by common circus animals, they need only look back at this wonderful document we're creating now to be reminded of their rights, responsibilities and duties to themselves and each other. I know... let's include the right to privacy, freedom of speech and assembly and the right to bear arms!"
The amount of people willing to give this right up is truly frightening. These people say "but if you're doing nothing wrong, it should be no big deal." That is not the case. You don't have to do something wrong for someone to use your own life against you! Information is POWER people! The more information an entity has about you, the more power they have over you! Period.
Yes, I know that I sound like a raving lunatic. Many of us saw this coming back when Bush was president. We screamed about it then. Now, we're screaming about it under Obama.
We have learned a lot of things over the past couple of years.
1. The government knows who we email, about what, and how often. This tells us that they know who all of our contacts are. Anyone that's ever said 'hi' can come under scrutiny if even one person in that group comes under the attention of the government.
2. The government knows who we call, how long those calls last, how often we call them. In fact, they even have special software that listens in for keywords to be said. Just saying enough of those words in the middle of a conversation, no matter how innocently, can cause you and everyone you know to come under scrutiny.
3. They know what games you play. They use the games on your smart phones to track what you do with your phone. Every itty bitty little thing you do with your phone is sent back to the government, including all the places that your phone goes! This means that if you're one who keeps the phone with you at all times, they know everywhere you go. Everywhere.
4. Back when credit cards were first invented and promoted, we were told credit equaled wealth. Good credit meant high wealth. Everyone was encouraged to use credit to pay for anything and everything. We were led to believe plastic was safer than cash, and to use it at every opportunity. Now, the government knows everything you purchase! Every single item you buy, they know about it. If you used a card, they have your entire history.
5. Should we even start with Google, people? They know more about you than you and your spouse know!
6. That new game system you bought your kids never turns off. Yes, you press the off button, but it doesn't turn off. It is always listening. If you are like many, it's also always connected to the Internet. I know you think it's cool that you can play games by moving your body, but this means it has a camera. It can record everything you say and do within the room it's located and send that information back to another party. But, it's just a game system, right? (Unplug it when it's not in use, people!)
So all of this on it's own, not too big a deal, right? (Huge deal in my eyes but then I am one to see things in extremes.) But, let's combine it with a few things here.
1. The ability to obtain firearms is becoming more and more difficult for the law abiding citizens. Not hard for those who aren't so law abiding, however. The more difficult it is for us to obtain weapons, the safer the government is, and they know it. People, government is supposed to fear US, not the other way around!
2. Our food is so highly processed, it has very low nutritional value. The lower the cost, the lower the nutrition, but the higher the fat, calorie and sodium content. Poor quality food turns people into fat, complacent followers. You can't get away from this side effect by eating only vegetables anymore either. Guess what they're doing to your nice fresh veggies? They're genetically engineering them, thus changing the structure of the vegetable. It's not as good for you any longer! (Now you know why we shop farmer's market!)
3. Our children are constantly dumbed down. The only way to get a quality education is to do private school. Who can afford private school? The wealthy. Who controls government. They wealthy? Our school system wants the kids to sit down for 8 hours each day and just do their lessons. They're trying to turn them into autonomous robots, complacent in every way. If a kid doesn't fit the mold they're trying to force them into, then it's time to medicate the kid. Forced submission through medications.
4. The government now has the power to block all traffic to blogs or websites of those who speak out against them. What? You thought that whole Net Neutrality thing was to benefit the ISPs??? So much for freedom of speech or assembly, huh?
Are you scared yet???
Life is very convenient now, isn't it? And those conveniences do have some trade offs. We shouldn't fear either technology or our government. In fact, our government should fear us. Here's the problem, though.
We gave up our power to them. See, it's we, the people, that are supposed to hold power over the government. Our forefathers designed things that way. Our government is supposed to live in constant fear that every election cycle, we'll overthrow their asses.
But with every single law they pass, they gain power. Sure, they do it on our behalf, or do they? The laws seem to be on our behalf but... well, that's a whole different blog post, entirely.
Every law means more power over us. They use our own resources against us. They keep secrets from us and say it's in the interests of national security. They lie to us on a daily basis. They don't fear us. They don't fear the election cycle. They know that ultimately, they have the power.
How do we take that power back?
1. PAY ATTENTION!
2. VOTE
3. Watch those laws getting passed. If a simple bill is 400 pages long, there's something hidden in that bad boy!
4. Eat well! Shop the Farmer's Market. Yes, it's pricey but you wind up eating a lot less than before. Especially once you switched processed sugar for raw honey, processed dairy for raw, etc.
5. Exercise! A fit person is one that is able to think and react clearly.
6. Quit giving up your privacy! - Unplug the game console. Put tape over the laptop webcam. Don't take the smart phone with you everywhere. Use aliases online, and use a Tor type browser that allows for anonymous surfing. Encrypt your email communications. Use cash instead of credit or checks.
7. Purchase a firearm and ammunition while you still can and lock it away.
8. Quit living in excess.
9. For those dependent on the system, fight and crawl and dig your way back off of it. I know. The system purposely holds you down and keeps you from coming off! The government wants everyone depending on it for survival. Do what you have to in order to get back off of it.
10. Educate yourself. Read everything. Use critical thinking skills to determine fact from fiction. Don't trust our country's media, any of them, to give a true and accurate representation of the U.S.
So yes. This post sounded a lot like a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. I'm not really like that offline. Maybe it's the research I've been doing for this book. Maybe I'm getting a bit too into it but... I'm learning a lot. I hope that each of you finds motivation to do some research, too.
Always the best of wishes,
Me.
Correction provided: According to Ms. Miranda Ham, we do not have have a reasonable expectation of privacy from air surviellance according to the US Supreme Sourt. Florida v. Riley, 488 U.S. 445 (1989) and therefore, a search warrant was not required in the case of the cattle rancher.
No comments:
Post a Comment