First The Yanks, Now The Canucks! Where Will It All End?

May 22, 2015May 20, 2015 fasab Current Events, Factoids, Politics, Rants americans, anti-terrorism Bill, Canada's spooks, Canadian government, Canadian Intelligence Service, Canadians, Canucks, cermonial guard duty, cover, Current Events, excuse, extend the powers, extraordinary rendition, fact, facts, Federal Court, gunman, handing more powers, increased information disclosure powers, information, inside Canada, intelligence agencies, listening to phone calls, measures to reduce threats to the security of Canada, national security, new legislation, nice warm feeling of security, Opinion, other countries, Parliament, politics, preventative arrests, Privacy, Rants, reading emails, Security of Canada Information Sharing Act, shot a soldier, snoop, snooping, snoops, spooks, spy agencies, spying, terror attack on Canadian soil, Thoughts, Yanks

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

First it was the Americans.

Now the Canadians want in on the act too.

What act?

The act of handing more powers to its intelligence agencies.

Yes, the Canadian government has passed a controversial anti-terrorism Bill, 183 votes to 93, to extend the powers of the country’s spy agencies.

It’s all in the interests of national security of course. The excuse or cover being used is the recent – and first ever – terrorist attack on Canadian soil last October, in which a gunman attacked the country’s parliament, shot a soldier on ceremonial guard duty and was subsequently killed himself.

The new legislation gives Canada’s spooks the ability to make preventative arrests. In other words, like America’s controversial ‘extraordinary rendition’, the Canadian Intelligence Service will be able to take “measures to reduce threats to the security of Canada, including measures that are authorized by the Federal Court”. And they can do it inside Canada as well as in other countries.

All well and good.

But tacked on to the legislation is the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act, which hands government agencies “increased information disclosure powers”, which is a nice way of saying they can snoop on almost anyone and everyone as and when they want to.

They are going to keep Canadians safe by listening to their phone calls and reading their emails, just like they do in America.

Doesn’t it give you a nice warm feeling of security?

Nope, me neither!
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The Herd Shall Not Be Heard!

June 23, 2013 fasab Current Events, Politics, Rants audience, be heard, better and cheaper communication, Blogging, blogging sites, Blogs, cannot tolerate, casual users, changed all our lives, China, confidence, control, control of the people, Current Events, deceit, easier, Edward Snowden, excuse, exposed, facebook, find groups, finding information, fraud, freedom, freedom for ordinary people, freedom of speech, freedom to say, game, good for the people, governments, groups, gvernments, hide their real objectives, Hong Kong, impact, individuals, internet, invading our privacy for our own good, listen to our private phone calls, Misc, Miscellaneous, Moscow, Musings, negatives, new social interaction platforms, no pretence, Opinion, Pinterest, politics, pornography, positive, possible threat, power, power users, quicker, Random, Rants, read our private emails, reluctantly admitting, revolutionised shopping, secret, security issues, similar interests, Skype, smokescreens, spam, stupid rules, targeting, the herd, the internet, the people, the truth, the West, the world, Thoughts, threat, treating everyone as a potential terrorist, Tumblr, Twitter, whistleblower, Wordpress

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

It’s time for a Sunday Sermon!

Whether we realize it or like it, the advent of the internet has changed all our lives. From power users like myself to just casual users, things are a lot different from how they used to be.

There are, of course, negatives like the increase of spam, fraud, pornography and so forth, but by and large the impact of the internet has been a positive one.

It has made finding information much quicker and easier.

It has given us better and cheaper communication possibilities such as Skype.

It has revolutionized shopping for millions of people.

And it has spawned new social interaction platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and not forgetting blogging sites such as WordPress, allowing people to find groups and individuals all over the world with similar interests to their own.

But perhaps the greatest thing that the internet has achieved is to give freedom for ordinary people to say what they want to say and have that reach a much bigger audience than would have hitherto been possible without having to spend vast sums of money trying to do it.

Unfortunately, however, that freedom is the one thing that governments cannot tolerate. Hell bent on control, they see the freedom that the internet provides as a threat to their power. And slowly but relentlessly they are chipping away at that freedom.

In China there is no pretense or deceit. The government there controls the internet and that’s just how it is.

However in the West, as they always do, governments create smokescreens to hide their real objectives. They read our private emails and listen to our private phone calls in secret, only reluctantly admitting to it when they are exposed by a whistleblower such as Edward Snowden, last seen leaving Hong Kong and heading for Moscow.

And even when they are exposed they can’t tell the truth about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Invariably the excuse trotted out is “security issues”, in other words, they are doing what we don’t want them to do and invading our privacy, for our own good!

If governments expect the people to have confidence in them, then they in turn should show confidence in the people. That means doing their job properly and targeting people and groups that are a possible threat without treating everyone as a potential terrorist.

And it means being honest with their people.

Will that happen?

Not a chance!

As I said earlier the game isn’t about what is good for the people, the game is about control of the people. And a big part of that control is ensuring that the herd shall not be heard – if they have anything important to say that the government doesn’t want us to know!

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Expect The Worst, It’s Quiz Show Answers Monday!

January 7, 2013January 7, 2013 fasab Bloopers, comedy, Humour, Quiz Show Answers, tv, Uncategorized, Unusual Alabama, amusing, answer, answers, Are those real, baseball team, beautiful wife, body part, buy, city, Comedy, contestants, dries up, drinking, Drowsy, dumb, dumb answers, excuse, first date, fool, fools, foreign country, fruit, gentleman, Georgia, Grouchy, hardest position, horse, Humor, Humour, idiot, idiots, lady, leaving the house, Misc, Miscellaneous, moron, morons, newlyweds, old, Orange, Paris, penis, People, phony, Quarterback, question, questions, quiz, quiz show answers, quiz shows, quizzes, radio, Random, silly answers, stationary store, stopped for speeding, stupid answers, stupidity, tampon, television, the human mind, the seven dwarfs, underwear, vacation, water, Weepy, women

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Another foray into the hidden shallows of the human mind as shown by the answers some hapless contestants have given on television and radio quiz shows.

Marvel at the stupidity.

And enjoy!

Q: Name something you might buy that could turn out to be phony

A: A Horse