SOME SPARE THOUGHTS

Why, suddenly, are some of our menfolk in the US, embarrassed to be searched before getting aboard a plane?  The man who said, "Don't touch my junk" must really have a problem with his body image.  Is he afraid he will get an erection and embarrass himself?  Is he homophobic?  Is he just a prude?  Should a whole plane load of people be sacrificed for any, or other, of those reasons should scanning be discontinued?


One of my favorite cartoons shows a herd of cattle talking to each other while cowboys circle into a group.  On cow is saying to another, "{I wish they would stop treating us like airline passengers."  Indeed, the comparison bears merit.  However, ultimately we all have a choice as to whether to fly or not...even if it means changing jobs.  That is surely not easy but everything in life is a choice.  You can choose to keep your traveling job and follow governmental procedures.  If you truly wish to change them, it should not ber at the expense of holding up all the rest of the passengers.

Profiling seems to be another 'bone of contention' for some.  Don't people realize that there is no one who escapes the great database of the 'databankers.'  Every time we go online our key strokes may we watched, sites we go to monitor, there are massive resources on almost every registered American.  Why dod people worry about their anonymity, then?  Do they blissfully assume the world is as it was forty years ago?  !984 may have come and gone but so much of 'Big Brother' (concept from the book 1984 by George Orwell) suggests he now is, indeed, watching us. seem to be truly current.  We just can't be careful enough, some people think.

It leaves me wondering whether the people, who complain the most, vote. They are also the same people, often, who pay no attention to candidates but complain later that the people in office are doing nothing.  I too would like to see some more competent politicians in office.  Now I just mope around wondering if our government will ever right itself while I'm still alive.....

PRIVACY- SHOULD IT MATTER ?

We in America feel violated by our government's abuse of our previously respected constitutional rights to privacy. While there is a legitimate complaint there, the nature of the situation presents a dilemma. Do you tell the people on whom you want to spy they are being spied upon? I presume that is the reason we used to have a judicial system we could trust, which was contacted for the 'special permissions' to keep our citizenry safe from those who do not play by the rules. Many voices are being raised in many areas, though the media, which collectively seems hesitant to report truth and reality rather than opinion, and follow the general bias of the owners dictates, if not the pundits own. Already, the media and politicians, for the most part, are too anxious to keep their jobs than do them properly.

The book 1984 made it clear how privacy lost, to an extreme, causes paranoia in the people who are the target of the government's disregard for personal privacy. There are enough people alive who remember when the book came out, when the threat of nuclear bombing of the US by Russia was a fear. Some schools still use this book as required reading. Others in the world have banned it. It seems we are heading the dystopian way, not only in the US, but elsewhere, as well. The term dystopia (the opposite of utopia) should raise some chills in all of us. If we trusted our governmental leaders, it would not. It is said that anyone who has nothing to hide should not worry about surveillance. However, recalling the days in Russia when dissidents were sent to mental hospitals and drugged or lobotomized to keep them quiet, when we hear that Karl Rove has been able to railroad a Southern governor to jail by virtue of his power condoned by our inept President, all of us should be frightened. Innocence no longer represents safety, unfortunately, in our judicial system today.

So far, being against the current Administration, has not caused any overt, dire consequences that are visible to average people. However, it harkens back to Senator McCarthy's paranoia about Communism and Communists, which should be frightening to all Americans because a strong voice can cause such damage before people get wise to the pathology level reached about the supposed danger. Many individual lives and careers can be ruined. We currently hear hints of this sort of thing today such as the 60 Minutes episode about former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. There are many more instances that have appeared in the news but are quickly obfuscated by trivial news of pop stars and athletes.

There should be tests before people are voted into office about their biases and ability to be objective, about their intelligence and powers of logic and deductive reasoning, and about their mental health in general. These should be administered by competent psychological professionals and not left to the 'wisdom' of voters not educated to weigh out these factors.

Should our constitutional rights to privacy matter....yes indeed! We should guard them diligently, especially by our vote for those who represent us in Washington.