False Security

"Those who would give up their liberty for security deserve neither and will lose both." -Benjamin Franklin


Sometimes I fear we may have already lost both. The American police have spent $34 Billion since 9/11 on what amounts to combat gear. We have seen what they did to peaceful protestors - and now the congress has passed the defense act that allows them to arrest any US citizen for any reason and detain them indefinitely without charge.


In Oxford England every cab is having cameras and surveillance equipment installed. Cameras are begin installed in public places at an alarming rate. And now the governments of so-called "free" countries want to spy on the Internet - on all our communications.


I remember when I was a science fiction buff in my early 20s and I would read stories about Big Brother societies and think smugly that it could never happen here. Big Brother is here and now - today. And we have allowed it to happen.


Everything Hitler did was legal. Never again can we ask how did the Germans allow him to happen. We are allowing something very similar right now. It happens one small step at a time.


I watched the movie Thrive yesterday. You can see the two hour feature free on Vimeo. I strongly urge everyone to see this - and then to think carefully. And then - to act in any way they can.


I was left breathless by the Torus and the matrix - I have been drawing these shapes since I was a child - very young. I recognize them. And I know I have memories of these shapes - especially the Torus - from some past forgotten time. The memory is very elusive. I'll find it eventually.


There is hope and it lies with us. But we cannot - CANNOT - sit back and think it doesn't matter. It does matter that Harper is building more jails - ask yourself, who does he plan to put in them? Who did the Germans think was going to be put in concentration camps? It matters that millions and billions are begin spent on fighter jets while transfers to provinces for health care are being cut. Why are we buying fighter jets? For fun?


We are the 99 percent.


But our power only means something if we wield it. Peacefully.