Well, here’s a pickle for you. President Bush has been pushing the whole democracy in the Middle East thing for the last couple of years. For a long time, he was pushing for free elections in Palestine, especially since the U.S. really didn’t like Arafat that much. So, the Palestinians oblige, elections are held, people voted, and Hamas won.
Oh, poop. Hamas doesn’t like Israel. Hamas supports suicide bombing. Hamas is the democratically elected leaders of Palestine. The U.S. is pissed.
But, it gets worse. Now, it looks like there’s going to be civil war between Hamas and Fatah, the leaders who were ousted in the election. So, if you’re the U.S., trying to spread democracy and get other countries in the Middle East to embrace Democracy, aren’t you obligated to defend Hamas against the sore losers in the Fatah party?
“And the reason why I’m so strong on democracy is democracies don’t go to war with each other. And the reason why is the people of most societies don’t like war, and they understand what war means…. I’ve got great faith in democracies to promote peace. And that’s why I’m such a strong believer that the way forward in the Middle East, the broader Middle East, is to promote democracy.” - George Bush
It looks like Bush is a bit mistaken in holding to the Democratic Peace Theory.
To security professionals, Bruce Schneier is considered a guru. His book, Applied Cryptography is considered the authoritative book on computer security, and is the first book anyone should purchase when considering entering the field.
Bruce has published an article in Wired entitled, “The Eternal Value of Privacy“, where he defends an almost Calvinistic distrust in the goodness of those in authority.
While the entirety of the brief article is a must-read, his summary quote should challenge anyone who argues that “If you aren’t doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?”
Too many wrongly characterize the debate as “security versus privacy.” The real choice is liberty versus control. Tyranny, whether it arises under threat of foreign physical attack or under constant domestic authoritative scrutiny, is still tyranny. Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy. Widespread police surveillance is the very definition of a police state. And that’s why we should champion privacy even when we have nothing to hide.
After watching recent events regarding our Federal Government reading the phone records of American citizens, and the acknowledgement by the NSA chief that they’re monitoring the phone calls of Americans, I’ve decided I’m getting a little annoyed with these casual little incursions into our privacy. Since it seems that our Federal Government has show no interest in preserving our privacy rights, I’ve decided that in the little ways that are afforded to a private citizen, I’m going to begin pushing back.
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Once again, it’s time for the (fourth) annual pig roast, and you all are invited to attend the party at the home of Tom and Sarah Albrecht.
We plan on starting off around noon, and going into the evening. The pig should be done around 4pm, but we’ll be serving food throughout the party. Please RSVP to us (phone call, email, whatever) so we can get an approximate head count and let us know if you’re interesting in helping supply food.
See you then!
This is a letter I sent today to a friend whose baby is due next week. I wanted to save it to remind myself of these things, and hopefully it will encourage others as well.
Dear —
Sorry I missed you last week! Had I seen you, I would have given you a big hug and let you know that I am praying for you as you get to the end of your pregnancy.
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