FOR YOUR PROTECTION...

[Darren Dirt]

admin said:

No, that's not it. The joke was the "reporter" was showing how difficult it was to escape the "hellhole" known as congress because of the 98% re-election rate.

Aha! The word "Congress" made it possible: "The Big House -- Ed Helms reveals how, sadly, 434 congressmen just can't get unelected."
www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=63004

also, YouTube search


Gosh, I'm sooooo OCD sometimes

[marc stevens]

Cool, thanks, that's it.

[Darren Dirt]

Bush's S.S. Grills 14-Year-Old Over Art

The agents told Kirstie that since the art included the words, "Kill Bush," and since it was accessible to anyone on the Internet, there was a very strong likelihood that someone -- possibly a terrorist from a foreign country -- might see the image and be inspired to act upon it. Thus, they reasoned, even if Julia only meant to be funny, the art put the President in grave danger. Many people are saying, "Nonsense!"

The agents proceeded to ask Kirstie if she or her husband were members of any organizations whose goal is to overthrow the U.S. government. Kirstie assured them that neither she nor her husband, Jim Moose (a Boalt Hall graduate and name partner at a reputable Sacramento law firm), were extremists of any sort.

The agents seemed anxious to speak with Julia, but after peering around the upscale Land Park house a bit (for Julia?) and receiving assurance from Kirstie that Julia would be home from school in an hour, the agents agreed to return later -- at least that's what they led Kirstie to believe.

The S.S. agents left and made a beeline directly to Julia's school...

What I personally found fascinating is how the parents were ALSO grilled -- asked if they belong to any organization that promotes the overthrow of the U.S. government.

Would they have had to answer "yes" if they were registered as Democrats?

...we don't need to look too far for people who routinely and quite comfortably use the word kill.

Our young students might not be so quick to use the word kill if our political leaders would stop using it in their rhetoric. A major battle between the Republicans and Democrats has been to convince the public that the opposing party will be "softer on terror" than the other. To gain the public's confidence, politicians have been trying to outnumber their opponents in the use of the word kill in their speeches.

George Bush uses the word kill in just about every speech these days. Donald Rumsfeld talks about killing. Cheney wants to kill. John Kerry says we need to capture and kill the terrorists. Bill and Hilary Clinton now routinely use kill. Virtually every major speech that any of these leaders has given lately has included the word kill.

So is it any wonder that some of the bright 13 year-olds who actually pay attention to these speeches might also start using the word?

[Darren Dirt]

This is a very cool video demonstrating a creative guy's neat idea -- he attached a small camera on an RC plane, and wears VR goggles with a gyro, so that his head turning/tilting results in the camera turning/tilting, thus giving the illusion that he is "on" the plane. I would love to do that, it would feel like you're piloting an actual plane, without the whole hundreds-of-hours-of-training headache

Google Video


But afterwards my thoughts now turn to this: if a hobbyist can do this, exactly WHAT level of advancement have the gubmint military surveillance experts gotten to Seriously, a normal camera mounted on a cheap RC plane is one thing -- a see-through-walls camera mounted on a silent high-tech drone is another. :-\ (see other folks' comments, I'm not alone in my thoughts )

[eye2i2hear]

waaay kewel vid, 4sure!
technology... amazing stuff!

[sagas4]

darrendirt said:

But afterwards my thoughts now turn to this: if a hobbyist can do this, exactly WHAT level of advancement have the gubmint military surveillance experts gotten to Seriously, a normal camera mounted on a cheap RC plane is one thing -- a see-through-walls camera mounted on a silent high-tech drone is another. :-\ (see other folks' comments, I'm not alone in my thoughts )

hmmmm, does anyone have DIY plans on how to inexpensively build a reinforced concrete encased lead lined Faraday cage over an entire house? ;D

[dvishnu]

Is that like a Bostonian free speech cage??? ;D

[Darren Dirt]

"People really listen to you, you know? I mean... [suddenly pulls out gun] they HAVE to!"

- police officer "Kenny", Garden State (2004)

[Darren Dirt]

HELP the police... Help, help, HELP the police...

"From a new BBC3 sketch show called Rush Hour. Adam Buxton is an overly enthusiastic muso dad who plays his son F--- Tha Police, with live censoring."

[eye2i2hear]

darrendirt said:

... HELP the police...

A slight change of punctuation to more reflect accuracy: "Help! The Police!" --which is like the succinct cry: "Help! Thief!"?! [The State Policy Force-means armed theft]

[Darren Dirt]

"We virtually and implicitly allow the institutions of any government of which we enjoy the benefit and solicit the protection"
-Samuel Johnson, Taxation No Tyranny


"He that accepts protection, stipulates obedience. We have always protected the Americans; we may, therefore, subject them to government."


There is a grain of truth (a.k.a. protection is required to obligate the protectee to the proctector) in that pile of statist manure (Johnson claimed some kind of nebulous "virtual representation" for all "subjects" of The Crown )

[Darren Dirt]

From Wikipedia's article on Montesquieu's "Spirit of the Laws"...

Underlying each type of political system, according to Montesquieu, must be what he calls a "principle" that acts as a spring or motor to motivate behavior on the part of the citizens in ways that will tend to support that regime and make it function smoothly.

-For republics this spring is the love of virtue -- the willingness to put the interests of the community ahead of private interests.

-For monarchies, the spring is love of honor -- the desire to attain greater rank and privilege.

-Finally, for despotisms, the spring is fear of the ruler.

A political system cannot last if its appropriate principle is lacking.

- - -

Methinks a non-anarchic system will inevitably go in reverse order, returning to #3 once the "people" are no longer interested in submitting to the ruling elite (whether by immorality/decadence ala Rome, or by rational choice ala The Coming Second American Civil War )

Seriously though, no wonder none of those 3 are appealing to most of us -- we feel no fear due to our escape from ignorance, and no sense of loyalty/paytriotism(i.e. "virtue") paytriotic due to our realization of the illegitimacy of collectivist-think.

[Darren Dirt]

Cop Shooting an Unarmed Man in the Face Caught on Tape

No badge, no radio, no "police id" (he was late for "work) ... and yet, still the same anti-social anti-life behaviour...