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North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: 6925u Undercover Radio: EasyPal Digital 0032 UTC 2/25/2013
« on: February 25, 2013, 0102 UTC »
I have to go eat dinner now. No more posts for now. Thanks Undercover!
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Freedom:
You know I was at the shooting range the other day and started thinking about the rights we have in the United States. When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing what our forefathers came up with in our US Bill of Rights and in our Constitution. The second amendment states that we have the right to keep and bear arms. We have the right to bear arms for personal security, and the right to bear arms to defend our country. We even have the right to bear arms to defend against a corrupt government. That's a rare thing in a world where many countries are ruled by dictatorships supported by an army that exists to protect the government from its citizens.
But you already know these freedoms are eroding as time goes by. For instance, many people today seem to think that there is no place for firearms in our society. So many people I talk to wonder why on earth anyone would own a weapon, especially in this day and age. Yes, this day and age where governments are collapsing all around us. Even our own government has become a self-serving law making machine all with the supposed premise of protecting us from ourselves. Our rights are slowly but surely disappearing. Our personal freedoms are vanishing before our eyes. Maybe you should exercise your right to own a gun while you can.
Freedom. What is freedom? Freedom is the right to live your daily life as you please, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and of course freedom of speech without repercussion from your government. Yes, we have plenty of incidents where these freedoms are suppressed and punished but in general we all enjoy these freedoms.
But here's the funny thing. With all these freedoms why do I speak to you behind a cloak? It's because our freedoms are slowly eroding. We haven’t had freedom of the airwaves since just after radio came into wide use after its discovery. The government quickly clamped down on all the free radio stations that started popping up in a hurry and created the Federal Communications Commission to regulate who could use the airwaves and what they could say. How free is that?
These days the government only exists to put more laws and regulations on the books. Did you know the US passes an average of 300 new laws a year? 300? We have thousands of laws on the books and thousands more to come.
And now we have our almighty Homeland Security department out to protect us from the world. It sends chills down my spine. Don't get me wrong. A fundamental responsibility of our government is to provide for our security. I suspect they have done more to protect our national security than we realize. But part of the price for this protection is the loss of some of our personal freedom and privacy. Trust me; it won't be long before the government knows where we are at just about any time. Police cars and toll booths are currently equipped with license plate scanners to provide instant background checks and what about our brave new digital world? The digital world has given us wonderful new smartphones with built in GPS's that allow tracking of our every move. And I mean every move. The chips in the phones are so accurate now that they can detect what floor of a house you are on. Your email is logged and stored in the wondrous cloud. Most likely many conversations on your phone are filed in some data warehouse somewhere. All this information is most likely being collected and analyzed for anything that might be a danger to our national security. But take it a few years out from now. All this data might be analyzed for anything "improper". And you thought you were safe from 1984.
Freedom is a funny thing. I suppose total freedom could be equated to anarchy. But to we really want anarchy? Some people living in the clouds claim that anarchy is the answer but then I have to ask how things are going in Somalia. It's human nature for someone to be a leader and others to be followers. Freedom is some kind of balancing act. You and I both know that we need to have some rules in place have a civil society. It's human nature. It's always been that way. Leaders and followers. It's just human nature. But for those who follow, please don't confuse this with apathy. Apathy is the MOST destructive obstacle to freedom. Please think about the balancing act required for freedom. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. We must NOT allow the scales to tip too far off balance. Oh, I know, you already think that things have tipped over the edge. We've used America up and sold it out. If you feel that way, don't just sit there sulking. Get off your ass and do something about it. I know you've heard it all before and will hear it again but we are a nation of apathy and that my friend is a dangerous thing. Our apathy is quickly paving a nice little path to tyranny.
We are all lemmings being led to the usual path of destruction just like all civilizations before ours. Is it really inevitable? Is the world full of idiots?
Recollections:
Memories of William Cooper yelling on the shortwave telling people to wake up!
Flashbacks of reading old issues of Comedy, Tragedy and Apathy
Memories of shortwave evangelist predicting the end of the world
Flashbacks of the horrific Indian Ocean Tsunami with waves over 100 feet high
Laughing at Harry Shearer’s Le Show
Listening to pirates crackle over the airwaves
Hearing Alan Weiner rant oh about real pirates
Does any of this really matter anyway? We are all doomed.
Doomed to be hit by an asteroid,
Doomed to die in a nuclear winter in the aftermath of a super volcano,
Doomed to be erased by the next ice age,
Doomed to become hordes of zombies as a horrible virus infects our brains.
May I help you? Sir? May I take your order?
Anyway, that's what was going through my mind while I was waiting in line for my Double Whopper with cheese with an extra-large order of fries and a 64 oz. Coke.