Have You Been Paying Attention?!

My friends,

The cog in the tyranny machine has been working double time under our lax gaze. While we worried about making rent, paying off student loans, playing video games, and following celebrity gossip, our government officials have been systematically stripping away our inalienable rights to habeas corpus, free speech, and privacy. Have you been paying attention? I am talking about the betrayal of our congress men and women, our president, and all those officials who stood by and let this happen out of fear and greed. The blatant corporate corruption that has lined the pocket books of our elected officials must end, and we can do this by standing together as one. The talking heads have convinced you that the recent legislation passed and signed into law is for your own safety. But you need to ask yourself who the real terrorists are? Are they ordinary looking Muslim men with underwear and shoe bombs? Or are they the men and women who supposedly represent us that allowed a bill (NDAA) to pass 93-7 in the senate and 283-136 in the House of Representatives? Is it our president who said he would veto NDAA but later changed his mind? Perhaps the real threats to American freedom are being paid by our own hand; they reap the benefits and we receive less and less, yet are told to be thankful we have a job at all.

If you are unaware of what this post is about, allow me to share some information with you. The National Defense Authorization Act, as of last week, was signed into law. This is no longer a hypothetical situation. Our nation’s leaders are behaving like Hitler toward the end of WWII. They are desperately grabbing onto the last remnants of control they have left. The worldwide occupy movement is proof that the people of the world are waking up to the reality that our governments are no longer taking orders from the little people, their commander in chief is the almighty dollar. The National Defense Authorization Act declared US soil as a battleground on which the war on terror will now be waged. This may seem like a good thing, but here’s the kicker: this bill allows the military to detain American citizens in military prisons indefinitely, without trial, and without proof of crime.

The mainstream-corporate media has taught us that a terrorist is most likely someone from the Middle East, someone who hates freedom and prosperity. They are Al Qaeda, and those affiliated with them. Yet the wording in the bill states: “It allows the President to target not only those who helped perpetrate the 9/11 attacks or those who harbored them, but also: anyone who “substantially supports” such groups and/or “associated forces.” Those are extremely vague terms…” what exactly are these associated forces? (Source)  Are you just going to sit back and see how our government will manipulate the wording in this section? I’m not. We can’t afford apathy. If you don’t follow politics, fine. This is WAY MORE than voting, gay rights, abortion access, and taxes, this is about our fundamental rights as citizens and human beings.

But this is more than just the NDAA, this is a two-pronged attack on our rights to free speech and privacy! The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) may seem like a noble piece of legislation, but it essentially gives the government the power to censor the internet, block websites and servers, and remove any information that breaks copyright laws. This bill hasn’t been passed yet, but the congress (in a dirty move) claimed they would debate it in 2012, but they have it on the books for tomorrow, December 21, 2011. This law would allow the Attorney General the right to shut off foreign websites that abuse copy-written domain names, and can even demand search engines remove websites from their database. NO ONE OWNS THE INTERNET, not even our government. Read the actual bill here. (you may need to search NDAA).

As we saw in Egypt, when a government asserts that they own the internet and boldly begin shutting off access to websites, the people need to stand together to defend their right to free speech and free information. Think of China, their government can shut off any website they deem unsuitable for their citizens. Contemplate for a minute your favorite websites: Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and a variety of blogs. How many of these sites can be cited for copyright infringement? Pretty much any of them. How did Arab Spring become so successful? Facebook. Some have jokingly named this bill the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Corporations are plying our officials with lots of cash to get this to pass, and if it does we are all in trouble.

Our government knows how pissed off the people of America are. They know we demand justice for the shady, unethical practices of the financial sector. They know we are angry about the distribution of wealth in this country, the disappearance of the middle class, and the income tax injustices brought against those who need the extra cash more than ever as families suffer foreclosures, and must resort to hand outs to feed their children. To quote the great 1976 film Network “WE’RE MAD AS HELL AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!”

This is not about party politics. For the first time in a long while we can stand united as Americans, red and blue, liberal and conservative, old and young, and demand as a nation to have our rights returned to us. Do NOT sit on this information. Pass it along. Do your own research, question everything and come to your own conclusions! Start reading information online; avoid the mainstream media (they are all owned by large corporations). Here are some good places to start:

HuffPo

http://www.alternet.org/

http://www.realnews24.com/

http://drudgereport.com/

Even The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have more real news and information on policies that affect us than CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, and any other channel.

Sign petitions if you like, but I believe our government needs to see more than a list of names. They need bodies with faces, personal stories, and a collective voice demanding they start working for US.

I suggest you band with anonymous, they are actively fighting these bills. 

Anonymous on NDAA 
Anonymous on SOPA 

"When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty."
-Thomas Jefferson






When your children ask you about this moment in history what will you tell them? That you stood with the masses and fought for your rights, or that you were too busy updating your facebook status?





Stand with us and make history, or continue the cycle of apathy, the choice is yours. 

-Em

  

What's REALLY Scary This Halloween?

First things first: a HUGE thank you to all those reading my posts. Don't be shy, I would love to hear any thoughts or opinions you may have. Writing is meant to be shared, it is meant to be read, to spark ideas, to ask questions, and to expand your worldview. I am a work in progress. I am always learning new things, gaining new perspectives, and seeking knowledge from those with different experiences from my own. I hope to hear from you soon, and thanks again for giving my writing a chance! :D

On to the real post!

What's really scary this Halloween?
I am finding myself trusting people in masks (specifically Guy Fawkes masks), more than those in suits. I was raised to respect authority, and to not question the status quo. I am sure many of you were raised to be complacent citizens as well. However, I am becoming increasingly disappointed in those we as Americans are to look to for guidance. Our leaders have sold us out for greenbacks from big business lobbyists. How many more people have to lose their homes, jobs and futures before the rest of us pay attention to the hypocrisy of our government? We have more foreign debt than any country in the world. Our country debt is now nearly 100% of our GDP. The people running the show expect the market to turn around by throwing more dollars in the pot. Simple economics will tell you that by injecting valueless dollars into the system we are only creating inflation. Have you noticed the price of fruit is doubling? Milk prices have jumped up nearly a dollar. From what I'm reading, it seems that this is only the beginning. Hyperinflation is more terrifying than ghosts and zombies, or even the hypothetical Mayan apocalypse. I remember reading an anecdote in my high school US History class on the livelihood of the German people right after WWI. The currency at that time was so useless they were collecting paper money for kindling, since they couldn't afford the heinous price of coal to heat their homes. The price of bread jumped to the equivalent of hundreds of US dollars for just one loaf.

I'm not saying that's what our future has in store for us. However, I am losing hope that things are getting better. Students and graduates across the country are waking up to the fact that there are no jobs for us. Many young people are dropping out of school. What's the point of a degree if it doesn't make you any more economically stable? My generation is NOT stupid. We are taking to the streets, the internet, the people's plazas of the country, and we are retaliating against the banks. My hope is carried on the shoulders of my peers. The only thing we need to overcome is our apathy, and the ignorance surrounding the institutions running our lives.

Nothing is scarier to me than staring at my reflection, and wondering what I will be seeing over the next few years.

If you are interested in finding out what is happening in this country outside of the occupy movement, I would encourage you to visit this website: http://www.whatis-theplan.org/