A Major Fallacy in Liberty Advocates’ Argument
It is not Give & Take: It is Take-Take & Give-Give
I cringe every time I read or hear this self-defeating fallacy repeatedly used in almost all arguments and advocacies intended to counter our government’s assault on our liberties. I know those who use this fallacy, whether a lone-wolf noble politician, enlightened commentators, or civil liberties experts and representatives, all mean well and have the best intentions with what they put forth in defense of our liberties. Nonetheless they are doing a great harm by unintentionally promoting a myth, an illusion, and a major fallacy.
Allow me list a few old and recent examples:
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” – Benjamin Franklin
PBS Headline- America at a Crossroads: ‘Security Versus Liberty: the Other War’
“If we allow the interests of national security to take away our freedoms, we surrender what it is to be an American.” – ACLU
Title: “Ten Years of Trading Liberty for Security” – Anthony Gregory, Independent
Title: “Guantanamo Bay Detainees: National Security or Civil Liberties” – Pamela M von Ness, FAS.Org
Just read the civil liberties related headlines daily and you will compile a very long list of similar titles and arguments. Most, if not all, fortify the false notion of ‘security vs. liberties,’ ‘the compromise between safety and rights,’ ‘sacrificing Constitutional rights to fight terrorism,’ … Granted, some, actually only a few, bother to include the notion of ‘perceived security;’ only in passing, a long way into the body text. For most Americans, busy with life, hassled with chores, too distracted by entertainment news, the part that quickly and easily sticks is the notion of making a choice between security and idealistic liberties. And for many the answer comes down without any hesitation- it becomes a choice between life and death. And hey, when you face a life and death situation you ain’t gonna bother with some idealistic liberties concerns. Right? Read more
BFP Report: Meet the Department of Homeland Security’s ‘Distinguished’ Privacy Advisory Committee Members
Let’s See Who is Watching DHS Mega Fusion Center
Yesterday I came across an article on DHS plans to create its own internal fusion center so that its many agencies can aggregate the data they have and make it searchable from a central location. Let’s read a few excerpts from this typical half-hearted MSM attempt to provide a semi-complete picture of the state of ‘things’ when it comes to our government:
Information sharing (or lack thereof) between intelligence agencies has been a sensitive topic in the U.S. After 9/11, there was a push to create fusion centers so that local, state, and federal agencies could share intelligence, allowing the FBI, for example, to see if the local police have anything in their files on a particular individual. Now the Department of Homeland Security wants to create its own internal fusion center so that its many agencies can aggregate the data they have and make it searchable from a central location…
Of course this is another troubling development in an extremely troubling state of ‘things.’ However, this wasn’t the focus my attention. Here comes the not-really-reported angle in this half-covered story [All emphasis mine]:
The DHS is calling it a “Federated Information Sharing System” and asked its privacy advisory committee to weigh in on the repercussions at a public meeting in D.C. last month…
So what is this ‘privacy advisory committee’ and who are its members? This is what the article provides on that front: Read more
Notorious “Star Chamber” Courts Protect Government Wrongdoing
U.S. Embraces Tool of Despots
Recently, Mark Hosenball dropped the bombshell that a secret panel of White House Security Council members meets to draw up a “kill list” of American militants. Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald wrote a scathing critique of the panel, comparing it to a notorious English court known as the “Star Chamber.”
“[A] panel operating out of the White House — that meets in total secrecy, with no known law or rules governing what it can do or how it operates — is empowered to place American citizens on a list to be killed by the CIA, which (by some process nobody knows) eventually makes its way to the President, who is the final Decider. It is difficult to describe the level of warped authoritarianism necessary to cause someone to lend their support to a twisted Star Chamber like that.”
The Star Chamber, an English court dating back to the middle ages, reportedly was named for the stars on the ceiling of the courtroom, located at Westminster Palace. Over time, it grew increasingly powerful and corrupt. By the 17th century, under Charles I, it had become a vehicle for prosecuting political dissent. The court’s procedures made it virtually impossible for defendants to get a fair hearing and served as a rubber stamp for the monarchy.
“Court sessions were held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses. Evidence was presented in writing. Over time it evolved into a political weapon, a symbol of the misuse and abuse of power by the English monarchy and courts.”
The Star Chamber also punished religious dissent, ultimately driving the Puritans to seek refuge in North America’s wilderness. Their descendents would form a new nation and endow it with laws that prohibited Star Chamber abuses. Today, “star chamber” is a pejorative term used to describe any administrative body with “strict, arbitrary rulings and secretive proceedings” that “cast doubt on the legitimacy of the proceedings.” Notwithstanding its infamous past, the Star Chamber appeals to government officials who abhor accountability.
The panel that authorized the killing of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki is the most public U.S. example of a star chamber–but it is far from the only one. The federal government operates a network of star chamber courts administered by government agencies for the purpose of hearing appeals from military and civilian federal employees stripped of their security clearances. Many of those employees are whistleblowers who have disclosed government wrongdoing, thus implicating senior officials. Senior officials use the star chambers to punish whistleblowers, to discredit their disclosures and to discourage other employees from exposing negligence, waste and corruption. Existing whistleblower protection laws are helpless to protect federal employees with security clearances from agency reprisal.
Security clearance star chambers violate the U.S. Constitution’s due process protections by presidential order–Executive Order (E.O.) 12968. These courts go by a variety of names. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Star Chamber is the “Personnel Security Review Board.” The Department of Defense (DOD) calls its star chamber the “Department of Hearings and Appeals.” Each federal agency interprets the executive order differently, and some—for example, USDA—actually provide less due process than E.O. 12968 allows. All are offensive to modern notions of justice, but none have been held accountable. Government officials argue that national security requires the suspension of due process; but, a close examination of the appeals process shows that the government’s claim is a fraud. Read more
BFP Select Nightly News & Editorials-August 17, 2011
Assassination as US Foreign Policy, Islamabad Demands Veto on Drones, Who & What Are Behind the “Official History” of the Bin Laden Raid, the Empire at Dusk, More ‘War with Iran’ Propaganda, $360 Millions in U.S. Tax Dollars Ends Up with Taliban & Criminals, Shaping a New World Order, Al Jazeera Journalist Held in Israeli Prison, AIG Sues Bank of America for $10 Billion Over “Massive Mortgage Fraud”, Investors Hedge Their Bets on America’s Biggest Banks & More!
BFP Nightly Quote
“Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be.” - Marshall McLuhan
International Newsworthy
Military Aid Remains Cut as Drones Pound Pakistan
Islamabad Demands Veto on Drones
China Launches 2-Month Xinjiang ‘Terror’ Crackdown
Massive Bomb Defused at N. Caucasus Market
More War with Iran Propaganda
Libya, NATO & the Sinister Western Media
Al Jazeera Journalist Held in Israeli Prison
Half of Somalian Aid may not Reach Starving Refugees
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BFP Select Nightly News & Editorials-August 12, 2011
Escobar: Syria- Why the Regime Won’t Fall, Lebanon Intercepts Covert Arms Shipment Bound for Syria, DHS Trying to Make New Terrorist “Watchlist Service” Exempt from Privacy Act, Bank of America’s Backdoor Bailout, Begging for Change, Russia & Azerbaijan: An Obstacle to the U.S. in the Caucasus & More!
BFP Nightly Quote
“Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today” – Mahatma Gandhi
International Newsworthy
Pepe Escobar: Syria- Why the Regime Won’t Fall
Lebanon Intercepts Covert Arms Shipment Bound for Syria
IED Attacks: Wikileaks Afghanistan War Logs
The Pain to Come for Chinese Export
Russia & Azerbaijan: An Obstacle to the U.S. in the Caucasus
Tajikistan: In Dushanbe “Religious Radicalism” Comes in Many Forms
France, Italy, Spain & Belgium Ban Short-Selling
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Our Probability of Being Chosen in a Nation of Suspects
The New Orwellian Airport Behavioral Inspections-Detections
TSA screeners are about to implement Orwellian behavioral inspections at airport security checkpoints. Who are these TSA screeners? These are the same low-level, incompetent, scandalous, molesting, abusive, and in some cases criminal people who have been creating one scandal after another. So what will these scandalous, incompetent and criminal police be doing to detect suspicious behavior? Most likely you have guessed it right. They will be watching you and maybe questioning you to determine whether you are suspicious, a suspect, or not. How are they going to do that, and based on what guidelines? According to their vague description, they will be looking for your “micro expressions,” such as lack of eye contact, acting agitated or nervous, that might “hint” at nefarious intent. How much hint is needed to be pulled over as a suspect? They don’t say. How agitated is considered suspiciously agitated? They don’t say that either. How much eye-aversion would count as a suspicious level of eye-aversion? They say nothing on that. How do the odds of being chosen by them increase by their own mood, biases, and various psychoses? Well, they don’t mention that either.
Basically, a bunch of already-proven incompetent, abusive, biased, and criminal people who have been high on their government-given limitless powers will be freely using their subjective judgment on whether you look or act suspicious, or not. Now I want you to think about agitation, eye-aversion, nervousness, being stressed out, being shy …Think about it, and then calculate the odds of you being determined a suspect, thus one of their chosen ones:
If you are one of those Starbuck’s addicts used to running on several shots of espresso, then place a good size bet on being one of the many TSA chosen ones. You know you are going to be jittery, and TSA will probably read your jitteriness as an ultimate indicator of your suspiciousness. You’ll be chosen.
If you are one of many ladies out there (like myself) with temperament-changing and mood-swinging monthly menstruation cycles, quickly check out the calendar and make sure your next flight does not coincide with that time of the month.
If you are one of those parents travelling with children, some of them in their terrible twos-threes or fours, see if you can ship the kids via cargo. We all know how frustrating and agitating it can be to travel and handle kids that age-especially when we go through shoe-removing, belt-removing, patting and groping checkpoints. Your frustrated and agitated state will probably land you in the circle of TSA’s chosen ones.
If you are one of the racial minorities …well, need I say more? Think of those abusive bigot cops incidents, multiply that several times, and there: those are the odds of you being selected as one who looks suspicious, thus a suspect, and therefore a chosen one.
If you happen to be shy, then you are totally out of luck. You know you most definitely will avert your eyes…at least once or twice while being watched-interpreted-detected. Do yourself a favor and cancel all your air travel. You ain’t gonna make it; you’ll definitely be a chosen one.
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Actually, when it comes right down to it, if you are an ‘American,’ you may as well put all your bets on being TSA’s chosen one; at one point or another. Because the American Government has designated you, every single one of you as a ‘suspect.’ When it comes to your communications-phone, e-mail, etc. every single one of you is a suspect, according to your government, thus, under phone wiretaps and other communication related surveillance. Think about it, even the ‘ordinary’ airport security procedures you are forced to undergo are meant to screen you, check you out, as a suspect. Whether you engage in some sort of a suspicious behavior or not is actually a moot quandary. We, my friend, all of us, were designated as suspects nearly a decade ago. We may as well return that ticket, forget that darn flight, and drive while we can. Before the suspicious behavior detection police take over the roads and make that humiliating or impossible too.
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BFP Select Nightly News & Editorials
The Moral Bankruptcy of American Spooks, US Missile Shield May Be Precursor for Attack on Iran, Al-Qaeda Leader Hails Syrian Protestors, Ford Takes US Taxpayers Bailout & Deserts Sinking Ship, Feds to Grab Land for Homeland Security, Hidden Hegemony: Canadian Mining in Latin America, What is a Dollar? & More!
BFP Nightly Quote
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”- Thomas Jefferson
International Newsworthy
US Missile Shield May Be Precursor for Attack on Iran
Iran Explores Russia’s Plan
Russia Vows Response to US Magnitsky Blacklist
Kyrgyzstan: Detained Turkish Terror Suspect now Unwanted at Home
Al-Qaeda Leader Hails Syrian Protestors
In Afghanistan Parents Balk at ‘Suicide’ Schools
Torture Still Rampant in Post Revolution Egypt
Libya Campaign is Running into the Sand
Defense for Children International Report: Palestinian Children Endure Systematic Abuse from Israeli Military Courts
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BFP Select Nightly News & Editorials
Halliburton Whistleblower Wins in Court: $970K, Obama: Bin Laden Death Ups Terror Risk for Americans, The Most Dangerous Word in the World, US in ‘”Denial” Over China’s Pacific Plans, The Political Theater & the Debt Ceiling Crisis & More!
