Saturday, August 1

Weekly Update 1 August 2009

This week we've got a doozy, and it is related to the Cash for Clunkers program. Congress appropriated a billion dollars - Yes, it is tax money. Yes, you are paying for it. - to pay car dealers extra money when they take an old car on a trade-in for a new car. The theory is that by taking money from the middle class taxpayer and giving it to GM and Chrysler, everyone benefits. (Don't try to understand it - it is so stupid only the extremely educated and the extremely powerful can pretend to get it.)

"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. – Thomas Jefferson"
The program has been so popular in its first week that billion dollars has already been soaked up. Congress, in its infinite stupidity, has added another two billion dollars to the program.Oh joy.

But that's not the real reason for the update this week. No, the real reason is the website that the government has established to provide information on the Cash for Clunkers program: cars.gov. I am intentionally NOT providing a link because you REALLY don't want to go there.

WHAT IT IS: If you use the cars.gov site, your computer then is considered to become the property of the Federal Government and they assume the right to access anything and everything on that computer.

This is not an exaggeration.
This is not a scare tactic.
This is not a mis-reading or twisting of information to suit my own purposes.

Here is the actual text from the cars.gov website describing the terms of use for the site:

"This application provides access to the DoT CARS system. When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the US Government.

Any or all uses of this system and all files on ths system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorized CARS, DoT, and law enforcement personnel, as as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign."

WHY IT MATTERS: My simple goal for this weekly update is to highlight the news of the week that affects our freedom. I focus on the ways the government, (and their masters on Wall Street), steal our freedom by stealing our wealth. So, do I really need to spell out why this matters?

The federal government has now ceased to even pretend to be the servant of the people. They now treat us as slaves.
  • They take our property when they want: cars.gov.
  • They take our money when they want and give it to whomever they wish: the bank bailouts.
  • They take our liberty when they want: habeus corpus is suspended for anyone suspected to be a “terrorist threat".
  • They even take our lives whenever they want: Waco, Rudy Ridge and who knows what else that didn’t make the headlines.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Two things - both very simple, but one easy and one very difficult:
First, refuse to use cars.gov. This is for your own protection. Tell everyone you know about this property grab by the government. Forward this link to your mailing list.

Second, make the decision today to be a free person and not a slave. A slave has only whatever freedom the master chooses to give it. If you acknowledge the government as your master, then you are already their slave.

But if you instead claim that your freedom belongs to you simply because you are human, and - most importantly - if you live that out, then you are a free man.

Just because they don’t use the terms “slave” and “master” doesn’t mean they don’t act as if they are the masters and we are the slaves. It doesn’t matter what they say, it matters what they do.

Freedom starts between your ears. No one can MAKE you be free, nor can you VOTE yourself freedom. You must choose to be free and then live that way. Starting today, choose to be free. Choose to live, think, work, act and play as a free person and not as a piece of property that the ruling class in Washington and Wall Street can move around and dispose of as they wish.

Do I sound like an extremist to you?

Perhaps I am. If so, I am in good company. A couple of quotes from Barry Goldwater.

"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."

"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. "

Yours for Freedom...

2 comments:

1 said...

Good opinion .
You're right about freedom being in the mind and then acting upon it .
But if phase One fails then phase Two is necessary.

" The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."
Thomas jefferson .

The real question will be how badly do americans want to be free.... because in the end .. no government ever gives up it's power unless it is forced to .

How many will be " 3 % 'ers ? "
What is a "Three Percenter"?

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-three-percenter.html

Scott C. said...

Jack,

(I am generally a fan of Glenn Beck, but this story of his was not well researched.)

As you know, I test software applications for government agencies...

The landing page prior to login for each of these systems includes the following text (or some similar variation):

"This is an official United States Government computer system, which may be accessed and used only for official Government business by authorized personnel. Unauthorized access or use of this computer system may subject violators to criminal, civil, and/or administrative action.

"All information on this computer system may be intercepted, recorded, read, copied, and disclosed by and to authorized personnel for official purposes, including criminal investigation. Access or use of this computer system by any person whether authorized or unauthorized, constitutes consent to these terms.

"Signing into this application indicates you have read and accepted the Full Terms and Conditions of Use, and you consent to secure testing and monitoring.

"Signing into this application indicates you have read and accepted the Privacy Policy, and you consent to secure testing and monitoring.

"Signing into this application indicates you have read and accepted the Rules of Behavior, and you consent to secure testing and monitoring."

Now, these are the important points to note about the systems I test and about the government agencies in particular:

1) The Warning is given prior to logging in to a government system.

2) The systems are provided for official governmental use only.

3) The user has to have a valid user ID and password to access the system.

4) The user has the option of not logging in to the system.

5) Most importantly, the monitoring referenced is monitoring of the system running the application, the government server, not of the client computer from which the server is accessed.

6) And ultimately, even if the warnings were referencing monitoring of the client computer, which they are not, the the government ...
a) has no resources to monitor each and every client system,
b) has insufficient intelligence to monitor the client systems, and sadly,
c) has no interest in expending the effort required to do anything of value... regardless of your definition of value. These "Blue Badges" (as the "Red Badged" contractors refer to them) are here to collect a paycheck, not to do anything that resembles work.

If I've learned anything from my time working "on the inside"... it is that government employees are lazy, self-serving, and dull... at least the ones with even a shred of power. Most of the grunts are normal enough. The ones who were once intelligent in their own right eventually become numb by all the stupidity surrounding them. There is no Government Intelligence (not even a hint). And Conspiracies require much more intelligence and energy than any "Blue Badge" is willing to invest.

And "Red Badges" only stick around until they get sick of the mind-numbing idiocy of it all.

Truly, the text in the warning is at best ambiguous, which is due to poor communication skills and apathy, not from any ill intention.

That being said, I see evidence that it would be not too difficult for a few intelligent leader types to have the obtuse governmental institution(s) do their bidding... directing the puppet for furthering the agendas (and profit) of those powerful individuals.