Category: Politics

Ladies and Gentlemen, Your King

Politicians are notorious liars, cheaters, and thieves. However once in a great while you catch one of these vile creatures being honest about how they feel. Most of the time these brief glimpses of honesty result in shock and disgust from the general populace, even though most of them seem to realize what manner of beast politicians are. Tommy Tucker, a congress critter from North Carolina, recently expressed his personal beliefs to the public:

Sen. Tommy Tucker of Waxhaw said a mouthful with just 13 words on Tuesday.

“I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet.”

It was no coincidence that Tucker’s silencing of an N.C. newspaper publisher – heard by at least three people who were there – came just after he railroaded a bill through his committee that would let government operate in more secrecy.

Mr. Tucker is the manner lord and your are but mere serfs. Shut your filthy holes before he has you drug out to the public square and hanged. While the views expressed by Mr. Tucker may seem odd coming from a so-called representative they are most likely shared with most of his cohorts. One need only look at the laws being passed in the United States to see how the political body views non-state agents. It seems that every law passed expands the state’s power in some manner and restricts the legal actions available to non-state agents. If anything Mr. Tucker should be thanked for his willingness to be honest. Were more politicians honest about their beliefs it’s likely that things in this country would begin to change for the better.

More Empty Promises from Obama

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is coming up for a vote. If it passes it will create a tighter marriage between the state and service providers. It will also be a boon for the technology industry because the passage of the legislation will also mean the need for new software for agencies and service providers to share data with one another, which is why so many major technology companies support the bill. Besides the state and politically well-connected technology companies everybody else will suffer. In a political stunt likely aimed at generating some positive feedback Mr. Obama has said he will veto CISPA if it passes:

As an amended version of CISPA nears a vote on the House floor, the White House has once again stated that it has fundamental problems with the cybersecurity bill in its current form. In an official policy statement, the Obama Administration said that lawmakers had not addressed several issues regarding information-sharing and privacy, and that “if the bill, as currently crafted, were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.” Instead, it urged a continuing dialog between Congress and the President in order to create a more acceptable version.

We’ve witnessed Obama’s veto threat before when the indefinite detainment clause of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was up for a vote. As it turned out the threat was only made because he was worried he wouldn’t get as many additional powers as he wanted. I’m guessing CISPA’s current form doesn’t give the executive branch enough power so the threat of a veto has been made until more power is handed over.

IBM Executives are Heading to Washington to Lobby in Favor of CISPA

Speaking of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), it appears that executives from IBM are heading to Washington DC to lobby in favor of passing the bill:

Nearly 200 senior IBM executives are flying into Washington to press for the passage of a controversial cybersecurity bill that will come up for a vote in the House this week.

The IBM executives will pound the pavement on Capitol Hill Monday and Tuesday, holding nearly 300 meetings with lawmakers and staff. Over the course of those two days, their mission is to convince lawmakers to back a bill that’s intended to make it easier for industry and government to share information about cyber threats with each other in real time.

IBM has a history of helping governments collect data on their citizens. Considering the consequences of their last marriage with the state I should be surprised by this news. But we all know that there is big money in selling customer data to the state. It’s always disappointing when a technology company sells computer users down the river. Fortunately CISPA is irrelevant thanks to cryptography technology.

Fear Mongering and Cyber War

For some time the United States government has been beating the cyber war drum. We’re lead to believe that foreign nations are going to hack into all of the nation’s networks and cause destruction and mayhem. In fact, according to Mike Rogers, the scary foreign hackers are already inside of your computers:

The House Intelligence Committee is warning that “time is running out” before the next major cyberattack: The Russians, Iranians, Chinese and others are likely already on your computer.

“You have criminal organizations trying to get into your personal computer and steal your personal stuff. And by the way, the Chinese are probably on your computer, the Russians are probably on your personal computer, the Iranians are already there,” House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R.-MI). told Fox News.

One is left to wonder what Mr. Rogers means by the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians. Does he means hackers living in those countries or agents of those countries’ governments? From his statement I’m left to believe he means the government agents of those countries. In all likelihood nobody inside of the governments of Russia, China, or Iran give two shits about the data on your personal computer. There are two things to consider: breaking into a computer requires effort and having access to all data on all personal computers would leave one with so much data to sift through that their efforts would be rendered worthless. If the Russians, Chinese, or Iranians are going to sink resources into compromising systems they are probably going to expect a good payoff. Breaking into one of my systems isn’t going to give them much of value so they are unlikely to sink resources into attempting to compromise my systems. Most of your are likely in the same boat as me. The real threat to most people are regular malicious hackers who want to create botnets. Those hackers generally work for themselves or a non-state crime syndicate.

I believe it’s also worth pointing out the language Mr. Rogers used. He said the Russians and Chinese are probably in your computer but knows for a fact that the Iranians already are. Isn’t it strange that the nation the United States government has been trying to declare war on for the last several decades is known, for a fact, to be in your computer but the most technologically advanced nation of the three, China, is potentially in your computer? It’s almost as if Mr. Rogers is trying to drum up fear of Iran specifically.

We all know what this is about though:

Rogers believes the Cyber Intelligence and Sharing Protection Act (CISPA) can help counter that threat. The bill was introduced last year and passed the House, though it failed to make it through the Senate following a groundswell of concern from privacy activists.

Be afraid you stupid serfs! Allow us in the state to pass laws that grant us the ability to spy on your communications so we can protect you from the scary people are aren’t from around here!

What Rogers wants is the legal ability for the United States government to compromise your system. He wants the exact thing he’s using to strike fear into the hearts of Americans. Computers are a good tool for the state to use to generate fear. A majority of computer users lack a good understanding of the underlying technology and people tend to fear what they don’t understand. This is why foreign states are also good tools to use to generate fear, most Americans have very little knowledge of foreign countries. Combining the two makes for a very effective tool to generate fear that can be used to sucker the public into supporting most government control over their lives.

Rand Paul isn’t a Libertarian

The hardest part about identifying as a libertarian is how poorly the general population understands the term. Here in the United States the term is generally applied to any self-declared conservative or Republican that pays lip service to small government, civil liberties, and the need for being fiscally conservative. Unfortunately the core of libertarianism, the non-aggression principle, is almost unknown outside of libertarian circles. This is why a man like Rand Paul gets called a libertarian:

Led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), libertarians hope to become a dominant wing of the GOP by tapping into a potent mix of war weariness, economic anxiety and frustration with federal overreach in the fifth year of Barack Obama’s presidency.

I fail to see how a man who voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the amendment to the NDAA that placed additional sanctions on Iran, provided funding for a neoconservative that stated women rarely become pregnant from rape and wants to based policies on said statement, introduced meaningless drone legislation, and endorsed Mitt Romney is going to lead libertarianism in any way. Heck, Rand Paul doesn’t even consider himself a libertarian:

“They thought all along that they could call me a libertarian and hang that label around my neck like an albatross, but I’m not a libertarian,” Paul says between Lasik surgeries at his medical office, where his campaign is headquartered, with a few desks crammed between treatment rooms.

Unlike his father, Rand isn’t a libertarian and we would all do well to stop referring to him as such.

Doing the Goddess’s Work

What is commonly referred to as the religious right never cease to entertain me. A group of most zealous lawmakers in North Carolina have decided to spit in the fact of United States legal history (good on them) by introducing legislation that would allow their fine state to declare an official religion:

Republican North Carolina state legislators have proposed allowing an official state religion in a measure that would declare the state exempt from the Constitution and court rulings.

The bill, filed Monday by two GOP lawmakers from Rowan County and backed by nine other Republicans, says each state “is sovereign” and courts cannot block a state “from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.” The legislation was filed in response to a lawsuit to stop county commissioners in Rowan County from opening meetings with a Christian prayer, wral.com reported.

Although these lawmakers don’t acknowledge her existence, the goddess Eris smiles favorable upon them. Through their single minded attempts to establish order by forcing everybody to abide by their religious beliefs these lawmakers are creating untold amounts of discord. If these bills manage to advance in any way they will almost certainly lead to massive protests full of angry people on both sides shouting at one another. Maneuvers like this also sow seeds of doubt in the minds of those who oppose state established religion. Were this bill to pass opponents of state established religion would have one more reason to view the state as illegitimate. Since the state is the greatest producer of order any strike against it will surely please Eris.

Climbing the Political Ladder

It’s not secret that I’m not a fan of politicians, even politicians such as Rand Paul who are often considered advocates of liberty. Often when I mention my dislike of Rand I’m told by other liberty advocates that one must climb the liberty ladder one rung at a time. My question is always this: why should we climb the ladder? The only thing waiting for us at the top is the sad realization that we’ve spent so much time, money, and effort climbing the ladder that we didn’t have time to partake in things that really matter. If your goal lies at the top of the ladder then don’t waste time climbing up to get it. Instead knock the ladder over and bring your goal to you.

United States Lawmakers Considering Undoing Damage They Caused

The politicians in Washington DC are making noise about legalizing the act of unlocking a phone:

A U.S. senator has proposed a bill that will allow consumers to unlock cellphones for use in other networks, after the administration of President Barack Obama backed over 114,000 petitioners who asked the government to legalize the unlocking of smartphones.

“You bought it, you should be able to use it. My Wireless Device Independence Act ensures you can unlock your device,” said Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, in a Twitter message on Tuesday.

The proposed “Wireless Device Independence Act of 2013” aims to amend Section 1201(a)(1)(B) of title 17 of the United States Code which deals with circumvention of copyright protection systems.

What Senator Wyden’s Wireless Device Independence Act does is undo the damage caused by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which he apparently liked enough to not oppose the voice vote that passed the DMCA during his time in office. But now he’s going to be magnanimous and allow us lowly serfs to do with our property as we wish. If Wyden really wants to correct the root of the problem he should be working to repeal the DMCA in its entirety.

The Ministry of Peace

It seems that the Ministry of Peace may become a real thing:

House Democrats led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) have introduced legislation that would create a federal Department of Peacebuilding, which would be tasked with everything from finding ways to scale back U.S. military actions to ending bullying at schools.

Under her bill, H.R. 808, the new department would be led by a Cabinet-level Secretary of Peacebuilding, who would have a seat on the National Security Council. The department would be “dedicated to peacebuilding, peacemaking, and the study and promotion of conditions conducive to both domestic and international peace and a culture of peace.”

I find it ironic that an entity that accomplishes everything it does with the threat or use of violence is going to pursue peace building. I’m sure it will be just as successful at building peace as is has been in balancing its budget.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Although Rand Paul has received a great deal of criticism from me I must give credit where credit is due. Of all the suits currently occupying Capitol Hill Rand is the only one who has actively opposed an appointment due to the appointee’s stand on torture and drone usage:

A conservative US senator has delayed the nomination of a new CIA chief over questions about the possible use of drones against Americans.

By early evening, Senator Rand Paul had moved into his eighth hour of delaying the vote by standing and speaking without pause, known as a filibuster.

[…]

Sen Paul says he will end the filibuster when the White House or Attorney General Eric Holder say that drones would not be used in the US to kill terrorism suspects who are citizens.

In all likelihood Rand will keel over before either Holder or Obama publicly state they will not use drones to kill United States citizens. Either way it’s a valiant effort and deserves praise for doing it.