Now, there’s a picture worth a thousand words. And I’ll bet The Powers That Be totally miss the message. From here.
Category: Resistance
Sometimes you need to say “no” to Big Brother
These are the thoughts of a young woman whose life has already been difficult — mostly in the sense of bearing heavy responsibility and being different from others. Now she’s about to face incomprehensible evil, and may not survive: And what are my weapons? she thought. And the answer came to her instantly: pride. Oh, you hear them say it’s a sin; you hear them say it goes before a fall. And that can’t be true. The blacksmith prides himself on a good weld; the carter is proud that his horses are well turned out, gleaming like fresh chestnuts in…
I missed this yesterday. The Mississippi supreme court has granted Cory Maye a new trial (pdf). This is thanks largely to the heroic journalism of Radley Balko and the skilled representation by Bob Evans and Maye’s other pro bono lawyers. And it’s damned good, if terribly overdue, news. Hope for justice for this very nice young man.
I’ve been thinking this week about boundaries. Personal boundaries — how we set them (or fail to) and how, even when we think we’ve established our boundaries firmly, other people try to override them. I got onto this topic while writing my current S.W.A.T. magazine article. (Shameless plug: It’s called “Charles Manson, Me, and the TSA,” and if that title intrigues you, you’ve got time to subscribe to the ‘zine, because the piece is scheduled appear in March (in the April 2011 issue). If you’ll remind me, I’ll post the article here once it’s appeared in S.W.A.T..) Manson bent —…
Well, golly. Maybe this explains why Ben Bernanke’s economic concepts are so … um, oversimplified. Upcoming: This Friday is (once again) National Ammo Day. Maybe you could buy yourself a box of Glasers or other frangibles. You know. Just in case the airline doesn’t supply them. Good question: If you owe uncomfortable amounts of money, should you pay off debt first? Or should you set aside a fund to tide you over in case of emergencies before getting aggressive about your debts? Sierra Black of Get Rich Slowly has her thoughts. Bovard on the biggest threat to freedom. Wow. these…
Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. — Susan Ertz It’s one of those days that isn’t exactly rainy, but not exactly not rainy, either. Mists swirl between here and the hills. The pavement gleams. A raincoat might be a good idea during a dog walk. Or maybe not. (No unbrella, of course. People in the NorthWET don’t do umbrellas. We may own them, but when you see somebody actually using one, you know they’re foreigners.) After a good, but semi-hectic week, I promised myself a sabbath day. I’m just…
NOTE: At the bottom of this article are links to lots more intellectual ammo against the porno-scanners and the TSA’s new “enhanced” pat-downs — a technique designed (as far as I can tell) to persuade fliers that they’d find life easier if they submitted to radiation and porn, rather than opting out. Use that info for your own letter writing or send your less-aware friends here for an eye-opener. —– Last week, I picked up on Arthur M. M. Krolman’s idea and suggested a “Letter to Disney” campaign against the TSA’s porno-scanners. The idea was (and is) threefold: Write a…
I have a friend — very non-political — who loves to travel. But even she, who basically trusts government to do the right thing, was nervous about the porno-scanners now being deployed for the benefit of the security industry and peeping Toms in the TSA. Somehow this topic came up while she and I were on a long drive Friday. She said she longed to return to her favorite country in Asia but “didn’t want anybody looking at my boobs hanging halfway down to my waist.” But! Then she recently saw a news item on TV that included video footage…
Dysfunctional families come in all shapes, sizes, and all manner of chaos. But they all have one thing in common: When some truthteller finally gets fed up enough to name the core problem (whether it be Daddy’s drinking or Mom’s kleptomania or Auntie’s chronic lying or all of the above) — the entire clan will turn on the hapless truthteller, en masse, and blame that person for causing the problem. A long-ago neighbor woman once came to my house raging because her husband had been caught committing incest with their daughter and her teenage son had been accused of molesting…
From C^2, here’s a perfect example of how we always, always have choices. No matter what anyone does to us. (Two minute video clip; apologies to those on dial-up.)