WolfesBlogArchives: May 2006
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
NAIS ISN'T THE ONLY PROGRAM TO EXTEND TRACKING TO NEW LEVELS
Levi Strauss, the formerly great jean maker who supports anti-gun bigots has found another way to insult and antagonize their customers: Jeans that come with RFID spy chips.
[more]Posted by Silver @ 03:03 PM CST [Link]
THE NATIONAL ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (NAIS). Absofrickinlutely amazing how little attention it's getting. It's probably the most draconian tracking and control plan ever implemented, yet even the people most affected -- small farmers, horse owners, families with kids in 4H -- are mostly unaware of it.
If you're unaware, read and weep. (The above link is the polite "official" take, here and here are real-people takes on this monstrosity.)
The plan is (among other things) for every agriculture animal anywhere in the U.S. that ever leaves its premises to have a government ID number, and for every trip off the property to be reported immediately to "the authorities." That means literally that you'll be required to report to the government every time you take your horse on a trail ride, every time your kid takes a pig to the county fair, every time you give some baby chicks to your neighbor. It applies to every ag animal -- even trout if you have a little fishin' pond. Not only that, but if you've got a chicken coop, it too will have to be registered and "geo-located." There goes the privacy of your gulch, eh?
But I'm not here to write about yet another government horror (and yet another government horror that -- as Silver wrote the other day about NSA snooping -- won't actually achieve what its proponents claim). This is about people.
[more]
Posted by Claire @ 12:52 PM CST [Link]
Monday, May 29, 2006
JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU to Silver for today's post on the NSA and its unsafe, illegal, tyrannical spying. Damn good one, as usual, Silver. I urge everybody to take the time to follow Silver's multitude of links.
Posted by Claire @ 12:03 PM CST [Link]
COMMON SENSE ON OPIATE ADDICTION. Bill St. Clair pointed toward this excellent article on the myths and realities of opiate addiction. Congratulations to Theodore Dalrymple for having the guts to bust one of the anti-drug establishment's biggest myths -- the near impossibility of kicking heroin without vast "help" from a medical/political establishment. It just ain't so. [more]
Posted by Claire @ 11:53 AM CST [Link]
WARRANTLESS SPYING ISN'T FOR CATCHING TERRORISTS
We know that:
- NSA analysts know that warrantless spying weakens security;
- calling patterns can be used to connect anyone to terrorists; and
- it is probabilistically impossible to find terrorists via mass surveillance of an entire population.
The NSA isn't stupid, they can do the math. This program was never about catching terrorists. So what is it for? I don't claim to know, I literally can't imagine all the new forms of abuse that will be enabled by the largest database in history. Our government claims and uses the power to kidnap its citizens, imprison them indefinitely without charges or access to courts, torture them, and kill them, all without any oversight or pretense of due process. History teaches harsh lessons about what tyrants will do with those powers. A few things that we know already:- Narus vacuum cleaners record anything and everything that travels the internet:e-mails, attachments, web pages, VOIP calls;
- the NSA intends to share the spy data with other government agencies;
- the NSA is tracking peaceful protestors;
- the FBI and local police are spying on political, environmental, anti-war and faith-based groups;
- the FBI is issuing 30,000 secret "National Security Letters" every year demanding information about people who are not connected to terrorism and who are not suspected of any wrongdoing; and
- Halliburton is being paid $385 million to construct mass detention centers.The "debate" about security versus privacy is a sham, the real question is one of liberty versus control. This horrible weapon of freedom destruction is a massive extension of government control into the lives of literally every American. It will add terrible new meanings to the phrase "guilt by association."
The thugs will continue expanding their control until we stop them. It is that simple. The question is, do we stop them before or after the detention centers are filled to capacity?
Posted by Silver @ 07:28 AM CST [Link]
Friday, May 26, 2006
THE LEGAL FEES FROM HIS OUTRAGEOUS GUN BUST WERE SO STEEP that Angel Shamaya is selling his guns to pay his lawyers. It's a damn shame. But he's got some fine pistols, rifles, and shotguns to offer.
Posted by Claire @ 01:54 PM CST [Link]
JAMES BOVARD, TERRORIST. I think our Jim made some poor, bored functionary's day. Now, do we get to see that interview, Mohammed Al-Bovard?
Posted by Claire @ 12:46 PM CST [Link]
WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL AUGUST 1 (weep weep, sob sob!) But it looks as if Warner Brothers is planning a beautiful DVD release of V for Vendetta.
I know some fellow freedomistas didn't like it, but I was so enamored of this hopeful, revolutionary, blood-racing thinking-person's film that I indulged in two of the double-sided posters -- the kind they put into lightboxes outside theaters. I sandwiched them between panes of glass and backlit them. Spectacular! Now at night Cabin Sweet Cabin glows with the spirit of rebellion.
Posted by Claire @ 12:29 PM CST [Link]
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
I'M BECOMING INCREASINGLY DISENCHANTED with writing about "political freedom." Without physical and psychological (even spiritual) self-sufficiency, political freedom is impossible. What little is won will soon be lost again.
We look back nostalgically to America the Great. But it never was. By the second presidential administration, we already had a would-be George W. Bush in office. Even the great Jefferson surrendered the Constitution when expediency had more appeal. And that's not to mention a few "little" glitches like human beings owning other human beings as property.
America was great not because of Enlightenment ideals (however noble some of those ideals were), the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights. It was great, for some, because it had (so far) few laws and lots of room for people to get away from what laws there were.
My work requires me to write about political freedom. And don't get me wrong; I can still work up a righteous rant. I've been very, very fortunate to be able to earn a living with my passion. But long run? Something's got to give. I'm becoming far more interested in things of the spirit -- not religion, but in the potential of humans to rise above the everyday reality of malls and credit reports and sports stadiums and gray cubicles. Especially I want to explore our potential (so I hope) to transcend such nasty little sewage-filled sinkholes as government.
Posted by Claire @ 01:10 PM CST [Link]
26 MILLION STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS and enough related data to make identity thieves very happy. Again.
Next time you hesitate to hand over personal information and some functionary looks at you as if you're retarded and assures you "your information is perfectly safe with us," ask the big question: If something happens to my data, will you personally take full responsibility, making me whole for any damage I may suffer? Make 'em put it in writing.
And of course, being stolen by freelance thieves is hardly even the worst that can happen to your personal records.
Posted by Claire @ 12:54 PM CST [Link]
MUCH GOOD DISCUSSION HERE on a quiet little (unanimous) decision by the Supremes. When the media reported that the Sups had upheld the legal authority of police to make a warrantless entry during an emergency, I suspect even a lot of civil libertarians didn't bat an eye. Heck, we want police to save us from hostage-takers, fires, etc. right?
But as Rich Lucibella points out, this decision considerably expands the definition of "emergency."
Posted by Claire @ 12:35 PM CST [Link]
Monday, May 22, 2006
YESTERDAY, MY SWEET LITTLE FOSTER DOG NADIA (aka "Naja") did one of the Uber-Big Bads -- this time putting her paws up on a counter and eating catfood, extremely bad for both doggie health and domestic decorum.
You know the Uber-Big Bads -- those handful of doggie deeds that can't be handled with the usual stern look and firm "no." I stood between that girl and her exit route and I made her cower. I told her that she was a Bad Dog. I told her if she ever did that again she'd not only be a Bad Dog, but that the status would be irrevocable. She'd be sentenced to life without possibility of parole in Bad Dogdom. After that she'd go to the Place Where Bad Dogs Go, to be tormented by canine-sexual, S & M oriented kitties (and I don't mean Siamese & Manx) with six-inch claws. And she'd get a bath every day for all eternity. And that would be for starters. She cowered. I put on my little act and felt stupid. I stopped as soon as she got it and five minutes later we were all huggie and lovey again.
(Until the next time she eats the cat food, which, knowing her, the little libertarian, she will.)
I'll bet if you have to act that way to your pet or your child, you also feel like an ass. After the first outburst (which may or may not be genuine), all you want is for the conflict and its bad feelings to be over. You sometimes need to get high-handedly righteous to make a Major Point of health or safety with a little one, but you don't relish those times.
Then it occurred to me that there are some people in the world who actually like having weak, helpless little beings cowering in front of them. It's their peak state -- or rather the state they spend much of their time in, because everything everybody else does fails to suit them, and therefore they're righteously angry all the time because all these other people are the only thing standing between them and Total Control. [more]
Posted by Claire @ 11:17 AM CST [Link]
Friday, May 19, 2006
DON'T MISS TODAY'S STRIKE-THE-ROOT. It was edited by Taran Jordan -- aka Lightning, sparkling friend of liberty and main squeeze of fellow blogista, Thunder. Nice job, Lightning. Interesting finds. You fulfilled your mission of striking out from the beaten path.
Posted by Claire @ 03:03 PM CST [Link]
DISHEARTENING, LISTENING TO MICHAEL HAYDEN'S HEARINGS yesterday. Every since late last year when the NSA warrantless wiretapping program hit the media, Busheviks and their lackeys have asserted over and over, "the program is legal, the program fully complies with the law." Now they're doing the same about the warrantless data-mining of phone-call records (when they deign to admit it's actually happening). "The program is legal, the program fully complies with the law."
As if mere assertion makes it so. Ah well, Goebbels understood that mere assertion might as well make it so.
Sometimes they add that such things are okay because relevant members of Congress have been briefed. Yeah. As if making the Star Chamber a little larger makes everything okay. And then there are lines like those of Republicrat Intelligence Committee member Pete Hoekstra: "I am not aware of any reason to believe that the program is not in full compliance with the Constitution and the laws of the United States."
Uh. Yeah. Not aware.
For almost six months, I've been listening to the coverage, waiting for some journalist or commentator to ask, "Where in the Fourth Amendment do you find authorization for warrantless searches?" Not a single one has. In fact, the words "Fourth Amendment" have been almost entirely absent from the discussion.
Not a word about the highest law of the land. Not a word.
Then Pat Roberts, the toadying Republicrat head of the committee quizzing Hayden finally comes up with the magic words "Fourth Amendment." Read and weep.
The fact we have not had another tragedy like 9/11 is no accident. But today in Congress and throughout Washington, leaks and misinformation are endangering our efforts. Bin Laden, Zarqawi and their followers must be rejoicing.We cannot get to the point where we are unilaterally disarming ourselves in the war against terror. If we do, it will be game, set, match Al Qaida.
Remember Khobar Towers, Beirut, the USS Cole, embassy attacks, the two attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 9/11, and attacks worldwide and more to come, if our efforts are compromised.
I am a strong supporter of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment and civil liberties. But you have no civil liberties if you are dead.
Right. The mere requirement of showing probable cause and getting a warrant -- even a warrant from a phony rubber-stamping court like FISA -- supports terrorism. If you want real liberty, submit, obey, and bow as the government does anything it wants.
Posted by Claire @ 02:17 PM CST [Link]
I KNOW THIS HAS ALREADY BEEN BLOGIFIED BY OTHERS. But this is scary s**t and deserves thinking about. Here's how the Seattle Public Schools' official page on racism defines "cultural racism" (emphasis mine):
Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers."Having a future time orientation"??? You mean, that saving for the future, considering the long-term consequences of your actions, and planning what you want to achieve in the next 10 years is racist? Who knew? Hey, maybe if we all just lounge around, enjoying the moment, and sucking up our "entitlements" we'll be better people.
And emphasizing individualism over "collective ideology"??? Holy crap, who wrote this stuff? Karl *&^%$#ing Marx??? Whoever wrote it, this is what Our Beloved Government is teaching your kidlets. Oy veh. Get 'em outa there ...
Posted by Claire @ 01:43 PM CST [Link]
Monday, May 15, 2006
IT IS MUCH, MUCH WORSE THAN YOU THINK
Thanks to Thunder for the technically-informed explanation of HOW it is that we are all being wiretapped . There is essentially no way to evade the nationwide dragnet.Anyone reading this page probably spotted the lies that "only call records, not personal information" are being gathered. It would take the incompetents at F-Troop about 2 seconds to match telephone numbers to name, address, and much more than you probably want to think about. The same task would take the NSA about 2 microseconds.
If they are not recording all conversations, you can rest assured that is due to a lack of storage space, nothing more. Technology will eventually improve until that is possible. Until then, it's a near certainty that any "person of interest" gets everything recorded, all without any judicial oversight of any kind.
It didn't take long to begin abusing this powerful weapon of freedom destruction. Buried near the end of the USA Today report is a mention that the NSA already told Qwest that the information will be shared with the FBI and DEA. That's right, this technology will almost certainly be used, and soon, to vacuum up all those dangerous dope smokers that have troubled the masters for so long. It won't be long before it is used to find parking ticket scofflaws, "deadbeat dads," or just general "bad guys" as defined by the thugs in office. Think of all the money to be made building prisons, staffing detention centers, running extraordinary rendition airlines, and arranging stays in torture camps!
Now another Congressthing wants to force every web site on the internet "to retain records to permit the identification of subscribers to such services for appropriate law enforcement purposes. " In other words, any operator of any website must keep logs of all visitors and turn them over to authorities with no more fuss than the whores at Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth provided while rolling over for the feds. ISPs and others with information more personal than IP addresses are required to retain and regurgitate everything on demand. The author of this filth is Demican Diana DeGette from Colorado. She is gleefully assisted by Republicrat Joe Barton of Texas. You can read the two pages here. (PDF file)
The internet is clearly a threat to the state, so the state will try to destroy it. The telephone network has been made into the largest surveillance system in the history of mankind. Claire warned us about all this long ago. Claire Wolfe time has come and gone, and now we all face the abyss.
Silver
Posted by Silver @ 06:28 PM CST [Link]
REMEMBER THAT BIG UTAH SWAT RAID? The one where "authorities" swooped down on an apparently legal concert? Is it possible the raid was inspired (oh this is getting familiar) by a desire to confiscate the property the concert was held on? The owners of that property now plan to hold a benefit concert for Parkinson's disease research, and the feds are making ominous sniffing noises about it, having already tried (repeatedly, apparently) to buy the property.
I'm blogging this a bit late. But everything behind that link is worth a read. The Utah item is at the bottom of a column filled with righteous anger and stomach-turningly interesting info about the sorry state of law enforcement in the era of drug wars, checkpoints ("Achtung! Papers please!"), and guilty-until-proven-innocent "justice." Heck, there's even one item about being guilty until you plead guilty -- no innocence possible.
Posted by Claire @ 05:21 PM CST [Link]
CONGRESS MIGHT LIMIT MISUSE OF SOCIALIST SLAVE NUMBERS. Except, of course, misuses by government. When it comes to those, Congress always says the more the better.
Posted by Claire @ 05:14 PM CST [Link]
HARDYVILLE BATTLES ILLEGAL ALIENS in its own unique fashion, of course. ;-)
Posted by Claire @ 01:41 PM CST [Link]
RESULTS FOR THE 2ND TCF COMBAT RIFLE POSTAL MATCH
Posted by Debra @ 11:21 AM CST [Link]
Friday, May 12, 2006
IT'S WORSE THAN YOU THINK
Raving Reporter Thunder here.
I hate to rub salt in one's wounds about this whole NSA spying deal, but this is important and needs to be pointed out.
It doesn't matter if you switch to some provider other than those three phone companies that gave your info up so easily. If you'll notice, the USA Today article states that the NSA was given customer's call records, NOT their billing records.
What this means is if you've made a phone call to anyone that uses Verizon, BellSouth, or AT&T, or if someone on those networks called you, your phone is now on the NSA's list.
Now, if you'd like to switch to a different provider due to their stance on this issue (I hear many have already and many more are planning to), please feel free to do so. In fact, I encourage you to do so. Voting with your wallet is a great tool for getting things done. However, do not mistakenly believe that it will protect your privacy one iota. It won't.
By the way, in case anyone is interested in my credibility on this subject, I'm a telephone switch technician by trade. I work on that big box that gives you dial tone and generates those very call records.
Thankfully, I don't work for any of those big companies. My company issued a statement today that they will not give call records out without a warrant. Unfortunately, I don't think it was due to any principled stance, but merely intended to hurt our competitors a little bit more.
Posted by Thunder @ 11:03 PM CST [Link]
PRACTICING BEING A GOOD CARRIER. I was so proud of myself yesterday. I planted potato sets, carrot seeds, and two apple trees, and transplanted tomato plants. Then I hauled several buckets of gravel and rock waaaaaaay down to the bottom of my work-in-progress backyard trail. Ah, spring. It's so damn much work.
Gardening has never exactly been my forte. Um, that's an understatement. It's more like plants shrivel, die, and turn black the moment I turn my evil gaze upon them. But what kind of preparedness maven can't even grow a tomato? So this year I built raised beds, shared a 20-ton load of stable compost (anyone wanting horse manure for the next 10 years can probably get it from me), and tried again. This time, I even fertilized the ungrateful little veggie-monsters. (Plants are such spoiled brats.)
If this experiment works, next year I'll expand to onions, asparagus, herbs, and perhaps a nut tree or two. I already planted strawberries in late March. Through some miracle they're still alive and blossoming. Could it be an omen? Or could it be that I was gone for the entire month of April and never once looked upon them with my laser-like Gaze of Death?
Work on the trail continues to be the real learning experience, though -- an experience at once physical, creative, and spiritual. [more]
Posted by Claire @ 01:22 PM CST [Link]
Thursday, May 11, 2006
YEP. YOU ARE A CRIMINAL SUSPECT. But your government is the criminal -- and AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon are conspirators. Only Qwest refused to join in the crime.
And now Bushissimo wants the mastermind of the conspiracy to head up the CIA. Lovely.
Can anyone, anywhere, still pretend that the federal government considers the American people to be its citizens and its bosses?
Posted by Claire @ 10:56 AM CST [Link]
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
GADS. Gold is selling for more than $700 per ounce and silver is back up to $14.28. I don't own much, but I'm momentarily feeling like a genius for having bought most of my little stash of junk silver coins when silver was at $3.65 per ounce. Or somewhere within a few cents of that figure.
I recall the day because the nice man at the coin store pointed out a rare thing: gold and silver were selling at exactly a 100:1 ratio at that moment. But yeah, it was a while back.
BTW, any memory sparked by the title of this post? "Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold (etc.)" is the lyric of a dwarf song from Terry Pratchett's hilarious Discworld novels. If you haven't read 'em yet, boy are you in for a treat. (Ahem, ahem. If you buy 'em, please use the Wolfesblog Amazon.com link.) Even better than the Discworld books is Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, which Pratchett wrote with Neil Gaimon.
Posted by Claire @ 02:02 PM CST [Link]
Monday, May 8, 2006
I SPENT MIND-NUMBING DAYS ON THE HIGHWAY recently and had hours to reflect on the stupidity of turning drivers licenses into national ID cards for the alleged sake of "security." The major result: Millions of "marginal" people -- both legal and illegal immigrants, Outlaws, transgendered people, "deadbeat dads," and oldsters born in the days before universal documentation -- are increasingly forced to drive without licenses. Which also means without insurance. Which may also mean (depending on state law and the individual's degree of cleverness) driving unregistered vehicles.
So in the vain hope of identifying the very rare terrorist (or whichever other miscreant they're momentarily claiming as a dire danger to the country), they fill the highways with scofflaws.
Not that I'm against scofflaws, mind you. ;-) Scoff away.
It's just that it's stupid -- and typical of control-freaking government -- to create scofflaws where none need exist. A drivers license ought only certify that you know, and agree to obey, the rules of the road. Using the threat of withdrawing the "driving privilege" as an iron fist to force acceptance of national ID is going to backfire spectacularly.
Well, that rant aside, I'm going to share a personal experience regarding licenses and registration that was sent to me by one of my favorite scofflaw correspondents. He shall remain nameless. But even though he calls this the end of an experiment, it sounds like both a beginning and an end, to me. [more]
Posted by Claire @ 01:44 PM CST [Link]
WELL, IT'S OFFICIAL. Paladin Press has very graciously announced its acquisition of 40 Loompanics titles. The (almost) complete list is behind the link. And I got my welcome letter on Friday.
I'm liking this. Paladin is bigger than Loompanics and although the royalty amounts they pay are the same, their royalty schedule and terms are a bit more author-friendly than Loompanics' were. They're very nice people, to boot. Couldn't ask for a happier ending. Or beginning.
I'm also delighted to see that the classic Principia Discordia and the important Guns Save Lives will continue to be available. And of course the works of Mr. Eddie the Wire!
Mike Hoy, enjoy your retirement. Loompanics staff ... I'll miss you.
Posted by Claire @ 01:19 PM CST [Link]
LOL! More from the wonderful world of "secure" RFID.
The statement at the bottom of page one about RFID being like the early Internet grated on my nerves, though. Yeah, the ex-spurt quoted simply means that both lack(ed) meaningful security. But the early Net was a vast, voluntary society of freedom and choice. RFID is, from its inception, about the powerful controling the powerless. Pfah!
(Thank you, Randall the Dreamer, for the lead.)
Posted by Claire @ 01:13 PM CST [Link]
Friday, May 5, 2006
WHO OWNS YOUR COMPUTER?
You bought it, you paid for it, and supposedly it is your property. But in this excellent essay by genuine security guru Bruce Schneier, you'll confront the reality of an ever-growing array of thugs, crooks, liars, thieves, cheats, snitches, con men, flim-flam artists, and bullies that want to take control of your computer away from you. I don't always agree with Dr. Schneier, but on this issue he is right on: The way to fight corporate fascism is to boycott the offending enterprises. Schneier concludes:You can fight back against this trend by only using software that respects your boundaries. Boycott companies that don't honestly serve their customers, that don't disclose their alliances, that treat users like marketing assets. Use open-source software -- software created and owned by users, with no hidden agendas, no secret alliances and no back-room marketing deals.Just because computers were a liberating force in the past doesn't mean they will be in the future. There is enormous political and economic power behind the idea that you shouldn't truly own your computer or your software, despite having paid for it.
Silver sez: What we need next are freedom fighters who will create and maintain a list of bullycorps and free market alternatives to their odious products. Perhaps these lists already exist but need more visibility. Volunteers?
Posted by Silver @ 08:57 AM CST [Link]
Thursday, May 4, 2006
EEEEEW. One more treat Your Beloved Government has in store for you. Demonstrate and be slimed. Simon Jester, who found this item, asked, "What next? The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man?"
And we all remember what he did, don't we?
Posted by Claire @ 12:13 PM CST [Link]
SIGH. IT SEEMS VICENTE FOX HAS CHICKENED OUT on Mexico's planned drug legalization. At least for now.
Gotta wonder what pressure was brought to bear at the last minute by U.S. anti-fun, anti-self-ownership fanatics. Fox had said he'd sign the bill.
Posted by Claire @ 11:15 AM CST [Link]
Wednesday, May 3, 2006
FUNNY HOW QUIET THE NORMALLY HYSTERICAL U.S. drug warriors are being about this sudden burst of sanity on the part of Mexico. Whassup with that? When Canada made itty-bitty noises about lightening up on pot, the fedgov acted as if it intended to invade and crush the Evil Iceborne Resistance and all of its Drug-Crazed Rebels. Now Mexico plans to say that even heroin possession (in small amounts) is nobody's business. And not a word out of Washington. Strange, strange, strange.
But good on you, Mexico. How 'bout that? A government in this day and age recognizing that individuals can still have private business and maybe even a tad bit of self-ownership.
Keep this up and the "flood of illegals" will some day be headed in the other direction.
Posted by Claire @ 01:57 PM CST [Link]
GREAT QUOTE:
The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire all of these by developing and applying their potentialities. On the other hand, the real "have nots" are they who cannot have aught except by depriving others of
it. They can feel free only by diminishing the freedom of others, self-confident by spreading fear and dependence among others, and rich by making others poor. -- Eric HofferLove that man.
This comes from a great "Quote a Day" list I'm on.
Posted by Claire @ 01:29 PM CST [Link]
PAUL HEIN TALKS ABOUT HACKING NATIONAL ID. Good idea. But hm. Seems to me the time to be starting this little project is NOW.
We talk about national ID in the future. But truth is that the moment the fedgov mandated SSNs and linking of databases -- nearly 10 years ago now -- national ID was already an American reality. Sure, a more draconian form is to come. But the reality is already here.
Posted by Claire @ 01:15 PM CST [Link]
WELL, THAT WAS A NEW EXPERIENCE. I've just been interviewed by Kate Sullivan, a writer from Nerve.com (don't click on that link unless you're ready for R-rated material). The topic: "Sex advice from gun enthusiasts."
Every Thursday, Nerve runs a column of sex advice (mostly humorous) from people who don't usually give sex advice -- photographers, cowboys, romance novelists, you name it. Some of the questions pertain to their areas of expertise; some are just off the wall. Two weeks from tomorrow, I'll apparently be one of four
vict ...experts. Wonder who the others will be?Gotta give Ms. Sullivan credit. She never once asked the obvious question about guns as phallic symbols, nor were any of her questions ignorant or prejudiced. And she didn't have to ask what a Kimber 1911 was.
But boy, I sure hope I gave the right answer to that question about sheep ...
Posted by Claire @ 01:07 PM CST [Link]
Monday, May 1, 2006
A LONG WAY FROM HARDYVILLE I sit and watch the trees grow.