LilBambi’s Blog – BambisMusings

They’re BA-ACK!

Big Media area at it again!

The NAB’s lobbyists are now trying to send scare mongering to Congress again! This time about White Spaces!

I thought you might be interested in joining the campaign to provide millions of Americans with high-speed Internet access.

Unless we speak out to the FCC, large broadcast companies will deny Internet service to millions who cannot access the information superhighway.

Please visit the URL below to check out what’s at stake and send a Halloween card to the FCC telling them not to back down to Big Media’s scare tactics:

https://secure.freepress.net/site/SPageServer?pagename=whitespaces

Many rural areas have no real options for broadband, or if they are lucky enough to have at least a 3G capable cellular tower near them, it’ll cost you $60/mo plus equipment and limitations on your monthly bandwidth. And that’s really the best option there is for rural areas if you are lucky enough to get a new tower put in your area.

Satellite Internet like Wild Blue, et al are just not ready for prime time for ALL types of Internet usage…particularly for businesses that work on the Internet or anyone making use of realtime things like audio streaming, ftp for more than a few files at a time, chat that doesn’t bump you off occasionally. The lag is just awful! We tried it out at a couple friends house … fine if all you do is browse and get email, but for more demanding needs, forget it.

We have been getting the run around from Verizon (on their DSL), as well as Cox Cable and Charter Cable about bringing their services into our small town. It’s like a dry county! It’s all around us, but no one will come into our little town with decent broadband!

They really have rural areas over a barrel service and price wise. It’s just not right.

The Standard of Living Bubble (And Why It’s About to Go Pop!)

…Everyone knows about the Housing Bubble. Well, get ready for the even bigger Standard of Living Bubble, whose bursting is now upon us.

Because real wages have not been rising, the growth in consumer spending could only have been financed through borrowed money. Debt, which allows consumers to have cash on hand that hasn’t been earned or saved, has given Boobis Americanus the ability to live beyond his means, at least for a little while. And a great many have taken up this “pay later” lifestyle, accumulating a great many houses, cars, and other things. …

So much in this article to absorb! This article is so sad and so true!

The treadmill is worse than it’s ever been!

Apple keeps putting in these gawd awful caveats in their SLAs for updates that are really ticking me off…like this one:

4. Consent to Use of Data. You agree that Apple and its subsidiaries may collect and use technical and related information, including but not limited to technical information about your computer, system and application software, and peripherals, that is gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, product support and other services to you (if any) related to the Apple Software. Apple may use this information, as long as it is in a form that does not personally identify you, to improve our products or to provide services or technologies to you.

And you can’t even get your update unless you agree to that stupid policy! This is not the first time I have noticed this ludicrous statement, but today it really ticked me off, because it was part of the Migration and DVD/CD Sharing update!?! How stupid is that?!

Who Pays Debt
(intoon.com – Mike Keefe – 10/19/2008 (Ref Num:61367)

Thanks Tween!

Not like we don’t realize all this crap including this latest Bernacke Special will be on our heads as well as the heads of our children and grandchildren, and their children and grandchildren, etc.

Thought for Today: October 18, 2008

The Preamble of the United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States of America

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Read each piece of the preamble. It was so profoundly written. Each piece, each section of it invokes liberty and freedom. This is our heritage that would be despots are trying to take from us.

–

Despot

despot Definition

des·pot (des′pət)
noun

1. Archaic a title meaning “master,” applied to certain classes of rulers, as Byzantine emperors or bishops of the Greek church
2. an absolute ruler; king with unlimited powers; autocrat
3. anyone in charge who acts like a tyrant

The Face of the Next Generation

It’s all that’s needed to be said. Very well said.

Steal This Comic

Was watching Authors@Google: Randall Munroe (xkcd.com) this morning. Thanks Brian. Funny video.

It’s funny but I never seem to look at just one of these xkcd comics at a time when I go to the site. It’s rather addictive. I get to the Archives page and …. well, you get the idea, if you’ve ever been to the site.

I thought I was already very concerned about what has been going on in this country and how Corporatism has been taking hold so firmly in our country. But I really don’t think I realized until this past week, just how far it’s come. How many steps had been completed before this would be a done deal and then we wouldn’t be able to turn it around…we’d just have to live with it.

The realization of just how close it is getting was when I saw what was going on before, during and right after the announcement of the banking cartel bailout.

Anyway, during this time, I had begun to look into Naomi Wolf and who she is more closely since I saw the trailer for the movie, “The End of America” based on Naomi Wolf’s book, “The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot.” It wasn’t as if I hadn’t heard of Naomi Wolf before; I have read some articles about/done by Naomi Wolf at Huffingtonpost, AlterNet, and other places, but hadn’t really gone out of my way to find any audio and/or video of her talks or looked for her books, or tried to find out any history on Naomi Wolf. However, yesterday, Tweeny made me aware of the new movie based on one of her books and I went to see the trailer at their website:

The End of America: Movie

The End of America (from Naomi Wolf’s Wikipedia entry)

In The End of America Wolf takes a historical look at the rise of fascism, outlining the 10 steps necessary for a state to take control of individuals’ lives:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
5. Harass citizens’ groups.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Control the press.
9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors.
10. Suspend the rule of law.

The book explains how this pattern was followed in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as well as elsewhere, and compares it to the current state of affairs in American political power since the September 11 attacks.

The 10 Planks are also very close to what is happening as well. But that is from the Communist Manifesto. Whereas Naomi’s book deals more with Fascism aka Corporatism.

It seemed to follow my own concerns and the way my grandparents and uncle had talked about this, and later in other texts that I found along the way. But I had concerns in the back of my mind about Naomi Wolf that I realized where they came from when I read her wikipedia entry. I am a very independent person but I have always railed at the term ‘feminist’ which Naomi Wolf seemed to embrace.

From there I started looking at other places such as this one on YouTube, and DemocracyNow’s interview with Naomi Wolf and this was back in November 2007! and other interviews such as the one on AirAmerica.

I have to say that although I have not been all that excited about AirAmerica in some respects, even so, they certainly had a very good interview with Naomi Wolf on the Thom Hartmann radio program that would be good to hear:

Thom and Naomi talk about the police state that is becoming America and what we can do about it, plus her new book “Give Me Liberty”

Just a little something to get folks started, because we do need to wake up … I have been trying to get folks to wake up to this for years because I was made aware of the similarities, the things to watch for when I was young by my German grandparents and an Hungarian uncle who shared what had happened in both their countries and how things deteriorated and did it rapidly, and how their country was so completely taken over by outside or inside forces within their own countries. For a long time, I saw things happening and wasn’t sure, then denied it was possible here, and then acknowledged it but was afraid to speak up.

But then back in 2003 I created a blog and then was afraid to write about it, but I really felt the need to do so and did on one of my favorite forums — especially in relation to and comparison of technology gains that would make this type of thing so very easy! Such as the “Trusted Computing” initiative that has had multiple name changes over the years, I guess in hopes of people forgetting or getting confused by it all, and other technological advances like surveillance techniques, cameras on every corner in cities and now in larger towns as well, face recognition software that is pretty darn good, retina scans, unconstitutional search at ferries and airports, RFID technologies like RealID, Capsules the size or smaller than a grain of rice that can be used to identify and track, very fast computers, and more that has gone ballistic in this country and other countries too, Habeas Corpus being suspended, Wars, and rumors of wars, and now the bailouts and other problems with the economy and money supplies that have prompted some very scary ‘alliances.’

What do you think Hitler and other dictators would have done with such technologies as we have today? I really think Hitler would have loved to have such great technologies, look how well he did with punchcards!

And think about it, especially in light of the banking cartel bailout, if you look back at each and every war, who made the most money on wars supplying credit to both sides? Who stands to gain the most with continuing wars today and unifying the monetary systems?

Another great website about what happened in Germany if you are not familiar with this (They Thought They Were Free) (about a book written by Milton Mayer. And Naomi Wolf’s blog entry (that had been originally posted on AlterNet recently), “Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out “Crowd Control and this one at HuffingtonPost “The Battle Plan III: Deployment and it’s Dangers:”

On October 1, 2008, President Bush deployed a brigade — which means three to four thousand warriors — somewhere in America. We do not know where they are deployed though citizens have informally reported to me having seen military vehicles and troops in Georgia and Alabama. We do know that their official mandate according to the first report is ‘crowd control’ as well as action in the event of a mass civilian catastrophe. Initial reports described their technology ‘module package’ as involving Tasers and rubber bullets.

According to Amnesty International, more than 300 people in the United States have died since 2001 as the result of being Tasered by law enforcement authorities. According to the first reports, the mission includes subduing ‘unruly individuals.’ After an outcry, more recent statements from military spokesmen have backed off from identifying those tasks as being the ones the troops will be charged with. Why worry about the deployment of troops in our nation?

Read on in the article to see why Naomi Wolf says that and why we should be looking at all of this very closely.

Remember that without liberty we are nothing. Remember that the Founders counted on us to act. Remember that courage is called for in times such as these.

Tweeny shared an article from Salon that really got my blood boiling! Not against Salon but against Time magazine and this truth is lies and lies are truth thing (you know DoubleSpeak) that is going on these days!

Time magazine’s article is entitled, “Do Americans Care About Big Brother?:”

Pity America’s poor civil libertarians. In recent weeks, the papers have been full of stories about the warehousing of information on Americans by the National Security Agency, the interception of financial information by the CIA, the stripping of authority from a civilian intelligence oversight board by the White House, and the compilation of suspicious activity reports from banks by the Treasury Department. On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine released a report documenting continuing misuse of Patriot Act powers by the FBI. And to judge from the reaction in the country, nobody cares.

Where do they get their information?! They say it’s polls but that can’t be, because any poll I have seen does not favor giving up ‘essential liberty’ for ’security’ like the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin says:

“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”.
–Benjamin Franklin

The US Constitution is very clear about our rights and liberties in this regard in the 4th Amendment:

U.S. Constitution – Amendment 4

Amendment 4 – Search and Seizure

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, AND no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Notes for this amendment: Proposed 9/25/1789
Ratified 12/15/1791

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory is spot on!

This article literally has more factual errors — pure, retraction-level falsehoods — than it has paragraphs. It makes Joe Klein look like a knowledgable and conscientious surveillance expert. It’s one of the most falsehood-plagued articles I’ve seen in quite some time. Let’s just count the ways this article includes demonstrably false assertions, purely based on facts:

And then he goes on to point out each and every fallacy!

And Glenn Greenwald is right! We do VERY MUCH CARE, but Washington isn’t listening! And I guess you could say, why should they care when all they seem to hear is this and this (youtube) and this;

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

And they think that either McCain or Obama will do be better on our freedoms and liberties and stealing more and more tax money despite uproar by citizens writing, calling, emailing and faxing their congressmen pleading with them to do not support the stripping away of our rights and liberties and/or giving away our hard earned money to get another ’sob story’ by corporations and banking cartels?

To me, I have nothing to lose by voting third party. I honestly think we need to get back to our Constitutionally based government before it’s too late!

I am going to vote third party. I hope many of you will consider doing so as well. Let’s send a clear message to Washington. They have given us no true candidates to vote for, so we are going to choose amongst the Third Party Ticket items on the ballot. Either way, vote from a clear and educated choice.

Learn about all of the presidential candidates and compare their stances on the issues (below they are listed in ABC order of their Party affiliation):

Constitution Party Candidate: Chuck Baldwin
Democratic Party Candidate: Barack Obama
Green Party Candidate: Cynthia McKinney
Independent Party Candidate: Ralph Nader
Libertarian Party Candidate: Bob Barr
Republican Party Candidate: John McCain

No vote is thrown away if we vote from our hearts and with knowledge. We have to make a stand somewhere. And why not now.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power should be taken from banks, and restored to the people.”
–Thomas Jefferson

EndTheFed